0:00

ELC.

0:17

Out of the year, the last episode.

0:23

You see, l c. In

0:25

twenty twenty two. Can you

0:27

believe it? Holy moly.

0:30

The biggest episode of the year. And

0:33

we are listening to GLC. We're

0:40

glad to have you especially if you're one of

0:42

our geeks in snakes using this

0:45

podcast to power you through workout or

0:47

a run or even if you're just

0:49

recovering from the egg

0:51

nog overload or some

0:53

sort of carpal tunnel

0:56

a gift unwrapping injury.

0:59

Whatever the case, we're gonna

1:01

be in your ear holes for ninety plus

1:04

minutes of gaming goodness because DLC

1:07

is your downloadable commentary for

1:10

the week. This week, We're

1:12

determining our list of

1:14

champions.

1:16

It comes

1:19

to you absolutely free.

1:21

Thanks to our patrons at patreon

1:24

dot com slash DLC

1:27

They bring the show to you. Their generosity

1:29

their holiday Spicer. Their spirit

1:32

of giving brings

1:34

the show to you completely free

1:36

in exchange. They get some cool

1:39

stuff ladies and gentlemen. They get

1:41

video versions of the show on demand.

1:43

They get ad free episodes.

1:47

In their RSS feed and they

1:49

at a certainty or get bonus content

1:52

like gifts underneath their

1:54

holiday tree. You've got

1:58

Spicer chats like the god of

2:00

war Ragnarok's boiler chat. We did not too long

2:03

ago. You've got the paid

2:05

DLC midweek.

2:08

Extravaganza this week, we did the

2:10

holiday. Spectacular featuring

2:13

not one Bechinsky. Not

2:16

two Bechinsky's. But all the

2:18

Bechinsky siblings, Lana, her

2:20

twin sister, her brothers, her

2:22

husband, it was a holiday party,

2:25

the likes of which, frankly, this podcast has

2:27

never experienced, ladies and gentlemen. And

2:29

on top of all of that, patrons

2:33

get feeling this. The show

2:36

that Christian Spicer an Allen Solomon This

2:38

week, they're talking about QTEs. Oh

2:42

my goodness. You don't Cannata miss all that

2:44

and you can get You can be a part

2:46

of it. You can get all of that in

2:48

your stocking and

2:51

make sure this show continues. Into

2:53

its tenth year by going to patreon dot

2:55

com slash DLC

2:58

pod. But this show oh my

3:00

gosh. This show, the flagship show.

3:02

DLC is your downloadable commentary

3:04

for the week, and

3:06

it is to show all about games. In their

3:08

many forms, games played on desktops, laptops,

3:11

and consoles. Also,

3:13

games that involved luck and cardboard.

3:16

I am your host, Jeff spelled with

3:18

two n's and one t, and I am joined as

3:20

always by my friend slash

3:22

cohost slash nemesis.

3:26

The guy who is the enemy

3:29

of best. Mister

3:32

Spicer. Hello Christian? You're

3:36

the favorite of round.

3:40

That's a catchy song. Someone should do, I

3:42

think. Like, you know, about to

3:44

get into a big fight. You're you're the favorite.

3:47

Oh, you're the favorite this round.

3:49

That's okay. That's free of sight.

3:51

I just thought of that. I had a friend who legitimately

3:54

thought that song was, you're the best in

3:57

town.

3:58

Like, if you went to the next town over you've,

4:00

you know, you're probably not the best

4:02

there. But I mean,

4:03

that's how I was in street fighter, and my account

4:05

was the best, and it went online -- Right. -- speaking

4:07

of. I got my my kit on and then

4:09

I they went online and it was like, you

4:11

suck.

4:12

You suck at street fighter. This

4:15

this is ladies and gentlemen, this is my

4:17

favorite episode of the year. Every

4:19

year, we do DLC. This is it. This is the one.

4:21

This is the one where we pick our

4:23

favorites Of the

4:25

year.

4:25

Oh, crap. I'll

4:27

be right back.

4:28

Unprepared, unprepared, Christian, as

4:30

always.

4:31

Oh, Christian thought this was just a normal episode.

4:33

No. Not than normal about it.

4:35

In fact, it is so not normal,

4:37

ladies and gentlemen, that we have

4:39

to have the one guest on this

4:41

show. That gets

4:43

their own introductory theme

4:46

song. Who's

4:51

that coming on the podcast today?

4:56

They must be recording on a holiday.

5:22

Anthony Tower Mato. Anthony Tower Mato, ladies and

5:24

gentlemen. It is I. I

5:26

have arrived. You're back.

5:28

You're back to save us

5:30

from ourselves as usual every

5:32

year. Thank you for

5:34

being with us, Anthony. Thank you for being our

5:37

yearly addition to

5:39

the favorite

5:39

episode, favorites of the year

5:41

episode. It's a, you know,

5:43

it's I look forward to it every

5:45

year. It's a it's a great time. I

5:47

am the antithesis of

5:49

Christian and that I love the

5:52

end of the year, like, going

5:54

through my favorite movies and TV

5:56

shows and, I don't know, favorite meals

5:58

I had that year. I don't know. Make

6:00

a list. List are fun. List are

6:02

fun. I love lists, and I like I

6:04

like branding. I like branding.

6:07

You

6:07

can't walk. That podcast does not lie. We

6:09

all heard you. You are in the

6:11

same page. We

6:12

all are in writing my children. That's why I

6:14

only had one. That

6:16

makes sense. That makes sense. Yeah.

6:19

If you're watching on the video version, we're all in our

6:21

festive sweaters. Look at this. I got the beholder.

6:23

The beholder

6:24

sweaters. I've got three fives. And I've

6:26

Klippy. Klippy.

6:27

So Go with Anthony.

6:29

It's also a new video for some of it.

6:31

I

6:31

gotta I gotta hate these you along, which

6:34

I never heard of before, but it's a a video

6:36

game apparently. So never

6:37

heard of you a lot. They're making a second one.

6:40

You're making a second you a

6:42

lot. Well, I thought it was gonna burn. I

6:44

thought it was gonna burn. Let

6:48

me explain to you ladies and gentlemen why this episode

6:50

is so great, especially if you are joining us

6:52

for the first time. Welcome. Thank you.

6:56

Here's the thing about the

6:58

end of the year. There are

7:00

countless other

7:02

video game podcasts and websites.

7:05

That will give you their

7:07

top tens of

7:09

the games that came out in

7:11

twenty twenty two. This is common I'm

7:13

sure you've seen numerous top tens.

7:15

Exactly, Christian. Christian's given the

7:17

old thumbs down. Top tens,

7:20

we say, too easy.

7:22

Two, easy. You got ten

7:24

slots to fill with games? Oh, yeah.

7:26

Anybody can do that. What what if

7:28

I told you? Here at DLC, we

7:30

challenge ourselves. To

7:32

come up with a top five. That's right. It's

7:35

cut throat. It's brutal. Only

7:37

the best of the best can make our top

7:40

five lists of the year. And then

7:42

we're gonna do another fight. That

7:44

other fight is not six through ten. No.

7:46

No. No. It's even better than

7:48

six through ten. It's a list of

7:50

hidden gems, of dark horses,

7:52

of of special game. Fifteen.

7:55

It's terrible. We just have to skip five.

8:00

We do one through and it's and

8:03

then we do the bottom hundred. Ninety

8:07

five to one hundred. Gonna

8:09

do number twenty seven. Number

8:11

thirty four. Number fifty two.

8:15

That would be amazing, actually. My

8:17

thirty second favorite game was this

8:19

year. It was a close one, Jeff, between

8:21

thirty second and thirty third, which you I will not tell you

8:23

what my No. No. We're not covering those. We're not

8:25

talking about these numbers. Not interesting.

8:28

No. We're doing we do our our hidden

8:30

gems, our dark horses. Five games

8:32

that deserve to be talked about again that

8:34

probably won't make most people's

8:36

top tens of the year and

8:38

yet still deserve a

8:40

little little shine at the end

8:42

of the year on DLC. We're

8:44

also We're also gonna be talking

8:47

about the top

8:49

stories of the year. We do a story of the week here

8:51

on DLC every week. We're gonna do story

8:53

of the year. As we often do in

8:55

this episode at this time.

8:58

And as we

9:00

joked at the beginning of the show, we're not

9:02

allowed to say best Christian

9:04

years ago put his foot down.

9:07

The one thing that Christian said, you

9:09

know what? You

9:11

shall not pass. And I you know, I

9:13

and as little as I respect Christian, I had

9:15

to respect that. You know

9:17

what I

9:17

mean? And to explain

9:19

to you exactly why we say

9:22

favorite

9:23

and not best. The

9:27

lyrical wizard, the muses musician

9:29

of all musicians, our friend

9:31

Sean Madigan, has this little

9:33

ditty for you. Wait

9:43

for a school like that. Based

9:53

on an incomplete sampling.

9:56

That's right. Based on an incomplete

9:58

sampling, we have not played every game that came

10:00

out this year. But our own

10:02

personal favorites That's what we're gonna mark

10:04

down. You're gonna you're gonna hear our personal

10:06

favorites. By the way, Sean

10:08

Madigan, thank you so much. As always, it's always

10:10

fun. The Anthony Towermina song,

10:12

the Game of the Year song composed,

10:16

performed by Sean Madigan and his family. And

10:18

they also do a holiday

10:20

song every year year, an original

10:23

holiday song. We put it in the end of the

10:25

episode last week. But if you'd like to

10:27

check it out, You can find it on their

10:29

website alongside a lot of other cool

10:31

original music. Madigan

10:33

dot m e, it's MADIGAN

10:36

dot m

10:36

e, visit

10:38

it, get some great

10:40

music, and thanks as always to

10:42

Sean and his family for

10:44

that. Alright, fellas.

10:48

Let's start talking about

10:50

the stories of

10:52

the year. As I always do around

10:54

this time, I listened back to our

10:56

episode last year at this

10:58

time, and we

11:00

were saying The

11:03

story of the year for twenty twenty 1III

11:06

started off the episode saying the story of the

11:08

year for twenty twenty one is the same as

11:10

the story of the year for twenty twenty.

11:12

And that is COVID, and

11:16

the supply chain delays.

11:19

And we all speculated as to

11:21

whether that would still be the story of the

11:23

year in twenty twenty

11:25

two. And I I think we

11:27

can't deny that it's

11:29

still a significant part of the story.

11:31

There's still a lot of

11:33

supply chain issues still hard for people

11:35

to get consoles and and

11:37

hardware of all kinds. I think, obviously,

11:39

less than than it was at that

11:41

time. We were looking down the

11:43

barrel of Omnicron starting up if you can even

11:45

remember that that

11:47

time. And I I think it's it's

11:49

worth being a little grateful that I feel

11:51

like some of that has lesson that

11:53

certainly the pandemic is still

11:55

wreaking havoc with large parts of

11:57

the world and it's certainly a health risk

12:00

for many, many people. But guess

12:03

it's good that we're not sitting here a third

12:05

year in a row going. That's the undeniable

12:08

still biggest story of the

12:10

year. Right? Yeah.

12:13

Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. For better

12:15

or worse, it's become a below the

12:17

fold -- Yeah. -- story. It which

12:19

below the fold is when newspapers were

12:21

newspapers were things that when news was

12:23

printed instead of doom scrolled

12:25

past. It is still and

12:27

and here in LA, it cases

12:29

are back up in a big way among all the

12:31

other respiratory illnesses

12:34

that are spreading. But yes, it does

12:36

not seem to be the

12:38

story the way it was before and

12:41

what a year it's been in terms of that

12:43

digging back to pre Omnicron

12:45

variant and where

12:48

we were as we sat down to do this last

12:50

year. It's both been a

12:52

million years and half a second. You

12:55

know, at the same time. It's

12:57

pretty incredible. Yeah. I

12:59

would submit to you guys

13:01

that the biggest story of the

13:03

year is

13:06

as as, you know, in a lot of ways,

13:08

was major stories of twenty twenty one

13:10

as well, these these

13:12

huge acquisitions. We saw

13:14

Embracer Group acquire a

13:16

a number of video game

13:18

companies. And, of course, that Microsoft

13:21

acquisition of Activision

13:23

Blizzard King that, you

13:25

know, now we we we really don't

13:27

know the future of as the federal

13:29

government has objective

13:31

to it formally. But,

13:34

Anthony, would you agree that

13:36

the those are sort of looming

13:38

large as as the biggest video

13:40

game

13:40

stories that that could shape the next

13:43

five to ten years of of what we all

13:45

experience in the in the hobby? Yeah.

