The Biggest Games Coming in 2025
Some of the biggest games coming out in 2025 include sequels, new franchises, and highly anticipated releases.
Sequels
Borderlands 4: The next installment in the popular shooter series where you play as a Vault Hunter searching for alien treasure
Elden Ring Nightreign: A standalone co-op adventure in the Elden Ring universe where you team up with other players to fight against the night
Death Stranding 2: A highly anticipated sequel
Civilization 7: A highly anticipated sequel
New franchises
Forever Skies: A post-apocalyptic survival game where you explore a ravaged Earth and scavenge for resources
Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza: Goro Majima, a fan favorite, takes the wheel and becomes a pirate in this game for Xbox, PlayStation, and PC
Highly anticipated releases
Monster Hunter Wilds: A game that aims to improve on the core experience of previous Monster Hunter games
Pokémon Legends: Z-A: A game set in Lumiose City, the same setting as Pokémon X and Pokémon Y
Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra: A highly anticipated new game
Judas: A highly anticipated new game
If you thought 2024 was a big year, just wait until you see what's coming in the next 12 months...
The start of a new year is as good a time as any to see what games are currently on the horizon, so here are the biggest game releases of 2025 that we know about right now!
Dynasty Warriors: Origins
On January 2025, Tecmo Koei's flagship musou series is returning with Dynasty Warriors: Origins, its first full entry since 2018. It will certainly take full advantage of current-generation hardware to flood your screen with enemies you can kill with the titular battle-cry, "Die, evil warriors!" It will be available on PS5, Xbox Series consoles, and PC.
If you like watching warriors die gruesomely from great distances, on January 30, Sniper Elite: Resistance continues the long-running and long-running free Nazi-castration-simulator series. This latest installment doesn't look to shake up the formula too much, but when the formula involves shooting off fascists' private parts, it's hard to complain about it. Did I mention you can shoot Nazis in the junk? Because you can. It's on all Xboxes and PlayStations, as well as PC.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
Is this real life? Is this just fantasy? Well, none of the above, but it is technically a Bohemian Rhapsody - Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 picks up where the first huge historical RPG ended, continuing the adventures of Henry of Skelitz, a poor boy who has no need for sympathy. And while KCD2's immersive and historically based simulation of 14th century Bohemia is by no means easy, the deep role-playing mechanics and huge open-world mean you can take Henry any way you like. To me it doesn't really matter. It's out on current generation consoles and PC, launching on February 11.
If you like simulated history on a much bigger scale and over an even bigger time period, Sid Meier's Civilization 7 arrives on the same day. When a game franchise has had 7 installments over three decades, it really shouldn’t need much of an introduction, but in a nutshell: you’re in charge of overseeing a society and guiding its progress through history, exploring, expanding, exploiting, and that fourth X term as needed, which can surprisingly get a little complicated. It’s for basically everything, including Linux, but excluding mobile – but that will probably come later.
On February 14th, Assassin’s Creed Shadows will take Ubisoft’s flagship open-world series to the much-anticipated setting of feudal Japan. If you can’t decide whether you’d rather be a ninja or a samurai, we have good news: it gives you the chance to do both, thanks to its dual protagonists. It’s available on current-gen and PC.
If you’re feeling lonely on Valentine’s Day, there’s also Date Everything!, a sandbox dating simulator where you can actually date a real sandbox – and if not, there are 100 other anthropomorphic inanimate objects you can romantically connect with, from windows to walls – or floors, anyway – and they’re all fully voice acted. It’s available on PS5, Xbox Series consoles, Switch and PC.
