All eyes are on Rockstars return and on Nintendos successor to the Switch.
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2024 was not flush with consensus classics.
The past few years have been torrid for game-makers.
Its high time they caught a break.
The games allure lies in poking around the opulent monastery rendered in a ravishing illustrated style.
Pay attention to the armor your opponents are wearing.
One cannot simply slice through a plated opponent as you might the Thanksgiving Turkey.
LikeThe Witcher 3and recently releasedS.T.A.L.K.E.R.
We can think of few more fitting overseers for such a sweeping historical epic.
Beyond this thinly veiled racism, the mood music aroundShadowsis promising.
The big question is whether Ubisoft evolves the gameplay alongside the representation of its protagonists.
If it does, this could be anAssassins Creedfor the ages.
This is familiar fantasy fare in many ways Skyrimby way ofLord of the Rings.
But a few quirks might set the first-personAvowedapart from the pack.
Could this be one postmodern flourish too far for theLike A Dragonseries?
Is naval combat actually just what the comedy-crime series has been missing?
Well find out soon enough.
What if you hated it, and what if it ended up feeling like a prison?
We wonder how many cups of tea Alta has to make before rediscovering her violent streak.
As you might imagine, the story is semi-autobiographical, a retelling of co-creator Julian Corderos childhood.
Adding to the authentic feel,Despeloteis fully voiced in Spanish and features field recordings of Quito itself.
The result could be one of 2025s most charming games.
It stars Enzo, a wannabe mafioso trying to ingratiate himself with the islands power brokers.
A sense of place has always beenMafiasstrong suit: In this regard,The Old Countryalready looks stellar.
This ethos is perhaps also driving the decision to let us play as a woman for the first time.
The key is in maintaining her balance.
The consequences, certainly in free solo mode, without the safety of ropes, can be fatal.
That makes an original, open-world blockbuster likeSouth of Midnightall the more precious.
Even if the gameplay is somewhat standard, simply existing in this place should be a pleasure in itself.
It certainly looks that way in the trailer for new dark fantasy RPGClair Obscur: Expedition 33.
As per the games title, its the 33-year-olds up next.
WillClair Obscur: Expedition 33be a stirring fantasy adventure or quarter-life crisis in video-game form?
This time around we wanted you to feel like an Abrams tank, he said.
In one trailer, we spy a machine gun that fires bullets made fromcrushed skulls.
Forget about 11,Doom: The Dark Agesis cranking the action up way past that.
2020sGhost of Tsushimawas a pretty good open-world samurai epic elevated by awe-inspiring natural beauty.
On these terms,Ghost of Yoteilooks set to deliver.
With his crew killed, Jan Dolsk is the sole survivor stuck aboard a gigantic, circular mining vessel.
So thats what Jan does, replicating himself with carefree abandon.
Survival hinges on finding the right blend of Jans, from botanists and doctors to engineers and dentists.
Some venture outside to procure resources, at which point the game snaps into more traditional third-person action territory.
At other times, theyll talk among themselves and even with other characters, like Jans ex-wife.
Yet, through its sheer commitment to over-the-top silliness,Crimson Desertmay yet transcend these outstanding influences.
At other points, you glide through the air like Link inTears of the Kingdom.
Its derivative and absurd in a very video game sort of way.
By making a bizarre co-operative walking simulator set in what looks like the Australian wilderness.
In the case of this strange and unnerving RPG, thats an occult streamer on the 1990s dark internet.
Sosaysone of the games creators, Chantal Ryan, no single run will ever be the same.
Thats because theres some seriously dark AI magic powering this version of the dark web.
Ive always been fascinated by AI.
Ive always been really enamored with things that talk back.
Skate Story(PC)
Can you hear that?
Its the telltale rumbling of skateboard wheels on concrete.
Its as if the whole world, and especially the skater, might smash apart at any moment.
No one be that in video games, movies, or TV is doing it like Kojima right now.
What scant information isavailablesuggests a similar form factor and feature set to the first Switch released back in 2017.
(Behind only the PlayStation 2 and Nintendos own DS handheld.)
A follow-up to 2017sSuper Mario Odysseyis widely expected early in the consoles life cycle.
DittoMario Kart, which has not seen a new mainline entry in over nine years.
TBC 2025
