There’s more to a good role-playing game than simply devouring time. That length is usually a by-product of the most fundamental aspect of a RPG: story. Because what fun is playing a role if the story isn’t worth it? That story doesn’t need to be some huge Homerian epic or hold the fate of the cosmos in the balance—even something as simple as raiding a dungeon for treasure can work—but it is expected at this point, decades after games like Ultima first brought the adventurous, story-telling world of tabletop RPGs to computers. Computer and videogame RPGs have greatly expanded on those earliest inspirations in the many years since, flowering into a ever-growing ecosystem of subgenres and settings, and becoming a vital, popular cornerstone of the entire medium. A promising crop of new RPGs awaits in 2025, some continuing ongoing series, others launching something new, and we’re excited to see what the year has in store. Here are Paste‘s most anticipated RPGs of 2025.
Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
Release Date: Jan. 30
The sequel to 2022’s smart sci-fi standout Citizen Sleeper comes out at the end of January, making it the first big game of the year. The original started with a broad, blunt concept—your character’s human consciousness is dumped into the body of a robot owned by the corporation they work for—but turned into a nuanced exploration of what it means to live during a time of unchecked capitalism. And it had lots of dice rolls, too. The sequel returns to that basic concept, but with the promise of a bigger story and expanded tabletop mechanics. I’ve heard nothing but good things about this one so far, and look forward to diving into it later this month.
Avowed
Platform: Xbox Series X|S, PC
Release Date: Feb. 18
Obsidian Entertainment has given us some of the best-written RPGs of the last 20 years (hey there, Fallout: New Vegas and Pillars of Eternity), as well as 2022’s brilliant Pentiment. Avowed finds Obsidian in more familiar footing, back in the same fantasy setting as Pillars, but with an action-heavy focus and the ability to switch between first- and third-person perspectives, akin to Skyrim. I’ve purposefully avoided learning too much about Avowed, but everything Obsidian does deserves a shot, so it’s on the list. It’s also the first of two games by Obsidian that are currently expected in 2025; the other is a sequel to 2019’s The Outer Worlds. Obviously not every game can be as unique or eye-catching as Pentiment, and we’re looking forward to both of Obsidian’s games this year, but it’s at least a little bit of a bummer that they’re following the one-of-a-kind Pentiment with not one but two different games that look less original.
Monster Hunter Wilds
Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
Release Date: Feb. 28
Three games in and somehow we’re still only in February. You’re going to kill us, games. Four years ago Monster Hunter Rise shockingly turned me into a fan of this once exhausting series. Did the pandemic and its ample amount of free time make me susceptible to its all-encompassing embrace, or did Capcom finally figure out how to make its massive, open-ended monster hunting RPG accessible enough to people like me, who found earlier games too dry and complex? Monster Hunter Wilds, which comes out next month, should answer that question—and hopefully that bird flu situation won’t kick off another pandemic between now and then.
Demonschool
Platform: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Release Date: TBD
In Demonschool you fight demons while also going to school. Yes, that sounds familiar. Persona neither created nor owns the copyright to demon-fighting students, though, and Demonschool’s tactical combat recalls a different Shin Megami Tensei spin-off, the Devil Survivor subseries. Necrosoft’s upcoming RPG is obviously going to be compared to all kinds of games and media franchises, but it seems to have a style and tone all of its own—young, untainted by the 20th century, and very American.
Fable
Platform: Xbox Series X|S, PC
Release Date: TBD
After a decade-plus gap Fable, that most British of RPGs, is set for a comeback in ‘25. Lionhead’s original series was known for the great amount of freedom afforded players, which somehow still never matched up to the amount of freedom promised by creator Peter Molyneux. Great writing made Fable II one of the best games on the Xbox 360, though, and set a bar that three subsequent Fable games didn’t come close to clearing. Hopefully the new game, simply called Fable, will land closer to Fable II than any of the other games in the series. Lionhead was closed in 2016, so maybe new blood is what it needs to be revived. It’s curiously made by Playground Games, who have given us all five Forza Horizon games and nothing else, so don’t act surprised if its story somehow involves street racing during a massive music festival. (I guess that’d be, like, wagon and cart races while minstrels played lutes and psalteries?)
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
Release Date: TBD
As Elijah Gonzalez basically wrote in our general preview of 2025, there are too many sequels, spin-offs, and obvious homages in games, and that’s especially true with RPGs. Clair Obscur stands out as something unique, though. Instead of some vague fantasy or sci-fi setting, it’s inspired by France’s Belle Époque period in the late 19th and early 20th centuries—a relatively peaceful era of technological and artistic innovation that was gassed, machine gunned, and air bombed into the past by World War I and the definitive arrival of the 20th century. It’s safe to say that Clair Obscur is only loosely based on that; the trailer lets us glimpse cryptic horrors that wouldn’t be entirely out of place in a From game, and establishes a story that’s part Logan’s Run, part Thanos’s plot in the Avengers movies, as every year every person of a different random age disappears into dust. No matter how the game ultimately winds up, at least its developers are trying something new.
Speaking of games that thankfully aren’t trying something new, 2025 will also bring us Suikoden I & II HD Remaster, which collects two fantastic RPGs from the ‘90s, as well as Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition, which rescues the excellent spinoff of Monolith Soft’s popular series from the Wii U and makes it available for the Switch. And for more about this year’s upcoming games, check out our list of the most anticipated games of 2025.