Yeahhhh I'm not exactly overflowing with energy at the end of this year. I was lucky enough to pick up some full-time contract early this year, so that took up a bunch of my time and energy. That work has wound down for now, which is a blessing and a curse. A curse for all the obvious reasons having no job in 2025 is a curse, but a blessing for what the other half of my time and energy was spent on this past year: a personal game project.

A personal game project

Most people reading this have probably already seen or at least heard about bits of this project. It's an as-of-yet-untitled bump combat action RPG, heavily inspired by early Ys, Angeline Era, and Sylvie RPG: 7 Elf Apocalypse. I say "RPG", but it has mutated into something that's got more in common with arcade action games and shmups. As of this writing, it's on track to be somewhere between 3 and 5 hours long, which is bigger than anything I've released so far. I've got 1 more level to map out and a few more bosses to make, most of which is already designed to some extent. After that I'll be starting on audio, boss art, actual in-game writing, variable difficulty, and a ton of fine-tuning of everything. I'd say the game is roughly 70% complete. I know the shape of it, I can see the path forward. I just gotta do it. If my day job doesn't pick back up, I'll be working on this project as if it were my job -- which would honestly be pretty nice because I REALLY wanna get this game out there. I intended to finish it in 2024. Hell, I even thought it would only take a handful of months. Foolish. Kids, your game ideas are A L W A Y S bigger and more difficult to make than you think. After this project, I wanna focus for a while on making very small games very quickly. It'd be cool to do some game jams again.

Video games I played

In spite of everything, I made time to play lots of video games and HOO-BOY did I played some bangers.

Visions of Mana

I already wrote a review for Visions of Mana, so I won't rehash it all here. If you bounced off the demo, I urge you consider giving it another chance. I also bounced off it, to the point of almost skipping the game entirely. I'm so glad I didn't. It's kinda corny and straightforward, but honestly I enjoyed that about it. Hard difficulty was beautifully balanced for me, real chunky and exciting boss fights! I cried at how sweet and refreshlingy, straightforwardly in love the 2 main characters are. I cried at how beautiful the in-game art was. I cried at the journey the protagonist went on as his naievete and optimism was GREATLY tested. I cried at the many different ways the party interacts with their parental figures. I cried after I 100%ed the game with over 70 hours clocked in, because I didn't. Want it. To end.

Cute Falcom

I've started using the term "Cute Falcom" as a genre that refers to a pretty specific era/style of game made by Nihon Falcom. I'm sure there are non-Falcom games out there that would fit into this label, and I look forward to discovering them some day. In short, this genre is all about charm, semi-experimental mechanics, and generally being a fun romp that isn't too concerned about high polish in its story or gameplay. I hesitate to say they're "innovative", because they really are very unpretentious. Just some good pure fun.

I played 3 Cute Falcom games this year: Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure, Zwei: The Arges Adventure, and Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection. They're all fantastic action RPGs that I adore, but Gurumin probably takes the top spot of the bunch. Comparing Gurumin to the Zwei's, Gurumin is more focused on its combat and on level design that has you exploring in 3 dimensions, while Zwei is more of a 2D (even though Ilvard has 3D art) action dungeon crawl with more secrets and challenges. If you wanna know about the differences between the Zwei's check my review. I also wrote a bit about Gurumin if you wanna hear about some of the neat nuances of its combat. These games rule y'all. I cannot recommend them highly enough. I'm extremely excited to check out "The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails" soon, which I suspect will be another great Cute Falcom game.

Friends' Games

I know some people that make some pretty fantastic games, and lots of 'em!

Daisy Goes to Slime Castle for Tea is an absurdly charming RPG Maker game that is bursting at the seams with cute and funny interactions. I've never had so much fun checking every last tile for more bits of text. It's also got just a straightforwardly fun RPG battle system. A joy from start to finish.

