The Besties Game of the Year Is . . .

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Besties – "The Besties Game of the Year Is . . ."

Podcast Information:

• Title: The Besties
• Hosts: Chris Plante, Griffin McElroy, Justin McElroy, Russ Freshtick
• Description: It's Game of the Year meets King of the Hill as four of Earth's best friends – Griffin McElroy, Justin McElroy, Chris Plante, and Russ Freshtick – rank and review their favorite video games. Because shouldn't the world's best friends pick the world's best games?
• Episode: The Besties Game of the Year Is . . .
• Release Date: December 20, 2024

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Introduction

In the festive season marked by the anticipation of Game Awards, The Besties podcast episode titled "The Besties Game of the Year Is . . ." embarks on its annual quest to crown the best video game of the year. Hosted by the dynamic quartet—Chris Plante, Griffin McElroy, Justin McElroy, and Russ Freshtick—the episode dives deep into their curated list of top games, engaging in spirited debates and sharing personal insights.

Opening Remarks and Initial Discussions (00:00 - 03:05)

The episode kicks off with Justin McElroy proposing Astrobot as a safe and universally appreciated choice for Game of the Year, aiming to appease all listeners (00:00). Griffin McElroy references their previous VGA prediction episode, highlighting the unpredictability of game awards and their own mixed success in forecasting winners (00:16). A humorous exchange ensues when Okami 2 is unexpectedly announced, with Russ Freshtick noting, "Jeff cried when he announced it. And it was relatable" (00:59).

Matchup Round 1: Astrobot vs. Animal Well (05:24 - 16:40)

Astrobot and Animal Well emerge as the first contenders in the Besties’ bracket. Justin describes both games as embodying "a real generosity of spirit," appreciating the love and trust poured into their designs (06:42). Chris Plant praises Animal Well for its engaging platforming mechanics, comparing its depth to classics like Outer Wilds (07:59). However, he admits that once familiar paths are discovered, the game's replayability diminishes slightly (10:35).

Griffin highlights the layered complexity beneath Animal Well’s seemingly simple platforming (08:34), while Russ contributes his critical perspective on Astrobot being a major marketing tool, reflecting broader industry trends (11:35). The discussion culminates in the group favoring Animal Well over Astrobot, emanating a consensus that Astrobot is relegated to a runner-up position (16:40).

Notable Quote:

• Justin McElroy: "It's somebody who was willing to put so much love into a thing and just trust that the person on the other end was going to be, like, into it. And I think that that's really astounding with both of These." (06:42)

Matchup Round 2: UFO 50 vs. SteamWorld Heist 2 (16:53 - 28:14)

The Besties move on to UFO 50 versus SteamWorld Heist 2. Chris Plant lauds SteamWorld Heist 2 as "one of my favorite turn-based strategy games" due to its creative design and rewarding gameplay mechanics (17:37). Justin appreciates its kinetic combat system, which relies on physics and angles, making strategic decisions visually intuitive (18:57).

Conversely, UFO 50 is celebrated by Russ Freshtick for capturing the essence of the 2024 gaming landscape, offering a diverse array of well-designed indie games (20:54). Griffin expresses a strong personal attachment to UFO 50, emphasizing its multifaceted approach and replayability (57:33).

Notable Quote:

• Russ Freshtick: "Playing UFO 50 is to experience what it's like to play video games in the year 2024, which is to turn on your system and be absolutely overwhelmed by a ridiculous amount of choice the video game." (20:54)

Matchup Round 3: Crow Country vs. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (28:14 - 37:19)

In the third matchup, Crow Country takes on Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. Justin McElroy initially intimidated by Crow Country's PlayStation 1-style horror aesthetics, finds its conventional controls and intensely atmospheric gameplay surprisingly enjoyable (24:02). The hosts commend its balance between fear-inducing mechanics and humorous elements, such as animatronic vampires turning unexpectedly comical (28:53).

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is admired for its rich narrative and engaging gameplay, though Chris Plant admits finding the turn-based combat less compelling despite its strong storytelling (64:55). Griffin praises the game for revitalizing his interest in RPGs, appreciating its original world and nuanced storytelling (43:21).

Notable Quote:

• Justin McElroy: "It makes every playthrough like, interesting and really rewarding." (34:02)

Matchup Round 4: Helldivers 2 vs. Balatro (37:19 - 86:37)

The final bracket sees Helldivers 2 pitted against Balatro. Helldivers 2 is recognized for its robust live-service model, offering seamless multiplayer experiences and continuous updates that keep the community engaged (30:30). However, Chris Plant notes a common critique regarding its difficulty scaling, which Russ Freshtick addresses by highlighting the game’s intelligent design that caters to both casual and dedicated players (31:24).

Balatro, a deck-building game with poker mechanics, receives mixed reviews. While Justin McElroy appreciates its depth and rewarding gameplay, interacting with its strategic elements feels less engaging compared to other contenders (34:23). Griffin acknowledges its fun factor but points out limitations in scalability and replayability, especially when juxtaposed with games like Slay the Spire (67:34).

Notable Quote:

• Griffin McElroy: "I think Balatro kicks ass, and obviously, without argument, has consumed a lot of all of our time, and we've all enjoyed that." (69:36)

Final Rankings and Consensus (86:37 - 89:07)

After extensive deliberation and passionate debates, the Besties finalize their top five games of the year. The final rankings are as follows:

1. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
2. UFO 50
3. Metaphor Refantasio
4. Animal Well
5. Balatro

Despite initial disagreements, the hosts converge on this consensus, valuing both personal enjoyment and the games' contributions to the industry. They acknowledge the challenges of aligning diverse tastes but ultimately agree that Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth stands out as the best game of the year due to its compelling narrative and immersive gameplay.

Notable Quote:

• Griffin McElroy: "What feels like a game that in past years only I would have been championing and trying so hard to get in the top five at all. For three other people who don't really care about the genre, the fact that it kind of swept like wildfire through this, through most of this podcast, I think kind of is a really amazing thing." (73:03)

Conclusion and Closing Remarks (89:07 - End)

Wrapping up the episode, the hosts express gratitude towards their Patreon supporters and tease upcoming bonus content. They reflect on the unique journey of selecting their Game of the Year, emphasizing the camaraderie and diverse perspectives that enrich their discussions.

Notable Quote:

• Justin McElroy: "Justin, Talk about the YouTube videos you watched to convince you this was a good game." (73:03)

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Key Takeaways:

• The Besties engage in thorough and passionate discussions to determine their Game of the Year, balancing personal preferences with broader industry impact.
• Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth emerges as the unanimous favorite, praised for its narrative depth and engaging gameplay.
• UFO 50 and Animal Well are lauded for their innovative designs and replayability, showcasing the strength of indie game development.
• Balatro receives commendation for its strategic depth, though it faces critiques regarding scalability and engagement over extended play sessions.

Final Rankings:

1. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
2. UFO 50
3. Metaphor Refantasio
4. Animal Well
5. Balatro

For listeners seeking diverse and in-depth video game reviews, The Besties podcast remains a go-to source, blending insightful analysis with the warmth of genuine friendship.

Transcript

[Justin McElroy]

Here's what I'm saying. I think for Jeff, Astrobot is the right pick. Jeff. Very safe. You might as well give the award to video games. Jeff. I'm just saying you're not gonna piss anybody off with Astrobot. Huh? Jeff?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, I mean, this is sort of our last chance to check in with the VGA prediction episode that Russ and.

[Justin McElroy]

I'm part of the show. This is just four guys.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, I thought this was the intro to the show. I just want to say Russ and I beefed it about as hard as one could. I mean, in terms of guessing who's going to win what, I think we fucking crushed it, actually. Yeah, we did great in terms of what was going to be announced.

[Chris Plant]

Oh, yeah, we did that.

[Griffin McElroy]

What is the opposite? We fluffed it. We did so terrible.

[Chris Plant]

We definitely didn't guess. Okami.

[Justin McElroy]

I need to find Okami.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okami?

[Justin McElroy]

What are you talking about?

[Chris Plant]

Okami got announced. Okami 2 got announced.

[Justin McElroy]

What?

[Chris Plant]

Yeah, we're too.

[Justin McElroy]

I watched all the game awards, but I had super bad diarrhea, so I kind of went in and out. I didn't see Okami. That's amazing.

[Russ Freshtick]

Jeff cried when he announced it. And it was relatable.

[Justin McElroy]

Legit. Okay. I can't keep the big OG award. Cause that was actually the greatest moment of my entire life. Because I feel like the reason Jeff got emotional when he announced Okami is not just because of the moment. Because I feel like that is the real culmination of the Geoff Keighley story is this man had 10 years believing in the dream until he was like, I really miss Okami. You know what? I'm gonna spend 10 years trying to get them to make a new Okami. And this is the prestige. It's all.

[Chris Plant]

You think he was the driving force that made that game happen?

[Justin McElroy]

Yes. I think he is funding it. I think if you look at the face, it is Okami. I think he is doing the mocap on the face. He's face capping Okami.

[Chris Plant]

I don't think there's ever been a bigger oversell than Jeff crying and me thinking, oh, Fuck, Half Life 3 is about to drop and it's a guy playing a drum. Like, I don't think there's ever been a bigger oversell than that. Like, I'm sure he's jazzed about it.

[Justin McElroy]

How's it feel out there?

[Chris Plant]

It doesn't feel good. It doesn't feel good. I'm telling you. You wanna come in?

[Justin McElroy]

You forgot your gloves and your scarf. Huh? Come on in, pal.

[Chris Plant]

Thanks.

[Griffin McElroy]

Buddy, we're all warming by the.

[Justin McElroy]

We're all warming by the fire of Okami.

[Griffin McElroy]

By the fire of Amaterasu's flaming scarf or whatever. It's been so long since Okabi came out.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, give me a call me when there's a new Onimusha.

[Griffin McElroy]

Buddy.

[Justin McElroy]

Good news. Son of a. My name is Justin McElroy and I know the best game of the year.

[Griffin McElroy]

My name is Griffin McElroy and we'll find out best game of the year.

[Russ Freshtick]

My name is Christopher Thomas Plant and I'm prepared to figure out the best game of the year with you, my best friends.

[Chris Plant]

My name is Russ Fresher. I'm 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 is a video game club and just by listening, my friend, you are a member. And today, what we set out to do with the Besties way back in 2012, well, we're doing it again. This is the real reason we're here, and that is to rank art. We're gonna rank art objectively ranking art with our best games of the year. Chris Plant, what does that mean?

[Russ Freshtick]

Well, art is an expression of the human soul and ranking is to reduce it into just an arbitrary series of numbers that we pretend to be objective when.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm not going to sit here and pretend like what we're doing isn't important.

[Russ Freshtick]

It is the most important. It's silly at the same time. But the problem is people. People get so excited for the Game Awards. We even started talking about it at the top of the show. We are older than the Game Awards. Game Awards is ripping us off.

[Chris Plant]

Oh, the baddies. I thought you meant us as people.

[Russ Freshtick]

That also. So if you want to know the origin, the history, the expertise of picking the true best game of the year, this is the show you've come to. I'm dead serious right now. We're going to pick.

