Game Awards 2025: Predictions, Surprises, and Snubs

Abu and Aaron dive into the 2025 Game Awards, discussing nominees, making predictions, and debating potential winners. They cover the Game of the Year contenders, and highlight notable categories like Best Art Direction, Best Score and Music, and Best Performance. Along the way, they discuss Charlie Cox’s washboard abs and the difficulty in defining what counts as an indie game.

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(00:00) Intro
(01:02) Game of the Year
(15:49) Which category is most competitive?
(21:23) The nominees we're happy to see
(24:06) The nominees we're annoyed to see
(29:58) What even is an indie game anymore?
(37:49) Is Expedition 33 an indie game?
(39:15) Where will we see major upsets?
(45:30) The biggest snubs of the year
(49:59) The most underrated games of 2025

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today's episode contains discussions of some of the biggest games
of the year, but we really won't be getting into
any spoilers.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Hello, my name's about and I'm Aaron, and welcome.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
Back to X ray Vision, the podcast where we dive
deep into your favorite shows, movies, comics, and pop culture.
We're here at iHeart Podcasts, where we're bringing you three
episodes a week plus news on Saturdays at least three
episodes a week, sometimes more.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
And in today's episode, we're getting into the twenty twenty
five Game Awards. We're going to start off talking about
the Game of the Year and we'll make our predictions
for what we think is going to take home the title.
Then we're going to get into a couple of the
other awards, the notable ones that we really want to
talk about, and finally we'll hit some snubs. You know,
what do we think didn't get nominated or didn't get

(01:00):
nominated enough.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
But first, Aaron, let's just jump right in and talk
about the big award of the night, the Game of
the Year. Here are the nominees. In case you don't know,
dear listener, Clear Obscure Expedition thirty three, Death Stranding two
on the Beach, Donkey Kong, Bonanza, Hades two, Hollow Night,
Silk Song, and finally Kingdom Come Deliverance two. Those are

(01:25):
our nominees for Game of the Year twenty twenty five.
And I think between the two of us erin, we've played.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
Most all of these, Yeah, almost all of them. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
I think the ones that stand out to me are
Dead Straining two. I haven't gotten around to playing yet.
I loved, loved, loved, loved Death Straining one, very excited
for two. And I haven't played Hollow Night Silk Song
because I'm bad at platforming games.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
Yeah, and those are also my blind spots. I played
the first Hollow Night, I did not finish it.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
I love Soul's likes, but the platforming aspect of it.
I think there was one time I would just like
spent twenty minutes trying to down jump using the sword Mushrooms,
and I was just like, all right, I'm done. Yeah,
I can appreciate this is a beautiful game, and I
just don't I'm not gonna make it. So I have
not done Sulk's Song yet.

Speaker 1 (02:12):
Okay, So despite that, given those two blind spots, we
have the rest on the list we have played, and
I'm curious looking back at your gaming year of twenty
twenty five, Aaron, do these feel like the right nominees
to you? Are you surprised to see any of these
make the list?

Speaker 2 (02:27):
Well? I think you are surprised at Donkey Kong, whether
or not you will admit it, you hate Donkey Kong,
and I think famously in a previous episode about Nintendo
or something, you stated Donkey Kong cannot carry a franchise.
I said those words, yes, which I think we have
seen is not the case. Donkey Kong Bonanza is an

(02:48):
incredible game. But what am I surprised to see on
the list? I mean, I'm not surprised by any of these.
In fact, if anything, I'm more surprised by what didn't
make the list because this was just such an incredible
year of gaming. And if you had asked me in
June what I thought was going to be nominated, I
would have included very different games on here.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
Oh okay, yeah, I mean I feel somewhat similarly to you,
But I think overall, just looking at this list and
thinking back on gaming in twenty twenty five, these feel
right to me, Like these feel like the biggest games
of the year that I feel like most people talked about.
There was lots of conversations about all of these games,

(03:29):
a lot of buzz both from fans and critics, a
lot of positive buzz generally speaking. And really the only
one that I'm maybe a teensy bit surprised about is
Kingdom Come Deliverance Too.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
I was gonna say that was like the only one.
I don't feel like I saw a steady stream of
reactions and content and like people playing it. That was
the only one that seemed to escape me. And I
don't know that's just my algorithm is not serving me
Kingdom Come Deliverance Too stuff or if there wasn't as
much hype around it, but that, you know, game of

(04:01):
the year does not necessarily mean that most people are
streaming it. Yeah, so you know a different kind of
metric there.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
Yeah, definitely. And I did fall into the hype cycle
around Kingdom Come and I bought it on a whim.
I had never played. This is clearly a sequel. I'd
never played the first one, and I put like fifty
almost sixty hours into this game this year. It's a
very long and dense and I will say difficult game,
and I have not made much progress, but what I played,

(04:32):
I enjoyed. It was fun to overcome the difficulties, and
ultimately it's really good as far as RG RPG games go.
But yeah, it feels a little inaccessible to your everyday
gamer and it feels a little bit more niche. So
unless you're like really in the game and conversations, you
maybe never even heard it.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
And I do think this year had This year had
a lot, had a wide wide range of games that
were incredible, yes, but I wonder if it was like
missing the standout like in the previous few years. Like
obviously I am a Solisborne player through and through, elden

(05:10):
Ring came out and just consumed me and was so
far and away my pick for game of the year,
like nothing else competed a year after Balder's Gate came
out so good. I've sunk so many hours. It was
so clearly the game of the year. And I do
think there is a front runner this year, but I
don't think that that game Like I'm not sure if
I will continue to revisit this game year after year

(05:34):
the way that I have with a Balder's Gate and
elden Ring, Breath of the Wild. I mean, so many
of these kind of expansive games that felt like I
had to keep going back to them. I'm not sure
if I'll do the same with this one.

Speaker 1 (05:47):
Yeah, I agree. I think Expedition thirty three is an
incredible experience the first time you play it, and for
most people, for a majority of people, I think that
will be the only time they play it. Whereas Balder's
Gate three, I'm on like my fourth character and my
fourth play through.

Speaker 2 (06:02):
Yeah, and they've done so many new ups, classes, there's
mods and everything. Yeah, it's amazing.

Speaker 1 (06:07):
Yeah, there's always going to be a reason for me
personally to come back to a game like Brotherskate three.
Expedition thirty three definitely the best game I played this year.
I'll probably never have reason to play it again. Well,
we should move on from question one. We have like
a dozen questions in this document today. You mentioned earlier
that you're surprised there are some games this year that

(06:28):
didn't make the cut, that didn't end up on this
nomination's list for Game of the Year. What comes to
mind for you?

