16 years, four mainline games, and a decent handful of spinoffs later, you might imagine that Borderlands 4 has little room left to innovate. According to Anthony Nicholson, senior project producer, however, that couldn't be further from the truth – speaking to GamesRadar+, he explains that Borderlands 4 promises to be a bigger, more bombastic Borderlands game than ever.

That might raise alarm bells for some, both within Gearbox and without. The Borderlands series has always used crass humor to its advantage, but there seems to be a desire to move away from the worst excesses of its toilet humor - after Borderlands 4's showing at The Game Awards last month, narrative director Sam Winkler said 'skibidi toilet' and 'hawk tuah' references weren't the kind of thing he wanted the game to feature.

While Gearbox isn't looking to scrape the lowest depths of the brainrot comedy barrel, it's not planning to deviate too far from classic Borderlands tone. Nicholson promises that Borderlands 4 will "retain the fun and sometimes over-the-top writing players expect from us that makes us so unique." If you're wondering how that relates to the rest of the series, Nicholson says that while the tone is likely to evolve as the game does, Gearbox has been aiming for somewhere between the original game "and the humor and comedic opportunities we explored in Borderlands 2."

Borderlands 4's new setting - the planet of Kairos - "is a world where the outlook is bleak, the stakes are real, and the characters treat them as such," says Nicholson, immediately distancing this new game with the fairytale, tabletop stylings of recent spin-off Tiny Tina's Wonderlands. But for the (slightly) more serious way in which Gearbox is approaching Borderlands 4, it still won't be "without the zaniness, oddity, and mayhem that makes a Borderlands game a Borderlands game."

Gear(box) up

Toilet humor isn't the only thing that makes a Borderlands game, of course, and Nicholson explains that loot fiends and build optimizers might be better catered to than ever. While he wouldn't reveal whether Borderlands 4 will offer the loot rarity rework that many die-hard fans think is long overdue, he did note that the fourquel "will feature billions of weapons and accessories for players to acquire." That suggests that the team has stepped up from the billion weapons it professed to have included in Borderlands 3 and Wonderlands, and that's not all - Nicholson also promises "the deepest and diverse skill trees of any Borderlands title yet," as Gearbox attempts to give players "an unprecedented level of expression."

All that's part of what he claims is "a significant next step in the evolution of the genre." Nicholson says Gearbox is holding fast to the idea that Borderlands is the first looter shooter, but claims that Borderlands 4 will give players "more freedom to loot and shoot than they've ever had before." There's still a lot more information to come on that front ahead of launch, but it's interesting to see that the studio is pointing to the series' origin, even as it works on something of a new format for the games.

The Pandora Opens

I say something of a new format, because it's still not entirely clear how much of Borderlands 4 is an open world. Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford recently attempted to clarify that while he wouldn't say that Borderlands 4 was an open-world game, it is "the most open and free" game in the series, with much more room for exploration than previous entries in the series.

When we asked Nicholson to expand on that, we got a slightly closer idea of what Gearbox is trying to achieve. "Borderlands 4 does have some open-world-like features," he says. You'll find "seamless travel between zones," for instance, and more dynamic, discoverable side missions and events. Add in new traversal systems, and the world does start to open up. That said, Nicholson points out that "we did not set out with the intent to create an 'open world game' in the traditional use of that term." The Borderlands games have always had large zones to explore, and those will be back in Borderlands 4. Now, however, they'll be more closely integrated with one another, and with no map loads, players will be getting a more seamless experience.

There's still a lot to learn about Borderlands 4, and Gearbox seems like it's got an interesting balancing act on its hands. A clear desire not to stagnate into the series' baser elements and to push the technology onwards doesn't always knit neatly with a need to ensure that Borderlands 4 remains a Borderlands game, with all the zaniness and toilet humor that entails. Bigger and bolder, certainly, but more Borderlands? We'll have to wait and see.

Stay locked in with our best FPS games list!

"In my opinion, the most important feature of a soulslike game is its level design." These are the words of Bruce, co-founder & CTO of Leenzee, who is both the director and art director of Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, one of the most exciting soulslikes coming in 2025. "The exploration and design philosophy of the levels are very unique, and the combat system and fragmented storytelling are often there to serve the level design. Wuchang continues the level design philosophy seen in Dark Souls and Dark Souls 3, maintaining a sense of exploration and challenge."

And boy, does it make Wuchang: Fallen Feathers a tantalizing prospect. The game world features beautiful 3D-scanned items and buildings from the real-life Ming Dynasty, recreating them exquisitely in the game engine. Being able to explore such beautiful surroundings before engaging in fast-paced combat against what Siyuan describes as "the Chinese-style supernatural" is the best kind of gamification of real history.

Stuff of legends

"For boss designs, we drew inspiration from Chinese history and culture, especially archaeological discoveries like Sanxingdui, as well as elements from Chinese mythology and folk stories, such as the Classic of Mountains and Seas and the 'Jiangkou Sunken Silver' legend. We hope to convey the uniqueness of these bosses through visual design, while also interpreting the 'Chinese-style supernatural' genre in the story."

Looking like the lovechild of Dark Souls and the OG Xbox's Ninja Gaiden, fluidity in combat is king. Or, in this case, queen, with leading lady Bai Wuchang exhibiting real martial arts moves, all motion captured by actual martial artists and then tweaked for fluidity, style, and – crucially – responsiveness. "We've made unique innovations in combat, particularly in the rhythm of the combat system." continues Siyuan. "Through the Skyborn Might system, we've integrated combos, builds, and equipment, making the combat both strategic and action-oriented. When players use different weapons and builds in combat, it feels like a new experience, which enhances player engagement."

There's also the ability to deflect attacks when dual-wielding swords, allowing strong players to absorb blows. However, weaker characters will benefit from a mid-combo kick to help them balance the gap in strength between themselves and the enemy, something which is shown off impressively during the latest gameplay trailer, leaving a boss prone to a larger attack.

But what about agility? How has the team approached making sure the gameplay feels nimble? Siyuan replies: "The term 'agility' isn't quite accurate. As a designer, my criterion for evaluating whether the action system has issues is: 'Can the game be played normally while hiding the HUD?' If skilled players still rely on the HUD to know their status, I'd feel that the combat system has a significant problem. Therefore, a skilled player in Wuchang should be able to fight bosses without the HUD."

The game does borrow a lot from Dark Souls, even down to the large white dot that signifies lock-on targeting and enables stealth kills. But one element that hasn't been mentioned much so far is the importance of the opening of the game and the choices you make as you play through it, suggesting a branching story that reflects your choices, though quite how deep that will go remains a mystery right now.

Siyuan is saying all the right things as far as we're concerned, and the game is looking like a more accessible and immediately spectacular proposition than even the great Elden Ring, cherry-picking the best of reality, mythology, and gameplay systems. So while it remains to be seen quite how it'll stand up to that particular gaming behemoth, it's certainly worthy of keeping on your radar, even among the high number of hack and slash soulslikes on the horizon right now. The game has been confirmed for a Day One release on Microsoft's subscription service, making Wuchang: Fallen Feathers a real contender for one of the best Xbox Game Pass games for members to check out. Though when it reaches us at some point this year, it will also be available on PS5 and Steam (where you can wishlist it right now).

Check our picks of the most anticipated games for 2025 we can't stop thinking about.

Inside me are two snakes. One is well aware that Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is a luscious remake of the original Metal Gear Solid 3 featuring new control options and impressive Unreal Engine 5 visuals. The other snake is just like: "Hell yeah, we're playing Metal Gear Solid 3 for the hundredth time, time to do the usual!"

Both snakes are valid, but it's hard to listen to their slithering whispers at the same time. Able to play and go hands-on with the first couple of hours of Metal Gear Solid Delta for myself, encompassing only the prologue Virtuous Mission, this amounted to a straightforward playthrough of the opening and then a more leisurely run taking it all in and pushing the buttons of enemy guard and animal AI alike – sorry, crocodiles, you're just too tasty to leave alone.

Eat your greens (camo)

For the new FOX recruits out there, Metal Gear Solid Delta once again sees Naked Snake sent behind Soviet enemy lines in the 1960s to extract a defecting scientist, who has been helping to develop a mobile nuclear weapons platform. Naturally, complications arise, and he must balance jungle stealth with simply surviving, nabbing animals for food, for instance (I see you there, crocs, I warned you!). The original combines Bond-like spy thrills with the best sneaking the Metal Gear series at the time had to offer. Many would consider it one of the best games ever made. So I'm pleased to report, all that stuff that made it such a classic is present here in Metal Gear Solid Delta.

Beyond hidden rubber ducks to now find in addition to the returning rubber frogs (one in each map), great care has deliberately been taken by the developers to ensure it still feels like the iconic game fans remember. All while also being slick enough for newer players to get into without having to think too hard about it being technically an older game. It creates a smooth feeling to play, where it essentially handles like your rose-tinted memories. Of course the game always looked this good and was this straightforward to control. This is a game made with the idea-slash-nighttime-anxiety-thought that the "younger generation of gamers aren't familiar with the Metal Gear series anymore."

At the same time, though, it can almost be hard to appreciate those enhancements because of it. Like Naked Snake rocking the perfect camo for the occasion, by design they blend into the background. Although in my demo I could only play with the modern controls, introducing things like a crouch walk, and a marginally more intuitive control scheme (okay, okay, probably a lot more intuitive, I'm just a Metal Gear sicko whose synapses are always ready to return to the legacy controls), I kind of didn't notice them much unless I explicitly made myself think about it.

Likewise, the fancy new visuals in Metal Gear Solid Delta are undoubtedly very pretty, but after a few minutes of play, poking around the forests of Tselinoyarsk, I lose sight of the brushstrokes and my brain begins to interpret it as simply Metal Gear Solid 3, same as it ever was. All this isn't helped by the fact that Metal Gear Solid Delta is very clearly grafted onto the bones of the original game as directly as possible – it's an entirely different proposition to Konami's recent Silent Hill 2 remake developed by Bloober Team.

Map geometry seems unchanged, with load points right where you remember them. Guards still aren't very smart. Apart from crouch walk, Naked Snake's movement options are much the same (no Metal Gear Solid 5 style diving here!). The devs say it's "almost too faithful". There are times when these philosophies clash – tranquillized animals will still suddenly pop into a spinning cage model for Snake to scoop up – but to me that's the original charm shining through.

It's tempting to find this disappointing, even while intellectually acknowledging the amount of effort that must have still gone into making Metal Gear Solid Delta. After all, there's not going to be much to surprise or delight veterans like me. Woefully, I might only be able to enjoy this flashy overhaul as much as the original Metal Gear Solid 3.

Wait a minute… Enjoy a game as much as the original Metal Gear Solid 3? That's actually an incredibly high bar. Often with remakes, rereleases, remasters, reduxes, and retools there can be some conflict between the quality of the source material and the ambition of the team putting together the new version. Here, they're perfectly in sync. It might not be the expansive reimagining some dreamed of, but if the limitation Metal Gear Solid Delta faces is being beholden to feeling too close to one of the best PS2 games of all time? That's certainly no bad thing. It's time to go dark, and submerge once more into a Russian march, crocodile cap firmly attached to head. Soon, we shall emerge.

Stay sneaky with our best stealth games list!

What we've seen of Death Stranding 2: On The Beach makes it feel like Hideo Kojima has been listening to people calling his game bonkers for years and has decided to, almost tongue in cheek, lean into it. Dialling up the weirdness for the first game and turning around to the audience to check, he's throwing in airships that come out of freaky babies' mouths, stop-motion living puppets, and electric guitar battles. But my biggest question is: how is all that sand going to affect my meticulously planned hiking journey when I'm delivering packages twice my size?

Don't get me wrong, I understand all that strangeness will doubtless get the Death Stranding curious to prick up their ears. But the real delivery sickos like me were instead leaning forwards as each new region (this sequel has Sam Bridges expanding the UCA network outside of the US) revealed new complications for the true heart of the series: holding tight onto your backpack and trundling forwards to make your package deliveries. Steep cliffs! Sandy dunes! Floods!? Rockslides!? I'm scared, yet also… compelled.

Touch grass, feel sand

Many games have fancy, realistic looking environments. Hellblade 2 comes to mind, a game I didn't particularly enjoy but was still so good looking it made me feel like I was in an old timey cinema and a train was about to come through the screen and murder me in cold blood. Yet, there, it was mostly just for show, prettying up corridor-style design. The first Death Stranding felt truly fresh in that not only did it feature some beautiful Nordic-like mountains and fields, but every pebble on the road was integral to the minute to minute – nay, second to second – experience.

Combining deliveries to save time, loaded up with parcels many times Sam's weight, Death Stranding's core loop really does make you actually consider deeply whether you risk jogging down a steep hill, or carefully find a more forgiving incline. Whether to risk crossing a wide river, or follow it along to somewhere narrower with a tamer current. And how many pitons and ropes you need to bring to get out of jams while still having room to squeeze in just another delivery. Some of you might think that sounds boring. But, and just statistically speaking, some of you are also wrong. It's wild how quickly that loop is able to worm its way into your brain in the original game, and become an obsession. Few games have made a world feel as tangible and as vital to play, becoming so immersive as a result.

Every environment we've seen so far from Death Stranding 2: On The Beach looks to play with this feeling in a huge variety of new ways. The one knock against the original is that, once you get to the biggest main map, you learn what to expect from the environment quite quickly. There's the crags. There's the really rocky bit. The bit of woods. The snowy mountains.

Here, with the narrative hook of expanding the network to new regions, there's so much more at play. When I see those dunes, I'm already calculating just how devastating it's going to be to put one foot out of place and slide all the way down, my attached baby that's vital to how I survive (it's a long story) begins crying, and maybe one of the packages bonks me on the noggin and knocks me out briefly. Even a more built-out looking city area makes me wonder about hidden secrets, and the changing viability of vehicles across different zones.

These new environmental hazards look like they'll have some really sweeping affects on how you construct safer paths as well. The first game's crater-causing Voidouts were shocking at first, but few and far between for the cautious, having minimal longterm impact. But in Death Stranding 2, the likes of a flashflood seem to be able to knock out community built structures, collapsing a bridge across a river for instance.

A "strand game", certain objects and builds are shared between connected groups of players, with ladders or ziplines or the like appearing and being maintained by everyone. I'm left wondering how communities will respond to changing conditions. Will we rally around core infrastructure? Will some ground simply need to be off limits? Can we keep the generators online? And what will happen to the friendly holograms that give you an encouraging thumbs up?

Even the Death Stranding itself (the in-game world condition, not the title) seems to bear down on this intense hiking more than ever. Ghostly, invisible BTs, in the first game, attached in place, are at first very creepy, forcing you to pick through zones carefully. But they became predictable. The glimpses we've had of Death Stranding 2's new versions of BTs, and how they wander around strange areas, make them seem like a hazard you'll need to be more adaptable than ever to face, trickier to avoid.

We've also had more looks at how the Death Stranding will warp the environment as well, creating unusual formations to carefully navigate. It's unclear how integral those will be to your everyday routes, but the possibilities are enticing. Fragile, I hate to say it, but you can keep the door to the armory closed, and the mysteries of the Beach can remain unknowable. I just want to pull on a cap, strap on a ludicrously capacious backpack, and set off to conquer the dunes one delivery at a time.

Looking for more connection? Check out the best co-op games!

There are some studio names that should immediately make you sit up and take note, and Heart Machine is one of them. Responsible for the Kickstarter mega-hit Hyper Light Drifter cosmic action-adventure Solar Ash, Alx Preston's studio has never failed to make artistically superb, thought-provoking and complex games. New title Possessor(s) looks unlikely to buck that trend, eschewing 3D exploration in favour of a 2D Metroidvania-style side-scrolling adventure as you guide Luca and her somewhat unhelpful companion Rehm, through a quarantined city ravaged by an interdimensional catastrophe.

But why the perspective change now? Studio founder, Axl Preston says it's all about keeping things fresh: "Side-scrolling is a new format for us to explore and that's been a joy. Returning back to our 2D roots has been an unexpected change, compared to the full form 3D we've been doing. We're also leaning more into our horror aspects. Trying to create new and different worlds every time we put something out there is part of how we keep people invested in our studio and our arc as an artistic voice in the community."

Hyper Fight Lifter

The combat looks spectacular, at one point seeing the main character use an electric guitar as a melee weapon, a move likely inspired by the Rolling Stones' Keith Richards. Preston doesn't mention Keith, but explains: "We have an in-depth combat system in Possessor(s) with air juggling, combos, more complex combat generally. Something comparable to Smash Bros. since we're all big fans of that kind of game. We wanted to make something in a Metroidvania format that’s a little different, since that kind of game usually has less complex combat. That's one of our prerogatives."

But what of this horror slant? There are large eyes in the darkness, reminiscent of the Yomawari series, plus plenty of Kill Bill-style blood spatters in the game's trailer. But it's unusual for such tropes to be delivered in this aesthetic, which appears to blend anime sensibilities with an 80s-esque filter - a kind of low-fi, 'light leak' kind of mood. Suffice to say it looks absolutely gorgeous, and the idea of exploring it is mouthwatering.

Speaking of exploration, the game is set to be open-ended and free-roaming, allowing players to make their own decisions and discover the world at their own pace. With so many elements it's a tough one to pigeonhole into a genre, but Preston's willing to have a go: "It's a search-action game, or Metroidvania if you will. And it’s definitely non-linear. We want players to be able to discover how to go to where they want to be going, and explore more of spaces that they’ve been locked off from. The non-linear structure allows us to do very compelling things with narrative and action and exploration."

For anyone who's played the studio's previous games, this will be both unsurprising and very exciting. The prospect of another world to explore, full of secrets, lore and surprises fills us with glee. But that's just how Heart Machine does what it does. Heart Machine's website describes Possessor(s) as taking place across "the interconnected sprawl of a destroyed mega-city, from collapsed skyscrapers to an abandoned aquarium, all riddled with secrets," which Preston confirms will be "presented in a number of ways, including prominently within the environments and the tone and atmosphere we've set up. This approach is part of how we think about game design holistically."

Possessor(s) is not the only title currently in development at Heart Machine, with a full 3D sequel to Hyper Light Drifter, namely Hyper Light Breaker, also imminent, which we'll also be keeping a grotesquely enlarged eye on over the coming weeks. As for Possessor(s), it's headed to Steam in 2025 with unspecified 'console versions' also in the works, which likely means PS5 and Xbox Series platforms as well as the next Nintendo system, though the 2D style might still fit the existing Nintendo Switch. We do hope so.

Let these upcoming video game release dates inform the rest of your plans for 2025

Are you one of the 20 million or so people playing the MMORPG Black Desert? If so, the idea of a single player RPG set in the same universe will likely raise your eyebrows for all the right reasons. If you're not familiar with that game, fear not, as Crimson Desert is a self-contained adventure that doesn't require any prior knowledge of its world or systems. The team at Pearl Abyss tell us that they're doing everything they can to ensure "we deliver the highest quality gameplay to players without compromise".

You'll be stepping into the boots of Kliff Macduff, leader of the Greymanes. The continent of Pywell is in turmoil, and it's up to you and your band of mercenaries to save it from ruin. The vast open world, full of humans, non-humans (both friends and foes), and magic offers all the combat, secrets, and exploration opportunities that you'd expect. The MMORPG origins, however, will help prevent this from becoming predictable.

Big Macduff

Although a solo adventure, you won't always have to fight alone. You'll sometimes fight alongside your fellow mercenaries, allowing for new combat opportunities and a somewhat cinematic feel to fights. It's clear, in fact, that fights in Crimson Desert are being designed with spectacle in mind. Blood flies, visual effects can dazzle, the speed is fast, and some scripted encounters are punctuated with cutscenes. We've even seen that it's possible to kick an enemy off a cliff. This may not be Sparta, but it's close.

"Crimson Desert's demos have showcased combat and bosses thus far because we felt it best fit the limited time available in a demo setting," the devs explain. "In the full game, players can expect a well-rounded experience that balances exploration, combat against multiple foes, boss battles, puzzles, adventure, and faction/resource management". You'll be able to swap out gear for better and better equipment as you progress, and Kliff himself has a selection of stats to beef up - including stamina, attack speed, and critical chance - as you explore Pywel.

Although Pywel is a land full of fantastical creatures and various forms of magic, the Pearl Abyss team recognizes that there's still a need to balance realism with fun.

"While aiming to represent graphics and motion realistically, we prioritized providing players with satisfying control responses and feedback when it comes to the action and combat," they explain. "We focus on the immediacy of character movements and skill transitions upon control movement, ensuring that the movement distances accurately reflect the player's intentions. This approach is designed to allow players to feel immediate and intuitive responses to interactions within the game, thereby offering a more immersive gaming experience."

An open world demands some interesting ways to get around, and Crimson Desert delivers. Sure, you'll do a lot of running around, but at some point you'll acquire the crow wings ability, allowing you to fall from immense heights safely, and glide great distances like a fantasy Batman. On the ground, you'll get to enjoy some horse riding; and who doesn't enjoy that? Horses not quite doing it for you? Okay then, how about dragon riding? We've seen that we'll be given the opportunity to ride one of these mythical beasts through the air - complete with raining down fire from above - and we can't wait.

An epic journey through a land of fantasy means boss fights, and the ones we've seen so far offer promising variety. The beast known as White Horn towers over you while flailing its huge limbs about, for example, while the Reed Devil - while human shaped and human sized - demands quick thinking and quick reflexes in a different way, with fast and agile attacks and teleportation.

The team is using its experience with the hugely successful, long-running Black Desert to make Crimson Desert as good as it can be. "We have learned the importance of teamwork and efficient development processes. These lessons have enabled us to manage resources more efficiently. Our development team is now very adaptable, and well equipped to tackle various challenges during the development of Crimson Desert".

Crimson Desert feels like Dragon’s Dogma 2 combined with The Witcher 3’s lone hero action swagger

It’s incredibly difficult to design a wholly unique sci-fi world. With hundreds of different interpretations spanning years and YEARS in media, it’s rare to make a sci-fi world that doesn't prompt someone to comment: ‘It looks like [insert blockbuster sci-fi movie/game here]’. However, I think Bionic Bay overcomes this feat, managing to set its sci-fi story worlds away from what we've seen before.

First and foremost, Bionic Bay is a striking game to look at. Huge metal machines fused with mass organic structures. Damp tendrils worm their way between mechanisms, it's almost impossible to distinguish roots from wires and cables. This facility is also set entirely underground. Light littered with dust and spores filters down from the surface giving everything an unnatural hazy glow. This subterranean, biomechanical world has been carefully considered, and the result is a deliciously eerie atmosphere.

Drowning depths

Creating this particular atmosphere was vital as the team worked on the game. “I’ve always believed that atmosphere is more important than aesthetics in game development,” Bionic Bay creator Juhana Myllys says. “That said, the two don’t have to exclude each other. Our goal is to create the best game possible by excelling in both areas.

“However, the real challenge lies in balancing aesthetics and gameplay clarity. A "gameplay-first" mentality is essential, but taken to an extreme, it can result in a game that looks unappealing, or worse, boring. For me, the key to artistic direction is finding the sweet spot between these elements.”

This design philosophy is how Myllys approaches Biomic Bay’s level design. “The standard advice is to always start with a block out using simple assets to establish functionality. But every now and then, I flip the process: I create a spot that’s purely visually interesting and then explore the gameplay ideas it inspires. While this approach can be more challenging, it often leads to end results I wouldn’t have made otherwise.”

This development structure, starting with the visuals first, is apparent from the game's opening levels, together with an intriguing setup. After an explosion at a testing facility, a surviving scientist must make his way through the dilapidated remains of what’s left. What he finds is a series of strange biomes with mysterious technology. Playing as the scientist, the crux of the gameplay involves you using different abilities available to you with the tech you find. You need to use these different powers to navigate this world’s dangerous machinery and avoid getting violently killed. Dissected, crushed, vaporized, obliterated - the works.

Swapparoo

With death around every corner, Bionic Bay is a puzzle platformer that’s more action-orientated than brain-busting. As careful as you make your movements, the game’s realistic physics system means that your little scientists will get comically rag-dolled through environments, flung into the air due to an explosion, or making his nose touch his toes as you accidentily get caught him caught in a turning gear. Realistic physics systems often mean a lack of control, but your mini-scientist has moves that make precise platforming easier. Leaping, rolling, and sprinting through lasers, buzz saws, and crushers feel fluid and super satisfying, and together with the different powers at your disposal - it makes for some excellent platforming.

In the demo I played, I used a gizmo to let me swap positions with any object I interacted with, making for some interesting puzzles where I can to consider the order I swapped objects in and the timing of when I used the power. “The Swap mechanic is a core game mechanic that really demands a hand-crafted approach,” Myllys says. “I mean, it’s a versatile mechanic but not necessarily a universal one like a gun, where you can just throw enemies at the player.”

“The biggest challenge is helping players understand the versatility and possibilities this mechanic allows. It’s not a mechanic that players have already experienced in some way. So, it has really forced us to focus on teaching the player the basics first and then gradually introducing more complex, but still fun, challenges for them.”

And wow does it get more bonkers. The swapping ability is just the beginning of a series of abilities and obstacles. In one biome you can control the gravity of the world, shifting it in a way to avoid death. Another has laser beams that make you launch upwards like a trampoline. There's even one level that has you slowing down time.

Gameplay-wise, it’s like Portal and Happy Wheels had a baby, but visually, Bionic Bay is its own island. “If I had to name influences, games like Portal, N+, Another World, Mirror’s Edge, and Oddworld have had the biggest impact. But it’s not just games. Things like Buster Keaton, The Matrix, and Brutalism have all played a role in shaping the vision in some way.”

Admittedly, Bionic Bay wasn’t on my radar for 2025, but after playing the game’s free Steam demo, I am desperate to play more. There’s a part in the game’s trailer where you climb a giant robotic hand, which looks so incredibly cool. I sense there's something more cosmic a the core of the game, I just need to hop, leap, and jump my way through killer machinery to get to it.

Here's the rest of the most anticipated games for 2025 we can't stop thinking about

Long-time players of quirky management sims Two Point Hospital and Two Point Campus will feel immediately at home in the cartoon aesthetics and tongue-in-cheek hyper-capitalism of Two Point Museum within minutes of beginning. But, after those few minutes, it's clear that, while in the same mold, there's something very, very different going on with the cadence of Two Point Museum. And it helps to breathe new life into formula.

"As you say, [in] the previous games, people were coming to those establishments with a particular problem that needed solving, right? Or they wanted to learn a specific thing," says lead designer Luke Finlay-Maxwell when we talk about the series' evolution tackling different business types. "Whereas with Museum, we wanted to make sure that the player has quite a lot of agency in how they're shaping the guest experience."

Rate and review

Which isn't to say guests don't have needs. They'll still leave you negative ratings if they have the gall to be unable to wait ten minutes to use the loo after chugging your deliberately overpriced soda. They'll still have preferences for what they want to see, be it prehistory fossils or haunted artifacts. But it's up to you to choose what to display, and how to guide guests through that experience. "There's still things the player has to cater for, but there's a much bigger emphasis on how the guest sort of looks at your creation," says Finlay-Maxwell. Enticing players is something the team are consciously aware nods to the likes of Theme Park World.

What you have available to place in your exhibits, and when they show up, all revolves around Expeditions. This vital new addition has you sending your experts off periodically to explore, encounter random events, and bring back something exciting. "The very first prototype was just a timer, and you just click the timer and you'd get something," says Finlay-Maxwell. "Then we started looking at, you know, how can we make more impacts on the museum? So then, naturally, that led to things like events, so your staff members can get mucky feet [...], or they can even go MIA."

In practice, it becomes something like a second half of the game that comes in waves alongside your chase for star ratings for each museum you're managing. "We didn't want the expedition system to feel like it was just this completely separate thing," says design director Ben Huskins. "You've got what happens to your team that you send on an expedition, like they come back injured or with a curse or something like that, and that has a real, tangible effects on, you know, then back in the museum, might stop them from being able to do other jobs or go off on another expedition."

