Video Gamers Podcast - Most Anticipated Games of Late 2025! | Gaming Podcast

Episode Date: May 19, 2025

Gaming hosts Josh, Ryan, and John dive into the future with a look at the most anticipated video games still to come in 2025! From long-awaited sequels to bold new gaming experiences, we’re covering everything that’s lighting up our calendars. Your weekly hit of gaming news, deep dives, and everything video games—from 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

To support sustainable food production, BHP is building one of the world's largest hot-ash mines in Canada. Essential resources responsibly produced. It's happening now at BHP, a future resources company. Hello fellow gamers and welcome to the Video Gamers Podcast. 2025 has been a feast for gamers so far and we just got the release of Doom the Dark Ages. But what's next? What games have we forgotten about that should be remembered? Well in this episode we'll be covering the games slated for release this year that need to be back on your radar.

But first, some introductions are in order. I am your host Josh and joining me, he's finally out of his early access stage, and the Steam ratings have him sitting rated as overwhelmingly positive? It's Ryan. I just want to thank absolutely nobody because I did it all on my own. Yeah! All right, Ryan, thanks for the, you know, thanks, man. Yeah.

Glad you didn't need us. Just kidding. Thank you,'t need us. Just kidding. Thank you everybody. I love you all. All right. Well, let me quickly move on to this next introduction then and joining us, if announcement trailers are any indication, he's set to be one of the best additions to gaming in 2025.

It's John. Hey everybody. I honestly thought you were going to like skip over me. I was kind of sad I'm like the underappreciated little indie game. Oh like John has not had the greatest of days, which happens to everybody. But what better way to make a day better than to talk video games with your friends? We've all been there. This is why we game.

This is why we love video games. And this is why we do what we do, boys. So we got a lot of cool stuff to talk about, too. We do, man. This is going to be a fun episode. So we we got we got a lot of cool stuff to talk about too. We do man. This is gonna be a fun episode So we we got we got a little Guys we got I we got a couple people to thank and then stick with us because we have a quick little story that I know People are gonna enjoy we kind of promised to tell this story on this episode So we're gonna tell that story and then we're gonna talk about some incredible games

Hopefully they're incredible because you know, we think they're gonna be incredible, which is why we're going to talk about some incredible games. Hopefully they're incredible because, you know, we think they're going to be incredible, which is why we're bringing them up. But first, some big shout outs to some awesome supporters of the show. We want to thank Dingus Khan and Darks. I'm sorry, Dingus Khan and Riley Dismukes for signing up for rare status to support the show. Yeah. Thank you guys so much.

We wanna specify that Dingus Khan self-identifies as Dingus Khan and we're not just calling him that. Ryan and I have said Dingus is one of our favorite terms. I refer to myself as a Dingus all the time. I call my kids Dinguses like daily. So it's a good quality word. It's a term of endearment, you know, in my opinion.

Oh, it is. You're such a dingus, man. If I don't like you, I'm calling you something else. That's for sure. That's for sure. And then thank you to DarkSide900 for going epic status. Yeah. Here's the other thing I love.

All of these people are in our Discord server. They all joined as just, hey, let me see what the hype is about. They've been listening to the podcast, join the community that, hey, I know we hype it up, but let this be proof that people join, go, oh my goodness, you guys are right, man. This place is awesome. And then they go, you know, these guys aren't big fat, dirty liars. I should probably support the show If you want to use that as your litmus test, hey, we are a okay with that you can join our community

There is a link in the episode description. I Got to preface this by saying John has no idea what this story is and and we started talking before We started recording to say hey, we're you know, we got to tell this story and then we realized that John didn't know and then we said, okay Well, we're not gonna tell you we're gonna tell you live on the air. So Ryan you are the one that discovered this I am gonna toss this to you to set up man. So as as Most entertainers do we are very self-absorbed. We wanna look and see what people are saying.

And I'm wondering, why the heck we got a few one-star reviews? And I'm looking back through our reviews and I know sometimes things happen or maybe we made a mistake or what we could maybe be better at. And I'm scrolling, I'm scrolling, I'm scrolling. I get all the way back to 2022 to where I'm looking for reviews and I see a one star and I go, Oh, all right.

Who's this dingus or jabroni, if you will. And I start, I start reading, I start reading this review and I'm like, this is overwhelmingly positive. The title is a show like no other. Been over a year now since I started listening to the podcast and joined the discord and I gotta say it's been life changing. This all sounds amazing. And then I glance over at the name and Josh, could you please tell me what the name of the person is who left that one star review?

Well, let me tell you this because there are a lot of people out there that have seen this person, you know, on this show. This show, no. On this show. No. There's no way that anybody that's on this show and has been a member of our community for years now would ever leave us a one star review? Who was it? Ace of shame. What a fitting name by the way. Ace of shame. You should feel shame. Cause I looked and I saw a one star

review for our beloved ace of shame. And I'm like, you gotta be kidding me. And then I also thought this is the best day of my life. And I screen-shotted everything and I'm like, I'm saving this immediately. And then I just started, I started spamming Ace. You got some splaining to do. Like here we go. And Josh and I roasted him relentlessly. Like good friends do, man. Ace was like, we were like, you were not getting away with this, man. And we're like, you know we have to bring this up on the show now. And it's just like, no, no, man. I don't know what happened. I don't know what happened. Yeah.

So John Ace, you know, like literally, you know, host of the indie episode. Good friend of ours. He's the expert guy, too. Yeah. Yeah. Gives us a one, you know, one star. Good friend of ours Yeah Gives us a one, you know one star you just can't please me and trust a man. I mean You game with them You think you know somebody and then you get it you get a peek into the like the dark hallways You know of one star reviews and then find out he probably thought he's like these guys are never gonna see this

and then find out. He probably thought. He's like, these guys are never going to see this, man. Just that little jab in there. So Ace, Ace, I'm sorry that I didn't peal for you in Marvel Rivals that one time, OK? OK? That's what it was. You can just come to us and say something, all right? You don't have to bomb the podcast.

