2025 Gaming Plans.

[Ghost Of The Year]

The game I'm singly most looking forward to in 2025 is NASCAR 25, tho for some reason I still can't believe that will be the actual title. I just wish NASCAR would get into the habit of releasing their game during Daytona SpeedWeeks rather than the second half of the calendar year.

I still plan on getting a lot of time in on at least MLB The Show 25 and EA CFB 26 but as for non-sports gaming, I'm looking forward to hearing from you guys about what's on the horizon and what to look out for.

[KSUowls]

Re: 2025 Gaming Plans.

Great call on Nascar 25. I really hope that it delivers.


2025 is lined up to make up for the lack of big releases in 2024. Still a long way to go to see which games actually hit their expected release date as many of these will likely find their way into 2026. Q1 already has a pretty interesting list though.

I'll have to come up with some attainable goals for the new year, but for now the below is based on my Steam wishlist and other games that I just have on my radar from the various reveals this past year. History has shown that many/most of these will not find their way into my possession, but this is how I currently rank them.


Games I will likely Pre-order:

Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition (3/18/25) - Already pre-ordered. One of my favorite RPG developers
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (2025) - It's Metroid, duh
Vampire Masquerade Bloodlines (2025) - I'll believe it when I see it, but when I see it I'm buying it
Gears of War: E-Day (2025) - This looks great

Games that I'm really excited about, but I have a hint of hesitancy

Wuchang Fallen Feathers (2025) - I may not love Souls-like games, but every trailer on this one looks good
Showa American Story (2025) - A post-apocalyptic zombie action adventure game set in America with Japanese culture? It sounds super interesting, but I have so many questions.
Fable (2025) - It's Fable, I have high expectations.
Tokyo Xtreme Racer (2025) - Loved playing this game on the Dreamcast. I'm curious how it will translate in a modern setting.
Nascar 25 (2025) - The way these devs talk about old games like Dirt to Daytona has me really excited. It's been nearly 20 years since I was happy with a Nascar game though.
Clair Obscur Expedition 33 (2025) - To be honest this game looks amazing from the minimal information that has been shown. The lack of information is my only hesitation.

Intrigued but wait for a sale (a big one)

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (2/4/25) - I expect it to be good, just not in a rush to buy it when I still have a long way to go in the first game.
Civilization 7 (2/11/25) - I generally love these games. I have some questions around some of the new mechanics, and I have other similar games that will hold me over.
Suikoden I & II HD Remaster (3/6/25) - I'm tired of re-masters, but I would be lying to say that I don't want it.
Kingmaker (Q1 25) - Pretty gimmicky, but it's hard to say no to a game that lets you use a tank in the middle ages.
Borderlands 4 (2025) - These zany games are usually fun, but I can always wait for a discount

Others on my radar

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii (2/21/25) - It's funny if nothing else.
Kaiserpunk (2/27/25) - An interesting combination between city builder and strategy.
Monster Hunter Wilds (2/28/25) - Not the biggest fan of the series, but all of the gameplay does look fun
CFB 26 (July 2025) - It's on here by default, but I don't have high hopes
Ship of Heroes (Q2 25) - I've been waiting for this City of Heroes successor for YEARS. As a MMO fan there is a good chance that I try it out.
Eternal Strands (2025) - I don't really like games with a survival mechanic, but this action rpg has a lot of interesting elements.
Lost Soul Aside (2025) - An RPG with modern action combat. It gives off major Final Fantasy vibes
Doom: The Dark Ages (2025) - Nothing against Doom, just not a huge FPS guy anymore. This one looks cool though.
Ghost of Yotei (2025) - I hope that it's good
Crimson Desert (2025) - I wish that combat looked more like BDO, but I'm still interested to see more.

[Picci]

Re: 2025 Gaming Plans.

