Our Diamond Family Unofficial Video Game of the Year Awards for 2025

Alright, how did you experience this year in your family? Did it seem truly wonderful as you pretended on Facebook? Overflowing with top marks for your offspring and riotous dress-up birthday parties for the parents? Or was it a ocean of frustration with only sporadic enjoyable highlights? Could any part be genuine, or have we all become seven-fingered synthetic personas with celebrity smiles?

I've corralled my thoughts together, whether they wanted to or not, to debate the most important thing in any given year: what titles we were obsessed with the most. Let's get started:

Release Eldest Daughter Played the Most

Horizon Zero Dawn

"Can’t you pick just one?"

"This isn't my definitive list."

Meanwhile, on mobile, her go-to has been Cityscapes and "attempting to locate decent healthcare."

"Virtually?"

"In reality."

Release Middle Son Played the Most

Overwatch

"I have no interest in games on my phone." He took umbrage that I even asked. Fair enough.

Title Youngest Daughter Played the Most

Resident Evil Biohazard

She is trying to get into drama school, but when she stepped away from the mic, she was immersed in Resident Evil. She also spoke at length in great detail about her successes on The Sims, where the Shark has a successful utopia with far better healthcare than her older sibling has outside the game.

Game the Wife Played the Most

Crash Bandicoot: It’s About Time

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

Game I Found Amusing That My Kids for Still Playing

Minecraft

Any time I see my 21-year-old son playing Minecraft, I rib him like a cross between a classic comedy bit. When he complains, I reply that I am behaving this way to toughen him up so he can grow up and play games for grownups. This defines our Scottish father/son relationship.

Most Impressive Gaming Family Member of the Year

Eldest Daughter on Just Dance 2024

She was the clear winner for this one. She is unstoppable. More impressive than I was at my peak gaming days in my prime.

Game I Played the Most

Marvel Snap

Nothing came close to the hours I spent on this remarkably well-crafted strategy wizard’s poker, 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 endlessly add to their range is you have a moment of clarity and understand it is all just an attempt to trap you with compulsion-based microtransactions. So enjoyment soured halfway through the year and it went into the bin.

Game I Wish I Had Played More

Doom: The Dark Ages

Glorious reinvention of a legendary franchise. Engrossing atmosphere from the start. I wish I could dispatch my problems so effectively in real life.

Title I Wish I Had Played More (Cerebral Edition)

Blue Prince

I decline to rush this gorgeous, distinctive game and I just lacked the mental bandwidth to give it what it deserved earlier this year. With family visits over the festive period, I will be playing this in the early morning after family time.

Title That Was a Lifesaver When I Needed It

Balatro

I acknowledge Balatro was last year's breakout game, but I was late to it. And it is incredible. It just gets absolutely everything right. Crazy Poker is a wonderful concept, but the abilities behind the different joker cards are so imaginative it has become a game I could play constantly. Add in the wittiness of the card design, and this is an definite pinnacle of gaming. I dream of being stuck in a small space for hours just so I have nothing to do but play it.

Game I Got the Most Criticism For Criticising

Outer Worlds 2

I experienced a minor pile-on when I mentioned 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 recognized even more after experiencing Outer Worlds 2. So thank you to the reader who took the time to write in to say that my Outer Worlds 2 review was "missing the point". I present that as written, because I acknowledge the engagement, and they are obviously an sharp judge of character.

Title Everybody Loved That I Just Didn’t Get

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Fine. Give me a punishingly tough exploration-focused thing and leave me without guidance on what I am supposed to be doing, except "look around". How delightful. I understand that it is beautiful and is perfection 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 I’ve had enough. It was okay when I was a kid, but so was many less comfortable things.

Biggest Gaming Controversy of 2025

Close call between corporate partnerships that sparked debate, and premium pricing. Both morally indefensible 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 sound good names bellowed from the doorstep at dinner 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 phone use, but it is sore like anything in the mornings now. I knew I should have got my thumbs protected 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 end of days.

Game I Am Looking Forward to the Most in 2036

The Witcher 4.