2025 in review

Hey! A bit late to this one, but I hadn’t forgotten. Twenty twenty-five has come and gone, mercifully enough. A lot of News happened, but that’s not why we’re here. For the moment, allow me to talk about me.

Books

Bit of a workman’s year in reading, I’m afraid―mostly just ticking through my TBR pile, so the entries were all over the place (despite this summary graphic uh, suggesting otherwise).

Clint Smith’s Counting Descent is going on the top shelf. I needed to catch my breath after every poem.

I loved The Glass Hotel, as mentioned previously.

George Saunders’ A Swim in a Pond in the Rain also really hit home; thoughtful analysis and delicate hints on craft. And if you order now, you get seven Russian short stories as a pre-order bonus!

Film

You can check out this very long image for some general stats on my viewing this year. For one thing, I watched 1½ times the movies this year over last… ninety films! That’s almost the number of minutes in most films! Of course, the director/actor noms are skewed by another extended LOTR viewing over the winter break.

Lawrence Anyways

Alternately heart-warming and -breaking, inspirational, and—well, I don’t want to use the word “soaring,” so I’ll stick to “moving.” A delicate relationship epic.

Still from Lawrence Anyways

Our Blood Is Wine

Mentioned it just recently—it’s lovely. The craft on display is astonishing.

alt

The People’s Joker

Astute and irreverent, a wonderfully creative production.

alt

Sugarcane

This should be required viewing in Canada.

alt

The Taste of Things

People use the term “food porn” without knowing what it is. It is this movie. I’ve never seen lighting and movement like this.

alt

Games

I’ve got my Backloggd GOTY noms pictured below, and you can also visit my Steam Award equivalents.

Also of interest is my Steam Replay. Sorry for letting the dwarves down in 2025.

Steam Replay 2025: 62 games played, of which the top were Peak, Outer Wilds, Riven, Skin Deep, and Doom 64

A spider graph: ImSim and Mystery top the charts, with Dwarf lagging behind

As for an informal top 10, let’s go with the following, in no particular order…

The Crimson Diamond

A loving homage to the Laura Bow mysteries of yore (and Sierra, more generally). The usual parser caveats apply, but I was completely charmed by this one.

Doom 64

This one took me by surprise… I’d avoided it for years, as I mention in my review, but it’s really dedicated to its own particular vibe. Super interesting.

Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye

Another one I hesitated to start, given the base game is nearly flawless. Well, the DLC isn’t, but it’s also so super ambitious, clever, awe-inspiring, occasionally frustrating, and memorable.

Riven Remastered

It’s The Sequel to Myst. You can’t go wrong.

Skin Deep

Blendo understands the assignment. It’s Hitman by way of Die Hard, The Fifth Element, Thief, and Saul Bass. I like that.

Strange Antiquities

It’s like being a reference librarian for eldritch horrors.

System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster

Look, as with Riven, I never promised I’d be original. But I’m happy to see such formative games from my Youth remastered so lovingly.

Tears of the Kingdom

Well, what else is there to say. I stand by my review.

Wilmot Works It Out

I’m sick of gaining mastery. I want to stay home, solve literal puzzles, and look at good art. Thank you.

The Zium Exposition

Speaking of good art: there’s this. Honestly, The Zium never misses, and they never have to go this hard with mise-en-scène, but they do. I appreciate that.

The year in games

Honestly, looking back at it… a lot of these games are either literal remakes or riffs on my old favourites. Let me at least assure you that I played other, more recent games over the course of the year.

Music

You can, as always, follow my musical tastes over on last.fm. You can see the graphical representation here, though there aren’t too many surprises. Shoutout to the Phantom Spark soundtrack, which I discovered last year.

Also a very honourable mention to the Mashina soundtrack, which is just absolutely over the top.

Podcasts

I thought this was interesting enough to include! Hit me up wherever you cast pod.

Pocket Casts top five: Remap Radio, NADDPOD, The Greatest Generation, Giant Bombcast, and Three Black Halflings

Bests & firsts

First solo camp

I had a great time in Jesse’s Firekeepers course, which included a short camping expedition in the bush (technically the forest, a 10-minute hike from the road).

Best sweater

While we were off for Thanksgiving, I took my soon-to-be wife on a walking tour of Dorval, where I grew up. The mall was a depressing place, but boy did they have a sweater. Sadly, none in my size.

Store-closure sale, various clothes are 70% off, including a sweater reading 'SLOGAN' across the chest SLOGAN