Similarly to last year I wanted to take the opportunity and have one more look at the campaigns I played throughout the whole year. Some of these can be found in full here on the site, whilst most of them, admittedly, have been played (or been suffered through) with one or two of my friends without me taking constant pictures and notes.
Still, many of them feature remarkable moments that I think are worth a mention or two.
I will be taking pictures of the settlement sheets, and just like last year, I will also apologize in advance. They might be tough to read/illegible, especially in the pictures, but I feel they belong here. They are for dramatic flair I guess.
Besides the games I have played with my physical copy, I have also started 2 campaigns in the sim, and whilst I forgot the take screenshots, I will be mentioning these 2 separately at the end.

Naturally, the Feline Entity was a part of a lot of these.

***

I will try to go through them chronologically, to the best of my ability.

We will start off this year’s recap with an honorable mentions of sorts: Bogstop.
I started this site and Bogstop all the way back in September 2024, and was unable to finish the bog that won’t stop before we got well into Spring 2025.
You can find the whole of Bogstop on the site as Season 1. I am a bit of a Luck-Vampire and during some of the recorded sessions I feel like I am never going to beat any allegations that stuff is scripted. Either way, both getting to try out Wrath and a Bullfrog Armor set was great and has me thoroughly set up to be a copper-apologist for a very long time. Life just feels different after you have hit a monster for 50+ on a wound roll. What else can I say? I have been loving that stuff ever since.
Of course you can read in all in grueling detail on the site .. right now!

NQ: FD; SA; PH; (DBK) – NN: TB/KB; SM; BK – C: W – F: GSK

Whilst the 3-person-game group I had managed to line up in 2024 had still been on a hiatus at the start of the year, I was fortunate enough to be able continue playing additional 2-player sessions almost every weekend.
The first settlement to come out of these was a place called Laughtale, which sadly fizzled out just before we could face the Watcher, largely because of a tactical military strike against the settlement by the Spider Army.
To this date this remains the only time I really had a chance to play Spidicules and I am looking forward to actually exploring this expansion at some point in the future.
This settlement did also feature my first attempt at fighting the Lion God. We only hunted it once and suffered a monumental loss before we could do any spelunking what-so-ever. The fight started with the monster killing one of our strongest survivors by smashing it head-first into a wall. You might be able to imagine how the rest turned out.

NQ: WL; SA + SP; PH; LG – NN: TB/KB; KM; TH – C: W – F: GSK

Ameris’ Cairn was our follow-up and my first foray into alternate campaigns with my other players – a People of the Stars campaign.
Between a settlement that continued to thrive despite a huge amount of random deaths (42 deaths in total), a total of at least 16 Founding Stones gained whilst out on the hunt and a Constellation survivor with 14STR, the most memorable fight by far had to be the finale.
I was stuck watching from the sidelines a 1 on 1 duel between a survivor with the Hazmat Shield that could only hit AND wound on Lantern 10s each and our supreme liege which only hit its target on 10+ as well due the survivor’s high EVA.
This fight took us over 2 1/2 hours!!!
Sadly we never managed to critically wound the cooling system and thus the Dragon King eventually won this battle of unheard-of attrition.

NQ: FD; SA + FK; SS; DBK – NN: TY; TB/KB; BK – C/F: DK

Almost parallel to the last settlement, we had a chance to get all 3 people back together for a new campaign around April. Due to a recent fixation by one of my fellow survivors on a popular video game, we created Lumiere (also People of the Stars) and subsequently tried our best to not die too early… which, well, didn’t work out all too well.
And not even the 50+ star-themed names I had prepared for my survivors helped with that.
The Tyrant moved on shortly after 4 of the 5 remaining survivors got flung off the side of the Inverted Mountain by an angry guard dog.
Technically speaking, Frog Minaj is still alone and alive in the ruins of this settlement with her single Dragon Trait.

