Video Gamers Podcast - The ULTIMATE Game of the Year Showdown - Gaming Podcast

Episode Date: June 9, 2025

Gaming hosts Josh, Ryan and Paul go head to head in this awesome replay of our game of the year draft. We take turns drafting gaming's biggest titles for 2025 to see who can put together the best team of game of the year candidates. It's an incredible video game packed episode you don't want to miss from your favorite gaming podcast! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Get unlimited grocery delivery with PC Express Pass. Meal prep delivered. Snacks delivered. Fresh fruit delivered. Grocery delivery on repeat for just $2.50 a month. Learn more at PCExpress.ca. Hey everybody, it's Josh. Hey, we've been at Fan Fusion all weekend, so on this episode we are going back to our

beginning of the year draft where Paul, Ryan, and I all went head to head to draft the games that we thought were going to be the very best of the year. This is a lot of fun even if you've heard it before because now that we're halfway through the year we have a little bit of hindsight and it's always fun to see what we got right and what we definitely got wrong. We hope you enjoy. We'll be back tomorrow with all new content. Hello, fellow gamers and welcome to the Video Gamers Podcast. 2025 is finally here.

Is this the year we get the long awaited Grand Theft Auto 6? Will Silksong ever release? Will Avow live up to the hype? Who knows? But we're about to spend the next hour talking about our most anticipated games of 2025. But first, some introductions are in order. I am your host, Josh, and joining me, he can't wait for the release of Dave the Diver and he's pretty sure Redfall probably won't win game of the year this time. Maybe it's Ryan. Oh, come on.

The Redfall, I was new. I was new, man. I was like, okay, that's a pretty good trailer. Like I'm into it. And you guys are like, oh gosh, who's this guy? I thought Redfall looked pretty good at first, right? And then I went, Oh no, I will say you also just cost us another year for the game that should not be named.

Uh, you mentioned that earlier by the way. Yeah. So you typed it out, which is even worse. Uh, and joining us, he's that beloved old game you boot up from time to time, but you can't quite remember where you left off or what any of the buttons do. It's me. I'm here for another episode. And by the way, Josh, you should know by now, Silksong does not exist. It's not a real game.

I the real question in this episode is going to be, is somebody going to wind up with silk song? Silk song, $1 please. Oh my goodness. It's like, you know, it doesn't work for other people, but maybe it'll work for us. We are here. It's 20, 25 gentlemen. Paul, thank you for joining us for this episode.

We had to call in a favor. You know, you owed us a couple. Uh, and you know, you said, I'm a man of my word. I'll show up for this. Yeah. Really, you just did it for the listeners because you didn't want to subject them to just me and Ryan doing this. It's also very hard to do a two person draft. It definitely helps that third person. And I love the format of this episode. This is one of my favorite things. I had to come back and do it. I'm so excited. It's a great way to break down the upcoming year, but to also throw in like that extra twist and have some fun with it. Yeah. Yeah. We're going to explain that. Actually, I'm going to have you explain the rules here in

just a second to everybody, Paul, but first a touch of housekeeping. You know, by the way, we did have a lot of reviews, but this episode is going to be a long episode anyway. So we are holding those reviews, but for everybody that has left us a review and is waiting for your review to be read on the show, hang in there. We'll get to those. I promise. But, uh, we're, we're going to focus on the upcoming games in 2025 on this one, but we do have a new supporter to thank by the name of Fitner John, who signed up for legendary status. Legend. Fitner John has been a fan of the show.

Actually really, really awesome, dude. We've been chatting in DMs a good bit. And then he just joined our Discord server this morning. And then lo and behold, five minutes later, baby, just legendary. So we see you. We appreciate you, Fitner. John, thank you, man.

Thank you, thank you. John's a really, really good dude. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. He is. Yep. So all right, Paul, I'm just I'm going to throw it to you

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

that this continues every year here on out. The way that we do this is we all have a fictional $200 budget and we are going to be doing an auction draft. If you've played fantasy football, you're probably somewhat aware of it. Basically the way it works is one of the three of us nominate a game that is set for release in 2025 and then basically auction style, we can outbid each other. We keep going until going, going, gone. You just got that game at that price point. All three of us have to draft a total of eight games. So for you math nerds out there like me, that's an average of $25 a game. There's a lot of

strategy here. Like, do you put a lot of money into the like highest anticipated and throw out a couple of $1 lottery tickets? Or do you kind of spread all your money out and kind of go for like a whole bunch of B minuses. It's a lot of fun. It makes us look really stupid at the end of every year. Some of us more than others. I'm sure this is going to get brought up. I got crushed in our 2024 draft and multiple people thought that I had won it at the time. And within a couple of months, we all agreed that I did by far the worst.

Almost all of my games got delayed, but it's going to be an absolute blast. We get a chance to compete, but to also talk about these upcoming games and how much are we willing to pay? You know, last year, I think our highest priced games went in the 67, $68 range, $69 for black myth, Wu Kong. There you go. I'm very curious to see if we end up having a new all time record this year. Yeah. So I'll tell you what, let's just go back. Let's rewind a year.

Hey, and we're back in 2024 and I'm just going to read the list. These are the games when we did this episode in 2024 that we each wound up with. And I'll give you the prices because the price that we bid on a game kind of is a good indicator of our hype meter for that game as well. So these really big games are going to command a lot of money for you to get them on your list. And that's a good sign of how hyped you might be about it. But well, so for last year, we'll start with Ryan.

Ryan landed with Exdefiant at $22, Dragon Age Veil Guard at $25 Senua Saga Hellblade 2 at $50 Ryan's highest priced game Star Wars Outlaws at $47 Rise of the Ronin at $22 Hades 2 at $17 Homeworld 3 at $5 and Stalker 2 at $12 Oh my gosh! That was a steal by the way. That was a steal. And, um, one question did, uh, did any of my games not release?

It is shocking that all of your games are because you took dragon age when it had a different name, not even a release year. And you threw out a whole bunch of money for it. And yeah, all, all eight of your games are on. Congratulations, right? You want to, Ryan's already getting competitive, right? What's the best game on your list? Uh, from, from then? Yeah. Oh, stalker to stalker to agree for $12.

So I was, I was really good too, but I paid a lot of money for that, but stalker to it, like 12 bucks or whatever it was. That was a steal. That was like a, such a good deal. But yeah, man, what a, what a list. I'll tell you what. All right. Well, let's, let's go to Paul's list. Oh no. Oh no. Here we go. Paul, you have quite possibly one of the best games to release last year. And that is shadow of the urn tree at $59. Then you started to gamble a little bit with some of these games that we thought were going to release last year, and that is Shadow of the Urn Tree at $59. Yes. Then you started to gamble a little bit with some of these games that we thought were going to release in 2024, and then they didn't. So you went with Metal Gear Solid Delta Snake Eater at 20 bucks, avowed at $50. Kingmakers at $10.

No rest for the wicked at 17. Arc two at 11. Where wins meet at 15 and silent hill to remake at 18 five of those got pushed Came out and they had set releases that's what they did so mad This was not like a swinging for the fences kind of strategy. This was like we thought these games were releasing man kind of strategy. This was like, we thought these games were releasing man. Poor Paul. And then they just didn't.

That's just Paul's luck, man. So bad. The only one that I, I, I was pretty sure would not release was ARK 2. And we said it at the time. It's like, I'm just going to throw it out there. They say it's releasing end of 2024. That one did not surprise me. I'm still shocked that Snake Eater, Avowed, both got pushed. Those both would have really helped me a lot. Yeah.

All right. And then my list, a dragon's dog Matu at $68, black myth, Wukong at $69. Boy, I spent a lot very early. The wolf among us two at $7 didn't release stellar blade at $10, Indiana Jones and the great circle at five bucks, man. What a value.