Speaker 2 (06:34):
I think Blueprints in the You know, the first half
of the year was such a surprise. It consumed a
lot of gaming conversations. Yea, and I think people would
have thought, like I said in June, like wow, this
is a shoe in for at least a nomination. Yes,
it unfortunately ran into the buzzsaw of there were so
many other great indie games that it's hype kind of

(06:58):
faded by the end of the year, I think. But
I still think that is an absolutely incredible game. It
just came out a little too early in the air.
And you know, we had a Ghost of Yota segment
we did in a group chat. We had Erkayeshi, who's
the voice actor for Atsu. That game is incredible and beautiful,
and it almost feels like it came out at just

(07:19):
the wrong time where it didn't get a chance to breathe,
because it was like Silk Song into Ghost of Yota
into something else. I mean, like it is into Arc Raiders.
Like the gaming conversation didn't live with Ghosts of Yota
long enough, I think. Yeah, so those are the two
that I would I thought had a really good chance
of getting in and they didn't.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
I agree. We were certainly a Blueprints household in my
home when that game came out, like to the point
where there are notebooks full of chicken scratch notes about
Blueprints as we're trying to solve the puzzles. Yes, it
is an incredible game, and really, on the surface, it
looks like a simple puzzle game, and then you keep
playing and it just gets deeper and more complex, to

(08:02):
the point where I can't even fathom how you come
up with the game like this. So if you haven't
tried it, definitely play it for me. I think the
game that I was surprised not to see on the
Game of the Year list was Split Fiction because I
think Split Fiction was a large part of the conversation
this year. It takes two one Game of the Year
in twenty twenty one, so I expected Split Fiction with

(08:24):
the amount of conversation and hype and really positive reviews
it got this year, I expected it to at least
get the nomination, if not legitimately be in the running
for Game of the Year. So I'm surprised that didn't
make the cut.

Speaker 2 (08:35):
And you know, we also are We also are a
Blueprints household and it takes two household and we still
haven't played Split Fiction. I don't know what it is,
but it just hit, and we didn't play it, and
we will eventually. I know that we bought it, we
just haven't touched it yet.

Speaker 1 (08:52):
Yeah. I mean, we're recording this during the holidays, and
that feels like the kind of game where I'm almost
waiting to buy it so that i can like play
it with the niece and nephew, you know, like I
want to play it with someone who's gonna have a
ton of fun playing it with me.

Speaker 2 (09:06):
Let's look back real quick at some of the previous
Game of the Year winners to see if there's a trend,
if there's anything that after we look at that, we're like,
this can't win. This definitely should win.

Speaker 1 (09:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (09:15):
So twenty fourteen, we had Dragon Age Inquisition twenty fifteen,
which are three, Wild Hunt twenty sixteen, Overwatch twenty seventeen,
Legend of is Ald, The Breath of the Wild twenty eighteen,
Got a War twenty nineteen, secor O Shadows Die Twice
twenty twenty, Last of Us Part two, twenty twenty one,
It Takes two, twenty twenty two, elden Ring twenty twenty three,
Baldersgate three, and twenty twenty four astro Astrobot beautiful game.

(09:39):
Is there anything you see from this list that impacts
what you think will or won't win.

Speaker 1 (09:45):
Yeah, you know, I'm actually kind of happy to see
where this list is going now now that I see
it here in the script, like you've laitered out, it's
clear that we're trending away from your typical triple A
third person action adventure game I'm always winning, right, Like,
you have your Last of Us is on here, you
have your God of War, you have Winter three, Breath

(10:06):
of the Wild. These are all like, if you're not
a gamer, these all maybe like look like the same
game to you. Yeah, but in the last couple of years, Astrobot,
well just Gate three, Like we're really breaking the mold
on the type of game that gets nominated and wins
Game of the Year. And so I think that makes

(10:26):
twenty twenty five in this year's awards pretty exciting. Yeah, Like,
I think we got a real race on our hands.
Even though I think it's gonna be Expedition thirty three,
I still think it's really exciting that we're seeing indie
games and platformers and just different genres represented in Game
of the Year.

Speaker 2 (10:43):
Yeah, we have just from that list thirty percent of
the winners in the past have been platform exclusives, like
Breath of the Wild got a War was exclusive when
it launched. Seventy percent of the winners were sequels or
part of a series. So there's no part of me
that things like oh, you know, Haities two can't win
because it's a sequel, or Death Straining two can't win. Yeah,

(11:04):
And I also don't think something like Donkey Kong Bonanza
can't win just because it's a Nintendo only game. Like,
I think anything truly feels like it could win, and
there's a good range of like Overwatch one that's a
multiplayer first person or a third person shooter. We've got
a Breath of the Wild, which is like a flagship
game for console year one turn based RPGs with balders Gate,

(11:28):
Like there's really anything in there. So technically I think
anything could win. Yes, I still think Expedition thirty three
will win. But of all these games in the list,
we've already both spoiled who we think will win. Yeah,
but what game are you rooting for and which one
do you think wins? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (11:49):
Like I said, I think Expedition thirty three is gonna
take it. This year. But that's actually who I'm rooting
for too.

Speaker 2 (11:56):
Oh.

Speaker 1 (11:57):
I legitimately think Expedition thirty three is the best video
game that I personally have played this year. And if
you look into the development of the game, it's pretty inspiring.
You know. It was three Ubisoft developers who left and
started their own company and decided to like make this game,
and this is the first game they've ever released, and

(12:19):
they're just like really nerdy, passionate people who wanted to
make something. So it's really like a ragtag group came
together to make an absolutely beautiful game that has been
a runaway success for them, has really taken the gaming
conversation by storm. So I think just the narrative alone,
the story behind it makes it a clear front runner,
and it makes it the reason I'm reading for it.

Speaker 2 (12:42):
I just want to make sure everyone remembers too. A
Boo did go to Paris this year. He did a
frank aphile. I think there's a little bias here with
what he's choosing. Claire Obscure is obviously a very French game.
Everyone's running around with bagettes, you know, So I don't
know if A Boo take his sitting with the grain
assaults here. But no, I mean, I think you're right.

