SIMPLY THE BEST

As we hit the midway point of the year, these are the top titles of 2025 so far

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This game is at its best when you are skulking around in the shadows, tracking unsuspecting villains and taking them down.

To help you do that there are some superb additions to the game's stealth mechanics.

Your character can now go prone while hid-ing, and even go under-water thanks to a snorkel-like bamboo reed, which is deployed to allow your character to breathe as they wait for the coast to be clear.

Mercifully, enhancing Naoe and Yasuke’s skills is a much less faffy affair than in previous titles, with their skill trees streamlined to focus on weaponry and specialities, and each skill you unlock feeling like it makes an immediate improvement.

Blue Prince

(PEGI 3) PS5, Xbox X/S, PC This atmospheric, architectural adventure came out of nowhere but has captured the hearts - and minds ~ of many puzzler fans.

Bequeathed an impressive man-sion boasting 45 rooms by your great uncle, you must find a mysterious 46th room to make Mount Holly officially yours.

But there’s a catch.

At night, when the rules say you have to leave the mansion, the rooms move around, setting your search back to square one.

The “centre square” on your search grid is the lobby, from which three doors lead further into the house. Before you open each door you are given a choice on what room you'd like to “draft” behind it - such as a closet, bathroom, guest bedroom, study etc.

‘And so you move through the mansion, shaping and moulding the layout as you go.

Split Fiction

(PEGI 16) PS5, Xbox X/S, PC Authors Mio and Zoe couldn't be more different, but this action-adventure wastes no timer in forcing the two together.

Split Fiction is one of the most inventive games I've played in the last few years.