That might wind up being the steal of my draft. Sandland, at $7. That game did not pan out to what I was hoping it was gonna be. Space Marine 2 at $20, that was a value. And then I took the swing on Hollow Knight, Silksong at 14, which, you know, You said it again.

Is never coming out. We all can't say it. So before we get into this, who won? I Ryan's raising his hand. My game's great. It's Josh. It's definitely Josh. It's me. Josh. Josh has black myth, Wu Kong, which I thought was the best game of last year. Space Marine two, we said at the time very well could be the steal of the draft. Dragon's Dogma 2, I know Ryan hated it. It's a very good game. And Indiana Jones kind of came out of nowhere.

And I mean, I know people knew it was going to come out, but people were shocked at how well received it was. You've got like four killer games in there. Also, how dare you guys continue to diss Stellar Blade? Yeah, I was going to say somebody better mention Stellar Blade. to us. You've got like four killer games in there. Continue to this stellar blade. Yeah. I was going to say somebody better mentioned stellar blade that, that, that I don't know. Cause I haven't played it, but it looks like a great game. So fine. Whatever. This is what I love because I know that we are all so hyped for it, for this episode and to talk about these games coming out in 2025.

And I cannot wait until the end of the year when we get to come back to this episode, because we will, believe me, we will absolutely come back to this when we kind of do our game of the year and end of the year episode. There are going to be games that we have no idea are coming out. Astrobot, famously in 2024, we did not know about when we did this draft.

And so there's going to be all sorts of releases that are going to surprise us. There's going to be games that get delayed. I know there's a game on this list that, oh, man, maybe it's coming out this year. Maybe it's coming out next year. But whoever gets it is taking a huge gamble on that one. But yeah, let's get into it, boys.

So I do want to touch on whether the thing did your results from the last time we did this affect your strategy moving into this one? Like Paul took a lot of these games that all got delayed and didn't make it. If two more of those games came out, I think Paul wins this hands down for sure. You know? Um, and so it's like, does, did your strategy change from last time? It changed my strategy in that I really prepared last year. I did zero preparation. This I did absolutely nothing other than helping.

I think all three of us contributed to the list of upcoming releases along with dates. If there were any, I helped create the list and that is it. I have done nothing else to prep. It doesn't matter. This is very random. Uh, I did think about coming in and only drafting quarter one games just to ensure that they all release, but I'm not going to do it. I'm still going to shoot for the fences.

Uh, I'm, I'm still going for just the most anticipated and if they come out this year, great. If not, I'd rather go down with the ship drafting my GTA sixes or whatever and, uh, and, and, and have it go down that way than try to play it safe. Yeah. I will say that I think for me the, and this is something for the listeners too, when it's your turn to nominate a game, you have to nominate the game and you have to throw out the starting bid. So if you nominate a game that nobody else wants, you're stuck with that at that point. So there is some, some danger and some strategy and how we go about nominating these.

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

2025, I'll just throw the name out there like Subnautica 2, for instance, that game would qualify because you can say, Hey, I'm super. I'm super excited for this game. I'm really anticipating it. I understand it's an early release, but it's at least releasing in 2025. So it does qualify at that point. So those are the rules. When it's your turn, you nominate the game, you throw out your opening bid. Well, we'll take turns bidding it up if we want. We each end this draft with eight games. And then we'll actually, we'll actually talk about who we think won the draft. And then we'll come back to it later on.

I love it. All right, you guys ready to get started? I'm ready. Let's do it. All right, Paul, you're the guest of honor. Oh, no. I get to nominate? It's only fitting that you start us off, Paul.

So the question is, do I nominate something I want? Or do I try to start draining your guys' funds? That's a little bit of us off, Paul. So the question is, do I nominate something I want, or do I try to start draining your guys' funds? That's a little bit of this game too. I thought you didn't prepare. I didn't. All right. I'm going to throw out a game that is set for release in February.

Uh, this is one that we've talked about on the show a lot. I'm going to toss out Assassin's Creed shadows. Uh, shout out to ACE. You know, he's anticipating it. I know people love to hate on Ubisoft, but I'm kind of, I think this is a good litmus test. Like where's this one going to go? I'm going to just start out the bidding at $5.

Assassin's Creed shadows. Now, Paul, you mentioned it. We trash Ubisoft a lot. Ubisoft is really under the gun. There's a lot of conversation about hostile takeovers, them trying to sell. I mean, Ubisoft lost its way and it's having a very hard time finding its way back. Assassin's Creed shadows, one of the more anticipated games. I just don't know that I have a lot of faith in it. Yeah, exactly. But I can't let you have a game of that magnitude for five bucks, Paul. So I am going to bid $10.

Ryan, you like Assassin's Creed in general, right? Has it been a while since create? Oh, he loves $15. $18. I'm out $20. 24 Ryan. I'll say 21. Oh, we're at the dollar bids. Yeah, we're slowing down. Assassin's free. That where I know the name alone, the name alone is dude. 21 going once.

I'm out. All right. So I want it for $21. 21 bucks. That's ridiculous. I'll take it. That's a, 15. What do you mean? All right. Let's just try to get you invested in this. All I was trying to do was hype up build up Paul's money.

So I was trying to leach his his funds. We can't turn this into a three hour episode, but are you guys hyped for Assassin's Creed Shadows? A little bit. Who doesn't love Feudal Japan? I don't know. I'm for it. I love Feudal Japan. I love Feudal Japan. Here's the problem for me. I have zero faith in Ubisoft at this point.

That's legitimately zero. And so it's weird because in theory, like I should be excited about this game. But there's a part of me that's going to go, this is just going to be mid. Like, I can't I can't fathom Ubisoft somehow just rediscovering themselves and making a game that's going to blow the world away. Yeah. And so that's my fear with Assassin's Creed Shadows.

Zero chance game of the year nominee. But if it's just a solid middle run. Probably a lot of fun. Yeah, if it's a middle of the road Assassin's Creed, 21's totally fair. I think that's a fair price $21 could be a phenomenal steal on that one. So alright Assassin's Creed shadows goes to Paul Oh, you could you're updating it Paul. I was gonna say look at look at Paul keeping this Course he's gonna I know I was I was gonna try to be a good host here and update it,

but all right, sweet. Okay. Ryan, you're up buddy. Oh, all right. So it's all on me here. Um, I'm going to go with one that Paul picked last year. Ooh. And we'll see if it maybe releases this year.

I for sure hope so because I am a a gun for punishment and I love the series. I'm going to go with metal gear, solid Delta snake eater, and I'm going to start the bidding at $15. It's coming out this year. Yeah, it got delayed. It's going to come out this year. I'm going to, I'll bid 18 on this one. Last year it went for 20. I think it's at least worth that. I'm going to say 21, 25, 28, 33, 34.

You're just trying to run me up now. It is a remake that has me tempered a little bit, but this game is going to be beloved. I think everyone who did not get a chance to play it like Josh is going to think it's so phenomenal. This is like guaranteed 90 plus on Metacritic. I think I'm out. I'll just tell. I don't know enough about the game to be as excited. Like I am excited for it, but I just don't know enough about the original to have

that steer me. I've seen some footage. It looks fantastic. The graphics look, you know, next gen. The gameplay looks really good. They delayed it because they even said, Hey, we want to actually like make this game even better than it already is, which gives me some hope in it as well.

But I just don't know enough to bid bid this up with you guys. So what were you at Paul? Thirty four, thirty four, thirty seven. I'll So what were you at Paul? 3434 37. I'll let you take it at 37. All right. Ryan's never looked more disappointed to win a game. What's your worry Ryan? Was it, you didn't want to go over 35. Would you have given it to me at 35?

