2025 is already shaping up to be much bigger than 2024 for game releases, especially with so many triple-A bangers on the horizon. Grand Theft Auto 6 alone will dominate the conversation for months, if it doesn’t get pushed to next year, but even without it, there’ll be plenty to fill your days with. February alone has Avowed, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Monster Hunter Wilds, Civilization 7, and Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. I have no idea how I’m going to finish all of them this year. Aren’t you glad Assassin’s Creed Shadows was delayed now?
And that’s just February. We’ll also likely be seeing Fable, Doom: The Dark Ages, The Outer Worlds 2, Death Stranding 2, and Ghost of Yotei releasing this year, as well as Judas, Borderlands 4, Mafia: The Old Country, and Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra. All this before we even consider the Switch 2’s launch and whatever comes with that. Are you scared? Because I am.
I can’t imagine many people will be able to play all these games, but some will certainly try. Not me, but y’all stay safe out there. Regardless, reader, I implore you, don’t forget to play some shorter indies between all those blockbusters, because there are a lot of good ones slated for the next 12 months that will take you way less time to finish than your standard triple-A. I’ve even listed the ones to look out for so you remember to wishlist them on Steam. Now don’t say I never do anything for you…
Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector
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You’re likely to see a lot of TheGamer staff talking about this one this year – after all, it’s the sequel to our collective 2022 Game of the Year. The dice-driven RPG is digging even deeper into its tabletop game inspirations, all while telling an ambitious, harrowing sci-fi story about, among other things, the very real horrors of capitalism. This one even comes out at the end of January, so you can probably finish it before February hits you like a truck. Wishlist it here.
Urban Myth Dissolution Center
Gorgeous pixel art style with vibrant colours? Check. Creepy creatures? Check. Kinda cheeky? Check. Urban Myth Dissolution Center has you playing a college student, Azami Fukurai, who’s roped into using her clairvoyance to solve mysterious, potentially supernatural cases. Yes, it’s a detective game. You explore the scene for clues, talk to witnesses, and put together hypotheses by filling in the blanks, kind of like in The Case of the Golden Idol, but easier. Wishlist it here.
Hollywood Animal
Y’all remember The Movies? Hollywood Animal is kind of like that. You take control of a ruined film studio in the 1920s and hire cast and crew to make movies, fighting tooth and nail through every obstacle in your way.
Maybe your cinematographer keeps showing up to work drunk. Maybe the guy you really really want in your movie refuses to work with you because of some perceived slight. Maybe your director is a jerk, and everybody hates him. You’ll have to find a way to make it work anyway. Hollywood Animal is full of difficult, sometimes unethical choices, showcasing the dark side of showbiz. It’s also great fun if you love management and strategy sims. It releases in early access in February, and you can wishlist it here.
Kingmakers
Kingmakers made waves last year when its trailer went viral. The action/strategy sandbox game has base-building, troop management, and third-person combat, but its main pull is that you can give medieval knights modern weapons. Give your armies bazookas and tanks and watch them absolutely destroy the opposition in real-time simulated combat. Then do it again in online co-op. Delicious chaos. Wishlist it here.
Building Relationships
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Building Relationships is probably the weirdest dating sim I’ve ever played, and I say that as high praise. You’re a house trying to romance other building structures, who will hit on you aggressively. Community surveyors will ask you invasive questions about your sexual preferences. You can fish, except you’re catching cars, not fish. It’s full of absurdist non-sequiturs that made me laugh out loud. You roll around the map like a ball. It’s incredible. Wishlist it here.
Blue Prince
Say Blue Prince out loud, and you get the basic premise of the game. This roguelike is fascinating in that instead of being combat-based, you’re making your way through a manor with ever shifting rooms, choosing from three options what room you’ll find when you open a door.
While the floor plan (Blueprints! Get it?) will change from run to run, some things remain the same, and as you collect clues and secrets over time, you’ll presumably eventually get the information you need to make it to the end of the house. This is a game best played with a notebook, and I love a notebook game. This is one of my most anticipated indies of the year. Wishlist it here.
Cairn
I really need to play Cairn in its finished form – the survival climbing simulator has had a hold on me since I played its demo that I haven’t quite been able to shake. There’s something incredibly meditative about working your way up a rock face with nothing but your four limbs, some snacks and painkillers, a bunch of pitons, and a prayer. Well, it’s meditative because I can do it from behind a screen and not in real life – you will never catch me alive in a bouldering gym. Wishlist it here.
