Stuff of the Year 2025

Not the first (nor last) time a book series will be on my list because of Shelved By Genre. They did a cyberpunk block (Cycle? Unit?) earlier in the year reading Gibsons Sprawl trilogy. And while I fell off in the later entries I really enjoyed reading through Burning Chrome and Neuromancer alongside them. I had read Neuromancer once before but back then I was not a good enough reader to really comprehend it but this time it was a much more enjoyable read. It’s fun to go back to a text from the 1980s and just see all of cyberpunk just… there. Fully formed. Sections of these books are still unmatched in terms of their cyberpunk-ness and they just hit so hard when they get there.

Thank You, Dream Girl - Various Artists (Album, Hit em, Twitter phenomenon)

I am a year late to this one, despite hearing about it last year, but only now actually realized there was a whole album??
Ok so. On July 29th, Drew Daniel, a music producer, tweeted out this: "had a dream I was at a rave talking to a girl and she told me about a genre called “hit em” that is in 5/4 time at 212 bpm with super crunched out sounds thank you dream girl"
“hit em” is not a real genre of music. Except now it is. This tweet hit a nerve for internet music producers, who took it as a fun, viral challenge, and thus, we got music in a genre that the day before did not exist at all. This album “Thank You, Dream Girl” is an anthology album by some of the best tracks, curated by Machinedrum and Drew Daniel himself. And yes, it is a gimmick, but some of the music is genuinely interesting! The 5/4 gives most tracks an off-kilter feel and its fun to hear how the different producers work around or with that. It is also a fun example of the then ever-fleeting (now utterly hopeless) moments of Twitter being a fun social space where magic can happen in the interaction of strangers.
Tracks to check: The Search (by Eprom), Frapper (by Brendan Angelides).

Civilization VII - Firaxis (Video Game, Strategy, PC)

I have complicated feelings about this game. I still enjoy playing Civilization and the core of what feels good in those games is still there and the new narrative storylet system is pretty solid and a nice addition. But the game also unfortunately feels… unfinished. As has been plenty lambasted, the UI is… rough, which mostly comes down to feeling like you’re not being given clear information each interaction not feeling great. But other than that, I’m still not sure this game has given a great reason why the multiple Civilizations as you progress ages actually is a good idea? Like, they have done a bunch of patches making the transition smoother but I have played through the first age twice and both times after the age change I’ve kind of… had to struggle to keep my motivation up. It still feels like too different a game afterwards. I’m still hoping this game can improve itself into a state where it is great and I do think there are mostly good bones, so hopefully they can get there.

Severance Season 2 - Dan Erickson (TV Series, Drama)

Severance returns, expanding on everything from the first season and doing so with pretty much great success. It is definitely more focused on the overall mystery and less so on the office dynamics this season, but it worked for me. I’m wondering how much further they can stretch it but they struck a really good balance this season with giving concrete answers and providing new mysteries to keeps the world feeling bigger than you can grasp. Milchick is an absolute standout this season, with many of the best scenes involving him, and I also enjoyed Gemma’s storylines. It was a great experience to watch and discuss theories week over week. And what a finale! Best use of a marching band in all of media?

Windblown Soundtrack - Danger (Album, Electronic)

I was genuinely worried that Franck “Danger” “the number guy” Rivoire had disappeared from the face of the earth after the Haven soundtrack in 2020. And somehow I completely missed that Windblown, a game that came out in early access last year, has a soundtrack composed by him?? Well, I learned this year! And it is brilliant, going back to Danger’s earlier gritty sounds while incorporating a much greater genre variety (there’s a reggae song on here??). I’m tremendously excited to see new tracks appearing on this slowly as the game continues development, and honestly just happy he is still making music.
Tracks to check: Bully Ballad, Navelless Family, Wild Eyes.

Assassins Creed Shadows - Ubisoft (Video Game, Action Adventure, PC/Consoles)

I was in the mood for a big open world and some stealth and this game pretty much delivers on those two fronts. It’s nothing surprising in the Ubisoft Open World space, other than some light but welcome experimentation on how it gives direction (still not much but its something!). The stealth is returning more to its roots (so you can actually, you know, assassinate people and get away with it) and it has some old-school assassination preparation missions, and that all generally feels great. It is also drop dead gorgeous (drop dead... assassinate??? I’m very funny) utilizing its many vistas for great effect and with some terrific weather effects. However, it also did not have a ton of staying power, and it is very much a big open world with a bunch of things to do and most of it seems fine but not terrific, so I did not stay with it too long.

