We’re starting 2026 off strong with my first Month in Review coming 2 4 days late. Wahoo!

Editor’s notes: after missing Friday, I decided to push this out to Monday since traffic is higher while you guys are bored at work.

Never mind. I completely forgot to publish this on Monday. Oh boy. We’re starting off strong this year hahaha!

In fairness, I feel like The Best Games of 2025 stands as a more than worthy substitute to chew on while I was getting my ducks in a row for 2026. It follows a similar enough format to Month in Review, though Best of is longer, more thoughtful, and I actively recommend all of the featured games. 

The same can’t be said about all of the games I cover here…

Anyway, here’s what I played in December:

Isopod

In what I’ve come to understand is a pattern of behaviour for me, I spent the majority of December trying to work through several shorter games. It’s basically my last push to explore a handful of interesting titles before I begin working on my Best of listicle. Though, this year I tried to keep my focus on stuff that was released in 2025 starting with Isopod.

Actually, is it Isopod, or Isopod: A Webbed Spin-off? Genuine question. It’s listed as the former in my Steam library, but the Steam store page has it listed as the latter.

Either way, I’m sorry to report that I was very hot-and-cold with Isopod. There were several sections that I really enjoyed, and others that just…ugh.

For my money, the biggest pain point with Isopod was how imprecise all of the platforming felt. It kind of reminded me of those wonky co-op games (Moving Out, Gang Beasts, Human Fall Flat) where every object has the potential to randomly fly around the screen as the game engine struggles to simulate real-world physics. This meant that I had a lot of trouble getting Winston, the titular isopod, to actually go where, and do what I wanted him to.

That said, there are several sections of Isopod with a much greater emphasis on rolling around as a ball, which I really enjoyed. The level designer(s) placed tons of straight-aways throughout each of the game’s levels so there are plenty of spots where players can start booking it. And moving fast is fun. At least, I thought it was. Doubly so during the few side missions where you race other characters, since these provided an actual reason to go fast outside of doing it for its own sake.

That said, I do think the frustration I felt during the mandatory platforming segments out-weighs all of the elective screwing around I did throughout Isopod. You can call it a skill issue, but I didn’t have the patience to come to grips with what felt like terribly imprecise movement mechanics. I’m sure it’ll be to someone else’s preferences (the game does have an Very Positive rating on Steam), but Isopod wasn’t my cup of tea.

Herdling A Tangent About Steam Bundles

Next up is Herdling, which I’d bought months ago for Miranda using 1 of those limited-time, per account discounts that Steam occasionally hands out.

Actually, side tangent for a second: do other people know those exist? 

If you weren’t aware, there are times when Steam offers special discount bundles that aren’t available on a game’s public facing store page. Instead, a targeted group of users will receive the bundle as a special promotion, which they can see and purchase while logged into their Steam account.

I only learned about these targeted bundles a few years ago, while browsing Steam on Mir’s account. I was looking for gift ideas, and wanted to see what kinds of games Steam was recommending to her based on the games she’d been playing. I eventually found a bundle with a few things that I thought she’d enjoy, and decided to buy it for her.

Unfortunately, when I tried to find the bundle while logged into my own account, I couldn’t find it. I then double checked that it was still available for her – it was – which is when I finally realized that Steam offered additional, specialized discounts to different users based on…probably their existing purchasing history.

Ever since I discovered this, I’ve made a point of checking the different bundle options that I’m offered on Steam. There’s a not insignificant number of times where I’ve managed to save a couple extra dollars by purchasing games this way, so it’s proven well worth taking a few minutes to parse the whole store page.

Anyway, I assume this is a universal thing that’s applicable for all accounts, so keep an eye out for discounted bundles the next time you’re shopping on Steam.

Okay – Herdling for real this time.

Herdling

As previously mentioned, I picked up Herdling because it was in one of those targeted bundles I just rambled about. This compounded with its launch discount to make Herdling very affordable, plus Mir really wanted to play it (which she did via Steam Family Sharing).

Editor’s notes: you can just Google Steam Family Sharing if you don’t already know what that is, or how it works.

She had a great time with it, but I only just got around to Herdling. For what it’s worth, I’m glad I finally played it.

That said, I will echo what I said after playing through Herdling’s demo during the June 2025 Next Fest: it is a very subdued experience. The whole thing is mechanically on par with most Walking Sims, but it manages to tell a fairly compelling story with 0 lines of dialogue. The music, art direction, animation, and the few mechanical flourishes (when they appear) do so much heavy lifting, which I ultimately appreciated.

For some additional context, normally games need to offer some kind of gameplay reason for me to properly care for companion creatures. However, I was weirdly invested in the well-being of my herd from just about the word go, so that has to mean that Herdling was doing something right.

Honestly, were it not for Eclipsium, I think Herdling might’ve snuck its way onto my Best of 2025 list. Give it a look if you’re in the market for a 4 hour experience that’ll take you on a wordless journey.

Review Round-Up

Baseless

I’ve already said everything that I wanted to about Baseless in my written review of it. It’s a very interesting blend of Platforming, and Shoot ‘em Up systems that is simple to pick up, and satisfying to master.

I don’t know that Baseless will change anyone’s opinion on either of its constituent genres, but it has novelty in spades which is something I appreciated.

Speaking of novelty…

Sliding Hero

Again, if you’d like to read my full thoughts on Sliding Hero then you can do so right here. The short version is that I appreciated its novel blending of Puzzle, and Metroidvania mechanics.

Though, I’ll concede that, as with Baseless, I recognize Sliding Hero won’t be to everyone’s tastes. That said, I can’t say that I’ve played anything quite like it before, and I rather enjoyed solving its collection of puzzles.

Best of 2025 Round-Up

I said everything that I want to say about both Eclipsium, and The Séance of Blake Manor already in The Best Games of 2025.

Honestly, I don’t even know what else I’d even say at this point…

Go play these great games!

There. That’s what else I can say.

And with that, we’re through what I played in December. At least, we’re through what I wanted to talk about. I was also replaying an older Pokémon game as part of my holiday break so I could disconnect from the internet. There were also a couple free Puzzle games, but I’ll let you know about my favourite of the lot during my next Month in Review since I didn’t finish it until New Year’s Day.

Anyway, thank you as always for reading. 2025 was my best year of blogging yet, which I’m still trying to process. Here’s hoping that 2026 goes even better.

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