Fire Escape Cast #122 (Part 1) - GAME OF THE YEAR

Podcast: Fire Escape Cast
Hosts: Dan Ryckert, Mike Mahardy, Mary Kish
Date: December 8, 2025

Episode Overview

The Fire Escape crew—Dan Ryckert, Mary Kish, and Mike Mahardy—assemble for their annual tradition: meticulously debating and awarding their official Game of the Year honors for 2025. Joined by recurring “cool judge” Jake Decker, they dive into 25 inventive categories, deliberate over nominees, and ultimately name winners and runners-up. This episode features smart, raucous, and often hilarious discussion, with passionate arguments for and against their picks. Categories range from the deeply serious (“Most Thinky Game,” “Best Feature”) to the gloriously ridiculous (“Best Balls,” “Worst Title”). The friendly chaos is real, judgments are sometimes brutal, and everyone tries to keep things on track before the next bar closes.

Main Theme

Game of the Year Deliberations for 2025:
A sprawling, personality-driven debate and celebration of 2025’s video games, dissected through unique, often idiosyncratic categories.

Key Segments & Highlights

1. Introduction & Format Explanation

Timestamp: 01:09–03:53

• The panel welcomes Judge Jake and jokes about his annual “cryo sleep.”
• They outline the structure: 25 categories (both silly and serious) with nominees in each; debates will determine winners and two runners-up.
• Categories will range from extremely unserious (“Best Balls”) to in-depth analytical (“Most Thinky Game”).
  Quote:

“We have some very serious categories. We take this really seriously around here.” – Mary Kish (03:31)

2. Best Balls

Timestamp: 04:02–13:43

• A chaotic opening category debating which game featured the "best balls"—literal or conceptual.
• Nominees included: Ball X Pit, Rematch, Rosary Beads (Silk Song), Dune: The Dark Ages (ball-based boss fights), Katamari, Metroid Prime 4 Morph Ball, Rick (Kirby Air Riders), Ooh’s bomb caterpillar.
• Spirited nonsense about favorite ball-based gameplay, with many laughs about what constitutes a true “ball.”
• They eventually reframe the category as Mount Rushmore of Balls, joking about which “ball” is George Washington.
• Winner: Ball X Pit (as “George Washington” of balls)
• Runners-Up: Rick from Kirby Air Riders, Metroid Prime 4 Morph Ball, Rosary Beads
  Quotes:

“If this were a Mount Rushmore of balls, I think the Morph Ball might be George Washington.” – Dan Ryckert (11:26)
“You ever think about a Mount Rushmore of balls and what that would look like?” – Mike Mahardy (11:32)

3. Most Dewy Game (Most About Just Doing Stuff)

Timestamp: 13:37–25:18

• “Dewy” games are games where you’re “just playing, just doing,” not mired in exposition, tutorials, or story—versus “thinky” (puzzles/strategy) or “talky” (lots of dialogue).
• They cut games with too many cutscenes or narrative interruptions.
• Fierce debate between Mega Bonk and Sectori for which is most purely, frictionlessly playable.
• Winner: Sectori
• Runners-Up: Mega Bonk, Donkey Kong Bonanza
  Quotes:

“The patron saint of this category is Vampire Survivors.” – Dan Ryckert (19:09)
“At this level, even text will not get you to the next level.” – Mary Kish (21:34)

4. Most Thinky Game

Timestamp: 25:49–39:50

• Category for the most purely “thinky,” cerebral puzzle/strategy game of the year.
• Arguments over what makes a game truly “thinky,” with detailed breakdowns of nominees' logic/mechanical depth (“blueprints,” “Ooh,” “Monster Train 2”).
• Winner: Blueprints
• Runners-Up: Ooh, Monster Train 2
  Quotes:

“There are rooms that have puzzles in it that you don’t know about until another 20 hours in.” – Mary Kish (32:44)
“Blueprints is really thinky, and I absolutely love that game, and I’ll be bringing up every chance I can.” – Jake Decker (31:35)

5. Most Talky Game

Timestamp: 42:36–52:20

• Nominees include: Dispatch, Hades 2, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, Death Stranding 2, Split Fiction, Uma Musume (Horse Racing), Trails in the Sky, Metal Gear Solid Delta.
• Analysis of games with walls of dialogue (not always a compliment).
• The infamous “horse girl” gacha game Uma Musume is ultimately deemed the most relentlessly verbose.
• Winner: Uma Musume Horse Racing
• Runners-Up: Dispatch, Trails in the Sky
  Quotes:

“It is a toxicity of these horse. Horse girls. They talk a lot.” – Mary Kish (45:00)
“I did not like it. Like, I know we’re talking about the most talky, but these are all talky. Shouldn’t we get rid of ones that were like—‘I didn’t want to read all of this’?” – Mary Kish (48:12)

