ANNOUNCING: The Video Games Are Good 2025 GOTY Nominees

Nate and Julie
32 minutes ago
8 min read

As per tradition, our Game of the Year nominees were revealed with our biggest video of the year during our annual 24-hour anniversary stream. Share the video, play all of the games on the list, and celebrate these developers!

You'll find the full text transcript below. Enjoy!

The Video Games are Good 2025 Game of the Year Nominees

Games and their storytelling have always been a place we come to for the magic of human connection. And yes… we are headed into increasingly weird times. Morally depraved CEOs are attempting to cut corners and erase the human footprint from the games we play by replacing creative talent with GenAI slop and insisting it’s the way forward. But we are still leaving 2025 gripping tighter than ever to hope for the future of gaming. Because the best games we played this year were the ones where we gazed into the screen and, on the other side, could feel the shape of another person, or a whole team of people, gazing right back.

It might come as no surprise, then, that this is the most indie-heavy GOTY nominee list we’ve had since starting VGG. Besides one publishing deal, our nominees feature no corporate meddling, no AI-driven development — just people making their dreams come true and laying themselves out for the scrutiny of gamers everywhere.

This year’s nominees explored deeply human experiences that resonated strongly with us: familial trauma, grief, the burden of expectation, the fear of the unknown, and the ever-present anxiety of time passing us by. They’re games that we believe should be played and experienced as widely as possible.

With that in mind, we present to you our ten favorite games this year, otherwise known as VGG’s 2025 Game of the Year nominees, otherwise known as games you’ve got to add to your must-play list immediately after the video ends.

Hades 2 — Developed by Supergiant Games

The main character of Hades 2, Melinoe, stands arms spread, casting magic to make her weapons float. She wears an orange headband with a moon signet on the front. She wears an orange blouse with iron armor ornaments. A sickle and a dagger float up in front of her. A badge signifying the game as a 2025 VGG Game of the Year nominee can be seen in the upper left.

The original Hades was widely praised as one of the best action roguelikes of all time, seamlessly blending narrative progression with the satisfying build-driven god-enhanced runs whose repetition never felt stale. Hades 2, at minimum, enhances that satisfying gameplay with better balance to make all playstyles viable and offers a familiar, yet just as engaging, narrative about the family you’re given versus the family you choose. And, while it may have been some time since I played the first game, I’ll swing for the fences and say that Hades 2’s unique zones and dynamic sequences make parts of the original feel extremely dated in retrospect.

Led by Melinoe’s awkward charm, the journey to save her family is one well worth taking, and it stands as a testament to Supergiant’s mastery of the formula. Hades 2 is the definition of bigger and better, and yes, that applies to the attractiveness of these characters of myth, too. Supergiant’s sequel is still a bisexual dream with some of the most exquisite depictions of the Greek pantheon yet.

Look Outside — Developed by Francis Coulombe

A man opens up window curtains and as odd colorful light bursts through, he peeks over his shoulder to see numerous horrifying creatures surrounding him. The game's title Look Outside can be seen directly under him. A badge signifying the game as a 2025 VGG Game of the Year nominee sits in the bottom right.

Look Outside is the kind of game that you would have shared with your friends with hushed awe on AIM back in the day. It’s an RPG Maker experience full of secrets and randomization that takes a community to solve, full of the kind of horror that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand on end by relying on descriptive writing and atmosphere-setting magic instead of traditional jumpscares and hyper-realistic gore.

You wake up in its world with one simple mission: Don’t look outside. Something’s happened out there and anyone who does look outside turns into a creature of the Lovecraftian sort. This survival horror RPG has some of the most interesting ideas we’ve experienced all year and should be on your radar if the names Ib, Ao Oni, or Fear and Hunger elicit any reaction in you. Don’t skip this game, and remember… don’t look outside.

Dispatch — Developed by AdHoc Studio

A man in business casual clothing stands at a urinal next to a man in a cape and a giant buff pink skinned man. He peeks up at the clearly superpowered man while he pees. The game's name, Dispatch, sits atop the stalls to the right. A badge sits in the upper left signifying that the game is a 2025 VGG Game of the Year nominee.

If you know anything about me, you know how defining the early works of Telltale Games were for me. The Walking Dead, Tales of Monkey Island, The Wolf Among Us — all games embedded in my soul. The studio’s slow deterioration and confusing current outlook left me uncertain we’d ever see those types of games again, but with Ad-Hoc Studio’s debut release, Dispatch, we’re seeing the best version of the Telltale formula in years.

