14 Video Games (and One Console) We Can’t Wait to Play This Summer
The most hyped event this summer is arguably not a movie, concert, or Broadway show but the launch of a video game console: the Nintendo Switch 2. Essentially a beefed-up version of its 2017 predecessor, Nintendo’s latest hardware arrives with a bona fide doozy: an open-world Mario Kart game. But rest assured, if you haven’t managed to snag a console at preorders, the rest of summer is shaping up to be a big one. Topping the non–Nintendo Switch 2 bill is a multiplayer take on Elden Ring with Hideo Kojima’s postapocalyptic hiking weepie, Death Stranding 2 running a close second. Throw in offbeat sports titles, blockbuster remakes of beloved stealth-action games, and even an art-house herding game and this has all the makings of a killer 2025 mid-section.
May
To A T
May 28
PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S|X
Trust Keita Takahashi, famed Japanese designer of bonkers and low-key profound titles like Katamari Damacy and Wattam, to reimagine the coming-of-age story in such distinct style. The young protagonist suffers from a disability, that of the dreaded T-pose, perhaps the most famous glitch in all of video games. With their body locked continuously in this position, arms stretched out horizontally to their sides, they must complete everyday activities like eating breakfast, getting dressed, and brushing their teeth (try doing that without bending your elbow!). The visuals are chunky and cartoony, the vibe is soft and welcoming, and you’ll get to explore a small town filled with, one would imagine, a cast of wonderfully oddball characters. Takahashi’s latest looks perfect for a lazy summer afternoon.
Elden Ring: Nightreign
May 30
PC, Playstation 4/5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X
From the Dark Souls franchise to Elden Ring, FromSoftware games tend to reward careful, methodical behavior. But it seems as if the Japanese studio is throwing that design principle out with Elden Ring: Nightreign, a blistering, stress-inducingly fast action game that sees you team up with two pals online to rampage across its elegiac fantasy world. There is a battle-royal-esque structure to the cooperative action: circles of dwindling safety that you must vault toward. Of course, these circles aren’t really safe but areas to which FromSoftware funnels increasingly high-powered foes, culminating with so-called Night Lords. Nightreign seems to be a game of accrual as much of dexterity, rewarding you for ransacking fallen smaller bosses on your road to the main guys. The question is whether FromSoftware diehards are along for this manic, loot-driven ride: Do they have the stomach for playing an RPG at 200 mph?
Lost Soul Aside
May 30
PC, PlayStation 5
The blockbusters keep coming out of China. First there was Genshin Impact; then Black Myth: Wukong; next up is Lost Soul Aside, a third-person action game of brain-smoothing, balletic swordplay. This has been cooking for a remarkable nine years, first going viral in 2016 before Sony got involved with then-solo developer Yang Bing. In the intervening years, Lost Soul Aside has grown into a gorgeous sci-fi fantasy romp. We’re detecting shades of Capcom’s Devil May Cry series in the lightning-fast combos and more than a dollop of Final Fantasy in the decidedly angular haircuts of its characters. Can Lost Soul Aside transcend these clear influences? We’ll find out soon enough.
Also Releasing In May
➼ Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny (PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One) — May 23
➼Disney Illusion Island (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X) —May 30
June
Nintendo Switch 2
June 5
It’s here — finally! The Nintendo Switch 2, perhaps the worst-kept secret in all of video games, enjoyed a splashy reveal in April confirming what many had predicted: a souped-up Nintendo Switch capable of running shinier, smoother games. Beyond the steep price tag ($449.99), there were a few more surprises, namely Joy-Con 2 components that snap off the handheld and can be used as a mouse. Confirmed games include Mario Kart World (more on that directly below) and, perhaps most tantalizing of all, a new Donkey Kong game that looks like a riotously fun open-world smash ’em up (more on that a little further down). There’s still no word on new mainline Mario and Zelda games, but that’s not especially a deal-breaker. You can play the likes of Cyberpunk 2077 and Elden Ring in the meantime, and even a smattering of Gamecube classics including, for the first time on modern hardware, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. It looks like a strong start for the Nintendo Switch 2 if not a transcendentally incredible one. Still, you’d better believe this will be sold out for months to come.