Yeah, just let us know. We're reasonable people. Come on. Yeah. Do you remember when we talked about how we don't like review bombing and stuff Did you notice ace didn't really speak up? Oh It's all making sense now That's what he was doing it back dating the review

To be fair ace was mortified and promptly went and fixed it but not not before Ryan got the, uh, the screenshot evidence of it too. All right, boys, let's let's chat some video games, man. Okay. So what we are doing, I mean guys, 2025 so far has been freaking incredible. We have multiple multiple game of the Year candidates so far, dude. Yeah. I mean, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, we said this is absolutely a Game of the Year contender.

Then Split Fiction comes out and we go, whoa, this is a Game of the Year contender. And then Expedition 33, I kind of called this one, was, you know, comes out, blows everybody's mind. The front runner, in my opinion, for Game of the Year at this point, it's a game of all time contender, man. It really is, dude. Like, honestly, it is that freaking good.

Ryan's shaking his head. But, man, at least John and I have good taste in video games. Yeah. So. So, but but then they brought up the question where we go, you know, doom the Dark Ages, literally after we record this, I am going to play it. I've got about 40 minutes into Doom so far, so I've gotten that taste that I'm like, I'm craving more. But then it's like, but then what guys?

Like where do we go from here, man? Oh, there's a lot of what. There is a lot of what. And so that's what we're going to talk about today. We kind of want to remind people what games might be coming up over, you know, the rest of the year, what games we're excited about, which, you know, might be the ones that we have the most hype for. And if nothing else, just a reminder that there is still a lot of 20, 25 left

when it comes to gaming and to just kind of talk about some of these. So John, why don't you start us off? What is a game that is coming out that you are very, very excited for or looking forward to or have maybe the most hope for? I, well, this is, this is a big one and this is probably going to come out of left field for you guys a bit, but probably one of the games that I'm most, I wouldn't say hyped about, but very, very curious and eager about

is Donkey Kong Bonanza. Because Nintendo is, I have no doubt that it's gonna be a really good game, but it is just such a curious choice of Nintendo to hedge the success of a brand new, but not quite super innovative game. I mean, system on, it just seems like there's a lot writing on it.

And that, you know, it's got me really, really curious. Like maybe this may be, you know, one of the me really really curious like maybe this may be you know One of the best 3d platformers of all time and they're just sleeping on it Something I don't know. I'm very very curious about I think a lot of people would be too So famously, you know, everybody saw the me saying please don't be Donkey Kong as the big release title for the switch too And then lo and behold it was freaking Donkey Kong I Love Donkey Kong dude, like honestly Donkey Kong country I mean, you know the Donkey Kong games are a blast and I actually liked it

Some of them are kind of hard to do like you go back and play some of these like you're like, oh wow I kind of forgot these are not easy games My take on the switch to using Donkey Kong was simply like, I don't, he doesn't have the same gravitas as Mario or Zelda does. And if you were launching a console, you know, and I know people love Donkey Kong and boy, did we take some flack for saying that at the same time because everybody that loves Donkey Kong came out of the woodwork

and was like, oh, you guys don't know stuff. And we were like, I mean, we love Donkey Kong, man. It's just not a console-selling type game. I'll say this. What I do love are 3D platformers, man. You know, and this game, the art style is a little bit different to me, which kind of makes me go like, what?

It's like, what is this? I have no doubt that this is gonna be a super fun game, man. Yeah, it'll be good. It'll be good. It's just, it's how big is it? Is it gonna be a console defining game? And typically that's what you want with your launch title. I just don't know if Donkey Kong has the legs to do it.

It just seems like if you were rebooting the Marvel universe, right? Who would you put out in front? Iron Man. Iron Man, Spider-Man, Wolverine. Are you going to put Cyclops out in front or like Jubilee? No, I mean like it's a good character. Don't get me wrong, but like that's not who you're going to hedge this reboot on. It's such a strange decision.

So are you excited for this, John? Is it more that you're curious on this one? Is it like? I have a high degree of what I'll call professional curiosity right now. That makes sense. Like I'm playing, I played South of Midnight, end to end, Cloud. I'm playing Doom, the Dark Ages right now, Cloud. And again, we're talking a brand new game, high, high graphical load. Yeah, Doom looks great. That I'm playing streamed right to my TV

without the need of a console. And so I am really, really curious how strong this game is gonna be for Nintendo when like they are really kind of the farthest behind in the cloud arena. Like they are dependent on solid first party IPs to retain relevance basically. I'm very, very curious and it'll be fun.

You know, I love mobile gaming. It'll be fun one way or another, but there's like a morbid professional curiosity that has got me really hooked on it. I don't wanna get too far off track here, but really quickly, is there a Zelda game that didn't land for you guys? There is one for me, absolutely.

Like I played like three hours and then I was like, I don't like this game at all. I didn't play- Most of them. Most of them?'t play most of them I loved I love breath of the wild and tears of the kingdom loved them what's the most recent one where you're actually Zelda I didn't know it's the it's the weird top-down it's got the weird art style my wife played it the twilight Twilight Princess no, that's the one I don't like I so for me twilight princess We were very excited for we started playing it and I was like, this is the most dumbed-down game

We couldn't do it We couldn't walk up to like a fallen log on the ground before the stupid annoying little I think it's Navi Is that who it is was like? oh, you can jump over this. Press A to jump. And it was like, I don't know, I don't need you to tell me that I can jump. But it was nonstop. Like even my wife who loves these games

and is not like as experienced of a gamer was like, this is the most annoying thing ever. Do they think we're idiots? And I was just like, I can't do it, man. And I know there's people that love Twilight Princess I'm sorry, but I literally that was my most hated Zelda game ever. Did you play? Did you play Mario Wonder by any chance? Yes, I did Mario. I thought was great Well, it's great

But it had a similar diet the little flower would tell you how to do the most dumb basic things and it's it's interesting Nintendo I think is fantastic Making intuitive easy to approach games. That's honestly like why I really like them. My wife and I can enjoy a lot of the games together, but they have seemed to have been, especially with their major titles, relying on this really weird exposition stuff where it's like, dude, I don't need the, I don't need to know how to jump like everybody who's ever