Probably that's only $2. That's, that's 1% of your budget. That could be my last two games. Once I spend a hundred million dollars on a Grand Theft Auto. Yeah, that is true. Ryan, you're Mr. Metal Gear Solid. This belongs in your list anyway. Yeah. I'm glad it's in my list this year when it will actually release. Yeah. Yeah. Fair enough. You're worried about your two bucks. Last year I wasted 20. So there you go. I was going to say Ryan was just, he was so sad over $2.

Like I'm like, did you just one that gave me one and his face just told a different story. All right, boys. You know what? There's no beating around the bush, man. We're, we're doing it. We're doing it. Oh boy.

Grand theft. Oh, here it is. Forty five dollars. Sixty five dollars. A hundred dollars. A hundred dollars. Yes. If now, if someone is a there is a very real chance that this game does not release in twenty. There's no way a whole nother year. Yes, there's a very good chance that this game does not release in 2020. There's no way a whole nother year. Yes. There's a very good chance that it could come on. There's the Red Dead pushed back. The star has a good, uh, long standing, uh,

trend of releasing games every couple of years. Come on. Yeah. Now, Ryan, just, just, just for the sake of integrity of the show, do you want to lower your bid a little bit? No, I'm just here on a fear that it's not coming out in 2025. 100 bucks. If it comes out, you win. Yeah, I know. Oh, my goodness. If there was a genie that told us it's 100% guaranteed to come out this year, I would go as high

as $125. I mean, GTA 4 was the greatest game I had ever played up to that point. GTA 5 was the greatest game I'd ever played up to that point. Red Dead Redemption 2, greatest game I had ever played up to that point. Like I have so much confidence in GTA 6 and yet at the same time, I am just very fearful that it could get delayed. I was prepared to go up to a hundred, but now that it's already there, I think I would bow out at that point. I can't go over a hundred. This is either a complete waste of a hundred dollars or Ryan won the draft.

There's no middle ground. This is what I was talking about. Bring it on baby. Come on. The beginning, because it's like, like you said, if this game releases, it's probably game of the year. I mean, I can't see it not being unless it somehow is disappointing, which I don't see happening either.

So it's just taking that gamble. And I'll be honest, I don't think it's going to release. I think they're going to push it back to 2026, like first quarter, first half of 2026, man. I believe all of their other flagship games got delayed at least a year after the initial dates were announced. So there's a little bit of a track record working against you, Ryan, but a hundred dollars, like compare that to Dragon's Dogma two from last year. That's paying for like one and a third Dragon's Dogma. That's so well worth it.

Dang it. Paul's out. What are you doing, Josh? Come on, buddy. Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo beauty of the auction. But also you're going to be like, Oh, there goes no draft. Oh, I don't have any money. Oh, I want that, but I'm poor. That's our first round.

We are coming back around, but we're going to take a quick break before we do that. All right, we're back. Paul, it's back to you, buddy. We got the big one out of the way. Now I'm curious to see where this goes. Remember last year when Ryan was really bummed, he couldn't bid any money on like no rest for the wicked

because he won the first five games. Yeah, that's exactly what Ryan's doing again. No, I don't just spend recklessly. What are you talking about? Ryan, you have $57 to play with. The whole rest of his list, he's just going to get outbid on anything decent. about Ryan you have $57 to play with the whole rest of his list he's just gonna get out bid on anything decent and then he's just gonna wind up with like these rando games just hoping that they're okay yeah oh man I get to nominate again uh let's see let's see I am going to throw out. Ghost of Yote. Oh, another big one. All right. So Ghost of Tsushima follow up one that you play

release recently, which I played. Yeah, fantastic. Loved it. Can't wait for the follow up. I I am not too sure what to do with this game. I'm just throwing it out initially at 10. I know it's going to go higher than that, but how do you guys feel about the prospects of it releasing? Cause this is one on the very short list of must plays. If it does come out next year, I think, I mean, it's scheduled to come out in 2025. Like they don't have a hard date on this one yet, but they're saying, Hey,

2025 release date on this. You said 15, Paul? I think I said 10, but yeah. Either way, I know it's going higher. Okay, I'm gonna go 20. Oh man, I'm gonna be so poor. So could, yeah, Ghost of Tsushima came out in July of 2020. So it's been a few years, they've had some time to work on this.

I'm going to go, I'm going to go 25. I'm going to go 30. 32 35. Paul, I'm going to get a bunch of dollar games at the end. There's so many good games, man. There's a lot of good games. You said 35, 35, 36. I'm a little worried about it not releasing. That's the only thing if it was coming out, I'd go up to 60, 65. Would you say 35, 36, 36, 38?

You can have it. All right. I'll take it for 30. I like so many games I want that I feel very confident are going to come out in 2025. And I really have this list of games in my head that I want to build. Is this a little bit of recency bias because I literally just played Ghost of Tsushima. I mean, maybe maybe I was going to ask you if it is having just recently played that if it got you super hyped for Ghost of Yote. Of course, dude. At an average of $25 a game, I feel like throwing out 38 for this. That's I think that's, that'll be a steal if it comes out.

If I didn't just pay a hundred dollars for a friend of thought, I would've been right. It tried to be 25, right? Yeah. You say 25, right? You'd be so broke. I don't care. It's going to be a good game.

It's going to be so good. All right. Well, Ryan, you get to nominate a game buddy So what's uh, what are you gonna do with your a few pennies you got left my with my pennies? Um I bet it's not a big opening bid. That's for sure One dollar no, I'm gonna go with I'm gonna do the alters Alters at 10. 15. 25.

30. 35. Oh my gosh. 40. 42. This is one of the ones where I'm not sure the community is going to love it, but the three of us are so hyped for this game. I know.

I think 42 is a great price, but I'm going to bow out. I'm happy at 42 bucks. Ryan, you can go up to 57, 58, 58 is your max. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Dollars reserved for each one. 57 extra plus the $1. I bet you're shaking in your boots right now, brother. No. Push him. Push him, Ryan. No, because he'll give it to me. And then I'll be like, dang it.

I know Josh. I don't have nothing. Josh will do it. I know him, too. He'll be like, oh, whatever. I don't care. I'm going to give it to him. He can have it.

42? Yeah, 42. Sweet. Oh, I wanted the alters, man. Dude, OK. Has there been, I wanted the alters, man. Dude. OK. Has there been a game where the demo just absolutely blew people away and then the game released and everybody was like, this is garbage? No, no, that's super rare.

Like that, like that's the thing, right? Like we played the demo for the alters. All three of us autumn. I mean, instantaneously, we're like, whoa, this game is phenomenal. But there's that chance that it's like, it was just the demo that was awesome. Like what if the rest of the game is terrible?

But it's like, I can't think of an instance when that happened. No. So if it's like, if the rest of the game is as good as the demo, $42 is a steal for that game. This is the kind of that 25. This is the kind of pic that might look bad initially in the community. But in hindsight, I don't see this game being lower than like a B plus rating. It's going to be great.

Yeah, especially with the base they already have there. And it just reminds me of, you know, you talk about the demos and stuff. That reminds me of the original Metal Gear on the little PlayStation disc that I played and I was like, oh my god, this is the greatest game ever. And then I played the game and you see what Metal Gear did. And so it's kind of along those lines where I just, this demo did something to all three of us for all of us to all say the same thing, like, oh, we're ready for this game. It's got to be good. all say the same thing, like, oh, we're ready for this game. It's got to be good. I think that they know that they were onto something

with the reception to the demo. And I think that's why they delayed it. Because I think they went, whoa, people really seem to like this. We better take some extra time and make it as good as we possibly can. Because I think there was a resounding positive response to that demo. And I think they saw that and went, OK, we were on to something here.

