Best Action Games to Play in 2025

Action games continue to push boundaries in 2025, offering everything from sprawling open worlds to fast-paced, reflex-driven platforming. While combat remains the core of the genre, many games now blend narrative, exploration, and puzzle-solving elements to keep players engaged. The lines between action, adventure, and role-playing games are blurrier than ever, but the best titles stand out by combining tight gameplay, creative design, and immersive worlds. Here’s a look at the top action games for PC and consoles this year.

Best Action Games to Play in 2025

Platformers and Indie Highlights

Indie and platforming games continue to shine in the action space. 30XX on PC offers robot-blasting platforming reminiscent of Mega Man X, while introducing random weapon drops, custom stage creation, and multiple modes. Adventures of Pip delivers a unique pixel-based hero who evolves through different forms, mixing classic side-scrolling gameplay with inventive level design.

Axiom Verge pays homage to the Metroidvania style, offering exploratory 2D action with refined mechanics for newcomers and veterans alike. Carrion turns the genre on its head by letting players control an alien parasite, blending 2D platforming with a creative, if gruesome, combat system. Other standout indie releases include Blazing Chrome, a throwback run-and-gun shooter, and Freedom Planet, a 16-bit-inspired platformer packed with colorful levels and high-speed gameplay.

Gunbrella adds a fresh twist to the Metroidvania formula with its hybrid gun-umbrella weapon, offering players a mix of combat and platforming challenges. These games demonstrate how smaller developers continue to innovate within the action genre while maintaining gameplay that is immediately accessible.

Action-Adventure and Open-World Experiences

Action-adventure games dominate this year, especially with expansive open worlds and narrative depth. Assassin’s Creed Mirage and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla both explore historical settings, focusing on stealth, exploration, and parkour. Mirage revisits the series’ early stealth mechanics in Baghdad, while Valhalla immerses players in Viking-era England, combining open-world exploration with story-driven missions.

Immortals Fenyx Rising blends combat, puzzle-solving, and exploration in a vibrant Greek mythology-inspired world. Meanwhile, Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition brings its post-apocalyptic landscape of robotic creatures to PC, including all expansion content and improved performance. Far Cry Primal takes players back to the Stone Age, emphasizing melee combat and the use of beast companions, creating a more intimate and survival-focused experience.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle leans into puzzle-solving and stealth, offering a cerebral take on action gameplay while still delivering classic whip-swinging moments. These titles showcase the versatility of action-adventure games, balancing storytelling and gameplay in ways that keep players invested.

Mech Combat and Strategy

Mechanized action remains a highlight in 2025, with games like Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon and Daemon X Machina leading the charge. Players can customize mechs, equip diverse loadouts, and engage in fast-paced combat that requires both strategic planning and reflexes.

Traditional combat-focused titles like For Honor challenge players to master knights, vikings, and samurai in precise melee encounters, while Ghostrunner delivers high-intensity first-person combat in a cyberpunk setting. These games reward skill, timing, and tactical thinking, appealing to players who enjoy both strategy and action.

Stylized and Narrative-Driven Action

Many of 2025’s standout action games emphasize style and narrative. Bayonetta continues to define character-action gameplay with intricate combat and over-the-top sequences. Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition and Devil May Cry 5 both offer players multiple combat styles, blending fast-paced action with technical depth.

God of War reimagines its formula through Norse mythology, pairing methodical combat with an emotionally resonant story focused on Kratos and his son. Death Stranding combines stealth, survival, and action in a post-apocalyptic world, while Hi-Fi Rush mixes rhythm-based combat with comic book-inspired visuals and humorous storytelling. Other narrative-heavy action games like Batman Arkham City and Blasphemous 2 balance story, level design, and combat mechanics to create memorable experiences.

Multiplayer and Competitive Action

Multiplayer action remains popular with games like Fall Guys Ultimate Knockout, a chaotic obstacle course game that pits up to 60 players against each other. Bomb Rush Cyberfunk and the updated Jet Set Radio bring skating, tagging, and urban-inspired action to modern platforms, mixing nostalgia with new gameplay mechanics. These games highlight the social and competitive aspects of action gaming, offering fast-paced fun for solo and online players alike.

Classic and Retro-Inspired Titles

Retro and classic action games also continue to attract attention. The Disney Afternoon Collection brings classic platformers such as DuckTales and Chip n Dale Rescue Rangers to modern systems with updated graphics and quality-of-life features. Cuphead combines challenging run-and-gun gameplay with animation inspired by 1920s and 1930s cartoons. En Garde focuses on precise swordplay in a Spanish-themed beat-em-up format. These titles combine nostalgia with refined mechanics, appealing to both long-time fans and new players.

Final Thoughts

The action genre in 2025 is diverse, ranging from indie platformers and mech combat titles to expansive open-world adventures and narrative-driven experiences. Players can explore historical settings, mythical realms, or futuristic cyberpunk cities while mastering combat systems and strategic gameplay. Whether drawn to fast-paced action, puzzle-solving, or competitive multiplayer, the best games of 2025 offer engaging experiences that demonstrate the genre’s continued evolution and appeal. Here’s the complete list of games mentioned:

1. 30XX
2. Adventures of Pip
3. Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon
4. Assassin’s Creed Mirage
5. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
6. Axiom Verge
7. Batman: Arkham City
8. Bayonetta
9. Blasphemous 2
10. Blazing Chrome
11. Bomb Rush Cyberfunk
12. Carrion
13. Cuphead
14. Daemon X Machina
15. Darksiders III
16. Death Stranding
17. Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition
18. Devil May Cry 5
19. The Disney Afternoon Collection
20. En Garde
21. Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout
22. Far Cry Primal
23. For Honor
24. Freedom Planet
25. Ghostrunner
26. God of War
27. Gunbrella
28. Hi-Fi Rush
29. Horizon Zero Dawn: Complete Edition
30. Immortals Fenyx Rising
31. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
32. Jet Set Radio

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best action games in 2025?

Top action games released or anticipated in 2025 include the samurai and assassin roles in Assassin's Creed: Shadows, the dark folktale adventure of South of Midnight, and the surreal, colorful turn-based combat of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Other notable games are the open-world combat of The First Berserker: Khazan and the high-stakes monster hunting in Monster Hunter Wilds.

What are the best action games for PC in 2025?

Some of the top action games for PC in 2025 include highly anticipated titles like Assassin's Creed Shadows, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Monster Hunter Wilds, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which combine stealth, combat, and exploration. Other critically acclaimed games include the medieval RPG Kingdom Come: Deliverance II and the combat-focused Helldivers 2.

Which new action games are coming in 2025?

Major action games expected in 2025 include Borderlands 4, Assassin's Creed Shadows, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, Monster Hunter Wilds, Dying Light: The Beast, Ghost of Yōtei, and The Outer Worlds 2. Other notable upcoming titles are Crimson Desert, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and Mafia: The Old Country.

Which are the No. 1 action games so far in 2025?

There is no single "No. 1" action game for 2025 yet, as rankings are subjective and depend on the source and specific criteria like sales or critical acclaim.However, highly acclaimed and selling action titles this year include the highly anticipated Assassin's Creed Shadows and Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, alongside the critically praised Doom: The Dark Ages and the conclusion to a major story arc in Destiny 2: The Final Shape.