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- [00:01]
A
This episode is brought to you by Rocket Money. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and let Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster. Join@RocketMoney.com Kinda funny this episode is brought to you by Factor make healthier eating easy with Factor. Head to FactorMeals.com KindaFunny50OFF and use the code KindaFunny50OFF to get 50% off your first Factor box. Plus free breakfast for one year offer only valid for new Factor customers with code and qualifying auto renewing subscription purchase.
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B
What's up and welcome to a very special kind of funny games cast for Monday, january 12, 2026. Of course, I'm your host tim geddes. I'm joined today by blessing a.d. oh
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C
y jr. Good day, tim.
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B
Greg miller.
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A
Good day, tim.
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B
Snow bike mike.
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D
What up, tim?
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B
Roger pcor.
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E
Good day, kim.
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B
And.
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A
He likes to think it's so easy being out here.
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E
It's a mic.
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B
You know what I mean?
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D
It's not me it up first.
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F
That feels good.
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C
You messed it up.
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G
You messed it up.
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B
The group matching the set that he designed, it's Andy Cortez.
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G
Hello.
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B
Hello. Of course we have Barrett Courtney running the boards as well. This is our game of the year 2020 episode. So of course we all had to show up and we're about to have a ton of fun today. If you're watching live, be a part of the show by super chatting on YouTube.com kind of funny games what your game of the year is. What's your top five? It what's your top 10? I want to know. Remember we couldn't do this without our producers on patreon.com kind of funny. So thank you to James Hastings, Carl Jacobs and Omega Buster. So let's start with it. The topic of the show kind of funny game of the year 2025. This is our top 10. The last couple weeks we've been talking in various ways, whether it's the smileys kind of awarding all the video games of 2025amazing episode. Guys, I'm very sad I got to miss it. I watched the entire thing. Y' all crushed it. Good jobs. If you didn't watch it or listen, you should do that after you watch or listen to this because this is it. This is the big one. This is where each one of us has submitted our final top 10 list of games from 2025 to Barrett, he is the only person that has that information. We do not know what's on anyone else's list. All of the numbers are aggregated into one final top 10 list that we will reveal live for our first time. For your first time from 10 all the way to number one. There might be ties. If that math. Math in a way that there's ties. Number eight might have two games. It might have three games. Bless. It might have four games.
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G
No, it can't.
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B
I mean, we got to draw the line somewhere.
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E
It might have.
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B
It might happen. So that is what's going to go down. You excited for that, Greg?
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A
I am, and I'm glad you kicked me. All right. Barrett playing I'm kidding. There's no music to play. I. No, I wanted to say something. Blessing stumped me a couple weeks ago. Maybe it was the beginning of this week. Maybe it was last week of work. I forget. But we were talking about how we do. How we do the top tens here, right? And I was like, well, you know, like, there's a million different ways to do your game of the year, and obviously every site, every publication, podcast is different, and that's great. And I'm like, we could do a thing where we got into a room like IGN and we all argued for our game and then pick a game that way and blessed like, well, yeah, that'd be kind of cool if we did that or whatever. I was like, well, yeah. And I think he was even like, well, what makes our special? And I kind of fumbled my answer. What I love about the way we do our top 10 is that I think it's so indicative of what the mindset of the company is. We're always so clear to call out. You know, we're 11 person small business.
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C
Right.
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A
And, like, how much each one of us in our contributions make kind of funny. Kind of funny. And I feel that, yeah, we could go into a room and we could have fight the good fight for game A versus game X and eventually try to get people on your side and do the whole thing and win the votes. And that's the. I like the idea of we come in as 11 individuals and not obviously everybody votes, but we come in as the number of individuals that votes. We give our top 10 that are definitively us, that are the games that defined our year. We put it out there. That then becomes what this list is and what the game of the year is for a company that. That represents that way. And it is today just about celebrating what we love in games for a year. I love that about us.
- [04:19]
B
Yeah. And on top of that, too, I do love that we, because we have the daily games cast, we can still do the other way. Like, I Feel like the final games cast of the year. I think it was last year was a couple of you guys kind of like having more debate style conversation about the. The games, which I think is. Is great and valuable too. But yeah, I'm with you, Greg. I really think this is a super fun way to just celebrate. You know what I mean? It's just like this isn't about being mad that the game that you have as number one isn't number one. It's more about celebrating like as a group, all of us love these games so much. Barrett, I see you popping up there. You got something to say?
- [04:49]
F
Just thinking about the unique, uniqueness of our game of the year as well. Something that, you know, we've been doing it like this technically since 2020. I think 2020 was the last year where it was still only four people voting. But I love the idea of like a lot of our best content is our live reactions and that's something that really sticks out to me rather than everybody. All the other outlets is it's y' all reacting to the first time along with everybody else watching live. And we've been doing that since 2020 essentially. And so that's the thing that like I really appreciate about how we do Game of the year is kind of like sticking to something that like is very kind of funny to me.
- [05:30]
B
And what I love too is that this was such a good year for video games. And I know just talking to you guys for the last year, we all agree on some things and disag on others. Like there are so many games that I have no idea what this list is going to look like. I have a good idea maybe about like the, the top but like I don't know about the bottom of this list. Like do you guys have any bold predictions you want to throw out?
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G
I, I think the question that I got yesterday in Twitch chat was who's going to have the least amount of games in the top 10? And it was so hard to answer. I think Mike is the obvious answer.
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D
It's clearly me, but I promise you it's me.
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G
No, but there will. But this will be the year where like if you. The next person might have one less.
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E
Yeah.
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G
And then the next person. And then there might be a four way tie for like the. You know, I think all the tastes this year is like there's three to four ish games and the rest of them are just kind of crapshoots. Who knows?
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B
Yeah, very interesting. Who will have the most? Who will have the least?
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C
I'm More. I'm mostly curious about 2 through 5. Yeah, 2 through 5 is where I think things get a bit more competitive. Number one. I think it's an easy prediction. I'm not gonna say, but it's. I think that's a given.
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A
No one can predict what everyone knows.
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C
Two through five is where I get like, all right, but, like, you know, how much did y' all love X game versus the other game? You know, so I'm excited to get up there.
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B
And it gets tough, but we have a while till we get there because we gotta start with number 10.
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C
This is kinda Funny's game of the
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A
year list for 2025.
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B
Number 10 and Roger.
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C
Yeah, okay.
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G
Hell yeah.
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C
Love that.
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B
Sneaking in there at that top spot of the bottom of the list.
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C
Me and Greg talked about this during the smileys. Tim, you weren't here for the smileys. Yeah, I want to hear you talk about and Roger.
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B
Well, and Roger. Not on my list. Oh, not on my list. Which I, I'm surprised to see it get in here having not. Whose list was it on here?
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A
My list.
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C
My list as well.
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B
Just the Two of you. Two people's list got it on the top 10. Very interesting. I did love the game a lot and I gave a review of it on gamescast saying that, like, if you, if you are into, like, artsy indie games, definitely play this one and go in not knowing anything. And I think it'll, it'll hit really hard and depending on your life experiences, maybe hit too hard like it did for me. But yeah, really love it. I think it is a perfect example of a story that was enhanced by being a video game. Like, it's the gameplay and the story back each other up in such a unique way that you just can't get from any other form of storytelling. But yeah, really, really loved A.D. roger.
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C
Yeah, I think there's like a, a certain category of video game for me where they take video games seriously enough as a medium to try and do something really special with it in terms of message and story. I look at a gone home, right? Like, I look at an immortality, right? Like those games that are, we might describe as art games. But there's a level of creativity that is so beyond that, right? Like, there's a level of creativity that I'm, I, I, I look at, I play and I'm like, oh, this not only is a quote unquote art game, this is a game that respects video games, right. And does such a good job of acknowledging him. Andy, what's so funny?
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G
Just look at the wall. Sorry. I noticed Ben stars on just a
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B
human being that's not going to bend.
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G
Star
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A
behind the tune.
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F
Well, his face was in dead tape.
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G
Say Shout out Dead T as he's in four different spots on the wall. Ben Sty.
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C
But yeah, the fact that, you know, they're able to take subject matter that is. That that's serious. Right. And, like, translate it to mechanics that really, really enhance the story that they're telling, I thought was really powerful and really well done.
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A
Yeah. As you know, not to, you know, echo everything you said and add a little bit more. Right. That we kind of touched on the smileys again. I think Ian Rogers is a great example of what video games are as a storytelling medium. Again, it's why I love the kind of games I love most of the time, is that this gets to put you in someone else's shoes. This gets to let you experience something that is a nightmare. It's so many different ways, right. Of waking up and who is this man in your house? And then having to figure out what's going on and being confused and working through that and going on and then having the aha moments of what's going on. Like, this is a game that I think is so powerful because it hopefully gives you an experience you will never have to experience in real life.
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B
Yeah, definitely. Check out. And Roger, shout out to it. Making the list very, very cool.
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E
Are we saying where it was on your list or no?
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C
I think we're saving that for the same. Okay, gotcha.
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B
So then we move on to number nine.
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C
Number nine.
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F
Ghost of Yote.
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G
Oh, nice.
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A
Okay, okay, okay.
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B
Ghost of Yote. Okay, bless. Was this on your list?
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C
No.
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B
Greg, was this on your list?
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A
I believe it was. Yeah, it was.
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B
It was.
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A
You know me, I do good things.
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G
It was not on mine.
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B
Roger, was it on yours?
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E
Was on mine.
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B
Roger, kick us off.
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A
What'd you think?
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B
Yeah.
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E
Ghost Yote is a game that took me by surprise in a lot of ways because I liked Ghost of Tsushima a lot. I don't think I loved it as much as a lot of people, but it was a fun experience. But Yotei, for me, like, it had all those quality of life improvements that kind of ratcheted it up. And also the story is just so incredible. The way that they weave Atu's journey from her childhood all the way to adulthood and the twists and the turns, it is such a compelling experience that, again, really took me by surprise. I adored it. I wanted to play it every single day. I Wanted to platinum it. Of course, life got in the way, but, you know, when you have that itch against somebody who does not platinum anything or have that desire to do that, when you have that feeling, it's like, oh, shit, this is something special for me. Yeah, for sure. So, yeah, I adored this experience, and I'm very excited for Legends, which, again, did not expect to be excited for that at all. So, yeah, I'm very. Is was super high on my list. I don't necessarily want to see the number yet, but super high on my list.
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A
And are we. So are we agreeing, Barrett? Is that the thing? We're not going to give away our numbers?
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F
Yeah, if we want to. I feel like we talked about placements last year.
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A
I thought we did, too. I didn't want to.
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E
Okay, well, I'll just say, yeah, this is number two on my list.
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A
Oh, wow.
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G
Number two.
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E
So it's super high up. I give it a 9.5, and I stand by that. This is a really amazing experience and it stayed with me the entire year.
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B
Bless. I know you were huge on Legends and so. Sorry, go see. You did not make your list here. Are you excited for your Legends?
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C
I'm so excited for Yote Legends. Yeah. This is one where. This is where the bottom part of my list got kind of tough to figure out. Like, this would have lived if me and Andy rallied for the top 15. It would have lived in that 1111-15 space, for sure. This is one that I'm happy to see make the list because I was worried that we wouldn't even see it on the list. Right. I think there's, you know, we can go back and forth as far as games iterating, triple A games, open world games, what things do differently, what things do the same. But I think at the very end of it, Ghost of Yotei, I think, puts together an experience that learned from what people liked about Ghost of Tsushima and refined it in ways that I think really work well for what it is. I love being in that world as Atsu. I think that as a main character, she worked so well. And the story there. As far as a revenge plot in video games, we've seen that countless times. I think this one was done particularly well. I think there's something about the characters that they introduce and how the stories interweave back into what ATS is going through that is really engaging and really good. And, yeah, I think the game does a really good job of just like, you know, piggybacking off of what Ghost of Tsushima brought to the table, which is fun combat, a beautiful world, and a fun world to explore.
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A
Yeah, this is on my list. I had it at number eight. A game I gave a nine when we reviewed in Standby. I think it's a amazing samurai film brought to a video game. Right. The way you play between these protagonists is you go after the Yote six. The surprises in there were, you know, some of them, I thought, all right, that's predictable. And then others like, holy shit, that you're okay. You know what I mean? Like, that was awesome that, you know, the tips of the hat for Sushima, the sucker punch Easter eggs, the way the map worked, finding the little things and moving them in to put them on your map. Rain on it. All this stuff. Like Ghost of A Day is a very special game. I just think that, you know, it may be coming after Tsushima takes some of its thunder away because it's iterating and improving on a game we already did love as well. But I absolutely adored this one.
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E
Yeah. I think the thing that blew me away was the way that the world came to you and the story came to you and I had so many they're not emergent gameplay moments because they're handcrafted. But I think that's what's so special about it because it felt emergent. It felt like I'm just running around, oh, my God. This character came to me in this random, oh, now I'm doing the side quest or now I'm doing this main story thing. And I was just randomly going off into a completely different direction. So the way that they were able to make that feel kind of elevated comparatively to a lot of the open world PlayStation or just, you know, Ubisoft Fair. It feels different, it feels unique. And I think this is like the level of handcraftedness that I think you need to kind of stand out in this landscape of, hey, we've been there, done that, we've done this a million times. This game is really special. I'm going to be championing it. Specifically the way that they built out the story and made it so different.
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G
And Erika Ishii just killed it. Killed it. Oh, my God. Fantastic performance from her.
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B
Anyone else have anything to say about Ghost of Yote?
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G
It's awesome game. Everybody should play.
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A
Yeah.
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B
Before we move on, let's go back a little bit because we are talking about our rankings Then for an Roger. Where did you guys have that? Greg and bless.
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A
I had an Roger at number four.
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B
Number four.
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A
Super high on My list, I mean, like, you know, when I sit there for that game of the year, it's like what defined my year. And I think what's interesting when we get in, you know, after this episode, the rest of the games cast this week are top 10 lists. Lists. Right. And they are like we go through and talk about it and I really think there's a breaking point in my list where you get into a bunch of games that I loved and adored and had a great experience with, but didn't necessarily have that lasting power where when I think of 2026, that's what I think of Ghost of Yote being one of them. Right. I think we throw around the word frictionless a lot. And it is that great experience. And I had so much fun. But it's almost summer blockbustery where you leave and that's not the film you think about the rest of the way. And so, yeah, my top five are in a very interesting place in terms of what pushed me, pulled me, what I can't stop playing versus the back half are like great experiences that I was able to put down and walk away and be complete with. Yeah.
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C
And Roger, for me, was my number seven on my list. And I'm sure we'll talk about when we get into the top tens of like, that tiering where it is, like, all right, this for me is like the toppest of tiers of this year. And like, how does that fit in? And Roger at number seven is one for me where I think right below that most high tier, which is crazy to say that I have like six games in the high tier, but that's the kind of year that we're having right below it. And Roger was the game for me that was the most emotionally impactful.
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B
Right.
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C
The.
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E
The.
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C
The game that moved me the most, the game that made me feel things, which shot it up there. But yeah, no Ghost going back to Ghost Yote. Right. Like, that's one where again, in that, I guess, second tier, that third in those tiers, it's a battle like that was. It was a tough one to weigh in those ways.
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B
Yeah.
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A
And Fran, Roger, it'll be fun to talk about that in the top 10 there. There. I think I'm going to spoil it. We're going to talk about what it's about because I've played a similar game in recent memory that I want to compare and contrast. Why this one is, I think, head and shoulders above the one before it.
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G
This was 11 for me.
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B
Yeah.
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G
Fell just out.