[Justin McElroy]

Let's do it right after this. Our podcast, this one you're listening to right now, is brought to you by Squarespace. Now, what is Squarespace going to help you do? Well, if you've been listening to any of our podcasts for any amount of time, you know that they are going to help you create the most beautiful website possible. They've got a lot of beautiful templates created by some of the best, best designers in the business and they are going to give those tools to you to put your content in to make a great looking website that looks like you knew what you're doing. Even if you didn't, and if you want to use this website to sell stuff, you can absolutely do that. Get started in just a few clicks. Give your customers more ways to pay with popular payment methods like Klarna, ACH and Apple Pay. Go to squarespace.com for a free trial. And when you're ready to Launch, go to squarespace.combesties to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

[Chris Plant]

Okay, so if you remember last week, guys.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, man, you poor guys, man. Wow, guys.

[Griffin McElroy]

I mean, they're all gonna be bad. These are all gonna be a little rough.

[Chris Plant]

Yeah, I don't know that I did a good job on these matchups.

[Griffin McElroy]

No, I think you did a pretty bad job on these matchups. In fact, you know what? I didn't get a hand on the matchups ball. I've never. I'm going to bump some things around because there's some frankly insane move stuff around.

[Chris Plant]

It should be thematic, but otherwise go wild.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay, you set up what the top eight are here.

[Chris Plant]

Okay, so the top eight as determined last week. We have Astrobot. We have Animal. Whale. We have UFO 50. We have like a Dragon. Infinite Wealth. We have SteamWorld Heists 2. We have Crow country, which was a reader pick. Well done. We have Helldivers 2, which was also a reader pick. And we have Balatro. Those are our top eight. Okay, Griffin, you've reworked the matchups.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yes. Okay. I mean, we don't have to set them all up. Let's get started with this first one. And let's start getting nasty.

[Chris Plant]

I hate it right away.

[Griffin McElroy]

I hate it, too. I knew you were not gonna like it, but this one is where the chips landed.

[Russ Freshtick]

The theme here is games that start with the letter A. Yeah, kick ass.

[Justin McElroy]

Good one.

[Russ Freshtick]

Astrobot and Animal.

[Chris Plant]

Well, this also has two cute little guy pies running around bouncing.

[Russ Freshtick]

That's true.

[Chris Plant]

I guess that's a theme.

[Justin McElroy]

Now. This is good. This is the common man's game of the year and a true thinking man's game of the year for the refined palette jumping.

[Chris Plant]

There's jumping in both.

[Justin McElroy]

These are, you know what? I think the theme of these two games for me. And I think it's something you see actually a lot this year. But there's a real generosity of spirit in both of these games. It's somebody who was willing to put so much love into a thing and just trust that the person on the other end was going to be, like, into it. And I think that that's really astounding with both of These.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's crazy that you could technically say these are the same genre. These are loosely the same genre. They are both platformers sort of a little bit.

[Chris Plant]

And what's interesting, I think, is, like, if you. On the surface, they're extremely the same genre. Like, if you just sort of take Animal well as, like, what it's giving you, it feels very much like Astrobot. And then as you dig and dig and dig, you realize, oh, there's like a fucking Matrix style. It's like the game that they play in the movie Hackers, when you, like, go in and they're in that, like, that club scene. Yeah, that's what's laying underneath Animal well's surface of a cute little, like, Insect Man.

[Justin McElroy]

That's a really good.

[Griffin McElroy]

Really good sort of description of Animal well is. It does, from just an outsider's perspective, does look like a video game they would play on a TV show about video games or a movie where a video game, like in her. The video game he plays where he kind of walks his hands through this, like, ar temple. This just seems like a. I can't believe this is a video game, but it very much is simple as it looks. It is. It is quite. Quite wonderful. Beneath the surface, these two games do two completely different things. So I don't really know how to pit them against each other.

[Justin McElroy]

I will say, if we're. If we're looking for comparison points, I will say my. My. My little thing about Animal well is I feel like I love the thing that held it back for me just a little bit. And this is absolutely its own choice, and it's. And it's, like, true to its own design. But I wish I could experience a bit more of that game in a vacuum than I was able to. I think that for the way I go at stuff, I think that it really rewards a sort of, like, communal play. It rewards a sort of, like, deep, patient play. I think it could do a little bit more just to make it, like, where you could see a lot. It kind of reminds me of, like, Outer Wilds in that sense where, like, what it's doing seems so cool. I wish it was just a bit more accessible. Yeah. And that. That is my only sort of thing that held it back. But, like, I really enjoyed Animal well, I played quite a bit of it. Same with Astrobot. It just.

[Griffin McElroy]

I think Animal well, like, the genre of Animal well for me is, like, it is a mystery game and it just so happens to have, like, you interact with it as a platformer or as a search Action game. But, like, if that's all that game was, it would be, frankly, pretty bad. What it is is a mystery game in the vein of a, you know, some of the great mystery games.

[Chris Plant]

Like, I think, for what it's worth, I think it's a really good platforming game, even without the mystery stuff. I think it's.

[Griffin McElroy]

I mean, yeah, it is good to move around that world. It looks great, right? But it's like. It is quite simple. It is how it kind of, like, hides things within that simplicity that it makes it truly an unforgettable experience. I say unforgettable. I wish it was forgettable because it suffers the same kind of pitfall as any mystery game, which is like, going back and playing it again will not.

[Chris Plant]

Similar to Outer Wilds as well, which is like.

[Griffin McElroy]

Exactly.

[Chris Plant]

Yeah, yeah. I wish I could wipe my brain of knowing, like, oh, there's that shortcut.

[Griffin McElroy]

That said, like, it unfolding and unfurling and revealing itself in the way that it did when I played it elicited within me a much, much magnitude stronger reaction than playing Astrobot did. Astrobot's a great game, and it's very generous. I love that word that you used to describe it last week, Russ. But for me, I don't know. Animal. Well, was so thrilling. I could not stop playing that game because at any point, I had in my mind, like, four mysteries happening that I was trying to figure out.

[Chris Plant]

I think we. Yeah.

[Russ Freshtick]

Well, can we talk about Astrobot for a second?

[Chris Plant]

Yeah.

[Russ Freshtick]

Is that okay?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, please.

[Russ Freshtick]

Okay. So I. I really enjoyed Astrobot when it came out, but I couldn't shake that weird nagging feeling of this is a game that is effectively a giant marketing mechanism, which I don't feel in my heart to be true. But, like, it kept rattling around my brain. So I thought about that, especially after it won the game awards of, like, what does that mean for me? And where I've come to really appreciate this game is, yeah, it's marketing. But also it is either a reminder of, like, what we've lost with video game consoles or the direction that Sony needs to go if it wants to get through this. And by that, I mean, you play Astrobot and you see all of these great franchises, these games, these weird experiments, this idea of, like, Sony making big games like God of War making weird things like Vid ribbon. There's all this variety, right? And now, you know, you're rebuilding a PlayStation 5 and you turn on your PlayStation 5. And that is not what I expect at all when I turn on A video game console. I expect like the same games that I'm going to find everywhere else.

[Griffin McElroy]

Right.

[Russ Freshtick]

I expect Sony to release like one game a year. And I think there's something kind of special about what the game is doing that is again, quite literally feels like almost like a end point of the Sony experiment as a video game. Or again, a like, hey, y'all, this is a reminder to literally you of what made your thing special. And if you want to get through this, like, this is why Nintendo stays around.

[Chris Plant]

Yeah.

[Russ Freshtick]

Like you need to get to it.

[Chris Plant]

It's not an end point. It's a beginning. It's not a lake. It's an ocean, because not a Sam lake. What Astrobot does as Game of the Year, According to the TGA's, is shows the world and shows Sony specifically. You could spend seven years having Naughty Dog spend $300 million, whatever they spent on those games. Or you could get a team of 60 people and spend a tenth that and make also an incredible experience. I'm not saying one is better than the other one, but there is a way forward in a more scalable.

[Justin McElroy]

Can I just crank out 10 games?

[Chris Plant]

Sorry.

[Justin McElroy]

Wait a minute. This is good.

[Griffin McElroy]

Russ, cancel Naughty Dog's new shit. Obviously everyone hates it. Have them make 10 astrobots instead. Easy.

[Chris Plant]

Well, here's what I'm gonna say.

[Justin McElroy]

Industry fixed.

[Chris Plant]

I would be shocked. And I'm gonna call it now because I called all sorts of Astrobot predictions previously. I'm gonna call it now Astrobot 2 launch title PlayStation 6. Boom.

[Russ Freshtick]

And will come out before Intergalactic the Heretic.

[Chris Plant]

Also very true.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah. Intergalactic coming out.

[Chris Plant]

I just think it's a really heartwarming plants comparison to Nintendo is great. It's a heartwarming example of another company realizing that we can also capture the magic that Nintendo has been fucking crazy.

[Griffin McElroy]

And I think it's incredible. The game doesn't just have the trappings of like Sony's nostalgic brand identity. The vibe of the game is very much like in that PS1 platformer like Spyro, Crash Bandicoot, like kind of madcap feel. And I think that that is. I think that's very, very cool as well.

[Justin McElroy]

I'll say this one little stinker note. I think that Sony intentionally had to let Little Big Planet die before sucks.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

This Astrobot could become this. And I think that it's kind of crummy that they could have had this with Little Big Planet. They were building a sort of like Sackboy as brand ambassador kind of vibe for a While. And that could have been a brand about, like, user generation and creativity. And I think that. That if they had had the purity of that vision, it would have served them a lot better when the tech caught up. They needed this, like, Fortnite. Fortnite era.

[Chris Plant]

Yeah. They needed those games to be fun. That was really the day.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm not going to sit here and listen to.

[Justin McElroy]

No, I'm just saying that I think it's a little. It bums me out a little bit that it's like we want to recreate this identity, but it's just sort of, like, so brand focused.

[Chris Plant]

I think it's like the mcu, honestly, that's how I view Astrobot is. It feels like endgame to me.

[Justin McElroy]

Patently insane.

[Griffin McElroy]

Where are we at?

[Justin McElroy]

It feels like in game. Because.

[Chris Plant]

Astrobot is marketing. So is endgame, is what I'm saying.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay, round the horn.

[Chris Plant]

Absolutely.

[Griffin McElroy]

Where are we at? I am pretty firmly animal. Well, where's everyone else?

[Chris Plant]

I literally am cool with either of these games. Moving on.

[Russ Freshtick]

I'm Astrobot.

[Chris Plant]

My pick is probably Astrobot.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay, that's funny how that worked. That's funny how that just went down.

[Chris Plant]

Russ, I was thinking about my top five, and.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, sure, I get it.

[Justin McElroy]

Animal well, for me. Thank you.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay, so we got two. Animal well, and we have two Astrobots, but it sounds like one of the Astrobots is kind of leaning either way.

[Chris Plant]

I'm extremely pro Animal well as well, so I would be totally fine with moving.

[Russ Freshtick]

I'm fine with that.