But it also adds a whole complimentary progression system. "As you explore those maps, you will encounter interesting new things that you need to think about, whether it's your team needing to be qualified in certain things, or certain cargo items that you can take on the expedition," says Huskins. "And you get to a point where actually at least some of the locations on the maps, you really want to put a lot of thought and preparation into the expedition beforehand, which I think adds that nice level of strategy to the game."

But the somewhat random nature of the expeditions adds a layer of creativity as well. Each area on the map you choose to focus on can pull from one of several possible finds, which can have slightly different details depending on luck. "That was a big part of it, trying to get that player expression through how they make their museum and what they're interested in," says Finlay-Maxell.

It's the kind of randomization that can enhance how personal each players' museum will feel to them, building on top of the more detailed tools Two Point Museum offers for things like crowd management, how guests will flow through the exhibits you present (and, hopefully, right into the jaws of the gift shop). "That was another core pillar for us, making sure that people are having different experiences when they're playing this game. Trying to basically make this game a bit less linear. You know, going from [Two Point] Hospital and [Two Point] Campus," says Huskins, be it where you choose to explore, to how you construct your space.

"All of that is built around different players having different experiences," says Huskins, "and being able to share interesting stories about what happened in their game and show off cool screenshots of: 'look what I did with my museum!', 'Oh, where did you find that thing?', 'Oh, I really want to be able to find that thing.' Yeah, that's definitely something we wanted to get out of this game."

Our hands-on with Two Point Museum was performed on a work-in-progress preview build of the game on PC.

Check out our best simulator games list for more games that put you in charge!

Game creator Keita Takahashi has a history of making surreal games that are visual feasts packed with oddball humor and endearing storylines. His next game, To a T, tries something a bit different compared to the bombastic and comical Katamari Damacy, Noby Noby Boy, and Wattam. For a start, it's focused entirely about a young adult trying to lead an everyday life, which is complicated by a disability that causes them to keep their arms outstretched.

During the week of The Game Awards 2024, I got to spend some time with Takahashi's next game, learning how to get through everyday tasks with a peculiar condition. I also spoke with the creator as he explained why he wanted to make a game that was all about injecting some much-needed positivity into gaming.

"I have noticed that there's so much violence in games today, and I wanted to make something that was not about any of that," says To a T creator Keita Takahashi. "This game is about this character's life and how they grow, and that's the kind of game I wanted to make."

Up in arms

To a T is a slice-of-life puzzle-adventure game about a young adult who goes to school, completes chores, and bonds with loved ones — all while stuck t-posing. There's a charming, upbeat energy throughout, exemplified by the exciting anime-style opening. The protagonist goes through life with optimism and positivity in healthy supply.

In the game's opening, the protagonist begins their day with the normal routine of using the bathroom, getting their wardrobe ready, and having breakfast before heading out to school. But having arms permanently outstretched complicates matters. Everyday tasks prompt a mini-game or quick-time event. However, the protagonist also has a pet dog, who acts as a helper to alleviate some of the pressure.

To a T leans heavily into physical comedy, often showing how bizarre an undertaking of everyday tasks can be – but it never presents these sequences in a way that pokes fun at the protagonist's expense. If anything, it shows how upbeat they are. One of my favorite moments from the demo was preparing a bowl of cereal. Using a custom-made spoon with an extremely long neck, I had to twist both analog sticks to pour in the milk and cereal and then position the main character's head and spoon at the correct angle for them to eat. It was so odd to see this play out, but I couldn't help but find it charming.

Despite To a T being a more modest game compared to the bizarre, city-devouring action puzzle game Katamari Damacy, which recently celebrated its 20th anniversary, I did feel it possessed the same kind of energy as the many cult-favorite Japanese games from the mid-2000s that were unorthodox and unapologetically weird. Takahashi offered some reflection on that era of gaming.

"That was a good era [for gaming], wasn't it? There was so much creativity at that time, with [Katamari Damacy] especially," he says. "I wanted to make something that was more about living a normal life – compared to my other games."

The unapologetically bizarre concept makes To a T something I admire, and I enjoyed seeing it play out with its oddball sensibilities. Even when the game touches on some scenes where the protagonist has nightmares about their anxiety about fitting in and having to live an unusual life with arms outstretched, there's a genuine sense of positivity and openness, which is a welcome sight for a puzzle-adventure game.

To a T is set for release in 2025. For more games coming out in the new year, check out our Big in 2025 round up of the most anticipated games of the year

Ghost of Yotei is finally on the horizon. We've had to wait five years for a sequel to Ghost of Tsushima, but it could've been much worse. For example, this second game takes place a full 300 years after the first adventure. In a console generation filled to the brim with more straightforward sequels, it's a delight to see a developer make such an audacious move, abandoning the characters from the first game and travelling three centuries forward in time for a new 16th century Japan setting. It's also dropped "Tsushima" from the title (spare a moment of silence for the poor marketers at Sony) as we're getting a whole new part of the country to explore in a constant state of shock at how pretty it looks as a PS5 exclusive.

For the uninitiated, Ghost of Tsushima was a third-person stealth-action adventure from Sucker Punch. Set in 13th century Japan, it was the samurai open world game we'd always wanted, and a terrific victory lap in PS4's final major year. The swordplay was particularly inspired, starting out relatively simple and then steadily introducing new powers and stances until you felt like a true legendary samurai, even if you were playing it hungover after a sake binge (er, hypothetically). If you have PlayStation Plus, the excellent PS5 upgraded version is well worth your time.

Blade stunner

Sucker Punch visited Japan several times for research, and apparently these trips left the studio so enamored with a whole different part of the country – inspiring the sequel's change of setting. This time it's set around the mighty Mount Yōtei in Northern Japan.

No complaints here, because what we've seen so far is, unsurprisingly, absurdly good-looking. Golden fields, lush greenery, snow that looks so real it's hard not to shiver just looking at it… It's a game that'll make you seriously consider remortgaging the house in order to afford a PS5 Pro. We're excited to see how it feels in our hands too, as the PS5 upgrade of the first game made great use of the DualSense's lovely rumble tech. We'd love another PS5 exclusive to showcase what that marvelous controller can do again so soon after Astro Bot reminded us that it remains one of the console's most exciting (and criminally underused) features.

According to Andrew Goldfarb, senior communications manager at Sucker Punch, we can expect "sprawling grasslands, snowy tundras, and unexpected dangers". One of the best features of the original game was how alive and dangerous it felt to explore. It's nice to see a studio remembering that an open world shouldn't just be an annoying long commute between the fun bits.

New protagonist Atsu possesses a skull mask that is the terrifying assassin accessory to beat in 2025. More outstanding swordplay is a given, but Atsu will also be able to use firearms. The conflict between fighting with honor and being more sneaky with your kills (and, therefore, actually surviving) drove a lot of the first game's story. I'll be interested to see if Atsu is similarly conflicted about resorting to gunplay. Us? Our trigger fingers have never been itchier, especially if you can now swiftly take out those bloody archers that made our lives so miserable in Ghost of Tsushima.

New toys

Gunplay's confirmed, but could the way we interact with animals also be getting an overhaul? Towards the end of the reveal trailer, Atsu stares down a wolf that changes its mind about attacking her. True, she is dual-wielding some nasty looking blades that would intimidate anyone, but what if we can now tame animals and get them to do our violent bidding? Sucker Punch have promised more varied activities this time, addressing a common complaint of the first game, so we wouldn't rule it out.

The big question is what the studio has planned for the swordplay. Ghost of Tsushima possessed an excellent combat system, full of unlockable stances and attacks that made it more rewarding the more you played. But in the years since, it's FromSoftware's Sekiro, with its parry-or-perish fights, that's proven more influential (like in last year's outstanding Nine Sols). We've also had the underrated gem Rise of the Ronin from Team Ninja, Like a Dragon: Ishin from Ryu Ga Gotuko Studio, and soon we're getting – after a delay pushed it out of 2024 – Assassin's Creed Shadows, a samurai epic also set in 16th century Japan. Basically, Ghost of Yotei is launching with a lot more competition than Ghost of Tsushima did. It'll be interesting to see if Sucker Punch deem a similar-but-evolved combat system enough to still compete, or if they have a more radical overhaul in mind.

But if any studio has earned the benefit of the doubt, it's this one, and we'll never say no to more satisfying samurai swordplay. It's PS5's most beautiful game, an adventure the studio tantalizingly describes as an 'underdog vengeance' story. If you're not excited for that, then maybe it's time to trade-in your PS5 and get into theater or something.

This is just one of the 50 most anticipated games for 2025 we can't stop thinking about.

The Sims 4's decade-long reign as the king of life sims finally has a worthy contender for the crown. Krafton's upcoming PC game inZOI is no ordinary life sim; as its meta narrative framing puts the player in the shoes of a company worker tasked with overseeing a virtual world populated with human-like beings called Zois. It's our job to create our own avatar and explore, shape, and build upon this world as we see fit, and according to producer and director Hyungjun “Kjun” Kim, we'll be doing so in a far more involved capacity than any game the genre has seen before.

"inZOI captures the essence of life by developing a community simulation where Zois communicate and form relationships," Kjun tells GamesRadar+, describing its essence as "a game for those who seek realistic life simulation with deeper levels of immersion." Complete with photorealistic graphics, Krafton's heightened focus on building a more responsive, relatable digital world will be bolstered by one huge thing: you, the player.

Personal touch

Perhaps the biggest draw for the life sim community is the ability to mod your game. It was certainly a promising highlight of Life By You before its unfortunate cancellation last year, and the litany of Sims 4 mods out there are proof of how players thrive on crafting a true sandbox of their own. This genre convention is something Krafton is keen not only to harness, but innovate on.

When inZOI launches into Early Access on March 28, the game will be "equipped with on-device generative AI that allows players to easily create their own interactions, characters, furniture, and anything they can imagine," as well as an AI textile generator that "produces images from user-input text, allowing players to create their own unique patterns and apply them to clothing, furniture, and more." The studio's push toward a more personalized experience has already shown promise following a recent character creator demo. A key lesson it learned from the process? How much players crave "diverse and realistic character faces."

It's true that games like The Sims can lean too heavily on the fantastical, but inZOI's championing of realistic and believable human beings seems front and center. "Diversity and inclusion are key values to the development team at inZOI, striving to provide a space where every player can fully express themselves," Kjun says, with "more realistic body type options" also added after player feedback. "We also plan to offer additional customization options like freckles, piercings, and tattoos, as well as accessories like watches, rings, and necklaces," adds Kjun, all presented through stunning, hyper-realistic fidelity.

Still, Krafton acknowledges that there's more to creating a realistic life sim than simply looking good. That's why on top of controlling our own Zoi, players will oversee "the collective lives of an entire city through a comprehensive community simulation."

Team player

inZoi's cities sound far more ambitious than anything offered in any Sims game. With more to be added during the Early Access period, each city will be "made up of up to 300 Zois, each interacting with each other and forming relationships of their own free will based on their innate traits," says Kjun.

"Zois can influence the communities they live in by spreading rumors, setting new fashion trends, and even catching or transmitting the flu." On top of that, inZOI will offer customizable buildings, weather toggles, and the ability to "modify the state of the city as [players] roam freely, allowing them to have some control over the city as a whole." As a consequence, "unexpected events and diverse life stories" emerge from each decision you make, as the Zois react instinctively. They can even steal the furniture you put up for sale, Kjun hints. This autonomy system sounds like a far more nuanced take on The Sims 4's Neighborhood Stories, a base game update that allowed players to start influencing the lives of NPCs through the currently played household.

Sometimes, though, you just don't care to tell Brandi Broke that she should get to know Vladislaus Straud a little better. If inZOI succeeds at making its world feel like a well-rounded, responsive digital space, it could well achieve something no other life sim has done before: light a fire under EA's 25-year legacy and give it some healthy competition. Time will tell, and with just two months to go until inZOI launches, all that's left to do is wait and see.

Check our picks of the most anticipated games for 2025 we can't stop thinking about

Of all the upcoming games to get excited about in 2025 - and, as we're showing you with Big in 2025, there are a lot - this is one of the best placed to raise a smile or fifty. Perhaps the best placed. A soulslike is designed for you to fail repeatedly so that you can learn; Baby Steps is designed for you to fail repeatedly so that you can laugh. Learn too, sure, but mostly laugh.

"One day in 2019, Gabe made the bold claim that he could make a game that controlled like QWOP but was a skillful, controllable action game with the player being in charge of the physics rather than the other way around," says Bennett Foddy. "I told him it would be too hard. He had a gameplay prototype two hours later, and that was that. But I was totally right, it is too hard."

Step change

The developers themselves describe Baby Steps as "a literal walking simulator". You'll be taking control of 35 year old Nate, a loser in a sweat-stained onesie who's about to face the greatest challenge of his life; getting off the couch, and leaving the house. In fact, he's set for something of an epic adventure, and he's got an awful lot of walking to do. The problem is, he hasn't really got the hang of this 'walking' thing yet, and each awkward step is a new challenge for both him and you.

The DNA of QWOP and Getting Over It is plain to see, albeit toned down significantly in order to better fit a more traditional adventure. There's one influence you may not have seen coming, though. "Death Stranding was a huge inspiration for us!" Foddy explains. "When you play Death Stranding or Baby Steps, after a long period of difficult, hard-won uphill progress, there's a moment where you look back downhill and sort of bask in the magnitude of your achievement… and, even though it's just a game and it's not real, you feel a sudden wave of vertigo! That's what we're shooting for, that moment when the silly safe gameplay pierces through into the hindbrain."

It's important to stress that the goal for the developers here is definitely that "silly, safe gameplay" rather than the guaranteed failure QWOP would quickly lead to. "Watching playtesters go through the game, they start very uncoordinated and clumsy," says Foddy. "But within about 15 minutes they're steady on their feet, and after an hour they're trucking along like they were born to it. But even when you're an expert, parkouring and pirouetting through difficult obstacles, you can still choke and trip on a rock and fall off a cliff. There's always some danger. But it's not like QWOP, where you can't get good at it."

So, Baby Steps is a game where you can 'git gud'. Nonetheless, when you trip and fall - repeatedly - that will be a sign that you're playing the game as the developers intended. One look at the trailer will tell you that. Nate's movement is awkward and unnatural, but a lot of the time, the movement we see is downwards and uncontrolled. We see him stumble, fall, plummet, and slide for our entertainment. Nate will get where he's going eventually, but along the way, he'll be taking the kind of damage usually reserved for a protagonist in The Last Of Us.

The controls aren't the only aspect of the game that differ from a traditional adventure., as Foddy explains. "I don't think anyone will have experienced anything like the game's music system, which weaves a musical soundtrack out of the natural environment of the world. Have you ever had that feeling where it seems like, for a minute, everything in the world around you is operating in harmony?". We can't wait to reach a perfect moment of gaming zen, when the rhythm of movement and environment-driven soundtrack blend together to create a soothing flow state. Right before we trip over our own ankles and faceplant with nose-breaking speed.

Check out our Big in 2025 ranking to see where we've placed this year's most anticipated games

After being overtaken by aliens and viral outbreaks, robotic killing machines once again feel like the greatest threat to humanity, which makes the enemies of multiplayer extraction shooter Arc Raiders all the more timely – especially as debates around generative AI continue, in the wake of other large-scale tech trends. It's certainly not lost on the team at Stockholm-based Embark Studios.

"With Arc Raiders, we wanted to lean into some of the contemporary conversations around robots and AI," explains Sven Grundberg, director of brand and communications at Embark Studios. "Depending on who you ask, the prospect of intelligent machines is as terrifying as it is mind-blowing and exciting, so this game felt like an opportunity to explore that." It's perhaps all the more resonant that these robots, the titular Arc, aren't Arnie's killer terminators but something even less humanoid yet also recognisable right now, be it flying sentry drones or larger threats with animalistic limbs straight out of Boston Dynamics' labs.

Rise of the robots

There is nonetheless a notable retro style to Arc Raiders' science fiction, with '80s inspirations coming not just from action sci-fi movies but also fashion and music, including the 80s-inspired synthpop of Robyn's 'Dancing On My Own' that accompanied the game's announcement back in 2021. “We like to say that this is a grounded sci-fi game with bold contrasts — the environment and the world are full of historical artifacts mixed with futuristic remnants, and the ARC machines are an embodiment of this style, blending the foreign and the familiar,” says Grundberg.

It's a decade that undeniably continues to influence our pop culture but Grundberg tells us that they also wanted to bring their own fresh spin to it instead of just a mere nostalgia play. "We really felt that the throwback nature of the style embodied Arc Raiders’ story and helped bring our post-post-apocalyptic setting to life. The style also allowed us to convey that humanity was starting all over again, but not entirely from scratch."

In other words, don't expect a complete reset of civilization like Horizon's hunter-gatherer tribes but a still recognizable humanity that has taken refuge underground, save for the raiders who dare to venture to the surface, facing not only deadly machines but other rival raiders, for all the precious loot that they can carry on their steel frame backpacks in exchange for better gear and upgrades back at the den. It's in its worldbuilding, which includes a lot of destroyed buildings, with rooftops that you can easily zipline across also make for great vantage points, where Arc Raiders hopes to stand out from the extraction shooter competition. It's a goal that could open it up to newcomers just as much as giving extra depth to players who've already cut their teeth on the likes of Escape from Tarkov.

"We think that Arc Raiders is uniquely positioned in that it branches beyond the extraction genre with elements of action survival, adventure, and battle royale as well – opening the door for players who may not have tried an extraction shooter before, but keeping the high-stakes elements current extraction players love," explains Grundberg. "We’re also focusing a lot on building out the universe – It’s been really important to us throughout this process that the world of Arc Raiders is something vibrant and dynamic, with a rich narrative and versatile gameplay, enabling players to really immerse themselves in our world. We really think there’s an adventure here for any kind of player."

Multiplayer shooters are a ruthlessly competitive space – look no further than the high-profile casualties of Hyenas and Concord – yet some of its best can also be intimidating and inaccessible. There's however a lot to be hopeful for Embark in making Arc Raiders a more approachable and appealing extraction shooter that may make it a mainstream hit. It certainly helps that it already has the success of The Finals under its belt, and is taking those learnings directly into Arc Raiders – though crucially not all of them, given its pivot from free-to-play to premium release. "Launching a game in practice is one thing in theory and another thing in reality," says Grundberg. "The Finals was Embark’s first game to market, and we’re learning things every day. We recently hosted a closed tech test and the feedback we received was very encouraging and helped to point us in the right direction with how to continue to grow the game and optimize the experience for players." There's plenty of reason to hop in and scavenge come launch.

If your trigger finger can't wait for Arc Raiders, check out the best FPS games that made our list

There is a certain subset of sickos who love to turn gaming into a job. If you're wondering whether you fall into that category, ask yourself: Does the thought of meticulously organizing ammo by armor penetration values in Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl set your heart aflutter? Do you find yourself obeying traffic laws in Grand Theft Auto 5? If your answer to any of this is yes, allow me to sell you on Mafia: The Old Country – the latest in a series built upon following rules to the letter.

After a nine-year hiatus following Mafia 3's controversial open world pivot, The Old Country will bring us back to where our well-dressed capers started: Sicily in the 1900s, birthplace of the Cosa Nostra crime family. There's a lot to be excited for – including, as contributor Jeremy Peel puts it, cars that "are so slow they go backwards" – but for many, Mafia's less-is-more open worlds and granular approach to game mechanics will make the wait until launch feel unbearably long.

The old ways are better

When Mafia: The Old Country's 2025 release window was announced last December, fans wondered whether publisher 2K's other upcoming crime game – this little-known thing called Grand Theft Auto 6 – would overshadow its long-awaited return. After all, they're both third-person action games with an emphasis on dangerous driving, gang warfare, and shooting (all what we call "crimes") in that order.

But really, the series' similarities are skin-deep. Where Grand Theft Auto has thrived in making increasingly vast sandboxes – a do anything, crash anywhere approach – the Mafia series' strengths lie in a more linear, narrative-driven experience. Mafia (presumably) won't let you seamlessly jump to a protagonist halfway across a horizon-spanning map, or rain missiles from above in a flying murder-bike. But you know what it will let you do? Obey traffic laws or get fined – or in the case of The Old Country's old-timey setting, ogle at one of them fancy automobiles while traipsing behind its fumes on horseback.

While Mafia 3 took a shot at emulating Grand Theft Auto's formula, the result was a game that buried its fantastic story beneath a convoluted open world. Now, The Old Country is going back to its roots as a narrative-first action game. Throw in the fact we'll likely be playing 100 years or so in the past, and there's plenty to separate the two – something that The Old Country game director Alex Cox has already pointed out.

"If you track both GTA and Mafia since 2000-ish, 2002 when GTA 3 and Mafia came out, they were mechanically very similar games," Cox told IGN last month. "But Mafia's always had a bit more focus on its linear narrative versus the sandbox experiences, which Rockstar does industry super-best quality. Actually Mafia over time has become increasingly more about the linear story, and so I don't think the games are fundamentally that similar other than they have a shared theme."

Meanwhile, we've seen an increasing amount of games play with more systemic pushback. Some of that is big – sequels like Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 are taking their series' infamously-challenging worlds and doubling down on their survival elements and realism-driven combat – while other instances are far smaller. Think of the way Baldur's Gate 3 necessitates sleep, appropriating D&D's long rests rather than smoothing over it in a way we're more familiar with. Dragon's Dogma 2 made fast-travelling time-consuming or costly depending on whether you jumped on a wagon or used a pricey crystal to teleport, forcing players to plan for long journeys between settlements.

Game worlds are being designed less for players to steamroll through, and more to feel lived within. It's something Mafia has always been ahead of the curve on. Its prime example is having to obey traffic laws – speeding, skipping through red lights, and otherwise being a menace on the road will result in you being pulled over by the police. That sort of attention isn't ideal for the mob shenanigans you're very likely on the road for, so throughout the game it's in your best interest to behave whenever possible.

Pair all of that with more and more players falling out of love with endless open worlds, and 2025 begins to feel like the perfect storm for Mafia: The Old Country. I'm hoping our trip to Sicily has more of that mechanical texture – whatever shape that may entail, given 20th century Sicilian traffic laws may be a little early for speeding tickets. Dated automobiles should feel awkward to drive, and I'd love for melee weapons to be as much of a necessity as they've felt through trailers so far. Throw in a linear mob story as personable as the first two titles, and this thing of ours could be onto a winner.

Stay up-to-date with what's coming up with our list of upcoming game release dates for 2025

It feels like games swing wider every year, lower lows juxtaposed with higher highs. The live service graveyard will need an expansion soon, but the throne of the Game of the Moment is grander than ever. What will reign next? What will dominate conversations for weeks, months, or the rest of the year? The next Helldivers 2, the next Baldur's Gate 3. Marvel Rivals feels like the most recent Game of the Moment. And as 2025 warms up, it's hard to think of many upcoming games that are better positioned to grab millions of players than Monster Hunter Wilds, the most-anticipated entry in an action RPG series that's held onto the same lasting appeal for over 20 years.

A lot of this build up started with Monster Hunter World. I've mentioned it about a hundred times, and I'll keep mentioning it because I think the impact of this game is still underestimated. It feels like a canon event for our timeline. Monster Hunter World turned a long-niche series into a peak platinum seller for Capcom and informed a whole lot of people that the kind of game loop which so many grind-a-thons and RPGs are still chasing was mastered by Capcom ages ago, and that it comes paired with some of the best combat and boss design in video games and multiplayer that generates friendships and stories more reliably than almost anything else. Monster Hunter Wilds is a direct evolution of this breakout hit, and based on everything we've seen and played of it so far, it could well be even bigger.

The secret sauce

A new Monster Hunter always feels like an event. For longtime fans, each game is a fresh start in a new but familiar world, an adventure simultaneously nostalgic and surprising. It somehow captures the thrill of starting New Game Plus in a game you've learned front-to-back, and the satisfaction of using your experience to fly through it, but in something excitingly unfamiliar.

Your favorite weapon feels just right in your hands, but comes with new tricks that meaningfully shift how you play. Maybe you'll main a new weapon this time – the idea is especially tempting in Monster Hunter Wilds since you can bring two weapons on a hunt now – or maybe you'll just spend another 500+ hours with ol' reliable. Likewise, there's always a new village or hub with the same infectious soul – jovial characters and skittering Palicoes and irresistible food – but a vibe all its own. The maps, the monsters, the menus – everything feels like home, lived-in and comfy, but undeniably different.

For newcomers, a Monster Hunter launch is always the best time to jump in, not just because the community is sure to be white-hot for a good while after release, but because every new Monster Hunter builds on all the previous ones. "Just play the new one" is a golden rule of mine with games, and Monster Hunter is maybe the best series for it. Monster Hunter Wilds is the clearest iteration yet, with Capcom obviously hoping the Monster Hunter World lightning will strike again, but there are fragments of other games in the mix too, polished and refined.

And for everyone, a new Monster Hunter is a chance to get immersed up to your collarbone in a peerless loop of challenge and reward – and then up to your chin, and then your ears, and, screw it, let's go all the way under. Monster Hunter is an action RPG where you chase and battle dozens of monsters in boss fight-style showdowns that can run upwards of 20 minutes, all in massive, dynamic environments teeming with life. Each boss hunted yields new parts you can use to craft better gear to bring on harder hunts. That's the loop, and it's as compelling as another run of Balatro or another turn of Civilization.

But really, Monster Hunter is a game about setting goals and overcoming challenges, and it's one of the best in its space. Combat and crafting feed off each other in a way that keeps you chasing your next upgrade, and this motivates you to get better at fighting monsters. Your hunt times go down, your damage numbers go up, and soon your brain is sloshing around in all the fun chemicals.

Whole new World

Monster Hunter Wilds is more of this, obviously, but it's also the first Monster Hunter fully developed by a post-Monster Hunter World Capcom, as the more handheld-centric Monster Hunter Rise was already in production when it exploded in popularity. Wilds is the game that will show us what Capcom learned from World and how it will shepherd the series going forward. My first impression was that it has learned a lot, and consequently Monster Hunter Wilds could be the definitive Monster Hunter, balancing the grit of games like Monster Hunter World and Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate with the more out-there style of entries like Monster Hunter Rise and Monster Hunter Generations.

Crucially, Monster Hunter Wilds has a few key strengths going in. Firstly, there's been a calculated push for approachability. Capcom knows it needs to reach new players and get them up to speed, so it's put more resources into pacing and tutorializing. At the company's Osaka, Japan studio, one developer told GamesRadar+ that feedback from the first network test has been encouraging in this regard. My playthrough of the opening hours felt well-guided. It also felt more like a traditional RPG, complete with bespoke chapters and objectives, which isn't a coincidence.

For a long time, Monster Hunter games didn't really have well-defined storylines with serious stakes or motivations. (Ironically, spinoffs like Monster Hunter Stories are much bigger on this.) There was richness in the background, but the games mostly got by on a string of excuses to introduce new monsters and convince you to fight them. This was never a problem because combat and crafting always carried the experience, but I get the sense that Capcom has invested more in storytelling with Wilds, partly as a way to grab people who associate RPGs with deep stories.

The short version of Wilds is: you're hunting a monster thought to be extinct to help people living in a region thought to be uninhabited, so the whole hunter guild has been thrown for a loop. What's most exciting is the treatment and description of hunters as a whole. The role they play, the power they wield, and the difference they – you! – make in this world. We aren't just researching for the sake of knowledge. Wilds feels like a fuller narrative squeezed out of the world-building that Monster Hunter has always had, and as someone who also likes lots of other RPGs, it is doing something for me.

Setting the hook as the Game of the Moment will largely fall to multiplayer, I suspect, and Wilds has an advantage here as well: it's the first simultaneous multi-platform launch with crossplay in the history of Monster Hunter. This is a big deal; all of the sudden my real-life friends, Destiny 2 friends, and work friends can all group up and hunt together.

That's powerful, and combined with the more freeform lobbies that Wilds is seemingly pushing for, with individual teams of two to four splitting off from persistent open-world groups whenever they want, I'm picturing Discord hangout sessions the likes of which I haven't seen in years. Helping a friend catch up, sharing the same grinds, rotating who gets to pick the monster, ragging on the one friend who just can't get that rare gem to drop. It's gonna be a good time, and I can easily see this consuming a huge chunk of 2025 for a lot of people – maybe World's audience and then some.

