Video Gamers Podcast - The GOTY Debate: Who Earned It… and Who Got Robbed - Gaming Podcast

Episode Date: December 1, 2025

Gaming hosts Josh, Ryan and Ace are breaking down the biggest Game of the Year snubs and dubs in one of the most heated debates the gaming world sees every year. Which fan-favorites were unfairly left off the list, which surprise contenders actually earned their spot, and which so-called masterpieces weren’t nearly as flawless as the hype suggested? We’re taking a deep dive into how these decisions shape the future of video games, what the industry got right, and where the selection panel completely missed the mark. From overlooked indies to blockbuster giants, this episode covers it all—plus how this year’s picks reflect major shifts happening across the gaming landscape. If you love video games and live for the annual award-season chaos, this is one can’t-miss discussion from the Video Gamers Podcast!   Thanks to our MYTHIC Supporters: Redletter, Disratory, Ol’ Jake, Gaius, Jigglepuf, Phelps and NorwegianGreaser   Thanks to our Legendary Supporters: HypnoticPyro, PeopleWonder and Bobby S.   Connect with the show: Support us on Patreon: ⁠patreon.com/videogamerspod⁠ Join our Gaming Community: https://discord.gg/vgp 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

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until your flight is over. Fly Emirates, fly better. Hello, fellow gamers, and welcome to the video gamers podcast. The Game of the Year nominees have been made official, and while we'll be having our own Game Award show later this year, we wanted to talk about the official nominees, what got snubbed, and what our predictions are for the Game Awards. There's sure to be some disagreements, some hot takes, and more.

But first, some introductions are in order. I am your host, Josh, and joining me, he's not been paid to nominate Art Raiders in every category, but I'd be shocked if he doesn't do it anyway. It's Ryan. I want to say the professionalism of Josh right now, because I accidentally kicked my cord that knocked my camera off, and Josh just kept rolling with it, so I'm proud of him. And that's all. I'm used to you guys doing dumb stuff at this point.

Man, I was like, I'm just used to it. He's his face was just like, whoa. I had to mute. I had to mute. I was tired. I'm here, baby. I'm back. I'm back.

That was wild. We use our phones to record, and my phone just launched across my desk. But we're here. We're professionals. Let's go. On to the next one. All right. Well, okay, so that was Ryan's intro there, totally wasted since he kicked his camera there.

Thanks, all that thought that I put into your intro, Ryan, just all for nothing. It's cool, man. All right. And joining us, he doesn't care about anything other than the fact it's the year of the indie, but just because he's got to be weird, Expedition 33 isn't his favorite. And I don't think I like it much. It's ace. Oh, I see how it is. It is the year of the indie.

You can blame Ryan for ruining the intro's ace, okay? I'm sorry. I was really excited for these intros, and then Ryan just took all the wind out of the sails. All right, all right. Everyone take it from the top. Float, you know. Everyone reset. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, we're not resetting.

It is the year of the Indies, though. You got to admit. It is, it is year of the end. How does it make you feel, Ace, as the indie? Because, look, we joke, we pick on you about you only like Indies until they make it like mainstream, and then you're like, yeah, I'm not playing this anymore. Indies are getting two mainstream now. And famously, you have not beaten Expedition 33, which is the greatest indie to hit the world in like a decade. A decade.

And I'm not trying to call you out, Ace, but the fact that you didn't want to play the best indie game ever made, you know, says something about you, I guess. Yeah, you're absolutely calling out. There's like a third time in two weeks. Oh, is it? Yeah, it is. Maybe you should play Expedition 33, Ace. Oh, maybe now that I'm done with control, I will. I'll blame in the listeners

That's a really good tactic too These listeners keep making me play games I will say though Seeing all these Indies in the game of the year position It makes me feel like a proud papa It's good to see my children rise It's pretty amazing dude Honestly it's pretty amazing when indie developers

Are completely outshining the AAA developers And just blowing them out of the water Yeah absolutely With a tenth of the budget And better games than we've seen in a really, really long time. You know, this is, it's the year of the indie, man. Yeah.

It is. It's weird. It's almost like, it's like private business versus like government stuff, like, where you see like the U.S. Postal Service versus like FedEx. It's like these guys, they're doing it for a reason. And the AAAs are just doing it because they're just doing it, you know? So there's not that passion, that drive, you know, that the Indies have. So there's, you can tell the difference.

