Favourite Gaming Moments of 2025

2024 was a year of intense change for me. A new job, new opportunities to visit conventions, the chance to see my writing in print. I thought that 2025 might be a bit slower paced. It was not to be.

I am still in the new job at Stewart Brewing and I’ve stepped up in that role. I’ve really taken to brewery life in a surprise to me as much as anyone else and seem to have some aptitude for it. My writing commitments to TTGM have increased, which is fantastic but is one of the contributing factors to the big change I have made this year.

Most of you will know that I recently brought Brainwaves to an end. After 7 years and 200 episodes it felt like the right time to do this. With sites like Rascal and Boardgamewire taking up the news reporting mantle, I think the hobby is well served for genuinely great journalism that will not shy away from uncomfortable truths. Ending Brainwaves will also give me more time to write, explore the world of RPGs, and follow my instincts into realms as yet unknown.

But enough of dwelling on the more melancholic moments of the year. It has been a year filled with great games, lovely conventions, and seeing friends across the country. Let’s take a beat as we see in the new year, and look at my favourite gaming moments of 2025.

Introducing my wife to RPGs

This was the first thing that came to mind when I thought about the list for this year. While my wife Cath and I have played some games together, she is not into the ‘hobby’ in the same way that I am. However after watching some actual play shows, specifically Dungeons & Drag Queens, Cath expressed an interest in trying some roleplaying. She requested some dungeon bash style adventures in the D&D style.

Delighted at this turn of events I had a flick through my burgeoning collection of RPGs. I do not own D&D at the moment, though I have played it in the past. My eyes settled on Into the Odd. This is a light take on the OSR style games with a focus on dungeon crawling. It has been a hit. I’m running the game for a group of Cath and two of our friends who aren’t in my regular group. It has been a great experience running games for folk I don’t normally play with, and I really want to do that more over 2026. I’ve written about the game already, and have a piece coming up in Senet on the game as well.

Confronting loss in Clair Obscur

Clair Obscur was the game on everyone’s radar this year. I am not a fan generally of this style of RPG but I thought I would give it a go. I was blown away by it.

With its own sense of style and a strange and melancholy setting, I was hooked from the off. I generally find a lot of computer game story writing very badly thought through and not very engaging. The tale of hope and loss at the core of Clair Obscur I found moving and beautifully realised. The characters felt real, the voice acting was superb, and the arc of the narrative left me wanting to dive back into it at every opportunity.

I was going to write a review of it. However I don’t think I could do it justice without spoilers and I don’t want to deprive you of something I enjoyed so much because I didn’t know what to expect. Sometimes the correct choice is not to write.

Returning to a time of legend in Hades 2

Sticking with the digital for a moment, let’s return to ancient Greece in Hades 2. The first game absolutely got its hooks in me. I had bought it in early access on the strength of Supergiant’s previous work Bastion and Transistor. I found the original to be a superb roguelike action game with a story of rebellious youth and coming of age. 

The sequel I managed to resist until it was fully released and I have sunk about 70 hours into it at this point. It feels like a refinement over the first game and I’ve been enjoying the lighter feel of protagonist Melinoe’s combat. It has a load of toys and all of them are satisfying and interesting in their own ways. I have finished the game but have not completed the full main story yet. I’ll chip away at that for sure but it is easily one of my favourite games of the year. Look out for a review in the new year.

Writing for TTGM

Over the last couple of years I have been writing for Tabletop Gaming Magazine (TTGM) in the UK. It started with an indie RPG column after Adam from Punchboard put me in touch with the editor Charlie Petitt. I was always grateful for their work and this year my commitments to the magazine have grown. 

Matt Chapman has taken over editing duties and I had the chance to meet him just after he had jumped into the chair and we had a good chat about his ambitions for the magazine. It is always nice to put a face to a name. 

My indie column has now expanded to include more forthcoming titles and I’ve had the opportunity to interview great folk in the RPG scene including the Bakers, designers of the incredibly influential Apocalypse World. I’ve really enjoyed putting together these interviews and hope to do more of that work over the course of 2026.

Running the pub quiz at Tabletop Scotland

The Giant Brain team and associates have run the pub quiz at Tabletop Scotland for the last 3 years and it has become one of my favourite items on my gaming calendar. Putting a quiz together has become a challenge I look forward to. I think of it as an entertainment first and a quiz second and that attitude has served us well. The team that I have around me to help is full of friends and it is just a blast every year. Just look at this lot!

Total Drama in Slugblaster

I opened the year running a weird game called Slugblaster that I had picked up at Dragonmeet. This FITD powered game casts you as teenagers bucking authority by visiting other dimensions to perform cool tricks while trying not to get in too much trouble with your parents. The system of beats it employs gives you a really guided arc to each characters story, leading to some very satistfying conclusions. Triangle Agency almost pipped this for my tabletop game of the year, but Slugblaster is just easier to run and absolutley fantastic. I even went as far as to make a starter pack for it on itch.io.

Rounding Up

I would have liked to play more this year and that is definitely an aim for 2026. I have a lot of RPGs I want to get off my ‘to be played’ pile and I hope to use the RPG nights at Ancient Robot Games and conventions to make that happen. I’m also planning to meetup with folk more on weekends and get through to Glasgow more regularly to see Jamie and Iain Chantler. Former host Sam now lives in Dalkeith and we’ve been meeting up for games, something that will continue in the new year. 

All that said, I have had an excellent year. Busy, yes, but definitely fun. More than ever this year I have loved every gaming session, each conversation I have had about games and game culture, and my time thinking and writing about games. I’ve attened conventions, played games small and epic in scope, and met amazing people. I hope to meet you over a table sometime, exchange our views, and come together over the love of games and the people who play them.