Category: Video Games

I’m starting to feel like Charlie Brown from The Peanuts comics, and Microsoft is the Lucy who keeps pulling the football away right as I go to kick it. Every year I write this feature, and every year I say that this looks like The Year™ where everything comes together for Xbox. Last year, in fact, I specifically said, “Looking ahead to 2024, that positive momentum looks set to continue and, with any luck, snowball.” Microsoft arguably didn’t live up to that for the first 10.5 months of the year, with only the visually-full-but-gameplay-empty Hellblade 2 dropping in May after many years of waiting. But to the big-spending publisher’s credit, it did end the year extremely strong, dropping three exclusive bangers in a row: STALKER 2, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, and my personal vote for Game of the Year in 2024 and the game that I think is the best Xbox exclusive in years, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.

So, can Microsoft keep that positive end-of-2024 momentum going into 2025? Call me Charlie Brown if you must, but yes, I genuinely believe that 2025 could be Xbox’s strongest and most bountiful year since at least 2021, when it dropped Forza Horizon 5, Halo Infinite, and Psychonauts 2. Let’s dig into why I’m optimistic…

A Fountain of Fantasy and Firearms

Xbox’s 2025 kicks off rather quickly and, from everything we can tell, rather impressively with Obsidian’s first-person fantasy RPG Avowed, due to be released on February 18. This “Skyrim Lite” is set in the studio’s established and well-loved Pillars of Eternity universe, it’s supposed to be around the same meaty-but-not-gargantuan 25-40 hours long as Obsidian’s most recent first-person RPG The Outer Worlds, and it’s impressed us more and more every single time we’ve played it, including quite recently.

Next, while it doesn’t have a firm release date yet, id Software’s unexpected zag of a prequel, Doom: The Dark Ages, is almost a lock for 2025. In fact, I’d wager an In-N-Out Burger lunch that it drops in the first half of the year for two reasons: 1) Doom Eternal shipped in March of 2020, meaning that in just a few months, it will have been a full half-decade since the last Doom (which itself followed four years after Doom [2016]). In other words, it’s time! Particularly since the idTech engine is already firmly in place despite the jump to a new console generation. And 2) I’d bet another In-N-Out lunch that the long- and eagerly anticipated reboot of Fable being cooked up at Playground Games – which, remember, got tagged with a 2025 release window in its Xbox Showcase 2024 trailer – is going to be Xbox’s big Fall/holiday game at the end of the year. That means Doom probably ships before the holidays. But whenever it does – and remember that it’s already confirmed to be a multiplatform release on day one – it’s probably going to kick some serious ass for Xbox next year, judging by how good id Software’s last two Doom games have been.

Back to Fable: in my opinion, the revival of Fable has higher potential – both critically and commercially – than almost anything else in Xbox’s portfolio short of Call of Duty, The Elder Scrolls, and Fallout. We’ve seen Playground’s take on the British-charm-tinged action-adventure-RPG a few times now, and each time it’s been crystal clear that not only does Playground “get” Fable (it’s British itself, which no doubt helps), but that the game looks absolutely incredible as well. Who knew that the ForzaTech engine could render a jaw-droppingly beautiful fantasy forest just as well as a racetrack?

There’s one other huge reason to be optimistic about Fable, and that’s Playground’s track record. Simply put, this studio has not only never missed, it’s never made anything less than a consensus 9 out of 10. Its last game, the aforementioned Forza Horizon 5, was IGN’s 2021 Game of the Year. And it clearly is being given plenty of time to cook, as Fable was formally announced in 2020 with work having already been done prior to that. Microsoft knows it can’t fumble Fable a second time, and I couldn’t be more excited about what has been shown so far.

Next, while it certainly isn’t nearly as big a name as Fable, we can’t forget about South of Midnight, the third-person action-adventure from We Happy Few developer Compulsion Games that’s leaning heavy into the folklore of the bayous of the Deep South. This one’s nothing like the developer’s past games, which is admittedly riskier but also more intriguing. Microsoft has tabbed this one for 2025, so consider South of Midnight as something of a wild card for next year.

