Hottest video games of 2025, from Grand Theft Auto VI to Dune: Awakening

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What is the oldest video game? It might not be what you expect.

Before Fortnite, Call of Duty and The Last of Us, other creative video games set the stage for the blockbusters we see today.

As we come to a close on 2024, it’s time to get excited about all the wonderful things to come in the new year. For gamers, that means a slew of brand-new video game releases to fill their time throughout 2025.

Players will be able to explore the spice-laden world of Dune in Dune: Awakening, become a prison inmate on the run in Grand Theft Auto VI, build a new world in Pokémon Legends: Z-A and become everyone’s favorite web-slinging superhero in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.

Whether you play on PC, Xbox or PlayStation 4 or 5, here are the 10 most anticipated video games of 2025.

Assassin's Creed Shadows on PC, PlayStation and Xbox

The 14th major installment of the Assassin's Creed series is an action role-playing game set in 16th-century Japan that will focus on the millennia-old struggles of the Assassin Brotherhood, who fight for peace and liberty, and the Templar Order, who desire peace through control.

Gamers will be able to choose to play from the perspective of two protagonists: Naoe, a female shinobi, and Yasuke, an African samurai.

Release Date: Feb. 14, 2025.

Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Website: ubisoft.com.

Borderlands 4 on PC, PlayStation and Xbox

Do you have what it takes to go down in history as a legendary Vault Hunter in search of a secret alien treasure? You'll have to find out when the next installment of the Borderlands franchise releases.

Release Date: To be announced.

Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S.

Website: borderlands.2k.com.

Dune: Awakening on PC, PlayStation and Xbox

Dune: Awakening is an open-world survival MMO set on the most dangerous planet in the universe. This game takes place in a timeline where Paul Atreides was never born and a War of Assassins rages between the Atreides and Harkonnen houses.

In a world shared by hundreds of other players, will you rise to lead a Great House and control the flow of spice? Your journey begins in the desert. Find the Fremen, wake the Sleeper and above all: survive.

Release Date: First quarter of 2025.

Platforms: PC in Q1; PS5 and Xbox Series X/S date to be announced.

Website: duneawakening.com.

Grand Theft Auto VI on PlayStation and Xbox

Set in the fictional open world state of Leonida - based on Florida - and its Miami-inspired Vice City, players will follow prison inmate Lucia and her male partner as they evade custody through parodies of the 2020s American culture with satirical depictions of social media and influence culture, plus internet memes like Florida Man.

Release Date: Fourth quarter of 2025.

Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S.

Website: rockstargames.com/VI.

Marvel's Blade on Xbox

Marvel's Blade will have gamers play as Eric Brooks the legendary Daywalker - a half-man, half-vampire torn between the warm society of the living and the rushing power of the undead. This game is a mature, single-player, third-person game set in the heart of Paris.

Release Date: To be announced.

Platforms: Xbox Series X.

Website: marvel.com.

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 on PC

While PlayStation gamers have had their hands on Marvel's Spider-Man 2 since Oct. 20, 2023, PC gamers will finally be able to play as everyone's friendly neighborhood webslinger soon. The story follows Peter Parker and Miles Morales as they come into conflict with Kraven the Hunter, who transforms New York City into a hunting ground for superpowered individuals.

Release Date: Jan. 30, 2025.

Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5.

Website: marvel.com.

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater on PC, PlayStation and Xbox

A remake of the 2004 game Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, this new version will retain the core gameplay mechanics as the original, with players controlling Snake as he traverses a variety of environments in tropical and industrial settings while evading hostile enemies, traps and other methods of surveillance.

Release Date: To be announced.

Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Website: konami.com.

Monster Hunter Wilds on PC, PlayStation and Xbox

Monster Hunter Wilds is an action role-playing game that's a successor of 2018's Monster Hunter: World. Players will create a custom Hunter character who travels to the Forbidden Lands filled with monsters in order to locate a missing expedition party.

Release Date: Feb. 28, 2025.

Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Website: monsterhunter.com.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A on Nintendo Switch

Part of the ninth generation of Pokémon video games, this new installment will take place in Luminose City - based on Paris - during an urban redevelopment project to create a place that belongs to both people and Pokémon.

Release Date: To be announced.

Platforms: Nintendo Switch.

Website: legends.pokemon.com.

Star Wars: Hunters on Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android

Star Wars: Hunters is a free player-vs.-player competitive arena combat game that takes place after the fall of the Galactic Empire and features a new cast of characters including bounty hunters, rebellion heroes and imperial stormtroopers.

Release Date: June 4, 2025.

Platforms: Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android.

Website: starwarshunters.com.

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Meredith G. White covers entertainment, art and culture for The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. She writes the latest news about video games, television and best things to do in metro Phoenix.