I like a good isolated gaming experience as much as anybody, but sometimes, the real joy is the friends you make along the way.
That's where multiplayer games come in, and in 2025, there were plenty of awesome ones across the gamut of genres available. Whether you like co-op or competitive, FPS or third-person shooters, or maybe climbing a mountain with friends, there was a lot to choose from.
Here's what we think were some of the best multiplayer games in 2025.
We may look back on this as the game that really ignited the extraction shooter genre. There have been plenty of similar titles before it, but ARC Raiders' ability to capture a wide berth of players, both hardcore and casual, is an achievement by Embark Studios. Now, the game begins its live-service schedule with updates coming to add more content and keep players engaged.
Each match is an adventure. Do I go solo? Do I group up with others? Do I betray them? Do I try to fight the massive spider robot? Do I leave once I completed a task? Do I stay and try to get more loot? It's all part of the excitement that is ARC Raiders.
Monster Hunter Wilds
Image via Capcom
Monster Hunter is simply one of the best co-op experiences out there. Grouping up with buddies to hack, hammer, and slash away at giant creatures so you can chunk away their body parts to build new gear sounds morbid, but it's always a blast.
Battlefield 6
Image via EA
The Battlefield series' triumphant return offers some incredible multiplayer gaming experiences, and the free-to-play REDSEC battle royale component only extended that just a few weeks after launch. Tons of vehicles, big maps, and large squad counts create a hectic experience that is the series' expertise in the FPS genre.
Split Fiction
Image via EA
Josef Fares' Hazelight Studios has perfected the two-player co-op experience in Split Fiction with wild setpieces and varied gameplay sequences, and the Friends Pass that allows you to enjoy it with someone who doesn't have to buy the game themselves. The concept is amazing, and the execution was even better.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
Image via Activision
Whether it's the campaign, new Endgame mode, Nuketown pub-stomping, or new Zombies maps, the entirety of Black Ops 7 is multiplayer-enabled and chock full of content for players to enjoy.
Elden Ring: Nightreign
Image via From Software
What do you get when you combine From Software's iconic Soulslike gameplay, friends, and a battle royale-like experience? A good amount of fun. Nightreign is far from perfect, but still a very enjoyable game and a likely indication of where the studio's direction is heading. And it already got its first of presumably multiple expansions to continue the journey.
PEAK
Image via Aggro Crab
One of 2025's biggest surprise successes, PEAK is the peak of the "friendslop" genre that's popped up over the past few years. Whether you want to work together or just troll your pals, it's always a good time. And it's just $8 on Steam, which is wild.
As editor of GameCritics.com and host of the So Videogames Podcast – and also as a person who just generally loves videogames – I strive to sample as much of the industry as I can.
What’s the new hotness? What’s the current design trend? What’s everyone talking about?
I’m also always on the lookout for hidden gems or indies that fly under the radar, so it basically means that I try a ton of titles every year.
For anyone who’s curious what 12 months of plays looks like for me, here it is in the order that I played them. There are no notes (except if I rolled credits – that’s mentioned in bold) but you can hear my thoughts on nearly everything on the podcast.
Also, if you’re curious what my official top 10 were after playing all of these, you can catch me counting them down on the So Videogames Podcast, Episode 468.
Back in the day I used to love ranking games I played in any given year, whether or not I was writing about them. It’s always been a fun exercise to try and determine what I enjoyed the most over the last 12 months and compare them to what my friends would choose.
However, in recent years, I not only found myself not keeping track of that stuff, but I also played fewer games overall. I can blame it on going back to school, my full-time job, or my devotion to watching Miami sports teams, but I think the overall desire to play everything has kinda faded.
2025 was an interesting year for me, as the release of the Switch 2 brought me back to a place I haven’t been in ages — I started playing videogames regularly again, and I re-examined my relationship with them.
I’ve been contributing to GameCritics for over five years, and it was five years ago that I wrote my first and last game of the year list, so I’m happy to come back and share something a little more lighthearted and personal. I’ll keep things relatively simple as I only want to highlight five games and a few superlatives.
