🔗 Share this article The Dominik Diamond Unofficial Video Game of the Year List for The Past Year So, how was this year in your family? Did it seem entirely positive as you pretended on social media? Overflowing with academic success for the kids and riotous themed fancy dress birthday parties for the grownups? Or perhaps it was a ocean of disappointment with only occasional entertaining moments? Could any part be actually real, or are we all AI-generated synthetic personas with unrealistic teeth? I have gathered my thoughts for a chat, willing or unwilling, to discuss the crucial thing in a calendar year: which video games we played the most. So here goes: Title First Daughter Played the Most Pikmin "Why can't you pick just one?" "You can't expect my definitive list." Meanwhile, on mobile, she's invested time in Cityscapes and "attempting to locate decent healthcare." "In the game?" "In real life." Release Middle Son Played the Most Overwatch "I have no interest in games on my phone." He was offended that I even asked. I respect that. Title Youngest Daughter Played the Most Resident Evil Biohazard She is trying to get into acting, but when she wasn’t singing, she was playing Resident Evil. She also went on in great detail about her achievements on The Sims, where her avatar has a successful utopia with infinitely better healthcare than her eldest sister has in the real world. Title the Spouse Played the Most Crash Bandicoot: It’s About Time She started the year at sixty percent completion and finished the year at 82%. She's in it for the long run not a sprint for her. Her mobile diversion: something called Woodle, where you have to unscrew pins. Title I Teased My Kids About My Kids for Still Playing Minecraft Whenever I see my 21-year-old son playing Minecraft, I set about him like a cross between a persistent critic. When he complains, I reply that I am engaging in this to build character so he can be a man and play games for grownups. It’s a very Scottish father/son relationship. Most Skilled Gaming Family Member This Year Eldest Daughter on Just Dance 2024 There was no contest for this one. She is incredible. More impressive than I was at Dancing Stage MegaMix in my prime. Title I Played the Most Marvel Snap No other game compared to the hours I spent on this remarkably well-crafted strategy digital pastime, with its regularly updated range of cards and game variations. Title 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 see 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. Game I Wish I Had Played More Doom: The Dark Ages Stunning reinvention of a classic franchise. Engrossing atmosphere from the beginning. I wish I could eviscerate my problems so effectively in real life. Title I Wish I Had Played More (Cerebral Edition) Blue Prince I decline to rush this stunning, original game and I just didn’t have 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 evening drinks. Title That Kept Me Sane When I Needed It Balatro I acknowledge Balatro was the previous year's sleeper hit, but I was a late adopter. And it is remarkable. It just gets every single thing right. The core concept is a wonderful concept, but the abilities behind the different special cards are so imaginative it has become a game I literally would play constantly. Add in the charm of the card design, and this is an true pinnacle of gaming. I fantasize about being stuck in a broken-down lift for hours just so I have an opportunity but play it. Game I Got the Most Backlash For Criticising Outer Worlds 2 I endured a wave of criticism when I wrote about how a glitch in another game ruined the experience for me, but that other title is still a massive gaming achievement in terms of production values – which I recognized even more after slogging through Outer Worlds 2. So my appreciation goes out to the reader who took the time to contact me to say that my Outer Worlds 2 review was "missing the point". I share that in the exact way, because I respect the passion, and she is obviously an sharp judge of character. Game Everybody Loved That I Just Didn’t Get Hollow Knight: Silksong Fine. Give me a bastard-hard 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 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 mid-fifties. I was around back when many games were like this, and I’ve had enough. It was okay when I was a kid, but so was many outdated things. Biggest Gaming News of 2025 Close call between questionable alliances that raised eyebrows, and high launch costs. Both difficult to justify and concerning. Games I Would Name My Children After, Were I I Was Ever Foolish Enough to Have More Clair Obscur, Despelote and Bananza would all make interesting names shouted from the back door 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 video games or phone use, but it burns like the mines of sulphur in the mornings now. I knew I should have got my thumbs protected 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 stretch time until the end of days. Game I Am Looking Forward to the Most in 2036 The Witcher 4.