The Ringer-Verse - Our Most Anticipated Video Games of 2024 | Button Mash

Episode Date: January 9, 2024

Get ready for a thrilling journey into the gaming future with the 2024 hype pod! Join Ben, Matt James, and Justin Charity as they dive into the most anticipated games of the year. Reflecting on the gaming greatness of 2023, they question whether 2024 will generate the same excitement (7:00). Then the trio delves into discussions about highly awaited sequels, originals, adaptations, and more, featuring titles such as ‘Final Fantasy VII Rebirth,’ ‘Star Wars Outlaws,’ ‘Hades II,’ and beyond (14:00). Later on, they share their hopes for unconfirmed games and systems (1:10:00). Host: Ben Lindbergh Guests: Justin Charity and Matt James Producer: Devon Renaldo Additional Production Supervision: Arjuna Ramgopal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I'm Sean Fennessey. I'm Amanda Dobbins. And together we host The Big Picture, The Ringers Film Podcast for new releases, career retrospectives, director interviews, movie drafts, top fives, and so much more. Twice a week, we break down the latest releases, argue about whether movies are doomed, and debate our modern film canon. Listen to The Big Picture on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters. Tramphia offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start. Tramphia is administered as injections under the skin or infusions through a vein every four weeks,

followed by injections under the skin every four or eight weeks. If your doctor decides that you can self-inject trumphia, proper training is required. Tramphia is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with moderately to severely active Crohn's disease and adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis. serious allergic reactions, increased risk of infections or lower ability to fight them, and liver problems may occur. Before treatment, get checked for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, or need a vaccine. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Tramphia today. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit Trimfairadio.com.

This episode is brought to by WeatherTech. Everyone knows winter is the MVP. and make it a mess. You don't need weather tech floor liners in the summer, unless you hit the beach or go camping. Then you'd want a cargo liner or a road trip goes sideways, ketchup goes rogue, ice cream drips. Yeah, you'd be pretty happy about those weather tech seat protectors. So just to be clear as the mud, you're inevitably going to step into the summer. You don't need weather tech unless you plan on doing summer. Visit weathertech.com today. Hello and welcome into the ringerverse, your nexus podcast feed for all things fandom. I am Ben Lindbergh, a senior editor for the ringer welcoming you back to Buttonmash in 2024.

Old acquaintance should not be forgot. So with me today, our two longtime comrades in the content trenches, Ringer deputy art lead, Matt James is here. Hello, Matt. Hello, Ben. Happy new year. Happy new year to you. And senior staff writer Justin Charity returns green. Greetings, my friend.

Yeah, let's do this, Ben. Let's do this. Here's some little-known lore about The Ringer. Justin and I were freshman year dorm mates in college. My God. Little did we know that one day we would work for a wonderful website called the ringer.com and appear on podcast together because the technology for podcasts had barely been invented back then.

That's why I'm a senior editor and you're a senior writer. We're both old. Maybe you can live in the same retirement community someday, you know? Yeah, no, really. Come full circle. So you wish me a happy new year. I try to abide by Larry David's three-day window for wishing people a happy new year. I haven't seen you.

I know, because we haven't had a pod yet this year. I'll take it into February. I'm not afraid. That's what makes him mad. But we can extend the window, I think, and wish you, each other, our listeners, a happy 2024. And how appropriate, because games we hope will make us happy in 2024. is our topic today. There's one thing I want to run by you both before we get to those games. I know it can be boring when people talk about their dreams. But can I describe and share a short

video game themed dream I had this weekend? I would love that. Yeah, let's go. I would have thank you. Thank you for indulging me. I was the new drummer for the Rolling Stones, but I was playing on a drum set from rock band, the game. And evidently, I'd been doing well, because we were on the last stop of the tour before we went to London for the final show. But five minutes before Showtime, I realized that I had lost the chord that connects the bass drum pedal,

and I couldn't find my bag. And you know how things happened mysteriously in dreams, so suddenly somehow I had that chord, but I couldn't connect the chord that powered the drums. And in my dream, I think the pads were supposed to light up so I would know what to play because I couldn't stare at a screen during a concert. And it dawned on me then that Mick and Keith and Ronnie were about to start playing,

and I just didn't know the drum parts by heart. All I knew how to do was to hit the pads in time with the lights. And it was kind of your classic, didn't do the homework, didn't study for the test-style anxiety dream, just with rock band and the Rolling Stones instead. And Mick Jagger's craggy face was wearing this exasperated expression. Like, can't we get a real drummer? this never happened to Charlie Watts. What is going on here?

And that was the last thing I saw before I woke up. I'm just glad it wasn't a dream about the Beatles rock band because I could not have handled Paul McCarthy's disapproving expression. What do you think this means, if anything? What does this say about me? Is this anxiety about recording this pie? Because I can tell you, the listeners, Ben did the homework for this. I'm preparing for this pod.

Yeah. He's prepared for the pod. I don't know what his anxiety is coming here. I got to tell you, though, they found a replacement and it's not you. I know. I know. It's probably for the best, though, because of my inability to play the drums. But if I had to psychoanalyze myself, I'd say that this might stem from when I was a kid.

You know, it always goes back to your childhood. And my mom would tell me to stop wasting my time playing video games and go back to practicing the piano, you know, a useful skill. And actually instrument. Yeah. So maybe I internalize some sense of inadequacy about boomers, denigues. denigrating games and my playing of them. Maybe that's it. But here I am hosting a video game podcast, not a piano podcast.

So take that, mom. Yeah, take that. Maybe it was a prophetic dream about playing Fortnite Festival with instrument support in 2024 because I do have a rock band drum set still sitting in my closet. Oh, I do not have room for that. I got rid of that. You guys ever have video game dreams, anxiety or otherwise? Now it's my safe spot.

Video games. Actually, yes. like a lot. But we don't want to go there. Yeah, I know. Don't divulge too much. I don't need to know what characters appear in your video game dreams. You can save that for the fan fiction.

Well, today we are daydreaming, at least, about gaming-related releases. We hope and plan to play and watch in 2024. This is the hype pod where we break down the best of what is confirmed to be coming out. And a few things that we've persuaded ourselves could come out, even if that's probably a pipe dream. Before we preview upcoming games, let's preview upcoming podcasts on Wednesday. The Midnight Boys will be giving you their instant reactions to Marvel's Echo, which drops all at once this week. On Friday, House of Our will have a deep dive into Echo. But before that, this Wednesday, Sean Fennacy, the infamous Fennacy, and I will join Joe and Mal for the annual

House of Our Hype Draft. Now, last year, I took advantage of Sean and Joe and Mal not being gamers to steal Spider-Man 2 and Tears of the Kingdom with the last couple of picks, which felt almost unfair. It was allowed by the rules, but I felt like I was picking on them and their video gaming blind spot. So this year, I might restrict myself to TV and movies because hyping games is what this podcast is for. Nah, dude, bring it to them again. You think? That's on them, not you.

They got to know. It's true. But I don't want to duplicate content if I'm hyping games today and then hyping games the same games on Wednesday, different audience maybe. But let's type some games. And let's start with big picture thoughts, because 2023 is a tough act to follow. It was a huge year for video games.

Sometimes these things are cyclical, and we'll have a less big year following a big year because it just depends what gets delayed and what doesn't when these things happen to coincide. So how do you guys feel about what's in store for 2024? Will this be a big year too? Will it be seen as a slump? Justin, how do you think things are shaping up?

I don't know. I felt like I had such a fractured experience in terms of gaming, right? In terms of balancing between playing stuff that came out. Okay, it's two things. Playing stuff that came out last year versus playing games older than stuff that came out last year. And also the classic, like, how much time I spend playing, you know, the steady stream of new single player experiences versus time I just spent playing more Street Fighter 6. and the Guilty Gear Shrive. And so to me, it's interesting

because my experience, I feel like if I made a pie chart, right? Like a huge slice of that pie chart was just spent really in two games. It was spent in Strive and Street Butter 6. And then a lot of it was in cyberpunk, 27, which came out earlier also, but it's still like, you know,

still is like Phantom Liberty came out, stuff like that. So I don't know, to me it's like, I know there was stuff like T. I actually think ultimately I did not manage to spend much time in tears as I spent originally in Breath of the Wild, right? So to me, I guess I had a kind of low-key experience of the glut of 2023. So I don't necessarily as pointedly feel that sense of how could 2024 live up to 2023? Sometimes for me, I feel it's like all you need is one game that hooks me for 300 hours. Yeah, that'll do it.

Well, Matt, as someone who played every game released last year, how are you feeling about the release late for this year? Relieved. Yeah. There was too much good stuff last year. There's too much. It's just too much. There should be plenty of time this year for people to catch up on all the great stuff they missed last year.

And I'm sure, you know, we can look at this at the beginning of the year, these names in front of us of games that are coming, and we can try and get a sense of how does this stack up. But ultimately, every year, things just come out of left field and surprise us out of nowhere. So there's only so much predicting we can do, but we'll do our best. We've all three of us have kind of dug deep and tried to find some things that might not be as big on the radar as some other things for the listeners here.

