Video Gamers Podcast - Gateway Games: The Best Way Into Every Genre – Gaming Podcast

Episode Date: April 23, 2026

Gaming hosts Josh, Ryan and Ace are breaking down the BEST gateway titles to jump into new genres and expand your gaming horizons. From easy-to-pick-up classics to hidden gems, they highlight what makes these video games the perfect entry point for newcomers and veterans alike. Whether you’re curious about RPGs, strategy, or horror, this episode is all about making gaming more accessible and fun. If you love discovering new video games and leveling up your gaming taste, this is one episode you don’t want to miss!   Thanks to our MYTHIC Supporters: Redletter, Disratory, Ol’ Jake, Gaius, Jigglepuf, Phelps and NorwegianGreaser, Dettmarp and Night Wizard63   Thanks to our Legendary Supporters: HypnoticPyro, PeopleWonder, Bobby S.   Connect with the show: Support us on Patreon: ⁠patreon.com/videogamerspod⁠ Join our Gaming Community: https://discord.gg/h2cHKAvSmu 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

Local news is in decline across Canada, and this is bad news for all of us. With less local news, noise, rumors, and misinformation fill the void, and it gets harder to separate truth from fiction. That's why CBC News is putting more journalists in more places across Canada, reporting on the ground from where you live, telling the stories that matter to all of us, because local news is big news. Choose news, not noise.

CBC News. Hello, fellow gamers and welcome to the video gamers podcast. What's your favorite genre? Now, do you remember the game you played that made you go, yep, I freaking love these types of games? Well, on today's episode, we're picking the best game to get someone hooked on a genre they've never tried. From the games that will reel you in to the best examples of why that genre exists now,

we'll be talking games you absolutely must try if you're looking. looking to expand your gaming repertoire. First, some introductions are in order. I am your host, Josh, and joining me, we watch this happen with a game called Endless Dungeon that introduced him to the roguelike genre, and he's never looked back. It's Ryan.

Oh, man, all it takes is that one little hit. You just need the one hit, and you're good to go. Yeah, it's just, hey, man. That's what this is about. First time's free, and then you've got to pay. You all ever had some of them rogue likes? Yeah. Can I interest you and something addictive?

It's like, what's a rogue like? Yeah, we got them. And joining us, if we tell him AAA games are a new genre, maybe just maybe we'll get him to play a few. But it'll take a lot to pull him away from his beloved Indies. It's ace. I mean, too, it'll be fair. indie games do hit a wider margin of genre instead of just pretty story game or a big FPS shooter. Yeah, I mean, if we just trick Ace into saying this is a new genre, maybe he'd be like, oh, well, let's give it a try.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Triple A is the new genre. You got to try it. Yeah, it's a new. You should try it, Ace. There's some really bangers games. Triple A, what's that?

Bang. Boy, I can't wait. Must be some new indie thing. These games look good. Yeah. What's with those graphics? These things are great. I don't, I can see the characters.

You can see the characters and they have faces? Like, there's animation? What is this? Wait, these people talk? Wait, the characters talk? Like, it's actually like with voices? Okay, I will give you that. There's a lot less voice acting at indie games.

I will give you that. Because apparently a caution. four bazillion dollars according to dude apparently it costs a lot yeah I feel like supply I'm not buying that listen we've had a lot of voice actors on this podcast but if the supply and demand like I feel like there's a lot of voice

actors out there that are like I will take a job I feel like that would like lower the all these Instagram voice acting challenges I see like there's enough mediocre voice actors you could get for your game there's enough really bad voice actors too though yeah

and then there's us which you know If you want us to voice something in your game, all you got to do is reach out to us. We ain't saying it's going to be real good, but we're probably willing to do. We'll try. We'll try. We'll do our best. We'll do our best. Oh, man.

So welcome in to everybody to the video gamers podcast. This is actually going to be, this is the perfect episode if you want to expand your gaming horizons. Like, we have picked not super popular genres. So this is not going to be, oh, if you want an action RPG, play God of War. Like we actually intend to try to put games in front of you that maybe you haven't played genres. We do have one very popular genre, but, you know, maybe we can entice a few people that normally go, I don't like that genre into why it's great. But otherwise, we've got some kind of off-the-wall genres, but all include some really fantastic games.

