2025 Holiday Special

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:13):
Welcome to State of the Saves end of the year holiday special.
Ho ho ho ho dude. This is where we would put like
sounds of like snow falling in the background and Jingle Bells.
That's not Jingle Bells, that's probably copyrighted music, but
there you go. We would do that.
But hey, we're probably not going to do that because it's

(00:33):
the end of the year and we're ready to bring this year home.
I am Erica Coors with me as always.
Michael, how you doing? Mike, I'm doing good.
Mike, it's the holiday specials last end of the year special.
We used to do these back when this show ran multiple years.
And they were never the same. They were never the same.
Some years they were serious, some years they were not.

(00:54):
I used to. I think they're the more fun
shows to do the year, but you know, I enjoy doing them.
It's been a been a hell of a 2025.
I would I am happily looking at 2025 as it goes into the mirror
and flipping it off as I travel down this road of life.
But I'm very excited about 2026 Michael from a video game point

(01:18):
of view. Yes. 2025 has been a pretty good
year from a video game point of view.
It's been very good. I have fallen behind on new
releases this year for video games, but that just means I
have a lot to catch up on for the incoming wave of 2026.
We'll get into talking about 2026 stuff later, but 2026 seems

(01:39):
like a year that is like designed for my taste in video
games. I think that, you know, we're
getting to that point and you know, correct me if I'm wrong,
Mike, but that was a couple of years post COVID where video
games were on like a very slow time frame.
COVID threw everybody off. It threw everyone off.
Like you had like one or two bigheavy hitters, like Eldon Ring

(02:00):
was a big one. But you've had, yeah, it was.
It was weird. It was a weird time because I
think everybody had to readjust to how they operated and this
and the other one. Video games are such a long ramp
up period. The Indies got us through
because those were people who are working in small tight knit
groups or like a guy in his basement on a computer.
So the Indies got us through. The guy in the basement didn't

(02:21):
have to do much changes to his work flow.
He was already good to go. No, I bet you're right.
I think that because video gamesare such a long ramp up period,
there was several years that it was it was felt.
But I would say the past few years, things are starting to
come back. We're starting to get some big
hits. And I think 2025 from a video
game point of view was pretty solid.

(02:44):
I mean, from the beginning of the year all the way to the end,
big hitters, good releases, lotsof new properties.
Not, I wouldn't say return to forms, but like games that like,
you know, were much anticipated but finally got dropped, you
know, games that were kind of bringing franchises back on, you

(03:05):
know, good footing. Like it was a generally a good
solid year for video games. And I mean, I played, I was
looking at the list of stuff that I played this year.
I played probably 10 to 15 year games this year that came out
that were just really, really solid video games.
I had to go back to the beginning of the year because
the beginning of the year has some really good stuff that I

(03:26):
kind of even forgot that came out this year, but you know.
I also keep I keep a log of all the games I beat in a year and
with the exception of April, I was beating at least one game a
month, sometimes like 4 games a month.
But yeah, I try to keep a log ofall that stuff.
Yeah, I mean, it's just a very solid year.

(03:48):
You know, one thing I do want totalk about a little bit because
I enjoy this show. Video Game Awards came was last
week, 2 weeks ago. Two weeks ago.
And Jeff Keeley does a good job.It was a week.
It felt like 2 weeks ago, but itwas a week.
Oh, my God. Life is just life is just life.
No, Jeff Keeley does a good job at the Video Game Awards.

(04:10):
I am a Jeff Keeley supportal Video Game awards from like, I
don't really care at the end of the day about like who wins what
award because much like how I feel about anything that I'm
into or hobby that I'm into, I will be the judge of myself for

(04:31):
what I feel is game of the year or movie of the year or
whatever. I love it all, the game of the
year awards. I love it from a perspective of
I like just being shown off, like what is the best games so I
can like look for those later. Like it's why I'm looking
forward to like all the game of the year podcasts that are
dropping. Min Max had a really good one

(04:51):
and Giant Bombs is this week. So I look forward to like
listening to that and like making like notes so that way
when I get inevitably get gift cards and stuff for Christmas, I
know what to spend it on. So I look at game of the year
like shopping time, like let's let's make out my list.
I have everything in my head. But like getting some like light

(05:11):
spoilers for games going in. I've already heard like a couple
from like 80s too. That made me go, ooh, okay.
I think it's it's like the list of nominees is more important
than the winner exactly because it's like who is who is in the
conversation. Those are the games I want to
play. Like what games are for best
narrative? OK those two movies stick with
me. What are the best?

(05:32):
Is there any new like fighting games out?
Not really touching from the list of fighting games if you
have marvel. If you have Capcom fighting
collection too in there. Yeah is kind of slim picking.
What? What are you talking about?
The the fan award went to a gatcha game?
That just makes me so happy. It makes me happy.

(05:53):
Because it proves that This is why we don't let fans vote on.
Exactly. Just like so now, anytime
someone brings up wildly what the fans are on this like you
did, you've got what you wanted.Got what you wanted.
Gotcha game. Like OK.
I gotcha game that was giving out in game currency if you
prove that you voted for them. It's I respect the hustle

(06:15):
honestly. It's the tell me you voted for
me and I'll and check your GM's equivalent.
Like listen, we know what this is.
These gotcha games are running off a similar formula than the
other industries you. Elected me president of the 5th
grade. I will give everyone free
cookies. Yeah, it's like my mom brought
in cupcakes. If you vote for me, I mean, come
on. But two things I want to talk

(06:38):
about with Game Wards 1 was my highlight, which is the reveals.
Some people were disappointed this year.
I think that's crazy. I think there was a lot of good
stuff showing off. I am not as excited about games
that don't come out till 2027. Or in this case of Star Wars
Fate of the Old Republic, something like that might never

(06:58):
come out. Yeah, it's like, that's like The
Elder Scrolls reveal they did a few years ago where it's like in
theory, one day this game will come out and it's like, I have
no interest in that. I love Casey Hudson's work.
I love Star Wars. That studio formed six months
ago. He's not even in any way shape
or form. They got concept art in a

(07:20):
trailer. If they have concept art, they
have a paragraph on word being like, because just knowing how
companies work, it takes a year just to get yourself up and
running just to get HR hired, just to get floor space parked,
get offices put in, Like it takes forever.
And it's one of those things that I do dislike about.

(07:42):
And I'm a big fan of companies who just released their trailers
for games and like in six monthsor like Capcom Capcom's like
within the year this comes out. I got to give props to Amazon
with their Tomb Raider reveals. Oh, here's 2 Tomb Raider games.
One comes out next year the and the other big reboot game comes
out the following year. But here's a remake to tide you

(08:03):
over. Yes, 2 Tomb Raider releases in
two years. I'm like, that's great.
That was a great one. Fantastic reveal because that's
more of a this is the direction of the franchise and both of
those look cool. Yeah, like, but I like the fact
that it's like next year you'll play this the following year
will be the big next step in the.
But we even in and out over the couple of years there, that was

(08:25):
cool. My favorite thing about the two
may reveal. Now to get too into it.
No one can agree about which Laura looks good.
Everyone says this Laura looks good, dear Laura looks weird and
no one can agree on which one. I'm in the camp, but Catalyst
Laura looks pretty cool. Legacy of Atlantis Laura.
I'm like, I'm not completely sold out.
I don't know why I'm. In the opposite I don't

(08:46):
understand but. I don't get it.
I don't know why. I'm just like I look at catalyst
Laura and go, you look cool. You look like Chloe from of the
Uncharted series going on, just like that sort of thing going
on. I guess I don't know.
I don't feel completely oppositeabout this, no.
One can agree on it. But like, I am fine with them

(09:08):
trying to do what they, they've been kind of talking about for a
little while, which is like a more unified look for her
because it's like, you know, thesurvival trilogy is very
different than like the traditional Tomb Raider trilogy
or traditional Tomb Raider look.And they're like trying to find
the middle ground. But it's what I want them to do,
since they kept saying this is the one where she becomes the

(09:29):
Tomb Raider. No, no, no.
This was the one where she becomes the no.
This is the end of the trilogy where she becomes the Tomb
Raider, The Tomb. Raider yeah, I didn't just I
like those games. I like the survival trilogy a
lot. I think they're good games but
it is weird that they were like,well she's not the Tomb Raider
yet. I was like, well I've played

(09:49):
three of these fucking games andraided a lot of tombs.
And every time at the end of those games, you get the dual
pistols and they're like, why dowe keep doing this tease?
Why do we keep doing the dual pistols?
But the weird thing is too, though, like she's not the Tomb
Raider yet. That's like being in the NFL for
20 years and like for 15 of thembeing like he's not a he's not
at his full potential yet. Well, he's won two Super Bowls,

(10:11):
but I mean, come on. Like it just feels weird.
It was. Just they had the on shows like
this is the bridge of when she becomes the Oh my God.
But apparently the Tomb Raider community did not enjoy that at
all. I don't know if you're aware of
that subreddit, but boy did theymad about that.
It seems like 5050 on like the hate that I've seen versus not.
Like I feel like Netflix adaptions video games have taken

(10:35):
a hit recently apparently. Splinter Cell one's pretty good.
Really. I heard good things about
Splinter Cell. I was a big fan of the
Castlevania ones, so good. But then the Devil May Cry 1 is
apparently not good. It has its fault.
And then. But then the Tomb Raider one.
No one liked that one. Because that's on Amazon though,
right? That's on Netflix.

