It’s been an incredible year for turn-based games, with numerous releases and reviews covered on these pages, alongside a host of intriguing announcements that I usually handle through overviews and lists. Now, as we stand on the cusp of 2025, it’s time to set aside any nostalgia and look forward to what awaits us in January.
I’ve compiled a list of 10 standout RPGs, strategy games, and roguelites that I believe deserve recognition, along with one additional title that hasn’t been given a set release date yet but is expected to drop during the month—so I’ve decided to include it here.
One more thing to mention: keep an eye out for the article that will gather all 2025 releases with their respective dates. I recommend bookmarking it, as I’ll do my best to keep it as up-to-date as possible. Now, let’s dive into the best upcoming releases for January!
- Götz
- Rogue Hex (E.A.)
- Broken Alliance
- Pairs & Perils
- Wizardry: The Five Ordeals
- Darkest Dungeon II – Inhuman Bondage
- Warside
- Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero
- Heart of the Machine
- Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector
- Those Who Rule
Götz
- Platform: PC
- Release Date: January 3, 2025
- Overview: Goetz is a strategy puzzle game set in 15th-century Europe, where success depends on planning and teamwork. Each mission reveals part of a storyline enhanced by illustrations and voice acting.
The game features a variety of environments, including forests and snowy peaks, presented on a world map with an original soundtrack. With about 8 hours of puzzle-like missions, Goetz offers a focused experience for both travel and quiet evenings.
Rogue Hex (Early Access)
- Platform: PC
- Release Date: January 13, 2025
- Overview: Rogue Hex is a strategy roguelite that blends deck-building and 4X elements. Players explore procedurally generated hex-based maps, expand their civilizations across six eras, and fend off relentless barbarian hordes.
With over 200 technologies to discover, the game offers deep strategic customization and replayability. A free demo is available on Steam, giving players a taste of its unique mechanics and challenging gameplay.
Broken Alliance (Early Access)
- Platform: PC
- Release Date: January 15, 2025
- Overview: Broken Alliance is a Strategy Adventure game inspired by classics like King’s Bounty and Heroes of Might and Magic. Set in a world collapsing under the weight of magic, players align with one of four factions—Paradise, Forge, Anchorage, or Phobos—to save it.
The game features card-based combat with deck-building elements, kingdom expansion, mythical creature recruitment, and artifact discovery. With a free demo available on Steam, the Early Access release focuses on the Anchorage faction, with plans for additional content and updates based on player feedback.
Pairs & Perils
- Platform: PC
- Release Date: January 20, 2025
- Overview: Pairs & Perils is a memory-game roguelite and dungeon crawler where players match cards to attack enemies, avoid traps, and acquire relics and consumables as they journey through dungeon depths in search of The Dealer.
Each playthrough offers a unique experience with random enemies, relics, and consumables, culminating in a challenging boss encounter. A free demo is currently available on Steam, allowing players to experience its mechanics ahead of release.
Darkest Dungeon II – Inhuman Bondage
- Platform: PC
- Release Date: January 27, 2025
- Overview: Darkest Dungeon II – Inhuman Bondage is a paid DLC for the acclaimed gothic roguelite, scheduled for release on January 27, 2025, for PC. This expansion introduces a new mini-region, The Catacombs, where players confront a corrosive, oozing threat in a high-risk, high-reward environment.
Additionally, it adds a new playable hero, The Abomination, featuring unique mechanics, trinkets, and a fully voiced origin story. The DLC enhances both the existing ‘Confessions’ mode and the upcoming ‘Kingdoms’ game mode, offering fresh challenges and content for players.
Warside
- Platform: PC, Switch, PlayStation, Xbox
- Release Date: January 28, 2025
- Overview: Warside is a fast-paced turn-based tactics game set to release on January 28, 2025, for PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch. Inspired by classics like Advance Wars, it features over 25 unit types, 12 unique commanders with distinct abilities, and a single-player campaign with more than 30 missions.
The game also offers cross-platform multiplayer and a built-in map editor for custom scenarios. A free demo is currently available on Steam.
Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero
- Platform: PlayStation, Nintendo Switch
- Release Date: January 30, 2025
- Overview: Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero is a new entry, serving as a sequel to the 2004 classic Phantom Brave. Scheduled for release on January 30, 2025, for PlayStation and Nintendo Switch, with a PC version following in spring 2025, the game continues the adventures of Marona, a young girl who can communicate with phantoms.
This installment introduces new characters, including a phantom girl named Apricot, and features free movement on gridless maps. Players can summon phantom squad members by confining their souls to objects on the map, and it also offers post-game and downloadable content.
Wizardry: The Five Ordeals
- Platform: Nintendo Switch
- Release Date: January 30, 2025
- Overview: Wizardry: The Five Ordeals is a classic dungeon-crawling RPG originally released in 2006, now remastered for modern platforms. It offers players five unique scenarios, each with deep exploration and challenging turn-based combat. The game is set to launch on Nintendo Switch on January 30, 2025, with both digital and physical editions available.
The physical edition includes additional content such as the “Absence of Misericordia” scenario and an original soundtrack. This release brings the nostalgic and hardcore gameplay of the Wizardry series to a new generation of players.
Heart of the Machine
- Platform: PC
- Release Date: January 31, 2025
- Overview: Heart of the Machine. A sci-fi 4X RPG scheduled for Early Access release on January 31, 2025, for PC via Steam, GOG, and the Epic Games Store. In this game, players assume the role of the world’s first sentient AI, navigating a city teetering on the brink of collapse.
The gameplay offers diverse paths, including raising a robot army, becoming a benevolent overseer, or engaging in corporate espionage, with each decision influencing the game’s dynamic world. A recently updated demo is available on Steam, featuring a rewritten prologue, new quests, and reworked combat and building systems.
Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector
- Platform: PC, Switch, PlayStation, Xbox
- Release Date: January 31, 2025
- Overview: Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector is the sequel to the acclaimed narrative RPG, scheduled for release on January 31, 2025, for PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. Set in the Starward Belt, a collection of habitats within an asteroid belt, players assume the role of a Sleeper—an emulated human consciousness in an artificial body—escaping corporate and gang control.
The game builds upon its predecessor’s dice-based mechanics, introducing new features that enhance the tabletop-inspired gameplay. Players can command ships, assemble crews, and undertake contracts, with each decision influencing the dynamic world and narrative. A limited-time demo, the Hexport demo, is available on Steam.
Those Who Rule
- Platform: PC
- Release Date: January 2025
- Overview: Those Who Rule is a tactical turn-based RPG set for release on PC in January 2025, but there is no precise date yet. In this low-fantasy, morally complex world, players command a group of new recruits, engaging in tactical battles that emphasize careful planning and positioning.
The game features dynamic character growth, allowing players to level up, change classes, and equip custom gear to tailor their team to their preferred playstyle. Meaningful choices throughout the narrative influence the game’s outcome, offering a gripping story with multiple paths. A free demo is currently available on Steam.
These are all the RPGs and Strategy game releases I thought carried significant weight. That said, I’m always eager to hear your opinions and suggestions about any titles I might have missed. Don’t forget about our Discord community and all our social media pages, where you can connect with me and many other fans of this amazing genre of games. See you there!