Looking for more beasties? Check out our best Monster Hunter games list!

While the release date for Phantom Blade Zero may feel like a world away, this action game already lives up to the stylish and exhilarating trailer shown at Summer Game Fest 2024. Phantom Blade Zero aims to set itself apart from the commercially successful yet controversial Black Myth: Wukong through its own original setting and fast-paced action, while also attempting to create its very own genre – kung fu punk.

Phantom Blade Zero is composed of several different archetypes, drawing inspirations from some of the most notable series within the games industry. CEO of S-Game and game director of Phantom Blade Zero, Soulframe Liang, listed Resident Evil, Ninja Gaiden, and Dark Souls as a loose frame of reference for what the team pulled from. Ninja Gaiden fed into Phantom Blade Zero's fast, frenetic, and almost rhythmic combat, Dark Souls for the layered level design of various stages that will appear in the game, and Resident Evil for tone. "We're attempting to create something new through assembling these archetypes to create something new, fresh, and never seen before," says Soulframe. "But concerning style, that's kung fu punk."

Fast as lightning

Kung fu Punk, as described by Soulframe, is a mixture of traditional Chinese kung fu, steampunk, and cyberpunk. It's his hope that this will be able to create a unique identity for Phantom Blade Zero. "We have multiple sources of inspiration, including Chinese culture, that span across the entertainment industry. Kung fu punk is something that's obviously a mixture of Chinese culture and something more universal and globally understood."

It's no surprise that S-Game, while in town to support Black Myth: Wukong developer Game Science, wants to differentiate itself from its obvious competition. While Phantom Blade Zero has received public demos at events like Tokyo Game Show 2024, for example, it isn't readily available to your average consumer. And on the surface, it might just read as another high fidelity action game. But it's so much more than that.

During a hands-on preview I dove headfirst into the "Hard" mode for Phantom Blade Zero, feeling my way around a small encampment of enemies and eventually getting my bearings to fell the boss – a man with a crude-looking cudgel – in one go. Then I was moved to a new arena where I tackled yet another massive man, this time wielding a curved blade as I parried and dodged in a delicate dance of keeping my stamina up while whittling his down. Phantom Blade Zero certainly does take inspiration from the Dark Souls series, even in terms of some character designs, which comes as no surprise as one of their key artists worked on Demon's Souls and Dark Souls. Yet despite this I was most reminded of Sekiro in terms of just how balanced and precise you would have to be, especially on "Extreme" mode, which I nearly cleared.

Making roads

While Phantom Blade Zero certainly has quite a lot of promise, S-Game is certainly feeling the pressure. Thanks to the success of Black Myth: Wukong, Soulframe says there has been a shift in the Chinese game industry. "This year has been seen as a milestone, because so many people are waiting to see if they should be changing their focus from mobile games to console games." He described the current mobile market as a "red sea," with Black Myth: Wukong more or less a contributing factor for S-Game to pursue its first console game.

Unbeknownst to me, Phantom Blade Zero is part of an already established IP that has spanned nearly fifteen years. Soulframe recalls developing the first entry in the series during his time in school. "It seemed like a dream [...] We've received a similar amount of anticipation [as Black Myth Wukong] and there's a lot of pressure on us, but I think in a good way."

Soulframe went on to elaborate that Phantom Blade Zero is also more than just about the success of the studio. Following Black Myth Wukong means that S-Game has something to prove – and not just to itself, but to the games industry at large. "It's about the Chinese games industry. We don't want to let people down."

However, he has hope as the world seems to have an interest in what's currently going on in the Chinese market. Phantom Blade Zero is certainly starting from zero when it comes to brand recognition outside of China, but he thinks the new perspective provided by Chinese game studios, and the culture they're representing is a boon. He feels like there aren't any obstacles in that regard, and with the interest shown at various trade shows, the team is in high spirits – even if the pressure is on.

For more, check out the 50 most anticipated video games of 2025 we're hyped to play this year

The fundamental premise of any extraction shooter is simple; get in, do the job, get back out. Preferably alive. Exoborne is planning to make the whole experience a wilder ride than usual. Will there be enemies? Of course. Will you have to complete objectives? Naturally! But the whole experience will take place in a world that has been ravaged by extreme weather, apocalyptic conditions that show no sign of calming down when you enter the scene.

"We had just come out of a project at another studio where we got to 'break' New York," explains Sharkmob co-founder Martin Hultberg [presumably meaning Tom Clancy's The Division, on which he was IP director], "so it seemed natural that the next step was to break the world. We looked at a bunch of different extinction level scenarios, but landed on extreme weather as the more interesting one because of how primal and dynamic it is. It is a type of disaster everyone understands."

World unbuilding

Signs of the end times are everywhere. Structures are broken, areas are abandoned, and sinkholes have appeared. Which, of course, is great! That means the world you'll be playing in is a world full of gameplay possibilities. "Since it is a disaster that evolved over time it has left layers of destruction, and those layers help create the character of this world," says Hultberg. "You can tell you are in the United States because of architecture, branding, billboards, vehicles, etc., but everything is… off. Things are in places they shouldn’t be, buildings partially buried or sheared off, some areas overgrown and others washed out. All these areas effectively become different biomes that affect how you play and fight – a playground of verticality, unexpected discoveries, and dangerous combat spaces."

Why venture out into this dangerous world at all? Because there are precious resources to be had out there, resources that you can use back at base to craft and upgrade the kit that will help you come back alive. Resources, it's worth noting, that enemy players will also be looking to scavenge; from your corpse, if necessary (and you'll all also be fighting the enemy NPC factions). Weapons and mods can be customized, but so can your all-important exosuit, known as an exo-rig.

Your exo-rig has slots that can be upgraded with certain abilities. A shield would come in handy, right? So would some extra armor. But you're after loot, remember, so expanding your inventory space would be a pretty good investment. Perhaps you'd like the ability to scan for enemies through walls, or call in an airstrike. You can set up your rig in a way that best suits your playstyle. However you play, it also hides a grappling hook and a paraglider, giving you the best chance of being able to navigate the ruined landscape, and to master the deadly conditions and even use them to your advantage.

All this – the exploration, the firefights, the traversal of a broken world – takes place in the midst of a dynamic, painstakingly crafted weather system, as Hultberg explains. "Although Unreal 5 is a powerful tool, when it comes to our weather it has required a lot of design, engineering, lighting, and special effects work to get to the point we are at now. The complexity is not just in the different weather sets, but also in how they synergize with the powers of the exo-rigs, transition to other sets, blend, interact with each other, and interact with other systems creating emergent gameplay that means every session is unique."

If you're feeling particularly brave, you can set out into the world by yourself, defying ridiculous odds like a Hollywood sci-fi action hero. With unpredictable lightning strikes that can fry you though, and tornadoes to send you hurtling through the air while a group of enemies tries to give you a few extra holes, you might be better off playing alongside a few others to tip those odds slightly more in your favour. They'll be able to revive you when you're downed, too, assuming someone or something else doesn't get to you first.

Exoborne is lining itself up perfectly to provide a unique and memorable extraction shooter experience. "We are putting a lot of weight on the forces of nature, agile traversal across the world, and the power fantasy of the exo-rigs," Hulberg says. "Those three things combined provide a kind of shooter gameplay that we feel stands out from the rest and offers a thrilling and rewarding experience, with high risk – high reward in the sessions but a more consistent long-term progression."

To pass the time until Exoborne's launch, here are the best shooters you can play right now

Techland has been blending atmospheric horror and the over-the-top absurdity of drop kicking a shambling zombie corpse 50 feet off a rooftop for nearly a decade. With the team's next brand-new entry – Dying Light: The Beast – set to release in summer 2025, we sat down with franchise director Tymon Smektala to learn more about the game's focus on creating tension in new spaces, all-new weaponry, and balancing horror with deeply unserious co-op shenanigans.

This time around, Techland's big focus is on making night time scarier than ever in Dying Light: The Beast. Part of that involves some new tricks to create moments of tension within the game – namely using horror films as an inspiration for taking small moments and creating a sense of unending dread. "Something scary is happening with a ghost or a serial killer, and the characters just need to go to the other end of the corridor because there's safety there, and usually that's a simple straight line," says Smektala. "But because of how the movie sounds, how the camera works, how it builds tension, it's one of the most tense moments of those movies and we are looking at scenes like this to get inspired."

The team looks to build these stressful moments upon Dying Light: The Beast's new locations. While players are used to being able to parkour around city rooftops to escape from hordes of enemies giving chase, The Beast's environmental variety allows for the team to play with more open spaces, where a lack of verticality is used to craft nail-biting moments of uneasiness. The new swamp biome is filled with long stretches of ankle-high water and heavy fog to obscure the player's vision – creating a new way for the team at Techland to play with the player's mind. "Generally, we pull some strings to surprise you with the zombies being here or there, which parts of the environment have you checked yourself, and so which ones aren't really known to you," explains Smektala. "Then we use those areas to create a threat – spawn a zombie, play some audio cue, or maybe some other element – to scare you."

Gearing up

Yet balancing these new horror elements and four-player co-op in The Beast proved challenging. So the team decided against trying to force it to work. "It's almost unachievable to keep the horror vibe and still have four players when one is teabagging a zombie while another one is doing some other crazy stuff, and the third one is in your ear talking about another TV series that he has watched the day before." It's not about trying to "make it work," Smektala says: "It's just a different type of experience."

Still, there's much more to The Beast than just trying to scare players into submission. There's a focus on what has made the franchise so beloved by fans over the last decade, and weapons are a huge part of that equation.

Dying Light is known for cobbling together modified weapons that turn your average wrenches and pipes into zombie killing machines. Whether you're slapping on a battery to add electric pulses to every hit or taping on a blowtorch to smoke your enemies, the franchise has been missing a staple of any zombie-murdering arsenal. "For some reason in our zombie game, we didn't have a flamethrower, and actually come to think of it, it's something quite classic that you should have," says Smektala, laughing. "So, yes we'll have a flamethrower."

Alongside the new flamethrower there will also be a grenade launcher with different types of ammo, including UV grenades that are great for getting zombies off of your tail. Vehicles also make their return and this time players can finally drive around in first-person – something the team never truly planned for. "The interesting story behind it is that we didn't really intend it to be this way when, even when we were announcing the game at Gamescom, we were asked this by our players, and we said we planned driving to be third-person only," says Smektala. "But then we had so many voices from players who wanted first-person – even if it makes you feel like you have lower visibility – [because] it adds to the immersion, it keeps the integrity of the character. So we went the extra mile to add first-person."

Outside of a suite of new weapons and vehicles, The Beast is centered around Kyle Crane and his newfound powers after being experimented on by the game's villain, The Baron. These powers aren't always available, but rather round out the player's arsenal when the time is right. "The best metaphor I can give is Pac-Man basically," says Smektala. "Like those long moments where you fear the ghosts, where you try to avoid them, you don't want them to grab you, but then you get the Power Pellet, and suddenly you can turn the table." We don't know much about these new powers yet, but Smektala assures us we will learn more "closer to release."

Luckily, we won't have to wait too much longer, as Dying Light: The Beast is set to release in summer 2025.

See what other exciting releases are on the horizon in our round up of new games for 2025 and beyond.

This PC shooting favorite is coming back for another sequel with Killing Floor 3, which has got us totally stoked for its blood-soaked glory. Hordes of abominations seething towards you as you dispatch them in manners not dissimilar to Doom's glory kills is a mouthwatering prospect. But with such great competition around, what is it about this series in particular that keeps us and so many fans coming back for more?

We suggest to Bryan Wynia, studio creative director at Tripwire Interactive, that players come to Killing Floor expecting something very specific with its 5-squad, wave-based survival. So how does the team go about iterating on those recognizable foundations while also offering something new? "One area we focused on early were the enemies. We wanted to bring back some of the classic threats but elevate them to provide players with a new challenge. We gave them new attacks, new abilities, and new ways to navigate to players. For example, the Husk having the ability to use his jet pack to attack flanks really causes you to keep your head on a swivel."

Squad fall in

Wynia continues: "As zeds and enemies became more challenging, we had to provide the players with new forms of movement, weapon-mods, and a variety of tools to now handle these threats. It also changed how we developed our maps. We are able to think more vertically due to the enhanced zeds and new player movement."

The new forms of movement Wynia is referencing is perhaps most evident in the returning 'Crawler' enemy type, which is no longer restricted to floors and walkways, instead crawling (that's what they do, after all) over walls and ceilings too, often in large numbers. There's plenty of deliciously twisted imagination on show in the horrors that scuttle and lurch towards you, and the game's metal-augmented monstrosities are even more horrific than before.

Wynia explains: "We really want to communicate the difference between a zombie and a zed. The goal was to show players and fans that these are bio-engineered killing machines. Created in a factory or lab with the only goal of killing you! We just revealed the re-imagined Siren. Visually we want her to remind you of the previous design yet show how Horzine [a biotech company responsible for the outbreak and release of these monsters, called 'specimens'] has upgraded her to be this ultimate weapon capable of causing massive destruction and death. The contrast between the pale flesh and cold metal helps create a horrific abomination of science and engineering."

But it isn't just the Siren's new look that's gotten Wynia keen for you to meet her in-game. "I’m really excited for players to hear her as she enters the battle as well, it is pretty intimidating. Our audio team has done an excellent job at creating unique audio elements that help define the character of each zed and build that sense of tension."

So why now? Why not just make another update for Killing Floor 2? Wynia has a simple answer: "Killing Floor has a long history of updates post launch. From exploring new maps to utilizing a variety of new weapons. These updates have given players new experiences and challenges that add to the fun of fighting waves of zeds. After the team worked on a variety of Killing Floor 2 updates as well as Maneater we were excited to explore what the future of Killing Floor could look like. We had a variety of new tools and tech that would allow us to make an even larger and bloodier sequel. We also wanted to explore new experiences, new stories, and expand the world of Killing Floor."

The gameplay footage released so far looks super-satisfying, with every shot drenching the floor in reflective, very wet-looking blood. But its biggest pull is arguably deeper than the violence. Wynia suggests a deeper reason for the series' chokehold on players: "The combination of horror and co-op creates something that players really enjoy. We often talk about Killing Floor being at its best when you are just barely surviving. It causes this sense of tension and excitement so you end up having fun if you have destroyed all the zeds or died a horrible death in the process. It’s similar to a haunted house or roller coaster with this really dramatic pacing."

The game is coming not only to PC but also to Xbox Series consoles and PS5, so look out for more soon. We certainly will.

See what else lies ahead with our roundup of upcoming horror games.

The Alters asks one of life's most dangerous questions: What if? What if you'd studied harder, been more responsible, or pushed to maintain certain relationships? Answering this question is protagonist Jan Dolski, a down-on-his-luck miner who has crash landed on a hostile planet where sunglasses won't be enough to protect you from the deadly rays of the sun. Jan needs help to survive, so he creates alternate versions of himself that provide the skills and expertize he lacks, such as scientific knowledge. "What truly captivated us was the idea of encountering a 'different' version of oneself – exploring alternate paths our lives could have taken," explains Tomasz Kisilewicz, game director.

By choosing which of Jan's major life choices to alter, these clones bring him face to face with a smorgasbord of Jans he could have been – the good, the bad, and the ugly. The what if's. He also needs to ensure they cooperate. "Our focus was on crafting fully realized characters for players to gradually uncover – learning why each Jan became the person he is. This journey of discovery and relationship-building unfolds throughout the entire game."

Alternate perspectives

The Alters is underpinned by its choice based narrative, feeding directly into its survival and base-building elements. Maintaining these relationships with Jan's Alters won't be a simple affair, with each one carrying their own baggage and idiosyncrasies. "Sometimes, understanding a character means making difficult choices or even going against your instincts. There are moments when you think, 'I know who this guy is,' but as events progress and the bond deepens, you uncover layers you didn't anticipate." You'll encounter roughly "10 unique Alters", but Tomasz teases "some surprises" that he doesn't want to spoil just yet. Which Alters you see and how much you learn will also vary between playthroughs. "It was crucial for us to design the game so that [...] players could meet different Alters or gain fresh insights about the ones they thought they already knew."

One of the biggest challenges for 11 Bit Studios was to "uncover the unique 'voice' of each Alter" and "ensuring [they] stood out distinctly, so players could immediately recognize which one they were interacting with, all while keeping the performances subtle and authentic," Tomasz explains. "After all, these are different versions of the same person [...] we couldn't let their voices blur into one another – but we also wanted to avoid exaggeration or caricature." Working with a single performer for the role, Alex Jordan (Rook, Dragon Age: The Veilguard), and voice directors, Damien Goodwin and Kate Saxon, they dedicated significant time to preparation before recording. "We dove deep into the Alters' backstories, exploring how their lives and experiences diverged and how those differences might shape their voices. For example, could an early move abroad influence one Alter's accent? Could another's years of battling alcoholism leave an imprint on their vocal cords?"

From the creators of Frostpunk, 11 Bit Studios is well versed in exploring sci-fi narratives from fresh angles. "Our vision leans more toward the works of Stanisław Lem than flashy, high-octane sci-fi spectacles. Aesthetically, we found inspiration in films like Interstellar, where alien worlds are compelling due to their rawness, mystery, and unfamiliar physicality, rather than explosions or intergalactic warfare," explains Tomasz. "Ultimately, this is a deeply personal story, and that human element remains at the heart of our narrative."

There's no shortage of multiversal shenanigans in pop culture, from Marvel to Everything Everywhere all at Once, but The Alters sets itself apart by honing in on its core high-concept theme of 'What if?' "I think what makes our approach distinct is how these alternate versions of oneself coexist in a single reality. Players are at the center of this experience, choosing which versions of themselves to create and uncover, and deciding how to navigate the consequences. It's this player agency that makes video games the perfect medium for telling such a story – offering an empirical exploration of these themes."

Aside from confronting one of life's biggest philosophical questions, Jan is always on the move in his roving hamster wheel-like base to escape the pesky sun. "This led to the idea of a base design that can move between locations, making it feel dynamic and alive. There's something thrilling about customizing your base, expanding it, and operating within this enormous, tangible structure. Then stepping outside to witness the massive treads of your colossal wheel firsthand!"

Switching between third-person exploration and a dollhouse-like view of the base (reminiscent of the perspective in This War of Mine and Fallout Shelter), there's a seamless transition while maintaining its visual identity. "The key lies in creating a strong sense of scale and ensuring everything feels physical and grounded," says Tomasz. " We didn't want the base to feel like some abstract, disconnected entity where you just teleport in and out. Instead, we envisioned it as an integral part of the world – a portable home rooted in the environment you explore."

The Alters looks set to be another highly stylized game from 11 Bit Studios, with a deep psychological twist. Pulling at the threads of multiple genres, this high-concept sci-fi is certainly ambitious, but is grounded in a very human perspective that has me intrigued. The idea of fighting to survive while managing various aspects of yourself is a philosophical can of worms I'm looking forward to opening.

The Alters feels like a perfect mix of sci-fi survival with the multiversal chaos of Everything Everywhere All At Once

South of Midnight has plenty to prove. After all, where do you go after making We Happy Few, an Orwellian drug-fuelled nightmare where lots of poorly face-painted British people wanted you dead? (And for once, we don't just mean our UK office). Well, naturally, you run screaming in the complete opposite direction. That's exactly what Compulsion Games has done with South of Midnight, where its surreal British dystopia has been abandoned for the significantly sunnier climes of the American Deep South. A glow-up if there ever was one.

Ah, but Compulsion Games thankfully hasn't abandoned its horror roots for South of Midnight. Instead the developer is embracing a Southern Gothic theming for its new third-person fantasy action adventure, a game the studio is calling a "dark modern folktale". That's evident from what we've seen so far, given I'm fairly confident the real-world region doesn't boast gigantic talking fish monsters that you can use as sassy boats to explore.

The big uneasy

That feisty fish is being ridden/argued with by protagonist Hazel, who's on a quest to save her mother. It's a coming-of-age adventure, because nothing incentivises you to grow up faster than being forced to fight mythical creatures in a deadly swamp. One that starts off rather beautiful – this studio hasn't lost its gift for crafting a sense of place – but then warps and darkens into something a lot more sinister. Good to see Compulsion Games hasn't lost its love of environments with nasty hidden layers.

A monster emerges, hungry for a scrap. Luckily, Hazel is wielding an "ancient power" that seems to manifest itself into different tools as she needs them, turning into a set of blades here when a beast needs slicing up. With that said, it's hard to tell if fights are the now industry-standard soulslike affairs, or something a little more Devil May Cry 5. One thing's for sure, though: it's certainly not slow. Hazel certainly possesses the mobility for the latter, as her ancient power also gives her a handy double jump, a Marvel's Spider-Man 2-like glider, and even a nifty parachute for safer landings. Watching her effortlessly traverse these swamps with her own moves makes me wonder why she'd ever need to ride a giant fish anywhere again, particularly one so fond of backtalk.

Combat's still a bit of an unknown, then, but I like the look of using a hookshot to close the gap with your enemy (thanks Overwatch!). The most interesting idea is how Hazel finishes her foe by "unravelling" them. Once Hazel does this, the forest seems to regenerate, its nastier elements fading away while a field of fresh flowers grows in seconds. Just a pretty visual effect, or an actual world-restoring game mechanic? Stardew Valley is far too sedate sometimes, and I'd love a gardening sim that demands we slay monsters to insta-grow my crops.

I'm keen to see more of its promised presentation tricks too. The developers apparently are aiming for a storybook feel, complete with every chapter being guided by a dynamic narrator. Can we expect something as clever and constant as Bastion's excellent narrator? Honestly, the novelty of its pleasing Deep South setting might be enough as is. It's not a location we're used to seeing depicted in games, and Compulsion Studios has clearly done its homework.

Movement seems silky smooth and it boasts the kind of glorious lighting you get when Microsoft is signing your checks, having acquired the studio a few years back. Highly stylized characters, another Compulsion Games signature, are used to great effect here, though we've yet to see how they'll mesh with the stop-motion-like animation during some of the cutscenes (which oddly isn't quite the same during regular gameplay). They've done a great job making the swamp feel truly alive. Birds constantly take flight as Hazel disturbs their resting places, and the screen shaking as a truly massive beast makes itself known is an old trick, but nonetheless used to great effect.

That monster is an alligator with a decent chunk of forest growing out of its mighty back. We can't wait to take it on, in what looks like one of the most quietly promising Xbox exclusives of this generation. It might even become one of the best Xbox Game Pass games. We Happy Few was a stunning setting, held back by dodgy survival mechanics and ambition that far exceeded an indie studio's grasp. South of Midnight looks far more focused, clearly bigger budget, and yet there's no sign that Compulsion Games has compromised on the character that put it on the map in the first place. With a promising new setting and still so much left to discover, this could finally be the game that makes good on its initial promise.

South of Midnight's historical-meets-magical realism doesn't just create "imaginary nostalgia," it spotlights the game's toughest themes

There's a certain level of craft with making a video game that goes for minimalist visuals and gameplay – and it's one that solo developer Steph Thirion wanted to explore with his game Faraway. Taking control of a shooting star darting through the universe, you're tasked with ensuring that the lonely star keeps going on its journey by building up momentum and forming celestial patterns along the way.

Faraway is one of Annapurna Interactive's 2025 releases, and after playing some of its opening stages, I got to appreciate what exactly Thirion's game was all about. And from my talk with Thirion, he is especially inspired by Tetris and its approachable gameplay loop.

"I saw my mother pick up Tetris, and she immediately understood it and got hooked. I also see other people getting really, really good at Tetris, and there's this range of it being just a compelling game for any level, and it's extremely minimalistic as well," says Faraway game creator Steph Thirion. "I was interested in trying to make a game like that. Turns out it's very hard to do. In this case, there's definitely a difficulty curve. My mom can't pick it up that easily, but it's made so that it's compelling to new players and experienced players."

Shooting stars

Faraway is a game about guiding a shooting star through a procedurally generated universe. As you approach different constellations, you'll enter a mini-stage of sorts where you'll need to use the shooting star's momentum to build a line connecting stars to form a pattern. The thing that's so interesting about Faraway is that you can play the game with just one button – which acts as the boost and acceleration for the shooting star. Since the shooting star only moves forward on its own, the only way to turn is to accelerate towards stars, which will pull the shooting star in its orbit, allowing you to alter its path and slingshot to other stars.

It's a very interesting approach to momentum based action, and while it took me some time to really appreciate and grasp, it finally clicked for me when I was able to form a pattern in a cluster. Having the shooting star bob and weave between individual stars was so visually striking, that it almost felt like a dance. It's such a neat approach to minimal design, but it's also one that was very easy to fail on given that you can't cross lines with your pattern.

But according to the game creator, he wanted to ensure that Faraway keeps a mostly fair difficulty throughout, even when the game's stages and puzzle levels get more complex.

"There's no pressure with this game, and you get to try again and again in that little constellation [menus] if you fail and want to go again," he says. "So there's a really quick feedback loop of playing, failing, and then jumping right back in. I think these puzzles are really fun, and they allow a player to play on their own and there's not too much hand-holding. But I think it strikes the right balance of guidance and freedom for players."

Faraway really reminded me of the mid-2000s era of puzzle action games that were popular on Xbox Live and the PSP, which often focused on experience that married music and visuals in a stunning way. It was a nice surprise playing this minimalist puzzle game, and it's one game I'll be keeping an eye on in 2025.

See what other exciting releases are coming our way in our roundup of the biggest upcoming PC games for 2025 and beyond.

Nintendo lets Samus come out to play with a new adventure every so often – most recently with 2021's inventive and well-received Metroid Dread – but there's been a question on every Metroid fan's lips since Metroid Prime 3 in 2007. When's the sequel? Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is finally ready to share its answer: 2025. Given what we've seen so far, we have every reason to be hopeful that the long-awaited sequel will be worth the wait.

It's clear that Nintendo wants to get this one right. First revealed in 2017, in 2019 it was announced that everything thus far created had been scrapped, and the project had been transferred from the previous studio (reported to be Bandai Namco) to Metroid Prime veterans Retro Studios. With Kensuke Tanabe also on board – the producer of all three entries in the original trilogy – it's impossible to imagine a better team for the job. Samus is home.

Prime cuts

The events of Metroid Prime 4 pick up plot threads from the previous game, though after a currently unknown period of time. Those who managed to unlock the "secret" ending of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption through 100% completion will have seen Samus's ship pursued by Sylux, a rival bounty hunter who first appeared in the Nintendo DS exclusive Metroid Prime Hunters. For some reason, he has a deep hatred for the Galactic Federation which hires Samus – and he makes an appearance in the Beyond trailer.

Retro Studios seems keen to keep everything that has come before canon, and it looks like we're set for some significant revelations and lore expansion. Sylux makes an appearance in the secret ending of another entry in the series, Metroid Prime: Federation Force. There, he is seen to hatch a Metroid egg, and the 2024 trailer for Beyond ends with a glimpse of him being flanked by two Metroids. What does he plan to do with them? Does he only have these two, or a whole army? We look forward to finding out, although I have a feeling Samus isn't going to like the answer.

The trailer didn't give much away, but the opening – which sees Samus rise from her ship and then vault to the ground in a familiar way, complete with signature musical cue – is an immediate thrill. We know that Samus will, as always, have her Power Suit and Power Beam (which, again, can be charged for a single, more powerful shot). We see the scan visor in action, as well as the Morph Ball ability and missile launcher. The tone is set for an adventure that will be immediately familiar, but with the ambition to evolve, well, beyond, thanks to multiple leaps in hardware tech since the last Metroid Prime outing.

It seems inevitable that more beams and visors will be revealed, but so far the slicker action that has Samus blasting her power beam and missile launcher in familiar first-person looks fantastic compared to the last go-around. But it won't be all-out action, as she'll still be scanning areas for clues and solving puzzles to push exploration deeper in each zone. The best Metroid games always mix its thrilling action with some chin-stroking, and we can't wait to see Retro Studios let loose with tech that allows for more expansive environments than ever before.

