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| Voting is now open for the 2025 Rocket & Raygun Awards, celebrating the year’s best games as chosen by fans. |
By Jon Scarr
Voting is now open for the 2025 Rocket & Raygun Awards, and this year’s ballot brings together a wide range of games that shaped the past year across multiple genres.
Hosted by Electric Playground creator and Canadian media veteran Victor Lucas, the Rocket & Raygun Awards reflect his long-standing approach to covering games through a more thoughtful, experience-driven lens rather than hype or sales numbers. The focus here is on the games people actually played and remembered, not just the ones with the biggest marketing push.
If you want to take part, you can cast your vote here.
A Mix of Games Across Genres
The 2025 ballot brings together a wide range of games, from long-running franchises to newer releases that built momentum over time.
Several titles appear across multiple categories, reflecting how broadly they connected with players this year. These include:
- Hollow Knight: Silksong, which shows up across action, indie, and Game of the Year categories.
- Death Stranding 2: On The Beach, represented in action-adventure, art direction, music, and Game of the Year.
- Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, appearing in action, 2D, and visual categories.
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, recognized across RPG, art direction, music, and Game of the Year.
- Donkey Kong Bananza, featured in action-adventure, family-friendly, and Game of the Year voting.
The list also leaves room for remasters, indie projects, and games that may not have had massive marketing pushes but still made an impact.
A Ballot That Reflects How People Actually Play
One of the strengths of the Rocket & Raygun Awards is how closely the nominations line up with real experiences.
Rather than chasing trends, the ballot highlights games people kept coming back to, whether because of how they played, the worlds they created, or how they felt over time.
It results in a lineup that feels balanced, with space for both well-known games and those that found their audience more gradually.
Game of the Year Feels Wide Open
This year’s Game of the Year category reflects just how varied 2025 has been, with nominees spanning different styles, tones, and genres:
- Death Stranding 2: On The Beach
- Shinobi: Art of Vengeance
- Hollow Knight: Silksong
- Donkey Kong Bananza
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Split Fiction
Rather than one clear front-runner, the list feels evenly matched, with each game offering something distinct. That balance makes the final outcome harder to predict and gives the vote a bit more weight than usual.
Voting Is Open Now
Voting for the 2025 Rocket & Raygun Awards is currently open, and anyone can take part.
If you played any of this year’s games and want to weigh in, you can vote through the official viewer poll.
It’s a chance to have a say in how 2025 is remembered across one of the more thoughtful game award lineups of the year.
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