Noclip's 2025 GOTYs - Episode 3: The Category Awards (2/2) | Noclip Crewcast

Thank you.

Hello friends and welcome to episode 263 of the Noclip Podcast.

We're here to do the final Game of the Year category awards.

I thought we were recording this the day after the last one, but we actually said we do them back to back.

So that's why we're all wearing the same clothes if you're watching this on YouTube.

Well, it's part of the reason.

We've got some cool categories to talk about today.

First of all, I want to give a shout out to all of our incredible patrons.

And of course, our Battle Pass holders.

Let's do them from bottom to top this time.

I'm feeling so sick.

Rison, James Med, Entheogen, Jacob, oh, God serve.

George Sakotis, Alex Gouchet, Zachary Snader, Cameron Ladd, Grizzly Mug Enox, Christophe Fatui, Eric Hamilton Schneider, Jonathan Kremen, Dark Insanities, Forrest Pruitt.

Tim Robinson, you and Nate.

John Akers, Bone Mold Pez, Sven Hooster Goddison, David McGarry Tucker, Morgan Quote, Mark Rojas, Matt Pearson, Arno Joosh, Harry Flanagan Redredge, Senator Armstrong, It's-a-me Ferrario, Nico Passateri, Anthony Thomas, he's a vampire.

Dwayne the Rock Lobster Yosh, Lovebreed and Little Toast.

Thank you all so much holding our battle pass.

We'll get it off you eventually.

Okay, here we are, category day two.

We have some uh, fun categories to do today, like we did yesterday.

They include best steam deck game game we want a sequel to.

Best original character.

Worst trend, most difficult.

Best racing.

Best sports.

Best music.

Best game pass game game that will age the best Game that will age the worst.

Best title.

Single player game that would make for a great multiplayer experience.

Multiplayer game that would make for a great single player experience.

And game we wish we played more of.

We also get best podcast game on there.

Best podcast game.

That's not a bad shout out.

We'll give it to Amy Poehler as well.

Good for her.

Best podcast game.

That's not what you said a second ago. yeah it's all right it wasn't on that we're not putting that public it's fine it's true you're you're ultimately in control of that so fair play um okay let's start with best steam deck game what's uh what stands out to you what do you what did you guys play on your deck what got your deck hard this year um i played a lot of absalom on my steam deck great great steam deck game super easy pick up and play after every round it saves so you don't have to like restart your run or anything and you just play for like 10 minutes of beat them up goodness and then put it back down yeah i would echo that siktori was another one for me i think it felt felt real good to be playing on the on the on the deck almost exclusively on there it was great frank what about you you play your deck a lot yeah this year the one the the um the main game was mega bonk oh yeah again just for like a week or two because i had to stop playing it because i realized like okay this is like messing up my eyes Um, and then I played ball pit on my X-Box, but I feel like that is what is same kind of brain space.

Yeah.

That's a good hit.

Yeah.

I do think it's funny that nobody on this podcast in the last three episodes including this one where we're talking about game of the year we may be the only one on planet earth that did not bring up silk song or Hades too.

I was just about to say silk song is the game that I played the most on my steam deck this year.

Uh, but I didn't particularly like it.

And hades 2 was i playing that on my steam deck?

I guess i did play a good amount on my steam deck but i like it on my crt because i feel like i don't know.

The art deserves the screen space a bit more.

You know what i mean, like especially the portraits when they pop up.

Yeah, i mean, there's a lot of detail in that world that i think you you don't get to enjoy as much of on the deck.

I will say this doesn't really speak to the category, but I will say that my favorite Steam Deck experience of the year was what I mentioned earlier on the podcast, which is being on a plane.

And two old people were like asking me questions about about Silksong and about the deck.

And it was just I'll just never forget that old man being like, what is that?

Where is that?

One of them Sega?

Absolutely.

That is like the funniest shit i've heard in my entire life.

So that new game gear yeah exactly, how many double a batteries does that thing take?

They let you bring that on the plane.

Yeah, exactly.

Um yeah, there's some strong games here, for sure.

Um, i guess this one's very, very uh objective in that regard.

Um yeah, do you have any?

Uh jeremy, you don't have a steam deck right, I do have a Steam Deck.

You actually... You gifted me your old one very generously.

Sorry.

When I was nervous for a flight.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

I forgot.

You loaned it to me initially, and then it was my birthday and you were like you should just keep it, which was very, very nice of you.

Or it was just me getting away with not having to go to target to get you something for your birthday, i don't know, you know well, it was a.

That was a pricey excuse to not go to target, but i'm very, i'm appreciated a lot, no worries, it was also christmas, so it's almost it's also your gift, right?

So it works out.

It was also cursed by a medicine woman at some point, so i actually stole it off someone, so i needed to pass the the.

It's like it was like a the the ring sort of situation.

I had to give it to him.

God damn it.

That's not a bad shout.

Yeah, which one's that?

I don't really have a strong one on this.

I think I played a lot of the games.

I played a lot of Steam Deck, but there was no game that I... that I can remember.

I kind of want to run up and get it, but there was no game.

I don't think that was like a quintessential Steam Deck experience for me.

That like, for instance Balotro, would have been like last year, where I almost entirely played it on Steam Deck.

Demon School is really good on Steam Deck.

That was a game that I played a good bit of on Steam Deck.

Um, but yeah, nothing else.

Nothing else stands out.

Does anyone have a strong opinion on on a steam deck game here?

Absalom, to me is is one that fits real good.

I'll just say um, i think it benefits a lot from the the pick up and play nature of it and also the art style.

I think it fits good on that in a way that not every game does.

But um, but i'm not, you know, but i'm not gonna.

Yeah, I guess I did play more Absalom on Steam Deck than I did on PC.

But yeah, anyone else have any strong feelings on Megabonk?

You said, Frank, that was like one of those intense periods, wasn't it?

Where you just kind of like drilled into it on that thing.

Yeah, like even like going to sleep, like I would like before going to bed, play it.

I'd wake up, I'd play it.

Like it was.

Like I'm sure if I went to the bathroom with it like it was, I just couldn't separate myself.

And I realized like, oh, I need to like just stop and then continue on with my life.

I don't like, I don't, yeah.

So, and I don't know, I don't think I would have engaged with it.

Like if I sat on like my desk and played on PCR, if there was a hypothetical console version.

I think that is such a like like it felt like the kid, like a kid being hooked to their game boy playing Pokemon.

Like as I did as a kid, like it was that kind of like just it's so intense, of just um.

That's a really good point.

Cause it works great as a steam deck game because it's like, yeah i totally agree i if i were to play megabonk which i have not done i i wouldn't feel right playing it at my computer that absolutely play on anything but megabonk feels like that kind of thing you need to play on this and then when you're done you're like okay put that down and walk away from it um that's not a bad shout the new tony hawk game as well is that's that's steam deck isn't it i think updated about it seemed like wasn't there a new time was there a new time this game was the remake last year yeah it was three four yeah three four remake was 2025 yeah yeah we never put it in here either i think because we just feel a bit weird about the three stuff is that it or the four so sorry it was i i think it was deceitful uh marketing they said it was a four remake it is not it has it so it has a they remade four's levels but they did not remake four's career mode and i was like kind of like it's weird to say pissed at the time i was pissed i don't know as pissed as i i get yeah it's kind of like skates there are there are parts of skates that are cool we'll get to this in sports game i guess we'll come back around to that um so does megabonk feel like the one i i hear what you're saying jesse that it is kind of like hades 2 i could play on the pc and i did whereas megabonk sounds like it's it feels like a good like vampire survivors i did not play vampire survivors on my pc there was a guy quake on who played vampire survivors on his on his desktop for the almost the entire weekend and i was like a why are you here and be fair play that was you know that's pretty cool why does it feel like a ball pit wouldn't work because i feel like i would rather put ball pit up over megabonk personally but i guess i haven't really played much of either of them so it's it's really not up to me i'm just wondering if there's a reason why is there a big ball pit um lover in here i i i love ball pit my thing is i played it on xbox and it was a game pass game so that's why i was like but yeah, for me, I just didn't play it in the format, but ball pit is way better than mega bunk.

It's, it's way better than mega bunk.

So I would put ball pit over mega.

Yeah.

Should we go, go for ball pit then?

I think that is a, it is a, the form factor of that game.

Similar, I would say to Absalom feels very steam deck.

You just, I think any game that is sort of has a consistent two dimensional plane, like Hades, I also put in this because it, although it's, you know it's isometric or whatever it's there's something about i guess just not having a 3d camera is what i'm talking about it feels more steam decky to me for you know silly reasons i guess um how does everyone feel about ball pit then like let's i've not played it but it seems i'm convinced by your arguments yeah okay throw the bollocks pit in the bollocks pit bollocks pit best steam deck game goes to ball pit or bollocks pit if you're from east london um Game we want a sequel to.

This is great.

I love this one because there's no wrong answers.

Every game feels good.

And then ultimately we'll come to a disappointing consensus.

So that's the nature of the awards.

Exactly.

And life in many ways.

OK, yeah, let's let's throw this one out there.

And I don't this game doesn't necessarily need to not be a sequel or needs to be a fresh game.

You know, it can be an older game.

It can be in a series.

That's fine.

It can be for bad reasons that like the game didn't fulfill what you wanted.

It, can you know?

I would say, the only game that doesn't count, that we can't vote for is Deltarune, chapter three and four.

It's already a lock.

Um yeah, so what do you guys think?

What is any games that you play that you'd love to see more of that you wish, you know, you hope that more of these games come out, or that felt like you left something on the table that you wait, you want to see more of.

I will say uh, the way not that i expect that we'll get one, but the way death stranding 2 ends is like, oh my god, i want to play death stranding 3 now.

So, but i i know kojima is working on two different games, but i'm like it.

It's like, oh my god, i'm i would be so happy for death stranding 3, but i don't think it needs to win the category, but it is is.

If you play and finish that game, i feel like you will have that feeling.

I and again, that's someone who, like i, bounced off death stranding 1 so hard.

So it's like, oh my god this, that's how good death stranding 2 is.

Is it like made me appreciate one.

It was so and i'm still want more and there's so much open world content, but like the how they set up, like how the game ends, it's like, oh my god, i want to play this.

So I will say, while I like to dunk on Death Stranding, even though I enjoyed the first game and I need to play more of the second one, I will say I feel like a world without more Death Strandings does seem like a less interesting world.

I'm kind of sad that there might be any more Death Strandings.

But then I guess what I really want is a world in which Kojima is making weird games, even if I don't like all of them, or whatever.

Um, but yeah, that's not a, that's not a bad shout.

And jeremy, do you have any that come to mind for you?

I'm struggling because i feel like i'm not a big sequel guy.

Right, i feel like it's very.

Sometimes i'll enjoy a game that is like silent hill, i think, is a good example of their, their sequels, but they're not usually, or they're sometimes connected, but like the ways in which they are connected if they are connected, are sort of more, or it's unexpected the way they tie into each other.

That's the kind of sequel I like.

So I'm trying to think of... I don't know.

I kind of feel satisfied with every game that I like on this list.

I'm like, yeah, that's it.

I they did.

They released a dlc for night rain that i've not played.

I would like to see more from soft co-op.

I think um, i know that uh, duskbloods or whatever is gonna dip into that.

Uh, i don't have a switch to, i'll have to steal one from my nephew um, but uh yeah, i would like to see more from soft co-op.

I think that it's an incredibly rich uh experience to to share that like sludging through an incredibly difficult experience, banging your head against the wall.

I associate that Souls experience with like solitude and sort of like a monastic spartan suffering by yourself um, sleeping in a sleeping bag on the floor than getting up and playing dark souls, but um, but yeah, sharing it with, with friends was shockingly uh rich as an experience.

So i maybe night rain, i don't know.

It's less that i want a night rain sequel and more that i want more from soft co-op, and i think that's that might be tricky given the um the, the game that we have on the title of this one um, Maybe a boring answer to this, but one that I think makes sense, is Claire Obscure, Expedition 33.

That seems like a franchise maybe that people will be excited to see more of.

Jesse.

Jesse's about to talk about the ending without talking about the ending.

Oh, are you?

I mean, I don't know.

I haven't.

They're not making a sequel.

You don't think so?

Okay.

They're not making a fucking sequel.

I mean, the universe you could make, you know what I mean?

You could.

Danny, they're not making a sequel.

All right.

Okay.

Here's the question.

I would love it, but they can't.

They're not.

They won't.

Here's the question. because i could also say the same about like the seance of blake manor where like you can't make a sequel to that game but i but i don't i also don't want a sequel to that game i want like more of that style from that studio which is also what jeremy is saying right like i want the case of the golden idol i want you know the next you know i don't need a sequel to that one but just give me another thing it's okay they did it already so it's all right yeah exactly that's true yeah um Yeah, I get what you're getting at of like, I want to see their next thing.

I want basically this award is what studio do you not want to close down very shortly?

Blake Manor is a strong answer because I would love to see that those mechanics fleshed out and explored more in a different setting.

Even like... yeah it could be the same era it could also be like a different era i think that there's a lot of like interesting ground to cover um tackling different mythology i'd love to see a modern version of that too like what does that sort of thing look like in like new york or maybe not new york because it's always new york but somewhere interesting oh dude like fargo seance of blake banner would go crazy i would play the hell out of that yeah bring declan to america was it puzzle agent yes puzzle agent is those are some of my favorite games ever i love those games very fargo yes and they take place in minnesota or something no it's somewhere else it's like it's like some midwest or something yeah i think north dakota sounds right yeah yeah they're like ogden i want to say is the name of the town or something it's like it's like activated a part of my brain that hasn't yeah those games are yeah they're they're very cool actually in that same vein this is particularly niche i suppose but uh came out a couple weeks ago detective instinct farewell my beloved i would love oh yeah i remember you said for that studio to make another game uh especially in this exact style with the same characters i would love to see because there's not that many studios making that kind of command select adventure japanese style uh story game so more of that would be awesome i would be very happy to see another one of those similarly i'd love to see adam falls devs take another swing rebellion take another do another first person thing maybe in this world as well there's a weird like revival of this sort of british folk horror thing with the 28 years later and then the bone temple has come out i think this week have you guys seen 28 years later no frank you have yeah it was great yeah it was great wasn't it was like so it like i like i love 28 years later but like i find it a hard rewatch but I think this, I really enjoyed 20.

Like it might be my favorite of the bunch, but I I've read a couple of reviews for the new one which I guess they came.

It's coming at six months after the last one, which is just seems insane.

I guess they filmed it at the same time, but people are saying it might be the best of all of them.

Like it's so weird, but they're there.

Have you, you haven't seen the new, new one.

Have you Frank?

No, the, the, so that one temple.

Yeah.

So right.

Yeah.

It comes out technically tomorrow.

It is.

Okay.

It's out.

Yeah yeah, but uh anyway, i don't know where i got there.

But yeah folk, i guess adam fall is also exploring that same sort of like british folk modern folk horror or post-modern folk horror kind of thing.

Um okay, so there's nothing else.

That's really.

It's interesting, isn't it?

We are, you're right, jeremy's like made a good point.

We're a crew who doesn't necessarily require sequels all that much.

Um Yeah, even even in the case of like I really like Silent Hill F, I don't want more of that.

I want another same team or whatever.

I keep making new writers or whatever, but I want more Silent Hill games, but I don't want a sequel to that.

Yeah, that's a good point.

Yeah.

And that's a weird one too, because it's like that is kind of how a lot of Silent Hill sequels operate anyway.

So that could be.

But I don't want Silent Hill F2.

I don't want more of that character.

And I don't know, not because I didn't like that character, but just because I felt like it wrapped up.

The only other thing I can think of, sorry, is Avowed.

I would actually like to see Avowed 2.

Right, yeah.

Because Obsidian kind of, it always seems like they do a good job on their first one.

Maybe it appeals to some people and maybe it doesn't.

But then man, the second time around they just fucking knock it out of the like.

I thought I played a little bit of Grounded 2, thought that was so much better than Grounded 1.

Really?

Pillars of Eternity, same thing.

Outer Worlds 2.

Yeah, Outer Worlds 2.

I wish I played more of it, but it is.

It has a radio, so it's better by default, like yeah, it's so good.

I would like to see avowed, one to me didn't scratch the itch that i wanted.

That's sort of like kingdom come deliverance itches scratches.

Yeah i, i want, like i would love to see avowed exploded a little bit more, like a little a little looser, a little slower.

It felt like what i played of it was very like Here's a thing and here's a thing and here's a thing.

And it was all kind of chained together in these very corridor-y kind of areas.

I would love to see them just do like a big open sandbox-y kind of thing.

Yeah, it felt way, yeah, kind of like a lot of, like, so Outer Worlds 1 felt that way too.

Very sort of, you know, corridor-ed.

Which is weird when you go back... I think we went back and played Fallout New Vegas, right?

A couple of years ago for a podcast.

And that was a game that I subsequently realized was also very corridor-ed.

But you just... It's designed in a way that makes you kind of feel like it's not.

The thing about New Vegas is that, because Like Outer Worlds as a contrast, because it has these sort of like micro planet environments, if you combine them all, i'd be curious to see how big it is compared to new vegas.

But even though new vegas has like, invisible walls and stuff, it does kind of set you at the bottom of this map and say, all right, like good luck out there.

Um, and it feels bigger in spite of its invisible walls, because it is one contiguous area.

Yeah agreed, all right.

What do we think then?

Is it coming down to a violent death, stranding two, i guess, for ones we want to see the sequel to or blake manner or blake manner or blake manner.

Yeah uh, blake manner is probably my, my choice for this, but is it breaking the rule though?

Is it?

Is it saying the same thing as you saying you want to another from staff game?

That does, i guess.

I guess that's a broad interpretation.

You could do the Seance of North Dakota.

That kind of solves the problem, right?

Well, I would like to see Declan do another case, which I think would be a direct sequel.

Ooh, yeah.

Oh, yeah, that's true.

Like a Knives Out kind of thing, yeah?

Yeah.

Okay.

I mean, I'd go for that one if it was there.

Yeah, it could just be called The Something of Something Something, but it would be different words.

I would say, Death Stranding is a close one for me though, as well, because I do want to see that car crash continues.

Sorry, Frank.

One day I'll catch up and I will eat my words.

I will come back and I'll be like, I'm sorry.

It should have been Death Stranding 2.

I want Death Stranding 3.

Yeah.

No, I still want to.

I'll never make this video, but I want to make a video where I buy like, a solar generator and I play Death Stranding 1 and go backpacking until I finish it.

And I'm not allowed to go inside until I finish the game.

Dude, live stream it.

That would go crazy.

It's like our Elden Ring in the desert thing all over again.

It's that.

But committing so fucking hard?

Uh okay, best original character comes up next um jeremy, you mentioned last week that you had somebody for this.

Uh yeah, i did.

Who the fuck was it?

We've done it again.

Uh oh uh, i it's um.

Oh my god, why can't i remember his name?

Oh popano from um from, look outside.

Uh, i don't know how to express this other than just kind of talking about this character.

I'm gonna post a picture.

Um, How do you spell Papa?

No,

P-A-P-I-N-E-A-U.

Oh, Papa No.

Okay, kind of Frenchy.

Okay.

He is a janitor in the in the apartment building that is filled with like monsters and his little tiny beady eyes.

He's like a big Hagrid looking motherfucker in a flannel.

And he is like a he's like a way of the samurai character, but for janitorial services.

And so when you talk to him he's like do you like I'll work with you, but do you swear fealty to like the path of of the custodial arts?

Uh, and he talks about like cleaning and maintenance of the building, like it is the most honorable, beautiful thing in the world.

That like with and it's true, in some sense like people this is not to get too fucking far-flung on this, but i feel like this is actually directly relevant is when people talk about like a general strike or like mass political movements, they're like the first people you need to convince for a general strike are the fucking garbage men.

Because, like if, if the people doing like cleaning the shit up and like doing all the necessary functions that people think are like dirty and gross, if those people stop doing their job, the world falls apart in a week.

If the garbage piles up in the streets of New York city, like the empire crumbles.

Yeah, the one good time it worked.

And papino is someone who like elevates uh, elevates this, like this thing that is that people look down upon as this, like beautiful, noble service, and talks about it like a, like a samurai, and i think it's like it's so affecting in a way that's both comedic and sincerely moving.

There's no one in just looking at other alternatives we have here.

There's nobody necessarily in like dispatch.

I like Robert Robinson.

I think he's pretty great.

I think there's a bunch of other characters in there that are, that are really great.

Um, but none of them really feel about the uh, the wet guy, whatever his name, was the one who's voiced by that Joel Haver YouTuber that you like.

Oh, is that, is that who, who he plays?

Yeah.

The wet guy is very funny.

I also like Jack septic guys, little Irish dwarf guy.

Yeah.

Punch up.

He's good.

He's very funny.

He does a good job on that.

Um yeah, i mean, you're still good as malevola too.

I thought she was great in that role, very like just her yeah, kind of.

Yeah, um it's.

Yeah, i think it's it's hot.

The problem is they're all great characters, but I guess maybe – I think the problem is probably I haven't completed this batch, so I don't have enough cumulatively of any one of them to really – Yeah, that's fair.

Like Invisigirl, is that her name?

Invisigal, I think.

Invisigal is her original name, right?

Yes, yes.

She's brilliant.

She's very, very good as well.

And similarly with Expedition 33.

There's a bunch of really good characters in there, but none of them are individually stunning-ish.

Really, really, really – oh, what is his name?

I keep calling him Monkey Man, but that's not his name.

Monkey Man.

Monkey Man, Expedition 33.

Hold on.

He has the best song in the whole game.

Not Monkey Man, the movie.

Gustav, no.

Is that it?

Gustav.

That's his name?

No.

Gustav is Charlie Cox.

Is he?

The big guy in Claire Obscure.

I love this game so much.

I can't remember anyone's names.

Anyone's names.

They're all just big characters.

Monaco is this, monaco is that the monkey man?

Maybe mona, monkey man, exhibition 33, and i don't feel great about typing that yeah, sorry.

Yes, that is exactly what i was thinking of.

Monaco was really good.

I love his character relationship with the rest of the cast.

I think he has one of the best songs in all of video games this year.

Uh basically, no question, don't argue with me.

Um, we'll get there, but we'll talk, it's fine.

Yeah, he's good.

And then what's the big uh airship guy's name?

Oh, my God.

It's driving me crazy.

I love this guy.

Eskia.

Eskia is, I love his design.

Eskia is great.

So good.

I love his voice.

I love how he's this unstoppable God in the universe of expedition 33, but he is just like I don't want to fight.

Fighting is bad.

I just want to hang out with my pet rock.

Yeah.

He's got a great, he's got a great five going on.

Um, millennia.

We in Hades too.

I really, really like millennia way.

Yeah.

That's another one I'd stick in also.

The rover in mars, first logistics, a really good character, very funny character.

That's funny.

Um, i don't know spell sks, i'm just gonna write in whatever um, the what else do we have?

What else do we have?

Anything else comes out.

The protagonist to consume me, oh yeah yeah, is so charming and fallible and like both, like admirable and embarrassing and embarrassed but like proud, and it's like such a complex character feels so rooted in a real person because it is, but it's just, it is.

Uh yeah, it's a very rare for a character to jump like off the the proverbial page like that.

To me yeah oh anyone, any standouts i also did.

I also want to nominate Dollman from Death Stranding 2.

He's the little... Oh, yeah.

So basically, he's like this game's Otacon.

He's your little puppet that you attach on your hip, almost like how everyone had Labubus this year.

He's always like.

He's always like did you know you could use this grenade here?

He's always like chiming in and then there's a i won't like spoil it but then there's a chapter.

You hear his backstory and it's like the most fucked up tragic thing and that was where the game was like oh, this is all like.

That's where the it's like this cute silly thing and his tragic backstory is like it's so, it's like tied to the death of his family and it's just like oh my god, this little like twerpy little like it's almost like a chucky doll.

It's so insane.

And it's it's animated in like 12 frames a second, which is yeah, It's insane.

And so I know they included like a mini doll in the collector's edition.

But I know eventually, I'm sure like I'll be able to track one down in Japan next time.

But like he doesn't have to win.

But like, yeah, Dollman is like my favorite character of the year.

And again, this is in a year where we had new Dead or Alive girls in Venus Vacation.

Dollman's better.

Yeah, there you go.

Huge statement.

I also want to shout out, I haven't played the game yet.

I've been waiting emotionally and holding onto it.

But promise, mascot agency has a character named pinky, which is the stupidest, funniest thing you could ever imagine.

It's a game about mascots and how misfit they are.

Like they don't make sense.

They're all terrible at their jobs and you're trying to help them become reasonable.

And the first one you meet is named pinky, a severed pinky toe.

And that's it.

And they have funny reactions and great voice acting pretty great.

Yeah uh, what do we jeremy out of your ones?

Which one stands out, do you think?

I would like to.

I want to suggest one more, but i i'm not going to make it a serious contender, i just think i want to make special mention of it.

Uh, is the protagonist in baby steps.

I think they're like complete inability to have any sort of social interaction with anyone.

Is is so funny and so like.

It's such a recognizable thing when you have like a social faux pas and it like you go to the grocery store and someone's like hey, like how are you doing?

And you're like. i don't know you just like don't know how to respond you say something awkward and then it haunts you for days it's just like a it's like social horror uh and social comedy at the same time um i never quite yeah at the time at the start i thought he was just being a doofus and then i realized like oh this is he's like just unbelievably socially awkward like this is like it's it's like almost like the office the uk office levels of awkwardness when sometimes he's trying to speak to like you know he's like like the guy's somebody's just like trying to offer him something so unbelievably small and he's like no it's okay i was just gonna go around the other i'll walk up socks man you need socks so you can walk around in the in the mud he's like oh yeah i have socks i just left them somewhere else i'll go get you know just like i got some free socks here do you want them like no i did i have actually i have a whole load of socks over here you know he's he's so self-effacing too like that guy is like oh you can just go pee in this bush and he's like no i don't he's like oh you don't want to watch and he's like no no you can watch like just like so fucking just falling over himself to try to make the situation not so awkward but failing it's so making it way more yeah it's so great um yeah i don't know if that is best original character but i wanted to just make mention of like it's one of the fun it's a character archetype i don't think i've really seen in games That's now my favorite of the list, probably.

Really?

I mean, it's fucking, it's really, really good.

I mean, also all the donkeys with their dicks out are great.

So that was, that was a real twist.

Um, I was curious when the, when the selection comes up at the beginning of baby steps and it's like do you want nudity?

I was like, I, what could this possibly be?

I was like this guy's going to fall out of his uh, out of his onesie, and it's going to be, like you know, his butt flying around.

Nope.

Just a donkey dick with his legs spread and asking for cigs.

Yeah.

Oh, the cigarettes.

Oh my God.

That game.

I've just remembered all the game and the cigarettes.

He's trying to get him to his one wish.

He wants him to wish for cigarettes.

And he's like we'll do anything for you, which is such a funny trade because it's like you could just use the wish for the thing that you're asking for.

Yes.

It's so stupid.

It's amazing.

Oh, fuck.

All right.

Which one's standard?

I mean, I'd probably pick Baby Steps Guy now at this stage, but.

Well over a millennia away, who's been written like thousands of lines of dialogue and voice acting.

And I'm like, baby steps guy, please.

Nate's a good pick.

Is that his name, Nate?

Yeah.

I think so, right?

Yeah.

Yeah, Papano is great, but it is sort of is like a optional pickup character who is expressed less.

I just I would be remiss if I didn't mention Papano in this discussion because he's so great.

But I'll let him step aside.

I think that's what he would want that as an honorable janitorial services guy.

And you know who wouldn't want this award is Nate.

Yeah.

It's embarrassing for him to be highlighted in such a way.

Oh, that makes me want to get like, I want SGA cause I love SGA so much.

It's so stupid, but I really want Nate cause he, yeah, he would just not know what to do.

He wouldn't even come up.

It's okay.

It's like the voice acting is so good and the timing on it is so good that it's like I was.

I was trying to figure out like, did they have multiple people in the booth or did they just like so like is it?

Is it ad lib, like improvising, or is it just so well, like they envisioned the awkward dynamics so well?

It feels like it had to be two people in the booth because it's so like fluidly, like interrupting each other in a way that feels so naturalistic.

Yeah, totally.

It's like the paul thomas anderson thing as well where yeah, they just like can chat over each other like it's like people do.

Yeah i, i was wondering the same thing.

I was like i don't think you like they had to have some of it scripted obviously, but like a lot of this is just like yes, awkward stumblingness over each other.

Are we giving it to nate from baby steps?

That's very funny.

If we, i think it's funny to give it to a 35 year old fail son.

I think that was like perfect jesus best original character, Nate from Baby Steps.

Okay, worst trend.

Generative AI.

I know, I was about to say.

Generative AI.

Generative AI. all right done now do we do we want to talk about this obviously there's been games that we've enjoyed that have been tainted by this our creators of course has come up a bunch uh exposition 33 sort of in a different manner like it seems like maybe more accidental perhaps that some of that stuff got in the final game um it's yeah it the the are we preaching to the choir here like we're all just fed up of i think it being forced on everyone and being told it's going to change fucking everything and then the one thing is changing is you know stopping concept artists and and people from being able to get work um yeah yeah i can't think of anything worse no there's no like dark pattern there's no like new loot box thing that drives me crazy it's just corporate consolidation i would have said that's a bad trend but that's a trend everywhere it's not exclusive to the game there's like layoffs versus generative ai is a real fucking marvel's avengers of shitty yeah And the layoffs might be downstream from the generative AI stuff anyway.

For sure.

How much of it is, yeah.

Oh, we're just saying it's gen AI, so we have an excuse to fire you on how much of it is.

No, we really do actually think that gen AI should replace you.

Yeah, totally.

All right.

There you go.

Worst trend.

Generative AI.

We got it.

Hopefully next year it'll be something not as terrible, but, you know, who knows.

Maybe it'll be generative AI again.

Great.

Most difficult.

What's the hardest game you played?

What game got you?

No, what's the hardest game you played this year?

For me, it might be Bird.

Oh, sorry.

It might be what?

Might be what?

Birdcage?

Danny asks, what's the game that got you the hardest the most?

Daryl, Life Extreme, Genius Vacation.

For me, it was made for baby steps.

He is caked the fuck up.

He is.

And he keeps falling in the mud.

Birdcage might be it for me.

That game was fucking hard.

Game's not that hard.

Really?

I'm sorry.

Did you games that are hard, you saying aren't hard, like blueprints?

Like blueprints is fucking hard, but not in a good way.

It's hard in like uh, you just gotta wait until the thing you want shows up, kind of way like jesse, did you beat birdcage i?

Yeah, birdcage is it's.

It's hard if you've never played one of them before.

Okay, maybe it's just hard because it's like a totally unfamiliar, maybe in the way that playing basketball would be hard if you'd never held a bat.

Exactly yeah yeah okay, I don't disagree with you, though.

It is certainly challenging if you don't play, like, vertical shooters, for sure.

I think what our games are hard on here that are.

Maybe the hardest game I played was Kingdom Come Deliverance.

Just because I played it like a.

If you play that game like an Oblivion game like

Sometimes you'll be walking through the woods and there'll be like, a random other person walking through the woods and then some guards like, will stop them and be like hassling them.

And they're basically going to mug them, pretty much, right?

Unless they beat them up if they don't give them their stuff.

And, of course, it's a video game, so you're like, oh, great, I'm the hero.

I'm going to run in and stop this.

And then you get killed because these guys are like fucking armored dudes with big swords, and there's two of them.

So...

But that's just a changing of expectations over how powerful you are rather than the game being.

But what I do like about Kingdom Come Deliverance too, is that I feel like this is probably a friction thing to use a term Jeremy often brings up where Oblivion is a game.

That is like.

You can do it any way you want.

And Kingdom Come is, you can try to do it any way you want. but good luck you know um so i wouldn't i won't put it forward but i just wanted to mention it is monster hunter wilds really difficult frank was that a tricky one it is but that's the trick where you just do sos and you have like other players come in or you play with others because i was looking through it and it's like any game i like i'll find a way to make easy um like even male your solid three remaster was hard and then once i had to remember like how those games worked it became easier so so like, to me, the hardest thing I played was Elden Ring Night Rain, where it was, like, oh, I think this is, like, I have to, like, coordinate with my two friends who are, like, who are, like, legit masters at Souls games to have them carry me, and it was rewarding, but I only did that experience, like, twice, and I was, like, oh, this is, like, too intense for me.

I think I'm, you know, and that's weird to say a cop-out to mention a Souls-like game, but, like, Elden Ring Knight right now, as we talked about, it's not a friend-slop game because, like, oh, you have to coordinate and, like, if you drag to, like, get to the next, like, church health pickup item or, like, it's, like, you're constantly moving.

Um, so it is very tough and you need to have strong communications.

Yeah.

The hardest part of Elden Ring Night Rain might be getting three adults together for more than an hour.

Yeah.

That's the hardest, the greatest challenge of all is coordinating friends to play co-op.

That sounds, it might be that because it is multifaceted.

Night Rain is a good suggestion.

I play.

I've played every Souls game some multiple times.

Uh and uh, It's a challenging fucking game.

And I've heard the DLC is even harder.

I think Night Rain is a perfect choice for this.

I do want to mention White Knuckle here.

I think White Knuckle is tough as fucking nails.

Yeah, that ending man, it's so, it's so hard, even if you know what to do.

It's like impossibly hard and it's and it's like that.

It's that knowledge gated thing too, where it's like if you don't understand what's happening, there's such a narrow margin for failure.

Where it's like where do i go?

And you have to know instantly.

And if you fail, it's like it's fucking over.

You're like 45 minute run just starts over, and it's like the stakes are so high that like when I I there's only two.

This has only happened to me twice ever in my history of playing games.

But uh, two games ever.

White knuckle and um uh uh, Holy shit.

Sekiro.

Uh, When I finished both of them, when I finished the last boss of Sekiro and when I completed a run of White Knuckle, I had to get up and I had to pace around my room because my heart was beating so fast that I was like a little scared.

My palms were pouring sweat and I felt like I was on the verge of a panic attack.

But like in a way that is like memorable and fun.

But like I've only had that experience with Sekiro and with White Knuckle.

Yeah.

You know what other game I've had that experience with, though?

Ark Raiders 3v3s.

Oh, really?

Really? dude that game is all tension yeah all the time in 3v3s yeah but only in that mode or i guess or if you're in pvp bad boy club in in solos or duos or whatever but i'm not i'm in are you oh unfortunately yeah i got in too many fights i was so tired of people being mean to each other and i was trying to save the day and i'm stuck in the fight zone i can't get out i got one for yeah the guy the guy who was saying it's a duel man it's a duel and i killed him but um Yeah, anyway.

Sorry, New York guy I killed who was in a duel.

Yeah, Night Reign.

Feels good.

Night Reign.

Okay.

Night Reign versus White Knuckle.

I just want to weigh in one last time before we move on from it.

Jesse, what do you think?

Because I feel like you're the only one who's played both of them other than me, right?

Yeah.

Um...

I thought Night Rain was a lot harder.

Really?

I liked, I liked the, I just don't, I'm not, you're the expert.

See, this is the thing of like, I thought Birdcage was for babies.

So like, you know, it's the same situation.

I don't play a lot of Souls games, so.

I thought Night Rain with an organized group of three people who play Souls games was very attainable.

It's quite the caveat.

But no, exactly.

So it is hard to compare.

Once I got three people together, me, Chelsea and a friend of hers played Night Rain and it went from like completely impossible to like, you know let's check off like four of these bosses tonight real quick um yeah but it is a fucking hard game i as someone who's played a lot of souls games when i was playing it with randos i was like this is fucking crazy how hard this is it's very demanding and why knuckle is is a game that gets hard i it's it's not a difficult game for a large amount of it i didn't find yeah i yeah i suppose so i think it's it's more that it gets easier over time but it gets it gets easier i don't find the early parts of that game tricky like no they're not too hard but like it just gets easier or at least more manageable the earlier parts but the newer stuff is always so much more difficult that it kind of balances out yeah i the last thing i'll say about white knuckle is um danny did you reach the part with the elevator i can't remember Okay, I feel like, Jesse, you know the elevator, not the elevator shaft, but the elevator itself, the lift you have to activate.

I feel like once you hit that, you sort of realize how difficult this game is.

Yeah, no, I agree.

I think it, but that's what I said.

It gets hard.

I don't, I don't, I didn't find any of my time on my knuckle.

But that's only, like that's 15 minutes into a run, like that is pretty early game, i would say.

Are we saying why knuckles winning it?

Or are we, like we've sort of said our i don't know, i don't know either, two different types of different types of difficulty?

So i was just trying to like explore it a little bit.

I think night rain, just because it's not only hard from the souls like oh, these games are impossible, you want to die uh, souls challenge, but it's also hard because it's multiplayer and you have to coordinate with multiple people, which is like it's hard to find.

That many people imagine you've also never played any of these games before.

Yeah,

Even if you have, but you're not particularly great at them.

I'm happy for Nightwing to take it.

I just wanted to explore the issue a little bit because White Knuckle is a fucking hard game.

Yeah, it's very hard.

Elden Ring Nightwing wins most difficult.

We're up to best racing.

This might not take super long.

Frank had on his list Tokyo Extreme Racer, a game that he enjoyed this year.

Yeah, that one I... Go on.

Oh, sorry. i was gonna say yeah tokyo extreme maester was super cool i played in early access 1.0 came out but i'm waiting for the ps5 version in a few months um so like that's that's also a down the line of like game i wish i played more of but um yeah it's super cool i just didn't i just didn't dive all the way in because i was waiting for further stuff to come out but it is it is 1.0 ready but yeah um my car world also came out this year um i know that's been very popular in this household we've pretty much unlocked everything except one of the stupid characters which we can't get that stupid wizard to hit us with on the right stupid level but yeah I love Mario Kart World I didn't love the open world stuff but the regular races and the what do you call them the knockout races were great fun and also very good online online and offline it's great fun and a good it's a good couch game as well which didn't come up in our couch game conversations I've just realized but too late now Can't revise it.

I think those are probably the two best choices.

I just want to also shout out Blood Thief.

The racing part of it is not quite competitive racing in the traditional sense.

It's a speed run leaderboard game.

You know my problem with those.

Blood Thief is the best one I played this year, without a doubt.

I also played another one called Jet Runner, which I thought was pretty good and like close to neon white.

But blood thief takes the cake.

Man speed running, like quake melee action game.

Should we have a best speed running game in here then, or a best i'm down, but there's nothing.

Yeah, i'm down, let's do that and we'll stick that in there, because that that is a good point.

There has been a bunch of games like this.

Um, there might be every year, but there has been this year.

Yeah um, blood thief, we'll stick in there for now.

Um frank, if you had to pick between tokyo and mk uh, tokyo extreme racer, you go tokyo.

Yeah yeah, of course.

Yeah, are we democrat?

Is this the democracy one as well?

I don't know how.

Do you feel really passionate about tokyo extreme racer?

I love it.

I feel like um, and it's something i planned like when the ps5 version is out, to go nuts on the trophies and stuff, but i like it because it scratches an itch that um, we might get that with the upcoming forza or like japanese game set, but like i've, i've.

That's why i've gone back to like 2004 capcom racing games.

I'm trying to find a good like japanese, like racing game.

And tokyo extreme racer is that like uh, initial d dual, dual car, like you're chasing down highways, which is really cool.

It is like an arcadey type racer, as opposed to like gran turismo 7 sim um, like in terms of how much you enjoy it like, did you enjoy the loads a little, a lot, like a decent amount?

Yeah like like like, i would say like eight out of ten level of enjoy.

Like, not like oh, my god, it's the best game you know.

Like gran turismo 7 for me was like that was perfect.

Yeah, that highway racing too.

But yeah, tokyo extreme is awesome, but again yeah, i just haven't um, tried the 10 release yet.

So that's yeah jeremy, do you have any thoughts on this one?

I don't really play racing games.

Yeah, I don't hate them.

I like them with like, you know, I've played so much Mario Kart with friends and stuff.

They're just not a genre that I dip into much.

Jesse, any feelings?

I really like Mario Kart World.

I did not play Tokyo Extreme Racer, but a buddy of mine did.

And I will take his word because he plays everything racing.

He plays Need for Speed like he played Heat this year for some stupid reason for like 100 hours.

He loved it.

So he was really, really hot on on Tokyo Extreme Racer.

So I will put his vote up.

That's mine okay, would you talk your extreme racer?

I really love my world.

Oh, that is a racing game.

That's true frank thoughts.

Yeah, so it's like like you aren't controlling the actual horses as they were.

That's more like not sim or management like it's like that kind of like more of a gambling game.

Yeah yeah, it's like a life sim game more than a racing game.

Yeah, the life sim is losing all your money on the horse races.

That's life, baby.

I love MK worlds.

I will say the thing I love about Mario cart is the thing I've loved about every new Mario cart.

So it's not, I guess that's racing games too, as well.

What do we think?

Do we think Tokyo racer then?

Yeah.

That feels fair.

Let's be more interesting.

What about Sonic racing?

Frank Sonic, Sonic racing is good, but it's almost too chaotic.

Like it's so like, it's even more insane than Mario cart worlds, which I appreciate it.

But like For me, what I like about racing games is like getting that flow state and like having items in these like party racing games messes that up and incites you with rage.

Whereas like games like Gran Turismo or Tokyo Extreme Racer or even Forza, it really is like.

I think the term in Gran Turismo 7 is like finding the line.

Or I forget what the expression is, but it's like it's just you.

You know, like the the, the party elements of Sonic racing and Mario cart is like disruptive in a way that's not, doesn't add to enjoyment.

Like it's funny as a multiplayer thing, but like Tokyo, extreme racer is like the drip, the joy of like passing cars trying to nail the drift.

And it's like, Oh, it's, it's, it's player versus game versus like player versus player.

Like that kind of activity that I appreciate.

Excellent.

All right.

Best runner game just to, from speed running just in case.

Because that could be anything.

Wait, what's the best runner game?

Blood Thief is one that's in there.

Games where you are, like your game where you are running from one point to another.

That is the point of the game.

Like a leaderboard go fast kind of game?

Yes, exactly.

Yeah.

But that's not speed runner?

Because, like, it's specifically games where you're, like, running on foot.

It doesn't necessarily have to be.

It's just speed running.

I feel... What game is... Best leaderboard game?

Best leaderboard game?

That could be a good way of putting it.

Yeah.

Is there a game in particular Jeremy, that you're having trouble with with that distinction difference?

Yes uh, i white knuckle.

The skill ceiling is so fucking unbelievably high that when you watch someone play it for the first time and watch someone play it for like, if they're really competent, like top 1000 speed runner, top 1000 in the leaderboards It's a completely different video game.

They're going into areas you'd never see.

They're using techniques you'd never see.

They're using tools that you use in ways that are completely you wouldn't even know to use them that way.

It is like everything about it is an expression of speed.

Oh, my God.

I'm watching one right now.

Someone's just flying through this like really fast. terrifying sewer level.

Like, it's not even... They're not even playing the same... Yeah, you're right.

Not even playing the same game.

I don't think I've ever seen a game that has a wider margin of, like, skill expression.

It's like they're just walking up.

It's crazy.

How much in either game is the leaderboards important for, like your, what you're doing in the game like, because like sectory, for instance, is a game that like is almost entirely about the leaderboard.

It's kind of like, you know, but that that's not saying it's a better leaderboard game.

I'm just i'm interested between the two of these because i've not played enough of them.

Um, which game is the one where you're like checking where you are a lot on the leaderboard?

White knuckle, definitely like.

I haven't played blood thief, so jesse will have to weigh in on this, but just to express what white knuckle does when you finish it, similar to um uh, neon white yes, they both have white in the name.

That's a white like.

They uh, they show you where you stack up against your friends uh, where you are sort of like global position on the leaderboard.

It's definitely like a very integrated part of the experience.

So I think my argument for blood thief would be I think blood thief works because of the leaderboard.

Like it reminds me of playing neon white in the same sort of way.

That's a good pull.

Neon white worked because when you saw the leaderboard, your time was somehow 15 20 seconds too slow compared to your opponents.

And that encouraged you to go back into the game and go, how the hell did they shave off 20 seconds?

That felt like the only way to do it.

So playing again in neon white was like Oh, actually there's all these other roots and factors to consider to get a faster time.

Blood thief does the same thing, dashing and flying through it.

There's ways of getting around the world that you wouldn't consider unless you saw that someone else was going so much faster.

Whereas white knuckle, the times are just, you're like, how the hell did they go that fast?

And the answer is tricks, right?

It's, it's not tricks in like level environment exploration.

It's tricks in like, like little, almost feels like glitches.

From what i'm seeing in these speedruns, people just like i can jump off of this handrail and i'm i'm throwing rebar down, i'm rebar jumping, so it's a very different kind of thing.

Yeah, that's an interesting distinction is the sort of um the the, the segmentation of levels, because i would say that neon white is a better speedrun game than white knuckle because it has distinct levels where it's like how can i shave five seconds off of this very discrete portion of the game, whereas white knuckle is like you finish a 45 minute run and you're a thousand places behind someone else.

So yeah, that makes sense to me.

Okay, so what do we?

What do we think is the consensus?

It sounds like blood thief, blood thief.

Okay cool, excellent and notable mention white knuckle, of course.

Again, let's come up a bunch.

Clearly has a lot of love here on the crew and best sports game.

So this can be broad.

You got your rematches, you got your wwe, you got your seance of blake white knuckle, if you're into climbing, not just.

Yeah i, i was gonna say i feel like this came up as we talked about yesterday, but like.

Or for us yesterday, the listeners two days ago, or on the, on our game of the year, like episode one, but like We talked about how despilote captures the community spirit of sports better than anything.

And I feel like it's so like, yeah, I feel like it doesn't have to be despilote.

But to me I'm like, oh my God, like despilote isn't just about the sport of football, but it's about like everyone in your community, like being caught up in this and how important is for to have that like local thing to root for.

And just I don't know like literally just the fact that there's a scene like that.

The TVs are always on playing the sports.

And people are stopping the streets.

People are holding their flag to the TV on the street and cheering and si se puede, si se puede.

I'm like, oh, the fact that that video game captures like sports fandom accurately.

And the act of playing the game as well.

Yes.

You know, like you do kick a ball around.

That's how most you know kids around the world learn about football.

Is they just kick a ball around on their own, you know, hit it against the wall.

You know, and we hadn't like mentioned it yet, but like the opening shot of the game is so where it's like you're playing like a 2d top down soccer game and then it pans out.

And it's like, that's the obsession.

It's like, you play the video game at home, you're in school talking with your friends after school.

You're like, it's like, Oh, it's 24 seven.

It's, it's, it's like, They are referencing a very particular game as well.

I think it's the early Dino Dini game before kickoff, which is also very cool, which anyone who had an Amiga or an Amstrad or a C64 maybe would know all about.

Yeah.

All right.

I was going to mention like Skate Story and Skate and stuff like that.

And they do their own thing.

And Tony Hawk's Pro Skater as well.

But we've talked about them sort of previously.

Desperate feels right to everyone.

I like that for the sports pick.

I just want to ask if there's any like standout traditional sports games, like arcade sports or like this year's F1 game felt.

You know EA Sports FC has felt like pretty incremental.

So is F1.

Obviously, well, they're racing games, I guess.

So that doesn't really count.

Yeah.

Madden.

I don't play the NBA 2K games, so I can't speak to those.

Oh, I will.

NBA 2K.

No, wait.

Last.

Oh, God.

Twenty four, i forgot i played one that had the wmba mode for the first time, but i think that was 2k25, which was 2024, so i'm late on that one, but like those are getting better.

But then yeah, and i've already mentioned rematch, a bunch like if desplote didn't exist i'd be like, oh my god, rematch.

But desplote came out i was like, oh shit okay, this is a song.

I wish i played that more, because rematch is like just feels amazing, the sifu team making a soccer game and of course that's good.

No surprise yeah, i might bring it up in a later um category here too.

Uh okay, that's a lot to win.

The best sports game uh, best music.

How are we feeling about?

Here we go yeah oh, this is the objectivity, subjectivity nightmare.

Yes, this is the most subjective, potentially.

Um, i would like to just list off a couple, if that's okay.

Look outside has one of the craziest soundtrack.

I listen to the look outside soundtrack just as like synth music.

It's fucking, it's so great.

Uh, the opening song in my game of the year video was one of my favorite songs from look outside, which is terminal.

Um, birdcage also crazy soundtrack.

It's completely like, it's the soaring crazy.

Uh, I don't know.

It makes the experience so much more like emotionally elevated.

Um, yeah, those are a couple of that stand out to me.

Jesse.

Yeah.

I mean, all the music in sector is fucking amazing.

Uh, it's like you're in a Swedish nightclub.

It's awesome.

Not that I've ever been, but it's all really, really good.

Um, birdcage, great music.

Love it.

Just same vibe of bash your head in tunes.

But then also it's got some chill stuff in the menus, which is really nice.

Absalom has some really good boss tunes, which I like a lot.

But I think my standout is and I want to get it.

It's a particular song from Expedition 33.

I think Expedition 33 soundtrack is awesome.

It's got like a million different varieties of music.

But there's one like bonus track.

That is so I think you can hear it in the game.

I want to see if I can find it.

So if someone is sticking in the description, if you can.

Yeah, I'm going to.

But like, it's just I think the music and Expedition 33 bangs really hard.

Excellent.

Frank, you got any?

Yeah, the two games I would mention is Luminous Arise, also because like music is part of the gameplay and like it's such a wide spectrum.

And it's yeah, that that game soundtrack is really great.

And then Once Upon a Katamari, because they got a lot of contemporary Japanese artists to collaborate.

Like you get a fusion of like what is hip now in the Japanese pop and like hip hop and electronic space with like the classical Katamari stuff.

So there's a lot of unique collaborations.

They also like put all these new music videos.

And that was a soundtrack I added to my library I really liked.

So yeah, Luminous and Once Upon a Katamari I wanted to nominate.

Hyper Beast, is that a good music?

Oh, that's got great music.

That's a great hit.

I completely forgot to bring that up.

But yeah, Hyper Beats music is really, really good.

Very nice for the vibe of the game.

Maybe what we should do for this one is, instead of saying best music, we just go like 2025's playlist.

Like these are the games that you should.

Yeah, you know, because there's.

There is something particularly annoying about picking a best song because it's so it's the best painting.

You know you're like fucking.

Mileage varies, you know what i mean.

It's like arguing if italian food is better than chinese food right well chinese, because without china, italy wouldn't have gotten tomatoes.

That's true, all right, maybe that was a particularly bad comparison.

Um, I would ask to add if we're doing the playlist thing, I would ask to add Ark Raiders as the soundtrack.

Which song?

What did you say?

Which song?

Name the song.

Yeah, I couldn't tell you.

Name 10 songs.

Does Ark Raiders have music?

Yeah, there's one song that plays.

I think if you're in there for the last like five minutes, when you come back, that actually goes crazy.

You're right, i completely forgot there's.

So that yeah, i mean it has many music.

Obviously it has all that sort of stuff.

It has a lot of um ambient like music that is triggered by what you're doing, sort of, you know, like a like if, if certain um enemies are close and that type of thing, it'll bring in these like sort of it's more beds.

I'd say a lot of those are like tense beds.

I love the music when you return back to Speranza, it has this like warmth.

Um, it's like a little piano, like doom, doom to this level.

And it and it has like a uh sort of a feeling of like Like okay, the craziness happened and now we're here.

We're thinking what are we going to do on the next loadout?

Like I think the music mirrors what you're doing and the sort of um it creates.

I don't know.

It creates a.

It makes the world feel a bit bigger, like in a way that like even hearing the voices in the background of Spranza during that part.

And then, like you said, when you hit five minutes in Ark Raiders, when you hit 10 minutes, you get a shout out like 10 minutes, Raider go.

Five minutes, there's like a rocket that comes down and it makes an explosion and you can hear it.

Obviously, that's not music, but it starts this music.

And the music actually gets kind of intensely loud in the last two minutes.

So if you're like 90 seconds away from an extract and you've like no health and you're just like fucking booking it and the music is like like really like messing with you, it's um, it's pretty great.

So yeah, that would be my one i would put in here.

I don't, i can't remember any.

Was there any music in like manor?

There must've been, but like I feel like it's a little more backgroundy though.

Like it felt, it wasn't like a starring role.

Oh, you know what?

How good music is baby steps.

Oh yeah.

The like, again, ambient.

It was kind of just like, you'd hear animals go like, yeah.

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

I remember it.

It was like all this like weird.

Yeah.

It was, I don't know what you'd call it.

It was like comedy music.

It was like, it almost felt like the world laughing at you.

Yeah.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, it did.

You're right.

Uh, yeah.

Angelina has one of the best soundtracks of the year.

I think Mellos Hontani is one of the most underappreciated composers in video games.

Absolutely.

No question.

Same with Detective Instinct.

Farewell, my beloved.

If you like that era of music like Ace Attorney style stuff I think probably one of the best soundtracks of this year for that particular vibe.

Music you listen to while working from video games.

That's the whole soundtrack, maybe.

What was the one soundtrack that you listen to outside of playing the game?

Yeah, Detective Instinct, 100% after it came out in November.

For me, it was Look Outside.

Look Outside.

I got to listen to that.

Mine was Sectory.

Just look up, Look Outside Terminal after this and listen for like a minute and a half and you'll be like I'm so moved.

Frank, did you throw it in here?

Yeah yeah, once upon a time, a katamari, i added.

I don't know if i bet by now luminous soundtrack is available, but at the time it came out i was like scrambling to find it and then it wasn't.

On the there's always one really good one, you know what i mean?

Yeah like, there's always like, and it's usually the first song they like know what they're doing.

But uh but uh no, it is.

Luminous soundtrack is pretty great, always has been.

Uh okay, that's fun.

That seems like a fun way to do that.

Here is a selection of you know, people will know themselves whether or not it's the genre they're into or not.

Probably, you know.

Or like, test the deck, give it a go, give it a go.

So yeah, our 2025 playlist for video games is Look Outside Birdcage Sectory Exhibition 33 Luminous Arise Luminous Arise and Look Outside kind of sound the same.

Once Upon a Katamari, Hyper Beat, Art Creators, Baby Steps, Angelina Era, Detective Instinct, Farewell, My Beloved. okay frank how do you ready yeah it's time for the best game pass game so this one for me like it feels like the like i will like running up like ball pit was an awesome one because i was about to buy it i like the the hype and everything was buzzing and ball pit itself was only like 15 bucks but ended up being on game pass i played a lot of that but like the the best example um is rematch because that's a game i would have not spent 30 on it's a football game i don't care But the fact that it was free, I had someone recommend it.

I was like, sure, let's try this out.

And then it was like, oh, this game's incredible.

And then I was able to convince another friend to sign up for Game Pass for the 1 fake email trick and then play with them for a while.

The fact that it was also on Game Pass meant you just got so many new people flooding in.

I think that was also what made Rematch really fun, that initial launch period.

I think because it was a Game Pass game.

You know a lot of people just trying out this random football game.

And so, like, that's why all the lobby interactions were so funny and, like, just ridiculous.

And like it was such a crazy I don't know it's weird to say a crazy time but like yeah, I thought that was like the best example.

And that's also like how Rocket League boomed back I don't know however many years 10 years ago with PlayStation 5 launching on playstation plus.

And yeah, that's why i really want rematch to like also get on playstation plus so more people can play it.

Um, but yeah, rematch was a super good value ball pit being on there.

But uh, i can also double check was i think doom the dark ages was technically a game?

It was yeah, so it was.

There's a couple of other big hitters.

Silk song was expedition 33.

Ninja gaiden 4 avowed uh, prince of persia, the lost crown.

Um, I'm trying to think.

Outer Worlds 2 was, I believe.

Citizen Sleeper 2, I think, was as well.

Yeah, it was.

I'm just going through a Reddit post here.

Yeah, Doom of the Dark Rages.

And then Rogue.

Is that what it's called?

The Prince of Persia game?

What's that one called?

Oh, yeah.

Oh, Rogue Prince of Persia?

Rogue.

I didn't know that was on Game Pass.

Cool.

Apparently. yeah but i but i hear what you're saying you make a case that in particular rematch was a beneficiary of this and i also think you're right in that i bet rematch's success eventually probably came from that that people were playing it and talking about it so i don't know like i don't anyone else have a strong i feel like this is frank's category a little bit so yeah let him have it i will also mention the other big surprise was ninja guide in two black launched on game pass that's a game that is fully worth the 40 or 60 like that game is so good that was one that was like oh this is free let me download it oh and then i beat the whole game in like a week so ninja got into black but yeah rematch is the one where i wouldn't have bought it on my own um i didn't click with expedition 33 but i appreciate that that was a game pass game too but yeah that's a great ad that's a great um answer and an unexpected one i wasn't expecting you to go that direction at all but yeah it feels like it's within the feels like a honors the the sort of heart of the category i think so that's that's pretty cool um best podcast game which i think jesse suggested this one um this is a very fun and interesting category because it really there are so many games i've played it would be terrible podcast games dispatch our creators you know games we're listening is somewhat important to do sectory you know just like games where you want to be in there doing the thing hades too what what what stands out to you guys what type of um games did you enjoy while on the toilet this year some my two like podcast games were battlefield six because i would listen to like jeff gerson's podcast and just shoot shit for two hours and like not like part like like again it's the thing where it's like i'm not invested in the outcome i just want to get like my achievements and challenges and it feels good to shoot and run around and i'm also not playing that game with friends and then i i think ball pit also once like once i understood this ball pit was a perfect podcast game where i play enough and then an episode would end that's a that's a magical effect of podcast games whereas like once your thing is over like i don't want to fucking play this anymore yeah as soon as you're done you're like fuck that yeah yeah yeah yeah it's like shame i don't want to say any particular action that this might be similar to but once you're done you're like yeah yeah you're like why was i watching that realization yeah yeah why was i playing clarity yeah yeah yeah post-podcast clarity that's the phrase i was looking for uh that's great um i try to think i have a second ago i think skate slash tony hawk for me oh yeah yeah we're we're kind of that too um although i think tony hawk what i did more was turn on my own music and turn the music down on theirs um after a while after i played it for a while but i wouldn't necessarily put those ahead of of ball pit ball pit was another one i think that when i play more of it will be a podcast game you know like balatra was and whatnot Uh, I think night rain was a really good, like listening to streams game for me because there's no proxy voice chat.

So when I was playing it with randos, there's there, you can't even talk to them if you want to.

Oh really?

Okay.

There's no in-game voice chat at all.

It's all just like pinging and very basic souls emotes.

Um, it's definitely.

If you were to ask me like, is night rain more of a podcast game than ball pit, i would say no, i think one.

The podcast game has a certain implication to it.

Um, but for me, like white knuckle and night rain are the two games that i because there is no sort of like auditory information that i needed.

It was fun to just have like so zoned into the game and have background noise.

But um, i don't know if that fits podcast game, it's just what i listened to stuff while i played frank.

Which one of these would you go for?

Battlefield six or pop, i played a bit about physics but i didn't listen to podcast during it.

Yeah, it's like it's weird to say battlefield six really was that i listened to so many like interviews and things like that.

I think audiobooks uh yeah, i don't know about battlefield six.

It's the same thing.

Like when call of duty is good it's, you get into that flow state of just like oh, it's feel it's good to do a few rounds.

And yeah, battlefield six was like that.

Yeah, perfect.

Uh yeah, for like the whole fall winter season, like that was.

That was like my routine is.

I would um, usually like i feel like wednesday during the day, like because we usually record on tuesday, so wednesday during the day i would wake up in the morning, i would see the challenges on battlefield six, i listen to jeff gerson's podcast and then, like after an hour or two, like okay cool, i'm done, and that was like my morning or weekly routine for a while.

Um, and yeah, now i'm.

Now i feel like i'm just catching up other stuff, so i'm actually driving to round one.

Is my podcast team To play DDR?

Yeah,

Amazing.

I don't know.

It's weird to say Battlefield 6, but Ball Pit's good too.

Which would you pick over?

I would pick Battlefield 6.

Ball Pit requires more thought because you have to plan your base building.

That's the funniest thing you've ever said.

Ball pit requires more thought than battlefields.

Battlefields, you have to move.

It's a camera.

I've been playing, whatever, first version for like 30 years.

So I'm like, dude, that's why I like playing these games because I can crush.

That's why the first month of a new Call of Duty or Battlefield are so fun.

It's just boom, boom, boom, boom.

It's so easy.

It's just so funny.

They added a character.

Not added.

It was always there.

A character in ball pit that just plays the game for you at a certain point.

It literally just does it.

That's so funny.

Do you have any doggedness on Jesse?

I don't disagree on Frank's pick.

If he's confident on Battlefield 6, that's cool.

My pick would be Kai's in a factory story because it's a bit like playing.

Oh, yeah.

It's like doing your homework for six hours.

You got to do something else while you're doing your homework.

I forgot about that game.

I love that game so much.

All right.

Best podcast game, Battlefield 6.

There we go.

That's such a funny pick.

I love it.

It is very funny.

I love it so much.

Okay.

Game that will age the best.

This is going to be tough.

This is going to be.

Actually, you know what?

Let's take a quick break.

We've got a couple more left.

We've got games that will age the best.

Games that will age the worst.

Best title.

Single player game that you would make for a great multiplayer experience.

Multiplayer game that would make for a great single player experience.

And the game we wish we played more of.

We'll be back in just a second with those.

And welcome back, folks.

We're happy to have you back, and we're happy to talk about more video games.

I've changed the order a little bit.

We're going to go for Best Title.

All right.

The game with the best title.

Let's go around the wheel here, and we'll see.

Everyone pick one.

Jeremy, you go first on this one.

What you got?

I just want to disclaim this a little bit.

When I came up with Best Title as a category, my intention is completely removed from your preconception of the game, from your knowledge of the game.

Just as a phrase, as words, i think okay, what we're doing here right, i like okay yeah uh, i know, i know what mine is.

Then, do you know yours?

I don't know mine.

I think the seance of blake manor is very evocative.

Um, let's go around and i'll, i'll reconsider.

Okay jesse, you're next.

Okay, i've got, I've got two here.

All right.

Okay.

Just do one.

I've got two.

Okay.

All right.

I'll do the one.

We're going to go around.

All right.

I'll do the funny one.

Brazilian drug dealer three.

I opened a portal to hell in the favela trying to revive me.

I don't know.

Apologies.

I don't fucking know how to say that.

I need to close it is the title of the game.

Yeah.

And it's all in caps, I believe as well.

Yeah.

All caps.

Yeah.

So yeah, that's fair.

That's a strong, that's a strong, contender um i'm gonna go for one that i think at the time i mentioned was just the most deranged and beautiful title of all time like a dragon pirates yakuza in hawaii it's hard to argue with that shit that is as much as i like brazilian drug dealer 3 but it is is attempting to make a funny title yeah whereas i don't think anyone who named like a dragon pirates yakuza in hawaii actually did i don't think that was top of mind i don't think that was localized i think they just translated it yeah it's definitely like japanese to english like all right and like studio rgg west or like sake of america like they know no no that's good yeah that's good don't perfect like it's perfect like they know exactly yeah yeah how they're marketing it frank you're up yeah so like yeah like a dragon pirates of yakuza hawaii would be mine but i also like just love the idea like uh beatmania idx 33 sparkle shower like that's really the name of the game and uh yeah i again like i i now that i've like i've gotten to a really good crest with ddr it's like i'm getting so much more into beatmania um that i've i love it and if you see the marquee too it's like I could drop a screenshot in a bit, but yeah, it's awesome.

What does the IIDX stand for?

That's a good question.

Hold on, let me see.

I think it's, hold on.

I have to look it up on Wikipedia.

International Integrated Dance X.

Two decks oh, two decks.

So there's a two turn turn table.

I didn't know that.

Beatmania, two decks okay, two turntable decks on the thing.

So beatmania, two decks, 33.

I love that.

That's so bad, that's even better.

Yeah, it's terrible, i love it.

Beatmania, two decks, 33.

Sparkle shower.

But i have to show you guys the mark, the marquee girls.

Uh, there's like non-chibi, or i mean here's like a poster for it.

So you get an example.

Oh wait, that's a good one.

Sorry sorry uh jeremy, what about you anymore?

Uh yeah, we just we're going around doing one at a time until we exhaust.

All right, i think angeline era it's, it's an era of angels upon the earth.

I think that is very evocative.

Yeah, that is.

That's funny how i never picked up on that, even though it makes complete sense now that you say it.

Um, I see yeah, Jeremy's going for the more sort of evocative title rather than the meme title that some of us have gone around on.

Jesse, what about you?

What was your second or has it been picked?

My second was Shotgun Cop Man.

Oh.

Ah, that is a good one.

It's a really good title because you know it's a game about a cop who is a man and has a shotgun.

But it's about a cop who goes to hell because he's going to arrest the devil.

Oh.

Yeah, and it's like a 2d platform action shooter.

It feels amazing.

It's from the my friend pedro developer.

It's, it's really, it's very funny.

It's probably the funniest game i played this year uh, and it plays fantastic.

It feels amazing.

Okay, i'm gonna.

I'm gonna add this.

I think you'd really like this.

Yeah, it looks fun.

Play it on mouse, don't play it on control.

Shotgun cop man, dear lord another translated like european movie title kind of thing, you know, starring john claude van damme.

There's a bunch of really good ones here that just have like I don't know, that are evocative and things.

Should we do worst name as well?

We should do worst name.

Yeah, we should.

I feel like some of the ones we've suggested might fit this category.

I don't know if I have another one.

I think I feel I felt in the moment so delighted that with, like a dragon pirates in Hawaii that I don't think I have another.

Does anyone, Frank will complete the wheel first and then we'll do open season.

Frank, is there another one for you?

No, I mean yeah, like like a dragon.

I think is is the best one, because when, like a dragon pirates in Hawaii got announced, I thought it was like, is this like an April Fool's joke?

Like what?

But no, that's the full on thing.

And it's like it's so ridiculous.

Also like again, Yakuza.

Changing their like franchise name to formally, to officially, be like a dragon makes it even more confusing.

Yeah, it's also a more weird name yeah, and then they just put yakuza back in the title for this one anyway, like what the fuck are they doing?

We just spent all that time trying to make sure people maybe that maybe people didn't.

Maybe that's why they put it back in, because they're like shit.

Maybe i'm gonna remind people it's a yakuza game, it's got magic man, all right, so let's uh okay, open season.

Who's got some more?

I got one more.

I feel like this is quickly becoming the funniest title category.

Yes, it is a little bit.

Which I feel like is a little unfair to some of these that have more legitimate titles.

I wonder if we should separate or... Yeah, maybe a most evocative title or something.

Yeah, it feels like maybe there should be a separate category, because Consume Me, I think, is one of the best game titles I've ever heard in my life.

And I think it's too pitted against, Like a Dragon Yakuza Pirates in Hawaii vacation.

The third is evocative correct maybe yeah, something in particular.

Yeah sure, it's like best art technical, best art artistic.

You know, it's a bit okay, consume me, and then in that we'd probably have the seance of lake manor and then also we'd probably have um, what was the other one you mentioned, angelina?

Oh yeah, angelina as well.

Formless star also is like a beautiful yeah, that's like cellar door.

I was about to say it's like it feels really good formless, feels very beautiful, to say um okay sure okay, you know what we'll do, we'll go best title evocative, best title worse, but no, he shouldn't do that stupid.

Um okay okay, I mean, consume me feels pretty good in that one.

Consume me is so good because it's like it's it's thematic.

It's like weird.

It's evocative.

It works on multiple levels.

It talks about the like eating disorder stuff, but also the like overworking type A personality stuff.

It's like it hits so many fucking things at the same time.

It's great.

It has some of that mouthfeel.

Consume is a very like nice way to say. true does that feel like asking you to consume the game like consume me consume me consume my content consume me formless star yeah i don't know it's it's fucking tough consume me i feel like hits hits thematically harder than formless star i think formless star has better aesthetic like literary value to it yeah phonetic value but consume me just it's crazy how do you feel about the other best title about a best about best time not i'm not evocative in any way but best uh for that i also like blueprints because it is a pun on the content of the game being about making a house's blueprint that is that evocative though or is it a lot no i'm saying for best title not for evocative best no but i i think it's more evocative oh okay sure yeah i wouldn't put over consume me but no either um also like many nights a whisper i didn't play that game but i really like that as a title that is pretty good Is it K-N-I-G-T-S?

No.

It's Knights.

Do we have our winner here already, do we think?

Does it feel like it's Brazilian drug dealer 3-0 from the portal to hell in the favela, trying to revive me, and I need to close it?

I think it's probably Pirate Yakuza.

I think it's like a Dragon Pirates Yakuza in Hawaii.

Every time I hear that title, it makes me think of Hard Ticket to Hawaii, that terrible movie.

It's a hard ticket to Hawaii.

I don't know that one.

Oh man.

That's one of the worst movies of all time.

You gotta watch that.

I think this could be bomb.

Most bombastic title could be a positive way of spinning this.

Cause I think like a dragon pirate.

Yeah.

Cause then Hawaii is like a good title.

It's just a different type of good.

Yeah.

I would like it having, well, best and worst are a bucket of title.

Best title.

Most title.

Yeah, favorite title.

Yeah, maybe that's good.

It's like a different muscle in our brain.

And then worst title, and then worst title, worst title game.

I mean it's clear, obscure expedition 33, probably.

That name sucks.

No, there's worse.

There's worse names.

I guarantee you nintendo, switch to welcome tour.

That's a really bad name, guys.

Come on.

Expedition 33 sucks, but like in the way that things suck sometimes.

I wouldn't say Welcome Tour if it wasn't for the fact that it is a boxed product.

Make sure you put the two in there, by the way, or Nintendo's going to shoot you.

It's Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour.

Yeah.

That's pretty fucking bad.

Thank you.

Sorry, Nintendo.

Working title they just forgot to get around to changing.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's just like productivity software.

Yeah.

I know what they were trying to do with it, but I think Adam Fall is an incredibly forgettable name.

Yeah, it's pretty forgettable.

I'm not mad about it.

He is coming.

It's a fine title, but it's just so.

I don't know he's coming.

I got one for you brother, i got one for you.

I feel like it's like peak oh, peak is.

I think peak is worst title.

There you go because because it is a built-in fucking zoomer joke it's oh, it's peak.

Well, this game is peak.

It's like you're free writing the joke for all the content creators so that every content creator has their title and thumbnail where they're like oh my god, this game is peak.

I actually, i never even, i never even, oh god, i never are you.

Do you think they did that intentionally?

100 000, i would bet my life savings on it.

I would cut a finger off.

If if if, we could bet on this, that's amazing.

Went over my head.

Um kingdom come deliverance 2.

Another come title.

Anything with come in it is just an instinct winner.

I think Kingdom Come Deliverance is a really shockingly bad name for that first game.

It does suck.

It's so bad.

It's such a... Don't... And maybe this is why I don't like Claire Obscure...

Expedition 33.

Subtitle colon.

Don't put a fucking colon and subtitle in your first IP game.

Don't do it.

The reason Kingdom Come, Deliverance 2 is worse is because it has a subtitle but chose to number it.

Shouldn't it be kingdom come, something else for the sequel?

I agree true expeditions clear, obscure expedition 33 2 would drive me insane.

I would burn france to the ground.

Final fantasy 7 remake 13 2 right, they did that.

It drives me crazy.

Just call it something else.

Yeah, 10 2, it's shocking.

It's shot.

There should be a law about putting a colon for movies too.

I just don't understand why people do.

It's instantly makes it feel like you have not figured out the name of this thing, and you're just.

Why do they call it wicked colon for good, as the sequel to wicked?

Yeah.

Well, is it a sequel or is it the second half of sequel?

Yeah.

Just call it wicked part two.

Everybody else does that.

It's fine.

We know it's the second part.

100%.

You can wreck on the original.

They did.

It's doing part one now, you know, you can, ah, All right, what's the worst one there?

Clear, Obscure.

Expedition 33.

Nintendo Switch 2.

Welcome to Our Peak.

He Is Coming, or Kingdom Come.

Deliverance 2.

Oh, brother.

For me it's either Peak or He Is Coming.

I think both of those are bad because you by default they're funny and like, not in a fun way yeah, i think okay.

Here's the thing is, i i can't decide.

I can't decide if i hate peak more for trying to do a joke or i hate he is coming more for not knowing that it was a joke.

They had to have known.

I refuse, in the same way that you refuse to believe that peak couldn't have possibly been anything other than a zoom or meme reference.

I refuse to believe they called it he is coming and no one at any point was like hey, that sounds a little euphemistic, doesn't it?

Here's the thing.

Here's the thing peak, i can, i can.

I can swallow the idea.

I'm not even talking about that one.

I can swallow the idea that the peak people knew that they were referencing that because they're trying to make a game that is, you know, popular with young kids and yada yada, yada and all this sort of stuff.

He's coming is such a self-serious, like artistic idea of a game that i don't.

I don't think it would cross their mind as much.

I think peak is worse because it's try hard.

I think it's trying so hard to be funny and memeable and viral and like – it's like – it stinks of marketing and that is the greatest crime in art is if your name was like – if your name of your movie is like Come See Our Movie, then fuck you.

I don't – I guess I just never –

I think if you divorce it from that, it's actually a really good name.

It's a good title.

If people didn't say everything was peak, especially as like a piece of like, a colloquialism that is so popular around the time of release of this game.

It's a great title.

But I think pairing it with the intention to... It's like calling a game fucking 6-7.

But maybe is this yes, i don't know.

No, because it's well it is if the game was about the number six and seven, like this is a game about climbing mountains and the ultimate destination of this thing is is the peak.

So it's not like divorced from it, it's not like steal this album or something.

You know what i mean.

No, i can just picture and i say this with love because i think the game is very well made.

I think all the people who made it are very talented.

But i can just picture all of these talented people sitting around coming up with the title and being so satisfied when they came up with peak and, And it makes me hate them.

It reminds me of when we came well when, when I don't know?

Eventually we came up with no clip too.

And we were kind of like, you know, we had to almost justify it to an extent.

Like, yeah, it works because it's like MTV too.

And like this, I bet they said peak is like a bit.

And then one day they were like, wait, like peak, like kids, like they say it's peak.

And they were like, yeah, dude.

And then they were like, yeah, put it out there.

It's also, it's also self congratulatory.

Well, they were right, unfortunately.

What does that mean?

If you think that that's why they named it that, then yeah, it is.

They 100% did.

There is no world in which they did not.

Somebody else named a game, He Is Coming.

But that's not like a piece of lexicon that everyone is saying.

They could have named this game four years ago when they started working on it.

But they didn't make it four years ago.

We know they didn't.

The production timeline of this game is very public.

All right.

I worry just because this is like so much of what we do on Noclip is about like dissuading assumptions people have.

All right.

I'm worried we're over prescribing that.

You may be right.

Somebody should have asked them about this, surely.

I, yeah, I don't know how to find that right now in a short order.

I want to reiterate that I really admire the people who made this game.

I think they're great developers.

I like other games they've made.

I think that they're talented.

I think this game is incredibly well designed.

The title just irks me so much.

Yeah.

Frank, how do you feel about it?

My gut is still Claire Obscura 33, because the whole year I kept calling it Claire Expo 33.

I generally did not know what the name of it was.

Claire Obscura, and I kept calling it Claire Obscura.

I always got the name right, and I don't know why I was so antagonistic.

Well, I know why I was antagonistic about this game.

How do you feel about Peak in particular first?

It's kind of a cute title, which I don't hate it for it, but I'm like, okay, it's harmless.

I'm not offended by it, it's um, it's just like it's a meme name and i i don't.

This may just be a particular thing that i hate, so i'll admit that i shouldn't have brought it up, but i was.

I just remembered how much you didn't like the title that i was like i gotta.

It's the time for the content.

Baby, who i feel like i heard more about.

Like the game peak before, ever before.

Like peak became the vernacular that everyone was using and then people were saying oh, peak is so peak.

But like I feel, like I wasn't tired of the phrase peak six.

But whatever peak came out, I feel like now, in 2026, we are so sick of peak and there's a million Gen Z terms of hate, but like i feel like it's less, it's more offensive now than when it first came out.

You know what i mean.

Jesse is the youngest person on this team and i must default to him on the vernacular of the younger generation.

I heard peak for years before i was so because when we, when we did the quick look, i told jesse in the video you can go and watch it.

I refuse to do the joke they wrote for us of the tired meme of saying this is peak and i'm 35.

It's it.

The game is pretty good.

You can tell how old I am because like, while my house has been invaded by the 6-7 world because of my daughter, she's like of the age yeah.

When we were in Paris, she was doing Seaset.

Oh, that's so good.

Yeah, she was getting us with it.

Genius, i hit her um uh but uh, but for whatever reason.

Like i could, i could.

Yeah exactly, it's all my doing doing um, i could definitely transpose it.

Another meme that i hate that if it was in a title i would go fucking crazy for.

So Yeah, what if this was like troll face the game and it came out in like 2006 or whatever?

But I think Danny made a point earlier that like saying that something is like the peak of quality was like a thing that we did before.

We sort of just shrunk that phrase down to the word.

I mean, I don't think it's I don't think it's necessarily.

I think his name because of the mountain.

Like, yeah, but also I guess.

Yeah, it's a double.

I can definitely admit that it must be a double entendre.

Yeah, it has to be.

Whereas he is coming.

He's coming is so funny.

I like he is coming.

I've come around on it.

I think i will get down on uh.

What frank is saying, though clear obscure expedition 33 is a terrible.

I don't know why they called it that clear obscure.

I've never called it that.

I've always called it expedition 33, clear obscures.

That's unnecessary yeah yeah, all right, i i will cede to claire obscure expedition 33, because it's a goddamn mouthful like.

Even they know it's bad.

Go to the steam page.

Look at any key art for the game where the logo is present.

Claire obscure might as well not even be there.

What does claire obscure mean?

Uh, that's a great question.

What does camera obscure mean, i wonder?

Camera obscure is like a yeah well, we know what it is but like obscure, i mean.

I'm sure obscure just means obscure right, but what does claire Like?

To obscure something?

It's almost like Tom Clancy's Expedition 33.

I wonder if there is a like business reason why they do this.

I wonder if establishing, if they're going to put all this money into an IP, if them like the elder scrolls, oblivion if they, if they create the umbrella universe and call that clear, obscure and then expedition 33 is in this like line of third person, you know what i mean like it allows them to.

I wonder if it's down to that or something, go whatever direction they want on the naming.

Yeah, clair obscure is the french term for chiaroscuro, which is an art term meaning strong contrast between dark and light.

I think that takes it, because that is the most pretentious bullshit i've ever heard in my life.

OK, OK.

We had some good ones in here for the game.

It makes it does make sense, though.

It probably is very thematically relevant.

It's really, really.

Oh, man.

Damn it.

All right.

No, it doesn't matter.

Here's the thought.

I'm maybe this is last podcasting and I'm feeling generous about it.

Some of these are like like like the music one where I did.

You can have multiples.

You know what I mean?

It's just a hit list of titles we hate.

And we already have Konsumi and, Like a Dragon Pirate, Yakuza and Hawaii, basically occupying a very similar award.

So we could combine the two of those and then just have a bunch of worse titles.

Or does that feel against the spirit of Game of the Year?

Yeah, let's just give it to Clarex33.

Okay.

Yeah, it's a bad title.

I'm cool either way.

Whether or not I think it works, it's a bad title.

Honorable mentions to peak and he is coming.

He Is Coming is his best title, actually.

I've come around.

He Is Coming.

It's so funny because the more I think about it away from the game, it is insane that they called the game He Is Coming.

It's like I don't know.

It's like to me it rings the same as I told the story on the podcast before.

But the German exchange student who was at my high school and one day we were all sitting around on a hot summer day and he was like why are we not eating ice cream?

And i was like that's the craziest thing i've ever heard anyone say out of the blue is why are we not eating ice cream?

Like it's just fucking.

Someone should be saying that at all times.

That's a great turn of phrase.

I love it.

Okay, we have uh five left for.

The next one is game that will age the best.

What game here do we think is going to be?

I guess age the best implies thought of the best rather than be the best.

Cause we have a couple of live games on here that I'm sure will be better but, like I guess this is more sort of what you know, which game will be a cult classic or a thing that we respect in years to come, even more so than we do now.

That's a really good question.

Yeah.

Like looking back fondly upon it or thinking about it as like important or influential.

Yeah.

Yes. or, or tragically uninfluential.

Yeah.

Underappreciated for sure.

Um, Frank, how do you feel about Silent Hill F?

Do you think that's getting enough flowers now?

Or do you think people are going to come back on it in a couple of years and be like this was so much better than we thought?

No, I feel.

I feel like at the time everyone, all of my friends, were like like J whore, like everyone in that space.

I feel like everyone was like, yeah, I feel like everyone read the game like pretty similarly.

Like, okay.

Like yeah, i don't think i.

I think, if anything, i think people will later come down like i wasn't that great, like i think, i think i think reception will cool on it um, but um, how do we feel about?

Um, maybe baby steps or dispatch?

Dispatch will unfortunately age the worst we'll get there in a second um, there's stuff in that that people are going to go back and be like why did we like superhero stuff that much?

Um, But I think baby steps, I could see aging pretty well.

I think once people come around to what it is and like don't think it's just going to be quap in 3D, I think they'd see a lot of the qualities you found in it.

I could see that being one for sure.

Let's stick it in, because we're struggling a little bit here, if nothing else oh, it's just hard to.

I don't want to, you know, you don't want to be the guy who says this is gonna people are gonna love this in the future and it's like no, it's actually dog shit idiot, get over it.

Like marty mcfly up on the stage playing, i thought you were gonna say marty supreme and break my heart for a second.

No no, my thought was just to mention kingdom.

Come deliverance too, because it's the way you guys talk about makes me want to play it.

So it's like i'm down to check that out at some point.

It seems like it's so big and ambitious and like i feel like yeah again, just because there's so many games are so long, that i feel like, As that game, just as people try it, I feel like more people will discover it and be like oh, this is really cool.

Like, yeah, because again, I want to play this now.

And so, yeah.

How do we feel about Silk Song?

I don't think it'll age better.

It's already kind of overrated.

I think it's overrated.

Yeah, it's really good.

I don't think it'll age poorly either.

I don't think people will look back and reevaluate how good it was.

I think that people really like it, but i think a huge part of that is uh, is that people really just wanted more hollow knight?

Yeah, when i say overrated, i don't mean that i think it's it's bad.

I just think that it's like people like it a little too much maybe, like settle it down a little bit.

It's funny.

I think i'm surrounded by people who have the opposite opinion.

So I was wondering if it was another, well, it's like guys like you.

And, like I don't actually know that, many of my friends or people in my personal life who played silk song.

I don't know.

Like when I went to Australia and I was hanging out there I met a bunch of like indie dev people and they were all into silk.

So like, but for whatever reason, none of my indie friend playing friends are.

It's like mary k should be the only one, you know what i mean, but like she's not, i don't see her anymore.

So like, i also really liked it.

I think i was the only person on the pod when we talked about it initially.

That was like really positive on it.

Um yeah, i really like it, but you still think it's sort of like the reception currently is overrated.

Okay yeah yeah, i don't think it's bad or anything.

It just didn't click for me and it to me.

Hollow knight even though i love hollow knight, it feels like hollow knight is sort of the like the normie indie game.

It's the indie game that, like people who don't play indie games are like that's my favorite indie game.

Um, and it feels like silksong was like people waiting for waiting seven years for permission to play another indie game.

That's a good point.

I'm being a little facetious in saying that.

I'm just i'm being a little silly but also a little serious.

I wonder if um, i'm trying to think of games that maybe didn't have great receptions but will grow.

I wonder a little bit about Hades too, just because I think it falls into a trap of it had another early access period, which this time felt more like I think people were playing the, the finished game in their heads more this time around.

Um, and I think that game offers a lot.

I mean, they also changed the ending, which was crazy.

Like they, they patched the ending based on player feedback.

Oh, wow.

I didn't know that.

Yeah.

Like, like the sort of the, an element of the resolving of the main story, was changed like um, because people thought it was not in line with milena way's sort of arc, which is a really, i mean, we'll talk to greg about it on the in the documentary when we do it, but like um, that was pretty, pretty nuts.

So i don't know, i don't know, i don't know, have i played the most hades two of everyone here?

Uh probably yeah yeah, it's good stuff.

It's a very different thing, but it's uh, Or a somewhat different thing, but it's good stuff.

I think something interesting about Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 is I think when Elder Scrolls 6 comes out, it will be a very telling moment because I think that Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 is a game that I think we will not understand the cultural role and impact of it until there is something to contrast it against.

Yeah, that's a really good point.

Yeah, there's going to be a million articles that are like the best first person RPG is already out and it's called Kingdom Come Deliverance.

Deliverance, yeah.

Yeah, or maybe Elder Scrolls 6 will blow everyone away and it'll be like wow, this is the bombastic, over-the-top fantasy that we were missing in things like Kingdom Come, Deliverance 2.

Yeah.

Does it feel like Kingdom Come?

I could buy that argument.

Yeah, I could see.

Like that it'll age better in the future?

Yeah, kind of like Mass Effect, that in the future people will be like man.

They should just make another Mass Effect.

You know what I mean?

Like there's all these other third-person action role-playing games coming out and people are just like just make mass effect 2 again.

Man, you know, like that was true.

I, yeah.

The last thing i'll say about kingdom come deliverance 2 is that i think it um, it commits to a particular like pretty hardcore pc game approach and like design philosophy uh, and i think that that is something that i i think more people will warm to.

I think you're seeing a lot of like sandbox rpgs and hardcore games and frictional games become more of a mass appeal thing as people realize that a lot of things that we have, we've like quality of life, a lot of the enjoyment out of video games by trying to make them more accessible, and i think people who that quality of life was intended to please are now hungry for something a little more challenging.

Okay, yeah.

I'll add another reason why it should be in here.

It'll be like the crisis effect where in five years' time, with all of PCs, they'll be able to run this thing looking great.

Which we, you know, because it's like the top, the ceiling on the specs on this thing.

Oh, the ceiling.

No, the performance isn't bad, but it's just that, like you can, this is a sicko PC game from Eastern Europe.

You can fucking, you can go nuts with this thing if you want.

I haven't even checked where my settings defaulted to.

It looks great, right?

It looks amazing.

It is one of the best just like walking through the woods games I've ever played, ever played.

Yeah, maybe best trees of all time it's.

It's, by the way, your time scale of five years.

I would add maybe 10 more years onto that for people being able to afford to buy a four graphic.

Sorry, good point.

Yeah, you're right, i agree with very good point Okay.

Game that will age... The game that will age the best is Kingdom Come Deliverance 2.

Games that will age the worst.

What's the game here?

I want to re-nominate Dispatch then, I guess.

Yeah.

Because I do think you're right.

There's a certain... The colloquialism is probably in the script and the focus on superhero stuff.

I wonder if... Don't they say pwned at one point?

Maybe.

No, I think I'm thinking of something else.

I mean, that's...

But it's on that wavelength where they say stuff like that.

Someone in Fallout said pwned?

No, somebody did say pwned in something.

Somebody in something recently said pwned.

Recently.

I saw it like yesterday.

I saw somebody say pwned in something.

FPS Doug is making a comeback.

Boom, headshot.

We should interview that guy.

What's he up to?

We should.

In Canada, probably working away on his thing.

Yeah, I really feel like it's this patch like and no disrespect to dispatch again i really like it, story's great, but man superheroes, pro cop to an extent like i could see that being a problem in the point that's a good point like there's a lot of stuff in there where you're like i i haven't played it but i've watched a decent amount of it just to be familiar with it, so i understood what it was and i also think the humor is very like cringy millennial humor of an era big, big office vibes to it for sure.

Yeah yeah, the office is actually a really good comparison because that is a show that, like a lot of people held on to as a comfort show and if you go and re-watch it it's like oh my god dude, what the fuck were we thinking?

It's because i like it.

Yeah, apologies to Dispatch because I think we all, I like the story in it and, for whatever reason, it's like the peak thing.

For whatever reason, I become numb maybe, to this stuff, and the dialogue in Dispatch didn't irk me and stuff like that has irked me in the past, so i i'm gonna try to be more aware of it as i finish the game.

