This Diamond Family Unofficial Video Game of the Year List for 2025

Well, what did you think of this year in your home? Could it be described as entirely positive as people post on online? Overflowing with academic success for the children and wild dress-up gatherings for the adults? Or was it a sea of frustration with only rare fun flotsam? Could any part be actually real, or is everyone now seven-fingered virtual entities with unrealistic dental work?

I've corralled everyone for a chat, willing or unwilling, to reflect on the most important thing in a calendar year: which releases we were obsessed with the most. Let's get started:

Release Eldest Daughter Played the Most

Pikmin

"Can’t you pick just one?"

"It’s not my definitive list."

In the mobile realm, she's invested time in Cityscapes and "attempting to locate decent healthcare."

"Virtually?"

"In reality."

Game Middle Son Played the Most

Overwatch

"I don’t play games on my phone." He was offended that I suggested it. Point taken.

Release Youngest Daughter Played the Most

Resident Evil Biohazard

She's attempting to get into drama school, but when she wasn’t singing, she was playing Resident Evil. She also elaborated in great detail about her accomplishments on The Sims, where the Shark has a successful utopia with infinitely better healthcare than her eldest sister has in real life.

Game the Partner Played the Most

Crash Bandicoot: It’s About Time

She started the year at 60% completion and finished the year at eighty-two percent. It’s a marathon not a sprint for her. On her phone: something called Woodle, where you have to extract pins.

Title I Laughed at 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 relentless heckler. When he objects, I reply that I am doing this to build character so he can be a man and play games for grownups. 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. Superior than I was at Dancing Stage MegaMix in my prime.

Game I Played the Most

Marvel Snap

Nothing came close 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 endlessly add to their range is you wake up one day and see it is all just an attempt to suck you into compulsion-based 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

Stunning reinvention of a iconic franchise. Engrossing atmosphere from the off. I wish I could dispatch my issues so effectively in real life.

Game I Wish I Had Played More (Cerebral 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 plan to dive into this in the early morning after evening drinks.

Game That Kept Me Sane When I Needed It

Balatro

I know Balatro was the previous year's surprise hit, but I was a late adopter. And it is exceptional. It just gets each element right. Its gameplay loop is a brilliant concept, but the abilities behind the different joker cards are so imaginative it has become a game I literally would play any time. Add in the wittiness of the card design, and this is an true high-water mark of gaming. I wouldn't mind being stuck in a small space for hours just so I have nothing to do but play it.

Title I Got the Most Backlash For Criticising

Outer Worlds 2

I experienced a minor pile-on when I critiqued how a technical issue in another game ruined the experience for me, but that other title is still a gargantuan gaming achievement in terms of production values – which I appreciated even more after slogging through Outer Worlds 2. So thank you to the individual who took the time to send a message to say that my Outer Worlds 2 review was "bitter, confused resentment". I mention that as written, because I respect the passion, and he is obviously an excellent judge of character.

Title Everybody Loved That I Just Didn’t Get

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Fine. Give me a brutally difficult exploration-focused thing and don’t tell me guidance on what I am supposed to be doing, except "look around". How delightful. I get that it is beautiful and is perfection if you are into this kind of thing, but I cannot think of a gaming experience I am less interested in in my mid-fifties. I was around back when all games were like this, and my patience is gone. It was fine when I was a kid, but the same could be said for many less comfortable things.

Biggest Gaming Scandal of 2025

Close call between questionable alliances that sparked debate, and premium pricing. Both difficult to justify and repugnant.

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 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 console gaming or endless scrolling, but it is sore like the mines of sulphur in the mornings now. I knew I should have got my thumbs insured 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 make 2026 last until the heat death of the universe.

Game I Am Looking Forward to the Most in 2036

The Witcher 4.