But Hades had an even bigger budget. Hades I was 15M. If it's not fair for E33 to be in there due to its 10M budget, then it's not fair for Hades either. Yet, they've already won the award with their first game, and nobody batted an eye about it being unfair.
I think e33 has too big of a dev team to win best indie game, but I think every other category it won was either clearly deserved or at least understandable
The Game Awards don't get caught up on the "actually playing a role" thing. JRPGs get nominated for and win semi-regularly. Tales of Arise has even less narrative choice than E33, and it won a few years ago.
Hades 2, Silksong, and E33 all had equal chances to win imo. In any other year Hades 2 or Skong would have taken it, but against E33... I mean it's just bad luck honestly
Either of them should have taken it this year too. Hand drawn art is just so much more special than UE5 3d assets. It really has won too much because of bias. Should have been the GOTY probably (although not my gott), but it definitely didn't deserve rpg and indie at the very least
You do realize that all those assets are also hand-crafted, right? And Art Direction as a whole is more than just "hand drawn vs 3d", its the whole direction of the game's visual style, and E33 definitely earned that spot, and the wins it took. It was the titan of the year, but it doesn't diminish the good in the games you enjoy.
At least this is another win for gamers as a whole, when smaller companies that put out reasonably priced and near-immaculate bangers bend AAA+ studios over and play their cheeks like bongo drums.
honestly, I genuinely think best indie should've gone to blue prince. Skong, E33, and Hades 2 all feel like they're way too big/high budget to be considered in the same category as Blue Prince
Did I miss something about Tom Guilermin? That's my first hearing this.
Also the 200 outsourced employees is a highly misleading number.
Yes, the actors are not employees of the studio but indipendent contractors. No different for silk song. Yes Porting is done by an outside contractor. No different for Hollow Knight. Yes Localisation is done by outside contractors. No different for Silksong (imagine the devs not speaking 20 different languages themself, what losers am I right). And yes QA is provides by specialized game testing service providers, because who can afford to hire professional game testers with a team size of 30. Many indie games do that, including Celeste, Tunic and Cuphead.
The only true outsourcing is eight korean animators for character animations.
Also note that the aforementioned 200, are the total number of people employed by the afoormentioned companies, not the number of employees that actually worked on the project.
Silksong had a higher budget than E33, hades had a higher budget. Bro, E33 is an indie. It's just a really really well polished indie game but it's still an indie (now imo I think GOTY should be excluded from other categories but that's just my opinion)
The problem is that E33 had a 400 person team while silksong had 3-5 people and blue prince had a handful. The indie category as a whole should have more defined boundaries than just "not AAA"
It's not even debut man. Half the team is made of industry veterans.
Also how the fuck did it win best music?
Yeah it's great and all but there are lots of filler songs.
How many we got in skong? Putrefied ducts. I remember every other song.
Bias was there.
The definition of "indie" game is flexible enough to exploit. I foresee this gonna be expliot more in the coming years. At least it's easy for the big players in ths industry to secretely found a studio (claimed as "indie") before funding it later, to make a self-claimed "indie" title.
Another thing I'd like to add. Team Cherry was pretty humble about this, that they didn't expect to to win anything. They know their game isnt for everyone, they know they made a pretty tough game. Even Christopher Larkin was a no show. I can respect them for that.
But for a game made by 3 people thats 40+ hours long? A game so detailed and polished? A game with a high skill ceiling? A game that CRASHED ALL STOREFRONTS? That would've been a huge deal if it won, but it is what is. Im just happy I got to hear it in the orchestra, I'm just happy they even got nominated, and its my personal game of the year. I love Silksong. And I still can't believe its real.
Ive seen everyone hype up silksong like this. How it was made by a small team and CRASHED all storefronts. Yet it didny even win GOTY. Like was it all for show and a fluke? Or is the fandom overhyping a mediocre game.
Oh this game was for sure overhyped, but it really depends on what you wanted out of it. Most of simply just lived Hollow Knight and couldn't wait to play more of it. Myself included.
I really think Silksong pissed off those guys at the game awards that's why they try not to let it win. 🤣 pissed off the journalists, the AAA companies and the players who couldn't go through Last Judge's Parkour, probably why TC didn't expect anything. But it is a wonderful game. I love everything in it. I don't care if it didn't win a lot, it's expected. I still wish I could play it again like it's the first time.
Assuming you're genuinely curious and not being rude, I'm down to talk about them
I love E33. It did a lot right for me. I played it when I really needed to; it was a time when I was going through some tough emotions and graduating college, so the game helped me heavily in the Springtime. It's such a beautiful story, the characters and performances are loveable, and honestly, having the choice between fighting Maelle or Verso hurt me. It stung so bad because I understood them both. The combat was super fun, too, and the world is so well designed
However, DK brought out a part of me I really needed this fall. I've been super stuck on nostalgia, and DK reminded me of 64, Galaxy, and Odyssey, all of which I love (Odyssey is in my top 5 favorite games of all time). While I don't think it's the same level as Odyssey, it brought back that magic that I really needed. I hate Nintendo, I think they're greedy, and I think DK actually winning GOTY would've been a bit of a smack in the face to the amazing other teams that poured their heart into their games, but in all fairness, so did DK's team. The game is so full of personality, charm, and color, and just had me feeling so nice while I played. Take how people describe Astro Bot; That's how DK was for me.
Both are incredible games, and both are in my opinion, worthy of GOTY, but I personally prefer Bananza.
