We made it, folks. After a looooong year, it’s time for caroling, snow fights, gift-giving, and—of course—the annual Keighleys.
Join us tonight, starting at 7:30 pm EST, as we live-blog the biggest sizzle trailers, award recipients, and celebrity snafus at the 2025 Game Awards. Our team will be watching the show from our Discord server (sorry, private event), and while the left side of my brain is begging me to skip this three-hour-long sure-to-be snooze fest, the rest of my body can’t resist. I’ll be sure to recap the details here, so you can go game or watch Bob’s Burgers reruns instead.
A Play-by-Play of the 2025 Game Awards
(3:19 PM EST) Story developing: Come back at 7:30pm! (Watch it live here.)
(7:32) And we’re live! Pre-show time…
(7:33) We’ve got a dog! Nice looking art style. The Free Stephard, out 2027 for PC and PlayStation 5.
(7:34) Time for some awards. Best Family Game goes to… Donkey Kong Bananza! Congrats, DK.
(7:35) Doug Bowser’s here to accept! Nice stuff, Doug.
(7:36) Now time for a Elder Scrolls-inspired Soulslike. Decrepit.
(7:37) Got a slick music rhythm game. Top-down twin-stick shooter vibes.
(7:39) Innovation in Accessibility award goes to… Doom: The Dark Ages!
(7:41) Escape from Duckov. Top-down shooter starring a duck. ‘Nuff said.
(7:43) Best Esports Game (Presented by Gain apparently)… Counter-Strike 2. Wow can’t believe that game’s still going.
(7:44) New Pragmata trailer. Looks very Kojima-esque. Lots of explosive gunplay and fun-looking platforming. We’ll see what the heck it all means in 2026.
(7:45) Coming to Switch 2! Gameplay demo coming “later.” (Hopefully later means tonight!)
(7:48) Baldur’s Gate-looking tactics game from Kepler Interactive. 👀 Starring Ben Starr! Solasta II, out March 12, 2025, in early access on Steam.
(7:49) Another Kepler game: Tankrat. Mechs in the desert. My kind of game.
(7:50) Best Independent Game! Big award (why share during the pre-show??). Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 wins. Really stretching the definition of indie here…
(7:51) Sandfall accepts, red beret and mime shirts in tow.
(7:52) Bradley the Badger. Indie 3D platformer that jokingly takes on games like Bloodborne and Fortnite. Sign me up.
(7:56) Yet another indie reveal. Stupid Never Dies. Stylish beat-em-up in the vein of Hi-Fi Rush. From former Devil May Cry and Resident Evil devs.
(7:59) Lengthy acceptance speech from Neil Druckmann for HBO’s The Last of Us, which won Best Adaptation this year.
(8:01) Clair Obscur live performance! God, I love the French.
(8:04) Now the “real” show begins…
(8:06) Geoff Keighley kicks us off with his annual opening monologue. Celebrates Clair Obscur for being the most nominated video game in Game Awards history. Getting the feeling this is gonna be a clean sweep…
(8:08) Keighley laments a tough year. Lost his home during the LA wildfire, then his dad, David Keighley, a few months later. (He quoted his dad during the show’s opening sizzle montage. Nice tribute.)
(8:10) Jeffery Wright and his son Elijah are on stage now. Both starred in Adhoc’s Dispatch (a game our own Kei Isobe loved).
(8:12) Best Action Game time. The award goes to… Hades II. Glad it’s getting some love.
(8:13) Keighley’s hyping up the announcements. This better be good!
(8:14) Space-faring CG trailer. Dare we say… Mass Effect?
(8:15) Nope. Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic! New single-player action game from Casey Hudson (director of Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect).
(8:17) Evanescence live performance coming up. 👀
(8:21) Townspeople from a feudal world (Kingdom Come?) are being lifted up and suspended in midair in some theatrics I’d expect from Wicked. Now we’ve got a trailer.
(8:23) Okay this trailer is disturbing as shit… Better be Diablo V at this point.
(8:24) Larian Studios! New Divinity game. Keighley says the game is bigger than Baldur’s Gate 3.
(8:27) Nominees for Best Performance incoming.
(8:28) Jennifer English wins for Maelle! Clair Obscur historic run loading…
(8:29) Beautiful acceptance speech from English. For those who come after, indeed!! ✊🏽
(8:31) Now J.J. Abrams and a former Left 4 Dead lead are on stage. Bad Robot is partnering with PlayStation on a new co-op game.
(8:33) Lengthy trailer. Sci-fi co-op action with a pretty peppy narrator. 4Loop.
