Ah, the holiday season. The time of year when loved ones come together, gather around, illuminated by the glow of the Christmas lights, and discuss what truly matters: whether or not that game truly deserved to win over the others, or if it was rigged.
That's right, The Game Awards just announced their nominees for 2025, and with the games that came out this year, I had a feeling it was going to be a tight race, especially for Game of the Year. The nominees for that award, which I have been anticipating since October, are, to be honest, shocking. We have Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Donkey Kong: Bananza, Death Stranding 2: On The Beach, Hollow Knight: Silksong, Hades 2, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2.
Now, it isn't the nominees themselves that surprise me; any one of these is a perfect candidate and entirely deserving. What surprised me is just how many indies are nominated for every category, from the Best Debut Indie and Best Independent Title categories to Hades 2 and Silksong having six and five nominations, respectively. 2025 has been a fantastic year for indies, and it seems like the Game Awards is aware of and acknowledging that, allowing them to accomplish something of a full takeover. Well, despite some online discourse.
As I mentioned, 2025 was a huge year for game releases, with indies, especially. We got the long-awaited release of Hollow Knight: Silksong, after six to seven years in development, with little to no information shared about it during that time. Its release was so hyped up that it crashed several storefronts when it became available. We also had Hades 2 v1.0 after a year and a half in early access, acting as SuperGiant Games' first sequel and one of their biggest titles to date. We also have debut indies that made waves upon their release:
There's Blue Prince, a debut puzzle roguelite from Dogubomb that sees you explore a mysterious and shifting manor house. We also have the narrative and emotional soccer story, Despelote, with sounds recorded on site in Quito, Ecuador; the co-op fantasy beat 'em up with gorgeous graphics and roguelite mechanics, Absolum; the superhero workplace comedy from Telltale Games veterans, Dispatch; and Devolver Digital's newest action-arcade bullet hell from Kenny Sun and Friends, BALL x PIT. A large portion of these titles were released as early as last month, but quickly found their audiences.
And, of course, we cannot forget the monumental fantasy RPG release this year, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. A debut title from Sandfall Interactive, this was, without a doubt, one of the biggest games this year. With a team of roughly 30 developers, you can feel the passion and heart poured into every aspect of the game; however, there seems to be some discourse online over it being an "indie" at all.
The term itself, "Indie," has been muddled over time. The general consensus is that it is a game made by an independent developer or team with a limited budget. Games like Stardew Valley or Balatro come to mind as examples, but Sandfall did receive funding from Expedition 33's publisher, Kepler Interactive, as well as funding from the CNC's Video Game Support Fund, support which "was crucial" to the game's development. But, before the team expansion and funding, it was a passion project born from the pandemic, with Guillaume Broche leaving his position at Ubisoft to work on Expedition 33 full-time and putting out open calls for recruitment on Reddit.
Whether or not it classifies as an "indie" now, or if it ever did in the first place, I think it still deserves its place in the awards this year. Broche and his team deserve to be recognized for their efforts, regardless of the price of their production or connections. They took a risk; it could've failed, but instead, it showed the type of story and passion that gaming fans have been dying for in recent years.
The indie scene has been exploding over the past several years, and these games were impactful enough to be nominated this year, showcasing their passion and potential to shine, even next to mainstream, Triple A titles like Donkey Kong or Silent Hill. While this has been the case with the Game Awards for a while, it still felt surprising to see so many of them take up several nominations in highly anticipated categories.
I highly suggest going to the website on your own time and casting your vote! Regardless of the winners this year, this season always goes to show just how alive gaming is. It allows indie developers the chance to really shine alongside other industry standouts, and I cannot wait to see who wins this year.