PC Gamer just revealed their 2025 Game of the Year awards, and the winners list reads like a love letter to creativity, risk-taking, and games that actually respect your time. Instead of forcing games into predetermined categories, the editorial team nominated their favorites and built award categories around what each game does best. The result is one of the most interesting year-end awards lists in gaming.
The Big Story Winners
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 took home the award for Great Story, and it’s easy to see why. This indie JRPG from Sandfall Interactive punched way above its weight class with mocap performances, killer voice acting, and a 154-song soundtrack. The game features a standout twist in Act 2 that completely recontextualizes everything players thought they knew. What started as a humble RPG turned into one of the most imaginative and tonally unique games of the year, with clear influences from Final Fantasy 8 and other 90s classics.
Old Skies won Best Adventure Game for bringing classic point-and-click adventure gaming back with style. Developer Wadjet Eye created a time travel narrative that rivals films like Primer and 12 Monkeys, wrapped around characters you’ll actually care about. The game starts as a compelling sci-fi romp about protecting the timeline but slowly transforms into a deeply personal story about love, loss, and isolation.
Horror and Action Platforming Excellence
Labyrinth of the Demon King secured Best Horror with its uncompromising approach to atmospheric dread. Set in a desolate Japanese castle sent to the Silent Hill rust dimension, the game features striking music from Remu Daifuku and first-person combat with an unforgiving stamina system. Players take on the role of a low-ranking ashigaru foot soldier tracking a demon, but there’s something deeply off about the entire situation. The crushing atmosphere and omnipresent threat of an unkillable yokai ensure tension from start to finish.
Hollow Knight: Silksong won Best Action Platformer after years of anticipation. Team Cherry spent eight years crafting Pharloom into something truly special, and the result is a game that’s as punishing as it is rewarding. The high skill floor initially intimidates players, but once you’re acclimated, Hornet’s combat becomes some of the most satisfying action platforming available. The vindictive difficulty never feels unfair thanks to exacting craftsmanship and artistic detail that few independent studios can match.
Multiplayer and Co-op Champions
Arc Raiders won Best Multiplayer for finally bringing extraction shooters into the mainstream. Embark Studios achieved the improbable by creating a PvPvE environment where most players are actually chill. The game tweaks incentives that normally drive players toward each other, instead uniting the community against a common threat of giant murderbots. It features four distinct gorgeous maps, impressive AI, and launched with zero major bugs.
Abiotic Factor secured Best Co-Op Survival for its madcap Half-Life inspired playground. Set in a Black Mesa-like facility, the game lets you make soup out of poo, fish for freakish aquatic life in nuclear waste, or contract alien viruses. But what makes it special are the quieter qualities like base building that requires moving into existing spaces, dozens of status effects that reward self-care, and mouths that bob when you speak over voice chat.
Battlefield 6 claimed Best Multiplayer FPS by executing a thoughtful reinvention of shooter tropes. New mechanics like rolling as you hit the ground to negate fall damage or hauling squadmates into cover make characters feel more real. The game has no ranked mode and barely a whiff of meta, instead focusing on being inherently unserious, explosive fun that’s as enjoyable to lose as it is to win.
The Weird and Wonderful
Skin Deep won Best Immersive Sim for being slapstick Die Hard in space. As deep-freeze insurance commando Nina Pasadena, you rescue feline crews from space pirates using pepper canisters, stolen walkie-talkies, and banana peels. Built on idTech 4, the same engine used for Doom 3, it delivers fluid movement and a neo-retro aesthetic no other game replicates. Guards die by slipping on bars of soap, and the comedy serves as the perfect gateway for appreciating deep immersive sim interactions.
Promise Mascot Agency took Best Cozy Game despite also being the next best thing to a new Yakuza game. You play as an exiled Yakuza tough with a giant talking severed finger for a sidekick, driving around a beat-up truck collecting adorable mascot friends. The absurdity includes helping a sobbing giant tofu block navigate slightly askew walkways and assisting a severed finger with her mayoral campaign. It’s textbook cozy game stuff wrapped in the most unexpected package imaginable.
