[0:05] What's up, everybody? Welcome to a special edition of Game of the Year Watch. This
[0:09] is our show where we start lining up potential Game of the Year candidates to
[0:12] see what we'll likely be voting on come awards season. I'm Damon Hatfield. Today I'm
[0:16] joined by Alyak and Nick Limone. And I hope you guys are ready to talk
[0:19] about some real good video games. Oh, yeah. Always. Lots of good stuff. So no
[0:24] matter where you play, there have been a lot of great games released this year
[0:26] already, There have been a lot of great games released this year already, from Resident
[0:32] Evil, to Pokemon, to Forza, to Crimson Desert, to 007, to Mina the Hollower, just
[0:36] an embarrassment of riches for us gamers. I've polled Scoop Nation to see if there
[0:41] are any frontrunners for the fans. We'll reveal the results in a bit, but first,
[0:45] just so our producers know behind the scenes, all the copy has been updated and
[0:48] run down. The copy here is a little bit outdated, but we can jump into
[0:52] our first game here. I think a good place to start would be the best
[0:54] -selling Game of the Year and my personal pick for Game of the Year so
[0:58] far. And my personal pick for Game of the Year so far, that's Resident Evil
[1:03] Requiem. So this is the Dame -y pick so far. That's my personal pick, but
[1:08] I also think it's a likely frontrunner just in general and is the best -selling
[1:13] game of the year so far. So a good jumping -off point. Nick, we've talked
[1:16] about this game a lot on GameScoop. Yeah, and for good reason. I think the
[1:20] game is outstanding. I think still to this day, the momentum of this game, came
[1:24] out, what, March, Resident Evil? Early March. So early part of the year, and yet
[1:29] it still has the momentum. early march so early early part of the year and
[1:33] yet it still has the momentum that i think is going to carry it all
[1:36] the way through to december it will have to deal with a giant uh grand
[1:40] theft auto size monster in the room but if there's one person who i think
[1:44] can actually handle it it's maybe leon s kennedy himself i i think resident evil
[1:49] requiem is just a delightful love letter to all things resident evil whether you're a
[1:54] long time fan or a relatively new one and uh honestly it's just so
[2:00] fun to play i played the game like and uh honestly it's just so fun
[2:04] to play i played the game like six to seven times in a row i've
[2:08] hundred percented it so like i love it the roguelike mode is really fun leon
[2:12] must die however i do have my qualms with it you know if i am
[2:16] getting nitpicky okay in this game of the year style discussion the only thing i
[2:20] can think that is really going against resident evil requiem is strong first half of
[2:25] the game all the way up through grace's basement section where you get to the
[2:28] midpoint of the game and then we switch and we make a pretty drastic change
[2:32] the midpoint of the game and then we switch and we make a pretty drastic
[2:36] change in location tone and um the the pacing gets flip -flopped a little bit
[2:41] and i think that's where the game gets significantly weaker that said the first half
[2:45] of the game is the strongest resident evil has ever been i'm gonna go outright
[2:49] and say it the grace uh the trauma center the the medical ward that is
[2:54] i would argue one of the finest resident evil environments ever i look forward to
[2:59] years from now where we do an art of the level on just grace's section
[3:02] in that medical ward and then
[3:08] how it's kind of just sandwiched by delightful bite -sized leon sections it's so good
[3:12] it's a little bit of action it's a little bit of horror just comes together
[3:15] to make a great package but come on leon's whole section in bombed out raccoon
[3:20] city when he's climbing that uh fallen over skyscraper and shooting out the glass to
[3:24] making the zombies fall all that is brilliant the set pieces are fantastic and i
[3:28] think the capcom did such a great job of giving you things to do in
[3:33] the open city job of giving you things to do in the open city section
[3:38] but none of it felt particularly meaningful or meaty in a way that like juxtaposed
[3:43] with grace's section grace's sections earlier on they just felt more substantial to me and
[3:48] like i was doing more resident evil things this almost felt like a devil may
[3:51] cry game when i was in raccoon city as leon i i can agree with
[3:54] that a section where that last section we reach raccoon city i expected more
[4:00] from that section i'm not sure what i think the pacing kind of slowed down
[4:04] for me and i kind of got used to the monsters
[4:10] in that moment but i absolutely loved resident evil 9. i think that was the
[4:14] moment where i was like hmm what's going on here but the rest of the
[4:17] game was to me amazing you beat me you said you beat it seven to
[4:20] nine i think it's like five or six times but i whatever i needed to
[4:24] do to 100 percent it yeah wow okay i i i got four four four
[4:27] times i mean that's pretty good i got the speed around okay um i loved
[4:32] resident evil 9. i think capcon did something that they hadn't done before and it
[4:36] was Resident Evil 9. I think Capcom did something that they hadn't done before, and
[4:40] it was connecting the old Resident Evil and the new Resident Evil, and they made
[4:45] it work. Seamlessly, we got the horror, and honestly, the grace scene that we got
[4:51] at the very beginning is one of the most terrifying moments Resident Evil has ever
[4:55] been, and honestly, any other horror game, I can't remember a horror game that's gotten
[4:59] me like that. I just love that they combined the old and the new, and
[5:03] it feels like instead of choosing one of the two, this is the new direction.