F*CK U SKRILLEX YOU THINK UR ANDY WARHOL BUT UR NOT!! <3 - Skrillex (Album, Dubstep Mixtape)

This is both the biggest flex and also an excellent April First joke that only makes sense if you understand who Skrillex is. After releasing a mature and super successful double-album two years ago that broke entirely away from his old-school style that made him (in)famous, he comes out this year with an album that looks at first blush like someone made a “Skrillex” parody album. Brostep? Fully back, in force. Wubwub bass? Check. Brash out-of-pocket samples? Yep, yep. As you keep listening, you realize this album is just… funny. He is very intentionally playing on the expectations of who he is and who he was, making a mixtape of old unreleased tracks, and at times literally pranking the listener, just mixing into whatever he wants without following any expected structure of what an album “should” look like (and also, just look at the title). I am selling it short by calling it an April Fools joke, of course, as it is chock-full of more ideas and pristine production that many other producers would be satisfied with making in their lifetime. And he just throws it out on April 1st like it's nothing. As I said, flex.
(No tracks to check on this one, individual tracks here don't really mean anything, it's a whole experience)

Everybody Supports Women - Sofia Isella (Song, Experimental Pop?)

A rare case of a YouTube short WORKING. I found this song through a short, which starts on the very last beat of the opening, right before the song Explodes. And I was so intrigued by this short I went and found the song and it does not disappoint. This is not the genre I normally go for in many ways, and I likely would not have listened to it otherwise, but the way this song goes from soft, Billie Eilish-vocals into a glitchy electronic Explosion and then into an orchestral, somber sound within a single song. Good shit.

Elevation - Null Signal Games (Card Game Set, Netrunner)

After a very long waiting period, Netrunner’s major core expansion under their new community-run leadership was released in April. With Elevation the game of Netrunner is now entirely in the hands of Null Signal Games, the community-organized non-profit that runs the game after FFG shut it down. This means that the current tournament standard format uses entirely new cards produced under their reign. Which, just conceptually, is really fucking cool. As an expansion, it is tremendous, with a lot of really great card designs and interesting new directions for the game. It sets a great foundation for the future of the game. It has left the game in a slightly weird spot since the card pool is now much smaller than it was before but that should hopefully improve next year. I am still very excited about the future of Netrunner.

Blue Prince - Dogubomb (Video Game, Puzzle Roguelike, PC/Consoles)

This game seemed primed to be like one of my favorite games ever. I remember the buzz when this was about to be released, my Bluesky timeline was so enthused it seemed like it was an Outer Wilds wrapped in a roguelike and like four other games besides. And I’m not saying it isn’t that! And I did like what I played back in spring. However, I also did struggle to keep going with it, partly because of the PhD but also did not feel a thrust to continue. The roguelike structure made it difficult to pull on threads you wanted to and while I did also enjoy that it also felt frustrating to get locked out and not answer the question you had. 
But I did want to come back to it, and so over winter break, I finally did so with girlfriend, where we started over and played cooperatively, taking notes together and swapping the controller. And it has been so much more enjoyable this way. And yes, part of that is playing with someone is more fun, but also, we’re taking the time now to carefully consider and discuss all the notes and puzzles, meaning that each future discovery is that much more meaningful because I can better put it in context. I will definitely chalk it up to a difference in mindset, since Blue Prince requires a certain degree of investment and slow play to enjoy. You're not going to jive with this game if you want answers fast. We’ll see how long this time lasts but even going through many of the same puzzles has been fun and we are now beginning to see new things and it's a blast.

Andor Season 2 - Tony Gilroy (TV Series, Sci fi)

ANDOORRR. I am more and more convinced I just don’t care that much about Star Wars the more time goes on and yet (and because), Andor is a perfect 2 seasons of television. I’m so happy this season was also impeccable and offer such a complete series of television. Andor keeps up the incredible high quality of the first season and delivers a ton of powerful scenes that strike at how fascism operates and can be fought against. It ratchets up the tension yet never goes beyond its grounded understanding of how the world works, how resistance and rebellion starts and functions. Behind every Chosen one narrative and Hero narrative is an organization like the one we see in Andor. All the sacrifices and individual pieces of collective action, all brought together into something much bigger than the sum of its parts. And I am also so happy it is over? It got its perfect ending and it is a rare treat to see a TV show end when it's supposed to. 
It feels like someone got away with an illegal act that this show exists, snubbed the money right under Mr Disney’s noses. All of the mediocre Star Wars shows and movies don’t matter, because at least we have this, and they cannot take it away from us.

