Feature: Predict The Game Awards 2025 with Our 20 Question Quiz

It’s 2011 all over again. Skyrim somehow inexplicably beat out Dark Souls for GotY, and now Expedition 33 will beat out the more viable contenders. It’s good (I do love my turn based RPG’s) but not that good, not GotY good.

@Balaam_ Whats your Goty?

My personal game of the year is either Pokémon Legends Z-A or Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1 🤣. I think I got a decent amount of these questions correct though.

Where's the "E33 everything" button? Still only played about an hour of the game myself. So I don't really get the fascination, but it is nice to see the industry rally behind an admiration for something for once.

Hell, at the risk of sounding like a reductive arse, what exactly does make French Mario & Luigi w/ a good story so special? The only praise I really see articulated is: OST good, story powerful, art looks nice, and you press buttons during turn-based combat. Is there more to this? Genius level design? Combat that can rival the greatest TB-RPGs of all time (removed from its active attribute)? Medium defining interactive storytelling?

@Balaam_ What was better than Claire Obscure this year, and why?

@RoomWithaMoose I'm about 67% of the way through, and in my time playing the game, I absolutely see why it's being highly praised. Keep playing, and I promise you, it won't disappoint.

Question 20 not being 100% yes-

Don't quite understand people saying Clair Obscur is overrated recently in the comments; the game was exceptional and a true work of art. We get games like that so rarely, delighted for the team and all involved to get their flowers at the show (pun intended!!)!

I don't feel like E33 was goty good, but after looking at the other nominees again I feel like it has to win. I'd go with Bananza personally but it is what it is, even with all the "great" games this year none of them have really hit for me.

@Balaam_ I agree. But if the comments on that Cyberpunk article prove anything, it's that a game's quality doesn't matter as much as the narrative around it.

@ZeesGaming94 Sure, that's possible. But I'm genuinely asking: Can someone articulate what's so great about the game?

I know the story is great — I don't doubt that. But every appraisal I see of the game is along the lines of, "The story will stick with you. Also, look pretty, sound pretty, and, though I won't elaborate upon what actually makes its combat good, it's so fun to press the buttons! Also, it's a relatively small AA game — and that's cool."

I'm really not trying to say it's not good. But I understand what makes Blue Prince praiseworthy despite having not played it. And I can articulate what's really good about DK Bananza. But E33 feels like it just has this 'trust me, bro' status.

I haven't laughed this hard in a while playing a game - KCDII. The different stories in there, the graphics, UI design, immersive gameplay, content, again I feel overall it is the true GOTY. But hey Clair is just so different and special, can't be upset if it takes it.

Would be great to see Donkey Kong win GOTY. I haven't played E33 yet so I can't comment on it's quality but I've seen some gameplay videos and the amount of QTEs is off putting, I don't play turn based games expecting to still time dodges and parries, there's a reason I suck at souls games lol so maybe it isn't for me anyway.

I still believe Bloodborne remastered or Bloodborne 2 will be announced eventually

@RoomWithaMoose I'm further in than you but still on my first playthrough, so take this for what it's worth: it's not just the QTEs during combat, though having legitimately hard parrying does make combat much more dynamic. It's the insane depth of systems that start to interact and overlap when it comes to combat - every character has a completely different playstyle, and you can vary builds dramatically depending on attributes, skills, pictos, luminas, party members, weapons, all of it. You end up with something almost like Soulslike builds in a turn-based JRPG with 3 member parties. The variety of builds and playstyles are incredible, and it's such a rewarding system to interact with. And when people talk about the story being great, it's not just the literal narrative - the depth and creativity within the world, NPC interactions, side quests, collectibles, secrets, all of it goes a long way towards realizing a fantastic narrative experience. It's not flawless - the constant invisible walls drive me nuts when exploring - but you can tell an insane amount of love and care went into the game, and you get that back the further you go.

I hope we see the secret game that media molecule has been working on. That and a new look at persona 4 revival.

@SeanOhOgain
It's the endless cycle. Thing gets popular. People don't like thing that is popular being more popular than thing they like. Say it's overrated to show their distaste for thing that is popular.

I get everyone has opinions but I don't understand the need people have to drag things down. I wasn't nearly as hot on BG3 as most people but I congratulate Larian on their work for the game. I can respect the craftsmanship even if I'm not the target audience. I don't know how anyone can look at E33 and just say "meh, who would want to play something like this? Overrated." Game was awesome.

@Balaam_ In fairness, Skyrim was a very important game at the time, much more so than Dark Souls (Dark Souls’ importance would be more noteworthy in later years) so you can’t blame for believing it was GOTY

Don’t hope for much and don’t lose any sleep. The trailers will be on YouTube when you wake up.

We all know PushSquare's GOTY is without the T. They have no choice. 🤣🤣

Would love to see the god of war 2d revealed and also the first two god of war game will be Shadow dropped

Clair Obscur might win the most awards ever not just tomorrow

@77dreams Thank you for the thoughtful articulation.

CO is goty based on what I’ve played. I’m still trying to finish DS1 to get to on the beach.

