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The Game Awards (2025): A Retro Video Gamer's First Impressions
A brief reaction to watching The Game Awards (2025) for the very first time, thanks to YouTubers who broadcasted the stream live on their channels, from someone still stuck in the eighties and nineties with regard to video games.
Sometimes, stepping out of your comfort zone is necessary. Looking at modern games today makes someone, like myself, feel like I've got stories to tell about the early 1900s; that how I feel when looking at video/PC games of today (me, being an older millennial—or an "old soul," if you will). Changing things up, thanks to YouTubers, big and small whom I follow and am subscribed to, I thought it'd be a treat watching The Game Awards (2025) along with their live streams, seeing what's new in the modern world of video gaming. Talk about a visual upgrade for us, going from 8-bit to, what, 1,024-bit? Anyway, from a "dinosaur's" perspective, let's chime on in with this year's award show.
(For us, award shows are a hit or miss, since the games we tend to like are underrated. We rather look at titles from companies considered "underdogs," as the ones often shown with more gameplays streamed online tend to succeed more. Oh, and yes, this goes with retro video games as well: the big hits tend to sell more and are priced higher, while we seek for ones that are overlooked and/or ignored. In fact, last award show we watched of any kind were the ESPYS in 2011.)
"You know what? I don't think I can wait any longer, so let's just get started right now."
— Sydnee Goodman
Opening host Syndee said this that bares being quoted. According to fans who watched The Game Awards in 2023 and 2024, they said it was dragging and monotonous. For this year, the pace was just right, getting through awards, announcements, video game trailers, and performances much better (perfect timing for us to tune in). Things took off with a trailer for The Free Shepard for Playstation 5—PS5— and Steam. As lovers of dogs, we like this game. Games low-maintenance like these appeals to us, and no one was excited for it; but we are, and will check it out when released in 2027.
First award was already announced and given—Donkey Kong Bananza for "Best Family Game." Interesting because when Syndee mentioned the nominees, Sonic Racing: Crossworlds received more cheers. Were video gamers tired of Mario Kart which paired its debut with the Nintendo Switch 2? Not sure, but last time we played the Donkey Kong series was for the Game Boy: Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Land. To this day, I still haven't beaten Donkey Kong Land; however, we did review Donkey Kong back in 2016. At least Nintendo started their evening with a win, so that's good.
After two trailers, Syndee announced the second award, which was given to DOOM: The Dark Ages for "Innovation in Accessibility." We enjoyed DOOM for Microsoft DOS—still do—and the copy we play(ed) from is a compilation CD filled with various 3D, first-person games; and yes, it's a legal copy. That, along with games like Wolfenstein, are true classics that remain in our hearts forever. After that, the show had a little break, which they occupied with presenting another video game trailer (good move). I think having a "commercial break" so to speak, showing video gaming-related trailers and ads, was a nice touch; it didn't deter the attention away for me.
Next set of awards were for eSports, which we're sadly not familiar with, despite me being a sports fan. Last video gaming competition we watched was Classic Tetris World Championship, and the other in contrast to that was The Microsoft Excel World Championship, both used to air on ESPN. We don't have cable nor streaming services, due to increasing costs, so our only mediums we access are YouTube and the radio (podcasts, too).
An award went to Umamusume: Pretty Derby for "Best Mobile Game." Last mobile game we played was 1942, including some casual, casino games, like video poker and video keno. One of the few mobile games I did complete was Adventures of SpaceCat which I played and recorded here on video. The next award following this went to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 for "Best Independent Game." Honestly, I see that number all the time, and since it's so ubiquitous, especially in both sports and local/world news, would that mean having "33" in your game(s) guarantees a win? I'm not sure, but video gamers expected Clair Obscur to win it all that night anyway. The Last of Us: Season 2 won "Best Adaptation." Then The Game Awards officially started with a musical performance—a soundtrack from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 which was cool. Rest of the show was hosted by Geoff Keighley—founder and creator of The Game Awards. While Hades II won best action game, Miss Piggy makes her debut along with Geoff.
Lenny Kravitz making an appearance was cool, too. His songs are top notch, and it made me listen to them again—his song "Again" is my personal favorite. And him having a role in 007: First Light? Fine with me! It's a shame many of the younger kids don't know Lenny and his music; much like, years ago, the internet mocked those that didn't know who Paul McCartney and Justin Timberlake were. It helps knowing stars from the past because they still show up; plus, their music sounds/sounded less disposable compared to today, so...
One of our favorite moments this year, for me at least, was seeing the entire cast of upcoming film Street Fighter. Last I played Street Fighter was on arcade; though I never got to play Street Fighter Alpha and other editions after. One of my other favorite fighting games? Samurai Shodown for the Super Nintendo and Battle Arena Toshinden for Game Boy.
Some of you are thinking, "Kris, bro, what about that trailer for Marvel Cosmic Invasion?" That game looks very nice, as it reminds me of my high school days at the arcade. Funny, because a few months ago, I would binge-watch video game longplays—still do—on YouTube watching Marvel games, both for the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis (i.e. X-MEN 2: Clone Wars). Those games are too much fun, and they never age. It's a "chef's kiss" from my perspective. Oh, and don't forget about Megaman Dual Override. That was good, as the last Megaman game I played, was the anniversary release for Gamecube and for Microsoft DOS (I never got passed the first stage on the MS-DOS version).
Seeing Final Fantasy Tactics - The Ivalice Chronicles win "Best SIM/Strategy Game" made me happy. Last I played Final Fantasy Tactics, though never finished/completed, was for Game Boy Advance (never played it on the Playstation—PS1). Being a huge fan, Final Fantasy I, Final Fantasy II, Final Fantasy III (Nintendo DS), and Final Fantasy VII plus Final Fantasy VIII were ones I played and enjoyed from start to finish on PS1. Such games have very high replay value, and it's always a treat going back to it at any time, even today.
We could go on, analyze everything that's happened, but this was a show like no other for me. In fact, we know more about video games than movies, though our TV/movies section is slowly changing that; but nevertheless, this is the kind of award show we've been looking for. As mentioned earlier, we like, and prefer, underrated/underappreciated games—games that are priced lower than the rest and almost never get attention. For this award show, which presented upcoming games, video gaming companies, and special guests were fun to see. I don't speak for all fans, let alone those in the retro space, but it was nice seeing how the industry is carrying and how far they've gotten. We'll definitely tune in next year, even if some modern, pixel art games never get nominated; we'll watch for entertainment purposes. Regardless of the backlash(es) that occurred afterward, we don't speak for any of those; as people aren't happy about anyone and/or anything nowadays—not even Life, and not even if it's for free. For us, we loved it having watched this for the very first time, and it delivered! (If anything, one of the modern games I really do love is Five Nights At Freddy's. The book was beautiful as we reviewed it here on KCU Network per The Seeds of Books.)
On behalf of Geoff and the entire Game Awards crew, we say great job! Thank you for the show and presenting it all on YouTube!
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