Sometimes it’s okay to buy a speaker mostly for the aesthetic. And from the moment it was first announced, Bose’s $219 SoundLink Home stood out from the pack (and Bose’s own other efforts) with a mid-modern style that bears little resemblance to most competitors. It’s the kind of gadget that people are likely to notice and comment on. No one says a word about boring, ho-hum cylindrical speakers.

But this thing, with its fabric housing wrapped in a brushed aluminum band, feels like vintage Bose. The company doesn’t always show this much attention to detail in design and materials, so I’m encouraged by the Home’s unique vibe.

If you’ve used or heard Bose’s SoundLink Flex, then you’ve already got a good understanding of what the Home speaker will sound like in your living room. Their tuning is quite similar. Like the Flex, the Home outputs mixed-down mono audio. I’ll always take stereo speakers when given the choice, but mono is common for the portable speaker category — though Bose is pushing it with the price here — and especially at this size. 

With that in mind, the SoundLink Home sounds quite detailed and clear. Vocals are crisp. Acoustic instruments have a touch of warmth. And even if you dial the volume up to extremes, there’s little distortion. That’s partially because this speaker is no bass champ; the SoundLink Max wipes the floor with it in that regard, but is bulkier and nearly twice the price. The Home only supports your standard AAC and SBC Bluetooth codecs, whereas the Flex (second-gen) and Max both throw in aptX Adaptive compatibility for devices that offer it.

The thing is, you’re going to have to really like the Home’s out-of-the-box sound, because there’s no changing it. In another departure from other Bose speakers, the SoundLink Home lacks any kind of mobile companion app. As a result, you’re unable to customize its EQ at all. That’s a disappointing omission that would be easier to forgive from a cheaper speaker, but not this one. You can at least pair two units together to create a stereo pair. If you’re willing to drop the money on that, you’ll be rewarded with noticeably richer sound. 

Another important thing to be aware of with the SoundLink Home is that there’s no water resistance to speak of. The same goes for dust resistance. This is not meant to be a poolside or outdoor speaker. It’s right there in the name, I suppose. You’ll want to put the speaker somewhere safe (and dry). A covered patio is about as far as you’ll want to take it. Bose doesn’t even recommend taking it into the bathroom. The ruggedized Flex is a better choice for those who need a road warrior that can withstand the elements. Durability is one area where the Home falls short of Ultimate Ears, JBL, Soundcore, and other brands that have Bluetooth speakers at similar prices.

So far I’ve discussed a lot of what’s missing, but one advantage over the SoundLink Flex is that the Home supports USB-C audio in. And you can take advantage of that at the same time that you’re paired over Bluetooth. So you could theoretically listen to wired audio from your laptop while using the speaker for phone calls or interacting with Siri or Google Assistant. (You can hold down the multi-function button up top to activate your phone’s voice assistant.) Calls and other Bluetooth activity will override the USB-C connection.

That USB-C port is on the speaker’s left side, which makes some cables look a bit inelegant when they’re plugged in. Bose at least includes a 90-degree USB-C cable to keep it as subtle as possible. Battery life is rated at up to 9 hours of playback, and my tests have shown that number to be mostly accurate. If you’re listening at or above 70 percent volume, expect to lose a couple hours. It’s not impressive endurance, but for a speaker that’ll only be traveling around your house, it’s sufficient. It takes between three and four hours to fully recharge the speaker over USB-C, which seems rather long for the passable battery life you’re getting.

There’s really not much else to cover with the SoundLink Home. It bets a whole lot on looks and feel and clears the bar on sound quality without any glaring tonal weaknesses. The absence of any EQ settings will inevitably disappoint those of you who like to tinker, and I think any $200-plus Bluetooth speaker should have some measure of weatherproofing. But Bose went in a different direction with the SoundLink Home. If you’re looking to buy (or gift) a speaker that’s off the beaten path, I wouldn’t fault you for choosing this one.

