🔗 Share this article Our Household Unofficial Game of the Year List for This Year Well, what did you think of the past year in your family? Was it entirely positive as one might claim on Facebook? Full of A-grades for the kids and elaborate themed fancy dress birthday parties for the parents? Or perhaps it was a sea of disappointment with only occasional entertaining highlights? Could any part be authentic, or is everyone now AI-generated synthetic personas with unrealistic teeth? I've assembled everyone for a reflection, willing or unwilling, to discuss the crucial thing in a calendar year: which video games we enjoyed the most. So here goes: Game Oldest Daughter Played the Most Horizon Zero Dawn "Can’t you pick just one?" "You can't expect my personal ranking." Meanwhile, on mobile, her go-to has been Cityscapes and "attempting to locate adequate healthcare." "Virtually?" "In reality." Title Second Son Played the Most Overwatch "I don’t play games on my phone." He was offended that I even asked. Point taken. Release Youngest Daughter Played the Most Resident Evil Biohazard Her goal is to get into theatre school, but when she stepped away from the mic, she was tackling Resident Evil. She also elaborated in great detail about her accomplishments on The Sims, where the Shark has a blooming utopia with significantly better healthcare than her big sister has in the real world. Release the Spouse Played the Most Crash Bandicoot: It’s About Time She began the year at 60% completion and ended it at eighty-two percent. She's in it for the long run not a sprint for her. On her phone: something called Woodle, where you have to remove pins. Game I Teased My Kids About My Kids for Still Playing Minecraft Whenever I see my adult son playing Minecraft, I give him a hard time like a cross between a classic comedy bit. When he complains, I reply that I am doing this to prepare him so he can grow up and play games for mature audiences. It's a classic 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 a machine. More impressive 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 strategy digital pastime, 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 constantly evolve their range is you have a moment of clarity and understand it is all just an attempt to suck you into fear-of-missing-out driven microtransactions. So affection became resentment halfway through the year and it got uninstalled. Game I Wish I Had Played More Doom: The Dark Ages Glorious reinvention of a legendary franchise. Immersive atmosphere from the off. I wish I could deal with my problems so effectively in real life. Game I Wish I Had Played More (Cerebral Edition) Blue Prince I'm unwilling to rush this stunning, original game and I just didn’t have the mental bandwidth to give it what it needed earlier this year. With holiday guests over the festive period, I plan to dive into this in the wee small hours after appropriate hospitality. Title That Was a Lifesaver When I Needed It Balatro I acknowledge Balatro was last year's breakout game, but I was a late adopter. And it is remarkable. It just gets absolutely everything right. Crazy Poker is a brilliant concept, but the abilities behind the different special cards are so creative it has become a game I could play any time. Combine that with the wittiness 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 the perfect excuse but play it. Title I Got the Most Backlash For Criticising Outer Worlds 2 I endured a wave of criticism when I wrote about how a technical issue in another game soured 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 slogging through 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 share that in the exact way, because I respect the passion, and he is obviously an sharp judge of character. Game Everybody Loved That I Just Didn’t Get Hollow Knight: Silksong Sure. Give me a brutally difficult exploration-focused thing and leave me without guidance on what I am supposed to be doing, except "explore". Great fun. I get that it has great art and is perfection if you are into challenging games, but I cannot think of a gaming experience I desire less in my adulthood. I was around back when many games were like this, and my patience is gone. It was acceptable when I was a kid, but the same could be said for many less comfortable things. Biggest Gaming Scandal of 2025 Debate between corporate partnerships that caused concern, and expensive game releases. 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 shouted from the doorstep at bedtime. Part of My Body That Aches Most From Gaming Right Thumb Joint. No joke. I don’t know if it’s because of button mashing or phone use, but it burns like the mines of sulphur in the mornings now. I knew I should have got my thumbs insured 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 wait patiently until the cows come home. Game I Am Looking Forward to the Most in 2036 The Witcher 4.