🔗 Share this article Our Household Personal Video Game of the Year Awards for 2025 So, what did you think of 2025 in your household? Did it seem truly wonderful as one might claim on online? Overflowing with academic success for the children and elaborate costume gatherings for the parents? Or was it a swamp of letdowns with only rare fun flotsam? And was any of it genuine, or are we all seven-fingered synthetic personas with perfect teeth? I've corralled the family together, ready or not, to reflect on the crucial thing in a calendar year: which video games we enjoyed the most. So here goes: Title Eldest Daughter Played the Most Just Dance 2024 "Why can't you pick just one?" "This isn't my personal ranking." Meanwhile, on mobile, she's invested time in Cityscapes and "searching for reasonable healthcare." "Virtually?" "In real life." Release Middle Son Played the Most Overwatch "I don’t play games on my phone." He was offended that I even asked. Fair enough. Release Third 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 playing Resident Evil. She also spoke at length in great detail about her successes on The Sims, where her character has a successful utopia with infinitely better healthcare than her older sibling has in the real world. Title the Partner Played the Most Crash Bandicoot: It’s About Time She started the year at sixty percent completion and ended it at eighty-two percent. She's in it for the long run not a sprint for her. Her mobile diversion: something called Woodle, where you have to unscrew pins. Game I Found Amusing That 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 persistent critic. When he protests, I reply that I am behaving this way to build character so he can grow up and play games for mature audiences. It's a classic Scottish father/son relationship. Most Notable Gaming Family Member 2025 Eldest Daughter on Just Dance 2024 It wasn't even close for this one. She is a machine. Even better than I was at Dancing Stage MegaMix in my prime. Title I Played the Most Marvel Snap No other game compared to the hours I spent on this insanely well-crafted deck building digital pastime, with its constantly evolving range of cards and game variations. Title I Wish I Had Played Less Marvel Snap The catch about games that constantly evolve 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 love turned to hate halfway through the year and it got uninstalled. Title I Wish I Had Played More Doom: The Dark Ages Excellent reinvention of a classic franchise. Captivating atmosphere from the off. I wish I could eviscerate my demons so effectively in real life. Title I Wish I Had Played More (Puzzle-Focused Edition) Blue Prince I'm unwilling to rush this gorgeous, distinctive game and I just was short on the mental bandwidth to give it what it deserved earlier this year. With family visits over the festive period, I plan to dive into this in the early morning after family time. Game That Saved My Soul When I Needed It Balatro I'm aware Balatro was the previous year's breakout game, but I was slow on the uptake. And it is remarkable. It just gets absolutely everything right. Crazy Poker is a fantastic concept, but the abilities behind the different joker cards are so inventive it has become a game I could play at any hour. Throw in the cleverness of the card design, and this is an definite pinnacle of gaming. I fantasize about being stuck in a broken-down lift for hours just so I have nothing to do 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 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 valued even more after playing Outer Worlds 2. So my appreciation goes out to the individual who took the time to write in to say that my Outer Worlds 2 review was "missing the point". I mention that in the exact way, because I appreciate the effort, and she is obviously an astute judge of character. Title Everybody Loved That I Just Didn’t Get Hollow Knight: Silksong Sure. Give me a punishingly tough non-linear thing and leave me without guidance on what I am supposed to be doing, except "explore". Great fun. I get that it looks ace and is perfection if you are into this kind of thing, but I cannot think of a gaming experience I desire less in my mid-fifties. I was around back when many games were like this, and my patience is gone. It was fine when I was a kid, but so was many outdated things. Biggest Gaming News of 2025 Debate between corporate partnerships that raised eyebrows, and premium pricing. 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 be unique names called 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 button mashing or endless scrolling, but it is sore like hellfire 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.