Fantasy Critic 2025 Check-In - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Summary

Kinda Funny Gamescast: Fantasy Critic 2025 Check-In – Episode Summary

Release Date: July 14, 2025
Hosts: Tim Gettys, Greg “GameOverGreggy” Miller, Blessing Adeoye Yea, Junior, Andy Cortez
Guest: Paris L.

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1. Introduction and Welcoming Remarks

The episode kicks off with host Tim Gettys greeting the audience and introducing the regular hosts: Blessing Adio Yea, Junior, Greg Miller, and Andy Cortez. The camaraderie among the hosts is evident as they share light-hearted banter about introducing dapping to their child and upcoming appearances.

Tim Gettys [00:00]: "Welcome to the Kind of Funny Games cast for July 14, 2025."

2. Special Guest Appearance

Paris L. joins the conversation, hinting at future episodes with intriguing stories about his recent visit to Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles.

Paris L. [01:07]: "I went to Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles this weekend and it was quite the experience. I have an entire story that I need to tell."

The hosts express excitement about featuring Paris in upcoming shows, especially regarding his unique experiences.

3. Promotion of Greg Miller’s Efforts to Save "Tiny Chef"

Greg Miller discusses his initiative to save the beloved show "Tiny Chef" after Nickelodeon canceled it. He reached out to the creator, Matt Hutchinson, showcasing his dedication to supporting indie projects.

Greg Miller [03:15]: "I reached out to the voice of Chef himself there, Matt Hutchinson. It was like, hey, you don't know me, but we do a bunch of shows and I'd love to try to help save Tiny Chef."

The hosts urge listeners to support "Tiny Chef" by checking out the screencast and contributing financially.

4. Fantasy Critic 2025 League Overview

The core of the episode revolves around the Fantasy Critic 2025 league. The hosts provide an in-depth analysis of their league's current standings, strategies, and individual team performances.

a. League Statistics and Key Developments

Blessing Adio Yea, Junior shares comprehensive statistics about the league, noting significant changes and the competitive nature of the season.

Blessing Adio Yea, Junior [07:06]: "We have an incredibly in-depth stat sheet with so much information. Let's start the episode going through a bunch of the league stats and interesting tidbits."

Tim Gettys highlights the dynamic nature of the league, mentioning multiple title changes and the relentless competition for the top spot.

Tim Gettys [09:00]: "With updated game reviews and surprise releases, the league has seen four title changes so far this season."

b. Current Standings and Notable Quotes

• Barrett leads the league with 143 days in first place, drawing parallels to wrestling's Roman Reigns.

  Greg Miller [11:17]: "He's our Roman Reigns."

• Blessing temporarily seized the top spot for a day with Mario Kart’s initial strong performance.

  Blessing Adio Yea, Junior [10:20]: "At first, everyone's like, oh, yeah, this is hitting. This is great."

• Snow Bike Mike holds an impressive position with strategic picks like Donkey Kong Bonanza.

  Snow Bike Mike [21:46]: "I saved the league. I am the hero that we all deserve."

• Tim Gettys finds himself struggling, currently in last place, reflecting on missed opportunities and counterpicks.

  Tim Gettys [30:09]: "This might be the worst showing in fantasy league history."

c. Play of the Game Highlights

Tim Gettys nominates Blessing's selection of Bionic Bay as the "Play of the Game" due to its high score and rarity in the league.

Tim Gettys [15:00]: "Blessing with Bionic Bay. Spent $4, no competing bids. Scored an 87, got him 17 points."

5. Individual Team Analyses

Each host delves into their team's performance, discussing both successful picks and setbacks.

a. Blessing Adio Yea, Junior’s Team

Blessing outlines her initial drafts, successful picks like Split Fiction and Death Stranding 2, and her high-potential selections such as Bionic Bay. She expresses disappointment with titles like Wander, Stop but remains optimistic about upcoming releases.

Blessing Adio Yea, Junior [23:21]: "Consume Me was one of those winners. It has a very distinct art style... something special."

b. Tim Gettys’ Team

Tim candidly discusses his team's poor standing, attributing it to inaccurate predictions and poor counterpicks like the Unannounced 3D Mario Platformer, which didn't perform as expected.

Tim Gettys [30:39]: "I have a really bad place now. First pick was an unannounced Mario platformer. Such a good bet... It didn’t work."

He highlights his strategic struggles and acknowledges potential league redemption through future game releases.

Tim Gettys [36:33]: "I have something else here. It's gonna be interesting."

c. Greg Miller’s Team

Greg reflects on his fluctuating team, with high hopes placed on indie titles like Dispatch and Everhood 2, despite some underperforming picks like Marvel Rivals.

Greg Miller [61:58]: "We've done Fantasy Critic a long time here. I’m a former champion..."

His strategy involves balancing popular titles with hidden gems, although some choices have yet to pay off.

d. Andy Cortez’s Team

Andy discusses his cautious yet hopeful strategy, emphasizing strong fundamentals but lacking standout star players. He mentions picking games like Hell is Us and Witchbrook, expressing mixed feelings about their potential.

Andy Cortez [46:26]: "I am regretting picking Hell is Us on my list. I think I may have overreached."

Despite setbacks, Andy remains optimistic about future game releases potentially boosting his standings.

Andy Cortez [73:04]: "I am stoked for this game. Very stoked."

6. Strategies, Trades, and Community Interactions

The hosts engage in lively discussions about game selection strategies, counterpicks, and the implications of embargoed reviews.

• Rule Clarifications: They discuss the rules around bidding on games post-embargo and the ethical considerations involved.

  Blessing Adio Yea, Junior [17:46]: "If you can't bid for it before the embargo, but once the embargo is up, go for it."

• Trade Offers: Discussions about potential trades, particularly involving Donkey Kong Bonanza, highlight the collaborative and competitive spirit of the league.

  Snow Bike Mike [53:34]: "I put down all of my money and I got Donkey Kong Bonanza to make sure that others could not get it."

• Community Super Chats: The hosts address audience comments, sharing insights and responding to fan interactions regarding their teams and picks.

  Ben Starr [86:19]: "Love y' all and very thankful for all you do. Happy birthday to both of you."

7. Upcoming Streams and Future Episodes

The episode concludes with teasers for future content, including discussions about "Monster Jam World Finals" and an upcoming Dune Awakening stream.

Tim Gettys [87:07]: "Today we're about to do an episode talking about Greg and Ben and Jen's time in some monster truck worlds. I'm so excited for that."

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Notable Quotes

• Snow Bike Mike [21:46]: "I saved the league. I am the hero that we all deserve."
• Greg Miller [75:55]: "I've fallen into the old trap that I've rallied against on former fantasy critics: don't believe indie devs."
• Andy Cortez [73:03]: "I think that needs a 91 minimum. I can't believe that it's even that low at an 85."

Key Takeaways

• Dynamic Competition: The Fantasy Critic 2025 league remains fiercely competitive, with strategic plays significantly impacting standings.
• Strategic Picks: The importance of selecting high-potential games and the impact of counterpicks are central themes.
• Community Engagement: Active participation and support within the community play a crucial role in shaping the league’s outcomes.
• Future Prospects: Upcoming game releases and streams hold the potential to dramatically shift team standings, keeping the competition exciting.

Conclusion

This episode of the Kinda Funny Gamescast offers a comprehensive and engaging look into the ongoing Fantasy Critic 2025 league. Through detailed analyses, strategic discussions, and vibrant host interactions, listeners gain valuable insights into the complexities and excitement of running a fantasy game league. The inclusion of notable quotes and real-time reactions enriches the narrative, making it accessible and enjoyable for both seasoned listeners and newcomers alike.

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Note: All timestamps correspond to the original transcript provided and are included to highlight key moments and quotes within the summary.

Transcript

[Tim Gettys]

Foreign what's up? And welcome to the Kind of Funny Games cast for July 14, 2025. Of course. I'm your host, Tim Gettys. I'm joined today by Blessing. Adio. Yea, Junior.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Good day, Tim.

[Tim Gettys]

Snow Bike Mike.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Did you hear the snap, the pop of that dap right there with me and Nick's?

[Tim Gettys]

Unfortunately, I did.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Did you feel it?

[Tim Gettys]

I did.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Good.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. Yeah. Did you feel it, Greg Miller?

[Greg Miller]

I did. We introduced Dapping to Jesus this time around. So I have some videos to show we're working on. He's got small little hands. I'll try to dig him out.

[Tim Gettys]

That's the problem.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

We introduced Dapping to our child.

[Snow Bike Mike]

You gotta have cool handshakes with your kid. You get an opportunity to have a kid, you gotta dap up.

[Greg Miller]

Listen, it was one of the first things I thought after Jen got impregnated. You know what I mean? Of I am gonna be able to adapt this child.

[Tim Gettys]

We also have Andy Cortez.

[Andy Cortez]

Hello.

[Tim Gettys]

Hello, Andy. And join in the crew today. It's the one and only Paris. L. Yeah. Morning, Tim. How you doing?

[Paris L.]

I have to say I'm doing good. I have to say I need to be on the Kind of Funny Podcast later this year because I went to Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles this weekend and it was quite the experience. I have an entire story that I need to tell.

[Snow Bike Mike]

I love it.

[Tim Gettys]

When can we do it right? Maybe a next week situation.

[Paris L.]

I I oh, you want to be in the studio? I gotta come in person, tell the story.

[Greg Miller]

All right.

[Tim Gettys]

I love it. I love it. Well, don't forget, let's bookmark this. Everyone get hyped. At some point this year, Paris will be here with some waffle stories.

[Andy Cortez]

He has to recreate a fist fight that happened there. Punch the out of Greg.

[Tim Gettys]

Oh, everyone remember this.

[Greg Miller]

Here we go. Mike, this is for you.

[Tim Gettys]

Look. See?

[Snow Bike Mike]

It's a beautiful. No, that's a dab.

[Greg Miller]

Here it comes.

[Tim Gettys]

There you go.

[Snow Bike Mike]

You heard the snap.

[Tim Gettys]

Good for you, Ben. Good for you. This is the Kind of Funny Games cast. Each and every weekday we get together to talk about the biggest reviews, previews and topics in video games live on YouTube, Twitch and podcast services around the globe. If you love what we do, please support us with the Kind of Funny membership on Patreon, YouTube, Spotify or Apple Podcast to get all of our shows ad free and you get a daily exclusive show for a chance to be part of this show. Submit your thoughts and opinions as YouTube super chats as we go. If you are in your own video game fantasy league. Please super chat and let us know how you're doing if you are as embarrassed as I am or if you are as excited as. I don't even know who's number one. But we'll find that out later.

[Greg Miller]

There's a lot. Who cares who's number one right now? Who cares number one, who's here? Number last.

[Andy Cortez]

A long season.

[Tim Gettys]

Remember, we are an 11 person business all about live talk shows. Today you already got a kind of funny screencast, a very special one where Greg talks to the folks behind Tiny Chef and the plea to save the show after Nickelodeon canceled it. Very cool little opportunity that came up because we all saw the viral video that went around that was absolutely heartbreaking.

[Greg Miller]

Heartbreaking.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

So yeah, Greg, do you want to.

[Greg Miller]

Talk about Tiny Chef? And I don't know much about Tiny Chef. So I knew Tiny Chef as one season on Netflix that me and Jen are obsessed with and Ben tolerates here and there. And so when I woke up one morning and opened my TikTok and saw this video of the Chef being canceled, I was like, oh, I didn't. I never even heard this ever happen.

[Tim Gettys]

Thinking it was not that it was himself.

[Greg Miller]

Breaking news. So, yeah, I reached out to the voice of Chef himself there, Matt Hutchinson. It was like, hey, you don't know me, but we do a bunch of shows and I'd love to try to help save Tiny Chef. And he's like, okay, so we got the co creator, we got Matt and we got on a screencast here that you get on your in review podcast fees.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, very cool. Check that out and go show some love. Do whatever. They need you to do that to help.

[Greg Miller]

They need you to give them money.

[Tim Gettys]

Yes, yes. Games Daily is then talking about reports of a Nintendo direct in July and a Donkey Kong movie happening. I'm very excited about all of this. One, I want to direct because I want to know what's next for Nintendo. 2. Donkey Kong movie. Let's go. 3, we've talked about it for years and at some point now that Donkey Kong is just back in full force. Bless me, you and bear Courtney. We're doing a stream. I don't know when. I want to do it soon. I want to do it before Donktober because I feel like we're in Donktober now. Donktober is a state of mind.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

It is.