My GOTY is Silksong though, but less because of the feelings it brings me and more because it's just so fun
Appreciate your thoughts and feelings, clears stuff up a little for me. Personally I don't have any ties or memories regarding old Nintendo games, and didn't really consider nostalgia. Hope you enjoy the rest of your day and thanks for sharing your opinion
That's totally fair, and I dont expect people who do have the nostalgia reasoning to agree with me either. In all fairness, I also just think DK is really fun lol
I mean yeah,thats kinda the issue with E33,its an art direction award,not a "looking really cool" award,E33 is mostly spectacles and things rather than a unique art direction and art style
THIS!!! It just has a visually beautiful realistic graphic, but since it is realistic - there isn't THAT much style to it (It has its own charm, of course, just that the art direction they are going for isn't all that unique to say)
Art direction isn't just about if a game is realistic, cartoony or whatever else. It's about character design, enemy design, environmental design, particle effects, stylized menus, font so on and so forth. Expedition 33 has a bunch if really unique designs, environments and presentation. Just because it looks "realistic" doesn't mean it isn't really unique and well done, i prefer Skong myself but Expedition 33 winning that category is far from being unwarranted.
Some of those categories, despite E33 being a great game, felt unfair. Of course, best indie is ridiculous given that E33 isn't even an indie game, and art direction is a robbery as well. E33 looks great, but it was made with UE5. Silksong has gorgeous hand-drawn visuals, and Hades 2 also has unique, man-made art. I think, especially given that the award is "art direction," not even "best looking" or something, it feels wrong to give it to a game built on a pre-existing engine that looks like every other modern game over years and years of actual human effort and design. Also Geoff's snub "See, you guys won," after Silksong won its one and only award (that it almost assuredly had in the bag anyway) felt super snarky, sarcastic, and disrespectful to the years of work that went into making Silksong.
I think any of the three could have absolutely won for art direction. The environments and creatures in e33 are absolutely unique and fascinating. Just because it had a realistic character artstyle doesn't detract from that
Its just a small passion projects from a group of friends (30 ex-ubisoft devs, more money from big daddy Kepler than the budget of most big indie games in the last few years combined, hollywood actors and ~500 contractors around the globe but thats not important)
E33 fits what "indie game" should capture perfectly. Many employees, including the composer were hired over a reddit post. The story writer hase never worked in writing before and was originally a voice actress, that just vibed with the project and had some good ideas. For the first two years there was no studio, people just worked from home and meet at the producers house.
This is exactly what indie ought to be. A bunch of people hammering together a gain outside the gaming business industry just of fun.
Who cares that they fail some random "it's only indie when it's from the indie valley in france" criteria.
Game of the Year? Sure. Best art? Fine. Best music? Alright, I get it. That, and every other award it could qualify for? Fuck, no! That was genuinely so aggravating, not to mention the indie games fiasco and Half Life 3 baiting.
Nah, even best art should've either gone to Silksong or Hades 2. They absolutely deserved GOTY, narrative and soundtrack (and maybe best game direction) but everything else was laughable
Lol I was being pragmatic. Art for instance definitely should have gone to one of the hand drawn ones. I'm actually a little partial to Hades II's art, I haven't played it but it's the most interesting depictions of Greek mythology I've seen in recent times. I've seen people have full discussions on the nuances of Aphrodite's design, but not even a single peep about E33's design (except for one guy thirsting after one of the characters...who just looks like a generic Hollywood actor in a suit).
Tf it did, best RPG over kingdom come deliverance?, best direction over death stranding 2, it didn't deserve both debut indie and best either, it's AA, and it's leads were former ubisoft devs, the megabonk dev abstained because he'd made successful games under different studios, music, narrative, forgivable, but naaaaaahhhhh it really didn't deserve all of that
Edit: music and narrative are forgivable but I would be lying if I personally didn't think hades II and silent hill f were better contenders respectively, I do think clair obscur could've actually reasonably won goty still, just, not 8 other awards
I actually think music, narrative, and voice actor awards are all well deserved - those are the best parts of the game and where it kicks ass the most. GOTY is also fair, even if extremely expected.
I loved E33 to bits and it absolutely is my favorite game of 2025, but there are some parts of it the others just do better. Best art direction? Best RPG? Best indie (TWICE)? Those should have definitely gone to other games.
Fuck this shit man. It's a good game but not some fucking gift from the heavens above to snatch literally every award from anyone else. It made the show a fucking snoozefest
I don't know anything about the game but if it won this many awards I have reason to assume it probably is quite good, i also doubt it was "rigged" either.
Yeah well it doesn't really matter what awards a game gets other than the pride of the fans and a possible raise in sales. I'm just saying i can't judge the content of the game and say whether it deserved it or not.
BG3 lost best game direction, best narrative and best art direction to Alan Wake 2. Typically the jury used best game direction and art direction for games that were not the overall GOTY winner so it's pretty disappointing that it won specifically best art direction over Silksong
And it wasn't nominated for any indie award, that's why no one complained
While I dont think Silksong should have won GOTY I don’t think E33 should’ve either
Honestly this year cemented for me that the actual awards part of the game awards is full of shit and not worth watching, the only value it has is the teasers for what’s being cooked
People have been saying it was gonna win nonstop. It was talked about nonstop at release. People adored it. I'm not understanding why this sub and one other can't accept that.