Monster Hunter Wilds
On February 18, Obsidian’s Avowed will be available on Xbox Series consoles and PC. It’s set in the same fantasy world as the studio’s isometric Pillars of Eternity games, but this time it offers a whole new perspective thanks to its first-person viewpoint and realtime action combat. It might look a bit like Skyrim, but don't expect an epic time sink - the developers have said it's more comparable to their previous sci-fi RPG, The Outer Worlds (which took around 40 hours to complete the main quests and sides), which is great news for those who are bad at finishing games. Speaking of timesinks, if you think it's time to sink some ships and terrorise the high seas, you're in luck because Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii... Well, I think the title really covers its bases. It will see Goro Majima, fan favourite foil and frenemy to the series' usual heroes, take the helm - somewhat literally - after getting amnesia and deciding to seek a new career as a pirate. Classic Majima. It'll be available on Xbox, PlayStation and PC on February 21st.
Pirate Yakuza has actually pushed its release date back a week to catch up with one of the biggest games of the year, Monster Hunter Wilds, which will be available on Xbox Series X, PS5, and PC on February 28. Again, this is one of those series that needs little introduction, especially since Monster Hunter World attracted so many new players in the last generation. With Wilds, Capcom is looking to expand its main roster of games.
It's aiming to refine and improve the experience in a way that satisfies both old fans and newcomers, but also introduces new features that take advantage of existing hardware to keep things interesting. Oh yeah, and it also has to be accessible enough to attract new players - so, if you're wondering why this game took so long... there might be a reason for it.
Split Fiction
On March 6, it's time to join up with friends for another co-operative adventure from Hazelight, the studio behind It Takes Two and A Way Out. This time it's Split Fiction, in which a science fiction and fantasy writer gets trapped in virtual reality and goes through a number of bizarre adventures, including getting turned into pigs, which are then turned into hot dogs and cooked on a grill - although the hot dogs are still playable. The best part is that two people can play together online if they buy one copy. It's on PC and current-generation consoles.
On March 25, you can experience an upper-middle-class corner of upper-Middle-earth with Tales of the Shire, a cozy life sim that focuses entirely on ordinary hobbit life. You know, for ordinary hobbits who just like gardening, smoking pipes and drinking brandy and having petty rivalries over little neighborhood nonsense, not hiking to throw jewels into volcanoes. Honestly, it sounds lovely. It would be a shame if this Shire were to be ruthlessly ravaged by Saruman's possessed scoundrels. Anyway, it's out on PS5, Xbox Series consoles, Switch and PC.
If you prefer to explore a version of the rustic English countryside like the Shire that's awash in radioactive particles, there's Atomfall, which is made taking some cues from Fallout as you'd expect — though since it relies a bit more on survival than role-playing, I'd say there's a pretty strong Stalker influence as well. Plus, it's also showing an alternate future in which a major, real nuclear disaster went pretty badly. It's coming everywhere except for Switch on March 27.
To me, DNF has always been an acronym for "Did Not Finish" or "Duke Nukem Forever," (which they probably shouldn't have finished.) But to a few million people, it's an acronym for Dungeon Fighter, the multimedia universe that spun off from a 2005 South Korean multiplayer beat-em-up that was released in the US as Dungeon Fighter Online. In any case, that universe gets a little bigger with single-player action RPG The First Berserker: Khazan, which also arrives on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC on March 27.
On March 28, potential Sims-killer inZOI arrives on PC, another South Korean joint that is certainly one of the most beautiful video games I've ever seen. If it does well, I can see it being one of the biggest games of the year. I think after 11 years, 12 game packs, and 17 expansions of The Sims 4, Sims fans are in the market for something new and different to see. And The Sims has a lot of fans. It's on PC at launch, and current-generation console versions are in the works for later.
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves
On April 24, Fatal Fury will get its first new game of this century with Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. And while Terry Bogard, Mai Shirunai and company have been busy appearing in other fighting game series like King of Fighters, Street Fighter, DOA, Tekken and Super Smash Bros, this will be the first mainline Fatal Fury since 1999's Mark of the Wolves. Hopefully it'll be worth the wait - it's on both PlayStations, Xbox Series and PC.
At the time of writing this article, these are all the major games that have official release dates. But these aren't all the games scheduled for 2025 - there's a lot more we're expecting in the coming year.
