TheGamer Aces – Best Games Awards 2025

Welcome to TheGamer Aces, our annual awards show honoring the best and brightest in gaming over the past year. These awards are all about the little things that make a game great. That means it's not divided by genre or budget, but instead takes a closer look at the little things that come together like atoms and make every game GOTY-worthy.

That means looking at performance, writing, and level design, as well as taking apart this cosmic wristwatch and examining the individual cogs that make it tick. The first five awards focus on character, the middle five awards focus on presentation, and the last five awards focus on parts. That is, they are small components that also stand out as part of a larger whole.

Best Supporting Actress – Laura Bailey (Invisi Girl), Dispatch

Perhaps the downfall of The Game Awards was the fact that Dispatch's cumulative cast failed to score a single nomination in the Best Performance category. But this game wasn't just about name trading. There were A-Lists on the same screen, but whatever was used to play video games on that screen performed exceptionally well, bringing the superhero-driven land of Dispatch to life.

But it was Laura Bailey who stood out. It was Invisigal, where a troubled villain becomes a hero and has the potential to become a villain again. As a complex love interest, Bailey captures the vulnerable hostility that makes Invisigal and Dispatch such deeply human stories.

Best Leading Actress – Jennifer English (Mael), Claire Obsker: Expedition 33

Speaking of The Game Awards, the winner of the best performance there (which also includes the Golden Joystick) takes home an ace for best lead performance. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 hinges on its success in many ways, as the rich story we wander through has been a key element of its success. Few of these performances are more demanding than Jennifer English's Maelle's growing maturity throughout the game.

Initially positioned as a damsel in distress, a role that will irritate you and require protection like many heroines assume, Maelle soon comes into her own. She's the driving force of the game, both narratively and mechanically, and that's a burden that doesn't weigh on Brits.

Best Character/Best New Character – Hinako Shimizu, Silent Hill f

Normally we would choose Best Character and Best New Character, but since the nominations given by the editorial team were the same for both, we combined them. This means Hinako from Silent Hill f scored a double win. Deconstructing the tropes of female horror leads and the perfect lens through which to explore '60s Japanese culture, Hinako's depths are endless as Silent Hill f pulls her deeper and deeper into darkness.

Best Relationship – Henry of Skalitz and Sir Hans Capon, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2

The best relationships are a broad category and fit into romantic, platonic, familial, and even adversarial relationships. Henry and Hans' relationship in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 can take a romantic turn, or it can be a close friendship in a game filled with extremely lonely events or facing doubt at every turn. Either way, this is one of the most memorable partnerships of 2025.

Best Character Writing – Dispatch

Moving on to the presentation portion of TheGamer Aces, these awards celebrate character interactions, arcs, dialogue, and backstory. As Dispatch tried something new in the crowded field of superhero media, every character had to do their part, and it passed that test with flying colors.

Whether it's Robert's relationships with Blonde Blazer and Invisigal, Phenomoman's awesome riff on Superman-gone-bad, or excellent banter with Flambae, Prism, and Waterboy, all of Dispatch's heroes offer something to care about. Plus, there's a guy whose trash is green!

Storytelling at its finest – Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

The closest ace to the traditional Best Writing award, Best Storytelling celebrates the journey players and characters embark on throughout the game. It's no surprise, then, that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 emerged as our winner, with the titular expedition being the most resonant part of the entire experience.

Most Unique Art Style – South of Midnight

This award is titled Most Unique Art Style, but originality alone isn't enough to win. Instead, it's important to use aesthetics that help tell the story and immerse players in the world. South of Midnight's stop-motion style of Southern gothic tragedy helps reinforce the spiritualism at its core and reminds us of the power that creativity can have.

relevant

TheGamer Movie of the Year 2025

The collaborative efforts of our editorial staff have resulted in the official Top 10.

Most Creative Gameplay Mechanism – Donkey Kong Bananza (Destructible Environment)

Donkey Kong Bananza lets you destroy everything. It's not really the smashing that's creative here, it's everything. Almost every single item, landscape, or obstacle you encounter in Bananza can be tunneled, dug, or crushed into nothingness. This imposes a huge technical burden and provides an entirely new way to traverse the open world. Modern art sees destruction as creation. Plus you can be a big monkey!

Best Character Design: Date Everything

A character's appearance is very important in telling us their history, and few games rely as heavily on their appearance as Date Everything. It's a dating sim where your love interest has everything from a bed to a piano to text boxes containing the player's responses. Each of Date Everything's 100 character models exceeds expectations while delivering on their brief perfectly.

Highest level: Silent Hill f (Scarecrow Field)

Levels are harder to define in today's games, but this ace looks at different sections, hub worlds, challenges, chapters, or locations. With that in mind, Silent Hill f's brief but terrifying time spent crawling through a field of dead scarecrows takes the crown. Desperately searching for clues on where to go next while hoping not to wake up the skinny, thin-limbed beasts had us all holding our breath until it was over.

Best Soundtrack: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

RPGs have increasingly relied on orchestral scores in recent years, and in some ways Clair Obscur is no exception. But like many of Clair's elements inspired by the great figures of antiquity, this work offers a perfect version of what was borrowed. Epic yet understated, moody yet soaring, the music heightens the already epic adventure across the beautiful lands of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

Biggest Tech Achievement: Donkey Kong Bananza

Remember when I said that Bananza was a huge technological achievement when it won for most creative gameplay mechanic? It's like I almost knew this was coming.

Best Creative Direction: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Creative direction can make or break a game. Having the power to tell a great story is one thing, but keeping that story under the player's scrutiny, managing pacing, character development, and deepening mechanical complexity throughout the journey is an even more monumental task. Clair Obscur is a rare breed of JRPG-style game that maintains a shorter, breezy length while still feeling rich in discovery and opportunity.

Most Influential Game: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

It's no surprise that the game of the year and the game with the most aces of the year is the one that will stay with us the longest while 2025 is in the rearview mirror. It's a unique experience that will be cherished by everyone who plays it.

released

April 24, 2025

ESRB

Ages 17 and older / Blood and gore, strong language, suggestive themes, violence

developer

Sandpole Interactive

publisher

Kepler Interactive

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