Video Gamers Podcast - The MOST Anticipated Games of 2026 DRAFT! – Gaming Podcast

Episode Date: January 5, 2026

Gaming hosts Josh, Ryan, and Ace are back with a bold video games draft episode, battling it out to select the most anticipated releases of 2026. From long-awaited sequels to risky new IP, the guys argue value, hype, and draft strategy as they build the ultimate lineup of must-play video games for the year ahead. This episode dives into predictions, studio expectations, and which picks could define the future of the industry. If you love friendly competition, hot takes, and deep dives into what’s coming next, this is a can’t-miss discussion for fans who live and breathe gaming. Set aside your backlog and tune in as the crew debates, steals picks, and pay far too much for GTA VI (again…) only on the Video Gamers Podcast, where gaming never stops.   Thanks to our MYTHIC Supporters: Redletter, Disratory, Ol’ Jake, Gaius, Jigglepuf, Phelps and NorwegianGreaser, and Dettmarp   Thanks to our Legendary Supporters: HypnoticPyro, PeopleWonder, Bobby S.   Connect with the show: Support us on Patreon: ⁠patreon.com/videogamerspod⁠ Join our Gaming Community: https://discord.gg/dXdp8MJR Follow us on Instagram:⁠ https://www.instagram.com/videogamerspod/⁠  Follow us on X:⁠ https://twitter.com/VideoGamersPod⁠  Subscribe to us on YouTube:⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@VideoGamersPod?sub_confirmation=1⁠    Visit us on the web:⁠https://videogamerspod.com/⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, fellow gamers, and welcome to the video gamers podcast. We're back, baby. 2026 is here. We're fresh off our holiday break, and we are absolutely amped for what's coming in 2026. What better way to kick off a new year than our annual tradition of our most anticipated games draft? Join us as we go head-to-head calling our shots on which games we think will be the best games of the year. Can I repeat my insane performance from last year?

Will Ryan blow his entire budget on GTA6? Will Ace rise to the challenge or crumble under the pressure? We're about to find out. But first, some introductions are in order. I am your host, Josh, and joining me, his first ever attempt at this had him drafting Redfall. But look how much of a professional he's become since then. It's Ryan. I will say that it hasn't gone too much better for me.

I'm still very easily excited by trailers, so we'll see what happens today. dude these trailers we watched a lot of trailers and i instantly went from like yeah okay there's some good games so like oh my gosh oh my gosh these games are going to be amazing yep yep absolutely and joining us he's got a lot to prove in this draft and there's not a ton of indies for him to fall back on so we'll see how he handles the pressure it's ace yeah there's no clear indie winner this time around. So I think I'm going to have to dip my toe into y'all's pools of AAA this time. But there was plenty of them as long as you like those, you know,

third person action adventure over the shoulder. The amount of high quality action RPG over the shoulder, third person, you know, just combat-based games is insane. And at the same time, like, I think I'm excited for all of them. At least they all look great. It is a good year If you were an action RPG fan So Ryan's got to be just like

Foaming at the mouth for this stuff, man I'm digging it, I'm digging it man This is what uh, this is the year we look forward to This is the one where we don't have that turn-based stuff You know, that that's how makes you fall asleep You know Oh boy. I almost forgot about how dumb Ryan can be

Ah, that's true. Hopefully most everybody else did as well. I mean, speaking of turn-based, Did everyone enjoy the Clare Obscure Awards? I mean, oh. Oh, I was there for it, man. I was there for it, baby. Good on them.

Good on them. No comment. No comment. Guys, we're back from our break. We had, I don't know, what, two, three weeks off from recording the pod. You know, we got to release a few of our, you know, what we thought were good episodes that we, you know, we enjoyed and stuff like that. But I like that the people are hungry because we started getting comments. about like, hey, man, when are new episodes, man?

Like, when's, you know, when are you guys going to record something new? Well, here we are. And like we do every single year, this has become a tradition. We open up the new year with the most anticipated games of the year. Now, listen, this is way too early to be doing this. But that's why it's so much fun at the same time. Like, we have nothing but trailers and hype to go on right now. You know, that's all we need, baby.

That's all we need. what more could a gamer want you know but we're going to get into the draft and if you've never heard one of these episodes before we basically go head to head to bid against each other to secure a game we have a $200 budget you cannot go over that budget and you must draft eight games so we are going to be competing with each other it is a ton of fun we're going to see we're going to see what happens with GTA 6. Last year, Ryan went all in, bid like $100 on it, and then the game got delayed and didn't

even come out. I'm going to do 100 again, baby. Sirs, you're right, Ryan. Bro, if it, look, I'll say this, if GTA 6 was still set for, I think, March was the original delay date, but now it's November, and that is way too close to the end of the year for me to feel so comfortable.

You could easily push it again. Yeah, exactly. So, I'm very curious on that one. But this episode is fantastic because you are going to hear about a lot of really good looking games. These are our most anticipated games of the year, but we have more games to talk about. So this is the episode where you're going to get a really good idea of what 2026 is bringing as far as games, what looks fantastic, what might not come out in 2026 because we do have a lot of games that are like tentatively scheduled for this year.

but, you know, that's a risk at the same time if you wind up drafting one of those and spending money on it at the same time. So we're going to get to that in just a second. But guys, it must have been the holiday season, man. Christmas came. People were feeling generous. We have a lot of new supporters to thank.

And so I want to take a minute here to number ace. Oh, my gosh. I don't know why. I hate that. I hate that's so much. That's why Ace does it. Oh, my God. Ace does the stupid little heart thumb thing, and he knows I hate it.

And he does it all the time. And I'm like, it's the same thing every time. And it's like, yeah. I'll tell you these young kids, you know. It makes me looking dear. Uh-huh. That's what it is. Trying to thank people, Ace, and you're ruining stuff here.

Oh, my goodness. Actually, Ace is just showing appreciation too. Sorry, yes. That's me. Thank you. They probably understand it. They're probably of that age. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. Well, listen, guys, we had so many new people sign up. So a huge shout out to five new rare supporters of the show. Thank you to Kevin Morrow, Red Miller, Selena Munoz, honey funches of oats and Robin Goldie for all. signing up for rare status over the last link well how long have we been gone for two two and a half weeks something like that's incredible yeah what oh man thank you so much it's yeah and guys not only did kevin redmiller selina honey funches votes and robin goldie sign up for rare status

but we had two of our longer term members that went you know what it's time to up my game and so we have a huge shout out to bad gamer dad and the infamous morgo who both up their support to legendary status. Legendary legends. Yeah. Thank you. You all are legends out there. And hey, listen, one other thing, if you're not part of our Discord server, we gave away,

I think $400 worth of games and Patreon perks over. the break and all of that was provided by members of our community, which is absolutely insane. We were able to give away something. It was like $7.50 gift cards and two year-long Patreon memberships, dude, all because of the generosity of the people that are in our Discord server. We didn't have nothing to do with that, man. That was all them. Yeah, that was all of them.