So it is, it is really cool to see that. And you know what? we all reap the benefits so that's a good thing oh yeah yeah all right so here's what we're gonna do on this episode everybody we are going with the game awards that is the premier this is you know how do you get to be the premier like award show do you just got to spend the most money you probably spend the most like world premieres like if you have more trailers for games coming out is that what sets you like can we make a game awards and then be like yeah we're the best game We don't own the Twitter handle, unfortunately.

We'll put Ryan in a tux and he can introduce the games, you know. I'll wear the white wig that I had, the curly judge wig. Oh, yeah, yeah, you got the judges wig. I'll go to the judges wig. I'll wear that. Yeah. The Josh Beard. It'll be, it'll be perfect.

nominations for a game of the year are graders. Is it? Ryan's like, I'm in. I'm in. This is the best awards show ever. It does make me wonder, because I'm going to start off. this episode by trolling the Golden Joystick Awards. Okay, their award show came out and my goodness, I'm just, I think I might hate the

Golden Joystick Awards, guys, I think I might hate their tanks. I think I might hate them just in general, you know, the people behind these picks and awards or whoever, because didn't they also snub, was it the Golden Joystack? Awards that didn't even nominate like Expedition 33 for something for audio design? No, that was the Grammys. No, that was the Grammys, but there was something about the Golden Joystick Awards. I remember seeing some

article where I was like, what are they doing? Yeah, they have best audio design is Ghost of Yote. Well, that's probably, I've heard a lot of people say that they think that needs to be up there, but I don't know. I didn't play Ghost of Yote. Yeah, I wouldn't know because you wouldn't lend me your PS5, Ryan. You could have only bought one like the last five. years like oh it's almost it's it's it's at the end of its cycle i'm not going to buy one like four

years ago it is at the end of its cycle it'll be on pc next year so all right so anyway the game awards at least they have decent nominees and while we don't have the winners yet what we wanted to do is we wanted to talk about the nominees talk about our predictions for who we think will win um whether any games were snubbed which i absolutely do think some games were snubbed in some of these categories. So we're going to just kind of go through the list. Now, we did, there's like 20 categories, people. And, and, you know, as much as we would like to break them all down, we could care less

about content creator of the year since we weren't nominated for that, not that we're bitter or anything like that, you know, because they never think about podcast people. It's always Twitch streamers, you know, but anyway, we're not covering every category. We're only covering the ones that we want to talk about because it's our podcast. podcast. So, okay, let's, let's, we're just going to start at the top, guys. Game of the year. Okay. Here's the nominees for Game of the Year. Expedition 33, Death Stranding 2, Donkey Kong Bonanza, Hades 2, Hollow Night Silk Song, and Kingdom Come Deliverance 2. One of these games is not like the others, guys. Can you, do you know why? What is, can you, there's, what

game that is different than all the other games on this list. Oh, yeah. Wow. It's on the tip of my time. Is it freaking Donkey Kong? Because it does not belong here. Well, no. That's not what I'm going for because Donkey Kong is technically part of a franchise and a sequel to other games.

Is it? Oh, okay. None of these games are unique except for Expedition 33. I see. They are all sequels. They're all sequels. Death straining two. Yep.

Silk Song is the successor to Hollow Night, Kingdom Come Deliverance to, Hades 2, and Donkey Kong Bonanza, which is part of the Donkey Kong franchise. I do have to say, you saying that Hades 2 is not unique, does make me want to chop you in the throat, but, uh, it is not unique, ain't just a little bit. It is not unique. And also I know how to block a throat chop, okay? I've taken martial arts. Hades 2 is very, very much Hades 1 perfected. It's not unique. I see.

Hmm. Yeah. Oh, come on, Ace. What kind of argument you got for that? Don't even. Yeah, you got a counter point? Go get them with the counter. I'm not slander in Hades too.

I'll be the impartial judge. I'm a counter. How is Hades 2 not unique? You know, we have literally Hades one, but just with other stuff. Like, it's a sequel. It's in the title, Ace. It's a sequel doesn't make it unique, not unique. It's Hades, too.

It's got a different story It's not returned to Hades It's got different stories It's got different characters It's got different environments And worlds and weapons That's unique So what would you do in Hades 1

You go You escape from Hades You work your way up through the layers of Hades to the surface Okay what are you doing Hades too? So like you do in Hades 2 No, in Hades 2 You work your way up from the surface

Down into Hades Oh It's inverted We're going down this time or interesting or you work your way

from the surface to Mount Olympus all right oh man I say it's not good A's yeah Hades too is incredible

Shogger people yeah shogger nominated so before we get to what your pick is do you think any games were snubbed

from this category Ryan this is where you can bring up our graders for a game of the year for game of the year Yeah yeah Do you do

Let's just for the record Do you think Arc Raiders Should have been nominated For game of the year Ryan Yes 1,000% I think Dispatch

I don't I don't actually agree with you Ryan Really? I really as much as I love Ark Raiders I don't think it should be Game of the Year nominee And why is that? Honeymoon phase is over I

I really really really enjoy it I think it should be nominated for some of these other categories but I don't know if it's the game of the year. Well, but, but, but I mean, why? Like, why would, why would that not qualify? I mean, it set all those records. I mean, why would any game not qualify?