[5:07] They're embracing. Instead of choosing one of the two, this is the new direction. They're
[5:11] embracing both sides, first person and third person, and it's working. Okay, so Resident Evil
[5:15] Requiem, hugely successful, best -selling game of the year so far. The fourth best -selling
[5:21] game of the year so far is Pokemon Pocopia. This is a game that I
[5:24] quite enjoyed in spite of the fact that I'm not a Pokemon guy. The tonal
[5:27] whiplash is amazing, and I love it. This is the thing that Game of the
[5:30] Year does. It brings together disparate types of games and forces them to do gladiatorial
[5:36] combat. I love that. I love it. forces them to do bad gladiatorial combat i
[5:41] love it is this cozy uh town building social simulator game with pokemon a game
[5:47] of your contender i mean i i think it's 100 a valid contender especially for
[5:51] people who might be turned off by resident evil's either violence gory maybe it's just
[5:55] not your cup of tea in the same way that those people may not be
[5:59] particularly interested in pocopia you know um i mean one thing that i i did
[6:03] not expect myself to be as uh kind of grabbed by pocopia as uh
[6:09] kind of grabbed by pocopia as as much as it did and it's mostly because
[6:14] the game feel like the game feels good to move around in in a way
[6:18] that a lot of the kind of minecraft style games don't particularly feel great like
[6:23] this is um you know co -developed by the um dragon quest builders folks and
[6:28] i think a lot of their dna shows there you know i i'm not a
[6:31] big fan of the the tree punching survival horror or not horror but tree punching
[6:35] survival games where you're building up towns just because there's usually never any sort of
[6:39] direction games where you're building up towns just because there's usually never any sort of
[6:43] direction and the thing that's beautiful about the dragon quest builders games and then that
[6:47] has in turn affected pocopia is objective based gameplay where it's like do this now
[6:52] do this now go ahead and do this and do it however you want and
[6:56] i really appreciate that sort of feedback loop and it forces you to do things
[7:00] and consider things you had before plus it's great nostalgia bait because you're going back
[7:04] to kanto region original pokemon and you're seeing like a post -apocalyptic
[7:10] You're seeing like a post -apocalyptic version of Pokemon Red and Blue, which is really
[7:15] delightful. I mean, the Pokemon franchise is 30 years old now. Pocopia is the best
[7:20] reviewed game in the entire series history. Yeah, as a Pokemon fan, I feel like
[7:24] I've been one of those people that have been waiting for a Pokemon game that
[7:28] just felt good, that looked good, that I was excited to play. And this was
[7:32] it. took, you know, it took Minecraft inspired level building and
[7:38] it also kind of took a little bit of Animal Crossing too. So two highly
[7:41] successful. and uh it also kind of took a little bit of animal crossing too
[7:44] so two highly successful games that mesh together into pokemon i guess my question is
[7:50] do you guys call that innovation or inspiration i mean it's innovative
[7:55] in that nintendo and game freak are like what if we gave it to someone
[7:59] else yeah and i think that's an innovation that's a speaks for itself in my
[8:03] opinion but i just don't know if this game in particular has the legs it
[8:07] needs from a more hardcore audience you know the people who are playing your crimson
[8:12] desert more hardcore audience. You know, the people who are playing your Crimson Deserts, your
[8:17] Resident Evils and things like that. But I mean, there are outliers like yourself. So
[8:21] I think it has a shot. Now, there are two games worth mentioning that got
[8:26] a 10 from IGN so far this year. That's Forza Horizon 6 and Mina the
[8:30] Hollower. Correct. Again, two very different games. Think of the diversity of games we've already
[8:34] just mentioned so far. Forza Horizon 6. Forza Horizon 5 was our game of the
