As 2025 comes to a close, I thought I’d revisit my year in gaming, especially since this is my first year back after a long hiatus. I owe this to my husband who wanted me to start writing again and encouraged me to come back here. While I’m still gaming, I wasn’t doing it as much this year. Life circumstances made me less interested in being online and I ended up dropping my GamePass membership when the price rose dramatically. Instead of uncovering a bunch of new games this year, I reignited my love for some old favorites.

Since my return to this blog is marked by my visit to an in-person Pokemon Go event, I’ll start there. A lot has changed in the Pokemon Go world. Recently, you may remember I grinded to level 50 before the big reset, and since then, I’ve been chugging along the grind to level 80. I’ve reached level 75, but I know I’m going to stall soon as the requirement for platinum medals is going to catch up to me. See, as much as I play, I haven’t dedicated a ton of time to the actual activities associated with medals. For example, you’d think I would’ve hit 50,000 captures if I’ve been playing the game for over 9 years, but I didn’t achieve that until this year. I’ve been trying to chip away at more of those things in preparation for those higher levels, but I will be hitting that wall soon. I’m still having a lot of fun playing and I’m looking forward to the next Pokemon Go in-person event (where I’ll secure another platinum!).

The other game that completely took over my blog was Palworld. I had to start over because originally my husband and I played together. He hosted a world for us, but that means he has to be online in order for me to play. Since he lost interest in the game, I had to start my own world if I wanted to play again. I put this off for a long time because I didn’t want to be back at square one, but I’m glad I did. The amount of time I spent in this game and the amount of things I accomplished far surpassed our shared world. I did recently decide to temporarily change some server settings so I could do end-game content that would be otherwise inaccessible to me. It was a ton of fun! I was able to fight raid bosses I’d never seen before, beat the final boss towers, and even face them in hard mode. There’s been a new update recently that I haven’t really gotten into yet, but I am looking forward to taking on the newest raid boss they’ve added. I’m also launching expeditions and using the pal condenser to make my pals even stronger. My newest addition, Xenolord, is maybe my favorite now (sorry Jetragon).

Obviously other games occupied my time this year. PowerWash Simulator 2 was phenomenal, and I can’t wait to see what the DLC looks like next year. I played Little Nightmares 3 twice: one time with my husband and once with my niece. We both beat it, and I cannot wait to see what Reanimal brings early next year. But one game that I’ve recently fallen back in love with has not received a blog post since… well has it ever? Fallout 76!

Fallout 76 was an addiction for a long period of time. Base building was one of my favorite activities, and my niece used to make me play with her just to build her a house. I stopped playing for a very long time, but recently started again. I think the Fallout show plus new content being added really reignited my love for the world. I’ve crossed over the level 300 threshold finally and I’m actively trying to complete challenges in the game. My current fixation is fishing, but I am also enjoying exploring the new zone, even if it often results in me dying a lot more.

I anticipate that I won’t be branching out a ton since I’ve dropped GamePass, but I will keep playing my favorites while I anxiously await Reanimal and more DLC. I know there is new Pokemon stuff coming out, but I don’t think I want to get a new console just to play it. Plus, I’ve got lots of Pokemon Go to do still. But who knows, maybe I’ll change my mind when the Animal Crossing style Pokemon game drops. Either way, I’ll do my best to try and keep an “at least once a month” cadence on this blog.

Anyway, we’ll see what gaming activities 2026 brings. Thanks for reading 🙂