So if you were not part of the Discord server, this is your call to be a part. of it. Listen, you're allowed to lurk. We love our lurkers. We've got a ton of them, man. And it's crazy because people will say, hey, I heard you guys talking about this game. You can tell people are paying attention, but it is an incredible community of people. There is no toxicity. There is no opinion shaming. There's no fighting. There's no jerks. It is just awesome people, being awesome to each other, sharing their love of video games and having a blast. So come be a part of it. If that sounds good to you, you're exactly the kind of person we want there. So it links in the episode description.

love it all right guys it's time to get to it is it time i'm ready are you guys ready i'm so are you guys ready i'm so ready the first oh man i've never done this i'm excited most anticipated games of 2026 and again i'll i'll run through this ryan already filled in gta six on his uh on his side of things already i got it for a dollar thank you everyone i got it for a dollar yeah so again we have an open we have an open google doc that uh we may or may not be able to like adjust things i need to remember to just block ryan from being able to type in anything that's important for the show this is also why i keep my own notes separate from like what what you guys get to interact with because oh man ryan would just be like deleting my games

off my list and stuff i would never what are you talking about no not at all so all right so the rules of this draft we have a master list so there are no surprise games that somebody's keeping tucked away for themselves we want you the listeners to know about these games so we have a master list that we can all look at if we know the release date we have the release date if it's tentative we we have hey it's it's supposed to come out and then we have some games where it's like draft at your own risk because there's a very high chance that maybe they don't come out this year um each of us must leave the draft with eight games. So if you blow all your money on GTA 6, you ain't

going to have a whole lot to bid on these other games that you need to bid on at the same time. So, you know, that is part of the strategy of this. And it's just the highest bidder wins the game. It's an auction. So if you're willing to put your money where your mouth is on a game that you think is going to be great this year, then you bid it up. And, you know, we'll each end up with a list. And then what we will do is we will post this list to see what the listeners think drafted the best. And I would never be one to go back into history, but I absolutely crushed this draft last year. And I mean absolutely crushed this draft last year. You did all right. You got it, you got it lined up. I mean, yeah, just so people know. Oh, just you just happened to

have it there. Let's hear it. I mean, I might have had the list pulled up guys. Yeah, just, okay. let's just let's just happen to hear what you got well i'm just gonna okay so my games on this exact episode last year that i wound up with was the altars expedition 33 borderlands for kingdom come deliverance to avowed monster hunter wilds slay the spire too that was a that was a that it didn't happen and then and then hollow night silk song so uh you know just just three games that were nominated for game of the year. Yeah. Yeah, I mean,

one that one. Yeah. I mean, with the E33 and then KCD2, like that one that's immense it. And then Silk Song just beats the dead horse.

Yeah. Yeah. You darn right. Yeah, whatever. Well, crazy enough, my third highest game

that I bid on was the altars, which I did not wind up liking it at all. We don't know what we're doing here, people. That's the fun of it. So, all right.

Let's get to this, boys okay uh ace it is your first time doing this draft so you get the honors of nominating the first game what game do you want to put up for nomination so that we can start the bidding for it highly anticipated sequel to a fantastic horror franchise i'm putting up resident evil requiem the ninth game series i know you are extremely excited for this yes yep um i i am I'm very much looking forward to Requiem, but I don't know that I have your same hype level on this. And that's just because we haven't seen a lot of gameplay for it. We haven't seen a lot of gameplay.

But with everything else Capcom's put out regarding the Resident Evil franchise the last, you know, several years, they've all been real solid. I've seen plenty of the protagonists, and I'm on board. Yeah. All right. So, Ace, what are you going to start the bidding at on this one? I'm going to say 30. on this one. $30 for Resident Evil.

This is what, I feel like this is one of the bigger games of the year and this comes out February 27th, so we don't have that long to wait for this one either. A day before my birthday.

So $30. Ryan, you're going to bid? 35. I'm going to 45. 45. 45 Resident Evil Reckway. I mean,

this is one I knew was going to be absolutely up there, man. I mean, I know it. Ryan, you're going to bid? You're not going to bid? I might. I'm just letting you two.

You two seem to be in this little bidding war here. I'll do, would you say 45? I'll do 50. I said 45. Yeah, I'll do 50. $50. I will do 55. I'm going to make it easy and I'm out,

just so that you guys know where I'm at on this one. So it's just between you two. Oh, yeah. it's going to be a good one ace is the leader with 55 is that right yeah 55 ryan you're gonna let ace get you can let him get the first game right um like i was goading you out of money for gta 6 yes i am gonna let let him get the first game you can have it yeah all right ace comes in with resident evil i will take that i will absolutely take that for 55 dollars that's pricey ace i'm not gonna lie It is.

It's a little bit more than a quarter of your budget right there. It's a lot. And that's the thing is. It's a high quality game, man. It may be, but it's got to be for the people. Like, you got to have a good game that's got to be for the people.

Resident Evil is a very popular franchise. It is. It has mass appeal. For nothing else, the ladies love Leon Kennedy. I love Leon Kennedy. Everyone loves Leon Kennedy. All right, Ryan, your turn, buddy.

You lost out on that one. What game do you want to nominate? I want to nominate one. I'm going to go a little bit deeper. And I'm going to start early with something that hopefully is not too costly. I'm going with Judas. Ooh. Judas.

Jesus. Go ahead. Yeah, our successor to. I rewatch the trailer for this. I watched the trailer for this last night. I was telling me he's spent like two hours. is watching game trailers last night, dude. Yep, yep, yep, yep.

Judas looks so good. It looks so good. I just want to go play Bioshock now. Like, that's what I want to do. Yeah. I'm going to open the bidding at $20. 20 bucks for Judas? Okay.

Now, this is our first risky, risky game. Yeah. Because we know Resident Evil Requiem's coming out. Judas does not have a release date. Now, it is rumored for 2026. But this is, this is a risk, man. because if this game doesn't come out this year, it's just money wasted,

flushed down the toilet. I'm going to go $22. What a weenie. Oh, that's such a bad... The way... Is that, Ryan? Ace, you're going to bid? Come on, buddy.

23. Okay. 23-01. kidding. No, no, no, no, no. You can't do that. All right. So, Ace is the leader at 23. 25 bucks. 25 to Ryan. I'm out for 25. That's too rich for my blood on that I don't know is coming out this year. Yeah, I'm out. I'll do it for 25 for sure. Ace, you're out for, yeah, 20. This could be the steal of the draft already. It could be, but if Judas does release. That's why I wanted to start early. We haven't heard a thing about it, and that just concerns me. You guys got to save your money. Save your money, man.

$25, though, man. Dude, because again, because again, because again, And if Judas comes out this year, I have a feeling it will be one of the best games of the year. Like, I don't, I don't even worry about it at that point. So a $25 game, man. Yeah. All right. Well, Judas is off the board. That was one I was kind of hoping I'd wind up with like later in the draft.

Which is why I started early. I'm going to mix this up a little bit. I'm going to, I'm going to try something here because neither one of you really know about this game. it is releasing in full release this year. I have played this game a lot. Even streamed it on our Discord server a little bit. I'm going to nominate Witchfire. Oh, okay.

If you have not heard of this game, you are missing out because Witchfire is a, it is basically like a single player, rogue-like extraction shooter. And I know that sounds kind of weird, especially on the heels of Arc Raiders, but Witchfire has actually been in development longer than Ark Raiders. Raiders, I think, or at least we've known about it longer. It was an epic store exclusive, came to Steam. I probably have 40 plus hours in Witchfire at this point, and it is, oh, it is such a good game, dude. Dang. And I'm going to start to bidding at five bucks. Such a good game. Five dollars. Wow, that's on you guys. That's on you guys,

because if I can get a good game for dirt cheap, then that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, yeah, that's strategy, boys. If it's that good, I'm put it 15 on it. 15. Ooh. Okay. Dang it. Ryan. A good shooter roguike is something.

I'm going to let you guys hash this one out. I'll keep an eye on it if I want to jump in, but I'm going to let you guys bit of each other. Ace just jumped up 10 bucks, man. I'm going to go 16. You can have for 16. Yes. Yeah. Cheapest game yet.

Unless Ryan's going to hop in. Cheapest game yet. Yeah, you can have. You can have it. 16. You can have for 16. All right. Mentally, I already had a thing in place.

I was like, I'm not going above that. I feel like you just tried to get me to spend a little bit more money than five bucks on that. That may have also been my plan, which. Bro, which fire, listen, I'm telling you listeners, which fire, the graphics, everybody that was watching me play it was like, yo, this game looks really good, man. And it is really good. That's fair. And it's releasing in full access. I am.