We each came up with a list of our own games for this one. So the categories that we have that we're going to talk about today are beat them ups, turn-based RPG. That's the big one. But, you know, we had to include something that's popular in here. Tower defense games, horror games, and side-scrollers, which, you know, we're being a little loosey-goosey on. We're saying that can be a platformer, maybe a Metroidvania. You know, any game where, you know, it's a side-scroller, you know, whether it's a shooter, whatever, we kind of left that one open to. interpretation for a little bit.

But there you go. And we are going to give you the best example of a game that will get you hooked for that genre. So before people go, that's not the greatest turn-based RPG ever. That's not the point. Not the point. This is to get people into the genre. If you want to then explore that genre and check out the cream of the crop, by all means,

we love that. But these are games that we think are easy to approach. will hook people in and then kind of showcase what that genre is about. So that's kind of our angle on this one. But before we get to that, Ryan, I believe you've got a review for us. I do have a review. This one comes in, nice five-star review from Machine Wash Mike. And this one's titled Next Level Informant.

Infotainment. Informant. That's a category, Ryan. Informant. Yeah, it was them, see. My cover's blown. My cover's blown. Oh, no.

The informant's here. Okay, infotainment. I don't know. Wow, that was, I just totally went from the first two or three words or letters to the end. Anyways, this interview, or interview, this review reads, you guys got me all throwing off. This podcast is the perfect blend of entertainment, information, and competition. and comedy. Been listening on my commute for the past few months,

and it significantly alleviates the pain of L.A. traffic. I'm sorry you have to sit in that. I appreciate the good vibes, banter, and news. This crew brings to the gaming world. Keep up the awesome work, Josh, Ryan, and Ace. Hey. That's a good review, man. That's a good infotainment review.

Yeah, see, thanks so much. information and entertainment. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's two things together. Informant. Right. And then it becomes infotainment. I outed myself.

You want to be an informant, Ryan. If you want to be a snitch, man, that's all you. Yeah, I mean, you know. Who you were working for. Nintendo or IGN. Yeah, right. You're darn right they do. I know.

So, all right. Well, listen, if you have been a fan of this podcast, if you are new to the show, leave us a review. You can do that on Apple podcast, where you can actually write a review. If you listen on Spotify, you can rate us five stars. But please take a second to do that. It goes a very long way in helping other gamers find this podcast and letting them know, these guys, they don't suck. And that's really what we're going for. That's my favorite. All right, boys, let's get to the topic of this

episode. I'm excited for this one, man. These are some, these are some genres that people don't normally think about. Um, you know, no, Ryan, Astrobot. is not a side scroller. You said platformer. That's a platformer. That would be a 3D platformer. Mega man. Mega man would be like a platformer.

I was going to say, I'm like, I'm changing my answer. I'm two-d action side-scroller, homie. You're not supposed to call me out on air. What are you doing? But it was like, that's not a side-scroller. Like the category is literally it's side scrolls. And then you're picking like a 3D platformer. You said platforming.

I was like, well, I know. I know. Okay, I've been the rules. You don't know if you don't ask. All right? No, Patrick, mayonnaise is not an instrument. This is not trying to point out the greatest game in the genre.

This is trying to introduce people to a genre. Which Asteroid is fantastic. I'm just saying if you want to introduce somebody, like that's one to introduce them to. But like, I guess it's the wrong, you know? Okay. It's fine. To be fair. If you have a PS5 and you have not played AstroBat, shame on you.

like that's all we're going to say is shame on you because astrobot one game of the year for a reason it's freaking spectacular and shame on you but also it's not a side scroller so it doesn't fit it's definitely but you kind of left it vague so i was trying to like well that's okay that's that's what i get that's yeah oh obviously okay all right let's start off with the beatum ups guys now look Ryan and I grew up in the arcade days beat-em-ups were one of my favorite genres back in the day, dude. Bro, give me Streets of Rage, give me Double Dragon, give me Golden Axe. You know, I mean, there are so many amazing beat-em-up games that I grew up with.

And then we got Nox or Ace over here. I did not choose one of those. Because, you know, like I said, the point of this, like those games are a little bit dated. And as much as I love them and I spent many an hour in the arc arcade playing those games. They're probably not the greatest introduction to a genre for somebody. That's fair. They've come a long way.

And let's be honest, I feel like this genre is not super popular anymore. Do you guys agree with that? I agree to a certain extent, but also last year we had two games in that genre come out. So that's more than, more than usual. Here we go. Go ahead. Well, take it. Go ahead. The Harley Bird gets the worm.

