2025 gave us superhero feelings, vicious progression arcs, cozy farms, cosmic workplace horror, and at least one premise that sounds fake until chapter two owns your entire personality. These are the web serials I would actually press into a friend’s hands, and every one is free to start online.
LitRPG and Progression Fantasy
Dungeon Crawler Carl — Book seven landed. The series continues to set the standard. Beware of Chicken — Cozy cultivation that's become the genre's comfort read. Volume four released. Super Supportive — The year's breakout. A superhero story about emotional labor that's genuinely thoughtful. Pale Lights — ErraticErrata's dark fantasy serial found its stride in its second year. Tight prose, strong dual protagonists.
Mother of Learning — Still the most recommended completed web serial, finding new readers through published editions and word of mouth.
Fantasy
The Wandering Inn — Volume 11 launched. The infinite fantasy continues to expand. Katalepsis — Literary Lovecraftian horror-fantasy building a devoted audience. Godclads — Aggressively original. Dead gods as technology. Dense, rewarding, unique. The Last Orellen — Slow-burn fantasy earning its audience through prose quality and patient worldbuilding.
Sci-Fi
The Last Angel — Military space opera, complete and excellent. First Contact — Vast, strange, tonally unpredictable sci-fi from a writer with inhuman output.
Fanfiction and Community
Worm fanfiction on SB/SV — The Parahumans fandom continues producing exceptional work. The year's standout: Trailblazer completed its multi-year run. AO3 milestones — The Archive crossed new engagement thresholds. Fandom continues to produce the most diverse fiction ecosystem online.
Wild Cards
What We Do to Survive — Dark fantasy breakout. A village that sacrifices its own to survive a supernatural winter. Virtuous Sons — Xianxia cultivation meets Greco-Roman antiquity. One of the most original genre fusions in the medium. Every story here is free to read. Track them with Storywatch or read direct. The web fiction medium in 2025 is more diverse, more mature, and more essential than ever.