🔗 Share this article Our Dominik Diamond Personal Video Game of the Year Roundup for 2025 Well, how did you experience 2025 in your household? Was it entirely positive as one might claim on social media? Packed with A-grades for your offspring and elaborate themed fancy dress birthday parties for the grownups? Or was it a swamp of letdowns with only rare fun highlights? Could any part be authentic, or have we all become AI-generated virtual entities with perfect smiles? I've assembled everyone for a chat, ready or not, to reflect on the paramount thing in any given year: which video games we played the most. Let's get started: Title Eldest Daughter Played the Most Pikmin "Is it impossible to pick just one?" "You can't expect my games column." On her phone, she’s been playing Cityscapes and "trying to find reasonable healthcare." "In the game?" "In real life." Title Second Son Played the Most Overwatch "I have no interest in games on my phone." He seemed insulted that the question was posed. Point taken. Title Third Daughter Played the Most Resident Evil Biohazard Her goal is to get into theatre school, but when she wasn’t singing, she was immersed in Resident Evil. She also spoke at length in great detail about her accomplishments on The Sims, where her avatar has a blooming utopia with significantly better healthcare than her eldest sister has in the real world. Release 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. Her mobile diversion: something called Woodle, where you have to extract pins. Title I Laughed at My Kids for Still Playing Minecraft Whenever I see my adult son playing Minecraft, I rib him like a cross between a persistent critic. When he protests, I reply that I am behaving this way to build character so he can be a man and play games for grownups. This defines our Scottish father/son relationship. Most Skilled 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 classic rhythm games in my prime. Game I Played the Most Marvel Snap It was in a league of its own to the hours I spent on this exceptionally well-crafted card game digital pastime, with its constantly evolving range of cards and game variations. Title I Wish I Had Played Less Marvel Snap The catch about games that frequently update their range is you wake up one day and understand it is all just an attempt to lure you into fear-of-missing-out driven microtransactions. So affection became resentment 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. Engrossing atmosphere from the beginning. I wish I could deal with my demons so effectively in real life. Title I Wish I Had Played More (Cerebral Edition) Blue Prince I'm unwilling to rush this gorgeous, distinctive game and I just was short on the focused attention to give it what it required earlier this year. With holiday guests over the festive period, I plan to dive into this in the late night after family time. Game That Saved My Soul When I Needed It Balatro I know Balatro was 2024’s breakout game, but I was a late adopter. And it is remarkable. It just gets each element right. Crazy Poker is a brilliant concept, but the powers behind the different joker cards are so creative it has become a game I would happily play at any hour. Combine that with the charm of the card design, and this is an absolute peak of gaming. I dream of being stuck in a small space for hours just so I have an opportunity but play it. Game I Got the Most Criticism For Criticising Outer Worlds 2 I endured a wave of criticism when I wrote about how a specific bug in another game soured the experience for me, but that other title is still a massive gaming achievement in terms of art, sound, acting – 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 present that verbatim, because I respect the passion, and he is obviously an sharp judge of character. Title Everybody Loved That I Just Didn’t Get Hollow Knight: Silksong Fine. Give me a bastard-hard exploration-focused thing and leave me without 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 the genre, 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 fine when I was a kid, but the same could be said for many questionable things. Biggest Gaming Controversy of 2025 Toss-up between business deals that caused concern, and premium pricing. Both morally indefensible and repugnant. Games I Would Name My Children After, If I Was Ever Stupid Enough to Have More Clair Obscur, Despelote and Bananza would all be unique names bellowed 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 aches like anything in the mornings now. I knew I should have got my thumbs looked after back in the day. 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 end of days. Game I Am Looking Forward to the Most in 2036 The Witcher 4.