So, how was 2025 for your household? Was it really all as good as you pretended it was on Facebook? Full of A-grades for the kids and riotous themed fancy dress birthday parties for the grownups? Or was it a sea of disappointment with only occasional fun flotsam? And was any of it actually real, or are we all now seven-fingered AI slop beings with Sydney Sweeney’s teeth?

I have gathered my thoughts (and the Diamond household) together, whether they wanted to or not, to reflect on the most important thing in any given year: which video games we enjoyed the most. Without further ado:

Game eldest daughter played the most: Just Dance 2024/Horizon Zero Dawn/Pikmin

“Can’t you pick just one?”

“It’s not my games column.”

On her phone, meanwhile, she’s been playing Cityscapes and “trying to find decent healthcare”.

“In the game?”

“In real life.”

Overwatch … respect. Photograph: MJB/Blizzard

Game middle son played the most: Overwatch* *“I don’t play games on my phone.” He was offended that I even asked him that question. I respect that.

Resident Evil Biohazard. Photograph: PR Company Handout

Game youngest daughter played the most: Resident Evil Biohazard* *She is trying 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 the Shark has a thriving utopia with infinitely better healthcare than her big sister has in real life.

‘A marathon’ … Crash Bandicoot: It’s About Time. Photograph: Activision Publishing

Game the wife played the most: Crash Bandicoot: It’s About Time* *She started the year at 60% completion and ended it at 82%. It’s a marathon not a sprint for her. On her phone: something called Woodle, where you have to unscrew pins.

Never too old … Minecraft. Photograph: Microsoft

Game I laughed at my kids for still playing: Minecraft* *Any time I see my 21-year-old son playing Minecraft, I set about him like a cross between Steve Martin with that guy in the pub in Roxanne, and Joe Pesci with Spider in Goodfellas. When he complains, I reply that I am doing this to toughen him up so he can be a man and play games for grownups. It’s a very Scottish father/son relationship.

A winner … Just Dance 2024. Photograph: Ubisoft

Most impressive gaming family member 2025: Eldest daughter on Just Dance 2024* *There was no contest for this one. She is a machine. Even better than I was at the Cure’s Lovecats on Dancing Stage MegaMix in my prime.

Game I played the most: Marvel Snap* *Nothing came close to the hours I spent on this insanely well-crafted deck building wizard’s poker, with its constantly evolving range of cards and game variations.

‘Love turned to hate’… Marvel Snap. Photograph: Marvel

Game I wish I had played less: Marvel Snap* *The worst thing about games that constantly evolve their range of cards and variations is you wake up one day and realise it is all just an attempt to suck you into fomo-fuelled microtransactions. So love turned to hate halfway through the year and it went into the bin.

‘A classic’ … Doom: The Dark Ages. Photograph: Bethesda

Game I wish I had played more: Doom: The Dark Ages* *Glorious reinvention of a classic. Immersive atmosphere from the off. I wish I could eviscerate my demons so effectively in real life.

‘Beautiful and unique’ … Blue Prince. Photograph: Raw Fury

Game I wish I had played more (cerebral edition): Blue Prince* *I refuse to rush this beautiful, unique game and I just didn’t have the time or headspace to give it what it deserved earlier this year. My mother is staying with us over Christmas and the New Year, so I will be playing this in the wee small hours after I have prosecco’d her into oblivion.

‘The high-water mark of gaming’ … Balatro. Photograph: LocalThunk/Playstack

**Game that saved my soul when I needed It: *Balatro *I know Balatro was 2024’s breakout game, but I was late to it. And it is remarkable. It just gets every single thing right. Crazy Poker is a wonderful concept, but the powers behind the different joker cards are so imaginative it has become a game I literally would play any time of the day or night. Throw in the wittiness of the card design, and this is an absolute high-water mark of gaming. I dream of being stuck in a broken-down lift for hours just so I have nothing to do but play it.

‘A gargantuan gaming achievement’ … Outer Worlds 2. Photograph: Obsidian Entertainment

**Game I got the most criticism for criticising: *Outer Worlds 2 *I experienced a minor pile-on when I wrote about how the Paintress boss battle bug in Clair Obscur ruined the whole game for me, but it’s still a gargantuan gaming achievement in terms of art, sound, acting, battle gameplay and ambition – which I appreciated even more after slogging through Outer Worlds 2. So thank you to the reader who took the time to email me personally, through my website, to say that my Outer Worlds 2 review was “bitter, confused resentment because YOU DON’T GET THE GAME OLD MAN and your son is an idiot as well sorry to inform you.” I present that in the exact way it was written, because I appreciate the effort, and he is obviously an excellent judge of character where my son is concerned.

‘Not a gaming experience I want in my mid-fifties’ … Hollow Knight: Silksong. Photograph: Team Cherry

Game everybody loved that I just didn’t get: Hollow Knight: Silksong* *Sure. Give me a bastard-hard Metroidvania-esque thing and don’t tell me 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 want less of in my mid-fifties. I was around back when all games were like this, and I’ve had enough. It was fine when I was a kid, but so was polyester.

Biggest gaming scandal of 2025: Toss-up between EA getting in bed with Jared Kushner and the Saudis, and Outer Worlds 2 costing £70. Both morally indefensible and repugnant.

Clair Obscur. Photograph: Sandfall Interactive

Games I would name my children after, if I was ever stupid enough to have more: Clair Obscur, Despelote and Bananza would all sound good bellowed from the doorstep at tea time.

Part of my body that aches most from gaming: Right thumb joint. Seriously. I don’t know if it’s because of video games or doomscrolling on my phone, 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: GTA 6. And it will come out in 2026, even if we have to make 2026 last until the heat death of the universe.

Game I am looking forward to the most in 2036: The Witcher 4.