Video Gamers Podcast - Game of the Year GOOFS - Gaming Podcast

Episode Date: May 29, 2025

Gaming hosts Josh, Ryan and John debate something that’s been simmering for years—who actually deserved Game of the Year? In this episode, we look back at GOTY winners and nominees from the past decade and make our case for which games should’ve taken home the crown. Was Sekiro really the best video in game in 2019? Did It Takes Two deserve to beat Metroid Dread and Resident Evil in one of gamings most mediocre years? And was Elden Ring truly unstoppable in 2022? We break down the biggest video game surprises, the most controversial wins, and the snubs that still haunt us. All the video game news and discussions you need, every week, right here on the Video Gamers Podcast! Thanks to our MYTHIC Supporters: Redletter, Disratory, Ol’ Jake, Gaius, and Phelps Connect with the show: Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/videogamerspod Join our Gaming Community:⁠ https://discord.gg/Dsx2rgEEbz⁠ Follow us on Instagram:⁠ https://www.instagram.com/videogamerspod/⁠  Follow us on X:⁠ https://twitter.com/VideoGamersPod⁠  Subscribe to us on YouTube:⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@VideoGamersPod?sub_confirmation=1⁠   Visit us on the web:⁠ https://videogamerspod.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello fellow gamers and welcome to the Video Gamers Podcast. You know, gamers may be an opinionated bunch, but nothing gets us talking and arguing like discussing the Game of the year nominees or winners. Sometimes the game of the year nails it and other times it's a massive whiff. On this episode we're going to discuss the games we think should have won game of the year over the last 6 or 7 years, talk about the games we think should have been nominated and probably argue over some of these games. It's going to be a fantastic episode. But first, some introductions are in order.

I am your host, Josh. And joining me, he was nominated for host of the year in 2024, but lost in spectacular fashion to me. It's Ryan. You know, that just is always my lot in life. You know, it's not a lot, but it's a life. spectacular fashion to me. It's Ryan. You know, that just is always my lot in life. You know, it's not a lot, but it's a life. Second place?

Second place. Hey, that's good. Hey, you ain't last. Yeah. You ain't last. Yeah. And joining us, he's been nominated to be the first ever Quadruple A host,

but we all know how that turned out. It's John That was a skull and bones reference there John I know You might be the first quadruple a host what the heck does that even mean Listen a parent I was to say ask Ubisoft, but I've been catching some flack for the way I say Ubisoft. Yeah, Ubisoft. And I guess it's Ubi-soft, but that just really doesn't jive with my brain. It's Ubisoft?

It's apparently. Oh, interesting. That's what some listeners said, and you know the listeners are always right. Do you say Studio Ghibli or Studio Ghibli? I say Ghibli. It is Ghibli. I know it is and you know what, I don't like jibs because the jib is like a piece of meat

that you throw to a shark or something and I don't. I prefer Ghibli. Oh I like that more now. Ghibli. Like Ghibli gravy, that's like the gross parts of like the turkey or the chicken that people make gravy out of. That's a Ghibli, yeah.

That's a Ghibli. So it's like, I don't want to say studio gibbly because it's like- That's a snack for while you're cooking. A giblet? Yeah, just pop them in like candy. So for me, it's Ubisoft and Studio Ghibli because it just sounds nicer, man. It's a more appealing word. My mother-in-law says chipolti instead of chipotle. Oh, no. It drives me nuts. No. I loveotle. Oh no. It drives me nuts. No. I love you Barb but that drives me nuts. Oh man. So guys this is gonna be a fun episode man. I love this idea because it is you know we kind of talked about it right? Everybody

has their opinion on this game should be nominated for game of the year, this game won game of the year, this game got snubbed. How did they not even put Helldivers 2 in the mention for game of the year? Like what the heck people? So this is the topic for this episode is we are going to go year by year. We're gonna talk about which games got nominated. We're gonna talk about the game that won

and then we're gonna kind of go like, yeah, but this game should have won, or we're gonna talk about a few of the games that got snubbed and didn't even get nominated for game of the year. Now, before our very avid research heavy listeners start digging into this year by year, we're only talking about game of the year.

So yes, I get that some of these games might've been nominated for best action game or best role playing game. And they're like, guys, they did win an award. That's not the point of this. The point is game of the year. You guys think they'd be that nice when they're telling us? They always, dude, people are always nice

on social media, Ryan. They're gonna be like, hey guys, I love everything you say, but I would like to point out this one thing and it no no instead They're just like you guys are losers man. I can't believe you said that Then we just laugh cuz they just need to raise the price of podcast equipment so people like us can't get it And then I don't think you guys know how expensive these microphones are Gotta try everything we can to sound good boys. So getting there. All right. Well, I'll tell you what let's do this guys. Let's Let's go all the way back in time on this one. All right, so let's go all the way back to the year

2017 I think this is the year. I can't remember when game of the year started. I want to say it's like 2016 2017 Somewhere right around there. Somewhere. Because 2017 has the least amount of nominees out of any of those. So let's jump back to the year 2017, guys. A little game by Nintendo, the first sequel for a Zelda game that we got in a really long time that looked like it was just the greatest thing that gaming has ever seen a little game called Breath of the Wild Takes it home as the winner of game of the year It went up against Horizon Zero Dawn great game persona 5 great game pub G

Now say what you want about pub G whether it was a great game or not, but PUBG took over the world, dude. I think PUBG might still be one of the highest concurrent player counts in a video game ever. And then just some little unknown game called Super Mario Odyssey that was thrown in there as well. Did they get it right on this one? That's the question. Is Breath of the Wild up against Horizon Zero Dawn, Persona 5, PUBG, and Super Mario Odyssey the right game to win Game of the Year in 2017? Dude, just speaking of PUBG though, and its longevity,

right now on SteamDB, 91,000 players in game. Right now. On a weekday afternoon I John did you ever play pub G? No, not my kind of no. Oh, man. Okay. I can't tell you how many Hundreds and hundreds of hours we spent playing pub G dude freaking Paul still plays it I'll see him Paul still play all the time, dude Pub G is the game that you would race home from work for Text your buddies as you're

leaving work and be like, I'll be on in 20 minutes, guys. I'm on my way home. And then everybody would hop on. You'd squat up and you would just play PUBG the rest of the night, dude, trying to get that winner, winner chicken dinner. It was the jankiest game ever when it first released. You couldn't even pick up things off the ground because if you hit the pickup button too fast, your character would like do the animation, but then

not actually pick up the item off the ground. Same thing with opening doors. Like this game was janky, dude, but there was just something magical about it. It is some of the most fun and most memories that I have from a video game, but here's the challenge of game of the year, right? Like it, you know, if you answer your question, by the way, that I, cause I think the breath of the wild, absolutely. It was a game of that year that like mice might, well, persona five would be a runner up and then I think five is a beloved game to you. Yeah, but I don't know that I would consider, cause it's very niche.

