Update []: Over 700 votes later, and our official Game of the Month for March 2025 has been decided.
Despite stiff competition across a strong period for new PS5 releases, Assassin's Creed Shadows ended up sweeping the voting process by some distance.
Here are the top PS5 games of last month, as voted by Push Square readers:
- Assassin's Creed Shadows - 275 votes (39%)
- Split Fiction - 153 votes (22%)
- Atomfall - 97 votes (14%)
- Suikoden 1 & 2 HD Remaster - 48 votes (7%)
- The First Berserker: Khazan - 47 votes (7%)
Ubisoft's rock solid open worlder has clearly resonated. While many onlookers have been critical of Shadows' often formulaic structure, plenty of fans have been waiting years for the franchise to explore Japan — and the setting itself is one of the game's greatest strengths.
"While Assassin's Creed Shadows is unlikely to win over those who struggled to push through Odyssey or Valhalla, this is still one of the strongest overall entries in the series — and arguably the best of the open world RPG bunch," is what we wrote in our 8/10 Assassin's Creed Shadows PS5 review.
The developer's also promised plenty of post-launch support, so it's not hard to picture Shadows becoming a better and better experience as time goes by — especially when the expansions start dropping.
Congratulations, Naoe and Yasuke; your legend will love on forever amongst our celebrated Game of the Month winners.
Original Story: Historically, March has always been a busy month for new releases, as publishers look to squeeze things out just before the end of the fiscal year — and March 2025 was no different.
Last month was peppered with new PS5 games of all shapes and sizes, with extremely highly rated co-op romp Split Fiction kicking things off in the first week. The dreadfully named Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars arrived just a couple of days later, serving up something completely different.
Variety really was the key word for March's schedule; it simply doesn't get much more diverse than a selection consisting of indie gem Wanderstop, wrestling sim WWE 2K25, remastered strategy title Age of Mythology: Retold, post-apocalyptic adventure Atomfall, hardcore action RPG The First Berserker: Khazan, and anime fighter Bleach: Rebirth of Souls.
Meanwhile, March's heaviest hitter had to be Assassin's Creed Shadows, which finally launched after being delayed multiple times. Ubisoft's open worlder did really well review-wise, and seems to have struck a chord with many an Assassin's Creed fan.
Now then, with the preamble out of the way, it's time to consider your Game of the Month for March.
These are our Game of the Month winners, as voted by you, in 2025 so far:
- January: Ninja Gaiden 2 Black
- February: Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
So, what was your Game of the Month for March 2025? Decide Push Square's official winner in our poll, and then explain your decision in the comments section below.
Voting closes on Friday the 4th April 2025, at 00:00 BST.
What was your favourite PS5 game of March 2025? (708 votes)
- Age of Mythology: Retold
- Assassin's Creed Shadows
- Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land
- Atomfall
- Bleach: Rebirth of Souls 0.3%
- Dungeons of Hinterberg 0.4%
- Split Fiction
- Suikoden I & II HD Remaster
- The First Berserker: Khazan
- Wanderstop 0.1%
- WWE 2K25
- Other
Comments 54
Shadows by far, its easily become one of my fav AC games
Bleach new game came out and than that was that 👀
Could definitely picture Split Fiction winning game of the year. That is if GTA 6 doesn’t release in time 🤔
Assassin's Creed Shadows is a really great game but being the JRPG nerd I am my vote goes to Atelier Yumia. Amazing game and having fun exploring the map and doing all the pioneering missions and base building etc.
It's Yumia all the way.
I'm still catching up on February! But of the list Split Fiction for me
Atomfall.
It's just brilliant. Almost a 10/10.
I voted for Suikoden 1 & 2, but The First Berserker: Khazan could easily take its place. I’m currently playing it and it’s fantastic, and probably the best Soulslike mechanically than any other game in the genre.
Shadows. I am enjoying this game a lot but I also recognise that it's ahead by a country mile partly because of there being very little competition.
Split Fiction, a game I'm yet to play, seems to be a well deserved second place.
Split Fiction, easy peasy
Ac Shadows for me the best AC game in a while and the world is absolutely gorgeous.
Joining the Split Fiction bandwagon. The game is absolutelly excellent.
I’m feeling rather divided so I’ll just make one up.
@Kraven I concur on First Berserker. PS's review fell short for me. The combat is top tier, and it's far more in the vein of Nioh than a traditional Souls game.
Assassin's Creed Shadows and Atomfall. I do plan to check out The First Berserker Khazan eventually
Not played split fiction but imagine that would be number one if I had of.
Played Shadows and got bored but loving Atomfall. Great game. That got my vote
Will be loading up AC Shadows for the first time tonight, I think.
But it's really good to see a game like Split Fiction get a huge following. Not really the type of thing I play, but from what I've heard it's a good one and full of charm.
@Anke I'm loving it. Just taking it slow. Exploring. Soaking the world in
Found a Last of the summer wine Easter egg earlier. Never been a fan of that show as I'm in my 70s but I recognised the gag
Shadows is the only new game I've played this year lol
The sheer disrespect towards AI Limit
Voted for Split Fiction. I’ve only gotten maybe 3 hours in it, but the creativity is there. It’s fantastic. I know that, when my wife and I finally play through it, we’ll probably say it’s one of the best co-op games we’ve played.
I’ve got maybe 20 hours in Shadows and it’s a solid runner-up.
Both games top anything else so far this year by a sizable margin for me.
