The GameObserver Awards 2025 Winners

In our first ever GameObserver Awards, we’re celebrating the best in gaming throughout 2025. After an initial round of voting, our team shortlisted five nominees per category. We’ve now finished our final round of voting to define our GameObserver Award winners of 2025.

The winners are as follows.

Best Game Direction

For a game that is the plain result of a singular and focused vision, where every element comes together as it was envisioned. Good direction is marked by consistent tone and theming, pulling excellent performances from actors, ludonarrative harmony, and a strong identity that persists the entire way through the game.

Nominees:

• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
• Blue Prince
• Hollow Knight: Silksong
• Split Fiction
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Winner: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 feels like a grand, lifelong dream finally brought into reality as a staggering epic. For director Guillaume Broche, it is exactly that. Broche previously worked for Ubisoft on titles like Ghost Recon: Breakpoint and various Assassn’s Creed titles, but always held a desire to make something new that still celebrated what he loved. Broche listed his favorite games of all time as Final Fantasy X, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and Persona 5. With his lead, Sandfall Interactive pulled the best parts of these three titles together and with singular vision, drive, and objective, and created 2025’s most memorable experience that is greater than the sum of its parts.

The Goldilocks Award for AA Gaming

Goldilocks first tried the AAA porridge, and it was too big. She then tried the indie porridge, and it was too small. She then tried the AA porridge in the middle, and it was just right! These are the best games this year that have budgets too high and developer teams too big to really be indie, but are smaller than AAA.

Nominees:

• Dispatch
• The Alters
• The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy-
• Powerwash Simulator 2
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Winner: The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy-

TooKyoo Games has too long gone unnoticed and unappreciated for what they bring to gaming. Master designers, Kazutaka Kodaka and Kotaro Uchikoshi, have clawed their way up from projects with triple-digit budgets over the last 25 years, from Ever 17: The Out of Infinity and Zero Escape, to Danganronpa and The Somnium Files. Finally here to their masterpiece: The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy-. Kodaka and Uchikoshi combine their greatest talents to bring us a mind-bending tactical strategy RPG with one hundred completely different stories, moral philosophy questions we’ll never answer, a mystery we still haven’t solved hundreds of hours in, and characters that outdo every one of their previous works – with only a fraction of the budget and staff AAA studios are working with.

Best Indie Game

The best game from an independent developer with a smaller budget and team that stands up to (and even potentially surpasses) the experiences AAA games can deliver.

Nominees:

• Promise Mascot Agency
• Hades II
• Wanderstop
• Blue Prince
• Hollow Knight: Silksong

Winner: Hollow Knight: Silksong

The amount of drastic changes made between Hollow Knight and Hollow Knight: Silksong is, in our opinion, what the indie spirit is all about. It is always inherently alienating; the purpose of indie games is to be able to create what the decision-makers will not allow, in fear of losing their status or wealth. To make interesting choices that would not pass in that environment. Few indie developers are allowed to create in peace the way Team Cherry can, and they clearly ended up delivering what only a team that does not worry about risks could. It never feels compromised; instead, it is beautiful in the exact way it wants to be—a heart-aching beauty that sometimes pushes you away, and at other times draws you back in. This is how good video games can get if we all, together, are able to provide artists the space they deserve.

Best Narrative

For outstanding storytelling, dialogue, and use of narrative that takes advantage of the gaming medium.

Nominees:

• Dispatch
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
• Promise Mascot Agency
• The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy-

Winner: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33‘s sweeping narrative is, at its core, a love letter to grief. Helmed by lead writer, Jennifer Svedberg-Yen, and supported by the game’s director, Guillame Broche, and Victor Delard, the Sandfall team crafted a narrative that grips you from the first moment you set foot in Lumiere. The game is a masterclass in environmental storytelling, and the narrative keeps you on a tight leash with the way it drops just enough breadcrumbs of lore to keep you guessing and fighting your way forward for answers. But the real gift of the game’s narrative is that in finding the answers you so desperately craved, you are forced to wrestle with moral and philisophical questions you never expected in the first place.

Best Soundtrack

For excellence in using score and soundtrack to capture and define moments and vibes.