[Justin McElroy]

Shove that little dinkus in a well. Go to. Have fun. Say hi to yo noid and spot for me.

[Chris Plant]

Okay, so Animal well moves on. Astrobot gets kicked.

[Griffin McElroy]

All right, next.

[Justin McElroy]

Okay. Oh, he fell in the. Where's the beef lady? Hold on, let me scoot over.

[Russ Freshtick]

Next up, we have UFO 50 versus SteamWorld Heist 2.

[Chris Plant]

What was the rationale on this matchup there, Grif?

[Griffin McElroy]

Well, originally, you had UFO 50 going up against, like, a dragon. Infinite Wealth. So what was the idea behind that matchup? Yeah, well, these were all arbitrary. Let's not pretend they weren't.

[Justin McElroy]

But let's all justify our arbitrary pairings.

[Chris Plant]

They both have photos of perverts in them.

[Russ Freshtick]

Both indie games.

[Chris Plant]

These are both indie games.

[Justin McElroy]

No, we couldn't get the indie game. It came out too late in the year. Okay, UFO 50, come back to it in 20.

[Griffin McElroy]

We're gonna make so many Indiana Jones indie game goofs in the episode where we finally cover that game. So save those up. Sit on them.

[Justin McElroy]

You're right. You're Right, you're right.

[Chris Plant]

We said a lot about SteamWorld Heist 2. To me, that game fucking rules. It's like so fucking sharply made and creative and I worry that it got kind of buried. I didn't feel like there was a huge zeitgeist like uprising around it. But structurally speaking, I think it's.

[Justin McElroy]

It's also. It's tough for us because honestly like I. My enjoyment of it was kind of like almost in spite of a lot of factors like I didn't play the last one.

[Chris Plant]

Yeah, right. Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

I mean, and I think that. I think Steamworld suffers a little bit from just being consistently pretty good that I think it can get. But like consistent, the consistency is maybe like makes them a little easier to ignore or lose track of, I think.

[Chris Plant]

Yeah. I think this elevated the quality level compared to a lot of. I don't know if it's the best. Oh sure, probably SteamWorld Dig 2 is maybe the best. But this one is maybe one of my favorite turn based strategy games I've ever played. For what it's worth.

[Justin McElroy]

Musically it's great. It looks great. It does. For somebody who doesn't like to think about a lot of like tactical stuff, like it gets too deep for me to enjoy pretty quickly. This is such like a kinetic visual way of doing tactics combat that I.

[Chris Plant]

Really, I really have minimal percentages. Like chance to hit is like, oh, I can see the laser hits like directing at that guy.

[Russ Freshtick]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

So much more about physics and angles and that and that.

[Chris Plant]

It's got hats. It does a lot of different hats in it.

[Justin McElroy]

A lot of different hats.

[Griffin McElroy]

UFO 50, I mean we kind of breezed by also last time because I forget what it was up against. But I think we all kind of decided pretty easily that it was UFO 50 was going to move on.

[Chris Plant]

So I'm not sure how often I have. I know Griffin's been extremely. UFO 50 pilled. I've played a lot of UFO 50 as well. Plant and juice. Where are you guys at in terms of it? Is it. Is it still purely like, wow, this is an incredible accomplishment? Or have you like truly turned the corner into. Into like, oh fuck, I love this shit.

[Justin McElroy]

If I were more. I have spent a lot more time with UFO 50. I have, I can't say cherried, I won't do it. But I have say gotten achieved the highest ranks of success in several of the games. Now at this point I think three or four. No, it's three. I know exactly how many it is. I don't know if this will make sense to you guys. If I was more the sort of gamer that I wish I was, I would just be playing UFO 50. Yeah, I really, really, I, I. The time that I spend with UFO 50 I always feel like is very well spent.

[Chris Plant]

Fine worry.

[Justin McElroy]

It feels very rewarding. Like it's a good experience. I, I wish that I was a bit more, I don't know, a different person, but I like it quite a bit.

[Russ Freshtick]

Did it.

[Chris Plant]

You hate watching Treme.

[Russ Freshtick]

Wait, wait, wait. No, no. Frostchik did this very strange thing where he said it's like a fine wine and it. But then he brushed his nose like no, no, no.

[Chris Plant]

I had my thumb out as well. I was drinking.

[Russ Freshtick]

Okay. I thought you were like kind of like it's like a fine wine, you know what I mean? A little bit of cocaine.

[Griffin McElroy]

Salt aged cocaine.

[Russ Freshtick]

Yeah. This one feels like a bit of an easy one. Not that SteamWorld Heist 2 isn't a great and special game on its own, but UFO 50 is the sort of game that we really privilege at bestie's and have historically. It's a game that is both good game design but getting at something bigger. I mean we talked about Astrobot and kind of what it's saying about what's going on in the industry. And the grand irony of UFO 50 is to play UFO 50 is to experience what it's like to play video games in the year 2024, which is to turn on your system and be absolutely overwhelmed by a ridiculous amount of choice the video game. Except in this case most of them are very, very, very well designed all at once.

[Justin McElroy]

It's really tough to like there are so many factors working against Steamworld in a very crowded year. I am still kind of amazed that I played the entire thing. I did all of it. And there's like a lot of opportunities for me to like not like we talked about in the episode. And it was just this thing like I think I'll play a little bit more. And it was not because I was addicted. It was not because it was like some power curve. It's just like so good to play.

[Chris Plant]

It's incredibly capable.

[Justin McElroy]

It's. Yes, it's so capable. It's so like rewarding. You know exactly why. It's just like so well honed and well refined. Here's, here's for me, I think the, the narrative of it, there is so much time you spend in like character dialogue and the role story dialogue and like it just doesn't accomplish a lot with the amount of time that it takes like, it's just not very propulsive and it doesn't do really enough to keep the story moving. And I think that it. It actually assumes a little bit too much knowledge of the first.

[Chris Plant]

Yeah, I was definitely skipping through dialogue. I think once you're in missions or even once you're just like cruising around on the. In the ship, you're constantly being given stuff to do. And it really does feel like literally propulsive. But I agree narratively, it didn't speak to me in any way. I also agree that, you know, we reward, whether fairly or not, games that are really trying to do something brand spanking new. And it's ironic that UFO 50 is doing that given the fact that it's inspired by games that came out 30 years ago. Sure. But it unquestionably is.

[Griffin McElroy]

There's no way UFO 50 then it sounds like.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, I feel really good about that.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay.

[Russ Freshtick]

Okay. Next up we have Crow country versus like a Infinite Wealth.

[Griffin McElroy]

This is gonna be. This is rough for Crow Country. I love Crow Country. I think everyone should play it. Who is a fan of the survival horror genre. I think it's.

[Chris Plant]

I've played it more now.

[Justin McElroy]

Me too.

[Chris Plant]

Oh, did you just last week.

[Justin McElroy]

I'd like to speak for Crow Country.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'd love you to.

[Justin McElroy]

I think the thing that scared me off of it initially is I thought it would be a lot more, I guess, hardcore. It looks like a game that is like, for hardcore gamers. It looks very. Like it's a. It looks like a PlayStation 1 horror game. And like, it looks like it's gonna control really bad, you know, like it looks like it's gonna feel bad. What really knocked me over actually was like one. If you play with normal controls for. For sane people, it feels just fine.

[Russ Freshtick]

Great.

[Justin McElroy]

It does a really fun thing though with it, like running around is very good. And then when you hold right bumper to start trying to aim, it starts to feel bad. And that's like, good. Like I. In a way that's very like. It makes aiming at stuff fairly intense and scary.

[Griffin McElroy]

Right.

[Chris Plant]

I think it matches how people might have felt when they were playing the original Resident Evils.

[Griffin McElroy]

But it feels so much better than the original.

[Russ Freshtick]

I mean, it feels better, but the memory of it. Right, the memory, what you like of.

[Justin McElroy]

It and the puzzles are actually like much, much better. They're. They're one layer elevated from Resident Evil where it's like, it doesn't just say like, you know, you get the King Key and you put it in the King lock. There's a Little bit of lateral thinking, but not too much more than that. And they have these like employee journals that are like basically laying it out in full, you know, detail exactly what the problems are. And those are all really funny too. It's, it's real. And also I didn't realize, I guess it didn't click with me that it set in a theme park.

[Chris Plant]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

And that's kind of rated E for extremely my. So yeah, I, I again I've spoken so much about Infinite Infinite wealth and we'll continue to speak about it but I did want to say like this is definitely one. I was squeezing in a few minutes before we came on. I definitely think that I will keep up with it. It's. It's a lot of fun. I haven't quite figured out how like resource balance, how, how much I need to be sitting on my med kits and ammo and stuff.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Chris Plant]

Is there an analog. Like are there other games that are set entirely in a theme park but besides like Roller Coaster Tycoon and obviously like the Disney.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, I don't, I.

[Justin McElroy]

There was a pretty big chunk. I mean like said entirely because obviously.

[Chris Plant]

Like with Final Fantasy 7 there's like chunks and like there's like.

[Justin McElroy]

I mean Liza P. Had an extremely.

[Chris Plant]

Right. Usually has a level but I actually think there's something really interesting and like.

[Russ Freshtick]

Oh, lots of horror games like other than this too. You know, I guess Five Nights Goosebumps.

[Justin McElroy]

At Freddy's is in a Billy Bob's Wonderland.

[Griffin McElroy]

But yeah, I think that this game, I think the vibe and story and setting of this game is really special. It is like the monsters are all really fucked up and weird. It's not like zombies. It's much more kind of, you know, low res body horror than.

[Justin McElroy]

You don't have to kill them.

[Griffin McElroy]

You don't have to.

[Justin McElroy]

That sucks.

[Russ Freshtick]

That's worse.

[Justin McElroy]

I want them to come after me more.

[Griffin McElroy]

This game is really, really. Once you reach the last hour of this game, I genuinely, I stayed up very late finishing this game because I couldn't put it down because I think that the storytelling and writing and everything feels fairly concise. Yeah, I 100% did it. I don't think it took me more than like 12, 13 hours maybe.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah. Bragging thing.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's very, I think the amusement park setting is also very special because there's something very cool about going around an environment that has props designed to jump scare you as a attendee of the park mixed in with stuff that is genuinely trying to hurt you.

[Chris Plant]

And it also justifies A lot of the puzzle solving because it has the sleep no more. You should be solving these puzzles because of course a person that was going through this park was also solving these puzzles. So it makes sense in ways that like a police station having weird fucking keys does not make sense.

[Griffin McElroy]

And if you are the type of person that loves hundred percenting survival horror games, it has systems in place to help you achieve that if you want to. It is actually a much more approachable, I think, survival horror game than it maybe looks at first blush.

[Justin McElroy]

It's also weirdly sort of like Riley funny in a way that you don't necessarily expect. There's one part where you find an animatronic vampire and he pops up and then I shot him and his head exploded, which is hysterical. And then every time I checked the body after that, it said, I killed this vampire in his sleep the way you're supposed to. Just like very silly stuff like that within the, like, scarier stuff. It's really good.