Happy New Year, folks!
First, a few major 2025 games I only recently started/need to get to soon:
Arc Raiders
Metroid Prime 4
The Outer Worlds 2
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl
Kingdom Come Deliverance II
Hades II
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (PS5)
Cyberpunk 2077 (Switch 2)
Borderlands 4
Second, the live service games/online shooters that found a way into my rotation in 2025:
My favorite videogame of all time is Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3. It’s the closest thing the medium has come to producing a perfect product, and the only videogame I’d say is worthy of being called art. I also really like Pro Skater 4, despite the changes to the established THPS formula.
This collection is a remake of both those games, in the same vein as 2020’s Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2, featuring faithful recreations of the original levels with touched-up visuals and a few small tweaks to modernize the entire experience. It was a joy to revisit these games that I know like the back of my hand, feeling like a six-year-old and rediscovering every secret again.
It’s not quite perfect, and I know a few changes rubbed some people the wrong way (the soundtrack especially) but in an era where so many games are lost to time, I’m happy we have such an incredible memento to one of gaming’s raddest stars.
*
4 – Destiny 2: Renegades
I’ve been playing Destiny 2 on and off over the last two years, thanks to the insistence of a friend who’s been playing for a while. Every so often, the two of us will play through whichever expansion I pick up on sale or free via PS Plus and have a good time. I’m not well-versed in Destiny 2’s lore and used to ignore the loot grind to simply focus on its solid gunplay.
Renegades, however, was the expansion that got me to fully embrace Destiny 2 and its many systems, thanks to a host of meaningful tweaks and the return of old content. Playing through the Star Wars-inspired campaign and the curated list of separate extraction/horde mode missions was a highlight of 2025 for me, becoming one of the best online experiences I’ve ever had. I’m now fully immersed in this world, catching myself playing almost every night just to grind for some higher-level armor or simply stumbling upon a cool gun I found while completing a random co-op mission.
As a lapsed Star Wars fan, spotting all the references and seeing how Bungie managed to integrate the aesthetics of the series into their game was also cool, with guns reminiscent of Han Solo’s blaster and even an in-universe Lightsaber known as the Praxic Blade. Even with all the baggage a game like Destiny 2 carries, this expansion has its hooks in me, and it’s gonna be hard to shake from that for a while.
*
3 –Forza Horizon 5 (PS5)
Yeah, this game came out in 2021 on Xbox (and I played a ridiculous amount of it at launch), but as soon as it hit PS5 in mid-2025, I was instantly hooked. As of writing, I have over 80 hours in this game, and it was my most-played PS5 game overall according to my PlayStation Wrapped.
Anyway, there really isn’s much I can add to this game that hasn’t been repeated to death already. Well over four years later, Forza Horizon 5 is one of the best racing games ever made, thanks to an exceptional (and highly customizable) handling model, a car list that has a little something for everybody, and a huge open world full of so much stuff to do. The variety within FH5 is also unmatched, with different racing disciplines for different tastes. Racing a modified, off-road Ford Bronco through the desert or a Corvette Stingray on a busy street at night is a thrill unlike any other. Shout out to the Rally Adventure DLC, which offers the closest thing to a modern, arcade rally racer that I’ve played in a while.
Between this, The Crew Motorfest, and Gran Turismo 7, my racing rotation on PS5 is absolutely stacked for years to come.
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2 – Donkey Kong Bananza
Platformers are my bread and butter. Within the first few months of the Switch 2’s first year, we ended up getting the genre’s absolute best with Donkey Kong Bananza.
There’s a joy in traversing these open-ended levels as Nintendo’s most famous ape, with jumping and running feeling satisfying (as any good platformer should). The real stars, however, are the game’s destructible environments. DK can punch through virtually any surface, terraforming large swaths of the game world to search for secrets, create makeshift platforms, and even new paths to clear levels. The simple act of punching through the ground never got old, feeling as revolutionary as the act of jumping in a 3D space was in Super Mario 64. Pair all of that with grand boss battles and a host of awesome power-ups, and it is arguably a strong contender for one of the best platformers of all-time.
