Welcome back to yet another list of my favorite video essays of the last year! Some might be glad to hear that I have not been terminally online as much as 2022, as this is the first time I’m delivering this article after the year I’m writing about has ended. But being outside a lot more didn’t stop me from watching a bunch of video essays. We got writing on everything from US back genocides to games about nuclear war to several bafflingly bad video games. Once again, there’s no real ranking to this list, but this year, I don’t even have one clear favorite over the rest as I was impressed by all these videos in equal, yet different ways. So, without further ado, let’s get into it with what is likely the most expected video on the list.

Hbomberguy – Plagerisim and You(Tube)

Okay, let’s get this out of the way right up front. Almost anyone reading an article like this needs no introduction to Hbomberguy. His output might be the definition of quality over quantity, but when his videos are as great as they are and get people talking this much, it’s hard to mind that. This year’s video dives deep into plagiarism and the many examples of it on YouTube, but what makes this video brilliant and worth a spot on this list is that it doesn’t stop there.

Sure, almost anyone will get a kick out of seeing clear frauds be rightly dragged for being so. But, the discussions about content mills and why people even feel the need to steal ideas from others make this video feel like something worth losing our collective minds over in the last few weeks. And boy did we, as the fallout from mentioned creators and the mounting discoveries of new victims of plagiarism have continued to captivate many of us online. But no matter how all of that turns out, it was ultimately still incredibly nice to have a work like this show such reverence and respect to the craft of video essays and, really, all creative works. Good art does indeed take time to make, and I hope one of the main takeaways of this video is that it’s okay to take that time, because the shortcuts are often just not worth the trouble.

Skill Up – The Day Before –  A Scam to Remember

Speaking of shamelessly stealing ideas, let’s talk about one of 2 videos about really, really bad video games from 2023. The Day Before first came on the scene a few years back with an insane reveal trailer. It showcased a game that seemed to have the polish of The Last of Us with the online open world of The Division. The next few trailers would make the game seem to have the realistic vehicle handling and terrain deformation of Spintires, the base building of Rust, and a deep job system similar to ones found in MMOs. Sounds great right? Well, the game was removed from Steam less than a week after its early access release.

Well, what happened? Skill Up, who has been consistently making great reviews on YouTube, has kept up with all of the twists and turns of this story and it is more than a little insane. I was aware of the game since its initial reveal, but I didn’t even realize how many details I was ignorant of until this video. It was a fascinating watch, and I’m sure it’ll be one of the videos people will look towards in the years to come when folks want to know what happened to what was once the most wish-listed game on all of Steam.

minimme – Crime Boss Rockay City Review

Speaking of terrible games, here’s that other video I hinted at earlier. But instead of the cynically made cash grab of The Day Before, Crime Boss Rockay City is a bit harder to write off as such. Yes, it casts a bunch of random All-Stars of the 80s and was roasted in reviews. Hell, even this excellent video by minimme ends with him not recommending the game. But how this game is flawed is so much more interesting to me. It’s bad in a complicated way because it has some great ideas mixed in with the bad ones.

minimme has been one of my favorite YouTubers for a few years because he’s incredibly good at finding the value in obscure, middling, or even outright bad games. His video on Driv3r, which I wish I mentioned in my top 22 list last year, shows this skill best. But he uses that skill to look at this game, one that was written off instantly by everyone on release, to see something more than just a Payday clone with a bad Chuck Norris performance. If you’re a sicko like me and have a deep fascination for the bargain bin genre of games, I can’t recommend this video and this creator enough.

F.D. Signifyer – The REAL Faces of Black Conservatism

Another year, another FD Signifyer video. I know I know, I really like this guy, but it’s not my fault he makes videos specifically for me! Hell, his video about white rappers that he posted a few days ago might be the most relatable video essay I’ve seen all year. But, there’s a reason I’m sharing this video on Black Conservatism instead: it is not only good, but it also taught me a few new things as well.

I knew a whole lot about all of the main figures mentioned in the video. As a black man growing up around all of these figures, it’s hard not to be aware of these three. But this video taught me a lot about additional names in black history and modern black culture. And it even clarified a lot of the world view of close, older family members. I feel like, by now, I know a decent bit about leftist ideas, but this taught me how to interact with right-leaning concepts in ways that dismantle them instead of just directing them elsewhere. It’s hard for folks to leave what they know, but if what you know is proven to not be worthwhile, then something new is much more appealing. Now I’m not about to bring this up at the next holiday dinner, or at least not yet. But when conversations like this come up, I do feel that this video has better armed me.

