Hanging off the lore of Dungeons & Dragons, this role playing game was apparently the breakout success of 2023. I finally splurged in 2025 and thought I’d try it out for myself. The company that brought us Divinity Original Sin used what they learned making those two games to bring us a tested and tuned turn-based strategy game backed by a well fleshed out universe.

The modern best example of an indie cozy game that has taken the world by storm, rev up your grandfather's old farm in the town of Stardew Valley while you fish, farm, hunt for monsters and befriend the people.

The seventh instalment of the classic 4X game of world exploration and conquest. I think I’ve played every edition of this series, and I got my copy of seven for “free” with my AirMiles reward points, the most dad thing ever, huh?

A book that in its first chapter mentions game design and dungeons and dragons, so between that and it’s immense popularity it must be good, right?

Any novels by the master of speculative science fiction and techno-fiction, Neal Stephenson. With books as thick as textbooks and nearly as dense, Stephenson has a way with big ideas that span space and time and reality. He is by far one of my favourite authors—and, trivia for you—if you were to ask me which book tops my list of all books by all authors, I would undoubtedly tell you that I have read Anathem at least twenty time, so beat that!

Any variety of books by the king of horror, Mr. King. I read my first King fiction way back in elementary school, much younger than I likely should have, in the form of a short story from one of his collections. The story was Children of the Corn, and I too entered something that day and never left.

A kind of deck building game where you buy and strategically play cards in an effort to navigate a variable puzzle jungle to be first to reach the city of gold.

There are many reasons for any of us to read more philosophy and science books, but in this age of AI and breakthroughs in our understanding of quantum physics, one that tries to explain human consciousness from both these perspectives is not a bad book to start with. This was a controversial book in the 1980s and is no less so in the 2020s, but all the more reason to read it for myself.

When everyone loves a game this much you gotta give it a try, right? I had never played a Dark Souls game prior, but when this one had made the rounds and showed up on a bargain on Boxing Day the year of its release, I added it to my collection. I can’t say that I have made much progress since.

Call it a philosophic puzzle, call it a walking simulator, or call it a weird science fiction action video game. Whatever you call it, Death Stranding caught my interest a couple years ago and when I can stomach the rollercoaster of low action walking punctuated by moments high adrenaline horror action, I am super curious about the mechanics of this one.

What more is there to be written about Skyrim that hasn’t already been written? I have bought this classic RPG at least a half dozen times in the last decade-plus and so installing the Special Edition for yet another play through seemed almost… inevitable.

I never really thought of myself as an enthusiast for goofy simulators, but I’ve found myself playing at least five editions of this cult hit.