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Alright, what did you think of this year in your family? Was it entirely positive as one might claim on online? Overflowing with top marks for your offspring and riotous dress-up birthday parties for the grownups? Or perhaps it was a ocean of disappointment with only sporadic entertaining moments? Is any of this authentic, or have we all become AI-generated synthetic personas with unrealistic teeth?

I have gathered the family for a reflection, willing or unwilling, to debate the crucial thing in a calendar year: what titles we played the most. Let's get started:

Game First Daughter Played the Most

Horizon Zero Dawn

"Is it impossible to pick just one?"

"You can't expect my personal ranking."

Meanwhile, on mobile, she’s been playing Cityscapes and "attempting to locate adequate healthcare."

"Digitally?"

"In real life."

Game Second Son Played the Most

Overwatch

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

Release Third Daughter Played the Most

Resident Evil Biohazard

Her goal is to get into theatre school, but when she wasn’t singing, she was tackling Resident Evil. She also went on in great detail about her successes on The Sims, where her character has a successful utopia with significantly better healthcare than her big sister has in the real world.

Game the Partner Played the Most

Crash Bandicoot: It’s About Time

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

Release I Laughed at My Kids for Still Playing

Minecraft

Whenever I see my 21-year-old son playing Minecraft, I give him a hard time like a cross between a classic comedy bit. When he complains, I reply that I am behaving this way to toughen him up so he can grow up and play games for mature audiences. It’s a very Scottish father/son relationship.

Most Notable Gaming Family Member of the Year

Eldest Daughter on Just Dance 2024

She was the clear winner for this one. She is incredible. More impressive than I was at Dancing Stage MegaMix in my prime.

Title I Played the Most

Marvel Snap

No other game compared to the hours I spent on this insanely well-crafted card game competitive game, with its regularly updated range of cards and game variations.

Title I Wish I Had Played Less

Marvel Snap

The downside about games that endlessly add to their range is you wake up one day and realise it is all just an attempt to trap you with fear-of-missing-out driven microtransactions. So love turned to hate halfway through the year and it was deleted.

Title I Wish I Had Played More

Doom: The Dark Ages

Glorious reinvention of a legendary franchise. Engrossing atmosphere from the beginning. I wish I could eviscerate my demons so effectively in real life.

Game I Wish I Had Played More (Thoughtful Edition)

Blue Prince

I refuse to rush this beautiful, unique game and I just was short on the time or headspace to give it what it deserved earlier this year. With holiday guests over the festive period, I will be playing this in the wee small hours after evening drinks.

Title That Kept Me Sane When I Needed It

Balatro

I'm aware Balatro was last year's surprise hit, but I was a late adopter. And it is incredible. It just gets each element right. The core concept is a wonderful concept, but the powers behind the different special cards are so creative 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 absolute high-water mark of gaming. I dream of being stuck in a elevator for hours just so I have nothing to do but play it.

Title I Got the Most Criticism For Criticising

Outer Worlds 2

I endured a bit of backlash when I critiqued how a technical issue in another game soured the experience for me, but that other title is still a colossal gaming achievement in terms of art, sound, acting – which I appreciated even more after slogging through Outer Worlds 2. So thank you to the commenter who took the time to write in to say that my Outer Worlds 2 review was "poorly reasoned". I present that verbatim, because I acknowledge the engagement, and he is obviously an astute judge of character.

Title Everybody Loved That I Just Didn’t Get

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Sure. Give me a bastard-hard exploration-focused thing and leave me without guidance on what I am supposed to be doing, except "figure it out". How delightful. I understand that it is beautiful and is perfection if you are into this kind of thing, but I cannot think of a gaming experience I am less interested in in my mid-fifties. I was around back when most games were like this, and I’ve had enough. It was okay when I was a kid, but so was many less comfortable things.

Biggest Gaming Controversy of 2025

Debate between business deals that sparked debate, and premium pricing. Both difficult to justify and unpleasant.

Games I Would Name My Children After, Were I 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. Honestly. I don’t know if it’s because of video games or doomscrolling, but it burns like anything in the mornings now. I knew I should have got my thumbs insured 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 stretch time until the cows come home.

Game I Am Looking Forward to the Most in 2036

The Witcher 4.