Losing devices such as an iPhone or Apple Watch at sea is more common than it seems, as weve reported on many similar cases before. However, while owners often use Apples Find My to recover their devices, this case is a bit different. An iPhone lost at sea was returned to its owner thanks to the Medical ID feature.Heres how Medical ID helped someone recover an iPhone lost at seaAs shared by Thiago Itagaki in a post on Threads, he was swimming at Maresias, a beach on the coast of So Paulo, Brazil, when he found a lost iPhone. According to him, the iPhone was about 3 meters deep in the water and about 10 meters away from the sand. Thiago asked for the owner of the phone on the beach, but no one there said they had lost an iPhone.The phone was completely out of battery. It also had a case with three credit cards in it. I tried to find the owner by name but couldnt find anyone I was sure was the right person, said the man who found the phone on the beach. Thiago waited until the iPhone was completely dry to put it on the charger, and luckily the phone was working fine. He then had the idea of searching for the owner using the Medical ID feature.For those unfamiliar, users can set up their Medical ID on the iPhone, which lets anyone see important information about you, even without a password, in case of an emergency. This includes things like allergies, blood type, and emergency contacts. This last option was crucial in helping Thiago find the owner of the iPhone.I called a contact named Love and was able to reach the owner of the phone. The couple are from So Paulo and they werent even in Maresias anymore. The owner lost the phone on New Years Eve and it was underwater for four days, but its still working. I assumed the phone had only been there for a few hours, but it had been days.Thiago then said that the owner was extremely grateful for his good deed. The man told 9to5Mac that he never imagined the story would be so appealing, as it has already gained thousands of likes on Threads. People are losing phones in very unexpected places, he added.Its worth noting that iPhones have been equipped with water resistance since the iPhone 7. Even so, the certification only guarantees water resistance at certain depths and for a limited period of time.But the biggest lesson here is to keep your Medical ID updated with your emergency contacts this could save your phone someday. To find your Medical ID, open the Health app and tap on your profile picture at the top of the screen.Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Apples iPhone lineup this year will be especially exciting. There are five new iPhones coming, with the ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air potentially stealing the spotlight. I think thats why Apple is reportedly bringing a redesign to the iPhone 17 Pro line too. Here are the details.iPhone 17 Air will offer the new look that sellsDo you remember the days of people asking, Is that the new iPhone? Im not sure that happens anymore.The iPhones earlier generations offered more recognizable physical differences from year to year.But for a long while, thats no longer been the case.Unless youre paying extremely close attention, its hard to distinguish between an iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro.You can even go back further, like to the iPhone X in 2017 that introduced the notch. The difference between the Dynamic Island and notch can be easy to miss for lots of people.Thats partly why the iPhone 17 Air sounds so compelling.Apples replacement for the iPhone Plus is expected to feature an ultra-thin new design with a single rear camera.In other words, its going to offer a new look that others can spot. And that may just garner the old question, Is that the new iPhone?But that creates a potential problem for Apple.Its flagship Pro line could be seen as dated. And thats not at all what Apple wants the 17 Air to accomplish.Apple knows iPhone 17 Pro needs a redesign too, and plans to deliverIve written before about how hard this years iPhone decision will be for typical Pro buyers. Many of us buy the Pro models because theyre the best iPhones available.That will still technically be true this year, but the 17 Airs new design is likely to lure plenty of Pro users awaydespite the Pro models being superior on paper.Which Apple doesnt want, since the Pro models are expected to be more expensive than the 17 Air.And that dilemma is exactly why Apple is making significant changes to the iPhone 17 Pros design.Rumored changes include:switch to an aluminum framelarger, rectangular camera bumpaluminum top half of the back, and glass bottom halfsmaller Dynamic Island on the Pro Maxand what sounds like rounded edgesOverall, whether these changes sound appealing to you or not, one thing is clear: theyll make for a visually different look.iPhone 17 Pro redesign: wrap-upAfter years of Pro models looking nearly indistinguishable, Apples iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max will actually sport a new look.One that should keep the iPhone 17 Air from stealing all the spotlight. And help the Pro models garner some of the precious attention from onlookers that the Air is bound to get.Apple doesnt want users to have to decide between the cool iPhone and the powerful one. Instead, it plans for both the 17 Air and 17 Pro to offer a fresh look and compelling features of their own.Its going to be a fun year for the iPhone.Do you think the iPhone 17 Pro redesign will make a difference to users? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments.Best iPhone accessoriesAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

At CES 2025, Hyper unveiled the HyperSpace Trackpad Pro a first of its kind. Apples Magic Trackpad, so far, has been the only good external multi-touch trackpad on the market. Hyper aims to change that with this new product, and unlike the Magic Trackpad, itll also work super well for Windows users.Trackpads have never been a strong suit on Windows devices, even on laptops. Theyll often have poor sensitivity, lack multitouch gestures, or have poor palm rejection, leading to an overall bad experience. There also arent great options for desktop users. Even with the Mac, Apple is practically the only company making a premium external trackpad.Thats what the HyperSpace Trackpad Pro aims to solve. Hyper is making a premium external trackpad with support for multitouch gestures, good palm rejection, and precise gestures. It features a wedge design, has two rubber feet on the bottom, is made of aluminum, and offers a glass surface.Itll be available for $129.99, similar to Apples Magic Trackpad. Theyll begin shipping towards the end of Q2 2025, likely around May or June. It offers one month of battery life, and recharges via USB-C.Hyper is also announcing a palm rest accessory, giving users a place to leave their hands next to the trackpad, similar to a laptop.Hydra appOn top of this, Hyper is developing a new app for Windows users called Hydra, allowing customers to develop custom shortcut zones, map deep clicks on trackpads to certain commands, and develop application-specific profiles, in case you want different shortcuts for different apps.At their CES Unveiled booth, Hyper told us that this level of deep optimization for Mac users would be achievable, but it might take a little bit longer to develop.Nonetheless, its an exciting time if youre a creative, heavy user, or just want a better trackpad experience on Windows! Its also nice to see innovation in this space for Mac users, since only Apple serves this market currently with the Magic Trackpad.As mentioned earlier, the HyperSpace Trackpad Pro will be available in late Q2, but you can sign up to get notified for the launch at Hypers website.Follow Michael:X/Twitter,Bluesky,InstagramAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

"I have a flight to catch, why is this thing going in a circle?"Do or DonutA man had the misfortune of becoming trapped inside a driverless Waymo taxi as it drove around a Scottsdale, Arizona parking lot in circles instead of getting him to the airport for his imminent flight.Tech entrepreneur Mike Johns shared a video of the distressing encounteron LinkedIn last month."I have a flight to catch, why is this thing going in a circle?" an exasperated Johns told Waymo customer service in the video. "I'm going dizzy.""I've got my seatbelt on, I can't get out of the car," he said. "Has this been hacked? What's going on?"Fortunately, Johns eventually got a refund and even made it to the airport in time, as the LA Times reports.Nonetheless, the incident highlights the significant rough edges that remain for robotaxis, even as they become an increasingly common sight on US streets. Despite years of research and development, plenty of vehicles are still getting stuck to their helpless customers' dismay."My Waymo experience sucked," Johns wrote in the caption of his video. "Mind you I was on my way to the airport and nearly missed my flight. I'll keep it old fashion and just Lyft or Uber."Ride AlongWaymo, a subsidiary of Google owner Alphabet, launched its robotaxi service in LA last fall. For years now, the company has been offering driverless ride-hailing to riders in both Phoenix and San Francisco.As Waymo plans expansions in Austin, Miami, and Tokyo, Japan, it stands out in a crowded field of would-be competitors most notably Elon Musk's Tesla trying to make the idea of a driverless taxi service a reality.There have been considerable growing pains for most of those ventures, from robotaxis getting stuck in roundabouts to smashing into delivery robots. As the New York Times reported in September, robotaxi services often require humans to take over control as a result.General Motors' Waymo competitor Cruise has become the poster child of the tech's shortcomings, with the company shutting down in December following several hair-raising safety incidents.Whether the services will ever provide an advantage over getting a ride from a human driver remains unclear. A study by Forbes last year found that Waymo rides aren't just more expensive, but they take twice as long on average.In short, their presence on public streets has not only become a nuisance but a glimpse of an automated future that foregoes human connection in favor of efficiency and profit (which,it's worth noting, still seems a long way off)."It's just, again, a case of today's digital world," Johns told CBS News. " A half-baked product and nobody meeting the customer, the consumers, in the middle.""Human-less, right?" he added. "Human-less. "That's the ghost in the shell, right?"More on robotaxis: Tesla Has Secretly Been Testing RobotaxisShare This Article