Will I play or get all these? Doubtful, but they're the games on my radar for 2025 or planned for a later date



<b><u>PS VR2</b></u>

Arken Age Jan 15 2025

Hitman: World of Assassinations March 27, 2025

Wanderer: The Fragments of Fate

Ghosts of Tabor

Aces of Thunder

Boxing Underdog

The Midnight Walk

Metro: Awakening (carry over 2024)


<b><u>PS5</b></u>

Crimson Desert

Grand Theft Auto VI

Kingdom Come 2: Deliverance Feb 4, 2025

Death Stranding 2: On The Beach

Little Nightmares 3

Mafia: The Old Country

MLB The Show 25

Jurassic World Evolution 3

Delta Force (console edition)

Phantom Blade Zero

Madden 26

NBA2K 26

Gothic: Remake

Project S Odin

Tennis Elbow 4 (Carry over 2024)

Arma: Reforger (Carry over 2024)



<b><u>Game Pass / Xbox X</b></u>

Atom Fall Game Pass March 27, 2025

Football Manager 25 Game Pass March 26, 2025

Fable

Six Days in Fallujah (console edition)/ Game Pass if available

Rematch

NHL 25 Game Pass (Carry over 2024)

[jrnlgrn]

Re: 2025 Gaming Plans.

2025 Plans think it's going to be a good year for gaming overall:

Games carrying over from 2024:
AstroBot: Just started playing this yesterday. Initially wasn't going to purchase it but I get the feeling this will be like Ratchet & Clank where I was going to pass it by but end up loving it.

Tekken 8: Another one I just purchased. Was disappoint with MK1 and I really want to get good and put in time with a fighting game. So we'll see if this hits.

Pro Yakyuu Spirits 24-25: Really enjoying Konami's take on baseball. It's 99.9% in Japanese but there are good resources to get around that. Plays great so far and I haven't even touched the most of the modes. Also looks amazing. I think MLB the show might edge it out in some gameplay areas but I've enjoyed playing it. We'll see if that last over the long haul.

Off the Grid: I really enjoy this so far. Between the early testing/early I have around 230 hours put into it and now the early access this game has a lot of potential. This will be my multiplayer game of choice. Hopefully they continue to listen to the right player feedback and this becomes a hit. More looking forward to the campaign mode story that takes place with in the Battle Royal mode written by Neil Blompkamp.

Beat Saber: Thanks VR, video games are exercise!

Non Sports - 2025 Releases (Likely Day 1 Purchases):
Ghost of Yotei
Hell is Us
Spine - This is Gun Fu
GTA VI

Non Sports - 2025 Releases (Not 100% Sold):
Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Crimson Desert
Eternal Strands

Sports 2025 Releases:
With the first 3 titles I'll likely wait until they go on sale. I'm getting burned out on paying $70 for marginal upgrades and bugs that don't get sorted for 3 months.

MLB the Show '25: Not sure, might just stick with '24, I have Pro Yakyuu so maybe I can stick with that and The Show '24 this go around.

EA FC '26: I realized I'm largely playing this because there is no other option and play out of habit trying to overlook the increasingly poor teammate and defensive AI. Could just end up continuing to mod eFootball 2021 as it plays the best game of futbol/soccer in recent memory.

College Football '26: I didn't hate the first go around on the comeback but honestly was a bit let down as I felt this should have been way more polished and a leap forward. We'll see how this shakes out. Might end up skipping altogether.

Assetto Corsa Evo: Hopefully this releases for console in 2025 and if it does the time between PC getting new features and console is vastly reduced. ACCompetizione is still behind the PC version and even if they have shortened the update window disparity. It will likely drop for PC but my gaming laptop most likely won't be able to handle it.

Random Games that I Might Pick Up:
Silent Hill 2
Metaphor: ReFantazio
Alone In the Dark
A couple games that I added to my library via PS Plus

In 2025 I want to continue to only have one single player/story heavy game going along with a multiplayer and a few sports titles going at any given time. Also think going to try and focus on smaller AA and indie titles. That's where the real innovation in gaming is happening. The major releases in most cases are just focused on looking pretty and have the we'll just fix it in 6 months (hopefully) mentality. In most cases there really is no reason to buy a game right away anymore as we aren't getting the best version on launch.

[Armor and Sword]

Re: 2025 Gaming Plans.

So I definitely have some gaming goals for 2025.

2024 was the year of sports gaming for me. We were able to finish some non sports games but my time was monopolized primarily by MLB The Show 23, CFB 25 and NHL 25

So the plan which of course is always subject to change is this.

Sport’s gaming:

MLB The Show 24 - ATG (40 Man Edit V2) 1990 Blue Jays Season Replay

CFB 25 - Coach Michael Sword Year 6 and beyond

NHL 25 - Panthers Franchise YR1 and beyond

Madden 25 - Classic Roster gameplay

NBA 2K23 - Bird/Magic and Jordan Era

The only sports games I am considering purchasing for 2025 are MLB The Show 25, CFB 26 and NHL 26.

