10 games we’re excited for in 2025

Forget Christmas wish lists—the end of the year is perfect for drafting up your game-release calendars in hot anticipation for what’s to come the following year. While 2024 had a few releases that left an impression, 2025 is chock-full of games that have landed on many gamers’ radars.

From RPGs to roguelike deck-builders and everything in between, the staff at Dot Esports has a vast array of games we’re looking forward to in the next year. Here are 10 games we’re excited about—and why you should be, too.

South of Midnight

A third-person action-adventure, South of Midnight follows the story of Hazel, a Weaver who must mend spirits through magical means and navigate a uniquely mystical world. Throughout her journey, Hazel will fight monstrous foes of southern folklore, all while discovering her family’s shared past in an attempt to find a place to call home.

Developer Compulsion Games clearly took a leap of faith on the visuals, and we were sold on the levels of grandeur the Xbox Games Showcase 2024 trailer so quickly reached. South of Midnight features a setting that hasn’t been explored by mainstream works of fiction as extensively as your stereotypical medieval fantasy worlds. Compulsion Games plops the player into the middle of a bog in the Deep South filled with turtle islands and massive talking toads—and we can’t wait to get sunk into everything this world has to offer.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A

While some longtime Pokémon fans turned their noses up at Legends: Arceus’ take on the creature-catching RPG, others—like myself—absolutely loved the more mature approach Game Freak took with the 2022 title. Would I have loved to have seen more trainer battles? Sure, but many aspects of the game, including its gorgeous graphics, action-packed encounters with a dynamic battle system, and semi-open world maps, had me enthralled in my first playthrough. 

Us Pokémon fans haven’t visited Kalos in years, so I’m excited to see Lumiose City in an entirely new fashion from what the mainline series gave us. Although we still don’t know when Legends: Z-A will release, we know it’s sometime in 2025. We’re hoping we hear more details soon, specifically around Pokémon Day on Feb. 27. 

Slay the Spire 2

Slay the Spire is the game that introduced me to deckbuilders, and let’s just say the addiction spiraled from there. So naturally, when Slay the Spire 2 was announced at in April 2024, it immediately shot to the top of my wish list. 

The sequel to the hit card-battler will introduce new playable classes, cards, and villainous foes as players attempt to climb the Spire once more. The graphics look improved from the first game, and it seems as though many of the encounters have been diversified based on the trailer. Discovering archetypes and builds is a blast in any deckbuilder, and with the robust community that Slay the Spire has built over the years, I’m excited to be a part of the game’s initial days when it enters early access at some point in 2025. 

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is home to a mysterious and dark world where the Paintress, a shrouded figure, paints a cursed number making everyone of that age cease to exist, vanishing from their loved ones in puffs of smoke. The year she’s set to paint the number 33, an expedition sets off to destroy her and save everyone of that age from disappearing.

The game features turn-based combat with real-time mechanics. Players can craft unique builds through various gear, stats, abilities, and character combos. The environmental design looks absolutely exquisite with fantastical elements and vibrant colors.

Like many other titles on this list, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 does not have a definitive release date—only sometime in 2025. Regardless, to say this RPG is at the top of our wish list is an understatement.

GTA 6 

Grand Theft Auto will forever go down as one of the most iconic and recognizable franchises in gaming. The last entry in the series, GTA 5, hit digital shelves way back in 2013, and we’re finally about to be turned loose once more in the Miami-inspired Vice City with the upcoming release of GTA 6. Fans are still holding out for an exact release date, but all signs are pointing to a late 2025 window.

Although we’ve only got one official trailer to go off of so far, what we saw has us excited for more. In GTA 6, you play as a crime duo: Lucia, the franchise’s first female protagonist since 2000, and her male partner. We don’t know much about the game’s overall storyline, but if the trailer’s 227 million views are anything to go off of, we know fans are just as excited as we are.

Split Fiction 

From the creators of 2021 Game of the Year It Takes Two comes a new exciting co-op game, and it’s arriving on storefronts globally on March 6. Split Fiction follows two young women who have accidentally botched a simulation system and landed in a strange blending of worlds. As its name suggests, the game jumps between a sci-fi world and a fantasy one, and it looks like a whole lot of fantastical fun.

If you’ve played It Takes Two, you’re more than familiar with the studio’s sense of humor. Several scenes from the gameplay trailer have already proven the developer is sticking to the same guns, showcasing moments where our protagonists have been turned into hotdogs and must roll their way to victory.

Split Fiction is a fully co-op game, meaning you won’t be able to play it solo. Luckily, though, friends of anyone who owns this game will be able to play for free with a Friend Pass. So grab your closest friend and tell them to block off a couple weeks on their calendar for some fun gaming time. 

Assassin’s Creed Shadows 

It really does feel like there hasn’t been a more apt setting for an Assassin’s Creed game than Japan, and we’re finally seeing the franchise visit the country with Shadows. After being delayed in September, fans can expect the Ubisoft title to release on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, 2025, where they can stealth-kill to their heart’s desire.

Shadows follows two protagonists, something previous iterations of the series has done before. You’ll play as Naoe, a dangerous shinobi assassin, and Yasuke, a samurai of African origin, during the late Sengoku period. Together, they’ll fight for justice through a combination of stealth-focused gameplay and open combat.

We’d love to see an Assassin’s Creed return to its roots, and, despite some fans’ hesitation on certain gameplay elements, we’re hoping for another enjoyable entry into the iconic franchise.

Monster Hunter Wilds

Monster Hunter Wilds is by far one of the most anticipated 2025 releases. In November, the game celebrated the fourth-highest 24-hour peak in concurrent players on Steam with over 460,000 players hopping into its beta.

We previewed Monster Hunter Wilds at Summer Game Fest in June 2027 and felt like the game was alive in a way few other games are. The world reacts to your actions and choices, monsters respond to each others’ presence, and day can turn to night in an instant with a dynamic weather system. As far as big impressions go, the Monster Hunter franchise has never been shy about the maximalism of its games—and Wilds looks like the biggest one yet.

The game is set to launch Feb. 27, and we’re hoping it sets the tone for the rest of the year’s worth of game releases.

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage

Anyone who loved Life is Strange is in for a treat in early 2025—two treats, actually. From the makers of Life is Strange comes Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, a new two-part narrative adventure game that follows a group of young women: Swann, Autumn, Nora, and Kat. In 1995, while in high school, they formed a punk band called Bloom and Rage. Twenty-seven years later, they must face “dark secrets” made during an eventful encounter that summer.

You play as Swann and experience the world around you through the lens of a camcorder. You’ll go on adventures with your friends one summer that ends in a mysterious event, and your choices will shape the narrative and the consequences of your actions.

Part one, or “Bloom,” releases on Feb. 18, while the second part, “Rage,” follows on March 18. 

Crashlands 2

It’s not often a mobile game can stand up to giant gaming franchises—so it’s a good thing Crashlands 2 will also be available on PC. The original Crashlands was a hugely enjoyable title that mixed crafting, beast taming, and varied combat builds, along with a quirky and enjoyable storyline that touched on everything from intergalactic capitalism to cancer (developer Sam Coster was diagnosed with stage four lymphoma during the game’s creation, and his experiences shaped large parts of the game).

Crashlands 2 gives that formula some significant upgrades, all wrapped up in a gorgeous new artstyle.

If the sequel is anything like the first game, it will be silly, simple to pick up, and easy to sink dozens of hours into. After originally targeting a 2024 release, Butterscotch Shenanigans had to delay. Crashlands 2 is scheduled to release in early 2025.