[8:39] year in 2021. Is 6 a contender? Look, I love of the year 2021 is
[8:44] six a contender look i love here we go i love japan i love japan
[8:49] don't get me wrong i love the the formula that forza horizon has kind of
[8:54] introduced and implemented but i can't help but feel like i've already played this game
[8:59] and that's like yeah and that's the biggest dilemma i think it's really fun don't
[9:02] get me wrong it's just i've done all of this before in the way that
[9:06] a lot of the things that we we've been talking about feel fresh and exciting
[9:11] and new whereas you know not to be like you know break it down and
[9:14] exciting and new whereas you know not to be like you know break it down
[9:18] to its like absolute simplest formula but it is just kind of driving a car
[9:23] around in a way that's very arcadian fun and i think i'm at a point
[9:26] in my life now where i want more sim based style challenging you know i
[9:29] want to learn that i'm over steering and figure out how to fix that yeah
[9:33] um this is just kind of something that i play to pass the time as
[9:38] opposed to a thing that i actively want to like make progress yeah i mean
[9:41] the presentation is flawless i can't i can't knock it for that it just i
[9:45] mean, the presentation is flawless. I can't knock it for that. It does have kind
[9:49] of a been -there -done -that feel. Exactly. And we also talk about friction. You
[9:52] enjoy a certain amount of friction in your games, but Forza Horizon 6 kind of
[9:56] goes out of its way to present a frictionless experience for the player. I don't
[10:01] know, it gets a little bit... I get a little bit tired of its overwhelming
[10:03] positivity. It's always trying to boost me up, like, you're awesome, here's a free car.
[10:08] You basically created cars. You're so good at this. It's like, okay, thank you, but
[10:12] also, like, give me a challenge.
[10:18] give me a challenge even like the the you know the giant mech race right
[10:22] i thought that would be a lot more challenging than it actually was in that
[10:26] you know you're on paper it's a great idea you are racing against a giant
[10:30] mech and then it's like oh it's all kind of like scripted and chill and
[10:33] it's designed to lose and i i feel good about it because i win but
[10:38] i didn't really feel like i earned it you know elliak what do you think
[10:41] yeah i i'm always impressed by the visuals of this game and i feel like
[10:45] it's one of those games that's just really impressed by the visuals of this game
[10:49] and i feel like it's one of those games that's just really fun to play
[10:51] but again i expect a little bit more from a game of the year like
[10:55] i want to personally this is very personal i want a really good story that
[10:59] takes me to different worlds and i think this is real really fun game it's
[11:02] impressive what they've done with forza but we have seen it before and we have
[11:05] other contenders that i feel like have impressed me more all right we need to
[11:10] take a quick break but when we return we will discuss mina the hollower and
[11:13] your picks for game of the year 2026 so far Four picks for Game of
[11:18] the Year 2026 so far. IGN Summer of Gaming is presented by
[11:23] Amazon Luna, here to play. IGN
[11:29] Summer of Gaming is presented by our official retail partner, Best Buy.
[11:39] Welcome back to Game of the Year Watch 2026. We've been discussing some of the
[11:43] highest rated games on IGN this year, but what are your games? rated games on
[11:48] IGN this year, but what are your games of the year so far? I put
[11:52] the call out and Scoop Nation answered. Now there is a clear frontrunner, which we'll
[11:56] get to in a bit, but perhaps more interesting is the tie for fifth place
[12:00] in my very scientific polling. Please break it down. I'm dying to know. For fifth
[12:04] place. So this would be Forza Horizon 6 and Crimson Desert. Wow.
[12:10] I'm not surprised, but I guess maybe a little bit. That's pretty interesting. Yeah, so
[12:15] we talked a bit about Forza Horizon 6. That got a 10 for my Interesting.
