From one human being slowly cooked by cats and blankets to another, Happy New Year, folks!

Loads of games I didn't play this year but these are easily the most memorable ones I did: 1. Donkey Kong Bananza 2. Split Fiction 3. The Roottrees are Dead 4. Promise Mascot Agency 5. Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist 6. The Horror at Highrook 7. Strange Jigsaws 8. Öoo 9. Drop Duchy 10. Wednesdays

If Father Castle decides you've been naughty, you get a copy of Astro Bot on PS5. If he decides you've been nice, you get Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour.

The Daily Express TV desk is out of control.

It's indulgent, but I'm reposting this thread again because it made me chuckle so much. Current favourite: Blake Manor.

Strong sunrise giving me strength in the face of a 5 carriage (down from 9) train to London this morning 🥲

Proud to support Pinky for mayor of Steam Replay 2025!

Having a go-to recommendation is so much harder for books than games, I find. Personal tastes are trickier to gauge, and my reading habits are... probably more niche than most. The one I do tend to fall back on, though, is "Strange Beasts of China" by Yan Ge. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/d...

You like Assassin's Creed, do you? Well, can I interest you in... more Assassins Creed???

Have belatedly started reading Erin Morgenstern's "The Starless Sea" and I'm surprised by how much video game stuff is in it. That said, early evidence suggests it's all *very* early 2010s gaming discourse, though, which... Hmm. Feels strangely quaint somehow.

Netflix now owning the Nemesis system: every time you down-thumb a show, the more aggressively it appears in your feed, regardless of genre.

Second year in a row for @amosroddy.bsky.social. The Citizen Sleeper soundtracks are just such a constant fixture on my weekly train rides to London these days, and at the risk of pulling an Abba, thanks for all the great music!

No, *YOU'RE* obsessed with video game music.

I've been clearing out some boxes from underneath the bed recently and found all sorts of random/defunct technology I'd semi-forgotten about. Some key highlights: - half a Gtech vacuum that was sent to me by mistake - unopened Magic Leap One glasses - a 3DS NFC reader - this honking great WoW mouse:

🎵It's the moooost wonderful tiiiime of the yeeeear!!🎵

A John Lewis velvet Bon-Bon cushion? Or a covert nod that the family you're visiting for Christmas is actually in league with Umbrella Corporation?

The Back Page gets the VIDEOVERSE treatment! Thanks for 5 years of the podcast, giant men!

Hold up, why has no one made a bigger thing about Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment having both incredi musou action *AND* half a Star Fox game hidden inside it??? An insane mash-up that Koei Tecmo has absolutely nailed - all with a bangin' battle theme to boot!

Playing Dishonored: Death of the Outsider for the first time and hot damn, what a great video game, amirite?

Instant wishlist, heck yeah. January can't come soon enough.

Earning a C on easy in that brutal 10-minute-gauntlet final level is the best I'll ever achieve in life.

On @eurogamer.bsky.social this morning: well, the picture says it all, really. (Oh, and some hints for our next game, too.)

Videoverse is so dang good. Heartfelt, funny, and a love letter to consoles, self-discovery and early online communities. If you missed it on PC, you have no excuse not to pick it up now. It's out everywhere!

Been thinking about Flat Eye again recently after rediscovering its wonderfully ambient soundtrack, and cor, more people should have played that game! A speculative management sim from the devs behind Night Call, I mean, what's not to like? store.steampowered.com/app/1358840/...

How lucky we are to have Cas and the team throwing everything at every issue of APWOT. An honour to be asked to contribute - so many great writers I can't wait to dig into. Its annual arrival is a highlight of my gaming year. Treat yourself to a copy and you won't be disappointed.

You're all sleeping on Drop Duchy, a Tetris-infused deck-building roguelike that's also sort of a city builder, and you don't even know it. store.steampowered.com/app/2525310/...

Some great horror book picks in here. Would also add Olga Tokarczuk's The Empusium and Hye-Young Pyun's The Hole if you're after some more sinister reads!

Incredible evening hearing Sayaka Murata talk about Vanishing World, the reality of modern relationships (with real and non-real people) and *checks notes*, yep, "caves of meat" tonight at the London Literature Festival.

I've been wondering whether Nintendo's London Pop-Up was going to offer anything different to what's already available online (which is surprisingly hidden on the UK store but has been live for over a year, FYI: store.nintendo.co.uk/en/nintendo-...). Lots of crossover, but some Japan-only stuff too.

We need another boxout.

Absolum should be an instant addition to any best co-op games list. A fantasy beat 'em up is such a great fit for a roguelite. Its magic powers, trinkets & new moves offer so much depth + variety, and sidequests keep its map fresh on repeat runs. A steal at £20! store.playstation.com/en-gb/produc...

One Battle After Another (1986) Director: Yu Suzuki Publisher: Sega

Would have killed for this kind of resource on RPS and Eurogamer. Staying on top of calendars like this takes so much work, but planning coverage was so much harder when you could see major crunch points forming in real time. Huge props to @indieformer.com for releasing this into the wild!

Finally getting round to Öoo, the latest from Elechead genius NamaTakahashi, and cor, this puzzler really has the juice, the sauce AND the gravy. Lovely stuff. store.steampowered.com/app/2721890/...

Now that's how you kick off a Friday.

"Where's my Breakfast?" by Daniel Arthur

The end of DK Bananza goes so hard and absolutely smashes it.

I've had to abandon the Indiana Jones DLC after a glitch has made any further progress impossible, and I'm absolutely gutted. A great game brought low by a goddamn pipe puzzle of all things.

Hot damn, new Fire Emblem looks rad as heck.

Oh man, clocking Phanto in Super Mario Wonder Switch 2 Edition has awoken long hidden memories of his endless, It Follows-style pursuits in SMB 2. Looking forward to excavating some good childhood trauma there...

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie better have a stonking rendition of Gusty Garden Galaxy or rampages will be had.

New Toukana game day is always a good day.

Been thinking a lot about Yasuke since finishing AC Shadows. I didn't use him nearly as much as I thought, despite really liking everything about him at preview (and still do even now), and I think that comes down to the friction he creates as you move through the world. BUT! This isn't a bad thing!

Seeing people go "Reviews aren't needed for this. People will buy it regardless," and like... reviews aren't just a thing to be used by people to decide if they should buy something. A critical appraisal of a game is still worth having even if a bunch of fans are going to buy it anyway.

A powerfully ominous cloud.

The only good announcement today. youtu.be/o_Xmv9eAIZA?...

Done.

prepared for sakurai "why is making a game so hard?" memes for the rest of forever, congrats game devs

Give these champs the AC Shadows spin-off they deserve.

Finally rolling credits on Assassin's Creed Shadows be like