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Well, how did you experience this year in your household? Did it seem truly wonderful as you pretended on Facebook? Packed with A-grades for your offspring and riotous costume birthday parties for the grownups? Or was it a sea of letdowns with only sporadic entertaining highlights? And was any of it genuine, or is everyone now digitally altered synthetic personas with unrealistic dental work?

I've corralled everyone for a reflection, willing or unwilling, to debate the crucial thing in twelve months: what titles we enjoyed the most. So here goes:

Game Eldest Daughter Played the Most

Horizon Zero Dawn

"Why can't you pick just one?"

"This isn't my definitive list."

On her phone, she’s been playing Cityscapes and "searching for adequate healthcare."

"Digitally?"

"In real life."

Game Middle Son Played the Most

Overwatch

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

Game Youngest Daughter Played the Most

Resident Evil Biohazard

She is trying to get into acting, but when she wasn’t singing, she was playing Resident Evil. She also went on in great detail about her achievements on The Sims, where her character has a thriving utopia with significantly better healthcare than her eldest sister has in real life.

Title the Partner Played the Most

Crash Bandicoot: It’s About Time

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

Game I Found Amusing That My Kids for Still Playing

Minecraft

Whenever I see my 21-year-old son playing Minecraft, I rib him like a cross between a relentless heckler. When he complains, I reply that I am engaging in this to toughen him up so he can be a man and play games for mature audiences. It’s a very Scottish father/son relationship.

Most Impressive Gaming Family Member of the Year

Eldest Daughter on Just Dance 2024

There was no contest for this one. She is incredible. More impressive than I was at classic rhythm games in my prime.

Title I Played the Most

Marvel Snap

No other game compared 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 downside about games that constantly evolve 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 love turned to hate halfway through the year and it went into the bin.

Title I Wish I Had Played More

Doom: The Dark Ages

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

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

Blue Prince

I decline to rush this beautiful, unique game and I just was short on the focused attention to give it what it needed earlier this year. With family visits over the festive period, I plan to dive into this in the early morning after appropriate hospitality.

Game That Kept Me Sane When I Needed It

Balatro

I know Balatro was last year's breakout game, but I was slow on the uptake. And it is remarkable. It just gets each element right. Its gameplay loop is a wonderful concept, but the abilities behind the different wild cards are so imaginative it has become a game I literally would play constantly. Throw in the wittiness of the card design, and this is an absolute high-water mark of gaming. I fantasize about being stuck in a elevator for hours just so I have nothing to do but play it.

Game I Got the Most Backlash For Criticising

Outer Worlds 2

I received a minor pile-on when I critiqued how a technical issue in another game damaged the experience for me, but that other title is still a colossal gaming achievement in terms of art, sound, acting – which I valued even more after experiencing Outer Worlds 2. So thank you to the commenter who took the time to send a message to say that my Outer Worlds 2 review was "poorly reasoned". I present that verbatim, because I appreciate the effort, and she is obviously an astute judge of character.

Game Everybody Loved That I Just Didn’t Get

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Fine. Give me a punishingly tough Metroidvania-esque thing and provide little guidance on what I am supposed to be doing, except "explore". How delightful. I get that it is beautiful and is flawless if you are into the genre, but I cannot think of a gaming experience I desire less in my mid-fifties. I was around back when most games were like this, and my patience is gone. It was acceptable when I was a kid, but the same could be said for many questionable things.

Biggest Gaming Controversy of 2025

Debate between questionable alliances that sparked debate, and expensive game releases. Both difficult to justify and repugnant.

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

Clair Obscur, Despelote and Bananza would all sound good names shouted from the back door 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 console gaming or phone use, but it burns like the mines of sulphur in the mornings now. I knew I should have got my thumbs protected back in the day.

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.