2025 in Review (Patreon)

Next week will be the full return to normal service, this week I'm going to cover the general tradition I have of looking back at some of the best things I've experienced in board games, video games, media and similar over 2025. Before we do that, at the time you are reading this the first video for the channel will be in editing and it's a little bit special, it will go out for Pillar and above Patrons as soon as it is finished and then get a public release 7 days later. I'm hopeful you all like it. There is also a video review of Glow coming this month.

That tease aside, let us get into the most engaging things I've experienced, starting with:

Kingdom Death: Monster

We've had a fair few releases in 2025; the Pariah, the Nukealope, Wanderers, the usual game content shop releases (which have felt like they've been lower in number and I've appreciated that), but the stand outs for me have been the Red Witches which have given us not only the first true multi-opponent showdown (Smog Singers functions more like one monster with three “limbs” and the Bone Eaters are not on the same level as any boss showdown) but also provided the first genuine competitor to the Slender Man. It's interesting how stuffed full Nemesis Node 2 is when you look at the quality of experience they provide; five monsters total, with three of them being average at best. For a long time I've wanted something to replace the Slender Man because of how it is so closely tied to the base game quarry trio (something I assume will change when Campaigns of Death finally arrives) but Atnas was absolutely not it. The Red Witches showdown evolves over time in a way that gives each of the individual bosses their own character while also layering and blending them together like a three flavour ice cream.

The Wanderers have also been a major highlight in 2025's releases, with Candy taking the crown for me, but they're almost universally amazing (Goth is the only exception that I found lacking mechanically) and Team Death has managed to bring three characters from other Intellectual Properties (IP) into the world of Kingdom Death while also honouring the places and games they came from. I can see myself using Candy, Aeneas and the Death Drifter as a regular part of rotation. This is a far cry from the GCE's Luck who still hasn't left much of an impression on me apart from his connections to the Smog Singers.

The third release I really enjoyed is the Gatherism philosophy; it bringing new terrain into the game is very exciting. Terrain is very much part of KDM that is under-designed, the showdown board is massive, but often this large size is made up of empty spaces, having more terrain turn up is always interesting to me. The only “complaint” I have about Gatherism is it being Tier 2, not because it isn't balanced at that level, in fact it is. I wouldn't move it at all when considering power levels, the main issue I have is the same thing that has happened with Nemesis Node 2; there's too many of them in comparison to Tier/Node 1 and Tier/Node 3. Kingdom Death functions best with a pyramid structure for options; a wider variety at the bottom that tapers a bit as you get higher node numbers.

Tier 1 Philosophies has four options (and you really feel that if you don't play People of the Dream Keeper because you'll see three of the four every campaign), Tier 3 has two, and in contrast Tier 2 has six at point of writing. That's crazy and part of the impact of that is already starting to feel the repetition for philosophies early on. So as good as Gatherism is, I hope to not see another Tier 2 Philosophy until we're at seven or eight Tier 1 options and four Tier 3s, I want a pyramid shape for my content levels, not a pear.

Kingdoms Forlorn

Kingdoms Forlorn is a setting that I've obsessed over since I saw the concept art for the various kingdoms, especially the Barony of Bountiful Harvest (which has not come out yet). Its the first ITU game that I think has the potential to be a “lifestyle” game like KDM or Shadows of Brimstone. There's a really neat modular system to the way that the various kingdoms and knights can be slotted into and out of the experience and the game offers a lot of ways to let players customise their experience. It's a game I'll be diving into with depth this year because outside of my gear complaints (antiquated system, insufficient quantities) I think it's pretty close to a perfect game. I especially enjoy how refined the combat is from ATO's, the smaller board and knight technique mechanics elevate the boss battling even further.

I'm going to be covering Kingdoms Forlorn content in a semi-regular fashion throughout this year because the game has some really elevated and interesting boss battle designs that I want to dig into with as much detail as possible. I'll only cover them up to level 5, levels 6+ is the post game content and I'm very far away from extensively exploring that but I do really want to dig into all of the inhabitants of this world.

Other New Board Games

I finally got the expansions for Leviathan Wilds, VagrantSong and Townsfolk Tussle to the table. I hope to put out some thoughts on each, but for the most part they're all landing in the 'more content' bucket rather than anything that really evolves or changes things. This is fine, more of new stuff helps keep a game fresh. The one that stood out to me most of all is the Townsfolk Tussle 'rogue-lite' mode that Odd Jobs brings to the game. It's quite nicely done with its objectives and unlocks providing a focus that's not just 'new run, go again' which is where the original Tussle ends up after a while, it's very hard to reset however, which is the main shame.

Either Unstoppable or Star Trek: Captain's Chair are probably the most impressive board game game that was new to me in the year. Unstoppable's combination of deck building and literal card construction is fascinating and has a gameplay loop that really keeps me coming back for more. I cannot recommend these two games enough for solo players in particular.