Giant Bomb is Dead, Long Live Giant Bomb (Website, Event, Business Transaction)

Hooh boy, lemme just say. Being in the audience for this was the most fun experience of the year. Just, what a tremendous thing to see and it was so, so fun to feel an entire audience erupt at once. Short explanation: Giant Bomb, a website I very much love (even if less so now than in the past), seemed like it was about to end. And then what was previously going to be a routine PAX Panel turned into a mystery announcement/commiseration session, so everyone in the hall gathered with no idea what we were about to witness. And then Jeff Grub says the simple words that they now own Giant Bomb was in no way what anyone had expected. That is just not a thing that happens. The good guys don’t get to walk away with the money and the website. Yet, this time, they did. And the roar from the crowd was so fucking cool, the vibes were so good. I do not vibe with current Giant Bomb as much, granted, but still, this is the best thing to have happen. I was just there by accident, at my first PAX ever, something I never thought would happen.

Siege X - Ubisoft (Video Game Update, Tactical Multiplayer Shooter, PC)

I have not been playing nearly as much Siege as I used to for a while now but I still enjoyed my quick dip back into the big refresh in Siege X. The new mode is surprisingly solid in a game which design is very antagonistic to new modes, providing a more casual way to still get some of the same tactical skirmishes without the same level of stakes that you get in a normal Siege round.

Devils Plan Season 2 - Jung Jong-Yeon

I am so happy the Devil's Plan is successful enough to get multiple seasons! I had a great time watching the second season as well (albeit, it was probably slightly weaker than the first in several ways), yet I don't know if I will ever tire of this show. The game design was once again solid even if the contestants did revolve a little into a boring pattern of following one guy too much.

Stream Big - Nathan Grayson (Book, Internet Culture)

I read this partly for my dissertation but really that was mostly an excuse, because i also just wanted to read it lol. Stream Big is a book about Twitch.tv, the streaming platform. Through a series of interviews with some of its biggest creators, it discusses the many ups and downs of being a streamer and internet celebrity, as well as the platform itself. And it’s pretty good! If you follow Twitch intensely there will not be too many surprises but I found a lot of the interviews interesting and full of cool details nonetheless. It gives a great insight into why the internet world is as it is right now

Necessary Frictions - GoGo Penguin (Album, Electronica Jazz)

GoGo Penguin continues their phenomenal modern rhythmic fusion jazz with just a touch of electronic elements without ever letting it overpower their super skillful play. This album did not blow me away but I do enjoy it each time I listen to it. GoGo Penguin continues to be some of the absolute best work music so I have given this a fair number of listens regardless.
Tracks to check: Fallowfield Loops, What We Are and What We Are Meant to Be, Luminous Giants.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - Sandfall Interactive (Video Game, JRPG (but French), PC/Consoles)

Alright, alright. Hear me out. This game is good. I understand why it got Game of the Year everywhere. But also, as you can probably tell by my hemming, I had… some problems with it. It felt honestly like a struggle for me to get through. I’m not going to get into all the details of why but I fully expected to just love this game and I kept finding small and big things about it that frustrated me. Part of it is an expectation problem and part of it is also that the aesthetics of the world, the very dreamy child-like world, just doesn’t do a lot for me, I think? Which, sure, maybe I’m just dead inside, I’m sorry, but I just don’t care that much about Esquie. Or the whole schick of the Gestrals (Monoco’s fine). And there was a tone the narrative and a melodrama that dialogue scenes often carried that made me shrug or shake my head more often than I’d like. And the parry-based combat in a turn-based game did not work as well for me. Add onto it some very annoying exploration issues and a lack of guidance and I lost all desire to do any optional content, and just wanted to finish it. I think this game is good. The ending is incredible. But the “one of the best of the generation”? Nah, I’m sorry. Am excited for Sandfall’s next attempt though.

