Video Gamers Podcast - The MOST Anticipated Games of 2025 - Gaming Podcast

Episode Date: January 2, 2025

Gaming hosts Josh, Paul and Ryan return to what they do best, talking video games!! It’s 2025, and we’ve got a bright year of gaming ahead of us. Join us as we break down our top 24 most anticipated video games of 2025, all while fighting each other to draft the best list! We’re starting 2025 off with a fantastic gaming packed episode you absolutely can’t miss! Thanks to our MYTHIC Supporters: Redletter, Ol’ Jake, Disratory and Gaius Thanks to Legendary Supporter: FitNerdJohn Connect with the show: Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/videogamerspod Join our Gaming Discord: https://discord.gg/Dsx2rgEEbz Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/videogamerspod/  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/VideoGamersPod  Subscribe to us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU12YOMnAQwqFZEdfXv9c3Q   Visit us on the web: https://videogamerspod.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Offer ends March 3rd, 2025. Terms and conditions apply. invest with RBC. Offer ends March 3rd, 2025. Terms and conditions apply. Invest with RBC today. Hello, fellow gamers, and welcome to the Video Gamers Podcast. 2025 is finally here! Is this the year we get the long-awaited Grand Theft Auto 6? Will Silksong ever release? Will Avowed live up to the hype?

Who knows, but we're about to spend the next hour talking about our most anticipated games of 2025. But first, some introductions are in order i am your host josh and joining me he can't wait for the release of dave the diver and he's pretty sure redfall probably won't win game of the year this time maybe it's ryan oh come on the red i was new i was new man i was like, man. I was like, okay, that's a pretty good trailer. I'm into it. And you guys are like, oh gosh, who's this guy? I thought Redfall looked

pretty good at first, Ryan. And then I went, oh no. I will say you also just cost us another year for the game that should not be named. You mentioned that earlier, by the way. Yeah. So you typed it out, which is even worse. And joining us. What?

He's that beloved old game you boot up from time to time, but you can't quite remember where you left off or what any of the buttons do. It's Paul! It's me. I'm here for another episode. And by the way, Josh, you should know by now silk song does not exist it's not a real game i the the real question in this episode is going to be is somebody gonna wind up with silk song silk song one dollar please oh my goodness it's like you know it doesn't work for other people but maybe it'll work for us.

We are here. It's 2025, gentlemen. Paul, thank you for joining us for this episode. We had to call in a favor. You owed us a couple. And you said, I'm a man of my word. I'll show up for this. Really, you just did it for the listeners because you didn't want to subject them to just me and Ryan doing this.

It's also very hard to do a two-person draft. It definitely helps to have that third person. And I love the format of this episode. This is one of my favorite things. I had to come back and do it. I'm so excited. It's a great way to break down the upcoming year, but to also throw in that extra twist and have some fun with it. Yeah, yeah.

We're going to explain. Actually, I'm going to have you explain the rules here in just a second to everybody, Paul. But first, a touch of housekeeping. You know, by the way, we did have a lot of reviews, but this episode is going to be a long episode anyway. So we are holding those reviews. But for everybody that has left us a review and is waiting for your review to be read

on the show, hang in there. We'll get to those, I promise. But we're gonna focus on the the upcoming games in 2025 on this one but we do have a new supporter to thank by the name of fitner john who signed up for legendary status. Fitner John has been a fan of the show. Actually, really, really awesome dude. We've been chatting in DMs a good bit. And then he just joined our Discord server this morning. And then lo and behold, five minutes later, baby.

Just legendary. So we see you. We appreciate you, Fitner John. Thank you, man. John's a really, really good dude. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome we see you. We appreciate you, Fitner John. Thank you, man. John's a really, really good dude. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome.

He is. Yep. So, all right, Paul, I'm going to throw it to you because we're going to be talking about the most anticipated games of 2025, but just mentioning them would be too boring. That's not our style. We've got to turn it into a game. We got to turn it into a competition. We need to see who's going to be crowned the king of choosing games for a year. So Paul, why don't you explain what this episode is and kind of how we go about it? Okay. So we did this for the first time for 2024. And I hope whether I'm included or

not, that this continues every year here on out. The way that we do this is we all have a fictional $200 budget and we are going to be doing an auction draft. If you've played fantasy football, you're probably somewhat aware of it. Basically, the way it works is one of the three of us nominate a game that is set for release in 2025. And then basically auction style, we can outbid each other. We keep going until going, going, gone. You just got that game at that price point. All three of us have to draft a total of eight games. So for you math nerds out there like me, that's an average of $25 a game. There's a lot of strategy here. Do you put a lot of money into the highest anticipated and throw out a couple of $1 lottery

tickets? Or do you kind of spread all your money out and kind of go for like a whole bunch of B-minuses? It's a lot of fun. It makes us look really stupid at the end of every year. Some of us more than others. I'm sure this is going to get brought up. I got crushed in our 2024 draft and multiple people thought that I had won it at the time. And within a couple of months, we all agreed that I did by far the worst. Almost all of my games got

delayed, but it's going to be an absolute blast. We get a chance to compete, but to also talk about these upcoming games and how much are we willing to pay? Last year, I think our highest priced games went in the $67, $68 range. $69 for Black Myth Wukong. There you go. I'm very curious to see if we end up having a new all-time record this year. Yeah. So I'll tell you what, let's just go back. Let's rewind a year. Hey, and we're back in 2024. And I'm just going to read the list. These are the games when we did this episode in 2024 that we each wound up with. And I'll give you the prices because the price that we bid on a game kind of is a good indicator of our hype meter for that game as well. So these really big games are going to command a lot of money for you to get them on your list. And that's

a good sign of how hyped you might be about it. So for last year, we'll start with Ryan. Ryan landed with X Defiant at $22, Dragon Age Veilguard at $25, Senua's Saga Hellblade 2 at $50, Ryan's highest priced game, Star Wars outlaws at 47 rise of the ronin at 22 hades 2 at 17 homeworld 3 at 5 and stalker 2 at 12 oh my gosh that was a steal by the way that was a steal and um one question did uh did any of my games not release it is shocking that all of your games are released because you took dragon age oh when it had a different name not even a release year and you threw out a whole bunch of money for it and yeah all all eight of your games ryan congratulations ryan you want ryan's already getting competitive ryan what's the best game on your list uh from from then yeah oh stalker 2 stalker 2 yeah for 12 dollars star wars really good too but i paid a lot of

money for that but stalker 2 at like 12 bucks or whatever it was yeah that was a steal that was like a such a good deal but yeah man what a what a list i'll tell you what all right well let's let's go to paul's list oh no. Oh no. Here we go. Paul, you have quite possibly one of the best games to release last year. And that is shadow of the earth tree at $59. Yes. Then you started to gamble a little bit with some of these games that we thought were going to release in 2024.

And then they didn't. So you went with metal gear, solid Delta snake eater, 20 bucks, a valid at $50 King makers at $10, No Rest for the Wicked at $17, Ark 2 at $11, Where Winds Meet at $15, and Silent Hill 2 Remake at $18. Five of those got pushed. Five of those games never came out. And they had set releases.

That's what makes me so mad uh this was not like a swinging for the fences kind of strategy this was like we thought these games were releasing man and then they just didn't that's just paul's luck man so mad the only one that i i was pretty sure would not release was arc two and we said it at the time it's like i'm just gonna throw it out there they say it's releasing end of 2024. That one did not surprise me. I'm still shocked that Snake Eater, Avowed, both got pushed. Those both would have really helped me a lot.

