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Well, how did you experience this year in your household? Did it seem entirely positive as you pretended on online? Overflowing with academic success for your offspring and elaborate dress-up birthday parties for the parents? Maybe it felt like a ocean of frustration with only sporadic enjoyable moments? And was any of it genuine, or are we all digitally altered virtual entities with perfect dental work?

I've assembled my thoughts for a reflection, whether they wanted to or not, to debate the crucial thing in any given year: what titles we played the most. Let's get started:

Game First Daughter Played the Most

Horizon Zero Dawn

"Why can't you pick just one?"

"This isn't my personal ranking."

In the mobile realm, her go-to has been Cityscapes and "trying to find reasonable healthcare."

"Digitally?"

"In the actual world."

Game Middle Son Played the Most

Overwatch

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

Release Third Daughter Played the Most

Resident Evil Biohazard

She is trying to get into theatre school, but when she stepped away from the mic, she was playing Resident Evil. She also spoke at length in great detail about her achievements on The Sims, where her character has a successful utopia with significantly better healthcare than her eldest sister has outside the game.

Game the Spouse Played the Most

Crash Bandicoot: It’s About Time

She began the year at sixty percent completion and finished the year at 82%. She's in it for the long run not a sprint for her. On her phone: something called Woodle, where you have to unscrew pins.

Title I Laughed at My Kids for Still Playing

Minecraft

Whenever I see my adult son playing Minecraft, I set about him like a cross between a classic comedy bit. When he objects, I reply that I am engaging in this to toughen him up so he can mature and play games for mature audiences. It's a classic Scottish father/son relationship.

Most Impressive Gaming Family Member 2025

Eldest Daughter on Just Dance 2024

It wasn't even close for this one. She is incredible. Even better than I was at classic rhythm games in my prime.

Title I Played the Most

Marvel Snap

Nothing came close to the hours I spent on this exceptionally well-crafted strategy wizard’s poker, with its constantly evolving range of cards and game variations.

Game 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 see it is all just an attempt to lure you into compulsion-based 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 iconic franchise. Immersive atmosphere from the start. I wish I could eviscerate my problems so effectively in real life.

Title I Wish I Had Played More (Cerebral Edition)

Blue Prince

I decline to rush this beautiful, unique game and I just lacked the mental bandwidth to give it what it needed earlier this year. With holiday guests over the festive period, I aim to experience this in the early morning after evening drinks.

Game That Was a Lifesaver When I Needed It

Balatro

I acknowledge Balatro was the previous year's sleeper hit, but I was a late adopter. And it is exceptional. It just gets every single thing right. Crazy Poker is a brilliant concept, but the abilities behind the different wild cards are so imaginative it has become a game I would happily play constantly. Combine that with the charm of the card design, and this is an absolute high-water mark of gaming. I fantasize about being stuck in a small space for hours just so I have nothing to do but play it.

Game I Got the Most Backlash For Criticising

Outer Worlds 2

I endured a bit of backlash when I wrote about how a specific bug in another game damaged the experience for me, but that other title is still a gargantuan gaming achievement in terms of production values – which I recognized even more after experiencing Outer Worlds 2. So thank you to the individual who took the time to send a message to say that my Outer Worlds 2 review was "missing the point". I share that as written, because I respect the passion, and they are obviously an astute judge of character.

Title Everybody Loved That I Just Didn’t Get

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Fine. Give me a bastard-hard Metroidvania-esque thing and provide little guidance on what I am supposed to be doing, except "figure it out". What a joy. I acknowledge that it looks ace 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 many games were like this, and I’ve had enough. It was fine when I was a kid, but so was many questionable things.

Biggest Gaming News of 2025

Toss-up between business deals that caused concern, and premium pricing. Both difficult to justify and repugnant.

Games I Would Name My Children After, If I Was Ever Stupid Enough to Have More

Clair Obscur, Despelote and Bananza would all be unique names bellowed from the doorstep at bedtime.

Part of My Body That Aches Most From Gaming

Right Thumb Joint. Seriously. I don’t know if it’s because of button mashing or phone use, but it aches like the mines of sulphur in the mornings now. I knew I should have got my thumbs looked after 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 stretch time until the end of days.

Game I Am Looking Forward to the Most in 2036

The Witcher 4.