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2025 Wrapped

My year 2025 in numbers and highlights, wrapped-style. First attempt at summarizing an eventful year. More platforms offering wrapped/replay summaries obviously helped.

Countries visited#

This year I visited three countries beyond Germany: France, Switzerland, and Austria.

I attended the Tour de France in person and that was the highlight. We watched the stage start in Montpellier. Too hot, too crowded. The merch caravan was a nice experience though. The second time we stood further down the road, which was more relaxing and yielded more merch for the kids. The freebies helped with their mood after they waited for hours at the side of the road just to see people on road bikes rush by in a matter of seconds.

For the second stage we parked our camper van right at the roadside and had front row seats.

Tour de France 2025: Us standing at the side of the roadApple · iPhone 15 Pro · 9mm · ƒ/2.8 · 1/840s

I saw Jonas Vingegaard pass by in Moûtiers, France. He eventually won the race.

Tour de France 2025: Jonas VingegaardApple · iPhone 15 Pro · 9mm · ƒ/2.8 · 1/172s

None of this would have happened without Nadine, my wife, who plans all our trips. She is already organizing the next adventure: a road trip across Europe to the Asturias region in Spain for the solar eclipse in August 2026.

Riding my bike#

August was my month: 13 active days, 30 hours of riding. I was pushing for 100km+ each weekend and got into some kind of runner’s high on the bike. Eventually I succumbed to being busy with other things. It’s difficult to justify 4+ hours being away each weekend with everyone being busy at home. Still wondering how others manage to find the time for long rides.

Sunset ride around AltenburgApple · iPhone 15 Pro · 7mm · ƒ/1.8 · 1/30s

I am riding a Rose Reveal Plus 2024.

I invested in a new bike computer, a Wahoo Ace. At first, it felt like a brick strapped to my handlebar. It’s heavy, but after a few days I didn’t notice anymore. I like how much more information it provides compared to my old Wahoo Bolt v1. It also has a built-in headwind sensor, which helps me mentally deal with headwinds. Fun fact: I bought it at the same time Wahoo soft-bricked many of their devices due to a time-based GPS bug that took them weeks to patch out.

Video Games: PlayStation#

Data from PlayStation Wrap-Up.

Top Games#

  1. Assassin’s Creed Shadows Action RPG - 67 hours, 8/10. (Nice evolution of the formula. I could easily follow the main story without mandatory side quests. I didn’t like that I played with two characters.)
  2. Astro Bot Platformer - 53 hours. (Tilian played this, he’s 8. That’s a lot of screen time for an eight year old. Either PlayStation got the numbers wrong or I need to reconsider my parenting.)
  3. LEGO Marvel’s Avengers Action Adventure - 29 hours. (Tilian also played this.)
  4. Death Stranding 2: On The Beach Action Adventure - 28 hours, 9/10. (I wrote about it here.)
  5. ARC Raiders Extraction Shooter - 24 hours, 8/10. (I learned that extraction shooters are not for me. The unpredictable PvP and recurring wipes don’t work with my need for permanent progression. I only played in duo with Jan.)

My two favorites this year: Death Stranding 2 and Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater.

The PlayStation Portal didn’t convince me. Unless you need cloud streaming via PlayStation Plus Premium, a Steam Deck OLED with Chiaki-ng is the better choice.

Video Games: Steam#

Data from Steam Replay.

Top Games#

Hades II on Steam DeckApple · iPhone Air · 6mm · ƒ/1.6 · 1/50s
  1. Hades II Action Roguelike - 18% playtime, 31 sessions, 9/10. (A better version of Hades I, not more and not less. The end game was long though. I repetitively fought bosses without any progression, just to increase the internal counter of x times defeated to progress to the end.)
  2. Deadzone: Rogue Roguelike Shooter - 17% playtime, 23 sessions, 7/10. (No idea why I played this so much. Very straightforward, ran well on the Deck and was a low effort shooter. I used this to compensate for a missing Call of Duty experience this year.)
  3. Blade Chimera Metroidvania - 13% playtime, 20 sessions, 9/10. (I played this with Jasper when he was over. I had so much fun with it. Can’t speak for him though.)
  4. Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound Metroidvania - 7% playtime, 7/10. (From The Game Kitchen who made Blasphemous I + II. Fantastic game, similar to Blade Chimera. Fun to play but very difficult.)
  5. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance Hack and Slash - 7% playtime, 8/10. (A core memory of mine. I streamed it years ago so Jasper could watch from the UK and we basically finished it over stream together. What a nuts game, easy to beat in under eight hours. I always love to come back to it and I hope they one day make a second one.)

Two more favorites: DRAINUS Shoot ’em up and Death Must Die Action Roguelike. DRAINUS is a SHMUP with a unique twist where you essentially play through the game twice. Death Must Die captures the spirit of Diablo II in roguelike form.

I’m excited about the upcoming Steam Machine and Steam Frame, but not the new Steam Controller. Touchpad controls on controllers never worked for me. I didn’t like them on the original Steam Controller and I don’t like them on the Steam Deck either.

Video Games: Nintendo Switch#

I bought the Switch 2 this year. The biggest USP is that it runs Switch 1 games better. There isn’t a single platform seller game to justify my purchase really.

