🔗 Share this article The Diamond Family Unofficial Game of the Year Awards for The Past Year Well, how did you experience the past year in your household? Was it all as good as people post on online? Full of A-grades for the kids and riotous costume birthday parties for the adults? Or was it a ocean of letdowns with only sporadic fun flotsam? And was any of it actually real, or is everyone now AI-generated virtual entities with unrealistic smiles? I've assembled my thoughts together, willing or unwilling, to debate the paramount thing in a calendar year: which releases we enjoyed the most. Without further ado: Release Eldest Daughter Played the Most Pikmin "Can’t you pick just one?" "You can't expect my games column." Meanwhile, on mobile, she's invested time in Cityscapes and "trying to find decent healthcare." "In the game?" "In the actual world." Game Second Son Played the Most Overwatch "I don’t play games on my phone." He took umbrage that I even asked. I respect that. Release Third 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 went on in great detail about her achievements on The Sims, where her character has a blooming utopia with far better healthcare than her big sister has in real life. Title the Wife Played the Most Crash Bandicoot: It’s About Time She started the year at 60% completion and finished the year at 82%. It’s a marathon not a sprint for her. On her phone: something called Woodle, where you have to unscrew pins. Title I Found Amusing That My Kids for Still Playing Minecraft Whenever I see my 21-year-old son playing Minecraft, I give him a hard time like a cross between a persistent critic. When he protests, I reply that I am engaging in this to toughen him up so he can mature and play games for grownups. It's a classic Scottish father/son relationship. Most Skilled Gaming Family Member 2025 Eldest Daughter on Just Dance 2024 It wasn't even close 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 exceptionally well-crafted strategy competitive game, with its ever-changing range of cards and game variations. Game I Wish I Had Played Less Marvel Snap The worst thing about games that frequently update their range is you wake up one day and understand it is all just an attempt to trap you with compulsion-based 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 Glorious reinvention of a legendary franchise. Engrossing atmosphere from the off. I wish I could dispatch my demons so effectively in real life. Title I Wish I Had Played More (Thoughtful Edition) Blue Prince I'm unwilling to rush this gorgeous, distinctive game and I just lacked the mental bandwidth to give it what it needed earlier this year. With family visits over the festive period, I will be playing this in the late night after family time. Game That Kept Me Sane When I Needed It Balatro I acknowledge Balatro was last year's sleeper hit, but I was a late adopter. And it is exceptional. It just gets every single thing right. The core concept is a fantastic concept, but the effects behind the different joker cards are so imaginative it has become a game I literally would play constantly. Combine that with the wittiness of the card design, and this is an definite high-water mark of gaming. I dream of being stuck in a elevator for hours just so I have nothing to do but play it. Game I Got the Most Criticism For Criticising Outer Worlds 2 I endured a minor pile-on when I wrote about how a technical issue in another game damaged the experience for me, but that other title is still a massive gaming achievement in terms of art, sound, acting – which I valued even more after experiencing Outer Worlds 2. So thank you to the commenter who took the time to send a message to say that my Outer Worlds 2 review was "bitter, confused resentment". I share that in the exact way, because I appreciate the effort, and they are obviously an excellent judge of character. Title Everybody Loved That I Just Didn’t Get Hollow Knight: Silksong Alright. Give me a bastard-hard non-linear thing and don’t tell me guidance on what I am supposed to be doing, except "explore". What a joy. I get that it is beautiful and is perfection if you are into the genre, but I cannot think of a gaming experience I desire less in my mid-fifties. I was around back when all games were like this, and I'm over it. It was okay when I was a kid, but so was many less comfortable things. Biggest Gaming News of 2025 Debate between business deals that raised eyebrows, and high launch costs. Both morally indefensible and concerning. 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. Honestly. I don’t know if it’s because of console gaming or phone use, but it is sore like hellfire 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.