Welcome to the EOTYs – Engards of the Year (2025 Edition)
With all major services doing a recap of the year, I don’t need corporate data so sort my favs of the year only by listening, playing or watching them a lot.
So, I want to take a deep breath and just sort my tops of the year in no particular order with my main pillars of entertainment in my life: videogames and music.
I don’t have a comment system on my blog, so feel free to say hi or even leave your tops in my neocities profile page's post!
GOTYs – Games of the Year
Silksong
What can I say about THE game. The meme is OVER and so were my life as soon as I got my hands into this. I've been silksonged.
A perfect sequel to me, with no spare effort to make it feel like one.
We did it, silksong clown gang
Eclipsium
The surprise of the year.
One that do a 360 experience in terms of thinking about the game itself.
I wish I could tell you more about it, but it's a piece of art that needs to be experienced.
Trails/Kiseki Saga
This feels like an investment at this point.
I've been playing this saga for the WHOLE YEAR and og boy, I'm all on that Kiseki train.
I've been talking about it here multiple times, but as a summary, I've never seen a saga so well developed, with a cohesive world-building and charming characters across all entries.
Yes, they are lenghty, but it's so much worth it (I think no kiseki fan would say otherwise lmao)
Estelle keeps being best girl.
Lunacid
Lunacid is here because, even tho I've played it at the begining of the year, it has never leaved my heart and my mind.
And now with more King's Field-like games coming out, this feels like the best introduction to the genre.
Truly a unique, eering and compelling experience that I reccomend everyone getting into!
Metal Garden
Megaestructures were a thing not so much explored in videogames terms in the likes of Metal Garden.
For me, a truly ode to Tsutomu Nihei's feelings of vastness, exploration and wondering.
Signalis
Signalis feels human within the retro-futuristic vibe it has, dangerously close to a possible distant future, and yet there's room for even genetic affection.
And it got me from the FIRST minute.
AOTYs – Albums of the Year
Hit It! — Vianova
Incredible musical display, playing with other genres such as crabcore (in Wheel of Fortune), math rock (in Marimba), and even classic rock (in Obsolete, reminiscent of Queen or Aerosmith).
A wild album.
Tsunami Sea — Spiritbox
Courtney's vocals here are THE highlight of the album that got me goosebumps with Perfect Soul or Soft Spine.
A truly representative album that elevates the group's career and shows that we have powerful woman at the scene.
Even in Arcadia — Sleep Token
They did it again.
A coming of the album that felt like a treasure hunt and a release that felt like a prophecy came true.
A much more personal album that even addresses directly some of the issues that came after The Summoning, specially with it's fanbase.
As always, Vessels vocals on point, and they managed to wiggle some room on exploring new tunes and rythms from other genres to embed on their core.
Never Enough — Turnstile
A magical work that blends the harshness of the genre with soft electronic tones to create an intimate experience that builds community.
NATIONAL AVERAGE — Big Special
There is something magical that I think has rarely happened to me throughout my life, and that is discovering a band I like at a festival (especially one that I had zero expectations for and went to purely for fun).
Big Special captivated me with their energetic live performance and their desire to interact with the audience, despite it not being a festival that welcomed visitors, and then on their album individually with that post-punk tunes that I do really enjoy.
The Sky, The Earth & All Between — Architects
Powerful from start to finish, with a journey that could only be described as an “anthem.”
Whatever may be your situation, I truly wish all of you do enjoy these last bits of the year and hope y’all have the best start of 2026 possible.
Cheers and we’ll catch up mext year!