Video Gamers Podcast - The Greatest Games Ever... Almost [Part 2] - Gaming Podcast

Episode Date: August 31, 2026

Gaming hosts Josh, Ryan, and Ace reveal their personal TOP 5 GAMES OF ALL TIME! Which video games earned a spot among the absolute legends, and which beloved classics got left behind? We talk incredible video games, three different tastes, and what makes PEAK gaming. It’s time to crown the best of the best in gaming on the Video Gamers Podcast!   Thanks to our MYTHIC Supporters: Redletter, Disratory, Ol’ Jake, Gaius, Jigglepuf, Phelps, Bobby S, NorwegianGreaser, Dettmarp and NightWizard63   Thanks to our Legendary Supporters: Milkman, Drewsky, Jigglepuf and BadGam3rDad   Connect with the show: Support us on Patreon: ⁠patreon.com/videogamerspod⁠ Join our Gaming Community: https://discord.gg/h2cHKAvSmu Follow us on Instagram:⁠ https://www.instagram.com/videogamerspod/⁠  Follow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@videogamerspod Follow us on X:⁠ https://twitter.com/VideoGamersPod⁠  Subscribe to us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@VideoGamersPod     Visit us on the web:⁠https://videogamerspod.com/⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, fellow gamers, and welcome to the Video Gamers podcast. As gamers were all searching for that magic of a game that hits so perfectly, it catapults itself into your top games of all time. But the question is, what are your top five games of all time? Well, on this episode, we're each breaking down the games that make up our personal top five. Last week, we covered 10 through 6, and now it's time to understand. unveil the absolute best of the best, the games we consider the pinnacle of gaming for our own personal tastes. Before we get to that, some introductions are in order.

I am your host, Josh, and joining me, his top five is pretty good with only one weird entry. It's Ryan. I'm not too sure what you think my weird entry is, but... I'm not either. We'll find out. We'll find out. Yeah, you got one weird one in there, right? Yeah, we'll see.

And joining us. Video gamers podcast does not contone, nor are we responsible for whatever may be on his top five list. Please do not hold any of this against Ryan or I. It's Ace. Towers. Shills. Stuck following the crowd like sheep. Ace's top five list might be one of the most like, hey, I'm the indie guy.

Oh, God, I've ever seen it. You say that like, like, it's all Indies, but it isn't. It's not even all Indies. Only two. It's not all Indies. Yeah. I mean, well, I don't want to spoil any. It's mostly Indies.

You do it. Well, we'll just. Mostly. Like I said, listen, everybody. Listen, the whole point, the whole point is when A starts naming his list, I just don't think that that reflects on Ryan and I is all we're saying. I would agree. Yeah, absolutely.

Well, you guys just went to. Metacritic and look for whatever the highest rated one games was and threw it up there. So, you know, whatever. And it's almost like, you know, insanely good games are. It's almost like you don't work on X, gathering a personal connection to the games. I actually need to. Now you got me curious, Ace, because I looked at your list and I was like, Ace's list is weird. But then I was like, let's not be too harsh on Ace.

And then I was like, you have harsher on Ace. You have two games in your top five Ace that I was. I can like remotely go like okay okay the others I'm just like what is wrong with this man what is wrong with this guy you know who hurt you so yeah well there you go everybody there's a little bit of a teaser a little bit of a preview for this episode welcome in to the podcast this is going to be a fun one everybody always asks hey what are your top five games right and it is it is vastly different for most people like I think a lot of people will agree that you know some of the games ever are some of the best games ever. Red Dead Redemption 2 probably going to get mentioned

even on this show because unsurprisingly. Most gamers consider Red Dead Red Dead Redemption 2 to be one of the best games ever made. You hear this a lot about Witcher 3. You know, and there's other games that when you have this conversation, there are usually some common answers that pop up. And then there's Aces list, which we'll get to in just a minute. Whatever, man. I'm just kidding, guys. You and I have the exact same. We have the same number five.

You're over here. Oh, your list sucks. I mean, no, that's just the start of a great list. And then I apparently kept up the like, oh, these are great games. Ace was like, I can't, I can't. Is Red Dead Redemption 2 in your top five ace? It's just a question. Not my personal top five, no.

No, not your personal. Okay. I don't know if you know. Leave it alone. It's my personal. I know. I don't know. I don't know.

He's already dead. Leave it alone. I just hate your list as all. That's fine. You hate one of my girls'all list because you haven't played either of them. That's fair. Actually, one of them I'm a little bit jealous that I've never played because I think I'd really, really like it. I just really need them to bring the port to PC.

One day. If I keep dreaming. Before we get to our person, and this should be, let me just read as much as I love just picking on our boy Ace here. These are a personal. This is not, you know, yes, you may have some games that you're like, okay, that deserves in a top five. This is not us saying we think these are the greatest five games ever made, like as a podcast as a whole.

Maybe we'll do that one day. But these are the games that for us individually as gamers resonate with us immensely. And you're going to see some differences there. You're going to see a couple common games there as well. One of mine you've never played for sure. Either of you. Yeah, no, I definitely haven't played one of yours. Yeah.

