13 Exciting Games Kicking Off The New Year In January

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Donkey Kong, a cyborg, and a mystical warrior pre-order some games.

Another year is in the books and that means that backlog season is officially upon us. We used to get several months for catching up on old stuff as the new year got off to a slow start, but now the season barely lasts a couple of weeks. January might be a good time to give your wallet a rest before the February onslaught, but that doesn’t meant there’s nothing releasing that’s worth checking out. Here’s everything, from Spider-Man 2 on PC to obscure PlayStation 2-era tactical RPGs, that’s on our release calendar radar for January 2025.

Wuthering Waves is a Genshin Impact-like with more hardcore combat. The gacha-RPG blew up on mobile last year and finally hits consoles this month by way of PS5.

Freedom Wars was one of the best games to ever grace the PlayStation Vita. Over a decade later, the sci-fi, Monster Hunter-inspired grindfest is finally getting ported to modern platforms. Available on PS4, PS5, Switch, and PC, the remaster overhauls some controls, mechanics, and visuals to introduce a whole new audience to the irresistibly grim anime satire of the original.

Pre-order Freedom Wars Remastered: Steam

The Donkey Kong Country revival that hit Wii in 2010 and was ported to 3DS a few years later is now getting overhauled for the Nintendo Switch. While not as good as the more recent Tropical Freeze, Donkey Kong Country Returns still packs the familiar platforming gameplay and 2D collectathons that made the original DKC games so beloved. The HD port will also offer a “modern” mode that gives you more hearts to make up for its grueling difficulty.

Pre-order Donkey Kong Country Returns HD: Nintendo

The Musou series returns following its longest hiatus ever. Seven years after Dynasty Warriors 9, Dynasty Warriors Origins will take a more focused, less comprehensive approach to the historical source material and sport up to 10,000 enemies on screen at once. Longtime fans are already having fun getting their asses kicked by Lu Bu in the current demo on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

Pre-order Dynasty Warriors Origins: Amazon

Tales of Graces is the 12th entry in the action-RPG series. Tales of Graces f was the HD port of the game from Wii to PS5. Tales of Graces f Remastered overhauls the game even further and brings it to all modern consoles and PC. I haven’t played it yet myself, but it has a reputation as one of the better Tales games with top-notch combat to makeup for its cliched story.

Pre-order Tales of Graces f Remastered: Humble Bundle

Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist is the sequel to one of the more underrated Soulslike Metroidvanias. It came to Steam Early Access last year and sports a very pretty art style and excellent soundtrack. The full 1.0 release arrives alongside console ports on PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch.

Pre-order Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist: Steam

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is one of the most beautiful games of 2024. I fully expect it to look even more spectacular on PC this month. I’m sure the mods will be bonkers as well, though the game’s developers are asking fans to not embarrass them. There’s so much to love in this sprawling RPG, even if the ending (it’s part two of a trilogy) is a bit of a mess.

Pre-order Final Fantasy VII Rebirth: Humble Bundle

Star Wars Episode I: Jedi Power Battles is a platforming beat ‘em up where you play through the events of The Phantom Menace like it’s an all-killer, no-filler arcade brawler. The lo-fi textures look uncanny in HD, but the 2000s charm is there.

Pre-order Star Wars Episode I: Jedi Power Battles: Steam

Eternal Strands is a third-person action-adventure about fighting bosses with a magical cloak and telekinetic powers that’s loosely inspired by Shadow of the Colossus and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It’s the first game from Yellow Brick Games and it’s directed by Mike Laidlaw, previously a lead designer at BioWare on Dragon Age before moving to Ubisoft to work on a since-cancelled King Arthur game.

Pre-order Eternal Strands: Steam

A sequel to the 2004 PS2 game, Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero is a tactical RPG in the visual mold of Disgaea. It follows a girl and her warrior ghost as they seek to help another phantom reunite with her father and the rest of his pirate crew. The game revolves around isometric battles in which custom units can only be summoned to fight for a few turns before they disappear again.

Pre-order Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero: Amazon

Sony’s PC port machine delivers Spider-Man 2 to Steam this month, less than two years after it hit PS5. The sequel puts Peter Parker up against Kraven the Hunter and Venom in a sprawling comic-book story arc made more manageable by the ability to also play as Miles Morales. It’s one of the best-feeling action games out there.

Pre-order Spider-Man 2: Steam