There's one game on here that I think came out in 2017 that isn't listed on any of these, but near Automata. If you haven't played that game, that game still holds up. It is incredible. It gets dismissed because of character design, you know, a lot of times. But man, that is one of the most like dynamic

games I've ever played. It's fantastic. So that's okay. Cause this is a good question that we're going to bring up as we move forward. Or are there any games that should have been nominated in, in this list of nominees that absolutely deserves to be there. We covered Nier Automata. It is not normally my type of game, but I really enjoyed Nier Automata. I'll be honest with you, man, when we're talking about these games, like I would bounce Horizon Zero Dawn for Nier Automata.

Same, yeah. As much as I liked Super Mario Odyssey, I don't know, that one's tough, man. That was a pretty good game. I played Persona 5 Royale for like 15 hours. It's really good, but I would put Nier Automata above that as well, which I know is going to make a lot of people gasp. But I do think Nier Automata should absolutely have been in the running. Here's where it gets tricky for me. I do agree that Breath of the Wild is probably the logical winner for Game of the Year, but I've also always said that I think Breath of the Wild is pretty

overrated. Like it's a very good video game, like very good video game. Don't hear what I'm not saying. I'm not slandering Breath of the Wild, but like, PUBG was so much fun, dude. Everybody in the world was playing PUBG. And I know that there's, you know, all the Nintendo lovers are going to be like, but Breath of the Wild, man, that's like one of the, but like compare the counts, man, of it. It's just like for Nintendo and being an exclusive Breath of the Wild top-notch but when you put it up against PUBG and the World-breaking records that PUBG was was like doing in the gaming industry at the time, dude It's bananas all-time peak for PUBG

You're there's no way you'll even get isn't it like 4.3 million people three. It's roughly three point three million three point two five million current Concurrent players dude most games are happy if they sold three million copies This is three point three million people playing at the same time So I this one's tough because it's like I think I generally tend to go with fun over like the masterpieces Yeah, I see what you're saying it's kind of the similar thing like with the Oscars, you know like in 2012 a movie called Argo won the

Academy Award, but that was the same year that like the Avengers came out. And like, like, I remember seeing the Avengers in the theater and like literally standing up in my seat at points. Like when Hulk punches that big monster thing, I was like, yeah. And I'm like, you know, like one movie might've been like a more dramatic movie or whatever, but like what movie did you have more fun watching? Yeah. Which one do you remember more? Exactly.

In hindsight, do you remember Argo or do you remember the freaking Avengers? No, but I remember the Avengers. And I remember PUBG. So this, I'm going to, I'm look, you know, I'm the contrarian sometimes. I'm going to say, I think PUBG should have won. Yeah, that's me too. As janky as it is and I get that there's people like PUBG was the jankiest mess ever man. It was it was hackers and janky and all that but it was just it was a planet breaking game, man.

Ryan what about you? Do you agree? Yeah, I agree 100%. I'm so excited you're with me because I'm sure I'll get you know roasted on the internet, but I just I I was tears of the kingdom was an awesome game and and Breath of the Wild is just tears of the kingdom without like the super fun stuff Okay, but see I'm gonna be contrarian again. I prefer Breath of the Wild over tears of the king. You're crazy I prefer Breath of the Wild over Tears of the King. You're crazy. I, the, the. It was new, it was brand new, dude.

It was something that people hadn't seen before. Tears of the Kingdom, I'm not saying didn't evolve the, like the series, but a lot of that was just, it just felt like Breath of the Wild, like 1.5. It, a cheeseburger's good, but a double cheeseburger with bacon is better. So it's just, they just made it better. That's fair. I mean, but then, but then do you give credit to the original burger? Because

without the original burger, you'd never have the bacon cheeseburger. Is this the 2017 episode or are we going to be here forever? All right. All right. All right. John, you, you think that it, you know, it was the right game out of that list? Of the list, yes. I, I loved loved persona 5 but niche game Super Mario Odyssey one of the greatest platformers ever but More of a limited audience near automata would have been my choice But it's not on the list of these I would say legend is Ella, but I haven't played I haven't played PUBG So yeah, all right boys This might be the greatest war of game of the Year that we have ever seen in history.

2018. I'll, I'll, I'll, I'm going to read the list of nominees. Okay. Red Dead Redemption 2, Celeste, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Monster Hunter World, Spider-Man, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and God of War 2018. Dude. Yeah?

Dude, how do you decide? Okay, so it's fairly easy to say, okay, well it's between God of War and Red Dead Redemption 2. Celeste is quite possibly the best platformer that has ever been made, dude. I played Celeste at Paul's, Paul made me do it and it was absolutely fantastic, dude. I'm not a big Assassin's Creed guy.

I get that Odyssey was like this big, huge game, but to me that one's like whatever. But we had two of the greatest juggernauts in gaming in all of history going up against each other, man. God of War and Red Dead Redemption 2 and the right game one, boys. God of War 2018. Whatever, you know I'm 1A and 1B.

Like those are, that's such a hard thing for me, but the setting in Red Dead is just better for my taste. But dude, what, and then not to mention dude spider-man absolute banger and in the Tomb Raider game was awesome I love these that trilogy that they made of the newer Tomb Raiders they were absolutely fantastic but dude yeah what it what a freaking year man I so so Ryan for you and I know you've said this before, but you, you think Red Dead Redemption 2 should have, should have won.

Yeah, it's, it's the greatest game ever made for me. Yeah, that's, that one's tough, dude. It's, I get it. But I can, I see why I got a war one, you know, I, I've got no qualms about it, you know. John, what about you, man? What do you think on this one? See, this is tough.

That was, that was my wife and I were kind of going through the peak of our business building at that time And so I think 28 like I played through spider-man great game Excellent game, and I'm a huge Marvel fan, but I wouldn't say game of the year God of war man. I know you're gonna flame me for this, but it's a bit overrated for me, man I I prefer the old beat-em-up like

It's a bit overrated for me, man. I prefer the old beat-em-up PSP. This show's over. This show's over. I prefer the older God of War's. God of War 2018, I was expecting this shake, knock my socks off sort of gaming experience tonight. It was good, I finished it, but it wasn't awesome. Red Dead 2, I played the first 15 to 20 hours of it and I really liked it, but then I got

caught up with life and I wasn't able to finish and you know, I don't want to go back. I have to go back at some point and play this again, but like starting all over again and like refreshing my brain with the story and all that stuff was just kind of prohibitor. I don't know that I have a quick, like if I had to pick my favorite of them, it would probably be Spider-Man, but I know it's not the best. Celeste, love-hate relationship, absolute wonderful platforming, pixel art, it makes it niche. And for me, it was punishingly hard, man.

Yeah, oh, it's super hard, especially if you start getting into like the side B and side C's in the, on the tapes that you can find and stuff like that. Like yeah, it's, it's nuts. We could spend an hour debating God of War 2018 versus Red Dead Redemption 2. I do not fault Red Dead Redemption 2 for having the greatest world and realism in a game to where you feel like you're in the Old West. God of War for me was just the more fun, tightly designed package where I loved every aspect of that game. Red Dead Redemption 2 I think had higher highs in it, but I've

said many a time that I'm not like a huge fan of the gameplay portion of it. The shooting always felt slightly janky to me. The movement always felt slightly janky to me. And God of War for me was just perfection. Again, that's not slandering Red Dead Redemption 2 by any means, because I can absolutely say I think it's one of the best games ever made. But God of War just clicks more with me in that regard. So that's fair.

