The Besties - What Are We Looking Forward To in 2023?

Episode Date: January 6, 2023

With last year's best games played and adjudicated, we look forward to some of our most anticipated releases of 2023. Sure, you got your Zeldas and your Starfields, but there's way more coming down the pipeline — some of which are out pretty soon!Games discussed: Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Starfield, Final Fantasy XVI, Diablo 4, Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, Hollow Knight: Silksong, Atomic Heart, Judas, Suicide Squad, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Pragmata, STALKER 2, Fire Emblem Engage, Armored Core 6, Redfall, Alan Wake 2, The Wolf Among Us 2, Playdead's New Game Get the full list of games (and other stuff) discussed at www.besties.fan. Want more episodes? Join us at patreon.com/thebesties for three bonus episodes each month!

I sent Justin McElroy. I've never done this before in my life. I've never sent a Christmas card to anyone because I'm Jewish, and there's really not a great reason to do that. But I sent Justin McElroy my very first Christmas card. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. And he ghosted me. He didn't respond to it.

You didn't? I don't know. I can't ask you what address you sent it to, but I'm thinking. I sent it, I text messaged it to you. What? I texted it to you. You texted the Christmas card to him? You texted the Christmas card?

I did. Well, that's why, man. Yeah. Maybe you just didn't see it. That's nothing. Okay, all right, Russ, I see what you're angling for here. No, you sent me an adorable picture of your son eating an apple. Oh, no.

Who did I send this to? No, I didn't. You didn't. Oh, no. No, Russ, you didn't. You sent me an adorable picture. That's saying it was delivered on December 25th. No, I don't have anything from you.

Oh, no. Describe the card. Describe the card. Maybe it's something that doesn't appear to be a card. I'm going to try to send it again, and maybe that'll work. Yeah, just again and maybe that'll work right now okay did you maybe send it to justin thoreau because i know you guys are i just got it on my god it wasn't on my iMessages on my computer but it was on my phone it's a picture of the toe the long-running antagonist of the besties, Russ's toe that he fucked up and sent me pictures of. You know what?

I'll just... It'll be easier if you guys could just see the image, and there's no reason I should have to keep it for myself. Oh, I don't want it. I don't want this. You still have a chance to not do this right now. You're right. These are the last few moments before you have done this.

Yeah, you're right. Let's treasure these last few nanoseconds before it's uploaded to your all's computer. Fuck off. There are other people in this Slack room. This is horrible. At the end, the toe says Merry Christmas. It has a little tag.

He's written Merry Christmas on it because it's all healed up. Yeah. You know, people complain about the inexorable march of time, but it does get us closer to Russ's toe looking normal, and I do appreciate time for that. I appreciate time taking us through this experience. I'm going to delete this.

I'm going to give that one to Russ. Merry Christmas. By this, I mean the podcast. And our hosting site. Made it 10 years. That was nice. My name is Justin McElroy, and I know the best games of the year. My name is Griffin McElroy, and I do know with 100% certainty what the good stuff this year is going to be. Hello, it is me, time traveler Christopher Thomas Plant.

Hey time traveler Christopher Thomas Plant. I have come to you from December something, the last day of the month, 2023. And I know... My name is Russ Frushing and I know the best game of the week. Thank you for saving me. Welcome to the besties where we talk about the latest and the greatest in home interactive inter-game-ment. It's a game of the year show that goes all year long. It's a video game club just by listening to your member. But today we're not looking at the games of the present.

We've been on holiday and we're just kicking off the rest. Yeah, we're just getting a little loose, shaking the dust off. Kicking the tires. And we're going to talk about the games we're really looking forward to in 2022. This is normally where I'd kick it to play it for a deeper explanation. But honestly, if you need more context on that, I don't know what to do with you. So let's just take a quick break and we'll be back right after this. So let's talk.

I think it's going to be a good year for games. And we can talk more about that maybe later after we look at all this. But let's talk about some of the big ones that I think are more sort of universal. Not 100% obviously, but certainly in this podcast, a lot of interest in out in the gaming world. And I want to add something to that. Because I feel like a lot of people might have broadly said last year, 2022, was a bad year for games. Outrageous. Well, certainly from a sales perspective.

Bad year for games, good year for besties games. But good year for besties games. And that's the important thing about this list is the list is comprised of games that basically all of us have either heard of or we know the studio or stuff like that. either heard of or we know the studio or stuff like that i have no doubt that when we get to the end of 2023 there will be so many games that we do not mention on this list that end up being our favorite games of the year just by nature of that's like where the industry is and that's why video games are so exciting right now is like things come out of nowhere sure and and half these games probably won't be out till 2025 y'all pick some shit out of here that's like really dog well how we don't want to break this

up because we've brought each of us have brought three ones that we are personally excited about but there's also a pool of spicy boys we're gonna start with like the obvious ones the stuff that like we all agree yeah there's There's this little game called Zelda, Tears of the Kingdom, Breath of the Wild 2, if you will. And that's, I mean, that's standing on top of the pile, right? I mean, is it?

