Your GotY so far? [Q2 2025]

What is your favorite game so far this year?


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E33 has my heart and no other game can come close to stealing it. DK Bananza looks like it could be good enough to be nominated. With DKB and Death Stranding 2 in Q3, the next poll could get more interesting.
Blue Prince second but not very close.
Blue Prince for Indie of the Year!
 
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Expedition 33. Easiest vote of my life.

And if the entire game ends up being as good as the demo, Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is probably a runner up.
 
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Expedition 33 had such a powerful ending that it's gonna stick in people's mind for a long time. Kindom Come 2 is superb as well and deserves some consideration.

But it's easy to see that Expedition 33 will sweep the awards unless Metroid Prime 4 is a revelation. Especially since it's one of those smaller team games that everyone loves.
 
Right now probably Death Stranding 2.
I probably like Expedition 33 more, but thing is, due to life circumstances I had to take a loooooong break from the game.
I'm around the mid-late game, but the break has been so long that I struggle to get back into it. A common problem I have with RPGs.
 
Clair Obscur. Just feels like that game has it wrapped up already. That's how good it is. Maybe another will come along and give it some competition, which would be awesome for us, but probably not.

My second choice would be Avowed
Yup. I said the same thing in another thread.

I'm hoping Donkey Kong Bananza will be up there as well.
 
My list consists of three "2025" games. These are the games that I have bought, and they released this year.

  1. Breath of Fire IV (If allowed, is current GOTY)
  2. Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
  3. The Siege and the Sandfox
 
Right now probably Death Stranding 2.
I probably like Expedition 33 more, but thing is, due to life circumstances I had to take a loooooong break from the game.
I'm around the mid-late game, but the break has been so long that I struggle to get back into it. A common problem I have with RPGs.
Power through man. The ending is a wonderful payoff.
 
There's a few like you and me. Got to the start of Act 2 but just had no desire to keep going, game was doing nothing for me.

Agree that it's cool seeing a new studio experiencing such success, wonder how their next game will be.
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It is honestly refreshing to see that I'm not alone lol. I got to about the same point and it just wasn't holding my attention at all. Maybe some day I'll give it another shot.
 
There's already been a ton of great games this year, but yeah my pick is definitely Expedition 33 right now.

I'd rank my favorites so far as such:

  1. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
  2. Split-Fiction
  3. DOOM: The Dark Ages
  4. Stellar Blade (PC release)

Still lots of games to look forward to. Mafia: The Old Country, Donkey Kong Bonanza, and Silent Hill f are probably the biggest remaining standouts for me.
 
Expedition 33, even if the discourse around it is tiring. It's a great game with a super addicting combat system, but it's not the second coming of Christ. Let's give it credit where it's due... and not where it isn't.

I haven't played KCD2 yet. I will get to it soon hopefully.

Mario Kart World is mid but only due to Nintendo inane decisions, the core of the game is super fun.

Monster Hunter Wilds is worse than World and Rise, I had my fun but I moved on pretty quickly from it.

I haven't played the other games in the list, but I have played a tons of 2024 games (late releases or not).
 
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Expedition 33. Very easy. It's overall one of my all time favorites to be fair. I also think we shouldn't forget the story about how this game even came to be. That's probably even more impressive.

I can only see Death Stranding 2 beating it cause that's apparently also really good. I'm not playing it, so I wouldn't know.

Donkey Kong will be well received, but at the same time I doubt it will have as much of an impact/surprise effect as the other 2.
 
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Split Fiction.

I never thought I'd recommend a co-op game but here we are.

Played Expedition 33 and didn't like it.

Split Fiction the whole way.
 
So far:

GOTY: Clair Obscur Expedition 33
Best DLC: Lies of P Overture
Best Remake/Remaster: Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition
 
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Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 is a very solid sequel.
We sometimes forget that Daniel Vávra worked on Mafia 1 & 2 before KCD series.

Having said that E33 was the surprise of the year, the big buzz.
 
  1. Expedition 33
  2. Nightreign
  3. KCD 2
Not started death stranding 2 yet, so subject to change but doubt number 1 changes.
 
Clair Obscur by far.

Mario Kart World and Xenoblade Chronicles X are distant runners up. Nothing else even really registered for me
 
Clair Obscur and I doubt anything else will top it this year. That said the ending didn't stick the landing for me. It does make me more interested in what the overall franchise could do but it kinda dragged this particular game's story down for me a little.
 
