Happy New Year 2025!

It’s the beginning of a new year as we head into a brand new year. We’re halfway into the 2020s and this upcoming year might be one of the biggest years yet for pop culture. This is especially so after the early 2020s which were plagued by problems and issues like the COVID-19 pandemic, the months-long SAG-AFTRA strike that shook the entertainment industry and massive layoffs in the games industry.

Let’s look into some of our most anticipated games in 2025, be it the big-budget triple-A fares to the humble Southeast Asian indies:

 

Ghost Of Yotei (PS5 – 2025)

2020’s Ghost of Tsushima remains one of the most beloved and popular new PlayStation exclusives (though it’s also on PC now). Sucker Punch has been relatively quiet since the launch of that game but it turns out that they were cooking a sequel.

The game takes place in 1603, more than 300 years after the events of Ghost Of Tsushima and this is Sucker Punch’s first game built from the ground up for PS5. Jin Sakai will no longer be the protagonist and this time, it’s a new female Ghost named Atsu. It also seems like the game will feature multiple different weapons, including early firearms (which is expected considering that gunpowder weapons are becoming more common in the 1600s). -Alleef Ashaari (Comicslord)

 

GTA VI / GTA 6 (PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC – Fall 2025)

It’s easy to call GTA 6 perhaps the most hyped video game right now, which is par the course for any big new title from Rockstar Games. However, since we received the first teaser trailer in December 2023, the developer has been quiet and hasn’t revealed anything new about the game. That might change very soon, as we head into 2025, as this is the year that the game is slated to release.

Set in modern-day Leonida, a fictionalized version of Florida, players will control Lucia and an unnamed male that some fans speculate is named Jason. -Alleef Ashaari (Comicslord)

 

Death Stranding 2 On The Beach (PS5 – 2025)

As divisive as 2019’s Death Stranding was, it was also Hideo Kojima’s first successful big game since he left Konami and established Kojima Productions. Eyes are on the sequel to improve on the first game. Again, the plot of the game remains a mystery, just like the first game was. Several months ago, we also received our first looks at multiple new and returning characters from the upcoming game (check out the full story here). -Alleef Ashaari (Comicslord)

Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake (PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, PC – 2025)

Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake was one of the best JRPGs of 2024, and it brought a classic game to modern standards. Square Enix is set to repeat that again in 2025 with a remake of the first two games (chronologically, Dragon Quest 3 is a prequel to those titles). In the meantime, check out our full detailed review of the game by heading over here, or check out our many guides for the game here. -Alleef Ashaari (Comicslord)

 

Dynasty Warriors Origins (PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC – 17 January 2025)

For the past decade or so, Koei Tecmo’s Dynasty Warriors have been stuck with a last-gen mentality, featuring outdated graphics and mechanics. That will soon change with Dynasty Warriors Origins, a true current-gen reboot of the franchise for new platforms. A demo is also out now for fans who want a taste of the new take on Musou games. -Alleef Ashaari (Comicslord)

 

Sid Meier’s Civilization 7 (PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, PC – 11 February 2025)

The award-winning strategy game franchise returns with a revolutionary new chapter, the first one in almost a decade since 2016’s Sid Meier’s Civilization 6. Cross-play multiplayer and cross-progression will be supported across platforms at launch. In Civilization 7, your strategic decisions shape the unique cultural lineage of your evolving empire. -Alleef Ashaari (Comicslord)

 

Assassin’s Creed Shadows (PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC – 14 February 2025)

Despite all the controversy the game has been facing and after being delayed from its original November 2024 release window, an Assassin’s Creed game set in Japan has always been one of the most highly requested by fans. It will be interesting to see what Ubisoft will do with the historical feudal Japan setting. Ninjas and samurai as assassins, count us in! -Alleef Ashaari (Comicslord)

 

Avowed (Xbox Series X/S, PC – 18 February 2025)

Obsidian has always been in the shadow of Bethesda when it comes to sprawling RPGs, even after hit games such as Fallout New Vegas and The Outer Worlds. However, they’re delving into the fantasy genre with Avowed, which seems like it could potentially be the Skyrim of this generation if it turns out to be good. -Alleef Ashaari (Comicslord)

 

Like A Dragon Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii (PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC – 21 February 2025)