Sylvie RPG: 7 Elf Apocalypse, yes the Sylvie RPG: 7 Elf Apocalypse that inspires my own bump combat game, is amazing. Sylvie made this game, in its entirety, in less than 3 months. A whole 3-5hr bump combat action RPG complete with leveling up, an economy, tons of secrets, and SEVEN (7) elves!!! Something very interesting about this game is that its entire world is made up of 7x7 individual screens, each of which is made up of 7x7 tiles, each of which are 7x7 pixels. It's what Sylvie calls a "7 game"! All of these things -- the "7 game" restrictions, the relatively quick play time, and the super fast development time -- should not undersell this game, though. Regardless of any of that stuff, Sylvie RPG is a thrilling adventure. Combat is as simple as it gets, yet still demands skillful play (the beauty of bump combat). There are level-ups and upgrades, and they feel REAL NICE, but at the end of the day you still just need to get good. The world feels sprawling and is brilliantly laid out such that repeatedly traversing the same areas has you passively practicing combat and discovering secrets hidden in early-game screens. There is much to learn and discover through careful observation and experimentation. There is so much more I could say. Sylvie RPG isn't "great despite its limitations". It's straight up great AND its limitations make it shine brilliantly. I highly recommend picking up the bonus pack. She goes into detail on the design and dev process there, and it's fascinating.

Dead Girl's Notebook is a visual novel that was made for a 10-day game jam with some interesting restrictions. Aria, the dev, works with Sylvie fairly often (Aria did the opening animation for Sylvie RPG!), and like Sylvie, she has a knack for making super cool things within restrictions. Dead Girl's Notebook is just a nice story that portrays some stuff I've experienced my whole life but had never seen portrayed before. It meant a lot to see that. It made me feel like a bit less of a freak, or at least that there are other fellow freaks who are closeby. I played this game shortly after Christmas last year, and I just had a really nice time reading a chapter each morning to stave off my post-holiday liminality.

One of the best ways to describe the games my buddy Polly makes would be "immediate and laser-focused". Planet Attrition is a beautiful demonstration of this. All you gotta do is move your mouse cursor around to touch the baddies before they touch the planet in the middle of the screen. Easy game for babies! My high score is a bit over 100k which is a big number so it must be pretty good ri-- OH MY GOD. Yeah, a Polly game means it's gonna have suuuuper sneaky details to the way its systems work that you gotta just discover on your own if you wanna take your play to the next level. You can absolutely jump into her games and have a bit of quick fun, but there is often a lot to dig into that gives you something to master.

I am incredibly proud of Alix for making and releasing her first ever visual novel The Anniversary. She made this for a game jam where the rules where that you could only use one of each asset (background, character art, sound effect, etc). She made great use out of those limitations, and brought to life a few characters that have been floating in her head for a long time. I'm very excited for what she makes next!

Other Games

Here are some miscellaneous games I enjoyed this year:

Ys: The Oath in Felghana. My 4th Ys game and the 2nd one I've played from the same era as Ys VI. This is probably my least favorite of the 4 I've played, but that's not really a dig on it since they are ALL masterpieces. Oath feels incredible to play, with combat that's so fast, so punchy, and as refined as this era of Ys gets. However, its story and world are about as forgettable as can be. It was kind of the opposite of Ys VI, which was very frustrating to play at some points, but its environments and set pieces and characters and overall aesthetic was jaw-droppingly cool. Ys I and II are still my favorites, but Oath is unquestionably still worth playing.

Final Fantasy IV. I played a fan translation of the original Japanese Super Famicom version. This was actually my first time really playing a SNES-era RPG... I get it now. I LOVED this game. One of the most perfect examples of using the language of games and genre to make a story burst to life. The combaty-puzzly style of the gauntlet of bosses in the final dungeon was so fun. I'm eager to explore more of this era of RPGs. I think Chrono Trigger will be my next one.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC. Hoo boy... Y'know, I'm not really sure what to say about this game. Its combat is cool. Its writing and characters are astoundingly detailed. I had a great time. It's also just... so big, and you need to play its only-slightly-shorter-but-not-quite-as-sharp prequel first. It's been a really fun ride seeing these characters grow and this world shift, but it's so intimidating knowing this is just a small slice of what TEN OTHER EVEN BIGGER GAMES build upon. I'm very excited to play Trails 3rd, but I'm pretty confident Trails and I will part ways there. What I've seen of the later games just hasn't appealed to me much -- certainly not enough to convince me to invest over 70hrs apiece to see it all. I do still recommend the Sky trilogy though, if you want 3 super chunky crunchy JRPGs to sink your teeth into.

Crusader of Centy, aka Soleil outside the US. This is just a super cute and fun Sega Genesis action RPG! Its closest comparable contemporary would be Link to the Past, which came out a few years before Centy. Throughout your journey, you befriend animals that follow you around and grant special abilities to use in combat and/or exploration. Unlike Zelda, these abilities are actually useful outside of the one area you get it in. Overall Centy has more teeth and more meat on the bones. It is absolutely the better 90's action adventure. I love it.