Mario Kart World
June 5
Nintendo Switch 2
Here’s the Nintendo Switch 2’s big launch title: an open-world take on Mario Kart that promises fans can drive “virtually everywhere” in the overworld map between races. There’s even dynamic weather that changes as you play. Structurally, this is a gigantic change, perhaps even revolutionary, though the driving itself is quintessentially Mario Kart: drifting elegance, power-up carnage, albeit now featuring up to 24 competitors, which means the on-road action is set to be even more frenzied. An all-new Knockout Tour seems to take full advantage of this newly expansive structure, whisking players between tracks and eliminating those who fall short. We imagine this mode will only sharpen the instincts of ruthless drivers, checkpoints becoming littered with shells, banana skins and the anguished cries of the thwarted.
The Alters
June 13
PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S|X
The Alters has one of 2025’s best premises. With his crew killed, Jan Dolski is the sole survivor stuck aboard a gigantic, circular mining vessel. He has neither the skills nor hands to operate it by himself but thankfully, his corpo bosses have developed a replication machine. So Jan duly uses it, replicating himself with carefree abandon. The resulting game is a modular, management experience in which each replica tends to a particular part of the mining vessel. Survival hinges on finding the right blend of Jans, from botanists and doctors to engineers and dentists Some venture outside to procure resources, at which point the game snaps into more traditional third-person action territory. At other times, they’ll talk among themselves and even with other characters, like Jan’s ex-wife. It’s a genuinely heady mix — the kind of big, off-the-wall, systems-heavy swing we tend to associate with Hideo Kojima.
FBC: Firebreak
June 17
PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S|X
Finnish studio Remedy has made a remarkable name for itself over the past 30 years with its wonderfully offbeat action games featuring brilliant, kinetic gunplay: The likes of Max Payne and Alan Wake franchises deserve their place among gaming’s all-timers. But the world has changed and even a celebrated outfit like Remedy feels the need to dip its toe into the pool of online multiplayer in a bid to keep its fans perpetually engaged. Thankfully, FBC: Firebreak looks about as Remedy a take on online multiplayer as one could reasonably expect: You’re plunged into a bureaucratic office space that has been overtaken by murderous zombielike beings and also — argh! — sticky notes. Because the action is cooperative, it’s just you and your pals versus AI enemies: Forget no-scope headshots from 200 meters away; in FBC: Firebreak, you’re more likely to die under a mountain of paperwork.
Rematch
June 19
PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S|X
Soccer games have barely changed in 15 years: The graphics get prettier, the animations get smoother, and the AI (mostly) gets smarter. Rematch, from French outfit Sloclap, whose last game was a loving ode to martial-arts movie classics, is shaking up the formula — and then some. It’s not 11 versus 11, but 5 on 5; you don’t control the whole team but just one player; and you’re playing online with others keen to flex their Messi-like dribbling prowess and David Beckham–esque passing vision. This is an exuberant, visually stylish imagining of soccer that, say some critics who played the beta preview, gets tantalizingly close to the pure physical joy of kicking an actual soccer ball around with your friends.
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
June 26
PlayStation 5
Gaming’s most celebrated director makes his long-awaited return with Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. Judging by the nearly 45 minutes of trailers and assorted promotional material that have been released to date, Hideo Kojima is doubling down on everything that made the original such a brilliant, weird classic. There will be more hiking through desolate, wide-open spaces; more ghosts; and, of course, more unhinged metamodern storytelling. Norman Reedus and Léa Seydoux return, albeit with gray-blue skin in some scenes; a creepy talking puppet called Dollman debuts; George Miller hangs out with a winged cat. No one, be that in video games, movies, or TV, is doing it like Kojima right now.
Also Releasing in June
➼ Fast Fusion (Nintendo Switch 2) — June 5
➼ Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour (Nintendo Switch 2) — June 5
➼ Dune: Awakening (PC) — June 10
➼ MindsEye (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X) — June 10
➼ Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic (PC, PlayStation 5) — June 13
➼ Tron: Catalyst (PC, PS5, Switch, Xbox Series X) — June 17
➼ Broken Arrow (PC) — June 19
➼ System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster (PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S|X) — June 26
➼ Tamagotchi Plaza (Nintendo Switch 2) — June 27
July
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4
July 11
PC, Playstation 4/5, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X
Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 + 2 revolutionized skateboarding games (and, by extension, sports titles), summoning more than skateboarding’s raw physicality but its culture, ethos, and anarchic spirit. Revisiting these games when they were remade in 2020 was a total pleasure; we’re confident remakes of the third and fourth installments will be just as good. First released in 2001 and 2002, respectively, these games are when the series, having laid down the basics, began to both refine and expand its vision, delivering simultaneously tighter skate action in levels that began to edge into the realm of fantasy: a cruise ship, oil rig, and even Alcatraz. Each level was just begging for you to trick out with a million-point combo.