So I'm excited. There's definitely really cool stuff coming, but I'm also excited to not play five games at once. Yeah. It's okay if it's not quite as big a year because we still have a backlog to catch up on, or at least most of us do. So they don't have to release anything this year. I'd be okay.

I'd still have plenty of stuff to play. We could take a break. We could do an intermission year. Yeah, it might be tough to do podcasts, perhaps. That might not be the best for button mesh. But yeah, I don't think it'll be as big a year. How could it be? There's still a bunch of big games that we know about.

And the next few months, really, are already pretty crowded, right? And I don't think it quite compares to what we knew coming into last year when we knew about tears and Spider-Man and stuff. Starfield, et cetera. But you're right. It's always kind of a black box beyond the first few months of the year because, A, there are always games that get delayed and don't actually come out. And then there are games that maybe we've heard of, but we don't know will be as great as they turn out to be. Or maybe we just have the high-fi rushification of gaming and that will become a trend. And we just won't know about a bunch of big games that come out. Like Super Mario Brothers Wonder wasn't announced until last June, right? And then it came out. And then it came out. out less than four months later. So there might just be some surprise releases, or there might be things like Balders Gate 3, where we knew it was coming and maybe there was some level of interest, but we didn't know it would be the year-defining game, right?

So it's really tough to tell. It's extremely unpredictable, which I guess is a good thing. It keeps things interesting, but I'm hoping for more surprise drops in 2024. I'll say this, though. It used to be that most of the good games, most of the best games came out towards the back half of the year. And it seems like that trend is just dead now. Yeah, that's good games come out all year long. February, March is pretty stacked this year.

So that is definitely something that's changed and evolved in the past couple of years, I'd say. Yeah, you're right. It has become decoupled from the calendar. It's not so much tied to the holiday season. It's like whenever it's ready or close enough to ready that we can get away with releasing it. Ben, do you think it's help? I think going into it before we get into the sort of categories of hype that we're breaking down, I think maybe like giving people a sense of how we approach the calendar year in gaming might

might help listeners a bit because it's like I can say personally right like I am I am you know you talked about us being senior right and it's like I'm in that phase of life where like I pick my spots each year right like for instance last year like I didn't get around to playing Allen Wake 2 I didn't get around to playing balder skate 3 right and it's sort of there's just the period where I was like, this is going to be in a backlog. There's a high chance I get to it this year, right? But like, I definitely don't, like, I'm not approaching the conversation as somebody who's like, okay, I am, I'm going to play every single big thing the moment it comes out.

But I do have, like, the genres and I do have the franchises where I'm like, oh, I'm absolutely playing Persona 3 remake, like, you know, reload week one, right? Like, I just, I have my spots, right? And I'm curious how you and Matt, right, like how your perspective or your outlook on the year or each year is different with this stuff. That's how I would feel. I think doing this podcast changes things somewhat, right? Which is not something that a lot of our listeners are necessarily going to identify with. But when we look at the calendar, say, okay, we have a button mesh coming up.

What could we possibly tie that to? Then you're looking at whatever big game is coming out around then. And I would at least sample it, play it for a while. so we could talk about it and then maybe return to it later or not. But if I were doing this organically without content creation in mind, then yes, I would probably feel the same way. I'd have a few games that I knew I was going to get day one and maybe just lose myself in and others that I would take more of a wait and see

or I'll get to it when I get to it type of approach. I definitely have FOMO when good games come out and I'm not playing them. Yeah. So that sort of leads me to play most. things I would say that they come out. I definitely used to kind of sit with like Justin you said that you know you play a lot of Street Fighter 6 and Guilty Gear's Drive. I used to have that with like a few sports franchises. He used to put a lot of time into NHL and into NBA 2K, sometimes into FIFA, you know. Those kind of yearly sports games that I sink a lot of time into have kind of fallen by the wayside

for me as the games haven't really evolved all that much in the past five years. And that has ended up leaving me with a lot more time to discover new things and, you know, play all the indies that excite me and catch all the big releases coming out. We should do an episode on the stagnation of sports games making a mental note or some time later this year. So probably if you listen to our Game of the Year podcast at the end of this year, there will be games that we talk about then that we don't even mention today that just aren't even on our radar or maybe we give them a passing mention but don't dwell on them. However, we will do the best we can with what we know now. So here's how we're going to do it. We have six categories. Each of us will pick one thing we're hyped

for in each category and assign it a hype rating from one to six, where one is least types and six is most type. We have coordinated our picks, so we don't just say Final Fantasy 7 rebirth three times. But we're doing. We might not have even avoided doing that, even with this elaborate set up the week. I'm pretty sure it qualifies for all the categories. Yeah. But there are a lot of games here.

We're all hyped for, even if only one of us officially picks them. And along the way, we'll smuggle in some honorable mentions, too. And, of course, the standard caveats apply

that video games get delayed. So some of the games that we're about to mention may not actually come out in 2024. Here are our six categories. First, sequel slash prequel. So if it's part of an existing series, if it has a two or

three or eight at the end of the title, or if it has a name you know and then a colon with some other subtitle after it, it probably counts. Expans and DLC are also eligible for this category. Next, we have new game, old IP. So it is not part of an existing game series, but it is based on an existing IP. Maybe it's a game version of some book or movie or TV show. It's an existing universe. It's an existing character set.

Then we have all original, so all new from the ground up, not part of an existing game series or based on an existing universe or existing characters. Then we have the rerun category, which we had in our Game of the Year draft as well. So this is a remake, a remaster, or a re-release. It's something that has come out before in some form and is coming out in another form or even the same form. But again, then we have the adaptation category. So these are not games, but movies or TV shows based on games. We've talked a ton about this in the past year or two. There are more of these than ever.

They're better than ever. And there are a bunch more coming down the pike in 2024. Finally, we have the unconfirmed category. So this is where we get into rumor mongering and speculation and wishcasting. Anything we hope or think could come out in 2024 that has not been confirmed, does not have a release date or maybe even in some cases has not been announced, but it seems like it realistically could come out. And again, what with the surprise releases these days? You just never know. You can always hold out hope. So we're going to go category by category. And we're each

going to pick something. And I guess we can go within the categories, maybe based on how hyped we are for it. Because we have one, one, one, two, and one three and one four and one five and one six to hand out a So whoever has the highest hype rating for the category can pick first. And I guess for sequel prequel, that would mean that you are leading off. Charity, take it away. So look, am I already annoying by saying that Final Fantasy 7 rebirth qualifies for the sequel category and not the rerank game? I don't know.

It's sort of, sure, if we were talking about the first entry in the great Final Fantasy 7 remake project, obviously classifies as a rerun. But I think that the kingdom heartsification of the Final Fantasy 7 remake project, I do think sets rebirth up to be something that feels quite different than just playing like disc 2 or disc 1.5 and disc 2 of the original Final Fantasy 7. And I think people seem pretty divided to an extent on how they've gone about sort of spinning off the Rebirth project and the new tone it has and the timey whyminess of it. And I don't know.

I'm excited to see where they go with it, even though I could, sure, I could see some chance of it being a disaster and it being too Kingdom Heartsy, but also I loved that Ufi DLC. So I don't know, man. I will take what they give me with this. I really, I love what they're doing with Rebirth. I'm excited. I don't know.

It's like the thing I'm the most excited for on this list as a senior staff member who was there for the launch of Final Fantasy. to C7, who remembers playing that disc set. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. So this is your six. This is your most easy title.

Yeah. And I mean, I guess that's why we're so hyped for it that it doesn't neatly fit into the rerun category. Not that you can't be hyped about a remake or a remaster. We are about some of them. But the fact that this is not just a prettier version of the original, but that it's actually something new. It's arguably a new game as much as a remake that I think makes us more excited for.

for it and you've already gotten a look at it, right? Are you able to talk about the sneak preview you got? Am I? I mean, it's sort of like the stuff that I've seen so far of it and handled so far of it is like they're still keeping their cards close to the vest with like the stuff that I think people have played so far. The main glimpse that you see that's quite different obviously from the first, from remake, right, is this sort of open world stretch, right? And I think everybody sort of knew that.

It's sort of where the, the, the, remake, the first remake or the first entry, I guess, FF7 remake ends, right, is where in the first game, instead of like you hit the limit of Midgar and then from there you go off into Nibelheim and Calm and all that stuff. So like I've seen some of that, the more open world aspect, but yeah, I still have, they still have played close to the best, like the actual narrative beats of the second, of Reber. Yeah. So I got nothing for you on that front. And Matt, this would be a six for you probably if Justin had not taken it. stolen.

Yeah. Absolutely a six for me. I'm looking forward to see how the combat evolves in rebirth. That Ufi DLC expansion really kind of got me excited for where rebirth could take things because the combat of Ufi's character kind of opened things up in a really interesting way. So I'm very excited to see that. And as always, I'm just excited to hop on a chokebo and go everywhere I want. Well, we will certainly have some preview possibly and really,

review, certainly, but mesh content coming when we get a little bit closer to release, not that it's that far away. So for my pick in this category, which is a four for me, I'm going to take Hades 2, which is a sequel to maybe the game of the year of 2020. Who doesn't love Hades? And we're getting more Hades. So this would probably be an even higher hype rating for me if it were coming out in its final form this year.