Pokemon Legends
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Z-A is slated for 2025, another entry in the open-world action RPG side-series - Pokémon Legends Arceus made some big changes, but it also made the Switch show its age in some places, so hopefully it can benefit from more powerful hardware - or at least, improve upon the foundations laid by Arceus.
Grand Theft Auto 6
Rising waves raise all ships, and new Nintendo hardware will certainly help keep the games industry a little afloat, but the other big release of 2025 that's sure to cause some waves is Grand Theft Auto 6. I don't need to tell you how much excitement there is for this game. GTA 5 is the second-best-selling game of all time, and after a twelve-year, three console generation wait, people really, really want to see what Rockstar does next with its signature series. I'm saying it now: it'll probably be the best-selling game of the decade, and almost certainly the best-selling game of 2025 - assuming it actually comes out in 2025. It's worth noting that practically every major Rockstar release, GTA and otherwise, has been hit with a delay or two. So, hopefully we get GTA 6 on time, but at the same time, you know, expect disappointment and you'll never be disappointed.
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater
Now it's time for the big pile of games we're expecting sometime in 2025, but which don't have specific release dates yet. That makes it really hard to figure out what order to put them in, and it's also likely that by the time you're reading this list some will have already been given release dates or maybe even been delayed by a year. So just keep in mind that this is all subject to change one way or another and please don't get mad at me.
Hideo Kojima fans will be eating a good meal, or at least, eating snakes, in 2025. Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, a full modern remake of the fan-favorite third entry in the tactical spy action series, will be coming to current generation consoles and PC. While Hideo Kojima has nothing to do with it (apart from original direction) it seems like a lot of care is being taken on Konami's part not to spoil it. It appeared in a PlayStation promo released last January that showed a big 2024 release, and a November 17 release date was briefly leaked by GameStop, but apparently that was all wrong. Still, it looks like we'll be getting it soon. It'll be on PS5, Xbox Series consoles, and PC. PlayStation games 2025
Ghost of Yotei
Meanwhile, Kojima's next big thing is Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, which will arrive on PS5 sometime in 2025, and presumably also on PC, Xbox, and maybe Mac and iOS if the first game's rollout is anything to go by.
The other big PS5 exclusive we know about right now is Ghost of Yotei, Sucker Punch's next open world samurai game. While many games target a fall release window, Sony has a tendency to release major first-party games early in the year. For example, Ghost of Tsushima was released in July, The Last of Us Part 2 and Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart were both released in June, and God of War 2018 was released in April. Having said that, God of War Ragnarok was released in November, so go figure.
Xbox Games 2025
Fable
Sony has made something pretty weak, but we have a better idea of what Xbox has going on. There's Fable, which is a clean sweep of the dust from the famous fantasy RPG series that came to the console a few generations ago. This time Playground Games has been given the keys and they've taken it in their hands, if you'll pardon the expression. Playground is the studio behind the Forza Horizon series - that is, that's all they've done publicly, so I'm desperate to see their spin on an RPG. I don't care about racing or cars and I barely drive a car in real life, but I somehow spent 120 hours in Forza Horizon 5 - so if they can make me enjoy something I don't care about that much, I'm desperate to see how they turn an epic fantasy series with wizards and fart jokes and big frogs into something How do the games handle that? It'll be on Xbox Series consoles and PC.
Another game that probably involves some other big swamp creatures and magic is South of Midnight, a southern gothic fantasy action-adventure from Studio B. Previously We Happy Few. It's coming to PC and Xbox Series consoles.
DOOM: The Dark Ages
Hey, do you know what game looks awesome? DOOM: The Dark Ages. I specifically want to mention the gun that grinds up skulls and shoots them at something, because it's so metal it's so fun. And it also has a shield with a saw blade, and you can ride a dragon - and the DOOM guy has a little fur coat? I love everything they're doing at id Software, and each new version seems to be a more evolved version of the nonsense I was furiously scribbling in the margins of my math homework in fifth grade. Obviously it'll be coming to PC and Xbox Series consoles, but it's also going to be coming to PS5.
