4 games that defined my 2025

2025 has been an awful year for me, but through all the struggles of being laid off (twice) I've been able to slow down and process life better than I had in years. I have an awful habit of constantly pushing forward, setting the next goalpost to reach, and pursuing it so hastily I can lose myself.

I haven't been moved by a game in the way UNBEATABLE (@dcellgames.com) has since Life is Strange came out a decade ago. Beyond the stellar gameplay, banging soundtrack, and gorgeous visual style lies a Story mode so brash, heartfelt, imperfect, moving, and existential it feels unlike anything else.

hiii i'm Caitlan and i'm looking for my next FT remote role! i have 4 years of gaming industry xp doing: player support social media & community management content creation marketing copywriting and more~ i'm funny and cool and creative, so check out my portfolio + resume now! 🍂 🌰 🤎 bit.ly/3M2uu57

wanted to boost this again since, unsurprisingly, nothing has panned out (remember this isn't normal!) open to contract and full time work, games-adjacent or no

You shouldn't buy either this new thing nor the MCC while both are under BDS boycott, of course, but Halo: CE is an unbelievably easy game to get a hold of and play on modern hardware in 2025. The MCC is basically a capstone on one of the All Time FPS Trilogies and nothing more needed to be said.

Hey y'all, Lee was approved for a surgery that would literally change their life. However, living in America means it's really hard to pay for medical costs alone 🫠 While I'm still doing commissions when I can, we opened a GoFundMe. You can donate and view the explanation here: gofund.me/4529263b1

look i'm very normal about gwynn and attal #DestinyRising

alright i know it's not silksong but i've been told I'm allowed to announce a crazy cool thing i've been working on for the past couple months and that's basically silksong. to me.

I cannot believe I grew up in a world with the dot-com bubble burnt into recent memory, only to watch venture capitalists make the same exact mistake, only stupider. AI was never going to lead you anywhere except around your ass to get to your elbow.

resident evil: requiem feels like a horror game made in a lab to specifically make me feral, from its branding to narrative to gameplay flexibility most excited I've ever been to be scared

even six months removed, I occasionally have nightmares about UE3 editor crashes. the fact I worked in an engine so old it could buy alcohol haunts me, the memory of physical panic anytime I copy/pasted in Kismet lingers.

The one sad thing that comes with how niche Paladins was is that only about five people ever got to be there for the multiple insane bits of yuri in it

i'm starting a blog! 🌱 it's called ripped wings & other things. it's about finding optimism in dire times. the first post is about Paladins. in the future, it'll span other topics and hopefully grow to be a space people can come to feel solace. 📝 justurvalpal.bearblog.dev

letting God sort em out

for the first time in over a decade, I'm returning to therapy! I've wanted to return for a long while but hadn't been in the right space, either mentally or financially. really looking forward to it since last time I was a child & hadn't fully recognized my depression and identity issues 🥹

it never stops. that feeling in my chest when i hear about peers being obilterated despite doing all they are asked. it's permanent now, a stain on the industry and the underlying systems that fuel a constant need for record profits and endless expansion. so tired, so physically sick.

worth pointing out that game devs at xbox are some of the very few people at microsoft engaged in work that people actually want. no one wants copilot. no one wants to rely on windows anymore. no one wants teams and no one wants drone targeting AI. but i do want pentiment

I just got laid off from Xbox's publishing team, alongside many others. Open community roles are welcome, but if you could send recommendations for games or other works of art that have helped bring you creative fulfillment recently, I'd deeply appreciate it. 💖

Zohran Mamdani performing so well in the first round of RCV is the most joy I've felt politically in several years. It's far from the moment to celebrate, but it's a major showcase in the DSA's ability to activate leftists and that Democrats really need to run younger, dynamic candidates nationally

playing the new Victoria 3 patch, managed to convince the Great Qing to take on all 50M of my debt in a treaty titled "The Great Austrian Bailout" all they wanted in return was luxury furniture, they treated my loans like a Discover card 😂

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I may simply be out of the loop, but having a hard time thinking of a case where an artist's album so obviously has a drop off point. The pre-Weezer and post-Weezer streams on Spotify are basically two different albums and I am so curious to see how those numbers evolve.

