By Nelson Schneider - 01/10/25 at 10:34 PM CT
Welcome back to another look into the near future! It’s a New Year, once again, and – as is always the case with a new beginning – the Games Industry has a chance to make a fresh start and maaaaaybe not do all the same stupid stuff they did last year that lost them a ton of money and left several Big Names in Industrial Gaming teetering on the precipice of Broke (induced, in many cases, by Woke). As we’ve already seen from noodle-suckers like Mink Tinklebag, the backpedaling and about-facing has already begun ahead of the U.S. Government’s looming change of administration from a dottering old fool who let the Woke Fringe run roughshod over him to a… dottering old fool who will hand our society over to religious fundamentalists and/or Neo-Soviets as long as they give him personal compliments. Ugh.
One bit of good news coming out of the first month of 2025’s game releases is NO shovelware! Buuut I’m not going to leave this category completely blank, as there’s a new ‘Nep-Nep’ game coming from Compile Heart and Idea Factory (two of the worst RPG publishers in the history of the genre). What with how heavily licensed this game series is, it’s hard to tell whether it’s primarily an anime or a game anymore, so I’m throwing it in here as some unwholesome blend of Licensed Swill, Casual BS, and Stuff that Gets Unnecessary Sequels Way Too Often.
Moving on, we come to ports, remasters, remakes, compilations, and other smoke-blowing about the age of a so-called “new release.” Sadly, it looks like the Games Industry hasn’t learned anything or decided to change its ways, as the absolute bulk of January’s “new” titles… aren’t. The Nintendo Switch is still getting dumped on, even with rumors flying of a successor console being announced later this year. But for now, Nintendo’s aging hybrid device is getting a compilation of ‘Life is Strange’ games, “TriggerHeart Excelica,” “Guilty Gear -Strive-,” “PopSlinger,” “Elrentos Wanderings,” “Truck & Logistics Simulator,” “Cuisineer,” “Cricket: Jae’s Really Peculiar Game,” “Read Only Memories: NEURODIVER,” “Tales of Graces F,” “Ys: The Oath in Felghana,” and “Lost Ruins,” the latter 7 of which are also hitting PlayStation. PlayStation, on its own, is no slouch in receiving crusty, old releases, either, with “Resident Evil 2,” “Resident Evil 3,” “Honkai: Star Rail,” and “Darksiders 2” all coming to the platform. Meanwhile, Xbox is only getting a handful of those ports, because LOL Xbox.
With all of the old stuff pushed aside, the actual new releases are finally visible at the bottom of the barrel… and that turn of phrase is definitely applicable here. There are only 3 new multi-platform titles coming in January, and all of them are real winners: A ‘Sniper Elite’ sequel, a sequel to “Phantom Brave” – a 21-year-old PlayStation 2 TRPG by Nippon Ichi (so you know it will have their signature super-grindy tedium), and a ‘Dynasty Warriors’ sequel with the ‘Origins’ subtitle (which is officially worn out after being used multiple times by Ubisoft and every other “AAA” publisher out there). A big old “nothankyou.jpg” to all of them!
Lastly, we’ve got exclusives… and let’s just say that neither of these (yes, two) titles are going to sell any systems. Sony is getting “Winter Games Challenge,” basically an Olympics game with the serial numbers filed off. Nintendo is getting “Genso Manege,” an otome or ‘princess’ themed Visual Novel that is of little interest to anyone.
OOF! Not a good way to start the year, Games Industry! There isn’t a single thing coming in January that I’m interested in… and with my backlog approaching 150, I’m perfectly okay with that.
Backlog Embiggened: +0
