A lot of long-awaited video games will finally release in 2025. But don’t let them be the only ones to grab your attention this year.
If all goes according to plan, 2025 will contain the launches of Nintendo’s Switch successor, Metroid Prime 4:Beyond, and Grand Theft Auto VI. Other high-profile games like Elden Ring: Neightreign, Doom: The Dark Ages, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, and Ghost of Yotei flesh out Digital Trends’ most anticipated games of 2025 list. It’s likely that these AAA adventures, and whatever Nintendo decides to deliver with its new console, will dominate gaming conversations throughout the year.
While there will certainly be no shortage of AAA games to pay attention to heading into 2025, it’s always worth keeping an eye on the games that fall outside the typical gaming zeitgeist online. These games, mostly made by indie developers, don’t often get the marketing budget or attention that the industry’s biggest titles do. Despite that, they’re often some of the year’s best experiences. Keep an open mind about what you play in 2025, as a rewarding year of gaming could lie ahead of us.
It’s OK to be hyped for a game like GTA 6. I, too, want to see what Rockstar Games has been cooking up for the past decade and hope it’s a technically impressive landmark that will set a new standard for AAA games this generation. I’m not going to let my prerelease excitement for GTA 6 and my feeling for the game at launch determine how I feel about this year of gaming, though.
As individual games get bigger and demand more of our intention, looking outside the realm of the most-talked-about titles online can be tough. However, whenever I’ve looked outside those confines in 2023 or 2024, I’ve found some wonderful hidden gems I wouldn’t have expected to adore heading into the year. Take Balatro, for example. Long before that game went mainstream and earned three trophies at The Game Awards 2024, I found it to be a snappy, engrossing roguelike just by playing its Steam Next Fest demo. I saw that game go from a hidden gem that I knew would be good to one of the biggest indie games of the year. I loved to see Balatro get that sort of Cinderella story, but I’ve played many other fantastic indies that this didn’t happen for.
Games like Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure and Mars After Midnight provided me with some of the most memorable gaming experiences of 2024. Neither of those games could be considered mainstream, but I still adored them and shouted them out in our best indie games of 2024 roundup. That’s why I’m disappointed when I see players suggesting that 2024 was a down year for gaming outside of Black Myth: Wukong and other attention-grabbing titles. Broaden your horizons, and you’ll find dozens, if not hundreds, of games that could be considered “hidden gems” and are on par or better than mainstream games.
While I expect to be surprised by some indies as the year goes on, looking at a list of games confirmed for 2025, I already see several games brimming with potential.
Slay the Spire, one of the best roguelikes ever, is getting a sequel. The developers of Untitled Goose Game are putting out a new co-op adventure called Big Walk, while Baby Steps already seems like it could become a worthy successor to Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy. Blue Prince, a puzzle game where players slowly piece together rooms in a house they are exploring, impressed Digital Trends at GDC 2024.
In the AA gaming space, the flashy RPG battles of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the Southern culture-inspired adventure of South of Midnight, and the Diablo-style combat of Dragonkin: The Banished are all catching my attention. I doubt any of these games I’ve mentioned garner even a fraction of the attention or sales that something like GTA 6 will, but I expect those experiences will be the ones that stick with me most.
Just as I argued when discussing Metroidvanias released in 2024 that weren’t Hollow Knight: Silksong, it’s important to understand and appreciate how vast and diverse the modern video game industry is. So many games launch each week, and while only a few games a month will get lots of mainstream attention, dozens of others are sitting there, waiting to become your next favorite game.
While 2024 was lighter on AAA releases, 2025 will be packed to the brim with high-profile game launches. Remembering the little guys in the video game industry is more important than ever. This year has the potential to be a truly outstanding one for video games, especially for those of us willing to play games that aren’t GTA 6 or aren’t confined to Nintendo’s next piece of gaming hardware.