(13:04):
I think that this game. I mean I was. I
initially bounced off this game. So when I first played it,
the character models were like in that weird on Candy Valley.
For me, I was like, Wow, the setting is beautiful.
The music. I'll talk about the music later, but like,
the visuals are great until I'm looking at them speaking

(13:24):
and I can't stand looking at their teeth, and I
was like this just can't do it. Yeah, And so
I just bounced off it really quickly, and I went
back to it pretty recently because I was like, you
know what we're going to do this game of the
year conversation, I should give this another shot. Like let's not,
as I was telling you beforehand, let's not just play
Bilatro for the fourteen hundred time and like, let's see,

(13:45):
let's do this again. And it is. It's a beautiful game.
It is great. Yeah again, I'm gonna play is it
who you're rooting for? I'm gonna play Hades two more
in my lifetime. Okay, I have had a similar number
of moments. I think playing Donkey Kong Bananza when I
just like had a big grin on my face, where

(14:05):
I was like, I can't believe I did that. I
can't believe, you know, there was this puzzle with all
these bombs rolling down at me, and I was able
to construct a funnel from the ground because I can
just shape the earth however I want, and I could
steer all these bombs in off a cliff and now
I'm safe. Like, there were so many fun creative things

(14:26):
I think I could do in Donkey Kong Bananza that
like felt new again. It just felt like this isn't
just me playing a video game. This is like me
actually thinking, which I'm sure you know was not on
anyone's Bengo card of saying a Donkey Kong game is
the thing allowing you to critically think and express You're creative, right, Yes, yeah,

(14:47):
Donkey Kong's not French, so you don't like him. But
I think I think Claire Obscurity is the game that
people will refer to this year, if people look back
at this year, that is the game they'll talk about. Therefore,
I think it should win. I would be thrilled if
Punk Kong one. It feels like a long shot, but

(15:09):
it's a long shot, you know. But I think Clare
obscure is the top banana thereeah, So yeah, I agree banana.

Speaker 1 (15:18):
All right, folks, that's our conversation about Game of the Year,
and are many many thoughts on it. We'll see if
Expedition thirty three takes home the top prize. Aaron, let's
take a quick break to your listener, nuncle anywhere. When
we come back, we're gonna talk about some of the
other categories and some of the other nominations. Stick around.
We'll be back in a.

Speaker 2 (15:36):
Minute, and we're back. I hope you enjoyed our Game
of the Year discussion, and we're not gonna go through
every single category, but instead, let's highlight a couple of

(15:57):
the other categories and a couple of the other games
from this year that we really like, and we just
want to, you know, talk through a little bit. So baboo.
First off, besides Game of the Year, or maybe it
is Game of the Year, but what category do you
think is most competitive and do you have any prediction
for how it'll shake out?

Speaker 1 (16:14):
Yeah, this is interesting looking through the list. I think
the tightest race here is best Art Direction, just because
I think the nominees here are so memorable. Each of
them is so unique and distinct. You could look at
a screenshot from any of these nominations and know exactly
what game it is.

Speaker 2 (16:32):
And just for the record, the nominees for best art
direction Claire obscare A thirty three Death Stranding two on
the Beach goes to Jota Haitis two, hollw Night, Selk Song.
So five games, four of which were nominated for Game
of the Year, the fifth one probably could have been
could have.

Speaker 1 (16:46):
Been exactly and all with really distinct yes art direction
and art styles. Right, So it's hard to pick one
that clearly stands above the rest because they're all so
high quality. But if I were to throw a shot
in the dark guess out there, I would think maybe
Hades two has a bit of an edge on the others,

(17:07):
just because I do think the interpretation of Greek myth
and the art direction that Super Giant Games always has
in their titles is incredibly unique, absolutely gorgeous, and very memorable. Yeah,
we've all seen the horny tweets about the Greek gods
in these games, and so I think that's maybe what

(17:29):
gives it the edge.

Speaker 2 (17:30):
I mean, we don't have to you just have to
play the game like the game itself is harning enough
for all these characters.

Speaker 1 (17:35):
I feel like, yeah, the Internet doesn't have to do
a lot of words that much.

Speaker 2 (17:38):
Yeah, not much imagination there, What about you? I think
that in terms of the best art direction, I actually
I think maybe goes to the ODA should take it
because I love the whole setting and I love the
difference in each biome basically like, yeah, first world is,
you know, you have all these grasslands and like desolate
like mountains with like a single ominous looking tree on it,

(18:02):
and then eventually you get to like a snowy area
where you have like, you know, very different looks of everything,
and I and the armor and hats and masks is
like top notch, so I think. And the photo mode
on that game is incredible. As someone who doesn't really
do photo mode ever, I enjoy looking at other people's
photo mods.

Speaker 1 (18:23):
Yeah for me.

Speaker 2 (18:25):
I think category that I think is most competitive is
Best Score in Music. And maybe this is just because
this is the one that, like I tune into no
pun intended the most. Yeah, but look so nominees for
Best Score in Music we have Christopher Larkin who did
Hollow Night Silk Song, Darren Korb who did Hades two.
He also did Hades one. He also did voice acting
in Hades one. We have Laurian Tastrard who did claireb'scur

(18:47):
Expedition thirty three. We have toma Atoa who did Ghost
to Yota, and we have wood Kid and Ludwig Forcel
who did Death Stranding two on the Beach, So a
lot of the same names. Quite literally the same nominee.
Game was nominated for Best Art Direction. I have a
huge soft spot for Darren. I think everything he did
in Hades one blew me away, and I remember being

(19:11):
it was the first time I was like, oh my god,
the music in this room has changed from when I
first started coming into this room and and the you know,
the Boss's music is so incredible and I absolutely loved it.
Hades two is I think an improvement upon it. I
don't want to spoil anything, but there's a particular boss

(19:31):
with the music plays a huge part. As certain things
happen in the Boss fight, the music changes to reflect
that incredible music. But I think that Claire Obscure Expision
thirty three, I actually think totally blown away by this.
I was not expecting the music in this to be
what it is. It is so well realized. Like the

(19:54):
opening scene where you are in the city, there's someone
play paying guitar on a like a stage and as
you walk by, you hear them playing, and it's very
feels like, you know, traditional guitar music, a soft finger picking.
Later on you get like very edm like electronic style,

(20:15):
pulsing moments in boss fights the you know, there are
certain bosses that have just positively incredible music. And he
made some ridiculous thing like seven and a half hours
of music just on the soundtrack itself, yes, which means
he made even more. It's so varied, and I just
think that it's beautiful, and I think that that should

(20:37):
win Best Sound in Music Score in Music, which is
a shame because I also love the music and Ghost
to Yota. I listened to the soundtrack for folk Song
and you know, very very beautiful. But I just think,
Claire obscure, it's gonna win a lot of awards, I think,
and I think this is what I should definitely win.

Speaker 1 (20:55):
Yeah, I'm glad you shared your thoughts on music because personally,
for me, like music goes in and goes out the
other like I Expedition thirty threes music did maybe stay
in one one year French before, so that's French. So
I was biased, But I will say like, I'm one
of those people that like music is utterly lost on me,
and so when it does stay with me, it means

(21:17):
like something pretty crazy must be happening, And Expedition thirty
threes music stayed with me this year. Well, moving on
from that, I'm curious looking at the list of nominees
across all of these categories, is there one that made
you kind of like pump your fist and go, hell yeah,
good to see that here. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (21:34):
So there's the Games for Impact category for thought provoking
games with pro social meetings or message. The nominees are
Consume Me, Despelote, Lost Records, Bloom and Rage, South of Midnight,
and wander Stop. I have not played the majority of
these games, but I was thrilled to see Despolote nominated here.