6. Worst Title of the Year

Timestamp: 52:34–62:24

• A celebration of the absolute most overdesigned, baffling, or unreadable game titles of 2025.
• Honorable mentions for “Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon,” “Is it Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Full Land of Water and Light,” but frustration boils over for a Nintendo special:

  “Kirby and the Forgotten Land – M dash Nintendo Switch 2 Edition Plus Star Crossed World”

• Winner: Kirby and the Forgotten Land – M—Nintendo Switch 2 Edition Plus Star Crossed World
• Runners-Up: Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon, Is it Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?
  Quotes:

“If someone can’t get through it, that is the worst title.” – Mary Kish (62:18)
(Reading out the Kirby title) “It’s exhausting.” – Mike Mahardy (60:02)

7. Best Form of Attack

Timestamp: 62:41–74:20

• Not “Best Mechanic,” but the most viscerally satisfying way to do damage.
• Passionate advocates for notable attack methods: Hades II Mech Suit, Pipistrello Yo-Yo, Doom: The Dark Ages shield, Ball X Pit “balls from the back,” etc.
• Ultimately, Doom: The Dark Ages shield—offense AND defense, freshly “chainsaw” cool—takes the crown.
• Winner: The Shield in Doom: The Dark Ages
• Runners-Up: Pipistrello Yo-Yo, Sectori Strike Attack
  Quotes:

“It’s like if Captain America was actually cool... Like that’s what he would use.” – Jake Decker (74:14)

8. Best Feature

Timestamp: 76:33–101:44

• Sponsored by “Wendy’s” (the hosts improv a fake ad and eat pretend tendies).
• Here, “best feature” means core system or mechanic that elevates a game—players debate destructible environments, crest systems, head tracking, “going up/going out” in Hades II, etc.
• Winner: Destructible Environments in Donkey Kong Bonanza
• Runners-Up: Crest System (Silksong), Hades II “Going Up/Going Out”
  Quotes:

“Games are meant to be fun. They’re meant to be whimsical and wild. The fact that in DK they just let you destroy everything is so integral.” – Mary Kish (98:58)

9. Coziest Game

Timestamp: 101:58–112:11

• The warmest, most “curl-up-and-relax” game, as defined by Mary: soothing, non-demanding, and uplifting.
• Cast and Chill, a fishing game with relaxing feedback and a supportive dog, wins for being “the definition of cozy.”
• Winner: Cast and Chill
• Runners-Up: PowerWash Simulator 2, Spilled
  Quotes:

“Cast and Chill is a sedative. Like, if you play this, it’s going to relax you and calm you.” – Mary Kish (110:56)

10. Best Playing Game (Best Game for Playing on a Plane)

Timestamp: 112:18–121:10

• Games that make time melt away while traveling, primarily on handheld/portable.
• The debate balances pure addictiveness, low stress, “easy to pick up and put down,” and accessibility.
• Winner: Mega Bonk
• Runners-Up: Hades 2, Ball X Pit
  Quotes:

“Mega Bonk is my ultimate time melting game because I don’t get stressed when I play it, but I do have fun when I play it... It requires the perfect amount of effort.” – Mary Kish (120:32)

11. Games Game (Funniest Game)

Timestamp: 123:22–136:47

• Not “writing-driven” comedy, but games that spark genuine, memorable laughs, especially emergent, collaborative play.
• Arguments over what counts—design versus writing/intent. Peak, Repo, Arc Raiders, Are We There Yet highlighted for “friend slop” laughs.
• Winner: Repo
• Runners-Up: Peak, Arc Raiders
  Quotes:

“When Dan is the only person left, none of us are there... playing alone yelling, Jake! Jake!... You get a vase and you dink it and you’re just like...” – Mary Kish (128:17)

12. New Game That Most Seems Like an Old Game

Timestamp: 136:51–144:10

• Nostalgia in design: which 2025 release most perfectly resurrected a bygone era’s feel?
• Winner: Luminous Arise
• Runners-Up: Ninja Gaiden 4, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
  Quotes:

“If you put this down on a PSP in 2006, 2007 and told me it was just the sequel to Luminous...I wouldn’t bat an eye.” – Dan Ryckert (144:02)

13. Most Up Its Own Ass

Timestamp: 144:36–161:47

• Glorious shade thrown at games and personalities for pretentiousness and self-importance.
• Discussion includes games (Blueprints, Split Fiction) and developers (Kojima, Joseph Fares, Team Cherry) AND... cohost Mike Mahardy—whose font size for his own pretension keeps getting increased on their Google Doc.
• Winner: Mike Mahardy
• Runners-Up: Hideo Kojima (Death Stranding 2), Joseph Fares (Split Fiction/It Takes Two)
  Quotes:

