Andy and Barrett's Top 10 Games of 2025 - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Summary

Kinda Funny Gamescast – Andy and Barrett’s Top 10 Games of 2025

Date: January 15, 2026
Hosts: Andy Cortez and Barrett
Special Mentions: Lucy James

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Episode Overview

In this episode of Kinda Funny Gamescast, Andy Cortez and Barrett break down their individual Top 10 Games of 2025. Their discussions delve into what made each title stand out, from innovative gameplay to emotional storytelling, surprising indie darlings, long-anticipated blockbusters, and the occasional debate over DLC eligibility. Expect lively banter, inside jokes, and insightful critique apt for anyone passionate about games of all scales and genres.

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Key Highlights by Segment

Setting the Stage – Reflecting on Rankings & Methodology

• [03:20] Barrett: Describes using Game Track to log and refine his top games throughout the year, whittling down to a final Top 10 after months of play and deliberation.
• [03:39] Andy: Wishes for better backlog tools and remarks on the helpfulness of “This or That” head-to-head ranking systems.

Andy’s 15–11 Games of 2025 Honorable Mentions

• [06:06] Andy reads off:
  • #15: Metroid Prime 4 Beyond
  • #14: Shinobi: Art of Vengeance
  • #13: Blueprints
  • #12: Wu Chong: Fallen Feathers
  • #11: Ghost of Yote

Fun Segment Quote:
Andy ([07:47]): "That's the different game...Never met the black guy in my playthrough. Not sure where he was."
Barrett: "It was, you know, it was additional content."

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Barrett and Andy’s Top 10 Games of 2025

10–6 Picks, Deep Dives, and Commentary

#10 –

• Barrett: Hades II
  • Andy has it ranked higher, discussion deferred.
• Andy: Dispatch
  • Barrett has it higher, discussion deferred.

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#9 –

• Barrett: Deltarune Chapters 3 & 4
  • Explores whether to count chapters separately or together and justifies the game’s inclusion (“each chapter is like a new entry”).
  • [09:19] Barrett describes the layered narrative:
    "You're going through into different worlds with your friends to stop this crazy plot from happening...it really sings the highs of the wacky Undertale humor that you know and love while also just getting really weird and meta..."
  • Meta storytelling: Chris and the player as separate entities, culminating in a sequence where Chris “rips out” the player’s influence for self-determination – a highlight of Chapter 4.
• Andy: The Alters
  • Praises its blend of mystery, simulation, and resource management as you clone alternate versions of yourself, each from different life decisions.
  • [16:29] Andy:
    "In order to create clones of yourself, you go back to that thing and you go...what if I create an altar from the dude who worked at the AT&T call center who chose that path of life? And now he has a completely different outlook."

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#8 –

• Barrett: Dispatch
  • Lauds its Guardians of the Galaxy meets The Office vibe, tight writing, and how its weekly release kept players engaged:
  • [17:47] Barrett:
    "The team being really passionate about...making gameplay that makes sense for the story...is another reason why this is such a standout amongst all the kind of Telltale-like games we've seen."
  • [18:40] Andy:
    “If it weren’t for the sharp comedic writing, I don’t think I would have stuck with it...the dialogue and relationships kept me going.”
• Andy: The King Is Watching
  • Discovering its full release status and succumbing to its city-builder roguelite loop.
  • [23:14] Andy:
    “It’s the experimentation, it’s the not being afraid to experiment. And when you do experiment, you have fun with the new thing and you go, that’s a new thing that I didn’t know I would have liked. And now I’m into that.”

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#7 –

• Barrett: Absolum
  • A beat-’em-up roguelike with “Saturday morning cartoon vibes,” elaborate character builds, and a surprisingly deep progression that kept the gameplay fresh:
  • [25:00] Barrett:
    “New pathways, new builds that kept getting introduced...neat secrets everywhere, really cool secrets everywhere. Completely different pathways that I was not expecting.”
• Andy: Doom: The Dark Ages
  • Praises its unapologetic, high-octane violence, artistry, and challenge, especially at higher difficulties:
  • [27:02] Andy:
    “It’s a cacophony of violence and blood and gore and music and I think the thing I liked about it the most was the challenge...It’s kind of like the dream of what a first person shooter should be.”

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#6 –

• Barrett: The Seance of Blake Manor
  • A detective game set in 19th-century Ireland, praised for its writing, intricate time/resource management, and subtle supernatural elements.
  • [28:40] Barrett:
    “Turns into kind of like, you know, you’ve got 25 suspects...every action you take takes up one minute...That’s your currency to try to figure it all out.”
• Andy: Hades II
  • Lauds its roguelike mechanics, weapon evolutions, “ARPG thing,” and art style.
  • Critical of the story and ending compared to the first Hades, but describes it as possibly his “favorite roguelite ever.”
  • [32:04] Andy:
    “It’s just so damn masterful. And it’s an example of what can happen when a studio has a vision and...gets ideas from the fan base...when it comes out, it’s going to be one of the best video games ever.”

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5–1: The Elite Games & Passionate Endorsements

#5 –

• Barrett: Unbeatable
  • Rhythm-adventure with a twist: the story isn’t just about protest, but also the main character’s grief and rediscovery of passion for music.
  • [45:43] Barrett:
    “She was my world and I don’t even think about her anymore,”—a line that “ripped my heart out.”
  • Arcade rhythm mode highlighted as “so fun, so addicting...it scratches that Guitar Hero itch.”
• Andy: Elden Ring: Night Rain
  • For the third year in a row, Elden Ring makes Andy’s list thanks to new DLC keeping the game “crazy addictive.”
  • [47:03] Andy:
    “The DLC drop got me not only got me back into the game, but got me kind of re addicted in a big way...some of the boss fights you experience in this are some of the best in fromsoft.”

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#4 –

• Andy: Citizen Sleeper: Starward Vector
  • “Best writing you’ll experience in games,” mixing narrative tension and dice-based mechanics.
  • [49:31] Andy:
    “Who are you gonna free? Should you really trust that dude who’s wanting to be in your crew? There’s just a lot of amazing stuff in Citizen Sleeper 2.”
  • Barrett chimes in it feels like "Baby’s first D&D campaign" in the best way.
• Barrett: (Also Citizen Sleeper 2, discussion merged above.)

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#3 –

• Andy: Lies of P: Overture DLC
  • “Best soulslike you can play out there. Not even close.”
  • Praises narrative “not as obtuse as you would expect from a soulslike,” emotionally moving sidequests, and challenging boss fights.
  • [52:36] Andy:
    “The story here, the sidequests here had me crying, had me tearing up on stream, covering up my tears cause I’m tough as s---, right?”
• Barrett: Blueprints
  • Unexpected favorite: combines comforting and unnerving exploration with ever-evolving puzzles.
  • [52:36] Barrett:
    “Something that feels so like comforting about it but also like unnerving at the same time...never made a run feel like a waste of time.”

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#2 –

• Andy: Hollow Knight: Silksong
  • Touts every aspect: "the total package," with memorable bosses and a sense of “combat as ballet.”
  • [55:48] Andy:
    “It’s got no weaknesses and it’s the game that, that I think ultimately made me put Hades II a little bit lower as well because by the end of my Hades II experience, I’m thinking about any bosses that I truly love and I just, I didn’t."
• Barrett: Hollow Knight: Silksong (Game of the Year)
  • Praises the “flow state of combat,” especially the Carmelita boss fight.
  • [54:57] Barrett:
    “The gameplay and the combat really feeling like a dance and in ways feeling like a ballet...That was like kind of one of the true moments of ‘oh man, now I get it.’”

