Best of 2025 Awards - The Bloodies

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Dec 29, 2025

Celebrate the best in gaming with a lively awards showdown! The hosts debate their favorite moments and highlight top contenders like Clair Obscur and Trails in the Sky. Discover the coolest gaming moves, from Elemental Genesis to Giga Slash, and dive into discussions on combat systems that keep players on their toes. Tune in for passionate debates on music, art direction, and the coveted RPG of the year, where surprises and controversies abound. It's a thrilling ride through the gaming landscape of 2025!

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ANECDOTE

Memorable Live-Show Moments

Eric Van Allen recounts live-show moments like drinking "the gonster" and a memorable charity stream that bonded the hosts and audience.
He highlights the "Cats sendoff" mailbag as the listeners' favorite Blood God moment of the year.

ADVICE

Judge Art Direction By Details

Eric advises checking visual examples when judging art direction, citing Artist Impact and Stray Children as strong visual achievements.
He urges attention to details like pixel fonts to preserve aesthetic integrity in retro-style games.

INSIGHT

Genre-Melding Innovation

Eric praises The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy for inventively merging visual-novel branching with a tactical RPG layer.
He argues its 100 endings and writer-driven variety represent a bold, successful innovation in RPG design.

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It's Been A Good Year For Games™ and Nadia, Eric, and Victor are ready to decide just how good. From the biggest smash hits like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 to the pluckiest indie darlings like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, we're covering it all!
So place some bets on your favourite RPGs of the year and warm up your vocal chords to yell at your phone; It's the 2025 Axe of the Blood God Awards!

Tune in to live recordings of the show every Saturday morning at https://www.twitch.tv/bloodgodpod, subscribe for bonus episodes and discord access at https://www.patreon.com/bloodgodpod and celebrate our 10th Anniversary with new merch at https://shop.bloodgodpod.com

Also in this episode:

Literally nothing else. See below for the categories and see below that for the lists of nominees.

Note: Microsoft and the Xbox brand remain subjects of the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement for their complicity in the ongoing apartheid and genocide of Palestine. In the interest of journalism we've chosen to cover Microsoft but encourage you to visit https://www.bdsmovement.net/microsoft for more information.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Main Topic - The Blood God Awards!

3:28 - Favourite Blood God Moment

8:08 - Best Non-RPG

12:48 - Best Art Direction

19:12 - Best Innovation

28:40 - Best Revival

38:56 - Best Menu Screen

45:52 - Best Moment

56:08 - Coolest Move

1:02:56 - Best Combat System

1:15:44 - Best Music

1:21:08 - Best Party Member

1:29:20 - Best RPG of 2025

1:16:16 - Random Encounters

1:40:16 - Nadia's Nostalgia Nook

Awards Nominees:

Favourite Blood God Moment:
- Kat's Sendoff
- Not Eric Playing Final Fantasy 6 lol
- The Gonster
- History of Sound Novels
- Victor liking sexy ladies

Best Non-RPG:
- Blue Prince
- Donkey Kong Bananza
- Shadow Labyrinth
- Hollow Knight: Silksong

Best Art Direction:
- Stray Children
- Artis Impact
- Hades 2
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Best Innovation:
- The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy
- Elden Ring: Nightreign
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Best Revival:
- Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter
- Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D
- Raidou Remastered
- Tokimeki Memorial: forever with you - emotional
- Final Fantasy Tactics - The Ivalice Chronicles

Best Menu Screen:
- Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition
- Digimon Story: Time Stranger
- Monster Hunter Wilds
- Not Persona 3 Reload
- Citizen Sleeper 2
- Hollow Knight: Silksong
- Final Fantasy Tactics - The Ivalice Chronicles

Best Moment:
- Processing Grief - The Promise of Tomorrow - Patch 7.3 - Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail
- End of Act 1 - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- End of Chapter 12 - Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition
- Grinding for Advanced Classes - Final Fantasy Tactics - The Ivalice Chronicles
- The Gommage - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Coolest Move:
- Throw Rock - Final Fantasy Tactics
- Elemental Genesis - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Giga Slash - Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D

Best Combat:
- Raidou Remastered
- Citizen Sleeper 2
- Octopath Traveler 0
- Demonschool
- The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy
- Elden Ring: Nightreign
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Best Music:
- Octopath Traveler 0
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Hades 2
- Into the Mist - Patch 7.4 - Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail
- Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter

Best Party Member:
- Estelle Bright - Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter
- Elma - Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition
- Susie - Deltarune
- Maelle - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

RPG of the Year:
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- The Hundred Line Last Defense Academy
- Hades 2
- Quartet
- Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter
- Demonschool
- The First Berserker: Khazan
- Fantasy Life i: The Girls Who Steals Time
- Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma
- Pokemon Legends Z-A
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
- Monster Hunter Wilds
- Octopath Traveler II
- Kingdom of the Dump
- Shrine's Legacy
- Citizen Sleeper 2
- Elden Ring: Nightreign
- Deltarune
- Everhood 2
- Avowed
Further Reading:
2024 Sharlayan Dropouts Valentione's Day Special
Music in this Episode:
Oasis in the 100 - The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy

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