Elsewhere, we're excited to see how Sylux chasing down Samus (with Metroids in tow) is going to factor into gameplay. What we have seen are Space Pirates fighting an unknown faction (the Galactic Federation?) while Samus rolls along unseen above, and turrets firing into the sky – and being fired upon – in outside spaces while she deals with problems of her own. It's a tantalizing glimpse at a more cinematic approach to Metroid Prime that gives us confidence this will be one to remember.

The currently unconfirmed 2025 release date does lead to the inevitable question: Will Beyond be a launch title for Nintendo's next console, the long-awaited Nintendo Switch 2? It's definitely a Switch game, but Nintendo might be tempted to pull a The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and release the latest entry in one of its most famous series on both its current and new consoles simultaneously. Whatever the launch ends up looking like, we don't really care what machine it'll be running on – we just can't wait to dive back into Samus' world.

See what other exciting releases await us with our roundup of upcoming Switch games.

You've been fired from your intergalactic exploration job and stranded on an alien planet – but wouldn't you know, you still need to complete all those pesky training modules.

Revenge of the Savage Planet is a massive sequel that carries on from Journey to the Savage Planet's unique take on the Metroidvania genre, as well as its biting satire on late-stage capitalism. It has the infectious fun that was felt in the original, just with everything blown up to an even bigger scale. It seems like developer Raccoon Logic has made some smart changes on the first game's formula – creating a dynamic take on the Metroidvania genre that revels in absurdity and exploration.

Wild ride

As a direct follow-up to the first game, in Revenge of the Savage Planet, you once again assume the role of a grunt working for Kindred Aerospace – the "fourth best interstellar exploration company." But Kindred has been bought out by an even bigger corporation, causing your position to become redundant. The first Savage Planet had no qualms about diving headfirst into commentary about capitalism, and Revenge's setup of another company swooping in feels particularly prescient in the face of Raccoon Logic forming out of the ashes of Google closing the developer behind the first game, Typhoon Studios. Revenge of the Savage Planet's sci-fi setting and story strikes a fascinating balance by making its world and technology feel both exotically advanced and surprisingly slapdash and put together with duct tape.

Self-referential humor is often first and foremost in Revenge of the Savage Planet – from the PSA videos you see on a constant loop in your base, to the way your character respawning is framed as the company producing a new clone. Even the way your character runs is done in an extremely exaggerated Pixar-esque gait with arms and legs flailing, and you can break into a kind of rockstar slide at any moment. Humor seeps into everything in the game, and there's more deliberation behind that fact than you might expect.

"We always said the humor we wanted wasn't for belly laughs, but for you to snicker to yourself the whole time," says creative director Alex Hutchinson. "It's not a comedy show, but instead of horror or action ,everything is leaning comedic. If we layer it enough, even if people only see 60 percent of it, it'll be funny to them."

That approach to enriching the entire experience permeates other aspects of Revenge of the Savage Planet, from the way the open world works to the way you unlock new items to aid in exploration. The game can be played entirely in single-player or co-op. Hutchinson notes that the team wanted the game to feel satisfying no matter which way you play it, and the "key" to doing that was first designing a robust single-player game and then figuring out how to layer co-op elements on top of that. The second player will have all the same tools, and if it's done right can even become an "agent of chaos" for you.

However, the defining trait of Revenge of the Savage Planet is its Metroidvania design. The core loop marches you into dangerous wilds, gathering resources, and completing quests, then coming back to base to craft equipment that in turn lets you explore and reach new areas. The term Metroidvania has become a bit of a buzzword over the years that can encapsulate a lot of different styles of games, but Hutchinson thinks there's a crucial idea that sets Raccoon Logic's apart.

"Metroidvania has definitely occupied the 2D space, but the Metroidvania we're making is more Metroid Prime. And I don't think there's hardly any of those, so the idea is fresh," says Hutchinson. "And we have Metroidvania in an open world, so we had to figure out how we made a gated experience. Most Metroidvania have one lock and one key. Here we have locks that are sort of burnable, which means there's a lot of keys."

Revenge of the Savage Planet, at its core, is an exploration game. Yes, there's combat, guns, and a parry system, but most of what you're doing is poking around the game's four planets to find discoveries, uncover the story, and collect all those sweet upgrades. To that end, that lock system Hutchinson mentioned allows for more variation to how you explore. A cracked wall can be blown up by spraying it with your lava gun to light it on fire, or you can throw a grenade at it if you have one. Electric spray can be used to slow enemies or create paths of electricity to provide power to plants and open doorways or passages.

There are always multiple ways to approach exploring, reinforced by a variety of options you unlock along the way – like a jetpack, double jump, or a lasso that works as both a grappling hook and a way to capture creatures to transport them back to your base. There are so many little options at your fingertips in Revenge of the Savage Planet, and crafting that latest upgrade sets your brain whirring, thinking of all the places you passed by that you might be able to reach now. Even little details from the previous game are more fleshed out here – like the gelatinous bounce pads you throw down, which now let you jump even higher if you bounce multiple times.

Playing with fire

Those Metroidvania elements in Revenge of the Savage Planet feel meticulously thought out and executed to encourage player freedom. You can approach this entire game however you want, unlock things in the order you want, and tackle whichever optional objectives or secrets you want. That's a perfect encapsulation of the game's core theme of being an intrepid space explorer. But the worlds themselves are filled with marvelous little details – like a bizarre bug-eyed alien that lets out a shrill scream and runs when it sees you, or puffy little raccoon creatures you can kick like a soccer ball. This is a game that's a joy to simply run around in and poke things to see what happens.

But perhaps what makes Revenge of the Savage Planet most exciting, is how these elements are streamlined into a focused experience. Too often, open world games feel needlessly overwhelming when you see a map full of objectives that's going to take you hundreds of hours. Revenge of the Savage Planet isn't like that. The game wants you to take your time and soak in the world at your own pace – but in a fittingly hilarious twist for a game this funny, Raccoon Logic knows you have a life to get back to.

"We want you to finish it. It's like Contra – you can play it by yourself, but then I played again just because it was fun, and I played through those old arcade games with my buddy 50 times almost," says Hutchinson, "We're trying to make enough systemic space that it's still funny, or you find something you didn't find before, or you do it in a different way. Hopefully, it's highly replayable, but really, at its core, we just want you to play once and love it."

To see what else is big in 2025, check out our 50 most anticipated video games of the year.

"As a massive lifelong sci-fi fan, I’ve been holding onto one more story in my head that I’ve wanted to tell for decades at this point," says Archetype Entertainment's co-founder, creative director and studio head, James Ohlen. "Another pretty elaborate universe to be properly fleshed out, that we finally are getting to bring to players." Formerly senior creative director at BioWare, his stacked portfolio includes not only Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, but Mass Effect, Dragon Age: Origins, Baldur's Gate, and many others as well. A new story to tell has us listening.

We point out that the game's visuals are fairly grounded in reality despite its spacey, sci-fi setting. But that's the plan. "So far, we’ve already put countless hours of research into this universe that is truly larger than life, yet still feels plausible over several thousand years in our very real universe. Holding onto that sense of grounded reality was of major importance to us, on top of utilizing as many real-world mechanics and theories as possible, like Time Dilation."

Tempus sure does Fugit

Time Dilation, for the uninitiated, is the idea that time slows down the closer you get to the speed of light, meaning that should you travel far enough at a high enough velocity, time outside your craft would move faster than it does inside it. It's already been proven to happen here on Earth thanks to atomic clocks and commercial airliners, so the potential for a video game to run with the idea is pretty great, and hasn't been tackled by many mainstream games at all (unless you believe Rosalina is Peach and Luigi's child in Super Mario Galaxy, which requires, shall we say, 'significant filling in' between lines). So what can Ohlen tell us about Time Dilation in Exodus and its impact on the decisions you make?

"While we can't say too much just yet about exactly how decisions are affected by Time Dilation, we can safely say that it will be felt essentially throughout your journey and in some significant ways. Decisions a player makes will compound over a significant period throughout our story, and we cannot wait to see the different directions players go as a result of Time Dilation's effect."

The scope of the game's universe is deliberately massive, and you'll be shooting plenty of aliens in the face with futuristic weapons as you explore. But with the Time Dilation effect in action, it sounds suspiciously like time will be ticking for those you love back at home while you're living life at a slower rate thanks to zipping off across the universe for each mission. Ohlen explains: "Our goal for Exodus is to create a deep, story-driven adventure that takes place across the entire galaxy. Exploration and discovery is a major aspect of that. However, your mission is to save everyone you love rather than solely exploring every inch of the universe. Exodus isn’t about broad open space exploration; it’s about these specific missions you take as you battle against time, so there is an urgency to return home in every adventure."

We should imagine the prospect of your loved ones getting a few years older every time you complete a mission would indeed be an incentive to get back home quickly, though quite how that'll pan out remains to be seen. One thing we know for certain is that the game will be played out in third-person. "Third person is our team's personal favorite perspective, both for how it impacts actual gameplay along with a much wider field of view as players take in their surrounding environments."

There will, like so many other space exploration titles, be the very appealing prospect of taking in alien worlds and creatures. But Ohlen and the team have rather cleverly used evolution to populate their universe. He explains: "Alien creatures in Exodus are quite different than other sci-fi worlds', as almost everything you encounter stems originally from Earth and has evolved in countless ways over 40,000 years. The same way we were able to turn wolves into chihuahuas, aliens in Exodus have had tens of thousands of years to selectively evolve and breed based on their relevant surroundings, resulting in a wide variety of new yet grounded designs."

With former BioWare devs working on the game, the untapped potential of the Time Dilation mechanism and a varied and beautiful universe of familiar, yet evolved life to explore, this could be one of the biggest sleeper hits of 2025… assuming it is finished in time to hit shelves this year. We certainly hope so.

Check out what else is big in 2025 with the 50 most anticipated games of the year

Sunkissed water dances along the shore. Watching over it – in full pirate regalia – is the iconic Goro Majima, the titular character of Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. As I step into his sandy boots, I'm in awe. It's been a decade since we first got to play as Majima in 2015's Yakuza 0, and he's come a long way from the streets of Osaka, Japan, where the bulk of his story in that game took place. However, there is more than a touch of the familiar for returning fans.

Set six months after 2024's turn-based RPG Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Majima now finds himself in Hawaii. After washing ashore dehydrated and amnesiac before being saved by a young boy called Noah, Majima befriends a cat called Goro (that is almost definitely a tiger), and sets out to become a pirate. It's a reach beyond the usual soap opera-levels of farce and drama we've come to expect from the series, something RGG Studio chief producer Hiroyuki Sakamoto explained was in an effort to surprise fans. "You have to think of ways to think outside the box," he said, perhaps underselling the situation.

As for why we're getting a pirate spin-off, Sakamoto admits RGG Studio just wanted to think of the weirdest thing Majima could do. "It's Majima. You can't make a serious Majima game."

Those of us who played Yakuza 0, and Kiwami 2's additional content, will know how serious the yakuza-turned-pirate's tale has been at times. If you're concerned the latest Like a Dragon title will abandon that, Sakamoto disagrees. "We want to show people what a Like a Dragon title can be," he said, adding that the game will explore "emotional connections between people."

Blood on the sand

While the deeper story details still remain a mystery to me after roughly two hours with the game, I'm delighted to say that Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is a strong return to real-time combat. With two combat styles – Mad Dog and Sea Dog – Majima swings swords, shoots pistols, fires a hook, and delivers the usual flurry of rapid punches and kicks to outfox foes.

The real thrill comes from chaining attacks together using the hook to close distances on enemies before sending them into the air and jumping up to combo them like a swashbuckling Spider-Man, before delivering a devastating blow on the way back down. Other moves of note include throwing swords out as boomerangs before hitting triangle (on PS5) upon their return to administer a heat action, a cinematic sequence where Majima zealously buries his blades into his opponents.

During the session, we were told by RGG staff to be mindful of healing items in our inventory, a friendly warning that was of huge benefit. While the regular enemies that patrol the sunny shores and decks don't ask much of the player, special enemies that give bounties are much tougher. The first one was available at the start of our playtime, and he was a fun challenge as I figured out the controls. However, there's a whole other kind of combat to master in this game.

All hands on deck

The rest of Majima's adventure plays out on the ocean, with an enormous pirate ship under his command. When the initial trailer dropped, comparisons were made to Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, and it's easy to see why. Sailing the waters around Hawaii grants access to other islands, including full areas to explore and some smaller ones with treasure to be found. But upon the waves, there be scallywags, and Like a Dragon's new nautical combat comes in here.

Your vessel can be kitted out with various firearms, from machine guns and cannons to flamethrowers, energy beams, and more. The machine guns fire dead ahead, while your other weapons can be mounted on either the starboard or port sides of the ship, meaning you'll need to line up your shots before pulling the trigger. You can also ram into your foes but that may leave your own ship vulnerable, especially when outnumbered.

When engaging ships in the Pirates' Coliseum – a watery arena where you can challenge an array of enemies – you'll need to board the opposition's vessel after reducing their ship's HP to zero. This leads to a brawler section, where Majima and his crew duke it out until one side loses all their sailors. It makes for a climactic ending to the battle, with your crew toasting their success with flagons raised high as Majima gleefully smiles.

Games within a game

Being a Like a Dragon title, there are also plenty of minigames to distract you from Majima's swashbuckling. From karaoke to Dragon Kart, there are plenty of returning fan favorites, as well as card games like blackjack and poker if you're really missing Balatro. The cooking game is particularly useful, serving up an item that can be used to feed Majima and his crew.

Aboard Majima's ship, he can hold feasts and parties to boost his shipmates' experience and morale. You can also interact with individual crew members, offering gifts to raise their levels. It's also worth pointing out that some crew members can be acquired by beating certain enemies in the Coliseum.

Above all, the ability to customize Majima's outfit and ship is what really got its hooks into me. The range of the wardrobe is impressive, featuring all manner of pirate attire –as well as signature looks like Majima's Yakuza 0 outfit, or the Joryu suit from Like a Dragon Gaiden – to name but a few. The ship takes it up a notch, allowing players to paint the whole thing pink with matching accessories in what is clearly a loving tribute to Goromi, Majima's drag persona from Yakuza Kiwami. There are other colors and accessories, but it proved too hard for me to turn down roaming the high seas in my fuchsia flagship. Just call me Go-RRR-omi!

Bring me that horizon

With just over a month until Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii releases, the intriguing tale of Captain Goro Majima is almost here. While I was initially quite relaxed about the wait for the next title in my joint-favorite series (eternally in competition with the Persona franchise), my brief time with the title has me at fever pitch.

The real-time combat feels more exciting than ever with its chaotic combos, while the ship battles add another level of fun. Returning to Hawaii is another boon, as Infinite Wealth's map is huge and packed with things to do. Above all, I just can't wait to find out what the devil is going on with Majima's pirate phase.

New to the Like a Dragon/Yakuza series? Here's our ranked list of the best games in the franchise.

Open world games have become a common feature of the gaming landscape, but that proves no barrier to excitement when it comes to Where Winds Meet. Drawing from wuxia fiction (martial arts adventure stories, popularized in the west by movies such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Hero; and House of Flying Daggers), it'll offer you a variety of weapons and techniques to use while you explore a huge, wonderfully detailed world. You'll ride through fields, scramble along cliffs, race across rooftops, and more; all while having to bear in mind the danger of potential injuries and illnesses that will get worse if left untreated.

Combat will be a significant part of the game, so getting this element right is important. "Weapons play a crucial role in enhancing the player's combat abilities," explains Everstone Studio's lead game designer, Soul. "We aim to authentically recreate a diverse array of unique weapons found in Eastern martial arts, including Spear, Sword, Fan, Double Sword, Umbrella, and Glaive. To enrich the gameplay experience, we focus on differentiating the characteristics of each weapon through their feel, movements, weight, speed, and attack angles. Additionally, we take into account the attributes of various enemies during weapon design. For instance, long-handled Spear and Glaive offer distinct advantages when facing mounted opponents."

Blade developer

Just like wuxia movies, Where Winds Meet aims to impress with a mixture of realism and fantasy. "We hope to introduce players around the world to the unique charm of wuxia martial arts combat," says Soul.

"A large number of martial arts movements we depict are inspired by Kung fu concepts. For example, Magic Hand is a traditional martial art technique that uses a special way of force generation to move the air flow and hit specific parts of enemies' bodies from a distance, therefore immobilising people. It is a type of 'Qigong'. This type of attack is featured in many martial arts films and television works (such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and martial arts literature, but it is the first time that this attack has been recreated in a game. The fire-breathing acrobatics [that] appear in the game are derived from Kung fu performances of traditional Chinese street performers. The scene of the leaves being rolled up is a representation of Tai Chi, a martial art that originates from the ancient philosophical work, the i-ching, the Book of Changes. It is a martial art that advocates using softness to overcome strength, borrowing the force of others, and channeling the power of enemies' attacks to counter them."

You'll be able to craft your own martial arts build. Soul gives the examples of using Chi Grip to disarm enemies, Magic Hand to briefly immobilise them, and Cloud Step for lower body attacks. This, combined with a choice of weapons, means that there'll be a variety of builds and playstyles catered for. It's not just combat that you'll be building your character around, either, as Soul explains. "We have defined three main experiential directions: Profession, Open World Exploration, and Perfection of Martial Arts. Players can freely choose their own path in the Jianghu or opt for 'I want to do them all.' These free experiential routes can interact with one another, leading to different gameplay experiences. For example, a player proficient in construction can create shortcuts to facilitate exploration, altering their experience in the world, or utilize their building skills to reshape the terrain to outsmart enemies, thereby changing the dynamics of combat."

Find your balance

You won't have to explore and fight alone; you'll have the option of playing with others. "We have set a further design goal: the multiplayer mode will not interfere with the immersion of the single player mode," Soul says, "while also offering its own unique enjoyment. The two modes will be decoupled, allowing players to choose either mode and still experience the full content of the game." Therefore, you'll have the option of either inviting others into your solo game for co-op, or playing the dedicated multiplayer mode, which has some unique features that Soul explains.

"Players can collaborate to form organizations within the martial world (such as escort agencies or taverns) and enhance their group's reputation through joint efforts in the open world. Players can also engage in role-specific activities, such as a healer collaborating with other healers to treat sick players, or shadowy heroes acting on behalf of others to uphold justice." If you want to ignore all this and treat Where Winds Meet as an exclusively solo adventure, however, you can.

This all takes place during the Ten Kingdoms period of ancient China, which Soul explains Everstone Studio is using to enrich its world and story. "The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms marked a chaotic period of time between the prosperous eras of the Tang and Song Dynasties. As the chaos of the era neared its end and a new era of prosperity loomed on the horizon, the once-revered heroes faded into the obscurity of war, making way for a generation of emerging heroes. This unique allure of an era characterized by such complexity gave rise to a remarkably diverse and inclusive culture, as well as exciting legendary tales."

With Where Winds Meet eyeballing a 2025 launch date, all that's left to do is make like an elegant wuxia warrior and wait for our moment to shine...

There's more where this came from. Check out our ranking of the 50 most anticipated video games of 2025 for a breakdown of what to watch this year.

Fans of immersive sims like Thief or Deus Ex are used to being in positions where everything their character does has an impact, and seeing the effects of their many possible options rippling out into the game world. What they're perhaps not used to is another player swooping in and sending that world off on a whole new axis. Thick as Thieves aims to take immersive sims to the next level by making them multiplayer in a PvPvE "stealth action game" that pits rival thieves against one another in an alt-history cobblestone metropolis.

Thick as Thieves, from OtherSide Entertainment, revealed its first trailer during The Game Awards 2024 and is looking towards a PS5 2026 release date - though the launch date for PC and Xbox remains unconfirmed. OtherSide co-founder Warren Spector – himself a legend in the immersive sim genre thanks to his work on Deus Ex and ​​Ultima Underworld – told GamesRadar+ at a preview event ahead of TGAs, that the goal was to make "a stealth action game, with a capital S and a capital A."

"If you had all of the great stealth gameplay that makes classic immersive sims good, but your opponents weren't only A.I., or security, or traps, but they were other thieves who were just as clever as you were, that would be an incredible duel of wits," lead designer David McDonough explains.

Slow and steady (sometimes) wins the race

"Wits" is a deliberate word choice, as there's no single correct way to pull off the perfect score. Each 20 to 30-minute session pits four players – each choosing a character with a signature skill that can be further customized with tools as the game progresses – against each other. All of them are trying to go after the main objective that their thieves guild wants them to swipe, but they also have individual, personal narrative quests (not to mention any other opportunistic looting they might get around to).

In edited footage from pre-alpha footage that the OtherSide team showed GamesRadar+, the player first takes to the streets. Thick as Thieves is set in a city that resembles Glasgow or Liverpool in the early 19th century, complete with streetcars, neon lights, and other hallmarks of the early electric age. Yes, there's also magic, but think less Wizarding World and more of a tool like any other, just with a high cost – McDonough notes that a player could use "a bound fairy in a jar" to steal a key," for instance. Spector describes the world as "a character" in the game, one that players would learn more about as they completed main missions in multiple sessions. That earned knowledge will in turn help thieves case the joint, so to speak, and the ongoing, live-support model OtherSide is pursuing suggests there will be plenty of ways to continue and expand on Thick as Thieves' story and gameplay with new content.

As we watch, the player thief attempts to get into a manor by using a seemingly magitek grappling hook to go to the roof. "We're really proud of our rooftops. They're an incredibly entertaining play space," chirps game director Greg LoPiccolo. Upon seeing a rival thief up there, the player instead heads for the sewers. He finds a clue, picks a lock, makes it up into the mansion, and sets a knockout gas trap behind him should any other thief try to gain access this way rather than one of the myriad of other possibilities.

"Everything you do ripples out into the possibility space of the game and comes back at you," McDonough explained. That goes for other players' actions, too. "You can come to a manor and find you have a hard time breaking in because another thief was there 10 minutes earlier."

We get to see that in reverse when our player knocks out another thief by ambushing them from behind. Direct combat like this is possible in Thick as Thieves, but it's difficult without the use of stealth and planning, and charging a computer-controlled guard head-on would likely be suicide. Eventually, the player was able to swipe the coveted object and run back to stash it – albeit with every other thief alerted that somebody had the MacGuffin.

This was how one playthrough went, but the next one would no doubt be quite different. There's a randomization element to each session, and a different approach might be required for a slightly tweaked mission. And then there are the other thieves who have their own changing strategies, too. One could kick in a door and blow past guards in a smash-and-grab attempt; another could be unseen in the rafters the entire time before swooping in to K.O. the first thief. These seemingly endless possibilities and viable playstyles make Thick as Thieves a more complex game than a shooter, where McDonough notes that factors like gear score, accuracy, and twitch skills tend to be-all and end-all factors that determine a winner.

"This game is much more of a mental game where a wide variety of success and failure is possible to a degree that is rare in all games — and especially in multiplayer games," he says. "Stealth is the engine that makes this."

Thick as Thieves is set to launch in 2026 on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X. Until then, here are the best stealth games you should play to pass the time.

The rise of cozy games have been especially noticeable in recent years, with audiences getting invested and finding comfort in routine as they bond with characters and make a home for themselves. But with the upcoming Wanderstop, game creator Davey Wreden – the dev behind The Stanley Parable and The Beginner's Guide – wanted to focus on something a bit closer to home with his self-aware take on a cozy game.

During the week of The Game Awards 2024, I played studio Ivy Road's Wanderstop, which sees a weary warrior take an unexpected break from fighting to help fix up and run a tea shop. Along with learning the ropes of being a shop owner, I also spoke with Wreden about how his experience with game development and subsequent burnout formed the basis of Wanderstop's peculiar but relatable take on a cozy experience.

A relaxing brew

Players take on the role of Alta, a famed warrior who has fallen on hard times after several defeats in battle. After a particularly crushing loss, she finds herself lost in a magical forest and uncovers a safe haven with an isolated tea shop in need of fixing up. With no way to leave by conventional means, Alta begrudgingly takes a break from engaging in fights to help the shop's owner with getting the place into top form – all the while, she figures out a way to escape the cozy purgatory that she finds herself in.

Most cozy games often have protagonists that feel right at home with the cozy setting, but Wanderstops flip that by placing a character who seems trapped in the wrong game. Having a warrior set aside their sword to pick plants, make tea, and fix up a shop feels like an usual set up for a comedy game, but for Wreden, that intentional mismatch hit at the heart of what Wanderstop's main narrative is all about.

"I realized how difficult it would be to just remake Animal Crossing and to attempt at making it better, and I sort of slowly started to get more interested in putting a more personal story into the game, one that had more to do with burnout and also dealing with obsession and perfectionism," says Wreden. "That's had a big impact on my life and my work, and this is why it took a long time to make. We took a long time to realize that that sort of story was, in a lot of ways, the core of the game, and also we still had to actually make a cozy game as well."

Much like other cozy games, players will engage in chores involving gathering crops and making food, and participate in social interactions with the community. However, the protagonist Alta is very much not into the whole cozy vibe, and the main part of the narrative deals with her wrestling with the fact that she has to make the best of the situation. That plays out with Alta having to perform tasks that seem ill-suited for her skills, which only ends up annoying her.

Wanderstop has many of the familiar features that are found in games like Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing New Horizons, and Palia. However, the focus on its main narrative, with the protagonist who very much has their own mind made up about the 'cozy' setting and is very much at odds with the idea of trying to fit in makes for a really interesting dynamic at work. It's not a takedown of the cozy game genre, but rather it focuses more on examining that familiar loop of a cozy game through the perspective of a different type of protagonist.

"When I started working on this, there weren't nearly as many cozy games as there are now. So I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing, but I think there's still room for growth for sure," says the creative director. "What I hope for is that this game is an indicator of a space that cozy games have not really explored very much, which is for the game to actually be about something – something that's very human and very real."

"Like imagine you have a protagonist in a game like Animal Crossing or Stardew Valley, and you then feel this character is like a real person who maybe did not actually want to be there very much, and what would that be like, and how would she respond, and how would that character deal with being in this environment? I think it's interesting in ways that I haven't seen any other game quite tackling that subject matter."

The main appeal of cozy games is that they offer players an environment to build up something and form a community with other characters or players. To have a cozy game focus on the story of a character who is not interested in community or finding some downtime is certainly relatable in our present times, and given that Wanderstop still features some solid crafting and building gameplay in its own right, this particular cozy game packs a bit more emotion for its main story. I'm looking forward to seeing more of what's to come with this self-aware cozy game.

For more, check out our round up of the most hotly anticipated new games for 2025 and beyond.

As Life is Strange goes on without Don't Nod, so too does Don't Nod go on without Life Is Strange – Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is refining the formula the team established way back in Arcadia Bay. Great as it was to see the studio trying something new with its last few titles (fantastical climbing sim Jusant, and atmospheric choice-driven action adventure Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden), this big story-heavy return is a particularly exciting prospect for longtime fans.

The unspoken promise is that Lost Records: Bloom & Rage will take the heart of Don't Nod's most famous series, and mold it into something new yet equally mesmerizing. A narrative adventure split between two time periods, it's once again a tale that will revolve around love, choices, secrets, and danger. A group of friends in the 1990s has little to worry about apart from music, boredom, and bullies until… something happens. Something that they agree must be kept secret from the rest of the world, which leads to them vowing to live their lives apart. Until, that is, the arrival of a mysterious package forces them to reluctantly break that vow and reunite 27 years later, in the town where it all began.

Bloom box

Bloom & Rage will be an episodic release, split into two 'tapes'. This is in part to encourage discussion amongst fans between the two releases, much as fans of a TV show in the 1990s would chat about their favorite series while waiting for the next episode. "It created a sense of community around a piece of media, a piece of art," explains studio creative director Michel Koch, "but also increased the strength of storytelling, giving time to think about what we experienced. It made the art go further than just the hour-long episode, [...] A lot of today's media is done the opposite way, everything needs to be immediate, fully available, and I think it reduces the possibilities to get immersed in a work of fiction, you barely start to get in then poof, you are already out and looking at the next product to absorb".