It's coming out in early access as the original Hades did. And so I guess you could say it's not eligible or it might not be eligible for, say, end of the year awards. And typically, I don't even play early access games that much. I just prefer to wait. Again, there's just so much to play that I would rather play it in its finished, most polished form and prefer to play on console when I can. But I might have to make an exception because it's Hades. I don't know that I can wait until 20. 2025 for more Hades, I have some slight misgivings, which is just that Super Giant games,

everything they've done is really good. And I've loved all their games to varying degrees. And thus far, they have stubbornly resisted making a sequel. And there's something admirable about that, I think. And it makes me worried slightly that if there's a little bit less of an original release. Obviously, Hades was such a breakout game for them. You know, they'd had critically acclaimed releases that sold well enough, but not a huge breakout. You're defining game like Hades.

So I don't blame them for making Hades too. I certainly want to play Hades too. But you worry, like, is this the Pixarification while we're saying ification of things of super giant games? Is this a sign of less inspiration or will they be as amped to make more Hades as they typically are to make something completely original. But given their track record, I have faith that it will be great. So I just hope that it's in reasonably finished form and we can all enjoy it when it does surface this year. You guys excited for Hades too? Oh, absolutely.

They've said that they are not really setting a timeline on when the 1.0 releases is going to come out. They're going to wait until they feel it's ready. Now, hopefully that'll be 20. 24, but in all likelihood, I think it would be more likely for that to slip into early 2025. We'll see. But I'm not super worried about them, you know, making a sequel for once. I feel like let them get this money so that they can continue to make new games of other.

You know, like, you know, actors do this all the time. One for you and one for me, right? Except that this one for us, right, is still going to be really great. So I'm not, that's not something I'm super worried about. Yeah, the other thing is that Hades, the original, is pretty endlessly replayable, right? And so you could almost say, well, with a rogue-like, there's maybe less of a need for a sequel in some respects because every run is different, but I assume that it will be differentiated enough that it will feel like a fully new thing. But yeah, the original Hades came out in early access in December 2018. And then the game itself did not come out until 2020. And, you know, maybe with it being a sequel, perhaps. There's less for them to figure out as they go this time, but I'm guessing we won't get, as you say, the official release on every system until 2025. Matt, what is your pick for a sequel prequel? I think you all know that I have lots of time in my life to ride on choke-a-bos.

So in addition to being hyped about FF7 rebirth, I am also excited, and this is my number three out of six ranked pick. I'm excited about the Final Fantasy 14 Dawn Trail expansion that comes out, I believe, summer of this year. This is the latest expansion to Final Fantasy 14 online. For those who don't know, yes, that is a game that is still going.

There's an online Final Fantasy. I think you all know. It's an MMO, but it's also definitely a narrative. I've been playing Final Fantasy 14 for a few years now. And I think that it's ready for anybody to jump in then you can get right to that Dawn Trail expansion. You just got to just drop 120 to 40 hours,

and then you'll be caught right up, ready to check out what Dawn Trail has to offer. So I'm pretty hyped about this. The trailer just dropped a couple days ago or so. I would recommend everybody go take a look at that trailer because it looks great. Yeah, Final Fantasy 14. I've got a house in there.

Got a couple Chocobos, got some great mounts to ride. I think they announced that there's going to be a Final Fantasy 16 crossover. event at some point soon, which I'm excited about. I might be able to ride a Torrigal through Final Fantasy 14. So, yeah, pretty heights about that. All right. Give it a try. It's just going to be a spring and summer of Final Fantasy for you.

I know, it's like Square Inix is your landlord, Matt. You just. It feels like they pay me rent, though. You know? They keep giving mention. Honorable mentions, not even counting Call of Duties and Maddens. And other games, we get new editions of every. every year or even the new NCAA football, a long list of sequels and prequels that are coming out this year.

We've got, of course, Eldon Ring, DLC, Shadow of the Earth Tree. We've got Dragon's Dogma 2, much anticipated sequel. Hyperlight Breaker, like a dragon, Infinite Wealth coming out soon. Tekken 8, coming out soon. Stalker 2, Hellblade 2, Greedfall 2, Destiny 2, the Final Shape, Arc 2, Cat Quest 3, Little Nightmares 3, New Contra, Operate, Gulluga. Earth Defense Force, 6, love me some Earth Defense Force, Homeworld 3, Vampire, the Masquerade, Bloodlines 2, Visions of Mana, Warhammer 40K, Space Marine 2, the Wolf Among Us 2.

Any of those games that I just mentioned, stand out to you because- Wait, can I say something about the shadow of the Air Tree DLC? So a couple weeks ago, I was like, you know what, it's the holiday. Let me read download. Let me reinstallel. Let me reinstalleldering play it some more. I have a high playtime in that, but I hadn't played it in forever. And I just like, read it. Reloaded at where I last left off. And I have like, I have like a lot of gear and all this stuff. But I like reloaded at the Gideon Offner fight and got my ass beat. And I was like, I forgot how to play this game.

Totally. I'm like starting to scratch. I totally forgot everything about how to play this game. I'm like tripping. My fingers are tripping over each other on the mouse and keyboard. Oh, man. But yes, I do look forward to Shather. I have that experience constantly where there'll be a new DLC that comes out for

something. and I'm like, hyped to jump back in. And I jump back in, I'm like, how do I do this? Nothing is like riding a bicycle. It's like everything is like riding four bicycles at once. Yeah, exactly. That is what rebooting Eldon Ring felt like was riding four bicycles at once. I agree with that.

How do you feeling about Tekken 8? Are you a Tekon guy, Charity? I know you're fighting. I've never been. Here's the thing. I'm very into the music of Tekken, but I have never really played Tekken like that outside of arcades in like the late 90s. Yeah, I've never been a teching guy. And I can't imagine.

I already feel kind of overextended playing both Shrive and Shreveite at the same time. So I don't know if I have the mental stack, as the gamer say. I bet you do. I bet you do. There's a demo out. Check it out. I want to hear what you think about it. It's a real senior writer move citing playing tech in an arcades.

That's good. That was good. See, we'll keep this theme up. Yeah, whether or not you're ready to dip back into Eldon Ring. knowing from software, I'm sure they'll make it super easy on us. You know, there will be a full tutorial. They'll just walk us through every aspect. Here's where you go.

Here's what you do. Just hold our hands throughout the whole experience. But whether or not you're excited for that, I feel like this is going to be the year of Soulslikes. Not that like every year hasn't been the year Soulslikes recently, but it just, it feels like all the games maybe that were inspired by Eldon Ring are coming out now. And we're going to talk about some of them. but Dragon's Dogma, right, which is a sequel to a game that I didn't play the first version of, but is quite popular, has a cult following, and this looks like it's really going to level up, and people are super excited for it.

We're going to talk about avowed a little bit later, right? There are so many games in that genre that we're going to at least mention today. It just feels like this might be the year of peak Soulslike, right? Which I guess could be a good thing if you're into that. They're definitely in the spotlight now. Yeah. And that's definitely thanks to Eldon Ring. Yes, I think so.

All right. Tons of exciting sequels on the way. But let's move on to our next category, new game, old IP. So again, it's based on something recognizable, but it's not part of an existing series. And I guess I've got to go first here because I'm the high man on the hype meter. And with my number five, my second highest hype pick, I've got to go with Star Wars Outlaws. because I can only be myself. I'm a Star Wars guy.

How can I not be excited for Star Wars Outlaws? So this game, which is coming from Ubisoft, massive, at some point this year, probably later in the year, assuming it does stick this year. Makers of the division, again, I was worried when this was announced because, you know, Ubisoft's Open World game. But then Avatar Frontiers of Pandora came out, and Matt, we thought it was pretty good. It was good. We liked it.

Would that assuage some of my concerns? I'd like it to be better than that was, but the fact that that wasn't bad makes me hopeful. This is set during the original trilogy, but of course it's a Star Wars underworld game. And we've had various underworld games, but I feel like we haven't quite nailed it. You know, everyone's been waiting for the spiritual successor to the late great canceled game, Star Wars 1313, which has shown up in various other projects. but that's what everyone wants, right? A game where you can be a scoundrel, a smuggler, not a Jedi game,

just go from cede canteena to cedy canina. Not that you can't do that in other Star Wars games or even in Jedi Fallen Order, right? But I think this is going to be, or at least is designed to be that idea kind of coming to fruition. It lets you take off and land on the planet, which is very important to be. in your face, Starfields, it can be done. Granted, there are only like several planets instead of many thousands, but that's okay. In fact, that might be better. A little less procedural generation, a little more hand-designed worlds here.

So I'm excited. I have high hopes. I also have doubts and reservations. But if this game is good, it might be my most anticipated Star Wars release period this year in what is going to be a fairly slow year. Star Wars standards. Are you guys hyped for Star Wars Outlaws? I'm pretty hypes. I'll check it out. Listen, I really hadn't been on my radio that much. It's funny because like I've never really gotten, I've never really taken to the Star Wars games, to be honest with you.