Yeah, I haven't either. I can tell you that. It might be the weird one that's on your list, Ryan. So we're going to get to that in just a second. But Ryan, I think you pulled some new reviews that we have rolling in. We as of this recording, because we've been keeping tally for everybody, we are five reviews away from hitting a thousand. We have promised that we will do a game giveaway on our Discord server when we hit that

thousand mark. So if you have not left us a review on Apple Podcast, yet. Please do that so that we can hit that mark. And you know what? If you listen on Spotify and you haven't done so yet, take a second to rate us five stars. That is just two quick taps and then you're done, but it does help other gamers

to find this podcast and hopefully give us a try and maybe stick around if they like the content. So Ryan, what do you got for us? I'm going to read two today because they are so amazing. This is just like the level of review we're getting. The first review

it's a five star from that comes to us from Cason and it also is titled Cason and the review reads as follows good all right thank you for the review that's all we need people five star review with anything at all

we're we're taking it you know we love it we love it we absolutely appreciate everything that you do this next one is titled Amazing. It's another five-star review from Good Game, More Characters, and it reads, Josh, you make me smile with a smile emoji. Oh. That's so nice. Thank you. That made me smile. I actually read that review this morning,

and it legitimately did make me smile. So thank you for that. I was so close to like changing it just to mess with you, but I couldn't do it. that to the people. We have said, and this is an agreement we have made with people, that we read the reviews as you write them, people. And so, you know, if you want to, if you want to say anything, hard to pronounce words for Ryan. No, don't. That might be something that would be really funny if somebody did. I'm just saying. Don't put this evil on me. Yeah. Oh, man. All right, guys, real quick, we did our 10 through 6. If you haven't listened to that episode, go listen to that episode. It's a great episode. If you ever wanted to get to know us a little bit more as gamers, this is honestly one way you do that. One of the things that we love is when we have a new person that joins our Discord community, which by the way is almost at 1400 game. We might actually be at 1400 now. I haven't checked today. It's a few short, just a few.

1400 gamers strong, very active gaming community. It's family friendly. It's non-toxic. it is an awesome place. People are playing games together all the time, chatting games, new releases, life in general, getting PC advice. I mean, it really covers everything. But one of the things when somebody joins that we love to see is other community members.

Shout out to Patrick, who kind of started this. Well, ask people, hey, you know, what are some of your favorite games? What's a game that you hate that everybody loves? And it is just a really good way to kind of get to know somebody and their kind of gaming tastes as well.

we we we love picking on our boy ace but honestly i'm super thankful that ace has different takes on games because it just goes to show you that like every gamer is different and people enjoy different things we all game for different reasons whether it's escapism or completionism or something like that um you know it's a wide range and that's why we like having the three hosts that we have on this podcast because we don't all like the same things in fact we often disagree on games at the same time. But it is a good indicator of the fact that gamers as a whole like a vast variety of things. And what might be in our top five list may not be in your top five list.

And that's okay. Nobody's saying that like you have a lesser list if you don't have the same games that we do. And I'm sure that people will give us some heat because that's what the internet does where they're like, oh, I can't believe you didn't have this game in your top five. And that's okay too. Like we can take a little bit of heat at the same time, but we love hearing what your top five is. So if you want to criticize what our top five is, that's okay. But you better share what your top five is with us at the same time.

So this is your call out to leave a comment on this episode. We see every comment that people leave. You can do that on Spotify. And let us know what your top five is because it's fun to think about and it's fun to talk about it. same time. All right, Ace. Yep. I promise we were going to start with you. Of course, we always start with me. Number five. Your number five.

This is Ace, the one and only Ace, saying this is the fifth best game that the world has ever known. That fifth best game is Eldon Ring. There is no game like Eldon Ring. I'm sure you can agree that it belongs. It's my not, just as a spoiler. Eldon Ring is my number five as well.

So Ace and I, like the boys we are, we are lockstep in this one, buddy. Yeah, no. Eldon Ring is. There's nothing like Eldon Ring. There's no Soulslikes like Eldon Ring. There's nothing that's come close to the feeling that Eldering gives you of this massive open world soulslike. That just works.

Everything about it is beautiful. Everything about it works. Everything about it is just amazing. That first step you take into the lands between from like out of that catacomb, you're just like, I'm locked in. Like, this is it. This is my life.

That's what you felt? Yeah, like, oh. I'm with you, Ace. I'm with you, man. And then I felt like the, what's that dude on the horse? And then you walk up for the tree setting on you, at your butt kick.

It's like, ah, yep, still dark souls. Yep, there we go. Still dark souls. Eldon Ring is, is my number five as well. This game will absolutely consume you. When you get into it, when you get into it and you start to appreciate what this game offers, the exploration is second to none in Eldon Ring, the things that you can discover, the challenges,

the fact that some little trash mob sitting out in the middle of like a lake will just absolutely turn around and obliterate you. And you're just like, what the heck was that? You know what I mean? And then you come back and then you kill them. And then before you know what you're killing four or five of them at a time kind of thing. the the awe that this game instills in you over and over and over again, whether it's a boss fight, like a new zone or a discovery or something like that is, it's unmatched.

Like Ace, you said it. There is no other game in the world that is like Eldon Ring. And I think that's one of the things that resonates with me so much is it felt so unique and so just new. Even though it's a Dark Souls game, you know, I mean, let's like, we've kind of seen this, but we've never seen it like this. Never in this scope. And then the DLC completely made it even better.

Oh my gosh. One of the best DLCs ever. Best DLCs ever. But I think like Eldon Ring ruins open world RPGs for me. Oh, really? That's, I mean, that's fair, dude, because nobody has done it quite like Olden Ring. Nobody's done as good. I mean, Ryan, you.

Go ahead. I wanted to throw it to you because you, you know, you dove into Eldon Ring. I did. And you have not finished it and we get busy with games for the pod. this is no shade against you, but you finally at least got to experience it a little bit. I did it, did it at least give you that glimpse of like, okay, I think I understand why people rate this game so high. I did, and that's what I was going to reference. I have like 25 hours on Eldon Ring and then probably it says, I mean, it says I have 59, but I think it was probably some screen time for Night Rain, which we played as well, a ton of. but I understand now why people love that game the way they do.