[12:19] Yeah, so we talked a bit about Forza Horizon 6. That got a 10 from
[12:22] IGN. Crimson Desert got a 6 from IGN. But it's a polarizing game,
[12:28] but people have passionate feelings about it. And the people that love it, they really,
[12:32] really, really love it. And I should say, there are lots of people on staff
[12:36] here at IGN that really, really love it. Oh yeah, I know Justin Davis was
[12:39] obsessed with it for a bit. Mark Medina loves it. Corrado loves it. What was
[12:43] your experience with it? I think this is, I do not love this game. However,
[12:49] I do think it's interesting and it's a game that
[12:55] I frequently uninstall and reinstall on Steam every time there's an update because I always
[13:00] think maybe now's the time that I'll love it my thing is we talked a
[13:03] little bit about me loving friction in my games and I think that this game
[13:07] has plenty of it but it's not handled particularly elegantly like one of the things
[13:11] that this is constantly getting served to me it's like designed for social media and
[13:15] that there's so many bespoke little secrets that you would never know they're there unless
[13:20] some Bespoke little secrets that you would never know they're there unless some influencer or
[13:25] content creator told you about it. And it's just because the game doesn't communicate how
[13:29] any of these things are a possibility to you. And to me, that's its biggest
[13:33] problem. It's like, show me that there are these sorts of secrets innately and organically
[13:38] in the game. I don't need to rely on, I shouldn't have to rely on
[13:42] content creators to show me that there's a really one -of -a -kind unique pair
[13:46] of boots that let you run on water, let you jet ski through the water.
[13:50] It's like, that's really cool. run on water, let you jet ski through the water.
[13:54] It's like, that's really cool. I just wish the game told me that these types
[13:57] of things exist so that I can go and be on the lookout for them
[14:00] in a way that feels like I would actually be able to investigate and figure
[14:04] out these things are there as opposed to the game just kind of arbitrarily like,
[14:08] well, you didn't interact with every single clock in the town. So how would you
[14:11] not know that the thing is there? It's little things like that. I just don't
[14:14] think it's, it doesn't kind of choreograph itself very well and tell you what are
[14:19] the possibilities, which I can appreciate, but tell you what are the possibilities which i
[14:24] can appreciate but not not game of the year material the game game of the
[14:28] year material should teach you as you play aliaq what do you think i think
[14:32] this is the game that your friends get mad at you for not playing they're
[14:36] just insisting to like please just play crimson desert has happened already before um there's
[14:41] just something about the game that i i think like you said is missing for
[14:44] me to be able to like consider it for that i'm not surprised that it's
[14:48] here because of how many people absolutely love this game but maybe because of how
[14:53] many people absolutely love this game but maybe it is filling a space that was
[14:57] needed to be filled before and that's why people love it so much i just
[15:00] to me um in terms of like uniqueness and branding it just looks like another
[15:04] you know open world um mmo where you can just you know run around and
[15:09] do cool things but i don't know it's missing something a soul i mean it's
[15:14] the only game that we've been discussing it didn't receive universal acclaim yeah correct but
[15:19] the people that love it really love it and i think that makes them like
[15:21] want to defend it yeah so they're very loud really love it and i think
[15:24] that makes them like want to defend it yeah so they're very loud champions of
[15:28] it i i strongly suspect that the type of people like it's people who enjoy
[15:33] you know lush beautiful worlds which i will i will not argue that yeah crimson
[15:39] dead are just one of the most stunning games i've ever seen i i just
[15:42] it looks expensive in a way like i don't know necessarily think it's beautiful in
[15:47] that its art direction is beautiful i think it just looks like the money is
[15:51] on the screen that the dev uh clearly put a lot of time like the
[15:55] money is on the screen that the dev clearly put a lot of time and
[15:59] effort in it and i think it's a very impressive almost tech demo but it's
[16:03] like i don't know i just have zero interest in actually engaging with any of
[16:07] its systems in a way that like i want to fall in love with it
[16:10] but it's just there's nothing in the game so far that has managed to like
[16:13] grab me and grip me in the way that you know a lot of the
[16:16] other games i would actually liken this a lot more to forza horizon 6 in
[16:20] that this just feels like something i'm playing to pass the time between big releases
[16:23] without really engaging with it meaning Trying to pass the time between big releases without
[16:27] really engaging with it meaningfully. Well, then it's fitting that this is tied with Forza
[16:32] Horizon 6 for fifth place with the fans. Coming up, number four is Pokemon Pogopia.
[16:38] Wow. Lots of fans there. And then number three, finally, Nick, is Mina the Hollower.
[16:42] Woo! My personal number two pick for game of the year. I think Mina the
[16:47] Hollower is just, I'm going to go outright and say it, I think it's the
[16:51] best 2D Zelda game that has ever existed. So better than Link to the Past,
[16:55] better than Link's Awakening. existed. So better than Link to the Past, better than Link's
[16:59] Awakening. And then better than the Capcom produced 2D Zelda games, which are also better
[17:04] than Oracle of Ages, Seasons, and Minish Cap. And Minish Cap. And the DS games.
