Ranking the 2025 Xbox Developer Direct

If you follow this blog, you may have figured out that I enjoy ranking things. I planned on catching up on reviews over the next few weeks, but after watching the Xbox Developer Direct yesterday, I just needed to write about it (and rank it).

Xbox Developer Directs have become one of my favorite showcases in all of gaming. Regardless of what games are shown, I really enjoy that there are only 4-5 games usually, and they are all given a lot of space to sell their vision. I also really like that so many different employees at these studios get opportunities to talk. It’s interesting hearing pitches from people that aren’t necessarily as polished on camera as PR people or heads of the studio. The looks into the workplaces are fun, too. The interface is also strong. It’s just all really well done.

As cool as the format is, the games shown also delivered in damn near every way. Every single game shown got me more excited for it by a fair bit after watching. My top two showcases sold me in ways that very few showcases ever do.

These ranks are all based on what games managed to increase my excitement with their showcase. If I was already really excited for a game and feel equally excited about it, it would rank below a trailer that increased my excitement from a 6/10 to an 8/10. With that, let’s get to the ranks!

4. Ninja Gaiden 4

This was the advertised surprise of the show. If you went into this with expectations of something massive like the Oblivion remake, I guess this might seem disappointing. If you went into this with an open mind and ready for anything, this was a damn cool surprise. It has been a long time since we have had a new Ninja Gaiden game, and every element of this looked excellent. Platinum Games working with Team Ninja is a dream team that brings a lot of action bonafides to the table. These are also two of the only major action developers out there that aren’t all about making soulslikes, so I expect this game to feel different than a lot of the modern-day action games out there.

The action here looked so crisp, I thought the platforming looked pretty good, and even some elements of the story looked kind of interesting. I like that there seem to be some cool set piece moments mixed in, too. It’s also nice that this should be coming out this year, and they threw in a Ninja Gaiden 2 remaster as a neat cherry on top. I still need to see more before I’m fully excited about it, but this was a fun surprise and a great introduction to Ninja Gaiden 4.

3. South of Midnight

I have been interested in South of Midnight, but I’ve also had a healthy level of skepticism with it. I wasn’t a big fan of We Happy Few, and the bits of the game that I’ve seen so far hadn’t totally won me over. Everything about this game is just so different. From tackling stories about the deep south to the stopmotion-y style, it made me feel like it was going to be hard to pull off. And I hadn’t felt like I had really seen much from the core gameplay yet either.

Well, this showcase set out to give the pitch on its core gameplay and concepts, and I think it did a really solid job with it. I still have some small concerns, but I’m officially excited to check this out now.

First off, I am totally sold on the art direction now. I thought the stop motion style could be a little distracting. But everything here looked smoother than I thought it would, and it didn’t seem overwhelming during the combat, which was a concern of mine. I also thought the moveset, animations, and sound design all seemed quite solid for the combat. The pull mechanic also looked fun. I thought the enemies looked like they might be a tad too sponge-y, but this was still really neat.

For what it’s worth, Microsoft really seems content to let its developers take some major risks. Pentiment from a few years ago was something unlike anything else. Hi-Fi Rush was a bit of a risk, and I’d argue Hellblade II was also a pretty bold project in many ways. South of Midnight seems like the next one for the true gamers out there that just crave unique and interesting experiences, but with a bigger budget than your standard indie game. I’m not fully bought in, but this brought me a pretty long way towards getting there.

2. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

The True BigNerdGaming sickos (Hi Paul) might already know that this is my #1 most anticipated game of 2025. By that logic, it should be almost impossible for this game to rank above #4 on this list because it can’t necessarily win me over anymore.

But it turns out… it could absolutely win me over more. I loved hearing the backstory behind the development studio forming. The lead writer (Jennifer Sveberg-Yen) did an incredible job of selling me on the story. I love the themes they want to explore, and I really loved how they shunned “good vs. evil” storytelling, and instead tried to make complicated characters with varying motivations. It seemed fascinating. The bits of voice acting and writing that were shown off also seemed tremendous.

This game also looked really dark, but they showed off some goofiness and humor, too. I think this will be much needed and enhance the game a lot, much like it does in most Final Fantasy games.

And of course, the battle system and art direction both look absolutely incredible. I love how they talked about all of the playtesting they did to make the combat work. The customization options were a huge surprise and looked even more robust than something like Metaphor, which I did not expect.

And then the world map was a GIANT surprise. It looked like exploration had quite a bit of depth to it, but it also looked like it could be taken in as much or as little as you want. God DAMN this presentation just kept getting better and better. I couldn’t believe it.

And the release date isn’t even far away. This blew me away. This looks like official “I need to request this day off work” type stuff.

1. Doom: The Dark Ages

The first Doom: The Dark Ages trailer was so good that I realized that I had to go back and play the last two games, which I somehow missed out on.

I had a blast with DOOM (2016), and I am not far into DOOM Eternal, but I really love it as well. But I’ve been worried that I was going to DOOM myself out. Playing three games from the same series all within six months is not something that usually works for me. I always crave something new.

This trailer put that concern to bed. I was shocked at how dramatically different this game seems to look compared to the last two games. The shield mechanic gives you a defensive element that past games didn’t. The new melee options look incredible. And this seems to have a lot more new guns than you would expect. I haven’t felt like DOOM Eternal has mixed up the gun formula all that much from DOOM (2016). This looks dramatically different. The sort of medieval setting seems to have allowed them to really go wild with the weapons. The new glory kills and melee options seem so top-tier.

Also, while I always consider the DOOM games to be “intense,” I’m not sure if I’d classify them as “epic.” Well, that seems like it is going to change with this game. These battlefields looked huge, and there were way more enemies on screen than in any past DOOM game. Playing this game looks like it is going to feel like being in a real DOOM war of some sort. That seems incredibly cool.

The exploration also looked fun, and I have a lot of faith that I’ll love that. DOOM Eternal made huge strides over DOOM with its map, and I’m excited to see if they improve on that once again. The story also seems to be much better told, as they said that they are taking the story out of the codex and putting it into the cutscenes. This really seems like the ultimate DOOM experience.

I’m so impressed at how id Software could just keep running DOOM back with minimal changes, and people would still love it. But they truly strive for more and seem to want to innovate with each new release. I respect the hell out of that. This went from my #5 most anticipated game to either #2 or #3. This made a huge impact on me and hyped me up more than any other presentation at this show.

It was the perfect cap to an awesome show. This was all pure cinema.