I personally like just a little more direction like to go after this big baddie and go kill them. I can understand that. Like a little bit, just a little bit more. But I get why people love the exploration and the open world aspects and what you can do. And you said it like you walk into a mob and they just, just destroy you and you get you know you come back you get your souls or whatever and then you're able to to just wreck them because you anticipate it now and you know what they're going to do you know or you walk into an area and then a dragon just just messes you up you're like oh

there's a dragon here okay you know and so then it's just it's just continuous uh uh like rinse and repeat like i die let me make the changes and then i'm going to come back stronger and it's just over and over and over, which is not a bad thing. It's not like, you know, we always have this stigma in like games like it's, you're bad if you die or if it's, you know, you're not good at the game. But this just says everybody dies, you know, except for those people that do the no hit, you know. Yeah, those people are crazy. Those streamers that are, they're not real. They're ass. Yeah, those. You know how many times they died to get to get to that to get to that. Exactly. So this is, this is what, it just, it's, it's something that I, and I get

why it's in your guys is top five. Like it is it is a super super solid game way better than any of the other souls like games I played. So I uh I understand it and I appreciate it. So you know it should be there. I have no no qualms, no issues and it's it's a all timer. Absolutely. All right. Well, that's ace and I's number five. Ryan. What's your number five? Yes, Muggen Freeman. Bro. I like this pick, to be honest. This is, this is, I don't know why so many people have forgot about this game and forgot how amazing it is and how in depth and what you can do.

And what in the time frame and this, this world, like, when this was released, what it offered in my game's Half-Life 2. like it was it was unmatched in that time frame i will never ever ever forget playing the kind of intro just test beta test thing just to see like the world of what they're creating what they're designing with half-life two it was it was something unmatched and i always i joke about how much i love like the design of water and how hard is to design water and that's because of this game is they made it to where at the time I was like oh my gosh do you guys see the water look at it look at the water you know and you're going through a cave

and whatnot but not only that but the game itself you know raven home and everything within that world and what it what it unleashed with counterstrike which is one of the best games of all time best selling games of all time which people are still playing you know it's number one ace was releasing some of the stuff for kingdom hearts you know and Counterstrike's still right up there, and that's because of Half-Life.

So there's so much there, and it's a reason Valve is what it is. It's the reason Steam is what it is. Half-Life 2 is an absolute must-play. If you haven't played it, you've got to check it out. Yeah, I got to get around to that. I really got to get to it. Here's the thing with Half-Life 2.

And I think if you were there and you experienced that you understand, and if you weren't there, I'm going to tell you, Half-Life 2 was so far ahead of every other game that had ever been released, dude. It was absolutely earth-shatteringly advanced when it came out. People had not seen this kind of tech before. They had not seen this kind of storytelling. The enemy AI, I mean, like legitimately everything in Half-Life 2 was so far beyond what we had seen in games that it absolutely blew people away.

And I know in 2026 that that doesn't sound like as impressive, but at the time, believe me when I say that no gamer had experienced a game like Half-Life 2. And that is one of the reasons that it is still to this day considered one of the best games ever made because we hadn't experienced something like that before. Go type Half-Life 3 on the internet and see what happens. Like that's what it is is because that's how. big this game actually is and it's it'd be like right now like if you were able to just like plug into you know ready player one like the oasis and you could just you know that's that's the jump that they made for half life from one to two and then in that genre in that timeline um early 2000s

it's an old old game but it's i mean it's it's one of the best you know ever made for sure yeah i like it i i can absolutely see that being in your top five dude because that game is just And it was like the perfect sweet spot. Like I was a late teenager. It's like I had time to play games, but I was kind of like, I'm a grown up. You know, I'm a big, I'm a big boy now, you know. But I'm like, this is the bomb. Dude, I sat and I designed levels because they had a creator, a level creator too,

so you could design levels. And I was like, I was making maps in like English class. I'm like, you know, designing maths and stuff. So it's just one of those that just took over my life at that time frame. And so it's got to be up there. Fair enough, man. All right. We're going to take a quick break and then we'll get to our number fours right when we come back.

We'll be right back after this message. All right. Ace, we're back to you. All right. Number four. Number four for me is possibly the best roguelike out there. I don't want any arguments. I don't want to hear it.

I would maybe hear that, you know, Risk of Rain 2 is up there with this. It's Hades 2. Hades 2 is the best rogue like I've ever played. It has great story. It has great characters. It has amazing builds. The builds in Hades are so satisfying. And then when you jump into Hades 2, it gets even better.

And then they just added so much content. There's so much content in Hades, too. We did a deep dive of it, and I gave it a 10 out of 10, and I stand behind that rating. It is an incredible game. Is there a sequel that has been as good? as Hades 2. I don't think so. Half Life 2.

Half Life 2. Half Life 2, I guess. Like, Legitimately, that's one of the other ones. But it's like, Isleser a sequel? Assassin's Creed 2 was better than Assassin's Creed 2. But I'd say Hades 2. Absolutely. It's clips to Haiti.

Hades for me. Hades 2 is literally perfection for what the game is trying to be. And for the rogue-like genre as a whole. Like, I cannot find, I literally cannot find fall with Hades 2. I have nothing, and I'm not as big into that genre and into the indie games as you guys are, but, like, I could not find a reason to not like the game and to also not want to play it. Like everything about it, I'm like, I could boot it up again. Yeah, I mean, I would start it up right now and go play some more.

