🔗 Share this article This Diamond Family Unofficial Gaming of the Year List for 2025 Alright, what did you think of this year in your home? Was it all as good as people post on social media? Full of A-grades for your offspring and elaborate costume gatherings for the parents? Or perhaps it was a sea of frustration with only rare entertaining highlights? And was any of it authentic, or are we all digitally altered synthetic personas with celebrity smiles? I've assembled my thoughts for a reflection, ready or not, to discuss the most important thing in any given year: which releases we played the most. So here goes: Release Oldest Daughter Played the Most Horizon Zero Dawn "Is it impossible to pick just one?" "You can't expect my games column." On her phone, she’s been playing Cityscapes and "attempting to locate adequate healthcare." "Virtually?" "In real life." Game Second Son Played the Most Overwatch "I don’t play games on my phone." He was offended that I even asked. Fair enough. Release 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 went on in great detail about her achievements on The Sims, where the Shark has a thriving utopia with significantly better healthcare than her older sibling has outside the game. Game the Wife Played the Most Crash Bandicoot: It’s About Time She began the year at 60% completion and ended it at 82%. It's a long haul not a sprint for her. Her phone game: something called Woodle, where you have to unscrew pins. Title I Teased My Kids About My Kids for Still Playing Minecraft Any time I see my adult son playing Minecraft, I give him a hard time like a cross between a relentless heckler. When he complains, I reply that I am engaging in this to prepare him so he can mature and play games for mature audiences. It’s a very Scottish father/son relationship. Most Impressive Gaming Family Member This Year Eldest Daughter on Just Dance 2024 There was no contest for this one. She is a machine. Superior than I was at classic rhythm games 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 insanely 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 catch about games that frequently update their range is you wake up one day and see it is all just an attempt to trap you with fear-of-missing-out driven microtransactions. So affection became resentment halfway through the year and it got uninstalled. Title I Wish I Had Played More Doom: The Dark Ages Excellent reinvention of a iconic franchise. Immersive atmosphere from the start. I wish I could eviscerate my issues so effectively in real life. Game I Wish I Had Played More (Thoughtful Edition) Blue Prince I decline to rush this gorgeous, distinctive game and I just was short on the mental bandwidth to give it what it deserved earlier this year. With relatives staying over the festive period, I will be playing this in the late night after family time. Game That Was a Lifesaver When I Needed It Balatro I acknowledge Balatro was the previous year's breakout game, but I was slow on the uptake. And it is exceptional. It just gets every single thing right. Crazy Poker is a fantastic concept, but the powers behind the different wild cards are so inventive it has become a game I literally would play constantly. Combine that with the wittiness of the card design, and this is an true pinnacle of gaming. I wouldn't mind being stuck in a elevator for hours just so I have the perfect excuse but play it. Title I Got the Most Backlash For Criticising Outer Worlds 2 I experienced a minor pile-on when I critiqued how a glitch 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 my appreciation goes out to the individual who took the time to contact me 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 astute judge of character. Title Everybody Loved That I Just Didn’t Get Hollow Knight: Silksong Alright. Give me a brutally difficult non-linear thing and don’t tell me guidance on what I am supposed to be doing, except "explore". What a joy. I acknowledge that it is beautiful and is ideal if you are into this kind of thing, but I cannot think of a gaming experience I desire less in my current stage of life. I was around back when most games were like this, and I'm over it. It was okay when I was a kid, but so was many outdated things. Biggest Gaming Controversy of 2025 Toss-up between business deals that sparked debate, and expensive game releases. Both morally indefensible and concerning. Games I Would Name My Children After, If I Was Ever Stupid Enough to Have More Clair Obscur, Despelote and Bananza would all make interesting names shouted from the garden at bedtime. Part of My Body That Aches Most From Gaming Right Thumb Joint. No joke. I don’t know if it’s because of button mashing or endless scrolling, but it is sore like hellfire in the mornings now. I knew I should have got my thumbs protected 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.