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

Episode Date: July 3, 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, Dettmarp and NightWizard63   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/h2cHKAvSmu 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 26 is here. We're fresh off our holiday break and we are absolutely amped for what's coming in 26. 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 GTA 6? 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 professional he's become since then it's Ryan I will say that it hasn't gone uh too much better for me i'm still very easily excited by trailers so we'll see what happens today dude these trailers we 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. Yeah. 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. That's, it's 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, that 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, so. I mean, speaking of turn-based, did everyone enjoy the Claire Obscure Awards? I mean, oh.

Oh, I did. I was there for it, man. I was there for it, baby. Good on them. Good on them. Good on them. Go 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 are 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. That's all we need, baby. That's all we need. That's it.

What more could a gamer want? 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 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. Sir, is you right. Brian, bro. 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 to push it again. 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, 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, gosh. I don't know why. I hate that. I hate that 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 he does it all the time. It's the same thing every time. And it's like, 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 a bad 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. Like, well, how long have we been gone for? Two, two and a half weeks. Something like that.

That's incredible. Yeah. What, oh, man. Thank you so much. Yeah. And guys, not only did Kevin Redmiller, Selena,

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? Are you guys ready? I'm so ready. Are you guys ready? 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 run through this. Ryan already filled in GTA6 on his,

on his side of things. Tony, you saw it 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 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. 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 have, hey, 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. 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 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 happen to hear what you got. Well, I'm just going to say, okay, so my games on this exact episode last year that I wound up with was the Alters, Expedition 33, Borderlands 4, kingdom come deliverance to avowed Monster Hunter

Wilds Slay the Spire 2 That was a That was a And then And then Hollow Night Silk Song So You know

Just just Just three games That were nominated For Game of the Year Yeah Yeah I mean One that won Yeah

I mean with E33 And then KCD2 Like that that one That's immense it And then Silk Song Just beats the dead horse Yeah Yeah

Yeah, you darn right. Yeah, whatever. Well, crazy enough, my third highest game that I bid on was the Alters, 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.

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. Ooh. The ninth game series. I know that you are extremely excited for this.

Yes. Yep. I am 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, 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. $30. Ryan, you going to bid? 35. I'm going in. 45. 45.

45. Resident Evil Reckwith. 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. So Ace is the leader with 55? Is that right? Yeah, 55.

Ryan? You can let Ace get the, you can let him get the first game, Ryan? Like I was goading you out of money for GTA 6 Yes I am going to let him get the first game You can have it All right Ace comes in with Resident Evil Reckmiel

I will take that I will absolutely take that For $55 That's pricey Ace I'm not gonna lie It is but a little bit more than a quarter of your budget right there It's a lot

And that'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 very popular franchise. It is absolutely. It has mass appeal. For nothing else, the ladies love Leon Kennedy.

I love Leon Kennedy. Everyone loves Leo 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. Judas. Guys, uh, go ahead. Yeah, our success. I watched the trailer for this. I watched the trailer for this last night.

I watched like I was telling me he spent like two hours watching game trailers last night. Yep, 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 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. Mm-hmm.

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. dollars. What a weenie. Oh, that's such a bad The way You get, Ryan!

Ace, you're going to bid? Come on, buddy. 23. Okay. 23.01. No, I'm just kidding. 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. I'm out for 25. 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. Guys got to save your money, save your money, man. Yeah, $25. Dude, because again, 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. All right, guys. 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. You've been 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 Arc 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. $5. It's so amazing. That's on you guys. Because if I can get a good game for dirt cheap, then that's, that's, that's what we call 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 bid at each other.

Ace just jumped up 10 bucks. 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 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 is. 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. So, that's fair. And it's releasing in full access. I am. Do we actually have the release date on that one? I don't know. Do we? Uh, I thought it was just, just 2026. Just 2026. They did say it will release in 2026, but we don't have an actual concrete date on that yet. Yeah. I am going to. All right, Ace. I think I'm going to dip my toe

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 to start.

10 bucks? Yeah. I will say this, tides of annihilation, we don't have a release date for this one yet. We have almost nothing. We have almost nothing. 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 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. 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 for a game that may not come out this year? It's that good looking, dude.

You already have spent 55. It's that good looking, dude. If this comes out, this is going to do incredibly well. Yeah, I know. 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, 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. 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. 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 fear. And $30 is. I think 30 is fair for it.

