15 best gifts for gamers to level up their Christmas

The Nintendo Switch OLED improves upon the original Nintendo Switch in every possible way. It features a larger 7in OLED screen, so you’ll notice that colours are more vivid, and blacks are darker when playing games in handheld mode. There’s a sturdier kickstand so it won’t fall over when you breathe on it, the speakers are slightly better and there’s now an ethernet port for more reliable online play.

If you’re looking for a new console, the Nintendo Switch OLED is it. It plays all the best Nintendo Switch games, so you’ll have the entire Mario, Pokémon and Zelda catalogue to power through.

God of War Ragnarok is without a doubt going to be high up on everybody’s best games of 2022 list and for good reason. Ragnarok is the follow up to 2018’s God of War and the final chapter in Kratos and Atreus’s Norse saga. We won’t spoil anything, but if you’ve played the last one, it’s definitely worth your time.

So what’s all the fuss about? In our five star review of the game, we described Ragnarok as “nothing short of a masterpiece” which is high praise indeed.

Out of all the subscription services offered by Microsoft, PlayStation and Nintendo, the Xbox Game Pass might just be the best value for money. Much like a streaming service, the Game Pass allows users to access a huge library of titles across Xbox consoles, PC and even cloud gaming. Some of our favourite Xbox games are available through Game Pass with more added on a monthly basis, meaning there’s always something new to play.

Users can choose to purchase a one-month or three-month subscription via a retail voucher code or it can be renewed on a monthly basis. To access some fantastic titles, including Halo, Forza and the excellent Yakuza series, to name a few, it might just be the ultimate gaming stocking stuffer.

Read more: The best gifts for gamers

Geared towards slightly older Mario fans, this impressive and poseable Lego Bowser figurine measures a foot tall when completed and features intricately designed moving parts. The infamous baddy has jointed arms, legs, tail, head and eyes, and can demolish the set’s plastic towers by launching a switch-activated fireballs from his mouth.

A technical build comprising over 2,800 pieces, the mighty Bowser set includes loads of fun little details that will delight Super Mario fans as they contruct the king of the Koopas. If you’ve got figurines from elsewhere in the Lego Super Mario series (Mario isn’t included here), they’ll be able to jump on the hidden “pow” block action tag for added interactivity.

Touch controls can be a bit hit and miss if you plan on spending much of your gaming time on your phone. If you want more control over mobile-dedicated titles, such as Apex Legends Mobile, Genshin Impact and Diablo Immortal, then a dedicated controller attachment will not only provide you with more tactile fidelity, it will also free up your screen’s real estate from being obscured by your pesky thumbs.

In our review of the Playstation edition of the device, we said: “The Backbone One is, in the most literal sense, a gamechanger that makes gaming on mobile phones a tempting proposition for dedicated gamers who want nothing to do with touch controls”. While the PlayStation edition is only available for iPhone, the standard edition is compatible with both Android and iPhone devices, so make sure you have the correct model selected.

As far as standalone virtual reality headsets go, the Meta Quest 2 is certainly the most user-friendly. While other, more powerful VR setups require a decently specced PC to run the most demanding VR games, the Quest 2 works as a standalone headset, so you can play games practically anywhere.

The headset itself comes with built-in tracking cameras, so you can move around a 3D space with precision, and if you’re worried about bumping into furniture, the “Guardian mode” allows you to outline a safe space on the floor so when you move toward the edge, a helpful grid can let you know when you’re about to reach out of bounds. It made it into our list of best VR headsets for a reason, and the Meta Quest 2 still remains the easiest way to enter virtual reality.

The 128GB headset was originally priced at £299.99, having been bumped up to £399.99 earlier this year, due to increased costs of manufacturing. However, as part of the recent Black Friday sales, a bundle was released including Beat Saber (£22.99, Oculus.com) and Resident Evil 4 VR (£29.99, Oculus.com), bringing the total cost down to £349.99, which has stayed since the sales have ended.

Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope is the recently released sequel to Kingdom Battle that takes Mario, his Mushroom Kingdom comrades and an army of quirky “rabbids” into a tactical turn-based role-playing adventure. It’s a surprisingly deep strategy game that builds on an already unique system found in Kingdom Battle.

We had a chance to play it for ourselves (and speak with the game’s director, Davide Soliani) and were thoroughly impressed in our playthrough, praising it for its “meaningful changes to entice Super Mario fans that fall outside the tactical genre, while also staying true to its core appeal”.

If you’re not overly familiar with tactical games of the XCOM variety, Sparks of Hope is a great place to start, being accessible for ages seven and up that pushes the boundaries of the established Mario universe for a fun and engaging time.

Marvel fans have been spoilt for gaming choices this year with two excellent titles, with the highly addictive mobile game Marvel Snap and the tactical role-playing Midnight Suns. The latter sees familiar heroes from Dr Strange, Iron Man, Spider-Man and more teaming up to take on a supernatural threat.

Much like Firaxis’s own XCOM games, Midnight Suns is a turn-based adventure but this one comes with a twist. Turns are dictated by playing different cards for each hero with their own unique effect, making for a mechanically robust adventure that’s more than just a palette swap with a superheroic theme.

