But the games that really stood out for me in 2025 were the ones that seemed to come out of nowhere. Those range from hard-to-categorize roguelike puzzle games to a gonzo, punishing mountainous walking simulation, the best Geometry Wars clone in years, and a touching look at the difficulties of adolescence through the surprisingly effective lens of mini-games.

As we look toward 2026, there are plenty of other big-budget projects that the industry is busy preparing for (the delayed Grand Theft Auto VI chief among them). If next year is anything like this year, though, we can look forward to plenty more games that no one saw coming suddenly vaulting into view as new classics.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Ubisoft Quebec; Windows, MaxOS, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2, iPad

When I was younger, I wanted—and expected—virtually every game I played to blow me away with something I’d not seen before. It was easier to hit that bar in the ’90s, when both the design and technology of games were moving at an incredible pace.

Now, as someone who still games in his 40s, I’m excited to see that when it happens, but I don’t expect it, Now, I increasingly appreciate games that act as a sort of comfort food, and I value some games as much for their familiarity as I do their originality.

That’s what Assassin’s Creed Shadows is all about (as I wrote when it first came out). It follows a well-trodden formula, but it’s a beautifully polished version of that formula. Its world is grand and escapist, its audio and graphics presentation is immersive, and it makes room for many different playstyles and skill levels.

The post Ars Technica’s Top 20 video games of 2025 appeared first on MASSIVE News.

If you’ve been sleeping on the Akira Kurosawa-inspired, Assassin’s Creed-esque samurai game Ghost of Tsushima, you’ve been missing out. Given that it recently got a PC release, this is a great time to catch up on it—but now there’s even more reason to do so, as Sony just announced a sequel titled Ghost of Yōtei.

Slated for a 2025 release, the game bears similarities to its predecessor. It follows a wandering samurai who rides horses across picturesque, wind-swept fields, befriends animals, and defeats enemies in katana duels.

Whereas Ghost of Tsushima was set on Tsushima Island during the time of the Mongol invasion, Ghost of Yotei is (fittingly) set around the foot of Mount Yōtei, one of Japan’s most picturesque locales—the area is called Hokkaido today.

Most fans of the first game expected a new location in Tsushima‘s sequel, but they may not have expected the other big change: there appears to be a new protagonist. The woman who appears in the trailers is not Jin Sakai, the main character of Tsushima. This suggests the franchise will move forward with something like an anthology format instead of direct sequels. A blog post from Sony says the new character is named Atsu.

The blog post also says that Yōtei takes place in 1603, 300 years after the events of Tsushima.

Developer Sucker Punch hasn’t revealed anything about the gameplay, though, beyond what we see in the trailer. So far, what we see looks almost identical to what we’ve played before. There are surely going to be more announcements to come, though.

Listing image by Sony

The post Ghost of Yōtei: The acclaimed Ghost of Tsushima is getting a sequel appeared first on MASSIVE News.