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You could subscribe to holiday gift-giving. Or you can move different like Goth Shakira

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You could subscribe to holiday gift-giving. Or you can move different like Goth Shakira

Goth Shakira wearing Acne Studios dress and gloves, Kachorovska shoes and Jéblanc earrings.

(Jennelle Fong and Yasara Gunawardena / For The Times)

One might follow Goth Shakira for their “whimsigoth crypto nun” looks posted from the bathrooms of Tom Bradley, for their poetic takes on digital existence, for their deep cuts of darkwave en Español and uncanny images of art, or for being an OG long-form confessional meme queen (a contribution that has garnered academic study). The digital director is known for a specific kind of output that feels uniquely Goth Shakira: one that combines an esoteric gaze with an artistic one — a sharp observation of the world around us and worlds beyond us. An Aquarius whose ultimate gifts of space and freedom can’t be bought, Goth Shakira takes her own path. The rest of us just want to follow along.

Name, occupation, neighborhood: Dre, a.k.a. Goth Shakira, digital director, Koreatown.

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Ascetic, observant and karmic are three words that describe my essence.

My mantra for the end of the year is “I am.”

The gift I would buy myself that coincides with my astrological sign: The ultimate Aquarian gifts of freedom and space can’t be bought — just given or taken.

An L.A. artist whose work I want in every room of my home: My decor is very simple and minimal because I like my home to feel like a hermitage. I don’t really like having things on my walls, but I appreciate sculptures and found objects, or works made with earthen elements. A silver breastplate or lacquered body cast by multidisciplinary artist Holly Silius would be a dream, as would a work by Lizette Hernández in dissolved salts and stoneware.

The designer/brand I rocked the most this year: I’m almost always wearing a piece by Latina-owned and L.A.-based brand Gil Rodriguez. Their Trinity zippered catsuit is one of my most favorite pieces I’ve ever had — I have worn it on a 16-hour flight with slippers and to a party paired with vintage Prada stiletto boots. They’re elevated basics that I know I will own for a long time; they feel like the new vintage. The pieces are also very compatible with an L.A. lifestyle because I can wear a Gil outfit as a pool coverup or to the park, and it’s so elegant and well made that I don’t have to drive all the way home to change if I decide to go to a gallery opening or drinks afterwards.

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“The ultimate Aquarian gifts of freedom and space can’t be bought — just given or taken,” says Goth Shakira.

(Jennelle Fong and Yasara Gunawardena / For The Times)

Goth Shakira wears Heaven by Marc Jacobs top, Shushu/Tong skirt, Vegan Tiger trench coat, MyUS scarf, Heaven by Marc Jacobs boots, Frou York necklace, Serpenti earrings, Jéblanc and Lilou Paris rings.

(Jennelle Fong and Yasara Gunawardena / For The Times)

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The clothing item in my closet I consider high art: A vintage Comme des Garçons black wool skirt that I thrifted in Kyoto earlier this year. It has an incredible structure that allows it to transform into an off-the-shoulder dress and culottes. I travel for work and only take a carry-on, and I end up packing this piece a lot because of its versatility and masterful design. I hope to enjoy it for many years to come.

Breathwork, daily meditation, kundalini yoga, morning pages and at least seven to 10 white candles from the botánica burning in my apartment at any given time is the spiritual practice that’s grounding me lately.

The thing that has been sitting in my online shopping cart for months: This silver Ann Demeulemeester “Charliese” fingernail ring that sits above your top knuckle and looks like a wabi-sabi acrylic.

What I’m getting the people I love this season: My Aquarius placements don’t subscribe to the capitalist gifting obligations of mass holidays — because my Capricorn placements are always giving my loved ones little presents year-round. My favorite things to give are candles, books, love notes, natal chart readings, money, dinners, work opportunities, time, loyalty, space, active listening, my healing abilities and surf trips.

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The one thing I wish the people I love would band together and buy me this season: OK, so I don’t subscribe to holiday gift-giving, but I might accept two things and two things only: a Moog Etherwave theremin, and the August 1995 issue of Playgirl with the Peter Steele editorial. It’s a goth girl/gay grail.

