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The Game Awards 2025 | Summary - Printable Version

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The Game Awards 2025 | Summary - Moonface - Dec 12th, 2025

The Game Awards 2025 begins in just under ten minutes at 7:30pm ET / 4:30pm PT. All announcements and winners will be compiled into this post once the event begins.


In the meantime, does anyone have anything they hope to see announced during the show or predictions for any winners? I'm expecting Expedition 33 to sweep a lot of the categories it got a nomination in myself.

Winners
  • Best Family Game - Donkey Kong Bananza
  • Innovation in Accessibility - Doom: The Dark Ages
  • Best eSports Game - Counter-Strike 2
  • Best Mobile Game - Umamusume: Pretty Derby
  • Best Independent Game - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
  • Best Adaptation - The Last of Us: Season 2
  • Best Action Game - Hades II
  • Best Performance - Jennifer English (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33)
  • Games for Impact - South of Midnight
  • Best Ongoing Game - No Man's Sky
  • Best Audio Design - Battlefield 6
  • Best Fighting Game - Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves
  • Most Anticipated Game - Grand Theft Auto VI
  • Best Action-Adventure Game - Hollow Knight: Silksong
  • Best Art Direction - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
  • Best Sim/Strategy Game - Final Fantasy Tactics - The Ivalice Chronicles
  • Best Debut Indie Game - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
  • Best Score and Music - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
  • Best Sports/Racing Game - Mario Kart World
  • Best Community Support - Baldur's Gate 3
  • Best VR/AR Game - The Midnight Walk
  • Best RPG - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
  • Player's Voice - Wuthering Waves
  • Best Narrative - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
  • Best Multiplayer Game - Arc Raiders
  • Best Game Direction - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
  • Game of the Year - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Announcements
  • The Free Shepherd
    • Release Date: 2027

  • Decrepit
    • Release Date: N/A

  • Audio Mech
    • Release Date: N/A
    • Demo Available: December 12, 2025

  • Pragmata
    • Release Date: April 24, 2026
    • Demo Available: Today

  • Solasta II
    • Release Date: March 12, 2026

  • Tank Rat
    • Release Date: Spring 2026

  • Bradley the Badger
    • Release Date: N/A

  • Stupid Never Dies
    • Release Date: 2026

  • Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic
    • Release Date: N/A

  • Divinity 3
    • Release Date: N/A

  • 4 Loop
    • Release Date: N/A

  • Coven of the Chicken Foot
    • Release Date: N/A

  • Ontos
    • Release Date: 2026

  • Zenless Zone Zero - Angels of Delusion
    • Release Date: N/A

  • Resident Evil Requiem
    LEON!!
    • Release Date: February 27, 2026

  • Order of the Sinking Star
    • Release Date: 2026

  • Exodus
    • Release Date: Early 2027

  • Warlock
    Gameplay reveal coming in Summer 2026.
    • Release Date: 2027

  • Screamer
    • Release Date: March 26, 2026

  • Control: Resonant
    • Release Date: 2026

  • Gang of Dragon
    • Release Date: N/A

  • Street Fighter: The Movie
    • Release Date: 2026

  • Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight
    • Release Date: May 29, 2026

  • Tomb Raider: Catalyst
    • Release Date: 2027

  • Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis
    Remake of Tomb Raider 1.
    • Release Date: 2026

  • The Forest 3
    • Release Date: N/A

  • Orbitals
    • Release Date: 2026

  • Wuthering Waves - Version 3.0
    • Release Date: December 25, 2025

  • Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred
    • Release Date: April 28, 2026

  • Marvel Rivals - Season 6
    • Release Date: 2026

  • 007: First Light
    • Release Date: March 27, 2026

  • Lords of the Fallen II
    • Release Date: 2026

  • Saros
    • Release Date: April 30, 2026

  • No Law
    • Release Date: N/A

  • Where Winds Meet - The Imperial Legacy Update
    • Release Date: N/A

  • Phasmophobia: Nintendo Switch 2 Edition
    • Release Date: 2026

  • Total War: Warhammer 40K
    • Release Date: N/A

  • Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve
    • Release Date: 2026

