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So, how was 2025 in your home? Could it be described as entirely positive as you pretended on Facebook? Overflowing with A-grades for your offspring and riotous costume gatherings for the grownups? Or was it a swamp of letdowns with only occasional fun highlights? Could any part be genuine, or is everyone now digitally altered AI slop beings with unrealistic teeth?

I've corralled the family for a reflection, ready or not, to debate the most important thing in any given year: what titles we played the most. Without further ado:

Title Oldest Daughter Played the Most

Pikmin

"Is it impossible to pick just one?"

"This isn't my definitive list."

On her phone, her go-to has been Cityscapes and "attempting to locate reasonable healthcare."

"Virtually?"

"In reality."

Title Second Son Played the Most

Overwatch

"I don’t play games on my phone." He took umbrage that I even asked. Point taken.

Release Youngest Daughter Played the Most

Resident Evil Biohazard

She's attempting to get into theatre school, but when she took a break from vocals, she was tackling Resident Evil. She also went on in great detail about her accomplishments on The Sims, where the Shark has a thriving utopia with significantly better healthcare than her older sibling has in real life.

Title the Wife Played the Most

Crash Bandicoot: It’s About Time

She started the year at sixty percent completion and ended it at eighty-two percent. It's a long haul not a sprint for her. On her phone: something called Woodle, where you have to remove pins.

Game I Laughed at My Kids for Still Playing

Minecraft

Every time I see my 21-year-old son playing Minecraft, I give him a hard time like a cross between a relentless heckler. When he complains, I reply that I am behaving this way to build character so he can be a man and play games for adults. It’s a very Scottish father/son relationship.

Most Notable Gaming Family Member This Year

Eldest Daughter on Just Dance 2024

There was no contest for this one. She is a machine. Superior than I was at my peak gaming days in my prime.

Title I Played the Most

Marvel Snap

It was in a league of its own to the hours I spent on this remarkably well-crafted card game digital pastime, with its constantly evolving range of cards and game variations.

Title I Wish I Had Played Less

Marvel Snap

The downside about games that constantly evolve their range is you eventually realize and see it is all just an attempt to trap you with compulsion-based microtransactions. So affection became resentment halfway through the year and it went into the bin.

Game I Wish I Had Played More

Doom: The Dark Ages

Glorious reinvention of a classic franchise. Immersive atmosphere from the start. I wish I could eviscerate my issues so effectively in real life.

Title I Wish I Had Played More (Puzzle-Focused Edition)

Blue Prince

I'm unwilling to rush this beautiful, unique game and I just didn’t have the time or headspace to give it what it needed earlier this year. With family visits over the festive period, I will be playing this in the wee small hours after evening drinks.

Title That Saved My Soul When I Needed It

Balatro

I acknowledge Balatro was last year's breakout game, but I was late to it. And it is incredible. It just gets absolutely everything right. Crazy Poker is a wonderful concept, but the powers behind the different wild cards are so imaginative it has become a game I would happily play at any hour. Combine that with the charm of the card design, and this is an true high-water mark of gaming. I fantasize about being stuck in a elevator for hours just so I have an opportunity but play it.

Game I Got the Most Flak For Criticising

Outer Worlds 2

I endured a bit of backlash when I critiqued how a glitch in another game damaged the experience for me, but that other title is still a colossal gaming achievement in terms of overall polish – which I recognized even more after slogging through Outer Worlds 2. So thank you to the commenter who took the time to contact me to say that my Outer Worlds 2 review was "bitter, confused resentment". I present that as written, because I acknowledge the engagement, and she is obviously an excellent judge of character.

Title 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 understand that it is beautiful and is perfection if you are into the genre, but I cannot think of a gaming experience I desire less in my current stage of life. I was around back when all games were like this, and my patience is gone. It was fine when I was a kid, but so was many questionable things.

Biggest Gaming Controversy of 2025

Close call between questionable alliances that raised eyebrows, and high launch costs. Both morally indefensible and unpleasant.

Games I Would Name My Children After, Were I I Was Ever Foolish Enough to Have More

Clair Obscur, Despelote and Bananza would all be unique names shouted from the doorstep at tea time.

Part of My Body That Aches Most From Gaming

Right Thumb Joint. No joke. I don’t know if it’s because of console gaming or phone use, but it aches like hellfire 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 end of days.

Game I Am Looking Forward to the Most in 2036

The Witcher 4.