I think 30 is 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 has basically spent almost half of his money on two games.

Two very good games. Yeah, they're pretty good looking games, man. One's guaranteed to come out, all right? Dang, it's, 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? What do we do here? What do we do? It's your choice, man. I'm going to do with something that, 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 Possibly one of the more anticipated games Of this year like very very It's mentioned in 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 Uh 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 know I wasn't sure it is exclusive according to the AI search at least you know 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 okay uh so I'm gonna I'm gonna open that bidding at $20 20 what's up poor boy over there ace yeah I don't want 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 27. 30.

35. And don't try to run me up because then I'll leave you with it. I know you. Wolverine's going to be good. That was my fear. When you that's 35? I'm 36. 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, I, I put that I would go up to 50 on Woolworth. I had it in the range of like $60 is like probably my Mac 60. 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. 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. 80. 85. Y'all are crazy.

This game is none. That would leave you with like $30. That's fine. That's all the. Dude, I have Judas and Wolverine and then GTA 6. Like, 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 100.

You spent 100 last year. Yeah, you spent your, like, half. You want a straight hundred. You spend half your budget on GTA 6. and fail 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 stuff. They'll make 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, she 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 thing. 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. This spring, denim gets a softer, lighter update. Introducing Old Navy's drapey denim wide leg, a new fit that moves with you. It's everything you want denim to feel like for summer. Easy, breathable, and effortlessly cool. With a fit that creates natural movement and a wide leg that feels modern, not overwhelming. Plus, that signature, wait, for this price, moment. Old Navy's drapey denim wide leg.

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 Judas may not release this year in GTA 6. Who knows, man.

Ace, Ace, you got two bangers. I really like both of these. Ace has Resident Evil Requiem and Tides of Annihilation. A bit of a risky pick on Tides of Annihilation. but I only paid 30 for it. That's true. That's true. And I have Witchfire at $16. That's the biggest steal so far.

My strategy is working out well. So, all right, it is, it is, well, I nominated GT6. 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. Oh, 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. Like, it's like a faster, more, like darker ghost of Sushima. Like, yeah, it's a mix of Ghost Sushima and Sekiro, it looks like with some like souls like on. 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

the one another. Oh, yeah. 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 in the bidding at base? I think I'm going to start the bidding for this one at 20. 25. 35. 32. You can't. What, I bet 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 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 $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. I'm going to go 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. I say, 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 for 49, you can have it. Yeah, because 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 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. It looks really good, dude. It does.

The whole, like, shadow thing that you can like. Yeah. 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 Sekiro and Ghostos Sashima is a perfect. He's very Sikero, Ghosts to Shima, 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.

Real, it's going to be pretty dang sweet. If it's real. 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 $8. 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 not dumb. I'm just saying. $9. Oh, that, oh, you know, another dollar. Oh, God. That's far too much.

I knew what a dollar comes into play. That dollar makes a difference when you're mentally doing the math of what you still want. You know what? You can have it for none. I have no idea if it's coming. Josh, you know. I didn't say, I said, I said, I meant for me. I don't know about Josh.

It's for me. Josh, you're out. Don't even. it looks don't even you ain't gonna risk it no riskin no biscuit no biscuit that's how I live my life

for 10 for nine dollars for Ryan to get ill yeah all right you can have it Ryan you can have it boom I knew I was I don't think it's coming out this year is the problem I don't even know if this game really exists I don't know if 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. 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 talk. Commando. And I'm going to start the bidding at $10. I'll do 12.

Ryan's thinking, he's thinking real hard. Ryan, you're down to $25. I really like this game. Like, I want it so bad. It looks really freaking good.

I'm excited for those helldivers 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 are going through hordes 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 you know 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 as you're at 12 12 I'll go 15 you know 15 17 I'll just go 20 you can have for 20 if Ryan's not going to put him I am out

I'm gonna bow out you could technically vote yeah that would leave you very little to bid on every last game so it would leave you very little okay so I get it for cox of 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.

At the same time, look at this list of games. There's not very many multiplayer 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, okay.

