GDC 2025 Session Viewer

Every year, students at leading game design programs conduct a detailed analysis of the narrative elements of a game title of their choice as part of the Game Narrative Review Competition. The resulting papers are submitted to the GDC writing board for review, and the submitters with the most promising entries are then invited to create a digital poster as a visual synopsis of their review.

Successful digital poster submissions are declared winners and exhibited at the GDC. Each winner will be given 5 minutes on stage to discuss their project in front of a live GDC audience.

This year’s winners have explored everything from big-budget blockbusters to smaller, critically acclaimed indie titles—presenting complex and detailed analyses that foreshadow the contributions they will likely make to the field of game narrative over the course of their careers.

We’re proud to announce that this year’s winners are:

Platinum Winners

Qi Ren Soo, DigiPen (PUBG)

Reagan Wang, USC (Citizen Sleeper)

Ben Yu, USC (Tunic)

Gold Winners

Oliver Kim, Drexel (Gris)

Tian Yang, USC (Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy)

Noah Crissey, DigiPen (Pentiment)

Alan Lemerande, SMU (Signalis)

Keana Malolot, University of Silicon Valley C(yberpunk 2077)

Baoze Wang, SMU (Persona 5 Royal)

Andres Valbuena, George Mason (Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines)

Serena Yang, Northeastern (Eliza)

Yanfei Chen, Sheridan (Sanitarium)

Zach Millman, Drexel (Slay the Princess)

Athenadis Roberts, USC (Slay the Princess: The Pristine Cut)

Ariya Acharya, USC (Wandersong)

Kirk Baltzell, SMU (Baldur's Gate 3)

Olivia Presser, Northeastern (Bayonetta)

Abigail Scheidler, DigiPen (Chants of Sennaar)

Cathelina Zhan, USC (Chants of Sennaar)

Blythe Watson, Sheridan (Monument Valley)

Kelsey Pham, University of Silicon Valley (Nine Sols)

Josh Hao, DigiPen (Sky: Children of the Light)

Connor Runyon, DigiPen (Tsukihime - a piece of blue glass moon -)