🔗 Share this article The Diamond Family Personal Game of the Year List for This Year Alright, how did you experience this year in your household? Was it all as good as you pretended on Facebook? Overflowing with academic success for your offspring and riotous dress-up gatherings for the grownups? Maybe it felt like a sea of disappointment with only occasional enjoyable flotsam? Is any of this genuine, or have we all become AI-generated synthetic personas with celebrity teeth? I've assembled the family for a chat, whether they wanted to or not, to debate the crucial thing in twelve months: what titles we were obsessed with the most. Let's get started: Game Eldest Daughter Played the Most Horizon Zero Dawn "Why can't you pick just one?" "This isn't my personal ranking." On her phone, her go-to has been Cityscapes and "attempting to locate reasonable healthcare." "In the game?" "In reality." Release Middle Son Played the Most Overwatch "I have no interest in games on my phone." He took umbrage that I even asked. Point taken. Title Third Daughter Played the Most Resident Evil Biohazard She is trying to get into acting, but when she wasn’t singing, she was immersed in Resident Evil. She also elaborated in great detail about her achievements on The Sims, where her character has a thriving utopia with significantly better healthcare than her older sibling has outside the game. Release the Wife Played the Most Crash Bandicoot: It’s About Time She began the year at 60% completion and finished the year at eighty-two percent. It’s a marathon not a sprint for her. Her mobile diversion: something called Woodle, where you have to remove pins. Game I Found Amusing That My Kids for Still Playing Minecraft Whenever I see my 21-year-old son playing Minecraft, I rib him like a cross between a classic comedy bit. When he complains, I reply that I am behaving this way to build character so he can be a man and play games for grownups. It's a classic Scottish father/son relationship. Most Impressive Gaming Family Member of the Year Eldest Daughter on Just Dance 2024 She was the clear winner for this one. She is unstoppable. Even better 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 exceptionally well-crafted deck building digital pastime, with its constantly evolving range of cards and game variations. Title I Wish I Had Played Less Marvel Snap The downside 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 compulsion-based microtransactions. So enjoyment soured halfway through the year and it got uninstalled. Title I Wish I Had Played More Doom: The Dark Ages Glorious reinvention of a classic franchise. Captivating atmosphere from the beginning. I wish I could deal with my issues so effectively in real life. Game I Wish I Had Played More (Cerebral Edition) Blue Prince I decline to rush this beautiful, unique game and I just lacked the mental bandwidth to give it what it needed earlier this year. With relatives staying over the festive period, I will be playing this in the wee small hours after family time. Title That Saved My Soul When I Needed It Balatro I'm aware Balatro was 2024’s breakout game, but I was late to it. And it is exceptional. It just gets every single thing right. Its gameplay loop is a fantastic concept, but the effects behind the different special cards are so imaginative it has become a game I would happily play constantly. Add in the cleverness of the card design, and this is an absolute high-water mark of gaming. I wouldn't mind being stuck in a elevator for hours just so I have an opportunity but play it. Game I Got the Most Criticism For Criticising Outer Worlds 2 I experienced a wave of criticism when I mentioned 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 valued even more after playing Outer Worlds 2. So thank you to the commenter who took the time to write in to say that my Outer Worlds 2 review was "missing the point". I share that verbatim, because I acknowledge the engagement, and he is obviously an astute judge of character. Game Everybody Loved That I Just Didn’t Get Hollow Knight: Silksong Alright. Give me a punishingly tough non-linear thing and don’t tell me guidance on what I am supposed to be doing, except "figure it out". How delightful. I understand that it has great art and is perfection if you are into the genre, 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 fine when I was a kid, but the same could be said for many less comfortable things. Biggest Gaming Controversy of 2025 Toss-up between corporate partnerships that sparked debate, and premium pricing. Both ethically dubious and unpleasant. Games I Would Name My Children After, Were I I Was Ever Stupid Enough to Have More Clair Obscur, Despelote and Bananza would all make interesting names shouted from the back door 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 button mashing or phone use, but it is sore like the mines of sulphur in the mornings now. I knew I should have got my thumbs looked after back in the past. 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 end of days. Game I Am Looking Forward to the Most in 2036 The Witcher 4.