2025 has been abundant with long-anticipated and critically acclaimed release, with recent indie darling Hollow Knight: Silksong among the first to jump into people’s minds. However, it’s another indie game that has leapt to the top of Metacritic’s highest rated games of 2025, with Hades 2 finally leaving early access and launching version 1.0 on PC and both Switch consoles.
While there’s no word yet of when fans can expect to see this same game arrive on other consoles, this is bound to have players interested – even if they hadn’t played the previous entry in the series.
Hades 2 Reception
It’s worth mentioning that for audiences who didn’t gel with the first Hades game – or those who aren’t interested in rogue-like games in general – Hades 2 is standing firm on its formula for success.
It’s a game that looks to improve on an existing recipe, rather than rewrite the whole rulebook in the way that something like Helldivers 2 did to the first one, for example.
Highest Rated Games of 2025
2025 has so far been a monumental year for games, and many of those topping the Meteoritic’s list have been indie games.
Outside of the Switch 2 remasters of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom (which both scored 95), here are the other top scoring games of the year on Metacritic:
- Hades 2 – 95 (PC)
- Split Fiction – 93 (Xbox)
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – 93 (PS5)
- Hollow Knight: Silksong – 92 (PC)
- Forza Horizon 5 – 92 (PS5)
- Blue Prince – 92 (PC)
- Donkey Kong Bananza – 91 (Switch 2)
- Citizen Sleeper 2 – 90 (PS5)
- Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter – 90 (PS5)
- Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth – 90 (PC)
Could Any Other 2025 Releases Beat Hades 2?
While you can never be sure of what’s going to be an unexpected breakout hit – few might have predicted the runaway success of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, for example.
One of the biggest games still to release this year is Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Yotei (arguably another iterative sequel), which will release on October 2nd.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond could be one to watch, a potential Nintendo high-scorer in the making, and smaller games like Rue Valley might prove a hit with specific audiences.
