This has been a bonga year for game releases. I know, I know – that phrase gets thrown around a lot. But 2025 really is something different. The year got off to a great start, hit a crescendo in April, and continues to maintain a strong cadence heading into the summer. And what makes this year so remarkable isn’t just the volume of good games, but the genre spread and the range of budgets and dev team sizes making noise.
Think back to Q1 of 2017. We had the original Nintendo Switch, Breath of the Wild, Horizon Zero Dawn, Resident Evil 7 – a staggeringly strong start. But even then, 2025 feels different.
The Genre Spread: 16 Games, 16 Experiences
Here are the genres of just the top 16 games currently in my personal rotation or backlog:
- JRPG (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33)
- Co-op Action-Adventure (Split Fiction)
- Immersive Sim (Kingdom Come: Deliverance II)
- 3rd-Person Action-Adventure (Monster Hunter Wilds)
- FPS (Doom: the Dark Ages)
- JRPG (Suikoden I&II HD Remaster Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars)
- RPG (The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered)
- Sports (PGA TOUR 2K25)
- Spectacle Fighter / Musou (DYNASTY WARRIORS: ORIGINS)
- Open World Action-Adventure (Assassin’s Creed Shadows)
- Open World Action-Adventure (Days Gone Remastered)
- RPG (Avowed)
- 4X Turn-Based Strategy (Sid Meier’s Civilization VII)
- JRPG (The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II)
- 3rd-Person Action-Adventure (South of Midnight)
- Narrative Adventure (Lost Records: Bloom & Rage)
I hesitate to say “unprecedented,” but I truly don’t recall a year with this level of genre diversity, consistency of quality, and spread across indie and AAA budgets. It’s exciting, but also overwhelming.
Current Playlist Snapshot
Here’s where I’m at right now:
- ✅ Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – Completed. Probably the greatest game I’ve ever played. It almost ruins other games for me.
- 🔄 Days Gone Remastered – Enjoying it, but the mission design can be tedious.
- ⏸️ Monster Hunter Wilds – On hold. Needs 2+ hour sessions to feel productive.
- 🎯 Call of Duty: Black OPS 6 – I don’t have this in the list as it is not a 2025 release, but I am still hooked on the seasonal grind, which makes getting to the other stuff harder
- 🔜 DOOM: The Dark Ages – Instabuy. No question.
When Indies Punch Above Their Weight
It’s not just the big-budget titles dominating discussion. We’ve got a JRPG and an immersive sim, both made by relatively small teams on modest budgets, that are legitimate Game of the Year contenders. Clair Obscur in particular has raised the bar in ways few saw coming.
Xbox Is Finally Delivering
Another factor: Xbox Game Studios is finally firing on all cylinders. For years, they had the resources but not the output. Now? Out of these 16 games, 4 are Xbox-published titles. And with these games going to PlayStation, they are more contributory to the overall industry output than ever. I don’t have Indian Jones on this list as it’s been on PC since last year, but with both that and Forza Horizon 5, it “feels” like overall productivity is much greater than in these past few years. And with DOOM: The Dark Ages dropping on all platforms except Nintendo Switch / Switch 2 soon, that count on titles delivered to PlayStartion will rise.
It’s fair to ask whether Xbox’s production stagnation in recent years (2020–2024) may have dragged down overall industry momentum. But that’s a topic for a deeper dive later.
For now, it’s clear: when Xbox shows up, the whole industry benefits.
What’s Still Coming in 2025
We’re not done yet. Still ahead:
- DOOM: The Dark Ages (May)
- F1 25 (May)
- System Shock 2 Remake (June)
- Mafia: the Old Country (August)
- Gears of War: Reloaded (August)
If this pace keeps up, we may be looking at one of the all-time great years in gaming.
Let’s Talk
What’s blown you away so far in 2025? Anything on your list that I missed? What’s your GoTY frontrunner right now?
Hit me up on Twitter @gamelogiq or BlueSky @gamelogiq and let’s compare playlists.
Rounding Off Infinity 