Reconnect Recap's 2025

Remembering an epic year

Kia Ora Folks

Whilst I’m technically on my holiday right now, I though’t I’d surprise you with something I’m shocked I’ve not done before, a Reconnect Recap for the entire year that’s been.

Before we dig into the spoils I just wanted to reflect on past twelve months.

At the start of 2025, I had 100 subscribers to this newsletter, at time of writing i’m just under 650. Whilst some of this can be attributed to keeping the newsletter consistent and a very favourable mention by The Verge, I have to say that I notice the most uptick in subscribers when one of you lovely people shares the newsletters or mentions me in a post.

For that I am very thankful and I’m consistently blown away by the community here and those who reach out to get their blog or a blog that they know of added to the site.

This special edition of the Recap comes in two parts.

The Top 20, that’s derived from my own analytics in the back-end of the website, these are the articles that have been clicked on the most this year. Please don’t take it too personally if one of your best articles isn’t on here. This is simply what I can see has been clicked on the most from the site. Many people access the articles via other avenues I can’t count.

It also should be pointed out that the 200k visitors the site got from the Verge might sway these numbers. This is just a bit of fun, nothing to be taken too seriously.

But what has surprised me running the site this past year, is the amazing diversity of writers and what they are bringing to the user base. I always feared that the flavour of the month game would always sway the sites traffic but it’s actually those writing about unique topics and their niches that stand out the most.

The second section of the Recap is my honourable mentions, as someone who has read through hundreds of articles every week of the year, there are always ones that pique my personal interest, and deserves a shout out in this edition.

As always let’s dig in, and I hope that you are enjoying your holiday season.

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Reconnects Top 20 for ‘26

1. Indieformer: He Set Out to Make a Roguelike. Then He Played Pokémon

2. Games with James : Hobbits and ninjas

3. Alex Rowe: The Fumbled Game Reboot That Buried an Iconic Developer

4. No Escape: Part 1.6: No More Diversions

5. Game-Wisdom: Peaked Content in Live Service Games

6. Affectionate Discourse : Emulators I Have Loved And Lost: The Definitive Review

7. Feedback In Games: What is Roblox & Why Xbox’s Strategy Shift Feels Like Giving Up

8. Mo: Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall (PC, 1996)

9. 70% Complete: Clean Up Earth might be just what I crave

10. Alex Rowe: The Top 5 Games of 2025 (So Far)

11. Updater, Shannon Liao's gaming newsletter: Hideo Kojima Speaks: The Extended Cut

12. Gamesasylum: Most Played: The Last Oricru – The Final Cut

13. Mindful Gamer: Gaming’s Dirty Little Secret

14. Aftermath: I Also Have A USB Stick Full Of Game Ideas, But I Will Share Them With You Before I Die

15. Game by Mistake: These are the Best 2D-Platformers on the Nintendo Switch I’ve Played

16. Roger Renfro: No One Wants to Die on Gooner Hill

17. The Video Game Storyteller : Nathan Drake’s Wet Pants Showed Me the Future

18. CRPG Addict: Pathways into Darkness: Let Hitler Have It

19. Scanlines : The One Game I Can’t Stop Playing

20. The Homie Big Picture Mode : Ten Games I’m positive people are Lying about finishing

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Honorable Mentions

• José Pérez: From Bastion to Hades: How Supergiant Games Became Masters of Indiedev.

• Push to Talk: Gamers Aren’t Real

• JM Mendez: Women in Video Games

• Paul Shkreli: Healing Pokémon, Healing Myself

• Button Musher: Are Technical Issues Ignored In Game Reviews?

• Cat : Finding Comfort in Non-Cozy Games - Cyberpunk 2077

• The Desk of Chaos: Do we REALLY need a section?

• Sey: Why You Should Make A Steam Curator Page Right Now

• Infinite Lives : I’m turning 35: Here’s how my lifelong gaming preferences have changed

• Voletic: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 gave me a feeling I thought I’d lost

• Pixel Fix: I flew 2400 kms to not talk to Hideo Kojima

• Multiplier: How much room is there for optimism in games media?

• Magnvs: How Gamefaqs changed RPG consumption - an history of RPG walkthroughs, from clue books and hearsay to the digital age

• Trip Harrison: Gaming Needs More Historical Fiction

• The Saved Game: Fallout 4 | The Cozy Experiences of Post-War Settlement Building

• Ali ‘shanodin’ Rees: Hobby Spaces Have a Transphobia Problem

• Oya: The biggest burnout I’ve ever had with a game: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

• Margot: Thoughts: Is liking something uncool now?

• Jake Steinberg: Shiny Pokémon Don’t Exist Anymore