NQ: FD; SA + FK; SS; LG – NN: TY; SM; BK – C/F: DK

In May I also officially startedSeason 2 on the site – the People of the Sun campaign set in Azure Pond.
Set up to be what I called “vanilla+” I stuck to the quarry monsters from the Core set as I explored my first ever PotSun settlement .. and I fell in love with it.
As I exploded White Lions left and right, the new mechanics struck a chord with me and, whilst I may be a part of a minority, I did thoroughly enjoy the PotSun narrative/campaign. (Which also led to me trying my hardest to buy all currently available Sun-boxes for the game with the missing too set to arrive within the next few days.)
The elevated offensive power level of Sun survivors also gave me a good opportunity to hunt the Lion God again and acquire the weirdest of all cats for the settlement.
Be nice! It just wants to cuddle for a bit!
The nemesis gauntlet to end the campaign gave me one of my favorite cinematic moments I have ever had with the game – when the Hand drew its sword for a final, DEVASTATING, swing out of Respect for our tenacity.
Again, you can read all of it, in detail, on the site .. right now!

 NQ: WL; SA; PH; LG – NN: TB; KM; TH – C/F: SS

The Tyrant was certainly having a rough year with my playgroup.
Athen, built basically on the ruins of Lumiere, with the exact same monsters, was the final installment of us trying to complete the Stars bingo for the year, only to be met with failure yet again.
Whilst we managed to at least get to the second fight against the Tyrant – and we even beat him surprisingly handily, which left us puzzled; the settlement had been circling the drain for many Lantern Years prior and not even a Sculptor Constellation was able to turn the tide.
But .. I guess the signs had been obvious pretty much from the beginning, like when we almost lost 4 people to a Flower Knight Level 1 (triggering A Warm Virus in LY06), when my fellow survivors did the unthinkable and didn’t respect the axe weapon class (my favorite!) or when the Tyrant killed those he deemed unworthy in a fit of rage after our first fight just a little later.
In general, the Tyrant had developed a tendency to just kill anyone who came even close to his throne at this point, sometimes with imparted secrets, most of the time without.

NQ: FD; SA + FK; SS; LG – NN: TY; SM; BK – C/F: DK

At the end of Summer we then decided to switch things up a little. As the Tyrant had grown noticeably irritated by our presence and I was on my current PotSun-high from playing Azure Pond, we started another 3-player Sun settlement: Undelvalt.
This would sadly only amount to be a preview of sorts, as one of my friends had to move just a little later and we were back down to just being 2 players for the foreseeable future.
This settlement is technically still running and has reached LY05 at this point – festival season!
I want to say that I am sure we will be continuing it at a later date, but who knows at this point.

NQ: WL; SA; PH; DBK – NN: TB; KM; TH – C/F: SS

Whilst we were down a man after September ended, the 2-player sessions continued, much like the PotSun settlements did.
Solaris was the first settlement we established next to a suspicious pool, which sadly had to be abandoned in LY13 thanks to Clinging Mists. Still, it had a rich history, including the story of Sonya – who was reincarnated 3 times over the course of 2 settlements, and saw 40+ names due to Infinite Lives (FA). She was one of the four initial survivors of Solaris and would grow into a Warrior of the Sun, at least stat-wise by the end of Helios (the next settlement).
We also encountered our first Wanderer: Goth – who was also a part of the Clinging Mist group.
Unfortunately our Acanthus Doctor (called Yak, later Dr. med. Yak) was murdered just before he could be taken along in the following Lantern Year.

