Kinda Funny Gamescast: Video Game Podcast - Kinda Funny's Game of the Year 2023

Episode Date: January 10, 2024

The votes are in! What games made it to our Top 10 Games List for 2023?!? Run of Show - - Start - Housekeeping - Number 10 - Number 9 - Number 8 - Number 7 - Ads - Number 6 - Number 5 - Number 4 - Number 3 - Number 2 - Number 1 - Stats & Fun Facts - Our Personal Top 10s Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's up and welcome to the ninth annual Kind of Funny Game of the Year celebration here on the Kind of Funny Games cast. Of course, I am Tim Getty's and it is my pleasure to introduce to you today. Blessing at a yo-e-a-Junier. Good day to you, Tim. Greg Miller. A-hem. The season 13 champ of Kind of Feudy, Greg Miller. A-hem.

Yeah, fantasy draft champion, Greg Miller. Oh, what a time. Where's your game award? Thank you. Thank you. Oh, no, I don't need it right now. You know what I mean? The real award winner.

The New York one, all right. Man, I'm gonna get it. I'm a journalism. All the way from Los Angeles, California. It's her birthday. It's Janet Garcia. Yeah. Good to be here.

Happy birthday, Janet. Thanks. I love the crown. Appreciate it. Elicimate it. Queen shit. Snowbike, Mike. Happy birthday, Janet.

I'm happy to be here. Thanks for having me. And rounding out the group today, the nitro rifle, Andy Cortez. Congratulations. Greg on all your awards. You know what, thank you, and thank you, and thank you, and thank you,

and thank you, and thank you, and thank you, for, of course, bringing so much honor to the fantasy draft for the first year. You know what I mean? I will continue it for you, don't worry. You've already dishonored everything that this league stood for, but it wasn't much because blessing is the commissioner who it happened underneath, so. Yeah, I shouldn't have done that.

I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have left. I didn't have high hopes. We'll see how we play it next week on the games cast where we do a whole new draft. And running the show today is Barrett, Courtney. Oh, there he is, everybody. Paris Lily, unfortunately, is sick. He was supposed to be here at this table,

but he is at home in San Diego, which is very sad. But the people you see here, Barrett and Paris are all the people that voted on this year's kind of funny game of the year. The way that it works is simple. We all sent Barrett, our list, our top 10 list of video games from 2023. He took all of the numbers.

If you put something at the number one spot, it gets 10 points. If you put something at the number 10 spot, it gets one point. He added all those numbers up. We do not know the results. He has hidden all of them from us. First off, shout out to Andy and Barrett for working so hard on this dope-ass set here,

making everything look good. And we're going to have a really, really great show thanks to them. But that also had to have a lot of hidden things of them getting everything ready in the studio. We do not know any entry on this list. We don't know what made it. We don't know the order. We don't know what didn't make it, I think, even more importantly, right? And we're going to end the show a little differently than we have in,

prior years. Normally we go through our honorable mentions at the end. Instead, we're going to do that in a different form. We're going to, after we go through our group top 10, individually, we're going to do a quick rundown of our personal top 10. So y'all can understand how we got to the consensus that

we did. And that will be our opportunity to give the shoutouts to some games that might not have made the overall list, which is going to be a very good time. Yeah, my team. Hey, everybody, look forward to it. I'll see you at the end of the show. And of course, I'll also have stats and fun facts for for y'all at the end of the show as well.

If you all love what we do, please consider getting the Kind of Funny membership. You can get it on patreon.com slash kind of funny or YouTube.com slash Kind of Funny games. It really helps support us. We are a team of 11 people here in San Francisco, an independent team. And if you would like to help us out, we'd really appreciate it. So we can keep doing all this cool stuff. You get the shows ad free. You can watch live as we record them.

And you get an exclusive Daily Gregway, which is more valuable than ever right now. because it's coming from a multi-time champion, all right? A lot of people thought I was washed up with, you know, my South by Southwest, my Johnny Boss award, my game award being so many years ago, but I just keep falling in trophies now. It's falling in the trophies, everybody. But without further ado, today we're brought to you by better help, but I'll tell you about that later.

I want to get right into it. Let's kick it off with number 10. These are kind of funnies top 10 games of 2023. That's brand? Number 10, Diablo 4. Oh. Greg Mill, you want to take this one? I don't think I...

Oh! Now, now! Wait, is there a third game? Already. Now I'm fucking angry. Wait, I was excited Diablo 4 made the cut. I'm mad that Star Wars is this far back in the count. God damn, what a year.

Absolutely wild. Greg, let's start talking about Diablo 4. First off, I imagine it's on your list. Is it on anyone else's list? Come on, up high. Come on, right. Yeah,

that's what I'm talking. I really pushed for that. Yeah, yeah. That's fun. And so I, since we're doing our top 10 at the end, are we revealing where we place things then?

Go for it. Oh, now I can't. Yeah, yeah, just don't say your whole list. Don't, like, mention other things.

You can talk about this one. Process of elimination. I had it number five on my list. Uh, you know, my game of the year list this year is probably my most personal list, I think ever in terms of like, this is really what defined the year for me in terms of quality,

in terms of time spent in terms of whatever. Diablo 4 is definitely going to be a game that I will think fondly of when I continue to play it, as I will. New season coming up soon, what up? But also the fact that this is a game that has so much hype and so much promise. And I think delivered on it. I think, you know, the narrative changed really quickly after it came out because so many people dropped off so quick. I think they came out with season one too quickly, which made people think the stuff they were still in the middle of doing of the campaign felt worthless and yada, yada, yeah, blah. However, taking a step back and looking at it as a whole, it still accomplished what it was,

which was trying to be a great little action RPG for you to run through with your friends, kill a bunch of stuff, and be able to come back to any time. If you want to go and be like the hardcore Pure Diablo people that I love so much listening to, that's there and you can grind, but, you know, Jen and I still do this as date night. We still go downstairs, you know, watch Ben on a little monitor and just grind Diablo because it is that satisfying and that much fun. You know, in the run up there at the end of the year, I did. jump in to run through the most recent season, season two and do it's stuff there. And it's such a

great portal game. It is that idea that I can sit there and watch Gray's Anatomy half and grind a bunch of character stuff over here. Like I love that about it. The gameplay is solid. The hooks are there. It is that idea as soon as I come back to it after like weeks or a month off, it immediately is like, oh right, this is what I want to do. And I am going to start grinding. And I do want to try to have this character and get some Paragon points. Are you surprised it's your number five? No. You know, I think it was that it was an honest conversation with myself as I went through the games that defined my 2023 of like, I've put, I think my hour account is now 80 after the break, maybe 85 into it.

And I'm going to put more into it this year as we continue to go. However, it is that thing of, I think we all have these games. As I play it, I realize it's empty calories. I realize I am just chasing the ding. I am just chasing the next piece of loot, the next piece of food. But it tastes really good. Yeah, it tastes great. I think there's a space for that.

And one thing, it didn't make my list, but I really loved my time with Diablo for. And I was really surprised. It was my first time playing Diablo, or even like a game that's kind of scratching that kind of itch. And I think in so many ways, like, when I look at the mechanics of it, I'm like, it's kind of, you know, basic simplistic, but it's so good.

It's so well done. It's so fun to do. Like, on paper, I feel like it looks really rope. But when you get your hands on it, it is like so enthralling. And the only reason I didn't continue with it is I was, playing with Isaiah and he fell into Ballard's Gate 3 and then he was like, well, if we're going to do a game together, let's just do Ballers Gay 3, which we didn't do. So now we just didn't

finish Diablo 4. So, and obviously I could go it alone, but you know, you jumped into our game once. You were like a million levels and we were like on level four or something, but just hitting everything and killing it. It's just such a like a fun time to like crawl through and then kind of change up your strats with different enemy encounters. Like it is shockingly satisfying. Yeah. Well, that's a great way put it. Mike, it was also on on your list. Where was it? Number two, Tim. Number two of the year, I loved Diablo, and all that needs to be said is

Diablo is back, and that is a big hill to climb after a decade away. Blizzard absolutely delivered. I'm bringing Diablo back into the mainstream, and it was a ton of fun. I mean, Greg really hit the nail on the coffin with all the gameplay, but on the other side, I mean, come on. Are we talking about incredible cutscenes

from the Blizzard team that are rivaled by no one. We're talking about the idea of... I'll jump in right now to arguing it's that. No, that was one of the disappointing things. No, no, because you're going to get, oh, the in-game one my character. Which is the overwhelming majority of them. It's all be the blur kind of thing. Which was a big step in, the idea

of creating your character, which has never been seen in Diablo before. The character customization, I know you got lost in for hours on end. And the idea of pushing forward into, hey, we're going to put your character at the forefront of this story and not just be a generic barbarian. Awesome idea from Diablo.

Yeah, those cutscenes in-game weren't the prettiest, but you can't tell me that opening cutscene and beyond with Lilith and all that was not absolutely jaw-dropping incredible. And that is what Blizzard delivers on. The music was great. The atmosphere was exactly what they wanted to nail with the dark,

scary atmosphere compared to what we saw in Diablo 3. The story with Lilith and venturing all around that was perfect. I loved Diablo, and I thought it was a great time. And you're blessed. You guys have any Diablo thoughts? There's nothing wrong with anti-calories, Greg. That's what vampire

survivors was for a lot of us. Not at all. I agree. And Janet said it's all empty calories, right? Or whatever. It's like that idea that, yeah, like, I just think in terms of, the question was, was I surprised? And for the game,

I think the most hours I've put into a game this year, my most played game on PlayStation. No, like, I'm not surprised it wasn't higher. Yeah, yeah, I thought it was going to be higher for Greg. Overall. But yeah, now let's get into

another thing I thought was going to be a lot higher. Star Wars Jedi Survivor coming in at tied at that, that's shocking. Who did this? Andy, I actually want to start with you on this one because I know you just beat it, actually.

Yeah, Star Wars Jedi Survivor was my number 10. It just snuck in over some other games. What I've realized is numbers 7 through 15, very similar to the MCU list for me, like 7 through 15, 7 through 20 of my games of the year this year, randomize it. I'd probably be okay with it. I could justify that game being over that or whatever. But it made my number 10. I thought it was an improvement in every way. I'm so glad that they were able to address a lot of the PC issues running the game on PC.

But you also had to get a really big, big, beefy PC for that. Yeah, I also have to talk a lot of shit because Greg was like, well, my PlayStation file was like, I'm sorry, I don't have ancient eyes that see everything blurry. I need good fidelity. I need things to look good, okay? I don't want my game running in 360P

at 14 frames per second where Greg Miller goes $4,000. It's going $4,000. And it'll look great for that week. It looks like to me. with an eye or a T. Get some lacy. Get some eyeball transplant. Jesus Christ.

Anyway, the game's awesome. I really enjoyed a lot of the story twists near the end of the game. I think respawn just up to the ante with every gameplay thing that needed to be addressed, not even necessarily addressed, just improved in some ways.

I thought platforming was so damn fun. I wish there was more of it. And I'm sure if I were to have gone back to do all the bounty hunts and all that I would have experienced a bit more of the platforming. It was just a lot of damn fun. And, yeah, it was mainly a lot of the story beats near the end that really kind of caught me by surprise.

And I was, like, equally blown away by a lot of the different moments. But, yeah, I enjoyed all the customization with the lightsaber, BD1, just a whole lot of fun. I had a great time with Star Wars Jedi Survivor. Yeah, I really love Jedi Survivor. I had it a lot higher on my list. I remember the exact number, but I want to say it was like four or five. and that just is a testament to the quality of games this year. It was number five on your list, Timmy.

Number five. And that makes sense to me. So I think it's really hard to get Star Wars right, especially these days, especially as somebody that consumes all the Star Wars stuff and has opinions that of a lot of it, loving it, a lot of it being like, I really wish they did that differently.

Jedi Survivor to me is like pure Star Wars. Like it is all the things you want from Star Wars done in a very Star Wars way. Star Wars and video games go together like peanut butter and jelly. And I feel like Star Wars Jedi Survivor, is a shining example of that. And I feel like it really gives you that fantasy fulfillment of being a Jedi,

which is what I want to do in Star Wars. And we've done it so many times. So for it to still feel as good as it does and have moments as amazing. I'll never forget Greg coming in being like, there's a moment in this game that is like an all timer for me. And I feel like all of us that played it,

know what he was talking about there. I'm going to be able to spoil it at this point. Which is interesting because I got to that part and I was like, kind of jarring. and I didn't love that. Really? But I liked a lot of the other subsequent moments. It also wasn't my favorite moment of the year,

but I thought it was really, really cool, and it was thrilling and very Star Wars, which is, and it felt like Star Wars, which I think is something that is not always hit in a lot of these IP-based games, where it's like, is it a good video game and is it also good at being the thing it's trying to be? And I think that this is a really good example,

not the best example this year, but a really good example of that. Yeah, this is number seven on my list. I loved it. You know what I mean? I think, again, it's a testament to how big this year was that a game I loved this much. Is that late on my list or early on my list, depending how you look at it? One of the things about it for me is the fact that I think it's easy to look past it and forget about it to a degree and have it end up at number 10. Because I think what you're saying, it did such a good job of being Star Wars, of being a blockbuster motion picture that maybe isn't the most deep thing, right?

But it was, I enjoy that entire ride and look back so fondly on it and still want to one day get. back in platinum it and figure, figure everything out. But there was so much to do in this, so much to explore it, the side stuff, the bounty stuff, the way those little things, you know, we talked so much about Spider-Man in the review, the side quest paying off. Some of those side quests and Jedi, right, are, like, insane the way they end. Yeah. And really smart bringing in, like, Metroidvania aspects into a world that was kind of, like,

open in a sense, right? Like, this wasn't just go back to that level or whatever and kind of run around and go open those doors that are now openable because you unlocked this new ability. I loved having that hub world become more and more unlockable as you kept on going. I thought it was just really smart in a lot of its design. I didn't know the biggest gripe for Jedi Fallen Order was the map, and I think that it improved a little bit here, not by a huge amount or anything, but I just think that they did the 2.0 thing, like what Insomnia did with Spider-Man

and what Santa Monica did with Spider-Man. Like they did the next big upgrade that made the game better in a video game sense. Mechanics, abilities, traversal. What are things that they could have fixed in part one? They definitely nailed it in part two. And I think another big thing is the it's the little things. The big things is the little things. The writing, the comedy moments.

Like I feel like this was one of the first times in a Star Wars video game. I felt the comedy of Star Wars. And like without spoiling the moments, like there are little moments in this game that are legitimately funny. Your characters that you meet like Torgel, right? Right? Turgle. Turgill. Turgill.

Yeah, Torgles the... Torgles the other guy. Yeah, exactly. Like, Turgle, where it's just like, you're endearing as hell. You're weird as hell. But it totally fits and makes sense. And once you get to that can'tina, I wanted to talk to everybody because I didn't want to miss any of the dialogue that they were going to have or the character that they were

going to have. And like, that to me is authentic Star Wars. Yeah. Any other thoughts on Jedi Survivor? Yeah, this was my number seven. I think as a sequel gameplay in design-wise, I think they nailed it out of the park, like y'all were saying,

of like the adventures that you can go on were just the most memorable things, I think, for me for this game. Getting the platinum was like kind of a headache, but also in and of itself was really fun. And going on that journey, getting lost on Kobo, going into a dungeon, and being completely, like an optional kind of side dungeon, and being completely overwhelmed and scared and then talking to Andy or maybe like you, Tim,

afterwards and like you tackled it way differently, where at the end of that dungeon I had to fight like three different mini bosses all at the same time and like the way someone else handled it. They just took them out one by one and all that stuff. Like that stuff was really cool. And I think it was really impressive as a follow-up design-wise. I think the reason it ended up so far down on my list personally, I think the story is kind of where I'm left off kind of in a shruggy, of place for Survivor. I don't think it hit for me as emotionally as the first one did. And I think like a lot of the big moments,

I like those moments in and of themselves, but I think like I just did a new game plus run of it, like last month. And a lot of those moments themselves, I don't feel like are quite earned or built up to super well in the terms of storytelling. I like where those moments lead to possibly a third game and where they could go from here.

But I felt like the story for me was a little bit messy and not as like hard hitting, but a lot of good cool ideas. I love the foils that they have for Cal as a character. I love seeing the whole crew again, greasy money baby, of course. But yeah.

Yesterday, Andy and Bless did the first annual kind of funny smileys our award show for different categories in games and one of the categories was character of the year, like best character. I want to give a shout to Marin. I forgot that. But really, really thought Marin was like my most improved. Marry would have made the list because Greg

nominated her. Oh, yeah. For nothing to Good event, could have been. Let's get to our number nine. Number nine. High-fi rush. Let's go. High-fi rush is awesome. Yeah. I was waiting for a second surprise there. Go for it. Bless. Yeah, no. High-Fi rush is dope as hell.

Like, you know, you want to talk about a game that came through was a surprise, but also a game that, like, came through as a surprise and delivered beyond what I think any of our expectations. could have been seeing that reveal trailer, you know, like watching that first trailer that we got at the last year's developer underscore direct, I remember watching and being like, oh, it looks really cool, right? Like, you know, really cool art style. It's a third person action game, but it's also a rhythm game.

Ain't no way that's going to be as good as it sounds, right? Like watching that trailer, I was like, that sounds way too good to be true, but then getting your hands on the game, the game delivers in ways that, like, I couldn't have imagined, especially coming from the studio that did games like Evil Within, right? a studio that's known for a game cycles wire Tokyo, a studio that is like focused in on more of like the spooky side of things, the survival horror side of things. High Fy Rush is so colorful and so vibrant.

And I think for me the moment, I was talking about this with Andy the other day, like the moment for me that really cemented this as, oh, y'all like really went hard on like the attention to detail is when I was playing the game, I was in like the second or third level. And, you know, I was eating at the same time. I put my controller down.

I look up and I'm looking at Chai's ad only animating. and he's like doing like a little dance where he's like snapping his fingers. And he's doing it to the beat. And in the background, all of like the different like, you know, parts of the levels that are, parts of the level that's moving, right? Like all these different mechanical things are moving at the same time to the beat. And just in that still moment, I looked at it and I was like, this could be a screensaver. Like this is such a gorgeous, like meticulous, like really well designed level. And also just a well designed like system of animations, right?

That's going on here. They really put a lot of work into it. The characters are really lovable, right? Like that was another thing is I played through this game. I was like, yo, Chai and 808 could be in Smash Brothers, right? Like, these are characters that I want to see represent, like, not only Tango GameWorks, but also represent just the brand of Xbox or represent, like, you know, be iconic characters in video games.

They have that sort of recognizableability. That has that sort of, you know, standout ability to them. And yeah, like, there's not enough good things I can say about this game. I absolutely loved it. High FI Rush is one of the reasons I love video games. Like that moment of a surprise and something that can like just take you back to being a little kid. Like this is a game that came out in 2023 that reminds me of that one game you rented that nobody else knows about. And it's the thing that you'll never shut the fuck up about because it's just that damn special and that damn unique and that damn good.

Like there's something about high-fi rush. Unaracious for me. It's that type of thing, right? But it's like the fact that it could surprise all of us with the shadow drop and to everything Blessing is saying there like be as good as it was. introducing so many new ideas. The rhythm combat shouldn't work as well as it does, but it really does throughout the entire adventure. Doesn't overstay it's welcome. The boss fights are awesome. I don't think there's as many highs as I wish there was. That's what a sequel's for. Like I feel like High Fire Rush was what it needed to be.

And I do hope that we get a lot more of it in the future. Andy? Not on my top 10. Oh. Oh, so yes. The two other people who had it on here was myself. and Paris. Mike. I'm shocked. I had a great time. How do you? Accessibility options

that I was allowed to turn off. We'll talk about Mike's list later. Because I can't catch a beat. I believe this is everyone giving their like PR statement on why they didn't like, look. Hi-Fi is an incredible day. My client will not be talking about this today. Yeah, I really loved hi-fi. Hold on.

Let me pull up my list here. It was my number six. And I think just to talk about the year overall, right, when this game shattered dropped and we all played it, and we fell in love with it, those first couple of weeks. I remember saying for like a good half of the year, like this is a top three game, this is a top three game for 2023. And then the rest of the year happened.

And then I started saying, well, it's a top five game. It's a top five game. And then the other half of the year happened, I was like, oh, damn, it's down at my number six now. Yeah, this is something really special. It just really nails the Saturday morning cartoon, complete feel on top of having a really fun action game that is also a rhythm game,

really special characters, really great music. Again, shout out to the use of invaders must die from Prodigy. Prodigy, like such an awesome sequence. Really great boss fights, like the one that uses Beethoven's Fifth is such a cool, like, moment this year. Dude, that cuts, I have, when I went through that cutscene, I immediately saved it to my Xbox, and I go back and I watch it all the time. Because just as a boss intro, like the anime, and this goes back to how good the 2D animation is, like the cutscene is so cool, the transformation is.

is so cool. The way it goes with the music is so well done. And yeah, like the game just oozes personality. I have personality for days. I think that might be my favorite moment of the entire, my favorite sequence is that the Beethoven fight. It's incredible. Yeah, the biggest ding I have for it. I played it for like an hour just to like kind of remind myself of like what was

special about it. The thing I would like to see in a sequel is just like the platforming to be improved. There's like a weird, because you want to do everything on beat because the entire world's on beat and all that stuff. I felt like there was a weird disconnect with like actual like jumping around and exploring things in between fights and stuff. But besides that, yeah, it's a really special time. I never jumped far enough in that game. I was always just falling.

It was a little short. Had a great time with it, but I think it was like right outside of like my top 15, I believe, like around there. What a year. All right, let's get to number eight. Number eight. Armored Corps six, fires of Rubicon. Oh, they're going to be. Oh, he's going to be mad.

He would Brand say fires of Rubicon. Just feels right. Andy, kick us off with this one. How the fuck is in this top three, man? I'm like, am I mic this year? Armored Corps was such a surprise for me. I was talking with Blessing yesterday on the Smilies, and we talked about how confident from Software was

to put out an old-ass game that's a decade-old franchise, or many decades old franchise that they haven't put out a version for since 2013 and they come out with Armored Corps and I don't have a whole lot of confidence in a sequel to Armored Core 5 or whatever. I just, I know what From Software makes and I know that I love what they make.

So that's kind of what I wanted. I wanted a Securo 2 or a Bloodborden 2 obviously and this is their Securo team working on Armored Core 6 and it comes out and it's a stunner and it feels incredible to play and there's so much like mech customization. It's just a dream come true to play. Between this and building ships in Starfield,

it was like, holy shit, what a year first. If you could have told young Andy about this, I mean, 35-year-old Andy loves this shit. So making mecks in Armored Corps six to go along with a really cool story that once you beat it different, you play it again, there are different kind of moments

where an MPC might deliver a different line. like, holy shit, I thought this was, what's happening here? And it was really when Blessing beat the game, and it was like, I think I'm going to give it a four out of five. And then Blessing then came back and said, actually, I didn't really fully beat it. It's a five out of five. And I was like, oh, shit, there's even more to this game, right? And I think this game just delivers on so many hype moments with awesome boss fights. And it does it all without ever showing you an NPC.

It's just all voices being talked to you, but they are so well. voiced and you can kind of even picture how these MPCs look because of how dramatic they can be. It's so anime in the best of ways. This game just ruled. From Software's art team is still so talented and so like they do so much heavy lifting because they've never ever had. We're doing this game on Unreal Engine 5 with Nanite and global illumination. Like they don't really do that. They just have an incredible art direction team that makes everything look amazing.

Yeah, I think one of the things I really love about this game is a bit to where Andy started there is It's the fact that this is from software taking a sidestep and going How do we create another pillar within the games that we develop right? Like for years we've been thriving off of making really good third person action RPGs right We've been making the souls like titles and those have been hits right but we don't want to be known solely for doing that We want to find another avenue to like you know explored and another another thing to do what's going on over here So solely yeah But yeah, like I think Armored Core was such a great return to a franchise that's been dormant for a while, right?

But also like in a way, a great way to make something old feel new again. I think for me what Armour Corps does that special is what pretty much any incredible action game does. And it puts you in a zone, at least for me, it put me in a zone where I am playing the game. And I'm not even thinking about the buttons I'm pressing anymore. Like I am just in it, right? I have like a rotation of, all right, I am pressing R1, R2, L. like and I'm dodging this way that way and like you you are kind of in it in a way that just puts you in like almost you almost feel like you are in the game right like you are driving you are driving this this mech vehicle um if he was incredible to play for me on my list it was I think it was around number seven and you know that's one to how great of a year for video games this is right but also I think the fact that yeah like I beat the game the first time and I was like yeah I think this might be a four out of five and then I went I did a second play through and for context right like this was right before we got the code for it. Starfield. And so I'm sitting there like, oh man, okay, I'm about to get the Starfield code

probably in the next day or two, who knows? And I still made time to play that game again. And even as we got the code in for Starfield, I was still like, now I'm going to finish the second playthrough of Armour Core because this is doing some things in the second playthru that I would feel some way. This is making me feel some type of way. And I saw it through and like the fact that that game has the like the creativity and the things that it does in that second playthrough to build in the ways that it does. And I know it still builds, builds even more in the third play-through, which I still need to get to. But that really elevated it for me.

Like the art design, the weapon design, the different ways in which you can customize the mechs. Like, all of it is so top-notch. And yeah, absolutely love the game. It was awesome that somebody could make a mech online, upload it to whatever, like, community server there was with a certain code. And you can type in that code and then just have that build-out. If you're curious about having that one sort of tank build that is, like, insanely healthy, but maybe doesn't move as fast, but it's going to be better for certain

different boss fights. And with every Souls game, like when Barrett would hop into my Eldon ring streams, he'd always be like, believe in the build. Believe in the bill! Because it's like, I don't want to stray. I'm here for a reason. I got here. I'm going to take the one to the dance that brought me here. What's that saying? I forget the same. We've been fucking up all the saying today, by the way. It's been a great time. We sure have. We've been hit the nail on the coffin. Yeah, nail in the coffin was one. Yeah.

How do you think you close the coffin? I was going to shift blame. I was like, you know what? Not in front of everybody. But the fact that this game was like, if you lose to a boss, you're going to start right there again. Most likely, like if it's designed that way, there's not going to be a long run back to the boss.

You're going to be right there. And on the death screen, you can immediately change the build. That gun wasn't working. This laser thing wasn't like the best thing to use. Maybe I want to switch to the Gatling gun. So many different options for customization. And it is so encouraged to mess around with the build and figure out what works in that situation. It rules.

I also want to shout out the moments in the game because that was one thing when I first picked it up. When I played it at the preview event, I was like, okay, the action seems cool. The gameplay seems fun. But, oh, I don't know if it's doing it for me for story because you're not seeing the characters. They're only hearing them through voice calls. and as we were playing through, right, the final review build, you know, I think the thing that really stood out to me were how many different moments that I, even right now as I'm sitting here that I can go back to and be like, yo, that was hype, you know, like, but I won't miss.

Like, how hype was that, right? Or like, the big Walker mission, like, how hype was that? Or, like, there's a list of things I can go down of, wow, these were incredible moments that are going to stick with me from that game. And even recently I was talking to Tim about, you know, sometimes it's hard to recollect, like, yeah, what the fuck happened in this video game, right? Like, even video games that we love, you know, I think back. to Final Fanes in 16 and so much happened.

And like, I can recollect maybe key moments, but I'm like, oh, man, if you actually recap everything that happened in that game, I might struggle a little bit. Whereas Armored Course 6, I think it's paced so well and curates its moments so well where every chapter, I'm like, oh, yeah, and then this happened. And then you do this, and then you fight this big old worm and it's crazy.

It's a very underrated story. It's a, like, looking back at it, the story is way better than I think even I gave it credit for at the time. I feel like Armour Corps 6 would make my like top 15 or, if not 20, just based on Andy. play through on Twitch. Like, every time I would pop in, something was happening. I'm like, God damn, this is just the coolest thing ever.

I tried. It just beat me down. It gives me that. It gives me like the old school Metal Gear Solid kind of like hype moments where there's just a cool codec call with an awesome voice actor. And it just, it's so entertaining to watch. And I know, I believe it was number five on my list, but it was very high on somebody else's list.

