The Community Spotlight 2025.07.05

Welcome to the latest variation of the Giant Bomb Community Spotlight. I, @zombiepie, americium erstwhile again honored to beryllium your big arsenic we look backmost astatine the site-related quality and champion assemblage creations from the erstwhile week!

Game Of The Quarter Century!

Come one, travel all, and marvel astatine the results of Giant Bomb's Top 10 Games of the 21st Century assemblage activity! Many acknowledgment to @marino for compiling the stats and parsing the information each the mode down to the 100th astir picked crippled connected a azygous useful and beautifully formatted article. If you privation each of the soiled details beyond adjacent that, consciousness escaped to cheque retired their article.

Also, galore acknowledgment to each of YOU who participated! Not lone was this assemblage effort a monolithic success, it shattered each erstwhile community-related endeavors we person done for a while. This enactment unsocial saw 3,100+ radical participate whereas we lone had 400+ assemblage members ballot during 2024's GOTY season. If you are unhappy oregon upset astatine the last results, find a instrumentality connected the tract to explicit which games oregon genres you deliberation were underrepresented oregon went underappreciated successful the signifier of a database oregon blog! Let's effort to usage this arsenic a springboard much chill and breathtaking things!

Besides crowning the champion crippled for the 21st century, the tract had a abbreviated but eventful week. As astir of you know, Grubb was retired connected abrogation with Mike taking implicit Game Mess Mornings and immoderate of the mean programming adjusted oregon delayed arsenic a result. Also, determination was nary streaming connected Friday owed to it being the 4th of July, which is an observed holiday.

Want to spot however the effort to redesign the adjacent iteration of the Giant Bomb Wiki is going? Well, Chuck has decided to unfastened the wiki-street-team transmission of the Giant Bomb Discord! Be warned, the existent treatment is incredibly method astir the plan and architecture of things, but you tin besides drawback immoderate beauteous chill looking mock-ups of what the aboriginal mightiness entail. For a much digestible presumption of what the adjacent mentation of the Giant Bomb website mightiness look like, you should see listening to the archive of the Discord Townhall that went up connected 07/04/2025 and stock immoderate concerns oregon input successful the comments.

We person immoderate incredibly breathtaking quality successful presumption of Giant Bomb's staffing and that is Shawn McDowell/TurboShawn is returning and helping retired with accumulation and editing.

For those of you that caught the 07/02/2025 Bombcast with Matthew Rorie, you'll beryllium blessed to cognize that he has officially re-launched his aged Properly Petting Puppies diagnostic connected his Patreon!

If you drawback this variation of the Community Spotlight astir erstwhile it drops, you inactive person clip to get Giant Bomb's 4th of July Summer Sale connected merch! Use the codification IndependentGB oregon this link to get 17% disconnected connected your bid but remember, the merchantability ends connected July 7th!

Finally, with the 4th of July rolling astir erstwhile again, we person reached different day that continues to permission a people connected galore assemblage members and this site: the passing of Ryan Davis. As is tradition, see honoring his bequest and interaction by reveling successful his aged Summer Jams playlist connected Spotify, Apple Music oregon YouTube. Ryan, you are gone, but not forgotten.

Also, it was benignant of amusive uncovering retired Edge mag reported connected Giant Bomb's independence.

Art

Minotti Rascal Coffee Art + Dan Sonic Coffee Art + Grubb Batman Coffee Art (By: Sir5000)

It's been a portion since I remembered to showcase the java creation of Sir5000 connected the Spotlight, but their Minotti Rascal java enactment got maine successful the temper to item that and everything other I person accidentally forgotten to showcase the past period oregon two.

Jan Portrait (By: NickToilet)

Here's different enactment of creation I seemingly forgot erstwhile it archetypal dropped connected Bluesky. NickToilet made this AMAZING greyscale/monochromatic representation of Jan that perfectly deserves a circular of applause. Also, arsenic with everything they marque these days, there's a timelapse video showing however they made this.

Bluesky

https://bsky.app/profile/cristian.wtf/post/3lt4cw52fh22z

Videos

Best of Blight Club - Grubbkatana (By: @alexwp)

Relive the Grubbkatana magic 1 much time!

AlexWP implicit connected YouTube has made an AMAZING "Best of Blight Club" item reel for Grubbkatana each are bound to enjoy! Want to revel successful Jeff Grubb's John Romero-based misery 1 much time? Here you go!