Do we actually have the release date on that one? Do we? I thought it was just 2026 They did say it will release in 2026 but we don't have an actual concrete date on that yet I am going to

I think I'm going to dip my toes into the danger zone as well and nominate tides of annihilation that hack and slash Final Fantasy looking game and I am going to open the bidding for that up at let's say 10

10 to start I will say this tides of annihilation we don't have a release date for this one yet we have almost nothing um we have almost nothing it i will say this it is expected 2026 is what the current stuff says famous last words by the way this might be one of the most bananas games i think i've ever seen guys like it is hard to state what this game actually looks like it is it is over the top and it is beautiful it actually feels like this is next gen type game for 2026 at this point the animations the graphics everything about this is like oh my gosh this is a spectacle i am going to bid 15 oh straight to 15 yep i'll

do 17 20 22 25 30 30 30 30 30 for a game that may not come out this year? It's that good looking, dude. You already spent 55. It's that good looking, dude. If this comes out, this is going to do incredibly well. Yeah, no. It's like when Devil May Cry 5 came out and absolutely sweep.

No, no, no, no, I'm out. I'm out. He does know. He makes a good point, Josh. Josh, he makes a really good point. You should bid again. That what? If this comes out, it'll be like when Devil May Cry came out and absolutely sweeped for game.

for a little bit. Yeah, this game looks insane, dude. Like, honestly, I showed my daughter who doesn't like, I mean, she only likes dinosaur games. Like, she plays Arc and a couple other dinosaur games. I showed to this trailer, and I said, do you want to see one of the most bananas, like, looking games I think I've seen in a really long time?

And she sat there and watched the whole trailer and was like, oh my gosh, dude. Like, if I knew that this game was releasing in 2026, I would go hard, hard on this game. I'm just not sure it's going to, is my, year and $30 is I think 30's fair for it. So I think 30's fair for it.

If it comes out like that pays for itself easily. Oh man. This is the one I may wind up regretting like big time is letting Ace on this for 30 bucks man. You won't. But Ace is basically spent almost half of his money on two games. Two very good games.

Yeah, they're pretty good looking games. One's guaranteed to come out. I know. I know. All right. Ryan, you're up for nomination. What do you want to throw up there? buddy. Oh, man.

Do I go with the big banger? Do I go, what do we do here? What do we do? It's your choice, I'm going to do with something that, um, we're going to go with the big one. I am going to say, we're going to start with Wolverine. Ooh. I am very. Why possibly one of the more anticipated games of this year? Very, very excited. It's mentioned in almost. almost every list that people say, like, what are you looking forward to? If you want to just, just be a PlayStation exclusive? Tank guy.

I don't think so. Good question. I don't. I wasn't sure because all the trailers I saw were on Sony's channel. So I didn't, no, I wasn't sure. It is exclusive, according to the AI search at least. Oh, gosh, you'll have to borrow my, yes, Wolverine is exclusive. You heard it here, people.

I get to borrow Ryan's PS5. So you did just offer it too. So I'm going to open that bidding at $20. 20. What's up? Poor boy over there, Ace. Yeah, I don't want it for anything. I'm good.

Wow. Ace is out on Wolverine? I have what I want. In my mind, all right? And that's not on there. 25, Ryan? 20. 20.

He's at 20. 25. I go 25. I'll do 20. 37 30 35 and don't try to run me up because then I'll leave you with it

I know you Wolverine's gonna be good Wolverine's gonna be good that was my fear I'll go 36 on Wolverine no we should make like some dollar increment there's no rule against dollar

increments you say 30 you said 36 36 yeah 38 39 42 Sad high I wish we had more gameplay on this I have seen some gameplay

there's a lot of games I want on this though and I want to be able to just All right you can have it for 42 All right That's a I I put that I would go up to 50 on Wolverine But I had it in the range of like $60 Is like probably my math

max 6065. The problem is there's a lot of games that I really, really want to land. And Wolverine, while it looks great, is not super high on that list. So, all right. Well, let's do it, boys. Before we go to the break, GTA 6. Are you a gambling man? I have more money than Ace Amblin. I have more money than you both. I could just straight up bully you out of this. Go ahead. I'm going to start the bidding with GTA 6 at $50. I'm out. No thanks. 65.

65? 75? 75. 75. 80. 85. Y'all are crazy. Ryan, that would leave you with like $30.

That's fine. That's all. Dude, I have, I have Judas and Wolverine and then GTA. 6. Like, what, what do you mean? Yeah, that's pretty good. If Judas comes out, he set himself up for success. Yeah. What are you at? 85? I think so. I don't even know. 90.

You all get at me for spending too much. What I spent last year? I think it was a hundred. You spent a hundred last year. Yeah, you spent a hundred last year. You want a straight hundred. You spend half your budget on GTA 6. Um, miserably. 95. You can have it. All right.

You can have it. Give it to me. You can have it. I can't wait for it to get delayed again. Also, also, if it releases in November, which is a big if, isn't that too late to qualify for game of the year? Depends when. It'll auto-qualify. What are you talking about?

It's November 19th. I think that might be too late to qualify for game of the year. Although I'm sure the game awards will make some sort of year. an exception since they're not dispatch. All right. So, Ryan, you bid 95. Is that correct? I think it said 75. Yeah, you wish.

You cheater, you. Look at him, man. Hey, you cheat. He ain't trying, man. What are you talking about? So you have to draft five more games, Ryan, and you have $33 to do that with. I live on a shoestring budget, brother. Let's go.

Okay. I love it. Ryan wins up. I was going to see how high I could get Ryan to go on this. And I feel like he would have gone higher if he hadn't already bought, like, two games. I wasn't going over 100 for sure. Like, no. Yeah, I thought about going a hundred, but then I was like, I don't, I'm really worried it's going to get delayed again, dude. I don't think it'll get delayed long, but if it does, like, if it just

gets delayed to like, you know, January, it's like that's still. That would not be good for me. That's for sure. Though, yeah. All right, listen, everybody, we're going to take a quick break and then we will come back and draft some more awesome games for 2026. We'll be right back after this break. All right. We're back. Let me just summarize real quick here. Ryan spending Ryan, this draft has Judas Wolverine and GTA 6. Those are some absolute bangers. But Ryan, you have the highest risk out of anybody because no risk and no biscuit, baby. And Jesus may not release this year in GTA 6. Who knows, man. Ace, Ace, you got two bangers. I really like both of these. um ace has resident evil requiem and tides of annihilation a bit of a risky pick on tides that's a risky one but i only paid 30 for it so that's true that's true and i have witch

fire at sixteen dollars that's the biggest steal so far my strategy is working out well so all right it is uh it is well i nominated gt six so ace we're back to you what do you yep what are you throwing up for nomination here this was actually the first time i saw this game was at the game awards, but I'm putting up Phantom Blade Zero. This game looks legit. It is the first trailer. Now, I know that there have been other trailers

for this game, but I, the first trailer I saw was at the game awards as well, and I was like, okay, this game looks real good, dude. It's like a faster, more, like, darker ghost of Sushima in a way? It's a mix of Ghost Sushima and Sekiro, it looks like, with

some, like, souls like it. And I'm along with some of that like eastern mythology mixed in like when she takes the hammer and just smashes the two the monks standing on top of one another oh yeah uh and we do have a confirmed release date of september 9th on this one which does give you hope that this game will actually release this year what do you start i see i think i'm going to start the bidding for this one at 20 25 30 35 35 32 you can't what i've been 35 Oh, sorry, I didn't hear you right. I want it back down, actually.

I don't want to take it back to, no. Sorry, I meant to say, hold on. I was like, I meant to say 42. My bad, 42. 42. Oh, man. Ace really likes this game. I'm going to go 43.

I got some money. I'm going to go up to 45. Wait. Oh, Brian, are you getting in on this one? Wait, you don't have $45. Get out of here. You don't have $45. Get out of here.

What the? Yeah. I don't have $4. $45. I have no money. Go sweep a chimney, poor boy. Yeah, you're broke, Ryan. Yeah, right. I got riches. So wait, you're up to 45.

I'm going to go to 45 on this one. You both would be so poor. I would have all the money to get all the games that I want on this one. But you won't get this game. By the same, but you'll be letting go of Phantom Blade Zero. I won't get this game, though. And then there's some risky picks. So I'm going to go 46.