And I don't know why it is. It's usually like the style of gameplay in a lot of the Star Wars games. It's just not you should have any go for. But I love a Star Wars game. You can find almost any kind of Star Wars game exists out there. Right. So if this kind of of brings the narrative aspects of, say, shadows of the empire and combines that with, I don't know what the best comp is going to be, if it's like, you know,

part Jedi Fall Out Order, parts other kinds of games. Like I hope it's not just kind of an avatar or Far Cry re-skin, just like slap some Star Wars on the Ubisoft model. Yeah. That would be pretty disappointing. I understand your trepidation. I think,

you know, we've had two pretty great Jedi games in a row with Calcestis. as the lead. And I think we might be getting to a point where we're sort of taking Star Wars games for granted as being good in the current moment. And I'm hoping that we don't have to remember how easy it is to mess up with Star Wars game.

Yes. But from what I've seen, it does look very exciting. So I'm going to, like you, remain cautiously optimistic. Right. I think the narrative director of this game, Nikki Foy, worked on Watchdogs Legion and Far Cry 6. So again, it's like, did you like previous Ubisoft games? Then maybe you'll like this, maybe not.

We'll see how much of that DNA is ported over. But it looks really good based on what we can see so far. So who's up next? New game, old IP, I guess. Justin, you get to go next. Yeah, I'm surprised that the sheer volume of riot I am accountable for in this episode, considering that, like, I am not a huge league person at all. But Project L, I don't know.

Project L, that counts really. We're supposed to be getting, I don't know. Like I think maybe the timeline on Project L is still a little up in the air. But I feel like that's the main sort of established IP, but, you know, new thing that I'm excited for this year. I think especially because, and we've talked already about fighting games, but like one thing I have no experience with in fighting games is like tag fighters. And I've never just never really had what felt like a good entry point for me personally, you know, between like Dragon Ball and like the Marvel Capcom stuff. And I just do think that like Project L speaks to me as a potential entry point into getting

into into tag style fighters. You know, that's disavowing the whole the whole caveat I gave about Tech and Ate and having no more mental stack. But like I think I've pre-reserved. I pre-allocated my mental stack. long ago for Project L. So yeah. I don't know.

Are you guys, this has been a long running hype train too for Project L is the thing. I feel we've been talking about this game for four years. This is a League of Legends spinoff. That's a 2v2 tag fighter, right? 2D fighter. Yeah. I don't have any,

I actually don't have any League of Legends experience at all. So this to me just looks like a fighting game. I don't have any like connection to these characters. It does look, you know, from what I'm seeing, it does look pretty compelling as a, fighting game, but I don't have any personal connection to it.

Have you guys played League of Legends? What about tag fighters in general, though? Yeah, like back in the Marvel versus Capcom days and, you know, all of that. Like, I have, through Capcom, I have a lot of experience in that. And I have found those fighters to typically not be the ones I get super obsessed with. I tend to, like you, you know, like to focus on one character at a time. But when done well, the tag format can be compelling. Yeah. And as we mentioned in our game in the year pod, this is just a peak fighting game again. There's a fighting game resurgence going on with Street Fighter with Moral Combat, with Tech and Coming, and with Project L. And I guess also in this category, multiverses, is coming out in its final form after going away for a while and coming back. So no shortage of options. I'm not that big a fighting game guy, but because a lot of the recent fighting games have extended a hand, a welcoming embrace to nobs.

and button mashers like me. I don't know whether this game will do that or not. But yeah, this is exciting. And it's not the last League of Legends spin-off property that we will be discussing on this podcast. Matt, you're up next. Yeah. So my pick in this new game, old IP category,

is going to be my two out of six rating two on the hype meter. But still pretty hyped, honestly. This is Prince of Persia, the Lost Crown. Yeah. And Prince of Persia, the Lost Crown, is taking it back to the roots. It's an action platformer, just like it was when it first started.

That comes out January 18th. So that is soon. And a lot of people have gotten their hands on this, and everyone who's gotten their hands on this game has said, this is one to watch. This is really fun. And it looks fantastic, and the hype is there from other people.

It's coming out soon. So I'm excited to jump into that. It looks fun. Yeah, me too. Yeah. I don't know how long we'll be waiting for the Sands of Time remake that may or may not ever actually come out. But this looks good.

Another Ubisoft release that I'm pretty excited for, and we'll have our hands on it soon as well. I'm not worried about open world fatigue with the action platformer. No, that too. Okay. So that was your two, My Five, Project L, was a four for Justin. I meant to mention that Tatween is in Star Wars Outlaws, which worries me.

It's just, ah, shit, here we go again. Ken, it's not the only planet, but yeah, you just have to have Tatuania, I guess, in your game. So we'll see how that goes. Other possibilities in this category, I mentioned multiverses. Princess Peach Showtime, at least a couple of us are pretty hyped for, right? This is the first playable Princess Peach game in a very, very long time. And looks like it actually could be a good one. I know Jessica Clemens is hyped for this game, too.

So just not a lot of original Nintendo that's been announced. this year. Lots of remakes and remasters and Mario themed re-releases coming, but this is one of the few original first parties, which games that we know is still in the pipeline. And I'm pretty excited for it. Can we also say, I feel like what it is with, I think the reason she's got the juice, Princess Peach, she's kind of tired of watching like Rosalina, Daisy. And what's the mayor? You know what I mean? She's tired of watching all these other chicks get all the shot. She's like, no, She's coming back. She's kind of doing the Nikki Minaj thing, which is coming back.

She's like, I got to show you all. Do this. Come on now. I'm pretty excited for that game. Princess Peach, Nikki Minaj, comp, too. I took those worst out of my mouth. Maybe it's a stepping stone to play aable Zelda. We'll see.

You can play as one princess. Why not the other? Everyone wants it. You've also got a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game based on mutant mayhem coming out. The art style looks cool. And you have some. Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League, which is one of the higher profile releases coming out earlier this year.

But there's enough surrounding this game to make me worried. You know, usually you'd think, oh, rock steady superhero game, I'm in. Except that the original unveiling didn't go so great last year. It's the kind of live-service, micro-transactions, season pass sort of game that I tend to get a little less excited about. Maybe the delay helps. but I'm worried. I know that there have been some narrative leaks that I have avoided thus far.

Presumably we'll cover this in some form, but it doesn't seem like the slam dunk that you would think another DC Rocksteady game would be. I can't wait to get my hands on this. And not because I'm excited to play it. It's because I'm excited to see what it ended up being after all of this. Let's play a super quick game. What do you think ends up with the higher metacritic rating score? Suicide Squad?

or skull and bones from Ubisoft. Much delayed skull and bones. I have hope. I want skull and bones to be good. I can't actually believe that it will be, but I want to believe. So I'm going to go with skull and bones. Yeah,

maybe I'm just going to ban why I went in on that. Yeah, I legitimately have no. I can't even make a pick, honestly. I think they're both going to be so heavily scrutinized after they're very public delays and reworkings. Yeah. That I think they're starting off at a disadvantage.

anyway, even if it does end up being, even if they do end up being good games, it's going to be interesting to watch those release and how the reception goes for those two. Can I point out two can speak you as absences in this category, new game, old IP before you move on? I just want to say two franchise titles and they can see me after class. Wolfenstein, Tomb Raider. Where is it? Where is it?

You want more. I guess we're getting adaptations and re-releases, right? So there's some Tomb Raider. See me after class. That's all the same. All right. Next category. All original. Fresh IP, just fresh as the newly fallen snow, still unexploited.

No sequels. We don't know what to expect. Matt, you're leading us off in this category. I'm leading off. This is my number four out of six rating. The all original. I'm actually cheating here because I got to tell you. This game is not in.

Entirely all original. It does exist in an existing universe, but you probably haven't heard of it, so it's fine. So my pick is Avowed, which is going to be a day one game pass game in 2024. Avowed is made by Obsidian Entertainment, brought you the outer worlds grounded.

Last year's Pentiment, I believe it was last year that I loved. Tiny little side project. Yeah, that was 2022, I guess, now that we're in 2024, not last year anymore. Two years ago. Yes. You know, Fallout, New Vegas. Obsidian obviously has a story track record. And Avowed is an action role-playing first-person

game. The trailers look great. It's a fantasy kind of world. So it exists in the same universe as their previous release, Pillars of Eternity and Pillars of Eternity 2, which a lot of people missed. Let's just, you know, it's all original if you haven't heard of those games or played them. Sure. I have every reason to be excited about this. I love this kind of first person. and role-playing kind of game and Obsidian rarely misses. They rarely miss. So this is one I'm pretty hyped for. Let me get that sword.

Let's do some weird magic stuff. Let's go. Yeah, looks like it's going to be a big time sync. Justin, we both have threes in this category, but I know that Matt is hyped for your pick as well. So why don't you go next? Okay, but I have to give a little wind-up to Matt because I will say that there's a game that should be here instead, but it was supposed to come out last year and it didn't.