The one we all wanted. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Listen, listen, listen, anytime that we have a show where we make lists, the rule is if you post your list first, you get right to whatever games you shared. So this is where Ryan suffers being the procrastinator of the group. So Ace and I, it's basically a race between Ace and I to post our list so that we can lay claim to these games. And then Ryan comes along like five minutes before the show. And he's like, all right, here's my list. Boys are like, Ryan, that game doesn't count.

Ace has that game. And he's like, dang it. So I am taking Absalom as my game that will get you hooked on the beat-em-up genre. Guys, Absalom came out of nowhere, got nominated for like indie game of the year. What was it the game that they had to pull it away from?

Because they were like, this isn't an indie. And they replaced it with Absalom. Do you guys remember which game that was? It wasn't that it wasn't an indie. It was that it was not the day. Oh, he withdrew himself is what it was. What game was that?

We didn't play it, so I can't remember the name. I know, I can't remember now. But he was like, I don't really feel like I should qualify because it wasn't his debut India is what it was. So then they put Absalom in here. Guys, Absalom was a freaking blast of a game to play. Like, I know the three of us went, whoa. Like, we did not, we know it was going to be good, but we didn't know how good it was

going to be. And I think what makes Absalom so good is number one, it's approachable. It's very easy to just pick up the controller, start pushing buttons and figuring out how to play your character. The art style really helps it to be approachable. You know, the animation in it is fun, the juggles that you can do, that kind of things. The combat is really incredible. I feel like Absalom is such a good introduction into the beat-em-up genre because it has the rogue-like elements as well. So if you fail, Ace has got it. What is it, Ace? Mega bonk. Mega bonk! That's right. Yeah.

Okay, okay. Yeah, and he was like, this isn't my debut game. I've made other games, so he withdrew his nomination, which is what it goes. It's good on that guy, too, by the way. Because that made room for Absalom. Yeah, and that means Absalom got its chance to shine, which I will agree. It did. And shine, it does, man. Absalom is a one-of-a-kind game. So good. Takes the best of a beat-up and the best of a rogue-like and just meshes them parts. perfectly. Yeah. Yeah. And if you want, like an example, John, you know, was asking for a game to

play because his nephew was in town. He's like, what's a game that we can beat like in a weekend that we can play together? And we were like, Absalom. John's like, okay, he comes back to next day and he's like, guys, this game's freaking great. And we were like, we know. So if you have not played Absalom, you were missing out. If you want a perfect introduction into the beat him up genre to see if that's a genre that you enjoy. If you like Absalom, I really think that you'll like a lot of other games in this genre as well. But Ace and Ryan have two other examples. So don't just take my nomination. Ace, what's your pick for this genre? I would like to bring forward probably the most popular indie beat them up. The one and only Castle Crashers. Oh, Castle Crash is a great

game, dude. Having Castle Crashers on PC where you can just get together with all your friends and play it because it's four player co-op, which is awesome, which most beat them ups, I would say are co-op in some capacity, even if it's just local. But being able to just play with your friends and each character has their own move set and the mods, dude, the mods for Castle Crusher make it so fun. I was running around as Harry Dubois beating the crowd out of guys.

The skins and the mods. It was so cool. Oh, what a surprise. Ace got skins in a game. And they were free. They were free. All right. Castle Crashers is great. It's simple. It's very, very simple premise.

It gets difficult. You play it with your buddies. You know, all these beat-em-ups, you should play with somebody. Like, that's kind of the nature of that genre. While you can play them solo,

it's not the same. So find a buddy, find somebody that wants to experience this with you and then join up. Because even with if it's just two people, it is miles. It's a completely different experience. Castle Crashers is great,

Ace. It's better together. All right, Ryan. What about you, man? What do you got on this one? So I'll do mine real quick. So you kind of destroyed my whole pick in the beginning there. But I'm going to go with something a little more old school,

something that will hold up for anyone because the animation holds up to this day. I'm going to go with the Simpsons side scrolling, like just beat them up. Just, yeah, yeah. I never played this. Wait, oh, really? I play this. Hold on. I never played

You've never played it They have the arcade Has it Skateboard They had one of my pizza Homer has the bowling ball Marge has a vacuum Lisa has a saxophone

I have never played this game There is a Simpsons Beatem up game Yeah it's super popular It was a How did I miss this? What? Are you kidding me?

There's an Easter egg in it Where Marge gets The vacuum stuck to her hair And you can see she has rabbit ears Wait is this the hit and run Is that the one point Because there's the Simpsons hit and run Is this the beat him up?

