Tales from the Backlog - Episodes Tagged with “Year In Review”

2025 In Review/Games of the Year

Dave Jackson — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0500

Support my work on Patreon- https://patreon.com/realdavejackson
Discord, Socials and more- https://linktr.ee/talesfromthebacklog

All paid patrons can listen to a bonus episode about our favorite non-2025 games that we played this year! https://www.patreon.com/posts/our-favorite-non-146887020

It's that time! End of the year time! Games of the year time! This year I polled Discord and Patreon members on their favorites of the year, tallied them up, and here are the results! Then, I close out the show with my own top 10 and some other thoughts as we bring the 2025th year to a close. Please enjoy!

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Title Card and Introduction
4:50 Community Honorable Mentions
10:10 Community Top 10
28:31 Dave's Honorable Mentions
30:02 Dave's #10
32:14 Dave's #9
35:06 Dave's #8
38:21 Dave's #7
41:43 Dave's #6
46:05 Dave's #5
49:12 Dave's #4
54:18 Dave's #3
57:58 Dave's #2
1:04:27 Dave's #1
1:14:34 Closing Thoughts
1:21:50 Patron Thank-Yous

Music used in the episode:

Your Host for Tonight (Chipzel- Dicey Dungeons OST)
Beginner's Luck (Chipzel- Dicey Dungeons OST)
Polarity (Francisco Javier Pérez- Bionic Bay OST)
Monoco (Lorien Testard- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 OST)
Gestral Beach- Is It a Gestral or a Volleyball (Lorien Testard- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 OST)
Lumiose City (Day) (Shota Kageyama, Carlos Eiene- Pokemon Legends Z-A OST)
Story of All Manor (Trigg & Gusset- Blue Prince OST)
Manor- Our Painted Home (Lorien Testard- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 OST)
Lumiose City (Night) (Shota Kageyama, Carlos Eiene- Pokemon Legends Z-A OST)
The Storm (Olivier Deriviere- South of Midnight OST)
Mysterious Swamps (Olivier Deriviere- South of Midnight OST)
Enter Sektori (Tommy Baynen- Sektori OST)
The Beauty of Nature (Miwako Chinone- Monster Hunter Wilds OST)
Many Nights a Whisper (fingerspit- Many Nights a Whisper OST)
Ten Years Ago You Were Chosen (fingerspit- Many Nights a Whisper OST)
Signalchaser (Amos Roddy- Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector OST)
Suncatchers (Amos Roddy- Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector OST)
Introduction (C418- Wanderstop OST)
Simon's Theme (Trigg & Gusset- Blue Prince OST)
Bilewater (Christopher Larkin- Hollow Knight: Silksong OST)
Bellhart (Christopher Larkin- Hollow Knight: Silksong OST)
Une vie à t'aimer (Lorien Testard, Alice Duport-Percier, Victor Borba- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 OST)
Gestral Beach- I'd Rather Play Petanque (Lorien Testard, Alice Duport-Percier, Victor Borba- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 OST)
Battle Theme No. 1 (Toma Otowa- Ghost of Yotei OST)
Raise the Sails (Saori Yoshida- Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii OST)

Social Media:
BlueSky- https://bsky.app/profile/tftblpod.bsky.social
Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/talesfromthebacklog/

Cover art by Jack Allen- find him at https://linktr.ee/JackAllenCaricatures

Support Tales from the Backlog

2024 In Review/Games of the Year

Dave Jackson — Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 -0500

Dave recaps his favorite games that released in 2024 and discusses the year in podcasting, gaming and more. Catch Dave's favorite games from other years that he played for the first time in 2024 on Patreon, available to all paid patrons!

TIMESTAMPS:

Intros/Reminiscing 0:18
Honorable Mentions 5:40
#10 13:44
#9 18:01
#8 21:15
#7 26:38
#6 32:01
#5 36:34
#4 41:17
#3 46:40
#2 52:26
#1 and thank yous 59:23

Music used in the episode:

