Hello, and welcome to side Quest. This is our weekly video game show
here at Geek First, I am Dylan Muss, and this is gonna be
a little intimate solo episode for you guys today because we are halfway through the
year now, which means it's a perfect time to do a little game of
the year check in as well as do kind of a preview for the second
half of the year. In terms of the games. Yeah, the games
I've played, the games that will be coming out that I will be playing.
So it's gonna be a big breakdown of all of that. Really,
not a lot of plugs. Just two quick things. Of course, Patreon,
if you want to support the show, that is the best place to
go. You get episodes early and ad free. This episode, for example,
you could have got almost a week early, so that's a great bonus
there. And then the other shout out is that I've talked about a lot
recently that I released my first game back in May. It's called Potion Problem,
And right now the Steam Summer Sale is going on and it is on
sale for twenty percent off, So if you haven't picked it up yet and
you'd like to do so, now was a good time that sale runs until
I think the second week of July, July eleventh, something like that,
so you have a lot of time, so yeah, go check it out
and let me know what you think. So yeah, let's get right into
it. I'm gonna start by kind of breaking down the games that I have
played so far this year and just talking about the first half of this year
in general. It's been very distinct quarters. I feel like the first quarter
felt like there was just tons of big Triple A releases, some that were
like hotly anticipated games long time coming. Others were kind of more surprise hits,
I would say, with things like Hell Divers or Final Fantasy seven,
Rebirth Dragons, Dogma two, Like a Dragon, Infinite Wealth, plenty of
others in there too, all sorts of other things, And I didn't really
play any of those. I for one reason or another just didn't end up
getting to them, or they're just not my cup of tea personally. So
it was a really quiet start to the year for me. And then going
into the second quarter, I feel like that's where things have really cooled off
on the Triple A front. But in lieu of that, there have been
tons of big indie game releases. I don't think any of them have been
huge, colossal hits like I don't know a Dave the Diver or Astray or
Cult of the Lamb, like any of those kind of big indie hits from
the last few years. But still some really big games, pretty relevant stuff,
stuff that is beloved, and so that's what I've kind of been playing
for the last bit here as well. So kind of a nice mix between
those two quarters. And I think going into the second half of this year,
there's a whole lot of everything. There's a ton more indies, though
usually indies wait till very last minute to announce release dates, and then for
Triple A stuff, there's some big things coming out as well, kind of
sprinkled throughout the next few months of the year. So yeah, I guess,
as I mentioned with like not playing a lot of those big Triple A
games, and I've been playing some more of the indie stuff lately. It's
been a so so year for me. Pretty pretty week so far. But
I don't want to use the word week just because I didn't really I you
know, didn't really play a lot of them. I ompted out of a
lot of these experiences to some extent, so it's hard for me to say
that. But just for the things that I have played, I've currently played
twenty four new games this year and I have only complete eight of them,
which maybe that's a pretty decent ratio. What's that a third of the games?
And yeah, I think that just goes to show. I mean,
there are a lot of these things are just like I checked out a demo
and played that for a couple hours, so I didn't play the full release
or anything like that. But just breaking down what those games are just gonna
rifle them off. Here. I have played this year, turn Up Boy,
Rob's Bank, Powell World, Phantom Abyss, Celeste sixty four, Fragments
of the Mountain, Skull and Bones, Prince of Persia, The Lost Crown,
Unicorn, Overlord, Mario Versus, Donkey, Kong, Minami Lane,
The Outlast Trials, Sandland, Balatro, Botany Manor, Open Roads, Harold,
Halibit, Another, Crabs, Treasure Animal, Well, Little Kittie,
Big City, Senya, Saga, Helblade two, Dread, Delusion, Rolling
Hills, Make Sushi, Make Friends, Allen Way two, Night Springs Exit
five, and Nightmare Kart, which is a game that just released recently.