A Like A Dragon / Yakuza game with pirates and naval battles? Nuff said. SEGA and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio (RGG Studio) has been killing it with every title, and we expect this to be the same. -Alleef Ashaari (Comicslord)

 

Monster Hunter Wilds (PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC – 28 February 2025)

The first true next-gen Monster Hunter title is highly anticipated by fans of the franchise, especially after Monster Hunter World and Monster Hunter Rise. What could Capcom do with current-gen tech? Make the game even bigger and more epic, it seems. -Alleef Ashaari (Comicslord)

 

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (PC, Xbox Series, PS5 – 2025)

A pretty big-budget Japanese role-playing game made by Western developers. The game is about a bunch of explorers venturing through a deathscape full of paintings and abstract worlds. It also features a stellar voice cast starring Ben Starr and Charlie Cox (Daredevil), as well as a fancy turn-based combat system that may remind many people of other cinematic-style fighting with fancy UIs & options like Lost Odyssey and Persona 5. – Jonathan Toyad (Mr Toffee)

 

South Of Midnight (Xbox Series – 2025)

Too few video games take place in the American deep south, so what better than to stand out with this setting than with developer Compulsion Games’ latest? This new action-adventure title lets you explore that mythical and fictionalized part of America while also telling its own story entrenched in that bayou and countryfolk-stamped culture. Think Song of the South but with giant demon gators and trickster devils masquerading as poor Southern folks suspiciously wandering around in the swamp. – Jonathan Toyad (Mr Toffee)

 

Bleach: Rebirth of Souls (PC, Xbox Series, PS5 – 21 March 2025)

It wouldn’t be a complete future year without at least one Bandai-published anime game. The target: the manga series Bleach and its recent revival via the Thousand Year Blood War arc anime adaptation that’s blowing minds everywhere.

The upcoming Bleach anime game features one-on-one fighting with a special mechanic where you get way more powerful when you’re at critical health, or at least hit with a trademark move from your opponent. This range from main character Ichigo’s Getsuga Tenshou blast to pretty-boy former-antagonist Byakuya Kuchiki’s death by flower petals Bankai. Even if the fighting may be as deep as your Power Stones or your Budokai Tenkaichis, the visuals and fight aftersparks & effects will be a feast for the eyes. – Jonathan Toyad (Mr Toffee)

 

2XKO (PC – 2025)

Riot Games’ proverbial dip into fighting game territory may turn heads, given its 2-versus-2 format and how the best experience requires two players per side. This upcoming League of Legends-themed 2D fighter has you playing popular characters like Ahri and Arcane’s Jinx, while also delivering tag-team action and fast-paced combo-heavy gameplay that’s in-between Marvel vs Capcom and Guilty Gear Xrd speed-wise and in terms of button-mashing friendliness and accessibility.

 

Split Fiction (PC, Xbox Series, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch – 7th March 2025)

Hazelight Studio’s split-screen couch gaming shenanigans continue, this time between two up-and-coming writers who compete in different virtual worlds that are either sci-fi, fantasy, or both. The duo butt heads with their ideals and approach to story-telling while they are forced to work together to team up and get through the all-too-real hellscape they’re stuck in thanks to a bigwig publisher’s doing. We think there’s going to be a load of commentary on game publishers and game development, given that the game’s director is Josef “F*** The Oscars” Fares. – Jonathan Toyad (Mr Toffee)

 

Two Point Museum (PC, Xbox Series, PlayStation 5 – 5th March 2025)

From the same folks who brought you Two Point Campus and Two Point Hospital comes this third business sim title filled with British humour & dry wit. Instead of health and education, this time you handle history and archaeology, putting rare artifacts on display and getting money out of it. Whether you want to focus on a fully-educational experience or a few steps shy of being an amusement park with bits of “higher learning”, it’s really up to you since you can control the pace and difficulty like past titles. – Jonathan Toyad (Mr Toffee)

 

Xenoblade Chronicle X: Definitive Edition (Nintendo Switch – 20 March 2025)

Nintendo and Monolithsoft’s next game is a massively done-up port of a Wii U-locked JRPG that many fans have been clamouring for since the Nintendo Switch came out in 2017. The premise is you play a new arrival in a city called New Los Angeles, located on the planet of Mira. Earth got wrecked and destroyed by unknown alien forces, and it’s up to you, the city, and your JRPG squad to find help, allies, and anything to help survive on the new world while fending off said invaders.

