Some of the biggest successes in gaming in recent years have been released during the post-Christmas lull between New Year and spring. Traditionally, this is considered a quieter time on the calendar. We’re all stuffed full of turkey and trimmings, stuffed with games we received as gifts during the holidays, and have an appetite for new things.
But for the past decade or so, it’s been publishers’ secret weapon to cut through the noise and score solid hits with underrated gems that would otherwise lose out to their bigger competition.
One of the first ones I remember was the bone-crunching Dying Light, already 10 years ago. The game broke records when it launched as a new IP in 2015, perfectly hitting the pinnacle of zombie and PS4-era open world hype.
Almost every year since then, it’s felt like a well-funded indie or underrated series will find success by shedding its Christmas appeal in the fall and landing on a clear runway when players are jaded.
However, this trend has become more solid over the years. Resident Evil, for example, established itself as one of the dominant franchises in gaming with Resident Evil 2 Remake, an incredible game that captured the zeitgeist and popularized a trend that is still seen today.
But by 2025, the cat will most certainly be out of the bag. In February alone, we’re seeing four huge releases scheduled to come out from the world’s biggest publishers and most luxurious independent studios.
While some were slotted haphazardly due to delays and development issues (like Assassin’s Creed and Avowed), two games on this list (Monster Hunter and Kingdom Come) previously benefited from magical launch points and have certainly repeated the trick. I’m going to do it.
But when we get there in February 2025, it will be an RPG Royal Rumble of epic proportions. Many 100-hour RPGs may require limited free time, but only one can reign supreme. Let’s meet the competitors.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 – February 4, 2025
First off, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is literally out to take the crown. In some ways the most grounded of the four games, but in others the most ambitious, Kingdom Come: Deliverance is a classic medieval role-playing game that’s part Renfair and part sandbox adventure, based on the “dungeons, not dragons” credo. Playing is provided. And the other part is a confusing jankfest.
That’s because Kingdom Come was developed on CryEngine, an FPS-focused engine designed to have 12 characters on screen at any given time, but expanded to accommodate the bustling cities and persistent world states that open-world RPGs require. The result of the first game was an amazing, beautifully realized world. It was constantly teetering on the cliff.
I played a ton of the first Kingdom Come, and the series is full of novel roleplay ideas that sound incredible in principle but have mixed results in practice. For example, rather than a traditional difficulty curve where skills become more complex as you level up, Kingdom Come tries to simulate advanced knowledge by making things easier the more you do them.
Interesting idea, right? But at launch, things like picking locks became absurdly impossible, and prioritizing stealth or speech turned essential story fights into death rings. But it also did some really interesting things, like shuffling through all the books, recipes and road signs until I found a monk and learned how to read them.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is a direct sequel to the original, once again starring Skalitz’s Henry as a sleazy blacksmith who through chance and ingenuity becomes a key player in the fight for the Holy Roman Empire. I’d like to see how the new game handles this realistic progression using existing characters (characters who can’t be hit by “forget all your power in the last game beam” like Ratchet or Kratos or whoever).
It’s reportedly twice as big as the already expansive and incredibly deep base game, performs much better, and removes some of its major problems. How Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 adapts to this increased scope will be key to its success. See it surprises some that some people have been hit so hard in a month.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows – February 14, 2025
Despite these challenges, I have faith in the studio that released my personal favorite Assassin’s Creed game, 2018’s fast-paced Greek game Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. But Assassin’s Creed Shadows, one of the most well-known franchises in gaming, proved to be the most prolific game released in February. Especially considering the costly mistakes Ubisoft recently made with Skull and Bones and Star Wars: Outlaws.
Japan has been a dream location for Assassin’s Creed since its inception. But with Ghost of Tsushima and Rise of the Ronin beating Ubisoft to the punch of what open-world feudal Japan could look like, it’s easy to wonder just how fresh and compelling Ubisoft can be. It’s especially familiar, but it’s possible to create a landscape without the supernatural touchstones of ancient Greek and Norse mythology.