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B
Yeah, it was. It was in that 11 to 13 range. I didn't fully flush out my like post 10, but yeah, it was like on the short list. Just didn't quite make the top 10. But let's get into kind of funnies. Number eight.
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C
Number eight, Tide, Elden Ring, Night Race
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A
and Skate Early Access.
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B
They did it everybody. Let's. Let's start. Let's get Mike off the bench. Let's start with some skate. Tell me all about.
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D
I'm on Skate and Elden Ring actually Tim. So I get a little fun back to back, but we'll focus on the sky skates, the good and the bad, the year that it's had, but most importantly the return of one of the most fun games that I have ever played in my life. In the game that I enjoy the most playing and that's skate. I love the fluid nature of it all. I love the flow, I love the flick. It stick is right. And just having skate come back in Early Access, having skate come back into my life is such a big deal because it feels so good to play. You can put on your own playlist, you can listen to their playlist and you just kind of get lost in the world, right? That's what it's all about is finding your flow, your style, your steez as I like to call it, and just getting lost in that headspace. And nothing is better than a, after a long day of work, coming home with the homies and maybe having a spot battle or just finding your own spot, finding that nice downrail and smashing that nose blunt on it, right? Or finding the mega ramp and just going all out with backflips, front flips, nine hundreds, whatever. And so skate, having that return, like I said, the good and the bads, right? There's a lot of bad to this Early Access launch, but there is a lot of good. And the gameplay is what is good. The moment to moment, the feel on the sticks, the momentum that you feel into that trick when you land it and you go, yeah. Hell yeah. That was awesome. That is really something that I love about this franchise and I love about this game.
- [18:34]
B
Greg.
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A
Yeah, I play skate every day. I think we've talked throughout the years at kind of funny, whether it be Diablo or some other games as a service that comes around and I'm always talking about, man, I would love to have a game that I could check in and blah, blah, blah. Inevitably our jobs in our career move you so far from the point that the idea of dropping into Diablo right now for a session, I'd be Like, what the fuck am I doing? Skate is a game that I check in every night on. And whether it's just I'm claiming the free currency or whatever for the rolls this, or I'm doing it for the stuff they're doing right now, the season tokens, it'll be, I'm. I'll do one while I'm here. And then it'll often be, no, no, I'm going to spend an hour and a half doing this. It is that thing of the amount of times I've been reviewing a game and I'm like, oh, it's 11:15. These eyes are getting heavy. But I didn't check in on Skate. And then before I know it, it's 12:15. I'm like, fuck. Okay, got to go to bed now real bad. You know what I mean? Like, it is that game. And I think I know the chat is jovially upset, maybe really upset about it and stuff like that. Like, there's no character here. This is. And this isn't me looking past the faults as Mike is talking about Skate controls so fucking well. I think Skate's biggest flaw is that Skate is not Skate four. And that's what it's been destroyed about to this day on the Skate subreddit, everybody shows up. I cannot get over how good Skate feels to play. And the story I would give you about it is that when even before Skate arrived, Ben started getting into skateboarding and us going to skate parks and stuff like that, and I kept telling Jen, I'm going to buy him a board and I'm going to buy myself one. And Jen said, you are not buying a board. You are 42 years old. You cannot skate. You're going to fall down and break. I'm like, I just want to roll. Like, I don't. I don't want to do a trick. I don't want to do it. I just want to roll next. And she's like, no, no, no, no, no. And then it was like talking to one of my friends who grew up skating. I'm like, I'm going to get a board. He's like, you are not getting a board that you will die. And it's like, that is what Skate is feeling for me. Of I jump in and yeah, fucking the stupid AI bot V is. I muted her hundreds of hours ago in this game, right? Like, I drop in and I go skate. And I mean, like, some days I do the challenges. Sometimes I do the season pass. Lots of times I just go to the southwest corner and Use that skate park and just roll in the skate park and just chill. The amount of times out there, you'll see me playing at my desk. It's not me fucking off, it's that, man. I need to come up with kind of few questions. I want to clear my mind, man. I am not having a good day. I want to go skate a little bit. Like skate is fucking awesome on a gameplay level. Let's get mad about whatever else you want to get mad about. The fortnight ification, this, that, the other. Fuck that though it plays well and I do believe that in a year to 18 months it probably won't exist. Like, I don't think who the fuck. Games of service. That is not a 2026 thing. EA in general, EA about to be owned by Saudi Arabia. I don't think that they're going to be like, yeah, let's keep pouring money into this thing. But for what it is, it is so much fun to play. It is the best controlling game I've played this year. That's why I put it at number two.
- [21:24]
B
Number two.
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A
No. Crazy. And again, this isn't a character. This is me telling you as somebody who's poured so many hours into this game, it just is fun to play.
- [21:34]
E
Fuck yeah.
- [21:35]
F
Yeah, this didn't make my list but like I do legit think it's some of the most fun I've had this year. Of the three of us with a couple of other jabronis, just randomly not even on comms, playing with each other and getting to sessions, it's a like playing that game. The actual act of playing that game is just a great reminder of how the foundation of the skate gameplay is so good. And I do think, you know, it reminds me of a lot of how well skate 3 controlled. But I imagine if we go back to skate 3 after playing this one, there's a couple of differences probably where it's like, oh, they've. They definitely have like updated some things to make it a bit more modern. Feeling everything around it that I absolutely hate and it definitely made me bounce off of the game. But I, I can't deny that, like in terms of gameplay, it was just, it was such a great time and to hang out with y' all while playing it, like, I totally get it.
- [22:26]
C
That first stream back was magical. Like hanging out as we're all trying to get the game to work and like, you know, trying to connect and trying to actually like get past all the bugs that were there on day one. But getting to the point where Me, like, I was. I started in on a challenge that was basically like, oh, jump down from here and then launch over the thing while you manual across the bridge or whatever. I started down that. And it brought me back to playing, like, the original skate games, right? It brought me back to what I like about these games, which is the trial and error and just the pure feel of it. There's something that inherently just works about that. And so, like, being. Playing a version of this game that wants you to just exist in a space with others that is going after, like, kind of the live service thing, but I think working, at least for the time that I played the game, which I wish I played more, but the. The style of, the substance of it didn't bring. Didn't continually bring me in. I do think that to your point, Greg, there is something about just that inherent feeling of skating around and hanging out that works, that is satisfying for
- [23:19]
A
you, and that's the, you know, the push and pull. I'm never trying to yuck anybody's yums, or I guess in this case, yum anybody's yucks. But so many people's big complaint. It doesn't feel like skate culture. And, like, I get that if you're chasing the missions, which I really feel are the training wheels to get you to learn how the game works, because skate culture. And I'm not a skater as much as I want to be. My wife won't let me. But, like, we just went to the skate park this weekend with Ben, right? And he's out there, and it's all these adults who are doing stuff. And Ben walked up to a guy who's like, can you do a kick flip? And the guy's like, yeah, I can. It's been a few decades. And he went down there. He's like, I'm 49 years old, so 110 tries is one try. And the dude did it on his seventh try, and we clapped. And it was just a community of people hanging out and having fun. And like, that, to me, is what this game is when I turn it on and I go off and I do that. And I think, granted, they gave us the founders pass, but if they hadn't, I wouldn't have spent money in it yet. Like, it's like, I think there's a lot of bad terminology thrown on top of it, but I think there's a great game there, right?
- [24:14]
E
If that guy can do a kickflip, so can you.
- [24:16]
A
Yeah, but he had been doing it for years. He had been doing it when he was jello y. You know what I mean?
- [24:20]
G
Hey, Jungle.
- [24:24]
B
My God. Okay, so it was number two on Greg's list. Mike, where was it for you? Number seven for me, number seven for Mike. Was it on anyone else's list? Roger? No, no. Make Roger's list there. Then. Let's talk about the second tie for number eight, Elden Ring Night Reign. We got to start with Andy.
- [24:42]
G
This game is so good and it's a game that I doubted and I thought it was going to cheapen the Elden Ring experience for me. And I already saw like I saw the worst future possible of, you know, we're here's a, you know, a near Automata. We're putting 2B in Elden Ring and we're putting fucking Yoshi and just like weird shit, you know, the guys from the boys, you know, you know, here's Homelander and, and I, you know, I. Tim was really. It was mainly Tim who was selling me on like an awful future of what this game could be if it starts to make money. And like the Battle Pass, like oh man, that's gonna like cheapen something that's so special to me. And it, it just straight up didn't. I think this game has been the most games as a service game as it possibly could be, but on from software's terms and on Bandai Namco's terms and I'm sure they would love to really cheapen the experience with a lot of like buy the in game currency and buy these skins or whatever. But it's all just done kind of in house in that video game. And Night Rain is a game that I felt was really, really messy at the start and there was this idea of wow, it's like, it's like a battle royale ring kind of closing in. It's really weird and chaotic and super fast. And then the more and more I played, I think this is my most played game this year. I probably have like 120 hours in it. Still haven't been awful at it. It's just so good. It's so special. The different variety with the classes, the way that the world shifts and changes around and playing with friends, yelling at snow, Mike, Mike playing with, you know, Melissa with the Y who's our hard carry right now and just having a freaking blast with it. Night Rain is a super special video game. This is number five on my list. As I the year went on, I just kept on playing it more and more and I think dropping that DLC before the year ended boosted it a lot higher. Into my list because of the stuff that they added. Quality of change, quality of life additions. Still no cross play. That will probably never happen. But I would really, really love to see that because I think the, you know, you still look on what the player base only on Steam is and it's still like 30,000 concurrence. This isn't a PvP game. It's just a three player or solo or duo sort of like play against the world, play against the, you know, the crazy bosses in this video game. It's a blast. It's a lot of fun.
- [27:07]
B
Hell yeah. Bless. Did it make your list?
- [27:10]
C
It did not make my list. This would have been my number 11. This is one that I was. I had to weigh it against certain other games and I think there are enough things holding it back to where I critically couldn't put it in my top 10. But I do echo so much what Andy's talking about as far as how good of a job Elden Ring Night Rain does at. I think being experimental with what it does with multiplayer and what it does with bringing people together in like the from software world, you know, like I remember, I remember the conversations about like oh they're going to monetize this thing. I remember the first time we saw them flying in with like the fucking birds or whatever and we're like oh shit, Fortnite gliders. Like it's going to be one of them.
- [27:46]
G
It's over, it's over.
- [27:47]
C
And I instead what you have is a studio that I think diligently looked at what other studios are doing and took the things that work about those games and made somewhat of a messy but really fun multiplayer game out of it. And it's kind of crazy how much of the heart and soul it still carries. Even though I think there are things where I'm like ah, this feels like. It kind of feels hobbled together in like the most like. But it's fun at the end of the day kind of way and I gotta respect that, you know what I mean? So yeah, shout out to it. Shout out to also like the bosses which I think are probably the best part of the game in my opinion. When you get to those. When you get past those first couple of rounds and you get to that end of run boss and each of them being unique, each of them being new for the most part. I forget if all of them are new. I assume all of them are.
- [28:30]
G
All of them, yeah.
- [28:31]
C
All of them are new.
- [28:32]
B
Yeah.
- [28:32]
C
Just super well designed especially for multiplayer. Really, really fun game.
- [28:37]
B
Mike, where Was it on your list?
- [28:38]
D
Yeah, I had it at number four.
- [28:39]
A
Yeah.
- [28:40]
D
This is one of my favorite games of the year. This is my, I've said it before, my favorite Fromsoft experience. Out of all of them, this is the one that I want to play all the time. I've talked about it before. I love the co op, shared experience, nature and bless said it so well. Like experimental, right? I really love what Fromsoft did with this idea.
- [29:01]
B
Right.
- [29:01]
D
And for me it's the movement, right? The movement. Tech in this game is different from all the rest. All of a sudden you are sprinting, you are double jumping, you're climbing up the side of mountain ridges and it's like when you think of Dark Souls in that lineage, it's slow, methodical, being smart about your parries and your dodge rolls. It is not, hey, me and Andy are going to jump off 100 foot cliff. I'm going to double sprint taxpayer like Call of Duty a thousand yards the opposite way. And yeah, it's just this perfect mesh of discoverability with this open world map that I really enjoy. Finding all the secrets, finding the different flows from getting more health flasks to getting magic wands to going out and getting smithing stones in the caves, to then saying, okay, what is our game plan? What kind of prep am I doing with my character? Your character and the options that we have that really blend together. And yeah, for me this has just been such a fun way to experience a Fromsoft experience with these die hard bosses, with your friends, in a unique play style of having the ring close day one completes, you go out there and do it again. I'm impressed that they didn't take the microtransaction money way, right. They did it the Fromsoft way. I would have been all over selling a battle pass, having different ways to fly in with gliders, having different unique costumes. Like it was set up to just absolutely knock that out of the park if they wanted to. But they stood on business and they said, hey, that's not what Fromsoft does. Right? And so they proceeded to follow their path. They made us wait. They added different play styles, some duos to different bosses with different tech into a whole dlc. And for me, I sat there doing the Fortnite thing of like, give me more, right? Give me another map. Let's go. Give me this. And they took their time. And you know what? I enjoyed every moment of it. I really, really, I, I kudos to them for doing what they did. They kept me on and I. I cannot say enough positive things about this. I can't wait for the future of what they do with the multiplayer space. I think they learned a lot from this. Of course we know Dusk Bloods is around the corner. How will that attract players? But most importantly, what happens five years from now in their games. Right. And so yeah, kudos. Shout out to great game.
- [31:06]
E
What happens this year ds?
- [31:09]
D
We'll see.
- [31:10]
B
Anyone else have Elden Ring Elden Ring Night Raid on their list? Okay then, let's move on to number seven.
- [31:21]
A
Number seven. Citizen Sleeper two.
- [31:25]
G
Wow. Andy, let's go.
- [31:28]
F
Baron, you're my guy.
- [31:30]
D
My guy.
- [31:31]
B
Andy Cortez, let's start with you.
- [31:34]
G
I mean I wore the shirt, I just, you know, I had to just pray manifest it. It was, it was a Hail Mary to get anybody else to play this video game at cuz it's a lot of reading. But godamn what a special experience Citizen Sleeper 2 is to follow up an amaz. An already like masterpiece. I've been experienced with S and Sleeper 1, two phenomenal games that I would recommend anybody play. If you are into just the most amazing writing you'll experience in games. I think the narrative, it's telling the choices you're making while you know, rolling dice and trying to be successful on runs and you know every run is not going to be okay. Every mission I say run like it's a roguelite. But like the missions you're doing, you won't be successful all the time. This isn't a game where you're supposed to like feel oh hell yeah, massive W dude, let's go on to the next like that's not what this game is.
- [32:26]
F
Let's min max this.
- [32:28]
G
Yeah, this, this game is like just experiencing these characters and these side quests and what are you going to prior? Are you going to prioritize trying to you know, liberate this one colony that is like under really, really bad oppression or are you going to go after this one thing that's going to help some close friends of yours and it's like, it's such a. It's such an oppressive game and then manages to make you just feel like warmth in your heart after so many missions where the writing is just so amazing and they let you know like hey man, sometimes life's gonna fuck you in some ways and it's gonna be tough. But we're gonna get back up because together as humans we can do this together. And it's like so hopeful and amazing. This game rocks. I could not recommend it more and it plays awesome on Steam deck.
- [33:14]
B
Barrett, let's get you talking for the first time. What do you think of Citizen Sleeper 2?