13:47

I I think that that I think probably

13:49

throughout all of next year. May maybe

13:51

it'll get settled sooner, but it seems

13:53

like there's a lot of, you know,

13:56

obstacles in Microsoft's

13:58

way in terms of acquiring Activision

14:01

Blizzard King just as far as

14:04

concerns about competition being

14:06

lessened to concerns about how Call of

14:08

Duty is handled and being

14:11

available on PlayStation

14:12

platforms. I think

14:15

I

14:15

think everybody outside of Microsoft

14:17

seems to stop

14:19

it, you know, and and prevent

14:21

it from happening. So I think there's gonna

14:23

be enough in the

14:25

way and the way the legal system works and

14:27

all that stuff and also even

14:29

outside of the US legal system

14:31

that it's probably gonna be part of the

14:33

conversation throughout all of next year.

14:36

Yeah. Somebody who used to

14:38

practice the laws around, maybe he has

14:40

some ideas. Christian

14:42

Spice. So I think he's referring to

14:44

you. Oh, wow.

14:46

I mean, yes,

14:49

I agree with you, Anthony. But also,

14:51

I think Jeff was at four weeks ago on

14:53

this very show. I was like, it's it's

14:55

done. It's a done deal. I still think it's a

14:57

done deal. I'm generally a

14:59

favor of regulation. Like,

15:01

I I encourage and

15:03

enjoy as the wrong word, but

15:04

I'm a favor or in favor.

15:07

I'm a favor of. I'm a I'm a style of.

15:09

I'm a flavor of. I am a

15:11

flavor of regulation. I am a

15:13

flavor of agnock. I'm in

15:15

favor of regulations. A lot

15:17

of regulations. I I think

15:19

that it's good, often good, seatbelts. Love,

15:21

I love a seatbelts. I

15:24

love a seat belt. How about on a

15:25

motorcycle? Big fan. Love it. A Christian

15:27

have regulated this episode every year.

15:29

Can't can't can't call it best. True. Bice

15:31

the regulation right there. But then he

15:33

breaks all the

15:33

rules of the episode. So he's -- True. -- all

15:36

said non favorite of all those things. Gosh. See,

15:38

belt wearing know how many Only

15:40

rule as you can't say

15:41

putting on his list guys is what he is.

15:43

Oh, I just My number five

15:45

is two games. So it's

15:47

a terrible it's a tarduck in of three games.

15:50

You guys just, but

15:52

I'm not saying that there are this

15:55

year, Yes. I do have six games as my number

15:57

five games. But other years

15:59

other years as are clearly other

16:02

games that I discussed to side

16:04

what my number thirty second game would be,

16:06

Anthony. Is that the right guy that

16:08

makes the the Excel spreadsheet

16:10

that takes care of the list.

16:12

Always is like, I have addish

16:15

itself. Now it's blank for the other

16:17

two. My favorite game of

16:19

the year every year is how do I make

16:21

this game of the year spreadsheet? our

16:23

community so beautifully maintained. A

16:25

little uglier every

16:27

year. Anthony showed up in full

16:29

support of the spreadsheet guy wearing his clippy

16:31

shirt, you know, you

16:31

know, I think I'm all about -- spreadsheet. --

16:34

come on. Merrick sells her without

16:36

to leave vertically do it.

16:40

To this merger acquisition talk,

16:43

again, I am a flavor

16:46

of regulation. It

16:50

really seems like the

16:52

FTC does not have a leg to stand on

16:54

here. And I'm I'm kind of

16:56

shocked not that

16:58

they're trying to challenge it, but the

17:00

documents that they submitted in this

17:02

first round, this first voli,

17:04

so to speak, of trying to stop

17:07

it and I don't know if they

17:09

felt rushed and they needed to get

17:11

something out, but typically

17:13

of something of this magnitude

17:15

I don't think you'd see an unforced

17:19

error the way that the

17:21

FTC seem to have provided here with

17:23

that first filing about claiming

17:25

something that Microsoft didn't do in

17:27

Europe. You know, they said this.

17:29

They did this. When in fact, that

17:31

didn't happen. Yeah. And

17:33

so I agree with Anthony that I think the

17:36

machinery of the federal government

17:38

is often slow in winding. I mean,

17:40

sometimes the IRS doesn't even audit a

17:42

sitting president. For two years when they're

17:44

supposed to do it every year. And so

17:46

I could see this taking a long time,

17:48

but it's also, Jeff,

17:50

seventy

17:51

billion dollars, and

17:54

these are very

17:55

Sixty nine day change, Christian, come

17:58

up. Wow. I don't like to say the devil's number.

18:01

Nice. And

18:06

they also are well connected to government.

18:08

I don't know. III still think this thing

18:10

goes through. I'm I know this isn't the

18:12

predictions episode, but I think by the time we

18:14

sit down to do this again, next

18:16

year, it will have gone through.

18:18

And I think we'll be discussing what the ramifications,

18:20

you know. It hasn't changed

18:22

much. When do we see

18:23

this? I think that'll be That's

18:25

the discussion story. Yeah. Yeah. Well and and, of

18:27

course, that's the big one that is occupying

18:29

all of our attention right now because that's the

18:31

one that hangs in question. But

18:35

this was a huge year of acquisitions

18:37

that just slid right

18:39

through without any frick at

18:41

all, including Sony acquiring

18:43

bungee, and haven, and

18:46

Embracer group. Listen to the winning

18:48

group. This year,

18:50

just this year. Crystal Dynamics.

18:53

Idos Montreal, Square Enix Montreal,

18:56

Tuxedo Labs, limited run games,

18:58

tripwire interactive, sing

19:00

tricks, they got the IP rights to

19:02

Lord of the Rings. I

19:05

mean, to

19:08

Lara

19:08

Croft, right, the Tomb Raider franchise. They got

19:11

it is

19:12

it's not like there

19:14

aren't acquisitions happening constantly, and I think that's

19:16

a big, big part of the story of

19:18

twenty twenty two in video games.

19:20

Is how everybody wants somebody. And,

19:23

you know, this just continues a trend that's

19:25

been going on for why. You know, we were

19:27

talking about that big megaton announcement

19:29

of Microsoft getting Bethesda,

19:32

you

19:32

know, just just last

19:35

year. So, you know,

19:37

it's it's it's it's continuing

19:39

and it it'll be interesting if

19:42

the federal government is able to pump

19:44

the brakes on this or or

19:47

not. I think that's gonna be a really interesting

19:49

question to see the answer to. And

19:51

it's where we bucked the trend, Jeff. I

19:53

mean, DLC was unacquired. Well, the

19:57

the number of offers we had to turn

19:59

down Christian are, you

20:01

know, zero. But That

20:03

doesn't mean that we

20:05

won't accept more offers in

20:07

the future. I mean, the FTC said we can't

20:09

talk about it, so I will just be vague,

20:12

but when when we got shut down for that

20:14

eleven billion dollar You

20:17

know

20:17

what's actually funny, Christian? You make

20:19

this joke, but if you really think about it,

20:22

In twenty twenty two, we

20:24

got the opposite of acquired.

20:27

That's what I said. We got unacquired. That's how I

20:29

started it. That was my joke. Thanks for

20:31

getting it. Sorry. I did not

20:33

catch it, but it is yeah.

20:35

We got we we used to be

20:37

acquired, and now we're we're independent.

20:39

Thank you, Patrons. For making us able to survive

20:41

in the unacquired nature of But

20:43

again, again, if you're listening,

20:46

and you have literally any dollars

20:49

whatsoever. We're on the

20:51

table. I mean, Disney,

20:53

if Disney wants us for our IP

20:55

of mark for

20:57

marketing, you know, any

20:59

jiggles. We've done such a great job

21:01

Christian in in making a

21:03

a name, a title to the show,

21:06

that it's so SEO

21:08

friendly. You know, just put DLC into

21:10

any search engine. You'll inevitably

21:12

find us. You want

21:13

Anthony Taremina? You got him. You know?

21:15

He's part of it. No. No. No. No. I

21:18

have been acquired. I have been acquired.

21:20

No. No. We got him. Come on. He sees -- Okay. --

21:22

because

21:22

he seems You can have I do have

21:24

my you can at me. Alright. It's alright.

21:28

Yay.

21:28

Alright. So acquisition's a huge a

21:31

huge story. Anthony, do you

21:33

have another think top tier

21:35

story of the year that you

21:37

you think made sense

21:38

to anything?

21:39

That that grand theft auto

21:42

six leak

21:42

was a

21:42

pretty big deal. Just I mean, for a

21:45

number of reasons. One,

21:47

it is arguably

21:49

the biggest upcoming game of

21:51

all

21:51

time. Yeah.

21:52

Yeah. It is

21:54

it jump started a conversation

21:56

about what is a in development

21:59

game, you know, what I

22:02

don't wanna say unfinished, but, you know,

22:04

this this conversation of, oh, I saw this

22:06

footage. It doesn't look very good, and then all these

22:08

developers coming coming out and

22:10

saying, look, some of your favorite games

22:12

don't look good until the

22:14

last little bit. And I

22:16

think that was really interesting to

22:18

hear people both talk about it, but

22:20

also share things. You know, there

22:22

was a lot of threads

22:24

on Twitter of, look, this was x

22:26

game at this point. Look at it. It was

22:28

just Polygon's and, you know, six months

22:30

later, it looked like this finished product.

22:33

Yeah. But it was yeah. It's a big deal for a

22:35

number of reasons, you know,

22:37

also considering the fact that rockstar

22:40

got hacked. And that

22:42

that's a big deal. So I think that's

22:44

a pretty significant story, but

22:46

the ramifications of it outside

22:48

of maybe putting some delays

22:50

on Grand Theft Auto

22:52

six, I don't see anything beyond that, but it was a pretty big deal.

22:54

I agree. A huge story. A huge

22:56

story that that the biggest I mean, this reminds me

22:58

of when half life two got

23:00

got hacked. I don't know if there's listeners that don't

23:03

even remember for that far back,

23:05

but half life too was this game that got announced.

23:07

It was the the biggest possible

23:09

IP in gaming when half

23:11

life two got announced, and it

23:13

was gonna come out in, like, six months after

23:15

the announcement and nobody knew they were

23:17

working on it. Was the craziest thing

23:20

ever, and then somebody hacked and got

23:22

the source code, and it caused this

23:24

massive delay. It was a

23:26

huge, huge thing that's the only

23:28

equivalent because this, as

23:30

you

23:30

said, is a sequel in

23:32

the biggest franchise on the planet.

23:35

I'm actually You know, and and I don't

23:37

think this detracts from

23:39

the magnitude of the

23:41

story. But I'm also kind

23:43

of amazed at

23:46

how

23:46

little it seems to have

23:49

actually meant as

23:51

far as you know, any any

23:53

real impact on the

23:55

the game or the industry. I mean, I

23:57

thought you you put it very

23:59

well Anthony, in in that I think it's it was a cool

24:01

learning moment for people in

24:03

how games actually come

24:06

to fruition. You

24:08

know, like the the long and bumpy

24:10

road that is game development. I think it

24:12

it probably educated some

24:14

folks, including you

24:16

know, us. But I

24:19

I don't think

24:22

it actually It certainly didn't

24:24

have the kind of immediate impact that

24:26

the Half Life two Lake did, but of course that

24:28

game was a lot closer to being released when

24:30

it happened too. So

24:32

maybe apples and oranges. But, you know, over

24:34

that we know of yet. Right? Like Rockstar is

24:37

very adamant at the time of, like, this isn't gonna

24:39

change things, this isn't change our dev

24:41

cycle, mean, it certainly changed one individual's life

24:43

when they got arrested. Yeah.

24:47

Yeah. And I'm I'm curious what

24:49

you know, repercussions were felt

24:52

internally at Rockstar. Not curious isn't I have

24:54

any business to know, but,

24:56

you know, how did that happen? How did they get

24:58

in? What's security protocols changed. Rockstar was already

25:00

a pretty tight ship in terms of,

25:02

you know, with the Red Dead two

25:04

announcements, it was like. I think the first

25:06

announcement was just the color palette

25:08

of the logo. You know what they were and it

25:10

was like, oh, here here's what it and

25:12

then the silhouettes and the the

25:14

teases. And so I'm curious, you know,

25:16

what stuff they've changed.

