Happy New Year! To kick things off in 2026 we recorded a quick episode on our individual Top 5 Games of the Year for 2025! So listen in as the guys discuss the top 5 games they enjoyed in 2025 among others, take a look forward to 2026, and just generally chill out and reminisce on a year of gaming!

Here’s what we talked about:

Look back at 2025

The Top 5’s

5’s

4’s

3’s

2’s

1’s

Honorable Mentions

Games you missed in 2025 and still want to play

Things you’re looking forward to in 2026/Games we have our eyes on to cover

Take Care and Keep on Gaming in 2026!!!

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The 5’s

Josh Game #5 - Slay the Princess

Clint Game #5 - Battlefield 6

Bryan Game #5 - and Roger

The 4’s

Josh Game #4 - CYPHER ZERO

Clint Game #4 - Hollow Knight Silksong

Bryan Game #4 - Hollow Knight Silksong

The 3’s

Josh Game #3 - Blue Prince

Clint Game #3 - The First Berzerker: Khazan

Bryan Game #3 - Kingdom Come Deliverance 2

The 2’s

Josh Game #2 - Baby Steps

Clint Game #2 - ARC Raiders

Bryan Game #2 - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

The 1’s

Josh Game #1 - Hollow Knight Silksong

Clint Game #1- Kingdom Come Deliverance 2

Bryan Game #1 - Promise Mascot Agency

In this episode of Pixelated Playgrounds, Bryan, Josh, and Clint finally arrive in Pharloom and dive deep into Hollow Knight: Silksong. We all fell in love with Hollow Knight when it launched in 2017 and even covered it on the show back in 2019, making Silksong a long-anticipated return. Team Cherry—Ari Gibson, William Pellen, and Jack Vine—have come a long way since the original Kickstarter, and Silksong’s journey from planned DLC to full sequel reflects a uniquely protracted and unconventional development cycle. Just as notable is the team’s decision to remain intentionally small, preserving creative control, efficiency, and passion while collaborating with key contributors like composer Christopher Larkin to elevate the experience.

Silksong represents a major shift from its predecessor, most notably through Hornet, a fully voiced and evolving protagonist whose presence reshapes both narrative and gameplay. The game emphasizes speed, verticality, and tool-driven combat, with Pharloom’s design flipping Hollow Knight’s downward descent into a constant upward climb. We dig into the game’s layered storytelling—Hornet’s personal arc, the history of Pharloom and its people, and the larger cosmic forces at play—alongside its thematic focus on song, memory, and organized religion. Along the way, we debate difficulty, movement quirks, crest builds, boss design, and the shard system for tools. We also discuss Silksong’s ambitious three-act structure, multiple endings, and whether it not only lives up to the original Hollow Knight. So join us as we close out the year exploring Team Cherry’s world of bugs, beasts, beauty, and bosses.

Three Word Reviews:

Bryan - Smooth as Silk

Josh - Flight in Fight

Clint - Solid Send Off

In this episode of Pixelated Playgrounds, Josh and Bryan dive into a Roguelite Roundup double feature with Loop Hero (2021) and Ball x Pit (2025), exploring how each game twists genre conventions in its own eccentric way. They start with Loop Hero, the 2021 auto-battling, world-rebuilding oddity from Four Quarters, unpacking its eerie DOS-inspired aesthetic, its “zero-player” design origins, and its signature loop structure that blurs the line between dungeon-master and adventurer. Bryan and Josh break down the tension between player strategy and character automation, how tile placement shapes risk and reward, and why the game’s intentionally opaque systems are both fascinating and frustrating.

Next we turn to Ball x Pit, the recently released brick-breaker–meets–city-builder from Kenny Sun and Friends. We discuss the game’s gleefully chaotic blend of chunky 3D constructions and crisp pixel effects, its two intertwined gameplay loops, and its ever-expanding roster of characters, buildings, and more than sixty ball types. The conversation digs into the fusion, fission, and evolution mechanics that make every volley unpredictable, the strategic timing involved in choosing upgrades, and the playful experimentation the design encourages. With its brisk metaprogression, flexible buildcrafting, and constant sense of discovery, Ball x Pit feels tightly crafted and refreshingly energetic.

Three Word Reviews:

Loop Hero:

Bryan - Around in Circles

Josh - Loops Within Loops

Ball X Pit:

Bryan - Not the Pits

Josh - Leans Too Far