[Russ Freshtick]

It's also a great gateway game, which is what ended up being my favorite thing about it is I finally went and revisited Parasite Eve, like literally the past two weeks because we were talking about this game. I don't know, sometimes you need to play something modern like this that reminds you it is possible that you're not so intimidated to go back. And then you go back and you kind of have that language in your head and it works all fine. Also yell, Parasite Eve. I mean, we can't go too far out, but what a game.

[Griffin McElroy]

You're gonna go, what a Christmas game.

[Justin McElroy]

It's Fear Factor.

[Griffin McElroy]

I think like a dragon. Infinite wealth should move on. But I'm really glad you guys played Crow Country. I think it is genuinely a real sleeper in a year full of big games. If it had come out at a different time, I think it would have hit really great. I think it came out fairly early in the year when there was still stuff often popping, but yeah. All right, last round of this corner finals.

[Russ Freshtick]

The last round is Helldivers 2 versus Balatro.

[Justin McElroy]

Talk about two games that came out of absolutely nowhere, right?

[Chris Plant]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

I mean, both not on anybody's most anticipated lists.

[Chris Plant]

I remember seeing the Helldivers 2 trailer last year at the TGA's and being like, oh, that was a funny trailer.

[Russ Freshtick]

But not helldivers 2. Breaks my brain because we talked about this last time. Griffin and I really enjoyed Helldivers 1. When I saw that Helldivers 2 gameplay trailer. Whenever that was, my reaction was, why did they break a good thing?

[Chris Plant]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Russ Freshtick]

Why are we getting another generic third person shooter when we had this really interesting, cool thing and cool to be wrong. Very cool.

[Chris Plant]

I also want to mention the fact, since we last recorded, there was a huge update that was announced as part of the TGAs which added like the entire. An entire new enemy faction in the Illuminate, which is like the Alien Protoss style faction that are now in the game. And I booted it back up and played some more. And that game is still fun as shit and easy to get into games and no lag. And the community is grant. It's not the like Pokemon Go insanity that it was towards launch, but there is still like a very dedicated community of people that like, it's around like 200,000 active users at peak that are just kind of cruising along and probably.

[Russ Freshtick]

Closer to what they balanced the game for and hope for, you know?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. I think as a live. As a live service game, I think it has been pretty impressive with how.

[Chris Plant]

Much it's exciting because it's. They made so much fucking money selling like it did so well. Insanely well, to the point where that studio can be really floated on that success for many years. And I'm excited to see what they do with that. Like how they grow the game in unique ways. Will be really exciting. Right now, I think the onboarding experience is great and the first like several dozen hours is like super great. I think I kind of hit a wall in terms of like fun goodies towards the latter part of it. And I think that's a common complaint. But I'm just. Mostly I'm just excited because there aren't many of those multiplayer games that you could just jump in and have fun immediately with a bunch of friends, regardless of how much you've played.

[Griffin McElroy]

It is sort of the nature of. I mean, games with co op games with sort of action heavy elements and character customization that everything kind of naturally funnels to a point where it's like, you know, my problem with the game, I think when I first kind of stopped playing Helldivers 2 was when the community was very much like, don't come in here unless you even got the drone. If you don't have this, this one. If you don't have this. What are those things? What are they called?

[Chris Plant]

The laser gun, Whatever it was.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, just that whole category, I can't remember. And that was like, frustrating, but it was very much like, okay, if you went online, it was like, how to get better at Helldivers 2, which you kind of have to. To play Those higher difficulties, it's like, well, you gotta rock with this weapon. You gotta go with this. This is by far the best one. And it seems like they have smoothed that out a bit, but it didn't mean.

[Chris Plant]

And I also think it does if you're reasonable about the difficulty levels you're trying to conquer, like you're gonna reach the right audience. So if you're playing like a 5 or 6 difficulty rather than a 10 difficulty, you're gonna play with people that are like not looking to like fucking try hard their way through it. You're gonna play with casual people that have a good. That just want to have a good time.

[Griffin McElroy]

I guess I was saying more like as I played it once I got the stuff that I was kind of grinding up the, you know, battle pass for sure. It's hard for me in a game to not feel like, well, I beat it. Which is maybe counterintuitive.

[Chris Plant]

And they have released a lot of war bonds since then. But you're right, once you have 50 things, like, it's hard to motivate, to try to use something else.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Chris Plant]

But I think they did an amazing job. That game fucking rules.

[Justin McElroy]

Balatro is a. It's a. It's a deck building game. It's a. It's a poker based deck building game where you are basically playing poker, but then you're collecting jokers, jokers and pokers. The oldest story tales, oldest time.

[Chris Plant]

I started playing more on the mobile version, which is truly.

[Justin McElroy]

Huge mistake, huge mistake.

[Chris Plant]

I made a rule for myself. Here's my rule. Yeah, I can only play the mobile version when I'm on the subway. That's the only time I'm allowed. If I play it at home, I'm fucked. Like, I had town.

[Griffin McElroy]

I downloaded it and I started playing it and I was like, oh no. I need to dedicate the next two weeks to just like beating this game to death and finishing all the shit that's in the game so that I can like get over it and so that it won't sort of be all encompassing.

[Justin McElroy]

I used to do that game dev story every few months. Yeah, I see. I've actually been in a place with it now where it's. Where I don't have that it's satisfying to play. Balatro I don't have. You know, there was definitely like an addictive impulse at first and I think that that's part of it. But like it's. It's one of those things where after I play around, I really feel like, oh, that was fun. I really got a lot out of that. I had a really good time. I'm. It's a satisfying game experience. It doesn't feel manipulative or anything. There's like a lot to think about and there's a lot of different components and it makes every playthrough like, interesting and really rewarding.

[Chris Plant]

What's funny is it is a little manipulative in ways that we don't necessarily knock, but I think in the way that like the haptics work on mobile and the way that like all the effects work together, like it's manipulating you into making that experience even more satisfying. Like, this is not a negative. I'm not knocking it, but like made.

[Griffin McElroy]

The game feel too good. Is that what you're saying?

[Chris Plant]

I'm not saying too good. I'm saying it's extremely good. Like, there's a version of Balatro that has no effects, no haptics, no anything. That's really just the rules of the game.

[Justin McElroy]

It's very pleasant.

[Chris Plant]

Like, yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

To play. Like, it's not like a cold experience. Like, no. The haptics that they have when the game boots up of the, the shuffling sort of, you know, the, the feeling I'm talking about, like, whoa, it's Balatra time. Fun. All right.

[Chris Plant]

So fucking good.

[Justin McElroy]

It's, it's. Man, I have a real talk about like a novelty bias combined with like, also one of the things that I spend the most time on in the past 12 months. It's really hard for anything to.

[Griffin McElroy]

There's a Pavlovian sort of just hearing you talk about the shuffle haptics is like, I wouldn't mind having a little.

[Justin McElroy]

Quick right handed shuffle while I cast. One hander. While I cast is continuing.

[Chris Plant]

Plant, where are you at on Balatro?

[Russ Freshtick]

I will say that for the top five because I think we'd go to the top five.

[Chris Plant]

Interesting sounds edgy.

[Russ Freshtick]

And I rather talk about it there than like dig into my opinions of this game until then.

[Griffin McElroy]

All right, so it sounds like pushing Balatro forward then.

[Chris Plant]

I do before. Yeah. No, yeah. Okay. I think we're pushing Balatro forward.

[Russ Freshtick]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

I mean, if you want to make a case for Helldivers too, I'm sure.

[Chris Plant]

No, no, no. Balatro of these two is definitely my pick of those.

[Russ Freshtick]

Okay, cool.

[Griffin McElroy]

That brings us to our final four, which is animal. Well, UFO 50, like a dragon, Infinite wealth and Balatro. Now the question is, do we. I mean, we should. What do we bump up into fifth position or not even fifth position? Because there is precedent for this Also, it could land, you know, anywhere. Probably not first. That would be crazy. But what do we bring back up into the finals?

[Justin McElroy]

Let's. I'll tell you what, let's take a quick break and then we'll come back and watch four best friends battle to the death. And I'm not talking about us. I'm talking about the games. That's right. These four games all love each other too. That's couldn't be higher. Oh, you're under that budget crunch. I know a lot of folks feel that around December. You got to find money for gifts, you got to find money for hot cocoa. My cocoa budget is through the roof right now. You guys save a few bucks. Where's one place you could do it while you mobile? You know, if they make it easy enough, you know, maybe it's worth checking out. And this is easy, folks. There's no hoops to jump through. There's no garbage. Mint Mobile just makes it easy to get unlimited talk, text and Data plans for $15 a month. When you purchase a three month plan, you want to get the new customer offer, go to mintmobile.combesties. that's mintmobile.combesties. there's a $45 upfront payment required, equivalent to $15 per month for the first three month plan only speed slower above 40 gigabytes on unlimited plans, additional taxes, fees and restriction supply. See Mint Mobile for details. Hey, it's gift giving time. That's what I call it. No, there's no Happy holidays here. It's just gift giving time in the, in the McElroy household. And what are we giving people this year? Well, aura frames, at least for the people that we didn't already give the year before and the year before that. This is a great digital frame. How great? Was rated the number one digital photo frame by Wirecutter and that is my number one source for all consumer goods information. If you don't know if you have somebody in your life that you're buying a gift for that you want to stay in touch with but maybe isn't the most tech savvy, then I have to say aura frames are the way to go. You can put in their WI FI information before you give it to them. You can get it all set up and all they got to do is plug it in. And then whenever you are out and about, you take a great picture you'd like to share with them. You can use the Aura app to just shoot it over very quickly. It's easy. It's a great way to keep in touch. Even with somebody who isn't up on all the latest tech, they will love it. We've gotten it for so many people in our lives and I think you should give it a shot. Save on the perfect gift by visiting or frames.com to get $35 off Aura's best selling Carver mat frames by using promo code Besties at checkout. That's a U R A frames.com promo code besties. This deal is exclusive to listeners, so get yours now. Now in time for the holidays. Terms and conditions apply.

[Chris Plant]

Okay, we've narrowed it down. We've got four. We've got animal. Well, like a dragon, infinite wealth, UFO 50 and Balatro. And we've said that we're gonna bring forward a fifth from somewhere in the Ethan sucks.

[Griffin McElroy]

This is gonna suck.

[Chris Plant]

Sucks. Ghostbusters.

[Griffin McElroy]

This is gonna be the worst part of it. This is gonna be the worst part of it.

[Russ Freshtick]

Oh, by far.

[Griffin McElroy]

It seems to me the two games we've discussed doing this for is Astro Bot and Metaphor Refantasio. Two games that the four hosts of this podcast could not be more diametrically opposed regarding.

[Chris Plant]

Is that true?

[Griffin McElroy]

I think so. I don't. I don't know.

[Chris Plant]

Here's what I'm gonna say about Metaphor Refantasio. I think it's clear that the podcast is split down in twain regarding Metaphor Refantasio. I don't get that sense about Astrobot, but tell me if I'm wrong.