No No no no no this is this is like a straight up this is a this is like a late 80s early 90s arcade game dude this is I don't know what I was playing but this was your well you were you were in line at the street fighter this is not my time this is a little bit no you were in line as street fighter is what you were doing probably yeah so I know this is this is one of those uh anytime I go anywhere that has a bunch of arcades if I see I'll look for the Simpsons and I go and find it to the 360 oh did it really It's just, it's one of those, yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's just one of those kind of,

eat my shorts. Yeah, is Bart just saying that as he's kicking people's butt. For sure. Yeah, and then like you die and he like floats away as a ghost or whatever. Yeah, yeah, it had a lot of personality. It was, there was a lot of, there was a lot of Simpsons DNA, especially in the early time frame. Yes. Is this a good game to get people into?

A thousand percent. Because it plays, it plays just the same as the other ones. It doesn't have the ability to. like do progressive like upgrades and all these other things but it's going to get you into that world of uh you know that beat them up I'm going to go through

I can have a couple other people with me and then we're going to you know just smash this as we go through this this world you know traversing just that way. Yeah. Yeah. So dude some bangers too like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle games. Yeah. There's so many there's so many beatem ups but listen

we get that it's an older genre. but with the newer introduction of like absalom castle crashes has been around a while but like there's a ton of fun to be had here so definitely check these out would you guys agree that absalom's probably the best example to kind of say hey if you're going to try one of these try that one so i think absalom has the best difficulty it has the most approachable and that's only because you got it first that's by the way we were we would have all paid it we would have all picked it's not a competition Ryan, even though I picked the best games. Yeah, even though I have it.

Even though I took off the Lom. All right. Let's do another one real quick. Turn-based RPG. Now, Ryan, before you start gagging, okay, have you played any turn-based RPGs? Yeah. The one I took from him. Okay.

The one that A stole from you. And Ryan was like, no, it's mine. It's the only game that I ever loved in this genre. It's the only one that's acceptable in this genre. The only turn-based RPG I've ever loved. I know. All our others are just garbage. Well, Ryan, why don't you

tell us what your pick is? Apparently, this game failed, so I don't know if this is the best example to get somebody into a turn-based RPG. This is the best example, and I'm going to pick Lunar-Lunar Dragon Song for the turn-based RPG because it's the worst

ever. And so what I'm hoping is that anyone that plays this game... I was like, what is this game? Yeah, it's the worst one ever. It's the worst one ever. It's the worst one of the worst scores with Metacritic. When you run, your sprint drains your health, there's all these kinds of horrible, horrible functions and features within this game.

And then additionally, it's turn-based RPG. So I'm hoping that anyone that plays it will realize that turn-based RPGs are the stupidest game style ever, and they'll never play another one ever again. I was, okay, I saw this game on Ryan's list, and I was like, I've never heard this game in my life.

had to do with Ryan. And now it all makes sense because Ryan's like, don't play the worst game. It's a troll pick for sure. Play the worst ones. You realize this genre is stupid. It's pointless. And don't ever play it again.

That's, that's fair. Although this is actually one of my favorite genres. I know. So, Ace, why don't you tell us what game you picked for this amazing genre? I think the ultimate gateway sort of game into getting into turn-based RPGs is 100% Pokemon. Pokemon is easy to pick up.

This makes a lot of sense. Easy to learn. And it sort of opens up the floodgates and kind of opens your brain up to the idea of turn-based combat. And, you know, using moves to not only damage enemies, but also apply status effects or skip turns and things like that. I genuinely think Pokemon is perfect for training you how to play a turn-based RPG.

It's actually a really good point. The turn-based combat in Pokemon is very indicative of the genre as a a whole. Like, yes, many people have iterated on that, but if you're going for the, just at its simplest form and something that's very approachable, Pokemon's, yeah, yeah, Pokemon's a fantastic entry point. I love Pokemon Emerald personally, because it's from the GBA and that's what I played, but any of them is probably fine. I'd pick any of them. My daughter keeps trying to get my wife to play because she is not into very many turn-based RPGs, although she absolutely loves the one. Smart lady. She loves the one that I'm about to mention. And so I think, like,

like, hey, there's, I think there's an angle here for you that there's other ones that are really impressive and I think you'd enjoy a lot. But they can also get really complicated very quickly with being complex. So my pick for this one, as an introductory, this will absolutely get you hooked on the genre, is Paper Mario the thousand-year door. That's a good one. What a fantastic turn-based RPG. Now, my wife has played this game and she freaking loved it.

