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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Looking back at 2025, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was the official Game of the Year winner at The Game Awards. This retrospective revisits ten games from TIME’s year-end list—not a list of ten official nominees—and identifies which titles did make the awards shortlist.
How to read this 2025 shortlist
The phrase “could be Game of the Year” made sense as a mid-year prediction; it is no longer an open question. The Game Awards named Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 its 2025 winner. The other five nominees were Death Stranding 2: On The Beach, Donkey Kong Bananza, Hades II, Hollow Knight: Silksong, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance II.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
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DOG MAN: Misson Impawsible - PlayStation 5 | $23.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
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WWE 2K25 - PlayStation 5 | $19.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
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RoboCop: Rogue City - Unfinished Business – PlayStation 5 | $28.00 | Buy on Amazon |
| 4 |
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VGC: The 2025 Guide to Video Games: The 2025 Guide to Video Games | $14.93 | Buy on Amazon |
| 5 |
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Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2025 | $6.48 | Buy on Amazon |
The awards’ category describes its aim as “Recognizing a game that delivers the absolute best experience across all creative and technical fields.” TIME’s list, by contrast, is one publication’s editorial ranking of ten games. Its top pick matched the official winner, but the two lists are not interchangeable: TIME included games that were not among the six listed Game of the Year nominees.
TIME’s ten picks, revisited
The entries below follow TIME’s published order. Award status refers specifically to The Game Awards’ 2025 Game of the Year category.
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#1 Best Overall
- 50 Exciting Levels: Explore iconic locations from the Dog Man universe, including the City Hall, Giant Marshmallow Factory, and the Police Station. Each location offers platforming and puzzle-solving challenges.
- Teamwork: Switch between Dog Man and his Supa Buddies, each with their own special abilities, to overcome obstacles and defeat bosses. o Dog Man: Digs underground and glides through the air. o Li’l Petey: Hacks gadgets and fits into small spaces. o 80-HD: Pushes heavy objects and jumps long distances.
- Fun Gadgets: Unlock new gadgets and abilities as you progress, like a grappling hook, rocket boots and power gloves to navigate through the levels. Puzzles and Bosses: Use your brain to solve puzzles and defeat unique bosses. Each boss fight requires clever use of your team’s abilities.
- Humor and Action: Enjoy funny dialogue, amusing interactions, and non-stop action that keeps you engaged in Dog Man’s world. Rewards and Collectibles: Revisit levels with new gadgets to find secret areas, and rescue the missing Comic Club members.
- Art Style: Great animations inspired by the books, with comic-style sound effects that add a fun, cartoonish touch to the action.
1. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 — winner
TIME placed this turn-based RPG first, and it went on to win the official award. Its Belle Époque-inspired fantasy setting gives the game a distinct identity, while the turn-based format places it apart from the action-focused games elsewhere on this list. It is the clearest retrospective answer to which title ultimately took the prize.
2. Death Stranding 2: On The Beach — nominee
The sequel was both a Game of the Year nominee and TIME’s second-ranked game. TIME emphasized its auteur-led presentation, humanist themes, and deliberate pace. That makes it a contrasting contender to the winner: its appeal, as TIME frames it, rests on a particular creative vision rather than a conventional fast-moving action loop.
3. Ghost of Yotei — TIME pick, not a listed nominee
TIME ranked this action-adventure game third. Its story follows Atsu on a revenge quest in Ezo in 1603. TIME also pointed to presentation modes inspired by the work of Akira Kurosawa, Takashi Miike, and Shinichirō Watanabe. It was a prominent editorial choice, but it was not one of the six Game of the Year nominees listed by The Game Awards.
Rank #2
- RULE BEYOND THE RING: In a franchise first, step outside the ropes and onto The Island for Xbox Series X|S/PlayStation 5—an immersive, WWE-themed world filled with epic arenas, challenges, and live events. Fight to join the Bloodline with “The Original Tribal Chief” Roman Reigns, as you upgrade and customize your MySUPERSTAR through multiple storyline chapters.
- 2K SHOWCASE: THE BLOODLINE'S DYNASTY: The all-new Showcase, hosted by “The Wiseman” Paul Heyman, celebrates one of the most historic family dynasties in wrestling. Relive legendary showdowns or dream matches between The Bloodline and WWE Superstars and Legends.
- EXPANDED GAMEPLAY - Intergender wrestling makes its long-awaited debut in the WWE 2K franchise Additional features include the return of chain wrestling, Underground and Bloodline Rules match types, barricade diving, and more.
- MyGM GOES WORLDWIDE - Take your show on the road with MyGM, now featuring online multiplayer. Draft WWE Superstars and Legends to your show’s roster and lead your brand through multi-week seasons.