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#1 –

• Andy: Expedition 33
  • All-around excellence noted in story, twists, combat, and world. Unashamed superfan:
  • [57:51] Andy:
    "We're talking LeBron here. We're not talking...Anthony Davis. Like, really, really good player. We're talking like this is one that we will remember until the end of time."
• Barrett: Expedition 33 (#3)
  • Liked the post-game content, unique "pictos" system (character skills/styles), and how it stacks up favorably even against Persona-like games.

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• Meta Commentary on DLC, 'Chapters', and Indie Games:
  • [12:34] Andy:
    "If it's chunky enough content that feels fulfilling, it's like I gotta recognize this. I'm not gonna not recognize."
• Passionate Endorsement for Citizen Sleeper:
  • [50:41] Andy:
    "I got an ending that I'm like, I don't ever want to replay this again, because...that was the ending."
• Hollow Knight: Silksong, the Dance of Combat:
  • [54:57] Barrett:
    “That really clicked for me...which I thought is so, so cool. So yeah, Hollow Knight Silk Song, it is truly—it’s an all timer for me, not just for this year.”

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Final Thoughts and Community Q&A

• [59:11] Barrett: Proudly states his entire top 10 is indie games.
• [59:53] Andy & Barrett: Respond to superchat about ranking Silk Song vs. Blueprints or Expedition 33; neither found it especially hard, citing powerful gaming moments that cemented their choices.
• Both encourage listeners to check out the Game of the Year episode for deeper discussion.

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Recap Table: Top Games Rankings

| Rank | Andy Cortez | Barrett | |------|----------------------------|-----------------------------| | 1 | Expedition 33 | Hollow Knight: Silksong | | 2 | Hollow Knight: Silksong | Blueprints | | 3 | Lies of P: Overture DLC | Citizen Sleeper 2 | | 4 | Citizen Sleeper 2 | Dispatch | | 5 | Elden Ring: Night Rain | Unbeatable | | 6 | Hades 2 | The Seance of Blake Manor | | 7 | Doom: The Dark Ages | Absolum | | 8 | The King Is Watching | Dispatch | | 9 | The Alters | Deltarune Ch. 3 & 4 | | 10 | Dispatch | Hades 2 |

(Mentioned: Andy #15–11 – Metroid Prime 4 Beyond, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, Blueprints, Wu Chong: Fallen Feathers, Ghost of Yote)

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Tone and Language

• Relaxed, fun, passionate—matches the hosts’ personalities and the Kinda Funny brand.
• Frequent side-banter, inside references, and self-deprecating humor.
• Streamlined, direct discussion of games—advice-driven, with special attention to the emotional impact of the narrative.

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For listeners: This episode is a love letter to gaming in 2025—unpacking what’s good, bad, and memorable, from the biggest releases to the smallest indie surprises. If you missed this year in games, there's plenty of gems to add to your backlog thanks to Andy and Barrett’s infectious enthusiasm and discerning tastes.

Transcript

[Barrett]

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[Andy Cortez]

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[Barrett]

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[Lucy James]

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[Andy Cortez]

Hello gamers. Welcome to the Kinda Funny Gamescast for January 15, 2026. I'm one of your hosts, Andy Cortez, alongside the boss baby. The man who helped me just get Citizen Sleeper 2 just soar to greater heights. God. And I. And I. You know what? I didn't get to invite him to the Tim Shea for dinner.

[Barrett]

It was really messed up.

[Andy Cortez]

It was a fast. There's a lot of things happening.

[Barrett]

But you guys, man who made, you know, some of my favorite games of all time. No big deal.

[Andy Cortez]

That helped benefit me quite a bit. Okay, cool. Just like, you know that that's really what it should be about.

[Barrett]

Even though I should have so much disdain for you, Andy, I want to give a round of applause to you.

[Andy Cortez]

Wow. Thank you. I agree.

[Barrett]

For be the. For being the MVP of Game of the Year every year.

[Andy Cortez]

Really?

[Barrett]

With your art direction, you made another killer set making all of the art directing the hell out of Game of the Year every year. Everybody loved your Evangelion inspired set this year, including myself. But also being the MVP for unscrewing the top 10 list would have had three ties and a three way ties originally. So.

[Andy Cortez]

And it would not have looked cool on the front desk.

[Barrett]

It would. It just wouldn't have looked cool.

[Andy Cortez]

It's. It's not that it doesn't. It's not that it looks super uncool.

[Barrett]

It's just like it worked.

[Andy Cortez]

We don't need. We. We just don't need more discourse. You know what I mean? Enough of that.

[Barrett]

Too much discourse.

[Andy Cortez]

Enough of the BSing we're talking about Andy and Barrett's top 10 of 2025. If you're watching live, be a part of the show by super chatting on YouTube.com kind of funny games. Remember, we couldn't do this without our producers on patreon.com kindafunny so thank you to our producers James Hastings, Carl Jacobs and omega buster. For now, let's begin with topic of the show. It's been a long time coming. Whole lot of rankings, whole lot of deliberations just within your own mind. Yep. I don't know how you went about your sort of like top 10. Were you black backlogging?

[Barrett]

Were you throughout the year I use an app called game track on my phone and I just like always put a list of games of like what I'm playing throughout the year and then at the end of the year I turn that list into what I played for 2025 and I just start whittling it down and slowly making a top 10 list.

[Andy Cortez]

I need more apps like backlog if you're. I don't know if you're working on backlog if you're out there watching. I would love a mobile app. I would love a built in this or that. The this or that helped me so much with the my first top 100 ranking and going through and being like, do I like Minecraft more than NBA 2K12?

[Barrett]

I got you.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, I do. But do I like, you know, Uncharted 3 more than NBA 2K12? I don't think so.

[Barrett]

That's tough.

[Andy Cortez]

I don't think so. So I would like more integrations like that but I don't even know if that person watches the show. Probably not.

[Barrett]

Sorry. A shout out to dark replays One of the three people who follows me on game track. I use it for my personal thing, not to have people follow me.

[Andy Cortez]

But yeah, I think my stuff is private anyway because my list is. Has some embargoed stuff on.

[Barrett]

Yeah, that's fair.

[Andy Cortez]

Got to be careful. Never know who's watching. Remember to get your super chats in. Like I'm going to ask you a question. Are you going to make me happy by playing Citizen sleeper one and two? Wow. In the year 2026. Let me know in the super chats. But let's start with Barrett's number 10.

[Barrett]

We're going to start with two real top 10 lists for the year.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. Yeah. Real gamers.

[Barrett]

Real gamers. My gamers. And the way we're doing it like everybody else has been doing it this week. If I have a game that's my number 10. But you have it higher. We'll wait to talk about it until we get it to it on your list.

[Andy Cortez]

Right.

[Barrett]

And so on and so forth. My number 10, Hades 2.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, This is Hades2's first nomination of the era. It's on my list. Yeah, I figured further down. Well, you know, we'll talk about that later.

[Barrett]

Andy, what is your number 10?

[Andy Cortez]

Well, Baird, you can't talk about a 1 through 10 without the numbers that preceded so, like, Kevin, if you could roll it. If we can get the jib shot.

[Barrett]

Hello, everyone.