Image by Getty / FuturismDevelopmentsFlavored nitrous oxide is the newest drug to sweep America's youth and it sounds like folks are already developing debilitating addictions and alarming side effects.AsNew York Magazine reports, the "Galaxy Gas" brand has become synonymous with the latest generation of nitrous oxide that's readily available at smoke shops and online.With longer highs, candy-esque flavors, and little legal restriction, the chemical formerly known as "whippets" or "nitrous" involves huffing the gas into one's lungs to achieve a brief head rush.Though whippets have long been popular among hippie-ish subcultures, the COVID-19 lockdowns of 2020 and 2021 breathed new life into the market for the barely-regulated chemical as it's gone viral on TikTok. As more and more people began to seek out the escape provided by a nitrous rush, however, chronic users are reporting all kinds of freaky side effects.An employee who works at an Atlanta-area smoke shop called Cloud 9, which is run by a family that created the Galaxy Gas brand and owned it until October of 2024, told NYMag that he'd see people come in multiple times a day to purchase canisters and even tanks of nitrous. Upon returning, many would have limps, tremors, and be slurring their words.Eventually, the employee began lying to customers and telling them the location was sold out of Galaxy Gas even when they weren't, out of fear of someone hurting themselves or others while using the drug a salient concern given that last month, a Georgia driver was sued for fatally running down a cyclist while huffing the branded gas.Nitrous oxide has generally fallen into the category of drugs seen as "risky, but survivable in moderation." But some combination of availability and adulterants seem to be pushing it into more harmful territory.For Kiersytn Milligan, a 25-year-old tattoo artist from Texas who got hooked on nitrous, the results were almost as dire. After encountering the drug at a party, the young woman soon began using it all the time on her own so much so that her local smoke shop developed a deal for her where she would get one tank free after purchasing five."My life consisted of huffing whippets alone 24 hours a day," Milligan told NYMag. "I couldnt breathe without it. If I had about five minutes without it, my heart would start palpitating."Not long after getting deep into nitrous use, the tattoo artist began to lose her hair. Later, she lost the ability to walk and control her bodily functions, including bowel movements, and had frequent seizures. After four car accidents and a total loss of motor control, Milligan's grandmother took her to the hospital, where she was met with tragic news: she was paralyzed, and had blood clots in her lungs and a cyst in her brain.According to Grace, another former Cloud 9 franchise employee who spoke toNYMag using a pseudonym, the bigger Galaxy Gas got, the weirder things became in the shop."The people that are coming in asking for it, theyre getting younger and younger," she told the magazine. "You could see that they were out of it; you could barely understand what they were saying."As NYMag explains, Galaxy Gas was quietly sold to an undisclosed buyer last fall after a rash of bad press about its explosive popularity and side effects.And there are still lots of other dupes available online and in stores, which means that so-called "gas heads" can still get their fix of the damaging chemical, even if it's not from their preferred brand.Share This Article

Like most red-blooded humans, I love french fries. I do not love belly fat and dangerously high cholesterol, so I indulge infrequently.That may change thanks to the recent arrival of an air fryer, the little convection oven that could. Suddenly healthy(ish) french fries are within my grasp.Not just fries, either. It turns out this criminally underrated cookware (which really isn't a fryer at all) is good for all kinds of food prep. Let's take a look at different ways to get the most from this countertop cooker -- starting with which one to get.Choose the right size Upgrade your inbox Get cnet insider From talking fridges to iPhones, our experts are here to help make the world a little less complicated. If you haven't purchased an air fryer yet, the first decision to make is arguably the most important: what size to get. They're often measured in quarts, the smallest being around 2.75; the largest, about 6.Because I have a family of four, I wanted something big enough to accommodate at least that many servings of fries. (Because, let's face it, we buy these things for fries.) Eventually, I landed on a Secura 5.3-quart model (roughly 2.6 liters), which I scored for $110.The cooking basket measures 9.25x9.25x4 inches -- plenty big for all our chopped-up spuds. After cutting about eight of them, the basket still had plenty of room.Bottom line: Before buying, check the measurements of the air fryer itself and make sure you have the counter space to accommodate it. I'm glad I didn't go with anything smaller, but my Secura does make a pretty chunky addition to the kitchen.Invest in a french fry cutter Half the secret to successful air-fryer fries: a uniform cut. This $29 cutter makes short work of your spuds. EeoAbout those fries. The air fryer will do its best work if each piece of potato is a uniform size -- challenging at best if you're cutting by hand. My advice: Buy a cutter.It's one of the fastest, easiest tools you can add to your kitchen; it took me all of two minutes to crank through the aforementioned eight potatoes, and that was because it was my first time and I was moving slowly.One more thing about fries...Many air-fryer french fry recipes tell you to peel the potatoes first. Many more say you should soak them in water first, from anywhere between 30 minutes to 3 hours.Here's what I did: Cut the potatoes, coated them in a tiny amount of oil, dropped 'em in the basket and cooked 'em. No peeling, no soaking... didn't even pat them dry first.They. Were. Delicious.Might they be better still after soaking and/or drying? Maybe. Is that extra effort necessary? Nope. Not in my book, anyway. If you've taste-tested them both ways, tell me your preference.Get shaky with itIf you're cooking fries or something similar (tater tots, chicken nuggets, veggies, etc.), you'll want to give the basket a good shake at least once during the cooking process.This will move everything around and allow the hot air to circulate to every surface of each piece of food -- important for uniform "frying." Although many recipes call for shaking halfway through the cooking time, I recommend doing it more often, like every 4-6 minutes.If you have an air fryer with trays instead of baskets, use oven mitts to take them out and flip your food over. It might seem like a hassle, but it doesn't take much time and effort and will heat your meal through much more evenly and give it a nice crisp.Don't overloadRemember, your air fryer is just a little oven. If you were cooking, say, chicken breasts in a regular oven, you wouldn't stack them on top of each other, would you? Same deal here, with the aforementioned exception of fries and veggies, spread them out as best you can and don't overload the basket.Some fryers come with a rack that lets you add a second layer of food above the basket. Now you can cook, say, four pieces of salmon instead of just two. (Speaking of which, I made exactly that last night. It didn't get dried out the way it does in the oven. Yum.)Overloading the air fryer will make your food heat unevenly, knocking down the quality of your eats. These tiny ovens cook food quickly, so don't be afraid to separate your meals into different batches for the best results.Adapt oven recipesWant to make an old favorite in your air fryer? Even if Grandma's Best Chicken was written with conventional ovens in mind, it's easy to adapt nearly every recipe for fryer use.Typically, you'll just lower the cooking temperature by about 25 degrees Fahrenheit. If the oven recipe says 350 (176 degrees Celsius), the fryer gets set to 325 (160 Celsius). Similarly, you'll need about 20 percent less cooking time, though this can certainly vary depending on the kind of food, the cooking temperature and so on.Need help with the math? Check out the Air Fryer Calculator, which will convert standard cook times and temperatures to Celsius.Think outside the fry Enlarge Image "Healthy" donuts, courtesy of your air fryer. Everyday Teacher StyleAssuming you can find a free minute when your air fryer isn't cooking french fries, there are lots of other things you can make in there -- some of which may surprise you.CNET has covered some of the best air fryer foods before, but if you want specific recipes, we have those too. Below I've rounded up some great recipes you'll definitely want to try:Are you sold on the air fryer magic but don't know which one to buy? Here are the best air fryers of 2025, ranked by CNET's resident expert.

This fancy new microwave has cameras all over and might make you feel like you have your own cooking show. I got to witness the beep-boop-beep of the LG Signature Smart Instaview microwave at CES 2025. It's still just a concept for now, LG is hoping to have it hit the market in 2026.The Smart Instaview microwave goes far beyond simply having a screen that allows you to follow a recipe or watch your favorite TV show. LG designed it so you can push a button for the automated sensors to get your chicken nuggets perfectly crispy or add your own recipes to the digital display so you can follow along on the screen and bake your grandmother's cookies without having to rummage through a box of deteriorating index cards.Whatever you're making, LG's microwave cooktop also wants to help you share it with the rest of the world, if that's your thing. It comes with cameras inside the microwave, above the induction range and facing out into the kitchen, so you can capture your dinner from all angles. It's a cooktop built for TikTok and Instagram -- a perfect tool for culinary content creation. The LG Signature Smart InstaView microwave lets you spy on your leftovers as they spin around and reheat. James Martin/CNETIntelligent cooking sensors Upgrade your inbox Get cnet insider From talking fridges to iPhones, our experts are here to help make the world a little less complicated. The sensor-based cooking in the microwave looks like it could make life easier if you're an inexperienced cook or if you have children who are just learning to microwave their own fish sticks. Instead of checking the time, the sensor can check the humidity and figure out when something is done, and hopefully avoid overcooking. No more mistakenly putting corn dogs in for 30 minutes instead of 30 seconds.The demo model I saw included a pretty extensive range of foods that it can cook automatically, including things like shrimp and fish. You can monitor the food inside using the camera, which doesn't sound all that exciting -- the doors of microwaves are somewhat see-through already -- but the picture is a bit better than you're used to looking through a grimy microwave door. A big, smart displayThe LG Signature Smart Instaview microwave has a 27-inch display capable of full HD, along with speakers for watching videos or scrolling Instagram. The display connects to LG's ThinQ smart home system, meaning you can monitor and manage your other smart home devices from the microwave while you're cooking.When connected with the LG Signature induction cooktop, the lower camera can allow you to do more than record videos of that stir fry you're cooking. Even without recording, you can use the camera to monitor how things are cooking without having to look down -- or even be next to the range. If you're standing on the other side of the kitchen, you can still get that top-down view of whatever is cooking on the range.For more fromCES 2025, check outthe most innovative products from the show that you can actually buy now.