Patrick H Willems – Who Killed Cinema: A Murder Mystery

Patrick H Willems is a creator I honestly can’t believe I haven’t been watching until this year. The videos he and his team make are consistently polished, informative, and entertaining. I’ve been watching a lot of their stuff this year, and while my introduction was their video on the word “content”, their video about the “death” of cinema is by far my favorite of their 2023 output.

What makes this video great is not just the fun little bits in between the analysis or the excellent camera work throughout, but also the fact that they give and dig into multiple answers to this question. The video earns its length because it talks about a lot of different, interconnected things in depth. Plus, it’s a pretty accessible video as well, as I’ve noticed that it’s a lot easier to talk about the industry of filmmaking rather than the art of it for many. It feels comprehensive, yet it leaves plenty of room to dig deeper, which he does in follow-up videos both on YouTube and Nebula. If you have any interest in movies and why the industry feels different these days, this video is worth a watch.

LambHoot – The Resident Evil They Keep Remaking…

Remember when I mentioned my love of obscure games? Well, here’s another pick that is here in part due to that love. Resident Evil 4 is not an obscure game, but it is a game that I love, and its 2023 remake is a game that I may love even more. There were many great videos about it and other recent Resident Evil iterations this year, but my favorite is this very original look at the game from a viewpoint I never considered.

LambHoot compares Resident Evil 4, and the entire modern era of 3rd person RE games, to an entry in the series that few people have heard of, fewer people remember, and even fewer played. But being the lil weirdo I am, I did play it. This video doesn’t much engage with the part I played, but that’s potentially the most fascinating part of it. Instead, it helps crystalize why I like Resident Evil 4’s remake so much and makes me appreciate that other game that it pulls from so much more. It also made me think about how serialized game franchises recycle ideas and mechanics and how delicate a balance it is to get any game right, despite building it on sound foundations. This is my favorite of the many long-form looks at Resident Evil 4 this year, if only for the bold ending alone.

Dead Domain – Quake II: Most Important, Artistic Game of 2023

I’ve been thinking a lot about the legacy of art this year. Film studios are wiping away TV shows and movies from streaming services, leaving piracy as the only way to watch them. The mismanagement of Bandcamp by Epic Games has left a vast library of independent music in jeopardy. And I’ve lost count of the number of live service games that launched and died in less than a year, never to be played again. So, this video from Dead Domain engaged with a concept that has been heavy on my mind lately.

This video looks at one of my favorite remasters of the year, Quake II, and the pretty important reason why it isn’t just a remaster. When most companies look to revisit the past to have another reason to sell it again at full price, Nightdive Studios and id Software are doing right by the original games. The game is an impressive work of video game preservation, and this video discusses why that is in great detail. Glad to have discovered Dead Domain from this video and thanks to it, I’ve discovered the rest of their videos, including their series on Xbox 360 shooters, which is a series seemingly created specifically for me and my off-kilter tastes.

Superdude – How Games Represent Work

I feel that I’ve spent more time this year working than I ever have. It’s all necessary, and I am lucky to have a fairly low-impact, decent-paying job with good benefits. But despite that, most of my time and energy these days have been devoted to the daily grind. Because of this, my media diet has changed drastically and put me in the perfect headspace to digest this excellent video from Superdude.

The video is mostly a meditation on and tour through several games that represent labor in different ways through gameplay. Work takes place in many games, but there is a way smaller list of games that are about doing that work as a player. Superdude looks at these games and views their portrayal of labor through the lens of labor in the real world. But despite the video not being all that political, it does engage with unions and bureaucratic corruption a bit without spoiling the games mentioned. Superdude has a really good eye for threads that connect several contrasting games, with this being a great example, so they’ll surely get more shine soon considering their quality output in just a short amount of time.

verilybitchie – The Plastic Feminism of Barbie

I am well aware of how cliché it is to say I loved the Barbie movie, even a bit more so since I am not at all the target demographic. I loved how goofy it was. I loved how it managed to balance that ridiculousness with serious themes and what felt like an emotionally sincere core. I loved how the film didn’t feel like the seed for a Barbie franchise, but one self-contained story told well. And I also found it interesting how the film took the myth of Barbie as a feminist icon and both questioned it and embraced it. But the way the movie grappled with this concept sparked me to dig deeper into it, and that dig led me to this great video by Verity Ritchie.

