Finalists

Honoring the Best Games of 2025

Game of the Year

Finalists:

• Blue Prince (Dogubomb / Raw Fury)
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
• Donkey Kong Bananza (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
• Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Hollow Knight: Silksong (Team Cherry)
• Split Fiction (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)

Honorable Mentions: Absolum (Guard Crush Games, Dotemu, Supamonks / Dotemu), BALL X PIT (Kenny Sun & Friends / Devolver Digital), Hades II (Supergiant Games)

Audience Award

Voting open from January 25 – February 8

The Audience Award winner is selected from the list of finalist games from every Main Category. The Audience Award winner is selected through a public vote.

Best Audio

Finalists:

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (Kojima Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Rift of the NecroDancer (Brace Yourself Games, Tic Toc Games / Klei Publishing)
• South of Midnight (Compulsion Games / Xbox Game Studios)

Honorable Mentions: ARC Raiders (Embark Studios), Donkey Kong Bananza (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo), Doom: The Dark Ages (id Software / Bethesda Softworks), Lumines Arise (Enhance / Monstars Inc.), To a T (uvula LLC / Annapurna Interactive)

Best Debut

Finalists:

• BALL X PIT (Kenny Sun & Friends / Devolver Digital)
• Blue Prince (Dogubomb / Raw Fury)
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
• Dispatch (Adhoc Studio)

Honorable Mentions: ARC Raiders (Embark Studios), Consume Me (Jenny Jiao Hsia), Hollow Knight: Silksong (Team Cherry), The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy (Too Kyo Games, Media. Vision Inc. / Aniplex), The Roottrees are Dead (Evil Trout Inc.)

Best Design

Finalists:

• BALL X PIT (Kenny Sun & Friends / Devolver Digital)
• Blue Prince (Dogubomb / Raw Fury)
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
• Donkey Kong Bananza (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
• Split Fiction (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)

Honorable Mentions: Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (Kojima Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment), Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment), Kingdom Come: Deliverance II (Warhorse Studios / Deep Silver), The Alters (11 Bit Studios)

Best Narrative

Finalists:

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
• Despelote (Julián Cordero, Sebastián Valbuena / Panic)
• Dispatch (AdHoc Studio)
• Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Split Fiction (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)

Honorable Mentions: Lost Records: Bloom & Rage (DON'T NOD Montréal, DON’T NOD), South of Midnight (Compulsion Games / Xbox Game Studios), The Outer Worlds 2 (Obsidian Entertainment / Xbox Game Studios), The Séance of Blake Manor (Spooky Doorway / Raw Fury)

Best Technology

Finalists:

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (Kojima Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Donkey Kong Bananza (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
• Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Split Fiction (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)

Honorable Mentions: ARC Raiders (Embark Studios), Battlefield 6 (Battlefield Studios / Electronic Arts), Hollow Knight: Silksong (Team Cherry), Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (Warhorse Studios / Deep Silver), PEAK (Team PEAK / Aggro Crab, Landfall)

Best Visual Art

Finalists:

• Absolum (Guard Crush Games, Dotemu, Supamonks / Dotemu)
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (Kojima Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Hades II (Supergiant Games)
• Keeper (Double Fine Productions / Xbox Game Studios)

Honorable Mentions: Hollow Knight: Silksong (Team Cherry), South of Midnight (Compulsion Games / Xbox Game Studios), Sword of the Sea (Giant Squid), The Midnight Walk (MoonHood / Fast Travel Games)

Innovation Award

Finalists:

• BALL X PIT (Kenny Sun & Friends / Devolver Digital)
• Baby Steps (Gabe Cuzzillo, Maxi Boch, Bennett Foddy / Devolver Digital)
• Blue Prince (Dogubomb / Raw Fury)
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
• Donkey Kong Bananza (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)

Honorable Mentions: CloverPit (Panik Arcade / Future Friends Games), Consume Me (Jenny Jiao Hsia), REPO (Semiwork Studios), Sunderfolk (Secret Door / Dreamhaven), To a T (uvula LLC / Annapurna Interactive)

Social Impact Award

Finalists:

• And Roger (TearyHand Studio / Kodansha)
• Consume Me (Jenny Jiao Hsia)
• Despelote (Julián Cordero, Sebastián Valbuena / Panic)
• Dispatch (AdHoc Studio)

Honorable Mentions: Herdling (Okomotive / Panic), Lost Records: Bloom & Rage (DON'T NOD Montréal, DON’T NOD ), PEAK (Team PEAK / Aggro Crab, Landfall), To a T (uvula LLC / Annapurna Interactive)