What if you combined Dark Souls and Diablo, then added a pinch of city-building mechanics and survivor elements? You’d get No Rest for the Wicked from Moon Studios, the team best known for the Ori games. It’s ambitious and bound to inspire conversations — even in its Early Access stage. In the back half, Plante updates the team on 2024’s best nun simulator: Indika!

Get the full list of games (and other stuff) discussed at www.besties.fan. Want more episodes? Join us at patreon.com/thebesties for three bonus episodes each month!

Special guest Lucy James (GameSpot, Giant Bomb, Frames Per Second Podcast) joins Frushtick and Plante to discuss Another Crab’s Treasure. Have you ever wondered what it would have looked like had Rare made a Souls-like in the early ‘00s? Now you have an answer! Plus, the crew shares updates on other games they’ve been playing, from Stellar Blade to TopSpin 2K25.

Get the full list of games (and other stuff) discussed at www.besties.fan. Want more episodes? Join us at patreon.com/thebesties for three bonus episodes each month!

Duck and cover! This week, The Besties discuss the first two episodes of the excellent Fallout TV series. Then, they talk through the ways the Fallout approach could alter the trajectory of video game adaptations. Plus: a bunch of great listener recommendations!

Get the full list of games (and other stuff) discussed at www.besties.fan. Want more episodes? Join us at patreon.com/thebesties for three bonus episodes each month!

This week, The Besties share their favorite “rainy day” games! These are the games we dig out when we’re feeling blue and need something that provides a quick dose of comfort. Turns out our list is quite long! In the back half, we do the rare Besties spoilercast with Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth — a.k.a. one of 2024’s best games.

Get the full list of games (and other stuff) discussed at www.besties.fan. Want more episodes? Join us at patreon.com/thebesties for three bonus episodes each month!

This week we've got a game inspired by the SNES era and a game that probably shouldn't have come out at all. We'll also find out just what Justin thinks about Dragon's Dogma 2, and what's going on with the Stardew Valley 1.6 update.

Get the full list of games (and other stuff) discussed at www.besties.fan. Want more episodes? Join us at patreon.com/thebesties for three bonus episodes each month!

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is the best game of the year? Or is it the buggiest? It might be the most divisive! This week, The Besties talk about the wildly ambitious (and difficult to run on most hardware) fantasy RPG from Capcom. Plus, we take a deep dive into the reader mail pool. Did we mention we keep all the letters in a pool, Scrooge McDuck-style? Because we do.

Get the full list of games (and other stuff) discussed at www.besties.fan. Want more episodes? Join us at patreon.com/thebesties for three bonus episodes each month!

Team Ninja has been busy!

In the past five years, the studio released Dead or Alive 6, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, Nioh 2, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, and Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty. Their latest game, Rise of the Ronin, compiles everything they learned into their most ambitious project: a sprawling open-world samurai adventure set in a recreation of mid-19th century Japan.

Rise of the Ronin takes the “something for everyone” approach, blending the exploration and loot systems of recent Assassin’s Creed games with the quick-reflex sword fighting of the studio’s Nioh series. This video game smoothie is quite delicious — if you can stomach the occasional funky chunk of game mechanics.

In the back half, we talk about our favorite under-appreciated open-world games.

Get the full list of games (and other stuff) discussed at www.besties.fan. Want more episodes? Join us at patreon.com/thebesties for three bonus episodes each month!

This week, the squad puts on their armor, grabs their swords, and mounts their gallant steads to charge into Unicorn Overlord. The tactics RPG is the latest game from Vanillaware, the developer of niche masterpieces like Odin Sphere and 13 Sentinels. In the back half, Justin introduce the team to Banishers, a game that blends Witcher and God of War. How did we not hear about this one until now? And how often does a game depict a healthy marriage like this one?!

Get the full list of games (and other stuff) discussed at www.besties.fan. Want more episodes? Join us at patreon.com/thebesties for three bonus episodes each month!