(21:55):
This is a game made by one guy basically like
kind of recounting his childhood, and it's quote unquote a
soccer game, but it is a beautiful art style, and
it's the kind of voice and the kind of subject
for a game that you wouldn't typically see in a
video game. Yeah, and I think that's incredible and I

(22:18):
am thrilled that this game is getting more recognition.

Speaker 1 (22:21):
Nice. What about you? I think for me, I'm a
big RPG gamer and looking at the best RPG nominees.
Here's the list, by the way, Avowed, Claire Obscure, Kingdom Come,
Deliverance Too, Monster Hunter, Wilds, and The Outer Worlds Too.
Two games stuck out to me on that. Avowed and
Outer Worlds Too are both by Obsidian Entertainment. So they

(22:43):
had two games not only come out this year but
get nominated for the same award. And I was just
really happy to see that because I love Obsidy in Entertainment.
I think they make some of the best RPGs out
there right now, and I'm glad to see their work
is recognized. Don't know that About and Outer Worlds Too
have the muscle to beat out what I think is

(23:04):
their much stronger competition. I think Kingdom Come easily takes
this award.

Speaker 2 (23:08):
Oh, even over Clacure.

Speaker 1 (23:10):
I think even over Claire Score. Yeah. I think clairef
Score is a great JRPG that harkens back to like
Final Fantasy. But Kingdom Come. Deliverance too actually pushes the
bar forward for what RPGs do. The mechanics that are
built into that game, I have never seen another game,
so I think that takes the cake here. But very
happy to see Obsidian recognized and I hope they continue

(23:30):
to be recognized because I want to see more games
from the studio.

Speaker 2 (23:33):
I also just want to call out elden Ring Night
Rain nominated for the Best Multiplayer, which I love. Again,
I'm a huge Frumsoft fan. I love that they took
a chance and made something different and they are being
recognized for it. And also Balder's Gate three still get
nominated for Community support it won last year? Can it repeat?
That would be pretty amazing And I think like that

(23:54):
is a category that you should reward games that continue
to do work. And I agree they shouldn't stop after
one year. So I think it's great that they're nominated there.
I think it's great they're still doing good stuff and
that they're nominated.

Speaker 1 (24:05):
Yeah, I agree.

Speaker 2 (24:06):
All right, let's turn negative for a little bit. Yeah,
are there any nominations that you're annoyed to see?

Speaker 1 (24:12):
Yes, there is one. I played a little known game
called The Alters that came out early this year, and
looking at the nominations list, it is nominated for exactly
one award, and that is the Best Strategy Game. And
I feel that is a miscategorization of what the Alters is,

(24:33):
because The Alters is this incredible narrative survival adventure title,
and to cram it into the strategy category with other
like traditional four x strategy games, I think doesn't give
it the recognition it deserves. If anything, I think Altars
should have been in the best sort of like Action Adventured.

Speaker 2 (24:56):
Ah Okay, that was my question. Where should it be instead?

Speaker 1 (25:00):
I think Action adventure. Again, it's not exactly action adventure.
It is like a hybrid genre game, but I wouldn't
call it a strategy game. I would never think of
it as a strategy game, and I think it's unfair
to put her in this category. I think this game
deserved a lot more recognition. I'm gonna have more to
say about it later, but I think at the very least,

(25:21):
the one nomination that did get should have been in
the right category.

Speaker 2 (25:25):
Interesting all right, I have not played this game at all,
so I'm intrigued to see what you have to say
about it later on.

Speaker 1 (25:30):
Too. Yeah, what about you, What are you annoyed about
on this.

Speaker 2 (25:34):
I'm not really annoyed. I mean, that's that's way too strong.
But I wrote down Charlie Cox for a player of s. Yeah,
and I love Charlie Cox. He does an incredible job
in this game. I remember the first time I heard him,
I was like, Wow, it's Charlie Cox, and then part
way through I was like, oh my god, I feel
for this man so much. He's an incredible actor. I

(25:56):
obviously seen Charlie in Daredevil. I've seen him on stage
on Broadway. I have seen him in yoga class here
in New York.

Speaker 1 (26:06):
He is yes, that's what you said. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (26:09):
I was like, I don't know if that's Charlie Cox.
And he took a shirt off and I was like, yeah, no,
that's that's the Marvel body. We can cut all that. No.
I think Charlie is an incredible, incredible performer, and I
love what he did in this game. Yeah. He has
made a big point recently on the circuit. So he
was unable to do a lot of the press for

(26:30):
the game because he was filming Daredevil. So a lot
of the other voice actors were doing you know, making
the rounds for promo and stuff, and he wasn't able
to be there, And recently he has been praising the
work whenever he's asked about the game. I think he's
not a gamer by any means, but you do not
have to be a gamer to do voice acting for
a game. But I think he was shocked at how
many people were obsessed with this game and were asking

(26:51):
him about it. And recently, when asked about how he
felt about being nominated for Best Performance, he's been specifically
praising the work of the French actor, Maxim's Cazorla, and
Cazorla provided the motion capture not only for Gustav who
Charlie Cox's character, that's sure, Charlie Cox's character, also Ben
starrs Verso and also Andy Serkis's Renois. So Cazorla did

(27:14):
like so much of this motion capture work, and then
also was the voice actor doing English and French voicing
for Ska incredible yes, which if you play the game,
Esk is an incredible character and that's.

Speaker 1 (27:25):
So cool that he don't know that.

Speaker 2 (27:27):
And Charlie was just making the point of, like I
am only a small portion of this performance. There's also
this motion capture work that is so important and it's
unfair to just call me out and not call out
Cazorla as well, whereas like some of the other nominees
for Best Performance, I mean so quickly, it's Ben Star,

(27:48):
Charlie Cox, and Jennifer English all for Clare Obscure Expedition
thirty three. Ben Starr has done Final Fantasies, Jennifer English,
Jennifer was shadow Heart and Fathers Yah Jenny.

Speaker 1 (27:58):
Oh my gosh, yeah, the voice love of my life.

Speaker 2 (28:01):
Yeah, Troy Baker who did Indiana Jones in the Great Circle.

Speaker 1 (28:05):
Ever heard of him?

Speaker 2 (28:05):
Kanatsu Kato who did Silent Hill f and Erica Ishi
who did Ghost to Yota who I love. And Erica
did a lot of the mo cap and everything, and
you know, was like deep involved in the story that
we know from our interview with her. I'm not saying
that Charlie should not be in consideration because he was
only one part of it, but I I just didn't.