Did I also mention that the game looks gorgeous, is open world, has a lovely sci-fi aesthetic, and allows you to pilot giant-ass mechas? That’s a ton of selling points for what might as well be a brand-new game, but leave it to Monolithsoft to revamp an underrated JRPG classic to a new 2025 audience and new Switch 2 owners (don’t act like you didn’t know it’s coming). – Jonathan Toyad (Mr Toffee)

 

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves (PC, PS5, Xbox Series – 24 April 2025)

While this new fighting game might seem like a fun time for some fighting game fans getting into Street Fighter 6, old-school players like myself have been waiting 26 years for a follow-up to Garou: Mark of the Wolves. And SNK, after doing two new King of Fighters and a Samurai Shodown game, are maintaining their fresh new millennium groove with Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves.

Featuring a roster with old and new Fatal Fury/Garou characters, a return to the classic Southtown setting, and good old-fashioned one-versus-one combat with classic & fresh mechanics like the REV system, S.P.G commands, and Braking/cancelling shenanigans, SNK plans to go all-out with the series that started its legacy. Based on my limited time with it last year, it seems that this may be their best entry in the 2D fighting field just yet. -Jonathan Toyad (Mr Toffee)

 

Blade Chimera (PC, Nintendo Switch – 16 January 2025)

From Team Ladybug, the makers of slick-as-heck Metroidvanias Touhou Luna Nights and Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth, comes this brand-new action title. You’re in a cyberpunk setting, and you have a gun plus sword that summons platforms and do all sorts of cool magic stuff. You fight dragons and ogres, all while looking at gorgeously-animated sprites. There’s not a lot to hate in this upcoming indie title, especially since it’s coming out in a few weeks. – Jonathan Toyad (Mr Toffee)

 

Unyielder (PC – 2025)

 

 

Lost & Found Co. (PC – 2025)

The folks from Bit Egg Inc. decide to make a wholesome Where’s Waldo-type puzzle adventure, where you play a girl named Ducky who helps the denizens of a fantasy contemporary hybrid universe to find their lost objects & treasured goods. With a charming aesthetic and a cozy-and-relaxing gameplay where you take your sweet time pixel-hunting, this 2025 title might be the kind of breather you experience once you’re done with more hardcore fares like the earlier games on the list. – Jonathan Toyad (Mr Toffee)

 

Kriegsfront Tactics (PC – 2025)

Miss Front Mission and wished Square Enix actually made one instead of getting third-rate hacks using AI to create half-assed remasters? Toge Production’s love letter to the turn-based mecha franchise will sate that metal lust and sets it in an alternate 70s Indonesian battleground. Features a plethora of mechas & customization option, a gripping story, and fun turn-based combat that’s sure to not kill your wallet. – Jonathan Toyad (Mr Toffee)

 

Let’s Build A Dungeon (PC – 2025)

Management games based on the video games industry are nothing new -see SeGaGaGa and Game Dev Story. But a management sim based on a fictional game maker working on a mass multiplayer online role-playing game where you can see how your game plays? And control how things go online and live? And also having an investor lording over you and happens to be a parody of one Richard “Lord British” Garriott, the father of MMOs? That’s Let’s Build A Dungeon in a nutshell, and my 15 minutes with the upcoming sim title is glorious. With any luck, developer Springloaded can enamour us with the joys of making big-as-heck MMORPGs while on the clock, all while putting in jokes & commentary within its simulation gameplay. – Jonathan Toyad (Mr Toffee)

 

13Z (PC -2025)

If you were to tell us that 13Z is a first draft of a full-fledged PlatinumGames mythical Chinese fantasy-themed roguelite action game banger (post-Astral Chain), we would have believed you. 13Z’s spot-on controls, attractive art style & flavourful setting, and great action beats that let you cancel to anything mid-combo as well as dash-slash-air-dash like crazy screams ton of potential. We are thrilled to see what developer Mixed Realms can bring to the table in matching up with the likes of the Hades series with its own brand of third-person character action offering. -Jonathan Toyad (Mr Toffee)

For our top 40 games of 2024, head here.