(10:57):
It's on Netflix. Amazon's making the live action
1 starring Sophie Turner, who played Sansa Stark in Game of
Thrones. I don't really look forward to
that. Like, you know what, know what?
I feel like it's a bad rap. Those old Tomb Raider movies,
hey? Joe, we want.
Hey, so bad. I feel like it's we can look

(11:19):
back on movies of like the early2000s with like rose colored
glasses now and been like that was some dumb cheesy fun.
You ever watched the old Resident Evil movies?
I've saw the one that's basically a RIP off of Mad Max.
OK, that's I, I didn't see that one.
The the the Sand apocalypse. One my favorite 1 is this like
the second one which is like supposed to be resin evil 2 for

(11:42):
that thing's weird because this resin evil 2's plot but with
their their fan insert characterin there.
I saw clips of it, Jill Valentine's there and then all
of a sudden here's me. What joke?
Well, it was basically the equivalent of like if you wrote
the story, but then the fan character or the fan insert
character like joined. So it's like if I wrote the Law

(12:04):
of the Rigs movie, but it was like also featuring Eric, the
real cool guy. And so like, it was constantly
all the stuff from those books. Oh, so we're bringing the Third
Age, basically. Basically, yeah.
But instead of the third Age where you follow like 2 hours
behind the Fellowship in these movies, like everything
important happens around Mila Joelovich, who also just so
happened to be at the time the wife of the director of those

(12:26):
movies. Wonder how that happened.
But like those movies are stupidand dumb but I like I like
stupid and dumb sometimes. No and there was some other good
stuff I was excited for. Exodus looks great until I saw
that 2027 release and I was likewhat the what the hell?
And like they're advertising that thing super hard on like
TikTok which is so weird to me for a 2027 release.

(12:48):
It feels like unnecessary amount.
I mean, it'll take you a full year to read the tie in novel.
The 10,000 page novel. I thought about reading that
fucking thing, but damn man, that's a long book.
I I don't know, I think that's getting like a movie too or
something. What I think it's supposed to be
like, It's supposed to be like alike a like a multi stage event.

(13:12):
We're supposed to all feel like we're supposed to be like Exodus
fanboys by the time that game comes.
Out, Oh my God, remember. They tried that with Advent
Rising. They tried that with too human,
remember? That, yeah.
Or what was it the Legends of Avalar Reckoning or whatever it
was like there was supposed to be an MMOMM.
O the spin off game came out before the big MMO that never

(13:35):
released. I can't get over that that.
Was Kurt Shillings project? That was Kurt Shillings project
if you want to read about that. Jason Shire's second book
Excellent about the closures of studios and the name just left
in my brain. I don't think I read that one.
I read the first one. You let me read the you gave me
your copy of the first book. Hit reset, that's what the

(13:56):
second book it's specifically about studio closures and like
the games they were building andlike why they all closed for
like different reasons. So it's a lot less optimistic
than the first one is. Cuz the first one is more about
like getting projects out the door.
Like it was like how these gamesgot released throughout the
adversity of the project. That is like not getting

(14:18):
projects out the door. I have the third one that I had
for a full year sitting on my desk.
He he makes great books. High, high praise for Jason
Trier's books on like the games industry and everything and his
like reporting at Bloomberg, too.
He has one about the rise and fall and the future of Blizzard
Entertainment. That would be interesting to
see. I'm like this seems like I'm
looking at that book. I'm like this seems like it will

(14:40):
be dense. But like, it's hard to believe
but that Blizzard was like such a top of the the.
Kings of the Kings. Of the video game Ward.
The one valve is like. Yeah, but Valve is now like a
tech giant, like, I mean, Valve it's not.
You don't think Valve today whenyou think about their video
games, you think about Steam. You think about that stuff.

(15:00):
Yeah, like Blizzard was like. Blizzard trying to be with like
Battle.net and stuff. Yeah, Bash, it didn't go
nowhere. Steam's hard to remember.
Epic Game Store. It ain't nobody buying nothing
at the Epic Game Store. You just go there to get your
free game every month. A couple other things real
quick, but the more I want to talk about, I think it's a good
way to end the year. The Game Awards, I think Jeff

(15:23):
Keeley has done a wonderful job.The pacing is down.
It took a while after post pandemic did get really into a
groove, but ever since like 2023, these shows have been at a
really good pace. They're not going to be perfect.
These are going to be commercials first and foremost
and award shows 2nd. And because of that, the awards

(15:44):
are going to feel a little bit cheated, but I guess because of
the nature of the beast, they have to be.
There's no perfect song in dancefor these things.
If you focus too much on awards,the reveals are going to be
lacking. If you focus all in on reward
reveals, which is what this showkind of does, the awards are
going to feel you have to strikea balance that I think he's made

(16:05):
the best possible version of what this show can possibly be.
If you want good dissertations and breakdowns on what games are
truly the best of the year and passion arguments about that,
those shows exist. Those are on podcast platforms,
Those are on YouTube. Those are on like independent
support, independent games mediais what I'm saying.

(16:25):
I think people come to this looking for something that at
the end of the day, if it was that they wouldn't watch it.
If this was a entirely a games award show, like very few people
are actually going to watch it. Like, I liked seeing voice
actors and voice actresses getting up there and having
speeches. I like seeing studios getting

(16:46):
their props. Oh, that's great.
But let's be honest with ourself, if that was the only
thing, it was Michael, Would youwatch it every year?
I've never watched the full Diceawards.
Exactly. I've watched clips from the Dice
Awards and I'm like, oh, look atthis passionate speech from Ben
Starr. Ben Starr is great.
Exactly. And you know what?
That's OK. The studio, because the little

(17:07):
bit of insight into the developers and the human beings
that make the video games we care about is puppeted in
alongside the reveals that we'reall sitting there wanting to see
along with. Someone's keeping them up.
It's alive and it ain't Disney. It's Jeff Keeley.
Jeff Keeley, if I can, keeping them up.
It's going. But no, I think, and I think the
conversations around the game wards are always fascinating.

(17:30):
I think that there's a ton of tone, death content form,
bullshit approaches to it. End of the day, video games are
at their best when we embrace the fact that they're enjoyable
and we're here to be fans of them somewhere down the line.
I think this is something that Ithink about a lot when I think

(17:52):
about end of the year video gameawards and stuff like that.
There was a time in the video game fandom where we were just
more united about being fans of video games.
Then we war about what we thought video games should be.
Yeah. And I feel like now we're fans
of certain games and not games themselves.
Yes. Like I'm now in the camp of I
guess I'm a single player fan versus like a video games

(18:16):
all-encompassing fan because I don't really like the
multiplayer stuff. I don't really care for Mmos.
We are now more sectioned off than ever before so that
whenever everything collides together for something like the
game Awards, the discourse is like the most like heinous toxic
thing you can possibly imagine. Because all these universes are

(18:37):
coming colliding together. Like I'm like I never I have no
real interest in arc Raiders cool as winning awards but the
hate around like Expedition 33 having us return the king moment
is like just just play the game you want.
I think, and this is kind of like my my main thing I want to
say, and this comes OK, I love Ilove punk rock was playing punk

(19:00):
rock bands love punk rock. Punk rock eats itself
constantly. Oh my God, go to the punk rock
subreddit. Oh my God, is the most I cannot
follow that fucking subreddit because it is everybody trying
to out punk everybody else, and video games have become that in
a lot of ways when it comes to these conversations where we're

(19:22):
trying to be like, what is videogames?
What's the real video game pointof view?
These are the jock games. These are the ball and shoot
guys. These are like the real video
gamers. This is I only play video games.
I can play in dub. And it's like there was a point
in time where I think the hobby was so was still small enough
that you were excited to meet someone who is into video games.

(19:44):
Now you have to meet someone whois into the video games you are
into. And I think one thing if we
could strive to do is get back to that cultural of like video
games are a unified, you know, unified thing.
And we can all be excited about that.
It will cut down on a lot of those like.
Scores of like, well, I, I played 200 hours of this game

(20:08):
and therefore it's the best. Well, that's not how that's not
how any of this works. Like at the Oscars, the movie
that wins best picture 9 times out of 10 isn't the movie that
made the most money that year. Like success doesn't equal
quality and like unless you're Titanic, but like usually, you

(20:32):
know, it's like that's an understanding thing, thing you
understand when you look into like the movie industry, video
games for some reason has not reached that point yet.
Maybe one day we will. Or maybe because this hobby just
is the way it is, we will continue to always fight among
ourselves. Maybe that's a part of the
unified cultural. Maybe video games culture now is
fighting among ourselves. I don't know.

(20:55):
But what I will say in closing, I thought it was a good show.
Jeff did a great job. The high guard stuff is
ridiculous. Just play the fucking game when
it comes out or don't. I get those guys got fucked
over. You told me the story that they
got put on the end without knowing.
That's just they were they there's a guy on Reddit so who
you can the validity of that story.

(21:17):
But I I have no reason to doubt this guy said he like was
talking to one of the devs at a bar because he's really good
friends with the guy. And the guy was saying like,
yeah, we had no idea we were last.
Keely just played our stuff and loved it and put it at the end
to his own volition. But but that shows that Keely
really played and believed in this, whether it's good or not.

(21:38):
We've seen that from him in the past.
I mean, think about the Kojima experience that he gently gives
Kojima at his shows. That is driven off the fact that
I think Keely just really likes Hideo Kojima games.
And like, the high guard thing was such a weird thing because
it was last. Everybody wanted something big.
Some of the people's complaints are invalid.
Be like, I thought we're going to see Elder Scrolls.

