Everything announced at the Xbox Developer Direct 2025

Sam Smith
xbox developer direct 2025

The Xbox Developer Direct 2025 gave players an exciting insight into the next twelve months. Here’s everything that was revealed at the show.

With all the excitement around the reveal of the Switch 2 and the fact that Xbox games are coming to it, it’s been easy to forget about everything else going on in the world of games. Luckily, the Xbox Developer Update provided a tantalizing look into the future, and it’s an exciting time to be an Xbox player.

Below, we’ll go over everything that was revealed as well as all the new information about the games that were shown off.

Ninja Gaiden 4

  • Release date: Fall 2025
  • Platforms: Xbox Series X/S, PC, and PS5

A new Ninja Gaiden game is coming to Xbox in 2025 complete with its classic ninja protagonist Ryu Hayabusa. In an era where games like Stellar Blade and other difficult hack-and-slash games have become all the rage, Ninja Gaiden returns to show them how it’s done.

In this next entry, we see an abandoned Tokyo struggle against decay. Our protagonist, Yakumo, slashes their way through enemies and parkours across walls, falling platforms, and more – all the while looking incredibly cool.

For this entry, Team Ninja collaborates with Platinum Games to deliver another (hopefully) stellar action game. The team strives to maintain the “dark and hardcore” theme that made previous entries so popular.

Bonus: Ninja Team’s also releasing Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, the definitive edition of the Xbox 360 release from back in 2008. Reworked with Unreal Engine 5 tech, this new version is available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.

South of Midnight

  • Release date: April 8, 2025
  • Platforms: Xbox Series X/S and PC

South of Midnight is set to be “fantastical and macabre,” which matches the tone of Compulsion’s previous work in We Happy Few.

South of Midnight is an action-adventure game that challenges players to confront “mysterious creatures of the Deep South” while also “learning to weave an ancient power to surmount obstacles and unravel your family’s hidden past.”

During the Xbox Developer Direct 2025, we got a glimpse of the game’s setting and main character: Hazel. She is a typical young adult thrust into a magical world. With her powers, the world begins to reveal other equally magical characters, like Catfish, who guide her on her journey as a Weaver.

As she unlocks more magic-weaving abilities, she’ll encounter various enemies, but perhaps the most striking is the uniquely designed boss encounters.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

  • Release date: April 24, 2025
  • Platforms: Xbox Series X/S, PC, and PlayStation

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is an upcoming turn-based RPG that will see a range of characters go on a quest to save the world from a god-like sorceress known as a “Paintress”.

The game resembles Final Fantasy, The Last of Us, and even RPGs like Persona all rolled into one. It looks like it has a deep and emotive story with some of the best voice talents in the business in starring roles.

Sandfall Interactive knows the core of a great RPG is a good story. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 follows Expeditioners, complex characters who aren’t “good or bad”, instead, they feel more like “real people with real experiences.”

The trailer also goes over each character in detail: Gustave, Lune, Sciel, Maelle, and even a cute recruitable NPC, Monoco. But it also showcases the RPG systems in detail. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a turn-based and action-based RPG. You can build characters as you wish and play them however you see fit. Sandfall promises “every character has over 20 unique skills, so each of them should feel different.”

Doom: The Dark Ages

  • Release date: May 15, 2025
  • Platforms: Xbox Series X/S, PC, and PlayStation

Doom Slayer is back and this time he’s going medieval on some demons! Doom: The Dark Ages will channel Id Software’s classic Hexen game as the action goes from sci-fi to a more techno-medieval setting.

This means that Doom Slayer will be trading in his super shotgun for massive axes, flails, and claymores – which already sounds delicious.

Id Software worked on a brand new weapon: A Shield Saw that can block, deflect, and damage at the same time. And there’s a fourth feature: throwing and catching. This is all to prepare you to fight the “baddest demons” they’ve ever created.

Perhaps the most hardcore feature is a massive mecha you can pilot to defeat mega-demons, complete with its own unique skill set.

The dev team also explained that they’ve added a difficulty system allowing players to fine-tune the experience beyond the usual “Easy,” “Normal,” and “Hard” settings.

That’s every game announced during the Developer Direct 2025. Although it was brief, each game was given ample time for the developers to elaborate on the features they wanted to showcase.

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