PocketGamer.biz's mobile games of the year 2025: Kingshot, Persona 5: The Phantom X, Fire Emblem Shadows
Another year draws to a close, and 2025 has introduced a host of new mobile games to discuss. Here, the PocketGamer.biz team shares their favourite mobile game of the year and highlights some other standout titles.
Paige Cook
Game of the Year: Persona 5: The Phantom X
Recently I was unwell, stuck in bed and one game I decided to try was Persona 5: The Phantom X. I was so impressed I was playing this game on mobile and I’ve been going back to it since.
Now, for context, I’ve not played all the Persona games, but I’m also not totally new to it. I’ve completed the third and fourth games, and I own Persona 5 Royal, but I just never got around to playing it because I know it’s a big game.
So I figured I’d give this a try and see how it works on mobile and while it’s not the best Persona game out there, I don’t think it’s trying to be. Instead, it functions as a fun option for fans who maybe want more Persona in their life without the commitment that comes with a mainline entry, at least that’s how it’s felt for me.
One of its biggest strengths is how well it brings over the series' very distinctive style. The art direction is absolutely amazing and I love the visuals and on my phone, it looks brilliant. Another aspect captured perfectly is the music, those catchy tunes we’re used to in these games that you just can’t help but get them stuck in your head. So far I’ve met familiar and new characters, all of which I’m enjoying too.
The usual calendar system in Persona games has been changed to something better suited to daily mobile play. You still get to choose how to spend your time, but there’s not the intensity of deadlines that you often feel in the main games. At first this felt like a negative for me because I was used to having to choose how to manage my time on these games, but I do understand that changes have been made it make it more casual.
Now I’m used to it I do feel like they have balanced that Persona feel on mobile well and there’s a really fun variety of activities to do without the stress of missing out on something.
Overall, for Persona fans looking for something to scratch the itch that feels familiar but isn’t as demanding of your time, P5X fills a nice space and looks incredible while doing so.
Honourable mention: Resident Evil Survival Unit
I’m not 100% sure how this one will pan out, but I’ve also been enjoying Resident Evil Survival Unit. Now, this may be my extreme bias, because I am a massive Resident Evil fan, so being part of that world is always fun for me.
The game has a lot of different aspects, from base building, battle defence sections, and a more focused set of campaign levels. For me, the real highlight is the campaign levels where you take control of a character and actually walk around, do puzzles and of course take down zombies.
The opening of the game throws you into this gameplay and it made me think, well, why can’t we have a whole Resident Evil game like this on mobile? I don’t mean a port of another game but one made for mobile.
One of my concerns about this game however is that some of the big characters, like Leon, you can only get by paying real money. I always find it a shame when players are totally locked out of earning something and I wonder if it will start to deter players as more characters are added.
Non-mobile game of the year: Death Stranding 2
Aaron Astle
Game of the Year: Fire Emblem Shadows
If you’d asked me three months ago what my favourite new mobile game this year is, I’d have given you a very different answer to the one I’m giving now. That’s because my Game of the Year winner came emerging from the shadows this September with no great fanfare, no hardcore marketing drive, and not even an announcement until the morning it arrived on the Play Store.
That game is Fire Emblem Shadows, Nintendo’s first new mobile release of the 2020s. Six years on from Mario Kart Tour, Shadows has backed up Nintendo’s claim that it’s "continuing to develop new game applications", and further shows us fans we should be ready for anything on the randomest Thursday.
Our avid podcast listeners and data digesters may well be familiar with Fire Emblem Shadows and its fair-to-say lacklustre performance thus far, but for the uninitiated, Shadows is a social deduction Among Us-like game that riffs on Fire Emblem’s grid-based play.
At first, gamers join together to take down enemies in real-time battles, but one among them is secretly an enemy - launching sneak attacks on their allies. Then everyone comes together, votes on who the secret villain is, and they face off in a second round.