She quick-wittedly, but informatively takes a much more critical look at the film. It doesn’t dump on the film in the shallow, spiteful way that you might have seen coming from certain male-centric spaces. But the video critiques from a place of wanting something better, pointing out what is wrong with the status quo that Barbie perpetuates. And she doesn’t stop at the movie but goes after the entire brand, pointing out issues with Matel itself that I could have guessed, but didn’t know about until watching this video. I still like Barbie a whole lot, but I think the importance I put on the film on release, and in the hype leading up to it, isn’t so warranted, and I have this video to thank for leading me to that change of mind.

Lily Alexandre – Everything is Sludge: Art in the Post-Human Era

Back in the early era of the COVID-19 pandemic, I got really into TikTok. I was pretty late to it, as I only saw it as the place to see pre-teens dance, but enough friends were on there that I felt that folks in their 20s were finally allowed to be there. This was a horrible mistake. I worked at a grocery store, one of the few places that stayed open all throughout the worst of the pandemic, so I worked many long hard days. In desperation to turn my brain off as soon as possible, I would open TikTok the moment I got in my car, only to scroll for hours at a time. Some days I would get home 3 hours after clocking out because I was under the stranglehold of that app for so long. I’ve since all but abandoned the app, only opening it up once every few months to clear my inbox, but those days made me very familiar with content sludge.

Lily Alexandre does an excellent job explaining the origins of content sludge and describing the feeling of it holding your attention. It puts our brains in this bizarre limbo space that is intoxicating to be in, but always leads to regret when there for too long. But on top of the compelling and informative writing, the use of a projector to show B-roll is a very unique way to separate herself from others in the space, which is an example of the effort she often puts into her visuals. This video engages with ideas I’ve had on my mind for a long time, and it was refreshing to have someone way smarter than me spell out how I feel about these topics. Can’t wait to see what Lily makes next, as I am now a fan.

Big Joel – The Minneapolis Police: A Criminal Organization

This might be surprising due to my love of both video essays and obscure media analysis, but I am historically not a major fan of Big Joel. This is one of the most popular folks in the video essay space, but for some reason, this was the year I finally got into the dude who made an hour-long video on Adam Sandler’s Click. I have no reason for this, I just found other creators first and spent more time with their output. But this video made me take a second look.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how the police affect not only myself but everyone. As law enforcement budgets balloon and law enforcers feel less of a need to act on behalf of citizens, it seems force is becoming more and more of a foregone conclusion. But Big Joel uses an entire video to simply just recite several instances of excessive force in just one place. It can be a bit eye-opening, but it only is if your eyes are already closed. Big Joel’s signature dry delivery complements the seriousness of these actions instead of highlighting the absurdity of the concepts he engages with, like in that aforementioned Click video. This a great video that highlights a, still, major issue going on in this country, and if you want to engage even more with this topic, you should check out FD’s video on it as well.

Elliot Sang – Nowhere to Go: The Loss of Third Places

I know I spent the bulk of my adolescence in digital worlds, but as I get older, I have noticed way more of my younger relatives doing the same. My little brother stays on Madden or 2K, my cousin stays on Fortnite, and I have nieces who are too excited to show me their Animal Crossing Islands. This is all to the chagrin of my parents and my uncles and aunts, but I do wonder if there exists some kind of alternative to these activities. I’m lucky enough to live in the suburbs of the biggest city in Georgia, but when I lived in smaller towns, the only things to do were to loiter at Walmart, visit the local arcade, or see a movie. But it’s been 8 years since I’ve had to rely on those 3rd spaces, so by now I know those arcades are closed and it probably costs a lot more to attend those other two. As a broke teenager, where else is there to go but online?

In this video from Elliot Sang, he talks about this phenomenon, one that I hadn’t even considered until watching it. But he doesn’t just use research and anecdotes to discuss the problem, he also talks about how things ended up this way and how we could change things for the better. It’s a more niche topic, one that doesn’t even apply much to me in my late 20s, but one that I think is incredibly important still. Like one of the most iconic musical divas of all time once said: I believe that children are our future and that we should treat them well and let them lead the way. But the more I’ve grown out of childhood, the more I’ve noticed how hostile many parts of the wider culture are to the existence and needs of the youth. What future will they build if we’ve done so much to damage their present? This is just one example, but an important one with many political implications, and this video helped make me aware of the importance of this issue.

howard – We Happy Few: An Amazing Story Weighed Down by A Bad Game

I’ve talked a bit in this article about how I appreciate obscure or middling games. But as a defender of the critically mixed and culturally forgotten, I often find myself defending games that I know, deep down in my heart, are flawed in a way that will keep anyone more sane than I from seeing what’s special in them. This is a feeling I’m sure that howard feels, because they accurately portray that feeling in their breakdown of the 2018 game, We Happy Few.