[Tim Gettys]

We're gonna watch the first Donkey Kong movie.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Oh, hell yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Donkey Kong. Legend of the Crystal Coconut.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

I never watched this one, but I Remember as a kid I had the VHS, it was like a rareware promotional thing for DK64 and Jet Force Gemini. And they had a segment all about Donkey Kong, Kingdom of the Crystal. What was it called?

[Tim Gettys]

Crystal Cool Cadet Legend.

[Roger]

And it's, it's technically, it's just like three episodes of that show put together, packaged into one vhs. And the entire first season is just free watch on YouTube.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

So if I send you the trailer, could we watch this?

[Roger]

No, because I, I. During Games Daily, I did show footage of that show and I did get like a little nudge warning from the back end of YouTube being like, hey, maybe ch. Maybe chill out on that. So.

[Tim Gettys]

So it's probably going to be a Twitch exclusive one, but at some point we're doing it and I'm very excited about that.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

I'm down for that after.

[Tim Gettys]

This is the kind of funny podcast talking about Greg going to Monster Jam World Finals. He got to meet Grave Digger, which is absolutely.

[Greg Miller]

I got to be inside Grave Digger.

[Snow Bike Mike]

God, that's awesome.

[Tim Gettys]

Oh, man. All right, the statement, then the stream after that's going to be Dune Awakening. The boys are going back to Arrakis. You excited about that, Andy?

[Andy Cortez]

Yes. You know, Mike finally moved into our house. He got us. We had a sublet in the basement. So he. Yeah, we're excited to keep progressing. Finally get our ornithopters.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Maybe we're taking to the sky.

[Tim Gettys]

You don't have you still. When do you think that's actually on the docket?

[Andy Cortez]

You know, I don't know. It requires a lot of aluminum.

[Greg Miller]

Is Nick holding you back?

[Andy Cortez]

It may require another move.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, wow.

[Andy Cortez]

We'll see.

[Tim Gettys]

Okay, well, I'm rooting for you.

[Greg Miller]

Meanwhile, Washburn just drowned it in.

[Tim Gettys]

Or lying. If you have a kind. If you're a kind of funny member. Today's Greg Way is all about Greg's return to comics. I love that dude. I've been. I mean, I mean, you were just talking about it, but I. I got the itch. Superman is giving it to me. I. I got a woman of tomorrow.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, you did. Hell yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Thank you.

[Greg Miller]

Yet?

[Tim Gettys]

I haven't started yet. I'm very excited. Thank you to our Patreon producers, Delaney the Psalm Twining, Carl Jacobs and Omega Buster. Today we're brought to you by Shady Rays, but we'll tell you all about that later. Let's get into the topic of the show. It's Fantasy Critic 2025. We're doing another check in this year. Year. Oh, man, it's been a rough one. For you, boy. Last year, number one all the way. You know what I mean? I never doubted myself.

[Greg Miller]

I mean, some shenanigans since GameSpot couldn't get off their lazy ass review. Marvel rivals in a, in a timely fashion.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Bless.

[Greg Miller]

Am I wrong?

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Listen, you know, it's part of the rules. The game has to get reviewed. You got to get, you got to go with the score that's on open Critic. So I'm not on your side here.

[Roger]

Play. Play where the ball lies.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, I'm just saying, everybody, you all know, I was screwed. I was screwed, period. That's the end of it.

[Tim Gettys]

So who, who made the stat sheet? Bless.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

This was from kind of funny best friend jc. Yeah, he sent it to me and Joey. This is like, he's like. So it's similar to the KDG situation from Game Showdown where he's somebody. We didn't even ask him to do this. He just showed up in our email one day and was like, yo, I'm keeping a lot of stats on the things that are happening within the kind of funny fantasy critic league. And so I, I, as we were approaching this episode, I think originally we're going to have it a few weeks ago. So I asked him if we updated version. So what he, what he has sent us is updated to June 30, my birthday.

[Tim Gettys]

I love that.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

There you go.

[Tim Gettys]

So what's great about this is it is incredibly in depth. There is so much information. But I want to start the episode going through a bunch of the league stats and interesting tidbits that they put here. And then I would like to go one by one through our list so that we can see how we got to those stats. What's up?

[Greg Miller]

But of course, if this is your first ever kind of funny fantasy critic check.

[Tim Gettys]

Yes.

[Greg Miller]

Maybe you clicked on this by actually, you know what's happening. Fantasy Critic is a lot like any other fantasy sports team thing you might do. Basketball, football, et cetera. Except video games. So the beginning of the year, we all went in and drafted five games. Six games. I forget what the actual number was.

[Roger]

Sounds right.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, we drafted five. And then we're left with a budget of $100 that we can spend throughout the year on different games to pick things up. You bid each. There's a bidding process each week so Mike could outbid you, say by paying more for Mario Kart than the game is actually retailing for. Of course, that budget is then spread out that the idea here is that games come out and then their open critic score is used to give you points. For every point above 70, you get a point. When it crosses 90, you start doubling the points. And there's some shenanigans, of course, every point below a 70, so like 6, 9, 68, etc would be minus 1, minus 2. You would lose points from there. And obviously there's counter picks and a bunch of other more intuitive things, but we'll get into that as we go. The minutia. But if you were here for the first time, you're like, what is this? That's what this is.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, it's been a great time. We've been doing the last couple years. So like I said, I want to start talking.

[Greg Miller]

I love the Chad popping off on Roger already. You can go see some of our great moves and bad moves at kindofunny.com/kfleague 2025.

[Tim Gettys]

We're gonna go through it. We'll go through all the moves because, like, I feel like now that now that we have some answers of games that are officially reviewed and might be surprises and we also have a lot of games that we. We bet were going to come out this year just simply or not just simply are not even close.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Big bets.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Swings and misses left and right for you, boy.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Announced Greek God of war game.

[Tim Gettys]

Oh, man, we're so close to greatness, man. So here. Here are the stats for you. They're calling this the blitzkrieg for the league. All right. The war for first place. There's been four title changes so far this season. Barrett took first place on January 30th and held it for 130 days, or roughly 4.3 months. How do you feel about that, Barrett?

[Roger]

I'm happy with that. For, you know, having first place for a third of the year, I. I'm not going to have first place for when it counts, when it matters, but for third of the year, I'm cool with that.

[Tim Gettys]

Pretty good Blessing managed to steal first place for a single day on June 9, thanks to strong initial scores for Mario Kart.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

And then the world woke up. Everybody was like, wait a second. Like, at first, everyone's like, oh, yeah, this. This is hitting. This is great.

[Roger]

We're high off of this.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

And then a week later, everyone was like, hold on. Is this kind of like, is this not living up to our expectations? And then it went down a little.

[Tim Gettys]

Bit, but just a little. But enough. Enough to lose you that first place spot finally. Oh, no. Barrett retook first place on June 10th when the Mario Kart score started dip and held it for another 13 days. But then Blessing definitively took hold of first place on June 23rd with the release of Death Stranding 2 and has now held it for seven days.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

And this was again. June 30th was when this was reported. So now it's been even longer.

[Roger]

15 days now. 21 days.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Yeah, there you go.

[Tim Gettys]

It took almost half the year for some movement, but things have definitely started to heat up. So let's go through how many days each player has spent in first place. Barrett, 143 days.

[Greg Miller]

He's our Roman reigns.

[Tim Gettys]

Blessing.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Eight days.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

21 overall.

[Tim Gettys]

Oh, yeah. 21 overall. But, well, you know, we'd have to do math for him, too. We're not going to do that.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

That's true.

[Greg Miller]

That's true.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

That's true.

[Tim Gettys]

Blessing, eight days. That's it.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

We skip forward to highest scoring game here.

[Tim Gettys]

High scoring game.

[Snow Bike Mike]

It only matters about one day. Just remember that.

[Andy Cortez]

The final day, Mike.

[Snow Bike Mike]

It only matters.

[Greg Miller]

1-1-26 long.

[Snow Bike Mike]

You hold it. Yeah, as long as I got it.

[Tim Gettys]

The highest scoring game. There's been 14 title changes total.

[Andy Cortez]

Ask the Golden State Warriors. You know what I mean? Of 2016. Best record of all time. Lose it to the blow. 31 lead to the C. You know, the old three.

[Tim Gettys]

Old blow, everyone.

[Greg Miller]

It was 313 0. Blow sounds better, though. I like that.

[Tim Gettys]

Said, this one's been a bit of a nightmare to track the season as there have been multiple games in the league that have been topped with many in the 89 to 90 range that have scores that go up and down day to day. Thankfully, it's stabilized since April. This is my best shot at tracking the highest scoring game in the league. January 30th, it was Barrett Citizen Sleeper 2 with an 86. February 3rd, Mike's Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 with an 89.

[Greg Miller]

What a pickup for Mike.

[Tim Gettys]

Then February 24th, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 and Barrett's Monster Hunter Wild both tied with 89s. March 4th, Monster Hunter Wild slash Blessing split fiction with 90s. March 10th, split fiction and Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 with 90s. April 7th, Barrett's Blue Prince with 91. April 10th, blueprints and split fiction with 90s. And we kind of go back and forth. Fiction, Kingdom Come, Deliverance two and Blueprints kind of like bouncing back and forth, the different numbers.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Then April 16th happened.

[Tim Gettys]

April 16th, blessings. Bionic Bay with a 92. What a pull.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

It's shocking that, like, I don't have any of us here. Played through Bionic Bay. No, it's the coolest looking game that I started playing and I dropped off of. But like, for the maybe one hour that I take the points, I was like, yo, this shit's a banger though. Like, it's like a. It's a puzzle platformer. Kind of gives a little bit of maybe inside or limbo, but it's. The art style is more pixelated and like the whole gimmick of it is that you can switch places with objects in the world. And so it's kind of like. It's like location plus physics based in a way that's really cool. Any art style is incredible. So only. It only took the trailer to sell me on, like, oh, I should get this in my fantasy league. But if you're looking for a puzzle platform to play, Bionic Bay is really, really cool.

[Tim Gettys]

Super cool.

[Andy Cortez]

It's a Twitter game. They always zoom in on how in depth those pixels are. Because it's a pixel art game.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Yeah, you just can't tell.

[Andy Cortez]

It's so far away. But when they zoom in, it's like, whoa, wow, this art style is insane.

[Tim Gettys]

And then on April 23, Snowbike Mike Claire obscure Expedition 30 with the 92 put on.

[Snow Bike Mike]

You know, Roger didn't believe in the French. He said, there's no way that those human beings could put on for their city. And they did.

[Greg Miller]

Let's get this hating ass motherfucker Roger out of the car right now and beat him to death. All right, negative 24 points. This kid got on the counter pick. A counter pick of Expedition 33.

[Andy Cortez]

That is so tough.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Oh, man.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

To be fair, it was a different time at the beginning of 2025.

[Greg Miller]

It was.

[Snow Bike Mike]

I mean, was it though?

[Greg Miller]

It's funny because we did all look at those demos and go, this game can't be real. This game can't be as good as it looks. Something's going to go wrong.

[Roger]

This team is so small and it feels like they're punch above their weight class and all this stuff.

[Greg Miller]

Like, yeah, shocking. Roger couldn't be here today.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Everybody's going to compare it to Persona and like, it's not going to live up to Persona.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

The play of the game so far, incredible pickups and drafts. Basically a mix of successful results of a selection as well as the brilliance of the selection based on a mix of points earned versus projected points, amount spent in interleague competition, where applicable, and rarity of the selection when compared to other leagues. I don't have a mathematical formula for this yet, so it's really just me eyeballing.

[Greg Miller]

I love It.

[Tim Gettys]

But the winner so far, blessing with Bionic Bay. Spent $4, no competing bids. Scored an 87, got him 17 points. It's hard to not today that this is the play of the game for the remainder of the season. Incredibly smart selection and a game that was clearly not on many people's radars. Low bid with no competitors, great point differential and an extremely rare selection in other leagues. What more is there to say?

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

I appreciate.

[Snow Bike Mike]

I love that. That's, that's.

[Tim Gettys]

That that's good.

[Greg Miller]

That's the kind of John Madden like commentary from this.

[Snow Bike Mike]

I like this.

[Tim Gettys]

And then I'm going runner up so far with a similar little blurbs like that. And then I want to go to our actual list and kind of like.

[Greg Miller]

Break talk about where we're at because the runner ups.

[Tim Gettys]

We have Roger with the Talos principle reawakened. It's a really excellent selection.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Say there's a trend from Roger. Yeah, just loves getting remasters.

[Tim Gettys]

Look at that. Like what which ones made it through the cracks on the broken system that is fantasy.