I am going to put forward the spiritual successor from the original creators of Little nightmares reanimal. Ooh. Did you play the demo on this? Did you try the demo? I 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 so good. It looks very good. I can tell you

that. They capture, and I love the fact again, we, you know, we interviewed the studio Tar's Air. Yeah, Tarceaer Studios. Tobias. I think, no, Tobias was a different one. Was that a different one? Well, he was the composer for Oh, he was the original composer for the original.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We talked to the creative director for Tarshir. The beauty of Reanimal 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 Reanimal went, yep, okay.

We can do that. No problem ripping people in half in this game. And it's like, all right. All right, what are you starting the bidding at? I was 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 won some money. I got $1 more than Ace right now.

And I got a lot of games I want still. Just buy them out, dude. 19. 20. Dude, reanimal should be going for like 25, 30. 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 gonna be great, but is it gonna 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, uh, 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 canando for 20 um i'll let you have it for 20 all right i'll take that for 20 i'll absolutely take reanimal that one's tough for me dude i wish ryan wasn't freaking broke he spent all his money on gta 6 again i know can't wait for you do again next to you

eventually eventually it'll it'll be released i was i can't wait for you to do it again next year bud it's going to be great oh no don't you put that evil on me bro i will mock ryan so much of GTA 6 gets ready again. Dude, I'll spend another 100 100%. Is there a world where GTA 6 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. You have that much faith in it, huh? I mean, it is. You've got a lot of faith in it. Dude, it's right. You just played Red Dead dude and you saw what I know. It's yeah, but Red Dead like the story is the whole point. I've heard Grand Theft Auto, the story isn't even that important.

No, the story is 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? 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 Exile 2. That's a good game. Dude, I'll tell you this.

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.

I'm not super big on the early, picking an early access game that's going into full release personally. You don't say. You don't say. You don't say. Yeah, I'll, 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 dabble buddies are like, you know, it's pretty good and that's what they play now, you know, other than... Dude, the build, the build variety in Path of Exile 2 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 bid 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, dang it, 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 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 doesn't look really good. It's like,

yeah. 42. Oh, my gosh. 43. You can have it for 43. I'll take it for 43. I was willing, I'll tell you this. I was willing to go up to 50 on it. I had a feeling you were willing to go pretty, 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. Yeah. 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 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 have seen in a game When he 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 replace 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. Yeah, 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. I'm bidding this one up. Any interest in it. I'm bidding this one up. Oh, man. 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 JRP's of all time. Okay. Don't add me. So does that mean that this game is? it's 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 it. trailer real fast. I'm going to 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 firearm. 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. Going once.

All right. Go in the rise. 10. Ryan. Go ahead, Josh. Come on, man. I'm out. You bet.

I'm out. I don't know nothing about that. Yeah, 10 bucks for Firebloom? It ain't going to win game of the year. Oh, man. It ain't going to win game of the year. You have no idea what you've done. Fortune's Weave.

Fortune's Weave, baby. Okay. All right. I mean, I do know that Firemblem'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 Fireblum tattoo were very happy right now. You have a tattoo of it, right? I do have a tattoo from Fire

a movie. Brian'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 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. Squadron 42 is a game that is potentially going to release. I hope it does. It is a game that exists. It is a game. It may not. But I very, very, very much hope it does.

And I'm going to start the bidding at $5. Ryan still didn't explain what squadron. 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. There we go. There we go. Squadron 42 is the single player experience that is made by the makers of Star Citizen. So I think it's Cloud 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. 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 Cavill. I mean, dude, there are the, the Hollywood elite have voiced this, this game. There's so many of them. It's crazy. It's bananas. And there is a very, very, very real possibility that 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 bid $10. Hmm.

Ace, you're going to bid? No. No. I've zero. Aces out. Graph is too good. Too many, too many A-less celebrities, I'm out.

This might be like, you know how we joke around about the 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, for this is an hour long. I didn't watch 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? Uh, let's see when I got. Yeah. Did you do?

16. 17. 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 game.

I know, right? This is where you want the other guy. Like, this is like, I have 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. I'm killing you. What are you at?

It's your money. You spent it all on Gtage 6. Yeah, because you're supposed to hype it up too. You're at 16? I'm at 17. 17. 18. Are you really bidding 18?

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. Oh, come on.

You're killing me. I can't, I can't buy it. No, you're out. You can. You have $21 left, including a dollar reserve for each of your games. Because that'll be my sixth game. You're just trying to run me up. I know you.