I mean, like, so much. but it includes everything you could want. Now, there's obviously the turn-based combat, but what Paper Mario does is give you the active things to do in combat. So if you time your button press, you'll block an attack or you get an extra attack and things like that. So it leans into that active turn-based style, beautiful world, lots of exploration.

It's got all the RPG elements. But if you want to say, hey, look, I really haven't gotten into very many turn-based RPGs. Paper Mario is so approachable and so good at the, the same time that you like we can't recommend it enough. There's a reason I got remade for the switch genuinely. Yeah. Yeah.

Like it's really that good. And even though it's a little bit older, it holds up fantastically. Honestly, I won't even say it holds up. It's just a freaking fantastic game in general. Is it something that like is because I mean with with turn base combat with the quick time event stuff like is there something that you know, getting into the series

it's not too difficult so that like, you know, newbies can get into it, but then veterans can still enjoy something like that? Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. I would also like...

And the different attacks... I was just because I would also like to add if you don't have a Nintendo Switch and you want to get to like this kind of genre of term-based RPG, bug fables is 100% Bug Fables is great. My wife played that one too.

Bug Fables is 100% Mario, paper Mario for the PC, so... Yeah. Okay. Yep, absolutely. So, all right. listen, we're going to take a quick break and then we'll come back with the tower defense games. We'll be right back after this break. Guys, tower defense is one of those genres that I always get sucked into anytime I try to play a tower defense game.

I love it, but I don't play very many of them. And I feel like not many people do, but it's just fun, man. Like, I don't know what it is. I'm going to just throw mine out there, plants versus zombies. Yeah. That is, that is, if you have never tried a tower. defense game. Plants versus Zombies is freaking fantastic. It's so approachable. It's easy to pick up. It's hard to master, especially in the later levels where, you know, they start throwing crazy

guys at you. But man, Plants versus Zombies is just simple, dumb, fun. And it represents the genre so well. If you like Plants versus Zombies, you can branch out in a thousand different directions in the tower defense genre. But it's the best starting place in my opinion. Is that the only mobile game you've played? Like you would say you played Plants versus Z zombies? Jokes on you Ace, I played this on PC. So I played this through Steam, the PC version of Plans v.

Zombies. I know it's on mobile, but like, so you paid like five bucks for this. Yeah, but I, dude, I played, it makes me wonder. I put a lot of time into Plants versus Zombies, dude. It's just an all around enjoyable game, man. Yeah, man. It's one of those where you can stack up

and play for a while. Guys, I have 69.6 hours. In plants versus zombies? On PC? On PC? I'm looking at, I'm looking at my stream that played out. Well, I can't play anymore now because I'm at 69.6 hours, so I can't put any more time in it. Broder just sat there and played plans versus zombies for 60 hours. Oh my God.

Plans versus zombies, dude. Yeah, man. That's great. That's a mobile game you play like when you're at the doctor. You play that way on the toilet, man. He was like, oh, no, this wave. That was, that was, that was, um, that was, um, that was mine as well.

Yeah. It's, it's, it's, it's, there's not too many. I honestly, it's probably one of the only I've ever played. Well, you've played one of the better ones. I played one of the better ones. I would say this is the one if you like this genre, if you like this, this world or this game style or, or, uh, the ability to hop in and just kind of play this way.

This is a good game to get into like plants versus zombies. I mean, there's a reason it's as big as it is. Like, it's good, you know. Just because we'll be sacrificed if we don't mention it before I mentioned mine. Bloons is another very, very popular The Tower Trenchment is very good, very good. It's so weird because I hate the balloon aspect of blooms.

You don't like the popping stuff? Make them monsters, dude. Make them monsters. I know it's a dumb thing. It's dart monkeys. They throw darts. What do you? I know.

I know, Ace, but you know what makes plants versus zombies fun? They're zombies. They're creepy and they're cool. You know what I mean? like, yeah, and the plant designs. But like, I don't want to pop balloons. That's boring. And look, I'm not saying the balloons isn't a fantastic tower defense game.

But like, I can't get past the fact that I'm just, oh, it's a red balloon. Oh, no, no, it's a green balloon. Oh, no. It's a blue balloon. Watch out. And it's like, bro, you couldn't make those like orcs and dragons or something. Like, come on. It's your funeral, man.

You could fight that side of the internet. I ain't fighting that side of the internet. I know. I know. All right. My pick is very obscure. But it's what kind of. kind of introduced me to this entire genre as a whole.