Games which arrived but I didn't get enough games in to form a full opinion: The Old King's Crown and Grimcoven being the lead two games in this category, they've both left great first impressions but I need more time with them. Old King's Crown is an absolutely incredible game, everything about it (apart from the insert which is another one of those 'falls over at the last hurdle' designs I find so frustrating) is phenomenal.

There's also some games which still haven't arrived. The most notable of these is Dante: Inferno, which is stuck somewhere in the region of ITU's offices thanks to customs. However the new Ashes Ascended arrived yesterday and that game keeps going from strength to strength. I'm really impressed with the two new Phoenixborn and the new boss to battle against.

Returning Board Games

Some games have consistently made it to the table over and over outside this year; Cosmic Frog has continued to be an incredible game of player vs. player that manages to avoid true feels bad moments in part by ensuring that the frogs are never completely eliminated. You might get punched out for a bit, but you're rapidly back in and ready for more eating.

Middle Earth: The Wizards, an ancient Collectable Card Game from the 90s' got revitalised in spring, turning it from the pile of cards I picked up for close to nothing when a game's shop was closing in the 2000s. It has become a pseudo-cube solo/pvp/coop board game via the Arda ruleset and proved to be the crunchiest game we played all year. I am consistently impressed with how thematic the mechanics are and how varied strategies for navigating the game are offered. One can rally armies and allies to your side, delve into dragon lairs for treasure, collect a wide range of different rings and of course take The One Ring and dunk it into Mount Doom for an immediate victory.

Game of Thrones with the Mother of Dragons expansion (and the Rollin Mats “board”) was a memorable blast of tension and dragonfire, it remains the modern version of Diplomacy that I most enjoy despite never reading the books or watching the show. Well, I sort of know what happens because my partner watched the show while I painted, but most of my understanding is second hand. I don't really have much interest in getting into it at this point because it sounds like winter is never going to actually arrive and the series is currently like Patrick Rothfuss' “King Killer Chronicle” on a seemingly permanent hiatus without end in sight. Regardless of the setting the game itself is an excellent political dudes on a map game now that the main map is updated and elements like the vassal houses (NPC houses that can swap sides on who controls them). The map changes for House Stark (which is the house I have most familiarity with) have made them viable whereas in the base game you were always struggling to keep up due to bottlenecks on all three of your main routes into key areas where cities are located (controlling cities is the way one wins for all factions other than the Dragons).

One of the “once a year” game traditions when the UK contingent of my roleplaying group visits is playing Sidereal Confluence, 2025 was no exception to this, while originally we intended to try out the expansion, everyone ended up plumping for base game factions again because there's so much to explore in even just that base set. For those of you who are not familiar with Sidereal Confluence it is an engine building economy game with a distant space theme, the engines are represented by various cards and you convert resources (cubes) from one type to another, eventually ending in turning things into victory points to win. The really interesting wrinkle in the design is that no one faction can efficiently generate the resources they need. All progress requires trading and dealing with the other players, there's no room for conflict here, if you refuse to work with the others you can't possibly win. Everything is about mutual benefit and the winner tends to be the person who works with as many different people as possible.

Roleplaying Games

We got to play several new roleplaying games in 2025; the highlights of it for myself was Mothership – In Other Waters, which is a sandbox exploration game taking place on the first planet after Earth where life has been found. It had a mixed reception overall though, some of my players found the experience overwhelming because they suffer from analysis paralysis and struggled with having to set goals while others loved that freedom. However the setting itself was universally praised, as it should be cause In Other Waters is a wonderful little video game.

We also played the Aliens RPG, initially with the cinematic one shots that do a good job of driving the plot forward and creating player conflict via hidden agendas that gradually unfold. We're partway into an 8 mission Colonial Marine campaign now and the clear, defined goals that each mission has really helps keep my group focused.

After that I've decided to run Horror on the Orient Express for them, but Daggerheart is arriving next week, so I'm very excited to get a look at that and it might jump ahead in the queue.

Video Games

Honestly this year's video games have been incredible as someone who mostly plays indie games; Clair Obscura is obviously the front runner, but I didn't play that myself, instead my partner did. Nightreign and Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree have been two incredible explorations of Elden Ring's world. Nightreign has no business being as good as it is; coop Fortnite rogue-lite is not what one thinks of when considering Elden Ring's setting, but it works really well. About the only rough spot is the relic system, which is somehow worse than Monster Hunter's jewel system it's an absolute mess of randomisation.

Shadow of the Erdtree is something I've been exploring in seamless coop with my partner, we're close to the end of the run now, but it's been so good that we're considering playing The Confluence mod when it's finished in order to experience the world in a new light with alternative paths, more bosses and everything else that The Confluence seems to offer. I've very much enjoyed returning to "Fantasy Wales" and seeing how the expansion answers some of the questions that were left in the base game experience has been a delight. I hope the upcoming Tarnished edition incorporates the new movement and combat mechanics from Nightreign a bit, because Nightreign combat is so much better than base Elden Ring's.

