The Toneys 2025

Hello to returning folks and welcome to newcomers of our Halftone Toneys! This is our second year naming the best media of the year as chosen by the Halftone staff. Each category had three of our staff members choose their pick for 2025 and offer reasoning for why it deserves its place on the list. 

So without further ado, the first Toney of 2025 goes ttoooo…

 

Best Video Games:

Dillon: Deltarune Chapters 3 + 4

I feel like I’m cheating by nominating Deltarune’s third and fourth chapters, but I just can’t help it. These two long-awaited entries totally blew fan expectations out of the water and gave us some of the most emotional moments in both Deltarune and Undertale. With more twists than you can count and an awesome follow-up to the game’s “Weird Route,” 3 and 4 gave fans what they were waiting so long for. Awesome new characters, amazing scenes with recurring ones, and hard fights that are complete with that Toby Fox charm. With any luck, I’ll be nominating the next chapter for my GOTY next year, too.

 

Piper: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Nominating Clair Obscur feels almost trite in how obvious a choice it is, but it really is just my favorite video game of the year. Its twist on JRPG gameplay elements is addictive and so incredibly rewarding to master; its world is rich and gorgeous; its music is one of my favorite video game OSTs of all time; and of course, its story is just enrapturing. I don’t want to spoil this game, but it’s so worth the hype (and worth becoming the most nominated Game of the Year contender in history). Do yourself the favor of playing it if you have the means to.

 

Gavin: Hollow Knight: Silksong

The sequel of the indie metroidvania, Hollow Knight, was seven years of waiting, but it was very much worth it in the end. Building on the mechanics of its predecessor to create an even more acrobatic and engaging combat system. Not to mention the magnificent world of Pharloom that the main character, Hornet, travels through. From lava filled caverns to gloomy bogs, there truly is so much to discover in this game.

 

Best Songs:

Adam: “Stateside” by PinkPantheress and Zara Larsson

Since the very first time I heard this song, I knew it was my favorite of the year. PinkPantheress, the new saint of electronica, has filled the brat shaped hole in my heart  with her mixtape Fancy That and its remix album, Fancy Some More? Even before the remix, “Stateside” is a wall to wall banger. Thumping and adrenaline pumping, it tells a story of urgent, international love as Pink follows her “American boy” over the Atlantic to see him that night. Another favorite act of 2025, Zara Larsson brings in some trademark attitude as well as references to her Swedish homeland, tying together the international theme. Clever, sexy, and for the dancefloor, this song was made in a lab just for me. 

 

Gavin: “Preybirds” by Rabbitology & Sparkbird

This song is utterly ethereal. Rabbitology and Sparkbird are already very unique for the ethereal feel of this music that kinda tugs on this strange part of the soul you can’t even describe. Something that almost feels inhuman. So when they come together they hit that part of yourself twice as hard and Preybirds comes out feeling like the song you’d hear as you run through an infinite expanse of golden grass. The lyrics are admittedly a little hard to make out at times, but you’re able to feel it more than you 100% understand it. In a strange way. And ever since I first came across this collaboration between two amazing folk artists, I couldn’t get it out of my head. Constantly humming the strange lyrics of feathers, red suns, and death even if I barely understood it beyond the feeling that you can’t run from your past. Not in the eye of Preybirds.

 

Piper: “doku” by yama and ☆Taku Takahashi

Yama has been on an incredible run this year. Releasing an EP, an album, and a handful of post-album singles, she seems to just churn out incredible pop music like it’s effortless. “doku” is the lead single of the EP of the same name and is one of the catchiest and best produced pop songs of the year. This song is relentlessly forward lurching and keeps a constant, grooving energy through its high bass and snare drums that propel yama’s gorgeous pop vocals throughout the just about 3 minute run time of the song. Even if you’re not into Japanese pop music, this is so worth a listen.

 

Best Albums: 

Dillon: The Crux by Djo

Joe Keery was not someone I expected to get into this year. I’m not all that into new song or album releases, but this one really hit me. The first song “Lonesome Is A State of Mind” is extremely chill and harmonic, and the titular song “Crux” is a great sendoff to an extremely underrated album. It’s perfect for late night drives and nighttime studying, and now I can confidently say I’m looking forward to more from the man behind the Harrington hair.

 

Gavin: American Mythology by Haunted Like Human

Haunted Like Human is already a deeply underrated band with a very unique sound to their music. One that clicks in my brain in a way few others do. And that unique folkish, country music continued with their newest album in American Mythology. These songs verge on ethereal, feeling like something you’d hear being hummed by the old lady who lives on the edge of the woods and regularly makes you question if she’s truly human or something far older. Not to mention it includes what was very much in consideration for the best song of the year, Family Name, which will leave you with a somber, familial ache you’ll be unsure how to treat. 

