007 First Light, Kirby Air Riders, The Outer Worlds 2 and more – the 11 best things we saw at Gamescom 2025 -

Welcome to TechRadar Gaming’s first-ever Best of Gamescom awards!

To celebrate the best of what we saw at the show this year, we’ve handed out awards (mostly in person on the show floor) to the games and hardware products that really caught our eye and blew us away at Gamescom 2025.

From blockbuster experiences to surprise favorites, and from games on the cusp of release to some belting hardware (and even a couple of things we’ll have to wait to reveal), there was a lot to get excited about in Cologne this year.

There were no specific categories this year, so each of the below recipients is simply one of the best things we saw at Gamescom 2025 and should be celebrated as such.

With that out of the way, let’s get into the winners…

007 First Light

(Image credit: Future/IOI)

My 007 First Light preview was one of my earliest appointments at Gamescom 2025, but an instant winner and one of the best things I saw. Period.

I was immediately hooked by the first gameplay demo of IO Interactive’s globetrotting, action-packed James Bond adventure, and can confirm that it looks absolutely brilliant.

It seems like a refreshing take on the international spy and, even in the short demo I saw, there are brilliant elements taken from some of the best of the film series. I spotted plenty of Tomorrow Never Dies, Thunderball, and more, be it through the bombastic car chases or gripping airport gunfights.

Throw in the studio’s stealth expertise, a superb repertoire of varied gadgets, and even the slick way everything appears on screen with your HUD, and the game has the makings of an instant classic. It’s a deserving Best of Gamescom 2025 Awards winner.

Rob Dwiar, Managing Editor, TechRadar Gaming

Kirby Air Riders

Nintendo TechRadar Gaming's Best of Gamescom 2025 award — (Image credit: Future/Nintendo)

Kirby Air Riders does what director Masahiro Sakurai’s games typically do best: offering a highly accessible game that can be enjoyed by just about anyone, while also being an absurd amount of fun.

The changes to this Switch 2 successor compared to the GameCube original are extremely welcome, such as having a menagerie of riders to choose from and a revamped City Trial mode that’s somehow even more chaotic than the original. There’s even support for online play for up to 16 players.

I loved my time previewing Kirby Air Riders at Gamescom 2025, and I can see it replacing Mario Kart World as my go-to racing game on Nintendo’s newest console.

Rhys Wood, Hardware Editor, TechRadar Gaming

Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight

The sense of fun and ease of play on show in my Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight preview won me over as soon as I picked up the controller and pressed start. The voice acting, writing, and overall style here are fantastic, nailing Batman’s melee combat, tools, and movement. It all translates beautifully to the world of Lego.

The open world is a wonderful, bricky adaptation of Gotham City, which is a joy to explore, whether you’re zipping about with a grappling hook, gliding from its many tall buildings, or careening the Batmobile through its narrow streets. Even the design of the sound of smashing up containers and hoovering up Lego studs around the city is wonderful.

It made an immediate impression at Gamescom 2025, and I can’t wait to play more.

Asus ROG Swift OLED PG27AQWP-W

Asus TechRadar Gaming's Best of Gamescom 2025 award — (Image credit: Future/Asus)

It looks like Asus has pulled out all the stops with its mega flagship ROG Swift OLED PG27AQWP-W monitor revealed at Gamescom 2025. Going big on dual-mode resolutions, this screen offers gamers a 540Hz refresh rate at 2560×1440, or a frankly ludicrous 720Hz refresh rate at 1080p.

It’s perfect for those who enjoy gaming at the sweet spot of 1440p, while still craving the option of unadulterated speed at a lower resolution. The screen also packs in a bunch of new features, such as Asus’ Tandem OLED tech and the brand’s ‘TrueBlack Glossy’ panel to offer serious boosts to color, contrast, and brightness, all while attempting to combat burn-in.