It's a game called Toy Soldiers. It was a game you could play on Xbox Arcade. It was Toy Soldiers and Toy Soldiers Cold War. You took the form of Toy Soldiers. Who could have guessed? And you would defend the battlefield by putting down artillery, tanks, and even taking actual control of soldiers on the battlefield to earn money and keep defending your toy box to stop the enemy soldiers from running in.

You could play at co-op against a friend, which was super cool, so you could both kind of learn the game together. I thought it was just a really cool game. And it was really great teaching you how tower defense works at your own pace. When did this come out? Oh, this was like 2007, I bet. I bet this is old. I was going to say, because I can feel like I know this game,

and I know that I've most likely played it, but I've also played it IRL because, like, I've melted soldiers, like, and I just, like, you know. Oh, yeah. apparently had a remaster in 2021 for HD version that's now out but really? Okay.

Play the HD version. Play the HD version for sure. The 2007 version. Yeah. I'm trying to find the original. Awesome. I really, this is a genre that I think is under 2010.

Yep. Play the remastered one. Play the remaster. Yeah. All right. Well, let's move on. Let's move on to horror. Now, here's this.

horror to me is such a weird genre. And Ace, I know you love horror game. Oh, dude, I love horror. My daughter loves horror games, dude. Like, she's always telling me about this creepy game that she found or something like that. But I think gamers as a whole don't really gravitate towards the horror genre. Like, would you guys agree it seems like it's kind of a niche genre in gaming overall? I don't see gamers sort of being pulled towards pure horror.

I see them being pulled towards games with horror aspects. Right. Yeah. No, I agree. Like Silent Hill, right? Probably one of the most famous, like, horror-type games. Yeah, you know, and it's like, so there's a couple that have really gotten, like, mass popularity. But I feel like the genre as a whole is just underappreciated.

Definitely. Because there's some fantastic games in this genre. So, Ryan, why don't you start us off? What is the horror game that, in your opinion, if you are a gamer and you really haven't branched into the horror genre, this is the game that you should try? Definitely. So for me, I'm going to give one that I played in my younger years, and then it had a remake that was awesome. The remake was fantastic.

You guys played it as well. So we got our boy Leon. I'm going to go with Resident Evil 4. Yeah. Leon. Hey, Leon. Come here. Leon.

Josh! Josh! They're going to shoot you. Oh, no. You should have drafted Ashley Graham. Oh, no. Remember to die. Stop it.

Stop of it. This is my pick. You're good at it. You're going to. You're asking. This is my pick. I think Resident Evil, obviously it's a mainstay. They just keep putting out bangers. They're not always the best of the best. But, I mean, we saw with Resident Evil 9, it was fantastic.

Resident Evil 4 is one of those that it's not insanely punishing, but there's so much going on. And then with the town and all the, all the infected. There's just a lot there. Escort missions. There's all kind of everything within a video game that, that, and then it's horror. So I think this would be a good one. If, if you like that style, if a little bit of jump scares, if a little bit of like spooky zombies, you know, all that stuff gets you, then Resident Evil 4, especially the remake is going to really set the stage for you to experience all these other types of games, you know, within that world. Yeah, absolutely. I would agree with that.

It's got all the comfort elements the gamers are used to, but it has that kind of horror aspect and setting. So it's, I agree. I think that's a fantastic. Now, Ryan, somebody's going to go, well, I haven't played the Resident Evil games. Can I just jump in right at 4? Yep. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Resonival is basically an anthology. Yes, you won't know the characters, but it doesn't matter. Resident Evil 4 stands on its own. It's fantastic. So I think that's a great choice. Ace, which what do you have for this one? I kind of went down the same road as Ryan here, where throwing someone directly into horror isn't always ideal because you don't know how they're going to react.

Yeah. So it's kind of best to throw yourself into a game with heavy horror elements that isn't necessarily full horror. Like initially I was thinking Dead Space. Dead space is great for that. Dead space comes to mind, absolutely. Yeah, Dead Space is great for that, but it might be a little intense for your first run through.