Well, okay, well, not all of those games set, uh, best multiplayer the last 10 years, uh, best highest rated game of the year tied with Hades 2. They, they didn't sell millions and millions of copies within the first two, three weeks. Like, what, what, what parameters are you using to? Call of Duty sold millions of copies. and it's quite possibly the worst Call of Duty that we've seen. What's Call of Duty's rating?

I mean, it's not good. Are we going by critic rating? It's not good. Because the critic rating for Arc Raiders is pretty bad. I mean, it wasn't it Eurogamer

they gave it two out of five stars? That's because they used AI. That's because they used AI for the voices. Right? Didn't I. Gend give it a three out of five? Like, how do you people even play game?

Now, Ryan, before the internet inveterates me, I freaking love Arc Raiders. I'm just saying I don't know that it should be actually like in the game. move the year category. Unreal. It changed the internet.

It took over the internet. How can you say that it's not qualified? Did Hell Divers 2 get a game of the year nomination? I don't remember. Honestly. No, we got a multiplayer game. Multiplayer game. Multiplayer games, no.

I mean, yeah. We all know multiplayer games don't get nominated. Which is dumb. It's ridiculous. I do think that's dumb. Honestly, and I, we, this whole debate was on our Discord server where people were like, look, if a game is dependent on your interactions with other people, then it shouldn't be considered for game of the year because everybody's interactions are different and you can't kind of quantify

that and stuff like that. I kind of get some of those arguments. But the fact that we just instantly dis multiplayer games, which are some of the most fun games in existence, and they are on an uphill battle for Game of the Year is kind of do-do, in my opinion as well. So, yeah, it's a little unfair to that. Also, it's a little unfair to that. could be that I'm 80 plus hours into Ark Raiders and my ADHD gamer brain is actually starting to look for other games at this point. I will

say it might be a Josh thing. It might be a me thing but also I think the honeymoon is over for me. That's the biggest reason why it should be nominated. You made it 80 hours into a game. Like that is that is the ultimate like

that's all right. Arc Raiders for game in the year people. There you go. Yeah. Yeah. I was I was waiting every time I'm like, oh, yeah, Josh's going to be done. He's going to just say, oh, I'm off to something else. And you just kept, you kept hopping in with me, man. I loved it. 100%.

If you're hopping on or somebody is hopping on, I will absolutely hop into Arc Raiders. I can tell you're done, though. We had so much fun the other night, play with Rigo. Oh, yeah. Shout out to Rigo. You're our boy. But, I mean, we had an absolute blast playing. It's more just that, like, I don't have that feeling of, like, I can't wait to get home from work to play Arc Raiders now.

like that honeymoon period is over. Yeah. If nobody is online playing, like I don't have the desire to do solo runs and stuff. Like that part for me, I think is over. But oh my goodness,

if somebody is like, like if you text me and Josh, I'm hopping on to Ark Raiders you want to join me, I will, I will a thousand percent be like, heck yeah, dude, let's go. Yeah.

But the magic is waning a little bit. That's impressive. I did not expect you to last this long. But also I got 80 hours, 80 hours out of this $40 game too at the same time. So, I'm not complaining at all. All right.

So Game of the Year snubs, Ryan, Ark Raiders, Ace, is there any for you? Honestly, Silk Song is not the best Metroidvania we've had this year. I think Ender Magdaleney deserves that slot, quite frankly. I, guys, I think, and I, Ace is probably going to clip this and I'm going to get wrecked on the internet. I do not, I am not sure that Silk Song belongs here, man. like silk song i think 100% the hype for silk song is what has silk song in this category a lot a lot of people that we know a lot of people in our community had the same take that we had that said guys this game is not as fun as i thought it was going to be it's artificially

frustrating it's a beautiful world i get it it's again it's kind of like you know what is it Casablanca is one of the highest rate of movies of all time. But I don't want to watch Casablanca, man. You know, like I have zero interest in that. Like, can I look at it and go, oh, sure, I see why people regard it that way. But like, I know some people love Silk Song, but I think the bigger impression was this was not the, what we were hoping for for the sequel to Hollow Night. And we're not alone in that, dude.

