Our Most Anticipated Games for 2025

While 2024 has seen a sad continuation (or evolution, rather?) of many of the bad trends we’ve been forced to endure lately in the video games industry, such as dying live service games, mass layoffs, bad remakes, and other shady business moves, we have also been blessed with a few excellent games this year. Earth Defense Force 6, although it suffers from game breaking bugs not seen in the previous offerings, is a worthy successor that delivers lots of arcade style fun alien blasting. Last Epoch is an excellent (and addicting) action RPG for fans of the genre, definitely worth playing. UFO 50 fully satisfied my retro gaming needs, and even managed to positively surprise me with some genuinely good co-op gameplay moments. In short, there’s been a little something for everyone.

So as the year 2024 is nearing its inevitable ending, let’s once again look to the horizon of what’s to come; presenting our most anticipated games for the coming 2025, in no particular order;

Earthion

A brand new, Mega Drive retro shooting game rocking mind-melting pixel graphics and face melting music featuring the legendary video game composer Yuzo Koshiro – what’s not to love? The announcement of this game definitely broke our minds, as it was completely unexpected and instantly just got everything right. We’re looking forward to playing it an unhealthy amount of it in 2025 (fingers crossed?).

Monster Hunter Wilds

Monster Hunter World set a pretty high standard for Monster Hunter games in my opinion, as it managed to combine a pretty compelling narrative with fast paced, action-filled gameplay that featured really impressive graphics. We’re definitely looking forward to play this new edition of the game, and we’ll keep a keen eye on how they’ll manage to evolve an already great game. Again.

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii

The Yakuza game series never disappoints, and this upcoming pirate themed game seems to deliver on that promise, and then some. If you want compelling characters, amazing production value, and an unforgettable experience, we think that this one will make it happen.

Divine Frequency

We’re huge fans of all things sci-fi, horror, and fucked-up monsters. Even more so when you get to blow their brains out with a shotgun. This is an excellent showcase on what creativity and passion there is in the Doom modding community, and the game itself looks absolutely fantastic.

Borderlands 4

The Borderlands game series has established itself as something of a king of the FPS co-op looting-shooting games. Probably because there isn’t much competition in this niche, especially not from AA or AAA companies. Hence, it has a secure spot on our radar, as we love fast-paced, arcadey co-op shooters.

Dynasty Warriors Origins

The next Dynasty Warriors game is coming, and from the looks of it, this one looks incredibly promising if you’re a fan of the hack-and-slash genre. Look at the amazing visual presentation; great graphics, colorful, over-the-top characters mowing down countless hoards of enemies with ancient weapons using incredible combos, and you’ll probably understand why this series has such a dedicated fan base.

Rogue Point

Rogue Point looks like a game that I could personally get lost in for hundreds of hours, in a good way. We’re huge fans of milsim shooters, and tight, tactical indoors shoot-outs can be some of the most exhilarating experiences to be had in a video game, and this one looks to deliver just that in spades. Plus, the fact that it offers co-op gameplay just makes it so much better, too.

Grim Dawn: Fangs of Asterkarn

Another unexpected, but oh-so welcome surprise; a new DLC expansion for Grim Dawn has been announced! Expanding on an already absolutely epic game is never a bad thing, so we’re really looking forward to try some new skill combos and character builds in this one.

Path of Exile 2

Early access to Path of Exile 2 was released just last week as of writing, and we’ve already played 40 hours of it. The full game is set to release next year, and I already know that I will be completely hooked. The previous game is nothing short of amazing, and this sequel is practically everything you could ask for. While we have some gripes with it at the moment (early access suffers from some serious imbalance and bugs), we think this game will be perfectly solid at launch.

Wolfhound

A classic, retro styled side-scrolling action arcade platformer shooter? I’m sold. This game looks so much fun with all the movement options, and extra weapons, traps, and puzzles not to mention the insane monsters. This is definitely something to look forward to.

Capcom Fighting Collection 2

This is insane! A Capcom game collection with both Capcom vs. SNK games *AND* both Power Stone games!? This release will finally let us relive and replay some of our favorite Dreamcast era fighting games, and we’re here for it. Let’s fucking go!

FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves

Speaking of fighting games… Another unexpected surprise announcement; we’re getting a new Fatal Fury game. Oh man, the original Fatal Fury has such a special place in my heart, from obsessively ogling the the blue-tinted, colorful screenshots of the arcade game in glossy 90s gaming magazines to finally getting to play it on the Mega Drive… It’s all good stuff!

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II

This game looks amazing and extremely gorgeous to look at. If you love medieval history and sword fighting as much as I do, then this game will be a no-brainer. What’s more, it appears to have really deep characters, and a compelling narrative, too. Just amazing presentation that is sure to leave a lasting memory. I can’t wait to explore the medieval world that this game offers.

Montezuma’s Revenge: The 40th Anniversary Edition

Here’s some more love for the retro-gamers out there. If you grew up in the 80s playing computer games, chances are that you played the original Montezuma’s Revenge. It is very simple in concept, but it always had that special, exotic allure of exploring an unknown and dangerous underground temple. Death comes quickly, but as an explorer looking for ancient treasures from lost civilizations, it’s worth it, right?

Mekkablood: Quarry Assault

Another strange and unhinged game right here. You got to love how crazy this game looks – like a fever dream induced by playing really old tech first person shooters and being deprived of sleep. I hope the game will be fun to play (It looks pretty punishing in the trailer!), but I think it deserves some attention just for the sheer madness of its presentation. I’ll definitely want to try it when it releases.

Toxic Crusaders

We featured this game on last year’s most anticipated games list, but it hasn’t released yet, so here it is again. We’re still looking forward to beating some ass in this arcade styled co-op action beat ’em up. It looks incredibly fun, especially with the featured 2-4 player co-op modes.

R-Type Tactics I • II Cosmos

Another classic re-release. The original R-Type Tactics games were originally released for the Playstation Portable, and were generally pretty well received by both critics and gamers alike, although I think many potential players missed out on the games simply due to not owning the console. Hopefully when this collection releases, more fans will get to enjoy these “hidden gems”.

Mad King Redemption

A retro styled, dark fantasy, arcade action, beat ’em up inspired by the fan favorite, classic arcade game Golden Axe!? Wow, this game looks incredibly cool, and I for one welcome more games set in a classic fantasy Sword & Sorcery setting. By the will of Crom, here’s hoping that this one will cut to the bone, and be worth the wait!

Metropolis 1998

There’s something special with intricate, highly detailed pixel graphics, especially when is covers the entire screen and just keeps on scrolling and scrolling. It just casts a spell on the human brain somehow; there’s so much to look at, so much to discover, and the retro aesthetics takes you right back to the 90s era of wonderful and cryptic computer games that you can only understand by reading a manual. Metropolis 1998 looks like a cozy city building game with inspiring graphics that just never gets old.

Operation Night Strikers

Another win for the retro game enjoyers. Operation Night Strikers is a collection of the two classic arcade games “Operation Wolf” and “Night Striker”, both by Taito, and this time remade by the home conversion masters at M2. While these two games probably aren’t anyone’s top picks if you were to ask them to choose two favorite games, it’s still incredibly cool to see more classic games running on modern hardware. What’s more, M2 has announced a proper retro styled sequel to Night Strikers, but as of writing it has only been confirmed for a Japanese release, sadly.

Project Haven

Project Haven is a tactical, turn-based, co-op strategy game with a dark future vibe. I think this will be an amazing addition to your game library if you enjoy similar games like X-Com or Jagged Alliance. Even more so if you enjoy playing in co-op. We’ve been eyeing this game for a while, and hopefully we’ll get to play it soon!

Randomax

Randomax is a cute classic style vertically scrolling shooting game, but with a rogue-lite twist. It appears to be a pretty unique concept that has not been fully realized yet, and it looks like it’s going to a lot of fun to play. Especially if you love colorful retro arcade style graphics.

Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound

A brand new Ninja Gaiden game has been announced, featuring classic style side-scrolling action with excellent looking retro style pixel graphics. We can’t wait to see more!

Solasta 2

The first Solasta game is easily one of the most fun fantasy turn-based RPGs out there, especially when played in co-op. The surprise announcement of this sequel got us really excited, as there’s so much untapped potential in the concept.

Elden Ring Nightreign

Exploring decrepit crypts and forgotten dungeons? Slaying horrendous monsters? Playing the world of Elden Ring in co-op? Count me in!