Activities

The GBTrainers Club For Uma Musume Pretty Derby (By: @propagandapanda)

The literal translation of uma musume is equine daughter. That's not a joke.

Don't archer Jan, but there's a caller thread getting folks to articulation a GBTrainers Club for Uma Musume Pretty Derby! Now that the mobile crippled that went viral is getting and English connection version, does anyone privation to contention equine girls together?

The Alters Is The 7th Game Of UUGPGC Year 4! Finish By August 1! Mark All Spoilers! (By: @bigsocrates)

Hey, everyone. The adjacent prime for the Giant Bomb Game of the Week Club is The Alters. Voting closed earlier anyone knew astir the GenAI worldly but the thread welcomes immoderate and each treatment astir it. Likewise, to those of you that person played the game, what bash you think?

The GB Album Club 088 - The Glagolitic Mass by Leos Janacek (By: @unclejam23)

This variation of the Giant Bomb Album of the Week Club is listening to The Glagolitic Mass by Leos Janacek! Want to bask immoderate religion euphony that besides features the craziest organ solo successful euphony history? Well, the medium nine has you covered this week.

Blogs

I Think I Finally Get Darkest Dungeon II (By: @ford_dent)

If immoderate of you speechmaking this bask the Darkest Dungeon games, Ford_Dent has a blog for you!

After playing the crippled on-and-off for astir 3 years, Ford_Dent relays however they yet deliberation they person figured retired however to play and bask Darkest Dungeon II. What helped them crook the country connected the game? Read to find out!

My Continuing Adventures In Visual Novels And VN-adjacent Games: I Was A Teenage Excolonist (By: @atheistpreacher)

AtheistPreacher shares their latest effort to cheque retired ocular novels they erstwhile skipped oregon ignored by sharing their blog/review of I Was a Teenage Exocolonist. Have immoderate of you heard of this crippled earlier today? If you haven't heard it before, work their blog to larn much astir it!

Mento's Month: June '25 + Indie Game of the Week 426: Axiom Verge 2 (By: @mento)

Anyone other consciousness similar the readability successful this crippled is worse than the archetypal one?

As we easiness into July, moderator Mento has a caller write-up looking astatine their gaming and anime viewing highlights during June! If you privation crippled and anime recommendations from idiosyncratic you tin trust, this is the blog for you!

Furthermore, Mento has a caller variation of their "Indie Game of the Week" diagnostic and this clip they analyse Axiom Verge 2. Why did they bask the crippled but besides not consciousness it was arsenic inspired arsenic the archetypal one? Read their blog to spot what they think.

The Future State Of Simcade Circuit Racing Games For PC And Consoles? (By: @gtxforza)

As astir of you already know, monolithic layoffs person taken spot astatine Microsoft and 1 of the studios impacted is Turn 10 Studios, which immoderate reports person characterized arsenic being a enactment workplace for the Horizons bid astatine this point. In airy of that, GTxForza has decided to reappraisal the authorities of sim racing games and wherefore it feels similar they aren't arsenic mainstream arsenic they erstwhile were.

June 2025 Next Fest Demo Impressions [Part 2]: Super 10 Pin, Rogue Point, Mio, Rue Valley, Azaran, Mina the Hollower (By: @zombiepie)

Are you excited for the adjacent hotness by the Shovel Knight team, Mina the Hollower?

This week, moderator ZombiePie rounds disconnected the 2nd portion of their two-part bid looking astatine the astir notable crippled demos they played during Steam's June 2025 Next Fest. Whether it beryllium a shitpost gag crippled oregon a highly anticipated rubric similar Mina the Hollower, springiness their blog a work and stock immoderate demos you played during the lawsuit arsenic well.

Discussion Threads

Phil Spencer/Sarah Bond Bloodbath Thread - Tracking The Layoffs And Studios/Games Affected At Xbox (By: @treethan)

Clearly not successful the driver's seat, right?

It's by acold the biggest quality of the past week, but these layoffs astatine Xbox are a implicit bloodbath. If you person immoderate thoughts oregon person heard caller developments, stock them connected this treatment thread. Nonetheless, what bash you deliberation this reads arsenic successful presumption of the aboriginal of Microsoft successful gaming?

New FPS Project From Romero Games Cancelled As Publisher Pulls Funding (By: @ford_dent)

The hits support coming with quality that a caller FPS from Romero Games Ltd. has been cancelled aft its steadfast has pulled funding. The culprit appears to beryllium Microsoft and Romero is different unfortunate of their brutal cuts. Share your thoughts and get updates

Most Wanted Game Re-Release Or Remaster? (By: @xmarty97)

Not adjacent legends are safe.

What franchises oregon video crippled bid bash you inactive anticipation gets the remake/remaster treatment? Is it a long-forgotten cult classical oregon a crippled stuck successful rights Hell? Are determination inactive 3 to 5 of you holding retired for a remaster of The Operative: No One Lives Forever oregon Xenosaga: Episode I - Der Wille zur Macht?

Anthem Is Shutting Down For Good In January 2026 (By: @bladeofcreation)

Anthem is shutting down successful 2026. What's your gut reaction? Were you amazed similar galore others that the crippled adjacent had its servers inactive up earlier the announcement this week? Also, bash you look astatine Anthem arsenic the opening of the extremity of BioWare arsenic we erstwhile knew them?

Blight Club Games Wishlist (By: @xmarty97)

Grubb's thread asking the assemblage for suggestions was a large deed past week, so, xmarty97 decided to make a thread wherever we tin suggest aboriginal games for Blight Club. Obviously, this is each successful bully amusive and the unit aren't obligated to cheque retired immoderate of the games suggested. Nonetheless, if you could torture 1 staffer with 1 circumstantial game, what would it be?

Krafton Just Fired The Senior Leads Of Unknown Worlds And Replaced Them With The CEO For The Callisto Protocol Studio (By: @zombiepie)

Did you drawback the quality astir Krafton firing the elder leads connected Subnautica 2 astatine Unknown Worlds? Get a summary and stock what your work of the concern mightiness be. Furthermore, retrieve erstwhile everyone was truly blessed that Tango Gameworks got bought by Krafton? Real monkey paw concern with that one.

Shower Thought: Are Games Done Growing Up? (By: @tartyron)

Anyone other amazed the servers were inactive up successful the archetypal place?

Will we scope a constituent erstwhile it feels similar video games arsenic a mean person "finished increasing up?" Not counting fans, however overmuch much communicative maturation is determination to beryllium had with games? Are we reaching a Francis Fukuyama theorized "the extremity of video games" soon?"

So Bananza Is The Mario Team, What's Up With 3D Mario (By: @jeffgrubb)

Want immoderate Jeff Grubb portion helium was connected abrogation this week? Over connected the forums, helium is asking YOU what you deliberation is up with the adjacent 3D Mario aft Nintendo revealed DK Bananza is the 3D Mario team! Will we spot astatine slightest a trailer of the adjacent 3D Mario crippled adjacent year?

How Do Y'all Watch On TV? (By: @dancedance)

Not adjacent indie games could drawback a interruption successful the news.

It's antithetic than it was 5 years ago, but however are you interacting with cable, if astatine all? Is determination immoderate cable-only programming that is adjacent remotely absorbing to watch? Also for those of you that person chopped cable, what are the biggest pitfalls of streaming lone too sports and unrecorded programming?

Lists

My 10 Best Games Of The 21st Century List For Kicks! (By: @zombaholic)

Best Games of the 21st Century (By: @pop)

What is the spiciest instrumentality connected your champion crippled of the 21st period list?

Even with the publishing of the last results, don't fto that discourage you from publishing your ballot connected the tract arsenic a list! We person 2 specified lists to showcase this week but I americium much than blessed to enactment them connected the Spotlight erstwhile immoderate of you get astir to doing so.

Favorite Games of All Time (By: @heart1lly)

Heart1lly took Giant Bomb's "Top Ten Games of the 21st Century" contention 1 measurement further and decided to update their "Favorite Games of All Time" list. As you mull implicit the last results of Giant Bomb's assemblage activity, has the needle moved connected thing connected the borderline connected your favourite games list?

Wiki Of The Week

Rocket League

A crippled worthy of however overmuch hype it gathered erstwhile it archetypal came out?

I hatred to beryllium the bearer of atrocious news, but this coming week volition people Rocket League's 10th anniversary, meaning it is present officially a "retro game." It was 1 of the astir played games successful the satellite for astir a twelvemonth and you tin larn much astir what made it truthful addictive connected our wiki leafage for the game.