We are not like on some island there. So that's one where it's tough because it's like, do you look at it and go? it deserves to be here, but at the same time, it's taking the place of, like, a game, I hear way more positive things about Ghost of Yote. Yeah. Yeah. Honestly. I can't speak to Ghost of Yote, because

Ryan's a big, dumb, stingy doodoo head won't lend me his PlayStation 5. I'm playing it. I'm playing Ghost of Yote. Okay. You know, excuses aside, Ryan. Like, most people have been like, yo, Ghost of Yote was mind-blowingly good. I would have, uh, so it's like, I would have rather seen Night Rain here instead of Hollow Night Soxong.

because at least I enjoyed my time game ace we don't get multiplayer game yeah exactly that's why that's the exact reason why that's the tough one for me donkey Kong bonanza we kind of question but our community and we love our community and this is why we love differences of opinions when we said that a lot of people came out and said guys donkey Kong bonanza is absolutely fantastic you haven't played it so you can't speak about it and we kind of went that is a very fair point i don't hear the same thing about silk song plain and simple like i know that there are people that absolutely love Silk Song, but I do not hear that same passion for Silk Song that I hear for Ghost of Yote and I hear for, you know, Donkey Kong Bonanza or even Death Stranding, too. I hear

so much good stuff about Death Stranding, too. Yeah. Yeah. Well, the thing is, like, anyone that talks about Donkey Kong are Nintendo people. And so then at that point, it's like, how much weight do you really have if you're just going to constantly, like, support Nintendo? You're Nintendo guy. Like, that's cool. Like, no, no harm, no, foul, but, uh, yeah, like, it's, it's, you have to have at some point some evaluation on what you play and what is out there. And, and just because it's with the system you like and, and you're a Nintendo person, like, it doesn't mean that it's the best thing of the year. I also, it, like, here's the other thing. People talk about FOMO, right? I don't have a Switch

two. I don't plan on buying a Switch to until they, they have more, absolutely must play games, you know? You got to play Donkey Kong Bonanza, man. I haven't played Donkey Kong. Bonanza. I have not played Ghost of Yote. And it's like, here's two. I was going to play Destraining too. I played Destraining in preparation for it and they got sidetracked. So it's like there's three games out of this list that I have zero experience with. But also it's like, I've been gaming long enough to know that I don't think that that would change my opinion on the game of the year either. Like Ghost of Yote, I know I would freaking love. I know I would love Ghost of Yote. Do I think I would love it more than Expedition 33? I can't. And

imagine a world where that exists. You wouldn't. So the other snubs, I have seen people say split fiction, deserve to be in the game of the year category. And believe it or not, I have seen a lot of people say, well, what about the altars? You know, when the altars was coming out and initially came out, a lot of people went, this game is incredible.

I didn't find it to be so incredible. It was kind of disappointing to me. But a lot of people came out and said, this is my game of the year. And I kind of went, wow. like okay so I can't think of any other games that were snub for the game of the year category you guys got anything else besides arc raiders I can't think of a single thing that's triple a I'll be real no no no yeah no I think those I mean like like I said our arc raters I think

I had a lot better experience with altars than you did um I thought it was really really good uh I enjoyed the management and all that stuff but yeah I just I just don't understand a few of these picks but you know what it's not my job i guess all right prediction not your personal because we'll do that in our own game of the year episode that we're going to have but your prediction for what will win game of the year oh it's going to be expedition 33 i i don't think any of us deny that despite having our own horses in the race i don't think any of us deny that expedition 33 is going to sweep i think it'll i think it's going to win it's going to win a lot of stuff it's going to win a lot it's going to win a lot of stuff uh rightfully so in my opinion

All right, guys, we've got to take a quick break and then we're going to get through some of the... And we'll go a little bit faster since it's not the game of the year category. I know that's kind of the big one. So we'll be back after a word from our sponsor. This Giving Tuesday, Cam H is counting on your support. Together, we can forge a better path for mental health

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year of the indies we said it already um any snubs ace for the best indie category. I mean, these are the big indies. Like, I have to say, these are what really is what everyone played when it comes to indies this year. But I know a lot of people think blueprints get snubbed in a lot of places,

so I guess they were probably happy to see it here. I'm actually surprised to see Ballex Pit here. I don't know. I was too. Honestly, that kind of caught me off guard. I would say the biggest snub is dispatch. Dispatch is not here. Yep. Yep. Uh-huh.