[Andy Cortez]

It's me. GameSpot's very Lucy James, and I'm here to bring you andy Cortez's top 11 through 15 games of the year. We talked. That's right. It's me, Lucy James. I'm also on a podcast with Skill up and Jake Baldino, but you could take it from here, Andy. I'm gonna go listen to some Nine Inch Nails. Wow. Thank you so much, Lucy. Everybody, give it up for Lucy James. You gonna clap? Yeah. Thank you, Lucy.

[Barrett]

You did great work this year on Via.

[Andy Cortez]

Nice. My number 15, game of the year, number 15, Metroid Prime 4 Beyond. Wow. Wow. The Amiibo.

[Barrett]

I like that. Shout out to that guy. Miles.

[Andy Cortez]

Miles McKenzie.

[Barrett]

Miles McKenzie.

[Andy Cortez]

My dude.

[Barrett]

Millie Mack.

[Andy Cortez]

Number 14, Shinobi. Art of Vengeance.

[Barrett]

That was a contender. That was a contender.

[Andy Cortez]

That's a close one.

[Barrett]

That was a close one for me as well. That's how it looks like on switch.

[Andy Cortez]

Number 13. Why is it all Halo music? Blue Prince. Wow. Yeah.

[Barrett]

Blue Prince.

[Andy Cortez]

The big one. Kev

[Barrett]

should have been higher, though, honestly.

[Andy Cortez]

Number 12, Wu Chong. Fallen Feathers.

[Barrett]

That came out this year.

[Andy Cortez]

Look at those. Crazy. Good game. Great.

[Barrett]

If I blurred my eyes, it really looks like that. Right One is just fully out.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. Maybe covering it a little bit. And finally, my number 11, game of the year, number 11, Ghost of Yote. Yep. Wow. Wow. Wait, no, that's just all of the winners.

[Barrett]

That's the different game.

[Andy Cortez]

That's the other. Never met the black guy in my playthrough. Not sure where he was.

[Barrett]

Yeah, it was, you know, it was additional content. Okay, yeah. Andy, what is your number 10?

[Andy Cortez]

Number 10 for me. Dispatch.

[Barrett]

Nice. Dispatch is higher on my list.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, okay. Okay. We'll get to that later. There's never been a better time to get to that later. Number nine, Barrett, for you.

[Barrett]

My number nine is deltarune, chapters three and four. Always a weird one with Delta. I'm just going to assume that's not on your top 10 list.

[Andy Cortez]

Number two for me. Whoa. I only played those.

[Barrett]

Deltarune is such a weird one. Whenever it comes out with its new chapters of like, do I count the chapters separately? Do I count them together? Does it feel right, even if it's only one new chapter releasing, to have it on a top 10 list? But I think the, the mindset that I have had with Delta Rune the last couple of years is to me, it's like, and a whole series and each chapter is like a new entry.

[Andy Cortez]

Right?

[Barrett]

Because each chapter is roughly the like length of one playthrough of undertale. And you know, you're. You're going through into different worlds with your friends to stop this crazy plot from happening. Question from Andy Cortez, number one game journalist.

[Andy Cortez]

No, it's me, Lucy James. How long is a playthrough of Delta Rune?

[Barrett]

Well, Delta.

[Andy Cortez]

Sorry, of.

[Barrett]

Of Undertale.

[Andy Cortez]

Undertale.

[Barrett]

Undertale is about five hours.

[Andy Cortez]

Okay.

[Barrett]

If you want to get the, the like true pacifist ending, it. It requires two playthroughs. But on that second play through you kind of know what you're doing. So it's like only another like four or so hours to get like that like quote unquote true ending. But a natural playthrough of undertale is about five hours. And so yeah, we, we finally got the next few chapters of deltarune. Following Chris and his friends going on these wacky adventures in all of these different worlds, popping up in their hometown that they can transport themselves to where they fight crazy antagonists. Chapter chapter three. Saw your home TV be uh, game show host where you went through and he, he really just wanted you to kind of pay attention to him because he missed you and the family watching him all the time back in the day. Okay. He's just like looking to, you know, spend more time with you and your friends. It's really silly friendship. Yeah. And it's like it has like, it, it really sings the highs of like the wacky like Undertale humor that you, you know and love while also just getting like really weird and meta where at some point you can break through into a secret door and then playing like in the like a back alley, like this weird, like GBA version of like your character going throughout this world and you're kind of learning about like kind of this bigger mystery going on of what is Chris up to? Where is his older brother? What does this all mean? And so chapter three really stood out for, for that. And then chapter four really

[Andy Cortez]

came back

[Barrett]

to this idea of you and the player you're controlling being two different entities. If you see this heart on screen, if you're watching the video version at the very beginning of deltarune chapter one, it says like, hey, this is you, the little heart. And it's like, what do you look like? And it has you create a character. And once you create that character, it says, screw your character. This is Chris. You're playing as Chris. And the kind of like one of the big moments of deltarune Chapter four is Chris ripping out you from his body so he can regain self control. And there's this really interesting of like, who is Chris really? What is he doing? What are his motivations? How are they different from your motivations of what the sort you want to tell and what you want to see. And so you're having to like navigate around this house as the little heart while Chris is up to something and you don't know if that's something bad or something good, you're not entirely sure. And you know, you see little clues throughout where when you're controlling Chris and you go up to a piano, you play it badly and someone's like, oh, I thought you were really good at piano. So there's just like this really cool like meta narrative going on that ends all with a cliffhanger. We've known about this prophecy with these three big heroes that your friend sees the end of, but then she smashes it before you can see it. And you can tell that there's going to be some heartbreak with these characters in the future. And so, yeah, I really love my time with it. I, I, I love when whenever a new chapter comes out and I'm excited for chapter five. And you said later.

[Andy Cortez]

So each one of these was about the length of undertale. Yes.

[Barrett]

Okay.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. That's why, you know, as most people know, if anybody watches our content or watches my content, I have a DLC in my, you know, top 10 again this year, much like I did. Was it two years ago? Yeah, two years.

[Barrett]

Well, last year is what? Shadow of the year tree.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, that was last year. Okay. Yeah, I just lost what year that was. But yeah, it's like if it's chunky enough, content that feels fulfilling. It's like I gotta recognize this. I'm not gonna not recognize.

[Barrett]

Yeah, it's always just weird because it's like a part of a game. But yeah, I really loved my time. A great reminder that I, I really love what Toby Fox and and company

[Andy Cortez]

make number nine for me. The altars. Today is the first Nomination for the Altars.

[Barrett]

And the last nomination for the Altars

[Andy Cortez]

and the last one ever. They came out with DLC recently, which is pretty neat. But the Alters is a game that really caught me off guard. It's one that I nominated for. For the Smileys for Best Biggest Surprise or. Most games just kind of came out of nowhere.

[Barrett]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

And it's one that we had seen at certain presentations. And I believe it was in a Steam Next Fest. And I didn't give it a real college try until the game fully came out. And mainly until I saw the reviews come out and I said, oh, dang, maybe this is something I should try out. Maybe this is something I'd be into.

[Barrett]

But it's a lot of just.

[Andy Cortez]

It's a lot of genres that I really dig. It's got mystery, it's got stuff that makes you wonder what the hell is going on right now. But it's more importantly, just a really kind of cool sim. You're. You're. You're crash land on the planet Matt Damon style in the Martian. And it's like, how am I gonna get out of here? I can't just survive here alone. But I have all of this technology with me. I'm gonna clone myself. And you're radioing back and they're like, you gotta clone yourself. You gotta figure out a way. Because you can't survive on your own. You need somebody else who could repair this and somebody who could work that machine and all this shit. Because all of your crew members are all dead. You know, you crashed and everybody's dead except for you. So it's a really, really neat adventure, Multiplicity style. Goofy moments. But the coolest thing about what the altars are is that they are altered versions of you, your time. You end up using a piece of technology. And it shows you every big moment in your life. It's like this thing that kind of read your brain waves. It's this thing, this technology people are working on. And at different points in your life, you made key decisions that kind of altered you and made you who you are now.