[Roger]

Bless next year, just no remasters or remakes, you know.

[Tim Gettys]

Well, that complicates things. Really excellent selection here by Roger. Very close to being the standout pick but by Ionic Bay significantly outclasses it in the rare selection department. Also loses some cachet in my eyes given it's a remake of a 2014 game that has an 87 on open critic but still a smart pick. Then we have Paris with the alters. He spent $1 with no competing bids, scored an 86, got him 16 points. The game's had some buzz since it was revealed at an Xbox partner showcased in 2024, but it never really tipped into massive amounts of hype. Paris was smart to keep his eye on this one and pulling the trigger on it turned out to be a really savvy move. Paris, what do you have to say about that?

[Paris L.]

I have to say it was myself and Snowbike Mike, we were previewing that, that doing that partner preview and I saw that game and in the moment I go this, this is going to be really good. And ever since I kept my eye on it like you said. So yeah, I got that one under the radar now.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Did you bid for it after the embargo for the preview?

[Paris L.]

Yes.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Okay, fair enough.

[Paris L.]

Oh no, before actually before I grabbed it before.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

I feel like that violates league rules.

[Snow Bike Mike]

I don't know about that, Paris. I thought that was a great clean pick. Great job on your part, really seeing the tea leaves, understanding that, you know, both Blessing and Andy are going to talk about this game and how great it is non stop over here. You saw that before them. Great job there.

[Tim Gettys]

Paris just sucks.

[Greg Miller]

We have to throw them out. Disqualify. Yeah. What? I, I, I. We have to roll back the tape or talk to JC here about what we said on the original one. I remember it being review code was the thing you couldn't bet off of, so you couldn't get a game. Be like, oh, this is great. Or yeah, I had it. Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Paris L.]

This was way before I even went to sir.

[Tim Gettys]

You're Sir.

[Greg Miller]

We're talking right now, the tribunal, all right. We're trying to decide if you should be banished. All right.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

I don't think we've actually had like a preview. Explicit conversation about preview embargo.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

I think my head canon was that if you can't bid for it before the embargo, but once the embargo is up, like, go for it. Yeah, but like, we can have that conversation now going forward.

[Snow Bike Mike]

I always took it as if you saw it behind closed doors. You're done. You can't see it. You can't. You can't take it no more.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

See, I think you've been privy to information.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. But I think very clear rules.

[Tim Gettys]

I don't know why this is confusing.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

I think after, after the embargo, you know, you've talked about it, people can read the previews. Like now everybody has the same info you do for the most part.

[Greg Miller]

My one, my one wrinkle there would be, is this the first time we saw it? Was this the first time it ever previewed?

[Paris L.]

It was not.

[Greg Miller]

That's my thing.

[Paris L.]

That was the thing. It was available. They had a demo on Steam in 2024 because it got delayed to 2025. So anyone had the ability to see this game well ahead of time.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Okay.

[Paris L.]

And I was the only one.

[Roger]

I think that's fair. I also might get doing the whole, like, if we have ever previewed it, I think it's a bit much because there are games that can preview well that don't review well. Like, you're getting just a small slice that, like, you might have a good taste, but you're not seeing the, the entire picture. You're still betting on what the entire picture could be.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Yeah, I think my, the, the rule that I have in my head, right. Is this is just for y', all, is don't break embargo by bidding on something too. Sure.

[Greg Miller]

100. Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

And then Barrett with blueprints, spent $10. No competing bids scored an 89, got him 19 points, in my opinion. Barrett had the play of the game last season with Balatro, so I'm not surprised to see him cheating. They didn't write that. I don't know who did. I'm sorry. I'm not surprised to see him here again with a really smart selection. Statistically, it can't keep pace with Bionic Bay for this particular award, but Barrett was talking about Blueprints well before I heard anyone else in my sphere bring it up. And I managed to stealthily grab it in both of my leagues, thanks to his watchful eye.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

I will say Baird has influenced some of my strategy too. Picking up Bionic Bay and we'll talk about. Listen to podcasts. Yeah, honestly. Well, I'm not even just listening to podcasts. Well, actually, no, yeah, listen, podcast, because consume me. I'll talk about that later. That's on my thing. That's one that I learned from an episode of Chris Plan's new podcast where he had a whole episode talking about the Seamus McNally Award.

[Roger]

I love that. I learned about one game through podcasts.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Where do you learn about Blueprints from?

[Roger]

I was going through the release of Open Critics of Just like what the games that were slated for this year, and just looking up the, like, Steam pages and trying to find vibes of what games were coming out. And the Steam page of Blueprints.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Mike doesn't believe you might just gave the most. I'm waiting on the Steam page and looper, like, people in with this shirt, man.

[Greg Miller]

That's what I mean.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Listen, I. I believe Barry because Barrett's like.

[Greg Miller]

Barrett's on it.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Roger]

On the Steam page of Blueprints, it had had the creator of. What's that card game y' all really love? Inscription. And the creator of Inscription was like, this was like, one of the best demos I played of 2024. I was like, oh, God forbid I get the most. And I'm not the one who's, like, actually doing trades like Greg Miller at the end of the year.

[Greg Miller]

Have I skull fucked Tim enough to teach you? Don't come at me for no reason, Barrett. That's what you want now. I was on your side. I didn't say anything. He's got notes under his little hat.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

They're all on the same side.

[Roger]

Here.

[Tim Gettys]

Let'S start.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Hold up, hold up.

[Tim Gettys]

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Yeah. Okay, we gotta throw a flag. Can you whistle for me really quick? Wow, we gotta blow a whistle. Pause.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Timeout.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Okay. We're talking about play of the Game. Game. And we're not going to bring up snow Bike Mike and the two incredible plays that I just had. One snow Mik. Mike still armed all of these jabronis off of Donkey Kong. You can say, thank you, Mike, for saving the league. Because you don't want Barrett out here getting Donkey Kong. You don't want Greg getting Donkey Kong. Then they run amok on y'.

[Tim Gettys]

All.

[Snow Bike Mike]

I saved you all, okay? I saved you. So thank you, Mike, for spending $88 on Donkey Kong to keep this league closed. You're welcome.

[Andy Cortez]

Way to go, Mike.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Thank you, Andy.

[Andy Cortez]

All of a sudden, all these pocket watches got nothing to say when these high scores are gonna come in. It don't matter what he's spending on it.

[Greg Miller]

He's getting the doves.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Saving it for you, okay?

[Greg Miller]

Scared money don't make money.

[Snow Bike Mike]

You don't see that in the play of the games. You gotta believe that second one. Okay, if we rewind last week, Barrett and Roger, they come at me like two hyenas, okay? They're calling on my EA Sports college football pick.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Snow Bike Mike]

They say, no way, Mike. That's dropping. That can' as good. They don't have it like they got it like that. You're not coming back with a second installment. It's a yearly franchise. There's no way.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

They did not.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Mike. Mike went to a preview and he.

[Greg Miller]

Embargo.

[Snow Bike Mike]

I just telling y', all, you can't bid on something if it's after the game's out.

[Greg Miller]

The game is out. Mike is totally fine. It's totally fine. Nobody else was sitting. Nobody read the NCAA previews. Like I gotta bid on things that.

[Snow Bike Mike]

None of y' all read the 10 pages of NCAA tunnel to know that it was gonna score big. And what did it do?

[Tim Gettys]

Tim scored big.

[Snow Bike Mike]

14 points. Stiff armed. Okay.

[Andy Cortez]

I think yesterday.

[Roger]

So it's just, you know, it's gonna Slowly drop down.

[Snow Bike Mike]

84.

[Andy Cortez]

84.

[Tim Gettys]

Oh, man. All right, let's now, I guess, start with blessings. List. List from publisher Him Tendo.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Him Tendo. That's me.

[Tim Gettys]

You want to run us through this?

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Yeah. So in the initial draft that we did at the beginning of the year, right, I picked up five games. Those games were a split fiction. 81 on open credit, getting me 21 points. Death straining two on the beach, we did 89 on open credit. Gave me 19 points. Wander, stop. Which I expected more from. But it did do 81 on Open Critic. Which is. Which isn't bad at all. Getting me 11 points. And then Mario Kart world a game That I thought would have gotten me in the 90s.

[Greg Miller]

I'll stop you right here and I'll agree with you. Wander, stop. Especially if you would have asked me before I even looked at this. I would have thought it was 85. The way people talked about that at launch, the way. The way everybody was all about the game.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Interesting looking like cozy game that. That might have something beneath. Beneath service from developers who previously did. Oh, what was the game? It was the first person walking. Stanley Parable. They did Stanley Parable and then they did Wander stop. Which had me thinking like, oh, this is going to have some kind of twist. This is going to be something crazy. This is going to be something interesting. I believe it was about anxiety as well. And so like I don't know, anxiety gets you points.

[Snow Bike Mike]

I don't get like anxiety reviews.

[Greg Miller]

You go for that heart, you go for those emotions.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, see, I'm shocked about the split fiction and I'm not that shocked. But 91, like getting 21 points on that. Like I. The conversation around the game. I know that we, like me and Greg particular seemed a little more down on it than other people. But the little more down is like in the eights.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, I think that's cuz you all played it together.

[Tim Gettys]

Maybe, you know, I don't know. I was trying to have a good time but even with that, like still I think it's a great game. But like I'm surprised that the mass number is over 90 on Metacritic. Like that just seems. That seems a little breaking that 90 mark is like that means a lot of people gave it over a nine.

[Greg Miller]

That's crazy to me.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Hey, listen, do I agree with you?

[Greg Miller]

Yes.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

But also, hey, I'll take the place.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

And then yeah, Mark our world under delivered for me. But it still got 86, which is great. And then the last game from that initial draft I got was mixtape which is yet to release. Even though Greg, I believe gave a great preview.

[Greg Miller]

Great preview. Yeah, yeah. We're all in a lot of trouble.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

And so I'm really excited.

[Greg Miller]

We're all in a lot of trouble.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Comes out this year. Not released. They'd not put out a release.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, they were very much like this year, later this year. And it's like, well, you run out of time for this.

[Andy Cortez]

We'll see.

[Roger]

We'll see. Because hopefully that gets delayed.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

That's also locked because I believe Barrett has the counter pick on that. Right. And so I think that's going to be a big determining factor as we get later on into the Year of the me versus Barrett of it all. But then after that I. I picked up Possessors, which is a game coming from Heart Machine, developers of Hyper Light, Drifter and Breaker that is set for later this year. That's also one that I'm hoping we get a release date for soon because that is just 2025, I believe as. As of now. But Andy played the demo of it. Andy, you liked it, right?

[Andy Cortez]

Demo rocks. I think people are going to be into this game. Yeah.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Hell yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Why are you giving me a look?

[Paris L.]

No.

[Snow Bike Mike]

What? Time out. Why are you giving me the same jabronis? They're making another game. Yeah, focus on the game. They me on. What are you talking about? You got Hyper Light. Nobody go finish the game. Are you kidding me?

[Greg Miller]

What a surprise. Big lazy game spot. Can't get there. A f fingers to the keyboard to write a review.

[Snow Bike Mike]

You should be mad some more.

[Greg Miller]

Too busy getting married to assign reviews. Everybody embarrassment over there. Embarrassment over there.

[Andy Cortez]

Don't give me that look.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Put this on me.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

I also picked up Bionic Bay, which we talked about. That got me 86.

[Greg Miller]

Can I see a trailer for Bionic Bay?

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Yeah, it was the pixel art. Cool platform.

[Greg Miller]

You're right. Sorry. The one we just saw. Yes, yes, yes.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

And then Skin Deep Me. This game people were talking about. This is one that was coming out. It came out what, a month, two months ago though. Is this an Annapurna one? This is one that I remember. It was George from Pop Agenda was tweeting about. He was like, it's an immersive sim. Don't sleep on this one. It's coming out soon. It's going to be incredible. And honestly, I played it. Really cool game and it's one that I'm surprised did this low. It got a 76.

[Greg Miller]

It is in a Perna game.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Annapurna game.

[Greg Miller]

Right.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

So I had high expectations for. It came out as a 76. My probably my one miss so far. And then after that, I paid a lot of money on Luminance Arise. I paid like 60 something dollars for Luminous or Rise and then Consume Me was my last pickup.

[Greg Miller]

I previewed Luminous last week. I could do a demo. I haven't talked about it yet. Embargoes up all that. Because I think it was just the SGF stuff. Good pick. Oh yeah, yeah. You're gonna. I mean we all know I love Luminous, but I. Incredible stuff.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

And then. Yeah, Consume Me was the last game that I picked up. It is an indie title that has a lot of promise that's coming out later this year. They put up their Release date being September 21st 5th. And so I got a lot of faith that it's actually going to come out. I picked this one. I referenced the podcast from Chris Plant that I listened to.