And it deserves to be here. Dispatch does get mentioned in the best debut indie spoiler for people. So it's like, but man, having played dispatch, having covered it, how is that not in the best indie category? Dispatch is incredible. Dude, all three of us unanimously rated dispatch a 9-5. Yeah. Like, how is that not in the best indie category? You know, I feel like they didn't want to cram it in there because it was a maybe it was a late arrival.

that's what I'd heard is it was a late arrival and they didn't have that's that doesn't matter like if it's if it's good enough put it in like what is what is the the timeline like there is an inherent and I'm not saying I agree with it at all yeah no I get it inherent you are up against the fence if your game releases too late too close to the game of the year awards because you don't reach as many people you don't get that hype that takes off like it's like a it's like a it's like a train right it takes a little while to get moving yeah and so if you haven't had the chance for it to really get chugging along then they kind of go, eh, we're not going to risk it, right? Like, you know, we don't want to, we don't want to nominate a game that was a fad for a little while and then have that wind up being just a fad kind of thing. So you are, you are at a disadvantage if you release your game too late in the year for the game of the game awards. So, um, I think dispatch absolutely belongs in the best indie category. Um, I have not played Absalom, although I was going to say this. I have almost bought that game like three times now, because I'm kind of. craving it. So if either one of you were like,

hey, Josh, let's play Absalom. I would, I would jump in in a heartbeat, by the way. I'm just saying either one of you. Josh is looking for another game so bad. He's right. You're looking for a new game. Either one of you want to play Absalom, just want you know. I would probably legitimately in my case, I think I would replace Ball X Pitt with Dispatch.

Yeah, I would see that. Yeah, I could see that. I played the demo for Ball X Pitt. Really good game. No, no shade to Ball X Pitt, but Dispatch needs to be in this category. So that's the snub to me. The only other one I saw in this one was the Alters once again because it was an indie studio. And they said, hey, shouldn't that be up there for Best Indy? But apparently not.

All right. Best debut. Oh, who do you think is going to win the category? Oh. Best indie game. I really want to see Hades to take this one, but I have a fear that it will be Expedition 33 again. This is the tough part where it goes, do we throw the bone to these other incredible games? Or do we just say, hey, this is Expedition 33's year and it's going to sweep everything, you know?

That's the thing. That one's tough for me. I will also say the other kind of snub, I would say. I'm surprised Peak wasn't in there. Oh, get out of here, Ace. Just based on popularity. Based on popularity. I love to peak, but now.

Why soil this category, Ace? So it makes it easier for mine to win. That's why. That's dumb game to release and get popular for. some stupid reason. Listen, you can't climb. It's okay, dude. It's all right.

You can't climb. It's fine. I'm going to call it and say, I think they will give Hades 2 a bone. And I'm going to say that they're going to give best indie to 80s 2. They're going to give Game to Expedition 33. You don't think they'll give it to Silk Song. Instead.

God, I hope not. I hope not. Listen, listen. Hades 2, Silk Song. Two of the biggest indie games ever to release, they are oceans apart, oceans apart in my mind for what makes a fun game and a game that deserves to win the best indie category. Like, I'm sorry, I'm not trying to slander Silk Song, but I am, bro, the gap between Hades 2 and Silk Song is massive to me, dude. Massive. I agree. 80s 2 all day, every day.

I'm sorry, Silk Song. Don't be sorry. Don't be sorry. But it would not hurt my feelings if Silk Song didn't get an award. A single award. They shouldn't. And I'm not, again, I love Team Cherry. I'm not trying to, like, slain or Team Cherry.

I'm just saying this game, there was too many dumb decisions made for Silk Song, dude. Like, and I'm not trying to take away what they crafted and what they created, but too many dumb decisions were made with it. I don't think it deserves to be up there against like Hades 2 and dispatch. It was a lot of artificial, uh, uh, difficulty to, uh, replace lack of innovation. That's what, yeah, that's what song was. Yeah, that's good. Okay. All right, let's move on.

Best debut ending, um, Blueprints, Expedition 33. I'll be honest. I've never even heard of this game. I had to check it because I thought they just glitched out despelote. Despelote. Despelote. Despolote. Despolote.

Desolote and dispatch. I'll be honest. debut indie. Megabonk was nominated for people that weren't aware. Megabonk took over the internet was nominated. The guy came out and said, I am not a debut indie. I've actually crafted other indie games under different studios.

