Newsletters

Who won big at the American Tabletop Awards and BAFTAs

Plus new details on Marathon

Jason Dean

Jason Dean

— 7 min read
Who won big at the American Tabletop Awards and BAFTAs
Image via American Tabletop Awards

The American Tabletop Awards and BAFTAs both took place last week. We have a list of the winners for both. Also, Bungie showed Marathon and more details on the Switch 2 emerged. All this and more. Let’s go!

The 2025 American Tabletop Award winners

The American Tabletop Awards announced their winners last week. The awards are voted on by a committee of American tabletop media professionals, and are broken into four categories. Here are the 2025 winners and finalists:

Early game (games intended for young players) Winner: Captain Flip

Additional nominees:

  • Flip 7
  • Rhino Hero XXL
  • Caution Signs
  • Monkey Palace

Casual Games Winner: The Gang

Additional nominees:

  • River Valley Glassworks
  • Faraway
  • Kronologic: Paris 1920
  • Castle Combo

Strategy Games Winner: Let’s Go! To Japan

Additional nominees:

  • River of Gold
  • Rebirth
  • Creature Caravan
  • Slay the Spire: The Board Game

Complex Games Winner: Fromage

Additional nominees:

  • SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
  • Arcs
  • Black Forest
  • Andromeda’s Edge

Congrats to all the winners, and check out winners from previous years.

The 2025 BAFTA winners

Credit: BAFTA/Carlo Palon

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) held their awards ceremony last week. Astro Bot was the big winner, taking home five awards, including Game of the Year. In a bit of a surprise, Still Wakes the Deep won the second most awards with three. Here is a full list of the winners:

Animation: Astro Bot
Artistic Achievement: Neva
Audio Achievement: Astro Bot
Best Game: Astro Bot
British Game: Thank Goodness You're Here!
Debut Game: Balatro
Evolving Game: Vampire Survivors
Family: Astro Bot
Game Beyond Entertainment: Tales of Kenzera: Zau
Game Design: Astro Bot
Multiplayer: Helldivers 2
Music: Helldivers 2
Narrative: Metaphor: Refantazio
New Intellectual Property: Still Wakes the Deep
Performer in a Leading Role: Alec Newman (Still Wakes the Deep)
Performer in a Supporting Role: Karen Dunbar (Still Wakes the Deep)
Technical Achievement: Senua's Saga: Hellblade II
Fellowship Award: Yoko Shimomura

Bungie runs Marathon

Bungie, the studio behind Halo and Destiny, showed off their latest game Marathon and provided more information and a release date. 

After very little information over the past few years, Bungie provided a gameplay trailer (above), and a cinematic short video (⬇️) that was directed by Oscar-winner Alberto Mielgo.

The extraction shooter is a PvPvE that is meant to be played in groups of three. The game launches with three maps, and a fourth map comes shortly after launch. The goal is to get as much cool loot as you can on an estimated 25 minute run and get out without being killed. If you are shot by another player, you lose all your treasure. 

Marathon releases September 23 on PlayStation, Xbox and PC, the same day as Borderlands 4. Bungie is giving players who sign up on their website a chance to play the alpha before launch. The game will be a “premium” product, but Bungie says this does not mean it will be a full-priced title.

The latest on the Switch 2

After announcing the Switch 2 a week ago, there were a number of questions answered and new information revealed this week. Here are the highlights:

Middle Aged Men trading cards

📊 Reminder please vote in our first poll: do you plan to purchase a Switch 2 at launch? We will post the results in a future newsletter.

🎴 The newest hot collectable card game in Japan: Middle-Aged Man trading cards. 

🎤 Sabrina Carpenter is officially in Fortnite Festival’s eighth season, and there are reportedly roaming gangs of the pop star hanging out in the game. 

💰 Saber Interactive’s CEO donated $5 million to the University of Texas Austin for a game studies program. 

👨🏽‍💻 Star Wars Battlefront 2 has been unplayable for days on PC, as hackers are preventing players from spawning on any server.

🎵 The Minecraft soundtrack is being added to the National Recording Registry.

🖱️ The Triple-i independent game showcase took place last week. Watch it here or check out everything announced at the event. 

👿 A new limited edition of the game Doom comes in a box that can run the game Doom. 

🤦‍♀️ The Women in Games organization has called on Valve to remove a game from Steam which promotes sexual assault and incest.

📘 Literary masterpiece The Count of Monte Cristo is being adapted as a clicker game about getting educated to escape prison.

💶 Sony announced the price of a PlayStation 5 is rising in Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

😥 The Apple TV+ show Mythic Quest, which revolves around a fictional game studio, has been cancelled after four seasons. The final episode of the last season will get a new ending to reflect the change.

💻 Razer paused direct sales of its gaming laptops in the U.S. due to tariffs. 

🎥 Director Eli Roth explains why he believes the Borderlands movie did so poorly, saying “You can’t prep a movie on that scale over Zoom.”

😈 Blizzard announced their 2025 roadmap for Diablo IV. 

⚖️ After being sued for removing purchased copies of The Crew from player’s accounts, Ubisoft says buying a game doesn't give players "unfettered ownership rights" to it, only a "limited license to access the game."

📺 Netflix launched a new video game tied to a recent episode of the show Black Mirror. 

📈 Round numbers: Atomfall hits 2 million players.

🧟‍♀️ The Last of Us was renewed by HBO for a third season. 

New Releases this week: 

Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree

Check out our article on 10 New Games to Play in April.

4/14: Forever Skies (PlayStation and PC)
4/15: Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 2 (PlayStation, Xbox and PC)
4/17: Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC)
4/18: LUNAR Remastered Collection (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC)

Thanks for reading. If you enjoy our newsletter, tell a friend to subscribe!

Read more