2025 Tyler's Choice Video Game Awards

(Boldface = winner; Italics = runner-up)

Game of the Year

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (François Meurisse)
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (Hideo Kojima, Yoshikazu Matsuhana & Kateryna Tarasova)
• Donkey Kong Bananza (Kenta Motokura)
• Hollow Knight: Silksong (Ari Gibson & William Pellen)
• Split Fiction (Aimar Bergan & Daniel Issa)
  (Honourable Mentions: Blue Prince, Dispatch, Ghost of Yōtei, Hades II, Mario Kart World)

Best Action/Adventure Game

• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (Hideo Kojima)
• Doom: The Dark Ages (Hugo Martin)
• Ghost of Yōtei (Jason Connell & Nate Fox)
• Hades II (Fumihiko Yasuda)
• Hollow Knight: Silksong (Jack Vine)
  (Honourable Mentions: ARC Raiders, Battlefield 6, The Midnight Walk, Ninja Gaiden 4, Split Fiction)

Best Game Design

• Blue Prince (Tonda Ros)
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Guillaume Broche & Michel Nohra)
  
• Donkey Kong Bananza (Kazuya Takahashi)
• Hades II (Eduardo Gorinstein & James Auck)
• Split Fiction (Per Stenbeck)
  (Honourable Mentions: The Alters, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, Ghost of Yōtei, Hollow Knight: Silksong, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II)

Best Family/Casual Game

• Donkey Kong Bananza (Wataru Tanaka & Kazuya Takahashi)
• Hollow Knight: Silksong (Ari Gibson & William Pellen)
• LEGO Party! (Mark Fennell)
• Mario Kart World (Kosuke Yabuki)
• Split Fiction (Josef Fares)
  (Honourable Mentions: Is This Seat Taken?, Lumines Arise, Once Upon a Katamari, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, Two Point Museum)

Best Sport/Racing Game

• Kirby Air Riders (Masahiro Sakurai)
• Mario Kart World (Kosuke Yabuki)
• NBA 2K26 (Mike Wang & Greg Thomas)
• Rematch (Pierre Tarno)
• Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds (Masaru Kohayakawa & Shingo Kawakami)
  (Honourable Mentions: Drag x Drive, EA Sports FC 26, F1 25, MLB '25: The Show, Wheel World)

Best Technical Innovation

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Tom Guillermin)
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (Akio Sakamoto)
• Donkey Kong Bananza (Wataru Tanaka & Tatsuya Kurihara)
• Ghost of Yōtei (Adrian Bentley)
• Marvel's Deadpool VR (Frank Wilson, Gabe Farris & Naveen Nattam)
  (Honourable Mentions: ARC Raiders, Doom: The Dark Ages, Hollow Knight: Silksong, Peak, Split Fiction)

Best Multiplayer

• ARC Raiders
• Battlefield 6 (Mahesh Ramamurthy & Ekta Sinha)
• Elden Ring Nightreign
• Mario Kart World
• Split Fiction
  (Honourable Mentions: Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Dune: Awakening, LEGO Party, Peak, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds)

Best Strategy/Simulation Game

• The Alters (Tomasz Kisilewicz)
• Civilization VII (Ed Beach & Dennis Shirk)
• Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles (Yasumi Matsuno)
• Jurassic World Evolution 3 (Andrew Fletcher)
• Two Point Museum (Ben Huskins)
  (Honourable Mentions: Anno 117: Pax Romana, Consume Me, Europa Universalis V, StarVaders, Tempest Rising)

Best Audio Design

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Raphaël Joffres, Maxance Playez & Olivier Penchenier)
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (Hiroyuki Nakayama, Noburo Masuda, Emile Mika & Stephen Schappler)
• Ghost of Yōtei (Brad Meyer, Josh Lord & Adam Lidbetter)
• Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (Scott Peterson, Robert Arlauskas, Clark Wen & Joey Kuras)
• Silent Hill f (Akihiro Teruta, Eri Arakawa, Manami Odate & Daun Lim)
  (Honourable Mentions: ARC Raiders, Battlefield 6, Doom: The Dark Ages, Hades II, Split Fiction)