[Barrett]

Playing with the butterfly effect in your own hand.

[Andy Cortez]

Right? And so you go, so in order to create clones of yourself, you go back to that thing and you go, damn. What? Andy, when you were 18, you chose to work at Best Buy instead of the AT T call center. What if. Okay, so I'm going to create an altar from the dude who worked at the AT T call center who chose that path of life. And now he has a completely different outlook. Because things changed for him, and so now he's different skill set. Now he's into crack cocaine. You know, like, things changed wildly for him, but it's like every one of these parts of your life will change massively. And it's really cool to see these clones come out and go, yeah, we had a different past. But these are clones that are like, I've lived a whole life. Like, I don't. In their mind, they have lived a whole life somewhere. This isn't like some alternate dimension thing. It's just they are kind of born into this, you know, awful situation, and they're like, what the hell? There's an amazing moment where a guy essentially is born from this little cloning machine. It's like, why do I have an arm? I lost my arm in an accident. What the did you do? How do I. What. What have you done? And he's, like, freaking out, and it's like a really, really, like, whoa. Kind of awesome moment. And then that story goes crazy places. But while you're doing that, you have

[Barrett]

to kind of band everybody together and try to be a leader as well.

[Andy Cortez]

Sometimes they rebel. Sometimes they're pissed off that they're eating shitty food, and sometimes they're mad that, hey, man, I asked you to. You know, I asked if we could install that gym because I'm really into working out. Like, it's.

[Barrett]

Where's the gym?

[Andy Cortez]

It's really funny. It's really fun. There's a lot of, like, really humorous and cute moments, but kind of wrapped around this simulation slash resource management thing. And you're also wondering what the hell is happening in this grandest story. So the altars rocks.

[Barrett]

Hell, yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Barrett, number eight.

[Barrett]

My number eight is Dispatch. Shout out to dispatch. That was lower on your list, I believe.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. Why didn't I talk about it?

[Barrett]

Because we're waiting to talk about it until we. Oh, sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Sorry. I'm sorry. My 11 through 50 really threw me off. That was the priority.

[Barrett]

Yeah. Dispatch. You know, I've talked about it so much with the first three episode review and then the full season review, but I. I just really want to shout out again just how well they're able to do this kind of Guardians of the Galaxy tale, something that we've seen over and over again, but make it feel a little bit fresh with the office kind of comedy television show format that we've seen over and over again.

[Andy Cortez]

Squad.

[Barrett]

Yeah. And then the dispatching as well. I think the. The team being really passionate about. Let's not try To Shoehorn, you know, the typical Telltale walking around, picking up items. Gameplay that was shoehorned into every Telltale game. Let's make a gameplay that makes sense for the story. And I think that besides just it being a weekly release that actually hit its schedule, I think that is another reason why, like, this is such a standout amongst all the kind of, like,

[Andy Cortez]

telltale, like, games we've seen phenomenal comedic writing. And I loved how efficient it was and I loved the rhythm of it where you knew, all right, cutscene happened. Time for some more Dispatch. And it was just a really. Kind of kept you on schedule. And I really dug that much. Like Robert Robertson would.

[Barrett]

Yes. Yeah. I would still say, like, it took a little bit for me to fall in love with it, I think as much as everybody else did. I think it was probably until. Wasn't until like, episode four where I was really starting to be bought in with these characters, the story, the world, but then also the. The flow of gameplay between dispatching and, you know, just making choices. As Robert shout out to my boy Roy. Robert who?

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, man.

[Barrett]

Royd made Alyssa laugh so much with, like, the. The amount of, like, just like, local pigeon talk and her watching every Royce and be like, damn. They really just let him go off and do whatever he wanted.

[Andy Cortez]

We up. Royd should have been a preferred party. Oh, yes, partner.

[Barrett]

Oh, we messed.

[Andy Cortez]

Damn. That's a big mistake on our part. We'll re. We're actually re releasing the video on Saturday, so you'll get to watch it. It won't have any of these fixes, though. Number eight for me. The King is.

[Barrett]

Watch. Well, did you anything else about Dispatcher?

[Andy Cortez]

It rocks.

[Barrett]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. Dispatch is just. It's a great time. It. If it weren't for the sharp comedic writing, I don't think I would have stuck with it or liked it as much. It's. It was the. It was my North Star. It kind of kept me on track. I love that because I thought the gameplay was like, B minus. It was good. It was, you know, it wasn't like the greatest thing in the world. And I thought the story was also better than serviceable. I would say it was like a good story, but it was the dialogue and the relationships that kept me going along. Yeah. And ultimately I'm glad that I got the ending that. Yeah, we got the ending that we did because we're gamers. I think I. It was ultimately the most satisfying to experience. Yep. Number eight for me. The King is watching a game that came out. I don't know if you know this.

[Barrett]

Yeah, apparently so.

[Andy Cortez]

King is watching.

[Barrett]

I thought was, oh, that's this game.

[Andy Cortez]

It's a game I thought was in early access and was just talking about it on stream. And Chad was like, no, Andy, that's out. I was like, no man, I have a strict rule. I'm not going to put from now on no more early access in my top tens. And they're like, no, Andy. That game came out. I'm like, nope, Come on guys, I'm in the discord.

[Barrett]

Stop. Stop messing with me.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. And then I looked into it and you know, was like, wow, it actually is a full 1.0 release, which makes sense because I've played it for close to 100 hours and it's such a great time. Such an awesome Steam deck game. Even though it's not the perfect Steam deck game in terms of how controls look. It's a very kind of keyboard mouse oriented game. But it didn't take a whole lot to get it working great on the Steam deck. And this was. This was a gaming pillow. And Andy fucking special. This was me in the gaming pillow laying down just playing the hell out of the King is watching. It's a roguelite. It is an awesome sort of city builder tower defense, I guess city defense thing where you know a bunch of enemies are on the way and you have to be strategic in how you're setting up your run and the advisors that you're picking. And all the advisors have their own certain little perks. And this advisor gives you this many currency at the start. But this advisor allows you to start with these sort of troops and maybe this sort of currency. I don't know. It's just really, really fun. It's so smart the way a lot of the systems intermingle with each other. And that's probably one of my favorite things for. You know, you can put a bunch of little shitty soldier types that are. I believe that they're. I forget what they're called, but they're just like farmer dudes with pickaxes. They're not strong, they're not doing a whole lot of damage. And it wasn't until I saw that if I want to re. If I want to recruit or not recruit, but if I want to create and get pretty much guts, they call them the Black Swordsman. But it's pretty much just guts in the game. Yeah, if I want to have guts on the field. It takes a lot of like resources to make him and like. But he has a lot of health. He has a lot of damage. And when he's on the battlefield, all those little. They're called grunts, all the little grunt dudes are. They double their health. And so it's. So it's like, oh, he's like truly a big boom. This is really cool. This is a cool way to kind of get these systems intermingling. And then if I want to get this other character, then my grunts have even more health and they do more damage. So there's just a lot of really cool ways to go about things. And it has the. It had a thing more importantly that I look for now in Roguelites. And one thing that Hades will forever ruin for Roguelites, where when you think a run is and you find something new, just that one thing that how.