[Greg Miller]

What's it called?

[Andy Cortez]

Post Games.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Post Games, yes. He did an episode about the Sheamus McNally Award and he interviewed the devs of Consume Me, half talking about the game itself, but then half talking about just the prestige of the award. If you're unfamiliar, right. The Sh. Sheamus McNally Award is given out during the IGF Awards. That happens during GDC and it's essentially for like the best slash, innovative slash, like most promising indie game. And so the winners include Minecraft, Fez Papers, Please, Outer Wilds, her story, Night in the Woods, Return of the Obra Dinn, A Short Hike inscription. Right. Like they have an eye for those indie games that come out and end up separating themselves to something special. Consume Me was one of those winners. If you look at it, it has a very distinct art style, right. Almost looks like it was made in MSP paint, but essentially like it's presented as like a sort of a narrative quirky game about growing up as a teenager that hated themselves, like hated their looks and like, you know, stuck out from the crowd sort of thing. Looks cool, looks different. And hearing about, I'm like, oh, this is something that sounds like it could be one of those special games, right? Like something along. Along the lines of a venba or something like that. And so this was my final pick that I have a lot of faith in.

[Tim Gettys]

Had a Pomeranian in. That's my vote.

[Snow Bike Mike]

And a good counterpick. Don't forget about your counter.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Oh, sorry. Yes. And I counterpicked an unannounced mainline 3D Mario platformer that I was sure. I was sure after picking this it was going to me because if you remember, like, it came down to me for me for to two choices. It was this or counterpicking Earth Blade, which was the Celeste follow up. And in like January, February, they announced Earth Blade was canceled. And I was like, fuck, I should have counterpicked that one. Now I'm going to get. Because Mario is for sure coming out. And here we are. No 3D Mario announced for 2025.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, man.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Who picked that one up? Who has that game?

[Tim Gettys]

You know, that's actually a great, great call. First off, I hate you because I forgot that Earth Blade was canceled and it hurts all over.

[Roger]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Oh yeah, that's so. Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

We.

[Tim Gettys]

We just started with first place. Publisher him Tendo with blessing. Instead of going to second, I would like now to go to last place, which is let Tim publish my team. I want to let y' all know the point differential here. Here at first place, bless has 89 points. Almost. Almost 90 points. I. I have 9.62 points. Coming in eighth place.

[Greg Miller]

They round up to 10.

[Andy Cortez]

That's nice.

[Tim Gettys]

This might be the worst showing in fantasy league history. Cause, like, even Greg, who is second to last, he's at 28 points. So. Yeah. And I want everyone to know I played this game. I want everyone to know I have the fantasy critic bookmarked. I check in on it. I've actively tried to.

[Greg Miller]

I don't like you again, using my name in this again. I got bullets in the chamber. You're the one picking shit that doesn't exist. All right.

[Tim Gettys]

No, I'm just saying. I'm just the facts, Greg. It's just the facts.

[Greg Miller]

Also, don't get too upset. Remember the worst showing ever was Raj last year with 55 points. I mean, I'm like, you won with 147. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

So going through my list, I'm in a really, really, really bad place now. First off, off, a lot of the games that I have on my list that might come out still haven't come out. So that. That might explain hopefully, why the points are so low.

[Greg Miller]

Again, if you are just listening and getting confused, Remember, of course, as Mike and I were saying, this doesn't matter. This is all year long. So January 1st, we'll have a winner. So, yeah, you have all these blank slots because. Yeah. You only have two games, according to this, that we have any information about in terms of being out or coming in.

[Tim Gettys]

But I just want it clear that, like, I. This is not just, oh, I said it and forgot it. Yeah, I. I was trying, but I got for multiple times, and there's certain. Sometimes I got by myself. It was more of like a. I made the mental note, check in bid on this stuff, and I never went and did it. And then when I remembered it was already done, I'm like, I'm screwed. But going through my list here. Yeah. My first pick was unannounced mainline 3D Mario platformer. And I felt like that was such a good bet. It was such a good bet.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

It was one that I think, like, anybody would have made. Right. I think if you didn't make it.

[Tim Gettys]

Any number, whoever was second would have done it or whatever.

[Andy Cortez]

And.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. Yeah. Instead we got Donkey Kong, Nintendo.

[Greg Miller]

You spent 88 bucks.

[Snow Bike Mike]

I saved the league. We'll be talking about that.

[Greg Miller]

Trade it to me right now.

[Andy Cortez]

He's a hero.

[Tim Gettys]

He really is.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Still available for trades as well. Not enough trades in this community here I'm available for. Hey, throw me one. You know what I mean, Mario?

[Greg Miller]

Like, what if I slid you a cool $15 for Donkey Kong?

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

All right.

[Greg Miller]

You save the league, you make for a great storyline because Greg gets some points and you could buy something with those 15.

[Tim Gettys]

That is the. I have $66 remaining and I've been looking and I'm not finding anything great. I don't have the most money, though, because Paris still has $77. But we'll get to his whole list in a little bit because continuing down mine. Pokemon Legend Za. I'm gonna get some points on the board. Unless.

[Greg Miller]

What are you expecting out of that?

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, I mean, it's a Pokemon game, so. 85. You know what I mean?

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

How much?

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

How did Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.

[Greg Miller]

Do you figure this is going to do better than that? Because it won't run like track?

[Tim Gettys]

I mean, knock on wood, we'll see. I mean, it's also being reviewed on Switch 1, so. Because it is both consoles. But even then, like, I don't think that stopped the reviews from being amazing.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Pokemon Open Critic. Pokemon Scarlet and Violent Open Critic has a 71.

[Tim Gettys]

Okay, maybe. Yeah, that's not good. Look up Legends. Arceus, though.

[Andy Cortez]

This is gonna change it. Yeah, I think. I think you got at least an 83.

[Roger]

You're getting the marriage of like what Arceus did with like, kind of more focus on like the battles and stuff.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

83. 83 for RCS.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, that seems about in line, I think. And I think this will actually review better than that. But yeah, so not. Not mad at that. 2xko starting to feel less likely. It's coming this year still on their.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Website says coming 20, 25 and big old Bold.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

That's funny. I've never seen that before.

[Snow Bike Mike]

But I wouldn't be surprised if this becomes like an early access.

[Tim Gettys]

Me too. At this point. I feel like it does come this year. I don't think the reviews are going to be in my favor. I think it's going to be a Marvel Rivals type situation. Then Dragon Quest 12 HD 2D remake. Those are coming in October. Those are easy points on the board.

[Greg Miller]

Okay.

[Tim Gettys]

Resident Evil Requiem. Fuck me. You know, this even that I knew was a roll of the dice. I knew it was coming. I knew it was going to be announced. But the question was, is it gonna make it this Year and God damn it, it's coming out in February. So close.

[Paris L.]

Tim. Yeah, it was Mike. It was my counter pick. And I did see that preview at Summer Game Fest. It looks fantastic. Yeah, so you're missing it by a month.

[Andy Cortez]

You got a lot of dice rolls on your list, man.

[Tim Gettys]

I did and it didn't work.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Something to point out is that over the season we're given, I believe, three drops for games that get delayed, like officially delayed to a year after, and then one free drop of any game. However, when people counter pick a game that's on your list, it is locked to your list. And so Tim has been counterpicked twice. One for Mario and then one for Resident Evil. Rec.

[Tim Gettys]

Win that one two combo, man. I got two kxo'd two XK code. Hate that name. The Midnight Walk. This is one that I bet on a long time ago. Just like once I saw it in the day to play, I think it was. I was like, this looks awesome. Still haven't played it, which is a bummer. I'm very. Just timing wise, it hasn't become a good moment for me too. But many people have played it and tweeted at me, been like, oh, Tim, like you should play about this. Not knowing that I already was interested. So I'm happy getting some points there. And that seems great, right? Darwin's Paradox. This looks cool. We. This was. Who's making this one?

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Konami.

[Roger]

Konami, yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, that's right. Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

But it looked cool in that thing. I'm like, this is definitely another gamble. But I. I'm hoping A, it comes out this year and B, it's good. And then unannounced new God of war Greek project. There's still time, you know.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

No, they unofficially like the reports said that it got delayed to next year, you know.

[Tim Gettys]

Hey, there's still a chance.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Draft it.

[Roger]

Draft it next year, Tim. And then, you know, it'll be announces a comic book series or some shit.

[Tim Gettys]

You're right. And then. Yeah. The Eternal Life of Goldman.

[Roger]

This game looks rad. I hope this game hits this year.

[Tim Gettys]

Gonna be completely honest with you. I don't think I've ever seen this in my life.

[Greg Miller]

You have.

[Roger]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

This is a cool thing. I kept on calling it Eternal life of Schmitty or whatever.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Yes, yes, yes.

[Tim Gettys]

Okay.

[Roger]

It's the. It kind of looks like DuckTalesy.

[Andy Cortez]

Super hand drawn, great animations, old dude platformer side scroll.

[Tim Gettys]

Can you pull it up?

[Roger]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

This game looks awesome.

[Tim Gettys]

But does it come out this year?

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Probably not, no. Yeah.

[Roger]

Knowing Your luck at this point.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Okay. Oh, damn.

[Greg Miller]

This does look.

[Roger]

Yeah. Very like Cuphead and Ducktails.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, the hand drawn animations look freaking.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Okay, where did we see this? Because I remember watching this with you guys.

[Roger]

This might have been a direct.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Roger]

Maybe the switch.

[Greg Miller]

Not enough old main games.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, that's the demo we needed.

[Greg Miller]

Solid Snake four.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Old Man's Journey.

[Tim Gettys]

All right.

[Andy Cortez]

Make four.

[Greg Miller]

Y' all knew. Y' all knew exactly what I was trying to say.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Now really quick, Tim, you know we're here at the table together and it's about helping one another. How could we help Tim in this? Does he have drops? Bless that he could drop some of these games. Of course you brought up the three drops that have to have the announcement that they're being pushed. But could Tim still come back into this game?

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

I mean, Tim, you should be able to check to see how many drops you have.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, yeah. My problem is like what do I drop? Like I. I have one open spots.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Well, like do you drop like a 2x KO where you feel like maybe it's not going to hit this year or it might go early access. Sure, you'll get the free drop if it gets announced into 2026, but at least you get it out of it.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Now I'm looking at Tim's list. He's cooked. There's nothing.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Oh, there's nothing.

[Greg Miller]

Like foundation is made of sand out.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Of war, it'd be one. I mean he could, I think the.

[Roger]

Smart of the two between two XKO and unannounced new guy God of War Greek project. The smart drop would be the God of war Greek project because that's not going to be talked about publicly. So that's not going to be like an official delay drop.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. Do you have a few now? Now if I wanted to see. If I. If Tim wanted to see if he had a drop.

[Snow Bike Mike]

What. But how would.

[Andy Cortez]

How would he look for that?

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

You know what I'll. I'll check in on.

[Snow Bike Mike]

He would go to the front page on the side where it says checks in on that.

[Tim Gettys]

Let us give you a quick word from our sponsors.

[Andy Cortez]

Where am I?

[Tim Gettys]

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[Snow Bike Mike]

I kind of want to just keep.

[Tim Gettys]

Bouncing around here because we started with Bless at first, then me at eighth. I want to go kind of in the middle here. Get Paris off the bench here. He's in fifth place currently with 43 points. His publishing team is Positivity Pull. Do you have a list in front of you, Paris?

[Paris L.]

Yeah, I have it in front of me.

[Tim Gettys]

You want to go through it?

[Paris L.]

So yeah. So just taking it from the top. Well, let's talk about the game that I dropped. I had to drop Fable. That was my first pick. So I was like, I'm screwed as soon as that happened. But looking at how this is playing out, I mean, I don't think I'm going to catch Bless or anything as far as first place, but I think I got a shot to be, you know, around third, maybe fourth place when the dust settles on everything. So.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, I'll say this is a really good list.

[Paris L.]

Well, I would like to point out Bless, you kind of mocked me a little bit when I took Assassin's Creed Shadows as well as people in chat. I do not forget that. But I said at the time that this would just be a solid. Honestly, it scored a little lower than I thought. I thought this would be a mid-80s game. But 81 isn't bad because I just figured, hey, they're putting all their resources in Assassin's Creed Shadows and it wound up being a pretty decent game overall. But you know, I did take Hollow Knight Silksong with my second pick. And I remember I'm watching an Xbox showcase and when they showed it, I was like, oh, thank God it actually is going to come out this year.

