🔗 Share this article Our Dominik Diamond Unofficial Video Game of the Year List for 2025 Alright, how did you experience the past year in your household? Did it seem entirely positive as one might claim on social media? Overflowing with academic success for the kids and riotous costume birthday parties for the grownups? Or was it a swamp of disappointment with only occasional entertaining highlights? Is any of this genuine, or is everyone now AI-generated virtual entities with perfect teeth? I've corralled my thoughts together, willing or unwilling, to reflect on the crucial thing in a calendar year: which video games we were obsessed with the most. Let's get started: Release Eldest Daughter Played the Most Just Dance 2024 "Can’t you pick just one?" "You can't expect my personal ranking." In the mobile realm, her go-to has been Cityscapes and "attempting to locate adequate healthcare." "Virtually?" "In real life." Game Second Son Played the Most Overwatch "I have no interest in games on my phone." He was offended that I even asked. Point taken. Title Third Daughter Played the Most Resident Evil Biohazard She's attempting to get into acting, but when she took a break from vocals, she was immersed in Resident Evil. She also elaborated in great detail about her achievements on The Sims, where her character has a blooming utopia with significantly better healthcare than her big sister has outside the game. Game the Spouse Played the Most Crash Bandicoot: It’s About Time She started the year at 60% completion and ended it at eighty-two percent. She's in it for the long run not a sprint for her. Her mobile diversion: something called Woodle, where you have to extract pins. Game I Found Amusing That My Kids for Still Playing Minecraft Every time I see my 21-year-old son playing Minecraft, I set about him like a cross between a relentless heckler. When he complains, I reply that I am engaging in this to prepare him so he can mature and play games for adults. This defines our Scottish father/son relationship. Most Impressive Gaming Family Member 2025 Eldest Daughter on Just Dance 2024 She was the clear winner for this one. She is incredible. More impressive 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 remarkably well-crafted deck building digital pastime, with its ever-changing range of cards and game variations. Title I Wish I Had Played Less Marvel Snap The catch about games that endlessly add to their range is you have a moment of clarity and understand it is all just an attempt to trap you with fomo-fuelled microtransactions. So love turned to hate halfway through the year and it got uninstalled. Title I Wish I Had Played More Doom: The Dark Ages Glorious reinvention of a iconic franchise. Immersive atmosphere from the start. I wish I could eviscerate my problems so effectively in real life. Game I Wish I Had Played More (Puzzle-Focused Edition) Blue Prince I refuse to rush this beautiful, unique game and I just lacked the mental bandwidth to give it what it required earlier this year. With family visits over the festive period, I aim to experience this in the wee small hours after family time. Game That Saved My Soul When I Needed It Balatro I'm aware Balatro was last year's sleeper hit, but I was a late adopter. And it is incredible. It just gets each element right. Its gameplay loop is a wonderful concept, but the abilities behind the different wild cards are so inventive it has become a game I literally would play any time. Throw in the wittiness of the card design, and this is an definite pinnacle of gaming. I fantasize about being stuck in a small space for hours just so I have the perfect excuse but play it. Game I Got the Most Flak For Criticising Outer Worlds 2 I endured a minor pile-on when I mentioned how a specific bug in another game soured the experience for me, but that other title is still a massive gaming achievement in terms of production values – which I appreciated even more after slogging through Outer Worlds 2. So my appreciation goes out to the commenter who took the time to contact me to say that my Outer Worlds 2 review was "bitter, confused resentment". I share that verbatim, because I respect the passion, and she is obviously an astute judge of character. Game Everybody Loved That I Just Didn’t Get Hollow Knight: Silksong Sure. Give me a punishingly tough Metroidvania-esque thing and leave me without guidance on what I am supposed to be doing, except "look around". What a joy. I get that it looks ace and is ideal if you are into this kind of thing, but I cannot think of a gaming experience I desire less in my mid-fifties. I was around back when most games were like this, and I'm over it. It was fine when I was a kid, but so was many less comfortable things. Biggest Gaming Scandal of 2025 Close call between questionable alliances 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 make interesting names called from the back door at tea time. Part of My Body That Aches Most From Gaming Right Thumb Joint. No joke. I don’t know if it’s because of button mashing 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 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 stretch time until the cows come home. Game I Am Looking Forward to the Most in 2036 The Witcher 4.