Mystery games also took up a fair bit of my recreation playtime this year; I used to work in an investigative role before switching to writing and it is lovely to scratch that itch. Blue Prince is the obvious mystery game elephant in the room, but the truth is that game is held back by its room drafting system. While you can get tools to mitigate the issue, that takes time to unlock them. It takes a lot of wind out of your sails when you think you've figured out some puzzle, but now you have to wait for the drafting system to give you the right rooms in the right order. Often with games like this I'll 100% all of their achievements, Blue Prince is not one of those games. I enjoyed my time with it, but the amount of effort needed to progress later on in the story is not worth the squeeze.

Eyes of Hellfire is another mystery based game that I think is very interesting, the game it most resembles is the board game Mansions of Madness. You have to play this one with at least one additional friend (and it's better with more), only one person needs to own the game, but everyone else can download the free guest client. You have to work together to solve the mysteries of the Hellfire Club while also achieving personal missions. Mix into this a decent deck building deisgn with cards for your actions, proximity chat with limited discussion and one player having the secret goal to guess any other player's mission (they win if they guess that right, but they can't make the guess without helping everyone to escape, it's a semi-traitor role but the betrayal only comes at the end). The black and white aesthetic along with authentic Irish accents all work together to create a game that I think has a lot of promise as it progresses through early access. Certainly one to keep an eye on for the aforementioned Mansions of Madness enjoyers.

Another interesting mystery to unfold was The Excavation of Hob's Barrow, an English folklore point and click adventure game set in Victorian England. It's got a retro pixel art style that really helps build the atmosphere and the cast of characters are as interesting as the mystery. I've played through it twice, with the second playthrough allowing me to see how all the pieces fit together once I knew how the entire story went. Very satisfying.

The real winner for mystery games however was The Seance of Blake Manor, this is a Victorian era Irish based supernatural mystery game with many, many mysteries to untangle. Each person at Blake Manor has their own story for you to figure out and many of these cross and intertwine with each other. You spend your time exploring, gathering clues, connecting the dots and then confronting each person about their reasons for being at the manor or their personal goals.

One of the mechanics I really appreciated is that you are on a limited clock, but the clock only progresses when you take actions; you have time to look at the various clues you've gathered and check out various elements. I also found that there was very little “Moon logic” which is always a potential problem when considering video games, moon logic is where the solution makes no sense at all and is discovered either by checking a guide or by smashing everything together in various combinations until something clicks. If you are interested in an excellent mystery, elements of Irish mythology/folklore and just a superb investigative puzzle I think this one is a game of the year.

Movies

The most recent movie we watched was Weapons, it didn't grab us as much as the previous movie from the same creator (Barbarian) but it was still a great mystery and engaging experience from start to finish. I won't write more due to these kind of stories being best experienced with as little advanced knowledge as possible. Another movie I won't spoil much other than to say I enjoyed it was Wake Up Dead Man, the latest in the Benoit Blanc murder mystery series, I'm so happy that this kind of movie is being made again. As you might have noticed, I love a good mystery to explore. The third movie in the 'it's good no spoilers' trilogy this year is Sinners. I'm sure you've already heard about that one if you haven't already seen it.

In the Marvel Universe while The Fantastic Four was solid it's Thunderbolts* that was the real surprise for me, the current phase of whatever the MCU is going through has been really rough and unfocused. I was always excited for the Thunderbolts, but I realised early on that this was not the story we would be getting, perhaps in the future we'll see the iconic Thunderbolts crew take up the mantle. Regardless, this one turned out to be a super character driven piece with a lot of heart, it felt like a movie with more to say than just superhero smash and I've not seen one of those since the third Guardians of the Galaxy movie.

Speaking of James Gunn, I very recently got to watch the Superman movie and it was so refreshing to see Superman on the big screen as the Big Blue Boy Scout rather than Snyder's version. Henry Cavill was an excellent Superman held back by the story and plot, so I wasn't sure about the new casting. In particular I can't recall seeing David Corenswet in any movie previously, but his Superman performance was excellent and also Rachel Brosnahan, Nathan Fillon and Nicholas Hoult also all put in incredible performances. It's also refreshing to have the movie mostly skip the origin story, I'm all for existing heroes skipping that now and letting us instead appreciate a hero that has been established for a while.

I cannot wrap up the movie section without also briefly gushing about K-Pop Demon Hunters what an absolute delight of a movie which was willing to be dead serious and goofily irreverent sometimes within the same scene. And yes, it had some incredibly catchy songs. Pop! There's a few that I still want to watch such as Wes Anderson's The Phoenician Scheme, One Battle After Another, Predator: Killer of Killers and Train Dreams, a lot depends on when they become available over here.

Normal service now resumes!