🔗 Share this article Our Diamond Family Personal Gaming of the Year List for 2025 Alright, how was 2025 in your home? Was it all as good as people post on online? Packed with top marks for your offspring and riotous dress-up gatherings for the adults? Or perhaps it was a sea of frustration with only sporadic entertaining flotsam? Is any of this genuine, or are we all seven-fingered virtual entities with unrealistic smiles? I've assembled everyone together, willing or unwilling, to debate the crucial thing in a calendar year: which video games we were obsessed with the most. Without further ado: Game Eldest Daughter Played the Most Just Dance 2024 "Can’t you pick just one?" "This isn't my definitive list." In the mobile realm, her go-to has been Cityscapes and "trying to find adequate healthcare." "Virtually?" "In reality." Game Middle Son Played the Most Overwatch "I refuse to play games on my phone." He took umbrage that I even asked. I respect that. Game Third Daughter Played the Most Resident Evil Biohazard She is trying to get into acting, but when she stepped away from the mic, she was immersed in Resident Evil. She also went on in great detail about her accomplishments on The Sims, where the Shark has a successful utopia with far better healthcare than her big sister has outside the game. Release the Partner Played the Most Crash Bandicoot: It’s About Time She began the year at 60% completion and ended it at eighty-two percent. It's a long haul not a sprint for her. Her phone game: something called Woodle, where you have to remove pins. Release I Teased My Kids About 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 relentless heckler. When he objects, I reply that I am engaging in this to toughen him up so he can grow up and play games for mature audiences. This defines our Scottish father/son relationship. Most Notable Gaming Family Member This Year Eldest Daughter on Just Dance 2024 It wasn't even close for this one. She is unstoppable. More impressive than I was at my peak gaming days in my prime. Title I Played the Most Marvel Snap Nothing came close to the hours I spent on this insanely well-crafted strategy wizard’s poker, with its constantly evolving range of cards and game variations. Game I Wish I Had Played Less Marvel Snap The downside about games that constantly evolve their range is you eventually realize and understand it is all just an attempt to trap you with compulsion-based microtransactions. So affection became resentment halfway through the year and it was deleted. Game I Wish I Had Played More Doom: The Dark Ages Glorious reinvention of a classic franchise. Immersive atmosphere from the off. I wish I could eviscerate my problems so effectively in real life. Game I Wish I Had Played More (Cerebral Edition) Blue Prince I decline to rush this stunning, original game and I just didn’t have the time or headspace to give it what it required 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 last year's breakout game, but I was a late adopter. And it is remarkable. It just gets every single thing right. Its gameplay loop is a brilliant concept, but the powers behind the different wild cards are so creative it has become a game I would happily play any time. Add in the charm of the card design, and this is an true peak of gaming. I fantasize about being stuck in a broken-down lift for hours just so I have an opportunity but play it. Title I Got the Most Flak For Criticising Outer Worlds 2 I received a wave of criticism when I wrote about how a glitch in another game soured the experience for me, but that other title is still a gargantuan gaming achievement in terms of production values – which I valued even more after slogging through Outer Worlds 2. So my appreciation goes out to the reader who took the time to send a message to say that my Outer Worlds 2 review was "poorly reasoned". I share that as written, because I acknowledge the engagement, and she is obviously an excellent judge of character. Game Everybody Loved That I Just Didn’t Get Hollow Knight: Silksong Fine. Give me a punishingly tough non-linear thing and leave me without guidance on what I am supposed to be doing, except "explore". How delightful. I acknowledge 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 most games were like this, and my patience is gone. It was okay when I was a kid, but so was many less comfortable things. Biggest Gaming Scandal of 2025 Debate between questionable alliances that caused concern, and premium pricing. Both morally indefensible and repugnant. Games I Would Name My Children After, If I Was Ever Crazy Enough to Have More Clair Obscur, Despelote and Bananza would all sound good names called from the garden at dinner 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 endless scrolling, but it is sore like anything 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 make 2026 last until the heat death of the universe. Game I Am Looking Forward to the Most in 2036 The Witcher 4.