It’s starting to push towards midnight on 2025 in Australia, so it’s time to look back on what the Grimdark Magazine team achieved this year. We were able to achieve that thanks to you, champions.

2025 delivered some spectacular efforts in TV and Film for grimdark fans. Here are a few titles that we are looking forward to as we look ahead to what we know will be an incredible 2026!

For those of us who like to sit back, hop on the sticks, and play the bloodshed, the Grimdark Magazine review team has compiled their Best Games of 2025 List after a great year of gaming.

Artist Carlos Díaz’s work has been the face of Grimdark Magazine for a long time. I love the sheer level of detail he works into his colour art, and the beauty of his black and white work. Here are five of my favourite of his artworks over the last six years.

It’s that time of the year for us to gather around a fire and talk about our favorite books of the year! Pour an egg-nog, grab the cookies, and get a towel as we go through the best fantasy, horror, and sci-fi books of 2025 as picked by the team here at Grimdark Magazine.

People in the science fiction and fantasy community can be so awesome. Here are five YouTube channels where where people create cool things for SFF fans.

THE SCOUR is now live in audio!

We got a chance to sit down with indie star and dark fantasy author Michael Michel—most known for his work on his flagship series Dreams of Dust and Steel. We talked about his books, rapid releases, the dangers of belief, Christmas, and who the GOAT of SFF is.

Saltcrop offers eco-fiction readers a refreshing and uniquely human take on the planet’s near future.

Check it out in a busy cinema this silly season and you’ll have a great time.

Probably best enjoyed by those who are familiar with the works being referenced, is also enjoyable just on its own.

My top ten favourites of 2025, feat. @richardswanauthor.bsky.social, @grimdarkmagazine.bsky.social, @fondalee.bsky.social, @joeabercrombie.com, @jameskestrel.bsky.social, and a few classics: nappertime.com/my-favourite...

This slightly creepy, slightly cosy tale will appeal to fans of Kingfisher’s witty writing or standalone low horror stories.

A simple heist story wrapped with fascinating characters and themes around class and power divides.

Benjamin Aeveryn’s wild imagination is on full display in Venomborn, an grimdark progression fantasy set in a world where monster venom is both a powerful magic source and a deadly addiction.

Like with most spin offs, The Rats is a little vignette of the world that plays well if you’re already a fan.

I feel it’s a bit more Warhammer 40K in its handling of the Mythos than how I prefer my eldritch abominations

Mistborn: the Final Empire is a classic, and it’s one for a reason.

A cosy fantasy taking place in the world of The Demon Cycle? It feels like it shouldn’t work, but it actually does work really, really well.

If you are a Sanderson fan and looking for a nice set of tales to enjoy and stoke your mind, Tailored Realities is a great pick-up.

With brilliant and unique fight scenes and an excellent lead, this is another hit for Netflix.

One of the seminal video games in the survival horror genre and the originator of the genre in 3D.

A well-written, complex, epic fantasy, erring comfortably enough on the darker side to appeal to a grimdark fan.

Just wrapped up writing novella two of this year. This one is in collaboration with @phokion.bsky.social, and is being serialised by @grimdarkmagazine.bsky.social. You should check it out!

There are now three ways you can subscribe to Grimdark Magazine! 👉 Print subscription through Grimdark Magazine 👉 Add a print copy to your @thebrokenbinding.bsky.social subscription 👉 e-zine subscription through our Patreon Find out more: grimdarkmagazine.com/subscriptions/

NYT #1 bestselling author Marie Lu sat down with us at Grimdark to discuss her debut adult fantasy Red City.

Harrison’s most layered, meta, and tricksy work yet.

Bold, brutal, and maybe the best of an incredible canon.

Don’t mind me nursing the sweetest book hangover for the foreseeable future, cheers.

The festive season fast approaches and with it comes the eternal struggle that is figuring out what to gift your loved ones and frenemies. Let us help.

The news is out! The Broken Binding is producing a special edition of my novella Casthen Gain from @grimdarkmagazine.bsky.social 💜 * Signed * Foil on Boards * Digital Fore-Edge * Block-Sprayed Top & Bottom * Royal Hardback £19.99 + P&P ~ Pre-order NOW: thebrokenbindingsub.com/products/cas...

The pulpy subgenre sword & sorcery still thrives.

THE SCOUR by @richardswanauthor.bsky.social just hit 300 ratings! This brilliant novella is absolutely smashing it, and with The Broken Binding limited editions shipping soon, and the audiobook landing right before Xmas, no matter how you imbibe or admire your dark fantasy horror, we've got you.

In 2023, Hexworks launched a new game called Lords of the Fallen. Technically a sequel to the 2015 game of the same name, this Lords of the Fallen also acted as a kind of reboot since the first one never hit its stride. Sadly, this second attempt also met mixed reviews … initially.

Every character has teeth, every alliance has rot underneath, and every moment of tenderness feels like it was dragged through a battlefield.

Big, bold, visually mesmerising, sad, and stacked with grit in the face of hopelessness, Kill Lupercal showcases how good the 40k genre is on screen.

THE SCOUR by @richardswanauthor.bsky.social is now available in audiobook thanks to narrator Philip Battley and the folks at Podium!

Was pumped when Beth & Adrian @grimdarkmagazine.bsky.social asked me to write a story for their special cyberpunk issue. On top of that, somehow I got the cover art (look at the contributors to the issue - a truly stellar line-up). It's their first print edition, and I can't wait to get mine.

@grimdarkmagazine.bsky.social is now offering PRINT subscriptions!!! And look at the lineup!

Recently, we talked with author Matthew Dawkins about his recent release in The World Below, a fantastic RPG setting in a vast underground kingdom.

Frankenstein (2025) is a dark, beautiful and maudlin tale.

Grimdark Magazine Issue #45 is here and ready for pre-orders. This quarter we are going all in on cyberpunk and SF, featuring some of the best short fiction writers in the genre injecting gritty and horrifying futures to your very eyes. AND WE’RE DOING IT IN PRINT.

A must-read if you like your fantasy sharp, morally compromised, politically loaded, and full of complicated characters who will sink their claws in you, whether you like it or not.

Lesbians versus zombies on a steam-punk Titanic might sound glib, but there’s nothing superficial about this seriously addictive, dark, and bitingly well-written opener to a trilogy I am suddenly extremely excited about.

I love the idea of competing groups of adventurers fighting over a vast underground hellscape like a Mad Max underground.

IN THE SHADOW OF THEIR DYING is part of The Broken Binding Black Friday sale! Get in and mop those last few copies up.

With a compelling protagonist, a world that feels lived in, and some of the best fight dynamics out there today, Ghost of Yotei is an essential purchase.

A dagger in a fantasy world shouldn’t exist just for aesthetics. Find out why, thanks to author Sarah Mughal Rana.

Gorgeous imagery, great character work, and a world rife with religious and political tension.

A great novel if you’re looking for a near-future murder mystery with a likable protagonist in a dystopian but plausible future.