Non sports games for 2025

Planned purchases so far are:

Indiana Jones PS5

14 games I will play and complete in 2025:

Star Wars Outlaws
Baldurs Gate 3
God of War Ragnarok
Hogwarts Legacy
Subnautica
Star Wars Jedi Survivor
Cyberpunk 2077
Horizon Forbidden West
Mafia II
Ghost Recon Breakpoint
Dead Island II
Dying Light 2
Civilization VI
Stellaris

[NYJin2011tm]

Re: 2025 Gaming Plans.

To not buy any games til Black Friday next year lol. So that I can catch up on my huge backload of games I bought but haven’t played yet.

[Armor and Sword]

Re: 2025 Gaming Plans.

To not buy any games til Black Friday next year lol. So that I can catch up on my huge backload of games I bought but haven’t played yet.

Lord tell me about it.

[Kramer5150]

Re: 2025 Gaming Plans.

To not buy any games til Black Friday next year lol. So that I can catch up on my huge backload of games I bought but haven’t played yet.

I always try and take this approach, but it seems like everytime I make this attempt the Microsoft store has some really good buys and I'll add 2-3 more games to my back log...lol

[EUBlink]

Re: 2025 Gaming Plans.

The game I'm singly most looking forward to in 2025 is NASCAR 25, tho for some reason I still can't believe that will be the actual title. I just wish NASCAR would get into the habit of releasing their game during Daytona SpeedWeeks rather than the second half of the calendar year.

I still plan on getting a lot of time in on at least MLB The Show 25 and EA CFB 26 but as for non-sports gaming, I'm looking forward to hearing from you guys about what's on the horizon and what to look out for.

I wasn't even aware of NASCAR 25. I loved Dirt to Daytona so much, and wasn't pleased with how emulators were working with it, that I bought a PS2 last year to play it again.

As far as the future goes...

Currently Own and Will Be Playing Throughout 2025
Arma
The Big Con
Buckshot Roulette
College Football 25
Cyberpunk 2077
Diplomacy Is Not an Option
Door Kickers 2
Ground Branch
Hitman
Hotline Miami
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Project Gunship
Ready or Not
Star Wars Outlaws
12 is Better Than 6
Undisputed
Warpips
WrestleQuest

Following and Will Likely Purchase
College Football 26
Double Dragon Revive
Ghost of Yotei
Hell is Us
Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
Mafia: The Old Country
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater
MLB The Show 25
The Precinct
Two Point Museum
WWE 2K25

[KSUowls]

Re: 2025 Gaming Plans.

Slight change to my original post and adding in my goals.

There was a 15 minute game demo for Clair Expedition 33 that released a few weeks ago. This is now a pre-order, and I'm looking at this as a potential GOTY. The game was already beautiful with some impressive voice talent in Andy Serkis and Jennifer English in the cast. The trailers always looked promising, but after that gameplay reveal I'm convinced this is everything that I want out of a JRPG. It honestly looks like everything that I wanted modern Final Fantasy games to be, ie: evolution of traditional JRPG concepts instead of an entire genre switch. If this one nails the landing then it's going to be a strong GOTY contender. Also, props to the developers for announcing the price of this game. It clearly has a big budget if you just look at the names of the voice talent that they have, and they have already announced that the game will only be $49.99 at launch "citing accessibility as the main reason for this decision".

Gaming goals for 2025:
Complete 8 single player games

Currently Playing
Quite a few games that I'm bouncing around right now
Marvel Rivals (PC)
Diplomacy is not an Option (PC)
Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle (PC)
Disgaea 5 (Switch)
Earthbound (Switch - Online)
Xenoblade Chronicles (Switch)
NHL 25 (PS5)


--------------------------------
2025 Game Release Radar:

Spoiler

Games I will likely Pre-order:

Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition (3/18/25) - Already pre-ordered. One of my favorite RPG developers
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (2025) - It's Metroid, duh
Vampire Masquerade Bloodlines (2025) - I'll believe it when I see it, but when I see it I'm buying it
Gears of War: E-Day (2025) - This looks great
Clair Obscur Expedition 33 (2025) - To be honest this game looks amazing from the minimal information that has been shown. The lack of information is my only hesitation.