[17:08] Phantom Hourglass. Okay, maybe not between two worlds. Link Between Worlds is pretty damn good.
[17:14] But Mina the Hollower is just this delightful blend of it feels a lot more
[17:19] like the Oracle of Ages and Seasons games to me, combined with Bloodborne, in the
[17:24] way the game incentivizes you being aggressive. Bloodborne, in the way the game incentivizes you
[17:30] being aggressive, I really like that about it. I love that there's tons of secrets
[17:34] to find. I like that the game doesn't hold your hand. I like that it's
[17:37] challenging. And just everything about the game is just very clearly made by people who
[17:42] are at the top of their craft. And I would expect nothing less from the
[17:46] people who gave us Shovel Knight. And like Shovel Knight, I look forward to constantly
[17:50] replaying this game probably once a year for the rest of my life, the way
[17:53] I do Shovel Knight and Specter Knight. It's so good. I do have one major
[17:57] problem. level knight and specter knight it's so good i do have one major problem
[18:02] with the game uh the towers are not fun the towers that you do in
[18:06] the game after every dungeon after every boss dungeon you have to do this thing
[18:09] where you ascend a tower to activate it and then move on to the next
[18:12] one those are not fun no matter what you do however despite those not being
[18:16] fun i still think the game is a 10 out of 10 10 out of
[18:20] 10 number three with the fans number two is 007 first light this is a
[18:25] game i finished recently i also loved this game they took a bold risk by
[18:29] telling a prequel story, introducing a
[18:35] new Bond, and I think it's a great Bond. Aliyak, did you play Double Seven?
[18:37] I did. I finished it, and I actually, I feel like I want to love
[18:41] it. I want to. I feel like you and Nick are more in agreement, and
[18:44] I love it. Yeah, that's good to hear. I wanted to love this game so
[18:49] much. I've always wanted to play Hitman games, and I never got a chance to
[18:52] jump into them, so I thought this would be my first entry into the Hitman
[18:55] -style genre of games, and I love James Bond, so I wanted to. style uh
[19:01] genre of games and i love james bond so i wanted to love this game
[19:04] but there was something that wasn't just clicking for me there were moments that were
[19:08] really fun but it also didn't seem as polished as i wanted it to be
[19:12] and parts of the story was strong some parts weren't as strong for me um
[19:16] it just it just wasn't hitting i think i wanted a little bit more from
[19:20] this game i wanted to see some more fun things from the hitman games that
[19:23] i feel like a lot of people wanted to see and i i will say
[19:27] though positive when i finished the game and you got a chance to actually see
[19:31] today though positive when i finished the game and you got a chance to actually
[19:34] see all the cool gear that you could now unlock with with a bond and
[19:39] see your cars and all that the extra content i thought it was really cool
[19:42] i was like maybe i should spend some more time in the game and just
[19:45] forget about the story and the gameplay i just played like let's let's just unlock
[19:48] things so i thought that was exciting but i don't think it is enough for
[19:52] game of the year agree nick uh i'm i'm torn i i think that this
[19:57] game is a prime game of the year material uh i guess is a
[20:03] prime game of the year material uh again but you guys are going to say
[20:07] nick is a broken record he keeps saying the same thing but i think the
[20:11] front half of this game is so much stronger than the back half you know
[20:14] going into the game i was super hot when you know when i first started
[20:17] playing it uh i think it's tutorial section all the way up through the like
[20:23] chess the first like time you actually do james bond stuff right the chess match
[20:27] set piece in like um i think it's like croatia or something like that i
[20:31] forget where where it is exactly but that It's like Croatia or something like that.
[20:35] I forget where it is exactly, but that is what I imagined when I heard
[20:39] that IO Interactive was doing a Bond game. This was the perfect distillation of that.