(21:59):
You're never going to see Elder Scrolls.
We're all going to die before wesee Elder Scrolls.
But it was just like, hey, man, sometimes that thing don't hit.
And with that, it's such a fucking easy thing to ignore.
Just don't play it and if you want to try it, it's free to
play. So just a weird thing to get mad

(22:21):
at. To be fair, I was.
I was already riding high. I was in the sky from one game
reveal and I have not come back down since.
I mean, I saw Leon Kennedy is inResident Evil.
Not yeah, that was. That was.
I was just happy Leon. I saw Leon Kennedy back in a
video game this year. I might be shooting zombies as
Leon Kennedy and that made me perfectly content.

(22:41):
I will tell a story. I will tell a story real quick.
I was watching The Game Awards in the background while I was
assembling first furniture. There was like I saw what would
to be like a military game. It was like breaker breaker
going down, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.
I was like, oh, what? Probably battlefield DLCI go
back to assembling furniture. I hear jets.

(23:01):
I would go over and my wife's like, wait, is that the playing
game You like? I'm like that says combat.
That says combat, but what the fact that always taught me is
like that's is that the point isthat the playing game you like
I'm like yes it is yes, it is the playing game I like Oh my
God, we're back in strange real.Oh my God.
And then I did not stop talking for like 5 minutes.
I am, but like, that's it. Sometimes the game in the middle

(23:24):
of the show is your game you're excited for.
Welcome to reality and how normal people operate.
Get off of TikTok. Touch.
Grass touch grass, motherfucker.Yeah, Star Wars Galactic Racers.
The number one I want to throw in real quick.
Yeah, it looks cool. Sebulba is an old man with a
beard. Somehow Sebulba returns.

(23:45):
Listen, video game ass video games are fun.
Yes, there was a lot of video game ass video games that were
showing off. I was excited like Tomb Raider
was like, I'm excited about TombRaider this year.
I'm excited about Resident Evil 9 with Leon Kennedy back.
I'm excited about a lot of things.
It's OK to be excited about things and it's OK to not
everything be your thing. Exactly.

(24:05):
Let's talk about things that were odd thing this year.
Michael, what's some games you played this year that you feel
like are just that needs to be highlighted more?
I wrote down 5 here that were games, new releases specifically
that that hit me in like really positive ways.
A couple of them I still haven'tactually.

(24:28):
One of the one of the ones on this list I'm still working my
way through and haven't finishedElf in the Room.
I haven't played Expedition 33 yet.
I'll talk about that. Here.
I know that yeah, I know. That's my thing.
I know it. You're like, you're the JRPG
Final Fantasy guy. You would like.
I'm like, I know, I know, I know.
So that's not on my list. First on my list.
I got switched to this year. I was like, OK, maybe I'll pick

(24:51):
that up. And then seeing like a they did
a 15 minute direct for this thing, showing off all the stuff
that was going to be in this game and like, you know what,
I'm on board. I fell in love with it.
Donkey Kong Bonanza talk about agame that is so brimming with
ideas and just one central game mechanic that never gets old.

(25:15):
You're a monkey who punches things.
You punch the environment. The environments are mostly
destructible, so you can go around and like just totally
just like wreck everything. All the puzzles in the game are
centered around platforming within destroying environmental
terrain. And it's paired with this is

(25:38):
like the most voice acting that I've heard from like a mark,
like a 3D platformer from Nintendo, like the heart of this
game is Donkey, the relationshipbetween Donkey Kong and it's in
the trailers, Pauline. OK.
Yeah, yeah. And the it's very much that like

(26:00):
Pixar, like 2000s Disney qualityof these two characters going on
adventure together and becoming like friends along the way type
thing. And the environments are like
super unique and interesting. Like you have your standard
jungle level but it's a hotel run by ostriches as.

(26:22):
As you as you have. As you have great ideas there
and while this is a very long version of those, this is about
25 hours to mainline for a long platformer.
The last few hours right when itstarts to like wear thin like I
just kind of wrap this up. The last few hours of this game
are magical, especially if you are a fan of the classic like

(26:47):
Donkey Kong. You're might be be thinking, oh,
this might be a little too similar to like Mario.
This doesn't really feel like Donkey Kong.
You will get your Donkey Kong inthe last few hours of this thing
and it is fantastic. There's little sprinklings and a
little hints of what's really going on throughout this
adventure. And then when it hits, it's just
a non-stop blast until the end of this thing.

(27:09):
I still have to go back and complete like the new game, not
the new game. Plus there's like a bonus
mission at the end of this thingthat doesn't require 100% to
unlock, like the real true second ending of this thing.
But I will say that the end credits of this game did have me
in tears at the end because likethe song that they that Pauline

(27:32):
performs at the end is so freaking good because you have
Pauline. She's a singer.
Of course she sings a big show stopping song at the end of this
thing. So fantastic game.
I really like Donkey Kong Bonanza.
Highly recommend for anybody with a switch to If you have a
switch to, you probably already got this one because you heard,
hey, Donkey Kong's really good. So yes.
I think that it's cool that likeyour first game of your list is

(27:54):
a is a platform. Like platform was a fucking
back. You're back, man.
Platform was a back. What's your next game?
Kind of keeping to this is. Or do you want to go back and
forth? Let's go back and forth.
Let's. Go OK, let's go back and forth.
I think that's good. I'm going to save Expedition 33
to be my last conversation. Is that your game of the?
Year that is my game of the. Year OK, I haven't told my game

(28:15):
of. The year.
OK, well, I think I even gave that away last week.
Yeah, let's talk doom. The Dark Ages.
Let's talk doom. The Dark Ages.
Doom the Dark Ages is I, I was so excited for Doom the Dark
Ages. I did a mass playthrough, Doom
2016, Doom Eternal, Doom Eternal, the, the, both the
DLCS. Like I was ready for Doom the

(28:36):
Dark Ages. It came out and I remember the
day it came out, everybody online was like, oh, it's not
the same. It's not the same.
I was a little bit nervous, camehome, loaded it up and I was
like, no, this is amazing. It is a completely different
experience than Doom Eternal. I am of the the I'm of the
belief that Doom Eternal is the proof that you can only go so

(28:57):
fast in Doom Maternal, the the DLCS where you're Yeah, like the
what is it, the old Gods? I think it is.
The. Ancient, ancient.
Gods, the something. Like that yes, ancient gods.
I believe that that is like the peak of what do maternal combat
feels like it's fast. It's this weird if this that

(29:21):
rock, paper scissors that that game has, which is like each
enemy has a specific way you deal with it.
And the problem is not knowing how to deal with it.
The problem is knowing how to switch back and forth to the
different tools that you have todeal with all the different
problems going off at the same time.
And like the Slayer gates and the, you know, the things like

(29:46):
that were just at like peak run at all times, never stop moving,
never stop shooting, never stop fighting.
That is how doom Eternal is. Doom the Dark Ages is like, Hey,
we're going to step back. Doom the Dark Ages is that fight
scene with Captain America in the elevator of The Winter

(30:10):
Soldier. Yeah.
OK, so it is the deliberate tankfeeling cuz you the main
mechanic of doom the dark itchesis the shield.
So you have like a period mechanic where you're parrying
tax back to you. The ammunition limitations that
Doom Maternal was, which where you were constantly having to
use all your available arsenal to because there's just limited

(30:34):
ammunition. It was in the end of the day
doesn't have that. In Doom the Dark Ages.
You can find a weapon that just clicks with you and stick with
that one. Same thing with the melee
weapons that you unlock and likethe passive abilities that you
unlock. That game feels when you are in
the flow of it. You feel like you're this tank

(30:55):
just pounding through armies of demons.
And my favorite thing is there was like multiple levels that
are like open war missions wherethey drop you into like this
massive battlefield. And it's like you have this
objective, this objective and this objective.
But the best way to play those games is also to track down like
the the the bonus mission fightsor the special demons to kill.

(31:16):
So it's like this open ward fight that you're in where
you're roaming the battlefield hunting down elite demons over
here and then doing the like shutting down siege towers over
here. Like it feels unlike any other
one of these games. It still nails the combat, still
nails the ward. I really really enjoyed this.

(31:39):
It's the most story heavy of these, but like not in a like I
don't feel like it's too much. It is very much like the dooms
doom guy is doom guy. You know, Doomslayer is
Doomslayer. But I really enjoyed this and I
like that they were brave enoughto take a step back.
You know, you could have just did done another on Mars space

(32:02):
age doom game and I would have probably enjoyed it.
You know, I love that franchise,but this heavy metal album cover
game really nails it, like I said.
And even like the little things like the dragon fights where
you're flying around on a dragonand stuff feels good.
Like it's not my favorite sections by any means, but it

(32:24):
feels cool and they don't overstay the welcome.
It's just something that to throw in to diversify the
gameplay a bit. Yeah, and the Mets stuff is cool
fighting in a big giant. The what stuff?
Yeah, you get Mets OK, Dune guy,like Doom Slayer.
He was doom guy before, but you know, Doomslayer, the Doomslayer
straight up get like a man's like Power Rangers style mix OK,

(32:45):
and fights like multi story talldemons in that game.
It's fucking cool. That sounds amazing.
Like the game's great, you know.Hey man, you I think you would
love it. It's so good.
Considering how I fell off of Doom Eternal because when I'm
stubborn with difficulty, I saida difficulty, I do not change

(33:07):
it. I said do material, the
ultraviolence and was just getting beaten down over and
over and over again with how fast-paced and how 2016 was like
the perfect flow state game. And I think Eternal introduced
too much to break once you got like to the halfway point of the
game is too much to I was constantly breaking out of that

(33:29):
flow state so. Before my replay I would say
Doom Eternal was my favorite. When I did the replay before
Doom the Dark Ages, I really wastaken back on how much I love
Doom 2016 instead. Doom Eternal is great.
I love that video game. I think Doom 2016 holds up a lot
better. Doom the Dark Ages to me feels

(33:51):
more like a sequel to Doom. OK.
To me, and I also like I said, Ireally just like not having to
deal with like ammo scarcity like I did in Doom Eternal.
I liked having a weapon that like I like having weapons that
I prefer other over others. While in Doom Eternal every gun
has to be used because it is a rock, paper scissors situation.