Koch explains that the story structure incorporates a 'Bloom' element and a 'Rage' element, further supporting the idea of a two-part release. More literally, the Bloom & Rage of the title is the name of the band that the group develops as teenagers. You'll get to see them in action and, yes, listen to them play. As Swann, you encounter Bloom & Rage when the band, still in its infancy, is in the early stages of writing a song ('See You In Hell') that plays an important part in the story.

"The first demo Nora [Kelly] sent us blew us away," says studio executive producer Luc Baghadoust, "with its 90’s grunge vibes, its catchy lyrics, and a chorus that you have trouble getting out of your head. [...] Once Nora and her band completed the recording of the song in the studio, the fun part is that our audio lead Beatrix asked the band to play some of its parts badly, in order to get material for the game, to use them in different scenes and recreate the magic of a new song being composed."

In addition, there will be era-appropriate licensed tracks, and an original score featuring contributions from Ruth Radelet and Milk & Bone. While you'll get to participate in the writing of Bloom & Rage's See You In Hell to an extent, your character – Swann – is more comfortable as a music video director. Like Life is Strange's Max, she's constantly capturing life through a lens, although her weapon of choice is a video camera rather than a photographic one.

"You have a list of subjects Swann wants to cover and film before she leaves at the end of the summer," Koch explains, "and as a player you'll need to find those elements and film them the way you want. You can frame and time those at your will, do a new shot and replace a previous one, reorder the videos to create mini documentaries about various topics. [...] As the summer gets darker and more mysterious, the camcorder will become a tool to help Swann and her friends along their journey: using it as a flashlight, showing some videos to others to unlock situations, or looking through your videos to remember things."

And if you remember the 1990s yourself? The teen sections of the game will give you the most satisfying of nostalgia hits, in terms of both music and pop culture references. But there's more to the dual timeline narrative than that. "Having the opportunity to explore both timelines and ages at the same time, with the way our story and gameplay is setup, allows us for the first time to tell a coming of age story," says Koch. "We are using the premise of this story, this mystery, in a way that allows us to put the player in the shoes of both adult and teenage Swann, trying to remember this summer, and while doing so, you as a player will recreate this summer, what happened, what kind of teenager Swann was, and how you found your place within this new group of friends."

I played Lost Records: Bloom & Rage for 90 minutes and I'm already attached to its relatable cast, in love with its '90s vibes, and obsessed with the camcorder

It's hard to properly express hatred. In comparison to the choking fire in your chest that real hatred sparks, the word "hate" feels diluted and tame. I'm explaining this because, when I say that I hate the Nameless King, I want you to know that there is truly nothing in the English language that can plumb the depths of my loathing. The dragon-riding Dark Souls 3 boss is by far one of FromSoftware's crowning achievements in bastardry, so when he turned up in the reveal trailer for Elden Ring Nightreign, my heart plummeted – but I can't say I was entirely surprised.

After all, FromSoftware has mastered the art of smartly recycling its bosses. And, loath as I am to admit it, there are few bosses as worthy of a comeback as the Nameless King. His battle – where you must dodge lightning, spears and a dragon atop a mountain's summit – is one of the studio's coolest boss fights to day, and although I'd rather watch the headlights of an 18-wheeler bearing down on me from the tarmac than see the Nameless King divebomb me once more, the spectacle is undeniable. His return also suggests that in Elden Ring Nightreign, FromSoftware will spend 2025 doubling down on one of its guiding philosophies: if something is cool, do it again.

Everyone is here!

As anyone who's killed their fair share of Tree Sentinels and Erdtree Burial Watchdogs will attest to, Elden Ring is no stranger to recycled bosses. These reused battles tend to take place in optional areas of the game, and if you're lucky, make slight tweaks to the original fight (the classic being: oh great, now there's two of them).

Done poorly, this would dilute the identity of each fight and take opportunities for discovery from players exploring The Lands Between. Instead, we get an upping of the world's stakes: we soon pick up on these minibosses being able to appear anywhere, which lets FromSoftware sprinkle boss fights into areas that may otherwise have gone without. For the most part these bosses also tend to be optional, which means that the core journey from stepping into Limgrave to rolling credits largely flows from one unique boss fight to the next. The only real exception to this is in Shadow of the Erdtree, where Radahn returns as Promised Consort Radahn. Even then, the fight is so drastically different – and crucial from a narrative perspective – that it shouldn't really be considered a rerun in any traditional sense.

Though Elden Ring is FromSoftware's boldest shot at repetition by design, it's something the studio has played with since the days of Dark Souls' Black Knights. Just look at Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, which uses bosses like Genichiro Ashina and the Guardian Ape to establish familiarity before pulling the rug. I understand why some players don't enjoy returning bosses as much, but disagree with those who label it lazy – particularly for Elden Ring's dungeons and open-world areas. I can only imagine how challenging it is to keep the scope of a huge game like Elden Ring feasible, and in many cases, the alternative to a repeating miniboss is that there would be no boss there at all (that is, if we ever wanted Elden Ring to release in our lifetime).

If the cyclical nature of Elden Ring Nightreign gives FromSoftware room to dabble in wilder comebacks, I'm all for it. Is that the first Dark Souls' Centipede Demon I spy in the trailer? Will we see Father Gascoigne elbow-drop Mohg from the top rope? Hell, let's scare everyone with a shield build by bringing Gencichiro back for round four. If we're going big on the battle royale mechanics – yes, you fly into the map and have to avoid a shrinking circle – then why not go full Fortnite and make it the who's who of Soulslikes? I don't want Nightreign to awkwardly force its way into the same circles that FromSoftware's other games already dominate – I'd much prefer it uses its black sheep status to celebrate the studio's rogues' gallery of bastards.

Before Nightreign's reveal trailer, I didn't think I'd ever be happy to see the Nameless King again. But – and I say this through gritted teeth – it is incredibly cool to see him free of Archdragon Peak. By once again taking the familiar and twisting it anew, Nightreign has potential to be the most groundbreaking reinvention we've seen for Soulslike in years. That alone makes Nightreign worth counting down the days for, but it also solves a question that's been hanging over FromSoftware since Elden Ring's vast mainstream success. How do you follow up from one of the best single-player games of all time? It's simple: you don't.

Elden Ring Nightreign's blend of roguelikes and battle royales could leave other studios kicking themselves – assuming FromSoftware can overcome its biggest weakness

Little Nightmares might be growing with each new instalment, but the characters we play as are not. Enter: Low and Alone, Little Nightmares 3's dual child protagonists, whose journey through The Spiral is sure to be fraught with all manner of insidious evils when the game launches later this year.

In a universe teeming with wonder and horror at every turn, Little Nightmares is at its strongest when that deft balance is achieved. "We are talking about charming horror on our side," Bandai Namco producer Coralie Feniello suggests of the game's tone. "I think [the term] fits very well, because it's a world that is really not made for you; it's a world that is made for the adults, the antagonists that you can see in the game, but you are here, and you are very small, and you are a little glimmer of hope in the middle of that. I think it's really that differentiation between charming and horror that makes it so powerful."

Stronger together

But although Little Nightmares 3 still champions an iconic creepy-cute aesthetic, it also marks a few series firsts. Most notably, the upcoming horror game finally introduces online co-op functionality on top of its solo experience. It's something Feniello calls "the most requested [feature] by our community" following the launch of Little Nightmares 2.

"It's a challenge to develop it," she explains of Supermassive Games' creative process, "because you always have to think about multiplayer and single player while you are creating puzzles and so on. You also have to test it thoroughly to make sure that it will be working in both setups." That's because Little Nightmares 3 is governed by a key goal: to offer a complete, satisfying experience whether or not you have a Player 2 handy.

In fact, according to Feniello, solo players might have a little something extra in store. "I really like playing it [solo] because you can see small flavor animations of the other character that is played by an AI, and that's more representative of their personality," she says. These "flavor animations" sound like idle animations, with the unplayed character responding to the new environments, but just how autonomous are they?

"We don't want to have the AI being too smart, because the player might feel like they are doing everything, but we don't want to have the AI feeling dumb, either." The balancing workaround sounds simple: "the first time you see an object that the AI can interact with, you have to call the AI, and then they come and they do it." In short, the non-player character learns from directions. "But in terms of gameplay, we are making sure that it's the same level of experience and as enjoyable in multiplayer [as it is] in single. But maybe in single, you will have a bit more on the narrative part," no doubt thanks to the extra animations.

Sin-amatic

With narrative and atmosphere being so intrinsic to the game, Little Nightmares 3 is bolstered by the creative chops of Until Dawn developer Supermassive Games, having taken the reins from Tarsier Studios as the lead developer on the project.

Credited with creating some of the best horror games ever, Feniello always knew that Supermassive was up to the task. But despite the horror connection, how was the transition from photorealism to a more abstract art style? Was it a challenge for the team? "They have played a lot of Little Nightmares 1 and 2 to get to know the brand and to understand how things were done by Tarsier, to make sure that they were in line with the artistic direction and everything on our side at Bandai. We also have some people that have worked on Little Nightmares 1 and 2 – for example, me," she says of both the studio's approach and the publisher's role as overseer. "On Supermassive Games' side, there are also some people that have worked on Little Big Planet – like, for example, the game director – and so that's a more similar type of setup, you know, the 2.5 dimension type of cameras and stuff like that."

This is one way that a distinct Supermassive flavor permeates Little Nightmares 3, though subtle enough that only the more eagle-eyed studio fans might pick up on it. "Maybe something that a lot of people have already seen is the cameras," Feniello says. "The way we are managing the cameras is sometimes a bit more cinematic than what was in Little Nightmares 1 and 2, and that's due to part of the team having worked on more cinematic games." But at the end of the day, this is a Little Nightmares game – not The Dark Pictures. "We are still making sure that we keep the DNA [intact] overall," says Feniello, with Supermassive's own expertise feeding into "the experience of how you build up horror, how you build up a place that will be scary, how you create these types of environments."

Little Nightmares 3 is eyeballing an as-yet unconfirmed 2025 release date, so we might not be waiting much longer for Supermassive's latest thrill – albeit this time, a much cuter one.

You do, in fact, gotta hand it to Firaxis. Though its last game – 2022's super card-based strategy Marvel's Midnight Suns – didn't sell as well as expected, the studio hasn't stopped taking big swings. Civilization 7 is set to launch this February, but don't let that fancy big number deceive you: from what we've seen so far, a series of sweeping changes will make this entry unlike anything we've seen before in the strategy genre's darling series.

Now I'll admit, some of Civilization 7's proposed shake-ups scare me. The new Ages system – which will essentially break campaigns into three stages rather than the series' traditionally less-impactful historical eras – could make the empire-building experience feel more fragmented, and I don't know whether the mix-and-match approach to leaders and factions will add unimaginable customization or dull the personality we've had from Civilization 5 and 6's civs.

Yes, change is scary, and I've seen a lot of the series' long-time fans eyeing Civilization 7 with uncertainty. But it's clear that these changes are a shot – and a bold one, at that – at fixing a problem that's plagued sandbox strategies for a long time: they get really, really boring.

Ancient ruins

Empire management games walk a perilous tightrope. You need to feel the satisfaction of raising a faction from ramshackle town to global superpower, which means campaigns inherently run on the long side. But at a certain point on that journey, the scales tip. Suddenly, rather than fighting for survival as a plucky underdog, you're the biggest faction on the map. Conquering whoever else is left becomes a checklist to tick through, and even if they're strong enough to put up a fight, at that point any pushback is more of a frustrating setback – a delaying of the inevitable – than a serious challenge. You have, effectively, solved the game before it's over.

This isn't an issue squared solely with Civilization – I've spent over 2000 hours in Total War: Warhammer, and the amount of campaigns that have stalled out vastly outweigh those I've finished. Paradox found a pretty neat solution in Stellaris, with end-game crises posing genuine threats capable of wiping your empire out, but even these often boil down to clearing repetitive stacks of enemies once you understand how combat works. Fighting this problem on its own turf is perhaps a hopeless battle. In truth, there's very little that isn't going to be steamrolled by the sheer amount of time that fans are going to replay these games for.

I get the sense that Firaxis knows this. Rather than spice up Civilization 7's later stages with monstrously-detailed nuclear war mechanics (don't give Gandhi any ideas) or Giant-er Death Robots, the studio has essentially taken the concept of an "endgame" out back and shot it. By breaking campaigns into three distinct Ages, Civilization 7 minimizes the risk of a playthrough devolving into one long slog or burying players in the chores that accumulate with managing sprawls of cities or moving tens of military units around.

"The number one issue that the Ages system solves for us is it helps you to get towards the end of a game," Civilization 7 director Ed Beach told Edge, pointing to players who feel "overwhelmed" by the sprawl of decisions that late-game Civilization turns require. But you can't understate just how bold a solution this is. It's a foundational change to the longest-running working formula in the strategy genre, and according to Beach, there were even people within Firaxis who weren't sure if Ages would work.

As a result, Civilization 7 will likely be this year's biggest gamble in gaming. Firaxis is staking the strategy genre's longest winning formula on being able to fix a problem that no other developer has managed to solve, and if that doesn't take courage, I don't know what does. Whichever way the developer's bet swings, one thing is for certain: when Civilization 7 launches on February 11, I'll be first in line to hit that sweet, sweet next turn button.

One of the big joys that can come from playing an open world game is when you can get in the zone when traveling – connecting with the game in a way where you just know where you want to go and letting your instinct with the controller kick in. The upcoming Wheel World from developer Messhof taps into the feeling well with its take on an open-world bicycling game, tasking you with saving the world with the help of a spirit companion.

While checking out the latest games from Annapurna Interactive during the week of The Game Awards, I played the opening of Wheel World and spoke with tech lead Sam Loeschen and co-art director Dann Beeson about building a game about biking culture and how the game changed from their original vision of a more "somber" open world.

On your bike

You play as cyclist Kat, a new arrival at the titular Wheel World – a large island built around cycling culture and the communities that thrive on riding on the open roads. When Kat uncovers a mysterious shrine, she discovers that Wheel World is in danger, and has to explore the island to find other ruins while expanding her cycling skills and upgrading her bike to perform a great ritual to save Wheel World.

Interestingly enough, Wheel World took some time to find its tone and structure. According to the developers, it was initially called Ghost Bike and focused more on a somber experience, but it eventually found its new, chill identity throughout development.

"With Ghost Bike, I think at first we thought the game was going to be a lot more like a somber exploration, like with [The Legend of Zelda: ]Breath of the Wild, which had a lot of excitement at the time when we started, but we slowly found it was a pretty natural evolution into something else," says tech lead Sam Loeschen. "We loved making this into a goofy, irreverent, and kind of chill experience that was engaging to play."

Wheel World allows players to freely ride bicycles to explore different regions and participate in various activities. In addition to finding ruins, you can meet up with fellow cyclists to compete in races, earning you upgrades for your bike. I really enjoyed the feel and flow of using the bicycle, which felt accurate and tactile in its controls. There's a sense of weight and heft when barreling down roads, pulling off drifts with the bike, and using spirit powers to get an extra boost, which was very satisfying.

According to the developers, particular attention was paid to the game's bike controls and physics. They noted that most games tend to treat bikes like cars when it comes to controls, but with Wheel World, they wanted the bike to feel like an extension of the player character – with players finding a "harmony" between the two as they explored the world.

"We're pretty avid about [bicycles], and it felt natural to work on that with this game. Like I ride my bike to the coworking space, I'm thinking about how I will work that into the game. I come from a graphics background. I'm not a physics programmer, so I had to learn a lot of that to make this feel good. It was also a very iterative process, and we were trying to strike that line between sim and arcade, and we had to figure out how technical it was and how many affordances we gave the player. But we're delighted where we landed, though. I feel very confident about how we nailed it with this game."

Like Dungeons of Hinterberg, Wheel World presents a colorful, cell-shaded visual style to illustrate its inviting and open-ended world. Getting to ride around in between activities to take in the sights and hear a soundtrack curated by the indie label Italians Do It Better was so captivating, and I couldn't get enough of exploring. It's the kind of chill exploration game that begs players to take their time, and I'm already itching to take Wheel World out for another spin when it releases later this year.

Mountain climbing is serious business, especially for those who choose to do it alone. That's what you'll be doing in Cairn. Unlike the fantastical (but excellent) Jusant, there will be no magical creatures along the way to give you moving handholds and the ability to leap huge distances vertically. No vines to hold onto that shoot upward; no plants to sprout climbable buds onto sheer surfaces. It's just you, uncaring rocky heights, a limited amount of gear, and your wits.

"Climbing is fun because it has instinctive success and failure consequences," says creative director Emeric Thoa. "Succeed and you'll make visible progress towards your destination, fail and you'll fall down and lose progress, because of gravity. So climbing is in itself a game, with rules everybody knows. That's one of the reasons we wanted to make Cairn, a game where you climb a mountain. The pitch is very simple: 'reach a summit no one reached before', and it is aligned with what you do in the game. Your objective is visually on screen, without any artifice. It's simple, but because we created a completely new way to climb, it's deep and unique."

Climbing rocks!

Indeed, your objective and your path will be in front of you at all times. Or, rather, your paths will be. Cairn is aiming for realism, and therefore, there is no single route through any one climb that leads you with conveniently placed white markings. It's up to you to assess each new cliff face you come across, finding the best starting point and determining which route seems best to you. Planning is key, because you don't want to realize you've made a mistake halfway through a climb. Falls can take off a significant chunk of health, or even kill you instantly.

Every moment of every climb is a puzzle, often a tense one. You move one limb at a time, looking for the best nook to place your hand or foot – just like a real climber. If you position yourself so that one leg is higher than the other, you'll be able to stretch an arm to reach an otherwise unattainable hold. This adds a new layer of risk and reward, as temporarily putting yourself into an awkward position is always a bit of a gamble. You'll run out of stamina as you exert yourself, in addition to the need to manage your hunger and thirst. Running out of stamina or losing consciousness before you reach the next summit are real and ever-present dangers.

The ability to twist your body into uncomfortable positions, and the need to avoid this wherever possible to ensure smooth progress, is reflective of the complex tech at play. "This is by far our most challenging production in terms of development complexity," says Thoa. "That climbing system is completely new and unique, meaning we don't have any reference to take inspiration from. And technically it's very difficult, as all the climbing movements are controlled by maths, not animations. This allows more movement and more positioning depth than in a game based on handmade animations, but it's also very tricky to balance. Each time we improve something, we break something elsewhere. Overall, any task that would usually take one week to make takes six to twelve times more. But that's definitely worth it."

Of course, Cairn won't be one relentless climb from start to finish. The end of each individual ascent brings with it not only a sense of achievement and relief, but a chance to recover and regroup. You can gather resources for food, drink, and piton repair. It's an opportunity to save your game, and set up a bivouac where you can put those resources to use. Cook food, repair broken pitons, and sleep off any damage to health that you've suffered. The actions you take between climbs are just as important as the actions you take during them. Cairn wants to give you the whole climbing adventure experience.

A realistic climbing game is an unexpected project from the studio that brought us Furi and Haven, but it's not quite so radical a departure as it may first appear. "All three games reflect on the theme of freedom," Thoa explains. "'Live free' for Furi, 'free to love who you want' for Haven. For us, Mountaineering is really iconic of that search for freedom. It's fascinating to think about why people climb mountains, why they put themselves in such dangerous situations, why they endure pain, why they risk their lives, just to climb a rock nobody asked them to. There is a hidden quest for freedom behind that we found really interesting."

During The Game Awards 2024, we finally learned what to expect from Den of Wolves, the upcoming co-op sci-fi heist shooter from GTFO developer 10 Chambers (who are also veterans of the Payday series). Although we still don't have a launch date, what we saw – and what we were told about the game's world during a pre-TGAs briefing – makes us excited for whenever we can finally go hands-on with the game, hopefully in the near future.

Front and center is the game's aesthetic – which is not too dissimilar from CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077 – and a focus on the game's setting having its own rich history. 10 Chambers doesn't want Den of Wolves to just be a game about its heists; but how they also tie into the world as a whole. Every mission is meant to take place in an environment with its own story behind it, so that the futuristic Midway City and its districts are more than just random stages in a game.

Droning on

Of course, whether that's successful or not won't be something we'll be able to answer until we've had the chance to put it to the test ourselves – but the idea feels promising. Speaking personally as a Monster Hunter fan, one of the things I love most about the series is how much environments are as much a character as the monsters we're there to hunt. The same can be said for Destiny and its myriad of instanced content – part of what makes going through Destiny 2 raids and dungeons so fascinating is how they tie into the world itself – and I hope the same can be said for Den of Wolves and its heists.

On a more mechanical note, from the trailer alone it's already clear just how much 10 Chambers is taking advantage of the game's sci-fi framing to have fun with the tools at your disposal, and what sorts of environments players will be executing their plans through.

Cloaking drones that can cut their way into a vault; energy shields that project from probes stuck to walls, and stages appear to mess around with gravity itself. If these things come together properly, Den of Wolves could offer something truly unique to the Payday-dominated heist genre: player expression on both an individual and group level.

When players will be able to put their theories to practice, however, is still unknown. The latest trailer played coy with when the Den of Wolves will be available in early access on Steam; and the wait for a console version will take even longer, going by the team's stated intentions to possibly release on other platforms only after they've finished making the game for PC. Clearing things up a little, 10 Chamber's communications director Robin Björkell clarified that the trailer's deliberately obfuscated release window was a statement on how the company plans to release the game only when it feels truly ready to do so.

That means that if 10 Chambers ends up feeling reasonably confident in launching on Steam Early Access next year, then players might finally have the chance to go hands-on in 2025. Right now, though, the team is making absolutely no commitments on when the game will be available outside of some time this decade. Of course, the latest trailer did include a fair amount of in-game footage, and we can certainly hope this means that early access might arrive this year. Den of Wolves certainly looks promising, and here's hoping we'll have the chance to sneak our way

What is a development studio to do when 'Halo meets Portal' isn't enough of a sell to sustain a community? 1047 Games first took time to reflect, and then stripped its design ethos back to the barest foundations – where better to rebuild from there? Splitgate 2 is the result of that effort, a sequel to the 2019 phenomenon which burned bright and faded fast. Creative director and company CEO Ian Proulx is dead set on delivering a shooter that can survive the test of time.

"Halo meets Portal was a pretty good tagline for a team that had no marketing budget," he says, chuckling. "But we want to build our own path with this sequel. We don't want to just be the 'Halo meets Portal' team. Those games were obviously a huge inspiration, we're not shy about that, but Splitgate 2 needs to be its own thing."

Live service mentality

Fairly radical changes have arrived as a result. There's a clearer, more consistent visual identity; a refined approach to manoeuvrability and momentum; maps with less overt verticality, and more grounded gunplay infused with a class-based faction system to lend the experience greater definition. "We looked at what Splitgate did really well, that fans really loved, and at the areas where we felt it fell short – where we weren't able to sustain longevity."

The essence of Splitgate's gunplay, portals, and movement were aspects 1047 Games wanted to preserve. But key revisions reflect a desire to "make a game that's here to stay for years to come" rather than an experience which "has its moment and then fades." Factions are one element where Proulx says Splitgate 2 is vying to include "meaningful variety with a purpose", with the class-based structure "allowing us to not only cater to different playstyles, but allow for a meta to form that can evolve over time."

1047 Games is honest in its self-appraisal, that it didn't grasp the complexities of managing a live-service in the modern era. Perhaps that should come as no surprise, given the studio's humble origins. "Splitgate started off as a school project. I co-founded this studio with a friend of mine in a dorm room. The Splitgate team was under 20 people. A small team, with a small budget. We had a lot of raw talent and passion, but we were very inexperienced," he says. "I think the biggest thing I learned from Splitgate was the importance of Live Ops."

"Our short-term retention was world class, up there with the top shooters," Proulx continues. "Players would come and play Splitgate for about four weeks, have a good time, leave a good review – we're 92% positive on Steam – and then they would run out of things to do. Games like Apex Legends, Call of Duty, Fortnite, Valorant would have big updates and players would go back to them. The biggest lesson learned is how key this part of game development is; figuring that out and being able to move quickly is just so important."

Whether Splitgate 2 can stand the test of time is unknowable. But what's clear is that the free-to-play shooter is moving in the right direction. Four-versus-four action that's tight and precise, dazzling in moments where fast portal placement can lead to awe-inspiring aerial kills. Multi-dimensional combat remains Splitgate 2's strongest identifier, but there is still balance to be had in its interplay with new class-based abilities and powers.

Still, in spite of the challenge, Proulx remains confident: "My plan for success is to keep listening to the community, hire amazing people, build amazing things, and do it quickly. Being able to listen to the community and stay lean, it's something we're in a unique position to deliver on. The team is around 175 now and growing, but we still have that scrappy startup mentality," he says. "At the end of the day, we're just a bunch of gamers having fun."

"We didn’t make the game of our dreams": Splitgate 2 is a AAA FPS built to "last a decade or more" using everything the first FPS couldn't be, all in Unreal Engine 5

Games have a pretty healthy obsession with medieval fantasies, but few are able to capitalize on it like Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. Giving you the fantasy of experiencing medieval life for real was the unique proposal from the game's 2018 predecessor, and this sequel only seeks to go further. In the seven years since its debut, Warhorse Studios' vision has only grown more ambitious. It's there from the get-go with its technically polished opening sequence in the midst of a castle siege, and then when we're reacquainted with Henry of Skalitz, riding as part of Sir Hans Capon's entourage to deliver an urgent message. Who needs magic when you have the rich history and natural beauty of 15th century Bohemia with a rousing score to boot?

With its emphasis on a realistic immersive simulation of medieval times, this is still a very systems-heavy game, hence the considerably lengthy prologue onboarding you with everything from persuasive speech to the consequences of crime and punishment, while also providing some background for newcomers. It's nonetheless a more accessible entry if only because this time you're not starting as an illiterate blacksmith's apprentice from the peasantry. Not that you're starting as a fully formed character as you'll also have dialogue options early on to indicate what kind of playstyle you want to focus on.

Clothes maketh the man

That isn't to say that Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 isn't afraid to be video gamey when it needs to. Such is the case that its prologue takes a leaf from Metroid after an ambush leaves you fleeing from a pond half-naked, culminating in a nasty fall that weakens you by resetting some of your levels and perks, while your trusty steed and dog also go missing. And yet the contrivance also feels plausible since the simulation isn't just about stats but appearances.

Being stripped of your armor and knight's stripes is essentially a power reset, with no one believing who you are, not least when you're dressed in beggar's garb and can't afford a bath (not that it stops the spoilt Capon from putting on arrogant airs, with hilarious results for the both of you). It's also why it's important the game has moments to snap you out of its first-person perspective during dialogue or cut scenes so that you can see Henry and realize that, yeah, maybe you should wash the blood off your face before trying to speak to someone of nobility.

Another bit of welcome goofiness comes from an animated hare icon to keep you on alert of how others are behaving towards you. It's a welcome and lighthearted way to know if you've wandered into a private house you shouldn't be in or whether someone's actively searching for you. Fortunately, there's also subtlety to the system so that you're given fair warning to leave if you're trespassing before anyone decides to choose violence. The flip side is that if villagers spotted you where you shouldn't be and then find something's gone missing, they can still deduce that you're the perpetrator without catching you in the act.

It's something of a reminder that it wasn't all off with their heads (or off to the stocks) in medieval times. Indeed, it's more realistic that we have the opportunity to talk our way out of conflict, whether that's trying to be reasonable or resorting to intimidation tactics. Of course, when it's time to get our hands dirty, it's also important to be prepared. That's not just about making sure your blade's been sharpened but that you're also kitted out with the right armor – that is, you have the appropriate coif over your head before donning a helmet, and soft garments that go under rigid, heavy armor plates. And if you come out of a scrap barely alive, then making sure you've got bandages to stop any bleeding and food to get your energy back – but also making sure what's in your pockets hasn't gone rotten (such as by smoking them).

Whether getting into the nitty gritty details of medieval life will appeal to players more used to an immediate and empowering fantasy will be up for debate, especially when that will factor into Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2's estimated 100-hour playtime (which we suspect may also include many hours wasted on gambling dice). But when just you're walking through the Bohemian countryside, basking in the gorgeous light falling on the foliage rendered in CryEngine, it's those little details that make this historical epic come alive.

