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Alright, how was this year in your household? Was it all as good as you pretended on online? Full of academic success for the kids and riotous costume gatherings for the grownups? Or perhaps it was a swamp of frustration with only sporadic fun flotsam? Is any of this authentic, or are we all AI-generated synthetic personas with unrealistic teeth?

I've corralled the family for a reflection, whether they wanted to or not, to debate the paramount thing in a calendar year: which releases we were obsessed with the most. Without further ado:

Game Eldest Daughter Played the Most

Just Dance 2024

"Can’t you pick just one?"

"It’s not my games column."

In the mobile realm, she’s been playing Cityscapes and "trying to find adequate healthcare."

"In the game?"

"In reality."

Release Middle Son Played the Most

Overwatch

"I refuse to play games on my phone." He seemed insulted that the question was posed. Point taken.

Game Youngest Daughter Played the Most

Resident Evil Biohazard

Her goal is to get into acting, but when she wasn’t singing, she was playing Resident Evil. She also spoke at length in great detail about her accomplishments on The Sims, where her avatar has a thriving utopia with infinitely better healthcare than her eldest sister has in the real world.

Game the Partner Played the Most

Crash Bandicoot: It’s About Time

She started the year at sixty percent completion and ended it at 82%. She's in it for the long run not a sprint for her. Her mobile diversion: something called Woodle, where you have to remove pins.

Game I Laughed at My Kids for Still Playing

Minecraft

Any time I see my 21-year-old son playing Minecraft, I set about him like a cross between a relentless heckler. When he complains, I reply that I am engaging in this to prepare him so he can mature and play games for adults. It’s a very Scottish father/son relationship.

Most Skilled Gaming Family Member 2025

Eldest Daughter on Just Dance 2024

It wasn't even close for this one. She is incredible. Even better than I was at Dancing Stage MegaMix in my prime.

Game I Played the Most

Marvel Snap

It was in a league of its own to the hours I spent on this insanely well-crafted card game competitive game, with its regularly updated range of cards and game variations.

Game I Wish I Had Played Less

Marvel Snap

The catch about games that endlessly add to their range is you eventually realize and see it is all just an attempt to trap you with fear-of-missing-out driven microtransactions. So affection became resentment halfway through the year and it got uninstalled.

Game I Wish I Had Played More

Doom: The Dark Ages

Excellent reinvention of a iconic franchise. Immersive atmosphere from the start. I wish I could dispatch my issues so effectively in real life.

Title I Wish I Had Played More (Thoughtful Edition)

Blue Prince

I decline to rush this gorgeous, distinctive game and I just didn’t have the time or headspace to give it what it deserved earlier this year. With relatives staying over the festive period, I aim to experience this in the early morning after family time.

Title That Kept Me Sane When I Needed It

Balatro

I'm aware Balatro was 2024’s sleeper hit, but I was a late adopter. And it is incredible. It just gets absolutely everything right. Its gameplay loop is a brilliant concept, but the powers behind the different joker cards are so imaginative it has become a game I would happily play any time. Combine that with the wittiness of the card design, and this is an definite pinnacle of gaming. I dream of being stuck in a small space for hours just so I have the perfect excuse but play it.

Game I Got the Most Flak For Criticising

Outer Worlds 2

I endured a minor pile-on when I critiqued how a glitch in another game soured the experience for me, but that other title is still a massive gaming achievement in terms of art, sound, acting – which I recognized even more after experiencing Outer Worlds 2. So thank you to the reader who took the time to send a message to say that my Outer Worlds 2 review was "missing the point". I present that as written, because I appreciate the effort, and he is obviously an astute judge of character.

Game Everybody Loved That I Just Didn’t Get

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Alright. Give me a bastard-hard non-linear thing and leave me without guidance on what I am supposed to be doing, except "explore". Great fun. I get that it has great art and is ideal if you are into the genre, but I cannot think of a gaming experience I desire less in my adulthood. I was around back when most games were like this, and I'm over it. It was acceptable when I was a kid, but so was many outdated things.

Biggest Gaming Controversy of 2025

Close call between business deals that sparked debate, and premium pricing. Both morally indefensible and repugnant.

Games I Would Name My Children After, If I Was Ever Crazy Enough to Have More

Clair Obscur, Despelote and Bananza would all sound good names shouted from the garden at bedtime.

Part of My Body That Aches Most From Gaming

Right Thumb Joint. Seriously. I don’t know if it’s because of console gaming or doomscrolling, but it aches like the mines of sulphur in the mornings now. I knew I should have got my thumbs looked after back in the 90s.

Game I Am Looking Forward to the Most in 2026

Grand Theft Auto VI.
And it will come out in 2026, even if we have to make 2026 last until the heat death of the universe.

Game I Am Looking Forward to the Most in 2036

The Witcher 4.