Kelper had nothing to do with the game, they are not the publisher. Sandfall is the publisher. And all games outsourced, it’s like saying hades 2 isn’t indie because there’s a lot of people they outsourced parts of it to
Love both games. Both are my fav this year and certainly up there in general, and I think both deserved to win the awards they were nominated in, but ofc, there can only be one winner.
I am not mad that E33 won everything, but rather sad that Silksong didn't win more, but metroidvanias aren't the genre with the most wide-appeal there (yes, this is true for turn-based, but I would argue metroidvanias are more niche), so it's actually amazing the recognition Silksong has received.
I had no idea this game existed before now, i'm watching a playthrough now and it seems pretty awesome but the amount of awards was definitely overdone
if THE game awards can't even celebrate the games as a whole and can only celebrate E33, how do you expect people to just brush that aside and go "Well guys this year's games in general were amazing let's hear it for all the nominees!" when it's obvious what the judges' favourite child is? that celebration was not what happened. At all.
What's the point of the game awards if these games are not going to get the awards they deserve then? E33 is a good game, but the glaze it got is simply too much. Simply overrated at this point
A pretty good one, a game that came out of nowhere with 0 expectations going into it, with no prior “base” excelled in every aspect. It deserved every ounce of it.
yeah but its sooo fucking boring. I expected them to win goty. I did not expect E33 to win pretty much every category they were nominated for. it was draining to watch.
no, actually, not for me. it just makes me feel bad for the other team. I'd rather a close, fair game than one where the outcome is already known before it even ends.
I think E33 absolutely deserved every award it got except to think Silksong should have taken best Indie, and KCD2 should have got best RPG. I loved silksong and E33 but E33 is just built different man
I feel like I've said this a million times over the last few months but we all won by having a lot of banger games this year. Also I think the TGAs are a deeply unserious gala.
The only thing that actually made me sad was Kojima not winning a single award. Atleast silksong and hades 2 got SOMETHING. Death stranding 2 is a work of art. I was expecting a performance of one of their songs too, but nothing.
Silksong had the bigger cultural impact, let’s huff that copium. Seriously, I’ve heard countless people I don’t even know talking about silksong. The only reason I even know of E33 is because of the game awards. Ik it’s partially a coincidence(I have a tendency to be out of the loop lol), but Silksong was a cultural moment for this generation, let’s be honest.
At least they're winners, so they deserve to gloat and be smug. WE'RE the ones who need to stop being so salty.
Look. It doesn't matter how good the artwork is, ONE PERSON will never match the artistic abilities of Unreal Engine and a squad of hundreds with corporate funding.
It does not matter how good a game's music is, Cristopher Larkin is ONE PERSON. He just doesn't have what it takes to match the power of teamwork.
It does not matter how many people were involved, or how much money was invested, or where that money came from, or how much you were charged for the game. These are silly things that real gamers don't care about.
It does not matter that on release, every single platform that sells digital copies of videogames, from playstation to STEAM, crashed from being flooded simultaneously. For the first time in history. That's not very notable, as I've stated, ZERO game of the year winners have ever done such a thing, and crashing websites is quite hazardous behavior.
What matters is E33 won. When we look back at 2025, a year full of games, this will be the detail people will remember.
/s, /s, /s, /s, /s, aaaaaaaaaaand... you guessed it. /s.
mate the salt is incredibly sad. yeah people being snobs on online forms isn't anything new, and we knew this woulda happened no matter which game won, because i doubt half the people here would've been any more morally upright than that screenshot or yourself
but damn you don't have to beat up e33 for being a good game. it's good. i think in some categories it definitely deserved to beat out silksong, lol. not all of them (art direction for example, but it still had some amazing designs) for sure, but still.
you guys got some serious hate in your heart, shame that
I mean, it happens. TLOU2 is a game i wouldve liked on paper but I played it and think its way below average. Sometimes even if games fit our criteria we might not like it
I will say. E33 will end up being a very enjoyable story to consume, with excellent acting and a beautifully constructed world (though IMO, the randomness and abstract nature of much of the environment is disconcerting). The music is well done and operatic (though that's the award I'm most irked that Silksong missed out on).
I don't mean to shit on E33, but I'm near the end stages of the game and its really dragging. Part of the JRPG format is repetition but it's SOOO repetitive. The enemy move sets are not that varied, and the weakness/resistance of the enemies aren't so extreme that I find myself changing strategies much at all. I think at the end of the game, I'll have enjoyed the story and have ZERO interest in playing it ever again (or watching any other people's playthroughs, like I've done with HK and Silksong, and for other "one and done" games like Outer Wilds, Obra Dinn, etc.) I have a completionist nature, so I'm trying to hit all the side content before doing the final boss, but I have been so tempted to say "fuck it, that's enough, lets just wrap this" There is at least one "hidden" boss I'm not even going to bother with, his format sounds just annoying.
I'm not surprised it won, it's a beautiful piece of art, but for me personally? The level of enjoyment I've gotten from it pales in comparison to Team Cherry's work.
Ultimately its voted by critics and E33 is the perfect Oscar bait of videogames. Middle aged male protag going through life issues and a narrative about art. No one had a shot.
Damn dude that is a crazy rock you're living under. It's easily been the most talked about game this year since it released, certainly at least in the context of what will win GOTY.
https://preview.redd.it/s05rpooh7p6g1.jpeg?width=827&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4acd1476bf81a9a0099c7b0fab3e85e3b1c0dbdb
Nah man atleast indie game should've went to hades or silksong
Ehh more blue prince atleast. Hades had at minimum around same budget as e33.