It's true that Apple makes our overall favorite tablet available right now, but it's not the only brand with something to offer. Samsung has some excellent options for Android users on a budget, like the 11-inch Galaxy Tab A9 Plus. It normally lists for just $220, and right now you can snag it for just $149 at Amazon -- a $70 discount and just $9 more than the record-low price. It's also available for just $150 at Samsung, where you can trade in an old tablet for an extra $50 off. Either way, we'd recommend you act fast if you want to get this price, as there's no telling when these offers will sell out or expire.See at AmazonSee at SamsungThe Samsung Galaxy Tab A9 Plus has 64GB of storage, 4GB of RAM and a large 10.9-inch display, which is a solid offering when you consider the sale price. That midsize display and decent amount of storage are two of the main benefits. The whole thing is powered by Android and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 processor, which is now a few years old but should be fine for basic web tasks and video.Hey, did you know? CNET Deals texts are free, easy and save you money.If the 64GB storage limit is a concern, note that it can be expanded up to 1TB via an optional microSD card if required, and that's something that can be found pretty inexpensively. Four speakers with Dolby Atmos support round out the main specs of note, making this a solid movie-watching device.If you want to see what other options are out there, be sure to check out our roundups of Pixel tablet deals and iPad deals happening now. Top deals available today, according to CNET's shopping experts Curated discounts worth shopping while they last Apple AirTag, 4-pack: $70 (save $29)Costco 1-year Gold Star membership + $20 gift card: $65 (save $20)Anker 20-watt USB-C charger, 2-pack: $12 (save $7)Levoit LVAC-200 cordless vacuum: $160 (save $40)Peloton Bike: $1,145 (save $300) Why this deal mattersTablets are a great way to watch content, read books and do a whole lot more, but the best tablets can often be too expensive for many people. You can find cheaper options from less reputable brands, but this one carries the familiar Samsung badge and has plenty to offer at a price you can't afford to ignore. Plus, it's just a few dollars more than the all-time low price, which means it's highly unlikely that a better offer on this model will be popping up any time soon.

OpinionJanuary 6, 20257 min readThe Math Mystery That Connects Sudoku, Flight Schedules and Protein FoldingThousands of notoriously difficult problems in computer science are actually the same problem in disguiseBy Jack Murtagh edited by Jeanna BrynerWith NP-complete problems you could discover a fast algorithm to solve Sudoku puzzles that could also break the encryption schemes that protect our digital economy. Natalia Barliaeva/Getty ImagesComputer science seemingly rides a curve of unstoppable progress. Mere decades took us from vacuum tubes to microchips, dial-up to high-speed Internet and Office Assistant Clippy to ChatGPT. Yet thousands of everyday problems across science and industry remain just as unsolvable for todays fleet of AI-powered supercomputers as ever.These notoriously hard NP-complete problems promise a million-dollar prize, awarded by the nonprofit Clay Mathematics Institute, for either finding their fast solution or proving that none exists. An amazing insight from the 1970s makes this challenge even more tantalizing: those thousand-plus problems are, in a deep sense, one and the same. If you solve one, you solve them all. This concept, now fundamental in the field of theoretical computer science, shows that certain groups of computational problems form a unified web. Discover a fast algorithm that solves Sudoku puzzles of any size, and you can now break the encryption schemes that protect our digital economy. Reveal a shortcut for scheduling a flight tour within a budget, and you can use it to solve nearly any famous open math problem.Finding fast algorithms for these NP-complete problems (or proving that no such algorithms exist) would resolve the P versus NP question, which is the most important mystery in computer science. P refers to the set of computational problems that computers can solve efficiently. NP, meanwhile, stands for the problemswhose solutions can be verified efficiently. But those problems cant necessarily be solved quickly. NP includes everything in P (because finding a solution is a perfectly good way to verify it) but also harder problems for which we dont know efficient methods for finding solutions. We can only verify them once they are solved. The P versus NP question asks whether this apparent asymmetry between finding a solution and verifying one is real or illusory. Maybe P = NP, and they refer to the same set of problems. In other words, maybe the NP problems that we dont know how to solve efficiently only appear hard relative to P problems because we have yet to find the right insights.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.For example, is there an algorithm (a recipe of simple instructions) that, given any large list of cities, the flights connecting them and a budget, would efficiently decide whether you can visit them all while respecting the budget? We dont know. We do know an inefficient algorithm: check every possible sequence of flights that visits all of the cities, add up the cost of each, and compare the totals with the budget. But as the number of cities on the list grows, the number of routes to check explodes exponentially, quickly growing infeasible even for the fastest computers. There may or may not be some clever shortcut that circumvents this exhaustive search, but computer scientists have yet to find it. Given a solution, howeverin this case, a proposed list of flightsone could verify in a reasonable amount of time whether a route hits every city and stays under budget. If P equals NP, it implies that the flight scenario (an example of what is called the traveling salesperson problem) has a speedy solution. We just dont know it yet.Many natural computational problems join the traveling salesperson problem in the NP set. This includes challenges from logistics (such as packing boxes into trucks), social networks (finding cliques of mutual friends), biology (predicting how proteins will fold), and games such as Sudoku, Pokmon and Candy Crush. We can even cast math itself as an NP problem because its proofs can be verified efficiently. It may seem strange to classify these as hard problems when people pack boxes into trucks and solve Sudokus every day. But we consider an algorithm to have solved a problem efficiently only if it solves every instance efficiently, including very large ones. Of course, a computer can solve a 9x9 Sudoku faster than a million x million Sudoku, so the rigorous definition of efficient appeals to how the time required to solve a problem scales with the size of the input.The P versus NP question concerns a variety of computational problems and how they relate to one another, so it may seem like a resolution would require investigating each of those problems individually. Say you were to discover an efficient algorithm for the traveling salesperson problem. This would be a heroic breakthrough, but would it tell you anything about your ability to solve huge Sudokus or any other challenging NP problem? Amazingly, your algorithm for that single problem would fully resolve P versus NP. In 1972 computer scientist Richard Karp published a seminal paper demonstrating that 21 classic NP problems have a remarkable property: an efficient algorithm for solving any one of them could be used not only to solve the other 20 but to solve every problem in NP. He called these 21 problems NP-complete. In the intervening years, that list has grown as researchers discovered many other NP problems share this magic property (including the traveling salesperson one).We can view NP-completeness with optimism or pessimism. On the optimistic hand, a fortress of monstrously difficult problems standing between us and untold technological promise now looks more like a house of cards. Yank one into the realm of feasibility and the whole NP edifice collapses, and a scientific revolution rises from the rubble, filled with effortlessly efficient travel, rapid drug discovery via protein folding and a new age of mathematics. On the pessimistic hand, NP-completeness suggests that these problems do not have efficient algorithms; if all it takes to prove otherwise amounts to conquering a single problem, then why hasnt anybody succeeded yet? Most experts lean toward the latter interpretation and suspect that NP-complete problems dont have fast algorithms.Whether viewed glass half full or half empty, the concept of complete problems changed the way researchers view computation. Karp showed that he could use an algorithm for one NP-complete problem to solve another by first demonstrating that you can translate seemingly unrelated problems into each others language using a process called a reduction. This works by showing how to take any instance of one problem (such as one that involves a list of cities, flights between them and a budget) and converting it into another problem (such as a large Sudoku puzzle) in such a way that the Sudoku only has a valid solution if its possible to visit all of the cities within the budget (and doesnt have a valid solution otherwise). That way, if you discovered an efficient algorithm for Sudoku, then you could use it to also solve the traveling salesperson problem by converting instances of the latter into Sudoku puzzles. (Check out the bottom of this story for a cool example of a reduction in full detail.)This ability to encode one problem using the language of another is not just a quirk of this example but also a feature of computation itself. A web of reductions unites all NP-complete problems. Solve any one of them, and you can solve any other NP problem. The implications boggle the mind. Remember we can frame proving mathematical theorems as an NP-complete problem. Pick any famous unsolved math question. The theory of NP-completeness then tells us that there exists some level of Candy Crush that perfectly encodes your math question. If a certain score is achievable in a certain number of moves on that level of Candy Crush, then your math problem has a proof of a certain length; otherwise it doesnt. NP-completeness also assures us that certain advances in protein folding (or box packing or Sudoku solving) would destroy the digital economy. Thats because the encryption that protects our sensitive data works by vaulting them behind computational problems believed to be intractable. (Its worth noting that although solving an NP-complete problem would allow you to break encryption, the reverse isnt true; the intractable problems underlying most encryption schemes arent quite NP-complete themselves.)With all this riding on NP-complete problems, a million bucks might look like a bargain for their solution. And it might offer a bit of added motivation the next time you struggle to schedule your vacation trip or crack a Sudoku puzzle.How Does Reduction Work?For anyone