All going to plan, GTA 6 will finally be with us this year. Set for a fall 2025 launch, the next chapter of the enduring Grand Theft Auto series has been several years in the offing, with a series of high-profile leaks, batshit internet rumours, and one single GTA 6 trailer punctuating the journey.

It's been a long road, to paraphrase that trailer's Tom Petty-driven soundtrack, which has given us plenty of time to ponder what we want to see from Rockstar's next conversation-setting crime simulator. GTA 5 has barely slipped from the top-sellers charts since its debut 12 years ago, after all, and we suspect number six will cut a similar pop culture-defining shape.

From its story to its characters, its world and whatever's in store for the next evolution of GTA Online, here's our GTA 6 wishlist – and everything we want from the next installment of Grand Theft Auto

More dynamic world

Even at first watch, the first GTA 6 trailer showcased a playground buzzing with activity. From its busy beaches to its neon-blazed thoroughfares, packed-out nightclubs, violent police raids and more, everything looked alive. Without mods, one thing GTA 5 lacked at launch in comparison to its contemporaries – and even its own series predecessors – was accessible buildings.

Over a decade on, it's a safe assumption that GTA 6 will include more accessible interiors in its bid to craft the series' biggest and most credible open world. With this, more sophisticated NPCs and how we interact with them are bound to follow, and we'd love to see the return of NPCs reacting to weather fluctuations (in GTA 4, for example, NPCs would hoist umbrellas at the first sight of rain).

We'd also love more destructible set dressing. The likes of The Finals has shown what's possible in wide scale landscape manipulation, and it'd be great to blow holes in Vice City in the throes of GTA 6's break-neck action.

More dynamic heists

The best bit of Grand Theft Auto 4 was its Three Leaf Clover heist mission, so much so, one could argue Rockstar built a full-blown successor on the foundations of its premise. GTA 5 was, of course, defined by its heists and folk are still playing the first-ever GTA Online snatch-and-grab – The Fleeca Job – almost 10 years on.

The best bit about these high-profile criminal excursions? Their unscripted moments. Those manic, inadvertent flashes of blockbuster bonkers, where police choppers crash from the sky, flipping your getaway car and forcing you to reroute through the woods while other players dressed in alien suits indiscriminately shoot firework launchers at you from behind the trees.

With a bigger, more varied landscape, we're banking (pardon the pun) on all of the above not only playing a bigger role but being ramped up to 11 – be that in story mode or whatever shape GTA Online 2.0 takes in tandem with the arrival of GTA 6.

GTA 5's larger than life narrative marked a distinguished stride away from GTA 4's grittier tale, and for the most part it suited number 5's whimsical, overly-stereotyped characters. GTA Online has since carried the lighthearted mantle to new heights, with flying DeLorean rip-offs, Batmobile clones, and jet-pack missile-firing motorcycles that've blighted public lobbies since inception.

In doing so, GTA 5's online counterpart has cemented itself as the no-holds-barred arena to hang out in and have fun. We'd love to see the same applied to GTA 6, and so if the next Grand Theft Auto's online space is where it can let its hair down, perhaps its story mode could relay something darker or moodier as we return to Vice City some 40-odd years on from our first visit with Tommy Vercetti and co.

We still know very little about the game's protagonist Lucia, but given the fact the first GTA 6 trailer kicks off with her chatting to a prison officer, dressed in an orange jumpsuit with detainees pacing the courtyard grounds beyond the office window, there's definitely scope for something that's more Nico Belic in style over the batshit trifecta of Michael, Franklin and Trevor.

Meaningful relationships with mission-givers

Against its gritty story and dark and moody pseudo-NYC cityscape setting, GTA 4's relationship systems offered much-needed levity between all its criminal activity. We'd love to see more of this in GTA 6 because not only did bowling with cousin Roman allow us to take a load off, it made the world around feel more real, more explorable and more alive.

Taking a love interest for a coffee or necking several pints with Packie McCreary allowed us to see parts of the map we might not have stumbled upon on our own, and while GTA 5 had golf and tennis – GTA Online also introduced a Little Jacob-esque gun van not too long ago (that's had us asking where is the GTA Online Gun Van location every week ever since) – the ritual of building friendships that can help support you down the line hasn't been bettered since number 4.

Given protagonist Lucia is thought to be in a romantic relationship with her as yet unconfirmed partner in crime Jason, leaning into the pair's platonic commitments beyond themselves could work wonders for worldbuilding and storytelling.

Travel to other maps

Speaking of world-building, we hope GTA 6 unfolds beyond its centralised Vice City map. GTA Online's Cayo Perico update, as well as GTA 5's snow-swept North Yankton prelude mission, teased the potential of exploring beyond default boundaries. The once-rumored, but since debunked, Project Americas set-up seems unlikely – it was once suggested GTA 6 would cover large portions of North and South America, including an area that resembled Cuba – but being able to hop between different maps in a grander-scale version of how San Andreas had us travelling between Los Santos, San Fierro and Las Venturas would be superb.

We don't really care how this is achieved, either. Grand Theft Auto has always excelled in the sleight of hand that makes smaller spaces appear larger than they are. One only needs to look at the furore that followed the emission of fog in the GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition's San Andreas to understand the importance of making us believe versus making us see.

A killer soundtrack

GTA is renowned for its killer music soundtracks, and GTA 6 will be no different. From Harry J Allstars' The Liquidator in GTA London, to DMX's Ruff Ryders Anthem Remix in Liberty City Stories, Michael Jackson's Billie Jean in the OG Vice City, LCD Soundsystem's Get Innocuous in GTA 4 and so many, many more, every Grand Theft Auto entry has a catalogue of top tunes.

We already know the late Tom Petty's Love is a Long Road will feature in GTA 6, given it soundtracked the first trailer, and the steady evolution of GTA Online's soundscape over the years – adding the likes of Frank Ocean, Solomun and Dr Dre along the way – has been a joy to see and hear.

Whatever your poison, from techno to Texas blues, our guess is you'll find it blaring from the car radios of Leonidas.

Full use of CircoLoco Records

Speaking of music, we're certain nightclubs will feature in GTA 6 more heavily than ever before. Of course, the original Vice City had the Scarface-inspired Malibu club, but the series took nightlife establishments to new levels via 2018's GTA Online After Hours update. There, a host of top world-famous talent featured in-game alongside exclusive music and the ability to run criminal enterprises from nightclubs from dusk until dawn.

Between times, Rockstar has launched CircoLoco Records – a collaboration with the titular event most famously associated with Ibiza techno nightclub DC-10 – meaning it seems likely even more real-world talent will spin the wheels of steel in this modern slant on Vice City.

We got a glimpse of a jam-packed Vice City hot spot in the GTA 6 trailer, and while we couldn't quite determine who the DJ shown was in the booth (it could be Peggy Gou?), running unscrupulous schemes behind the thick fog of a smoke machine feels inevitable.

FiveM across PC and console releases

In 2023, Rockstar officially acquired Cfx.re and FiveM – a community-driven GTA 5 mod that allows players to create and join custom servers – marking a new era for user-generated content in the Grand Theft Auto universe.

One particularly popular vertical of the FiveM space is roleplay, wherein players treat Los Santos like the real world, abiding by real-world rules, holding down jobs, and conversing with each other via headsets. In the last few years, Rockstar has turned its attention to a series of official community-driven initiatives in GTA Online, and thus by bringing FiveM under its control in an official capacity, the developer appears to be planning for the future.

What form GTA Online 2.0 takes remains to be seen, but with FiveM now operating under the Rockstar umbrella, the scope for UGC is exciting. FiveM currently operates exclusively on PC, so getting player-made projects onto console would be huge.

And if players were performing Shakespeare in-game in 2024, imagine what they might do in GTA 6 powered by modern hardware.

GTA Online 2.0

This is the big one. As noted above, we know absolutely nothing at this point regarding the next evolution of GTA Online, and indeed what that'll mean for GTA Online as it exists today.

But giving players a whole new world to explore, one that's said to be the biggest playground Rockstar has created to date, makes unprecedented and off-the-charts chaos inevitable. Again as mentioned above, we'd love the ability to travel between maps in GTA 6, and perhaps one way to do this would be allowing us to flit between Vice City and a souped up version of Los Santos, using the same GTA Online 1.0 map we now know like the backs of our hands.

In any event, even the thought of new missions, new contacts, new adversary modes, new community challenges and more is enough to send shivers down our spines.

Fortnite-style events

At the time of The Contract update, GTA Online was just over eight years old. It'd already wowed with its larger-than-life Doomsday update, it'd grown its scope tenfold with its After Hours update, and it has taken us to a tropical island via its Cayo Perico update – the latter of which was delivered during the height of the pandemic.

And, over eight years after launch, it introduced Dr mother f**king Dre to Los Santos. Taking a leaf from the likes of Fortnite, we'd love to see GTA 6 push the envelope with real-world talent, and we'd love to see GTA Online 2.0 – whatever shape its winds up taking – roll out some show-stopping events.

Fortnite's in-game Travis Scott concert was incredible, as was its Ariana Grande event. With Phil Collins, Ricky Gervais, Interscope head honcho Jimmy Iovine, and, indeed, Dr Dre among its cameo cast already, we'd love to see Rockstar take Grand Theft Auto 6 to the next level.

Besides GTA 6, check out these upcoming games in 2025 that you should be excited for

As gorily great as the Doom reboot was, did you ever feel like there was a missing link? Like there should have been a game that came before, which bridged the gap between the pixellated classics and the shiny, fast-paced 2016 game? If so, it seems that Id Software agrees with you. Doom: The Dark Ages is not only a prequel to the reboot, but a game specifically designed to combine elements from both eras of Doom, with an ambition to produce something that exceeds them both.

Game design leans more towards classic Doom, while retaining the technological benefits of the modern games. As creative director Hugo Martin told GamesRadar+ earlier this year, "If you were an F22 fighter jet in Doom Eternal, this time around we wanted you to feel like an Abrams tank. It means you're more powerful and grounded. [...] We're making strafing-to-aim a thing again. You'll be weaving between projectiles, just like you did in the original Doom, to deliver that Super Shotgun blast to the chest… It almost creates this three-dimensional 'shoot 'em up' puzzle that you're weaving your way through."

Doom patrol

The medieval war between good and evil is not going well. The puny mortals are losing the fight against the denizens of Hell. Badly. They've had to fall back on the ultimate weapon, their last, best hope; you. Id Software is doing everything it can to ensure that you feel like that ultimate weapon. Enemies will be numerous and unrelenting, but you'll be given the tools that you need to carve your way through like the unstoppable force that you need to be.

One thing that immediately marks The Dark Ages as a departure from the last few games is the Shield Saw, which will be your constant companion throughout the adventure. The trailer shows it being used to stun and rush towards enemies, but there's even more to it than that. You can, as you'd probably expect, block attacks; but there will also be melee weapons that work in conjunction with the shield for combo attacks, and you'll even be able to parry projectiles with it. The Shield Saw will be an even more integral, and far more adaptable, tool than the chainsaw was in Doom and Doom Eternal.

Then there's that change to the rhythm of play, and the loss of verticality in the environments – though it's perhaps more accurate to view it as an expansion of the possibilities of ground-level combat. Not only did Martin make the bold claim to us that the weapons will be "the most powerful you've ever held in a Doom game", but you'll be facing greater hordes of enemies than ever before ("It feels like, tech wise across the board, we've been empowered to make our best game," he said). Throw in huge projectiles that are easily seen but not so easily avoided, and you'll have more than enough to strafe between and instantly react to on the ground.

Celebrating the roots of the series means that we'll be seeing redesigned versions of classic enemies such as the Mancubus and Revenant, and of course the signature super shotgun will be on hand to blow demons apart. There are plenty of new additions to look forward to, though. In addition to brand new enemies, you'll be given an era-appropriate flail as well as the Shield Saw… and then there are the gigantic weapons of war you'll get to play with.

Remember the final boss of Doom Eternal? The huge Icon of Sin, that only went down after a long, multi-stage fight that saw you taking shots at it from down below? If only you had a towering mech that allowed you to punch something that big in the face. Well, that's exactly what Doom: The Dark Ages will be giving you, in the form of the Atlan. As if that wasn't enough (and let's face it, it is), you'll also get the chance to ride the huge Mecha Dragon, flying through the air with ridiculous firepower at your disposal. The next Doom is promising a lot, and we can't wait to see how it delivers.

Doom: The Dark Ages will release in 2025 and be available day one on Microsoft's on-demand gaming subscription service, making the FPS a prime contender for one of the best Xbox Game Pass games.

Sandfall Interactive has been turning heads since it announced its debut game at Summer Game Fest, promising bold aesthetics and even bolder moves in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. This turn-based RPG is inspired by the likes of Final Fantasy and Persona, while incorporating high-fidelity graphics with dynamic real-time elements, adding a layer of fluidity to keep you on your toes – parrying included, thanks to a flash of inspiration from Sekiro. "While we deeply respect these influences, we also wanted to stand on our feet and build something that feels truly special and unique, with its own style," explains Guillaume Broche, creative director, talking about the Square Enix and Atlus series, who hopes that Clair Obscur's "unique flavour and personality" shines through.

In Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, you'll be going up against the Paintress. Each year she paints a new number and anyone of that age – or reaches it within the year – will dissolve into nothingness. Think Thanos levels of dramatic evanescence. Cue the formation of Expedition 33, as they race against time to break the cycle and take down the anti-Bob Ross. Set in a pastiche of the French Belle Époque era, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 twists this setting into a beautiful but deadly world in painterly, surrealist strokes. With a stellar English cast lined-up, featuring Charlie Cox (Daredevil), Ben Starr (Clive, Final Fantasy 16), Jennifer English (Shadowheart, Baldur's Gate 3), and Andy Serkis (Gollum, Lord of the Rings), it was equally important to deliver with its French cast. "It's a bleak world with super high stakes and the characters go on pretty intense emotional journeys," explains Jennifer Svedberg-Yen, lead writer. "We were fortunate to have a strong English and French voice cast who could bring all those layers to life."

Get that bread

During discussions on how to announce the French voice cast, the team decided it was time for the humble baguette to make its entrée with a new trailer. "Let me tell you a simple story of a joke that went too far," shares Broche. "Léo, our VFX artist said, 'It would be funny to announce it with a French Gustave meme.' To which I replied, 'Let's go too far and just remake the whole trailer with Baguette outfits'".

Dubbed the "Baguette Trailer", the dramatic tension is offset by red berets, stripy shirts, and of course a deliciously rendered baguette strapped to characters' backs. Ah, je t'aime. "Alan, our Character Artist, was instantly hyped and made the skins super-fast with the best-looking baguette you'll ever see in a video game."

These unlockable outfits were an unexpected move, considering the tone that's been set for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, but a successful and surprisingly seamless one. "I make all the trailers for the game, so I just spent a bit of time reshooting everything with the skins. There were a few doubts at the beginning, but when people saw the result everybody got super hyped about releasing it. [...] Even if we're dead serious about the project we're working on, we don't like to take ourselves too seriously. Baguette." Listen, if I can't save the world with a fetching beret and a baguette strapped to my back, is it really worth it?

In what looks to be a sweeping fantastical epic by way of Jules Verne, you may be wondering how big of a time commitment Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 will be. "The approach I like the most in RPGs is having a main adventure that is well paced for people who want to enjoy the story, while also having a ton of side content for people who want to stay immersed in this universe as long as possible; to beat the hardest bosses, to reach the highest level, [and so on]," says Broche. As a result, the expected runtime for the main story is, appropriately, "33 hours" making this an approachable homage to JRPGs. However, if you want to "discover everything" including the "hardest hidden boss" it'll be at least double the time. "You'll probably spend around 10 hours gearing up and taking [down this hidden boss] alone," teases Broche.

With an estimated release of Spring 2025, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is one to watch, catering to fans of classic turn-based action with a fast-paced, modern twist. I'm personally looking forward to leading my gang of Gustaves into battle – armed with my trusty baguette.

Remedy Entertainment has become synonymous with creative storytelling in the video game industry. That reputation has been established over a three decade commitment to delivering singular single-player experiences, peerless in their ability to break boundaries. FBC: Firebreak could, however, be seen as a break from this tradition; a three-player co-operative first-person shooter, and the studio's first multiplayer game. "A lot of this is uncharted territory for us," acknowledges Mike Kayatta, game director. "We know we have a lot to learn to deliver on the potential we see, but there's a lot of passion and drive behind our push into this space."

And yet, for all the ways in which FBC: Firebreak appears to challenge the expectation of what a Remedy game can be, that same commitment to caustic action and creative storytelling is right there at the heart of it. "There's a sort of emergent magic that comes from sharing a game world with other people. Real people bring unpredictability and a unique type of storytelling to worlds that we simply can't replicate in a focused 'hero's journey' type of experience," says Kayatta. "So, while crafting those kinds of controlled and immersive single-player experiences remains a major focus for the studio, we thought it was finally time to expand the Remedy Connected Universe into shared spaces and brave something new."

Grab your gear

As a fearless first responder for the Federal Bureau of Control, it's your duty to delve into the depths of the Oldest House to tackle raging paranatural crises, restore order, and fight your way back to safety – the Hiss remain a powerful threat, years after Jesse Faden assumed command of the extradimensional headquarters in 2019's Control. Before deployment, you'll have a chance to select a weapon and customize your Firebreak Crisis Kit to ensure you have the correct tools, grenades, and support items required to thrive. If you're worried that FBC: Firebreak sounds like it's sticking too close to conventional co-op shooter models, you should know that this is still a Remedy game. Like the best Remedy games, it's willing to be weird when it wants to be.

Firebreak crews are cleared to carry paranatural augments, Altered Items which drastically impact your odds of survival. Then there's the decontamination showers, used to restore health and remove status effects. "FBC: Firebreak is a lot about crisis management and getting covered in stuff that you shouldn't be – fire, radiation, sticky notes. So if you want it off, then wash it off. Don't want a cold shower? Warm it up first. And saving water is essential. Cram inside the box with your team," teases Kayatta. "Believe it or not, the shower was one of the very first design elements that stuck. It's practical, improvised but professional, encourages teamwork, and taps into just the right amount of Bureau absurdity."

It's creative concepts like this which position FBC: Firebreak as one of the most promising online co-op games of 2025. The action appears fast and dynamic, with teamwork encouraged to combat massive waves of otherworldly enemies that are crawling across twisting, labyrinthian spaces. It's visually ambitious too, with Remedy's Northlight engine delivering the depth and fidelity to help give Firebreak definition in a crowded, volatile market. Necessary, given that 2024 proved that success is never guaranteed – where Helldivers 2 went stratospheric, Concord and XDefiant failed to take flight.

That's why Remedy is collapsing barriers around its 'mid-priced' shooter. There's commitment to cross-platform matchmaking, and a simultaneous launch across the two first-party subscription services. "This lowers the barrier of entry to try out the game, since millions of Game Pass and PlayStation Plus subscribers will have access. Of course, that's a bit scary because so many players will hopefully be there during the launch window, and we hope the game holds up," laughs Thomas Puha, communications director. "It also means there's financial backing and marketing support for the game from both first parties, which is crucial – especially as Remedy is self-publishing this game across all platforms."

FBC: Firebreak being self-published ensures that Remedy is able to return to Steam, following back-to-back exclusive launches onto the Epic Games Store. And with such a wide pool of potential players available as a result, the studio is keen to ensure that Firebreak is widely accessible. "We are pretty conscious of keeping the minimum required PC spec reasonable, and not going so high with the requirements as we did with Control and Alan Wake 2," says Puha. "We'll still have great graphics and visual effects, all that you expect from Remedy, but in a multiplayer experience like this, framerate is king as well as the responsiveness of the controls."

With Control 2 still a number of years away, it would be easy to view FBC: Firebreak as a stopgap. But I think that does it a disservice. Everything I've seen so far makes Firebreak look like an ambitious, luxuriously-crafted co-op experience – and one that is relatively disinterested in following modern live-service trends. A space where you can delve into the depths of the Oldest House with two of your buddies, battle your way through expansive landscapes and extraordinary threats for a few hours, and then log off without fear of falling behind in a wider battle pass economy. I don't know about you, but that's the sort of shooter I'm desperate for more of right now. 

What's next for the PS5 in 2025? With the 30th anniversary of PlayStation as a platform behind us, and the PS5 entering its fifth year, the middle of a console generation is truly underway. Yet, at the same time, it still feels like we're just getting started. There's plenty of upcoming PS5 games to look forward to playing this year but it's not just software that'll prove vital for PlayStation this year. More than simply releases, 2025 is a pivotal moment for charting the course ahead, and, importantly, communicating as much to the PlayStation playerbase.

Just as there are some great first-party games in development from some of PlayStation's best studios, it also feels like there's plenty still up in the air. In our PlayStation 2024 year in review there was much to celebrate, but also more than a few stumbles for the publisher to learn from. For every Astro Bot there was a Concord to match it. But, going over what we know begins to paint a picture for what's in store.

Getting in the game

Without a doubt, the biggest game for PlayStation this year is Ghost of Yotei from Sucker Punch Productions. This Ghost of Tsushima sequel doesn't rest on its sakura-leaf laurels, with a big change in setting both physically and chronologically, as well as a change of protagonist as Atsu takes on the mantle of The Ghost hundreds of years later. Ghost of Tsushima was one of the PS4's greatest showpieces, as is its native PS5 version of the newer console – you can expect Ghost of Yotei to be a new benchmark once again.

That's mostly it in terms of actual first-party releases, but PlayStation is primed to give plenty of updates on what's looking to be the second half of PS5's life cycle. Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, from Uncharted and The Last of Us studio Naughty Dog, announced at the end of last year, is now positioned as one of the publisher's biggest plays. Beyond a stunning reveal, the way it's pitched as a "new franchise" makes PlayStation's intentions clear: it wants to continue to be the home for the gaming equivalent of cinematic blockbusters.

While plenty of sequels are sure to be in the works, it's notable that unannounced projects from God of War Ragnarok developer Santa Monica Studio, Demon's Souls remake developer Bluepoint Studios, and Days Gone developer Bend Studio all seem to be new IPs. Insomniac Games, on the other hand, is set to not only continue the Marvel's Spider-Man series, but expand PlayStation's exclusive range of games from the comic book titan with Marvel's Wolverine, and a rumored slew of other titles set in the same universe. I'm expecting to hear plenty on the former later this year. If 2025 doesn't bring updates on what these studios are working on, then that in and of itself is big news.

Meanwhile, PlayStation CEO Herman Hulst has said that the company is "looking at opportunities to leverage past IP". Great news for anyone who loved Astro Bot but felt deflated that the myriad cameos reminded them of how many iconic PlayStation series have been absent for a decade or more. At the very least, more games get added to PS Plus' catalog of titles monthly, including classic games. More PS1 and PS2 titles will be made available to play natively on PS4 and PS5 in 2025, with continued rumors suggesting that native PS3 emulation could enter the arena. PlayStation's rich history remains one of its strongest weapons.

What remains far more nebulous, though, is the role live service titles will play in PlayStation's portfolio going forward. After a big commitment to rolling out several of these, the massive failure of Concord – shuttered within a couple of weeks of launch – doesn't make a great impression. Yet, you also can't ignore the equally massive success of Helldivers 2 earlier. Now owning Bungie, Destiny 2 will continue to grow this year alongside further Helldivers 2 updates throughout 2025, but it's what we hear next regarding multiplayer heister Fairgames and Bungie's Marathon revival, that will set the tone for its strategy with the busy-yet-bountiful genre to come.

Making friends

In terms of third-party partners, there's plenty that'll be working in PlayStation's favor this year. Death Stranding 2: On The Beach is the biggie, this apocalyptic delivery sequel seeing Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima really push the boat out with how weird he's willing to get. Babies in jars and inky invisible monsters return, joined by the likes of rip-roaring electric guitar battles and even a living puppet ally. All of that punctuated by navigating more varied and complex terrain, no doubt making full use of the PS5 technology. Death Stranding was a PS4 stunner that only improved with its native PS5 port, so we've already gotten a taste of how spectacular this sequel could be.

The way other big relationships will mature and grow throughout 2025 which will be vital for setting PlayStation's course going forward. Long-time partner Square Enix feels due for several announcements, especially when it comes to Final Fantasy – news of the final part of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy would be welcomed, as would information on what will follow-on from Final Fantasy 16 now the DLC is completed.

We'll also continue to see third-party live service games like HoYoverse's line-up (Genshin Impact, Honkai: Star Rail, and Zenless Zone Zero) continue to flourish on the platform, though with more competitors like Infinity Nikki on the scene it'll be an interesting year for live service titles in general – even as PlayStation themselves struggle to find their way in the genre.

As well as long-time agreements, though, are new ones, and 2025 will see PlayStation continue to become an Xbox (in the latter company's marketing parlance), as Indiana Jones and the Great Circle – released in December last year across Xbox and PC – will arrive on PS5 in spring. Which means one of the best games on PS5 in 2025 will be an Xbox game. Go figure. It'll be fascinating to see how this relationship grows. Should we expect more Xbox developed games to end up on PlayStation? I don't see how we can't.

Amongst it all, though, is Grand Theft Auto 6. It's no exaggeration to say that some of the vaguer elements of 2025 are due to GTA 6 itself. Nobody wants to pit a release next to this surefire titan if they can help it. No doubt PlayStation is abuzz trying to work out the best deal possible to ensure that as many players as possible choose to experience it on PS5. After all, for a lot of people who mostly play GTA 5 and GTA Online, the need to upgrade their console from a PS4 to a PS5 at all has not been urgent. GTA 6 will mark a major milestone in converting a portion of players to the current-gen. It's more important than ever even this far into the console generation, as with cross-gen behemoths like Fortnite and GTA Online a major moment like this is going to be the thing to shake people loose from the older ecosystems. For many, the PS5 generation won't truly begin until they boot up GTA 6 on the white obelisk for the first time.

Off the beaten cable

The games themselves – whether releasing in 2025 or simply being elaborated on – may be important. But how PlayStation continues to evolve outside of that is crucial as well. Hardware, however, might see a bit of a lull this year. Sure, there are rumors of PlayStation re-entering the handheld space (and when isn't there for a PS Vita fan like myself). But, with the premium-tier PS5 Pro released last year as well as the PS Portal streaming device, and waning support for the PlayStation VR 2, a lot of hardware cards have already been played. If past generations are anything to go by, we're still a couple of years off hearing about a PlayStation 6.

Given the cloud streaming support added to the PS Portal at the end of last year, it's worth watching out for how PlayStation continues to grow its non-console reliant offerings. After all, cloud gaming is now a massive part of Xbox's own plans – and while PlayStation can diverge from its primary competitor in a lot of ways, there's no doubt there will be further exploration in this field in the near future.

PlayStation is also keen to continue to push its franchises beyond gaming entirely, as well. HBO's The Last Of Us season 2, following on from the critically acclaimed adaptation is set for a spring 2025 release. While the series is one of the biggest in gaming, the reach of a successful TV show like this only paves the way for those not immersed in the gaming landscape to engage with the property – and maybe even give playing it a go for themselves when they might not otherwise (now, imagine doing so via cloud streaming with no upfront hardware investment required – you see how it's going).

As well as live action television, Sony has continued to buy anime companies in recent years (it owns both Crunchyroll and Funimation). A recent deal with Kadokawa – who also owns Dark Souls and Elden Ring developer FromSoftware – continues that trend. Sucker Punch's series keeps earning its keep, too, as a Ghost of Tsushima anime adaptation has just been announced. Across the likes of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Castlevania, and more, anime has proven to be a successful avenue for gaming adaptations. Several films have also been announced, with a Horizon: Zero Dawn movie and Helldivers movie joining the mix. While a lot of these are likely far off releasing, like its gaming slate, 2025 will be a year where we continue to see updates for this direction from PlayStation.