Helen's Mysterious Castle. "HOW DID THEY DO THAT WITH RPG MAKER?" was a common refrain during my playthrough of this. Its wholly-deterministic combat system is brilliant and so much fun. Its story is pretty barebones, but the way it slowly pieces it together is so so good. This is definitely a game I'll be pointing to when I wanna show folks how far you can push RPG Maker.

Top 10

So with all that said... I wanted to rank stuff into a top 10. It was agonizing, but also an interesting thought experiment. I wound up using an online ranking tool to help me rank them based on different criteria (most fun, most emotionally impactful, most impressive, etc). I then made a big spreadsheet with all this data and used it to inform what I felt in my heart of hearts. I basically had 4 tiers, each with up to 3 or 4 games. Games within a tier felt tied to me, so... it was difficult to split it all up into a top 10. Anyways, enough blabbering. Here's my top 10:

  1. The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC


  2. Dead Girls' Notebook


  3. Final Fantasy IV (fan-translated Super Famicom version)


  4. Ys: The Oath in Felghana


  5. Daisy Goes to Slime Castle for Tea


  6. Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection


  7. Zwei: The Arges Adventure


  8. Sylvie RPG: 7 Elf Apocalypse


  9. Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure


  10. Visions of Mana

Music

This was the first year in a long time (possibly ever?) that I kept up with new music releases as they released. It was fun! I wound up ranking them into a top 10, which was pretty much as difficult as the video game top 10. Whereas the video game list allowed any game I played in 2024 regardless of what year it released, I only considered albums that actually released in 2024 for this list.

  1. NO HANDS - Joey Valence & Brae
    Beastie Boys party hip-hop? Not typically something I go for, but this album is just so goofy and undeniably fun.


  2. You Won't Go Before You're Supposed To - Knocked Loose
    Super heavy-hitting hardcore. The vocals are kiiiinda one-note and get a bit tiring after a while, but overall this album still largely jives with me. It was pretty interesting rediscovering Poppy through this, who I hadn't even thought about in a decade or so. The track featuring her is probably my favorite.


  3. Girls Who Are Wizards - Vylet Pony
    Harkens back to an era when Skrillex was just starting to come to folks' attention and was still making playful and creative music. Big stupid brostep and other electronic styles that are simultaneously goofy and incredibly well-executed. Can't help but smile listening to this album.


  4. Monarch of Monsters - Vylet Pony
    Apparently Vylet Pony is one of those musicians that is able to churn out super well-produced tunes at a breakneck pace. This album is completely different from Girls Who Are Wizards. It's more in the realm of emo, ambient, and all around experimental. The album is actually written for and intended to be listened alongside a novella that the artist also wrote. I haven't read that yet, so I'm judging the music here on its own merits. I'm very mixed on it. I LOVE the first 40% or so, to the extent that I declared it to be in my top 3 before I had even finished the album. Unfortunately, the last 60% changes things. A lot. Like, it becomes an entirely different experience. This album feels like it wants you to sit with it, analyze it, listen many times. I'm willing to bet it makes a lot more sense as a soundtrack to the novella. As a pure album listening experience though, it's difficult to digest once you hit the 12-minute track... and then the 22-minute track... I'm putting it over Girls Who Are Wizards because the parts that do hit for me hit a lot more than anything in GWAW, and because it's a fascinating creative endeavor.


  5. How Could I Be So in Debt? - Tombstone Poetry
    Another style I didn't think I'd really enjoy much: Alt Country. Well, I very much enjoyed this album. Great riffs and vocal melodies. Atmosphere that's simultaneously eerie, medatative, raw, and cozy. I had a hard time making out the lyrics for some songs, so I wish they had the lyrics listed. Texturally, I really dug this one.


  6. No Name - Jack White
    God, this is just unfiltered straightforward good-ass punk-tinged blues rock. This is about the best Jack White has ever been with vocal performance, guitar work, and overall songwriting. So many songs that you just gotta shout out along with him. I love this album. IF GOD'S TOO BUSY THEN I'LL BLESS MYSELF!!!!


  7. NUTTY - Bodysync
    Early this year, when I was feeling about as hopeless with the state of the world as I ever have, this stupid album shows up and is like "hey let's just goof off for a while." While the world has only gotten worse, this album has continued to be a source of levity, relief, and, as cliche as it may be to say, escapism. It never fails to make me grin and bob my head to its upbeat and bouncy dance tunes. Bodysync consists of 2 electronic music producers I've been a fan of for a long time: Giraffage and Ryan Hemmsworth. Bodysync is very different from either of their solo projects, but it's plain as day they're having a ball making these tunes together.


