Writing this newsletter and reading your correspondence remains my favourite part of my job. It means a lot that so many of you have written in to say that you look forward to Pushing Buttons landing in your inbox every week. Thank you also to the Guardian's brilliant newsletter team, who have worked hard all year to get these missives to you on time even when I've submitted them horribly late. Relatedly: if games publishers could stop dropping huge news right around my deadline in 2025, that would be amazing.) To cap the year off, we've got a bumper issue of readers' favourite games of 2024.

In gaming circles, "GOTY" is a well-recognized acronym. It's the crown jewel of gaming accomplishments, the proclamation that something is the Game of the Year. Most people who play video games use it as a shorthand to identify our favorite titles. And I usually lose countless hours sweating out my pick at the end of each year. The world is in a golden age of gaming.

The game's historical politics are fascinating, and it does a great job of weaving in real history like Martin Luther's reform of the church, the Twelve Articles that were part of peasants' demands in 1525, as well as pagan and Roman myths. The game even highlights lesser known history, such as gay monks. Having seen the ending, and then nearly finishing a second playthrough, I appreciated how real history is at the core of the story's conflict. The class differences that are more easily swept under the rug during the first act of the game are still hinted at, as peasants note increased taxes and how rainfall collects downstream, making the farms more susceptible than the abbey to flooding. It's repeatedly mentioned that women can't own property, and depending on the playthrough, Andreas is able to help with that problem or not.

I thought that Microsoft would just be more willing to allow us to try something unusual and experimental,