48. 49. you can have it for 49 all right all right I needed a game that I knew was coming out I say you can have for 49 you can have it yeah because I'm I have some

games that I really really want but I'm like super scared that they're not going to release either man so it's like if I if I go in on those I can't be going like $40 50 on these ones that's fair man all's fair

coming out man yeah Phantom Blade Zero looks incredible though Phantom Blades zero it looks really good dude the whole like shadow thing that you can like yeah i was i was i actually watched like two different trailers on this last night and it just looks so good dude the combat looks over the top like i said yeah i think you nailed it i think sechero and uh ghost of sashima he's very sechro ghost ischima inspired yeah oh man all right ryan we're back to you buddy what are you putting up all right i'm going to put up the imaginary game that is known as ill

Oh, man, that is a risk. Dang it, man. Ill looks insane to me, dude. If it's real, it's going to be pretty damn sweet. If that's a real game. I am going to start the bidding at $5. Because I'm poor. I'm poor.

Eight. Right. Josh. You're going to let me get ill for $8? If that comes out, you're screwed. Yeah, because it looks really good. Dang. I'm like eight bucks.

Heck yeah. Awesome. Ryan could solidify an incredible top four picks. Don't try to, don't even try to hype me up on this. I'm just saying, I'm just saying. I'm just saying. $9. Oh, that, huh, you know, another dollar.

Oh, God. That's far too much. A dollar comes into play. That dollar makes a difference when you're mentally doing the math of what you still want. You know, you can have it for nine. I have no idea if it's coming. Josh, I didn't say I was out. I said, I meant for me.

I don't know about Josh. It's for me. Josh, you're not, you're out. Don't even. It looks. Don't even. You ain't going to risk it. No riskin' no biscuit. No biscuit. That's how I live my life. For $9 for Ryan to get ill. Yeah. All right. You can have it, Ryan. You can have it. Boom. I knew I would.

That's ridiculous. I don't think it's coming out this year as the problem. I don't even know if this game really exists. I don't have ill. I was watching the trailers for this last night. And I'm like, I don't know that this game is actually real, like from a gameplay perspective. Like, sure, it looks amazing and they've got some really freaky stuff going on. But like, is a lot of that like pre-rendered? I don't know. Who knows? Nobody knows. All right. Uh, who nominated that one? Ryan? Me. Was that Ryan? Okay. So it's back to me, huh? Okay. All right, boys. I am going to nominate. a game that I think looks like a lot of fun and I'm very hyped for this game because I think this is going to be the next hell divers too. Oh yeah. And I am nominating toxic commando and I'm going to start the bidding at $10. I'll do 12. Ryan's thinking. Yeah, he's thinking real hard. He doesn't want to bid. Ryan, you're down to $25. I really like this game. Like I want, I've won. I've won. want it so bad it looks really freaking good i'm excited for those hell divers moments again man

yeah it's like back for blood left for dead hell divers zombie horde shooter your vermin tides your dark tides like hoard shooter against zombies builds weapons vehicles which looks really really fun to me the vehicles the vehicles a vehicle i went through hoards of zombies while your buddies are like machine gunning and stuff and again we may have an inside source that says it's really fun

so yeah yeah we know somebody that's been part of the closed beta is that it's like yo this game's a ton of fun so Ryan are you in or you out I'm not voting as of right now okay so ace you're at 12

12 I'll go 15 15 17 17 I'll just go 20 you can have it for 20 if Ryan's not going to put him I am out I'm going to bow out you could technically vote yeah that would leave you very little bit on every last game so it would leave you very little okay so I get it for toxic Commando for $20 I'm not going to lie it makes me

very happy because I think that game is going to be one of the top multiplayer games of the year yeah but multiplayer games don't get a lot of awards and attention man like at the same time like look at this list of games there's not very many multi-player games on this there isn't on this master list that we have dude these are all like single player toxic commando is the one the one standout like multiplayer game to me and i wanted to make sure i landed that one so all right okay i am going to put forward the spiritual successor from the original creators of little nightmares reanimal oh did you play the demo on this did you try you haven't played the demo for this one yet no i played the demo on this one and it's good i've watched

plenty of trailers. It looks good. It looks very late. It is good. I can tell you that. They capture, and I love the fact, again, we, you know, we interviewed, uh, uh, the studio, Tarsier studios. Yeah, Tarsier Studios. Tobias. I think, no, Tobias was a different one. Was they a different one? Well, he was the composer for little. He was the original composer for the original. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We talked to the creative director, uh, for, for Tarshier. The beauty of every animal is they're leaning into the horror side of things. Oh, it looks like it. And I can tell you that they do.

It looks very upsetting. Because a game like this should be horror instead of just suspense like Little Nightmares is. And Re-Anvil went, yep, okay. We can do that. No problem ripping people in half in this game. And it's like, all right. And I'm going to start the bidding at.

I was going to start the bidding at 10 for this one. 10 for Reanimal. 15. Yeah. 18. Ryan, we're already too rich for Ryan's blood, maybe. That's too rich for my blood.

18. Help me. I want some money. I got, I got $1 more than Ace right now. And I got a lot of games I want. Just buy them out, dude. 19.

20. Dude, reanimal should be going for like 2530. This is where it's like, it's that hard, yeah, it's that hard kind of. Well, we're near the end now,

so nobody has any money. It's, be great but is it going to be like game of the year type great you know and are they even considered an indie studio still I believe they are yeah I believe they are still yeah because little nightmares got bought out by by Bandai Namco and then the original developers

not an indie no no they are not they moved over to reanimal they're working on CodeVane too so you're at 20 ace yeah I'm at 20 for this one dude I got toxic Camano for 20 um I'll let you have it for 20 I'll take that for 20 I'll absolutely take the animal That one's tough for me dude

I wish Ryan wasn't freaking broke So he spent all his money on GTA 6 again I know Can't wait for you do it again next year Ryan? Eventually eventually it'll it'll be released I can't wait for you to do it again next year bud It's gonna be great Oh no don't you put that evil on me

Bro I will mock Ryan so much if GTA 6 gets ready Dude I'll spend another 100 again I'll do it again 100% is there a world where gta six comes out and it's kind of like it's a great game but it's not the most earth shattering game like people think no i think so yeah you have that much faith in it huh i mean it is it is you've got a lot of faith in this dude it's right you just played red dead dude and you saw what it's yeah but red dead like the story's the whole point i've

heard grand theft auto the story isn't even that important or no the story it's not but it was really cool and the missions were amazing and all the side things like everything about it. No, don't even get me started. Grand Theft Auto's awesome. Yeah. It's coming from someone, I played GTA 1 and 2 and 3 like all the way through.

All right, Ryan, we're back to you. What are you nominating with your $25 that you have? My big money. Oh, man. I'm going to nominate one game that you like quite a bit, buddy. I'm going to go Path of Exxon.

too. That's a good good, dude. That is, yeah. I'll tell you this. I like Path of Exile 2 so much more than I like Diablo for. That feels crazy. Unfortunately, I can't argue with you. I think it probably is better.

You haven't played Path of Exile. So what are you not, what are you putting it up for? I'm going to start at five bucks. Five bucks? I'm out. Yeah, I ain't doing that. Sweet. I'll take POA 2 for five bucks.

All right. Yeah, heck yeah. I'm not super big on the early, picking an early access game that's going into full release personally. You don't say. Dude, Path of Exile 2 is really good. Like, I will, I've already have like 90 hours in Path of Exile 2, uh, from the beta or the, the early access. Yeah, yeah. When that game fully releases, I will easily put another 100 hours into it. I love Path of Exile 2. I just don't know that it's going to get nominated. Oh, all my, yeah, all my Dablo buddies are like, you know, it's,

it's pretty good and that's what they play now, you know, other than the build, the build variety. and Path of Exile, too, is second to none. The animations and graphics are incredible. I played through it with Andy, buddy, you know, a friend of ours. Like, it's, I love that game. It's so good. And I intentionally have not touched it in, like, the last year because when it does fully release, I want to jump back in, like, just completely, dude.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I bet. Well, since you played with Andy, you will be able to go through. I would have made that up, Ryan, but I actually don't want to wind up with that game. And I was worried that if I went, like, six or seven, you would have just been, like, it's yours. And then I've been like, I don't want that one.

