Finding the PS5 games my kids want most this Christmas is a challenge, since I have three kids at three very different stages of life with other interests. My oldest is more of a lifestyle simulator kid, while my middle one much prefers LEGO and superhero games. My youngest will play anything that keeps his interest, but the faster paced the better. Finding games for each of them can be a challenge, but finding ones they can all play together feels impossible sometimes. These X games combine all of the above to hopefully help ease the headache of holiday shopping for some parents.
It seems like only yesterday that the PS5 was the hottest gift of the season, but now you can find the updated version in pretty much every store in America. Whether you already have a PS5 or plan on making this the year you get one, 2025 is an excellent year for holiday PlayStation releases.
I decided to share this list early because over the next few months, we will see some highly anticipated titles being released, and those releases will include a few under-the-radar indie games.
‘Octopath Traveler 0’ Might Be The Sneakiest Find This Season (Rated: T)
Sometimes two ideas come together to make something beautiful, and that’s what is hopefully happening here. Octopath Traveler 0 takes an unconventional approach because, while there have already been a few console Octopath Traveler games, this console version is actually a prequel to a mobile game. That said, it’s on our family’s PS5 list for Christmas.
Octopath Traveler 0 plays dual roles as a lifestyle sim and an RPG. The game begins with your town destroyed and you seeking revenge. Before you do that, though, you have to start rebuilding your town. It looks like this will be an ongoing element of the game, since part of your adventures will involve exploring and gathering items to bring back to the town. You can also continuously upgrade your village, and many building upgrades change the building’s function. For those kids who love RPG combat, there is plenty of that too.
I think this is going to be the perfect game for my family this year because my oldest will love building her town while my youngest will love exploring and fighting all the villains. While the game has an official T rating, it is ultimately up to parents’ discretion, as the animation style is 2D pixel art. With a reported December 4th, 2025, release date, the developers are cutting it close, but hopefully, this game will be worth the wait.
‘Dragon Quest 1 & 2’ May Be The Perfect Marriage Of Nostalgia And New Age (Rated: E10+)
Sometimes I have to be careful and remember that my nostalgia isn’t always what my kids are looking for. Still, this time the original Dragon Quest games received updates for newer consoles, and gamer parents can’t wait to relive their childhoods with their kids. It looks like the classic JRPG is getting a fresh look and new mechanics, while still staying true to the story that made it so popular.
The Dragon Quest franchise is one of the original party-based RPGs, and almost every RPG in this style has built off the original. That being said, Dragon Quest 2 also had to build off the original, so I’m not convinced my kids will love the first game as much as the second one, but it’s one of those things you have to do in chronological order. I love everything about this game —from the graphics to the storytelling to the gameplay, which makes it perfect for the whole family.
I’ve been getting my oldest into RPGs, so hopefully this becomes one of the PS5 games they appreciate the most when it’s finally time to play on Christmas day. With an E10+ rating and 2D pixel graphics, there isn’t much trouble there for younger kids to get into. Dragon Quest 1 & 2 releases on October 30th, 2025, giving parents plenty of time before the holiday season.
‘Lumines: Arise’ Proves Puzzle Games Work On The Console (Rated: E)
When most people think of puzzle and word games, they usually think about the kind of mobile games that replaced the old puzzle books. While most people play video games to escape, some find it relaxing to think outside the box. Even if puzzle games don’t seem like your child’s thing, every once in a while, a game comes along so intriguing and immersive that it will grab your attention, even if it is a puzzle game.
Lumines: Arise is available on both the PS5 and PS5 VR, so don’t worry about buying extra equipment. What looks like a simple puzzle game is anything but when you consider all the factors. While the primary goal of Lumines is to match falling shapes to create larger versions of the same shape, that is the easiest part. In other similar games, when you match your shapes, they disappear – like Tetris, for example. In this game, they don’t disappear until a line on a timer sweeps across the screen. This simple addition adds much more depth and strategy to the game. Combine that with the beautiful music and stunning imagery in the background of each level, and you can see why this is a highly anticipated title.
We have a lot of anxiety in our house, so I like games like this because they force you to forget about everything else for a minute. The game is available on November 11th, 2025, for both PS5 and PS5 VR. If your family does have a PS5 VR headset, this game will look even more stunning and immersive in that setting.
‘Skate Story’ Isn’t Tony Hawk (Rated: E)
Tony Hawk: Pro Skater is undoubtedly one of the biggest video game franchises of the Millennial generation, but the kids don’t flock to it the way their parents did. Skate Story is far less realistic and far more visually stunning than the Pro Skater games. Parents beware: although this game is rated E, the story involves the devil offering a demon their freedom if they can skate to the moon, so it may not be a story all families want their kids taking part in.
When you get right down to the gameplay, this game looks like it is going to be a blast. It is incredibly fast-paced, and the ambiance seems energizing between the flashes of color and the killer soundtrack. Most aspects of a skating game are there, including the ability to perform most skateboard tricks and customize your board. The best part of the game is the aesthetic, but it is genuinely hard to describe. Developers describe it as a world made of glass, offering hints reminiscent of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, albeit in a much darker vein. The scenery shifts constantly, creating an unsettling feeling throughout the game.
This game will likely fly under the radar for a while before becoming a cult hit. It boggles my mind that the developers chose the Devil-and-demons storyline for an otherwise innocuous game, but that was their choice. I’ll still probably get this game because I think it will be fun, and my six-year-old will love the pace. It’s set to release on December 8th, 2025, which doesn’t give parents much time for research, but a demo version is available to get an idea of whether this game is right for their family.