I've talked about most of these on side Quest, but of course a couple
of them slipped through the cracks, like Nightmare Card if you haven't heard that,
it's a free game on Steam and it's just Mario Kart sixty four as
experience, but with like PS two graphics and using like very much a blood
Borne esthetic. It's kind of interesting. I just just barely checked that one
out. In terms of updates, there's also been some deal see things I've
played, like you know, Marvel Snap. I'm always playing that, and
that always has new things, new content. Warzone got a new map this
year, red Fall got a i'm not gonna say big, but like a
notable, substantial update. Multiverses relaunched and had a bunch of new characters and
modes and things. With that I've been playing a lot of. And then,
as I talked about last week on side Quest, elden Ring Shadow of
the urg Tree just released, so that is still very much an ongoing one
I think so far. From the games I mentioned, elden Rang, that
DLC as well as dread Delusion, which I talked about a few weeks ago
on side Quests, are the two games that I'm kind of still actively playing
through a not done yet and then also a game that I have downloaded haven't
checked out yet is still Wakes the Deep that's on game Pass and it is
a horror immersive not immersial sim walking sim type experience. I've heard really good
things about it so far. But I'm also actively playing through Alien Isolation,
and I feel like they have similar vibes. So I'm gonna finish Isolation,
I think before I jump into that one. Who knows, maybe I'll break
that and jump in earlier because it does look really good and I want to
check it out. Let's let me do this. I'm gonna I'm gonna throw
my top ten games of the year so far, these are not ordered,
and I'm expecting and I also even hoping that a lot of these get shaken
up in the second half of the year, because I think, as I
mentioned, a bit of a weaker year so far from me. I really
think just Blotro, which is in that top ten, that's like a really
strong one. I know that's gonna be in my top ten by the end
of the year. For the rest of these, I could see a lot
of them getting kicked out if a lot of these things that I'm anticipating end
up hitting as well as I expect them to. So my rough top ten
is looking like this, celest sixty four, Outlast Trials, Manami Lane,
Open Roads, Harold, Halibut, Animal Well, Dread, Delusion. I
just realize they're almost all two letter words, which is fun Eleven Rings,
Shadow of the Urge Tree. Yes, I know, I'm only like six
or seven hours in that DLC. It's really great so far. And then
Multiverses as well, which is a weird one. So yeah, obviously Eldon
Ring and multiverses with games like that, like, okay, not a truly
new release, it's a DLC. I always kind of evaluate that when I
am in that game of the year phase, when it's December and I'm working
on my list and getting ready for those podcasts. That's when I'll really think
about, Okay, if a DLC is like gonna make like maybe tenth on
my list, I'll often bump it just to put new things on there.
It's a very just how I feel in the moment kind of thing. I
think Multiverses there's enough going on with it that I could consider it again.
This year didn't make my top ten in the year that it originally came out,
but there's enough in there and if they keep adding new content. I
haven't played the last couple weeks honestly, but I was playing pretty hard there
when I first relaunched again. I haven't talked about on Side Quest yet,
but it's on the list, so I will deep dive on that. I
probably when I talk with Kirklin next, because I know he was interested in
that one. So yeah, that's kind of my my rough list so far.
And then here are some games that are out now and I would like
to play, and maybe if the right sale hits this year, or maybe
I just end up end up picking it up, or maybe they come to
game Pass so they probably wouldn't I'd end up checking these out. But the
ones that have interested me so far would be like A Dragon Infinite Wealth,
Pacific Drive. That one. If I end up getting a new PC or
a PS five this year, that's like definitely an immediate pickup. I'm really
intrigued by that game, but just don't have the hardware to play right now.
PERSONA three reload that is on game Pass, so I might jump into
that bandletail. I actually also have access to that one. My partner owns
that one on her switch, so I could jump in and check that out.
Astro Duel two, Dragon's Dogma two, Pepper Grinder, spirit Fall Indica
the System Shock remake, which I guess was more ported and came out this
year as a new released, so I don't know if that will count,
but you know, I love me and immersive sim so that one's in the
contention list. And then the Paper Mario thousand Year Door remake. That'll be
a weird one because I've never played the original, so it would be me
looking at it from a new lens. But like, I don't think it's
that different of a game. I actually think it's more of a remaster than
a remake, if I'm not mistaken there. So I don't know if that
one would if I would even consider it eligible for my top ten lists at
the end of the year anyway, But it's just a bit too expensive for
one of those remakes, so it's it's on the shelf right now. I
haven't picked it up, but yeah, like I am really wanting to check
out a few of those games. Some interesting looking indies like Spiritfall is kind
of a platform fighter type single player game which looks really interesting indecause like an
interesting looking horror game Astro Duel too. I think if I had some people
to play that with, which I might at some point, that would be
really fun. That game looks great. And what else? Yeah, Like
I said, Pacific Drive, that's maybe the top dog right now in terms
of the ones that I'm really salty I couldn't play. I was hoping it'd
be able to run on my laptop, but I guess I need to upgrade
that guy at this point. Anything else I wanted to say about the first
half of the year, No, I think. You know, there's a
lot of really interesting games in there, like Animal Well is such an interesting
one, and I think I had a great time with it, and then
when it got to some of the later like Puzzled deeper secret areas, that's
when it was like, Okay, this is like a bit too obscure,
I think, And then it had like kind of a weird ending that kind
of surprised me and kind of came out of nowhere. So I don't know,
I feel very conflicted about that one. Dread Delusions like a really interesting
game so far, but I don't know. How different or how much it's
gonna evolve. It seems fairly simple for a game like that, So there's
definitely some in here that I might revisit as well or spend more time with,
and that could shake things up as well. How about with that we
we jump right into the second half of the year. I'm gonna go month
by month here and yeah, here's my kind of list. This is not
a comprehensive list of games coming out. If you want to do that,
the best places I just go Game and four. If you search Game and
Former twenty twenty four, they have like a really well written list. There's
no fluff in there. There's like a couple images, but it's not like
Adrid and it's really easy to see the release dates for everything. So that's
usually where I go. But this is my personal list of games that I
am either for sure picking up or maybe just intrigued by and want to wait
for it to come out and see how it goes, or maybe I just
don't even see, like how much it's gonna be when it releases, and
that would be the deciding factor. But yeah, the first one up here
is I guess this is gonna be able the day this episode drops on the
free feeds The First Descendant. I think that is a free to play game,
multiplayer shooter thing. I don't really know that. It was at Summer
Game Fest, but like the gameplay was kind of confusing, I guess,
so it's free to play. I might check it out. It's July second.
