🔗 Share this article The Dominik Diamond Unofficial Gaming of the Year Awards for This Year Well, how did you experience the past year in your family? Was it truly wonderful as you pretended on Facebook? Full of A-grades for your offspring and riotous themed fancy dress gatherings for the parents? Or perhaps it was a swamp of letdowns with only rare entertaining flotsam? Is any of this genuine, or have we all become digitally altered virtual entities with celebrity dental work? I've corralled the family for a reflection, willing or unwilling, to debate the crucial thing in twelve months: which video games we enjoyed the most. Let's get started: Release Eldest Daughter Played the Most Horizon Zero Dawn "Why can't you pick just one?" "This isn't my definitive list." Meanwhile, on mobile, she’s been playing Cityscapes and "searching for adequate healthcare." "Digitally?" "In the actual world." Title Middle Son Played the Most Overwatch "I refuse to play games on my phone." He was offended that I even asked. I respect that. Title Youngest Daughter Played the Most Resident Evil Biohazard She's attempting to get into acting, but when she stepped away from the mic, she was immersed in Resident Evil. She also spoke at length in great detail about her accomplishments on The Sims, where the Shark has a blooming utopia with far better healthcare than her big sister has outside the game. Title the Wife Played the Most Crash Bandicoot: It’s About Time She began the year at 60% completion and finished the year at 82%. It's a long haul not a sprint for her. On her phone: something called Woodle, where you have to remove pins. Title I Laughed at My Kids for Still Playing Minecraft Every time I see my adult 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 toughen him up so he can be a man and play games for grownups. It’s a very 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 unstoppable. Even better than I was at my peak gaming days in my prime. Title I Played the Most Marvel Snap It was in a league of its own to the hours I spent on this remarkably well-crafted strategy 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 wake up one day and realise it is all just an attempt to trap you with fear-of-missing-out driven microtransactions. So love turned to hate halfway through the year and it got uninstalled. Game I Wish I Had Played More Doom: The Dark Ages Excellent reinvention of a iconic franchise. Captivating atmosphere from the beginning. I wish I could eviscerate my issues so effectively in real life. Title I Wish I Had Played More (Cerebral Edition) Blue Prince I refuse to rush this beautiful, unique game and I just didn’t have the mental bandwidth to give it what it required earlier this year. With family visits over the festive period, I will be playing this in the early morning after appropriate hospitality. Title That Saved My Soul When I Needed It Balatro I acknowledge Balatro was 2024’s surprise hit, but I was slow on the uptake. And it is remarkable. It just gets each element right. Crazy Poker is a wonderful concept, but the abilities behind the different joker cards are so inventive it has become a game I literally would play any time. Combine that with the charm of the card design, and this is an absolute peak of gaming. I wouldn't mind being stuck in a elevator for hours just so I have nothing to do but play it. Game I Got the Most Backlash For Criticising Outer Worlds 2 I endured a bit of backlash 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 art, sound, acting – which I appreciated even more after playing 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 "poorly reasoned". I mention that verbatim, because I appreciate the effort, and he is obviously an astute judge of character. Game Everybody Loved That I Just Didn’t Get Hollow Knight: Silksong Sure. Give me a brutally difficult non-linear thing and don’t tell me guidance on what I am supposed to be doing, except "explore". Great fun. I understand that it looks ace and is perfection if you are into this kind of thing, but I cannot think of a gaming experience I want less of in my current stage of life. I was around back when many games were like this, and I’ve had enough. It was okay when I was a kid, but the same could be said for many outdated things. Biggest Gaming Scandal of 2025 Debate between business deals that sparked debate, and premium pricing. Both ethically dubious 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 be unique names shouted from the garden at tea 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 aches like hellfire in the mornings now. I knew I should have got my thumbs looked after back in the day. 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 heat death of the universe. Game I Am Looking Forward to the Most in 2036 The Witcher 4.