4. Split Fiction — TIME pick, not a listed nominee
TIME’s fourth pick is a cooperative adventure designed for two players. The account highlights that progress depends on both players, making coordination central rather than optional. That is a useful distinction for anyone choosing a game to play with a partner: its defining experience is shared play, not a solo campaign. Nintendo listed it in other award categories, not in the Switch platform page’s Game of the Year section.
5. Silent Hill f — TIME pick, not a listed nominee
TIME placed this standalone spin-off fifth. Its reported description centers on 1960s Japan, close-combat horror, and an absence of guns. Those details set it apart from a shooter or a more familiar firearms-based survival-horror setup; the appeal TIME highlights is the close-range tension.
6. Hollow Knight: Silksong — nominee
Hollow Knight: Silksong was one of the six official Game of the Year nominees and ranked sixth on TIME’s list. TIME describes it as a full sequel that expanded from a planned downloadable-content concept, and emphasizes its scope and difficulty. It is also among the titles Nintendo included on its platform-specific list of 2025 nominees available on Switch 2 and Switch.
Rank #3
- ROBOCOP IS BACK ON DUTY TO SETTLE UNFINISHED BUSINESS: Experience an all-new scenario set in a tower in chaos. OmniTower.
- FIGHT YOUR WAY TO THE TOP FLOOR: Following RoboCop's decisive victory over Detroit's gangs, a new chapter unfolds in this standalone extension set after the events of RoboCop: Rogue City.
- FACE A DEADLIER CLASS OF CRIMINALS: Prepare to take on a new breed of enemies. OmniTower is packed with high-tech threats - explosive drones, mercenaries in jet packs, androids armed with katanas and more.
- RESTORE ORDER WITH JUSTICE SERVED COLD: When it’s too late to shout "freeze", you can rely on RoboCop’s arsenal to to cool down enemies' ambitions. Choose from a wide range of powerful weapons to serve Justice, including the iconic Auto-9 or the all-new Cryo Cannon. Or destroy mercenaries in hand-to-hand combat with spectacular finishing moves.
- PLAY AS ALEX MURPHY: Experience unique missions with familiar faces which reveal more of the storyline of Unfinished Business. Gameplay blends nervous action and investigation, where your choices can decide the fate of citizens.
7. Lost Records: Bloom and Rage — TIME pick, not a listed nominee
TIME’s seventh choice moves away from the action and combat emphasis of several other entries. Its description highlights two time periods, branching relationships, and a supernatural turn. That combination makes it a narrative-led option for players more interested in how relationships and story choices develop than in a single dominant combat loop.
8. Doom: The Dark Ages — TIME pick, not a listed nominee
TIME ranked Doom: The Dark Ages eighth and described it as a medieval-set first-person shooter prequel. TIME’s account points to heavier movement and more narrative emphasis than in the two preceding reboot-era entries. Xbox Wire’s November 2025 roundup said it was then playable through Game Pass; that dated statement does not establish whether it is included in the service’s current catalog.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors9. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds — TIME pick, not a listed nominee
TIME’s ninth-ranked game is a kart racer built around races that shift between maps and vehicle transformations. Those changing courses and vehicles are the hooks TIME singled out, offering a different kind of competition from the story-driven RPGs and action games higher in the ranking.
10. Marvel Rivals — TIME pick, outside the 2025 award eligibility window
TIME ranked Marvel Rivals tenth and described it as a roster-based team game with multiple modes. TIME also noted that it launched in December 2024 and came too late to qualify for the awards. That timing explains why its place on a 2025 year-end list does not make it a 2025 Game of the Year nominee.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Which titles were the official nominees?
For clarity, the complete six-game Game of the Year shortlist was:
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 — winner
- Death Stranding 2: On The Beach
- Donkey Kong Bananza
- Hades II
- Hollow Knight: Silksong
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
Three official nominees—Donkey Kong Bananza, Hades II, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance II—do not appear in TIME’s ten-game ranking. Conversely, TIME included several games that were not among the six listed nominees. A shortlist built for an awards category and a publication’s year-end ranking answer different questions.
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Best Value
Platform and timing details to check
Nintendo’s nominee page covers games available on Switch 2 and Switch; it is a platform-specific list, not a complete cross-platform account of the nominees. It includes Donkey Kong Bananza and Hollow Knight: Silksong among its Game of the Year nominees, and lists Hades II as well. Check the relevant Nintendo listing for the exact system compatibility before choosing a version.
Subscription availability is also time-sensitive. Xbox Wire reported in a November 17, 2025 roundup that several nominees could then be played through Game Pass, including Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Doom: The Dark Ages, South of Midnight, and Hollow Knight: Silksong. That is a historical snapshot, not confirmation of present availability; catalog access can vary by date and region.
Quick Recap
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