iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Rorenado | Justin @rorenado.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Next, for @intothespine.bsky.social, I wrote a short piece about how gay men are treated as an optional factor in video games to this day. How they rarely, if ever, get to be a fleshed out main character with a history of being gay.

intothespine.com

Optional Gay Men

Gay men shouldn’t just be an option to select in video games.

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Into The Spine @intothespine.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

"I just want to exist in this world for a minute longer. To breathe where no one’s asking for anything. To find grace in a pause." Taiwo Adepetun praises the elegance of idle. intothespine.com/2026/05/02/t...

intothespine.com

The Elegance of Idle

Defiance by nothingness.

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Monique Barrow @moniquebarrow.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

Thank you @diegoarguello.bsky.social for the opportunity to contribute to 2025's Stories of the Year!

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Pixel a Day @pixeladay.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

They let me write about Promise Mascot Agency :)

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Phoenix @phoenixwritesdown.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

I love these roundups because they often highlight not just media I might’ve overlooked but just how skewed most games and media news is. @intothespine.bsky.social’s contributors always uncover gems! Also, I wrote about Silent Hill: Homecoming for this. 😁

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Van Dennis @vandennis.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

thank you @diegoarguello.bsky.social for once again asking me to contribute to this (and I'm still laughing that the *one* movie I voted for was what you asked me to write a full blurb for😅). frt, GO SEE PREDATOR BADLANDS intothespine.com/2025/12/31/s...

intothespine.com

Stories of 2025 - Into The Spine

We say goodbye to the year 2025, distilling the past 12 months with an array of stories by 91 writers around the world.

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Kyle Tam is Climbing Mt Moriah @percypropa.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

It's out! And I had the absolute pleasure of sharing a bit about my time playing OVER/UNDER in here, if you wanted a peek of what that was about

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Axel Bosso @axelbosso.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

Happy to be here. (Hello, 2026!)

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tomas neumann aspee @tomeitou.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

Into The Spine's Stories of the Year is my favorite thing to read in the first days of the new year, and this time I got to write about my favorite 2025 game! Thanks @diegoarguello.bsky.social for keeping up such an important project for games criticism!

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goose pimple aka "the mind fucker" @goosepimple.moe · 02/01/2026

wrote a couple hundred words about umamusume for into the spine's lovely year-end roundup. v grateful to @diegoarguello.bsky.social for inviting me to contribute, and to rice shower for reaffirming my will to live

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Gregorios Kythreotis @eteogreg.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

Wrote a little about Final Fantasy Tactics for @intothespine.bsky.social, alongside a selection of wonderful writers

However, the most pronounced addition, in my opinion, is its new voice acting. In this form, Final Fantasy Tactics realises its true calling. A playable, dioramic play. The game’s story of class inequality and struggle is one to take heed of in current times and once you have dispatched an encounter by some fine margin you’ll get to sit back and luxuriate in its exquisitely written dialogues and highly dramatic deliveries.

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David Carcasole @slybowser.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

I loved getting to write a little blurb for this, yesterday ended up being too crowded for me to sit down and read it but I’m very much looking forward to doing that today Thank you @diegoarguello.bsky.social for putting this together every year, it’s one of my fav year-ending things

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Otome Niki @otomeniki.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

Happy New Year! I'm so grateful for the opportunity to write about Tales of Rebirth for the @intothespine.bsky.social 2025 write-ups! Check it out, and all the other amazing contributions!!

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Andrei Filote @letominor.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

I have joined this throng of the talented with a thought on Team Bloober's Cronos: The New Dawn.

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Nigel Faustino @nigelfaustino.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

No idea how @diegoarguello.bsky.social wrangles together around 100 writers every year for this but he’s a superhero for doing it. In here with some thoughts on Ball x Pit and the weirdness of a game’s best feature being letting you not play it.

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Matt aka Stormageddon @djstormageddon.com · 01/01/2026

I’m honored and humbled to be a part of this for the second year in a row. Please go read it!

