Graphics, music, sound, writing… All of these elements enhance a videogame, but every now and then, a developer manages to deliver in one of these areas in a way that shines through and not only enhances, but elevates the rest of the experience to a whole other level. These awards go to the games that excelled in one of these areas.
Note: You can listen to a podcast where Jenn and I discuss these awards! Check it out here!
- Best Music
- Best Song
- Best Sound Design
- Best Voice Acting
- Best Graphical Style
- Best Graphics
- Best Story
- Best New Character
- Additional Commentary!
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Best Music
Hollow Knight: Silksong, by Christopher Larkin – Silksong’s quiet, somber soundtrack with harp, piano, and violin, and its powerful, stirring choral melodies for major battles makes everything about this game seem so epic. It makes it easy to forget it’s a game about cartoony anthropomorphic bugs, and make it truly feel like something far more. I don’t think any other game was as well-served by its soundtrack in 2025 as Hollow Knight: Silksong.
Runners-Up:
Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land, by Akiyuki Tateyama, Kujira Yumemi, Kazuki Yanagawa, Shin-ichiro Nakamura, Kazuki Sakai, SHIKI, Shachi Tsumugi, and Keiichi Oosawa
Mario Kart World, by Atsuko Asahi, Maasa Miyoshi, Takuhiro Honda, and Yutaro Takakuwa
Donkey Kong Bananza, by Naoto Kubo, Daisuke Matsuoka, Reika Nakai, Yuri Goto, and Tsukasa Usui
Symphonia, by Olivier Esman, Alexandre Bucas-Français, and Lou Corroyer
Momodora: Moonlit Farewell, by nk
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Best Song
Fury Green, by Kenji Yamamoto and Minako Hamano, from Metroid Prime 4: Beyond – For a brief moment, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond was perfect. You exit the tutorial area, step onto a strange new world, and are overcome with awe and beauty, accentuated by this theme that not only captures the feeling of this moment, but does so with subtle nods to the soundscape of earlier Metroid Prime games. Sadly, this moment does not last, and soon the game would go on to disappoint by abandoning the amazing atmosphere of this moment. But at least for this moment, the Fury Green theme brough this game to perfection.
Runners-Up:
Zebra Bananza, by Naoto Kubo, feat. Jenny Kidd, from Donkey Kong Bananza
Main Theme, by Atsuko Asahi, Maasa Miyoshi, Takuhiro Honda, and Yutaro Takakuwa, from Mario Kart World
Lagoon Layer, by Naoto Kubo, from Donkey Kong Bananza
Breaking Through (Heart of Gold), by Naoto Kubo, feat. Jenny Kidd, from Donkey Kong Bananza
Yama Crest, by Bjulin and Francisco Cerda, and Martin Schioeler, from Fast Fusion
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Best Sound Design
Hollow Knight: Silksong – The sound design in this game is so insanely good. You have obvious stuff like the way your walk sounds different on different materials, the way distant sounds echo through the halls and caves you walk through, the great crunchy and whooshy combat sounds, but even the way you can hear the air moving in a location seems to tell you something about that place. It all combines to make this game’s world seem like a very real place, even as it’s depicting anthropomorphic bugs in a simple hand-drawn art style.
Runners-Up:
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Best Voice Acting
Amelia Tyler as Hecate in Hades II – Jenn might recognize her best as the narrator from Baldur’s Gate III. Here, she gives an amazing nuanced performance that walks a thin line. As protagonist Melinoe’s strict and mysterious mentor, Hecate could have easily fallen into a standard archetype as a caring, supportive mentor… or as a scheming, untrustworthy figure. Tyler manages to give a performance that leaves both of these as a possibility, making the player guess as to whether or not she deserves the unwavering trust Melinoe places in her, and what her true story really is.
Runners-Up:
Judy Alice Lee as Melinoe in Hades II
Lewis Pullman as Isaac in Goodnight Universe
Colin Farrell as The Narrator in Gloomy Eyes
Sally Beaumont as Fia Quinn in Old Skies
Jenny Kidd as Pauline in Donkey Kong Bananza
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Best Graphical Style
Hollow Knight: Silksong – Like the original Hollow Knight, Silksong has fairly simple-looking cartoony characters, but they are gorgeously-animated, and the world they move through is impeccably detailed with lots of little environmental interactions, and an overall incredible design that makes this dark place exude a quiet, sad, dangerous beauty. Silksong was absolutely a feast for the eyes, surpassing even its predecessor.
Runners-Up:
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Best Graphics
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond – If it was possible, Metroid Prime 4 would win this award twice this year – once for Nintendo Switch, and again for Nintendo Switch 2. That’s because it is the best-looking game on both platforms this year, with silky-smooth performance, detailed environments, and great atmospheric touches throughout. Metroid Prime 4 continues the series tradition of being a graphical showpiece for its respective platforms, and it’s incredible that it does that on the Nintendo Switch 2 despite being created with the original Nintendo Switch in mind. Whichever version you get, be prepared for an absolute feast for the eyes.
Runners-Up:
Guilty Gear -Strive- Nintendo Switch Edition
Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition
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Best Story
Goodnight Universe – I don’t often play games much after reviewing them, nor do I usually play games until completion, but I did both with Goodnight Universe because I absolutely needed to see how this story ended. The great plot premise of a super-intelligent baby trying to understand how he’s smart and what his role in his family is, and the interesting twists and turns the game’s plot take, make for a surprisingly compelling story, and one that is bolstered by excellent characters. There were multiple stories I loved this year, but Goodnight universe was the one that gripped me and refused to let go until the very last line of dialogue.