Another smaller-name Xbox exclusive that I think everyone will be talking about if it comes together when it finally ships in 2025 is Replaced. It’s a pixel-art, cyberpunk-styled side-scrolling action-adventure game that oozes style and, as I discovered when I played it over the summer, is much deeper than I expected. Replaced has the potential to join the long list of legendary Xbox-exclusive indies that includes games like Limbo, Braid, and Inside.

Finally, don’t forget about Xbox’s actual biggest franchise (since they now own it), Call of Duty. It’ll stay on PlayStation, of course, but Xbox fans will get it day one on Game Pass. The 2025 Call of Duty is rumored to be a future-set Black Ops 2 sequel, so perhaps Treyarch is handling the campaign on this one after Raven Software did a stellar job on this year’s Black Ops 6 campaign. And the other, much quieter juggernaut in the Xbox portfolio, Minecraft, will probably get some kind of big in-game content, what with the Minecraft movie on the way.

What About Hardware?

Barring a 180 from Xbox boss Phil Spencer’s previous comments, Microsoft won’t be pushing a mid-gen upgrade to the Xbox Series X (an Xbox Series XX, if you will) in 2025, if ever. And though a handheld Xbox is in development, we’re unlikely to play it or even see it in the coming year.

So should we expect any new hardware in 2025? Probably not – at least in terms of raw horsepower. The Xbox Series S got a storage upgrade in 2024, as did the Series X. And we’ll no doubt see a bevy of new special-edition controllers and maybe even that upgraded controller codenamed Sebile mentioned in the FTC leaks from over a year ago, but 2025 does not appear to be the year for Xbox to drop any new silicon.

Anything Else?

Rare’s Everwild appears to be in limbo and/or development hell, as we haven’t seen or heard from it in years. Might it reemerge in 2025? Maybe, but I’m not holding my breath. Meanwhile, Halo is being reset at the studio level, which in my opinion means the next Halo game is likely to either be a reboot of the franchise altogether or a remake of Halo: Combat Evolved. Either way, it’s going to be built in Unreal Engine 5, and it’s probably going to take a while. InXile’s steampunk RPG Clockwork Revolution was announced in 2023 with a release window of “coming in due time.” The Outer Worlds 2 has been revealed, and we now know it is coming in 2025, so that means Obsidian plans to ship two first-person RPGs in the same year.

And speaking of first-person RPGs, will that rumored Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion remaster actually happen? How about Contraband, from Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios, which was in the 2021 Xbox Showcase and hasn’t been seen or heard from since? All we know is that it’s “a co-op smugglers’ paradise set in the fictional world of 1970s Bayan.” Should it reemerge in 2025, it’s unlikely that it also ships next year as well, given the usual PR/marketing cycles on big-budget games.

The wild card for 2025 is Double Fine, the endlessly creative and versatile studio headed by game design legend Tim Schafer that is coming off of 2021 Game Awards Game of the Year nominee Psychonauts 2. I’d expect Schafer and the studio to announce their new project soon, but as to whether it actually comes out in the next 12 months is anybody’s guess.

Finally, anything from this year’s Xbox Showcase that didn’t have a release year at the end of the trailer can safely be assumed to be a 2026 (or later) release. That means I’m not reasonably expecting to play Gears of War: E-Day, Perfect Dark, or State of Decay 3 in the next year. And that’s OK! It finally feels like Xbox is starting to pump out not just a steady stream of first-party games, but a consistently good stream of them. This is what Xbox has been building towards since they first started acquiring studios in 2018 to try and fix their first-party games problem, and dammit I think this is the year they finally do it. Please don’t pull that football away from me again, Lucy-Microsoft.

2024 was a bit of a bumpy road for PlayStation. Things started out well with the surprise success of Helldivers 2, the critically acclaimed Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and the slick action duo of Stellar Blade and Black Myth: Wukong. But things took a downward turn in the summer thanks to Concord’s (failure to) launch. The doomed hero shooter and subsequent closing of developer Firewalk Studios was certainly a low point for Sony, even if a delightful little robot did his best to brighten the mood in the fantastic Astro Bot. Since then we’ve seen the arrival of the PS5 Pro, an even more powerful PlayStation 5 console that comes at an eye-wateringly premium price and has been met with a mixed reception. But with time ticking away, there’s barely time left in 2024 to dwell on PlayStation’s past. It already feels like time to look ahead to 2025.