So I landed on Bioshop. I think Bioshock is a great atmospirically horror feeling game without being true horror but you're uneasy the whole time there's definitely some creepy stuff going on and it just kind of gets you used to the vibe of what horror brings to the table and you can decide if you want to dive more

into horror from there. You never really think of of Bioshock as like a horror game. You don't. But what happens and what's going on and then like you see the people running around with their masks on and then all the dead bodies everywhere, and you're just like, what is happening? Hey,

you take away the weapons in Bioshock, it becomes outlast. Yeah, yeah, I mean, for sure. It's funny because Bioshock absolutely has some really creepy,

horrific elements to it. And I can absolutely go, like, because I know there's going to be people like, Bioshock's not horror. It's an action adventure, you know,

and then it's like, but if you think about it, and Ryan, you touched on it. All the freaking Adam crazed people, they're, Gary, dude. Things are trying to kill you. There's that dark, creepy

atmosphere in, like, in most of the game, like, absolutely touches into that horror genre. And I think is a phenomenal experience for people to test it and go, if you like this aspect, if you like that thrill, you might want to go

a little bit more. Exactly. And in the first one, if you get it wrong, big daddy's putting a big old drill down your face. Like, yeah. Like, that's not horror. Like, come on. Yeah. somebody asked literally just the other day they said hey I'm really tempted to try bioshop but does it hold up absolutely yeah absolutely bioshock i would play it today I would play by right now heartbeat holds up dude it really really

holds up so if you've never played bioshock that is that is a must play game for a number of reasons not only just for the fact that it does touch into the horror genre a little bit and eases you in there would you kindly play biosec already would you kindly right yeah Did you kindly play it? I am going to go with phasmophobia. This is a game that is wildly popular, number one. Number two, it's very easy to just pick up, walk into a house, and then get murdered by the ghost. But if you want to get into the crazy, like, what's that sound?

What was that? Oh, no, I don't like this. This is really freaking me out. Like, there are a few games that actually scare me like phasmophobia does. And when I think horror, I think I want to be scared, right? Like, I don't necessarily want to be grossed out. Gore doesn't do anything for me, you know, so there's, there's like, you know, yes, I've played out last and, you know, some of these games that go into the Gore side of things,

that doesn't really do much for me. But the freaking me out part and they like, I'm legitimately scared right now, that to me is what defines horror. And phasmophobia just absolutely nails that. if you want to play by yourself, you can. It's a multiplayer game. I think it's better with friends. Never.

Yeah. But I think if you have not dabbled in this genre, there's no gore in phasmophobia either. So like this is a game where, you know, if you're, if you have kids and they're slightly older and they can handle a little bit of like the supernatural kind of, like that kind of creepy. Hold on. They do have like blood smeared off. along the walls. A little bit. A little bit.

It's not bad, dude. It's really not, it's like, like, from a horror standpoint, there's very, actually I'd say there's, is there blood smeared on the wall?

Yeah, there's blood stains and stuff. It's, and bones. There's bones and stuff everywhere. Especially when we play during the Halloween. There was a skull. The Halloween event was different.

All right. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, but it's like, my point being is that it doesn't really lean into, he's defending his pick and these horrible things. I mean, I like how me and Ryan were like,

you should ease yourself into the horror genre. And you're just like, ha ha ha ha. Phasmophobia. If you like phasmophobia and you like that, then you're going to go, oh, this genre actually works. What are some other games in the genre? And I think phasmophobia will do it. I, okay.

So, so, um, I am a prime example of this. I am, I am your, uh, contestant number one. I have not play I played a little bit of kind of horror games here and there throughout but playing phasmophobia especially with you guys and then we played with like hell of it and some other people it was it was such a different experience I don't really believe in ghosts I don't believe in karma

or or all of these crazy atmospheric things but in the game I'm like you know you get scared and you're looking around and you're wondering, it does such a good job of drawing you into the atmosphere. It creates the most beautiful atmosphere for chaos and fear. And it does such an awesome job. No matter how many tools you have, there's always that weird. Something's going to happen.

Something's going to go wrong. Something's not going to work right. So it is very, very good as an entrance to that world because it's not difficult. It's not hard. You just have to do the things. But man, yeah, having the right stuff makes. big difference. But yeah, no, that's a good one. Bring the right friends won't lock you out of

a closet. Yes. If you're playing with friends, you won't get. Oh, there's Viniwemps that you would. Memorable moments from phasmophobia as well. All right, guys, let's move on to our last one. The side scrollers. Ryan, you picked Astrobot? Apparently not. I mean,

I would. I would if I could. I would like to. So, like I said, we left this one. a little bit open for interpretation, although Ryan was like, I'm going to make this a different language. Hey, you give me an inch. I'll take a mile, buddy. I know.

