Cover image via Syazwan Bahri/SAYS
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The SEA Game Awards ceremony took place in conjunction with Level Up KL yesterday, 7 October, celebrating the best indie games in the region across 11 categories
Malaysian studio Metronomik was the big winner of the night, with their game No Straight Roads 2 taking home four awards, including the Audience Choice Award, which is awarded to the game that receives the most public votes.
Meanwhile, Indonesian studio Gamecom Team's Troublemaker 2: Beyond Dream was honoured with the prestigious Grand Jury Award, which is the top prize selected unanimously by the jury from the list of finalists.
Here is the complete list of winners for the SEA Game Awards 2025:
Best Technology — Weyrdlets (Malaysia)
This award recognises games that creatively use advanced technology, graphics programming, artificial intelligence, networking, and more.
Nominees:
– Going Up (Singapore)
– Operatives: Revolve (Malaysia)
– Troublemaker 2: Beyond Dream (Indonesia)
– Upin & Ipin Universe (Malaysia)
– Weyrdlets (Malaysia)
Best Visual Arts — No Straight Roads 2 (Malaysia)
This award category recognises the overall excellence of a game's visual art. It celebrates achievement across multiple disciplines, including art direction, animation, modelling, character design, and texture creation.
Nominees:
– Acts of Blood (Indonesia)
– Going Up (Singapore)
– Never Ending Beyond (Malaysia)
– No Straight Roads 2 (Malaysia)
– Riftstorm (Singapore)
Best Game Design — Grim Trials (Indonesia)
This award goes to the game with a high emphasis on excellent game design. It celebrates achievement across multiple disciplines, including gameplay mechanics, playability, play balancing, and level design.
Nominees:
– Going Up (Singapore)
– Grim Trials (Indonesia)
– Identifile (Singapore)
– RAD: Repeat After Death (Indonesia)
– Weyrdlets (Malaysia)
Best Audio Design — No Straight Roads 2 (Malaysia)
The Best Audio Design award celebrates games with excellent use of sound effects, musical composition and score, original song, licensed soundtrack, sound design, and orchestration.
Nominees:
– HellHeart Breaker (Singapore)
– No Straight Roads 2 (Malaysia)
– Not Monday Cafe (Thailand)
– Upin & Ipin Universe (Malaysia)
– Weyrdlets (Malaysia)
Best Score & Music — No Straight Roads 2 (Malaysia)
This award goes to the game with the best game scoring and music design in the region.
Nominees:
– Acts of Blood (Indonesia)
– Grim Trials (Indonesia)
– HellHeart Breaker (Singapore)
– No Straight Roads 2 (Malaysia)
– Troublemaker 2: Beyond Dream (Indonesia)
Best Storytelling — Teller's Duty (Indonesia)
Storytelling is a key component in a video game; hence, this award is given to the title with the most outstanding storytelling and narrative development, including plot construction, scenario, story, and dialogue.
Nominees:
– HellHeart Breaker (Singapore)
– No Straight Roads 2 (Malaysia)
– Teller's Duty (Indonesia)
– Troublemaker 2: Beyond Dream (Indonesia)
– War Angels (Indonesia)
Best Student Game — FiresOut! (Asia Pacific University)
This award recognises the overall best game developed by a student or group of students from the Southeast Asian region.
Nominees:
– FiresOut! (Asia Pacific University)
– Mindslayer (UOW Malaysia)
– The Glory Dungeon Raider (Bangkok University)
Best International Game — RailGods of Hysterra (Spain)
The Best International Game award is presented to notable indie titles from around the world that feature high-quality storytelling, effective audio use, and more.
Nominees:
– Arcas Champions (Switzerland)
– Deep Pixel Melancholy (Armenia)
– Lost Twins 2 (Pakistan)
– Polyaris (Kazakhstan)
– RailGods of Hysterra (Spain)
Rising Star Award — Petit Island (Indonesia)
This award recognises the most anticipated game from a new game studio, honouring a team that has not previously won an award.
Nominees:
– Never Ending Beyond (Malaysia)
– Not Monday Cafe (Thailand)
– Petit Island (Indonesia)
– Riftstorm (Singapore)
– ZHEN: Shattered Legacy (Malaysia)
Audience Choice Award — No Straight Roads 2 (Malaysia)
This award recognises the game that receives the highest number of votes from the audience.
Nominees:
– Acts of Blood (Indonesia)
– Froggy Brews (Malaysia)
– FiresOut! (Malaysia)
– No Straight Roads 2 (Malaysia)
– Troublemaker 2: Beyond Dream (Indonesia)
Grand Jury Award — Troublemaker 2: Beyond Dream (Indonesia)
This award recognises the overall best game, selected unanimously by the panel of judges.
Nominees:
– Going Up (Singapore)
– No Straight Roads 2 (Singapore)
– Overhours (Malaysia)
– Troublemaker 2: Beyond Dream (Indonesia)
– Weyrdlets (Malaysia)
Don't forget to check out the entire SEA Game Awards lineup on Steam
If you're interested in checking out the games that were nominated, head over to the official Level Up KL Steam page. You can download and play the demos to try them for yourself, and you should definitely wishlist your favourites. Wishlisting a game is the best way to make sure you can snag it the moment it releases.