25:18

And because they are that

25:20

company, you know, I don't know if we'll ever

25:22

fully know if GTA six

25:24

did or did not see a massive delay because

25:26

of the stuff they're doing internally because

25:28

of that that hack. And I imagine it

25:30

sent and I can say I I not

25:33

Shockwaves, but I know that

25:35

it also made ripples at least

25:37

at other developers. They

25:39

all not all, but at least

25:41

some had a a sit down and

25:43

they're like, can't happen to

25:45

us. You know, don't click

25:47

those links in those emails. Yeah.

25:50

Click those link. There may be Maybe it

25:52

looks so Like, maybe that

25:54

guy does wanna give you his entire

25:56

inheritance? Not in

25:58

an email. Not like this.

26:01

I mean, Yes. But also,

26:03

like, we got one the other day that was like

26:05

a text message and it was like, you

26:06

know, we tried to deliver your package. You

26:08

know Yeah.

26:09

Oh, yeah. Or you click on it. It's

26:12

classic. Yeah. Plastic. And

26:14

so I do think that

26:16

there were bigger shock waves caused

26:18

by

26:18

it, but I don't know if we'll ever see, you

26:20

know, how just how how big

26:22

they work. I don't even work on

26:24

Grand Theft Auto six, and I've gotten calls

26:27

from Windows. Guys have ever gotten a phone call from hi.

26:29

This is Windows calling. I'm, like, Windows

26:31

is calling me. We already guys ever gotten the I'm not

26:33

even making it up. I've literally gotten a call from a person

26:35

who's, like, I'm calling from windows and there's

26:37

a a problem. I'm

26:38

like, you're

26:39

calling from windows.

26:41

Like He's like,

26:42

yes, I need your I need your information

26:45

to fix the problem on windows. And I was

26:47

like,

26:47

oh. Well, I

26:48

don't want any

26:49

problems with windows. I use that

26:52

every day. But there

26:54

was the

26:55

it it it

26:56

it has gotten worse. Yes.

26:59

Yes.

26:59

Yeah. Yeah. And

27:00

no one's safe. No one's I mean, literally literally,

27:04

I was just reading yesterday about

27:06

the, you know, the

27:08

massive security a

27:10

breach of LastPass. I was

27:12

like, of if anyone

27:14

should have top tier

27:16

security, it's

27:17

LastPass? And I'm like, I guess it really wasn't

27:20

the last pass. You're gonna end up to ten.

27:22

And they were like they they were like,

27:24

hey. So we got hacked,

27:26

but don't worry. Nobody got anything.

27:28

They're like, Okay. They may have gotten a

27:30

little too deep. Okay. Okay. They may

27:32

have gotten some passwords.

27:33

Okay. You know, my guess, it's it's

27:36

entirely possible that they got every damn thing that

27:38

we have here. It's definitely possible,

27:40

but we we were hacked.

27:42

The first tweet that said they didn't get anything

27:44

was actually them. Saying

27:47

that. We Yeah. I mean,

27:49

it's like the no one's saying The the

27:51

the fault in all of these systems. It's

27:53

like this zombie movie. Right? Like, we are the Walking

27:55

Dead. Like, the the fault is the

27:57

people. It's it's it's

27:59

idiots. Not idiots. It's all of us being

28:01

like, I Yeah. I do want a

28:03

honeybaked ham.

28:04

Yeah. I think I can

28:07

understand. To

28:09

some extent, it's

28:10

you, you know, Hubert, you

28:13

know, you think? Yeah. I

28:15

mean, how many times this year did

28:17

somebody end up on a stage

28:19

that shouldn't have ended up on a stage

28:20

will. Yes. That too.

28:23

Yeah. And it happened again. And, you know, it

28:25

happened again. And then the very end of the year,

28:27

in our own style event,

28:29

a kid ended up on stage,

28:31

you know. It I think you just you don't put those

28:33

policies in place until it happens to

28:35

you. And then when it happens to you, it's too

28:37

late. I'm just Then you're dead

28:39

as you're girlfriend floats away on a

28:41

door. Like hubris is the thing

28:43

that that really kills all of us at one

28:44

point. I'm just now

28:47

realizing that really

28:50

shouldn't bet on that honey baked ham showing

28:53

up. Time

28:55

to tell your your in laws there's not

28:57

gonna be a Christmas dinner after all.

28:59

I got back use and worst news. The

29:01

bad news is I gotta change

29:03

my password. The worst news is

29:06

They're not getting a honey baked ham for Christmas.

29:12

Alright.

29:13

Christian, do you have a story of the year that we haven't talked

29:15

about yet? I think mine and I

29:17

think there's no offense. I think

29:19

it could have larger

29:22

ramifications for the

29:23

industry, maybe not in twenty twenty three, but

29:25

perhaps further out. And it is

29:28

the unionification the forming of US

29:30

in the business industry. We have talked

29:32

about game workers

29:34

unite, and I I think I probably have that

29:36

wrong. But, like, other attempts at it,

29:38

Jeff, you and I are both in a union, and

29:40

we have talked about generally

29:42

a pro union approach. Yes. Is

29:44

the, you know, look at early days of

29:46

the mafia, was it built on the back of corrupt

29:49

union people, you betcha. There are a lot of

29:51

horrible things throughout the history and

29:53

everything, you betcha. But generally speaking,

29:55

I am in favor of unions and what

29:57

they provide to the average worker.

29:59

And we're seeing that

30:01

in video games now in way that we had it before

30:03

with Raven Group forming, I

30:05

believe, they were the first union of

30:07

a AAA studio. And

30:10

now the Zenamax workers united forming

30:12

and trying to take Microsoft

30:15

up on their stance

30:18

that they would not get involved. They talked about that

30:20

with Raven because as they're acquiring Activision,

30:23

Microsoft said, hey, we're gonna stay out of

30:26

this. Which usually companies say, like, we're gonna stay out of it, and

30:28

then they send ten

30:30

unionbusters to break some brakes You

30:33

know, on the on the the factory floor,

30:35

But so the Xanax work We're

30:37

gonna stay out of this unless the union actually

30:40

forms, and then we're definitely

30:42

not staying out of this. We're gonna

30:44

stay out of this. And by of this, we mean killing

30:46

you and your family.

30:49

But this Zenamax one is over three

30:51

hundred QA workers, which is also the

30:53

Raven Group was started with QA. It's

30:55

interesting. Right? That that seems to be where it

30:57

is it is actually happening in the QA

30:59

department's first. Yeah.

31:01

And I don't know if it's because there's

31:03

I mean, they're very

31:05

bad working conditions often there and

31:07

lower pay oftentimes. Mhmm.

31:09

And there's maybe not the

31:12

artistic peer pressure, and

31:14

I'm not trying to discount what QA does, but

31:16

this idea of, like, no, you're

31:18

this is your passion. You're

31:21

gonna animate forever. You

31:23

can't, you know, you don't Cannata

31:25

unionize your this. And of

31:28

stuff. But I'm super curious to see

31:30

where this goes. It's I think I believe the

31:32

largest group if it happens. And

31:34

so far, It seems like Microsoft

31:36

is staying out of it. I

31:38

think this could be huge for the games

31:40

industry going forward. I mean, it is a industry

31:43

notorious for higher and fire. As

31:45

projects build up and and scale

31:47

down and long work hours in

31:49

QA, especially, you

31:51

know, contract workers with no benefits that are brought

31:53

in and ground down to the bone and then

31:55

fired and then have to find hustle to find

31:57

another thing. And I think

32:00

this could change gaming and

32:02

gaming culture, the people who

32:04

make games in a in a very positive way

32:06

is what I'm hopeful for. That's

32:08

my my Christmas wish, I guess. Yeah.

32:10

Yeah. Yeah. I think I think it's a good sign.

32:12

I I'm certainly

32:16

optimistic as well about it. We'll see how it

32:18

shakes out and if it continues to

32:20

spread. And if it will lead

32:22

to, you know, better better stuff

32:24

for workers, we'll we'll but I think

32:26

you're right. This is the year that

32:29

has really begun that spark. And we'll

32:31

see if it carries forward.

32:35

You know, there's a a few other stories that that I

32:37

think helped define twenty twenty two

32:39

two in gaming. One of

32:41

them is that, you know, at the end

32:43

of last year, starting this year,

32:45

it really felt like

32:48

all the momentum or at least a lot

32:50

of energy was being put

32:52

into the notion of NFTs and

32:55

gaming being a

32:57

a place where non fungible

33:00

tokens were going to be explored,

33:04

let's say. There was gonna be a

33:06

lot of that in gaming

33:09

And that seemed to be the indication. I think we talked about it a lot

33:11

at the end of last year about

33:13

that twenty twenty two may

33:15

be the year where you just can't

33:18

that NFTs were gonna be everywhere.

33:20

And I think it's

33:22

very interesting how in twelve

33:24

short months, it really feels

33:26

like obviously the

33:28

bottom fell out of of the market and and a

33:30

lot of external things that have nothing

33:32

to do with video games per

33:34

se affected the

33:38

momentum of NFTs. But

33:41

I do think it's fascinating that

33:43

here we are starting twenty twenty

33:45

three or about to and that's

33:47

really just for the most part

33:49

off the

33:49

table. Right, Anthony?

33:51

Yeah, I would say

33:53

outside of doctor disrespect's

33:56

game. Which I

33:58

mean you know may just have

34:00

the support because doctor disrespect

34:02

is doctor disrespect I can't really think of

34:04

an example of a game where they

34:07

came out and said, look, we wanna implement

34:09

NFTs, and it wasn't

34:11

met with backlash over

34:14

support. I think doctor

34:16

disrespect he has, you know, just

34:18

enough fans that they kind of just

34:20

wash out any other criticism and also

34:22

you know, who cares when he's doing? But at the end of

34:25

the day, there were a lot of games

34:27

that came forward and said, look, we

34:29

wanna try this and and

34:31

a bunch of people just said, no, thank

34:34

you. And then they took a

34:36

second to think about it and tweaked it,

34:38

and then eventually a lot of them

34:40

backed down

34:40

said, never mind. That was that's no longer part of our plan. So

34:43

I think,

34:44

you know, the voice of at least

34:48

communities out there were able to say, hey,

34:50

we don't really want NFTs

34:53

or things in

34:55

in games that make it

34:57

seem like you're less interested in

35:00

delivering a quality piece of entertainment and

35:02

you're trying to turn it into a marketplace or

35:04

you're trying to turn it into

35:06

a commodity the main thing we want is a video game. And if you

35:08

can get that video game right and then

35:10

later, maybe figure out an

35:12

NFT solution Okay.

35:14

We can talk. But for right now, I think so many

35:16

companies were coming forward and saying, here's our

35:19

game. It's not out

35:20

yet. Also gonna be NFTs and

35:22

that they

35:22

just were

35:23

dead in the water. Yeah. Like, in

35:25

that instance, to say, we're not gonna see that.

35:27

I think that's still there still

35:30

will be that it was the the summer of games game. I can't remember that it was, like,

35:32

every everything game.

35:34

Oh, yeah. Which I think is gonna be, you

35:36

know, certainly seems to be

35:38

still happening and certainly based around NFT's.

35:40

So I don't think

35:44

it's gone And and it certainly still may have a

35:46

resurgence. We have no idea what the future

35:48

of of that world is

35:50

gonna look

35:52

like. But I just think it's fascinating how

35:56

NFT's as a technology really seemed

35:58

inevitable to me

36:00

at least. At the

36:02

end of twenty twenty

36:04

one. And here we are in twenty twenty two, and it

36:06

really has almost got a hundred and

36:08

eighty degrees from that, where it feels like

36:10

the exception rather than the

36:12

inevitability for those projects.

