Talking Point: As We Approach GOTY Season, What's Your Pick As Things Stand?

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is the clear front-runner for me. It blew me away. Putting the awesome combat mechanics aside, the ost is legendary as far as I'm concerned.

• Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii.
• Assassin's Creed Shadows.
• Ninja Gaiden Ragebound.

Maybe NG4 when it releases. Nothing else that I've played honestly.

Wuchang Fallen Feathers

Im leaning towards doom the dark ages or civ 7.

Expedition 33 and nothing else comes close. One of my favorite games of all time.

My top 5 are as follows:

1. Cronos: The New Dawn
2. Hell Is Us
3. Expedition 33
4. Deadzone Rogue
5. Doom: The Dark Ages

It has been a great year for games...

It is a toss up between Doom the Dark ages, Clair obscur expedition 33 and cronos the new dawn for me.

Ninja gaiden 4 will likely be in the mix too.

100% Clair Obscur for me. Started playing it on my own but even my wife got into it, which almost never happens. I liked Split Fiction but Clair Obscur was more rounded experience.

Expedition 33

Easy win for expedition 33 although I really enjoyed Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 tbh. Both really solid but 33 was very special.

Death Stranding 2 or Ninja Gaiden Ragebound for me, but Ghost Of Yotei has been great so far.

Silksong, Blue Prince were awesome. Citizen Sleeper 2, Hexen Remastered were also great.

@Fiendish-Beaver Nice to see you chose Cronos. 👍

I hope Expedition 33 wins big. What a great effort by those folks to make something that stands out as so spectacular

Expedition 33 is the clear cut winner. Some honorable mentions are DK Bananza, NG2, and south of midnight

Split Fiction

Though Metroid Prime 4 might still have a chance at taking the crown, we’ll see.

It’s been an awesome year. GOTY for me would be KCD2 with Expedition 33 a very close second.

Sadly Clair Obscur just didn't do it for me (could be I just suck at it maybe 🤔) however, there have been a few highlights; Kingdom Come 2 and AC Shadows...Bearing in mind there's a few I've not played yet, like Silksong and Ninja Gaiden 🙂

I don't even have to think about this one. Expedition 33 is my 2025 Game of the Year and nothing else has even come close.

Expedition 33, Silksong and Blue Prince. This year has been a year of amazing Indies.
I hope Expedition 33 wins, but i think it's likely silksong will

Hell is Us, Expedition 33

Last year I had no doubt, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, but this year I still don't know. I beat it, but didn't like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 as much as others, perhaps because of the soundtrack, script and some artistic and user interface choices, but I'm happy for the new studio and its fans. I think I'll like the Yakuza and Kingdom Come: Deliverance games and I've bought a few of them, but haven't played yet. I didn't like Blue Prince at all! I liked South of Midnight in terms of visuals and sound, but the gameplay is rough. I loved Doom Eternal, one of the best shooters ever if you ask me, but didn't like The Dark Ages. I know I'll love Oblivion, but haven't played it yet. I'm a recent Bethesda fan that played Skyrim and Starfield on Series X. I haven't played Monster Hunter Wilds because I felt like playing other games. I haven't played Silent Hill F nor AC Shadows, but I will. I think it's going to be Avowed so far, because of the graphics, gameplay and combat. It has excellent combat and upgrades system and it's beautiful, with excellent 60fps performance on top of that.

My goty isn’t on Xbox though :/ It’s Donkey Kong. As for Expedition 33, it’s clearly not in my list… ew… But I know it’s going to win 😒

Clearly, I never like the GOTYs. 😂

So many good games released this year but my frontrunner is still Clair Obscur and if I hadn't played it Split Fiction would take its spot but I hope Sandfall win, they deserve it.

I mean it's like this.

1. Clair Obscur
2. Clair Obscur
3. Clair Obscur
4. Clair Obscur
5. ALL THE OTHER AMAZING 2025 GAMES! LIKE WE ATE THIS YEAR!

Clair Obscur is my GOTY!

Clair obscur is the clear winner for me. Nothing came close of this chef d'oeuvre.

Undoubtedly the best game that I have played this year, @DeadSpace. I really enjoyed it...

Clair Obscur, but honourable mention to Blue Prince. Both utterly unique in their own ways

For me, it's one of these four, Doom Dark Ages, Shinobi Art of Vengeance, Ninja Gaiden Ragebound and Silent Hill f.

I might end up picking Shinobi, as my GOTY. 😁

Expedition 33. Not even close. One of my favorite games of all time.

1) Clair Obscur
2) Cronos
3) Khazan
4) KCD2
5) Wuchang

The best game IVE played this year is silent hill 2 remake. Coming to xbox soon though so maybe im from the future and this is a valid entry for goty25 👍

Cronos and Hell is Us for physical. I really dig Achilles Survivor, Soulstone Survivors and Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel as digital only and honestly have gotten more attention from me this year. Love these quality survivor-likes of late for quick fixes and stress relief.

Donkey Kong Bananza.

There have been some very good games this year, as many of the varied comments above attest to.
Despite all the negative, such as pricing of GP, the very future of Xbox as a console brand amongst others, it's still all about the GAMES.
So, to pick just one.. oh the pressure...

Erm

MINDSEY3.

Xbox GOTY? Helldivers 2 or E33. Both all timers in their respective genres imo.

1. Clair Obscur Expedition 33
2. Blue Prince
3. Atomfall
4. South Of Midnight

Dragon Age Veilguard. It got review bombed by bigots, but it is a masterpiece of a game.