Flint Lock The Siege of Dawn is coming out July eighteenth. That one
is game pass game, so I'm gonna be checking it out. It's kind
of like a Solsy like combat sort of situation, but with a little more
gun play, so I guess maybe I should compare it more to a Bloodborne
or something. Looks interesting. I don't know if you pronounce this one skim
shim it's s c h I am. This is coming out July eighteenth as
well, and this is a I guess a puzzle platformer that I've had my
eyes on for a while. Here. The idea is that you're this little
blobbed head character and the only way you can move around is by jumping in
shadows. So there's like you jump into the shadow of a light post,
and then maybe if they jump in the shadow of someone who's walking and follow
their shadow along until you can jump behind the shadow of another object. It
seems really interesting, and yeah, I might pick that one up. Frost
Punk two this is another game Pass game. It's coming out July twenty fifth.
I haven't played the first frost Punk, but you know, the great
Tiler Briggs is a big fan of that game, and yeah, I definitely
want to check it out as well because I like sim strategy sort of games,
so I'll definitely jump into that one. I just heard about this game.
It's called The Crush House, coming out on August ninth. I don't
know if I'll be picking this one up, but it looks really compelling.
This is a game in which I don't know what the player like, who
you are, what your perspective is. But the idea is that it's a
reality TV show kind of dating show, and that's like the initial hook.
But then they've talked about how there's like a darker side to it, or
there's something secretive or under the veil going on, and so I don't know
what that means exactly or what the gameplay would be like, but I think
it's a really compelling idea, Like I can't think of many games that have
taken like reality TV and tried to turn that into a game format. So
intrigued by that one. Streets of Rogue two is coming out August fourteenth.
I've not played the first one, though I've heard really good things about it,
and it seems like very much up my alley. I actually saw once
again on that Steam Summer sale that the first one is on sale for a
pretty steep discounts, so I actually might pick it up and play it soon,
and that would probably be the indicator of why I'd go for Streets of
Rogue two. And I think with the second one, it's more I guess
the first one is I guess. I guess it's like a sandboxy type game,
like very immersive sim in terms of there's a lot of different solutions for
the problems, and I think the first one you're going through levels taking people
out, accomplishing tasks. The second one is like a fully open world game
from what I understand, which is a really interesting idea. I love the
pixel art. The art style looks really great, just like silly fun just
a video game ass game, you know what I mean. So I don't
know, I've got my eyes on that one once again. That was August
fourteenth, and then jumping up August twenty ninth is Visions of Manna. This
one's on my list because I love the visuals. I think from the combat
I saw from a couple of showcases, it looks really good. But I'm
not gonna drop those eighty Canadian dollars on it plus tax I probably not,
let's be honest, But it's still on my list just because I think it
looks great. I'm really intrigued by it. The next day, August thirtieth,
is Star Wars Outlaws, which if you listen to you are ub Soft
forward covered, you would know that, Yeah, this game is gonna be
on Ubisoft Plus, ubi Soft Play. No, it's EA play ub Saw,
I think it is Ubi Soft Plus. It is on ubi Soft's game
Pass equivalent. So that's a game that I'm definitely gonna play now. I'm
gonna pay whatever it is ten fifteen bucks to get a month and play it
for a few hours, talk about it. Travis and Taylor picking that one
up as well, and I'm pretty excited for I think it. As I've
mentioned many times, I'm on a very very low hype level four star Wars
generally, but this game does look really fun. I really like a lot
of things going on. It seems like it's very diverse, and it's mechanics.
I like this said, you know, I like the type of character
you're playing. I'm not a big UBI Soft guy, so I don't I
don't think it'll be a huge hit for me, but I'm gonna at least
give a shot, and I'm excited to do so. August thirtieth. And
then there is Harry Potter Quiddage Champions that's coming out September third. We talked
about the Summer Game Fest. I'm probably not gonna pick that up. I
don't think it looks very good. It's on PlayStation plus, I guess,
so that would be that's an easy way for people to jump in. I
also am a kind of quiddit chater. I probably won't play that one.
But you know, I wrote down games here that are kind of tangentially relevant.
I could see a world where I pick it up and that's like all
it digs to get put on my little tracker here. And then we have
Age of Mythology retold September fourth. I still don't know if this is a
remake of an earlier Age of Mythology game or more of a kind of revamped
modern version, But either way, I love the visuals of it from the
Xbox showcase scene more of that, I think it just looks like fun.
I've never really played Age of Mythology or Age of Empires, so it is
a blind spot for me. I'm just excited to check this one out because
it's there through game Pass and just see what it's all about, because it
seems really fun and definitely to my style. Moving on, we have September
eighth Is Stalker Too Hard of Chernobyl. I think that game looks fantastic.
I'm really excited for it. Once again, another game Pass game here.
I just think that the combat looks fun, the story and setting interesting.
