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Alright, how did you experience 2025 in your home? Was it truly wonderful as one might claim on Facebook? Overflowing with top marks for the children and elaborate themed fancy dress birthday parties for the adults? Or was it a sea of letdowns with only rare fun highlights? And was any of it actually real, or have we all become seven-fingered AI slop beings with celebrity teeth?

I have gathered the family for a reflection, whether they wanted to or not, to discuss the paramount thing in a calendar year: which video games we played the most. Let's get started:

Title First Daughter Played the Most

Just Dance 2024

"Why can't you pick just one?"

"This isn't my personal ranking."

In the mobile realm, her go-to has been Cityscapes and "searching for reasonable healthcare."

"Digitally?"

"In real life."

Release Middle Son Played the Most

Overwatch

"I refuse to play games on my phone." He was offended that I even asked. I respect that.

Game Third Daughter Played the Most

Resident Evil Biohazard

She is trying to get into drama school, but when she stepped away from the mic, she was playing Resident Evil. She also went on in great detail about her achievements on The Sims, where her avatar has a successful utopia with infinitely better healthcare than her older sibling has outside the game.

Game the Wife Played the Most

Crash Bandicoot: It’s About Time

She began the year at sixty percent completion and ended it at 82%. It's a long haul not a sprint for her. Her mobile diversion: something called Woodle, where you have to extract pins.

Game I Found Amusing That My Kids for Still Playing

Minecraft

Any time I see my adult son playing Minecraft, I rib him like a cross between a relentless heckler. When he complains, I reply that I am behaving this way to build character so he can be a man and play games for adults. This defines our Scottish father/son relationship.

Most Impressive Gaming Family Member 2025

Eldest Daughter on Just Dance 2024

There was no contest for this one. She is a machine. Even better than I was at my peak gaming days in my prime.

Title I Played the Most

Marvel Snap

Nothing came close to the hours I spent on this remarkably well-crafted card game wizard’s poker, with its constantly evolving range of cards and game variations.

Game I Wish I Had Played Less

Marvel Snap

The worst thing about games that constantly evolve their range is you wake up one day and understand it is all just an attempt to lure you into compulsion-based microtransactions. So affection became resentment 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 deal with my demons so effectively in real life.

Game I Wish I Had Played More (Thoughtful 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 holiday guests over the festive period, I will be playing this in the late night after family time.

Title That Was a Lifesaver When I Needed It

Balatro

I acknowledge Balatro was 2024’s sleeper hit, but I was a late adopter. And it is incredible. It just gets every single thing right. Crazy Poker is a fantastic concept, but the powers behind the different special cards are so inventive it has become a game I would happily play at any hour. Add in the cleverness of the card design, and this is an absolute high-water mark of gaming. I fantasize about being stuck in a elevator for hours just so I have the perfect excuse but play it.

Game I Got the Most Backlash For Criticising

Outer Worlds 2

I endured a bit of backlash when I wrote about how a glitch in another game damaged the experience for me, but that other title is still a colossal gaming achievement in terms of overall polish – which I appreciated even more after experiencing Outer Worlds 2. So my appreciation goes out to the reader who took the time to write in to say that my Outer Worlds 2 review was "missing the point". I share that as written, because I appreciate the effort, and he is obviously an astute judge of character.

Title 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 "explore". How delightful. I acknowledge that it is beautiful and is perfection if you are into this kind of thing, but I cannot think of a gaming experience I desire less in my mid-fifties. I was around back when many games were like this, and I’ve had enough. It was acceptable when I was a kid, but so was many outdated things.

Biggest Gaming News of 2025

Toss-up between questionable alliances that caused concern, 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 bellowed from the doorstep at bedtime.

Part of My Body That Aches Most From Gaming

Right Thumb Joint. Seriously. I don’t know if it’s because of console gaming or phone use, but it burns like the mines of sulphur in the mornings now. I knew I should have got my thumbs looked after 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 make 2026 last until the cows come home.

Game I Am Looking Forward to the Most in 2036

The Witcher 4.