The video games releasing in 2025 are absolutely stacked. Honestly, it was hard to narrow it down. Do most of these games not have a release date because of GTA VI? Maybe, but they're going to make our list even as TBD because we just want to play them already.
As is our tradition here at Culturess, here are the 13 video games we can't wait to (hopefully) play in 2025 with what their estimated release dates are as of January 2025.
Monster Hunter Wilds
Oh, the hype for this one is real. Monster Hunter always seems to improve upon its last game, and all the previews critics got during Gamescom (and a few other conventions) in the fall have the hype on overdrive. It goes back to the older iterations of the franchise, giving you a more free-flowing style of play. And the combat looks almost too perfect to be believed.
We can't wait to get our hands on this one when it releases on February 28.
Grand Theft Auto VI
I was going to leave all the "TBD" ones until the end, but let's just get the elephant in the room out of the way.
Because it's another Grand Theft Auto from Rockstar games. It's been twelve years since the last new GTA was released (though it's been re-released many times since then). We really don't know much about it, as we've only gotten one trailer, but Rockstar rarely disappoints, and everything we've seen looks like more GTA goodness just ready to be explored.
While we'll be sad the "we got xyz before GTA VI" memes will end, we're excited to play Grand Theft Auto VI when it (hopefully) comes out in Fall 2025.
Avowed
Truly we're hoping that Avowed can cleanse our palates from the disappointments of Dragon Age: The Veilguard and Starfield. Obsidian's fantasy RPG can potentially be the next big RPG since Baldur's Gate 3. From what early previews are saying, the conversations are more nuanced with NPCs and it feels like you can really craft what kind of character you want to be (or just how evil you want to be). Of course, Obsidian still has an overarching story to tell, but it looks like you can control just how you get it.
Does it look like it's going to break any new ground in this genre? No. But maybe in 2025, we just want something that's warm and familiar, something we can melt into and lose ourselves in.
Avowed is slated to release on February 18.
Split Fiction
This was announced at the 2024 Game Awards and looks like everything you would want the follow -up to It Takes Two to be.
You and your co-op partner play as Mio and Zoe, who are two writers trapped in simulations of their own stories/imaginations. Zoe writes fantasy and Mio writes sci-fi, so you'll get to play through your wildest DND fantasies and your wildest Cyberpunk fantasies. It looks just as captivating as It Takes Two.
Split Fiction releases on March 6.
Atomfall
It's been called the British version of Fallout since its first trailer. It's set five years after the Windscale nuclear disasters took place, and in this alternate history, those disasters turned Northern England into a radioactive quarantine zone.
It's a first-person adventure with some light survival elements with an open world where you can follow through on every single side quest before focusing on the main story or you can kill every NPC you encounter. It's up to you!
Atomfall is slated to laounch on March 27.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
This is the dark fantasy, turn-based JRPG of your dreams. This has real-time, unique mechanics that are going to make gameplay that much more immersive and intense. You craft your own builds of your characters through the usual things--your gear, stats, skills, and synergies with other characters.
You're embarking upon a desperate quest to break the Paintress's cycle of death, and you only have one year left to live. And with big names like Charlie Cox, Andy Serkis, and Ben Starr on board, you know this is going to be great.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is set to release in the spring of 2025.
FBC: Firebreak
Listen, we're drinking the Remedyverse Kool-Aid, so anything they put out is going to be on our list of games we have to play.
That being said, who doesn't want to play as a member of the Federal Bureau of Control's deadliest response team as they take on the worst threat ever to the Oldest House (aka headquarters)? This is a three-person cooperative shooter, the first Remedy has put out. It'll be interesting to see how it fares with co-op players and Remedy fans alike.
FBC: Firebreak is slated to come out sometime in 2025.
South of Midnight
I love the myths and legends of the Deep South and I love blues music. So South of Midnight is right up my alley and I cannot wait to get my hands on this one. Compulsion Games likes to swing for the fences with their projects, too.
You play as Hazel, who gets sucked into a Southern Gothic reality where folklore creatures come to life and haunt the world. You have to learn to become a Weaver, which helps you mend and uncover the traumas that haunt the creatures of the world. And the art style is very stop-motion (all the cutscenes are the same way), which is creative as well.
South of Midnight is set to launch sometime in 2025.
Light No Fire
No Man's Sky has redeemed itself and then some, so when Hello Games announced Light No Fire, our interest was immediately piqued. It's set on a fantasy planet about the size of Earth, and it's attempting to bring the depth of an RPG into an open-world survival sandbox.
We're hopeful it's going to take all the best parts of No Man's Sky and condense them into one procedurally-generated world instead of across a universe.
We don't know much else about the game, but we're hopeful it comes out sometime in 2025.
Crimson Desert
Do you want to watch 52 minutes of gameplay for Crimson Desert? Because you can!
This action-adventure game looks gigantic. Developer Pearl Abyss has put a heavy emphasis on storytelling and a strong single-player campaign. It started as a sequel to Black Desert Online but quickly morphed into something more; it's still set in the same universe, but you don't need to have played Black Desert to play Crimson Desert. It looks ambitious. It looks fun. It looks like we're going to spend plenty of hours tooling around this medieval world.
Crimson Desert is releasing sometime in late 2025.
The Outer Worlds 2
This sequel was given the above gameplay trailer at the 2024 Game Awards, though we've known it's been in development for several years.
It's giving us more of The Outer Worlds that we love, just in a different star system and with the same amount of humor. It's twice as big with new weapons, new environments, and a new crew. If you loved the first game, I'm sure this game will be right up your alley.
It'll be Obsidian's second RPG coming out in 2025 after Avowed, and it's slated for... well, sometime after Avowed in 2025.
Ghost of Yōtei
Ghost of Tsushima was one of the most beautiful games we played in 2020. We only have one cinematic trailer so far for its standalone sequel, Ghost of Yōtei, but we already can't wait.
You play as Atsu in Hokkaido, Japan in 1603, which is 329 years after Ghost of Tsushima. Atsu has taken on the persona of "The Ghost." Developer Sucker Punch has said that we'll have more control over Atsu's choices and narrative than in Tsushima, which piques our interest for sure. It's definitely an improvement on the first game, as many players thought Jin was too wooden of a character.
Ghost of Yōtei is set to come out sometime in 2025.
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Hideo Kojima's weirdness is out in full force in Death Stranding, and from what we've seen so far of Death Stranding 2, we're in for even more with this sequel and how ambitious it's going to be.
We're back with Sam Porter Bridges, Fragile, and Higgs and now have new characters in Tomorrow and Rainy. Sam's set on connecting yet another population with crazier enemies and even crazier environments. It looks beautiful and haunting all at once.
We still don't know much else about the game, but we trust Kojima. Death Stranding 2 is set to release in 2025.