(34:12):
In Doom the dark ages, it's likeI can lean into upgrading my
nail gun and like I'll be shooting single shot nail guns
into people and like that's my go to weapon because that's how
what feels good. Like I really think that it it's
a battle flowing game and I'm just proud of the fact that they

(34:34):
did something different and theydidn't just like do do maternal
3 like you know, doom, you know,Doom 3, it was very much like it
felt like a swing and I think ithits.
I really, I think if you asked me today, like Eric, you got a
weekend. You can play one of the Doom
games. I'm probably going to go back
and play Doom Dark Ages and Doom2016 over Eternal.

(34:56):
I think it just feels bad. That's interesting how Eternal
went from like your favorite to like possibly your least
favorite on this list. Still a great game.
It's still a great game, but like going back through, I
played all three of them on Ultraviolet, Ultraviolet.
Doom 2016 is is fair on Ultraviolet and it's tough, but
it's fair. Doom the Dark Ages is fair and

(35:17):
tough on Ultraviolet. Doom Eternal is you play all
game are rules to win and there is something kind of limiting to
that. What I like about Doom the Dark
Ages is I developed my flow style, how I wanted to play and
like I'd like I had to parry ability that anytime I parry to
attack, I have a turret that popped up and would shoot

(35:37):
things. It's more flexible.
Yeah, you feel like you're scaling.
Back they made it more flexible there because when when it comes
to like fighting games, wheneverthere's a game that goes like
off the wall insane, they the next entry tries to like scale
things back. Think of like how Mortal Kombat
11 played the MK10 and people really didn't like MK11 first

(35:59):
because that limited when they scaled it back and made it like
a slower, more deliberate game, they limited the amount of
options. It sounds like they managed to
take Doom, scale it, scale it back the pacing of it, but still
left like the number of options that you have there.
I think also it changes the pace.

(36:21):
The only other big complaint that I do agree with in some
ways, one, we don't have Mick Gordon soundtrack.
I think the soundtrack in Doom the Dark Ages is great.
Those guys did a great job. I am a suckle for the Mick
Gordon stuff. I think he's like the
quintessential Doom guy when it comes to music now because I
think he hits more what that classic music felt like.

(36:45):
But I will say also they lean back away from the glory kills.
So in there isn't like the same mechanic when it comes to glory
kills. And I like those things.
It's cool in the DOOM games to be, you know, knocking a demon's
head off with his own arm or something.
But I think that it was a deliberate decision to make the

(37:06):
flow different. I like, I really, really like
Doom, the Dark Ages. It was one of my top three games
of this year and I I really don't want people.
I feel like it came and went a lot faster from the
conversation. That's just the nature of like,
but game pass in general. Yes, yes.
And I think also there was a a very loud minority of people who

(37:28):
have made it their personality to make Doom the to view Doom is
like a certain thing, like let'sgo faster, let's go.
These people who want to do maternal basically 2.
And they didn't get that. And so instead of being like,
that's not what this is, they made a very like obvious attempt
to try to bad mouth this game. And I don't think it's an
accurate portrayal at all. Gotcha.

(37:50):
Doom dark ages. Great game.
Back to you, Micah. To go in the complete opposite
direction of Doom the Dark Ages,one of my favorite games this
year was Kirby Air Riders A. One button game. 2 button game,
2 buttons soccer. I apologize for adding the
second button. He's like, we're sorry, I've ran

(38:10):
out of things you can do on the button and I have to make
another button. A deceptively simple game.
And my favorite thing about thisis they made soccer.
I did 2 hours of presentation onthis thing showing how to play
the different modes and everything.
And people like, well, that's where they're doing it for this
Kirby game. The discourse around it when it

(38:30):
came out was like, why is this game so complicated?
I was like you. They had you had two hours to
learn it. It's like you people, what do
you, what do you want from what do you, what do you want from
this man? Do you just assume that like the
cute exterior was going to like be the game when under the hood?
It's actually, I think I talked about this last time, a 90s Sega
arcade racer mixed with like a Twisted Metal.

(38:52):
Yeah, this is a combat racer, not like a Kart racer, like
Mario Kart. There are four different
mainline modes to play. There are, there's the racing
mode. There's like a top down arcade
style racing mode, like something like an off road jam
type thing that everyone's played like VR that played in

(39:12):
arcade or something. You have city trial, which is
like the big combat one that I talked about last time that I'm
not going to over say my thoughts here because I did talk
about this game a lot last week.And a story mode that is sort of
like a basically a challenge tower where you're constantly
going through this like open road and with a three lane

(39:37):
highway and you're like picking.You have one of three challenges
approaching you and you have to make a split second decision of
OK, based on the car that I'm inor the star that I'm in and by
what current loadout, which one will I be able to beat and which
upgrade do I need? You have to juggle all this with
like on a 5 second span of pick your next challenge, pick your
next challenge. Playing it on hard was a pretty

(40:00):
easy breeze. Because you can like redo, redo
the same challenge over and overif you fail.
So it's possible to get stuck onone where you have to like beat
your head against the wall because you picked the wrong
one. Or you can like restart and go
back to a few dots earlier on the map to try again and like
pick different, change out your machine, pick out different

(40:21):
loadouts and stuff. But then after beating the
Armored Core Six final boss of this thing, you have the option.
There's a new Game Plus with a super hard mode, No retries.
If you lose, you go back to either the halfway points or the
beginning of each stage. It is, it is like, OK, you think

(40:45):
you got this. We'll, we'll see how if you
really got this. It is the challenge I've been
looking for in like a racing game for a very long time.
This hits the nail on the head of like arcade racers of stuff
that I love going up, like Daytona USA and like Twisted
Metal Black and even like the original Kirby Air Ride.

(41:08):
Sakurai really honed into like what makes a game fun and having
a complete package out-of-the-box.
He says, I'm only doing a coupleof balance updates, otherwise
this game's content complete. I'm gone.
The team, he said he went up saying this, this team is
disbanding. Like he formed the team to make
this game and it's like, great guys go our separate ways.

(41:31):
We did it. My favorite thing is how these
lists show all personalities as well.
My next game is another game I'mkind of similar but I talked
about this a lot recently so I won't go super deep into it.
Is a Clover pit. Yeah.
Michael I like gambling. I like gambling.

(41:53):
Yeah, I like, I like video gameswhere numbers go up.
And Clover Pit is a roguelike game in which you play a slot
machine, try not to die. It's it's a great game.
When I knew this game was going to be one of my favorite games
of the year is where I spent about 6 hours with a very lovely
lady who had cooked me dental and was really hoping for me to

(42:14):
get over there pretty quickly. And instead, I spent six hours
with my friend Nick playing Clover Pit and had to apologize
to this lovely lady very deeply.So like, that's how addictive
this fucking game was. The watching me and Nick stand
up to men in the authorities yelling at a screen being like,
but fucking clovers are hitting right now.

(42:35):
So we need to make sure we get the bonus that gets rid of these
bells. These bells don't hit.
And yeah, they count for double the price every time we do hit.
But we're not hitting. And we need $5000 before we get
dropped in this pit of hell. And so I don't want to get
dropped in the pit of hell. So I guess we need to, yeah, win
some money fast. Incredible.
I love Global Pit. That's a great video game, such

(42:58):
a simple concept with a lot moredepth to it then I think people
would take into consideration. One of my definitely a game of
my of the year and more one of my favorite experiences of the
year playing this with Nick and just one of those games that
just sometimes things just hit you in the right spot.
And I still pull this up from time to time and run someone on

(43:20):
bandit. I think I was waiting for you to
get here and I was playing a little bit of clever pit today,
actually. So like I I freaking I love this
video game. It's a great video game.
One game I got into earlier thisyear so I completely understand.
I got into Bilatro at the beginning of this year and it
was a nightly game for like 5 months.

(43:41):
I would just pick it up nightly and go let's do one run.
I would hold myself to that mostnights, but a couple of nights I
was like one more run, one more run, one more run on Bolacho.
So I when you find like that, like gambling rogue like that
hits sometimes. Brother, sometimes the dopamine
rush is what you need. Sometimes you need the dopamine

(44:02):
rush. But yeah, Clover pit definitely
there. It's it's Bolacho's spooky
cousin, basically. But what's your third game?
This is a game I'm currently working my way through.
I just reached the halfway pointtoday at about 23 hours.
Death Stranding 2. I thought this would be on your

(44:24):
list for sure. Yes, we've talked a lot about
Death Stranding. Michael, sell me on what is
really connected to you about Death Stranding 2.
Death Stranding 2 The story doesnot get in the way of the fun

(44:46):
anymore. OK.
The part of the best part of Just Training 1 was delivering
packages and just being in this world, mapping your roots,
planning how you're going to getto places.
And then when you like, Crest that hill and are making your

(45:08):
way downhill after a long journey.
And the camera zooms out and just like just plays one a song
from Hideo Kojima's iPod as you're like working your way
like down the hill after a long like journey.
That is what I love about death training.
Death Training 2 captures a lot of that, but also Hideya Jujima

(45:29):
kind of going back to the well in a lot of stuff did combat
wasn't great in death training one he's like, OK, I'm going to
retool the combat system to makethis play like a Metal Gear.
There's enemy outposts that you can clear out with a long range
lightweight tranquilizer sniper rifle.
All the weapons are tranquilizers, but this assault
rifle would just handle it like an assault rifle.

