Image credit: The Game Awards

The year is ending slowly, and so the time has come. The time of summaries, the time of controversial  picks, the time, dear readers, of The Game Awards.

Of course, it’s still some time until the ultimate winners, but in his great wisdom Goeff Keighley deemed it fit to reveal the nominees for this year’s edition of TGA. So let’s go over the categories and see if there will be any surprises at all.

The Game Awards 2025 – All Nominations

And when you do, yet yourselves over to the official TGA website to cast your votes on the games you believe deserve it the most in each category. You only have until December 10th.

Now, let’s see this year’s candidates for The Game Awards 2025.

Game of the Year

  • Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – Sandfall Interactive
  • Death Stranding 2: On the Beach – Kojima Productions
  • Donkey Kong Bananza – Nintendo
  • Hades II – Supergiant Games
  • Hollow Knight: Silksong – Team Cherry
  • Kingdom Come: Deliverance II – Warhorse Studios

Best Game Direction

  • Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
  • Death Stranding 2: On The Beach
  • Ghost of Yōtei
  • Hades II
  • Split Fiction

Best Narrative

  • Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
  • Death Stranding 2: On The Beach
  • Ghost of Yōtei
  • Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
  • Silent Hill f

Best Art Direction

  • Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
  • Death Stranding 2: On The Beach
  • Ghost of Yōtei
  • Hades II
  • Hollow Knight: Silksong

Best Score and Music

  • Christoper Larkin for Hollow Knight: Silksong
  • Darren Korb for Hades II
  • Lorien Testard for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
  • Toma Otowa for Ghost of Yōtei
  • Woodkid and Ludvig Forssell for Death Stranding 2: On the Beach

Best Audio Design

  • Battlefield 6
  • Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
  • Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
  • Ghost of Yōtei
  • Silent Hill f

Best Performance

  • Ben Starr for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
  • Charlie Cox for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
  • Erika Ishii for Ghost of Yotei
  • Jennifer English for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
  • Konatsu Kato for Silent Hill f
  • Troy Baker for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

Innovation in Accessibility

  • Assassin’s Creed Shadows
  • Atomfall
  • Doom: The Dark Ages
  • EA Sports FC 26
  • South of Midnight

Games for Impact

  • Consume Me
  • Despelote
  • Lost Records: Bloom & Rage
  • South of Midnight
  • Wanderstop

Best Ongoing Game

  • Final Fantasy XIV
  • Fortnite
  • Helldivers 2
  • Marvel Rivals
  • No Man’s Sky

Best Community Support

  • Baldur’s Gate 3
  • Final Fantasy XIV
  • Fortnite
  • Helldivers 2
  • No Man’s Sky

Best Independent Game

  • Absolum
  • Ball x Pit
  • Blue Prince
  • Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
  • Hades II
  • Hollow Knight: Silksong

Best Debut Indie Game

  • Blue Prince
  • Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
  • Despelote
  • Dispatch
  • Megabonk

After the announcement of nominees, vedinad, the developer behind Megabonk, withdrew from TGA , feeling it doesn’t qualify for the category.

Best Mobile Game

  • Destiny: Rising
  • Persona 5: The Phantom X
  • Sonic Rumble
  • Umamusume: Pretty Derby
  • Wuthering Waves

Best VR/AR

  • Alien Rogue: Incursion
  • Arken Age
  • Ghost Town
  • Marvel’s Deadpool VR
  • The Midnight Walk

Best Action Game

  • Battlefield 6
  • Doom: The Dark Ages
  • Hades II
  • Ninja Gaiden 4
  • Shinobi: Art of Vengeance

Best Action/Adventure

  • Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
  • Ghost of Yōtei
  • Hollow Knight: Silksong
  • Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
  • Split Fiction

Best RPG

  • Avowed
  • Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
  • Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
  • Monster Hunter Wilds
  • The Outer Worlds 2

Best Fighting Game

  • 2XKO
  • Capcom Fighting Collection 2
  • Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves
  • Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection
  • Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. World Stage

Best Family Game

  • Donkey Kong Bananza
  • LEGO Party!
  • LEGO Voyagers
  • Mario Kart World
  • Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds
  • Split Fiction

Best Sim/Strategy

  • FINAL FANTASY TACTICS – The Ivalice Chronicles
  • Jurassic World Evolution 3
  • Sid Meier’s Civilization VII
  • Tempest Rising
  • The Alters
  • Two Point Museum

Best Sports/Racing

  • EA Sports FC 26
  • F1 25
  • Mario Kart World
  • Rematch
  • Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds

Best Multiplayer

  • Arc Raiders
  • Battlefield 6
  • Elden Ring Nightreign
  • Peak
  • Split Fiction

Best Adaptation

  • A Minecraft Movie
  • Devil May Cry
  • Splinter Cell: Deathwatch
  • The Last of Us: Season 2
  • Until Dawn

Most Anticipated Game

  • 007 First Light
  • Grand Theft Auto VI
  • Marvel’s Wolverine
  • Resident Evil Requiem
  • The Witcher IV

Content Creator of the Year

  • Caedrel
  • Kai Cenat
  • MoistCr1TiKaL
  • Sakura Miko
  • The Burnt Peanut

Best Esports Game

  • Counter-Strike 2
  • DOTA 2
  • League of Legends
  • Mobile Legends: Bang Bang
  • Valorant

Best Esports Athlete

  • brawk
  • Chovy
  • f0rsakeN
  • Kakeru
  • MenaRD
  • Zyw0o

Best Esports Team

  • Gen.G – League of Legends
  • NRG – Valorant
  • Team Falcons – DOTA 2
  • Team Liquid PH – Mobile Legends: Bang Bang
  • Team Vitality – Counter-Strike 2

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is definitely the name seen the most often here, especially in the Best Performance category where its actors scooped half of the six nominations. It also, of course, made it into the GotY nominations, among other strong contenders.

On the whole, the nominations aren’t particularly surprising, although inclusion of Monster Hunter Wilds in the best RPG category is a little bit of a head-scratcher, it doesn’t really do anything particularly RPG-y and would fit much better in the Action category, although I don’t think it’s better than anything already in there.

The categories are now up for community votes, and, reminded, you only have until December 10, 6 p.m PT to cast yours over on the official TGA website.

The TGA show, hosted, as usual, by Geoff Keighley, will take place on December 11th. In addition to the awards ceremony itself, we can expect a host of trailers, reveals, and announcements from across the game industry, so tuning in is recommended if you want to be up to date on everything!