36:14

We also saw,

36:17

you know, PS plus

36:20

or, you know, the the the unveiling of

36:22

PS Cloud as we all know it should be

36:24

all. Which, actually, where

36:26

you are right now, you need a PS Cloud to get

36:28

out of your house. I'm kidding. I need the p

36:30

s plow extreme. I need

36:32

any I need any kind of plow. P

36:34

s. I'll take a Xbox plow

36:37

at this point. Luvs. Now is what he's

36:39

saying. The I'm in a minute of a

36:42

bomb cyclone. I'm gonna be getting around

36:44

there. But I

36:46

I think from

36:49

my perspective, that PS plus revamp

36:52

really pretty underwhelming and disappointing

36:55

as far as what

36:57

I expected to be a

37:00

major contender to the Game

37:02

Pass throne, and it it just doesn't

37:04

seem to be that now. Maybe

37:06

I'm wrong. Anthony, maybe you're you'll correct

37:07

me, but I I feel like there

37:08

was a

37:09

lot of sturman drawing and and not a

37:11

lot of there there. If you if you

37:13

like that cat game stray, That

37:16

was about it. I did like Stray. I did like me too, but

37:18

we probably got coats for

37:20

it. It's true. I also got a coat for

37:22

it.

37:23

But it's I'm

37:25

I'm a I'm a

37:27

big PlayStation fan. I actually this

37:30

spoiler for what won't happen later.

37:32

But I actually wrote a list I actually wrote a list of just Sony's

37:35

games this year that could easily

37:37

be my top

37:37

five. Like, these are just

37:40

Sony games. And they're all

37:42

incredible. Like, they had a banger

37:44

of a year. I love their

37:46

games. I love their console. I love their

37:48

controller. Big

37:50

fan. I do not love their plus offerings. It

37:52

just feels confusing and half baked.

37:54

I mean, this is the thing that I think we're talking

37:56

about at last year was code named spartacus.

38:00

Like, Spartacus is a bad

38:03

dude. Spartacus? Well, it it

38:05

kinda makes a difference because a

38:07

bunch of people stand up and go, I am a part, I guess. I have and

38:10

it just gets really confusing and you don't know

38:12

which part it is. You're supposed to lose that

38:14

one. Pay a monthly fee too. You know?

38:16

You're like, So I feel very appropriate, you know? That's a

38:18

that's a scene from Spartacus. Maybe

38:20

that was the full code name is. This will be a

38:22

scene from Spartacus,

38:24

not Spartacus. Yeah.

38:26

Which one is this? This is

38:28

my supposed to use? Well,

38:30

I subscribe to this lazy

38:32

guy. This old man. Oh,

38:36

no. I'm Spartacus Plus. I'm Spartacus

38:40

Premium. Yeah.

38:43

Yeah. It's was terrible. I I mean, it really should have

38:46

been a thing where every game that

38:48

comes out that isn't a first

38:50

party game.

38:52

You go, Oh, man. I wonder if that will end up on PS

38:54

plus or

38:56

Xbox Game Pass. Yeah. Which one's

38:59

gonna get it? Who's gonna get it first?

39:01

You know, a game that you're excited about that

39:04

maybe just didn't Like last year,

39:06

Guardians of the Galaxy, we

39:08

all really Like Guardians of Galaxy

39:10

who was gonna get it

39:11

first. Game Pass got it. Yeah. Playstation

39:12

Plus didn't have an offering. And

39:15

so I think if they had

39:17

done that, if they had competed in a true sense

39:19

of getting games that are worthwhile, that

39:22

are interesting,

39:24

that had enough

39:26

conversation around them,

39:28

then I think they would have been able to get

39:30

away with these three

39:32

tiers. But making these three tiers

39:34

an offering you know,

39:36

streaming of older games and and

39:38

some, you know, a a digital library of

39:40

PS one and PS two classics.

39:42

It just doesn't do anything for

39:44

me personally. Yeah. Yeah.

39:45

And

39:45

then I guess, you know, the last story

39:47

I'll I'll mention before we

39:49

move on is

39:51

is the g four? The

39:54

reimagining rebirth of

39:56

the old video game network shut

40:00

down after, I think, less than a

40:02

year. So it

40:04

it it was reborn in twenty twenty

40:06

two and perished in twenty twenty two. All

40:08

same time. And a lot of us a lot of our friends

40:11

were employed at the new g four,

40:13

sad, of course, for them losing

40:15

their their jobs.

40:18

But I I think

40:20

it's a fascinating

40:21

and and clearly

40:21

representative of a different a

40:24

different landscape of of

40:26

games media.

40:27

Yeah. I a

40:28

bad year in general. My heart's

40:30

out to all those folks. A lot of lost

40:32

jobs. Yeah. And some really

40:34

talented people in that it

40:37

it appears that the game space has lost forever. And I

40:39

think understandably so,

40:42

and it's just a Because I

40:44

think there is incredible work happening in the game

40:46

space and there are some incredible reporters out

40:48

there and people doing op eds

40:51

and making incredible videos and doing

40:53

all that work. But in twenty twenty two, I

40:55

think we lost a lot of

40:58

really great folks in the it

41:00

just seems I mean, we say it on this

41:03

show sometimes jokingly, like, you know, like,

41:05

oh, patrons, you make Wednesday show possible.

41:07

We're gonna talk about Farts. But I sincerely

41:09

don't know how this show survives without it and so

41:11

many others -- As far as, like, this

41:13

without parts. Yeah. It's

41:16

it's just a sad state of of the

41:19

enthusiast press and games media.

41:23

And and I think

41:25

it ultimately will unfortunately

41:27

be worse before it gets

41:29

better. I agree. And obviously,

41:32

we've seen that. But you're right,

41:34

the silver lining is that there

41:36

are enough people that care to get this kind of content

41:38

that they will pay for it. And that is

41:40

something that we are particularly grateful for,

41:42

but I am grateful for just as

41:44

a consumer of this kind of stuff

41:47

that you're seeing, you know, as you're seeing, you know, folks like

41:49

our friends are kinda funny, you know, exploding and having

41:51

this great new studio that

41:54

they debut and and just there's there's enough of

41:56

these popular our friends at what's

41:58

good games, you know, all these peer

42:00

groups that we've got

42:02

that are that are kind of striking

42:04

them on their own and really doing some great

42:06

stuff. So I We're not at that

42:08

scale, but I do feel like

42:10

they are peers. And and it's

42:12

great that we're not in competition and we're

42:14

all

42:15

sort of you know, boats that are all enjoying a

42:18

rising tide, which is pretty

42:20

great. The other thing I'll add in terms of

42:22

stories is

42:24

handhelds. Steam deck specifically.

42:26

Mhmm. When the analog pocket gotten

42:28

to more people, the what's

42:30

it called? The Playdate. Yeah.

42:33

And also people's desire for a

42:35

a switch too. I think Willie

42:37

speaks to this idea of

42:40

playing great games on the go that for

42:42

a long time handheld

42:44

gaming, you know, was a failed experiment that

42:46

Sony shouldn't have taken. And, of course,

42:48

Microsoft's not gonna do one.

42:50

And now, also the backbone and

42:52

the razors kishi and, like, this

42:54

expansion of -- Yeah. -- good

42:56

controllers, good ways,

42:58

GeForce NOW, rest peace,

43:00

stadia, not even a

43:01

story. We don't

43:03

even we don't I I was

43:06

not gonna bring

43:07

it up. Just the stadia. Good

43:09

to sound as in the moment. I'm so

43:12

sorry. A blip on the

43:14

radar of twenty

43:16

twenty two. The g four of cloud service games. I

43:18

do. But III do

43:20

think that twenty twenty two show that there

43:22

is an appetite

43:24

for that handheld style

43:26

of of gaming and AAA gaming. And

43:28

and as someone who's loved handheld gaming, I

43:30

it really excites me and I hope it carries forward

43:33

Yeah. It seems like valve has no intent

43:35

of slowing down, which is awesome. Yeah. The

43:37

steam launch as a story in and of itself

43:39

is is pretty remarkable as as far as

43:41

how bad. It didn't go. You know what I mean? Obviously, it

43:43

was it was hard it was hard for a lot of people

43:45

to get them, which is still the case.

43:47

But it it's still, you

43:49

know, I think ultimately a a pretty pretty strong

43:51

win for valve on on almost every

43:53

level. So

43:55

Yeah. Alright.

43:59

Let's get to the meat of the show now

44:02

and talk

44:04

about DLCs. Favorite

44:06

game of the

44:07

year. But first,

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like that. The base

47:04

on an incomplete sampling.

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Based on an incomplete sampling, nevertheless,

47:08

here we are talking about our

47:12

favorite games of the year, we

47:14

will start counting down our

47:16

top fives with number

47:18

five. Anthony Towermina,

47:20

what is your number five? Favorite

47:23

game of the year. My number

47:24

five favorite game of

47:27

the year ranked as number

47:30

five

47:31

is seafood. Seafo.

47:34

Yes. Yes.

47:35

Great choice. I I

47:37

really really

47:39

like this game. I wasn't

47:42

entirely sold on it when I previewed

47:46

it.

47:46

Maybe a month before it came out and I just it didn't click with me. But then

47:48

when I was able to play the kind

47:51

of finished product

47:53

and get my hands on it. It was the first game a

47:56

long time where I felt like

47:58

I had

47:59

to learn how to get better. It was like

48:01

a fighting game almost. I

48:04

had to learn how to read

48:06

enemy attacks. I had to learn how to

48:08

engage with the systems beyond the ones

48:10

that I felt comfortable,

48:12

you know, I couldn't just

48:14

dodge. You know, I was like, you know,

48:16

I'm used to playing most games and just being able

48:18

to dodge my way through it. I had to

48:20

learn how to Perry. I had to learn how to

48:22

do the I forget what it's called, you know, you're standing place

48:24

and just kinda shifting. It's not not as

48:26

much as, like, a role, but just

48:28

kind of I

48:30

don't know, a shimmy. But when I when I was

48:33

able to learn that and get better and get

48:35

better and and repeating the

48:38

runs to the point where I

48:40

could go to certain bosses that I just was getting destroyed early

48:42

on and beat them without them even touching

48:44

me. It just felt super satisfying and

48:48

I think the story and

48:52

these characters in this group kinda I'll not

48:54

kill Bill of this, like,

48:56

list of You need to take out all

48:58

these people, but they have sort

49:00

of mystical elements and they have

49:02

a theme to them. Each of the

49:04

levels is

49:06

really unique music is great. I really just ended up

49:08

coming away from the game saying,

49:10

there's no way this is not gonna make my

49:12

top five 475 only

49:14

because it was a game in a

49:16

long time that I

49:19

went into it playing

49:22

a certain way and came out of it, like,

49:24

feeling as, you know, not a professional

49:26

but better. You know, most games you just

49:28

play

49:28

in, you're like, yeah, I get it. But this game,

49:31

by the time I was done, I felt like I was better at playing the

49:33

game just

49:34

because I

49:35

engaged with the systems. Yeah.

49:38

Yeah. And and a completely indie game.

49:40

This is slow clap as the developer,

49:42

and I believe the publisher

49:45

as well. And I just think

49:47

an incredibly strong year for

49:49

indie games. And I

49:52

think Seifu is is one of those ones that got a

49:54

lot of attention and showed that smaller

49:56

games can can feel triple a,

49:58

can feel basic I mean, it's not triple

50:00

a, but it can feel, like, a major

50:02

major release, and I think that shows us

50:05

it's number five 475 your list. That's a

50:07

great great choice seafood. Number

50:10

five. Christian

50:11

Spicer, what is your

50:13

Number 475, of the Year. Well,

50:15

I wanna

50:15

give a shout out over the No.

50:18

No.

50:18

No. No. No. On our Discord. Oh, okay.

50:21

I thought you're gonna say six. I thought you're gonna No.

50:23

No. No. No. Because you mentioned having a great

50:25

year of Indies. And over on DLC's

50:27

discord right now, they're it's the fan voting. I've gone

50:29

in there a couple of times. Yeah. And it's

50:32

fascinating to see some of these small indie games

50:34

up against, you know, these big triple a games

50:36

and what

50:38

folks in the community are are are playing. And I think I say

50:40

this every year to my number five

50:42

that this is the hardest one for

50:44

me. Number five is always the hardest.

50:47

Because you put six games at number five. Yeah. I

50:49

was like, how many you know, I got the

50:51

whole curve. The curve of the five, you

50:53

can just pack games. N

50:55

t wrote down the list of PlayStation Games

50:58

found out there was six and was

51:00

like, which one of these am

51:02

I gonna how to We call it PlayStation five, but there are so

51:04

many good Which one at least five was

51:06

gonna hire me as a podcast

51:08

host. Yeah. I would

51:10

if if I could do that, you'd

51:12

my I would stack my list very much

51:14

that way. A hundred

51:15

percent. That's that's how you do it. I mean, Jeff

51:17

was my number five favorite game of the

51:20

year nine years ago.