[Justin McElroy]

I. Sorry, just to be clear, as much as I love metaphor, this must be what it's like to be a woman, to have three men tell me how I feel about Metaphor refantazio. But I. I will say that I feel exactly the same way about Metaphor Refantazio as I do about Astro Bot. I think that they're both remarkable and I see the like that the amount of like joy and delight that they have brought to people that have gotten deeply into them seems roughly equal to me. And I appreciate both of especially like after that episode that we had about Metaphor Refantasio and like looking at some of the other like later game stuff and the feedback from other people, like, I definitely see I had a real urge to go back and play more. I won't, but I had an urge. I feel about the same way as Astrobot. Very cool.

[Russ Freshtick]

But like, can I make my case for metaphor in here really quick?

[Chris Plant]

Sure.

[Russ Freshtick]

Okay. This would be my case is the top five for us is like our collective top five. Right. And when I look at our top four right now we have animal. Well, like a dragon, UFO 50 and Balatro. And I think we all love Like a Dragon. I wouldn't be surprised if it maybe gets number one. I don't know. The other three are games that I personally. They're not my things. I feel like they're the other things here that I know why they're here and I know why they resonate with all of you. But I feel like I personally do not have my, oh, this is the game that means the world to me. I don't have the indica or the 1000 exorcist or a metaphor in this case. And of all the games that I think have the best shot of that metaphor is a game that I will be thinking about for the rest of my video game playing life.

[Griffin McElroy]

Can you tie a bow on what you've written about this at lig that talked about it on this show? But what is it about metaphor that specifically that clicked?

[Chris Plant]

And maybe do it in reference to previous Persona? I'm just like, that's where I'm getting hungry. Because every time it's been described, it sounds like Persona plus to me.

[Russ Freshtick]

Yeah. And I don't think that's true at all because I've never finished a Persona game and I finished this. I think the big difference is, as silly as this is to say, this one starts much, much earlier than Persona, and it has a series of hooks and additional gameplay loops that reveal themselves much deeper than a Persona game. So by that, I mean, you start the game, you have a little bit of story, and it's like, okay, well, and here is how combat works. And it's actually understandable this time versus Persona games. Here is how the travel system works. Okay. Here's how the day system works in relation to travel and how you actually spend your time. Here are all the activities that you can do with the players. And because it balances both clarity and density without ever feeling like, oh, this is 30 hours of tutorials to start the game. That's the magic. And that's where I think Persona, a game I really love, games I really love, can struggle. Because for me, Persona sometimes feels like the first 30 hours are tutorials for all those systems rather than layering on of delicious flavors, which is what I got from this game.

[Justin McElroy]

I will say that in terms of I only pushed through with Persona because of the extremely good feedback I got and also because it was the only game I brought to the beach that one time. Yeah. Metaphori Fantasio is much more a video game that is engaging you mechanically early on. And is not asking you to do a lot of homework before it starts to get interesting.

[Griffin McElroy]

I think it is also, it stands out for me in this year of excellent RPGs of being a game with a really original world with some really original kind of, like, ideas behind it. And obviously fantasy and sci fi as a genre pretty much exists to hold a mirror up to real world stuff. And I think this game, at first blush, seems like it's going to do a pretty clumsy job with it. I think it does a pretty extremely good job, actually holding that mirror up and showing something that is surprising with a surprising amount of nuance and care. I really, really got interested. I never do this, but I would read the memos of, like, here's what you should know about this tribe and here's the history of this thing. I caught myself voluntarily reading those things because I found myself interested enough in the world to do it. And I don't think that really happened with any other game this year. Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Do you guys ding it at all for how much it is Persona without being. I've always wondered about. I don't know. It's the kind of feeling I have about destiny, where if you have the opportunity to do something wholly new and then you just kind of make Halo again a little bit.

[Russ Freshtick]

Like, I. I don't. Because it goes in so many different directions. Like, it took. It kind of would be like dinging a game for being a first person shooter. Like, I think that they created a bit of a genre here.

[Justin McElroy]

In a room in a blue. Pretty early on, you show a blue classic room. That is exactly Persona.

[Griffin McElroy]

No, it's Persona.

[Justin McElroy]

That would be like. That would be like. If you're like. And Master Chief, here's your crowbar. Good luck, sir.

[Russ Freshtick]

Sure. I think it's still different enough. The other thing that I'd say is the art, the design, the story are all going after different things.

[Justin McElroy]

It looks something outstanding. I mean, they all do, but it's really cool.

[Russ Freshtick]

And also, it's not pretentious. And I say that, like, in the literal definition of pretension, in that it is inspired by Hieronymus Bosch and Francis Bacon and Dali. Right. But it's not doing that. So that everybody who plays, it's like, oh, this reminds me of these things in the museum. It's like, no, we're borrowing from that because that stuff is sick and it makes for good monsters in a fantasy setting.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Chris Plant]

And I think that's untapped.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, man. A great. A great, like. And I. This is like, everybody across the spectrum. Like, please pull influence from places other than video games you have played, guys.

[Chris Plant]

Yeah, like Marvel movies.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, pull some Marvel movies.

[Russ Freshtick]

I'll be honest, I won't be upset if Astrobot makes the cut either. And I think we should talk about it too. But I wanted to at least give Metaphor its share because I also just think in this year with this election, a game that is asking what function should we actually expect of fiction? And also how useful is democracy? It's just bonkers that this game came out this year. I cannot get over it.

[Chris Plant]

I will make the case for Astrobot and it's similar to the case that I made previously, I think last week, which is I still stand by my this is the best platforming game ever made stance. I think again, when you look at like all of the elements, graphics and game feel and level design and art design and music and, and everything that Astrobot is doing, it does not let up. It is all fucking aces. And I struggle. And this is not a knock against metaphor, Rio Fantasio. It's more of my brain. Thing is I cannot attach to the distance that you feel when you're playing turn based RPGs. And I felt the same way with Infinite wealth, which we'll talk about a little bit. And it. So it is difficult for me to make that leap in the same way that it's difficult for Plant to make that leap with a game like Animal. Well, where he understands why it's very good, but it doesn't like personally scratch his brain. So I would. Yeah, but it's mostly just the argument that like Astrobot is start to finish. Like so such a curated and fucking stellar platform experience and you don't have.

[Russ Freshtick]

To play for 85 hours and you.

[Chris Plant]

Have to play for 30 seconds and it's instantly fun like that. I mean, forget 35 hours. Like that's. That was the struggle that I had with Metaphor. It was just like it's a time commitment before it gets good. And I think you guys were pretty, pretty direct about that, that it's a good.

[Griffin McElroy]

I mean I pushed back then and I'll push back now. Like I think it's good. I think it's good pretty fucking fast. But I obviously, I think it hits its stride maybe once some of the like gameplay elements are.

[Chris Plant]

I'll alter it and say I think it's a, it's a time commitment for people that aren't already in love with the genre to realize why maybe they should be.

[Griffin McElroy]

Genre preference is always the fucking like stick in the Spokes of this entire process that's like unavoidable.

[Russ Freshtick]

So what are we thinking here?

[Justin McElroy]

I believe it comes down to me.

[Griffin McElroy]

That kind of seems like it.

[Justin McElroy]

Here we are again, everyone looking to me for guidance. I would. If I had to pick between these two, I would push forward. I'm gonna. I'll just tell you. I would push forward. Metaphor refit host Astrobot's a commercial. Sorry man. I know it's such a good commercial but they charge you for a commercial, brother. I'm so sorry man. I know it's so good, man. I love the one ad where Jason Alexander is singing about the mcdlt but it's not the game of the year, man.

[Russ Freshtick]

This is an incredible turn.

[Griffin McElroy]

What a wonderful journey Justin has been on as a a person, as a gamer, as a father, as a brother. This is great. I am moved by Chris's argument to have a little bit of Chris Plant represented on this list and I realize that that serves my personal list as well.

[Justin McElroy]

It's really not Chris Plant personally. It is what I want to reward games for doing and I think that it's like it's really cool what Sony did. It's also like the safest bet you can do is like a self aggrandizing sort. Like even if it fails, people still got a lot great brand messages, you know. And Metaphori Fantasio is not only like spellbound so many people but seems to be like actually has a message and trying to say something other than man. It's been a. It used to be really groovy to.

[Chris Plant]

Like PlayStation that said Infinite wealth is a Chris Plant as Chris Plant game if there ever was one.

[Russ Freshtick]

Yeah, I agree.

[Justin McElroy]

Hey listen Russ. You shouldn't start spinning wildly in defense of Astrobot and accidentally clip someone you may not want to because you never know what's going to happen.

[Griffin McElroy]

Strays going right now.

[Justin McElroy]

We haven't let us straight hit my man Ichibod. Okay.

[Chris Plant]

I am fine. Thankfully Jeff and I are on the same page and that's all that matters.

[Griffin McElroy]

All right.

[Russ Freshtick]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, I just got an email from Sony pr. Congratulations Russ Freshstick on your promotion to head of.

[Chris Plant]

Thank you.

[Justin McElroy]

He did it.

[Chris Plant]

They set up direct deposit. It's going to be great.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Russ Freshtick]

Oh my gosh. Okay, so we're going to narrow. We're going to organize this. We have metaphor refantasio animal. Well like a dragon. Infinite wealth UFO 50 in Balatro. That is our final five.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay.

[Chris Plant]

Okay. So I think in the spirit of this again being a list of all of us like A group list. Let me go back and reiterate that. I think probably metaphor. Refantazio should be five.

[Russ Freshtick]

I think animal. Well, UFO 50 and Balachro are dog shit, and I think that they should all be five, and then we should put the other two as one. Okay. In the spirit of Justin.

[Chris Plant]

Justin only likes metaphor because he read.

[Justin McElroy]

A Wikipedia entry about this over here in the spirit.

[Russ Freshtick]

Mind.

[Justin McElroy]

Spirit of me dictating the list.

[Russ Freshtick]

Yeah, yeah. Mr. I set the rounds and made sure all the. Let's.

[Justin McElroy]

Let me refresh and say what we're all thinking.

[Russ Freshtick]

Oh, my God.

[Chris Plant]

Justin, Talk about the YouTube videos you watched to convince you this was a good game.

[Justin McElroy]

Which one?

[Griffin McElroy]

I fucking love it, man.

[Justin McElroy]

Metaphori Fantasio is the fifth.

[Griffin McElroy]

I mean, it's based on how it got here. I think it's totally fine.

[Russ Freshtick]

I will take it.

[Justin McElroy]

All right, fine. Okay, let's do it this way then. Number four. I would, at number four, argue for.

[Russ Freshtick]

Animal.

[Griffin McElroy]

Well.

[Russ Freshtick]

Oh. Oh.

[Griffin McElroy]

I think this. I think we're all gonna. No joke, guys. I think there's four games left. I think we're all gonna say a different one.

[Justin McElroy]

That's.

[Griffin McElroy]

I think we're all gonna say a different one.

[Justin McElroy]

We'll say them louder and louder until one of us is right.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Chris Plant]

I guess the question is, are we saying right now, are we saying our personal number four, or are we saying what we think the group's number four should be?

[Justin McElroy]

Played a game at number five.

[Chris Plant]

Yes.

