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Well, how was 2025 in your household? Did it seem all as good as people post on social media? Full of top marks for the children and riotous themed fancy dress celebrations for the grownups? Or was it a sea of disappointment with only sporadic entertaining moments? Is any of this actually real, or are we all AI-generated AI slop beings with unrealistic dental work?

I've assembled everyone together, willing or unwilling, to debate the most important thing in any given year: which video games we played the most. Let's get started:

Release Eldest Daughter Played the Most

Pikmin

"Can’t you pick just one?"

"This isn't my definitive list."

On her phone, she's invested time in Cityscapes and "trying to find adequate healthcare."

"Digitally?"

"In real life."

Game Second Son Played the Most

Overwatch

"I refuse to play games on my phone." He seemed insulted that I suggested it. Point taken.

Title Youngest Daughter Played the Most

Resident Evil Biohazard

She's attempting to get into theatre school, but when she stepped away from the mic, she was tackling Resident Evil. She also went on in great detail about her achievements on The Sims, where the Shark has a thriving utopia with far better healthcare than her eldest sister has outside the game.

Release the Partner Played the Most

Crash Bandicoot: It’s About Time

She began the year at 60% 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 extract pins.

Game I Teased My Kids About My Kids for Still Playing

Minecraft

Every time I see my adult son playing Minecraft, I rib him like a cross between a persistent critic. When he protests, I reply that I am behaving this way to prepare him so he can be a man and play games for adults. It’s a very Scottish father/son relationship.

Most Skilled Gaming Family Member of the Year

Eldest Daughter on Just Dance 2024

There was no contest for this one. She is a machine. More impressive than I was at Dancing Stage MegaMix in my prime.

Title I Played the Most

Marvel Snap

Nothing came close to the hours I spent on this remarkably well-crafted deck building 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 compulsion-based microtransactions. So love turned to hate halfway through the year and it got uninstalled.

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 demons so effectively in real life.

Game I Wish I Had Played More (Cerebral Edition)

Blue Prince

I decline to rush this stunning, original 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 will be playing this in the early morning after evening drinks.

Game That Was a Lifesaver When I Needed It

Balatro

I know Balatro was 2024’s sleeper hit, but I was a late adopter. And it is incredible. It just gets every single thing right. Its gameplay loop is a fantastic concept, but the powers behind the different special cards are so imaginative it has become a game I literally would play at any hour. Combine that with the wittiness of the card design, and this is an definite high-water mark of gaming. I wouldn't mind 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 endured a minor pile-on when I mentioned how a specific bug 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 playing Outer Worlds 2. So thank you to the reader who took the time to write in to say that my Outer Worlds 2 review was "poorly reasoned". I mention that in the exact way, because I respect the passion, and she is obviously an astute judge of character.

Title Everybody Loved That I Just Didn’t Get

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Sure. Give me a bastard-hard exploration-focused thing and provide little guidance on what I am supposed to be doing, except "look around". Great fun. I acknowledge that it has great art and is flawless 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 all 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 Scandal of 2025

Toss-up between questionable alliances that raised eyebrows, and high launch costs. Both morally indefensible and concerning.

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

Clair Obscur, Despelote and Bananza would all make interesting 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 button mashing or endless scrolling, but it is sore like anything in the mornings now. I knew I should have got my thumbs insured 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 end of days.

Game I Am Looking Forward to the Most in 2036

The Witcher 4.