So I'm withdrawing from this category. Cudos to you for being honest and real. Good honesty there. They didn't replace it with anything. They just said it's a four-game category at this point. That's interesting. I am giving best debut indie to Expedition 33, hands down.

I would give it to Expedition 33, even though I'd love for dispatch to take it just because it didn't get its own, any other category, not a single other category. Ryan, you're shaking your head. Why? Why? Because I don't think, I don't think Expedition 33 is a debut indie. Like, uh, uh, what do you mean? They've, well, they've, they've, they've come out with a lot of stuff before.

Like, when you look at it. When, when, hold on, I was, I was reading some stuff that they've, they've, they've, farmed out a lot of other. things to a lot of other people and there's a lot of things there yeah that's that's the whole this this game was made by a team of 30 people which i've heard it wasn't like they actually hired audio people and they hired motion capture people and they hired this and that debut indie simply means it's the first yeah it's the first thing you put out from the studio studio yeah of the studio yes so it's like hey we formed a studio we made this game this is our debut game this is our first release as this

studio. So in my opinion, I mean, Sanfall just takes the cake on this one, dude. Like, ad hoc did great with dispatch. I'm not, nothing against them. And the solo developer for Blueprints, kudos to that guy as well. I just think Expedition 33 as a debut game is, there's not been many games that have shook the world like Expedition 33 did as their first game release. Yeah, and I know people get tired of us glazing Expedition 33, even on our, our tickety talks. They get mad about it so just to our game of the year words people yeah don't worry we got to speed up a little bit here because best audio design best audio design i love this category um i've been touting audio design for a while battlefield six absolutely belongs there in my opinion yeah expedition 33 once again

death straining two ghost of yote and silent hill f as the nominees for best audio design Ryan, this is where I am with you 1,000% Arc Raiders not getting nominated for Best Audio Design is an absolute travesty, dude. So bad. Arc, I cannot tell you how many listeners

that we have played with that when we are in a game go, bro, the audio in this game is incredible. And we just go like, I know. I know. I know. It's so scary. Remember, remember Astrobot? And we're just like, man, there's just something different. Like, you can hear all the noises and the noises make you feel something. That's what it did.

That's what Arc Raiders did is you would hear the bastions or you would hear, you know, the bombardiers or anything. Like, you would hear somebody opening a chest in a building. Like, and it would be a little bit muted, but you could tell what it was. And so then it, there's so much depth to this audio that they created. And it's, it's a shame and a travest. if you will, that it's not even nominated. It may not win if it was, but like it should have at least been nominated.

It should have. This is the, this might be the biggest snub of the entire game awards, in my opinion. Yeah. Arc Raiders, as much as we glaze it, I know the audio design in that game is second to none, dude. I don't know how you didn't nominate it

for best audio design. Like, plain and simple. I was kind of surprised Kingdom Come didn't get a nomination there because I've heard the audio in that game. That game has really, good audio. Yes. That's a good one. It has really, really, that one's tough. I haven't played Silent Hill F and I haven't played Ghost of Yote, so I don't have that comparison. But if you're telling me those are actually better than Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, that's impressive. Because KCDs 2 audio was incredible. The voice acting, there's a bunch of people that are super upset that the voice actor for Henry wasn't nominated in that category as well, which we're not covering today. But people were like, bro, how did you leave him out? The only real snub here, in my opinion, is Arc Raiders. Just because I could care less, I'm going to replace Silent Hill F with that.

I just don't have a lot of interest in Silent Hill F. Battlefield was really good, though. Battlefield does have really good sound design. It was awesome. I could see it actually winning. I could see it winning. It was my vote from what was there because, like, it was one of those games where you, you know, when you got your good headphones in, if you got a good pair, like you felt you were in a war. You would hear, ding. Oh, the side of a sniper shot.

explosions and the buildings falling like the chatter the chat yeah talk yeah yeah it was it was they did a very very very good job with the audio on that game um so i i'm talking soundtrack expedition 33 hands down but if we're talking audio design that that's a difference so before again people get mad at us i view that as a different thing if you're talking about the soundtrack for a game versus the audio design of a game battlefield six is audio design is but the perry sound in expedition 33 oh that was so good too from that one button you use the whole game who do you guys think's gonna win audio design i'm gonna see probably ghost of yote since it didn't really get nominated for any of the other big ones and i've heard i've heard a lot about how good the audio is i would say ghost of yote or battlefield

yeah i'm gonna i'm gonna just on a gut punch with zero knowledge of this i'm gonna say i think they give this to destrian i knew he was going to do that i knew it i think i don't know why the voice acting the audio it's hideo kajima you know they're going to give them some kind of bone there uh so i'm just going to say destraining two for best audio design all right we're going to get into some of our favorite categories of games here we got to go quick boys best action game the nominees battlefield six doom the dark ages haides two ninja guidance four and shinobi art of vengeance um i think hades two hades two going to win this is i think hayd I think Hades stands down.