So what does the upcoming year have in store for PlayStation? With almost all of its first-party studios keeping cards close to chests, you may be mistaken for thinking things are looking quiet. But let’s delve in deeper to see exactly what games to expect for the PS5 in 2025, as well as make a few hopeful guesses of our own.

The Games We Know Are Coming

Firstly, let’s look at what is scheduled to come from those all-important PlayStation Studios. Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Yotei is certainly looking like the headline attraction, and it’s coming to the PS5 in 2025. The sequel to 2020’s open-world samurai adventure, Ghost of Tsushima, is set to be a stunner as we’re introduced to both a new hero and Northern Japanese location. Let’s hope for some gameplay trailers early next year or in the summer, ahead of a winter release.

There’s also Fairgames, the debut game from Haven Studios. It’s a multiplayer heist shooter, and so it will certainly be fascinating to see what lessons PlayStation has learned from the live-service disaster of Concord. First revealed in 2023, we’re yet to see any gameplay, but hopefully that doesn’t mean it won’t hit its target of a 2025 release date.

And… those are the only PlayStation Studios games we currently know are slated for a 2025 release. And with no actual release dates locked in yet, we can barely plot out what to expect in each part of the year. But that isn’t to say there won’t be more big games coming to the PS5 next year, though, and we can certainly theorise at what else we might see from some of Sony’s first-party stable.

We now know that Naughty Dog’s next adventure will take us to the stars in Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. We don’t expect to be playing this in 2025, though, but we’ll happily eat up any more info Neil Druckmann and the team wants to share about it – especially if that includes some of that laser blade gameplay.

Marathon has a lot of weight resting on its shoulders, not only because it will be Bungie’s first full release since it was acquired by Sony, but alongside Fairgames, it will be PlayStation’s first big new live-service shooter to follow in the quickly fading footsteps of Concord. The Destiny developers have as strong a shooter pedigree as anyone in the business, so it will certainly be interesting to see the result of its work as it aims to revive its long-dormant 90s series as a multiplayer extraction shooter.

Could 2025 be the year that Death Stranding 2: On the Beach emerges from its oily cocoon? Hideo Kojima was at The Game Awards but didn’t bring a new trailer with him. Unacceptable behaviour, if you ask me. Are we any closer to knowing what it’s all about? Who’s to say, but we certainly want to play it. And the sooner we can, the sooner Kojima can move on to working on Physint, the upcoming stealth-action PlayStation exclusive from the Metal Gear master.

As for third-party exclusives, there’s a fair few to look forward to – especially if you’re into big swords. Phantom Blade Zero looks set to be a flashy hack-and-slash action RPG from Chinese studio S-Game. A semi-open world samurai bloodfest with soulslike elements, it certainly doesn’t look to be lacking in style. No release date has been given as yet, but let’s hope for next year.

Speaking of blades, Where Winds Meet is a PS5 console-exclusive RPG set in ancient China. Taking place during the Ten Kingdoms Era, you step into the shoes of a warrior who wields influence over warring dynasties, shaping history with the point of your sword, as well as mystical and magical abilities. Originally set for a 2024 release before being delayed to add even more content to its packed, mammoth open world, it wouldn’t be a shock to see it finally arrive within the next 12 months.

But wait, there are more swords and even bigger blades in Ballad of Antara, a free-to-play co-op action RPG packed with multiple protagonists and intertwining stories coming to the PS5 in 2025. We’ll get a better look at it soon, with a beta promised to be on the way.

Think we’re done with swords? Think again. This next game even has one in the title: Sword of the Sea. You don’t use this one to fight with, though; instead, you’ll be plonking your feet on it and riding around at speed, Tony Hawk and Metaphor: ReFantazio style. From Abzû and The Pathless studio Giant Squid, the reveal trailer couldn’t help but remind us of Journey, as a mysterious cloaked character hoverswords around vast desert ruins.