who wants a deeper dive into how reduction works, lets reduce another type of NP-complete problem, the map three-coloring problem, to the clique problem. The map three-coloring problem asks: Given a map, can you assign one of three colors to each region so that no neighboring regions repeat a color? The clique problem instead asks: Given a social network, does it contain a group of a desired number of people who are all mutual friends? Both problems are NP-complete, meaning we dont know any efficient algorithm for either of them. On the surface, they have little in common. But well show that given a map, we can transform it into a social network in such a way that the answer to the social network problem will give us the answer to the map problem.Picture a U.S. map. To build a social network out of it, well designate three people for every state, one for each of three colors: blue, green and red. Well then make two people friends unless:They represent the same state. (The green Wisconsin representative will not be friends with the blue Wisconsin one.)They have the same color and represent neighboring states. (North Dakota and South Dakota share a border, so their red representatives will not be friends, but North Dakota and Florida dont, so their red representatives will be friends.)I claim that this social network of 150 people will contain a clique of 50 mutual friends only if the U.S. map has a valid three-coloring. If we found 50 mutual friends in the network, they must all represent different states because, by design, we didnt make people friends when they represented the same state. Furthermore, the coloring that corresponds to the clique would never assign neighboring states the same colorwe explicitly forbade such links in the network. So a clique of 50 people would correspond to a valid three-coloring. Likewise, if no 50-clique exists in the network, then no three-coloring exists for the map.We just reduced the map three-coloring problem to the clique problem. This means if somebody discovered a fast algorithm for the clique problem, then they could use it to solve any instance of the map three-coloring problem. Critically, the first steptransforming the map into a networkis fast. Creating the people in the network and the appropriate friendship relations does not require any exhaustive search or other infeasible computational overhead. Reductions show that even if our problems feel one of a kind, they may be more universal than they appear.This is an opinion and analysis article, and the views expressed by the author or authors are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

Hello and Happy New Year all! As we reacquaint ourselves with our keyboards and coffee mugs, it's time to once again begin another year of video gaming - and as we look ahead to the coming 12 months, it's occurred to us that the 2025 release schedule is packed to the brim of new and exciting games coming out. So what better way to ring in the new year than by putting together a big old list of all the ones we're most pumped about?Admittedly, it's a slightly shapeless-looking year at the moment. As you'll no doubt gather in a minute, very little has actually been dated much beyond March at the moment, with most games shyly clutching their general '2025' coattails until - one can only assume - a certain Rockstar-shaped behemoth has come more fully into view. Yes, 2025 will likely be a year that's very much moulded around the enormous impact crater of GTA 6, so don't be surprised if release dates slip or get announced earlier than expected as everyone does their best to dance around this inevitable attention vacuum.Watch on YouTubeBut even with much of the year in flux at the moment, it's still looking like it's going to be one of the most exciting in quite a long time - certainly on the blockbuster front, at last, but there are also plenty of indies we're keen to play, too. Below, you'll find the 80 games we're most excited about in 2025, ordered by date for those we know about, and then alphabetically for everything that's yet to be confirmed. First, though, let's address that big hardware elephant in the roomSwitch 2 and its launch games Image credit: NintendoWe still don't know what the Switch 2 is even going to be called at the moment, but whatever it is, you can bet that the console, and the potential launch games therein, are definitely going to be high up on all of our collective lists of 'Things we cannot wait to play in 2025'. The arrival of a new console is always an exciting moment in the gaming calendar, especially when the Switch proper launched with one of the greatest games of the last decade, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. While it's unlikely we'll get another Zelda alongside the Switch 2, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a Mario game of some description, which - yep, that's definitely something I'd want to play this year. So consider this entry as one big placeholder for all the Switch 2 launch games, because whatever they end up being, you can bet we'll be chomping at the bit for them. Now, onto the games!Hyper Light Breaker Image credit: Heart MachineRelease date: 14th January 2025 (early access)Platforms: PCDespite being the successor to Hyper Light Drifter, Breaker is shaping up to be quite a different proposition. It's 3D for starters, and is more of a co-op action roguelike than a purely singleplayer adventure. But I'm always excited by developers who are willing to tear up their own rulebooks to try something new, and I'm excited to see what strange new worlds we'll be able to hack and slash our way through in Breaker's ever-changing Overgrowth realm. - Katharine Donkey Kong Country Returns HD Image credit: NintendoRelease date: 16th January 2025Platforms: Nintendo SwitchThe decision to release an HD remaster of Donkey Kong's excellent Wii platformathon might seem odd in a world where his vastly superior outing in Tropical Freeze already exists on Switch, but hey, if you're looking to kick off the new year with a smile, this isn't a half bad way to do it. Returns was a riot when it first came out 15 years ago (especially those exquisite mine cart levels), and I can't wait to revisit it in a couple of weeks. - KatharineBlade Chimera Image credit: Playism, WSS PlaygroundRelease date: 16th January 2025Platforms: PC, Nintendo SwitchI'll confess I didn't know much about Blade Chimera before the end of last year, but when I heard Team Ladybug had a new Metroidvania out in January, my interest was piqued immediately. Sure, Team Ladybug is perhaps better known for its sidescrolling shoot 'em ups than their Metroid-likes (see Touhou Luna Knights, Drainus etc), but I adored the studio's 2020 game Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth, and Blade Chimera looks to be very much more of that - albeit set in a demon-infested, cyberpunk-infused version of Osaka than the lauded 90s anime series. - KatharineEnder Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist Image credit: Binary Haze InteractiveRelease date: 22nd January 2025Platforms: PC (1.0), Nintendo SwitchThe sequel to one of the best Metroidvanias of recent years, Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist has been in early access on PC for most of the past year. Now it's coming out in full, alongside a release on Switch, and cor, this is the stuff, folks. Picking up several decades years after the events of 2021's Ender Lillies: Quietus of the Knights (which you should also play if you haven't, though it isn't required reading before playing this), Magnolia is once again all about finding and using enemy abilities to pick your way through a forlorn and mysterious fantasy world as you try and save it from total collapse. It's fantastic stuff, so if you're a fan of great Metroid-likes, make sure this one's on your radar. - KatharineEternal Strands Image credit: Yellow Brick GamesRelease date: 28th January 2025Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/SIt might have an unfortunately forgettable title, but Eternal Strands - from former Dragon Age creative director Mike Laidlaw's Yellow Brick Games studio - is intriguing stuff. It's a fantasy action-RPG inspired by the likes of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Shadow of the Colossus, with a bit of Monster Hunter thrown in as players venture out into a cataclysm-struck "open zone" world - scrambling around 25-meter-high climbable creatures known as the Arks in order to secure resources needed to create new weapons and armour back at a base camp. Core to all this is the much-touted interplay between protagonist Brynn's magical abilities and the environment - its shifting temperatures and a supposedly "next generation" physics system - which promises "unprecedented reactivity". What that means in practice remains to be seen, but it has the potential to be fascinating. - MattThe Stone of Madness Image credit: Tripwire PresentsRelease date: 28th January 2025Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo SwitchHaving impressed with its wonderfully moody Blasphemous series, developer The Game Kitchen is tackling something a bit different with The Stone of Madness. This Goya-inspired stealth-tactics adventure unfolds in an 18th-century Spanish Monastery - part prison, part asylum - somewhere in the Pyrenees mountains. Here, players must help five prisoners mount their escape, utilising their unique abilities across two distinct story campaigns. There's a Darkest Dungeon-style twist, however; characters have evolving traumas and phobias that can be triggered during missions, fundamentally changing how they play. And that's on top of objectives players can tackle either during the day or the supernaturally blighted (and potentially more rewarding) night. It's intriguing stuff and out very soon. - MattCitizen Sleeper 2 Image credit: Eurogamer/Fellow TravellerRelease date: 31st January 2025Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series S/X, Nintendo SwitchThough slight, Citizen Sleeper is one of the most tender and heartwarming games I've played. It warms me just to think about it. A sequel, even by its very existence, would be exciting, but what makes it even more so are the leaps made in gameplay and design terms since then. As glimpsed in the demo, Citizen Sleeper 2 is a more defined RPG and a more exciting - more tense - one. This could be something great. - BertieKingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Image credit: Warhorse StudiosRelease date: 4th February 2025Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series S/XKingdom Come: Deliverance remains one of the most distinct role-playing games in recent years. Based in the old Czech Republic - Bohemia - and informed by historical accuracy, it presents a world as believable as history books are. There's a fictional story running through it, which brings the drama, but the allure is being in a time and place few other games have visited. I'm excited to return. - BertieCivilization 7 Image credit: 2K / FiraxisRelease date: 11th February 2025Platforms: PCCor, a new Civ! There's something wonderfully lavish about a brand new Civilization game. A