I haven't played the first Talker, and I don't think I will before this
one comes out, but yeah, this is gonna be a day one for
me. I'm very excited to go check this one out. September twelfth is
a game called The Chef RPG, which truthfully I don't know a lot about
the reason. I do have it on my radar to some extent, and
it's been on my radar for a few years. Is because the artist or
one of the artists has a YouTube channel where they post just kind of the
making of certain scenes in the game and how they built it. It is
beautiful pixlart. One of the best looking games I've ever seen, And as
someone who's been getting really into art and doing pixel art and trying to get
better at that as a craft, I've just got so much motivation and learned
interesting tips from that person. So that's why the game's on my radar.
I don't truly know much about what the gameplay is gonna be like. It
looks like a you know, a top down RPG sort of situation. I'm
hoping the chef RPG angle of the chef side of it, that it'll be
more of like a slice of life sort of game, or less about combat
and more about just honing your skills or maybe you know, collecting resources and
then making meals. I'm not really sure, but it looks really, really
beautiful, and that's honestly all it takes for a game to be on my
radar. Sometimes. Next up and I will at the end of this I
am going to do a breakdown of my just my top five most anticipated.
This game might be my number one most anticipated. It is UFO fifty coming
out with September eighteenth. I haven't talked about this on side Quest recently.
In fact, maybe last time I talked about it was even before side Quest
existed, because this game has been announced for a very very long time.
But it finally through not Summer Game Fest, but one of the associated events
they have the devs they finally announced. They really state for it. If
you don't know what UFO fifty is, go check out a trailer. It's
not gonna be for everyone. It's definitely my cup of tea. The pitch
of it is that there is kind of this alternate timeline I suppose where there
was this video game studio or company called Ufosoft that had I don't know if
the idea is that they had their own console, and I think it is
they had their own console and their own catalog of games that they created that
are all kind of, you know, cohesive, very much similar to like
the NES in terms of the scope and I guess capability of the games,
but with just like a bit of a different art style. This is still
pixel art. And so the idea is that this UFO fifty game has fifty
games in it, and they're not micro games. They've made that very clear.
They are. Some of them are hours and hours long. Some of
them are like, you know, maybe like a one on one fighting game.
So that's something like you don't you could spend five minutes with it,
or you could spend hours and hours getting really good at it. But yeah,
it's got a fighting game in it. It's got puzzle games, it's
got JRPGs, it's got sports games in it. It's got multiplayer things like
coach call things as well as just full single player experiences. It's got all
sorts of things. It's made by some really well known developers. Most notably
for me is is Derek you who is the creator of the great Spoilunky and
so he's you know, if he made a one game in this pack,
I would probably pick it up. But he's worked on many of them,
and that's what intrigues me about it. So, yeah, fifty games for
the price of one. Like I said, super hyped for that. One
cannot wait for it. September eighteenth cannot come soon enough. After that,
it's gonna be our history untold. September twenty fourth. This is the kind
of Civilization five type game. It's made by Civilization five developers, and you
know, SIV's kind of gone in a different direction our history, and told's
more like, what if SIV five got a sequel instead of that wasn't CIV
six, you know, like a one that was more directly like, let's
take SIVI five and d rate on that. It looks amazing. I don't
know if it will run on my laptop, that's really the only factor.
If it does, I will play the hell out of this game. If
it doesn't, you know, it might take a bit, but next time
I get a PC upgrade, I would definitely go crazy on this game.
It looks fantastic, and that's you know, my hype levels there, even
though SIV seven is already announced as well, like that those two things exist.
But I'm very, very excited for this one. And then a couple
of days after that, September twenty sixth is the Legend of Zelda Echoes of
Wisdom, the new Zelda game where you Geld play as Zelda. I loved
Links Awakening remake on the Switch. I thought it was a really really great
time. This game has the same art style, looks very similar in terms
of some of the gameplay elements of it. So I think this is gonna
be right up my alley, and you know, justice for Zelda that she
finally gets to be playable in like a I don't know, are we calling
this mainline game? I think I will called mainline game. There's clearly a
deviation between this and The Breath of Wild Tears the Kingdoms of the World,
but I still think it's a relevant a relevant pick here for the main mainline
series. But yeah, I cannot be more excited for that. I think
it looks really really good. And then we move into October. October seventeenth
is Super Mario Party Jamboree. I talked about this on the when we broke
down the direct. I think this game looks great. I was a really
big fan of Superstars. I didn't really love Super Mario Party necessarily, but
I think this game just looks like it has a lot of variety to it.
I like the big spot, the characters, it looks good, minigames
look fun. The kind of Fall Guys type mode for it looks really interesting
as well. So yeah, this is me and my partner. We love
playing Mario Party. This is gonna be a Day one pick up for us.
It's just gonna be a good time. We know what we're gonna get.
It's not gonna blow me away, it's it gonna be my top ten.
Probably not, but it'll be an honorable mentions. That's my prediction at
least. And then there is Call of Duty Black Ops six October twenty fifth,
So yeah, for years, like I don't buy Call of Duty,
I'll play war Zone because it's free and you know, playing it with Travis
and Taylor and Kirkling and all that. But you know, Call of Duty
is now on game Pass, so I will check it out. I will
play some of the campaign. I will play zombies, probably a lot of
zombies. I love zombies. And I'll check out some of the standard multiplayer
as well. I don't think this one's like super high up on the hype
list for me. I'm just it's just nice that I'll be able to play
it through my subscription that I already subscribe to, so I will definitely be
checking that one out. And then we have Mario and Luigi Brothership November seventh.
I put this on my list because I think that was an amazing trailer
that it had at the Nintendo Direct and all. Honestly, I am not
gonna pick this game up. It's just if it was cheaper, Yes,
if it was a thirty forty dollars game, sure, I'm not saying that's
what it's worth. I'm just saying that's what it's worth for me. So
I am I'm not gonna be picking this one up day one. Maybe sometime
down the road. I think it does look really solid. I would would
like to play it in another world. Slitterhead is the day after November eighth.
This is that weird looking horror action game from I think it is the
Silent Hill. Some of the Silent Hill creators looks really wacky and weird.
Honestly, I wish it came out earlier. If this was an October pick.
I've definitely made a couple impulse October Bys for scary horror games, just
because I'm in those months. In that month, I'm trying to just play
a bunch of horror stuff. I'm trying to get in that mood. So
it's a bit of a bummer that is coming out actually afterwards. So I
don't know, I doubt this is a day one for me, but sometime
down the road I'll definitely check it out. November fourteenth, we have Dragging
Quest three, the HD two D remake. Looks good. I mean it
looks great visually, looks decent on the gameplay side of things. I don't
know. I really want to pick this up, but once again, it's
a price tag thing, so this will probably sit on the wishless for a
bit until it drops lower lower in price, and that's when I would probably
pick it up. But looks really good. And then the last thing with
an actual date for me is Assassin's Creed Shadow is November fifteenth, which similar
story to Star Wars Outlaws. Normally I would not pick this up, but
it's going to be on the UB self streaming service day one, so I'm
gonna subscribe again for a month, so look out. They're gonna get what
thirty bucks out of me twenty five bucks whatever it is for two months,
and I will jump jump in and check this out. You know, I
love Ghostsushima, so there's a world where I do love this game, but
I just I've really bounced off Assassin Screeds in the past. We'll do a
little mini announcement here. I think we are planning to do a one episode
Assassin's Creed retrospective. We're gonna pick one of the games and do a retro
of that leading into Shadows, which I think is for me, is selfishly
is the thing I want to do because I want to learn more about this
series. Honestly, mostly because Taylor loves these games so much and I want
to be more knowledgeable on them when I talk to him about it, and
just because it is something that he loves. But yeah, it's all.
It definitely has been a blind spot for me. There's so many of these
games. I've played a little bit of origins, I played a little bit
like one or two back in the day, but I've not really played a
whole lot of them. So yeah, I'm definitely gonna whatever play that,
whatever whatever one we do for the retro and then jump into Shadows as well.
So yeah, looking to patch that backlog hole a little bit. How
about I take a quick break here, I'll take a sip of water,
and we'll be right back to talk about the rest of my list. We
will be right back. Okay, So now on the list here, we
are going to be talking about. These are games that are supposed to be
coming out this year but do not have a release date. So first up
Lego Horizons Adventures. But this one year because it's supposed to be coming out
on the holiday, so we can I guess assume that means November or December,
but who really knows what that means. And yeah, I talked about
this, you know, recently on Summer Game Fest. I'm probably not gonna
pick this game. It doesn't look like my cup of tea. I like
some Lego games, I like Horizon zero Dawn, but there's something about this
that's just not clicking for me in terms of the connection of it. So
this will probably not be a Day one for me, but it's cool that
it exists. Next up Wonder Stop. This is from the Summer Game Fest
showcase. This was the game where it looks like you are making tea or
like a little tea vendor, so to speak, a little teawalla, you
own your little place. It looks like you're almost making potions, which obviously
I'm very inclined to like that aesthetic in a kind of interesting fantasy, cutesy
sort of world. But then there's a darker twist. There's something going on
underneath as is made by the Stanley Parabole team or some of those devs at
least, And Yeah, I think it looks really compelling, really interesting.
I hope it comes out this year. Similarly the Plucky Squire. This game
has been on my radar for a couple of years. This is that game
that has kind of both. It looks a bit like a zeld like you
look like a Link type character. So it starts out top down, top
down Zelda sort of style, going around doing puzzles, a little combat sequences,
but then at some point you realize that you're in a storybook, and
you pop out of the storybook into a three D world, and then you're
roaming around I assume like a child's bedroom. You're on the desk, and
then you go and you're climbing up books and climbing around ledges and stuff,
and so you're making progress once getting in the book, you're making progress in
that open world or the three D world, and then you're kind of I
presume you're going back and forth kind of between those. Looks really great,
amazing art style on this game, but just super inventive, super creative idea
and it's taking that it and then just looks like it's absolutely nailing it.