The zine/book/item on my coffee table I want people to see: “California Surfing and Climbing in the Fifties” and “AfroSurf.” The former is a rare find that I scored on eBay, and an important piece of history photography-wise, but it features all white people — despite the presence of Californian surfers of color, like the Black Mexican waterman Nick Gabaldón, who were going to great lengths to surf in Malibu during the time of beach segregation. To counter the predominantly white canon of surf documentation, “AfroSurf” is a gorgeously designed and historically rich celebration of surfing culture in Africa, including everything from photos to essays to poems to playlists to ephemera. It’s a book every creative should own.

Goth Shakira wearing Jéblanc and Lilou Paris rings.

(Jennelle Fong and Yasara Gunawardena / For The Times)

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I will never stop rocking my beloved vintage black leather trench coat with fur trim that I thrifted in pristine condition in Montreal about 10 years ago.

The cause or organization I’m supporting right now: Red Comunitaria Trans is an advocacy group for Colombian trans communities. Red Condor Collective is a Colombian diaspora initiative that secures material support for activists in Colombia, including those protesting the genocide in Gaza.

The sounds fueling my creative right now are Deftones B-sides, pretty much anything shoegaze/distorted/DIY coming out of Arizona or Texas right now (Glixen, Bedlocked, Teethe), Cocteau Twins live at Ministry of Sound in 1996, demo cuts from the Smashing Pumpkins studio sessions for “Gish” and “Pisces Iscariot,” Natalia Mantini’s “casted in caves: black moon lilith” mix for Dublab, Dungeons & Dragons ambience videos that I project on my wall, the same 20-minute Tibetan bowl sound file looped for eight hours, field recordings of waves receding over rocks at the tide pools, the sound of the little solar-powered garden fountain outside my window <3.

I’m manifesting a project in 2024 with: There’s so much amazing shoegaze/goth/darkwave/ambient/experimental music coming from Latine artists in L.A. right now — Closed Tear, Beli and Wisteria, for example. I love to see independent L.A. designers have more of a presence as well, like Latina-owned brand Siempre, a.k.a. World of Siempre. Venice local-run and -owned surf archival project and streetwear brand corelords is one of my favorite visual inspirations lately. On the wellness and skincare front, I’m really into what Latine-owned Noto Botanics does — their scrub is one of my favorites. I’ve had my eye on skinwear brand Humanoid, and they’re one of the most exciting beauty initiatives coming out of L.A. right now.

The meal I’m cooking on rotation right now: I’m on a lifelong mission to create anything that even closely resembles my abuela’s ajiaco, but I must confess that I’m a total disappointment to my ancestors in the domesticity department. At least I have the caldo from the neighborhood spot to warm my heart in the meantime.

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This is the highly specific thing inspiring my style most lately: Black trans women and nonbinary people, and senior citizens. Always.

The color I’m dreaming in/obsessed with: It’s always the shade of the lipstick I’ve been wearing for about half my life at this point: Diva by MAC, a deep, cool-toned burgundy that’s almost black. It’s also the same shade that Courtney Love wore in the ‘90s. It’s so melancholic, elegant, vampiric and earthy all at the same time.

The 2023 drop I missed that still haunts me: The Stüssy x Our Legacy “Surfman” jacket that dropped earlier this year. I had it in my cart but didn’t pull the trigger in an effort to exercise restraint, because I already have a pretty robust Stüssy collection. But I think about that jacket all the time, and now it’s on resale sites for three times the retail price (and, of course, never in my size).

All of 2024 I’ll be smelling like: Byredo’s De Los Santos eau de parfum, with a bit of Hwyll by Aesop layered on top — and, inevitably, a hint of the hinoki incense and palo santo that I’m always burning in my home.

Goth Shakira’s mantra for the end of the year is “I am.”

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(Jennelle Fong and Yasara Gunawardena / For The Times)

Makeup: Carla Perez
Hair: Belen Gomez
Styling Assistants: Stacey Barton, Karina Boylan, Annunziata Santelli

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It’s Christmastime —– and if you live in the Alps, watch out! Krampus is coming

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It’s Christmastime —– and if you live in the Alps, watch out! Krampus is coming

Krampuses take part in the annual Krampuslauf or “Krampus Run” on the evening of the Feast of St. Nicholas in the Austrian city of Salzburg. The tradition is centuries-old in the eastern parts of the European Alps.

