Tom's Guide Awards 2025: Our favorite gaming accessories, consoles, controllers and more

There’s never been a better time to be a gamer, especially now that there are so many ways to play your favorite games. Whether it be on a console in front of your TV, on the go with a handheld, fully immersed in your favorite virtual world in VR or even just on your phone through a cloud gaming service, you have plenty of options and we’ve tried them all.

From massive curved gaming monitors, to magnetic-powered keyboards and comfortable gaming headsets that let you hear every footstep, there are also plenty of great accessories to elevate your gaming experience across any platform.

Our team of experts has tested and reviewed the latest consoles, handhelds and gaming accessories for the Tom’s Guide Awards 2025. Below, we highlight the gaming devices and accessories that kept our play sessions going over the last 12 months and have made even the best games more fun to play.

Best console

PS5 Slim

There are really only two candidates at the table when it comes to selecting the best console you can buy in 2025: the PS5 and the Nintendo Switch 2. While the latter is a fantastic hybrid and may well be a recipient of this award in the future, its launch library is too trim at present to take the win, and so Sony’s flagship console, especially its improved PS5 Slim variant, holds its crown for another year.

Almost five years into its lifecycle, and with two refreshed models on the market (PS5 Slim and PS5 Pro), this console is finally hitting its stride after a slow start to the generation. The Slim reduces the mammoth size of the chunky launch model, and it currently delivers the all-around console experience. While the Pro is a great pick for performance obsessives.

The best PS5 games now include some truly phenomenal titles, including must-play exclusives like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and Astro Bot. And we can’t forget just how impressive the speedy SSD continues to be. It’s relegated lengthy loading screens to a thing of the past. The DualSense is also the best console controller on the market, with its unique features like haptic feedback and adaptive triggers still novel. The PS5 Slim also offers great value at $499 (often bundled with a game), and it drops even lower during major sales events.

Best handheld gaming console

Lenovo Legion Go S

The Lenovo Legion Go S is the handheld we've been dreaming of. It combines the impressive specs of the ROG Ally X with the smooth experience of SteamOS. Unless another SteamOS device with an AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip somehow shows up this year, the Lenovo Legion Go S with SteamOS is easily the best handheld gaming console of 2025.

This device is a huge step forward for gaming handhelds, but it's also fantastic all on its own. If you've thought about getting a handheld, this is definitely the one to grab. Of course, if you're happy with your current Steam Deck or find SteamOS a bit limiting, the Windows 11 version of this handheld might be more up your alley. While you can’t go wrong with any version of the Legion Go S, the SteamOS version is the best one for most people.

Best VR headset

Meta Quest 3S

The Meta Quest 3S offers a premium VR experience at an affordable price, featuring excellent AR capabilities and access to hundreds of Quest 3 games and apps. It's one of the best VR headset thanks to its Snapdragon XR2 Gen2 processor and 8GB of RAM, which ensures smooth performance with a variable 90-120Hz refresh rate that’s comparable to the Quest 3.

That said, it differs from the Quest 3 by using Quest 2's fresnel lenses, which results in a smaller field of view, lower resolution, and bulkier design. Despite these differences, the Quest 3S is a fantastic, low-cost alternative to the Quest 3 that’s great for VR newcomers looking for an affordable entry-level device, unlike the costly Apple Vision Pro.

Best gaming monitor

Alienware 34 QD-OLED

The Alienware 34 QD-OLED maintains the excellent features of its predecessor while introducing significant improvements. The new flat stand conserves desk space, and the elegant "interstellar indigo" chassis ensures it looks fitting in both a gaming setup and a professional office environment.

The display retains its impressive 1800R curved panel and ultrawide 21:9 aspect ratio, offering a deeply immersive gaming experience. Performance-wise, it boasts a fast 240Hz refresh rate and a low 0.03ms response time. These specs, coupled with its sharp 1440p resolution and vivid colors, deliver a visually stunning and incredibly smooth gaming experience with virtually no input lag.

Best gaming keyboard

Lemokey L5 HE

So, Lemokey finally showed up for the party. And by that we mean in 2025 it finally made a gaming keyboard worthy of mixing it with the big boys and that board is the Lemokey L5 HE — the best gaming keyboard from 2025.

