Every year, the same AAA titans battle for Game of the Year trophies. However, 2025's GOTY nominees might finally shatter this predictable pattern.
The upcoming Game Awards ceremony features an unprecedented lineup where indie darlings stand shoulder-to-shoulder with established franchises. Surprisingly, games like Clair Obscur and Blue Prince are generating as much buzz as Nintendo's Donkey Kong Bananza and Kojima's Death Stranding sequel. Despite being overlooked in previous years, co-op experiences are also breaking through with Split Fiction's emotional storytelling approach. This unexpected collection of contenders signals a potential shift in what the industry values in its highest achievements.
This article examines why these five games have defied expectations to become frontrunners, what their nominations mean for gaming's future, and which dark horse might ultimately take home the prestigious GOTY award.
Clair Obscur: The Indie That Feels AAA
Sandfall Interactive's debut title has shattered expectations, becoming an unexpected frontrunner in this year's Game Awards race. This French studio of just 30 developers has accomplished what many industry veterans thought impossible: creating a game with AAA quality on a fraction of the budget.
Why it's a front-runner despite being a debut
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 launched in April to universal acclaim, quickly becoming the highest-rated game of 2025 on both Metacritic and OpenCritic. Within just 33 days of release, the game sold an astonishing 3.3 million copies, despite being priced at $49.99—notably lower than the $60-70 price tag typical of AAA titles.
The game's success story resonates with both critics and players because it represents something increasingly rare in modern gaming: a passionate project that succeeded against overwhelming odds. Three of Sandfall's core team members, including founder Guillaume Broche, were former Ubisoft developers who wanted to return to creating games driven by creativity rather than corporate mandates.
Consequently, industry heavyweights including Hideo Kojima, Neil Druckmann, and Ken Levine have publicly praised Clair Obscur for achieving exceptional quality while avoiding excessive monetization practices common among large studios. Even French President Emmanuel Macron congratulated the developers, highlighting the game as an example of French creativity.
How its narrative and visuals rival big studios
What truly distinguishes Clair Obscur from other indie titles is its extraordinary production values. The game masterfully combines turn-based combat inspired by Japanese classics like Final Fantasy with hyper-realistic graphics powered by Unreal Engine 5. This technical achievement proves small teams don't need to sacrifice visual ambition.
The narrative—a dark, compelling story about mortality, grief, and art set in a warped version of Belle Époque France—has particularly resonated with players. Furthermore, performances by acclaimed actors Charlie Cox and Andy Serkis bring emotional depth that rivals any AAA production.
Critics have specifically praised the game for:
- Its modern approach to traditional Japanese-style turn-based combat
- Exceptional art direction and visual world design
- Emotionally engaging storytelling with strong writing and characters
Admittedly, some players have pointed out minor shortcomings, including occasional janky platforming and movement issues. Nevertheless, these criticisms have been largely overshadowed by the game's overwhelming strengths.
The Game Pass effect on visibility
Expedition 33's immediate availability on Xbox Game Pass undoubtedly contributed to its extraordinary visibility. The subscription service provided an existing player base that might not have otherwise discovered the title.
Game developers have noted that Game Pass offers significant advantages for indie titles that lack the marketing budgets of AAA games. As Palworld communications director John Buckley stated after witnessing Expedition 33's success: "Yes, yes it is very worth having your game on Game Pass".
Ultimately, Clair Obscur represents a potential turning point for the industry. Its success demonstrates that smaller budget games with focused teams can compete directly with massive AAA productions—a reality that challenges the bloated development model many publishers have embraced. For GOTY voters, this underdog narrative combined with genuine quality makes it exceedingly difficult to overlook.
Donkey Kong Bananza: A Platformer in the Spotlight
While indie studios fight for recognition, Nintendo's big hairy gorilla has smashed his way into the GOTY conversation. Donkey Kong Bananza has emerged as an unexpected heavyweight in this year's Game Awards race, earning exceptional ratings of 91 on OpenCritic and 90 on Metacritic – impressive numbers that place it among the most acclaimed titles of 2025.
Nintendo's surprise return to form
Donkey Kong Bananza represents a significant shift in Nintendo's strategy. Instead of leading with Mario for its new console, the company made the bold choice to put DK in the spotlight. Developed by the same internal team behind Super Mario Odyssey, this marks the first Donkey Kong game created in-house by Nintendo Japan in 20 years.
The game's destructible environments showcase what the Switch 2 hardware can do. Almost every surface can be smashed, dug through, or torn apart, with voxel technology allowing players to manipulate terrain to a degree that would have been impossible on the original Switch. This focus on environmental destruction plays perfectly to Donkey Kong's strengths as a character, emphasizing his raw power in a way that feels fresh and distinctive.
Critics have responded enthusiastically, with IGN's Logan Plant awarding the game a perfect 10/10 and calling it "a truly groundbreaking 3D platformer". Even more mixed reviews acknowledge that "when it smashes, DK really smashes", highlighting the satisfying core mechanics that drive the experience.