This was my number two. Whoa. And so bless and Andy were like, oh, like it should have been high. Maybe you should have put it in higher on your guys. Facts. Why other one's like, oh, it should have been higher. I was my number nine. I think it's in the right place.

I mean, honest. I like you. And so, yeah, like, kind of like last year where neon white was my number two, mainly because of gameplay, that's the same story here for Armored Core 6. I think just moment to moment gameplay. I think it's the most satisfying game I've played this year. It's really fun. I'm not the biggest from software guy.

But, you know, I finally got really into Eldon Ring. And Eldon Ring was the first from Soft game that I actually beat last year. And so I didn't really know how to feel about armored core, definitely a different pace and a vibe and all this stuff. But I gave it a shot and just fell in love with it. And like Andy said, we had our bit of believe in the build. And, you know, in this game, it's like, fuck the build. Just get experimental with it. Have fun with that.

And have fun with, like, how cute you want to make your armored core. I know, Janet, you had a Sailor Mac and all that stuff. I had like a color scheme early on that, like, I really stuck. with and a lot of the boss fights in that game are just like really, really fun. And I just, that's one that, like, I'll keep downloaded on my PS5 just to go back and play it every once in a while. And I'm glad that it was recently, like a month or two ago, I finally decided to get through the second and third playthroughs just because, like, I wanted to know what else was happening and the way that they tell story of certain little things changing in, like,

your second playthrough. And then you get to the third playthrough and there's some shit. like early on you're like what are they doing here and it got me to you know i don't think it was vati vids but it was someone else where i was it was my first time like i need to watch a more breakdown video for a from soft game and i really fell in love with it um again this is coming from the not huge from soft guy but i think this is my favorite from soft game wow janaic did this make your list no i didn't play that much of it i only got to the part where you can build your mek and i spent like an hour doing that and then i was like i got to play at least a little bit more to use it, but then I was like, nah.

But, you know, I do think I, like, a lot of Fram Soft. Like, I have the delusion of, like, maybe one day. But when I decide to go back chaotically in 10 years from now, Sailor Meck will be there waiting for me. I just want to shout out when we're talking about, like, voice actors and stuff. Like, yeah, the biggest hurdle, I think, is, like, how they present the story, which is just a bunch of codec calls. But the voice acting is really good.

I always fuck up his last name. Patrick Sites, who's the voice actor of Endeavor, for My Hero Academia is Handler Walker in this game. And he just does like, he does his best, like, if Endeavor lived in like the Metal Gear universe. And it's just, it's fucking perfection. 6-2-1. Oh, man, it's the best, dude.

I love it. Let's get to number seven. Number seven. Final Fantasy 16. Wow. Who. Man. Wow.

With noise of P. Wow. What are we doing at this company? You want to start with Liza P bless? You don't want to start with Final Fantasy. No, I don't. I'll get there in a second. I mean, yeah, man, oh man, I love Liza P, dude.

I love Liza P is one of those ones where I'm like, y'all, like, I know it gets a lot of- Video Game, you know? Like, I know Liza P gets a lot of love, still underrated. Like, still an underrated video game. If this game had From Software on the box, the way that y'all would prop this thing up,

it's so fucking good. It's so fucking good. I think the world is fascinating. The world is interesting. The action is fun. Obviously it takes like a lot of inspiration from Soft and Bloodborn and stuff like that. But like even though it takes so much inspiration and finds so many ways to make itself its own, right? Like I love what they're doing with, you know, what do they call it?

The P-Organ? No, I was good. What do they call it when like, you know, like, you know how Mickey Mouse is predecessor? Public domain. You know, like when people reach it in a public domain and they make some bullshit. They reached in a public domain. They're like, yo, we're going to make some art. Like, the fact that they took Pinocchio and went,

let's make a gritty-ass, a soul-like type game out of this, and it delivers. And, like, I think for me, when we talk about the moments of something like armored core, and we talk about the moments of that, we look back in video games and the things that stick out that you remember,

Liza P has so many moments, specifically boss fights that stick with me. You know, we talked about it yesterday, Andy, of, like, you know, trying to pick, all right, what is the best boss fight from Liza P and everybody having a different answer, because all of them shine in their own different ways.

Like, that stuff is so fun. The weapon combination system is so cool. I love figuring out how to, or which blade and which handle to mix and match to really fit my build. And then also the, what was the, like, left arm weapon called? It might just have been called the left arm weapon.

I don't remember. Yeah, that's the very Securo-like, where in Securo, your left arm is, like, this prosthetic arm that you could then make a flamethrower or a grapple hook in this game. Legion arm. Legion arm, yeah, you can put a freaking grenade in the ground or it can become an electric thing or a freaking fire. There's so many different options to mix and match and figure out how to create your own build in that game, and it is so satisfying.

Like, you want to talk about the RPG and action RPG, and I think, you know, a lot of people look at Liza P and go, oh man, what a cool looking action game. Like, this must be a great action game. But you get into the minutia of what you can do to really make, like, what I can do to make my character way different from Andy's, which is way different from Janice and really, like, get in the, there and go, oh yeah, I'm using the Legion arm that has a grenade launcher. I'm using the Legion arm that is the grappling hook or whatever. And I've upgraded it so that when I like do my scorpion get over here, like pull them through and then launching the air and then come back down on it. I love that kind of stuff so much.

And I think Liza P excels so well with that kind of thing. And yeah, like shout out to that game. Yeah, I was number six on my list. I haven't beaten it yet because I'm scared to go back. That game stresses me the hell out. Like all the time. My heart rate is constantly high. playing this game. It's really good. And I think the thing that stands out for me is I'm always

trying these types of games because I'm always trying to like just play what's hot, see how it is, see how it lands. And not many or not really any have fully clicked for me. Even like, gosh, was it demon souls? Yeah, like I played through that and I beat it, but I don't know. Like, it just kind of was edification for me. It's like, okay, I'm kind of just getting background. It was cool. It had moments. This has like all the things I've ever. enjoyed about a soul's game or a soul's like game, but made to be much more digestible without losing the core of the difficulty, the loop, the experimentation. I think it's just so smartly tutorialized in a way that I personally like don't get out of if I go to like FromSoft

where it's like, oh, they like patched in the tutorial hole later. It's like, okay, like whatever, you know, oh, did you jump down this hole? No. Why would I jump down this hole? You said to jump down the hole. You always had to jump down the hole if you want them. You need you not to jump down the door. Anyway, right? And hey, I'm not here to like lift the last week. You're 20 minutes in, jump down the hole. Yeah.

What could go wrong? I don't want this to be like a versus conversation because I think they all like have different offerings, right? But for me, I like the way they sort of really slow roll, the onboarding where you don't really get to like that deeper upgrade system until like a good chunk of hour. Well, chunk hours in for me because I'm like going in circles. You're like, where are you at? I'm like, I'm still in that first hallway, you know? It's so easily, I think, to. grindable where like I do favor doing more of a grind, even just from the jump, just to kind of like

give myself some more options, a little bit more like buffness to the bill that I have. And the checkpointing, I think is just like, everything is like just generous enough to give, I think, a little bit of laxness to that soul's the experience where like the checkpointing's like a little easier. The, you know, freaking cauldron where you summon like a AI is like there and you get enough of the star fragments to like do it like while you know in other titles you might need to be more conservative with that it's the only game of this ilk that I feel like on the whole I can figure out myself like the only thing I asked was like when I got the game I'm like hey blessed like is there like some crazy shit I don't want to like break you know it's like oh no like I would recommend like

specking into this for like you know this sort of play through or like specking into this stat is more for like an expert style or whatever and I'm like cool that's all I knew had that's all I ever really needed. Occasionally I'd get maybe tips on the, you know, the combos of like for this boss, like this combo might work well. But other than that, like, it's one of the few times where I feel like I've really been able to have that moment that people come to Souls Games for of like being empowered to push yourself to experiment and then to ultimately succeed. And every day I live with the fear that I'll hit that wall that I can't break through. But it hasn't happened yet. I'm not like crazy far into it. I'm a couple of bosses in. But it, and it has such like a compelling loop with like

the lore and, you know, I'm freaking, I got a cop baton and a donkey head and then I'm playing the piano. It's just a good, it's a good nonsense. It's an animal cross-up. It's a good nonsense time. It's a good nonsense time of like, you know, like, even demons souls, I love the freaking the maiden with the feather eyes and it's like, here she has like a nice blue coat. And it's like, I don't know. It's got like that flavor, that familiar flavor while also doing its own thing in its own way. And I think it does it super well. And it's just like,

it's just a blast and I have to play through. Yeah, they, I was so impressed that somebody was able to make a from software game that I think plays better than Demon Souls and even maybe Dark Souls won at some points. Um, because it's like, it's the biggest challenge.

You're, you're hopping into a genre that people have such high expectations for. And if you don't get close, then you're going to get, you know, you're going to get shit on. There's a lot of imitators and copies. copycats out there that want to be, oh, this is almost like a soul's game, hop into this game,

and it never is ever quite the same. But I thought Round 8 Studios and Neo-Wiz fucking knocked it out of the park. They found neat ways to iterate on from Software's Formula, bringing in the Bloodbourne Rally system, where if you take a hit and you take a chunk of health down, that health is recoverable. If you go back in for more hits, you can get some health back. breaking enemy's weapons if you perfectly parry their stuff enough times was

I think the most satisfying mechanic for me this year just the way it sounded, the way it felt and looked, it was just a freaking blast but yeah, I thought they killed it like for this being their first Soulslight game it's unbelievable that they were able to accomplish this and for us not to be like yeah but if from Software did it

it would have had this like I still feel like this game just far just blew away all my expectations for what it was going to be. We always see trailers for Souls-like games or, you know, things in the Souls genre that we, they may look nice and you get it in your hand and just something's always off, but I think they nailed it. One another thing that kind of helped simplify it, Janet, I thought was like not having to worry about armor stats. You just kind of wear clothes that are all just cosmetic and you only really have to worry about the core stats that you are

leveling up. And yeah, swapping all the different weapons, kind of experimenting. We were talking, talking about with armored core earlier. You know, I have this big, I found this big hammer and I can take the handle off the hammer because it gives me electric sort of ability or whatever and it helps me swing faster. And I can couple that with the blade from that one sword that I found and couple that together. And it's this brand new concoction that now has the damage of this, but the speed of that. It's just so, it's so experimental and awesome. And everybody should play LizaP if you've ever maybe thought about playing a soul. game. It's really, really well done. Andy, SLSU muddogs in the chat was asking, is this a good first Souls like to jump into? I think so. I think so too. Yeah, I think so. I think Janet kind of nailed it with it not doing the from software. We are being obtuse because it's mysterious and cool. And we as from software fans eat that shit up. But like for a first time gamers, it's not the most helpful thing in the world. But I think Neo Wiz and Round 8 studios absolutely nailed it because it isn't, it's a bit more gamified in a lot of ways.

I think, too, like, the moment to moment is a lot easier to get through. Like, there are, obviously, like, enemies in the environment that might give you a hard time. Like, what's that, like, freaking flame guy? Oh, pain in the ass. Like, he's like the, yes. Oh, don't get you start. There's, like, you know. I died to him more than any of the boss.

With the exception of, like, like, I just, I spent, like, 30 minutes, like, in a room just, like, training to fight shovel man, you know? Yeah. Was that, like, in, like, the, like, the pipe area? Yeah. Oh, my God. He's in a lot. We have the three guys that dropped down.

I'm like, if I can kill him, like I could kill anything. Yeah, I feel God. Like, so there are those things. But like, other than that, I think moment to moment, it's pretty simple, like, to get through. And I think, like, too, I mean, again, we could, I feel like talk about this game forever. Like, the design is just, like, so satisfyingly done of, like, the way every, like, all the corridors kind of wrap around. Like, when you freaking open that door and then it connects to their side, you're like, oh, man. It's all, it all sings together in a really, like, fun way.

not to mention all the cute little things like the little riddles and like it just I don't know It's so playful Yeah the the extra things that you would find in the game I was kind of stunned by because When you're trying to make a Soulsborn clone You have to nail the combat

And if you don't nail that then Nothing matters that you failed But it was really cool for me to see all these little extra things where you pick up a note off the ground And there's a hint about some area And you're like Oh shit that's the thing in that one spot.

What if I go over there? Oh, there's a door here. Who's in the... Oh, it's an NPC. And like, random stuff like that would happen that I was very surprised by. And plus, it comes with an absolute stunner of an end credit sequence that just like...

Holy shit, no spoilers. But that shit blew me away. And watching other people slowly discover it on Twitter is some of the funniest shit. It is like, oh my God, I cannot wait for whatever they're doing next. I want to... Someone's being coy. on this panel right now, who had this game on their,

uh, their list. I love this game. Yeah, Mike, I've been quiet because these guys, this is number one, number seven for me. So this is right in line with where I feel. I'm always on the hunt for a good challenge.

And I love souls like games. And this is exactly that. I like that this game really didn't encourage me to dodge roll and run around. It was very much like get in the pocket and Perry. And I hate that. But man, oh man, I love coming out victorious.

And this was so much fun. I can remember so many. boss fights that I would love to play again. You know, we talked about it on the Smiley's or you guys did. The rabbits were my favorite, right? I love taking on three enemies at once or trying to figure out what's the best strategy for a certain enemy. And I loved Liza P.

I think it was badass. It was on Game Pass. So it encouraged you just to try it. And so, yeah, this is a game I'll never forget. And like Andy said, a team that isn't FromSoft absolutely delivering a FromSoft experience, I couldn't ask for more. So I look forward to more from this team. And I loved it. I'll never forget this one.

Yeah, we'll get DLC from them. I'm assuming coming out this year for Liza P and then I don't know what the sequel's going to be, but I got to assume it's what they tease at the end credits. Yeah. Barrett, did you have this one on your list? I did not. Timothy. Yeah.

Final Fantasy 7 tied for number 7. 16. Sorry. Sorry. I'm just so excited. He was upset. Not surprised. I feel like this is one of those ones that we knew it was going to be high on a couple of our list,

but not that high. even on a bunch of our list as well. In 2005, I watched Final Fantasy 7 Advent Children, which was the movie, and it was pushing CG to its limits at the time. It was stylish as hell, flashy as hell. You're seeing Cloud and Sephiroth flip around and fight, and I just remember thinking,

God, imagine if the game was actually this. In 2023, I got to actually do that, you know? And we had Final Fantasy 7 remake a couple years ago, and like the vibe is there, and I love that game. Final Fantasy 16, though, it's that pure action that I have been. and hoping we would finally get one day from the Final Fantasy.

And I know that that's me putting myself firmly on a side that a lot of people don't stand on. And that's totally cool. Final Fantasy 16 was a dream game for me. And from the beginning to end, the way that they tried to care more, treated more like an HBO style drama, the story actually mattered.

The combat was just so satisfying. And then the boss fights, time after time after time, just being like, hey, we're not only not going to have a bad boss fight in this game. Every single one is going to wow you in a completely different way. that you didn't see coming.

And by the time you get to the end, the final two hours of the game are just utterly insane. Like, I feel like a lot of games that I love so much have one, two, maybe three moments that I'm like, holy crap, I will never forget this. I can't believe I'm playing this.

Final Fantasy 16, towards the end of that game, that's all that it is. It's like I felt like I had to stop texting Andy. Holy shit, holy shit, just because I was like, he gets it.

I get it. I don't get it. How is this real? Yeah. The final fights of that game are just so good. And I missed out on Fallon Fantasy 14 and people, Michael Hyam and many others have told me for years, like, yo, it's so good, but I just don't got the time. I don't got all that stuff. The team from that game, specifically Soak and doing the music, oh my Lord, man.

Like the music backing up so many of these moments, excepting the truth. Like, I will never forget Falun Passy 16. The performances, like obviously shout to Ben Starr. But Sid, man. Our boy, Sid. like Ralph absolutely ate that and I feel like the entire cast was was great not a perfect game like I know a lot of the side quests were okay some of the side quests were amazing and I'm not gonna remember the bad ones I'm gonna remember the amazing times I have with this it is definitely up there for

my favorite Final Fantasy I do think it's the best Final Fantasy I said it when the game came out and now after the first DLC pack is out and I had a great time with it really looking forward to the second I love Final Fantasy 16. Oh, yeah. Yeah, this was number eight on my list, I believe. I think it's an imperfect game, but it's still an incredible time, right? Like, it has so much going for it

that really elevates it, I think, beyond so many of the experiences that I've had this year. Like, and I think so many of that, again, comes to the moments. It comes to, you know, Titan versus Clive and what that back and forth the two characters is, you know, like those characters hating each other so much

and that culminating in like some incredible boss fight moments, some incredible cutscenes. but, you know, I think it's that. I think it's also how much elevation there is throughout the game of, you know, starting off in the first, you know, fifth of it, sixth of it, and it being one thing. And then moving on to who, all right, who's the next villain of the week?

And how do we make this even more intense? All right, now who's the next after that? How do we make this more intense? And I keep comparing it to a season of Dragon Ball Z. Right? I've heard people compare it also to, like, Naruto and things like that. And for me, like, the Dragon Ball Z comparison is in the idea of, the power scaling is so ridiculous and so out of this world that I can't help but to love it.

Like I can't help but to go. This is so ridiculous and they're absolutely nailing how ridiculous this is. And so, yeah, when you get to moments where it is, all right, like, y'all thought this was crazy. We're taking it crazier. Like, that stuff really hit for me. But then also I think the game does a really good job of tackling certain topics that for me were like, oh, snap, I didn't think you would go there. You know, like the whole like kind of slavery portion that's going on in the game and like diving into those themes. They're actually like taking that stuff seriously and having side quests that look into that stuff in what I'd say is a very thoughtful way.

I thought was surprising and really cool. And honestly, back to, like, the imperfect part of it, I wish they would have done that stuff more. Like, I wish they would have leaned more into those aspects and, you know, kept that as a solid story threat even throughout the game. Because I feel like toward the end, it became more about the magic and the fantasy as opposed to, like, that those other themes. I think even still, like, for them to do what they did, I thought they handled it pretty well for the most part. And, yeah, I think this game is blast. Also, shout out to active time lore, which is a feature that every big RPG should have. Like the way that was implemented, the way that was contextual based on what cut scene you're in or what moment of the game you're in and you can just know exactly what's going on and what scene you're in, fantastic.

The amount of times I've thought about going back to Octopath Traveler 2. I'm like, where the hell am I? Yeah, like, what's going on here? I don't remember the cast anymore. Yeah, I did it real quick. I want to say, this was a very hard game for me to place on my list because I knew it wasn't going to be my number one. But I was like, I want to put this at my number two. Like, I love this game so much.

and I ended up putting in number three. I was like, I can't, I can't do it. I was like, if I'm being honest, true to my heart, not trying to play games. Except the truth. Yeah, I had to accept the truth. I had to accept the truth. It was my number three.

Andy, it was my number two. Wow. Let's go, baby. I was so surprised by this entry. I played Final Fantasy 7 remake back when it came out. I've never been a big Final Fantasy fan, mainly because they're usually turn-based, and that just was never my jam growing up.

So when seven remake, came out. I think 15 was like the first Final Fantasy I finished. And then Seven Remake came out and I beat that, but was largely confused by a lot of the story elements. You had to really kind of understand what was happening in the original Final Fantasy 7 to be impacted emotionally in the remake. And by the end, by the last like three or four or five hours in Final Fantasy 7 remake, I'm just like, I don't know what's happened. But shit looks cool and it's fun to play still. So I had a great time with remake. But 16 really surprised me with its level,

the quality of writing, the quality of dialogue. I think it has some of the best character development and relationship development between whether it's love or friendship or hatred. I think they did such an immaculate job, making these characters feel believable and not ever have anything that felt too rushed in any moment. There was never like a whole lot of moments where a payoff happened and I felt like

yeah but did we really earn that I always felt like everything was so perfectly paced and timed out I loved I just loved interacting with these characters the boss fights are of course incredible and yeah like by the end of it I am sobbing because

of these story beats that are hitting that are insanely emotional and just really well done with awesome acting and awesome dialogue this was a surprise for me because I as we talked about during a lot of our previews, Final Fantasy 7 and most Final Fantasy

games will lean into the more goofy anime type stuff, which is fine when you want goofy anime type stuff, but like in this type of world with this presentation, I was like, I want that more mature approach and I thought they absolutely killed it. There's not like...

So for anybody who's ever had reservations who looks at Final Fantasy games, like, I just can't go over that one character. Well, if you do this, then you'll be cool. You know, like that sort of shit can kind of turn people off in a lot of moments. And I think Final Fantasy 16 does a great job with being a lot more mature with its themes

and how it approaches characters. How it, like, I think it's one of the best ever developed, like, romances that feels just like so perfectly timed out and paste. It was awesome. And, yeah, I had a great time with it. And if I could, like, flip a switch and make magic out, I was very disappointed and barrett for not playing this game and even Snowbike Mike

I played it you all like oh no you all played it you all played it you all like a lot of anime bullshit that like I love anime bullshit this is the most anime bullshit of all the anime bullshit this is the most hype stuff like oh my god I cannot even not all anime is for all people Andy people keep telling me to go back to the attack on Titan I know it's just not for me you know but like when a guy's yelling like ah like you're like that's this cool shit you know I had fun with it when I walked away from it though I just like there was so much else that came out this year and it was like always like me and see stars yeah just just like um what i wanted to throw out real quick though i'm sorry i'm sorry

that it's rare that like a game can develop can deliver an all-time moment and legitimately like accept the truth is up there when i'm on my last dying breath it's up there with fighting psychomantus like when he's looking around the roof at all his tv figures as you're lowered into the ground yes Mike's nailing the cockpit. I'll be 51 years old, heart disease, probably. Too many energy drinks, heart attack. It, like, except the truth is up there with Psycho Mantis and, like, a handful of other big gaming moments

that you have in your past, you know what I mean? Like, this game is so fucking good. Like, you know, talking about, like, how this game has, like, more mature themes, right? Like, it doesn't feel like, you know, what you can get out of previous Final Fantasy where it's, like, the over-top of your characters, like, doing all that stuff.

Like, for me, you know, coming off of the press, press to pay respects, no, to accept the truth thing. Like near that, that moment, there is, like, another moment where Clive is just emotionally distraught.

And, like, he is, like, done. Like, he is, like, fuck, I did this thing, and I'm fucked up right now. And I want to give a big shout out to the performances. You know,

we shout out Ralph, who played a sin, and also shout out Ben Star, the home you played as Clive. But, like, I think throughout the game, they do such a good job of going, hey, like,

of course, this is Final Fantasy. Of course, like, it's a JRP slash action RPG, depending on how you want to categorize it. But like how do we take this? How do we make it gritty and how do we get serious? And how do we make it mature and feel mature, right? Not just be like a copy of something that is mature.

Like let's not just like make it Game of Thrones style. Like let's literally treat our character seriously and lean into those themes and grapple with real shit and have these characters go through real shit. And they really carried through with that in a way that again, out of a Final Fantasy, especially coming off of a Plainterbury or Paradise in 2020. Like I'm like, I know what it looks like when Final Fantasy tries you hard. And, you know, coming off that game, I was like, all right, we'll see with 16. And with 16, they did it. Like, 16, they actually rose up to the occasion. And then we talk a lot about, about Sid and about Jill and about Clive.

But I feel like so much of the cast, like, Dion and Gav and, like, just all the supporting characters, um, mid, like, they're so, when I play a game, there's always that one character. Like, oh, the homie tourgill or the homie this, whatever. This game's full of the homie. You know what I mean? I feel like, there's a lot of people I might not even remember their name, but I'm just like, if I saw a picture, they'd be like, like five years or now, I'll be like, oh yeah, like they were awesome in Final Fantasy 16. What a game.

We're gonna, does anyone else have anything else? I like the game a lot. You know, it broke my routine of not turning on my PlayStation. I enjoyed Final Fantasy with the active combat because I do not like turn base. And I told Tim that of like, I don't think I'll ever get into this kind of series.

And he's like, try this. I love the music. I love Lady B. I love the Game of Thrones. Like, like, Andy said, right? Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. Lady B. The music is a car. I love the idea of Mike getting home and being like, looking at a check is to be like, don't turn off, turn it on the PS5 check. I'll tell you somewhere. Wipe the dust off.

Yeah, jumping onto it, the music, the story being more gritty and being like Game of Thrones pulled me in. As opposed like you said, Andy, right, I look at Final Fantasy. I'm like, none of that clicks with me. This clicked with me where I wanted to continue to play. I liked the act of time. I enjoyed everything about this experience.

And I would definitely want to play more. It's just one of those that got me out. of my routine to turn on a PlayStation finally, which is good. That's a big win. Yeah, you're playing a lot of things on Xbox, a lot of Redfall. Another big win. A lot of PC gaming now. Going to Patreon.com slash kind of funny or YouTube.com slash kind of funny games

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He's coming in hot. He's trying to walk really fast with the coffee in his hand. He's putting it off. The slowest curing of all time. So there we go. We got through our number 10, 9, 8 and 7, which included two ties so far. So we're showing a lot of love to a lot of video games here today. Let's keep that going with number six.

Me a tie. I bet. Number six. Starfield. And. Nobody. Nobody. Number six, Starfield. How's that sit with you?

Hate me today. Above Final Face 16. Hate me tomorrow. Hello, Chad. How are you? Good to see you. Above the best Xbox game of the year, High Fire Rush.

You know, you know. Greg Miller. Hey, where was this on your list? After much debate and much clamoring. And as I told you, my most personal list of all time for a kind of funny game of the year, Starfield is my number one. Wow.

This was my game of the year. Obviously, you've all listened and watched a lot of shows here. You know I call it straight down the line each and every time. Is Starfield the best game of the year? Of course not. If I was at IGN, this was the old discussions I used to have in the room, right? I always go back to Walking Dead versus Journey, I think, where I push her Walking Dead so far up the ladder. And when it finally got to facing off against Journey, I said, well, you got to go with Journey.

And I'm like, we're talking about the best game of it. of the year. We're talking about what IGN is saying is game of the year, right? And that means you're going to look back at this game and you're going to see like how herky jerky it was for a tell tell game and how broken it was and when it would you know, eat your save and yaddi-a-dia, we can't do that. For these kind of funny lists, what I enjoy is it's us bringing our personal top tens and Starfield will forever be the game of 2023 for me. Where when I think back of what I did in 20203 and what games meant to me and what games touched me, it'll be Starfield. Starfield is another game like gone home

where you're going to hear me tell the same stories for a decade now of, oh my God, my Becky Lynch character and becoming the mantis and finally having a purpose. And, you know, above all, for me with this game, it's my favorite Bethesd RPG. With me with this one,

it is the idea that this is the first role-playing game I've ever role-played in. Everything else is putting on a costume. I was chasing the high of this, and I went back to cyberpunk and re-rolled one from the beginning because, you know, blessed about how cool as ninja build was, I mean,

I was like, I'm going to invest in that, I'm going to do all that. And I did, but I still never felt like I was that character. And obviously, you know, I'm not like actually feeling like I'm that character. But like, for the Starfield journey to start that game, be like, oof, this is antiquated. This is still Bethesda. I don't know what I'm doing. I guess I'll be the space cop.

That's kind of cool. You know what? I'm going to redo my character, just make her Becky Lynch. Okay. And then find Mantis and be like, oh, wait, I have a purpose. Then find Andreja to find, you know, that I had been with campaigns I didn't like until I found Andresia, then make me really care about her. To then, you know, there's a spoiler cast that's a one-man thing for me going on and on about an hour, about my five new game pluses, right?

Like, you go through this thing. It's a great episode. The narrative I've built in my own head, which is, you know, both on the screen and on the sticks, but also with what I'm doing with and what I feel, what I want to do in that world and accomplish in that world, it all filters in and fills in these gaps to make this experience more than what I think the game actually is, right? It is a stilted game. It does have a lot of different problems. I can totally see why anybody else, so many people are like, this game sucks. Like, I get that. But I also see so many people in the chat earlier on.