[Justin McElroy]

I scooted it up to number four and I looked at four games. I was like, which one of you guys wants to go here?

[Chris Plant]

Right.

[Justin McElroy]

And I know some of them aren't going there.

[Chris Plant]

No, I understand. But are we. When you're saying which one's going to go here, are you saying it like what you think the group's number four should be?

[Justin McElroy]

I'm just opening the discussion on the number four bullet point, that's all. Seeing what you guys think about number four, because I feel like number four should be a contest between UFO 50 and animal.

[Russ Freshtick]

Well, I think that's right.

[Justin McElroy]

Okay.

[Griffin McElroy]

I. I personally would put Balatro in at number four.

[Justin McElroy]

Absolutely not. There's no way on earth I would.

[Chris Plant]

Have a hard time putting Balatro at number four.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, understood.

[Chris Plant]

I think animal. Well, what did you say? UFO 50 and animal?

[Justin McElroy]

Well, yeah, that's where I. For me, personally, if I was sliding them, that is the discussion that I think would be the most productive.

[Russ Freshtick]

But I'm curious what you think on this fresh animal. Well, this is like, again, these are all excellent games. I know they love themselves. I feel like UFO 50 will last longer with all of us. I feel like we will be picking at UFO 50 even more next year that you'll hear more about us exploring what it has to offer. And if the game. If it's a game about secrets, I think I don't. I don't even know.

[Griffin McElroy]

I have not even started to peel apart. I've not even started to peel apart that part of UFO 50. The like going to the terminal and find out the history of the thing. I know that that stuff is there and is very cool and I am excited to one day get to it.

[Justin McElroy]

Yes, it is so similar, these two games. I really feel the same way about. Like, I feel like they both do amazing things that I wish there was just a little bit more guidance to help you get to the things that are so cool about it and the things that are so rewarding about it. To give you an example, I really wish for me personally that the UFO 50 did not like pop open to 50 games at once. Like, when I saw that, I didn't want to play it any. Like I wanted to turn it off. And that's just how I. I mean, for me, that's just how I approach this stuff. And I found that kind of overwhelming. And I feel similarly about Animal. Well, where there's like so many cool things that I wish there was just a little bit more help to get. Get you to them.

[Griffin McElroy]

Personally, can I go hard for UFO 50 because I feel like we have not really had time to do that. This is the first time we're trying to really argue for it because I think it's my number one. And I realize it's not going to be that for you guys, but the relationship I have formed with this game is truly unexpected and quite powerful. For me, it's kind of two days.

[Justin McElroy]

With Mori of our generation.

[Griffin McElroy]

It is. I think if you went through this list of 50 games, I think I could pick out maybe 20 so far of the ones I've played that would rank among my favorite gaming experiences of the year.

[Justin McElroy]

Year.

[Griffin McElroy]

I think that finally beating par on pin golf was so fucking thrilling and so satisfying to get better at that game. Finally cherrying Magic Garden on a flight home from Milwaukee. Just literally just banging my head against it until I could figure out how to be good at that game.

[Justin McElroy]

I did that too.

[Griffin McElroy]

Doing that Party House. When I finally got my fifth random scenario in a row that I won to get the cherry on that game by the fucking skin of my teeth with one night Left was so, so, so good. When I started to put the pieces together of, like, the finale of Night Manor, that shit was so good. I could go literally on and on and on and on and on and on and on. Because I have had this experience now 34 times. I'm at 34 cherries where I've been like, oh, that's. That's. That's how they want you to do it. That is how it is. A. The. The term in conversation with the developer is so, like, played, but it's that it's 50 conversations with 50 games. Can I just finish?

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, yeah, sure, sure.

[Griffin McElroy]

Of just realizing, like. And I never felt this way about NES games. There's a. Despite the fact that, like, I was born in that era, I don't really have much of a relationship with the NES era because so many of those games have put me off because they are not inviting and welcoming and accessible. I feel like all 50 of these games, you can see the intention behind each and every one of them if you look hard enough. And then once you start acting into that intention, the game, each of the games really, really comes alive. And I think that that is a magic trick. And I think it is truly, truly incredible how often it hits.

[Chris Plant]

So at Animal, whale and UFO 50 are both on my top five list currently. My personal type five list, animal is a two and UFO 50 is at three. That kind of convinced me to swap them because I think you're right. I think they're both doing something very similar. The conversation with the developer thing is very clear in both games.

[Griffin McElroy]

Animal well is doing that also. Right? Animal well is doing that. It's very, very satisfying, but.

[Chris Plant]

And it's incredibly satisfying, but the, the ambition and the reach of doing it not only in one game, like you're doing Animal well is doing it very consistently in one game because there's one developer making the whole thing, right? This is 50 games. And in each game you're having that. A mini experience of that same exact arc.

[Justin McElroy]

I guess, like, this is where I'm really struggling though, guys, because it's like, okay, hear me out before you push back against this, because this is not a reflection of my feeling about UFO 50, which I feel like I've been pretty positive about vocally. I'm having a lot of Trouble Engaging with UFO 50 as a entity in a Game of the Year discussion where the game. Game that Griffin is talking about, like, there are so many aspects of it I have not even, like, experienced. And there's this part of me and Again, I'm not making an actual argument for this, but this is what is subconsciously tricking me up. This game was announced a very long time ago. They worked for a very long time to have a collection of 50, like, really brilliant small games. But I'm having trouble thinking of that as one thing that I compare to a singularity of vision.

[Griffin McElroy]

Definitely.

[Justin McElroy]

Like, if they had released this game three years ago and it had 25 games on it. Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

How would we consider, like, namco's Arcade Classics Volume 3 and Abestes Goede list? I.

[Justin McElroy]

Do you know what I'm saying? I know that that's unfair, but it's like a completely unique thing.

[Griffin McElroy]

Right?

[Justin McElroy]

And that's. It is. But, yeah, that's what I'm struggling with.

[Russ Freshtick]

I agree with all of that. The way that I can rationalize it is it does make so much effort to be a cohesive project that this isn't a menu of ROMs that you turn on on an emulator and you just have 50 new games to play. It is presented in chronological order of the fake history that there is, all the backstory that can be found about the games, that the games have their own sequels, that it is perpetually in conversation with itself. Makes it feel very holistic to me in a way that. Oops, you mentioned at the beginning where you turn it on and see 50 games. Right. It feels at first like the ROM issue. Right. It feels like when you turn on a new handheld emulator and you've put some games that you somehow found that are definitely not ip, that are available for sale anywhere games onto it, and you see a bunch of stuff to play, but there is so much more going on. I think it's also like a game about how people used to make games and how people used to play games. I think that there's a lot happening here. That said, your point of. What if they had just released 25 of these, would it have done anything different? Is true. Like, I can't really argue with that.

[Justin McElroy]

It doesn't make any sense. Plant, don't give it any more daylight. This actually doesn't make any sense.

[Russ Freshtick]

No, I mean, I give it what you're saying.

[Griffin McElroy]

I think that the.

[Justin McElroy]

It's hard. I'm saying it. It's not that it. It's that it feels kind of apples to oranges. That's. I think that is what I'm.

[Russ Freshtick]

The forever video dealing problem, right?

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Chris Plant]

I mean, the forever this episode problem.

[Griffin McElroy]

I think it's apples to oranges, but at the same time, like, I have gotten really into watching people play UFO 50 because it's been kind of cool to see people. You know, I think there is a. I understand your argument, Justin, about turning on the game and there's 50 games and that's like too, too much. That's too overwhelming. The process of going through and picking those games apart and figuring out what you like and what you don't like and then finally unlocking games and saying, oh, I'll stick with this one until I cherry it. Like, that whole process is a lot of work. And I like watching other people seeing the path they went through it. Right. Like, oh, what was the game that made UFO 50 click for you? That's a conversation that I want to have with everyone who ever played UFO.

[Chris Plant]

50 and every time I've ever had that conversation with people, it's always a different game.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Chris Plant]

And that's fucking crazy.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, I think that. I think that is great. It could have been UFO 25 maybe, but like, I feel like the fact that it is.

[Justin McElroy]

No, no, no. They called the shot early. It had to be. I would say then let's put animal well for UFO 53 and then move on with our lives.

[Griffin McElroy]

I mean, I still think Balatro should come in under both of these games, but that is, that is.

[Chris Plant]

I think I'm fine with Animal well, it's four, for what it's worth, and we can, we can move on from there.

[Justin McElroy]

Well, okay, let's leave Animal well at four, then we'll talk about three games instead of.

[Chris Plant]

Yeah, I think that makes it a little easier.

[Justin McElroy]

Makes sense. Yes.

[Chris Plant]

So can I have like an honest moment with like a dragon, please?

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Chris Plant]

I am in love with the narrative, in love with the visuals, in love with the world. I love all that stuff. I don't find it super fun to play, which is part of the problem, part of the reason that I feel the same way about metaphor refantazio. The difference here is that I was immediately engaged with the narrative in this, where I wasn't with metaphor refantazio. And that was enough to propel me like much further in this game than I was in metaphor. But I still, that is still my personal challenge is like the turn based combat is more fun than most turn based combat RPGs for me, but I still was not propelled to continue playing. Even though I love the narrative stuff.

[Russ Freshtick]

This will be the interesting thing about how we organize the final three, because I feel like all three of these games have at least one person who feels that way about one of these games. And I know that because I feel that way about both Balatro and UFO 50. I think UFO 50 is a game that I respect a ton intellectually. Balatro we haven't even talked about, or.

[Griffin McElroy]

At least I feel like Balatro's sailing through here a little bit.

[Russ Freshtick]

I haven't. Balatro is a game that I admire a lot because I think it's a chaos engine. I don't feel it is a game that I thought I was getting better at as I was playing it. I thought the game was revealing more of its mysteries and more of its power and more of its chaos, for lack of a better word. But it was not unlike poker. I don't think that there is a, like, degree of skill that you find in, like, that sort of card game. That said, I don't think that that is a bad thing, per se. It's just not what I.

[Justin McElroy]

Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on.

[Russ Freshtick]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

I need to clarify. Are you saying that you think poker is more a game of skill than.

[Russ Freshtick]

Balatro is 1000%. A thousand.

[Chris Plant]

The skill is not knowing the cards. It's playing other people. That's the skill. Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's a different thing.

[Russ Freshtick]

The skill. Yes. And. And it is knowing the cards and knowing the numbers. There's actually an ability to know the odds when you are playing hands.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, okay. Yeah, sorry.

[Russ Freshtick]

Right.

[Justin McElroy]

We're like. Yes, yes, yes.

[Russ Freshtick]

A game about improvisation and reaction. And sometimes you will get really great cards and you can improvise around them, and sometimes you won't. Right. You're going to have rounds that are not as good. Where poker. Around a poker is around a poker is around a poker. Especially if you average it out over the course of, you know, 50 or 100 hands.

[Chris Plant]

Yeah. There is way more luck tied to Balatro than there is normal poker.