You know, as much as I love the game, I got other games on my list that I, that was my fear. I didn't want to end up with it. Yeah. I'm happy to take it for $5 for sure. All right. We're nominating a big boy here, boys.

Oh. I'm putting up replaced. This is the game that we did not know about until late, uh, in 2025. It came out with a trailer that really just kind of blew us all away. This is a beautiful pixel art game. kind of cyberpunk

setting I'll tell you what sealed the deal on this for me was I was watching another trailer last night and it had some absolutely just one of the like most bangor soundtracks going

and I'm like if this is the trailer and they have this kind of music in their game I was like bro this game is going to be legit I am going to start the bidding at $30 for replaced 30 for replaced I'll go to 32

well Ryan can't even bid at this point you guys got so much money 35 I will do 37 40 dude this game looks so cool it's like uh yeah 42 oh my gosh 43 you can have it for 43 I'll take it for 43 I was well I'll tell you this I was willing to go up to 50 on I had a feeling you were willing to go pretty far on this one and I just didn't want to risk it

The only thing that worries me about this game is if like, because they do show combat in it a little bit, and I don't think it's a combat forward game, but like my only concern is like if the combat is just kind of meh and they'd lean into it too much, could that actually detract from the game? Or is it more just like, there will be a few times in the game where you need to fight. And, but dude, listen, listeners, if you haven't seen the trailer for replaced, go watch this trailer. It's indescribable. It is really good. Really, really good looking. And, again, I'm not the biggest fan of pixel art, but this might be some of the most beautiful pixel art I've seen in a game. When he, like, kicks the dude down and then, like, twirls the gun and he goes, boom, and he just shoots the guy. Like, yeah. It's the backgrounds, the vibe, like the atmosphere and replaced. This is one of the games. I was like, I need to leave the draft with this game.

So I'm glad I got it. And I got it for $7 less than I was willing to bid on it, too. So that's kind of nice. There you go. All right. Ace, you're the money leader now. All right. You also have the fewest games here.

I know I need to start adding some games I am looking to nominate Fire Emblem Fortune's Weave Which I know neither of you have played a Fire Emblem game Neither of you. I'm bidding this one up any interest in it I'm bidding this one up What the heck is Fire Emblem Fortunes Weave by the way Fire Emblem Fortunes Weave is a sequel to Fire Emblems

Three Houses and Fire Emblem for those who don't know is one of the best tactical JRPs of all time Don't at me So does that mean that this game is going to be good Oh yeah just that it's... Did you ever, like, look up how many copies of three houses

they sold? I have heard of... I've actually heard of that one, but no, I don't know. I don't know anything about Fire Embole. Oh, dude. We were chatting about this earlier today. Enlighten us.

This is not... It's not up there with, like, Mario and Zelda, but this is one of Nintendo's bigger selling franchises, like, globally. Oh, really? It is huge. People love Firebump.

What's, uh, what's your starting bid? Ryan, keep it busy while I watch a trailer real fast. I'm gonna start. I need to watch it's Nintendo. Start the bid at $5. No, you ain't getting this for no $5. $7. I can bid.

Ryan, Ryan's in for seven. Please, Ace, don't bid again. Just let Ryan have this game. I'm not giving him fire him. No, come on, man,

do it. He doesn't even know what this game is. If I didn't know that, I'll take it. It's Nintendo. Do you realize how big this game could possibly be? Then bid. No, because I don't know anything about it.

Going once. All right. Go on twice. Ten. Ryan Go ahead, Josh Come on, man I'm out

I'm out I don't know nothing about Yeah, 10 bucks for Firebloom It ain't gonna win game of the year It ain't gonna win game of the year You have no idea what you've done Fortunes weave Fortunes weave baby

Okay, all right I mean I do know that Fire Emblem's big But I'll be honest I have not heard this name mentioned anywhere by anybody Other than Ace right now We don't ever hear any of the names that Ace gives us. What are you talking about? That's fair. That's fair. Me and my

Fire Blum tattoo are very happy right now. You have a tattoo of it, right? I do have a tattoo from Fire on Blue. Ryan's last two games, by the way, ill for $9, which is absolute insanity if that game does release this year. And then Path of Exile 2 for five bucks. Stop. I have a, I have a. Ryan, you enjoyed the bargain bin? All right. All right. All right, Ryan, it's back to you. Oh, man. I'm going to go from that, uh,

another tier two good good value market i'm going to go with squadron 42 now tell us ryan what do you know about squadron 42 yeah what is squadron 42 yeah squadron 42 is a game that is uh potentially going to release i hope it does is a game that exists it is a game it may not uh but i i i very very very much hope it does and i'm going to start the bidding at five dollars Ryan still didn't explain what squadron 42 is. I know. I still don't know what kind of game squadron 42 is from that. Space game. Oh, space game?

Yeah, space game. Fly your ships around. Let me educate people here. Squadron 42 is the single player experience that is made by the makers of star citizens. So I think it's Kyle Imperium is the developer, RSI, Robert Space Industries. So the people that are making Star Citizen, which I know a lot of gamers think does not exist. That game does exist. So what people reference in Star Citizen is the persistent universe, which is this massive, just open, do whatever the heck you want. I have played Star Citizen a few times with Disritory, who's kind of shown me the robes.

It might be one of the most technically impressive games I think I've ever seen. Like if you want to talk about the impact that like World of Warcraft had on gaming, the possibility, I'm not saying it's going to happen, but the possibility that Star Citizen has that kind of impact is absolutely there. squadron 42 is their single player experience that they are putting out to the world to say hey this is your introduction to star citizen it has some of the most insane cast i have seen in a game like henry cavil i mean dude there are the the the hollywood elite have voiced this this there's so many of them it's crazy it's bananas and there is a very very real possibility of Squadron 42 is mind-blowingly good, dude.

Like, I will say this. My one complaint with Star Citizen is it is so insanely complicated to get into. It is a massive barrier of entry for somebody like me. But once you're in it, it's mind-blowing. You're not getting this for $5,

Ryan. I can tell you that. I will be $10. Hmm. Ace, you're going to bid? No. He says no. I've zero. A's out. Graphics too good.

Too many, too many A-less celebrities. I'm out. This might be like, you know how we joke around about $12? $12. Ubisoft being 12-drupal A game. Like Squadron 42 might be like an actual legit quadruplea game. I mean, they got, who can run it? I know, right.

Especially with prices today. Dude, the trailer, the gameplay trailer for Squadron 42 is an hour long. Oh my gosh. Like the gameplay trailer for this is an hour long. I didn't want that one. What did you bid? 12.

I'm going. I'll just go 13. 14. 15. I have 21. Ryan, look at his bank account. I'm all tapped out, boss.

Oh, man. So you're at 15? Let's see what I got there. Do you do? 16 17 see here's the deal is like I can't afford

to run it up on you but like anything you get from what I can afford is a value Ace why aren't you in on this you this is a quality I know right this is where you want the other guy I got no interest in it at all

I don't think space games that are widely appealing overall oh my gosh ace you're killing me. What are you at? It's your money.

You spent it all on Gtage six. Yeah, because you're supposed to hype it up too. You're at six? 17. I'm at 17. 17. 18. Are you really bidding 18?

18. 18? Ryan would have no money left. Don't do it, Josh. He would be stuck with whatever games we give him. 19. Ah, come on. You're killing me.