Put away the OLED screen for a cardboard one with this beginner-friendly entry into the world of Dungeons & Dragons (or DND if you’re in a hurry). If you’re unfamiliar, DND is a tabletop role-playing game played between 2-6 people, with one acting as the “dungeon master” (or DM) to narrate the adventure and act out the world’s quest givers, monsters and allies, while other players each control their own character.

The essentials kit includes a low-level campaign, a rulebook for players to get to grips with combat, role play tips and spells as well as how to build their own characters from scratch. It also includes a map of the town players will start their adventures in, 80 illustrated cards for items and spells, a screen for dungeon masters to sit behind and devilishly chuckle as they plan the next enemy encounter and, of course, a set of polyhedral dice.

If you’re already a DND veteran, the essentials kit will seem fairly basic compared to other campaign materials, but with plenty of visual aids and tips, it’s a perfect entry point for new players hoping to get their fantasy fix.

Alternatively, if you like the idea of role-playing, but the idea of coming up with your own character from scratch makes you a bit dizzy, the recently updated starter set (£20.32, Amazon.co.uk) could be a good choice. It contains five pre-built characters each with their own backstory, an adventure for characters level 1-3, a rulebook and a campaign titled Dragons of Stormwreck Isle,as well as those all-important dice.

The original Final Fantasy VII is one of the most celebrated RPG’s of all time and with the 2020 remake delivering on a promise to reimagine the PS1 classic, all associated titles within VII’s canon are all up for the same special treatment and reinterpretation.

Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII: Reunion is one such spin-off. Originally released on the PSP back in 2007, it tells the story of Shinra SOLDIER, Zack Fair, prior to the events of FFVII, featuring appearances from other familiar characters, such as Cloud, Aerith and Sephiroth.

With updated visuals, cutscenes and improvements made to combat, it’s remarkable how much Crisis Core has changed while still retaining the mechanical charm of the PSP’s original. It may not be as innovative as Final Fantasy VII: Remake, but it does make an excellent companion piece, as well as a palate cleanser for the next reimagining of Final Fantasy VII – Rebirth – which is scheduled to come out next year. Dedicated Final Fantasy fans won’t want to miss out.

The Quarry is as much a videogame as it is an interactive movie, where players can ultimately decide the fate of its large cast scene by scene. While it certainly plays on some familiar tropes – a group of camp councillors out in the woods by themselves, what could go wrong? – it’s a fitting tribute to the slasher genre with an impressive level of depth to each scenario. Even if you want to put the controller down and enjoy it as a cinematic experience, the game’s director chair will let you choose how each character will react, what their emotions are, or even if they happen to meet a grizzly end.

The Pokémon trading card game is as popular as it’s ever been with new and old players alike. But if you’ve never actually played it, the battle academy is a great place to start. The product is presented as more of a board game, with a player mat for two players, as well as three decks of cards to choose from featuring fan favourites such as Pikachu, Eevee and Cinderace and a set of basic rules to get things rolling. The full game is compatible with other Pokémon TCG products so if you happen to have a few cards in your possession already, you can start to incorporate them into existing decks.

Nintendo’s latest competitive shooter, Splatoon 3, is one of the best multiplayer offerings available on the Nintendo Switch, as well as one of our favourite games for the platform. It’s a family-friendly take on the genre, where two teams compete to cover an arena in as much paint as possible using a variety of ink-based weapons. We lauded it for its “strong competitive offering” that is “only improved by the addition of its capable single-player and cooperative game modes”.

Nintendo has committed to keeping the game updated with new maps and weapons for the next few years, so if you’re after a game with some longevity then this will have some decent mileage. Keep in mind, to access its online features a Nintendo Switch Online subscription will be required in order to play them.

When it comes to gaming, having a low-latency peripheral is critical. Corsair’s latest wired mechanical keyboard delivers a premium, lag-free, low-latency experience that made the difference between a win and a loss. There are a ridiculous number of shortcuts for both gaming and productivity, including RGB brightness dimming, a tournament button to quickly turn off your macros, 50 onboard profiles that you can switch between in a snap and media controls.

The best part? Corsair’s axon processing is put to work, giving you 8K hyper-polling for super low-latency gaming, so keystrokes are almost instantaneous. The keyboard does feature cherry brown switches, however, which some of you might hate. The wrist wrest is genuinely very comfortable though.

Twitch streamers, this one’s for you. The Elgato HD60 X is the company’s latest no-frills capture card. Intended for gamers with a next-generation console (PlayStation 5 or Xbox series X), this device will elevate any Twitch streamers set-up. It has a better, more functional design than the older HD 60S+, which only supports 1080p playback, and the new features are literally game-changing.

We were able to rewind and play back our Fifa 23 gameplay footage even when we’d forgotten to press the record button, and it also supports variable refresh rates (VRR), so it remains buttery smooth while streaming. While it does support content in 4K HDR, it only does so at 30fps, which is a little disappointing but expected for the price. That said, we didn’t notice any lag at all when recording in 1080p or in 4K.