Speaker 1 (28:25):
But He's goin say, yeah, I'm just using this as an.

Speaker 2 (28:28):
Opportunity to call out the other people all the great
things they've done, even if they weren't nominated. Y.

Speaker 1 (28:34):
I also I think Charlie Cox is maybe getting at
an interesting point here. This award is best performance. This
award is not best voice acting, correct, And so there
is an argument to be made that a lot of
game work is motion capture, and especially a lot of
narrative heavy games like for example, God of War or

(28:56):
Expedition thirty three, A lot of that acting is in
the most is in the physical acting, the facial acting.
A lot of those stories are not simply told through
the words these characters speak. And so if you're gonna
have a category named best performance, I am a little
annoyed to see that it's only voice actors here on
the list.

Speaker 2 (29:15):
Because I mean, if you think about something like Haities two,
which has incredible voice acting, or Dispatch, which has incredible
voice acting, these are games that are animated in a
very different way. I mean Haities two, I don't think
there was necessarily any motion capture. There might have been,
but if not, a game that would require it in
the same way. Dispatch also doesn't feel like it necessarily

(29:36):
needed any motion capture, right, Please correct me if I'm
wrong someone, But those are still those voice actors are
still putting in a ton of work, and so we're
the animators, and you know, it's just it's a tricky category.
I'm glad that voice actors are being recognized because it
is a huge part of it. I just it's an
imperfect category. I think is more of my annoyance. All Right,

(29:59):
we've been talking about Claire quite a bit. Yeah, let's
talk about indie games. So you know, it's no secret
that Claire Obscure is nominated and it is an independent game.
So if you looked at the nominees for Best Independent Game,
you have absolom Ballpit, Blueprints, Claire Obscure, Haitis two, and
Hollow Night Silks Song. There have been an incredible number

(30:23):
of games that have been nominated and then the winner,
I mean not just the winners, but the nominees for
Best Independent Game over the years have been things like Celeste,
which is an incredible platformer, cozy games like Starry Valley,
Action rogue lights like Dead Cells and billatro Have we
reached a point where indy is too broad? Like? Are
we really trying to judge Blueprints against hallow Knight selk Song?

(30:46):
That feels a little unfair at this point.

Speaker 1 (30:49):
I think, you know, Aaron, I think this is a
matter of perspective, I don't think this category is trying
to pit blueprints the game against silk song of the game.
I think this is a category that's more about the industry,
because what is an indiegame is like obviously such a
hotly debated topic, and people fall on different sides of

(31:10):
that debate, and all of it is somewhat subjective. But
my personal bar for an indiegame is something that was
developed by a small team. So we're talking like maybe
a few dozen people versus a few thousand people like
a Veeste game. It's something that had a very small budget. Again,
we're speaking relative to major Triple A title budgets, like

(31:34):
instead of tens of millions or hundreds of millions of
dollars like GTA, we're talking like a couple million dollars,
maybe a dozen million dollars as a budget for the
entire game start to finish. And then finally, I think
the third sort of requirement for me to call something
an indiegame is that it didn't receive any major support

(31:56):
like funding or staffing from one of these big developers.
But that's to Ubisoft, to Microsoft, whatever. If one of
those bigger companies is involved directly in the making of
the game. Then I'm like, Okay, maybe we're bleeding a
little bit away from Indie, maybe into maybe not Triple
A all the way, but maybe we're getting into double
A category there. That's my personal sort of like bar

(32:18):
where I draw the line in the sand for a
game like that. But I think when it comes to
this award, ultimately we're celebrating the fact that there are
games that are made outside of the traditional system. Outside
of these big corporations with hundreds of millions of dollars
of cash making huge, triple A big budget games, there
is still a way to make a game, have people

(32:40):
support it, and make that your career outside of that system.
So when I look at this list of games, what
I'm seeing is not is Blueprint better than Silksong. What
I'm seeing is which game made outside of the traditional
system really broke through the most, really surprised us the most,
and I think more importantly inspired us the most. Which

(33:02):
one of these games made us go, hell, yeah, I
could make a game. Look look with this one person,
or look what this team of twelve people did in
a garage and now it's beautiful. It's art, And I
love it so much and I'm inspired, so that that's
kind of my perspective on this category.

Speaker 2 (33:22):
How do you feel that, Yeah, I mean I'll push
back a little bit. Like let's remember we've mentioned it
a bunch. Balders Gate three is considered an indie game
because it is it's created by Larian, who is an
independent company that self published this game. It is also
technically a triple A game, like it is not it
is so not made by a group of twelve people

(33:42):
in their garage. Like Baldersgate had an enormous like script side,
they had all these animators, they had all these composers,
voice actors, like that is an enormous game and it's yeah,
technically indie.

Speaker 1 (33:55):
Oh gosh, that's true.

Speaker 2 (33:56):
Yeah, and you know last not last year. Two years ago,
Dave the Diver sparked some controversy because it was nominated
for Best Indie Game and it was developed by Mint Rocket,
who's a subsidiary of the large publisher Nexon, so like,
and the director of the game was like, we're not
an indie game, like, don't consider us that, but the
awards show considered them an indie game. They didn't win,

(34:18):
so it was it was purely controversy over the nomination itself.
Cocoon won that year for Best Indie Game. But I
think that we've gotten a little too wide with the
indie category. So I think of this very similarly to like,
quote unquote indie music in the late twenty's, early twenty tens. Okay,
this may go in one ear out the other for

(34:40):
you because you're not a huge music fan, but just like,
sit with.

Speaker 1 (34:44):
Me for having to ask me how many of these
are you've listed? I actually know.

Speaker 2 (34:49):
So in particular, you know, Bonie ver is considered an
indie artist, but if Boni Verre were to put out
an album this year or next year, it would have
so much hype and so many people are looking forward
to it. Boniver has worked with Taylor Swift. He has
been on Taylor Swift albums. Taylor Swift has been on
projects of his, not a Boneiver album, but on like

(35:10):
his side projects and stuff. So that to me is
not the same as some artists who you know, let's
just say, like Jensen McCrae, a singer songwriter who's like
still coming up independent and I actually don't even know
if Jensen is on a major label.

Speaker 1 (35:26):
Or not.

