When Hollow Knight: Silksong came out last summer I was in so much pain that I didn't know if I'd be able to play it. Could a video game teach me anything new about suffering? L ast year I became uncomfortably well acquainted with suffering. In March I started experiencing excruciating pain in my right arm and shoulder - burning, zapping, energy-sapping pain that left me unable to think straight, emanating from a nexus of torment behind my shoulder blade and sometimes stretching all the way up to the base of my skull and all the way down into my fingers. Typing was agony, but was painful; even at rest it was horrible.

We regularly write about the games we love at Engadget, and even have "best games" lists for each console. But buying a game for someone else is a different matter entirely to choosing one for yourself. Unless you know exactly what they want, where do you even begin? Well, we'd begin by thinking about what your loved one's into, outside of gaming. Could they do with something to help them chill out every night?