[Greg Miller]

So I think Xbox Ally as a launch, but not maybe but at a launch or there'll be a launch of both of them. Are they connected. No one's aware.

[Paris L.]

Yeah, we'll, we'll see. Maybe we'll get more info at Gamescom on that. But I think I have a shot at that being a 90 plus game game. So we'll see. You know, like a Dragon Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii again scored a little lower than I thought. It was an 82. I thought it would have been a mid-80s game, but you know, it was decent. I already talked about Assassin's Creed and then the Outer Worlds too. I think that has a chance. Mid 80s to upper 80s type of game. Got to see it at the Xbox Showcase. Played it briefly. I mean it's Obsidian. It's, it's going to be solid. I think that's gonna be really good.

[Greg Miller]

Adam points.

[Paris L.]

Yeah. Adam Fall. I'm honestly disappointed at it only being a 75. I enjoyed it. I, I thought it was great. I think it's a great game. So again, this is something I thought would have scored in the 80s overall.

[Greg Miller]

75 is right. Right on the money for Adam Fall.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Which one is that?

[Greg Miller]

The year the British fallout. Remember it was like that drop?

[Paris L.]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

What's the game I'm thinking of that came out like last year? Atomic Hearts. That's what I'm thinking of. Thank you.

[Paris L.]

Yeah, that one. That was another one that scored lower but they're making a second one so we'll see.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Are they having a universe or something?

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, they are. The atomic hard universe.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Yeah.

[Paris L.]

But now replaced. I'm, I, I, I don't think it's going to come out this year. I mean it. They still haven't officially announced it, so I can't drop it. But sign. It's not looking good unless they say something at Gamescom at this point. I think I'm going to get screwed on this one one now. We already talked about the alters. That was just one that I saw two years ago. I just kept on the radar and then, you know, I picked it when, when it was available.

[Tim Gettys]

So.

[Paris L.]

86. Pretty good on that.

[Greg Miller]

I love that. That's what I saw two years ago. Not at all how we introduced it before. Roll the tape.

[Paris L.]

That's all I gotta say. Roll the tape.

[Andy Cortez]

The demo was last year. I almost put it on my team last year. Year like I almost bid for the altars last year because after the Steam Next Fest demos. But then I ended up not doing it and luckily it got delayed.

[Paris L.]

Hey look, I saw it ahead of time. That's all I'm saying. Thank you, Kirby.

[Tim Gettys]

Air Riders.

[Paris L.]

A good pick I again, I think this is. This comes out this year, probably November, something like that. They haven't officially said it yet. I. I think I have a shot at 90 plus on this.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

I don't know about 90 90s.

[Tim Gettys]

See this is really interesting. Very, very interesting here because this is a Sakurai LED game. Sakurai Smash Brothers. Obviously we love him. Very creative. One of my favorite creatives in the space. But his games aren't necessarily hits. They are a very, very specific type of thing. They all share a DNA to them. They, their menus, the looks, the vibes. It's different than other games and I feel like it's pretty hit or miss. And the first Air Rider cult classic, not necessarily the best game. So I am interested in, in what this is going to look like. This also seems to be a smaller little project that he's been working on like in addition to when he was doing the YouTube channel stuff. So like I'm not expecting necessarily greatness from this.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

A Metacritic from a game from 2004.

[Tim Gettys]

But it is Sakurai LED and it is like, I mean look at the reviews. It tells such a story, right? However, different time we're talking about different Sora, different team, different everything. So I am hopeful. I think a 90 would be absolutely wild. But at the end of the day, this isn't Sakurai or Sora, but Kirby is their baby. Like the fact that Kirby and the Forgotten Land came out and was as good as it is proved to me to never look at the past of Nintendo things to be like, oh, what? I'm just writing these off. So while I'm very excited for this.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

My prediction is like an 85. Like I think, I think it comes out and it's. And it's pretty great. But like not like a game of the Year situation, but I think it's another cult classic for fans. And then I think Nintendo has a way of like dialing in on hey, let's just make sure it's quality. If it's smaller, if it's like not as vast or whatever, that's fine. But let's just make sure that it's quality, it's good enough kind of thing.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Paris L.]

So I will admit my opium saying that is he had an update recently talking about it and he was very, very high on what he's working on. So, so, so hey, maybe it won't be 90, but I think, I think it'll be solid. Obviously like you said, blessing probably in the mid-80s, something like that. Now when we get to the last couple here. Borderlands 4. This was me scrambling after I had to drop some games that I knew either weren't going to score well, wasn't coming out.

[Greg Miller]

I think it's a good scramble. It seems like all the buzz on this is people are like, oh, it's really good.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. And the two moves I tried to make that you beat me on were Call of Duty, Borderlands, Both of those were me, like, me scrambling like, oh, man, those at least gave me points and. And now they won't.

[Andy Cortez]

Your goal, Tim, right now, if you have a goal, it is do not score lower than Roger last year.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, man. Like, that's the goal. You're right. I'm on it. I will do agree, y', all, I promise.

[Andy Cortez]

Consider that a dub if you do that.

[Tim Gettys]

And then. Yeah, you counterpicked with Resident Evil, man. Good call.

[Paris L.]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Paris L.]

Well, that one, I just. I was like, that game's not going to come out this year. And then, yeah, it's not coming out this year. So it's good on that. And then the last one again was a scramble. Black Ops 7, then just. I mean, we'll see. I'm imagining it's probably in the 80s, something like that. So, I mean, I. Look, I won't be in last. I probably won't be in first. I'll. I'll end up in the middle. But, yeah, that fable screwed me. That was me just again, having opium at the beginning of the year, thinking, you know, playground games, obviously, the reputation they've built over the past few years. This was going to be a big hit for Xbox and they pushed it to next year, so.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

But I think a lot of faith in your roster.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, that's a good one.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

I think you have, like, a lot of potential for.

[Roger]

Yeah. Outer worlds too. And Silksong like that could carry.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, for sure.

[Paris L.]

Yeah, exactly. So we'll see.

[Tim Gettys]

All right, then. Let's go to Andy. Why? Because you're fourth place. Nitro Rifle games.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, man. I mean, I remember to do this whenever we're on these shows, and I don't think I'm going to be in last place. I hope not. Not so I consider that a dub. Yeah, right. You know, thank you. I am.

[Tim Gettys]

I'll tell you.

[Andy Cortez]

I'll tell you what, Greg.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, Andy?

[Andy Cortez]

I am regretting picking Hell is Us on my list. Oh, I think I. I think I may have overreached and I got a little too hype on it when I played the demo. I thought it was good, but nothing like, oh, when.

[Greg Miller]

But doesn't the demo cut off before you get to the open area.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, I think I. I mean again, did you pick it up after I previewed it or after we just. I think you picked it up way before. Yeah, before preview. I think. I still think that one is going to turn a lot of heads. Okay. I don't think it's going to bring you a 90, but 80 plus I.

[Tim Gettys]

Would hope for easily.

[Andy Cortez]

Sid Meyers screwed me this Sid fella. You know, the civilization 79. Not great.

[Greg Miller]

Unexpected. I definitely would have thought. Yeah, that's gonna. That's gonna get you double digits again.

[Andy Cortez]

You know, there's so many people on the Internet tell me how good of out is and like, you know, don't get me wrong, I liked it. But an 80, not. Not awesome. Doom the Dark Ages. Love that video game. Holy. My favorite of the most recent three. After beating that game, it just got better and better. And I think 86 is still. That makes sense for. For, you know, I'm not mad about that score. Mlb the show. That was one that I'm just like, I want points. Just let me get some sort of. Let me get some consistency here. I will say Liza P. Overture though is one that I'm like. That needs a 91 minimum. I can't believe that it's. I'm blown away that it's even that low at an 85. I think that that game, that DLC is just so damn good and easily one of the best things I've played all year. Maybe I'll pick up and Skate store. I'm still praying for it. Skate store one that I picked last year didn't come out. I think it comes out this year.

[Tim Gettys]

Have any of you played the demo of this?

[Andy Cortez]

No, no.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

I really want to.

[Roger]

Is this Devolver who's doing this?

[Andy Cortez]

I believe it is. Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

It's. It plays like. It looks like it's super cool. Not my thing. I am way more into the arcade stuff, but the vibe of it's awesome. But I heard you guys conversation today on Games Daily about Tony Hawk versus Skateboarding. Like Mike Skate Story. Like I think. I think this is going to be the one for you. It's a lot more focused on just doing one trick and like. Yeah, it just. The vibes are immaculate.

[Andy Cortez]

It seems like one of those that is kind of too artsy to not be really highly regarded. And I feel like the only people that are. The people that are going to play it are going to be the ones that are maybe rooting for it to be good. Anyway, because it has been kind of cooking for a long time. A lot of people have been waiting for this.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

My thing with Skate Story is that that on the critical side I'm scared that it's going to be. It's going to lean toward. Here's something that like is like sugar, right? Like here is a cool art style and like you guys love playing skate, right? So here's skate. And then like it might not have the depth to like carry it. On the critical side, I don't know. Like I'm scared that like, you know, it's going to be fun, I'm going to enjoy it, but it's not going to get up to like an 88 or something like that.

[Andy Cortez]

It previewed really, really great and so I'm just hoping that, that enough the. That the right people are reviewing it. That's like where I'm at with it.

[Tim Gettys]

And to that, I mean I. I'm only an hour and a half into it or so. But the story element of the skate story, they're taken really seriously. Like it's. There's a lot of poetry in this game. Like the way it's written in the imagery and stuff. I'm like, I think that might be the differentiator.

[Andy Cortez]

But I picked up Witchbrook recently which is looking to release this year year again. Holiday 2025 is real scary. But which brook is that sort of like life sim pixel art game where you're all kind of little witches and wizards, you're going to, you know, Hogwarts sort of thing. But it looks like the type of game that it's the. I think the game has been in development for about seven or eight years. Like it's one of those ridiculous sort of indie games that's been in development for a long time. And I think when it comes out, the cozy community is going to be all over this and I hope it gives me a lot of points. And then I, I counterpicked Hyper Light Breaker. Good counter, Mike.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Pretty messed up that you would do that too against, you know, your squad. You ride for them.

[Tim Gettys]

You're the one who put me on to this game.

[Snow Bike Mike]

You spoke highly about this game. He said, oh man, the team's coming back with a.

[Greg Miller]

And he made me pick it.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Big deal. And he made me pick.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

This whole strategy is early access. You did this last year too, but it, it like worked out because you got Hades too, didn't you?

[Snow Bike Mike]

Yeah, I got Hades too. That's right. Well, we didn't know that this game was going to be early access until him. I'll just take it away.

[Tim Gettys]

Please do for team to say.

[Greg Miller]

Let me just say one thing about Andy. Can I say one thing about Andy's team as an outside observer, the thing about Andy's team is that Andy, you have a great team with the fundamentals down. You're just missing right now those star players and you hope that hell is us. Which brook skate story. Somebody Ninja Gaiden. Someone comes through with that 91 that you I wanted.

[Tim Gettys]

Right.

[Greg Miller]

Because you have such a solid team right now.

[Tim Gettys]

Now.

[Greg Miller]

But you got these other jabronis out there, as Mike would say, that have these games that are just like.

[Andy Cortez]

Give me an 88 or an 89 somebody please God.

[Greg Miller]

Sorry now.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Yeah. Let's kick it on over to team. Andy made me pickets and I still mad at him. But eventually the game will come out. Let's take a look. Tim. Of course I was the second overall pick in the draft. I was putting between a rock and a hard place. I had to select Grand Theft Auto 6 because I was riding the high that would been have if it did drop this year. And of course Barrett made a great move getting wilds which then puts me in the awkward spot of do you risk it all with six or do you find something different?

[Tim Gettys]

Someone had to.

[Snow Bike Mike]

I had to do it. I had to be the one. And so unfortunately, Grand Theft Auto 6 was counterpicked and it's coming out next May.

[Tim Gettys]

So you're welcome.

[Greg Miller]

That one puts down everybody counter pick from Greg.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Exactly.

[Andy Cortez]

That's a big league.

[Snow Bike Mike]

That's a big team play right there. Okay. Then of course Expedition 33. You know, I bet with my heart. I played Final Fantasy 10 this year. I knew the turn based jabronis would show up after this game. I knew these kids out in France would make a great hit. And so I bet big on this one. It showed up job dollars, baby.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Then after that, kingdom come, Deliverance two. Too many jabronis were hyping this game up for it to fail. And I knew I'd be on that the moment that they said, well, you got to wear leather armor underneath your armor. And then you got to joust this guy over to field for 20 minutes. I said, I'm not going to be playing this game, but I'll take the points. And so that's where I'm at right there.

