The dust is starting to settle... what's the GOTY of 2025?

What's your GOTY of 2025 thus far?

  • Metal Gear Solid Delta

    Votes: 7 1.1%

  • Mario Kart World

    Votes: 5 0.8%

  • Donkey Kong Bananza

    Votes: 80 13.1%

  • DOOM: The Dark Ages

    Votes: 13 2.1%

  • Death Stranding 2: On the Beach

    Votes: 47 7.7%

  • Blue Prince

    Votes: 6 1.0%

  • Kingdom Come: Deliverance II

    Votes: 63 10.3%

  • Hollow Knight: Silksong

    Votes: 46 7.5%

  • Split Fiction

    Votes: 7 1.1%

  • Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

    Votes: 291 47.5%

  • other (explain)

    Votes: 47 7.7%
  • Total voters
    612
I like other games more than most in the poll. Like Khazan, Trails in the Sky 1st remake, Desecrators, Ghost Town, Dynasty Warriors: Origins, Arken Age, Fantasy Life i, Atomfall, Zix. But GOTY probably hasn't been released yet. Well, I'd probably vote something Nintendo, if I had a Switch/2.

Nobody is even considering Monster Hunter Wilds huh, Capcpom really fucked up not making Rise 2 and going for World 2 instead. I vote we shouldn't even have a GOTY award if nothing truly extraordinary has been released anyway (again, like most games in the poll), just skip the year.
 
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Donkey Kong and Hell is Us, so far.

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Not sure why so many thing Expedition 33 is GoTY. It was good and surprising, but it wasn't that good. I personally enjoyed the scrollslike Tainted Veil more and acknowledge that it was a janky, AA game that others would drop quickly.

Expedition 33 lacked compelling exploration, had annoying and punishing timing mechanics, and wasn't as polished as a typical GoTY winner. Is this more of the good game from small team, they deserve over the top success type of thing?
 
I voted 33, and only KCD2 comes close.

I can completely understand the other way around though, both were freakin masterpieces but I'm a sucker for fantasy
 
Fess said:
And it's largely made by only 3 people. It's crazy.

I spent nearly 100 hours this summer going past 100% on Hollow Knight and I expect to do something similar with Silksong. I know of things I won't be doing in the first playthrough (the witch curse quest) so I'll go back to it again with a focus for higher completion percentage.

For me, out of the games played, there is no game more worthy of a GOTY award.

I still hate parts of it. The difficulty spike coming from HK is absurd. But it's still amazing.
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I havnt played hallow knight in a while but I havnt really felt the difficulty too bad. Although lost lace is giving me a lot of trouble…
 
Right now my top 3 is probably

1. Blue Prince
2. The Alters
3. Donkey Kong Bananza

Honorable mention to Expedition 33, depending on when you ask me it might surpass DK
 
geary said:
such bulshit. people getting upset on Ex33 or The Alters that they used AI for some textures should get a grip.
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Not really saying that I think that it's bad. AI is the future. It will speed up development and allow for things that weren't possible before.

All I'm saying is that it will go down in history as the first GOTY to have used generative AI. What I don't like, if their AI use does go deeper than the player discovered textures, is if they are trying to hide it by calling them placeholders. So that there is no backlash, allowing them to still win GOTY and gain sales. But maybe that's what they have to do in the current gaming climate where generative AI is looked upon as a negative thing. And of course it's only speculation that their AI use could have gone further than the textures, making for an almost useless discussion in that area if there is no evidence.
 
It's probably going to be Silksong for me, just because I vibe with its design philosophy so much.

As much as I enjoy Donkey Kong Bananza and think it's one of the best games Nintendo's put out in years, I do think the gameplay loop gets a little bit old after a while. As fun as it can be to explore, the dopamine of smashing things and getting gold and fossils wears off. Extended play sessions are rather exhausting.

I honestly wish I could just vote for the Switch release of UFO 50. Haha. That game is the gift that keeps on giving.
 
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The gaming world stopped turning for Expedition 33 in a way that we haven't seen since Elden Ring, no contest for GOTY in my opinion.