Its design also won a lot of points for doing something different, with a quite cool half-exposed rear (ooh la la). There’s a lot going on here, and all of it made for one of the coolest bits of hardware we saw at the show.

Dying Light: The Beast

I didn’t think that yet another hands-on session with Dying Light: The Beast could get me even more excited for the game than I already was, but here we are! Seeing a new side of the game in the form of a fully fleshed-out side quest, I was impressed by what Kyle Crane and Castor Woods have to offer.

The extra time in the oven looks to be bearing fruit: I was blown away by some of the detail on offer, with what I can only describe as ‘directional gore’ – appearing on zombies to perfectly match your strikes – being particularly memorable. Seeing a short quest in action from start to end also successfully whetted my appetite for the game’s side content, with what I saw proving well done and gripping in its own right.

Not long until its release, of course, but this one is set to be something special – and certainly stands among the best things I played at Gamescom 2025.

Onimusha: Way of the Sword

Onimusha TechRadar Gaming's Best of Gamescom 2025 award — (Image credit: Future/IOI/MGM/Turtle Beach/Lego/WB Games)

While Resident Evil Requiem dripped with atmosphere and Pragmata impressed with puzzle-shooter hybrid gameplay, Onimusha: Way of the Sword was easily my Capcom game of the show at Gamescom 2025.

Protagonist Miyamoto Musashi is entrancingly charismatic, and combat feels brilliantly tactile (especially those satisfying sword clashes during the demo’s final boss fight).

Those other two Capcom titles might well get the lion’s share of headlines, but if you want a classic-feeling action game next year, make sure you don’t sleep on this one when it drops.

Turtle Beach Racer

Turtle Beach TechRadar Gaming's Best of Gamescom 2025 award — (Image credit: Future/Turtle Beach)

Another one of the standout pieces of hardware at Gamescom 2025 was the Turtle Beach Racer, an entry-level racing wheel that offers wireless connectivity and up to 30 hours of battery life, at least according to the brand.

Of course, because of the possibility of added latency, serious sim racers might not think much about going wireless, but the Racer is clearly more geared towards casual players, first-time wheelers, and younger audiences.

On that note, my time playing Dirt 5 with the wheel made that game feel more enjoyable than on a standard controller, and for games with looser, arcade-style handling, the Racer seems like it will be an excellent fit.

The Outer Worlds 2

While I certainly enjoyed my time with Obsidian’s previous game, Avowed, I couldn’t help but feel it left much on the table in terms of immersion and player agency. In its opening chapter, my The Outer Worlds 2 preview felt like it’s going to address such complaints, with an impressive introductory level where the developer gets to stretch its immersive sim bona fides while still offering a quality first-person RPG experience.

I was already finding secret areas, bribing overzealous guards, sneaking through hidden air ducts, and making use of the returning time dilation feature to plant bullets into skulls before the laws of physics could even begin to catch up. It was a fantastic introduction to the upcoming game and one of the strongest things I played at the show. Fingers crossed that quality carries through to the full release.

Silent Hill f

I’ll be the first to admit I was skeptical when Konami announced it was taking a new stab at its cult horror universe with Silent Hill f. Silent Hill: The Short Message failed to capture the eerie magic of its predecessors, and while I enjoyed Bloober Team’s remake of Silent Hill 2, I wasn’t convinced it was a true successor to the original.

However, after spending three hours whacking contorted mannequins, evading a menacing crimson wind, and solving head-scratching puzzles as the hairs on my arms stood on end in Silent Hill f, those worries have begun to fade away.

The demo disoriented me immediately, providing only a brief flashback to frame its new teen protagonist, Hinako, before dropping me into a stark new setting.

Shrouded in mist and operating in near-suffocating silence, I set out on my way, learning to survive with the limited resources and cryptic notes that littered the prickly rural Japanese world. Its opening is an intriguing and unnerving jaunt, and after a lengthy preview session, I’m eager to unravel Hinako’s story when it launches later this month.