Speaking of Xbox-published games coming to PS5, you can expect Indiana Jones and the Great Circle to make its way to consoles with a circle button in the spring. And speaking of Xbox-published games based on Disney-owned intellectual property, there's also the possibility that we'll be seeing an Arcane's Blade game sometime in 2025. This is definitely a big deal - game development is arguably an even slower and more difficult pursuit than ice skating uphill, so I wouldn't be surprised if Daywalker doesn't see the light of day until 2026.
Multiplatform games 2025
Marvel 1943: The Rise of Hydra
And hey, Blade isn't the only Marvel game coming - there's also Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra, which is slated for 2025. It's from Skydance New Media, the studio run by Amy Hennig, who you might know for her work on Uncharted, Legacy of Kain or Michael Jordan's Chaos in the Windy City. The game will see Captain America teaming up with Black Panther during World War II - specifically, Azuri, who is T'Challa's grandfather. It's not to be confused with the second Black Panther game being developed by Cliffhanger Games, which is probably a lot further away.
There are a number of long-anticipated sequels or new instalments in established series coming in 2025. Borderlands 4 is the first numbered entry in Gearbox's looter shooter since 2019, and hopefully a new game will generate more interest than that movie adaptation. This is new generation and on PC. If you prefer Grindrails to loot grinds, Skate 4 is expected to finally arrive in Early Access this year - although they've actually removed the number altogether. It's just Skate now. That's neat. However, before you get too excited, it's worth noting that this is going to be a free-to-play live service title published by EA, so adjust your expectations accordingly. Meanwhile, Crazy Taxi is getting a similar treatment, and Sega's arcade/Dreamcast classic is being remade as an open world MMO. There are some rumors that this will come out in 2025. At least one of these games better have The Offspring on the soundtrack.
If you like sand, get excited because we have some literal sandboxes on the horizon. There's Dune: Awakening, a survival RPG based on Frank Herbert's spicy sci-fi universe - or rather, on the titular planet of Arrakis. Then, there's Crimson Desert, a single player action game set in the universe of Black Desert Online. Based on all the trees and greenery, Crimson Desert doesn't really feel like it's in a desert, but maybe it's more of a state of mind.
Elden Ring Nightrain
Either way, one game that's set in contrast to the desert is Subnautica 2, which will be coming to Early Access in 2025. It's been over a decade since the first game came out in Early Access, and it's garnered its own fans since then, so hopefully the sequel will love them.
If you like stacking the deck, there's also Slay the Spire 2, a follow-up to the hit roguelike deckbuilder that launched in 2017. If you like killing some big scary monsters and other things, there's also Hell Is Us, which looks like a Soulslike, but the jury is out on whether or not it actually is. It's a third-person game with melee and exploration that would probably be a nice diversion for Soulsborne fans who are waiting for whatever mysterious thing FromSoft is currently cooking up.
Hey, would you believe I started writing this article before the Game Awards even aired? Because as it happens, the mysterious shit that FromSoft has cooked up is Elden Ring Nightrain, a standalone co-op multiplayer roguelike game that's coming out relatively soon. Basically, it swaps out the tedious grind of the main game for a more streamlined dash to collect runes and gear on a remixed and shuffled map of The Lands Between that gets even crazier once the sun goes down. Oh, and there's also a rapidly shrinking circle of acid rain to contend with - or rings, if you prefer. So, yes, it's a little bit Fortnite - but there's clearly something more, too. As much as I like that, it's a little bit Fortnite. How FromSoft has slowly refined that original Soulsborne experience feels like a direct response to the creative ways players are approaching their games – you know, doing speedruns with DDR mats, playing the game without jumping or leveling up or whatever, or creating mods that replace every enemy with Melanea and things like that. I'm not sure it's something I'd personally like to play, but I'm desperate to see what other people do with it. It's coming to all PlayStations, Xboxes, and PC.
BioShock fans have been waiting for a new installment even longer than GTA fans, and while it may not be an official entry in the series, Judas is very clearly a spiritual successor, and it's being overseen by Ken Levine, the man who took us to Rapture and Columbia the first time around. Supposedly we'll see that sometime in 2025 - and of course, there's also the possibility that 2K also unveils an official BioShock, which we've been hearing rumors about for a while now.