game about all of human history, a celebration of progress and endeavour, a whacking great map to conquer. Having played a few hours of it I can tell you that up close, the new art style is an absolute treat. I can also tell you that it feels very much like a Civ game still, despite some major, predictably controversial changes to tech trees and ages. Plus, Gwendoline Christie as the new narrator reading out all those nice little quotes is inspired. Time for the return of One More Turn. - Chris Urban Myth Dissolution Center Image credit: Eurogamer/Shueisha GamesRelease date: 13th February 2025Platforms: PC, PS5, Nintendo SwitchMurder mystery fans, listen up! In this compelling anthology of occult crime cases, you play as budding detective Azami Fukurai as you work to uncover the mysteries of strange occurrences around Tokyo. I was a huge fan of developer Hakababunko's previous work, Makoto Wakaido's Case Files Trilogy from 2023, and if its exceptional Steam Next Fest demo was anything to go by, this looks to be taking its methodical foundations of gathering evidence and logical deduction work to the next level. As you try to discern fact from fiction, this will hopefully be one for crime heads as much as Japanese mythology scholars. - Katharine Date Everything! Image credit: Team17Release date: 14th February 2025Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo SwitchEver wanted to date your fridge? No, me neither. But after watching the trailer for Date Everything! I'm now excited to woo kitchen appliances, a toilet, a nightmare, and a rubber duck this Valentine's Day, in what looks like a funny, occasionally poignant take on dating akin to something like Boyfriend Dungeon. - JessicaAssassin's Creed Shadows Image credit: UbisoftRelease date: 14th February 2025Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/SStealthy rooftop shenanigans (or loud samurai stomping) through feudal Japan? Yes please. Ubisoft's historical stabathon series finally visits the much-requested country of the shinobi, courtesy of the team behind 2018's brilliant Assassin's Creed Odyssey. After a much-discussed delay and amid turbulent times for Ubisoft itself, expectations for Shadows are through the roof. - Tom PTomb Raider 4-6 Remastered Image credit: AspyrRelease date: 14th February 2025Platforms: PC, PS5/PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo SwitchOK, don't judge me, but I am genuinely looking forward to revisiting Angel of Darkness when Tomb Raider 4-6 Remastered releases next month. Yes, I know it is the worst reviewed Tomb Raider game, so yes I know it is Flawed with a capital F, but what can I say. I have a bit of a soft spot for Lara's double denim, Parisian parkouring antics. Along with Angel of Darkness, Tomb Raider 4-6 Remastered also includes Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation and Tomb Raider: Chronicles. As with last year's Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered, the upcoming collection will feature improved visuals along with the option to toggle between classic and modern graphics. Pyramid scheme? For me, this is more like a pyramid dream. - Victoria Avowed Image credit: Xbox Game StudiosRelease date: 18th February 2025Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X/SI'm a fan of Obsidian and the Pillars of Eternity series, so I've been following this first-person take on the world of Eora closely since it was announced. But it's had a bumpy ride, struggling somewhat in its series of early gameplay trailers to convince us of its qualities. Nevertheless, there's a beautiful world here and what seem to be interesting ideas, and I would never rule a team like Obsidian out. - BertieLost Records: Bloom and Rage Image credit: Don't NodRelease date: 18th February 2025 (Part 1), 18th March 2025 (Part 2)Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/SA brand new narrative game from the original development team behind Life is Strange 1 and 2, Lost Records looks set to recapture the same coming of age with magic realism shenanigans that won over a legion of fans previously. There's some real advancements here, too: interactive photography gameplay and smart crowd dialogue that makes this feel a generation beyond even the most recent Life is Strange effort. - Tom PLike a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii Image credit: Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio/SegaRelease Date: 20th February 2025Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS5/PS4What's better than being a pirate? How about being a pirate in Hawaii combined with all the usual Like a Dragon hilarity and mini-games thrown in? In this spin-off, Majima takes center stage and plenty of fierce battles await, but don't forget you can belt out tunes with karaoke or speed around to deliver food in Crazy Delivery if piracy starts taking its toll. - MarieMonster Hunter Wilds Image credit: CapcomRelease date: 28th February 2025Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/SCapcom's latest and greatest Monster Hunter outing looks to be its best and most ambitious yet, and cor, every new monster and location reveal makes me want to yell out a big fat "Soooo tasty!" like its titular hunters do cooking a honking great slab of monster meat. Let the competition for the best dino hat and pants combo commence. - Katharine Morsels Image credit: Annapurna InteractiveRelease date: February 2025Platforms: PC, Nintendo SwitchYou may have caught Morsels in one of Nintendo's Indie World announcements last year, and the strength of that trailer alone, with its enormous sentient noses in hoodies, ladders with eyeball stalks and demonic pigeons, was enough to immediately put it on my wishlist. A weird and wonderful roguelite where you're rotating between all manner of whimsical creatures to find your way out of the sewers, Morsels looks like an intriguingly freaky blend of Nobody Saves the World and The Binding of Isaac - which is a pretty potent combo, if you ask me. - Katharine Two Point Museum Image credit: Two Point StudiosRelease date: 4th March 2025Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/STwo Point games are always a blast, made up of two parts management simulation and one part British silliness. Two Point Museum seems like yet another exceedingly good time, only this time we're trying to build a museum empire, and we now have the ability to build partition walls that I may be a bit too excited for. - JessicaSplit Fiction Image credit: HazelightRelease date: 6th March 2025Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/SI can't wait to find out exactly what Hazelight Studios - the team behind brilliant co-op platformer It Takes Two - has come up with for Split Fiction. It's the studio's next co-op game, and it looks like it is going to be a hoot and a half. There's even promise of a dance battle with a monkey. Errm, yes please! In Split Fiction, players take on the role of either Mio or Zoe, two aspiring writers, as they jump between sci-fi and fantasy worlds. All I can say is that I hope my husband is ready for some more chaotic couch co-op shenanigans, because I will be booting this baby up day one. - VictoriaWanderstop Image credit: Annapurna InteractiveRelease date: 11th March 2025Platforms: PC, PS5Wanderstop wants you to think it's going to be a relaxing little game about running a teashop, but there's clearly more brewing here than just tea. Alta, the game's protagonist, used to work as a warrior and her past experiences are haunting her far more than she wants to admit. Though considering Wanderstop is the latest game from Davey Wreden (creator of The Stanley Parable and The Beginner's Guide) and is co-written with Karla Zimonja, most known for Gone Home, we really shouldn't be surprised if there's more to this game than meets the eye. Personally I can't wait to see how Wanderstop manages to twist the cosy game genre. - LottieXenoblade Chronicles X Remastered Image credit: NintendoRelease date: 20th March 2025Platforms: Nintendo SwitchThe black sheep of the Xenoblade Chronicles family, I honestly never thought I'd see this game outside of its Wii U beginnings. But what a thrill to be able to rediscover this strange and singular JRPG again! Its strain of sci-fi is quite a bit harder than its numbered stablemates, featuring mechs, modern cities and an intergalactic threat, but when you first step inside its enormous metal suits and discover there's a whole other layer to this impossibly large world, Xenoblade Chronicles X retains that same sense of awe and wonder that made the series so brilliant in the first place. - Katharine Atomfall Image credit: RebellionRelease date: 27th March 2025Platforms: PC, PS4/PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox OneInspired by the real-world events of the 1957 Windscale disaster and made by Sniper Elite studio Rebellion, Atomfall imagines what might happen five years later in a fictional village in the north of England that's trapped inside its large quarantine zone. A survival adventure game that's part Fallout, part Metro and maybe a little bit Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, Atomfall could be one of this year's most pleasant surprises. - Katharine inZoi Image credit: KraftonRelease date: 28th March 2025 (early access)Platforms: PCAs long as our PCs don't melt because of the specs required to produce its stunning visuals, inZoi seems like the best go at a competitor to The Sims yet. With Life By You now cancelled, and The Sims 4 now on its tenth year of service, it's nice to finally have a big new life sim to get stuck into. - JessicaFootball Manager 2025 Image credit: Sports InteractiveRelease date: March 2025Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, iOS/AndroidFM25 was quite astonishingly delayed late last year, from its usual annual slot of November into March 2025. It throws up all kinds of questions - which season will player ratings be based on? What happens to FM26? Will March be the new regular slot going forward? But many of those are really moot. This is a major effort from developer Sports Interactive, moving the game from a custom engine to Unity and overhauling the entire UI in the process, upending decades of muscle memory in the process. It's a big gamble. Much like the sport itself, the one thing that's guaranteed is entertainment. - ChrisDemonschool Image credit: Necrosoft GamesRelease date: Q1 2025Platforms: PCA tactics RPG with a demonic, supernatural twist, this stylish strategy game has been high up on my wishlist for quite a while now. A little bit Buffy the Vampire Slayer in tone, a little bit Banner Saga in its grid-based battles, and just a dash of Persona with its school schedule character building, this game is all about a bunch of university mates travelling to strange and unearthly realms to defeat, you guessed it, hordes of horrible demon lads. Get it into my veins, stat. - Katharine The Alters Image credit: 11 bit studiosRelease date: Q1 2025Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/SStranded alone on a mysterious planet, Jan makes clones of himself - adjusting their memories to create different versions of what his life might