Let's make sure we land this plane. So that's my hope anyway. All right, Ryan, you nominated that one, right? Yes. All right. You know, I'm just going to do it because I don't think either one of you care one wit about this game. Claire Obscura Expedition 33. If this doesn't look like a next-gen Final Fantasy game with over-the-top combat camera

angles, flashiness, the production value on this game looks like it is through the roof. And I know both of you could care less because you both hate turn based combat. And this game does not look like it's up your alley. So I'm very curious how you guys are going to respond to this. But I'll start the bidding off at ten dollars. I feel like there's 14 games on this list that kind of look like Clare Obscura. Nothing looks like Clare Obscura. How, nothing looks like Clare Obscura. How much did you bid?

10, 10 bucks. 15. Didn't you just say $14? No, me. Yeah. No, I said 10. Oh, he said 10. I'll start the bidding off at 10.

All right. I don't know what the heck my brain was doing. Uh, yeah, no, I'm, I'm out. So 15, we're going to hear that a lot from Ryan. Yeah 15 16. All right, you can take This game is gonna be fantastic Whatever if it releases. Yeah. Oh It's releasing this year. All right. $16. Clear obscura. There you go. That is, I'm so happy.

I got that for under $25. Fair enough. Coming back around to me, back to you buddy. All right. All right. Um, boy, there's a couple of lottery tickets that I'm really hoping to grab for like a buck or two at the end. So I'm going to avoid those for now. Let's, uh, Oh man, I'm, I'm going to throw out midnight murder club. Dude, I saw this game. Okay. You put this on our list. I did.

I went, what on earth is midnight murder club? And so I had to go look it up. It's it's kind of like a like a like a betrayal game almost like Among Us. Oh, it's more like lethal. It's more like lethal company with PVP, I think is more. Yes. So if you guys haven't seen much about this, I think this is one of those games that very well could catch fire if you have the right people playing it.

It has proximity chat, just like Lethal Company. You've got a flashlight, you've got a revolver, you are running around in the dark and you vote on different game modes and then you're trying to like win the match. So the idea of getting into these multiplayer matches with six people where you're going to have hysterical proximity chat, sometimes like pairing off into groups and working together against the other parties,

I could see this one being an awful lot of fun. It's one that I know is not going to go for a lot of money here, but I could really see this one catching fire sort of like pal world Lethal company those kinds of games I'm throwing it out for a buck But this one also does come out soon because it's set for a February release Which also makes it a little bit more appealing to me these these social Kind of betrayal type games. Yeah, if they catch fire kind of betrayal type games. Yeah, if they catch fire.

Do they take over the world for like two months and then they just disappear? You know, at that point, I don't. I think this game has potential to do that, because like I said, the gameplay footage I watched looked very interesting. It's a lot of laughs. There was just people laughing, shooting each other. Some guy was hiding behind a piano and the guy shot up the piano

and it was making the sounds where it was like, boom, boom. I just don't know if I want this choking up my list of games, man. But for a dollar, I don't think I can give this to you for a dollar either, Paul. Don't do it. Ryan? There's a lot of guys on this list.

Don't put it on me. What are you gonna do? No, I'm just asking. Are you going to bet? You know, you could get it super cheap. This is a Ryan game. I think out of the three of us, he would probably like it the most. And I hope that we get a chance to play it. Uh, I think it looks fantastic. Personally, I $3. I think it looks $4. I just wanted somebody to bid it up. I don't got a lot of money. Josh, are you going to bid? Are you out?

No, I'm out. I just needed you to throw out something so I can bow out. Ryan. I mean, it does look pretty sweet. That's that's so cheap, though. It is so. But it's going to be one of those that like it's going to hit for the people that it hits for and it's gonna, five dollars.

Six. I would've stuck Ryan with that. This is great, great podcast content right here. You can have it, you can have it for six dollars. All right, six. Okay. That's fair. I mean, hindsight, like you said,

this game might blow up. Hey, I got them up from a dollar. Okay. I got him up from a dollar That's true. You did you made him spend five more bucks. I'm proud of you Ryan. Thank you fair enough Yeah. All right, Ryan, what you got? All right Let's see, um Got some heavy hitters still there is some definitely a good bit. Um, let's go with a game that is near and dear to Josh's heart. We may or may not have, uh, talked a lot about this game and love this game and loved it dearly about what we enjoy

and don't enjoy, but I'm going gonna go with Subnautica 2. I'm out. Early access. Well, Paul's out already. I like Ryan's, Ryan's now questioning his opening bid. Well, I'm glad he did that because I probably changed my opening bid, but I'm gonna start opening bid for some Nautica to a $5.

$6. $8. You can't let this one go under 20. Come on. You already said you're out. I know. I don't like it. I'm not a big gallery. Come on. I'm the weird one there. People love Subnautica. It's multiplayer this time. Yeah. I mean, you can go $9. $11. Brian, you can go 20. He'll he'll he'll keep bidding $11 Ryan can I come out of the woodwork? I gotta yeah, you're just cuz you say you're out sure 20 20 20

I'm out Oh 20s kind of a lot, uh Oh, 20s kind of a lot. Uh, what do you got to say? Are you, are you, are you double guessing now? Josh? Okay. You look like you're like, you're all of a sudden back in. Here's the thing.

It's multiplayer. So Nautica with a friend would be amazing. It'd be a huge improvement. Dude. But I just don't know how much content there's going to be. Yes, I'm super excited about it, but I just don't know what to expect from the release. Is it a four-hour game?

And then they're like, oh, well, we'll develop it more over the next two years? Or is this an 80% complete game where they just go, OK, cool. Yeah, all these systems work, and people are having a lot of fun, and now we just got to polish it 20%. I don't know. I think it'll be 80, okay, cool. Like, yeah, all these systems work and people having a lot of fun and now we just got to polish it 20%. I don't know. I think it'll be 80% complete personally. That's just my guess.

Why I personally don't like early access games, just release it when it's done, but. Yeah. That's here and over there. Oh man, so you're at 20. 20. And I only have what, $57 left? Such a big name game though.

Yeah, I'm going to, I'm going to give it. I'm going to give it to Paul. All right. I I'm going to give it to Paul too. All right. It hurts me. This one hurts me, man. Subnautica is my game guys.

That's my game. This is the game I love. I was like when I drafted Elden Ring. Yeah, I just don't try. I don't, that's the thing dude, is I don't know what to expect. And if there weren't like eight other games that I want on my list,

I would go harder in the paint for Subnautica 2, but I just don't know what it's gonna be like at its release. You know? And now Paul only gets four more games. That's the other thing. Like he, you know, he's halfway through his draft already. Very true.

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

Oh, man. I hate this draft. That's what you get when you spend $100. I'm so handcuffed, but I'm going to be so happy when Grand Theft Auto releases and I would just win everything. I can't wait to hear about the delay and then just- So Paul, are you out then? 18 is the current bid.

I didn't want to besmirch it too much, but to me, I don't know if there's a series that has more diminishing returns other than maybe Assassin's Creed, which I also already drafted, but my goodness, with each Borderlands, I like it less and less. I mean- Lesson. Yeah. They learned from Tiny Tina's.

This is why when they did the release of Borderlands 4 and they announced it to the world, they said, Hey, this is the love letter. Yeah, I was just going to say like battlefield. Oh, it's going to be borderlands is such a huge name, man. You can have it. I'm out at 18 bucks. OK, I didn't actually want Borderlands for, but for $18, I can't complain, dude.

