Real-Time VFX Awards 2025 | Nominate Your Favorite Games!

What Are The Real-Time VFX Awards? 

For our 5th consecutive year, Beyond-FX is proud to put together and present The Real-Time VFX Awards, a passion project for us that is rooted in our desire to celebrate the unbelievably talented artists in this community doing incredible work each year that mostly goes unrecognized by traditional awards shows. The real-time VFX community is a vibrant place full of incredible people with fantastic imaginations, and these awards aim to place a spotlight on the achievements of those high-level performers in this niche area of the video game industry.

Nominees and winners are sourced and voted for by the VFX community. Each well-considered choice pinpoints a specific area of the industry which deserves far more credit for its vast contributions.

Whether you're a creator, a fan, or part of the industry, we encourage you to nominate your favorites across our 8 exciting categories, with a brand-new category added this year to celebrate even more innovation and creativity:

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Best Environment/Ambient VFX

Spotlighting games with immersive environmental effects, like weather systems and dynamic elements that help create believable atmospheric environments that elevate the player’s experience.

Best Realistic VFX

Highlighting VFX that achieve the most lifelike, real world visual effects. They prioritize physical accuracy and high-fidelity detail to mimic reality such as how natural elements like water, fire, and smoke behave and are rendered authentically.

Best Stylized VFX

Recognizing VFX that have an exaggerated design and more of a creative visual style that doesn’t aim for realism, enhancing the game’s overall artistic identity.

Best Character or Combat VFX

Celebrating impactful visual effects relating to the characters in the game, such as energy blasts, elemental powers, magical transformations or weapon hits like sparks or slashes, all of which elevate the intensity and excitement of gameplay.

Best VFX in an Indie Production

Honoring small teams or individual developers who achieve outstanding visual effects despite limited resources or often budget-conscious techniques, yet make a big impact on a player’s experience.

Best VFX in a VR Production (new for 2025!)

Recognizes innovative VFX crafted specifically for virtual reality experiences, enhancing immersion and interaction in 3D spaces.

Most Innovative VFX

These are effects that introduce groundbreaking or experimental visual effects that push the boundaries of what's possible in VFX design and leave players awestruck with what the development team has been able to accomplish. Think dynamic environmental destruction, where entire buildings, or terrain are altered or obliterated in real-time from in-game events or a lightning storm that triggers environmental hazards.

Best Overall Real-Time VFX

Honoring VFX that elevate every aspect of a game, weaving together artistry and technical precision and how they align with the game's aesthetic, narrative or gameplay.

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How to Submit Your Nominees:

Submitting your nominees is quick and easy. Simply respond to our official social post embedded below to submit your choices.

You can nominate any number of games for any number of categories as long as the game has been released in between December 12, 2024 and now!

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Important Dates

Nominee submissions are open until Friday, October 31, 2025 PDT

After the submission window closes, the top nominees will be voted on for one full week.

Winners will be announced during our Official Awards Show, airing on our Beyond-FX YouTube Channel on December 12, 2025.

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Catch Up!

If you'd like to catch up on the previous installments of the Real-Time VFX Awards, feel free to check out our YouTube channel!

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Mark your calendars and get your nominations in before the deadline to ensure your favorite artists and projects get the recognition they deserve!

Stay tuned for more updates, and thank you for being a part of the Real-Time VFX Awards community. Let’s celebrate the magic of visual effects together!

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‍Want to stay in touch with our studio as we craft world-class real-time VFX? Follow Beyond-FX on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, & TikTok!

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