I can't I can't buy it then at 19 right you can you have a dollar no you you have $21 left including a dollar reserve for each of your games because that'll be my sixth game

yeah you're just trying to run me up I know you no he would never all right you can have it for 19 bro I'll take it I listen

I wish you the best dude I hope it comes out squadron 42 squadron 42 was my secret this might be the most incredible game that comes out this year other than GTA 6 maybe. If, look, I'm begging you. I'm begging you. Please make this game easily approachable

because look, Star Citizen, it's impressive, but it's way too complicated, dude, way too complicated. If they can make Squadron 42 accessible to people, this might be, like, the hope for them is that Squadron 42 is what actually gets people to believe in Star Citizen. And if they pull it off, I feel like this is all of their eggs in one basket. And if they pull it off, I think the world is going to go holy crap star citizen might be amazing that's my hope so it's a i hope so too man we watch we watch our homie uh in the discord districtory play it and like we can you know it's amazing so hopefully this is unlike ace i love space games yeah how can you like space stuff also reminds me never interesting like wing commanders like x wing versus tie fighter type

games but with insane technology so i like me all right that one that one took a little while there squad i did not think any of you were going to go with squadron 42 man i thought this was going to be the one i got for like a dollar i thought i was going to get it for a decent price and then i ran out of money i can't believe you made me spend $19 on this because i was like i'm going to get this it's worth 25 or 30 for sure so yeah i think it i legitimately think it is i think it's honest it might be worth more than that i'd never even heard of it you have to make it approachable. I have to make it approachable.

Yeah. You might have so crazy because it's... Scully's in there, dude, Scully. Dude, look up the cast of Squadron 42. It is Hollywood elite, dude. Like, elite. Just bangor after banger. Like, no stop. I mean, there's probably

12 of them, dude. It's like, if you saw this cast in a movie, it would be like the biggest blockbuster movie that people were like, oh my goodness, how'd you do that? So... Fair enough. Yeah, we'll see. All right. So Ryan, you nominated that one. It's back to me. It's back to you. Okay.

All right. Let's put up a big boy here. Let's just get it out of the way, boys. 007 first light. I feel like this is the last of the really big name games that are like the, you know, the highest hype levels. I'm going to start the bidding at, do I just, do I just bid Ryan out of this right away, A. Do I start the bidding at $22? You know what?

I'm starting to be a $22. I feel like this happens. Ryan doesn't even get to bid. Yes. Fine. Whatever. Oh, man. You don't even get a chance to be in Ryan.

Whatever. I actually really, I really like this game the way it looks to. I'm so excited. The more of I watch the trailers. There's like an hour demo I was watching last night. And I'm like, bro, this game looks incredible. I'm just so excited for a cool action adventure like spy game again. We're done by the hitman driving and gadgets and stuff.

Like at one point he's got like the laser watch that just like burns some guard or something. Like, oh, man. I love it. All right. All right. $22, Ace. I'm going to go $25. Bro, this is a AAA title.

You won't care nothing about no double seven first light. I care about winning. I'll go, I'll go, I'm just going to go 30. Why not? 30 off the bat. I'll do 35. It's worth 35. Ace is so scared to spend money.

I love it. That's because I still have things I consider better. I'll go 37. 37. 39. No one Ais is saving his money for. He said 39. There's two games, Aces.

39? Dang, it all have $10 left if I get this for 40. Go for it. Boom, Ace, good job. Hey, I'm proud of you, Ace. I got some sneaky ones. I got some sneaky ones later. That's going to be good, but it's not going to be up for anything crazy.

It's not going to be $40 good. It's going to be a crazy. No, no, no. They've been hyping this game nonstop. As we should, it'll be fun for us. But it's not going to win awards. It's not going to be top level. It's going to be a good, awesome game that will enjoy thoroughly, but it's not going to be any kind of next trend setting type thing.

Wrong. Wrong. Whatever. Good job, Ace. I'm proud of you. Oh, I'm poorer than Ryan. Yeah. Who's the poor one now?

More than Ryan. Peasant. What am I done? Peasant. What am I done? Guys, I have the weirdest mix of games. I've got an interesting list, pal. The only one I'm upset I didn't get from you is

Phantom Blade Zero, and that's the only one. Not replaced? I thought you'd be all in on replace. I really like replaced, but... I legitimately was like, is Ace going to go like $50 or $60? I was tempted to not let you have replaced either, but Phantom Blade Zero, I think, is the only one I regret not going a little higher on. Okay, well, that's good.

All right. Well, I'm broke, boys. You're broke. I'm just going to hand this over to you guys now. So I'm going to go ahead and... put up thick as thieves which is the multiplayer dishonored style game

$10 $10 Started the bidding That's as much as you can bid That's where it is for you Start it started at 11 Just for him Yeah I was I was gonna start the bid at $8 actually Okay eight to ace

Ryan Uh no bid at this time I'm not gonna bid $9 because that would give me $1 left for my last two games. I think Think of Steves looks like a ton of fun. We talked about multiplayer games, dude. This is the one where you are trying to pull off a heist

without getting caught, but you can sabotage the other people in this game. Sabotage the other players or work together if you feel like it. This game looks insanely fun to me. It also looks very well done. The graphics, the animation. Like, this is a top-notch game. This is not a friend-slop game at all.

Came out of nowhere, too. This game looks legit to me. I wish I had more money. Because I would absolutely bid this up. And if you get this for under $10, it's a crime. And Ryan is our only hope at this point. So I am out. I don't have the money to pay.

Ryan, you want to pay more than $8 for it? No. And how much? Let's see. 9. 10. Also, I will say this. I will say this.

Do we have a release date? It's just projected for 2026. So it's risky. But if it comes out, I think it's going to be a lot of fun. Okay. So you got that for 2026. 10, Ace? Yeah, I got them up for, I got them up two bucks, Josh. Okay, that's good. Good job, Ryan. Good job. Thank you. Pat on the back. Pat on the back.

Thieves for 10. Ace is finding value here, man. He got reanimal for 20, fire emblem for 10 and thick as thieves for 10. I can't believe that you guys let me have fire emblem for 10. You weren't even trying to put that up. Yeah, we'll see. We'll see. I don't know anything about it. It's like, I will say this. You suckers bid me up on which fire because neither one of you knew anything about my game. I was not planning on taking that at all. I had to go six. I had to go six. $16 for that. I wasn't going to take Witchfire at all. The only saving grace is that game is really good, dude. So, all right. Let's see.

That was Ace nominated that one. So, Ryan, we're back to you. Oh, man. I am going to do another kind of crazy looking game. I'm going to do Clockwork Revolution. Oh, this is Ace's big one. This is the one I've been waiting for. This is his big one.

All right. This is the one he's saving for. Okay. What are you bidding, Ryan? Well, Ace does have $72. I would say, uh, yeah, I can kind of get whatever. Starting bid, 15 bucks. Mm.

Yeah, that's, okay. I can't bid because that's more than mine, so. Just go, go to 20. He'll have to bid you out. He's not losing this one, Ryan. No, I have to go to 19. I guarantee you, Ace will not let you have this for 20. Yeah, so then, okay, you can have it for 20.

Yeah. Yep. Well, you could have been 21, Ryan. No, I could. You could have bid 21. It's too late. I only have $1. He said I can have it for $20.

No, I have five. I have five games. I need to put three more. That would only give me. I have a dollar reserved for each of those three. There is $1. There's $1 held for each space. So the total amount remaining is your total that you could did.

But you gave it to Ace for. That's fine. Also, Ace, while your list looks incredible, you have more risk than anybody at this point, to be honest. Risk it for the biscuit, baby. Because Clockwork Revolution has. no release date whatsoever at all. Tides of Annihilation has no release date

whatsoever. Thick as Thieves, maybe 2026 is what they're saying. There is no greater risk than the game ill. That's very true. But Ryan also got that for $9. Yeah. Nine bucks. Yeah. All right.

I'm stoked on that one. Guys, for the listeners, clockwork revolution looks absolutely insanely. I love it. Dude, the characters, the art style, the combat options, like, this is a steampunk. Take a, take dishonored in Bioshock and kind of smash them together into a really, really good looking game. Almost like a Western steampunk. If we had, if we had a known release date, I probably would be in like legitimately like the $50 range for Clockwork Revolution, dude.