51:22

I don't know if you knew that.

51:24

It really is the hardest one for me,

51:26

number five. And I debated a whole bunch of games and there are too many good games

51:28

left off the list. And so this is

51:30

the perfect example of a favorite game

51:33

and not a best game. And

51:35

five game for twenty twenty two is bayonetta

51:38

three. Mhmm. I have

51:40

loved this franchise

51:42

since it came out almost

51:44

you know, twenty years ago, it feels like a first on

51:46

the PlayStation three and Xbox three sixty, and

51:49

then how it became a Nintendo

51:52

franchise Right? Like Nintendo and

51:54

Sega coming together. And

51:56

bayonetta three is such a

51:58

time capsule of a game of that

52:01

franchise where it doesn't look better than it looked, you

52:03

know, fifteen years ago, whatever

52:05

it is. And I I don't think

52:07

it's the best bayonetta.

52:09

I think that might be bayonetta two is probably the best

52:12

bayonetta three tries some

52:14

things. And some work really well. I mean, it

52:16

really leans into like the big

52:18

bombastic boss fight. But it's also

52:20

struggling on switch hardware. But

52:22

there's so many of these moments of

52:24

like monsters tearing through

52:26

cities as your you know,

52:28

Kratos god of warring like through a little

52:30

thing to to a thing and then you become a

52:32

big monster and battle it and all this

52:34

stuff. But then there's

52:36

also like two vague gameplay

52:39

spoilers. Spicer, two d

52:41

side scrolling stealth mission. And

52:44

and open world hubs that

52:46

are open. It's it's open. Not

52:48

an open world. It's just open. This big

52:50

empty space because it's on switch and

52:52

they can't it can't do it. But

52:54

I love that combat when it

52:57

fires on all cylinders. I found

52:59

I understand why some people were kind of

53:01

upset by the end or left them

53:03

wanting, I guess. But I I

53:05

think there's a promise for a

53:08

awesome future there. So I'm

53:10

gonna hold my final thoughts on what the narrative in the two

53:12

bayonetta three is to see what threads they pick

53:14

up in a hopeful

53:16

bayonetta four. But I love the

53:18

franchise. I love that we got another one. I love

53:20

that it came out this year. And so

53:22

bayonetta three is my

53:24

fifth

53:24

favorite. Game of twenty twenty two. Wow. I did not see that

53:26

one coming, but I think that's a pretty cool pick. I know

53:28

you were There are ten other games I wanna mention

53:31

real quick. No. Alright.

53:36

My fifth favorite

53:38

game of twenty twenty

53:42

two is cult of the

53:43

lamb. This another

53:46

example of a great indie

53:50

game This one, to me by

53:52

surprise, I did not think

53:54

I would like it. I didn't

53:56

think I know,

53:58

I wanna play as a that

54:00

leader of a cult. I'm not

54:03

a I'm not a huge fan

54:05

of animal crossing. You know, I

54:07

wasn't like, hey, you know what animal

54:09

crossing means? More sacrifices.

54:12

More more sacrifices than an

54:14

altar. But man, this is a

54:17

really addictive game, so

54:19

well executed. I

54:22

love I think one of the big trends

54:24

for twenty twenty two, especially in the indie space, was mashing up

54:26

to very disparate genres

54:28

and finding some really new

54:32

new feeling inside of a game that

54:34

does two different things and puts them

54:36

together. And I think multiline is

54:38

a perfect example of that because it really is

54:41

two very different kinds of games. I think a

54:43

really excellent action combat

54:46

sort of Zelda like exploration

54:48

and and collecting resources game.

54:51

With this very much

54:53

animal crossing style, you

54:56

know, village

54:58

management, town management, Sim And

55:00

I never thought that those would mix as well

55:03

as they do here. It's got so

55:05

much style. It's got so much it's

55:07

got a lot of comedy it's

55:10

it constantly surprised me with

55:12

the different things that I was able to

55:14

do and the ramifications of that and just

55:17

how much fun I was having managing

55:19

my world and and

55:22

wanting to do all the different parts of

55:24

cultivating the

55:25

lamb. A really great game that I thoroughly enjoyed

55:27

in twenty twenty

55:30

two. On

55:30

Game Pass and also great on steam

55:33

deck.

55:33

I I think I played it most on

55:35

steam deck. It is it is an

55:37

excellent steam deck game. And

55:40

it looks

55:40

great. It's I I have so much visual style

55:42

and it looks great on steam deck as well.

55:44

So Yeah. Of course. It was my game,

55:46

you know, when we always say, like, it was

55:48

the game I was struggling to put it was

55:51

the game. Oh, oh,

55:53

you mentioned a sixth game, Anthony.

55:55

Oh, yeah. Okay? Oh, go ahead.

55:57

Yeah. Just my number six. Okay?

55:59

Uh-huh. There it

56:00

is. Jeez, sweet. He's infinitely talented.

56:04

I also wanna point people, you know, we

56:06

the we had to because

56:08

of holiday schedules, we had to record

56:10

this episode a little bit early. So

56:13

the discord poll and and discussion in our awesome

56:16

discord community is still

56:18

ongoing to determine the

56:20

fan top five of

56:22

the year. I'm hoping we'll be able to that

56:24

next episode when we do

56:26

our predictions

56:28

episode. But You

56:30

should get in on that. I think there's still some voting available for

56:32

the the final fan voted

56:35

top five favorite games

56:37

of the year. And of course,

56:39

our Discord is five by five DLC on Discord. So get over there

56:42

and get your votes in. I it's been so much

56:44

fun watching the community debate

56:46

and vote

56:48

on their games. As Christian mentioned, there's some already some cool surprises

56:51

in there. I wanted that to be part

56:53

of this

56:53

episode, but we're just recording a little

56:55

early for it.

56:58

Alright. We have moved

56:59

to number four number

57:02

four. Anthony Tarmina,

57:05

your favorite. Fourth favorite. Game of twelve point two.

57:08

It's it's

57:09

God of War Ragnerrock.

57:11

A Game

57:13

of War Ragnerrock. Excellent game.

57:16

The sequel, the PlayStation

57:19

exclusive. Tell me why

57:20

you

57:21

put it at number four. I

57:22

mean, it it

57:24

okay. I struggled.

57:25

This one I struggled with the placement of

57:28

because I love this game. I think this

57:29

game is I

57:32

also really enjoyed the twenty eighteen one. I think

57:34

comparing the two, I the twenty eighteen one

57:36

blows this one out of the water just

57:40

because It's more of a surprise, you know. It's not frozen. There's

57:42

water on a boat. I get it. True.

57:44

I

57:45

I

57:45

mean, there is also water on a boat and

57:48

-- Yeah.

57:49

Water.

57:49

Quite a bit quite a bit of water on the boat.

57:52

But I guess I guess it's

57:54

part of my criticism

57:56

is is a lot of similarities.

57:58

A lot of Yeah. Things

58:00

where, you know, it felt, okay, I've

58:02

done this before, but this is still

58:04

an exceptional game. And I have to

58:06

reward that. And I think the story is really well done and

58:08

it's very mature and sophisticated for a

58:11

video game. It definitely deals

58:13

in stuff that is

58:18

unique in terms of

58:20

fathers and sons, you know, you you don't

58:22

get a

58:24

lot of video games kinda touching on things that

58:26

resonate on,

58:28

you know, not a personal

58:30

level for me, but just like

58:32

more a human level -- Right. -- also dealing with situation of gods

58:35

battling each other. Yeah. It

58:37

it it mixes a lot of

58:39

things together, and that's really

58:41

really what I like about the

58:44

game. And at the same

58:46

time, the combat is super fun.

58:48

I I don't wanna make it seem like

58:50

I don't enjoy it. It just

58:52

it is very familiar. You know, you jump into

58:54

it and you're like, okay. Yeah. I

58:56

remember and I I love this, but also

58:58

same. But, yeah, overall

59:01

beautiful game visuals are

59:03

incredible. I think they took a lot

59:05

of the kind

59:08

of criticisms of having to

59:10

maybe dial it back a little bit in

59:12

the first game, maybe in terms of

59:16

boss types or enemy types or, you know, we can only do so

59:18

much with what we've got. And the second game

59:20

adds more diversity in terms of a

59:22

lot of different things, not just

59:26

your combat maneuvers and your enemy types,

59:28

but where you're going, what you're doing,

59:30

and and I really, really do appreciate

59:33

that and wanna recognize it.

59:36

And I imagine we'll probably talk about it some

59:37

more. Very

59:38

possible. Very possible. Certainly

59:41

one of the one of the biggest

59:43

games in the year, you know, a game that we

59:46

all, I think, expected to

59:48

get delayed and did not. I think

59:50

that's a pretty good pretty good --

59:52

Yeah. -- thing to note about it as

59:54

well. But that didn't mean it it came

59:56

out buggy or had any dip

59:58

in quality from the twenty twenty eighteen. God of

1:00:00

war, of course, was DLC's

1:00:02

game of the year. We

1:00:04

we our consensus vote of

1:00:07

the one game we we made

1:00:09

the show's game of the year that

1:00:11

year. And and I think, you know, that's

1:00:12

pretty big

1:00:13

pretty big shoes to

1:00:14

fill, and I think it it filled

1:00:16

them very very well. It it

1:00:19

took that formula, which, again, as you said,

1:00:22

Anthony, it didn't reinvent the wheel. It didn't

1:00:24

reinvent that formula in the way that game

1:00:26

had reinvented God of

1:00:28

Wars formula. But it certainly it certainly added a whole

1:00:30

bunch of new flavor and and let

1:00:32

you do things in that world that you hadn't

1:00:34

done before

1:00:36

And I think it had told a really

1:00:38

compelling story with some incredible acting and and maintained that, you

1:00:41

know, single camera perspective. It's

1:00:43

it's amazing. Yeah.

1:00:46

Alright. God of War Ragnarok

1:00:47

is Anthony's number four. Number

1:00:50

four, Christian

1:00:52

Spicer.

1:00:53

PM and T

1:00:56

shredders revenge.

1:00:58

As I went into the year,

1:01:01

I probably would have thought that the

1:01:03

Kalibanga collection would have made

1:01:06

this spot I will spoil and

1:01:08

say Kalibanga collection is not on my list.

1:01:10

That would be a great my list was just -- They're

1:01:12

just all talented.

1:01:14

-- I I broke them out like A total of some

1:01:16

time. A total of time. Arcade,

1:01:18

It doesn't mean it's nice. I would not split it

1:01:20

fast too, Christian. Yeah. I will. Yeah.

1:01:22

Hyperton Heights is lower because it does reuse

1:01:24

a bunch of assets. But and

1:01:28

it's just of new boss battles. I

1:01:29

know. I'm surprised you didn't put Kalbanka collection on your list just as a

1:01:31

way to get thirteen games

1:01:33

on your list. I'll

1:01:36

let that in. I'll take that bet.

1:01:41

Calabung collection is excellent.

1:01:43

It it just received a

1:01:45

a big up date here recently as well when you are listening

1:01:47

to this, and it delivers those games

1:01:50

as I remember them in a great package.

1:01:52

Shredder's revenge

1:01:54

is the perfect

1:01:58

forward reimagining

1:02:00

of what a brawler is, much

1:02:02

in the way streets of rage four

1:02:04

brought that franchise forward while still feeling familiar, you know.

1:02:06

Shredder's revenge is not a single

1:02:08

cam, third person action game.

1:02:12

With a one edit about Donatello's son

1:02:14

and, you know, it doesn't doesn't

1:02:16

force you to be buddies with

1:02:19

shredder the end, and then you have some big

1:02:22

reckoning. Like, it's not doing any of those things. It is

1:02:24

A2D Sprite

1:02:26

based brawler. But the

1:02:28

tweaks that they added to the formula in terms

1:02:30

of combos, where you could level up

1:02:32

your characters, having six player

1:02:35

online co op work, having couch co op work. I

1:02:37

just bought the game in the

1:02:39

steam, winter sale.

