Our Diamond Family Personal Video Game of the Year Roundup for 2025
Alright, how did you experience the past year in your household? Was it all as good as you pretended on online? Overflowing with top marks for your offspring and wild dress-up gatherings for the parents? Or perhaps it was a sea of frustration with only rare enjoyable moments? And was any of it genuine, or have we all become digitally altered virtual entities with perfect teeth?
I've corralled everyone together, whether they wanted to or not, to debate the most important thing in twelve months: which video games we enjoyed the most. Without further ado:
Title First Daughter Played the Most
Just Dance 2024
"Is it impossible to pick just one?"
"This isn't my personal ranking."
On her phone, her go-to has been Cityscapes and "trying to find reasonable healthcare."
"Digitally?"
"In reality."
Game Middle Son Played the Most
Overwatch
"I don’t play games on my phone." He was offended that I suggested it. Fair enough.
Title Third Daughter Played the Most
Resident Evil Biohazard
She is trying to get into theatre school, but when she wasn’t singing, she was playing Resident Evil. She also elaborated in great detail about her successes on The Sims, where the Shark has a successful utopia with far better healthcare than her eldest sister has in the real world.
Game the Partner Played the Most
Crash Bandicoot: It’s About Time
She began the year at sixty percent 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 remove pins.
Release I Teased My Kids About My Kids for Still Playing
Minecraft
Whenever I see my 21-year-old son playing Minecraft, I rib him like a cross between a relentless heckler. When he protests, I reply that I am behaving this way to toughen him up so he can mature and play games for adults. This defines our Scottish father/son relationship.
Most Impressive Gaming Family Member of the Year
Eldest Daughter on Just Dance 2024
There was no contest for this one. She is a machine. More impressive than I was at my peak gaming days in my prime.
Title I Played the Most
Marvel Snap
No other game compared to the hours I spent on this remarkably well-crafted card game wizard’s poker, with its regularly updated range of cards and game variations.
Title I Wish I Had Played Less
Marvel Snap
The downside about games that constantly evolve their range is you eventually realize and realise it is all just an attempt to suck you into compulsion-based microtransactions. So enjoyment soured halfway through the year and it got uninstalled.
Game I Wish I Had Played More
Doom: The Dark Ages
Excellent reinvention of a classic franchise. Immersive atmosphere from the off. I wish I could deal with my issues so effectively in real life.
Title I Wish I Had Played More (Thoughtful Edition)
Blue Prince
I'm unwilling to rush this stunning, original game and I just lacked 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 appropriate hospitality.
Game That Kept Me Sane When I Needed It
Balatro
I know Balatro was 2024’s sleeper hit, but I was slow on the uptake. And it is incredible. It just gets absolutely everything right. Crazy Poker is a brilliant concept, but the powers behind the different special cards are so inventive it has become a game I literally would play at any hour. Throw in the charm of the card design, and this is an definite high-water mark of gaming. I wouldn't mind being stuck in a broken-down lift for hours just so I have nothing to do but play it.
Title I Got the Most Backlash For Criticising
Outer Worlds 2
I endured a wave of criticism when I wrote about how a specific bug in another game ruined the experience for me, but that other title is still a gargantuan gaming achievement in terms of overall polish – which I appreciated even more after experiencing Outer Worlds 2. So thank you to the individual who took the time to write in to say that my Outer Worlds 2 review was "missing the point". I mention that verbatim, because I acknowledge the engagement, and he is obviously an astute judge of character.
Title Everybody Loved That I Just Didn’t Get
Hollow Knight: Silksong
Sure. Give me a bastard-hard Metroidvania-esque thing and provide little guidance on what I am supposed to be doing, except "figure it out". What a joy. I acknowledge that it looks ace and is ideal if you are into this kind of thing, but I cannot think of a gaming experience I want less of in my adulthood. I was around back when most games were like this, and I’ve had enough. It was acceptable when I was a kid, but so was many questionable things.
Biggest Gaming News of 2025
Close call between corporate partnerships that raised eyebrows, and high launch costs. Both morally indefensible and unpleasant.
Games I Would Name My Children After, Were I I Was Ever Crazy Enough to Have More
Clair Obscur, Despelote and Bananza would all sound good names bellowed from the garden at dinner time.
Part of My Body That Aches Most From Gaming
Right Thumb Joint. No joke. I don’t know if it’s because of console gaming or doomscrolling, 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.