Seems like I took the wrong year off. Yeah, you did, Honestly, I was going to pull like other, you know, honorable mentions for 2018, but let's be honest, nothing, nothing is unseating Red Dead 2 or God of War. That was a two man race. So strong at the top there. All right. Well, here's where we start getting into a little bit more of the interesting kind of standoffs here. All right, so 2019. I'll list the games here.

So we have Control, Death Stranding, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Sekiro, The Outer Worlds, and Resident Evil 2. The winner, which I absolutely agree with because it is a masterpiece of a game, is Sekiro. If you are a Souls-like fan, Sekiro absolutely is almost just perfection. It's really hard for somebody that's played a lot of Souls games to go from the dodge rolling to avoid damage to the parrying. You have to kind of, as Yoda would say, you have to unlearn what you've learned yeah because it just plays so differently but man that game I've actually had the itch to kind of load that back up again and start playing that what do you guys think have

either of you I don't think either one of you have played sec or oh I have not no I haven't played many games on this list this year. Maybe I was just stuck in my Destiny world. It does make me wonder because I'll be honest, I played Control a little bit, I have never played Death Stranding, the Outer Worlds doesn't interest me at all, Resident Evil 2, I mean the Resident Evil franchise

is great, and I've never been a fan of Super Smash Bros. So for me, this year is like like it's sec or by a mile. Like Control I get is a really neat game with a an amazing atmosphere. But like none of these other games even come close for me. Yeah, go ahead John. This is this is retrospective for me, but Slay the Spire came out that year. And, uh, yeah, as far as pure fun, like I never would have heard about that

game were it not for this podcast. It's one of the absolute, like my favorite things that have harvested from this show. But I love that fricking game. So in retrospect, I would say that. Although there was another indie game called Grist, like G R I S. I've heard a lot of people talk about that game It's short. I don't know again. I don't know game of the year

It's gorgeous man Like I think that that if you were running this through like a Sundance film festival or something like with that type of critics Like gris would have won. Hey, that's just a gorgeous beautiful unique game. Out of the contenders, I would have to say Sekiro. Yeah. All right. Ryan, what about you? I think I'm probably... I haven't played too many of these, honestly, like I said. I was either probably still playing Red Dead or playing Destiny. So yeah, I think I have seen footage on a lot of this stuff. And then just a claim that they that it's received. Um, secrose, like everyone always

brings it up. It's one of those games that they always talk about. All right. Let's time to throw the curve ball boys, because here are some games that absolutely should have been in this list. If you ask me that did not get nominated for game of the year. Okay. Apex legends, Apex Legends came out in 2019, shocked the world, shadow dropped game. They like where the heck did this game come from? One of the most popular battle royales ever, you know, probably still, honestly, at this point, the most popular battle royale next to Fortnite.

Yeah, you know, and it's like Apex Legends isn't in a game of the year contention. You know, and it's like Apex Legends isn't in a game of the year contention One of my all-time favorite games outer wilds. I mean you guys have heard me talk about this This is one of those games. You will absolutely never forget playing it is unlike any other game in existence in my opinion It stands on its own. It is absolutely incredible. It is memorable I mean, I don't know how Outer Wilds didn't get nominated for game of the year. Here's another one. Disco Elysium took the world by storm.

Widely hailed as one of the greatest RPGs ever made, one of the most unique RPGs ever made. That's when you had to read everything though. You did that. Now that is fair. And I think that that might be what kept it out, is that when it released, it did not have the full voiceover,

which I think really fixed the game for a lot of people. Did for me. And guys, quite possibly the most popular VR game ever made, Beat Saber came out in 2019. Now I know VR is kind of a niche thing, right? Where it's like, okay, not everybody had a quest at the time. You know, VR really hadn't, you know, it's 2019. It's kind of gaining some traction, but Beat Saber is one of the most iconic games in existence.

Oh, yeah. I mean, there's not a person in the world that hasn't heard of Beat Saber at this point. So it's like, does that deserve to be in the game of the year nominees? So I am going to say, I think that they really messed up 2019. Like I legitimately, I think this might be the year that had the most whiffs for nominees, you know? Okay. Yeah. Like control, fine, it's a great game.

I know a lot of people love it. I played it, I kinda lost interest in it. It's a little slow paced. It takes a lot of time to get moving. Death Stranding is very hit or miss for a lot of people. I can appreciate the production value on it. So it's like, does it deserve it? But there's a lot of people out there that just went,

dude, this game's a walking simulator, man. It's boring. Super Smash Bros. Bleh. I I mean I've always said I read agreed Resident Evil 2 is whatever dude and outer worlds does not deserve to be on this list at all not even close so for me I would legitimately replace I mean I would absolutely have outer wilds on there I would have disco, I mean, I would absolutely have Outer Wilds on there. I would have Disco Elysium on there and I would have Apex Legends on there just because it took the world by storm.

For me, I would boot Death Stranding, Smash Bros, and Outer Worlds. Actually, dang, that one's tough, man. I've not played Death Stranding, but I can understand why people would view it in like high regard. So actually, I'd probably boot Resident Evil 2 Outer Worlds and Smash Bros. Ultimate to replace those. I think this was the most grievous year of like mis-nominees, man. Do you think, so if Disco Elysium was released as it is today, you know, with the voiceover acting and everything, do you think then it would have at least got nominated? Dude, I, it might, it might've won like legitimately as much as I love securo dude, disco Elysium is that game that it's like when, when the voice

acting, the full voiceover was in there, it is such a memorable game to me. And it is such a masterpiece of a game and the way it was designed and you play and the discovery and all that stuff the characters are super memorable I mean how often do we talk about Kuno freaking you know and Kim Kitsuragi and you know Harry Dubois and all that stuff I mean this this game just stands apart from others I could actually see Disco Elysium being the winner which really hurts my Dark Souls fanboyism. But, oh man, yeah. So I don't know what happened in 2019. The people that nominated those games were drunk.

Yeah, like legitimately, dude. Yeah. Any other grievous things stand out for you guys? Not that year, no. I don't know. It was pretty grievous, you covered it all. Yeah, all right, we're gonna jump into 2020 We're getting into a whole new decade here, but we're gonna take a short break and then we're gonna come right back

Guys 2020 is where we really got a lot of fantastic games that were nominated like a banger here, man What a perfect time in the world for it to happen too. Yeah, because it's like everybody was stuck at home, we need things to play. So I'll read the list here. We had The Last of Us 2, Ghost of Tsushima, Hades, Doom Eternal, Animal Crossing New Horizons, and the Final Fantasy VII Remake,

which people that grew up like us were clamoring for for a very long time I'll tell you what let me just go ahead and read some of the honorable Mentions for 2020 just to kind of put things all on the table here alright So some other notable games that came out in 2020 quite possibly the the best VR game ever made, Half-Life Alex. Jedi Fallen Order. Great game. Which was way better than it had any right to be. Great game.

