Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 leads Game Awards 2025 nominations

The nominees for The Game Awards 2025 have been announced: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 from Sandfall Interactive received ten nominations, including Game of the Year.

Overall, the turn-based RPG was nominated for 12 awards, including three in the performance category for Ben Starr, Charlie Cox and Jennifer English.

Claire Obscurus was also nominated for Best Game Direction, Best Story, Best Art Direction, Best Music and Music, Best Audio Design, Best Independent Game, Best Indie Debut, and Best RPG.

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach and Ghost of Yötei each received eight nominations, and Death Stranding 2 was also nominated for Game of the Year.

Both games were nominated in the categories of Best Game Direction, Best Story, Best Art Direction, Best Score and Music, Best Audio Design and Best Action/Adventure Game.

“Ghost of Yotei” Erika Ishii was also nominated for her role as Atsu in the Best Performance category.

Indie hits Hades 2 and Hollow Knight: Silksong were nominated for six and five awards respectively, with both included in the Game of the Year category.

In terms of publishers, Sony Interactive Entertainment received the most nominations with 18, followed by Kepler Interactive with 14 nominations. Sega received seven nominations, and Nintendo received four.

The 2025 Game Awards will take place on Thursday, December 11th at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. It will be streaming from 5:00 pm PT/8:00 pm ET on Amazon Prime and Twitch.

At last year's ceremony Asobi's Astro Bot received four awards including Game of the Year.

Metaphor: ReFantazio by Studio Zen and Balatro by LocalThunk won in three categories: Balatro won Best Independent Game, Best Debut Indie Game and Best Mobile Game.

Here's the full list of Game Awards 2025 nominees:

Game of the Year

• Claire Obscurus: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive/Kepler Interactive)
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (Kojima Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Donkey Kong Bananza (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
• Hades 2 (Supergiant Games)
• Hollow Knight: Silksong (Team Cherry)
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (Warhorse Studios/Deep Silver)

Best Game Direction

• Chiaroscuro: Expedition 33
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
• The Ghost of Uthea (Sucker Punch Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Hades 2
• Split Fantasy (Hazelight Studios/EA)

Best Narrative

• Chiaroscuro: Expedition 33
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
• Ghost of Yotei
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
• Silent Hill F (NeoBards Entertainment/Konami)

Best Art Direction

• Chiaroscuro: Expedition 33
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
• Ghost of Yotei
• Hades 2
• Hollow Knight: Silk Song

Best Music and Music

• Hollow Knight: Silksong – composer Christopher Larkin
• Hades 2 – composer Darren Korb
• Claire Obscurus: Expedition 33 – Composer Lorien Testard
• The Ghost of Yotei – composer Toma Otowa
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach – composers Woodkid and Ludwig Forssell

Best Audio Design

• Battlefield 6 (Battlefield Studios/EA)
• Chiaroscuro: Expedition 33
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
• Ghost of Yotei
• Silent Hill F

Best Performance

• Ben Starr – Verso, Claire Obscurus: Expedition 33
• Charlie Cox – Gustave, Claire Obscure: Expedition 33
• Her Erika is Atsu, the yokakretei ghost.
• Jennifer English – Mael, Claire Obscurus: Expedition 33
• Konatsu Kato – Hinako Shimizu, Silent Hill F
• Troy Baker – Indiana Jones, Indiana Jones and the Big Circle

Innovation in Accessibility

• Shadows of Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft)
• Nateomal (Uprising)
• Doom: The Dark Ages (id Software/Bethesda Softworks)
• EA Sports FC 26 (EA Canada/EA Romania/EA)
• South of Midnight (Compulsion Games/Xbox Game Studios)

Games for influence

• Consume Me (Jenny Jiao Xia/AP Thomson/Hexacutable)
• Destruction (Julian Cordero/Sebastian Valbuena/Panic)
• Lost Records: Bloom & Rage (Don't Nod, Montreal / Don't Nod)
• South of Midnight
• Wanderstop (Ivy Road/Annapurna Interactive)

Best Continuing Game

• Final Fantasy 14 (Square Enix)
• Fortnite (Epic Games)
• Helldivers 2 (Arrowhead Game Studios/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Marvel Rivals (NetEase Games)
• No Man's Sky (Hello Games)

Best Community Support

• Baldur's Gate 3 (Larian Studios)
• Final fantasy 14
• Fortnite
• Helldivers 2
• No Man's Sky

