🔗 Share this article

Alright, what did you think of 2025 in your home? Did it seem entirely positive as one might claim on social media? Full of top marks for the children and riotous costume birthday parties for the grownups? Maybe it felt like a swamp of letdowns with only occasional fun highlights? Could any part be genuine, or are we all seven-fingered virtual entities with celebrity dental work?

I have gathered everyone for a chat, ready or not, to discuss the crucial thing in a calendar year: which video games we were obsessed with the most. Let's get started:

Release First Daughter Played the Most

Just Dance 2024

"Why can't you pick just one?"

"This isn't my games column."

On her phone, her go-to has been Cityscapes and "searching for decent healthcare."

"In the game?"

"In reality."

Release Second Son Played the Most

Overwatch

"I have no interest in games on my phone." He was offended that the question was posed. I respect that.

Title Third Daughter Played the Most

Resident Evil Biohazard

She's attempting to get into theatre school, but when she took a break from vocals, she was playing Resident Evil. She also elaborated in great detail about her successes on The Sims, where her character has a thriving 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 eighty-two percent. It’s a marathon not a sprint for her. On her phone: something called Woodle, where you have to extract pins.

Release I Laughed at My Kids for Still Playing

Minecraft

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

Most Notable 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 Dancing Stage MegaMix in my prime.

Title I Played the Most

Marvel Snap

No other game compared to the hours I spent on this remarkably well-crafted deck building competitive game, with its regularly updated range of cards and game variations.

Title I Wish I Had Played Less

Marvel Snap

The catch about games that endlessly add to their range is you eventually realize and realise it is all just an attempt to lure you into 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

Stunning reinvention of a legendary franchise. Captivating atmosphere from the start. I wish I could deal with my issues 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 lacked the mental bandwidth to give it what it needed earlier this year. With family visits over the festive period, I aim to experience this in the early morning after family time.

Game That Was a Lifesaver When I Needed It

Balatro

I know Balatro was last year's breakout game, but I was a late adopter. And it is incredible. It just gets each element right. Its gameplay loop is a fantastic concept, but the effects behind the different special cards are so inventive it has become a game I literally would play at any hour. Throw in the charm of the card design, and this is an absolute peak of gaming. I fantasize about being stuck in a small space for hours just so I have the perfect excuse but play it.

Game I Got the Most Flak 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 massive gaming achievement in terms of production values – which I recognized even more after playing Outer Worlds 2. So thank you to the commenter who took the time to send a message to say that my Outer Worlds 2 review was "poorly reasoned". I present that as written, because I respect the passion, and she is obviously an excellent 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 don’t tell me guidance on what I am supposed to be doing, except "figure it out". What a joy. I understand that it is beautiful and is flawless if you are into this kind of thing, but I cannot think of a gaming experience I desire less in my current stage of life. I was around back when all games were like this, and my patience is gone. It was fine when I was a kid, but so was many less comfortable things.

Biggest Gaming Controversy of 2025

Close call between business deals that raised eyebrows, and high launch costs. 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 sound good names bellowed from the garden at bedtime.

Part of My Body That Aches Most From Gaming

Right Thumb Joint. Seriously. I don’t know if it’s because of video games or phone use, but it aches like the mines of sulphur in the mornings now. I knew I should have got my thumbs insured back in the past.

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 cows come home.

Game I Am Looking Forward to the Most in 2036

The Witcher 4.