Seen a controller before knows that and no push the button. Yeah, it's not nobody Nobody listening right now falls into this category, but obviously cuz you're all Professional gamers and amazing and we love you, but maybe there's just a lot of dumb people and they need that This is true, dude. And listen, this is not, but how many companies do we see that dumb their games down for the lowest common denominator? Like legitimately, and I listen, we're not trying to talk bad about it

because that's not what we do, but there have got to be people that struggle a little bit. You know, and it's like, but when you dumb a game down and you try to cater to the lowest common denominator, you have nothing that makes your game special at that point, dude. Like, honestly. I wonder if there's like a liability component to it,

like the warning labels that come on irons that say do not iron your clothes while on your body. You know, like I wonder if somebody like, filed a complaint with- You mean like Tide Pods? Yeah, yeah, exactly. Do not eat. While on your body, you know, like I wonder I wonder if somebody like File the complaint with Nintendo saying like, you know, I didn't know how to jump or whatever and they're like, oh god You know, we got a yeah All right, I'll tell you what I'm not gonna get a switch to at launch I've said before we'll wind up with a switch to at some point So I am very curious to see what happens with Donkey Kong Bonanza, honestly.

That's a morbid curiosity for me. I hope it's great. I just don't know that it's going to be great. All right, Ryan, what's up for you, man? Don't you steal my pick either. I'm probably going to because this is the one. I can be excited. I know you can be excited too.

This is one that we all three, me, you and Paul played a lot of the demo for, and I immediately was like extremely hyped. I was a little bummed that it wasn't any sort of like co-op nature to it, but the alters, dude, I am so excited. I honestly, it kind of skipped my brain for a while, and now that it's been coming back,

and I've talked to a few people on our Discord in the community and I've sent them the demo link the demos back open So if you haven't checked it out, please go try it It is it is honestly like there's a weird just feeling to it that I think they got something cool going on And I'm really really excited to play this game This to me might be my most I'm really really excited to play this game this to me might be my most Anticipated game of the rest of the year with the exception of silk song if we actually get a silk song this year. Yeah This is not my kind of game this this kind of falls up there with like disco Elysium for me Which John kind of has that but I haven't played that yet

But just based on what I'm seeing it kind of looks like it's got that vibe Yeah, where it's like this is not normally my kind of game but man if this I feel like this is just gonna hit it out of the park for me. We have been kind of standing for the alters for ever since we played the demo long ago. They took the demo down to work on the game. The demo is back up. If you have not tried the Altres demo, give it a shot. It is well worth your time to try out. But again, this is this is not a Josh kind of game, man. But this demo blew me away. It instantly put it like I cannot wait to play this game.

They delayed it because I think they got so much positive feedback from the demo that they said, well, we might be onto something here. Let's, let's make sure we knock this out of the park. I have a very high level of confidence that they are going to do just that. Yeah. I mean, I can't wait. John, did you try the demo? Now, can you give me the elevator pitch for it crash land on an alien planet? You are by yourself in this crazy looking, it looks like a gigantic, like 50 story tall wheel that is your base.

And you have got to try to like make it over to an area where you can like get off the planet, but you only have like a couple of days to do that. The only way that you can kind of tackle doing all of the work that you need to do is to create clones of yourself to do this. So that's where the alters, because they're alternate realities of yourself. But the way that the clones work is it takes like your life timeline and all of the branches

where you could have made these different decisions. Like, you know, hey, you chose your career over your wife. And so you wound up getting divorced. And that led you to being like this famous botanist, or you stayed with your wife, you know, you travel down the timeline a little bit. And then it's like, you decide whether you're going to have kids or not. And if you have kids, this makes you an astronaut. And if you don't have kids, you wind up this. And so you you clone these like alternate versions of yourself

to do chores, like to do different tasks in the base. It's it's crazy, though, dude. It sounds I know it sounds weird. No, it sounds novel. Honestly, like anything that sounds sort of like new and out of the box. I'm in for that sounds awesome. And you use like this quantum computer to like set it all up. And then there's an actual like timeline where you see the breaks and you have this web of the different timelines where the different kind of uh you know universe universes like collide and whatnot all of it is so cool and it's almost uh as far as like the look and the aesthetics it's it's similar to like uh gosh i don't know like a death stranding meets like uh survival crafting type thing.

Cause you have to do a lot of like mining and different resource material gathering and stuff. And then you have to like power up things in your bay. It's, it's just, it's, it's got a lot going for it. And, and, uh, I'm really excited to see kind of what it's going to be. Base for it. Base building part is really fun where you kind of create these modules. And so you work on your base and which modules you think will be helpful.

There's the planetary exploration part where you go out and have to gather resources and like explore and stuff, too. So I don't know. This game looks phenomenal. It's coming out June 13th. Got in one month, guys, like, yeah, we are in this. The throws of this two-week release thing man We had expedition 33 and then like two weeks. We've got doom the dark ages and then in two weeks We've got another game

That I'll just bring up right now Elden Ring night rain Comes out May 30th. I Said before that I have some like hesitation about Elden Ring Night Reign. I think this game is going to be a lot of fun. I cannot wait for people that haven't experienced Elden Ring to be able to jump in with the comfort of their friends and that kind of rogue like nature at the same time. Like, yeah, Ryan is the perfect example where we've already said like, Ryan, this

is going to be your foray into the Elden Ring universe and I get hey Maybe this isn't your type of game that you normally would would kind of gravitate towards But you get to play it with us. Yeah, and so Ryan's like I'm in And then like the beauty of that is if this is fun I can't imagine it's not gonna be you know This is going to draw even more people into that Elden Ring and then like, you know, if Ryan likes this game, then he's gonna go,

all right guys, I gotta try Elden Ring now. And then we get the joy of more and more people trying Elden Ring and you know, and something like that. But Elden Ring Night Rain coming out in two weeks is bananas to me, man. John, like for you, you played Elden Ring. You said I beat it. You kind of also said this wasn't necessarily