Yeah. All right. And then my list, Dragon's Dogma 2 at $68. Black Myth Wukong at $69. Boy, I spent a lot very early. The Wolf Among Us 2 at $7. Didn't release. Stellar Blade at $9. Boy, I spent a lot very early. The Wolf Among Us 2 at $7 didn't release. Stellar Blade at $10. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle at $5, man. That might wind up being the steal of my draft. Sandland at $7. That game did not pan out to what I was hoping it was going to be space marine 2 at 20 that was a value

and then i took the the swing on hollow knight silk song at 14 which you said it again is never coming out we all can't say it so before we get into this who who won i ryan's raising his hand my games all came out it's's Josh. It's definitely Josh. It's me. Josh crushed it. Josh has Blacksmith Wukong, which I thought was the best game of last year. Space Marine two.

We said at the time, very well could be the steel of the draft. Dragon's dogma two. I know Ryan hated it. It's a very good game. Yeah. And Indiana Jones kind of came out of nowhere. And I mean,

I know people knew it was going to come out, but people were shocked at how well received it was. You've got like four killer games in there plus Stellar Blade. Also, how dare you guys continue to diss Stellar Blade? Yeah, I was going to say, somebody better mention Stellar Blade. I don't know because I haven't played it, but it looks like a great game. Fine, whatever. I'll concede. This is what I love because I know that we are all so hyped for for

this episode and to talk about these games coming out in 2025 and i cannot wait until the end of the year when we get to come back to this episode because we will believe me we will absolutely come back to this when we kind of do our game of the year and end of the year episode. There are going to be games that we have no idea are coming out. Astro Bot famously in 2024, we did not know about when we did this draft. And so there's going to be all sorts of releases that are going to surprise us. There's going to be games that get delayed. I know there's a game on this list that, oh man, maybe it's coming out this year. Maybe it's coming out next year. But whoever gets it is taking a huge gamble on that one. But yeah, let's get into it, boys. So I do want to touch on one other thing. Did your results from the last time we did this affect your strategy moving

into this one? Like Paul took a lot of these games that all got delayed and didn't make it. If, if two more of those games came out, I think Paul wins this hands down for sure. You know? And so it's like, does, did your strategy change from last time?

It changed my strategy in that I really prepared last year. I did zero preparation this time. I did absolutely nothing other than helping. I think all three of us contributed to the list of upcoming releases along with dates. If there were any, I helped create the list and that is it. I have done nothing else to prep. It doesn't matter. This is very random. I did think about coming in and only drafting quarter one games just to ensure that they all release oh my goodness but i'm not gonna do it i'm still gonna shoot for the fences uh i'm i'm still going for just the most anticipated and if they come out this year great if not i'd rather

go down with the ship drafting my gta6s or whatever and uh and and and have it go down that way, then try to play it safe. Yeah, I will say that I think for me, and this is something for the listeners too, when it's your turn to nominate a game, you have to nominate the game and you have to throw out the starting bid. So if you nominate a game that nobody else wants, you're stuck with that at that point.

So there is some danger and some strategy in how we go about nominating these. Now, a few rules for everybody that's listening. We have to draft eight games each. Okay. So by the end of the draft, you must have eight games. You have a budget of $200. And we are not going to count games that have been in early access that might be releasing this year. Um, so like an example would be like enshrouded, right? That's a pretty popular game. It's been an EA for all of last year. It's finally releasing in the 1.0 this year, but it's kind of like the game's been available in 90% of its iteration

already. And so we're not going to count a game like that. Now, if a game is releasing in early access in 2025, uh, I'll just throw the throw a name out there like Subnautica 2, for instance, that game would qualify because you can say, hey, I'm super excited for this game. I'm really anticipating it. I understand it's an early release, but it's at least releasing in 2025. So it does qualify at that point. So those are the rules. When it's your turn, you nominate the game. You throw out your opening bid. We'll take turns bidding it up if we want. We each end this draft with eight games. And then we'll actually talk about who we think won the draft. And then we'll come back to it later on. I love it. All right, you guys ready

to get started? I'm ready. Oh, let's do it. All right, Paul, you're the guest of honor. Oh, no. It's only fitting that you start us off, Paul. So the question is, do I nominate something I want, or do I try to start draining your guys' funds? That's a little bit of this game, too. I thought you didn't prepare. I didn't.

All right, I'm going to throw out a game that is set for release in February. This is one that we've talked about on the show a lot. I'm going to toss out Assassin's Creed Shadows. Shout out to Ace. You know he's anticipating it. I know people love to hate on Ubisoft, but I'm kind of... I think this is a good litmus test. Like, where's this one going to go?

I'm going to just start out the bidding at $5. Assassin's Creed Shadows. Now, Paul, you mentioned it. We trash Ubisoft a lot. Ubisoft is really under the gun. There's a lot of conversation about hostile takeovers, them trying to sell. I mean, Ubisoft lost its way, and it's having a very hard time finding its way back assassin's creed shadows one of the more anticipated games i just don't know that i have a lot of faith in it yeah exactly but i can't let you have a game of that magnitude for five bucks paul so i am going to bid ten dollars ryan you like assassin's creed in general right has it been a while? I love Assassin's Creed. Oh, he loves it. $15. $18. I'm out.

$20. $20 for Ryan. I'll say $21. Oh, we're at the dollar bids. Yeah, we're slowing down. It's Assassin's Creed. That's where I know. The name alone.

The name alone is, dude. $21 going once. I'm out. All right. So I won it for $21? 21 bucks. That's ridiculous. I'll take it.

I'll take it. You got out at 15. What do you mean? All right. I was just trying to get you invested in this. All I was trying to do was hype up, build up Paul's money. So I was trying to leech his his funds we can't turn this into a three-hour episode but are you guys hyped for assassin's creed shadows

a little bit who doesn't love feudal japan yeah i don't know i'm not for feudal japan i love feudal japan here's the problem for me i have zero faith in ubisoft at this point like legitimately zero and so it's weird because in theory, like I should be excited about this game, but there's a part of me that's going to go, this is just going to be mid. Like I can't fathom Ubisoft somehow just rediscovering themselves

and making a game that's going to blow the world away. Yeah. You know? And so that's my fear with Assassin's Creed Shadows. Zero chance game of the year nominee but yeah if it's just a solid middle run probably a lot of fun yeah if it's a middle of the road assassin's creed 21 is totally fair i think that's a fair price 21 could be a phenomenal steal on that one so all right assassin's creed shadows goes to paul oh you could you're updating

it paul i was gonna say to say, look at Paul keeping this script. Are you kidding me? Of course he's going to. I know. I was going to try to be a good host here and update it. But all right, sweet. Okay, Ryan, you're up, buddy. Oh, all right. So it's all on me

here. I'm going to go with one that Paul picked last year. And we'll see if it maybe releases this year i for sure hope so because i am uh glutton for punishment and i love the series i'm gonna go with metal gear solid delta snake eater and i'm gonna start the bidding at 15 it's coming out this year yeah it got delayed it's gonna come out this year i'm gonna i'll bid uh 18 on this one last year it went for 20 i think it's at least worth that i'm gonna say 21 25 28 33 34 oh here we go you're just trying to run me up now it is a remake that has me tempered a little bit but this game is going to be beloved i think everyone who did not get a chance to play

it like josh is going to think it's so phenomenal this is like guaranteed 90 plus on metacritic i think i'm out i'll just I don't know enough about the game to be as excited. Like I am excited for it, but I just don't know enough about the original to have that steer me. I've seen some footage. It looks fantastic. The graphics look, you know, next gen, the gameplay looks really good. They delayed it because they even said, Hey, we want to actually like make this game even better than it already is, which gives me some hope in it as well. But I just don't know enough to bid this up with you guys. So what were you at, Paul?

34? 34. 37. I'll let you take it at 37. All right. Ryan's never looked more disappointed to win a game. What's your worry, Ryan? What's the concern here, Ryan? never looked more disappointed to win a game. I should have went 35. What's your worry, Ryan?