Photography by Chris Welch / The Verge

The roguelike genre has turned from a relative niche into something much bigger. Roguelike games can be famously tough to crack into; generally, they have a high difficulty that means you’ll bang your head against a wall as you learn how to play the game, puzzle out what strategies work best in the procedurally generated levels, and figure out how to overcome tough enemies or challenges. 2024 showed that the genre wasn’t only a commercial force through hits like Hades II and Balatro, and also that a roguelike could be almost anything: from a poker variant to a flashy multiplayer action game.

Speaking of Balatro, it was undoubtedly one of, if not the, best games of the year. The game is supremely easy to pick up because of its roots in building traditional poker hands, but each round feels wildly different because of the clever and sometimes superpowered joker cards that can give you massive bonuses. The game is a perfect mix of skill, risk, and a little bit of luck, and it feels so good when you find a strategy that completely stacks the chips in your favor. I think I’ll be playing Balatro for years to come, especially with whatever’s cooking for the game’s upcoming major update. And now that the game is out on mobile, I can play wherever I want.

That is, when I’m not dipping my toes back into Hades II. The game, which is still in early access, is shaping up to be a worthy successor to Hades, and it’s arguably more fully fleshed out than many finished titles. I’ve already put more than 30 hours into Hades II, and I feel like I still have so much to unlock and master, but I’ve intentionally held myself back from playing more so that I don’t burn out on the game before it reaches v1.0. I only beat the new boss in the most recent major update a single time before deciding that was enough.

There are a couple other roguelikes that I have loved and want to put more time into but haven’t because of the sheer volume of other games in the genre to check out. Shogun Showdown, which is all about tactics and positioning, makes you feel like a genius by showing you the future. I really enjoyed getting a handle on the game’s weapons and items so that I could pull off well-planned combos against waves of enemies.

Windblown, the new roguelike from Dead Cells creators Motion Twin, takes a lot of what makes Dead Cells great and translates it to 3D. Weapons are varied, satisfying, and can combo well with each other. The game’s biomes are creative and fun to explore, with lots of nooks and crannies. But where Windblown really shines is its multiplayer — until playing the game, I had no idea how good roguelikes could be with friends. Like Hades, Windblown is also in early access, so I’m expecting to play it a lot more next year as Motion Twin makes major updates.

And those are just the new roguelikes I’ve actually been able to put time into this year. There are still a bunch more that I want to play or have barely touched that seem extremely promising. Vampire Survivors got two major crossover DLCs that I want to dig into: one with Contra and one with Castlevania. (I’ve only played a couple rounds of the Castlevania expansion, and I was tickled at just how large the map was.) And while I’m talking about Vampire Survivors: Halls of Torment, which is kind of like Vampire Survivors mixed with an old-school Diablo aesthetic, left early access, and I want to check out what’s changed since I first dabbled in it last year.

The Rogue Prince of Persia, a roguelike take on classic Prince of Persia action and platforming, is an example of how big publishers like Ubisoft are jumping into the genre — and it seems like something that’s right up my alley. Rogue is another early access roguelike on this list, but it’s gotten a bunch of big updates since its May launch, including a significant update in November that revamped the art style and added new biomes, bosses, and more. I should also mention that Rogue also has a Dead Cells connection: it’s made by Evil Empire, the studio that worked on many Dead Cells updates and DLCs, which gives me a lot of faith that they’ll do a great job shepherding the game to its eventual full launch. 

Heck, 2024 has been such a banner year for roguelikes that even the 2014 classic The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth got a significant new DLC update that added online multiplayer.

The sheer amount of great roguelikes just this year shows that the framework of the genre offers a lot of ways to make interesting games. I particularly appreciate how they’re generally more digestible than blockbuster epics. Next year has some promising roguelikes like Slay the Spire 2 and Hyper Light Breaker, but I know I’ll be returning to a lot of 2024’s excellent roguelikes over and over again — well, after just one more round of Balatro.