[Barrett]

And that like gets you a little bit further than you expected.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Lucy James]

And.

[Andy Cortez]

And mainly it's the experimentation. It's the not being afraid to experiment. And when you do experiment, you have fun with the new thing and you go, that's a new thing that I didn't know I would have liked. And now I'm into that sort of system. And that's what kind of Hades has ruined a lot of other Roguelites for me. So King's watching. Rocks, everybody. Check it out. Barrett number seven.

[Barrett]

Speaking of experimenting during runs and finding fun new builds to play around with, my number seven, Absolum.

[Andy Cortez]

Absolum.

[Barrett]

This is one that I really fell in love with when Alyssa and I went to Hawaii to see some family and when we had downtime, I finally started this up because you had been hyping it up a little bit before launch. And yeah, I was already taken in by the cool art style, this kind of like really cool Saturday morning cartoon esthetic. And then, you know, being in the mood for that. Beat them up. Like they say here, beat them up. Roguelite. But like at that time I was really anticipating Marvel Cosmic Invasion and I was like, you know what? I'm just going to boot this up because I'm really in the mood for this fantastic beat em up gameplay mixed with roguelike elements where you're recruiting different characters that you can play as to go off and try to face ultimate evil at the end of your run. And you know, the new pathways, new builds that kept getting introduced slowly throughout the entire campaign. I was really taking like taken aback by of not expecting this game to be as big as it ended up being. Neat secrets everywhere, really cool secrets everywhere. Completely different pathways that I was not expecting. Really cool, fun characters, really interesting world Even not being like the biggest like high fantasy like guy but just really cool world beat em up roguelike that I really loved. And the abilities that you find making a build were always fascinating to play around with. Like there's a build up one where it's kind of like a spark but you have to make a bunch of like. What is this friction? Yeah, like friction to like get it to shock a bunch of people. There's a great bubble one that you know works so well with beat em up like gameplay feedback where if you hit somebody they get caught in a bubble but then they get hit back into the screen and that does extra damage and they hit the ground. It's just really some of the most satisfying gameplay I. I've experienced this year with really cool systems. And honestly, you know, this one being higher than Hades too. I think it was just the kind of different flow of a roguelike and with a gameplay style that I, I think it's just a bit more my speed that I, I really adored. And again Saturday morning cartoon vibes which you know I will never say no to.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah the art style is fantastic. This was 17 on my list. Really enjoy. I got to the bot to the final boss twice. Couldn't beat it.

[Barrett]

But I think it's like so satisfying when you do.

[Andy Cortez]

I still think it's like my favorite beat em up combat easily. Like I. The way it feels like a fighting game in the way that you can combo and do a bunch of cool is awesome. It but this is one of those that I. It was the abilities that like brought it back just a little bit. I didn't dig like when you do this you drop like you get throwables and it's thorns or I just, I don't know. I wanted like a little bit more

[Barrett]

a little bit of like how tight they are with in terms of what resources you can have. Yeah, yeah I get that but the.

[Andy Cortez]

But everything else is just so freaking and.

[Barrett]

And I shout out like I. I was experimenting with everybody but at the end of the day I still stuck with the. The first character that. With the big sword. Ah shout out to her.

[Andy Cortez]

I like the little Dorf dude. He's. I loved his move. Set.

[Barrett]

Hell yeah. Andy, what is your number seven?

[Andy Cortez]

Doom. The Dark Ages. Wrong Xbox man. This. This game rules so much and it's it doing what they do best which is just. Let's give you in your face crazy action. It's a cacophony of violence and blood and gore and music and I think the thing I liked about it the most was the challenge. I would say if you're finding yourself maybe a little bit, kind of like you're going through the motions with it up that difficulty, that made it so much more fun for me. I found, you know, so much fun in the challenge and in the parries and trying to deal with massive battlefields with a whole buttload of monsters around you. I. One thing I love about it is just. It's ID Tech 6 with. And them just going off with how amazing their engine looks and the artistry. The artistry on display is so crazy good. And it's so. It's such an efficient game too. It doesn't, you know, require the most to run, but it looks really, really good and gives you a lot of frames. And it. It's. It's kind of like the dream of what a first person shooter should be. And it's a game that got better and better. Yeah, it's what like, it does. Yeah, exactly. And. And it's a game that got better and better as it went on. I thought it was around an 8 as I was playing and it. It was about a 9 by the time I finished it. I really, really enjoyed my time with Doom. The dark Ages and yeah, changing the Perry colors was also found a lot of joy in that. Barrett number six.

[Barrett]

My number six. The seance of Blake Manor. This was a overwinter break one for me. This came out, I want to say December, maybe late November, and it was one of the best reviewed games of the year. And I was like, I should check this out. You play as a detective in the late 1800s in Ireland, and you've been summoned to this, to Blake Manor, which has been retrofitted to be kind of this hotel that has gathered a lot of like, sorcerers and people who are into like, mystic arts type of things that are planning to perform a huge seance on October 31. A seance past the level of what people expect being able to speak to. To the dead would actually be like. And so you're summoned here to find this missing woman and you don't know who you're hired by. And so you come in here and it turns into kind of like, you know, you've got 25 suspects that you're trying to learn about and, you know, every action you take. So you have roughly. You have like two full days and then like your first kind of like night is like two or three hours just to kind of get your feet wet a little bit. And your hour count, like the amount of hours you have to solve this main mystery and then all of these other individual mysteries that all kind of convene together. You kind of have a clock that you have to figure it all out by. And every action you take takes up one minute. So if I start a conversation with you to talk about a specific subject, that's your currency. That's your currency to like trying to try to figure it all out. Really well done. A lot of just like cool, like historical things to learn about, I think as well. Just like where Ireland was at at the time. Learning about all of these guests who are, who came from all around the world and learning about a lot of their trauma that they're working through and like why they have like found themselves and like trying to be in like the mystic arts and like for their personal reasons. Right. And I thought it was just a, a really great, cool kind of like mystery almost Carmen San Diego, like type of, type of game where you're figuring things out with the clues and facts. And it's also kind of creepy. You know, there's a seance happening on October 31st, so and this, this manor is definitely haunted a little bit. So you know, every time, you know, every once in a while when you're like, I'm gonna go to this person's room because I, I figured something out and I think if I find evidence in their room that'll help me solve like these three mysteries surrounding, you know, four different people. You turn a corner and it's like, ah, red, red, red apparition. It's like, oh God. And then you turn around, then you turn back and they're gone. You're like, oh man. But yeah, the seance of Blake Manor I truly adored. Really, really fun vibe and just great writing, great voice acting as well. I would say it's like, like 75% voice acted, which you wouldn't expect watching the trailer and stuff. But yeah, a lot, a lot of. Highly recommend. Especially if you like enjoyed games like Blueprints this year.

[Andy Cortez]

Number six for me. Hades two. Shout out.

[Lucy James]

Hades.