Games that I'm really excited about, but I have a hint of hesitancy

Wuchang Fallen Feathers (2025) - I may not love Souls-like games, but every trailer on this one looks good
Showa American Story (2025) - A post-apocalyptic zombie action adventure game set in America with Japanese culture? It sounds super interesting, but I have so many questions.
Fable (2025) - It's Fable, I have high expectations.
Tokyo Xtreme Racer (2025) - Loved playing this game on the Dreamcast. I'm curious how it will translate in a modern setting.
Nascar 25 (2025) - The way these devs talk about old games like Dirt to Daytona has me really excited. It's been nearly 20 years since I was happy with a Nascar game though.

Intrigued but wait for a sale (a big one)

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (2/4/25) - I expect it to be good, just not in a rush to buy it when I still have a long way to go in the first game.
Civilization 7 (2/11/25) - I generally love these games. I have some questions around some of the new mechanics, and I have other similar games that will hold me over.
Suikoden I & II HD Remaster (3/6/25) - I'm tired of re-masters, but I would be lying to say that I don't want it.
Kingmaker (Q1 25) - Pretty gimmicky, but it's hard to say no to a game that lets you use a tank in the middle ages.
Borderlands 4 (2025) - These zany games are usually fun, but I can always wait for a discount

Others on my radar

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii (2/21/25) - It's funny if nothing else.
Kaiserpunk (2/27/25) - An interesting combination between city builder and strategy.
Monster Hunter Wilds (2/28/25) - Not the biggest fan of the series, but all of the gameplay does look fun
CFB 26 (July 2025) - It's on here by default, but I don't have high hopes
Ship of Heroes (Q2 25) - I've been waiting for this City of Heroes successor for YEARS. As a MMO fan there is a good chance that I try it out.
Eternal Strands (2025) - I don't really like games with a survival mechanic, but this action rpg has a lot of interesting elements.
Lost Soul Aside (2025) - An RPG with modern action combat. It gives off major Final Fantasy vibes
Doom: The Dark Ages (2025) - Nothing against Doom, just not a huge FPS guy anymore. This one looks cool though.
Ghost of Yotei (2025) - I hope that it's good
Crimson Desert (2025) - I wish that combat looked more like BDO, but I'm still interested to see more.
Gothic Remake (2025) - Good call on this Picci. Completely forgot that this was in development.

[cch99]

Re: 2025 Gaming Plans.

There isn't a ton of stuff I am super excited about coming out. I keep reading stuff about how big this year is going to be but it's not really getting me as excited.

Games interested in for 2025: (Keeping it to games they definitely say are coming out)

GTA 6
Civilization 7
Crimson Desert

Games I own hoping to finish:

Star Wars Outllaws (about 50%)
Dragons Dogma 2 ( Family got for me for Xmas - just started)
Cyberpunk 2077
Spider Man 2

Sports Category:

Madden: Will do what I did this year and wait until 1/2 price or skip all together

College Football: Likely will just skip and stick with 25 unless there is something crazy they add

NBA 2K - My son gets this so I'll play his or just play 24

MLB - Skip. I'll just play 24 since they gave it away if I get a baseball itch unless they have added something really nice to Franchise mode

WWE - Skip unless they have overhauled Universe Mode

College Basketball - Crossing my fingers this gets announced and comes out this year - Day 1 Buy

The lack of anything major and the fact that these games seem to be moving away from the old Franchise centric model to the microtransaction centric model have killed my interest in the sports games they way I used to get excited for them

[Bard]

Re: 2025 Gaming Plans.

Bard's 2025 Gaming Plans
MLB The Show 25
Pokemon Z-A
WWE 2K25
GTA 6 (If it releases)


And that's it? Not too sure what else I'll be interested in this year, but we shall see!

[Armor and Sword]

Re: 2025 Gaming Plans.

Day 1 2025:


Currently Playing

MLB The Show 24 - 1990 Blue Jays Season Replay

CFB 25 - Alabama Year 7

NHL 25 - Panthers Year 1

Star Wars Outlaws

[Kramer5150]

Re: 2025 Gaming Plans.

I always try and take this approach, but it seems like everytime I make this attempt the Microsoft store has some really good buys and I'll add 2-3 more games to my back log...lol

Well, my plan hasn't exactly worked out...LMAO..as I mentioned these damn sales during the holidays have been brutal for me..lol

My backlog has quickly expanded by 4 games...