my favorite game because it's the difficulty level and stuff like that, but you kind of felt compelled to beat it, you know, because your friends were playing and stuff like that. Are you excited at all for Night Reign? I am tentatively excited. Elden Ring I have such a complicated relationship with I I was drew a hat I was compelled to finish it because the world was gorgeous the exploration was

gorgeous the enemy the enemy types are it just stands alone. I mean, the world building in that game is amongst the very, very best. The very, right up there with Expedition 33 for me. But the grind and just the punishing difficulty of Souls-like games is just so hard. I had a love-hate relationship with it. I would have to like take like mental health breaks from that game and like walk away from it if I beat a boss and it take me You know 20 30 tries to beat it I have to walk away from it because I would like I'd feel myself like angry not not like not lot in a productive gamer way

but like actually like I would start like Yeah, start like yelling at my friends and stuff Like I would start like yeah start like yelling at my friends and stuff Yeah, so like I I want to I want to be able to have an adventure through through games that I'm not necessarily Somebody who's in it for the biggest challenge that that's what I have seen but also I don't know if you guys have seen this I saw a goldfish beat millennia I So did you see that so that nobody has an excuse so I saw a goldfish beat Millenia. Yes. I've seen it. So did you see that?

So then nobody has an excuse. So. Yeah, there's people, this is the thing is like, Elden Rain has created so many challenges. Some guy beat it playing like a banana, using a banana as a controller. So crazy. This is all kinds of crazy stuff on it.

I am cautious, as we get closer to Night Rain, I'm getting more and more excited, but I have said, and I'm still on record saying I'm a little worried that this is going to be too dumbed down to make it feel like my absolutely beloved Elden Ring. And that's my fear. But honestly, as long as it's fun and it gets people into that universe, it's a win for me at that point. So, all right, listen, we're going to take a quick break and then we're going to come back and talk about some more games coming out. Hi there. I'm Ryan Reynolds and I have a list of things I like to have on set. It's just

a little things like two freshly cracked eggs scrambled with crispy hash browns, sausage, crumble, and creamy Chipotle sauce from Tim Hortons from my rider to Tim's menu. Try my new scrambled eggs loaded breakfast box. All right, we're back. John, hit us with another one that you're excited about or curious about or want to make sure people remember. Okay, so I'll give you one that is genuine excitement because I played the first one this year

and it was in my backlog forever, but that goes to Yote. So it's in the list. Man, what a fun game that first one was. It was, you know, in my backlog for a shocking amount of time, but the variety of the mechanics, just the same kind of cliche mechanics that are in the game made it so fun.

The world is gorgeous. Picture perfect. A little bit of the facial animations kind of felt dated to me at the time that I played it. And the story was a bit one note. There was definitely like, it was like your sort of run of the mill samurai story, which was a little bothersome, but everything I've seen from part two looks just amazing and

I want to go to Japan again. That's a good one. Yeah, that's, there's, I mean, talk about just a good story and then just amazing gameplay. Like what more do you ask for? You know, it's fun to play no matter what. And then the story is good on top of it. It's just a solid game. I don't have a doubt that they're going gonna double it up and probably make it even better. So I'm super excited for yeah

I generally end up favoring the sequels for this type of game Most games really you know, like what it seems like they use the first one to get the bugs out and then the second ones It's just an absolute crusher. That's my hope as well I mean, it's been five years now and I hope that they kind of went cool. We hit it. We hit on something with ghosts of Tsushima. Now let's refine the formula. Let's perfect it. Let's blow people's minds with ghost of Yote. I'm with you on that one. Absolutely. Ryan, what's one for you, buddy? Oh, okay. Let's see if you can tell the game from this sound bite. Itastes like poison. On my list as well man. Metal Gear Solid Delta Snake Eater

probably critically claimed the best of the Metal Gear Solid series. It is an absolute top tier game however many years ago it came out and the revamp of it, the graphics, everything, the story, the bones are all there already, so all they have to do is kind of refresh it, and I think it's gonna be just amazing this year, so I'm so excited. I am very excited to jump into this, to get this experience. Yes, oh that's right,

you haven't played it. With the franchise, I have not. That's right. Dude, Metal Gear 5, Solid 5 is the only one that I have played since it was just Metal Gear back in the old NES days, man. You're gonna love this one, dude. It's good. I mean, I am getting more excited as like the more I see of the game and stuff, but I wanna know like the story. You know, why is everybody so freaking crazy in this game? Why are these all these crazy characters? Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, I mean, it is, but it's like, there's a part of my brain that is just like, I wanna know, like, I wanna know more. So that comes out August 28th. So, you know, that is a big game in my mind. Like this is a big release coming up. Did they delay this one too? I feel like they did. They did.

I think we picked it last year for some of our- What's the last game that wasn't delayed? I know, right did. They did. I think we picked it last year for some of our... What's the last game that wasn't delayed? I know, right? Yeah. The last non-Nintendo game that wasn't delayed. Yeah. Honestly. Yeah, that one I'm very curious for, Ryan, and I know you're super hyped for that one and it's kind of bled over to me at this point, just because I want to know more about

this franchise at this point. The stealth genre is like one of my absolute favorite genres too, and it's totally underserved I think I can't wait to play this one. I love stealth in a game when it is not Required all the time, you know, like when it's a balance of stealth I freaking love it dude, like oh I love being sneaky and trying to figure out how to get around these guys. When it is a pure stealth game,

where that is like 90% of the gameplay, I just go like, sometimes I just wanna go in and murder people, man. Like an old school thief or something. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, like that, I feel you, man. It can be overdone for me a lot, but there is a fine balance there where if they nail it,

I'm just like, oh, this is so crazy. Real quick, Splinter Cell, yay or nay? Yay. I loved Splinter Cell, yes. real quick splinter cell yay or nay. Yeah, I loved splinter felt so yes Yeah, that's a that's a yay for me. I know that's kind of the exception because I just said well I hate games, but that's all you can do Yeah, but they had the moments where you could pop people and stuff too, and I don't know that was just perfection mm-hmm Alright, I am going to bring up a personal game for me because I did not get to play this game when it released on the PS5 as a PS5 exclusive.

