GRIND's Recommendations for December 2025
Wake up, gamer, from the slumber of sales,
Into which Black Friday offers have plunged you!
Congratulations everyone! You've safely made it to December, the last month of the year! The holidays are starting, we're recovering from the street food (because it was 1 December and we celebrated in true Romanian style), and office tasks are starting to slow down. Some colleagues are already dreaming of time off, managers in some departments have set O.O.O. emails (my life...) until mid-January 2026, and you don't know what to do with this 'new' free time. Yes, you might watch The Game Awards to see who gets GOTY, but that won't keep you busy all month. The GRIND editorial team is here to help with five solid 7s to fill your days until New Year's Eve!
Small disclaimer: the session with the South American shaman still didn't work, and we still can't predict the future. So we have no way of knowing what will be shadow-dropped or delayed in the next 31 days. We'll have to try the local variant: maybe if we sacrifice the magazine's haters in the name of Zamolxis, we'll learn the secrets of time, even better than the Prince of Persia!
Marvel Cosmic Invasion
Release date: 1 December 2025
Platforms: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, PC
Did you know Stan Lee has Romanian origins? No? Well, his parents, Celia and Jack Lieber, emigrated from Romania to the United States of America at the beginning of the 20th century and settled in Manhattan. The famous writer's legacy is enormous, and alongside Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby, he created many beloved characters from the Marvel universe such as Spider-Man, X-Men, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Ant-Man, Black Panther, and the Fantastic Four. And on 1 December, we can enjoy his creations in a 'Romanian' way through the beat 'em up Marvel Cosmic Invasion, developed by Dotemu and distributed by Tribute Games, which will be released on Romania's National Day! The game puts us in the shoes of 15 of our favourite heroes, including Venom and Wolverine, who must confront Annihilus, one of the great antagonists of Marvel's First Family. If you have Game Pass, then I have good news for you: the game will be available Day 1 on Microsoft's service, but only for those subscribed to Ultimate Game Pass.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
Release date: 4 December 2025
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2
Order physical: JocuriNoi.ro, Gamesfunattic.ro
Is Metroid Prime 4: Beyond one of the games with the longest development cycles? Not quite, but it still took almost eight years to reach our hands. Initially announced at E3 2017, back when the conference still existed, the project didn't meet Nintendo's standards and was then being worked on by a Bandai Namco Studios team. We don't know how many versions were scrapped, but it's clear that the franchise has returned to where it belongs: Retro Studios. The original developers of the Prime trilogy, along with the legendary Kensuke Tanabe, have ensured that Samus's new adventure meets the high bar set by the Japanese company.
There's no need to have finished the previous titles, because Nintendo confirmed in a recent interview that Prime 4 represents a new beginning for the series. So get your Power Suit and Gunship ready, because after an 18-year break, we're returning to one of the most fascinating sci-fi universes in gaming.
Octopath Traveler 0
Release date: 4 December 2025
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, PC
Order physical: JocuriNoi.ro, Gamesfunattic.ro
If you like JRPGs and only have budget for one title in December, Octopath Traveler 0 might be the ideal choice. Square Enix's new epic adventure is a prequel that takes place many years before the events of the first game. According to director Hiroto Suzuki, the main campaign spans approximately 100 hours, and that number doesn't even include any side objectives! You might be wondering why the story takes so many hours? Octopath Traveler Zero is a reinterpretation of the gacha game Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent, released in 2020 for mobile phones and tablets. Don't worry: all monetisation elements have disappeared, and in their place, the developers have introduced a complex base-building system that allows you to raise your own settlement and gradually transform it into a village or even a city.
Players on modern consoles can build up to 500 buildings, those who choose Nintendo Switch 2 or PlayStation 4 stop at 400, and on the original Switch, the limit is 250. And the big news? We can finally have eight active characters in our party!
Elden Ring: Nightreign: The Forsaken Hollows DLC
Release date: 4 December 2025
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
From Software's crazy idea to combine the Elden Ring formula with elements from Fortnite proved to be a resounding success. It worked so well that the studio is returning with a DLC titled The Forsaken Hollows, which adds two new characters (Scholar and Undertaker), two terrifying bosses, and a completely new area. After the defeat of the Night Lords, a new danger has descended from the heavens into Limveld, and recent earthquakes have unearthed the ruins of a forgotten civilisation. We don't yet know what dark secrets lie hidden there, but one thing is certain: the GRIND Editorial team's wonder trio, who delivered the review for Nightreign, will probably get beaten up again on 4 December!
Terminator 2D: No Fate
Release date: 12 December 2025
Platforms: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC
Order physical: JocuriNoi.ro, Gamesfunattic.ro
FINALLY! You have no idea how much trouble this game has given us, because we kept including it in the monthly list, only to have to remove it later. But this time, it seems the release is set in stone, so get your leather jacket, sunglasses, and motorcycle ready, because it's time to go back to 1995! Bitmap Bureau's project is a reinterpretation of the second film, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, in a retro pixel-art style! What's more, it's a side-scroller with strong arcade influences that comes with six different modes: story, arcade, infinite, boss rush, Mother of the Future, and, of course, training! Do you think you can face Skynet?
Dear readers, these were GRIND's recommendations for December 2025. We hope at least one of them will keep you busy this cold month, and we wish you happy holidays with your loved ones! Ho, ho, hoooouuu…