Fleur de Ludo Awards — Top 10 Games of the Year
Every January, we post our “Way Too Early” games of the year post, and then spend the next six or seven months chasing down other games that could be contenders. There is just no way for any human to play all the good games released in any one year, so we cannot get to every good game. But after eighteen months of searching, playing, and chatting about games, we are ready to present the Fleur de Ludo awards for best games of 2026.
And this year, my favorite game of the year was Moon Colony Bloodbath, designed by Donald X. Vaccarino, and published by Rio Grande Games. To quote from my own review:
Moon Colony Bloodbath celebrates a world where machines supposedly make our abode better, full of wondrous gadgets, shiny and brand new, clinking and buzzing and whirring as they help us greet each morning sun and carry on through the day and then softly tuck us into our quiet little beds at night. But underneath the shiny chrome and turquoise shells, the machines are sputtering and wheezing and clicking, until they finally just stop. Every game of Moon Colony Bloodbath ends the same way. I fail. And I love it. Failing never felt so good.
Here’s the rest of the Top Ten Games of the year 2025:
- Moon Colony Bloodbath
- Vantage
- Map Masters
- Luthier
- Spooktacular
- Tag Team
- Galactic Cruise (check out our playthrough here)
- Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship (check out our playthrough here)
- Ants
- Speakeasy
For the list of previous winners, click here.