Reflecting on 2025’s Best Games Ahead of GOTY

Summary

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The Besties: "Reflecting on 2025’s Best Games Ahead of GOTY"

Hosts: Chris Plante, Griffin McElroy, Justin McElroy, Russ Frushtick
Date: November 21, 2025

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Overview

This episode is a candid and chaotic preamble to Game of the Year (GOTY) season, as Chris, Griffin, Justin, and Russ debate the wild, crowded, and divisive landscape of 2025’s video games. Instead of making finished rankings, the Besties reflect on their personal favorites, grapple with the lack of consensus, and encourage each other to invest time in each other’s weird personal picks before the big deliberations. The crew discusses accessibility issues, genre fatigue, and how their individual tastes are increasingly at odds amidst an onslaught of niche and high-quality games.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Fractured Year: No Runaway Favorites

• Atypical GOTY Landscape: The hosts unanimously agree 2025 is among the most fractured years in their memory — no consensus "front-runner" and lots of personal cult favorites.
  • Griffin: "I feel like every single game on my top 10 list is one like a niche indie game [...] There's not a consolidated agreed upon victor." (07:20)
• Genre and Accessibility Barriers: The year is defined by strong, divisive games often made inaccessible due to genre specifics or actual accessibility failures (e.g., colorblind-unfriendly puzzles in "Blueprint").
• Sequel Glut: Several beloved series (Lonely Mountains, Citizen Sleeper, Like a Dragon, Monster Hunter) saw less-memorable follow-ups early this year, quickly forgotten or overshadowed. (07:49)

2. Personal "Ledges": Individual Picks That Probably Won't Win

• Justin’s Ledge: “Moroi” — A weird, barely-reviewed action-puzzle game no one else played (09:56).
• Griffin’s Ledge: “Deltarune Chapters 3 & 4” — Exceptional, but hard to consider for GOTY since it’s incomplete and episodic (11:13).
• Ross’s Ledge: “Baby Steps” — Not mainstream GOTY material but deeply satisfying for him. Griffin agrees, vowing to give it more time (13:32).
• Plant’s Ledge: “100 Line” — Great narrative, but the tactical gameplay proved insurmountable for some of the crew, leading to wishful thinking about a "Most Time Invested in a Game I Couldn’t Enjoy" award (14:52).

3. Accessibility, Exclusion, and Critic Fatigue

• The hosts lament Blueprint’s colorblind accessibility issues, stringing out its GOTY chances (06:18).
• Justin and Griffin voice frustration with high-profile games like Kingdom Deliverance 2 and Avowed for being genre or theme-specific, failing to grab everyone even if critics or awards bodies love them (16:10, 34:02).
• Justin brings up his increased pickiness due to carpal tunnel, noting it changes his gaming habits and his threshold for sticking with a game (38:44).

4. The Dilemma with Sequels and Early Access

• Hades II is dissected: the Besties admire it, but early access burnout dampened their enthusiasm for the 1.0 release. Ross: "Hades 2 feels like 20% better Hades 1. To me, that doesn't necessarily feel like a sequel." (29:10)
• Similar conundrums exist for Deltarune, Moonlighter 2, and even Death Stranding 2 — great games, but tricky to weigh against new or more innovative titles (32:12; 50:07).
• Ross on Death Stranding 2: "It's a fantastic game. I beat it. That was one of the few games I beat this year and I was really blown away by it." (32:06)

5. "Homework Games": The Push to Explore Each Other's Obsessions

• The crew encourages one another to play ledge picks and overlooked gems before actual GOTY voting (46:42).
• Specific games identified for "everyone needs to play": Baby Steps, Clover Pit, Blueprints (when colorblind mode arrives), Expedition 33.
• Justin: "We gotta start... We gotta get some accountability going here." (46:32)

6. Steam Hardware Announcements (Valve News)

• Quick take on three new Valve hardware announcements: Steam Machine (console-like PC), Steam Controller, and Steam Frame (VR/streaming device) (55:56).
• Griffin is most intrigued by Steam Frame: "The Steam Frame is the thing I am most looking forward to." (57:10)
• Justin sees these as a strategic move against Microsoft’s floundering hardware ambitions (61:09).

7. Honorable Mentions and Recent Obsessions

• Morsels: Griffin describes losing a night to this Toejam & Earl-esque, Nuclear Throne-inspired shooter, "ensorceled" by its chaos (64:08).
• Bride & Mate: Justin plugs a spicy supernatural romance novel duology (66:14).
• Pokemon Legends Za: Russ shares kid-gaming stories (67:07).
• Birdcage: Christopher touts it to shmup lovers—“it is really something special.” (64:08)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Griffin, on genre-tired fatigue:
  "I like a lot of what that game's putting down. And then I also don't like a pretty big fundamental part of it." (15:50) (re: 100 Line)

• Plant, on 2025 feeling like dating apps:
  "This year has felt like what I've always imagined the dating apps is, which I'm getting eights and nines out of tens every other week everywhere. And then I'm like, but you know what I bet? I bet the next one's even better..." (36:54)

• Ross, on "Baby Steps":
  "It just has some of the most memorable moments over the year ... I just really adored it." (14:08)

• Justin, on sequels' diminished impact:
  "Hades 2 feels like 20% better Hades 1. And to me, that doesn't necessarily feel like a sequel." (29:10)

• Griffin, summing up the year’s chaos:
  "I don't know why I didn't like that game more. And that could maybe be the tagline for 2025." (36:22)

• Justin, on the critic’s urge for novelty:
  "You cross crave the difference, you crave the friction, which I think is fun." (40:31)

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Selected Timestamps for Key Segments

• [06:18] Accessibility woes and "Blueprint" discourse
• [09:56] Justin introduces Moroi as his outlier favorite
• [11:13] Griffin's dilemma over Deltarune Chapters 3 & 4 in GOTY talks
• [13:32] Baby Steps love-in and discussion of its unique appeal
• [16:10] Host rift over the medieval realism of Kingdom Deliverance 2
• [29:10] Breakdown of why Hades II isn’t clicking the same way
• [32:06] Ross’s praise for Death Stranding 2 as a “hit it out of the park” sequel
• [34:02] Grappling with Avowed's forgettability and the exhaustion of the open-world formula
• [36:54] Plant’s dating-app analogy for relentless “almost great” games
• [38:44] Justin describes carpal tunnel’s impact on his gaming and critiquing habits
• [55:56] Valve hardware segment begins (Steam Machine, Steam Controller, Steam Frame)
• [64:08] Honorable mentions: Birdcage, Morsels, and more

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Recurring Themes and Tone

The episode is irreverent, reflective, and just a bit overwhelmed. There's a sense of professional exhaustion, endless variety, fractured consensus, and gentle ribbing about each other’s obscure tastes and gaming “homework.” It’s a love letter to a year where, for once, there truly is “something for everyone”—and perhaps nothing for everyone.

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Conclusion

The Besties are sliding into GOTY deliberations without a clear champion, instead facing a daunting, delightful mountain of wildly diverse candidates. With overstuffed lists, genre burnouts, accessibility hurdles, and almost no consensus, the hosts are determined to dig deeper, give each other’s cult picks a fair shot, and keep the annual tradition—friendly arguments and surprise love letters to weird games—alive. As ever, the world’s best friends are struggling to pick the world’s best game—and maybe, this year, that’s exactly how it should be.

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Next week: "Poyo, baby" — Kirby Air Riders gets the spotlight, along with more “resties” and ongoing GOTY prep.

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Transcript

[Justin McElroy]

We were running behind cause of your tech issues, Russ. So we don't have time for a cold open today. So if you could just hit me with like a one liner. That really nothing. That's like a conversation starter, but just like an observation.

[Griffin McElroy]

Sure, sure, yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Just like a one sentence sort of. Just hit me with it.

[Ross Frostic]

Give peace a chance.

[Justin McElroy]

Okay. And here's the show.

[Griffin McElroy]

I never. I'd never thought about that way before us. That was huge for me.

[Ross Frostic]

It kind of opened your mind a little bit, right?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, a little bit.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

You came up with that.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's good shit, man.

[Ross Frostic]

That's me. That's all me.

[Justin McElroy]

Russ. Kind of makes you think, doesn't it?

[Ross Frostic]

Imagine all the people.