With the Switch 2 continuing its successful run of incredible first and third-party games, it’s gonna be hard to top this one for a while.
*
1 – Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
The state of major, triple-A action-adventure games is in a dire spot at the moment, with most experiences feeling like algorithmic messes that don’t do much to push the genre (or medium) forward. There is a high I have been chasing for almost ten years since I first played Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Hideo Kojima’s 2015 opus was, in my opinion, the peak of what action games could be, thanks to the unparalleled freedom it offered up to players, as well as intricate mechanics that no game has been able to replicate since. The act of interacting with its large, open-ended maps was a joy, and I have never felt so immersed in a video game since then (Red Dead Redemption II obviously comes close, but that’s a much slower experience overall).
Kojima seems to understand MGS V’s impact (and maybe read my mind) because 2025’s Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is the follow-up to Phantom Pain I not only wanted, but so desperately needed in a sea of uninteresting games. Featuring an enhanced combat suite that allowed for great improvisation and a huge open-world brimming with so much to see and do, it’s the type of game that begs to be lived in. The loop of prepping for a delivery and seeing what distractions I can find on my route was a joy, as was the very intentional movement system that forced me to slowly, yet effectively, complete any quest to the best of my abilities.
I also loved Sam’s story of connecting a shattered world. This science-fiction tale echoes the likes of David Brin’s The Postman, forcing me to reconcile with my fears of living in a deeply broken country as well as the anxiety I feel over someday wanting kids. It’s a big, beautiful, and sometimes messy experience and arguably one of this generation’s defining games.
Welcome to the end of the year, everyone! Somehow we all got here, seriously, and that means it’s time for our annual roundup of stories and events over the last year. I’m sure that some of these will have people saying that they were not surprised by anything that happened over the course of 2025, in […]
Update 7: Wake of the Water didn’t just add a lot of new elements to Enshrouded, it also had a lot of balance changes that shifted what the best builds are.
There is honestly a bit of everything when it comes to strong builds in this game! There are powerful archers who dominate from range, brawling barbarians that never stop swinging, and otherworldly spellcasters that decimate their foes.
Now, let’s look at 5 of the best builds in the game. We guarantee that at least one of them will fit your preferences!
Best Builds After Update 7 | Enshrouded: Wake of the Water
Assassin – Dagger Specialist
To start with, we have the Assassin build. This one focuses on using daggers and bows, both of which scale with the Dexterity stat. This is convenient for building, and it’s a stat that also got some buffs with the latest update!
The main advantage of this build is going all out and dealing insane burst damage. On top of that, you’ll be quite versatile and mobile. You’ll be ready to take on anything the game throws at you!
This is even better if you can manage to use stealth to get quick sneak attacks. These can instantly kill or at least greatly weaken enemies. That said, stealth isn’t exactly super reliable in this game, so it’s not your main focus.
As a bonus, this build can also make great use of daggers that add effects such as Poison. This gives you some consistent damage over time on top of your high burst damage.
When it comes to the skills to look out for, you’ll mainly want to focus on the Beastmaster skill tree and any Dexterity and Endurance skills.
There are hundreds of skills in this game, so we’ll simplify things by giving some of the must-have standouts:
Battle Heal
Dagger Master
Expose Weakness
Multishot
Quick Reflex Block
Ranger
Slice and Dice
Venomous Blades
Wizard – All Your Spellcasting Needs
If you want the spellcaster power fantasy, this is the build for you. It focuses entirely on using the staff and wand alongside with a focus on the Intelligence and Spirit stats.
Basically, you’ll want to raise your Intelligence as much as possible to boost your damage. Then, supplement by building up your Spirit to increase your Mana pool, allowing for more casts.
