With 2025 coming to a close, we now have a solid list of the 10 highest-rated games of the year, and some may be surprised to learn which ones weren't nominated for the top prize at The Game Awards. The Game Awards has limited space for nominees in each category, with six games typically nominated for GOTY and four to six games nominated in every other category. Considering this, there was no way that all 10 of the highest-rated games of 2025 could be nominated for GOTY, but even so, some nominees have lower review scores than games that made it on the list.
The six games nominated for Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2025 are Hades 2 (94), Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (92), Donkey Kong Bananza (91), Hollow Knight: Silksong (91), Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (90), and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (89). Five of these are featured in the top 10 highest-rated games of the year on review aggregate site OpenCritic, though not all have higher scores than some of the games that were left out. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is the only GOTY-nominated game to not make the top 10....