And this game is right up my alley for the type of gameplay that I like. That is Stellar Blade. Stellar Blade Relays released on PlayStation as a PlayStation exclusive. John is greeting at me. John, I wanna play this for the gameplay, John.

Yeah, bro. No judgment at all. 2B was my accountant, bro. Yeah. Yeah. But- No judgment at all. I just think it looks like a great game, man. What's wrong with that? It sure does. And 4K HDR. Yeah, yeah. Come on. Let's go. Like, what's so wrong with that? It sure does. And 4K HDR. Yeah, yeah, come on.

Let's go. Anyway, yeah, anyway. But yes, I don't have a PS5. This is a game where it's like I was very excited about it, but it wasn't a big enough release for me to harass Ryan and be like, Ryan, let me borrow your PS5 for like a week. I would have let you borrow, bud.

I know you would. But yeah, so it is coming out on PC. It's releasing on June 10th on PC. I've been waiting for this game. I have heard nothing but good things from people about it. The gameplay looks fantastic. The game looks fantastic. And I just think this is gonna be a great experience

that I've been kind of jealous that I haven't gotten to have yet. And so for everybody that does not have a PlayStation and loves this kind of game and gameplay, Stellar Blade's coming out soon man. And I am absolutely going to pick this up. I've been waiting for it for a year now. I hope that the PC port is good. This is the one thing that could really sour it for me is sometimes PC ports are

terrible. And then you just go like, come on man. thing that could really sour it for me is sometimes PC ports are terrible and then you just go like come on man so hopefully the port is good but it is coming out very soon and this is absolutely kind of at the top of my my game list to play. I bet. Yeah. I mean the graphics are great man. Yeah I wish I will say I wish you know with speaking of PC ports, I wish I was smart enough to know like why, I mean, the game's developed, the game is designed, what in the transfer of console to PC

is where so many hiccups happen and where you have a compatibility issues? Like I wish I could understand that. Like you see, you would think that they would have the ability to make something that would be streamlined Yeah, I I work with some developers. I don't know anything. I joke that it's like they live in the matrix Yeah, dude, things are not as easy as you know That's all like I'm not smart enough, you know

Sometimes I'm like can't you just do this and they're like they just shake their heads at me and then I'm like, all right I don't know man. I'm like, can't you just do this? And they're like, they just shake their heads at me. And then I'm like, all right, I don't know, man. I'm sorry. So I imagine there is a lot that just even the transfer from like controller to mouse and keyboard, that alone is probably a monumental task. So I hope it's great. I'm getting it regardless. But yeah, Stellar Blade to me is a game

that I think some people have forgotten about because it's been almost a year now Since it released, but it's coming to PC and I am pumped to play that one, dude John what's up next for you, buddy? Well, my next one was actually gonna be Ninja Turtles tactical takedown But that's gonna be a PC release only and I am a console loyalist So I I may have to figure something out for that. So in the spirit of the game that I'm currently playing, which is Doom, the Dark Ages,

arguably one of the most violent games I've played, it is just pure violence. I wanted to follow up with a game that probably, maybe even surpasses Doom in its level of violence. And- Kirby's Island Adventure? Close. Nope. Maybe even surpasses doom in its level of violence and Island adventure close Tales of the Shire This is this is on my like masterless

This is not a game for me But I do think that this is gonna be very interesting for a lot of people and I think my wife's gonna love this Dude, honestly, so like I play a lot of games when I'm walking on my treadmill and you have to kind of be a little selective about the type of games you play if there's like a lot of movement or certainly first person games are really really hard because you lose your balance. So like tactical, tactical RPGs tend to work really well turn based RPGs tend to work really well and cozies tend to work really well.

Lord of the Rings man. I mean like tend to work really well Lord of the Rings, man I mean like I I absolutely love Lord of the Rings. I love everything about it. This looks Cheesy and if somebody walked in on me playing this, you know cozy game set in Middle Earth I would probably be quite embarrassed But but I'm probably gonna be playing I'll probably pick this up the first day You know, I'll be the one guy on the crew If I could live in the Shire, I would do it in a heartbeat

I would do it My wife and I have said, dude, if we could live in a little hobbit house You know, with the big round door We would do that, you know, like both of us. Like I love that just idea and being out in this middle of this beautiful Shire with just happy people all around. Living built into the earth and eating and drinking and dancing and marrying.

That's all they do. They're like the ultimate party animals. That's the life for me, man. Gosh, man, it looks amazing. Just not in a game. The game would bore me to tears. But there's fishing, so. I'll let you know. So you never got into like Animal Planet when

or not Animal Crossing. Cozy games are not my jam. My wife, it's her favorite thing in the world. And I said Kirby's Island Adventure, I mean Hello Kitty's Island Adventure before I get roasted by people. But my wife has been playing Kirby's Hello Kitty. Oh my gosh. You can't get those right.

Hello Kitty's Island Adventure for probably the last month and she loves it, dude. And she loved Animal Crossing as well. It's just I get why people like those. We play games to relax and it's like, dude, sometimes this is the best way to relax is just to have a cozy little hobbit house. Quit trying to say Kirby, dude. I can't. Kirby? Oh, man.

Kirby, cozy, kitty. Kirby, cozy, kitty. There we go. Oh, gosh. Yeah. Oh, man. All right, Ryan, what's up next for you, buddy? So I'm going to go with one that this is a dream. It's. It's a hope something I've been waiting for for a very long time.

Half life three. Oh gosh. Don't even get me started. Uh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna hope we get silk song this year. I'm going to say it. Maybe that's another year to it, but they said we were going to get it. It's announced that we should get it, but I'll believe it when I'm logged in and playing and on the first level and annoyed that I don't have a good map because that's what Metroidvanias do but I'm still

very excited and I want that game so so bad. I'm so surprised that you guys are still so hot on that game man. I mean like the first one was good, but it's like far from us Like the best platformer in my opinion. It's a really good platformer or really good Metroid Vana It's fantastic It's really good, but did you play either of the Ori games? No. No. Yeah, dude. The second Ori game is Just amazing. It's like you have great games like this. Does Ori have combat? Yes.