So what do you have for side scrollers, right? And again, this can incorporate a lot of things. Like there are side scroller platformers. There's Metroidvanias. There's shooters a la Contra and Mega Man. It is a broad, you know, Prince of Persia would fit into this category as well. So yes, this is kind of a broader one. But if somebody's like, I really haven't played very many side scrollers, what game do you think will

get them into this. And let's start with you, Ryan. I'm going to go with one that's kind of obviously widely known. I'm going to go with Holo Night. I think that it's one of the most basic. I mean, you don't get a lot getting into the game, which is kind of setting you up for what these types of games are. But you also have an amazing world. It's beautifully crafted. It's amazing music. The combat is great. It's crisp. It's clean. It's fun to play. There's obviously issues that we have with it, but I think that as an introductory piece, it's not something that's going to deter people. I think it would more entice them than deter them. I agree.

I think Holonite is a great introductory to the entire genre of the Metroidvania as a whole. Because it's really hard to say, oh, you should go back and play, you know, symphony. Or something like that. It's like, oh, maybe, maybe not. They'd be like, what the heck? The beauty in the atmosphere of Holland Night, I think, can really draw people in. I will say that if it's your first entrance to a side scroller in general, like, my wife started to play Hollenight and then she got lost.

Yeah, so you'll get lost. I don't know. That's the one thing that might be like a hindrance to some people. Yeah. Oh, for sure. But that beauty and the art style and the music and vibe of Hollenite, if you like that, then you're going to find a lot of games that you really enjoy here. Ace, what do you have

for a side-scroller? I'm going to pick the other night. Uh, or my good boy, shovel night, man. I don't think there's a better way to sort of reintroduce yourself to the 2D side-scroller than with shovel night. It does it so perfectly. It takes all those retro elements of like Mega Man and Mario in the Duck Tales video game from NES.

And it makes this perfect blend of adventure and fun and exploration where you know you can go into the levels and find secret artifacts that make your life way easier including one very game breaking one and you just have a good time with shovel night man it's very clear where to go it's clear what to do and it's fun there's something to be said about like a game that's just um not to a level of difficulty where it's like extremely challenging but you can just like progress through it and you can have fun you can enjoy yourself and you can set yourself up to just have a good time, man. You're just, you're just going through the game. You're having fun. And, you know, that's, you're learning the world. You're

learning everything about it. So you can play shovel night co-op as well. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Shovel night to me is you're very prototypical. This is like the, the heart of the side scrolling kind of game. You know, like there's combat. You have to worry about the traps. There's the things to avoid. There's the jumping movement part of the game. It kind of is your just traditional throwback game that still plays modern. Like it plays very, very well even in 2026. It doesn't feel dated.

Like, it just works, man. Like, it really does just work. I'm going to go with Rayman Legends. Such a good game. The Rayman games are so good, in my opinion. My wife and I actually wound up playing this game together. She would do some of the easy parts. And this is one of the reasons that I say Rayman Legends is great because you have some levels that are very easy and they're just chill and it's a vibe. And then you have other levels that are brutally hard and require a lot of like precision timing and things like that.

I think that Rayman in general, take your pick of which Rayman game you want to play. But I think that they are a fantastic introduction to this genre. You know, they hold up. You know, they feel modern. The controls are tight. the graphics are good, the music's fantastic in Rayman, and it just is very approachable for a lot of people. And then you can branch out into, okay, well, let me add, you know, let me add hard combat or let me add, you know, harder platforming or something like that that the genre can kind of branch into. But I think Rayman is that just perfect example of try it.

If you don't normally play the genre, try that. If you like it, I think you've got a whole world of games in front of you that you could play and appreciate it that. point. Rayman legend says, like one of my favorite levels. That jibberish cover of Black Betty, where you get to play through that level. I think I remember that one, but now I'm going to have to go watch that. Yeah, I just remember the music being like, this is really, really good, dude. I'll pull it up and send it to you.

All right. Well, there you go, people. There's some awesome games to introduce you to some genres that maybe you have not branched out into or played in a while. So, you know, try them. You know, that's one of the best things about gaming is branch out a little bit. We all know what we like, but sometimes a game can come out of left field in a genre that you're not really comfortable with that is just that pallet cleanser or that game that gets you out of your gaming slump or something like that where you're just like, I really need something different to capture my attention. And these games, we feel, are the perfect example to do that and get you into these genres that maybe you're not checking out very often at all. So all right, that's going to do it for this episode.

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