I'm still holding out that hopium for Bloodborne.

Anyways, I feel Expedition 33 will definitely win GotY and a majority of the awards it's nominated for. I've been playing it and the game is really good.

Clair obscur expedition 33 for the win.word up son

I personally think E33 should win GOTY but I don't need it to sweep EVERY category. Let other games have their time in the spotlight.

@Balaam_ So what's GoTY in your opinion? Genuinely curious.

For me it's Kingdom Come Deliverance II, but I knew it had no chance of winning.

What happened to Carmanchie? Geoff seemed really excited about Carmanchie “ya’ll remember Carmanchie, right?!?” (Cricket sounds)

After voting no on the bowtie I tried to be as positive as I could and vote yes as many times as possible but sometimes you just can't, ya know?

One of the questions should have been:

When Clare Obscur wins an award Charlie Cox will come on stage and say "I don't even know what I'm doing up here, I only read a few lines one afternoon, this has nothing to do with me." 😂

• I know my opinion is worthless, but I'll say it anyway:

It's 99% certain that Exp. 33 will win the GOTY category... my problem is that it will probably win categories it shouldn't (we all know Exp. 33 isn't an indie game, right?).

And winning certain categories proves that the selection/voting at this event should be more rigorous... something tells me that many people who voted haven't played KCD2, DS2, and Blueprince. Dispatch is another unfairly treated game and further proof that this event needs some changes to be taken more seriously.

• Obviously, the TGA will never be perfect... but please !! 11th edition, Geoff!!! There are things that should and could be better.

Bring on the RPGS!

@Enuo Agreed, as a gameplay first type I was not impressed. I've enjoyed many AAs, doesn't mean I'd praise this one the same way. I would many Asian games, doesn't mean I'd put them game of the year either. But then again everyone's preferences vary of course.

The world/visuals//story is probably fine, acting is probably fine but other then the dodge/real time aspects I was more impressed by Conception's 4 sides turn based combat, for a PSP game/PS4 remaster to me it was more different than any other turn based game but again different audience and who played it? Not all games have to be that dramatic of combat or other elements, but i mean there is a reason sometimes we get other ideas and others are just working off other games for a reason, they have ideas to refine it, apply other things to that formula, or they want to appeal to an audience and don't have any other ideas.

After all the Eternal Sonata/Nep type arena turn based ones or the standing and picking an option ones or the Xenoblade approach where you still get attacked when you have moved out of the way it will still home those attacks to you (which is annoying), a dodge/real time is 'something' but didn't impress me.

To me it's like when I go oh I'd love to see a defend option in a racing game but we can't as it's unsportsmanlike in a manager mode to offer it, but in player controlled modes I can defend and do whatever I want against bots. I had to play dirty tricks if I picked a car/tuned it as much as I would in a Gran Turismo game due to it's scaling and so did in it's manager modes I would get annoyed at no defending option when I myself may suck at using a car but you bet I'd defend I don't care. It varies per game (other manager games probably are different but who knows).

So to me the options in E33 are fair for combat (as far as seen) but for the rest I can praise any AA, I have in the past but I haven't been that interested in some AAs the past few years, or Indies, or AAA. But my look outs are different for certain things compared to others wanting themes, acting, visuals, etc. if people want movie like polish in games sure, but I'd rather play a puzzle game or a platformer with movesets being interesting or cars used for more then just racing/road tours and things people can only strictly think of using characters/making games about when I have plenty of ideas and like they will happen due to what people make games about to appeal to audiences, let alone Indies similar level of appeal via nostalgia or genuinely good ideas. It varies per genre or good ideas they have an angle for the game.

I said I wasn't impressed on another forum and they just went 'oh your all the same' (as if I fit some negative group and think the same way as others, when I don't) so you either fit a narrative or not or only a narrow view of positive/negative and ignore the other extents, people don't care they are too stupid to care and think for more then 2 seconds or about more then 2 camps or no camps and just another's particular perspective, even if justifying why they may prefer more dramatic changes or other elements over others. Like I care but still.

Adventure/puzzle I've seen some great games with artstyles, stories and other mechanics that suit them (adventure games do focus on story and that's not a bad thing), platformers/racing/others I've been less to not impressed at all.

Echoes of the end had more what I was looking for then E33 was, but that's just me.

Somewhere along the way, I've started looking forward to these Game Awards, even though this year's awards are going to be a shoo in for E33.

@Caveman49 Same, to me I got into tactics games as to me ones like Disagea (story happens but each map is the combat rather then back and forth like I encountered with Mutant Year Zero, Mario Rabbids or Might and Magic Dragonbone staff or others where some worked well but some back and forth of main world and turn based was annoying of transitions so others treating them differently helped me get more interested, simplifying of story/combat sure but tower defence or tactics to me cut out the stuff I may not like in strategy games with all the building/more units and just simplify it).

Had enough of a scrabble feel of RPG effects on tiles mixed with the chess like approach, for a tactics game or throwing characters or it's parody nether world tone and I was like yeah I can get into this.