[Greg Miller]

Say that everybody.

[Snow Bike Mike]

After this, you know, I went to the people, okay. I went to our community and I said, nerds, give me the game. And the nerds went to their computers and they started typing on this keyboard and they said, mike, have you ever heard of Trails in the sky first chapter? And I said, no. Have you ever played Madden? And they said, mike, pick this game. And I did.

[Greg Miller]

Did.

[Snow Bike Mike]

And I believed in them. And so when this game hits, we're gonna celebrate, okay?

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

We're gonna celebrate.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Celebrate big. I still don't know what this game is. It doesn't matter what this game is. I believe in this game because of them. So thank you to them.

[Greg Miller]

Mike is a man of the people.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Yes.

[Greg Miller]

He'll come down, he'll do that. You don't see many head coaches doing that.

[Snow Bike Mike]

You don't see people doing that. And of course, man of the people. I trust Andy Cortez. He hypes up this team all the time. He says, hyper Light Breaker. This is my favorite game of all time, Mike. You gotta believe in it.

[Paris L.]

I told you not.

[Snow Bike Mike]

So I proceeded to follow Andy's guide guidance because I believe in Andy. And what happens early access. We're never going to 1.0.

[Greg Miller]

There's a lot of talk on this panel about insider trading and breaking the rules. I think next year, blessed we should have a rule that you're not allowed to lead your best friend astray.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Yes.

[Greg Miller]

That you're not allowed to give them false information, these false flags.

[Snow Bike Mike]

And then of course, he counterpicks it. So clearly.

[Greg Miller]

I mean, right there. Stab you. Right. Not even in the back. Right in the heart. Right.

[Andy Cortez]

I need somebody just like to immediately flashback to the. That episode of me being like, I don't know, man. I don't think it's gonna like.

[Tim Gettys]

Andy, you didn't.

[Andy Cortez]

You're not picking Hyperlite Breaker. I was like, I don't know, dude. I don't think it's gonna really hit him that way.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Really hurt me on that one.

[Andy Cortez]

Then, of course, you just were listening.

[Snow Bike Mike]

I continue down the list. I have Crimson Desert. I await Crimson Desert. I'm excited for Crimson Desert. Me and Andy saw a tech test of this. I have not got to play. I really, I. I think this has the mojo, the juice to be really good. The question is, is where is it? Okay, we have Gamescom right around the corner.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Snow Bike Mike]

That would probably be the time to say, hey, we're dated and slated end of the year. Let's do this thing. And so I have a 50, 50 coin toss of this will either be ready to rock and roll or this will be pushed and I will be dropping this.

[Greg Miller]

I think your odd. I think your odds are much lower than that. I think it's getting pushed probably. And even once it comes out, like I said in my preview, like, there's so much going on. And granted, again, I was dropped into 20 hours into the game. I thought the controls were very unintuitive motive for that start when I got to the boss fight at the end, it clicked in there or whatever. But even then, like, I don't foresee this being the juggernaut of points you think it might be.

[Snow Bike Mike]

I'm hoping that it is. I got a feeling like this could be Andy. Last year you loved the game Dragon's Dogma 2.

[Greg Miller]

He did love that this could be.

[Snow Bike Mike]

A Dragon's Dogma 2 situation. But that one didn't score as great as you thought it would score. So we do have a problem on my hands after that, you know. Listen to Ben Starr. Listen to Andy. My best friend again. First Berserker Kazan. Could this be a Souls like that we all need to play. I believe the knife. That one fell flat on its face. But it got me 11 points.

[Greg Miller]

Hey man, I don't know if that. That's flat on its face. You get double digits. I always count that as you want to lead.

[Snow Bike Mike]

If you want to win the league, you must get 15 or above. That is the rule in this. If you want to win, you're soon for 15s or above. If you get anything below that, trust me, you ain't winning this league. So it's just how it's going to go. We'll look at the end of the scores. But I bet you if you add it all up 15s and above to win, win after that. I saved the league. I am the hero that we all deserve. Thank you. I put down all of my money and I got Donkey Kong Bonanza to make sure that others could not get it. If I'm not gonna win this thing, Tim, I'm taking everybody down with me is how I took this one.

[Tim Gettys]

Okay.

[Snow Bike Mike]

So I held off everybody.

[Tim Gettys]

I'm pretty sure you outbid me on this one.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Oh, I put down this might have.

[Tim Gettys]

Been the one that I messed up, but I remember trying to put down a lot but and then spent more.

[Roger]

Money than what it actually costs in real life.

[Snow Bike Mike]

And so here's the one thing is like when we talk about. About pocket watching Andy, we talk about money. Like the money doesn't come with you when it's gone.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Next year you get a new $100.

[Andy Cortez]

What are you going to do with it?

[Snow Bike Mike]

Guess what? Your leftover money is not points. So you better spend it and when there's a game of this caliber, when there's Donkey Kong of this caliber, you.

[Tim Gettys]

Have to play Odyssey for the first time last week.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Play Odyssey three days ago. Let me tell you what, these guys, they're making something over.

[Andy Cortez]

Say he's a fraud. Not me, though.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

I do have to stats. So this all happened on the April 5, where all the the bids were processed. And so Ecto1 Games tried to acquire Don K. Bonanza with a bid of $41 and they failed. Positivity P tried to acquire DK Bonanza with a bid of $10 and they failed him. Tendo, which is me, tried to acquire DK Banana with a bit of $31 and they failed. Boss Baby Productions tried to acquire it with $23 and they failed. Team Andy made me pick it, acquired DK Bonanza with a bid of $80.

[Andy Cortez]

Nice.

[Snow Bike Mike]

That's called looking at your dollars amount. And okay. And then after that, Tim. I believed in college football. Of course, I had a feeling like year two was going to be even bigger than year one. And I'm happy to report that this sports game is getting me 14 points. Should be a little bit higher, but a lot of people using eights instead of hundreds. You know what I mean? It's like get on the 100 point scale and get off.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Snow Bike Mike]

If I need this to be 87, a lot of eights, a lot of 84s, lot of 85s. Like, hey, let's get that 8. Let's bump that up to an 8 5. You know what I mean?

[Tim Gettys]

But.

[Andy Cortez]

And the preview in no way influenced your thoughts there.

[Snow Bike Mike]

I just knew this was going to be a good game. So like, did I cheat? We don't know.

[Andy Cortez]

We don't know.

[Snow Bike Mike]

We haven't made that rule clear yet.

[Greg Miller]

So you don't know.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Okay. But on top of that, I counterpicked Indiana Jones and the great circle. I'm hoping that this DLC nets at about 7475 to get me minimal points off this. But like, here I am. Here's your boy, Mike. Right now I'm in the mix is what they like to call it. Okay. I have have a lot of scoring potential. I got an opportunity. I also got some drops. Okay. I can drop a couple of jabronis real quick off this team. Am I going to be in first place at the end? That would take a miracle. Okay. Will I somehow rise above it all? Andy Cortez, I think you will get two miracles to drop to drop that dun and top gun math.

[Andy Cortez]

I Think you will.

[Greg Miller]

And I don't know if I'm going.

[Snow Bike Mike]

To get the two miracles. So if I get top four, I'm happy.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

What I'll say is that that clear of scare, Getting you a 92 on Open Critic is already like a. A big one, right? And I think DK Bonanza, if that drops a 90, like, you're, you're there, you're in the race.

[Andy Cortez]

It's crazy to me that I don't think anybody will have as high of a score as Mike does with two zeros on the board. That's insane. But then you think back, you'll. You'll look back and go, man, if I only didn't pick those two zeros.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

I think you just need like a good, like, last pick here because you have one slot open still.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Yeah, I'm. I'm looking at. I got one good pick right here too. Him and bless. So like, what is that? Is it Killing Floor three, maybe? You know what I mean?

[Greg Miller]

Could be Killing floor in the 90s.

[Snow Bike Mike]

What I'm saying is it Jurassic World Evolution 3?

[Tim Gettys]

I don't know about that one.

[Andy Cortez]

Dinos are hot right now.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Dinos are so hot.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Nobody has Mafia the old country.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Mike, we got to talk about that in the post show of like, why.

[Greg Miller]

Didn'T anybody do a post show?

[Roger]

We haven't done that, like six years.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Apart, end of the show.

[Greg Miller]

I mean, I'll jump in on there. Why didn't they. I think because Mafia 3, of course, course had so much Open World bloat and going back for. There was something cool there. But whatever. I came out of hosting the PAX panel with them. Right? Like, huh, huh. Wait, I see mafia three here, right? Where what the top critic average is 66 on open critic. This one, I think is. It's still hard to say. I thought the panel was very impressive. It sounds like scaling it back, making it a more linear adventure, giving it that kind of old school Mafia. I'm like, okay, okay, maybe this will be the thing. But. But it's knife fights. Not as big a gunplay. It's supposed to be beautiful. I don't know. It's still a big wild card in terms of what you're gonna.

[Roger]

It's one of those, like, I think the story is going to be praised. But in terms of like, where does a very basic 3D linear action adventure game kind of have a place in 2020?

[Greg Miller]

Exactly. Is that gonna be something where the people who want that kind of game are like, yeah, it was good. It was whatever. Or Is it gonna be. Oh man, we haven't had one of these in a while. That was this type of experience.

[Andy Cortez]

If it hits story wise, that's what it needs to be.

[Greg Miller]

I look at it every time when I go in there, what's open, I'm like.

[Snow Bike Mike]

And so if I want that, I want to move now. Because that's. Yeah, because that's like, you gotta get on top of it. But right now I'm sitting pretty and I'm comfortable. We're gonna hit the cruise control for the next couple months. We're gonna get out of summer. We're gonna look to the holiday period to fill in one, maybe potentially two. I got a lot of drops I could drop and we'll go from there.

[Tim Gettys]

I mean, Mike, looking at your list, not that this necessarily means too much, but I feel like you have two to three games that are gonna be in the game awards towards game of the year conversation.

[Snow Bike Mike]

What is that?

[Tim Gettys]

Yep.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Strong. That's a strong list.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. So like you're. You're looking really.

[Andy Cortez]

You have one drop though, by the way.

[Snow Bike Mike]

I have. You have three that get announced and then one normal drop. So if like Crimson Desert all of a sudden says, hey, we're not making it, boom, that's going to be part of that drop. So you have to hold, you got to hold them tight. You know what I mean? If like you can't just be dropping willy nilly because you only get one. So some of these, you got to kind of ride till the very end. End and then be willing to drop that right away. If you're ready to move.

[Tim Gettys]

Let's move on to Greg Miller.

[Greg Miller]

Hi, Tim.

[Tim Gettys]

Seventh place currently.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, that doesn't matter. Don't worry about it. We don't have to worry about what the place is. Right.

[Tim Gettys]

What do we need to worry about then?

[Greg Miller]

Well, I'm not gonna win. I. Here's. We've done Fantasy Critic a long time here. I am a former champion, of course, you know, Tim screwed me out of it last year. Actually, you know What, I apologize. GameSpot Bot and Tamor Hussein screwed me out of it last year with their. We don't want to review Marvel Rivals yet because it'd be helpful to Greg. So I fell into a trap this year that I fear it's gonna be hard to get out of. And what that is is influenced a lot by the one, the only boss Baby Barrett Courtney. And looking at these smaller indie games and looking for that one that's going to catch people off guard and be charming enough to get you the points to do the thing, Bubba. Blah. Outkick. Oh, this is great. Yeah, we didn't see it coming. Right. I tried it last year with Master, which was me at the. I did the IDGA awards at GDC before the GDC awards, where it didn't win Seamus McNally. I think it won the jury prize. It wasn't. And I was like, I'm. It's coming out next week. I was like. I rushed on my phone to fantasy critic got it.

[Andy Cortez]

This could be inscription that still only.

[Greg Miller]

Got me like, I think an 81 or whatever last year. It didn't. Like it didn't do it. What it. What I was expecting for it here. You see a lot of pics here coming hot out of that Xbox GDC preview.

[Snow Bike Mike]

I see it.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, yeah. Where like, so, I mean, yeah, I'm on this line. I'm sticking with it to a T. Where I was like, oh, man. Charming Katamari dude. This is. It's. I. I was turned off by Nobi Nobi boy back in the day. But this seemed to be. We're giving you a narrative and giving you that quirk. And the song was so good and the idea was so catchy. I was. I was like, this seems like it could be a breakout. We're going to go somewhere fun with this one. And we ended up with a 70. And that's been falling. At one point, I think I had barely a 73. So now I'm to the point of just. Just hold, hold. Everyone stop reviewing to a T. We're fine.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Stop the steel.