$18 is a good price. Under $20 for one of the biggest gaming franchises out there. Even if it's mid at $18, fine. Look at that window, though, Josh. Summer 2025 to early 2026. I feel like if they're already floating that. Yeah, I don't know. I'm a little worried. All the assets are created. They've got the whatever the AI is that generates the guns,

man. There's nothing they need. This game will come out. Yeah, for sure. Might be right. I didn't really, I didn't really want it guys. I thought one of you was going to bid it up a little bit. We knew what you were up to. Dang it. All right, Paul. I'm not that I'm not happy now. I try to pretend to be happy, but I don't think. All right, listen, Borderlands Ford. It's not going to be that good. It's going to be just like every other

borderline 180. Two, two, two. I tried two was perfection. And then like you said, Paul, after that, it's all gone downhill, man. Yeah. It is what it is. But he has named notoriety. People love Borderlands. I mean, I'll play it even if it wasn't on my list. I'm still going to want to playing it because, you know, it's a good time. It's just whether it's going to live up to the predecessor of Borderlands two or not.

All right. So for my next nomination here, man, I was kind of hoping to swoop in and grab like a dragon pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, but I feel like since I only have four open slots, I don't want to chance that one. Uh, I want to toss out one of the big heavy hitters still let's go kingdom come deliverance to been on our radars for quite a while. I will say this game is very high on my hype meter. It is very high. My one concern for this game is, is it going to be too slow paced?

The combat is the worry. And that's the thing is I've seen a lot of people say if you've never played Kingdom Come Deliverance, the combat in that game is super like realistic where if you've never played Kingdom Come Deliverance, the combat in that game is super realistic, where if you swing your sword three times, your guy's fatigued. And then it's like, and so it's very slow, and a lot of people don't get it. Once you get it, apparently it's actually really, really

in depth, but a lot of people are kind of put off by the combat because it's very realistic. That's my only concern. I think story-wise, character- wise, graphics, gameplay, all that. It looks phenomenal. What was your starting bid, Paul? Twenty five. I'm going to go 40.

What? If this went last year, I think it would have gone somewhere in the 60 range is kind of what I thought. What was your bid? Forty, 40, 40. Yeah, I'll say 44 45 45 this is the thing. It's like What am I saving my money for if I don't bid on it? You know what I mean good games on this list, but this one's coming out in February

Like this one is releasing it is absolutely really that gives it a little bit of a premium actually They moved the release up a week on this one because they didn't want it going up against the found and they made kingdom come deliverance one. And now they've basically remade the game that they always wanted to. So it has a lot of love and time and passion. I'll go ahead and say 47, 48, 49, 50. I'll bow out at 50. Sweet. I w this was one game I absolutely wanted to leave

this draft with. I have $7 to play with here guys. Hold on. You got it. No, you can, you already put it in Josh's. I know it's already in there, but I can move it. I see it in the notes right now. You already put it in Josh's. I know it's already in there, but I can move it. I see it in the notes right now. You already put it in Josh's. All right, yeah, Josh can have it. No, I'm not. I'm not. How high would you have gone, Josh?

Probably up to 55. Yeah. This is, there's a couple games where I said I want to leave the draft with these games, and this is one of them. Yeah. I want to leave the draft with these games and this is one of them. Yeah. I just, I, everything I've seen about this game really just looks like this is a top notch video game experience. The fact that like you said, Paul King and come deliverance is pretty beloved

by a lot of people and this is like their, I don't want to say like magnum opus, but this is like what they wanted to make originally. And so I feel like it's going to be just top notch, man. Like the comedy, the trailers, I worry a little bit about the combat, but I guess we'll see. Yep. If the combat hits, the game will be fantastic for that player. If I swing a sword three times in real life, I'm tired. Why would I want to do that in a video game?

Well, no, I don't. I I personally I hate stamina bars. It's the worst. Like I'm trying to escape the world. I'm always tired as it is. Let me let me just mindlessly swing at everything. I don't want to I don't want to deal with that. I haven't played a really good medieval game in.

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

Yeah. Wouldn't want to live there, but it's just something that like resonates with my brain. And so it's like this game for me is very high up on that list. I really hope it's worth the $50 price tag. All right, so just to recap, Ryan, you're at $57 left, OK? Because we have to reserve $1 for each of your slots.

You have Metal Gear Solid, Snake Eater, and Grand Theft Auto 6. I have $70 left. I have the Alters, Clare Obscura 33 borderlands, four and kingdom come deliverance to I'm pretty darn happy with my list. And Paul, you have $111 left. Yeah. You have assassin's Creed shadows, ghost of Yotay, midnight murder club and subnautica too. How are you feeling about your list? Paul? I love my list. Iotet at 38, dude, that's killer. Yotet at 38. I love a steal. I think

Subnautica I'm not the biggest fan, but at 20 bucks, that is such a great price. I am more than happy with it. Yeah. All right. Uh, let's see. So kingdom come deliverance. That was you that nominated that, right Paul? Yeah. So it's Ryan's turn. Ryan, Mr. Moneybags. Alrighty. Mr. Moneybags here. Anything Ryan nominates is going to come out at like $3. He's not going to be like $25.

Well, let's see how much money you guys have after this. Let's go for a big boy. We're going to do. Oh, vowed. Oh, there it is. Opening bid, $20. Dinero's. 20 bucks for a vow.

20 bucks. This went last year for 50. I believe. $20 make it harder. Yeah, it did go. And it's probably releasing this year. It's definitely releasing. Uh, do you guys feel better or worse about avowed now? Like nine months.

I'm not telling you Paul. Nice try buddy. All right. 30, 40, 45, 50. I am out. No. Oh boy. I was scared. Ryan, come in. Ryan. I'm out. No. Oh boy. I was scared. Ryan, come in, Ryan. I'm out. Are you sure? I think he might let you take it.

I said he's out. He's out. I got it. This is the other, this was my number one game. I wasn't going to bid on grand theft auto six cause I didn't believe it's coming out, but a vow Paul, I was counting on you. I was counting on you Paul to drive them up. Okay. I, I only have $21 left, but I got five banger games on my list. Now I was watching more

gameplay of avowed and like, as time goes on, I feel less and less confident about it. Really? A little bit. Yeah. Just a little. I, so my answer to your question was actually feel more confident because they did the, um, like the, the preview where they let a lot of like YouTubers, uh, come and play about for like 10 hours or something like that. And universally everybody came away going, this game is great. Like this game is going to be so good. It's a, I think that it's that it's like 25, 30 hour story. So they're keeping it tight.

I am super hyped and I've gotten more hyped just from the positive response and the improvements that they've made to like combat and stuff, too. OK, we shall say anything that worries me about about is it setting? Is it a aura? What's the game from the path? Wrath of Kingmaker? Yeah, it starts with EO. Yeah, in Nora, a or I don't know anything about that world and from playing a Kingmaker

was a Kingmaker that no, it's called. Oh gosh, pillars of eternity. Last time, pillars of eternity. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And we, we flubbed this one on another show too, because I couldn't remember it, but I don't know. I don't know if I care about that, like world necessarily, but we'll find out. All right. So let's see, Ryan, that was you nominated that. Yes. All right. Let's do one more and then we'll take a quick ad break. Okay. Let's go with, man, I love my list, but I am broke now. I'm, I'm poorer than Ryan, man. Ryan still needs six more games. It's all part of the plan.

Oh my goodness. Okay. Let's go with Metroid prime for beyond, which should be one of the biggest Nintendo releases in a while. And since I'm broke, I'll start the bidding of five bucks. We talked about this before. I have never played a Metroid game. Really? Yeah. You're missing out.

