The 1UP Vault 2025 Awards
The Best of the Best of 2025
This is the 2025 1UP Vault awards, as I look back at the sixteen games that I played during the year, as well as give an award for my favorite game I played that wasn’t released in 2025. Reminder… this is all personal opinion, based on the games I played. Everyone has an opinion, and there are many game awards out there, so at best, see it as a way to understand my favorite gaming experiences of 2025.
The Award Goes To…
Art Direction - South of Midnight - While there were a lot of great visuals and art styles this year, South of Midnight’s stop-motion animations and handcrafted style ended up as my favorite art direction of the year.
Graphics - Ghost of Yotei - While this was a close one, I went with Ghost of Yotei as it is just a visually beautiful game. It combined art style, direction, and overall graphics to form a gorgeous game to experience Atsu’s story of revenge.
Combat - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - The one combat mechanic I loved the most this year came from Expedition 33. I don’t mind the traditional turn-based combat, but the addition of mechanics like jumping and parrying really added a dimension to the genre that felt fresh and new, even if technically there have been games that did similar things in the past. The peak of the combat came during boss fights, where timing your enemy attacks and strategizing how to take the boss down helped everything come together.
World and Lore - Hollow Knight: Silksong - Despite it’s brutual difficulty, the world of Silksong is my favorite of the year, as Pharloom and the Citadel proved to look beautiful and feel like an actual living world. It was the main thing that kept me going despite my frustrations.
Side Content - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - This game does side content in ways that others should study. Most of the side content doesn’t feel repetitive, and unlike most side missions in games, it never feels like a chore. While I decided to skip a lot of the side stuff that opens up in Act 3, I have seen videos and posts about all the content Sandfall added there, and it’s truly incredible.
Cinematography - Death Stranding 2: On the Beach - No shock that the game made by the cinephile gets this award. There are shots during the cutscenes or the more calm deliveries that look right out of an Oscar winning film.
Fun Factor - Donkey Kong Bananza - From a pure enjoyment and smiles standpoint, Donkey Kong’s latest adventure was as fun as it gets. Nintendo knows how to hit that “power of play” as Cerny would say, and create moments. My daughter played this one a couple of times, smashed everything in sight, and had a good time.
Interface Design - Ghost of Yotei - GOY does a great job of making an open world feel neither overwhelming nor empty. The map is easy to navigate and the menu and settings are easy to remember. It all comes together into a beautiful design language that fits the cinematic samurai style.
Sound Design - Ghost of Yotei - Not just happy to have a great interface design, Yotei also has my favorite sound design of the year. The swords and weapons sound real, the wind and use of the Dualsense’s speaker adds to the immersion, and the score and music hit at the right moments.
Game / Level Design - Hollow Knight: Silksong - The way Pharloom and its areas connect are some of the best parts of Silksong. As annoying as the difficulty was, the metroidvania elements and world design of Silksong are second to none, and I loved exploring its world. Every area feels like its own unique place, while still feeling part of Pharloom as a whole.
Favorite Non-2025 Game
Crypt Custodian
I saw this one in a few lists of 2024 games, so I had to try it out, especially since it’s in my favorite genre - Metroidvania. What I got was an incredible genre title and a story with more heart than you might think. You set out to pick up garbage in the animal afterlife after being declared a bad animal. Eventually, you pick up a cast of characters and begin to form a plan to break in and get a mirror that lets you visit the living world for a moment. It has well designed areas, skills, power-ups, and a pretty good score. It also addresses some of the genre's weaker parts, making it easy for new fans to try it out. It all comes together in a surprisingly emotional ending. If I had played this in 2024, it would have been my favorite game of the year. The best part is that in 2026, the developer’s next game, Well Dweller, is coming out!
Level / Area
The Planet Core - Donkey Kong Bananza
The area that I’m going to remember the most when looking back at 2025 games is going to be the last Terrain level in Donkey Kong Bananza - The Planet Core. After the revival of King K. Rool, you set off on some platforming challenges and enemy fights as you get closer to taking on your old nemesis. Along the way, the Kremlings and older enemies from the original Donkey Kong Country games make an apperance which just fills your brain with childhood nostalgia on full blast. It ends with a boss battle against the King that sets up a crazy finale.
Weapon / Item
Vi-O-La Bike - Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
Despite the controversial desert hub area, I actually fell in love with the Vi-O-La bike. It handles so well that you have to wonder how true the Star Fox racing game rumor from the past is true. Furthermore, the bike plays a role in a couple of moments when entering new areas that I liked, and is also used for a few boss encounters. I really hope we don’t see the last of this thing and Retro figures out a way to really showcase its skills beyond a polarizing hub.