And it was a small game. And maybe the dev is even listening to this podcast. Where is the Golden Girls Take Manhattan? I wanted to play that so bad. For people who don't know, the Golden Girls Take Manhattan was supposed to be like a persona-style game. But with the Golden Girl and the trailer for it looks incredible. And I was like tapping my watch for like a solid nine months.

And it was supposed to come out. It was supposed to go out last year. And I just, I don't see it. Completely forgot about it. Yeah. I see it. Hopefully, it's still coming out. But thank you for being a friend and reminding me.

Thank you. That trailer is iconic. Thank you for being. Sadly, I have to be an enemy and reveal that the game has been canceled. Apparently. What? Stop. As of October.

And the reason for canceling it is not some sort of licensing issue, but because, quote, the scope of it is significantly large. and what we're equipped to handle. No, I was equipped to handle it as a player. I was equipped no, man. I'm done gaming. I don't even know if I can go on.

No, I'll talk about my pick. Okay, so my pick. And here's the thing. I'm going to say this title, and I'm going to feel ridiculous. When I say metaphor, re-fantazio, Fantasio.

Sure. Metaphor refantasia. Atlas is metaphor. for Refantazio. There's no, there's a re in it, but it's not a remake. It's not a remaster.

Right. This is, for all we know, the first Fantasio. It is the, that's the vision. That's a good stuff. It's a re-Fantazio?

I don't know. We'll see. Yeah. It's like an Atlas, RPG. It's, you know what it is? I think there's something about

when Atlas does non-Psona RPG stuff that's also not trying to do the, the, the persona style. I think all the time of Tokyo Mirage sessions, which is like the Shinemagami

Tensei Fire Emblem Meshup game that makes no sense that is like about the J-pop industry, but has like just iconically good combat, right? And it's like, I don't know, sometimes I'm not, there are times when I need to break up

the extreme psycho analysis of persona or the kind of occult, like, quippy demonness of SMT with, I don't know, metaphor refantasia just looks like an anime game. It just looks like some anime bullshit. You know what I mean? It's like a good palanclines type of Atlas game.

And I'm just addicted to a lot of the Atlas like game design conventions, which I think is why I'm hype for it. But it also, it's like, if you watch the trailer, I'm just like cringing through so much of the writing. and there's one guy with like a Scottish accent. And I don't know. It just seems like the kind of anime that I would never in a million years watch,

but I will play this game because I trust the imprimatur. I trust the lineage. I trust the studio that much. And also if I don't like it, I can just go back to play, you know, any number of persona remasters and remakes and originals and ports.

This episode is brought to by Paramount Plus. Plus, Beth and Rip are back in a new series. Dutton Ranch. Kelly Riley and Colehouser returned, and this time they're taking on Texas. As Beth and Rip build a future together, peace will have to wait as they face corruption, danger,

and a ruthless rival ranch, willing to protect its secrets at all costs. Legacy is a beautiful thing, but only if it survives. Dutton Ranch starring Colehouser, Kelly Riley, Annette Benning and Ed Harris, now streaming on Paramount Plus. Want to support your gut health,

Take Activia's gut health challenge by enjoying two Activia yogurt today for two weeks and see if you feel a difference. With billions of probiotics and 20 years of scientific expertise, Activia is one of the easiest and tastiest ways to start your gut health ritual. Try Activia today. Enjoying Activia twice a day for two weeks as part of a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle may help reduce the frequency of minor digestive discomfort, which includes gas, bloating, rumbling, and abdominal discomfort. Every outfit starts with a choice. What am I wearing underneath?

Something comfortable? And let's be honest, something that keeps everything looking smooth. That's where Vanity Fair lingerie comes in. Their new smoothing wireless bra has four-way stretch fabric for all over smoothing, soft lightly lined cups for a natural shape, and no wire comfort that last all day. All over smooth, all-day comfort, Vanity Fair lingerie. Find yours at Target today. Well, my pick, which is also a three, is not based on a studio track record

because this is so all original that I believe it's the debut game. for Ironwood Studios. So we're really flying blind here or driving blind maybe because my game is Pacific Drive. Now, maybe this is not really on brand for me because it's a survival game. I guess it's not quite survival horror. We're sort of in another golden age for survival horror. It's survival creepy, maybe, not quite survival horror. But it's a driving game where you play from a first person perspective, looking out the windshield of your car.

Now, I don't really like racing games for the most part, but I do like driving games, which is an important distinction. I don't have a driver's license, IRL, so always enjoy taking a car for a virtual spin. And this game, it's from a Pacific Northwest studio. It's set in the Pacific Northwest, but sort of like a dystopian, weird, X-Files-y, hellscapey, Twins Peak-style Pacific Northwest. So you're just driving this car. customize the car. The car gets attacked by various monsters. You can repair the car. There are, I think, some on-foot sequences, but mostly you're in this station wagon. And it just looks really

stylish. It's got cool music. I just, I like the look of this thing. I like the story or what we can tell about the story, this kind of paranormal style story. So again, Like, there's just not that much to go on here. So I'm kind of going out on a limb and taking a risk. But Pacific Drive, I really like the looks of this thing. Either of you with me here. I just think it's hilarious that, like, the New York City boy is, like, a high game is like getting a car and drive.

Ooh, I get to drive. Get me out, you know? I feel like living in L.A. Like, I have the opposite instincts. Like, let me get out of this car and walk everywhere. This is a horror game for you because it's just your life. Yeah, pretty much. I mean, welcome to my life, Ben.

Even when you were describing it, Ben, you seem lost in a dream to me. I was just like, yeah, Ben needs this. Like, get him a prescription for this game. Yeah, it was good. It's kind of like welcome to Nightville-ish. Yeah, it's an exciting looking format. I understand why you're hyped for it. It's an ambitious, it's an ambitious project,

which I think if they nail it, it's going to be something really unique and special. Right. And I guess there's like a randomization procedural generation and roguelike aspect to it maybe and some puzzles and creativity involved. It sounds like a mishmash. I have no idea how it will turn out,

but I'm intrigued at least. So some other possibilities we wanted to mention here. There's Rise of the Ronan, which I guess is one of the few PlayStation first party exclusives that's coming out this year. And just yet another action RPG style. So it's like kind of game. You've got banishers,

Ghosts of New Eden. You've got skull and bones, the aforementioned, which I'm still holding out hope. I mean, if it's just like Black Flag, the ship combat, but in a big pirate game, I'm in, the fact that it's been delayed like eight times, notwithstanding. Then you've got Auden Chronicles, 100 Heroes. That was one that you guys almost picked, right? Yeah, I almost picked that. Yeah.

And then replaced some sort of humorous looking games, Harold Howl which is sort of a stop motion style look, baby steps, Black Myth, Wu Kong, which is yet another in the Souls-like entry, but that looked pretty great. Still wakes the deep, horror game, the casting of Frank Stone, more horror. Angerfoot, which is like a first-person shooter slash first-person kicker. You kick people. Dustborn, Ghostbike, John Carpenter's Toxic Commando.

John Carpenter loves video games. He's making one, or at least slapping his name on one. Lost records, bloom and rage, skate stories, Zenless Zone Zero, Animal Well. Yeah. War anime. Blade chimera. Anything here that either of you wants to focus on before we move on? Yeah, I mean, this is the category that has the most things that I'm excited about.

The all original games, this is always what compels me in gaming, a new idea, right? So a lot of this is really exciting to me. Banishers, Ghosts of New Eden, I think looks really good. cool. This is a game by Don't Nod, and they are not typically known for making this kind of like third person action game. They're the people who make like Life is Strange. You know, this is a very like story driven. And Jusant. And Jusant is a very story driven developer. And Banishers Ghost of New Eden is about this couple of banishers who are kind of tasked with separating the living world from the dead world, right? If there are sort of spirits hanging around, they want to banish them. We're in the

beginning of the game, one of them dies and becomes a ghost. And then it's like, oh boy, now we have conflict of interest here. And the combat looks really cool. You can switch between the alive person and the dead woman. You're trying to sort of suss out, you know, how to, what to do now that, you know, one of them is a ghost. And you were both banisher. So let's bet on the resume. So that game, that's really exciting looking to me. That's out February 13th. Replaced is a really cool looking sci-fi, two and a half D retrofutious. futuristic action platformer. That's going to be a day one game pass game sometime this year.

Also it on PC. Just a really cool art style for replaced. Definitely excited for that. Aydon Chronicles. Euden? Hayuden? I don't even know. 100 heroes.

So this is by the people who made Sweikoden back in the day pretty much. Rabbit and Bear Studios is putting this out. All platforms pretty much April 23rd. This is just a good old-fashioned RPG that looks really nice. Skate story looks super cool. you're like some metallic looking thing skating through the underworld trying to kill demons on your skateboard and it's got really good music angerfoot actually played the demo the demo of anger foot is on steam and i was playing that this is by the same people who made broforce that 2d shooter

with all the uh you know action star ripoffs but angerfoot you're you're basically you have to run through a level as fast as you can you're kicking people and shooting people you have very little life and if you die you start at the beginning of the level and you just it's just kind of frantic yeah and it's definitely worth your time if you like you know twitchy shooters and that are humorous really funny game you can unlock new shoes that do different things when you kick people you're like sure it's it's a super cool thing anger foot would love to check that out yeah and then the two other things that i'm excited about are animal well and blade camara which both look like sort of metroidsvania games coming out this year that look really exciting.