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Latonya "Penn" P. @wordsfromapenn.com · 01/01/2026

It was fun to contribute to Into The Spine's year in gaming roundup again, wrote about the Yugioh Early Days Collection. Enjoyed reading these entries.

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bonnie @bonniequ.com · 01/01/2026

always grateful to diego for inviting me to take part in this! i don't do a ton of games writing anymore so i really enjoyed getting to flex that muscle again and of course getting to write about my beloved silksong :-)

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Mark Hill @mehill.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

I contributed to this increasingly ginormous recap of another year of gaming and culture and life and all that stuff

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perry is online @gottsdamn.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

incredibly proud to have contributed to this list, thanks a million to @diegoarguello.bsky.social for the opportunity!! I got to write a bit about Okami and the urgent climate action our planet needs!

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Mikhail @va11halla.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

Thank you @diegoarguello.bsky.social for all your work putting this together and for letting me be a part of it again. Happy new year. ☕️🍔

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alessandro fillari @afillari.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

I was very proud to have contributed to this mega round up of the year's best. I wrote about Absolum, and why it's so great.

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Hilton Webster @hilton-webster.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

Always honored to write for of Into The Spine, and it’s incredible to see that, even in an industry bleeding talent, that talent refuses to give up. I lost co-workers I loved working with in 2025, so massive thanks to @diegoarguello.bsky.social for letting me write about the power of community.

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KM is looking for work! @kellymerka.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

one more to close out the year!! when I reflected on 2025, I knew the touchstone for this period in my life had to be Wanderstop.

Wanderstop

Wanderstop wears the trappings of a “cozy game.” Its resources are abundant. Its tasks simple. Its aesthetics whimsical. Its star, however, is in the wrong genre. She’s supposed to be in a fighting game, or action adventure at the very least. Her sword has been torn from her hands. It is not simply an extension of herself; it is a synecdoche, the embodiment of her identity, or so she thinks. Dropping it is inconceivable. But she does.

Alta is more than her weapon, more than whatever tasks she can complete (despite her role as a quest-pursuing player character). What she needs is rest. Like many others, I saw myself in her. I, too, had been burnt to a crisp. But I faced her from the opposite side of a river — I’d already dropped the sword of my own volition.

What Alta let me do was pick it back up. To write again, and publish my first game review. Rereading the article now, I see I was still regaining my sea legs. But it doesn’t matter. Wanderstop gave me the opportunity to push open a door I had shut, and cross the threshold into something new.

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Anna 🌿👁️ @annacwebs.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

Thrilled to be included this, speaking about the massive strides the industry has made in terms of organizing in 2025. Much love to game workers everywhere. ✊🎮

Call that metagaming: the workers of the games industry have made huge strides in their unionization speedrun any%. From further teams unionizing at long-standing industry giants like Blizzard and id Software, 2025 has been a banner year for industry organizing. March of 2025 saw the announcement of United Videogame Workers-CWA, the industry’s first direct-to-join union in the US and Canada associated with CODE-CWA and the Communication Workers of America. Since they marched through GDC, UVW-CWA has amassed almost 600 members and elected their first executive board.

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Alina K. @alinaekim.com · 01/01/2026

i wrote about a meet cute and a cozy organization game. check out 91 of us nerding out together for @intothespine.bsky.social 🥹

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Samantha Mackenzie Greer @sammgreer.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

Made a comic shaped contribution to this and I am in some incredible company. If you want a great, unique, funny tour of games in 2025 this is the thing to read

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nat. @natclayton.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

i'm in this writing about the only good FPS that even exists anymore

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Ryan Stevens @ryanstevens.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

I am always so thrilled and honored to contribute to Into The Spine’s end of year game round-ups. It’s so nice to be one name among so many and such a talented community!

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Giovanni Colantonio @marioprime.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

Always a tremendous honor to be part of what is such a north star of what writing on games can be as a historical document. Wrote a short piece about dementia this year.