2025, then, looks like it'll have a lot of question marks – but any answers PlayStation can provide to those will be important not just for the platform, but the gaming industry as a whole. Yet, at the heart of it all, PlayStation's strong commitment to delivering some truly incredible games created by truly incredible developers remains a winning strategy – even if a slew of layoffs last year (and across the wider industry) revealed some holes in a previously armor-clad strategy. The PS5 finds itself in the middle of a long and strange hardware generation, but there's still plenty of great gaming to be had on the system. At the very least, whatever happens next, it'll be fascinating.

Looking for what games are coming out this year? Check out our new games 2025 list for a collection of all those that should be on your (ahem) radar.

I don't always suck at stealth games, but when I do, I like to do so spectacularly. I went into my second Sniper Elite Resistance hands-on demo expecting nothing less, having taken a crack at it just months before at Gamescom 2024. The two-hour demo I tackled was painful enough even then, with autosaves (or any saves, for that matter) disabled for press preview purposes. The one I played in November might have been a different mission, but the same parameters applied: no autosaves, no second chances. If you die, you go back to the start of the level and do it all over again.

For me, that meant any and all efforts to perform perfectly were doomed from the start. Sniper Elite champions realistic gunplay as far as the namesake firearm is concerned, each earsplitting shot piercing my enemies' frontal lobes with as much subtlety as an air raid siren. That's how I ended up throwing mission objectives and any hope of stealth action to the wind, opting for an overt rather than covert operation through Nazi-infested France.

Best laid plans

I did at least try to play Sniper Elite Resistance with integrity, sneaking through shrubbery and performing stealth takedowns the way Rebellion surely intended as I spawned into the scene for the first time. I wish I could say that I started as I meant to carry on, but that would be a lie; while grappling to relearn the PC keybindings as a mostly controller-enjoyer, I ended up shooting into an enemy jeep and alerting the entire road to my presence.

As I ran to a safe vantage point in a pithy attempt at escape, I started making peace with the fact that I was never going to see this mission through to the end. Not if I reprised that shoddy performance, anyway. Sniper Elite is at its best when you carefully plan each move, using the binoculars judiciously to scout for opportunities or threats ahead. With multiple ways to reach a target, and many optional points of interest to divert you from that course, it's all too easy to get wrapped up in the palm-sweating fear of making the wrong call. I employed this tactic for round two, noting a dark alleyway between a Nazi stronghold and some abandoned houses that looked far more appealing than simply strolling down main street toward the bridge in the distance. I sent a single silenced pistol shot ricocheting into a nearby generator to create a little distraction, and made a dash for it.

Roughly three deaths later, I made it down that alleyway and dropped right in front of some empty crates. Just as well, because they were the only thing separating me from a patrolling Nazi. I kept an eye on the minimap, watching the chaos I'd sown just feet away, making sure I was always just outside the circular perimeter of the enemy's seek-and-destroy efforts. I swiftly dispatched the patrolman, looted him for some bandages, and skulked across the dimly-lit street to the foot of the bridge just opposite. Next came a little of that forward planning I'd lacked so sorely earlier: before attempting to scale the ladder and inch down the bridge, I shot each of the enemy searchlights lining it. I felt incredibly proud of myself, thinking I'd surely bested Sniper Elite at its own game. Alas, I was wrong. Turns out that enemies can and did hear the thunderous boom of four shattered searchlights sprinkling glass into the river below. Cue another bout of crouch-behind-a-crate-and-wait-for-the-all-clear.

So anyway, I started blasting

But for all the patience I was learning during my second Sniper Elite Resistance encounter, it never felt quite enough to make me a perfect player. The game's full release will have autosave and manual saves, I'm told, but the demo definitely exposed my overwhelming preference for a guns-blazing approach. So that's exactly what I spent the rest of the session experimenting with. Getting myself set up on the bridge, I asked myself: how many Nazis brains can I paint the town with before they overwhelm me?

Turns out, quite a few if you're sure they can't get too close. It's totally tangential to the mission objective, which no doubt is linked to a nebulous wartime storyline I had time nor mental bandwidth to focus on, but it's good to know that Sniper Elite can still be a blast for those of us who just want to lay waste to a few fascists. Each juicy animation treated me to a slow-mo anatomical X-ray view of the damage my bullets wrought, but after so many successive headshots, there's only so many animations the game can spit out. I think I might have broken it in that regard, as Sniper Elite Resistance tried in vain to keep up with the bullet frenzy I inflicted upon it. Three rounds later of this makeshift horde shooter experience, I buzzed my PR representative to say that I was happy to finish here.

If you're reading this, Rebellion: I'm sorry. I promise I had fun, though. And if you're not a member of Rebellion, just know that you probably shouldn't take a page out of my chaotic book come the game's release on January 30, 2025 – you'll have autosaves to keep you from such wayward travels, surely.

Much like its predecessor, Citizen Sleeper 2 is an intergalactic RPG adventure that wants you to feel something. Even if that something is, according to creator Gareth Damian Martin, an unmitigated sense of stress and pressure. That's where the dice come in, and this time, they come with added stakes.

"Dealing with a bad hand is a key part of the emotional experience of Citizen Sleeper – being in a tough spot and having the dice go against you," explains Martin. "And [for the sequel] I thought: how can I push back?" Dice are everything in Citizen Sleeper, with roll probability in the original linked to one's expendable energy. In the sequel, however, Martin is adding a new function that could be familiar to tabletop fans: a push-your-luck system, and with it, a refined digital take on pen-and-paper gameplay. The result? "It's the most confident I've ever felt about a game."

Odds and evens

The new dice mechanic, which immediately brought to mind that of Alien RPG Building Better Worlds, is simple: "you can take on more stress, but you can give yourself an advantage, and that's different depending on class." Martin uses their favourite subclass – the tech-savvy Machinist – as an example of how your Sleeper's chosen background will influence how stress can help or hinder you in a pinch, playing to your innate strengths for a chance to gain or lose the upper hand.

Push is not the only new system being implemented, but it's one that speaks directly to Martin's core vision for the RPG. "Citizen Sleeper 1 is really inspired by tabletop games, [so I wanted] to introduce ideas from tabletop that I think are really exciting that didn't make it into [the first]." Deviating from Citizen Sleeper's more "regular" shape of resource management, where energy wanes daily until the Sleeper uses a stabilizer injection, makes taking risk far more worthwhile.

"Decline is much less predictable," explains Martin, "and how your body is going to respond – or how the dice are going to respond, which kind of really represents your body – is going to be really, really unpredictable throughout the game. The higher your stress gets, the more numbers on the dice when they're rolled. They can cause damage to you," Martin cautions, "but you might get away with having really high stress and rolling all your dice. If you get high rolls across the board, no damage."

Back to basics

Implementing stress into an already mechanically-involved dice game sounds complex in itself, with the first game having been prototyped manually on pen and paper for that added TTRPG flourish. "I could actually prototype [the stress system] within Citizen Sleeper 1, which has been a really interesting process," Martin laughs when I ask if they had to do the same thing all over again. "One of the things I did was literally just get five dice and just roll them and calculate, 'oh, how quickly does a player spiral using this stress system?' And then adjusting the stress, re-rolling the dice again, and seeing how it plays out. So it is something that could really quickly be understood just with physical dice and paper."

The push system is just one example of how Martin is retooling, repurposing, and implementing their tabletop RPG functions to push Citizen Sleeper 2 to new creative heights. By using the form and flow of tabletop, Martin has created an interactive storytelling sandbox for players to shape as they go. Even choosing crewmates, based on character over power in the vein of Mass Effect 2, "becomes a narrative choice," they explain. "It's those kinds of choices in tabletop games. When a party of players might be like, 'Oh, we, we love this NPC, they're gonna join our party' – that really affects the game."

It all comes down to Citizen Sleeper 2 being a video game RPG that feels unmistakably tabletop, the player starting small and building themselves and their crew up over time to overcome hardships. "For me, I'm not a big superhero fan. I don't like it when the main character of a story is someone who is really powerful and their victory is almost inevitable. I really like stories about characters who're in a really difficult spot, and the way that they get through it is by improvising." An example of one such underpowered hero fantasy, Martin offers, would be Indiana Jones. "There's always a bigger guy than him, there's always someone who could throw a bigger punch – but he somehow makes it through. He somehow is smarter than everybody, or luckier than everybody. You're not really sure which." Channelling that stroke-of-luck feeling seems to be what Citizen Sleeper 2 is all about. "I don't think games offer that very often," Martin finishes. "I also feel that dice is a good way of showing that."

Avowed is the culmination of everything Obsidian Entertainment has done before. From its flexible combat system that lets you chop and change your own dual wielding loadout on the fly, to creating your own character and making choices that will have different consequences in the Living Lands, the new RPG from the developer behind Fallout: New Vegas, The Outer Worlds, and Neverwinter Nights 2 is coming on February 18 to put us in charge of our own fantastical journey. While all of these ingredients dial into the studio's signature longstanding ethos of "play your way", there's one new feature that speaks to how Avowed is also going to be "an evolution from past games", as veteran Obsidian developer and lead environment artist Dennis Presnell tells me.

"We've always created these really wonderful, unique, exciting worlds to explore. And in Avowed, we have our parkour system, so you can move through the world in ways that we've never been able to in previous titles," Presnell says. "And the combat is great. I love it. But for me, just exploring, getting around is the most fun thing. There are so many challenges to the player, you will see something enticing. You wonder, 'I bet I could make that jump', and you can parkour up to the top of the building and make a leap and run across the narrow pillar and land on another one. And it's so satisfying when you do. There's really not a whole lot of our regions that's off limits to the players."

Exploration and discovery

Avowed is home to different open-zone regions (think mini open worlds) we'll get to explore as the Envoy of Adyr, who is sent out on behalf of the emperor of the Aedyran empire to investigate a plague that's spreading across The Living Lands. From my hands-on time with the RPG late last year, I got to spend some time playing through the prologue and venturing through the region of Dawnshore. Both sections of the demo gave me a taste of the exploration Presnell highlights.

From climbing up ledges tucked away off the beaten path of a forest to uncover a hidden chest, to finding my way into a spider-filled cave, the open zones have been designed with verticality in mind. Climbable walls, ridges, and hidden openings beckon you on to explore, and as I parkoured across the landscape, I was often rewarded with smaller discoveries – whether it be loot, an unexpected encounter, or even just a part of the landscape that's hidden from view.

As region director Berto Ritger explains, that sense of discovery is possible thanks to the open-zone approach, and the scope allowed the team to be "a lot more handcrafted about everything".

"Every single aspect of the game was placed by somebody deliberately," Ritger says, "so you'll come across stuff. From a team perspective, we can actually populate the world at a density that we feel like is good for that world. And it's meant to be a game that respects your time. There's a lot of depth to it if you want to engage with it – read every single thing you find, and talk to every single character – and some of those things are missable."

As Ritger adds, having that "missable content" is at the heart of what makes RPGs like Avowed special. You'll have the freedom to decide to explore and parkour across the landscape, or invest your time doing quests outside of the main story, but it's never forced on you - and it's that level of choice when it comes to how you want to engage with the world and experience all it has to offer that makes it, as Ritger says, "feel more personal to you".

Verticality and variety

Narrative designer Kate Dollarhyde says that the parkour system, which is new to Obsidian's games, was a learning experience for the team – often driving them to look at the design of a space differently in terms of what could and couldn't be climbable, and forcing them to make the most of open-zones by bringing a sense of verticality to each area.

"It really felt like this organic sort of growth and learning experience of how to make parkourable spaces," Dollarhyde explains, "to the point where I feel like the verticality is one of the things that makes this game so different and gives it a really unique and fun identity to me."

From my own experience with Avowed, being able to parkour up and down the landscape certainly encouraged me to explore, and the sense of discovery was a real highlight. For Obsidian Entertainment, though, it's just one of the many features that instill a sense of confidence among the team that the upcoming RPG will stand out on its own merits in 2025.

"Games are really hard to make, and every experience is different," Presnell says of the approaching release date, "and they've always been challenging. I've always felt a certain level of dread months before a game shipped, a case of the nerves. But this is the most confident I've ever been in my experience at this stage of the project. I'm just overjoyed at how well everything's come together. And the team is now closing things down and fixing bugs, and I'm going to be really proud of this game when it's available to the public. I can't wait, actually."

Want to go deeper? Our Avowed: Big Preview features plenty more interviews and gameplay impressions from our recent studio visit!

What would you do if you awoke amidst a uniquely British apocalypse, without memory and any true sense of purpose? Perhaps you would wander the wildlands, settling into life as an outcast of this green and unpleasant land. Or maybe you'd follow the command of the bleeding man, blood dripping from their hazmat suit as they urge you out of your slumber and into a quarantine zone in search of The Interchange – a mysterious facility linked to the Windscale fire, one of the first nuclear accidents in recorded human history. Whatever you choose to do, Atomfall is willing to try and support it.

"Right from the outset, you can do whatever you want. You can follow whatever lines of investigation that you want. Now, given that you'll be poorly equipped, some choices may lead to bad results," says Ryan Greene, art director at Rebellion Developments. "Eventually, maybe you'll understand what the cause of the accident was, and why it may have been hushed up. You'll meet a lot of characters along the way who will have their own angles on that too, and you're free to believe them if you want to. Even though we don't feed it to you in a nice, sequential way, our setup makes for a really rich story. It's kind of like one of those 'Choose Your Own Adventure' books we read as kids."

Into the wilds

Atomfall doesn't have a traditional quest system. It's one of the largest differentiators between this new Rebellion IP and Bethesda's Fallout. The studio – known for its Sniper Elite series, as well as its production of 2000 AD comic books – has been influenced by serialized storytelling which underpinned classic science-fiction. "We like to think of it as the X-Files in the Cold War Lake District," Greene laughs. "It can be difficult to wrap your head around what this game is. There are RPG-ish elements, but it's definitely not an RPG. Atomfall is a detective game. It's a survival game. There's weird stuff happening and you have to adapt to it. You have to talk, you have to research, and you might have to do violence."

There are no quests, only leads. Put another way, there are questions – a lot of questions, and few distinct answers. You awake in 1962, five years after the historic Windscale disaster, without any memory of who you are or where you came from. Leads intersect with one another, contest with, and ricochet off from one another; there's friction inherent to the storytelling as every character you encounter offers their own perspective on the world around them, and present their own leads that you can pursue, leading to different outcomes. Follow the leads you want to, disregard the rest – maybe you'll form a perspective of your own, and get some sense of how this radioactive quarantine zone came to be.

Rebellion has gone out of its way to remove all unconscious bias from Atomfall's story. There's no indication of your character's race, gender, or age; you're a true blank slate by design, an amnesic detective in search of answers. Leads don't cast judgment on a situation, only provide context, allowing you to follow your intuition and form a moral compass. As for how characters around you respond to your actions, well, results can vary. "There's a giant spider web of leads. There are situations where you might do something that befriends one person or upsets another, and there's loads of that happening all the time," says Ben Fisher, creative director for Atomfall. "We signpost that you've found a lead, but we don't tell you if you've lost a lead."

A journal full of lines of potential investigation, dead ends, and perceived misinformation is a key detail in Atomfall, particularly as no inhabitant of this world is safe. "Theoretically, you could play through the game by killing every single character and still find enough leads to uncover a route through the game and understand what's happening," teases Fisher. Greene tells me that there are around "five or six" core ending permeations within Atomfall, and that it's how you choose to pursue leads that will bring each into focus. "You can kill people at certain times of the game that will potentially sever a line to complete an ending," he says, with Fisher adding: "but there are also routes to reconfigure some of them by talking to certain characters, making smart choices, or bartering with traders for different information."

"We want players to question everything, to not trust anyone. We want players to make their own decisions, to adapt to their surroundings, and follow whichever leads they want to," says Greene. Atomfall is open-ended by design, then. Your ability to move through conversation routes isn't defined by underlying character stats, as it may be in a game like Fallout, but is as open-ended as the mission system. If I were to stretch to make a comparison, Atomfall may have more in common with L.A. Noire in this respect, with responses categorized by emotional markers such as 'curious', 'angry', or 'desperate' – giving you the space to play up (or conceal) certain pieces of information or pursue specific lines of investigation based on leads you have accrued so far. The demeanor of characters will change over time the further you submerge yourself within the world, so too can the populations of villages and towns depending on your aggression or apathy.

Follow your intuition

There's a lot to praise about Atomfall's world design. The Lake District in Cumbria setting is visually distinct from your typical American post-apocalyptic setting, with arid expanses swapped out for lush rolling hills and verdant horizons. It's a picturesque scene captured in the aftermath of an atomic incident. The setting has allowed Rebellion to indulge in some traditionally British high-strangeness, best evidenced by the decaying red telephone boxes strewn across the landscape. You'll hear the distinctive ringing tone from afar, a voice on the other end typically offering some sort of cryptic clue once the receiver is brought to your ear: "Oberon must die," the voice may say, before the line clicks dead, a new lead added to your journal.

"Part of the idea for this whole thing was this one time Jason had been out walking in some natural area," says Greene, recalling a story about Jason Kingsley, one of the enigmatic (and somewhat eccentric) co-founders of Rebellion who spends his spare time living as a medieval knight. "He heard this ringing, and there really was a phone box out there in the most unexpected of places. He thought it was the eeriest, weirdest thing, so we knew it would be super fun to get that into Atomfall, because it speaks to that whole English Weirdness vibe."

Atomfall has been in production for around six years, and the decision was made early on to set it within a series of sprawling, interconnected sandboxes rather than a true open-world. "That decision was partially made based on our existing technology at the time," says Greene. "It was going to be a little bit of a heavy tech investment, so we decided to go with this linked sandbox approach." This means that you'll have lushly decorated spaces to explore before encountering a loading screen to the next area, although Greene maintains that Rebellion is going out of its way to make the world feel consistent. "We really tried to make it feel like you're still part of a bigger world. Even if you're in one sandbox you can actually see the neighboring sandboxes around it."

Greene says that there's a whole "network of connections" linking these spaces to one another, encouraging exploration as you wander the wasteland following visual points of interest, and venture below the surface to explore mysterious, deadly military bunkers. Some ways may be blocked by locked doors, the keys accessed by locating it as part of a lead you're following or bartering for the key with a trader. "They might give you a bit of information on the side, or they might have a lead that they will literally trade with you," says Fisher.

As contact in the quarantine zone is cut off from the wider world, there is no currency in place. You'll need to barter with anything and everything you have in your small backpack; weapons and scrap, ammunition, and resources. Although you'll need to be conscious of a trader's predispositions – there are a variety of factions within the world, from pagan cults to military forces, and not everyone will be as willing to part with what they're holding as others might: a pacifist isn't going to see value in an old rusty shotgun, but a member of Protocol might. "We wanted this game to be multidimensional," Greene teases.

Tread carefully 

The non-linear approach to mission and narrative design also applies towards combat. Like Sniper Elite before it, Atomfall gives you multiple routes to approach an objective, and circumvent danger should you want to. Rebellion may be best known for creating first-person shooters, but the barrel of a gun is just one point of interaction within this world. You'll find weapons strewn across the landscape, and wielding a knife or cricket bat could be preferred given how scarce ammunition is – the cascading noise created by gunfire attracting a mass of unwanted attention, a challenge in a game world where even three or four enemies can prove to be insurmountable. "It's more like a bar brawl than a warzone," says Fisher.

You can only quickslot up to four weapons at any one time, and scouring the environment for crafting materials and ammunition will be a constant concern. Rebellion has engineered a light skill system, where military and survival manuals can be unearthed – and combined with a rare Training Stimulant material – to help improve core proficiencies in conditioning, melee, ranged, and survival. That said, the studio is taking a somewhat open approach to difficulty as well. "We don't have traditional difficulty settings, but play style settings instead," says Greene, explaining that the team is keen to support players in the ways that they want to play Atomfall. Fisher adds: "Because the game isn't just about combat we allow the player to choose different play styles that influence the amount of resource scarcity, the intensity of combat, and the amount of guidance for their exploration."

Rebellion believes that the most interesting way to engage with Atomfall is to accept the fine-tunings where "combat is brutal and intense, where exploration is open and unguided, and where resources are scarce. But we don't want to dictate that for people," says Fisher, "we want as many people as possible to play the game." That even extends to the way you can interact with perceived enemies; it's possible to disengage or avoid combat entirely, a small window of opportunity to walk away from a confrontation before blood is spilled, and you'll even see other characters attempt to back away from you too. "You are meeting characters who are doing their best to survive this situation," Fisher adds. "Nobody's right or wrong, they've just got different perspectives on what's happening. It's up to you to decide who you trust. We didn't want the world to feel like a gung-ho warzone, we want it to feel as if everyone is just as desperate for resources as you are."

Atomfall isn't what I was expecting it to be. Rebellion has struggled to separate itself from this idea that it's creating 'Fallout: Cumbria' but the truth is that the studio has set its sights on something far more creatively ambitious. The open-ended approach to combat and world navigation shares DNA with the Sniper Elite series, but the wider scale presented by Atomfall means that there's potential here for something quite transformative – unlike anything we've seen from Rebellion in its 32 year history. Layer the non-linear approach to progression, the potential for something quite special suddenly emerges onto the radar for 2025. "It's all about player choice," says Greene. "You're going to have a lot of options for things to do and see, and then you can piece them together in any order you want to make the story that you end up with. We're so excited to see how players engage with Atomfall."

2025 is set to be the biggest year for the video game industry in a generation. Rockstar Games is preparing to release GTA 6 this fall, with the long-awaited return to Vice City guaranteed to have a seismic impact. Nintendo is set to reveal the Switch 2 any day now, with the new console expected to launch alongside Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. PlayStation is set to get Death Stranding 2: On the Beach and Ghost of Yotei out the door in the next 12 months, while Xbox has Avowed, Doom: The Dark Ages, Fable, and South of Midnight waiting in the wings. Like I said, 2025 is going to be big.

What's incredible is that there's still so much more to come. With behemoth sequels like Borderlands 4 and AAA experiments like Elden Ring Nightreign, ambitious remasters like Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater and exciting new IPs like Atomfall, there's truly something for everyone in the lineup of new games for 2025. In fact, there's so much on the way that it can be difficult to know where to focus your attention. 

That's why we have put together this list of the 50 most anticipated video games of 2025 to help. If you'd like to learn more about any of these exciting new titles, you'll want to keep checking back in on GamesRadar+. We have articles diving into all 50 of these upcoming games, released daily. Welcome to Big in 2025, your guide to the year in video games. 

50 games that will be Big in 2025

To a T

Developer: uvula | Platform(s): PC, Xbox Series X | Release date: TBC 2025

We've all struggled with fitting in when growing up, but for Teen, the star of To a T, that's a very literal problem. Stuck in a T-pose (in game development terms, a default 'resting' position for a character model with arms spread wide), Teen isn't just conscious of being different, but struggles to do mundane tasks like brushing their teeth. But, with a friendly dog to help, and the ability to spin helicopter-like in order to fly, a journey of self-discovery begins across town throughout an episode structure that has you take each day at a time. There's collectibles to uncover, and mini-games about navigating the world with your unique condition. Just remember: you're the perfect shape for being yourself.

Splitgate 2

Developer: 1047 Games | Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X | Release date: TBC 2025

Splitgate was a genuine phenomenon when it landed in 2019, a portal-hopping first-person shooter that captured the feel and style of a bygone era of online multiplayer. The debut effort from developer 1047 Games burned bright and fast, ultimately struggling to hold the attention of its playerbase as the world transitioned into lockdowns. Longer-term retention is a frontier 1047 is hoping to conquer with Splitgate 2, a free-to-play effort which will introduce a wider focus on objective-based play and a class-based meta when it lands later in 2025. The shift away from raucous deathmatch action is certainly a shock, but it appears that these key changes are giving Splitgate 2 more room to evolve.

Exoborne

Developer: Sharkmob AB | Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X | Release date: TBC 2025

If you're feeling a little burned out on battle royales, it may be time to turn your attention to something new. Extraction shooters are gearing up for a big year in 2025, thanks in no small part to excellent looking titles like Exoborne. The latest from developer Sharkmob, Exoborne will have you braving the wilds alone, teaming up with friends, or forging unlikely alliances to survive a dynamic, hostile open world. You'll need to scavenge for loot and resources, craft new gear and weapons, and then use it all to battle your way to a safe extraction. We're keen to see more of this one, particularly as Exoborne is promising that you can have a gunfight inside of an active tornado... sign us up!

Den of Wolves

Developer: 10 Chambers | Platform(s): PC | Release date: TBC 2025

Like a rival gang claiming new turf, co-op heister Den of Wolves has a lot to prove, but it has the backing to make a serious play. Developer 10 Chambers was founded by Payday creator Ulf Andersson, after all – meaning the likes of Payday 3 and Crime Boss: Rockay City had better watch their backs. Set in Midway City, it sees players teaming up for the familiar loop of planning their next moves, acquiring progressively better gear, and then collaborating to pull off a daring heist. The twist comes in the theming, with Den of Wolves capturing a techno-thriller style that promises "mind-bending scenarios" as well as high-tech gadgets to play with and, naturally, even higher-tech security to thwart.

Where Winds Meet

Developer: Everstone Studio | Platform(s): PS5 | Release date: TBC 2025

When it comes to open-world games steeped in historical settings, we're eating well this year. While Assassin's Creed Shadows and Ghost of Yōtei prod their respective swords into 15th and 16th-century Japan, Where Winds Meet will take us even further back in time with its colorful depiction of ancient China. We haven't seen too much of Where Winds Meet since its reveal in 2022, but what we have checked out offers plenty to be excited about. That's largely thanks to its slick-looking action-RPG combat, which has been inspired by Wuxia – a Chinese genre that tends to follow chivalrous martial artists. But there's also the seemingly-massive world, which suggests we're going to be very busy indeed when this adventure rolls around.

Arc Raiders

Developer: Embark Studios | Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X | Release date: TBC 2025

Plenty of extraction shooters have come and gone, but there's something uniquely compelling about Arc Raiders. Combining retro-futurist aesthetics with a truly lush-if-desolate world, Arc Raiders offers a world that really does feel challenging to survive (and extract from), yet also one worth the trip. With the strange ARC machines always on the hunt, scavenging materials from the world isn't easy, but it's all needed to help Speranza, the underground home that is your sole sanctuary. With such a harsh world, you'll need to squad up and forge alliances with fellow Raiders in order to survive, but some Raiders will be just as willing to take it all for themselves too. How much do you want to risk? That's the essence of the extraction shooter.

Bionic Bay

Developer: Psychoflow Studio | Platform(s): PC, PS5 | Release date: March 13, 2025

Vibrant side-scroller Bionic Bay is an upcoming action platformer that guides players through a sci-fi biomechanical fantasy. The debut release from Psychoflow Studio will see us traversing the strange intersection between a decaying natural world and the complex machinery disturbing it, controlling a Scientist that can wield time-bending powers to manipulate environments, make use of futuristic technology, and ultimately carve the way to freedom. The depth within each of the visually-arresting stages is arresting, each level a puzzle in itself. Whether flipped, paused, or rewound, the very fabric of time seems to hang in this balance as Psychoflow weaves a spellbinding dystopian story. From everything we've seen of Bionic Bay so far, it looks like publisher Kepler Interactive has another hit on its hands.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers

Developer: Leenzee | Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X | Release date: TBC 2025

As far as action-RPGs go, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is shaping up to be one of this year's most intense. Though its Ming dynasty setting blends ancient Chinese history with fantasy, its battles – which are very fast-paced and heavy on the parrying – closest resemble the forcefulness and speed of Fromsoftware's Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. That's a winning combination on paper, but the real flourish is the creativity we've seen from its boss fights. Giant fish? Shape-shifting martial artists? Swordsmen with snake buddies? Much more of that, please. We're yet to get a release date for this one locked down, but fans of Black Myth: Wukong will want to keep both eyes peeled for news as we head into 2025.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2

Developer: Warhorse Studios | Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X | Release date: February 4, 2025

Henry of Skalitz is back in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. A little older. A little stronger. A little… wiser? Well, that all depends on how you decide to play him in this RPG set in 15th Century Medieval Europe. With a massive open world, Henry's quest to avenge the death of his parents is as filled with diversions as ever, from the downright dangerous to a little bit silly. Whether you devote yourself to the blade or take up blacksmithing, enter combat loud or in stealth, the approach you take is up to you. Somehow more ambitious than the impressive first game, the visceral first-person combat is where it really stands out. Even crossbows join the mix this time around.