1:02:42

So I own it on on PC as well now to playing it on Game

1:02:44

Pass. It's such a fantastic game in

1:02:46

a game that I probably texted you

1:02:49

the most about Jeff I

1:02:51

think I would text you every time my kids were playing

1:02:53

it co op with their friends. I'd be like,

1:02:55

here they go. With pictures. Yeah. Yeah. With

1:02:58

pictures. And it always warned my heart, like, they'd have

1:03:00

friends over, and that's what they'd Cannata sit down

1:03:02

and play and even kids who work super

1:03:04

into video games, you know, could

1:03:06

could rock it. And

1:03:08

I play through it with my wife. I played through with my kids. I played through it on my little

1:03:10

brother's arcade cabinet. I've played through it now on my

1:03:12

steam deck. It what it does, it

1:03:14

does so

1:03:16

very well. And it also just

1:03:18

got a a great update that had CRT

1:03:20

filter, a VCR style filter, or

1:03:22

like the wave line, goes through it,

1:03:24

also virtual dipstick, so you can, like, make

1:03:26

it harder as we

1:03:28

would in an arcade where, you know, people would be

1:03:30

like, uh-huh, enemies are more difficult now,

1:03:32

kids, by by quarters. It's

1:03:34

such a fantastic evolution of

1:03:36

the brawler while maintaining what

1:03:38

kept that what what makes that genre

1:03:40

so pure. If you haven't played

1:03:43

it, I highly recommend turtles, shredder's

1:03:46

revenge. I gotta say, Christian, you'll be

1:03:48

delighted to know

1:03:50

that I have a

1:03:52

renewed appreciation for that game just in

1:03:54

the last few days

1:03:56

because as holiday vacation

1:03:58

has begun for my kids,

1:04:01

I finally sat my six

1:04:03

year old down and said, hey, do you want

1:04:05

to play this game with me? And we have

1:04:07

been playing it every day in

1:04:09

in my office on the PlayStation five,

1:04:11

and my daughter has been sitting in my lap and, like, going

1:04:13

to turn those channels.

1:04:16

And it's been so much fun. He had my

1:04:18

my son Jack has been

1:04:21

absolutely loving the game and my daughter Zoey has

1:04:23

just been cheerleading and having a great time as well.

1:04:25

I give her the controller and

1:04:28

she runs around like a maniac, tells me

1:04:30

which character to pick. It's it's it's great. It's great fun.

1:04:32

And I think well deserving of

1:04:36

your list. So

1:04:38

that is Christian's number four. number four

1:04:42

is Mario

1:04:47

plus Rabbit's sparks of hope, which I love

1:04:49

the first Mario plus

1:04:52

Rabbit's. I expected to

1:04:54

love the the

1:04:56

sequel to Mario plus rabbits. And

1:04:58

I just sparked I've

1:04:59

hoped to like it. I just think

1:05:01

that

1:05:01

sparked so. What I did

1:05:03

not expect was how

1:05:05

much it changes the formula of the

1:05:08

first game and still

1:05:10

it's still wonderful. It it finds

1:05:12

what I mean to say is it finds

1:05:14

new ways to be wonderful. I I if

1:05:16

it had just been new

1:05:19

quests, new enemies, But

1:05:22

the same exact gameplay, I think I would have still loved sparks of hope,

1:05:25

but it is very much not that.

1:05:27

It really does add

1:05:29

a completely new way of

1:05:32

playing. The the individual

1:05:34

battles are are very

1:05:36

very different and the the

1:05:39

the mechanics of

1:05:42

those battles have been very much

1:05:44

changed and the the way you

1:05:46

interact with the overworld, the all the

1:05:48

exploration and puzzle solving in the

1:05:50

game, it feels fresh

1:05:52

and different and very much a reinvention

1:05:54

of that first game. And it it's it's

1:05:56

been a delight. It's

1:05:58

another game that my son and I have

1:06:00

enjoyed to well, not even together, but

1:06:02

sort of in parallel. You can

1:06:04

beat first.

1:06:06

Yes. He constantly is telling me, like, daddy, do

1:06:08

you want me to help you get past that? I'm like, no, I could do it.

1:06:10

But it's it's been

1:06:12

really fun. And I love seeing

1:06:17

the game through his eyes, but I have thoroughly

1:06:19

enjoyed playing it myself. And I think it's

1:06:21

a it's really

1:06:24

I think the first game was

1:06:26

underappreciated and kind of, you know, didn't

1:06:29

get the it's just do.

1:06:31

And I think this one is is kind of suffering the same fate

1:06:34

where I I don't think enough people are talking about

1:06:36

it. And it it

1:06:38

that's why one of the reasons I put on my list

1:06:40

is, like, this game is This franchise is awesome and

1:06:43

this game is excellent. That's Mario plus

1:06:45

Travis sparked some hope by number four.

1:06:47

Super curious

1:06:47

what other games are on

1:06:49

your list because Oh,

1:06:51

there's other games. Fueling could be like

1:06:54

that. Yeah. Okay. It

1:06:56

could be like that. Yeah. This is getting

1:06:58

dicey. It is. It is. Alright. We

1:07:00

are up to number three. Top

1:07:02

three. Top three now.

1:07:04

Anthony But not for Christian. Christian dot

1:07:06

top three. It's just

1:07:08

three random. That's right. That's right. Which is what is

1:07:10

an order?

1:07:10

Oh, no. Okay. I've been

1:07:13

way off. My number

1:07:15

three is immortality.

1:07:18

Oh, wow. Great pick. I I

1:07:20

talked about a little bit more immortal. Yeah.

1:07:22

You

1:07:22

know my number.

1:07:23

Number two

1:07:24

is in visibility and number one is

1:07:27

x rated.

1:07:28

Maybe I think you started looking at the wrong list.

1:07:30

Yeah. I talked about that.

1:07:32

So I was on the

1:07:35

podcast around the time I started playing

1:07:37

it, but I love this game for so many

1:07:39

different reasons. On the

1:07:42

one, you

1:07:44

know, kind of spectrum, I liked it because I got to play it with my wife.

1:07:46

It was a game that we could play together.

1:07:48

I could have the controller, but

1:07:50

she understood everything we were trying to do.

1:07:53

For those might not be familiar, essentially, what you're

1:07:56

doing is you're combing

1:07:58

through individual

1:08:00

shots or scenes

1:08:04

or behind the scenes

1:08:06

clips from

1:08:08

three separate movie productions.

1:08:10

And you're trying to figure

1:08:12

out what happened to this actress. And

1:08:14

any any of the things

1:08:17

you can see in the within the frame. So as you

1:08:19

fast forward new things enter the frame, you can click

1:08:22

on and it will maybe take you to a

1:08:24

clip that features

1:08:26

either that same thing. So, like, the same actor or you can click on

1:08:28

flowers and it'll take you to another

1:08:30

scene that features flowers, but not necessarily

1:08:32

in the same movies. So you

1:08:34

can kinda jump around between those

1:08:37

three

1:08:37

movies. And so you're kind of

1:08:38

piecing things together based on after

1:08:41

they say cut and

1:08:43

the characters interact, or

1:08:46

the behind the scenes. It's not worth, like, giving too much information because you do kinda get this

1:08:48

it sounds kind of

1:08:50

absurd, but you start to, like,

1:08:52

solve

1:08:55

this mystery in your head. And then it gets nuts.

1:08:57

And then some stuff some stuff happens that

1:08:59

I'm not gonna talk about. And then it just

1:09:01

like everything that you think you know about the

1:09:04

game just get thrown out the

1:09:06

window. But I also really goes up with a fire poke and is like, you wanna get yeah.

1:09:11

You know? Exactly. But then I just

1:09:14

you know, as a guy who went to film school and used

1:09:16

to hold the

1:09:19

clapper and hold the you

1:09:21

know, the boom mic. It just was nice to just, you

1:09:23

know, the, you know, seemed to Apple, take to,

1:09:25

you know, that was I

1:09:28

love that. And

1:09:30

I Sam Barlow, who also

1:09:32

made her story, and I the

1:09:34

other game escapes my mind right

1:09:36

now. I've liked each of those

1:09:39

games. In mortality is by far my favorite, and I just yeah.

1:09:44

It it

1:09:44

has so many layers. You could just

1:09:46

wanna want wanna, like, click on these things to put together

1:09:50

these clips for these three movies to just find out plot of the movie.

1:09:52

You can just find out the plots of

1:09:54

these three movies and that's satisfying, but

1:09:58

also which there are three movies, which I also think -- Yeah. --

1:10:00

like, you can just They've got three

1:10:02

movies that are -- Yeah. -- decent

1:10:06

movies. Wild. Yeah. So that I mean, that in and of itself

1:10:08

is the first one is is

1:10:10

a crazy movie. The second two

1:10:12

the other two are maybe not as

1:10:14

strong, but the first one is is bonkers.

1:10:17

But then, yeah, you also have that that other layer of what happened to

1:10:19

her, but then there's the other layer that I'm

1:10:21

talking about that's just

1:10:24

it's nuts. Anybody that's played the

1:10:26

game that, you know, has discovered kind of the other layer is knows what I'm talking about. It is

1:10:28

it's nuts. And I I

1:10:30

really, really like this game.

1:10:34

That's a great it's a

1:10:36

great pick and it is, you

1:10:38

know, such an unusual kind of game.

1:10:40

He's doing stuff that nobody else is

1:10:42

doing, you know. We we always make fun of full motion video. But but

1:10:44

the by the way, the other

1:10:47

one was telling lies. Billing

1:10:49

lies. Yeah. Her

1:10:51

story telling lies. And immortality. He's carving

1:10:53

out his own little subgenre, San Barlow, and it's amazing

1:10:56

that he manages to

1:10:58

mine new ways of doing

1:11:00

it. You

1:11:02

know, because it yeah. Immortality doesn't work

1:11:04

like her story. You know, it's

1:11:06

different, but it's similar. But very cool.

1:11:09

Very cool. That's a great pick. I

1:11:11

don't remember. Good. I I think worth noting here as well, and I I mean

1:11:13

this with all seriousness as we talk about what twenty

1:11:15

twenty two is and was and

1:11:18

what the future holds for

1:11:20

games. This is Netflix's first

1:11:22

DLC favorite game of the year.

1:11:25

No. This is

1:11:28

available on mobile devices via

1:11:30

Netflix's subscription, which is just Netflix. And they're pushed

1:11:32

into mobile games in the

1:11:34

gaming space. And what's that mech

1:11:38

tactical mech game. Oh my god.

1:11:40

Oh, I know what you're talking about. Yeah. I

1:11:42

loved it. And to the beach. And

1:11:45

to the beach. That's great. Also on

1:11:47

Netflix, and they've had a couple of, you know, older big games. But pretty quickly

1:11:52

after it's I mean,

1:11:54

a perfect

1:11:54

game for this. Right? Because it's it

1:11:57

it is about movies, movie watching, and it

1:11:59

just

1:11:59

fits. Yeah. Yeah.

1:12:01

Alright. That's Anthony Tarmino's number three. Christian Spicer, what is your number three

1:12:03

game of the year? If you have listened

1:12:05

to this show this year, I

1:12:07

don't think that this

1:12:10

game being in my top five would be a surprise to

1:12:12

anyone. But it is Ollie Ollie

1:12:14

world, which is not only a

1:12:17

phenomenal game on steam deck, but it is

1:12:19

just a phenomenal game. And it is

1:12:21

a game that in its release

1:12:23

year also released

1:12:26

two incredible DLCs. So since

1:12:29

the it released two

1:12:31

of our shows, it was

1:12:33

nice of them. Yeah, I had to I

1:12:35

had to throw it in here. But two really

1:12:37

good DLCs that I think I

1:12:39

described them on the on the show and

1:12:41

I played each of them it it doesn't make the

1:12:43

main game feel lesser, which oftentimes I

1:12:46

think a a DLC that brings

1:12:48

in a new mechanic can and you'll

1:12:50

be like, oh, this is the complete game. Now can manual or

1:12:53

whatever, you know, it was

1:12:55

lacking before. But each of the DLCs,

1:12:57

each of the expansions brought something new and

1:12:59

fresh to the world and

1:13:02

the level designs are just so created.

1:13:04

Alliello world is A2D precision platformer that

1:13:06

just happens to take place on a skateboard.

1:13:10

And I think the changes they

1:13:12

made from Ollie Ali and Ollie Ali two

1:13:14

in terms of making the levels at

1:13:17

the same time more approachable but also

1:13:19

more difficult is a testament to the

1:13:21

incredible level design that that team

1:13:24

put together in the game where you

1:13:26

can just complete a level and move

1:13:28

on. A way that's

1:13:30

really fun and satisfying, but you can also try to do all the challenges or find the the hardcore

1:13:33

route, the

1:13:36

gnarly route. And the challenges that

1:13:38

that brings. And the the amount of times I was able to find myself in a flow state

1:13:41

or in the

1:13:44

Tetris effect, as I was playing

1:13:46

I guess that's seeing the game. I I see that too, actually. And then in the real world, you see a rail or stairs.