Sure other games do some things better, or may be more fun, but E33 has the secret sauce. Every frame of that game could be a painting that I would hang on my wall.
 
Rockman33 said:
I havnt played hallow knight in a while but I havnt really felt the difficulty too bad. Although lost lace is giving me a lot of trouble…
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Maybe I'm getting old and slow, I struggle on just about everything. Finished Hunter's March today, both the boss and that Skarrgard kill room with an annoying minion there as well, took me 10s of attempts on both. I think it's gonna take awhile to go through this thing…Haven't even seen the infamous Bilewater yet and I'm already around 25 hours in.
 
My two GOTY so far are

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2
Clair Obscure : Expedition 33

Clair Obscur is slightly ahead for me mostly for the fact that while playing I constantly wished that Lune would sit on my face and never stand up
 
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For me it's still Kingdom Come Deliverance 2. The world, storytelling, characters, interactivity and multitude of ways to approach quests is unmatched in the current gen, IMO.

The game is top notch and I haven't even played the fairly beefy DLC that just released.
 
StereoVsn said:
For me it's still Kingdom Come Deliverance 2. The world, storytelling, characters, interactivity and multitude of ways to approach quests is unmatched in the current gen, IMO.

The game is top notch and I haven't even played the fairly beefy DLC that just released.
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Oh shit I completely forgot there was dlc!!! There is more KCD for me to consume!!!
robert downey jr eating GIF
 
Fess said:
Maybe I'm getting old and slow, I struggle on just about everything. Finished Hunter's March today, both the boss and that Skarrgard kill room with an annoying minion there as well, took me 10s of attempts on both. I think it's gonna take awhile to go through this thing…Haven't even seen the infamous Bilewater yet and I'm already around 25 hours in.
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Don't get me wrong. It's not an easy game. I was also always looking for extra stuff, which probably helped me out. definitely recommend once you get to act two immediately try and upgrade your weapon as much as possible. Makes a noticeable difference.

Although I didn't get the bug tool until really late and that is a game changer for certain areas.
 
33 is something isn't it. It's not even my genre and it's still something that will be one of the memorable games of the generation. I haven't played a lot of games this year, so hard to say at this point. But that art direction and music is absolutely incredible. I can only play the game in short bursts though as I just gotta be in the mood. I just beat I think the first boss in the game, I'd like to try and beat this game this year.
 
Deadzone: Rogue so far. I impulse bought it because it looked neat. I am having a blast with it. The shooting feels great and there's enough meat to the roguelite gameplay that it makes me want to 100% it, which I never do with games.
 
keefged4 said:
Kingdom Come Deliverance 2. E33 is good, but honestly those who haven't voted for KCD2 haven't played it yet.
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I played it (not completed, but I will) and had the same unpolished experience as with the first one. It's more interesting than the KCD1, but still, it's too ambitious compared to the end result.
 
My prediction: The game awards will be all about these games on damn there every list with Clair coming out on top.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Split Fiction
Donkey Kong Bananza
Ghost of Yotei
Monster Hunter Wilds


Edit: Honorable Mention is Silksong but it won't win a mutha fuckin thing.
 
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Rockman33 said:
definitely recommend once you get to act two immediately try and upgrade your weapon as much as possible. Makes a noticeable difference.

Although I didn't get the bug tool until really late and that is a game changer for certain areas.
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Weapon upgrades? Bug tool?
I guess I'm still on act one, only upgrade I've seen is the one for hunter crest, nothing for the actual weapon yet. I religiously use the wanderer crest though, I like the speed and down attack. No idea if that can be upgraded too later on.

Btw I liked the way you got upgrades and skills more in Hollow Knight. Among other things. So far Silksong ain't touching Hollow Knight for me.
 
currently very close between KCD2 and Cronos for me personally. Both wonderful games.

I doubt anything coming out now is going to topple them from the top spot, if you put a gun to my head I would say KCD2.
 