This is Hades 2's category. I am glad to see Doom the Dark Ages get some kind of nomination because that game was really, really good, in my opinion. All the modern Dune games are phenomenal, man. But I think Hades 2 might take Best Action Game. All right. Best Action Adventure nominees Destraining 2, Ghost of Yote, Indiana Jones in the Great Circle, which I still need to play, by the way. I've heard so many people. It's really good, dude.

Talk about that game, dude. It's like playing a movie. yeah hollow night silk song and split fiction finally boys here's where split fiction is didn't indiana jones come out last year no i don't think so i don't think so thought it did i'll let you i'll let you look that up to verify that ace um i man this one's tough i think is this where it goes to is this where ghost of yote gets the the nod or Death Stranding, too.

I feel like this is the category where they're going to throw the bone to one of these other games. Ace is right. It was December 9th of last year. What? Why is it? Oh, but because it's December, that's past the game of the year. That's past the cutoff though, is why. So they're going to roll that into this year. Oh, fair enough.

Yeah, yeah, it was December 9th. Yeah, so that's very, at the varying. I have a feeling that it's going to be Death Stranding. This might be where Silk Song, if they feel like, hey, guys, Silk Song's getting snubbed and we can't have that happen. This could also be the category that's I could see Silk Song or Split Fiction taking this one, honestly. Yeah.

All right. Best RPG, guys. Kingdom Come. It hurts me to read this first nominee. Avald. How did that get here? How did that get a VALD? How did that get here?

What world are we nominating a VALD for best RPG of the year? There were more RPGs this year, people. And look, avowed ain't it. I'm sorry, it ain't it. So Avowed, Expedition 33, Kingdom Come deliverance to Monster Hunter. Wilds and the Outer Worlds, too, which is another late entry for this year. It's between E33 and Kingdomcom, if you ask me, because Wilds has plummeted. This might be where Kingdom Come gets its award, too.

If they're spreading it around, if Expedition doesn't just sweep everything. That's what I'm going to see. I think they're going to say, let's recognize some of these other games. And I think this is where Kingdom Come deliverance, too, is going to get its award on. I agree, but avowed should not be there. No, avowed should not even gross. Get out of here.

All right. And then best multiplayer, here we go, boys. This is where Ark Raiders gets nominated. Battlefield 6, Eldon Ring, Night Rain. This is the first time we've seen Night Ring on any of these lists. Say it. Say it. Say it.

Meek. Meek. Meek. Meek. peak that's just how you climbed was me what are we doing guys you were a meat climber

peak in the best multiplayer you can say what you want man but it was good army there yet is better than peak okay and I watched I watched 15 minutes of that and that's way better than peak was why are we not giving the nod to RV there

yet I'm going to laugh any friend slob game any friends flop being qualified if peak wins I'm going to laugh so hard dude no you know why because ryan will lose his crap if peak wins over arc raiders that is true for best multi-player i'll i'll go on a big old big old crazy rant this one's really tough for me because i freaking love arc raiders i freaking love battlefield six i really really enjoyed night rain and i freaking love split fiction and it's like this is where i think arc raiders should get

it's it's dues but at the same time like split fiction has not gotten anything yet and I there I need split fiction to win an award man so is it is it is it here because then it takes away from arc raiders which sucks it's sad but it won't is this where they possibly appease from soft and give them one because they didn't give them anything I don't think so I don't think anybody cares about appeasing from soft like I don't know because they're just going to people know they sell a gazillion copies like everybody people that love from soft are going to buy every game that they make you know so it's like, I don't, I don't know that they need it.

Or Night Rain had a chokehold on the algorithm for a while. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, it was also the, it released at the right time too. It was kind of like nothing was coming out after Night Rain, uh, too close to that if I remember right. So I'm going to, I'm going to say this one's really tough, man. I'm hoping they give it to, I'm hoping for split fiction to take it on this one. I, it deserves it.

I know, Ryan. What do you mean it deserves it? What does it take for a game to win, dude? Dude. Like, what does it take? No! What? Did I not list earlier all the things that Arc Raiders did? There's a literal streamer war right now, as much as I disagree with it, because I think it's dumb. I hate streamers. But, like, there's a literal streamer war over this game.