  • Star Wars: Galactic Racers
    Now this is pod racing baby! Wow
    • Release Date: 2026

  • Out of Words
    • Release Date: N/A

  • Phantom Blade 0
    • Release Date: September 9, 2026

  • Mega Man: Dual Override
    • Release Date: 2027

  • The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
    • Release Date: April 2026

  • Nioh 3
    • Release Date: February 6, 2026
    • Demo Available: January 2026

  • High Guard
    • Release Date: January 26, 2026


RE: The Game Awards 2025 | Summary - Dragon Lord - Dec 12th, 2025

>FFT winning a game award in 2025
>E33 taking out the trash

Best year of TGA ever. Well, minus all the game announcements being complete slop and watching trash steal Player's Voice from E33.

E33 deserved all that it got though. One of the absolute best games to ever be made, and the best all-around game released since NieR: Automata. For once the game that deserved to win everything did in fact win everything. I think the only other game up there that had a sliver of a chance would have been Silksong, but it's still nothing compared to E33 (let's not even talk about how much of a joke DK Bonanza being up there was LOL).

I gotta add though, Genshin needs to be banned from being eligible for Player's Voice. I love the game, but man it's five years old now and has already won multiple awards. It's had its time and we need to let it just chill. Let newer games be allowed in there instead (maybe live service/gacha games just need to be banned from winning awards outside of their release year/first year of eligibility besides the "Best Ongoing" category).

RE: The Game Awards 2025 | Summary - Moonface - Dec 13th, 2025

Yeah DK Bananza was the only game I felt didn't remotely deserve to be in the GotY category. By itself it isn't good enough to be there and against the rest of the nominees it doesn't even come close to them.

I also think Sonic Racing Crossworlds should've won over MKW, but there's no way Mario isn't going to win an award whenever it has a nomination.

RE: The Game Awards 2025 | Summary - Maniakkid25 - Dec 13th, 2025

I'll be honest, I'm much less interested in the awards, and more interested in the reveal trailers. New Ace Combat? Hell yeah! Control sequel? Hell yeah! Solasta II? Nice! A full-blown remake of Tomb Raider 1? Again?! Didn't we already do this in Tomb Raider Legend Anniversary (edit: I'm dumb and forgor)? Okay.

By the name of it, Fate of the Old Republic is clearly a spiritual successor to KotOR. Galactic Racers is actually a really interesting game, though. It's developed by former Burnout and old-school NFS developers. That is definitely a game on my watch list. Tomb Raider Catalyst apparently looks like a soft reboot, so that's neat.

Oh, and I have to mention this: Street Fighter the Movie sounds like its going to be an absolute blast for all the wrong reasons. 50 Cent is gonna play Balrog. That's the only thing I needed to see to understand this is going to be a great MST3K-style movie (watch and mock it live)!

RE: The Game Awards 2025 | Summary - Dragon Lord - Dec 14th, 2025

(Dec 13th, 2025, 12:38 AM)Moonface Wrote:
Yeah DK Bananza was the only game I felt didn't remotely deserve to be in the GotY category. By itself it isn't good enough to be there and against the rest of the nominees it doesn't even come close to them.

Yeah, it was where it belonged in the best family game, but when you look at the GoTY list and you see that game next to a name like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 you just can't help but laugh at the absurdity of it. Then again you might be able to say that about all of the nominations up against something as god-tier as E33. Silksong was the only other game that deserved to be up there and even it had a snowball's chance in hell at winning over E33.

I do kind of feel bad for Silksong though. It should have won something. While I haven't played it myself (or finished Hollow Knight for that matter), from everything I've heard about the game, it not only lived up to the expectations set by the hype and the first game, but it surpassed how good Hollow Knight was as well. Which is not something easily done for a sequel. A large majority of the time a sequel falls flat compared to the first game. 