It's not Breath of the Wild 2, right? I mean, is it? I mean, it's... It doesn't use kind of the same map as Breath of the Wild, but with more islands and shit. I mean, it's as much as Majora's Mask was a sequel to Ocarina of Time.

Or even more so, because Majora's Mask didn Mask was a sequel to Ocarina of Time. Or even more so because Majora's Mask didn't use the map of Ocarina of Time. That's true. This is basically DLC and I don't know why we're wasting our breath. This is what you're saying. Yeah, I'm extremely super fucking pumped about this game

and I just don't want to see anything else about it until I can just play it. That's it man like i i feel like when when uh they announced this game at e3 gosh 2016 20 the switch came out in 2017 i think uh because i think it was like 2019 i want to say it's been it was a couple years when it first got oh no no sorry sorry i was thinking about breath of the wild uh oh yeah and and i played it at e3 and i wish i hadn't 19 uh i wish i hadn't because it was that experience of playing it for the first time it's so like it's so magical and i do i do feel the same way i don't want to know anything else about this game i want it to be may 12th uh and and just to have it and uh i i really think there's going to be May 12th and just to have it. And I realize-

Do we think there's going to be like a giant curveball? We've talked about this before. Do we think there's going to be like a, you're fucking Ganon in the future or some shit? Well, so there's definitely going to be some sort of curveball because every Zelda game has like a gimmick, right? Like you're on the Phantom tracks or like you're a 2D this time. I mean, it's a very Nintendo

thing. I mean, is it just like, you have a robot arm? Yeah, but if you look at like, Galaxy 2, Super Mario Galaxy 2, for example, like, that more or less built on what was in the first Galaxy, but then added features. They don't have a 2 in the title on this one.

They have a 2 in the title. It's been a long, it's gonna be, have have a two years of the title. It's going to have been a long time since the last... It's going to have been six years since the last Zelda game. That's wild. That is very wild. That's wild. The Switch is just going, huh?

It's just going to keep going. Yeah. I do worry whether the Switch is going to be capable of running this game, but that... I am not. That is one thing I am not worried about. I don't know because Breath of the Wild was so like, it ran so, I don't think anyone has made a game as big as Breath of the Wild is that ran half as good as Breath of the Wild. I mean, I agree with that because there aren't a lot of open world games

that run great on Switch, but like it's still, Breath of the Wild on Switch like gets a little hitchy and like yeah doesn't handle the hardware you know it does the best it can but yeah i i'm i i'm look i'm not taking away anything away from this game i'm super super pumped about it um do you think it's gonna be like a gta 5 situation where like yeah technically it runs but well here's what's gonna happen which comes out that's right remake exactly right it's gonna fuck the new switch is gonna run it at 60 and it's gonna look insanely good no no the new switch is gonna run it at 30 and modern switch is gonna run it like a solid 20 yeah that's right actually um i'd like to talk

about another game on here and this is the one I think this is the game that I am most interested in, though I'm not convinced it will be the best one. And that is like, I want it. This is what I want from you all. Starfield. I want to know like, what,

what are your, what are you, what is your, what are you anticipating for Starfield? What do you think that will be when it comes? I think week one, anticipating. Obviously a mess. Yeah. A total, a total like not not a probably month one it'll be like broken as hell because it's a bethesda

game studio game and they just make they just it they're very big games and they struggle with fully testing them by the time they come out and i get that and i'm sensitive but they are also extremely ambitious games and there are games that are made to as in the case of skyrim last for 15 or 20 years um so i'm i'm genuinely curious all i want from starfield this will be the last thing i say on it i just want to be able to go inside a room and not have not see a loading screen is that possible like yeah maybe because every other open world bethesda game studios game you need to load to like go to an interior that's kind of a drag i mean they've

already talked about sort of the difference uh and i think this has been sort of them on defense a little bit between starfield and like a no man's sky which did have that kind of like i mean specifically seamless uh landing on a planet and blasting off yeah i don't need that necessarily that won't be there they've talked about how they're it's like two different realities is the like surface gameplay in the space gameplay which is fine i don't you know oh yeah i don't i don't care about that i love no man's mostly just like that's a gimmick and this one's got pirates to shoot. I mean, so did No Man's Sky. I'm just saying, like, in Witcher 3,

you can walk into a store and not see a loading screen, is what I'm saying. Yeah. I feel like I don't know shit about this game. I feel like it could come out, and it could be, like, Skyrim, or it could come out, and it could be, like, you know, launch. Fallout 76? Yeah.

