(Image credit: Future)

My favourite hardware award category is the wildcard by a wide margin. Each year, all bets are off for what to expect from these nominations, and every now and then you may even come face to face with some tech that makes you go, "They make those, now? What a time to be alive!"

But don't worry, this year's category isn't two kind of good gaming routers and a gaggle of Mesh Wi-Fi devices—though, spoiler alert, the TP-Link Deco BE68 BE14000 does actually feature below. If you're wondering "But why?" or even "Wait, what exactly is a mesh Wi-Fi device anyway?" then read on—there's plenty more insightful surprises among this year's wildcard nominees.

Best of the rest 2025: the nominees

And those are the three wildcard nominations for 2025. Though each bit of kit is definitely for someone, which will claim the crown? You won't have to wait long for the answer, as we'll announce the winners on New Year's Eve.

Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.

Jess has been writing about games for over ten years, spending the last seven working on print publications PLAY and Official PlayStation Magazine. When she’s not writing about all things hardware here, she’s getting cosy with a horror classic, ranting about a cult hit to a captive audience, or tinkering with some tabletop nonsense.

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