It's that time again, let's do this: Let's start with games. Eh. Clair Obscur and, surprisingly, Detroit: Become Human were standouts to me. Both had gameplay I didn't care for but sublime storytelling. Ragnarok was well-done for the same reasons. I was most disappointed with Kingdom Come: Deliverance. I wanted so badly to like it, but the combat was a turn-off and I finally turned the game off forever when they forced me to play their alchemy simulator to proceed in a main quest. Rogue Trader is an Owlcat CRPG...meaning there's a lot of it, but it's been fun. Nothing to write home about on the board game front. However, this year was a bit of a TTRPG awakening for me. I connected with a group of gamers who host events at breweries around the area and was turned on to all sort of modern, rules-light TTRPGs that I've pounced upon. Blades in the Dark and its Forged in the Dark offspring were particular stand-outs. I didn't list all the TTRPGs I've tried this year playing in one-shots, just the ones whose rules I read cover-to-cover. As to the rest of the reading, I did a lot of CBTs this year so not much non-fiction, but the one non-fiction book I did read was Galloway's "Notes on Being a Man", which is a very, very good autobiographical study on being, raising, and mentoring young men and more than a little bit on aging. It was a refreshing view on a topic that often gets ignored for people's fear of hitting the third rail. The rest of the reading was pretty good, Sanderson took most of the year (which was more than it was worth), and I devoured Shields' Blades in the Dark books to get immersed in the game setting. Kloos' Frontlines novella was surprisingly deep and touching, written with his wife as a diary of a vet whose deployed husband was missing for several years. I stayed consistent with my workouts this year, which means I watched a ton of media while on the treadmill, and a lot of it was pretty great. My daughter turned me on to Arcane, which so didn't seem like my jam but turned out to be shockingly good. Peaky Blinders was amazing. Severance. Ted Lasso (also not my jam but easily some of the best TV ever made). Andor. The Pitt. Slow Horses. I mean, it was a good year in my media world. Silo. Murderbot. The Last of Us. I mean sheesh. I finally caught up with Stranger Things, though I won't finish the finale for a few weeks. Also Peacemaker - while funny and over-the-top and absurd - managed to shine with some real depth. Alright, I'll call it there. Let's see what 2026 brings! # Books ![[2025-Books]] # Movies & TV ![[2025-Media]] # Games ![[2025-Games]]