2026 Update: What Have We Learned? (and my faves of 2025)

Monster Hunter Wilds was a really surprising one. I'm not a huge Monster Hunter fan, in fact the only other game I've played is World and never got too into it, but I had a friend who pretty much forced me to try Wilds and I really like it! I've heard some people say it's not good and that shocks me because I think this game kicks ass. I've been having a lot of fun playing this game with friends after work, it's a really fun pick-up and play game as well as being a really fun game to play for hours on end. 

I haven't spent a lot of time in this game, and in fact it was the very LAST game I started in 2025... that's a lie, I started Spider-Man (2018) on New Year's Eve, but I started Wilds the day before. So, I definitely need more time with this game, but so far, this is definitely very fun and I've thoroughly enjoyed it so far.

I really enjoyed Deltarune. I played all 4 chapters this year, but 3 and 4 were the ones that released in 2025, on the same day. I remember really enjoying the first chapter when it came out back in 2018, never played the second, and then finally played the whole package last year.

It's really one of the most creative titles I've played in a while. The writing is very fun, gameplay is great, and the whole experience is very easy to lose yourself in and get absorbed. While Chapter 2 was my favorite overall, that also came out in 2021 so it doesn't really count. My favorite of the 2 new ones is Chapter 3.

Chapter 3 has a really fun concept with the whole TV game show aesthetic, and Chapter 4 has a really good story with some great character interactions. I like that Noelle references Board James. Have you ever played a game with a Board James reference? Have you even heard of Board James? 

I can't wait to play Chapter 5 when it comes out hopefully next year. Don't disappoint me Toby Fox.

It's a spiritual successor/prequel to my second favorite game of all time. What else do I need to say?

Okay, fair. I hear you. Bananza is a great 3D platformer. It's not my favorite I played this year (that would be 2024's Astro Bot) but it was definitely a wonderful experience with great ideas that at least helped to fill the Mario Odyssey 2-shaped hole in my heart. 

I loved just punching and destroying shit in this game. The story was also solid too. I don't think it's better than Mario Odyssey but it's still a phenomenal title that definitely deserves your time. I think the only reason it's getting hate is just because Nintendo as a whole is getting a lot of flack right now. This game does not deserve to be in that crossfire. It's great.

I would not be surprised if OBAA sweeps the Oscars in March. This was an incredible movie that had me hooked the entire time. Very fun watch, I even got the pleasure to see this movie in IMAX 70MM at the AMC Lincoln Square IMAX, which apparently is the biggest IMAX screen in the country. 

I haven't seen any other movie from Paul Thomas Anderson surprisingly, so this was my first movie directed by him, but I will definitely be checking his other work out, because what I've heard of the rest of his catalog sounds great. 

I thought the performances of this movie were amazing. Definitely my favorite Leo role, and Benicio Del Toro was incredible in this movie. Definitely my favorite character in the whole film. 

No Other Choice was a phenomenal movie. I loved Lee Byung-hun in a variety of other things so seeing him star in this movie was exciting to see, which he does a phenomenal role at playing the lead character, a father who'd recently been let go of his sturdy job, now he has to eliminate the competition of another job he's looking to get. 

The cinematography in this movie might genuinely be my favorite of last year. I was genuinely floored by some of the  shots in the movie, it's such a beautiful watch.

I want to get into more Park Chan-wook movies and just more Korean cinema in general because all the Korean movies I've seen in my life have been nothing short of amazing.

I just want to preface this by saying this placement is based on sheer enjoyment and not because I truly think Friendship was the absolute best movie last year. If that were the case Bugonia would be in the runner-ups and No Other Choice would be #1. 

That being said, holy fucking shit I loved Friendship. I am a huge fan of Tim Robinson's projects such as I Think You Should Leave, Detroiters, some of his work on SNL and his other sketch comedy work so this movie was right up my alley. Andrew DeYoung did a great job with writing and directing a movie that felt like it wouldn't work with anyone but Tim and Paul Rudd in the lead roles. 

Conner O'Malley has the funniest line in the entire film and it's never brought up again. There's a scene where Tim's character takes a powerful psychedellic drug and instead of having a crazy trip he hallucinates a trip to Subway. There's a huge plot point where his wife gets lost in the sewer. It's a hilarious film and definitely one of my favorite comedies, and certainly my favorite comedy of the year. 

Also, something I love is that Conner O'Malley wasn't really involved with the production of this movie and only appeared as a cameo in 2 scenes but was included in the commentary and gave his live reaction to the tarrifs that Trump announced in April 2025. Love Conner

YOLO was one of my favorite shows on Adult Swim. I feel like Zach Hadel gets a little too much credit for Smiling Friends, he's certainly the more popular one between him and Micheal Cusack, but YOLO is Cusack's sole creation and you can definitely see how much of Smiling Friends' comedic DNA is Micheal's. 

This show is fucking hilarious and honestly, if you're clamoring for more Smiling Friends, I'd say YOLO fills that void not only well, but honestly for me, Smiling Friends fills the void of no more YOLO, as Rainbow Trinity, the name of the third season, is also the final season of the show. 

I'd honestly 10000% recommend this show if you like Smiling Friends. It's the exact humor but dialed to 11. 

The Rehearsal is a show from Nathan Fielder. I loved Nathan For You, haven't seen The Curse because I never had the excuse to subscribe to Showtime, but I loved season 1 of The Rehearsal and was wondering how the hell they'd top that with Season 2, and then I kept asking that same question with every episode, since every damn episode of this season felt like there's genuinely no way they could do something even crazier. But they did. 

I'll refrain from spoiling the show, but the entire premise of the second season is that Nathan wants to solve a big issue he's noticed with communication between pilots in airplane cockpits and the correlation that has with plane crashes. It's a serious topic and he wants to make a genuine documentary about it... but the issue is, HBO is paying him to make it a comedy. This results in some of the most insane moments in television I've ever seen. I probably had my mouth agape during the entire season finale. 

Shocking, insightful, hilarious, I'd genuinely reccomend everyone to watch this. You don't even need to watch Season 1 to watch Season 2 since they're completely disconnected from each other. 

Thanks Warner Bros. Every show on this list is watchable on HBO Max so I made it easy for you to watch all of these.

The Chair Company is yet another 2025 project starring Tim Robinson, this time being co-created by him and ITYSL co-creator Zach Kanin. 

This show is another one that'll have you asking what the fuck is happening after every episode. I feel like it actively goes against the flow at times and I love it. I watched this show with my mom and there were so many times where she pointed out something that she thought was important to the bigger picture and it ended up being nothing more than a one-off gag until it re-appeared a few episodes later after everyone had forgot about it. 

Most surprising and favorite show of the year by far. Thanks Tim Robinson