NQ: WL; SA + FK; PH; DBK – NN: TB; KM; TH – C/F: SS

As already mentioned, Helios would be the name of the following PotSun settlement afterClinging Mist. This was the place that would make it all the way to the end fight with the Great Devourer.
Featuring many very powerful survivors and weapons – including a Wrought Sledge – we actively spent our Lantern Years hunting Phoenixes and Dung Beetles, which also eventually led to our greatest moment of hubris.
One Dung Beetle Knight had decided it wasn’t going to have it any more with our shenanigans and we lost 2 infini-dodge Warriors of the Sun against a Level 2 DBK and its superior ball-handling skills. It just wouldn’t quit!
Devastated by such a loss in LY18, we struggled to regain our footing and actually lost the King’s Man Lvl2 encounter in LY21! It was only thanks to the Hour’s Ring we had crafted that we did not lose the campaign at that point.
In stark contrast to us struggling against the Level 2 King’s Man even in the successful fight, we were able to somehow just punch out both the Butcher and the King’s Man Lvl3 afterwards, and only really had to work for our victory against the Hand.
But we had enough Founding Stones left at that point to quickly end the fight with a well-timed crit.
As is usually expected, the actual final fight was a bit of a push-over in comparison and we emerged victorious .. as much as that ending could be considered a victory to begin with.

NQ: WL; SA + FK; PH; DBK – NN: TB; KM; TH – C/F: SS

Helios in all its glory.

During November we then also saw the start of Season 3 on the site – the Bloody Shallows. Currently ongoing and set to be mainly played in 2026, we are climbing the side of the Inverted Mountain inch by inch, followed not only by the Pariah, but also the Red Witches.
So far things have been looking pretty great – with the Pariah fight leaving me mentally exhausted, but I emerged victorious after all. Of course we are still strugelling to finish that Frogdog Armor set in LY06/07.
We have also met another Wanderer: Candy and she is a delight to be around!
Depending on just how slow I am with playing this campaign (if Screaming God comes out early enough in the new year) the campaign’s set-up might yet change a little.

NQ: FD; SA/NL; DK; DBK – NN: P; RW; BK – C: W – F: GSK

And finally, there is the Gormpital.
A fledgling 2-player settlement, with Ocular Parasites, set to fight Gorm, dabble in alchemy and get hounded by the Pairah – Full Metal Gormchemy, if you will.
We are also playing with Wanderer Candy in this campaign and I am looking forward to see how much she is going to differ from the Candy visiting the Bloody Shallows.
So far, MY Candy in Season 3 seems like “Candy from Ohio” in comparison.
This is my first time playing with the Gorm expansion, and thus I am looking forward to what the big baby has to offer, so far it has had great positive impact on my campaign, as the Rib Blade and the Greater Gaxe were both large reasons why we managed to defeat our Pariah Lvl1 encounter pretty easily. Of course, I am probably naturally aligned to love the Gorm, as it seems like axe-heaven.

NQ: G; SA/NL; DK; LG – NN: P; RW; BK – C: W – F: GSK

***

In the Sim I managed to play 2 more settlements, both of which were fairly recently.

Phoenicia was my first digital settlement – focused on the Core game only, with me trying to hunt as many Phoenixes as I could – just as the name would imply.
I had the humble goal to just try out as much birb gear as I could and further familiarize myself with the fight.
Whilst I did not manage to try “everything” I think this settlement really helped me expand my understanding of the Phoenix and overall appreciation of a lot of the gear.
The easiest way to learn how to deal with the birbs “random bullshit” for me was to face it head on and get hit with it first hand. On the one hand it does have a crazy amount of variance it can pull from, on the other, it also often tends to do nothing with it.
Learning the hit location deck also helped a lot when you want to fight it effectively, especially at higher level when you need to somewhat actively play around age tokens.

Let me also take the opportunity to encourage you to try gear for yourself and not label something as “bad” just because a discussion on the internet told you it is. I saw a couple of discussions like this on Discord in the second half of the year and whilst there will always be valid points brought up, there is a lot of fun to be had with the stranger items the game offers you even if they are, indeed, “suboptimal”.
I also think a lot of the good/bad discussion does not account for armors and abilities typically associated with the gear, and the Phoenix Armor set (much like Dragon King and Sunstalker) enables a lot of the lower STR weaponry for the late game.
Personally I do love my Sonic Tomahawk and I have found strong appreciation for both the Arc Bow and Finger of God over these last few campaigns as well. I even saw aHollow Sword be used in Helios! It preformed quite nicely!
Have you ever hit the monster 12 times in a single attack before? Will that likely draw the trap? Yes! But if it doesn’t it is going to be amazing! Let the intrusive thoughts win from time to time!
Of course we will see how “modern” QN3 gear compares to the older stuff when we get the Honeycomb Weaver in 2026. I really just want more weird support items, I guess.
Rant over.