Rob Schmitz/NPR


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Rob Schmitz/NPR

SALZBURG, Austria — As you approach Salzburg’s Max Aicher Stadium on the eve of the feast of St. Nicholas, you’d be forgiven if you thought that, from a distance, there appeared to be a Chewbacca convention underway. As you got closer, though, you’d realize the few hundred mostly men dressed in furry brown costumes were not from a galaxy, far, far away, but had instead assembled for a far more traditional, Earth-bound reason: to play, en masse, the alpine character of Krampus, the monstrous horned devilish figure who, according to custom in this part of Europe, accompanies St. Nicholas as he visits children and assesses their behavior from the past year. While St. Nick rewards the good boys and girls, his hairy, demonic sidekick punishes the bad children.

“It’s basically a good cop, bad cop arrangement,” says Alexander Hueter, self-proclaimed Überkrampus of Salzburg’s annual Krampus Run, an event when hundreds of Krampuses are let loose throughout the old town of Salzburg, where they terrorize children, adults, and anyone within the range of a swat from their birch branch switches they carry.

Members of Krampus clubs throughout Austria and the German state of Bavaria gather at a local soccer stadium to change into their Krampus costumes.

Members of Krampus clubs throughout Austria and the German state of Bavaria gather at a local soccer stadium to change into their Krampus costumes.

Rob Schmitz/NPR

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When asked to explain why people in this part of Europe take part in this centuries-old tradition, Hueter skips the centuries of Roman, Pagan and early Christian history that, together, morphed into the legend of the Krampus figure and instead cuts straight to the chase: entertainment.

“If St. Nicholas comes to town on his own, it’s nice,” says Hueter with a polite smile, “but there’s no excitement. No tension. I mean, St. Nick is all well and good, but at the end of the day, people want to see something darker. They want to see Krampus.”

And if it’s Krampus they want, it’s Krampus they’ll get, says Roy Huber, who’s come across the border from the German state of Bavaria to take part in this year’s Krampus Run. “The rest of the year, I feel like a civilian,” Huber says with a serious face, “but when the winter comes, you have the feeling under your skin. You are ready to act like a Krampus.”

Huber stands dressed in a coffee-colored yak and goat hair costume holding his mask which has a scar along the left side of its face, two horns sticking out of the scalp, and a beautifully waxed mustache that makes his monstrous avatar look like a Krampus-like version of the 1970s Major League Baseball closer Rollie Fingers.

Roy Huber, from Bavaria, holds his Krampus mask prior to the Krampus Run. “When the winter comes, you get the feeling to be Krampus,” he says.

Roy Huber, from Bavaria, holds his Krampus mask prior to the Krampus Run. “When the winter comes, you get the feeling to be Krampus,” he says.

Rob Schmitz/NPR

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Behind Huber stands a Krampus with a red face and several horns that make up a mohawk. Benny Sieger is the man behind this punk version of a Krampus, and he says children are especially scared of his get-up.

“Very scared,” he says, “but if I act like a sensitive Krampus, it can go well. In fact, our hometown Krampus club hosts an event called ‘Cuddle a Krampus’ to ensure that we are not so scary.”    
       
Sieger, though, says he shows no mercy for young adults, especially young men, who he says “are basically asking to be hit” if they come to a Krampus run. He shows off a long switch made up of birch tree branches that smarts like a bee sting when hit with it.

Normally Nicklaus Bliemslieder would be one of those young adults asking for it at the Krampus run — he’s 19 years old — but his mother boasts of how her son gamed the system by playing a Krampus for 14 years straight since he was 5 years old.

“I was never scared of being a Krampus,” he says, “but I was scared of the Krampus. The first time I put the mask on, I wasn’t scared anymore.”

Blieslieder, Siger, Huber and dozens of other Krampuses pile onto a row of city buses that will take them to Salzburg’s old town, singing soccer songs on the way to rile themselves up. In the town center, they put their masks on, the bus doors swing open, and dozens of Krampuses empty into the streets of downtown Salzburg, lunging at shoppers, swatting them with switches, their cowbells a-clanging. At the front of the procession dressed in a white and gold robe is St. Nicholas, holding a staff, handing out candy with a serene smile, and blissfully oblivious of the cacophony of blood-curdling chaos behind him.

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After a city bus drops off more than 200 Krampuses at the entrance to the old town of Salzburg, the Krampuses start to put their masks on and get into character.

After a city bus drops off more than 200 Krampuses at the entrance to the old town of Salzburg, the Krampuses start to put their masks on and get into character.

