Man. The SOMA fans have HIGH praise for that game. And it was currently $3. Starting it tonight!

OK. I think im mostly moving on to my 2026 "offseason". Basically old games I missed or abandoned before the 2026 releases come out. OFFICIALLY decided on these 4. Time permitting. If anyone wants to rank all 4 Id be curious to see which game has the most passion behind it 👀

Bumping this up. Merry Christmas everyone! Coming Friday... my 2025 honorable mentions. I'm still debating if one game will be an honorable mention or in my top 10. I have one more day to figure it out!

Game #42 of 2025 completed: Shinobi: Art of Vengeance. A rock solid "segmented Metroidvania". Very fun combat with lots of combos. Great level design, rewarding exploration, and some fun set pieces. Slightly finicky platforming and weak boss fights, but this is a great game.

Merry Christmas Eve! As a new Christmas tradition, I thought it'd be fun to share some non BNG content. So I compiled 11 articles/podcasts/videos from smart and talented friends. Please support them and check out some amazing gaming content! bignerdgaming.com/2025/12/23/m...

You know a citybuilding element is done well if I am actually putting in real effort to make it look nice and not just putting whatever down. I'm actually planting flowers and making the paths look nice. This isn't how I operate in many of these games. I love Octopath 0.

Last bump. Appreciate the support as always! Here's a few more teasers for you. Coming tomorrow... a new Christmas Eve tradition for me. My favorite gaming content from friends this year! I'm excited to share how freaking amazing many of my friends are. I hope you'll check it out!

Testing this out and it seems legit to me. I'm getting a nice mix of the friends that I always "like" and some stuff from people I don't know as well. The lack of a decent "for you" tab has always been my biggest issue here. This is the best version of one I've seen!

Here's a sampling of some of the prestigious awards handed out! Many more inside.

It's time for part 1 of 6 for my year end coverage! It's officially sicko season! First up, the 2025 Nerdys! Featuring prestigious awards like "most embarrassing game to play with my wife around" and many more! bignerdgaming.com/2025/12/22/t...

Better late than never. Here are my top 10 games of 2025. It has been a frankly grueling year, but I am grateful more than ever for video games to keep delivering the most emotionally resonant experiences to ever exist. pixelbytegaming.com/andresplays-...

My first daughter turns 4 years old today! I didn't understand the depths at which I could love someone until she arrived. I also didn't realize the things I could overcome. It's been very special and I cant wait to experience more in different ways as she continues to get older.

I couldn't sneak a picture, but there was a dude at the local indoor playground with a "Miller Lite" shirt on and he's kind of my hero now.

Bought this on mega sale today so I can't back out of playing it in a few weeks when I'm done with 2025 games.

This is why we didn't get an Xbox wrapped this year 😭😭😭

Hot take? There is not one silent protagonist that has made their game better unless it's a game with no dialogue at all.

As we approach the end of the year I am going to share some of my favorite things (I wrote) this year. Sorry to be annoying! First up, a piece about Pokémon cards and my inner child - especially since Pokefever has only intensified since ZA came out (Scarlet and Pearl remake are under the tree)

Everyone is doing it, so here are my favorite pieces of content I did this year. 1st up- @andresplays.bsky.social favorite piece from me. My Discounty review! In it, I weave a cold war era tale of capitalism and my own grocery store experience in with my review. bignerdgaming.com/2025/08/15/d...

I've been bouncing around a lot of games I missed this year to make sure I at least touched everything possible before my awards szn. But after 5 hours, I think it's clear theres one game I truly need to go all in on. It's the only true top 10 contender left. Octopath 0

One of my most old man traits is I don't know what amiibos are really and I refuse to learn.

I had so much fun doing this with Andres. I hope you'll check it out so he doesn't cut me out from the pod. If you want a sneak peek at my top 10, this is the place to see it. Though it is subject to change in the coming weeks before I post my list on BigNerdGaming 👀

Here's the last Little Victories podcast of 2025!

Paul desperately needs to start specializing his toner build instead of being a jack of all trades.

Just unlocked the city building in Octopath 😯😯😯😯

Last bump. Appreciate the support as always! Coming Monday... THE NERDYS. It should be a lot of fun!

If you’re a metroidvania super fan this is a must play title with cool moments, boss battles, and soundtrack. For others, its slightly dated gameplay may cause some pauses. Either way I loved my time back with Samus. Full review 👇🏽 #gamesky #promosky #metroid #videogames #substack

Ok. In true BigNerdGaming fashion... my ranking of the 7 games I wrote about 1. Shinobi: Art of Vengeance 2. Ball x Pit 3. Octopath 0 4. Constance 5. The Outer Worlds 2 6. Silent Hill f 7. Absolum

Starting next week, all of my insane EOY lists and awards start. So it was time for a "last call", where I give some thoughts on games I've at least touched. -Ball x Pit -Constance -Shinobi -The Outer Worlds 2 -Absolum -Silent Hill f -Octopath 0 3800+ words! bignerdgaming.com/2025/12/18/2...

