One of the best launches of 2025 has to be Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which got people on board fast despite coming from an unknown studio. There were virtually no bugs that hindered progress, and people absolutely devoured it on a plethora of systems and are still thinking about it months later. Once that next Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 update comes out, the hype will spike once again.
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That’s an example of a good launch, but not every launch can be a solid one. Sometimes it takes time and dedication for developers to fix their work and make their game as good as it can be. So far, MindsEye, another 2025 game, has not rectified its mistakes. One day, it could be a comeback story like these other examples that went from bad to middling to game-changing.
Among Us
From Nothing To Everything
Among Us
- Released
- June 5, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- E10+ for Everyone 10+: Mild Blood, Fantasy Violence
- Developer(s)
- InnerSloth
- Genre(s)
- Party Game
Like many indie games that appear on Steam , Among Us struggled to get recognized in 2018. By some miracle, it started to gain attraction during the 2020 pandemic when everyone was stuck at home and needed good games to socialize with their friends safely online.
Thanks to the boom in popularity, the developer, Innersloth, was going to start work on the sequel, but halted that project to focus on expanding the original. Since 2020, they have added tons of updates, crossover promotions, and they even have a cartoon in the making, along with a lot of merchandise for fans to buy.
Cyberpunk 2077
Daft Punks
Cyberpunk 2077
- Released
- December 10, 2020
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs and Alcohol
- Developer(s)
- CD Projekt Red
CD Projekt Red was flying high after the success and praise of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, meaning that their next game, Cyberpunk 2077, had a lot of hype behind it. Unfortunately, the launch was a bit rushed. The designated platforms, especially previous-gen consoles, could not run it, as they were loaded with glitches. This included PC copies of the game.
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Players lucky enough to have a new system at launch in 2020, like a PS5, had better-running copies, although there were still a lot of crash reports. It was beyond a disaster, but the developer kept at it for two years, and by 2022, the next-gen versions were ready, and an expansive DLC was on the way a year later. It took a long time, but CD Projekt Red course-corrected their Cyberpunk ship and even scored a hit anime out of the deal.
No Man’s Sky
Infinite Space
No Man's Sky
- Released
- August 9, 2016
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T for Teen: Fantasy Violence, Animated Blood
- Developer(s)
- Hello Games
No Man’s Sky was hyped up for years, and when it launched in 2016 for PC and PS4, it couldn’t have landed with a clunkier thud. While the game did deliver on the promise of being able to fly to an infinite number of planets, and it was relatively glitch-free, there was nothing exciting about the experience.
Players could go to planets and explore for life, but the universe felt empty. Hello Games kept tweaking it, though, with the first big breakthrough coming in 2018 thanks to the No Man's Sky Next update coinciding with the Xbox One launch. It added more features, including multiplayer, and this was the first step towards fulfilling No Man’s Sky's promise and making it the space simulator dream it was originally intended to be.
Fallout 76
An Apocalyptic Launch
Fallout 76
- Released
- November 14, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
The Fallout series reached new heights when Bethesda took over, which helped launch a new era with Fallout 3. That’s why Fallout 76 got so much hype behind it when it was announced as an MMO game in June 2018, with a set release for that November. They hit their date, but unfortunately, everything else went wrong.
There were glitches, a big open world to explore with nothing to do in it, and the preorder bonuses were a whole other debacle. The game would not get proper human NPCs until the Wastelanders update in 2020, which came just in time for the pandemic. While the stigma hasn’t fully left the game yet, fans who are playing admit it’s in a much better state now.
Final Fantasy 14
A Full Reboot
Final Fantasy 14
- Released
- August 27, 2013
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T for Teen - Language, Mild Blood, Sexual Themes, Use of Alcohol, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Square Enix
- Genre(s)
- MMORPG
Square Enix launched their first MMO based on the Final Fantasy series, Final Fantasy 11, in 2002 in Japan and two years later in North America. It found enough success to spur the creation of a spiritual sequel in Final Fantasy 14 in 2010. The launch was met with a lot of upset fans because of the way quests rolled out, the weird Job system, the combat, and plenty more.
Square Enix kept at it, so much so that they shut the game down in 2012 to revamp it, with the relaunch, titled Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn, launching in 2013. This new version has found wild success, including five major expansions, the last of which was released in 2024. Thanks to its giant world, tie-in events, and improved Job system, many Final Fantasy fans believe this could be the best game in the series, including its story.
Sea Of Thieves
Just Keep Sailing
Sea of Thieves
- Released
- March 20, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
Like No Man’s Sky, what Sea of Thieves lacked the most was content when it was released in 2018. This was the first new game from Rare in years, and fans had high hopes. The game ran perfectly fine and players did like it as a way to hang out with friends, but it wasn’t the swashbuckling pirate adventure they were promised, and was more akin to something like Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag.
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Fast-forward a year, and the first big anniversary update added a lot more content, on top of what was added throughout 2018. It was finally more of a game and less of a sailing simulator. Today, Sea of Thieves is brimming with content, from engaging quests to bombastic ship battles to tie-ins with movies like The Goonies and Pirates of the Caribbean.
Star Wars Battlefront 2 (2017)
The Tale Of Microtransactions
Star Wars Battlefront 2
- Released
- November 17, 2017
WHERE TO PLAY
Not to be confused with Star Wars: Battlefront 2 from 2005, Star Wars Battlefront 2 is a 2017 title that aimed to outdo the first reboot from 2015, which lacked standard content like a big single-player campaign. While this sequel did have a campaign, it wasn’t something that was reviewed well. The amount of content was still lacking overall, but the real crux of the situation was the microtransactions.
Because Star Wars Battlefront 2 was a full-priced game, the microtransaction system was lampooned by critics and fans alike, leading to EA eventually removing the system entirely. Also, through many patches, eventually the game was re-released in 2019 with all content ready and waiting alongside the base game, rather than hiding behind in-game purchases. This didn’t make the game hugely popular right away, but since then, it has steadily seen spikes in its player count here and there, including one back in June 2025. It’s a game that keeps some Star Wars fans happy for sure, despite the rough start.
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