K-Pop Demon Hunters - Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans (Movie, Musical, K-pop)

I love how much of a phenomenon this movie has become. I heard someone say this is the Frozen of our generation and that is absolutely true. Except this time, where Frozen had like 1 good song, this movie is full of actual pop bangers. While I like some of the songs more than others I do agree that each song in here just hits for what it needs to do, and works perfectly in the context of the movie and outside. It's no revelation of movie-making, the plot is straight-forward and expected yet effective. The animation is inventive and entertaining throughout (you can feel the Spiderverse inspiration). And the songs are just catchy as hell. I don't care about your feelings on K-pop or pop music, if you don't agree, you're wrong.
Tracks to check (yes there's tracks to check on a movie, it's my list whaddaya gonna do): Golden, Your Idol, This is What it Sounds Like.

TAKUUK - Bicep (Album, Electronic, Immersive Installation Soundtrack)

Bicep came out with a surprise album this year! Okay, it’s not a traditional album, but I’ll count it because it’s a pretty cool project. Serving as the soundtrack for an immersive installation about the lives of people indigenous to the Arctic Region, I likely have not experienced it in the Way It Was Intended. Yet, this album, where they collaborated with a bunch of Arctic Indigenous people, is a really cool project on its own. Undoubtedly different from Bicep’s usual output, yet still unrecognizably them and elevated by a fresh sound and feeling given by the collaborators.

1000 Players Simulate Civilization: Rich & Poor - ish (YouTube Video, Dramatized Roleplay, Community Storytelling)

This movie (yes, I am calling it a movie) is a hard sell for many. You have to get over the fact that it’s a YouTube video, about Minecraft, with a rather click-baity title, and it presents itself very grandiose in a way that I totally understand if gives weird vibes. But let me be clear: If you get through that, this is the greatest 2,5 hours you will spend. I guarantee it. It doesn’t matter if you don’t care or know anything about Minecraft, or don’t watch YouTube videos. It is, essentially, a recounting of a giant LARP (happening in Minecraft) that tells a gripping story that would fit right into a season of Game of Thrones. In the beginning, it feels like you have a pretty good sense of what it is and what could happen, yet what unfolds is the most perfect storyline that feels so utterly unbelievable yet still 100% true because it did happen. This storyline has gripping drama, over-the-top betrayals, daring escape attempts, and climactic fights that would fit into a giant fantasy epic. I had watched ish's other videos before this and really enjoyed them for what they were but this one is the first time I genuinely felt it told an incredible story that stands on its own.

Lazarus Soundtrack - Bonobo (Album, Electronic)

So you’re telling me that Bonobo made a soundtrack to the new anime made by the guy who made Cowboy Bepop? And the world didn’t explode??
The Anime is… I dunno, I watched 3 episodes and it was like fine but didn’t seem spectacular and I felt no real desire to keep watching. But the soundtrack? Is splendid. Definitely more atmospheric and ambient than Bonobo’s usual fare but they are really good atmospheres and the times it does kick into gear are really worthwhile. I listened to this soundtrack a bunch while writing and reading and its splendid.
Tracks to check: Dark Will Fall, Northport

Magic the Gathering: Final Fantasy - Wizards of the Coast (Card Game Set, Magic)

This feels like a weird include because it’s not really a thing I engaged with that much. I bought a Commander deck and a prerelease kit, and played a bunch of games with those and with a few other cards. But this is more here for the zeitgeist of this release. In the Magic community, there is this saying that everyone hates the Universes Beyond sets (the partnered franchise ones) until they get one in “their” franchise. And that is true. Yet, Final Fantasy is not even really my franchise. I have played XIV, and that’s about it. Yet, there was a Moment to this release. It felt like a communal event that drew in so many people I know, both who play Magic and who play Final Fantasy. In a year where the Universes Beyond was (rightly) lambasted by almost everyone, this felt like a moment where people just couldn’t help themselves and give into the hype. And it was fun to do so. The fact that I was at PAX East where this set was going through its major marketing push full with a very fun panel hosted by Ben Starr... helped. Not gonna lie.
Now, when do I get my Witcher Magic set. I’m waiting Wizards.

Will of the Many - James Islington (Book, Fantasy)

I was on the lookout for a fantasy book and happened to see this recommended in a YouTube video. And it did not disappoint! This is a spectacular fantasy book in a Roman Empire-esque fantasy world with a multi-faceted plot that is nevertheless told really simply and elegantly. I was always engaged while reading it and hooked by its mystery and characters. The main character especially is well drawn and complex yet with incredibly clear and understandable motivations. The world is fascinating and a cool take on a feudalistic/hegemonic structure where the people in power are literally provided with life essence by those beneath them. It’s a straight forward metaphor but it is undeniably effective. The sequel came out in fall yet I haven’t gotten around to it yet, but am excited.

