The Rogueies winners, part 1

We had a pretty loose voting process here at Rogue, but even so, we all collectively agreed on our winners without much drama. Even our community seems to agree with our winners this year!

We're really happy with all of the winners and nominees for the 2025 Rogueies, and proud of the spread of games they represent.

Without further ado, let's get to the winners. Scroll to the bottom for the accompanying GOTY podcast special, where Cass, Jeff, and Ryan discuss the winners and nominees in each category.

Best Cozy Game — Strange Antiquities

You’re already spoiled for choice in the cozy game category, with a nearly endless catalog of games attempting to replicate the success of Stardew Valley and other homesteading simulators. Which is why it's so refreshing when a game that does something different can elicit those same vibes. Strange Antiquities with its musty tomes, warm environments, and chill (if occasionally eerie) music, is what made it our Best Cozy Game of 2025. Because for me, there’s nothing cozier than solving mysteries as the owner of an occult bookstore filled with reliquaries and other haunted items.   

— AJ

Click here to see our nominees for Best Cozy Game!

Best Cozy Game audience poll winner: Strange Antiquities

Best Horror Game — Séance of Blake Manor

There are tons of great horror games out there riddled with jumpscares and body horror so grotesque you feel like you could contract tetanus just by playing them. But Séance of Blake Manor succeeds in scaring the pants off of you by leaning into the less common elements of horror. The manor itself and its guests deliver an experience so atmospheric that I had second thoughts about playing this in the dark. We award Séance of Blake Manor a single turnip-flavored Pierogi for our favorite horror title of 2025.

— AJ

Best Horror Game audience poll winner: Séance of Blake Manor

Best Co-op Game — Peak

Peak will shatter you in a variety of hilariously horrible ways. Me and my friends have enjoyed a variety of doomed ventures: missing a jump and falling into an icy ravine, getting swept up in a tornado and caught in cacti, chased by spore-ridden zombies, spooked by a skeletal scout master, poisoned by tasty looking mushrooms, and left to perish from hunger in a cave.

There are some very clever choices that help Peak really sing as a co-op game. Proximity based audio chat makes climbing both harder and far funnier; there’s nothing quite like hearing a lost comrade scream in the distance, or better yet, yell as they plummet past you. Death is a pretty low-stakes consequence; a perished player can stick around as a ghost, acting as a spectral walkie-talkie between separated scouts, and the dead can be resurrected at each biome checkpoint.

But there are also moments of triumph – managing to reach out and pull a friend up a cliff they couldn’t climb on their own, making it all the way to the Peak with a group of pals and celebrating on the helicopter, having one player take control and shepherd the crowd through a moment where all seems lost… That’s the good stuff, and Peak delivers it in spades.

— CM

Best Co-op Game audience poll winner: Peak

Best Strategy Game — 9 Kings

9 Kings takes our award for best strategy in large part because of its recently added quest mode. This game mode gives you the standard buildings and troops, but in a ludicrous scenario. And the best part about that is that it offers not only a chance to become super OP in a really fun way, but it also teaches you a ton about the game and how truly deep it can go.

I first played 9 Kings almost 6 months before this update came out, and regularly came back to the game for new updates every few weeks. But I had kings that I gravitated toward, and buildings and troops that I always passed up because I thought they were awful. But the quest mode alone taught me the value of so many new strategies that it felt like it unleashed an entire new side to the game.

Quest modes aren’t enough to just make something the best strategy game of the year. But with 9 Kings, it acted more like a gateway to anything else. I already thought the game was deep and expansive and impressive, but seeing how much I had been missing secured that no game has had me more delighted by my own big brain thinking and creativity this year than 9 Kings.

— RG

Best Strategy Game audience poll winner: 9 Kings

Best Action Game — Hades 2

We all showed restraint in 2024 by not showering Hades 2 with awards when it was still in Early Access. But now that Supergiant has graced us with the 1.0 version of its second Olympian roguelike, we can finally give Hades 2 its well-deserved accolades. Collectively, we’ve agreed that Hades 2 delivers a well-rounded, accessible, and honestly intoxicating experience that manages to build on the success of the original in interesting and unexpected ways, earning itself a single, delicious, golden Pierogi for the Best Action Game of 2025.   

— AJ

Best Action Game audience poll winner: Hades 2

Rogue Signal's GOTY special, pt. 1

Check out our video podcast (above) or the audio version (below)!

We discuss each of the awards, what our criteria was, why each game got nominated, and why we ultimately went with the winners we did.

You can find the audio version of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and many other podcast services!

We'll be back with pt. 2 of the podcast and our winners on Jan. 2, 2026!