(45:51):
But you're just putting guys to sleep with it.
Because you don't want them to blow up.
Yeah, I think a lot of the discourse around this game is
that they kind of sanded down some of like the rough edges of
Death Stranding. I like a lot of those rough
edges in Death Stranding. I think that must that's what
that makes that. That's what makes that game

(46:11):
unique in a lot of ways. The environment isn't as hostile
in Death Stranding too. You're not going to like trip
over and follow as much. Your baby's not going to be
crying as much. So you're not going to have to
like, stop what you're doing androt the controller and
everything. Which is annoying at the time,
but it's something that I like in retrospect to love about

(46:32):
Death Stranding. I think Kojima does this thing
where he, like, sometimes plays with the fact that things can be
frustrating and annoying, but also a part of what you enjoy
about the game. Yeah, exactly.
Like how many things in Metal Gear games are frustrating at
the time? Like I always think about the
interrogation scene in Metal Gear Solid 1.
I fucking hate playing that thing.

(46:53):
I hate it, but Snake's not having a good time either, so
like, I guess I get it like. Delivering packages is hard on a
mountain in the post apocalypse so the gameplay needs to be like
hard in that. But you could also argue with
death training too. Sam has a lot more experience in
it so he's not like struggling as much.
The opening bit of this game is so beautiful.

(47:17):
It's the camera zooms out on this like mountain where you and
your baby from the last one on your chest are just like Sam's
hair is longer. His beard's growing out just
like in the mountains of Mexico,just like sprinting across
mountaintops, just like no terrain's not trouble for him
anymore. He's just like bouncing from

(47:39):
like 1 rock on the other as likethe camera zooms out and music's
blurring like this is an opening.
This is a great freaking game here, but I tranked the
difficulty up to brutal to like raise the combat difficulty, and
I can't speak to it, but I thinkthat like when you fall, it like
hurts your car. Go a little bit more on this
harder difficulty. I can't say for sure, but that

(48:01):
would make sense if that was thecase to like sort of balance it
out, and I'm having a great time.
The I talked about before the story of this thing was great,
but the individual beat for bleep plot.
It was rough death trending to finally fixes the problem of
Kojima being afraid to show don't tell.

(48:23):
A lot of death training was the people talking to you at things.
Now it's like, hey, when a character cuts their promo and
gives their back story, we're going to have a cut scene of
their back story. So you're going to find out why
Tarman is called Tarman. He's not.
He's going to tell you why he's called Tarman, but now you got
you going to see what he's called Tarman.
The only one that like hasn't really got like a full back

(48:44):
story is Doll Man. But I think that's funnier that
we just leave it be. He's a puppet that animates at
about 15 frames a second like the spider verse movies.
And they're like, Oh yeah, he was a medium.
And then when like the world of like the ghost world of the
beach got made, his spirit went into this marionette doll, you

(49:05):
know, like that's all you need, OK.
And that and now he rides at your side and is like your
Periscope. You'll throw the doll man in the
air and like survey the terrain and from like he's basically
your drone or your eagle from Assassin's Creed.
It's great. And there's a lot of like insane

(49:27):
bits I don't want to spoil, but basically there's a really cool
combat sequence that mirrors like the combat sequences you
would get with Cliff in the first game, that that's where
you're like flying in the trenches of World War One and
stuff. This game does it here too.
But man is it cool. Man, is it awesome.
Some of the stuff you do like just fighting in Dia Duenos,

(49:49):
Huertos while fireworks are going off and just like so good.
I need, I think I need to go back and play the Death
Stranding. It's I gotta, I gotta.
It's prickly edges are what makes it fun, and this is what
the. Even though death training 2
sends it out, there's enough interesting stuff there and the
fact that the story's not getting in your way, I might end

(50:10):
up liking this more. This brings over like the VR
missions from the director's cut.
So there's a lot of like cool challenges to do.
There's like a combat arena thing you can set up and just
like practice fighting enemies in the game.
So there's a there's a lot to love here.
It's still super fascinating andinteresting.

(50:32):
Not as this is more of a crowd pleaser than Death Stranding one
was, but I like that there is anoption here for people who don't
didn't jive with the first DeathStranding to really get into the
world because there's a lot of cool stuff with Death Stranding
too. The platinum is sitting at like
5% completion rate for everyone.So one in 20 people who beat the

(50:55):
game got the latinum, which seems very high.
Does actually. So I'm like 5% I'm like one in
20. I'm like hmm.
Mike was like, I gotta get platinum.
All I got to do is like 5 star every base.
Oh, that that that was I was playing a bit today too.
And I guess because we're in theweek of Christmas, like I go to
people's like the prepper shelters and they have like

(51:18):
Christmas hats on and say Happy Holidays as you approach.
There's one person who is AV tuber.
I don't know if she's an actual V tuber, but she's like this.
She's wearing, she's wearing a Santa hat has a Christmas.
Merry Christmas as you deliver her like Ram, which is very.
I don't like this at all. By the way, did you watch some
stream awards? I did not watch.

(51:41):
This stream awards were something, that's something
we'll talk about that later. No, I mean, listen, I think that
you're right. There was like a Kojima.
I would never doubt Kojima when it comes to creativity.
I do think Kojima is at his bestwhen he does have somebody who
might be kind of holding him back a little bit.
So I do wonder if Death Stranding 2 is a little bit of

(52:01):
like someone like being like, wegot a.
Death Stranding 2 was Kojima holding himself back.
He straight up said it. He was like when he saw how high
the review scores were. He's like, I don't think I made
this game divisive enough. I think I've sanded off too many
edges and I'm like, I'd never change.
Never. Change.
They liked it too much. Fuck.
But I'm like, man, I kind of love that.
I love that you feel that. I'm a so I'm pulling still from

(52:25):
my same list of games of the year, but I'm trying to match
them to the vibe of yours. OK, so my thought game is Ninja
Gaiden 4. Yeah, no, you know Japanese.
You know it's a platinum game. Technically not a Team Ninja
because I think this was platinum.
This was platinum. Yeah, Ninja Gaiden 4 is really,
really good. I played Ninja Gaiden Black 2 at

(52:48):
the beginning of the year when it came out and Ninja Gaiden
Black 2 turned me into a Ninja Gaiden guy so I went and played
Ninja Gaiden. Ninja Gaiden 3 didn't really
vibe with three, didn't guide Ninja Gaiden Black It's fine.
But Ninja Gaiden 2 black was just like really?
I was really into that. Ninja Gaiden 4 is everything I

(53:10):
want from a character action game.
It is big set pieces, big ass bosses.
You play as a character that is not re you for most of the game.
You do get to play as Ryu, but and when you beat the game, you
can play the whole game out as Ryu.
OK, but this guy is not bad. Like he's not like a lot of

(53:30):
times in games when you don't get to play as the main hero you
want to play as, it feels like you're just like constantly
worshipping the greatness of themain heroes.
Like why would rather just be that guy?
There is some of that in this, but it fits combat so so good
man. Such a hard punishing game.

(53:52):
They also added things like Slayer gates for those like
challenge gates where you wage you wager like part of your
health for a bonus and stuff. There's like a wagering mechanic
to it, so it's like you can get big bonuses if you beat this.
Because finally, a character action game with gambling with.
Gambling in it really really solid.

(54:13):
Like I said, the bosses are all great.
I think Ninja Gaiden lives and dies on boss fights and each one
of these bosses are really really solid.
Main character's great you the weapon set is always a big thing
for me. My favorite weapon and envision
Ninja Gaiden is the bow staff equivalent.
So like when Ryu gets the bow, the bow staff is usually within

(54:34):
the combat really clicks for me.And the bow staff in this also
turns into a giant Hamel. That's like a rocket Hamel.
That's pretty good. That's pretty good.
There's also a bag of just shit.So you got a bag that just has
random weapons in it. And as you hit the thing, he's
just throwing out random weapons.

(54:55):
This is one of the late game weapons.
So he like he'll throw like a ninja star and then a fractation
grenade and then throw like a sharp spear.
Like it's just a bag of stuff. And so it's really fun to be
like charging towards the enemy just throwing stuff out of a
bag. This is random.
This game's great. It is.