No. Oh, he would never. All right, you can have it. For 19? Yeah. Bro, I'll take it. Listen. I wish you the best.

I hope it comes out. 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 $19. I hope. We watch, we watch our homie in the Discord, Distratory play it. And like, we can, you know, it's amazing. So hopefully this is unlike Ace I love space games

and it also it also reminds me 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 game for like two bucks, man. It's worth 25 or 30 for sure.

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 to you put it on this list. What? They have to make it approachable. Yeah. You might have said, that's crazy because it's.

Scully's in there, dude, Scully. Dude, look up the cast of Squadron 42. It is Hollywood elite, dude. All of them. Just bangor after bangor. 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? Fair enough.

Yeah, we'll see. All right. So, Ryan, you nominated that one. It's back to me. Yeah, 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 bid Ryan out of this right away, Ace? Do I start the bidding at $22? You know what? I'm starting the bidding at $22.

Ryan doesn't even get to bid. Yes. Fine. Whatever. Oh, man. You don't even get a chance to bid 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 hit man driving and gadgets

and stuff like at one point he's got like the laser watch that just like burns some guard or something. I was like oh man. I love it. All right. All right. $22 Ace. I'm gonna go 25. Bro, this is a AAA title. You won't care nothing about no double seven first light. I care about what? I'll go I'm just

going to go 30. Why not? 30 off the bat? I'll do 35. It's worth 35. A's so scared to spend money. I love it. That's because I still have things I consider better. I'll go 37. 37. 39. I know when Ais is saving his money for. He said 39.

There's two games, Ais is 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, 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 poor. I'm poor. than Ryan. Yeah. Who's the poor one now?

I'm poorer than Ryan. Peasant! Peasant! What have I done? Guys, I have the weirdest mix of games. You'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 Replaced. 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 to. one a little higher one. Well, that's good.

All right. I'm broke, so 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 at $10.

That's as much as you can bid. That's where it is for you. Start it at 11. Just for him. Yeah, I was going to start a bit. the bid at $8 actually. Okay, 8 to Ace. Ryan?

No bid at this time. I'm not going to bid $9 because that would give me $1 left for my last two games. I think of Steeves 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. 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. You want to pay more than $8 for it? No. And how much? Let's see. Nine. Ten.

All right, you can have it. So 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.

So you got that for 10 a? 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.

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 wouldn't even trying to try and 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 witchfire because nearly one of you knew anything. I was not planning on taking that at all. I wasn't going to go $16 for that. 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. This is the one he's saving for. Okay. What do you think, Ryan? He does have $72. I'll 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 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, right?

No, I could. You could have been 21. It's too late. I only have $6. 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. Oh. There's one dollar held for each space. So the, 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, like at all. Tides of annihilation has no release date whatsoever. Think 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. The characters, the art style, the combat options,

like this is a steampunk. Take a, take dishonored in Bioshop and kind of smash them together into a really, really good looking game. Clockwork Revolution, 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. It was a shame you have 11. I was really worried. What's that? It's a shame you only 11th. I'm just saying like like initially initially, you know. That's fair.

Okay. Ryan, you nominated that one, right? Yes. That was Ryan. Yeah. Okay. Let's go with I'm going to nominate. I'll be honest.

I really don't know anything about this game other than graphics. it looks pretty fun. I'm going to 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 that initial started off. I'm just kidding. You saw my tabs. I've watched everything. And I've been looking at Squadron 42 for a long time. Yeah. The fact that you knew Squadron 42, I was like, all right. 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 uh 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 I'm just going to start the bidding of five bucks on this one. I don't have a ton of money. I don't have a lot of money. This one actually, like the gameplay that I've seen looks kind of pretty sick.

Like the combat and everything that we've been able to see so far looks pretty sweet. So you said $5? It looks very polished. My only hang up on this game, honestly, is like, is this going to be like first descendant, lost arc, 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 fall off after 20 hours because it becomes a grind at that time. 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 it is 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 that $3 Josh What are you got? You said seven right Yeah Why are you trying to take it down a lot Listen, like I said, you ain't on this one? You missed your money bags?