Speaker 2 (35:26):
But like some artists maybe who I'm just seeing their
reels on Instagram of them in their bedroom playing a song,
those are so different. Boniver has the backing of a
huge fandom, and this artist who's trying to break through
is very different. And maybe they're recording it like on
different equipment, and you know they're They're not someone who
has written with some of the biggest artists in the world,

(35:49):
and so I kind of feel like a similar thing here,
like Silk Song and Hades two. These are highly anticipated
sequels that people had been waiting for. I mean, it's
Silk Song people. Yes, there were memes about when will
Silk Song come out? So to blue Prints, one guy
who was just like, Hey, I'm gonna invite all my

(36:09):
friends over to this house and make a puzzle for
them in the house. And then from that he was like, oh, well,
you know what, maybe I could turn this into some
kind of like a video game. He played the Messenger
and was really inspired by it, and it was just like,
that is such a different thing than Larry and creating
balder skates and they're not and I know, different years,

(36:31):
but I kind of wish we had more breakdown in
terms of the awards, like you're saying with Altars, like
do we need a more category, some more games can
get nominated, so that Blueprints can be nominated as a
puzzle game instead of indie game where it's competing with
Claire Obscure Song and he needs too, Like, yeah, you know,

(36:54):
I think that that would be a really great thing.
And this is no shade to Haities two, Silk Song,
baalves Gate, three Claibs here any of these games that
had even David Diver. I love David the Diver, Like,
no shade to any of those. It is amazing what
they've been able to do, but it is such a
different thing when it's one person or two people versus
ten people, versus one hundred people versus twelve hundred people.

(37:19):
So I wish there was a little bit more room.
The indie title is too vague, I think at.

Speaker 1 (37:25):
This Okay, Yeah, I think that's a good argument, Aaron,
and I think it's fair. Maybe there does need to
be more delineation when it comes to how we categorize
indie games and how we celebrate them. And ultimately we're
trying to celebrate as many games, as many games as
we can. But in particular, games that are really made
from the salts of the earth, you know, like in
garages made out of blood, sweat and tears, are just

(37:48):
pure passion.

Speaker 2 (37:49):
I want someone who made this game in a cave
with a box. So just kind of the logical conclusion
to this question, do we consider claib scare ex thirty
three and indie game?

Speaker 1 (38:02):
I think by my metrics, the metrics that I laid
out earlier, I would say yes. Yeah. Sandfall Interactive very
small studio. It was founded in twenty twenty, like I
said earlier, by three Ubi self developers who left ub
self deform it, and ultimately I think the core team. Obviously,
you have marketing, you have you know, you have broader
support staff once a game is published and to get

(38:22):
it out there in the market. But the core team
that worked and on and made the game, I believe
was around literally thirty three people, which is tiny when
you compare it to big publishers that make your Call
of Duties, your Assassin Creeds.

Speaker 2 (38:36):
Your NBA two K yeah, whatever.

Speaker 1 (38:38):
You literally have like anywhere from a few hundred to
a few thousand people working on games of that scale.
So for thirty three people to make a game like this,
I think I would categorize it as indy. I'm looking
at your face and I'm like.

Speaker 2 (38:51):
I mean, I don't like I don't want it to
be considered indy simply because I want I want blueprints
to win something I want belowtated to. You know, I
just think it's gonna steamroll over these other games. I
think by you are correct that by the definition of
an indie game, it is an indie game, and so like, yes,
I just I don't want it to hog all the awards.
That's that's really it.

Speaker 1 (39:12):
That's fair. Yeah, I think that's also a valid, valid feeling. Okay,
to wrap up this section here before we take another break.
Looking at all of these categories, are you sensing any upsets?

Speaker 2 (39:24):
So I don't know if this will truly be an upset,
but I was looking at most Anticipated game, and this
category is ridiculous. Yes, and we mentioned community support where
Balder's Gate three won last year. It's nominated again. Well
last year Grand Theft Auto six one, and it's nominated again.
The nominees for most Anticipated Game are Double seven first

(39:46):
like Grand Theft Ato six, Marvel's Wolverine Resident Evil Requiem
and The Witcher four. Now, look, there are some amazing
game well we don't know what they are, they're not
out yet. We think some of these games are going
to be incredible. GTA six has already been pushed back again,
so realistically, is it gonna win last year, this year,
and next year? That seems uh, that seems like a

(40:09):
failure on all of our parts if we just keep
voting it to win, like, you know, let's give it
to which You're four or Wolverine or you know. I
don't know if Double seven First Light is gonna win,
but I truly think Whatcher four deserves to be in
this category like it should get.

Speaker 1 (40:27):
I don't think Whatcher four is coming out next year though.
That's our question is like, are we is this most
anticipated for next year or just like most anticipated whenever
you know, in general, because Which or four not coming
out this year, there's no release date for that at all.
Yet all we got was like a tech demo trailer.

Speaker 2 (40:45):
Yeah, GTA six.

Speaker 1 (40:47):
Has been delayed and pushed back. Yeah, and we'll likely
be delayed and pushed back again, and so unclear whether
we'll see GTA six next year. The only games that
we know for sure are coming next year from this list,
I think are Wolverine and Double O seven. So yeah,
this is such a funny and elusive category to me
because it's very unclear what the criteria are outside of

(41:09):
just like hype.

Speaker 2 (41:11):
Yeah, I mean Resident Evil Requiem is supposed to come
out in February.

Speaker 1 (41:14):
Okay, Okay, so we got those three.

Speaker 2 (41:16):
Yeah, but god, that's a good point, like, how do
you what is the what is the requirements for being nominated?

Speaker 1 (41:25):
Yeah? And you know what's missing here? Fable. I don't
know if you ever played Fable growing up. I love
the Fable games. As messy as the sequels are, Fable
one is a masterpiece. I think two and three are
fine and okay and somewhat bad. I love them so much.
I have a deep attachment to them. And it's been
a long time since we've seen a Fable project, and

(41:46):
we're finally getting one in twenty twenty six, and I'm
so excited for it. Shocked that it wasn't on this list,
because again, I'm like, what's the.

Speaker 2 (41:53):
Fucking criteria to get on this list? All right, Well,
let's just well write in our own games. You're gonna
write in Fable. Fable is not gonna write it Blatro
two and we'll just go for there. All right, what
do you what do you think the biggest upset is
gonna be?

Speaker 1 (42:07):
Okay, I'm not a multiplayer gamer. I gave up that life.
I put up my hat many many years ago. I'm
too old for that now.

Speaker 2 (42:13):
Your headset, Mike, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (42:14):
Exactly, My headset, Mike is gone for good? Am I
making fun of other people's mom's days are over?

Speaker 2 (42:21):
Uh?

Speaker 1 (42:23):
But looking at the best Multiplayer category, I think what's
interesting is to see arc Raiders on the list here.
This is a late comer that has really taken the
gaming conversation at Zeitgeist by storm, kind of an unexpected
title that has come in and really honestly taken the
shine away from Battlefield six because they came out within
weeks of each other.

Speaker 2 (42:44):
And just for the record, the nominees for Best Multiplayer
Arc Raiders, Battlefield six, Elden Ring, Night Rain Peak, a glorious,
incredibly cute game, and split Fiction.