But Hades had an even bigger budget. Hades I was 15M. If it's not fair for E33 to be in there due to its 10M budget, then it's not fair for Hades either. Yet, they've already won the award with their first game, and nobody batted an eye about it being unfair.
The Expedition 33 awards featuring some other games
https://preview.redd.it/sj3l7bm5mp6g1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a950e258b49abbced4f9b4587ca0935d00766f46
I think e33 has too big of a dev team to win best indie game, but I think every other category it won was either clearly deserved or at least understandable
Except best RPG. this one was weird as hell
I was expecting KCD2 to win that one
ppl sleep on outer worlds 2 as well. that game has some great rpg mechanics and decisions
That game is nowhere in the same realm as KCD2 or E33.
overall? sure i agree even though i enjoyed. but for the category of rpg? it absolutely could have deseved it alongside kcd2.
The Game Awards don't get caught up on the "actually playing a role" thing. JRPGs get nominated for and win semi-regularly. Tales of Arise has even less narrative choice than E33, and it won a few years ago.
Which is why the RPG category is dumb, anything this days has "RPG"-like mechanics so be fucking clear on what do you mean
I'd say art direction as well
Hades 2 deserve it a lot
I rooted for Silksong for that one but Hades deserved it as well. A bit more than E33, yeah
Hades 2, Silksong, and E33 all had equal chances to win imo. In any other year Hades 2 or Skong would have taken it, but against E33... I mean it's just bad luck honestly
I was worried it would split the vote and DKB wpuld take it home lol
unrelated but based af pfp omg
Either of them should have taken it this year too. Hand drawn art is just so much more special than UE5 3d assets. It really has won too much because of bias. Should have been the GOTY probably (although not my gott), but it definitely didn't deserve rpg and indie at the very least
You do realize that all those assets are also hand-crafted, right? And Art Direction as a whole is more than just "hand drawn vs 3d", its the whole direction of the game's visual style, and E33 definitely earned that spot, and the wins it took. It was the titan of the year, but it doesn't diminish the good in the games you enjoy.
At least this is another win for gamers as a whole, when smaller companies that put out reasonably priced and near-immaculate bangers bend AAA+ studios over and play their cheeks like bongo drums.
I personally look forward to the Ubisoft crashout
RPGs include JRPGs
It's not a "Game with best roleplaying" it's "best roleplaying game", it wouldn't make sense for E33 not to win it
Yep, best RPG should have gone to KCD2 and best indie should have gone to Silksong. No doubt about that.
honestly, I genuinely think best indie should've gone to blue prince. Skong, E33, and Hades 2 all feel like they're way too big/high budget to be considered in the same category as Blue Prince
Yes but swap best indie game with art direction
Best music should have gone to Silksong to me. What a banger!
Art should have gone to Skong
E33 did not deserve best indie dawg they made a publisher deal
Yeah, it's like putting a heavyweight boxer against a light heavyweight, the whole concept of "indie" at game awards seems to be "not an AAA game"
Exactly...they were already from a good studio and it was atleast an AA game
Many Indie games make publisher deals with indie publishers, because it turns out, publishing goes above the competences of many small devs.
Othe examples include last year's winner Balatro, 2022's winner Stray and this year's contender Blue Prince.
Sandfall also had nearly 200 outsourced employees and investments from other companies, and the lead developer is the son of a CEO.
Did I miss something about Tom Guilermin? That's my first hearing this.
Also the 200 outsourced employees is a highly misleading number.
Yes, the actors are not employees of the studio but indipendent contractors. No different for silk song. Yes Porting is done by an outside contractor. No different for Hollow Knight. Yes Localisation is done by outside contractors. No different for Silksong (imagine the devs not speaking 20 different languages themself, what losers am I right). And yes QA is provides by specialized game testing service providers, because who can afford to hire professional game testers with a team size of 30. Many indie games do that, including Celeste, Tunic and Cuphead.
The only true outsourcing is eight korean animators for character animations.
Also note that the aforementioned 200, are the total number of people employed by the afoormentioned companies, not the number of employees that actually worked on the project.
Heck, so it seems if I take a loan and work with what I have, I will not be able to be called indie? Noted
Silksong had a higher budget than E33, hades had a higher budget. Bro, E33 is an indie. It's just a really really well polished indie game but it's still an indie (now imo I think GOTY should be excluded from other categories but that's just my opinion)
The problem is that E33 had a 400 person team while silksong had 3-5 people and blue prince had a handful. The indie category as a whole should have more defined boundaries than just "not AAA"
So we're counting contracters for E33 but not for Silksong?
Are the credits for Silksong only 3 names?
Heck, so it seems if I take a loan or do whatever to make my game possible, I will not be able to be called indie? Noted
It's not even debut man. Half the team is made of industry veterans. Also how the fuck did it win best music? Yeah it's great and all but there are lots of filler songs. How many we got in skong? Putrefied ducts. I remember every other song. Bias was there.
Industry veterans only like 3 people had credits in game development. Most of them are new.
I agree, but I also think Blue Prince should have won this one
I'm an expeditioner, never even played silksong. But I'm on your side with that indie award
The definition of "indie" game is flexible enough to exploit. I foresee this gonna be expliot more in the coming years. At least it's easy for the big players in ths industry to secretely found a studio (claimed as "indie") before funding it later, to make a self-claimed "indie" title.
