Board games in 2025
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Another recap for this new year. This time, I looked at the board games we played last year.
The big winner last year was Lost Cities, which we played 15 times. It remains a fun little game for couples, and we’ve enjoyed playing it, often 2 quick games before to go to bed to end the day.
Number 2 was Splendor. We’ve owned that game for more than 10 years at this point, and just like Lost Cities it’s the perfect game for 2, after a long day. Of note, this year I finally won a few games (my wife is a Splendor expert 🙂 ).
Andor: The Family Game was the highlight of the year for the kids and enjoyed by adults as well. The kids also played a lot of Cheating Moth. They like the fun of cheating.:) I suspect it will remain a 2026 favorite for our kids, although it may be dethroned by Coyote, which they find super fun (me too!).
We haven’t tried too many new games in 2025, and instead spent too much time watching TV shows. I’m hoping we can change that in 2026. if you have suggestions of things to try, let me know!
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Another recap for this new year. This time, I looked at the board games we played last year.
The big winner last year was Lost Cities, which we played 15 times. It remains a fun little game for couples, and we’ve enjoyed playing it, often 2 quick games before to go to bed to end the day.
Number 2 was Splendor. We’ve owned that game for more than 10 years at this point, and just like Lost Cities it’s the perfect game for 2, after a long day. Of note, this year I finally won a few games (my wife is a Splendor expert 🙂 ).
Andor: The Family Game was the highlight of the year for the kids and enjoyed by adults as well. The kids also played a lot of Cheating Moth. They like the fun of cheating.:) I suspect it will remain a 2026 favorite for our kids, although it may be dethroned by Coyote, which they find super fun (me too!).
We haven’t tried too many new games in 2025, and instead spent too much time watching TV shows. I’m hoping we can change that in 2026. if you have suggestions of things to try, let me know!
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@RakowskiBartosz Thank you, I’ll check those out, add some to my reading list for 2026!
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@jeremy yeah, I know what you're describing. Some authors end up overcomplicating everything to a point where it's difficult to follow and ignoring it would make reader skip most of the content.
Here's a list I shared recently:
https://hachyderm.io/@RakowskiBartosz/115856042913939875
I remember reading a series where the plot was emphasized and levels and numbers appeared very infrequently. If I manage to remember which one it was, I'll let you know.
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@RakowskiBartosz I think I’ll need to read more before I can form a good opinion. It’s certainly refreshing, and I enjoy the style. But I find it gets repetitive quite quickly. Once the protagonist has understood how the game-like elements work and has used them a bit, the author needs to introduce new mechanics to keep the book(s) interesting.
Dungeon Crawler Carl did this well with new mechanics on each level, and some really good character development. We see Carl grow, and we also get to know a slew of side-characters that are just as important to the main plot.
He Who Fights with Monsters attempted to do something with its rank system, but I don’t think it’s enough to keep the story interesting over time. It doesn’t help that its main character isn’t written to be as endearing as Carl. 🙂
I’m curious how other books in the genre tackle that challenge. If you have recommendations for future reads, let me know!
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@jeremy I've read those books in 2025, amongst others, but I've liked most of the ones you recommend 👍
What do you think about progression fantasy or litrpg, in general?
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If you liked Hermanos Gutiérrez, you’ll like this one too!
The rhythms, base, radio voice samples, guitar, and latin style seem to be sending me towards Manu Chao‘s Clandestino as a future album on repeat 🙂
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Another year, another recap post! Here is a quick overview of the books I read and enjoyed in 2025.
I don’t read a lot, so don’t expect a big post. I read a bit every night, to disconnect my brain and fall asleep. For this reason, you will only find fiction novels on my reading list. I also enjoy book series most of all, because they allow you to go deep into a story.
In 2025, I read 5 different book series:
The Captive’s WarThe Captive’s War is a trilogy of books by The Expanse’s authors James S. A. Corey. I enjoyed their writing style in The Expanse and was happy to see them start a new story. So far they’ve only released one book and one novella, but book 2 is scheduled to be released in the spring and you can already pre-order it. I enjoyed the beginning of the story, it sets up a really interesting world.
Children of TimeThe Children of Time series by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I read all 3 books and pre-ordered the fourth, also scheduled to be released in the spring. It’s a unique take on the future of humanity / alien life stories / artificial intelligence. The main story follows life as it involves on a terraformed planet. Instead of the monkeys that were supposed to evolve on the planet to pave the way for humans to get there, it’s spiders that end up evolving on that world. We follow their evolution, and in parallel we follow what’s left of the human race as they search for a planet to live.
Dungeon Crawler CarlDungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman.This was my surprise of the year. I was looking for a lighter read after Children of time, and stumbled across the first book of the series (there are currently 7 books in the series, with more on the way). I wasn’t familiar with the litRPG genre and didn’t know what to expect. Turns out, this is exactly what I needed. Picture this: a man (Carl) and his ex-girlfriend’s cat (Princess Donut) get thrown into a televised dungeon crawler gameshow, run by aliens on what’s left of planet Earth. If that sounds crazy, you’re getting the idea. 🙂 The 7 books are easy reads, original, entertaining, and definitely a good way to disconnect after a long day. I would definitely recommend the series. The first book in particular was interesting because I was discovering the story and the genre.
SiloFollowing that, I read the trilogy that inspired the TV series on Apple TV+: Silo, by Hugh Howey. I watched the show before to read the books, and I was surprised by how well the show had followed the original story. It’s a dark series about the future if humanity, but one one that I would recommend as well.
He Who Fights with MonstersThis was my last series of the year. He Who Fights With Monsters, by Shirtaloon, is comprised of 12 books. I’m not sure if the series is over, I’m at book 10 right now. I have mixed feelings about it. It’s an interesting story and idea, again in the litRPG genre. I’m just not a fan of the writing, it’s very repetitive, and I often wonder how this was published as it often feels like I’m reading something that I already read in the last chapter. The books for sure could be a lot shorter. The main character is also not very likable, and his growth over the books is overly explained, again and again, instead of letting us feel his growth for ourselves. At this point you must wonder why I read 10 books of this! I’d love to give you a good reason, but I think it’s just sunk cost fallacy 🙂
If I had to recommend only one book series, it would be Dungeon Crawler Carl. I’m looking forward to the next book!
