First monthly releases post of the year! And, surprisingly, January has a few games coming out! So let’s talk about them and get started with 2025!
For January 2025 I am highlighting: 13 multiplats, 2 Switch games and 4 PC titles. There’s a few cool things here, but for me there’s really just a few maybes.
Anyways, let’s go!
Disclaimer: I only list games that I think are worth mentioning. This includes games I’m personally interested in, games that will likely be popular, highly advertised games, some more niche stuff I may notice and such. This is not just games I care about myself, I highlight as much as I think makes sense. Of course, I can’t see the future, so I may be missing games and I may be listing games that may get delayed.
MULTIPLATFORM RELEASES
Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana 01/07 (Switch, PS4, PS5)
This is an HD port of the PSP remake of Ys 3. That was pretty good. This looks like they changed pretty much nothing from it, from the little I’ve seen. Like, some sprites are a bit different but that’s about it.
Freedom Wars Remastered 01/10 (PC, Switch, PS4, PS5)
Freedom Wars was a cool Vita game that was basically a not-as-good Monster Hunter with giant robots. It was pretty cool, but also it was stuck on Vita this whole time. So it’s nice for it to finally get out of a platform that very few people owned and can finally be played by people.
Dynasty Warriors: Origins 01/17 (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S)
This is a new Dynasty Warriors. It does Dynasty Warriors things. I guess it’s a prequel to the Three Kingdoms storyline? I haven’t played too many Warriors games recently, might be cool to go back to the series’ root for once, considering most of my fandom of the Warriors series has been licensed spin-offs like Fire Emblem, Zelda and One Piece.
Tales of Graces f Remastered 01/17 (PC, Switch, PS4, Xbone, PS5, Xbox X/S)
This was a Wii Tales game, which got a PS3 port that had an f added to its title for whatever reason. I played the PS3 version of it, and I… remember literally none of it.
DISORDER 01/22 (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S)
Here were have Stellar Blade at home. It’s an action game by a korean studio featuring a hot woman in a skin-tight outfit. The actual gameplay looks way cheaper than Stellar Blade, but it’s a different kind of game considering it’s a roguelite. You defeat waves of enemies, get upgrades… And I don’t know what kind of progression system there is beyond that. There’s dodging, blocking and probably other stuff.
Doesn’t look bad, but it feels like it could do with a bit more polish, based on a video from 2 months ago. This one’s a maybe for me anyways.
Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist 01/23 (PC, Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox X/S)
This is a sequel to Ender Lilies, the metroidvania where you play as a girl that uses collectible JoJo stands to fight. I never played Ender Lilies, but it looked pretty solid from everything I’d seen of it. This one also looks good.
Synduality: Echo of Ada 01/23 (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S)
This is a looter-shooter, extraction shooter, mech, thing. You can customize the mech… I know very little about this one, I know there’s co-op, PVP and PVE stuff in it. You have a time limit when you go out to do missions and loot, signified by a battery timer for your mech. Sounds really interesting, not sure I’ll try it though.
Eternal Strands 01/28 (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S)
This is an action game where you fight big-ass enemies using elemental powers and telekinesis. There’s obvious Shadow of the Colossus influences when you fight some of the bigger enemies. This actually looks pretty impressive for this studio’s very first game. I might give this one a try, we’ll see.
Neptunia Riders VS Dogoos 01/28 (Switch, PS4, PS5)
This is a game in the Neptunia universe where you drive around on a motorcycle to gather up dogoos. Or something. Yeah I’m not interested in this one.
Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap 01/28 (PC, Xbox X/S)
I never hear about people actually playing Orcs Must Die, but it keeps getting sequels, so it has to be pretty successful. I think I played the first one, maybe… I don’t remember much about it. It’s, like, tower defense, and you kill orcs, with traps. Gameplay videos make it looks really frantic, so I’m thinking it’s probably pretty cool.
Warside 01/28 (PC, Switch, PS4, Xbone, PS5, Xbox X/S)
This is Advance Wars. Just look at that image. Looks fine from the little I’ve seen of it. It seems to have a few unique elements, like being able to build multiple units from one special building in one turn.
Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero 01/30 (Switch, PS4, PS5)
This is a completely new Phantom Brave game. It still uses the confine system to summon allies into objects on the field (which alters their stats based on what the object is), but it has transformations which I think are new (it’s been a while since I played the first Phantom Brave), and confining units into specific objects might give access to special units. Looks great, I will probably buy this… I guess on Switch, because the PC version is coming later.
Sniper Elite: Resistance 01/30 (PC, PS4, Xbone, PS5, Xbox X/S)
The newest game in the sniper stealth game that I really fucking suck at. Like many of the previous ones, this looks really good. I’m just really bad at this stuff.
SWITCH RELEASES
Donkey Kong Country Returns HD 01/16
This is the second time this gets a port to a handheld console. The 3DS version featured slightly better controls since it didn’t require motion controls, this one features improved graphics. No idea if it changes anything else, probably not. If you somehow missed this game on the Wii or 3DS, it’s definitely a must-buy.
Guilty Gear Strive 01/23
The Switch is getting Strive for some reason. I’ve not been hearing great stuff about this game compared to Xrd, and I myself have been out of the GG thing for a long time (last I played was Accent Core).
PC RELEASES
Sea Fantasy 01/07
Completely random inclusion! I never heard about this before. It’s a classic-style action RPG which features a whole lot of fishing. There is SOME combat, but most of the game seems focused on fishing and leveling yourself up through getting EXP from fishing. Even the bosses need to be fished out. I did find segments of side-scrolling action that don’t feature fishing, but that seems more like the exception. This seems pretty interesting, not gonna lie.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth 01/23
I really have no idea why they needed to split FF7 into 3 games. I’m just waiting for the whole thing to be out, and available in full for the price of a single game, before I even think about buying this. I do hear good things about this one specifically. So that’s something.
Always good to see games escaping their exclusivity prison to be available on the biggest traditional gaming platform.
Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. 01/28
Virtua Fighter 5 is a fucking good fighting game. It’s finally coming out on Steam in an improved version. Crazy that there hasn’t been a new Virtua Fighter since the original release of 5 all the way back in 2006, but a new one IS in development. This is good if you want to get back in the groove of things with the VF series.
Spider-Man 2 01/30
It’s the PC port of Spider-man 2, serving as a reminder that you’re stupid if you buy have a PS5.
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