Fr man
I love E33 but I agree, that category needs to be redefined. It’s really TGA’a fault, not E33’s.
Another thing I'd like to add. Team Cherry was pretty humble about this, that they didn't expect to to win anything. They know their game isnt for everyone, they know they made a pretty tough game. Even Christopher Larkin was a no show. I can respect them for that.
But for a game made by 3 people thats 40+ hours long? A game so detailed and polished? A game with a high skill ceiling? A game that CRASHED ALL STOREFRONTS? That would've been a huge deal if it won, but it is what is. Im just happy I got to hear it in the orchestra, I'm just happy they even got nominated, and its my personal game of the year. I love Silksong. And I still can't believe its real.
Ive seen everyone hype up silksong like this. How it was made by a small team and CRASHED all storefronts. Yet it didny even win GOTY. Like was it all for show and a fluke? Or is the fandom overhyping a mediocre game.
Oh this game was for sure overhyped, but it really depends on what you wanted out of it. Most of simply just lived Hollow Knight and couldn't wait to play more of it. Myself included.
I really think Silksong pissed off those guys at the game awards that's why they try not to let it win. 🤣 pissed off the journalists, the AAA companies and the players who couldn't go through Last Judge's Parkour, probably why TC didn't expect anything. But it is a wonderful game. I love everything in it. I don't care if it didn't win a lot, it's expected. I still wish I could play it again like it's the first time.
to add onto this they were probably still salty TC didn't hand out keys to journalists before the release
At least donkey kong didn't win. I would be kissing a shotgun if that thing won over e33 and skong
I recognize that Expedition 33 deserved the win more than Donkey Kong...
but I liked Donkey Kong more 😭
Mfw monkey can slam (finally good video game)
I like when monkey punch ground
me like when monke go punchy punch
me when i can pick up rock and toss it (This game is life changing easy goty)
https://i.redd.it/y2nufpq3up6g1.gif
Valid
Genuinely don't understand why. I would honestly love to hear what you enjoy about the game as it vexes me
Assuming you're genuinely curious and not being rude, I'm down to talk about them
I love E33. It did a lot right for me. I played it when I really needed to; it was a time when I was going through some tough emotions and graduating college, so the game helped me heavily in the Springtime. It's such a beautiful story, the characters and performances are loveable, and honestly, having the choice between fighting Maelle or Verso hurt me. It stung so bad because I understood them both. The combat was super fun, too, and the world is so well designed
However, DK brought out a part of me I really needed this fall. I've been super stuck on nostalgia, and DK reminded me of 64, Galaxy, and Odyssey, all of which I love (Odyssey is in my top 5 favorite games of all time). While I don't think it's the same level as Odyssey, it brought back that magic that I really needed. I hate Nintendo, I think they're greedy, and I think DK actually winning GOTY would've been a bit of a smack in the face to the amazing other teams that poured their heart into their games, but in all fairness, so did DK's team. The game is so full of personality, charm, and color, and just had me feeling so nice while I played. Take how people describe Astro Bot; That's how DK was for me.
Both are incredible games, and both are in my opinion, worthy of GOTY, but I personally prefer Bananza.
My GOTY is Silksong though, but less because of the feelings it brings me and more because it's just so fun
Appreciate your thoughts and feelings, clears stuff up a little for me. Personally I don't have any ties or memories regarding old Nintendo games, and didn't really consider nostalgia. Hope you enjoy the rest of your day and thanks for sharing your opinion
That's totally fair, and I dont expect people who do have the nostalgia reasoning to agree with me either. In all fairness, I also just think DK is really fun lol
Bro hasn’t played donkey Kong
I said the same thing nearly a month ago
I expected 33 to sweep but it getting best art direction over Silksong and Hades 2 is dumb.
It does look cool, but agree, I personally like Silksong and Hades 2 art much much more
I mean yeah,thats kinda the issue with E33,its an art direction award,not a "looking really cool" award,E33 is mostly spectacles and things rather than a unique art direction and art style
THIS!!! It just has a visually beautiful realistic graphic, but since it is realistic - there isn't THAT much style to it (It has its own charm, of course, just that the art direction they are going for isn't all that unique to say)
Art direction isn't just about if a game is realistic, cartoony or whatever else. It's about character design, enemy design, environmental design, particle effects, stylized menus, font so on and so forth. Expedition 33 has a bunch if really unique designs, environments and presentation. Just because it looks "realistic" doesn't mean it isn't really unique and well done, i prefer Skong myself but Expedition 33 winning that category is far from being unwarranted.
Some of those categories, despite E33 being a great game, felt unfair. Of course, best indie is ridiculous given that E33 isn't even an indie game, and art direction is a robbery as well. E33 looks great, but it was made with UE5. Silksong has gorgeous hand-drawn visuals, and Hades 2 also has unique, man-made art. I think, especially given that the award is "art direction," not even "best looking" or something, it feels wrong to give it to a game built on a pre-existing engine that looks like every other modern game over years and years of actual human effort and design. Also Geoff's snub "See, you guys won," after Silksong won its one and only award (that it almost assuredly had in the bag anyway) felt super snarky, sarcastic, and disrespectful to the years of work that went into making Silksong.
I think any of the three could have absolutely won for art direction. The environments and creatures in e33 are absolutely unique and fascinating. Just because it had a realistic character artstyle doesn't detract from that
https://preview.redd.it/889m50erfp6g1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aedd8e36e51a07b7897c9b8226579f7ede7ee3cf
Don't worry. I know Maelle and Hornet are chilling somewhere in pharloom right now.