Best Music

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Lorien Testard)
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (Ludvig Forssell & Woodkid)
• Ghost of Yōtei (Tomo Otawa)
• Hollow Knight: Silksong (Christopher Larkin)
• Sword of the Sea (Austin Wintory)
  (Honourable Mentions: Blue Prince, Hades II, Mario Kart World, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, South of Midnight)

Best Mobile Game

• Destiny: Rising (Terry Redfield)
• Is This Seat Taken? (Sergi Pérez Crespo & Ausiàs Dalmau Roig)
• Persona 5: The Phantom X (Yusuke Nitta, Zhen Wang & Yuta Sakai)
• Sonic Rumble Party (Makoto Tase)
• Umamusume: Pretty Derby (Koichi Watanabe)
  (Honourable Mentions: Chaos Zero Nightmare, Skate City: New York, Spooky Express, What the Clash?, Where Winds Meet)

Best Fighting Game

• 2XKO (Shaun Rivera)
• Capcom Fighting Collection 2 (Shuhei Matsumoto)
• Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves (Hayato Konya)
• Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment (Koki Aoyanagi)
• Mortal Kombat: The Legacy Kollection (Mike Mika)
  (Honourable Mentions: Demon Slayer -Kimetsu No Yaiba- The Hinokami Chronicles 2, Marvel Cosmic Invasion, Virtual Fighter 5: R.E.V.O. World Stage, WWE 2K25)

Best Art Direction

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Nicholas Maxson-Francombe)
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (Yoji Shinkawa)
• Ghost of Yōtei (Joanna Wang)
• Hades II (Jen Zee)
• Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (Jhony Ljungstedt)
  (Honourable Mentions: Hades II, The Midnight Walk, The Outer Worlds 2, South of Midnight, Sword of the Sea)

Best Animation

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Tristan Fleury, Lucie Hennet & Julien De Valeriola)
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (Masaaki Kawata)
• Ghost of Yōtei (Billy Harper, Jordan Pitchon & Kento Kojima)
• Hades II (Craig Harris)
• South of Midnight (Michael Jungbluth, Sebastien Dussault & Vincent Schneider)
  (Honourable Mentions: Assassin's Creed: Shadows, Dispatch, Donkey Kong Bananza, Monster Hunter Wilds, Silent Hill f)

Best Story/Writing

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Jennifer Svedberg-Yen, Guillaume Broche & Victor Deleard)
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (Hideo Kojima, Kenji Yano, Shuyo Murata & Kota Watanabe)
• Dispatch (Pierre Shorette, Suzee Matson, Ashley Jeffalone, Chad Rhiness & Chris Rebbert)
• Lost Records: Blood & Rage (Desiree Cifre, Nina Freeman & Jean-Luc Cano)
• Split Fiction (Sebastian Antonios Johansson & Josef Fares)
  (Honourable Mentions: Blue Prince, Ghost of Yōtei, Hades II, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, Marvel's Deadpool VR)

Best Voice-Over Performance

• Troy Baker - Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
• Charlie Cox - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
• Jennifer English - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
• Aaron Paul - Dispatch
• Ben Starr - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
  (Honourable Mentions: Laura Bailey - Dispatch, Erika Ishii - Ghost of Yōtei, Alex Jordan - The Alters, Norman Reedus - Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, Jeffrey Wright - Dispatch)

Best Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality Game

• Arken Age (Blake Stone)
• Ghost Town (Mark Hamilton & Rob Dodd)
• Lumines Arise (Takashi Ishihara)
• Marvel's Deadpool VR (Dan Bullock)
• The Midnight Walk (Klaus Lyngeled & Olov Redmalm)
  (Honourable Mentions: Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked, Star Wars: Beyond Victory – A Mixed Reality Playlist, Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow)