The Most Anticipated Games of 2025

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Besties – "The Most Anticipated Games of 2025"

Release Date: January 10, 2025

In this engaging episode of The Besties, hosts Justin McElroy, Russ Frushtick, Griffin McElroy, and Chris Plante dive deep into the video game landscape, discussing the most anticipated releases slated for 2025. Their camaraderie and insightful perspectives make this a must-listen for gaming enthusiasts eager to stay ahead of the curve.

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1. Introduction to 2025’s Gaming Horizon

The episode kicks off with Chris Plante setting the stage for the discussion:

“[03:31] Chris: This week we are talking about the most anticipated games of 2025. We have at least 16 exciting, exciting bangers. I'm gonna say probably closer to 20, maybe 25, maybe 30.”

The hosts express a mix of excitement and skepticism about the upcoming titles, acknowledging the unpredictability of the gaming industry's trajectory.

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2. Key Anticipated Titles

a. Metroid Prime 4 and the Nintendo Switch 2

Russ Frushtick shares his enthusiasm for the rumored collaboration between Metroid Prime 4 and the anticipated Nintendo Switch 2:

“[31:02] Russ: ...I feel like they're going to do a new Mario game. It's been long enough.”

Griffin McElroy adds to the excitement surrounding the Switch 2’s potential features:

“[33:31] Griffin: I'm so fucking over the moon. Excited for the Switch too.”

The discussion highlights the strategic importance of flagship titles like Metroid Prime 4 in driving the success of new hardware.

b. Elden Ring: Night Rain

Russ introduces Elden Ring: Night Rain, a standalone installment blending roguelite elements with battle royale mechanics:

“[14:00] Russ: ...a roguelite Elden Ring game with a battle royale circle thrown in where you're racing to level up your character as the circle moves in.”

Justin McElroy remarks on its ambitious nature:

“[15:03] Justin: I feel like Night Rain Russ is one of those where if it like there's a very good chance it could be like the big, like our biggest thing.”

The hosts are divided on its potential success, recognizing its innovative approach but also its high-risk, high-reward nature.

c. Fable Reboot

Justin expresses his enthusiasm for the rebooted Fable series:

“[12:03] Justin: I am absolutely my most anticipated. I love that franchise so much.”

He delves into the expectations for maintaining the series' signature blend of humor and moral choices, reflecting on the original games' impact.

d. Subnautica 2

Griffin McElroy highlights Subnautica 2, emphasizing its potential for cooperative gameplay:

“[39:22] Griffin: ...a lot of people can kind of gaggle around a TV and take turns and it feels pretty legit.”

The anticipation revolves around expanding the original’s exploration and survival mechanics into a multiplayer experience.

e. Slay the Spire 2

Justin briefly touches on Slay the Spire 2, noting its continuation of the beloved roguelike deck-building formula:

“[29:10] Justin: They're going to call it Slay the Spire 2. It's probably going to be the best game that comes out next year.”

While the original game's mechanics are praised, there's curiosity about how the sequel will innovate beyond its predecessor.

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3. Diverse Genre Expectations

The hosts explore a variety of genres, showcasing the diversity in upcoming games:

• Elden Ring: Night Rain brings a hybrid of roguelite and battle royale.
• Despalote offers a unique blend of open-world exploration with realistic world-building elements.
• Metal Gear Solid 3 Delta focuses on modernized controls and enhanced graphics for the classic stealth-action experience.
• Death Stranding 2 promises to expand on its predecessor's narrative depth and gameplay mechanics, though opinions vary on its potential reception.

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4. Community and Development Insights

Griffin and Russ discuss the challenges and excitement surrounding game development, particularly with long-awaited titles like Death Stranding 2 and Grand Theft Auto 6:

“[35:10] Russ: Death Stranding came out in 2019. ... So we're going to talk about most anticipated. Are you refreshing it currently endorsing a reality where Switch 2 launches in 2025 with Metroid Prime 4 and a new 3D Mario game.”

The conversation underscores the delicate balance developers must maintain between innovation and staying true to beloved franchises.

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5. Honorable Mentions and Listener Favorites

Beyond the main list, the hosts share additional titles that have piqued their interest:

• Heroes of Hammerwatch 2: A sequel praised for its hack-and-slash mechanics and character customization.
• Dual Role Games like 33 Immortals offer massive multiplayer experiences.
• Indie Gems such as Death Stranding 2 and Puzzle Platformers receive nods for their uniqueness and potential impact.

Chris Plante mentions upcoming titles like Citizen Sleeper 2 and others, reflecting the wide array of games anticipated in the next year.

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6. Personal Gaming Experiences and Recommendations

The hosts also share their current gaming experiences, offering personal insights that complement their anticipation for new releases:

• Russ Frushtick discusses playing Pokémon New Pokémon Snap, highlighting its appeal to younger audiences and co-op potential.
• Griffin McElroy talks about Minecraft Dungeons, emphasizing its accessibility and enjoyment for both him and his children.
• Justin McElroy recommends Brutal Orchestra, a turn-based roguelike with a unique pigment-based combat system.

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7. Closing Remarks and Future Episodes

As the episode wraps up, the hosts tease upcoming content, including a special deep dive into handheld gaming with guest Russ from Retro Game Corps. They also express gratitude to their Patreon supporters, though these segments are kept brief to maintain focus on the main content.

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Notable Quotes:

• Russ Frushtick at [05:54]: “...new 3D Mario games specifically like a follow-up to.”
• Justin McElroy at [29:55]: “...if it's like absolutely obsessed or like. No. Like, I don't feel like there's a lot of middle ground.”
• Griffin McElroy at [26:46]: “I'm desperate to... a new Pokémon game I can play with my son, set in the universe of one of my favorite generations.”

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Conclusion

This episode of The Besties offers a comprehensive overview of the gaming titles to watch in 2025. With diverse genres, innovative concepts, and a host of personal anecdotes, listeners gain valuable insights into what makes these games highly anticipated. Whether you’re a fan of sprawling RPGs, cooperative adventures, or indie masterpieces, this episode serves as a perfect guide to the gaming year ahead.

Transcript

[Justin McElroy]

I sort of have watched Wicked Part 1 yesterday and it is obviously a feast for the eyes and the ears.

[Russ Rushy]

You started What Wicked Part 1.

[Justin McElroy]

I watched Wicked Part 1 yesterday. It's a feast for the eyes and the ears.

[Russ Rushy]

Yes, understood.

[Justin McElroy]

But I don't think people are ready for how much of the stuff they like is in the first one. Because, man, I don't know. I'm trying to imagine the trailers. Hey, everything you like is in the second. Is. It is not in the second movie. So they're doing this first movie and then in a year they're going to come back and be like, let's do it again with none of the songs you like. And also, this story is wild. We've stretched out an hour of content into presumably another 2 hour and 40 minute long movie. And all the good songs. They're act one guys. Yeah, I don't think people are ready for the second act. The second movie, the for good is going to be like 20 minutes long because it's the only good song in the second act.

[Griffin McElroy]

I don't. First of all, I don't know why you didn't think this would be part of the show. Because it really feels like part of the show.

[Justin McElroy]

This isn't a cold open. You guys don't care enough about this. I just want.

[Griffin McElroy]

I care a lot about it. I'm saying Wicked Part 2. The rumor I've heard is that they're gonna be doing songs from other big shows. They're gonna be pulling in tracks from 25th annual Putnam County Spelling Beat.

[Justin McElroy]

I love that.

[Russ Rushy]

Starlight Express.

[Griffin McElroy]

Starlight Express are gonna be doing songs from. They're going to be doing Cats again.

[Justin McElroy]

I'm not that girl. I'm not that smart. Like a crossover remix of Putnam County. And you guys don't know enough put in county songs for that to have landed either. Hey, listen, we should record a cold open. Let's do a cold open.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay, sure. Hold on.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

If we're doing a cold open, I just want to make sure that it's going to be entirely about Children of Eden, the more popular show by the musical writer of Wicked. Yeah, just make sure that. I want to make sure that we're like broadcasting to an audience that's big.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, yeah. It's as big as the spark of creation.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah. Where are my clothes?

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm a hold of my clothes.

[Justin McElroy]

You are the light of the world. Let's get that cold. Let's get that cold open. Let's record a cold open. One normal cold open.

[Griffin McElroy]

Going for the gamers let's talk about Pac Man's ass.

[Justin McElroy]

Where does he the dust?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Holy shit. His mouth is his ass.

[Justin McElroy]

You're actually just eating the last Pac Man's. Gross.

[Griffin McElroy]

Jesus Christ. Okay, for real, the cold open this time.

[Justin McElroy]

Here it comes. Egg Steam. My name is Justin McElroy and I know the best game of the week.

[Griffin McElroy]

My name is Griffin McElroy. I know the best games of 2025.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

My name is Christopher Thomas Plant and I am here from the future.

[Justin McElroy]

Whoa.

[Russ Rushy]

My name is Russ Rushy. I play this game, the Wii.

[Justin McElroy]

Welcome to the Besties, where we talk about the latest and greatest in home interactive entertainment. It's a video game club and just by listing my friend, you have become a member. We have you in our clutches. I'm stalling because I'm pasting in the list that Russ asked me to paste in.

[Griffin McElroy]

Amazing.

[Justin McElroy]

What are we doing this week, Chris Plant?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

This week we are talking about the most anticipated games of 2025. We have at least at minimum, 16 exciting, exciting bangers. I'm gonna say probably closer to 2017. 20, maybe 25, maybe 30. You stick around, you find out, you're gonna know what you're gonna be enjoying for let's say at least the next three months. Because in the video game industry, by six months from now, they'll announce like a hundred more things that we didn't even know about and will somehow be our game of the year. But for now, this is what we got coming to you right after the break.

[Justin McElroy]

Shape it up to be another great year for video games. At least that's my take. That's my. That's my headline. Looking at the list of games coming in 2025, maybe we should start with.

[Russ Rushy]

The acknowledgment that we have no fucking clue specifically about the games we'll actually really enjoy this year. Because I feel like we didn't do great last year.

[Griffin McElroy]

We put up a lot of fucking bricks last year.

[Justin McElroy]

Do we still have that handy?

[Griffin McElroy]

We already did our sort of like, post. We reviewed it and it was a mixed track record, I would say at.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, fans of the genre will love that episode.

[Russ Rushy]

Well, the only games that we can really call out here as our most anticipated games are games that have, like, marketing budgets to do trailers a year out. So we don't have the, like, next Balatro. We don't have the next Animal Wellness.

[Griffin McElroy]

We also notably don't have the Nintendo Switch 2 and what that's going to be and what that's going to look like. I have to imagine That I have one. Russ. Sorry. Russ does have one. He loves the low magnetic joycons from.

[Justin McElroy]

His uncle and not actually from his work.

[Russ Rushy]

Yeah, I can't actually talk about that yet, but it's great. I mean, I can't talk about it.

[Justin McElroy]

It might be bad. It's not bad.

[Griffin McElroy]

Even with that big sort of like gap in what we know is coming this year, it was a pretty good looking list of games coming out.

[Russ Rushy]

I am kind of fucking blown away by how excited I am about this list.

[Griffin McElroy]

You want to start, Russ?

[Russ Rushy]

Yeah, I'm going to start. And my, my first pick for most anticipated game is. And just to be really clear, I. I know I said I had a Nintendo Switch 2, but I don't. But if I did and I was playing the next 3D Mario game, I would, I would say it's really, really good, but I don't have one. So. Yeah, my.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, go ahead.

[Russ Rushy]

Your most anticipated is a game that has not been announced or acknowledged by Nintendo.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Russ Rushy]

A new 3D Mario games specifically like a follow up to.

[Justin McElroy]

Okay, so wait, can I ask you a question?

[Griffin McElroy]

Walk us through this.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah. Do you have some reason to. Cause like.

[Russ Rushy]

Yeah, they're a fucking capitalist business and they want to sell consoles. They're going to put fucking Mario on there. It's been long enough.

[Justin McElroy]

Hey, hey. Do not. Wow.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Bernie Sanders. Calm it down.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah. Can I just say, laying that line that I think any company usually. Yes, except Nintendo. A company that has been pretty strident about not making all the money it possibly could if it requires doing things.

[Russ Rushy]

Well, they, they. I would say generally launch with some fucking bangers. Right. We know it's going to launch with Metro Prime 4, more or less. It's. It can't just be Metroid Prime 4. So I think it's fair to say it's either going to be 3. 3 Mario game or like a Mario Kart 9.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I think it's fair to say it's Metroid Prime 4 Arms 2. I think that's pretty fair to say.

[Russ Rushy]

Well, there were already two arms in the first one, so it would be four arms this time.

[Griffin McElroy]

True. This is. Thank you again, Russ, for illustrating the point that we have no fucking idea what's coming down the pipe from one of the biggest, most exciting places.

[Russ Rushy]

Wait, wait. But if you were putting money down right now, if we each had a dollar and you're putting money down, would you bet yes, there is a 3D Mary game?

[Justin McElroy]

Yes, I would bet.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yes. Yes, I would believe that.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yes.

[Justin McElroy]

But it's. I think that it's so weird to plant your flag and say, like, I'm going to enjoy something that doesn't exist. I think it's much more moving to say I've looked at something and I've made a judgment. I'm staking my professional reputation on the fact that this will be good. What you've. You've just done this easy thing. Like, if there is a new Mario game, it will. Fuck, yeah. Russ. Good job, man. Babe Ruth aiming for the uprights, the football uprights.

[Russ Rushy]

I think that's the only game on this list of unannounced titles. So someone else can. Can do one of those.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Okay, I'll go. My first one up actually has a release date. Most of these don't. Atom Fall, coming out on March 27. It is the new game from the developer of Sniper Elite, a series that I started with having disdain for and gradually came to love as it became less about X rays and internal organ shots of femurs.

[Russ Rushy]

And it's still there, for what it's worth.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It's still there, but it's now, I think, a much richer pseudo open world experience. There's another Sniper Elite game coming out this year. Interested in that, too, but this is. Let me pitch it to you. New Vegas in alternate history, 1960s London. Sound good?

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, looks good to me.

[Griffin McElroy]

Sounds good so far.

[Justin McElroy]

We'll definitely check this out.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Also, I said London when I meant England, but forget that. I think they have such a great scope and sense of world building that I'm really jazzed to see what a. I don't know, kind of, like, different version of the Bethesda formula could look like. So that's it. I'll be honest, don't know a whole lot more about this game because I've been kind of keeping my eyes off it. But I do know this. It's inspired by the real 1957 disaster. Like, in the UK they had a nuclear disaster. Do you know about this hoops?

[Justin McElroy]

No. No. That's wild.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Can't say this feels like something that your BBC loving mind would be familiar with, but, yeah, that's it. What else y'all got?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yo, here's a real one. This one's coming out February 21st. It's called, like, a pirate Yakuza in Hawaii.

[Justin McElroy]

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I almost didn't put it on my list because I was like, somebody got it.

[Griffin McElroy]

You knew someone was gonna get up in there. This is a sequel to, like a Infinite Wealth. It stars Goro Majima, who is the Eye patch wearing psychopath for long. Long series protagonist and deuteragonist. And in this one he is a pirate. He has become a pirate and he gets to explore different islands in the Hawaiian archipelago. And now it's a beat em up again. And it looks fucking absolutely bonkers. I usually tend to gravitate towards the turn based RPG iteration of this series. I am willing to make an exception for this because every trailer I've seen makes it look like absolutely my shit. And so I am fully, fully on.

[Russ Rushy]

Board with where did we leave Mr. Goro previously?

[Griffin McElroy]

I believe he helped kick all the asses at the big corporate headquarters tower at the end of Infinite Wealth. There was that. Great. Probably one of my highlights of the whole bit of that game that takes place in Japan is where you go visit the former buddies of yours who are now living in this snowbound kind of ramshackle community and have to go.

[Justin McElroy]

Daigo and Daiya Daigo and all those other things.

[Griffin McElroy]

And you have to convince them to come help you out. And they're like, fuck you, man. And then you have a huge fucking brawl in the snow. That is absolutely amazing. Yeah, I think Goro Majima is a fucking great character. And this seems like it is going to. It didn't feel like they had left much meat on the bone with Infinite wealth, but it just seems like they're really, fully taking the limiters off with this one and saying, why can't he be a pirate also? Uh. So yeah, I'm. I'm in.

[Justin McElroy]

I want to just briefly say Fable. I am. It is absolutely my most anticipated. I love that franchise so much. And I will say also, this is just a gut thing. And you all tell me what you think. I'd give even odds that this makes it out this year.

[Russ Rushy]

I feel it's coming out.

[Justin McElroy]

I. I'm saying even odds. I'm saying like, I am saying what's anticipated 2025. This is a delay that would not surprise me.

[Russ Rushy]

Yeah. As a franchise that is known for.

[Justin McElroy]

I mean, it is. Yes. So. But I'm really excited to see a franchise like Fable that is so specific if you didn't play it, which makes sense. Kind of missed a generation of people at this point. It was an open world action RPG that was much more about like your life choices. It was made by Peter Molyneux, who wanted to bring more like emotion into this formula so that you would raise a family and you would have a kid and you would marry someone and you would have like a very sort of primitive good and evil Scale that you could rig by eating baby chicks. Like, it's a wild thing. And I'm really excited to see what people who care about it. And like, they get the tone. There's a trailer with. With Richard Ayoade narrating that makes it clear. Like they get what makes it cool. I just. I need to see something about what makes it a video game, I feel like. And I'm nervous about that, but that's what makes it anticipated.

[Russ Rushy]

It's also weird because, like, the original Fable games, I think have like a very pretty video gamey core to them.

[Justin McElroy]

Sure.

[Russ Rushy]

But the weird Molly new X factor always made it like. Like a much weirder experience. Like the. I think in the third or the fourth third one, you were like deciding things about your city. Like do you burn the orphanage down or do you like put the orphans to work in your factory?

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Russ Rushy]

And that's, I think, the big X factor. Is it going to be like a pretty straight ahead, like action RPG fantasy game or is it going to be like, have that weird edge stuff?

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah. Will there be room for it to be weird like that?

[Russ Rushy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Is the question. Yeah. Hair's open, Russ.

[Russ Rushy]

Okay. I'm going to pick Elden Ring Night Rain as a very weird, unexpected standalone installment to Elden Ring that I don't think anyone fucking saw coming. It is basically, it's a roguelite Elden Ring game with a like a battle royale circle thrown in where you're like racing to level up your character as the circle moves in. And there's like all sorts of random encounters that you can have and different bosses that you fight. And it's all like incredibly co op centric. Obviously the previous games had a lot of co op to them, but it was always very hinky and hard to get into games with people. And this is built around co op.

[Justin McElroy]

So I feel like Night Rain Rust is one of those where if it like there's a very good chance it could be like the big, like our biggest thing. Like would that we just go absolutely wild for it, like if this works.

[Russ Rushy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

I feel like it either is like absolutely obsessed or like. No. Like, I don't feel like there's a lot of middle ground. I agree. Like, it's gonna either like work like gangbusters or be an absolute miss.

[Russ Rushy]

It's incredibly ambitious. It's also not directed by Miyazaki, who obviously is the like steward of a lot of the major from software games, but that doesn't rule out the possibility. Like he started as like a you Know, lower person on the totem pole that got brought in and basically transformed that entire company. It doesn't rule out the possibility that there are other people at that company that also have insane ideas.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah.

[Russ Rushy]

And want to.

[Justin McElroy]

Especially when it's such a big departure. Right.

[Russ Rushy]

I mean, you know, so I'm. I'm cool with it. If they want to do a fucking new Elden Ring game every year and make one of them a Cart racer, fucking go for it, man.

[Justin McElroy]

I mean, I don't know about that. I will say that the taste level is there with these games. I feel like there's a good track record and like, I don't feel like Namco Bandai would be like slapping Elden Ring on something in a cash crowd.

[Griffin McElroy]

Can you even.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Say that back to yourself?

[Justin McElroy]

No, you're right. Okay.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah, yeah. I don't know about FromSoftware.

[Justin McElroy]

Elden ring four swords.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah. This is a publisher that has a habit of doing that with some other games. They do a lot of great stuff, but they are not afraid to put a brand names.

[Justin McElroy]

No, no, no. You're 100% right.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Hey, I got one. Despalote. It is the new game being published by Panic. It's made by two indie developers. It is about an eight year old who's kicking around a soccer ball in Ecuador in 2002 on the cusp of Ecuador qualifying for the World Cup. What is cool about this game is it looks like it was created like the 3D worlds that you're going around with is that lidar technology. The technology that is kind of in Kinect where you can capture 3D spaces using all the different little beams, little dots of light. I don't know if they did that or if they just took a bunch of photos of the world and then.

[Justin McElroy]

I mean you really have to see it. It's incredible.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah. And then they also captured real sound in Ecuador and they have all this archival video footage. So it is building out a world from 20 over 20 years ago, but using all of this like real information from this place to create it. And then the game itself looks like just a chill kind of hangout. You just kick the ball around and get into trouble. Playing soccer or football, I guess the more appropriate term here in your community looks chill as hell.

[Justin McElroy]

This is like such a big departure for David Jaffe.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Twisted.

[Griffin McElroy]

Can you even imagine? Yeah, this looks really good. I'm gonna do one real quick. Monster Hunter wilds comes out February 28th. In prepping for this, I was like all Right, let's see what's, like, the big angle that Monster Hunter Wilds is taking that I could say is gonna set it apart from the other monsters.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Russ Rushy]

Cause the last ones are pretty identifiable, right? Because they had the hookshot in Rise and they had riding shit.

[Griffin McElroy]

And World was just a huge, huge expansion of the formula, like a reboot. This looks much more like World than Rise. It looks a lot more. Serious isn't maybe the right word, but it definitely looks like instead of being a game about plucky hunters who kill anim as a very established sport, it looks like these wild monsters are fucking killing all of us and we have to do something about it. So it looks like there's a lot more sort of seriousness and desperation about it, but there's a lot of interactions that you can see in all the gameplay trailers that look insane. Like, at one point, you use your hookshot to pull down the side of a mountain on top of a monster. It looks like you have. There's a bigger emphasis on mounted combat. So there's a lot of, like, racing through the desert as you're being chased by sandworms that you're just kind of, like, taking pot shots at. I just fucking love Monster Hunter. And I didn't get quite as into Rise as I did into Worlds. And so I'm kind of excited for, you know, a new big, meaty multiplayer Monster Hunter game to drop and for, you know, lots and lots of people to be playing it, because that is absolutely my shit.

[Russ Rushy]

I think this is also the first time they've launched one simultaneously on PC.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, I'm not sure about that.

[Russ Rushy]

Pretty exciting, I think. Yeah. Worlds launched on console, and so did Rise was on Switch. First Switch, and then like a year later, the PC version came out.

[Griffin McElroy]

The PC versions have been so, so much better. And so, like, the idea of hopefully this being Steam Deck Verified, I would be. Jesus Christ. That would really be great.

[Russ Rushy]

I mean, that's my concern is the reason I fell in love with with Rise is because I could play it in handheld and there's like, a lot of, like, downtime in Monster Hunter games, but whatever, I'll play remote play if it works.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm also stoked that it's like both the games I've done so far are out in February. Like, you're not gonna have to wait long for those, which is very exciting.

[Justin McElroy]

Juice, I'm gonna take a little bit of a swing here. Cause I don't know, but if Marvel 1943 Rise of Hydra works, it will be Very good. Amy Henning is directing that. If you don't know Amy Henningsworth work, you do actually.

[Griffin McElroy]

You do actually know it.

[Justin McElroy]

You do actually for Uncharted and many, many other things.

[Russ Rushy]

Sorry, Juice. It's Amy Hennig. Hennig.

[Justin McElroy]

Hennig. I said Henning.

[Griffin McElroy]

Hennig is the gerund form, the past participle of Hennig.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Ah, thank you.

[Justin McElroy]

That is, that is like such. Thank you, guys. Thank you. And than for being able to take that and grow. You know what I mean? Because, like, a lot of you would get a lot of people so embarrassed.

[Griffin McElroy]

They'd be like, cut that from the show. But not Juice. Cause he wants to keep it 100.

[Justin McElroy]

Okay. Amy Hennig worked on Michael Jordan Chaos in Windy City. Now it's making a Marvel game set in 1943. And I don't know, man, the cinematics look cool. It's a different take on Marvel stuff. I think it's a smart idea to move it to a different, like, era, new continuity, all that, all that stuff. I think it's. It looks neat.

[Russ Rushy]

Maybe even that Captain America game that they put out like four or five years ago.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah. Oh, it was way longer than that.

[Russ Rushy]

But yes, that's kind of what like, I feel like we've been missing from the Marvel games is. Like they've tried the, like, free to play and obviously they have a lot of team based fighting games.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Russ Rushy]

But having like a single player narrative kind of thing could be really, really cool.

[Justin McElroy]

I mean, I feel like Spider man proved that there's room for it if you can get the budget, like a little bit more reined in. Hey, Russ, 2011 on that one on Captain America Super Soldier. That was good though. I mean, there's many Marvel characters that would be better in an action game. Right. Than like, Captain America is a really good video game hero. Like, there's a lot you could do there that makes a lot of sense. Like, I think Iron man is a bad video game hero. Really? Because the, the ideas of, like, the things that Iron man is good at are not fun to, I think, recreate a video game, but.

[Russ Rushy]

Well. And Black Panther's in this game as well. Right.

[Justin McElroy]

That's. That's a great fit, right?

[Russ Rushy]

Yes.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, that's fantastic. Plus Spider Man, I feel like, has had so many games. He can do. He can do both.

[Russ Rushy]

Yeah. Russ, I'm up again. We have a little game called Doom the Dark Ages.

[Justin McElroy]

Yes.

[Russ Rushy]

Which I guess is the third installment of this rebooted Doom franchise that came out. I'm not even gonna say I'm gonna say 2016, but that might be way off. All these games rule in different ways. I really liked. Obviously, the first one was like, oh, they figured out a way to make Doom feel modern and incredible.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Russ Rushy]

And then the second one was like, we're gonna add fucking crazy platforming sequences and just, like, kind of ramp up the art design to, like, an insane degree. And now they're. They're going back into the past, gameplay wise. I don't know how this is going to be different, but realistically speaking, I've enjoyed the other two so much that if it's honestly just, like, more of the same, but it's in the medieval times and I'm fighting crusaders and it.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Looks a little bit more.

[Russ Rushy]

Bring it on.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Open worldy. Like, big, big space where you.

[Russ Rushy]

I mean, they've done big space.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah.

[Russ Rushy]

But I mean, like, a matter of.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I think you pilot, like, a medieval mech at some point.

[Russ Rushy]

Sure. I like historically.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Russ Rushy]

I also. I don't know how much time you guys have spent looking into the lore of the new Doom franchise, but it's pretty fucking entertaining to see how they, like, back their way into making this all make sense with, like, the original Doom Games and Doom 3 and now into these new games. He's, like, a surprisingly deep character at this point.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Is there, like, a YouTube video I can watch on this?

[Russ Rushy]

I'm sure they're 100%. We'll find one.

[Justin McElroy]

You know what's weird about this one? Griffin and I actually found out about this, like, a year plus ago because Travis got an audition and he's gonna.

[Griffin McElroy]

Be the new Doom guy.

[Russ Rushy]

He's the new Doom guy.

[Justin McElroy]

He's the new Doom guy.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

No, unfortunately, he doesn't.

[Justin McElroy]

They're doing a medieval Doom. I'm like, all right, Travis, whatever.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Sure they are.

[Justin McElroy]

Sure, pal.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah. I got. Let's go with Promise Mascot agency. Y'all know about this one?

[Griffin McElroy]

Nope.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, boy.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I'm excited to tell you that Paradise Killer Team has a new video game. And, oh, oh, the genre. The genre. Open world narrative adventure, mascot management simulator. You've been waiting for one of these.

[Justin McElroy]

Thank you.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

You have been waiting for one of these. You are an ex Yakuza who now manages mascots. Mascots are not costumes with people inside. They are real creatures. And then, I'll be honest, I can't figure out what the game is other than it being open world and then also kind of looking like a Yakuza game because you are managing mascots the way that you managed the bars in host bars in the game. I wrote they have power. When you say you perform mini games like fly a truck, sex bed and then sex with mascots. Not sure about that last one, but the trailer does end with.

[Russ Rushy]

Wait, wait, wait, you wrote that or they.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I wrote that because I was okay.

[Russ Rushy]

Because I don't want to levy sex with mascots just on anyone.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

No, no, no, no. She put it to me. It's the end of the trailer. Is your character on what looks like one of those kind of like rotating Austin Powers sex vets?

[Russ Rushy]

Yeah, sure.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

So I think, guys, watch this.

[Griffin McElroy]

Watch a fucking trailer for. It looks insane. This game looks bananas. It looks like it has sort of goat simulator vibes maybe a little bit in the terms of it being an open world. Chaotic.

[Justin McElroy]

Goofy.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

More like goatee simulator with deep business.

[Griffin McElroy]

Management mechanisms in it as well. It looks fucking great. I'm so in. Thank you, Chris, for this gift.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, I gotta add this to the old wish list.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'll go next. I got. What do I want to bust out? I'll just go ahead and say Pokemon Legends Z to A. Wow, we're really.

[Justin McElroy]

Taking some bold stances today.

[Griffin McElroy]

I mean, it's been a minute. It's been a minute since the last boat.

[Justin McElroy]

I'm honestly just saying a new Pokemon game.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm desperate to. I still. Last week Henry got back into Scarlet and Violet. And like the extent to which we have. It's almost a little sad because like that game and Kirby and the Forgotten Land, there's games that we still play that we have beaten the ever loving shit out of. And I am so desperate for a different thing that regardless of the quality of Pokemon Legends Z to A, which is set in the same world as Pokemon X and Y, which is one of my favorite generations. All right, I'm on board with that. I was lukewarm on Pokemon Legends. Arceus. But like a new Pokemon game I can play with my son, set in the universe of one of my favorite generations, I'm on board. I really don't need to know much else.

[Russ Rushy]

Justin, you look so sad.

[Justin McElroy]

I was reading something else.

[Russ Rushy]

Oh, okay.

[Justin McElroy]

I was reading the plot of the movie Hereditary.

[Griffin McElroy]

You know what? I'll do a double. Cause that one barely was anything. Tales of the Shire, a life sim set in the Shire.

[Justin McElroy]

This is what I'm talking about. About Griffin. This is what I'm talking about. I need us four to be like, you know what's gonna be, Bob? Fucking Hobbit life Sim.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's a Hobbit life sim. Sometimes some Holiday seasons, I go back and watch those flicks. They hold up pretty dang well and I'm excited to just fucking chill. Everyone wants to live in one of those houses built into the side of a hill with a big round wooden door. Now you can do that shit.

[Russ Rushy]

No, I. You realize how much like leakage there probably is in that fucking house? That's constant maintenance, a lot of leakage. Humidity is a huge issue. This is not a good place.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm not worried about it because I'm stoned out of my fucking mind on that long bottom leaf, son.

[Russ Rushy]

This game is developed by Weta Workshop, which hasn't made any games before, which is kind of interesting. But they make all the costumes and things.

[Justin McElroy]

I guess they already got that all saved in their computers.

[Griffin McElroy]

There is nothing great. They already made it March 25, 2025. Get there.

[Russ Rushy]

Not a great reputation for the recent Lord of the Rings games, but maybe this will turn the corner.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm sorry, do you mean Shadow of Mordor?

[Russ Rushy]

No, I mean the Gollum game, which was known as one of the worst creations of Night God.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay, well, that's one.

[Justin McElroy]

I will.

[Russ Rushy]

Shadow Mordor came out 10 years ago.

[Justin McElroy]

Here's the easy one. A. A. It's just here. And I'm here to tell you that they're going to be releasing a new Slay the Spire game. They're going to call it slay the Spire 2. It's probably going to be the best game that comes out next year.

[Griffin McElroy]

You see that trailer? Do you see that trailer?

[Justin McElroy]

Oh. Oh, yeah. Slay the Spire is. I mean, there's really not a lot to say about it because we've talked about it at length. It's. What.

[Russ Rushy]

What do you see in that trailer that's like, oh, this looks brand new.

[Justin McElroy]

Versus just at the end of the title, the two at the end. I'm really not playing that close of attention because I'm on. I'm on board. You know what I mean? I'm just saying it's going to be good. Like Hades 2. I just knew there was a Hades 2 and then when it was out, I played it.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah, fantastic.

[Russ Rushy]

It is interesting though because like these games that the MO for these games tends to not be a sequel. It tends to just be like we're going to add more cards and more.

[Justin McElroy]

That's true, that's true. I do think that that too is probably a reflection of how much I feel like games these days earn their two. You know what I mean? Like, you gotta like earn it. And I feel Like Slay the Spire at this point, I have spent so many hours in that I. It really would take a big thing to get me like excited again and get people talking about it again, I think. And I think that Slay the Spire Two, I think that they're riding the wave of goodwill that they bought with everybody getting obsessed with the first one and they're getting that free word of mouth wave. And I think that's fantastic.

[Russ Rushy]

Yep. Yeah, they've certainly earned it. Why don't we take a break and we'll do the rest of our lists right after this. Gentlemen, we have a game called Metroid Prime 4. Now this is one that actually has been announced.

[Justin McElroy]

We don't have a game.

[Russ Rushy]

Well, I do. I've been playing. I mean, I have. Playing it again. Forget it. Sorry. I feel weird about this one for a couple reasons. One, the they released that gameplay trailer and it looked like Metroid prime, which was exciting. I wasn't like bowled over by it. I also feel weird because Metroid Prime 3 was fine. It was okay. It wasn't great. But I do think given the time and the fact that they essentially rebooted this game from scratch, development wise, I feel like they know what they're doing. I also am really encouraged by the stewardship of Metroid Dread, which was so fucking good. I realize it's a different developer, but I think Nintendo has dialed in what to expect from a Metroid game. And it's not a lot of fucking cutscenes and talking and backstory of Samus. It's straight up, you're in a creepy ass planet shooting at alien jellyfish. So I'm encouraged. I think it's gonna be. I think it's gotta be a launch game for the Switch 2. And it's, you know, fucking so are you.

[Justin McElroy]

Here's. Here's we're talking about most anticipated. Are you refreshed it currently endorsing a reality where Switch 2 launches in 2025 with Metroid Prime 4 and a new 3D Mario game.

[Russ Rushy]

I am endorsing that reality and here's why. Think about the Switch launch year. You had both Mario Odyssey and say one.

[Justin McElroy]

Just real brief. I want to call attention to the fact that you are on a podcast about video games and your tone with me is insane. You've got to calm down. Okay? I'm excited. Please. We are both full grown men with children. You've got to have some warmth and some kindness and love in your heart for me as you explain to me why you think this is going to happen.

[Russ Rushy]

I do. I do, Justin. I have so much warmth and I have so much for the coming year.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

He's killing you.

[Russ Rushy]

No, no, no.

[Justin McElroy]

I'm very excited about this possibility. I want you to be right, because I feel like that's gonna make up for the fact that the console itself won't be very exciting.

[Russ Rushy]

I mean, it's gonna have two more Ks than it currently has, so that's exciting. Probably some frame rates will be there. And it's magnets this time. It's not clicks, it's magnets.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm so fucking over the moon. Excited for the Switch too.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Have y'all heard the latest rumor that it.

[Russ Rushy]

I did hear a crazy rumor, the.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Best rumor, about the controls that the Switch. The little handles come off, you put them on their side and they are mice. They are. You got some pieces. Double mice. Hell yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

Love it.

[Russ Rushy]

That is. I think what we are currently missing from the Switch 2 is what weird, bonkers ass shit did Nintendo jam in here that won't be used a year after the Switch 2.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

The Switch 2 launches mice idea is such a recognition of, hey, like, 90% of the games that get sold on the Switch 2 are indie games from PC. We should just make it a PC.

[Justin McElroy]

And I could use those joy cons as mice all day long. That is an ergonomic pleasure.

[Russ Rushy]

I'm optimistic. I do wish that the joy cons looked a little more comfortable to hold. They've once again driven down that road of yikes.

[Justin McElroy]

Those are all leaks, Russ. You don't know what it'll actually look like.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Hey, I got one more game for you. Death Stranding 2 on the beach. It's been over five years. Can you believe that? Five years since we all unanimously loved Death stranding.

[Russ Rushy]

And wait, it's not been over.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Wait, wait, it has been.

[Russ Rushy]

I know. We were joking.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Over five years.

[Russ Rushy]

Death Stranding came out October 2020, did it not?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

No. False. It came out in 2019. November 2019. It came out before the pandemic, which is absolutely bizarre because it is a game about the pandemic.

[Russ Rushy]

Well, he knew. Cause he was start. He started.

[Justin McElroy]

I will say it came out before the pandemic really got popping here stateside, but it was still a going concern in November of 2019. Yeah, sorry.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Well, okay. It came out stateside. Let's say three months before death stranding.

[Justin McElroy]

Or Covid. Sorry, I wanna be clear.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Death stranding hit America three months before.

[Justin McElroy]

COVID Zero case of death stranding.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Correct. The script, from what I understand, was written for Destiny 2 on the beach was written before the Pandemic because scripts have to be written so far ahead of the games. But Kojima, I guess changed it all up, retooled it because he's like, hey, should probably, probably think about this. So that means we get to see how did Hideo Kojima process the pandemic, the video game, which I cannot wait. I do not know what to expect. But I will say this. There is a character that is a stop motion puppet that chills out on Leah Seidou's shoulder and the stop motion puppet moves at a different frame rate because it is stop motion. Fuck yeah. I am hyped.

[Russ Rushy]

It really is amazing because if you look at Death Stranding, you're like, oh, he's processing the pandemic. But no, he just imagines that that's what was going to be. So what the fuck is the next step of that down the weird ass rabbit hole of his brain?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I cannot wait for this game.

[Russ Rushy]

I'm. I am very excited too. I feel like Griffin in particular has not given. I don't know about Justin. Justin, did you like Death Stranding came around?

[Justin McElroy]

No. God, really? I thought you did.

[Russ Rushy]

Okay.

[Justin McElroy]

No, no, no. I like a lot. No, no, no. Okay, sorry, sorry. I really like Death Stranding. Conceptually. I had a point where I was.

[Griffin McElroy]

Like, we all liked it conceptually.

[Justin McElroy]

Well, no, no, no. But I had a point where I was like kind of clicking with it and I took a step away for some besties thing and I found it impossible to return to that for even like a week away. It was really, really hard.

[Russ Rushy]

It is you.

[Justin McElroy]

I did have a time where I was like, I was vibing with it, like I got it, but I was.

[Russ Rushy]

I think a lot of people rightly got stymied by the beginning of that game, which is pretty terrible and didn't get to the point. The meat of it and the actual core gameplay of it, which again, I've said this before, but I'll reiterate, is I think the strongest gameplay game that he has ever made.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Oh, yeah. I think by far it is like.

[Russ Rushy]

A true game game. Rather than being like, hey, it's a movie and sometimes you get to move Snake around sometimes.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

The problem is you have like five hours of movies to start and then you have maybe 10 hours of movies to end and then you have that good.

[Russ Rushy]

Thankfully, it's all very cogent.

[Justin McElroy]

Is there, is there any reality in which this game does not, like, lean more into the things that made Death Stranding kind of a Divisive. I feel like I. This is going to be more of the same and not necessarily trying to make an experience that like everybody can.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I don't think more it will be that case only because the kind of post, like post release content for Death Stranding, the DLC Game of the Year edition or whatever made it a more enjoyable game game. Like it focused on like weird ass shit where the combat was like improved. You could. I thought that was across the planet and all this stuff. Like it was very.

[Justin McElroy]

It's a very like he's trying to do a lot of different things and he's trying to find the fun in a lot of different places and it's not 100 successful. I guess the hope would be that if he gets another bite at the apple he can separate the things that are like enjoyable about it from the things that are just kind of like cruft like sort of zero in a little bit on what makes that core thing pleasurable without getting in the way with a lot of like cut every.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Cutscene by 50% and I think you're there.

[Russ Rushy]

I mean that's definitely not fucking happening.

[Griffin McElroy]

No way.

[Russ Rushy]

There will be double the cutscenes in.

[Justin McElroy]

This game and the inventory management out the window.

[Russ Rushy]

I think it's fair to say none of us can predict what this game is because every single game he's ever put out has always had some sort of crazy left turn to it.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah. So what else?

[Russ Rushy]

Could be something else?

[Justin McElroy]

What else?

[Griffin McElroy]

Subnautica 2 coming out. We don't know hardly anything about it, so I don't want to spend too much time on it. It's going to have co op for the first time. Up to four player co, which I think is pretty neat and exciting.

[Russ Rushy]

Wow. I didn't realize the first one didn't have any online play.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's crazy. No. And what I love about these games is setting up shop. The extent to which you can kind of build your little outpost which is such a necessary component for surviving and progressing in the world. It is one of my favorite games in one of my favorite genres to do that in. At least the first Subnautica. I was left a bit cold by the second one, that's funny. Which was called Below Zero. It just didn't. I don't know. It wasn't as good.

[Russ Rushy]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

So we don't know a ton about Subnautica 2. There's a trailer that came out during I think the Xbox, some Xbox showcase last year. No release date or anything on that. I do want to hit a Game that almost certainly has to come out this year because there was a huge demo for it during Next Fest. We talked about it then. Heroes of Hammerwatch 2, the sequel to one of my favorite ARPGs. I was very intrigued by what they had going on in that demo and I'm hoping it's something I can really sink my teeth into. Just a lot of hack and slash loot shit in a really accessible package. You get a town that you upgrade. You have characters, different classes, lots of stuff to unlock and lots of ways to customize your guy. I'm all about that shit.

[Justin McElroy]

I'm realizing that my list is really as much most curious as I am. I'm most anticipated about the things that I'm most curious about and I think Judas falls into that category is a game from Ken Levine who has not released a game for a very long time. He was talking about this game in 2015, which will be a decade when it was released, when it was released next year by March is what they have said in financial statements. We'll see. It looks Bioshock esque. Hook from the inception of this is supposed to have been that it's a replayable experience where you can make different choices when you play the game repeatedly and see how those, as he's described them, narrative Legos kind of interact with each other and change the, change the story. It's a sci fi thing that does look like I said similar vibes to Bioshock, but I'm just really curious about it. I'm curious to see what, what all this has led to.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

One thing for you, Hoops, I think.

[Russ Rushy]

It'S gonna be like Mooncrash basically.

[Justin McElroy]

Like, you know.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I would want, I want to give Hoops another pick because I'm glad that he mentioned this game that's not going to come out this year or next year or maybe the year after that. Judas, there's no world. No world. This game comes out this year.

[Russ Rushy]

I mean money is not infinite.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Chris Plant, I don't know if you remember the name of the last BioShock, but BioShock Infinite was the budget. They will keep funneling money into it. I don't think we have any reason to think that this game is coming out in years. Is my. I'm just, I'm just, I'm just trying to be realistic and I want to give you. If it comes out, great, that's gravy. But I want to, I want to let you have full four picks of games that are going to come out this year.

[Justin McElroy]

Okay? Outer Worlds 2, I think it's a very safe bet. Yeah, I think that I really. Outer Worlds one did not blow me away. I was not head over heels in love, but it was a very consistent level of enjoyment. The first area was a lot richer, I thought, than. Than the rest of it. But I thought they were doing a lot of really fun, interesting stuff. I do worry a little bit that Obsidian is maybe stretching themselves a bit thin at this point. They got a lot of projects going on, but I. I thought the Outer Worlds had like a fallout but fun vibe to it. That was cool and. Or like, it is actually more accurate to say Starfield but fun. But yeah, Outer Worlds is a fun franchise.

[Russ Rushy]

It is weird that they're releasing a fantasy open world RPG and a sci fi open world RPG in the same year.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah. And 2K Judas, they're releasing unbelievable this year too. Ark. Right.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Roughly over.

[Justin McElroy]

Classic 2K.