Metroid is really good. Metroid is really serious, dude. The bids five bucks, five bucks. Ryan, come on, dude, you got to start filling out this roster. I love there's a lot of games I could fill out for a lot of games out there. The bid's five bucks. Five bucks. Ryan, come on dude, you gotta start filling out this roster. People love Metroid. There's a lot of games I could fill out for a dollar. There is a lot of games out there, I know. This was a calculated risk,

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

like on the last draft. Well, Nintendo doesn't give release dates very far in advance. So a lot of times, you know, we just have no idea what's coming. What are you and Josh? I'm out. You're out at 10 bucks. I only have 20 bucks. What was your game?

I well, I mean, I yeah, but you guys bid it up. I'm out. You can have a huge name game. Metroid Prime four for $10 is, is, is a crime, dude. I have others. I have others I want this. Hilarious. That that name alone for people that love Nintendo is gonna catapult Paul standings

All right, I only need three more games guys, so I have a hundred and five dollars between I got like five games I really want still and I only have three more spots man. All right We're gonna take a break and then we're coming back with Paul's next nomination. We'll be back in just a second. All right, maybe that was like 60 seconds depending on the ads that just got played, but we're back to you, Paul. Back to me. All right. I am going to nominate one of the bigger recognizable names on the list.

I have a feeling maybe Ryan was hoping to wait and get this one on the cheap down the road. I want to throw out gears of war E day. This might be the biggest game name on the list. Gears baby. Yeah. I still love gears of war. I miss it.

I want, I want this one. I get dude, I legitimately scoured, scoured the internet to see if there was any gameplay footage of this game. We saw the trailer. We know it's the prequel. There's no gameplay at all, but it's freaking Gears of War, man. There's no chance that Microsoft and like that they flubbed this, right? Like well, sure.

Return of Gears of War, right? my bigger worry is that it'll get delayed. The release window is September to October, 2025. Yeah, it's late. But I'll throw it out for $20. Dang it. Here's why Ryan, where are you at? I'm I'm broke. So you're going to start going before me. I'm broke too. What are you talking about? Almost three times my amount of money, Ryan, your Mr. Moneybag. $21, $ money, Ryan. You're Mr. Money Bag. Twenty one dollars, twenty five dollars. One. Man, I really wanted this one real quick.

Has there ever been like the original Gears of War game, like the trailer with Gary Jules and Mad World, like a better trailer to a video? Oh, it's so good. It's one of the best ever. It's fantastic. Think about how good. It's one of the best ever. It's fantastic. Think about how good the game's going to be, Ryan. Oh man. Quit trying to give me to spend money. You know, I'm really excited.

You only have two games. Listen, I got a lot on here that have not been taken that I can use for a dollar. That's a valid. I have not spent a hundred yet. I know Paul's just going to clean up these later games. Twenty. What have not spent a hundred yet. I know Paul's just gonna clean up these later games 20 What are you at 25? I think I was at 25 2830 Dude, what am I saving my money for? It's only like three things left that I want. I know. Yeah, that's fair

That's 30 32 33 Paul's gonna bid whatever it takes to beat you, Ryan. Don't try. I guarantee you. You're trying to how fast he's bidding. He's so he's trying to one up until I, until I bid one more and then he's just going to leave me with it and then I'll have no, no money.

Uh, 35 36. Oh, I see. You see how he slowed down there, Ryan? Yeah. It's all, it's all yours. Yeah. It's all right. 36, 36. Yeah. It's your game releases this year. I, I don't mean I like in my brain, it's an amazing video game. No, we haven't seen anything about it, but you know, in my brain, I'm just returning to the gears of war glory, man, with your buddies and the, yeah. All right. I'm feeling really good.

I was going to say, I don't, I think you were feeling really good last year though. I know it's true. Remember that? I know. I know. I do. So Ryan and Paul close to each other of money. Ryan at $57 left. Paul at $67 left now. Ryan only has two games though. And I only need to buy two. Paul, yeah, Paul only or technically only has space for two. That could come into play as well. I might come in under budget. What are you nominating? Oh man.

as well. I might come in under budget. What are you nominating? Oh man. Let's go with, I'm going to go with Civ seven. Okay. I'm going to do that at five bucks. Have you played any of the Civ games? Ryan? I played a one or two here or there. It's been a long time, but I know they have a very, uh, devout, like, yeah, they're like people who love Civ games are like, they love those games. Yeah. And then it's tomorrow. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Paul, was it Civ five that we got into with Todd for a while? We played, yeah, we played a lot of five and then we did a deep dive on six and we didn't like it as much, but five, man, we cracked on it. Yeah. We played a lot of five and then we did a deep dive on six and we didn't like it as much. I played. But five, man, we cracked out on that game. What a fun game. Yeah. Yeah. Cause it is the glory. Five was the glory of Civ, right? Cause six was, people said isn't as good as five. You should just play five. Yeah. Which is why we actually played five, but we covered six.

I'm out. All right, what's the bid? Five. Five. Five dollars, huh? Five dollar make you holla. Civ seven. Yeah, you can have this one, Ryan. Yeah, I got another game. It's a huge name.

I'm just not a big fan of the series, man. Oh, I love it. I don't know. They're not my side game. That's gonna be killer. Trust me, mark my words. Oh, I mean, it probably is. Civ seven for five bucks killer. Trust me. Mark my words. Oh, I Bought five dollars somebody's gonna go. How on earth did you get Civ seven for five bucks? I should have bid it up Would you have bit would you have outbid me Ryan? Oh Maybe to like 15. Oh

See, I was just hoping to push you up to ten. So I cut it down that easy. Dang it. All right All right, boys. Let's uh, you know here, here this is this a big name came to this. If we don't mention this one, there's going to be a revolt from the listeners. So I'll throw it out there. Monster Hunter Wilds. Oh, and I'll start to bidding off at five dollars for my broke butt. I wish I liked this series. I really hate it. I don't like Monster Hunter at all. I started playing, I think it was Monster Hunter 3 on the Wii.

My brother-in-law Jason got me to buy it. I hated it. I played whichever one you and I did the deep dive on Josh. I hated it. It's just not for me. So I'm out. I get the appeal. It's just not my personal preference. All right, Ryan, how much did you say? Five bucks, seven, eight. Can I push you up past 10 on this one, Ryan? Nine, 10. It's a big name game. People love it. You can have it for 10 bucks. Yes. 10 to Josh. I don't want to play this game,

but this game is going to look great on my list. It's a good resume. It'll look good on your list. For sure. I could care less about the game itself. People are going to look at the lesson and be like, dude, Josh's list band. Sorry for everybody that loves monitor. I'm with you, Paul monster hunter world. I get the appeal. Like it's a grand game. I'm with you, Paul. Monster Hunter World. I get the appeal. Like it's a grand game. Like, oh man, you're fighting these crazy, fantastic creatures. It's just not my kind of game. Too many systems to convoluted. Yep. Totally with you. All right.

We're back to you, Paul. Back to me. Yeah. Uh, looking at this list, I only see a couple of really big games remaining. I feel like we have to throw out Elden Ring, Night Rain. This one got recently announced, supposed to come out by the end of 2025. I'm throwing that one out there. I'll start the bidding at $10. I will bid everything I have at $12. I will go 13 He can't even do that because he needs a dollar left for the other one no 13 I'll go

$14 15 17 20 if a game like Elden ring doesn't go in the $30 range, something is wrong. Something is drastically wrong. 23, 25. Ah, that's the, well, that was what I was going to go. Ryan, it's Elden. 20. I know you haven't played Elden ring.

But it's okay. But is it going to release and Paul's bidding on it? Paul's bidding on it. So it's probably not going to release. That is a good point. That's what we know. It's releasing in 2025. What are you at? 25? I'm going to go 27. 30. 30?

Dude, he's trying to round out his team right now. His list is going to be way too good, right? You also have to take into account, if Paul adds Elden ring and he only needs one game after this, his list looks insane. What are you, what are you, what are you gearing for? What are you trying to give me to spend my money? I don't want Paul to win. Oh yeah.

