🔗 Share this article Our Dominik Diamond Personal Video Game of the Year Roundup for This Year Alright, how did you experience the past year in your family? Could it be described as all as good as one might claim on online? Packed with A-grades for the kids and elaborate themed fancy dress birthday parties for the adults? Maybe it felt like a ocean of letdowns with only occasional enjoyable highlights? Is any of this genuine, or is everyone now digitally altered synthetic personas with celebrity teeth? I've corralled the family for a chat, whether they wanted to or not, to reflect on the paramount thing in a calendar year: which releases we played the most. Let's get started: Release Oldest Daughter Played the Most Horizon Zero Dawn "Is it impossible to pick just one?" "You can't expect my personal ranking." In the mobile realm, she's invested time in Cityscapes and "attempting to locate reasonable healthcare." "Virtually?" "In the actual world." Game Second Son Played the Most Overwatch "I don’t play games on my phone." He seemed insulted that I even asked. Point taken. Title Youngest Daughter Played the Most Resident Evil Biohazard She's attempting to get into acting, but when she wasn’t singing, she was tackling Resident Evil. She also elaborated in great detail about her achievements on The Sims, where the Shark has a successful utopia with far better healthcare than her older sibling has in the real world. Game the Spouse 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. Release I Found Amusing That My Kids for Still Playing Minecraft Any time I see my adult son playing Minecraft, I rib him like a cross between a relentless heckler. When he protests, I reply that I am doing this to build character so he can grow up and play games for grownups. It's a classic Scottish father/son relationship. Most Notable Gaming Family Member 2025 Eldest Daughter on Just Dance 2024 It wasn't even close for this one. She is unstoppable. Superior than I was at classic rhythm games in my prime. Title I Played the Most Marvel Snap Nothing came close to the hours I spent on this exceptionally well-crafted deck building digital pastime, with its constantly evolving range of cards and game variations. Game I Wish I Had Played Less Marvel Snap The downside about games that frequently update their range is you wake up one day and realise it is all just an attempt to suck you into fear-of-missing-out driven 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. Engrossing atmosphere from the off. I wish I could dispatch my problems so effectively in real life. Title I Wish I Had Played More (Puzzle-Focused Edition) Blue Prince I'm unwilling to rush this stunning, original game and I just didn’t have the time or headspace to give it what it needed earlier this year. With holiday guests over the festive period, I plan to dive into this in the wee small hours after family time. Game That Kept Me Sane When I Needed It Balatro I'm aware Balatro was the previous year's breakout game, but I was a late adopter. And it is incredible. It just gets absolutely everything right. Its gameplay loop is a wonderful concept, but the effects behind the different wild cards are so creative it has become a game I could play constantly. Add in the charm of the card design, and this is an absolute high-water mark of gaming. I dream of being stuck in a elevator 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 bit of backlash when I critiqued how a glitch in another game damaged the experience for me, but that other title is still a gargantuan gaming achievement in terms of art, sound, acting – which I valued even more after playing 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 "bitter, confused resentment". I share that as written, because I appreciate the effort, and she is obviously an excellent 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 "figure it out". What a joy. I understand that it looks ace and is flawless 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 questionable things. Biggest Gaming News of 2025 Toss-up between corporate partnerships that caused concern, and premium pricing. Both difficult to justify and concerning. Games I Would Name My Children After, If I Was Ever Foolish Enough to Have More Clair Obscur, Despelote and Bananza would all sound good names shouted from the garden 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 burns 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 wait patiently until the cows come home. Game I Am Looking Forward to the Most in 2036 The Witcher 4.