[Greg Miller]

Is that the count? Stop the steal.

[Snow Bike Mike]

There's lots of other games.

[Roger]

Go play those.

[Greg Miller]

Have you heard about Marvel Rivals Jesus. So, yeah, I got 00 points on that, which is a heartbreaker. But I do agree as somebody who got it, was excited about it. And then I still haven't finished to a T because I was. Oh, okay.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

I'm still halfway through it. I think you saved me because I might have also bid on this one.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, you did, I think. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And so I was like. But then the problem is that has now infected my mind of like. Okay, well, Wheel World was another demo I did there where I was like, this isn't. I loved that first section of Wheel World. And I'm hopeful that the entire game is like that. But I'm so scared. After 2:18, I put hurdling down too. Walked out of Hurdling. And I was like, damn, it's not. It's not this level. But I had the same kind of vibes of like a journey of like, oh man, it's all. It's like melancholy, whatever. Then it opened up into this world and I'm leading these giant.

[Tim Gettys]

This one was very cool and I.

[Greg Miller]

Was like, damn, if they can keep going with this whole thing. And now let's even check the. I. I bit hard on all of these indie games that the Xbox things. Thanks for nothing, Xbox. Have a first already. Game come out once in a while. You know what I mean? I gotta go for this schlock. But anyways, I've been so hard on these. Let's put aside that I'm. I'm scarred from to a T. I've also fallen into the old trap that I've rallied against on former fantasy critics of don't believe indie devs. Indie devs are the least reliable because they are usually so small they can pivot and delay whenever they want to. So hurdling do I hurdling? You hovered over Barrett, right? It still just. Just as summer, you know what I mean? Like me. Is that even coming out this year? So then to go to more my drafty things and come down the list, right. Elden Ring Night Reign. I thought I was. I was like, I can't believe I got it. As soon as I said it, you guys were like, well, no, it's like fucking multiplayer from them. 81 I'm happy with. I was worried it was going to be down there. I'll take the 11 points again. I want solid players on my team. You know what I mean? Then I got Metal Gear Solid Delta, which bums me.

[Tim Gettys]

I was trying. I was fighting for this one.

[Greg Miller]

This is one I'm expecting big things from. I'm very hopeful. Yeah, I think the biggest knock is it's not going to be Metal Gear Solid three. So is. Are we going to be harder on it? Because it's trying to do it, but it isn't. We'll all see. But obviously I'm expecting to be very, very high on that one.

[Tim Gettys]

This one's such an interesting one to me because I do feel like the public sentiment's very negative towards it. But I haven't felt that like. Yeah, I feel like everyone's kind of just like, hey, it looks off to me. But to me I'm like, this looks awesome. And what really sells it to me is all the people that have played it are. Are like they're nailing this, right? Like the VGC crew and Dan Riker played it like I forgot where but TGS or Gamescom last year.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Like, yeah, I couldn't believe that they actually played it. I couldn't believe, like, how they're like, oh, my God, I'm so in love with this.

[Greg Miller]

So Indiana Jones of the great, circle the order of the giants. This is one that you all gave me about when I did. I got. I got a big laugh in the room. I stand by the fact that all these Indiana Jones defenders last year so up in the. Oh, my God. It can't be nominated for game awards. Oh, Greg didn't like it that much. Oh, it was my game of the year. Even though it's not winning game of the year anywhere. Didn't even make our top 10 list thanks to Blessing and Barrett. They're like, oh, you were wrong. It's laps less never even got on our channel. Embarrassing.

[Roger]

I voted for it at least.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, my God. So, Bear, I take back the venom. I'm just kidding you. It's all un. Blessing. I like.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

I didn't like it that much.

[Greg Miller]

Bear do.

[Andy Cortez]

Well, he called you out earlier. Bear called you out earlier.

[Greg Miller]

I know, I know. I'm still. I made the hat joke. I'll come back to it. No, so. So I'm hopeful here that, like, again, this is going to be more Indiana Jones, the game you didn't play. So we all made sure to go do this. And the DLC is in 85. That's what I'm looking for out of this one.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

What was open critic on Open critic.

[Roger]

Is 87 from the main game. I would expect anywhere from a 82 to an 85 for this deal.

[Greg Miller]

Okay, great. Then. Yeah, I have Mina. The Hollower finally has a release date. Another anticipated ass indie. Right. So I'm hopeful. Hopefully I get some good points off of this guy.

[Andy Cortez]

I think he will.

[Roger]

You will?

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, definitely.

[Tim Gettys]

Definitely.

[Greg Miller]

Moonlighter to the endless vault. I'll tell you what, this was across the body. I'm. I'm 20 yards back and I can't even see the receiver. And I just said I love Moonlighter one so fucking much. I threw it and prayed. The fact that people have. Are so excited for and I mean, like, don't get me wrong, it's not like GTA excitement, but people are talking about Moonlighter too.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

I'm fucking excited.

[Greg Miller]

And they're talking about playing. I'm like, oh, my God, I hope they fucking stick it because I still haven't played Moonlighter 2. Being such a huge Moonlighter fan. Yeah. Run me through how we do.

[Tim Gettys]

I played it.

[Paris L.]

It's. It's good.

[Greg Miller]

Okay.

[Paris L.]

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised on this.

[Greg Miller]

So my hope. Well, I'm expecting a lot as a huge moonlight or one fan. So my hope here of course is that this is the hey, you didn't play moonlight or One. Here's Moonlighter 2. It's got a bunch of weird sickos like Greg. They're excited about it and it breaks out and blah blah. And again gets me some points on the board that I like. Again, real world we're into where I'm like I'm very scared because of to a T getting zero points hurdling. I'm very scared. But then I do have Sea of Stars throw throws of the watchmaker. Got me 17 points.

[Andy Cortez]

That's massive.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. Yeah. You know, again, DLCs are always hit or miss. Are they going to get enough reviews? Is it going to do? This is going to live up to the base game. That makes me a little bit happier with the Indiana Jones pick. Hopefully we see something maintained there and then. Yes, I still have one slot open in the counter pick of Grand Theft Auto that is now a guaranteed zero points which we haven't really talked about. If you're new around here. Counter pick again. If it scored negatively for whoever you counter picked against, you would get positive points. If it scores positive for them, you'd get negative points. Counter picks are done when we draft which makes it always difficult of. You're really not hoping to get points off the counter pick. You're hoping that the game gets delayed so you get zero points because usually when everybody picks five games or whatever, you're going to get good games all around.

[Tim Gettys]

I want to move over to Rog Former's list here. Come on out. He's in the chat saying save the best for last. Also Ben Starr in the chat saying Team Mike, Team France.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Come on Ben.

[Roger]

Oh, so you're truly saving the best for last.

[Tim Gettys]

We have alo reach games. Number one is Ghost of Yote obviously still doesn't have scores but after that state of play I think it's going to review pretty well. Even before that I'm pretty sure we're getting some points. We expect in over 90 on this one or yeah, just shy.

[Greg Miller]

What do you go Sushimadu.

[Andy Cortez]

I think this will be an 87.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

I think 91.

[Greg Miller]

I'd like to think that but I would imagine high 80s.

[Roger]

Sushima on open critic did an 84.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Yeah, I'm going to say interesting.

[Tim Gettys]

I feel like this is going to be that type of like the sequel does better than people have learned. Like, you know, I like feel like this might be the difference between Death Stranding 1 and Death Stranding 2. Not as extreme in terms of gameplay style, but I. I do think it's going to review higher.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

I agree.

[Tim Gettys]

And then Metroid Prime 4 Beyond. Another huge one. There be some two.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Two good picks.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Two really strong, very strong picks. Very strong picks From Rod Prime 4.

[Tim Gettys]

Is going to be so interesting because I feel like we've are. We get what this game is. It's going to just be more Metro Prime. Metroid prime games review incredibly well. But in 2025 with it being switch two and switch one. But switch two, like, that can either push it high or low for me. Like, I almost feel like there's less likelihood that this is a 8 game than there is for it being a 7 or a 9.

[Roger]

Especially like it being so close after beyond or Metroid prime remaster and reminding people, like, how good that.

[Tim Gettys]

How good that one is. Yeah. But having said that, I'm expecting the 9. Like it's retro. Retro missed. Then south of Midnight got him 7 points. Bummer for me. Feel like it should have. Should have been some more there. Slay the Spire 2.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Great pick.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, man. That's another one of if it happens, you know.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Yeah, we'll see.

[Tim Gettys]

But if it does.

[Roger]

Even if it does hit early access, like, are people reviewing it? Like, do. Does it get that Hades 22 kind of bump or. Hades 2 did get reviews last year, even in early access. I don't know. I don't know if Slay the Spire has that. Like.

[Tim Gettys]

I don't know.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

I think it does Slayest fire people so long.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Has like a big. It's like different from Hyper Light Breaker for me, where it's like Hyper Light Breaker. You're speaking to that specific Heart Machine Hybrid Drifter audience. And then also it's kind of a different thing. Slay the spire 2. There's enough hype for it that I think enough people will review it.

[Tim Gettys]

Launch. And then Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive edition got him 17 points to ever exist.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Oh, just wait. His next two games. Three games.

[Tim Gettys]

Honestly, Roger played the great game, specifically Xenoblade Chronicles. It's like, dude, like Elder Scrolls 4 Oblivion Remastered. @ least. That's like a full difference of a game. Xenoblade's just a port.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Yeah, it really is.

[Roger]

It really is.

[Andy Cortez]

We got to fix this.

[Tim Gettys]

Brilliant move. Tal's Principle. We reawakened. Getting it at 18.

[Andy Cortez]

Whack.

[Tim Gettys]

God. Yeah, he's playing A boring game.

[Greg Miller]

You know what I mean?

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Like, this is like when you're playing NBA Jam or like whatever. NBA games where like that corner three will always go in no matter what.

[Andy Cortez]

More like ELO Remastered.

[Tim Gettys]

Ninja Gaiden 4, which I keep forgetting is a real game that's actually coming. Coming out.

[Roger]

Yeah, great pick.

[Tim Gettys]

Hell yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

I think that's gonna be a solid 8.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, for sure.

[Andy Cortez]

81 or 11 Elder Scrolls 4.

[Tim Gettys]

Oblivion Remastered got him 11 points lower than I thought.

[Andy Cortez]

I mean, this is one of the. One of those games that everybody regards like one of the best RPGs ever. And it looks a lot nicer now. I would have just expected this to be like 84s, 85s for the nostalgia.

[Tim Gettys]

I do wonder. Wonder if that has something to do. And I'm just pulling this out of my house. I don't know if it's actually went down this way, but it. It being a Shadow Drop and it being a big rpg, I wonder if it just didn't get the amount of reviews or if like, maybe the reviews were assigned to like freelancers or something. And so it didn't have.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Yeah, because it did come out the same time as clear obscura. So I wonder if people's plans for reviews were up and went crazy, because they're.

[Andy Cortez]

They.

[Roger]

I mean, it did get 101 critic reviews on Open Critic, so it was a lot of people.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Can you hover over the flag there that they have Next Elders.

[Roger]

It's a discord debate of if it's a remake or. Partial.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Oh, I just wanted to read it. Yeah, we have decided that this is a remake, despite the name, of course. The name being Oblivion Remastered.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Roger]

Because some people from chat are saying.

[Greg Miller]

Like, it is your own league.

[Roger]

It is pretty much the same game. Just like looks incredible now. So that comes with whatever it had back in the day when it came out. You know, Bugs and all.

[Tim Gettys]

Tony hawk Pro Skater 3 and 4 got him 14 points. And then Keeper on his list, the next from Double fine coming out October 17th this year. We'll see.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Great list from Roger.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Roger.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Pick of all time. Like he'd actually be in the running here.

[Tim Gettys]

And the dumbest counter pick of all time was Claire Obscure Expedition 33, losing him 24 points. I will say, not a dumb counter pick at the time.

[Andy Cortez]

I don't know.

[Tim Gettys]

In retrospect, it's like, oh, that you.

[Greg Miller]

I mean, just to make it all.

[Snow Bike Mike]

There's a really bad pick. I mean, you should have saw the star power that they were bringing. You should have Believed in the French fr. We always believe in the French people.

[Andy Cortez]

Putting on for the city of France.