Speaking of GTA, if you think there's too much twerking and TikTok in Rockstar's open world crime epic and you want to make your crimes a little more organized, there's also Mafia: The Old Country - it seems to extend Olive Garden's core philosophy of "when you're here, you're family" into a big turn-of-the-century Sicilian sandbox. Look for it on new generation and PC sometime this summer. Capice?
The Outer Worlds 2
If you like realtime combat in space and silly first-person RPGs with the Arabic numeral 2 in the title, The Outer Worlds 2 is exactly that, coming to Xbox Series X and PC. If you like serious isometric RPGs with turn-based combat in a fantasy world that faithfully recreates D&D's 5th edition rules and the Roman numeral II in the title, Solasta II is exactly that, coming to PC and possibly consoles at a later date.
If you think No Man's Sky has too much sky and not enough humans, Hello Games is hard at work on its next hugely ambitious project, Light No Fire, which turns interplanetary exploration of deep space into a fantasy realm you can roam around in. Oh, and this fantasy realm is coincidentally set on a planet that's literally the size of Earth (as in, that big rock you're currently living on), which is still a pretty big place. If you don't believe me, go play a flight simulator. Or just go outside, whatever. Light No Fire is currently listed for PC only. Oh and hey, if this game doesn't live up to your expectations at launch, maybe give it a minute. If No Man's Sky has proven anything, it's that Hello Games will deliver on time, so don't send death threats if something doesn't have enough dragons. If you don't like zombie parkour games and want a new game, this is good news for you because Dying Light: The Beast is a standalone adventure set in Techland's undead universe that is due to be released in 2025.
If dying stuff makes you sad and you like a game with immortals, you're also in luck - are 33 immortals enough? Thirty three co-op players is a crowd if three is company, but that's what's going on in this chaotic multiplayer roguelike from the studio behind Spiritfarter and Jotun. It'll be on Xbox and PC at some point.
You may have noticed that we haven't really covered any remasters or re-releases, which was intentional, but we're making an exception for the Lunar Remastered Collection, which dusts off and polishes up Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete and Lunar 2: Eternal Blue, which originally released on the Sega Saturn nearly 30 years ago. Why are we making this exception? Because Lunar is the all-time favorite game of Amanda Medina, who created the video version of this article that you can watch at the top of the page. When you make these videos, you can bend the rules and pick and choose games.
Long-anticipated games that could come out in 2025 if we're lucky
Ark 2
There are some games that could come out someday, but which have been put off so many times that it's kind of a situation akin to the boy who cried wolf. A case in point, somewhat literally, with Telltale's The Wolf Among Us 2. It was announced in 2019, and the last we heard was that it would arrive in 2024. But that didn't happen, so maybe it'll come in 2025. Or maybe it won't come at all! Meanwhile, Ark 2 was revealed in 2020, and it initially had a 2022 release date, but apparently it didn't come to that. And finally, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 was originally supposed to come in early 2020. I did an interview about that game at E3 2019, which feels like a lifetime ago at this point.
Speaking of lifetimes, we're not getting any shorter, so I'll say it right here. And again, I want to emphasize that these are not all the games coming in 2025. And I guarantee you that at least one of the games I mentioned will not be coming out in 2025. If you are looking for upcoming games If you want a more comprehensive and up-to-date update about IGN, we make videos about what games are releasing each month. As soon as I finish writing this, I'll start working on the script for January's big game, so keep an eye out for that.
And, also, if you really want to stay updated on upcoming games, check out IGN's Playlist. It's like Letterboxd or Goodreads, but for video games. It has a dedicated app where you can keep track of what you've played, what you're playing, and what you want to play in the future. Thanks to Logan, who manages the huge database of games pulled in by IGN's Playlist. Every time a new game gets announced, he has to update it, and I think this year's Game Awards must have killed it.