Yeah. So this is maybe the most intriguing category because you just don't know what to expect. So we can dream on any of these, but also any of them could crash and burn, which is why we have so many entries in next category because publishers want a little certainty. And if they can give us another game that we have had already and enjoyed, then they will do that. And we will apparently lap it up. So let's get to our reruns.

Again, these can be remakes, remasters, or re-releases. And Matt, I guess you're going to go first here. Yeah, I'll take it. This is my five out of six. We just got some info that we seemingly can expect the remake of Silent Hill 2 to drop this year. For the kids who don't know, back in the day, this game, Silent Hill and Silent Hill 2, they are horror games that came out on, I believe, the PlayStation. They're atmospheric.

They're creepy. they are really important games in sort of the history of the horror gaming genre. The second one, Silent Hill 2, is kind of regarded by most people as one of the best in the series. Now, Silent Hill back in the day, was sort of put out before the hardware could really handle what it is, which is why the Silent Hill games are known for having all this fog, right? Because, like, sure, it's creepy. It's atmospheric and that lets you make a horror game when really the limitations of the hardware may say, you know what?

The draw distance isn't super far on this original PlayStation. So maybe there's just a lot of fog because they're supposed to be fog because it's creepy. Yeah, that's always a point of contention. Yeah, when a remake or a re-release comes out and they take away the fog because they don't need it anymore, they can actually render the level. But it was so atmospheric that everyone misses the fog. like in the GTA re-releases or Zelda re-release. I think Ocarina of Time that was an issue.

The fog can be additive at times, even if originally it was just a fudge factor. Justin, I guess this is another opportunity for you to talk about persona. Well, first I want to pick up where Matt left off for a second, because I, as somebody who was like a huge Resident Evil kid, I've never played any of the Silent Hill stuff. And certainly, that's like a series that like if you didn't play it back in the day, It's like not a good experience trying to play them now because the availability sucks

and the games that you can play are the bad ones in that franchise. So that's my excitement for, I'm with you. I'm with you. I'm being excited for Silent Hill 2, just from a different perspective of having never gotten to play like a classic, like a good classic Silent Hill entry. I'm, of course, here to talk some more about persona, about Persona 3 reload.

And this one's interesting because like I love persona. I love talking about persona on the ring. podcast network. I'm not the biggest fan of persona three. Persona three has like, you know, it's original, then persona three FES, persona three portable. There are a few different ways you can experience persona three pre this this remake of it that's coming out in February. Persona three, I think of three, four, and five. Three has a lot of really good stuff in it. I mean, the theme of that game is like it's actually really fascinating a lot of

ways, but I also think it just has a lot of some of the characterizations are a little janky in that game. Like it's the kind of game where I'm like, the reason I'm excited for it to be remade is not because, oh, it's one of my favorite games of all time. I'm in this case excited for the remake because I'm hoping they do some things differently, both in terms of, like I said, some of the characterizations in that game.

I'm thinking specifically of like the sub antagonist of that game, Strega, in the original Persona 3, They just kind of suck. I can't stand straying it. But also stuff like Tartarus, which people have always complained about sort of the like dungeon, the procedurally generated dungoning of persona three can feel a little rough compared to, I think especially five. People love the dungeons in five and those are very sort of distinct.

And they feel like they feel like real modern, like ornate, you know, dungeons compared to Tartarus in the original three. And I'm curious to see how they do that. this time around. But it's just like Persona 3 is a game that has a lot of potential in it in terms of a remake. And that's why I'm really excited. Well, that's your number four in the hype rankings. I congratulate you and your restraint on not going maximum hype for something persona related. My number one, which is not to say I'm not hyped for it, but maybe just a reflection of I'm a little less excited in general for remakes and remasters than for something I haven't played before. But I'm most excited that maybe other people will. get to play Brothers, A Tale of Two Sons, which is a beautiful little game that came out in 2013 originally. It's directed by Joseph Fares. It's his first game before a way out, and it takes two and his rant at the game awards. So maybe they're remaking this, re-releasing this to capitalize on the

prominence of some of those games. But this was just a delightful little game that you could play with another person, just a great narrative that's tied into the game. play in the controls in a way that I won't spoil because I hope some people will play this. It's kind of dinged for me just because I don't know that it needed a remake. You know, they're sprinkling some fancy graphics in there and I think a new orchestral score. And I'm sure it will be better. But it's not so old or so unavailable that I necessarily would have put it at the top of my list for a game that I needed to get remade. But if it leads to more people playing Brothers a Tale of Two Sons, then I will be quite pleased.

that it's coming out again. So long list of others that we considered here. The Last of Us Part 2 remastered comes out next week. We have Braided the anniversary edition coming later this year, after I made Jess play the original last year. Lots and lots of Nintendo remakes and remasters. Mario versus Donkey Kong, Luigi's Mansion 2HD, Paper Mario, the thousand-year door.

I can hope and dream that maybe we will get some other Zelda games. Maybe we will finally get Wind Waker on Switch. Who knows? Or some others. We have Alone in the Dark, which is kind of original, kind of a remake. We have Metal Gear Solid Delta Snake Eater, a non-Kogima involved remake of MGS3. We have Shadow of the Ninja reborn. We have Gothic, Need for Speed Most Wanted, Star Wars Dark Forces, a personal favorite of mine,

maybe the first person shooter I ever played back in the mid-90s. Tomb Raider, 1 to 3rd. Three, satisfying Justin's desire for more Tomb Raider and Sweenigan, 1 and 2, HD remaster, not to be outdone by the Aoden Chronicles. Anything in particular, you guys have your eye on here that we did not pick? Can we, wait, well, oh, that we didn't pick because I was just going to talk about Tomb Raider for some. Yeah, talk about Tomb Raider. No, it's just like, look, I know in my millennial heart, right? Like I know I'm going to go back and play those first three Tomb Raider games.

And I know that they were annoying to play. Those are the kind of old games where you're like, even if you just like nowadays go watch a stream of somebody playing like 2 meter 2 and just watch them die. Those worlds, man. Yeah, the wool. And it's just like the physics. But you know, maybe those things wolves.

But it's like the camera movie. You know, it's like the kind of game that you really. loved it because you didn't know how janky it was because the year was whatever year it was. And so like there's part of me that knows that like, I'm going to drop the $29 on this collection. I'm going to play it for 10 minutes. I'm going to be like, you know what, bro, I'm good. I'm going to go play some more hit man. Like, F this. But I got to do it for the culture. I'm I legitimately miss playing low poly. And I love modern tune reader. I love those new games. Yeah, very good.

I miss low-poly Tomb Raider. We got to restore the feeling. We got to return. Ben, I'm proud of you for not picking Dark Forces. I know you and I both had that on CD-ROM. Yes. Still, one of the games that I feel like nailed the feeling of Star Wars more than anything, even though graphically it's pretty primitive now,

which I guess is why we need re-release. But that just, it felt like Star Wars, you know. It told an original story at the time, kind of a precursor to Rogue One, Kyle Katarn stealing the Death Star Plans. That, to me, like when I was looking for supplementary Star Wars material and reading all the EU books and everything, Dark Forces was a formative foundational game for me. And from around that time of PC gaming, Alone in the Dark was a franchise that was well known. So I'm actually pretty curious to check out this reimagining of Alone in the Dark that's coming out this year. Yeah.

All right. Our second to last category, adaptations, Hollywood continuing to capitalize on gaming source material here. And Justin, you're going to go first with your most hyped pick of all. We're back to league again. And it's like, when I watched season one of Arcane, I had no, I had no expectations other than, other than expectations of like looking at that art style and looking at the animation style.

I'm being like, wow, this is really impressive. Like, okay, let's go. you know, I have no attachment to these characters to this IP. And I watch it and there's just something about, man, it's obviously a beautiful show. But also, that show has like all the hormones. That show has all the feels. There's just something very emotionally. Like the characterizations on that show are great.

Like, I just felt emotions watching this, right? And again, it was like the impressive feat of like, this is an adaptation of something. I know nothing about. And I felt like pretty sucked into Arcane by like the second episode. I don't know who doesn't want more of Arcane. Like even outside of this list or outside of this conversation about like video game stuff, I would put Arcane on top of just my general list of stuff I'm looking forward to in 2024. Yeah, I'm with you.