Welp. I somehow wrote almost 3800 words on... -Ball x Pit -Constance -Shinobi: Art of Vengeance -The Outer Worlds 2 -Absolum -Silent Hill f -Octopath 0 Coming tomorrow. I hope you'll check it out!

Steam Replay! The session count makes me laugh. Welcome to trying to game in between parenting. The Steam Deck has been such a game changer for me. I love it so much. Hades 2, Ball x Pit, The Seance of Blake Manor, Pipistrello, and Dispatch are all bangers BTW.

Really fun piece by. Im honored to be the only non-developer to make an appearance on Little Victories. Sadly, Andres did not learn anything from me apparently 😭

Categories for THE NERDYS next week -Dumbest Design Decision -Worst Performance -Worst Game Awards Snub -Most 7/10, 8/10 and 9/10 Game -Most Overrated Game By Fans -Most Embarrassing Game To Play With My Wife Around And more! Very excited about it! My EOY content is almost here

Last bump. I appreciate the support as always! Coming Thursday, my 2025 "last call" before BNG Sicko SZN. Thoughts on -Ball x Pit -Constance -Outer Worlds 2 -Shinobi: Art of Vengeance And maybe more!

Four indies from Day of the Devs/Wholesome Snack that pumped me up last week. -Beastro- Very stylish farm-sim +deckbuilder??? -Stretchmancer- 1st person puzzle game where you stretch the levels -Scrambleknights- Battle Royale + Zelda??? -Verdant- Beautiful post apocalyptic world + the 80s!!!

My daughter's preschool has a sign for incoming kindergarteners saying "Welcome Class of 2039!" That fucked me up a little.

I feel like there should be two separate discussions about AI right now. The usage of AI in an automation capacity, and the usage of AI within the confines of art. As a society, we already accepted the use of automation to kill millions of manufacturing jobs. /1

As usual, it's finally time for me to give out my 23 biggest winners of Game Awards week. I say "week", because I also ranked games from the excellent "Wholesome Snack" and "Day of the Devs" presentations. There's a lot to be excited about right now! bignerdgaming.com/2025/12/16/m...

Just saw a Day of the Devs trailer that totally blew me away. I can't believe I haven't seen much buzz for it yet. Excited to write about it for my article tomorrow!

I had a hard time taking the Exodus trailer seriously because the lead character looks way too much like the meme bodybuilder guy.

Man. Imagine loving video games so much that you become a developer. You finally create the world and game that you always dreamed of. You put it out into the world... And then it's overwhelmingly considered mid, so you gotta pivot to suckering in the gooner audience for anyone to care.

Seen a lot of people fretting about engagement and such the last week. Honestly, if the "likes" go down a bit, it won't matter much to me. I'm always grateful for the many great connections I've made in the past year or so here!

Was going to post my "biggest winners" of The Game Awards today, but I decided it was important to watch "Wholesome Snack" and "Day of the Devs" before doing so and include them as well. So I will be posting tomorrow instead!

An interesting part of video games is that they have so many ways to succeed. Obviously I always want a game to be good at everything, but there are many games I love with bad stories and great gameplay, and vice versa. Honestly, there are games ive enjoyed just because the music is great*

22. Astral Ascent Another impeccable adventure that I discovered recently, thanks to @bignerdgaming.bsky.social, Astral Ascent is a 2D roguelite with some of the most dazzling animations I've ever played. With clever progression systems in place, this one is a must-play for fans of the genre.

I understand Jason's point, and I definitely would like to see more awards (tune into The BNG Awards soon 😉), but this year shouldn't make us lose sight that in most years, it's one indie max that makes it to the "GotY" noms. Getting rid of best indie because of one year would be a mistake!

Excellent read here. Cy explores the themes in the story, and the ending in particular, in several compelling ways. He talks a lot about how he personally experiences art in ways I found fascinating. I particularly found it interesting because of Cy's past comments on my own view of the ending

The 3rd place guy just said "haven't you talked about how great Chained Echoes is before?" Oh baby. Never purchased a game for someone faster.

One other thing I did yesterday. Ive been very in the fence about Octopath 0. The gacha "base" of the game had me very skeptical. But I realized there was a demo last night. I'm about an hour in and yeah... this might be the real deal folks.

I have never played an Ace Combat game in my life. But that Ace Combat 8 trailer at The Game Awards was pretty damn cool. Picked up Ace Combat 7 for 5 bucks. I'm probably a month ir two away from playing it, but this will be helpful for deciding on buying 8.

Maybe I'm wrong as I haven't gone too deep into research for 2026 yet. But it seems like they are running back RE4 but making the "Ashley segments" good and giving them more time? Honestly, theres potential there. It doesn't feel totally safe and I respect that.