Image: Kepler Interactive
Here’s everything we saw during the Xbox Developer Direct 2025.
This week, Microsoft held an Xbox Developer Direct to show off five games coming to the Xbox Series X|S in 2025. The hour-long presentation boasted a few heavyweight announcements, such as the reveal of Ninja Gaiden 4, a release date announcement for Doom: the Dark Ages, and more gameplay from South of Midnight.
Here are all the announcements you might have missed from January 2025’s Xbox Developer Direct:
Ninja Gaiden 4 (Autumn 2025)
Developers PlatinumGames and Team Ninja are teaming up to give Ninja Gaiden fans the first new mainline entry in the series for over a decade: Ninja Gaiden 4. This game features a new protagonist named Yakumo, who comes into conflict with returning protagonist Ryu Hayabusa in a cyberpunk version of Tokyo.
Read more about the game here.
Ninja Gaiden 2 Black (out now)
Built with Unreal Engine 5, the 2008 action-adventure game Ninja Gaiden 2 is officially getting a remaster with slick new visuals for modern platforms.
South of Midnight (8 April, 2025)
Compulsion Games’ stylish third-person action-adventure game South of Midnight showed off new gameplay footage this week. The footage delved into the game’s story and characters, and showed off more of its breathtaking magical world.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (24 April, 2025)
A strange figure known as the Paintress paints a number on her monolith once a year, causing everyone above that age to fade into nothingness. Mankind has begun sending expeditions aimed to kill the Paintress, and this game follows expedition number 33. This RPG is inspired by Japanese RPGs of old, including an explorable 3D world map.
Doom: the Dark Ages (May 15, 2025)
Developer id Software is returning to the world of Doom in this prequel, which follows the Doomguy’s efforts to slay hordes of hellish demons as part of the Sentinel warriors. This medieval fantasy shooter arms players with an unbelievable arsenal of weaponry, in what the developer says is its “most ambitious game yet.”