And I think from all the previews and things I've heard, this game does
hold up to the hype level that looks like, So I cannot wait for
this game. I think looks fantastic. Next up is gonna be Skate Story.
This is there's a lot of skateboarding games coming out recently, and this
is the one that, excuse me, looks a little bit trippy, like
you're almost like a crystalline like glass type character. You're in like hell pretty
much, and when you bail, like you shatter to a million pieces.
It just looks weird and interesting. Considering skateboard is still going to take years
and years, it seems like, and there's no new Tony Hawk thing coming
out anytime soon, it appears, I think this is a really nice thing
to play in the meantime. And Yeah, like a lot of the other
skateboarding games that have come out recently, like like Session and other ones that
I can't remember the name of, skateboard, this one looks the most compelling
to me because it is doing something distinctly different. Oh Hell, skate is
another one that looks really interesting as well. So yeah, I think this
one is uh is gonna be quite interesting. I don't know what the I
guess the larger gameplay is like, like I've seen, you know, footage
of what the skateboarding looks like, and that looks good, But I don't
know what the larger thing is. Is it or a story to it is
a more arcadie. I'm not sure, and I don't even know what I
want, honestly, I don't know if I just want to get in there
and have that gameplay or if I do want more of a story focus.
So I don't know. I'm curious to see more about that one. The
next couple of Yere games here are gonna be a couple of game pass ones.
So Indiana Jones in the Great Circle. This is coming out at some
point this year. They've said, I don't think this game looks amazing,
but I just visually, honestly, and they've so far, like a lot
of stuff we've seen have been really story focused. But I did play a
Wolf and Segin game recently made by Machine Games, and I really liked it.
It was a lot of fun, So I am looking forward to this
I think I am gonna like it. I just don't think it's been showing
well at least that's what I'm hoping for. So I don't know. Whatever
it is. I still gonna be playing at day one for sure, and
I hope it's great. And then after that avowed that is the new Obsidian
RPG, the fantasy game. This is a game that I think has shown
poorly at some showcases, and the other time is shown really well. I
think for me it's better. It is like the showcases the trailers for some
reason, they don't look amazing there. But then when they do the deep
dives and I hear the developer interviews and I see more extended deep dive footage,
that's when I'm like, Okay, this game does look fantastic. I
do have my expectations set lower on it, just because of the scope and
scale and how the developers talked about I think they've been very open in terms
of like what this game is gonna look like. They keep saying over and
over again, do not expect Skyrim. This is not a Skyrim scale thing.
This is not as wide as Skyrim is in that way, but hopefully
it can be as deep and interesting, and yeah, I liked Outer Worlds
enough. It's a game I soured on a little bit on a second play
through, but I still had a great time the first time through in the
first twenty thirty hours, and so I'm sure that's gonna happen with the Vowed
once again. And it's the setting and I enjoy more. So Yeah,
very very anticipated that one. Next up is Earthplay. This is the new
game from the Celeste team. I doubt it's coming out this year. I
don't think it's officially been pushed. The initial trailer I believe did have a
twenty twenty four on there. I want to talk about this one too much
because I don't think it's actually coming out this year. Followout London this was
the big mod for Fallout four that was follow Out London. Just a new
huge city, looks great, and then they pushed it. They delayed it
when the next Gen patch came out, because I just borked a bunch of
things with their mod, so really unfortunate telling me that that was like a
shadow drop from Bethesda. That kind of screwed over these developers. But you
know, if you're a modern I guess that's what you can expect you're kind
of a second class citizen in the developer world there, I suppose. So
I yeah, I really looking forward to it. I think when it does
come out, that's when I'll redown download Fall at four and play it again.
It's been a long time since I've played that game, but I think
that'll be finally the thing that kicks it into gear for me. Next up
is Blackmith Wukong, which actually, I think this dove does have a release
date, so let me check here, that is coming to August twentieth.
Okay, so I'll throw a date on that and put that on my list
here. This is the game that just has some of the craziest visuals you'll
ever see, just in terms of fidelity. It's a souls like type game.
It looks really great. I am I've talked about before, like souls
like games. You really need to sell me on like a concept or something
more to it, just because I gameplay wise, I don't necessarily seek that
out, especially because I'm getting my elden ring fixed, and honestly, with
how big this dealc seems to be, it might last me a couple of
months, so even into August potentially so I probably won't pick this up day
one, but it looks fantastic, and I don't know. If everyone I
hear to talk about it is just praising it to the Nine Divines, then
I might. I can see myself picking it up. I could see it
happening. Next up is Mina The Hollower. This is the Shovel Knight teams
new game, kind of a Zelda links Awakening, not like the new lengths
a Waking, but the old original Links Awakening kind of style game. It
just looks really good and really smart. I love the visuals of it.
This is gonna be a Day one for me whenever it drops. I didn't
love Shovel Knight necessarily, but I think that team is really great at what
they're doing in terms of bringing back these retro I guess what I want to
say, I guess the genre. I mean, obviously platforms never really went
anywhere. They're making these very authentic like any s style games, but with
modern sensibilities. I guess that's a better way to say what I was thinking.