have become had he chosen differently at various stages of his life - so they can all work together to survive impending doom. An interesting twist on a management sim that has you balancing the relationships between yourself has me very curious to see how The Alters turns out. - JessicaWhile Waiting Image credit: OptillusionRelease date: Q1 2025Platforms: PCIs this a game about being patient? Or one about doing every conceivable fidgety thing to fill the time between one event and the next? Both roads lead to success in While Waiting, the next game from the developer behind perspective puzzler Moncage, and its Next Fest demo was such glorious fun. If it doesn't renew your sense of curiosity about the world, at least you'll have some inspiration for other possible things you could do while waiting instead of subjecting yourself to another doomscroll. - Katharine despelote Image credit: Julin Cordero, Sebastian ValbuenaRelease date: Early 2025Platforms: PC, PS4/PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox OneSurely the most Mundial Magazine football game ever made, despelote (stylised without the capital D) is a first-person, autobiographical slice-of-life game about being a football-loving kid on the streets of Ecuador, during the country's qualifiers for the 2002 World Cup. It looks joyous, personal and profound, an example of games' continuing, globalised expansion of genres and perspectives. Its wonderfully pretty art style only helps. - ChrisDune: Awakening Image credit: FuncomRelease date: Early 2025 on PC (consoles to follow)Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series S/XFuncom knows MMOs - I think it's easy sometimes to forget that - and it knows desert-based survival games based on big licenses, the reference obviously being Conan. This new Dune project has more going for it than being a movie tie-in, then. But these projects are big swings that depend on mass excitement to get their player base going. Will it hit? We shall see. - BertieBioid Image credit: PagurusRelease date: 7th April 2025Platforms: PCA monochromatic adventure about a cosmic library in disarray, Bioid has made its way onto my wishlist on the strength of its visuals alone. The trailer is a mesmerizing mix of gorgeously animated worlds and creatures, and the promise of being able to visit lots of different dimensions as we follow the story of two little beings is sure to be one heck of a memorable journey. - Katharine Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves Image credit: SNKRelease date: 21st April 2025Platforms: PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PCThe first new Fatal Fury game since 1999, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is a direct sequel to classic fighting game Garou: Mark of the Wolves, from developer SNK. The signature, health-for-special-moves TOP system returns, now in expanded form as the SPG system, while classic characters are joined by a few newcomers as well. But the real point here is that the series' long-running boss, Yasuyuki Oda, is finally getting a chance to return to it. This is a big deal for a genre that's recently been having something of a renaissance. - Chris Farthest Frontier Image credit: Crate EntertainmentRelease date: Spring 2025Platforms: PC (1.0)Farthest Frontier has strong Manor Lords vibes. This is an up-close strategy game about surviving in the American frontier lands, at a time when technology was basic and life was dirtier. There's an earthy, touchable charm that comes from it, as you gradually tame the idyllic wilderness around you and feel the icy weather or the warm summer sun that affects it. This is a game that's been honed in early access for a couple of years now, and built up a lot of goodwill. I can't wait to return to it for 1.0. - BertieMoth Kubit Image credit: Astrolabe GamesRelease date: Spring 2025Platforms: PC, Nintendo SwitchBilled as an experimental RPG about the corporate life of an ordinary insect, Moth Kubit has the air of Undertale meets Knuckle Sandwich. It has an inherently fascinating setup, as Moth's newly earned promotion at work suddenly brings with it knowledge of the ominous-sounding 'Final Process', which rumour has it is meant to change everything. Is it the end of the world? Is it a homage to the Y2K bug? Whatever it is, I'm super keen to find out in this oddball bug life adventure. - Katharine Blue Prince Image credit: Raw FuryRelease date: Spring 2025Platforms: PCA roguelike-cum-puzzle game about house construction? Consider me intrigued. In Blue Prince, you're tasked with finding the mysterious Room 46 inside the enormous mansion of Mt Holly. Only problem is that floorplan only allows for 45 rooms, so you'll need to find shortcuts and sneaky passageways between the randomly generated rooms you're given to draft along the way. But when the floor plan resets at the end of every day, that's easier said than done. - Katharine Revenge of the Savage Planet Image credit: Racoon LogicRelease date: May 2025Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/SBasically a third-person redo of Journey to the Savage Planet, this pseudo sequel seems just as silly and colourful as the original - but with added co-op shenanigans and digs at Google, who the team had a nightmarish time with when under its Stadia branch. - JessicaVampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 Image credit: The Chinese Room/Paradox InteractiveRelease date: First half of 2025Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/SDj vu. I've written about this game before in an article just like this. I imagine this is how vampires must feel doing things again and again over the course of their long lifetimes. This game has been in development for a long time. It was suspended once after mysterious goings on and then rescued by Still Wakes the Deep developer The Chinese Room, where it's now being finished for release. But the big question is, will it be worth the protracted wait? Will it live up to the legacy of the licence and of the first Bloodlines game? Has it been rescued, or has it just been salvaged for release? I remain eternally intrigued. - BertieMafia: The Old Country Image credit: 2KRelease date: Summer 2025Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/SI like a video game with a clear title, and this - what looks to be a going-back-to-its-roots new chapter in the Mafia series - says it all. You're back in Sicily, the mob's original home, to discover its origins and likely whack a fair few people your new crime family says need a good whacking. - Tom PBaby Steps Image credit: Devolver DigitalRelease date: 2025Platforms: PC, PS5A walking sim isn't for everyone, and usually not for me, but Baby Steps still managed to catch my eye. The game cast players as onesie-wearing "fail son" Nate, a grown man who spends his days slobbing out on his parents' couch eating pizza and looking at the TV. That is, until he gets sucked away from this sedentary lifestyle and into a world without his trusty couch to support him. Now, Nate has to learn to make his way through this land full of mountains, obstacles, wildlife, muddy quagmires and more, one baby step at a time. Oh, and it also includes a "fully dynamic onesie soilage system", so there is that. I'm undecided on how I feel about this particular feature right now, though you can't deny it is different. - Victoria Big Walk Image credit: PanicRelease date: 2025Platforms: PCThe next game from the team behind Untitled Goose Game, Big Walk is a game where you, and I quote "hang out and get lost with close friends in a big world". And presumably, go on a big walk. It looks strange, delightful and eminently mysterious, with lots of strange landmarks to discover, and nooks and crannies to poke around in. A great game to noodle about in with your mates, in other words, and I look forward to discovering its secrets later this year. - Katharine Borderlands 4 Image credit: GearboxRelease date: 2025Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/SAfter lacklustre sales of spin-off Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, a mixed response to New Tales from the Borderlands and the widespread panning of the Borderlands film, it's finally time for Gearbox's flagship franchise to prove its mettle, once and for all, with a proper new entry. Can the series recapture its heyday with a fully open world set on a fresh planet and an all-new cast? This year, we find out. - Tom PCattle Country Image credit: Eurogamer/Castle Pixel, LLCRelease Date: 2025Platforms: PC, PS5Essentially Red Dead Redemption meets Stardew Valley, Cattle Country could be just the right amount of adventure and action balanced with cosy comfort. From taking on bandits in train heists to simply waking up each day to water your crops and make sure your cattle are doing well, you can choose how busy or relaxed your new life is. - MarieClair Obscur: Expedition 33 Image credit: Sandfall InteractiveRelease date: 2025Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X/S, PS5Unveiled at Gamescom last year, this turn-based RPG has a killer concept and an even better-looking combat system. The setup involves the titular expedition embarking on a do or die mission to prevent a mysterious figure known as The Paintress from threatening the last vestiges of humanity ever again, as every year she paints a cursed number on a monolith that wipes out everyone of that particular age. As you follow the trail of the 32 expeditions that tried to accomplish this feat before you, you'll battle monsters of all shapes and sizes with its reaction-based combat, fusing turn-based and real-time attacks to spectacular effect. It looks stunning and I can't wait to play it in full. - Katharine Death Stranding 2: On the Beach Image credit: Kojima ProductionsRelease date: 2025Platforms: PS5I became full-on obsessed with Death Stranding when it eventually came to PC, and even though the story is absolutely bonkers and off its rocker, I'm absolutely here for whatever Kojima Productions has cooked up for its next instalment in the life of post-apocalyptic delivery man Sam Bridges. We don't know much about it yet, but whatever it ends up being, you can pretty much guarantee that it certainly won't be boring. - Katharine Deadlock Image credit: ValveRelease date: TBCPlatforms: PCDeadlock - Valve's hero shooter that managed to entice thousands of players to join in the action, despite not actually being announced at the time - still hasn't secured itself a proper release date, but surely this year will be the year? I quite enjoyed what I played of Deadlock, even in its very early state. For those unaware, Valve's shooter also has MOBA and tower defence-inspired elements, and at times it can get a tad chaotic (although, perhaps that was more to do with me being a little out of my depth and just launching myself from building to building in a bid to survive). But, despite this sort of game not exactly being my forte, I will happily give Deadlock another bash when it gets a proper release. Like I said, I quite enjoyed it. So, just tell me when Valve. Just tell me when. - Victoria Doom: The Dark Ages Image credit: BethesdaRelease date: 2025Platforms: Xbox Series X/S, PCQuite possibly the game I'm most excited about in 2025, I love a bit of Doom, me. I was half wondering where id Software's modern Doom series could go after the stupendously good Eternal, but turning back the clock and giving the Doom Slayer a serrated-edge boomerang shield, a gun that mulches skulls for bullets and a big bear-skin-like mantle? Sign me the hell up. - KatharineDispatch Image credit: Adhoc StudioRelease date: 2025Platforms: PCHot off its reveal at The Game Awards, Dispatch puts us on the other side of the superhero crime fighting machine, working as an emergency dispatch worker who's responsible for sending out other supes to deal with various crimes around the city. At the moment, it's unclear how much strategy will be involved - I wouldn't expect anything XCOM-like, for example - but given this is being made by some former Telltale folks who were behind The Wolf Among Us and Tales from the Borderlands, you can definitely count on there being lots of big decisions to make that will affect the fate of your misfit superhero squad. - Katharine Earthblade Image credit: Extremely OK GamesRelease date: 2025Platforms: PCThe next game from the Celeste team might look like just another pixel platformer to sink our teeth into, but Earthblade is so much more ambitious than that. Rather than climbing a single mountain this time, Extremely OK Games has created an enormous, seamless world for us to explore this time, and it looks utterly astonishing. We don't know much more about it yet, but I can't wait to see how its mix of combat, exploration and platforming challenges come together in the final game. - Katharine Elden Ring: Nightreign Image credit: FromSoftwareRelease date: 2025Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/SLook, if any other developer announced a co-op spin-off featuring procedurally-generated variations of the original game's world and battle royale elements, we all would have screamed that it was a cash grab. But this is the next major project to come from the masters at FromSoftware, so whether it is a cash grab or not, you know it will still be excellent. And you can still play it solo, to be clear. - Tom PEriksholm: The Stolen Dream Image credit: Nordcurrent LabsRelease date: 2025Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/SFans of defunct real-time tactics peddlers Mimimi Games (RIP) might want to keep tabs on Eriksholm, a top-down stealth adventure that might scratch similar itches. The titular setting is a vast Scandinavian city in an alternate 1900s, whose inhabitants live under the tyranny of a police state. As if that wasnt bad enough, the rozzers have jailed your brother. Featuring gorgeous environment design and some of the best performance capture since Baldur's Gate 3, Eriksholm looks polished, tense, and sharp as hell. - JimFable Image credit: MicrosoftRelease date: 2025Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X/SMicrosoft's extremely British action RPG series gets rebooted for the modern era, with plenty of UK comedians and the usual amount of chicken bothering still intact. Expect the usual blend of fantasy, magic and morality-based choices, now with Super Hans from Peep Show as your mentor. - Tom PFoolish Mortals Image credit: Inklingwood StudiosRelease date: TBCPlatforms: PCA point and click adventure inspired by games like Monkey Island and Broken Sword, Foolish Mortals drops players into the shoes of a young treasure hunter by the name of Murphy McCallan as he sets off on a "merry" and "macabre" adventure. Promising an exotic setting, eccentric characters and voodoo, this game has Victoria Kennedy written all over it. - VictoriaGhost of Yotei Image credit: Sucker PunchRelease date: 2025Platforms: PS5If you like going phwoar while swinging your katana and galloping through fields of bending grass and grain like a particularly energised Theresa May, then boy do we have the game for you. Sucker Punch's sequel to Ghost of Tsushima has vast potential - my personal reaction to Ghost of Tsushima was thinking "this is fun; but a sequel could be properly brilliant." Expect rich colours, blood splatter, a slightly fawning approach to all things Japan and a feisty, thrusting approach to melee combat. The Kurosawa comparisons with the first might've been a bit much, but I've no doubt Yotei will be an absolute blast. - Chris Grand Theft Auto 6 Image credit: RockstarRelease date: 2025Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X/SWhat is there to say? Rockstar hasn't launched a big new Grand Theft Auto game since GTA 5 arrived in 2013 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. GTA 6 is the most widely-anticipated game of the decade, and all other video games are going to run away scared. Here's hoping its 2025 launch window sticks. - Tom PHorses Image credit: Santa RagioneRelease date: TBCPlatforms: TBCHorses is the next game from Santa Ragione, the studio behind the inimitable Mediterranea Inferno, Saturnalia, MirrorMoon EP and more. We played its demo back at GDC 2024 and found it magnetically sinister, but also somewhat demanding: you'll need to meet this game half way if you want to extract any real meaning from its eerie, enigmatic, and quite oppressively dark atmosphere. The only issue is, it was slated for 2024 but never quite made it, with no announcement apparent to explain why - or when we might be able to expect it. Hopefully, the answer will be some time this year. There are few if any developers out there making video games quite like this. - Chris Herdling Image credit: PanicRelease date: 2025Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/SI adored Okomotive's pair of FAR games, and even though Herdling isn't anything to do with navigating a giant boat-train-ship-thing across a vast and desolate landscape, there's still a trace of going on a big long journey here, only now you've got lots of large fluffy companions along for the ride as well. In this alpine expedition, you'll be travelling with your beasts to the top of a secretive and unexplored summit, and I can't wait to see what kind of vertiginous obstacles we'll have to navigate to reach our goal. - Katharine Judas Image credit: Ghost Story GamesRelease date: TBCPlatforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/SThe much-anticipated game from Ken Levine's new studio, Ghost Story Games. Set on a disintegrating starship carrying the last remnants of humanity to a new home in the stars, Judas is about shooting and magic punching your way to an exit before you and all the other remaining survivors become literal space dust. Yes, it does sound a lot like Bioshock in space. Or, you know, just plain old System Shock 2, albeit with more philosophical elements about robots and the future of human consciousness as opposed to containing a deadly virus. Either way, I'm quietly hopeful about this, and I'm excited to see what its whole deal is if nothing else. - Katharine Little Nightmares 3 Image credit: Supermassive Games / Bandai NamcoRelease date: 2025Platforms: PC, PS4/PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo SwitchIf you loved the original two Little Nightmares games, and all their diminutive gothic slightly Guillermo del Toro-esque horror, you're likely already keeping an eye on this threequel, whose long-awaited release was delayed last year into 2025. The big news this time around is the change of developer behind the scenes - it's being made by Dark Pictures Anthology developer Supermassive Games - but after a couple of preview sessions with the game I couldn't tell the difference, which is praise indeed. - Tom PMarvel 1943: Rise of Hydra Image credit: Skydance New MediaRelease date: 2025Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/SIf there's one thing that could possibly break my enduring Marvel fatigue, it's a Marvel game being headed up by Amy Hennig. There's still precious little we've heard about what Rise of Hydra involves more generally, other than that it will involve an uneasy and curmudgeonly alliance between Captain America and Black Panther as they work to take down Marvel's classic big bad organisation in Occupied Paris. But it certainly looks the part of a big, shiny blockbuster, and will hopefully be a lot more fun to play than sitting through this year's onslaught of Marvel films and TV shows. - Katharine Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater Image credit: KonamiRelease date: TBCPlatforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/SSnake Eater entered such deep cover last year that it full on missed its original 2024 release window, but here's hoping Konami's spruced up remake of 2004's seminal Metal Gear Solid 3 finally emerges from its camo suit sometime this year. After 2023's somewhat disappointing Master Collection version, this will hopefully be the best way to experience the origin story of Naked Snake and The Boss on modern systems. - Katharine Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Image credit: Nintendo/EurogamerRelease date: 2025Platforms: Nintendo SwitchI cannot quite believe we're now living in the year that Metroid Prime 4 finally releases. After decades of waiting, a full game reboot and years of silence, Nintendo is at last set to treat us all to a new first-person Metroid game from the team behind the original trilogy, Retro Studios. Oh, and it looks stunning to boot. This would sure make a snazzy Switch 2 launch title... - Tom PMiss Mulligatawney's School for Promising Girls Image credit: InkleRelease date: TBCPlatforms: PCInkle's latest may have a name that I'm almost certainly going to get wrong on multiple occasions, but even though the studio has said next to nothing about it so far (even its screenshots don't give much away!), you know it's probably going to be a grand old ride all the same. I'll be putting in my application forthwith. - Katharine Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault Image credit: Digital SunRelease date: 2025Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/SThe first Moonlighter was a surprising delight of a game, marrying Zelda-esque dungeoneering with canny shopkeeping. Now, developer Digital Sun is returning to it once again, giving us a gorgeous new 3D isometric world to bomb around in, and even more delicious loot to plunder on its eponymous vault. While much about its general rhythms will likely remain the same, the land of Tresna looks like an absolutely stunning place to do it all again in. - Katharine Nirvana Noir Image credit: Feral Cat Den/Fellow TravellerRelease date: 2025Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X/SA sequel to the fascinating jazz odyssey that was Genesis Noir, Nirvana Noir adds one change in particular: a big ol' splash of colour. It's a mystery about the Big Bang, playing out in two realities - one where it never happened. Expect environmental puzzles, old-timey noir trappings (trenchcoat anyone?) and some of the most sumptuous, expressive visual design in video games. - ChrisNivalis Image credit: 505 GamesRelease date: 2025Platforms: PCThe best post-release update to 2020's Cloudpunk, the acclaimed hovercar sim where you played a far-future Evri driver pootling