Best Independent Game

• Absolum (Guard Crush Games/Supamonks/Dotemu)
• Ball x Pit (Kenny Sun/Devolver Digital)
• Blue Prince (Dogubomb/Raw Fury)
• Chiaroscuro: Expedition 33
• Hades 2
• Hollow Knight: Silk Song

Best Debut Indie Game

• Blue Prince
• Chiaroscuro: Expedition 33
• Despelote
• Sending (AdHoc Studio)
• Megabonk (Vedinad)

Best Mobile Game

• Destiny: Rising
• Persona 5: The Phantom X (Black Wings Game Studio/Sega)
• Sonic Rumble (Rovio Entertainment/Sega)
• Umamusume: Pretty Derby (Cygames Inc.)
• Thunder Waves (Kuro Games)

Best VR/AR

• Alien: Plunder Invasion (Survios)
• Arken Age (VitruviusVR)
• Ghost Town (Fireproof Games)
• Marvel's Deadpool VR (Twisted Pixel Games/Oculus Studios)
• Midnight Walk (MoonHood/Fast Travel Games)

Best Action Game

• Battlefield 6
• Doom: Dark Ages
• Hades 2
• Ninja Gaiden 4 (Platinum Games/Team Ninja/Xbox Game Studios)
• Shinobi: The Art of Vengeance (Lizardcube/Sega)

Best Action/Adventure Game

• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
• Ghost of Yotei
• Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (MachineGames/Bethesda Softworks)
• Hollow Knight: Silk Song
• Split fiction

Best RPG

• Acknowledged (Obsidian Entertainment/Xbox Game Studios)
• Chiaroscuro: Expedition 33
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
• The Outer Worlds 2 (Obsidian Entertainment/Xbox Game Studios)
• Monster Hunter Wilds (Capcom)

Best fighting game

• 2XKO (Riot Games)
• Capcom Fighting Collection 2 (Capcom)
• Fatal Fury: City of Wolves (SNK Corporation)
• Mortal Kombat: Legacy Collection (Digital Eclipse/Atari)
• Virtua Fighter 5 REVO World Stage (Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio/Sega)

Best Family Game

• Donkey Kong Bananza
• Lego Party (SMG Studio/Fictions)
• Lego Voyagers (Light Brick Studios/Annapurna Interactive)
• Mario Kart World (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
• Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds (Sonic Team/Sega)
• Split fiction

Best Simulator/Strategy

• Alters (11 Bit Studios)
• Final Fantasy Tactics – Chronicles of Ivalice (Square Enix)
• Jurassic World Evolution 3 (Frontier Developments)
• Sid Meier's Civilization 7 (Firaxis Games/2K)
• Tempest Rising (Slipgate Ironworks/3D Realms)
• Two Point Museum (Two Point Studios/Sega)

Best Sport/Racing

• EA Sport FC 26
• F1 25 (Codemasters/EA)
• World of Mario Kart
• Rematch (Sloclap/Kepler Interactive)
• Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds

Best multiplayer

• Arc Raiders (Embark Studios)
• Battlefield 6 (Electronic Art)
• Elden Ring: Nightreign (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco Entertainment)
• Peak (Agro Crab/Landfall)
• Split fiction

Best Adaptation

• Minecraft Movie (Legendary Pictures/Mojang/Warner Bros)
• Devil May Cry (Studio Mir/Capcom/Netflix)
• The Last of Us: Season 2 (HBO/PlayStation Productions)
• Splinter Cell: Deathwatch (Fost Studio/Ubisoft/Netflix)
• Until Dawn (Screen Gems/PlayStation Productions)

Most anticipated game

• 007 First Light (IO Interactive)
• Grand Theft Auto 6 (Rockstar Games)
• Marvel's Wolverine (Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Resident Evil: Requiem (Capcom)
• The Witcher 4 (CD Projekt Red)

Content Creator of the Year

• Mark Robert “Cadrel” Lamont
• Kai Chenat
• Charles “MoistCr1TiKaL” White Jr.
• Sakura Miko (VTuber, Hololive Production)
• Burnt peanuts

Best eSports Game

• Counter-Strike 2 (Valve)
• DOTA 2 (Valve)
• League of Legends (Riot)
• Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (Moonton)
• Valerant (Riot)

Best esports athlete

• Brock “Brawk” Somerhalder (Valorant)
• Jung “Chovy” Ji Hoon (League of Legends)
• Jason – Sussian (Volanta)
• Kakeru “Kakeru” Watanabe (Street Fighter)
• Saul “MenaRD” Leonardo (Street Fighter)
• Mathieu “Zyw0o” Herbault (Counter-Strike 2)

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)