The Game Awards could crown a surprise Game of the Year, if the winners follow Metacritic trends
These are The Game Awards 2025 big winners, if they were chosen by aggregated review scores
Hades 2 will be the surprise big winner at The Game Awards 2025, if voting follows aggregated reviews on Metacritic.
Nominations for The Game Awards 2025 were revealed earlier this week, with breakout RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 up for a record 12 awards, followed by PlayStation titles Death Stranding 2: On the Beach and Ghost of Yotei with eight nominations each.
However, if this year’s winners fall in line with aggregated review scores and historical trends, the big winner of the night could be Supergiant Games’s roguelike sequel.
In each of the last five years, the highest-rated game on Metacritic has taken Game of the Year at The Game Awards, and six times in the last eight years.
You have to go back to 2019 for the last time this wasn’t the case, when Sekiro beat Resident Evil 2. The year before, God of War was crowned Game of the Year ahead of Red Dead Redemption 2.
In the last two years, the highest rated game on Metacritic won in around half of The Game Awards categories analysed by VGC, which excludes most technical awards.
The Game Awards 2025 Winners (if they were decided by Metacritic)
- Game of the Year – Hades 2
- Best Independent Game – Blue Prince or Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Best Debut Indie Game – Blue Prince or Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Best Action Game – Hades 2
- Best Action / Adventure Game – Split Fiction
- Best RPG – Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Best Fighting Game – Mortal Kombat: Legacy Collection
- Best Family Game – Split Fiction or Donkey Kong Bananza
- Best Sim / Strategy Game – Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles
- Best Sports / Racing Game – Mario Kart World
- Best Multiplayer Game – Split Fiction
- Best Mobile Game – Umamusume: Pretty Derby
- Best VR / AR Game – Arken Age
- Best Narrative – Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Best Art Direction – Hades 2
- Best Adaptation – The Last of Us: Season 2
The Game Awards winners are determined by a blended vote between a jury of media publications (90%) and public fan voting (10%).
Launched in 1999, Metacritic says it curates reviews from only “the world’s most respected critics.” The best-reviewed new games of 2025 so far are Hades 2 (95), Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (92), and Blue Prince (92).
The nominees for Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2025 are Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Death Stranding 2: On The Beach, Donkey Kong Bananza, Hades II, Hollow Knight: Silksong, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance II.
Titles up for the Best Independent Game award are Absolum, Ball x Pit, Blue Prince, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Hades II, and Hollow Knight: Silksong.
The Game Awards will stream live from its traditional venue of the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, California, on Thursday, December 11, 2025, featuring new game announcements and musical performances by The Game Awards Orchestra.
