The Besties

This week, we're joined by GameSpot's Lucy James as we discuss Squanch Games' joke-packed first-person shooter High on Life. How many full-belly chuckles did we experience during our time alien bounty hunting? Also, can J.B. Smoove do voices in every game? 

Also discussed: Disco Elysium, 100 Ft. Robot Golf, Towerfall, Overcooked, Portal 2, The Stanley Parable, Prey, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, The Past Within, Outpath: First Journey, Dragon Quest IX

Note: The day after we recorded this episode and just hours before it went live, NBC News reported that Justin Roiland, the head of High on Life developer Squanch Games, is facing charges of domestic battery and false imprisonment.

After a lot of debate, we decided to still publish the episode as is because we thought it wouldn’t be fair to the other people at Squanch Games, to our guest for this episode Lucy James, and to our listeners, to just not publish the episode.

When our discussion doesn’t mention this alleged, abhorrent behavior, we wanted you to understand why. If you or someone you love is experiencing domestic abuse, help is available through the National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233. You can also visit their website at https://www.thehotline.org/

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!

Welcome to the second-annual Resties Video Game Predictions episode! Each January, Frushtick and Plante make six bold predictions for the upcoming year in video games. We also revisit the previous year's prediction and announce a winner. (The year's champion gets a new, soon to-be-revealed anime statue.) Will Tom Cruise appear in video games? Could cloud gaming go mainstream? Is this the year of AAA mega-hits?

Listen to the episode and find out!

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!

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!

We continue the ritual of making the ritual slightly different every year, when we bring the final eight down to the final four, and then introduce another contender before we rank the final five. And at last we’ll have the answer to the burning question: what’s the second-best game of 2022?

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!

IT BEGINS. Well, it ends. Okay, actually, both. This week, we're taking our top 16 games of the year and pitting them against one another in arbitrary combat until only eight remain. Next week, we'll get things sorted down to a nice, tidy ranking of the five best games of the year. Join us! But like, get comfortable, because this is going to take a while.

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!

Need for Speed: Unbound deserved a better launch than this. After a decade of middling entries, EA has returned NFS responsibilities to the exceptional racing developer Criterion Games. The team has produced a street racing game that blends Forza Horizon with the thrills of the Midnight Club games. And it just looks cool! Frush also got Prodeus off his backlog. It’s a solid retro FPS, ideal for playing on a portable like the Switch or the Steamdeck. Plus, we talk through the Besties 2022 bracket!

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!

This week, we're joined by beloved Besties guest host Ron Funches as we discuss the gory extravaganza called Warhammer 40K: Darktide. Is Left 4 Dead still fun when it's in space and there's religion and cyberskulls and stuff? Let's find out!

Also discussed: Elden Ring, OlliOlli World, Astronite, Need for Speed Unbound, Marvel Snap, Evil West, WCW Matches from 1991-1992.

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!

Marvel's Midnight Suns is a tactics game from XCOM developer Firaxis, only instead of shooting aliens a hundred times from behind cover, you play cards to beat ass with your best friend, Blade. This is, objectively, a very good idea, but how well does the rest of the game hold up? Also, what's on our backlog as we approach the GOTY proceedings? 

Also discussed: Dave the Diver, Pentiment, What the Bat, Binding of Isaac, Andor, Soccer Story, Peglin, Tiny Rogues

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!

The Resties Required Reading List strikes again! Our goal is to curate a "must-play" list of 25 games released between 1980 to 2020. Think of it like Video Games 101. This week, we've selected games from 2010-2014. Join us as we revisit the early days of our careers covering video games! Visit @thebestiespod on Twitter to see a full list of games from this week's episode. Previous picks -- 1985-89: Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, SimCity. 1995-99: Super Mario 64, Pokemon Red and Blue, Final Fantasy 7, Starcraft. 2005-09: Resident Evil 4, Wii Sports, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare;

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!

It's one of the biggest releases of the year and Justin paid his daughter, Charlie McElroy, to play it for him. Yes, it's Pokémon time once again and we're diving into Scarlet and Violet. We've also got way more to say about Pentiment.

Also discussed: Andor, Fargo Season 4, Spy x Family and Warhammer: Darktide.

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!