In recent times, the period following Christmas and before the arrival of spring has surprisingly become a prime window for some of the gaming industry’s biggest hits. It’s a time traditionally known for being quiet, with everyone having indulged in festive feasts and holiday-purchased games, seemingly content without a hunger for new titles.
Yet, over the last decade, there’s been a sly strategy at play. Publishers have been seizing this supposedly calm window to spotlight hidden gems that might otherwise be overshadowed by more prominent, mainstream releases.
Reflecting back, one of the first standouts was Dying Light. Released a staggering decade ago, it made waves in 2015 as a breakthrough new franchise. The timing was perfect, riding high on the popularity of both zombie themes and the PS4 open-world era.
This trend continued, with each year seeing a well-crafted indie game or an underrated series finding its moment in the sun by steering clear of the fierce Christmas competition and instead opting for a post-holiday launch.
Year by year, this tactic became more pronounced, especially when Resident Evil stepped back into the spotlight as a gaming titan with its masterful Resident Evil 2 Remake. This game not only caught the public’s attention but also sparked a trend that still resonates.
Fast forward to 2025, and the industry’s kept secret is now common knowledge. February alone is packed with four major releases from some of the globe’s leading publishers and top-notch indie developers.
A couple of titles like Assassin’s Creed and Avowed landed in this slot due to delays and development hiccups. Meanwhile, others like Monster Hunter and Kingdom Come are revisiting this strategic launch period, hoping to recapture past successes.
No matter how they arrived, February 2025 is shaping into an epic RPG showdown. Many games, each offering countless hours of gameplay, will vie for a spot in your limited free time. Let’s size up the competitors.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 – February 4, 2025
Kicking things off is Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, aiming to seize the throne—quite literally. Of the four contenders, it’s perhaps the most grounded and yet possibly the most daring too. Underpinned by its unique "dungeons not dragons" philosophy, it delivers a medieval role-playing experience that’s part renaissance fair, part sandbox, with a dash of delightful chaos.
Built using CryEngine, traditionally crafted for intense FPS experiences, Kingdom Come stretches its capabilities to animate bustling medieval towns and maintain a living world state. The original game achieved a brilliantly immersive world that always felt on the brink of something new.
As someone who spent countless hours exploring the first game, I can attest that its novel approach to role-playing sounded fantastic in theory but had mixed outcomes in practice. For example, instead of a typical skill progression, the game simplifies tasks as you become more familiar with them. This unique approach to skills initially made tasks like lockpicking maddeningly difficult and turned some mandatory battles into repeated defeats if you favored stealth over combat. But it also innovatively required players to learn reading to understand books, recipes, and road signs.
Deliverance 2 continues the saga of Henry of Skalitz, a seemingly lowly blacksmith who’s risen by chance and cleverness into a crucial figure in the Holy Roman Empire’s power struggles. I’m eager to see how the game balances authentic progression for an established character without resorting to the trope of erasing past abilities like Ratchet or Kratos often experience.
Promising to double the size of its already expansive predecessor and featuring improved performance and refined mechanics, how it handles this increased scale will be crucial. Especially when weighed against a month filled with heavyweight releases, it’s poised to catch some off guard.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows – February 14, 2025
Despite facing numerous hurdles, I trust the studio behind my all-time favorite entry in the Assassin’s Creed saga—2018’s vibrant and adventurous Odyssey. As one of the industry’s blockbuster franchises, Assassin’s Creed Shadows has a lot riding on its shoulders this February, especially as Ubisoft looks to bounce back from their recent, and costly, missteps with Skull and Bones and Star Wars: Outlaws.
Fans have long dreamed of a Japan setting for the series, but with Ghost of Tsushima and Rise of the Ronin already pêave painted visions of a feudal Japan, there’s a buzz around how Ubisoft plans to offer a fresh take on this landscape without the mystical allure that ancient Greece or Norse worlds provided.
On a mechanical level, Assassin’s Creed Shadows appears to be addressing long-standing series criticisms. The introduction of dual protagonists, the shinobi Naoe and samurai Yasuke, promises a diverse combat system utilizing an array of weapons including katanas, tanto short swords, and naginata spears.
Crucially, the game is also revamping its stealth mechanics, which could finally deliver the true stealth experience fans have been waiting for in an Assassin’s Creed game.
Additionally, Yasuke’s character, with his towering presence, contrasts sharply with the stealthier, more elusive Naoe, offering an intriguing gameplay dynamic where Yasuke naturally attracts attention, impacting gameplay strategy.
While I found the previous entry, Valhalla, to be overly drawn out in both its side quests and main story arc, Shadows seems to be pursuing a less guided mission structure. Introducing richer gameplay elements with diverse and engaging mechanics spread across two protagonists could set it on a path to rejuvenate Assassin’s Creed once more.
Avowed – February 18, 2025
When a release calendar is as fluid and competitive as ours, delaying a game doesn’t guarantee you’ll avoid competition. Despite pushing back its release to steer clear of rivals like Stalker 2 and Indiana Jones, Obsidian Entertainment’s Avowed now finds itself sandwiched between two of the year’s anticipated blockbusters. Yet, could this accessible launch timing be just the edge it needs?
If The Outer Worlds was Obsidian’s concise, sci-fi homage to Fallout, Avowed presents a Skyrim-style adventure through the lens of Dragon Age. Players will navigate through tightly crafted maps teeming with loot, adversaries, and the studio’s signature intricate quests full of surprising choices and intrigue.
As someone who admires nearly every Obsidian game—from the legendary Fallout: New Vegas to uniquely engaging titles like Alpha Protocol, Grounded, and South Park: The Stick of Truth—Avowed is the game that piques my interest most this coming February. Nevertheless, it risks being overlooked.
Set in the elaborate world of Pillars of Eternity and boasting a whimsical, adventurous fantasy aesthetic, Avowed’s appeal will hinge on its storytelling prowess and classic quest design. If it can pair that narrative depth with engaging gameplay mechanics, it might just outperform expectations despite likely having the smallest budget of this February’s contenders.
Monster Hunter Wilds – February 28, 2025
The Monster Hunter series inhabits a vastly different realm than it did when Monster Hunter World took advantage of a quiet week back in February 2018. After years of flirting with wider western success, this reimagined Monster Hunter title finally struck gold with its strategic release timing.
Now, with numerous competitors eager to capitalize on the monster hunting trend—from the free-to-play Dauntless, which recently stumbled with a big update, to indie breakout Fera: The Sundered Tribes and bigger projects like EA’s Wild Hearts—Monster Hunter Wilds is back to claim its prize as the genre’s reigning champion.
While its predecessor, the Switch-focused Monster Hunter Rise, found big success, it was crafted with a more compact scale in mind. Wilds, in contrast, looks to be a truly expansive experience, offering more dynamic environments with challenging terrains and a broader range across its many biomes.
Creatures erupt from sandy depths, use branches as aerial pathways, and band together to overpower unprepared hunters, further showcasing the vibrant personality of the game’s opposing wildlife. These monsters remain the centerpiece of any Monster Hunter adventure.
Rest assured, Monster Hunter has stepped out of its niche and is poised for success. The question now is how many gamers will conserve their energy and resources for this hunting expedition when it kicks off at month’s end.
So, which quest will you embark on? And which will you tackle years later, when you finally find the time? February alone offers a bounty of choices, and that’s before considering upcoming releases like Elden Ring: Nightreign, Borderlands 4, Death Stranding 2, Ghost of Yotei, Pokemon Legends Z-A, and of course, the much-anticipated GTA 6…