[Justin McElroy]

Hey, man, you are turning me around today.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, dude. You're making me want to go out, bang a pot out my window for doctors right now, dude.

[Justin McElroy]

Thank you.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

For two weeks.

[Ross Frostic]

And then we forget.

[Justin McElroy]

My name is Justin McElroy and I know the best games of the week.

[Griffin McElroy]

My name is Griffin McElroy. I know the best games of the year.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

My name is Christopher Thomas Plant and I know the best game of the week.

[Ross Frostic]

My name is Ross Frostic. I know the best game of the week.

[Justin McElroy]

Welcome to the Besties, where we talk about the latest and greatest in home interactive entertainment. It's like a video game club that just by listening to you become a member, a proud member. This year we're going to be taking a look at the year in gaming, sharing a very personal our personal journeys, our personal stories of the year before we trounce all over that and really are disrespectful of each other's opinions and thoughts. When the game of the year rankings beginning.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, yeah. No. This is our chance to talk about how hard this job is. And not a lot of game critic people are brave enough to do that. But sometimes, sometimes Tears of the Kingdom comes out and you're like easy street. And sometimes a million good games of a million disparate genres come out and then it's.

[Ross Frostic]

You're like, I wish I was in a coal mine right now, for Christ's sake. At least they have slurred companions.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, sure, dude. At least then I'd get a bird.

[Justin McElroy]

We'll be right back after this.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

This episode is supported in part by Fangamer. Fangamer designs and sells apparel, toys, books and more for many of your favorite video games. Fangamer's products are mostly designed in house, and most orders are lovingly packed and shipped from their main office and warehouse in Tucson, Arizona. And true story I wrote a profile of the Fangamer folks way back at the beginning of Polygon. Lovely people. Also humongous fans of Earthbound, but they do stuff with all sorts of games. They publish physical games for several indie titles such as Hollow Knight, Stardew Valley, Undertale, even kind of weirder stuff like Pizza Tower. Fengamer sells a variety of shirts, books, plush toys and other merchandise for a bunch of games including Balatro Elden Ring, Metal Gear, Helldivers, Tales of Mystery, Ace Attorney, Homestar Runner, Neopets, and so much more. I have been picking up stuff from Fangamer for longer than I can remember. But some stuff that I recently got that I love that include a throw blanket that's designed like a crime scene, an adorable crime scene in the Ace Attorney games. I also picked up a vinyl set that is the Four Seasons of Stardew Valley spread across multiple records. It is absolutely sick. Small little stuff here I recommend, like if you are thinking about getting some, you know, Secret Santa stuff, the plush toys are absolutely on point. There is one that's a sans plush from Undertale. There's a pyramid head from Silent Hill. Really brights up your day. Like that's. That's what they trade in. They trade in the cute stuff. I love it. I think that you will love it and that is why I want to give you a heads up, fan gamers. Black Friday sale. It is live right. Right now and it runs until Tuesday, December 2nd. So check out fangamer.com forward/vestis to check out our personal recommendations from all four of us. Get discounts on some of the items, free shipping on US orders and more. This is a special collab, so really go check it out. That is Fangamer.com forward/besties.

[Justin McElroy]

Guys. This device, speaking of the best of the year, the Atari game Station Go has a Jaleelico. I was realizing, I don't know how to say this, guys.

[Griffin McElroy]

How would you say. I would say Jaleco because it sounds like Jaleel and. Yeah, that's just kind of where the root word of Jalecovision.

[Justin McElroy]

No, we're gonna talk about an unorthodox year in video games. I think it's a very diverse year in terms of releases, I think. And I wanna see where you guys are at with 2025.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

You go ahead.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's just fucked, gang.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

This year this goatee has been fucked since Jump street. Just to lay out a few examples. And we've talked about some of this stuff already. Blueprint is in my Top. It's top three. It's fighting for tops. I know that there are other people on the call who very much enjoyed it and yet one person on the call has been unable to play it because of frankly pretty astonishingly bad oversight of accessibility.

[Ross Frostic]

To be fair, it wasn't an oversight. They did know even at launch that they needed it, but they still have not included it. I do have an update on that front, for what it's worth.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, do you?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yes.

[Ross Frostic]

So just to bring people up to speed, Blueprints, first person puzzle game that came out earlier this year has a lot of puzzles in it. Some of the puzzles involve colors in some way. Me being colorblind, I can't do those puzzles with any sort of effectiveness. Jason Schreier has recently spoken to the developer of Blueprints and they are putting at the release of the colorblin thing into sometime in 2026. So it is still coming.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, but it's not gonna be the year. For the purposes of our discussing what the best video game release of 2025 is, that's going to do us no good at all. And then there's stuff like, I don't know, man, like Expedition 33 is one of my games of the year and that is a 60 to 70 hour long French JRPG that not a lot of people here are gonna have time for.

[Ross Frostic]

It's the French part that really is. I don't have to have time for.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's not the end. It's probably the 60 to. It's just wild. I feel like every single game on my top 10 list is one like a niche indie game and there's not really a two to that. I don't know why I said one and I don't know, it just feels like there's not a consolidated agreed upon victor where you're gonna see it just kind of like sweep the goody lists around the web.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah. Previous games that we have loved on this show, Lonely Mountains, Citizen Sleeper, the Like a Dragon Yakuza series, Monster Hunter games, all of those had sequels in the first two months of this year they just happened and like we haven't even really gone back to them or thought much about them.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, I wouldn't say that the Like a Dragon game was a sequel. It was a weird pirate beat em up offshoot that didn't quite lighten my.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I wouldn't want to argue about that.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. Should we just like talk about our games? Should we talk about our personal walks with.

[Ross Frostic]

Yeah, I would. Just to echo what Griffin was Saying I don't think we've ever had a year like this where like I'm looking at some of the lists of like preferred games and there's just like not as much crossover at all. Like there's no, like, oh yeah, that's gonna be number one or that's gonna be number two. It just.

[Griffin McElroy]

I think the one game that has the best chance of doing it is Silksong maybe. But even that is like, you know, that's a genre that a lot of it is also inaccessible in its way.

[Justin McElroy]

So don't worry, I won't be a problem. We should. Here's what I would like to suggest to you guys. And Plant has only put out two games and that's a cowardice that I hope that he is okay with. But really it's very safe bets there. I'm going to ask you other guys and Plant, you too. What do you think is your. The biggest ledge that you're on?

[Griffin McElroy]

Like his ledge? I'm on.

[Justin McElroy]

Here's what. Here's my. I'm looking at a list of my games. I want to pick on my list what I think is going to be the least supported game where I think it's like I'm on the biggest. I'm by myself the most.

[Griffin McElroy]

Absolutely.

[Justin McElroy]

Just to see how it's feeling. Because we never have those kinds of conversations, right? Because like some of mine, I was going back through my list and be like, fuck, actually that game fucked. And even Justin 20 minutes ago didn't remember that game fucked, but now I do, so it's there.

[Griffin McElroy]

Do you want to start by saying what that game is?

[Justin McElroy]

Moroi.

[Griffin McElroy]

What?

[Justin McElroy]

Exactly, dude. Moroi. M O R O I. It's one of the strangest games I don't even know if we talked about is poorly reviewed. It is a dark kind of action puzzle combat thing with that is the tone is absolutely surreal. It's a game that is okay here. It has mixed reviews on Steam.

[Ross Frostic]

It also only has 33 users.

[Justin McElroy]

It has 33. No one played it. But if you look at the trailer, you're going to think, dang, this looks really, really interesting and that it is.

[Griffin McElroy]

So Mirroy Moroi is your ledge.

[Justin McElroy]

Maroi is my ledge. I know that there's. This is not a game of the Year game, but it is the one for me where I was like, man, I could have made a bigger. I think I could have done a little bit better spreading the gospel of Merrell. But anyway, M O R O I if you want to try something interesting.

[Ross Frostic]

Let'S get it up to 34 reviews.

[Justin McElroy]

Let's get 34 reviews.

[Griffin McElroy]

I mean, mine's easy because it's, I think, perpetually kind of been an issue with these considerations. Deltarune Chapter 3 and 4 came out this year and were really, really fucking exceptional.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

But also, how. How do you. How do you include that in a goatee list? And I'm not super interested in having the conversation of episodic games because God knows we had enough of those when Telltale was still cranking out the hits and the jammers. But those two games or two chapters represent a huge fucking chunk of playtime. But it is also the thing's not finished, and it is a. A sort of sequel to Undertale. And if people didn't play the first and second chapters, then they're probably not going to want to dip in just for three and four. Like, it's a.