As you can imagine, this build is a master of the elements and is capable of dishing out insane damage. Both single-target and area-of-effect damage, too!
The main drawback is, of course, you’re going to be purely a glass cannon. You don’t get a lot of survivability, as you will want to focus purely on damage. But hey, you can’t die if you kill all of your enemies first, right?
When it comes to your Skill selection, you want to focus primarily on anything that boosts your Intelligence and Spirit. That aside, here are some of the must-have standouts to go for:
Blink
Mass Destruction
Radiant Aura
Water Aura
Wizard
Barbarian – Two-Handed Brawler
If the previous builds aren’t really your playstyle, how about we swing things to the opposite end? The Barbarian build focuses all in on using two-handed weapons and being sturdy enough to survive any brawl!
With this build, you’ll mainly want to focus on Strength for damage and Constitution to boost your health. Your weapon of choice will be any two-handed weapon, though you’ll also want to keep a bow or wand around for utility.
With this setup, you’ll have an easy time with all melee encounters. Your damage and Health pool will allow you to outlive most of your foes with ease!
The one downside is, of course, your lack of ranged options. You can use a bow or wand for some utility and ranged combat but… well, your stats just mean they’ll do very little damage. Only use in case of emergency!
With all of that said, here are some of the key skills you want to grab:
Any Skill that fits the damage type of your weapon of choice (Cutting for greatswords, for example)
Backstab Damage
Barbarian
Battle Heal
Blood Rage
Feast
Jump Attack
Battlemage – Tank and Cast
How about mixing things up? A versatile spellcasting build that can also do well in melee-range encounters! Basically, a more sturdy spellcaster choice, if the Wizard before sounded too squishy for your taste.
This build focuses mainly on survivability and utility. Your weapons of choice will be a wand with a shield for most occasions, with a staff as a secondary choice for ranged combat.
Using the wand as your main weapon also has the benefit of making Mana management a lot easier. It restores Mana naturally, allowing you to not run out as easily in longer encounters!
For your stats, you’ll mainly focus on Intelligence to boost your damage and Constitution to give you a larger Health pool. You’ll really be going all in on the idea of being a tanky mage!
The main drawback of this build is that it doesn’t have the best damage output. It sacrifices potential magic damage for survivability. Also, you’ll need to get comfortable with swapping between both of your weapons often.
Now, when it comes to skills, these are the main ones to look out for:
Blink
Life Burst
Shared Misery
Tower
Unity
Wand Master
Water Aura
Archer – Ranged Supremacy
This list started with a bow user, so we figure it’s only fitting to end with a different flavor of bow user! In fact, this is basically a reverse of that build, as you’ll use your bow as your primary and your daggers as a backup.
As before, you’ll mainly focus on Dexterity to boost your damage. However, you’ll also want to invest in Intelligence to benefit from some skills that boost your survivability. Water Aura is the biggest example of this.
Since you’ll stay out of range from most enemies, this is also a very safe build with great survivability. The damage isn’t lacking either, even when dealing with groups!
The main weakness of this build is that focusing purely on bows can be very resource-intensive. You’ll often have to scavenge a lot to craft your high-end arrows, like Explosive Arrows. Plus, progression can be rough until you get some unlocks like the Eternal Ice Arrow.
With that said, here’s a quick list of the main skills to aim for:
Chain Reaction
Multishot
Ranger
Sharpshooter
Shell Shock
Water Aura
And with that, we finish this list of the best Enshrouded builds after Update 7 – Wake of the Water!
It Takes A War - the new game from Thomas Mackinnon, developer of The Corridor - opens in a way that few single-player games do: by pretending to check your Internet connection and microphone before dropping you into the first round of a fake, Counter-Strike-inspired deathmatch game.
As you run through the TDM_FILTH map, gunning down the enemy team with a small variety of generic weapons, the rest of your team is filled out with a squad of players who all clearly know each other and have a history of playing games together. You're the lone rando, and you're told your microphone privileges will only activate once you've played a match through to completion.