I should have went 35. What's the concern here, Ryan? You didn't want to go over 35? Would you have given it to me at 35? Probably. That's only $2. That's 1% of your budget. That could be my last two games

once I spend $100 million on Grand Theft Auto. Yeah, that is true. Ryan, you're Mr. Metal Gear Solid. This belongs in your list anyway. Yeah, I'm glad it's in my list this year when it will actually release. Yeah, yeah, fair enough. You're worried about your two bucks.

Last year, I wasted 20, so there you go. I was going to say, Ryan was just so sad over $2. I'm like, dude, you just won the game you wanted. His face just told a different story. All right, boys. You know what? There's no beating around the bush, man. We're doing it.

We're doing it. Oh, boy. Grand Theft Auto 6. Oh, here it is. $45. $65. $100. $100.

Yes. a hundred dollars a hundred dollars yes if now if someone is a there is a very real chance that this game does not release in 20 there's no way a whole nother year yes there's a very good chance that it could come on red dead got pushed back has a good uh long-standing uh trend of releasing games every couple years come on yeah now ryan just just just for the sake of integrity of the show do you want to lower your bid a little bit no it's fair on the fear that it's not coming out in 2025 100 bucks if it comes out you win yeah i know oh my goodness if there was a genie that told us it's 100 guaranteed to come out this year i would go as high as 125 dollars i mean gta 4 was the greatest game i had ever played up to that point gta 5 was the greatest game i'd ever played up to that point yeah red dead redemption 2 greatest game i had ever played up to that point. Yeah. Red Dead Redemption 2, greatest game I had ever played up to that point.

Like I have so much confidence in GTA 6 and yet at the same time, I am just very fearful that it could get delayed. I was prepared to go up to 100, but now that it's already there, I think I would bow out at that point. I can't go over 100. This is either a complete waste of $100 or Ryan won the draft. There's no middle ground. This is what go over a hundred. This is either a complete waste of a hundred dollars or Ryan

won the draft. There's no middle ground. This is what I was talking about. Bring it on, baby. Come on. At the beginning, because it's like, like you said, if this game releases, it's probably game of the year. I mean, I can't see it not being unless it somehow is disappointing, which I don't see happening either. So it's just taking that gamble. And I'll be honest, I don't think it's going to release. I think they're going to push it back to 2026, like first quarter, first half of 2026, man. I believe all of their other flagship games got delayed at least a year

after the initial dates were announced. So there's a little bit of a track record working against Uriah. But $100? Like compare that to Dragon's Dogma 2 from last year. That's paying for like one and a third Dragon's Dogmas. That's so well worth it. Oh, man.

Dang it. Paul's out. What are you doing, Josh? Come on, buddy. There's so many good games, man. I'm not. I'm not doing $100. I think if it comes out, it's worth it.

But again, I don't think it's coming out, man. That's what we do. When you want it, you get it. I want it. That's true. It's the beauty of the auction, right? But also, you're going to be like, oh, there goes my whole draft. Oh, I don't have any money.

Oh, I want that, but I'm poor. All right, awesome. Well, that's our first round. We are coming back around, but we're going to take a quick break. Get groceries delivered across the GTA from Real Canadian Superstore with PC Express. Shop online for super prices and super savings. Try it today and get up to $75 in PC Optimum Points. Visit superstore.ca to get started. Break before we do that.

All right, we're back. Paul, it's back to you, you buddy we got the big one out of the way now i'm curious to see where this goes remember last year when ryan was really bummed he couldn't bid any money on like no rest for the wicked because he won the first five games yeah that's exactly what ryan's doing again i think it's so funny recklessly what are you talking about ryan you have 57 dollars to play with the whole rest of his list he's just gonna get outbid on anything decent and then he's just gonna wind up with like these rando games just hoping that they're okay yeah oh man i get to nominate again uh let's see let's see i am gonna throw out ghost of yotei oh another big one all right so ghost of tsushima follow-up one that you play release recently which i played fantastic loved

it can't wait for the follow-up i i am not too sure what to do with this game. I'm just throwing it out initially at 10. I know it's going to go higher than that, but how do you guys feel about the prospects of it releasing? Because this is one on the very short list of must plays if it does come out next year. I think, I mean, it's scheduled to come out in 2025. They don't have a hard date on this one yet, but they're saying, hey, 2025 release date on this one yet but they're saying hey 2025 release date on this you said 15 paul i think i said 10 but yeah either way i know it's going higher okay i'm gonna go 20 oh man i'm gonna be so poor uh so could yeah ghost of tsushima came out in the july of 2020 so it's been a few years.

They've had some time to work on this. I'm going to go 25. I'm going to go 30. 32. 35. Dang, Paul. I'm going to get a bunch of dollar games at the end. There's so many good games, man.

There's a lot of good games. You said 35? 35 35 36 i'm a little worried about it not releasing that's the only thing if it was coming out i'd go up to 60 65 uh would you say 35 36 36 uh 38 you can have it all. I'll take it for 38. I like that price. There's so many games I want that I feel very confident are going to come out in 2025. And I really have this list of games in my head that I want to build. Is this a little bit of recency bias?

Because I literally just played Ghost of Tsushima. I mean, maybe I was going to ask you if it, if having just recently played that, if it got you super hyped for Ghost of Yotei. Of course, dude. At an average of $25 a game, I feel like throwing out $38 for this, that'll be a steal if it comes out. If I didn't just pay $100 for Grand Theft Auto, I would have paid $25. Ryan tried to bid $25, right? Did you say $25?

Ryan, you'd be so broke. I don't care. It's going to be a good game. It's going to be so good. All right. Well, Ryan, you get to nominate a game, buddy. So what are you going to do with your few pennies you got left? With my pennies?

I bet it's not a big opening bid. That's for sure. $1? No. I'm going to go with... I'm going to do the alters. I knew this was coming. have you been altars at 10 15 25 30 35 oh my gosh 40 42 this is one of the ones where i'm not sure the community is going to love it,

but the three of us are so hyped for this game. I know. I think 42 is a great price, but I'm going to bow out. I'm happy at 42 bucks. Ryan, you can go up to 57, actually 58.

58 is your max. Wait, can you really? Yeah. I do have dollars reserved for each one. 57 extra plus the $1. I bet you're shaking in your max. Wait, can you really? I can. You have dollars reserved for each one. 57 extra plus the $1. I bet you're shaking in your boots right now, brother. Push him, Ryan.

No, because he'll give it to me. I will. I know Josh. Josh will do it. I know him, too. He'll be like, yeah, whatever. I don't care. I'm going to give it to him.

He can have it. 42? Yeah, 42. Sweet. Oh, I wanted the alters. 42? Yeah, 42. Sweet. Oh, I wanted the altars, man. Dude, okay. Has there been a game where the demo just absolutely blew people away,

and then the game released, and everybody was like, this is garbage? No. No, that's super rare. That's the thing, right? We played the demo for the altars. All three of us autumn i mean instantaneously we're like whoa this game is phenomenal but there's that chance that it's like it was just the demo that was awesome like what if the rest of the game is terrible but it's like i can't think of an instance when that happened no no so if it's like if the rest of

the game is as good as the demo 42 is a steal for that game this is the kind of pick that 25 this is the kind of pick that might look bad initially in the community but in hindsight i don't see this game being lower than like a b plus rating it's gonna be great yeah especially with the the base they already have there and i it just reminds me of you know you talk about the demos and stuff that reminds me of the original metal gear on the little PlayStation disc that I played. And I was like, Oh my God,

this is the greatest game ever. And then I played the game and you see what metal gear did. And, uh, so it's kind of along those lines where I just, this demo did something to all three of us for all of us to all say the same thing. Like,

Oh, we're ready for this game it's got to be good i think that they know that they were on to something with the reception to the demo and i think that's why they delayed it because i think they went whoa people really seem to like this we better take some extra time and make it as good as we possibly can, because I think there was a resounding positive response to that demo. And I think they saw that and went, okay, we were onto something here. Let's make sure we land this plane. So that's my hope anyway. All right, Ryan, you nominated that one, right? Yes. All right. You know, I'm just going to do it because I don't think either one of you care

one whit about this game. Claire Obscura Expedition 33. If this doesn't look like a next gen Final Fantasy game with over the top combat camera angles, flashiness, the production value on this game looks like it is through the roof and i know both of you could care less because you both hate turn-based combat and this game does not look like it's up your alley so i'm very curious how you guys are going to respond to this but i'll start the bidding off at ten dollars i feel like there's 14 games on this list that kind of look like Claire Obscura. Nothing looks like Claire Obscura. How much did you bid?