[Justin McElroy]

It's.

[Griffin McElroy]

That is a weird case that I am very passionate about because those. Those two chapters had a big impact on me. But also, like, I don't know, I don't think that there's going to be a ton of space for it once we start bracketing these bad boys.

[Ross Frostic]

Yeah, I guess the closest that I would have on my list, which I think probably has a little bit of crossover for you guys, is Baby Steps. Baby Steps is not a game that I think. I mean, I for sure didn't get nominated for Game of the Year at the Game Awards. It doesn't really look like a big, splashy Game of the Year fodder. But in terms of just like, total scratching, the internal brain itch, that game checked a whole lot for me. I was completely riveted by that game, and I hope more people get a chance to play it as it goes on.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's one I want to return to because I played it a little bit for, you know, to talk about it, and then we played it a bunch for streaming. But I never really put, you know, effort into finishing it. And I think that there's like, an element of the game that is you have to buy into is my suspicion, like, you really have to want to get up the up the mountain and not be just kind of fucking around, which is the only way I've really interacted with the game.

[Ross Frostic]

I mean, it's narratively one of the most interesting games I played all year.

[Griffin McElroy]

Like, see, I haven't gotten fucking. All I've seen is, like, donkey dicks. Like, really funny, improvised, like, cutscenes about maps and hot white shapes.

[Ross Frostic]

It's not like it evolves into like a massively high minded thing. But I found myself compelled to keep going. And even though I don't like, you know, QOP as a game, I don't think that's a fun or getting over it. I don't think those are fun games for me. But there's just something about the precision of this. The gameplay mixed with like the very funny and also interesting cutscene stuff.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah.

[Ross Frostic]

And it just like has some of the most memorable moments over the year. Came out in Baby Steps for me. I just really adored it.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's one that's high on my list to spend a little bit more time with before we actually.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I think Baby Steps is a dark horse for like high up on the list. My like Legends are games where I just know. I already know, like this ain't happening. Come on, let's be real. The hundred line. Maybe I need Griffin to play that.

[Griffin McElroy]

Maybe I played it.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

But I'm sorry.

[Justin McElroy]

The tone. The tone, Griffin. The tone set it all.

[Griffin McElroy]

I know the tone was too.

[Justin McElroy]

It communicated reviewer's tilt. It communicated fun factor. It communicated everything.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's a scary Larry. It is a. There's not a game this year that I spent more time trying to like than 100 line and I because I.

[Justin McElroy]

Award we should have this year.

[Griffin McElroy]

I would love to do that award time.

[Justin McElroy]

Most time invested in a game that I ultimately could not enjoy.

[Griffin McElroy]

The Dank on Rumpus stuff was like so great. And the vibe, the story, the writing, like all that shit really, really works for me. But the strategy, the tactics part of it did not. Which was kind of the same thing I had with. What was that other. What was the Vanillaware strategy game that was like.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Oh yeah, Unicorn Overlord.

[Griffin McElroy]

No, no, no, no. It was the Odin Sphere. No, it was the sort of pseudo visual novel about teens that protected their.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Town from 13 Sentinels.

[Griffin McElroy]

Thirteen Sentinels. Yes. It was like I had the same feeling sort of about that. So I really like a lot of what that game's putting down. And then I also don't like a pretty big fundamental part of it.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

There's also stuff that's like. Caves of Cud came out technically in December of last year, but I wish I had figured out how to play it. Who knows when I'll ever have time to play that. Speaking of things that who knows when I'll ever have time to play? Even though I think I will really like it. And I know it's controversial around these parts, But Kingdom Deliverance 2. I know fresh. You're on my side here.

[Ross Frostic]

You can't wait to get back into this. But you know who loves that game is Mr. Geoff Keighley and the Game Awards contingent because it was nominated for game of the Year and it is in the slate.

[Griffin McElroy]

That is a truly wild one. And it is. This happens a lot, I think, with the four of us and probably other kind of, like, games, podcasts, where it's not like a whole big editorial board making the thing where, like, it just so happens that three of us don't really like Medieval Fantasy recreation, which is like fully, fully, fully what this game is doing.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Not fantasy, though. Not fantasy, though. Don't.

[Ross Frostic]

Not fantasy.

[Griffin McElroy]

Sorry, sorry, sorry. Medieval historical recreation.

[Ross Frostic]

Unless you think fire is magic. It's not.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, it's fine.

[Justin McElroy]

Yes.

[Griffin McElroy]

I take back the fantasy part of it. But we played that to do an episode on it. And then me and Justin and Russ were all like, I do is boring.

[Justin McElroy]

I enjoy some fiction from this period. Essex Dogs, for example, would be right in line. I just thought I found the shifting perspectives disorienting and controlling. It did not bring me pleasure. That's how it's a real rough hang. I bet if I had put another 10 hours in there, I bet. I think it might have. I think it could have gotten its claws in, but I just couldn't get there.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Griffin, do you have a alleged game?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, I mean, Deltarune 3 and 4. Was that for me?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Oh, sorry.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Thank you.

[Griffin McElroy]

I think I really like Q Up, you guys. I really like Q up.

[Ross Frostic]

I should play Q up. I haven't played it yet.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay. I didn't know if that was gonna be a.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It's climbing my list for sure. I mean, I love that game. Oops. It's gonna be your thing big time.

[Justin McElroy]

It sounds like it.

[Griffin McElroy]

I think I had a warmer reaction to Wonder Stop than the rest of.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It's on my list. It's on Justin's list. Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

I like it a lot. Oh, is that. Oh, okay. Well, then I can.

[Ross Frostic]

I think I was the only one that was, like, a little cool on it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, yeah. Fuck. Okay. Expedition 33 is simply a game that you guys are not going to play more of. Griffin, I played Justin's on Secret.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

That game.

[Justin McElroy]

Check my steam.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, no. I saw you playing it this morning.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, baby, I'm 10 hours. I put another 10 hours in.

[Griffin McElroy]

Are you grooving?

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, it's great. I just didn't. I liked it before. I just didn't have. I don't know. There's a Lot of guys, the pace of this show. The pace of this show is such that even games I like, sometimes I gotta take a break from. And a game like this has a lot of moving pieces.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Oh yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

This is definitely one that I stepped away from. And I had to like get back on YouTube. I had to get back into the grind. I had to get back in the flow state.

[Ross Frostic]

But this is Find your beret, which was in storage.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, enough people were into it that I felt like I needed to like give this one another chance. Because I really like. I really try to root for games that have a unique perspective and a unique aesthetic. And this game is definitely, definitely that. And it's doing a lot of really fun gameplay stuff. So yeah, I've really been enjoying the time that I've been. Been putting into that.

[Griffin McElroy]

That is also a. What's the opposite of recency bias? Because the game came out, I think in February.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Right.

[Griffin McElroy]

Expedition 33.

[Ross Frostic]

Pretty early in the year.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, I played it and really dug it and got through all of it. But it was such a long time ago and we've played so many fucking games this year. Did any of you guys do root trees are dead?

[Ross Frostic]

No, the root trees are dead. I remember us talking about it, but.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I haven't played it yet. It's on my.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's my sort of like smarty pants Deduction. Other than blueprints like Deduction Game of the year. It's basically a game about being nosy and using the Internet to do kind of investigative journalism. To build a genealogical tree of this giant sort of candy family. Candy Corporation Family. And it ruled. And I got really, really obsessive. Talk about a game where you can't take a break from it. Cause you'll forget every little connection and every little detail and every site you visited. But it basically recreates a fake Internet that you search information about this family on. I really, really liked it because it required a lot more deduction and critical thinking than other sort of games that came out this year that were ostensibly sort of the same. Same genre.

[Ross Frostic]

Let me ask a question for the group.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Ross Frostic]

And just. I think I know the answer to this. But let me just confirm the goal of this Game of the Year, specifically when we have those episodes, is to come up with a besties game of the year.

[Justin McElroy]

Right.

[Ross Frostic]

It's not a individual that happens to make it to the top. It's a uniformly agreed upon. So you wouldn't have a game, for example, at number one that one person hated, but everyone else.

[Griffin McElroy]

Except that has Definitely, definitely, definitely happened. That has for sure happened. I feel like it happened last year, I think.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah.