Moment
“Keep Up” - Dispatch
This was a gut-punch moment I didn’t see coming. Through Dispatch, Chase is easily the funniest video game character I’ve ever met. He has a brutal delivery and seems to be in constant roast mode. The ending of Episode 6 starts with a party that leads to a fight between Chase and Invisigal, whom Chase refuses to see as a potential hero. After the party, Chase and Robert discuss what it means to be a superhero, and then Invisigal stupidly infiltrates a base full of villains to impress Robert and prove Chase wrong. Behind his computer, Robert can only watch as she’s caught by Shroud, who kicks her inhaler away and leaves her to lose her breath. Then, Chase looks right at his old friend and tells Robert his old superhero catchphrase, “keep up”, before running to save Invisigal with his speed powers. Chase ages rapidly whenever he uses his powers, so Robert watches as Chase saves Invisigal and then collapses. It’s more than just an emotional moment; it’s about seeing a man prove why superheroes do what they do because it’s the right thing to do, even if it requires sacrifice.
Ensemble
Dispatch
There were a lot of awesome character ensembles for the year, but it was the group that came out of Dispatch that was the most memorable to me. It helps that the writing is more comedic, but it also does a good job giving even the smallest characters their own arcs that end just as they should. Invisigal’s quest to see herself as a hero, Blonde Blazer trying to be herself more than her persona, Robert’s quest to turn this group of former villians to heroes, and so on. This is the type of group that you remember in some of the best TV shows out there.
Game Direction
Jasmin Roy - South of Midnight
I’m sure this one is a big surprise for many. Most people are going to go with Expetion 33 here, and I do think that’s a solid pick, as well as the fact that they won the Game Awards’ Game Direction trophy anyway. However, I found myself mostly impressed with South of Midnight’s direction. It’s really about how they were able to seamlessly blend the music with moments and gameplay. The one memory that sticks out to me is when I was climbing the Benjy tree, and as I kept climbing, it synced up perfectly with the song, with the tempo and rhythm getting faster and better the higher I got, culminating at the top. I think South of Midnight missed out on many awards because of its generic gameplay, but it deserves recognition for many things, especially its game direction.
Original Song
Une Vie à Peindre - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
It’s incredibly high praise for me to say that this song is up there with Dancing Mad as a masterpiece. The song plays during the final encounter with Renoir towards the end of Expedition 33. It has multiple phases, and like most of the songs in the game, it sounds epic as you can get. Every time I’ve listened to it, I find myself falling in love with it even more, which is crazy considering just how much I loved it from the moment I heard it.
Male Performance
Troy Baker (Higgs Monaghan - Death Stranding 2: On the Beach)
Troy Baker, whether you like it or not, is the guy who is just too good and is the go-to when it comes to male performances in video games. I do think talent like Ben Starr and Neil Newbon are getting there, but Troy is still the man to beat. This time, Troy delivers one of my all-time favorite character performances in Higgs, completely losing his mind in all the best ways. Higgs delivers a charm and nihilistic psychopathy that I’ve seen in Heath Ledger’s infamous Joker role, but unlike other roles, didn’t feel like a cheap copycat. Troy isn’t just doing a great performance; he’s having fun, and that’s when you get the best out of a performer.
Female Performance
Jennifer English (Maelle - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33)
It’s no surprise that Jennifer is sweeping award shows for her performance as Maelle. Her voice work is insane, making it sound like a teenager without coming off as an adult playing a young person. If you didn’t know who did Maelle’s voice, you would swear it was a teenager. Along with the voice, she also captures all of Maelle’s emotions and depth well. You can feel her happiness, her despair, her transformation as a character as you reach the end. It’s one of the best performances done in video games as we get deeper stories and characters. I have a feeling that this won’t be the last time Jennifer sweeps awards, much like another iconic Jennifer.
Soundtrack / Score
Lorien Testard, Alice Duport-Percier - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
I am a sucker for orchestral, chorus-like soundtracks in any form of media. Some of my favorite video game music comes from that style. Expedition 33 not only follows it, but joins icons like Final Fantasy VI, Earthbound, Super Mario Galaxy, Ocarina of Time, Persona 5, Twilight Princess, and more among my favorite video game soundtracks. Lorien and Alice put together a massive catalog of catchy, incredible music, ranging from somber to high-energy. Every area, enemy, and moment is different and yet comes together as one balanced score to the game. It’s incredible that this was put together by a guy found on Soundcloud. I will be listening to this one for a VERY long time.
Favorite Game of the Year & Story
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Winning both Story and overall Game of the Year, Kojima’s latest masterpiece ended up as my favorite game of 2025. Following the events of Death Stranding, we follow a new journey to connect Australia and deal with new and old allies and enemies. Kojima dared to ask should we have connected? By the end, his answer is a resounding yes, making this ultimately a story about human connection and hope for the future. The ending hit me hard as a father, and it’s one of those moments when the credits hit that I’ll remember for a long time. I’ve talked about it at great length, and the other eleven games I loved in the year are in my Top 12 Favorite Games.