As for Phoenicia, I was able to fight the Great Golden Cat in LY29, which would come to hit for 11DMG as it drew Enraged pretty quickly, but it luckily also turned out to be somewhat of a glass cannon.
The Gold Smoke Knight did tear me apart .. again .. afterwards. It remains to be my personal nemesis.

NQ: WL; SA; PH – NN: TB; KM; TH – C: W – F: GSK

And finally: I started Beetlebog shortly after Black Friday, which would be my second ever digital settlement, and whilst I am still holding off from getting anything directly GCE, I wanted to play another Frogdog-centric settlement in the meantime (for the copper) and try to actually hunt the Dung Beetle Knight properly for once.
Alongside me getting started in the Sim I also decided I would try and proxy the Death Drifter Wanderer by keeping its cards next to my PC after seeing what the character actually entailed.
Whilst I am missing out on a Fighting Art for the rest of the settlement doing it like this, overall this worked like a charm for the Drifter specifically due to him not having any non-gear/knowledge cards.
Doing this I also found a way to abuse the absurd power level of the fully leveled Drifter *cough*.
You see, another expansion I was longing to use again after a long time was the Slenderman. And one skin-care routine later, the Death Drifter forgot about ever wanting to leave.
It did delay my original plan – building a Gloomhammer – but having watched the Drifter 1v1-ing Dung Beetle Knights Lvl1 and 2 and a Frogdog Lvl3 .. yeah, I figured that must have been the right call.
In the same sense, Goth with Gloom Cream also seems like it could have incredible potential. She would end up hating you though. The Death Drifter just doesn’t care one way or another.
As I am writing this Beetlebog is currently in LY16, preparing to face their Butcher Lvl2 fight.

Sadly this incredibly powerful Drifter’s run ended right on the 31st as I not only rolled double *REDACTED* but he also got Squeamish (D) and couldn’t spend survival to prevent getting eaten whole.

NQ: FD; SA; PH; DBK – NN: TB; SM; TH – C: W – F: GSK

***

***

At this point I have misspelled Frogdog as “Froggod” so often over the course of this year that I am starting to hope that Adam makes a god-version of the Frogdog at some point.
As a Frogdog Vignette maybe?

Although, looking at Lion God and Screaming God .., next up on the God-list would be Birb God, I guess?

***

So.., if I actually count all settlements, physical and digital, no matter how far they got, I played 14 settlements this year! Wow!
Whilst not all of them have been played to completion yet – 4 of them are still ongoing – or have been all that long (LY02 Clinging Mist is funny though) – that is a lot of time invested into KD:M!
Easily above average amounts, I would say. If that is a good or bad thing, I will leave up to you to decided individually.

I for one am hoping that I will find just as much time with the game next year and can offer more refined insights into monsters, their gear and new content as I get to experiment with it more and more.

On the hobbyist-side of the game I will be trying to further improve my painting, though I doubt that I will ever truly be painting for the camera.
I value how they look in hand more, and, as I’ve mentioned before, it finally clicked for me that these are not the same skill-set/approach, even if they may not be mutually exclusive.

As for the site itself, I will be continuing Season 3 in January, I also want to have a look at the Death Drifter and Candy after my recent exploits with them just like I did with Goth and I would also like to write overviews for other monster expansions like I did for Pariah.
As for future campaigns, I am thinking about possibly PotStars for a Season 4, or one of the lesser well known variants… like People of the Bloom, but that will also depend on when the new expansions will come out.

For now I will be getting back to putting finishing touches onto Nico and my Death Drifter minis, hunting digital Frogdogs and trying to get over this annoying cold I caught myself right around Christmas Eve.
As always, thank you very much for your time – I hope you’ll have a great start into your new year and that you’ll find lots of time for KD:M in 2026!
Amathul