Brad Shankar’s Favourite Things of 2025

I usually start my last one annual post “Favorite Things” with some attempt to reflect on the state of the world and the key role that art has played in reconciling it. But honestly, what more can you say? We all know 2025 sucks.

So, I'd rather jump right into what I enjoyed most this year. From a deeply moving family drama to a completely bizarre but surprisingly poignant deconstruction of masculinity, 2025 provided me with a particularly powerful artistic experience. That's what impacted me the most this year.

Favorite game: Baby Steps.

Two hours later I hated Baby Steps. The deliberately clunky movement mechanics in Gabe Cuzzilo, Maxi Boch and Bennett Foddy's walking simulator, in which you alternate pressing triggers and moving analog sticks with varying degrees of pressure, drove me crazy. And when I had to climb a seemingly insurmountable boulder to get to the top of the cart and get the NPC cup, I eventually just quit the game.

But after reading Polygongreat review from Giovanni Colantonio (by far one of the best writers in gaming media), I was encouraged to give Baby steps one more try. And indeed, I soon grew to like the game, and not just because I realized that the cup quest was actually one of many optional and irreverent side activities. No, Baby steps ultimately resonated deeply because I realized it was about to me. Indeed, I saw more of myself than I would like to admit in 35-year-old overweight boy Nate and his journey to gain self-worth. In 2025, I turned 30 and had been reflecting quite a bit on life, and during that time I've seen so many of the people I grew up with get married, have kids, and have their own place – all while I'm still single and living at home. These repeated comparisons create an almost overwhelming feeling of self-consciousness and, as a result, a feeling of inadequacy.

Nate is going through something similar. Baby steps. After being teleported from his parents' basement during a Netflix binge, he is forced to navigate this absurdist landscape to climb a tall mountain. This journey was made even more daunting not only because he was out of shape, but also because of his appalling lack of self-esteem. And while you travel, you meet all kinds of confident and cheerful people who make life seem like so easyfrom intrepid traveler Mike to the band decisively hanging half naked anthropomorphic donkeysall of which, in his eyes, are a constant reminder of his inferiority.

But eventually you realize that this pressure is voluntary. During the aforementioned cup quest, nothing in the game told me that I was actually had do it; I just felt obligated to take it on. And when I later see videos of Mike or the donkeys effortlessly climbing up a ramshackle staircase, a muddy hill, or an entire slippery, rocky, winding mountain trail, I feel the same compulsion. Again, this is despite the fact that no one is forcing me to do anything.

That's where Baby stepsThe core gameplay has a much deeper meaning than simply overcoming something “mechanically difficult.” Unlike most games that use the open world just for the sake of “More Content™”, Baby steps uses this structure to improve its themes. If you ever have difficulty in a particular section, you can simply choose a different path and you won't become “lesser” because of it. In many cases, I simply walked around and found another way forward. These alternate routes were still challenging, but at least for me they seemed more manageable.

Perhaps this would be considered “easier” for others, be it Nate's NPC companions or even other real players, but even so, why should it matter? Everyone has their own mountain to climb. We all have similar goals, even if the paths we took to get there are different. Beyond the literal translation of the metaphor of living life “one step at a time,” Nate's journey is a powerful exploration of masculinity and social pressure. Your worth is not determined by what others do; what is this You make it matter. Every step, every slip, every fall was ourno one else. Like Nate, I appreciate the opportunity to confront my insecurities and move on with my life. We All do.

Baby steps available on PS5 and PC. For more information on 2025 games, see check out the rest of my overall top 10 And Canadian News Review.

Honorable Mentions: Consume Me, Donkey Kong Bananza, Seance at Blake Manor And Recognized

Favorite movie: Sentimental Value.

After watching Sentimental value to TIFFI quickly declared it not only my favorite of the festival, but my favorite of the year. I really liked it. A couple of months later I finally got around to rewatching it and I stand by 100 percent of what I said.

First of all, co-writer and director Joachim Trier (The worst person in the world) only receives the messy nuances of human existence that feel so raw and emotionally true. Even though I knew it was the basic story of a young woman forced to confront her estranged father. would hit close to homeI really admire how much more there is in this film. Themes of self-hatred. Yearning. Regret. Aimlessness. Sisterhood. Intergenerational trauma. It's all brought together by stirring reflections on the power of art and superb, award-winning performances from Renata Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleas and Elle Fanning.