John, I put this one on here for you, but Ori and the Will of the West. That's one of my favorite games of all time. We had Assassin's Creed Valhalla. We had Valorant, which took the world by storm. I have never watched Twitch in order to try to get into a beta for a game before, but Valorant did it for me because it was like, this is, this is Overwatch meets Counter-Strike. Like this has gotta be the greatest game

ever. And a little game that also took the world by storm that everybody was playing called Among Us. Yeah. All right, so those are the notable games. The nominees again, Last of Us 2, Ghost of Tsushima, Hades, Doom Eternal, Animal Crossing, and Final Fantasy VII Remake. What do you guys think about this one? Oh, I mean, I've got several contenders right from that list.

I have a soft spot for Animal Crossing because that kept my wife and I sane during that period of time but Hades is absolutely one of my favorite games of all time Ghosts of Tsushima was in my backlog forever man what a fantastic game not quite game of the year but I could absolutely see why it's on this list Ori and the Willow Wisps is like a top 10 of all-time game for me But I have to say this year I think they got it right the last of us to got a lot it got review bombs because of some of the content

but from a storytelling perspective it is Probably the best narrative. I I think I've ever It is probably the best narrative I think I've ever played, except for maybe Expedition 33 at this point. It is just so good and so gut wrenching at times. I think they got it. It's a difficult year, but I think they got it right this year.

So is Last of Us 2 a top 10 all-timer game for you, John? Oh yeah, oh yeah. Yeah, I think it's like six or something in his it's tough. It's tough for me. I love them both But the I think the second one's just got an edge I I didn't play it for a long time shout out to my buddy Josh who was like dude you have to play this Not not Josh on this show my other friend Josh although. You're my good buddy. He doesn't listen to me when I tell him He has to play stuff. He doesn't listen to us at all. Yes, I do.

I'm playing Doom, The Dark Ages, which I never would have played. I guess you had to. Details. We don't need to worry about that. And I'm playing Blueprints. Man, talk about a game that you have to play to appreciate. Just looking at the trailers of that thing, I'm like, get out of here. That looks terrible.

But I'm playing it, and I'm like, oh, I get it. Starting to get its hooks in you now. Oh, for sure. It's a great roguelike. But yeah, Last of Us 2 is definitely my top 10. It wouldn't ever be number one because it is so linear. It doesn't quite scratch that little bit of exploration that I want but just from a storytelling standpoint man it rivals

any movie or miniseries out there it is great absolutely great do you prefer last of us over the last of us too or do you prefer to over the original I prefer to barely but I prefer to which is you, you know, it's a bummer and a bit controversial because the show is a little flip-flopped. The season one of the show was quite a bit better than season two. You mean the one, the game's good and the show's bad? Is that what you mean by flip-flopped?

Yeah, exactly, exactly. Well, come on. They could've just, they literally could've just taken the cut scenes from the game Put them on TV and it would have been a better show I will say I will say this man. So I watched it with my wife Sarah and I have been watching The Last of Us 2 and As I'm watching it. They do a pretty good job of following the storyline to their credit You know cuz like if they, don't fix it.

But to take it a step further, I was like, I wish Sarah would just play this game, man. Like, the game is amazing. It's so much more emotionally impactful when you have the time and the immersiveness to just like get baked into the story. Like it felt weird kind of watching it. Although it did end really strong

for anybody who hasn't seen the season finale. But anyway, to answer your question your question yes I slightly preferred two to one Ryan what do you think about this list did they did they get all the nominees right did they did the winner I'm gonna assume you don't think that last of us two should have won just knowing how you feel about it so I mean I I loved last of us two as a game I preferred one two, you know, I am I'm a sucker for origin story I both were fantastic. I think but I loved one a lot more. It's in my top 10 of all time I would for sure boot Final Fantasy

Speaking of speaking of overrated that I mean that whole that whole series and it's overrated Final Fantasy is my favorite franchise ever and I Totally agree that seven remake was totally I would have booted that and put in Fallen Order there. I think it's Like wholeheartedly deserved it It was such a good quality Star Wars game that we hadn't had in so long like when it was last time we had an awesome Star Wars game like that Other than like Battlefront 2 and that was way back in the day. So, but yeah, I love, I mean, Ghost of Tsushima was probably my number one that year over the last of us too,

but not by much. I'm going to mix this up completely because I think Hades should have won game of the year. Like legitimately Hades came out. It was the best roguelike game that anybody has ever seen. It was a masterful game. I mean, you know, when it came out, the world was a buzz about, Hey man, if you played this, have you seen this game Hades? It's crazy. Uh, really catapulted the roguelike genre forward as far as just this is a masterpiece of the genre in this case and I want to give it its due Goes to Tsushima is absolutely fantastic. It wasn't flawless in my opinion, but I think it was great I'm with you guys. I quite enjoyed Final Fantasy 7 remake. It's no it's no shade against the game itself, but

You know, I played I played the original Final Fantasy 7, you know, it's like and that was better than the remake in my opinion. But I will say, I think that Half-Life Alex and Jedi Fallen Order absolutely deserve to be in the list of nominees. Half-Life Alex to this day, and we're talking five years later, is still the best VR game in existence, dude. It is mind-blowingly good. So if we're gonna talk about a game that

has changed the world in a way, no other games even come close. I get again, niche platform. Not everybody has the quest, but my goodness, half life Alex just stood out like crazy. So I'm going to bump animal crossing. The world done lost its mind, man. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Okay, listen, I get it it's a cozy game the only the only reason that Animal Crossing is on this list is because of Covid. People needed a like really long drawn out boring game to play while they were stuck at home. Yeah but doesn't that doesn't that make it the most important to these games? Like no yeah I don't know. Animal Crossing sucks. My wife is, my wife is, that's, that's subjective. I'll give you credit. It's not everyone's cup of tea,

but like my wife is a worker bee and because of what happened with COVID, like we laid off like 90% of our staff for the first month, cause we had no idea what was going to happen. And Sarah happened to be part of that. And so her job for the first like month or so when she was sitting at home was literally digging up clams and fishing in Animal Crossing. I don't think she would have been sane. I mean, she'd be like, she'd be in a loony bin somewhere right now for that game. I was so let down because of the fond memories I have playing Animal Crossing on GameCube and I searched 500 freaking targets and Walmart's to get a dang switch and I finally got one like 40 miles from my house get home get Animal Crossing boot

it up I'm all excited like two days in I'm like this is not fun at all. It's work. This is all just work. And then he's like build these three houses and I'm like excited like two days in I'm like this is not fun at all And they like build these three houses and I'm like that's it I'm done no more after this and I was it and I Was when I quit when they think and Tom Nook is trying to make me build houses and that was that was enough for me I I think it was yeah, I'm not a big Animal Crossing guy. I Cozy games are not for me. So before the world gets upset with me and it's like dude like my wife absolutely loved it Paul loved it I remember they were like hey, I got oranges on my island Let me give you my island code and then I'll trade for your strawberries or whatever. It's got fishing Paul loves fishing Yeah, so but yeah, so for me, I'm booting Animal Crossing and I'll be honest. I know no shade against the game

