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New Game Releases 12/02/25 – 12/08/25

Andy Tuttle

Top Releases:

We’ve made it to the penultimate entry of New Game Releases for 2025 and damnit if it isn’t one of the biggest of the year. Nintendo continues their streak of huge releases from fan favorite properties on the Switch 2, starting off with Mario Kart World, followed by Donkey Kong Bananza, Pokémon Legends Z-A, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, Kirby Air Ride and now, finally, after being announced waaaaaaaaay back in 2017 (as a “coming soon” Switch title) we have Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. Folks, if you haven’t picked up a Switch 2 yet, now is the time. The library is pretty well stacked, at this point, and should keep you occupied for the next several months; GET IT!

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (Switch/Switch 2) – Releases Dec. 4th

Developed by: Retro Studios
Published by: Nintendo

Speaking of great Switch 2 games, Octopath Traveler 0 is making its way to Nintendo’s new console, as well as the previous Switch, PS4 & PS5, and the Xbox Series X|S. There are a couple of high profile expansions coming this week, Destiny 2: Renegades and Elden Ring Nightreign: The Forsaken Hollows; are these games still as popular as they once were? I don’t know! Keeping the online multiplayer train going, we’ve got Let it Die: Inferno coming this week, the surprise sequel to the 2016 game developed by Suda51 and his studio. This new game has ZERO involvement from the famed auteur and contains a high amount of AI generated content; should be good…(nah).

Rounding things out, we’ve got Blood: Refreshed Supply, an updated/remastered version of the original 1997 first person shooter. You might be confused because a version of this already came out in 2019 called Blood: Fresh Supply, but this new version has, like, a new hat, or whatever. Finally, there’s Skate Story, another game that feels like it was announced 10 years ago (it was 2022, calm down Andy), coming this week to blow your mother fucking mind, mother fucker.

Octopath Traveler 0 (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Switch 2/Series X|S) – Releases Dec. 4th

Developed by: Square Enix/DokiDoki Groove Works
Published by: Square Enix

Destiny 2: Renegades (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Dec. 2nd

Developed by: Bungie
Published by: Bungie

Elden Ring Nightreign – The Forsaken Hollows (PC/PS4/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Dec. 4th

Developed by: FromSoftware
Published by: Bandai Namco

Let It Die: Inferno (PC/PS5) – Releases Dec. 3rd

Developed by: Supertrick Games
Published by: GungHo Online Entertainment

Blood: Refreshed Supply (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Dec. 4th

Developed by: Nightdive Studios/Monolith Productions
Published by: Warner Bros. Games/Atari/Night Dive Studios

Skate Story (PC/PS5/Switch 2) – Releases Dec. 8th

Developed by: Sam Eng
Published by: Devolver Digital

Ports and Expansions:

This is a huge week for expansions and ports. As if getting new content for Destiny 2 and Elden Ring Nightreign wasn’t enough, there’s expansions coming for Monument Valley 3 and Two Point Museum as well! First is The Garden of Life a FREE update that adds four new story chapters and a bunch of bonus puzzles. Next is Zooseum, paid expansion for Two Point Museum which, as its name implies, allows you to add a wacky zoo to your wacky museum. Tons of new exhibits, gift shop items, and decor are being added to the game, as well as a brand new campaign to undertake.

As for the ports, Microsoft continues their descent into a software-only company when Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 comes to the PS5; Rockstar continues to milk its back catalog instead of putting out a new game when Red Dead Redemption and Undead Nightmare come to PS5, Switch 2, and Series X|S; Ubisoft begs you to pick up a copy of Assassin’s Creed Shadows for the Switch 2 (on key card…), and Sega puts Yakuza 0: Director’s Cut and the first two Yakuza Kiwami games on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S (ending the, very short, Switch 2 console exclusivity).

Everything else:

Notable Releases from 10, 20, and 30 years ago:

Games:

In notable games, 2015 saw the release of the RPG Xenoblade Chornicles X. Developed soon after the first game, which released on the Wii in 2010, X finds itself set far into the future and contains a science fiction element that tried to distance itself a bit from the first game’s fantasy vibe; sure. I guess there are more, like, “space ship” looking interiors than standard brick buildings in the world. In any case, part of the reason why X was chosen as the sub-title is because of this sci-fi element.