I'm going to give you the difference, Ryan. And I'm not against you because, like I said, Arc Raiders, I think is incredible. It's one of the funnest games I've played since Hell Divers, too. Like, literally we said that. Here's the difference. My daughter, 15 years. old a gamer but not she doesn't play the extent of games that we play for this podcast let's be honest not a whole lot of people do if i went to her and said do you want to play split fiction with me she would absolutely say yeah let's go if i said do you want to play arc raiders with me she'd be like absolutely not split fiction has more universal appeal to a wider range of gamers than arc raiders does and that is why i think so does macdonald does that mean it's good oh like does that mean it's

popular, but it means it's popular and people are going to recognize it. That's why Peaks here. What are we even doing? Stop it, Ace. Stop it. All right. And then I love this category. Yes. Yes. I love, don't bring a peak. Gross. Get out of here. All right. And then I love this category because this might be the biggest width of a category that's possible because the other thing is we don't know. But most anticipated game for 2026. 07 first light which is shaping up to look incredible my hype meter's not there yet but i'll be honest everything i've seen about this game looks awesome grand theft auto 6 will break the freaking planet

when it comes out marvel's wolverine which got a ton of hype when people saw more gameplay on that one resident evil requiem which i think looks fantastic the witcher four is that coming out in 2026 guys not been announced if we're doing that why are we not throwing elder scroll six out here why are we not throwing in you know cyberpunk two like come on man like what do we doing here people beyond good and evil too so out of this list being that it's a very incomplete list which of these games are you most excited for i know i am in the minority but i am super hype for resonable requiem and i know it's coming it is not going to be delayed like possibly grand theft auto will yeah yeah i know i'm getting resident evil hopefully gta is not delayed again

has already delayed a bazillion times that's obviously like the winner that that's the answer that's the answer that's the winner um for me i'm it's it's a two horse race for me like of what i personally want between uh wolverine and then um uh... uh... double seven like i could use a really good old school just spy action game like something like that it wouldn't be something that's longstanding or it's going to have a lot of longevity, but it would be a really quality good game to play to go in, play the campaign or do whatever you have to do and then be done with it. And like I feel like I really would love something like that.

So that's probably my take on what I would anticipate the most, just personally. But also Wolverine, man, I think of being Wolverine just like, strutting everything up and just going around if it's done well and from what we've seen it looks like it may be

so yeah it's this is a hard one there's a lot of good ones on here they're making him brutal which is the right way to go that is Wolverine that's what it is I know exactly

GTA 6 is the universal answer on this one honestly on this list I'm getting more and more curious about 007 first light again I think it looks everything I've seen looks incredible I just am kind of waiting for my hype meter to start rising on that one.

But it's like I am very curious to see where this game goes. If we're not talking about any game on the list, for me, light, no fire is always going to be at the top until we get some more information there. And a surprise one, guys, toxic commando. Remember, this is the Hell Divers game. The first person was zombies. I'm really hoping that comes out in 2026.

And that is going to be up there with, in my opinion, I think we'll rank up there with like Hell Divers and Arc Raiders for just pure, sheer fun with friends. So I hope that one comes out in 2026 also. You go play Indiana Jones, and that'll hype you up for 007. Yeah, I really do need to play that game because everybody has just sung its praises. And it's one of those ones where it's like, I keep meaning to remember to give it a try.

And I grew up with Indiana Jones. You know, that's back in my era, boys. So, yeah. So we'll see. So I need to check that one out, too. So all right, well, listen, we want to hear from you. what games were snubbed what games do you think are going to win the categories leave us a comment you know in in the episode if you scroll down just a little bit in your app on spotify you can leave a

comment let us know what you think let us know how big of an idiots we are for thinking silk song may not deserve to be up here for all of these um you know we we love good differences of opinions on games everybody's a little bit different it has a different take there as well so leave us a comment follow the show join our discord all of those things are in the episode description with handy dandy links that you can do if you want to support this podcast and help us continue to bring independent gaming news and takes and fun to the world uh you can do that by clicking the link to support this show it takes just a couple minutes and it goes a really long way to helping us continue to put this content out to everybody we will be back in a few weeks with

our own game awards don't worry we have more shows coming people it's just in a few weeks i know people are already starting to ask when are you guys going to do your end of the year awards we have our own awards show that we'll be coming up here in a few weeks we did not forget about that but we just wanted to talk about the official nominees here as well and kind of go over those so it's going to do it for this episode everybody until next time happy gaming see you peace out Thank you.