I just don't know Last of Us 2 so I'm'm going to boot that one. And then I am putting Fallen Order on there and Half-Life Alex on there. Man, you can't boot Last of Us 2, bro. We won't allow it. John, here's the thing. I know that there was a lot of controversy. I know there was a lot of controversy around that game. But at the same time, a lot of gamers just went this this didn't do it for me

I know man anybody who said that it didn't do it for them has some sort of really strong Agenda against it or honestly didn't play it anybody who played that game would have to concede It's a great game. The world was beautiful. The story was amazing the gameplay I've seen some people talk about how the gameplay wasn't good, and then a day or two later, I see Ellie roll out of a window, throw a molotov cocktail, then snipe a dude with an arrow, and then shank another person with a machete.

I'm like, this is awesome, what are you talking about? Bro, it is awesome, man. I mean, man, I don't wanna give too much away for people who are watching the show and or haven't played the game yet, but there's there's some of the most like menacing scenes I've ever played in a game in it man It's both cinematically and from a gameplay perspective. It is a Freaking world-class game. Well, little birdie told me that I might wind up playing last of us here in a little bit

Which might turn into last of us 2 for me if it goes well. So we'll see. And maybe I'll come back and be like, OK, guys, what I said was really dumb. I get it now. It should be on the list. It should be on the list. All right, let's move on, guys. What the heck happened in 2021, man? Everyone had long shutdown. That's when the world actually shut down. Well, yes. And here's the thing. We talk about how great 2024 and 2025 have been and how just as gamers, we are just feasting on these incredible games. And it's like that came after a period of starvation called 2021. I like this, this list just makes me feel

gross. So I'm going to read it, but I don't feel good about it. Here's the nominees. It takes two, Resident Evil Village, Psychonauts 2, Metroid Dread, Deathloop, and Ratchet and Clank are rift apart. There's your nominees. Dude, the fact that Deathloop's even a nominee, that game was so bad. I was so excited for that game too, and I I got it and I'm like, this is dumb.

I want to put myself in a Deathloop. Let me read the honorable mentions here for games that I think should at least have been in contention for this. Returnal, great roguelike. Guardians of the Galaxy, one of the most underrated games out there in my opinion. That game caught me completely off guard big time Yeah inscription which took the world by storm a

little game called Valheim Which is one of the best like survival crafting games in existence and a little known game But an awesome game that we recommend to people all the time called Forgotten City now I kind of get the Forgotten City probably not gonna get nominated But man up against this hot pile of stinky garbage that was the nominees? So here's the question guys. It takes to famously one game of the year.

Is that the right call? Does it even matter? For this year I guess. is stinky garbage better than hot garbage Like how do you choose which garbage you want to nominate? Did the asterix here did any you guys actually play ratchet and clank rift apart? I have not I have not but I know I know rats and clank is pretty beloved Yeah, it's a solid if you guys like to ask her about which I haven't played and I know that's a crime but if you guys are open to that type of game like sort of like teens

Platformer versus like Mario like preteen platformer. Dude. It's a solid. It is a solid solid game super fun game That that would have been my selection for this year Ratchet and Clank. Yeah, but in any other year as a game of the year would have been this year so bad I'm gonna go with you John. I'm gonna take Ratchet and Clank? Yeah, but in any other year, as the game of the year, it would have been, this year's so bad, I'm gonna go with you, John. I'm gonna take Ratchet and Clank too. Ha ha ha ha ha. So here's the thing with, my pick on this would have absolutely been Valheim.

The issue was is that Valheim was released in early access, and I don't know that an early access game even qualifies, but I'll tell you what, man, the early access of Valheim was infinitely better than every game on qualifies, but I'll tell you what, man, the early access of Valheim was infinitely better than every game on this list, man. I don't care if they weren't done making it. Valheim was by far the best game that I played in 2021. Deathloop, insanely overrated. That game was kind of disappointing. Metroid Dread, I thought was good. It just wasn't like game of the year good. But then again, we just didn't really have much to choose from in that case.

But oh my goodness, dude, what a gross gross year. Thankfully we came out of it because we're moving into 2022. The to me, this came down to two games, but let me read the list for you guys. Okay. We had Elden Ring. We had a little game called Stray. People loved them cats, man. We had Xenoblade Chronicles. I'll be honest, I never played any of the Xenoblade games, so I don't really know much about that one. A Plague Tale Requiem, which looked incredible. Horizon Forbidden West. We finally got the sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn, and we got the long awaited sequel to God of War 2018 in God of War Ragnarok. This list is easy for me.

It came down to two games and one of these games stands way above the others in my opinion. But let's just talk about the runners up in 2022 because there are not. There are no other games that deserve to be on this list that aren't on this list. In my opinion, 2022, we were still kind of coming out of the tragedy that was 2021, but at least we got to juggernaut games. In my opinion, Ryan, which you know, you haven't played Elden Ring. I have not. So it's tough to talk about.

You did play God of War Ragnarok. So it's like, you know, what are your thoughts on this? This one's a hard one for me because I just feel, I mean, I love the God of War series. Ragnarok was an amazing game. I still like 2018 better, but that doesn't take away how awesome Ragnarok was. Freaking Thor and like all these extra characters that you got to meet were amazing. I just I know

like the the love for Elden Ring and what it did for these souls-like games and how many people still playing you know the expansion and then Night Reign comes out this week, which I will be playing. Yeah. So I'm excited to check it out, but I think that was probably the right call. But Ragnarok was just such a good idea. I would not say miles apart like you did, but I will say Elden Ring probably should have won it. John, did you play Ragnarok? Yep. Yeah. Did you like it? Yeah, I liked it.

Did you like itagnarok? Yep. Yeah. Did you like it? Yeah, I liked it. Did you like it more than 2018? I'll be honest, man. Like, they're, they're basically indistinguishable from one another. They, yeah, they, they, they were both there. They kind of fall in that same category as Doom, the dark ages for me where I'm like, Oh, this is a lot of fun smashing stuff up for me. Not terribly memorable, man. And I think that God of War put a lot of fun smashing stuff up. For me, not terribly memorable, man. And I think that God of War put a lot more effort into making it memorable, but it just, I don't know. For me, there was just something that didn't resonate, which sucks because I love Kratos. I love the God of War lore. The original games had me hook, line, and sinker for whatever reason when they when they went to this sort of over the shoulder third part third

person perspective It just didn't it didn't click the same way and maybe it was maybe I was getting a little sort of like Nordic vice Viking fatigue at the time or something, but something about it just didn't it was a really good game I think of these they Elden ring is the correct choice. Even though I have a very strong love hate relationship with it, I have to respect it for what it is.