Nominees:

• South of Midnight
• Elden Ring Nightreign
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
• Hollow Knight: Silksong
• Promise Mascot Agency

Winner: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Lorien Testard was a SoundCloud musician who had never published anything professionally until Clair Obscur: Expedition 33‘s director, Guillaume Broche, messaged him asking if he would be interested in a project he was working on. Testard’s first published work is, somehow, as strong as its many influences. As if accessing the combined powers of his forbears like Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy series), Keiichi Okabe (Nier series), and Shoji Meguro (Persona series), Testard puts together a soundtrack to rival the all-time greats. Une Vie a T’aimer may be the grestest track ever created for a video game, and with a half-dozen tracks for each world compounding into an OST with 130 songs, the quality somehow never drops. Every instant is epic, fantastical, and spellbinding. In 10 years, we believe this soundtrack will be talked about in the same breath as Final Fantasy VII.

Best Game World

For a world that feels so fantastical, well-realized, and beautiful that we feel like we really went there. This can be a fictional world or a recreation of a real place, but these worlds are defined by immersion and attention to detail.

Nominees:

• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
• Pharloom (Hollow Knight: Silksong)
• Hawaii (Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii)
• The Continent (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33)
• Kaso-Machi (Promise Mascot Agency)

Winner: The Continent (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33)

The Continent of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a mesmerising blend of fantasy, wonder, and Belle-Epoque France. The game’s overworld is expansive and full of things to discover without feeling overwhelming or dense. While there isn’t much in the way of a navigation UI, the Continent is one of those few places in a game where it really doesn’t need it. In fact, its absence is barely noticeable at all. Wrong turns can lead to surprising and whimsical interactions with various NPCs, or a satisfying Nevron fight for some loot. Every part of the Continent feels intentional, realized, and mindfully designed. And there is always plenty to discover, whether it’s your first or seventh playthrough.

Best Character

For our favorite character this year that stood out among the crowds and left a positive mark on our gaming experience.

Nominees:

• Invisigal (Dispatch)
• Esquie (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33)
• Goro Majima (Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii)
• Pauline (Donkey Kong Bananza)
• Verso (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33)

Winner: Esquie (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33)

While each of the main characters in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 stood out in their own way, Esquie, the only non-playable party member, remains at the forefront. Fluffy, fun, and seemingly with not a care in the world, Esquie carries with him the burden of knowledge about the world of the Paintress, and does what he can to make life fun for his friends. Having lost everyone he loves over and over, his love for Verso, his last remaining friend, is heard in every syllable of Maxence Cazorla’s stunning performance. A bastion of hope, love, and especially life for the party, Esquie is what keeps the group together in the times of their worst peril. He shields those he loves from the horror of truth while passing on only love and humor, and in the process becomes something more than just a character in a video game. In times of Woo, there is always Wee, so long as we remember to look for it.

Best Villain

For the most formidable and memorable villain in gaming this year, who either represented evil and chaos in a fresh way or made us sympathize with their plight.

Nominees:

• Tariffs
• Renoir (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33)
• Dishy the Dishwasher (Date Everything)
• The Price Tag (Mario Kart World)
• King K. Rool (Donkey Kong Bananza)

Winner: Renoir (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33)

Regardless of how you feel about Renoir and his goals in stopping the party from killing the Paintress, it’s hard to deny that he codified grief, anger, and love perfectly. Andy Serkis gives an breathtaking performance as Renoir, one that elevates the already incredible writing of this complex man to great heights. The fact that millions of people finished Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 months ago and are still unsure if they should praise or curse Renoir is proof enough that his story connected with us all in a truly special way.

Best New IP

For the best new world filled with original characters and places that we just couldn’t stop exploring.

Nominees:

• Dispatch
• South of Midnight
• Blue Prince
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
• Promise Mascot Agency

Winner: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 takes heavy inspiration from JRPGs like Final Fantasy, and it shows. But what makes it so special is that none of the inspiration feels forced, or a direct copy of its source material. The world of Clair Obscur is built on tragedy, but it is sustained by love. A love so pure and so resilient, that it is seen and felt in every character and every interaction to be had within the game. Its characters are more than complex; they’re layered in a way where you can feel both overwhelming empathy and pure rage all at once. The game places a fresh stamp on the turn-based JRPG, something that even turn-based haters can enjoy.

Innovation in Gameplay

For a game that surprised with innovative new gameplay we haven’t seen before, testing the limits of established game mechanics and introducing new mechanics we never thought possible.