In Japan, the “X” stood for “Cross”, which alludes to the game having a crossing of alien races as well as how it uses online gameplay to cross you with other players. In North America, the “X” was pronounced like the letter and alludes to the game being about “the unknown” and, also, in regards to aliens (like, The X-Files…probably).

Xenoblade Chronicles X was received warmly by critics, with particular praise given to the interesting missions, the well written plot, and the game’s pleasant pacing. There was mixed reception given to the game’s dialogue & music, with some critics calling them outstanding while others felt it was just “noise” that they could live without. Famed Japanese publication Famitsu was high on the game, however there was some negativity thrown its way as the reviewers there felt that the world was too large to explore comfortably and contained too many dull bits.

The game sold well across the world, moving over 840k units on the Wii U, with sales in the U.S. doubling those of Japan. The developers of the game, Monolith Soft, have yet to release a sequel to the game but seem to be open to the idea. On the other hand, they did use some of the ideas presented in X on the next numbered entry in the series, Xenoblade Chronicles 2. A remastered version of the game, Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition, released on the Switch in March of 2025, so don’t worry if you never got a chance to pick up the Wii U or this game.

From 2005, we’ve got the game Animal Crossing: Wild World for the DS. This was the second Animal Crossing game to be released (well, if you don’t consider the GameCube version to be second to the Japan-only N64 version) and is the first one to be released for a hand-held device. Like its predecessor, Wild World had players moving into a house located in a small village nestled in a forest. Players customize and decorate their homes, talk to their animal friends, and do their best to make the town a pleasant place to live.

What made Wild World exciting, however, was its online connectivity that allowed players to visit other people’s towns and interact with them. If you remember, the GameCube game only let you visit a friend’s town if you had their memory card and, sadly, did not let you interact with their villager. In Wild World, while it was still a bit of a chore to interact with another human (thanks in large part to the Friend Code system), it at least made things better and helped to turn Animal Crossing into the online social game it was destined to be.

Well received by critics, Wild World was the best version of Animal Crossing to date, with the DS’ touch screen making decorating far easier, while the online connectivity helped make it much more social than its predecessor. While it wasn’t perfect, it put the series in the right direction, showing that there were still plenty of ideas up Nintendo’s sleeve when it came to the series. As far as sales go, Wild World is among the top ten best-selling DS games of all-time, just barely at #9, moving nearly 12 million units worldwide. It would be followed by the Wii title Animal Crossing: City Folk in 2008, Animal Crossing: New Leaf in 2013, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons in 2020.

From 1995, we have the PC game The Terminator: Future Shock. Developed by Bethesda Softworks, Future Shock is a first person shooter that was produced by a young talent at the studio named Todd Howard. Yes, folks, the very same Todd Howard that would go on to produce and/or direct the massive titles Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, Fallout 3, Fallout 4, and Starfield (among others).

While Future Shock had the benefit of being tied to the massive Terminator franchise, it’s not really a game that most people talk about anymore and, if I’m being honest, I had never even heard of until only a couple years ago. Built using Bethesda’s in-house engine, XnGine, Future Shock was built using fully textured 3D polygons and aimed to present a level of realism not seen in video games before. Looking at it now and, well, it’s not that great, but it was certainly a technical marvel at the time.

The game was mostly praised by critics who felt it was one of the better Doom clones of its era. The game’s control scheme was hit or miss, particularly with players, as it used the (now ubiquitous) “mouse-look” control scheme in which you, ya know, look around with your mouse. One major point of contention was the lack of an online multiplayer mode, which seems both on brand for Bethesda, as a company that relishes in single player games, but so odd when seen in the context of the time it was released, as every PC game seemed to be online, whether it needed to or not.

While a sequel would released a year later, The Terminator: Skynet (which included online deathmatches), you don’t really see that many people talking about Future Shock today. I’m not sure why this game has been ignored for so long; maybe it’s because the game is kind of “mid”, as the kids say. Perhaps the Terminator franchise became too toxic as the years went on and we all kind of wanted to forget it existed. Whatever the case, despite how you might feel about the guy, we should all celebrate the video game that gave Todd Howard a chance. It’s (minor) success led to him making some of the greatest video games of all-time.

