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So, how was 2025 in your family? Was it all as good as people post on Facebook? Full of A-grades for your offspring and elaborate dress-up celebrations for the adults? Maybe it felt like a sea of disappointment with only sporadic fun highlights? And was any of it authentic, or have we all become seven-fingered virtual entities with unrealistic teeth?

I've corralled the family for a chat, ready or not, to discuss the crucial thing in a calendar year: which releases we were obsessed with the most. Let's get started:

Game Oldest Daughter Played the Most

Just Dance 2024

"Why can't you pick just one?"

"This isn't my games column."

Meanwhile, on mobile, her go-to has been Cityscapes and "attempting to locate decent healthcare."

"Virtually?"

"In real life."

Release Middle Son Played the Most

Overwatch

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

Game Third Daughter Played the Most

Resident Evil Biohazard

She is trying to get into drama school, but when she wasn’t singing, she was immersed in Resident Evil. She also went on in great detail about her successes on The Sims, where her avatar has a blooming utopia with infinitely better healthcare than her older sibling has in the real world.

Release the Spouse Played the Most

Crash Bandicoot: It’s About Time

She started the year at sixty percent completion and ended it 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.

Title I Found Amusing That My Kids for Still Playing

Minecraft

Every time I see my 21-year-old son playing Minecraft, I set about him like a cross between a relentless heckler. When he protests, I reply that I am doing this to prepare him so he can grow up and play games for adults. It's a classic Scottish father/son relationship.

Most Notable Gaming Family Member 2025

Eldest Daughter on Just Dance 2024

It wasn't even close for this one. She is unstoppable. Superior than I was at Dancing Stage MegaMix in my prime.

Game I Played the Most

Marvel Snap

Nothing came close to the hours I spent on this exceptionally well-crafted card game digital pastime, with its constantly evolving range of cards and game variations.

Game I Wish I Had Played Less

Marvel Snap

The catch about games that constantly evolve their range is you wake up one day and understand 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 was deleted.

Game I Wish I Had Played More

Doom: The Dark Ages

Excellent reinvention of a legendary franchise. Immersive atmosphere from the beginning. I wish I could eviscerate my demons so effectively in real life.

Title I Wish I Had Played More (Puzzle-Focused 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 required earlier this year. With relatives staying over the festive period, I plan to dive into this in the wee small hours after appropriate hospitality.

Game That Was a Lifesaver When I Needed It

Balatro

I'm aware Balatro was 2024’s breakout game, 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 joker cards are so creative it has become a game I would happily play any time. Add in the cleverness of the card design, and this is an absolute peak of gaming. I dream of being stuck in a broken-down lift for hours just so I have the perfect excuse but play it.

Game I Got the Most Backlash For Criticising

Outer Worlds 2

I received a minor pile-on 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 overall polish – which I appreciated 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 mention that verbatim, because I respect the passion, 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 bastard-hard non-linear thing and leave me without guidance on what I am supposed to be doing, except "look around". How delightful. I acknowledge that it is beautiful and is ideal if you are into this kind of thing, but I cannot think of a gaming experience I want less of 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 less comfortable things.

Biggest Gaming Controversy of 2025

Close call between corporate partnerships that raised eyebrows, and high launch costs. Both ethically dubious and unpleasant.

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 called from the garden 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 video games or endless scrolling, but it burns like hellfire 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 make 2026 last until the heat death of the universe.

Game I Am Looking Forward to the Most in 2036

The Witcher 4.