I was really hoping maybe it'd come out in the Player's Voice category since I knew E33 was going to clean house every where else, but sadly it sounds like Wuthering Waves had Chinese players voting so they could get free shit in the game, so it as an unwinnable battle in there for Silksong. Though just the fact that a small indie game like Silksong was even up there for GoTY should make Team Cherry feel really good.

RE: The Game Awards 2025 | Summary - Moonface - Dec 16th, 2025

(Dec 14th, 2025, 02:27 AM)Dragon Lord Wrote:
(Dec 13th, 2025, 12:38 AM)Moonface Wrote:
Yeah DK Bananza was the only game I felt didn't remotely deserve to be in the GotY category. By itself it isn't good enough to be there and against the rest of the nominees it doesn't even come close to them.

Yeah, it was where it belonged in the best family game, but when you look at the GoTY list and you see that game next to a name like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 you just can't help but laugh at the absurdity of it. Then again you might be able to say that about all of the nominations up against something as god-tier as E33. Silksong was the only other game that deserved to be up there and even it had a snowball's chance in hell at winning over E33.

I do kind of feel bad for Silksong though. It should have won something. While I haven't played it myself (or finished Hollow Knight for that matter), from everything I've heard about the game, it not only lived up to the expectations set by the hype and the first game, but it surpassed how good Hollow Knight was as well. Which is not something easily done for a sequel. A large majority of the time a sequel falls flat compared to the first game. 

I was really hoping maybe it'd come out in the Player's Voice category since I knew E33 was going to clean house every where else, but sadly it sounds like Wuthering Waves had Chinese players voting so they could get free shit in the game, so it as an unwinnable battle in there for Silksong. Though just the fact that a small indie game like Silksong was even up there for GoTY should make Team Cherry feel really good.
Eh, I don't think everything in the GotY category necessarily needs to make it feel like the award could go any way. For me I judge it as if there wasn't a clear winner, is there anything in the category that just sticks out as having zero chance at the award which is what Bananza came off as to me. It's not a bad game, but it isn't doing anything where in a vacuum it could be praised highly enough to be considered as one of the best games of the year. Yotei is in the same boat for me now that I think about it; while it does a few things better than Tsushima, overall it's a step backwards and as a game I wouldn't put it in any category. At most the music and voice acting can be nominated, but not the gameplay and definitely not the narrative. Yotei getting a nomination for Best Narrative is the one choice I disagree with more than anything across all of the categories and their respective nominees.


As for the game announcements themselves, there was a lot of stuff I liked the look of:
  • Bradley the Badger could be a fun time. If it's as much of a love letter to games as the trailer made it out to be, it could be something that stands alongside something like Astro Bot so long as it nails the gameplay.

  • Never played a Divinity game, nor do I expect to, but I did enjoy the trailer a lot.

  • Control: Resonant hooked me with the story being about stuff inside the Bureau getting out into the world and fucking shit up. I enjoyed the gameplay of Control, but I hope Resonant's story doesn't abruptly end in an unsatisfying way like how Control's did. That sticks out in my mind so much as a criticism of Control I can't even think of any other issues I had about the game, if any.

  • Gang of Dragon looks sick, and I definitely want to keep an eye on it as more stuff gets revealed to decide if the game ends up being something I want to play.

  • I know nothing about Street Fighter except the characters, but that trailer made the movie look like a campy fun time that doesn't take itself too seriously, which from comments I've seen on it is apparently the best way to approach a Street Fighter movie.

  • Mega Man felt like Geoff gave it way more hype than it needed to get, especially when it gives me the impression of just being more Mega Man. I do find it wild though that the game is somehow not coming out until some time in 2027.

  • High Guard was certainly a choice to close the show on. Maybe it'll be like how Apex Legends was where the trailer was whatever but then the game itself was received well and got popular, but if it ends up being dead on arrival like Concord was I won't be shocked. It just felt so bland and it's another hero shooter in a market that has long been saturated.