[Andy Cortez]

Shout out to Hades. A game like I mentioned on the big game of the year podcast, which you can watch right now. A game that I probably played more in 2024. A game that I have I think a hundred something hours in final. Finally was able to beat it this year. Had such a blast with it. It's the perfect Steam deck game. It's probably my, probably my favorite roguelite ever for what it's trying to do. This sort of top down ARPG thing. That we've seen a lot of. We've seen a lot of people try to emulate in the past several years after Hades one was so massive. But I just really, really enjoyed the art style, the abilities and the boons and all that stuff is really what takes it to another level for me. As well as the sort of push and pull design of the card system, the way that the weapons all intermingle. The way that the weapons have extra evolutions of themselves with different neat things to play around with. Like I didn't even know the weapons were able to do that until much later. Shout out to Creed in the chat. Wow. Like this is a really kind of cool system that adds even more variety and diversity to this gameplay. It's just so damn masterful. And it's an example of what can happen when a studio has a vision and when a studio is in early access and also getting ideas from the fan base and playing something actually that is. That we should probably. That is a really neat idea. And let's expand upon this other idea we had that maybe would have launched under baked if we just went straight to the market. But it's like, no, we. Let's make this kind of thing together and when it comes out, it's going to be one of the best video games ever. I think this game is awesome. I think it's as low as it is on my list because I don't think the ending was like super awesome.

[Barrett]

Yeah, it only was number 10 for me and I. I think that's mainly not even just because of the ending. I think the story overall is just kind of okay. Compared to the emotional stakes of Hades 1. I think it's way less interesting. I think it's a bit more cookie cutter. I think the most interesting it gets is how do I say her name? Her relationship with a certain character that you realize you're going to talk to once you finally complete your first like down route. Right. And. But that kind of brings back rings back of like, oh man. Hades one was really just so interesting. But it still connected to me. You know, being an older brother and that relationship and how they play around with that I thought was cool. But the reason it's still on my top 10 is everything you said with gameplay. Like it was just so fun and addicting. Like I said on our game of the Year overall show, the decision to have both like two routes up and down and up having such a different flow with how you're accruing your builds at the very beginning where you go around this like one area to build up as much as you can and then you know you have less opportunity to do that like the closer you get to Olympus. I thought was really cool. And how they play with gameplay stakes to shake up the the formula and the flow of this particular rogue. Like with Hades, which I did get tired of with Hades 1, but with all of these new additions, millennials like moment to moment gameplay, combat as well, just clicking with me way more than Zagreus did. Yeah, I still had a hell of, you know, I did all of the completed all the runs that you needed to to get the ending and like the ending didn't even really stand out to me because I was just like so disinterested in the story overall. I was like whatever. I'm the weirdly enough me being primarily a story guy, Hades 2 being one of the rare ones were like I mess with you but not because of the story.

[Andy Cortez]

Right, right, right. Well Those are our 10 through 6 and you also got to hear my 15 through 11 so check that out if you got here late, but we'll get to our top five after our word from our sponsors.

[Lucy James]

This episode is brought to you by Rocket Money. The amount of times Mike has signed up for something, forgotten about it after the trial period ends, and then been charged month after month after month is quite frankly terrifying. He didn't even realize he was paying for SoundCloud for 10 years until Rocket Money helped find and cancel his unwanted subscriptions. But he is not alone. So many people have at least one paid subscription going unused each month. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings. Thanks to Rocket Money, you can see all of your subscriptions in one place and cancel them with within the app with just a few taps, saving time and avoiding charges. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and let Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster. [e-mail] Kinda Funny that's RocketMoney.com KindaFunny RocketMoney.com Kinda Funny this episode is brought to you by Factor. It's a new year, which means new goals and even more things to take up our time. That's why so many of us here at Kinda Funny Love Factor Factor makes it easy with fully prepared meals designed by dietitians and crafted by chefs so you can eat well without the shopping or cooking. On many occasions, Factor has completely saved me and Jen when we needed it most. Choose from a wider selection of weekly meal options including premium seafood choices like salmon and shrimp at no extra cost. Enjoy even more GLP1 friendly meals and new Mediterranean diet options packed with protein and good for you fats. Feel the difference no matter your routine? Head to factor meals.com kinda funny 50 off and use the code kinda funny 50 off to get 50% off your first factor box plus free breakfast for a year offer only valid for new Factor customers with code and qualifying auto renewing subscription purchase. Make healthier eating easy with factor. Hey you. Join us in person for our live in review of Howard the Duck. That's right, Howard the Duck joins MCU in review Wednesday, January 28th at 7:30pm at Cobbs Comedy Club for SF Sketch Fest. You can come watch me do all the podcasts within a podcast you love. Andy will be going, Nick will be shopping for pants during it, but everybody else will be there too for you to come hang out and see. All you have to do is go over to kinda funny.com sketchfest right now to get your tickets before they sell out because come and watching a bunch of people talk about a very old Howard the Duck movie is really selling tickets fast.

[Barrett]

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[Andy Cortez]

Tap the banner or visit usaa.com autodiscounts restrictions apply.

[Barrett]

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[Andy Cortez]

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[Barrett]

and list them in minutes with no selling fees because somewhere a dad refuses to pay full price for the clothes

[Andy Cortez]

his kids will outgrow tomorrow and he's

[Barrett]

ready to buy your son's entire wardrobe right now.

[Andy Cortez]

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[Barrett]

of $45 for three month plan equivalent to $15 per month required intro rate first three months only, then full price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra.

[Andy Cortez]

See full [e-mail] and we're back. Barrett, what is your number five?

[Barrett]

My number five is unbeatable. Went on a crazy roller coaster with this one. Was anticipating this game along with Tim for the longest time. And I remember when we got finally got a review code for this after what felt like a million years. Starting up the story mode, playing the first couple hours and blessing asking me about it. And I replied to him, man, I, I don't think I'm vibing with this game and then having a complete 180 by the end of it. If you don't know. Unbeatable is a primarily rhythm game, the story mode being more of a kind of a adventure game with rhythm elements in it where you play as beats in a world where music is illegal and you do crime. And so there was a kind of, I didn't know really what to expect going into this story. I thought it was going to be primarily, you know, using music as a way of protest fighting against, you know, a fascist regime. And that's what it is on like text. But I think the surprising thing about this story is like typically for a lot of stories with this type of subject matter, it's usually a lot of things being used as an allegory to talk about fascism, right. But this time around, you know, I want to put on like spoiler caps for this. So I'll put, you know, I'll put this on here. Unbeatable started to click for me when I realized that that wasn't really what the story was about. And they're using fascism as an allegory to talk about beat and her personal kind of inner workings of what she is struggling through now.

[Andy Cortez]

Can I interrupt you really quick and ask is that, did it start to click with you? Because the, because they're trying to make the story about fascism. Wasn't quite clicking?

[Barrett]

No, it's because it was. It wasn't quite clicking. And, like, what they were doing those first, like, the first half of the game, it was like, it was good, but it wasn't like, anything blowing me away. And then also the early review build we had as well just, like, wasn't running great. They've had a lot of patches since then. It runs well now. But the thing that really started to click with me is when you realize. And again, this is my interpretation because the way they present a lot of, like, big story reveals is, you know, very artistic, very weird. Beat was actually hit by a car, and everything you've experienced in the story is actually all in her head. And it's her, like, kind of coming up with this world subconsciously to unpack what is going on in her real life, which is kind of, you know, her mom, who was kind of like, this big inspiration for her when it came to music, had passed from cancer a few years back. And it's her kind of losing direction with music and feeling like she's in a rut, which causes her to feel like she has lost direction in her life overall. And unpacking, like, how she got there and using this, you know, world in her head to come to terms with, like, what she needs to. What she needs to do to, like, kind of get herself out of this, like, emotional state. And, you know, I. I think the story mode is a messy fave. I think the way they tell the story, especially in that first half, all over the place. But I think the emotional highs that they hit for me at the end, like, really hit. And, you know, there's a fantastic line that, you know, she's talking to her fictionalized younger self, which is the. The girl with blue hair, again, my interpretation, at least. And she's talking about, like, the, you know, processing grief and losing her mom and, you know, how she is. Tried to kind of block those emotions for so long, and there's one line that ripped my heart out, which was, she was my world, and I don't even think about her anymore. And that kind of being. I think the core thing that Beat is trying to figure out in this game of, like, how she lost her way. And so, yeah, story mode kind of a mixed bag all over the place. But again, the emotional highs for me, like, really hit. But really the thing I fell in love with is the core gameplay, which I don't think the story mode uses enough of. But thankfully, there is an arcade mode where it is just, you know, your. Your Main gameplay is, you know, doing

[Andy Cortez]

the rhythm action stuff.

