The New York Game Awards 2025: All Winners & Awards

The New York Game Awards took place at the SVA Theatre in Chelsea last night, highlighting the best games of 2024 across 13 categories. The ceremony also included a special honoring of developer Sam Lake, known for his work with Remedy Entertainment, which featured a short documentary on the mind behind games like Max Payne and the Alan Wake series. Nominees included some of the biggest titles of the year, like Astro Bot, Metaphor: ReFantazio, and Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, as well as some lesser-known indie gems like Mouthwashing and UFO 50.

The New York Game Awards are an event voted on and held by the New York Video Games Critics Circle, a nonprofit that focuses on helping underserved student communities receive educational opportunities regarding video game development and writing. The show was hosted by NYVGCC founder Harold Goldberg, alongside former Nintendo president Reggie Fils-Aimé and writer Sherri L. Smith. The show also took time to highlight other creative gaming-adjacent projects happening in New York, like an original ballet currently being written by ballerina Georgina Pazcoguin based on The Legend of Zelda.

All Winners From The New York Game Awards 2025

Including All Nominees For All Categories

The show featured all the expected categories, like Best Music, Best Acting, and Game of the Year, as well as some more off the beaten path categories like Hidden Gem and an award just for DLC. Some of the most nominated titles include Astro Bot, 1000xResist, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. The ceremony was broadcast on NYVGCC's official voice of Alan Wake - and many more talented people in the gaming sphere.

Titus from Space Marine 2, Cloud from Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and a Helldiver from Helldivers 2 on Balatro Joker cards.

I Finally Played Balatro And It Confirmed Why 2024 Was Such A Good Year For Games

Balatro is an excellent game and one of 2024’s best. However, it is also illustrative of why 2024 was such a phenomenal year for gaming.

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The table below lists the nominees and winners of 2025's New York Game Awards. The winners are identified in the listings using bold lettering and the label of winner in brackets.

The New York Game Awards 2025: All Winners & Nominees
A-Train Award for Best Mobile Game	Rabbids: Legends of the Multiverse Wuthering Waves Zenless Zone Zero [WINNER] Ex Astris Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket
Central Park Children’s Zoo Award for Best Kids Game	Astro Bot [WINNER] Super Mario Party Jamboree Little Kitty, Big City Sonic X Shadow Generations The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
Freedom Tower Award for Best Remake	Soul Reaver 1 and 2 Remastered Silent Hill 2 [WINNER] Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth Age of Mythology: Retold Persona 3: Reload
Statue of Liberty Award for Best World	Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree [WINNER] Tales of Kenzera: ZAU Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess Astro Bot Indiana Jones and the Great Circle S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 Heart of Chornobyl
Off Broadway Award for Best Indie Game	Tales of Kenzera: ZAU Lorelei and the Laser Eyes Balatro I Am Your Beast UFO 50 [WINNER] 1000xResist Thank Goodness You’re Here! Neva
Herman Melville Award for Best Writing in a Game	Harold Halibut Metaphor: ReFantazio [WINNER] 1000xResist Life is Strange: Double Exposure Phoenix Springs Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Coney Island Dreamland Award for Best AR/VR Game	Thrasher Batman: Arkham Shadow [WINNER] Umurangi Generation VR Skydance’s Behemoth Silent Slayer: Vault of the Vampire Shattered
Knickerbocker Award for Best Games Journalism	Duncan Fyfe Alexis Ong Grant Stoner Mason Andrew Hamberlin Edwin Evans-Thirlwell Simone De Rochefort & Clayton Ashley [WINNER]
Great White Way Award for Best Acting in a Game	Abubakar Salim as Zau, Zuberi and Griot Echo in Tales of Kenzera: ZAU John Eric Bentley as Barret in Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth Hannah Telle as Max Caulfield in Life is Strange: Double Exposure Melina Juergens as Senua in Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 Troy Baker as Indiana Jones in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle [WINNER] Humberly González as Kay in Star Wars Outlaws
Tin Pan Alley Award for Best Music in a Game	Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess Life is Strange: Double Exposure Astro Bot [WINNER] Arco Black Myth Wukong 1000xResist
Andrew Yoon Legend Award	Sam Lake [WINNER]
Chumley’s Speakeasy Award for Best Hidden Gem	Ultros Vampire Therapist Mouthwashing [WINNER] Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story Mars After Midnight Starstruck: Hands of Time
NYC GWB Award for Best DLC	Alan Wake II: Night Springs and The Lake House Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown - Mask of Darkness Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree [WINNER] Remnant 2: The Dark Horizon Splatoon 3: Side Order Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred
Big Apple Award for Best Game of the Year	Balatro Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth Astro Bot [WINNER] UFO 50 1000xResist Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Metaphor: ReFantazio EA Sports College Football 25

Screen Rant's Experience At The New York Game Awards

Voting, Presenting, & Being A Part Of An Incredible Celebration

Recently, through my work with Screen Rant I was lucky enough to the New York Video Games Critics Circle, which meant I got to experience the event firsthand. In addition to contributing to the overall voting process - as all NYVGCC do - as one of the newest inductees, I also had the honor of presenting the Game of the Year award alongside Rolling Stone writer Christopher Cruz. The entire ceremony was an incredible experience, and getting to stand on the stage alongside so many talented critics was truly an honor.

The ceremony as a whole was such a lovely celebration of both developers and writers that it’s hard to single out my favorite moments, but there are a few that stood out. Some of the biggest highlights of the night included the honoring of Sam Lake, an absolute creative legend who gave a delightful speech, Matthew Poretta presenting Best Acting’s nominees as Alan Wake, a performance of a brand-new song from rapper Mega Ran, and Reggie Fils-Aimé’s co-hosting, which at one point delightfully sidetracked to him discussing his top-secret lasagna recipe, complete with pictures.

All of these images are credited to photographer Nancy J. Parisi.

Astro Bot Was The Night's Biggest Winner

The Adorable Robot Platformer Took Home Three Awards

Just like the results from last December's Game Awards, Astro Bot once again took home the coveted title of Game of the Year. It was the most honored title of the night overall, also receiving the awards for Best Music and Best Kids Game, further demonstrating the title's impressive dominance in a year filled with critically-acclaimed releases. The multifaceted platformer captured the hearts of players across all ages with its unique level designs, tricky bosses, and nods to PlayStation classics from across several generations.

Astro Bot may have gone home with the most awards, but all the titles featured were no doubt incredible contributions to gaming across all genres in 2024. Even the GOTY category demonstrated how diverse the year was for gaming, featuring everything from JRPGs to deckbuilders to sports. Though last year's Game Awards featured a hefty number of exciting announcements, the New York Game Awards highlighted some lesser-celebrated areas of the industry, like hidden gem indies, the NYVGCC's work in education, gaming-adjacent creative projects, contributions to journalism, and the organization's future charity plans for the year.

In the interest of full disclosure and transparency, Screen Rant confirms it is on the judging at The New York Game Awards 2025. Our editorial process is entirely separate from our contributions to judging, and as such, our inclusion does not compromise our journalistic integrity.