- [33:18]
F
Yeah, I adore this game. I do echo Andy's sentiment. I think it's the best written game of the year. This was my number four in terms of how strong the writing was in terms of like, world building and how the many layers of how this game feels like it's constantly oppressing you in terms of trying to just be a worker under this, like, hyper capitalist society while there's this galactic corporate space war going on in the background and you're just trying to figure out how to survive in your little corner. And I think this is a lot of reading, but the main mechanic of doing these dice rolls, to have a chance to do something well during a job or to find a new crewmate. I think that mechanic also backs up this kind of feeling of everything coming apart at just one bad moment, one bad day that I think really makes the core themes of this game sing. And yeah, in terms of, you know, you and your homie who are just like trying to escape from this little corner of the galaxy, like space mob and just figure yourself out, but then also slowly learning about this entire community of planets and how they're all going through their own things, it really, you know, it tugs at the heartstrings in a lot of ways. And, you know, how they all come together to try to fight back against oppression under a hyper capitalist society and going into trying to build something beyond you. And you know, the. The way this game ends really destroyed me. And it was like one of Those few, like 1am Just rolled credits and I am bawling my goddamn eyes out just because of how strong the writing is in terms of what it's doing in terms of a community, what it's in doing in terms of you as a single person trying to navigate all this stuff, I think is really impressive. And yeah, I think the really impressive thing is how different. Different playthroughs can be. You know, like Blessing only played a little bit of it, but he got a character on his crew that I had never met in my entire campaign. Right. You know, there's little things here and there. Like I did. I did something successful on one mission where Andy failed, but then this writing was strong enough that like, even if you fail something, it feels like it kind of happens for a story purpose still. And I just, I. I was really blown away by this, by this title. And yeah, Andy, I'm sorry for ever Doubting you for the years of saying, hey, play this game. And now I got to go back to the. The first one.
- [36:03]
G
Yeah, the fir. I. The amount of people that have told me I played to the zebra one. Holy. Like, it makes. Makes me so happy because again, I. It's one of those things where whenever I watch a movie and I go, oh, man, can you imagine if they made this in this movie with that writer and that director? And that's how I feel. It's like I want these writers to write for everything from now on just because of how elite it is. This is number four on my list.
- [36:28]
B
Brunswick writes in, say, asking, do you need to play the first game to get the second one?
- [36:33]
G
You don't need to, but there's a lot of. There's some. Some connections, you know, characters that will make you go, oh, from part one, you know, but you don't need to necessarily.
- [36:42]
F
Yeah, I still haven't played the first one and I've fell head over heels for this one.
- [36:46]
G
Yeah, you're a different character in this video game. You are a different sleeper. And in this world, the sleepers are this person whose consciousness is. You essentially sell your consciousness and the rights of your mind to put your consciousness into the work into the body of a robot to then just kind of work forever and work your debt away because you are in debt to whatever, you know, you decided to say, like, hey man, I'll give you my body if you give me food to eat or whatever. And so you're a different sleeper in this video game completely.
- [37:18]
F
And I. I was gonna bring up a point and I totally blanked on it.
- [37:23]
B
Never mind. We have got through our number 10, nine tie at eight and number seven picks for Kind of Funny's Game of the Year 20. We'll be right back with the rest of the list. Remember, you can get the Kinda Funny membership on patreon.com kindafunny or YouTube.com kindafunnygames to get the shows ad free. And speaking of ads, let us tell you about our sponsors.
- [37:44]
A
This episode is brought to you by Rocket Money. The amount of times Mike has signed up for something, forgotten about it after the trial period ends and then been charged month after month after month is quite frankly terrifying. He didn't even realize he was paying for SoundCloud for for 10 years until Rocket Money helped find and cancel his unwanted subscriptions. But he is not alone. So many people have at least one paid subscription going unused each month. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions monitors your spending and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings. Thanks to Rocket Money, you can see all of your subscriptions subscriptions in one place and cancel them within the app with just a few taps, saving time and avoiding charges. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and let Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster. Join@RocketMoney.com KindaFunny that's RocketMoney.com KindaFunny RocketMoney.com Kinda funny this episode is brought to you by Factor. It's a new year, which means new goals and even more things to take up our time. That's why so many of us here at Kinda Funny Love Factor. Factor makes it easy with fully prepared meals designed by dietitians and crafted by chefs so you can eat well without the shopping or cooking. On many occasions, Factor has completely saved me and Jen when we needed it most. Choose from a wider selection of weekly meal options including premium seafood choices like salmon and shrimp at no extra cost. Enjoy even more GLP1 friendly meals and new Mediterranean diet options packed with protein and good for you fats. Feel the difference no matter your routine? Head to factor meals.com kindafunny50 off and use the code kindafunny50OFF to get 50 off your first factor box plus free breakfast for a year offer only valid for new Factor customers with code and qualifying auto renewing subscription purchase. Make healthier eating easy with Factor hey you. Join us in person for our live in review of Howard the Duck. That's right, Howard the Duck joins MCU in Review. Wednesday, January 28th at 7:30pm at Cobbs Comedy Club for SF Sketch Fest. You can come watch me do all the podcasts within a podcast you love and you'll be going. Nick will be shopping for pants during it, but everybody else will be there too for you to come hang out and see. All you have to do is go over to kind of funny.com sketchfest right now to get your tickets before they sell out because come and watching a bunch of people talk about a very old Howard the Duck movie is really selling tickets fast.
- [40:28]
B
And we're back with number six really quick.
- [40:31]
F
I remember what I wanted to say about Citizen Sleeper too. While the writing is very poetic, I think the other thing it does really excellently with in terms of character writing is making dialogue not feel like super like flowery and like almost like, I don't know, like not too like overindulgent. Yeah, overindulge. Like it really feels like actual people just fucking Talking and surviving, which really stood out to me as well.
- [40:57]
C
What I need you two to do is play Disco Elysium, the director's cut.
- [41:01]
E
We can play on your phone now.
- [41:02]
C
Well, no.
- [41:02]
G
So I play TikTok.
- [41:03]
C
No, no, no, that's true.
- [41:05]
G
That's right up my alley.
- [41:06]
C
Yeah, I downloaded. I'll play it on an actual thing.
- [41:09]
F
That's like Mike watching every Christopher Nolan film on his phone.
- [41:11]
E
That's fire.
- [41:12]
A
That's what he on business. Also, we haven't said it. Shout out to Lucy James for doing VO this year.
- [41:17]
G
Yeah, Lucy, Lucy.
- [41:19]
C
Love you, Lucy.
- [41:19]
G
And shout out to her. Saying Lumines.
- [41:24]
F
She had, like, six different takes of, like. I don't know how to say this name. She just, like, went through a bunch of different pronunciations.
- [41:30]
A
I texted her immediately.
- [41:31]
B
Let's get to number six.
- [41:35]
F
Number six, tide. Death Stranding 2 on the beach,
- [41:44]
E
and
- [41:45]
F
Donkey Kong Bonanza coded six.
- [41:51]
C
Oh, I'm so worried about blueprints. I'm so worried about it.
- [41:54]
B
Donkey Kong Bonanza makes it my first game on the list.
- [41:57]
A
Wow. The way it's founded on your life.
- [42:01]
B
But let's start with Death Stranding 2 on the beach.
- [42:04]
E
Roger, where did I have it? I had it on number three. Number three on my list.
- [42:11]
B
Who else had it?
- [42:12]
C
And on my list, number four. Oh, yeah.
- [42:15]
B
Three, four. Three, four, Mikey.
- [42:17]
C
Three, four.
- [42:17]
B
No right for me.
- [42:18]
A
I had it on my list. I had it at number 10. I do believe my reasoning being is that I enjoyed it so much at launch and was having a great time with it. What's wrong, Barrett?
- [42:27]
D
Am I wrong?
- [42:27]
F
I don't see that game on your list.
- [42:29]
A
Oh, double check.
- [42:31]
B
Three, four. Okay.
- [42:32]
A
At one point, it was number 10. I'm like, no, I don't. Then that's a problem, Barrett. Oh. DK Bonanza is number 10 on my list according to my thing.
- [42:40]
C
Oh, I see the problem. He misspelled it. He said DK Bonaza.
- [42:43]
F
Sorry, I thought you guys were talking about death stranding.
- [42:46]
E
We were.
- [42:46]
C
Oh, I'm sorry.
- [42:47]
A
I'm so sorry.
- [42:47]
B
I'm so sorry.
- [42:48]
G
Okay.
- [42:48]
B
Yeah.
- [42:49]
D
Death Stranded.
- [42:49]
A
You're not really scared?
- [42:51]
G
Big panic.
- [42:51]
C
Big panic.
- [42:53]
A
Death Stranding was my number 11. This was my one that fell off the end there.
- [42:57]
B
Wow. I felt the fear in Barrett's heart. All right, let's start with Roger, then.
- [43:03]
E
Yeah. No, of course. Mike and I, we went on a journey. We played Death Stranding 1, and then a month later, we ran it back for Death Stranding 2. Special experience that. But by itself, the game is just so Incredible. Such an elite sequel. When we talk about PlayStation with Yotei and now Death Stranding 2 bringing those quality of life improvements from a great base game with Tsushima and then now Death Stranding one going into two, it made that experience, that simulation of being a delivery driver in this fucked up world so much more fun. I think that's the stuff that stands out to me. Right. I have issues with this game when it comes to the story. I actually think this is a lesser game than Death Training one. When it comes to the story and like the way it go, where it goes. I. There's some reveals that are like okay Kojima bro, calm down. Did you need to have this reveal five times in a row that it's like whatever. But when it comes to the actual gameplay, that's the thing that stands out to me. I was playing this game with after playing it with Mike and being stuck in a room with him for a fucking week, you would think that would be sick of this video game. But I was going back to it. I was trying to do all the side missions. I was doing a new game, not new game plus, but just a new game of it. I was obsessed with just the pure management sim of it. Trying to go around and find my best course around the bts. That is the stuff that stands out to me. Of course there's some great set piece moments, there's some amazing twists and turns and I will always think about the moment where you go into the other world, the BT world and all the particles are going and it's like this is. This is next gen. This is an insane, insanely gorgeous video game. But the pure management of it all is just so fun. It's such a unique one of one experience that only an insane person like Kojima can one make and then two get greenlit. So I'm forever in debt for Death Stranding two existing and I hope amongst hope that we actually get a Death Stranding 3 and that actually pushes it even further. I'm very excited.
- [44:54]
B
Bless.
- [44:55]
C
Yeah, this is the game that the moment to moment being in awe of what I'm seeing on screen really hit for me with this game. More so than any other game this year, I guess. Starting with presentation. Right. I. I do think this game is a step up from destroying one in so many ways. Visually, I think this game is insane. I think this is the best looking game of the year. I think it's also the best sounding in so many ways. Both in terms of audio design, but then also in terms of Soundtrack. Just thinking about the opening parts of that game. Walking through the mountains, seeing like all the detail, like all the level of fidelity that I'm seeing on screen. Can't believe what I'm looking at here. But then, yeah, walking across those mountains, feeling the emotion, feeling the music swell up. Like I think there's something so special about how this game can build that feeling. And then I think have ideas where I'm like, oh snap. All right, so the way that you're making this game harder in some places is by allowing rain to change the water level of certain like rivers or whatever. That's interesting. Oh, okay. Fire is a bigger thing now, right. Like the way that they're taking weather conditions into account into a game that is simply about, simply about walking from point A to point B, I think is so inspired, so fun and so creative. I think story wise, I love what, what they do there as well. Right. They dive more into the ideas, the themes of grief and losing somebody. Right. And I think the ways in which they go about that I thought were really touching and inspired. This is one that I really enjoyed from beginning to end. Wowed me, you know, like had me like, what the fuck is going on in multiple moments in this game. I think this is just an incredible video game from, you know, start to finish.
- [46:31]
B
Andy, I'm surprised it's not on your list. Is that because you didn't finish it?
- [46:35]
G
Never finished it. I just didn't really find a momentum with it. I forget kind of what else was out around that time. I played the intro of it, you know, in enjoyed of, you know, whatever I experienced, but I never went back to it and I, I don't really have a good reason why. It's usually like something is in the way or there's some other game that I want to play. And yeah, I just, I also kind of, I. I also just imagine like, all right, I am enjoying this, but am I 70, 60 hours enjoying this right now? You know that that's kind of where I was similar to the way to where I was with Metaphor refantazio last year or even Octopath Traveler zero this year. Going like, all right, I'm enjoying this, but I don't know if I'm enjoying it enough to. Or if I'm going to enjoy it enough to take me away from other stuff that I want to play in the next week or so.
- [47:28]
F
I, I considered this game a lot, weirdly enough, even though the story stuff did not click with me a lot, a lot of the presentation stuff Did Roger like you were talking about with going into like the other world and like that first sequence with all the like fireworks and stuff going on, it's like one of those insane tech like showcases but really it's just the, the moment to moment delivery stuff just like really grabs me and. And building stuff for my own world, knowing that that was going to be helpful for other people and then getting that paid back to you. Like I started to appreciate the vision that Death Stranding 1 had that I only played a few hours of and then fell off of. Like I really just. Some of my favorite moments were from this year were From Death Stranding 2 of Just like going up that like mountain, like just covered in snow and getting lost and hoping you can get like just over this ridge, like in like a ridiculous tiny little car and all that stuff like shout out to like the moment to moment gameplay which I, I really click clicked with. And like I think I forget if it was before baby steps or not, but it was one of those like oh, this is clicking in like a weird co op kind of way. But like AAA co op gameplay that I really with.
- [48:35]
E
Yeah, this was the, the game because we played Desktop one. Of course, notoriously I was freaking it, right? So I was just going up a mountain, didn't care about the mechanics, didn't care about building. And then I played about halfway through this game and I was like, oh, I should be building. Like oh, there's a whole community of things. Oh, they like actually reward you and actually going deeper into that. And then I want to shout out the actual like shooting and gameplay. When it comes to that side of everything where you know, you're actually incentivized to like shoot people in this game and like take them down. Almost like metal gear solid 5 like Arlies as close as Metal Gear Solid V is, you know, he's going to get to it. That was super fun being able to throw, you know, an electric spear across an entire map and shock somebody. Like being able to take down these camps the way that I wanted to in Death Training one and finally getting able to. Being able to in Death Training 2 was really rewarding. So that stands out to me.
- [49:22]
C
I also just love how weird this game is on the most triple A levels. Like this might be one of, if not the most AAA game to come out in this last year. And the fact that we get so weird and so it's. So much of this game is bonkers in many different ways. Right. You have different character backstories where you get Flashbacks and shit. And like even those things are individually weird. You talk about the moment with all the lights spinning and how cool that is. I'm thinking about like some of those opening moments with the character tomorrow and how it's like, oh shit, where did this come from? Okay, now we're getting crazy over here. And I know a big part of it is that is the fact that it's Kojima and Kojima is being thrown the bag and Kojima just wants to do weird shit. But the fact that this game can exist on this level, like not necessarily a reason alone to. To be like, oh, I'm putting my top 10 game of the year. But it's something that really resonates with me as somebody who just wants to see more weird shit in Triple A.
- [50:12]
E
It scratches that same edge or feels the same as like Alan Wake to like you. Oh wow. You're creative that had the budget, had the ability to make something really weird but authentic. And even though I don't agree with a lot of the choices that they make towards the ending of this game, it's authentic to Kojima.
- [50:27]
C
Right.
- [50:27]
E
He's not just doing it just to do it.
- [50:28]
C
Yeah. Like Kojima could. I think I said this after I played Death Rating one. But like instead of making this, you could have made a more traditional third person action game and it would be an easy conversations for top five game of the Year, Top three game of the year or whatever. But you continually to choose to make things that for you have so much meaning and I think on the Triple A level are just things that can't get made anywhere else. Especially as we're talking more and more about budgets and shareholder and shareholders and AI and all these things getting. Getting in the way of how we go about AAA development and how things are starting to feel. Samey and all this shit. Death Straining two still stands in a place where it is. Oh shit. This is the weirdest thing that you could. You could have possibly spent this much money on. And it really works for me. And so I really like this game.
