2025 Hugo Award game finalists incl...

The Hugo Awards began honoring video games for the first time . This week, the organization revealed the list of six finalists . It’s a cornucopia of critically-acclaimed titles from the past year or so.

Let’s go over the nominations. Two AAA titles are up for the award. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom and Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Echoes of Wisdom changes up the franchise formula, casting players as the titular Zelda. The gameplay involves summoning monsters and items to solve puzzles and do battle. .

We especially , calling it “BioWare at its best.” The graphics are fantastic and the gameplay is more action-oriented than previous entries in the franchise. It continues the story of the decade-old Dragon Age Inquisition.

The Hugos are also honoring a spate of smaller titles. Lorelei and the Laser Eyes , and this was . It’s a near-perfect puzzle game that subverts the genre at every turn. We said it was the perfect game “for fans of puzzles, narrative twists and David Lynch.”

Caves of Qud is an incredibly deep and lore-heavy roguelike set in a fantasy realm. It was actually in early access before getting an official release last year. 1000xRESIST is a sci-fi adventure game that was praised primarily . Finally, Tactical Breach Wizards is a turn-based RPG starring, you guessed it, wizards. Some reviews have called it the best strategy game since XCOM 2.

The final winner will be announced at the 83rd World Science Fiction Convention in Seattle on August 16. Previous and Baldur’s Gate 3.