Runners-Up:
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Best New Character
Isaac, from Goodnight Universe – One of the reasons Goodnight Universe is so compelling is because of its protagonist. It would be easy to make a “talking” baby a silly or comedic character, but while Goodnight Universe certainly has its comedic moments, Isaac’s complex thoughts about who and what he is are contemplative and emotional in surprising ways, and help to make this story something far more than it appears on its surface.
Runners-Up:
Fia Quinn, from Old Skies
Vivi, from Videoverse
Barb, from Be Brave, Barb
Lieutenant Commander Cassandra Quinn, from Stories From Sol: The Gun-Dog
Sofia, from and Roger
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Additional Commentary!
Just going to comment on the categories I feel like I have more to add.
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Best Music
Best Music and Best Song are consistently one of the hardest categories for me to decide on, though this year Best Music at least was a bit easier, because for me, these six soundtracks seemed to rise above the rest. Still, there were definitely others I considered. Namely, Dear Me, I Was, 3D Don’t Die Mr. Robot, Pilo and the Holobook, Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist, Robobeat, Tempopo, Fast Fusion, and Battle Suit Aces.
I should note that there were really only two soundtracks that I felt were truly in contention for the win, though, with Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land just barely missing out on getting the top slot. And I’ll take this moment to point out that while I don’t think the Atelier franchise has won an award for its music yet in the eShopperReviews Game Awards, it is frequently hovering close to the top. This series has consistently great music, and I think it’s only a matter of time before it finally does win one of these.
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Best Song
I did not want to limit this to just one winner and five runners-up. So many more songs deserve recognition. However, first let’s talk about the runners-up.
Zebra Bananza is so delightfully energetic, and it really sounds nothing like anything we’ve seen in prior DK games, and really helps capture Pauline’s charm too.
Mario Kart World’s Main Theme earns its spot by being unique and memorable – there’s absolutely no mistaking that harmonica for anything else in videogames this year.
Lagoon Layer is an outstanding Level 1 theme, one that does a superb job of easing players into Donkey Kong Bananza’s first post-tutorial level.
Breaking Through (Heart of Gold), likewise, is a really great song that truly sets this game apart from all the DK games that came before.
And Yama Crest was a really memorable and catchy theme with fast-paced pan flute joining techno beats in a way I wouldn’t ever picture in a futuristic Racing game, but that works so well in this level of Fast Fusion.
Okay, but what about the stuff that didn’t make the cut? Well, there were three more that I really wanted to include, but had to ultimately cut – USS Zephyr from Battle Suit Aces, Title Theme from Dunkadillo, and Mossplume Marsh from… Donkey Kong Bananza again (yeah, when Bananza’s songs hit, they hit hard).
Other strong contenders included How Do Ya Do – Action from Tempopo, Sacred Hollow from Momodora: Moonlit Farewell, Noblesse from Momodora: Moonlit Farewell, Disco Fever from Robobeat, Rainbow Road from Mario Kart World, Song of the Sirens from Hades II, Liberators from Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion, Burning Memory from Battle Suit Aces. And Don’t Forget from Deltarune would have likely made one of the top spots if it wasn’t disqualified due to age.
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Best Voice Acting
Some years I prefer to give this award to games, and some years I give it for individual performances. In 2025, I really wanted to highlight performances. So let’s talk about runners-up:
Judy Alice Lee as Melinoe in Hades II was a great performance that really helps to carry the game and give everything a very different tone than what you had with the first game’s Zagreus.
Lewis Pullman as Isaac in Goodnight Universe really helped to drive the narrative and give emotional weight to things.
Colin Farrell as The Narrator in Gloomy Eyes similarly gives the game a weight it wouldn’t have had otherwise, but also a soft kindness that helps to humanize its characters.
Sally Beaumont as Fia Quinn in Old Skies is just an all-around excellent performance.
And finally Jenny Kidd as Pauline in Donkey Kong Bananza takes what could have been an annoying tag-along sidekick character that might have absolutely ruined the game and instead turned it into someone sweet and endearing who you really want to cheer for.
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Best Graphical Style
This was another tough one to decide, with a lot of contenders. In addition to the final six, there were fifteen other games I considered for this one, and I really hated cutting three of them: Videoverse, Tempopo, and Battle Suit Aces.
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Best Graphics
Both Guilty Gear -Strive- Nintendo Switch Edition and Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition are too old to qualify for most awards, but their inclusion here as runners-up is specifically for how well these games perform on their respective platforms, with each being extremely impressive given the limitations of the hardware they’re on. Of course, the Nintendo Switch 2 is still new and we still don’t have the best idea of what its limitations are, but we can at least get a vague idea by looking at other games on the platform. The remaining three are all examples of just how impressive the Nintendo Switch 2 can be at its best.
Other games for consideration in this category included Wild Hearts S, Mario Kart World, and Star Wars Outlaws Gold Edition.
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That’s all for today! to keep up with all of the eShopperReviews 2025 Game Awards, be sure to check back at the Awards’ Start Page, which I’ll be updating throughout the week!
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