The only problem is hornet mogs
Was this image made by the Expedition 33 devs?
Yes! It's on their socials as well... They are amazing people... Game recognizes game
Like hell it did. "Indie"?
Its just a small passion projects from a group of friends (30 ex-ubisoft devs, more money from big daddy Kepler than the budget of most big indie games in the last few years combined, hollywood actors and ~500 contractors around the globe but thats not important)
Saying Expedition33 is indie is like putting, 15 yo natty vegan next to this image
https://preview.redd.it/wydlqyridq6g1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f889002fc40ddcce893c0718b70405803e45589b
E33 fits what "indie game" should capture perfectly. Many employees, including the composer were hired over a reddit post. The story writer hase never worked in writing before and was originally a voice actress, that just vibed with the project and had some good ideas. For the first two years there was no studio, people just worked from home and meet at the producers house.
This is exactly what indie ought to be. A bunch of people hammering together a gain outside the gaming business industry just of fun.
Who cares that they fail some random "it's only indie when it's from the indie valley in france" criteria.
The problem is that E33 is indie when compared to AAA games, but AA when compared to smaller team games like silksong.
Wouldn't care if some other actual indie title won it.
Pipistrello deserved better
Blue prince got killed twice
It was obvious that it would win a lot. Best RPG over KCD2 is kinda scuffed, and not a fan of it winning Indie.
But hey, we got something!
Game of the Year? Sure. Best art? Fine. Best music? Alright, I get it. That, and every other award it could qualify for? Fuck, no! That was genuinely so aggravating, not to mention the indie games fiasco and Half Life 3 baiting.
Nah, even best art should've either gone to Silksong or Hades 2. They absolutely deserved GOTY, narrative and soundtrack (and maybe best game direction) but everything else was laughable
Lol I was being pragmatic. Art for instance definitely should have gone to one of the hand drawn ones. I'm actually a little partial to Hades II's art, I haven't played it but it's the most interesting depictions of Greek mythology I've seen in recent times. I've seen people have full discussions on the nuances of Aphrodite's design, but not even a single peep about E33's design (except for one guy thirsting after one of the characters...who just looks like a generic Hollywood actor in a suit).
sorry but GOTY sure, best music oookay why not, BEST ART ? over Hades 2 ? Over Silksong ??? OVER DEATH STRANDING 2 (I'm biased on this one) ?????????
Tf it did, best RPG over kingdom come deliverance?, best direction over death stranding 2, it didn't deserve both debut indie and best either, it's AA, and it's leads were former ubisoft devs, the megabonk dev abstained because he'd made successful games under different studios, music, narrative, forgivable, but naaaaaahhhhh it really didn't deserve all of that
Edit: music and narrative are forgivable but I would be lying if I personally didn't think hades II and silent hill f were better contenders respectively, I do think clair obscur could've actually reasonably won goty still, just, not 8 other awards
I actually think music, narrative, and voice actor awards are all well deserved - those are the best parts of the game and where it kicks ass the most. GOTY is also fair, even if extremely expected.
I loved E33 to bits and it absolutely is my favorite game of 2025, but there are some parts of it the others just do better. Best art direction? Best RPG? Best indie (TWICE)? Those should have definitely gone to other games.
It’s very refreshing to see your opinion being upvoted and the people shitting on you for daring to have a different opinion being downvoted.
I agree with you completely. The E33 lead devs seem like indie “posers” to me honestly just because they originally worked for Ubisoft.
https://preview.redd.it/ligcke714q6g1.jpeg?width=1078&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dd51077fffafc75030295d0ba8f170b8bafdd8a3
Fuck this shit man. It's a good game but not some fucking gift from the heavens above to snatch literally every award from anyone else. It made the show a fucking snoozefest
I don't know anything about the game but if it won this many awards I have reason to assume it probably is quite good, i also doubt it was "rigged" either.
I think you're overestimating the values of these awards.
Yeah well it doesn't really matter what awards a game gets other than the pride of the fans and a possible raise in sales. I'm just saying i can't judge the content of the game and say whether it deserved it or not.
Be sure to write and email and ask for them to add a participation award next year. God forbid a game that deserves to win, wins right?
Me when the game awards event actually gives awards to games that are good instead of giving it to smaller indie titles because of pity
Same shit and sudden hate for the game happened when baldurs gate swept 2023 awards too lol
BG3 didn't win best Indie Game last checked.
BG3 lost best game direction, best narrative and best art direction to Alan Wake 2. Typically the jury used best game direction and art direction for games that were not the overall GOTY winner so it's pretty disappointing that it won specifically best art direction over Silksong
And it wasn't nominated for any indie award, that's why no one complained
People, for some reason, have a mental block when it comes to turn-based games, refuse to play them, or acknowledge them being good.
womp womp
While I dont think Silksong should have won GOTY I don’t think E33 should’ve either
Honestly this year cemented for me that the actual awards part of the game awards is full of shit and not worth watching, the only value it has is the teasers for what’s being cooked
That’s a fair point.
At least we got a KOTOR sequel, Control sequel, and a new Divinity. Though those franchises aren’t necessarily my cup of tea.
Also a game from the soma devs, and a new mega man game, we got a few flecks of gold announced this time
Easily my most anticipated is Total War: Warhammer 40K.
What they hinted at with the scale of this game is genuinely mind blowing.