1000xRESIST - The Orchard (At Peace) (Drew Redman)
1000xRESIST - The Youngest Looks (Drew Redman)
1000xRESIST - Watcher (Drew Redman)
Animal Well - Animal Well (Billy Basso)
Animal Well - Dawn Chorus (Billy Basso)
Animal Well - Flames (Billy Basso)
Balatro - Main Title (LouisF)
Balatro - Boss Blind Theme (LouisF)
Dragon's Dogma 2 - Escort Mission (Tadayoshi Makino, Rei Kondoh, Inon Zur and Masayoshi Ishi)
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree - Diving Beast Dancing Lion (Tsukasa Saitoh, Shoi Miyazawa, Tai Tomisawa, Soma Tanizaka, Yuka Kitamura)
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree - Gravesite Plain (Tsukasa Saitoh, Shoi Miyazawa, Tai Tomisawa, Soma Tanizaka, Yuka Kitamura)
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - Main Theme Battle Edit (Nobuo Uematsu, Shotaro Shima)
Final Fantasy VII Remake/Rebirth - Nibelheim/Train Graveyard (Nobuo Uematsu)
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - Dondoko Island (SEGA Sound Team/Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio)
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - Yokohama Sunset (SEGA Sound Team/Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio)
Metaphor ReFantazio - Akademia (Shoji Meguro, Atsushi Kitajoh and Toshiki Konishi)
Metaphor ReFantazio - Main Theme (Shoji Meguro, Atsushi Kitajoh and Toshiki Konishi, Keisuke Honryo)
Metaphor ReFantazio - Port Brilehaven (Shoji Meguro, Atsushi Kitajoh and Toshiki Konishi)
Mouthwashing - Main Title (Martin Halldin)
Nine Sols - Awakening (FFXX)
Nine Sols - Walk Me Through History (FFXX)
The Plucky Squire - A Very Happy Ending (Mike Georgiades)
The Plucky Squire - Celebration & Moonbeard's After Party (Mike Georgiades)
The Plucky Squire - Plucky Squire Theme (Mike Georgiades)
UFO 50 - Devilition (Placement) (Erik Suhrke)
UFO 50 - Mortol (Gameplay) (Erik Suhrke)
UFO 50 - Play Forever (Erik Suhrke)
UFO 50 - UFO 50 (Erik Suhrke)

Support Tales from the Backlog on Patreon! or buy me a coffee on Ko-fi!
Join the Tales from the Backlog Discord server!
Social Media:
Instagram
Twitter
Facebook
Cover art by Jack Allen- find him at https://www.instagram.com/jackallencaricatures/ and his other pages

Listen to A Top 3 Podcast on Apple, Spotify and [other podcast platforms](atop3podcast.fireside.fm)!

Support Tales from the Backlog

2023 In Review

Dave Jackson — Wed, 27 Dec 2023 00:00:00 -0500

2023 has been absolutely packed with great games, and now is the time to reflect on the new games I played over the past year. Despite missing a lot of popular releases like Alan Wake 2, Super Mario Wonder, Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, Armored Core VI, Lies of P and many more, I still played so many good games that it was tough to make a top 10! But alas, this is the podcaster's curse, so I present to you- 2023 in Review. From anticipated megahits like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Resident Evil 4 Remake and Baldur's Gate 3, to indie gems like Blasphemous 2, Jusant and Bleak Sword DX, here are the best games that I played this year. Also touched on are games like Coffee Golf, Final Fantasy 16, Sea of Stars, Redfall and more! Enjoy! You can also find the Top Non-2023 Games episode over on Patreon!

TIMESTAMPS
Intros/Games on the Outside Looking In 0:09
Honorable Mentions (Alphabetical) 12:55
Game #5 32:35
Game #4 37:06
Game #3 41:28
Game #2 46:13
Game #1 52:05

Listen to A Top 3 Podcast on Apple, Spotify and [other podcast platforms](atop3podcast.fireside.fm)!

Support Tales from the Backlog

2022 in Review

Dave Jackson — Wed, 28 Dec 2022 00:00:00 -0500

Per tradition, I end the year by talking about my favorite games that I played. This one focuses on 2022 releases, and if you'd like to hear me talk about the non-2022-release games that I loved this year, you can hear it by supporting Tales from the Backlog on Patreon! or buy me a coffee on Ko-fi!
Join the Tales from the Backlog Discord server!
Social Media:
Instagram
Twitter
Facebook
Cover art by Jack Allen- find him at https://www.instagram.com/jackallencaricatures/ and his other pages

Listen to A Top 3 Podcast on Apple, Spotify and [other podcast platforms](atop3podcast.fireside.fm)!

Support Tales from the Backlog

2021 In Review

Dave Jackson — Fri, 31 Dec 2021 00:00:00 -0500

Dave discusses his year in gaming, including the top games he played for the first time in 2021, each game he played that was actually released in 2021, and eventually naming his top 3 games from 2021 in the process. Thank you all for listening as the show has gotten off the ground, and I look forward to continuing to grow and improve in 2022.

[Support Tales from the Backlog on Patreon!](patreon.com/realdavejackson) or buy me a coffee on Ko-fi!
Join the Tales from the Backlog Discord server!
Social Media:
Instagram
Twitter
Facebook
Cover art by Jack Allen- find him at https://www.instagram.com/jackallencaricatures/ and his other pages

Listen to A Top 3 Podcast on Apple, Spotify and [other podcast platforms](atop3podcast.fireside.fm)!

Support Tales from the Backlog