🔗 Share this article The Household Personal Gaming of the Year List for 2025 Well, how was 2025 in your family? Did it seem entirely positive as one might claim on social media? Packed with academic success for the kids and wild dress-up birthday parties for the parents? Maybe it felt like a ocean of disappointment with only rare fun flotsam? Is any of this genuine, or are we all seven-fingered virtual entities with celebrity teeth? I've assembled everyone for a reflection, whether they wanted to or not, to debate the crucial thing in any given year: which releases we played the most. Let's get started: Game First Daughter Played the Most Pikmin "Why can't you pick just one?" "This isn't my personal ranking." Meanwhile, on mobile, she's invested time in Cityscapes and "attempting to locate reasonable healthcare." "In the game?" "In reality." Game Middle Son Played the Most Overwatch "I refuse to play games on my phone." He seemed insulted that the question was posed. I respect that. Game Third 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 playing Resident Evil. She also spoke at length in great detail about her achievements on The Sims, where her character has a successful utopia with infinitely better healthcare than her older sibling has outside the game. 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 phone game: 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 relentless heckler. When he complains, I reply that I am behaving this way to toughen him up so he can grow up and play games for adults. It’s a very Scottish father/son relationship. Most Notable Gaming Family Member This Year Eldest Daughter on Just Dance 2024 She was the clear winner for this one. She is a machine. Even better 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 remarkably well-crafted strategy competitive game, with its regularly updated range of cards and game variations. Title I Wish I Had Played Less Marvel Snap The downside about games that frequently update their range is you have a moment of clarity and see it is all just an attempt to suck you into compulsion-based microtransactions. So love turned to hate halfway through the year and it went into the bin. Title I Wish I Had Played More Doom: The Dark Ages Glorious reinvention of a iconic franchise. Immersive atmosphere from the off. I wish I could dispatch my issues so effectively in real life. Title I Wish I Had Played More (Thoughtful Edition) Blue Prince I'm unwilling to rush this stunning, original game and I just didn’t have the time or headspace to give it what it needed earlier this year. With relatives staying over the festive period, I plan to dive into this in the early morning after evening drinks. Game That Kept Me Sane When I Needed It Balatro I acknowledge Balatro was last year's breakout game, but I was a late adopter. And it is exceptional. It just gets absolutely everything right. Crazy Poker is a brilliant concept, but the abilities behind the different joker cards are so imaginative it has become a game I could play at any hour. Throw in the wittiness of the card design, and this is an definite high-water mark of gaming. I fantasize about being stuck in a elevator 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 critiqued how a glitch in another game damaged the experience for me, but that other title is still a colossal gaming achievement in terms of art, sound, acting – which I appreciated even more after experiencing Outer Worlds 2. So my appreciation goes out to the individual who took the time to contact me to say that my Outer Worlds 2 review was "poorly reasoned". I mention that verbatim, because I acknowledge the engagement, and they are obviously an astute judge of character. Game Everybody Loved That I Just Didn’t Get Hollow Knight: Silksong Fine. Give me a punishingly tough exploration-focused thing and provide little guidance on what I am supposed to be doing, except "explore". How delightful. I understand that it looks ace and is perfection if you are into challenging games, 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'm over it. It was okay when I was a kid, but the same could be said for many less comfortable things. Biggest Gaming Controversy of 2025 Toss-up between business deals that raised eyebrows, and high launch costs. Both difficult to justify and unpleasant. Games I Would Name My Children After, Were I I Was Ever Foolish Enough to Have More Clair Obscur, Despelote and Bananza would all sound good names called from the doorstep at dinner time. Part of My Body That Aches Most From Gaming Right Thumb Joint. Honestly. I don’t know if it’s because of video games or endless scrolling, but it aches 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 wait patiently until the end of days. Game I Am Looking Forward to the Most in 2036 The Witcher 4.