🔗 Share this article This Household Personal Game of the Year Roundup for This Year Well, how was 2025 in your home? Could it be described as entirely positive as you pretended on online? Full of academic success for the kids and riotous dress-up birthday parties for the parents? Or perhaps it was a ocean of letdowns with only rare entertaining highlights? Could any part be authentic, or is everyone now digitally altered virtual entities with celebrity teeth? I've assembled the family together, willing or unwilling, to discuss the crucial thing in twelve months: what titles we enjoyed the most. Let's get started: Title Eldest Daughter Played the Most Horizon Zero Dawn "Can’t you pick just one?" "You can't expect my personal ranking." In the mobile realm, she’s been playing Cityscapes and "attempting to locate adequate healthcare." "Digitally?" "In reality." Title Middle Son Played the Most Overwatch "I refuse to play games on my phone." He took umbrage that I even asked. I respect that. Release Third Daughter Played the Most Resident Evil Biohazard Her goal is to get into theatre school, but when she wasn’t singing, she was playing Resident Evil. She also went on in great detail about her achievements on The Sims, where her character has a thriving utopia with infinitely better healthcare than her eldest sister has in the real world. Title 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. Her mobile diversion: something called Woodle, where you have to extract pins. Title 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 classic comedy bit. When he complains, I reply that I am engaging in this to toughen him up so he can grow up and play games for adults. It’s a very Scottish father/son relationship. Most Skilled Gaming Family Member This Year Eldest Daughter on Just Dance 2024 There was no contest for this one. She is incredible. Even better 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 exceptionally well-crafted strategy competitive game, with its constantly evolving 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 eventually realize and understand it is all just an attempt to trap you with compulsion-based microtransactions. So love turned to hate halfway through the year and it went into the bin. Game I Wish I Had Played More Doom: The Dark Ages Stunning reinvention of a legendary franchise. Engrossing atmosphere from the beginning. I wish I could dispatch my issues so effectively in real life. Title I Wish I Had Played More (Thoughtful Edition) Blue Prince I refuse to rush this stunning, original 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 aim to experience this in the wee small hours after family time. Title That Was a Lifesaver When I Needed It Balatro I'm aware Balatro was 2024’s surprise hit, but I was a late adopter. And it is incredible. It just gets absolutely everything right. The core concept is a fantastic concept, but the effects behind the different special cards are so imaginative it has become a game I would happily play constantly. Throw in the cleverness of the card design, and this is an absolute high-water mark of gaming. I fantasize about being stuck in a small space for hours just so I have an opportunity but play it. Game I Got the Most Criticism For Criticising Outer Worlds 2 I received a minor pile-on when I wrote about 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 overall polish – which I recognized even more after playing Outer Worlds 2. So thank you to the commenter who took the time to contact me 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 non-linear thing and leave me without guidance on what I am supposed to be doing, except "figure it out". What a joy. I acknowledge 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 current stage of life. I was around back when all games were like this, and I’ve had enough. 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 business deals that raised eyebrows, and high launch costs. Both ethically dubious and repugnant. Games I Would Name My Children After, Were I I Was Ever Crazy Enough to Have More Clair Obscur, Despelote and Bananza would all sound good names bellowed from the garden at bedtime. Part of My Body That Aches Most From Gaming Right Thumb Joint. Seriously. I don’t know if it’s because of button mashing or phone use, but it burns like hellfire in the mornings now. I knew I should have got my thumbs protected 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 wait patiently until the heat death of the universe. Game I Am Looking Forward to the Most in 2036 The Witcher 4.