I never imagined that I’d ever fall in love with a multiplayer shooter, but leave it to Nintendo to make it happen. I wrote about it for Gamervescent not long after buying it, and I did stop playing it for a while, but I’ve recently jumped back in after more stages, weapons, and Ranked modes were added. And they keep on adding things for free! The game’s incredible soundtrack gets stuck in my head all the time, I have the Amiibos and everything they unlock, and I’m contemplating getting a plush pillow too. I’m hooked. It’s way too much fun and visually dazzling. I'm also greatly enjoying that critics are praising it far more than Call of Duty or whatever, that makes me really happy.

I was a little wary of this game due to being so disappointed with Dark Souls 2, but after just a half hour of watching a friend play it, I ran out and bought a PS4. They dumbed things down from the Souls games here and there, like weight limits and armor upgrades, but this isn’t meant to be played like Dark Souls. This game is a modern hack ‘n’ slash, the lack of a shield and ability to quickly regain lost health through combat pushing you to get up close and personal with some very terrifying creatures that you really don’t want to go anywhere near. This is the most satisfying horror game I’ve played in a long time. Here's something I wrote for Gamervescent about the awful things I encountered in the game.

Runners up: Super Mario Maker, Fast Racing Neo, Godzilla

Games I didn’t get to play: Axiom Verge, Transformers: Devastation

Blur released a new album this year, their first in what, over a decade? I was really excited for it, only to realize that just like every other album of theirs, I only like about half of it. Go Out is the best track to me, and proof that Damon Albarn still has a knack for writing incredibly catchy songs, even when they rely heavily on static and feedback. The beat to this track has carried me quite a lot through this year.

 I can’t remember the last time I heard a song on the radio that I enjoyed as much as this one. The album is all over the place, and I enjoy all of it, but I don’t think any of it hits me quite like the guitars in this song do.

Grimes- Kill V. Maim This is the first Grimes album I’ve actually enjoyed, and this track in particular slays. Sounds like the theme song for her own 90’s OVA directed by Yasuomi Umetsu. If I hear this song, I will dance to it no matter what, and I don't really dance.

Technically released last year I think, but only available as a pack-in single with a vinyl figure. This was a pretty good year for rap, but for me nothing is as appealing as Aesop. This is just a really fun track.

This is probably the catchiest thing on my list. That chorus is immense, that drumbeat so huge that they had to literalize it in the video with an army of drummers. This is a song that effortlessly fills the room, even at a low volume. It sweeps you up. Best discovery of the year, hands down.

Runners up: Purity Ring - flood on the floor, Colleen Green - Things That Are Bad For Me (Pt. 2), John Carpenter - Domain, Carpenter Brut - Paradise Warfare, Kendrick Lamar - King Kunta, Carly Rae Jepsen - Run Away With Me, Chelsea Wolfe - Carrion Flowers

I don’t follow western superhero comics anymore. Marvel and DC just wear me out. It doesn’t help that these two manga, which finally saw print in September, are leaps and bounds beyond anything I’d expect to see from the Big Two. One Punch Man is a hilarious and heartfelt takedown of the genre and its myriad tropes. Ultraman, on the other hand, feels like the kind of reboot Marvel was initially going for with their Ultimate universe, just done better. I’m still not too cool with the power armor and the lack of actual city smashing kaiju so far feels like blasphemy, but I’m really impressed with how this series ties directly to the original TV show from 1966 while simultaneously doing something completely different with the concept. It also helps that both these manga have seriously great action.

I picked up the first issue of this on a whim and was surprised at how great it was. It is at its core a time travel romance about a woman who unexpectedly falls into a same-sex relationship and will do anything to protect her new partner. It also deals with history’s tendency to repeat itself, the ways we cast out others and make up reasons to hate them for being different, and how our own personalities are somewhat fractured. I never did get to pick up the final issues, so maybe it all comes crashing down at the end, but for those first four, Pierrick Colinet and Elsa Charretier have made something very special, that I haven’t seen ANYONE talk about online.

Brandon Graham and Emma Rios, two incredible comic creators in their own right and favorites of mine, are now running their own anthology book packed with stellar work by friends and peers of theirs, and the world is a better place for it. This is what Heavy Metal used to be.

Here's a random list of other things I've liked this year: Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits by David Wong, the One Punch Man anime, the Welcome to Night Vale novel, Chris Ready's reviews of every James Bond film, Rick and Morty, the Travis Bickle on the Riviera podcast, Red Letter Media's Star Wars: the Force Awakens Clickbait video, Warren Ellis writing comics and ebooks, Daredevil and Jessica Jones on Netflix, and probably other things I can't remember.

Alright everyone, let's try not to bungle 2016, okay? Have a safe one.