So far Split Fiction, though I have a feeling my goty not out yet. Doom was just fine but like a month later not that memorable, Commandos just wasn't polished enough and such a shame that Civ 7 is a big mess.
Mafia might be a good one and who knows whatever drops still this year we don't know yet. Kind of chill year compared to recent ones so far.
 
Expedition 33 is my favorite game of the year so far. I think there's been a lot of good stuff in 2025 but Clair Obscur is my favorite for sure. Breathed new life into its genre, in my opinion
 
5 people voted for Doom an those 5 people have horrible taste. They won't even remember that game next year, but it's GOTY lol
 
Of the 2025 games I played so far (Avowed, South of Midnight, Expedition 33, KCD2..) only KCD2 is good enough for GOTY. In fact it is one of the best RPG ever made, period.

Expedition 33 would be second, but I would give it 8/10 - interesting story, well written characters, beautiful audiovisuals, but its gameplay design is just mediocre. It relies on too much style over substance.

I also finished TLOU2 this year (PC release) which I absolutely loved - its gameplay was fantastic and its story was - for its genre of corridor action games - unusually ambitious and well told.
 
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World of Warcraft Midnight
Stellar Blade on PC

If those don't count than it'll probably be a indie steam horror game that's unreleased like Phase Zero, Ground Zero, or something else since I'm not not into any of the other AAA games.
 
E33, even if its strong gameplay choices and bold artistic direction can divide people. But that's also what makes it stand out, and rises it far above most AAAA games, smoothed out to please everyone.

E33 deserves every bit of praise. It's the kind of game the industry needs to go back to.
 
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Expedition 33 was one of the best video game experiences I've ever had.

GOTY for me easy.
Likely my game of the generation and not just of the year.

DS2 was poised to be the game that could topple it for me but it doesn't even topple KCD2. KCD2 is a very close number two GOTY after Clair for me.

Looking at the remainder of the year I don't see anything taking Clair down for me personally but I hold out reservation that Bananza, Prime 4, and Ninja Gaiden 4 all very well could. Each is a game I'm very eager to play, and being a longtime NG dick rider there's a strong contender there for my personal tastes to clear past 33.
 
Likely my game of the generation and not just of the year.

DS2 was poised to be the game that could topple it for me but it doesn't even topple KCD2. KCD2 is a very close number two GOTY after Clair for me.

Looking at the remainder of the year I don't see anything taking Clair down for me personally but I hold out reservation that Bananza, Prime 4, and Ninja Gaiden 4 all very well could. Each is a game I'm very eager to play, and being a longtime NG dick rider there's a strong contender there for my personal tastes to clear past 33.
I agree with you. I almost put it down as my game of the decade...but Zelda has had a death grip on my since I was a kid and BOTW and TOTK were both amazing in their own right.

E33 is extremely special and while it is probably lightning in a bottle, it was just so...I don't know...everything about that game landed with me. All of it. I'm still listening to the soundtrack ffs.
 
E33, best PS5 game, but I'm towards the end of DS2 and it's a pretty close 2nd. Best Kojima game since Peace Walker
 
Expedition 33, easily.
And looking at the rest of the year I don't see anything that could potentially dethrone it for me.

It's been a long time since I've liked a game so much that even after a month of having finished it I still think back to it all the time. I still hum some of the songs when doing chores around the house lol.
 
KCDII would have been a serious candidate for this year, unfortunately it fell of my hands at something like 80% of the main story done. Never came back to it.

Clair Obscur is my pick, it's game of the generation for me so far.
 
I just started DS2 and it seems great.... But I will be lying if I don't say Nightreign.

I already played more than 100 hours and I am still enjoying it a lot. It's far from perfect, but I love it.
 
Expedition 33 by a mile for me as it was the complete package of gameplay, artistry, story, and music. Very few games have me thinking about getting back to playing them when I'm off doing other things and those games are usually the ones that stick with me for ages.

I doubt anything will come close to dethroning it.
 
I've put most of my time this year in MH Wilds and Nightreign. Nightreign has been quite intense, tryhard. But it's also the most thrilling, fun, coop experience I've had in a while. Easily my goty. Even if it isn't perfect.

After making Elden Ring, doing something crazy experimental with the franchise like thisp is just, breathtaking. Massive kudos to From Software.
 
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