People have been saying it was gonna win nonstop. It was talked about nonstop at release. People adored it. I'm not understanding why this sub and one other can't accept that.
Most people don't mind it won GOTY most people its the fact that it was even nominated for the indie sections.
Its not an indie game, it has mid sized publisher and had 500+ people work on it. Its a AA game.
Kelper had nothing to do with the game, they are not the publisher. Sandfall is the publisher. And all games outsourced, it’s like saying hades 2 isn’t indie because there’s a lot of people they outsourced parts of it to
They have no parent company. And other indie games that have actual publishers regularly get nominated.
It was externally funded, it wasn't self funded by definition It should not have been considered indie.
Yeah, and so have other games been like that.
That’s would mean fucking stardew valley isn’t indie
Only really bothered by E33 taking best Indie. It's not an indie game at all.
If they had any pride they'd have refused the award.
They were super biased.
They weren’t
Love both games. Both are my fav this year and certainly up there in general, and I think both deserved to win the awards they were nominated in, but ofc, there can only be one winner.
I am not mad that E33 won everything, but rather sad that Silksong didn't win more, but metroidvanias aren't the genre with the most wide-appeal there (yes, this is true for turn-based, but I would argue metroidvanias are more niche), so it's actually amazing the recognition Silksong has received.
umamusume is infinitely more successful than genshin impact, for what it's worth
Well that's good, I think.
Everything I see about the funny horse game seems nice, but my phone doesn't have enough space for me to check it out
Earned half of them
Honestly it's disappointing as hell that one single game dominated all categories like this. KCD2 getting no award is just sad.
Guess E1331 won🥹😭
I had no idea this game existed before now, i'm watching a playthrough now and it seems pretty awesome but the amount of awards was definitely overdone
We should just rename this subreddit to expedition 33 at this point.
For those who are salty, can't we just celebrate gaming as a whole? Silksong is amazing but so is expedition 33, kcd 2, hades and Death Stranding 2
I hoped for a win for silksong aswell but I am also a big expedition 33 fan
I think overlooking every other game to pile as much praise as possible onto expedition 33 is pretty far from "celebrating gaming as a whole".
Well it would have been much better celebration of the game year if Blue Prince won debut indie
If Hades2 or Skong won regular Indie and art Direction
If KCD2 won RPG
If the narrative possibly won DS2 (haven't played and just basing it off DS1 - that's why possibly)
It surely deserves goty (although it's not my goty), but it doesn't deserve to take attention away from other wonderful games
It's not the fault of Sandfall of course, but the awards definitely fumbled big time
if THE game awards can't even celebrate the games as a whole and can only celebrate E33, how do you expect people to just brush that aside and go "Well guys this year's games in general were amazing let's hear it for all the nominees!" when it's obvious what the judges' favourite child is? that celebration was not what happened. At all.
No not gonna celebrate a non-indie game taking the indie award when it was already sweeping.
That's shitty.
I think that's what people wanted. You're not really celebrating gaming as a whole with an awards ceremony where only one game wins awards.
Nuance? No binary options? On Reddit? Have you gone mad? /s
What's the point of the game awards if these games are not going to get the awards they deserve then? E33 is a good game, but the glaze it got is simply too much. Simply overrated at this point
Unfortunately, cope will weed out any rationality. God forbid multiple games be good.
Undeserved imo
I think it was deserved, but I would be making out with a noose if donkey Kong won
absolutely deserved
Incredible amount of copium
Opinion
A pretty good one, a game that came out of nowhere with 0 expectations going into it, with no prior “base” excelled in every aspect. It deserved every ounce of it.
yeah but its sooo fucking boring. I expected them to win goty. I did not expect E33 to win pretty much every category they were nominated for. it was draining to watch.
Is a football game fun to watch if your team is stomping the other one? It absolutely is
no, actually, not for me. it just makes me feel bad for the other team. I'd rather a close, fair game than one where the outcome is already known before it even ends.
I mean cope and seethe then I guess
you do you too.
Username checks out.
I’m quite happy actually, considering they just dropped a free dlc at the end of the awards and a new soundtrack later today
Sad in a deeper sense, friend.
Opinion
No it didnt
Did we watch the same awards? Lmfao
almost any other year silksong wins, e33 is legit just a generational game
yeah they definitely “earned” the best indie game nomination
I’m convinced that Expedition 33 is the Gojo of 2025 gaming.
“Silksong has the best art and music out of any game in the last few years. With the sole exception of Expedition 33, of course.”
“Death Stranding 2 has the best design and graphics seen in gaming, except for Expedition 33, of course.”
It’s still a great game and it deserves GOTY, even if I disagree with some of the categories it won.
Elden Ring clears all except for graphics lol
Eh, I don't think Elden Ring should win something like best narrative or soundtrack either
Elden rings graphics aren't that great
Expedition 33, I’m sure you’re a great game, probably game of the year
But I’m obligated to hate you on principle. Check your mailbox :3
I had never even heard of e33 until the game awards and now its winning game of the year over silksong😭
More like expedition 33 awards
I think E33 absolutely deserved every award it got except to think Silksong should have taken best Indie, and KCD2 should have got best RPG. I loved silksong and E33 but E33 is just built different man
NO SNIFF!
I feel like I've said this a million times over the last few months but we all won by having a lot of banger games this year. Also I think the TGAs are a deeply unserious gala.
