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Music: Outrun Neon Dreams 80s by AudioRells

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Best Episodic Game:

• Blippo+ (Grant’s Winner)
• Deltarune
• Dispatch (Jared’s Winner)
• Lost Records: Bloom & Rage

Game We Took the Most Screenshots Of:

• Blippo+ (Grant’s Winner)
• Blue Prince (Jared’s Winner)
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
• Ghost of Yotei

Biggest Disappointment:

• Games succeeding despite using generative AI slop
• Mario Kart World’s open world
• Everything getting more expensive all of the time
• PlayStation having fewer games
• Netflix buying Warner Bros.
• Ubisoft
• EA getting sold (Grant’s Winner)
• Microsoft (Jared’s Winner)

Biggest Surprise:

• Blue Prince (Jared’s Winner)
• Megabonk
• Nubby’s Number Factory
• The Roottrees are Dead (Grant’s Winner)
• Shinobi: Art of Vengeance

Smooch of the Year:

• Smooching Nora (Lost Records) (Grant’s Winner)
• Smooching Sciel (Clair Obscur)
• Smooching Mandy (Dispatch) (Jared’s Winner)
• Smooching Bobby Pin (Date Everything)
• Smooching Betty (Date Everything)

Best Handheld Game:

• Absolum (Jared’s Winner)
• Blippo+ (Grant’s Winner)
• Dispatch
• Donkey Kong: Bananza
• Final Fantasy Tactics
• Hades II
• Megabonk
• Nubby’s Number Factory

Best Performance:

• Erika Ishii (Ghost of Yotei)
• Laura Post (Date Everything) (Grant’s Winner)
• Jennifer English (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33)
• Kôji Takeda (Donkey Kong: Bananza) (Jared’s Winner)
• Aaron Paul (Dispatch)
• Jeffrey Wright (Dispatch)
• Laura Bailey (Dispatch)

Best Decompression Game:

• Blippo+ (Grant’s Winner)
• Lumines Arise
• Megabonk
• PowerWash Simulator 2
• Sword of the Sea
• Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 (Jared’s Winner)

Best 7/10 Game:

• Atomfall
• Cronos
• First Berserker: Khazan (Jared’s Winner)
• Marvel Cosmic Invasion
• Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
• Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound
• Pokemon Legendsa: Z-A
• PowerWash Simulator 2
• Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 (Grant’s Winner)
• Wuchang: Fallen Feathers

Best World:

• Atomfall
• Avowed
• Borderlands 4
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
• Ghost of Yotei (Grant’s Winner)
• Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
• Once Upon a Katamari (Jared’s Winner)
• Outer Worlds 2
• South of Midnight
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
• Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4

Best Vibe:

• Blippo+
• Ghost of Yotei
• Lumines Arise (Grant’s Winner)
• Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
• Once Upon a Katamari (Jared’s Winner)
• Sword of the Sea
• The Roottrees Are Dead
• Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4

Best Mechanic:

• Cutting together video footage (Lost Records)
• Maelle’s stances (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33)
• Creating your own rooms (Blue Prince)
• Pinning ingredients for your witch’s cauldron (Hades II)
• Genealogy (Grant’s Winner)
• Dispatching heroes (Dispatch)
• Vendors coming to your campsite (Ghost of Yotei)
• Destroying the environment (Jared’s Winner)
• Picking up packages automatically with your car (Death Stranding 2: On the Beach)

Best Music:

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Grant’s Winner)
• Deltarune
• Dispatch
• Donkey Kong Banaza
• Hades II (Jared’s Winner)
• Lost Records
• Lumines Arise
• Mario Kart World
• Once Upon A Katamari

Best Moment:

• The Gommage (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33)
• The Lampmaster Fight (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33)
• The Real Protagonist (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33) (Grant’s Winner)
• Zagreus Reveal (Hades II)
• Saving the Kangaroo (Death Stranding 2: On the Beach)
• Pizza Chef (Death Stranding 2: On the Beach)
• Room 46 (Blue Prince) (Jared’s Winner)
• Outer Space (Once Upon a Katamari)
• Blonde Blazer becomes Mandy (Dispatch)
• Beef and Shroud (Dispatch)
• Chase saves the day… (Dispatch)
• Long ass ladder (MGS Delta)
• Meow (MGS Delta)

Song of the Year:

Best New Character:

• Calcium (Megabonk)
• Mel (Hades 2)
• Dollman (Death Stranding 2)
• Tarman (Death Stranding 2)
• Pizza Chef (Death Stranding 2)
• Gustave (Clair Obscur)
• Maelle (Clair Obscur) (Grant’s Winner)
• Esquie (Clair Obscur)
• Chase (Dispatch)
• Phenomaman (Dispatch) (Jared’s Winner)
• Beef (Dispatch)
• Invisigirl (Dispatch)

Best Story:

• Blippo+
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Grant’s Winner)
• Dispatch (Jared’s Winner)
• Lost Records: Bloom & Rage
• The Roottrees Are Dead

Biggest Creep:

• King of all Cosmos (Once Upon A Katamari) (Jared’s Winner)
• Dollman (Death Stranding 2)
• Higgs (Death Stranding 2)
• Toxic (Dispatch)
• Waterboy (Dispatch) (Grant’s Winner)

The ‘Please Shut the Fuck Up’ Award for Lifetime Achievement in Just Saying Stupid Shit Constantly:

• Randy Pitchford

Worst Name:

• Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song Remastered International
• A-Train: All Aboard! Tourism – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition
• Yuukyuu Gensoukyoku Ensemble Re:R
• Hyperdimension Meptunia Re;Birth 1 Plus
• Hyperdimension Meptunia Re;Birth 2: Sisters Generation
• Hyperdimension Meptunia Re;Birth3: V Generation
• Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club: TOKIMEKI Roadmap to the Future
• Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wonderous Academy
• Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game (Jared’s Winner)
• Opus: Echo of Starsong – Full Bloom Edition
• Tokimeki Memorial: Forever with You Emotional
• Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana
• Synduality: Echo of Ada
• Neptunia Riders VS Dogoos
• Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories and the Envisioned Land
• Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Magia Exedra
• No Sleep for Kaname Date – From AI: The Somnium Files
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Grant’s Winner)