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Salzburg resident Rene Watziker watches the Krampuses go by, his 4 1/2 year-old son Valentin perched on his shoulders, his head buried into the back of his father’s neck, and his oversized mittens covering his eyes in terror. As Valentin shakes in fear, his father tries to coax him out of it — unsuccessfully.

“He’s too scared of the Krampuses,” says Watziker, laughing. “This is great, though, because this is my childhood memory, too. I want him to have the same good memories of his childhood. He’s going to look at the video I’m shooting and then he’ll be very proud he came.”

Salzburg resident Rene Watziker watches the Krampuses go by, but his four-and-a-half year-old son Valentin perched is too scared to look at them.

Salzburg resident Rene Watziker watches the Krampuses go by, but his four-and-a-half year-old son Valentin perched is too scared to look at them.

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Further down the pedestrian street, Krampuses hit onlookers with handfuls of branches and smear tar on people’s faces. Onlooker Sabeine Gruber, here with her 13-year-old daughter, manages to crack a smile at the spectacle, but she says the Krampus Run has gotten tamer with time. She points to the stickers on the backs of these Krampuses exhibiting numbers in case you want to complain that a particular Krampus hit you too hard.

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“When I was a child,” says Gruber, “this was far worse. You were beaten so hard that you woke up the next day with blue welts on your legs. These days the Krampus run is more like a petting zoo.”

Esme Nicholson contributed reporting.

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‘Selling the OC’ Star Tyler Stanaland Passes on Planned Podcast With Alex Hall

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‘Selling the OC’ Star Tyler Stanaland Passes on Planned Podcast With Alex Hall

‘Selling the OC’ Tyler Stanaland
Backs Out of Alex Hall’s Podcast …
Out of Respect for New Relationship

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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 sweeps The Game Awards — analysis and full winners list

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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 sweeps The Game Awards — analysis and full winners list

Performers onstage at The Game Awards 2025 at the Peacock Theater on December 11, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.

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The first minutes of The Game Awards set the mold for the next three hours. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 won best independent game during the preshow, beating out acclaimed sequels like Hades 2 and Hollow Knight: Silksong. Moments after, the main stage opened with operatic singers and a full orchestra (plus the obligatory electric guitar!) belting out music from the game.

Clair Obscur was already the favorite to win the grand prize — but kicking off the show with the game front-and-center felt like an anointing. It triumphed in nearly every category it competed in, picking up nine awards in total. By the time it won “Game of the Year,” Clair Obscur had surpassed The Last of Us: Part 2 to become the most decorated game in the Awards history.

As predictable as the night became, the game it honored was anything but. Clair Obscur came from an independent French studio composed of developers who had worked for the French gaming behemoth Ubisoft. Instead of chasing trendy genres like battle royales or open-world action games, Clair Obscur drew inspiration from turn-based role-playing games like the classic Final Fantasy titles. It paired an intimate and existential story with a setting that was both whimsical and epic. And it cast motion-capture icon Andy Serkis alongside game actor veterans like Ben Starr and Jennifer English, who delivered the night’s most rousing speech when she accepted the award for best performance.

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“I just want to say to every neurodivergent person watching in this room, because I know there’s probably quite a lot of you,” English said. “To all of you that feel like life is stuck on hard mode, this is for you, and thank you so much to the games community and industry for giving us, so many of us, a home.”

Jennifer English, also known for her leading role in 2023 Game of the Year winner Baldur's Gate 3, accepts her best performance award onstage at the Peacock Theater on December 11, 2025.

Jennifer English, also known for her leading role in 2023 Game of the Year winner Baldur’s Gate 3, accepts her best performance award onstage at the Peacock Theater on December 11, 2025.

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Clair Obscur’s victories fit with two themes of the night: the rise of independent studios and the internationalization of the awards themselves. Half of the “Game of the Year” nominees were indie games, even as the term has stretched to include titles with sizable budgets and publisher partnerships.

This semantic squishiness is a result of The Game Awards’ outsourced voting process, which polls over 150 international media outlets (including NPR) to determine a list of nominees. These outlets decide for themselves how to define categories like an “independent game” or “action adventure game.” After the shortlist is tallied, they’ll pick their favorites in each category, which are weighted against an open online voting system that makes up a 10th of the total score. As the jury has expanded outside of the U.S., which now only represents roughly 15% of outlets, award winners have become both more global and more mainstream.