(55:16):
It is one of these games like it.
It doesn't, you know, is the story something that I would
write home about? No, but that's not what I'm here
for. I'm here to do cool ninja stuff.
I'm here to do what ninja blood powers is what this guy's got.
He's got blood powers and he's aninja.
He's. Cool with there's your story,
that's all you need. Like I want to run across waddle

(55:37):
but actually you don't run across.
You don't run across waddle. Re runs across the waddle.
This guy has a surfboard. He also like skates on like
poles and stuff. So like some of the platforming
sections are great cuz you're like be skating down like rail
lines, dodging trains, then throwing like a rope to catch

(55:57):
things and swinging and catchingother things and then catching
like air currents with like a glider that you have.
It's the Sonic level from Sonic Adventure too.
But it's battle, it's good. And then like, landing in the
water with your soft board and, you know, flying down the thing.
Oh man, the game's great. OK, Ninja Garten Four.
I really, really loved it. It's one of my favorite games

(56:17):
this year. I would say it's my second
favorite game of this year. Probably beat Doom of Dark Ages.
Really, really. Ninja Gaiden 4 is so fun.
Oh my God, it was so fun. I spent so many nights just
beating up demons and Cyborg ninjas.
And then it does the cool thing that when you get to play is
Ryu, like you go back through the challenges that the other
guy has been fighting and struggling with and Ryu just

(56:40):
destroys everything. So it's just like that boss that
this guy struggled to beat Ryu shows up.
There's also. Like I love I love that trope,
yes of the original character istoo powerful now.
So we got to put you in the shoes of a less powerful
character, and then we're going to hand you the keys to Chris
Redfield at the end of Resident Evil 8.

(57:01):
And he's just. Going to mow down Oh yeah, Chris
Redfield shows up killing all those like you struggle with
one. Well Wolf, Chris Redfield's out
there blowing up TN of them witha grenade launcher.
No, but I really love Ninja Gaiden. 4 love it when games do
that, seeing Leon back in. Resident Evil 4, where he's
basically, he's going to be Chris Redfield of that game.

(57:21):
Yeah, that game plays like Resident Evil 4 when you play as
Leon, and then it plays like Resident Evil 7 or probably the
Resident Evil 7 when you play asRose.
I watched a single trailer. You don't need to.
I don't need to. I was mad when I found out Leon
was in it. I'm like, Dang it, I can't keep
anything. Yeah, but I mean, it was going
to be, I think, I think they added him to the cover.
Yeah, that was always. So it was never going to be a
thing that we. Yeah.

(57:42):
But also Honoree mentioned the ninja guy in Black 2.
Yeah, I'll talk about my second favorite game of the year.
This is my sicko game of this year.
Oh Jesus, I'm allowed one sicko game every year. 2026 is the
year of the stranger old baby with Ace Combat 8.
OK, this year was the year of myother sicko franchise, Monster

(58:07):
Hunter Wild. God damn, call me when you're
done. I got a hangover.
Monster in the Wild is I think areally good on ramp in to this
series. They reworked Low Rank into a 15
hour story campaign to introduceyou to all the basics of Monster
Hunter and how everything in theworld of Monster Hunter works.

(58:31):
Then after that in High Rank, you got your standard Monster
Hunter experience. It's because of that the first
part of this game is very easy for newcomers.
It kind of holds your hand. Do a bit of that.
And because of that, I was like,I don't know, there's a lot of
like walking and talking going on.

(58:52):
Once you get to the core of likethis, these Monster Hunter type
experiences in High Rank, this is when the game starts to
shine. The open world of this one is
divided into like four or five separate zones and everything.
They added a multiplayer hub after lunch and everything, but

(59:14):
one thing I really loved about it is that is a Monster Hunter
that respects your time. If you want to do a 5 minute
quest because you only have 30 minutes to play, Wilds has got
you. If you want to take down to gold
crown five star leviathans at the same time and an all out
drag out ball, Wilds, Wilds has got you too.
You want to play for 5 minutes or you want to play for five
hours, Wilds has quests for you.It's all about that grinding.

(59:38):
It's all about getting better weapons and better armor, not
necessarily so you can hunt bigger and better monsters This
time it's just fashion is the real end game of Monster Hunter
Wilds. The weapons look cool.
The armor looks cool. They're adding a lot of the hard
fights now, and I'm up behind a few updates because I know the
big 1 is coming and I want to save all that content for when

(01:00:00):
I'm ramping up for the big expansion that's coming out.
The big expansion's on the horizon sometime next year
probably, but I put about like 60 hours into Monster Hunter
Wilds, which it was pretty low for monster Honor, but I just
had a great time with it. This is.
This is a game that people are we're in that phase of people

(01:00:20):
really liked it when it came outand then as it went on.
I know the PC version is still kind of like low and like
performance and everything, but they're doing a big update for
that coming soon. So that should iron out the
problems for PC players. And we're in that stage of like
games as a ServiceNow where it'slike we're in a low state, but

(01:00:40):
then once you get the big expansion or just be like, Oh my
God, this game's amazing. So we're in that kind of low,
low state now. But I had a lot of fun with this
game. Again, my sicko game for the
year, I'm allowed one each year.Monster and the Wilds was that
for me. You know, I, I laugh, but it
just is a good situation where like when we talk about some,
not all games are for everybody.I've tried, I've tried.

(01:01:01):
Maybe this one is not my game. Maybe this one.
Yeah, Yeah. Maybe this.
One charm, whatever every year. It's just not my game.
That's fair. We'll talk about like a very
like a dark horse and this kind of popped up recently for me.
Marvel Cosmic Invasion. Really.
So I really really enjoy this game.

(01:01:23):
I've been playing it a lot. This is a side scroll.
Beat em up set in the Marvel Universe.
I really like the concept that you don't just have one
character that you select. You have two.
So it has like a balancing effect kind of like a marvel
versus Capcom where you have like assist mechanics where you
can bring in the other character.
They assist you in like fights like like they would come do a

(01:01:46):
special move or you switch to them or like if you get grabbed
by a boss you switch to the other character to knock him
back off. And you know the what?
It reminds me a lot of the ninjaturtle beat em up that came out
with was it last year? I think it was.
Not Shedder's revenge, right? Yeah, Shredder's revenge.

(01:02:08):
Yeah, which was like a throwbackto the old Ninja Turtle beat em
UPS. Yeah, this feels a lot like
that, a lot more in depth than you think it would be.
The bosses are not pushovers. It doesn't.
It's a beat em up that doesn't require you just to like life
challenge. You know like O2 will beat them
up from the arcade. We're basically just like
quarter sinks yeah, just put more quarters in and you will

(01:02:31):
succeed in you know, beating thegame.
This isn't like that. This is set up for a very
straight up non chordal based mechanic.
So like the bosses have like really complex, you know, attack
patterns. The missions are really fun and
unique, and it's also like a really cool like love letter to
Marvel Comics. Like there is a lot of

(01:02:52):
references, like even the the lineup is really weird.
Like you have like you have yourstand or people like Captain
America and Spider Man and stuff, but then you have like
Beta Ray Beal or Nova's in Nova.Yeah, Nova's in there.
He's like your tutorial character.
Cosmic Ghost Rider. OK, Which is pretty cool.

(01:03:15):
Cosmic Ghost Rider, by the way, is the Punisher turned into a
Ghost Rider? I didn't know that.
He's a relatively new character and also from like an alternate
reality. So I don't even know how he they
got him in this. I don't know, fuck the fuck I
found it. But like it's a cool like love
letter to Marvel Comics. You go to like the savage land

(01:03:38):
and you fight like Sauron, the dinosaur man and stuff like, you
know, it's just a cool game and it's just like sometimes man
beat him up. So just they scratch that level
of part of my brain, you know, and I'm really kind of a fan
that every once in awhile we're getting these now, like the
shredders revenge one was a legitimately fun time there.

(01:03:59):
Did I spend a ton of time with it?
No, but it I got beat it and I played some online and I think
me and Nick played through it and it was just like, hey,
sometimes I want to play just a simple game in which you sit
there and you punch stuff. And like I said, this has a lot
more mechanics added to it. That was like a ultimate move
mechanic that you have like characters level up as you go
through. It's it's a little bit more
complex than these games usuallyare, but boy, if it's just fun.

(01:04:23):
It's just a great art style. It's a great little game.
It would be great on the Switch.I could see this being a great
game to play on your Switch on like an airport or something.
Just sometimes I want something lighthearted and fun.
And that's what Marvel Cosmic Invasion is.
So, yeah, kind of a dark horse for me.
But you know, it's, it's, I've really enjoyed it.

(01:04:45):
It's it's really fun. So that's my, you know, would it
be high on my top five? No, it would probably be 5 but
it definitely is is it shows thebreath of video games this year
for me. Before I get into my game of the
year, Honorable mentions games that came out last year that I
love. This year I talked about
Bilatro. The other one is 1.

(01:05:07):
I'm going to shout from the rooftops that everyone play UFO
50. I talked about that one one of
our first shows back. UFO 50 is like what if action 52
was good. I'm going to leave it at that.
I did talk ad nauseam before in an earlier episode so you can go
and find that if you want to hear my thoughts on UFO 50.