Man, and that's a bummer well so use the fallout 76 example i think this will be a game of the year contender for sure the question is which year you know it could come out now you don't think it's going to come out this no i think it'll come out this year but I think that they will make it eventually a mega successful game. It's too big to fail. Like, and it is like, and Bethesda has already done this with other games, you know, they did it with Elder Scrolls Online, they did it with Fallout 76. They will make sure that this game is like beloved and popular. I just don't know if it's going to be like within this calendar year that it gets to that point but maybe but also this is the first mega mega release like post microsoft contract and i don't know what that means like is microsoft gonna you know hold them more accountable with qa or the opposite is it gonna be like maybe a little less ambitious and i i don't i don't know i i have really no idea what to expect it looks i haven't watched this gameplay reveal again this game is gonna be great it's gonna come out 10 out of 10 i have to have be excited about some stuff guys i'm 42 years old you know i i think this one's

gonna whip ass what's the deal with final fantasy 16 oh man now it's time for me to be excited oh wow i thought it was gonna be a griffin, but okay, Client. Oh, sorry. I'm just going to say. No, go ahead, Client. I'm not so hot on Final Fantasy XVI, but I'm excited. Here's why I'm into it. Are you ready? Yeah. They were like, man, you know, like Final Fantasy, we got to get it in line with what's

cool about fantasy these days. We should do like Game of Thrones. I'm like, yeah, that's a good idea. What else do people like? And they're like, I don't know, like Kaiju? Kaiju, right? And they're like, yeah, so let's just do those two things together. Like, yeah, it sounds good. We're gonna do Game of Thrones and there are

Kaiju god battles. Boom! What else do you need? Say it out loud. Let it feel so good. Just like, that's all you need in a video game i don't um i don't get very deep into final fantasy games usually this looks really cool it looks really fun is it like the combat from ff7 remake it is yeah i don't think they're going back towards yeah sorry griffin you you know more about this. Yeah, no, I mean, it looks more action RPG mix,

sort of maybe more in the vein of Final Fantasy XV. The car driving one. Yes, the car driving one. Or even the, God, Heroes of, Warriors of Light. What was the freaking? Chaos. What was that one? Oh, that one.

That one. You know that one. That one was okay. That was real action, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that was fun. Yeah, I one? Oh, that one. Yeah, that one was okay. That was real action, yeah. Yeah, I mean, the action was fun. It had its issues, but I think it's cool that Final Fantasy has just sort of kept plugging away and is so,

like, the definition of what that could be is so loose at this point. Like, I feel like they've stretched the mold so many times that they can kind of pour whatever they want to into it. Yes. Yeah, you just need a Moogle and you're good. Yeah, you need a Moogle, get a Chocobo, get E-Free.

I do, what's interesting to me is I feel like the traditional Final Fantasy, like, experience is being preserved exclusively inside of Final Fantasy XIV at this point, which continues to get really great expansions just over and over again that scratch a lot of the itches of the more single-digit Final Fantasy games. And then the new ones that come out

are like these fucking buck wild action set piece focused things. So I guess I'm glad that... They have all flavors, right? They do. Like, yeah, you can get that with online. The Final Fantasy VII remake thing is doing its own thing. And then there's, like, all the pixel remakes.

There's the pixel remasters. Yeah, sure. Square is just, like, entire weird experiments with RPGs all of last year. I don't think we've talked about any of them in the Game of the Year episode. But they released like 30 different seeds of ideas and some of those I think could like they could bear fruit. It's pretty

interesting. Yeah. I don't know. It's a cool time to like their stuff. Yeah, I think so too. What else is... Diablo 4 is coming out. It's an interesting time for Diablo because they have kind of gone a little bit of a streak of people being pretty rightfully upset with them. Yeah. I played so much fucking Diablo 3 and a ton of Diablo 2 when it first came out.

So I am a big, big fan of the series and they are like emphasizing like look we we do we might have like battle pass stuff but it's just going to be cosmetic i'm taking all that stuff with a grain and grain of salt but if it more or less is prettier diablo 3 it's kind of all i'm looking for right now uh i i like the idea that it's cross platform like you can bounce between different platforms and play god i hope it's on steam deck i don't see how it would be i mean you know if the microsoft thing goes through and microsoft's been putting their games on steam deck yeah but i mean i don't i don't know that activision blitzer just is going to like voluntarily ditch its launcher stupid battle net thing yeah i know much anyway uh i don't know i i

am genuinely super excited about this and i know there are a lot of very good people who don't didn't do shitty things that are working on this game right so it's important to remember that uh in the context of diablo 4 um and so yeah no i'm pretty pumped it's it's it's it to remember that in the context of Diablo 4. And so, yeah, no, I'm pretty pumped about it. It sucks, man. I played so much Diablo 3. I played it with you a lot of the time, Russ. And it was a, I love that style of game. And that was a fucking great one of them.

But between the, you know, thousand different complaints that have come out against the sort of frat boy vibe that they fostered at Activision Blizzard and the fact that Diablo Immortal was a fucking calamity. Like, my excitement for this game has been tempered to a dull edge. But, you know. You know what edge isn't dull? The edge of a lightsaber. And that's exactly what you'll wield as Kyle Katarn's nephew or something. Fucking Dash Rendar Jr.

Star Wars Jedi Survivor featuring an unnamed protagonist that does have a name that I will never learn. He just, I like that he made it legal for people to dress like a dork and still be a Jedi because if you look at the reveal trailer, this guy is dressing like he's leading a hiking expedition or something. He doesn't look like a Jedi.

He had a poncho in the last one. Yeah, he had a cool poncho. Now it's legal for Jedis to wear pants. I'm excited. Yeah'm i'm super excited i was not excited for the first game because i was like yeah whatever star wars there's a lot of shitty star wars games that game not only had a great fucking star wars story which is so rare it also like felt really good great combat greatorgeous game. I don't know. I'm pretty fucking psyched. I really liked this game, but it had a lot of rough edges that kind of turned me off.

It was very buggy. I feel like, well, not just, yeah. No, it wasn't just that. Getting around the world was a pain. Remember that first desert world where it's like craggy? I mean, it does not look like an actual video game. Yeah, it was a bad first level. Yeah. But that said, I think the foundation was really strong.

And like you said, they don't make a lot of great Star Wars shit like this, especially in the video games world. And so I feel like if they can polish off those rough edges, we're talking a lot about edges this year. This is the year of edges. You could say you're an edge lord of the Sith. Yeah, I would say that. Happily, proudly. And speaking of games that I don't think are real. Wait, wait, wait.

With Jedi Survivor, I just want to say also the story is so good. If you did not play the original one, you should go back and play that before this comes out. I said how great the story was, Chris Plant. I gave them the credit they deserved. I said it. I would like to go.

I think I bailed on it. I don't think I finished it. It's got too wet. It's really fucking good. It's better than most of the TV stuff, to be honest. Yes, definitely true. Or movies, for that matter. Man, I finished Andor this week.

Fucking hot shit, right? I know we're not at there yet, but that's the best Star Wars. Best shit ever. Best Star Wars. Agreed. Silksong will be great. Is it going to come out this year?

Will it come out? I'm starting to think it's a collective dream we're all having. We all play Hollow Knight. We're like, this is great. I wish there was more Hollow Knight. And then when we slept we dreamed of silk song but it's not real um i think we've mentioned it on three

consecutive most anticipated besties there's no chance it's gonna pull a sport story right there's no chance there's no way i don't think team cherry is sort of the yeah set up in the same way story for for some, just launched over the break and launched pretty messy and not great. And also had an Easter egg of the devs, which could be, you know, humor is subjective, but an Easter egg of the devs like complaining about like...

Making the game. Making the game. It's funny. I felt, I just looked up Hollow Knight because I would have sworn on a stack of Bibles that came out a million years ago because it feels like that's how long we've been waiting for what was it 2018 2017 uh it came out on switch in 2018 and consoles 2018 so like it i think maybe it just seems like it's been in development forever because i i hollow knight's one of my favorite games ever and I want more of it so badly.

But, man, I don't know. I just need a crumb. I need a morsel, please. It's so funny because publishers keep, like, tweeting about it. Like, Microsoft tweeted, like, hey, Hollow Knight is coming to... Yeah, it's... So, like, you'd think they'd only do that when it was kind of close, but maybe they have no fucking idea.

And maybe they're down in Australia just like laughing at all of us. Yeah, probably not when that rent bill comes through. You know? I think they're doing okay. Guys, things are tough. They're doing okay. I have no idea how they're doing.

I'm sure they're fine. They're doing very well. They're doing just great. I really hope it comes out soon. What a happy, just for Russ. Just for me. It'll make Russ so happy. Well, I will just say this one closing thought it's not coming out this year so i didn't include it on the list

but earth blade which was announced during the game awards last uh this past game awards um basically looks like hollow knight but with celeste physics and graphics, and it looks amazing. Yeah, this looks cool. Yeah. Yeah, it'll be good. Let's take a quick break, and then we'll come back and get a little more personal, a little more revealing. Okay, so in the second half of the show,

I guess we each picked three games that are on our personal list that aren't necessarily on the like super obvious list um and i guess we'll go go around the horn yeah um i'm gonna do one that probably won't come out this year i'm sure there'll be a number of these of the personal picks but uh i'm gonna say alan wake 2 uh this game has been announced they've said it's a survival horror game uh the face of max pain keeps tweeting about it but uh they have a reputation for not really putting games out on a super tight schedule

but man i love alan wake uh and i really just want to see more uh games from that studio from remedy because they just make like bonkers super creative stuff um and uh yeah i don't know what to expect from this necessarily but but i'm i'm pretty optimistic um does anyone else care about alan wake am i the only one i love alan wake i think there's a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth because of that uh that whole uh debacle with with the dlc in that control dlc was oh the control dlc was very bad yeah yeah yeah that is worrisome to me but yeah uh but i do love alan wake i think control was great weird thing with alan wake we're like both of the the the alan wake adventures that i have ingested feel like they're just getting ready to pop off like they're just getting ready to pop off.

Like they're just getting ready to, to like absolutely start humming and win me over, especially at the end of the first one, it felt like, Oh, you're really opening this up to a lot of stuff. And it just didn't happen. And I,

well, they just did a lot of dream stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Like in dreams, which was not as satisfying as like weird real world twin peaks stuff yeah do you remember do y'all remember alan wake's american nightmare yes exactly yes that was a good game i like that fucking weird that night they did like a an xbox live arcade it was xbla

right that was like yeah for it and then it was like a more action oriented aled wake that he had a different shirt he had a different shirt in this house sure wild um i'm i got one coming out in 16 days it's the next fire emblem game oh boy man yeah fire in the moving justin i know you just i don't think you can pay your daughter to play this one for you yeah maybe a little too uh well yeah I think she could. I think she would love all of the all of the dragons and fighting. I'm super excited about. Yeah, it looks great.

I mean, it doesn't I don't really know what is setting this apart from other Fire Emblem games, except for the fact that they have magic rings that can summon characters from past games, which feels like about the most sort of on the nose fan service that you could possibly get in a video game yeah um but i mean three houses whipped ass and uh i'm i'm i yeah i feel like fire emblem is one of those franchises i should say this knock on wood that is kind of hard to really royally screw up uh and i'm just excited to play more fire emblem the cool thing about fire emblem is and this applies to like most of the releases generally for me like the story is like a little hit or miss the characters a little sometimes it's a good one sometimes a bad one hit or miss but the core gameplay is what carries me through my love of Fire Emblem.

And it's always, always been strong. Even from like, you go back to the SNES days, to like the games that never came out in the US. Like that turn-based core gameplay is phenomenal. And so if it just has that, I will leave happy. Hoops, how about you? I'm going to pick a game called Atomic Heart heart and i don't know that much about it it's a first person shooter you got lots of different fun weapons it looks exciting it's coming february 20th it's published by focus in entertainment the real dice roll of the video

game history you never know what you're getting. When it says Focus Entertainment on there, it could be anything. You have no idea. You can extract no knowledge from that. They publish SnowRunner and Resolution Virus and Chained Echoes and Necromunda. Chained Echoes is great. This is what I'm saying.

It could be like 34-year-old whiskey. It could be mouthwash. You have no idea. You see Focus Interactive on there, you know less about it than before you read Focus Interactive on there. Yeah, I mean, as long as I'm here, this is what I'm going to say. Judas was announced during the Game Awards.

It's the new joint from Ken Levine. And I did not watch the trailer. And I am not going to watch anything about it. I'm just going to play it. Really? I have no idea what's in it. And I'm just going to play it. You can watch the trailer and i am not gonna watch anything about it i'm just gonna play it really i have no idea what's in it and i'm just gonna play it yeah you can watch the trailer yeah here's what i'm gonna say about the trailer when it played i was like because we're gonna talk about unresties in a second but uh plant and i have a bet about the bioshock game getting announced and i thought

150 this was bioshock everything about the trailer shouts bioshock into your face i mean i get it for sure but also that's not a knock i'm just saying i mean yeah but like i like those you know i play another one of those i know i know yeah my prediction i bet it's gonna be something like bioshock meetsash. Yeah, that's what I was going to say. Because they don't have a big enough team to make anything that's as big as a normal Bioshock game. So it will be a roguelite of some sort. Which is fine with me. I'm cool with that.

Sounds real good to me. Yeah. We mentioned Final Fantasy earlier, but Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is maybe my most anticipated game of the year. Just because what the hell is it going to be? Final Fantasy VII Remake was kind of what it said on the tin of it being a remake, and where it ended, without getting into spoilers, we'll save that for when we get closer to this game, it zigs or it otherwise zags, and this game could be something very different.

I also think Final final fantasy 7 if they are describing this as a trilogy right a trilogy of final fantasy 7 remakes the first one went all the way through the end of midgar right yeah that is in the original final fantasy 7 that's like a third of the way through disc one so it's like what do you do what's the next what's the next game encapsulate because it's not going to be as tidy, I think, as here's this game set in this one city that we can kind of focus all in. This is not skepticism.

This is genuine curiosity. Are we going to hit some golden saucer shit? Are we going to? Yeah, that's my expectation. And how much is it just going to diverge entirely? I don't think it will. Really? I think it's going to be its own.

I think you should look at it for all intents and purposes at this point is its own like series yeah i think it's gonna have different story beats i think it will i agree that it will have different story boots but i think at its core it will continue to keep pulling threads that were introduced in final fantasy 7 originally flying saucer is that. Flying saucer. Is that what? Golden saucer? Oh, yeah. Stuff like that.

Those characters. They're not gonna go to Mars. It'll be like Matrix 4 type of stuff. Yes. You know? Yes. That is a good comparison.

Some of the lips and God's ears. Hey, I wanted to ask you guys, did we intentionally not put Hades 2 on here because it's gonna be early access? Yeah. I mean, Russ named one that he knows isn't coming out this year I am I'm dying for Hades 2 but I

guess I mean I just forgot about it quite honestly I mean it just got announced so far I'm super yeah I think it will be what are we have they said early access is this year for sure? Yeah, I mean, that's what the announcement says. Yeah. Yeah, so, I mean, I'm pumped about it, but it's the sort of game that, like, I'll play an hour of Early Access just to see it, and then I don't want to touch it until it's done. But it was in Early Access for so long.