1:13:48

But the the level design in

1:13:50

Ollie, Ollie world is is exquisite.

1:13:55

And the ability to find that Zen Flow state while playing is

1:13:57

a is something that a lot of games

1:13:59

didn't offer from me this

1:14:01

year. And I think it like Spark of Hope for

1:14:03

you, Jeff, is a game that all the other world

1:14:05

came out and got good reviews, but I don't

1:14:07

think enough people are talking about it at the

1:14:10

end of the year, and it is one

1:14:12

hundred percent a game that I think

1:14:14

should be on everyone's favorites of the year list, and it's so well made.

1:14:16

The great evolution

1:14:19

of that franchise in

1:14:22

one of the best, you platformers, two platformers phenomenal.

1:14:24

Yeah? Yeah. All

1:14:27

the Ollie world.

1:14:30

Very good pick. That's Christian Spicers,

1:14:33

number three. My number

1:14:36

three pick is a game

1:14:38

that

1:14:38

I'm a hundred percent certain isn't gonna be on either of your

1:14:40

lists, but I adore it. I

1:14:42

love it. I I

1:14:45

don't understand the haters. It's Horizon

1:14:47

Forbidden West. III

1:14:51

love the

1:14:52

first game. Horizon

1:14:55

is Jordan, obviously, And I think this one

1:14:57

yes. I mean, the a lot of the criticism is it just

1:14:59

does what the first

1:15:02

game does more. But yeah. Yeah. I love being in that

1:15:04

world. I think it has it

1:15:07

it has it does

1:15:10

so many things well And and really honestly, I don't

1:15:12

think there's anything in gaming

1:15:14

that I enjoy more than

1:15:18

taking down a giant robot dinosaur my bow

1:15:20

and arrow and all my toolkit.

1:15:23

Like, that that hunting, that improvisational,

1:15:28

using all of the skills at

1:15:30

my disposal, peep picking apart,

1:15:33

finding the Spicer

1:15:35

that I want to pluck off of it

1:15:37

because I need that to upgrade my thing, to buy buy a piece at

1:15:39

a at a

1:15:44

vendor It's just awesome. And and the

1:15:46

world, the the the size and scope

1:15:48

of the world, the

1:15:51

the a number of incredible

1:15:53

side quests and cool storytelling moments. I just

1:15:55

like being in this world. I

1:15:57

think it has some

1:15:59

of the best costume design

1:16:01

ever in a video game. Every NPC is interesting and and has a

1:16:03

its own story and and

1:16:06

and look and feel and

1:16:09

The voice acting is great. I I

1:16:11

love horizon. I'm so excited to

1:16:15

see news that Horizon as

1:16:18

a franchise is getting expanded with more side games and different kinds of genres.

1:16:24

III love the world

1:16:26

of horizon, the mix between sort of very primitive

1:16:28

world and very futuristic

1:16:30

world at the same time.

1:16:34

I I thought

1:16:36

forbidden west was a a home

1:16:38

run, and I absolutely adored as

1:16:40

my number three. As I

1:16:43

thought about these lists and thought about where

1:16:45

that game would land on yours, and I'm curious

1:16:47

to get your take on them. I started to

1:16:49

draw a lot of parallels between that universe

1:16:51

and terms of -- Yeah. -- the world that it

1:16:54

creates, the hopefulness of it, like a boy is

1:16:57

not a

1:17:00

pessimistic character. Right. She is faced with insurmountable odds

1:17:02

time and time again, and she is a beacon of hope. I have

1:17:04

not seen way of the water,

1:17:06

but listening to you describe it.

1:17:10

And the first film, it it seems

1:17:12

very similar in terms of these worlds that

1:17:14

they present where it could be easy for these

1:17:16

characters to go. Well, life sucks. Yeah. They're

1:17:18

not even going home. Right. And that's not what

1:17:21

it is. So I think it makes a lot of sense

1:17:23

that this that the horizon

1:17:25

franchise would let you spend five

1:17:27

hundred dollars on

1:17:28

another VR headset. Yeah. Yeah. Basically. Not wrong. Not wrong.

1:17:31

Click on twenty twenty three, baby.

1:17:35

Anyway, that is my number three. Alright. We're gonna hit

1:17:38

number

1:17:38

two, nitty

1:17:39

gritty. Here

1:17:41

we go. Anthony Towermina, your

1:17:44

number two favorite game of

1:17:46

twenty twenty two. Vampire survivors.

1:17:51

Whoa. Good pick.

1:17:52

Vampire survivors

1:17:53

is gonna be a game that maybe it wasn't the

1:17:55

first to

1:17:56

do this. And it's definitely

1:17:58

not gonna be the last, but

1:18:01

We aren't gonna be talking about in

1:18:03

twenty twenty three how many games --

1:18:05

Yeah. -- our vampires are mine. Created a subgenre

1:18:07

for sure. Yeah.

1:18:10

Yeah. The game I'm I'm I'm a

1:18:12

sucker for vampires.

1:18:15

Eight survivors, though. So so

1:18:18

anything, you know, castlevania or or, you know, anything

1:18:20

within that world

1:18:22

in media, I'm I'm in.

1:18:27

So vampire survivors my first

1:18:29

kind of, like, encounter with it is

1:18:31

I was just watching a

1:18:33

twitch streamer play it probably very, very

1:18:35

early this year. And I was like, what is

1:18:37

this game? What is he doing? And I didn't

1:18:40

understand it. I didn't

1:18:42

really get it. I thought there was more to it, you know, because

1:18:44

I couldn't you can't see what the

1:18:46

person's doing, so then I I downloaded

1:18:49

it. It was like, you don't You don't do anything.

1:18:51

You don't you don't tell them where to shoot.

1:18:54

You don't really You just move

1:18:56

around and you just pick

1:18:58

up these

1:18:58

upgrades. But then it becomes this like crazy okay.

1:19:01

Well, this

1:19:02

run, I got the Bible.

1:19:04

Okay. Let's let's make it a

1:19:06

Bible run, and this this and if garlic works, but

1:19:08

it's a game that plays itself in

1:19:10

a lot of ways, but it's

1:19:15

super, super fun. It also has its own style

1:19:17

that towards the end when you're getting towards the thirty minute mark

1:19:20

is impossible to tell what's

1:19:22

going on on the

1:19:23

screen. But it

1:19:26

I

1:19:26

just had so hunchful way. Yeah. Oh,

1:19:28

it I mean, it's like, you

1:19:30

know, it's moving at, like, pixels

1:19:34

a second. But it's

1:19:35

so creative in the way that they

1:19:37

were able to find things

1:19:39

that synergize well

1:19:41

and and just create this

1:19:44

experience that although it

1:19:46

may seem simple on the

1:19:49

surface, can be complex depending on how you

1:19:51

wanna tackle it and if you wanna repeat it. But it's also like a great game to just have

1:19:53

going and watch a

1:19:55

TV show and there

1:19:59

was no game besides my number one that I

1:20:01

played more this year than Vampire survivors.

1:20:03

And that's probably because I would just

1:20:05

say, oh, I'm a fire up a

1:20:07

run and watch episode of

1:20:09

X TV show. And each time I would do something

1:20:12

different, I pick a different

1:20:14

character, I pick a different level,

1:20:17

and they're still adding to it.

1:20:19

It really didn't officially come out until later

1:20:21

this year. All for the price of what?

1:20:24

Four dollars? Yeah.

1:20:26

It's it's less than five

1:20:28

bucks. It's on Game Pass now. So you

1:20:30

have to, I think, get it on both Xbox

1:20:33

or PC. It's the type of game that I

1:20:35

think so many people will look at and turn up their nose and then you say just just try

1:20:35

it. Just try it and then they

1:20:38

try it and they're like, okay, I get

1:20:40

it.

1:20:43

Okay. This kinda

1:20:43

lies now. This is what I do. I play this

1:20:45

game. That's all I do. Yeah.

1:20:46

I think more than anything, the

1:20:49

reason that I need to include it or I needed to

1:20:51

include it on the list for me personally is the influence that I

1:20:53

think it's gonna have on so many

1:20:56

games for next

1:20:57

year and maybe

1:21:00

even longer. In the same way, you

1:21:02

know, I think rogue likes kinda took over and started with one game and and now

1:21:05

they're just everywhere.

1:21:08

I think inactive game where

1:21:10

I've already seen a couple where, you know, some just add this ability

1:21:12

to okay.

1:21:15

Now you can aim. We'll

1:21:17

let you aim, or we'll

1:21:19

let you do this. But vampire

1:21:21

survivors started it and is, by far, the

1:21:23

most addicting game

1:21:26

that you would look at and go, there's

1:21:28

no way I would

1:21:29

get addicted

1:21:29

to that. Yes. You know I loved this

1:21:32

game. It is it's

1:21:34

an amazing thing. And it one

1:21:36

person made

1:21:37

it? Yep.

1:21:37

Incredible. You can play with one hand? Yep.

1:21:40

Incredible. And yet, here we are.

1:21:42

Your number two game of the

1:21:44

year. Vampires survivors.

1:21:46

Christian Spiser, what is your number two game of the year?

1:21:52

Well, I

1:21:54

think we'll be talking about it

1:21:56

again later. This is the only game on

1:21:58

my list that I did not beat.

1:22:02

And I think it is a very rare

1:22:04

occurrence that I have a game on my

1:22:06

favorites of the year that I did

1:22:08

not beat whatever that entails. I might

1:22:10

have said, like, Fortnite one year and

1:22:12

it's like, you don't beat that. But, typically, if a game was gonna

1:22:14

be on my top five, I saw credits because I

1:22:19

rarely banish a game that's on my top

1:22:21

five, but that's exactly what I did in

1:22:24

this. And

1:22:27

I loved it. And I loved every minute

1:22:29

of it. I bought it multiple times and I have no regrets buying it multiple

1:22:31

times and it's elder

1:22:35

ring. I think what Eldon Ring brought to the table

1:22:37

of the Open World game

1:22:39

is something that felt

1:22:42

fresh and connected with

1:22:44

me in a way that I think breath

1:22:46

of the wild did for a lot of other people in terms of bringing something new different

1:22:48

to an open world

1:22:51

formula that has been arguably

1:22:54

perfected by Horizon Zero Dawn or Far Cry five

1:22:56

or, you know,

1:22:59

an assassin's creed prevalho,

1:23:02

whatever, odyssey or origins. And Eldon Ring took I think a lot

1:23:04

of what I think is

1:23:06

great about open worlds and oh,

1:23:10

there's a thing over there and I wanna go there and I've

1:23:12

been it's meaningful and Jeff you talk about it

1:23:14

in Bethesda games of, like, having important

1:23:17

things and story moments happen around every

1:23:19

corner, and Eldon Ring delivered that for

1:23:21

me, but also cut out a lot

1:23:24

of the stuff that often bottlers me

1:23:26

in open world games. The your son is die you know, dying, but why don't you go pick some

1:23:29

lilac for an

1:23:32

hour? Or greet

1:23:35

any random NPC and nothing

1:23:37

is meaningful, but they're they're there

1:23:39

because towns need to have hundreds

1:23:41

of people walking around in them.

1:23:43

And Eldonering is there's five people on the map.

