Indie titles have long been marginalized in the Game of the Year conversation at The Game Awards. No true indie has taken the top prize — Larian’s lavishly produced, self-published Baldur’s Gate 3 is often excluded from that claim — and in 2020 Hades famously lost out to The Last of Us Part II, a result that many still debate.
Perhaps more revealing than the winners themselves is how rarely indie games even make the GOTY shortlist. Historically, only five games have been nominated in both Game of the Year and Best Independent Game: Inside, Celeste, Hades, Stray, and Balatro. Never have more than two titles carried that dual nomination in a single year.
That pattern looks set to change in 2025: both Hades 2 and Hollow Knight: Silksong appear poised to break the precedent.
Hades 2 has just emerged from early access to overwhelmingly positive notices. Its aggregate scores on Metacritic and OpenCritic are hovering in the low 90s — very close to the original’s standing — and critics have been unusually unanimous in their praise. The first game’s prior GOTY nomination lends obvious pedigree, and some voters may see this as an opportunity to amend the perceived snub from 2020.
Silksong arrived amid enormous anticipation and, while its reception is slightly more varied, it remains a critical success with scores around the low 90s. Its notorious difficulty could temper some voters’ enthusiasm, but its launch after years of fan excitement has made it impossible to ignore. Developer Team Cherry hasn’t released official sales figures, though analyst estimates suggest strong performance, and reports indicate roughly 3.2 million Steam copies. Its peak concurrent players on Steam — roughly 587,150 — eclipse most competing titles, with only a handful of potential GOTY contenders approaching those numbers (for context, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 peaked near 145,000). Popularity alone doesn’t decide The Game Awards, but past winners like Baldur’s Gate 3 and Elden Ring show that commercial and critical momentum helps.
Together with Clair Obscur, these two rank among the year’s best-reviewed releases. Both carry the lineage and scope expected of GOTY contenders, so their nominations feel all but guaranteed. If the jury’s longstanding reluctance to elevate indie projects is to end, 2025 seems the most likely turning point.
That said, this apparent double nomination is the product of a rare alignment: two major indie sequels arriving in the same timeframe, both from beloved predecessors. Given their scale and the enthusiasm surrounding them, these entries are arguably stronger GOTY candidates than many earlier indie nominees — almost as if they were prequalified by reputation.
There’s also room to debate whether the jury will treat them strictly as “indie.” Their indie credentials are solid: both are self-published by small teams and embody the aesthetics and creative independence associated with indie development. Expect them to feature in Best Independent Game ballots as well. A truly bold jury move would be to add a third, less-hyped but highly praised title like Blue Prince to the GOTY list — admirable, but unlikely.
All caveats aside, it’s encouraging to think The Game Awards may finally expand its view of what constitutes a GOTY contender. With Clair Obscur positioned as a standout — an original AA effort from a first-time studio backed by a smaller publisher — 2025 could mark a turning point. As triple-A output contracts and smaller teams shoulder more of the creative risk, indie games are increasingly capable of blockbuster impact — and they may soon be recognized as such on the biggest stages.
Source: Polygon