The first one was in Early Access for so long. I'm a patient guy. Prush, tell me about your second game, because I am very curious why you're excited about it. Oh, yeah. So, The Wolf Among Us 2 is a... second game because i i'm very curious why you're excited about oh yeah so the wolf among us two is a so the wolf among us for uh for people that don't know was a telltale game based on a comic series called fables and the premise of the comic series is basically all of these uh fairy tale

creatures and characters that you know big bad et cetera, basically live in a town together because a calamity happened where they had to like flee their homeland. And it ends up being like a really mature examination of fairytale characters, also, you know, with real world issues of whatever. I played the original, the Telltale game with my wife many years ago, and we loved it.

It's actually one of my favorite probably right after the first season of walking dead my favorite telltale thing and it's sort of been through development help because of everything that telltale's been through um but i love those characters and and obviously it's gonna live and die based on the writing but if it manages to match the quality of the first game, I am super, super pumped about it. I am going to be honest with you guys. Until I saw this on your list,

I 100% like thought Telltale had close. Like I did not think Telltale was still a functioning entity. I mean, I think they've gone through like basically a full internal gutting and retooling of their employees would be my read of it so i don't know that for sure like i'm sure there may be some people that have stuck around but i think a lot has changed at that company since telltale originally did its thing um hey armored core 6 fires of rubicon what a freaking name for a game uh this is it's from soft but not a soulsborne game is it's a return to the armored core series that i don't think has had an installment since like 2012 uh if you did not play any of those games uh well i mean

they were kind of all over the map but the traditional sort of armored core experience which is what they have sort of talked about this being a return to is you make your mech your ac and uh you can customize like every little bit of it it's legs it's weapon systems it's shields it's engine it's sensors it's like all glasses it's glasses sure it's backpack it's fanny pack um and you go into these you you embark on these different missions uh and get more parts for your robot it's fucking great i loved the like the first three armored core games uh i think think Miyazaki actually cut his teeth on one of the early Armored Core games. It was his first one.

But he is not... Why is he trying to eat a game? What's that? Y'all... Do you, Griff, do you really not think... Or I guess, let me answer this

in a more open fashion. Do you think there will be lessons from the extremely popular Soulsborne games? Like facets of that brought into this or do you think it's going to be a straight down the middle like armored core i mean yeah it's hard to sort of rectify the two of those right like i think that one thing they've talked about armored core six is there being like these huge stylish bombastic boss fights which

definitely is you know a something i would think of as characterizing the soulsborne games but at the same time like they've also talked about how it is going back to the sort of mission-based structure that the older games have where you go out on a mission you do your shit you come back you upgrade your mech uh which is not soulsborney right uh so i i think it's going to be a pretty far cry i think anybody who goes into expecting you know mech souls born is going to be pretty sorely disappointed but uh i'm fine with that because armored core was like a the coolest mech game in my in my opinion and honestly it's a fun one the fun one right uh and i've fallen completely off of the genre

and the the uh i'm just really really excited to start playing it again the the depth of customization that you get for the the max is truly like there's not a lot of games that'll let you take a bad robot to a fight yeah armor core is more than happy to let you take a stupid robot you build a bad get destroyed i i love that this game is like back and that people are going to learn the history of armory core and subsequently the history of from software because the the number of publishers that have published this series is wild bandai namco is going to be putting this one out but sega 505 Games, Ubisoft, Sony, Agetech, ASCII. Did Focus get up on this one?

No Focus. I mean, 505 is really the focus of its time. Sure. You know? I think it's so cool that this studio, that FromSoft, they were around so much earlier than the Demon's Souls, Dark Souls stuff, right? And I think that there's a tendency to look at certain games and be like, yeah, overnight success.

How'd they do that? It's like, y'all, these people were hustling to get games out there for decades. And getting the opportunity to go back to Armory Corps and make something like this and actually just have money seems awesome. I'm so excited to see what they... This feels like a passion project yeah it's the it's cool to see them get a lot of juice from the the souls born success and use it to do something that they appear to be passionate about yeah um speaking of i what i have to assume

is a passion project pragmata pragmata do y'all y know about this game? I don't know this at all. Capcom has a new franchise, and it's called Pragmata, and apparently the story is profound. Whoa! I know. I know. And do I know anything else about it? No, not really. Could it be a disaster?

Most definitely. What kind of game is it? You don't even know what kind of game it is? A third-person do-stuff game? Like, the trailers look weird as hell. There's like a space. You're like a space person, but you're in the middle of Times Square, and there's like a mysterious kid. You know, that type of game.

I really don't know what to expect about it. The visuals look unbelievably cool. I would encourage you to Google it or share it on Twitter because I'm not going to even try to describe them. It has a little bit of Kojima type of visual weirdness to it. But yeah, I am very excited about it just because Capcom's on a hot streak. They have made great Monster Hunter stuff. They've made all the Resident Evils have been awesome.

I've been really happy with the Devil May Cry stuff. So like, yeah, go and make a new series and let's see what it can be. You know, worst case scenario, it's that ice trucker game in space. Love it. I just wanted to quickly mention Suicide Squad because I really like Rocksteady and I'm very hopeful that they had a lot of smart ways of bringing Batman to life in games.