10? 10 bucks. 15. Didn't you just say $14? No. Who, me? Yeah. No, I said 10.

You said 10. I said I'll start the bidding off at 10. All right. I don't know what the heck my brain was doing. Yeah, no, I'm out. He said 10. I said I'll start the bidding off at 10. All right. I don't know what the heck my brain was doing. Yeah, no, I'm out. So 15, Paul? We're going to hear that a lot from Ryan. Yeah, 15.

16. All right, you can take it. Yeah, $15, you suckers. This game is going to be fantastic. Whatever. If it releases. Yeah. Oh, it's releasing this year. All right, $16, Claire Obscura. If it releases. Yeah. Oh, it's releasing this year.

All right. $16. Claire Obscura. There you go, Josh. I'm so happy I got that for under $25. Fair enough. Coming back around to me? Back to you, buddy.

All right. All right. Boy, there's a couple lottery tickets I'm really hoping to grab for like a buck or two at the end. So I'm going to avoid those for now. Let's. Oh, man. I'm going to throw out. Midnight Murder Club.

Dude, I saw this game. Okay. You put this on our list. I did. What on earth is Midnight Murder Club? And so I had to go look it up. It's kind of like a betrayal game, almost, like Among Us. But it's more like Lethal Company with PvP, I think, is more the vibe.

Is that what it is? Yes. It's more like Lethal Company with PvP, I think, is more the vibe. Is that what it is? Yes. So if you guys haven't seen much about this, I think this is one of those games that very well could catch fire if you have the right people playing it. It has proximity chat, just like Lethal Company. You've got a flashlight. You've got a revolver. You are running around in the dark, and you vote on different game modes, and then you're trying

to win the match. So the idea of getting into these multiplayer matches with six people, where you're going to have hysterical proximity chat, sometimes pairing off into groups and working together against the other parties, I could see this one being an awful lot of fun. It's one that I know is not going to go for a lot of money here, but I could really see this one being an awful lot of fun uh it's one that i know it's not going to go for a lot of money here but i could really see this one catching fire sort of like pal world lethal company those kinds of games uh i'm throwing it out for a buck but this one also does come out soon because it's set for a february release which also makes it a little bit more appealing to me these these social kind of betrayal type games yeah if they catch fire dude they take over the world for like two months and then they just disappear you know at that point um i don't i think this game has potential to do that because like i said the gameplay footage i watched looked

very interesting it's a lot of laughing there was just people laughing shooting each other some guy was hiding behind a piano and the guy shot up the piano and it was making the sounds where it was like you know like i just don't know if i want this choking up my list of games man but for a dollar i don't think i can give this to you for a dollar either paul don't do it there's a lot of guys don't think I can give this team for a dollar either, Paul. Don't do it. Don't put it on me. What are you going to do? No, I'm just asking. You could get it super cheap. This is a Ryan game.

I think out of the three of us, he would probably like it the most. I hope that we get a chance to play it. I think it looks fantastic, personally. $3. I do think it looks... $3! $4! $4!

I'm out! I just wanted somebody to bid it up. I don't got a lot of money. Josh, are you going to bid or are you out? No, I'm out. I just needed you to throw out something so I could bow out. Ryan? I mean, it does look pretty sweet.

That's so cheap, though. It is so cheap. But it's going to be one of those that it's going to hit. That's so cheap, though. It is so cheap. But it's going to be one of those that it's going to hit for the people that it hits for. Flash in the pan. $5. $6. I would have stuck Ryan with that. This is great.

Great podcast content right here. You can have it for $6. All right, $6. Okay. That's fair. I mean, hindsight. Hey, I got him up from $1, okay? This game might blow up. I got him up for $6. Alright, $6. I mean, hindsight I got him up from $1. I got him up from $1.

That's true. You did. You made him spend five more bucks. I'm proud of you, Ryan. Thank you. Fair enough. Alright, Ryan. What you got? Alright. Let's see. Got some heavy hitters still. There is some definitely a good bit. Let's go with a game that is near and dear to Josh's heart.

We may or may not have talked a lot about this game and love this game and loved it dearly about what we enjoy and don't enjoy but i'm gonna go with subnautica 2 i'm out early access well paul's out already i like ryan's ryan's now questioning his opening bid well i'm glad he did that because that probably changed my opening bid. But I'm going to start opening bid for Subnautica 2 at $5. $6. $8. You can't let this one go under $20. Come on. You already said you're out.

I know. I don't like Subnautica, but most people do. Come on. I'm the weird one there. People love Subnautica. It's multiplayer this time? Yeah. I mean, you can go...

Yeah, I said $9. $11. Brian, you can go $20. He'll keep bidding. $11, Ryan? Can I come out of the woodwork? Yeah, you're not out just because you say you're out. Sure.

$20? $20. I'm out. Oh, $20 is kind of a lot. What do you got to say? Are you double guessing now, Josh? You look like you're all of a sudden back in. Maybe I am second guessing myself.

Here's the thing. It's multiplayer. Subnautica with a friend would be amazing. It would be a huge improvement. Goodness, dude. But I just don't know how much content there's going to be. Like,

yes, I'm super excited about it, but I just don't know what to expect from the release. Is it a four hour game? And then they're like, Oh, well we'll develop it more over the next two years. Or is this like an 80% complete game where they just go,

okay, cool. Like, yeah, all these systems work and people have a lot of fun and now we just got to polish it 20 i don't know i think it'll be 80 complete personally that's just my guess why i personally don't like early access games just release it when it's done but yeah that's here and over there man. So you're at 20? 20. And I only have what? $57 left? It's such a big name game, though. Yeah.

I'm going to give it to Paul. All right. I'm going to give it to Paul, too. This one hurts me. This one hurts me, man. Subnautica's my game, guys. That's my game. That's the game I love. I was hoping you'd bet it up.

Spend some money. That's the game i love i was like when i drafted elden ring yeah i just don't i don't that's the thing dude is i don't know what to expect and if there weren't like eight other games that i want on my list i would i would go harder in the paint for subnautica too but i just don't know what it's gonna be like at its release you know and now paul only gets four more games that's the other thing. Like he, you know, he's halfway through his draft already. Very true. All right, Ryan, you nominated that one. Yeah.

All right, boys, let's go with another big name game. Let's go Borderlands 4 for $15. $17. $17. Paul? I'm just watching for now. Oh, Paul doesn't want to comment, huh? That's 17, huh? I'll go 18.

Oh, man. I hate this draft that's what you get when you spend a hundred dollars i'm so handcuffed but i'm gonna be so happy when uh grand theft auto releases and i would just win everything i can't wait to hear about the delay and then so paul are you out then 18 is the current bid i i didn't want to besmirch it too much, but to me, I don't know if there's a series that has more diminishing returns other than maybe Assassin's Creed, which I also already drafted.