Nominees:

• Blue Prince
• Donkey Kong Bananza
• No, I’m Not Human
• Promise Mascot Agency
• Split Fiction

Winner: Blue Prince

The humble roguelite often feels like a default choice of structure that can fit any game, even if a game cannot particularly fit it, especially on the indie scene. No matter how much you hear about Blue Prince, however, it is still even better at embracing the genre than we give it credit for. A rare, truly monumental title for a stagnating space that finds brand new ways of mixing all its inspirations, using this structure for utterly brilliant puzzles. The addictive loops are transformed into a one-of-a-kind story, co-created by the insane designer of the mansion and the player eager to meet them at the peak of derangement. Blue Prince feels nigh-infinite, with each new reveal, each new idea scarier than the last, a work that feels so free that thinking about it feels almost oppressive—exactly what this category is about.

Fun for the Whole Family

For the best family-friendly game this year. These can be party games, co-op, or even just single-player games suitable and appealing for children while also a good time for adults.

Nominees:

• Jackbox Party Pack 11
• Mario Kart World
• Donkey Kong Bananza
• Peak
• Split Fiction

Winner: Peak

There was no shortage of family friendly co-op games this year, but none felt quite as inclusive and chaotic as Aggro Crab and Landfall’s climbing sim, Peak. With a simple objective of climbing to the top of a series of mountains in various biomes, Peak has led to levels of chaos, hilarity, and betrayal previously unseen. Peak has mastered the art of making a simple objective feel fun, different, and delightfully absurd. Each biome is fraught with unique obstacles and enemies, and the developers love to play into the chaos, with regular updates to keep the game feeling fresh and ridiculous. So whether it’s a Saturday night session with the squad or a family game night, Peak has plenty to offer for all gamers. Just be sure to watch your step.

Laughs-a-Plenty

It’s hard for games to be legitimately funny, and even harder to sustain that humor over many continuous hours. These games made us laugh consistently with good humor, good character work, and great execution.

Nominees:

• Dispatch
• Promise Mascot Agency
• Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
• Date Everything
• Two Point Museum

Winner: Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii

It would be reductive to say the Like a Dragon series has become a self-parody; it started out as one. Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is no different, expertly blending laughs every few seconds with tearful side quests that tackle themes like an elderly man facing the death of his wife, a middle-aged man who has given up on a fulfilling life, and a pop idol who is milking pennies from her desperate fans because she truly loathes herself. A few seconds later, you’ll run into a group of bodybuilders that wear only diapers and live their lives as babies, or a dating app that scams you into thinking your pet is a kawaii anime girl. I don’t think any studio but RGG can do humor like this for 30 hours without it becoming stale.

Cozy Game of the Year

The game that just made us feel great this year and helped us escape the stress of the real world. Grab a mug of tea and a blanket to snuggle in to a good time.

Nominees:

• Two Point Museum
• Wanderstop
• Tiny Bookshop
• Is This Seat Taken?
• Star Birds

Winner: Tiny Bookshop

Tiny Bookshop feels like a labor of love to all book lovers. It’s a relaxing game which you can play at any hour of the day in short bursts if you want to catch a break. It features several notable pieces of literature from the classics and also modern media. Not only do you get to recommend books to customers according to your taste, but you also need to take care of restocking and decorations.

Stressful Game of the Year

This is a game that had us sweating hard and raised either our blood pressure or the hairs on our arms.

Nominees:

• Elden Ring Nightreign
• Hollow Knight: Silksong
• The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy-
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
• Hades II

Winner: Hollow Knight: Silksong

The obvious talking point here is the plethora of articles, threads, and discussions about the difficulty, which led many people to quit Hollow Knight: Silksong outright. But even if you stuck with it, you know that, until the very end, this is a follow-up more akin to Super Mario Bros. 2, Japan, than Super Mario Bros. 2, USA. The never-ending trickery keeps you on your toes until the most devious prank of all instills a new, overwhelming sense of dread in the player. A force so devastating that even the few bright moments of its final chapter are not free from its persistent reverberations. An unmatched intensity.

Excellence in Diversity

For stepping above the status quo in representing ethnic, gender, or sexual minorities in gaming as real, three dimensional characters. As there was a tie in the shortlist, we’ve got six contenders.

