As usual, I appreciate the preliminary selections providing me an opportunity to vote for my actual favorite games, no matter how obscure some of them may be.

That said, can Hollow Knight: Silksong be added to the platformers category? I'm shocked that I was unable to find an excuse to vote for it in any category at all so far despite regarding it as one of my favorite games this year and so far have had to leave that category blank despite that game and Split Fiction both potentially qualifying as platforming titles! 

My selections so far:

Best Shooter: Ball x Pit

Best Action Game: Hades II

Best Action/Adventure: Silent Hill f

Best Adventure Game: Unbeatable

Best Racing Game: Mario Kart World

Best RPG: Deltarune Chapters 3 & 4

Best Simulation Game: Hello Kitty Island Adventure (yes! )

Best Compilation: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4

(This one was an especially close call 'cuz I def enjoyed the Mortal Kombat Legacy Collection too.) 

Best Remaster: The Talos Principle: Reawakened

Best Indie Game: Hades II

Best VR Game: The Midnight Walk

Best DLC/Expansion: Sea of Stars: Throes of the Watchmaker

Best Art Direction: South of Midnight

Best Original Music Score: Hades II

Best Supporting Performance: Andy Serkis, Feodor Atkin, Alex Martin & Maxence Carzola as Renoir (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33)

Best Lead Performance: Jennifer English, Adeline Chetail & Charlotte Hoepffner as Maell (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33)

Best Narrative: Silent Hill f

Best Multiplayer: Split Fiction

Most Innovative Game: Donkey Kong Bananza

Most Disappointing Game: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond

(It wasn't bad really, just the game I felt most let down by that I actually played.)

Best Surprise: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Most Anticipated Game of 2026: Deltarune Chapter 5

(Actually it might be Perfect Tides: Station to Station, the upcoming sequel to one of my favorite narrative adventures...actually just one of my favorite video games, period, of all time, that I'm most looking forward to, but not an option in this survey. It's due out next month.)

Overall Game of 2025: Hades II

We added Perfect Tides: Station to Station as an option for Most Anticipated!

We think Silksong falls more comfortably into the action-adventure/Metroidvania bucket, but totally understand where you're coming from! Every year it gets tougher to categorize individual games, since they bleed into multiple genres.

Thanks much! I went ahead and voted for Perfect Tides: Station to Station in that category.

On Silksong, yeah you're right, it's a Metroidvania, so more of an action-adventure really in truth, but I was just looking for an excuse to choose it for something. Oh well.