“Font got too big. I think we got to lock it. Most up its own ass is Mike Mahardy, runners up Hideo Kojima and Joseph Fares.” – Mike Mahardy (161:40)

14. Lamest Tone

Timestamp: 162:02–173:16

• Mockery for the year’s lamest, most embarrassing writing or attitude.
• Borderlands 4, Dying Light: The Beast, Mega Bonk, Split Fiction, and Call of Duty Black Ops 7 all debated for awfully dated, grating, or painfully “millennial core” dialogue.
• Winner: Split Fiction
• Runners-Up: Borderlands 4, Dying Light: The Beast
  Quotes:

“It reminds me of It Takes Two—I don’t like hearing couples basically talk about their divorce through a six hour video game.” – Mary Kish (170:43)
“Their dialogue is poorly written to make them very different, but not nuanced or really appreciative or understanding.” – Mary Kish (169:56)

15. Thing We Most Forgot Came Out This Year

Timestamp: 173:30–188:23

• A stacked lineup of games that launched into an abyss of player amnesia, with the ultimate winner being—a mystery, since the game everyone forgot always gets left off the list.
• The panel whittles nominees down to two—Eternal Strands and Frag Punk—with the actual winner deemed to be one they can’t even recall.
• "Winner:" Something We Forgot
• Runners-Up: Eternal Strands, Frag Punk
  Quotes:

“The winner is always going to be one we didn’t even think to put on here.” – Jake Decker (174:10)

16. Best Play With Buds

Timestamp: 188:24–206:28

• The ultimate argument for excellence in multiplayer, party, and “friend slop” games.
• Big debate over LEGO Party (the Mario Party killer), PEAK (cooperative mountain climbing), RV There Yet (RV chaos simulator), Repo, and more.
• Winner: PEAK
• Runners-Up: RV There Yet, LEGO Party
  Quotes:

“There’s something so funny about Peak where...your friends, like, maybe a little ahead of you, and then all of a sudden, like, they’re making a jump and they just miss. And you watch them die and you’re like, okay, well, sorry, I got to keep going.” – Mike Mahardy (131:33)
“LEGO Party is just a snappier, better Mario Party in every single way.” – Dan Ryckert (197:24)

Notable Episode Quotes

• “Is this game up its own ass or is it just people playing it and needing stuff to say on Blue Sky?” – Dan Ryckert (148:54)
• “This is the podcast where we talk about balls for 15 minutes...” – Dan Ryckert (13:32)
• “If this were a Mount Rushmore of balls...” – Dan Ryckert (11:26)
• “Cast and Chill is a sedative. Play it, it’s going to relax you.” – Mary Kish (110:56)

Overall Tone

Playful, passionate, occasionally (lovingly) antagonistic, and deeply knowledgeable about both game mechanics and subculture humor. Heavy on banter and inside jokes, but attentive to serious design discussion.

SUMMARY TABLE

| Category | Winner | Runners-Up | |---------------------------|---------------------------------------|-------------------------------| | Best Balls | Ball X Pit | Morph Ball, Rick, Rosary Beads| | Most Dewy | Sectori | Mega Bonk, DK Bonanza | | Most Thinky | Blueprints | Ooh, Monster Train 2 | | Most Talky | Uma Musume Horse Racing | Dispatch, Trails in the Sky | | Worst Title | Kirby & the Forgotten Land... | Tainted Grail, ...Pick Up Girls... | | Best Form of Attack | Doom: The Dark Ages Shield | Pipistrello Yo-Yo, Sectori Strike | | Best Feature | DK Bonanza Destructible Environments | Crest System, Hades 2 Up/Out | | Coziest Game | Cast and Chill | Power Wash Sim 2, Spilled | | Best Playing (Plane) | Mega Bonk | Hades 2, Ball Pit | | Game That Is Actually Funny| Repo | Peak, Arc Raiders | | New Game, Feels Old | Luminous Arise | Ninja Gaiden 4, Metroid Prime 4| | Most Up Its Own Ass | Mike Mahardy | Kojima, Joseph Fares | | Lamest Tone | Split Fiction | Borderlands 4, Dying Light | | Most Forgot Came Out | ??? (Something Not Listed) | Eternal Strands, Frag Punk | | Best Play With Buds | Peak | RV There Yet, LEGO Party |

Final Thoughts

Part 1 of Fire Escape Cast #122 is a loud, laughter-filled, sometimes ruthless celebration (and roast) of 2025’s best, strangest, and worst gaming achievements. Every segment brims with insight, anecdotes, and the crew's irreplaceable chemistry—setting the stage for explosive Top 10 Game of the Year deliberations still to come.

[End of Part 1 Summary]

This summary captures all key arguments, winners, moments, and fun—the perfect catch-up for both regular listeners and newcomers.