Another year comes to a close but it's been great! As always, we cap off the year with our annual awards show which gives us a chance to honor a whole bunch of games in over 14 categories! We trimmed some of the fat this year and introduced some new wrinkles which we think make for a leaner (even if it is nearly 4-hours), better show! We hope some of you find the inspiration you need to try some of the games featured on this episode and of course, we hope you will join us in 2023 for another year with a LOT to talk about!

Categories:

• Biggest Regret
• Best Looking Game
• Best New Gameplay Experience
• Best World/Level Design (that isn't Elden Ring)
• Best New Enemy/Boss Fight
• Best New Character
• Best Storytelling
• Best Video Game Moment
• Biggest Surprise
• Biggest Disappointment
• Stubborn Award
• Spotlight Award
• Asterisk Award
• Number 11
• Best Soundtrack

The end of 2022 is looming. In fact, this is our last "regular" show of the year. Krispy and Brad have good things to say about Midnight Suns with some... caveats. Nick and Chris finally have a chance to talk about the divisive nature of The Callisto Protocol and it's potential as a franchise. Chris talks about his time with Potionomics and we catch up with Ed who finished Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and has started up Sifu. In the 2nd segment we talk very early (and potentially misguided) impressions from the Forspoken demo and then we discuss all of the exciting announcements from The Game Awards!

Brace yourselves. Nolan played 50+ hours of Pokemon Scarlet and he's here to tell us why it is both "the best" and "the worst" pokemon game ever made! Brad highlights ASTLIBRA: Revision, a crunchy new action RPG that - as Brad says - "Brings the meat." Nick talks Evil West (not to be confused with Weird West, Blood West, or Hard West) and the group digs a little deeper into the divisive nature of God of War Ragnarok. We also introduce the newly revamped community segment to discuss the Topic of the Week: Is it possible for Nintendo to screw up The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom?

With the launch of God of War Ragnarok, 2022 finally has one of it's biggest AAA releases of the year. With that in mind, we kick things off with the most important questions... Why doesn't Kratos just go somewhere else? Once the big questions are answered, we delve into the nitty gritty to find out how we're feeling about it thus far. Nick provides a quick update (and PSA) on Signalis and talks about his playthrough of the long awaited Somerville. Brad talks about Tactics Ogre Reborn which is an odd duck in that it is the 2nd complete remake of Tactics Ogre; A classic grid-based strategy RPG that launched in the late 90s. All of this is of course against the backdrop of Twitter loudly and swiftly burning to the ground.

For ages, The Steam "wishlist" has given us a way to show interest in a game without committing to it in the moment. Everyone's approach to managing that list is different. On this episode, we comb through our ever-expanding wishlists to pick 3 games that never quite make the cut regardless of how low the price goes or how often they go on sale. To make things interesting, we each commit to buying one of our list by the end of the episode! Listeners will also get bonus tangents regarding fast-food orders and dinosaur fluids (yes you read that right).

Krispy returns to the show this week to finally dive deep into Gotham Knights and the take away is not as grim as you might expect! Meanwhile, Brad has dabbled in Bayonetta 3 but is impressed enough by the approach that he is eager to see what else the game has to offer. Nick showers Signalis in praise for walking a fine line between faithful love-letter and refreshing iteration while Chris Davis has less than great things to say about the Shadows of Rose DLC for Resident Evil Village. We also cover the new PSVR2 launch details and Nibellions sudden retirement from Twitter and the gaming industry at large.

Rats. There's lots of them this week. Thousands of them! Nick and Chris discuss the impressive technological and design leap made in Asobo's A Plague Tale: Requiem - a game that Chris Davis is convinced will sit atop his Game of the Year list this year. Brad acknowledges the charm and skill on display in Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope but laments what could have been if Nintendo had decided to pursue other Rabbids crossovers. Nolan charms the group with Bone's Cafe - another delightful (and morbid) indie gem that combines necromancy with the pressures of Overcooked. In the second segment, the group discusses the announcement of a Witcher remake and Nick rattles off a list of impressive horrors games from his most recent stream including In Sound Mind, Mother, Love Sam, and more!

It's been 3 weeks since our last podcast recording but the industry hasn't slowed down to wait for us! The news segment this week is bursting at the seams with big headlines like the return of Silent Hill, our first real look at the remake of Resident Evil 4, and the unfortunate drama unfolding between Platinum Games and the original Bayonetta voice actress, Hellena Taylor. But before we get there, we have loads of new games to talk about. Things get weird (and squishy) when talks about Scorn, Nolan laments the troubled launch of Deathverse: Let it Die, and Krispy is losing time in Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord. Nick also revels in the bliss that is Cultic: Chapter One; the "Boomer Shooter" that he has been searching for all year.

Circumstances force us to record a "shorter" show this week but make no mistake... there is a lot to dig into. Brad shares some insightful but hilarious anecdotes about his family time with 'Disney Dreamlight Valley,' and Nick talks up 'Prodeus' which manages to deliver the goods as a classic "Boomer Shooter" while also making some bizarre design choices. Nolan finds more digging goodness in 'Dome Keeper' and Chris Davis brings another inspired "Boomer Shooter" to the mix with 'Fashion Police Squad.' In the news, we delve into the first teaser trailer for HBO's 'The Last of Us' and discuss Google's decision to call it quits on Stadia.

Thanks to the Tokyo Game Show, it's another jam packed week in the world of video games! We take a (really) deep dive into the surprise demo of 'Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty,' Nick shows his support for 'SteelRising,' and Chris Davis talks about the demo of 'Valkyrie Elysium'. Brad and Nolan finally get a chance to talk about 'TinyKin' which seems poised to be one of the chillest and most enjoyable indie games of the year! In the news, Brad finally has his chance to talk about the newly announced remasters of Suikoden 1 & 2 and we of course delve into the massive (and unfortunate) Grand Theft Auto 6 leak at Rockstar.