I am never going to play We Happy Few. It will likely have a permanent spot on Game Pass as its developer is owned by Microsoft, and the game is often dirt cheap on Steam and PS4. But I took one look at its survival-based gameplay years ago and never looked back. However, this video showed me that the game has a lot going for it. It turned heads thanks to its art and story setup and, according to this video, it delivers on those promises, just not through gameplay necessarily. While howard does tend to show a lot more than it tells, I was captivated by this video and I think this is a smaller creator that shows a lot of promise. Here’s hoping they can capitalize on the momentum of this excellent video.

Kinda Funny Games – We Need to Fix Black Hair in Video Games – The Blessing Show

It has been a delight to see Blessing grow over the last few years. From OKBeast to now Kinda Funny, he’s been honing his voice for some time now and that work has culminated in what I believe is his best video yet. The lack of black hairstyles has been a conversation, and now a meme, for the entire history of video games. But this video takes that punchline seriously and doesn’t limit itself to just games, as real world, hair-based discrimination is in play as well.

Now that Kinda Funny has that nice new studio, every episode of The Blessing Show this season has looked better than ever and this is no exception. Previous episodes have used interviews, but this one uses a nice set of contrasting ones to illustrate two aspects of this issue. I’ve always known Bless to be great at gaming and media analysis, but this video dug deeper than I expected from him.  This is the best episode of The Blessing Show yet and if it hooks you, you have two seasons to catch up on already!

Noah Caldwell Gervais – A Thorough Look at Fallout [Revised/Expanded/HD]

Another year, another Noah Caldwell Gervais video. Look, I know his inclusion here is becoming a bit of a tradition, but there still are so few out there making videos like him. He exchanges flashy edits and camera work for pure, transfixing, quality writing. Between his ability to trace connections from source inspirations to the subject of the video, to his ability to create potent analogies and biting criticism, to his inviting yet inquisitive-sounding voice, he is one of the GOATs at this for anyone with the attention span to watch a 9-hour YouTube video. So, this year, I’ll be recommending his 9-hour YouTube video on the Fallout series.

But wait, didn’t I recommend his videos on the Resident Evil series and the Dark Souls series in previous years? Well, yes, but this one is different in that, instead of this being a look at the franchise from an outsider, this is a look at the franchise from a longtime, die-hard fan. Noah has a complex, yet deep relationship with the series, so half the fun of this video is hearing him map out his feelings on the series as he recounts their 26-year history together. You get the thorough discussions you’d expect from Noah, but with this being a remake of the first video he’s ever put on his channel a decade ago, it feels like a bit of a celebration of his channel as a whole. Plus, as a modern Fallout fan, it’s fascinating to see how this franchise has morphed and contradicted itself over the decades. Highly recommend this video, and it may even be responsible for me picking back up Fallout: New Vegas finally.

The Morbid Zoo – How The Babadook Changed Horror

I’ve repeatedly mentioned my love of obscure games in this piece. That love is informed by the times in my life when I’ve come across my favorite pieces of art in organic ways independent of personal recommendation. The feeling of digging in the barging bin at GameStop, hearing a random song play in a Spotify Playlist, or tuning into a random rerun on TV only to find a new hyperfixation is a feeling that can rarely be beaten. It’s a feeling I’ve often got from video essayists as well, and this year, no new creator has given me that feeling more than The Morbid Zoo.

That’s a lot of words to just say “woah I dig this creator a lot” but it really does feel like they came out of nowhere. The Morbid Zoo just has all the hallmarks of my favorite creators in this space: quick-witted yet sincere writing, the ability to draw connections between seemingly unrelated pieces of media, and a passionate yet warmly casual delivery. And even better, she focuses on horror, a genre I’m fascinated by, but often too afraid to enjoy directly. Her video on The Babadook is great because it has all the qualities mentioned earlier but is also about a movie I not only watched but liked! It’s an excellent video, and I hope she gets a lot more shine as she’s pretty damn good at this.

amandamaryanna – keith lee and the black owned business discourse

One of the most scandalous moments of 2023, especially for us living in and near Atlanta, is Keith Lee’s visit to the city. The massively popular TikTok food reviewer changes the lives of restaurant owners everywhere with just a single positive mention. But when he came to Atlanta, he didn’t have too many nice things to say. This led to weeks of online discourse about just how bad dining experiences in this area can be, and this great video by amandamaryanna is one of the best things to come out of that discourse.