1-The Quarry Deluxe Edition- $9 IIRC..
2-Terminater Deluxe Edition (finally on sale)- $21
3 Star Wars Jedi Survivor Complete Edition - $8 or $9 can't remember now
4-Just Picked up Robocop Rogue City for something like $25

My backlog is HUGE, there are so many games I may never get to, but it's so hard to pass up a good sale, especially when it comes to the complete edition.

[Funkycorm]

Re: 2025 Gaming Plans.

This year the plan is to set goals for the 5th year or so in a row. I am changing up the categories and being a bit more specific. The focus is going to continue to be on non sports games. The first half of 2024 I focused on beating multiple games on my need to play list. I also started playing Pokemon as well. In the second half of the year I was focused on EA College Football 25.

The theme for 2025 will be finishing games I started in 2024.


Sports Games:

Not a lot of concrete stuff here. I have some plans but we will see if they will come to fruition or not.

EA College Football 25: Continue my Ohio State dynasty, currently in year 2, in conference play.

NBA 2k24: I am running one last project with all of the fictional draft classes available for this game.

MLB 24: It is funny because I uninstalled this back in May. But a recent thread talking about it ended with me reinstalling. I retired my MLB20 Indians dynasty after a three peat and I have a fresh MLB 24 Guardians save in spring training of 2034 that I will likely start as we get closer to baseball season. It took me 2 years to finish my last season of MLB I played all the way through so there is little chance I play 162 plus games in 2025.

Other potential sports games: WWE 2k24, EA PGA Tour, NHL 24

Honestly, I am not planning on buying any sports games in 2025. Or maybe even longer. I don't know at this point. It is going to take a lot to wow me.



Non Sports Games

This is the major focus on 2025 and well, beyond, in all honesty.


PC Goals

These will be goals for specific games. I will likely play PC games other than these but these are the goals.

Planet Zoo: To fully finish a zoo for the first time in the game in franchise mode.

Farming Simulator 22: To further advance my main farm and reach year 10. We are currently in year 8. This may be replaced with Farming Simulator 25 depending on if we get a good modded sandbox map and other essential mods.



Console Gaming



Complete 1 Pokedex

Candidates include:

Pokemon Violet (likely candidate)
Pokemon Shining Pearl
Pokemon Arceus




Complete 1 Final Fantasy game I haven't beaten:



Candidates:

Final Fantasy 4 Pixel Remaster
Final Fantasy 5 Pixel Remaster
World of Final Fantasy
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin



Beat the following games that I started in 2024:

This is really where the focus on completing in progress games this year comes in. Some I only started late in 2024, but the underlying theme is I played all of these in 2024. They are also in my play order.

Dragon Age The Veilguard (PS5): This is first. I started playing when I got it for Christmas and have been playing since then.

Star Wars Outlaws (PS5): Just got it for Christmas and started it. Decided on going with Dragon Age first.

There are more on this list that were started in 2024, but these are the first two I will be playing.



Start (not necessarily finish) at least 1 new epic RPG in 2025:

Candidates include:

Baldur's Gate 3 (PS5)
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth (PS5)
The Witcher 3 (PS5)
Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut (PS5)


These goals seem a bit lofty considering I didn't meet all my goals in 2024. But I spent around 320 hours playing sports games in 2024 and I don't anticipate spending anywhere near that many hours in sports games in 2025.


Potential Purchases:

Pokemon Legends Z to A (no release date yet) (Switch)
Suikoden I & II HD Remaster (PS5)
Donkey Kong Country Returns HD (Switch)
Civilization 7 (PC)
Farming Simulator 25 (PC)




Games in my back log:

I have trimmed my back log a bit with some games listed above, with some games beat off of it, and some games tried that I wasn't a fan of so they have been removed.


Arkham Knight
Greedfall
Saints Row Day One Edition
The Division 2 (in progress)
Assassin's Creed Valhalla (in progress)
The Last of Us Remastered
Guardians of the Galaxy
Demon’s Souls
Lego Star Wars Skywalker Saga (in progress)
Biomutant
Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom
Secret of Mana
Rise of the Tomb Raider



This year will turn out to be an interesting year in gaming. There are some solid releases set to come out this year that could make the year more fun. My gut tells me that this is the year that sports gaming becomes less than half of my total gaming time on the PS5. Overall, it is already less than half if you add in my PC gaming but I think this year it falls off even more. The new sports titles just do not interest me and will take a lot of innovation from each to warrant a discounted purchase.