And yeah, mean of the Hollower. It looks like in that exact
same ballpark. So very very excited. Beastie Ball is next. Up,
and this is a game that I'm kind of I'm kind of so so on.
This is from the team that made Chickery, and Wonder Song was their
game before that. I played Chickery, I think it was earlier this year,
maybe it was last year, and absolutely loved it. Such a great
game, so inventive and interesting and compelling. And this game is their new
one where you it's almost like a Pokemon like a collecting kind of game,
and then the combat are like these voldeyball type puzzle things, so it's a
weird mash up. It's interesting. I don't actually love the art style and
like necessarily what I've seen so far, but I think Chickory was just such
a good game that it makes me want to pick this up either way,
so I probably will next up. This is maybe one that a lot of
people would forget about John Carpenter's Toxic Commando. Honestly, this game is probably
not coming out this year. I feel like it would have been at Summer
Game Fest to some extent if it was coming out this year. I don't
think this game looks amazing by any mean, but it just looks like dumb
fun and you know, sometimes I need that. Sometimes I just need a
first person shoot with that's dum fun. I don't even know if it's Gains
the Firsterson shooter. I kind of forget, but whatever, it's on my
list. Next up the Rise of the Golden Idol, which is a surprise
sequel because I think the Case of the Golden Idle the Predecessor came out I
think last year. Maybe it was two years ago, late two years ago
or something, but it came out very recently, so it's interesting that they
already have another game coming out, and I think they switch up the art
style quite a bit. I think it is going in more three DS type
of setting, like a good mystery game. I feel like it's a very
rare genre actually, Like there's point and click adventure games, which I guess
you'd put in that caliber, but in terms of games like Outer Wilds or
Return of the oprah Din, I think those style of mystery games are pretty
rare. And this the first game and presumably this one, are gonna be
in that camp. My partner has been playing Case of the Golden Idle and
loving it, and so yeah, I probably will play the first one before
I come to Rise the Goldennitle to be honest, so I don't know if
that'll happen this year, but definitely a game worth putting on your radar if
you're into mystery type games. Okay, next up, shant Chante Chante Advance,
Risky Revolution. I don't think I've ever pronounced that character's name out loud,
so apologies for that pronunciation. This is a very interesting game, and
I don't actually know if it's coming out this year, but this is essentially
a new game Boy Advance game where I think it was maybe originally a game
Boy Advance game that got canceled back in the day, and they're like actually
finishing it and releasing it. They're releasing it on game Boy Advance, and
I almost bought it because I love that system, but I was like,
Okay, I don't actually know anything about this series, so I don't know
if I should just like impulse by this, you know, now expensive game
Boy Advance thing. But then they're also going to release the game on you
know, Steam and Switch, I think without the game Boy Advance cartridge,
because that would be a very risky business move, I think in the year
of twenty twenty four. But I just love that idea. I think the
Game Boy Advance was like a perfect time and game development in terms of limitations.
People always talk about how limitation drives creativity, or creativity thrives under limitation,
and so I think it's an interesting idea to go back to Game Boy.
Like, obviously, if they're releasing the game on the Game Boy Advance,
it means it can run on that hardware natively, and so whatever this
modern version is, that's even on the Switch, it's gonna still be with
those design sensibilities. I love that pixelar of that generation. I like the
color. This game looks really cool, and I think it's just such a
fun, interesting idea. So yeah, that's definitely on my radar. Baby
Steps this is the like It's Quop, but just with you know, four
K graphics pretty much. This is the silly game where you're just controlling the
guy walking down a trail down this kind of countryside but you're just a janky,
weird baby guy and you're just walking is really bad. It's one of
those Bennett faddy yanky kind of games. Looks fun. I don't know what
the price tag on it is that's gonna be I guess the deciding factor.
Next up is a game called Dead Static Drive, which I've had on my
radar for a long time, and I don't know. It's never really gotten
a firm release date. It does have twenty twenty four like on its Steam
page right now. I don't know if I believe that. I hope it's
coming out soon. This is one where I don't even know the full scope
of it, but from the visuals of it, it's kind of like a
top down issymmetric perspective, and it looks almost GTA like in terms of just
the craziness that's going on. You're just driving around. There's wild stuff happening.
There's like, you know, Cuthulhu and all these lovecrafting type creatures going
on, and you're just driving around. You got fuel up your vehicle,
run away from monsters, go do stuff. I don't know what that stuff
is. I don't know what you do exactly. I don't know if the
objective or main goal of this game is, but I just think the gameplay
looks really good. The game field looks amazing. So it's been on my
radar for a long time, and I hope it finally comes out this year
because I want to. I want it in my hands. I want to
play it. Next up jack Box Naughty Pack that's supposed to be coming out
this year. So jack Box, that team is uh, you know,
they're releasing a naughty, an adult version of jack Box, which those games
have always teetered on it. Of course, if you have a group of
friends who are into that and you're using swear words and naughty terms, you
could already kind of have that, but this one's actually gonna fully go into
it. This is gonna be an adult only game. I think it's like
a fun deviation for Jackbox, do something a little bit different. So that's
uh, that could be a good pick up. Hopefully it comes out before
our Geek first twenty four hour stream so we can play that there. That
would be fun sequence nice after nine uh timing for that one, of course.