Made up of former Telltale veterans, the studio’s superhero tale emphasizes the best qualities of their classics while stripping down on some of the unnecessary traditional “game-y” elements that were sometimes bulldozed into those games. As you embark on the story of forcefully retired hero Robert Robertson and his newly assigned team of former villain misfits, you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll fall in love, and you’ll find a story that both honors and satirizes the superhero format without dipping into the eyeroll-worthy cynicism of others in the genre.

Anchored by incredible voice acting and a buzz-worthy episodic release format, Dispatch is having its moment in the limelight, and deservedly so.

Many Nights A Whisper — Developed by Deconstructeam and Selkie Harbour

A blonde person reels back on a slingshot laced with braids of hair, aiming toward a goblet in the water ahead. Stars arc out of the slingshot. The game's name, Many Nights a Whisper, sits in the upper right. A badge in the bottom right signifies that the game is a 2025 VGG Game of the Year nominee.

You’ve been chosen. Ten years of training. Ten years of learning. Dreams draped out of a tiny hole in a wall, begging to be fulfilled. You must make the shot — to fulfill those dreams, to live up to your purpose and to honor their expectations.

It’s all in your hands.

Don’t mess it up.

You’re badgered by these kinds of thoughts in this tiny one-hour experience. Many Nights A Whisper puts you into the shoes of The Dreamer, a fated individual who wields a slingshot strung with the hair of the wish-makers they deem worthy to have their wishes fulfilled. It’s a tight showcase of narrative writing and a powerful, high-pressure experience. It left me just as wrung out and stressed as the game’s protagonist by the end, with a racing heart and a frequent need to shake out my anxious, clammy hands. Don’t miss this incredible collaboration, with more coming from these two studios in 2026. And most importantly, don’t miss your shot.

Demonschool — Developed by Necrosoft Games

A femme person with red hair is deep in thought against a patterned background. The game's title, Demonschool, sits to the left. A badge sits in the upper left that signifies the game as a 2025 VGG Game of the Year nominee.

More games need to exist in the silly. More games need to feature demented demons. And more games need to blend horrifying monsters with the hilarity of the mundane. That’s exactly what Necrosoft Games does with Demonschool, a Persona-ish tactics game that sees you and your new college pals fending off a demonic apocalypse during the work week and kissing about it on the weekends.

It doesn’t try to take itself too seriously, it is effortlessly funny, and it features a planning-and-execution-based tactics combat system that I absolutely fell in love with. It looks and feels like a long-lost PS1 game that you’d find at the bottom of a dusty cardboard box full of Japanese imports that, upon playing, immediately becomes your whole identity. Full Neocities fanpage level of obsession and all.

That’s the kind of game I’ve been chasing my whole life. And that’s why Demonschool is one of 2025’s best.

Goodnight Universe — Developed by Nice Dream

A baby reaches their hand out and causes a variety of fruits and kitchen implements to fly into the air around the hanging ceiling light. Mom is busy on the phone and dad's staring stressed at some bills. The baby's sister is deep in thought at her laptop. Just above the baby is the game's title, Goodnight Universe. Overlaid over the sister in the bottom right is a badge that signifies that this game is a 2025 VGG Game of the Year nominee.

This game is like magic.

Goodnight Universe uses the same camera-based tech that had us calling Before Your Eyes one of the most immersive games of all time in one of the first articles in VGG history. By tracking the opening and closing of your eyes, your facial expressions, and even the turn and tilt of your head, you’ll inhabit the brain of a psychic baby who’s wise beyond his years and holds the powers of telekinesis and telepathy.

Trapped within the limitations of a baby’s body, you’ll use your eyes and face to influence the game world and embark on an emotional journey. Blink to swing doors closed, smile to make the baby laugh, and tune into the thoughts of those around you by turning your head to lock into their mental signals. It’s a special project that pierces the veil between you and the game in a way that even some VR titles fail.

It’s simply controlled but adventurous, and outlandish but remarkably grounded in the interpersonal ups and downs of a family. Don’t blink and miss it.

Wanderstop — Developed by Ivy Road

A grumpy warrior in an apron eyes an ominous blade. Next to her, on a bench, a jolly bald man sips a piping hot cup of tea and holds a letter. Strange flapping penguin-like creatures fly around them in front of a tea shop. The game's name, Wanderstop, floats above the scene. A badge sits in the bottom right signifying that this game is a VGG 2025 Game of the Year nominee.