[Ross Frostic]

Last year. Wasn't it Yakuza that won last year?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah. You just didn't really get into it.

[Ross Frostic]

I didn't, I didn't hate it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Astro Bot, that was last year's Astrobot.

[Ross Frostic]

Didn'T get placement, which was regrettable, but I didn't hate Yakuza. I know, that's crazy. It was a fantastic game. I didn't hate Yakuza, so I didn't think that that was an off base selection. But I do think, like, that would be a stipulation. It's like you wouldn't have a game that someone actively hated in the top five.

[Justin McElroy]

Our past five have been Hades, Resident Evil Village, Elden ring, Baldur's Gate 3, like a dragon, Infinite Wealth. So I don't know, I like all those.

[Ross Frostic]

Yeah. So I guess it's just a. I think especially when we talk about games like blueprints, which is like, I'm just not going to play blueprints realistically. I'm just.

[Griffin McElroy]

I don't know that there's a game on my list that everyone likes. I don't know that there's a game that came out this year that the four of us really, really.

[Ross Frostic]

But that's my point. It's like I didn't really, really like Yakuza.

[Justin McElroy]

So, guys, this is why I really wanted to do this episode. Right. Because when you're in the Screen Actors Guild, they want your opinions on the finest performances of the year. As an actor. As a screen actor.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Myself, I master technically.

[Griffin McElroy]

The trolls we did voices for were on a screen. They go on screens.

[Justin McElroy]

Well, it's SAG aftra, so my television work is part of it.

[Ross Frostic]

That's the Astra part.

[Justin McElroy]

That's the Astra. They will send me DVDs of TV shows, which is always really.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

That's the before part.

[Justin McElroy]

But the thing is, guys, I feel like there is not a good. I wanted a nice comparable thing to screeners being sent out, right. That you get the screeners that you may not necessarily have thought about. I wanted to take your all's pulse because I feel like it is going to be hard to find that common ground. And I feel like this is a good opportunity to kind of find those places where maybe there will be common ground. But we just need to invest a bit more time.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

So are we coming? Yeah.

[Ross Frostic]

I mean, what?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Death. That's death. Straining too.

[Justin McElroy]

I'm still talking about all the great. Hey, guys. Griffin, Russ. What are you guys thinking about? Blippo Plus. Ah, you guys connected. Have you guys logged on to Blippo?

[Griffin McElroy]

That's the tv.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Griffin. Okay, here's my advice to everybody. Highly, highly, highly recommend. Put Blippo on a big screen, give a kid the remote, and get ready for a very, very enjoyable afternoon. Blippo is a cable. Blippo plus is a cable service that.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Is from the planet Blip.

[Justin McElroy]

From the planet Blip. Thank you.

[Griffin McElroy]

Love that.

[Justin McElroy]

Love that. There are several channels. There's many different channels. Some are music videos, some are shopping, some are recipes. There's interview shows. There's like teen advice shows. All the shows are like 30 seconds long. The aesthetics are insane because they're all from alien planets. And there is a running, like, channel guide and schedule that you can at any point load up and see what's playing on all the other channels. There is like a, a fake Internet fax system where you can like log on to message boards and stuff to collect recipes or whatever. It is not a game in the traditional sense. Like, I'm not even being like, this is not a judgment. Like you can. I don't think you can make a good case for this being a video game. But what it is is like, in terms of like, interactive entertainment. It's like relentlessly creative in a way that is like, really blows me away to think about. There's like an exercise channel that has choreographed dances for all these songs. And I think in my head about the people who had to like, take time to choreograph dances to put on this channel just in case someone's flipping around and they happen to watch that thing. And that's what me and my kids and Sydney did for like an hour this weekend was turn Blip on a. A big screen and just let the kids flip around and get kind of like hypnotized and lured in. What was it? It was on Steam. I've had it on the Steam Deck and I just plugged the Steam deck.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Into the switch too. Like, that would be a way to do it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, is it really okay?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah, but it's like an alternate reality Nickelodeon that you can get going on there. Everything was shot on reality.

[Justin McElroy]

There's an adult channel. There's a scrambled porn channel. There's a scrambled porn channel that you would have to pay access to.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

The other option, if you do not want to play it with the kids, I think is great way to experience this game is if you can't sleep, it's like 11 o'. Clock. You Go into the living room, you put this on the TV and you feel like you have accidentally time warped into a video.

[Griffin McElroy]

Isn't it on the play date?

[Justin McElroy]

So it started on the play date. Right. And there are still some references like in the. In the Blippo. Plus there's still some references which. Which I got on Steam. There's still some references to like don't touch that crank or whatever or like the device itself. But the. What you miss in the Blippo if you only played it on the. The playdate version. And I'm talking to no one right now. Yeah, less than 6. But you didn't get the sense like how lovingly recreated these like sets and the actors and the makeup.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's like a Game Boy camera levels kind of like.

[Justin McElroy]

Right. But watching this on a T. Like watching this on any size screen and seeing these things in like color and it's great. It's just a.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

You all have copies of it. You should just check games because I totally out.

[Griffin McElroy]

I will definitely check it out. It sounds super fun. I wanted to circle back to one that has been a front runner in a lot of other places, sort of conversations about goatee that has had a weird chilly reception here, which is Hades 2. I have really gotten back into that game just in the last week thanks to the Ayn Thor. I've got it running on there through Game Hub and it's a really nice sized, sort of very, very portable Hades 2 experience. And I've just about caught up to where I was in my early access save and I'm fully remembering why this whole formula kicks as much ass as it does. But again, this is like another weird case that is so unusual where we played the shit out of it last year when it was in early access and then when the 1.0 dropped like it didn't really set the world on fire for us. Maybe personally speaking, it didn't set the world on fire for me because all the new stuff that was different wasn't so immediately apparent. And it just felt like I was doing the same stuff that I had done less than a year ago.

[Ross Frostic]

Well, not only that, I think our first reaction to the game was in a very early state where there. There were a lot of new mechanics that were in early access that were not well tuned. So the like resource gathering and the way the sprint worked and a variety of other things. I. I'll. I'll tell you, I beat it the other day. I beat Hades two the other day. So I pick.

[Griffin McElroy]

Dude.

[Justin McElroy]

Congratulations.

[Ross Frostic]

Thank you. I'M so proud of myself and others. It's fine. I did.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, good for you. That's the same way to do it.

[Ross Frostic]

What's God Mode?

[Justin McElroy]

More. More games should have God mode, by the way.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, fuck, I forgot that was even.

[Justin McElroy]

I got Griffin. Turn it on.

[Ross Frostic]

It's so good. God mode, for those that aren't aware, every time you die on a run, it adds 2% to your permanent damage reduction. So you will always, always, always be making progress.

[Justin McElroy]

It's which PS is actually how all other video games work. They just call it different stuff and break it into 20 different things. Right. That is God mode. They've just reduced all of leveling to something you don't ever have to think about, period.

[Ross Frostic]

So I beat it. And my general feeling of it is it's difficult for its placement, even though I thought it was a fantastic game. It's difficult for me to place it on my top five, for example, because to me it feels like incred. Incredibly well made and incredibly iterative to the point of like. Like I said this to Justin. I don't mean this to be dismissive, but this is how I feel. Hades 2 feels like 20% better. Hades 1. And to me, that doesn't necessarily feel like a sequel. That feels like an enhanced version or something like that. Obviously. New story, new characters, new everything. And the art is fantastic. I'm not diminishing it. I think it's a great game. I had a really good time playing it. It does not feel like a special experience to me in the way that playing Hades one felt like a special new experience. And that's like a newness bias to it as well.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's a tall order to make a sequel to a game that is inherently kind of designed to put 600 hours into repeating the same runs over and over and over again. Because maybe that is sort of what is missing for me. But that said, it's great. I am back into it now, but it took me quite a while to.

[Justin McElroy]

I love Hades too. I mean, I love Hades. I just feel like in the context of these discussions and this show specifically and the way this game was released and the way we all, like, ingested it, I don't know how it fits into the conversation as like a game that, like. Because most of Hades I played in was last year. You know what I mean? It's like.

[Griffin McElroy]

I don't.