- [51:09]
B
Anyone else have any Death Stranding? Two thoughts. Let's move on then to Donkey Kong Bonanza who had it on their list. Where'd you have it? Bless.
- [51:17]
C
I had it at number five, right below destroying two.
- [51:21]
A
Greg, number 10.
- [51:22]
B
I had it at number four.
- [51:25]
E
I had a number 10 as well.
- [51:26]
B
Broad 10, number 10. So there we go. Is this the first game to be on four people's lists? Must be today. I think it is.
- [51:34]
E
That's crazy.
- [51:34]
A
It's starting to Solidify. Starting to get tied in the top.
- [51:37]
G
Coagulating.
- [51:39]
B
I really, really love this game and I have been a Donkey Kong country fan my entire life. And the difference between a Donkey Kong country game and a Super Mario Brothers game, I've always really appreciated a bit more emphasis on the exploration. And I don't even want to call it combat, but kind of the. The way that Donkey Kong rolls and the momentum of it all and Translating that into 3D just works so well. And it is something that I never thought we would ever get. The amount of love specifically to the country games that you get in this is so evident whether it's the music, whether it's the looks, whether it's characters and just the game feel. We've talked so much about the tech of the game, how impressive it is that you literally can break anything. And the way that you're moving through all of the. The different kind of materials, like the feel of it feels so special and so good. And the control scheme of Break Up, Break Down, Break Left, right. Like it just works so well. And I feel like the, the team that made it the highest compliment I can give them is controlling characters in their games. Can't be any better. Right. Like whether it's Mario Odyssey or Donkey Kong Bonanza, like two very different characters with completely different kind of movesets in terms of mobility. But it feels you always are in perfect control of what you're doing. You know, if you're going to make the jump, if you're not going to make the jump and you know how much more you need to roll to get the momentum to do it next time. Right. I think this game is very well balanced in terms of platforming challenges versus exploration. I love the amount of challenge levels that they have. I love how integrated they are into the bigger exploration adventure that you're going on. And I love that there are multiple bananas to collect in each one of the challenges. Like this to me is just a super fun game that makes me want to 100%. It makes me want to do every single thing. And I think that they do a really good job of the different economies of having the maps to be able to find the bananas, to be able to like keep going. It's like I never feel like I'm wasting time breaking things. Like I feel like I'm always like kind of doing something that is rewarding in a fun way. Gameplay wise. Bless.
- [53:48]
C
Yeah, I. I think one of the things that this game accomplishes that from the get go makes it work is the fact that like you mentioned, controlling the game is fun, but I think even more so breaking things is fun. You know, like, that is the ethos of this game. Get in there, break shit, find shit. And when you're breaking shit, like, even just through the different materials, how when you press, I think it's r to fucking grab a piece of ground and rip it out. That feels different if you're on dirt versus if you're on concrete. And that extra level of, like, when you're on concrete, like, there's something about it that just, like, feels nice.
- [54:19]
G
And the vibrations are different.
- [54:20]
C
The vibrations are different. And I think when you're designing a game, you want to get people in there through that first second. Right. I think you go back to Mario 64, and the first thing you do in that game, I'm going to climb a tree. Even before that, you stretch out Mario's face and shit. Right. And even that's fun, but I'm stretching
- [54:35]
G
that
- [54:37]
B
you do that in Dog Kong Bonanza.
- [54:39]
E
Yeah.
- [54:39]
B
All the face paint stuff.
- [54:40]
C
Yes. Oh, yeah, exactly.
- [54:41]
A
Yeah.
- [54:42]
C
And then like, yeah, you climb the trees and you jump around and there's something inherently fun from controlling the game from the get go. I think that's very valuable in this type of game design. I think they nail that. But then even beyond that, I think they take what a lot of the framework they set up in Mario Odyssey. And again, I think a theme for 2025 with Games for me is that games were inspired this last year. And so the fact that you took that and went, all right, what's the. What's the X factor here? Oh, it is the different materials. Oh, it is being able to, like, throw this material and it's going to explode. Or you throw this material and it does the thing, or, you know, I break this material and it shows up somewhere else. Right. I think that is so fun and so inspired and allows for a really cool design around what you're doing from level to level in the game. And so really, really enjoy this one. I love that we have a new 3D Donkey Kong as well.
- [55:27]
E
Right.
- [55:28]
C
For me and Barrett, who are the DK64 boys, I never thought we'd be here again. We're up, Greg.
- [55:33]
A
Yeah. 10 on my list. It's in that back half. Like, I was talking about experience I had a great time with, but just didn't have a lasting impact necessarily on me. I enjoyed this so much at launch and had so much fun with it. But it's similar what Andy said about death stranding. It was A momentum thing, put it down to move on to the next review. And over break, I hopped back in, expecting to find that same love. And I did it. And it wasn't because it's bad or anything to that thing. It just speaks to what I have said about Nintendo games for so long. I think Nintendo is great at making toys, and that's not an insult. It's fun to smash, it's fun to do this thing. But jumping back in, it was like, cool, I can get more bananas, but why am I getting more bananas? What am I doing here? And it's like, okay, I think I know what the fun is in this game. And I enjoyed it quite a bit, and that's enough to get it on there. But not being able to be motivated to go finish it and roll credits or chase every banana or 100% or anything like that. That's why I left it here in the back ten.
- [56:21]
B
Watch.
- [56:22]
E
Yeah, I echo a lot of what you're saying, Greg, where I booted it up when it launched and I had a good time with it, put it down for something, came back to it, and I was like, oh, I don't know if I love this as much. I think I started to. Every time I would put it down and pick it back up, I liked it less and less. And it still ended up in a place where it's on my list. Right. It's still a great video game. I really enjoyed it. But when it came to, like, the actual level design and specifically the puzzle designs, I think the idea, the ethos rather of Donkey Kong can break everything, and then that also means you can kind of break the puzzles. A lot of the times it just didn't work for me. I felt like I was able to go around a lot of things. I felt like the boss battles were over in a flash, which I understand because he's big and strong and you can kind of break everything. But I think I was looking for more of the traditional Mario Odyssey type deal with the breaking mechanics and of course, completely different things, but it just didn't work for me. In my brain, I didn't love it as much as I wanted to, but it's basically Hulk Ultimate Destruction again. So it gets a bunch of points for that and has to be number 10 just for that alone.
- [57:22]
B
Any other thoughts on DK Bonanza?
- [57:25]
C
I want to shout out the ending. Of course we're not going to spoil anything, but I think that game does a great job of really uplifting just DK as a franchise and reminding you why you like these characters? Why you like this world? Why you like what goes on here? And the fact that they got pops for me, where I'm like, oh, shit. I didn't know I could be this hype about Donkey Kong. I forgot how much I love this shit. Right? I gotta shout that out as well.
- [57:46]
F
DK64 better.
- [57:48]
A
Oh, it's about to celebrate games, not tear them apart. Don't be like, don't be evil on this one.
- [57:53]
B
Let's get to number five.
- [57:55]
A
I said, don't be evil.
- [57:57]
C
Number five, Blue Prince. Thank God.
- [58:00]
A
Wow. Kevin's here. Accepting the award for blueprints, it's Kevin Coelho.
- [58:08]
C
Should have been you.
- [58:12]
B
Kevin's Game of the Forever Blueprints is kind of funny. He's number five. Game of 2025 BL.
- [58:17]
C
I was scared this wouldn't make it on the list.
- [58:18]
B
Where was it for you?
- [58:19]
C
This was my number one.
- [58:21]
B
Number one. Junior.
- [58:24]
A
Yeah.
- [58:26]
C
Was this on anybody else's list?
- [58:27]
F
This was my number two.
- [58:29]
A
Wow.
- [58:31]
C
Yeah. Blueprints for me is one that. I mean, again, we're talking about a year of games that were inspired, right? Like, games that did something weird, games that did something different, games that really locked in and tried to find something fresh and new to do. And blueprints for me, is the definition of a game that does all those things. The fact that. And it's also like a recipe to appeal to me, specifically this game, because you're talking about a person puzzle game, Escape Room with roguelite mechanics, with also, like, card drafting mechanics as well. Like, these are all things that really just work for my brain. And so already this game was. Was teed up to me to be one that I was gonna love. But for me, it comes back to when we got review codes. And I didn't really know much about blueprints, but I remember Greg slacked me and was like, yo, this game, blueprints that we got a code for, this might be your jam. Like, this seems like some blessing puzzle, poppy type shit. And I looked at it, I was like, yeah, it has the words, but is it going to have the sauce? And I start playing it a little bit. And, like, I was like, okay, like, I see what you're doing in terms of premise. Played a little bit of it. I was like, all right, this is cool. And it was Jason. I think I met Jason Schreier at the Nintendo Switch event in New York and talked about it with him. And I was like, dude, all right, I gotta come back and play more of this blueprints. Game. And the more I played it, the more I. It felt like I was attached to my steam deck at the hip. I could not put down this game. I took my steam deck to the to. I remember playing it at the car wash like. Like I was in the car, not in the car. It was one of those ones where I left my car for them. They're doing the interior clean as well. So I'm sitting in the place on my steam deck playing blueprints. But that's how much I could not let myself go from this game because they found something here. As far as being able to build out the blueprint for this house, if somehow you don't know what blueprints is, it's a game where essentially you're trying to earn this house by getting to room 46, I believe. And you are basically every single time you're going in, you're building out the blueprint of this house by drafting rooms. And you only have a certain number of steps to get you there. Within all of that, the game goes deep. The game goes real deep. As far as meta puzzles, as far as finding out things that you've been looking at this whole time is actually a puzzle, right? It is a historical narrative that I still don't know much about because that feels like 10 layers deep into what you're doing with this game. But it did everything right, man. Like, it is a game that is so well designed and got me hooked so much. And I think the biggest compliment I could get to this game was that I was playing it while playing Expedition 33 because they came out very close to each other. And after coming out of a blueprints hole, like I boot up Expedition 33 and I thought I go into a new level in that game and I started looking at like the lights because it's a level that has like different colored lights on the ceiling or whatever. And I tried to solve the puzzle of what's going on with that. And I was like, wait a second, this is not that game. Like, I am playing other games differently because blueprints is making me look at every single thing in such a particular way. And I think that's just a strength of his game design. I think it's just a very extremely well made thing.
- [61:27]
B
What an honor. Number one from Blessing this year of all years.
- [61:30]
C
Oh yeah.
- [61:31]
B
So go check out blueprints if you haven't already. Blueprints, Barrett.
- [61:36]
F
Yeah, it was my number two when we reviewed it initially. Like, I think Kevin was on that and Bless and Shrier when we talked about it, I remember saying it would take a lot for a game to overtake this as my game of the year. And for so long, this was my game of the year. I think it's just like one of the most interestingly designed games in the last few years that I played. I'm not like the biggest puzzle poppy. I'm not a guy who, who like dove deep into games like the Witness or anything, but there's just something about the loop that you get into once you get into like once you go through that first hour and start to understand the language and the flow of what this game is asking of you. And, you know, it's still satisfying. You know, 20 days in and you get to the three little boxes and you have to figure out like, okay, which one of them has like an item that's going to help me for the day. And you know, thinking about puzzles on that small level that feel very Escape Roomy, and then thinking about the grander scale of this house and the randomization of this house that you're going to try to get. Get through to get to the 46th room of this 45 room house, right? And then going even beyond that and getting into the late game and understanding like, oh, how deep this actually goes, not just in terms of story, but design and conspiracy as well that I found really, really fun to, to dive into and sink my teeth into. But, you know, shout out to Kevin, who I think is probably the biggest fan of blueprints here at the company, the Mr. Escape Room himself, you know, really found something that, that spoke to him.
- [63:09]
G
So I would call blueprints this year is my metaphor refantazio of last year where it didn't make my top 10. But I have no issues with it being anybody's game of the year because I just know how amazing it is. And this is a game that I beat about 35 hours. I hit credits and then I watched a bunch of videos because I, I was talking to Alana at the time. Alana was like, oh my God. But I'm like 800, I'm 80 hours in or 90 hours in. It's like I don't have time for that. And I know how deeper it gets and was blown away by a lot of what the lore videos are about. The, the, you know, political struggle and history. It, it's wild where this place goes and it's really cool and impressive and yeah, just one of those that like, I think if anything it's the game. It's one of those Games that I look at and go, AI could never do this. Like, and it.
- [64:01]
D
Because it.
- [64:02]
G
It has such a human touch to it. Like, everything is there deliberately because the creator wanted those things to be there in that moment. And it's just so impressive.
- [64:13]
F
Yeah.
- [64:15]
E
Blue Prince. Blue Prince.
- [64:17]
C
Yeah.
- [64:18]
E
I just realized.
- [64:18]
F
No, you, Roger Sick.
- [64:22]
E
That's dope, bro.
- [64:23]
C
That's dope.
- [64:23]
F
One of the biggest criticisms I've seen in the last couple months and throughout the years, like, the RNG of it all of, like, trying to get the perfect run to get to the. The final room and all this stuff. I never really like. Yeah, there was maybe like a run or two where I'm like, damn. I was like, one step away from making this all line up. But to me, there are so many threads of not just getting to room 46 that were also satisfying as well, of just solving a puzzle that might not help you get to the end of it, but still dissatisfying in and of itself to figure out right where it's like, oh, my God, there's a poster in every room and that's supposed to signify a letter. And, like, now I'm doing this huge puzzle where I have mapped out the layout of every. Every room to try to spell out this code that's going to help unlock screenshots.
- [65:12]
C
The amount of screenshots I have in my Steam deck and the Google Doc I have for this game that is just filled with. Just. If you found this.
- [65:18]
A
If, like Theory of a Madman.
- [65:19]
C
Yeah, if the police found this Google Doc. Oh, I'm like, they're looking at. They're like, oh, he's crazy. Like, he's plotting something. We can't. We don't know what, but he's plotting something. Yeah. No, it's like a game that I will have you having, like, brain blast moments of. This has been what this is the whole time. Like, I was looking at the paintings for 30 hours before I even thought about. And once I. Once I started think about the painting, I was like, oh, shit. Here's the thing I will say about the RNG is that I'm with you, Barrett. Like, I don't. I. It wasn't that big of a problem for me until there's a. A room you can find that lets you edit the frequency of other rooms. And so there was one room where I was like, oh, I hate finding this room. I'm going to turn this all the way down. Then I realized a different puzzle, and now all I need is that room. I need that room to show up and I can't get that room to pop up again. And I'm like, fuck, dude. And that's kind of where I put down the game on. But I will say that this game to both the Andes thing, right. Of put it playing through the main story, rolling credits and then putting it down and the Alana thing of playing 90 hours, 100 hours. Jason Schreier as well. This game is an everlasting gobstopper in the way that like you can kind of play this game until you're tired, like put down the game whenever you want. I played probably about 60 to 70 hours if I remember correctly. And I just put it down when I was like, all right, cool. I want to move on with my life or I got something else to do. But I still value. You don't have to 100% this game.
- [66:37]
A
Yeah, I mean I'm doing wrong way, far from 100%. I took that afternoon or morning off and went to a coffee shop and had it in the notebook and I played must have been four hours sitting there and I had a great time with it. But it was just that thing similar. I'm talking about where the hooks weren't in of oh, I need to see what's happened in that room. I was like, oh, I enjoyed this and I know it's going to get crazy and yada yada, I like this, but I'm going to move on.
- [66:56]
C
Main chat says you can reset that now. We're so back.