‘Mysplaced’ Is Cutting It Close But Worth The Wait (Rated: E10+)
Full disclosure: This game may not be released before the holidays, but we’re all hoping it is.
Mysplaced is a dungeon-crawling RPG that pays homage to the likes of The Legend of Zelda. This looks like it’s going to be a super-adorable, family-friendly RPG with fun action and mechanics that everyone in the house can use.
At its heart, this is just a hack-and-slash action/adventure RPG where players run around a map looking for treasures and battling anything that attacks them. You find yourself in all types of settings, from dungeons you have to solve puzzles to get out of, to your village, where you can cut down tall grass while looking for items to help you on your quest. For all intents and purposes, this game looks like it is copied and pasted from a long list of similar RPGs with just enough unique qualities to call it a game of its own. If you have an RPG lover like me, Mysplaced looks like it will be a home run.
The developer has promised that this game will be delivered for consoles in quarter four of 2025, so I am going to trust them, despite their tight deadline. I think my kids are going to love this game because not only is it an RPG, it also looks too adorable not to love. Hopefully, more news will come soon with a solid release date so parents can plan their holiday shopping lists.
‘Unbeatable’ May Have Created Its Own Genre (Rated: T)
Video games have been around for quite a while now, and with so many copycats in the industry, anything unique is a breath of fresh air. Unbeatable doesn’t change the way video games are played, but it does change a genre of video games enough that it may have created a genre of its own. When you combine that with the art style that is described as “anime-juiced,” you get a game like nothing you’ve ever seen.
There is a heavy music influence in this game, and a significant part of it is using your controls to keep on beat, which probably sounds like a Guitar Hero-type game to many. However, you are keeping that beat so you can beat up bad guys, flying objects, and the environment around you. The idea sounds simple, but this game may be more challenging than people think. Gameplay is accented by an original soundtrack that is sure to be a hit on its own.
Like many families, my family has been overwhelmed by the KPop Demon Hunters craze. While this game is decidedly more Japanese-influenced than Korean, it still falls within the same wheelhouse of Asian-region-inspired music and animation. My twelve-year-old isn’t as into video games as my other two, but I think this game might change that because she loves music and keeping beat, which is what this game is all about. Unbeatable should be available for purchase on November 9th, 2025.
‘Hot Wheels Let’s Race: Ultimate Speed’ is Perfect for the Young Racer in Your Life (Rated: E)
We are huge into racing games in our house (more Mario Kart, less Need for Speed), but my six-year-old doesn’t quite have the skill level to keep up with the rest of the family. This game may have the dreaded stigma of being based on a TV show, but I think it will be the perfect combination of racing game and real-life play. Hopefully, after a few spins around the Hot Wheels course, he’ll be able to keep up in Mario Kart.
Everything about this game seems like it would be a 5-to 10-year-old boy’s dream. The tracks you race on look like real Hot Wheels tracks, which I personally think is cool, and it plays like most other racing games. While it isn’t as intense as a Mario Kart-type game that requires you to constantly be picking up items to attack others or boost yourself, kids will still need to move their cars to hit boosts and dodge obstacles. Parents beware: there is a constant monologue in this game where the driver cheers every time you hit a boost or jump off a ramp, which gets repetitive pretty quickly. That being said, I love that this game is primarily a racing game with big boss battles, like in a traditional action game, to break up the monotony of driving in circles.
I am going to make this one of the games my kids want most for Christmas because I love the entire idea behind it. I love that it is an easier yet still challenging racing game for younger kids. I love the boss battles that make it more than just a regular old racing game, and I love that it may inspire my son to get off screens and play his own Hot Wheels tracks every once in a while. This game will be available from October 28th, 2025, so there is plenty of time to pick it up.
‘Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024’ Updates This Fan Favorite (Rated: E)
Microsoft Flight Simulator has been around for quite a while, and despite the name of this updated version, it has only been made available on the PS5 in the fourth quarter of this year. This game somehow turned something that should have been a training program into a beloved video game that might save the aviation industry someday. The best part about this game is that it is one of the few games that is just as entertaining for a five-year-old as it is for a seventeen-year-old.
The idea is as simple as it sounds: you get to take control of one of many aircraft and fly them around the world. You can control the plane in first- or third-person view. From the third person, you get to see more of the scenery; however, even in 2025 with PS5 graphics, it isn’t as realistic as one would like. A first-person view gives you a more immersive pilot experience, letting you see all the aviation tools. Flying around is fun enough, but this game also has goals, like advancing your aviation career and taking aerial shots of landmarks, to keep it engaging.
My family loves to travel, and my youngest has always been enamored with the idea of how planes work. I have played versions of this game in the past, so I know how mesmerising it can be, but I know that this will be one of the PS5 games my kids want most this Christmas because my son will love the ability to be in the cockpit. This game has been around on PC for a while, which is why it has that pesky 2024 title, but it isn’t available on console until December 8th, 2025.
A New Year Ahead
There are a few titles that should be on this list that were pushed back until the first quarter of 2026, which stinks, but gives us something to look forward to. Whether your kids are into high-action, puzzles, or RPGs, there is sure to be a PS5 game here that your kids will love, because I know for a fact these are the PS5 games my kids want most this Christmas. Hopefully, by the time they are done with these, the games we’re looking forward to will be out.