DUMB - Flume, Emma Louise (Album, Future Bass/Pop)

This Flume album released without too much fanfare and granted it is not a full new Flume release, but I was wondering when new Flume music would come out earlier this year and here we are. It’s not quite a full Flume album and Emma Louise’s contributions don’t do much for me, but it still has some tracks with that perfect Flume sound that I love, and when it hits I’m still happy. Flume is one of a kind and no one makes abrasive-yet-rich synths like him.
Tracks to check: All of the Worlds, Whenever You Want, Monsoon

PEAK - Aggro Crab & Landfall (Video Game, Friendslop, PC/Consoles)

What is there to say about PEAK that hasn’t already been said. It’s PEAK. This is a great example of what happens when you get some creatives at the top of their game to collaborate on a project with simple yet powerful constraints and just let them cook. What Landfall and Aggro Crab made together here feels like the epitome (the… summit if you will, the top of the mountain...) of the prox-chat coop (..."friendslop") genre. It is charming and clunky in just the right ways to allow for fun physics interactions without ever devolving into ridicule. It’s stamina system is super cleverly designed and feels like something every other game will adopt from here on and its once-per-day structure is just brilliant at capturing the feeling of traversing something unique-yet-meaningful.

The Pitt - R. Scott Gemmill (TV Series, Drama)

I knew I would love The Pitt the moment I heard its description. I love tension and competence porn and dialogue-focused stories and this is all of those in one of the best packages in centuries. It catches the best parts of The Bear but simultaneously also has a heart and humanity that feels more grounded and genuine than that show only managed with a sense of humor. Here there is little to no humor and it is tense and gripping the whole time and yet never feels overwhelming. It is absolutely competence porn—it is a bunch of really talented people making smart decisions over and over and over again—yet they never act superhuman or beyond their situation. Each choice has weight and each dilemma feels genuine and there is not a wasted minute in the whole show. Spectacular viewing, absolutely gripping from end to end.

Hungry on Plane (YouTube Channel, Magic Stories)

Look, I just like good sports stories. And card games. This is a channel about Magic the Gathering, specifically competitive Magic. And while I have no interest in ever playing competitive Magic it is still great fun to hear all the stories of how people came up with the decks they did, how they subverted expectations and found unseen strategies no one had thought before, or simply executed a perfect bluff or gameplan. If you like the videos on competitive Magic from Rhystic Studies this channel has so many more of them.

Sinners - Ryan Coogler (Movie, Southern Horror)

Watched this much later in the year after everyone had already accepted it as one the movies of the decade. And yeah, I get it. It is phenomenal. A brilliant, incisive look at cultural appropriation and structural racism in the American South through the lens of a Vampire movie. The music Rules. I was so into it from the very first scene where you see the Smokestack brothers and it just keeps grooving all throughout. It takes its sweet time before the real premise of the movie is even revealed. I will admit my selfish side wants more movie just in the tone of the first half of this movie but I also really respect and love the second half and how confident it is about itself and how it uses that to talk about its topics in a surprisingly deft manner.
And of course, that scene. That scene alone is worth this movie being forever preserved in the history books. It is such an elegant yet powerful move it feels so obvious when it begins yet it cannot help but floor you. What a movie.

Hades II - Supergiant (Video Game, Action Roguelike)

Hades 2 came out this year! It was interesting to see the reactions to this game unfold. I was fully expecting to see another return of the same wave of excitement that happened when the first game came out, and yet my first sign that there was some troubled waters was when some of my friends who loved Hades 1 just did not really start this one. And then the complicated reviews came out: It’s good, but the story is not a strong! It’s gameplay is impeccable, and there is more! It’s like the first one and the first one was really good!
I am repeating these reviews because that is largely my take on it as well. It is really good, it feels great to play and it is truly just a lot more Hades. Yet, after 12 or so hours I will also say I lost a bit of my excitement to keep playing it. And then I heard how the ending apparently is a big disappointment and that did not exactly lift my motivations to great heights. I hope Supergiant does something brand new next time, as this one ultimately did feel a little safe.