- [67:01]
B
Before we get to number four, I want to get to some super chats you can super chat over on YouTube.com kindfunnygames just like Gondor's Condor did. Saying shout out to my blueprints Excel book of notes Gifted Pink says this is my fave content of the year right here. Here's some love from Canada. Thanks so much. Mayor of sexy town says blessing. Don't let me down. I'm counting on you for Rematch, my personal game of the year. I've had so much fun getting better and better at the game. Is rematch on your list?
- [67:28]
C
Bless it is on my list.
- [67:31]
B
You'll hear about that this whole week we're going to be doing our personal top 10 breakdowns on Gamescast. So the episode blesses on. You'll hear him talk all about. Brad says listen for a few months. This is my first time watching live. Keep up the positive nerdy fun. Rankings aside, what 20, 25 games do you think have real staying power? I think a lot of these do.
- [67:54]
C
I think this whole List.
- [67:55]
B
Yeah, I think that this was a year that we're going to talk about these games for forever.
- [68:00]
E
I'm gonna play Citizen Sleeper one day.
- [68:03]
B
Zanfair has Expedition 33 at number one. AK DOT says this is a tip for blessings, Barber.
- [68:09]
C
Oh, thank you, ak. Wow.
- [68:11]
B
Yeah. We have the Metal Falcon with Ghost of Yote at number one. The Brandicut has Hades two at number one. Oh, Gigajarn has Expedition at number one. Zeke Speak says quick shout out to Lucy James who I would die for. She's great. She's a great one to die for. Mike on Drums says number one. Expedition 33, Mediocre Gamer has Expedition 33 at number one as well with Indiana Jones on PS5 sliding in at number five. Then we got Minecraft Galaxy saying 2025 was an incredible year for games. I believe this year has been the best year for games in a while. And we got Kobe.
- [68:54]
G
Diverse for sure.
- [68:55]
B
Kobe saying, happy game of the year podcast. All my top five are Expedition 33 at one, Death Stranding two and number two. Hades two at number three, Kingdom Come Deliverance at number four and Dispatch at number five. My honorable mentions would be Arc Raiders and Keeper. Listening to the smileys, I. I appreciate you throwing the love on on Keeper. I know I was the one that nominated as a hidden gem, but you, you held it down. You explained it very well. What a. What a charming little game. Super charming Keeper is. Let's see. I want to get to a couple more here. The Postman. Mike, this one's for you. I know. Ready? Trails in the sky first chapter made my favorite game of Hell yeah. JRPG masterpiece. My 2025 game of the year. And Mike, you did actually just t tap into something that I. I'd like from Jetpack Watchdog who says very late birthday tax. It lands literally right on Christmas. Hi, Joey. Thank you guys so much for years of entertainment. P.S. can I get the loudest, most intense Hell yeah. From Mike?
- [69:51]
A
Yeah.
- [69:52]
D
Happy birthday, big dog.
- [69:53]
B
Hell yeah.
- [69:55]
C
You know, I. I bought Final Fantasy 10 last night on PlayStation. It's on sale, by the way. It was like 10 bucks.
- [70:01]
B
There's never been a better time, but
- [70:04]
D
yes, it's always on sale. I'll tell you what,
- [70:08]
C
after though, favorite game of all time. Maybe we'll see what I get into next.
- [70:14]
B
The Final Fantasy 10. Oh my God, I'm so excited. I'm also excited for our number four.
- [70:22]
C
Number four.
- [70:24]
A
Hades two
- [70:28]
G
years on the list.
- [70:31]
C
Number four.
- [70:34]
B
I had Hades two at number three on my list.
- [70:38]
G
Wow.
- [70:38]
B
Bless.
- [70:39]
C
I had it at number two on my list.
- [70:41]
B
Greg?
- [70:42]
A
No.
- [70:42]
B
Mike. Nope. Raj.
- [70:44]
E
Nope.
- [70:45]
B
Andy.
- [70:46]
G
Yeah, he's scrolling.
- [70:48]
C
I had it at
- [70:52]
F
number six and I had it at number ten.
- [70:54]
B
Number ten on Barrett's list. Let's start with the person that had it. Highest blessing, number two.
- [71:00]
C
I mean, what more can I say about this game? Immaculate video game right here. And I. It's. It's so funny for this to be so high on my list because Hades 1 was a game that I really enjoyed. But I. Even though everybody was like, Hades one is. This is the video game, it never really got that, that high up for like my personal list slash my personal affinity to it. For some reason. Hades 2 just hit another level where I finally got it. I finally. It finally clicked. And I think the cast. Yeah, I think the cast.
- [71:29]
G
The cast button.
- [71:30]
C
Oh, yeah. I finally learned triangle in that game. Or circle. Yeah, man, let me tell you, the cast in Hades too. Oh, man, I gotta hate your ass.
- [71:39]
G
I hate your ass.
- [71:41]
C
But yeah, no, I absolutely love everything that they do here. The amount of. One of the things that Andy brings up on often with this one is like the amount of dialogue in this game and it's so true. The amount of words characters have to say and you come back after a run and they always have new to say every time makes me fall in love with those characters.
- [71:57]
G
Right.
- [71:58]
C
Like, I feel like I'm growing with these characters. The. The roguelite mechanics, the abilities, the boons that you're collecting are always so satisfying. And I truly feel that. I felt that every single time I went in for a new run, I found a new playstyle.
- [72:11]
G
Right.
- [72:12]
C
So much variability as far as the ways they. They allow you to play, the ways they allow you to strategize. And I think it's just an immaculately put together video game, let alone how it looks, how it's the soundtrack. Oh, the amount of content. Beautiful game.
- [72:23]
B
Yeah. I had Hades two at number three, which is shocking to me because, like, this is a game that many years could be number one. I love this so much. I will be playing it forever. It's immaculate. The gameplay is everything I could want from a video game in terms of engagement and action. It is so well designed. Every single weapon feels worth playing. Every single element that they add with the roguelite stuff is just as fun as the other. Even if you see something you're like, I'm not gonna want the slow weapon. Yeah, you're gonna want it actually. When you have a killer run and you realize how all things kind of fit together, the amount of dialogue, the amount of art going up for the first time and being like, there's two games here, like I'm getting Hades 3 right now. This is kind of wild. I am so impressed with how much fun I had for the amount of time and how much I still have to do. And I'm going to be playing this game forever. This game rocks. And I am so, so, so impressed with what they were able to pull off. I loved Hades 1. I love Hades 2 even more. The ending I really don't like. Story wise. That doesn't really get in my way though because the characters in this game are so good and the dialogue and the story overall, not so much the plot I am infatuated with and they've done such a good job with it. It just. Yeah, the plot kind of lost me a bit at the end, but totally okay. Roger.
- [73:40]
E
Nope.
- [73:41]
A
Put a napkin number 10.
- [73:43]
E
I did.
- [73:44]
F
Yeah. This was one where the gameplay of Hades 2 I think clicks more for me than Hades 1. And I think that's just because of the moveset you get this time around that felt a bit more like AOE based that I really with. Especially with like the. The cast mixed with your, like your ax and like finding builds that were just fascinating around that I really loved. I think having a down route and an up route I think was really refreshing to keep me going in terms of, you know, Once I cleared Hades 1 once, it was one of those like, I don't know if I want to keep doing this to get like the real ending and like I'm just kind of going through the same motions over and over again. But I think having the two different routes lets you shake. Make things up in terms of like, okay, I've. I've cleared down a couple times. Let me, let me take a stab at up and like I think even just how they're presented in terms of how you have to navigate your build when you go up at first I think is really cool. Yeah. In terms of like story and world building, I was less into this one. I think in terms of the motivation and kind of overall plot I think is way less interesting than the. The personal motivation for Hades 1 and what that story tells. But still a fantastic time. Really fun characters to interact with.
- [75:04]
G
The.
- [75:05]
F
The music as well just hits every time. Like this was the game that I had fun editing the most in terms of the video wall stuff just because it was. It was hard to choose which song to use just because the entire, entire soundtrack, it's just a banger yeah.
- [75:20]
B
And also speaking of the soundtrack and we talk a lot about the art. This is kind of a little outside of the game, but the launch trailer for this and like the last couple trailers that they did, they showed it all. I think it was a game awards or summer games or something. Some of the most stunning animation I've ever seen. Like, I can't believe the level of skill and talent that these people have. Like, there's like a five minute animation of just Hades 2 and it's like that is gameplay, like come to life in this beautiful way. I recommend everybody watch it because it is sick as hell and it just shows Millennial in a way that I never expected to see be this tiny little character.
- [75:56]
G
You know, I just love that Super Giant's been killing it so much with sales that they can contract out and pay a shitload for an awesome animation to show off their game. Yeah, this game was. I, I agree with you, Tim. I think that it didn't quite exactly stick the landing and I. It's such an impossible task after many, many, many hours. I played this game more in 2024 actually than I did in 2025 and I still had an awesome time with it. I said, and I think every roguelite will always be judged next to Hades 2 and Hades. And unfortunately, because any other game that I play, I just feel like, man, I don't like the abilities aren't cool that, you know, you're never gonna get close to the boon system and how varied that all of those are. And Hades 2 and Hades 1 are the, the examples of starting off a run and thinking that, ah, this run's gonna be a stinker. May as well just quit here and you find a cool move that you'd never really like, experimented with before. And then you start to fall in love with it and you go, oh, I'm gonna work this into my whole moveset later on. And I don't know, it's just it. It's the game that keeps on giving. Hades 2 is awesome. There's so much to do, there's so many characters to meet and talk with and I, I think if the boss fights were a little bit more fun and if the ending would have stuck, this would have been like a top three for me. Probably.
- [77:19]
B
Speaking of top three, that's where we are. Oh, yeah.
- [77:22]
A
Before I go any further, I'm sorry, I do have breaking news from the situation desk. Katie Butler, 13 this in the chat says Mike made a pizza bet with Barrett about Hades 2 and Silk Song, which was Hollow night Silk song will be Kind of Funny's number two game of the year, followed by Hades 2 at number three. Therefore, Mike owes Barrett a pizza due to being wrong with 82 coming in at number five.
- [77:42]
D
Thank you. I will get on that. And I also will like to look at you, the YouTube comments out there, because me, blessing, and Barrett went back and forth on what will be kind of funny top four. I just want you all to know I nailed it. And you didn't believe it.
- [77:54]
A
Remember, you got it wrong.
- [77:56]
F
Yeah.
- [77:56]
G
You just got it wrong.
- [77:57]
F
That's why you owe me a pizza before.
- [77:58]
D
That would be in there.
- [77:59]
A
Oh, okay.
- [78:00]
D
YouTube was not happy with me. Yeah, they were screaming. A lot of ghosts of yote.
- [78:04]
G
A lot of doubters.
- [78:05]
D
Settle down.
- [78:06]
G
Prove them wrong. Settle down. Prove them wrong.
- [78:09]
D
Mike, I didn't predict it.
- [78:10]
G
You proved Settle down.
- [78:12]
B
That's. That is so funny. Yeah. I mean, are we all aligned in what the. The only thing is the order. We'll see.
- [78:17]
A
Yeah.
- [78:18]
B
The order.
- [78:18]
C
We'll see. I'm shocked to see Hades number four. I thought for sure we would have said saw another game here, but I'm excited. Yeah, I'm excited to see where this lands at.
- [78:25]
A
Yeah. This is getting interesting.
- [78:26]
B
It is getting interesting. Let's get into it. Number three.
- [78:31]
C
Number three. Hollow Knight Silksong. That's nuts.
- [78:41]
G
Whoa.
- [78:43]
A
Wow.
- [78:44]
B
Hollow knight Silk song at number three. I had this at number two on my list, and it was the biggest struggle for me to really sit there and decide, is this above Expedition 33 in my mind because I beat Act 3 last week. This game is incredible. I can't believe what such a small team can pull off. The level of artistry in every single frame of this game blows my mind. Every time I play it, it feels so good. It is so many of my favorite genres in one. I can't believe how much of a success Hollow knight Silk song is. It's $20. It lived up to the hype. There was way too much game in this game. I said this a second ago about Hades 2, but Act 3 really feels like an entire DLC pack that they were just like, no, we're putting this in the core addition to the game. I can't believe how good this game is. The music, the feel, the look, every single thing about it is. It's a masterpiece, Andy.
- [79:41]
G
Yeah, it's a masterpiece that to be able to meet those expectations after so much hype after so many years ago, and we're definitely going to seek silksong here. It's 2021, we're seeing silksong. It's 2022. There's no way we go another year without seeing it. And for it to finally come out. And he hit all those expectations and, like, exceed them, in my opinion. I think what it does, storytelling is, storytelling wise, is so fantastic.
- [80:07]
E
The.
- [80:08]
G
The. The themes that it. That you deal with, just dealing with, like, the whole church and all, like, it's just so damn well told. But I think the boss fights in this game are the most fun and well designed and difficult at times, of course, but it's just so amazing. Like, I can't believe that I got Bear to play Citizen Sleeper and I got Tin to play Silksong. Like, I know you're gonna try it out, but I'm like, who knows how long this will go? And the fact that it is that compelling and that good to. To. To make you stick with it is, like, so awesome. This game is amazing. This is like a generational type video game.
- [80:50]
B
Who else had Hollow Knight Silksong on their list?
- [80:54]
F
Hollow Knight Silksong was my game of the year.
- [80:57]
B
Yeah, there we go. Number one for Bear. Courtney.
- [81:00]
F
This was not one I was expecting to fall in love with as much as I did. I shouldn't be shocked that it was something I gravitated towards you, especially last year, falling in love with nine souls and then like, honestly, just the journey I've had in the past few years of gravitating towards harder games. You know, getting onto the bandwagon with. With Blessing and Andy in terms of falling in love with these harder games, souls games, and then always just loving, kind of like cartoon aesthetic loving games like Cuphead. And then all of that coming into, you know, the meme that I really only knew it as was was Hollow Knight Silksong because I was not a Hollow Knight one guy. And, you know, feeling a little bit of the fomo. I remember launch day. I was supposed to come in with Andy to help him with the marathon stream. And I tested for Covid that morning, and I was like, I texted Andy from my room and I was like, hey, man, call me when you get to the office, because I'm gonna have to video call you through how to turn on the studio. But then watching that stream from home, being in the chat with everybody and having this, like, you know what? I'm gonna buy this game and I'm gonna check it out and just falling head over heels for it in terms of. Yeah. Not expecting it to be like this huge commentary on organized religious. Organized religions and institutions. And the hollow promise that sometimes they, they give a lot of people. And then also just being just one of the Best Feeling 2D Metroidvania action games that I've played in a very, very long time. Yeah, I adore this game. I adore all the little creatures and friends that you make. You know, even when I'm guy, it's
- [82:37]
G
the game of little guys. It's the game guys everywhere that they're all amazing.
- [82:43]
F
And like when I'm dying as Hornet, I'm not like, I'm, I'm frustrated because I'm like, God damn it, I know I can beat this fight. But then Hornet does that little scream where it sounds like she's just like an annoyed teenager almost. And it just makes me giggle. You know, it's like, I, I love this world. I, I love the gameplay and you know, the, the, the story and the, the lore around it is just something that really hooked me and it's one that I played again just recently over break. You know, I was, was kind of done playing 20, 25 games. I was like, I just want to have something on my switch while we're watching, you know, one piece on tv. And I just, I did another casual playthrough and beat the entirety of like Act 3 in like 35 hours. And that just, it reaffirmed like, damn this, this game really fired on all cylinders for me and you know, I said it's going to take a lot for a game to take over blueprints. And this game did it.