Suikoden 1 & 2 HD got my vote
Not bought any of those yet so no idea 😂
It's always the dark, depressing, and gritty games that get the top number of votes. To coin a popular anime term, there are SO many edgelords out there lol. 😅
In 10 years, people will talk much more about Split Fiction than about AC Shadows.
Atelier Yumia of course.
All those praising of Assassin's Creed looks like going to McDonald's and singing odes to big mac.
@Shizzlebob19 @Kraven I agree. The review for khazan sold the game short and gives people who were looking forwards to this the wrong impression. The combat which was described as inconsistent is the star of the show in my opinion and its just a superb and challenging game. It never feels cheap or unfair and rewards the player well with each boss encounter. My game of the month without a doubt.
@Enuo I'm intrigued by AI limit. I really enjoyed code vein so would I enjoy this?
@Northern_munkey Probably. It like if Code Vein had better game feel
@Enuo I'll stick it on my list..👍
Split Fiction.
That game is revolutionary.
@Northern_munkey Agreed one hundred percent. Thankfully, PS’s review was an outlier compared to other places. I think is a combination of a lot of Souls’ games and its counterparts. The difficulty of From Soft, blocking and parrying in Sekiro, dodging quickly like in Bloodborne, level design and overall movement similar to NiOh. It’s a combination of all those games and it does it damn near flawlessly.
Split Fiction is the only one I have bought. I do really want to play Shadows but I’m not buying another big open world game till I am done with KCD2 which is going to be a long way off I think.
Shadows
Atomfall (my number one if not for Shadows)
Age of Mythology
My choice is Petit Island.
Release date : 14 March 2025
Such a cute cozy adventure game with anthropomorphic animals. 😊
No Venus Vacation Prism: Dead or Alive Xtreme, huh?
(I haven't played that or anything else new)
@Dalamar can't really comment if you haven't played it. It's actually fantastic that's why it's winning the poll
Damn... Nobody playing First Berserker? You guys are missing out lol
AC Shadows. I’m not a fan of the modern RPG AC games (prefer Classic AC) but this game is great. I was worried that Yasuke would feel forced and pandering but it works. The dual characters doesn’t make sense (because how can you play as two genetically unrelated characters?). But the game feels more serious than the previous RPG AC games (none of the forced same-sex relationships which amount to nothing). As a gay person myself I hated the dlc retcon in Odyssey that forced a hetero encounter to make sense of the lineage aspect, when I had played the main game as a gay person. Obviously a gay person of that era could not continue the bloodline. Unless they changed the lore so anyone can access the memories of anyone without the genetic connection? I haven’t finished the main storyline in Shadows yet.
Bleach gave us new canon information so it should be hire but I guess there's not many fans here huh 🤔
@Drago201 - It is an option, but pretty much no-one’s picking it (myself included).
———
As much as I wish I could say Bleach, unfortunately the game didn’t quite turn out as well as I hoped it would (though I’d still say it’s decent overall) so that leaves me with the sole other new game I played this month; Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which, while not a revolutionary game, is probably one of the better entries in the series, and a gorgeous looking game in general.
@FullMetalWesker I haven't played much myself but I went with suikoden I actually platinumed that game much to the detriment of that godforesaken dancing mini game and it was amazing
Atelier Yumia and The First Berserker: Khazan.
Oh and maybe Atomfall.
The First Berserker Khazan for me. Can't stop playing. I really like the variety of enemies and level design. I also enjoyed Split fiction. Had a lot of fun with my daughter
This poll is Two Point Museum erasure.
@DennisReynolds Totally agree! The setting alone makes it fantastic. So far, Origins is still my fav, but I haven't finished Shadows yet, so that might change. Definitely top 5 already, though.
@UltimateOtaku91 Would Yumia be a good starting point for someone who has never played an Atelier game before?
@Foxhound Yes I would reccomend it, it's more streamlined and more about exploring than the other Atelier games, feels more modern. Also there's no connection to previous games.
Although I’m yet to play it (i do have a physical copy on the shelf), a worthy winner… for the furore alone 🍿😏
Like 4 games top of head that tops the list
Seems like people still like Ubisoft colour by numbers games 🤷♂️
Keep going strong, Assassin's Creed Shadows. Carry on!!!
@Oram77 I'm an older gamer and I'm in that "colour by numbers" category.
I don't play games to be challenged anymore. I bought Shadows and immediately bought the map pack and also changed the game mode back to the old classic Ubisoft mode where it shows you exactly where to go for a quest.
I just play to chill and I won't play a game unless I can make significant progress when I spend my precious hour on it. Wandering around for ages looking and failing to find something, or dying and losing all my progress per a Souls game is a no-no.
Am I in a minority or majority?
Well let's put this way, there are a lot of people giving it the big boy talk about how great Breath of the Wild or Elden Ring are because they "don't hold your hand like Ubisoft games", yet I bet you those people spend 90% of their time on Google looking it up...
Show me an Elden Ring/Breath of the Wild player who didn't hit up Google multiple times, and I will show you a liar!
I'd rather the developer just put it directly in the game instead of having to tab out and view some wiki...
Ubisoft did a great job as they made it optional. It's not "colour by numbers" unless you turn it on...
@Cornpop76 My retort would be, what actual risks did Ubisoft do with Shadows? go prone? to me it's still the game as Origins Just set in Japan. Defending the map pack is kinda wild...
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