🔗 Share this article The Dominik Diamond Personal Game of the Year Roundup for 2025 Well, what did you think of the past year in your family? Could it be described as entirely positive as you pretended on Facebook? Packed with A-grades for your offspring and riotous costume gatherings for the adults? Or was it a sea of letdowns with only sporadic enjoyable moments? Could any part be authentic, or have we all become seven-fingered virtual entities with unrealistic smiles? I've assembled the family for a reflection, whether they wanted to or not, to debate the crucial thing in twelve months: which video games we enjoyed the most. Without further ado: Game Oldest Daughter Played the Most Just Dance 2024 "Can’t you pick just one?" "You can't expect my definitive list." Meanwhile, on mobile, her go-to has been Cityscapes and "attempting to locate decent healthcare." "Virtually?" "In real life." Game Middle Son Played the Most Overwatch "I don’t play games on my phone." He took umbrage that I even asked. Fair enough. Game Youngest Daughter Played the Most Resident Evil Biohazard Her goal is to get into acting, but when she took a break from vocals, she was tackling Resident Evil. She also went on in great detail about her achievements on The Sims, where her avatar has a blooming utopia with significantly better healthcare than her older sibling has in real life. Title the Spouse Played the Most Crash Bandicoot: It’s About Time She began the year at 60% completion and ended it at 82%. It’s a marathon not a sprint for her. On her phone: something called Woodle, where you have to extract pins. Game I Found Amusing That My Kids for Still Playing Minecraft Any time I see my 21-year-old son playing Minecraft, I rib him like a cross between a classic comedy bit. When he protests, I reply that I am engaging in this to prepare him so he can be a man and play games for adults. This defines our Scottish father/son relationship. Most Impressive Gaming Family Member of the Year Eldest Daughter on Just Dance 2024 She was the clear winner for this one. She is a machine. Superior than I was at Dancing Stage MegaMix in my prime. Game I Played the Most Marvel Snap Nothing came close to the hours I spent on this remarkably well-crafted strategy competitive game, with its regularly updated range of cards and game variations. Game I Wish I Had Played Less Marvel Snap The worst thing about games that frequently update their range is you have a moment of clarity and understand it is all just an attempt to lure you into compulsion-based microtransactions. So love turned to hate halfway through the year and it went into the bin. Title I Wish I Had Played More Doom: The Dark Ages Excellent reinvention of a iconic franchise. Immersive atmosphere from the off. I wish I could deal with my demons so effectively in real life. Title I Wish I Had Played More (Thoughtful Edition) Blue Prince I refuse to rush this beautiful, unique game and I just was short on the mental bandwidth to give it what it deserved earlier this year. With family visits over the festive period, I plan to dive into this in the wee small hours after evening drinks. Game That Saved My Soul When I Needed It Balatro I'm aware Balatro was the previous year's surprise hit, but I was late to it. And it is exceptional. It just gets each element right. The core concept is a fantastic concept, but the abilities behind the different wild cards are so creative it has become a game I would happily play any time. Combine that with the cleverness of the card design, and this is an true peak of gaming. I fantasize about being stuck in a small space for hours just so I have nothing to do but play it. Title I Got the Most Backlash For Criticising Outer Worlds 2 I received a minor pile-on when I mentioned how a specific bug in another game damaged the experience for me, but that other title is still a massive gaming achievement in terms of overall polish – which I appreciated even more after slogging through Outer Worlds 2. So thank you to the individual who took the time to send a message to say that my Outer Worlds 2 review was "poorly reasoned". I share that verbatim, because I respect the passion, and she is obviously an sharp judge of character. Title Everybody Loved That I Just Didn’t Get Hollow Knight: Silksong Sure. Give me a bastard-hard Metroidvania-esque thing and don’t tell me guidance on what I am supposed to be doing, except "figure it out". Great fun. I understand that it is beautiful and is ideal if you are into the genre, but I cannot think of a gaming experience I want less of in my adulthood. I was around back when most games were like this, and I'm over it. It was fine when I was a kid, but the same could be said for many questionable things. Biggest Gaming News of 2025 Close call between corporate partnerships that sparked debate, and premium pricing. Both morally indefensible and repugnant. Games I Would Name My Children After, Were I I Was Ever Stupid Enough to Have More Clair Obscur, Despelote and Bananza would all make interesting names called from the back door at tea time. Part of My Body That Aches Most From Gaming Right Thumb Joint. Seriously. I don’t know if it’s because of console gaming or doomscrolling, but it aches like the mines of sulphur in the mornings now. I knew I should have got my thumbs looked after back in the 90s. Game I Am Looking Forward to the Most in 2026 Grand Theft Auto VI. And it will come out in 2026, even if we have to wait patiently until the end of days. Game I Am Looking Forward to the Most in 2036 The Witcher 4.