- [83:35]
G
One of those rare games where like every NPC you meet is your new favorite npc. Yeah, like the next one is always going to be your favorite one because everyone's just so awesome and well written and like, I think affable in a way. Everybody's so likable in this game. Even, you know, even some of the villains with their motivations. It's like, man, everybody here feels so well thought out.
- [83:56]
B
I'm so impressed with the amount of tech in the game, like different ways to vary up your combat style and move sets. Like, like 60, 70 hours in the game, you're getting new abilities and I like the way that the abilities work in this game where it's not like a lot of other things where you, I mean you do have loadouts in this, but your, your character move set is essentially just jump and slash. Right. It's like, it's not like you're have all these like different moves you can do. It's just kind of, you're adding angles to the slash or how much it goes out. And, like, the little tiny differences in the beginning, I feel are so frustrating. But as you start playing the game more and more and unlocking so much more of the toolkit, it's like, holy crap. Like, you can really have everyone's Hornet is going to play just a little bit differently. But, like, it's such a dramatic difference in terms of how you're gonna face off against a boss. And for such a simple moveset, I can't believe how complex it can get over time when you have the different tools and you can just not even use the tools at all and still beat the game. Like, that's crazy. But if you're having a lot of trouble with this type of platforming or this type of combat in boss fights, you have so many different tool sets you can use to change that and make it easier and then switch it out right afterwards. You have to go to the stupid bench, but you can do that. And what I love is anytime you're stuck in the game, you can just go somewhere else and you'll find something that allows you to solve a problem that you have and like it. That is Metroidvania in its truest essence. And you. I've experienced that in some other games, but Hollow Knight is the definite biggest example of. It's not just, oh, I see that, like, cliff that I can't reach right now. I'll be able to eventually because I'm gonna get the cliff jumper ability. And you can do that.
- [85:41]
G
Yeah.
- [85:42]
B
You're just getting random abilities that might help you in a ton of different ways. It feels like nothing is made for one specific use. It's just, you have these tools. How are you going to use the tools? And the fact that I don't have. I beat the game at 89% and there's a bunch of tools I don't have, and those tools might dramatically change the way the game would play for me. That's crazy. Like, that's so nuts that I felt like I experienced so many different things. And even the end game, I'm like, oh, wow. People have this ability for the entire game. That's crazy, Barrett.
- [86:14]
F
Yeah. And just to talk about, like, story and lore stuff, I remember when the Game Awards nominations came out and Silksong wasn't nominated for best narrative, I was like, damn, that's crazy. You hate to see it. I remember so many people in chat being like, damn, another Barrett Allen. That's crazy to me because I think the. What the story does in terms of what it's commenting on, but just the. The personal character stories as well. We talk so much about the Cogwork Dancers and like how great of a boss fight that is and then how heartbreaking of a payoff it is once you go to a certain character's past and learn what the Cogwork Dancers are based off of. Right. I just met the character Loam for the first time, which I know a lot of people talk about of like this poor creature who is essentially making the entire underworks, like, run all that. And running on a treadmill, Running on a treadmill, making the entire like, machine of the heart of the Citadel run. And then, you know, I know this. There's a bit more context about this outside of the game. But like Seth, right, Like Seth is a mini boss that you fight right before one of the. The final bosses. And you learn that this was a character designed by a fan of the game who knew they were going to pass before Silksong came out. And so they like got with the. The design team, designed this character and then they like immortalized him in this game. And then when you beat him, he disappears. And then you realize in the act three kind of areas you can run into him and it's him rediscovering, like life and the world that he is now living in for the rest of time. And like that hits and hit me like a train wreck like that. Like all of the little character arcs I think are so sad. Like, shout out to who's the little Ashima? Right? Like who? It starts off just like just this one kid who thinks all it is is about like just being faithful and then. And where Sherma goes. By the end of it, you're like, damn, that is a full ass character arc. And I've run into you like, you've only had character beats like six times in this entire, like 80 hour natural playthrough. Right. I really adore the character writing and the arcs throughout this game.
- [88:29]
B
Yeah. Can't wait for the dlc. It's gonna be awesome. All right, let's get to our number two.
- [88:37]
C
Number two, Dispatch
- [88:43]
A
for a.
- [88:44]
C
That's a win right there. For a second you let yourself like,
- [88:46]
A
it was like fucking Sammy versus Roman reigns of like, could Dispatch do this? Could have overthrown expedition.
- [88:54]
B
Dispatch, I imagine, is on many of our lists. I had it at number 6.
- [88:58]
C
Oh, plus I had it at number 3.
- [89:01]
A
I had it number 7.
- [89:03]
D
I had it at number 3.
- [89:04]
E
I had a number 5, 10, 8.
- [89:08]
G
Wow.
- [89:08]
B
So this is definitely the one That, I mean it's on all of our list which got it all the way up to number two, even though none of us had it that high on the list. Who wants to kick off with Dispatch
- [89:19]
G
for the future game developers make an eight hour game that's about superheroes.
- [89:25]
B
Greg.
- [89:26]
A
Oh man, what a love letter to the Telltale Games. And then what a fucking generational leap for it, you know what I mean? To see Ad Hoc come out. This be their debut game, but obviously them be Telltale people. Telltale voice actors come out and do this, have Aaron Paul in it, have this amazing cast and have this amazing animation in it and have this great story in it. It. I think the way Dispatch has hit has shocked me. I think we talk so much in the lead up to this, does episodic work in 2026, blah blah, blah, blah blah. And the fact that it has found the fan base it has and resonated with cosplayers and tick tockers and any, you know, it's on all of my feeds anywhere. I look far outside of our normal scope of friends who also love it. Like this game was a very, very, very special story and a very, very special game. I think in the way it did it in the back half of my list it was more that factors. The gameplay itself for me wasn't that great. I didn't love Dispatching and so like I loved the choices and I loved the narrative they were doing. But when I stack it up against other things I wanted to play that I was drawn to go off and really get crazy with. It's a different ball of wax, but an amazing experience.
- [90:36]
B
Mike.
- [90:37]
D
Yeah, I mean as Greg said, I'll echo that. It's a love letter to Telltale games and those games of course we all kind of grew up on and really enjoyed and we were looking for choices that matter, right? Connections that can grow and make for really fun storytelling moments. And for me, I actually really fell in love with the Dispatching and the hacking. I didn't want to walk around in a room and open up drawers similar to the Walking Dead back in the day. And I think this team at Ad Hoc figured that out for me personally was like, hey, this is what I want in 2025. I want the story to be a banger. I want to fall in love with these characters, but I really don't want to walk in circles and search rooms. I just kind of want to focus in on what's going on. And it felt like they did that for me and I really, really Enjoyed that. There's characters that will stick with me to the end. And man, shout out to young Gravy, right? Like, it was just like, just these characters. You're like, who voices that? And you're like, oh, my God, Alana, you're doing an amazing job. Right, jacksepticeye, you're doing a great job. Right, Charlie, Moist, critical. You did a great job. Like, all of these characters were awesome. And you fall in love with your own and you found. You found your own rhythm with the Dispatching minigame and who you relied on the most you loved at the end. Just like all the Telltale games of, like, man, I'm in, like, the 98 percentile of everybody picking the same thing. Or, you know, Tim and G over there, like, we're on 5%, like nobody
- [91:53]
B
else doing what we're doing. And you love that.
- [91:55]
D
Yeah, I played it all in one sitting, actually. I really enjoyed that. I'm not an episodic guy. I want you to give it all to me and I want to binge it. And it was the perfect sit back, relax, and just let this thing run. Never had a problem with it. Really enjoyed all of it.
- [92:08]
B
Right?
- [92:09]
E
Yeah. I had a really special experience playing this game. I played it in New York with my brother. We played it the entire way and we were just not passing the controller around, but we. Every decision was 50, 50 actually had to remote into my work computer to play it because that was the only way I could play it because I didn't have my Steam deck, whatever. So that's the dedication I had for dispatch playing and streaming. It made the hacking impossible, by the way, impossible at the skit. You know, it's horrible, but actually, for me, the thing that pushes it forward is the hat, is the dispatching. The dispatching was the thing that me and my brother were freaking out about every time we were, okay, what do we do? Does water boy go here? Where's invisible? And we're debating it, like, we're debating it more than a lot of the actual choices in the game. So I. That, to me was the surprise I expected to, you know, have the things where, you know, who are you going to choose, what's what, love interest? What are you going to send out this here? You're not gonna. But, like, the actual dispatching was super fun. It was engaging, especially having my brother right next to me. And, yeah, it brought back that feeling of like, oh, man, we're so back. Like, we. Maybe there is a future in the Telltale Formula. Maybe there is a Future in this elevated format that man, ad hoc. They killed it right out the gate and they have this and then they have the. What is the. Who's the team that they're working with?
- [93:17]
B
Critical role.
- [93:18]
E
Yeah, critical role. They have the Critical Role game coming out eventually. So man, super exciting stuff. And just the sleeper hit for me. I did not expect this one to one come out this year and then to be this freaking good. And I love that it's also a shared experience between not only us here at the table, but Greg, as you said, like people outside of every circle, in every circle that I know. Everyone's playing Dispatch, everyone talks about it and it's becoming a new franchise. It's really exciting.
- [93:41]
B
Yeah, I mean, you know, we've touched on this already, but it's like this is one of the rare games I played with Gia and seeing her freak out during the hacking mini games. Like her understanding what's happening and seeing me do it, like the controller was in my hand but she was like engaged with. With that level of gameplay and it's like, damn, this game really pulled something off that every single aspect it's throwing at us like she's paying attention to and caring about. And I think that that's such a testament to what they really succeeded at doing here, which is making the story and characters great. Cool. That's the quote unquote easy part here. But how do you make the gameplay stuff add up to make this a video game and it's not just watching a TV show. And yes, we've seen Telltale before have the. The you're making choices and that affects the. This character will remember this and all that. But for the dispatching to have that level of they're remembering what you're doing, like your gameplay choices there are also going to affect the character relationships and whether you make the hack or not make the hack, all that stuff, like all of it adding to this very clear and easy to follow kind of flowchart of every single thing you're doing in the game actually is going to affect the story is so impressive. And for over a decade now we have talked about the early Telltale games and does episodic still work? Life is strange. All of this of like we've seen even the best in the craft utterly fail. Like I don't know that I can think of a game that actually hit its episodic release plan. Like am I wrong there?
- [95:07]
G
I don't think you're wrong.
- [95:09]
B
Like real talk, let me know in the comments. Has there ever Been an episodic game that actually hit its plan besides Dispatch, and they did it perfectly. And on top of that, this is a story that we have seen on paper too many times recently. All right. It's a superhero story that makes dick jokes and I feel like that could have went so wrong so easily. But this stands up there with the boys and the Invincibles in a different way. And I, I feel like they, they made it human. They. They really focused on the character relationships and because of that, that we now all care about these characters. This is a brand new superhero world and so many just right calls down, down the line. Just check, check, check. Amazing performances, very clever gameplay. Dispatch freaking rules. And I can't wait for more.
- [95:55]
C
Yeah, this is one that I, if I'm going to use the word to describe it for me, be refreshing. Even though there's so many things coming off of what you just said that are kind of iterative. Right? It's superheroes, it's episodic, it's telltale. Choose your own adventure, it's edgy, it's doing all these things, but somehow it brings it all together to still, still feel refreshing. Especially in a. In a year where I keep saying everything is unique, everything is finding its own flavor.
- [96:15]
A
Right?
- [96:15]
C
The fact that I have it above other games that, like Death Straining or like Ian Roger or other games that I would look at as like, oh, these games have something to say. There's something about Dispatch that I think really nails all the things that it's going for. And I think that alone just makes it worth it. Right? That alone just makes it exciting to me. I, I think everything you guys talk about here, as far as the choices that you're making and how invested you get in these characters and like, even the, the, the joke that was made online that, like, I think we referenced an earlier thing of like, Dispatch is Twilight for Men. I think there's something to be said about, like, how much you get invested in that. Like, I remember going back a decade ago talking about Team Jacob versus Team Edward. He's swearing by Team Jacob because of course I'm a dude. Come on. But like, you know, getting into the thing of, like, I don't want to do this or do I want to do, do that.
- [96:59]
B
We're gonna have to dive into that later. Such an obvious actor. Like, that's hilarious.
- [97:04]
C
Oh, yeah. But like, I, I had a pause like multiple times in this game where I'm like, oh, what choice we want to make here? And that's how you make a Good one of these, right? Like every year there's always maybe a couple of these two zero adventure things I. I play. And some get it right. In the case of A Life is strange true colors, some get it wrong.
- [97:18]
E
Like A Life is strange double enclosure, right.
- [97:21]
C
And there's a very thin line of, of succeeding and not succeeding in this space. And they just made every right decision. And I love that they're like, don't walk around. Like, we're not letting, we're not making you walk around to collect things or do whatever. Just play the dispatch game. That's the gameplay part of this. Making the decisions is the gameplay part of this. But we have a art style that works so well for presentation. We have moments in this game that you're gonna remember and love and fall and fall in love with. We have humor here that's gonna hit for you. We have like superhero moments that feel sick as hell. Like, yeah, dude, this game for me does everything that I want this type of game to do.
- [97:56]
B
Anyone else with words on dispatch, I
- [97:58]
E
just going off of like the whole like, I like the fact that it is not just the boys, right. Like when I first saw this, I was like, oh, this is gonna be like, oh, it's like anti superhero. It's the superhero, but everyone's bad. It's like, no, it's like it still has those. Not generic, but like what makes a superhero thing crowd pleasing and exciting and heart, heart. And then also it has some of those swerves that you don't expect and that real office drama that it makes it really fun. So that, to me, I think is the core of what makes this work so well for the larger audience, but also for all of us.
- [98:31]
F
Yeah, I think it's really impressive of like how they kind of do a Guardian story again of just like a team of jackasses coming together and trying to figure it out and still making it refreshing. And I think having it be an office comedy is like a great way to freshen up that formula. And at the end of it, you know, there's a bunch of different endings you can get and, and being really satisfied with my ending and seeing this team be like, you know, coming together in a very like, satisfying, awesome, friendly way that's kind of like a up family. I, I thought I was, you know, surprised, you know, when we reviewed the first three episodes, I was like, I, I'm enjoying this, but I'll be surprised if it really blows me away. And I was shocked at like how much they stuck the landing in the in that like last batch of episodes to, to really make me care and yeah, I just want to shout out the, the dispatching itself I had a great time with because I think similar to the dice rolling stuff in Citizen Sleeper 2 I think. And I would have liked to see this more in dispatch. I think when they do use the dispatching as a way to sell a mood or tone in a point of story I thought was really impressive, especially in those last few episodes.
- [99:40]
C
I still need a challenge mode for the dispatching. Like I want them to connect all the dispatch like moments of gameplay together just so you can do like an endless run.
- [99:47]
F
Try to do a, or like do like like all of the batches together and try to do a perfect run with like no dying or something like that.
- [99:53]
E
Or dispatch 99. We all get in there standing start
- [99:58]
C
causing our own crap.
- [99:59]
E
That's a million dollar idea right there.
- [100:00]
G
Yeah, it's one of those things. Like this game would not have been in my top 10 if it weren't for the sharp comedic writing. I think. I, I, that's the thing that holds it all together for me. And once they nail a couple jokes and you go oh, they're like actually this is like good comedy. They're writing really well here. And I, I appreciate that the writing is so sharp, sharp. But if it didn't stay strong throughout all of it, I, yeah, the story wasn't like necessarily like the most amazing. I think it was like really good still. But. And the gameplay certainly wasn't like awesome or anything for me. But it was like that's the thing keeping me here for all of this journey. And I thought they killed it there.
- [100:36]
B
All right, now it's time for Kind of Funny's game of the year 2025.