Winner of the NE for Outstanding Animated Program, winner of the Game Award for Best Adaptation. I mean, we're all excited for arcades. I think maybe we all would have taken this. I certainly would have picked this if you hadn't written it down in the Google Talk first. So, yeah, cannot wait. We will certainly be covering that on maybe more than one show on the Ring or Verse feed. My pick here, I probably would have taken either of your picks before this one. But with my number two, I'm going to go with Devil May Cry, which is yet another in a long line of Netflix animated video games.

adaptations from Adi Shankar, who is the creator of the Castlevania, Castlevania Nocturn adaptations, Captain Laser Hawk as well. And again, Castlevania was so good and really such a breakthrough release when it came to adaptations and showing that video game adaptations could be good and that maybe TV was the best home for them. So it's really just the track record here. The art looks good. This is animated by Studio Muir of the legend of Cora and my adventures with Superman, et cetera, right? So it's just kind of the creative talent associated with the show makes me think that it will be good based on others like it by these same people. So pretty psyched for Devil May Cry. All right. And my pick is going to be

one out of six on my hype meter. I'm still hyped for this, but I'm just not going to get as hyped on a TV show as I am about video games. So my pick is Fallout. And we've talked to about Fallout a bit on this show. It looks like they're doing everything right that they could possibly be doing to me, at least as a Fallout fan. No red flags at all so far. So I'm really excited to see how that turns out.

Yeah, me too. We will certainly be covering that here as well. Other candidates we considered the Borderlands movie probably finally coming out. Incredible cast, but has been stuck in development for a while. I like to see Jack Black expanding his video game movie empire.

He's in Mario. He's in Minecraft. He's in Bordeauxans. Kate Blanchett is in this movie. The cast is amazing. And Craig Mason was involved as a writer originally, but then wanted his name removed from the project, which doesn't seem like a great sign.

It's been in reshoots. I don't really know what to expect from the Puerto Orleans movie anymore. Subsequent seasons of existing series were eligible for this category. So Halo Season 2 is, coming out fairly soon. Season one was fine. I think there's an actual Halo in Halo season two, so maybe it'll be better.

Lots of Sonic content coming, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Sonic Prime season 3, The Knuckles show on Paramount Plus, lots of animation, lots of Netflix animation, Ark the animated series, Tomb Raider, The Legend of Larry Croft, return to Silent Hill, possibly coming out this year.

So, yeah, the assembly line is not slowing down. like this is just going to be every year from here on out. I'd like to rant about Borderlands for a brief seconds. Go off, King. I'm just going to go off for a second. This, don't get me wrong. I love the Borderlands games. I love them.

I have put so many hours into that series. I do not in any way, shape, or form need an adaptation of Borderlands. The story in these games is a thing that I sit through and occasionally take note of the tone of the characters when they're speaking. Borderlands is great because they have a lot of guns and they have a lot of guns to do cool things. And that's pretty much it for me as a Borderlands fan. I can't think of many franchises that I have less interest in the story and that I actively play than Borderlands.

So, you know, if it's great, great, but I really have no interest in it as someone who's a huge Borderlands fan. Yeah. And that was one of the pitfalls for video game adaptations for a long time. wasn't just the execution, but the selection of the properties and the source material. It just didn't really supply a story. And sometimes that's worked out well. I was surprised by Twisted Metal, season one.

Season two is in the works, maybe not for this year. But you're right. You are starting from a point of hopefully this is going to be something new and original, as opposed to adapting beat for beat, which isn't something I want, even when the story is great, unless maybe it's the last of us, which, of course, we will have to wait until 2025 for season two of that show. That takes us to our final category, unconfirmed. So anything goes here, almost anything goes.

Things that we think could, might come out in 2024, that we hope will come out, but that we just have to put in pencil for now. And I'm going to go first because this is my six, although Matt, you also have a six in this category. The Switch 2. Now, maybe I'm cheating a little bit because this is not a game, But it will run games.

I respect your moxie. Yeah. And it's going to be a big story in gaming in 2024. Even if it doesn't come out, it will certainly be revealed. We will learn about it. We will know when it's coming out, one would think. But there seems to be a consensus that there's a decent chance that we will have our hints on Nintendo's next system this year.

And I don't know what to expect. And I wonder what you guys expect and what you think it should be. because the Switch has been so successful and has had such a long lifespan and had as strong a year as ever in 2023. But that seemed like maybe the last gasped, the Swan Song, let's give people a new Zelda, let's give people a new Mario. And then once the holiday season is passed, we will unveil the successor. And it's time. You know, if you look at the multi-platform games, the non-Nintendo made games, they're struggling. They're chugging on that old Switch hardware.

Yeah, yeah. But what do we want here? It seems like maybe we're just bypassing a Switch Pro, just a higher-deaf version of the Switch and going on to the SQL system, which supposedly has been in some developers' hands, although Nintendo has denied those reports. So you'd think just because the Switch has been so successful

that Nintendo would just iterate on that, that it would be something Switch adjacent, but rarely does Nintendo just run back? a successful system. For better or worse, there's always some sort of left turn, some innovation. I mean, when was the last time Nintendo didn't shake things up in some significant way with a home console? I mean, the N64 maybe, which obviously was a big graphical upgrade over the Suprienni, yes, but didn't really push the hardware forward. We're still stuck in cartridge land as other systems were switching to disk. But after that, it's been the belated switch from cartridge to

disk and then adding motion controls and then adding a touchscreen gamepad and then making the switch a hybrid home slash portable system. That last element, I assume, will be preserved that the switch will, you know, the successor will similarly be something that you can take on the go. But because it's Nintendo, you know there's got to be something that none of us is thinking of right. It's not just going to be the switch, but with more RAM and 4K. textures, right? It could be. It could be, though.

I wouldn't be mad about it. That's a problem. Because, like, think about, and I think it's why the Switch 2 is interesting to talk about, oh, I'm glad you added it, Ben, because it's like, you really do have to think about the difference between the launch year of the Switch

and then what would be the launch here of the Switch too. Like, part of it, like, sure, there was the hype for Breath of the Wild, right? But I otherwise was like a person who did not have a, a ton of it. Like I hadn't fully on my own play the Zelda game, right?

So it's like, I got the Switch maybe partly because of Breath of the Wild, but also got a Switch because of the kind of novelty of that console, right? Whereas now, like,

and not everyone's like this. Some people are enough of a Nintendo, like they want the Nintendo games that to them, it's like the Switch to would be the only thing on the market.

But I'm the kind of person. I'm the kind of gamer. a PC, right, to have like a good graphics card. To me, if the Switch 2 is going to be what you're describing, then it is kind of like, I'm going to buy a Steam Deck finally, actually, instead. Like, I think that's the issue is that like the market looks slightly different. And I'm not saying that the Steam Deck is like, the Steam Deck is like, the Steam Deck is successful. It's still not, I don't know, it's still a, it's still, we're still living in a

Microsoft versus Sony versus Nintendo world, though, the Steam Deck is still kind of a novelty, but it's viable enough that like, if it's just what you're describing, I'm just going to buy a Steam Deck instead. I will probably get whatever it is just because AI cover video games, but also because I want to play Nintendo first-party releases that won't be available on any other system. So they had me over a barrel, over Donkey Kong's barrel when it comes to that. But also, yeah, I mean, I think it is a more competitive mobile market, what with the upgrades to phones, with the ability to stream other games on phones. And, yeah, as we talked about it on our game of the year, Pod and Matt, you talked about that as one of your trends of 2023, just how many good on-the-go gaming systems there are.

So that's kind of why I think that it can't just be the Switch but slightly better, you know, as many copies as the Switch has sold. and as good as the games probably would be, it just feels to me like it's Nintendo. There's going to be a gimmick of some sort that we won't anticipate. I think the Switch is such a wild success that I think we're actually going to see Nintendo not really change it up that much.

What I'm really curious about is when this transition happens, if it is more sort of iterative the Switch 2, I'm really going to be looking at, what are they going to do with their first party games? Is it going to be like this transition between PS4 or PS5 where the new games are coming out on both? Or are they going to say, you know what?

We're making this new first party title. It's only coming out on Switch 2 so we can get the best graphics out of it. Or are we going to have another year or two years where these first party games are coming out on both systems? And that therefore limiting sort of like the peak graphics of the Switch 2 versions

of these games that we're constantly struggling with between the PS4 and PS4. five era. So I'm going to be looking at that. I think they're kind of going to be expecting this to be a slow transition for their audience from Switch 1 to Switch 2. Like eventually people will transition over. That's what I would assume. But if it is this sort of iterative Switch 2, I need them to do the OLED screen. Don't go back. Don't go back, Nintendo. You delay this thing if you need to. Give me that OLED. You better give me that You can put you in the

press release when they do it too and all the games are ready. And then there's two other things I want. Put a D-pad on this thing. Good Lord.

I know you like having the four buttons for the control. Just give me a D-pad. Please have the buttons correspond to the buttons on other systems too. Please do not make me

forget where Y is when I go from one system to the other. That would be nice. I don't know about that. But also, I would like, if they do have

this sort of tablet and joycons thing again. Give me some ergonomics on those joycons. They're so flat on the Switch one. We just, you know, there's so many people making accessory joycons that have some ergonomics to them for longer gaming sessions.

You're designing the Herman Miller Nintendo Switch Collaboration. You're going to get it. You know, it would be cool, too, is if they do do this iterative. thing. If you could, if the connection between the tablet and the joycon is the same as switch one, so you can still use your old joycons if you want it to. Yeah. But maybe these new ones have that D-pad and those ergonomics that I want. And a little less drift, perhaps this time too.