[Greg Miller]

It's one of the reasons I'm so excited for Z.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Exactly. There's a badge on their jersey, Andy. They're doing it. All right. Those colors, they're going for it.

[Tim Gettys]

My thing there is, like, the. It being a counter pick may be a bad call because I don't think that this game was ever going to get dramatically under 70, you know, but still, I don't think any of us could have assumed it would get a 92.

[Paris L.]

No.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. And then the final person is Barrett. Courtney, what's your list look like?

[Roger]

My list, you know, I. I like my team. I enjoy my team. If my team gets me. If my team gets me into fourth or third place at the end of the year, I'm happy with that. Before we even get into my list, my biggest mistake was, in fact, dropping Sea of Stars throws of the watchmaker. Greg definitely got it.

[Greg Miller]

Sabotage. You don't got the stuff no more.

[Roger]

What?

[Greg Miller]

Okay, anyway, he did say that Sabotage made the game.

[Roger]

So I was saying just in, like, in terms of, like, DLC and then, like indie dlc, like, is that going to get enough reviews? Is it going to review as well as the. The main game? And so I. I did drop that, and I ended up picking Everhood 2. Picking up Everhood 2 after that, which was not. Not the best move there. So I think that's probably what's going to majorly kill me for. I don't even know that is for the year. But anyways, yeah, my first pick was Monster Hunter Wild, giving me an 89 points. Again, that was like, it was either a. A guaranteed kind of bet, uh, early on in the year, or GTA 6. And I'm. I'm glad I went with the. The prior pick there. Nexus Citizen Sleeper 2, Starward Vector. Honestly, reviewing better than I was expecting. I was expecting that to be like, 84, 85, but people kind of liked the updates from this one. And then we have Dispatch, which is.

[Greg Miller]

The ad hoc guys. Former Telltale.

[Roger]

Yeah, former Telltale.

[Tim Gettys]

You're.

[Roger]

You're. You're playing as Aaron Paul, who's a former superhero, but now he's, you know, helping dispatch heroes and stuff, and Blessing. You played the demo of this, right?

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Yeah, I played the demo. I played it twice. The first time I was like, whoa, this is a. This has, like, a strategy management element to it. And then the second time I was like, hold up. This strategy management element, it's kind of nice and so, like, I don't know how this is going to do. As far as reviews, I will say presentationally, which is a word I just made up, it looks really good. Like, the art style of it is fantastic. And like, honestly, it's the kind of thing where if they just uploaded it to Amazon Prime, I would watch it as a cartoon. Like, that's how good the presentation, dialogue and all that stuff is. It feels like a TV show and then you have the telltale choices there. But yeah, the strategy management stuff I think is going to be the real factor as far as like, how much people vibe with it, how in depth it is. I don't get the vibe that it's super in depth, but like, it could be entertaining and fun enough to like, make people really fall in love with.

[Roger]

It and like make it feel a little bit different than just doing choices in a Telltale game or something like that. Yeah, the trailer that we got at TGA last year of the story of the characters, seeing that the. The roster of voice actors that they're getting for this one is, is what made me pick this up. Then we have Rift of the Necro Dancer, kind of a. A play on Crypt. Crypt of the. The Necro Dancer as well. This is more of like kind of a Guitar Hero kind of vibe. From what I remember.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

This is one that I played for a few days when I got the code and. And dug it, but like not enough to really stick with it. But yeah, it is straight up like Guitar Hero UI where you have the notes coming out you. But all the notes are monsters and you have to like deal with them in different ways. Where some of them you might have to like hit twice. Some of them might like hop between lanes as they're going. And it gets pretty crazy.

[Roger]

Yeah. So that, that got me a solid 10 points. Not. Not bad at that. And then yeah, Everhood 2, I think reviewed worse than the first Everhood, which definitely hurt me here. If you ever. Hood 2 or Everhood is kind of like under Undertale inspired vibe. But then like some of the combat system is a bit, you know, Guitar Hero, but make it battle system type of thing. Really dug the first ever Hood and I, I was hoping and expecting that the. The sequel would get me even more points. I was hoping for like an 84 or something like that, but not even breaking 80 definitely hurt me here. And then we had Blue Prince for a bit that was the best reviewed. And then it kind of like, like was in the 90s for a bit and then dipped. Dipped A bit. Once more people started to play it and not vibe as much with it, but it being shared with Monster Hunter Wilds of my big points games, I'm. I'm not upset about, but I would love something above a 90, which I. Looking at my team, I don't think I'm getting for the rest of the year. Then I've got Shinobi. Art of Vengeance. I'm really stoked for this game. This is one that like I'm just personally excited for. So again, just happy to have it on the team. Team. Realistically, I feel like this is going to be like 10 points. I think this is. This being up against, I think Ragebound. Yeah. Rage Bound. I think that it might hurt Shinobi. I forget which one comes out first.

[Tim Gettys]

I think both have a really good chance of finding success. Okay. But I. I'm with you that like, I have more faith in Ninja Gaiden at this point.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Roger]

So we'll. We'll see how that all nets out. I forget when Ragebound comes out versus Shinobi, but if Shinobi comes after, I have a feeling that it's gonna. It's gonna hurt Shinobi a little bit.

[Tim Gettys]

What we got going on, Mike?

[Snow Bike Mike]

I tried to pick up that game, but I couldn't spell Shinobi. And I spent days. I remember that days I was typing it sideways, left, right, center. I kept bumping in, in there and it was like, it's not here. And I was like, I wonder what's happening.

[Greg Miller]

I don't know how you misspell.

[Andy Cortez]

You didn't like me calling you out.

[Snow Bike Mike]

He got really.

[Andy Cortez]

He got really mad when I called him out.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Cuz I looked at his computer and.

[Andy Cortez]

I saw S H E N.

[Greg Miller]

He.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Got so mad when I called. I thought I had that one.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Andy.

[Snow Bike Mike]

I was on top of that one.

[Tim Gettys]

Amazing.

[Roger]

Unbeatable is another one that I've been looking forward to for a while. I played the demo of this when it was called like White Label back in like 2021 or something on Steam. Next. The. The tagline for this game is a world where art is illegal or music is a crime or music is illegal and you do crime. This seem be like another really fun rhythm game with a ragtag crew of punk rockers who are, you know, beating up cops and playing underground shows and all this. It looks really fun, very stylized. I've been waiting for this one for a long time. The fact that they kind of like re revealed it last year and said 2025 has me confident enough But I feel like this is one that is most likely going to slip to next year, which is probably going to screw me because I've already done my one kind of like general drop and so now I have to just kind of wait on games possibly getting delayed. And with that we have Marvel Cosmic Invasion, which if it does hit this year, I think is going to hit hard. This is.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. What did TMT, what a TMNT do?

[Roger]

I think probably mid-80s.

[Greg Miller]

I mean again, I played this one at SGF. I liked it so much I went home and got TMNT to start playing because I think one's gonna be incredible.

[Roger]

Yeah, we fell in love with Teenage. What was it called? Is that Shredder's Revenge? Mike and I and Roger played it all in like one stream. We. We had such a fun time them doing that with Marvel. Like I think this game is going to hit hard when it comes out. If it actually does hit this year. We'll have to wait and see. So that's. That's kind of my big point of contention with like the three of the four games that I have left, all not having dates yet and we're already on the other side of 2025 I think think is where I'm riding a fine line if, If I even make it into like the top three. And then the last game I picked up because everybody was, you know, saying game of the summer, you know, rematch. Everybody loving it.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

To be fair, I never meant that in a critical way. I mean it's more so like it's my. I'm having fun.

[Andy Cortez]

I will say though, bear getting on this one just like Greg.

[Roger]

Four points for remade for rematch is.

[Andy Cortez]

Like night range should be an 84. Rematch should be at least a 79 or an 84. Crazy.

[Snow Bike Mike]

That's a good game right in there.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Roger]

Yeah. So that, that. That was a tough one to. To pick up and see how low that that came in. I imagine just because of where it was on launch day.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

This was definitely one where when I saw Barrett picked it up and like Barrett like was me. Me and you have been close as far as like the first and second I saw you pick this one up and I was like let's go, let's go. Like I didn't. I had no faith for this one as far as like Metacritic open critic stuff. Just cuz. Yes. Bare bones a bit in terms of like the content of it.

[Tim Gettys]

It.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

There is like just net code issues as far as like contact with ball and like a lot of that stuff is still not that great. Or at least it's not perfect. It's getting better as it goes. But yeah, I was just, I was.

[Roger]

Just banking on like the gameplay feel, which y' all were really into, having that like kind of like spark of Rocket League. A little bit of people just being like, okay, there's a lot of like bare bones stuff in here. But once you get into the, you know, the, the core of the game and what it is, two games of no crossplay things.

[Andy Cortez]

Night rain.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

I say all that. And like also rematch will be in my top 10 because it's the most fun I've had in a video game this year.

[Roger]

And then I have my counter pick, which is mixtape, which, yeah, is the same. What's it called, Tim? What's that game you love? Yeah, and so mixtape was less of. You know, I was the last person to counterpart pick. So in terms of the five games each of us had drafted, I had very little of like now I got to pick something that I really don't think is going to do well or something that real. More realistically I don't think is going to come out this year. So mixtape was just that like kind of. All right, I'm. I'm picking, picking at weeds here and I'm just hoping that this doesn't come out this year, which was the same for when I, when I counter picked it. And yeah, the, the moral that we saw of it over summer game fest, I'm like, I really hope this doesn't come out this, this year because it looks really good.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

A lot of this league is going to hinge on mixtape because you have it counter picked. Right Is right now it's me and you in first and second, depending on how your other games go. Like mixtape could determine it all. Like the better mixtape does, the better I do and the worst you do.

[Roger]

Or, or if mixtape comes out, that's, that's really the point.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

If mixtape gets delayed, right, then that's bad for me and then that's also awesome for you.

[Greg Miller]

Right?

[Roger]

But again, you're talking about me as a contender. I realistically don't see myself as contender. Like, I filled up my team good three months ago. You know, I did like one. I already did my one free drop, which was a big mistake. I only have delay drops now, which I think I might have done for something earlier in the year. And you know, I only have eight bucks left and it's like I, I really have no moves for the rest of the year. And the. A good chunk of What I have left hinges on if they come out or not this year. So again, if I'm like top three, I'll be happy. But yeah, I'm not expecting to to take it home this year.

[Tim Gettys]

We have a bunch of super chats I want to get to to close out the show today. I see Wiener says, where's Rod? She needs to be dragged for Expedition 33. That's right, Foxy Steve says I counterpicked Expedition 33. Please respect my family's privacy in this trying time. Gondor's Condor says my publisher, Cozy Beetle softwork stands at 64 points with blueprints, Mario Kart and more RIP to whoever got counterpicked on Mind's Eye.

[Snow Bike Mike]

Oh man.

[Tim Gettys]

God. Alec Babco says, currently in fourth in my league. Still have Yote, DK, Snake Eater, Shinobi Mixtape and Dragon Quest 1 and 2 though, so I'm still hopeful. Oh yeah, you got some bangers there. AK98 says I'm league with Bless. He's projected second to last right now with a locked team.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

Hold on, I need to check that league. I think that was the league where I got like I got all the picks that I was looking for right? Whereas in this league like you guys kept blocking me on on that ended up being bad. But I'll I'll check what I what I have in that league because I was stunned on them at first. Oh yeah, that's the league where I got unannounced. God of War Greek Project.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh man.

[Tim Gettys]

Science Dog says late birthday tax for me and my and early for my son. I turned 34 yesterday and my son's 2 tomorrow. Love y' all and very thankful for all you do. Happy birthday to both of you.

[Blessing Adio Yea, Junior]

I also got two a T in that league so.

[Tim Gettys]

Said Nuggie says this motivated me to fill out my roster. Thanks gamers. Neon Pocket League I'm open for trades to take down Mr. Hawks. He's been in first forever ever. Check out Neon Pocket League if you'd like. And then Mike like music says timestamps for the KFG Fantasy Critic 2025 where Mike picks Hyper Light Breaker and Andy says that Mike could have an advantage. But don't blame Andy if it's not good. That's at an hour and 17 mark if you want to go check that out later for our earlier in the year Fantasy Critic episode. Thank y' all for joining us. Today we're about to do an episode of K KF podcast talking about Greg and Ben and Jen's time in some monster truck worlds. I'm so excited for this. Like, I have so many questions.

[Greg Miller]

Okay, good.

[Tim Gettys]

I'm excited about that, that we're doing that. Then after that will be a dune awakening stream. Thank you all for hanging out with us. Paris, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. Till next time. I love you all. Goodbye.