And I hope that that is applied to several different characters to make a fun superhero experience that is substantially different from the Batman games. I don't know if that's going to happen, but I remain hopeful. I'm going to feel very weird. I am also excited about that game. I'm going to feel very weird because it is, as far as I'm aware, Kevin Conroy's final performance is Batman. Oh, wow.

And the whole idea, I think, is you're just killing off members of the Justice League. Yeah. I mean, it's called Kill the Justice League. They're probably, Russ, I don't think at the end of this game, Batman will be dead. No, you don't think so?

I don't think so. Well, you can't say that after the start of the new one saw Batman be dead. Yes, but Griffin, this game comes out after that one. You know what I mean? And Batman's around. So I think Batman's gonna gonna be okay i don't think they've been keeping track quite honestly i didn't finish gotham knights does batman come back at the

end like psych has to right has to right somebody had to finish it right um hey let's talk about redfall new jammer from arcane austin uh it's a team-based supernatural vampire hunting action game. Kind of looks left for daddy a little bit, but with different characters, with different sort of vampire hunting powers. The first trailer they reveal for this one, I think at Game Awards 2021 maybe? A while ago.

Maybe it was an E3 even was really hot uh i i i feel like if this game does come out this year i think the reports there was some recent report that it was coming in may it'll come out this year i'm uh it sure is is is i'm very excited for that i think arcane austin makes really cool stuff remind me was the, I always confuse them with the France studio. Was their last game Prey? Their last game was Deathloop, I think, right? Oh, well, I guess Arcane Leon led Deathloop. Right, I think that was primarily Leon.

This is the follow-up to Prey. It's been many different things in development, and then they settled on this. I'm very curious about this game yeah me too it's been tough for those sorts of games i feel like there hasn't really been one to click obviously there was uh the left for debt what was that called back for blood um yeah one which like didn't super click so it's been tough for this genre a little different than that type of game yeah yeah it's a little bit more, not hero shootery.

I don't know a way of describing it. I think it's going to be kind of a weird blend of a lot of kind of like trends. Yeah. Yeah. It could be. I'm very curious. The vibe just looks pretty cool to me. Yes, I agree.

Fresh, what's your last one? Well, my last one is probably the only one on here that doesn't have a name yet, which is to say it probably won't come out this year either. But I know that the studio behind Limbo and Inside, Playdead Studio, is working on a new game. I believe they've said it is a sci-fi game and it is in 3D.

And that's basically all they've said. Oh a sci-fi game and it is in 3d and that's basically all they've said oh here's the quote play dead's third game uh has been teased as early as january 2017 will be a quote fairly lonely sci-fi game somewhere in the universe excellent there you go guys that's great you've described every game we don't know every game takes place somewhere in a universe suffice to say i love their stuff and uh if it matches the quality of limbo and inside like fucking count me in because those two games are amazing i know we're a little let down by somerville recently which was some older members of the play dead studio went off and made somerville which was an okay game but obviously had some faults um but i'd like to see another sort of stab at, you know,

cool puzzle platformer, atmospheric shit. Yeah. Chris Plant. Yeah. Last one for me is just Stalker 2. I, I don't know.

I'm just curious. I keep saying curious. I don't know what to expect. I really hope that it lives up to both the original game, Stalker, which I don't know if I can even recommend people go play now. Griffin, I mean, what do you all think? It's been forever since I've played that game.

Yeah, it's a complicated PC sim shooter, whatever the case is. It's originally inspired by Stalker, the film, which is practically nothing like. And I think there's a book that inspired that you are these like hunters who are in a kind of like, post nuclear event, Eastern Europe. And you're going into this very strange zone and mysteries are afoot and mutations and yada yada yada it i just mentioned atomic heart earlier if that is the action heavy version of this this is the like the thinky version um but both have guns there is a sticking point uh which is pretty notable about stalker 2 is that it's being developed uh by i believe it's gsc game world who is based in ukraine and obviously uh they've uh been invaded by russia

and uh you know that's pretty fucking terrible some pretty fucking rock and roll videos of them like in a shelter like working on the game, which is fucking wild. Yeah. Mostly I'm just rooting for them to, you know, be happy and healthy. And yeah, you know,

if you need another five years, cause you've got a war going on, fucking take it guys. Shout out to game reviewers in the future who have to be like, and let's talk about this inventory management. That's tough, man. That's a bad beat. Best of luck to you and yours.

Two other quick mentions from listeners. Ryan mentioned Haunted Chocolatier, which... Oh, yes. I don't think that's out this year. They just announced that. Eric Barone, is that his name? Announced in 2021. I would be surprised if that one came out this year.

Yeah, that's from the maker of Stardew Valley. And then Cameron said, Death Trash is a very well-reviewed early access RPG that is a real-time Lovecraftian horror take on Fallout 1 and 2 that should be hitting 1.0 sometime in the middle of this year. And also, Luck Be a Landlord hits 1.0 this Friday, which is like right now when you're listening to this. I don't think I've turned that into a bit more of a game.