 

Jason: New Threats From the Soul by Ryan Davis and the Roadhouse Band

“I jolted up to some new transference from a sliding door/On a sister vessel and just let it play through,” Ryan Davis sings on the opening track.  You’d never think a country album this catchy could begin with a nine-plus minute title track, let alone start with this kind of lyrical abstraction, but for at least half of 2025, I had a hell of a time getting Davis & company’s magic tricks out of my head. From the Van Morrison swing on this opening title track to Will Oldham’s hayride holler on “The Simple Joy” to fiddle and pedal steel smoothing out the drum machine on “Crass Shadows (at Walden Pawn),” there isn’t a whole lot on this record that makes sense on paper — and that’s only partly what makes me coming back to it. The more significant reasons are the David Berman-esque lyrics and multi-layered arrangements, which allow the songs to return to a hook again and again without seeing any of them dissolve. Those who missed out on the sold out show at Johnny Brenda’s this past Tuesday are offered redemption: they’re returning to Union Transfer on April 3.

 

Best TV Shows:

Sam: Smiling Friends

Whenever I need to brainrot or sprinkle in some goofiness into my day-to-day routine, Smiling Friends is my go-to show. Its third season is undeniably absurd. From Allan and Mr. Boss’s sexual tension, to Mole Man’s havoc, to Mother Nature’s rage, there is no shortage of chaos in Pim and Charlie’s little universe. Their world has blown up the internet with memes and hilarious lines like “Allan, we are so f!@#$%!” and “Cookie delivery for… Allan?” I would go as far as to say that it is the most quotable show of this year. Take it or leave it, Smiling Friends is one of HBO Max’s crown jewels.    

 

Dillon: Pluribus

Again, this feels like cheating since this show isn’t over yet, but I want to give Vince Gilligan his flowers (as if he even needs them). This show has such a strange yet interesting hook, and one of the best first episodes I’ve ever seen on television. It really makes you think about so much, and it introduces a concept that’ll keep you awake at night while still managing to make you laugh somehow. It’s genuinely super intriguing, and while some call it a slow burn, I call it methodical. It takes time to bring you into this apocalyptic world, and you can only imagine what’ll happen in the future, and where our main character Carol will go. I can’t wait to see what Gilligan cooks up with this. Bravo, Vince.

 

Piper: Adolescence

Adolescence is terrifying and so, so impressive. Each of the four episodes in this miniseries were a single, hour(ish) long take and were filmed upwards of dozens of times. Technical prowess aside, it delivers a genuinely nauseating story about the murder of a teenage girl by an (accused) teen boy who has been swept up in the manosphere and all of the many lives impacted by that brutality. It’s heartbreaking and it’s timely and it’s all the more heartbreaking for that reason, but it’s also just incredible.

 

Best Films:

Adam: Frankenstein

“I am obscene to you, but to myself I simply am” has been living in my head rent free. Mary Shelley’s novel is my favorite story of all time, and Gullermo del Toro’s adaptation is so heartbreakingly authentic. Every grand set and tailored costume drips with gothic detail as del Toro spares no expense bringing this story to life. The performances turned in by Oscar Isaac and Mia Goth are enrapturing, but what Jacob Elordi accomplished here as the Creature is generational, and would win the Toney for Best Performance…if we gave those out.  

 

Sam: Sinners

If vampires and African American history are points of interest to you, Sinners is your bread and butter. Set in Mississippi in 1932, two black brothers come back to their hometown to face their roots and gain a profit off their black peers. However, they come across trouble when they pierce the veil between the living and the dead, provoking bloodthirsty white vampires. Rich with banger tunes, gorgeous cinematography, fabulous actors, death-gripping plotlines, and gore, Sinners is the movie of 2025.  

 

Gavin: The Bad Guys 2

The sequel to the hit Dreamworks movie from 2022, The Bad Guys. It follows the titular The Bad Guys group trying to integrate into society after spending a year in prison for their crimes and reforming in the previous movie. But are suddenly pulled into the classic “One Last Job” as a new all-female gang of criminals try to pull them back in. This is a movie with a whole lot of heart to it and it did have me laughing my butt off and deeply immersed. Even if it didn’t have the cultural impact as its competitors like Kpop Demon Hunters, I still really enjoyed The Bad Guys 2 enough for it to be my best film of the year. 

 

Best Books:

Piper: Hungerstone by Kat Dunn

Hungerstone is one of many reimagingings of Sheridan Le Fanu’s 19th century classic, Carmilla. Predating Dracula by decades, Carmilla stays in our imaginations not just for its place in broader vampire lore, but for being about a lesbian vampire in the 1800s. Hungerstone subverts most of the modern reimaginings of this story by completely changing every character except (kind of) Carmilla herself. Still, it preserves that core idea of the lesbian vampire and pushes that much further than it ever could have (or, really, would have) been 150 years ago.

