My Picks For The 2025 Game Awards
My 6 Game Of The Year Candidates
It’s almost December once again and the most universally respected and controversy-free of gaming institutions: Geoff Keighley’s The Game Awards is almost upon us.
Geoff is a grassroots pioneer and truly one of us. His career has taken him from the poor suburbs of Toronto, Canada where his parents did hard graft for years as IMAX Executives, to the studios of underappreciated indie darlings like Hideo Kojima and beyond. Geoff’s rise through this industry should be an inspiration to all of us. We are truly fortunate that he takes so much time out of his day to talk with the gaming community here on Substack and to impart so much wisdom.
While Keighley’s resistance to shameless advertising and nepotism should be celebrated, the awards still have a long history of overlooking titles from smaller developers like Santa Monica Studio’s cult-favourite: God Of War: Ragnarok in favour of Elden Ring. So, in the spirit of the The Game Awards’ community-centric and unbiased nominations, I’d like to put forward a few of my own nominees for game of the year.
I hope you enjoy.
1st Nominee - BUBSY 3D
Bubsy 3D is one of those games that puts modern Nintendo to shame.
While the creatively bankrupt Japanese giant keeps rehashing the same old ideas like 3D Donkey Kong and the Switch 2’s Joy-Con mouse functionality, BUBSY 3D is one of those platformers that really reminds you of how good we used to have it.
I know everyone is bound to have played this blockbuster by now (you might even be on your third or fourth playthrough as we speak) but just to recap, Bubsy 3D takes the player across 18 of the most beautifully realised and well-crafted levels ever designed, some of which even take place underwater which is an idea so novel, I’m shocked that other platformers hadn’t thought to do such a thing earlier.
This might be my favourite to win. It’s a shame that it so utterly crushed smaller indie titles like Crash Bandicoot but we can’t ignore what the people love.
2nd Nominee - 3D Pinball Space Cadet
In the second half of this year I’ve noticed a game called Ball X Pit taking off and receiving a staggering level of positive feedback… and this has really been ticking me off. Ball X Pit is quite obviously a shameless cash-in on the success of 3D Pinball Space Cadet, which you might have played this year if you weren’t so busy following trends.
Space Cadet’s mascot is a loving tribute to the furry community: one of the last few socially acceptable targets of discrimination, so we should be thankful for their bravery. Aside from that? The game just looks and plays beautifully. If you’ve not played it before then this rogue-like tasks you with playing pinball and slowly upgrading your score over time; with each death it resets to zero but you get to keep the knowledge you’ve gained for later attempts and with every press, your keyboard’s space bar becomes more loose and quicker to react to your inputs between sessions.
3rd Nominee - Two Worlds
Two Worlds has been called ‘Oblivion on steroids’ but in recognition of its quality and country of origin, I think it’s more accurate to call this game The Witcher 3 on steroids.
I’ve not played Expedition 33 because I’m new to the series and will probably start with Expedition 2 on the NES but Two Worlds has been more than a good enough substitute. I couldn’t believe how good the dialogue was in this game; it’s so hard for our medium to compete with film and literature narratively but this is one of those few titles that really breaks through. I’m sure Two Worlds will be remembered for years to come as a video game that truly transcends the medium.
4th Nominee - Robotica Cybernation Revolt
Robotica Cybernation Revolt, also known in France and Germany as Robotica Cybernation Revolt is one of the premier first person shooters of this year.
This mecha game imagines a grim future where the European Union and UN have collapsed, replaced instead by a Western-led world order that polices the ideology, morals and access to information of its citizens. It’s an idea so inconceivable, far from reality and thought provoking that the premise alone deserves some kind of award.
Robotica’s procedurally generated levels beat out the finest level designers and are the first sign that artistic pursuits are truly safe in AI’s hands.
5th Nominee - Carnival Games
Carnival Games is up there with Skyrim, Resident Evil 4 and GTAV: beloved, acclaimed video games that have been ported to every imaginable system.
Carnival Games has been this year’s runaway success among families and younger gamers; just like the modern classic Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour which is set to become something of a spiritual successor. You can play bowling, shoot hoops and just about any other game you can imagine from the local fair.
6th Nominee - Smarties Meltdown
Nestle is renowned for its moral practices, fair pay and excellent working conditions, as such, it’s only natural that the company has managed to produce such an excellent piece of entertainment with zero crunch.
What can I say about Smarties Meltdown? It’s the everything game. You’ve got iconic branding, an excellent art-style, superb platforming (once again, Nintendo just hasn’t got it anymore and you can forget about Astro Bot) and after years of Triple-A Oscar-bait, this is the true, gameplay-centric experience I was waiting for.
Meltdown just might edge out Bubsy 3D for me but you’ll have to let me know your thoughts.
Geoff Keighley is a massive inspiration to me and I couldn’t be more grateful that The Game Awards is here to tell us which games are worth playing and what’s worth our time when it’s just too difficult to do so alone.
It’s about time our boy got his own award, I just know December is going to be a thrilling show with some jaw-dropping reveals. Okay, I’m wrapping this up now.
Thank you very much for reading to the end, I hope you enjoyed today’s post, as always I’ll be happy to chat in the comments below and please like and subscribe to the Journal for more.
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If Bubsy doesn't win, gamers will take to the streets.
3D Pinball Space Cadet or we riot. Do you think Keighley gets the lemmings from Lemmings to do a bit?