Still, Clair Obscur’s ubiquity speaks volumes. Even as it swept other deserving indies aside, the game demonstrates the outsized impact a small team can have on the broader market. No longer seen as just a niche, prestige title, Clair Obscur rose to prominence thanks to strong word-of-mouth and its inclusion on the Xbox Game Pass Service, which allowed regular gamers and critics alike to try the game out without committing to a full purchase.

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Guillaume Broche, Tom Guillermin, Nicholas Maxon-Framcombe, and François Meurisse accept the Game of the Year award for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

Guillaume Broche, Tom Guillermin, Nicholas Maxon-Framcombe, and François Meurisse accept the Game of the Year award for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

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Big companies still took home prizes, however. After being completely shut out last year, Nintendo earned a few awards for Switch 2 exclusives, with Donkey Kong Bananza winning best family and Mario Kart World winning best sports/racing. Grand Theft Auto 6 won most anticipated game for the second year in a row. Wuthering Waves, a Chinese game with a huge mobile audience, won the Players’ Voice award, the only category completely determined by public online votes.

Here are the full nominees and winners for the 2025 Game Awards (winners in bold):

Game of the year

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive/Kepler Interactive)
Death Stranding 2: On The Beach (Kojima Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Donkey Kong Bananza (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
Hades II (Supergiant Games)
Hollow Knight: Silksong (Team Cherry)
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II (Warhorse Studios/Deep Silver)

Best game direction

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive/Kepler Interactive)
Death Stranding 2: On The Beach (Kojima Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Hades II (Supergiant Games)
Split Fiction (Hazelight Studios/EA)

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Best narrative

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive/Kepler Interactive)
Death Stranding 2: On The Beach (Kojima Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II (Warhorse Studios/Deep Silver)
Silent Hill f (NeoBards Entertainment/KONAMI)

Best art direction

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive/Kepler Interactive)
Death Stranding 2: On The Beach (Kojima Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Hades II (Supergiant Games)
Hollow Knight: Silksong (Team Cherry)

Best score and music, leveled up by Spotify

Christopher Larkin, Hollow Knight: Silksong
Lorien Testard, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Darren Korb, Hades II
Toma Otowa, Ghost of Yōtei
Woodkid and Ludvig Forssell, Death Stranding 2: On The Beach

Best audio design

Battlefield 6 (Battlefield Studios/EA)
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive/Kepler Interactive)
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (Kojima Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Silent Hill f (NeoBards Entertainment/KONAMI)

Best performance

Ben Starr, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Charlie Cox, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Erika Ishii, Ghost of Yōtei
Jennifer English, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Konatsu Kato, Silent Hill f
Troy Baker, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

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Innovation in accessibility

Assassin’s Creed Shadows (Ubisoft)
Atomfall (Rebellion)
Doom: The Dark Ages (id Software/Bethesda Softworks)
EA Sports FC 26 (EA Canada/EA Romania/EA)
South of Midnight (Compulsion Games/Xbox Game Studios)

Games for impact

Consume Me (Jenny Jiao Hsia/AP Thomson/Hexacutable)
Despelote (Julián Cordero/Sebastián Valbuena/Panic)
Lost Records: Bloom & Rage (Don’t Nod Montreal/Don’t Nod)
South of Midnight (Compulsion Games/Xbox Game Studios)
Wanderstop (Ivy Road/Annapurna Interactive)

Best ongoing 

Final Fantasy XIV (Square Enix)
Fortnite (Epic Games)
Helldivers 2 (Arrowhead Game Studios/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Marvel Rivals (NetEase Games)
No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)

Best community support

Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios)
Final Fantasy XIV (Square Enix)
Fortnite (Epic Games)
Helldivers 2 (Arrowhead Game Studios/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)

Best independent game

Absolum (Guard Crush Games/Supamonks/Dotemu)
Ball x Pit (Kenny Sun/Devolver Digital)
Blue Prince (Dogubomb/Raw Fury)
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive/Kepler Interactive)
Hades II (Supergiant Games)
Hollow Knight: Silksong (Team Cherry)

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Best debut indie game

Blue Prince (Dogubomb/Raw Fury)
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive/Kepler Interactive)
Despelote (Julián Cordero/Sebastián Valbuena/Panic)
Dispatch (AdHoc Studio)
Megabonk (Vedinad)

Best mobile game

Destiny: Rising (NetEase Games)
Persona 5: The Phantom X (Black Wings Game Studio/Sega)
Sonic Rumble (Rovio Entertainment/Sega)
Umamusume: Pretty Derby (Cygames Inc.)
Wuthering Waves (Kuro Games)