In other words, you can't join in on the conversation, but you're going to have to listen to it. What feels like it's going to be a quick game soon turns into something else entirely: a seemingly never-ending, increasingly existential experience, one that you're going to have to ride out with these strangers.
Source: Steam
I'm going to do that annoying rhetorical thing where I admit that I have to really talk around It Takes A War somewhat in this article. I'm not going to say you should go into the game completely blind - I would like you to stick around to read this piece, after all. This isn't a game predicated on a massive twist so much as it does a bunch of fun and interesting stuff across its 45-odd minute runtime. I can say that the game gets weird in ways that I liked, that I'm comfortable recommending it to anyone who likes interesting narrative experiments, and leave it at that.
What I can say, without spoiling any of that weirdness, is that It Takes A War is a single-player game about playing games with your friends. Perhaps more pointedly, it's about your friend list - that list of people on your system that you, ostensibly, could jump into a game with at any time. If you're anything like me, you've accumulated a lot of people on your friend lists across multiple consoles over the years.
It could be that you have a dedicated group of people you play with often. Perhaps you'll go online one day and see an old friend playing the same game you wanted to jump in on, and you'll join their game, giving them a little thrill as they see (and perhaps shoot at) a familiar face. Maybe, like me, you really enjoy seeing what other people are playing, but don't often jump into games with them anymore.
The story in It Takes A War is about a group of friends who play together, and a conflict that has arisen within the group. Is this friendship, which has become so built upon these games, an equal friendship? Does it extend beyond the game they're all playing together? The game - which is somewhere between a shooter, an art piece, and a very light horror experience - explores these questions with your teammates before turning the question right back on you.
Source: Steam
The way it represents that conflict is interesting, and I won't spoil it here; suffice to say that it tapped into something I was already feeling - a sort of melancholy for the increasingly quiet online spaces of my life, the ones I still pop my head in on without engaging as directly as I used to.
I'm in my late 30s now, and it's been a long time since I last got seriously invested in an online team-based game. Back in the Xbox 360 days, I would play online with friends regularly, jumping in at various points throughout any given week to see what the folks on my friend list - a mix of real-life and online pals - were playing. We jumped between different games regularly, but tended to concentrate on shooters - lots of Call of Duty, lots of Halo, and a dabble in Gears of War. The one that sticks out the most in my mind is Battlefield: Bad Company 2, a game that I would reliably play with these friends a few times a week over a period of at least several months - possibly as long as a year.
Now and then, I'll look through my friend list on each system. On every list, there are people who have simply disappeared, both from my friend list and, by extension, my life. The Xbox friend list is the worst offender for what I think are probably obvious reasons, but all my other friend lists also contain people who simply stopped logging in one day.
Many of them are people I met on gaming forums that no longer exist, or social media that I no longer post to, or through my work as a writer, where I've seen so many people exit. I see their names and remember that we were once people who played together, as younger adults. I think about the parts of my life that have changed since we played together, and I wonder about the ways their lives have changed, too.
Screenshot taken by author
Recently, I made my Steam activity private for work reasons I won't get into here. It means that whenever I log in and play a game - including It Takes A War - no one can see that I'm doing it, and to anyone who monitors their friend list and sees my name, it'll look like I have not played any games on Steam in a few months. To people whose only remaining connection to me was their Steam friend list, it might look like I'm disappearing, too. They can't see that I am playing this game and thinking about them.
It Takes A War understands this melancholy. The shooter you're playing is pointedly out of date, the sort of game that you might have enjoyed with less irony 20-odd years ago over a crappy Internet connection - a throwback to a different time. It's the kind of game I more actively seek out now; a short, single-player, narrative-driven experience that gives me something to think about and then lets me move on. It's somewhat ironic that it has left me thinking about the past so much.
To all the old friends who made those Xbox 360 shooters so fun to play online, and to all the folks on my PlayStation, Nintendo, and Steam lists who simply stopped logging in one day - hello, I hope you're still out there, and I hope you're well.