The video gets a bit into why Lee and others have such a hard time dining in ATL, but I love it because it goes beyond that. She ponders why Atlanta specifically is the place that gives Keith these issues, and what similarities can be drawn from these dining experiences into other black business practices. This extra layer got me thinking about black-owned businesses and the uncomfortable reasons why that idea can sometimes strike fear in the hearts of other black folk. This is one of those videos that highlights some pretty uncomfortable things in the black community, but thankfully, she keeps the tone light and relatable, so it makes that conversation less intimidating. This is a conversation worth having, and Amanda is great at having it, so definitely check out this video.

Olurinatti- Why Americans Don’t Support Palestine

Sometimes, I’ll talk to my parents about what’s going on politically in the world. Now the fact that I can even do that and still maintain a healthy relationship with them says a lot, but even so, me and my dad specifically disagree often. This is largely because we get our news in completely different places, and every now and then, I can get him to see things from a different perspective. But sometimes, neither of us can claim to be the expert on a given issue, even if that shouldn’t stop us from action. The genocide that is happening in Gaza is absolutely one of those given issues.

There are other great videos and written pieces about Palestine, even some by actual Palestinians, but this video by Oluriantti was the one for me. It discusses a bit of the history of the conflict going on there, and it expertly takes down the common talking points from those who are eager to minimize the situation or argue on behalf of Israel. But what makes the video hit so hard for me is the fact that it applies the lens of blackness to the situation. She discusses not only the inherent similarities between blacks and Palestinians as minorities but also how it’s hard, yet vital, for us to show solidarity as black people in America. It’s an excellent video, and if I believed that my dad had the attention span to watch an hour-long YouTube video, I’d show it to him. But since that is unlikely to ever happen, I at least implore you all to watch this video as it’s the most important one in this entire list.

Pixel a Day – What is the Game Industry Missing?

I know, in some circles, it might be controversial to say that I love the original God of War games a whole lot more than the Norse games. Why I feel that way is irrelevant, but I’m smart enough to know why people are often turned off by them. I watched the E3 press conference in which hundreds of Sony fans cheered when Kratos slowly ripped Helios’ head from his shoulders to use as a power-up. I was cheering too, but the benefit of hindsight has made me cringe at moments like that now when I look back. The gaming industry has changed a lot since, but this video by the excellent Pixel a Day shows that there’s still so much work left to do.

We’ve all seen that Sonic the Hedgehog meme about wanting shorter games with worse graphics made by people who are paid more money to do so. Well, in the way that that meme critiques the capitalistic nature of the industry, this video critiques the culture of the industry. Of course, the monetary aspect still earns a few strays, but the culture that the (primarily) men of the games industry have created and perpetuated has blocked us from so many more creative possibilities in the medium. This video discusses what those possibilities are and how they have been shut off from being a part of mainstream gaming. Out of all the gaming-related video essays on this list, this is by far the most important and the one I recommend to everyone, regardless of interest in games. Hell, for many this might portray exactly why they haven’t found interest in the medium. And if you dig this video, I highly recommend her Ninja Theory Retrospective as well.

Yhara Sayd – Weaponising Aaliya & the Culture of Female Rivalry

Every single day, hip-hop Twitter is engaged battle over which rapper is better than another. I try not to participate in the discourse much, but it’s something I’m often exposed to. I know the folks in the genre I like, and I don’t really feel the need to have my preferences validated, but it does sometimes feel like folks listen to some artists just so they can argue about them on the internet. Well, if the Taylor Swift and Beyonce discourse this year is any proof, that type of talk is not exclusive to hip-hop.

This video from Yhara Sayd talks about how that type of discourse hits differently when the subject, or target, is Black women. She looks at one of the queens of RnB, Aaliya, and how she and others like her are compared to their contemporaries. These comparisons are not only invalid most of the time, but help create harmful narratives that only serve to promote Misogynoir. And you might be surprised to know that a lot of this conversation is coming from inside the house! I was really happy to see Yhara get back into video making, and videos like these show why her voice is not only vital but entertaining to listen to.

