2024 was an excellent year for video games. It may not have had as many big-name titles as 2023 with Spider-Man 2, Baldur’s Gate 3, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, but it was a great year. Balatro, Animal Well, Metaphor: ReFantazio, Dragon Ball! Sparking: ZERO, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and Astro Bot prove as much.

There are a ton of great games on the schedule for 2025, too, like Monster Hunter Wilds, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Pokemon Legends: Z-A, and Grand Theft Auto VI. Every year has games that aren’t announced in advance as well as some that are announced but don’t have an official release date. We’re looking today at the most exciting games we’re hoping actually come out this year.

The Most Exciting Video Games We Want to See in 2025

For the purposes of this list, we’re ignoring games we know are coming out in 2025. Those games are exciting, but we’d like the video games slate to contain a few surprises, namely the following.

3) Fable

Fable, which is a soft reboot of the titular franchise that also serves as a sequel, was announced long ago. It’s one of the most highly-anticipated games, as the franchise has a devoted player base that’s been waiting for a new mainline entry for 13 years now. Fable is supposed to come out in 2025, but that’s no guarantee. It has a 2025 release window, but those are delayed all the time.

The expectation is that the new game will come out in quarter four of 2025, but that doesn’t leave much time for inevitable delays. It will probably follow the Assassin’s Creed Shadows path of having a Q4 release window and being pushed back into the early portion of the next year. We’re really hoping that doesn’t happen, though, as many (my mother-in-law included) love the Fable franchise and are so anxious to return to it.

2) Hollow Knight Silksong

Hollow Knight is the kind of indie video games. Hollow Knight Silksong is the king of games we just might never see. The game was announced all the way back in 2019, but not even a new trailer or release date has been revealed yet. The Game Awards were a prime opportunity to finally confirm the game, but nothing happened.

It’s kind of unclear if Silksong is ever going to join the video games pantheon, so hoping for it this year is kind of foolish. However, it’s still a game that’s been officially announced that doesn’t yet have a release date. Team Cherry has 11 months to make everyone’s year. We are really hopeful that they’ll do it, but that might be a touch of delusion at this point.

1) Super Mario Odyssey 2

This game may not even exist. It may never exist. Nintendo might move on to a different line of 3D Mario platformers in the future. The demand for a sequel to 2017’s Super Mario Odyssey is so high, but only Super Mario Galaxy ever got a direct sequel. With that said, this sequel is a placeholder. Nintendo will likely do another 3D Mario to launch with the Nintendo Switch 2.

Given that an announcement is expected by the end of March, we believe the console itself will be available by year’s end. It has to have a launch title from the flagship character, so why not Super Mario Odyssey 2? An unnamed 3D Mario game would suffice, but a sequel to Odyssey would send Nintendo fans into a frenzy (myself included, as Odyssey is, for my money, the best Mario game ever made). It’s a long shot, but there’s no way a Nintendo console launches without a Super Mario game, right?