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Alright, how did you experience 2025 in your family? Did it seem truly wonderful as you pretended on Facebook? Full of academic success for your offspring and wild costume birthday parties for the adults? Or perhaps it was a ocean of letdowns with only sporadic enjoyable highlights? Is any of this actually real, or is everyone now digitally altered synthetic personas with celebrity dental work?

I've corralled everyone for a reflection, whether they wanted to or not, to discuss the paramount thing in any given year: which releases we were obsessed with the most. Let's get started:

Game First Daughter Played the Most

Horizon Zero Dawn

"Is it impossible to pick just one?"

"It’s not my definitive list."

In the mobile realm, she's invested time in Cityscapes and "searching for adequate healthcare."

"Digitally?"

"In real life."

Title Middle Son Played the Most

Overwatch

"I have no interest in games on my phone." He seemed insulted that the question was posed. Fair enough.

Release Youngest Daughter Played the Most

Resident Evil Biohazard

She is trying to get into drama school, but when she wasn’t singing, she was tackling Resident Evil. She also elaborated in great detail about her achievements on The Sims, where the Shark has a successful utopia with significantly better healthcare than her big sister has in real life.

Game 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. 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 21-year-old son playing Minecraft, I give him a hard time like a cross between a relentless heckler. When he objects, I reply that I am behaving this way to toughen him up so he can mature and play games for mature audiences. It’s a very Scottish father/son relationship.

Most Notable Gaming Family Member 2025

Eldest Daughter on Just Dance 2024

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

Game I Played the Most

Marvel Snap

No other game compared to the hours I spent on this remarkably well-crafted card game competitive game, with its constantly evolving range of cards and game variations.

Title I Wish I Had Played Less

Marvel Snap

The downside about games that frequently update their range is you wake up one day and see it is all just an attempt to trap you with fomo-fuelled microtransactions. So affection became resentment halfway through the year and it went into the bin.

Game I Wish I Had Played More

Doom: The Dark Ages

Glorious reinvention of a classic franchise. Captivating atmosphere from the beginning. 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 refuse to rush this beautiful, unique game and I just was short on the mental bandwidth to give it what it needed earlier this year. With family visits over the festive period, I plan to dive into this in the wee small hours after evening drinks.

Game That Kept Me Sane When I Needed It

Balatro

I acknowledge Balatro was 2024’s breakout game, but I was late to it. And it is incredible. It just gets each element right. The core concept is a fantastic concept, but the effects behind the different wild cards are so creative it has become a game I literally would play any time. Add in the charm of the card design, and this is an true high-water mark of gaming. I wouldn't mind being stuck in a broken-down lift for hours just so I have the perfect excuse but play it.

Game I Got the Most Criticism For Criticising

Outer Worlds 2

I experienced a minor pile-on when I mentioned how a technical issue in another game ruined the experience for me, but that other title is still a massive gaming achievement in terms of production values – 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 "poorly reasoned". I mention 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

Sure. Give me a bastard-hard Metroidvania-esque thing and leave me without guidance on what I am supposed to be doing, except "figure it out". Great fun. I acknowledge that it is beautiful and is ideal if you are into challenging games, 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 okay when I was a kid, but the same could be said for many questionable things.

Biggest Gaming News of 2025

Close call between questionable alliances that caused concern, and high launch costs. Both difficult to justify and repugnant.

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

Clair Obscur, Despelote and Bananza would all sound good names called 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 button mashing or endless scrolling, but it is sore like anything 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 make 2026 last until the end of days.

Game I Am Looking Forward to the Most in 2036

The Witcher 4.