With the release of the upcoming and highly anticipated Nintendo Switch 2 just around the corner in a few months, we reckon it is now the time to see which are the best JRPGs (Japanese Role Playing Games) that you shouldn’t miss this 2025.

Some will be available on various consoles (and even PC), while others are only available through a specific brand, such as the Nintendo Switch.

JRPG Titles To Watch Out For

Suikoden I & II HD Remaster

Release Date: March 6, 2025

Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 | 5, Xbox Series X | S & One, Windows, Steam, and Epic Store

The Suikoden series is a beloved JRPG in its heyday. It is one of the well-known JRPGs that helped pioneer the genre during the early days of the first-ever Sony PlayStation 1 in the 1990s.

First published by Konami and directed by Yoshitaka Murayama, with art provided by Junko Kawano, the original Suikoden I for the first Sony PlayStation in 1995 became memorable to many players thanks to its roster of characters matched with a compelling and catching plot. The players then have them battle monsters and foes in a six-man squad as they travel around the game’s world to collect the 27 Tree Runes from falling into the wrong hands and destroying humanity itself.

Murayama and Kawano return for the sequel, Suikoden II, and continue the plot three years after the first game’s original story had ended with a new protagonist and his chosen allies. Now facing an invasion of a hostile empire, the players guide the new hero and his allies in a familiar setup – battling foes in a six-man squad, but now with more skills and attacks, better team composition, flashier graphics, and challenging yet satisfying battles.

Now, 30 years after its original release, gamers who grew up with the original can enjoy reliving their adventures from all of those years ago with the upcoming Suikoden I and II HD Remastered, released to several platforms, Nintendo Switch included (and most likely the soon-to-be released Switch 2 thanks to its backwards compatibility), bringing a lot of updates such as autosaves and auto battling while improving the graphics, interface, and introducing many Quality of Life (QoL) changes for today’s modern gaming.

Octopath Traveler 2

Release Date: February 24, 2023 (first three platforms), June 5, 2024 (remaining platforms)

Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 | 5, Windows / Xbox One & Series X | S

Published by one of the biggest Japanese gaming companies, Square Enix provides another great story and game to play with its Octopath Traveler series, with Octopath Traveler II being their latest addition, allowing players to experience the stories of eight individuals who will save their world from evil and malevolence. 

Continuing on the formula of following the tales and adventures of eight separate yet connected heroes in a mix of 2.5D sprites around a highly detailed 3D world via side-scrolling, this beloved sequel ditches the medieval setting and opts for a modern setup in Solistia, bringing new life to how the players will consume the heroes’ stories throughout various travels, combat, encounters, and many more things to do in that sequel’s world.

Monster Hunter Wilds

Release Date: February 28, 2025 

Platforms: PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox Series X | S

Capcom has hit it again with their premier franchise nowadays, the Monster Hunter series. This time, Monster Hunter Wilds takes players into the Forbidden Land to locate a missing party in a location teeming with monsters from small prey up to colossal predators that will take a whole squad of four to take down.

Wilds retains the formula of older games in the franchise: hunt monsters, gather their parts as loot, then create unique armors and weapons from those same loots you’ve hunted for. Players will start with simple quests until they’ve unlocked the most challenging missions, such as hunting specific high-level boss monsters within a strict time limit with no retries. What’s new with Wilds is the introduction of rideable mounts that greatly help players in exploration and combat, bringing a new way to hunt in this series.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Release Date: March 3, 2017 (Switch & Wii U), June 5, 2025 (Switch 2)

Platforms: Nintendo Wii U, Switch & Switch 2

One of Nintendo’s greatest franchises, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (BotW), is one of those games that you shouldn’t miss out on as a gamer. Originally released on the Wii U, BotW became the must-buy title for Nintendo’s newest console in 2017: the original Switch, which helped to popularize the handheld console and became the greatest-selling console for the Japanese gaming giant.

Although its sequel, Tears of the Kingdom (TotK), further refines the prequel’s mechanics and gameplay, BotW’s original formula of an open-world sandbox game in third-person view helps players to immerse themselves in this version of Hyrule. They are free to roam anywhere they want if they dare – they can even immediately travel and fight off Calamity Ganon (the game’s final boss) in the map’s center, right after the tutorial ends.

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii

Release Date: February 21, 2025

Platforms: PlayStation 4 & 5, Windows, Xbox One & Series X | S

Formerly known as the Yakuza franchise, it has been renamed Like a Dragon to cater more towards the global audience, and this move has paid off quite handsomely for its publisher, SEGA. And its new spin-off title, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, has garnered positive reviews overall, making it another must-play in its franchise.

Following the events of the previous entry, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, the game follows the wacky and often crazy adventures of ex-Tojo Clan yakuza Goro Majima being washed ashore on Rich Island near Hawaii. Players will guide Majima in regaining his lost memories while dealing with the island’s inhabitants while battling through foes led by a cult in a beat ‘em up gameplay style, which is the original formula of the Yakuza games before being changed into a turn-based party-driven combat system introduced in Like a Dragon.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

Release Date: February 29, 2024 (first platform) & January 23, 2025 (second platform)

Platforms: PlayStation 5, Windows

The game, known for propelling the whole JRPG genre in the West during its original 1997 PlayStation release, Final Fantasy VII gets the remake treatment in 2020 with the Final Fantasy VII Remake. And four years later, Square Enix releases a sequel to the popular Remake, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

Following the escape from Midgar in Remake, Rebirth follows the newly retold adventures of the game’s protagonist, Cloud Strife, and his party of allies from Avalanche as they battle with Shinra Corporation, which was draining the planet’s life energy, which could result in a catastrophic meltdown that would exterminate the human race. Cloud also faces off with his main series antagonist, Sephiroth, who has other ulterior motives that coincide with battling heads with both Cloud and Shinra.

Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero

Release Date: January 30, 2025 (first three platforms) & April 24, 2025 (last platform)

Platforms: PlayStation 4 & 5, Nintendo Switch, Windows

A long-awaited sequel and considered a cult classic in the PlayStation 2 era, Nippon Ichi Software’s Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero is the sequel to the original Phantom Brave, released in 2004. Known for its isometric board view tactical role-playing game, the players follow the adventure and battles of Marona and her phantom Ash, who acts as her guardian after her parents’ dying wish in an adventure gone fatally wrong.

This sequel is set months after the original 2004 storyline, wherein the duo were separated at sea after being attacked by a ghost pirate crew who have a connection with Ash’s past. Players must guide their characters similarly to how other games in this genre work: masterfully playing each move each turn to outwit and outgun their opponents to achieve victory.

The Legends of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak II

Release Date: February 14, 2025 (Worldwide Release)

Platforms: PlayStation 4 & 5, Windows, Nintendo Switch

A sleeper hit in modern JRPG titles, NIS America and Nihon Falcom’s The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak II is a sequel to the original Trails Through Daybreak (2021), while being part of the classic Legend of Heroes franchise popular in Japan since the 1980s. A hack-and-slash JRPG, players guide the protagonist and his allies as they fight through various enemies and monsters in real-time battles.

The plot revolves around a series of gruesome and mysterious murders that are somehow connected to one of the protagonist’s allies, following the events of its prequel title. At first, the cases of murders seem to be random, but as the players deepen their findings, they will slowly solve and unravel a bigger plot that will put the protagonist and his allies into grave danger that they must solve while keeping their lives.

Just the Tip of the JRPG Iceberg

Aside from the featured titles in this article, there are many more series and franchises for JRPG enjoyers to have fun with. Certainly keep an eye out as the genre is still alive and kicking, even making some comeback with some titles.