It looks that good. I was a shame you only have 11. What's that? It's a shame you only 11 respect. saying like initially initially you know that's fair okay uh Ryan you nominated that one right yes I was Ryan yeah okay um let's go with I'm gonna nominate I'll be honest I really don't know anything about this game other than graphically it looks pretty fun I'm gonna go Crimson Desert for five bucks Crimson Desert Josh why don't you describe crimson

desert to us so Crimson Desert let's see Ryan I can do this because I actually do all of my homework. Crimson Desert is a game started off. I'm just kidding. You saw my tabs. I've watched everything and I've been looking at Squatron 42 for a long time. Yeah. The fact that you knew Squadron 42, I was like,

all right. Yeah. Crimson Desert is a game that started off in development as an MMO and then they went, look, the MMO world's not so hot anymore. So they turned it into a single player game, but it plays like an MMO on a massive scale. it is

it is like it's everything that you would expect in an MMO but in a single player experience the graphics look really good the combat is this again action RPG over the shoulder type combat I think it graphically looks really impressive I just don't know a ton about it

and I don't have a ton of budget so I'm just going to start to bidding a five bucks on this one I don't have a ton of budget and I don't have a lot of money this one actually like the gameplay that seen looks kind of pretty sick like the the combat and everything that we've we've been able to see so far looks pretty sweet so you said five dollars very polished the only my only hang up on this game honestly is like is this going to be like first descendant lost arc uh thrown in liberty where

it is just your kind of Asian inspired kind of meant to be an MMO free to play we hope you buy cosmetics and then it's a lot of fun in the beginning and then you just fail you're You know, you just fall off after 20 hours because it becomes a grind at that point. 20, 30 hours, then you hit the grind wall, and then it's either you buy or you grind. I don't know. I don't know. So I think visually it looks impressive. So $5 for me.

I'm going to go seven. Is this launching into full access or early access? I think it's full access, March 19th. I haven't heard of early access. Okay, because this game is very graphically intense looking. So it's like, yeah. Oh, it's pretty gnarly. Yeah, it looks, it looks killer, like, genuinely.

So I was like, is this? Yeah, it doesn't say early access, so it just says it's set to release on March 19th. So for PlayStation Xbox, PC. All right, so my bid was at $3, Josh. What are you at? You said seven, right? Yeah, money said seven. Why are you trying to take it down a lower?

Listen, like I said, you ain't, you missed your money bags? Yeah, I'll do 10 on this one. I'm going to go my full 11, boys. You'll put all your money on that. it's commendable, but I'm going to have to take it from you at 12. Dang it. Ryan, don't let him have this for $12, Ryan.

Yeah, he's going to smoke us both. Yay. What? Yeah, I don't. My risk has been balanced. Look,

okay, I tried really hard to downplay this game. I think this game looks like this game looks like. Crimson Desert is the sneaky, like it's going to come out and I think it's going to blow some people away and I think it's going to start getting a ton of traction. And I think it is drastic. under the radar right now, which is where I was trying to keep it until you two suckers started looking at trailers again and then be like, oh man, this game actually

really good. Oh, I remember this. I was just like, I couldn't remember if it was going to be full access or not. That backfired so bad. I should have let Ace just get his last two games before I nominate it. Dang it. Such a rookie, rookie mistake. That's what you get. Also, what you spent on that ace, 22 you said? I spent 22 on that. Wait, what? I did not spend 22 on that. Hold on. That was close. 12, pal. We know it's fine.

I was reading something. I was looking at the release day because Crimson Desert. It was $16 that he spent. Crimson Desert is March 16 or March 19th, which is not far. Not far at all. Okay, Ace, here's

how this is going to work. You have space for one game left and you have the most amount of money. So just pick the game that you want to mention you. So I just get to pick what I want. want? Oh, man. That's it. So. That's exciting. So many options. What do I want? I probably should be smart and not take something. You know what? Give me Control resonant. Control resonant. All right. I'm just going to put 32 on there. So there you go. I didn't spend no 32.

Well, you're out of money. You're out of space is what you're out of. So, yeah. All right, Ryan. I'm out. Me and you, buddy. It's just you too. It's out. It's down to me and you, Ryan.

What are you nominating? The lightweights. I am going to nominate. Every dollar matters. A longstanding game that I hope will become something this year. I'm going to nominate Fable. For how much? You ain't getting this cheap.

You better just bid your whole 20 on Fable. For $12. 12. You son of a gun. You son of a gun. Oh, that's funny. It ain't coming out this year. Fable is a Fable, Ryan.

Fable is a fable. You're going to miss out, brother. I'm going to run around and kick chickens and, like, have a good time. You and I both need two games here. It's on to you next, right? I'm going to go, all right, let's do this. I'm going to, this is a risky one. But man, if this game don't look like something just great, dude.

I'm going to go Lords of the Fallen. for five dollars. Lords of the Fallen 2 for five bucks. You can have it. Oh, baby. Lords of the Fallin 2 for $5? Heck yes, dude. Yeah, you can have it.

I mean, we're in the very minimal numbers of betting right now. We're getting low, low, low. I got Lords of the Fallen 2 for $5, man. That's really good. That is my happy, that might be my happiest pick of the draft, man. expected 2026 up. I thought for sure you were going to go for that one, Ace. I considered it, man, but

I don't know. I wanted some guaranteed releases. Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. That's fair. Okay, well, Ryan, I am going to go with Gears of War E-Day. No, I thought you were going to forget it about that one. Dang it. What do you think of guys?

Come on, dude. Come on, dude. I've re-watched that trailer last night and I just sat there going, like, it's even, it's even Gary Jules mad world like in a slowdown pace and everything. I thought you were going to forget about it, Ryan. Dude, forget him. No, that's, that's my Xbox. You better. Ryan was like $16 years old. Like, uh, so, uh, you just muscle to get out of this. Are you going to start at $5?

$5? Yeah. For Gears War E Day? Uh, wait, this is my last game. Five dollars. There's one game that you guys have not. All right. You can have it for five bucks. All right. I'll take it. E-Day. Oh, my goodness. Because the game that I want it and I can't believe I am getting this game for $7. I had that projected at like 40 bucks. Well, E-Day?

Yeah. We haven't seen anything. I haven't seen any gameplay. It's the only thing that's weird about it, dude, is there's been nothing. They announced it and then there's been. You've already seen it. Nothing. What do you mean?

No, you haven't seen it. We saw a, we saw like a story trailer with no gameplay whatsoever. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Guys, the steel of, coat, brother. This is going to be one. of the steals of the draft because this game looks so incredible. I am taking Saros

for $7. The spiritual successor to Returnal, they have taken Returnal and they have turned up the everything. Everything on this game to the max. Oh my goodness if Saros doesn't look incredible.

They took Returnal and did it all orange and yellow. According to the sheet, I still have $10. Oh yeah, that's true. Yeah. Oh, you sucker. You got it for five. Yeah, you got that for five, right? So I'm taking Saros with my last seven bucks. I'm out.

All right, Ryan, you get your choice. Guys, there's some insane games still on this list, man. It's a good year, man. It's a good year. Oh, my goodness, dude. Okay. Ryan, before you give us your last pick, I'm going to read off for the listeners, okay?

I'm going to read through this list of games because this is how good, like, 2026 is going to be, okay? games that we have not taken, Cairn, Codevane 2, Mugenics, Pragmato, which is a game that PlayStation's Sony's been hyping up a bunch that looks really good, mouse PI, high guard, which is the new hero shooter. I know people aren't real high on that one, but hey, hero shooters sometimes do really good. High on life too. Enshrouted, noticed all the gamers out there, and shrouded is an absolutely incredible survival

crafting game with really good combat ace and i played this a lot i love a trout it is fantastic it is a good time it is coming out and full access or full release this year in the spring marathon bro none of us drafted bungee's next shooter marathon oh man i wonder why i know i know but guys you know it's i'm just saying this is the quality of games that didn't even get drafted this year right yep yep so um slay the spire two is releasing an early action Super Meat Boy 3D. Mix tape, which is a game that I am super looking forward to. That's the coming of age teenage, really cool, animated.