Yeah, I literally will boot it up randomly some days. I'll just boot it up and play it. And I'm just like, I have it installed by this. I've been fishing for a game to keep me occupied. Oh, here we go. right. There we go. And I've come this close to reinstalling Hades 2 because it's like the one game in my mind where I'm like,

I bet I could play that and have a really good time. Yeah. And I'm 30 plus hours into Hades 2 already. And I don't ever really go back to games. But Hades 2 is that good. The one that you would go back to. And this, by the way, everyone listening, this is, I mean, we know Josh in and out for sure. But this is one of his things that cracks me up is that he's like literally like squirmed.

when he doesn't have a game to play. And we were talking about it today. And like it's so funny because then he doesn't have it. He doesn't know what to do. And so like seeing him like squirm and want to play these, you know, certain games. I want that excitement. I know. I need a game to be excited for.

And when I'm not, I start searching for the excitement. And there's plenty of games out there that can keep me busy, but they don't excite me. Yeah. I want that. I just know that this is, this is why you're meant to host a video game podcast. Yeah. It's a perfect role. You don't have like a game.

You're like, I don't know what to play. Ah, you just get a. The struggle is real, man. The struggle is real. And then I'll just keep looking the whole time, you know. And then when I find one, it's awesome and I love it. And then it fades. And then I'm like, on to the next one.

And then like, I'm like, yeah, but you weren't like the last one I fell in love with. Right. Well, you know, there's one that you probably fell in love with. And it's your number four on your list. And I think it's probably a pretty good game, Josh. That's probably a pretty good game. Yeah, this is that we're going to have some overlap on this one, Ryan. And I'm actually wondering if you think I'm crazy for having it this low,

but Red Dead Redemption 2 comes in at number four for me. And I know that there's some people that are like, number four, like you're saying that there's three games that are better than Red Dead Red Dead Redemption 2. For me personally, yes. Yes. If you want to make the argument, is Red Dead Redemption 2 one of the best games ever made? I can absolutely understand that argument. but for me, Red Dev Redemption 2 is in my top five.

People have heard me be a little critical of this game because I do think that the gunplay and the gameplay is a little bit lacking. And that's not to say I think it's bad. It's just to say that when I look at the game overall as a whole, the story, the world, the characters, the music, the events, the quests, like all that stuff is absolutely incredible. But when it comes to the gameplay part with the shooting and some of the shootouts and stuff like that, I find it to be not quite perfection, which is why it bumps it down my list just a little bit. That's fair. I think that's fair. If you value gameplay more than the

story. It's an insanely good game. Yeah, I do. And you're going to see, you're going to see in my top three games that gameplay is going to come into play a little bit more. Here's the thing. Red Dead Redemption 2. It's an all-timer. It puts everything together, like very few games ever have. I mean, there's not really a ton we need to say about Red Dead 2. It's just, it is the epitome of a good story,

good characters, good gameplay, presentation, you know, open world, memorable, all that stuff. Like,

when you put it all together, you wind up with this perfect little package, and that is Red Dead Redemption too. Like, I'm not arguing that at all. And for me, it is in my top five games of all time. So,

Ryan, I love it. I think you have it somewhere. I do have it somewhere, but this is where we work together because in lockstep, I also have a game that you have on yours in the top five, but it's also down at four. And you're probably wondering why mine's at four. It's because, like we said, it's our own personal decision and our own personal games. But mine is God of War. The remaster, what is it, 2017?

2018. 2018. 2018, God of War, the re-invigoration of Kratos. And then, you know, like, there was, there was just nothing like booting up that game and having the, almost the essence of Kratos and the music and you had the feeling in you. And you felt when you played this game. and you just every time you had, and I say that word had to get off because you never wanted to. You never just got off because you had to get off to do other things. It was, you know, it was depressing and you can't wait to get back onto that game and finish the story, continue exploring, continue fighting things in the extraordinary, like beautiful worlds.

Like, it's something that I will remember for all my days is playing God of War. I absolutely love this game to the Hills and Beck. It is an all-timer for me, and it absolutely deserves to be in the top five. Yeah. God of War is fantastic. There's no game like God of War. Deciding to reboot it the way they did was the smartest thing Sony has ever done. So good. It was perfect.

And it was the perfect time, too. with my son because he was maybe a year and a half old, maybe two, when I really started playing and he would sit and I'd just hand him a controller and then I'd be playing and I'd just keep yelling, boy, boy, and so he knew since he was a kid, you know, and I just, everything about it sits well with me. It's absolutely up there. Now I'm more excited for Lafay. I'll talk about, I'll talk about God of War in a little bit. No comment from this section. All right. I, all right. I'm I got to say, I love seeing this in your top five, Ryan. No, and it is rightfully so.

It's in, I will say, too, like, I would say a lot of our top 10, you know, obviously it's, it's subjective to your personal opinions and feelings and stuff like that. But a lot of the games in our top five are like, I would say objectively, some of the best games ever made. Like, absolutely. And we're going to cover, you know, what the rest of them are. They're complete packages. That's what makes a game like this.

And we've said this many, many times. They don't make them like this anymore. A lot of games nail the gameplay, but then they don't have story, right? Like Eldon Ring, one of the major complaints of Eldon Ring is that the story and the lore is impossible to follow and it's archaic. And that's the one getting a movie. That's going on. You know, but that is a legitimate complaint, right? Where people go, Eldering, the game play is.

Yeah. Maybe second to none. Like, if you're talking about pure gameplay, Elder Ring might be one of the best games in the world. If you're talking pure gameplay, Hades too is another example. that where the gameplay is absolutely peak dude yeah but maybe the story isn't quite up to snuff and so it's like but when you get a game that puts everything together that's where you wind up with these all-time masterpiece games and that's why i think you do start to see a little bit of overlap for a lot of gamers uh except for ace because ace tell us what you got it you're number three buddy number three

spot i have a game people have heard me talk about quite a bit lately actually and that is infamous second son no game game captures that feeling of superpowers the way the infamous series does, that feeling of the everyman gaining superpowers and now they have the moral conundrum of how will I use these? Will I use these to benefit myself? Will I hurt others to get ahead? Will I do the right thing? And that is what these games ask.

