The games, by who you are buying for
A calm person, or a couple who like slow games.Stardew Valley. A farm you build over hundreds of hours, alone or with up to three others on the same system. No fail state, no pressure, and it never leaves people's rotation. The edition we link is Switch, and it is on every other system too.
A friend with a regular online squad on PS5, Xbox or PC. Helldivers 2. Four-player co-op with full crossplay between all three, so it works whatever mix of systems their group is on. Loud, chaotic, and the game a lot of groups adopted for months. The link is the PS5 edition.
A host - the person whose house everyone ends up at. The Jackbox Party Pack 6. Only the host needs to own it; everyone else joins from their phone, up to ten players, so it is the one game here that works for a room where nobody else has a controller. It is also the right pick for a remote game night over a video call.
Someone who plays with one other person on the couch. Borderlands 4. Two-player split-screen on PS5 and Xbox, and the same two can bring two more friends in online. A big, loud, current shooter that has already settled into this bracket. Rated for adults, so not for a household with kids.
A group that grew up in the nineties.Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge. Up to six players in the same room, a short campaign, and the exact feel of the arcade game people remember. A wonderful gift for a group of adults who want one loud evening rather than a long commitment.
A mixed-age household with a Switch.Nintendo Switch Sports. Get off the couch and swing a Joy-Con - the game a grandparent and a six-year-old can play against each other. This one appeared in Nintendo's own holiday sale last year, which is worth knowing if the occasion is in December.
The gear, and who each piece is for
Logitech G432 - for the friend nobody can hear. If they play online with people, the microphone matters more than anything else they own, and a wired headset from a company that makes a lot of them is the cheapest fix. It plugs into a PC, a console controller or a phone. The honest catch: budget headsets are built like budget headsets, and the cable is the first thing to go.
8BitDo Pro 2 - for the Switch or PC owner whose friends never have a pad. A second controller is the whole shopping list for two-player local games, and this one works on a Switch, Switch 2, PC, phone and more. Its sticks use magnets rather than contacts, which is the part that wears out on ordinary pads. The layout is a classic Nintendo-style shape, which some people prefer and some do not.
Amazon Basics gas spring dual arm - for the desk gamer with two monitors on stands. The nerdiest gift on this page and, for the right person, the one they will thank you for most: it lifts two screens off the desk and lets them sit exactly where they should. Only buy it if you have seen their desk and it has two screens on it - and check the per-arm weight rating against their monitors first. Our dual monitor arm guide explains the three numbers that decide whether it fits.
Shopping in November?
Controllers and headsets are the two categories that discounted most reliably last Black Friday, and games more than a year old were widely cut in half. If you are buying from this list for a December occasion, read the Black Friday and Cyber Monday pagefirst - it has last year's actual prices by category and buy-now-or-wait guidance.
