2025’s Game of the Year Discussion Differs From All The Others in a Big Way

The Game Awards are going to be incredible this year. From Split Fiction to Donkey Kong Bananza, some huge AAA titles have blown fans away seemingly one after the other. However, despite all of this, the three biggest frontrunners for Game of the Year 2025 at The Game Awards seem to be Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Hollow Knight: Silksong, and Hades 2 – all of which are indie games.

This isn’t the first time an indie game has been in the running for Game of the Year; indeed, Baldur’s Gate 3 even won the award in 2023, and is widely considered indie, despite the size and budget of the game itseslf. That said, this is the first time in history that not one, but three indie games are likely to be nominated for the ultimate award.

Expedition 33, Silksong, and Hades 2 at The Game Awards

Three Indie Game Nominations for Game of the Year For the First Time Ever

While there are plenty of awards shows out there, Geoff Keighley’s The Game Awards has established itself as an authority. Since it began in 2014, the awards show has exploded in popularity, and is now widely regarded as “the Oscars of Video Games,” with a record-breaking 154 million viewers during The Game Awards 2024.

Indie titles have shown up in The Game Awards very early on; the first instance of one earning a Game of the Year nomination is Inside in 2016, though some argue 2015 GotY winner The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt counts as indie as well. Celeste, Hades, Stray, Baldur’s Gate 3, and Balatro are some of the other prominent indie games that have earned Game of the Year nominations or victories over the years.

None of these years have ever had more than one or two indie games nominated at the same time. 2022 and 2024 stood out with A Plague Tale: Requiem and Stray, and Balatro and Black Myth: Wukong, respectively, though the indie status of some of these titles is also debated by the community. Yet, 2025 will almost certainly have at least three nominations that are inarguably indie: Sandfall Interactive’s Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Team Cherry’s Hollow Knight: Silksong, and SuperGiant Games’ Hades 2.

Of course, the nominations for The Game Awards’ Game of the Year 2025 haven’t been officially announced quite yet, so technically, one or more of these games could theoretically not be nominated. That said, given Silksong and Clair Obscur’s rating has only been topped by Hades 2 this year, it would be a massive upset if they were not. In fact, it is entirely possible that a fourth hit indie game – Blue Prince – would score a nomination, further establishing 2025 as the year of the indie hits.

Who Will Win Game of the Year 2025 at the Game Awards?

Nevertheless, there is no guarantee an indie game will win Game of the Year 2025. Split Fiction, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Monster Hunter Wilds, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, and Donkey Kong Bananza are just a few of the major AAA titles that could easily compete. Even so, gamers seem to think one of these indie titles is a shoo-in for victory this year – and of them, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 seems to be the front-runner. Regardless of who wins Game of the Year 2025, the fact that so many of the top games of 2025 have been indie titles is a huge win for small studios.

Regardless, players won’t have to wait long to find out. The Game Awards 2025 take place on December 11, and historically, nominations and voting open up some time in mid-November. No matter who wins Game of the Year, it would be a shock if Silksong, Hades 2, and Clair Obscur didn’t take home at least one award during the show.

Location

Los Angeles, California

Dates

Annual