And Infamous Second Son especially asks it by taking it in the way of Delson Rowe, his entire tribe is attacked and accosted by a lady with concrete powers. And he has to go to Seattle and track her down and get those powers so he can reverse it. Along the way, he basically starts an uprising. Stealing powers becoming a symbol for the conduits and you decide how that's going to be viewed as either a very good thing or a very bad thing. And he's just, there's no game like Infimus. There's no feeling like rushing around with the neon powers around Seattle or the smoke power or that very first time you'd the dive off of the space needle

and you just crash into the earth. It's such a cool game. There's no game like him a second son. If you, I know nothing about this game. I know. Like legitimately, I think I might have seen gameplay, but then a lot of times I get it confused with like prototype and some of these

other games that kind of came out in a similar time frame. I would say it's very similar prototype. Yeah. So if you had to name one thing that makes this game your third. game of all time. Like, is it the gameplay? Is it just the powers?

It's the gameplay. I love the gameplay. I love the powers. The ability to take powers from your environment. Like mid-fight, swap your entire move set. Like, just... That's kind of cool.

Yeah, like straight up, like, you go into a fight with the smoke power, but then you see a neon sign up on a wall that you just pull the neon from it. And now you're shooting bolts of neon instead of fighting with smoke fist and chains. It's cool. That's kind of cool. It's dope. That's actually sounds really neat. Yeah.

Just like, Hold on a second. I know. Hey, I can use the... This kind of sounds like a good way. There's so much variety and the movement and the combat. It's awesome. I absolutely love it.

And I wish it would come to PC. I genuinely do. When was it? What was it on? This was a PS4 launch title. PS4? I'm pretty sure this was PS4. I remember that.

Yeah. I feel like I remember that. So, geez. Yeah, 2014. Yeah. Jeez. This game just resonated with me. I pick on you, Ace, because this is the one game

where I kind of go like, what? But I just don't know the game either. It's sucker punch, man. They made Ghost of Sushima. Okay. Yeah. No, no. Yeah, they've got some pedigree.

I remember it. And, like, it's one of those two that I missed out on, but I feel like it's almost kind of like, you know, with watchdogs. Like, not a lot of people have played watchdogs, but that doesn't take away how awesome that game is. Yeah, how awesome. Watchdogs is. Yeah.

It's so good. Yeah, it's just because it didn't, like, yeah, it didn't sell like crazy and stuff like that. But it was also, you know, earlier. I mean, as we continue on in this world, like games keep getting bigger and bigger and bigger and more people play them. So the older stuff hasn't had as much exposure. But no, I definitely remember this game. I never played it, but I remember seeing it and seeing all the stuff about it.

Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, number three. for me, a game that I have played through twice plus the DLC, which is very rare for me. It is cyberpunk 2077. Very rare for you indeed to play through a game.

Terrible launch aside. Terrible launch aside. I have never been more excited for a game in my life than the hype that I had for Cyberpunk 27, which came crashing down at release. But ultimately, this game wound up being one of my favorite games of all time. I mean, you know, we talk about total packages. It's, Knight City is incredible.

The characters, the voice acting. I mean, these are, these were instantly iconic characters. V. The combat. You know, Johnny Silverhand. Jackie. Jackie Wells. You know, I mean, everybody, right?

Like, you know, it's just, this is a game that absolutely resonated with me because you could go anywhere. You could do anything. Your choices had consequences. It has one of the best heists I've ever seen in a video. game. I genuinely cared about the characters. I liked all the side quests.

You know, Phantom Liberty is one of the best DLCs ever in my opinion. So they just continued to build on this game and fix it. Yes, it came out in a terrible state. If you are holding that against CD Project Red at this point, I'm just here to tell you that

you do you boo, but you're missing out one of the best games that I think the world has ever. They've fixed a lot of the issues. They have fixed almost every grievance anyone's had and they came out with a DLC that kicks... You ever wanted to slide down the side of a building and glass? You ever wanted to slow down time and hack people apart with a katana? Yeah.

Like, legitimate. Every part of this game just resonates with me between, you know, how you approach things, the characters, the tough decisions you have to make. You guys are going to see in my number two games, sometimes those tough decisions really matter and stick with you. But, yeah, cyberpunk 2077, like I said, I played the entire game. and then I actually played it through again in preparation to play Phantom Liberty, one of the very, very few games that I've played through twice completely.

That's how much I like it. Yep. Yep. That's fair. All right. It's a good one. Ryan. So I'm going to do the ACE thing and have a game that you guys haven't played.

This is where I mean? I stick on Ace, but your number three is a little weird. And Ryan, this is the one, your number three. I'm just like, these are your guys is like best games ever? This is where the personal stuff comes into play because obviously, like my game is the one and only Metal Gear Solid 2. It is my number three of all time. It is one of my favorite games of all time for many reasons, but I understand that probably Metal Gear Solid 3, like, is Snake Eaters one of the best, you know, of all of them for sure. but there was something about after the first Metal Gear Solid

what they did in this second one, even though I was so pissed off as a kid, like, I don't get to play Snake. Like, what, in spoilers, by the way, I'm sorry if you haven't played it, you don't have her many years later. Oh, I have to be riding. Like, what?

