Astrobot was my Game of the Year in 2024 and it’s a game that keeps on giving with semi frequent content updates adding new levels to sink your teeth into. In the months following its release, we saw time trial levels and a Christmas stage which I enjoyed as they released. In early 2025, hard stages were released weekly which I didn’t play at the time, for whatever reason. Roll on the other day, I was just scrolling social media to see that Team Asobi had just launched another bunch of levels, this time all at once!

Announced in a tweet and shadow dropped alongside an unrelated patch with no patchnotes, the first of enhanced bosses were added to the game. Under the new title of ‘Everdark Sovereign’…

“The worst game of 2025”, “1/10”, “This year’s (LOTR) Gollum”. These are all things you've probably heard about Mindseye. I can't say these are entirely unfair given the absolute state of the pre release for the game.

Since Pokemon Legends Z-A is confirmed to be a late 2025 release, I thought it’d be fun to have another run through various Pokemon titles I have already played, some of them in new ways, to prepare myself for the new title. Since Z-A is set in Kalos, I figured I should start in the original Kalos game.

Following on from the announcement of FromSoftware’s next project – the legally distinct ‘The Duskbloods’, I thought it was time to revisit Bloodborne. Often heralded as the studio’s Magnum Opus, years of fan glazing turned it from a game I liked to one that I didn’t have the time of day for. Admittedly that’s on me for letting my opinion be swayed. After playing it, I think I’ve cemented my opinion on it: ‘It’s a good game but maybe my least favourite Souls Game’

Coming from the creator of The Stanley Parable and The Beginners Guide, many thought there would be some sort of meta level shenanigans hidden midway through the game. Wanderstop was marketed as a narrative cosy esque game – a far cry from the developer’s previous works. Of course developers can branch out but this seemed almost too suspicious of a pivot. Turns out there actually isn’t any and the meta elements are more in the way that the characters journey mimics that of everyday people – the concept of Burnout.

When I moved from TheNerdRock to CraigPlaysGames, one of the things I told myself is that I wouldn’t force myself to talk about every game, especially if I didn’t finish it. There are times where I do want to talk about a game but can’t find a good way to talk about it, such as the case with Super Mario RPG last year. Here, I have two games that I did enjoy, so why can’t I review them?

For the best part of a month so far, I’ve made an effort to change that. I’ve replaced a bunch of my social media usage with two Pokemon phone games – GO and Trading Card Game Pocket and I can definitely say they’ve helped out, even if one has captured my heart a lot more than the other.