Topic: Game of the Year: 2025

It's September and therefore almost Autumn and therefore time to start discussing and predicting possible Game of the Year winners. Plus other Game Awards nominations and winners, etc. Feel free to mention your personal GotY as well.

My personal GOTY 2025
Fantasy Life I PS5 (95/100)

Some initial thoughts about Game Awards nominees:

Metacritic scores aren't everything, but the majority of GotY nominations tend to be games which got a lot of attention and had a metacritic rank near the top.

Here are the top metacritic games of 2025 which received enough attention to have 50+ reviews:

1. Expedition 33 - 93
2. Blue Prince - 92
3. Split Fiction - 91
4. Bananza - 91
5. Death Stranding 2 - 89
6. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II - 88
7. Monster Hunter Wilds - 88
8. Shinobi - 87
9. Xenoblade X - 87
10. Mario Kart World - 86

Note that the games I skipped because they had fewer than 50 reviews were:

1. TotK S2 edition - 96
2. BotW S2 edition - 95
3. despelote - 89
4. Talos Principal Reawakened - 89
5. Abiotic Factor - 88
6. Sword of the Sea - 88
7. Monster Train 2 - 87
8. Earthion - 87
9. Pipistrello - 87
10. Lonely Mountains - 87
11. Roottrees are Dead - 86
12. Street Fighter 6 year 1-2 fighters - 86
13. Heretic and Hexen - 86

I'm guessing a couple from the second list will show up in other nomination categories. Pipistrello should make an appearance as a best indie nominee. I suspect Game Awards won't put Expedition 33 in the indie category since it will be a nominee for GotY and other categories.

Good chance both Prime 4 and Silksong sneak their way into these top ranks. I'm not sure what other upcoming games will.

My personal favourite games this year have been DK Bananza and Hello Kitty Island Adventure. I don't think Bananza will win GotY, but I hope it gets nominated.

It's not out yet, but my goty is most likely Pokémon Legends Z-A, though Pokémon games are usually a little late to be shown at rewards season.

As for the actual goty that I really don't care about, based on how popular it seems to be, I think Clair Obscour has a chance of taking the crown.

Honestly, I think Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is going to sweep this year. It's fantastic!

I assume the lead ones are gonna be Expedition 33, Death Stranding, Silksong, Ghost of Yotei (its gonna happen, even if its like Spiderman 2 and everyone says its worse than the first one in a year), Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, Split Fiction and either DK or Metroid Prime. MAYBE Silent Hill F.

Lowkey rooting for the underdogs (read: niche Japanese games like Hundred Line and Fantasy Life) and Mina the Hollower.

Right now as it stand Avowed is my GotY but I have Borderlands 4 coming out here in a few weeks so that may end up being my GotY.

I'm not into Game Awards at all and I don't play too many new games right when they come out, but if we're talking about games made in 2025, Mario Kart World will likely be my favorite one. If we somehow get a 3D Mario platformer this year, I might have trouble picking between the two, haha. But probably not, because Donkey Kong Bananza is a thing, which I do also like. I have yet to play Star-Crossed World.

My game of the year is DK Bananza, but I think Expedition 33 will probably take the win. Death Stranding just wasn’t for me, I could never really get into it.

(Errrgh, I just spent...a long time...typing out a reply and my computer ate it! So here it is again...)

Yup, in the last decade every The Game Awards Game of the Year winner has had a MetaCritic score of at least "89" on one platform, and at least 50 critic reviews on one platform. The reason MetaCritic score and # of reviews is important for The Game Awards Game of the Year winner, is because the awards are voted on by.....video game journalists! So if they, or their outlet, haven't even reviewed the game, chances are it will be ignored come voting time.

In addition to the top 5 you listed, the other 2 released so far this year that fit the criteria are:

• Monster Hunter Wilds
• Shinobi: Art of Vengeance

Some other heavy hitters yet to be released:

• Hollow Knight: Silksong
• Ghost of Yotei
• Silent Hill f
• Hades II
• Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
• Pokemon Legends: Z-A
• Ninja Gaiden 4
• The Outer Worlds 2
• Borderlands 4

So far I'd love to see E33 take the award, adore that game and everything that the (relatively) small team managed to accomplish. The hybrid battle system, turn-based with parry/block mechanics, is really unique I think. The story told is also nicely woven, with some great twists and character development.

However, as a betting man.... Silksong is surely a potential front runner, unless it tanks the landing (can't imagine this being the case!)

I'm interested in seeing how Yotei, Prime4, Hades2 all land.... not sure if they'll be seen as 'too derivative' considering their sequel status? Sure they'll all be excellent games, just not certain they'll have that needed 'X Factor' to clinch it.

Love the show, hope Geoff K keeps it running for years... such a laugh, and definitely not anything to be taken too seriously! Glad it exists, and look forward to it each year

Ngl I'll be pretty heartbroken if Mario Kart World doesn't get at least a nomination for best soundtrack.

I can see why it wouldn't be up there, it is largely made up of arrangements but the sheer musicianship should rank it highly right?

It will be awhile until official reviews for Silksong, but the early user metacritic score has it as the number 3 highest user rating of the year so far, After Exp 33 and Bananza.

Id say Monster Hunter Wilds at least deserves a nomination. It’s a good game, but it’s hard for me to say it should win when the PC version launched in such a poor state.

@Nintoz I think it has a decent chance to get nominated. There’s no way E33 isn’t winning in that category though

With the Direct having revealed Prime 4 for December (too late to be eligible) and Hades 2 for September, I think the GotY nominees will be:

• Silksong
• Hades 2
• DK Bananza
• Expedition 33
• Death Stranding 2
• Ghost of Yotei

A few months ago I would have said Expedition 33 was a shoein for GOTY, but it followed a long, quiet, summer for big releases, before big hitters really started building up again over the last month, so I do wonder if it'll end up forgotten about when it comes to the votes.

I'd be surprised if I play anything more fun than Borderlands 4 this year, so that is probably my personal one.

For me, Monster Hunter Wilds.

Spent nearly 200 hours and it felt like I didn't play for that amount of time.

Honorable mention to Split Fiction, although I feel it goes on for a couple hours too long.

i dont really understand all the hype around expedition: 33. it just seems like your average realistic rpg, even with reading critic’s reviews. so i am just hoping something more…unique? wins!
here are my nom predictions:
-Hollow Knight: Silksong
-Hades 2
-Expedition 33
-Donkey Kong Bananza
-Death Stranding 2
-Monster Hunter Wilds
my hope is that dk bananza wins since nintendo has not won in a long time, but silksong or another indie would be great too!

@OctolingKing13 I feel like Silksong may have shot themselves in the foot by not giving out early review copies. The actual GotY winner is always a game with lots of reviews as well as a high average review score and although silksong has a high score ( top 5 for the year and tiny bit higher than Bananza) it simply doesn't have many professional reviews. Maybe that will change, but it has been 2 weeks.

I don't think Bananza has much chance (even our own Nintendo Life didn't give it a 10/10) but I agree it would be neat if it somehow won. I do agree it will get nominated.