Nostalgia. Yeah. Guys, this one blows my mind because this is some of the devs from the Witcher 3. Blood of Dawn Walker is supposed to be releasing in 2026. That game looks incredible. You can feel the Witcher DNA in that game. That's actually what I wish I had wound up with, but just ran out of space. Marvel Rise of Hydra

Hellraiser Revival Valormortus Guys I can't leave nobody drafted this one because it should be coming out this year. Kingmakers It should be releasing in 2026 Like that's not That didn't get taken

We've got Greedfall 2 blood message Atomic Heart 2 Chrono Odyssey Which you talk about Crimson Desert Chrono Odyssey looks Even better In my opinion

We just don't know if that's actually coming out this year. So, all right, Ryan, now that I've given you all the games where you're like, I think I'll take this one. I already knew, I knew the three that I, like, kind of on this, uh, kind of leftover batch that we have here. But it was, it was between Kingmakers, uh, Blood of Dawn Walker, and then, uh, Tomicarp two.

So we're, which Tom McCart, those are literally my top three games, dude. So you and I are absolutely insane for what's left on this list. Those are what the last three is. Atomic Heart 2 is the only one that's left in my tier 2 that I had made up, but I'm also kind of like, so we don't know if it's releasing in 2026. That's again the big problem. But I am insanely excited.

Atomic heart was good, but a little bit of a letdown. You can tell they ran out of time. Atomic Heart 2, if they take their time and they make it what it looks, that game is going to be amazingly good. That's the thing. If they can dial it in and then make it right this time, I think it will be a banger. So, yeah, I'm going to take Atomic R2.

Atomic R2. Blood of Don Walker would have been my, if I had one more spot. Between those three, yeah. No, that's fair. That's totally fair. It's a good looking game, man. Nobody knows if it's actually releasing again, though. That's the problem.

You're getting into these games. Kingmakers, I think, is the only game that's, like, has the highest chance of actually releasing in 2026. But you put Blood of Don Walker in our sheet. Oh, dang it. Oh, whoops. I was looking at it on my board I don't even know how you type that without even thinking

just oh I was looking at my I got my list of games over here and it's literally at the top so as I'm looking at a lot of Dawn Walker my brain just typed it in instead of I was like that's not what I picked okay guys

this is a long episode people we know but hey man we got to start 2026 off right I'm going to read the lists one last time all right Ryan you wound up with Judas Wolverine GTA 6

Ill Pat of Exile 2 Fable Gears of War E Day and Atomic Heart 2 My goodness man Not a bad list at all

What a team The long as Grand Theft Auto 6 Comes out this year Here's the deal Here's the deal Ryan's team could be an absolute mirage Because we don't know If Judas is releasing

GTA 6 might get delayed Ill may not even exist Fable may not even exist And Gears of War Idae Who knows? Because we only got the one trailer the one time and that's it. Atomic Heart 2, I think is a real game, but no clue if it's releasing this year or not. It's fine with me.

I live in a world of unicorns of fairy dust. Yeah, you do. Your list looks incredible. Hopes and dreams. If they release, dude, it's a game over for sure. All right, Ace, you've got Resident Evil Requiem, which you spent the most amount of money on. I got faith, man. annihilation. I'll be honest, in my opinion, Tides of Annihilation might be the like, oh my gosh,

is this game actually real and is it going to release? If it does, oh, oh, yeah, Tides of annihilation looks incredible. Re-animal, fire emblem, fortunes weave, thick as thieves, clockwork revolution. You stole Crimson Desert for me, you jerk, because that was one that I really wanted on my list. And control resonate. That's a, that's a good list. You've got a couple of iffy ones. I got a few backbones there for the ones that are, you know, you do. Dangerous.

But I'm confident. All right. My list, I am actually, this is, I kind of went with games that I'm fairly certain are actually going to come out in 2026. So I did kind of play it safe, but by playing it safe a little bit, I think I went up with a really weird hodgepodge of games. You got an interesting list, bud. So I got witch fire.

I got Phantom Blade Zero. I got toxic commando. I got replaced Squadron 42, 007 first. Light, Lords of the Fallen 2 and Seros, I actually really like my list, guys. As much as it is hodgepodge, like, these are some of the games that, like, I'm fairly certain they're going to release this year, and I'm fairly certain they're going to be pretty darn good, at least. I don't know that I have that, like, must have game is the only problem with my list. I'm replaced. I think you're undervaluing how good Phantom Blade Zero is going to be. I genuinely.

Yeah, maybe. But it's like, it's, again, it's an action. RPG, dude. Like, okay, we talked about this, right? But Tides of Annihilation, Phantom Blade Zero, um, there's also a PlayStation exclusive. There's so many of these, there's so many of these like, uh, Lords of the

Fallen 2, right? Like, so many of these games are the over the shoulder action RPG. I don't want to call them Soul's likes because they're like, they're not really Soulslikes, but they're like, they're all look the same. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, they legitimately all look the same. So like, what's going to set one apart over the other one?

You know? Um, We're going to find out, people, because 2026, before we started doing the research on this, and I told you guys this, I said, guys, I don't know that I'm super excited about 2020. Yeah, you did. I literally said that. And then after watching all these trailers and seeing how many insanely good, high quality games we have coming, I'm like, I was an idiot. You know, the best part is that we said the same thing last year. We're like, oh, yeah, this year probably won't be very good. And then look what we got.

Look what we got in 2025, man. It is kind of an old-timer, like for games. Do you, okay, real question. And I know our hype levels high, especially after doing the strap. But do you think 2026 can be better than 2025? That's a stretch. I don't know. 2025 was really, really good.

I don't. I will say this. I'm less optimistic because 2025 was really good, but, dude, if some of these games, like, this is the thing, right? If Tides of Annihilation comes out, if Clockwork Revolution comes out, if Lords will fall in two, like, I legitimately think that 2026 hinges on some of these insanely good looking games actually releasing, yeah, GTA6 cannot get delayed again. If GTA6 comes out and we get two or three of these really big, hyped games, dude, I think it can beat

it, but it's all going to come down to what these games actually come out this year. Are they going to actually release? Because what did it cost them? A hundred million to delay it a year? More than that. 250 million, I think. Is that what it was? It was half a million. It was half a million. Half a billion? Was it half a billion? Was it half a billion?

It might have been half a billion. It ain't no half a million. It was hundreds of millions. It was hundreds of millions of dollars for them to delay GTA6. Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. jeez so all right people well listen that's going to do it for this episode there's some games to make sure are on your radar we will we will see this is the best part because we get halfway through the year but we look back and then we're like oh my gosh and then we get to the end of the year and then we look and we're like i knew what i was talking about or what was i think no no everything

got to made like no that was me that was me yeah i spent all my money on the grant that auto again. Yeah, we kind of knew that was going to happen. I tried to make you sweat a little bit, like I was going to steal it from you, but I just wanted some of these games. I had it up to a Honda, so I'm happy. Yeah. All right, listen, everybody, for the listeners out there, we want to know what game or games you are most excited for. So in the comments on this episode, tell us what games you're looking forward to the most. Did we miss a game that's not on this list that we just completely overlooked and you guys are like you guys are idiots how did you not think about this game let us know in the comments we read every single comment you all leave um we love seeing them we love hearing from

you guys what your opinions on the games that you're most excited for are for this year it is good to be back boys we are back three episodes a week new content moving forward we enjoyed the break but man we are here and ready to talk about video games again so thanks for sticking with us that's going to do it for this one everybody make sure you join our discord server support us on Patreon keep this podcast rolling to the world everything you need is in the episode

description so check that out and until next time happy gaming see ya peace out