But my goodness, with each Borderlands, I like it less and less. This could be the worst. Yeah. They learned from Tiny Tina's. This is why when they did the release of Borderlands 4 and they announced it to the world, they said, listen, they learned from Tiny Tina's. This is why when they did the release of Borderlands 4 and they announced it to the world, they said, hey, this is

the love letter. Yeah, I was just gonna say the same thing. Like Battlefield? Borderlands is such a huge name, man. You can have it. I'm out. At 18 bucks? Okay. I didn't actually want borderlands 4 but for 18 dollars i

can't complain dude 18 is a good price under 20 for one of the biggest gaming franchises like out there like even if it's mid at 18 fine look at that window though josh summer 2025 to early 2026 i feel like if they're already floating that yeah I don't know I'm a little worried all the assets are created they've got the whatever the AI is that generates the guns man there's nothing they need this game will come out

yeah for sure might be right I didn't really I didn't really want it guys I thought one of you was gonna bid it up a little bit we know what you're up to dang it all right. I thought one of you was going to bid it up a little bit more. We knew what you were up to. Dang it. All right, Paul. I'm not happy now.

I try to pretend to be happy, but I don't think... All right, listen. Borderlands 4, it's not going to be that good, guys. It's going to be just like every other Borderlands game. You're totally 180'd. Two, I tried. Two was perfection. And then like you said, Paul, after that, it's all gone downhill, man.

It kind of is what it is. But he got named notoriety. People love Borderlands. I mean, I'll play it. Even if it wasn't on my list, I'm still going to wind up playing it because you know it's a good time. It's just whether it's going to live up

to the predecessor of Borderlands 2 or not. right so for my next nomination here man i was kind of hoping to swoop in and grab like a dragon pirate yakuza in hawaii but i feel like since i only have four open slots i i don't want to chance that one uh i want to toss out one of the big heavy hitters still let's go kingdom come deliverance 2 been on our radars for quite a while i will say this game is very high on my hype meter it is very high yeah i my one concern for this game is is it going to be too slow paced the combat is the worry and that's the thing is i've seen a lot of people say, if you've never played Kingdom Come Deliverance, the combat in that game is super realistic,

where if you swing your sword like three times, your guy's fatigued. And so it's very slow, and a lot of people don't get it. Once you get it, apparently it's actually really, really in-depth, but a lot of people are kind of put off by the combat because it's very realistic. That's my only concern. I think story-wise, character-wise, graphics, gameplay, all that, it looks phenomenal. What was your starting bid, Paul?

25. I'm going to go 40. Whoa! If this went last year, I think it would have gone somewhere in the 60 range is kind of what I thought. What was your bid? 40? 40. 40, yeah bid? 40? 40. 40, yeah. I'll say 44. 45.

45. This is the thing. It's like, what am I saving my money for if I don't bid on it? You know what I mean? There's a lot of good games on this list. But this one's coming out in February. Like, this one is releasing. It is absolutely releasing.

That gives it a little bit of a premium. Actually, they moved the release up a week on this one because they didn't want it going up against the Vowed. And they made Kingdom Come Deliverance 1 and now they've basically remade the game that they always wanted to. So it has a lot of love and time and passion. I'll go ahead and say 47 48 49 50

i'll bow out at 50 sweet i this was one game i absolutely wanted to leave this draft with i i have seven dollars to play with here guys hold on you got it you can have it if you want no you can i like you already put it in josh's i know it's already in there but i can move it in the notes right now you already put in josh's all right yeah josh can have it no i'm not i'm not how high would you have gone josh uh probably up to 55 yeah this is there's no that's fair where I said, I want to leave the draft with these games. And this is one of them. Yeah.

I just, I, everything I've seen about this game really just looks like this is a top notch video game experience. The fact that like you said, Paul King come deliverance is pretty beloved by a lot of people. And this is like their, I don't want to say like magnum opus, but this is like what they wanted to make originally. And so I feel like it's going to be just top notch, man. Like the comedy, the trailers.

I worry a little bit about the combat, but I guess we'll see. Yep. If the combat hits, the game will be fantastic for that player. If I swing a sword three times in real life i'm tired why would i want to do that in a video game well no i don't i i personally i hate stamina bars it's the worst like i'm trying to escape the world i'm always tired as it is let me let me just mindlessly swing at everything i don't want to i don't want to deal with that i haven't played a really good medieval game in...

I mean, I can't call The Witcher 3 medieval because that's like a fantasy world, but this is true medieval life. Oh, sure. So I think that's going to be a very neat representation because I love... Like, Ryan, you're a huge fan of ancient Egypt. I love the Middle Ages.

Yeah. Wouldn't want to live there, but it's just something that resonates with my brain. And so it's like this game for me is very high up on that list. I really hope it's worth the $50 price tag. All right. So just to recap, Ryan, you're at $57 left. Okay. Because we have to reserve $1 for each of your slots. Yes. You have Metal Gear Solid, Snake Eater and Grand Theft Auto 6. I have $70 left. I have The Altars, Clare Obscura, Expedition 33, Borderlands 4, and Kingdom Come Deliverance 2. I'm pretty darn happy with my list. And Paul, you have $111 left. You have Assassin's Creed Shadows, Ghost of Yote, Midnight Murder Club, and Subnautica 2. How are you feeling about your list, Paul? I love my list. Ghost of Yote at 38? Murder Club, and Subnautica 2. How are you feeling about your list, Paul? I love my list.

Go to Yote at $38. Dude, that's killer. Yote at $38, I love. That's a steal, I think. Subnautica, I'm not the biggest fan, but at $20, that is such a great price. I am more than happy with it. All right. Let's see.

So Kingdom Come Deliverance, that was you that nominated that, right, Paul? Yeah. So it's Ryan's turn. Okay. Ryan, Mr. Money money bags all righty mr money bags here anything ryan nominates is gonna come out at like three dollars he's not gonna be like 25 well let's see how a big boy. We're going to do Avowed. Oh, there it is. Opening bid, $20.

$20. Dinero's. $20 for Avowed. $20. This went last year for $50, I believe. $20, make it harder. Yeah, it did go. And it's probably releasing this year, right?

It's definitely releasing. Do you guys feel better or worse about Avowed now, like, nine months later? I'm not telling you, Paul. Nice try, buddy. All right, 30. 40. 45. 50.

I am out. No. Oh, boy. I'm scared. No. Oh, boy. I'm scared, Ryan. Come in, Ryan. I'm out. Are you sure? I think he might let you take it.

He said he's out. He's out. I got it. This is the other. This was my number one game. I wasn't going to bid on Grand Theft Auto 6 because I didn't believe it's coming out, but a vow. Paul, I was counting on you. I was counting on you i was counting on you paul to drive them up okay i i may only have 21 dollars

but i got five banger games on my list now i was watching more gameplay of avowed and like as time goes on i feel less and less confident about it really a little bit yeah just a little i so my answer to your question was i actually feel more confident because okay they did the um like the the preview where they let a lot of like youtubers uh come and play avowed for like 10 hours or something like that and universally everybody came away going this game is great like this game is going to be so good it's a i think that it's like 25 30 hour story so they're keeping it tight i am super hyped and i've gotten more hyped just from the positive response and the improvements that they've made to like combat and stuff too

okay we shall see anything that worries me about avowed is it set in uh is it aora what's the game from the pathfinder wrath of uh kingmaker yeah it starts with eo yeah inora i don't know anything about that world and from playing a kingmaker was a kingmaker no it's called um oh gosh pillars of eternity last time pillars of eternity yeah yeah there you go yeah and i we we flubbed this one on another show too because i couldn't remember it but i don't know i don't know if i care about that like world necessarily but we'll find out all right so let's see ryan that was you nominated that yes all right um let's do one more and then we'll take a quick ad break. Okay. Let's go with, man, I love my list, but I am broke now.

