🔗 Share this article

Well, how did you experience the past year in your family? Could it be described as entirely positive as people post on Facebook? Full of academic success for the kids and elaborate costume birthday parties for the parents? Or was it a ocean of frustration with only occasional enjoyable highlights? And was any of it actually real, or are we all AI-generated synthetic personas with unrealistic dental work?

I've assembled the family together, whether they wanted to or not, to debate the paramount thing in twelve months: what titles we were obsessed with the most. So here goes:

Release Eldest Daughter Played the Most

Pikmin

"Can’t you pick just one?"

"It’s not my definitive list."

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

"In the game?"

"In the actual world."

Title Middle Son Played the Most

Overwatch

"I don’t play games on my phone." He took umbrage that I suggested it. Fair enough.

Game Youngest 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 spoke at length in great detail about her successes on The Sims, where the Shark has a successful utopia with significantly better healthcare than her eldest sister has in real life.

Release the Wife Played the Most

Crash Bandicoot: It’s About Time

She started the year at 60% completion and ended it at eighty-two percent. It’s a marathon not a sprint for her. Her mobile diversion: something called Woodle, where you have to remove pins.

Game I Teased My Kids About My Kids for Still Playing

Minecraft

Any time 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 protests, I reply that I am behaving this way to prepare him so he can be a man and play games for grownups. 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 incredible. 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 insanely well-crafted strategy digital pastime, with its regularly updated range of cards and game variations.

Title I Wish I Had Played Less

Marvel Snap

The catch about games that frequently update their range is you eventually realize and see it is all just an attempt to lure you into compulsion-based microtransactions. So affection became resentment halfway through the year and it went into the bin.

Title I Wish I Had Played More

Doom: The Dark Ages

Excellent reinvention of a classic franchise. Engrossing atmosphere from the beginning. I wish I could eviscerate my issues so effectively in real life.

Title I Wish I Had Played More (Cerebral 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 plan to dive into this in the late night after appropriate hospitality.

Title That Was a Lifesaver 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 every single thing right. The core concept is a fantastic concept, but the effects behind the different joker cards are so creative it has become a game I literally would play at any hour. Combine that with the wittiness of the card design, and this is an definite pinnacle of gaming. I dream of being stuck in a elevator for hours just so I have the perfect excuse but play it.

Game I Got the Most Backlash For Criticising

Outer Worlds 2

I experienced a wave of criticism when I wrote about how a specific bug in another game ruined 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 playing Outer Worlds 2. So thank you to the individual who took the time to contact me to say that my Outer Worlds 2 review was "missing the point". I mention that verbatim, because I acknowledge the engagement, and she is obviously an sharp judge of character.

Game Everybody Loved That I Just Didn’t Get

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Sure. Give me a brutally difficult Metroidvania-esque thing and provide little guidance on what I am supposed to be doing, except "look around". What a joy. I get that it is beautiful and is perfection if you are into the genre, but I cannot think of a gaming experience I want less of in my adulthood. I was around back when most games were like this, and I’ve had enough. It was acceptable when I was a kid, but so was many outdated things.

Biggest Gaming Scandal of 2025

Debate between questionable alliances that caused concern, and high launch costs. Both morally indefensible and concerning.

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

Clair Obscur, Despelote and Bananza would all make interesting names called from the garden at dinner time.

Part of My Body That Aches Most From Gaming

Right Thumb Joint. Honestly. I don’t know if it’s because of button mashing or endless scrolling, but it aches like the mines of sulphur in the mornings now. I knew I should have got my thumbs protected 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 end of days.

Game I Am Looking Forward to the Most in 2036

The Witcher 4.