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John E Warren 🤠🐝♿️ @floppyadult.com · 31/12/2025

Oh hey it’s @intothespine.bsky.social’s year end piece and hey who’s that??? intothespine.com/2025/12/31/s...

“Games Media Erosion

I’m bored to tears talking about the decline of games media. There’s such a tidal force pushing against what we do. Our collective demise is being served up in front of us by influencers…”

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Kate Gray @hownottodraw.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

I wrote about the joy of IGF judging, and also a plea to people who are still using AI to put it aside for their own good thank you for having me again, @diegoarguello.bsky.social!

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Dr Florence Smith Nicholls @florencesn.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Thanks to @diegoarguello.bsky.social for inviting me to contribute to this, and for being so enthusiastic about me choosing a LARP!

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Evan Backlog @backlogreviewer.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Man, I'm in such sublime company here. I particularly love Alexander Joy's piece on How Fish is Made and Florence Smith Nicholls' on a Disco Elysium larp. I implore you guys to read this (catch me down on Many Nights A Whisper)

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Santi Leguiza @santileguiza.com · 31/12/2025

It is my absolute honor to have written for Spine for the first time in years! 2025 saw me going through an enormous amount of loss, but even though things are certainly challenging, I'm still here. HUGE kudos to my brother @diegoarguello.bsky.social for the titanic effort of putting this together!

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Brenden Groom @begroom.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Always humbled when someone like Diego asks me to contribute to something as special as this. Look for my words about Lumines Arise amongst all of these amazing pieces.

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Dr. Emily Price @emilyprice.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Last writing of the year: I wrote about @blakemanorgame.bsky.social and the connection to my heritage I found in it. 🖊️

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Rebekah Valentine @duckvalentine.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

really honored to contribute something to this and further honored that Diego graciously let me be a bit personal with it. mine's the last one, so you better read all 90 of the others before you even look at mine. what an incredible roster of talent to be published with.

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Lewis Davies @lewiswriting.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

I'm very fortunate to have been included here, writing something fun about one of my favourite games of year. Thanks to @diegoarguello.bsky.social and @intothespine.bsky.social for including me! And happy new year to everyone involved ❤️

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Luis Aguasvivas @aguaspoints.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Great to be in such illustrious company.

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Ashley Schofield is looking for work! 🐉 @ashlikeadragon.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

very proud of my blurb on va-11 hall-a and the experience of writing design works itself this year reflecting on a lot. through the storm, we found a way thank you diego. thank you lost in cult. thank you all for reading 💜

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Matt Kim @lawoftd.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Thanks to Diego for giving me a place to write about one of my big cultural blind spots I finally fixed: Mad Men. A show about progress and regression.

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lex luddy needs a nap @lexluddy.xyz · 31/12/2025

My final bit of writing for 2025. "Something great happened here, but it’s over with."

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Reid McCarter @reidmccarter.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

was glad to contribute a handful of words to this--and looking forward to reading through everything in it! @diegoarguello.bsky.social is a superstar for putting these together every year

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bullboy Ganymede Amore @bullboyganymede.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

I did a little blurb on Silent Hill f for this! Check it out and see what a ton of very talented writers thought was the best that 2025 has to offer!

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Rorenado | Justin @rorenado.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Hey! I'm in this!

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Gaby 🔜 Awaiting October @blackheartwings.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

As a longtime follower of Into The Spine, I was overjoyed to receive an invitation to write a blurb for this year's roundup! Writing about @tinybookshopgame.com was wonderful, and it's one of MANY incredible pieces of media on this list. Give it a read, and check out the other blurb writers too!

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Wyeth Leslie @wyethwashere.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

As a basic aging millennial whose musical tastes were forged circa 2008-2012, no way I wasn’t going to hear LCD Soundsystem while playing Dispatch.

Close up on the face of James Murphy, lead singer of LCD Soundsystem. His face is painted silver and white for the “All My Friends” music video, he looks kinda bummed which is the vibe of the song.

From the video game Dispatch: on the left side a man sits sunbathing on a plastic chair in an empty apartment. In the right the same apartment is now full of people for a party.

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