Nominees:

• Dispatch
• South of Midnight
• Demonschool
• Date Everything
• Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
• Promise Mascot Agency

Winner: South of Midnight

South of Midnight represents a culture that is severely underrepresented in American media. Beyond The Walking Dead and tales of slavery, pop culture has largely ignored The Deep South and left our stories behind in favor of New Yorkers, Midwesterners, and West Coast folks. Compulsion Games’ latest adventure takes us to southern Louisiana, where Creole, Cajun, and Southern folklore come to life in a seamless blend. Haints, the Honey Island Swamp Monster, and even river monster, Altamaha-ha, come to life in a world that lovingly and respectfully captures the wondrous, mystifying stories from the swamps of South Carolina to the Mississippi Delta.

Best Evolving Game

For a game that has been receiving continual updates, expansions, and new content for at least a year and is better than ever. This game can be live service, early access, or perhaps just a regular game with constant feature updates.

Nominees:

• No Man’s Sky
• Marvels Rivals
• Fallout 76
• Disney Dreamlight Valley
• Astrobot

Winner: Marvel Rivals

In 2025, it takes a lot to stand out as a shooter game, especially as a brand new release. With the almighty backing of the world’s mightiest heroes, Marvel Rivals made a name for itself across the genre with just how much support it received from developers NetEase. With such rapid-fire hero releases, new game modes, maps, cosmetics and more, there was always something new to enjoy week to week. That feeling of having a reason to come back is something that all live service games try hard to obtain, but one that Marvel Rivals did with ease.

Best Boss Fight

For the most memorable battle of the year. The winner will have multiple key elements such as an excellent villain, great design of the fight, and epic moments you still can’t get off your mind.

Nominees:

• Arlecchino (Lies of P: Overture)
• Eito (The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy-)
• King K. Rool (Donkey Kong Bananza)
• Parking Attendant (Split Fiction)
• Renoir (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33)

Winner: Renoir (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33)

Renoir as a character will be the kind of antagonist we talk about for years to come, and for many different reasons. A good villain will have a motivation that we can understand. A great villain will have a motivation that we can empathize with. Renoir is not evil. He does not act out of hate for his enemies, but out of love for his family. Never is this more apparent than in the final confrontation, with a boss who takes no joy in his attacks, and throughout the fight pleads with the players to stop fighting. With the addition of the song “Une vie à t’aimer,” arguably the most tragic boss battle song in recent memory, the battle with Renoir feels epic, but the victory comes at a cost that leaves you feeling hollow.

Best Action Combat

For the game that brings the best feeling and most nuanced moment-to-moment gameplay when fighting enemies, whether they be NPCs or other players online.

Nominees:

• Hades II
• Elden Ring Nightreign
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
• Hollow Knight: Silksong
• Donkey Kong Bananza

Winner: Hades II

Hades II‘s combat is fast, snappy, and complex if you want it to be or mindless if you create your build that way. It’s shocking that after the first Hades was so successful that Supergiant Games were not only able to recapture the magic of that combat, but elevate it further. Each weapon plays completely differently and requires learning to master it, and then there’s also infinite ways to polish your fighting style further with the boons given by the Olympian (and beyond) roster. There are many things Hades II got right, but perhapss its greatest triumph was making something that was already perfect even better.

Technical Achievement

For a game that really, genuinely feels like it is taking advantage of all the current-gen tech at its disposal, whether that presents itself in graphics, mechanics, performance, or all of the above.

Nominees:

• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
• Donkey Kong Bananza
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
• Split Fiction

Winner: Death Stranding 2: On the Beach

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach opens with live-action, 4K footage of the rolling crags and crevices of the Sonoran Desert of Northern Mexico. About three minutes in, the camera centers on Sam overlooking the vast expanse, and you’re in control. That’s when it hits you – the photorealistic world of Death Stranding 2 is SO realistic that you never noticed when it switched from live-action footage to the Decima Engine. This is just one of the many times Kojima Productions struts their stuff in this amazing sequel, again pushing photorealism to its limits while still putting art direction first and foremost. Everything looks so much more wondrous because of how real it looks, whether its giant tentacle robots, screaming wraiths, harsh sunsets, or even the eyes of an adorable baby kangaroo you’ve rescued. Hideo Kojima has pushed rendered graphics far beyond what we knew as their limit and left us wondering what deal he’s made with a crossroads devil to do it.

