SlightlySpicySheep's Favourite Things of 2025

Hello! This is a roundup thingy of my favourite things from 2025 (that i experienced in 2025 not necessarily that came out this year). They won't be in any particular order really, i'll probably group them together by category to have some sort of a cohesive structure. The last post was a bit negative so i'm trying out something that will hopefully ooze with positivity, i've always loved Super Eyepatch Wolf's 'My Favourite Things' videos, they're essentially just someone talking about things that they like which are nice comfort watches. If i was good at making videos i would like to make something like these, but i'm not so i'm writing instead. Which i can't do either.

Music

Ghost are one of my absolute favourite bands, and this year they released their 6th full-length album, Skeletá. In my opinion, Ghost have never released a bad album and somehow manage to produce the audio equivalent of a swimming pool full of diamonds on every record. Like a deadly affliction that was twisting and bending my core, there was a faint sense that this would be the record that couldn't live up to my lofty expectations, that Ghost would finally miss. i've never been happier to be proven wrong, with Skeletá showing that Tobias Forge's brain is SWIMMING with incredible ideas. Papa V Perpetua fronts an album packed with song after song that continue to set Ghost so far apart from any other band out there. i was also lucky enough to be able to see Ghost on their 'Skeletour', and i think it's the closest i've come to a religious experience. Ghost have been an absolute must-see act for me for years, and i finally managed it. Live music is such a special experience, especially for a band so theatrical as Ghost. No expense was spared, giant crosses adorned with flashing lights, mid-set costume changes, FLYING DEVIL POPES it was a beautiful show.

For me at least, this had been a great year for live music. Along with seeing GhOAsT, i also by some miracle managed to get tickets to see Iron Maiden. Iron fucking Maiden. Iron Maiden are my favourite (along with The Darkness) band of all time. They were the first band that really got me into metal, what i consider to be a not-insignificant part of my personality. You try being that small child i once was (i think) and not losing your tiny mind hearing Number of the Beast for the first time, it was a whole new world of demons and hellfire and really, REALLY good guitar solos. i track parts of my life based on which Iron Maiden album i consider my favourite, 2025 has been a Seventh Son of a Seventh Son era. This live show was so special to me, it felt like i'd completed some sort of metalhead pilgrimage. This year marks Iron Maiden's 50th anniversary, and (despite several lineup shifts) have remained an incredible musical force all this time. Their live shows are incredible, their amazing musical talent and showmanship really shine in all their unholy glory. Another important live show this year was Judas Priest and Alice Cooper, i feel like i'm repeating comments about live shows but these were incredible too. Alice Cooper, the godfather of shock rock, puts on a real show with fake guillotines, straitjackets and Jason Voorhees, Johnny Depp was there too. Judas Priest are a phenomenal band and this was THE LOUDEST live show i've ever been to. i challenge you to listen to Painkiller and not explode with metallic glory.

Movies

Alright, if you think you've found the best bad movie every, you're wrong. The Room? Troll 2? Wicker Man? Alright Wicker Man is kinda the GOAT but i've got a worthy contender. Watching Samurai Cop with one of my best friends was probably the most i've laughed this entire year. It's a bad movie in every possible way, executed with such endearing passion that you can't help but follow along with giddy excitement at every turn. We've got reused dialogue in the opening car chase (Shoot, shoot him! Shoot, shoot him! Shoot, shoot him!), a main character fluent in Japanese who can't understand it, and fights so epic that they break space and time. You'll be watching these two guys fight, and with every move they'll be in a completely different place at a completely different time. Fight scenese will pingpong between night day and evening with breakneck speed, that you can't help but lose yourself in them. The credits thank 'Micael Jackson' and 'Holland'. THE BUTT CUT. Frank is one of the greatest characters i have ever had the pure joy of experiencing on screen, words cannot adequately describe how funny he is every single time he's around. He's an undercover cop, after all. Just gather some friends and watch this together, i guarantee it will be a good time. i've enjoyed every one of the movies we movie-nighted this year, i have treasured every single minute of them. Samurai Cop will just always have a special place in my heart.