You don't have another banger on your list. That's Josh's problem. Not yours, Ryan. Yeah. What are we at? What are we at? What are we at? 30, 33, Ryan. Yeah. What are we at? What are we at? What are we at? 30.

30. 33. 35. Ryan, you're out. Come on. This is ridiculous. 38. Yeah.

40. Don't. All right. I'm happy that Elden Ring is at least getting its due now because 40 is still cheap for this game. 42. What do you got? Boy, if I let you take this, then I can pretty much pick any two games I want. The problem is that this is kind of the one I want.

So how much did you bid? Forty two, forty two, forty five. You can have it. Oh, that's a good, that is a good pick. Paul $45 for Elden ring. I'm loving this roster. I know it sounds like a lot of looking good right now. Paul's list is stupid. Good looking. That's what we said last time was a crime. I know,

but Metroid prime at $10 was robbery. That was your fault. You suggested it. You could have built it up. Ryan, don't put it on me. I can't believe you. How dare you run whatever his turn is it? It's yours. Ryan, you need some games. I do. I do need some game. The best is that Josh and I are going to bid $0 on anything you bring up and you're going to end up way under budget. Yeah. to bid zero dollars on anything you bring up and you're gonna end up way under budget. Yeah.

That's probably. He's gonna be like me. That's probably true. Dude, there's some great games here. Spligate 2. There's a huge list of gate, don't shh Paul. Oh no. Just stranding 2.

Yeah. Do an awakening. Yeah, I got all these up here. Yeah, for sure. What is this, collusion? Hyper Lightbreaker, we know Josh loves that one. I do love that one. Paul stop naming games for Bradpunk looks pretty cool. There's some great ones.

My boy Kojima, I'm gonna go with Death Stranding 2. I hope that there's not a ton of work left with it. I'm gonna go with a dollar. A dollar? I do like the first one. it's this game is worth so much more than a dollar But I'm not gonna bid anything cuz I only have one spot left What I got your spots left Josh. You gotta throw out some left. Oh, I'm Ryan. Okay, that's raining to two dollars It's in the name five dollars Five is it a game?

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

That's a huge steal and critics will love it. Yep. 100% Okay, and it's got great graphics. Just stupid my list just stopped at six games. I can't do nothing else, man But it's my turn to nominate one. Yes, sir. All right, here we go. Doom the dark ages boys That's a Josh pick right there That's a Josh pick cuz that game I mean it's probably gonna be terrible who likes doom, but they're all the same And I'll start the bidding off at a dollar five dollars Yes, Ryan go go go go go go Paul. You're you're mr. Moneybags over there. No, I'm not I

Mean, it's not more money than me. You got twice my amount of money, man. It's true. I only have one slot. You want to lend me some money? No. You want to buy Subnautica? Five dollars going once.

It's five dollars. Going twice. Six dollars. Oh, come on, Josh. Eight. I have $12, Paul. Why are you egging me on? Help me out here.

Push it, Ryan. This is Doom. Look at Doom Eternal. There's a game that Paul wants with his last slot and he's trying to get me to spend all my money so he can snatch it up. I'm fine with $1. You're not taking what I want.

$8. $8. Come on, let's go. $8. Dang it. You've got too much money, Ryan. Yeah. Nine dollars. 10 dollars.

11 dollars, Ryan. I wanna do it just to keep it, just to get him. But I also don't know if he wants me to do that. I'm gonna, I need a lot of games, so I'm gonna do, I'm gonna do $12. You can't buy it now. Well, Josh can do 13. That's his highest. Doesn't he only have 12 bucks?

He's got 12, but he's already got $1 set aside for each of the games. $13 and it can be yours, Ryan. All right. I'll buy it for $14. Dang it, Ryan. That's great value, Ryan. That's a big. Ryan, you don't want, you're That's a big hit. Dang it, Ryan. You're not gonna play Doom? Nope. Yeah.

Nope. You're just taking my good name games that I know, and then you're just stealing them, Mr. Amazon. Yeah, that's what I'm here for. Great, great insult. Taking my good ideas, and then just making them your own basic thing. All right, who's next?

Who's next? All right, it's next? Who's next? All right. It's Josh me. So we're back to no, I nominated that. Oh, you know what I do. That's right. That's right.

All right. So back to me, I've only got one spot left. There's a couple of games here that I really like, but I am going to go for one that we have under our unknown list. There is no release window. I am just going to take a shot in the dark and Guess that it's coming out this year. I am going to throw out Super Mario Odyssey 2 for a dollar

For a dollar for a dollar. I'm too broke man Five dollars How much Ryan if this releases this is a game of the year candidate instantly. $5. $8. How much money you got here? 23. He can go up to 23 and this is his last game. So if he gets this, he's out. Yeah, he's going to. Where are you? What are you at? Eight, eight, 10, 11. He's going to go up to 23, 15, 16. He's going to go up to 23. You can win it Ryan. If you really want it, you can outbid me.

You have more money than I do, but it's just a, it's one of those, I guess Ryan that'll make you and I tied cash wise. You got, you got to want it, you can outbid me. You have more money than I do. But it's just a, it's one of those, I guess it doesn't really matter. Ryan, that'll make you and I tied cash-wise. You got, you gotta do it, man. Paul will be out. It'll be down to me and you with the same exact amount of money. If I bid what, 23?

If you take it for 24. I don't like how easily influenced I am by Josh. It's a good scenario, right? Do it for the show, Ryan! $24! 24? Alright. By the way, I definitely think this game's coming out this year, and I think that'll be an absolute steal.

They're gonna wanna push shit for this patch, too. Like you said, Nintendo doesn't release stuff without it coming out soon, you know, it coming out soon. So boom, 13 bucks. That is a great pick. It will come out. That's fantastic. The one dollar set aside. Dang it. You have a dollar more than me now. Yes, I do, brother. All right. So that goes back now to Ryan. Yeah. Paul is Paul is done with the draft.

No, no, you got. Oh, no, no. Ryan took that one. That's right. Ryan took it. I. OK. So Paul still in it Yeah. Paul is Paul is done with the draft. No, no, you got. Oh, no, no. Ryan took that one. That's right. Ryan took it. I. OK, so Paul still in it then. There's one one last game that I would want on the list. So at least it worked out if I couldn't have Mario dwindling. Yeah. Mario's a steal. Yeah. I'm I'm super stoked about that. Not Josh really wants. Arc Raiders is my prediction and or hyper light breaker.

If you care, right? If you want to run them out of a few bucks, let's go hyper light breaker, $5. You're breaking my heart. Right? Dude, come on. It's going to be good. You know, you want to, Josh is the risk of rain too. It's going to be good. You know you want to. Josh is risk of rain too. It could be even better. It's it looks better. It looks better, but I'm going to let Ryan have this one.

Five bucks. Oh, that's I'll take it. Name recognition is not there. I'm trying to tank the his the appeal of his list at first glance. I would have out there that for sure if I had more slots. It's the only reason I'm not pushing it. I think is going to be a fantastic multiplayer co-op rogue like game. I mean totally agree.

It's going to be a blast, dude. I just don't know that enough people know about it yet for them to look at that and go like, Oh yeah, way to go, Ryan. All right. Who that was Ryan. So it's my, Ooh, man. Dude, there's like four games out there that I still am very interested in. So I will go slay the spire too for a dollar.

I'm out. Can it really be any better than the first? There's a hundred spires out there already. You know what? Dang it. You're right. But for a dollar, you can't argue. $2 Ryan. $3.