(01:05:27):
UFO 50 is great. My game of the year is a
remaster. Final Fantasy Tactics, The Elise
Chronicles. Doesn't surprise me.
You really, really. That really did hit for you.
That game of the year, one of myfavorite games of all time.
Now it's does everything right that you want from a remake

(01:05:47):
remaster. Technically it's a remake.
They had to build this game fromscratch because the source code
was lost. So technically it's a remake.
So it's my list so I can make the roles.
Who cares? But I had talked about this ad
nauseam so I'll get to I'll keepmy time brief filed for his
statues. Evil E Chronicles makes that
game realize it's full potentialof what it could be, from the

(01:06:12):
voice acting to like the streamlined mechanics to the
doing away with like the random battles when you're trying to
like go back to a shop where youcan like decide when to level
grind, you level grind at your own pace.
There's no battles than this game that aren't like the
scripted core battles. They do away with the random

(01:06:33):
battles you can do like kind of that, which I love being able to
do that on my own base. The job system is fantastic.
Being able to see everything when we get job tree in this
version is so good. They the cloud storyline.
They finally make cloud a viablecharacter.
He doesn't join your party at level one in the last leg of
this game. He now joins whatever your party

(01:06:54):
level is at, which makes sense and his weapons are a lot
better. So it's good to use cloud and
because of that they also have cloud and Eris voice actors
appear in this game as his respective characters for the
back half there I can go on and on about why this game is so
good. Ultimately the story is elevated
because of the voice acting and because of like the additional

(01:07:15):
translation in the writing and the original game completes this
package rebuilt from scratch theoriginal game with the word
alliance translation thrown in. So if you want that prickly, a
rough, tough PS1 tactical RPG experience, that is in there

(01:07:35):
too. There's also a difficulty mode
which I'm told is very, very difficult, Tactician.
So they expanded not only the game itself and made it better,
they also added like additional replay value.
Now I want to try to see one dayif I can play this game on
Tactician difficulty, or maybe go back and play the original
version of the game rebuilt to see if I can make it through and

(01:07:57):
like how much like that streamlining.
Or at least play the first few chapters and realize that like,
Oh yeah, they've really made this a whole lot more like the
whole lot better Final Fantasy tats to see if least Chronicles.
So freaking good. I recommend this to anybody who
even has a passing interest in JRPGS or tactical RPGs in

(01:08:20):
general. This game is a godsend.
It's incredible and the story isso freaking good.
I mean, I would have seen that one coming for you, but it's
like that's the way it should be.
Some games just you can't not just connect with and that game,
you were so excited about that and it lived up to the hype.
That is like a definition of, hey, something's just hit and I

(01:08:43):
think hit. Before I do my game of the year,
I've already told you what it is, but I'm going to do a fun
little segment called First Person Shooters that came and
went in the year 2025. S #1 Frag Punk Frag Punk looked
to be a fun time. It was a forest washing shooter
that was going to have like a card system to it.

(01:09:03):
I think Frag Punk is still running.
I was very excited about it. You had like cards that you
purchased at the beginning of each mission or each round like
one would give like big head mode to the the enemies.
So now they got big heads. You can shoot them in the head
easier or double body arm on youor whatever.
It's like a card system. It looked fun.
It came, it went. The next one, Spectre Divide.

(01:09:26):
I was excited about Spectre Divide.
It was a game in which you didn't play as just one
character. You played as two people.
You moved around one guy and youreplaced the other guy.
You would switch baddies back and forth.
I thought it was fun. I played this one because you
were like, hey, you should play this.
And we got really into the pointwhere we're like, we're about to
play this together. We start to get it and it shut

(01:09:47):
down. It shut down.
I played it for like a month straight and then I was like,
hey, this is actually kind of fun.
They're like, no, no one likes this.
They shut it down. I don't get it.
But that came and went. And then when Eric was going
through a really bad time in hislife, he played a lot of Split
Gate 2. So Split Gate 2 came out the

(01:10:08):
week of Eric's bad day, and Ericstarted playing a lot of Split
Gate 2 to not do, not to go off the deep end.
Split Gate 2 is Halo, made by people who want you to think
it's Halo, but it's not that good.
But I played a lot of it. There was a you'll have a a
gravity ham when you have a baseball bat.

(01:10:29):
It was fine. I played a lot of it for like a
month straight. It feels like a haze.
But Split Gate 2 did so bad thatthey had to put it back in beta.
They they unreleased it and now it's coming back out next year.
It's not called Split Gate 2, right?
No, I think split Gate, something else.
They took it and they're like, oh, nevermind.

(01:10:50):
So I have achievements and and rank in the game that came back,
that went that got pulled back because it came and it.
Went they literally pulled a multiverses with that.
Basically most generic characterdesign in the Ward with the most
expensive skins you've ever seenin your life.

(01:11:10):
What it felt fine. That game felt fine.
There was a lot of things I liked about it.
It had like a SWAT mode from Halo.
It is basically it was budget Halo Halo but it just ran off of
like vibe and it did not have anything else to it.
It was a terrible release for what was a free to play game.

(01:11:32):
Also porters are cool. That game had a portal mechanic.
It's split gate has a portal mechanic.
Dude when you stick a portal behind that sniper from a far
away, he don't see it. You shoot him through the other
side of the map through your portal.
That feels pretty cool, but it just that game, it came and it
went. So that's Eric's segment.
It came and it went Push push shooters.

(01:11:54):
That did not last the year. I'm pretty sure Frag Punk punk
might be still out, but no one'stalking about it.
So I play a lot of those games that like came out and I was
like, oh, this might be fun and never mind.
You are the connoisseur of firstperson games that come out, so
you're going to, you're going tobe the guy who's going to
download. I don't play high guard.

(01:12:17):
I'm going. To play high guard, I'm going to
see what happens. I got my ride a horse, ride a
horse and shoot shit. I don't know, it'll maybe it'll
be on next year's it came and itwent or maybe it'll be a really
fun time. I also sometimes get in on those
games at the ground level because I'm the only guy who's
like, super looking at them people.
I'm just getting people down at Apex Legends when it was

(01:12:38):
announced. Oh yeah, no going dude when Apex
Legends came out I downloaded that the day it came out and I
was hooked for like 6 to 8 months.
Like I I loved Apex Legends. It's one of the few games I've
ever bought the battle pass for because I Apex legends.
There was a time when I was playing so much Apex Legends, I
would get on, play like six games and win 4 out of 6.

(01:13:01):
Like there was a time when I wasjust like I was racking up Apex.
Like I got like Apex Predator kind of level of skill level
going. But yeah, some people doubted
that one. But you know, hey.
The only battle Royale had a winin.
Yeah, Apex Legs was great. I, I maybe you should play.
We did play a bunch of Fortnite recently, me and Nick.
I don't know why. That game looks nuts.

(01:13:22):
Now I kind of want to get a partof me is like, do I want to buy
a $100 plastic guitar just so I can play Fortnite Festival?
I have a guitar here. Guitar.
Does that work? Does it work with the console?
What console was that for? I don't.
Know we talk about that like no,my game of the year chakra

(01:13:45):
chakra was expedition 33. And the winner is clear Scare
Expedition. Listen, I get it, everybody and
everyone sick and tired of hearing about how great this
game is. I'm sure.
So I won't beat the dead horse. This game was amazing.
I play, I was, I downloaded it the day it came out because I
was like, hey, you know, let's see what's going on with it.
It looked cool, it had a cool art style.

(01:14:06):
I don't generally play turn based RPGs though, so it wasn't
something I anticipated to vibe with.
Then I turned out to be the gameI loved the most this year.
The art style of that game, the writing of that game, and the
character performances of that game left me with feelings of

(01:14:28):
connection to characters that I have not had since playing games
like Boulders Gate 3 last year or Mass Effect.
Like it had the cast, it had theward and the cast, which is what
means the most to me. And then what it did is it took
Tarn based combat and it made itso much more the Perry system in

(01:14:48):
that the dodge mechanic in that like the level of difficulty
that game gets. There was optional bosses in
Expedition 33 that are insanity to try to be in.
Like there is like a skill basedlike subculture of that game of
people who go through that game trying to beat it by nothing but

(01:15:08):
Perry's and like those crazy builds to class system.
There was a completely valid buff system in which you give a
buff that kills your entire party right from the beginning
of the battle, brings them all back on one health, but they do
like 10 times damage. So like that means everyone is

(01:15:28):
that glass cannon who just smacks people.
That means if you miss 1 Perry, you're dead.
You miss 1 dodge, you're dead, but you're also smacking people
with like 10 times damage. It's the classic mantra of I
don't need to put my points in health if I just don't get it.
Yeah, if you just don't get hit and like one of the few times in

(01:15:53):
video games in a long time, which I was like so invested in
a story that I was trying to like look for every detail and
trying to figure out what was going on because it was such a
new ward that I had no. Your previous experience with
the music is amazing. The the sentiment of that game

(01:16:15):
is such a beautiful sentiment ofjust that game has themes in it
that really connected to me, themes of self sacrifice for the
greater good of the people who come after you.
You know, those characters. That entire purpose in that game
is not for the what they're getting out of it.
It's what the future holds and that belief that the future is

(01:16:38):
still worth fighting for even when everything is failure.
You know, the concept of the expedition 33 is this concept of
a it's a failed operation. It's a yearly attempt.
So the concept of the 33 you arethe every year the painters

(01:16:59):
comes out and paints a new year age that is going down in age.
So starting at like 1999890796 and anyone who is over that age
dies and it's on the same day. And every year people who are
about to go reach that age attempts to stop the painters.

(01:17:22):
And every year it fails for 056 decades.
And so that concept of like, doing something for the people
who would never even appreciate what you did.
And it's such a beautiful concept and not even dealing
with all the other complexities of that story.
It has a cast that does a great,amazing job.

(01:17:43):
It has some of the best music and video games this year.
My favorite thing about the forces was Charlie Cox was out
there saying like, oh, I just gave it an afternoon.
It was fun. And people are coming up to me
and saying like, Oh my God, you changed my life.
And he's like, it was an afternoon for me.
His character is one of the IT just is a testament to how good

(01:18:03):
Charlie Cox. Is.
Jennifer English won best voice actress this year and hey, guess
what? She's amazing, like.
She's soccer. She's been great in so many
other things, but she's amazing in this.
That game is just like, there's so many images.
Both of our both of our games ofthe year have been star in a

(01:18:24):
prominent role. Yes, been star been in major
part of this game as well this, but it's also it's a original IP
in a ward in which so desperately we need more of
those. From a studio that formed from
breaking off to the traditional failed studio model.
We're not going to make another Assassin's Creed.