I'm poorer than Ryan, man. Ryan still needs six more games. It's all part of the plan. Six more games. Oh, my goodness. Okay. Let's go with Metroid Prime 4 Beyond, which should be one of the biggest Nintendo releases in a while. And since I'm broke, I'll start the bidding at five bucks.

We talked about this before. I have never played a Metroid game. Really? Yeah. You're missing out. Metroid is really good. Metroid's pretty sweet. It's a good series, dude. The bid's five bucks?

Five bucks. Ryan, come on, dude. You got to start filling out this roster. People love Metroid. There's a lot of games I could fill out for a dollar. There is a lot of games out there. I know. This was a calculated risk because if I win it for dirt cheap, I'm happy.

And if I lose it, then that means you guys spent money. I'll throw out 10. Oh, my goodness. This is like the biggest Nintendo game release of 2025. Like Nintendo games sell like hotcakes, man. This is true. I feel like you said this last time too on some Nintendo game. Like on the last draft.

Well, Nintendo doesn't give release dates very far in advance. So a lot of times, we just have no idea what's coming. What are you doing, Josh? I'm'm out you're out at 10 bucks i only have 20 bucks it was your game i well i mean i yeah but you guys bid it up i'm out you can have this a huge name game dude metroid prime 4 for 10 dollars is is is a crime dude i have. I have others I want. This is hilarious. That name alone for people that love Nintendo is going to catapult

Paul's standings. Alright, I only need three more games, guys, and I have $105 between all three. I got like five games I really want still, and I only have three more spots, man. Alright, we're going to take a break, and then we're coming back with Paul's next nomination. We'll be back in just a second.

All right, maybe that was like 60 seconds, depending on the ads that just got played. But we're back to you, Paul. Back to me. All right, I am going to nominate one of the bigger recognizable names on the list. I have a feeling maybe Ryan was hoping to wait and get this the bigger recognizable names on the list. I have a feeling maybe Ryan was hoping to wait and get this one

on the cheap down the road. I want to throw out Gears of War E-Day. This might be the biggest game name on the list. Gears, baby. I still love Gears of War. I miss it. I want this one. Dude, I legitimately

scoured, scoured the internet to see if there was any gameplay footage of this game we saw the trailer we know it's the prequel there's no gameplay at all but it's freaking gears of war man is like there's no chance that microsoft and like that they flub this right like well sure return of Gears of War. Right? My bigger worry is that it'll get delayed. The release window is September to October 2025. Yeah, it's late.

But I'll throw it out for $20. Dang it. Gears of War. All right, Ryan, where you at? I'm broke, so you're going to start going before me. I'm broke, too. What are you talking about? You got almost three times my amount of money, Ryan you're mr moneybag twenty one dollars twenty five dollars man i really wanted this one real quick years has there ever been like the original gears of war game like the trailer with gary jewels and mad world like a better trailer to a video it's so

good it's one of the best ever it's fantastic think about how good the game's gonna be right oh man dude quit trying to give me to spend money yeah you know i'm really excitable you only have two games listen i got a lot on here that have not been taken that i can use for a dollar that's that's a valid i have not spent a hundred yet i use for a dollar. That's a valid. I have not spent a hundred yet. I know Paul's just going to clean up these later games. What are you at? 25? I think I was at 25. 28.

30. Dude. What am I saving my money for? There's only like three things left that I want. I know. Yeah, that's fair. That's 30. 32. 33. Paul's going. Bid's 30. 32. 33. Paul's going to bid whatever it takes to beat you, Ryan.

Don't try. I guarantee you can tell by how fast he's bidding. He's so confident. He's trying to one-up me until I bid one more, and then he's just going to leave me with it, and then I'll have no, no money. 35. 36. he's just going to leave me with it and then i'll have no no money uh 35 36 oh i see you see how he slowed down there ryan yeah it's all it's all yours yeah it's all right 36 36 yeah it's yours if that game releases this year i i only i like in my brain it's an amazing video game.

Now, we haven't seen anything about it, but in my brain, I'm just returning to the Gears of War glory, man, with your buddies and the... Oh, yeah. Yeah. All right. I'm feeling really good. I was going to say, I think you're looking pretty good.

Yeah, you were feeling really good last year, though. I know, it's true. Remember that? I know. I do. So Ryan and Paul are close to each other on money. Ryan at $57 left. Paul at $67 left now.

Ryan only has two games, though. And I only need to buy two. Yeah, Paul only, or technically only has space for two. That could come into play as well. I might come in under budget. What are you nominating oh man let's go with

I'm gonna go with Civ 7 okay I'm gonna do that at five bucks have you played any of the Civ games Ryan I played one or two here there it's been a long time but I know they have a very devout. Yeah, people who love Civ games are like, they love those games.

One more turn, and then it's tomorrow. Yeah, exactly. Paul, was it Civ V that we got into with Todd for a while? We did the deep dive on it. Yeah, we played a lot of V, and then we did a deep dive on VI, and we didn't like it as much. But V, man, we cracked out on that game. What a fun game.

Yeah. Yeah, because V was the glory of Civ, right? Because VI, people said, isn't as good as V. You should just play V, which is why we actually played V, but we covered VI. I'm out out all right what what's the bid five five five dollars huh five dollar make your holla sieve seven yeah you can have this one ryan yeah i got another game it's a huge name i'm just not a big fan of the series man i love it, I love it. I don't know. They're not my style of game. That's going to be killer. Trust me.

Mark my words. Oh, I mean, it probably is for $5. Somebody's going to go, how on earth did you get Civ 7 for $5? I should have bid it up. Would you have outbid me, Ryan? Oh, maybe to like $15. Oh, see, I was just hoping to push you up to $10. So I could have done that easy.

Dang it. All right. All right, boys. This is a big name game, dude. If we don't mention this one, there's going to be a revolt from the listeners. So I'll throw it out there. Monster Hunter Wilds. And I'll start the bidding off at $5 for my broke butt. I wish I liked this series. I really hate it. I don't like monster hunter at all. I started playing, I think it was monster hunter three on the Wii.

Uh, my brother-in-law, Jason got me to buy it. I hated it. I played whichever one you and I did the deep dive on Josh. I hated it. It's just not for me. So I'm out.

I get the appeal. It's just not my personal preference. All right, Ryanyan how much did you say five bucks seven eight can i push you up past 10 on this one ryan nine ten it's a big name game people People love it. You can have it. For 10 bucks? Yes! 10 to Josh.

Yeah! I don't want to play this game, but this game's going to look great on my list. It's a good resume game. It'll look good on your list, for sure. I could care less about the game itself. People are going to look at the list and be like, dude, Josh's list, man.

Sorry for everybody that loves Monster.'m with you paul monster hunter world i get the appeal like it's a grand game like oh man you're fighting these crazy fantastic creatures it's just not my kind of game too many systems too convoluted yep totally with you all right we're back to you paul. Back to me. Yeah. Looking at this list, I only see a couple of really big games remaining. I feel like we have to throw out Elden Ring Night Rain. This one got recently announced, supposed to come out by the end of 2025. I'm throwing that one out there. I'll start the bidding at $10.

I will bid everything I have at $12. I will go $13. Dang it, Paul, you jerk! Obviously. He can't even do that because he needs a dollar left for the other one. I know. I can't even bid $13. I'll go $14.

$15. $17. $20. 15 um 17 20 if a game like elden ring doesn't go in the 30 range something is wrong something is drastically wrong 23 25 oh that's the well that's why i was gonna go ryan it's elden 20 i know you haven't played okay but Ring. Okay, but is it going to release? And Paul's bidding on it. Paul's bidding on it, so it's probably not going to release. That is a good point. That's what we know. It's releasing in 2025.

