Even though 2024 was hardly lacking in Game of the Year candidates, it looks set to pale in comparison to the mammoth selection of seemingly certified bangers that 2025 is tipped to bring. From the looter shooter-flavoured, jet-black comedy of Borderlands 4 to the all-encompassing sensation that Grand Theft Auto 6 will surely become, here are our most anticipated games of 2025.
Borderlands 4
Gearbox Software’s bombastic looter shooter fourquel (that’s a thing, right?), certainly knows the audience it’s aiming for. Much like its super successful predecessors, players can expect a refinement of the wheel, rather than a reinvention of it, as Borderlands 4 once more entices players to murder all manner of evil-doers for fame, loot and more weapons than you can shake a hairy stick at. In addition to the return of the series black comedy, Borderlands 4 not only relocates the action to the all-new planet of Kairos, but the latest entry in the series also provides a roster of new Vault Hunters to wreak havoc with as well.
Crimson Desert
The long-gestating new effort from Black Desert developer Pearl Abyss, Crimson Desert marks something of a departure for the typically online-focused Korean studio. Though Crimson Desert takes place in the same universe as the online-only Black Desert, Pearl Abyss’ latest title is a resolutely single-player offline affair. A gargantuan open-world fantasy RPG, Crimson Desert not only looks like one of the most stylish adventures we’ve seen in a long time, but its action-packed combat and massive open world lend the game favourable comparisons with everything from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom to Dragon’s Dogma 2 and, of course, Black Desert itself.
Death Stranding 2: On The Beach
Hideo Kojima’s deeply esoteric, post-apocalyptic tale of connecting humanity will be getting a direct sequel in 2025 and, well, it’s every bit as mesmerisingly wild as you might expect. Sure enough, Norman Reedus, Lea Seydoux and Troy Baker all return from the first game, while special appearances by Mad Max director George Miller have also been confirmed. As to the game itself, little has been shown at this point other than some drop-dead gorgeous real-time cut scenes. However, we would be surprised if Kojima Productions didn’t build upon the whole UPS-man-at-the-end-of-the-world shtick that made the original such a pleasant surprise.
DOOM: The Dark Ages
Fans of DOOM will likely purchase DOOM: The Dark Ages sight unseen, but the devil (pun intended) is in the details. A full-throated, dark fantasy prequel to the demon-blasting phenomenon that we all know and love, DOOM: The Dark Ages turns everything up to eleven. Say hello to towering demonic kaiju, rideable hell dragons, Doomguy mechas and guns that chew up skulls and spit out razor-sharp fragments into your hapless foes. Doom Guy is very much back.
Elden Ring Nightreign
Just when you thought that Elden Ring was done with the release of 2024’s super Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, Elden Ring Nightreign has popped out of seemingly nowhere to hold your beer. Rather than go down the route of expanding the existing Elden Ring storyline, Nightreign is instead a standalone co-op adventure for up to three players within the broader Elden Ring universe. With all new challenges to face off alongside your closest allies, Nightreign is the Elden Ring continuation none of us knew we wanted but now we cannot wait for.
Grand Theft Auto 6
Holding up a socio-cultural mirror to our existence in a way that few studios are able to do, Rockstar Games looks set to utterly disrupt gaming and social calendars everywhere when the juggernaut that is Grand Theft Auto 6 takes over basically everything next year. Looking set to redefine our expectations for open-world games, Grand Theft Auto 6 whisks players off to current-day Vice City and puts players in control of Bonnie and Clyde-esque dual protagonists Lucia and Jason as they tear across the sun-bleached county. Boasting cutting-edge visuals and physics simulations together with Rockstar Games trademark satire-infused single-player campaign missions and world-beating online modes, Grand Theft Auto 6 is a one-game industry avalanche that will resonate far beyond its gaming demographic.
Killing Floor 3
With nearly nine years on the clock since the last Killing Floor title blasted its way onto the FPS scene, Killing Floor 3 returns to remind us just how much fun you can have with your mates in a cooperative horror FPS setting. With all new classes, progression trees and survival gadgets, together with a reworked M.E.A.T System that provides unparalleled levels of gore when you splatter your monstrous foes, to say that Killing Floor 3 is a highly anticipated and much overdue threequel for fans of the series would be quite the understatement indeed.
Mafia: The Old Country
Kicking up the dusty trails of the titular Sicilian old country during the 1900s, Mafia: The Old Country reframes the series both in terms of narrative and game mechanics. Casting players as the rebellious Enzo Favara, Mafia: The Old Country has players fighting against the emergence of the Cosa Nostra in a gritty tale of family betrayal and mob violence. Though its narrative still unfolds from a third-person perspective, in line with the previous games in the series, Mafia: The Old Country eschews the open-world design of the last entry in the franchise in favour of a much more linear world with a focus on cinematic moments and a welcome rejection of open world busywork. Look also for developer Hanger 13 making the most of the time period too, swapping out chunky saloon cars and Tommy guns for horses and tense knife fights.
Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra
Directed by Amy Hennig who cut her teeth on epic adventures with Naughty Dog’s Uncharted series, Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra looks set to follow in a similarly epic vein. A cinematic open-world adventure that pits Marvel superheroes Captain America and Black Panther against the insidious Hydra organisation during occupied France in World War II, Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra is shaping up beautifully, leveraging Unreal Engine 5 to craft arguably one of the best-looking superhero games ever made. Though details are light regarding gameplay specifics, Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra nonetheless looks like it’ll be a metaphorical catnip for fans of sprawling open-world adventures and superhero romps alike.
Slay The Spire 2
How do you follow up one of the very best deck-building games ever made? Well, you get the original developer Mega Crit to go and make another one. Set to make its Early Access debut in 2025, Slay the Spire 2 takes place more than 1,000 years after the events of the previous game and invites players to once again make the perilous climb to reach the spire’s peak and uncover its secrets. With all new heroes to choose from that each have their own mechanics, together with all-new relics, random encounters, new card types, a range of fiendishly designed boss encounters and so much more, Slay the Spire 2 is absolutely guaranteed to be one of the very best titles in 2025 by some margin.
Split Fiction
The next title from the supremely talented folks that brought us the stupendously excellent cooperative adventure It Takes Two, Split Fiction embraces a similar design philosophy but changes up the scenario entirely. Casting players as two writers who scribble tales that are set in sci-fi and fantasy settings respectively, Split Fiction envisions a topsy-turvy odyssey where each author is rapidly pulled between those fantasy and science fiction worlds, creating a veritable multiverse of insane possibilities as they struggle to escape with their memories intact. Eminently charming, funny and filled with innovative cooperative design, if Grand Theft Auto 6 wasn’t currently tipped to blot out the sun and snatch all the oxygen in the room next year, there’s little doubt that Split Fiction would find itself on a fast track to assured Game of the Year status.
The Outer Worlds 2
Obsidian Entertainment’s roundly excellent and darkly fun space RPG series returns and honestly we couldn’t be happier. In The Outer Worlds 2 players are unceremoniously plonked into the space boots of an agent belonging to the rather severely named Earth Directorate. Your overarching mission is to discover the reason why mysterious, civilisation-ending rifts are popping up all across the galaxy and naturally, there are a whole load of missions for you to complete and wacky-zany characters for you to meet, fall in love with or shoot in the face along the way. Boasting Obsidian’s typical razor wit and the sort of non-linear gameplay that made the original such a hit, The Outer Worlds 2 cordially invites us all to save the galaxy in 2025 and be an absolute mess in the process. Bring it on.
