Pack your bags, wrap the presents, put your scarf around your neck. And then sit down because, I’m sorry, you’re going nowhere. It’s bad, yeah. Even yours truly, a respected list goblin of note, could not make it back to his family in time for the holidays due to the ongoing vengeance of mother nature. But listen. What if I told you: “video games”? They have always had something for us in the past. What wonderful surrogate families can we join in this time of loneliness and separation to ease our troubled minds? Here are the 10 most wholesome families in PC games you may look to in this hour of need.

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Get in the car, loser, we’re going to Mexico – and we’re not paying for the first hundred miles. Starting today, the first episode of supernatural teen sequel Life Is Strange 2is going completely free, permanently. Oh, you’ll still have to pay up to see their journey through to completion, but now you can spend a few hours with the Diaz brothers as they begin their cross-state road trip to the border.

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It s Friday the 13th, the day of Saint Badluck, patron saint of ladders and casinos. And it is a fabulous holiday. Out there, parades are getting ready to be rained on, and children are looking forward to tonight s shenanigans, when they will dress up as mirrors and knock on doors, declaring: sweets or I ll smash myself . I love Friday the 13th. So many cherished memories. So many splinters of reflective glass.

So, Happy Bad Luck Day. Here s a list of the 9 unluckiest characters in videogames. Spoilers for pretty much every game mentioned. So, watch out.

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Alice Bee: I have performed the summoning ritual (the ritual is: sending an email) and called errant skate boy Brendy back for one last job before retirement. It is, after all, time for the last episode of Life Is Strange 2, a harrowing road trip game about two brothers trying to make it from Washington state to Mexico. And since we started the journey together, it seems only right we should finish it together. Reader, there will be spoilers ahead, so mind you don’t step in them.

What a journey it has been, eh? Last time, Sean Diaz rescued his magical little brother from an abusive Chrstian cult, and they burned down a church with their mam. But this fifth episode, “Wolves”, was probably the most saddest so far, I think. Brendy, would you agree?

Brendan: I didn t cry, but I did have a very lumpy gullet.

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Tis the season / use a brolly / tra la la la / la la la la.

Hello, it’s me, the list goblin, here in this festive first week of December to deliver a big black bin bag of presents to you. And by presents, I mean a single irrevocable inventory of the most disastrous and terrible winters in the videogames of recent history. Yes, there will be cannibalism. Yes, thousands will die of exposure. But from this great compendium of coldness will come knowledge, strength, and, okay, at least one adorable puppy. Here are the 9 harshest winters in videogames. Wrap up.

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The fifth and final episode of Life Is Strange 2 is out today. The choice-based narrative game has revolved around brothers Sean and Daniel as they run from their home in Seattle after a tragic run-in with police. Over the course of the season they’ve slowly made their way south attempting to flee to Mexico.

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Gather round, descendants of unwelcome occupiers. It is time to celebrate turkeys again. Now, I don t have any comically large birds to slaughter, but I do recognise the emotional benefit of reflection, which is what this questionable holiday is all about. Being thankful. There are many small things we videosgamers take for granted, the stuff you don t even think about. But tiny quality of life things still deserve a grateful thumbs-up. Here are 17 things to be thankful for in games.

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Spooky-ooky coming-of-age story Life Is Strange 2 has run into trouble with the Australian Classification Board and will be removed from sale down under for about a fortnight while they sort this out. If you already have it on PC (called a ‘compo’ or ‘pozza’ in Australia, probably), you’re grand. The developers don’t say exactly what the dispute is about, but I’d wager it’s down to something which has happened in later episodes of the series. Possibly a drug. Oh no.

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Caution: Spoilers, duh.>

Brendan: Hello, Alice. This is going to come as a shock but listen, you ve been in a coma. Incredible I know, but while you were unconscious Life Is Strange 2 released the fourth episode of its road-tripping choice-o-rama, and now that you re back in conscious reality I d like to table a discussion on what the hell happened after the explosion on that sketchy weed farm back in June. All in favour, say aye . (This sounds like eye , which is a joke).

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Troubled runaway scamps Sean and Daniel Diaz are back. The fourth episode of Life Is Strange 2 released this week, with big brother Sean casting about a big desert in search of his lost brother. He isn t in great shape himself, either, understandably, given everything he s been through. Observe, a very melancholy launch trailer.

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