They were yelling at each other about how much they loved it versus people that they didn't. Like, all games are art. You're going to take something different away from them. But when I look at this game and what I did with this game and the fact that right now, I want to go home and play this game, you know what I mean? I'm still waiting to do that perfect golden run with Becky and Andresia, right? Like, I still need to go do that. And I sit there and I literally daydream about that.

like, well, I'm going to tell them this. When I start, when I start that playthor, I'm going to tell them this and then I'm going to do this. And so I go do it. And it's like, that is going to happen. But at this point, like, Bethes is promised a bunch of different, you know, in world maps and and these little updates. And I'm like, I might as well wait for that to do that next play through. But for forever, 2023, when you asked me about, man, what did you play that year that resonated

with you? Like, Starfield resonated with me, which is so weird because you all know I'm not the space guy. Like, I've never had the dream of having a spaceship and going, but he hates astronauts. Dude, I saw Buzz Aldrin once. Oh, man. me tell you, I swirmed up on the sidewalk. No, but it is that idea of like, you know, what is a turnoff for so many people of like, well, you know, you're fast traveling to the thing or you don't have to do this, but you

could do this. It's like, that worked for me of like, it was a buffet of when you go to most buffets. Not every dish out there. Most dishes are what? A seven or an eight, but there's a lot of it, right? So it was that idea of like, okay, cool. I don't want to do that. I never wanted to fucking build a base in this game.

And I've never built a base in this game. and however many hours I've put into and stuff like that. Like that worked for me, whereas I know it's a turnoff for others. But in terms of emotional resonance and what I found in this game, my game of the year was Starfield. Hell yeah. Mike, what about you? Starfield was five for me.

And we shared a very special moment with Starfield. And that's why it is so high on my list. I'm a sucker for Bethesda. Where is it? And number five. But like the special moment was, hey, we got to come together and have a 48-hour live stream. And we played that game for 48 hours straight,

didn't beat it, played so much. content and there was still so much for me to do, right? And I had a blast getting to role play as, you know, Snowbike Mike and SpaceCop Mike. Yeah, Space Mike running around and I loved it, right? I went out. Space Cup Mike making drugs. Me and Sarah, we made a lot of drugs together on neon and I think I really helped that community, you know what I mean? They needed that and I was there to give it to them. They needed that influx of cash. Like the best part is like I love all of the Bethesda factions and I love being a UC vanguard and fighting off those crazy alien monsters, right? And then going over and being like, am I a space pirate or should

I team up with the cops? And you know I always want to do good, Andy. So what did I do? I betrayed those pirates and I became a cop. And it's like, why would you do that, Mike? I'm just having so much going to go left, right, center, it doesn't matter. You know who could you somehow? Yeah, it was truly a special one. Like Greg said, this one resonated with me, and I was really pleased to see the team do something new away from Skyrim and Elder Scrolls and, of course, fall out and go to space. It was cool. It was different being able to build a spaceship, go to these different planets. Yeah, there's things that I wish they improved upon. I do wish there was that moment-to-moment map where I was traveling by foot and everything kind of happened. But when I went to different

planets, I had those moments when I was in space and all of a sudden I had a crazy call from an old lady who was like, yo, grandma! And I'm like, I'm, I'm, here for you? Like, it's awesome. Or when I just wanted to go into space combat and just shoot down different spaceships, that was incredible. So yeah, I loved it. To toss in again, no spoilers, you know, I know nobody probably cares, but like back to the five games of New Game Plus, right? Like, I really do think that for my money and stick with me, because this is going to be another controversial statement, even though I know I'm already getting eaten alive somewhere. Like, it's the best concept of a New Game Plus I've ever played where it just made so much,

usually New Game Plus has come around and I'm like, oh, why would I want to do that? You have all your powers. I don't want to play the exact same thing again, right? The way they twist and turn that, the secrets they left in there for you to go fine and discover if you want to. Like, that was incredible, I thought. It isn't a reason where I want to keep re-rolling and going back. And as for the panel here today, this was Paris's number six. Oh, nice.

Was not on Andy your blessings list. No. Do either you or Janet? Just outside of it. But like if I were to look at a game that I played the most because of the shipbuilder, where it became shipbuilder simulator. Like I was addicted to that. And I had a great time, but it was a contender.

Like, it was one of those that I would have considered had this year not been as strong as it was. But I had a freaking blast being a, doing that pirate sim. I think it would have been a lot more impactful for me. Had I gotten to the end of that UC Vanguard slash sort of pirate plot, a storyline or whatever. And by the end of it, I feel like they dropped the bag. like so in for the whole ride.

And then once I got to the end, I needed to, I needed to be Paul Walker and Fast and Furious One. I needed to look at this crew of criminals and be like, I fucking love you guys, actually. Actually, I'm undercover, but like, here's the thing. I fucking love you all. Fuck the cops.

But I got to the end of it. And these dudes still treat me like an asshole. It's like, oh, you're supposed to build in sympathy to the storyline to where I go, like, hey, man, I thought you all were super shitty and awful at first, but I've grown to love you over these last several missions. Just never felt that near the end of it. I was like, oh, man, that really dropped the bag, and I feel like I would have thought a lot more positively about my full experience

had they kind of nailed that one mission, which took over my whole gameplay. Like, that side quest or whatever you want to call that, kind of just swerved me off the main path and story. And I never even fully beat the game because I watched Greg's video and I didn't want that decision paralysis. for me because I know that I'd that show would keep me up at night

so I was like I'm just going to keep being a little space pirate you have anything to say there Janet? I beat the game it's funny I've never like talked about it I guess on kind of funny content because I was on PSI I love you so we didn't talk about Starfield very much you know yeah I mean I don't have too much to say because it's I think this is a a time to you know celebrate our list like I did not like Starfield yeah I didn't think it was good like I didn't think it was a good I thought it was really like antiquated and stiff and repetitive and probably like the most

disappointing experience that I had in the year with how much I think people expected. Yeah, the hype, but also I think the pedigree of the team, you know, like I've heard for so long of like, this is like where you go, you know, and I try to do like the role playing thing, right? I wanted to be Janthi Bourdain making, you know, bread in space. And it's like, you're really in there, you know, like I just really don't think they, it's It's such a shame that I've heard from so many people, you know, Greg, especially, who's, like, the Starfield guy who's, like, talking about what makes it special. And I can't bring myself to experience that specialness after 40 hours of just dredgery. And I'm like, I just wish it, you know,

I wish it shook out differently. But that kind of just is what it is. I will say, though, I ran to your guys' games cast for Starfield because, like, having played it, like, I so desperately, like, wanted to, like, have those conversations and be in there. And I loved, if people have watched that episode, whether they like Starfield or not, I just think it's damn good content, because I think you all all approached it from a different angle. Like, you really like dissected. It was just a really good, like, meaty conversation. But to that point, I think I, I may be more align more negatively than Blessing does in a way, but Blessings takes on there really resonated with me in terms of like the things that I experienced. And like, Blessing was the first person

that, like, I texted about the game and was like, I'm like, oh, this is game not that good. He's like, I'm like, okay, I thought I was like, you know, so it was interesting hearing, I think the conversations that did come out of Starfield for sure. I think the conversations were better than the game. But I do think it's a, it's a title that I've seen a lot of people hate and a lot of people love. And I think, you know, it's always interesting when you have a piece that can really like fall in those different spectrums and have like a warranted conversation of that's like worth unpacking. That's what I like, that's why I like doing what I do. Like obviously I love playing video games, but I love talking about and analyzing games. And for that, like, I don't give a fuck about

who likes what or whatever like I'm here for like the conversation like the edification the knowledge the the background the hey how did you take this experience and what did you get out of it um but yeah no i did not like starfield but i beat it because i wanted to see it through and see i want to be able to form a full opinion on it and also uh i got covid during that time as well so i was like fucking you're the time i'm like i'm like i got nothing else going on you know we're just going in on it um the COVID curve. I get it. Yeah, yeah, you know. That's how I platinum horizon. So, like, I get a lot done when I, like, after I, like, am sweating for like a full day and I'm out, but like I'm not fully back yet, it's like,

okay, what are we sinking our teeth into? And Starfield is what I decided to spend my time with. I wanted to say the guy in Sony's back pocket with an Xbox game as his number one. The internet is in shambles right now. They don't know what to think out there, Greg Miller. I was so, first party man was his number 10. I tweeted out that we're doing game of the year today, right? And some guy with an Xbox. Avatar, of course, tweeted back. It was just like, well, we know it won't be Spider-Man 2 when King of the Sony ponies

had to change their two. And he clips some random fucking dude. And I'm like, whoa, whoa, you can't have your cake and eat it too. If I'm the Sony pony, then I'm fucking King of the Sony pony. It's all right. Yeah, no, I played a lot of Starfield, right, and played it for the review. And one of the things I do want to shout out about it is that, you know, it's a new Bethesda IP.

And I'm somebody who I've loved Bethesda games, right? Like, Fall Out 3 and Fallout 4 in my jam. I'm such a big fallout person. And, you know, I played Starfield and it didn't resonate with me. But what did resonate with me about it, about the idea of it and also how it's resonating with other people is just the fact that you can, as I play through it, I can tell that this is a game that is whether you want to say Todd Howard or just, but that's a team, right? I could tell that this is a dream game that they wanted to make, right?

Like, you know, parts of my, a lot of my complaints with Starfield have to do with how so many of the mechanics feel like they root back in the mid-2000s. This feels like I'm playing Fallout 3. This feels like I'm playing a Elders level Skyrim or Oblivion or Fall Out 4. It feels like so many of the systems and mechanics of this game in a Bethesda haven't been modernized through the years. And so I feel like I'm playing a game that's rooted from back in the day. But at the same time, you could tell that this is something that they were like, hey, what makes a Bethesda game? And how do we take the idea of a Bethesda game and take it to space exploration?

Take it to go like landing on a bunch of different planets. making a settlement, doing all these different things, right? And like, you look at the settlement system and fallout for, you look at like the quest systems of early fallout games. You look at the faction systems that you see in different ball games or different Bethesda games. And all of it is, has been recontextualized to this game in a way that even though it wasn't for me, I still look at and I'm like,

oh, but if I was, if I'm somebody who is coming into this with the idea of, hey, I don't really care about like whether something is like a 10 out of 10 game. I don't really care about playing something that feels like it lives in the future or whatever. I just want to play a space exploration, but that's the game. This is a dream game for that kind of person. And I think it does deliver on that, right? Like in my, I guess somewhere between 40 and 70 hours, since my Xbox clock is different from my game clock.

In my, you know, that amount of time of playing, I've had so many moments where, you know, I am just like chilling in space and I run into somebody and they're like, hey, you know, I'm lost out here. Can he help me out? And I'm like, it's Michael Sarah. Hey man, I got to get to the set of Barbie. Can you help me? And I like, you know, like, they are creating those Bethesda adventure moments in ways that I know for me,

go back to Fallout that were so special for me in Fallout. And I know that people out there, there's a handful of people out there that are having those same kinds of experiences, but it's Starfield, right? And in the way that I identify so much with post-apocalypse, and I love post-apocalypse and that kind of setting resonates with me. in the way that a fantasy setting for our Skyrim fan or Elder Scrolls fan resonates with them, Starfield is for so many people out there.

And like, you know, from hearing Greg talk about it, from hearing Andy and so many other people talk about it, like, I'm so happy that enough people are like, okay, yeah, like, sure, it may have this problem, this problem, but it's what they're trying to do still works for me. And I think that's something to be commended. And so shout out to that. Shout out to that.

Here we are, everyone. The top five. Let's hit it. Number five. Cyberpunk 27 I'm glad I made it

there we go cyberpunk Phanim Liberty who wants to jump off first off whose list was this on this is on mine mine was on Barrett

I did not think this is going to make the list I'm assuming Paris had it pretty high yes Paris was the fourth person had it Barrett can you give us

the rundown of where it was on everyone's list uh on Bless's list let's see 10 9 8 7 6 5 it was number 5

for Bless it was number three for Andy. It was number nine for myself and it was number four for Paris. Awesome. Andy, you want to start this one? Yeah, just CD Project Red show and why they're so talented and why this developer is able to make single player RPG experiences that tell incredible stories with really well thought out NPCs that for my money like it feel and look the most real to experience. There are several games that obviously not every game has crazy budget to be able to throw into NPC animations, and I totally understand that because there are a lot of side quests in Final Fantasy 16

where the ones that are more important are a bit more lifelike and the NPCs that are maybe not so important because they only give you like three Gill or whatever, three cents from the ground. NPCs are a bit more robotic and more procedural and not there's not as much as like creator love on it. It's a lot of just like kind of pre-made animations. And I think for what it's worth, like cyberpunk blew me away with so many different NPC interactions, so many different side quests

to go along with this awesome 12, 15, 20 hour, depending on how long you spend in this world experience. Espionage, this goes way deeper than you could have ever imagined type shit. I'm all about it. I already loved cyberpunk initially. The 2.0 upgrades really made me have a lot more fun with it, and I feel like it was a lot more fleshed out.

But at the end of the day, it comes down to So Me, which is Songbird and Solomon Reed, delivering some of the best performances in addition to what I feel is like a much more improved V performance, where I played the male voice of V, and I felt like it was, I was a lot more impressed. It's not that I was ever like down on the V voice actor, but I feel like this time around, it just felt like maybe they knew what was done better or maybe not done as well in the prior iteration or just like cyberpunk as a whole.

And I feel like so many lines that were delivered here were incredible. And the story hitting you with twists and people backstabbing each other with really awesome decision-making near the end of it that fucking like, had me blown away, and I wish I was able to, like, to record my, my reactions to it, because I thought they really knocked it out of the park with, what are some decisions that this character can make that,

similar to when you watch, like, when Game of Thrones is, like, at its peak, and you hate that one fucking character for two seasons, and you start to learn that character, you're like, maybe I hate the other character, actually. And I feel like there are so many decisions here that really make you feel conflicted, and those are my favorite decisions. to make in games. I've never loved like, this is the super neutral

positive impact one. Like there's always some gray area and I think that CD Project Red and their storytellers do such a great job with never making you quite feel like the decision you're making is the right one because the other, the decision that you're not making has equally good benefits and a lot of drawbacks

as well. I just love the story that they tell. And I loved the exploration of Dogtown. I feel like I really enjoyed driving around and accepting missions in Dogtown, which is the new area that they added, because I always felt like Knight City, felt like a city planner built it as opposed to like a game level designer. It never felt like this is a trivert. This is like a video game playground for me in the way that like maybe GTA felt back in the day.

It feels very and looks very lifelike and accurate to how a city should look and feel. But I don't feel like that lent itself to a whole lot of like those emergent gameplay moments when you're just driving around and you, you know, see somebody on the side of the road like, dude, can you, can you give me a ride? I need to hum and they end up, like, trying to fuck you over. It just felt like night city was always like very cosmetically beautiful, but there wasn't a whole lot there because you're basically going from this mission to that person's house. And there's not a whole lot happening in between unless you decide to like fight random gangs or whatever.

But Dogtown kind of reminded me. It's a weird callback, but it reminded me of having a lot of fun, like mindless fun with rage too. Sure. Like, just like, here's this open area that with having the drops kind of coming in of loot that you could go get if you wanted. I just loved all that experience. And of course, it's insanely gorgeous and building out your character and new cool ways,

having new abilities. I freaking loved my time with Cyro Punk, Phantom Liberty. Yeah, I 100% agree, right? Like, this was easily one of the best experiences I had in a video game this year. And it comes down to so many different things. You know, you talk about Dogtown. And I think for me, the thing that really cements it is like, you know, I look, every now on that, I look back at the notes from, the notes I took when I first reviewed CyroPunk 277, like back toward the end of 2020. And I had like a long, like a long Google document with so many bullet points.

And I had like a pros and a cons section. And the cons section was so long. It was mostly bugs. It was mostly like, oh, man, you know, this game, there's so many things that I'm running to. But also there's going to be a day one patch, I think. that's what they say. And so, like, hopefully those bugs won't be here, but it's a lot of bugs.

And so we'll see. It was like a lot of that. And then also those doodles everywhere in this fucking video game at launch. I don't remember this, but like, there was a lot of dildos. But, like, there was a list of bullet points that I had

that even went on to, you know, the world of Cyropunk almost felt like it was trying to hard to have attitude and be edgy. And as for as much as I wanted to love the world, it felt like it was trying too hard. And it just ended up being cheesy in so many ways, along with, you know, the story, me enjoying the story,

but also seeing the story, some places where the story can improve and all this stuff, right? In the pro section, for me, there were still enough things where I'm like, I like this game and I really wish I could like it more. Like, I really wish that I can like it without caveat. But there are so many caveats that I have to make. Playing through the DLC, playing through Phantom Liberty and playing like hanging out in Dogtown, it's the first time that I feel like I can love Cyro Punk 277 without caveat and I have to go,

wait, wait, but you should, you know, worry about this thing and all these bugs and all this stuff. I think maybe I had one bug in my entire, am I, like, what, 20 hours? of playing the DLC and the bug wasn't even anything too serious. Like I think it was somebody ragdolling or some shit like that. You know, like that element was so cleaned up. The story felt way more engaging. The quote unquote attitude of the world felt way more inviting and way less alienating in a way where I wanted to just live in cyrump.

Like I just wanted to drive around that world. Reminded me a playing when I first picked up GTA 5 back in the day and feeling like I could just drive around not Liberty City, San Andreas, right? I can just drive around Los Santos and just hang out. Dogtown and the world that they've, you know, have been able to progress to with Cyrupunk 2.0 Slaps of Phantom Liberty feels like a world that I just want to hang out in. It kind of makes me want that most player game

that I think got canceled at some point. But yeah, like there's that. There's the cool story moments and like visual moments of getting to like the ballroom area and like seeing the concert and like the wings that light up like behind the performer and like so many different aesthetically, I would say mind-blowing sequences

that really work for me. And yeah, like I think they just had a lot of fun with the DLC. You know, you talk about, and he talks about, like,

the, it goes way deeper type stuff, right? And for me, there are so many things I love about a mission impossible movie that are present here

in Cyrup, Phantom Liberty. And yeah, I think they just knocked out of the park. Like, Idraselva killed it. The performance of songbird was great as well.

And yeah, like I loved everything about it. Barrett? Yeah, so it was my number nine. I really, finally fell in love with this game and in particular Phantom Liberty

completely re-rolled and all that stuff played through the first 15 hours just to kind of get re-experienced and re-acquainted with the world. This is the game that I've thought about going back to even before the expansion just because of edge runners that came out on Netflix which was fucking amazing

and made me want to be in that world and I think Phantom Liberty as an expansion actually finally succeeded in doing that in the video game space. It's funny that y'all talk about like if we're talking about like movie kind of comparisons here, if y'all talking about Mission Impossible. The story for Phantom Liberty turned into like a Thelma and Louise situation for me and my V and like learning about Songbird and essentially like the way they tie in kind of like what you're going through and your connection to some of the

characters in Phantom Liberty I thought was really, really well done. And I was ready to to burn the entire city down just to help one person, which to me in my head was such a satisfying arc for V, and then also Johnny's still hanging out and all of this stuff. So much to the point where I rolled credits on Phantom Liberty, and I did not, like, you can still play through the main campaign after that. I did not continue because the end of Phantom Liberty was like my ending. I did not need to see what happened after that.

It was so strong for me that I didn't want to, I don't know, like weaken what my ending of Phantom Liberty was. The reason it was so low, I think the promise of, you know, upgrading like the RPG systems and like all of the skill sets and all this stuff, I thought it was still very much lacking. When you put me in a game that walks like DSX, talks like DSX, but doesn't actually do the things that I can do in DSX, it's still kind of a letdown.

So there was a good chunk I think it was 10 hours in I just had to like All right You're playing first person GTA In a cool world Just let go of what you wanted this to be And just have fun with it

And I was able to still enjoy it Past that so But yeah the the Phantom Liberty stuff Specifically I was really in love with Yes some of the best writing Ever Very very good writing Also shout to the combat

The combat I feel like It's always an underrated aspect of that game where, I mean, this goes to some of the skill tree improvements that they made, but like the gunplay, the like, I forget if they added new weapons for the DLC or, okay, yeah, because I felt like I was acquiring like a lot

more stuff where I'm like, yo, this smart sniper is fucking sick as hell. Actually, no, yeah, there is like, I don't want to spoil anything. There is a moment where you get a weapon where I'm like, I'm not to knock people out with this thing. It felt fucking great. Yeah, my fate, like, I play a lot as the character Ash in Overwatch, and she throws a dynamite at characters and you could shoot the dynamite

in midair to explode it and then just have like an AOE explosion near a big group of characters. And that was one of like the ability add-ons to one of the skill trees. And it was a fucking dream control. It was so much fun to do with a group of baddies that you would throw a grenade at, shotgun, that shit. I had my extended dash that I would then like dash and dash behind people immediately. The amount of like just brains I was exploding with all my cybernetic stuff. I loved, loved every combat encounter

because I would always, if I could do with stealth, I would try as hard as I could to hack into the cameras. I had so much fun with that. It reminds me of like, of knocking out the bases in Spider-Man too, like very, very junk food type gameplay where there's, I just had so much fun. I could do that for hours. Like just going into a place and going through the camera systems,

hacking that dude, taking that dude out, distracting that person so they go towards a door and bam, I'm right there, like with the silence kill or whatever. I thought they added a lot of different varied ways to go about this world. And, yeah, I just loved making somebody cybernetics fuck up to where they would like unleash a poison around them and all their friends. And they were all dealing with this poison now that it was, you know, slowly taking their health out or making a dude just like off himself.

It was amazing. Really, really cool stuff. Yeah, that's one of the mega upgrades. Yeah. That was really good. It's not real. Greg, Janet, Mike, any thoughts on this one? No, didn't play this one. I played it, reviewed it. I didn't have a lot of the experiences people have with it. The voice acting, of course, stellar. The fact that it's a mission impossible, 100% correct. For me, Dogtown was dead. Like, I was so one of the things I talked about in the review and why three out of five did it was just being so bored driving from one thing to the next thing and not having the emergent moments of somebody need me help this happening. I only had in my playthrough, only one time did they, they try to take my car and introduce that new out of the car shooting mechanic,

which I didn't like, and that just never happened again. I was like, okay. I had a really weird experience that it just, it didn't connect with me the way it did. And there's also this whole thing of, I platinum cyberpunk as 1.0, right?

So I had like, bingeed cyberpunk. And one of my big problems with it, by the end of it was that I was fucking God, right? Like I had all the cybernetics and, you know what I mean? It would just take everything out. Nobody was a challenge.

And so when we got review code for this, I specifically was like, all right, cool. Let's start a new. new character, but I did jump right into it because that's what I was looking to do, right? And even with the level 15 bump they gave me, I think it might have been. It's been a while. I still was God. Like, I just wasn't feeling like I needed to think or do. And like, I think one of the things that's telling is, and maybe why it's a A or B experience or what you did or whatever, right?

Like, I just did what I normally do in those games, which is, all right, let's go into pistols. Let's go into machine guns and did it. When Bless is telling the story and showing the clip of him, I'm like, oh, man, that is cool of like slowing that time, using the katana. Like that's a rad thing. You know, like I had done a lot of the cybernetic hacking in my original playthrough, so I put that back in there. But again, it was just overload, get in there, kill him, shoot him down. It was like the way I was playing, I guess was boring. So maybe that influences a little bit of what it was.

But it also just, even though it's improved, felt so much like the first time around, which I did appreciate because I did platinum it or whatever. But this one just didn't knock my socks back or not. There we didn't knock my socks. Damn it. And I got it. There we go. Blow my hair back or knock my socks off. It's enjoyable and I get it.

I'm so glad back to the Starfield thing, I'm talking about it. I love that people love it. That's awesome. I'm glad. But like even going back and restarting the game and going through, like I was enjoying it, but even that,

I was like, yeah, right. Yeah. This is one of my biggest misses this year. I just didn't have time to last year to get to it yet. But you guys are having me up on it so much that I hope I eventually do find time. But you know how that. And not a long experience.

Very digestible. Let's get to our top four. Number four. Boulder's Gate 3. Wow. Okay. Balders Gate 3. Who thinks they have this highest on their list?

Janet. Yeah. Where is it on your list? It's my number one on my list. Yeah, Ballard's Gate 3 is awesome. Admittedly, I didn't beat it. Go ahead and get mad that a game I didn't be is my number one. It is what it is.

It's a really long experience and I want to actually take my time with it and enjoy it. It's one of those I've seen it. Yeah. Honestly, no, it is. And frankly, like, you know, it's funny because you can slice it any way. I don't spend too much time talking about the merits of finishing or not finishing. But, like, you know, I finished games I didn't like. I've done every combination of everything.

I've fucking lived all the lives that Greg flew through in space. But ultimately, like, this game just fucking hits. It is the, you know, like people that follow the content know that I'm a big, you know, narrative person. I love when I get great narrative from video games. But I will say typically I only get great narrative from a game that is a narrative game, a capital and narrative game, like a visual novel, a walking sim. Baldersgate 3, like, one of the things I keep saying about Ballers Gate 3 is it has better writing in someone in a rat talking about like a shiny thing they saw under a rug

than some of y'all have in your entire game. And that is not as to shade every other game. That's just more to emphasize how brilliant every single section of this. Every moment is just incredibly delectable. I'll have converse. It's like, it feels like what games want to be in that regard, where you talk to like someone who's freaking selling potions,

and it's like the best conversation I've had in years. And then meanwhile, too, like I, you know, I think there's definitely spots where folks, you know, mileage may vary, right? It's like, oh, the combat, I played on console, oh, it was too many wheels. Personally, I found it to be really not simple to navigate, but I didn't have too much of a hard time doing it on console, despite there being eight wheels on it. I love the combat, the sort of like turned base, think it through.

You're kind of playing with again, it's D&D essentially like in video game form. And like experimenting with the different combinations of what is possible. Like they really did design a lot of their like places where battle takes place to have the environment, you know, as an accessory to that combat. Whether it's like, you know, something simple like height, whether it's things that maybe I can create. like an explosive over here. My character is Druid and I forget what the other one is but I picked, I'm like, I googled like, how can I talk to animals?

I'm like, that's all I care about this game. Eliza Thorbury ass. Yeah, I was like, how to, yeah, 100%. I was like. And it pays off so much. Yes, it's so good. I mean, you can do that even if you don't have a character spec to do that. But I have that.

I'm a druid. I can, like, transform into creatures. So I just can become like a big ass spider, put down some webs, boom, light that up. Like, there's so much cool, fun. shit that can happen in this game. Real quick question. Are you able to transform into a small animal to crawl into holes?

Um, I can, because a lot of times I see holes and I'm like, how do I get in there? I don't, I don't know because I haven't, again, I'm never diving into the, that's the problem with the elven ring. I just didn't jump down the hole. I haven't tried the slither into like areas, but like, everybody is trying to say yes, because you can be a cat. That's cool.

And then you have like, you're, you don't have a lot of help, but you're like, people can't like hit you easily or you can, and there's like so much, there's so much just shit in this game where everything is just so, thoughtfully done, down to like you talk to someone that's like of one race and it's like a same race as like another party member and if they have

a conversation there's like unique dialogue there and it's like real ass dialogue. Like it's actually like meaningful shit not just like oh like I too do a games podcast I can like say this random flavor text and like everything has meaning everything has purpose everything is so thoughtful. Yeah and it matters in a way that feels like compelling

in the moment because I think when we talk about do your choices matter in video games? A lot of times we end up talking about like what is that narrative payoff, right? Like, you know, can me and blessing have like a different end result? Oh, I got the good end and you got the bad, you know, those aspects.

And sure, that runs through this game and it runs through a lot of games. And I think it's a valuable conversation to have. But what's more important in story than can we get to these different spots is do I feel invested? Do I buy into the fact that I care about what I'm saying? Even if it's like at the end of the day, you know, life is strange, you know, you pick the, you stay or do you leave?

Who'd you kiss or something? Are you going to be strange or not? Yeah. I'm not going to. Is it strange or is it not? But I bring that up as like a quick canned example because it doesn't matter, you know, what we did in the end of that game. It's about like the stuff along the way, which I know it's teasing. Yeah.

