The long-awaited gaming titles of 2025: An overview of games releasing next quarter
Photo Courtesy of Colby Craig
Colby Craig, Staff Writer
Video games have been around for less than 100 years, and the pace that the technology develops is astounding. There are people who view video games as art and who some view them as a means to express their skills. There are also those who view them as simply a fun way to pass the time. Most video game enthusiasts view gaming as a mixture of all three of those ideas.
There are quite a few new titles being released in the first quarter of 2025. Some of these games have been long awaited by fans of specific franchises, and many of them show promise.
January is fairly lackluster as far as notable titles, but there are a few that people have their eyes on. The most notable release of January is a remaster of “Donkey Kong Country Returns” which was originally released on the Nintendo Wii back in 2010. This continuation of the “Donkey Kong Country” game series was well received by fans and received lots of love.
Next year, the remaster for the Nintendo Switch is hoping to reignite the previous love many people held for the game long ago.
Later in January, the newest installment of the “Sniper Elite” series is said to be released on the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and PC. The Sniper Elite games have had a somewhat rocky relationship with their fans, but the last couple of releases were very well received by returning players. The last Sniper Elite game that underperformed was “Sniper Elite III” with a Metacritic score of 67 on PS4.
A Softpedia reviewer of “Sniper Elite III” said, “It’s still weighed down by bugs, erratic AI, and a shoddy story, but it will certainly entertain fans of the franchise and those looking for a thinking man’s shooter experience.” The next two “Sniper Elite” games improved from the previous titles, so fans are hopeful that “Sniper Elite: Resistance,” coming out on January 30, 2025, will stick with this upwards trend.
February comes with many titles that are sure to cause commotion in the industry. “Sid Meier’s Civilization 7” is the long-awaited sequel to the Civilization series. The Civilization series is a group of turn-based, colonization and strategy games where the objective is to take over the most territory on the globe. It has always been a popular series of games, but each installment has led to more and more fans.
The newest game is coming out on February 11 and is available on all platforms. Preorders are available and can give purchasers access to the game as early as February 6 if they buy the deluxe or founders’ editions.
The next release is a bit of a quality tossup depending on who you talk to. The “Assassins Creed” franchise has been particularly popular since its initial release on the Xbox 360 back in 2007. Ubisoft, the company behind Assassin’s Creed, is notorious for spending absurd amounts of money on development and advertisement with little regard for the quality of their work on release.
The latest installment of the series is called “Assassin’s Creed Shadows,” with the story taking place in feudal era Japan. The game is set to be released on February 14 on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and PC.
Later in February, “Monster Hunter Wilds” will be released as what could quite possibly be the biggest release of the year. The Monster Hunter franchise is one of Capcom’s most popular series. Until 2018, when their most popular game in the franchise was released, the franchise was popular mainly in the East. Monster Hunter World was the stepping stone that really brought the franchise to Western audiences.
The series is an action role-playing game in which you quite literally hunt monsters. The player fights large creatures with large weapons and expresses their skills by learning how each monster uniquely defends itself. Players love to come up with unique ways to attack and defend against each monster and work together to become stronger.
“Monster Hunter Wilds” is set to release on February 28 for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and PC. The game held an open beta for all players to test the current build of the game on October 31 through November 3, 2024. Many people are incredibly excited about the next installment of the series and have already preordered.
The Game Awards will bring even more exciting gaming news in December of 2024, and there will be much more information on games that were listed here. There are more upcoming announcements about even more new video games coming out. There may even be gameplay showcases for many large titles like “Assassin’s Creed Shadows” or “Monster Hunter Wilds.”