What are you at, 25? I'm going to go 27. 30. 30? Dude, he's trying to round out his team right now. His list is going to be way too good, right? You also have to take into account, if Paul adds Elden Ring and he only needs one game after this,

his list looks insane. What are you gearing for? What are you trying to get me to spend my money on? I don't want Paul to win. You need another banger on your list. That's Josh's problem, not yours, Ryan. Yeah. What are we at?

What are we at? What are we at? 30. 33. 35. Ryan, you're out. Come on. This is ridiculous.

38. Yeah, I was going to say, don't. All right. I'm happy that Elden Ring is at least getting its due now because 40 is still cheap for this game. 42. What do you got left? Boy, if I let you take this, then I can pretty much pick any two games I want.

The problem is that this is kind of the one I want. So how much did you bid? 42. 42. 45. You can have it. All right. That is a good pick, Paul. $45 for Elden Ring Night Reign.

I'm loving this roster. I know it sounds like a lot of money. It's looking good right now. Paul's list is stupid good looking. That's what we said last time. Metroid Prime for $10 was a crime. I know, but Metroid Prime at $10 was robbery. That was your fault.

You suggested it. You could have built it up, Ryan. Don't put it on me. I can't believe you. How dare you, Ryan? Whatever. Whose turn is it? It's yours, Ryan.

You need some games. I do. I do need some games. The best is that Josh and I are going to bid $0 on anything you bring up, and you're going to end up way under budget. Yeah. He's going to be like, man. That's probably true.

Dude, there's some great games here. Splitgate 2. There's a huge list of games. Don't. Just Stranding 2. Dune Awakening. Yeah, I got all these up here. Yeah, for sure.

What is this, Collusion? Hyper Lightbreaker. We josh loves that one i do love that one paul stop naming games for rag punk looks pretty cool my boy kojima i'm gonna go with death stranding 2 i hope that there's not a ton of work left with it um i'm gonna go with a dollar a dollar yeah i i do like the first one and it's this game is worth so much more than a dollar but i'm not gonna bid anything because i only have one spot left we got two spots left josh you gotta throw out some money oh i'll ryan okay desk stranding two two dollars It's in the name. $5. Five.

Is it a game? It is a game. It's definitely a walking simulator. It has too much money and too many slots, man. I only have two slots left. That's my problem. And I might want like hyper light breaker. Cause neither one of you is going to bid on that.

$5 for you can have it. Ryan. Sweet. That's a huge steal steal and critics will love it yep a hundred percent okay and it's got great graphics just for you stupid my list just stopped at six games i can't do nothing else man oh but it's my turn to nominate one yes sir all right here we go doom the dark ages boys oh that's a josh pick right there that's a josh pick because that game i mean it's probably gonna be terrible who likes doom but they're all the same uh and i'll start the bidding off at a dollar five dollars yes ryan go go go go go go paul you uh you're Mr. Moneybags over there no I'm not I mean Ryan's got more money than me you got twice my amount of money man it's true I only have one slot you want to lend me some money no

you want to buy Subnautica five dollars going once it's's $5? Going twice. $6. Oh, come on, Josh. It's $8. I have $12, Paul! Why are you egging me on? Push it, Ryan. This is Doom! Look at Doom Eternal! There's a game that Paul wants with his last slot, and he's trying to get me to spend all my money so he can snatch it up. I'm fine

with $1. You're not taking what I want. $8. Come on, let's go. $8. Dang it, you've got too much money ryan yeah nine dollars ten dollars eleven dollars ryan i want to do it just to keep it just to get him but i also don't know if he wants me to do that i'm gonna i need a lot of games so i'm gonna do uh i'm gonna do 12 you can't buy it now well josh can do 13 that's his highest doesn't he only have 12 bucks he's got 12 but he's already got one dollar set aside for each of the games 13 so 14 and it can be yours ryan all right i'll buy

it for 14 dang it ryan that's great value, Ryan. That's a big kick. Ryan, you're not going to play Doom? Nope. Yeah. Nope. You're just taking my good name games that I know and then you're just stealing them, Mr. Amazon. Yeah. That's what I'm here for.

Great insult. Taking my good ideas and then just making them your own basic thing. All right. Who's next?'s next all right uh it's uh that was me so we're back to no i nominated that oh you know what i do that's right that's right all right so back to me i've only got one spot left uh there's a couple games here that i really like but i am going to go for one that we have under our unknown list. There is no release window. I am just going to take a shot in the dark and

guess that it's coming out this year. I am going to throw out Super Mario Odyssey 2 for a dollar. For a dollar? For a dollar. I'm too broke, man. Five dollars. How much, Ryan? If this game releases, For a dollar. I'm too broke, man. $5.

How much, Ryan? If this game releases, this is a game of the year candidate instantly. $5. $8. How much money you got here? 23. He can go up to 23, and this is his last game. So if he gets this, he's out.

He's going to... What are you at? Eight? Eight. Ten. Eleven. He's going to go up to 23. Fifteen.

Sixteen. He's going to go up to 23. I know. You can win it, Ryan, if you really want it. You can outbid me. you have more money than I do but it's just it's one of those I guess it doesn't really matter that'll make you and I tied cash wise

you got to do it man Paul will be out it'll be down to me and you with the same exact amount of money if I bid what 23 if you take it for 24 I don't like how easily influenced I am by Josh. You got to admit, it's a good scenario, Ryan. I instantly want to do this.

Do it for the show, Ryan. $24. Yeah. $24? All right. By the way, I definitely think this game's coming out this year, and I think that'll be an absolute steal. They're going to want to push it for the Switch, too.

And like you said, Nintendo doesn't release stuff without it coming out soon. So boom, $13. That is a great pick. It will come out. That's fantastic. I'll make sure you have the $1 set aside. Dang it, you have $1 more than me now, Ryan.

Yes, I do, brother. All right. So that goes back now to Ryan. Paul is done with the draft no no you got oh no no ryan took that one that's right ryan took it i okay so paul's still in it then there's one one last game that i would want on the list so at least it worked out if i couldn't have mario dwindling yeah mario's a steal yeah i'm i'm super stoked about that josh really wants arc raiders is my prediction and or hyper light breaker if you care right if you want to run them out of a few bucks

uh let's go hyper light breaker five dollars you're breaking my heart right Dude. Come on. It's going to be good. You know you want it, Josh. $5? Risk of Rain 2? It could be even better. It looks better. It looks better.

But I'm going to let Ryan have this one. $5? Oh, I'll take it. The name recognition is not there. I'm trying to tank the appeal of his list at first glance. I would have outbid that for sure if i had more slots it's the only reason i'm not pushing it i think is going to be a fantastic multiplayer co-op roguelike game i mean totally agree it's gonna be a blast dude i just don't know that enough people know

about it yet for them to look at that go like oh yeah way to go ryan all right who that was ryan so it's my oh man dude there's like four games out there that i still am very interested in um so i will go slay the spire 2 for a dollar i'm out. Can it really be any better than the first? There's a hundred Slay the Spires out there already. You know what, dang it, you're right. But for a dollar, you can't argue. Two dollars.

Ryan, you suck. Three dollars. You can have it. All right, I'll take it for the three. Ryan, you suck. $3. You can have it. All right, I'll take it for the three. Slay the Spire 2 is like the biggest name in indie games, man. Is this going to come down to you two fighting over Silksong with your last money again? How dare you? Ryan, you should have pushed him another dollar because once again, Josh has $1 more than you at the end. Yeah, buddy. All right, Paul, it's your nomination. you should have pushed him another dollar because once again, Josh has $1 more than you at the end. Yeah.

All right. It's a, it's your mom, Paul, it's your nomination. My nomination. Paul's sitting over here. Can outbid Brian and I handily now hollow night,

silk song, no release window, no indication. It's coming out this year. It's never coming out. Uh, I am tempted to throw it out just to see what you guys bid for it. But I am going to stay true to myself. There's one last game on this list I want to play more than all of the others.