[Ross Frostic]

Yeah, yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

I don't know how to have that conversation in a way that's fair to Hades and other games. I don't know. Yeah, I really have been tempted. I would love to go back, but I've even like. I've tried some of the new weapons and stuff. Like I have. I have tried some of that. I don't know if it's like, I know that I could start over. It just feels like, is that the good use of my. Like, if I'm gonna, like, try to be the best equipped to have a discussion about the best games of the year is like, re evaluating a big chunk of Hades 2. The best way to spend.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, that time, you know.

[Ross Frostic]

Sure. Also, fun fact, if you do start over, it does save your God mode progress. So when I started over, it started me at like 25.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh. From early access.

[Ross Frostic]

From early access.

[Griffin McElroy]

God damn it. I wasted so much fucking time not getting buffed and strong and cool by.

[Ross Frostic]

Dying from using God. There is another sequel I wanted to call out, and I think we mentioned it briefly earlier is Death Straining two.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Ross Frostic]

Which is, I think, a different circumstance from Hades to Hades 2. Even though obviously they're very much in conversation with one another. The first and second Death stranding. Death Stranding 2 feels like we fucked around and experimented and didn't necessarily land on something super approachable and maybe not even quite great in the first game, but very good. And the second game was like, now we're gonna fucking hit it out of the park. And I think that's what they did with Hades 2, I thought with Death Stranding 2, I thought they hit it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Out of the park.

[Ross Frostic]

It's a fantastic game. I beat it. That was one of the few games I beat this year and I was really blown away by it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Death Stranding 2, I think, is a. The definition of like a nod and smile game for me, where it's like, I played it and I really, really liked it. And I get why people are like, so fucking fired up about it. And I love that Kojima's out there doing like, truly weird shit that is even escalating on his own brand of doing weird shit. Like, it's amazing to watch someone continue to step it up in that way. I don't want to play any more of it or finish it. But, like, I am also not. I don't feel like I need to poo poo it or, I don't know, tear it down in some way. Because I do think it's just a question of. It's just a question of genre. Another thing, Travis was asking us about some of our choices earlier today and brought up Ghost of Yotei, which is a game that I think is really great, very, very well made game with great performances and super fun combat. I don't really care for open world games so much. And so it is yet another kind of outlier game that a lot of people really don't. Doug. That I didn't just because of. I don't know my own preferences. But I feel like that's most of the games for, you know, each of us this year.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah, I kind of wanted to dig into these big budget games. I mean, Death Stranding 2, Ghost Yote, Donkey Kong Bonanza, Avowed Outer Worlds 2. Like, we haven't been talking about much of these. I think almost all these we have.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, this is nice.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

Whoa.

[Justin McElroy]

That just took me on like a time Dust Avowed, like was.

[Griffin McElroy]

Well, they put out three fucking games this year, right? Wasn't the Oblivion remake this year also?

[Justin McElroy]

This was just.

[Ross Frostic]

Okay, well, that wasn't them. That was.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

But they put out the Shrunken Honey I Shrunk the Kids game. Oh, yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

Grab two Obsidian early Access version.

[Justin McElroy]

Avowed for me. Oh, God. I think that I was trying to remember Avowed earlier today when I was. I had this image of like a. A ledge on a balcony, a plant face. I had an image of a soldier who was inside of a restaurant that I had to keep going up some stairs to go in to talk to a soldier at a restaurant. Like, Avowed to me is the definition of like. Every single element of it is fine. And for the love of God, I don't know what it. It does not have a single peg that can hang it into my memory. Like, I can't be like, it's. I can't.

[Griffin McElroy]

Avowed, like plant faces.

[Justin McElroy]

Plant faces.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I mean, yeah, I mean, I. That game is like grown. It's the opposite for me in that it's like grown on me as this weird. Oh, my gosh. They made a big triple A game about the pandemic and about how miserable everybody felt and like, what a weird ass game it was and that they. I don't know. I also remember it as, like. As someone who gets overwhelmed by the open worlds in those games as. Oh, they finally made a compact one where it was like every five feet you were seeing something. And yet at the same time, I remember liking it a lot and I don't remember. I mean, I know why I stopped playing it. It's because we have a million other things to play.

[Justin McElroy]

That's the thing.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

But there are games every year that I do finish and I don't know why that one Wasn't one of them.

[Griffin McElroy]

That one didn't click for me. Outer Worlds 2 is one where the first couple of planets, the first maybe 10 hours of the game I was so hooked on and then the rest of the game was just kind of more of that and felt very, very, very fillery and really spoiled me on the game and kind of bumped it out of of consideration for me.

[Ross Frostic]

We. You mentioned Donkey Kong earlier. I. Donkey Kong's on my list. My current top five at the moment. I mean I just had a blast and it felt like a very different thing than I had done in a very long time. Like it just felt like Nintendo strutting their gameplay design bonafides in a way that they hadn't previously, which I thought was really cool.

[Griffin McElroy]

I like. I don't know why I didn't like that game more. And that could maybe be the tagline of. Of 2025.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

For.

[Griffin McElroy]

For me it was a fun kind of like silly game to play with Henry to just like smash shit up and. But. But I wasn't necessarily compelled to keep on digging into it to see what was going to come come next. And I feel like that is sort of the heat that I need to keep me going on a game.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Like, I was never on the dating apps. I met Stefi before all that. But this year has felt like what I've always imagined the dating apps is, which I'm getting eights and nines out of tens every other week everywhere. And then I'm like, but you know what I bet? I bet the next one's even better because I'm like, I'm looking at Kaizen, that Factory game. I'm looking at Fantasy Life. I'm looking at Star Vaders, Skin Deep despot, Monster Train 2.

[Griffin McElroy]

There's so many games Monster Train 2 can hang.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

Absalom might be a dark horse for me because there's not many games on my list that everyone I think really vibed with. And that one, that one does everything. It does pretty fucking well.

[Justin McElroy]

I tried to get back into that one. I like some of Absalom. I don't know. I don't think I got locked in the loop at any point with absolutely. I kind of got it, but I didn't want to. It is. Guys, I will be honest. And this is part of like. And this is part of what I think is worth discussing. And this is for me, from my perspective this year I am still struggling a lot with carpal tunnel syndrome. And it makes it hard to play controller games. Controller forward games. Or to hold like Steam Deck or whatever for lengthy periods of time. Right. So a lot of my gaming has been sort of like in consideration of that. It's been stuff that is like not controller focused and things that aren't controller focused. I'm trying to like be smart about how I'm spending that time and you know, looking at other options like surgery and steroids and things like that. And I have gotten into a habit, I think, where once I sort of understand what a game is, is doing, even if it is like bringing me pleasure, like I'm enjoying it, I kind of check out a little bit, you know what I mean? Like, I think the games that have. Are on this list for me are games that like I kept returning to and revisiting and like seeing. Trying to get a hang of like how I feel about it. Because I kind of feel like a lot of games, especially this year, and Avowed is maybe one of those. It was very early in the year, so I don't really remember, but like, if I got it, if I kind of understood how I felt about it, I kind of. I tended to move on.

[Ross Frostic]

Well, I think the big takeaway is we're fucked.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah, I'm excited.

[Griffin McElroy]

I think so. I agree with what you're saying, Juice. I feel like that is the differentiator for me is a lot of the games we talked about were I played until I felt like I understood it and had something to say. And the ones that I are on my short list are the ones that I. I think I finished all of them except Hades 2. I'm still, still working on.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I think it's great. And I think like that's.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's where great for games fucking. Everybody gets what they want this year. Truly, truly, truly. That's awesome. It's just true. There's a lot of people.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

And not just that, but I mean as a critic, that's where movies are. When people are like, man, why does this obscure movie that is three hours long and really punishes you. Why is it beloved by critics? And it's like, well, there is so much out there that critics get to this point where it's like, I need something that hits different. I've seen the same thing a hundred times and I feel like that's now what we can get with games. You cross crave the difference, you crave the friction, which I think is fun.

[Justin McElroy]

But you also. There's an inbuilt. I think that there's part of you that wants to be impactful and I think that there's definitely some subconscious part of me that feels like, you don't need me to tell you that the new Donkey Kong game is good.

[Griffin McElroy]

Most of them aren't.

[Justin McElroy]

You know what I mean? Like, if you start playing it and you're like, well, that's pretty good. But like, you don't need me to tell you to play Donkey Kong.