[Barrett]

Doing the rhythm action stuff. You just have two inputs, your high attack and your low attack. And you have enemies coming from the right side of you, then sometimes the left side of you, and then sometimes they're coming from both directions at the same time. Playing along with like really fun kind of like garage punk music that really feels like it's inspired by like a lot of like underground Japanese, like the underground Japanese music scene. Think of like the fully cooly soundtrack for sure that I, I truly adore. Like I've been saying a couple times, dial tone. The song from this game is my favorite song of the year. It's just like speaks to my soul in several ways. There's barely like any like actual like lyrics to it. It's just like the musicality of it. I just absolutely adore. And the arcade mode I've put like 30 or so hours into, it's just. It's so fun. It's so addicting. It scratches that like, kind of like it. It brings me back to the Guitar Hero days in a way. Even though, you know, I'm. I'm playing it on a controller and I, I truly, truly adore that part of the game. I, I do think it's. It's amazing. And if you're into rhythm games, I, I think you. You all should check it out, especially with. It's a great art style.

[Andy Cortez]

Great.

[Barrett]

All like so pretty, so pretty great original music. I. I couldn't recommend it enough.

[Andy Cortez]

Number five for me. Elden Ring Night Rain.

[Barrett]

Third year in a row you have Elden Ring on your.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, I mean, let's hope to make it next year if we get a big cool DLC drop because we had one at the end of last year. And I don't know if this game would be as high on my list if it weren't for that DLC drop. The DLC drop got me not only got me back into the game, but got me kind of re addicted in a big way. And I think I, I put in probably 40 of my play time just into the DLC along with the. What the rest of the game offers. But it's just such a. A fun way to play Elden Ring with friends that doesn't require the kind of annoying, have to have the item to summon in your buddy and all of the. The really kind of obtuse, cryptic ways that fromsoftware does their thing. This was a really nice way to get your friends into the Elden Ring world. Get them familiar with the combat and experience some like just super epic amazing boss fights. I. I really, really. I think my biggest regret was not getting. Was not forcing. Blessed to get more into this because I think the. The amount of the level of grandeur with a lot of these boss fights would have been a big sort of memorable thing for him and. And he would have had it, you know, in his top 10 at least. Because some of the boss fights you experience this are. Are some of the best in from soft.

[Barrett]

Yeah, I think you showed me like one of the like kind of like phase twos of like one of the final ones. It was like truly insane. Is on especially with like the art direction and stuff. I saw someone in the chat saying they might pick up a unbeatable on Steam Deck. I do not recommend it on Steam. Steam Deck, unfortunately. I would recommend.

[Andy Cortez]

Doesn't run great.

[Barrett]

Yeah, it doesn't run great. So stick to PC or It's also on consoles as well. So. But yeah, not great for Steam Deck.

[Andy Cortez]

Shout out to a $10 super chat from Raden Raiden who says birthday tax. Technically it's Saturday, but I'll be going away for the weekend. Cheers to the crew. Have a wonderful day, friends. Thank you.

[Barrett]

Raiden.

[Andy Cortez]

Barrett, what is your number four?

[Barrett]

Andy, what is your number four?

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, it's Citizen Sleeper Starward Vector. My goodness, what an experience. Best writing you'll experience. You're gonna cry, you're gonna smile, you're gonna feel tension. It's not just reading. You're rolling dice. You're feeling the tension of this one decision you're trying to make. Who are you gonna free them? Should you, you know, should you really trust that dude who's wanting to be in your crew? He's doing a lot of shady.

[Barrett]

I said no to him.

[Andy Cortez]

I gotta cut. I gotta cut the. But I. But I didn't cut the. I don't know, man. There's just a lot of amazing stuff in Citizen Sleeper 2.

[Barrett]

We talked so much about this on the Game of the Year show. So if you want to hear more thoughts from Andy and myself gushing about this game, check that out. But then also the one thing I do want to shout out, it's like I'm not the biggest like D and D campaign type of guy. And the way this game is written and structured, it really felt like. Like almost Baby's first D and D campaign, but written just for you to play around with and not having to get a bunch of friends gathered to at a specific time and date. Like that was really like Big like.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh.

[Barrett]

Like I. I kind of get the. The why people like these type of games. And yeah, I shout out Octavio asked

[Andy Cortez]

something that often that I get asked, should I play the first before playing this? You don't have to. But as goated as this is, I think Citizen Sleeper 1 is even better.

[Barrett]

Damn.

[Andy Cortez]

Like, you have to play Citizen Sleeper 1 regardless of whether you play this. Do you?

[Barrett]

The ending, like, the ending of Citizen Sleeper 2, like, hit me like a ton of bricks.

[Andy Cortez]

The ending of season Sleeper one had me just contemplating life. It is.

[Barrett]

Okay.

[Andy Cortez]

The most beautiful. Oh. Depending on the endings you get.

[Barrett]

Okay.

[Andy Cortez]

I got an ending that I'm like, I don't ever want to replay this again because, like, that is. That was.

[Barrett]

That was the ending. And that's what Citizen Sleeper 2 was for me. Like, again, vague spoilers, but just the idea of like having to come to terms with building something beyond yourself and the. The realities of that. Truly heartbreaking, existential, but beautiful in its own way. That again had me crying at 1:00am in bed.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, Barrett, your number three is also on my list. So we're gonna move to my number three, which is Liza P. Overture DLC Andy. I don't give a dang if it's a dlc.

[Barrett]

I was gonna with you and say

[Andy Cortez]

I had it higher. Oh. Oh. Wow, man. Liza P. Brown Date Studio Just absolutely killing the game with the best souls like you can play out there. It's not even close. It is an amazing experience and I think what it does narratively is the most surprising and impressive thing. The game was already super impressive on a narrative and storytelling level. It's not as obtuse as you would expect from a souls like game, but it's still doing its thing. Don't expect a. A straight in your face narrative, but man, the story here, the side quests here had me crying, had me tearing up on stream, you know, covering up my tears because I'm tough as, right. But man, the boss fights were amazing. Oh, the additions, baddies all over the place. This game rocks, man. This game is just. It just made an already amazing game even better. And I was so salty that the open critic was like an 86. Like. Like this needs to be a 90 minimum. Like, and I know that's asking a lot, but this. This is so goated. Barrett, your number

[Barrett]

two blueprint. Shout out to blueprints. We've talked about this for a million hours. Kevin's favorite game of all time for the rest of time. Yeah, I. I wasn't expecting to fall in love with this game as much as I did. I think it's one of the most fascinating and best designed games I've played in the last few years. Something that feels so like comforting about it but also like unnerving at the same time. Going throughout this house, trying to get to this 46th room and a 45 room house, you're like how does that even work? How do these rooms move around? This is crazy. And just really satisfying puzzles that you know, feel like they're all taking you down different paths but eventually reconvene into your, your greater goal, which I think is really satisfying. And never made a run feel like a waste of time. You know, there's a couple runs very early on. Once you're getting your, your sea legs right in that first hour that kind of feel like what am I doing? But once you get past that hump. I always felt like I was taking something away from this puzzle roguelike game, which I just saying that sounds like it shouldn't work, but it really does and I, I think it's fascinating. And I will never forgive the Giant Bomb crew for putting out the word Metroid Brainia because I absolutely hate that term.

