To continue my list of the top ten games releasing in 2025 I’m most excited for, let’s jump right in with the top five! Just to reiterate the caveat from part one, obviously Grand Theft Auto 6 would be on this list, but growing scepticism it will release this year aside, everybody who knows of its existence is excited for it so I’m choosing to talk about other games who don’t need the fanfare.
5) The Sinking City 2
I was very surprised to hear that this game even existed considering the buggy nature of Frogwares recent games. It would be my preference that they put more time into polishing the games they have already but that said my favourite game by them ever is easily the first Sinking City.
I never finished it because it eventually leaned too heavily on its horrible combat, but the sleuthing and investigation work as well as the incredible setting within H.P. Lovecraft’s lore were truly gripping. I hope that they’ve learned from their mistakes with previous games and will finally release their first polished game with The Sinking City 2 as it has so much potential to be the best open world survival horror on PlayStation 5.
4) Dying Light: The Beast
Based on what we’ve seen so far of Dying Light: The Beast, it’s a horror game with over-the-top weapons and superpowers, providing a power fantasy against things which would ultimately terrorise me normally. What’s not to love?! The trailer looks as terrifying as I remember the first Dying Light to be despite only playing an hour or so of it. Regardless of that I am still very keen to give The Beast a try when it launches in the summer.
3) Pokémon Legends: Z-A
Whilst we don’t know really anything about this upcoming release at time of writing, the promised return of Mega evolutions is enough to make me so excited that I would happily purchase the successor to the Nintendo Switch just to play it. There’s not much more I can say at this time, but I’m sure we’ll find out all the details we need to know, including hopefully a release date, on Pokémon day in February.
I’m hoping we’ll finally get some long awaited Megas such as Flygon and Zebstrika, and I am sure I’ll have a more detailed list feature covering this topic as we draw closer to Legends Z-A’s release.
2) Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Before I say anything else about this game; just know that Ben Starr is in it, which is enough to make me hyped for basically anything. That said it is important to note that I was very excited for this game BEFORE I learned he would be in it.
To focus on the gameplay, the art style is as deeply beautiful as Mr Starr himself, with a turn-based combat style blending seamlessly with the highly intriguing science fiction setting. Expedition 33 appears to be a colliding of worlds between old school turn-based RPG’s with modern graphical capability and presentation. Everything shown in the trailers so far has me dying to play this game, and is guaranteed to be a day one purchase as soon it is out.
1) Ghost of Yōtei
I don’t think a year has passed since its release that I haven’t replayed Ghost of Tsushima. I absolutely love every aspect of it, from its deep and hugely satisfying combat to the open world I still believe to be the most beautiful in gaming. As much as I wanted Sucker Punch to lean into the super powered aspect of their previous games, by the time I first finished Ghost of Tsushima I was glad that they hadn’t.
The long awaited sequel was finally announced and with it came a massively exciting trailer for Ghost of Yōtei. PlayStation have doubled down recently confirming again that it is set for release in 2025. Simple excitement doesn’t do enough justice to how much I can’t wait to play this game!
That’s my list! Let me know in the comments which games you are most excited for that are either set to or likely to launch in 2025. Respawning is currently undergoing a recruitment drive so feel free to contact me on alex@respawning.co.uk for more details if interested, and I will catch you again very soon. Thanks for reading!
Written and edited by Alexx.
Liberty Lives in the Execution.