This Diamond Family Unofficial Gaming of the Year Awards for 2025

Well, what did you think of this year in your home? Was it entirely positive as you pretended on online? Packed with top marks for the children and riotous themed fancy dress birthday parties for the parents? Or perhaps it was a swamp of letdowns with only rare enjoyable highlights? And was any of it actually real, or are we all seven-fingered AI slop beings with unrealistic dental work?

I've corralled the family for a chat, ready or not, to reflect on the crucial thing in a calendar year: what titles we were obsessed with the most. So here goes:

Game Oldest Daughter Played the Most

Just Dance 2024

"Why can't you pick just one?"

"This isn't my games column."

In the mobile realm, she’s been playing Cityscapes and "searching for adequate healthcare."

"In the game?"

"In the actual world."

Release Middle Son Played the Most

Overwatch

"I have no interest in games on my phone." He seemed insulted that the question was posed. Fair enough.

Title Third 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 achievements on The Sims, where her character has a thriving utopia with infinitely better healthcare than her older sibling has in real life.

Title the Wife Played the Most

Crash Bandicoot: It’s About Time

She started the year at sixty percent completion and ended it at 82%. It’s a marathon not a sprint for her. Her mobile diversion: something called Woodle, where you have to remove pins.

Title I Laughed at My Kids for Still Playing

Minecraft

Any time I see my adult son playing Minecraft, I rib him like a cross between a relentless heckler. When he complains, I reply that I am doing this to toughen him up so he can be a man and play games for adults. It’s a very Scottish father/son relationship.

Most Impressive Gaming Family Member This Year

Eldest Daughter on Just Dance 2024

There was no contest for this one. She is incredible. Superior than I was at Dancing Stage MegaMix in my prime.

Game I Played the Most

Marvel Snap

It was in a league of its own to the hours I spent on this insanely well-crafted deck building wizard’s poker, with its regularly updated range of cards and game variations.

Game 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 see it is all just an attempt to lure you into compulsion-based microtransactions. So affection became resentment halfway through the year and it got uninstalled.

Game I Wish I Had Played More

Doom: The Dark Ages

Stunning reinvention of a classic franchise. Engrossing atmosphere from the start. I wish I could dispatch my demons 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 didn’t have the mental bandwidth to give it what it needed earlier this year. With relatives staying over the festive period, I plan to dive into this in the wee small hours after evening drinks.

Title That Was a Lifesaver When I Needed It

Balatro

I acknowledge Balatro was last year's surprise hit, but I was late to it. And it is exceptional. It just gets absolutely everything right. The core concept is a fantastic concept, but the abilities behind the different joker cards are so creative it has become a game I literally would play any time. Combine that with the wittiness of the card design, and this is an absolute peak of gaming. I dream of being stuck in a elevator for hours just so I have an opportunity but play it.

Title I Got the Most Backlash For Criticising

Outer Worlds 2

I experienced a bit of backlash when I wrote about 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 experiencing Outer Worlds 2. So my appreciation goes out to the reader who took the time to send a message to say that my Outer Worlds 2 review was "poorly reasoned". I present that in the exact way, because I appreciate the effort, and they are obviously an astute judge of character.

Title Everybody Loved That I Just Didn’t Get

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Fine. Give me a brutally difficult non-linear thing and provide little guidance on what I am supposed to be doing, except "look around". Great fun. I understand that it has great art and is flawless 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 most games were like this, and my patience is gone. It was okay when I was a kid, but so was many questionable things.

Biggest Gaming Controversy of 2025

Toss-up between business deals that caused concern, and high launch costs. Both difficult to justify and repugnant.

Games I Would Name My Children After, If I Was Ever Foolish Enough to Have More

Clair Obscur, Despelote and Bananza would all be unique names called from the back door at dinner time.

Part of My Body That Aches Most From Gaming

Right Thumb Joint. Seriously. I don’t know if it’s because of console gaming or endless scrolling, but it aches 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 stretch time until the cows come home.

Game I Am Looking Forward to the Most in 2036

The Witcher 4.