Games on a board

One of the best parts of living with my 3 friends has been easy board game nights. Board games can be so much fun, especially when they're good ones and the people you're playing with are good people. Root has been a Squadarooni house STAPLE, home of many in-jokes and good times all round. Every faction in Root plays so differently from the others, with each having their own unique way they score points and eventually win control of the woodland. My favourite (surprising no-one) are the Corvid Conspiracy, who i struggle to not play whenever Root pops up again. Laying plots and consipiracies to make everyone else second-guess their choices is so much fun, with some highly satisfying shenanigans. If you can't win, you can at least by very, very annoying. The other staple game has been Smash Up, which has been my favourite board game since i first played it. i can now say that i own (in potentia) every Smash Up expansion ever made, and being able to take them all for a spin with some of my bestest friends has been a dream come true. Discovering insane combinations and crazy plays is such a pure joy, and i think it's a sign of a truly well-made game when almost every single game could swing in anyone's favour until the very last turn. Smash Up is another one of those things i can't exactly put into words how much i love it and it means to me, but know that it is good and you should play it.

Games on a video

Videogames are my favourite way to experience media, i think they are a truly special medium and if you don't see them as an art form i do not want to be your friend. Team Fortress 2 is my favourite (multiplayer) game of all time, and i have written extensively about it on the old blog. It is special, not just to me but as a piece of media in itself. This is cheating, but late 2024 the Team Fortress comics were finally finished, concluding after an 8-year gap from the last issue. The days have worn away, but Team Fortress stays standing. i would recommend these comics to anyone, pre-existing fan or not, they are just that good. This year marked my annual tradition of playing the bejesus out of TF2 during Halloween, one of the simplest and deepest joys in life. i also finally maxed out my Soul Gargoyle, collecting over 36,000 souls in my Halloween career. Along with discovering the simple beauty of the Larval Lid - a brain maggot cosmetic with unique voicelines that i love so incredibly much, this Scream Fortress has been one to remember. Team Fortress 2. What a game.

Left 4 Dead 2 is my second favourite multiplayer game of all time. Valve might not be a perfect company, but holy shit they make some good games. L4D2 is sneaking onto this list because i've been playing it with friends again, and i am so happy we are. i love this game with all my withered heart, and it brings me such joy to be able to experience that with other people again. L4D2 is SUCH a good co-op game, forget about playing it online because like most gaming communities it's melted into toxic sludge that smells like dorito armpit, but get 3 friends together and go to town. Also, god bless games that are easy to mod. Playing player-made campaigns in L4D2 is blessedly easy, and so is making any entity in the game look like anything else. i'm not sure what i would do without my velociraptor survivor skins, or the charger rainbow. i want to make a 'survival guide' for L4D2 where i try and recreate the magic of game guides, and that's a project that will either pop up on the blog or on a new page when i get down to it. If you're reading this and you're one of the people i've been playing L4D2 with, thank you.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon. My first game in the Yakuza franchise, and i fear it has started an obsession. i loved this game so much from start to finish, the story is incredible and the characters are insanely likeable, Ichiban has got to be one of my favourite video game characters ever. Every pixel of this game is oozing with joy, everything from the minigames to animations to skill trees feel like they're custom-tuned to squeeze as much delight as possible out of the player. It's a beautiful story about clawing your way back from the worst points of your life, and it's also a game where you can call a cat to attack enemies mid battle. Ichiban is a protagonist who refuses to give up hope for someone no matter how despicable their actions, and Ichiban is a protagonist who feeds people super-spicy Kimchi to solve their various life problems. It's a game with some of the most climactic and cinematic boss fights i've ever experienced, and it's a game with character classes like 'Homeless Guy', 'Hostess' and 'Chef'. It's a game where i came very close to crying during the closing moments. i can't wait to see what else the Yakuza series has to offer.

Dude...

Undertale is the definition of a special game. Full of a cast of quite frankly ludicriously well-written and loveable characters, and a god-tier story. Mechanics that take the very foundation of a videogame and twist it in so many ways that you can feel fragments of the fourth wall raining down on your head constantly. Some of the most incredible bossfights that i have ever experienced, with each boss taking their own spin on the game's deceptively well-designed combat system. And while you're experiencing all this, one of the best videogame soundtracks TO EVER EXIST is playing with incredible track after incredible track. i keep finding myself remembering a moment from Undertale and it just stopping me dead in my tracks, when i've got to take a moment to reflect on how good a game it really is. It's a shame i was so late to the party with Undertale, but i'm so glad i eventually got round to playing it. i'm going to pick up Deltarune on the Steam Winter Sale, slightly closer to its release date than when Undertale released 10 years ago...and i'm so excited to see where it goes.

So that's another year i suppose. i haven't come nearly close enough to talking about all the media i loved this year, but i had the idea for this post on the 31st and am working to a strict deadline of next year. The world is falling apart, but videogames exist. Thanks for reading, and if you'd like to send me large amounts of money i'm very willing.