Best VR/AR 

Alien: Rogue Incursion (Survios)
Arken Age (VitruviusVR)
Ghost Town (Fireproof Games)
Marvel’s Deadpool VR (Twisted Pixel Games/Oculus Studios)
The Midnight Walk (MoonHood/Fast Travel Games)

Best action 

Battlefield 6 (Battlefield Studios/EA)
Doom: The Dark Ages (id Software/Bethesda Softworks)
Hades II (Supergiant Games)
Ninja Gaiden 4 (Platinum Games/Team Ninja/Xbox Game Studios)
Shinobi: Art of Vengeance (Lizardcube/Sega)

Best action/adventure 

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (Kojima Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (MachineGames/Bethesda Softworks)
Hollow Knight: Silksong (Team Cherry)
Split Fiction (Hazelight Studios/EA)

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Best RPG

Avowed (Obsidian Entertainment/Xbox Game Studios)
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive/Kepler Interactive)
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II (Warhorse Studios/Deep SIlver)
The Outer Worlds 2 (Obsidian Entertainment/Xbox Game Studios)
Monster Hunter Wilds (Capcom)

Best fighting

2XKO (Riot Games)
Capcom Fighting Collection 2 (Capcom)
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves (SNK Corporation)
Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection (Digital Eclipse/Atari)
Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. World Stage (Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio/Sega)

Best family

Donkey Kong Bananza (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
LEGO Party! (SMG Studio/Fictions)
LEGO Voyagers (Light Brick Studios/Annapurna Interactive)
Mario Kart World (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds (Sonic Team/Sega)
Split Fiction (Hazelight Studios/EA)

Best Sim/Strategy

The Alters (11 Bit Studios)
FINAL FANTASY TACTICS – The Ivalice Chronicles (Square Enix)
Jurassic World Evolution 3 (Frontier Developments)
Sid Meier’s Civilization VII (Firaxis Games/2K)
Tempest Rising (Slipgate Ironworks/3D Realms)
Two Point Museum (Two Point Studios/Sega)

Best sports/racing

EA Sports FC 26 (EA Canada/EA Romania/EA)
F1 25 (Codemasters/EA)
Mario Kart World (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
Rematch (Sloclap/Kepler Interactive)
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds (Sonic Team/Sega)

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Best multiplayer

Arc Raiders (Embark Studios)
Battlefield 6 (Electronic Arts)
Elden Ring Nightreign (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco Entertainment)
Peak (Aggro Crab/Landfall)
Split Fiction (Hazelight/EA)

Best adaptation

A Minecraft Movie (Legendary Pictures/Mojang/Warner Bros)
Devil May Cry (Studio Mir/Capcom/Netflix)
The Last of Us: Season 2 (HBO/PlayStation Productions)
Splinter Cell: Deathwatch (FOST Studio/Ubisoft/Netflix)
Until Dawn (Screen Gems/PlayStation Productions)

Most anticipated game

007 First Light (IO Interactive)
Grand Theft Auto VI (Rockstar Games)
Marvel’s Wolverine (Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Resident Evil Requiem (Capcom)
The Witcher IV (CD Projekt Red)

Content creator of the year

Caedrel
Kai Cenat
MoistCr1TiKaL
Sakura Miko
The Burnt Peanut

Best Esports game

Counter-Strike 2 (Valve)
DOTA 2 (Valve)
League of Legends (Riot)
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (Moonton)
Valorant (Riot)

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Best Esports athlete

brawk – Brock Somerhalder (Valorant)
Chovy – Jeong Ji-hoon (League of Legends)
f0rsakeN – Jason Susanto (Valorant)
Kakeru – Kakeru Watanabe (Street Fighter)
MenaRD – Saul Leonardo (Street Fighter)
Zyw0o – Mathieu Herbaut (Counter-Strike 2)

Best Esports team

Gen.G – League of Legends
NRG – Valorant
Team Falcons – DOTA 2
Team Liquid PH – Mobile Legends: Bang Bang
Team Vitality – Counter-Strike 2

Players’ voice

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive/Kepler Interactive)
Dispatch (AdHoc Studio)
Genshin Impact (HoYoverse)
Hollow Knight: Silksong (Team Cherry)
Wuthering Waves (Kuro Games)

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