As a disciple of light, much of the strategy comes from observing allies’ attack patterns during the first round. As a disciple of shadow, it’s all about strategically striking allies and even yourself to throw others off your scent. Playing for the dark side is more fun, in my opinion; there’s more satisfaction in tricking those pesky do-gooders than in correctly identifying the villain. But, if you are playing the bad guy, the odds still feel stacked against you in the final round whether you tricked everyone or not.
Meanwhile, in the main series, strategy comes from manoeuvring across maps, calculating stats, and surviving slews of turn-based battles. But elements of classic Fire Emblem are still to be found here, from familiar faces to musical Easter Eggs. The music is probably my favourite part of the game, in fact. Fire Emblem always has great soundtracks, and in Shadows, returning characters come with a remixed track from their original game. The game’s worth playing for the great music alone.
It’s also a bizarre, unexpected treat as a Fire Emblem fan to see these returning characters with new art, including an anthropomorphic, monstrous form when they are exposed as the villain… for some reason. Seeing Dimitri, the nuanced, survivors-guilt-ridden leader of the Blue Lions, depicted as an actual lion was not on my bingo card.
Fire Emblem Shadows might not be the most lucrative, best promoted, or even the most refined game of 2025, but its treacherous themes, storyline, and more keep it close enough in-line that it’s hard as a Fire Emblem fan to choose anything else.
Am I biased? Perhaps. But Fire Emblem Shadows is still my Game of the Year 2025, and it needs all the promotion it can get.
Honourable Mention: Umamusume: Pretty Derby
New to the West in 2025, Umamusume: Pretty Derby is a Japanese goliath I’d been writing about for years from the sidelines, so it was an exciting moment to see it arrive overseas. Perhaps even more exciting was seeing friends who aren’t plugged into the internet all day discover it for the first time - watching their facial expressions progress from confused, to doubtful, to intrigued.
The title itself is a racing game, in essence. Horse racing. Except, those horses are actually anime girls with tails and ears. (Confused and doubtful? Check.)
The characters are inspired by real Japanese thoroughbreds and can be obtained through Umamusume’s gacha, its main monetisation model. Then, they’re eligible to train their speed, power, stamina, and other stats to help compete in races.
There’s something strangely satisfying about watching these races - where everyone sprints around a viridescent track overtaking opponents, falling behind, or breaking ahead at the last moment. (Intrigued? Check.)
Non-mobile games of the year: Pokémon Legends Z-A, Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition
Craig Chapple
My Mobile Game of the Year is, without a doubt, Century Games’ Kingshot.
I am a sucker for strategy games. But to be honest, I don’t play mobile 4X strategy games. Historically, there is so much handholding at the start that they effectively reveal themselves to be idle games.
Once the handholding stops, the poor onboarding experience (in my personal opinion) makes way for complex systems that I just find confusing and daunting. The actual crux of the gameplay doesn’t excite me, either.
The new wave of mobile 4X strategy games has refined the experience. Kingshot’s onboarding is best-in-class - Century makes the game feel like fun from the off, and it’s not just an exercise in following instructions.
Kingshot blends Archero-like gameplay and tower defence to bring a more casual flavour to proceedings. (Though as I was informed by Jakub Remiar, the gameplay is remarkably like Thronefall).
The style, meanwhile, also lends itself to a fun, fresh experience, unlike the 4X strategy titles of old. The world feels more alive here.
Century is spearheading the repackaging of the genre into a more casual, approachable experience that maximises the fun and surfaces that over the systems where it generates the most cash.
Honourable mention: New York Times Games
Last year I gave Connections an Honourable Mention. I’ve continued playing the selection of titles from the New York Times this year, including of course Wordle, Spelling Bee, Strands, The Mini and Letter Boxed. I even subscribed when it put The Mini behind the paywall - I am obsessed.
Non-mobile game of the year: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is one of the great games I have ever played. Everything in the package comes together, from the vibrant art style and fantastic turn-based strategy with a real-time element, to the epic and emotional narrative and unforgettable characters.
I heard someone refer to the game's story as more like a piece of literature than narratives you see more often in games. Since I've finished the game, I continue to think about the ending and the theme of loss. Few games stick with you like this one.