Thick as Thieves 

Developer: OtherSide Entertainment | Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X | Release date: TBC 2025

Defining an immersive sim is tricky. But if you look at the best examples – think Thief, Dishonored, Deus Ex – you'll notice that they're all single player. But what happens when that seemingly set-in-stone principle comes up against Warren Spector, the developer who coined the term immersive sim in the first place? We'll find out in Thick As Thieves, a stealth-driven sim in which players will compete to pull off the perfect heist. This city is a living world set within an alternate magical 1910s, in which you'll have to con and cheat its denizens whilst every other player tries to do the same thing. How will this great experiment go? Who knows – but the staggering level of ambition is undeniable.

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Baby Steps

Developer: Gabe Cuzzillo, Maxi Boch, Bennett Foddy | Platform(s): PC, PS5 | Release date: TBC 2025

One of the quirkiest, most quintessentially Devolver Digital-looking upcoming games of 2025 has got to be Baby Steps, and for that reason, we've had our eye on it for a year now. Putting a very literal spin on the "walking sim" subgenre, Baby Steps sees protagonist Nate peeling himself off the basement sofa on an intrepid journey to do what he has never done before: take a little stroll and see the world. Players will control Nate's legs with the left and right controller triggers for an altogether more…involved traversal experience, and if that doesn't scream "weird but brilliant" then I don't know what will. Now get those knees up – we've got a lot of ground to plod over.

The Alters

Developer: 11 Bit Studios| Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X | Release date: TBC 2025

"If you want something done right, do it yourself" is one of life's truer adages. Survival management game The Alters takes this quite literally, as you'll need to repeatedly clone protagonist Jan Dolski to stay alive on the hostile planet he's crash-landed on. Each of his companions – called Alters – are unique in some way or another, as they're created from tweaking past decisions in Dolski's life, but they're all integral for keeping his moving base one step ahead of deadly radiation. It's a wild concept, but it's from the same team that knocked it out of the park with strategy gem Frostpunk 2 last year – so if there's any developer capable of making this brain-melting concept work, it's 11 Bit.

Possessor(s)

Developer: Heart Machine | Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X | Release date: TBC, 2025

Dynamic side-scrolling action? A hostile world brimming with "interdimensional horrors? Sign me right up. Possessor(s) is a gorgeously rendered upcoming indie game set to launch later in 2025, and if the trailers are anything to go by, the Hyper Light creators have gone all-out. The hack n' slash platformer sees the player character Luca laying waste to all manner of creepy monsters running amok in a dark, crumbling town lit only by the neon flashes of blades, traps, and a bleeding orange sunset overhead. True to the game's title, Luca is playing host to Rehm, a spirit-like entity that seems to be along for the ride, as the two learn to work together and defeat the evils all around them.

Wanderstop

Developer: Ivy Road | Platform(s): PC, PS5 | Release date: March 11, 2025

To fans of cozy games, the words "tea shop management game" are a potent summoning ritual. That alone would be worth an eyebrow-raise, but Ivy Road's debut game Wanderstop is still so much more than it seems. We'll be playing as defeated warrior Alta as she runs a small pitstop for travellers, brewing and selling tea whilst getting to know her customers. Again, all fantastic – but wait until you hear about the team making it. Its creators include The Stanley Parable creator Davey Wreden, Gone Home co-creator Karla Zimonja, and Minecraft composer Daniel Rosenfeld (though you may know him best as C418). If you don't fancy a cuppa in Wanderstop after reading all of that, maybe you're a coffee person?

Revenge of the Savage Planet

Developer: Raccoon Logic Studios | Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X| Release date: TBC 2025

Surprise – you're fired! If you thought redundancy couldn't reach the outer rims of space, you may have underestimated the corporate overlords of our distant future. That's presumably one of many lessons we'll learn from Journey to the Savage Planet sequel Revenge of the Savage Planet, a sci-fi action-adventure which tasks players with planet-hopping their way home to wreak vengeance upon their Earth-bound former employer. Raccoon Logic's satirical tone would be fun enough, but on the way home we'll also blast aliens with slime guns, run and skate through dazzlingly colorful environments, and decorate our base – all of which can be done with a pal through co-op. Unemployed? More like fun-employed, if Alta Interglobal's HR-mandated severance package can be believed.

Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector

Developer: Jump Over The Age | Platform(s): PC, PS5, Switch, Xbox Series X | Release date: January 31, 2025

Immersive narrative sandbox meets high-stakes tabletop RPG in Citizen Sleeper 2. Gareth Damian Martin's upcoming intergalactic sequel takes the point-and-click literary stylings of the first instalment and doubles down on its TTRPG roots, promising a new stress management mechanic, recruitable NPCs, and a host of vibrant sci-fi communities to explore at the roll of the dice. With no shortage of emergent gameplay opportunities thanks to its 250,000 words of scripted interactions, it's already twice as long as the first game. If Citizen Sleeper 2 is even a fraction as moreish as its 2022 predecessor – an expectation which, from the sounds of it, it's likely to surpass easily – this could be one of the year's earliest heavy-hitters fresh out the gate.

Killing Floor 3

Developer: Tripwire Interactive | Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X | Release date: TBC 2025

If kicking zombie ass and taking names had a name unto itself, it would probably be Killing Floor. The third entry in the longrunning zombie FPS is on its way, and judging from our Killing Floor 3 preview, it's looking better and bloodier than ever. Not only are we expecting new Zed types to unleash bullet hell upon, developer Tripwire Interactive has gone all-out with the long-awaited introduction of weapon modding to make gunplay a custom experience tailored to your personal tastes. It just shows how far Killing Floor 3 will go to make good on the series' decades-long promise to deliver gory zombie mayhem for the iron-stomached. With a TBC March release planned, we're counting down the days.

Phantom Blade Zero

Developer: S-GAME | Platform(s): PC, PS5 | Release date: TBC 2025

Phantom Blade Zero stands out in an industry beset by soulslikes by ditching the allure of that genre in order to embrace the wuxia promise – stylishly and beautifully kicking some ass. Lightning fast like Devil May Cry, the slick action has you chaining together lengthy combos across close-range and mid-range, all while staying on the move. So far we've mostly seen boss fights, which do echo Dark Souls with deadly moves of their own and hefty health bars, but the quick clashes of blades is anything but. Encouraging staying on the offense, you'll use twin swords to parry and stun foes, switching to a larger katana without missing a beat to slash that health bar shreds. Phantom Blade Zero has potential.

Dune: Awakening

Developer: Funcom | Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X | Release date: TBC 2025

Surviving on Arrakis looks plenty tough enough in Denis Villeneuve's movies, but Dune: Awakening goes the extra mile. Developer Funcom has transformed the desert planet into a survival MMO battleground, with players immediately tasked with managing their own basic needs before jumping headfirst into a more linear narrative campaign. Our Dune Awakening preview gave us a closer look at how Funcom combines complex base building elements as seen in the best survival games with online multiplayer functionality, presenting a gruelling new take on the sci-fi universe that seems to fold so seamlessly into the survival crafting genre already. Plus, spearheaded by the minds behind Conan Exile, we know Frank Herbert's world is in more than capable hands here.

Wheel World

Developer: Messhof | Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X | Release date: TBC 2025

We're counting down the days until we can put our pedal to the metal – or, er, Lycra to the cycler – in Wheel World. A gorgeous cycling game from developer Messhof, Wheel World's main draw is in being able to roam the eponymous world of Wheel World on your bike, tracking down cyclists to race while searching for new parts to upgrade your own two-wheeler with. Of course, there's also a world-ending calamity that only you can prevent – but there always is, isn't there? Throw in a pulsing soundtrack from California label Italians Do It Better and Wheel World already feels like the sort of adventure you will lose one dreamy afternoon after another in.

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Lost Records: Bloom & Rage

Developer: Don't Nod | Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X | Release date: February 18, 2025

Don't Nod may no longer be collaborating with Square Enix on Life is Strange, but the developer is looking to recapture the franchise's spirit with a new narrative-driven endeavour. Lost Records: Bloom and Rage will split its heartbreaking action across two timelines, allowing you to delve into the lives of four high school girls in 1995 – filming all of the summertime mischief on a handheld videocamera – and then wallow in the ramifications of your actions in 2022. The secrets which bind these characters across the 27 years are sure to be wrapped up in the choices you make along the way. Part 1 lands on February 18, with Part 2 releasing on March 18.

Two Point Museum

Developer: Two Point Studios | Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X | Release date: March 4, 2025

Hospitals? Schools? Both are unimportant compared to enticing visitors with pure culture in Two Point Museum. Compared to its more service-based predecessors, there's something a lot more freeform about building your ultimate museum. While visitors do have potential interests and needs, it's up to you to craft the perfect flow of exhibits, which are collected by periodically sending your staff to increasingly further afield locations. To top it off, we love the special themes we've seen so far, from aquariums to a former haunted hotel that allows you to display actual ghosts. All of it can come together as you balance the best placement for donation boxes and, crucially, the optimum way to shuttle guests to leave through your gift shop with lighter wallets.

Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault

Developer: Digital Sun | Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X | Release date: TBC 2025

Sometimes a video game comes along with an idea so good you can't believe it hadn't been thought of sooner. That's exactly how we felt about Moonlighter in 2018, which lets you live the double life of a fearless explorer and entrepreneurial shopkeeper. Digital Sun has spent the last few years getting Cataclismo into Early Access and playing around in the League of Legends sandbox with The Mageseeker, but the studio is ready to return to its greatest adventure with Moonlighter 2. You'll venture into the unknown in search of treasure, and then put your hard-earned rewards up for sale – expanding your shop over time as travelers from across the land of Tresna come to check out your wares and haggle over your prices.

Exodus

Developer: Archetype Entertainment | Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X | Release date: TBC 2025

Matthew McConaughey in Mass Effect? Well, not really, but upcoming sci-fi thriller Exodus draws more than a few comparisons to the BioWare series after a cursory glance at the trailers alone. There's not even a Steam page for it yet, but our most recent look at Archetype Entertainment's work-in-progress had our attention thoroughly piqued. Playing as spacewalking Travellers, our mission will see us traversing the Centauri Universe to rescue a colony from a hostile alien invasion. Sorry, not aliens – celestials, but you get the picture. The dynamic third-person action as seen in the gameplay trailer has sold us on it already, and despite a release window being nowhere in sight yet, we're hoping to see Exodus launch later in 2025.

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii

Developer: Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio | Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X | Release date: February 21, 2025

If there's one thing you need to know about Goro Majima, it's that he can pop up anywhere. Even in a spin-off Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, as an amnesiac pirate ready to captain his own crew – the job is, after all, only a few nautical clicks away from helming a yakuza clan, managing a hostess club, or leading a construction company (his resume is massive). Drawing on Infinite Wealth's setting, the high seas around the island nevertheless greatly expand the scope. Majima's quest to restore his memories also re-introduces real-time combat, meaning you'll be battling on and around Hawaii like never before, all while chuckling at zany sidequests and dabbing tears from your eyes at the emotional story.

FBC: Firebreak

Developer: Remedy Entertainment | Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X | Release date: TBC 2025

Remedy Entertainment has long been known for its imaginative single-player adventures – Alan Wake, Control, Max Payne, and Quantum Break – but the studio is venturing into uncharted territory. FBC: Firebreak is Remedy's first online multiplayer game, a cooperative third-person shooter set in the depths of the Oldest House. You and two friends will take on the role of first-responders, pushing back against interdimensional threats with punchy firearms and explosive Objects of Power. While the live-service space was pretty volatile last year, the success of Helldivers 2 and Marvel Rivals demonstrated that it's still possible for new experiences to hold territory against the battle royale behemoths. Remedy has a reputation for breaking boundaries, so who's to say it can't do it again.

Little Nightmares 3

Developer: Supermassive Games | Platform(s): PC, PS5, Switch, Xbox Series X | Release date: TBC 2025

Another most wanted title for 2025, Little Nightmares 3 is an upcoming horror game for the cute yet creepy folks out there. Supermassive Games should be right at home, following up its co-developer credit by steering the series into brand new waters for its maiden voyage without Tarsier. Little Nightmares 3 will be the first multiplayer entrant in the adorably eerie collection, as protagonists Low and Alone make their way through all manner of terrifying environments in a desperate escape attempt. With puzzles and enemies galore blocking the path – including the truly nasty Monster Baby – Little Nightmares 3 asks players to work together to defeat all odds. You could always play it solo, but this horror experience seems one best shared.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Developer: Sandfall Interactive | Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X | Release date: TBC 2025

What if Persona was inspired by Belle Époque France? Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is here to answer that question, following a party of heroes on a journey to defeat the mysterious Paintress, who, year-by-year, is eliminating the population of a certain-age, counting down as the human race is culled – Logan's Run style. With the age group 33 now on the chopping block, enough is enough. But as the party stares down their magical demise they'll have hordes of strange monsters to contend with, Clair Obscur's turn-based combat mixed with real-time elements to keep the stylish action constantly flowing. Promising a thrilling narrative, and looking gorgeous to boot, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 may be the first must-play RPG of the year.

Mafia: The Old Country

Developer: Hangar 13 | Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X | Release date: TBC 2025

The reveal of Mafia: The Old Country was one of 2024's sweetest surprises. Far from the '60s setting of 2016's Mafia 3, The Old Country – as its name suggests – will send us all the way back to 1900s Sicily to explore the origins of the Cosa Nostra crime family. It's a time of great change, as demonstrated by The Old Country's gameplay reveal: just look at the characters riding horses alongside old-timey cars, or the gritty knife fights interspersed with chaotic shootouts. But most exciting is Hangar 13's renewed commitment to the more linear, story-driven elements that made Mafia great in the first place. It's music to long-time fans' ears, and a firmer release window can't come soon enough.

Cairn

Developer: The Game Bakers | Platform(s): PS5, Xbox Series X, PC | Release date: 2025

Clambering around forms the backbone of gaming. From Jumpman skipping over barrels to ascend towards Donkey Kong, to Nathan Drake scrabbling across ancient ruins in Uncharted – most of the time it's so simple to do we take it for granted. Not in Cairn, the latest from The Game Bakers, which digs into every placed piton and strained arm muscle to pull you from one ledge to the next. Freeform, it's up to you to plan your route and execute the climb, moments of rest providing room to manage resources as you ready yourself for the next leg, and to meet others who are also compelled to climb. Cairn asks what pushes us to take on and overcome challenges, and just why we chase the next high.

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inZOI

Developer: Krafton | Platform(s): PC | Release date: March 28, 2025

The Sims 4's latest challenger is just months from release, and I'm already all in on inZOI. Krafton's upcoming PC game, while incorporating the staple elements of the best life sims, pushes the meta narrative by having players control a character who is orchestrating the lives of people in VR town, known as Zoi. This gives way to a unique karma system, with the Zoi remembering and reacting to your character depending upon your own past interactions with them – and yes, "farting secretly" will accrue bad karma. Paired with hyper-realistic graphics, a complex emotions system, and a fully customizable world to shape for yourself, inZOI could well unseat EA's legacy life sim as the most densely packed digital toy town on the block.

Atomfall

Developer: Rebellion Developments | Platform(s): PC, PS5 Xbox Series X | Release date: March 27, 2025

Atomfall may have been originally inspired by Fallout: New Vegas, but the adventure has taken on a life of its own throughout its development at Rebellion. It's a first-person adventure with light survival elements, an open-ended experience where you're free to follow threads and follow your intuition through a mysterious alternate-history, distinctly-British wasteland. You can kill every character you come across or nobody at all, barter for supplies and resources, or spend hours searching and sneaking your way through sprawling interconnected biomes. Atomfall is one of 2025's most promising prospects, and we're keen to see whether the Sniper Elite studio can pull off something so all-encompassing when it lands for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, and Game Pass.

Subnautica 2

Developer: Unknown Worlds Entertainment | Platform(s): PC, Xbox Series X | Release date: TBC 2025

Unknown World is following up its 2018 deep sea survival adventure with a long-awaited sequel. Subnatica 2 will take us back below the waves and into an open water world, one teeming with untold dangers and wonders in equal measure as players explore, craft, and manage resources to stay alive. With multiplayer mode being introduced, we'll get to plumb these hidden depths either alone or with a buddy – and given how dicey things can get down there, you'll be glad for the backup. The first game stunned with its blend of underwater beauty and high-stakes survival crafting, so we're more than ready for Subnautica 2 to finally emerge from the shallows and blow us out of the water yet again.

Civilization 7

Developer: Firaxis | Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X | Release date: February 11, 2025

With Civilization 7 arriving so early in the year, you can pre-emptively write off any plans to be productive in February or beyond. New entries in Firaxis' iconic series are few and far between – it's already been nine years since Civilization 6 doomed our productivity – which makes this launch akin to a national holiday for strategy fans. Civilization 7 will shake up the next turn-ing formula we know and love, with major changes to the way our empires develop across the course of a game. Expect to see campaigns divided into more impactful ages, while the mix-and-match approach to picking leaders and civilizations will create more unique playstyles. If you were hoping to get anything done in 2025, think again.

Mixtape

Developer: Beethoven and Dinosaur | Platform(s): PC, Xbox Series X | Release date: TBC 2025

Mixtape is one of those rare delights which immediately ignites the imagination. It's another symphony of accessible gameplay, scintillating music, and expressive visual design from developer Beethoven and Dinosaur – the studio responsible for the BAFTA award-winning adventure The Artful Escape. Presented as a series of vignettes, you'll essentially explore the greatest hits of teenage friendship to the sounds of Iggy Pop and The Smashing Pumpkins; experience the highs and lows of adolescence, ramble on through the wasteland of youth, and cause a little idle mischief with your buddies. Mixtape doesn't have a release date just yet, but it looks like another surefire hit for publisher Annapurna Interactive.

South of Midnight

Developer: Compulsion Games | Platform(s): PC, Xbox Series X | Release date: TBC 2025

South of Midnight is a stunning, singular third person action-adventure from We Happy Few developer Compulsion Games – the studio's first release since its acquisition into Xbox Game Studios in 2018. Playing as fearless heroine Hazel, you'll explore a folklore-drenched Deep South USA on a quest to rescue her grandmother, meeting all sorts of mythic creatures, cryptids, and entities hailing from across the region. Some are redeemable trapped spirits she can set free, while others must be defeated by channeling Hazel's Weaver magic – and using a blade for good measure. South of Midnight looks set to offer a world of wonder to explore (or hack through) when it launches later this year, and despite lacking a firm release date, we can't keep our eyes off it.

Dying Light: The Beast

Developer: Techland | Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X | Release date: TBC 2025

Set 13 years after the original Dying Light, Techland is bringing back Kyle Crane for one last dose of zombie-slaying heroics. Dying Light: The Beast is the DLC that became something more, shining a light on what happened to Crane in the years between his adventure and that of Dying Light 2's Aiden. The Beast presents a tighter, more narrative-led experience compared to that of its predecessors as Crane grapples with zombie-human hybrid powers, out for revenge after breaking himself out of a top secret human experimentation facility. The Beast will be free to purchasers of Dying Light 2's deluxe edition, and the rest of you can pick it up as a standalone adventure this summer.

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater

Developer: Konami | Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X | Release date: TBC 2025

Following the success of its Silent Hill 2 remake, Konami continues to look to its past. Next up is Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, a revival of one of the greatest video games of all time. MGS3 had it all – incredible depth to its core systems and mechanics, a complex story, excellent world design, and a roster of characters who are still beloved some two decades later. Konami is working to carefully deliver Metal Gear Solid Delta to a new generation of players; with key gameplay additions from MGS4 and Peace Walker woven into the tapestry, along with an assortment of visual improvements. There's also a legacy mode, which faithfully recreates the original version of Snake Eater, fixed-camera and all.

Crimson Desert

Developer: Pearl Abyss | Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X | Release date: TBC 2025

If you can't wait for The Witcher 4, Pearl Abyss has just the thing to scratch that medieval fantasy itch. Playing as Kliff, a brash monster slayer defending communities in the Scottish highlands, Crimson Desert promises an unforgiving world teeming with beasts to conquer. Our hands-on Crimson Desert preview gave us a taste of Kliff's combat chops, from punishing combos to agile quick attacks, all framed by dynamic camera movements that turn each encounter into a near cinematic one – whether against a gargantuan monster or a horde of bandits. It's a stylish yet experimental take on a typical third-person action game, so while Crimson Desert might not click with everyone, the gore-soaked epic has been high on our watch list for months.

Avowed

Developer: Obsidian Entertainment | Platform(s): PC, Xbox Series X | Release date: February 18, 2025

With Pillars of Eternity preparing to celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2025, developer Obsidian Entertainment is looking to celebrate the occasion in style: a massive expansion of Eora. Avowed takes place in the same universe as Pillars, but it has been pitched as a distinctly different experience, a delightfully diverse RPG that'll let you wield magic, melee, and firearms to tackle a dangerous blight sweeping the land. Played in first-person or third-person perspectives, you'll have the chance to shape your character, pick your favorite companions, and begin exploring a series of distinctive biomes where your choices help direct the outcome of the story. If you enjoyed The Outer Worlds, Avowed will be a fantasy RPG you won't want to miss.

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Fable 4

Developer: Playground Games | Platform(s): PC, Xbox Series X | Release date: TBC 2025

Perhaps the biggest test for Xbox Game Studios in 2025 will be to pull off the successful return of one of its most beloved franchises, some 15 years after the release of Fable 3. The series went dormant with the closure of Lionhead Studios, following poorly-received experiments with Kinect and a lack of buzz surrounding the online-only Fable Legends. And so Forza Horizon developer Playground Games has taken on the task of breathing new life into Albion, an endeavour still shrouded in mystery. The few teaser trailers we have seen promise a world built around choice and consequence, combat underscored by magic and melee weapons, and benchmark-raising visual design. Here's hoping Fable 4 holds its 2025 release window.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond

Developer: Retro Studios | Platform(s): Switch | Release date: TBC 2025

Will Metroid Prime 4: Beyond be a swansong for the Nintendo Switch or the first must-play for its successor? That's the question nobody is able to answer just yet, but rumors persist that it'll be a Switch 2 launch title. Given that it has been almost eight years since Metroid Prime 4 was announced – a production cycle which has included a change in developer and a total design overhaul – we don't really mind which platform it lands on, so long as Nintendo is able to maintain its promised 2025 release window. Despite the turmoil, it's clear that Retro Studios has no intention of straying too far from the beloved Prime model, bringing back a delicate blend of quiet exploration, puzzle solving, and frantic shootouts.

Assassin's Creed Shadows

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal | Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X | Release date: February 14, 2025

It's been four long years since the release of Assassin's Creed Valhalla, and developer Ubisoft Montreal is finally ready to unleash its next sprawling open-world upon us all. Assassin's Creed Shadows is set to land us in feudal Japan, a period of history marked by intense civil war. To survive it, you'll freely switch between two central characters – Naoe, a shinobi, and Yasuke, a samurai – and enjoy refined stealth mechanics as well as new combat systems. Shadows will also launch alongside the Animus Hub, a nexus for all upcoming Assassin's Creed games. Japan has long been a dream destination for the franchise, and we couldn't be more excited as Shadows finally makes that a reality in 2025.

Monster Hunter Wilds

Developer: Capcom | Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X | Release date: February 28, 2025

Monster Hunter Wilds stands poised to become one of Capcom's all-time crowning achievements. The series' momentum has been at an all-time high since the launch of 2018's Monster Hunter: World, yet everything we've seen of Wilds so far suggests that it will prove capable of seizing the moment: Besides the usual fare of new monsters to battle, we're also getting foundation-shifting additions like mounts and dynamic weather systems, which will influence every single hunt we'll be embarking on. Everything we've seen so far implies this will be Monster Hunter at its most intricate – and if Wilds lives up to its promise, we're likely to see it explode far beyond the semi-niche space its predecessors have dominated in the action-RPG genre.

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach

Developer: Kojima Productions | Platform(s): PS5 | Release date: TBC 2025

It's going to be difficult for any video game to draw attention away from Grand Theft Auto 6 in 2025, but if anything stands a chance it has to be Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. Creative director Hideo Kojima has a reputation for being able to arrest attention with ease, something we expect will hold true as more of this sequel to 2019's Death Stranding is revealed throughout the year. On the Beach will retain a focus on wide-scale exploration and the nature of societal connection, although there's going to be a smattering of exceptionally strange distractions along the way – otherworldly obstacles to circumvent, denser mysteries to unravel, and even a reanimated puppet doll acting as a companion across the wilds… It's looking vintage Kojima Productions.

Doom: The Dark Ages

Developer: id Software | Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X | Release date: TBC 2025

Doom: The Dark Ages is destined to be the most outrageous action game of 2025. We've spent nearly five years questioning whether developer id Software would ever be able to up the ante after Doom Eternal – the answer, it appears, lies in the past. The Dark Ages serves as a prequel to the rebooted Doom series, following the rise of the Doom Slayer across a lush techno-medieval landscape. The change of setting is an excuse to introduce a new wave of weapons, including the imaginatively titled Saw Shield, Skull Crusher, and Rail Spike, and for a return to more densely-packed combat arenas. More demons, more gore, and more projectiles: a trifecta of carnage that will define this upcoming Xbox Series X game.

Borderlands 4

Developer: Gearbox | Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X | Release date: TBC 2025

Borderlands 4 is leaving Pandora behind, with the famed looter-shooter series calling the new planet of Kairos home for a new round of absurdist action. Developer Gearbox Software is using a new open world to refresh some core aspects of the Borderlands design, including the introduction of four fresh Vault Hunters and a suite of ridiculous enemy factions to combat. Caught up within a war between the The Order and The Rippers, you and three friends will be free to explore Kairos as and when you want to, switching your arsenal up with hundreds of thousands of weapons to fight hordes of synthetic and organic enemies. Full-scale Borderlands mayhem has never looked better.

Elden Ring Nightreign

Developer: FromSoftware | Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X | Release date: TBC 2025

A standalone spin-off rather than a simple expansion, Elden Ring Nightreign pushes aside dense lore in favor of emphasizing pure co-op soulslike action. Unleashed into the Lands Between, up to three players are given a simple task: survive for three nights. Though, as you'd expect of FromSoftware, actually pulling it off won't be easy. With a battle royale style shrinking circle, and boss monsters pulling from the rest of the developer's portfolio , Elden Ring Nightreign is almost something of a franchise celebration. Considering the developer thrust the "soulslike" genre into the spotlight, it's neat to see FromSoftware try something so new that it's almost hard to imagine how it will play in your hands. Then again, FromSoftware isn't in the habit of disappointing.

Ghost of Yōtei

Developer: Sucker Punch Studios | Platform(s): PS5 | Release date: TBC 2025

The stunningly cinematic PS4 exclusive Ghost of Tsushima is finally getting a sequel, with Ghost of Yotei slated for a 2025 launch. If you're wondering why we're so keen to see the next instalment in this blisteringly beautiful samurai saga, it's because the first game has been climbing the ranks of our best open world games list for years now. Ghost of Yotei introduces a new protagonist, Atsu, set in Hokkaido some 300 years after the events of Jin's Tsushima journey. With a new map, characters, and branching narrative to explore – not to mention the slick third-person combat that made its predecessor shine so brilliantly – Ghost of Yotei is by far one of the most anticipated upcoming PS5 games out there.

GTA 6

Developer: Rockstar Games | Platform(s): PS5, Xbox Series X | Release date: TBC 2025

Grand Theft Auto 6 is going to be the biggest entertainment release of the decade. It's impossible to overstate just how much of a monster the latest open-world epic from Rockstar Games is destined to be, with the famed developer engineering a long-awaited return to Vice City this fall – set in the modern era, rather than the 1980s. Little is known about what Rockstar has planned, although an early look at GTA 6 indicates that we're in for Bonnie and Clyde-inspired crime caper with two leading protagonists. GTA 6 will be closely guarded secret throughout the year, but once Rockstar is ready to reveal its work you should expect the first gameplay reveal to be a seismic event for gaming.