More than half of 2025 has passed and it’s been a busy year for video games, with some notable critically-acclaimed hits like Blue Prince and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – not to mention the launch of a brand-new Nintendo console. But the second half of the year could put this all in the rearview mirror. After Summer Game Fest, we now have a better idea of what the rest of 2025 looks like, and it features everything from long-awaited sequels to promising indie sleeper hits. Here are the most anticipated games for the rest of 2025.
Mafia: The Old Country
The Mafia games have long been one of the defining open-world crime series, but The Old Country is shaking things up. This new entry is a compact, completely narrative-based experience, taking players on an action-packed journey through Sicily in the 1900s.
Functioning as a prequel to the first Mafia game, The Old Country follows Enzo Favara, who goes from a childhood of indentured labor in sulfur mines to being a linchpin of the Torrisi crime family. Built on Unreal Engine 5, The Old Country’s rendition of Sicily is gorgeous, and the tight shooting the series is known for looks better than ever – just funneled through a linear story this time.
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater
Snake Eater is regarded by many as not just the best Metal Gear game, but one of the greatest games ever made. After years of silence, Konami is finally bringing the franchise back with a massive remake of the third game.
While the story hasn’t been changed, and even the original voice acting is retained, Metal Gear Solid Δ rebuilds the game from the ground-up with new graphics and enhanced controls – tuning the survival gameplay to be even more tense. You’ll be able to choose between a fixed camera mode and new over-the-shoulder view, and a new multiplayer mode called Foxhunt is included. Whether you’re a longtime fan or playing for the first time, the story of Big Boss lays the foundation for all of Metal Gear Solid, and it will likely be one for the ages.
Consume Me
Consume Me is a fascinating-looking life simulation RPGs, with a striking chunky art style. While there are many games that cast you as a teenager, few manage to truly represent the awkward phase as much as it looks like Consume Me will.
A semi-auto-biographical story about its creator, Consume Me, follows a young girl named Jenny as you guide her through a daily schedule. Each day is broken out into to-do lists that you’ll need to fill up – managing Jenny’s time for chores, exercising, studying, or kicking back. But interestingly, Consume Me puts a particular emphasis on our relationship with food, revolving around the societal and familial pressures Jenny faces with weight.
Even more interestingly, though, Consume Me’s tasks play out through WarioWare-style minigames, adding a bit of flair to all the time management.
Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles
Final Fantasy Tactics was a pivotal strategy RPG on the PlayStation, and it remains one of the best-written games ever created. After years of clamoring for some kind of remaster, fans are finally getting their wishes with The Ivalice Chronicles.
This remaster lets you play through two different versions: a Classic mode that’s the original game with the War of the Lions script, and an Enhanced mode that features story changes and additions along with some quality-of-life features. Considering it’s almost impossible to find a copy of Final Fantasy Tactics, on either PlayStation or PSP, finally seeing the game come back, and to a new generation, is more than welcome.
Ghost of Yotei
Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Tsushima is one of the crowning jewels of the PS4, and by all regards Ghosts of Yotei looks to be even bigger and better. This standalone sequel takes place 329 years after the events of the original game, following a ronin named Atsu – who vows to take revenge on a band of brigands called the Yotei Six.
Sucker Punch has said players will have much more control over Atsu’s journey this time around, with choices on how her story plays out. On top of that, we know the game will introduce a number of new weapons, including odachi and kusarigama. But more importantly, the bits we’ve seen of Ghost of Yotei doubled down on Tsushima’s biggest strength, a stunning recreation of Japan.
Ninja Gaiden 4
With the advent of Soulslikes, it feels like we really lost the high-octane character action game – but Ninja Gaiden 4 might change that. After over a decade, the brilliantly bloody ninja series is telling a new story, and it looks every bit as intense and adrenaline-pumping as you could want.
This new entry is co-developed by Team Ninja and Platinum Games, the action masters behind games like Bayonetta and Metal Gear Rising. That collaboration could make one of the most compelling combat systems in modern games, as Ninja Gaiden 4 offers two highly distinct playable characters – series protagonist Ryu Hayabusa and a new upstart ninja named Yakumo. Extreme difficulty options, dismemberment, and Izuna Drops are all here for longtime Ninja Gaiden fans.
Mina the Hollower
Mina the Hollower is easily one of the most exciting releases of the year, as the first new property from Yacht Club Games since Shovel Knight. This 2D RPG looks like it’ll reimagine a classic genre just as brilliantly as Shovel Knight, this time fusing elements of The Legend of Zelda and Bloodborne.
You play as genius inventor mouse Mina, sent to Tenebrous Isle to discover why a chain of generators has shut down. Much like the classic Zelda games, you play from a top-down 2D perspective, using a whip and a variety of other weapons to take down enemies. But the game essentially has Bloodborne’s recovery system, where, after taking damage, you can attack enemies to regain a portion of your health. This is combined with a digging ability that acts like a dodge.
Mina seems like a true evolution of the 2D Zelda formula, something that no one else besides Nintendo has really managed to do.
Lumines Arise
Lumines Arise comes from Enhance, the studio behind Tetris Effect, and it’s similarly a bold reimagination of a classic puzzle game. In Lumines, you drop a series of 2x2 blocks, rotating them to match up colors and eliminate square blocks. But Arise is more than just a puzzle game, it’s an audio-visual journey through a story about life.
Just like Tetris Effect, Arise has a Journey mode that strings together thematic levels that weave a narrative, much like an album. It’s an experience in every sense of the word, but the actual puzzle gameplay is just as strong as ever, even introducing a new mechanic called Burst – letting you wipe out entire rows of blocks all at once.
Mixtape
Mixtape is a coming-of-age game set to an eclectic soundtrack, weaving a story about aimlessness, music, and adolescence. This narrative adventure game follows three young friends en route to their final party together, where a mixtape draws the trio into a dreamlike reenactment of the crucial parts of their lives – all set to their favorite songs.
Mixtape looks like it truly hopes to capture the experience of being a teenager, both the highs and the lows, and it has a gorgeous art style to depict the whole experience. On top of that, its soundtrack collects songs from a wide array of beloved artists, including Iggy Pop, Joy Division, The Smashing Pumpkins, Lush, and more.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond has been over a decade in the making, even restarting development partway through. But with the shepherds of the series back on, Retro Studios, it’s looking like this entry could help redefine the franchise again.
After the destruction of the Phazon in Metroid Prime 3, Samus now finds herself facing a new threat on the planet Viewros, doggedly hunted by the rival bounty hunter Sylux. While the structure of the game looks the same, between scanning, puzzling, and shooting – Samus is getting an array of new psychic powers. These powers can affect both combat and exploration, such as letting Samus actually affect the trajectory of her beam.
With three beloved games already under its belt, there’s every expectation that Retro could deliver another sci-fi classic.