And then we have Kingdom Come Deliverance too, a game that I did
not have my rate on my radar until Summer game Fest and seeing that showcase
for it, it just looked wild and weird and crazy, and you know,
I like, it's not fantasy, but I like medieval like that setting.
So yeah, it's on my radar. Metal Gear Solid Delta Snaky This
is the remake of Metal Gear Solid three. Truthfully, I will definitely not
pick this up this year because I have I got the Metal Gear Solid Volume
one collection, which has the original version, So I'm gonna play the original
version because I already own that, and if I really love that, I'll
probably pick up Snake Ear or I should say, Delta pick up this remake
at some point in the future. But yeah, probably not this year.
The rumors were the leagues were that was coming out in November, but I
don't know how meaningful that is. We shall see. Metal Slug Tactics is
next up. I was surprised to see that Metal Slug got a surprise shadow
drop a different game on the Switch, and Tactics is not out yet but
it is supposed come out this year. I love the pixelar of this game.
I think it looks like a simple, fun tactics game. This is
right up my alley. I haven't played a tactic game in a bit either,
so I think I'll definitely be picking this one up. Looks really good
replaced. This is that kind of two D side scrolling game that just has
a really great aesthetic. Supposed we finally coming out this year game Pass.
I'll be playing that Rivals too. This is the sequel to Rivals of Eighth.
They drop the of ether and you're just calling it Rivals too. Now.
It is a three D uh, this is or It is a platform
fighter, so like a Smash Bros. Like a multi verses, and this
one is going three D from the pixelart two D that they had before.
I mean it still did two D gameplay, but with three D visuals.
If I'm gonna be specific about it, I really like Rivals. It's a
great platform fighter, really smart game, really good character designs. Had fun
at you know, shovel Knight and or we replayable characters in there. And
yeah, the sequel is adding a lot of things that the original game didn't
have, like shielding and grabbing features that were just taking out for simplicity.
But I think coming back to the three D and what people expect from a
smash type game makes sense to bring those things back. So I will probably
be picking this one up because that team, I think Dan Dan's I can't
remember the last name, Furnace Fornas. I think, yeah, makes great
games, cool games, So I'll definitely be picking that one up another fighting
game, two D fighting game, Marvel Verus Capcom Fighting Collection. We talked
about this during the Nintendo Direct. Haven't played these games, but I think
this collection looks really great. I will probably be picking this up. I
just I just want to play these games. They look fun. And then
the last one on my list here is Caravan sand Witch. Not Sandwich like
the food, but like sand Witch, like sand is in grains, you
know, rough and course gets everywhere, and then Witch is in you know,
like a broomstick rider. I don't know why I describe which is like
that, but there you go. Caravan Sandwich. This is a very weird,
interesting looking game. It looks kind of like a road trip type game,
which is a subgenre that I really like, Like Overland was like that,
or Open Roads earlier this year, or Road ninety six and the sequel
or kind of like that as well. I just I really like that kind
of setup for a game, and this game has a really cute looking van
that you're traveling in. You're going around collecting. I don't know if there's
combat. I don't know the full story of it, but from what I
have seen, it looks really cool and like just a fun, kind of
low key type of game. So that's on my list as well, and
boom, there you go. That is an exhaust exhaustive list. I can't
even say the word correctly. That's about forty games that I just mentioned that
are coming out in the second half of this year that I have my radar
on, and honestly, like half of those feel like day ones for me.
So that's gonna be I don't know if if all goes to plan,
I might hit the fifty mark of fifty games played by the end of this
year, which is you know, pretty insulid, pretty in line with the
last couple of years in terms of how many games I've been playing. Like
I said, my top five, four and most anticipated, I'm gonna go
no particular order here, Actually, you know what, on the spot,
let's do a particular order. I'm gonna number one, most anticipated, UFO
fifty number two avowed. Actually, I'm gonna bump about a three, and
I'm gonna put Plucky Squire, the Plucky Squire at number two, and then
my four and five are Dead Start Driving Metal Slug Tactics. Those games look
really cool, really great, and I don't know which one is which I
guess I'll go Dead Set of Drive at five for the kind of question mark
element of it, Metal Slug Tactics at four. So yeah, those are
my most anticipated games for the rest of the year. For a lot of
those, of course, you can expect reviews or coverage or you know in
the games we've been playing section coverage on those kinds of things. And yeah,
I'm probably some other ones as well. I'm sure there's a couple of
games coming out that the rest of the guys might play or pick up that
I will not be. So yeah, stay tuned for the rest of the
year, and very excited to get into the second half. Really exciting list
of games coming out. Thank you everyone for listening, and hope you liked
this solo episode. And yeah, next week, I think I'll be joined
by Kirkland, who hasn't been on side Quest for a very long time,
and we can hear what he's been playing in the last few like even a
month and a half or something by the time. Anyway, thank you everyone
for listening. This was a very fun time and yeah, I'll talk to
you guys next week. Bye bye.