No, it's not. But it's true. It's true. When you're talking about a game, it's 300 hours like Baldur's Gate, right? When you're talking about any game, it's about what you did. Yes, and it's about feeling like it matters. Even if it does, that's the genius of the design. If it can feel like I'm bought into it.

It doesn't have to, I don't have to look under the hood. And nine times out of ten, you can't even anyway with all the different, you know, permutations of things. But like you have that feeling in every single thing you do. Everything's compelling. Everything's interesting. Everything hits. Again, there's criticisms I have. It is a little clunky.

I'm not going to lie. Chad did have to like carry me through really getting a deeper. understanding of the combat, you know? But like, even down to like the freaking abilities you get, I look at the abilities that you have available in Balders Gate 3. And I feel like you ever go to a good ass restaurant and you're like, I know I'm going to be back here, but like, I kind of want to eat everything. Like, what do I get? Like, can we split the plate? That's how I feel looking at those like stats. And I feel like no matter what your style is, you're going to have that feeling because there's so much compelling, interesting shit. So like, yeah, you know, I haven't finished it yet.

But like it's one of those things where it's like, when you know, you know. I mean, we touch games all the time and like, you know when something hits or when something clicks or all this, that and the third. Like, I'm like, oh, yeah, this is just like doing something that I feel like, I don't know. I just remind you to say once in a lifetime, but like not a lot can do it at this level. It feels like one of a kind. Yeah. Like I don't think I've ever played a game that's like Ballers Gate 3. And I'm similar to you where this game for me was my number two.

And I've not, I've also not finished it. In fact, like I still have. This was your number three. Bliss. It was my, oh, sorry, you're right, you're right, you're right, you're right. It was my number three. Oh, I just remember one number two is. We got them on the fact, chat.

Well, you freaked me out for a second. I was like, did I do math wrong? Sorry, I'm sorry, Mr. Radio, yeah. Let me just reference the documents you submitted. It was one of those things where I kept, I just shifted around in my list when I was making it, but you're right, it ended up being my number three. Lies of blesses, my, uh, lies of B. But it's the same thing as Janet where, you know,

Jan, you're talking about, like, creating your own adventure. And like, I think back to how Greg would, playing a game like Life is Strange or playing a game that is choose your own adventure, where it often feels like you are coloring in a coloring book in your own style. And if that's like the comparison for something like a Life of Strange or like any other kind of like Choose Your Own Adventure game, Baldrace Gate 3 is like a mural that you're coloring in, right? It is this gigantic, oh man, like I am really, for me, I really invested into my character

and went, all right, how do I create something that feels truly unique to me? I can't think of anybody else's play-through that is probably similar to mine, right? Like, I know people are encountering the same quest. I know people, there are other people that chose the same class, but there are so many choices that you're making moment to moment in the way that you solve different scenarios that feel so advanced, that feel so deep. The biggest compliment I can pay to Baldr's Gate 3 is that it almost feels like the first time I am playing an RPG video game that is actually an RPG, right?

Like, there are so many times you play RPG video games, like so many video game RPGs take influence and take cues from tabletop RPGs, right? Because those are the systems that set the stage. All right, cool. Like, a lot of developers will tell you about how they play D&D, about how they play a lot of tabletop stuff to try and figure out where they want to go

with their systems and their games. And Balders Gate 3 doesn't just emulate. Balders Gate 3 doesn't go, all right, now let's make a bunch of quests and make five classes and make sure people can feel like they're creating their own quest. Like, again, nothing wrong with that.

I think those, that's, I've played so many of those games and I love so many of those games. Balders Gate 3 feels like an actual tabletop RPG. Obviously, it's D&D. you're ruling dice and all that stuff, but it's also that deep just in terms of the different ways you can go about, like, different dialogue chains, different character permutations and how different characters will interact with each other. And then also like different combat scenarios

where I went back and did that goblin camp in Act 1 in so many different ways, just trying and failing. You know, I died so many times because I refused to turn the game to easy because I'm stubborn, which is why I'm still very early in the game. But like, when I found, finally figured out with the goblin camp what I was going to do, right? Like, I went to a fucking, um, like gigantic tarantula cage, talked to the tarantulas and got them on my side and then opened up the cage and then set everything on fire like with the help of the tarantulas. And it felt like such a gratifying thing when I finally solved it after probably- Torrentulas are gored in this game. Yeah. Dude, those tarantulas are my homies. Like rest and peace.

God bless their souls. They're gone now. Yeah. But like they helped me in the moment. Um, and that felt like such a satisfying thing because I tried that. over and over and over again in so many different creative ways. And I know for a fact, so many of those other ways would have worked if they just happened to work, right? If I just happened to see them through and they worked the, you know, things turned in my favor. It just happened to be that the tarantulas and the fire were the way to go for me. But there are so many scenarios like that going to the witch's bog and figuring out like,

oh, wait, is this shit real? Like, what's going on here? And then the turn that happened there, like running into a guy while I'm hanging out with Astaire and that guy being like, yeah, I'm looking for this guy named asterian and me being like, oh, are you? Right? Like replaying that conversation because I needed to know what are the other ways this conversation goes if I like don't rat out the stereo.

Or if I do read out of Astarian, it's a game that just feels larger than life in so many ways. Even in my, I've played 30 hours so far. I want this game to be a game that I'm playing forever. Like I want to continually come back to Baldes Gate 3 over the course of my lifetime and like just have this one playthrough that I keep coming back to you because it just feels like such a larger than life adventure that is absolutely. working in the ways that it intends to work.

And so, yeah, this is an incredible video game. Yeah, I think it's also just so brave in the way that it'll allow, it really does allow that player freedom where I think so often it's like, well, like, we have like the stuff that's really good. And then like, oh, you can dig into some other stuff that's like, you know, like, there's so much of that push and pull or the, Mike just gave me a smile. Yeah, maybe a little too much player freedom.

I love the player freedom is right. Hell yes. We chopped off Carlax head. Oh, God. I let him stab that one lady in the neck in the camp. I mean, this is some incredible stuff where. the main characters of the story that they clearly have built out,

they want you to fall in love with and support and bring along with you. I was like, nah, I don't even want you here. And then they were gone. And yeah, I love that.

Mike was like, I don't need any friendly NPCs that I can learn about their story. I just love that like in all other game of the year podcast this year. People are talking about Carlack, how she's the best.

She's one of the best characters of the year. And then ours is like, Mike killed her. Yeah. Yeah. But like, they're unafraid to let you do that.

You know what I mean? It's like, you could miss things that like, oh, you're going to miss this big chunk of a game. And it's like, it's fine. We have like, there's plenty of other stuff here. Don't worry. There's plenty of food here.

Like, you don't got to like pick and choose and worry about like what you're going to get, what you're not going to get. Oh, well, it's only fun if you play it like this way. Oh, well, you didn't play it right. And that's why you didn't have fun. Like so many games have that when you end up like breaking down in conversation about it. But like, Barsgate 3, sure, there's some people that just don't click with it because it's like, you know, it is a very specific type of game.

But if you get into it, it's like, how can you not like appreciate the fuck out of like what's doing here. There's a huge moment that really kind of showed me what like how different Larian is because after playing a lot of ball as gate three and getting those tendencies and just having the curiosity for like game development's sake and I was in a side quest on Starfield and there was this dude that was meeting with me and he was going to fuck me over and I shot him and nothing happened and I was like fuck man why can't I kill this dude right here because they have have it built into where this and this needs to happen. But in that case, I'm like, well, don't even let me pull out a gun, then.

Like, don't break that illusion, right? And the idea that anybody can be killed or robbed or made a friend or, you know, there are so many different moments like that. And I had said prior on a games cast earlier this year that I think the big new thing that Larian is doing here is like this D&D-style combat where when you're listening to a D&D podcast and somebody says, well, there's a rope hanging from the ceiling. Can I swing on that rope and jump to the other side? Like, that level of freedom is absolutely here.

If there is a rock that looks like it's breakable, you could probably break that and have it land on a bunch of enemies, expletable barrels. We've seen, like, so many great memes on the internet from just people being really creative with its gameplay. But, like, in terms of RPG stuff, nothing really new here happened with what Lerin is doing. There's nothing new that they're doing.

They're just doing everything. a million times percent better than everybody else is because of budget and time. And like a lot of those things exist in game development. And it seems like none of that shit existed here because you can happen upon a character that or a character dialogue tree that 0.004% of people will ever experience because nobody would have thought to go back to that person or nobody went about that mission in that order. There are so many different versions of it that I, it gives me just anxiety is like a game developer nightmare of like we have to account for

these 30 different things that then branch out into 3,000 different like I can't even imagine what the dialogue trees look like but this was just larry and saying like all those RPGs that you know when you get to the end of it and he talks to that one character and it's like they've never fucking talked to you before you're like oh shit man like we've been through a lot and this is how you're talking to me this game takes all that shit into account. character feels like they have like a fully formed memory that talks about all the shit you've done and all the shit you've gotten into. This was number four on my list. I, um, this along with Starfield and probably tears is what I put the most time into, about like 130 hours in between

like the gameplay between me and Mike and Roger and the gameplay just on my own single player, uh, play through. I'm about halfway into act three. Um, and I'm still having a good time trying to figure out a mystery. I'm the type of person that doesn't, with the level of quality that you could likely miss out on, I don't want to miss anything. And it's really making the gameplay a lot longer because I want to talk to every MPC that has something for me to do because everything feels so rewarding. Nothing feels like a bullshit fetch quest for XP, you know. I loved this game. I had so much fun. And I give the team so much kudos for the idea of even allowing it to be multiplayer. right? I think we learned a valuable lesson of like a game like this and also for me on Diablo is when you play with friends, a lot of chaos ensues. Maybe it goes a little bit slower than you want it to go. But it is really amazing that four of us can jump in, kind of choose our own adventure and go along with each other. That is something truly special and never forgets. But I had a blast with this. I liked accepting, you know, the absolute and being real evil on it. It was a lot. God, it was a great time. Family game of the year, Balduskey 3.

Shout it to how gorgeous this game is as well. Like this was the game that. that I think sort of turned me into a PC gamer, at least for a while there, where I went home. And I was like, all right, it's time to install that RTX, what was it, 3090 that I had? I don't even know what it was. I guess it didn't turn you into PC.

It was whatever one, Andy gave me. When they first came out, just lying around for about a year and a half. Yeah, I was like, what my God. I was like, any game to me and I was like, oh yeah, I'll install this. And I was like in the middle of like, GDP crypto, like, every GPU is like $5,000.

Yeah, and I was like, all right, cool, I install this. And there was never a time where I was like, Oh man, I need to install this for whatever PC game that I'm playing. And then, yeah, like, I started playing Baldur's Gate 3 on the Steam Deck, enjoyed it so much on the Steam Deck that I was like, fuck, dude. And then, like, I saw somebody showed it to me on PC. It might have been Andy.

Yeah, somebody showed me how it looked on PC. And I was like, fuck. And you took you out back and showed you a PC gaming work like. Yeah. And Seamedic Cloud Save is just incredible. Right. And so I had to, like, go home and then finally install the Rtex 30. And then also hit up Kevin and be like, yo, can I get like some more?

And you come install the Tartagric? Yeah. No, no, I did it all myself, but I had to ask him for extended storage because I was like, I just need more space on my computer. And so like for maybe like three days, I'll take apart my PC and then like plug something in and go, oh, man, I'm not seeing where to like put this thing. So I'll take a picture and send it to Kevin. And Kevin would be like, oh, yeah, you need this adapter. And I'll come into work and take it back home. And I think I need this other thing.

And it was just three days. You really don't want to drop it down easy. Like this is crazy. Like you just have someone to do it for you. It's like the dad teaches kid out to do an oil change. You know what I mean? Like in the future, you'll be able to do this and be like, what? Well, now I'm like, now I'm saying, like, I can't change a tire, but I can change out a graphics car and extend my storage. And yeah, like, that game turned me into a PC gamer and also like playing that game, wide screen, mouse and keyboard. Oh, I'm like, one of the best gaming experiences we had this year. Barrett, was this on your or Paris's list? No, it was not. I played a good chunk of Acton. Really enjoyed it. But again, too many goddamn games. Too many games.

Speaking of too many games Final three everyone Three mini games Three many games That's good number three Hooks Number three Alan Wake

Tide with All right It's not like All right Alan Wake two Who thinks they had this highest On their list Not Mike

Mike is pissed Mike is out Mike's walking out I will say this was Paris's game of the year. Wow. Wow. Who thinks they had it second highest thing? I might have three.

I have three as well. Yeah. There we go, Janet. Let us know what you think. Man, this, how about a wild game? Because I'm so mixed on this game. It's very high on my list because I think it's so intriguing and ambitious and interesting. Like there's no game like it.

And at times it plays well. I will say like, oh man, some of that L and stuff, I'm like, what is like, just the Dodge Walk. Yeah, it is a messy, it is a messy ass game, but I respect what it's doing, the way it's playing with media. And I do like, as far as the gameplay aspects of it, I do really enjoy the sort of, um, its take on survival horror. And the, um, again, the thing I always mentioned that I really like about survival

horror is kind of that walking sim vibe of it. And the like, look in it shit. And it's kind of spooky. And you're in like, you know, in Resident Evil, it's like the bespoke. manner and I'm like, everyone, leave me the fuck alone for a second. I want to look at these cabinets, you know? And I don't wake too is that, but like instead of cabinets, it's like a really well thought out, a disturbing coffee theme park. You know, it's coffee world. It's like walking around like the sauna's out back and you're in the woods and you're at the lake and then,

you know, you're like sort of seeing something, but you don't know what's there and then they're like, where the fuck that wolf come from? And it has like this really, especially and that's why, I resonate so heavily with the saga stuff because I really like the evocativeness but also the familiarity, kind of the coziness of those sequences, even just like the fucking dumb gamification

of like the upgrade system where it's like I found this scrap of paper and now I have word of stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Now I have 25% critical head stuff. I actually really love that. Like I loved going around like as Alan and like finding the fucking words of power

and all when they let me go around as Alan because like, I'll have actually got some problems. But also, too, like, just a quick shout out to the, the, gosh, what's it called? The mission, you know, the music section in this. Yeah, we sing is definitely like moment of the year for me. It's just so incredible.

And yeah, but this is like an interesting, like, mixed bag game in a lot of ways. But I think the, it's also kind of what I like about games in general. I think we always have that conversation of like a game that's really good. And like we all love. But it's like, you feel like, something's kind of like missing. Like it doesn't have that, you know, that special something that makes it like so beloved for like,

I think a lot of us is how we end up like going back to like talking about games. And I think Alan Wake, granted, sometimes to a fault, it has that edge to it. It has a little bit that grit. Like, yeah,

there are problems, but there's problems because they had the ambition. Yeah. To create their own problems, which I know it's going to sound like very kind of odd. But that's just me kind of acknowledging the ways that like, as I dig into it. They need such a weird game.

There's definitely problems. But I think the problems are worth what. 100% yeah 100% yeah i think i think i think allan wake too for all of its faults is a masterpiece right like i think what a great job of i mean it's like you look at remedy in the track record and the lineage they have right and you get to this game and i think it's crazy to have had control right which was a breakout success for them holy shit if you hadn't been paying attention now you have to right but to get here and be like oh man this was the culmination of everything they've been doing to get here right the live action of quantum break now here flawlessly ingrained into this right where it is you're going through the

door sections, right? And they're saying it and interviews, you're like, what's going on? Then you're in the, and it's just like, it's, you're not getting that, you know, uncanny valley thing. It was actually working.

It did actually progress. It stuff overlaid, watching videos inside of it. You know, this story and the narrative and is it clunky at times and overwritten. Yeah, of course, but that is what Alan Wake is. And I think they do such a great job of Alan being this just hockey writer, right? Just the shlocky writer of just being like,

yeah, You know, you're like, you're like, yeah, I am. It's like, I probably should have quit writing, but I need to keep writing because I want to keep writing. But if I do this, I can do this and I can get scratched. Do you X, Y? I like to take that. It's a story about like just being way past your prime. Totally.

I love that take that. This is just like a dude who's just super washed. But then to have Alex Casey in it, right? And then to have it be like, I was trying to explain to Jen after night one or two or whatever where it's just like, but then you got to understand they're in the talk show. And it's Sam Lake as Sam Lake, but as the. the actor being Alex, you know, of Alex it's just like the fucking things they toss

in there and the winks to the camera and the nods and the coffee and it's just like it is such a fucking spectacularly weird game. I'm so glad it exists. I'm so glad they got to make it. I'm so glad we sing catches you off guard. And there's a million other things in there. And of course, it's all a spiral

and this, that, and the other, and da-da, like I'm, it is just so magnificent. It's so special. Yeah, this was my number four. Like y'all were saying, it's such a weird game. I think it's so special and cool. Like I talked all year about Armour Corps 6 being the coolest game this year, but Allen Wake 2 is like in terms of just vibes, just so impressive. I would say like I feel like I cheated a little bit in my enjoyment because I'm not a remedy verse head. I'm

dropped off of control very early. I've never played Allen Wake 1. I know maybe of five people ever played Quantum Break or whatever the fuck that game was. How you doing? It's me. Yeah, there you go. But I just happened to play through most of this game in front of the show. Ari came to visit us for the week, and she is a huge Remedyverse Head. And so as a newcomer, I feel like I cheated a little bit because any, like, section that had a character that's referencing back to Alan Wake 1, Ari was there to be like, yo, this is why this is important.

This is why this person's story is like really sad. And so I was able to like kind of get that context and that enjoyment of like the weird things that they're doing with this universe. comes to gameplay, like, I heard other people talking about it. I very quickly, I was like, I'm just going to bump this down to easy. I also had to do the bump down, which is like, and I don't give this shit, you know. Like, it's more about the story than it is the survival horror stuff. And so whatever can make me enjoy that, like, I'm just going to do it.

And so I rocked with that for most of the game and I was happy with it. I was fine with it. And there are so many sequences in this game. Like, I really liked We Sing. I think everybody hyped up We Sing so goddamn. fucking much. I agree with that. That once I got to We Sing, I was like, oh, yeah, this is cool.

Like, this is, this is neat. It definitely feels like the encounters in that chapter are like, that's what I'm saying. Hey, there's no last ray maze. Yes, thank you. It's so good. Hey, we need combat sections or we're not going to be able to, Epic won't fund this chapter or something. Like, I don't know. I don't feel the, but also you can die in those sections.

But it is cool. It is very cool. But there are other sections like the, like the old person, like the old people's home. Like that entire chapter is. such a weird mind trip and then anything in the dark place. I love its commentary on just creativity and the bad things creativity can do to yourself and to others and how it affects others. I thought it was really beautiful.

It's one of those, it's my number fours. I don't love it enough to do the New Game Plus run and like get the true new ending and all that stuff. But I had a real goddamn good time with it. And again, like there was one night that Ari and I stayed up until like one in the morning and I had a third of the game left and we played through the entire last third of the game. And, you know, there's a moment where you can sit down in a theater and watch a short film and we sat down and watched that entire thing.

And it blew Ari's mind because she had already played it and like tripping her up on like, oh my God, this totally like recontextualizes some things and me getting to see the ending at that night. Ah, so special. I love that entire cast. Shout out to, I'm blanking on his name, but my boy who, who sings the song. I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, the janitor guy. Atty. Ati.

Yeah, Ati's one of the best dudes this year. This is a game that I've had such a back and forth, sort of like, I guess perspective of just in terms of when I first started this game, I was over the moon, like, over the top on it, right? Like, I couldn't wait to come into work and talk about it because it captivated me so much. Like, I could not stop thinking about this game for, like, a certain moment in time. And then as I played, you know, I sort of like came down on it.

And like even now as I'm past playing it, right, I've like come back up on it in a weird way. Like on my list, it was number eight. And I think a lot of that of why on your list, it was number nine, bless. It was number nine. Was it really? Yeah, I was one down. Yeah, I think there's like one game that like push everything down on my list and I keep her. Yeah, you're right.

It was number nine. Can we really trust this top ten? He's making me doubt it. But yeah, no, this was a game that. It was your number one, bless. Oh, fuck. It was my number one. You love this game.

Well, you guys talk about the imperfections of it. And the imperfections are what kind of bump it all the way. down to number nine for me where, you know, the gameplay wasn't necessarily my favorite survival horror style gameplay. And then also there are places where the story goes where I'm like, oh, man, I wish you did this instead of this. But overall, the weirdness of this game and how wild and different this game is and like the implementation of the FMV, a lot of the ideas at the use of the dark place, the idea of the Raddard's Room, being able to, you know, reframe certain areas to solve a puzzle and also further the narrative. I thought that stuff was super cool. You know, you guys

talk about we sing and that being the moment of the game. For me, the moment of the game was room 666 where like you get there and I don't want to say I'm not going to say anything specific about it but I was like yo this is fucking sick like I think I might have recorded my like when I got there like my microphone when I got to that part because I think I was like yo I love those microphones yeah I should have sent that to you um should be just a YouTube channel just you're like letting these clips blessings clips yeah um but yeah like I for me this game has so many different weird things that it does and I think for me the bounce back moment of it was sitting at the game awards and, you know, being blocked off by a camera boom and, like, um, them doing the dance

number and it being like Sam Lake and the cast on stage dancing with all the people. And me literally sitting in the crowd being like, what if this is part of the game? Like, what if I am in Allen Wake 2 right now? Like legitimately, because the game does such a good, good job of breaking the fourth wall and like trying to do different. Like the, like, I think what they're building with the remedy connected universe is genius. Right. And so even though not every single part of Allen Wake 2.

resonated with me. So many of the concept and so many ideas and so much of what they're going for artistically is resonating with me. Like the fourth wall shit, the fmv shit, the real life stuff, the same lake stuff. All of it is hitting so much in a way that I can't help but to get excited, even though I'm playing it. I'm like, oh man, I wish this felt better. Like I wish navigating the world felt better for me. But like at a certain point, I'm like, that's not even what the game is about anymore. Like they're doing such weird shit that I got a, I got a respect the vibe. Yeah. It's up there for the vibes for me. I'm like off the vibes. But yes, it's, it's, it is messy in a lot of ways. But again, I think it's kind of like what makes it interesting.

One of the things I don't think we touched on either. I mentioned okay, but again, gorgeous. Like, I think the game is beautiful. Yeah, the best looking at the game I ever played. When you're, I remember watching the demo at SGF of the saga section in the woods, right? And being like, okay, well, of course, this is running on a PC only the three richest kings can afford. When it gets to me on PlayStation 5, it won't be like that and turning out of, oh my God, they delivered. This game looks amazing. Yeah, it's amazing. I think Remedy knocks out of the park with production and presentation every time. Coming off of control, this game, I think it was like number 15 for me.

I think I love the presentation about this game. I would have rather just preferred watching this game or watching the playthrough of it because I didn't have a whole lot of fun playing it. Part of that is like I don't love horror games, but I had a lot of fun with Dead Space. I enjoy the shooting there. I did drop the shooting here to easy because I wasn't having enough fun to even want to have that challenge. and there are I think there's some really cool story moments

but at the end of it all like getting me feeling like excited about like that's that's Sam Lake who's like Max Payne but he's playing the role of this guy and it's like do I only care because these are just like cameos like in the way that like oh that's Captain America's cousin from that one comment like yeah

do I only care because of these tie ins like I and I feel like that's kind of what it was where I'm like oh shit that's the that's the lady from Al on wake one or that's so and so from control or whatever like I there were a lot of things like that that I was like I think I only care because they're

making these connections. See I think and it's making me like hype in those moments as opposed to like I care about what this actual character is going through. I hear you on and I understand it right and it's your own personal takeaway what it is. I loved them not because of that but because of what they added

to it where I think I would have had oh it's Captain America's cousin if it was if it was just oh hey Jen the guy who is Alex Casey and the game was on the thing, but he's also the creator. It was then back to blessing thing of like, it kind of is that even when you're playing Alan Wake, you're in Allen Wake.

Because you are sitting there going like, holy shit, that's Sam Lake, who's actually the guy playing the game, I'm thinking back to when we did KVD with Allen Way with with L. And I'm thinking back and I was like, what if he was in character? Yeah, yeah, you have to go back

and watch that for a British Blues. Yeah, I think the final moments of the whole story really kind of clicked with me though. I didn't necessarily feel like it was rushed. Like I know, I think Greg and Bless felt like it kind of wrapped up really quickly. Yeah, I thought the- I had a great time with the end of it, especially like that post-credit sequence, which I thought was really, really awesome.

I loved the mechanic of switching the script that would then change the world in when you're playing as Alan Wake. I thought that shit was just super cool on a technological level. It's similar to switching between Spider-Man and how quick and fast that was, going to the mind place as saga was also really cool. I didn't enjoy what the gameplay there was, but just the fact that you could do that and even be interrupted in those moments

was really, really damn cool. Yeah, I want to shout a double down on the writer's room stuff, Andy. Like, I think that's one of the most satisfying mechanics this year of like you change what the scene of the story is going to be and then you hear the typewriter and as soon as he changes lines for the typewriter,

it clicks into place of them changing what the environment looks like. Like, that shit is so goddamn cool. And it's not just for storytelling. It is, like, largely a lot of puzzle solving as well. How do I get into that room? Maybe I have to go into this room and change this part of the script. I thought it was just, like, that stuff was really smartly done.

And, yeah, just, like, the prettiest game. Every NPC that you'd walk up to just looked the most realistic ever. Like, having full facial capture for an NPC that's just kind of sitting in the corner of a room of an old folks home. all that stuff was just like insanely impressive. And I love that this is just remedy, like I love that they were able to make this game because you know that they wanted to do this for a long time and they were able to get insanely weird with it.

And I do think it's like a more enjoyable piece of art than it is a video game. Because give me control too. I want to fly around as Jesse Faden and throw shit and I agree with that. And dodge and all that sort of cool stuff, you know. So here we are. We're about to get to number two.

and this is important because it almost reveals what number one is unless there's a tie because here's the thing there could be a tie at two there could be a tie at one we don't know but there are two spots do we know oh we know we know bear put my you think mario wonder you know everybody number two marvels spider man two We did everybody. We made it. Boshit.

It's a clean number two. I specifically did a report on the goddamn leak for one day so it would be game of the year. That was the agreement. I love Spider-Man too so much. This is, again, such a testament to how great the year of the quality of video games themselves was in 20203. Because I looking at my list, I was like, I know what my number one is. But Spider-Man and Fallen Fantasy 16, both of them, as much as I love Fallen Fantasy 16, Spider-Man 2 just impressed the hell out of me.

Like, I feel like the biggest complaint about the game is that it's just more Spider-Man. Yeah. That is not a complaint to me. And I love Spider-Man 1. It is a game that I, I, uh, Bust is talking about wanting to play ball to skate three for the rest of his life. I'll be able to boot up insomni-X Spider-Man, any version of it for the rest of my life just to swing around and half-ball. That or Tony Hawk, uh, I mean, real talk. I put them in very similar categories in the sense that like I, they're just fun to play.

He was spider on skateboard. Uh, I mean, well, Tony, Tony, Tony, Tony, Tocs, Pro Skate, too, Sparton. Spider-Man was a good. But I've always loved Spider-Man. Spider-Man is my favorite superhero, one of my favorite characters, period. And to see the character and the world evolved, to see the introduction of Miles in the early 2010s

of the comics and to see the success that that character has had with their own stories and insomnia in a lot of ways really defining those moments. I'm so impressed by and the game's just fun in the opening Sandman fight, I'm just like, I love that my first time playing that is captured on camera. I went back and watched our first hour video and I'm just like, I'm just feeling things, man.

Like, I'm just like this game is like, it's delivering for me what I'm looking for for fun. It is fun, right off the rip and just hit you in the face. It's just so, so cool. So many great moments. And I feel like Insomniac doesn't get enough credit for the tender character moments. And like we talk a lot about it.