Donkey Kong Bananza
July 17
Nintendo Switch 2
A perfect, punning title for the game that stole the show at the Switch 2 reveal event. In action-platformer Donkey Kong Bananza, a gold rush has hit the Kong Kingdom. Everyone, including our simian hero, is obsessed with digging into the fully destructible ground to unearth its precious metals and gems. Slapping, stomping, jumping, and diving into the terra firma, DK’s rampages look immensely fun: cathartic, finely calibrated bouts of willful demolition. With so many tiny pieces of the environment flooding the screen, you might think the Switch 2 would start stuttering. Word is Nintendo’s new machine can handle this bulldozing action without breaking a sweat.
Also Releasing in July
➼ EA Sports College Football 26 (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S|X) — July 10
➼ Patapon 1+2: Replay (PC, PS5, Switch) — July 11
➼ Edens Zero (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X) — July 15
➼ Shadow Labyrinth (PC, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series S|X) — July 18
➼ Wuchang: Fallen Feathers (PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S|X) — July 24
➼ Tales of the Shire (PC, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series S|X) — July 29
August
Mafia: The Old Country
August 8
PC, PlayStation 5,Xbox Series X/S
Through fault of its own, open-world crime series Mafia has always existed in the shadow of Grand Theft Auto. Really, the two mob sagas are quite different propositions: Mafia tends toward a more authored experience; GTA is a sillier, more chaotic sandbox affair. The Old Country sees the Mafia franchise return to the roots of U.S. organized crime: Sicily. It stars Enzo, a wannabe mafioso trying to ingratiate himself with the island’s power brokers. The shift in setting, from the States to Sicily, should yield evocative and, at least for a video game, new sights: The story itself begins in the Sicilian sulfur mines before whisking players through a rural landscape of pretty villages and aromatic lemon groves. A sense of place has always been Mafia’s strong suit: In this regard, The Old Country already looks stellar.
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater
August 28
PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S|X
A rare double dose of Kojima this summer is rounded out with Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, a visually ravishing remake of the game-maker’s 2004 stealth-action classic. With Kojima long gone from Konami (a relationship that ended in a publicly acrimonious fashion), it seems as if the Japanese publisher is playing it safe (perhaps a little too safe) with this 2025 revision. Still, we’re excited about getting reacquainted with the setting, a densely forested portion of Russia that’s flush with survival possibilities (like hunting and eating snakes!). We’re also looking forward to dueling with its cast of characters who are gloriously eccentric even by Kojima’s own deeply unhinged standards: The Pain and his swarm of killer hornets; The End, over 100 years old and still wielding a sniper.
Also Releasing in August
➼ Madden NFL 26 (PC, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series S|X)— Aug. 14
➼ Gears of War: Reloaded (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X) — Aug. 26
➼ Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar (PC, Switch, Switch 2) — Aug. 27
Summer TBA
Herdling
PC, Playstation 5, Xbox Series S|X
Of the many agrarian pastimes video-game players enjoy, herding remains underrepresented. The new title from Far series developers Okomotive aims to change that by putting you in charge of a group of mysterious, yaklike creatures who must be guided through a painterly world of grassy plains, mountain passes, and creepy, darkened forests. Visually, the game possesses the style of an art-house European animation, and it seems to occupy that emotional register, too. Judging by these beasts’ big, beautiful, mournful eyes, we just know we’re going to fall for them — and hard. That seems to be the crux of Herdling: These aren’t just animals to be controlled but companions you come to form a deep bond with on the trek to pastures new.
Wheel World
PC, Playstation 4/5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X
Wheel World looks like summer in video-game form, a bright, breezy flash of cycling action whose sense of speed may just cause you to think you can actually feel the wind in your hair. Its structure brings to mind Mario Kart World: There are wider, more open zones to explore in between races of intense cycling action where catching a slipstream is key to securing a win. The game seems to synthesize every kind of cycling out there: chill peddling about the countryside; furious racing; and even downhill mountain action. Riding itself, while no simulation involving gear changes, seems to capture the physicality of the activity, the importance of shifting your weight to make tight corners, and the thrill of hurtling down a hill with the brakes off.