Best With Buddies

For a game in which playing alongside friends, whether on the couch or online, elevates the experience to incredible new heights.

Nominees:

• Jackbox Party Pack 11
• Elden Ring Nightreign
• Peak
• Mario Kart World
• Split Fiction

Winner: Peak

Peak‘s surprise debut on the co-op scene this year has been a breath of fresh air. It’s a reminder that a multiplayer game doesn’t have to be a polished, multifaceted experience to be fun and have insane replay value. While a delightful and hilarious co-op experience, Peak still demands some level of strategy. You and your friends must work together with the limited pool of resources available to you in order to successfully reach the top of the titular peak and be rescued. With biomes that change every single day so that you never have the same climbing experience twice, Peak provides endless entertainment for friends looking to unwind after a long day, or sabotage each other for the laughs. Guess it just depends what kind of friends you have.

Excellence in Art Design

For a game that brings a notable art style, impressive theming, and visual cohesion to a world that makes you want to just keep taking it in.

Nominees:

• South of Midnight
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
• Hollow Knight: Silksong
• Promise Mascot Agency
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Winner: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33‘s chief antagonist and helicopter dad, Renoir, at one point writes, “art can be a window, and art can be a mirror. And great art… great art, is both.” The game’s theme of art as a vessel for escapism from grief is present in every facet of it; from the characters, to the setting, even the combat mechanics. Everywhere you look is a reminder of the art of painting; mixtures of colors, ink, a sky that looks like oil based paints. The entire world of Clair Obscur is meant to be experienced as a piece of art, and your interactions in the world serve as art in itself.

Best Lead Performance

The best performance by an actor or actress in a game this year, whether it’s just voice or full body motion capture. Characters that are on screen or in the party for the majority of the game are included here.

Nominees:

• Aaron Paul – Robert Robertson (Dispatch)
• Konatsu Kato – Shimizu Hinako (Silent Hill f)
• Jennifer English – Maelle (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33)
• Takaya Kuroda – Michi (Promise Mascot Agency)
• Ben Starr – Verso (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33)

Winner: Jennifer English – Maelle (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33)

Jennifer English’s performance as Maelle is both stunning in its honesty and tragic in its vulnerability. Maelle, who we meet as a lonely orphan looking to escape Lumiere and find purpose on the Continent, becomes the unwilling protagonist of her own story. English brings raw emotion and masterfully channels the intense motivations that make Maelle such a compelling and tragic character. We are able to play through Maelle’s evolution and feel the gravity of her growth thanks to English’s outstanding performance. It’s clear from the moment we meet Maelle that English put everything into this performance, and it stands as a testament to her talent.

Best Supporting Performance

The best performance by an actor or actress in a game this year, whether it’s just voice or full body motion capture. Side characters who are not frequently on screen are included here.

Nominees:

• Jeffrey Wright – Chase (Dispatch)
• Travis Willingham – Phenomaman (Dispatch)
• Maxence Cazorla – Esquire (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33)
• Andy Serkis – Renoir (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33)
• Robbie Daymond – Hank 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (Date Everything)

Winner: Andy Serkis – Renoir (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33)

Most people know Andy Serkis best as both the voice and motion capture actor for Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Caesar in the latest Planet of the Apes films. While other AAA games have pulled in Hollywood A-Listers for parts because of marketing opportunity, Serkis has put in the work honing his voice acting abilities, and it shows. From pure rage to hollow sadness to indifferent scoffing, he nails every line, so much so that it’d be a terrible mistake to cast anyone else as Renoir in the upcoming live-action Clair Obscur film.

Best Horror Game

For the best game that primarily focuses on instilling fear in the player by creating an environment filled with tension, dread, and atmosphere.

Nominees:

• Heartworm
• Caput Mortum
• Dead Take
• No, I’m Not a Human
• Eclipsium

Winner: No, I’m Not a Human

No, I’m Not a Human has the same strength and weakness, which is that it is nearly impossible to describe without showing it to someone. In what I can best describe as Invasion of the Body Snatchers meets Papers, Please, players will have to choose whether to let strangers into their home each night as an apocalyptic solar flare bakes the earth and scorches anyone left out in the daylight. A race of shapechangers called Visitors arrives, disguised as humans, and if you let them into your home they will devour the real humans you let in; you must continue to let people in, however, or The Pale Man who comes by every night asking if you’re alone might just find out that you are. The weird, disconcerting world along with the real horror of being caught alone makes No, I’m Not a Human a standout among this year’s excellent selection of indie horror titles.