Minecraft Dungeons Action RPG (9/10) was a great surprise. A Diablo killer, better than Diablo IV. The local co-op is fun to play with my 8-year-old son Tilian. Mario Kart World Racing (6/10) was a disappointment, more of the same and actually felt like a step back from the previous installment.

Video Games: Biggest gaming disappointments this year#

There are games I could not get into, as much as I wanted:

I also skipped Call of Duty this year. The reviews were bad and the campaign sounded like a mess. After release, the studios hinted at slowing down releases. Everyone assumed they meant the annual cycle, but they were only talking about back-to-back entries in the same series like Black Ops. I doubt Activision will actually change anything. I’ll revisit this in 2026.

Movies and TV Shows#

  1. Pluribus Sci-Fi Drama (TV Show) - 9.5/10. (Nice cinematography, focus on single persons over multiple parallel story arcs, solid foreshadowing, nothing over the top and no “we are so smart” 4-D chess. Very approachable and digestible. Excited for the new season in 2-3 years!)
  2. One Battle After Another Action Drama (Movie) - 9/10. (Appreciated the overall length, felt nicely timed. Sean Penn’s acting was great. It felt like a whole and well rounded movie.)
  3. The Day of the Jackal Thriller (TV Show) - 9/10. (Not finished yet, halfway through. At this point it’s too much emphasis his family back in Spain/Portugal for me. I suspect they will foil his plans. Eddie Redmayne’s acting is awesome to watch.)
  4. Midsommar Horror (Movie) - 8/10. (It shocked me.)
  5. Foundation Sci-Fi Drama (TV Show) - 9/10. (The slow decline of the Empire, the hedonist Cleon and less focus on Hari Seldon and the Foundation. The twist at the end about the Mule was exciting but then felt rushed, as if scenes were missing.)
  6. Sinners Horror (Movie) - 8/10. (It feels like a modern From Dusk Till Dawn.)
  7. The Long Walk Horror Thriller (Movie) - 8/10. (Finally I got a solid, not over the top, straightforward Stephen King adaptation.)
  8. 28 Years Later Horror (Movie) - 8/10. (It felt like coming back to an old friend. Also crazy how jacked Aaron Taylor-Johnson is now.)
  9. Warfare War Drama (Movie) - 8/10. (Gritty, simple, no sugar coating.)

I wanted to use Letterboxd but logging and rating feel like work. JustWatch was my go-to for watchlists but everything is behind a subscription now. Maybe I’ll build a self-hosted alternative using IMDB/TMDB data. My next open source project?

This year I started using Infuse for digitized media from Blu-rays and DVDs. Infuse is a serverless media player. No transcoding server needed. I pay for the yearly subscription, my media library lives on a NAS, and the library syncs via iCloud. Previously I used Plex but their pricing and freemium policies became unbearable. Infuse plays everything: 4K HDR, Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos pass-through.

3D Printing#

At the end of 2024 I bought a Bambu A1 Mini with AMS. Since then I’ve printed many small and large things for the household that always break: clothes hooks, curtain rod holders, IP camera mounts, gifts for kid birthdays, cable channels and mounts.

Bambu Labs A1 MiniApple · iPhone 15 Pro · 7mm · ƒ/1.8 · 1/60s

I’m most proud of designing a replacement hinge for our neighbour’s pool robot. I use TinkerCAD for all my 3D models when I can’t find them on MakerWorld. It’s very accessible, way more than other CAD tools.

One thing that bothers me: the filament waste. Even with an AMS, multi-color prints produce a surprising amount of waste material from purging between color changes. I’m looking forward to multi-hotend solutions becoming mainstream. Each hotend would be preloaded with a different color, and switching between them would eliminate most purging waste. The number of colors is limited by the available hotends, but I could still swap filament on individual hotends if I need more.

Apple Music Replay#

Top Artists#

  1. Spiritbox Progressive Metalcore - 2,710 minutes
  2. Thornhill Progressive Metalcore - 1,701 minutes
  3. La Dispute Post-Hardcore - 642 minutes
  4. Dance Gavin Dance Post-Hardcore - 596 minutes
  5. Die Spitz Post-Punk - 565 minutes

Top Albums#

  1. BODIES Progressive Metalcore - Thornhill (It sounds like they made a soundtrack for a DOOM game. They should team up with Mick Gordon.)
  2. Tsunami Sea Progressive Metalcore - Spiritbox
  3. Eternal Blue Progressive Metalcore - Spiritbox
  4. Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair Post-Hardcore - La Dispute (This record was released in 2008. I discovered it in the mid 2010s based on a recommendation from Jasper. Since then I listen to it multiple times a year. La Dispute lost me on their newer releases. They’re not bad but just not my taste anymore.)
  5. Lo-Files Pop Rock - Bring Me the Horizon (In my defence, I often play this in our kitchen during dinner.)

That’s it!#

Looking back, 2025 was a year of trying new things and rediscovering old favorites. I hope 2026 brings more time on the bike, a solar eclipse in Spain, and maybe a proper Call of Duty campaign.

Topics: Video Games, Music, Travel, Cycling