Struggling to find the best gaming gifts this Christmas? Here are 10 of our top picks

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for insider tips and product reviews from our shopping expertsSign up for our free IndyBest emailWhen it comes to gift giving, gamers can be a tricky lot to buy for. And 2022 has been a particularly busy year for new releases with plenty of different genres to jump into.You may have the best of intentions when picking up an older title in the Black Friday sale but – heaven forbid – they may have already played it, or are more interested in the newer releases.That’s why we’ve rounded up a few gift ideas that would be perfect for gamers of differing ilk, whether they’re die-hard Nintendo, PlayStation, PC or Xbox fans for the festive season. Compared to last year, the stock situation for the PS5 and Xbox series X/S couldn’t be any more different, with both consoles now readily available at most major retailers. But while a brand new console isn’t exactly your usual go-to stocking stuffer, we’ve tried to round out our list with some nice little additions to make the most of the latest generation of hardware.We’ve done our best to stay far away from the usual, vaguely gaming-related, products that pop up every Christmas to offer you the best tried-and-tested gift ideas. For our full Christmas buying guide for the lucky gamer in your life, keep reading below. How we testedOur round-up of gift ideas come from rigorous testing, playing and expertise on all things gaming-related to help ensure that each of our recommendations are of sound quality and from trusted brands. With that in mind, these are our top picks this year.Best overall – Nintendo Switch OLED: £304, Amazon.co.ukBest for PlayStation fans – ‘God of War Ragnarok’: £62.99, Amazon.co.ukBest for Xbox fans – 3 months of Xbox Game Pass: £23.99, Amazon.co.ukBest for mobile gamers – Backbone one mobile phone controller: £99.99, Playbackbone.comBest for Mario fans – ‘Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope’: £44.90, Amazon.co.ukBest for role-playing fans – Dungeons & Dragons essentials kit: £23.33, Amazon.co.ukBest for Pokemon TCG fans – Pokemon Battle Academy: £21.99, Amazon.co.ukBest for competitive Switch players – ‘Splatoon 3’: £36.99, Amazon.co.ukBest gaming keyboard – Corsair K70 RGB pro gaming keyboard: £169.99, Amazon.co.ukBest for streamers – Elgato HD60 X: £189, Amazon.co.ukFrom keyboards to mobile phone gaming, we’ve broken down our top buys for the festive seasoniStock/The IndependentWant to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.Already subscribed? Log inStill our favourite Nintendo Switch console, 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 to game on this Christmas, the Nintendo Switch OLED is it. It plays all the best Nintendo Switch games, so you’ll have the entire Mario, Pokemon and Zelda catalogue to power through after your roast.Continue reading…£304.99 Amazon.co.ukBuy nowGod 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.Continue reading…£62.99 Amazon.co.ukBuy nowOut 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 excellent titles, including Halo, Forza and the excellent Yakuza series, to name a few, it might just be the ultimate gaming stocking stuffer.Continue reading…£23.99 Amazon.co.ukBuy nowTouch 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.Continue reading…£99.99 Playbackbone.comBuy nowMario + 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. Continue reading…£44.90 Amazon.co.ukBuy nowPut 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 entrypoint 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 (£21.14, 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.Continue reading…£23.33 Amazon.co.ukBuy nowThe Pokemon 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 Pokemon TCG products so if you happen to have a few cards in your possession already, you can start to incorporate them into existing decks.Continue reading…£21.99 Amazon.co.ukBuy nowNintendo’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.Continue reading…£36.99 Amazon.co.ukBuy nowWhen 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.Continue reading…£169.99 Amazon.co.ukBuy nowTwitch 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.Continue reading…While the PS5 and Xbox series X are readily available, our favourite pick for a new console is still the Nintendo Switch OLED, which is still the best version of the console to date. But if you’re looking for the perfect gift for someone that already has an Xbox, three months of Game Pass will give them hundreds of games at a nominal subscription, making it the most generous service of the three major platforms.Finally, the game to beat this year is God of War Ragnarok. As a PlayStation exclusive title, it’s the game that every PS5 owner should have on their radar. Still stuck for gift ideas? We’ll be keeping this guide regularly updated with our top picks as we lead up to the big holiday, so be sure to stay tuned.Want to find the perfect Christmas board game? Read our full list of our top picks this holiday season