Um, but i found myself laughing at it like i still liked it, but i can just acknowledge that i just it's not very good.

I think culturally it's just going to age.

Yeah because yeah, because of its focus and because of the script being of an era or of a type yeah yeah, so apologies, we did really like that game but um, i think, i think it's going to And like a game that would age, as the worst would be like this year's Madden, because none of the players are on the right team.

You know what I mean?

The other thing about aging.

The worst is also that just Dispatch is trying to be a little like cheeky and comedic in times.

And I think comedy inherently ages the worst of anything.

So part of this is not their fault at all.

It is just that like, you know, I mean, comedy that ages well is very, very rare.

Mm.

Hmm yeah, i can't.

Is there any other one that feels i just wanted to nominate?

Uh like again, i kind of like skate.

Is this weird in between?

But like there's no way that game servers are up six months from now.

That's a good point that it might be gone.

Game that will age the worst, the game that they tempted us for four years on, that the memes all wanted and you can't play anymore.

Yeah, that might be the winner.

What do you think?

I like Skate, so I don't want to give it this, but that's why I'm like yeah, I have no.

What's aging worse than unavailable?

Ask Anthem.

Didn't they turn that off this week?

Yeah, literally this week.

You can no longer play that game.

I think my thing with skate is, when I think of something aging poorly, I don't think of it not being available necessarily.

Like I feel like skate kind of already is aged poorly.

Like you guys talked about it as if it was almost it misunderstood what it meant to be into skateboarding.

They do seasonal updates, but like, it's still the same.

And they add like a few new items and stuff, but like, so that's where I think it might get worse.

Is that they're going to keep supporting this game, but never with anything like gameplay wise.

That sort of addresses its issues.

But there'll be plenty of options to Frank.

Can you remind us what you use to buy what you buy in this game?

It's like you get rip chips to rip open product boxes.

No, that's the one. yeah product boxes yeah product boxes they want to call them loot boxes so they call them you know what's worse product boxes i i will say that i think uh age is the worst implies a delta in quality that it is a re-evaluation where it is like oh this game is good and then in five years it's like maybe it wasn't good whereas like i think people i i people who like skate like frank seem to also point with this with the other hand say i like this game and it kind of sucks yeah it's not gonna like change my it's like i kind of sucked at launch it kind of sucks now but it's all right like it's like it's gonna keep sucking yeah if anything it's gonna be remarkably consistent in what people think if they take it offline people will be like i kind of miss it actually it was kind of you know what i mean like a separate category would be like bad game that we like to play and that's almost podcast game but like it's like that kind of thing but okay yeah i hear what you're saying dispatch wins this because it actually has quite a high where people think of it now but in the future maybe also because they make more of these in the same way that like nobody really says bastions their favorite super giant game anymore you know like i'm sure do you okay okay i like that but i know that i'm afraid but no it's a good game but it's like You know, Hades and that's true.

Transistor for me.

And yeah, Transistor kind of goes crazy, actually.

You know what?

I like Transistor for the best.

You've convinced me there is nobody.

That's my favorite.

That was easy.

Well, except for Hades, I guess.

Okay, game that will age the worst.

Dispatch.

Sorry, Dispatch.

Backhanded compliment, let's call it.

Single-player game that would make for a great multiplayer experience.

Ooh.

This is so tough.

That's so tough.

Oh, my God.

This is a Jeremy Jane idea here.

This is what he does.

He just comes up with challenging, important questions to ask.

This is great sort of a philosopher.

Yeah, i don't know if they ever would make this, but like the idea of playing death stranding co-op seems like insane and incredible.

Like having to having to manage, like pushing a truck over, like it's like fitzcarraldo crap, but also the same thing.

It really is that it'd be Fitzcarraldo the game.

Cause it's like, you'd have, but I imagine they could ramp up the amount of like enemy encounters.

Like yeah, you have to navigate this bridge with your, you know nitroglycerin, but also here's a bunch of bats and things.

I feel like they could ramp up combat or maybe there's PVP elements.

Like that seems so terrifying and insane.

That's the most brilliant thing you've ever said on this podcast.

Frank is fits corraldo as like an asymmetrical co-op game, that's.

It also fits in within the kojima world, weirdly.

Yeah, that type of auteur moment.

You know.

That's also where the idea for the asymmetrical dark souls co-op came from.

Is um, i believe it was miyazaki was like stuck on a snowy road and someone would come up and get stuck and then someone would drive up behind them and push them out of the snow and they would be free.

But then the person who pushed them out would get stuck and and then someone else would come.

So it was just this endless chain of people like assisting the person in front of them and then getting stuck.

That's great.

Um, that is a good shout.

I'd also play like a like a, like a like, a straight up shooter with the new gunplay.

The news like that's in Death Stranding 2.

Like, like a, Like a multiplayer deathmatch of that.

That would be cool.

Or like a PvE thing where someone's pinned down and you come up on them and kind of help them get out of it.

Death Stranding Survive?

Is that what we're saying?

Circles closing.

Where we dropping, boys?

I think the only reason Sony doesn't have that is because Kojima told them to shove it.

Because you know they want that with all the live service nonsense.

They needed all that extra time to make the baby even weirder.

That's right.

Kingdom come deliverance 2.

I feel like we've already given it its flowers.

But like, holy fuck, if there was a big medieval sandbox world and there was other people running around like a like daisy kind of thing yeah like yeah yeah, totally like a like a perpetual sandbox world where everyone is just like a peasant, is like hello, my lord yeah, just saying pray, tell me lord, where did you come from?

To everyone like, or peeing it as the local drunk or something.

Yeah, like a kingdom come deliverance 2.

A sandbox mmo would be the hardest shit in the world.

Here's a funny answer battlefield 6.

I know they did a campaign, but like a good one, you know, like the flipping it okay.

Yeah, like a multiplayer game.

Oh sorry, this is single player.

Oh sorry, i'm in the wrong one.

That's okay sorry, i was thinking i was thinking about a multiplayer game with single player.

Yeah, i mean, we can kind of do both at the same time.

Just a game taken in the other direction.

Elden Ring, Night Rain is the worst answer for this, because that's what it was.

You should make a single player version of Night Rain.

I don't know.

These people would go crazy if I was alone.

Also, you can play it alone.

Oh, all right.

Well, there you go.

Oh, I had one a second ago.

Oh, okay.

So I have two.

One of them is...

I don't know if I'd actually be interested in playing an Ark Raiders single player game but like the shooting and the world is good and the enemies are interesting.

So I could see something being there.

But I think my actual answer is Dune Awakening.

I played a chunk of this game.

The community has sort of rinsed it dry and there was a bunch of like controversies, maybe i don't know grumblings in the community about basically like because you can build houses in this and then you own a certain area but you had to like spend a certain amount of time in the game, like if you left it for too long, somebody could come in and knock it down and build their own thing.

So people are like going on vacation or like haven't played in a while, or we're just like doing almost playing this game like a clicker, so they could just like get the thing done.

The actual progression in this game just feels like a like a roguelike or something.

Like you're you're having to deliver something you're having to, or like a single player crafting game where you have to just like craft the next thing and collect enough of the thing to craft the next day, like playing Minecraft solo or something.

So in a way I wish Dune Awakening like, as much as it's cool that there's a lot of people playing like I, it never really added to the game for me and the reliance on it kind of hurt the game experience, i think, in in lots of ways.

So i like that's more of a genuine.

I wish they had made this just like a a really cool single player experience, because the multiplayer sort of hampers it and everything else is there, like the lore and the world and they do a great job.

Like all the like shit you're doing and you have to like worry about how much water you have for your still suit and all that stuff.

It's all there um, but yeah, it's just kind of like hamstrung a bit.

Yeah, that's a great answer.

Yeah, that like co-op or single player version, but like a non PvP.

Yeah.

And also it feels like I don't know you could be like, it's like special if you're the person who lands on this planet and is going to start mining it.

But if fucking everyone is, it's kind of like, all right, it's been 1949 or 1849 or something.

Any other suggestions for either one?

I think they're going to.

I mean, we're already sort of getting Cairn, so it's already in this direction.

But I'd love it like a single player peak, like something that was more directed and like a little slower pace, maybe a little more serious, but that's just.

Yeah, that is just Karen, basically.

So we're already getting to play Karen still.

Oh yeah.

It's coming out soon in a couple of weeks.

Right.

Okay.

The demo is fantastic though.

Do you?

I was going to say seance of Blake Manor and I'm trying to remember there was like a multiplayer social deduction game and I cannot remember the name of it.

It's an older game.

It's first person.

And it's kind of like.

It's like a, i feel like it was like a party.

It was yeah, it was like a party or like a hotel or on a ship.

It was like a.

I need to figure out who was.

Oh yeah, i know what you're talking about.

There's the one with.

There's the one where you're.

It's a sniper, not the sniper one.

I know that there is a different one.

You're right.

Was it a half-life mod or something?

It might have been.

Yeah yeah, what the fuck was?

First class trouble?

No No no no, no.

This is going to drive me insane.

I'm going to figure it out later tonight.

Someone's screaming at their podcast.

Yeah.

No.

Yeah.

I know what you're talking about.

Yeah.

You had to pretend to be an NPC basically.

Right.

Yeah.

And you had to like sneak around and like do little things.

I can't remember what the fuck it was called, but like that is sort of the only thing that reminds me.

What'd you say?

Among us.

Yeah.

That's it.

Uh, i'm not gonna be able to remember it.

I'm reading through a list um, but i'll say it if i, i'll scan this list while we continue to.

Yeah, it's a tough one, it's gonna drive me crazy too.

I'm scrolling.

I'm sorry for haunting you all.

Yeah, i can't really think of many um games that i played this year that i wish had a multiplayer mode or had a multiplayer version or a single player version, because they kind of most of the games now do kind of have both of those Um, but Absalom I would have liked to see as a purely single player game.

Like I did end up liking it as a theoretical multiplayer game that I just played solo, but I'd like to see like, what you get out of that if it's just one person.

Cause it was, it was still really good.

Like Hades multiplayer would be cool too, in the same sort of way.

But I know there's only games like that.

I only played Absalom on my own.

Yeah, same.

Yeah.

I didn't do any co-op or multiplayer, except for like two seconds of it, which I didn't like that much.

So what are you saying would be different if they what could they do?

You're saying I didn't do any multiplayer.

What would they do or something?

Yeah.

Like what would it look like if they just made a really focused single player version of that that didn't have any of the multiplayer stuff?

Because there are like combos that work better with multiple players.

I always feel like when I play those types of game where it's like, I always feel like I'm missing out on the full experience.

I always wonder about like scale or like, oh, maybe it's easy.

Like if it's just single player, then it's tuned for that experience.

I feel like with Absalom, it's like man.

Wouldn't it be nice if you played single player or double player?

You should hop online and get a second place.

Like things are always nudging you.

So I'm like, oh, shit, I could probably beat this boss easier, but I don't want to.

Like so it just eliminates this like weird FOMO anxiety.

You get it.

I would just like to announce that I have solved the mystery.

The game is called The Ship.

It is a Source Engine game.

That sucks that we couldn't think of The Ship.

The game on the boat with the.

That was because back then people were all saying this is The Ship.

It's actually a stupid meme game, a meme title.

It's like Dispatch Humor.

Yeah, it is.

It's like Peak.

It's the same thing.

The Ship.

Yo, the ship is the shit.

Peaks title feels like it was written by a character in Dispatch.

That's Dispatch humor.

Man, poor Dispatch.

What the fuck?

I feel like out of touch, but like younger than you now.

What is happening?

Really?

I do have two steam gifts of the ship in my inventory from like 2009.

If anyone wants a free copy of the ship.

I think it was the thing when you bought it.

You got like a four pack.

So I gave it to one friend.

I have two copies.

I've been sitting in my steam inventory.

It sounds like we have to do a, like a little group group game.

It sounds like that'd be a fun community game night.

It came out in 2006.

So that's how long I've had this.

So if anyone wants, I have two copies of the ship.

Okay, in the spirit of Absalom, I would add abiotic factor, that is, a single player.

Abiotic factor yeah easy, is that?

Just how?

It's different enough, it's okay, it works yeah okay yeah, i think that's in a way that, like i, i you're right about absalom.

I remember a couple of times it coming up and sort of highlighting the fact that you can play this call and be like oh, just stop telling me, like i don't want to fucking know that.

And the same with um.

Is it abiotic or abiotic?

I don't know, i don't know, maybe it's the north american abiotic, like asexual.

Okay, abiotic factor um yeah that, that that's a game.

This i would have played more of, but i, the design of the game is pure, is so intentionally, you know, it's reminding me all the time that oh, i should be with someone else doing this, probably um so yeah, that might be.

Yeah, i don't know, that's another good one.

Do we have another single player game that would make a great multiplayer experience?

The only one i put there was death stranding 2, but i couldn't remember if somebody mentioned anything else.

It's funny because i think most of us would rather most things be a single player.

So it's like yeah, do you want to?

Do you want to make your game that you like worse?

What do you?

Yeah, because as cool as blake manor would be, which is why i brought up the ship i do think that part of the joy of blake manor is taking your time and thinking through things, and as soon as you add other people into the equation, i have to like min max, just to not lose immediately.

Yeah, baby steps to be funny.

Multiplayer, they made one that would.

What really?

Yeah, yeah.

Are you talking about Don't Look Down or whatever the fuck it's called?

That might be it.

I thought there was... Didn't somebody make a multiplayer Baby Steps game?

Like a physics-y kind of... Are you talking about Chained Together?

It's like Bad Walking, too.

Like, it's pretty blatant.

Oh, okay.

Yeah.

I'll have to see if I can find it.

Chained Together is such a funny... Chained Together was funny.

That was a good game.

I mean, you know CBS daytime show that's been turned into a game, you know, like the old ball and Jane.

Exactly.

Change together.

We take an immigrant and a racist and we train them together.

It will only unlock it when they understand each other.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Or one of them's dead.

Yeah.

So a single player game to make for a great multiplayer experience.

That's running too.

Yeah, i can see it.

Yeah i, i think kingdom come deliverance 2, i think honorable mention.

But i think death stranding has like huge potential to be a weird sort of asymmetrical multiplayer.

It's already kind of right.

I mean strand like stuff.

Yeah, leaning into it harder where there's actually people in your world, i think would be really cool.

Just lob and piss grenades all over the place.

How do you beat that?

Um Multiplayer game.

That would make for a great single-player experience.

We currently have four in there.

Dune Awakening, Peak, Absalom, and Abiotic Factor.

Any strong feelings on those?

I would love to play a Dune single-player game, so that gets my note.

Yeah.

It's weird how there's been lots of Dune games, and I guess the first one was an adventure game.

No, the first one was an adventure game.

The second one was an RTS.

They changed genres.