As the grip of capitalism tightens on us all, there are very few of us left who don’t intimately know the feeling of burnout. The feeling that even your passions, even your areas of mastery, are starting to slip from your grasp. The feeling that all you can do is push yourself even further, to the point that you might break, to achieve your dreams.

Only then you can rest.

But you do inevitably break. And your dreams feel even further than ever. That’s what Wanderstop is about.

This teashop simulation places you within the well-worn boots of highstrung Alta, a warrior who can no longer pick up her blade. As you brew new cups of tea for others who find themselves pulled into this pasture, the healing slowly starts to seep in. Or steep in? I don’t know. Tea stuff. It is therapeutic, cozy despite itself, and it’s likely to leave you feeling equal parts exposed and comforted by the time credits roll.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 — Developed by Sandfall Interactive

A team of leather-bound warriors stand in the ruins of a city, facing off against a giant woman who is face down, hair draped over her face, crying. Some of the mfloat, some of them wield weapons. They're ready for a fight. The game's name, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, sits at the top. A badge is stamped in the upper left that signifies this game is a 2025 VGG Game of the Year nominee.

Much has been said about the surprise hit that is Clair Obscur: its heart-wrenching story about fighting for the prosperity of future generations in the wake of impossibly dire odds captured millions of hearts this year. Its dodge- and parry-based active RPG battles elevated the timing-based action of Paper Mario into something almost Soulslike in execution. And the eclectic soundtrack blew all our ears off.

But we want to make sure we shine the spotlight on our favorite part of this game: how weird it is.

It embraces the goofiest parts of the PS2-era JRPGs that inspired it, leaning on the team’s earnestness and all-in execution on all levels. It can’t be overstated what Sandfall and their collaborators have pulled off here — creating a game that breaks through the mainstream and easily competes with the triple-A space. They are paving the way for other dreamers grinding away at bigger studios and... the game said it best. Expedition 33 is for those who come after.

Consume Me — Developed by Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P, and Ken “coda” Snyder

A young girl winks and smiles while eating a piece of buttered toast. The game's title, Consume Me, is stamped on an oval and various versions of herself as pieces of fruit populate the background. A badge sits in the upper right signifying that this game is a 2025 VGG Game of the Year nominee.

The empathetic potential of gaming is one of the reasons we love video games so damn much. The power to transport you into another’s shoes, to showcase how alike we are, feels like it specifically thrives in gaming over other forms of entertainment. And one of the best examples of that comes in Consume Me, a semi-autobiographical life sim all about balancing the expectations of being a teenage girl in the early 2010s, when diet culture was especially pervasive and your own worst critic was often yourself.

More broadly, it’s about the constant feeling that you need to optimize your life and reach moving goalposts to be enough for yourself and others.

Through Warioware-esque minigames and Sims-like meter management, you’ll manage Jenny’s homework, diet, extracurriculars, chores and dating life — and giggle and cry on a journey of self-reflection that’s stylishly told with buckets of pluck and charm.

Split Fiction — Developed by Hazelight Studios

Two women leap out of a rift splitting the scene in two diagonally. In the upper left, a sci-fi scene explodes with flying cars and purple lit up armor adorning the short black haired woman who jumps toward it. In the bottom right, a full fantastical world of giant mushrooms and large vines is showcased. In the bottom left, a badge signifies that this game is a 2025 VGG Game of the Year nominee.

Split Fiction is Hazelight’s latest co-op masterpiece. It’s a showcase of over a decade of learning how to craft the most unique co-op experiences, as well as a narrative takedown of generative AI and the greedy CEOs who uplift the heinous theft-based technology. Mio and Zoe’s journey is emotionally fulfilling. The narrative setup is built for surprising gimmicks and it almost always pays off. And, to our surprise, Josef Fares was kinda right when he promised that the endgame featured something that’d never been seen in games before. We love sharing games with others. It’s why we started Video Games are Good — to make sure more people knew about more games. And games like Split Fiction are built from the ground up to be shared. Nate and I had a blast playing this together, laughing and crying and groaning in equal measure as only the best co-op games can make you do.

There it is, our must-play games of 2025 and our official selection of Game of the Year nominees. We’ll be pondering each game’s impact on us over the next month before finally landing on a winner that we’ll reveal in our big end of year stream in December! In the meantime, check out videogamesgood.com to keep up with our writing about games.

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