2025 has been an intriguing year for gaming. From major delays to big-name titles to the emergence of generative AI, there have been many talking points. However, gamers simply want to play games and, on this page, you will find the biggest gaming highlights of the year.
The Return of Kart Racing Games
In the 1990s we witnessed the birth of the Mario Kart franchise and have seen several Mario Kart games including the 2014 release of Mario Kart 8. Other companies tried to fill the gap from 2014 onwards but nothing caught the public’s imagination until 2025. Nintendo released Mario Kart World as a launch title for Switch 2 including 24-person multiplayer races. Mario Kart World was out in March and September saw the release of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, with many players enjoying the speed and look of the game when compared to Mario Kart World. Kirby Air Riders and Garfield Kart 2 – All You Can Drift were further additions to the kart racing line-up of 2025, with the genre enjoying a strong comeback.
Remakes
For gamers waiting for remakes of their favourite video games, 2025 was a great year. Final Fantasy Tactics is a wonderful example, originally released in 1997, players were once betting fake money on battles in this game. Thanks to the Fanatics casino promo code, it’s possible to bet on a huge variety of games. It is unclear if we will see betting on the Final Fantasy Tactics remake but 2025 has seen the return of many big name titles of the past, including Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, Marvel Cosmic Invasion, and Dragon Quest. Not all have hit the heights of their heyday but gamers who played the original version of these games were more than happy to see the updated titles in 2025.
Cooperative Gaming
Multiplayer games continued to thrive in 2025 but the trend edged more towards cooperative gaming than previous years. The release and success of Split Fiction had a significant role to play and developer, Hazelight Studios, have been leading the way in terms of cooperative gaming. A Way Out was their first foray into cooperative gaming and the follow-up title, It Takes Two, won Game of the Year in 2021. Spit Fiction may not taste the same success as It Takes Two but the way the game combines multiple genres into a single title is impressive, with fantasy and science fiction settings alternating throughout.
Another of the other leading cooperative games released in 2025 was Lego Voyagers. Players must work together as Lego bricks to solve puzzles and progress in the game. The controls are not easy to master at first but Lego Voyagers is a relaxing gaming experience aimed towards a younger audience but enjoyed by people of all ages, which is the case for many Lego video game titles.
So, the biggest gaming highlights of 2025 have been the resurgence of kart racing games, remakes of popular titles from the past, and cooperative gaming.