Having finished Silksong's true route it's not GOTY. It's amazing, but already feels 7 years outdated in design.

Chris Sizemore: Which genre is dead? Last time I checked, Metaphor and Baldur's Gate came out last year, so it can't be either RPG category. What new mechanics were introduced? From what I see, E33 is basically FF12 with QTE events, so not anything that wasn't done before.

(1 of 4) This morning I've read that Expedition 33 was disqualified for using generative AI, and the replacement... might also. Plus, from what I've found, Expedition 33 didn't use generative AI in any SUBSTANTIAL manner; Not as "we replace the artists", just as a helper tool.

(2 of 4) Honestly, I don't think we will see any games produced without any use of generative AI going forward, short of one-person passion projects.

(3 of 4) That being said, most of the SUCCESSFUL use of AI will likely be constrained to a fancier version of auto-complete, that happens to also work for graphics and prose.

(4 of 4) While this will reduce the work to be done by artists and programmers, it won't REPLACE them, at least for a while. And whether a full replacement CAN ever be economically viable remains to be seen. It will dominate shovelware though probably.

That said, 2025 was an amazing year for games. There are about a dozen games that deserved to get nominated for Game of the Year, 2025 that are better than say 2023 or 24.

Expedition 33 deserved to be Game of the Year for all the right reasons. A fresh look. New IP. In a genre that most people considered dead, but with new mechanics that breathed life into the gameplay. Amazing soundtrack. The gameplay was tight, and then it explodes.

To all the people arguing about the meaning of "indie" game producers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ4NPjw71ss&pp=ygUgc2Vjb25kIHdpbmQgaW5kaWUgZ2FtZSBwcm9kdWNlcnM%3D

Wonder who Alek or Jane would have been rooting for, for the awards...

So the thing is Kepler while being a publisher doesn’t operate itself like a traditional publishing agency. It’s more akin to shark tank. Basically they don’t pay anyone to develop a game instead people come to them and pitch a game it’s investment not ownership.

Indie Publisher: It was published by Kepler Interactive, a group described as an "indie collective" formed by independent studios to pool resources while maintaining creative autonomy.

An indie game is developed by individuals or small teams, without major publisher funding, allowing for significant creative freedom, unique gameplay, and artistic expression, often sold digitally on platforms like Steam or console stores, differing from large "AAA" titles.

Andreas Schone: Do YOU know what "independent" means? E33 was funded by a publisher, the French state, and Epic. That's not very independent in my book. If you want to call something independent, look at Silksong. No publisher, paid for by the profits from Hollow Knight, which also didn't have one.

I wouldn't say a government-funded AA game that used ai to make placeholder art and remixed stock assets from UE5 deserves any sort of win.

Do people know, what Indie means? Indie means INDEPENDENT! Not Individual! Therefor 33 won it legit.

The French won an award for winning awards. Twas a brutal slaughter. But fairly predictable because... well yea, the game and everything about it is really really really good. But it does seem clear that its status as 'indie' was kinda nonsense.

I wouldn't necessarily say Expedition 33 was LESS violent than Doom. I mean less than an hour in and your first Player Character collapses against a huge mound of dead bodies and attempts to blow his brains out. Still, it IS the kind of game you can hold up as "Good Game"

Other than the "Players' Voice" awards it's all rigged anyway. (And even that one sometimes gets botted votes and other kinds of cheating to make it somewhat meaningless.) TGA is really a show about trailers and announcements with a side hustle of the industry patting itself on the back.