 

Sam: Red City by Marie Lu

Think of The Young Elites but modern, Mafia-esque, and set in Los Angeles. Receiving a 4.11 score on goodreads, Marie Lu’s Red City is a spellbinding contemporary fantasy novel centered around two teenagers with powerful abilities within alchemy, a type of sorcery that allows people to transform objects into something new. Romantic, action-packed, and full of unique characters, Red City’s plot will grip you and never let go.  

 

Adam: Sunrise on the Reaping by Susanne Collins

Returning to the world of the Hunger Games with this prequel novel, Susanne Collins delivers what might be a new personal best for the series. Following District 12 winner and fan favorite Haymith Abernathy, this book is uniquely devastating. Collins mimics the first book with Sunrise’s propulsive, page-turning pace that made me read the thing as nearly one whole sitting. Packed with tasteful cameos, parallels to later books, and references to the series’ history, it’s a prequel done right. Any Hunger Games fan needs to read this, but it’s on its own, it’s a masterclass in suspense and tragedy. 

 

And we have a new section to offer this year: Most Anticipated! Where we asked our team to give a piece of media that’s yet to release they’re excited for. So let’s get into them!

 

Most Anticipated:

Adam: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

I’ve written about this Game of Thrones prequel on numerous occasions, but it remains the thing I’m most excited for next year. As someone who hasn’t seen the show but loves George R.R. Martin’s books, I think we’re in for the most accurate adaptation of his work. Brighter and more hopeful, this show is poised to bring out the more whimsical, hopeful nature of the short stories it’s adapting, the adventures of Dunk & Egg. Focussing on the smallfolk of Westeros as opposed to the nobles, it’s the perfect companion to House of the Dragon. In times like these, I’m jonesing for a tale about a knight who remembers his vows. 

 

Dillon: Reanimal

Little Nightmares 1 and 2 are some of my favorite games ever. Fit with an amazingly creepy soundtrack, awesome world, and intriguing themes surrounding society, the Little Nightmares games are indie games that just kept getting better. When I heard that Tarsier Studios wasn’t going to be making the third one, I was initially upset, but then I heard they were making Reanimal, a horror game with massive environments and small children in a post-apocalyptic world. So basically LN with a different coat of paint, which I was primed for. It seems like its world is centered around animal cruelty and human savagery, which I can’t wait to see fleshed out more in the game. It comes out a day before Valentine’s in 2026, so you know I’ll be spending a few hours playing it before crashing in preparation for a much brighter experience. Please traumatize me again, Tarsier!

 

Sam: Interview with the Vampire Season 3: The Vampire Lestat 

AMC is gifting us with another installment of Interview with the Vampire in 2026 titled “The Vampire Lestat,” which is, you guessed it, going to be about the blood-thirsty prima donna Lestat! Based on the third season’s trailer, Sam Reid’s Lestat is going to take us through his childhood, his vampiric birth, and his life as a rockstar. It’s the tea all Interview with the Vampire watchers, including myself, have been dying to sip.  

 

Piper: Resident Evil Requiem

Capcom has been on a generational run with successful Resident Evil releases since 2017’s Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. In the time since, they’ve released three ground-up remakes in 2, 3, and 4, as well as Village, the 8th mainline numbered entry. Requiem, the 9th mainline numbered entry currently set to release in February of 2026, looks so far to be continuing the same trend of high production value, bone-chilling survival horror that has kept fans captivated for nearly a decade of RE Engine games. Requiem is the first Resident Evil game to be released since Silent Hill has entered its renaissance (with the beloved remake of Silent Hill 2 in 2024 and the brand new Silent Hill f a few months ago). The entire survival horror genre is thriving in a way it hasn’t in years and I personally am so here for it.

 

Gavin: Mina The Hollower

From the indie studio who made the hit platformer, Shovel Knight (2014), Yacht Club Games returns with another call back to retro games with Mina The Hollower. A new top-down dungeon crawler adventure game as a spiritual successor to the Gameboy Color era with games like The Legend Of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (1993) with beautiful 8-bit pixel art. But offering a uniquely gothic and horror inspired aesthetic to this revival.

 

Jason: Secret Love by Dry Cleaning (January 2026)

I don’t know how Dry Cleaning has gone nearly four years without releasing a new album, but if the first two singles from Secret Love are any indication they’re picking up right where 2022’s Stumpwork left off — with Florence Shaw’s disinterested and mesmerizing spoken-singsong performances over buzzsaw and bass tangos a la Gang of Four.