So far, I'd rank them:

KCD2
Silksong
Fantasy Life i

Didn't care for COE33 and haven't played much else released this year. Excited for Ninja Gaiden 4 in a month, hope for that one to be real good.
 
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Critical Hit said:
I played it (not completed, but I will) and had the same unpolished experience as with the first one. It's more interesting than the KCD1, but still, it's too ambitious compared to the end result.
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Respectfully disagree that it's unpolished, it's the most feature complete, immersive RPG I've played in years. Curious to hear what your GOTY is :)
 
bender said:
Some of the P-Switch challenges in Mario Kart World, particular the ones on the Golden Gate Bridge analogue, gave me the highest of highs in gaming this year, but I'm not bind to its' many flaws. And that's a microcosm for the games I've played this year, too many glaring design or technical issues to just brush aside.
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85 hours in and still driving around. Just love the open world and HDR visuals. I get it's not everybody's cup of tea... But awesome game for me and still not really tackled the grand prix and knockout tours.
 
MK World feels like a bandwagon-bashing game where a few prominent YouTubers slammed it and a bunch of kids parroted those opinions. I think it's great and much, much better than MK8.

But I still prefer Donkey Kong Bananza.
 
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For me it's Death Stranding 2 with MGSΔ a close one but as it's a remake i cannot give it to it.

Death Stranding was able to keep me for over 150 hours. I think it's a masterpiece, a very special game just like the first one.

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keefged4 said:
Respectfully disagree that it's unpolished, it's the most feature complete, immersive RPG I've played in years. Curious to hear what your GOTY is :)
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I can explain a little. It will obviously sound as nit-picking for you, but "most immersive" and "feature rich" is where I have issues. Because:
- right from the start I see that npc is "underscripted": I moved the dead body, but the old lady still asked me do that.
- In the quest with the same old lady I didn't find the peaceful (for all) way to reconcile her family with the man. Maybe it is there somewhere but it's wasn't obvious.
- in the quest with the goat you can't kill all the wolves in one go because there is a trigger and after 2/3 hits they just ran away, so you need to skip time for them to appear again to finish them off.
So yeah, from the "immersive" perspective it is unpolished from my point of view. Perhaps if it hadn't been presented as such, my expectations would have been lower and I wouldn't have paid attention in those cases.
Don't get me wrong, it's a great and beautiful game, but the E33 is my GOTY.
 
keefged4 said:
Kingdom Come Deliverance 2. E33 is good, but honestly those who haven't voted for KCD2 haven't played it yet.
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There are some parts of KCD2 that are absolutely excellent. The
second map
is really where the game actually gets into the story it clearly wanted to tell. The arc of Henry (and Capon) from the first game into the second is really outstanding and, done in an organic and believable way...in some ways subtle, in other ways on the nose, but all great . The ending few hours of KCD2 are really...really fantastic.

BUT.

For the love of gawd, the minute to minute gameplay is so freakin' tedious. Very often, as soon as I was just hitting the rhythm of the game, the game seemed to actively stop me from having fun (the combat is janky as fuck...multiple attackers are a nightmare due to shoddy controls. The lock on is dog shit.....some forced stealth). I know it can click with some players, but fuck man....I damn near raged quit multiple times. Im glad I didn't as I wouldn't have been able to really enjoy the ending, but...whew.
 
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Fess said:
Weapon upgrades? Bug tool?
I guess I'm still on act one, only upgrade I've seen is the one for hunter crest, nothing for the actual weapon yet. I religiously use the wanderer crest though, I like the speed and down attack. No idea if that can be upgraded too later on.

Btw I liked the way you got upgrades and skills more in Hollow Knight. Among other things. So far Silksong ain't touching Hollow Knight for me.
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You can actually upgrade your main weapon once you get to act 2 I believe. In act 2 you can do it 3 times and then one more time in act 3. I'd highly recommend doing that asap. Maybe consider watching a video so you can streamline that part.

There's a red tool that is a flying bug that attacks anything in your proximity. Fantastic for flying bugs and when traversing.
 
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