I had a lot of thoughts at this moment but wanted to take some time to decide how to voice them: I'm so tired of CEOs speaking for whole studios of developers. It is never worth it, and almost always leads to moments like this. Unchecked hubris, out of touch communication style.

I can't help but feel bitter about how growing up schools demonized Wikipedia instead of adapting and educating students on it, leading to a reality where a far less scrupulous source (ChatGPT) has no academic infrastructure to counter its use. The distrust sown back in Gen Z only emboldens α now.

Unemployment has made it so hard to mentally motivate myself to socialize, so I'm going to try and both use this space more and be my authentic self. I have NO clue what I'll end up posting long term, but in the meantime, here's a cavern I visited recently!

Just 100% finished DOOM: The Dark Ages on Nightmare, and what an amazing experience. The game is a technical masterpiece as all DOOM games are, but I'm most impressed by the scale & combat. It caps off a masterful trilogy of 3 different playstyles that manage to still feel DOOM!

Sinners is the best film I've seen in theaters in years and had me audibly gasping, crying, and laughing. Powerful and fun in even more ways than I expected. Truly can not recommend enough, and I hope Michael B Jordan is flooded with awards for it.

ICYMI, the creators of Battle Chef Brigade bring you BATTLE SUIT ACES, a character-focused, narrative card-battling RPG. Recruit ace pilots and grow meaningful friendships as you adventure to uncover the secrets of the relic suits. 🤖 Wishlist now! ➡ store.steampowered.com/app/2870530/...

It's been a long time since an action-adventure game clicked for me like South of Midnight has. There's something beautiful about the mix between a modern southern gothic story wrapped in folklore & gameplay that is more streamlined. It's not going to be for everyone (dark), but it nails it for me!

at this point I expect to wake up one day to 95% tariffs on Dollywood

🌙Complete Eris and Drifter relationship thread🐍 Season of Arrivals to Heresy I hope to include (most) of their lore/interactions to show how their dynamic has evolved.

Avowed entered Early Access today, and I've had a blast with it so far! It feels like a fresh vision of the fantasy RPG & solves a lot of problems I had with Skyrim. (Yes, I'm one of the rare people who doesn't love ESV) The combat system is satisfyingly flexible & the visual style hits for me.

the Super Bowl's final score bout to be Drake's age versus the age of the girls he tries to date

I’m so proud of what we made. Thank you to everyone I knew at HiRez & the opportunity to work on games I love. I’m looking forward to new opportunities to bring my skills as a game designer or CM to a new project and bring even more joy to players. Info: www.linkedin.com/in/vinrome

Hi Bluesky, my house was one of those that was destroyed in the Eaton fire in Altadena, CA this last week. I need your help rebuilding my life. Please read and consider donating or sharing my GoFundMe. GoFundMe: gofund.me/e69c2676 Story in thread 🧵 #eaton #losangeles

Out of all the things #SpotifyWrapped could tell me, this was by far the least surprising. I am waiting to hear from Drake's lawyers any day now.

I've been slowly trying to pick up more fighting games in my rotation, and WOW Tekken 8 is truly amazing. I've always struggled a bit with the series in the past, but now that I'm a bit more engaged with the FGC, it's been so fun to learn and doesn't feel insurmountable!

It's far from the most devastating thing the corporate push for AI adoption has caused, but I worry for the next generation of students and learners. Learning when properly nutured is a deeply enriching process, AI has eroded the foundations that give the opportunity to foster love for academia.

If Spotify Wrapped is still tracking my listening habits, Kendrick is about to look like the 90s Chicago Bulls with the numbers he's putting up.

Every time I find the time to work on progressing the Paladins narrative, I realize how many more stories I really want us to tell. It's the constant balance in a live service title of pacing and relevancy, as much as I'd love to drop a random story about Stagalla on people.

I want to start sharing more scraps and older narrative/design work I've done on Bluesky, so here's a peek at what went into planning Grovos' personality and story. His name was chosen by his mother, who viewed Grover as a protective spirit for the remainder of Dragonkind.

Hello! I'm Kryptek (you can call me V!), and I work in the games industry. 🦋 Currently, I'm a game designer and community manager on Paladins, as well as occasional game jams and narrative work with folks. If you follow me, you'll mainly see a lot of video, card, and tabletop game discourse!