Movies:

In notable films, 2015 gave us maybe the most anticipated film in modern history, Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Directed by J.J. Abrams from a script by Abrams, Michael Arndt, and Lawrence Kasdan, The Force Awakens was the first film to be produced by Lucasfilm after the company was sold to Disney in 2012. That it came out just three years later is beyond incredible and should have been a sign to all of us that things were moving too fast and that, just maybe, these new Star Wars films weren’t going to be all that great.

In any case, after making fans suffer through the prequel trilogy in the 2000’s, it was so much fun to see that all of the characters we loved from the original trilogy were coming back, including a large focus on fan favorite Han Solo. Of course, a new batch of characters were going to lead the film; Daisy Ridley as Rey, the mysterious young woman who might possibly have Force powers; Finn, played by John Boyega, a cowardly Stormtrooper turned reluctant rebel who might possibly have force powers; Poe Dameron, played by Oscar Isaac, a dashing, young X-Wing pilot who is a bit of a scoundrel and heartbreaker; and Adam Driver as the evil Kylo Ren, the son of Han Solo and Princess Leia, who works with the evil First Order as they try to rule the Galaxy.

When it released, The Force Awakens broke the box office record for highest grossing worldwide opening of all-time, at a staggering $529 million dollars (surpassed two years later by The Fate of the Furious). It would then break the record for fastest film to $1 billion, at 12 days (losing that to Avengers: Endgame in 2018) and is still, to this day, the highest grossing film of all-time in the United States, with a monumental $936 million dollars. Worldwide, the film sits in 6th place, with a $2.06 billion dollar haul, sitting nearly 1 billion dollars behind the first Avatar film (fun fact, James Cameron has three movies in the top four, Avatar, Avatar: The Way of Water and, still after all these years, Titanic).

The success of the film was almost guaranteed and set up an entire new trilogy of films, 2017’s The Last Jedi and 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker. It also set up two spin-off films that released in-between, 2016’s Rogue One and 2018’s Solo. However, a few of these were critically panned and, surprisingly, not huge box office successes. Audiences got Star Wars fatigue after several years of nothing. Perhaps we all liked sitting there, waiting for new ones, so seeing five new films in four years was a lot swallow. I’d say they learned their lesson but, of course, we’ve had brand new TV shows every year since then and there are two upcoming films in 2026 AND 2027. Clearly, the world still wants Star Wars (or Disney still wants money), despite what people think.

From 2005, we’ve got another big epic, Peter Jackson’s King Kong. Following the success of The Lord of the Rings, the entire world was anticipating what Jackson would do next; I don’t think any of us were expecting a King Kong remake. A huge critical and commercial success, King Kong would be among the top five highest grossing films of the year and find itself listed by multiple outlets & critics in their end of year “Best of…” lists.

The film would be nominated for four Academy Awards, winning Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Visual Effects, and losing Best Art Direction to Memoirs of a Geisha. While the film would inspire two theme park rides at Universal Studios Orlando & Hollywood, that was as far as Jackson’s take on the franchise would go. A proposed sequel never got off the ground, leading to a reboot of the franchise in 2017 with Kong: Skull Island which brought it into the MonsterVerse, which also contains films based on Godzilla.

From 1995, we’ve got the science fiction film 12 Monkeys from director Terry Gilliam, who’s 1985 film Brazil we just talked about; fun! Having spent most of the 1980’s struggling to get his films made (despite being a celebrated member of Monty Python), Gilliam found critical and commercial success with his 1991 film The Fisher King. Featuring Robin Williams as a delusional homeless man and Jeff Bridges as a radio shock jock who befriends him, The Fisher King showed the Hollywood studios that Gilliam could not only wrangle big stars, but he could get them accolades, like Williams’ Best Actor Oscar nomination (and Supporting Actress win for Mercedes Ruehl).

However, because this is Terry Gilliam we’re talking about, nothing is ever easy when it comes to making his films. The film languished in development hell for a couple of years, despite having a huge star attached, Bruce Willis, and an up-and-coming young actor, Brad Pitt. Still, distributor Universal Studios was being cautious after the failure of Waterworld and didn’t want to rush into things with 12 Monkeys. Eventually, after some hemming & hawing, filming went underway and the movie was put out on a limited released schedule near the end of December, 1995.

