2025 was a great year for people who stand for nothing and believe in nothing too. So with that in mind, @edgarallanbro.bsky.social is here to beg you to believe in SOMETHING, and stand for SOMETHING. www.startmenu.co.uk/home/will-bo...

I wrote a little thing for this :) I gave out the Best Butt award 🍑

this year I handed out the “Best Visual Novel” and the aptly named “This One Goes Out to the Sickos” awards. Give it a read!

IT'S FINALLY HERE!!! I awarded a few awards for @startmenu.bsky.social, and you can check them out and more here!! And peak that site wide GOTY while you're at it 👀 This was such a fun and bright moment in a dark month. So glad to have contributed and worked alongside so many amazing writers!

HEY MY WRITING IS HERE GO READ IT I TALK ABOUT VIDEO GAME TRAILERS AND REMASTERS

Seeing Axyz in this list has just made my brain melt. Cheers @startmenu.bsky.social you just made my year.

the most prestigious award i have handed out this year

This is a REALLY fun list of stuff. Big obscure hits, unique things I’ve never heard of, good categories that are celebratory and critical - exactly what you want in an annual recap

I handed out a few winners for startmenu's annual awards! In a move that will likely be unsurprising to anyone who's spoken with me in the past six months, I gave Best Music to Joel Schoch's soundtrack for Herdling, and Home of the Year to Mount Holly Estate in Blue Prince.

honoured to have been able to write about games crit itself for these awards, including being able to gush about the incredible @theautumnwright.bsky.social's work being the best of the year give it a read, alongside the rest of the awards! 💜

Also lads. Shoutout to @lexluddy.xyz who does an incomprehensible amount of work. Startmenu is such a bright spot for games. And a super special shoutout to @kellymerka.bsky.social, who edited this and remains a joy to work with. She put up with my bullshit and is ridiculously talented and kind.

HUGE SHOUT OUT TO @kellymerka.bsky.social, who not only put in a load of legwork getting this piece done but was undisputed MVP of startmenu this year <3

I had the honour of delivering two awards! Thank you for having me (and for nominating my work for an award… hehe :-D)

obligatory meme (thank you startmenu)

Cool format for this kinda thing.

Hey! I contributed to this, from overall voting to an award category I wrote!

APRIL WAS ALSO THE SIXTH ANNIVERSARY OF STARTMENU. SIX YEARS. THAT'S A LOT! bsky.app/profile/star...

Unfortunately this article comes too late to qualify for its own "Things That Make You Say '...Neat!'" award, but it's an honorable mention in my heart.

The startmenu Awards return for another year with the debut of the first site-wide vote for startmenu’s Game of the Year! But before that, we’ve got a selection of critics’ choice awards highlighting the good, the bad, and the ugly of 2025.

video games never sleep

Despite the winter break, last week saw a lot of video game news, including the tragic passing of Vince Zampella. @wendeego.bsky.social rounds up everything from the last seven days in the latest Update Patch. www.patreon.com/posts/update...

this essay does an awesome job striking to the heart of the hundred line! it mentions most of the big reveals so i would maybe suggest playing the game first if you're interested, but if not, it makes it easy to see why so many people (like me) think it's one of the best games to release this year.

on the editorial side, I became @startmenu.bsky.social's managing editor this year, edited the first issue of @deletedsavesmag.bsky.social, and have been editing a new project for @julie.radiantarray.io.

This week has Larian lose its sheen, awards be retracted, and new fan translations of old games. All this, and more, in the latest Update Patch from @wendeego.bsky.social. www.patreon.com/posts/update...

I knew I had to write something Hundred Line related for the @startmenu.bsky.social Winter Spectacular. As always, a massive thanks to @lexluddy.xyz for giving this piece a home and to @kellymerka.bsky.social for editing it.

The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy is about many things and for @brawler1993.bsky.social, it's about the lengths we're willing to go to avoid extinction and whether it's actually worth it.

My favorite thing I've written in quite some time!! Pls give it a read if you haven't already & make sure to follow @startmenu.bsky.social 🔥🔥🔥

No Winter Spectacular piece today so instead here's catch up thread of everything we've posted so far. Starting off with @ela-bambust.bsky.social reflecting on time.

"2025 has seen the industry seemingly collectively agree that its prices should be based around the income of the CFO rather than the working Joe." SPEAK ON THAT

My piece for @startmenu.bsky.social as part of the winter spectacular! Take a gander and whilst you're at it, read some of the other fabulous pieces

It’s a weird time to observe games industry trends. Call of Duty is full of AI slop and threadbare updates and costs up to $130, while Clair Obscur, Dispatch and Peak explore a range of price below the standard. But @alexgreen9898.bsky.social's biggest question is, “Where is all the money going?”

Love me some betas and demos!

We welcome back @oronalex.bsky.social and Super GG Radio to run down the best betas and demo of games coming in 2026.

Hollow Knight is a lot of things to a lot of people. To Louise Chase, the once-intimidating game has served as a source of newfound confidence. If she can beat Hollow Knight and its sequel, Silksong, well… what can’t she do?

I LOVED Before Your Eyes, but Goodnight Universe struggled to reach the same highs. Read my full thoughts on @startmenu.bsky.social below!

You might play as a baby in Goodnight Universe, but the game has big shoes to fill. Made by developers who worked on the critically-acclaimed Before Your Eyes, it doesn’t quite reach the same heights as its predecessor. @mindcontrollers.bsky.social reviews.

Thanks to @lexluddy.xyz and @startmenu.bsky.social for letting me write some lukewarm takes for their site!! It was so much fun to write and appreciate the opportunity to offer my Perspective (and deservedly promote some Irish games in the process ;))

There was very little good in 2025, yet despite it all, @carlo-no-s.bsky.social has found some games that gave him hope for the future of the video game industry. www.startmenu.co.uk/home/the-202...

This week: 25 new-and-interesting selections on the western construction of the JRPG, Chris Roberts, Hades II, and Keoff Geighley: critical-distance.com/2025/12/15/d...

getting to write this for @startmenu.bsky.social's Winter Spectacular has been so rewarding, a feeling compounded by how much fun I've been having editing features from contributors and guest writers this month and there's more to come!!

Really great piece from Deniz today.

I wrote about the thing people call “visual novels” for start menu magazine in which I talk out my ass about games I haven’t played for a few thousand words

This week's Update Patch @wendeego.bsky.social rounds up The Game Awards' biggest announcements, games back from the dead, and the best Doom WADs of 2025 getting recognition. www.patreon.com/posts/update...

Deniz Amasya joins us to take moment to reflect on espressos in Cologne, philosophers, and Sega Saturn visual novels.

I need to write my Steam library into my will. Someone's got to inherit my backlog

Are our game collections doomed to disappear along with us when we die? @coledone.com unpacks the problem of ownership when it comes to digital libraries, as well as what it means to hold a cartridge in your hands in 2025.

Another great Winter Spectacular piece today!

Zackary Edwards muses on the cathartic power of “Proof of a Hero” — an iconic theme in Monster Hunter that only rears its head when you face the series’ most formidable foes — in the epic fight against the dragon Fatalis.

NOTHING TO SEE HERE. JUST NOTED VIDEO GAME HISTORY MAN, @philsalv.bsky.social, DECLARING MINDSEYE "THE GAME OF 2025." PLEASE DISPERSE.

I said what I said