Crusader Kings III: All Under Heaven - Paradox (Video Game Expansion, Grand Strategy)

This Crusader Kings expansion gave me a chance to talk about Chinese history with my girlfriend and that is enough of a reason for it to be here. Context, my girlfriend is Chinese, and so she has been taught all of the history from a very different perspective than me (who have frankly very little understanding of Chinese history). This new Crusader Kings expansion allows one to play as a leader in China (or Japan or southeast Asia) and it was interesting to learn how the court systems in China work. They are so much different from Europe and what I expected it is wild. Playing a ruler in China is more like being a college student than being a King. Which won’t make sense if you haven’t played this but I won’t explain.

Adolescence - Stephen Graham & Jack Thorne (Miniseries, Drama)

This little Netflix miniseries punches far above its weight. I did not think much of it from the title alone (the title is honestly kinda nothing to me), yet it kept being recommended. And so I watched it and from the first five minutes I realized that oh, ok, I was so wrong to not come in with high expectations. This show is so god-damn confident and so sharp. Through 4 unique episodes all done in one-take, each following a single moment in the lives of the people surrounding the conviction of a teenage boy for murder, it puts a bright spotlight onto the human interactions at the heart of it all. By not cutting away for a single moment, we spend all the time in the small uncomfortable silences, the waiting time, and the flawed humanity trying to make sense of each other. The one-take trick has been done for a while now so it might not seem like it should feel as fresh as it does here but it is used with such intention in this show.

I Love My Computer - Ninajirachi (Album, girl EDM)

Ninajirachi is an EDM producer who makes the self-named genre “girl EDM”. That might sound like a joke, but it is very serious. She makes EDM the way only a girl who grew up on the internet could. And it slaps. You look at the aesthetic and the story of this album and you feel like you’ve seen a hundred YouTube playlists like this echoing Playstation 1 aesthetics, the Final Fantasy cover art, the anime Y2K vibes. And yet, this album is a complete success. It actually takes those aesthetics and owns them. It feels both fresh and nostalgic at the same time. It is roaring and energizing and makes you want to dance and also cry at a computer at 1am watching anime. I dunno, I just get this album, even if it is not the kind of EDM I am otherwise normally into. I can’t help but admit that it just works and I’ve been listening to this more than I thought I would. Ninajirachi is going to be big.
Tracks to check: London Song, Infohazard, Battery Death

Any Austin (YouTube Channel)

I finally got into Any Austin this year, after having his videos get recommended to me several times. They’re really good! Any Austin makes videos about the ordinary parts of video games. Some of his most cool videos are about whether the signs in GTA V are following actual traffic laws, how many trees there are in Skyrim, or whether the rivers in The Witcher 3 are realistic. And those topics might sound dry, but he approaches these videos with a sincerity and bluntness that is always charming. He also has a perfect understanding how much these questions actually matter (very little) and yet deeply appreciates finding the answers and how video games fail or succeed at living up to the expectations of reality.

The Witcher in Concert - Percival Schuttenbach and orchestra (Concert)

I thought I would miss this concert in October in San Francisco because early in the year I imagined I would have been back home in Denmark by then. But I am still here! And so I got a chance to watch music from The Witcher 3 be played live in by an orchestra, accompanied by Percival Schuttenbach, the Polish folk band who helped create the music for the game. And it was a joy. I loved it so much. I love The Witcher so much.
It was also a chance to introduce my girlfriend to the world of the Witcher and had her start to play the game which has been really fun to see that world again through new eyes. We also watched the TV show, which, well. I guess the best I can say is it helped her get a sense of the world in a way more approachable to her than the game.

One Battle After Another - Paul Thomas Anderson (Movie, Drama)

I have missed Paul Thomas Anderson as a filmmaker until now so I was not aware of this movie until it was already out and others wanted to watch it, so I went in with virtually no expectations. And I had a great time! It is a hard movie to describe because it seems like a comedy yet its themes and topics are more like a modern drama. It is about deeply serious contemporary topics like revolution, deportation, and racism, yet it looks at it through the lens of a washed up revolutionary who cannot remember a codeword to start a phonecall. It’s funny and charming and riveting, with a tremendous final sequence that feels fresh and tense the whole time.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II - Warhorse Studios (Video Game, RPG, PC/Consoles)

I’ve been wanting to check out the Kingdom Come series for a bit, yet I pulled away from the first one due to the many stories of the Game Director’s shitty viewpoints. And then the second one came out and that got more... complicated. I’m not saying he’s a perfect individual now, but the game we can play is more nuanced and inclusive about elements like race and sexuality than you might expect. And I will also say my biggest gripe with this game is that the writing, uh, at times feels like its written by a 19 year old frat boy with a fantasy of being a medieval knight. Yet other times its surprisingly funny and deft. This is a strange, messy game.

