🔗 Share this article Our Dominik Diamond Personal Video Game of the Year Roundup for 2025 So, what did you think of this year in your family? Did it seem entirely positive as one might claim on Facebook? Packed with academic success for your offspring and wild dress-up gatherings for the adults? Maybe it felt like a sea of disappointment with only occasional entertaining moments? Could any part be authentic, or are we all digitally altered virtual entities with unrealistic smiles? I've corralled the family together, whether they wanted to or not, to discuss the paramount thing in any given year: what titles we played the most. So here goes: Title Oldest Daughter Played the Most Just Dance 2024 "Why can't you pick just one?" "You can't expect my definitive list." On her phone, she’s been playing Cityscapes and "attempting to locate reasonable healthcare." "Digitally?" "In real life." Release Second Son Played the Most Overwatch "I have no interest in games on my phone." He was offended that I suggested it. Point taken. Game Third Daughter Played the Most Resident Evil Biohazard She is trying to get into acting, but when she wasn’t singing, she was tackling Resident Evil. She also spoke at length in great detail about her accomplishments on The Sims, where the Shark has a successful utopia with far better healthcare than her older sibling has in real life. Title the Wife Played the Most Crash Bandicoot: It’s About Time She began the year at sixty percent completion and ended it at eighty-two percent. She's in it for the long run not a sprint for her. On her phone: something called Woodle, where you have to extract pins. Title I Teased My Kids About My Kids for Still Playing Minecraft Any time I see my 21-year-old son playing Minecraft, I give him a hard time like a cross between a classic comedy bit. When he protests, I reply that I am behaving this way to prepare him so he can mature and play games for adults. It’s a very Scottish father/son relationship. Most Notable Gaming Family Member of the Year Eldest Daughter on Just Dance 2024 There was no contest for this one. She is unstoppable. Even better than I was at my peak gaming days in my prime. Title I Played the Most Marvel Snap It was in a league of its own to the hours I spent on this remarkably well-crafted strategy competitive game, with its ever-changing range of cards and game variations. Title I Wish I Had Played Less Marvel Snap The worst thing about games that frequently update their range is you wake up one day and realise it is all just an attempt to trap you with fear-of-missing-out driven microtransactions. So love turned to hate halfway through the year and it got uninstalled. Game I Wish I Had Played More Doom: The Dark Ages Glorious reinvention of a iconic franchise. Immersive atmosphere from the off. I wish I could dispatch my problems so effectively in real life. Game I Wish I Had Played More (Puzzle-Focused Edition) Blue Prince I'm unwilling to rush this gorgeous, distinctive game and I just lacked the time or headspace to give it what it deserved earlier this year. With relatives staying over the festive period, I plan to dive into this in the late night after evening drinks. Game That Was a Lifesaver When I Needed It Balatro I'm aware Balatro was 2024’s breakout game, but I was late to it. And it is exceptional. It just gets every single thing right. Its gameplay loop is a wonderful concept, but the powers behind the different joker cards are so imaginative it has become a game I could play at any hour. Combine that with the wittiness of the card design, and this is an absolute peak of gaming. I fantasize about being stuck in a broken-down lift for hours just so I have nothing to do but play it. Game I Got the Most Backlash For Criticising Outer Worlds 2 I experienced a minor pile-on when I wrote about how a technical issue in another game damaged the experience for me, but that other title is still a colossal gaming achievement in terms of overall polish – which I appreciated even more after playing Outer Worlds 2. So thank you to the reader who took the time to contact me to say that my Outer Worlds 2 review was "poorly reasoned". I mention that as written, because I acknowledge the engagement, and they are obviously an excellent judge of character. Title Everybody Loved That I Just Didn’t Get Hollow Knight: Silksong Alright. Give me a bastard-hard Metroidvania-esque thing and don’t tell me guidance on what I am supposed to be doing, except "look around". Great fun. I get that it looks ace and is perfection if you are into this kind of thing, but I cannot think of a gaming experience I am less interested in in my mid-fifties. I was around back when all games were like this, and I’ve had enough. It was okay when I was a kid, but the same could be said for many questionable things. Biggest Gaming Controversy of 2025 Toss-up between questionable alliances that caused concern, and high launch costs. Both difficult to justify and repugnant. Games I Would Name My Children After, If I Was Ever Foolish Enough to Have More Clair Obscur, Despelote and Bananza would all be unique names called from the doorstep at tea time. Part of My Body That Aches Most From Gaming Right Thumb Joint. Honestly. I don’t know if it’s because of button mashing or phone use, but it is sore like hellfire in the mornings now. I knew I should have got my thumbs insured 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 stretch time until the heat death of the universe. Game I Am Looking Forward to the Most in 2036 The Witcher 4.