2024 was one intense year for gaming. The 9th generation consoles are finally fully in focus for developers and many long-awaited hits finally saw the light of day. We had a really good year overall with some amazing games, mods, and expansion packs! Still, it is that time of the year again - today we will be taking a look at my list for the most awaited PC games of 2025!
Pathologic 3
This is the recently announced successor to cult hit Pathologic 2 – one of the most intense and well written survival-horror RPGs in gaming history!
The series takes place in an isolated town cut off from the world by the military as it slowly succumbs to a mysterious plague. The player will take control of Daniil Dankovsky – a bachelor of medicine and expert in thanatologist trying to aid the town before the plague gets out of control and the military brings the hammer down on it. A brutal gameplay loop, innovative RPG, quest systems and extreme difficulty are what you are in for with this amazing title.
The Pathologic series is a bit weird with how it handles sequels. In fact, Pathologic 3 is a bit controversial. because it is actually the promised 2nd campaign for the already massive Pathologic 2! However, I personally give them a pass here. The Original backers of Pathologic 2 will get the game for free and seeing how Pathologic 2 is somehow both a remaster and a sequel to Pathologic 1 (trust me, it makes sense once you play it!) I suspect that the same is happening with this one. We will know soon enough!
In the meantime, I strongly recommend anyone interested to check out Pathologic 2! It is a fantastic, brutal experience and among the most brilliant game’s that has ever seen the light of day. Playing both it and Pathologic 3 will almost certainly be one hell of an experience!
A note to all PC Gamers – I expect Pathologic 3 to be relatively poorly optimized judging by the studio’s track record. Prepare your higher end Zen 4 and Zen 5 CPUs and a good GPU like the SAPPHIRE RX 7800 XT if you plan to run it at 1440p/120 fps or above!
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
The Czechs really know how to make good games – Kingdom Come Deliverance 1 is one amazing title. One of the best open-world action RPGs of all time – and fairly historically accurate to boot!
I believe the trailer shows enough
Developer Warhorse Studios has a knack for deep systems-driven games, and I expect that to hold here as well. For us PC gamers – expect a well optimized but CPU-heavy game. All of these open world AI routines and systems do take their toll. The newly released Ryzen 7 9800X3D should be up to the task though! GPU-wise I expect all modern parts from the RX 6600 and above to be able to get the game running well, even if with some compromises!
DOOM: The Dark Ages
DOOM is one of gaming’s most beloved franchises for a reason – every single game in the series (yes, DOOM 3 as well) is awesome. Any sequel to the nearly divine action of DOOM Eternal is bound to be something special!
It looks as metal a Quake 4 facility. Medieval dark science fiction fantasy. We have never seen DOOM be like that but leg
endary studio id Software has peaked my interest. I will be there for sure!
On the technological front, DOOM is always super well optimized and beautiful, especially when running at 4K/120 on an OLED display. That would require some serious firepower, I suspect 7900 XT and up!
Civilization VII
Sid Meier's Civilization series is an institution in itself for us PC Gamers. This legendary 4X series has destroyed more than one college goers lives – it is that addictive. Just one more turn, one more political or strategic decision and I will go to bed…
And then you realize you’ve spent the last 30 hours glued to the screen. Yeah, be careful with this one, but the quality of these games is generally outstanding!
Basically, pick a civilization and a ruler and start playing on a large to colossal map – competing or working together with other civilizations, either AI or player-driven to achieve global military or economic or cultural victory!
This is one of those games where describing the gameplay loop is not going to do it justice. Trust me and pick up an older one – I particularly love Civilization V. Play it for a bit and soon enough it will click. And you will be hooked!
Subnautica 2
Subnautica is a beloved underwater survival game that is interesting and unique for its genre building mechanics. Surviving on an alien water world, navigating space ship crash sites and dodging some of the more… aggressive alien wildlife – this one also doubles up as a horror title for people afraid of the ocean!
I started Subnautica 1 run just in time then. While early in the game it is quite interesting so far. If the sequel is the same but better and prettier while running on the modern Unreal Engine 5 – keep this one on your shortlist!
Gothic: Remake
A legendary German series! Taking place in a fantasy prisoner colony working for their kingdom under a magical barrier they cannot escape from – it sounds wickedly interesting for sure! I love it when many factions have to interact or compete under duress to survive or thrive.
Alas, I must admit that I have not been able to immerse myself into the world of Gothic (yet) but even as I grew up its name was always uttered with respect among the PC Gamers of my generation.
The remake has no easy task ahead to satisfy gamers both old and new. It is definitely one of the more intriguing games coming out next year and I will make sure to play the original first to be better able to judge it. Let us hope that Spanish developer Alkimia Interactive are up to this challenging task!
Crysis 4
There is no official confirmation that Crysis 4 will release in 2025, in fact there is only radio silence on the fate of this German technological juggernaut. With that said, my gut feeling is that 2025 is the year of Crysis!
Or so I hope…
The Crysis franchise has a special place in the heart of any and all hardware enthusiasts. The original 2007 release had a legendary level of technological prowess! Crysis 3 is an optimized game that even to this day can give even the mighty 7900 XTX a relatively good workout, years after its release! Suffice it to say this one will test our gaming hardware’s mettle!
The Grand Theft Auto VI question?
GTA VI was announced for a 2025 release targeting only the current generation of consoles. Now this is nothing new, Rockstar games learned that they can release their games several times, first on consoles, then on PC and/or next-generation consoles and get some of their fans to double or sometimes triple-dip!
Still, while I seriously doubt it will come out for PC in 2025, that is still technically possible so I will add it here based on that alone, though my bet is still for a 2026 PC release. The GTA series is one of gaming’s biggest and even if it is not quite my thing many people do indeed love it! Plus, it is sure to give any GPU a run for its money when it does finally launch!
And so ends our brief look at some of the hottest upcoming releases. We will no doubt see multiple new announcements next year, as well as many DLCs, expansions, and patches that would greatly expand already released titles. It is safe to say that the future of gaming looks wicked and we cannot wait to get our hands on these titles!