But then I feel like so quickly it just turns into, oh, it's just Spider-Man. No, man, this is really good Spider-Man. And when Spider-Man is good, I think Spider-Man has the ability to be a lot more than a lot of other superhero characters, mainly because of how well-defined the dynamics of these characters are and the world that they live in and the dichotomy between superhero life versus personal life and the families around them. And now with multiple spider people and their families and how their cultures connect. And it's just grounded and it's real, but it also is fantastical and insane.

and there's something about Spider-Man that maybe Batman you could put in there too but there's something about Spider-Man that there's just that youthful goodness to it at the end of the day that you're looking for and you want to root for

and to be a part of and you don't want to see the evil take over and to have the venom story and all that like very literally kind of deal with that and how it affects these characters' journeys I'm just so impressed that we've seen Spider-Man we've had iconic takes on Spider-Man

now 10 times between the cartoons and the comics and the movies and reboots and everything, video games even. And I think that these are definitive versions in a lot of ways of the Spider-Man characters and definitive versions of what fun and a video game can look like.

I absolutely love this game. Before we move on, I feel like we should toss it to the person who had it at number one on their list. Me, I love it. The Xbox guy. Internet is in shambles. Spider-Man, it's just so much fun to play.

It brings a smile to my face every time I booted up, I love Pete, I love Miles. I love the story that they told. Where's the power button on this PS5? How do I turn this? Why is the controller shaking so much? They're both almost the same side. Why do they make them almost the same?

It is an absolute blast to play. I loved all the suits. I loved Venom. I loved Craven. I had so much fun getting to see villains that I know and love from all the stories. I like seeing this world come to life. And Insomniac has crushed it with this game franchise. And I like what they did with the glide.

I had fun swinging and then going into the glide and finding new areas to really just tear through the city on. I think a lot of my gameplay is just me swinging around. And like that's what we said on Spider-Man 1 and with Miles is like just a moment-to-moment is a fun time. And that's what I had so much fun with. And when I think of Spider-Man, I always have a smile on my face. And so that's why it's my number one. Yeah, I think the moment to moment is like such an important thing. Because when I think of Insomniac, right, I think of a video-game-ass video game.

And Spider-Man, too, is such a video-game-ass video game in a way where it takes. takes me back to playing Spider-Man 2 on PS2 and like how important that game was for me and how fun that game was for me of just swinging around New York, getting into combat sequences, like, you know, doing this, the stereotypical phrase of this game made me feel like Spider-Man, right? Spider-Man 2 on PS2 made me feel like Spider-Man. And it was such a pivotal game for me at, well, at the age of eight or nine, like something like that. This is a game that I... Shit. I remember drinking beer playing out of that. Throwing it back.

But, um, you were actually seven when I played this stuff? Yeah. Fuck. Oh, dude. I got that's not boring. They didn't even card you. You're 22.

Yeah. But, like, it's one of those things where I, so like, for, over Christmas break, I went to Houston to hang out with my, uh, niece and nephews. And I, for Christmas, like, a year ago, I get through them in Xbox 1S. And like, we went out. When I went to their place, we were playing, like, it takes two and played FIFA and I beat him 11 to two. And one of the, thank you.

You know, he's a nine year old. Um, but one of the things that I was thinking about in that moment is like, damn, I kind of wish we could play Spider-Man. Like, I feel like these kids would absolutely love. These kids would absolutely, we then went and bought Marvel's Avengers and we played Spider-Man. But, like, I feel like this would be such a

incredible, no, we definitely didn't. Isn't Spider-Man PlayStation exclusive? Oh, was it? Avengers? Oh, fuck, never mind. We played Frasie Stone Fortnite, we played Fortnite. I did give them V-Buck. We had the grapple gun. But, no, like, that was one of the things that I kept thinking about was like, man, like, if I was a kid and I had this version of

Spider-Man 2, like how special that would be for the fact that it is a video game, ass video game. Like one of the moments, funny enough that I remember that sticks with me the most from playing Spider-Man 2 is going after the trophy that is, hey, get from one side of the city to the other side of the city without like swinging, right? So you have to glide through it. And me having to figure out like, all right, how am I going to do this? It took me back to playing the Spider-Man 2 on PS2 and like swing into a helicopter and

having that helicopter fly me to the Statue of Liberty and like, you know, trying to land on the train so I can take the train and all that stuff. The fact that Insomniac is so good at just pure gameplay and making a game and making a playground and like giving you this environment to just have fun, right? I think Spider-Man 2 for PS5 continues that lineage in such a good way. And yeah, like it's special. It was number 15 on my list, right? It didn't actually make my top 10.

Why didn't even write down that far? It was fucking waste in time. It was that thing where numbers like 8 through 15 were so like I can remix these in any way. So I had to like figure out what were the two that are going to make it. It was 12 for me. It missed out on. Yeah, it missed. So yeah, it wasn't on either of a list.

But like it's one that I. still from this year absolutely enjoyed and absolutely love. It was two for me. I think it's a masterclass in video games, right? And what I mean by that, and what we talked about in the review, right, is that I feel there's not a wasted moment. I know a lot of people's knock on it is, oh, you can platinum it in 20 hours.

Oh my God, blah, blah, blah, blah. But like, every one of those side quests paid off into something cool, I feel like, right? Whether it was something like the spider bots or whether it was going after the flame people, right? Or it was like just the moment of like, let's go and glide through, which totally, I hope when they put out new game,

Plus, they put in a bunch of goofy challenges like that. Because that is back to what we're always talking about. Like, oh, you want to swing around. Oh, you want to keep it around forever. Just toss in a bunch of quests like that. Even, like, go as far as maybe infamous when they did a user-cated, you-c-gated, right? User-created, whatever, content.

User-generated content, U-G-C. Where you could go through and make your own challenges and do these different things, right? But, like, the suits, yeah, the performances, yeah. The side missions, yeah. In those little quiet moments, right? Like, Seabird, you know what I mean? Running for Howard, right? Like in finishing that and literally sitting there and being like, whoa, walk, you know what I mean?

Like, it is such an incredible. Turing up crying in the club. Right. Yeah. It is such an incredible game. And I just love it because it is just pound for bound, moment for moment, so good. And jumping off that, like I, we've said this a million times now, but I do think it's very special that it is in history, the only game that every single person that kind of funny on games on the review, on the review. And that was like not a plan.

That was not something that we, like, a lot of us don't normally play the games that way. And I've now proven myself, if Insomniac puts a game out, I'm going to want to platinum it. Like that's just how it's been for them the last couple runs. But I know like Andy, like you're not normally a platinum guy, but you did. Yeah. And that a lot of that was the improvements over part one where I felt I had so much fun doing the extra side stuff that was the junk food that we've been talking about where it's just it's good. It was good podcast activities. So on a podcast, clear out bases.

And then there were. was more memorable side quests that were either emotional or had a really cool payoff by the end of it. And I just had a great time with it. It was just like overall an extremely fun game. I think where it let me down was some story moments when I think back to being really impacted by some of the relationships in the first Spider-Man game that I really enjoyed and kind of had like, wow, I'm going to remember this moment in gaming for quite some time. I didn't quite feel that a whole lot unless it was like

with one of the main characters but aside from that it just didn't quite hit me story-wise I think back to like how 2018 or I always get this wrong 2017 2018 Spider-Man

2018 Spider-Man even though it's like less good as a video game in terms like abilities and movement and world and exploration all that stuff it's still like a very cherished moment because it was like the first

time we're getting this version of Spider-Man and like what a memorable experience that was, but this is still like an incredibly worthy sequel. It's going to win a lot of awards. It's going to sell a lot of copies. This game rules and it deserves all the success. Yeah, I had it at number five on my list. I like debated on where to slide it because it's like it's a really incredible video game. Like it just is. And I know it's like, oh, it's like, it's boring to say because it's Spider-Man. It's like, well, too bad because it's fucking good. So like, Well, it's not good just because it's not... They killed it.

Like, what do you think you say? That's the thing. Like, it's just a really incredible game. And it's funny for this being our number two off of our Alan Wake conversation. Because this game is the opposite of Allen Wake 2, where it's like, one, it's highly digestible. Like, you don't have to like, you know, you're not looking hyper-analizing all these threads or whatever. And also, it's just moment to moment, like, really fun to play really well made. Like, you know, and not that Alan Wake 2 isn't well made.

But, you know, it's just, it's an incredible time. Like, you can't play it and act like you're not. Like, you're having fun. Like, I'm sorry. Maybe you think that makes you basic. Maybe it's the obvious answer. It's fucking good. I think, too, I kind of want to take back the we sing as the best moment in gaming this year.

Because I think it was the Howard moment, honestly. It was so beautiful and lovely. To add to what you said, Andy, I totally agree with you with Spider-Man 1 versus, like, two. Like, I think two feels better to play. But I do think, one, like, the story is just so much more impactful. And I think, you know, when it comes to titles like this that have like a kind of a known lore, it's about, it's like, oh, well, you know, we all know what happens. We know these things. If you know, you know kind of thing. But it's about the way you present it. And I do think when it comes to like presentation of familiar stuff, like, I didn't like get moved like that by Spider-Man too the way I wanted to be. And that's kind of why I think it wasn't higher. But I do think as far as like the platinum conversation, not only did they fix the platinum. so it's not annoying as fuck because I'm working on the Miles Platinum right now. And I'm telling you like, hey, at me for not using the wall takedowns if you want to.

But I didn't. So now I got to go back and do like 25. And it had a little bit of that, but not nearly as much. On that note, too, like I really loved the, you know, even though the game's been out for a while. Again, if you wanted to play it, you probably beat it. It was pretty, you know, easy to get through, I think. There's the combat challenges. Like, I won't spoil, like what they are.

Those are, I think, some of like, the best moments. in that game, like, in terms of, like, the story's fun and interesting, like, we're doing something cool. It's pretty much completely optional other than, like, the introductory and, like, hey, these side quests exist. And, like, the combat's actually challenging. And I feel like, we constantly, especially, like, it's sort of PlayStation's Lane at this point, to have, like, these combat systems that, sure, they're intriguing. You know, you think of, like, God of War. You think of Spider-Man. To be honest, I don't think of Verizon, no offense, Sarasen. But it's, like, easy to do and you can kind of just do it mindlessly. But it also offers that depth. And I feel like

I really got to see the depth of the Spider-Man's gameplay shine in those optional combat arenas. In the way they kind of update like the having everything on the face buttons, sure, you're kind of just looking at cool-down timers. But even with that, like there were moments in that game, like one of the first missions you do like with like, well, now I'm thinking I'm like, oh, what do I want to spoil? One of the like combat missions you do where it's like you and one other person going in and fighting together for the first time in a big way, like a main story mission. So much is happening on screen.

And it's kind of like, it's so overwhelming that everything sort of moves in slow motion for you for a second. And you're like, oh my God, like this is like the coolest shit. Like it's so well constructed, yet also being kind of, like at a glance is like, it's just a bunch of enemies in an area and you're really strong. It's like, sure, it is that. But the way like the takedowns go, the way it all maneuvers and sings and never breaks and never, you know, budges.

the freaking black cat stuff was like, that was definitely a wow moment, where I'm like, oh, okay, I did it. You made a rift apart. I wanted more of that. And then when they opened up into that other play, I was like, okay, you got me, you got me. I was hating for a second because I'm like,

okay, so it's ripped apart. Like, I get it, the power of the SSD processor. But they still did something really cool with it. And yeah, I did, I also wanted more. And I think there's, they really set up like a nice foundation, even though this is already the second or third game and depending on how you want to slice it. They have these really cool foundational points of, like, teasing what could be and what's to come.

And it's one of the few games, like, as far as the platinum, like, I think if you liked this game, like, you absolutely should one hundred, like complete it, like, you know, get the platinum 100% it, however you want to slice it. Because I think the payoff, both in what you're doing and what you get for what you're doing, is so worth it. And that's a rarity in a video game-ass video game where it's like, I'm just checking all these boxes. Especially compared to what you're talking about it.

Until you get cool shit at the end. To compare it to Miles, which was, oh, man, I'm going to go to this room and I'm going to do this attack of this deck this many times. When the last guy's there, let him kill me. Do it again. Do it again. Do it again. Get the 25, 30, whatever it was I needed, right? Like 100% of this game's just. I mean, a lot of suits with four different color options. It was a dream come true.

Oh, my God. I had that stupid, like the freaking, I know there's a real name for it, but like the Army suit. But then I made it pink and it's like, I'm here to serve my country. I'm here to serve. Like, so much fun, stupid shit like that. Like, oh my God. Yeah. Games awesome.

This was Paris's, let me see, seven on his list. And this was number eight on my list. Kind of a similar story with the Jedi Survivor. I think in terms of open world design and gameplay, it's such a blast. The gliding mechanic to add to traversal is so addicting and so fun, and they had a lot of fun with that. And just like what you have to do in the open world

when it comes to the side content, I think they really refined over the course of Spider-Man-1 and Miles Morales. and I know while I played through it, I had a goddamn blast. I think the reason why it was so low is I think story-wise, I think it's probably my least favorite of the three.

I think it's kind of forgettable. I think there's some high highs and some great sequences. But then when I think about the second half of the story, I'm like, what were we really doing here and what's the motivation? And as someone who does really like Venom when Venom is done well,

I thought this was like a, a solid tackle at Venom. I don't think it was like very disappointing. I don't think it was like one of the best, but I thought it was like a solid tackle. Honestly, to the point where I was like, damn, I was actually more interested in Craven and I want actually, honestly, more out of Craven.

Oh, my guy. And talking about the other side quest content, like I think it kind of sticks with me where it's like every story beat in the side quest stuff, I think sticks out to me more than the main story, especially like the first third. I remember playing through Spider-Rexpress. Man 2 for the first time.

And the first third, I was really like, I don't know what we're doing here. I also feel like Miles' story is, like, really taking a back step. And I feel like Miles was done dirty kind of a few times throughout this game. I felt like Miles' story there was, like, promise there, but wasn't really fully lived up to. In a similar fashion, Jedi Survivor, where there was a lot of moments that I don't think were earned or kind of weird. There's a moment with Miles at the very end of this game. I was like, what are we doing here?

This is weird. I'll say right before that moment. it's I feel exactly the way you do about Miles kind of like not getting a whole lot of love or attention yet somehow for me still having the most satisfying arc yeah yeah like where he ends like what we were shown I was like this is really awesome I just wish we had a little bit more of it yeah exactly and so and I wasn't as in love with all the suits as I know y'all were but again I had a fun time where it's like in my head I was like all right well I want the spider man to be like a unit So whenever I was changing outfits, I was always trying to get them to have a similar look and all that stuff.

And like, yeah, it's a goddamn blast. It's a really fun video game. Insomniac just, they did the damn thing again. Really quick, I just want to shout out the representation of sign language in this was so badass and cool to see like on display in the forefront. Like right there, it was very, very powerful and cool. Yeah, definitely got a show. Great side missions for sure throughout the entire game. And here we go, everyone.

Kind of funny. It's Game of the Year, 23. Resident four, baby. And Kind of Funnies game of the year is The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom It felt good to hear It felt real good to hear Tired with music too

Cushing it, Barrett, absolutely crushing it This right here is the best moment of video games this year That music played, what's going on there? This game is so damn special We all know why. Who wants to kick this one off? Who had it highest? I mean, I had it number one. was my number one.

Yeah, four of us had it number one. I think the ones just like pass it around. You reviewed it for kind of funny. Yeah. I reviewed it. You know, Zelda Breath of the Wild was one of my favorite game. I had it in my list as my favorite game ever.

I've not revisited the list and, you know, figured out all that stuff. What are you avoiding? I don't know, man. It's just scary. You keep forgetting. I got to figure, first of all,

I got to put out Blessing Super Fun game release calendar, you know, still being worked on. It's going to release in the next couple days. Didn't beta. But yeah, like, I think the fact of Tears of the Kingdom coming through and finding ways to give us what Breath of the Wild did in terms of a really good physics system, a really good open world design for exploration, and then also just a redefinition of Zelda, tears of the kingdom was able to build off all those elements in a way that surprised me, right? Like I remember when I first picked it up during the review period, I had no idea what to expect, only that based on a trailer that we saw, you can combine things and build, you know, cars and shit.

I was like, all right, cool, let's see what this is. And getting back to that same open world, you know, was a thing where I'm like, all right, what's going on here? And I remember going through the motions and being like, is this going to be a death stranding kind of situation? Because, you know, I made my first car. And I was like, all right, cool. That was a little bit of a struggle.

And over time, as I started to understand what they wanted out of me and I started to understand what they're doing with the world, it started to understand that in each of the major locations that I had built so many dope memories of while playing Breath of the Wild, you know, whether it be Zoro's domain, whether it be Kakariko Village, whether it be any of the big locations from Breath of the Wild, revisiting those spots and saying that the world has moved on, seeing that there was more story to be told, saying that, you know, they're using the idea of having the same map and pushing that forward. Like, I really enjoyed what they did with that. Obviously, it's not the first game to do that. There's been yakuzas. There's been so many other

games to do that, right? But at the same time, then building this, you know, map that's in the sky and then map that's under the ground and being able to kind of pull that all together in making a world that doesn't just feel vast doesn't just you know isn't filled with mountains and valleys and deserts and all this stuff right but then is filled with an underground that is the same size as that above ground map right and is also filled with the places that you can fly around in that for me was just so impressive you know you talk about the different the abilities that you have whether it be the ascendability whether it be the ultra hand whether it be the feasibility the amount of things that you can do that you can do that you

that the amount of creativity we saw people take with that online, right, and we're able to create functioning helicopters. That literally functioned the way in which, you know, using that centrifugal force and like actually making functional helicopters and shit like that, right? Like, that stuff was so impressive, seeing people push that was awesome.

And then, like, the story moments in this game, like me and Andy talked about it the other day, what they do with Zelda as a character, and where they go with just building this Zelda world and making it something that was special. Really worked for me. I thought it was super cool. And yeah, it's like, you know, give me the, like, second coming of a breath of the wild experience for me, which I thought was impossible. You know, like, Breath of the Wild for me was such a

one of a kind. You can't replicate this. I, you know, the feeling of exploration and discovery that I got in this game. There's no way I'm going to be able to have that again. They gave that to me again in tears of the kingdom in a way that I thought was impossible. And so, yeah, shout out to that game. Yeah, I want to jump off that point there. Like, this reminded me to play Mario 64. And I can't give a higher compliment than that like just the sense of wonder and the oh my god i can't believe this is happening right now just kept kept happening and uh i wanted to do everything i was pulled in every direction and like i am not an open world guy period breath the wild was definitely the game that i was like it's seldom so i'm going to make the exception and i ended up loving it this game all you're

introducing like crafting and building i do not like that in games like this is not going to be great for me and i was like i'm going to give it a try and at the end of the day some of that stuff might not have been my favorite aspects. Like I found the things that I like to build. Am I cool? I'm going to build a helicopter here, right? Bridges. I'm all.

Long bridges though. Long bridge. But the shrines and the ability to tackle them in so many different ways and it feel equally valid, I just don't understand how it's still, it works. Every single shrine, you watch the Twitter videos of everyone doing it. How do we all do it differently? But yet it felt like it was designed that way to complete. Like that to me is so impressive.

and just the up the upping of the story and the character moments and like even just like the amount of music they added to this like it's still not everywhere but when it hits it hits so hard and the the boss fights specifically leading into the boss fights being as amazing and like the way that they modernized and like turned the old Zelda dungeons into these like giant almost buildups to a boss like a mega man style it feels like playing through a megaman level to get to the boss at the end um and and and and the way that the music swells and scales up with you as you get to it. Like, sure, some of the bosses didn't hit as much as some of the others, but I think overall it built and every single time I saw that cutscene about the team coming together, I somehow got more and more hyped that by the end of the game, I'm just like, yeah, I don't think this could have ended any better for me. Yeah, for a brother of the wild to be such a transformative experience for me and kind of just make you feel like a kid again.

You're playing that one video game that you and the other kid, kid in class rented and you're discovering things and I hadn't felt that in a video game in a while and then I just never expected Tears of the Kingdom to outdo that feeling in so many different ways and I think a lot of it does come down to the skills that they they give you and this this tool set to do insane physics simulations on a little tiny machine that makes no sense like I don't know how they pulled it off still and like it was just awesome to see so many game developers

just be like how the fuck did they do this right and to be able to pull off like real gravity simulations with water and all that stuff like all of that was just like incredible but like for Breath of the Wild to be this massive moment in gaming for me personally and to not really hit on any story moments is like

an insane achievement and this one did all of that with like the most crazy story shit with wild reveals that I was telling blessing yesterday when we did the smiley is that if you did the if you maybe did certain missions in a different way it may not have hit you as hard but the order that I did things in like I feel like gave me like the 100% satisfaction rate of like you're going to this reveal is going to happen to you and you're going to be blown away and then you're going to have another reveal right after that and that shit's going to blow your mind.

And by the end of it, you are experiencing a story that, like, as I was saying yesterday, I don't really think I've cared about a Zelda story on this level ever when it comes to just like villains and side characters and characters, like, motivations and stuff. Like, I feel like it's always been kind of surface level. And I have always loved Zelda so much for the music that plays when you get that one sapphire ruby piece or whatever the fuck. and like all that stuff that just makes Zelda memorable and magical to us. But this one like had story moments that just kept on delivering.

And by the end of it, I was just crying like crazy. Like I was so emotional. The stories hit and the music that accompanied it was amazing. And credits rolled and I was just beside myself. I was like, this is one of the best video games I will ever experience. And I can't wait to play it in uprest 1440P at 60%. second. All right.

Yeah, this was my game of the year and after thinking about it for most of the year at this point, I think it's my new favorite game of all time. And, you know,

so much has been said about this game already, so I don't want to like kind of repeat what's already been said about the creativity, what this game built off of

from Breath of the Wild, all that stuff. I'm just going to say, I'm going to reiterate what I said on the Legend of Zelda in review part two, which I would absolutely appreciate if you want to go check out because it's an hour of me breaking down

what makes this game fantastic. You say an hour of me breaking down. If you want an hour of that, I can just stream on my own at any point. I find it hilarious when people kind of lob the insult at this game of like, oh, it was this Breath of the Wild D.L.C. Because to me, Tears of the Kingdom was not

just a victory lap for Breath of the Wild, is the victory lap for the entire series. And when people lob the like, oh, it was just Breath of the Wild D.L.C. To me, you're telling me that the only Zelda game you've played is Breath of the Wild. There are so many fantastic ideas that they've been playing around with in the entire series that I think is so beautifully built upon the foundation that is Breath of the Wild, which is obviously the most standout of what they're pulling from from the entire series, because it's the same high rule.

but the I design elements of how they encourage you to continue exploring all different layers of the map. The design ideas of dungeons and the companionship when it comes to dungeons. The story that hits in the most obvious ways, right, in some of the scenes that you pick up from the tiers throughout the map, whether it's the two-hour-long end sequence, which is just, peak moment after peak moment, or it's the more subtle things. And all I'll say with that is a moment like the Decu Tree and kind of how they pay homage to a earlier Zelda game in the Decu Tree story in this game. There are so many beautiful ideas that I think meld together from the entire series.

And that's, again, without talking about the in-depth building system. The crazy impressive physics system that was already crazy impressive in-breath the wild and then they multiplied it by 10 this time around it's it's a fantastic video game it's an alt timer um and it's so good that like spoilers for zelda in review part two like it bumped breath of the wild down a few spots on my personal list um i i could go on forever so i'll stop myself there uh please watch the legend of zelda in review part two definitely go check that out i i do want to also bring up like when breath of wild came out obviously it was such a moment for a bunch of different reasons one of them being like Nintendo coming back right like the the switch being such a major win and

it working the ability to take it on the go and you know bringing it back to your doc and play it on TV and we're playing a brand new console game let alone one this big and to be five years removed from that and tears the kingdom to come out and that still feel like such an amazing like I can't believe this is happening thing like I'm just so impressed by specifically because there's a lot of games that I I start playing and time just goes away, right? Spider-Man 2 even is one of those. Tuesday of the kingdom broke time and space for me. Like I don't understand how seven hours would go by.

And I would feel like I did so much, but also nowhere close to it up. And just being so excited that there was that much more to do. And I knew that the next time I picked it up, I was going to have something that I was going to be excited to go for. And being able to take my switch from the dock to my bed, continue playing. if I had to travel, it's like I had it with me. It's like every moment felt like it mattered.

Like every single time I picked up my switch, I felt like I was continuing this journey. And it wasn't just like checking things off a list or, you know, like normal video game stuff. Like this is, this is very dramatic. But like there's something about Tuesday's the kingdom to me that feels more. Yeah.

It just feels very, very, very, very special. For me, it brings me back to talks we've had about Mario 64 where, you know, Mario 64, I think is so cool. I don't use the word underrated because people will be like, you're fucking crazy for calling Maristee 4 underrated.

But I think something about Marius 4 that goes underappreciated as much compared to like the rest of it is how good the level design is at just like putting you in a place and going solve it however you want. Like if you go back to and watch our Marius 64 race that we did

during the Friday stream for a kind of funny day, you know, there are certain stars that both me and you got in that race where we went about it different ways, right? Like the star I think of is the, there's a star in like the winter in the snow level earlier.

on called Wall Kick Works or something like that. And you basically had to go to the bottom of that level. You know, you're supposed to take a certain path, but the way I did it was like, I jumped down the side, and then I hopped off an enemy, and then I helicopter it all the way back down there because I knew that would be a quick shortcut, and then when I got the star, right?

And, like, that was just one way of, like, many different ways you can solve many different stars. You know, like Rainbow Road in that game. You can turn around, and then long jump, but all of a sudden you're in a different part of the level, and the game rewards you for that. Tears of the Kingdom,

and I should go back. Mario City 4, right, is like, I'll forget how many levels. Let's say 16 different levels that are all constructed in that way. Tears of the Kingdom is a gigantic open world that is constructed in that way, right?

Where it is, hey, we've created a world full of puzzles. We've created a world full of obstacles full of things for you to solve and it is all interconnected. It is all operating under these sets of physics systems and mechanics that allow you to explore it

in whatever way you want. Get this little fucking guy of his friend over there. He's on the hill. And if you want to... If you want to magnet that guy to his friend, if you want to connect that little guy to a horse and then ride them over, if you want to connect a rocket to him and then shoot them over there,

any of that stuff works. If you were torturing those little guys. And also if you want to cook them over a stove, you can do that too. But the game is constructed in such a way that it is a gigantic puzzle box and it does the thing that like so many, I think, puzzle games sort of fail at, right? Which is, hey, let people solve this in a bunch of different ways

and whatever way they want and they are rewarded for their creativity. It does that. And then at the same time, like, remove it, because that's me complimenting the gameplay. Remove from the gameplay, it is just a incredible piece of software. Like, as a piece of technology, it is 16 gigabytes of some of the most advanced physics systems you can see in a video game.

And somehow Nintendo did that. Like, they put in a gigantic open world with a sky, like a land and an underground that is huge in a 16 gigabyte piece of software that, you know, I go back to times in shrines where I would connect, like, a fucking, like, 10 different pieces of logs together and shake them around and hit them on, like, different sides of the game.

And in any game, that would break. Like, in Jedi Survivor, yeah, in Jedi Survivor, I, like, I fell into lava the wrong way. My game crashed.

You know, like in Starfield, like, I looked at somebody the wrong way, my game crashed. And in Tears of the Kingdom, I was doing so many things where I'm like,

this should cause my switch to overheat and explode in my hand. And the game just functions. Like, it just works. And I've never seen anything like it. And so it is a fucking impressive video game that I think,

you know, I think is deserving of the game of the year. Yeah. It's number two on my list, which I feel like that's, it's such a, it was such a good year for software in terms of like, Ballers K3, Tears of the Kingdom being my top two, where I'm like, I don't know, you know, like, and then I think about, you know, my big list of, like, greatest games of all time. And I'm like, it just gets, it, the fact that that's even a conversation with like two separate pieces,

I think is incredible. But yeah, Tuesday of the Kingdom was the Nintendo did the impossible than they did it twice, which I think is absolutely mind-blowing, that they came out with Breath of Wild, a game that I feel like is the game of all time. And then they made Tuesday of the Kingdom, a game that I think is better than Breath of the Wild, which I guess that makes this the greaterer. But then I'm like, is just it just me, you know? I was like, within what is it? Whatever, it's just a list. I just wrote down and I said it to bear it. But like, it is such an incredible video game. Um, you know, everything's kind of already been said, but just to kind of add on or like embellish on what you

guys talked about, you know, I think about earlier in this conversation talking about Lise of P and how good it is a tutorialization. I think this game is also so incredible. credible at teaching you to play it and not just tutorial island or you're like in sky island at first and they're clearly trying to be like here's how to play the game but even in the shrines like they really pick their spots in such a smart way on like this is a shrine where like we kind of actually want you to learn how to do this thing and then here's a shrine where like maybe we want you to learn how to do it but also you can you can break it and it's such a game that like it's actually more fun in those shrines to solve it the fucked up way.