Best Puzzle Game

For the best game that challenges the mind with innovative design and features satisfying problem-solving.

Nominees:

• Escape Simulator 2
• The Séance of Blake Manor
• Blue Prince
• Whisper of the House
• Is This Seat Taken?

Winner: Blue Prince

Blue Prince weaves its puzzles into its roguelite structure in ways that completely rewire your understanding of chance, direction, shapes, and space when you least expect it. It contains a bunch of truly masterful, massive tricks that can take you days to decode, let alone reach, but also an abundance of simple, satisfying riddles that can still entertain any casual brain-teaser enjoyer. This is perhaps its grandest quality: Blue Prince is deceptively casual, yet endlessly deep. For anyone wanting to just reach the end or find at least one more thing, Blue Prince can end at any point, perhaps picked up again if you miss the sensation it provides or run out of other puzzlers. For those willing to go further, though, there is just nothing like it.

Best Action/Adventure Game

For the best game that features combat, a story-rich world, light RPG elements, exploration, and progression.

Nominees:

• Hades II
• Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
• Hollow Knight: Silksong
• Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii

Winner: Hollow Knight: Silksong

Hollow Knight: Silksong expanded on Hollow Knight to push the already rich mixture of genres that is a Metroidvania further into uncharted territories. The introduction of quests and the change from the silence of The Knight to a very chatty, snarky, though ultimately kind-hearted Hornet gives a new purpose to retracing one’s steps, becoming more familiar with the world and its people. A new reason to fight and overcome the various challenges Pharloom has in store. With just how massive the world here is, Silksong’s reexamination of the meaning of adventure and the steady difficulty curve throughout its hundreds of encounters form one of the greatest experiences the genre has ever seen.

Best Simulation Game

For the best game that delivers a fun and inventive simulation of real-world activities and experiences.

Nominees:

• Two Point Museum
• News Tower
• Tiny Bookshop
• Wanderstop
• Promise Mascot Agency

Winner: Tiny Bookshop

Tiny Bookshop is a cozy simulation game, in which you run a cozy mobile bookshop travelling across the city. The customers will automatically buy most books themselves, but you need to consider demand. Not only that, but your shop needs to be decorated with items which boost your sales further. The concept is really well executed in this fun indie title.

Best Strategy Game

For the best game that presses the player to think tactically, create plans, and see them through to overcome obstacles.

Nominees:

• The Alters
• Preserve
• The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy-
• Star Birds
• Emberward

Winner: The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy-

Although it’s nearly impossible to believe given how brilliant it is, The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy- is TooKyoo Games’ first attempt at a combat system, let alone tactical strategy. One of the main components that set this RPG apart from others like it is that your attacks never become more powerful; upon level up they start to increase to affect different areas and gain more Voltage, a resource that can be used to either power up attacks, attack again, or unleash an ultimate move that leaves your own character stunned and useless. Each of the 16 characters has a set of attacks that affect different grids around them, so no two behave alike, and soon the game becomes about how many attacks you can chain together in one turn by simply playing smart enough.

Best RPG

For the best game that features exploring, leveling up, branching gameplay styles, and building out your character’s stats so that they better perform.

Nominees:

• The Outer Worlds 2
• Deltarune
• Digimon Story: Time Stranger
• Pokémon Legends: Z-A
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Winner: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

The impressiveness of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33‘s RPG system lies not in how new it is – it certainly isn’t new – but in how malleable it is. By managing Pictos, Luminas, Weapon types, and vast movesets players can fine tune any of the six playable characters to eventually play how they want. You’d like Monoco to tank? You can do that. You want Verso to change around to a healer? Grab the right Luminas and it’s done. Buildcrafting in Clair Obscur is as simple as it is fun, which is something that is lacking in more complex RPGs. It presents players with a system that is easy to learn and hard to master, while allowing them the malleability to build the team into game-breaking combos that deal millions of damage points at once.

Best Story-Driven Game

For the best game that primarily relies on telling a story through interactive fiction without heavy mechanical input from the player, often featuring dialogue choices and decisions to make.

