Re: So, What Games Are You Looking Forward To? (2025 Ed)

It's a new year, with the promise of many new games to come. Are we
excited about any of them? Here's a partial list of titles expected to
release this year; do any of these wet your whistle?

  Anno 117: Pax Romana  -- Assassin?s Creed Shadows -- Atomfall --
  Avowed -- Borderlands 4 -- Civilization 7 -- Death Stranding 2 --
  Donkey Kong Country Returns HD -- Doom: The Dark Ages --
  Dune: Awakening -- Elden Ring Nightreign -- Fable -- Ghosts
  of Yotei -- Grand Theft Auto 6 -- Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 --
  Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza -- Mafia: The Old Country --
  Marathon -- Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra -- Metal Gear Solid Delta --
  Metroid Prime 4: Beyond -- Monster Hunter Wilds -- Outer Worlds 2 --
  Sniper Elite: Resistance -- Subnautica 2 -- Synduality Echo of Ada

(feel free to add to the list if you felt I missed any. I only did the
most preliminary of searches)

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Like, I suspect most of you here, I'm not the sort to rush out and buy
any of these games on Day One. It's not worth the price nor the hassle
of dealing with unpatched bugs. Still, there are at least a few I'm
/tempted/ to Day One purchases.

Most notable is "Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2". The first game was...
well, I can't honestly say it was great. It was gorgeous certainly
(one of the best looking games in my extensive library), and I loved
its portrayal of medieval Bohemia. It had some very interesting
mechanics and a fairly good story. It did have this minor failing of
not being, you know, all that much fun to actually play. I don't
expect the sequel to be much better, but still, I look forward to
immersing myself in its world again. It's definitely one of the games
I'm most likely to buy this year.

"Civilization 7" is pretty high on that list too although honestly, I
don't really know anything about it, but... it's Civilization, damn
it. Do I need anything more? I think the biggest thing that makes me
hesitate is that I already /own/ six versions of the game and adding
another one doesn't seem necessary (especially since I'm terrified of
playing any of the older ones anyway). But I know I won't be able to
resist. Meier's got his hooks in me too deep.

Less certain to make the list is "Doom: The Dark Ages", but for
largely the same reason as "Civilization"; it's part of a franchise I
have a good deal of attachment too. Frankly, I'm not the biggest fan
of the gameplay of the newer games, but I gotta admit, I'm sort of
interested in where they take the story (Carmack would be rolling in
his grave, were he dead, for me to say the /story/ is what I'm most
interested in a Doom game). But even if its comic-book schlock, I
gotta admit that the narrative and back-story Bethesda has built up
around the Doom franchise is what's got me hooked.

Other than that... well, there are a number of games that look
interesting to me, but none of them leap out and say, "Play, play,
play!" Certainly in time, most of these will get added to the library,
and many will at least get a short look-over, but I'm fine waiting a
year or six before that happens.

                                *

What about you? Any games in the list (or not in the list but you've
heard of elsewhere) that you're waiting for, eagerly or not? Is 2025
going to be one of the great years in gaming, you think, or a fairly
humdrum experience like was 2024?