The Game Awards 2025 — it’s the industry’s 12th annual celebration of the year’s most impactful gaming moments hosted by Geoff Keighly. In our Post-COVID era, an on-going theme plays out in the gamer ethos…each particular year is dubbed “A Great Year for Games“. 2025 is no different, and with a limited six-slot shortlist and steadily increasing global viewership, each nominee represents both critical acclaim and a cultural dataset for its year. What follows is a brief year-in-review look at how each contender found itself onto the The Game Awards stage.
The Game Awards 2025 nominees have been announced and fan voting is live.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II — Developed by Warhorse Studios, this medieval RPG came with heightened expectations and considerable interest thanks to the cult-favorite status of its predecessor. This no-frills, immersive, middle-ages game experience stands out in contrast to the countless fantasy RPGs of our times. Released in February, it is arguably the longest standing GOTY contender for 2025.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 — This brand new IP by Sandfall Interactive had a spring release although by October sold 5 million copies worldwide. Since its debut, the Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 original soundtrack by Lorian Testard has streamed nearly half a billion plays on major music platforms and naturally scored a nomination for ‘Best Soundtrack’ in a game. The turn-based RPG notched a 9.5 rating on KeenGamer when it debuted in April. Praised for it’s raw creativity, stellar art direction, and presenting a modern & innovative take on turn-based combat.
Hades II
Hades II — This roguelike by Supergiant Games had high hopes built upon the critical success of its predecessor. Early-access impressions praised Hades II expanded systems, polished gameplay, and strong narrative foundations. Lively community engagement and sustained media/creator coverage kept it in GOTY discussions from the moment of launch in early May.
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Death Stranding 2 — Geoff Keighly’s “BFF” and industry icon Hideo Kojima, will likely make an appearance at this year’s award show. The Action-Adventure game entered the year as one of the most highly-anticipated games. It was widely assumed prior to its summer release to be a GOTY contender. Inherently, its marketing cycle was largely driven on Kojima’s reputation alone and also why it was a nominee for The Game Awards 2024 ‘Most Anticipated’ along with Grand Theft Auto VI (winner) and Ghost of Yotei.
Donkey Kong Bananza
Donkey Kong Bananza — Launched in July, Bananza released with the momentum of a major Nintendo franchise with it. The Japanese juggernaut recurrently releases critically-acclaimed games with some years having lighter releases schedules than others. Perhaps for this reason, their games are not always Game of the Year contenders with their last big win being 2017’s Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Hollow Knight: Silksong
Hollow Knight: Silksong — Arguably, one of the most distinctly anticipated indie games ever. The metroidvania’s release schedule became meme-ified after being delayed more than several times over a span of 6 years. At the time of its release, it was the most wishlisted game on Steam at 5.2 million wishlists. After years of bottled-up demand, it reportedly crashed Steam servers when premiered early September.
Unofficial Honorable Mentions
Ghost of Yotei
Ghost of Yotei — Released in October along with some moderately contentious culture-war commentary that continued beyond it’s premiere. However, by November, Sony confirmed Ghost of Yotei still sold over 3.3 million copies worldwide. Further, the voice of the protagonist and the person at the center of Yotei’s controversy — Erika Ishii, also scored a nominee for ‘Best Voice Performance’ in a game. Yotei is currently a PlayStation 5 exclusive. If Ghost of Yotei been in the running (and won) then it would be the second year in a row a PS exclusive received the honor.
Blue Prince
Blue Prince — Exploration-based puzzle game released by Raw Fury in April. Early-coverage of this indie-game was positive despite being this year’s de facto “underdog”. Heavy word-of-mouth, creator coverage, and its online community kept Blue Prince in quiet competition with AAA’s throughout the year. While not in the running, Blue Prince is an example — or perhaps blueprint — of what the quintessential “sleeper hit” looks like.
Split Fiction
Split Fiction — The narratively ambitious co-op by Hazelight Studios was an early GOTY contender from the jump. It was actually announced at last year’s awards show by its studio founder Josef Fares, to a strong reception that continued through its release in March. Whether or not audiences are as receptive now with such stacked competition, it’s still a no-brainer why that this co-op adventure was in GOTY discussions.
The Game Awards will stream live from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Thursday, December 11, 2025.
The Game Awards 2025
Geoff Kneighly presented the hotly contested list of nominees live on Nov. 17th for the upcoming Game Awards 2025. The Canadian video game journalist has served as exec. producer and primary host for TGA for over a decade. Games eligible for The Game Awards are all game titles available for public consumption before mid-November. Video game fans can cast their vote on the official Game Awards website until the cut-off shortly before the ceremony.
The Game Awards will stream live from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, California on Thursday, December 11, 2025.