[Griffin McElroy]

There's always a lot of baggage around the goatee deliberation process of like, there are people who have a game that belongs in a niche genre that the four of us, because we're four human beings and not a million human beings, just like didn't play or didn't care for or whatever. And so they don't even get considered. And that reads as us sort of just saying, like, well, it's shit. When that is sort of not. That's going to happen to a lot of games this year. And so I feel like, I don't know. More than ever, I hope people can kind of temper their expectations because I truly can't remember a year where, you know, the top 10 lists that folks are gonna be putting out are going to be so wildly different.

[Justin McElroy]

Hey, this is why I'm hoping maybe guys, there's some common ground that we just haven't spent the time on. You know what I mean? That it's there. We could just kind of find it if we just play some more video.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Games before we go to the next section. Usually this would be the time of the year where at least it's. Hey, we have plenty of time to catch up on this stuff because nothing's coming out past four days. Demon School, News Tower, Kingdom of the Dump, Birdcage, Moonlighter two hit early access.

[Justin McElroy]

You're fucking kidding.

[Griffin McElroy]

What Kirby Air writers we haven't done yet.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Inazuma 11, which we haven't talked about but is blowing up on Steam. Marvel Cosmic Invasion a new game from. That's the TMNT people, right? Is that.

[Justin McElroy]

I downloaded that.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah. Yeah. Like there are so many games still coming out before the end of the year.

[Justin McElroy]

I feel like one. I feel like one of us. And even if, as I'm saying it, I'm worried that it's me. Should like try a real good effort at Dispatch. A lot of people seem to have dug that. I just like, it was so non interactive that I was really struggling. And then there was a mode to make it even less interactive than that. So that was like. It was tough. But I don't know. I feel like that was warmly received by the people that got into it. If you. It seems like the logline is. If you like old telltale games, you're really gonna like Dispatch.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It is blown up. 53,000 reviews on Steam already. That's bonkers.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's crazy. Yeah. That's a lot.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Is there.

[Griffin McElroy]

Can we. Can we. To wrap this conversation up? We have a little while before we actually do our thing. What's the game you're going to want to spend more time with?

[Justin McElroy]

I want you guys to play a game about digging a hole.

[Griffin McElroy]

I did that.

[Ross Frostic]

I played it.

[Griffin McElroy]

I already did that one.

[Justin McElroy]

Okay, well, why is it on your list?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Next.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, Griffin, let me ask you about one that I don't see on y' all's list. I was a little bit surprised by is Clover Pit. That's. That seems like a real besties ass thing. And I really. It's not one that I'm like, I'm not. I'm not super fixated on it in the way that I have been with, like, similar games, but I do find myself returning to it a lot and I do kind of like enjoy the puzzle of it and I like the aesthetic. But I don't know, there's a lot.

[Griffin McElroy]

Of games like that that came out this year. Ball Pit. Ballx Pit is another one. I played so much fucking Ball X Pit, and it's not on my top 10 list because I think a lot of games came out sort of like that and I feel like they were fun and cool games that I very much enjoyed spending those sleepless nights staying up late and playing. But I do not think, you know, stand head and shoulders above others in terms of design or aesthetic or whatever else.

[Justin McElroy]

Russ, you played Clover Pit yesterday.

[Ross Frostic]

No, I actually didn't play Clover Pit and I do want to play it. It wasn't the game that I was thinking of playing More of that is probably Expedish. Trace. Trace. I will play more of that.

[Justin McElroy]

I will say this. If you spend an hour with Clover Pit, you'll get it.

[Ross Frostic]

Okay. I will also play Clover.

[Griffin McElroy]

Clover Pit just Q up is, I think, a similar sort of experience.

[Ross Frostic]

To remind people we are going to have to narrow this down to basically 12 that we'll bring and then four will come from the audience. I have no fucking idea how we're going to do that, but God willing, it'll happen.

[Justin McElroy]

The only other one where I felt like I liked Sword of Sea a lot, I like Wheel World a lot. I put those in a similar group. The only other one where I feel like if you guys had checked was the Alters.

[Ross Frostic]

Oh, I played a lot.

[Justin McElroy]

You played a lot of the alters?

[Ross Frostic]

Yeah, it didn't quite.

[Justin McElroy]

I didn't even finish it. It's not a good place on here. But I thought it was really interesting. It really stuck with me. I don't know.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah, Yeah. I would love people to play more of it. Is Despalote for sure.

[Griffin McElroy]

I played that. I don't think I ever seance a.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Blake Manor for the folks who bounced off it. Maybe just a little bit more time with it because I liked that quite a bit, even though that's very recent. And then I want to go play more baby steps. Not that I think I need to because I think my opinion is already so glowing, but I just really want to go back to. And play more.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, I want to. I want to play some more baby steps before we really talk things out with it. With an intention to try and, you know, make actual progress.

[Justin McElroy]

Any chance you guys might be thinking maybe Merge Maestro could be on here? Because it's probably the game I played the most this year, baby.

[Ross Frostic]

Oh, baby, I forgot.

[Justin McElroy]

I love the best games I've ever played.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, damn. Merge Maestro. Yeah, you shouldn't have Merge Maestro.

[Justin McElroy]

They had to.

[Griffin McElroy]

Damn Maestro, though.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Damn.

[Griffin McElroy]

Damn. Yeah. No, I mean, that's a fucking good one, man. That's a banger. The Drifter was this year too.

[Justin McElroy]

The Drifter was sick. Did you guys play the Drifter?

[Griffin McElroy]

The Drifter is a classic LucasArts style point and click adventure.

[Ross Frostic]

Oh, I didn't play the Drifter.

[Griffin McElroy]

Kick ass story.

[Justin McElroy]

See, this is where we got it. We gotta start. We gotta get some accountability going here. What are you. Okay, three games, not one. I want to hear three games.

[Ross Frostic]

I want these homework games to be like. But I want them to be potentially realistically in that 12.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

The other, the other. Whoever's nominating has to think these are like, at least they're like top five, top ten.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, I gotta have other people agreeing on it. I don't. I'm not gonna say my top three. If you guys don't feel good about my top three.

[Ross Frostic]

Yeah, I will put.

[Justin McElroy]

I want you guys to feel represented.

[Ross Frostic]

I will play more Clover Pit. I will play more Expedition 33. And if you think Drifter is the one to play, I can play more.

[Griffin McElroy]

I don't know if it's gonna hit top five for.

[Ross Frostic]

Just know that you're spending my time with my IP.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Spending top five, I guess top 12. Right. Because it's like, do you think they could be in the top 12 that we're gonna keep Russia.

[Justin McElroy]

I think what you should do is just play blueprints. And when you get to just like.

[Ross Frostic]

I did that already. I played the first. I didn't know that there were color problems until I hit it, and then I was like, oh, how many green.

[Justin McElroy]

Rooms are in this? Just like, don't. Don't give up.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I think the great way to make the game.

[Justin McElroy]

What?

[Ross Frostic]

First of all, I think you should hate it, Justin. I think you should push through your carpal tunnel until your bones split out your right.

[Justin McElroy]

Exactly.

[Griffin McElroy]

And secondly, play hollow knight silksong until your hands wither and desiccated husks.

[Justin McElroy]

I almost think we should. I think we just have to table blueprints until next year. I mean, like, I think it just.

[Griffin McElroy]

Has to be, like, it might be my number one. I just.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, I just think we have. But I like, I don't even want to talk legitimately, the besties conversation. I don't want to talk about it again until Russ has played it. Like, I really. I don't actually.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I'm very okay with that because I do think it's going to make for an uneventful thing. And it fills the space slot that we know can't make it to the end.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, I feel good about that.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Okay, wait, so what are everybody else's. Like, you have to play this.

[Griffin McElroy]

I mean, do you think you are truly. Obviously, this factors into the carpal tunnel issues because it is an extremely demanding game, but do you think you are well and done? Well shot of hollow knight silkstone.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, yeah. So that wasn't as much the. The carpal tunnel. That was. That was definitely part of it because that one is twitchy as all hell. But the man, the frustration of it and the way that I felt, it just felt bad. Like, I didn't like the feeling of I was getting so angry, like, really, really frustrated, and I couldn't. And that's probably on me. But, like, man, it really got in my head in a way that I did not. Did not enjoy. And that's, like, not probably not. It's nothing to do with the game. Just, like, I don't know. That's how I felt. I get it. Like, I'm. And I'm not gonna. I will say this, too. I'm not gonna, like, stand in the way or try to, like, denigrate it because of my own personal whatever. It's just, like, I found. I just found a lot of it pretty punishing and frustrating for me.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, that's one on my list there's a few on my list that I feel like didn't do a ton of stuff wrong. And that is one. But it is certainly a question of genre and preference yet again. There's no way anyone's gonna play deltarune Chapter three and four.