Jacob Geller – The False Evolution of Execution Methods

Jacob Geller was really in his bag this year. He’s a regular on this list at this point because his meditations on different themes of games and other art often inspire me to think deeper about the things I consume. His Art in the Pre-Apocalypse video and his Games that Aren’t Games video were excellent videos, but one of his non-gaming videos is, again, the one video of his that stayed with me throughout the entire year. His video on execution methods is another meditation on a theme and topic. But unlike many of his other videos, this one seems to come into sharper focus with a final point.

I doubt that this is because Jacob changed his writing style, but instead because this is maybe his most political topic yet. It may start as a more voyeuristic look at a morbid aspect of American culture, but he pulls that thread forward through time to now and it highlights how barbaric the American justice system still is. With all the aspects discussed being a part of real life, the points hit even harder than any of his videos about phobias and art games. I’m hopeful that this isn’t anyone’s first exposure to these parallels, but it damn sure is a potent look at it.

Broey Deschanel – Should We Get Rid of Sex Scenes? (Part 2) (Nebula Exclusive)

Hey, here’s something new, how about a video essay that isn’t on YouTube? I know, I know, I didn’t know that there were other places to watch long-form videos on the internet either, but turns out there are! One is a place I’m sure you’ve heard of if you’re familiar with many of the names on this list: the paid streaming service, Nebula. Not only do they have ad-free versions of videos from folks on YouTube, but they also have exclusive content, and this video is from one of those shows.

Broey Deschanel is a creator who’s no stranger to this article series, and this is another example of her quality. In the series Taboo on Screen, she talks about films and directors who are known for their provocative content and how broader culture as a whole responds to it. The first two videos of this series are about sex scenes and why they have gone out of style in modern cinema, but I like the second part most because it goes deeper into a different direction. There are plenty of capitalistic reasons that sex scenes are rare, but there are also some social factors that this video discusses as well, and those I find a bit more interesting to consider. It’s an excellent, well-produced, well-researched, and well-written episode of a great series, and I hope to keep up with it in the new year. But if you’re a cheapskate, hey I don’t blame you! For you, I present this video from Vivian Strange, who approaches the topic in a much more radical, and just as smart, way.

Jessie Gender – The Decaying Monomyth of Star Wars

I do not like Star Wars. Some friends and I watched all of the movies in the weeks leading up to Solo, due to our excitement to see Donald Glover as Lando. I still have yet to see Solo, but watching those 1.6 trilogies and Rouge One finally gave me context for all the discourse I’ve been exposed to for half of my life. Then I watched Rise of the Skywalker and the budding interest I had in the franchise was wiped away completely, and I haven’t looked back since. So, the fact that I watched, and adored, a nearly 6-hour video essay about Star Wars should tell you almost all you need to know.

Jessie Gender & Aranock have made one of the finest critiques of any media I’ve ever seen. It is exhaustive without losing focus and it comes back around to information that I assumed would be frivolous. It’s polished too, with costumes, set design, and even several animated sections. But what made this video blow my mind is how it made me re-examine what I initially found impressive about Star Wars. I saw the original trilogy as shockingly contemporary, as it seemed that many movies today have taken heavy inspiration from it. This video proves that assumption right, but portrays it as a much more insidious phenomenon. This video opened my eyes even more to both my problems with Star Wars, but also my problems with popular media overall. Whether you like The Last Jedi or not, this video is essential viewing for all who care about Star Wars and its many legitimate and illegitimate children.

FIN.

Aaaaaand, that’s it for this year! 2023 was an insane year for video essays, as there are a handful that I’m really sad that I didn’t fit in due to a myriad of reasons. But I want to thank everyone in the space for creating literally anything, even if it’s not on my list and even if I didn’t get around to watching it. Despite, again, being outside a whole lot more this year than before, I still spent more time watching video essays than watching movies or TV or playing games, even if that gap isn’t quite as wide. I’ll always love learning new things and being exposed to new perspectives, and video essays are often one of the best and most accessible ways to do both. I hope to find even more new creators in 2024, so if you know someone dope in the space, don’t hesitate to make me aware of them on Twitter (or better yet, Bluesky!).

Before I leave, here’s a link to a YouTube playlist, which is also embedded below, containing 22 of the 23 videos featured in this article. Also, just to flex something neat but generally not that significant, I’ll share a link to my Top 100 Video Essays of All Time playlist, which is someone one of the first search results on YouTube for “best video essays”? And yes, that list is fairly outdated by now, so look for some updates to that later in the year. And speaking of the year, I hope you all enjoy 2024, and hopefully, I’ll see you all within this actual year with another, slightly longer list!