You'll see the actual solution and you're like, but can I be like, can I just get all these walls to do this? But can I like build my nonsense machine? Can I like put a bunch of gum together and then it can I take my gross hand and just like fuck around? And it allows for that, but I think it allows for that also in a strategic way. Like I think much like Balders Gate 3, this design has the bravery to let players do what they want to do, how they want to do it.

But like providing rails where there need to be rails, but like the perfect, just kind of the perfect amount of freedom. You know, yeah, it's crazy how good Nintendo. Like, Nintendo got into like this open world game so late. And it's like, what are they going to say? And they, like, always have something to say. And it's so incredible. Barrett mentioned DeusX earlier talking about cyrant punk, right?

And one of the cool things about DSX is how emergent it is and how the game reacts to what you do, right? And like, one of the things I keep thinking back to all playing Tears the Kingdom Mart. And there's so many stories I have like this. But the one that really made me laugh was, there was a shrine that I was really struggling with. It was like one of the first shrine where you encounter the mirror

tool, like one of the zonite tools, right? And in trying to solve that shrine, one of the things I did was fuse the mirror to my shield. And I later learned that I was nowhere near the right solution, but I was like, all, cool, whatever. Later, like, maybe five hours later, while playing the game, I get into a fight with a Bacoblin. And, you know, it's like daytime, daytime or whatever. And, you know, I'm fighting this Bacoblin, and I bring up my shield, and I forget that I have equipped my mirror shield. And as I bring up the shield, the light from the sun shines down, reflects off my shield and then blinds the Bacoblin. And I'm like, how the fuck did y'all even get to the place where y'all thought of that?

Yeah. Because this is such a, like, a very specific use case scenario where somebody's going to fuse their shield to their mirror, to like this random mirror and then use it in combat and it's going to be daytime. And like, what the fuck? Like that happens so much while playing tears of the kingdom. And it's so impressive. Also the arrow eyeballs. Like, let's not, like, putting stuff onto arrows and like creating.

Goated. Both like, you know, on a basic level, like, you can just have like elemental arrows essentially. or you can have like, oh yeah, you do that and it's like basically like a heat-seeking kind of missile moment. And there's so much like smart stuff in that. I mean, they talk about how, you know, the, gosh, I forget the name of the ability where you like go through the walls. Ascend, yeah.

Ascend being like initially like, oh, this is like a dev-tooly thing. Like it's not meant to be in the game. They're like, what if we had this in the game? What if we allowed, again, the bravery to let things be almost broken but in a like planned out way? It's, Tuesday's the Kingdom is organized chaos. I think at its best, all while being just a classically

like fun open world adventure. Yeah, it's an incredible way. It reminds me of what's that like Reggie Givers? If it's not fun, then what's the point? Oh my God, the meme speech of the like, if the game is, I didn't memorize that. And that's what I freaking felt this whole time.

Like there was no game exemplified more of the, the holy shit, it's 122 AM feeling. Like this game did that to me every night for about a month and a half straight. This was such a fun game to stream and watching people go, what the fuck are you doing? Wow, didn't do that puzzle that way.

Oh, I did it this way. Everybody having their own input because this was similar to like Balders Gate 3, everybody's going about these different problems with different solutions. Yeah, it's just an amazing time, man. Bless talking about the Mario 64 where this felt like just like

the open world version of that of all these little moments of things you want to do and even the mirror story that you just gave. It's like that moment you're like, how did they think of this? Like this is so, it feels so unique and so like special. Like I'm the only person that did this,

but clearly you're not, right? Clearly there's a lot of people that did, but you feel like it was made for you. And I think that that's so special. But in addition to that, I think that you feel that way because the game's so good at teaching you what to look for and what to expect.

So that when it subverts that, it like somehow catches you off guard even more where the amount of, of times I'd be like like my my goal is over there I'm going straight I know that I'd look over and I see three hilltops and like there's a thing on one there's a thing on the other but there's not a thing on the third I'm like I need to go on the third I know if I stand on there a corox going to be there like it's just so good at teaching in the same way we go back to tom out super maro brothers one the first level teaches you how to play that game donkey Kong country two they teach you to look for secrets

but behind you which is like breaking the idea of how two-d platforms are supposed to work going backwards, right? But the moment they teach you that, the rest of the game, like, delivers on that. This just teaches you so many things that you're not even conscious of as you're doing it, but 70 hours in, you're like finding new ways

and you're like, oh, just speeding through all their puzzles. Like, on the way to do one puzzle, you've solved 10 puzzles. Very cool. Yeah, it's also a game that, I, again, the design of it blows my mind in the ways that, you know, the ascendability that we talk about. That ability should break the entire game

in every moment. Like, if you're giving your player-based ability to look up and like, you know, travel through whatever surface is right above you to like arise from the top of it, that means you have to create an entire game role that is not broken by that one mechanic. And that goes for pretty much every single mechanic in that game, right? Like, you've got to create systems upon systems to not allow the game to break. And there are very few moments while playing Tears of the Kingdom where I'm like, okay, this is truly game breaking. Like the one that I can think of where I'm like, ooh, this might be a step too far. This might ruin the game is like the hover bikes that people will be. make where you take the steering wheel

and then you connect two fans to it and now you can fly everywhere that's like the one thing where as soon as I learned that. You went too far. I learned it and I was like oh this is my being too powerful. This is too powerful but also you need so much battery to like really make it work. That's how I maneuvered through that because I was having trouble navigating the fire temple and it was just such a

it was such a blast to just kind of go from level to level and eventually accidentally jumping off because I miss hit a button and then going like oh the thing I need is up in the room above me, I'll just ascend through there. Like, what the fuck, dude? Like, it's, it, if there's a solution,

then, like, you can do it. If you can think it, you can do it pretty much in this game. Kind of funny's game of the year is, the Legend of Zelda, tears of the kingdom. Very, very, very well deserved. Now that we're done with our top 10, we're going to get into our personal top 10s and talk about

all of the games that didn't make the overall list, which I think there's going to be quite a bit of. Barrett. Really quick, I just want to give some some point breakdowns because I know people are always interested with that. Let me bring up the rest of the list first really quick.

Diablo 4 and Star Wars Jedi Survivor coming in at number 10. Both came in with 15 points. High Fire Rush at number 9 came in with 17 points. Armour Corps 6, Fires of Rubicon, came in with 18 points. Wow. Final Fantasy 16 and Liza P. both tied

at 7 for 20 points. Starfield came in at number 6 with 21 points. Cyberpunk at number five came in with 23 points and Baldersgate 3 at number 4 came in with 25 points 10 through 4 all within a 10 point radius of each other It was a very tight race Honestly and I'll shout this out Andy was the last one to send in his vote as usual

And before Andy sent in his vote There were originally going to be not 12 games on the top 10 There were going to be 14 So it was ties upon ties upon ties All of that so just a fun little tidbit there. I typed out like three different top tens just to look at him. And which one felt right?

Yeah. And like, and the next day, the next day, Barry would be like, I'll send him to the side. Yeah. And I'd look at three different tops and I'd be like, that one looks good right now. It's like you're the eye doctor? Like, hey. I looked at him when the vote was due and I was like, hey, you're going to send

that list? He was like, yeah, I'm thinking about it. Yeah, I got you. I'll see you tonight. It's 5 p.m. It's at a day. Where is it? Balder, we talked about Baldur's Gate.

Alan Wake 2 came in at 35 points at 3rd. Spider-Man 2 came in with 41 points in second place, and Tears of the Kingdom was our definitive winner at number one with 61 points. So it was no contest. Not much of a no contest as Ragnarok last year. Reminder, the most points a game could get is 80, if it miraculously was everybody's game of the year. Ragnarok last year got 74 points.

Jesus. So, yeah, that was crazy last year. So that was the point breakdown there. Fun facts, not as many games voted in this year as last year. Last year had 42 games voted in in total. This year, 36. That's shocking. Yeah.

And then the other, the two other quick things, this is the first year since I've started producing game of the year, which I would credit to 2020 game of the year, which was Tim, bless, Imron, and Greg, the infamous Final Fantasy 7 remake upset. Hell yeah. This is the first time... No, that deserved it. Ever. Or at least since 2020,

where there is not been... There was not a single game on our top 10 list that it was on everybody's single list. So as an example, Ragnarok last year was on everybody's list. Two years ago, Ratchan and Clank was on everybody's single's list.

There was no game that was on everybody's list this year. Who left out tears? Me. Yeah. I liked it. I had a fun time. Mike showed me a different top 10 list a month ago and was tears on that, maybe.

Yeah. I'm still more shocked at my high-fi rush. It didn't bring enough smiles. Mike was with me on the high-fi rush review. We both in five. Good game. Good game. And then I just want to shout out Baldur's Gate getting into the top four

despite only three people voting on it, which I was looking back at the other years. I was quite impressed. Finally, a place when my vote matters. The top four is usually at least five or six of us voting for games. That is wild, man. So, yeah, I just wanted to shout that out. Now it's time to share the personal top tens.

And for the most part, we're going to go into the order of who had the least amount of games on the official top 10 lists. Oh, I just want to start with me. That's awesome. We're going to start off. What if we just ran like the membership commercial so everybody could go pee? Fuck, dude.

I don't have that loaded in. Fuck. We'll go to Twitter and click on the fucking Twitter video. We have a special guest who is calling in to share their top 10 list. Let's take it over to Paris Lilly. Here he is. Hi, Paris. Hey, everybody.

I really wish I could have been there. I think I was the Walter White meme where I'm in the car just screaming the entire time as I'm watching this. Yeah, so it's ironic when you look at my top 10 list. Actually, I guess I should pull it up. I got it right here for you, Paris. Let's see here if you want to read it out. Yeah, so first of foremost, I screwed up. Oh, what?

When you listed number 10 and I didn't have Jedi Survivor on there, I go, oh, my God, I completely forgot about it. Let's go. Let's go. Oh, no. Yeah, it would have been in my top 10 somewhere. What number I don't know, but it would have been there. But I was shocked because I was like, I was thinking like, I remember Paris like really enjoying that.

I thought it would have been higher on our list, you know? Yeah, well, you know, look, the past few weeks have been kind of rough for me. Okay. So I forgot. But, but no, I mean, my top 10. I mean, Dave DeDiver, that's something actually only recently played on, on Switch and I just instantly fell in love with it. I thought it was a very fun game, great indie game.

And yeah, it was definitely one of the 10 or 11 best games that I played this year. And then ironically enough, when you look at number nine, Hi-Fi Rush, I mean, you know, we've talked about it plenty of this year on X-Cast. Actually, when you look, I got both Xbox games correct on the list, six and nine. But yeah, really enjoyed hi-fi rush, and we obviously know that's a hot topic. in the news right now as well. But number eight, cocoon. I freaking love cocoon. I thought cocoon was such a just cathartic experience. Not only the puzzle elements of it, but the music, the level design, the artwork, everything. Again, another fantastic indie game. I had Spider-Man

too a lot lower than obviously a lot of you did at number seven. I loved it, platinum in it. It's a great game. I just felt there were some things about the overall story when I compared it to Miles Morales in the original Spider-Man, where I felt it took a little bit of a step back, but even overall, great experience, really loved it. And then number six, Starfield, I mean, this is where I was just screaming at the camera the whole time because I was in agreement with Greg and everything that he was saying. But I understand, like Janet even brought up talking about the Gamecast review that we did,

it's such a polarizing game in that there's things. about it I absolutely, absolutely love. There's things about it that I'm like, man, they really need to fix this. And it sounds like they are as we go into 2024, but judging it for what it was at launch, really enjoyed it, thought it was great, but I understand why some people just could never truly get into that experience. So I added at number six. And then when you look at number five, see you stars. I know there's a certain person on that panel that called me an idiot for saying it was one of the games of the year but hey for me it was definitely one of the games of the year and to be honest with you it was probably the best RPG i played this year it really was

i really enjoyed to see his stars again another game that just came out of nowhere where i didn't play it initially but it got i saw the high scores it was getting and it had such good word of mouth that i jumped in and i was like oh wait i get it this is a fantastic turnbase um RPG and you know deserves all the accolades that it's gotten this year and then number four you know, I had Phantom Liberty and I think it wound up being what number five in the overall list, which seems about right. I mean, is it a standalone game? No, it's an expansion. But when you think about CD Project Red and you think about Cyberpunk 2077 and just all the struggles that game had had over the years to finally see it culminate and get pretty close to the original vision of what they were talking about with Cyberpunk 2077, I just enjoyed it for the experience that it was along with the quality of life. And updates that came with it that just overall enhance that game. So yeah, for me, definitely in my top five games. And then when we get to number three, I was shocked to not see Super Mario Wonder.

So yeah, to chime in on that, Bless. People are kind of cycling in and out right now to take a quick potty break. But Bless had it at his number 10. And then Tim had it at his number seven. And so, yeah, it got votes. It just wasn't quite enough to make it to the top 10. Yeah, and ironically enough, you bring up Tim. I remember when he was talking about it when it initially came out.

There was things about it that he didn't completely enjoy. I just felt it's probably in the top 5 2D Mario's ever, in my personal opinion. So I really enjoyed it. And I loved how difficult it got as you progressed into some of the later worlds. And then when we get to number two, right? Number two? Yeah, number two. I mean, everything that everyone's already said about Zelda, I mean, stands here. It easily could have been my number one game of the year. It's just, it just improved on everything that came from the first Breath of the Wild here with Tears of the Kingdom.

Absolutely love that experience. And then number one, Alan Wake 2. That was a game coming into this year, did not have a lot of high expectations on. I just thought, okay, they're making another Allen Wake 2. another Alan Wake, I mean. I played the first one. I wasn't super high on it. We'll see. And I'll never forget going to that preview event and sitting down. I go, oh, wait, this is different.

And then when I really dived into it playing the review and just experience the complete story, I just absolutely fell in love with it. Is the actual gameplay mechanics groundbreaking, doing something unique? No. But when you story elements together, you put the artwork together, obviously the mute, just everything as a complete. package, it was my most enjoyable experience of 2023 in gaming. So for me, Alan Wake 2 is absolutely a game of the year.

Great list, Paris. Next up, if we want to move on, so from here on out, Paris, if you need to dip or whatever, take care of yourself, I don't want to make you sit around at the desk for too long here. Yeah, I'll just go back to being a listener. Appreciate you guys having me on again, wish I could have been there, but I didn't want to get everybody sick. So hopefully we can do it again later. in a year.

Hell yeah. Crazy that the one person who won't eat in and out, the second healthiest fast food won't isn't, it's sick. Yeah, that's crazy. I did if I ate in and out. That's crazy. That's the first. I'll eat my ass. All right. Get out of it.

Jesus. And so from here on out, we'll be going from least amount of games on the full top 10 to most and to no surprise. First up is one snow bike Mike with four games. Hi, everybody.

Man, oh man, what a great top 10. Thank you to all viewers out there who have been watching and listening. It's been a ton of fun. And to the panel who have absolutely brought the discussion, I had a top 10. You did. Oh, God, it's going to be a power point.

Did you have a completely different top 10 you showed me a month ago? Maybe. I mean, I've been working through it. I mean, I think like everyone else, I had about 25 games at about the number eight marker and beyond. I could start putting games in left, right, and center. But I looked at it as what games made me smile, what games brought the fun,

What games would I play over and over again? That's what I wanted to highlight with my top 10. So starting at number 10, Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I had a blast with this game. I was really impressed with what they created here. I mean, we talk about this genre of the asymmetric, asymmetric? Asymmetric. Asymmetric.

Thank you so much. The 4v1s, the predators, the Ghostbusters, the dead by daylights that dominate this area. And when they said, hey, we're going to do a 3v2 or 4V3, or 4V3, I said, I don't know if that's going to work. Usually the killer's already overpowered as it is. But you know what? It was surprisingly really fun. And the level design was awesome to see, right? To start off in the basement, to have to then unlock the doors,

then open up a second area. And then again, unlock the doors to a third area where you then would escape and to see how the killers were put into that situation where just at the beginning it was the Texas chain, so a leather face man. But the two top people were getting in position ready to help out. I thought that was really awesome and well thought out. And man, it strikes fear into your heart when that guy is chasing you and chopping down one of your best friends is there screaming,

help me, help me. And you're trying to get out and you're panicking at the lock pick. Like, please, God, just let me hit this quick time event. Holy cow. I love that game. And I mean, coming off the back of, you know, evil dead and predator and ghostbusters. And we look at these games of like, there's so many like you brought up with the FromSoft games that try to step into these areas of multiplayer games as a service. And not many get to survive.

survive or get the credit that they're due. This game, I hope, gets a little bit longer lifespan. I doubt that we'll be talking about this next year and beyond. I bet you it will probably die off. But this is what I wanted to highlight with my time because it was so much fun to play. And it was pretty badass and scary. Really quick. Just for like audio listener sake, before you shout any other games out, could you read just

like your full list? Oh, we just, okay, okay. Number nine, the finals. Number eight, outlast trials. Number seven, lies of P. number six, Pickman 4, number 5, Starfield, number four party animals, number three, only up, number two, Diablo 4, number one, Spider-Man 2. All right, shout out.

Looks like to continue? Number nine, the finals, I mean, man, what a badass game. This team really absolutely brought it when it comes to level design, the destructability, the gameplay, the gameplay feels tight. It is exactly what I want, especially in a tough marketplace, that Call-Duty Dom, dominates, Fortnite dominates, Apex dominates. This team from ex-battlefield devs absolutely brought the heat, and it was a ton of fun.

There is things that I wish they did better, AI voice acting. We wanted them to be better on that front and really do better. But on the other side, wish there was more game modes. The games that they gave me is a ton of fun, having it as three different body builds would determine what kind of classes you are, and then you are unlocking weapons and choosing what weapons, what gadgets you want to bring into this really fast and furious battlefield. is impressive to see. And man, that game is beautiful. It runs well with how much you can just blow up

and destroy in this world. It does not freak out. It doesn't blow up. It doesn't slow down. The gameplay, the moment to moment is still hot as can be. And the finals, wow, I'm impressed with you. I'm going to keep you on my list. Number eight, Outlast trials. I mean, come on, who would have thought that they could make Outlast into a dope multiplayer game where me and Andy, me and Greg, are going to be screaming our faces off running away from all these different cast and crew of characters. It was wild. I think it's the best one of those type of games. I think it's like super well, like developed and designed.

And I think the cool part is it's you versus the computer, right? It isn't, oh, Mike has now become way too powerful as the dead by daylight villain or predator, right? It is you versus the computer and you kind of set the tone on how you guys want to solve this. But I was impressed with the four levels that they chose that we ran around and from the police office to the scary orphanage, right? And like having a list of different levels that you could do, right? Within that level is impressive, right? It's not just a one and done. It's,

hey, there's six different things that you can accomplish and jump back in with your friends. And they continue to build on that. I mean, this was cool. It was fun. You could customize your room. And like, we had the devs on. And like, you could tell that they put a lot of love and care into it. They wanted to tie it into the bigger overarching story. But just the things that I could do in that game was awesome and fun. And to see the growth of adding checkers into that now, along with arm wrestling, decorating my room in different crazy colors. It's just, it's a good moment to moment time. And I love that game. Number seven, Liza P. We talked about it. Great game. Number six, is the one game on my list where I would tell you as an audience member, please go play this game.

And it's something you wouldn't expect out of me. It's Pickman 4. I loved Pickman 4. It knows what Snowbike Mike is all about, and that's hand me a list of tasks and watch me get to work. Because I love absolutely attacking tasks. I love having a time limit. I think the word is- When we play survival games, once the house is built, Mike is done playing the game. When Mike is telling me and Nick and Kevin A. Sacks and Chris Hanka, go get, I need wood here, I need stone here, blah, blah, and he builds the house, he's like, I'm done with that game. We're not going back to it.

I love directing. And I know Janet, you can kind of jump on there with me. I think the words Tandori or something that they really approached, which is like the meaning of like completing tasks in an optimal time amount. And like that spoke to me. And I loved it. My first ever pickman experience. And I thought the collectathon was cute. I thought the puzzles were fun.

Me saving Captain O with the dog that was banging into walls that would carry stuff. Oh yeah, what a great time. Ochi honestly. Yeah, whatever. The Tendori, right, whatever. It doesn't matter. Little guys. You're just a little guy.

and the world's not even big, it's regular size. No. But you're a little, and it's great. And Ochi really carried, like, this is so funny because I think people look at Pickman for, and they're like, oh, like, cute little Nintendo game. But again, I think there's a lot of depth and smart choices in the design,

but it just sounded a little funny to, like, talk so seriously about how, like, when I saw Ochi, I thought this is going to break the structure of how Pygman games are designed, but really, it amplified, but it did. Like, it, I think... The hierarchy of Pygman is about to change. Because Pygman is all about,

like it is a little, and I've only, I played three and then I played four. It's about like the monotony, Mike. Like you mentioned like, it's elicitas and then you do it. But like, they do such a good, the secret to good monotony though is that you have to have like friction in the right places and frictionless experiences in the right spots as well. And Ochi like helped provide that with like making it easier to like gather them all together, taking some of the pain out of like, oh my God, everyone's dead. Like you can end days just at any point. You don't, you could go back to the ship if you want to be a traditional. but you don't have to. And then, yeah, just finding all the bits in the box. I love the bits of the box. I love. Jeff Grubb is fist pumping somewhere. And you can battle the computer 1V1. You can battle your friends 1 v1 or 2V2.

Like I love that. And I love seeing how people's minds work, right? Like I go for like, hey, I want to get as many things as possible moment one. Or you could go survey the whole area and figure out what do I need? What do I need to use for this? What a blast. That is my one game. And I'm not a big Nintendo Jibroni.

And I'll tell you, that's the game that I want everybody to play because it was so much fun. Five with Starfield. I love Bethes the games. I always will. Number four, party animals. I mean, holy cow, that team took Gang Beasts and took it to the next level. It is beautiful. The fur physics on that.

Why does that bear's fur shake so much while he's getting punched in the face? What are these little animals look so good? Why does the game run so good? Thank you for custom matchmaking, open lobbies, multiple different maps that were just stunning to look at, along with different game modes that they added. It isn't just punch your friend in the face and the last man wins. No, there's different game modes that you can play that are similar to capture the flag

and different objectives. Like, they did a great shot. Party animals, if you're looking for a game with your friends and family that you're going to laugh and it's going to just burn the night away filled with good times. Party animals is that. And that team delivered on that. I mean, we saw this game two years ago and said this game's ready. to go, let's go.

And they said, hold up. We're going to cook it up a little bit. And man, the animals are cute, the costumes are cute, the gameplay is fun. It's inviting. It's easy to learn. This isn't fall guys where, hey, if you don't got it, you're going to be in the back of the pack eliminated all the time. It's anyone can win.

Anyone can play this. Laugh to your face hurts type shit. This game is so special. Day one on game pass to another great win. Moving on number three. And, you know, my other two are in the mix, but number three is only up. man oh man this game took over the world and i love when games dominate the conversation and come out of nowhere like among us did recently like this game everyone in their mama was playing only up

everyone was talking about it everyone had the frustration everybody was screaming from falling and i think it was just one jabroney that made this shout out to that person some of the best kind of funny streams too unbelievable content coming out of this game and also i love a good challenge i love lisa p i love from software games where I am challenged to be better. I want that. And when you talk about Only Up, it is the challenge of learning the routes, putting some speed on that,

not being afraid to fall because you're going to fall and it's going to suck, but you're going to get back up and try again. And like to see my friends, this team play that and identify with it just like I did where it was so much fun and it made me laugh. What a great game.

And like that must be highlighted. It's one of those where it's like, that took over the world for like two months and it was special. That game to me is proof that video games can be so many different things and we can sit here on a game of the year conversation and talk about like the narratives and the gameplay and the this and that, whatever. Only up, man. The feelings it gave me the six hours or so that we streamed it that I streamed it, that

shit was like, oh my God, man. There was something about it that it was so captivating that I'm like, I got to try. I can go higher. But I hated it. I hated it so much. it was that perfect type of love-hate relationship that sometimes you're banging your head against the wall. It was just janky enough. It was just janky enough that it felt like you're fighting the game, but you want to beat the game.

God, it was great. It's right. And so that's a special one for me. Number two, Diablo 4. I'm a Diablo kid. I'll always love it. And number one was Spider-Man. We talked about it.

It was a blast. So thank you for letting me highlight my top 10. I know I usually sit here during these and I'm a little bit different from everybody else. But any game that makes me smile, any game that's fun, I can't wait to go back to it. and share it with all of you. Build different, big dogs. Next up with five of their personal games on the top ten list is one, Janet Garcia.

Yeah, I was Mike this year. It felt weird to be Mike. I'm not going to you. It's very quiet. I was like, oh my God, I'm Mike. And I turned to Mike and there was just a mirror. And I was like, holy shit. All right, number 10, I got cocoon.

Number nine, Vemba. Eight, Pickman, four. Seven, Chance of Sonar. Let's go! Six, Liza of P. Five, Spider-Man, two. four, Dead Space Remain. Let's go.

Three, Alan Wake 2, 2, Zelda, Tears of the Kingdom, and 1 is Baldur's Gate 3. I will have a fun little tidbit for you, Janet. Last year, you only had four games on the official top 10. So you're moving on up. Okay, moving on up.

It doesn't feel that way, but thank you for putting it in perspective. I guess it has been different. Yeah, tennis is cocoon, great puzzle game. Sort of, you know, I think there's a lot of different approaches to puzzle games.

I think it's funny that so often, I think, from that genre, we hear people say, oh, well, I'm not like a puzzle game person. And I'm a firm believer that in every single genre, even if it's not your purview, you can find something to get into. And I think cocoon is a great example of a puzzle game that doesn't, like, force you to bang your head against the wall, but it's still really enjoyable in its own right. And there's, I think, brilliance in that design as well.

I think a lot of people might not cocoon for being like, you know, a bit like run of the mill. What did I do? Like a bit, you know, repetitive and like, okay, we've seen these kind of structures many a times. But I think the execution, the sound design, I think this has the best sound design of the year potentially in just the way it kind of hits this environmental, organic, neat machine. Yes. Like, it's got like such a, it's so evocative.

You know, it's also a vibe video game for sure. Like, you know, in the way that like Alan Wake is where just being in that world, there's something tantalizing about it and getting to, in. with the world through its puzzles. And I think it does a good job at like teaching you how to play the game as well, which is an important tenet of any puzzle game. Like it is very much giving like classic school structure of like, you learn this, okay, now it's building, and then you play.

And it kind of goes in that way. Animation style is incredible. I'm not gonna lie, I didn't like the bosses. But you know, we don't talk about the boss battles and cocoon. If you beat them, they were very cool. If you struggled, it was a little annoying. Oh, so like I was really impressed that it must have been very odd for them. to have this like, this is like a puzzle game.

This is nothing else. At first, when we first saw at Summer Game Fest, I thought it was like a top down, isometric, like, combat type game. And then once you get to the boss fights, I felt like, man, it must have been a weird choice to be like, we're going to throw boss fights in here. But to me, they felt like they fit perfectly in a puzzle game

because it wasn't, you don't suddenly have a gun in your shooting shit. I thought they, like, fit really well. I enjoyed the whole game. It was my number 11. It just felt. Jedi Survivor knocked it out. Yeah, it's a really cool experience. I think definitely one that people should have.

It was one of my favorite puzzle games of the year. And there's a couple puzzle things on here. But nine, I got Venba. Holy cow. This is, which, Greg, was this on? It is on my list. We'll get two in a second. Okay, you don't want to.