- [100:40]
C
Kirby Riders. And Kind of Funny's game of the year is Claire Obscure.
- [100:49]
E
Expedition 33.
- [100:57]
B
There you go. Expedition 33 is our game of the year 2025. With this amazing backdrop that Andy Cortez. Beautiful.
- [101:06]
G
Gotta love it a lot. A lot of wallpaper engine. Shout out to Roger for showing me this Wallpaper engine.
- [101:11]
B
Going down the list here I had Expedition 33 at number one.
- [101:15]
C
Bless at number six.
- [101:16]
B
Greg NR and Mike number one.
- [101:20]
E
Number four.
- [101:22]
G
Number one, number three.
- [101:25]
B
And with that on everyone's list except Greg's gives it the number one spot. Let's start with Andy Cortez.
- [101:33]
G
I mean I just talked about this game for so long so many times. But yeah, man, it's, it's you know, making turn based super fun for me in a way that I didn't expect it to, with how reactive everything is and how skillful things feel, but also having awesome character, awesome, memorable characters with impactful writing and really cool twists and turns that, you know, didn't just feel like they were thrown in there for shock factor, like, stuff that's really earned. And Willy really well plotted out. I just think this game is. This is like. Like I mentioned with Silksong, this to me is like a generational type of game. We will be talking about this game for the rest of gaming history, I think.
- [102:18]
B
Yeah, I mean, honestly, like, I. I totally agree with that. And my top three being Expedition 33, Silksong and Hades 2. I could say that about all of them in different ways. And I really had to sit there and try to decide how I'm. I'm ranking those on my list. And at the end of the day, I put this at number one. Not because I think it's necessarily the best in every single way compared to those two, but I just think that it is the game of the year. It is my game of the year for sure. It is the one that I think about the most that I want to replay. And like, I want to know every single thing about it. Jake Baldino said this months ago and I keep repeating it because, like, it is so true to me that it's rare that I play a game or any type of media, consume it and want just it in every single form. Like, this is the first world in, I don't know, a decade maybe, that I'm like, I. Since I first started watching Game of Thrones that I'm like, like, I love this. I want more. I want. I want comic books. I want. I want books. I want TV shows, I want anime. I want anything from this. Because the sheer fact that they had a vision that they set out for that is so clearly inspired by JRPGs from the 90s and 2000s that they love. And they're like, but how do we do it the way we want to do it? It's just like across the board, just such a impossible task to be this special and pull off off the music, the gameplay, the story, the performances, the visuals, everything backing each other up like, this being an indie game, it's like kind of just every single thing feels unbelievable. And playing it, experiencing it. The amount of conversations I've had with you guys, with my friends, like, there's so much to talk about with this video game. And I think that that, to me makes a game of the year.
- [103:56]
C
Oh, yeah, yeah. I forget exactly the quote. There was, like, some piece of marketing before this game came out, out where it said it was gonna, like, revolutionize JRPGs. And I remember hating that piece of marketing. I hated it more after playing the game because I don't think it revolutionizes the genre. I think it pays so much respect to the genre in ways where I'm like, wow, you guys love JRPGs. I see so much of various JRPGs, right? Like, I see Final Fantasy, I see Persona, right? Like, I even see, like, Mario and Luigi in terms of, like, the Perry mechanics. And there's so much inspiration that's brought into this game. But then I do think that the original flavor, the French flavoring they add to this thing takes it to a new level as far as, like, oh, damn, okay. This is a world that I've not seen before. This is something that feels like it's doing something brand new. And this is a story that I think resonates with people. Or at the very least, even if you've not experienced anything remotely close to what they're talking about in the game, you can still get it. You can. You can still understand it. Whether that be through the story, whether that be through the music, whether that be through the presentation, whether that be through the twists, right? Like. Like, I think there's so much thought put into every facet of what they did with clare of Skir Expedition 33. And there's a reason why multiple people at this, at this desk have it at their number one, let alone the industry at large having it at their number one this year. Incredible game, Mike.
- [105:14]
B
You're the most recent one to have beat this game.
- [105:17]
D
Yeah. What a year for me, right? Final Fantasy 10 into Expedition 33 being my number one game of the year. This ball and gun gamer opened his heart and tried new things, and I was blown away. I had such a journey with this game, and as you guys have really said, this one's gonna stick with me, right? From the story to the art design to the characters, to the just gameplay, it just all worked for me. It was head and shoulders above the rest. When I look back on my year and thought, man, what a fun time, right? It's like I had so much fun going from Final Fantasy 10 and thinking, you know what? I'm good. I played a lot of turn bases here. There's no way that I could play anymore. Like, I'm tapped out. And the moment I turned this on all the way through act number one, I said, man, I can't stop Thinking about this and the, you know, the voice actors carried this, right. Ben Starr and that whole team really did a phenomenal job. This team from France really did something special with the genre. Right. It's like the pictos to the of course counter and Perry mechanic. The map and the open world design being mixed in with these beautifully designed levels that really made you say, ah, wow, this is crazy that I'm here to the boss fights, right? Each boss being so special and cool. I just had an absolute blast with this game and I can't believe in 2025 I'm saying this and you know, looking forward to the next year of like, I can't wait to see what other games I'll give a try and
- [106:42]
B
what I might fall in love with you. Bringing up the boss fights reminds me like one thing I want to shout out with, with the respect and love to old JRPG games. Like the world map here is so beautiful and. And such a great. It's fun to play. It looks so different than the rest of the game, but like old school. Final Fantasy Sickles want the world map back. And I Remember Final Fantasy 10 being my first Final Fantasy. Like the biggest criticism that game had from gamers at that point was where's the world map? Like what I feel like we're taking a step back here and to see it now added here in such a brilliant way is like so impressive. And also just the sheer scale of some of the enemies in this game. Like I remember playing old when I would went back to like Final Fantasy 6 or some of the other final fantasies, like the sense of scale of fighting the bosses always felt wacky because you're little pixels and it's just like the idea of what would this look like? And now we have Final Fantasy 7 remake to kind of have a better idea of like what the different weapons would look like at that size or whatever. But Expedition 33 takes that to such a different scale where it's like you're these little dudes against these massive, massive bosses, but it makes sense. It doesn't feel like you're hitting him with the sword. It's like because they designed the weapons and the magic and everything the way that they did, it's so believable and the way that it's presented is so nuts. Like in early game, you're like walking around, you're fighting some enemies that are very big. And in the distance you see something that is like 15 times as big as the thing that you're fighting and you're like there's no way I'm actually gonna fight that. And you do. And that's not like a big boss moment. It's just an enemy. So. Cool. Cool. Roger.
- [108:10]
A
Yeah.
- [108:10]
B
I.
- [108:11]
E
This is number four on my list. I had such a great time with it. I think this is has to be on the top my list of a replay.
- [108:18]
F
Right?
- [108:18]
E
Like I need to replay this game and I, again, I enjoyed my time a lot. I, I loved where the story was building towards. I didn't love the ending of the game, but again, I need to replay it because every time I see gameplay of it, I'm like, man, I had such a good time. And I'm reminded of that experience and playing it for the first time especially my brother was in town and I'm playing it in front of him and he's like, what the fuck is this game? And then putting him on, he'd never played any type of turn based video game ever. And he looks at me a week later is like, I beat the entire game. Let's talk about it. And having that experience with not just him, multiple people in my life, like, it is such a infectious experience playing Expedition 33 with other people talking about it. And yeah, I cannot wait to play it again because holy shit, I feel like I'm gonna be Goaded at the Paris. You know, I mean, I feel I figured it out. It was a little push and pull, you know, stop and start there, there. But now I'm gonna be goaded. I'm gonna be.
- [109:08]
F
Were you also streaming it across the country?
- [109:10]
C
Like off at the Perry's, but I heard Goaded at the Paris.
- [109:19]
G
It's a weird one. Like I, I don't generally replay a whole lot of video games. You know, Chris Ankin. So Mike, Mike and Maddock and everybody have the joke that I've played Liza P seven times. It's just. I played it a second time to get ready for the dlc. But like, like this was one that I wanted to record for YouTube and I recorded the act one and then I play the rest of it. Not recording it and because I was playing it for review and the game hadn't come out yet and was just so enamored with it. I think like my number one love language is I love showing people that I love. And I had just beaten it. We reviewed it and I was like, I'm gonna replay everything again because I want people to see how amazing. And it's like, like I don't do that. And like I, I was there for another 40 hours. Playing the rest of. From the start of Act 2 until the. The rest of the video game, doing extra that I didn't do the first time, which was also super beneficial. And I think when I reviewed it, I was like, this is an 8 out of an 8.5 out of 10. Like, this is an amazing, like, really close to, like, an amazing video game. And when I beat it, I was like, when I beat it for the second time, after seeing all the little subtle hints that they were dropping the whole time at you and. And recognizing those things while also doing extra stuff that helped out and really bolstered the story even more and character arcs even more. Like, this is a masterpiece. This is. Yeah, this should have been a 10 out of 10 for me. My bad on that one.
- [110:42]
B
Barrett, any thoughts on Expedition 33?
- [110:45]
F
Yeah, something I don't think we give enough credit to is just how in depth each character's specific moveset is and how detailed that is and how much, like, in the weeds you can get with Everett. Like, it's been a mitt since I've played the game. So, like, like the. The woman with the cards and like, finding out her flow and then Luna's flow of trying to fill in all of the different corners of her weird little floating thing and, you know, finding builds for every single character, not just the team set. I thought was really fun and satisfying to kind of break this game in really, really fun ways. And then also like, like it. I remember when we first started playing this game, when we got review code or maybe even preview. I forget, but I remember being maybe almost halfway through and kind of having this click moment of realizing what the game is maybe going to be about on a grander scale and thinking to myself, man, this is a really weird game to come out six months after Metaphor Refantasio and kind of being right about that and like, what they're talking about in terms of. Of, you know, existential thoughts, but then also talking about art and the importance of art and all this stuff that I, I really, I. I love that they. There are similar things that they're commenting on, but having a different perspective of that. Like, for me, like, the. An exciting part of why I love this game was having it so soon after Metaphor and having these different conversations and thinking to myself, like, were these teams getting, like, coffee together? And like, talking about, like, game design and, you know, story design and all this stuff? I really with it. But yeah, and you know what? Shout out to Act 3. Too much hate on Act 3. I think it really ties it all together.
- [112:33]
G
I agree. Yeah. Great dialogue, great writing, and phenomenal performances. Like Mike mentioned earlier, I thought, like, the whole. The whole cast just makes it so believable. And these characters feel so, so real and their experiences are feel so genuine and experienced. Like, when they tell you their stories and then you get to the end of their arcs, it's like, oh, that is so earned and I love you even more than I did before. Like, this is fantastic.
- [112:59]
B
So that is kind of Funny's top 10 game of the year 2025 list. I'm sure everybody agrees wholeheartedly with our list, so please let us know if that is correct. Before we leave for today. I do want to let everybody know, of course. The rest of this week, we're going to be doing gamescast with different combinations of us going over our personal top 10 list so we can talk about the games that didn't make the group's top 10. I'm sure there are many, many, many of them. But before we leave today, we have a bunch of fun stats that we want to get.
- [113:28]
G
Love.
- [113:28]
A
This is my favorite section, so.
- [113:30]
B
So Barrett, hit us.
- [113:31]
F
Welcome to boss baby stat corner. We've got point breakdowns for the top 10. We've got some fun facts and stats for you, and we've got the official honorable mention for kind of fun, kind of funniest game of the year list for 2020, 25. The first thing we'll go through is our point breakdown for the top 10. See a lot of people in chat, you know, doing it live in real time and all that stuff. But let me give an official breakdown for you going into this year just as a little precursor here. I was really worried about ties. I remember even coming to Andy a couple months ago of like, what are we going to do if there's a million ties on this list? Granted, only had two, which is kind of the same that it's been the last couple years. But you'll understand how, like, why I was so nervous and kind of being validated on how nervous I was about ties when we start getting into the bottom half of this list and how tight everything was together. So number 10 and Roger coming in with 11 points, which was the barrier to entry here. Ghost of yote at number nine, came in with.
- [114:34]
A
I should have known better.
- [114:36]
F
Ghost of yote coming in at number nine with 12 points. Elden Ring Night rain and skate. Early access coming in at number eight. Say it with me, everybody. 13 points. Citizen sleeper two star ward vector coming in at number seven. Say it with me. Everybody 14 points. And then death stranding two on the beach, and donkey Kong bonanza at number six.
- [114:56]
C
One last time.
- [114:57]
F
Everybody 15 points. So the bottom half of this list, all within a, what, 4.5 point margin of each other. And it really just like. Like if one thing was different, if
- [115:10]
C
one of us wakes up on the left side of the bed instead of the right side of the bed, this
- [115:13]
F
whole list looks different. Exactly. So we might have a fun anecdote about that at the end.
- [115:17]
E
Okay, yeah, I'll leave that there.
- [115:19]
F
So then we get to the top five where we start to see a bit more hand holding between each other and we start to get a bit more breathing room with these point breakdowns. So Blueprints coming in at number five. Came in with 19 points. So we start to see a little bit. Bit of distance there. Hades 2 coming in at number four with 23 points. Hollow Knight Silk Song came in at third place with 28 points. And Dispatch came in at number two with a solid 35 points. That's another piece of bet. I won. Blessing guess that Hollow Knight Silksong will come in at number two. And I had a feeling it wouldn't because I knew. I had the feeling. I was like, it's only going to be me, Andy and Tim fighting for it.
- [115:59]
B
Punks. Five punks.
- [116:00]
F
No. Don't I get to decide or do they get to decide?
- [116:03]
D
We're having pizza. Pizza bets work. You buy that guy.
- [116:09]
C
So. Yeah.
- [116:10]
A
For the person, though. Every day. For the whole office.
- [116:12]
C
Yeah.
- [116:13]
F
Like, don't I get the pizza? Anyways, not the most surprising, that Claire Obscure Expedition 33 One Game of the year for. Kind of funny. It's winning game of the year for almost every other game. Goddamn outlet.
- [116:25]
G
Yeah. I started the graphic like a month ago.
- [116:29]
E
Did you accidentally put it in Assets? Yeah.
- [116:33]
C
Did you?
- [116:34]
E
He put it in Assets and I
- [116:35]
C
got the notification immediately.
- [116:36]
E
Deleted. I'm like, I hope no one saw that.
- [116:38]
A
It was a shocker.
- [116:40]
B
Was there any. Any shot it wasn't? Like, what was the points there for Expedition?
- [116:43]
D
So.
- [116:44]
F
And I. I know people are probably wondering how big of a sweep was it for Claire Obscure? How much of a point difference was that there between one and two? You know, was it a Ragnarok year where Ragnarok won by 30 points? Was it a Zelda year or. Zelda won, I believe by 20 points? It got close, but not quite.
- [117:02]
C
Clara obscure.
- [117:03]
F
Expedition 33 came in at number one with a solid 50 points. So a 15 point difference. So not as wide of a margin between one and two, as we've seen in the past, I think Ragnarok still undefeated in that category. This is the lowest scoring number one since Ratchet and Clank Rift apart, I
- [117:23]
G
believe put Ragnarok in this year, though. I mean, come on, it's like number six, maybe.
- [117:27]
E
All right, all right.
- [117:29]
F
Yeah, I believe last year astrobot won with 52 points. I forget what Zelda and Ragnarok did, but they were both pretty high. And then Ratchet and Clank still our lowest winning game of the year with 41 points. And that will still probably be the type of is voting between number one and two, because I think Ratchet won by one point over Returnal. Definitely one of those. They were all within two points of each other. It was Returnal was number two, Melissa
- [117:58]
A
with a Y in the chat. Kind of funny. Favorite game of all time,
- [118:03]
E
never forget.