A well deserved win regardless of all the salty redditors 😢😭
They had a difficulty slider. Meaning anyone that bought the game had very good chances of seeing the end.
Meanwhile I wish I could refund my silksong copy. I feel the same way I would if the game started to crash randomly at halfway point.
Accessibility matters. Here's one of the many examples of why. The awards.
I'm betting good money that if the game had a difficulty slider, it would have won at least one more award.
Because then, everyone would have the archievement for reaching the end.
The only thing that actually made me sad was Kojima not winning a single award. Atleast silksong and hades 2 got SOMETHING. Death stranding 2 is a work of art. I was expecting a performance of one of their songs too, but nothing.
No the fuck they didn’t, Industry Plant 33 is not a fucking indie game and does not deserve to be in those categories
Silksong had the bigger cultural impact, let’s huff that copium. Seriously, I’ve heard countless people I don’t even know talking about silksong. The only reason I even know of E33 is because of the game awards. Ik it’s partially a coincidence(I have a tendency to be out of the loop lol), but Silksong was a cultural moment for this generation, let’s be honest.
As an E33 fan, I find the Silksong community to be one of the best things that came out this year!! You guys are too funny and wholesome😭♥️
https://preview.redd.it/jvlbaekxcs6g1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d3a3aa02faa5f5dc855d5b0b3fea5537e2c2c03b
Looks like the E33 stans already knew that.
At least they're winners, so they deserve to gloat and be smug. WE'RE the ones who need to stop being so salty.
Look. It doesn't matter how good the artwork is, ONE PERSON will never match the artistic abilities of Unreal Engine and a squad of hundreds with corporate funding.
It does not matter how good a game's music is, Cristopher Larkin is ONE PERSON. He just doesn't have what it takes to match the power of teamwork.
It does not matter how many people were involved, or how much money was invested, or where that money came from, or how much you were charged for the game. These are silly things that real gamers don't care about.
It does not matter that on release, every single platform that sells digital copies of videogames, from playstation to STEAM, crashed from being flooded simultaneously. For the first time in history. That's not very notable, as I've stated, ZERO game of the year winners have ever done such a thing, and crashing websites is quite hazardous behavior.
What matters is E33 won. When we look back at 2025, a year full of games, this will be the detail people will remember.
/s, /s, /s, /s, /s, aaaaaaaaaaand... you guessed it. /s.
mate the salt is incredibly sad. yeah people being snobs on online forms isn't anything new, and we knew this woulda happened no matter which game won, because i doubt half the people here would've been any more morally upright than that screenshot or yourself
but damn you don't have to beat up e33 for being a good game. it's good. i think in some categories it definitely deserved to beat out silksong, lol. not all of them (art direction for example, but it still had some amazing designs) for sure, but still.
you guys got some serious hate in your heart, shame that
I played e33. it was good.
Silksong and DK were both better than Clair Obscur…
I’ve only played those 3 from the nominees
oh wow that’s a hot take
You could argue for silksong being better. I wouldn't say the same for DK
They weren’t though
Yeah that’s my opinion. I love JRPGs but Clair really didn’t do it for me.
I mean, it happens. TLOU2 is a game i wouldve liked on paper but I played it and think its way below average. Sometimes even if games fit our criteria we might not like it
Yeah GGs to E33 fans I have nothing against them or the game haha just expressing my thoughts.
Lmao no it didn't
Given what I understand about how much money and resources they had to make the game, they didn't really deserve the indie awards.
... no, they won't give away the award to Silksong over teary eyes :D . This ain't a movie.
These awards mean nothing lol, silksong is better to me and thats all that matters to me
Man it did not deserve every single award
I will say. E33 will end up being a very enjoyable story to consume, with excellent acting and a beautifully constructed world (though IMO, the randomness and abstract nature of much of the environment is disconcerting). The music is well done and operatic (though that's the award I'm most irked that Silksong missed out on).
I don't mean to shit on E33, but I'm near the end stages of the game and its really dragging. Part of the JRPG format is repetition but it's SOOO repetitive. The enemy move sets are not that varied, and the weakness/resistance of the enemies aren't so extreme that I find myself changing strategies much at all. I think at the end of the game, I'll have enjoyed the story and have ZERO interest in playing it ever again (or watching any other people's playthroughs, like I've done with HK and Silksong, and for other "one and done" games like Outer Wilds, Obra Dinn, etc.) I have a completionist nature, so I'm trying to hit all the side content before doing the final boss, but I have been so tempted to say "fuck it, that's enough, lets just wrap this" There is at least one "hidden" boss I'm not even going to bother with, his format sounds just annoying.
I'm not surprised it won, it's a beautiful piece of art, but for me personally? The level of enjoyment I've gotten from it pales in comparison to Team Cherry's work.
I thought goty was going into a timeless masterpieces not any game that comes every year
I mean E33 is a timeless masterpiece but no accounting for taste, I guess.
and it have won aint that crazy?
E33 is a glorified interactive movie compared to the peak gaming experience Silksong is.
No they fucking didnt, its going to be forgotten in 2 months
Ultimately its voted by critics and E33 is the perfect Oscar bait of videogames. Middle aged male protag going through life issues and a narrative about art. No one had a shot.
I still cant twist my mind around how a game that was nearly unknown before it got nominated managed to win
Damn dude that is a crazy rock you're living under. It's easily been the most talked about game this year since it released, certainly at least in the context of what will win GOTY.
Yeah they did earn it. It's just the better game, silksong is still good tho.