A little, yeah, let's get those Hall effects. Let's talk about it. Hall effects. Another drift disc sticks. And give me analog triggers. I need the L2 and R2 analog triggers. Yeah. But when it comes out, if it comes out this year or even in 2025, it'll be sort of off cycle between the releases of PlayStation's and Xboxes, which I think is the sweet spot now because all these console manufacturers are competing, but they're playing in different sandboxes to some extent, and maybe Sony and Microsoft are competing more directly, whereas Nintendo's just off doing its own thing. It hasn't really competed in the horsepower perspective since, what, GameCube, N64.

I mean, they've sort of ceded the ground of, we're going to have. have the best looking graphics, and it's more about you're going to be able to play our games in a different way, which with the switch was you can play it on the go. So maybe it'll just be that again, or maybe it'll be something slightly different, but I'm really eager to find out exactly what it is. And there better not be any screwing around with backwards compatibility. Yeah. Do not make me pay for that or anything or make it impossible. You've got to give me backward compatibility. Don't make me buy all of your games again, even though I probably.

probably would. But yeah, that's my hope, I guess. So we'll find out more about that soon. And if I had had to pick a game for this category, I probably would have gone with Metroid Prime 4 hoping that maybe that will finally surface. Maybe that will be a launch title for Switch 2 or Super Switch or whatever it ends up being called. And, you know, we haven't seen Heidenerhear of it for years at this point. But the precedent for Metroid Prime remastered, just being announced and dropping without any preludes. Maybe that's how we're going to get Metroid Prime 4 or 2. Who knows, I can dream.

So, Matt, your pick, your 6 as well. Maybe this game will come out for Switch 2. Give us your most hyped picked your desire for 2024. This is, let me preface this by saying, this is my 6 of 6, and this is

completely unfounded. This is based on absolutely nothing. Okay. But I want a new 2D Castlevania. I demand one. And I think that the stars are kind of aligning for this to happen in the next couple years. We have two very successful seasons of Castlevania shows on Netflix.

We just got a Dead Cells, Castlevania DLC last year. That was very exciting. So I think that the Castlevania IP is in a better place. place than it has been after years of being largely dormant, I feel like there's hype behind this. If you're at Konami and you're sitting with all of your coworkers who have joined Konami specifically hoping to one day work on a Castlevania game, I think that, you know, the Netflix success has kind of paved the way. Like even if you're too young to have really played many Castlevania games, like you're familiar with the IP because you've been on Netflix

and you probably at least tried to watch one or two seasons of this thing. I would really love it. Give me a full new 2D Castlevania. I like it. Yeah. I mean, Metroidvania games are everywhere, but we are staring in the face of a year with no Metroid or Vania. So that can't happen.

We've got to have one of those things, at least. Maybe it's Metroid Prime 4. Maybe it's your dream. for a 2D Castlevania. We will see. Justin, close us out. What is your pick for unconfirmed game? Schrodinger's remake here.

So Capcom is making more Resident Evil remakes, but it's sort of a coin flip. People still aren't sure whether the next one is going to be Resident Evil Code Veronica or Resident Evil 5. Now, first of all, I want to say that I'm submitting this remake, for all the people who have been told in the past year, that remakes don't count, that remakes don't deserve Game of the Year awards.

I'm here to say, no, I actually, of all the unconfirmed stuff, I'm excited for remake. And I'm excited for yet another. What is this? The umpteenth Resident Evil remake.

And I'm still excited for these things. I think for Code Veronica, because Code Veronica is one of those Resident Evil games where it's like, it's like one that a lot of people just skip. I skipped. I've watched lots of sort of like play-throughs. of Code Veronica and people streaming it, but I've never played it myself.

It's like a relatively long Resident Evil game has some issues. It's a bit janky, even by Resident Evil standards, has some soft blocking problems from what I understand. And it's sort of, if it's Code Veronica that gets remade by Capcom, I'm excited because it's like, yeah,

finally a version of that game that I will actually play. And then if it's Resident Evil 5, that game, I think over the years, has developed, I mean, it's a very successful game and yet it's a very divisive game. Over the years, it's developed a defense force of reply guys who will insist that

Resident Evil 5 is good, actually. It's otherwise seen as kind of the disappointment after the height of Resident Evil 4. It's like a game that takes a lot of stuff from Resident Evil 4, but becomes way more linear and way more action-y and loses a lot of, I think, the kind of enigmatic properties of Resident Evil 4. So if they remake 5, I'm excited for it just because I think that's a game. I kind of think about it the same way as Resident Evil 3. That's a game I didn't like the original Resident Evil 3.

And I liked having an opportunity to take another bite of the Apple and be like, let's try this again. Let's try this again in a new era, a new format. And I feel the same way about Five. There's this cool stuff about Resident Evil 5, but I don't know. I would like to give Capcom another bite at the Apple and another attempt. And I also think that like even in figuring out which of these games is getting remade, I think playing the Resident Evil 4 remake,

you can kind of tell that Capcom knows they want to milk Wesker. Wesker is like a weird case of like a character, like the most iconic character from a video game franchise, but they killed him off like a decade and a half ago. They killed him off in the original Resident Evil 5, which is like a weird choice in a lot of ways that like Wesker has been a kind of dormant, inert character in Resident Evil lore outside of the movies, right?

for a very long time, despite being a lot of ways the face of the franchise. And that's why it's going to go to Code Veronica. Yeah, I think they have to go to Code Veronica. I played the Dreamcast version when it came out. And that is a Wesker heavy game. Yeah, they have to do Code Veronica first. They can't just go to five.

I do think that's a good theory. Five is the one that has the co-op, though, right? Yeah. It's the one thing everybody I think loves both. I really enjoyed five, but that's only because I played it co-op with a friend. If I were, like, as a single player, Evil experience. Yeah, that was pretty weak. But Code Veronica, I do remember Westgar being all over

that and the story being pretty dang cool. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, that would be the one that I would be more hyped about. And I'm excited for people who haven't played Code Veronica to play that because that's a good Resident Evil story. Yeah, for sure. I think between the two, like I have a slight preference for being Code Veronica just because, again, I want to play Code Veronica in some form or fashion. But, you know, Remakes count. In conclusion, remakes count. And I'm excited for,

you're sub-tweeting, sub-potting us on our... They don't count. It's not for Game of the Year. That's the way we went on our written top 10. I said, in one episode, I said, no, it does not count for Game of the Year. And then in the next episode,

I took it in my draft of 2023 games. Well, you're just playing both sides here. So any number of other possibilities we could have selected here that are Somewhere in that nebulous realm, maybe they've been announced, but we haven't heard anything, and we're wondering whether they're vaporware or whether they'll actually come out, you know, Cotor remakes, et cetera. But Hollow Night Silk Song would have been the one that I would have drafted if the Switch 2 hadn't been sitting out there. Certainly if my wife were here, that would be her six.

She is super excited for that game. I feel it in my bones. I think this is going to be the year. I think we're going to get Hollow Night Silk Song this year. How much longer can it take famous last word? Then I guess you've got Fable 4 one of these years. Assassin's Creed code name Red was another that came to my mind. And, you know, as Etzio says in Assassin's Creed too, speaking of Assassin's Creed,

wanting something does not give you the right to have it. That's true. I have one more, though. We've talked about today. We'll not be in our heads. Yeah, what else you got? I know you're talking about Switch 2 and maybe Metroid Prime 4 would be a launch title. I've got a great theory on a launch title for Switch 2.

If you want to sell Switch 2s. Sure. A brand new Mario Kart, the best-selling game of the Switch. It's been a Mario Kart 8 deluxe. Can we get a Mario Card 9 regular? Yeah. I think we can. And I think we will.

I don't know if it's going to happen this year. But when that Mario Kart, when the new Mario Kart drops on the next Switch, that's the title wave. That's when people... But do you think the timing's going to be? Because they just, how recently, I just feel like it's been so recently that they added all those new stages. Yeah, they're adding maps nonstop.

Yeah. They're trying to milk the last Mario Carp before they give us the new ones. Yeah. They might leave us hanging for another couple of years on Mario Carhart. Yeah, they might. But I think like that it has to be in the works. And as the top selling game on the Switch, like, whenever they plan on making that transition of their gamer base from Switch to Switch,

to switch to whenever they want to facilitate that truly, I think that is the game that will get people to buy that new system. All right. Dare to Dream. Matt, Justin, thank you for coming on. I look forward to talking to you both much more in 2024. Same. I can't wait to see Charity how your progress in Street Fighter Six goes.

I agree. All right. Email us at ringerversegaming at gmail.com to let us know what we missed or what's at the top of your wanted list. Apologies for anything we snubbed. We'll make up for it later. And we want to be surprised. We want to be blown away by something we didn't see coming.

Thanks to Devin Ronaldo for producing. Thanks to our Juno Remgapal for scheduling and coordinating. Prince of Persia, the Lost Crown, and The Last of Us Part 2 remastered come out next week. So maybe we will get to those on our next episode. Stay tuned for that. And stay tuned to the Ring of Versen. House of Bar for more anticipation pods and echo coverage. And thanks in advance for letting us keep you company in 2024.