Yet, if you can get past that, this game is something special. My pithy one-liner description is it’s Skyrim if instead of being the Hero you are just... a dude. A memorable early interaction was with some hunters on the road who were hunting a monster. I asked if I could help and they said “Nope, we got it.” And that was that. We moved on, and I haven’t seen them again. Any other game would have started a questline where I killed a monster and became the hero of the town. On top of that, this game’s commitment to systemic interactions is super fun. You can rob someone of their spare clothes and if they see you wearing them the next day they will call the guards on you. You cannot (if you play on hardcore mode) see yourself on the map and must navigate by landmarks and asking people for directions and you cannot fast-travel. Smithing and alchemy are incredibly detailed in-world activities rather than just menus. There are several moments where you are tasked with doing literal chores in order to proceed, or genuinely "pass the time" in however way you want. And it is amazing. I feel like I can truly “roleplay” being a person in a medieval world when I play this game, and I am really enjoying that part of it.

Wake Up Dead Man - Rian Johnson (Movie, Whodunit Murder Mystery)

Rian Johnson has done it again! It is really a miracle that we keep getting these movies and they Just. Hit. Every. Time. Like the other Knives Outses, Wake Up Dead Man displays a deft understanding of detective stories and tropes and plays with them while also building a story that is deeply satisfying within that genre and providing genuine commentary on the world of today. And Wake Up, Dead Man, on top of that, also manages to be a deeply rich investigation of faith in the modern era, and the value of that faith without being either preachy or patronising.
A spectular home-run of a movie. I have not yet watched it a second time but I am very excited to do so.

Fallout Season 2 - Geneva Robertson-Dworet & Graham Wagner (TV Series, Post-apocalypse)

Fallout is back! Only the first two episodes are out by the time I write this so it is hard to know yet how well this season is going to go but I am still very much enjoying it. So far it is not reaching quite the heights of the first season’s opening chapters but Lucy and The Ghoul are still phenomenal characters and excited to see where it goes in New Vegas.

KWOOWK (YouTube Channel, Cooking)

This is a cooking channel I got really into this last month after my girlfriend recommended it. Cooking videos is not a thing I normally look for outside needing a specific recipe, but he’s a nice watch. He has a dry, effortless, and very European wit I find charming and oddly nostalgic. One of his returning bits when doing cooking guides is to throw in an ingredient like an onion and then, in his thick Romanian accent, say to “cook it until its cooked” which doesn’t sound like a joke but that’s exactly why its funny.
On top of that, he’s also just a regular dude on a student budget, not trying to make overly fancy restaurant food but taking inspiration from all over the world to spice up and improve simple dishes.

Orochi - KASHIWA Daisuke & Hoshiko Yamane (Album, Neoclassical electronica)

Kashiwa Daisuke, once again, sneaking into my list with a surprise entry! This time it is a collaboration with Tangerine Dream-violinit hoshiko yamane, creating a collage of neoclassical music with dashes of electronic glitching by Kashiwa himself. Building on top of plucky string melodies, it layers more and more things on top, creating foresty soundscapes with very simple ingredients. It is not as ambitious as some of his other efforts and maintains a rather singular focus on its basic instrumentation, yet I still really enjoy it.

Pluribus - Vince Gilligan (TV Series, Sci fi Drama)

We just started watching Pluribus but each night we end up watching two episodes even if we only plan to watch just one. This is a remarkably well-made show. I almost don’t want to reveal the premise because it is a tremendous experience to see the premise unfold in real time in the first episode and then slowly see the consequences of that dawn on you along with the main character over the next couple. This is a high-concept sci-fi that takes a very simple idea and executes it out into its utmost conclusion and uses that to talk about humanity, individuality, and society. Excited to see where it goes.

That's it! I had a pretty impactful year overall, and felt I learned a lot about myself and made a lot of progress in my life. I'm still unemployed after I finished the PhD and that is definitely an.... issue. But still here and I will figure it out. That said, if you're looking for a technical narrative designer with some community research experience and programming chops, I'm available!

(Header photo taken by my girlfriend <3 )