Like full combat? Great dynamic combat. Yes, absolutely. I might have to try Ori. Dude, Ori, yeah, the first one is really good. The second one is amazing. Will of the Wisps? Yeah.

Yeah. I started to play one, I think, or maybe I played a demo or something, because I do know the game and the little light character that kind of leads you. I just didn't know that they had combat or not. And that's honestly, when people talk about Hollow Knight, that's one of the things I love is Hollow Knight

has some hard combat, man. Yeah. And it's got some hard platforming challenges as well. And I like that level of difficulty. There's also the beauty of Hollow Knight and the music mixed in and stuff. So for me, I, you know, this is one of those things we talked about, you know, some of the most overrated, underrated games out there. I, is it a perfect game? No, but is silk song going to make it like as close to a perfect game as you can get like after what 18 years of

development, you know, maybe it better be, it better be. That's honestly kind of the hope. So yeah, Josh, I would say if you, if you're going to give it or you try and the combat is it the combat and the first one was not great. The combat in part two is spectacular. So if you're going to apply, I don't think you need to like the story for the first one to play the first to appreciate the second. I don't think you need to like this. I was gonna ask you need to play the first to appreciate the second I don't know. I don't think so All right. Well, all right. So Ryan brought up silk song I am going to bring up a game that I have not played a lick of but I have heard Nothing, but good things about from people and I missed the demo when the demo was available

I think they had like a public play test or something like that And this is honestly this might be the first time this game's ever been mentioned on this podcast But the goal is to remind people of games that are coming out and coming up and things like that. I Want to bring up a game called rematch? Have either of you guys heard of this? No, I don't even know what you just see they're both looking at me like I'm crazy So rematch is a 5v5 soccer game. Hmm that is made by the developer that made Sifu. I don't know if you guys know Sifu, but that's a very beloved fighting game.

And I think I can't remember what else they made, but they made something else. You guys know that Rocket League is one of my favorite games of all time. I can't, it's probably my second most played game of all time. all time. I can't, it's probably my second most played game of all time. Rematch is 5v5 soccer, which normally would not interest me in the slightest, but I cannot deny the feedback and the hype that I have seen from people saying this is the best game since Rocket League that they have played, where it is super intuitive. You can just pick it up, get in there with your friends and play soccer. And you know, the controls are amazing.

You can just jump in and have a blast, but the ceiling of this game seems to be like almost infinite kind of like rocket league is I love competitive games and I get tired of shooters after a little while. And so having a game that you can play with your friends that all of rocket league, but with just Amazing that's just pure fun. I have not seen a single person that played rematch that was like it's okay like people are like this is the greatest game since Rocket League that I have seen and The hype levels through the roof for this now. This is all said I have not played this game a lick

None of us have But man sometimes you have to buy into the hype that you see from other gamers And if that level is anything to be believed rematch is gonna be something special, dude Well, just just tell me what the flop button is so I can be a real soccer player. Yeah I am super curious for this game. It comes out June 19th. Apparently it's been in development for a while. This is a well-known developer that makes quality games as well. And so I'm kind of done with Rocket League. You know, I still have it installed.

It lives on my desktop like few games do, but I'm hungry for that next. Like, hey, can we get three people on and let's like, let's play some rematch together and just have a blast, man. I don't play sports games at all. Um, but it is nice to have something similar and rocket league is kind of that weird hybrid II. It's like a sports game, but it's an arcade game, but it's competitive and all that. And it's like, I'm so hungry for something like that again, that I could easily see if this game hits. It's like, it's my new comfort game kind of thing. Nice.

Yeah. I got it. Nah. Yeah. Yeah, we'll, we'll see. I mean, if it's cool and then we get a lot of hype and, uh, it looks like it was on X-Box, so I don't know. It, I think I saw that game pass.

So maybe we can hop in on. Yeah. It's an indie game. I can't imagine it's going to be more than $30 even at launch You know, but I just games that are pure dumb fun. Yeah. Oh for sure are they fill a place? You know and it's like I think this is going to be one of those and I love competition, dude Give me a chance to just be come. Oh, we know I'll jump on it. We know you're shockingly competitive I think everybody out there. yeah, who's listening,

like Josh is like paradoxically like the nicest, most compassionate guy and the most ruthlessly competitive guy I think I've ever met, man. It's like, and it's like a switch to bro. Like you can instantly like dial into that competitive mode when, when I don't know. I am extremely competitive I love competition I love to compete I always want to challenge somebody for something but if I lose I'm like

oh dang man that was fun Josh Josh gets mad dude I don't like losing I do not dude I don't like losing so much that like I don't play basketball because I absolutely suck at basketball and like I will have people like hey we're gonna get some guys to play basketball. You wanna play? And I'm like, nah, I'm good, man. If I can't win, I don't wanna play. Yeah, like honestly, like it's that bad. Like sometimes I'm like,

I hate that I actually suck at something and I just won't do it. Why do you show up to pickleball on Saturdays then? Oh, okay. Okay, okay. Oh. All right, we'll see about that. We'll see.

All right, that was pretty good, dude. Yeah, all right, I know, pat on my back. Alright, who's this? Who's got one? It's John. So my last one, this is honestly just kind of like a comfort game for me. I don't even know that this should be on this list,

but it is getting released. But it's the Gears of War Reloaded, which I see that it's just a remaster of the original Gears of War, but man, I played the poop out of War reloaded. Which I believe it's just a remaster of the original Gears of War, but man, I played the poop out of that game. I absolutely loved it. Chunky, you know, it's probably ringing, you know, pretty strong for me

because I'm playing Doom right now, and there's just something about this chunky, big juggernaut guy running through and chopping people up and stuff. I, it's been a long time since I played a gear game, gears game. I only recently started getting back onto my Xbox playing because of game passing and cloud service,

but I'm eager to get back into that. I loved the first one. I'm eager to get back into it. It's been how long since Gears of War came out. Like if this is anything remotely good of a remaster, I like, I'm in. It's like 20 years, right? Like 19. It's been a long time, dude. Wasn't that X was it 360? Yeah, it was on 360. I remember. I remember. I remember playing Xbox 360 with Gears of War drinking Mountain Dew amp energy drinks and Eating pizza or doing whatever when I was like, you know 17 18 years old way back in the day

2006 that what it was. Okay. Yeah, it's been 19 years So if this remaster is anything halfway decent like we will absolutely be playing some gear support together me dude just the Lancer just like with the chainsaw, and just chopping guys in half. Just that running up to cover, and then your dude slams against the wall. Like you said, that clunky just push. It's been a long time since they put out a title too.