@Deljo I keep hoping they'll remake the original, but in today's world you can't have a man rescuing a girl.

@mcyr1984 That was released last year and was in some GoTY nominations for 2024. It won't be a contender for this year's GoTY nominations.

The one I've played and enjoyed the most is Monster Train 2, hundreds of hours put into this game and still working through all the Titans crowns combos

clair has the lead but unlike in the past few years there is no clear cut favorite to win goty..

Indiana Jones was a great surprise and I really loved it. But Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 won my heart, big time.

Expedition 33 is my pick. I believe it and Silksong will absorb most of the votes at this point. There a number of games coming late in the year, and that is not on their side. I really liked Rogue PoP, as well. This year saw a swath of good game released, with more to come.

@Tasuki I need to go back and complete Avowed. The combat and aesthetic were awesome.

At the moment for me it would be:

1 Avowed
2 Atomfall
3 Borderlands 4

Honourable mention - Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon

The Outer Worlds 2 is very likely to take a spot in the top 3 assuming no major problems.

No idea yet as I haven't played nearly enough of any of the interesting games that have been released this year.
I've been busy with some games from my backlog and I've been playing games very casually ever since June when I signed a contract for a new apartment and ever since, I have also been busy stressing out over that.
But I at least plan on getting back to gaming for real after the move, when I've had time to settle in and I have my regular gaming setup up and running.

Starfield GOTY again, because its just SO GOOD 💀

There’s been plenty of games that I’ve enjoyed or am still enjoying, including Avowed, AC Shadows, Borderlands 4, Death stranding 2, and Ghost of Yōtei, but no outright winner. Overall though it’s been a really good year for games.

1. Doom The Dark Ages
2. Borderlands 4
3. Split Fiction
4. Avowed
5. Metal Eden

Painkiller and The Outer Worlds 2 up next!

1. Doom The Dark Ages
2. Atomfall
3. Cronos

I hope Outer Worlds 2 and Painkiller do well and for some reason I'm really looking forward to Blood: ReSupply as I love me some old skool boomer shooters. Guess I'm showing my age!!😂

So far Silksong is in the lead followed by Clair obscure and Death Stranding 2 but Hades was my favourite of game of 2020(?) however I will only play the sequel when it releases physically in a few weeks. Kudos as well to South of midnight as it is a beautiful game.

P.s: games I played that are not high on my list are Avowed and donkey Kong bananza

1. Wuchang
2. Clair obscur
3. Monster train 2
4. Khazan

South of Midnight is my personal favorite so far. Clair Obscure a tight second. Been some great games this year.

clair obscur 93 metacritic while silksong is a 91. silksong has no chance to beat clair.

So far the games I've enjoyed in 2025 are:

1. Oblivion Remastered
2. DOOM: Dark Ages
3. Avowed

Hopefully I'll be adding a few more games to this list. Still got Ninja Gaiden 4, Keeper, Jurassic World Evolution 3, and Powerwash Simulator 2 to look forward to.

Clair Obscura is one of the most overrated things I've ever played. The music was great and environments were exceptionally creative....and that's about it. Everything else has been done before and done better and the story absolutely crumbles to garbage about 10 hours in.
I'd hoped Avowed would be my GOTY but it suffered the same mediocrity. Great RPGs need great writing and both failed at that.
It's entirely possible I'm just jaded since I'm old enough to have grown up playing all the RPGs from Phantasie to BG3.
I'm cautiously optimistic about Outer Worlds 2. A lack of interesting companions and rushed ending were my only complaints about the first.

@AverageJoseph I didn't like it nearly as much as the first game, but it was still very good. Far too niche to win GOTY but definitely deck-builder of the year.

For me, it's:

1. Oblivion Remastered
2. Helldivers 2
3. Doom: The Dark Ages

E33 and it's not even close IMO.

@mcyr1984 "Masterpiece" is being awfully generous, but it was definitely much better than it got credit for being. Much like Mass Effect Andromeda, it was a very good game on its own, but was preceded by 3 much better games it didn't live up to.

WHAT A YEAR. I can't pick from Doom The Dark Ages, Expedition 33, Ghost of Yotei, Death Stranding 2, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2... and there are many more releases I haven't gotten to yet.

I didn't love it as much as some folks but I think Expedition 33 will win it based on the conversation it has generated and for being a generally outstanding AA game that released in a finished state (ie respected consumers) - a rarity these days. Any of the above would deserve it imo.

Expedition 33 is my clear front runner, followed by Donley Kong Bonanza, and then Shinobi Art of Vengeance.

I'm in the minority on this for sure! I gave Clair Obscura a try but I couldn't get into it. I enjoyed the story but I found the world to be not my style and the actual gameplay/combat was also not for me. I struggled through play sessions until I finally admitted that I didn't care for it despite all the accolades and others claiming GOTY.

I played completely through South of Midnight and I enjoyed if for the most part. The style, world, and story, were incredible. I thought the gameplay was okayish. I really like this game, but I question if it should even be nominated for GOTY.

I'm currently playing Blue Prince. I really like this game. I don't feel like I'm getting anywhere though.....but I want to keep trying. It's very unique, as I've never played a game like this before. I won't claim it as GOTY until I complete it or move on.

I'm not sure what to pick this year. I don't own a Switch 2 so I haven't played Donkey Kong and I'll probably not own one before Metroid releases.

Last year I would have said Balatro or Indiana Jones for sure.