I'm going to throw out Splitgate 2. Dang it, Paul! Dang it! And I'm going to go ahead and nominate Splitgate for $11. Yeah, which gets it for Paul gets it yeah you can have it so dude split gate i don't know that i've had more fun in a shooter it's so good split gate came out i loved it so much and two looks it's gonna be even better man well my team is done that one and i have 13 left on the table that i could have spent that I did not.

Well, lend me some money. Yeah, wait, hold on. You already have enough, Josh. All right, well, here it is, man. This is my last slot. It's Ryan's last slot. I have $10 left. Ryan has $9 left.

So I can basically just pick the game that I want to pick. Technically, you have 11 and 10. Or 11 and 10, right. But I still have one more dollar than Ryan. And so I'm just going to name some of the games that I'm super interested in. Ark Raiders, Paul, you know me very well. That is very high on my list. Dune Awakening, if it releases in 2025, I think looks insanely good. And I'm really, really hungry for a good MMO. Jump Ship, I think is going to be a ton of fun. That was a game that we covered on a This Week in Gaming. And then there's some like South of Midnight and Mixtape, these kind of story-based games that look really, really good. I mean, just top-notch production quality. Dude, Outer

Worlds 2? We're throwing some shade by not bringing it up. That deserves mention. And then there is the unknown list where we have games like Light No Fire, which I am crazy about. Silksong is on there.

Is it going to release in 2025? I don't know. Nobody knows. Probably not. Nobody knows, but I could take a huge gamble with my last pick and then say, man,

there's also one other game that if it releases in 2025, I think is phenomenal, dude. And I'm really torn between it and Silksong. I just don't know if I want to take the gamble on Silksong. But I don't want to name the game because I don't want Ryan taking it either.

You're kind of pot committed on Silksong from last year. Double down, dude. Go for it. Can I get burned two years in a row on Silksong? And then everybody's going to be like, you fool. You don't give me Silksong. Yeah. Dang it. I didn't want that one but how can i resist that's at least two more years till release telling me they need another

year on that game man one day you just want to bid your 10s our year boys all right you got it for 10 josh you got one one dollar left over since since Ryan couldn't help bid you. And then, Ryan, you get your pick of the litter, bud. There's definitely a few that I look and man, it's hard because you got Skate, Outer Worlds, like you mentioned, Mafia,

Old Country, that's a good one. Part of me, though, really just wants the nonsensical chaos of kingsmakers and i i think i'm gonna we know it's coming out yeah we know it's coming out it's gonna be a good one i'm gonna go with kingsmakers uh for my last pick sure that game is going to take the streaming world by i think so when i had i had a friend, my good buddy Shane, that doesn't really ever game.

He likes to listen to the podcast, just kind of to support us and stuff. But he's like, have you heard of this game? There was like a truck driving through like medieval soldiers and stuff. And I'm like, oh yeah, totally. And I knew exactly what he was talking about. I was like, Paul drafted it last year.

Yeah, I was like, yeah, it's been gonna come out for a while, but I'm excited for it. And these types of people are excited that don't really game. So yeah, I think that's one that should be good if it hits. It'll release. It's just whether it's going to hit. If it's going to hit, yeah.

Yeah, exactly. All right, that wraps up the draft. I'll go over everybody's list here. So, Ryan, you ended up with Metal Gear Solid Delta Snake Eater. Boy, the one that it's all going to come down to. Grand Theft Auto 6, Civilization 7, Death Stranding 2, Doom, The Dark Ages, which you stole from me. I really wanted that one on my list. Super Mario Odyssey 2. Which you stole from me. Yeah, which you stole from Paul. All really wanted that one on my list. Super Mario Odyssey 2. Which you stole from

me? Yeah, which you stole from Paul. Hyper Light Breaker, which was mine, even though I didn't want to buy it. And then Kingmakers with your last pick. I have The Altars, Claire Obscura Expedition 33, Borderlands 4, Kingdom Come

Deliverance 2, Avowed, Monster Hunter Wild, Slay the spire two and hollow night silk song. I feel like I have the name recognition. You know, the games are, we'll see if they release and when and how good they are and all that, but at least the names are there. And then Paul, you have assassins, creed shadows, The Ghost of Yotei, Midnight Murder Club, Subnautica 2, my beloved, Metroid Prime 4 Beyond, Gears of War E-Day, Elden Ring Night Rain, and Splitgate 2. Those are some good games all around.

It's going to be a good year. The thing, it's crazy to me because your list, I think, has some of the most potential. But we don't know what to expect from Gears of War E-Day. Elden Ring Night Rain looks really good, but we don't really know what to expect. It's designed to be multiplayer and simpler and all that. Yeah, this is crazy. What do you guys think we'll look back on and say was the worst value?

I'm going to say GTA 6 because I think it's going to get delayed. No, I think it's going to get delayed too. No, it's coming out. So that one, that one. But if it's not caused by a delay. I really Borderlands 4, even though I got it for $18. I don't know that I'm I have a lot of confidence in. It's a little bit of an overpay, maybe. Yeah, and then...

I don't think anyone really overpaid for much. I don't think so. I think people might say the alters, but we wouldn't say that. No. I think $50 for Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 might seem like a lot, especially since I got avowed for the exact same price.

But I have pretty high confidence that both those games are going to be pretty darn impressive games, man. And they'll come out this year. Oh, they're coming out. Yeah, for sure. Oh, man. I can't wait to come back to this episode at the end of the year and then just go like, man, we seem't wait to come back to this episode at the end of the year. And then just go like,

man, we seem like we knew everything. I like we lit. I, I know. I think you guys did, but I went back and listened to our 2024 episode of this all over again. And we were just talking about these games that were coming up and like

future. Josh is like, no, stop talking about Sandland. Don't stop saying how good Sandland is going to be so good. And then I was just like, why, why was I excited about that game? Or, you know, oh man, it was, it was funny. So Paul, thank you so much for joining us once again, buddy. It is, it is awesome to have you back with us, man. So thank you from not only myself and Ryan,

but all the listeners as well for jumping in on this with us and just making it a great time and putting a pretty darn good list together, man. Yeah, right? Yes, as always, thanks for having me on. It's always a blast. I'm always excited when I get to join you guys.

And I'm really looking forward to this year in gaming. It's going to be pretty great. Oh, where wins me? No one drafted it. We didn't. I just don't know what I think about it. I still think it looks great, but they just, it just kind of disappeared. And then it kind of did.

Yeah. So that worries me a little bit. Yeah. I go fly to China. You can play it there. Oh, I have to. The game I was talking about was Judas. Oh yeah.

Judas is supposed to come out in march of 2025 now they've been real radio silent on it with with the exception of the gameplay that they gave us not too long ago but if like everything points to it's supposed to come out in 2025 will it be march i don't know about that but i still think that that's what they're shooting for on that one and i mean that game that game looks incredible, dude. That was the one I didn't want to tell Ryan about because I don't want you putting it on your list because it's a huge name game if it does release this year. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. All right. Well, that does it for us, everybody. Thank you for listening. It is so good to be back. 2025 is going to be incredible. I just, I can't wait. I know Ryan's

excited. Paul, we know you'll be back with us at some point as well. If nothing else, just for the end of your episode to talk about this one, man. Yeah. So that is it. Hey, remember, if you haven't already done it, follow us in your podcast app, open it up, click follow, click the plus button. That way you get all our episodes the day they release. Follow us on socials at Video Gamers Pod. And if you enjoyed this episode and you want to just support this content, if you're gamers like us, think about supporting the show. Head over to MultiplayerSquad.com and you can sign up there for as little as five bucks a month. That's it for this one. Until next time, happy gaming.

See ya. Goodbye, everyone.