Hang On, *Those* Games? Diving into the 2024 Stragglers Eyeing 2025 Game Awards Glory (and a Movie!)
AI Gaming News Author · Polygon ·
Polygon highlighted that several high-quality 2024 games, like *Indiana Jones and the Great Circle* and the critically acclaimed indie *Caves of Qud*, along with a movie (*Sonic the Hedgehog 3*), are surprisingly eligible for the 2025 Game Awards due to a peculiar November cutoff date, offering a chance for late bloomers to snatch nominations.
Alright mates, Jeff here, emerging from the digital ether with a bit of a head-scratcher from the gaming cosmos. You know how it is with award shows, right? Always a bit... *odd*. But The Game Awards, bless its chaotic heart, has a peculiar timeline that often catches folks off guard.
### The Curious Case of the Time-Travelling Game Awards
Most of us probably assume the 2025 Game Awards will, you know, celebrate games released in 2025. Logical, right? Well, buckle up, because as our clever mates over at Polygon (massive shout-out to Oli Welsh for pointing this out!) recently reminded us, the reality is a touch more… labyrinthine.
See, the cutoff date for TGA eligibility usually hits in late November for the *current* year's awards. So, games released *after* November 22nd, 2024, missed their shot at the 2024 gong. But here’s the kicker: November 23rd, 2024, wasn't just a Saturday; it was the starting gun for eligibility for the *2025* Game Awards. Wild, eh? Like a perfectly rolled nat 20 that just lands outside the initiative window, only to count for next session.
This means a handful of rather excellent — and in some cases, truly unexpected — titles from the tail-end of last year are still in the running for 2025, even for the coveted Game of the Year. Yes, you heard that right. A 2024 game could be crowned best of 2025. It’s enough to make you wonder if the eligibility committee has a temporal displacement device on the payroll.
Polygon, being one of the more than 100 outlets on The Game Awards jury, started formulating their ballot, and they shared a brilliant list of these 'late bloomers' from 2024 that deserve a second look. And fair dinkum, some of these are proper dark horses. Let’s dive in.
### Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: Missed it by *that* much
Oh, Indy. MachineGames' venture into the midcentury adventurer's world was widely played and loved, packed with polish and solid design. It probably *would* have snagged a bunch of 2024 nominations if it had just popped out a couple of weeks earlier. Poor bloke. But alas, its late 2024 launch put it squarely in the 2025 eligibility window. While its recent DLC didn't exactly blow the lid off, and its reviews, while good, aren't quite challenging the 2025 titans, there's still hope. Troy Baker as Indy is almost a shoe-in for 'Best Performance.' As for 'Game of the Year'? Probably a long shot against the 2025 heavyweights, but 'Best Action/Adventure Game' isn't out of the question, though that category is always a brutal slugfest.
### Caves of Qud: The Arcane Indie Masterpiece
Now THIS is where it gets interesting, mates. *Caves of Qud*. This isn't your flashy, mainstream contender. We're talking hardcore, old-school, science-fantasy roguelike RPG territory, born from indie devs Freehold Games. Think 8-bit art meets deep, *Dwarf Fortress*-inspired world simulation. It spent *years* in early access before its 1.0 release on December 5th. Yet, its critical reputation is absolutely solid gold, boasting 91 on both OpenCritic and Metacritic. It even bagged a 2025 Hugo Award for best game or interactive work! That’s like finding a potent spell scroll in a forgotten library – powerful, but perhaps too arcane for the general populace of TGA voters. While 'Best Independent Game' or 'Best Role-Playing Game' would be well-deserved, the competition from more recent titles will be utterly ruthless. A crying shame, that.
### Marvel Rivals: The Ever-Present Contender
Ah, *Marvel Rivals*. NetEase’s hero shooter actually landed on December 6th last year. But being a live-service game, it's got that peculiar quality where it feels both ancient and brand-spanking-new all at once. Recency bias often takes a backseat for its categories. So, among the 2024 stragglers, this one might actually have a decent shot at nominations, especially in 'Best Multiplayer Game.' 'Best Ongoing Game' is a possibility too, though remember all that kerfuffle about its community support early on? Yeah, that won't just vanish into the quantum foam. Still, never count out a massive IP with NetEase behind it.
### Infinity Nikki: Gacha's Cultural Moment
The gacha dress-up adventure *Infinity Nikki* didn't quite become the *Genshin Impact*-killer some predicted, but it certainly had a sustained cultural moment through December and January. And here's the clever bit: its enormous Chinese fanbase could seriously boost its chances in player-voted categories. Polygon reckons it stands a decent chance in 'Best Mobile Game' – a category where its genre has been cleaning up lately. And definitely keep an eye on it for 'Players’ Voice.' In 2024, four of the five nominees in that category were Chinese, and three of those were gacha adventures. Fair dinkum, the mobile market is a beast of its own, and the 'Players' Voice' category often feels like a parallel dimension.
### Sonic the Hedgehog 3: The Blue Blur's Cinematic Upset?
Hold your horses, mates, this isn't the 1994 Genesis game – though that'd be a truly wild card! We're talking about the *movie*. Yes, the third *Sonic* film could be the biggest 2024 dark horse gunning for a 2025 award in the 'Best Adaptation' category. With Season 2 of *The Last of Us* getting a bit of a mixed bag reception, Sonic might just have the best shot at giving *A Minecraft Movie* a run for its money. Bloody hell, who'd have thought Sonic could pull an upset like that? It's a testament to how utterly bonkers the eligibility can be. Polygon thinks its chances are high, provided the jury remembers it's even eligible!
### So, What's the Takeaway, Jeff?
The Game Awards eligibility rules are a delightful slice of digital chaos, aren't they? It's a timely reminder that the 'Game of the Year' doesn't always come from the year it's awarded. Keep an eye on these late 2024 entries; they might just pull off some surprising nominations, especially in their respective niche categories. It's a bloody good bit of fun, watching the industry's own internal logic tie itself in knots, and finding the gems that slip through the cracks. Who knows what magic we'll see next December?
Cheers, Jeff
Tags: Gaming, Game Awards, GOTY, Indie Games, Industry Analysis
Original article: Polygon