Speaker 1 (42:54):
That's right, And I think all of these titles actually
would have had a solid shot the throne to take
home Best Multiplayer until our graders showed up, and so
I think that's where we're going to see the upset
out of put money down on any of those other
games had arc Graders not just gobbled up the conversation
so recently, and so I think we're going to see

(43:15):
our graders take it home.

Speaker 2 (43:16):
Interesting. I think it's wild because these are such different
multiplayer games. Like when I think of split Fiction, I
think of sitting on the couch y co playing this game. Yeah,
Peak is another co op game, but you know, not
necessarily like we would all be in our separate homes
or wherever we play games and we have voice chat

(43:37):
and it it is a very fun co op game.
Night Rain I have played a ton of but a
famous thing about elden Ring Night Rain there is no
voice chat. So you are working, you are working with
other people, oftentimes strangers, and you have no way of
communicating other than like one simple way to mark things.
Not what I it is a multiplayer game, but there's

(43:59):
so little communication. Ark Raiders in Battlefield six, I mean
arc Raders. The proximity chat I think is an incredibly
fun thing. But I also think Arc Raiders like you
can play that there are certain play styles that are
very solo oriented and it is about not seeing anyone
and never making noise. And this is just a very

(44:21):
strange collection of games that are considering multiplayer games here.

Speaker 1 (44:24):
I think you can make the argument that multiplayer could
also be split into multiple categories because it.

Speaker 2 (44:30):
Is so broad, right me at some point.

Speaker 1 (44:32):
And shooter games and survival games all at the one here.

Speaker 2 (44:36):
So I would like split fiction to win this, just
because I would like there to be more couch co
op games, like I think we we have lost that
in the Internet, and I would love more.

Speaker 1 (44:46):
Yeah. Honestly, if you don't have a switch, like you
basically have nothing to like, yeah, play with your family, or.

Speaker 2 (44:50):
You're like passing the control back and forth.

Speaker 1 (44:53):
That's that's not the same thing. All right. Well, that
wraps up our segment segment here, just to look at
some of the things that we were keeping our eyes
on and some of the interesting conversations around the other
categories that aren't Game of the Year. Let's take another break.
When we come back, Aaron, you and I are going
to continue a long held Award show tradition and gripe

(45:13):
about some snubs things we thought we should have seen
at the awards.

Speaker 2 (45:17):
Will we decon thement that, and we're back and to
wrap it up, we're gonna celebrate some of the games
that didn't get nominated or didn't get nominated enough, and

(45:38):
just games that we really had a blast playing this year.
So aboo, what is something that didn't get nominated? Either
a game that wasn't nominated in the category you thought,
or just something that was totally snubbed entirely.

Speaker 1 (45:49):
So I think there was a major, major crime to
report in the Best Performance category. Beyond what we talked
about earlier with our boy Charlie Cox. I think think
Alex Jordan, who voiced the main character in The Altars.
I talked about this game earlier. The Altars. The basic
premise is that you you've crash landed on a hostile planet.

(46:11):
You're a sole survivor, and in order to survive and
get off this planet, you clone yourself because you can't
keep the ship running and the life support systems operating. Elope,
and so Alex Jordan voices all eleven iterations of Jan Dolski,
the main character, all of which come from alternate timelines,

(46:36):
hence the name The Altars. These are not clones per se.
These are alternate reality versions plucked from different timelines brought
to this one, and.

Speaker 2 (46:46):
So so they don't all work in a church.

Speaker 1 (46:47):
I thought that's what, no, no different wrong alter So
I really do think Alex Jordan has been snubbed here
on Best Performance because he didn't just voice one character,
one main character. He voiced eleven main characters, all of
whom have different backgrounds, different accents, different affectations and ways

(47:08):
of speaking, different personalities that very much come through in
the voice delivery. And that, to me is incredible. I
can barely do one accent that isn't just my normal
speaking voice, and Alex Jordan is out here doing eleven
different variations of his voice to characterize eleven different characters
who are all technically the clone of the same.

Speaker 2 (47:29):
Game, right, And so this isn't even like a nutty
professor kind of thing or Christmas with the clumps, Like,
He's not different characters. It's the same character, but different versions.

Speaker 1 (47:38):
Different versions, and the and the game is just full
of these deeply emotional interactions where Jan Dolski, the main character,
is like having these heartfelt discussions with himself from an
alternate timeline, and so Alex Jordan has to be in
the booth like talking to himself like Loki. It's really
mind blowing stuff when you think about it. And I

(48:00):
really am shocked that Alex is named and show up
on the Best Performance.

Speaker 2 (48:05):
Well it was a stacked group.

Speaker 1 (48:06):
Yes, for such a stack here. Yeah. Anything that stood
out to you that you think should have been nominated?

Speaker 2 (48:13):
Yeah, I mean we just talked about Indie Game of
the Year, Best Debut Indie Game. I mean Peak was
nominated for Best multiplayer Game. I would have loved to
have seen it under Indie Game. Yeah, if you haven't
played Peak, you and you could do it solo. But
you and a group of friends try to scale a
mountain and you can carry little things and you run
out of stamina. It's kind of like amonga. It's kind

(48:36):
of like fall guys.

Speaker 1 (48:37):
Really key Yeah, meets like really wild character.

Speaker 2 (48:41):
And proximity chat, and so there's so many like if
you just are interested, go look up clips and you'll
find a clip of someone like encouraging their friend to
make the jump and climb up, and then their friend
misses and you just hear them go no as they fall,
and then everyone else is like, h all right, well
I guess we keep going. So I thought that game

(49:03):
was a really cool moment to see people playing that.
I also loved, loved, loved Dispatch.

Speaker 1 (49:09):
Yeah, surprise, you haven't brought this up.

Speaker 2 (49:11):
Yeah, and it was nominated for Best Debut Indie Game,
which feels weird. I think it shouldn't be nominated there.
It is technically the debut game for ad Hoc, but
ad Hoc is just the remnants of Telltale, So really,
I think Dispatch should have been nominated for a Best
Indie Game of the Year. It had a huge conversation online,
continues to have a huge conversation online. I'm sure it will.

(49:36):
It will hopefully get more iterations and more things going on,
and hopefully this brings back this kind of storytelling game.

Speaker 1 (49:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (49:43):
A lot of great voice acting in there too, But
those are the two that I really wish had made
it into Indie Game of the Year. Again, really crowded category,
hard to get everything in there.

Speaker 1 (49:51):
Yeah, I'm a sucker for a Telltale game. I'm excited to.

Speaker 2 (49:55):
You're gonna have so You're gonna have so much fun.

Speaker 1 (49:57):
I think that's gonna be my next game. Okay, to
wrap a aaron one final question as we say goodbye,
looking back at twenty twenty five, looking back at the
games we played this year, is there one that you
just want to shout out, one that you feel is
maybe underrated or that more people listening should give a shot.