(8:34) New game announcement. Magical grandma and her mystical beast (mad The Last Guardian vibes). Coven of the Chicken Foot. Coming to Steam.
(8:36) New game called Ontos from the SOMA devs. (Shout-out to Gary Wilson for his terrific anniversary piece!) Stellan Skarsgård stars. Nice.
(8:39) Ads. Not so nice.
(8:40) 2XKO mentioned! Coming to consoles in January. Shout-out to Jason for his recent 2XKO deep dive.
(8:41) Games for Impact award. This should be good!
(8:42) South of Midnight wins!! So well deserved.
(8:43) Coming to Switch 2 and PlayStation 5! (Give Microsoft less money. We’ll take that.)
(8:44) Resident Evil: Requiem time.
(8:46) Leon makes his grand entrance!
(8:47) Game looks tight. My Fantasy Gaming team is in good hands heading into 2026. 😏
(8:48) New puzzle game from Jonathan Blow (Braid, The Witness). About damn time! Looks like a sprawling overworld to explore.
(8:50) Order of the Sinking Star, out 2026 on Steam. Over 1,400 puzzles. Sign me up.
(8:51) New sci-fi third-person shooter from Wizards of the Coast. Looks like a mix of Mass Effect and Returnal. It’s called Exodus, and it’s coming out early 2027.
(8:53) Another Wizards of the Coast game. Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons. Gameplay reveal in summer 2026, releasing in 2027.
(8:55) Another Evanescence plug. When are we getting the performance, Keighley??? WHEN???????
(8:59) Burnout-style anime game. Screamer, out March 2026.
(9:00) KOJIMA TIME???!!
(9:01) Never mind. Remedy time!!!!
(9:02) A croissant at a cafe. A pigeon stuck in time. An Inception-ass city. No clue what’s going on, but I like what I’m seeing.
(9:03) Long trailer. Still don’t know what I’m watching. Still looks cool.
(9:04) Remedy goes hack-and-slack? Okay I’m definitely in. Control Resonant. Coming 2026.
(9:05) Another world premiere. New game from the Yakuza devs called Gang of Dragon. Graphics look stellar. Seemingly in-engine, too.
(9:08) Now we’re getting a look at a Street Fighter movie trailer. It looks as bizarre as you expect. (I can’t unsee 50 Cent as Balrog.)
(9:12) Taking a quick break as the Street Fighter cast chit-chats. BRB!
(9:34) Okay, we’re back folks! Appreciate your patience. Catching up now…
(9:35) Looks like we were treated to a new LEGO Batman trailer while I was gone, as well as not just one, but two new Tomb Raider game announcements. Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis releases in 2026, while the main entrée, Tomb Raider: Catalyst, launches in 2027. Looks like we’re going with a rebooted Lara Croft for the 2027 entry, and perhaps a nod to old-school Tomb Raider with the 2026 title.
(9:39) More ads! My favorite!!
(9:43) More gory-as-hell game trailers. This time it is indeed Diablo. New Diablo IV expansion coming in April.
(9:45) Official confirmation of Deadpool and Elsa Bloodstone in Marvel Rivals by way of some My Hero Academia-esque anime sakuga goodness.
(9:46) New 007 First Light trailer. Lots of great-looking Uncharted-likes coming in 2026. (Perhaps that’s doing a disservice to IO Interactive’s latest.)
(9:48) Lenny Kravitz to be featured as an in-game villain. He’s even here on stage to present the award for Best Score & Music.
(9:49) Clair Obscur wins! Very well deserved.
(9:51) Touching speech being given by Lorien Testard. “We don’t know the colors of tomorrow, but we are ready to paint them with you.” Beautifully said.
(9:52) The booth started to play off Alice Duport-Percier before she got the chance to speak. Thank god they stopped. She was such a massive part of the Expedition 33 soundtrack, and it’d have been a crime not to let her give thanks.
(9:54) New trailer for Warframe, a game that’s been around since I was a senior in high school. (I’m 30 now.)
(9:56) More sizzle ads. Gonna fix me some coffee in the meantime. ☕
(9:58) Hogwarts Legacy free for a limited time on Epic Game Store. Big pickup!
(9:59) Yet another gory Soulslike in Lords of the Fallen II. Not complaining, but man… we’re getting a lot of these huh.
(10:00) Mario Kart World wins best sports game. Perhaps we see a sneak peak at some DLC later tonight? 👀
(10:02) Time for a new story trailer for Housemarque’s upcoming game, Saros. It’s what you’d expect from a Housemarque game.
(10:05) Rockstar co-founder Dan Hauser takes the stage. He’s here to present Best Narrative.