[Russ Rushy]

Okay, I've got two more on my list. One of them is Metal Gear Solid 3 Delta, which is a remake of Metal Gear Solid 3. We replayed Metal Gear Solid 3 like a year ago, however long that was. And there was, I think, a lot of rightful concern that the controls were kind of hard to get into. And I completely agree, like, it's very. Those controls are insane. They were Kojima controls to a T. So I think honestly, just modernizing the controls alone and also having like more or less the same story with improved graphics, like, bring it on. But I'm very excited to see like how they evolve that whole format because there's just so much to love about that game. It is the most cogent story Kojima's ever told. It mostly kind of makes sense. Which is a lot more than you could say for a lot of the other games.

[Justin McElroy]

If I could say if they. If they do what you are suggesting and do not improve the inventory and camouflage management in the game, then they have not actually fulfilled the. The lowest possible bar.

[Russ Rushy]

That's true. I do think those are elements that like at least have hotkeys for like the last four camouflages that you used. I did like the fact that in the inventory you could spin Snake around until he puked. And if that's not in there, I will be bummed otherwise. And so the last game I want to mention is a game that probably won't come out this year. In fact, I actually bet on it. One of my predictions for 2025 was that Grand Theft Auto 6 would be delayed into the following year. And I think it will be. But if it does Come out. It is definitely incredibly anticipated for me, but we say that with a asterisk.

[Justin McElroy]

It's hysterical that you would say that and not include silksong. It's like, I'm done.

[Griffin McElroy]

Hey, Team Cherry, I'm done. Make it or don't. I'm done.

[Justin McElroy]

I don't care.

[Griffin McElroy]

I don't fucking care anymore. Delete it.

[Justin McElroy]

Do it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Delete it. I don't fucking care anymore. I'm done.

[Russ Rushy]

I will say this. Do yourself a favor and pop on over to the silksong subreddit.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's hysterical.

[Russ Rushy]

Fucking hello. Every single day they have a faked Steam page with like, new announcements that didn't happen. And everyone's upvoting it because they think it's. They've reached a point of insanity that is, I guess, rightful, given the fact that this game has been in development for so long and there's just been radio silence. Fuck, I hope this game comes out and so does Clint, who created it.

[Griffin McElroy]

But straight up, Russ, just don't anymore.

[Russ Rushy]

Yeah, just.

[Griffin McElroy]

You don't have to anymore. That's what I've realized is like, my world is big enough and rich enough with enough beauty and love and joy inside of it that I don't need this ghost haunting me any longer. You can just banish it from your mind. There is no Hollow Knight Silksong.

[Russ Rushy]

I think when Nintendo has their inevitable switch to third party direct or whatever the fuck they call it, it will be in there.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay. Okay, cool.

[Russ Rushy]

That's my calling. My shot.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah. So we're doing honorable mentions now? Cause we. We all shared four. You just added a few more there. You just throw in some spice on it. Is that what's happened? Because if we do, I have a whole bunch of honorable mentions. I've Got Citizen Sleeper 2. Extremely excited for that. But I'll be honest, I was completely content with the original. I'll take more, but I didn't know I needed more.

[Griffin McElroy]

I saw you put Earthblade on here. Is that actually supposed to come out this year? Because I'm realizing that.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Speak about another game that has been in development for, I think, 10 years, but I.

[Russ Rushy]

Not that long. Come on.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Hey, Fresh. Guess when I saw Earthblade for the first time, when I was literally at Matty Thorson's house on the launch of Towerfall. It is that long.

[Russ Rushy]

Yeah, that's.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

And had been in development for a while at that point.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's the new Metroid or sorry, search action game from.

[Russ Rushy]

Yeah, it looks like an open world. Celeste is what it Looks fucking sick.

[Justin McElroy]

I'll play that.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It looks sick. Baby steps. Will that come out this year? I don't know, but I'm ready for it.

[Griffin McElroy]

What is that?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I'm ready for the King of Qwop. I'm ready for the Foddy, like Master Foddy himself to get in here and release a game with the developer of Ape Escape. Yes, please.

[Russ Rushy]

It's around Babyman Going up a mountain game.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

And then just one more tanooki Pon summer from the developer of Curse to Golf. A game about being a tanuki who delivers mail on a bike. But, like, it's X Game style.

[Justin McElroy]

Tanuki real or not?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Tanuki? Are tanuki real?

[Russ Rushy]

Yes.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yes.

[Justin McElroy]

Guys, you don't have to throw big.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

No, I know. I understand.

[Justin McElroy]

Simple question on whether or not tanuki.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Reel are thinking, like, mythical tanooki where they can, like, turn into stone reel. No.

[Russ Rushy]

Well, tbd.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Tbd. But tanuki, the Avalon. I want to drop big testicles.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah. I want to drop my. My little. My little guys here. As long as plants, please sow a few seeds here. Professor Layton and the New World of Steam. Yeah, baby.

[Griffin McElroy]

Speaking of huge testicles, Talk about a.

[Justin McElroy]

Good fucking name for a game that's going to get me extremely pumped. The New World of Steam. Yeah, I think. Yeah, I think so. Professor. Let's go. Put me in your hat.

[Russ Rushy]

We'll see if Gabe allows it.

[Justin McElroy]

Avowed. Yeah, I do think Avowed will be good. I think Avowed will be a good video game. Obsidian has been working out for 100 years. I think it'll be good. Here's one. Sinking City. Two guys. If you know, you know, Sinking City was an open world, H.P. lovecraft detective game where you're in a city that is sinking as you're trying to solve, like a Lovecraftian mystery. They're making a sequel. It was actually pretty good. It's by Frogwares, the developer of the Sherlock Holmes games. So that's gonna be out. And then lastly, 33 immortals. That seems like a. Do you guys know 33 immortals?

[Griffin McElroy]

I know the name, so.

[Justin McElroy]

The name. Okay. It's a co op action roguelike for 33 players. It's 33 people teaming up against, like, gods. So 33 people in sort of a vampire survivors. It's a. It's a like, raid as a. As a concept, right? So like, you're raiding with large groups of people and you jump into these like big raids where rather than like a four player thing, it's a massive raid on, you know, these massive oh, shit.

[Griffin McElroy]

This is Thunder Lotus. Yeah, they did Spiritfarer and Thunders.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Russ Rushy]

Wow.

[Justin McElroy]

Yes.

[Russ Rushy]

That gets me hyped.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, me too.

[Justin McElroy]

Two very good games. And the idea of a 33 player game. I don't know. There's something about that number that I don't do a lot of online multiplayer, but there's something about that that appeals to me. There being that many people.

[Russ Rushy]

I'm looking at the trailer and it looks actually a similar vibe to Night Rain where there's like. I think you fight in like different areas of the map and eventually kind of everyone comes together together.

[Justin McElroy]

Right?

[Russ Rushy]

Yeah, that sounds sick.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, it looks.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, I'm into this.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, it looks really cool. So anyway, those are the ones that.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm thinking I snuck a few bonus boys in there. I do just want to say there's been rumors of Final Fantasy IX remake percolating over at Square Enix. If that just gets announced this year, I would be.

[Russ Rushy]

Nine was the cutie boys one. Right.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm not going to sit here and listen to you denigrate Final Fantasy 9.

[Russ Rushy]

That was the one with the cute like PS1 graphics, right?

[Griffin McElroy]

You mean the PlayStation 1 game? Yeah, it had PlayStation 1 graphics.

[Russ Rushy]

No, but it was cuter than like Final Fantasy via. Right.

[Griffin McElroy]

It was more throwback Final Fantasy. Yes. It wasn't like you had like the.

[Russ Rushy]

Dark mages and the guys.

[Griffin McElroy]

It is a. It's a standout fucking classic that not a lot of people played because it was so close to the end of the FF1 or the PS1 life cycle. I don't know. There's just been rumors about it for a long, long time. And I would be over the moon because it's. It is one of my favorite JRPGs, like ever.