It is some of, if not the best exploration out there, some of, if not the best world building out there, the bosses and all of the enemies are. Terrible and ugly and beautiful at the same time. There's so many different builds. It's not overly done on the exposition storytelling standpoint. It's not ham-fisted. The voice acting is brilliant. It is one of the best, best, best games categorically of all time, even if the actual gameplay isn't for everybody. I've you know it's weird man on the internet you kind of you always hear about like these you know like oh there's this group of people that

doesn't like God of War or doesn't like Elden Ring or something like that and I you know it's I've played the original God of Wars I think they're fantastic I played you know all through all of them. And when 2018 came out, it completely caught me off guard because it's a different game. And I've never met a person in real life that went, yeah, I don't know, man. They kind of changed it up from the originals. And it's this more timid story-based game.

And I really just wanted Kratos going ham on everybody. And now I know John. And he's like, yeah, it just doesn't do it for me. And I'm like, I finally met somebody in real life. That feels the same way. Listen, I love God of War Ragnarok. I am with you. I do not think it is as good as 2018.

There's just a certain magic in God of War 2018, but Ragnarok is an absolutely phenomenal game. But man, Elden Ring to me is personally for me is a top five game of like all time. I mean as a souls lover, you know, it just it clicked every possible box for me. Again, it's top five game of all time for me. So Elden Ring absolutely deserved it. When it came out, it was better than I dreamed of. Like legitimately, I remember playing it and going,

it can't be this good. There's got to be something wrong, and it just keeps going and going. It's like hundreds of hours worth of content, optional stuff. Oh my goodness, I freaking love Elden Ring so much. Four million rolls to date. Way more than that, buddy.

All right, moving on to 2023. Guys, we're starting to get back. We're starting to get back into the really good games. We're so back baby. Yeah, we're back baby. One of my most anticipated games came out this year, Baldur's Gate 3. I managed to avoid the early access for this because I wanted to play the game all the way through One of Paul's most anticipated games Alan Wake 2

We got Super Mario Brothers wonders that kind of came out of nowhere I mean we got not a whole lot of notice on that and that would game wound up being really good We got this sequel to Breath of the Wild tears of the kingdom Oh my goodness, the world absolutely fell in love with that. The remake to Resident Evil 4. I don't even remember playing Resident Evil 4 and then I played this remake and I'm like, this game is freaking fantastic, dude. Oh my goodness. And a game that Ryan is still trying to get me to play to this day called Spider-Man 2. Josh, just play it for 10 minutes and swing around the city. He's just playing for 10 minutes. He's borrowed my PlayStation twice and both times. He did not touch spider-man I left it installed and I'm like Josh just log in ten minutes. Give me ten minutes as a friend to swing around

He's like, nope, not gonna do it bro. I'm doing it. That is the most fun experience I've ever played in a game then Spider-Man 2 is fun encapsulated play it in a game. Spider-Man 2 is fun encapsulated in a game. It's so good. I will play it at some point. Actually, it's on PC now, so at some point I got to play the Spider-Man games, man. They're right up my alley. I would absolutely love them. It's one of those blind spots for me where it's like, they're all on PC at this point. 20 minutes. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Just hop in, swing around the town, dude. You can even fly when you hit the jet streams It's it's so cool, man. It's a good game as far as this goes I know you know ballers gate was for you guys was huge. I know Paul loved Alan link not you John

I was stuck cuz he mentioned because Paul was a big fan boo over it, but Hey, you're not you're not gonna get any argument for me, dude Oh that might be the most overrated game of all time man Boo. Oh. Hey, you're not gonna get any argument from me, dude. Boo. Oh, that might be the most overrated game of all time, man. As somebody who is a huge fan of turn-based, Baldur's Gate 2, and I could break it down on paper too, man. I mean, the character design's uninspired, the script writing is like-

Bro, don't talk about my girl Liz. I like that. Whatever, man. I mean, like even that, bro, there's like, wait, there's way better heat out there than, than Liza. Yeah. But, but, but the most criminal criminal offense that Baldur's gate three did was having to watch everyone's squint and poop face When they're talking about what's going on in their head like I was like, why do I have to watch this guy go? Like squint and look like he's like trying to hold in a turd Every time that there's like dialogue going on like show me what's going on man

get like that like you have the exact format and Show me what's going on, man. You have the exact format and setting to be able to show me, cinematically, all these crazy things that are happening in this person's head. It would be so easy to do. But instead, I'm looking at my, you know, my guy was a dragon. But I'm looking at my little weird dragon guy,

like, just making stink face. Ah, hated it, man. Hated it. I love it. I love it. So before you tell me which game you think should have won Let me let me let me bring up the honorable mentions because this might be one of the best honorable mentions Grouping that we have too. Okay

So a game that I will continue to shout to the world remnant 2 came out in 2023 Armored Core 6, you know, this is from software. It's, you know, Mecca, you know, Dark Souls. Basically, um, I, I waited a really long time to play armored core six and it's really good. Um, high five rush, which was fan freaking tastic, dude, that game came out of nowhere. That was a shadow drop, a little game called Dave, the diver, which is another just incredible game. Now this game, I don't think would win, but it deserved to be nominated for something. I don't think it's game of the year, but Dredge, just to give you an idea of kind of how good we had it in 2023.

So if you don't think Baldur's Gate 3 should have won, I'm going to guess you think it was Tears of the kingdom John it would have been tears of the kingdom or No, well, I don't know. I'd probably I would have shows spider-man 2 that is again. It's the most fun game I've ever played probably tears of the kingdom man you toss a coin basically between those two also Street fighter 6 came out that year. Yeah and fighting games it's tough to pick a fighting game. I didn't bring it up cuz it's yeah I know. But if you want to talk to me. If you want to talk to me. If you want to talk

Heat bro. Can't. Cammie versus Lysel. That's fair. That's fair that's fair Put the bad ears on camion. We've got a winner So John just spider-man 2 basically I'd have to say spider-man 2 man like I've never Wanted DLC so bad in a game. I want DLC I want DLC for spider-man 2 more than I want an expansion for expedition 33. I love that. Whoa. Yep. Dang. Did you play Miles Morales too? I did. I have to give that another shot. I like, I loved the first spider-man and I love, love, love spider-man 2 for some reason. Like I love miles too. You know, like the spider--Verse movies are like,

probably my favorite movies, besides like, the Lord of the Rings movies. But I have to go back and give it another shot. Nice. So what's your pick, Ryan? Mine's gonna be, as much as I love Spider-Man 2, I think Tears of the Kingdom should take it. I think it was, just like I said,

it was Breath of the Wild, but fun. The Ultra Hand and the ability, you still see it to this day, creations that, you know, it's just the ways people can build stuff and come up with ways to get around the world, to beat bosses, everything you can do in that game was absolutely amazing. And then they followed it up with a turd, another Zelda. But anyways, I think Tears of the Kingdom. Make sure you get the Zelda game right. Yeah.