[Justin McElroy]

Right?

[Ross Frostic]

That would be what I want. My instinct for that is to wait until it's out out. Like, that's my instinct. Especially after we've kind of learned that lesson with Hades, too. It was like, hey, Moonlighter, I know how excited we are for Moonlighter 2. We should probably wait, y'. All. Like, don't spend 40 hours in Moonlighter 2 early access. Just wait.

[Griffin McElroy]

I have started to win it in Early Access. I did it with Grounded 2, where I played it and I saw sort of what they were going for and what was new and what was cool. And then I gave myself maybe an hour or two, and then I stopped immediately as not to Hades too much.

[Ross Frostic]

Yeah, I think that's a good way to do it. Okay, again to iterate.

[Griffin McElroy]

I might come back to Death Stranding 2. It's been so long.

[Ross Frostic]

You might have a tough time jumping back in, man.

[Justin McElroy]

It's. Dude, I feel like I feel the exact same way about Death Stranding 1. I know that if I had just kept playing Death Stranding 2, I would have liked it, Russ. I know I would have. I only stopped playing because we had to play other stuff. But I can't go back. I can't, man. I can't.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I will say Death Stranding 2, way more accommodating. And if you go back to it, it'll be even easier than you remember it. After, like, a half hour at most of picking at it. These games, it brings you back in.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Death Stranding 1's my 3. I probably prefer Death Stranding 1, but it is not a welcoming game. Death Stranding 2 is philosophically like Kojima saying, I want this to be easier for you.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm going to say my three baby steps. Death Stranding 2. Is there a way to just really poop sock Death Stranding 2 and just, like, get to the.

[Ross Frostic]

Get to the stories. You don't need to beat it. You just need to.

[Griffin McElroy]

I played it enough to get it, but, like, you should put.

[Ross Frostic]

I mean, it depends how much.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Last thing you saw.

[Ross Frostic]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

What was the last? I mean, I'm in Australia and I'm like, I don't know. Halfway through the.

[Ross Frostic]

Just try it. Just try it, Griffin, and see if after 30 minutes, you feel like, I'll.

[Griffin McElroy]

Get back into that and I'll give Donkey Kong Bonanza. I might start a new save file on Donkey Kong Bonanza and play it solo. Play it solo. Yeah.

[Ross Frostic]

Because, I mean, it's fun chaos with a kid, but it's not a game.

[Griffin McElroy]

No. Yeah. It's hard to really find the critical path and stay on it when it's like your main way of interacting with it is to shout exploding words at rocks. That's. Yeah.

[Ross Frostic]

Okay. I think we should take a break.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah.

[Ross Frostic]

And briefly talk and. Well, yeah, it's gone. We've gone a while, but we do need to briefly talk about a little bit of Valve news and then we'll get into honorable mentions. So let's take a break. This episode of the Besties is sponsored by Alienware. You know, Alienware's biggest sale of the season lets you unleash peak performance at Black Friday. Savings save on select Alienware PCs like the groundbreaking Alienware 16 Area 51 gaming laptop, taking performance to the next level with Intel Core Ultra processors. Plus, you can save on all the latest accessories and displays like the Alienware 27 4K QD OLED gaming model monitor. Visit alienware.com deals before those time limited savings end.

[Justin McElroy]

November 9th is the day after my birthday. And that means it's the official start of the holiday season. Happy holidays. That was a, I guess a siren or a kazoo. I don't know exactly, but it's gift giving time. And let's just like, let's take, just.

[Griffin McElroy]

Take care of it.

[Justin McElroy]

Let's just get it over with. Just get it done. Get an order frame. Get five, get six. All right, it's time to give gifts. And an aura frame is a wonderful gift for anybody in your life. You can share your videos, your photos, whatever, like special memories you're capturing. You can set it up for somebody. You set it up on their wi fi, right. You can give it to them as a gift. Once you set it up, once you get it plugged in there at their home, you can upload photos to their frame directly from your phone. You take a picture of the kids, take a picture of yourself where you look very handsome and you want your mom to see you, send it to her. Or a frame, you can keep in touch with people. And what better way, you know, you post on social media, but why not post directly to that person's home? Can you imagine the power? For a limited time, visit oriframes.com and get $45 off Aura's best selling Carver Matte frames named number one by Wirecutter. Which is a source that I love and always trust with this kind of stuff by using promo code Best sell besties at checkout. That's a U R A frames.com promo code besties. This exclusive Black Friday Cyber Monday deal is their best of the year. So order now before it ends. Support the show by mentioning us at checkout. Terms and conditions apply. Okay, what did you guys. How did you guys feel when Valve announced. Said they're not going to talk about a new Steam Deck and instead announced three different pieces of hardware.

[Ross Frostic]

Okay.

[Griffin McElroy]

Pretty cool trailer they put out. Everyone loves Steam Deck. Fuck them.

[Justin McElroy]

Fuck.

[Ross Frostic]

Check this.

[Griffin McElroy]

Check this shit out.

[Ross Frostic]

You know that McMahon meme? That guy's an asshole.

[Griffin McElroy]

But there's that Vince McMahon walking down the.

[Ross Frostic]

No, no, it's the one where he's falling backwards in the chair.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Ross Frostic]

Okay. So that's how I was when they showed. So they showed the Steam Machine and it was like, oh, wow, impressed. And then the second one, they showed the Steam controller and I was like losing my mind. And then they showed the VR, I was like, what the fuck are you. Why guys, why are you still making VR stuff?

[Griffin McElroy]

Wait, really?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Dude?

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, dude. The Steam frame is the thing I'm most excited about. It looks cool.

[Ross Frostic]

I'm excited about it. It looks cool.

[Griffin McElroy]

But the fact that it, you know, has the wireless sort of dedicated streaming setup that you can put your PC on your machine and also has like a pretty beefy amount of shit like computer wise baked into it and also does like the pixel eye tracking sort of like.

[Ross Frostic]

Let me, let me, let me table set.

[Griffin McElroy]

Incredible.

[Ross Frostic]

Let me table set. Because we didn't do that for the people that are on here.

[Griffin McElroy]

You're right, you're right.

[Ross Frostic]

There were three big announcements from Valve that happened last week. The first thing they announced was something called a Steam Machine. They've done a Steam Machine before. But this is a reattempt at the concept. In this case, it's basically going to be running the software that is currently running on the Steam Deck. It's going to be six times more powerful than the Steam Deck, whatever the fuck that means. And it's going to have a glowing light in front of it. The gist is basically they want a set top PC that is as easy to use as a gaming console. And this is their approach to it. It's something that I think Microsoft and Xbox have dreamed about for years and years and still haven't accomplished. And this feels like they're eating their lunch. That was announcement one. Announcement two was A Steam controller. Steam controller looks a lot like they've done one of those before too. That original one did not have two analog sticks, which was insane. This one has two analog sticks. It also has two trackpads, very similar to the Steam Deck. It also charges on a magnetic puck and can do wireless connectivity through a magnetic puck. And I'm losing my mind. Excited for that because right now I've gone through so many fucking Xbox controllers while playing PC games that I just want one that's not going to consistently break. So I'm very excited about that. And then the VR thing, Griffin, if you want to run it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, it's called Steam Frame and the big thing seems to be it is giving you a lot of options as far as how you are going to play games on it. Whether that is connecting through this, it comes with a dongle that basically creates a private network connection to your gaming PC or your Steam machine that it will then kind of like, you know, beam the games over with, I'm assuming reduced input lag because it has this dedicated connection or it has, I forget the chip. It's I think a Snapdragon of some stripe.

[Justin McElroy]

Snapdragon 8 gen 3.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yes. That can handle a lot of stuff. And the fact that the Quest VR or not Quest VR, the original, the most recent Steam VR thing, first of all was always sort of a higher end, I think Wired kind of like connection, but you had access to your Steam library. And that's very, very cool because it's not like this wild, shitty, closed environment like the Meta Store. But the Meta Quest has been my preferred sort of VR thing because it's standalone and well designed. Feels nice. It's just like the ecosystem really sucks and to see them, it looks like really, really going for what the the Quest has been doing is like, I don't know, that seems like enough to get me back into VR and that alone is like already pretty exciting. So yeah, the Steam Frame is the thing I am most looking forward to.