around in a vast voxel-tropilis, was the one that added a first-person camera. Being able to properly explore the rain-slick world of Nivalis walking sim-style added a visceral edge to the experience that enriched the whole thing. In this sort-of sequel, developer Ion Lands is doubling down on that aspect by giving us an immersive life-sim that focuses on, well, living. If they pull it off, it could rival Night City. - JimOpus: Prism Peak Image credit: Shueisha GamesRelease date: 2025Platforms: PCSigono's Opus series is probably one of gaming's best kept secrets. An anthology of standalone, but loosely connected sci-fi tales that all share a common thread of hope and optimism for the future, these heartfelt narrative adventures have all been absolutely stellar (seriously, go and check out Opus: Echo of Starsong if you want to find out more - it was one of my favourite games from 2021!). The studio's latest, Prism Peak, sees you play as a photographer lost in a strange, dreamlike realm where your photos hold the key to discovering its mysteries. If you enjoyed the laidback ramblings of Season: A Letter to the Future, there's a very strong chance this will be right up your street. - Katharine Paralives Image credit: Paralives StudioRelease date: 2025 (early access)Platforms: PCFive years after Paralives' eye-catching unveiling set The Sims fans' hearts racing, the promising social sim is finally getting an early access release later this year. At a basic level, Paralives ticks the same boxes as EA's juggernaut franchise, but it's also looking to put its own distinctive stamp on the familiar formula. Developer Paralives Studio has already shown off everything from meticulous customisation options to flexible personality features and eclectic relationship types, with a robust range of "core" features promised for its early access launch. Better still, a detailed development roadmap is already pointing to a bright (and mercifully DLC-free) future. - MattPokmon Legends: Z-A Image credit: NintendoRelease date: 2025Platforms: Nintendo SwitchWhile I love Pokmon, I will be the first to admit that even when Game Freak does try to change it, the studio's still married to the 'Eight Gym Leaders, Evil Team and Pokmon League' formula. It's why I fell in love with Pokmon Legends: Arceus so quickly - it kept everything I loved about the series, while also changing it in an interesting way. (Plus the whole plotline about being sent back in time by Arceus, also known as Pokmon god, was wonderfully mad.) It's also why I'm so excited to see what Pokmon Legends: Z-A has in store for us (even if the game's name is awful). Set entirely within Lumiose City, Legends: Z-A returns to the Kalos region and I'm looking forward to seeing how the gameplay established in Legends: Arceus has been developed. Hopefully there will be some more time travel or dimension jumping nonsense happening too. - LottiePromise Mascot Agency Image credit: Kaizer Game WorksRelease date: 2025Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo SwitchThe next game from the Paradise Killer dev, Promise Mascot Agency is all about a disgraced yakuza lieutenant trying to reverse the fortunes of a bankrupt mascot agency. Only these aren't the cute and cuddly Japanese mascots you might be familiar with already. These are severed fingers, depressed tofu blocks, cutthroat salary man cats and songbirds who'll have your head if they're interrupted. It looks utterly bonkers, but I love its madcap energy and its intriguing-sounding blend of business management and open world storytelling. - KatharineRatatan Image credit: Game Source EntertainmentRelease date: 2025Platforms: PCRatatan is the new (and equally alliterative) rhythm action game from the makers of PSP-darling Patapon. While in many respects it can be seen as something of a spiritual sequel to that game (you're still guiding armies of tiny creatures to attack ever-larger boss monsters, after all), it's also got a big focus on online co-op play, and a strong roguelike element to it as well, which should hopefully make it feel fresh and exciting to long-term fans. It's had a hugely successful Kickstarter to help get it made, and it's now due for release later this year. - Katharine Replaced Image credit: Sad CatRelease date: 2025Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X/SI've been looking forward to this stunning action platformer ever since its first explosive trailer rocketed onto the scene at Microsoft's E3 showcase in 2021. Mostly because of its gorgeous visuals, which remains some of the most exquisite pixel art I think I've ever seen. But I'm also intrigued by its premise, as you play an AI trapped inside a human body who must well, it's not quite clear yet. There will be mysteries to solve, outlaw gangs to befriend/dismantle (possibly), but I'm desperate to find out more about it. - Katharine Slay the Spire 2 Image credit: Mega CritRelease date: 2025 (early access)Platforms: PCI squealed when I heard there would be a Slay the Spire sequel. For all its diminutive stature, this game is a colossus. It popularised the deck-building roguelike genre. A sequel is a big deal. But how do you top an idea like that? The answer seems to be that you don't - you build upon it. You brush up the iconically rubbish visuals a bit, you introduce new classes, and you tinker here and there, but you don't spoil the stew. I'm equal parts terrified it won't work and giddy at the prospect it will. Either way, I can't wait. - BertieSouth of Midnight Image credit: Compulsion GamesRelease date: 2025Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X/SThis third-person action-adventure game comes courtesy of We Happy Few developer Compulsion Games, and visually it looks absolutely stunning. South of Midnight is set in an alternate version of the American Deep South, with players taking on the role of Weaver Hazel. It boasts magic-infused combat, a stop-motion aesthetic and an array of colourful characters including the Blues singing Shakin' Bones. I can't wait to see more. - VictoriaStage Fright Image credit: Ghost Town Games/Hello GamesRelease date: TBCPlatforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo SwitchOf the two split-screen co-op adventures announced at The Game Awards in December, it was Stage Fright that really captured my attention. Made by the Overcooked team, this looks absolutely delightful (and with some lovely voice work in its reveal trailer to boot). From the looks of things, you and a pal will be working across different dimensions to solve puzzles and find a way home - and hopefully not throw knives and onions at each other in the process. Very excited for this one. - Katharine Star Birds Image credit: Toukana Interactive, kurzgesagt - in a nutshellRelease date: 2025Platforms: PCI fell down a huge Dorfromantik hole in 2022, and Star Birds is Toukana Interactive's next cheerful puzzle game. Part base building, part resource management, you'll be colonising all kinds of colourful planets and asteroids in Star Birds, helping your feathery friends eke out a jolly little existence among the stars. It's also being made in conjunction with the German science channel/animation studio Kurzgesagt - In A Nutshell, lending a slightly more technical edge to its colourful visuals. - Katharine Subnautica 2 Image credit: Unknown Worlds/KraftonRelease date: 2025 (early access)Platforms: PCSubnautica is a game that's both beautiful and terrifying in equal measure - your curiosity to find new, peculiar discoveries in its watery depths tempt you ever further beneath the waves, but then something horrible moves in the shadows - was it a pincer? A tentacle? A large, glowing eyeball and sharp teeth? - and nope, get me out of here this instant. But like a sea snail caught in the intoxicating lure of an angler fish, I cannot help but feel compelled to do it all again in Subnautica 2, especially now I'll be able to rope a friend along for the ride as well. - Katharine Tanuki: Pon's Summer Image credit: Critical ReflexRelease date: 2025Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X/SThe next game from the creator of Cursed to Golf, Tanuki: Pon's Summer asks, "What if your tanuki postman in a rural Japanese village was also Tony Hawk on a bike?" It's a slightly mad mash-up, but one that absolutely works when you see it in motion. Of course I want to play this game. How could I not? Especially when there's a festival to prepare for at the same time, too, where you'll be using your hard-earned wages to fix up a shrine for this special occasion. Yes please and thank you to everything about this. - Katharine The Mermaid Mask Image credit: SFB GamesRelease date: 2025Platforms: PC, PS4/PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox OneFormally known as The Mermaid's Tongue, SFB Games' latest Detective Grimoire game is a must-play for anyone who enjoyed 2019's brilliant Tangle Tower. This time, you're solving the murder of Captain Magnus aboard a mysterious submarine, who's been found inside a locked room with an ancient stone cauldron that's never been opened before - until now. The crew say it's a terrible (night for a) curse at work here, but the truth is likely to be far, far stranger. - Katharine The Outer Worlds 2 Image credit: ObsidianRelease date: 2025Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/SSequels like this always excite me because they afford the chance to nail a vision you might not have quite nailed the first time around. The Outer Worlds set everything up: it introduced this tongue-in-cheek, Fallout-in-space-like idea to the world and we had fun with it. It was decent. But now, with an established foundation there, and bags of fan feedback to rifle through, there's the chance to build upon it and hone the formula. The debut trailer looked like a deliriously good time. I've got high hopes for this. - BertieWuchang: Fallen Feathers Image credit: 505 GamesRelease date: 2025Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/SI know for a fact that I'm almost certainly going to be terrible at playing Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, but hot damn if its stylish and flashy combat doesn't look intensely enticing all the same? Giving Final Fantasy 16 a run for its money in terms of visual flair, this Soulslike action RPG will take us to Ming Dynasty China as the eponymous pirate seeks to purge the land of Shu of a deadly plague. Will I make it past the first horrible boss monster? Debatable. But I'm sure as heck excited to give it a try. - KatharinePhew! That's your lot for our 80 most anticipated games of 2025 - or at least the ones we know about so far, of course. As the year goes on, there will be countless more games announced we couldn't even fathom at this stage in the year, not to mention many more in early access that may or may not get surprise 1.0 releases this year. Games like Hades 2, Manor Lords, and Path of Exile 2, to name just a couple. We're looking forward to seeing how all those develop over the coming months as well. Needless to say, it's going to be a big year! And if we've missed anything that you're personally pumped for in 2025, do shout about it in the comments.