The Blizzard Watch staff share the games they are most looking forward to playing in 2025

As the Blizzard Watch staff mused on their favorite games of 2024, they also looked ahead to the games they’re most looking forward to in 2025. Granted, some of these games could be delayed out of their 2025 release date, but everyone here is hoping for the next game they can truly enjoy and the hope is that game arrives next year.

Here are the games coming out in 2025 that we can’t wait to get our hands on!

Avowed

Eric O’Dea:

Maybe 2025 will be the year that I pick a new release and dive in on launch day like the rest of the gaming world. Avowed seems like a pretty good opportunity for that…the first review I read had me at “kind of like Skyrim.”

Matt Rossi:

Avowed is a Elder Scrolls-alike set in the same world as the Pillars of Eternity games, designed by many of the people who made Fallout: New Vegas. I feel like it’s going to eat Bethesda’s lunch.

Renee Lopez:

I am looking forward to Avowed in 2025. I loved Pillars of Eternity and I love Obsidian, so I am eager to return to that world. The first-person POV will take some getting used to, but it’ll be worth it. I predict it will be my GOTY for 2025.

Wanderstop

Anna Bell:

The game I have my eye on for 2025 is Wanderstop. It’s nominally a cozy little tea shop life sim, but it’s developed by a team that includes people who worked on The Stanley Parable and Gone Home, so it’s unlikely all is as it seems. And that feeling of cozy-but-wrong is absolutely my jam.

Hades 2

Mitch:

After years of absorbing Hades through my old roommate (who also told me time and again to actually play the dang game), I finally played Hades for myself at the start of this year and, dang, it delivered. I mean, of course it did! But it was a totally different experience playing the game for myself and getting sucked into the gameplay loop. I managed to not only get a sub-10 run (9:59!!!) but also managed to nail a 32-Heat run during a mini-vacation for the April lunar eclipse. And then, a month later, we got the Hades 2 early access! I guess that’s a good segue into my top pick for what I really hope will be a 2025 release. I spent about the same amount of time playing Hades 2 early access as I spent playing all of Hades, and that was before its most recent (sizeable!) update. I’m tempted to play to get a hang of it, but I’m also trying to make sure the hyperfixation can recharge in time for launch.

Max “6k” Powers:

My opinion revolves around how long I can keep a 6 year old entertained or my life long goal of failing at playing a Rogue.

Tales of the Shire

Nick Marino:

Tales of the Shire looks like a Tolkien version of Stardew Valley where the biggest issues you have to settle are home decorations, crafting, and farming. Nothing has my interest more in 2025 than the chance to build a cozy home as a hobbit in the Shire. Some of the early access reviews are mixed but I’d rather play through it and judge it myself.

Liz Patt:

I also have my eyes on the coming Carmen Sandiego and Tales of the Shire releases; we’ll see who wins my attention!

The Outer Worlds 2

Liz Harper:

Into 2025, there’s nothing I want to play more than The Outer Worlds 2. The original was a delightfully quirky sci-fi adventure in which your actions had drastic consequences on the game you played, more so than most games that promise weighty choices. (It was a problem, sometimes, when I was looking for help on how to do something and would find a guide that described a scenario so different as to be unrecognizable from what I was playing.)

Sure, in Mass Effect I can be paragon or renegade; I can save a character’s life or let them die; but in the end I’m always playing through the same story. In The Outer Worlds, your decisions can literally change who the game’s end boss is, and a lot of things in between. It’s tough to make a game with branching choices, and changes that feel tangible, so I hope Obsidian can keep it up. If The Outer Worlds 2 is half as fun as the original, I’ll enjoy the heck out of it. (I hope Martin is there somewhere. I worry about that kid.)

Rift of the NecroDancer

Joe Perez:

Rift of the NecroDancer is the game I’m looking forward to the most next year, if for no other reason than the fact that I’m a sucker for both Rogue-likes and rhythm games and this series is a combination of both. Crypt of the NecroDancer is one of my all time top 3 Rogue-Likes of all time, and Cadence of Hyrule is up there with it (they share the same spot, I feel like that’s only fair since it’s Crypt of the NecroDancer but a Zelda re-work by the same company). I’m looking forward to seeing what they do with the next installment into this series of games.

Civilization 7 (and some others)

Phil Xavier:

In 2025, I’m looking forward to Civilization 7, to see if the series can win me back: Civ 5 is easily one of my favorite games of all time, but Civ 6 failed to grab me. And then there’s also Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves because I’m a fighting game fan, and this one looks like a renaissance for SNK — it lent Terry Bogard and Mai Shiranui to Street Fighter 6, and in return it’s borrowing Ken and Chun-Li from them, so that’s super neat.

Coffee Talk Tokyo

Christian Thoma:

The Coffee Talk series is one of my favorite Indie series so the news of a third game coming next year was a welcome one. Hopefully the change in locale won’t mean a change in enjoyment.

Suikoden I & II HD Remaster

Phil Ulrich:

Next year, there’s actually quite a lot to look forward to, especially if you’re JRPG-pilled like me, which is why I had to cherry-pick one, and went with the Suikoden I & II remaster.

Some of us have no idea what to look forward to but want to be surprised

Rob Flanagan:

I can’t think of a 2025 game I really am looking forward to. Sure, there is the 7th Civilization game, the possibility of a Grand Theft Auto 6 release (but not for PC until much later), and a James Bond game by the team that made the Hitman games, but so little is known there is no way to know if it is coming next year. Instead, I am looking forward to the game I don’t know about yet — the Balatro of 2025 that comes out of nowhere. That is the game I am excited for.

Sara Hanson:

I have no idea, I’ve had a rough year for free play, not enough bandwidth to look ahead. I stream occasionally playing puzzle games and other random stuff form my Steam library, but I’ve been having issues with sustaining my voice this year and it hasn’t been practical. I’ve probably added more to my Steam library this year than in any previous year. Most are small indie games I really want to play, but haven’t had the spoons to start anything new. Next year for sure!