Lemokey is a sub-brand of Keychron, which makes some of the best mechanical keyboards for productivity. But Lemokeys have usually just been rebranded Keychrons with gaming-focused keycaps and some “gamer” branding.

The L5 HE changed all that: Hall Effect switches, 8K polling, tons of gaming features, as much modding potential as you could possibly need, and beautiful build quality. It’s fully customizable with the epic Lemokey Launcher software, where you can adjust actuation, key binds and advanced features like Rapid Trigger and Last Key Prioritization (A.K.A ‘Snap Tap’). The L5 HE is also an 8,000Hz polling board, making it suitable for elite-tier gaming and challenging boards like the Wooting 80HE. Lemokey might be late to the party, but better late than never.

Best gaming mouse

Corsair M75

With AAA titles finally running smoothly on macOS machines, the Corsair M75 is the most capable gaming mouse for Apple today. Sporting a minimalist design that makes it look almost as elegant as a Mac, the M75 comes in a beautiful Glacier Blue colorway.

But if that isn’t enough to win you over, we love this mouse’s 26,000 DPI and 1,000Hz polling rate, making it a stellar performer in Cyberpunk, Lies of P and others. Its optical switches are extremely responsive and comfortable to use for long periods of time. It’s the easiest mouse to customize, and we don’t mean that just in terms of its software. The side buttons can be replaced with different textured ones as they’re magnetic, making modding the M75 a walk in the park.

Best gaming headset

SteelSeries Arctis Nova 3 Wireless

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova 3 received a wireless update this year, and as soon as we tested it, we knew it would be hard to beat. That’s thanks to its extremely comfortable design and fit, plush and spacious earcups, and elastic headband that lends the headset a lightweight feel.

It also excels in the sound department. 40mm Neodymium drivers and 200 game-tailored presets ensure you hear every single sound, regardless of the title you’re playing. It creates immersive soundscapes thanks to directional and spatial audio. In fact, we love it so much that when we stopped using the headset, real life started sounding boring.

Its multi-platform compatibility is the cherry on top, as is its loud and clear mic that ensures everyone can hear you exclaim with joy when you take down an enemy or mumble under your breath in frustration when you fail to lockpick.

Best gaming chair

DX Racer Martian

The DXRacer Martian immediately stands out from other gaming chairs we’ve reviewed in the past. For starters, it has a firmer seat, less aggressive curves and only comes in a very sleek all-black design. When it comes to customization, the only real choice you need to make is whether you want the chair with a leatherette or fabric finish. While the DXRacer Martian may seem simple at first glance, it’s packed with innovative tech we’ve yet to see on any other gaming or even office chair for that matter.

What gives the Martian an almost out-of-this-world feel though is that DXRacer has equipped this gaming chair with a 5,000 mAh battery. For what purpose you may be wondering? Well, the Martian has an electric adjustable backrest.

With the push of a button, you can instantly change its recline angle from 90° to 135°. That’s not all though as the Martian also comes with built-in airbags which can inflate or deflate depending on how much lumbar support you need. They’re powered by that same internal battery and when combined, the Martian’s airbags and electric backrest really make it feel like you’re sitting in your car instead of at your desk.

Best game subscription service

Nvidia GeForce Now

Xbox Cloud Gaming may be the talk of the town (I’m still left having an existential crisis about whether I am, indeed, an Xbox after that ad campaign). But really, Nvidia GeForce Now is the clear leader in game streaming for three key reasons.

First, Nvidia has optimized the service to a point that you won’t feel any latency from your controls to what’s on-screen, while the visuals are crispy without any of that glitching you get with bandwidth, and the demand on network connection is relatively minor at 35 Mbps.

Second, the ways you can play are ever-expanding — most recently breathing new life into my Steam Deck, alongside apps being available on Mac, Meta Quest and even TVs. Having this service wherever you are is significant given how good the games look running on a remote gaming PC!

And finally, it comes down to the games you can play. Beyond being able to play Game Pass games through streaming, you can connect other game libraries like Steam and play the titles you own too.

There is one condition that Nvidia GeForce Now has to support the game. But given the service supports over 2,000 games, I highly doubt you’ll ever run into a problem!

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