I think the last one was Gears of War 5. Yeah, like 2020 maybe? 2019? I don't even know if I played 5, to be honest. I know I played 4, and then I think I was just like, the formula is starting to feel stale. It's just, yeah, I didn't play four or five. I'm like, eh, I'm just kind of done with these. Ryan, how about one more for you?

And then I do want to kind of quick fire some and we can just say whether we're excited or not, but I think that'd be fun to kind of hit up like a bunch of them real quick too. So what's on your list as far as hype? Another one, I really hope this releases this year. I know we're all kind of high on it. Speaking of dumb fun, Kingmakers. I mean, what I think of is I think of Helldivers, but kind of old kingdom with guns and cars and trucks. And it's just crazy, goofy fun that you're going

to laugh and joke and have a good time. There's not going to be any of the gruff and it's just crazy goofy fun that you're gonna laugh and joke and have a good time. There's not gonna be any of the gruff. It's just, you get on to just laugh and enjoy yourself. So I'm very much excited for that one and it's high on my list. It's high on my list too. I think I'm with you. And we kind of said we thought it was gonna be

like a two week trend of just, you're gonna see every Twitch streamer in the world playing this for a little while. But the more we solve it, the more I'm like, dude, I think there's something behind this game that actually will give it some longevity as well. Yeah. Kingmakers, I think is going to be a blast and I am very excited about that one. All right, let's, let's hit a couple. I'll throw out a name. Tell me if you guys are interested, haven't heard of it, don't care. You know, let's, let's just kind of do it like that.

I'm going to explain this one because I think we covered this once or twice maybe, but it is not prominent. Mind's Eye, this is the futuristic GTA looking game. Yeah, see Ryan's like, wait, I remember this. Yeah, and if you haven't heard of it, that's fine, but this looks like GTA in the future to me. It looks very top notch. I mean mean I've talked to a few people are like dude I cannot wait for this game comes out June 10th June 10th is a banger of a day for real so just a quick fire these we get Mind's Eye we get Dune Awakening which is kind of falling off my radar to be honest I know there's people that are excited for that one and then we get the stellar blade so it's like I was maybe like but maybe Mind's Eye like I don't know the real question is did Mind's Eye take 13 years to develop? Yeah exactly so

I mentioned Dune Awakening any interest from you guys in Dune Awakening it's a MMO. Yeah let's start with Mind's Eye might mine's I I hadn't heard about it, but looking at it looks pretty sick, dude It looks pretty good, dude It legitimately looks like GTA in the future man from the driving to the missions I mean this game looks a pretty incredible in my opinion I'm a little worried because these kinds of games can fall real flat real easy But if man if this game hits it's gonna hit hard, dude. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Dune Awakening, John, any interest from you? Nope. No, I have like a three out of 10 interest right now in Dune Awakening. Arc Raiders, I got to do the play test. It's way better than I thought it was gonna be for the little bit that I got to play. The problem is it came out, the play test came out

right in the middle. Right in the middle of the expedition, three to three. And I'm like, I'm sorry, man. I did hop in for like three rounds. I played maybe an hour. It's pretty high quality, man. It looked good. I was outside grilling and I was watching you because you streamed it on our Discord.

By the way, if you haven't joined our Discord, it's freaking awesome. But anyways, I watched you and it looks amazing. I mean, the graphics look good. It looks fluid, good combat, good movement. And, I watched you and it looks amazing I mean the graphics look good looks fluid good combat good movement and then I watched you get murked and it was pretty sweet Very very polished high quality game. Yeah, three man squad extraction shooter. I could see this being a blast with friends, man Abiotic factor I'm gonna bring this one up because I love the small indies I'll tell you what we have been playing a lot of enshrouded on our server lately as well Abiotic Factor, I'm gonna bring this one up because I love the small indies. I'll tell you what, we have been playing a lot

of Entrouted on our server lately as well, which I think is fantastic. Abiotic Factor in some ways is actually better than Entrouted to me. I played it with Ace, absolutely top-notch survival crafting game. It feels like Half-Life, it's kind of set in the Half-Life universe,

even though I don't think they can say that But it all takes place inside this monstrous science facility I played everything we could possibly do and I remember you guys playing this Yeah, a biotic factor is freaking top-notch and it's supposed to release this summer Ninja Gaiden 4 yeah Do you remember we got the preview look at this? I maybe I can't remember what game show it was, not state of play or something, but oh my goodness, Ninja Gaiden 4 came out of nowhere and we went, whoa.

Yeah, looks good. We're all nodding on that one. I've always loved Ninja Gaiden, so any good Ninja games that have just awesome combat, count me in. Yeah. I didn't realize that. Speaking of Hideo Kojima death stranding to mm-hmm Man have you guys seen that trailer that big long 12 minute trailer or whatever it was I have yeah

I have it dude. It looks Fantastic and I I am actually really hyped for this game, but I feel like I can't I never played the first one I didn't either I have it. I have we got it free off of Epic Game Store It's like a giveaway. It's one of their free games they gave away. So it's sitting in my library on Epic Game Store. I just can't bring myself to play it. I feel like it's, I don't know, man.