Who's this guy? And I'm like, oh, wait, he can do flips. And I'm like, this is kind of cool. And there's a ton of stuff. It was everything about it. It was just a time. frame and and parts of the game and all of it put together made it for something that I just it's up there on my list it is this is the epitome of a personal decision where maybe a not

a lot of people will agree with me for sure and and I would say objectively a lot of people would be right but for me this is this is one of those that will stick with me forever and it's one of the things I remember what made me like love video games as a kid like and like getting into that. So like that's that's one that it just stuck there. And so I had to put it there. That's a big deal. That's a huge deal. When you have that game that kind of makes you fall in love with the whole industry again. Yeah. And like gets you in it. The right game at the right time. The right game at the right time. Can absolutely solidify like somebody's ranking of that game. And it may, like you said, it may not be like the best game, but if you experience it at the right time or, you know, you just happen to play it.

Or for some reason, it's like, it just got its hooks in you and you had all the time in the world to just do in it because you didn't have a ton of responsibility or something. Like that can absolutely like matter and affect somebody's view of a game. And I honestly love when that happens. For sure. As much as I like to pick on you for this one, it's like, I get it because those moments are legendary and they don't happen very often. Dude, yeah, it was that change of like, like to PS2 and like the graphics felt so amazing to me. I remember like thinking there will never be anything better than this. This is the best it's ever going to get. I remember watching Snake in the first level and he like looks to the side.

I'm like, oh my God, this is this is the best graphics will ever be. And obviously it's way more And we're getting even more You know, better graphics now today And it's 20 years, more than 20 years later. So yeah, it was, it was an all-timer for me. And, you know, I get it. It's not on everybody's even top 50 list.

But it's one of the best games that I played for sure. I love it. Yeah. All right, Ace, hit us with your number two. Number two, to the surprise of no one who knows me, is Bloodbourne. Bloodborn is my favorite soulslike. It is absolutely my favorite soulslike. I love the impression.

I love the vibes. I love the setting. And I love that gothic horrific feeling you get when you jump into blood porn. It gets your blood pumping and you are full on just fighting these beasts like your life will end at any moment. Because it will. It will end at any moment. Anything can kill you. parrying people with a single gunshot is so satisfying.

Like, I can't even describe it. And I know you're mad jelly. I've never played it. I've never played Bloodboren. I have heard people, I have heard people speak of it like you speak of it, Ace. I've heard people speak of it like Ryan speaks of it where he's like, I hated this.

I hated this game. I just, I know myself in the masochist that I am with challenges and games. Like, I feel like I would have absolutely just loved Bloodborn. I'm sure I would have cursed. it a lot too, but it's like, I feel like this is one of those games where it's like, I really wish I had gotten to play this at its, like, it's height, you know?

I feel like I don't know if it feels dated at all now, but I'm, I am jealous of this one because I don't feel like it would feel, baby. It does not feel that day. And you and I, you and I both love Soulslikes. And so it's like, we are very similar in that regard. And if you love it that much, it kind of is like, oh, I probably would have loved it, too. And you probably be aggressive in a Soulslike, too. Well, and I do.

I'm just an aggressive player in general, which is why I'm kind of like, dang it, man. Like, I wish I could have been aggressive and it would have fit my play style. Well, the thing with, like, with, like, with Bloodbarn, too, like, L, you know, Eldon Ring, like, is like this beautiful open world. Like, this game is like, you're in a corridor and you're in the castle and there, you have this area and there's guys there and you just have to fight them in this area and you go to a next corridor and the next corridor. And so it's, it's tight. It's aggressive. You have to be on it. And I just, that was my first introduction into Soulslikes.

And I'm just thinking, this is a rough first start. This is, this is like hard and like, I don't like this. And like, I'm like, nobody's talking to me. Like, what do I even, why am I here? I didn't know anything at all. And I also, heads up, don't sell your item to the first merchant at the very beginning. Because that's what I did. And it took me a while to get a new item.

So. Yeah, don't sell your way. So don't do that. All right. number two for me. Oh, baby. The Witcher 3. Yep.

The Witcher 3. I built a PC. I still remember to this day begging my wife and saying, listen, this game is coming out. And I did play Witcher 2. I never played Witcher 1, but I actually did play Witcher 2. So I had a little bit of the knowledge, you know, before Witcher 3. I remember begging my wife to say, hey, I can't play this game that's coming out. Can I build a PC?

And like a great wife, she was like, yes, you can do that. That's fine. So my anticipation for this game was incredible. It honestly, like at the time was the best game I'd ever experienced in my life, dude. You know, slow start aside, I was enamored with this game the entire time. I did almost every side quest imaginable. I lived in this world for, you know, 100 hours plus. And then I was like cripplingly sad when it was over at the same time because I was like,

I don't know that I'm going to ever have. have that experience again. Like legitimately as a gamer, I don't know. That's the pinnacle. Ryan, kind of like you with Metal Gear Solid 2, where I was just like, that's it. That's the best game I'm ever going to experience in my life. Yeah. You know, the choices, the world, the, the factions, the everything. I love fantasy worlds. That was perfect. It was literally just the perfect game for me. I know people didn't like the combat. I enjoy the combat at the time because it was skill-based. and I could take on creatures that were way higher level than me. And it was my skill that mattered at that point,

even if it made the fight harder. Everything about The Witcher 3 was just absolute perfection to me. I literally could not find fault with it at all. I played the heck out of this game. And I didn't know if we'd ever have an experience like that again. I am glad to say that thankfully there are some incredible games, which is why it's number two on my list at this point. And honestly, you know,

there's some days where I could easily interchange. changed that with three or four on my list at the same time. But Ryan, kind of like you said, I think I played Witcher 3 at the right time. It was a new PC, so I got to turn everything to max, and that was mind-blowing for me at the same time kind of thing. Yeah, it's in my top 10, too, and I loved it. And it's the same thing. I hit it right at the right time.

