Dispatch is a hit that snuck up on us towards the end of the year. The debut title from AdHoc Studio proved that there is still a taste for episodic games out there, finding plenty of players and a huge desire for a second season.
However, this is yet to translate into award show success. It’s up for just one major category at The Game Awards: Best Debut Indie Game. I would say it has a good shot of taking it home, but Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was semi-controversially put into this category too – and that is nominated for Game of the Year, whereas Dispatch is not. Seems pretty clear-cut to me.

Clair Obscur Had Twice As Many Votes As The Next Best Game In Golden Joysticks’ Game Of The Year Race
Nothing’s stopping the Clair Obscur GOTY train.
So, with that in mind, Dispatch fans turned to the Players’ Voice award to remedy this. Players’ Voice is 100 percent fan-voted, with no involvement from the jury, so we almost always see the winner of this prize being different from the overall GOTY winner. After a lot of campaigning, Dispatch has made it into the Players’ Choice final five, giving it a shot at bagging at least one award.
Players’ Choice 2025 Finalists Revealed Ahead Of The Game Awards
Making it to the final five over many other big hits – like Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 and Arc Raiders – is a huge accomplishment in its own right, but many fans are eager to see it take home the big prize. However, to pull that off, it has to fend off Silksong – a game that had years of hype in the lead up to its release – and of course, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which is winning everything right now.
Then, there’s Genshin Impact. This controversially won in 2022, after a bitter war broke out between Genshin fans and the Sonic community, who were pushing for Sonic Frontiers to win.
If Clair Obscur or Silksong win here and in the main Game of the Year category, then they would be just the second game to do so. The previous game to pull off this feat is, to no surprise, Baldur’s Gate 3, which was on a similar winning streak to Clair Obscur back in 2023.
The Game Awards will take place this Thursday.