When they did it, they did a reverse halo and they invented a genre and and changed yeah, you're right um, dune awakening, i think abiotic factor.

I'll say this abiotic factor seems like a game that was being made with multiplayer in mind and the half-life aesthetic emerged from the design of the game.

Dune awakening to me feels like a game that that they got the ip and then everyone who was involved at the board level or at the like, top of the design with all of these live games, were like we need to add multiplayer to this thing.

You know what i mean.

Like it feels a bit more cynical dune awakening does and i think it never really justified.

Like, in a weird way, the game, the multiplayer in the game is.

You can kind of ignore it to a certain extent and i it often it feels and i could be completely wrong it feels like a game that was.

They were told that this game has to be a live game, but they designed it not with that in mind.

What they were like going, because i had great fun playing it as a single player thing, i didn't like if i saw someone else, i just fucking whatever, you know, he's just fucking.

Hey, what's up, you know, like he'd shoot each other or anything, or maybe you can, i don't know.

That would have no one did.

Like the.

The antagonist in the world was the world and and it.

It feels like almost a shame that it has multiplayer, i think, whereas abiotic factor i can, i'm just asking for a different game at that stage, i guess.

Yeah i, i am convinced by your rationale and i think i would have been more interested if dune was uh, was like co-op rather than like a world that people share.

Yeah, Does anyone feel any strong about Peak or Absalom with regard to Dune?

I'll take Abiotic Factor.

I think Dune probably makes the most sense.

Yeah.

Okay.

I also think that if this is something like if you were in the Dune Awakening community and you heard that this award was given, you'd be like yeah, probably.

Okay.

And then I guess the last one we have on our categories for Game of the Year is Game We Wished We Played More Of.

This might be tricky, because there's four of us.

We've all played different types of games.

Maybe maybe they'll end up being games um, but let's, let's play in the space there's.

A lot of games came out this year and obviously a lot of them are quite long um, so which are the ones that you wish you played more of?

Maybe you are planning to play more of in 2026?

One one that i didn't go back to after we covered on the podcast was ninja guide and rage bound, which was like a superb.

It was from the blasphemous crew, a superb 2D ninja guiding game.

It was just the thing of like, oh crap, there's so many other games coming out.

But also like the longer you wait.

Now there's trophy, guides and walkthroughs and you know like, if you need help with stuff like that,

But yeah, Ninja Gaiden Rangebound was super cool.

It was just, just didn't go back to because there's so many other games coming out.

Digimon Story Time Stranger.

I mean, you know me.

I should have played 100000 hours of this at this point, but I didn't because I want to like it and not, you know, hurt myself and play like six hours and then forget about it for a couple months.

How much have you played of Digimon Story Time Stranger?

Like five, six hours so far.

I'll probably restart once I play it.

The opening is insane.

It's so weird.

Like I did not think it was going to open, with you trying to save the I think, the mayor or president from getting shot.

Like wow, you're digimon men saving the president.

Like there's people yelling, just let him get shot.

What are his policies?

Well, i don't know.

I didn't check if he was shinzo abe pilled, but they definitely opened with like a uh, you know that message of like everything in this game is just based on.

It's not based on reality or anything.

Don't worry about it, don't look too deep into it.

And then it's like the president is about to get killed.

Save him on game.

Yes, that's weird.

Yeah, i think for me it's demon school Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

I think Demon School is fantastic.

I I think I was struggling a little bit with some of the tonal stuff.

I think I'm, as we've established with Dispatch and a few other things.

I think I'm particularly sensitive to like a certain type of humor and a certain tonal characteristic.

That is like it's not that I think it's bad writing.

It's just that it irks me.

It's like, it's like nails on a chalkboard.

You know, some people have misophonia.

It's like if someone slurps coffee in my ear, I don't care, but it'll like kill Danny.

I think.

Yeah.

I think I have like millennial humor, a phobia.

Um, not that demon school is that egregious in it.

It just it is a little.

I wish it was a little more self-serious and a little less jokey, but I I think it's great in almost every way.

So let me ask you this because wish you played more of could be interpreted in two different ways then because I hear I when I hear that I hear game that I was sort of maybe disappointed with and wished I'd played more of as opposed to almost wish I had the time and looking forward to playing more of or is that distinction unnecessary? it's it's more that like having a game i wish i liked more sorry sorry i it's i think i demon school i think is one of the most mechanically brilliant games of the year um and i and i am going to play more of it i think that uh with game of the year stuff having to play hundreds of hours of different games i think that there is a need to make a sort of i've played three hours of this is this going to be on my top 10 or do i need to prioritize other things i think that's the only reason i haven't played more demon school is because it came out late in the year and i was like Played a few hours of it was like, this is so great, but I don't think it's top 10 for me.

And so I need to make sure I cover my bases on other stuff.

OK, OK, I hear that.

So it's more.

Yeah, yeah, it's yeah, that that makes sense to me.

They're all they're all sort of making sense to me there.

I don't know what mine would be.

I mean, I'm looking forward to playing more Kingdom Come, Deliverance 2, but I don't necessarily mourn the fact that I hadn't played more.

Like Stalker 2, I would have felt that way in 2004.

Like I wished I had played more.

I was a little bit like you know.

I played a bunch, but I needed to push through, I think, to really experience more of that game.

And I wasn't fighting it easy.

Same with like a Dragon Pirates Yakuza in Hawaii.

I feel like that's a game I'd love to play, but I haven't really.

It hasn't made the.

Or from mars first, lost mars first.

Uh logistics, as well as another one that i wish i'd played more of.

It's great.

Um yeah, it's a tricky one.

This is a tricky one.

Nothing really stands out right.

Kingdom come deliverance 2.

We've talked about so much in these episodes that i feel hesitant to mention it again, but i'm going to keep playing it.

It's just.

Yeah, it's ginormous.

It sounds like frank's gonna play a bunch as well.

We can play multiplayer if our wish comes true from this list.

Yeah.

Does this feel like a strong category?

Maybe it doesn't.

Maybe it's – maybe it – No, I think it does.

There's tons of stuff I wish I played more of last year.

Like I wish I played more Promised Mascot Agency and like there's a bunch of AAA stuff.

Like I wish I played Ghost of Yotei at all or Silent Hill F more of it.

And like really saw it through to the end because I know a lot of people like that story.

I just didn't vibe with the combat much.

I think it's also healthy just to acknowledge our like, our positions in us curating a list of games of 2025, to acknowledge our blind spots um yeah, just like, oh yeah, and like please and i'm always get eager to read people's comments like i want everyone's answers to their, to the r categories and stuff, and like that's always what's fun is we'll do these lists and people be like i can't believe, just didn't play this game, or jeremy didn't play, like it's like there's a mil.

That's why, like you know, we talked about like, even on the podcast.

I don't necessarily love just talking about the newest game of the week because, like Again, Stellar Blade, I didn't play that until six months later in 2020.

There's so many games I'm just now getting to.

And then even Digimon Time Stranger, you're in Shinjuku, you're in Akihabara.

I want to play that.

I don't want to pay $70, but I will play that later.

So it's like, yeah, there's infinite games to discover and play.

So yeah, I think it's just a healthy last call.

Any other games we should at least mention that we know are probably good.

We just didn't play more of.

And also I will say for Claire Obscure, Expedition 33 i think that's the first time i've ever said the proper title.

Um yeah, i've like i feel like i'm close to the end of act one and and i i've like kind of lightly looked into what happens, like oh, it sounds crazy.

So it's like that might be a game.

I eventually just like, all right, let me just get back and play into it.

That's definitely what i wish i played more of as well.

Yeah, i've changed the games you look forward to playing more.

Oh, that's cute, that's a positive twist.

I think that feels that wraps them all up.

So for this And I think we can have multiple, maybe for this.

It kind of feels like it's in the spirit of it.

You know, Ninja Gaiden, Rage Band, Digimon Story, Time Stranger, Demon School, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, Mars First Logistics.

I've been there.

Any other ones?

I mean, I'm sure there's lots of games.

I am going to play more of Clare Obscure for sure. i'm gonna complete ooh which i i'm probably 20 minutes away from the end keep driving maybe but like the ones that i'm like sort of really looking forward to oh the last one for me hell is us oh yeah i really wish i finished that game it is so that's the one in in brazil right no that uh it's the that's hell clock hell clock which does also have hell in the name so i get why you uh you messed that up but uh yeah it's uh It's like the big Dark Souls.

He kind of unguided looks a bit like Dark Souls Death Stranding style game.

The one that I spent 20 minutes talking about and said nothing of value because it was just so weird.

Oh, yeah.

I really want someone else to play this game, because you guys are smarter than me about talking about this sort of esoteric stuff.

And it's just so hard to comprehend.

It's really interesting.

And I wish I finished it to get the full picture.

But it's, it's.

Yeah, it's very cool.

Yeah, it's like god, you're right here.

I remember this thing.

I mean, people who were talking about it were very hot on it.

That's what i remember at the time.

Um, this is us, hell is us.

Might be that that that's a really terrible name for a game as well.

It's pretty brutal.

It's like the last of us.

It's pretty bad, jesus.

Uh, i would like to add one to this list that has not come up in any of these episodes and all of the hours we've talked about games from this year.

Um, lovely lady.

Rpg, i think, is one of the best written games i played this year and i loved it.

I come, i completed it, but there are so many different ways it can go.

It is a short game that can unfold in many different ways, so i need to do more uh, additional like runs of it and talk to different people, build different relationships, stuff like that.

If it launched this year technically, i would put that up for for most ambitious.

Really, it's crazy how many things can go wrong or right and how many endings it has.

It did a.

It's steam release was this year, which is why i'll count it.

Yeah, i think it was itch, was on itch for a year or two this year.

Yeah um yeah, but i, anyone who likes like, even if disco elysium or like any game that is sort of like sincere and weird or counter-culturally relevant or like uh, games about like the experience of being a trans person, games about social alienation.

Uh, it is a huge fucking content warning.

There's a lot of really triggering shit in this, but it is like, it is funny and weird.

There's a joke about pissing so hard you shatter a urinal.

Uh, it's very funny and weird and good.

Excellent.

Um, all right, so will we uh?

Will we add that in as well, or no?

You played enough of that.

You just wanted to mention that because it was no.

No, i want to do.

I want to play more of it because i've completed a run of it, but it can unfold in so many different ways that i need to play it more times in completion.

Okay um, all right, that's uh, let's wrap it up.

Then this week's podcast and our second uh category day on the game of the year and our third of three game of the year podcast.

Thank you so much for being patient with us to get these out.

Hope you enjoyed them.

Coming out back to back to back.

Massive shout out to jesse garage for doing all that and to everyone here for making the time and not just to talk today but also to play all these video games.

Um, today we gave away best steam deck game to ball pit game.

We want to.

We want a sequel to the seance of lake manor.

Best original character nate from baby steps.

Worst trend generative AI.

Most difficult game, Elden Ring Night Rain.

Best racing game, Tokyo Extreme Racer.

Best leaderboard game, Blood Thief.

Best sports game, Desperate.

I love that one.

Our 2025 playlist includes music from Look Outside, Birdcage, Sectory, Exhibition 33, Luminous Arise, Once Upon a... What happened?

What did I do?

It's Expedition.

Not Exhibition.

Exhibition.

You said it as it's written.

Okay.

Exhibition.

Exhibition 33.

No, I did it again.

Expedition.

It's such a bad name.

It's a bad title.

It's not your fault.

It's not your fault, man.

Thank you.

Luminescer Eyes Once Upon a Katamari Hyper Beat Arc Raiders, Baby Steps, Angelina Era and Detective Instinct.

Farewell, my beloved.

Best Game Pass game goes to Rematch.

Best Podcast game goes to Battlefield 6. um most evocative title goes to consume me our favorite title goes to like a dragon pirates yakuza in hawaii and worst title goes to aforementioned clear obscure something something something 33 with honorable mentions to peak and he is coming games that will age the best kingdom come deliverance 2 game that will age the worst dispatch single-payer game that would make for a great multiplayer experience death stranding 2 multiplayer game that would make for a great single-player experience, Dune Awakening.

And the games we look forward to playing more include Ninja Gaiden Ragebound Digimon, Story Time, Stranger Demon, School Kingdom Come, Deliverance 2 Mars, First Logistics, Hell Is Us and Lovely Lady RPG.

Yeah, there's probably no point in going through all the other ones, is there?

Let's just be rattling them out.

We did them at the end of our podcast if you want to check those out. um great year for games we played a lot uh great year in some ways trickier in other ways it was uh but like in general i think yeah that we enjoyed a lot of games we had a lot of fun conversations about them um and then next week we get to talk about the future of games again on the regular podcast any final thoughts lads about a game of the year we all feeling somewhat satisfied with how this one ended up yeah i think we covered a lot of good games i think uh i liked our reconfiguration of doing like categories this year was fun uh i i did i do miss a little bit the like awkward tension of like oh my god we need to fucking reverse engineer a title for this but uh i feel like this probably made for a more enjoyable listen uh and it was pacing wise i feel like it was probably better but um yeah i mean as always, there was a bunch of good games and I think it's important to highlight the ones that get, uh, less attention and the ones that do get attention, but like deserve conversation about, uh, why they are notable, what they did right, uh, what they point towards in the future and sort of like talk about where we see games going ideally.

Um, So yeah, a lot of great games this year that hopefully we highlighted all of them.

And if you listened to this, please feel like you can fill out, like you can just comment with your own answers to every category, if you want, or your own top 10.

I would love to see what other people have to say.

Absolutely.

Yeah, for sure.

Either here or on YouTube or on our.

I guess we don't have a place on the Patreon to necessarily do that.

But yeah, on Discord, I guess would be the place.

We could start a thread on Discord.

Yeah, that'd be a good shout.

Maybe i'll copy and paste the categories and people can fill them in as they want.

If they want um, cool beans, okay.

Well, that's a podcast.

Thanks for listening everyone.

Thank you for supporting us.

We're looking forward to doing loads more in 2026 and we will see you on the next one.

Go play some video games.

[Noclip Podcast Episode 263: 2025 Game of the Year Awards (Part 2)]-[Noclip's 2025 GOTYs - Episode 3: The Category Awards (2/2)]

📋 Summary

Noclip Podcast: 2025 Game of the Year Category Awards

Steam Deck Perfection and Sequels

Character Highlights and Industry Trends

Difficulty and Mechanical Excellence

Music, Value, and Podcast Companions

The Final Verdicts: Titles and Longevity

🎯Key Sentences

📝Key Phrases

📖 Transcript

[Noclip Podcast Episode 263: 2025 Game of the Year Awards (Part 2)]-[Noclip's 2025 GOTYs - Episode 3: The Category Awards (2/2)]

📋 Summary

Noclip Podcast: 2025 Game of the Year Category Awards

Steam Deck Perfection and Sequels

Character Highlights and Industry Trends

Difficulty and Mechanical Excellence

Music, Value, and Podcast Companions

The Final Verdicts: Titles and Longevity

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