Yes—but “masterpiece” is a critical judgment, not something a nomination or score can prove. The six official 2025 Game of the Year nominees make a strong case for different kinds of excellence, from tightly designed action to sprawling role-playing worlds. Whether any one earns the label depends on how well it fulfills its own ambitions and on what a player values.
What were the 2025 Game of the Year nominees?
The Game Awards’ official nominees were Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Death Stranding 2: On The Beach, Donkey Kong Bananza, Hades II, Hollow Knight: Silksong, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance II. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 won. The category defines its aim as recognizing “a game that delivers the absolute best experience across all creative and technical fields.” The Game Awards’ nominee page provides the list, result, and category definition.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
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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 |
|
Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2025 | $6.48 | Buy on Amazon |
What can the scores tell us?
Metacritic’s 2025 Video Game Awards Tracker, updated January 5, 2026, lists these Metascores:
| Nominee | Metascore |
|---|---|
| Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 | 92 |
| Death Stranding 2: On the Beach | 89 |
| Donkey Kong Bananza | 91 |
| Hades II | 95 |
| Hollow Knight: Silksong | 90 |
| Kingdom Come: Deliverance II | 89 |
These are Metacritic’s aggregated critic scores, not measurements of artistic merit or proof of universal agreement. They show that all six received strong critical reception, but they cannot settle whether a game is a masterpiece—or which one is best for a particular player. Metacritic’s tracker lists the scores and its update date.
#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.
How to judge the nominees on their own terms
A useful test is not whether the games share one style, but whether each brings its own aims together: writing and characterization, visual and audio direction, moment-to-moment play, technical execution, and the consistency with which it delivers its genre’s promise. The award’s definition puts creative and technical experience in the same frame; the following questions are ways to apply that broad standard, not additional official criteria.
- Creative execution: Do the writing, characters, visual direction, music, and sound form a compelling whole?
- Play experience: Are the central mechanics, combat or traversal, pacing, challenge, and replay value satisfying?
- Technical execution: Does presentation, performance, usability, and polish support the experience?
- Ambition and delivery: Does the finished game achieve what it sets out to do, consistently?
- Audience fit: Does its length, difficulty, repetition, or storytelling suit the player?
Why the answer differs from game to game
The nominee list spans distinct kinds of play and storytelling, so a single league-table verdict would flatten meaningful differences. A player who prizes one kind of experience may call a title exceptional where another player finds its approach a barrier. The question is whether its craft and choices are unusually successful on their own terms—not whether every player must love it.
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.
There is not enough title-specific evidence here to responsibly assign each nominee a detailed list of artistic strengths and weaknesses. The scores and award results support the claim that these are acclaimed contenders, but they do not substitute for close analysis of each game’s writing, mechanics, sound, performance, and design. Treat “masterpiece” as an argument grounded in those qualities, rather than as a label conferred by the award.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Are the nominees worth playing?
For players interested in the range of experiences recognized by the category, the six nominees are a useful shortlist. Choose by genre, preferred pace, appetite for difficulty, and tolerance for long or unconventional storytelling; the award does not mean every title suits every player. Xbox Wire’s November 17, 2025 article reported that selected nominees, including Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Hollow Knight: Silksong, were playable through Xbox Game Pass at that time. Catalog access changes, so check Xbox Wire’s dated article and the current service catalog before relying on subscription availability.
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Best Value
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.
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