[Russ Rushy]

Too cute. Okay, I think we did it. That was a fuckload of most anticipated games, way more than we normally do. So hopefully people enjoyed that. Do we have any honorable mentions unrelated to most anticipated things you've been currently playing?

[Griffin McElroy]

I would love for you to talk about yours, Russ.

[Russ Rushy]

Okay, so here's this is coming. Coming back in a way that I was not expecting. I've been playing Pokemon New Pokemon Snap, which was the Pokemon Snap game that came out I think in 2021, if you don't recall. You take pictures of Pokemon. Pretty much it. I remember at the time not totally vibing with it because there was a lot of grinding required to like unlock things and you'd have to replay levels over and over again. It turns out that level of grinding is so fucking perfect. For a toddler because my son is completely enraptured by it. It's the thing that has like made him jazzed about Pokemon, which is very exciting because I am jazzed about Pokemon. And it's kind of a great just like side by side game because he can do call outs and like talk about the things he's seeing. And only occasionally does he grab the controller and yell scan and screw up my perfect shot of fucking Raichu. Yeah, so it's been really lovely. It's a great even. You know, just as like a co op experience has been great. There's no actual co op play, but just again, a lot of people can kind of gaggle around a TV and take turns and it feels pretty legit. I would love to see another one. I've almost beaten this one. But if you're looking for a, yeah, toddler friendly Pokemon game, there you go.

[Griffin McElroy]

Between Christmas holiday break and being sick and snow. Now both of my kids have been home for a long time and Henry and I have gotten very, very into Minecraft dungeons, which is a game we played a little bit on Xbox. Cause I think it was free on game pass. But he has it on Switch also. And so I picked it up on a Steam sale on my Steam deck so we could play online play kind of without having to share a screen. One person having to pause the whole game whenever they change their inventory and shit. We've gotten really into it. I'll say what this game does really, really well. It's an arpg, which is a pretty easy genre for a younger kid to grok. And instead of getting mired in build shit and like, oh, you gotta get the extra 10% crit chance on your gloves and sock at this gym. All of the stuff that you can kind of like choose about your character or like the random enchantments you find on all your gear are very tangible things like this perk makes enemies explode when you kill them. Or this perk refreshes your potion faster so you can have a more heal. Everything is so easy to understand and it makes finding loot like a lot more expensive. Exciting for a younger kid because everything he finds has some mix of very obvious, very tangible stuff. It is a great game and we have gotten pretty deep into it. And so I've really, really enjoyed it much more than I ever thought I would.

[Russ Rushy]

I loved when I played it. I thought it was like a great encapsulation of Diablo without the like, oh, you get 30% more damage.

[Griffin McElroy]

I've tried Path of Exile 2. I've tried the Diablo 4 expansion. This has hooked me more. Mostly because I'm playing it with my son, which is like my favorite way to play games. But also because like, I don't know, when you find a new thing, you know exactly what it's going to do and it makes it feel a lot more exciting and meaningful. I would love a Minecraft dungeons too. I don't know if that is something that they have kicked around because this game, I don't even think they support it anymore. But yeah, it's great.

[Justin McElroy]

I have been playing a lot of Hieronymus Bosch's brutal orchestra. Yeah, it came out in 2021. I was just looking for games in this genre and I stumbled across it. It looks like it looks kind of like an art style similar to like a Binding of Isaac, that kind of thing, that like gross cute kind of look. But it is a turn based roguelike where you are killed and you are in Purgatory where you meet a. A demon named Bosch who says you were murdered. And if you let me help you journey through Purgatory, I'll help you become strong and I'll help you wait for the person who killed you. So when they come to Purgatory you can be waiting for them to kill them. And so you set out on this journey through Purgatory and you meet all kinds of different maniacs, like absolute weirdos in Purgatory, some of whom are like clearly allies, some of whom are just kind of like insisting that they're going to come with you. They're all very strange, they'll have very different abilities. But the central idea that kind of sets it apart is enemies have different colored blood, basically called pigment. So abilities take different colors of pigment to use. So when you're in a fight you're not only thinking about which abilities to use, you're thinking about which enemies you want to attack to get their pigment so you can use your other abilities. So if you have a one that leaks a particularly useful kind of blood, maybe you want to attack him slowly, make him last longer so you can get more of that like resource to use in the fight. So that's a really interesting take on it. It's also really the characters that you meet are just as like flawed as they are powerful. So there's like real trade offs with everyone. One character for example is a stand up comedian who doesn't believe in himself. And his two attacks are a very weak heel that he triggers by crying and a very weak slap. And. But the more times he does the very weak slap, the better he gets at healing. And the more times he does the very bad heel, the better he gets at attacking. So you can do a bunch of bad heals to save up for really strong attacks, but every character has these like trade offs and you can only choose one character that you want to take with you. The other one is selected by the game to like, pair with it because it's like very difficult. The game is genuinely so funny. I have laughed out loud many times by playing it. Even when you run into characters you've met before, the dialogue is is repeatedly really good. It's just great. I don't know how we missed it the first time, but if you search for brutal orchestra, it's really, really, really good. Yeah, it's great.

[Russ Rushy]

Point. You have anything?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I'm still just playing Vanillaware games on my retroid Pocket 5, all of which I own, by the way, just so.

[Griffin McElroy]

People know, I got one of those coming on Friday. I'm very excited. It looks great.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It is absolutely fantastic. The OLED screen makes all the difference, especially for games that are so much about their art, like Muramasa Dragon's Crown.

[Justin McElroy]

You know, the Law Plant. If you talk about a weird new handheld that you bought, you have to put a YouTube tutorial about how to buy it, how to set it up in the besties chat. That's the law.

[Russ Rushy]

This is such a good segue because we're going to be doing a deep dive into weird handhelds next week in a very special episode with a very special guest. I know I'm jumping ahead, but Russ from Retro Game Corps will be joining us next week to talk about handheld gaming.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Long requested guest from the listeners.

[Russ Rushy]

Yeah, excited to do this and so I'm very excited about that. But before we do, I wanted to thank some people from the Patreon. Hopefully you guys dug some of the Patreon episodes that we dropped recently. But yeah, if you want to support us, you can go over to patreon.com thebesties and do that there. I wanted to thank Catterday 84. We have Kado, we have Roland, and we have Mel and Krath. Thank you for being patrons of the Besties, and thank you to everyone else who has supported us and shared the show and given gifted subs over the holidays. That was awesome to see. That's all still possible, obviously. But yeah, we really appreciate y'all. I kind of jumped ahead on the next week thing. Justin, I'm sorry I asked you.

[Justin McElroy]

No, that's Okay. I liked it. It was very organic. It was very exciting.

[Russ Rushy]

2025, maybe.

[Justin McElroy]

This is a more mature show with more tasteful transitions.

[Russ Rushy]

We're also talking about Indiana Jones next week, so keep an eye out for that.

[Justin McElroy]

I was like, mid fucking sentence. Like, Jesus Christ.

[Russ Rushy]

Yeah, sorry we reverted.

[Justin McElroy]

But yeah, we will talk about Indiana Jones next week. Long delayed. Weird timing. Nothing personal against Indy.

[Griffin McElroy]

Microsoft's fault, really.

[Russ Rushy]

It's funny, Phil asked us when he should launch it and we ignored our requests.

[Justin McElroy]

So that is going to do it for us. Until next time, my name is Justin McElroy for all the besties. Be sure to join us again next time for the besties. Because shouldn't the world's best friends make the world's best games?

[Russ Rushy]

SA.