I don't care. Yeah, for me, I put Venma number six on my list. Yeah, what a touching game. Yeah, I mean, I think it's, you know, if people have anything's in common, I think it's good to just kind of, you know, jump in the way like Mike did with us and Pickman. But, yeah, Venba was so incredible. It's a game that I thought I,

knew what you expect. I'm like, okay, like it's this, you know, like first generation, like, Indian immigration story and there's like this like cooking aspect. It's telling the story. It's going to be this puzzle game of figuring out the food. What ingredients missing? How do you do exactly? And I'm like, yeah, I'm guessing, you know. And then it's like, like, I kind of knew, like it felt like it was going to be very predictable, like me going into it. And I play a lot of these story games. So I'm like, and people like, it's really good. And I'm like, all right, we'll see. I'll be the judge of that, right? I pick it up. I'm like, holy shit. This game's amazing.

I feel like if you're like me and you're like, I kind of know what to expect. This is a great example of a game where, again, it's not about the story you're telling in terms of plot. It's about the way you execute that storytelling. And I think Venba is in many moments a masterclass in execution. It knows exactly when to say what it wants to say and when to hold back, when to let you fill in the gaps. The music also is incredible as well. The art, the music. It hits for me like the whole way through.

I don't really have notes on this game in a lot of ways. And there are some people like, oh, I don't know if I like the puzzles, or I want more cooking or whatever. And again, there's always a conversation to be had about, you know, breaking something down.

But I talk about Venba like, this is this year's unpacking. Like, it's the game where you hear it. And you're like, I don't know, opening boxes, then you're like, oh my God. And then when I had to put the diploma under the bed. Right?

Venba kind of has that those pockets of brilliance. And I think it does the, you know, cooking story game. For wanting more from it, that's how I always want to leave a game. I think Venba does a great job of not overstaying it's welcome, giving you this. Definitely I wanted more.

I went back and replayed it for the platinum, so I had to do certain things again. I was like, okay, great, that's awesome for it. But yeah, to your point of the story going places I didn't expect it to. And then, of course, it's just accomplishing what I love out of my video games in these kind of narrative video games, is putting me in somebody else's shoes, right? Like, I will never know what it's like to be an immigrant in North America. It's up in Canada, right? But be an immigrant in this country, then raising a first generation, Canadian, you know,

like, how do you go through and what would happen? and how do you maintain your culture and all that stuff? That was all so good. I think, too, like something that I think we've talked about before. And, like, I know I've had this conversation, like, over on remap, like Patrick had brought this up. But the way that it in mid-Mat, you know, it's kind of all blurring together, right? Like, a lot of places have talked about Venba. But the way that it's not solely like the classic.

I mean, it is a little bit like the kid who's like, you know, getting used to like the culture they now live in, the detachment from the parent. But you also get like an aspect of the parent's perspective, too. And you really get to empathize with both, like, of those people having That's the thing that hit for me because like, you know, I'm somebody who my parents moved here from Nigeria, right? And like in the way that Greg is like, you know, not knowing what's going in the next moment. For me, it was like the thing of knowing exactly where it's going. Yeah, say with my dad from Mexico.

Yeah, being able to relate to every aspect of it. And also like the, this game really made me feel something that I've not felt playing a video game before, which is guilt. Because I like, I did, uh, did a flower just fall in your eye? I thought it was a tear and I was like, oh, hell, I didn't realize we're, you know. Killing right now. You're crushing blessed. But it was the thing of like, you know You would call that out too

I'm like people on like, you know, there's no point in driving. And you're like, what's going on? I'm not with this professionalism bullshit. But yeah, like, you know, kind of seeing myself through the game and like being in a place where like, yeah, I'm watching this story of this mother who's raising her child and doing all the best you can, right? And like seeing that and seeing my own mother

and being like, damn, dude. And like getting to the point where, you know, later on in the game where like the child sort of grows up and realizes and like, you know, has this moment. of wanting to kind of go back and like appreciate where he came from and all these things and going like, oh man, I want to, I want to learn how to make this dish. Yeah. It coincided with a similar moment for me where like I played that game right after Thanksgiving and right after I brought Jullof Rice to the

Friendsgiving that I went to. And, you know, having conversations with friends about like, oh, man, I'm ever going to learn how to make Jullaf Rice? Like, oh, I want to, but I'll see them's difficult. Like, and me playing that game and being like, I need to learn how to make Jullaf Rice. Like, I need to learn how I do this actually. I'm not, like, it's very rare that I have a reflective moment like that playing a video game that feels like it's putting up a mirror to me and Venba was that for me. I think too it's so special the way again it's able to subvert expectation in which the expectation is the like kind of cliches or the things that we know right where there's you know people talk about like experiencing culture through food being a very like baseline

interaction like I think for a lot of us like when it comes to like reaching out to other cultures like it might stop it food unfortunately if I think for a lot of people so it's that idea of something that sometimes can be very shallow, but they really did examine, like, the depth of it. It's integration of, like, language and how it communicates, like, different language being spoken while also as, like, to the player, you can follow along, but you know what's, like, stuff like that is so smart. And I think, like, so many people, you know, out there listening might be thinking, well, I'm not like a story person, like, oh, I don't know if I want a story, it's read book. And if that's you, like, you know, that's fair and fine, because we can play games,

how we want to play games. But if you're open to it, I really implore people to check out something like Venba because I think it's such an example of, you know, Barrett mentioned earlier, like frustrations of like Tuesday of the Kingdom, like what people say about like that game. I think people so often ignore the many video game aspects that go into a game like this and a storytelling experience in the way that the video game medium really can be used to enhance and do something unique where it's like, no, you can't just, it would not hit the same.

It is different. And a good, and it's like, I feel like when people have that, I'm like, you either have a very specific image of what a narrative game is. Or to be frank, maybe play some bad narrative games. Because, like, me and Greg be in the bad narrative game all the time. Come join us. The hearts, right, something. We're the heart lead.

Yeah. Not bad, but like, very okay. Very okay. It was so okay that we were so mad. We talked about it. But also, like, when you get in the week, then you really start to, like, learn, like, what it takes, where, like, things are. And, like, through that study, I'm really able to, like,

fully appreciate and communicate, like, what makes Venba special. So anyway, I won't spend as much, this amount of time on every game of Venba's very cool. Eight is Pickman 4. We already talked about it with Mike. You're a little guy. I think also too, Pickman 4 really hit for me in the post tiny can era where I was like, bro, I already had tiny can and you're not going to give me a soap skateboard. So what are we going to do here? What are we doing here? But I think it did say, hey, we still know how to like do our own shit and we know how to do it well. And again, as far as puzzles, very smart design. Six was, no, seven was chance of Let's fucking go.

Where is this? Did this make your list? Chance was, I think, number seven online. Okay, hell yeah. Dude, chance is so incredible. It was such a year for puzzle games this year with like, you know, the viewfinder hype, the humanity hype, all of that.

And I'm like, we need to talk about Chance of Sonar because I played this and holy shit. This is like the best puzzle game of the year for me. And like just one of my favorite games that I played this year, again, talking about like a unique video game, like the concept of Chance of Sinar is essentially you are in a place

and you don't speak that language. You can't understand it. It's all like text. And the game aspect of it is you'll see these glyphs or characters however you want to conceptualize it and you have a notebook in the game where you write down like what you think it means

and like you type it out on console, you type it in on PC. I think it plays fine on either because you're not writing like novels. So you'll say, you know, the first... It's like food. Yeah, up. Yeah.

Walk. And you're not writing like every two seconds. So just, you know, for people that are trying to wrap their head around like, oh, I've never heard of this. Like, what is this game? Like the first thing you encounter is like, um, like a lever and it like opens and closes the door. And they have like a glyph on each one. So then at that moment you write down, you might write down open close.

You might write on up down. Yeah. And like so it, you know, it's funny because so many of the games we talked about were expressing players having the ability to solve things in different ways and get to different points in different ways. I think Chances-Sanar is incredible at that. it is a, it is so good at like teaching you a language too. And I think my favorite thing about this and what makes this to me like, I don't want to say

like the perfect puzzle game because that's overly dramatic. It's not portal, right? Which is the perfect puzzle game. But I think what makes it such a brilliant puzzle game is that it, you know, unlike Kekoon, cocoon is very like frictionless if you're good at puzzle games. Like, oh, I know how I do this. Chants, like different people will get hung up on different stuff because it just depends on how you take an information in the world.

And the beauty and brilliance of Chance of Sonar is if you're, having a hard time, you can just keep going through the level. And eventually you're going to get it. And it has like built in checks where they like make you confirm, you know, what these things mean. Like they end up giving you like, you know, a suite of words. It's like up down, left, right, happy, sad. And it's like you have to slot them in. So it does have like built in checks. Like you're not going to end up just being totally like stuck and lost. But at the same time, like, I can be like, dude, Andy, I don't know what the fuck any of this is. And Andy could be like, oh, I'm flying through it. I'm killing it. And then at the same time, I can see Andy get stuck on something.

where I'm like, he doesn't know this says pots. What's he going to figure? Like, what's going on? So it's such like... He's at the pot store. Yeah, like, he doesn't know. And he's like, I'm like, no, it's... They're pointing at it, you know.

So it is such a game about that. And I think the last thing, like I want to say on Chen Sinara, before I want to hear briefly from what you think about it, Andy, but is, you know, I have an educational background in that you learn educational philosophy. And there's an educational philosopher named Vygotsky, who came up with this thing called the Zone of Proximal Development. What this is, is picture like a bunch of circles.

In the innermost circle, it's things you can do. In the outermost circle, it's things you can't do. In the middle is things you can do with help, and that's where learning takes place. And Chance of Sonar knows exactly how to hit that middle, where you get just enough to, like, help you along, but it's not giving you the answer. It's pushing you into pushing your own understanding of the world that's having you explore. It is so freaking good. I don't know.

What is it, like $20 or something? I don't know what it is. Just get it. Like, it's an incredible video. Yeah, I had to buy it after, like, so many different people talking about it on a lot of different podcasts. And also, you were one of shots to you, because I saw you talking about it on Twitter and it was, you were one of many people who pushed me to go play it.

And by the end of it was just kind of really blown away and stunned by, you know, kind of having these big reveals. And I think the overall theme is also just very, very well thought out and very cool. Yeah. It's like a super special game. So that's like one of my, that's like the game that I, it may not be number one of my list, but it's the game that I started evangelizing, the way I've been making people play chickery or making...

Sure, sure, sure. Chance is the one where I'm like, Hey, come out back, let me show a chance to a star. And he's there with his PC and running at a million frames. Got this shit on you have 200 frames for a second. Oh my God. The art's very cool, too. Six is Liza Fee.

We've talked about it. It's dope. Will I finish it? Mind your business. Five is Spider-Man 2. Also, incredible game. Four is Dead Space, uh, Dead Space remake.

Um, you know, admittedly, right? It's like, oh, it's not really doing anything. different than the old one. Well, I didn't play the old one because I'm not old as fuck, okay? I'm only a little old because it says my birthday. But yeah, it's an incredible video game. And a lot of times on these lists, I don't really like putting remix because it is kind of like the low hang. A great game still great. Who would I know? You know? But I'm like, fuck it. It was an incredible video game. And I think again, talking about sound design, it totally nails it. And what I

really love is like a first time experience with Dead Space is the way that it has like horror coming at you from all fucking angles. Like, and literally all angles. Shit's coming out of the vents. Shit's coming out of lockers. And also the, my favorite thing about it is the ways,

like I think horror is at its best when it allows space for you to impose your own fears and paranoia onto it. And the Isha Mora totally captured that, like one of my favorite moments in that game was like walking into like a corridor and being terrified by like this shrieking sound. And it's just like the plants getting watered. And you know? And it's like,

fuck, man. Like everything in here. And like in general, like horror games, like rock sound design because it allows for such like creativity and like visceral sounds. But like it's so good. And also like in between all that, like the seriousness and like the dread of everything, there's also like some funny ass, fun ass shit. Like I would take those fucking fans and I would just be throwing fans at people.

You know, there's an obscene amount of hamburgers on the Ishimuror as well. didn't make it make it why it's on my list so high, but it's just like funny, weird shit like that. You know, just experimenting with like playing with like the different weapons and things. You know, not a perfect game. I still think the like the flying like boss things. I'm like, this thing sucks and they're like,

you should have played it in the original. It was even worse. I'm like, it was worse? Wow. That surprised me. But I loved Dead Space. I had a lot of fun with it too. Yeah, that was my first time playing it.

I saw a good amount of your stream. We were like kind of weirdly in sync with like certain games this year. It was a freaking blast. I thought I was going to be too scared for it, but I found a lot of fun in, like, the challenge in trying to, like, challenge myself, like, accuracy-wise. Can I hit that perfect limb and blah, blah, but? Like, I just had a lot of freaking fun with it.

The combat was great, and all the different weapon types. Yeah, it's like, you wanted to try everything. What is the bloodiest, worst way you can take down one of these enemies? Also, it was story wise while. Like, I didn't, like, get heavy into the lore of, like, reading all the notes and all this stuff. Like, I was, like, I did enjoy. Like, the, like, I had live tweeted, like, my, play through of it and I was like,

I don't know how I feel about this person and people were like, you know, like, and I don't know. There's something really like fun and cool about that too. Three is Alan Wake two. You know, dope, but very flawed piece of art. Two tiers of the kingdom. Better than Breath of the Wild,

which is like the greatest game ever. And then somehow one, always gay three. Because again, just I think really incredible at every angle. And I think just specifically the way it's able to flex a narrative, I think is such a challenge and such an accomplishment that like I can't not have that number one.

For sure. That's my top 10. Very nice. Good top 10, Janet. Love to see it. Bear just walked out of the room, but he's running back in to announce who's next. Tied with Janet with five games from their personalists making it to the top 10 was one, Tim Mollucking Geddes.

It's me, everybody. I see that coming. I don't know. I'm like, what am I coming up? Yeah, yeah. Coming in at number two. 10, we had Super Mario RPG, a game that I think is very overlooked in its modern incarnation, because the timing of it coming out, and I think a lot of people are like, oh, I've heard a lot about Paper Mario 1,000-year-door.

I'm going to wait for that one. Damn, that's me. You're talking to me. I mean, well, it's great. That's great. And you're going to have an absolute blast with a thousand-year-door. Like, I do think at the end of the day, it is the better game. Super Mario RPG, though, there's something so special about it because of how different it was back

on the Super Nintendo. and they managed to completely maintain what made it special back then in this modern way that feels so Nintendo in all the best ways. Love the character, love the story. The gameplay is fun. This is like a perfect type of remake where it just feels like you're playing the old game again. But like how it should look nowadays, widescreen, just everything being great. The amount of times I pulled out my Ola to show Andy, you're blessed.

Like, look at how good this game looks. Like it is stunning art direction and that is not something I expected after the the first trailer because I was like, this game's kind of ugly. I don't know how I'm feeling about this, but in action, I'm like, wow, this is, this game is beautiful. And Mario's like even shorter. It's a little guy. Everyone's all

smooth. Yeah. I do appreciate it. The little guys. Yeah. The game's funny as hell. I think that's the thing. The game is funny by not just like, oh, it's written in a funny way. It's like, or like they're saying funny things. It's a funny video game. Like, the gameplay is funny. Like, they do things

that they're playing with your understanding of a basic RPG or a Mario game and make you do things that you're like, this is, I'm just having a good time because of like, what I'm doing is not challenging or not necessarily at the most gameplay, like, intensive thing. But it's like, I see what you want to do. And it's very rewarding in a way. I'm rarely rewarded in game. So shout out to Mario RPG. Um, next up. Oh, did you go through your whole list yet? Oh, sorry, good call. Yeah. So number 10, Mario RPG. Nine. Resident Evil four remake. Eight, high, fire, rush. Seven, Super Mario Wonder, six, Disney, Illusion

Island, five, Jedi Survivor, four, God of War, Valhalla, three, Final Fantasy, 16, two, Spider-Man 2, and 1, The Legend of Zelda, Tears of the Kingdom. Going down there, Resident Evil 4, remake coming in number 9. This was a tough one for me, because it was between this or Dead Space,

similar to what y'all have said, the, like, pretty much like seven on to 20 of the list, like, a lot of things could be mixed around, but I think that Dead Space remake and Resident Evil 4 remake are two sides of the exact same coin, and that coin is two of the best survival horror games ever made with a definitive addition now.

Like, this is the best way to play these games that both came out at the most unfortunate time. I feel like Dead Space coming right after Callister Protocol made a lot of people write it off. Resident Evil 4 just because of where it came out with how many other amazing brand new games were coming out, in addition to being so close to RE2 remake, RE3 remake, RE7, RE8, people a little Ariet out. And I feel like if we had maybe a couple more years to get to four, I think a lot more people would be talking about it because it's an amazing game. And the reason I ended up edging out Dead Space with Resident Evil 4 remake on my list

is over the break I borrowed Greg's PSVR 2 and I booted up RE4 in VR. And the fact that one of the best games ever made can work in VR as well as it does. And just I am immersed and I am in this. And it's the entire actual not just Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil 4 remake? Like there's Wizards over there at Capcom. The engine's amazing. The talent and skill that they display is just unmatched.

I'm so damn impressed. Beautiful. And I will say like I don't know where I fall on the motion sick side of things. I had to stop playing pretty soon. Like I was like, I can't imagine actually playing through the entirety of R4 that way. But I do think that it's so damn impressive. And I think that as somebody that wants to see. VR succeed and wants to see tech kind of progress like that. Like it is so impressive that this game

can be this good in that form. And I'm so happy with the people out there that get to enjoy it that way. Because I do think it for many people out there could be like the ultimate way to play that game. Next up, I have Hi FiRush where I talked about it. Love it. Coming to number seven, I think this is the first time we're talking about this unless Paris did earlier. Yeah, Paris talks about it. I was in the bathroom there. Super Mario wonder. Um, love it. Return to form for 2D Mario in so many different ways. At the end of the day, it's not my favorite Mario game, and I feel like I come off as a hater when it comes to this game,

but I just care about Mario so much. So I have a lot of opinions. I too, hey Mario with my heart. Yeah, so it's interesting where Mario Wonder, I think as time goes on, I think that the world's going to remember it a little less favorably, and I think I'm going to remember it more favorably. Like, if I were to guess

how the future, there will be some balance. I don't think it's going to be that extreme, but I do think that I'm going to come up on it. But can't wait to see what Mario does next. I'm happy that seems to be on the right track. And what a wonderful time here. Then number six, Disney Illusion Island. This is the game I am the evangelist for.

I will not stop talking about it. I had such a great time with it. And as the time went on, it only got better. Recently, they just put out a D.L.C. drop that was just, I haven't played through it yet. But the little I have, I'm like, this is awesome. I am so happy this game is being supported this way. if you guys haven't heard me talk about this game already, it's incredibly special because by design,

it is made to be people's first Metroidvania. And I think that they 10 out of 10 knock it out of the park in terms of giving a great onboarding process to teaching what I am growing to learn might be one of my favorite, if not my favorite genre, period in video games, is Metroidvania's. And using the Disney cast the way that they do,

how funny the writing is, how amazing the music is. This in the same way that I can say, Mario Wonder and Zelda's authentically Nintendo. This is authentically Disney and capturing that in video game form, especially for something like a Metroidvania, that is multiplayer, that you can play with your kids. The difficulty options are vast.

You can really, really play this game the way that you want to. And that meant I got to play it a little harder than I think a lot of other people would. And I had a great time doing that. Like the challenge was where I needed it to be. But yeah, super, super fun game that I think if you have kids, you should definitely play this game with them. If you don't have kids, you should give it a shot. Kids.

Honestly, like the way the sentence was constructed, is like, you don't have kids. Then we got number five, Jedi Survivor, like we had talked about. And then, yeah, coming in number four, God of War Valhalla. This was definitely a last minute one for me. Last minute one for anybody. Same as for me.

This was my number five, too. Awesome. Love to hear it, man. Because obviously didn't really get to talk about this that much because I played it during the break and we're back for the first time now, but I cannot believe how good that that game was. I loved Dead Cells.

I loved Hades. And they were the first time I played Roguelex like that. And I just got so into them and played them over and over and over and over. And no matter how much fun I had with them, I still was like, I just wish this was like a third as long as it is. I wish this was a little more condensed.

I love the loop. I love the progression. I love the story. But like, I get it. I get it. God of War of a Hollow was the answer. for that for me. It gave me all the things I loved about those games, but in a God of

War Ragnarok skin with all of the story and character and acting and everything that we got for Ragnarok. All of it. And it really used a combat system that I love God of War Ragnarocks and it really puts you to the test of like, cool, now try everything. Don't just do the one thing that you

did over and over and over again. Let's try every weapon. Let's try different strategies. And I am just absolutely bewildered that this was a free addition to the game. I don't understand the economics of it. I don't understand from the PlayStation perspective what they were doing. Like, that

is absolutely wild to me because this I mean, it's number, what I have it on was a number four. Let me bring it back out. Number four, I stand by this with all my heart, man. And in a year that I think is the best year of gaming software that God of War of Allhala

came through at the last minute and stands toe to toe with so many other games on this list. Like, it was incredible. So, you're trying to get into all this like games as a service stuff. Like, you could, 15 bucks for this one. It would have made that. Like, make your bag.

Well, let me tell you about the last of us part two, remaster. Yeah, this one was incredible, right? Like, I, it's funny because I forget where we got into this conversation. It must have been in regards to Vahala about me talking about, like, certain things in God of War's combat. I think maybe we're talking about, like, last was two remastered versus God of War Vahalla. But, like, one of the things I think I've mentioned before is that like the spear was in my favorite weapon. Yeah. And the ways in which God of War Vahala just totally changed my opinion.

on the spear and changed my opinion on God of Wars combat in general, right? Because like one of my things with it is like, you know, I almost feel like the camera can sometimes be too close to crados and sometimes feel that like it can almost be a bit like, like, you know, half wants to be a bit souls, but then also wants to be a hack and slash and, you know, there's so many different. Yeah, there's so many different like mechanics that are happening that they like, you know, I think the thing that I remember I remember saying like in the review and one of our conversation is that it feels like it's giving you any, every tool in the kitchen, but it doesn't

feel purposely designed to like really allow you to like focus in and hone in god of war vahala fixes every single issue that i've ever had with god of war's combat like the being able to start off your run and go all right this run it's gonna be a blaze of chaos run and just focus in on that and focus in on one type of shield focusing on like specific elements and level up those elements and really like have a build that is all right this build is all about stunning my enemies and fucking like getting the r3 um death hit on them to like you know really make that my meta for this run I didn't no god of war could have a meta. Like the fact that they were they were able to figure that out in such a strong way and make just the pure gameplay of that game seeing, right? Like, uh, we, we talk a lot about

Sony games and PlayStation first party and how like, yeah, a lot of time they can feel like, man, you guys are serving the cinematics or serving the polish of it over even like sometimes the gameplay. They put gameplay first in this mode so much where I'm like, yo, I can't deny it. Like, I would just play this game for the gameplay alone if there was any story. If there wasn't any, if the game didn't look so gorgeous, right? I'll play. Is and it does. Yeah, and the game looks gorgeous, and the story is really fucking good. Like, the story is Cratos goes to therapy, and I think the way in which that they have Credos reflect back on his past and reflect back on his actions. Like, shout out to Barrett for his video, I say about, you know, Cratos and if Cratos can be redeemed.

I fucking called it with a lot of the things I brought up. I think they treat that character in such a smart way. And yeah, like, I think God of Orova Hala is very special. Yeah, I think it's a beautiful epilogue for both 2018 and Ragnarok and the journey that Cratos takes. I can't compliment enough of just like the, the, the, the, Rogue-like stuff that they played around with. It's such a fun time. It's so good that, like, it took me like six, a little over six hours, I think, to complete.

And it was so good that it made me over our winter break. I played through 2018, replayed 2018 in like three days, and I'm still in the middle of a Ragnarok play-through right now. Because the amount of things that it comments from both of those games and the original series, like playing through Valhalla, I felt so validated for playing through the original games for the very first time last year. And granted, that was to make that video essay from a little over a year ago. But Valhalla just really kicked ass in that sense.

And then my top three were... Hold on. I'm on top three. They're very not surprised at all. But Zelda's number one, Spider-Man's number two and Final Fantasy 16 number three. I said this earlier, but like I really, really, really wanted Final Fantasy 16 to be my number two just because of how much I love that game and I really wanted to rock for it. I just can't deny that Spider-Man 2 is, to me, like, in any other year that Zelda's not there,

it would have been my game in the year. So, feel good about my list. By the list. You would have stayed the same, and Tom Hatsy 16 would have been over, Liza Pton. Think about that. I didn't hear a word you said. Yeah. No, but I felt it. I felt the spirit of what he said.

I felt the word of it. Yeah. I don't know what the... I heard it's where he ranked it. Spider-Man would have stayed the same. Oh, Final Fantasy. See what are going to go. I see, I see, I see.

Darkville is still be in front of them. Real quick, I just want, the reason I was harping so much on my placement of the two and three there is because I didn't want to play the game of like trying to like change how the votes would actually go here. And because of that, though, I didn't want to put Spider-Man too high because I was like, I'm worried, worried that Spider-Man is going to win number one. If too many of us put it too high and I'm like, I'm ruined for Zelda here. I do have something to say there. Up next with six games was Paris. And so he already came through. Tied with Paris, though, as well with six of their personal games on the official top 10 is one.

Greg, CEO, Senior Miller. Hello, Bear, Courtney. Let's go over my most personal list of all time. Number 10, Dead Island 2, number nine, Horizon. Jesus, Christ. I'll get to it. You want me to recap the entire list. Bring mics list back up.

Number 10, Horizon for Ben West, Burning Shores, number eight, Zelda, The Tears of the Kingdom, number seven, Jedi Survivor, number six, Venba, number five, Diablo, four, number four before your eyes, number three, Alan Wake two, number two, Spider-Man two, and number one, Starfield.

A big conversation with me in doing this list was my enjoyment, what resonated, and then, like, what I committed to fully. You know, I had on my short list for stuff that I wanted to get on there but didn't do it was Wildheart. Octopath Traveler 2. Games that I was really, really enjoying,

but I got stopped cold on by Jen's mom getting sick and never got back to them, which I thought is involved with my list of compelling, like, oh, that's interesting. I never finished that. Why not? Why didn't that draw? Octopath was your player's choice,

one of your player's choice, right? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But back to the list itself. Number 10 is always, I feel like I put something in there that's a bit goofy or whatever. I mean, let's talk about Huber from Easy Allies, right? swimming in sevens. Dead Island 2 is not

a 10 out of 10. There are other games that I probably that were far better than I played. But Dead Island 2 I did see credits on and I was super excited still and with the portal to play it and chip away at it and go do stuff. Not to mention the fact that Dead Island 2 of course should not exist. Right? This game that debuted and then got

destroyed and then came back and then wasn't garbage? Okay. You know what I mean? It's a stupid schlocky, B movie zombie. Let's go kill things and slam things and put electrified katins out. really good in there. Like the interior? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

The game was gorgeous. Yeah. It's a game I enjoy tinkering with. It brought beans, beans games into our life. It's all the matters. So I'm a big fan of that. And yeah,

I'm excited to platinum Dead Island two one day, but it's just run around and killing stuff. That's fun. Why not? Number nine, I put, of course, Bernie Shores from Horizon on there. DL.C. For L.A. on your list.

Exactly. Los Angeles. I was a slam. Don't give it was an L.A. game this year. You know, Burning Shores, we talked a lot about on P.S. I love you and throughout it. I thought it corrected a lot of the problems I've had with Alo

in the past, where Aloe is very quiet, or, you know, she's talking out stupid things, but she's not talking about what's going on in her head. She's not giving us character moments. She did here. They gave her love interests. Of course, this was a great reminder of how gorgeous Horizon is and how much fun Horizon is to play. We talk about, you know, always a bridesmaid, never the bride, so many times. And you're talking about Spider-Man, but also Horizon, right? Where I launched last year, and by the time we got to Game of the Year, there'd been a lot of other games that were better than it. And so it kind of is that thing. you kind of forget about Bob.

Like Horizon is so much fun to play. We don't talk about how much fun it is to go and do. I enjoyed getting out there. I enjoyed playing it. What is that? Kevin just dropped off a random soda. The guy across the street got a slushy machine now, so it might be a slushy.