I don't think I played it originally. No, I didn't either. That feels like a Justin game, yeah. It's a good time killer. It doesn't have the progression. When I played it, at least, there was no consistency from one run to the other, which is important.

Might be time to revisit. Hey, as long as we're just taking shots in the dark, skin deep, the new Blendo games, maybe. If there's a whole year ahead of us, As long as we're just like taking shots of the dark, Skin Deep, the new Blendo games, maybe, you know, if there's a whole year ahead of us, it seems possible that it could be contained within that year. UFO 50, you know? Hey, yeah, man. Yeah, man, for sure.

Throwing things out in the world that I don't think I'll actually get this year. Yeah. Is that it? I think that's it. I think we did it. Anyone have any honorable mentions? Anything you played over the break or watched um justin you mentioned andor which i also finished and it is fucking spectacular it's the best so good so good it's i think we've talked about it a couple

times now we have like go watch and or it is really good first three episodes are a little slow but it gets stick with, but stick with it. Yeah, stick with it. A Glass Onions. God, so good. So fun. Everybody's talking about that one though, right? Everybody's watching that.

Yeah, that was fun. It was a fun flick. The Circle. The new season of The Circle is up on Netflix. Oh, man. I watched two episodes of a show last night

on Peacock called Paltry Goldman. You guys heard about this one? No. Okay, good. Real quick. It's directed by Jason Williner, who did the Borat sequel. He was the director of that, right?

It is a, this man named Paul T. Goldman emailed Jason Williner or tweeted at him and said, hey, I have this wildlife story. I turned it into a book and I want you to help me turn it into a movie. So it is this man's wildlife story where he has been like basically ripped off by several different people that he has attempted to marry in hopes to find a family for him and his kid. kid but this dude wrote the book about his life and wrote the screenplay and then is starring in the movie of his life which they are filming as this series like they are doing recreations of moments in this dude's life where he is starring in the movie version of it and they are frequently like pulling back to show the director and the cameras and everything and this dude giving notes about how it actually happened in his life and how it's not exactly right because he fancies himself like an actor and a director like he makes a comment about

how he's unhappy that this is a tv series because it rules him out for oscars um it wow yeah imagine if tommy was so had led an absolutely bonkers life and then had written a movie based on his life where he played himself and we frequently see his interactions with like the people playing like his wife or his whatever there is a truly bizarre scene where he is casting the part of the Russian mail order bride that dumped him to become a physician. And she is in the room while they are casting the part and giving notes about how the breakup actually happened. Guys, it's – I just Googled it and like half the reviews are wow this makes the rehearsal seem normal it is truly bizarre truly truly paul t goldman it is like a name bizarre paul t goldman watch the trailer and tell me you're not 100 gonna watch it because it is absolutely unhinged and hysterical and kind of sweet sometimes but

absolutely bonkers absolutely bonkers wow it sounds great um peacock a lot of great shows on peacock i've been playing yakuza zero and i watch this movie to be or not to be fresh have you ever seen this movie no oh my gosh it i this feels like a good one for your movie club. It is by Ernst Lubitsch, and 1942 movie, right? 1942. And it is a movie that is a satire of Nazi Germany

and a somewhat Jewish theater troupe infiltrating the Nazis. It is wild. I do not know how it got made at that point. Yeah, it is pretty damn cool. And I think it's on Criterion. I think it's also on HBO Max. Let's wrap it up.

Let's do it. Did anybody review us this week, Russ? Yeah, we got a number of reviews from people. Uh, thank you for everyone who wrote reviews for the besties. Thank you to our Egbert instant Taylor brainess and sake one, two,

three, four, or sake one, two, three, four. I'm not sure which, uh,

thank you for writing reviews for the besties on Apple podcasts. Thank you to everyone else who has written reviews or talked about the show or shared our game of the year episodes. Uh, you keep the show alive and we couldn't do it without you in all honestness so thank you rattle them off plant

oh god what did we talk about this week we talked about so many you want me to do all of them I mean they're listed here so can you do it fast like the micro machines here we go here we go deep breath Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, Starfield, Final Fantasy XVI, Diablo IV, Star Wars, Jedi Survivor, Silksong, Atomic Heart, Judas, Suicide Squad, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Pragmata, Stalker

2, Haunted Chocolatier, Death Trash, Luck Be a Landlord, Fire Emblem Engage, Armored Core 6, Redfall, Alan Wake 2, The Wolf Among Us 2, Playdead's next game, Paltry Goldman, Andor, Yakuza 0, To Be or Not to Be. And that's what's written down. Yay! What's next week? Figure it out.

Oh, it's going to be a surprise, and it's going to be good. It's a good one. We know what it is, of course, over on our end. We just don't want to tell you and spoil it. It's going to be a surprise and it's going to be good. It's a good one. We know what it is, of course, over on Aria. We just don't want to tell you and spoil it. It's chess. Again. It's not. Be sure to join us again next week for the besties.

Because shouldn't the world's best friends pick the world's best games? Besties!