Why platformers rarely win GOTY
Historically, the Game Awards have shown a clear genre bias. Cinematic, story-focused action-adventure and role-playing games typically dominate, with family-friendly platformers often overlooked due to perceived immaturity and simpler narratives.
Since the Game Awards jury consists mostly of international media outlets, critical reception strongly influences nomination chances. Although Bananza meets the necessary threshold with its 90+ ratings, the platformer stigma remains a potential hurdle.
Fortunately, Astro Bot's surprise GOTY win last year broke significant ground, proving that a well-crafted platformer can indeed claim gaming's highest honor. Even so, the possibility of platformers winning back-to-back years seems unlikely, placing additional pressure on Bananza to distinguish itself from the competition.
The Switch 2 launch boost
As a Switch 2 exclusive, Bananza enjoys a visibility advantage that few other GOTY contenders can match. The game has accomplished what Mario Kart World couldn't quite manage – delivering the new console's first "must-play critical hit". This timing creates a compelling narrative around Bananza as the standard-bearer for Nintendo's next generation.
Although the game sold about half as many copies as Odyssey at launch, industry analysts attribute this primarily to the console's limited install base rather than any quality issues. As more consumers purchase the Switch 2, Bananza's sales and cultural impact will likely continue growing throughout the year.
Nintendo's decision to position Donkey Kong as a launch window headliner certainly looks strategic in retrospect. By revitalizing this classic character with modern game design principles, they've created something that feels simultaneously nostalgic and innovative – precisely the combination that often resonates with awards voters looking for games that push the medium forward.
Death Stranding 2: The Auteur’s Gamble
Hideo Kojima stands as gaming's quintessential auteur, a director whose name alone generates more buzz than most established franchises. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach arrives as possibly the most anticipated sequel of 2025, carrying both the weight of its creator's reputation and the divisive legacy of its predecessor.
Kojima's legacy and expectations
Few game creators command the reverence afforded to Kojima. After parting ways with Konami in 2015, he established Kojima Productions and released Death Stranding in 2019—a bold, experimental title that sharply divided players and critics alike. The original game's commercial success (over 5 million copies sold across platforms) cemented Kojima's status as an independent force capable of delivering AAA experiences outside traditional publisher structures.
His reputation has grown beyond gaming into broader cultural spheres. In 2021, Kojima received France's Minister of Culture Award for his contributions to digital arts. Additionally, his close friendships with film directors like Guillermo del Toro and Nicolas Winding Refn have further elevated his celebrity status.
For Death Stranding 2, these external achievements create extraordinary expectations. Many industry analysts predict the sequel will either be a masterpiece that defines this console generation or an indulgent project that prioritizes artistic vision over player enjoyment—with little middle ground possible.
How DS2 improves on the original
Death Stranding 2 directly addresses the most common criticisms of its predecessor through several significant improvements:
- Combat mechanics have been completely overhauled, offering more engaging encounters that no longer feel like distractions from the core gameplay
- The delivery systems remain central but now include more varied mission structures and meaningful player choices
- Technical performance takes full advantage of current hardware, delivering stable frame rates even in the most visually demanding sequences
Perhaps most importantly, the narrative structure has been tightened. While the original game's story didn't fully cohere until its final hours, DS2 presents a more accessible yet equally ambitious tale exploring themes of connection in a post-pandemic world.
Concerns about bias and overexposure
Death Stranding 2's GOTY nomination raises legitimate questions about industry bias. As journalist Jim Sterling noted, "Kojima games receive disproportionate attention regardless of quality." This sentiment echoes across gaming communities where some players feel Kojima's work is evaluated on a different scale than other developers'.
The Game Awards jury, comprising primarily media representatives, has historically shown preference for narratively ambitious titles. Given Kojima's media relationships and marketing savvy, some critics worry DS2 might be overrepresented in nominations despite mixed player reception.
Conversely, others argue that backlash against Kojima's celebrity status might unfairly diminish DS2's achievements. The game's technical innovations and narrative ambitions could be overlooked precisely because they come from a creator whose work is expected to push boundaries.
Ultimately, Death Stranding 2 embodies both the promises and perils of auteur-driven game design in the GOTY conversation. Its nomination represents the industry's ongoing struggle to balance recognition of visionary direction against broader concerns about accessibility and entertainment value.
Split Fiction: Co-op Games Don’t Usually Go This Far
Breaking the traditional single-player formula, Split Fiction has emerged as a serious GOTY nominee—a rare achievement for a cooperative experience. The new title from Hazelight Studios challenges long-held assumptions about what types of games deserve industry recognition.
Hazelight's track record with It Takes Two
Hazelight Studios is no stranger to awards success. Their previous title, It Takes Two, made history in 2021 by becoming the first cooperative game to win Game of the Year at The Game Awards. This groundbreaking victory established Josef Fares and his team as masters of the cooperative format, setting high expectations for their next project.