- [118:04]
F
So with that, then we get into some fun facts, some fun stats. People were already pointing this out. Third year in a row we've had 12 games make it onto our Game of the year list. But seven of those 12 games were indie games. And the entire top five, as you see here, come in all shapes, different shapes and sizes were all indie games. Which is a first for a kind of fun Game of the year list. Another first we have Dispatch Breaks a trend. Typically, if there is a game that is on everybody's list that votes for Game of the Year, it does win Game of the Year. As we've seen with with Ratchet and Clank, God of War, Ragnarok and Astrobot. This is the first year ever where Dispatch was on all of our lists, but did not make the number one spot. Coming in at number two. And Roger is now also the lowest score, lowest scoring, number 10 game coming in with 11 points. I think that might have beaten last year. Yeah, Black Ops 6 and Tekken 8 were tied with 12 points last year. So very low barrier of entry there. Another fun stat for you. Blueprint shares this stat actually with last year's Elden Ring, Shadow of the Erdtree. Those are the highest games on the list, only being voted on twice. So last year, Shadow the Erdtree tied with Prince of Persia, but Shadow of the Erdtree was only voted on twice. Same with this year Blueprints coming in at number five with only Blessing and I I voting for it. So then we get to the last. Not even fun stat or fun fact or anything. Let's talk about a saga. The voting drama saga, as some of you know, you know, voting for Game
- [119:47]
B
of the Year like, who, who's the problem here? You know, I love it could be any of you. I know it's not, you know who's the problem, but it could be any of you three.
- [119:56]
E
Okay.
- [119:56]
C
I didn't do anything.
- [119:58]
F
Yeah, I would actually give Roger the benefit of the doubt here. You know, for those who don't know, game of the year for kind of funny voting opens on our last day in office in 2020 or of the year. So I think that was December 19th or 20th around there. And then voting ends the first day we come back in office. So this year that was January 2nd. That was the day we came in office to really prep for kind of funny day. And voting is you is due at 3pm on the last day of voting. And I knew there was going to be a prep problem on January 2nd. We all came together. We were kind of like doing a mini production meeting, figuring out KF day, what we still needed to do. And I said, hey, reminder for everybody who votes for game of the year, your votes are due by 3pm today. And I knew there was going to be a problem when one snowbike Mike uttered under his breath, oh, like he hasn't done this for the last five years.
- [120:53]
G
I was planning for Monday.
- [120:55]
F
That's never how it worked, Mike. So, you know, voting slowly comes through.
- [121:01]
A
It's not like there's a meeting every week where we go over this.
- [121:03]
F
Yeah, exactly.
- [121:05]
G
Like, oh, I haven't done that.
- [121:07]
F
Yeah, exactly. And so voting comes through. Voting's due by 3pm and at 1 point, actually to Mike's credit, I think it was around like 12:30, all of the votes came through and I was like, oh, okay, all right. An hour goes by and I get a slack message from Mike. It's like, chabroni, please, I'm begging. I know you say once we vote we can't change our vote, but it's still before 3pm Please, for the love of God.
- [121:32]
E
I forgot about a game.
- [121:34]
F
I forgot about a game. I need to fix my list. Mikey, what game did you forget about that you'll talk about on your personal list later this week?
- [121:41]
D
Baby steps.
- [121:43]
F
This forgot about baby steps.
- [121:45]
E
Yeah, it's a big one to forget.
- [121:47]
D
It's gotta be on there. It's got to be on there.
- [121:48]
G
Gotta recognize it.
- [121:50]
F
So before Mike changed his vote, I, if I remember correctly, I think there was one tie on this list. Mike changed his vote. There was not one tie. There were not two ties. There were three ties and one of them was a three way tie. Oh, and I Was thinking to myself, this sucks. You know, I, I with ties, it's a fun way to celebrate more gains. But I'm thinking about the chat who already cries about ties every year. And I'm like, a three way tie, which hasn't happened since 2020 when only four people voted on game of the year. It's gonna melt people's brains. And then also like, Andy came up with a solution for ties on the front desk a couple of years ago. Looks great. Try to get three games into a slot. I was like, this is gonna look like.
- [122:37]
G
It was a tough, it was a tough graphic. You asked me to do it.
- [122:41]
F
And I was worried about it months ago. I was like, I have a feeling it might happen. Can you make a mockup of what a three way tie would look like? And it looked kind of stupid. And so I was like, sorry, Andy.
- [122:51]
G
No, I mean, I did my best. I agree it looks stupid. The games look so tiny.
- [122:54]
A
Yeah, that's not a commentary on Andy. How you going to use a call?
- [122:57]
F
And so it's just like, all right, well this is the list. And the one strict rule I have is that I'm not allowed to change my own list once I see someone else's because I'm the only one who sees the results here.
- [123:08]
E
Yeah.
- [123:08]
F
So it's like, all right, like I, I got to play it where it lies.
- [123:11]
B
Ties.
- [123:12]
F
And so I started and mainly the reason why I have people not resubmit is mainly for asset sake. Once I start, you know, finalizing these assets, I don't want to have to go back and redo a bunch of things once I start locking things in. But that three way tie and having three ties on the, the top 10, I was like, fuck, man, this sucks. But then one night, a glowing star from the heavens came down in the form of a text message from one Andy Cortez. And he said again, jabroni. He didn't say Jabroni. He doesn't talk like Mike like that. He said, yo, I know you say no resubmission.
- [123:51]
A
Jesus Christ.
- [123:52]
G
I said what? I said what if. I said what if I messed up my list?
- [123:58]
F
So the credit I will give to Andy, because Andy, while we can assume what game of the year is going to be and we pre make a lot of these assets before, like voting even comes through, you know, he doesn't see the rest of the list. He doesn't know the situation I'm in on the back end. He's just like, hey, I was trying to keep a game off of my List because I thought it was early access.
- [124:18]
G
But someone.
- [124:20]
F
Someone pointed out to me that it's not actually early access. So I would like to fix my list.
- [124:24]
G
And what.
- [124:25]
F
What game was that, Andy, that the king is watching?
- [124:27]
G
Yeah, number eight gave it all the list. I thought it was early access this whole time. Chad was like, no, Andy, it's not like I'm looking, right? I was like, no, I'm pretty sure.
- [124:36]
A
Didn't they just put DLC out?
- [124:37]
G
Well, like, I just thought that was like, update. Every other early access has their road map or whatever. And I'm looking at. And I was like, oh, my God, you're right.
- [124:44]
B
Holy.
- [124:45]
G
So I text him. I was like, look, if it things up, don't worry about it. I. I'll leave it off the list. Don't worry about it. Like, I know this is three days late. And then Barrett replied with, I'll allow it because it helps out. Because
- [125:01]
F
I did some mental math and I was like, oh, this would knock off one of the three way or one of the three ties. And then it would break up Ghosts of Yotei from being tied with Night Rain and skate early access. And I thought about. And I made that final decision so I wouldn't melt Chat's brain with a three way tie. And then to also think about assets and how annoying it would be to make a three way tie.
- [125:22]
E
So it's okay when Andy does it, but not when Mike does it. That's crazy.
- [125:24]
G
Well, it helped the situation, you know.
- [125:25]
F
Well, Mike fucked it and then Andy unfucked it.
- [125:28]
B
Exactly.
- [125:29]
F
And I will say, after Mike resubmitted his list, I did go to him and I looked him in the eye and I said, I'm just gonna be straight with you. You've made my life a headache. And I'm actually really annoyed. And he looks at me with a smile on a. On his face, glimmer in his eye, and he says, barrett, I couldn't ask for anything more. And then just walked away. And I was like, all right, man. I. I guess that that's. That's my life. But I. I made the executive decision on that. And maybe I'll talk a little bit more about that process on tomorrow's Greg way, which you can get on patreon.com kind of funny where I'll talk about game of the year process, you know, the executive decision I had to make this year when it came to resubmitting votes and all that stuff, which is always a little daunting when it's only me who's like kind of making the decision at the end of the day because I want to surprise surprise the rest of you with the list. But that gets us to our honorable mention, which was a tie originally on our top 10 games and because I made assets for it.
- [126:31]
G
Here you go.
- [126:34]
C
Octopath Traveler 0 and.
- [126:39]
E
And who's it?
- [126:40]
G
Kirby Air Rider.
- [126:43]
A
You too.
- [126:44]
B
Wait.
- [126:45]
E
Fuck me. How?
- [126:47]
C
It's not a top 10 game.
- [126:48]
B
That's not on my list.
- [126:48]
C
That's not a top 10.
- [126:49]
E
Kirby Air riders is my game of the year.
- [126:51]
B
Shut up, Roger.
- [126:52]
D
No way.
- [126:53]
A
Strong Octopath and Kirby fans unite. We've been quiet too long this episode.
- [126:58]
E
I feel like I was invited to a party by one person and one person I knew left the party. That's what happened here is I was like, oh, man. Definitely. This is gonna be number 10. I'm sure Tim or maybe bless having a number 10 around there. I put a number one. None of you guys put it there. What the is going on here? We're gonna have a blood B tomorrow. We're going to have a conversation with between Tim Bless and myself because it's going to be a reckoning because Kirby Air Riders is the game of the year.
- [127:22]
C
I don't think I will stand by that.
- [127:23]
E
No bit nothing. This game is perfect. Holy.
- [127:26]
G
I thought when you put.
- [127:29]
F
Yeah, Rick.
- [127:29]
C
I thought.
- [127:30]
G
I thought when you put Rick on the list, like, yeah, that's the recognition I'll give it.
- [127:34]
E
No, I was ready to talk about today.
- [127:36]
C
So funny.
- [127:38]
E
Let me tell you. The amount of of I. When we were going through a 10, nine, eight, I was like, like, oh, man.
- [127:42]
G
Number seven.
- [127:44]
E
I was made about number four. About number three, I gave up.
- [127:48]
A
I was like, I like about number three.
- [127:51]
C
That's where you gave up, dog.
- [127:56]
A
I am so mad at Andy. Andy Cortez is the man who earns my ire because a few weeks ago when we started thinking, he was like, hey, let me log into your steam. I need to grab Octopath Traveler assets. And I was like, oh, it's no way.
- [128:09]
G
It's on the list.
- [128:09]
A
He's like, like, we're so spread out this year. You're. You've been so vocal. It's your number one. Ten points might get it done. So I had that twinkle in my eye of like. I'm like, maybe 10 so. And Roger popped up and I was trying to figure out the math, but I couldn't do it quick enough. And when we got to yote, I'm like, I'm fucked. This ain't Happening.
- [128:25]
C
Yeah, Roger, I have my top 20 written down. Kirby air rider is not even close. Wow.
- [128:28]
E
We're going to have a conversation tomorrow.
- [128:29]
G
If skate wasn't a tigreg, it would have been the graphic of you with the skateboard that had the ghostbusters on it. But since it's in that know, I appreciate that.
- [128:36]
A
Thank you for it.
- [128:37]
B
Roger's a gamer, man.
- [128:39]
G
I'm a gamer, bro.
- [128:40]
E
It changed my life.
- [128:41]
G
I really thought that Kim helped no get honorable mention.
- [128:45]
F
Yeah.
- [128:45]
E
Like, I mean this with a bullet. With a bullet, bro. Easy. Look at Expedition 33. I say get away from me.
- [128:52]
G
Get out of here. I love that person.
- [128:54]
B
Wow. That is number one.
- [128:57]
E
Number one changed my life.
- [128:58]
G
That's awesome.
- [128:59]
B
Love that.
- [129:00]
A
Changed my life.
- [129:00]
E
Changed my life.
- [129:02]
G
That also, you know, this was the first year that I. I'm like, all right, no early access last year. I've had Hades 2 and Thing. But it's like, this is the year I want to like make that rule for myself after hearing other people make that rule for themselves. Like, I want to do the same thing, but not dlc because lies of P Overture. That's new.
- [129:21]
F
That's new content.
- [129:22]
G
Real high up on my list.
- [129:23]
C
I think that was top 15 for me.
- [129:24]
F
And that was another reason why I allowed it for you because it didn't feel like a. Oh, I forgot about this. Like, you were trying to make a point. And then, you know, it was like, oh, you made that point for no reason. So I was like, yeah, that's also. This was before I became Barrett Parentheses Evil. I was like, you know what? I'm. You know, I'll allow it. Just because you were trying really hard.
- [129:43]
G
King was watching.
- [129:44]
B
Yeah.
- [129:44]
F
You got so far.
- [129:45]
A
He was watching.
- [129:47]
B
I. I thought that the number 11 was going to be Shinobi. I thought Shinobi would have made more people's lists kind of in that back end because it was my number nine was on anyone.
- [129:56]
G
My 15.
- [129:57]
B
Wow.
- [129:57]
F
Yeah. You're the only one who voted for it, Tim. It was really close for me.
- [130:01]
B
It's crazy.
- [130:02]
A
Chris, Hank in the chat. Oh, surprise, surprise. Andy brings up Liza P. Later said dumbs cute.
- [130:08]
F
Well, shout out to Shinobi. That is like some of the most fun I've had in terms of an action game this year for sure.
- [130:13]
E
And shout out Kirby
- [130:17]
B
while we're here,
- [130:20]
F
buddy.
- [130:20]
B
Here. Oh, man. Like I was saying, the rest of this week will be games cast of all of our personal top tens getting into every single game on the list, whether they're on this group list or not kind of given more thoughts on everything. Thank you so much for hanging out with us. If you haven't seen the smileys, go check it out. Last week we did an awesome show kind of celebrating video games from a bunch of different perspectives. Giving it out a bunch of awards to games and to my mic. And you're going to want to see all of those because they're a lot of fun. Andy, did you edit all those clips together?
- [130:51]
G
Yeah, I need to. I want to re upload somewhere something happened. Things. It was. The whole video was fucked up. So sorry about that. But it was. The message got across for sure.
- [131:03]
B
Thank you all for hanging out with us. This has been another kind of funny game of the year. Greg Miller.
- [131:07]
A
More importantly though, don't go anywhere.
- [131:10]
E
Yes.
- [131:10]
A
Up next is kind of Future episode two of the Greg Miller regime. And you're going to like the prize, I guarantee it.
- [131:19]
B
He guarantees it. Everybody, thank you for hanging out with us. Watch Kind of Beauty. Love you all. Goodbye.
- [131:29]
D
Monster Energy. Everybody knows White Monster Zero Ultra. That's the OG it kicked off this whole zero sugar energy drink thing. But Ultra is a whole lineup now. You've got Strawberry Dreams, Blue Hawaiian Sunrise and Vice Guava. And they all bring the Monster Energy punch.
- [131:47]
C
So if you've been living in the
- [131:48]
A
White can branch out.
- [131:50]
D
Ultra's got a flavor for every vibe and every single one is Zero Sugar.
- [131:55]
C
Tap the banner to learn more.
- [131:58]
D
Are you dreaming of the perfect prom?
- [132:00]
A
But there's just one thing holding you back.
- [132:04]
F
Speak English, Mom.
- [132:05]
G
Welcome to Ethnosync Ethnic Cosmic Modification. What is this place?
- [132:09]
A
We help you reach your true potential.
- [132:13]
C
How are you feeling?
- [132:15]
F
It's good to be white.
- [132:17]
G
Hey, new girl.
- [132:18]
A
Hey.
- [132:18]
F
Look at what you've done to yourself. For a new plant to grow, the
- [132:22]
G
seed has to die. Slanted. Rated R Only in theaters March 13th.
- [132:27]
F
Side effects may occur.