Yeah, he's got a slushy machine. Baja Blas slushy. Holy shit. Oh my God. And so yeah, Bernie Shores was one that I enjoyed going back to. It's what it kicked started by Platinum journey. I want a shout out also.

We talked about on way too and like how good that game looks, especially the character models. There's no game. There's, in my opinion, not a game out there with character models that look better than Burning Shores character models. Like they look better than they do in the main game because it's PS5 only. And when you first gaze upon the characters that are in Burning Shores, it looks unreal how good these characters look. But then I also want to shout out. And this is a controversial one, but the final boss fight in Burning Shores, which I think we're split on.

Like, I really like that boss fight. I think it's really fun. But then I also know that not everybody loves that boss fight. But I think that game has moments. I think I think the narrative of it too, a lot of Minsky kind of thing. But I don't know. Yeah. Is that both of us so weird because people are like,

it's awesome or they're like, this thing was ass. Like there's no in between. There's no in between. When you talk about gameplay, that's where I'm like, dude, give me that, what was the Ghost of Sushima DLC raid thing? Oh, Legends. Yeah.

That for Horizon, man. We're going to get it. We're going to get it. I've got to be one of the live service games that's still a lot of PlayStation. I mean, yeah, hopefully doesn't get canceled. Yeah, and also just, it's been an interesting year for Horizon with that. And then like the, because the VR was this year too, right? Yeah.

Yeah. But yeah, Brayshores is awesome. Like it's just not my list because I don't really care to put DLC on my list, I'm being honest. But like, and also if I did it, I still wouldn't make it. But yeah, it was an awesome time. I mean, we talked about it a bunch on PSI Love You. Like, my favorite aspect is like the verticality it kind of leaned into in a way that it didn't in the main game.

And I don't play a lot of DLC, but I do get a kick out of the way I think DLC offers a peek into the future for the franchise. And I'm looking and I'm a liking. You know what I mean? Like, it was a good DLC. It was fun. Number eight of my list was Tears of the Kingdom. a lot lower than a lot of people in here. It's another one for me where I feel like my,

everything you guys said about the puzzles and the worlds and the three levels, all of it's true. For me, the problem is that I'm not compelled to go back to it because it is my fuckabout game and go do a shrine and go do a thing or whatever. And when I was trying to get back on the story path, I just kind of do it where I found myself, I don't care about the Zora.

I'm not into this. You know, bless you talk about going back to these different parts of Breath of the wild map but here and see how it's changed like I just don't have that relationship with breath the wild even where it's like I remember enjoying breath of the wild for going into the divine beasts and doing the thing but even then it's like I don't know you know that's a great thing about having a bad memory Greg yeah yeah it's just the birth of wild map rehashed like I'm good I'm exactly but it's the fact that there's that it's that I just four years ago I do not like the combat of tears of the kingdom I love the

exploration I love what's over the hill I love figuring out the puzzles but then I got to fight a bobkin I'm like oh right we tried fusing a mirror to your shield I was I was also thinking of that same stupid joke. I'm like, have you put an eyeball on your arrow? And so again, I'm not arguing the fact that it's a masterpiece and I deserve it's a game of the year or whatever. Just on my personal list, it just, it didn't hit, it didn't smack. It didn't make me want to go see credits on it.

And I doubt I ever will. Shoot that fucking like gas plant at a big group of them. And they all get confused. They don't see shit, Greg. You sneak in there and fucking snap their neck. See, I can do that, right? Even for you with like, if the Perry was a bit better, you know what I mean? or like dodge rolling or jumping.

I agree with you. I think the combat is my least favorite part of Tears of the Kingdom. I learned how to do that. Just give me a normal fucking dodgerald. That flurry thing. I didn't learn how to do that until the fucking end of Russell Wild. Really? Yeah.

And I was like, oh man, this makes everything way easy. I'd been struggling for so long. But then I found the fun with the arrow gameplay. Yeah. Things like that. Number seven, Star Wars Jedi Survivor. We've talked that to death. Great game.

Congratulations. Can't wait for more. Number six, We also just talked about that, but once again, please everybody go play Venba. Number five, Diablo, four, I think I ranted too long already on this show about it. Number four, before your eyes on PlayStation VR2.

As I've talked about at length in my review of it, and I'll just P.S., I love you, right? Like, I totally missed it when it came to PC, when it was on your iPhone, all these different things, via Netflix, jumping into PlayStation VR2 being immersed in that world. Just bawling, dude. You know what I mean?

Like, what a fucking game. What a game. What a story. Heartbreaking. Again, one of those Greg games. It's why I play games. I want to experience that. I want to feel that. I want to go to those places. You know, we're doing streams this week where we're going to each one of us coming on to show one or multiple of our games of the year, whatever. This is the one I picked. I'm going to do as much as I can in my slot with Mike and the team in there or whatever because I just want more people to see this if you haven't played it. It's so good. I genuinely think it's one of the best narrative games of all time. It blows my mind that. this is not in that conversation with Gone Home and like the Pantheon of like, you know, and Journey, even though I don't like Journey, but like, Mumfell's like Journey. So it's like, okay. Yes, the journey. But it's like in that conversation when we talk about that, like almost like the indie canon,

like this needs to be in there. And it's not. I don't know why. Maybe not people have played it. But I think part of it might be there. We've gotten so many like narrative games throughout the years that like Gone Home came out in a time where it's like, oh, I've not really played a game like Gone Home and especially.

Before your eyes came out in like 2013. I feel like, though, before your. eyes, it has that 2013 energy of innovation through gimmick, but then justified through the story. Like the whole, you know, for those who don't know, it's like you blink and then you like, like, the blinking is the main mechanic. There is a way to turn that off if that like would really like, like, blessed you telling me yesterday on the smile as being like, I don't, I don't want to blink. I don't want to lose this moment. Yeah, that's how it be like though. It's true. It really is. When you do it like, oh, fuck, the conversation was so good. What are they about to say?

Yeah. But it also like knows when to like, it knows how to. It knows how to. It knows how to. work with that, right? It's not a game where it's like, so if something gets in my eye, is the game over? Like, no. Yeah, what about old blinky over here? Man, Blinky. Greg hopped into my Twitch shot last. I was like, this guy's blinking a lot. You should call him old Blinky. I was like, what is too much can't watch this? But genuinely, it's such a moving and special story. And I think it is another one of those where you play it and if you play a lot of narrative games, you're like, I know this is going. And then it's like, no, you didn't. And you get emotionally bitch like. Yeah, exactly.

Dirty trick, but they get you with it. Number three was Alan Wake 2, which we've talked about. Number 2 is Spider-Man 2, and number 1 was Starfield, which I talked at length about. Who's next? Up next with seven of their personal games, making the top 10 is one. Andy, the Knight to Rifle Cortez. Hello, gamers. Welcome in.

Thanks for dropping by. Number 10, Jedi Survivor, a late, late entry. Just like the next to our RoboQuest at number 2. What the fuck is RoboQuest? Actually, it's not RoboQuest. Wait, hold on. It's part one. Yeah.

And also, did you read your whole list to the audio listeners? Oh, no, not yet. Not yet, no. Yeah. Jedi Survivor, Robo Quest. Probably too busy, Blasphemus 2. Sorry. Bear, when I typed this list to you, I probably typed in RoboQuest.

I didn't mean to do that, my bad. Chance of Sinar at number 7. Armored Corps, 6 at number 6. Number 5 is Liza P. Number four, Balders Gate 3. Number three, Pan and Liberty, cyberpunk. Number two, Final Fantasy 16, and number one, tiers of the kingdom.

Wait, so is it just called RoboQuest? Yeah, just got Robocross. Let me redo the scores here. Okay, yeah, Roblox was still the only one. Oh, damn, damn, my bad. Jedi Survivor, talked about that. A great late entry. Just beat out Cacoon and Spider-Man 2.

I think he just did a lot of bosses off. We talked about it. Very, very good video game. Did you all hear what Parris said, by the way? No. Oh, y'all were going to the restroom. I'm Paris. Parris.

I got a butcher, I got a bunch of grown kids Oh man, movie I got a son of a point chair. Parr said, I mess up my list point blank period.

That's, he always says point blank period. Yeah. I caught on to you. But no, when you all went to the restroom, Parris said that he fucked up his list and he meant to put Jedi Survivor

on his top 10, and he didn't. What do he put and said? I don't know. Whatever 10 was like, he just forgot about Jedi Survivor. He said he just, like, forgot that it came out.

So I was going to excuse a cigarette. but Jedi would have been higher. So let's think about that. Recount, revote. We need to stop to steal, everybody. Ah, you're Baja blast.

Number nine is that game that was on the list right there, RoboQuest. RoboQuest is a game that came absolutely out of nowhere because I was talking about that

Mega Man first person shooter Rogue Light called Battle Shapers, a terrible name. And then some people were like, Andy, you should try a roboquest, another terrible name. And ended up being

one of the best feeling first-person shooters I've ever played. Awesome movement. It is like, I thought, I kept on saying this is going to be like my ghost runner of this year or the, or the boomerang X, but it also kind of just became vampire survivors. So it's like, I'm here for the gameplay. Wasn't there a ghost runner that came out this year? Yeah, Ghost runner too. No, but like when Ghost Runner first came out, then it was Boomerang X and then it was

metal hell singer. I was like, wow, I'm getting like this type of game every year. I thought that was going to be this sort of like just first person. experience, but it ended up, I keep on equating it to vampire survivors where I'm here for the gameplay. It is such a well-made rogue light with a lot of different abilities and a lot of different weapons. And it does so many little satisfying things to make you just feel good. And anytime you get like a critical head or a kill, it's like, dun, and you get another one, and it kind of does that Valoran thing where each next kill like goes up higher in pitch and it sounds awesome. It's so

fun to play. It's got one of the most insane soundtracks. Like, you're playing levels like, chat, I'm just going to turn the fucking music up on this right now. Don't listen to me. I'm just about to rock out to this shit because it's like insane. Like when me and Ray streamed it, it was just a freaking great time. RoboQuest is very, very well done. And it's on GamePass. And if you have a friend that has Game Pass, play that shit co-op because it's even more fun. Yeah, the abilities just scale up in a very, very fun way. And suddenly it, like, Like, what Blessing was mentioning with Ragnarok. Shit, I guess this, I have this really, you know,

I have this legendary fucking, like, throwing knife, a Kunai or whatever. I guess this is just a Kunai run now. And maybe I'll level this thing up. And now I have ice power. So now it's an ice run. And I'm freezing things up. A lot of different variables. It's, like, one of the most fun games I've ever played.

RoboQuest, very, very good. Go play that shit. Number eight was, uh, was it chances in art? No, blasphemous two. Blasphemous two. blasphemous two. Not the last of us two. Blasphemous two, everybody.

Audio listeners, blasphemous too. So that's with the B. Blasperous two? Ends with an S. It's a Metroidvania that everybody was like, dude, you got to play part one, and then part two came out,

and then everybody was like, you got to play part two, and I was like, ah, I just don't know if I have the time. I'm so happy I picked it up. I ended up buying that shit on Steam, and it is one of the smartest Metroidvania's that I've ever played in terms of design,

it filled that hollow night hollowed hole in my heart Tim. It filled that shit. Amazing boss fights, like some really difficult shit happening in here. But just the smart design where you start off picking one weapon and that weapon also helps you, if you pick like a heavy item, you get the heavy weapon. You start off with that and you're like, I guess I'm not going to get the lighter the medium weapon. But you eventually unlock those. but there's in the world big like hanging bells everywhere that you can hit with the big weapon

and it'll ring out and it'll make certain little platforms appear in the world but the medium weapon doesn't do that what the fuck does the medium weapon do well I ended up unlocking the medium weapon and that allows me to do like a ground pound ability that then cuts open like walls that have been closed off and every all these three weapons then coincide with opening up the rest of the world. In addition to what Metroid Vignas do is like, now I have a double jump. Now I have an extra air dash. All that fun

shit. It feels great to play. It looks amazing. And it's like some of the best pixel art you'll ever see. I don't the fact that they are like able to animate some of this shit in pixel art like makes no sense and it must have been so time consuming. But it looks amazing. It sounds great. It feels great to play. Go play

blasphemous too. And now now it's like I got to go play part one now. Fuck. Like really really great game. Number seven, chances to know, we already talked about that amazing little puzzle game with an awesome story and kind of just like

a lesson by the end of it. You're like, man, I'm really, I feel better for playing this game. Better than everybody here on this panel, honestly. Not Janet, though. Armored Course 6 was by number 6 game. And we talked about that already.

Call it by its name. Huh? Call it by its name. Oh, yeah. Fires 621. We're on to the fires of Rubba. Don't burn to the fires of Ruba con. This game is so good, man.

Again, I kind of equated it to Christopher Nolan of like, I'm making a new movie, Christopher. I'm Christopher Noel. I'm making a new movie. What's it about? Are you diving into people's dreams? Are you thinking about their imagination? What sort of weird shit are you doing?

It's like, no, I'm making a movie about the guy who made the atomic bomb. It's like, that's kind of weird, but like, I guess I'll be there for that. And that was their version of this. Like, no, we're not doing a soul's like. We're doing this robot game we made 10 years ago. And like, all right, well, good luck. with that shit and they didn't need the luck. They said, fuck you.

We don't need your luck. We're going to pop off with this title. Can we get like Andy's video game history? Yeah, like it's it just popped off with it. I love how we've already talked about it, but let me give you this soliloquy. It's like monologue. That's like a basic.

It's such a great time. Number five is, I already forgot. Liza Pee. We talked about it, but I'll talk about her 15 minutes. No, it's a great time. Number four is Ballers Gate 3. Obviously. It's just one of the best experiences ever.

And I think the biggest achievement is that it made me feel okay with turn-based games. Well, for that. All right. Everybody chill out. I'm not going to play C. See the Stars Baron. Number three is fandom. Liberty.

Great story. Great abilities. Awesome. Acting. Set pieces. Like that first set piece when that big, like, spider robot is chasing you is like, the way that shit sets the toad. I was like, holy shit.

This is about to be an adventure. Number two, Final Fantasy 16. I would have never thought I could. about a Final Fantasy game this way, and it will forever be one of my most memorable experiences ever. And Tears of the Kingdom, how did they, they made one of the best games of all time even better.

All right, next up is myself, also tied with Andy, with seven of my personal games making it the top ten. Starting from number 10 going up. I immediately was like, where is CSTAR? Number 10, Persona 5 Tactica, number nine, cyberpunk, 27, Phantom Liberty. Number eight, Spider-Man 2, number seven, Star Wars Jedi Survivor,

number six, high-fi rush, number five, God of War of Al-Hala, number four, Alan Wake, two, number three, sea of stars, number two, armored core six, and number one, The Legend of Zelda, Tears of the Kingdom. We've talked about eight of the games already on my list, so I'll just shout out Persona Five Tactica. Cute, cheapy game. I'm much like the boy, Janiceoa from Giant Bomb.

You give me a nice, simple, cute tactics game. once every few years, I'm going to dig that shit. You can give me a nice little grid and had some fun game play, some fun addicting gameplay. I'm going to be into that shit. Much like Mario Rabbits six years ago, seven years ago, however long Mario Rabbits was. The second one, not as much, because there wasn't a grid there.

There wasn't a grid in Mario Rabbits, too. So you lost me a little bit. But then Persona 5 Tactica, it's so satisfying. Such a fun game. And then, of course, I want to shout out, Sea of Stars, a game that everybody, the Sea of Stars was my Psychonauts 2 this year. I was like,

hey, everybody, go play this game. And like almost nobody did. You got a way to do your thing. Like, five hours. Yeah. I would say, like, to start on talking about Steve of Stars,

I think my biggest criticism of the game is why so many people drop off so fast. I think the first act hero's journey thing lasts a little bit too long, which is why everybody falls off. And it's six to seven hours of that first act,

and I think they could have maybe shaved it down to like three to four hours. Because once the first twist hits, it does not stop. I've talked to both Andy and I think Greg separately of like what happens in that story

and I think both of you guys knowing the spoiler stuff. It made my number 13. Because of Barrett's retelling. It was great. And the way, the twist in terms... Our top 10 barrett retelling. The twist and turns

are not the only reason why as well. I think it's such an accomplishment to, obviously it wears KronoTrigger on its goddamn sleeve and just like Super Nintendo era JRPGs as a whole. But I think it stands out on its own. Like, yes, it plays homage a lot to Krono Trigger. But I was really surprised how much, because Krono Trigger was like one of the games

I remember getting me interested into video games when I was a kid. And so that game means a lot to me, and I was surprised that this didn't come off just as a lesser version of Chrono Trigger. It was able to harken back to that arrow without just being that. And I think it was a big accomplishment for that. And really what this game is about is what do you bring to the world by just being and trying to be a good person? Garl is one of the best written characters, I would say, for the year and the journey he takes. how he's able to affect the world by just being a good guy, I think is really beautiful and how,

you know, he's not even like the one of the two players you can choose to play as. He's in your party, but like how that affects the main characters and everybody else in the party and everybody you meet throughout the journey, I think is really special and beautiful. I will say, we didn't shout out any honorable mentions for the list, but I have to be. I have to call it out, Tim. The official, kind of funny, honorable mention for this year was C of Stars one point away from making our top chat list. Wow. Because of Paris and I, shout out to Paris, who I know talked about it earlier in the show.

But you know what? I'm so sick. I'm having random games and forgetting other ones. I never booted this up. I'll fucking take it because I tried really hard. I tried really hard to get you guys to play it. And understandably, y'all dropped off, which I get. But so I'll take the honorable mention coming in at 14 points, just one point off for making the top 10 list.

But enough of that, let's go to our last personal top 10 with eight games from his personal top 10 making the official top 10 list was one. Blessing Eddie Oye Jr. Bless, tell me everything about Street Fighter 6. Oh, man. Let me let me talk about. You're goddamn too. Yeah. So at my number 10, I have Super Mario Brothers Wonder.

At number nine, I have Allen Lake 2. And number eight have Final Fantasy 16. at number seven, I have armored core six, fires of Rubicon. At number six, I have Liza P. At number five, I have Cympunk 2027, Phantom Liberty. And number four, I have High-Fi Rush. At number three, I have Baldersgate three, and at number two, I have Street Fighter Six.

Then at number one, I have Zealoteers of the Kingdom. I do want to give a shout-out. I'm literally going to give seven shout-outs. I'm not going to talk about all these games. But my top, my bottom two was so difficult. Like, like Andy, I had so many different versions of this list, and it really came down to my bottom two games. That one looked right for you, though.

You looked at that top ten, you were like, I looked at it, and I was like, I think this is the one. But like in the bottom two spots, the other versions of the list I had before your eyes, I had Venba, I had Spider-Man 2. I had Hitman, Roe of Assassination.

I had God of War of O'Hala, cocoon, and Metroid Prime remastered. Those are all the games where I'm like, oh, I think I could fit this in. I was able to fit any of those in into my list. But yeah, like I guess going from the bottom, right? Like Super Mario Brothers Wonder,

such a special game. You know, I like Tim, I'm a Super Mario Brothers person. I really love to Tudy Mario games. And I think Mario Wonder was the thing to reignite my passion and love for Tudy Mario games. You know, like I like them new Super Mario Brothers games.

I have really, really good memories with new Super Mario brothers on the Wii in particular because, you know, I associate playing 2D Mario with my siblings, you know, pass the controller back and forth on NES with my older sisters. And Mario, New Super Mario Brothers and the Wii was a similar thing of us playing on co-op and having a blast. Mario Wonder felt like such a, oh, no, you got to come back here, right? Like, if it was another new Super Mario Bros. game, I'm sure it'd be great.

Like, it'd be a quality video game, but it wouldn't be enough to get me excited about the Mario franchise, at least the 2D Mario franchise. Mario Wonder got me excited. I love what they did with the Wonder Seeds. I love what they did with the aesthetic, with the style, with the different, like, improvements and upgrades they have over the previous modern Mario games, like, even the small things, like, you know, how animated Mario's facial expression is, or like going into a pipe and then the hat floating out and, like, him grabbing it and pulling it back in.

those are the things that were really cute, really cool, really fun, and added in a different vibe. And I think it's Mario Wonder is a case of how much style matters, how much aesthetic can matter. Like obviously, you know, I'm not necessarily a fidelity person. It's not the end-all be-all. Like, give me good gameplay. That's usually where I lie in terms of, like, what is most important for me. But Mario Wonder gave such good aesthetic. It gave such good style.

And I think that really uplifted the entire energy, even though at his core, just another TD Mario game, right? but I think the design of it is fantastic as well. Moving up through my number nine, right? Like I had Allen Wake 2. Like I said, in Final Fantasy 16, Armored Corps 6, Fires of Rubicon, and like echoing what we said earlier, God damn, that's such a good game. And I love the customization of it and all that. Liza P in my number six, Phantom Liberty, like we talked about, so many cool moments,

such a cool aesthetic, yada, yada, number four, high-fi rush. Number three, Balder's Gate 3. And the number two, Street Fighter 6, which is one of the best games of the year unequivocally. Like, I understand it's the final game genre, and so that's the genre, that's a not going to hit for most people. For me, you got Baja Blasted everyone. Andy's been making love to this slushy.

The last step you took was like 10 minutes ago, I swear. It was just hidden. Street Fighter 6 for me is one that is a culmination of, I think, my fighting game journey within the last, I guess my last lifetime, right? Because like, growing up, I loved games like Super Smash Brothers for the N64. I think that technically was my first fighting game. But when I eventually got a PS2, I then fell in love with Mortal combat deception. I fell in love with Soul Calibur 2. I played Tech and Tag tournament the first

one. And like, you know, I pretty much fell in love with like every major fighting game franchise except for Street Fighter. Like Street Fighter was the game that I'll go over to Addison's house to. Fuck yeah. Like Addison has Super Street Fighter 2. Or Addison's top 10. But he had Super Street Fighter T for Super Nintendo and I'll play it at his place. And I was like, oh yeah. You know, I like this Dalzin guy. He has stretchy limbs or whatever. That's cool, I guess. yeah, like, you know, all these other characters are cool, I guess, but, um, you know, it never stuck with me as like a, oh, I got to come back to Street Fighter sort of thing, right? I just appreciated it as a Super Nintendo game, but I was too busy and too excited by, like,

the 3D fighters and stuff. Moving on, right? Like, eventually the PS3 generation comes through. And like, as I get older, I have a friend group that was really into fighting games. And around that era, we were playing, uh, I think it was Tekken's six. And we're also playing things like, um, Moral Combat for PS3. and then also, like, they were really into Street Fighter 4. And I would try, that's another one where, like, I saw it.

I was like, really cool art style, really cool characters. They would beat my ass in Street Fighter 4. And I would try to get good and it just wasn't working. And so I couldn't fall in love with it. As the years went on, right, it then turned into, I think the last generation, PS4, where I started playing games like Dragon Ball Fighters, Guilty Gear, Scribe, King of Fighters 15. And a lot of these games I started playing, the 2D fighters,

also shout to Soul Calabre, because I forget if I mentioned that. A lot of these games felt like training for finally getting back or finally getting into street fighters for the first time all the way. Where, you know, the reveal of Street Fighter 6 happened at that. I think it was a state of play. It looked cool. Like there are teasers of the world tour stuff and like a lot of questions of, oh man, all right, this feels like it's a return to forum. People didn't love Street Fighter 5. Is this going to really bring it back?

And, you know, getting my hands on that, like one of the network tests or, you know, open betas for the first time. I think it might have been closed beta. playing it for the first time and understanding what they're going for with the drive impact system, understand what they're going for with the Perry system, understanding what they're going for with the art style and the vibrancy of the world

and how good it looks on PS5 and all this stuff, that immediately got me in in a way where, you know, I've never been so, I guess, obsessed with getting better at a finding game. Every mechanic feels right. This video game just feels right in terms of the, like, the balance of, again, the different systems,

the drive impact stuff. of how like, you know, I am in a place where I am understanding when to pull out the lights, heavies, mediums. I'm understanding, like, you know, spacing and movement. And I think Street Fighter 6, what it does, I mean, it does many things, right? Like, it has, like, the modern controls. It does, it has the role tour mode. It has so many things to get.

Commentary. Commentary. It has so many things to get the general audience in. But for me, it's somebody who I'm like, yo, I'm right. I just want to get good at this game. I want to fucking, like, become a monster at it. It has so many things for me where I'm like, you know, it just, just feels right. I lose in this game probably half of the time to maybe 55% of the time and I never

lose and get frustrated. I lose and I'm like, all right, fair play. I can run it back. I can learn from that. I can learn from this. Like, what did I do wrong? Like, where did I not hit my anti-airs? Like, what are the things I need to do? It is such a game that, you know, even in the times where things aren't going your way and where other games would feel frustrating, it just feels right and it feels inviting and it feels fun and you know a lot of the fights almost feels like I'm having a conversation with the player on the other side even though we're not wearing mics right like it is oh man you read me on the on the drive impact and so I know like I know to keep an eye out for this for round two right or like oh man right this guy's jumping a lot I know what to keep an eye out for I am having those

moments in every single match in Street Fighter 6 and it's so satisfying it is so fun but then you you know it also is just you know filled with such good style like I love the characters I love Kimberly I love Luke and all the new characters. I have action figures on my desk of Luke and Kimberly. You know, I'm obsessed with it. And I really do think that it is one of the best and definitely one of my favorite fighting games ever made. And so that is my number two and the number one, Zelda.

Never heard of Zelda, everybody? Well, there you go, everyone. Kind of Funnies game of the year, 2023. Thank you all for hanging out with us over four hours. Yes. As we did this, this was awesome. Again, special shout out to everybody involved in helping make this happen. We have Andy making the designs,

making sure everything works and doing all of the math and getting B-roll and everything there. All of us for just being great. Fran for doing the VO again. Yeah. Joey Fordering pizzas for everybody. That's always that's key. Let's go. Now, before we do that, though, before we get to the pizzas, we are going to go one by one and do our top 10 most anticipated. Oh, yeah. Cool, cool, cool. Yeah, that sounds great. I'm glad you're shot not everybody, but also shout out to the audience for being here

because of all of the, I'm sure prime subs you're giving out right now. That's true. And the kind of funny memberships. Don't forget about that kind of funny membership. What's the kind of funny membership, Andy? For $10, unless you got gifted kind of funny membership, was very likely, then you would only have to spend an additional $5. But if you do so, you become a kind of funny member.

And then you have access to so much of our Patreon content, a lot of our backlogs, in addition to all the fun kind of feudy matches that we've had over the past a year and a half. That's right. Year or so, yeah, it's been a great time. Add free shows, live podcast recordings, the Daily Greg Ways. And now. Be birthday to you.

Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Janet. Happy birthday to you. Thanks, guys. Oh, you look at you the COVID way. Yeah, we have to do the COVID way. That's smart. I didn't think about that.

There was a little story of you coming at me with that knife. I was like, okay. With the sunflower on top? Dang, this is a nice looking cake, ladies and gentlemen. I told you. Me and Mike picked that up yesterday. You know what I mean? No big deal.

Greg is amazing. Well, happy birthday, Janet. Thank you so much for your contributions to Kind of Funny over the years. This is your last official thing in your tenure as a part-timer. You've been doing PSI-L-U for a very long time. You've been doing the game of the year with this last couple years. but you're definitely welcome to join us going forward. But where can people find you in the meantime?

Yeah, you can find me across social media. My handle is Game Onesis. That's Game OnySus. I have my own Patreon at patreon.com slash game onusus. Same spelling. Pretty much everywhere under that. And yeah, I'll still be, you know, out here making content on the internet coming back when y'all will have me. Spoiler, she's on PS, I love you tomorrow.

I actually literally want people to love tomorrow. Her first guest appearance of PSI love you is tomorrow. I was going to walk up to Blessing and be like, blessing. literally like backer. But yeah, it'll be a fun time. Love it. All right. Well, thank you all for hanging out with us. This has been an amazing year to talk about video games with all of them, with all of you. We're just getting started in 2024.

We got a whole bunch of fun stuff. So please stay tuned to YouTube.com slash kind of funny games, Twitch.tvies slash kind of funny games and podcast services around the globe. Until next time, it's been our pleasure to serve you.