(01:18:45):
We're going to leave and make something else, and we're going
to put the money on the line. This game came out at $50.
Yeah. It's like I want.
It's a budget title. It's a budget title that came
out on Game Pass day one and fora while there it was the only
game people could talk about. And at the end of the year it
does, in my opinion, dissolve its flowers.

(01:19:07):
It is such a amazing experience and a unique experience in a
ward in which gaming needs more of that, you know, and it's I am
so happy that they've got the success that they've got.
It is. It feels very much in line with
games like Boulders Gate and stuff like that, where it's like
these are genres in which I don't usually play, but they

(01:19:31):
transcend the genre. This transcends a JRPG style
video game. It's so much more than that and
therefore it appeals to so much of A wider audience.
And then you also write a story that is compelling and connects
with people on a fundamental level.
This game is amazing. There's nothing else I can say
about it that isn't already beensaid a million and one times,

(01:19:54):
and I so hope that the next thing they do with this thing is
completely different. I don't want, I don't want
another Expedition 33 unless it's Expedition 60.
I hear a lot about Expedition 60.
Those guys sound like badasses. Would you like to know what
Expedition 60 is? It's kind of a mean.
Tell me a little bit about Expedition 60 So.
Each expedition is like an attempt, the different attempt.

(01:20:15):
Yeah. So these are all people in those
60s, mind you. Yeah, they fucking gave up on
like trying to do science or magic or anything like that.
They just all got super ripped, like, like super ripped,
stripped down to the underwear and just fucking bum rush the
Patriots and they almost poured it off.

(01:20:37):
So as you go throughout the game, you get bits and pieces of
the other expeditions. Yeah, so you see where they
might have failed and succeeded.Expedition 60 get like the
closest. So like the the one that got the
closest were the ones who all just got super fucking ripped
and just dead rushed the bridge.So yeah, so Expedition 60 is

(01:21:01):
like the meme one, but boy is itfunny that a bunch of old
grandpas and grandma's who just got super ripped just charging
the patriots was who got the closest.
Other people brought like cannons and magic and they're
like fuck it, we ball. But yeah.
But dude that game amazing. Amazing, I need to play this.

(01:21:22):
Play Expedition 33. I had the choice of pick up
Destiny 2 or pick up Expedition 33.
I made the. IT was a tough call, but I'm
like they're both. A wonderful video it's.
Like kind of by by Friday sales,but I'm like Expedition 33 will
get will probably get cut in price more.
So I'm sure it'd be like 20 bucks. 10 bucks Destiny 2 is
going to be is going to hold that price it's discount price

(01:21:44):
for a while and on sequel and pass that.
So I was like, OK, I'm making the money play here with deaths
training too. I, no, I think that you're 100%
fine there real quick. We're coming up on our time slot
that we want to kind of hit here, but let's is there
anything real quick you're excited for for next year?
It's combat 8 Wings of D maybe back to the strange real.

(01:22:04):
Please go Pew. OK, Resident Evil 9, baby.
Raccoon City. Here we go.
We're going back to Raccoon City.
Can I talk one minute about Ace Comedy?
One. One minute. 2-3 go.
OK, so over the weekend I over the past week I played the

(01:22:27):
entire PlayStation One trilogy of Ace Combat 1-2 and three.
Three got a release in America, but it does not have the story.
It was cut out of it to make it fit on one disc as opposed to
the Japanese Virgin's two disc. I played a fan translation, a
really good fan translation. Ace Combat 3 has like so many

(01:22:48):
different like branching paths and everything based on like
decision points in the story. But here's the thing.
Ace Combat 3 was made before thestrange rule was was
established. It takes place in the year 2040.
The strange real alternate universe gets established in Ace
Combat 4. They release the timeline of the

(01:23:08):
strange reel and it includes 2040.
This game Ace Combat 8 Wings of Thieves takes place in 2029 and
if you look at the timeline it specifically says that in
between 2029 and 2040 all of thenation states of the strange
reel get dissolved and are controlled by the mega

(01:23:30):
corporations. So Ace Combat 8 Wings of
Thieves, I think is going to be the most important story wise
for the strange reel because it's going to explain when we
get to this future war state of every everything being owned by
the mega corps anyway. So yeah, that's my time.
And one more thing, people already found out that there is

(01:23:51):
like one of the one of the groups in the background of the
trailer. So there are certain the wee
things in there. They're retro, actually retro
actively putting a game from before the timeline got
established into the timeline. And I think that's really cool.
I don't. I realized we talked about Game
Wars and we didn't even talk about Divinity.
I'm excited about Divinity. That looks to be cool it.

(01:24:12):
Looks fine, maybe I'll finish Borders Gate 3 by the time that
comes up. How about you fucking finish
Borders Gate 3? I devour everything in that game
when I play it. It's a very, very slow process.
Let me. Play this.
I love that goddamn. Game.
I play that game like most people play D&D campaigns.
We're going to meet this month. We can't meet this month.
Maybe next month we'll be able to meet.

(01:24:33):
OK, we can meet for a couple hours.
Oh, hang on. I got, I got.
I got to get a lunch break and come back.
All right, We we could we did this one quest line.
It took us 3 hours to just one quest.
All right, guys, we'll meet again next month.
That's how I play. Bought a Skate 3.
Amazing video game. I'll finish it in five years.
Ladies and gentlemen, it's been a hell of a year.

(01:24:54):
It has been. But video games, like many
things in life, can save us fromour own demons.
And so sometimes you play video games to get through the day.
Sometimes you play video games just for the fun of it, and
we'll be back next year with a new version of the show that
kind of rides the line between what we used to do and what we

(01:25:15):
were doing this year. I think that we we've seen
growth this year, but I think also like we're kind of ready to
try to take this to the next level and that requires us to do
some new changes. We're going to be starting that
off with with a playthrough of Metal Gear Solid 4, Guns of the
Patriots. This will kind of end our saga
of the Metal Gear games. We, you know, I suggest you go

(01:25:38):
back and listen to those in the show pipeline.
Those are all great episodes. I have in preparation for this,
Metal Gear Solid 2 is probably my favorite discussion we've
done. It was, I can see it, so it's so
good. I I think 4 is going to be a
hell of a start for this kind ofnew version of the show.
Michael, what is our stopping? Point OK, our stopping we're we

(01:25:58):
will we're in a little bit of a weird time crunch right now
because of the holiday season and we are taking like the next
episode length break in order tohave time for the holidays, play
some games that we get for the for Christmas and everything
before we nail down and play this game for the game club.

(01:26:21):
So when that episode will be outwhen it's out and then we'll
establish sort of a rhythm from then on.
Part 1 of Metal Gear Solid 4 is going to stop at the end of Act
2. Yeah, this is a weird one.
This is very different from how the other games are structured.
This has work ATV show format. This is you're going to end at

(01:26:44):
the end of Act 2. Do not do not pass go, do not
quite $200. Do not go further than that.
Metal Gear Solid 4I have a couple things to speak on.
That is a very weird structured game.
So I will have I have a couple suggestions.
One, there is a briefing of chapter 1 on the main menu.

(01:27:06):
Watch that at some point. But it's because it is very
important to the story of Metal Gear Solid 4.
It explains what's happening that gives Snakes true reason
for his mission because when we see him in Act 1, he tells a
character a lie about why he's there for the mission.
So it's very important to watch that briefing to know why is

(01:27:27):
Snake doing what he's doing. The second thing is do not.
This is not a game to marathon. This game will exhaust you if
you try to marathon it. When you finish an act, you can
play an act in one sitting. It's like a good couple two to
three hour chunk of a video gamesegment.
The minute you go from the end of an act to another act, you

(01:27:51):
are branching. You are connecting the end
cutscenes of one act to the opening cutscenes of another
act, which on some axe can add up to like a full hour of
cutscenes. Do not do that to yourself.
Play it as a episodic. Experience yeah, this is an
episodic game treated as such even though it wasn't released

(01:28:13):
as episodes. Treat this as an episodic game,
you will burn yourself out. So those are my those are my 2
points Also crank up the difficulty.
Crank up the difficulty. This one's a little bit easy.
Don't go like full ha. So hardcore mode go like 1 notch
past normal and that gives a sweet spot because this is this
is a very cutscene heavy Metal Gear, even more so than other

(01:28:35):
cutscene heavy metal gears. The short bursts of gameplay
that you get, you kind of want them to last.
You kind of want them to like have some more meat on those
bones cranking up the difficulty.
If you're just kind of plowing through the gameplay stuff,
you're going to basically be in a cutscene generator.
Yeah, exactly. So spend, spend some more time,
spend a little more time with this game as as we go through

(01:28:56):
it. Those are my recommendations for
if you're playing along. If you do not have APS, three.
Hey, watching a playthrough on YouTube is a completely valid
way to experience this game because most of this game is a
YouTube. It's heavy rain.
Everybody, heavy rain, everybody.
So I'm excited to finally play this and see it through.

(01:29:16):
I'm going to keep a I'm going totry it.
If I remember, keep a tally of how many times the words Nano
Machines has said. God damn you need a lot of
paper. I'm going to need pages just for
that. Michael, yes, been helping you.
Let's bring it home right here on the 1:30 mark.
Stay to save on all your podcasting apps, make sure you

(01:29:37):
like and subscribe. Give us as many reviews as you
possibly can. Let's try to turn things up next
year. It's going to be crazy and let's
really bring next year along. Let's do something special.
And as always, stay safe. Music.

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