I was just fresh off my knee surgery. I had an ACL tear, full tear. You had all the time. And so I legit, I have my leg. topped up, I was responsibly taking perk sets. And I was, I was just playing Witcher 3 for like 12 hours a day, just nonstop. And then I would do like rehab stuff with the dream, that's the life. You know, my physical therapy. And then I'm like, all right, I'm going back to Witcher 3. And that's literally all I did for, for like three weeks. I just played Witcher 3. So it was the perfect time.

it's an all-timer, absolutely amazing. Like you said, it starts slow, like a few games, but it says slow burn, man, like life's slow. Like, it starts. It doesn't have to be all crazy. Yeah, and it pays off. So absolutely, if you've ever played it, you've got to check it out.

I'm sure it's still hold up. Yeah. All right, Ryan, what's your number two? Boos, row, da, da, da. Duss! Dova keen, dova keen. One of the best Bethesda games ever made. I'm a big fallout guy for sure, but Elder Scrolls, Skyrim, there was nothing like it.

It unfortunately came out in 2011, and we haven't had a new game since. But I have replayed this and put more hours into this game. I could imagine I've purchased it on probably every console since 2011. Ryan is the reason they're the reason they haven't brought up the next one. The remakes, remasters, the other options. Collectors editions, anniversary edition. Everything and everything you could imagine. It was just, there was nothing like it to me.

The second I booted up, and we just did an episode on emotional moments, booting up this game for the first time was, it was like emotional. I was so sucked in and drawn into this world. and everybody knows this game, so I won't go too long into it, but it was just, there's nothing like it, and there was so much exploration you can do, and then especially if you get PC

and you start doing the mods, and you can kind of tighten things up, and the modders have been great in this community, and so it's still far and away, one of the best games of all time, absolutely. And if... I feel like this is also the perfect Ryan game. Like, knowing you and your gaming takes

and your personality and stuff, like Skyrim just fits, for you where it's like it's just open world enough to let you wander but it also has just enough direction so that you exactly that's what I loved about it is there was just enough where I could go off and I could go off for 15 hours

but I could also find my way back because I'm so you know I shine it was shiny you know and I'll get distracted so yeah yeah nice I can understand I'm incredible real quick too because I never I never like do you guys did you guys ever watch the show Vikings

oh yeah I know of the You know all the show. I remember, I still remember, and this ties into Skyrimers. I remember late at night, I was watching, it had just launched or whatever, and it was like a rerun, and I just happened to see it on there. In the first five minutes, they started talking, and then, like, the music, and I was like, this is like a show, like, this is like a Skyrim show. And I was, I was so hooked. That's how hooked I was on Skyrim that the second that show came out, I was like, oh, my God. And I watched every episode.

It was an all-timer for me, but that's enough about that. That's really funny. All right. We're to our number ones, the number one game. Ace, what is the best game that you have ever experienced in your life? Number one game for me, if you looked at my list, you would notice there is a glaring issue. There's a genre. There's a genre that I'm very fond of that's missing from this list.

And that is the Metroid. Is it a hand-drawn Metro-Bed? The Metroidvania, a hand-drawn Metrovania, baby. Metroedvania, baby. Yeah, my number one game is Ender Magnolia Bloom in the Mist, which should surprise absolutely nobody out there.

No, wait, is this the first one or the second one? This is the first. So they did improve on the first. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, this is an improvement of the original game, which was, you know, Ender Lillies Quietest in the Knights, which was my number one for a very long time. But Ender Magnolia does everything that game does

just better. Yeah. It is a game that does perfect music, perfect atmosphere. The gameplay is fun as heck and customizable to your own builds and your own limits. You could explore the world at your own pace. Everything about it just works for me. And sitting down, like, I deprived myself away from that game when that game came out. And it was the first game I got to review on this podcast.

So that's... Oh, I remember that. I remember how excited you were for this to come out. legitimately like it was cool that we got to kind of share your excitement and your happiness and I remember you just like disappearing you know where it was like ACE is really love well I do have a question I thought Andrew Lilly's would be the end of that series I never figured it in a million years that we get a sequel I so I have a question ace like legitimately you love Metroidvania I do this is your genre what is it about this game in particular one thing because I know you'll

go on yeah I know I got it's not too much what is the one thing that sets ender magnolia apart from every other Metraedvania that you have loved. It's the spirit system. It's the spirit slash humunculey system, this customizable system built around not fighting directly with a weapon on your own character model,

but at different angles and different trajectories based on the spirits you have equipped. So you kind of got to figure out how to space yourself in a fight because every fight in Inder Magnolia or Ender Lilies, it's like a dance. It has a rhythm. You want to get hit as least as possible in any game,

especially in these games because you're a little girl who doesn't have a lot of armor. Yeah, you're not a fighter. You're not a fighter. It is a rather unique system. And this is one of the things you just mentioned when we talked about Tides of Annihilation is it does kind of bars. Now you get to fight in Tides of Annihilation, but it does borrow that like you have these ghosts and companions that help you. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's melancholic. It's not miserable.

It just, I love everything about it. Yeah. Even though it makes me stand out like a sore thumb and a C. No, no. This is the personal. Like, and that's, I, yeah. And this is like, like I said, as, you know, we're friends. We pick on each other.

But like, I know how much you love this game. And what's crazy to me is you have gotten other people to play this game through your love of it. And I have not heard a single person come back and been like, I found it to be mid. Everybody has gone like, Ace, I played this. And oh my gosh, dude, I freaking love this game. So it's not like just you, but it is cool to see that like your passion and your love for this game has spread to other people and then they've gotten to experience something that they would not have played on their own either.