(10:06) Surprise, surprise. Clair Obscur takes this one too. Clean sweeeeeeep.
(10:09) No Law, new game from the makers of The Ascent. Continues with the dev’s love of the cyberpunk aesthetic, albeit far more muted this time around.
(10:11) FINALLY!!! EVANESCENCE!!!!
(10:12) This rips. Plugging their new song, which will be featured in the upcoming Devil May Cry season on Netflix.
(10:16) More quick-hit ads.
(10:20) Arc Raiders wins Best Multiplayer Game. RIP Split Fiction — you won in my heart.
(10:25) They’re showing us a new Warhammer game. I couldn’t care less.
(10:26) Side note: The memes tonight are incredible.
(10:27) New trailer from Bandai Namco. Sure looks like Ace Combat.
(10:28) There it is. Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve. Out in 2026.
(10:30) New Star Wars racing game. Somewhere, Mark Bowers is screaming at the top of his lungs.
(10:31) Star Wars: Galactic Racer.
(10:32) Out of Words. Very nice-looking Claymation take on the Hazelight-style co-op game. Can’t wait to play with my partner. (Love you, Alyssa!)
(10:33) I’ve tried to avoid talking about the Muppets up until now… but this current skit is going long. Miss Piggy has appeared at least four times now. She’s breaking into song with a buddy now. I’m tired, y’all. It’s been three hours.
(10:34) I’m so tired.
(10:35) Kei cracks, “Oh god, another gacha game.” I reply, “This whole night has been one big gacha.”
(10:36) More ads.
(10:37) Our staff writers are chatting as various trailers play. The only time we’ve insisted on complete silence was when two young women took the stage to accept their Games With Impact awards.
(10:38) Music interlude. I’m tired.
(10:40) Phantom Blade Zero trailer currently playing. Direct quote from Donovan Harrell: “This shit looks beautiful.”
(10:42) Amanda: “This has been a 10-minute awards show and a two-hour, 30-minute advertisement.”
(10:43) Phantom Blade Zero release date confirmed. September 9, 2026.
(10:45) Todd Howard takes the stage to present Best Game Direction. (Hey, Todd. Where the hell is The Elder Scrolls VI?)
(10:46) As if there was ever a doubt… Expedition 33.
(10:48) The orchestra is booting up! They’re teasing something big…
(10:49) MEGA MAN!!!
(10:50) Mega Man: Dual Override. Out 2027. Looks a whole lot like Mega Man 10 and 11.
(10:51) New trailer for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.
(10:52) Nioh 3 up now. New gameplay trailer. Out in February. New demo to whet folks’ appetites as well.
(10:53) One last announcement before Clair Obscur takes us home. New game from former Titanfall devs. Highguard.
(10:54) Apex Legends meets horse-riding meets Doom.
(10:55) Now we’ve got tanks.
(10:56) Not sure what to make of this one. New game from Titanfall devs sounds like a recipe for success, but as a last reveal, not doing much for me. We’ll know if it’s any good soon. It’s out in January.
(10:57) Rep from Team Asobi takes the stage to present the GOTY award. Before we get the inevitable Expedition 33 coronation, it’s time for my favorite… the Game Award Orchestra!!!
(10:58) FLUTE GUY!!!
(10:59) FLUTE GUY!!!!!!!
(11:00) Pedro Eustache is absolutely crushing it, as always. Well done, good sir!!
(11:01) Oh, shit!!!! Pauline’s singer is here to bring us “Heart of Gold.” So good.
(11:02) The performance is wrapping up. For those wondering: I’ve counted at least seven different instruments from Eustache this year. The man is working some serious overtime!!
(11:03) And there we have it, folks. Speaking of gold, Expedition 33 takes it home.
(11:04) Absolute victory for Landfall’s landmark game. Can’t say the team didn’t deserve the honor.
(11:05) Well, would you look at that! Free shadow drop DLC to celebrate the occasion. Can’t wait for my Mirror Edition copy to arrive tomorrow.
(11:06) And that’s a wrap! For those reading along, thanks for tuning in.
Don’t want the Best of Year festivities to end? We’ve got you covered.
Check out our own Best of 2025 coverage, which runs all throughout the month of December. We have individual lists, group awards, and much more we’re excited to roll out in the coming days.
David is the founder of The Punished Backlog. He has a problem finishing games he starts.
Just beat: Hollow Knight: Silksong.
Working on: Yakuza 0, Iconoclasts, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.
Can't wait for: Demon Tides.
Follow David on Twitter at @David_Silbert to keep up to date with all things The Punished Backlog.