  8. PRUDE - DRUG CHURCH
    Just some straightforward rock that hits real good. I'm a big fan of Patrick Kindlon's vocals, and they're put to great use with choruses that are snappy, catchy, and cutting. There's no wasted space on this album, to the point that some songs may be a bit too short. Most don't even break 3 minutes! Sure makes it easy to run the album back though, which I have done many times. Brings back memories of high school friends' bands playing wild underground shows.


  9. Hex Dealer - Lip Critic
    AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
    This album makes me wanna punch and kick holes through the walls while performing a forbidden ritual that transports my consciousness to a flickering fragmented digital hellscape. Part of me wishes this album was longer, but another part of me thinks it's just long enough to give me a hit without its energy totally overwhelming me. This is my first brush with Lip Critic, and wow am I here to stay.


  10. MG Ultra - Machine Girl
    Every style Machine Girl has ever explored is contained within this album, and it's all elevated and blended in a way that shows they've been at it for over a decade. Frenetic percussion, aggressive vocal filth, lush sound design, and newly-honed songwriting chops. It's one of the most rebellious, angry, "FUCK YOU" albums I've heard this year -- an energy that, For Some Reason, has REALLY resonated with me this year! This is a new high for Machine Girl, and every listen blows me away anew. I have *got* to see them live at some point. MG Ultra is unquestionably my album of the year.

Anime

Okay anime had a pretty weak showing this year in terms of watch-to-hit ratio. I did still make a top 10, though it's not all 2024 stuff. I'm pretty tired of typing and I still gotta get all introspective and stuff at the end of this post, so this is gonna be brief SORRY ;D

  1. Kageki Shoujo!!
    Not to be confused with Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight, which I wasn't a huge fan of.


  2. Shoshimin: How to Become Ordinary
    Slice-of-life mystery from the creators of one of my all-time favorites: Hyouka.


  3. Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night
    It sure is rough being a creator, isn't it?


  4. Train to the End of the World
    Better than Polar Express.


  5. Garden of Rememberance
    Wordless, adult-oriented, 17-minute story about love and loss, animated by Science Saru.


  6. Black Butler: Public School Arc
    Slightly advances the plot, but is mostly just a really fun "school houses" jaunt with the Black Butler nonsense I adore.


  7. Black Butler: Book of Circus
    Sorry, double Black Butler, and this one isn't even from this year. I just love this show and this one had a really emotional story to boot.


  8. Look Back
    IT SURE IS ROUGH BEING A CREATOR, ISN'T IT!!!


  9. Dead Dead Demons Dededede Destruction
    ......hanya-nya-fuwah......


  10. Delicious in Dungeon
    Probably the most I've ever laughed at anime. Far prefer the dub. I adore these idiots and I cannot wait for more.

Honorable mentions: Ghost in the Shell (1995 movie), Alien 9, Land of the Lustrous, Wolf's Rain.

Other stuff

Some misc other media I enjoyed:

Wrapping up & what's next

I guess should mention some of the games I released this year.

What else happened... hmmm... well, I've been having a liiiitle bit of an identity crisis of a certain variety. I'm continuing to dig into it and talk with trusted people about it. I'm even thinking of outwardly exploring it in a certain way next year. Yes, yes, very cryptic I know, but I think it could actually be pretty fun and I'd like to allow for a cool reveal when the time is right.

As for what's next, the biggest thing on my mind is giving streaming another try. I have some ideas on how I can make it more fun for myself. The main thing about streaming, for me, is that I just really wanna connect with friends more often and share games with them. It's not something I'm really able to do much IRL right now for a variety of reasons. I have a bunch of online friends I cherish, and even more that I'd like to form connections with; but lots of them are only really online in the evenings, which is typically when I'm occupied with other stuff. I just wanna hang out y'all. I really can't overstate how much it has meant to chat with friends, whether it's little interactions on social media or digging into stuff in DMs. You mean a lot to me.

Well I think that'll do it. In spite of, uh, everything going on in the world, I'm very happy to have formed new friendships and strengthened existing ones this year. I'm glad I released a new game, even if it's just one small one. I'm glad I got some of my old games posted somewhere. I'm glad I finally have an industry credit. I'm glad I had work most of this year. I'm glad I'm healthy enough. I'm glad Alix is still here. I'm glad you're still here. Thanks for reading. See ya around. <3