But at least mechanically, Assassin’s Creed Shadows tries to fix some of the key problems the series wanted to have. First, the dual protagonists, shinobi Naoe and samurai Yasuke, seem to have much more complex, varied, and interactive fighting styles, using katanas, tanto daggers, kanabo clubs, naginata bladed spears, and more.
Next, what I really don’t understand why it took so long is the reworked stealth system. Will this finally be the Assassin’s Creed where a stealth game actually includes stealth mechanics? If true, this is huge.
But there seems to be an interesting dynamic between the two main characters in that regard. Tall and imposing, Yasuke is not the least bit secretive. In the gameplay video, people literally stop what they’re doing and turn to look at him wherever he goes. Conversely, Naoe embodies the stoic, scarf-wearing stereotype of the silent assassin.
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I felt Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s runtime was incredibly padded, not only by the side activities but also by the main story. There were parts where I didn’t do much other than spam combat abilities and press triangle to interact. From what we’ve seen, at least some of Shadows’ missions expand on the less guided approach seen in past Assassin’s Creed games, offering more variety and more engaging and meaningful play mechanics across both characters. Maybe this could be the Assassin’s Creed that turns the series on its head again?
Approved – February 18, 2025
The cruel irony of delays in fluid and competitive release schedules means that even if you run away from other games, there’s no guarantee that they won’t come after you. So, after sliding to 2025 to avoid internal Game Pass competition from the likes of Stalker 2 and Indiana Jones, Obsidian Entertainment’s Avowed now finds itself slap bang between the two biggest releases of the year. However, the barrier to entry is low. Need to succeed?
If The Outer Worlds is Obsidian’s slimmed-down sci-fi Fallout, Avowed is Skyrim by way of Dragon Age. Explore smaller, self-contained maps filled with loot, villains, and twisty quests filled with surprises and difficult decisions. A conspiracy that the studio is famous for.
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As a huge fan of almost every game Obsidian has released, I’m a big fan of Fallout: New Vegas, Alpha Protocol, Grounded, and even South Park: The Stick of Truth. Avowed is the game I was personally most looking forward to in February. , but can also be glossy I think.
Set in the world of Pillars of Eternity and set in a trippy, sparkly, thrilling fantasy art style, Avowed’s strengths lie in its compelling storytelling and traditional quest mechanics. But if it can provide a gameplay hook that can meet the complexity of the story, it could certainly punch above its weight as the lowest budget game to date.
Monster Hunter Wilds – February 28, 2025
The Monster Hunter franchise is in a completely different place than it was in February 2018, when Monster Hunter World made the most of its free week. After threatening to break ground in the West for a decade with a clear schedule and world attention, it was revamped. And the expanded Monster Hunter finally got a ton of clicks.
Now a slew of imitators are finding their way into the monster-hunting genre, from free-to-play Dauntless (whose recent major update was extremely bad) to the indie Fera: The Sundered Tribes and the bigger-budget EA Original Wild Hearts. , Monster Hunter Wilds is back to mark its territory as the best in the industry.
The Switch’s first and excellent Monster Hunter Rise was a huge success, but it was still a small game made for a small console. Wilds, on the other hand, looks truly massive, with more interactive environments, difficult to traverse terrain, and a lot of variety and verticality across different biomes.
Monsters pop out of the sand, slide along tree branches to reach great heights in battle, swarm together to overwhelm brazen hunters, and bring more personality to the roster of dangerous and expressive beasts that are the true stars of all monsters. Add. Hunter game.
Make no mistake. Monster Hunter is no longer a niche market and this is sure to be a huge hit. We’ll have to see how many explorers hold off on supplies to prepare before the expedition begins later this month.
So, which one will you choose? What game will you finally be playing after four years? There seems to be a lot of choice this month alone, and that’s before we even get to the new releases like Elden Ring: Nightreign, Borderlands 4, Death Stranding 2, Ghost of Yotei, Pokemon Legends ZA, and of course the almighty GTA 6…