The strategy and the special tiles made me excited and felt like smarter use of RPG like ideas in a more fitting way. Just like any other arcadey or other gameplay elements in other genres.

As someone that hates RPGs or stats (how they end up used) or boring quests/world design and just being generic regions/corridors or how some skill trees offer benefits/rates they offer them, it's the angle for me that bores me. Numbers need more to them in how they are applied and the level design is usually bland. May be fine to you but to me it isn't.

But if real time I get it as story, reactive combat, etc. it makes sense rather then the strategy of turn based being pretty lacking or repetitive or too frequent of enemies to swap back and forth of movement, then restrictive in menus, then flexible movement again while real time is the same throughout.

Or Conception's 4 sides turn based wheel approach, for a PSP/PS4 game with simple dungeons, dating sim isekai garbage, I was impressed by it's turn base approach, it's limited but it made sense and i respect it's army/1 player character approach around enemy sides/weak points in the way it did (not played the 2nd so no idea if the same or expanded upon) I thought it was a great spin on turn based then the stand, menu, defend, etc. so to me E33's dodge and real time was 'something' but not dramatically exciting as someone not into turn based of that approach.

I can see reason why people would prefer real time over turn based or even tactics but to me I got into other turn based via more dramatic approaches to the formulas and that helped me was my point.

Arc should win, it's the best game I've ever played. Not surprised it won't though. Also people should stop bitching 5 mill is easy, I have 3.7 mill in coin already, no problem 😊. Let's face it, these awards are a joke and always have been.

@SBBuds if Arc Raiders is the best game you’ve ever played I genuinely feel bad for you lol

@Balaam_ I know you have a bee in your bonnet about Skyrim. But it deserved Game of the Year.

Dark Souls may have spawned an iconic franchise, but test them both on their own and Skyrim is the better game.

Skyrim as a single game has sold more games than the entire Dark Souls franchise and been ported to everything, including VR. It’s an extremely in depth and immersive experience that has not been properly replicated.

Think of Skyrim as being to The Elder Scrolls franchise to what Elden Ring is to the Dark Souls games. It was a game that brought a great formula to the masses.

Now if you want to compare Skyrim to Elden Ring, that’s a conversation.

But Skyrim beats Dark Souls 1 every day of the week.

@BamBamBaklava89 Love it m8, absolutely love it, no need to feel bad for me though but thanks for the thought 170 hours topside! With stash combined i'm only about 300k short of 5 mill, should smash that easy today. Actually more like 200k!

@RoomWithaMoose in short, what makes the game so good is that it does so many things right in a video and it all comes together like a perfectly synchronized package. To top it off, you have such a unique and narrowing narrative accompanied by a beautiful sound track makes the game stand out like anything before. Lastly, in terms of design it's the best defition of how a game should be designed, a game that expands the more you play.

When I was about 20 hours in, I dropped the game to play hollow knight silk song, but then eventually I went back to exp. 33 and was shocked by what more the game offered at that point, and it just doesn't stop. So keep going, you're in for a wild ride.

@MrStark no 93% thinks its going to win big difference

@JAMes-BroWWWn I agree with him, e33 is good but the best game of the year it is not, mine is kcd2 , a true rpg not rpg lite

I'm happy to see any game made with care and love like E33 win awards (meaningless as they are). Despite KCD2 being my own favourite I can see how well liked E33 is.

But do not underestimate just what a deal breaker turn based game play is for many people. I have played all kinds of games across all sorts of systems for decades but however well made a game might be if it's turn based then it's just a complete and total no go for me. Unlike other things which can be overlooked or ignored, that central gameplay mechanic is so key that if you're not into it then it makes it unplayable.

So with that in mind I don't quite see why it should be seen as a shoe-in to win and spoken about as if it's one of those rare games that has massive wide appeal across the board.

But like I say, the most important thing is does the wider list of nominees present a fair view of the last year in gaming and I'd say for the most part it does. (KCD2 missing out on performance category is still a glaring error though).

@RoomWithaMoose I didn't get hooked in until about 5 hours in. From a purely gameplay standpoint, it's a love letter to RPGs as all types. You can see enemies on the map and ambush them. There is an absurd number of ways that you can build an individual character, let alone a party. Healing items replenish at flags, but so do enemies. Battles require complete engagement so that it's not just menu surfing. Each character has his or her own combat mechanic as if belonging to a different class (or even a different game). There's an overworld with different modes of exploration. I could go on and on, but you get the point - this is a studio that loves RPGs of all kinds and wanted to bring the best aspects into one title, some of which have largely been missing from more mainstream titles. I think that's really what makes it special. Anyone who's an RPG fan and has played a number of them is going to find a mechanic reminiscent of an RPG sub-genre and just smile.

@Titntin Brother, I feel the same way about FF7R. That game to me is one dumpster fire that I couldn't finish. While I loved E33, I get that different games do it for different people. No shame in that.

@Caveman49 I agreed, had my view point/other angles games can be, didn't disregard yours at all, but you took it that way. Sigh.

@Caveman49 Ah ok, gotcha, it is hard to tell per user tagging. XD