I am the herald. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, for me, God of War, 2018, my favorite game ever. You know, we talk about playing through games multiple times. I have played through this game three times. That's a record.

Once on the PlayStation and then twice on PC. I absolutely love this game. It is made for Josh. The game, this is where I talk about the gameplay part because for me, the game play in the combat for God of War trumps that of Red Dead Redemption 2 for two games that came out the same year. One of them rightfully one game of the year. The other one came in rightfully second place. But you know, people don't need to hear me glaze God of War 2018. It is also the fact that I am a dad. I am older. I have settled down. I was pretty wild when I was younger.

and I kind of relate to Kratos in a lot of ways where it's like this is a man that has you know moved kind of beyond his past and things like that so there is a little bit of like sentimentality there as well to make it just kind of resonate with me even more but for me God of War 2018 is literally the perfect video game and that's why it's my number one of all time. Fair enough man I can't even argue it's such a good game.

You said to take a shot. All right, whatever. I did. I did. I know because you can't say anything about it, Ryan. Because I love it too so much. It's just so frustrating. This is why we say it's all subjective on these top lists. Yep. I would like to say that my game is also the best game ever made.

I truly, honestly, you can spend 200 hours in Red Dead Red Dead Redemption 2, and you can still have unique interactions. And there's not another game in the world like that. You are not going to get what Rockstar gives you in this game in any other game. There's something about it that, and obviously I have a draw and a unique love for the Old West and the Westerns. And so that definitely bumps it up in my list because I love God of War for sure. But the nature of it, the world, the depth of the story, the expanse of not only the main character, but all the side characters, you get so much development from just random people in the

gang. That is amazing. So there's just so much there. There's so much backstory and there's so much to look forward to. And then once you run through two, three hundred hours, you can just go play online and just go do another 200 hours. So for me, I personally feel it's the greatest game ever made. I think there's there's nothing else that can stand next to it. Um, some stuff comes close, but it's, it's all timer. It's number one for the Rye Master Flex. Do you think GTA 6? I was going to ask this. I was going to ask. No, no. No. I mean, as excited as you are for GTA 6, you don't think it'll I cannot wait for GTA 6. I think GTA 6 is going to be one of the biggest games ever, made and I think it will actually have

its own quote unquote economy within that world because of how big GTA online is. I think that it will be absolutely in depth in an all-time game but I do not see how

I do not see how for me it would surpass Red Dead. Yeah I don't I just I just don't see it like it's just something else man I get it. I get it. I get it man. Like I said, I'm a huge fan of Red Dead as well. I know ACs. GTA feels like too much like the real world. Like Red Dead you, you're like, you're kind of disassociate. And you're, you're in that world. You're a cowboy. You know, Red Dead. I mean, GTA feels like you're kind of like, oh, you know, there's living life. New cars and just living live and, you know, so like, not that it's not fun, but like, you know, you can check out, you know. So, yeah. But anyways, that's our, that's our top five. That's our top five. There you go, people. That's our top ten. You waited in anticipation for that. I'll run mine down real quick. Number five, Eldon Ring, number four, Red Dead Redemption 2, number three,

cyberpunk 2077, number two, Witcher 3, Wild Hunt, and number one, God of War, 2018. Ace, give the people your list. Number five, Eldon Ring, number four, Hades 2, number three, infamous second son, Bloodborn, at number two, and number one is Ender Magnolia Bloom in the Mist. Please try it if you haven't already. And Ryan?

I got the one and only half, Life 2 at number 5. God of War, 2018, and number 4. Metal Gear Solid 2, Sons of Liberty at number 3. Elder Scrolls Skyrim at number 2 and the best game ever made,

Red Dead Redemption 2 at number 1. All right, people, there you go. If there is a glaring issue that you see with any of our lists, we want to hear about it. Leave us a comment. I do. Come join our disc.

I actually do. No, I do. No, I do. You have to come in your top five. If you're going to talk. If you have, if you got an argument with my top five, you're trash. You're trash. Okay. Well, call me trash, Ryan.

Call me trash. But no, no, listen, we love talking about these episodes. We love talking about games in general. Come join our Discord server. The community is amazing. People will be talking about their top five lists after this episode. We would love to hear what yours are. And again, you know, it is fun to be critical of each other as friends, but there is the, there's this thing online that exists where people like to shame people for disagreeing or having different opinions.

That does not happen in our community. You are entitled to your opinions and there's nobody that can say that your opinion is wrong. It's just that your opinion might be different than their opinion. But come let us know what your top five list is. If you're not on our Discord server, you can leave a comment on this episode. We read every comment and we respond to almost every comment as well. But we would love to know as gamers out there, what is your top five? Because everybody's different.

And it's just fun. It's fun to talk about. It's fun to see how people differ in their game takes and their tastes and what they do for entertainment. I can't wait to see this. It's going to be good. We really want to know for all of you out there. So leave us a comment. Let us know.

And then it's just fun. It's just fun to talk about. All right. Well, that's going to do it. for this episode, everybody. Thank you for hanging out with us. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for supporting this podcast. We wouldn't be here without you. If this is your first episode and you've made it this far, welcome. We hope you enjoyed the show. Remember to hit that follow button, that plus button so you get all of our episodes the day that they release or at least three episodes a week,

plus a re-release on Friday so that you can catch up on some of the massive backlog of episodes that we have as well. But, you know, remember to hit follow, hit that plus button. Make sure you get our episodes. If you like what we do, you can support us over on Patreon. It is the only reason that we're able to do this year over year. Man, this just makes me want to go play some video games, boys. Because goodness, these are some incredible games.

All right. That's going to do it for this episode, everybody. Until next time, happy gaming. Josh and Ace are wrong. I'm right. See you. Peace out. Ryan's a loser.