[Griffin McElroy]

That is especially. Yeah, 100%, I would say. My main criticism of Balacho is that it does not scale with difficulty particularly well or particularly elegantly, rather, you like. If you're going for a gold stake, there's like. I can't say this right, because there's, like, fucking Balatro psychopaths out there who can win anything that gets thrown at them, personally speaking. And I've spent dozens, if not maybe over a hundred hours playing Balatro on three different platforms There. I will just load it up and I will see what the, like, skips are. And I'll be like, nope, not this. Nope, not this. Nope, not this. Make it to ante three without a great malt generator. And it's like, ah, this is net restart. Let's try again. Like, I think playing Balatro as a whole is very, very, very fun, but I also feel like. I don't know, I kind of stopped playing it this time around on the very last challenge, which is the jokerless challenge, which is obviously, like, this problem viewed through a lens of madness, of just like. Well, it just depends. You gotta get glass cards. You gotta get this. You have to get this. And I don't know, for me, that puts a bit of a ceiling on Balatro that I don't feel with other games that I would put in the same category, such as Slay the Spire or Monster Train. I don't know why these are the only analogs in my brain with this of the infinite replayable deck builder engineering. I think Balatro kicks ass, and obviously, without argument, has consumed a lot of all of our time, and we've all enjoyed that. But for me, it doesn't have that kind of special something that I feel.

[Justin McElroy]

Like everything you're saying makes perfect sense. I need you to go back and just find something other than Monster Train, though, because God love you, man. It's an 8 out of 10 at best. There is no.

[Griffin McElroy]

I guess.

[Justin McElroy]

Okay, just in terms of, like, the. The. The. The scalability and the variability and, like, engaging runs like, I'm grif. Help me to. Help me to understand how the fact that after a hundred hours you were bored of playing Balatra was a bad thing, like, legitimately, no, to me, the fact that it's like, I. You want to keep playing this. You played it twice as much as you could. None of that is negative, man. Like, it's not. This is not. It did exact. The fact that you are not endlessly, hopelessly addicted to Balatro and unable to move on to other things. I feel like the fact that you can finish it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

And then you did that once and Griffin, you were so down on that, you fucking went and did it exactly again on your phone. Like, it's not. You can't. There's no comparison.

[Griffin McElroy]

Please understand. These five games that we've come down to here are my top five. These were my top five games. Right? I spent this much time also with, like, a dragon, and by this point, I've played a lot more UFO 50 than Balachro. I'm. I'm not saying I'm. I'm picking at little. Little tiny things here. Right.

[Justin McElroy]

I'm just saying that maybe it sounds like a little bit closer to equal for you to.

[Griffin McElroy]

To. I guess the point I am trying to make is that element.

[Justin McElroy]

Say if one person liked one of these a lot more and one of them a lot less, and then one person like both of them equal, they would probably settle on, well, the one we all really like should be higher than the one that we, some of us like.

[Chris Plant]

Much like metaphor. Refantazio. The importances of democracy. I think.

[Griffin McElroy]

I think that's what I learned from I am. So then it sounds like UFO 50 is going in through tree.

[Justin McElroy]

Right?

[Griffin McElroy]

Like, I don't know.

[Russ Freshtick]

I think it, it. It sounds like that.

[Chris Plant]

I, I think, I mean that of the remaining three, that's your Balatra is your least favorite plant. Is that fair to say?

[Russ Freshtick]

Balachra is my least favorite of the remaining three.

[Griffin McElroy]

Samesies.

[Chris Plant]

I mean.

[Russ Freshtick]

Are you trying to like, math this out? I don't think there's a way to like necessarily math it out. I think that's the problem. You know what might actually help here is can I ask this, Can I.

[Griffin McElroy]

Ask this one second? Is Balachro anyone's favorite game of the year? Is Balatro anyone's number one?

[Russ Freshtick]

No, no.

[Griffin McElroy]

The other two could be my number. That, that is why I'm making. The argument that I am making is because I feel like the things the other two games do here are so much more landmark than Balachro, a game I adore. It's just not my favorite game of the year.

[Russ Freshtick]

I think that's a great point. I also think we should maybe try to just come up with the top three and that will help us if we kind of poke.

[Justin McElroy]

I think that if I were to say like a dragon. Infinite wealth, UFO 50. Balatron.

[Chris Plant]

In what animal?

[Justin McElroy]

Well, metaphori fantasio, in that order at number one. What do you think about this?

[Griffin McElroy]

Sounds Good.

[Justin McElroy]

Infinite Wealth, UFO 50, Balatro Animal. Well, metaphori fantasio.

[Griffin McElroy]

Print it, print it.

[Russ Freshtick]

Put it on a shirt.

[Griffin McElroy]

I would swap one and two around at will. However we want to do it. Russ, if you're more comfortable with that.

[Justin McElroy]

Contrasting idea to that leave them exactly where the fuck they are.

[Chris Plant]

I would put what you have in that scenario. I would say.

[Justin McElroy]

Can I say something? That is very challenging, Russ, I'm going to say something to you, okay? And then I think that it's pretty much so right that it'll be hard for you to understand.

[Griffin McElroy]

So brace your ass, man. You're about to get your world fucking wrong.

[Justin McElroy]

Because I'm going to say something and the other two are going to agree. If you had continued to play the video game like a dragon, Infinite wealth, until you had Completed it.

[Chris Plant]

Sure.

[Justin McElroy]

You would be agreeing with us right now.

[Russ Freshtick]

Oh, interesting.

[Chris Plant]

Chris Plant disagrees. No, I don't asked him this question. Don't you think that when I got to the second half you would be.

[Justin McElroy]

Agreeing with us 100%. And I don't mean that in a shitty gatekeepy way. What I'm saying is there's many games that I haven't like, enjoyed, but I hung in there and eventually it clicked and I finished it. If you had continued on, I will say also mechanically it does get more dense and sort of layered. More about a meta thing.

[Chris Plant]

But let me tackle that argument.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, okay.

[Chris Plant]

There is no greater crime to me in art than wasting my time. I'm not saying that Infinite wealth wastes my time, but I'm saying in the time that I gave it, which was like close to 20 hours, it was not time that I necessarily was super like constantly engaged with the work. So I agree with you that like it probably would have clicked in a Stockholm syndrome, this became great kind of way.

[Griffin McElroy]

I think that it would not have done. I think you would have enjoyed it on its own merits had you gotten to the full ass Animal Crossing game that is built into. I think the reason I struggle with that is obviously everybody has their own likes and dislikes when it comes to genre. I think that this game, maybe more than any other RPG I've ever played, doesn't do like. Doesn't do that. I think every few minutes it throws some shit at you that is absolutely.

[Justin McElroy]

Bombing it makes it so hard. I'm trying to get there with you and be respectful of your opinion, but this is one where it's like, it's really tough. There's so many different games in it, man.

[Chris Plant]

I play well. I played a lot of the mini games and I thought the. The mini games were cute and, and funny and like, I like taking photos of perverts and I like.

[Justin McElroy]

What did you think of the talking scenes? Like where people were like interacting together, like narrative scenes? Yeah, yeah, that's a good word.

[Chris Plant]

Yeah, I thought they were very good. Excellent even. I thought it was very well written.

[Justin McElroy]

And you have mini games, right? Good.

[Chris Plant]

I thought they were fine.

[Griffin McElroy]

I thought they were Dondoco Island a.

[Justin McElroy]

Few seconds ago said, but go on, go off.

[Chris Plant]

I did not get the Dondoco island. So look realistically. But I'm just telling you from my bike, I just, I. It's a lot of time to spend with a game that isn't necessarily like.

[Justin McElroy]

I'm not saying you should have.

[Chris Plant]

I spent two Seasons of television with this game. How many seasons of television should I spend?

[Justin McElroy]

Not a house. Not a house season. Not a lost season. Maybe a Yellowstone.

[Chris Plant]

Yeah, whatever.

[Griffin McElroy]

I think, look, how would you rank these?

[Justin McElroy]

Can I say.

[Griffin McElroy]

Hold on. Can we hear before we get into the. We have not let Russ sort of give his argument.

[Chris Plant]

How would I rank these three or five?

[Russ Freshtick]

Really? I'm curious.

[Chris Plant]

I mean, the five is a totally different story. The five is probably anim. The five is probably UFO. 50 animal.

[Justin McElroy]

Well, the decrepit workings of Russ's brain are not of interest to me.

[Chris Plant]

I mean, it's just different.

[Justin McElroy]

I, I, Here's Russ. If I could say, sure, I don't necessarily feel about my list the like, that is not my top five. It is. But when I am looking and I've, I completely. I have very, very, very frequently been in your exact position.

[Chris Plant]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

So I'm, I'm 100% understanding where you're coming from. I think what is hard is if I, as I try to entertain what you're saying, obviously I don't share it, but as I try to entertain it and I try to think of, like, what is a top. What is a. A top one that we. A game of the year that we could all agree on as much.

[Chris Plant]

It's probably the closest universally agreed upon because you're right, I didn't hate by any means that I hate Infinite. Well, so it's a very, very good game. It would probably be on my top five if we had to put it in the top five. Five.

[Justin McElroy]

It is. I will say this. It is a game that I here, talk about your time being wasted. Okay. This is a game that I have not ever finished a Yakuza game because I felt exactly what you're saying. It's like, okay, I get it. You want to run around, do all this garbage.

[Chris Plant]

And I didn't, for what it's worth, like, I didn't feel like my time was wasted. It's just, just a difference between being wasted and, like, just not clicking with me.

[Justin McElroy]

Well, and also I would make an argument that in a real sense, it would have been a waste of your time to play a video game that you weren't enjoying. That's kind of my thesis statement for.

[Chris Plant]

Yeah, I think that's sort of thing.

[Justin McElroy]

For me, this was the rare example where I wanted to spend so much time on it. And I, and I kept spending so much time. I was compelled to spend so much time on it. And then the ending of the game was so incredibly emotionally resonant. And cathartic and in a way that, like, was rewarding. The time that I spent in it, it was like, respectful. The time that I spent. It was happy to have had me there. Right.

[Chris Plant]

It's a crescendo of an orchestra. I got what they were building. Like, I unders. I could kind of envision the, like, gathering of all your friends and everyone kind of cheering, whatever. I don't know what happens, but, like, I could envision.

[Justin McElroy]

You get it, the scenario.

[Chris Plant]

Maybe they give him a big Chris Clancy.

[Griffin McElroy]

You know, in a way that Chris.

[Chris Plant]

Clancy's favorite game ever is what's the one with ness. Any Earthbound. Earthbound. Like, and everyone cheers you on and you believe in love again. I get it. I'm just saying, like, those. The 20 hours that I did spent just didn't get me there.

[Griffin McElroy]

I think like a dragon deserves it, if only for the fact that it feels like to me, from my perspective, this feels like a game that in past years only I would have been championing and trying so hard to get in the top five at all. For three other people who don't really care about the genre, the fact that it kind of swept like wildfire through this, through most of this podcast, I think kind of is a really amazing thing. And sort of. I mean, it sounds like. Chris, it kind of like activated you to this whole new sub genre of video games that had. I'm nerdy now interested. You. Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

You used to be so cool.