Comedy and Character Excellence
Baby Steps won Best Slapstick Comedy from the developers behind Getting Over It and QWOP. You play as 35-year-old basement-dwelling loser Nate who must relearn how to walk. Every footstep is fraught with slapstick peril as you topple over, faceplant in muck, or slide down mountains. The game features improvised dialogue recorded with performers together, creating messy conversations with crosstalk and stammering that feel genuinely natural and funny.
Dispatch secured Best Characters for its thoroughly endearing cast of Z-list villains-turned-heroes. Reformed villains doing community service, the Z-Team includes a cokehead techbro bat, a gay icon with fire powers, and an almost-literal wet sponge of a boy. Voice acting from streamers like MoistCr1TiKaL brings the characters to life with performances that exceed all expectations. The game nails both comedy and dramatic moments, creating relationships far more appealing than typical MCU-style banter.
Design and Roguelike Mastery
Blue Prince won Best Design for its brilliant roguelite mansion-building puzzle system. Imagine a mansion with 45 rooms where each contains a clue that combines with the other 44 to solve a puzzle, and that entire configuration changes every playthrough. The game starts with cruel RNG but gradually gives players more control until they can shape the mansion exactly as desired, making their own luck through accumulated knowledge and abilities.
Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor claimed Best Survivors Roguelike for being tighter and trickier than Vampire Survivors. Instead of letting players snowball into demigods in 15 minutes, the game features missions, gear loadouts, and weapon masteries that provide long-tail progression. The destructible terrain borrowed from the base Deep Rock Galactic game proves genre-changing, with biomes featuring thorned vines, crystal clusters, and blobby trampolines that shape decision-making.
FAQs
What won PC Gamer’s Game of the Year 2025?
PC Gamer’s article lists 13 category winners but doesn’t explicitly name a single overall Game of the Year. The awards focused on celebrating games that excel in specific areas rather than crowning one ultimate winner.
What is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33?
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is an indie JRPG from Sandfall Interactive that won PC Gamer’s award for Great Story. It features mocap performances, a 154-song soundtrack, and clear influences from Final Fantasy 8 and other 90s JRPGs.
Did Hollow Knight: Silksong win any awards?
Yes, Hollow Knight: Silksong won Best Action Platformer. Team Cherry spent eight years developing the game, which features punishing difficulty balanced by exacting craftsmanship and artistic detail.
What is the most surprising winner on the list?
Promise Mascot Agency winning Best Cozy Game is particularly surprising. It’s about an exiled Yakuza tough with a giant talking severed finger as a sidekick, combining cozy town-building mechanics with absurdist comedy.
Which multiplayer games won awards?
Three multiplayer games won awards: Arc Raiders for Best Multiplayer, Battlefield 6 for Best Multiplayer FPS, and Abiotic Factor for Best Co-Op Survival.
What makes Skin Deep special?
Skin Deep won Best Immersive Sim for being Die Hard in space with a comedic twist. Built on the idTech 4 engine from Doom 3, it features fluid movement and deep immersive sim interactions where guards can die from slipping on banana peels or bars of soap.
Are these mostly indie games or AAA titles?
The list heavily favors indie and mid-budget games. Only Battlefield 6 and Hollow Knight: Silksong represent bigger-budget productions, while games like Old Skies, Labyrinth of the Demon King, and Blue Prince come from smaller independent studios.
How does PC Gamer choose their awards?
PC Gamer’s editorial team each nominates up to six games released during the year. They tally votes, discuss which games deserve recognition, and then assign award categories based on what each specific game excels at rather than forcing games into predetermined categories.
Conclusion
PC Gamer’s 2025 Game of the Year awards celebrate creativity over scale, innovation over formula, and games that take genuine risks. The list proves that 2025 was a fantastic year for anyone willing to look beyond the biggest blockbusters. From time-traveling point-and-click adventures to comedic space stealth games, from extraction shooters that actually foster community to cozy games about exiled yakuza, the diversity here is refreshing. These aren’t just good games, they’re games that dared to be different and succeeded because of it. Whether you’re looking for your next obsession or just want to see what you missed, PC Gamer’s list offers something for everyone who loves video games that actually have personality.