As the reviews for the widely successful Hollow Knight: Silksong reviews are finally starting to roll in following the game’s massive launch last week. Unfortunately, develoepr Team Cherry elected not to send press advanced review copies to test the game ahead of release, meaning it wasn’t until about a week later that the first reviews were completed and incorporated into review aggregators like Metacritic. There will be more in the very near future, and Silksong‘s score will fluctuate until it finally settles after a couple weeks, but right now, it’s already looking like one of the year’s best games — again, one of.
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With a Metacritic score of 92 on the PS5, it is now nipping at the heels of another game some thought could be a lock for game of the year: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. With the RPG having a score of 93 averaged across 83 critic reviews, ห has plenty of time to outrank it to become the highest-rated game of the year. On PC, it is tied with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, only slightly behind another GOTY contender, Blue Prince. So while Silksong is undoubtedly considered a massive success, it hasn’t yet claimed the title of top-scoring game of the year.
Will Silksong Become Game of the Year?
Given the excellent titles released this year, it’s difficult to predict exactly which games will receive nominations and win in different categories. However, Silksongโs mind-blowing player numbers, combined with the long wait and goodwill toward fans, make it feel like a definitive GOTY frontrunner for 2025. Since Silksong came out later than titles Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Blue Prince, there will also probably be some recency bias that will help it going into The Game Awards in December.ย
Since public voting accounts for only 10% of The Game Awards, the winners’ breakdown largely depends on the specialized voting jury, which includes industry insiders, game journalists, critics, and reviewers.ย Because of the weight critics hold, keeping track of the Metacritic score is one way to tell how new releases are shaping opinions ahead of the show. The fact that Silksong already has a 92 review score with only 11 critic reviews bodes extremely well, and its score will likely continue to rise.
While the Silksong developers, Team Cherry, seem to have a refreshing, no-nonsense approach to typical industry rules, they will no doubt be thrilled if their $20 indie title makes a splash with awards shows. The game has some detractors who point to things like the increased difficulty as flaws in the game, though the developers seem to be willing to address this complaint in an upcoming Silksong update that will make the game slightly easier.
Itโs been truly incredible to watch the fan enthusiasm for Silksong, and I hope that it gets proper recognition on the big stage in December. While Team Cherryโs masterful creation deserves all the praise it gets and more, Iโm hesitant to instantly stamp it with the label of โGame of the Year.โ While it definitely is deserving of the title, it has stiff competition from equally deserving, high-quality titles. On top of Blue Prince and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, 2025 also saw the incredibly fun Split Fiction, the tabletop-inspired RPG sequel Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector.
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