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Well, how did you experience 2025 in your home? Was it all as good as people post on social media? Packed with top marks for the kids and riotous costume celebrations for the adults? Or perhaps it was a swamp of disappointment with only occasional fun moments? Is any of this actually real, or are we all digitally altered virtual entities with unrealistic dental work?

I have gathered everyone for a reflection, willing or unwilling, to debate the crucial thing in a calendar year: which releases we played the most. So here goes:

Title Eldest Daughter Played the Most

Horizon Zero Dawn

"Is it impossible to pick just one?"

"You can't expect my personal ranking."

On her phone, she’s been playing Cityscapes and "attempting to locate adequate healthcare."

"Digitally?"

"In the actual world."

Game Middle Son Played the Most

Overwatch

"I don’t play games on my phone." He seemed insulted that the question was posed. Fair enough.

Release Youngest Daughter Played the Most

Resident Evil Biohazard

Her goal is to get into acting, but when she took a break from vocals, she was immersed in Resident Evil. She also went on in great detail about her achievements on The Sims, where the Shark has a blooming utopia with far better healthcare than her older sibling has in real life.

Title the Wife Played the Most

Crash Bandicoot: It’s About Time

She began the year at sixty percent completion and finished the year at eighty-two percent. It’s a marathon not a sprint for her. On her phone: something called Woodle, where you have to extract pins.

Title I Teased My Kids About My Kids for Still Playing

Minecraft

Every 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 mature audiences. It’s a very Scottish father/son relationship.

Most Skilled Gaming Family Member of the Year

Eldest Daughter on Just Dance 2024

She was the clear winner for this one. She is unstoppable. More impressive 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 exceptionally well-crafted deck building digital pastime, 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 frequently update their range is you wake up one day and understand it is all just an attempt to lure you into fomo-fuelled 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. Captivating atmosphere from the start. I wish I could dispatch my problems so effectively in real life.

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

Blue Prince

I decline to rush this gorgeous, distinctive game and I just lacked 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 Saved My Soul When I Needed It

Balatro

I know Balatro was the previous year's sleeper hit, but I was slow on the uptake. And it is remarkable. It just gets absolutely everything right. Crazy Poker is a brilliant concept, but the powers behind the different joker cards are so imaginative it has become a game I could play at any hour. Add in the wittiness 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 an opportunity but play it.

Game I Got the Most Backlash For Criticising

Outer Worlds 2

I experienced a bit of backlash when I mentioned how a technical issue in another game ruined the experience for me, but that other title is still a gargantuan gaming achievement in terms of art, sound, acting – which I appreciated even more after slogging through Outer Worlds 2. So my appreciation goes out to the reader who took the time to contact me to say that my Outer Worlds 2 review was "missing the point". I present that as written, because I acknowledge the engagement, and they are obviously an sharp judge of character.

Game Everybody Loved That I Just Didn’t Get

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Alright. Give me a brutally difficult non-linear thing and leave me without guidance on what I am supposed to be doing, except "figure it out". Great fun. I get that it has great art and is perfection if you are into challenging games, but I cannot think of a gaming experience I am less interested in in my adulthood. I was around back when most games were like this, and I'm over it. It was fine when I was a kid, but so was many less comfortable things.

Biggest Gaming Controversy of 2025

Toss-up between questionable alliances that caused concern, and expensive game releases. Both morally indefensible 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 be unique names called 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 video games or endless scrolling, 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 wait patiently until the heat death of the universe.

Game I Am Looking Forward to the Most in 2036

The Witcher 4.