Yeah, right? Or just a little helping character. Don't call it Navi when it's Midna by accident there. So stupid, no better. Which is also a game that I played like 15 years ago, man. Know what you're talking about. It doesn't matter. Oh man.

It's real to me. Listen, I'm gonna shock shock the world here guys. I absolutely love Baldur's Gate 3. I think it is one of the best CRPGs ever made. CRPGs are one of my favorite genre of game. Divinity Original Sin 2 is still one of my favorite games ever. Baldur's Gate 3, there's no shade to what Baldur's Gate 3 is unlike YouTube doofuses. Good word.

That game is fantastic. But listen, I would be amiss. no shade to what Baldur's Gate 3 is unlike you two doofuses. Good word. That game is fantastic. But listen, I would be amiss. I've been shouting Remnant 2 to the world since it came out. Remnant 2 for what it is, is the most perfect representation of a co-op shooter game that you can play with friends

with the most incredibly memorable world, stages, boss fights, weapons, builds, gameplay. It is perfection. I get that maybe a hard as nails shooter. I'll, I mean, you know, the perfect encapsulation of this is everybody that says, I wish we had a dark souls game that wasn't melee and had guns that is remnant too, and it is absolute. For me, remnant 2 would absolutely win game of the year in my opinion. I know there's tons of people out there that's Josh,

you're the biggest idiot I have ever heard in my life. Baldur's Gate 3 is an absolute masterpiece and appeals to way more people out there. Does it? Because here's my take. If I got Ryan and John, I know you've played some remnant 2, but if I, if the three of us played through remnant 2 together, I think you guys would both say, I like it more than Baldur's Gate 3. I think it's more fun than Baldur's Gate 3. Totally. You know, yeah. So, you know, the people that are saying, well, but the mass appeal of Baldur's Gate 3, it's just remnant 2 is perfection for what it is, man. It's kind of like Doom Eternal, right? Like, what that game tried to do, it did perfectly. Maybe it doesn't appeal to a as wide of an audience as another game, but you can't fault the game for what it did. It perfected what it was trying to do. That is Remnant 2 for me, so that's all I care about when it comes to that year. Because you've been trying to get me to play that forever.

If you play Spider-Man, I'll play Remnant 2. Bro. Spider-Man 2. Bro, I would love to play Remnant 2 with you guys. I've been kind of having the itch, dude. I've played Remn- So people, just to clarify this, I'd never, I hardly ever beat games, and if I beat a game,

I'd never play the game again. I have beaten Remnant 2 three times, guys. That's crazy. Yes, that's how much I love that game, so. My cousin, again, that's gameplay wonderful. The story, I still don't know what the game is about. Oh, it's a weird story. My cousin and I probably played like 20 hours of it,

and I have no idea what the game is about But from a like multiplayer standpoint. Oh my god. It's so fun. Get big gun kill big monster It's freaking beautiful too man the graphics the sound design everything it's a perfect game for I would agree with that All right, let's move on 2024 guys Everybody remembers cuz it's recent memory now. And what do you, this is another year where I kind of look at a lot of these nominees

and I go, hey, that's a pretty good list. Yeah. So here's our nominees. We had Astro Bot. I mean, let's just be honest. I'm gonna, it won game of the year. I still think it deserves to win game of the year. Astro Bot is some of the most fun

that you can have in a video game. I remember it catching us off guard completely with how freaking fun that game actually was. I remember just instantly, you know, it's like, dude, this game is everything I ever wanted in a video game. So, metaphor, refentazio. I know a lot of people love it. Some people don't love it as much as Persona 5 Royale. You know, call it what you will. John, you have a little bit of experience with that one. Black Myth Wukong, incredible game. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, I'll be honest, I never played it because Final Fantasy VII Remake was,

it was fun, but like, it wasn't enough to like, make me really just crave Rebirth. Shadow of the Urchery, one of the best DLCs in existence, oh my goodness, and a little game that for some reason I just cannot get myself to like, which makes me a weirdo, but Bellatro took the world by storm. I mean, we still see people talking about Bellatro. Like, you know, it's almost like once a week,

somebody's playing Bellatro and trying to break some high score or break the game or whatever it is. Um, so let's talk about some of the runners up. There's really only two in my opinion for this one hell divers to quite possibly the biggest snub to a game of the year nominee ever held divers to absolutely took the world by storm. I don't know how it didn't get nominated for game of the year, that's a crime.

And then a game that really got a lot of shade, this is one of those perfect examples of, if you believe everything you read on the internet, you're gonna think this game is garbage, but if you actually pick the game up and play it, it's way better than the internet would have you think, and that's a game called Star Wars Outlaws. There is a world where I could see Outlaws being nominated.

For me, I would put it in there over Bellatro or Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, but again, I don't have a lot of experience with either one of those games. So it's kind of tough to say, well, I haven't played those, so would I replace one? Well, yeah, I would because I didn't play them. So what do you guys think about this list?

John, if we do nothing else in the world, we're gonna make you play Astrobot soon Well, yeah, I would because I didn't play them. So What do you guys think about this list John? if we do nothing else in the world, we're gonna make you play astrobot soon because I Would bet so much money that you would absolutely love astrobot like no other game. That's right up my alley It's just good good wholesome silly fun. I I really want to give me a give me a pass man Yeah, you know at this point honestly that I love the pod and I want to do the best service to our listeners as humanly possible and most people have probably either played it or don't care about it at this point and so I feel like I need to stay current, but I am itching to play that game. I'm absolutely itching to play that game.

John, just drop Blueprints and start playing Astrobot. Blueprints, man, blueprints, it tickles the thing for me. It does, I know it's a bit. It is a perfect workout game. It's a perfect, yeah. You ain't playing Astrobot on the treadmill. There's too much movement in Astrobot, dude. That's gonna be like a one out of 10

on the playing on your treadmill. Yeah, probably. Probably. Yeah. Probably. So, Ryan, what do you think about this list, man? I know you love Astrobot. Is that the right word for you? Oh, I love it. What's wild for me too is with, I know you said that it caught us off guard.