You can have it. All right. I'll take it for the three. The Spire 2 is, it's like the biggest name in indie games, man. Is this going to come down to you two fighting over Silksong with your last money again? How dare you? Ryan, you should have pushed him another dollar

because once again, Josh has $1 more than you at the end. Yeah, buddy. All right, it's your nom. It's it's your nom. Paul, it's your nomination. My nomination. Paul sitting over here can outbid Brian and I handily now. Hollow Knight, silk song, no release window, no indication. It's coming out this year. It's never coming out. Uh, I am tempted to throw it out just to see what you guys bid for it,

but I am going to stay true to myself. There's one guys bid for it, but I am gonna stay true to myself There's one last game on this list. I want to play more than all of the others. I'm gonna throw out split gate 2 saying it Paul And I'm gonna go ahead and nominate split gate for $11 yeah, which which gets it. Yeah, you can have it $10. Yeah, which which gets it. Yeah, you can have it. So Dude split gate. I don't know that I've had more fun in a shooter. It's so good split gate came out I loved it so much and two looks it's gonna be even better, man Well, my team is done and I have $13 left on the table that I could have spent that I did not

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

So I can basically just pick the game that I want to pick. Technically, you have 11 and 10. Or 11 and 10, right. But I still have one more dollar than Ryan. And so I'm just going to, I'm just going to name some of the games that I'm super interested in. Arc Raiders, Paul, you know me very well. That is very high on my list.

Um, dune awakening, if it releases in 2025, I think looks insanely good. And I'm really, really hungry for a good MMO. Um, jump ship, I think is really hungry for a good MMO. Jump ship, I think is going to be a ton of fun. That was a game that we covered on a this week in gaming. And then there's some like south of midnight and mixed tape, these kind of story based games that look really, really good. I mean, just top notch production quality. Did Outer Worlds to throw in some shade by not bringing it up.

That deserves mention. And then there is the unknown list where we have games like Light No Fire, which I am crazy about. Silksong is on there. Is it gonna release in 2025? I don't know. Nobody knows.

Probably not. Nobody knows, but I could take a huge gamble with my last pick and then say, man, there's also one other game that if it releases in 2025, I think is phenomenal, dude. And I'm really torn between it and silk song. I just don't know if I want to take the gamble on silk song, but I don't want to name the game because I don't want Ryan taking it either. You're kind of pot committed on silk song, but I don't want to name the game. Cause I don't want Ryan taking it either. You're kind of pot committed on silk song from last year. Double down, dude.

Go for it. Can I get burned two years in a row? And then everybody's going to be like, you fool. You don't give me silk song. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't want that one, but how can I resist? That's at least two more years till release.

Are you telling me they need another year on that game, man? One day. So you just want to bid your 10? 2025's our year, boys. All right. You got it for 10, Josh. You got $1 left over since Ryan couldn't outbid you. And then, Ryan, you get your pick of the litter, bud. Um, there's, there's definitely a few that I look and, um, man, it's

hard cause you got, you got skate, outer worlds, uh, like you mentioned mafia, old country, that's a good one. Part of me though, really just wants the nonsensical chaos of Kingsmakers. And I think I'm gonna, we know it's coming out. So that's coming out. It's going to be a good one. I I'm going to go with Kingsmakers for my last pick. Sure.

Game is going to take the streaming world by. I think so. When I had, I had a friend, my good buddy, Shane, that, um, doesn't really ever game. He likes to listen to the podcast, just kind of support us and stuff. But he's like, have you heard of this game? There was like a truck driving through like medieval soldiers and stuff. And I'm like, Oh yeah, totally. And I knew exactly what he was talking about. I was like, Paul drafted it last year. Yeah. I was like, yeah, it's been going to come out for a while, but I'm excited for it. And, and like these types of people are excited that don't

really game. So, uh, yeah, I think that's one that, uh, should be good if it, you know, it'll, it'll release. Yeah. It's just whether it's gonna hit. It's gonna hit. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. So all right. That wraps up the draft. I'll go over everybody's list here. So Ryan, you ended up with Metal Gear Solid Delta Snake Eater. Boy, the one that it's all going to come down to. Grand Theft Auto VI, Civilization VII, Death Stranding II, Doom, The Dark Ages, which you stole from me. I really wanted that one on my list. Super Mario Odyssey 2.

Which you stole from me? Yeah, which you stole from Paul? Hyper Light Breaker, which was mine, even though I didn't want to buy it. And then King Makers with your last pick. I have the Alters, Claire Obscura Expedition 33, Borderlands 4, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, Avowed, Monster Hunter Wild, Slay the Spire 2, and Hollow Knight, Silksong. I feel like I have the name recognition. You know, the games are, we'll see if they release and when and how good they are and all that, but at least the names are there.

And then Paul, you have Assassin's Creed Shadows, The Ghost of Yote, Midnight Murder Club Club Subnautica 2, my beloved Metroid Prime 4 Beyond Gears of War E-Day Elden Ring Night Reign and Splitgate 2. Those are some good games all around. It's gonna be a good year. The thing it's crazy to me because your list I think has some of the most potential, you know, with like, but I just we don't't know what to expect from gears of war E day. Like Elden Ring Nightrain looks really good, but we don't really know what to expect.

It's like designed to be multiplayer and simpler and all that. And yeah, this is, this is crazy. Woo. What do you guys think we'll look back on and say was the worst value? I'm going to say GTA six. Cause I think it's going to get say GTA 6 because I think it's gonna get delayed. No I think it's gonna get delayed too. No it's coming out. So that one, that one, but if it's not caused by a delay... I really, Borderlands 4 even

though I got it for $18 I don't know that I'm, I have a lot of confidence in. It is a little bit of an overpay, maybe. Yeah, and then... I don't think anyone really overpaid for much. I think people might say the alters, but we wouldn't say that. No. I think $50 for Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 might seem like a lot, especially since I got avowed for the exact same price, but I have,

I have pretty high confidence that the both those games are going to be pretty darn impressive games, man. And they'll come out this year. Oh, they're coming out. Yeah, for sure. So, oh man, I can't wait to come back to this episode at the end of the year and then just go like, man, we seemed like we knew everything. Like we lit, I know, I think you guys did, but I went back and listened to our 2024 episode of this all over again. And we were just talking about these games

that were coming up and like future Josh is like, no! Stop talking about Sandland. Don't stop saying how good Sandland is gonna be. It looks so good. I know. And then I was just like, why? Why was I excited about that game? Oh, man, it was funny.

So Paul, thank you so much for joining us once again, buddy. It is awesome to have you back with us, man. So thank you from not only myself and Ryan, but all the listeners as well for jumping in on this with us and just making it a great time and, and, uh, putting a pretty darn list, good list together, man. Yeah, right. Yes. As always, thanks for having me on. It's always a blast.

I'm always excited when I get to join you guys and I'm really looking forward to this year in gaming. It's going to be pretty great. Oh, where wins me? No one drafted it. We didn't. I just don't know what I think about it. I still think it looks great, but they just, it just kind of disappeared and then it kind of did. Yeah. So that worries me a little bit. Yeah. I go fly to China. You can play it there. Oh, I have to, the game I was talking about was Judas. Oh yeah. Judas is supposed to come out in March of 2025. Now they've been real radio silent on it with the exception of the gameplay that they gave us not too long ago. But if like

everything points to it's supposed to come out in 2025. Will it be March? I don't know about that, but I still think that that's what they're shooting for on that one. And I mean, that game looks incredible, dude. That was one I didn't want to tell Ryan about, because I didn't want you putting it on your list, because it's a huge name game if it does release this year. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. All right, well, that does it for us, everybody.

Thank you for listening. It is so good to be back. 2025 is going to be incredible. I just, I can't wait. I know Ryan's excited. Paul, we know you'll be back with us at some point as well. If nothing else, just for the end of your episode to talk about this one, man. Yeah.

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