[Justin McElroy]

Did you watch good? Russ at Retro Game Corps had a really interesting video talking about all these announcements, but his context for the Steam Frame was really, really interesting and he would explain it better than me because I only half kind of understand what I'm about to tell you. But as Griff was mentioning, that chip, the Qualcomm 8 gen 3, whatever it is, that's the same chip that's been used in a couple of Android handhelds and that is the chip that is going to be running Steam on there natively. Right. So it's built on the ARM architecture. So once that translation layer is there where the Steam games are running on that architecture, theoretically with that work being done by Valve, then those Android handhelds that everybody has could ostensibly just become Steam machines. Because that's the exact same chip.

[Ross Frostic]

Like, no, that part of it I think is super exciting.

[Justin McElroy]

That's really interesting. And that's not what they were touting, it's not what they were pitching. But when he mentioned that, I was like, that's a really interesting facet of this.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm excited about all three of these. The price could be. The price is like the make or break thing for me because I don't know, that's the whole question with like, well, why doesn't everyone make a little cute little gamecube sized box that's six times more powerful than a Steam deck and you know, has an adorable little custom LED light strip. Well, I mean, if it costs a lot of fucking money, like that's why. And I don't know what was the Vive was that the Steam HTC Vive was the headset. HTC Vive was the, that was a premium expensive experience compared to certainly the earlier Quest models which were not as powerful, not connected to the Steam ecosystem at all. Steam frame runs SteamOS like natively. But again, if it's like a 1300, 1400 dollar, like premium piece of VR hardware just for the deep in the.

[Justin McElroy]

Chen, I mean, I mean, yeah, it's true. I can't imagine it's going to be in that, that next.

[Griffin McElroy]

I don't know. I'm just saying that's the big thing that could swing the other direction while.

[Justin McElroy]

I was watching it. And I'm not. I don't follow the industry as closely as y' all so anymore. But while I was watching it, to me I felt like it was a direct response to where Microsoft is at currently and specifically the false start that Microsoft did into handheld gaming with this Asus Rog thing. I feel like to me, I heard that announcement as, hi, we don't have to talk about Steam Deck too because Microsoft absolutely screwed the pooch with this guy. So we don't even have to worry about that.

[Ross Frostic]

And guess what? I installed Bazlite on that handle.

[Griffin McElroy]

Got to.

[Ross Frostic]

And it's great.

[Justin McElroy]

Got to. And now here's the ecosystem that Microsoft ostensibly wants to build rather than create hardware like we're gonna do that right now with a box connected to your TV that is actually going to make good on the promise that Microsoft is saying that it wants to eventually make good on minus game pass. Right. But other than that, like Steam is saying like, okay, Microsoft has, is seeding this. It feels like to me at least Microsoft is seeding a lot of this territory and Valve seems just like perfectly willing to kind of step in and be like, okay, we will fill this gap. Yeah, at least that was my interpretation watching the video that it's just like I cannot, I don't see where Microsoft fits like in any reality at this point.

[Griffin McElroy]

From a hardware perspective, man, Truly, I feel like.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, and by the way, Call of Duty sucks this year.

[Griffin McElroy]

I feel like playing Hades on Steam on the Ayn Thor as much as I have makes me feel truly like this, like post console, post separate ecosystem future that we've been like, it's coming. Like, I do feel like it's here and I feel like a big benchmark is going to be when SteamOS is simply available to put on whatever the fuck you want to put it on. It just kind of seems like at that point it's sort of. That era of games is sort of over. And that's kind of great because I prefer the flexibility and choice and constant lightning fast iteration on this stuff. Yeah, it's, it's really, it's a wild time to be alive.

[Ross Frostic]

Any honorable mentions before we wrap the show?

[Justin McElroy]

Oh gosh.

[Ross Frostic]

I know.

[Justin McElroy]

I'm like gamed out, man. I'm gonna go like look at a sunset or something.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I have more stuff. We're gonna talk a lot more on resties. Like I want to talk about birdcage in Inazuma 11, y'. All. You gotta play birdcage. I will just say that. Birdcage. For people who have even a mild love for like Ikaruga, that Saturn era of shoot em ups, it is really something special.

[Griffin McElroy]

I had a THC soda at my brother's house and then played morsels until one in the morning, which was a cool way to do it. That game's out. It came out the 18th, I believe.

[Ross Frostic]

Yeah, we're gonna be doing a resty specifically on that. But you could give the basic.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, I mean it kicks ass. It's sort of a Nuclear Throne inspired twin stick sort of shooter top down situation where you're a tiny little mouse exploring a world of garbage and food and junk and guts and farts and burps and it's very like Toejam and Earl. The aesthetic of it is truly deranged. And also I could not look away from. And you collect these cards that have morsels on them that allow you to transform into basically different characters with different abilities, different things. They shoot out and you can level them up. And when you level them up enough, they die of old age and become a new morsel. And it doesn't tell you fucking anything. It doesn't tell you anything. It's like you pick up a thing and it's like, oh, you got a fuzzy that increases your tofu. And it's like, I don't know what the.

[Ross Frostic]

I got a pop up that I was just kind of vexed by, which said I had two choices. Option A was shuffle all of your morbs or shuffle all of your fuzzies. And I knew what neither of those things were.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, it doesn't tell you any of that shit. I don't know if it's good or not yet, but I was sort of ensorceled by it for an evening. And it looks truly. I mean, watch a trailer for it. It looks fucking crazy. Like it looks so good. And the sound design is really, really next level. I don't know if the roguelike hooks are gonna get me yet, cause I haven't really spent enough time with it. But first blush is quite positive on more.

[Ross Frostic]

Justin.

[Justin McElroy]

I finished Bride and Mate, a romance fantasy duology about vampires and werewolves. Very sexy stuff.

[Griffin McElroy]

Really well written.

[Justin McElroy]

Great, great. If you're into supernatural romance, it's a cut above a lot of the stuff I read this year and highly recommended. If you don't, I will. There. There is some werewolf anatomy that becomes part of the copulation. So if you think that that's going to be something you're not feeling, you know, maybe scent glands and their exploration isn't something you're into. Maybe look elsewhere. Maybe look for something a little more pedestrian. But the first is called Bride and the second is called Mate. They're interesting companion pieces. I don't know if there'll be any more.

[Ross Frostic]

I've continued playing Pokemon Legends Za with my son. Who is Za Pokemon Za with my son, who he loves it. I enjoy it. But I enjoy more going out and trying to catch the Pokemon that he is interested in. And he keeps asking questions about which ones evolve into Mega Stones, which ones. It occurs to me now that he can't can no longer go back and play any of the old ones because none of these are going to evolve into mega versions anyway. So I think I ruined him on that front. But as a kid watching game, he's been very, very into it. I think that's it. I wanted to thank a few folks over at the Patreon, which [e-mail] thebesties we have Zulu the dog. We have Ina de queer. We have Megan F. And we have Papa X. Chief Popx. Chief in our parlance. Thank you for being patrons of the besties. We have a new Westies coming at you on Tuesday, so watch out for that new bracket episodes, all sorts of good stuff like that. So coming at you real soon. Also make sure you're on there because we're going to be doing voting for game of the year, so you can suggest the four fan votes. I think we did it. What are we doing next week?

[Justin McElroy]

Next week?

[Griffin McElroy]

Poyo, baby.

[Justin McElroy]

What?

[Griffin McElroy]

Poyo, baby. Can't wait, baby.

[Ross Frostic]

Poyo.

[Griffin McElroy]

We're doing Kirby air Riders.

[Ross Frostic]

What does that have to do with poyo?

[Griffin McElroy]

That's what he says. Kirby says poyo pretty much exclusively. He says, like three things I thought he says. No, that's his breathing sound. He has asthma and it's fucking rude to really hang a lantern on it.

[Justin McElroy]

Kirby sucks.

[Griffin McElroy]

That was the name of the cartoon that they made. Kirby sucks with X. Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Be sure to join us again next week for the besties because shouldn't the world's best friends pick the world's best games. Sa.