Yeah, I'll do 10 on this one. I'm gonna go my full 11 boys. You'll put all your money on that. It's commendable, but I'm gonna have to take it from you at 12. Dang. Ryan, don't let him have this for $12, Ryan. He's gonna 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. This game looks awesome. It's 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 drastically 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 did look 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 to get. Bustick, buddy boy. Would you spend on that age? 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. Josh tried to trick you. 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. 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. So I just get to pick what I want? You get to just pick a game. That's it. 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. Yeah. All right, Ryan. I'm out. Me and you, buddy. It's just you too. It's down to me and you, Ryan.

What are you nominating? The lightweights. I'm 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! Yeah! 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, 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 $5. Lords of the Fallen 2 for $5. You can have it. Oh, baby. Lords of the Fallon 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. 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. 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. Okay, well, Ryan, I am going to go with Gears of War E-Day. No, and I thought you were going to forget about that one. Dang it. What do you think I got? Dang it. Come on, dude.

Come on, dude. I 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 i thought you were gonna forget about it right dude forget him no that's that's my xboxer you better you better bet you better than eight dollars 16 years old like uh so we'll start it out of this or you go start at five dollars five dollars yeah gears war e day uh six 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 i day oh my goodness because the game that i want and i can't believe i am getting this game for i had that projected at like 40 bucks well i day yeah we haven't seen any haven't seen any game player it's weird about it dude is there's been nothing they announced it and then there's already seen it nothing what do you mean no you haven't seen it we saw we saw like a story trailer with no gameplay whatsoever yeah yeah okay guys steal of this is going to be one of the steals of the draft because this game looks so incredible i am taking saros for seven dollars 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 return it all orange and yellow according to the sheet i still have ten dollars so oh yeah that's true yeah no 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 on a bunch that looks really good. Mouse P.I.

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 2. 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.

And Trouted is fantastic. It is coming out in full release this year in the spring. Marathon, bro. None of us drafted Bungie's next shooter marathon. Oh, man, I wonder why. What a surprise. I mean, I know, but guys, you know, I'm just saying this is the quality of games that didn't even get drafted this year, right?

Yep, yep, yep. So Slay the Spire 2 is releasing an early access. 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 one 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's, that didn't get taken. We've got greed fall to blood, blood message, atomic heart to, 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, yeah. 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 kind of leftover batch that we have here. But it was between Kingmakers, Blood of Dawn Walker, and then Atomicard 2. Which Tom McCart, those are literally my top three games, dude. So you and I are absolutely insane from what's left on this list.

Those are what the last three is. Atomicart 2 is the only one that's left. left in my tier two that I had made up, which, 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 too, if they, if they take their time and they make it what it looks, that game is going to be amazingly good. That's the thing is if they can, they can dial it in and then make it right this time. I think it'll be a banger. So yeah, I'm going to take Atomic R2.

Atomic heart too. 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. Whoops. Whoops. I was looking at it on my board.

I know. I don't even know how you type. that without even thinking just oh I was looking at my so 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 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

path of exile to Fable, Gears of War E-Day, and Atomic Heart 2. Not a bad list at all. What a team. The long as Grand Theft Auto 6 comes out this year. Well, 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 I Dei, 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. Hopes and dreams. Your list looks incredible. Hopes and dreams. If they release, dude, it's a game. It's 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. Tides of 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,

whole. Oh, yeah. It's going to do. But, yeah, tides of annihilation looks incredible. Reanimal,

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 good list. You've got a couple iffy ones. I got a few backbones there for the ones that are, you know,

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 fall into and saros I actually really like my list guys as much as is it as 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, again, it's an action RPG, dude. Like, okay, we talked about this, right? But Tides of Annihilation, Phantom Blade Zero. So there's so many of these.

There's so many of these like 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 Soulslikes 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 what's going to set one apart over the other one?

You know? We're going to find out people because 2026, before we start, of doing the research on this and I told you guys this I said guys I don't know that I'm super excited you did say that 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 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 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, some of these games, like this is the thing, right? If tides of annihilation, comes out if if clockwork revolution comes out if words like fall in two like i legitimately think

that 2026 hinges on some of these insanely good looking games actually releasing yeah gta 6 cannot get delayed again if gta 6 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 absolutely are they going to actually release like what 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. 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 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 thinking? No, no. Everything got to made.

Like, no. That was me. That was me. Yeah. I spent all my money on the Grasdavdato 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. I knew.

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. 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. We are back. 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.