1:23:45

You know, there are n p c's. One of them, you think is an NPC

1:23:48

and then it kills

1:23:50

you. And you're, you know,

1:23:52

like, And I think what it

1:23:54

does to the souls formula as well, and I'll stop talking some slide, Anthony, can

1:23:57

talk about it later,

1:23:59

spoilers. I'm guessing, Maybe

1:24:04

not. I'll keep

1:24:05

talking. A number seven

1:24:07

game. A number

1:24:11

seven. In in terms of how it opens

1:24:13

up the soul's formula,

1:24:16

where I talked

1:24:18

a lot about Sekiro. Whatever

1:24:21

year that was of, like, loving that game, but I got to a point

1:24:23

where it's and it was my most played Xbox game, whatever

1:24:26

year it came out. I

1:24:28

think folks were surprised by that because I I quit

1:24:30

talking about it on the show mostly because I kinda got to a point where I was

1:24:35

hammer, head, wall, nail, all of

1:24:37

those things, a movable object, rock

1:24:39

hard place. And elder

1:24:43

ring while I did not finish, I never felt that

1:24:45

I got to that point. You could

1:24:47

go grind mobs or pick

1:24:49

harder enemies in areas you've already been. And then the

1:24:51

the new environments that I did get to after the

1:24:53

the major bosses I did take down to

1:24:55

if you think that you knew

1:24:57

what that game was. And then all of a sudden, it's

1:24:59

this vastly different environment or environment that's much

1:25:02

more similar to a prior souls

1:25:04

game. And you see how the

1:25:06

formula layers on top of that I mean, it is a

1:25:08

reason why it sold what it did. There's

1:25:10

a reason why it resonated with so many

1:25:12

people, I think, and it came out

1:25:14

early in the year. And while I

1:25:17

don't think I'll ever roll credits in the

1:25:19

game because it's just too big for me. It's like going to the big Texan ordering the

1:25:23

eat the steak. Seventy

1:25:25

do out Spicer you get it for

1:25:27

free. I never won't get steak for free, but hour of eldering that I played

1:25:29

and it it may very well be

1:25:32

my most played

1:25:35

game of the year in terms of hours, especially considering the amount

1:25:37

I played on PlayStation and then the

1:25:39

amount I played again on

1:25:41

steam deck. It's a

1:25:43

phenomenal game and would say

1:25:45

I think more people should play

1:25:47

it, but I think everybody's playing. Yeah.

1:25:49

Yeah. I think it's the game that

1:25:51

defines the year. I think if

1:25:53

people look back on twenty twenty two, that's gonna be the game

1:25:56

that that represents

1:26:00

this year in gaming. And certainly

1:26:02

sales wise, crushed everything, and certainly an impact,

1:26:07

and cultural relevance and all the all the metrics that you wanna

1:26:09

measure. You you you mentioned Danish

1:26:11

and Danish ing a game.

1:26:13

I am ashamed to say

1:26:16

Danish has offered numerous times to try

1:26:18

to schedule time to sort of shepherd me through Sherpa Me

1:26:20

into the game and and and

1:26:22

show me the love, try to

1:26:26

instill the love of this game on me.

1:26:28

This is just one that I you know, and I it's

1:26:30

on me because I I just haven't I have

1:26:32

been able to schedule it and life is too crazy.

1:26:34

But I want to. III wanna find the love in this

1:26:37

game and I just I don't enjoy being

1:26:39

in that world. III

1:26:42

The

1:26:42

aesthetically,

1:26:43

it it doesn't grab

1:26:43

me. III have a hard

1:26:45

time being curious about what's around the

1:26:48

next corner.

1:26:51

But I should just shut up -- Right. -- because I wrote stuff. Gross things that will kill

1:26:53

you. But And I think it's the fun

1:26:55

storytelling people. You're talking

1:26:58

about, you know, why I love things like resin. west, is that, know.

1:27:00

But that's just that's just a personality quote for me.

1:27:02

So I'll I'll shut up and let well, I'm

1:27:04

sure we'll talk about it in

1:27:06

the second one, Anthony. That speaks next.

1:27:09

I will say to

1:27:11

boiling everything. Play up to my

1:27:13

part. Vampire survivor was my was

1:27:15

my six. That was

1:27:19

like, I have I have the the note that they

1:27:21

were tearing at each other.

1:27:23

My number two.

1:27:27

My number two. Is God of War

1:27:29

Ragnarok, which for everything we talked about when

1:27:32

Anthony brought it up

1:27:34

at number four on his

1:27:36

list, I

1:27:39

There are moments in that

1:27:41

game that will stay with

1:27:43

me forever. There's barroom

1:27:46

bra that, like, I I think about all the time just how it was executed.

1:27:48

You know, there

1:27:51

are there are incredible

1:27:56

things that happen in that game. There's

1:27:58

the way that a certain character uses

1:28:01

color. There are there

1:28:03

this game has like throwaway moments that

1:28:05

are better than entire

1:28:08

games. And it

1:28:11

it just excels on every level as far

1:28:14

as I'm concerned. I mean, it it is some of the most satisfying fun

1:28:16

combat that

1:28:19

I can imagine. I love the challenge of it. I

1:28:21

love the way the game allows you to challenge yourself

1:28:23

with the combat. I

1:28:26

love the number of options I always have at my disposal and the game

1:28:28

keeps giving me more and more

1:28:30

options as I go on of

1:28:32

just ways to be creative in

1:28:34

the combat and do something in

1:28:36

Oh, man, did I get bored using that

1:28:39

weapon? Oh, I've got another one that I can, you know, switch them up mid combo or do

1:28:41

all kinds of

1:28:43

wild crazy things and

1:28:46

other playable characters in this one. It just is so fun,

1:28:49

visually stunning

1:28:52

and gorgeous a

1:28:55

world that is interesting to me, NPCs that are

1:28:58

fleshed out and fascinating

1:29:00

and well

1:29:03

acted deliver the the single camera

1:29:05

thing is is so compelling and so interesting

1:29:07

the way the camera

1:29:09

moves through the world. There's just nothing I

1:29:11

don't like about God of War

1:29:13

Ragnarok. It

1:29:14

is exceptional on

1:29:15

every level. It's

1:29:18

it's top tier craftsmanship of

1:29:20

a

1:29:21

video game, and it it delivers a just

1:29:23

a thunderous powerful fun

1:29:27

experience. It's like, It's

1:29:30

to me, it's it's a it's a pinnacle

1:29:32

of game design and a worthy

1:29:34

successor to one of the greatest

1:29:36

games

1:29:37

ever, God of War

1:29:38

twenty eighteen. Can I

1:29:39

jump Anthony in line and do my favorite game

1:29:41

of the year real quick while we're here? Well,

1:29:44

I was gonna Before we get

1:29:46

to number one before we get to number

1:29:48

one, I was just

1:29:50

gonna say, hey, if you like our content, consider being a patron. At

1:29:52

patreon dot com

1:29:54

slash DLC pod The

1:29:58

future is uncertain. Our future

1:30:01

is uncertain. You've probably heard fewer

1:30:03

and fewer ads through

1:30:05

the year. Advertising

1:30:08

on podcasts is in disarray. I

1:30:10

know I have many podcasts and

1:30:12

all of our advertising

1:30:14

is is getting harder to

1:30:17

come by. We really

1:30:19

only survive because of

1:30:22

patrons. We're hoping to get to a thousand

1:30:24

patrons in the next couple of

1:30:26

months. We're only a couple of

1:30:29

hundred away. And if you listen to

1:30:31

the show and you'd like to support

1:30:32

it, we have tiers of content I I talk about at

1:30:34

the beginning of rewards. But even if you

1:30:39

you know,

1:30:39

you can't afford that much a month.

1:30:41

Any amount is is helpful and

1:30:43

useful and appreciated.

1:30:46

Of course, if it causes you any kind of financial hardship, we

1:30:48

would not want you to support the

1:30:50

show. But if you are able, we

1:30:52

certainly would appreciate it. Alright.

1:30:55

That's a little advertisement. But

1:30:57

Christian Spicer, you wanted to

1:30:59

jump in line again, breaking the well established

1:31:03

rules Well, we were here until

1:31:06

Yeah. I mean,

1:31:06

I also could have jumped you, Jeff. Yeah. Because

1:31:10

Yeah. Anthony showed a restraint

1:31:12

as we kept spoiling his number walk about

1:31:14

TMPTMP shredders your bag. Because we were still

1:31:16

on twos then Right. Now

1:31:19

hit the end of two,

1:31:22

Okay. Okay. We we're just giving

1:31:24

you

1:31:25

kanguff. Alright. Christian, your

1:31:27

number one is Last

1:31:29

of us, part of the Knights. Thank

1:31:31

of PS brought combat? It's got

1:31:35

a war and what

1:31:38

I wanna add to what you both have said

1:31:41

that I could not

1:31:43

disagree with more is what

1:31:45

what I found so refreshing

1:31:47

about it was and I know it

1:31:49

got knocked for for, like, helpful MPC's chatting too much.

1:31:51

But I loved the

1:31:55

puzzles and god of war rags noroc, not because they were the witness,

1:31:57

not because they were even difficult

1:31:59

puzzles per se. And I

1:32:01

think the beauty of them is that they

1:32:03

happened in the level. I talked about the level design

1:32:05

of Olliello world. And God of War

1:32:08

Ragnarok just

1:32:11

added minor or sometimes larger than that

1:32:13

puzzle elements into the

1:32:15

broader playscape that

1:32:17

I felt wasn't present in twenty eighteen. So you'd

1:32:19

be in an awesome combat encounter, but then also need

1:32:21

to do things within the environment to

1:32:24

open up the next combat room

1:32:26

or to get to a place, and it happened so seamlessly,

1:32:28

most of the time for me in my

1:32:30

playthrough, that I found it really refreshing.

1:32:32

And I loved how they

1:32:34

tweaked the formula from twenty eighteen

1:32:36

to this one of creating a game

1:32:38

that could be very open at times and give you numerous tasks and

1:32:41

checklists and things

1:32:44

to do. But also a game

1:32:46

that could feel very focused, very uncharted in terms of or or Tomb Raider. You know,

1:32:48

you have the

1:32:51

singular path and it didn't feel like

1:32:53

you were missing out on side content when you were following that singular path. And when you went and did

1:32:55

the side content, side content felt needy

1:32:58

and worthwhile and interesting and

1:33:02

you know, during our spoiler check. Jeff, you and I both learned

1:33:05

that we missed something kind of

1:33:07

large -- Yeah. -- side center.

1:33:09

Repeat that we just didn't experience and we played a lot of

1:33:12

that game and it didn't feel like when

1:33:14

you're doing that side content then that the

1:33:16

main mission is being

1:33:18

left unattended to. I think that my combat would

1:33:20

be

1:33:24

the way

1:33:25

that they can have one of

1:33:27

the most satisfying weapons in all of games, but then also

1:33:29

have moments where you don't

1:33:32

use that and

1:33:34

have that not feel crappy -- Right. -- is incredible. I can't imagine like, hey, we have check

1:33:36

out this this ax.

1:33:38

It's incredible. Everybody loves it.

1:33:42

Great. Now we're gonna make them use

1:33:44

this wet fish for

1:33:47

an hour. And I

1:33:50

I didn't miss the ax.

1:33:52

A hell of a And I I

1:33:54

think it's a hell of a fish. It's just such a testament to games, and I think also to

1:33:59

what Sony is able to make on their hardware. There

1:34:01

are other games that have come

1:34:03

out that just pale

1:34:06

in comparison to a game that runs great on a base PS4

1:34:09

Yeah. That's amazing. They are How

1:34:11

many are possible.

1:34:13

Yeah. Over there. And for all the reasons you

1:34:16

said in those is why God of

1:34:18

War Ragnarok is my favorite game of

1:34:20

twenty twenty two. Favorite

1:34:22

game. Number

1:34:23

one, favorite Objectively best game according to Christian Spice,

1:34:25

sir. Gauravora Red Spicer. accurate for for

1:34:28

Gauravora Red Hawk. I might,

1:34:29

you know, die on that hill to say

1:34:31

that it is the best but

1:34:35

Anthony Towermina. We all wait

1:34:37

with baited breath. What is your number

1:34:39

one most favorite game of twenty

1:34:41

twenty? Well, outside of last year, when you

1:34:43

and I both picked it, it takes

1:34:45

two. Usually, when I picked the number

1:34:47

one, I say, it's why I'm here.

1:34:50

Yeah. Yeah. And the Missouri. That would be the

1:34:51

case. Christian kind of surprised me, honestly.

1:34:54

He

1:34:54

and I had a conversation in

1:34:57

June where he talked about And I was like, oh, man, he's

1:34:59

gonna do it to me. But yeah. I

1:35:02

mean,

1:35:02

it's my wife says also by that, man.

1:35:06

Yeah. Alvin ring

1:35:09

is my game of

1:35:11

the year. No question. Look,

1:35:14

when they first announced the game and started talking about it and saying, open world game

1:35:20

and and certain things like that.

1:35:22

I got concerned. Maybe other fans did too because

1:35:24

a lot of the

1:35:26

things that I love about

1:35:29

the souls games is the kinda