Another relatively fresh announcement, having only been revealed at September’s State of Play, The Midnight Walk is the next game from Lost in Random developer Moonhood Studios. An adventure handcrafted from clay, it’s set to be one of the most visually striking games of 2025. Plus, it’s even coming out on PS VR2. At least someone is helping out that long-forgotten little guy.

The last PS5 console exclusive we’re going to highlight is a game we wrote about exactly this time last year in our 2024 PlayStation look-ahead. Hopefully 2025 will be the year we finally get to clumsily bumble our way through the world of Baby Steps. A PS5 console-exclusive, the team up from the developers behind Getting Over It and Ape Out looks equal parts agonising as it does hilarious.

That may be it for exclusives, but there are plenty more multiplatform games coming out in 2025 that are set to make it a bumper year for PlayStation players. Alongside the arrival of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle onto PS5, there’s Elden Ring Nightreign, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Monster Hunter Wilds, Mafia: The Old Country, Judas, Borderlands 4, Doom: The Dark Ages, and Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater to name but a few. Oh, and a little game called Grand Theft Auto 6. Could be good. Who knows.

Hopes and Dreams

Now for the fun part: the section where we get to cross our fingers and conjure up games that don’t exist yet, but maybe will appear before our eyes in 2025.

Insomniac has had a relatively quiet year – for a studio that puts out new releases with such regularity, that is – but understandable considering it continues to recover from the data breach suffered at the end of 2023. We know that Wolverine is in the works but don’t yet know exactly when it will be in our hands. And, if rumours are to be believed, a Venom game is scheduled to arrive before it. While it may be unlikely that we’ll be playing either of these superhero stories within the next 12 months, we might get a clearer picture of what is coming next from the Spidey studio.

The same can be said for Santa Monica Studio. What’s next for the God of War developer is a mystery, although we do know Cory Barlog – game director of 2018’s God of War – moved on to helm a new project in 2021 after leaving Eric Williams to fill Ragnarok’s director seat. Could we see what Barlog’s game is in 2025?

As for other studios, can we expect yet more delves into the world of Horizon from Guerrilla Games, with an online multiplayer game reportedly in development at the Amsterdam developers? And it’s been a long time since Bend released Days Gone – almost six whole years, in fact – and the studio has hinted that it’s making another open-world adventure. Little is known apart from that, but it’s safe to say we’d like to learn more.

The truth is, we know very little about what is in the pipeline from many of Sony’s first-party studios, so don’t be surprised if the PS5 is in for another relatively quiet year in 2025. We’d be more than happy to be wrong about that, though, and be pleasantly surprised by a flurry of reveals and releases.

Finally, could Sony’s interest in acquiring the massive Kadokawa company (which, alongside a huge anime portfolio, also owns FromSoftware) finally result in a Bloodborne remaster or sequel? I know we said these are hopes and dreams… but don’t be silly.

Hardware and Tech

In terms of hardware, Sony has been very busy over the past couple of years with the PS VR2, PlayStation Portal, and PS5 Pro all released to varying levels of success. As a result, we expect things to be quieter on the hardware front when it comes to 2025. However, it may be the year that we see the PS5 Pro justify itself further as an expensive upgrade if games like Ghost of Yotei and GTA 6 start to push the base PlayStation 5 to its limit. It will certainly be interesting to see how developers embrace this new tech over the next year or so, and if we start to see genuinely impressive comparisons between the original PS5 and Pro.

But while we expect actual hardware releases to be quiet, we’ve heard whispers that there may be some news to share of fresh PlayStation tech in 2025. Could we see Sony take another stab at the handheld market? Just stick some internal storage into the Portal. I have no qualifications when it comes to hardware engineering, but how hard can it be, lads? In all seriousness, though, if recent reports are to be believed, then maybe we could actually see a successor to the PSP and PS Vita in the coming year, or at least an announcement of one.

Let’s be honest, it’s all guesswork isn’t it? Got your own theories and hopes for what we’ll see from PlayStation in 2025? Let us know in the comments below, as well as what you’re most excited to play.