Split Fiction builds upon this foundation yet takes bold new directions. Where It Takes Two focused on marital conflict, Split Fiction explores twin siblings separated at birth who must work together despite having developed vastly different personalities and abilities. This innovative approach maintains Hazelight's signature mandatory two-player design—no solo play option exists.
The studio has refined their split-screen mechanics, creating situations where players must literally see through each other's perspectives to progress. This mechanical innovation serves the narrative brilliantly, as initially disconnected siblings gradually develop understanding and empathy.
Why co-op games are rarely GOTY material
Cooperative games typically face significant barriers to GOTY recognition. First, requiring two players immediately limits accessibility compared to single-player experiences. Many players simply cannot commit to coordinated gaming sessions with partners or friends.
Second, co-op games often sacrifice narrative depth for gameplay mechanics. The presence of multiple players can complicate storytelling, leading to simplified plots that fail to resonate with awards voters who typically favor narrative sophistication.
Third, technical limitations create challenges. Split-screen play demands performance compromises that can affect visual fidelity—a crucial factor when competing against graphical powerhouses like Death Stranding 2.
The emotional storytelling twist
What truly distinguishes Split Fiction among GOTY nominees is its narrative approach. Unlike most cooperative games that treat story as secondary to mechanics, Split Fiction places emotional storytelling at its core.
The game tackles themes of identity, nature versus nurture, and familial bonds through gameplay that requires genuine cooperation. Players must verbally communicate real-time information their partner cannot see, creating moments of tension, frustration, and eventual breakthrough that mirror the characters' emotional journey.
Critics have praised how Split Fiction creates "accidental method acting," where players naturally embody their characters' emotional states through gameplay. This innovative approach to narrative design blurs the line between gameplay mechanics and storytelling in ways that feel genuinely progressive.
In an industry dominated by single-player epics and massive online experiences, Split Fiction demonstrates that cooperative play can deliver emotionally resonant experiences worthy of the highest accolades.
Blue Prince: The Indie That Might Break Through
Among the GOTY nominees, an enigmatic puzzle game lurks with boundless potential. Blue Prince, developed by Dogubomb, has quietly emerged as the highest-rated title of 2025, challenging assumptions about which games deserve industry recognition.
Critical acclaim vs. mainstream appeal
Blue Prince sits atop review aggregator sites with an exceptional 92 Metascore, outranking even Split Fiction's impressive 91. This puzzle game about exploring a mysterious mansion that reconfigures itself daily has captivated critics with its innovative design. Nevertheless, critical acclaim doesn't always translate to mainstream success. Unlike previous indie nominees such as Stray, which had immediate visual appeal, Blue Prince's complex puzzles demand players keep notebooks handy, potentially limiting its broader audience.
Why it's different from past indie nominees
Previous indie GOTY contenders like Inside, Celeste, and Stray offered more accessible experiences. In contrast, Blue Prince embraces complexity through its randomized rooms and intricate puzzles. Moreover, the game feels distinctly authored – players sense designer Tonda Ros's vision throughout. This challenging approach makes it an outlier among past nominees yet resonates strongly with the critical community that forms the Game Awards jury.
The risk of being overshadowed by Hades 2
Historically, only one indie game receives a GOTY nomination annually. Herein lies Blue Prince's greatest vulnerability. Supergiant's Hades 2, already popular in early access, looms as a formidable competitor. As a sequel to a previous GOTY nominee with established mechanics and broader appeal, Hades 2 could easily steal Blue Prince's nomination spot – especially if it launches fully on PC and Switch 2 before voting begins.
Conclusion
The Game Awards 2025 stands as a potential watershed moment for the gaming industry. Never before has such a diverse lineup of nominees challenged the established order of what makes a Game of the Year contender. Sandfall Interactive's Clair Obscur proves small teams can deliver AAA quality without massive budgets, while Nintendo's Donkey Kong Bananza builds on Astro Bot's legacy, showing platformers deserve serious consideration.
Death Stranding 2 certainly carries the weight of Kojima's auteur reputation, though questions remain whether its artistic vision will connect with players beyond the critical sphere. Meanwhile, Split Fiction breaks new ground for cooperative experiences through emotional storytelling that transforms gameplay mechanics into vehicles for genuine human connection.
Perhaps most surprising, Blue Prince demonstrates that complex, challenging puzzle games can earn recognition alongside more accessible experiences. This dark horse might ultimately surprise everyone if it manages to edge out Supergiant's Hades 2 for the indie nomination spot.
What makes this year truly remarkable, however, is how these nominees collectively signal a shift in industry values. Players and critics alike seem increasingly drawn to games that prioritize creative vision, emotional resonance, and mechanical innovation over traditional production values and marketing budgets.
The eventual winner remains uncertain, but one thing appears clear: gaming's highest honor no longer belongs exclusively to predictable AAA titans. Instead, the medium continues evolving toward recognizing excellence across all studios, budgets, and genres. Regardless of which title claims the trophy, the 2025 nominees already represent a victory for gaming's creative future.