I had played Astro's Playroom since I had got my PS5 and I played with my son. I have a million hours on that. So I was expecting a lot out of this game and it still blew me away the the the sound design the the level format like the different innovations the characters you can do like it everything about it was just was flawless for a platformer and what it wanted to be so I absolutely think that it should have won and I'm glad that it did I also Final Fantasy VII and Bellatro, I would boot those and then swap out

with Helldivers and Star Wars. I think Outlaws is criminally underrated. I don't know why it got the hate it did and people didn't like it, but it's just like any other awesome kind of action RPG where you go around, but you're in Star Wars world. One of the best Star Wars universes in a game. Yeah, it's fantastic. The level design but you're in Star Wars world you know one of the best Star Wars universes in a game yeah it's fantastic the level design you're in the city you feel like you're in the city when you're out in

the outlands and you're on your speeder bike there's jumps there's there's boost and upgrades it is I think it's very very underrated as especially as a Star Wars game but as a game in general so but otherwise yeah, Astrobots, it's awesome. You guys are kind of making me want to play that. Dude, it's pretty good. Yeah, as much as a Star Wars fan as you are too, I feel like you love that one. Oh, dude, if you haven't played it,

you gotta check it out. No, I haven't. Even the dogfighting in space, like it's, yeah, you find a ship in space, you're like, there's, it's really good. Yeah. I know you played Metaphor Re-Fantasia, John. Have you played any of the other ones on this list? I did I played I played a little bilateral

I played Some Final Fantasy rebirth, I don't I didn't play shadow of the earth tree, but But I did play Elden Ring and I have no doubt that that's a really good game. I'm a little divided on whether DLC qualifies for G. That was the big thing with 2024, was does Shadow of the Erd Tree even qualify? But if you have a DLC that's 25 hours long or longer, it's like that's basically the same amount of content

that you would get. I mean, honestly, Shadow of the Er Earth Tree is more content from a gameplay perspective than Astro Bot was. I mean, I think we beat Astro Bot in like 15 hours, whereas Shadow the Earth Tree is a 25 to 30 hour game. Yeah, my game isn't even on here, man. What is Space Marine 2 I okay yeah I am clearly biased I have been a die-hard Warhammer fan for 30 plus years at this point and I thought they nailed grimdark more than anything like I haven't felt it is a beautiful game it's not perfect, don't get me wrong. This is just my own context given what else was nominated here.

But as far as like capturing what it feels to be just a powerful demigod in a world universe full of horrors, I thought they did a fantastic job and brought a whole new series of fans into the tabletop. So I'm a big fan of Space Marine 2 for a lot of reasons. Space Marine 2 is a really good game. It was solid. Yeah, beautiful too. And for somebody that's not into Warhammer, like the world that they built and the visuals

and stuff were freaking top notch. I know nothing of Warhammer and I found myself like, oh, I wonder why that happened. I'm trying to look up lore and stuff were freaking top notch. I know nothing of Warhammer and I found myself like, oh, I wonder why that happened. I'm trying to look up lore and stuff. And so if a game can do that, you know, with how much depth it has and you know, Henry Cavill, like. Yeah. The world, the world will breathe a sigh of relief

once somebody nails the first Warhammer show. It is the best lore in all of fiction. I'm telling you guys, even if you never, like tabletop gaming isn't for everybody. I get it. There's, you know, you have to find people to play with. You have to find space to play with. It takes a lot of time.

It takes a lot of patience. A lot of the rule sets for, especially the bigger games like Warhammer 40,000 are huge, but the lore is accessible to anybody. By the way, yeah, huge plug, Warhammer TV. I think you can get a year's subscription for a pretty nominal fee. It's an app and there are shows on it

that are just unbelievable. Do yourself a favor, download this app, watch a couple of the videos, you'll get sucked into the lore. Even if you never play a game, the lore is fantastic. Or go to Amazon TV, Hidden Levels, I think was the name of the show. Oh yeah, they did a Warhammer episode.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, a Space Marine episode. Exactly, gosh, it's so good, guys. All right, listen, we're out of time, guys. I think that most people in the world can say, hey, Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of the best video games ever made like even me even though it's not my favorite game I can I can recognize it but let's just take Red Dead 2 off the

list okay out of all of these years and all of these games what is the absolute best game that has come about from the last, you know, what did we go back to 2017? So the last eight years. Best game or favorite game? Personal favorite. We'll say personal. What is your personal favorite game out of these games that we talked about over the last eight years?

Ooh, that's a good one. Favorite. Go ahead, you go. I'm gonna say Elden Ring for me. As much as I love Remnant 2, I get it. It's, you know, I mean I Remnant 2 is fantastic, but Elden Ring is an all-timer for me, dude You know John your perfect example of like dude this game

This is not my kind of game But I absolutely love everything else about it where it can overcome the you know Some of the challenges that you didn't like about it But Elden Ring is a top five game of all time for me. Yeah, Patrick and I were talking about it on Discord. Like, the good parts of it were so absolutely mind-blowingly good that it made me work through the parts of it that I hated just to accomplish it.

If I were saying like, what is the best game on there? I mean, I would say Elden Ring is one of the best games. Definitely top two, three games of all time, just best on its merits. My favorite game, probably Spider-Man 2. Oh, I got to play some Spider-Man. I told you guys, toutin' Spider-Man 2 to me. It's solid. Dude, the Venom level. Ohman to me. It's solid dude the venom level. Oh

So fun. It is so fun. I did that only problem was there wasn't enough of them. I wanted to play more well, yeah, but I mean there's supposed to be a game like Josh if you if you have any elements of Playing games for escapism where you're like I want to feel as much as I can with you know controller keyboard Whatever what it is like to be this being I wanna feel as much as I can with, you know, a controller, keyboard, whatever, what it is like to be this being, you know, that I'm playing. Spider-Man 2 does probably the best job I've ever seen. Like, all I can think of when I'm playing is like,

man, like, that looks so fun. Like, why not me? Like, it makes you, like, upset at the confines of reality, dude. It is so fun. The listeners heard it. We have it on record. If I play Spider-Man 2,

you guys are playing Remnant 2 with me. Book it. That's the deal. Book it. All right. So Ryan, what about you? What's your pick? Oh, I'm probably gonna say Ragnarok.

Ragnarok? So you like Ragnarok more than 2018? Oh, we're including that? Well, yes. Okay, so you weren't just saying, oh, then 2018. Yeah, 2018 is mine. It's, cause to me, like in the last 10 years, 20 years or whatever, my two favorite games that I've played

are gonna be 2018 and Red Dead. They just came out in the same year. I'm so torn between Elden Ring and God of War 2018. Like everybody knows how much I love God of War, but it's like, I think I can objectively say Elden Ring's the better game, but man, that's tough. Cause it's like, but I want to veer a little bit because everybody's gonna be like,

Josh loves God of War more than anything. And it's like, I do, but Elden Ring's probably the best game. And if I was actually gonna hop back into a game to play it again, I'd probably hop back into Elden Ring. I listened to the audio book of 2018. It's voiced by Mimir. Yeah, the guy that does the voice from Mimir, which is awesome.

But yeah, that's gonna be mine, 2018. But I do recognize the amazing nature of Elden Ring for sure. Yeah, so. All right, well listen, that's gonna do it guys. You know, come join our Discord server. If you think a game should have won Game of the Year that it didn't, or maybe there's a game

that we forgot to even mention that deserved to be in the contenders, come to our Discord server, let us know. It's so fun to chat about these episodes and these different topics. There's a link in the contenders, come to our Discord server, let us know. It's so fun to chat about these episodes and these different topics. There's a link in the episode description. We have one of the most active, best gaming communities on the planet.

That's not an exaggeration, it is actually true. So come see what you're missing in that regard. If you want to support the show, there is a link in the episode description to do that. It is the reason that we can description to do that it is the reason that we can continue to do this podcast after five years going strong yeah buddy so please think about supporting the show because it really does keep us going as well so that's going to do it See ya! Toodles!