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Alright, how was this year in your family? Was it all as good as one might claim on online? Packed with A-grades for your offspring and riotous costume birthday parties for the parents? Or perhaps it was a swamp of frustration with only sporadic enjoyable flotsam? Is any of this actually real, or have we all become AI-generated AI slop beings with unrealistic dental work?

I have gathered my thoughts for a chat, willing or unwilling, to reflect on the paramount thing in any given year: what titles we enjoyed the most. Let's get started:

Title Eldest Daughter Played the Most

Just Dance 2024

"Why can't you pick just one?"

"It’s not my personal ranking."

In the mobile realm, she’s been playing Cityscapes and "searching for adequate healthcare."

"Digitally?"

"In the actual world."

Game Second Son Played the Most

Overwatch

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

Game Third Daughter Played the Most

Resident Evil Biohazard

Her goal is to get into drama school, but when she took a break from vocals, she was playing Resident Evil. She also elaborated in great detail about her successes on The Sims, where the Shark has a thriving utopia with significantly better healthcare than her big sister has in the real world.

Release the Spouse Played the Most

Crash Bandicoot: It’s About Time

She began the year at 60% completion and finished the year at eighty-two percent. It's a long haul not a sprint for her. Her mobile diversion: something called Woodle, where you have to extract pins.

Game I Teased My Kids About My Kids for Still Playing

Minecraft

Every time I see my adult son playing Minecraft, I rib him like a cross between a relentless heckler. When he objects, I reply that I am doing this to toughen him up so he can grow up 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

She was the clear winner for this one. She is a machine. Even better than I was at classic rhythm games 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 insanely well-crafted strategy wizard’s poker, with its constantly evolving range of cards and game variations.

Title I Wish I Had Played Less

Marvel Snap

The worst thing about games that endlessly add to their range is you eventually realize and realise it is all just an attempt to lure you into fear-of-missing-out driven microtransactions. So affection became resentment halfway through the year and it was deleted.

Game I Wish I Had Played More

Doom: The Dark Ages

Glorious reinvention of a iconic franchise. Captivating atmosphere from the start. I wish I could dispatch my problems so effectively in real life.

Game I Wish I Had Played More (Cerebral Edition)

Blue Prince

I refuse to rush this gorgeous, distinctive game and I just lacked the time or headspace to give it what it deserved earlier this year. With relatives staying over the festive period, I will be playing this in the early morning after appropriate hospitality.

Game That Was a Lifesaver When I Needed It

Balatro

I know Balatro was last year's sleeper hit, but I was a late adopter. And it is exceptional. It just gets absolutely everything right. The core concept is a brilliant concept, but the effects behind the different wild cards are so imaginative it has become a game I literally would play any time. Add in the wittiness of the card design, and this is an absolute peak of gaming. I wouldn't mind being stuck in a elevator for hours just so I have the perfect excuse but play it.

Title I Got the Most Flak For Criticising

Outer Worlds 2

I endured a bit of backlash when I critiqued how a specific bug in another game damaged 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 slogging through 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 "poorly reasoned". I share that verbatim, because I respect the passion, and he is obviously an excellent judge of character.

Game Everybody Loved That I Just Didn’t Get

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Sure. Give me a bastard-hard Metroidvania-esque thing and don’t tell me guidance on what I am supposed to be doing, except "figure it out". What a joy. 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 am less interested in in my mid-fifties. I was around back when most games were like this, and I'm over it. It was fine when I was a kid, but the same could be said for many outdated things.

Biggest Gaming Scandal of 2025

Close call between questionable alliances that caused concern, and high launch costs. Both morally indefensible and repugnant.

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

Clair Obscur, Despelote and Bananza would all make interesting names bellowed from the back door at dinner 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 is sore 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 stretch time until the cows come home.

Game I Am Looking Forward to the Most in 2036

The Witcher 4.