Alright, how was this year in your home? Was it truly wonderful as people post on online? Overflowing with A-grades for the kids and wild costume celebrations for the adults? Maybe it felt like a swamp of letdowns with only sporadic enjoyable highlights? Could any part be actually real, or is everyone now AI-generated AI slop beings with perfect teeth?
I've assembled the family for a chat, whether they wanted to or not, to reflect on the crucial thing in a calendar year: which releases we played the most. So here goes:
Horizon Zero Dawn
"Is it impossible to pick just one?"
"This isn't my games column."
Meanwhile, on mobile, she’s been playing Cityscapes and "searching for decent healthcare."
"Virtually?"
"In the actual world."
Overwatch
"I refuse to play games on my phone." He seemed insulted that the question was posed. Point taken.
Resident Evil Biohazard
She's attempting to get into acting, but when she wasn’t singing, she was tackling Resident Evil. She also spoke at length 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.
Crash Bandicoot: It’s About Time
She started the year at sixty percent completion and ended it at 82%. She's in it for the long run not a sprint for her. On her phone: something called Woodle, where you have to remove pins.
Minecraft
Any time I see my 21-year-old son playing Minecraft, I rib him 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 classic Scottish father/son relationship.
Eldest Daughter on Just Dance 2024
She was the clear winner for this one. She is incredible. More impressive than I was at Dancing Stage MegaMix in my prime.
Marvel Snap
Nothing came close to the hours I spent on this exceptionally well-crafted deck building wizard’s poker, with its regularly updated range of cards and game variations.
Marvel Snap
The downside about games that frequently update their range is you eventually realize and realise it is all just an attempt to lure you into fomo-fuelled microtransactions. So love turned to hate halfway through the year and it was deleted.
Doom: The Dark Ages
Glorious reinvention of a legendary franchise. Captivating atmosphere from the start. I wish I could eviscerate my issues so effectively in real life.
Blue Prince
I decline 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 holiday guests over the festive period, I plan to dive into this in the early morning after evening drinks.
Balatro
I acknowledge Balatro was last year's sleeper hit, but I was a late adopter. And it is exceptional. It just gets each element right. Its gameplay loop is a fantastic concept, but the powers behind the different wild cards are so imaginative it has become a game I could play constantly. Add in the wittiness of the card design, and this is an true high-water mark of gaming. I dream of being stuck in a small space for hours just so I have nothing to do but play it.
Outer Worlds 2
I received a wave of criticism when I critiqued how a technical issue in another game damaged 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 slogging through Outer Worlds 2. So thank you to the individual who took the time to write in to say that my Outer Worlds 2 review was "poorly reasoned". I share that in the exact way, because I respect the passion, and she is obviously an excellent judge of character.
Hollow Knight: Silksong
Fine. Give me a brutally difficult Metroidvania-esque thing and provide little guidance on what I am supposed to be doing, except "figure it out". How delightful. I acknowledge that it looks ace and is flawless if you are into the genre, but I cannot think of a gaming experience I am less interested in in my mid-fifties. 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.
Debate between corporate partnerships that caused concern, and premium pricing. Both difficult to justify and concerning.
Clair Obscur, Despelote and Bananza would all make interesting names shouted from the doorstep at bedtime.
Right Thumb Joint. No joke. I don’t know if it’s because of button mashing or doomscrolling, but it aches like hellfire in the mornings now. I knew I should have got my thumbs looked after back in the day.
Grand Theft Auto VI.
And it will come out in 2026, even if we have to stretch time until the end of days.
The Witcher 4.
Elara is a passionate writer and photographer who shares insights on creativity and mindful living through engaging storytelling.