But Death Stranding 2 looks incredible. You're afraid of the weird. I am, it's not the weird. I'm afraid of the boring. I'm afraid of the walking, dude. That's the one thing where I'm like, if I get bored. I've never, have you heard anything bad about it

Has anybody said that they didn't like that game that's training? Yeah I've heard a lot of people say it's a very boring walking simulator with like five hours of cutscenes. That's the negative part I have heard other people say dude. This is one of the most unique game experiences I think I've ever had you have to be a certain type of person I think Kojima's games always have crazy long cutscenes and it's very Weird and eccentric and stuff. And so I love I mean, I love all the Metal Gear Solid's are all my favorite So yeah, I'm excited for that And I think he did from what I was reading something the other day that said that he did put a little more combat

Into this one after after the looks like it Yeah, after complaints on the first one. I'm very curious, man. So I'm very curious. I just don't know if you have to play the first one to be able to jump into the second. All right, guys, Tony Hawk, Pro Skater 3 and 4. You, yes. Yes.

Let's go. Comes out in the middle of July 11th. There is really nothing in July. So guess what I'm gonna be doing? Yeah. I'm gonna be doing my kickflip Benihana Christ-Eyes man. That is like the tub of popcorn and candy of video games man where you're just like oh bro we're about to have some fun right now. Yeah you ever

had a bad time playing Tony Hawk? No! Everybody plays them. Yeah fantastic, man. Borderlands 4. We'll see. Wah. See? I'm pretty excited about it. I'm with you, John. Honestly, I feel like I've been a little negative, but it's more just please give me something new and different.

But dude, Borderlands with friends is an absolute blast. There's no world where we don't hop into Borderlands 4 together and play some Borderlands 4. And have fun too, like, you know. Yeah, that seems like a really fun community night type game for us. And I will say shout out to, I believe, Mobox from our Discord went to PAX East and actually said that it's quite a bit more evolved than we were giving it credit for when we were

talking about it earlier and I trust his opinion. Oh for sure. Yeah, I'm pretty stoked for it. Yeah. All right, last one guys, Marathon. Wah wah. I think it looks cool, man. I don't like the Extraction shooter concepts, but if I did I would be really psyched for it. I just I have not had faith in

Bungee for maybe four or five years from the direction. They've taken destiny And it seems like they've almost washed their hands of it and they're like, well, let's try this and This crazy extraction shooter idea that they've had from that. I Mean, I hope so. I hope it's awesome. I hope it's amazing I hope we really enjoy it because I hope every game is great because then I'm gonna want to play it and have fun So I'm just I'm very pessimistic very reserved on what they're gonna do with this game. I I'm with Ryan on this one. I I don't like extraction shooters for the most part. I did just get done saying Ark Raiders looks fun.

So I figure that one out. Marathon is the kind of game where it's not really my genre. The only way I really see myself getting excited about Marathon is if people start just singing its praises left and right, dude. It's kind of like Expedition 33 with Ryan, right? Like, he knew right away. He's like,

guys, turn-based combat, not my thing. The hype behind this game, I can't deny it. Played it, went, look, I can see how glorious it is, but it just doesn't resonate with me on a certain level. And I feel like that's Marathon, but I don't think Marathon's going to get near the hype Expedition 33 got. No, no. I think this is gonna be a game that a lot of people enjoy, but is not going to be the

scale that Bungie is hoping for with this game. And the only way I really see myself getting excited about it is if people just go, dude, this is the greatest thing I have played in a really long time. And the previews that people got to play and the streamers that got to play it and all that, I have not heard that. I've heard it's pretty good, but it's pretty good for a bungee game is not that a well people are looking for, man. So yeah.

Any others that I didn't bring up that you, that you guys kind of had as a quick fire or just should be mentioned real fast? Um, not that I can think of. Splig A2. Splig A2 is on my list. Metroid Prime 4 Beyond for people, you know, I don't know. I love Metroid, but this one's not doing it for me. I think I'm just getting old and grumpy, man.

I don't know what's going on. You don't say. Yeah. Ryan, one that I know you enjoyed and I am very curious about. Deep Rock Galactic Surveys. I was just looking what's going on. You don't say. Yeah. Ryan, one that I know you enjoyed, and I am very curious about, Deep Rock Galactic Survivor. I was just looking at that, yeah. Full release. Yep, which I played that on my laptop on traveling.

And I was like, this is the awesomest game to just play when you're chilling somewhere. It's almost a cozy game, but not, because it's that survival type vampire whatever. It's a comfortable, easy game. Comfortable, yeah. You know? Well, I wouldn't say, because some of the levels were pretty tough.

It's actually hard. It's easy to play, I guess. Easy to hop in. Easy to just jump into and start around. Yeah, you may not get far, but it's easy to just play the game. All right, I was going to end it, but let's just do it, because there's only three more. Mafia of the Old Country, if you ever wanted to play GTA, but be mafia, that game looks pretty darn good, honestly.

That comes out August 8th, Crimson Desert. This game looks crazy. It looked like it was going to be like a, like a. An RPG like MMO. And then it got kind of converted into a single player game, but it looks very over the top. That one's semi interesting to me. And then Kronos, the new Dawn we saw some trailers for and talked about a month or two

ago. That one looks kind of interesting. It had the guy that looked like the big daddy with the giant circle head thing. I don't know what to expect on that one. I'm very mid on it so far until we see more. So, uh, and then killing floor three is the last one. That's kind of a niche game, but legendary Jake, first person ever go legendary made us play killing floor two as his pick. And so those are fun. That's a, just a kind of mindless co-op shooter, horror defense kind of thing too. So

sweet. All right guys, we got a lot to look forward to still me remember we're like oh there's some games this year it'll be pretty good you know it's it's crazy every year this happens okay pick one game at the top the very very tippy top of your list you can only pick one I'm gonna go solid that'd be mine too it's so tempting to say tales of the Shire, but it's probably a metal gear for me too. This is crazy and maybe it's just cause it's coming up soon, but I'm picking the alters boys. That's close man. That's a, I'm really excited. And, uh, yeah, I think anyone, if you haven't checked it out, please go try the demo. It's, it's

pretty sick. A million people that love Hollow Knight and are thinking Silksong's going to be the greatest game ever just got very mad for not saying Silksong. But I don't know, man. I'm more hyped for the alters for some reason. Too little, too late, Silksong. Oh, I don't know about that, buddy. You had me and you lost me. All right. Listen, hey, thanks for hanging out with us, everybody. We absolutely just love talking games. We hope we reminded you of some games that are coming up.

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