Nominees:

• Dispatch
• Your House
• Despelote
• The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy-
• Cabernet

Winner: Dispatch

Done in the now-classic “Telltale” style, Dispatch‘s story asks us to make choices. And each choice, no matter how small, has a consequence to it. It might be making sure somebody’s life is a little easier (or at least a bit less inconvenient). It might be helping a colleague get through a bad patch in an already rough shift. Or it might be the difference between saving a city and causing its total destruction. Dispatch captures both over-the-top comic book sensibilities and workplace comedy absurdity with incredible deftness. It gives players the sort of characters that come across as believable people, not four-color cutouts flying around the screen. We can only hope any possible sequel can match its energy.

Best Platformer

For the best game that heavily features jumping, running, and movement-based gameplay across precision level design.

Nominees:

• Hollow Knight: Silksong
• Split Fiction
• Rain World: The Watcher
• Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution
• Donkey Kong Bananza

Winner: Hollow Knight: Silksong

Hollow Knight’s jump might simply be one of the best in video games – just ideal air-control on that one. Hollow Knight: Silksong’s moveset impressed us just as much, even though it stirred some rumbles in the community around launch. From the depths comes the most incomprehensible evil… behold, a diagonal downward slash! It takes a while to get used to, and you are likely to discover a more classic variant of the Hollow Knight moveset soon after you do, but this and other changes added very welcome friction that threw off even a returning player. There’s the ledge grab, the sprint, the grappling hook that uses soul during non-combat sections for some reason. On average, both the platforming and combat challenges are more involved in Silksong, so Hornet gets plenty of time to showcase her own style. A delightful surprise given the same kind of care as the original.

Best Metroidvania

For the best game that blends exploration, upgrades, progression, and interconnected level design.

Nominees:

• Blade Chimera
• Primal Planet
• Hollow Knight: Silksong
• Pipistrello and the Cursed Yo-yo
• ENDER MAGNOLIA: Bloom in the Mist

Winner: Hollow Knight: Silksong

Not much of a shocker, Hollow Knight: Silksong had too much going for it to be anything but the best Metroidvania of the year. Going against the grain, making you learn and earn the smoothness of the late-game moveset, pushing for a deeper appreciation of the staples of the genre by forcing you to engage with it near-fully to see its conclusion. It goes back all the way to the likes of Castlevania II and refines a formula that nowadays is often looked down upon. Do make sure to check out and support the other nominees here. This year, we had a variety of different takes on the genre, and, if anything, Silksong itself is proof of just how far a genre that has been growing increasingly predictable can still go.

Most Anticipated

The games we are most excited for that are currently slated for release in 2026.

Nominees:

• Fable
• Gothic 1 Remake
• Resident Evil Requim
• Danganronpa 2×2
• Pokémon Pokopia

Winner: Pokémon Pokopia

Pokémon is the best-selling media franchise of all time. Animal Crossing is one of the best-selling games in recent history and a fan-favorite in Nintendo’s repertoire. So what if… we mash them together? Yeah, it’s gonna be a hit. Pokémon is known for many things, but experiencing the intricacies of daily life is not one of them – but Pokémon Pokopia is here to change that. There’s so much potential here that it’s electrifying to even think about, and our first trailers for the game show that developer Omega Force are keen to deliver on that premise. We can’t wait to create our own Pokémon world, and create a beautiful and cozy town with Pokémon by our sides rather than merely tools to use in battle. Catching ’em all was one thing, but living with ’em all will be something else.

Game of the Year

To celebrate the game this year that showed the best gaming has to offer over any other; whether its innovative gameplay, a fantastic story, mastery of a genre or perhaps all of the above. As there was a tie in the shortlist, we’ve got six contenders.

Nominees:

• Hades II
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
• Blue Prince
• Hollow Knight: Silksong
• Promise Mascot Agency
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Winner: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

It may be unsurprising given the 11 awards that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has won so far in The GameObserver Awards 2025, but it’s also our game of the year! We had to dive deeper into what made this game so wonderful, so read our full comprehensive Game of the Year breakdown here.

And those are our GameObserver Awards 2025 winners! Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below. Were there any we missed? Keep an eye out for our The Ones We Missed article on the games we loved this year but weren’t nominated. We’ll also be sharing what older games we’ve played and loved this year in our Blast From The Past article, so check back often.