[Andy Cortez]

That's awesome.

[Barrett]

I love that. I love that.

[Andy Cortez]

What about a Hazelike? That's my favorite one that I created. A what? He's like a two player split screen.

[Barrett]

Andy, what's your number two?

[Andy Cortez]

Number two Hollow Knight Silk song is

[Barrett]

on my list because that is my game of the year Hollow Knight Silk song. Another one I did not expect to fall in love with this year. But again, I shouldn't have been surprised. You can hear me talk way more about it on the game of the year episode from Monday. The one thing I do want to shout out, which I know has been talked about from a few different people throughout the industry and covering this game and talking about this game and pontificating about it is the, the gameplay and the combat really feeling like a dance and in ways feeling like a, a ballet. And you learning these fights is less so like you know, recognizing like when to the perfect time to parry but just learning the flow of a rhythm.

[Andy Cortez]

Right.

[Barrett]

And that really clicked for me for my favorite boss fight of the year which was Carmelita the, the big red ant lady. And that's where it really like she's the one who's like singing and then she comes out and that's truly like that's.

[Andy Cortez]

I was there for four hours. I know.

[Barrett]

Yeah, yeah, I know. The lady is four hours.

[Andy Cortez]

That's. That's Tough.

[Barrett]

But that was like the kind of one of the true moments of like oh man, now I, now I under get. I understand the, the flow state of almost like what they were looking out to do in terms of designing this fight combat gameplay which I thought is so, so cool. So yeah, Hollow Knight Silk Song, it is truly. It's an all timer for me, not just for this year. It is like, like it. You know, we're now having to start to think about round two of top 100 and like just, just Silk Song in and of itself might blow up my entire Entire top top 100 there.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, I'm excited for that. Yeah. And so look to see where that goes. Yeah.

[Barrett]

And yeah, go back to the Game of the Year podcast. I, I gush way more about Hollow Knight Silksong there but it really fired on all cylinders in story, lore, characters, gameplay, world design.

[Andy Cortez]

It's the total package. It's got no weaknesses and it's the game that, that I think ultimately made me put Hades to a little bit lower as well because by the end of my Hades 2 experience I'm thinking about any bosses that I truly love and I just, I didn't. I liked a lot of them. Yeah, I thought some were kind of boring, but Hollow Knight just has those what you. And maybe that's what kind of draws me to a lot of souls games is like, oh man, that moment, that experience that, you know, overcoming that challenge is so massive. But yeah, my number one is of course Expedition 33, which is my number three. Another game that I don't think really misses anywhere. And I think that I think a lot of the discussion between like, well, you can't just vote for everything. You can't have it in every category for goatee. But it's like, well if it's strong in all those categories, then yeah you can. And for me it was strong everywhere. I adore this game. I adore the story, I adore the, the twists and turns. And I was, we were laughing during the break how somebody in the comments said who's like still overall being nice and was like thanks for a great show. But they were like I feel like the crew is kind of pressured into putting it in their top 10 or having it. There's number one. Like Andy for example said that he gave it an 8.5 and then until playing it, then he gave it a 10. Like I feel like he's some coming to industry pressure there because everybody else loves it and I'm like, dude, I spent $120 on Averso Halloween costume like this game skyrocketed to Alzheimer generational type shit. This is like we're talking LeBron here. We're not talking fucking like you know, Anthony Davis like really, really good player. We're talking like this is one that we will remember until the end of time.

[Barrett]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

I think it's so strong in everything it does and I still haven't played the DLC and I'm really pumped to go.

[Barrett]

I haven't checked that out. I keep forgetting about it. Yeah, this was my number three. I think it's fantastic. It like I said on game of the year I think it's fascinating to have that game come out six months after metaphor refantasio and weirdly kind of tackle similar a lot of similar things and being you know these turn based games I thought was really cool and and really fun to experience. I think you know there's a couple of like little things here and there that like kept it from being like a number one for me. And I like the like kind of weird relationship stuff and not even romancing but just like the building up your party in terms of like friendship level and stuff. I I think presentationally and the flow of all that was really weird and awkward but outside of that just exploring this entire world fighting really insane post game or late game fights. I I really adored and learning all the pictos. Learning the different flow styles for every single different character that somehow all work and gel so well together to fight. Like Simon I still had a fantastic time with and it was the.

[Andy Cortez]

I haven't attempted Simon yet.

[Barrett]

Oh, it's fun.

[Andy Cortez]

I haven't gone.

[Barrett]

You have to do it to get the platinum.

[Andy Cortez]

Yes.

[Barrett]

This was my one platinum for. For the year. And with that Sean, at least for me, I don't care what kebab says in the chat. My entire top 10 list, all games from independent studios, all bangers.

[Andy Cortez]

I I want to shout out OMG Alexis comment. Who said I industry pressure. What do you mean Barrett or Greg and Mike got skate into the top 10. Thank you everybody for watching our top 10. We appreciate you. Shout out to one final super chat from Trevor who says now that we're here, how tough was it putting silksong over blueprints? Barrett and Andy, how tough was putting expedition over Silk Song? It wasn't tough at all. I think expedition was always like something's got to beat that.

[Barrett]

Yeah, for me it wasn't tough. It was like even halfway through like Finishing Act 1 of Silk Song. I think that was even just then that moment where I was like, oh, I think this is my game of the year. So, yeah. Not tough.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. Thank you so much for watching and everybody. Appreciate you all hanging out with us. This has been the kind of funny games cast. We'll be back with more kind of funny goodness reactions, all sorts of fun stuff here in a bit.

[Barrett]

Bye bye. Monster Energy. Everybody knows White Monster Zero Ultra, that's the OG it kicked off this whole Zero sugar energy drink thing. But Ultra is a whole lineup now. You've got Strawberry Dreams, Blue Hawaiian Sunrise and Vice Guava. And they all bring the Monster Energy punch. So if you've been living in the White can branch out. Ultra's got a flavor for every vibe.

[Andy Cortez]

And every single one is Zero Sugar.

[Barrett]

Tap the banner to learn more. Are you dreaming of the perfect prom? But there's just one thing holding you back. Speak English, Mom. Welcome to Ethnosync Ethnic Modification.

[Andy Cortez]

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[Barrett]

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[Andy Cortez]

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[Lucy James]

Hey.

[Barrett]

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[Andy Cortez]

seed has to die. Slanted Rated R. Only in theaters March 13th.

[Barrett]

Side effects may occur. Close your eyes. Exhale. Feel your body relax. And let go of whatever you're carrying today. Well, I'm letting go of the worry that I wouldn't get my new contacts in time for this class. I got them delivered free from 1-800-contacts. Oh, my gosh. They're so fast. And breathe. Oh, sorry. I almost couldn't breathe when I saw the discount they gave me on my first order. Oh, sorry. Namaste.

[Andy Cortez]

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