Speaker 2 (50:14):
Yeah, I mean in addition to the ones I just mentioned,
you know, especially Dispatch, I think in particular a game
that's underrated in this room is Donkey Kong Banana and
I really wish that you would stop this slander.

Speaker 1 (50:28):
I I don't think he's gonna save the det.

Speaker 2 (50:31):
He's the original IP. He is the original Nintendo IP
Donkey Kong. You know this rags to riches story. He
is minding all these bananas and then gets stuck in
the middle of the world and has to dig his
way through. Now, I love that game. I do think people,
not everyone, loves the Mario Odyssey type play style for

(50:53):
Nintendo games, and I think a lot of people you
members of our of the show similarly feel this way
that like, Wow, I really wish switched to launched with
a Mario or a Zelda game, and instead it was
donc Y Kong Bonanza. It is a great game. I
hope more people play it. I also think Haites two
somehow is maybe a little underrated, Like the first one

(51:18):
was nominated for nine things in the year it came out,
and this one has six, I believe nominees. I think
that it would be it doesn't have to just grow
the number of nominations. But I do wonder if the
open beta took some of the luster and mystique away
from it because people have been playing it for like

(51:39):
a year. I mean, yeah, like it's been in your
household for a year, right, yep. And so I wonder
if that changed kind of the hype for it in
a way that when it did drop, half the player
base had already been playing it or something like I
hadn't played it, and I was so excited about it.
But I also, you know, I would I want to
try out a new weapon or a new build, and

(52:00):
I'd go on YouTube and there'd be someone talking about
that build from six months ago, and I was like,
this game came out two weeks ago, yeah, And it
felt weird to see that that time difference of other
people had already experienced this in a much different state too.
So I do I do kind of feel like maybe
that took away some of the hype around Haiti Sou

(52:20):
even though it still has an incredible amount of hype
and people are still playing it and loving it. I mean,
Carmen on our team is still playing it, you know,
like every morning. So yeah, I loved those games, but
I think yours is probably a better answer to this
question in the purest sense of like what's underrated that
we haven't even mentioned on this show yet?

Speaker 1 (52:38):
Yeah. Yeah, So Citizens Sleeper two hasn't once come up
today because I believe this came out in February. So
this came out really really early this year, and I
really didn't get around to playing it until I think
the summer, maybe late summer, and I really really love it.
I remember playing Citizen Sleeper one because I was intrigued,
but I bounced off of it. I think Citizens Lieber

(53:00):
two has refined some of the rough edges this is.
I think I would categorize this as an indie game.
A relatively small studio made this, but it's a very
narrative focused game. You're doing a lot of reading, it's
a lot of text on screen. It's a choice based
narrative games, so you're making decisions that affects the story,
it affects the characters you meet, a really lovely cast

(53:22):
of characters who join your crew. It's set in a
sci fi setting out in deep space that has nothing
to do with Earth and almost nothing to do with humans,
even you play a sort of this like hybrid android
human character. And so if you're a sucker for sci fi,
if you are a fan of beautiful art design, which

(53:42):
I think this game certainly has beautiful art direction.

Speaker 2 (53:45):
If you're not scared away by seeing a lot of
text on a lot of text, I mean your text. Well,
mostly what you're doing in this game is reading text,
and most of it is not voiced over, to be clear,
because it's an indie studio. So it's a lot of reading,
it's a lot of making choices and text.

Speaker 1 (54:00):
And the quote unquote game part of it is just
like these dice roll segments where you come to critical
points in the story and you have certain attributes of
your character that you level up or spend ability points
in and that affects the dice roll outcomes.

Speaker 2 (54:16):
So, if I were interested in trying this game, what
is the mood that I should be in?

Speaker 1 (54:21):
Like?

Speaker 2 (54:21):
Is this a game on a rainy day? Is this
a game?

Speaker 1 (54:24):
You know?

Speaker 2 (54:25):
Like, if I'm what what is the right mood for
me to get into this game.

Speaker 1 (54:33):
The right mood is if you're hold at the library
is not here yet and you really want to read
a book, or if you love comic books, Well I.

Speaker 2 (54:46):
Think that's that's that's a good one. Yeah, So, like
this is not something for as I'm falling asleep, not necessarily.

Speaker 1 (54:53):
I think the narrative is engaging, and like, if you're
the type of person who like likes reading books, this
is the perfect like play on your Steam Steam deck.

Speaker 2 (55:00):
In bed before you get to bed.

Speaker 1 (55:02):
Cause yeah, I think the narrative is incredibly engaging. The
music is very zen and chill. It's got this sort
of sci fi eedm.

Speaker 2 (55:10):
Music track that everyone Aboo just said he doesn't pay
attention to the music. So if he's saying something about
the music, he it meant something.

Speaker 1 (55:17):
Yes, absolutely, I think it's very honestly, like, you could
probably just leave this game on in the background and
it could be your like low five study beats. That's
the vibe of the music.

Speaker 2 (55:26):
And it's out for It's on Steam, it's on everything, Switch, PlayStation, Xbox,
you know.

Speaker 1 (55:31):
It's on game Pass. If you have game Pass, you
can just download Ice play it so Citizen Sleeper two.
That is my underrated and underplayed game that I really
think from twenty twenty five people should check out and
give it a chance if it sounds like your type
of thing. All right, folks, that's it for our twenty
twenty five Game Award preview. We'll see how things shake

(55:51):
out at the awards show. That's it for today's conversation.
Thanks so much for listening. Coming up this week, Jason
and Rosie will be act on Mike to talk about
Stranger Things, the first two episodes of the final season
of Stranger Things, and then of course this weekend the
Laurabis News Clara, there's actually too much going on. Yeah,

(56:14):
so I hope you're looking forward to all of that.
Thanks so much for tuning in today.

Speaker 2 (56:17):
And please, you know, leave us a comment if you
want to hear a Boo do a solo episode just
on his experiences in Paris and Baguettes, just let us know,
or Donkey Kong Bonanza, what are the other you know?
Or music?

Speaker 1 (56:30):
Please not music.

Speaker 2 (56:38):
X ray Vision is hosted by Jason SEPs Young and
Rosie Night and is a production of iHeart Podcast. Our
executive producers are Joel Monique and Aaron Koulefman.

Speaker 1 (56:47):
Our supervising producer is Abusa part.

Speaker 2 (56:49):
All produces are Common, Laurent Dean Jonathan and Fey Wack.
A theme song is by Brian Vasquez, with alternate theme
songs by Aaron Kaufman. Special thanks to Soul Rubin, Chris Lord,
Kenny Goodman and Heidi Are Discord moderator

Speaker 1 (57:06):
H m hm