[Russ Freshtick]

You used to be so cool.

[Chris Plant]

Wow.

[Russ Freshtick]

That sounded like you weren't.

[Griffin McElroy]

That said, Russ, if you want to make a really hard push for UFO 50 at number one, I would.

[Chris Plant]

I don't think I can from the group perspective is the problem, and that's the. A problem. I just think that the math of it does not make sense because realistically, no, you can hear it out. I. I don't have like two of.

[Griffin McElroy]

Us love UFO 50 and three of us love, like a dragon. Infinite Wealth.

[Russ Freshtick]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

How.

[Justin McElroy]

Here's. Here's what I. The only thing that I will say is if you all could get it together to love UFO 50 enough. There are the only. There are large parts of Infinite wealth that I basically did not engage with because I did not have the historical.

[Griffin McElroy]

The whole Kiryu kind of like, I.

[Chris Plant]

Don'T like Kiryu as a character and I've played a lot of these games.

[Russ Freshtick]

This is that scary blasphemy. That's. That's the one that always breaks me.

[Chris Plant]

He's. He's just like a sad emo Guy.

[Justin McElroy]

Well, regardless. Regardless, I don't care. But there's a lot of that game that I care about very much because it was about Kiryu. So if you guys, I would be.

[Chris Plant]

Isn't that like half the game, Justin?

[Justin McElroy]

Sorry.

[Chris Plant]

Isn't that like half the game?

[Justin McElroy]

Not the way I played it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, that's true. When I was in Hawaii, it was fucking party time. When I was back in Japan, it was, let's just fuck, let's go.

[Justin McElroy]

I was a salary. I was a salary man.

[Griffin McElroy]

I want to look at your man. I was just before. I wanted these memories one last time. I don't think so. I don't think we're gonna look at those memories. Kiryu. We got fucking boss fights to do, dude.

[Justin McElroy]

Any. Oh, he got bandages. Nice.

[Griffin McElroy]

I do think it. It won me over by the end of it, but I think once you kind of realize the split nature of the narrative, there was a moment of coping that I had to kind of go through.

[Justin McElroy]

Okay. I just feel like the Kiryu segments fall into all of the, like, yakuza traps of like, there's a bunch of, like, clan drama that I don't care about and I'm not gonna learn about. And by the time I realized that that's what they're doing, they've already said so many names and I.

[Chris Plant]

That's what scared me. Plant scared me off because he was like, oh, Akirio is going to be a big focus of this.

[Russ Freshtick]

Well, yeah, because you just don't like him even as a person. You said you like him. I just don't like him.

[Chris Plant]

I was like, boring character.

[Justin McElroy]

So what are you going to do? What are we doing?

[Chris Plant]

Whatever. Mathematically it should be like a dragon at 1, UFO 50 at 2, and velocity.

[Griffin McElroy]

This is our hearts. On my own personal list, UFO 50 is number one. And like a dragon is two. So like, I am obviously fine with like a dragon taking number one. But I do. I mean, I think UFO 50, it's.

[Chris Plant]

Really down to plant and hoops and how they feel about UFO 50.

[Justin McElroy]

I just personally feel like it's. I wish that UFO 50 was more of a video game and less of a.

[Russ Freshtick]

A museum piece.

[Justin McElroy]

Museum piece? A creation. For me, it is really hard to say that the game of the year is like 50 different, incredible, like, thoughts about video games. Like, it's, it's. It's amazing. It's a huge accomplishment. It's really hard for me to say, like, I want the game of the year to be a game that I don't know that's. I know that's amorphous, but, like, it's tough.

[Griffin McElroy]

I do think there's a comparison to make here between UFO 50, which is a fictional biography of a game developer from the 80s, and their complete body of work comprising 50 games of, I would say, varying levels of quality, but on the whole, like, pretty brilliant, clever stuff and like a Infinite wealth, which is also kind of a bundle of video games if you think about it. There's one main one where you go around and you beat the shit out of people with bicycles. And like, that's. That game kicks Ass Plant where we.

[Russ Freshtick]

Well, that, that. That makes it so easy for me because then it's like a dragon with a bullet. Because if we're talking about which of those games has better games inside of it, UFO 50 intellectually wonderful. I am. Come on. I'm gonna play Dondoco island way more than I want to play.

[Griffin McElroy]

Well, that's not fair. You can't take the one best part.

[Justin McElroy]

Of saying the quiet part out loud and that a lot of the games in UFO 50 are bad and boring, okay? And they look bad because they look like old games and they're really hard and you die all the time and they're not fun. So you go try to find a different one. And there's a lot. There's too many games that aren't fun.

[Russ Freshtick]

Hey, I'm going to make a choice for you. You can play this game where you're like, I don't know, like a dot bouncing around, or you can play a game where you go take pictures of perverts from your trolley.

[Chris Plant]

Sorry.

[Justin McElroy]

I'm sorry. I said I could see you have a 50 at the top. Fucking no way.

[Chris Plant]

Okay, I have a compromise. Here we go. You ready? Yeah, I've got it. This is the best solve that I can come up with. I'm gonna give you the order. You ready?

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Chris Plant]

Number one, like a dragon. Number two, UFO 50. Number three, Balatro. Number four, animal. Well, number five, Astrobot.

[Griffin McElroy]

No.

[Russ Freshtick]

I knew you were gonna know.

[Justin McElroy]

No fucking way, dude.

[Russ Freshtick]

Hey, you know, I think, as we know, we all agree how many games.

[Chris Plant]

I didn't like should be on this list.

[Justin McElroy]

I like the idea. I don't mind. Russ is such a master.

[Griffin McElroy]

What if we did a top six this year?

[Justin McElroy]

Listen, I'm just saying stuff that makes sense. Russ is basically the mascot of the besties, right? So once I think that it would be nice of us, since he doesn't like our favorite game, that we give him a little pinch on the tuchus and put Astro Ball back in there. And just to make it more representative of all of our collective tastes, we get a little more than five slot because he's not getting much English on the one spot.

[Russ Freshtick]

He's 2, 3, and 4.

[Chris Plant]

Three of these games are incredibly rush. Rushed to games. So I will be fair and say that I will.

[Russ Freshtick]

As an act of kindness, I will let you choose UFO 50. Balachra animal. Well, which one do you want to kill in exchange for getting Astrobot on this list?

[Griffin McElroy]

List.

[Chris Plant]

What a brutal. I hate that.

[Justin McElroy]

It won't happen. I mean, it.

[Chris Plant]

It would.

[Russ Freshtick]

It would happen.

[Griffin McElroy]

I mean, it shouldn't.

[Chris Plant]

Probably. It's probably.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, it shouldn't happen, though.

[Chris Plant]

Probably. Animal.

[Russ Freshtick]

Well.

[Chris Plant]

Oh, wow.

[Russ Freshtick]

Doesn't feel good, does it?

[Chris Plant]

No, I hate it.

[Russ Freshtick]

Welcome to my house.

[Griffin McElroy]

Are we locked? Are we locking?

[Chris Plant]

Yeah, you can lock it. It's fine. Like a dragon. UFO 50.

[Justin McElroy]

I think the vibes would be better if we took out Metaphor refantazio and put Astrobot there. I'm serious, Justin. It doesn't make me feel great that Russ doesn't love our first game. I think if we get.

[Chris Plant]

It's happened before, for what it's worth.

[Justin McElroy]

What?

[Chris Plant]

Historically, it has happened before.

[Griffin McElroy]

We always last. Last year I was the. The grump because Tears of the Kingdom got beat by Baldur's Gate 3, which I did not think should.

[Chris Plant]

Should.

[Griffin McElroy]

Should win it.

[Russ Freshtick]

We have this every year. There's always at least one person who's like.

[Justin McElroy]

I don't know. I kind of feel like an older brother to.

[Chris Plant]

It's very sweet, Justin. I appreciate it.

[Justin McElroy]

All right, well, okay, I'll say it out loud then. Here we go.

[Chris Plant]

Is there a version of, like, a dragon that just cuts Kiryu out? Like, we could just, like, completely remove.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, it's called, like, a drag. It's called Yakuza. Like a dragon. The first game in the. In the RPG. I'll play that.

[Justin McElroy]

And number five, metaphor refantazio. Number four, animal. Well, number three, balatro. Number two, UFO 50. Number one. Like a. Infinite Wealth. You did it. Congratulations, everybody. Is Project Sentry a like a dragon game?

[Chris Plant]

Unknown.

[Russ Freshtick]

No, I don't think so.

[Chris Plant]

Yeah, but probably.

[Russ Freshtick]

But probably. Okay, great. Hey, very quickly, would y'all like to share your personal top fives for the listeners?

[Griffin McElroy]

I mean, I already did mine. Mine one to five. Is UFO 50. Like a dragon? Metaphor animal. Well, Balatro. So these five games in all different order.

[Russ Freshtick]

Fresh. How about you?

[Chris Plant]

Mine was Astrobot, UFO 50, animal. Well, tactical Breach, Wizards and Balatro in that order. Yes.

[Russ Freshtick]

Cool. Mine is like a Dragon. Metaphori Fantasio 1000 hex resist Dragon's Dogma 2 tactical breach. Wizards Juice.

[Justin McElroy]

I don't know, man. That. I don't. I don't know.

[Griffin McElroy]

I think you submitted a numbered list.

[Justin McElroy]

I didn't submit anything.

[Chris Plant]

What was your number one? Juice? What? What was your number one?

[Justin McElroy]

Balatro, I think with Infinite wealth at two, because I skipped so much of it, I probably put Steamworld in there. Yeah, you know, we did something like that. I don't. I don't know.

[Russ Freshtick]

Oh, I love it.

[Chris Plant]

I love it.

[Russ Freshtick]

Yeah, we did it in a year of the show. It survives.

[Griffin McElroy]

Weird list. Weird fucking list. I think.

[Chris Plant]

Weird year.

[Griffin McElroy]

If you had told us at January 1, 2024 that this was gonna be our goatie list, I don't think any of us would have believed you.

[Chris Plant]

I think we've done it. Thank you to everyone. Thank you especially to the folks over at the Patreon, which continue to support our lovely work. We really appreciate it. We have some new members I want to shout out. We have Landon, we have Blight White, we have Bathroom Snack, and we have Fiction Bug. Thank you for being supporters of the Patreon. Thank you to everyone else. Exciting news coming next week. The members of the Patreon have been benefactors to everyone else insofar as they're letting us put one of the bonus episodes up on the main feed for everyone to enjoy. That will be coming next Friday. You'll get one of our. Currently, I think we have 10 published one of our 10 bonus bracket episodes in addition to a whole bunch of rest of these episodes that are behind the Patreon paywall. But this will give you a taste of what you've been missing. If you haven't subscribed yet, it is the episode that is dedicated to the best console ever, not including the games.

[Griffin McElroy]

So good.

[Chris Plant]

So good, right? It's great. So thank you to all the Patreon members for making it all happen this year. We really appreciate you.

[Justin McElroy]

So that's going to do it for us. Be sure to join us again next time on the Besties, because should the world's best friends be the world's best names sa.