I watched more movies in 2025 than in any other yearBut Sentimental value this is the one I keep thinking about. Masterpiece.

Honorable Mentions: Sinners, One battle after another, homebound And Marty Supreme

Favorite TV series: Andor

Tony Gilroy's Star Wars saga is everything I love about dramatic storytelling. It feels like not only a significant rebuke to the cheap, fan-service-oriented mentality that plagued the galaxy during the Disney era, but also, more importantly, to the ever-rising tide of authoritarianism. Like the one who finds Rogue One aggressively mediocre, and I don't care for Digeo Luna's Cassian Andor in this movie, I still can't believe his eponymous show made me care so deeply about him. In the first season, this was due to his relationship with his mother, and in the second and final season, it was due to his tragically ill-fated romance with Bix (Adria Arjona).

But impressive Andor did each participant his characters seem compelling. The family sacrifices of Stellan Skarsgård's Luten and Genevieve O'Reilly's Mon Mothma in their private and public fraught relationship with the Empire. Pathetic sycophantic (and not at all republican) attempts by Cyril, led by Kyle Soller, and Dedra, played by Denise Gough, to move up within the Empire. Vela (Faye Marsay) and Cinta's (Varada Sethu) involvement in the horrific Gorman massacre.

And the best part is that these are truly ordinary people. Not Jedi or Sith. Not the foretold heroes. Not the royal family. Not outright scoundrels. These are the “little guys” who can be found on all sides of a particular war. This in itself makes for an incredible dramatic series that also enriches Star Wars as we know it. This is what payback sounds like.

Honorable Mentions: Studio, Task, More And Severance pay

Favorite podcast: The Town

Studio was very close to being overthrown Andor as my favorite show this year because of how incredibly funny it can be – something that's much needed these days. Since movies are my second great love after gaming, the Hollywood story from Vancouver's Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg honestly felt tailor-made to me. For this reason I was also very glad that Studio pulled me into Citypodcast hosted by entertainment journalist and two-time guest star Matt Belloni. Although I was familiar with his work in Hollywood Reporter and, more recently, Washerit was Belloni's fun role in Studiooutrageous drug fueled antics in Vegas that finally got me to start tuning in.

What I like about City is that it's such a fascinating look at the business of Hollywood. Anyone can talk about why they like movies, but few reveal the intricacies of Tinseltown with Belloni's level of insight. Some of my favorite episodes so far include his discussions with legal experts about Netflix's ongoing bid to acquire Warner Bros., his conversation with Crunchyroll President Rahul Purini about Hollywood's growing interest in anime films And Blumhouse boss Jason Blum's refreshing candor about failure M3GAN 2.0. All of this, in turn, helped me better understand how the hell creative people even get anything done in Hollywood. As Nicole Kidman might say in an AMC commercial: City “makes movies better.”

Honorable Mentions: My ideal Console, Virtual economy, Play, watch, listen, Script separately

Favorite activity: Traveling

I usually try to avoid repeating selections from previous years, but I can't help but talk about my record-breaking journey in 2025. According to the very handy travel tracking app Flighty, I've had 48 flights this year, amounting to just over 150,000km, covering a total of nine days and nine countries and territories. I take absolutely none of this for granted and am beyond grateful.

There have been so many incredible trips this year, but here are some of my highlights:

And while it didn't include airfare, I have to give TIFF credit. This year was the first time I was able to attend the event as a media representative, and it was truly an amazing experience. Daily trips to Toronto to see a total of 22 films and attend three red carpets, while combining the usual MobileSyrup the work was worth it. You can read more at my favorite TIFF movies in this breakdown.

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If nothing else, 2025 has been a year of gratitude for me—not only for all these opportunities, but also for those who support us. There are a lot of insincere people on the Internet, especially in some media circles, so knowing who has our backs is really important. (Special shout out to the wonderful Intel Gaming specialist Like Arquines on that front.) To anyone who has sat down to read something I've written, sent words of encouragement, or taken the time to talk to me (especially many talented Canadian developers that I was lucky enough to interview) – thank you, sincerely.

Happy New Year everyone!

Image credit: Lucasfilm/Devolver Digital/Neon