Loosely based on the 1962 short French film La Jetée, 12 Monkeys is a bizarre film that plays fast & loose with time, character motivations, locations, and whether any of the events you’re watching are even happening. While Gilliam had made two films between this and Brazil (The Adventures of Baron Munchausen and The Fisher King), 12 Monkeys has the most in common with Brazil and feels almost like a spiritual successor. Employing similar filming techniques, as well as retaining the same cinematographer and art director, 12 Monkeys is like a companion film to Brazil. Dreams, terrorism, espionage, schizophrenia, they’re prevalent in both films.

At release, 12 Monkeys was hailed by critics as one of the best films of the year and earned Brad Pitt his first Academy Award nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category, losing to Kevin Spacey’s performance in The Usual Suspects, but would win the Golden Globe in the same category. The film was also a box office success, holding the #1 spot for two weeks in a row, based in large part on Pitt’s star power at the time time, having just come off the success of Seven, Interview with a Vampire, and Legends of the Fall.

Gilliam would use the success of the film to make Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas but would, as seems to be his luck, toiled for years and years afterward, constantly trying to get films made that would just fall apart or outright bomb at the box office. Like Brazil, I consider 12 Monkeys to be among my all-time favorite films (though not ranked as high as Brazil) and is certainly among the best films Gilliam has made. He doesn’t have a huge filmography, but his best films are just absolute bangers, as the kids say.

Albums:

In notable albums, 2015 gave us the debut studio release from singer Troye Sivan, Blue Neighborhood. Debuting at #7 on the Billboard Top 200, Blue Neighborhood was a huge hit for the Australian born Sivan, leading to a long, illustrious career around the world. Four singles were released to promote the album, including the Billboard Hot 100 hit “Youth”. The album was well received by critics upon its release and, while it did not receive any Grammy nominations, it did receive several nods and two wins at the Australian equivalent, the ARIA’s, and was nominated for one MTV Video Music Award.

From 2005, we’ve got the album The Breakthrough from singer Mary J. Blige. Seen as a “return to form” for Blige, the album was heavily praised by critics and earned the singer her third #1 debut on the Billboard Top 200, as well as the highest first week sales of her career. While the album featured many hit singles, the most well known is “Be Without You” which received multiple Grammy nominations, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year, winning Best R&B Song and Best Female Vocal R&B Performance. The album itself would win Best R&B Album, all of which were Blige’s first solo wins after being in the music industry for over a decade.

Closing things out this week, from 1995, we have the album Hoss from punk band Lagwagon. Their third album, Hoss continued the band’s upward trajectory as one of the most well known but still unknown punk bands in the United States. I’m almost certain that many of you reading this probably don’t know much, if anything about Lagwagon, but I can promise you that they are among the best of the best when it comes to 1990’s punk rock. While Hoss is full of great songs, my personal favorite is “Violins”, with its catchy riffs and sing-along friendly choruses. There might have been bigger, more important records released at the end of 1995, but to me, Hoss is among the most important of all-time and should be regarded as such.

Xenoblade Chronicles X (Wii U) – Released Dec. 4th, 2015

Notable Film Release: Star Wars: The Force Awakens – Starring Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Max von Sydow
Click here to watch the trailer
Notable Album Release: Troye Sivan – Blue Neighborhood
Click here to listen to the album

Animal Crossing: Wild World (DS) – Released Dec. 5th, 2005

Notable Film Release: King Kong – Starring Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Colin Hanks, Jamie Bell, and Andy Serkis
Click here to watch the trailer
Notable Album Release: Mary J. Blige – The Breakthrough
Click here to listen to the album

The Terminator: Future Shock (PC) – Released Dec. 1995

Notable Film Release: 12 Monkeys – Starring Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, Brad Pitt, and Christopher Plummer
Click here to watch the trailer
Notable Album Release: Lagwagon – Hoss
Click here to listen to album

Just because I can, here’s another great Lagwagon song from Hoss; “Razor Burn”:

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