[20:44] The first chunk of it was like, this is so sick. The way that the
[20:47] chess match ends where you're, you know, falling out of the plane and skydiving and
[20:51] taking out dudes, it's so cinematic. It's so exactly what I wanted from like the
[20:56] Hitman formula combined with the cinematic storytelling of Bond. However, as the game unfolds, it
[21:00] starts to get, it funnels you into a more linear and linear path and you
[21:04] game unfolds it starts to get it funnels you into a more linear and linear
[21:07] path and you start to do less of the things that made me fall in
[21:10] love with the game you still do james bond stuff but you don't have the
[21:13] kind of improvisational nature that it feels like james bond is so good at other
[21:18] than oh i failed my stealth now i have to go loud and now i
[21:21] have license to kill so i'm just going to shoot everyone in the head yeah
[21:24] it is a little bit breath of the wild because uh ammo is very scarce
[21:27] and you're constantly having to you know pick up different guns and improvise right and
[21:32] whoever whoever at io interactive came up with
[21:39] the you know throw your gun at somebody to close the distance you deserve a
[21:43] raise get get that person a raise because that is one of the finest mechanics
[21:47] i can't wait for other games to steal it it's so good and it's a
[21:51] great way of closing the gap in a way that i don't think i've ever
[21:53] really seen in a game before all right we have to take another quick break
[21:56] when we come back we'll reveal the very clear frontrunner probably very obvious frontrunner for
[22:01] uh game of the year so far but before we move on i want to
[22:03] thank our sponsor for summer of gaming But before we move on, I want to
[22:07] thank our sponsor for Summer of Gaming, Evil Dead Burn, only in theaters July 10th.
[22:11] If you're new to the franchise or need a quick refresher before the movie hits
[22:14] theaters, then you're in luck because Ai -jin's very own Alan Knight is here to
[22:18] give you a spoiler -free guide on what to expect.
[22:40] know what you're walking into, consider this your warning.
[22:49] This video is sponsored by Warner Brothers. William, my sweet boy.
[22:55] I won't give anything for us to be together again. After Alice unexpectedly loses her
[23:00] husband, she goes to stay with his family, her in -laws, at their home. Somewhere
[23:04] quiet, somewhere she thinks is safe, somewhere that would... their home. Somewhere quiet, somewhere she
[23:09] thinks is safe, somewhere that would normally be a place to recover after a great
[23:13] loss. But this is an Evil Dead film, so as one may imagine, what was
[23:17] supposed to be a family coming together becomes a family torn apart. In this case,
[23:22] literally. So, how do you survive that? That's what we're here to find out.
[23:28] First things first, let's talk about what we're actually dealing with, because a lot of
[23:33] people get this wrong. The Evil Dead are not zombies, they're not ghosts, they're not
[23:37] some virus you can quarantine or a
[23:43] monster you can see coming from a distance. They're far more sinister. What they do
[23:47] is they find the people closest to you and they take them. And then whatever
[23:51] is left walks around in that person's body knowing everything that person knew about you.
[23:57] Your history, your fears, the specific thing that would break you. And it uses all
[24:02] of it. The physical stuff is bad and gruesome, don't get me wrong. But that's
[24:07] almost secondary to the psychological warfare. Don't get me wrong, but that's almost secondary to
[24:11] the psychological warfare. So where does all this actually come from? The
[24:17] Evil Dead, Deadites, all that traces back to one thing, the Necronomicon, the Book of
[24:23] the Dead, an ancient text that has been responsible for every single bad night in
[24:28] this franchise's history. Someone finds it, someone reads from it, and then everyone around them
[24:33] has a very serious problem. In Evil Dead Burns specifically, it's a little different. For
[24:38] the first time in the franchise, someone
[24:44] reads from the book on purpose which and I cannot stress this enough is not
[24:49] a great idea so to illustrate the point I will read a passage straight from
[24:53] the book of the dead mm -hmm let's see here we go
[25:00] Kunda
[25:10] We'll see Kanda
[25:16] I'll swallow your soul anyway Deadites go
[25:22] through your grief your guilt your love like a filing cabinet and they find the
[25:27] exact thing that would break you And they go straight for it with joy There's
[25:32] a humor to it a real pleasure in what they do And that's what makes
[25:35] them so hard to face and they can do all that because they're wearing the
[25:39] faces of your loved And they can do all that because they're wearing the faces
[25:43] of your loved ones. Let's take poor little Alice, for
[25:49] example. She's already grieving. She's already raw. She goes to her in -law's home because
[25:54] that's where the people who loved her husband are. And that's where she thinks she
[25:58] can heal. And then they turn. One by one. And she's in their
[26:03] house, surrounded by people she once loved with nowhere to go. Family is
[26:09] supposed to be safe.
[26:15] An evil dead bird and that very thing is weaponized. The Knights don't pick strangers.
[26:21] They pick the people you cannot walk away from because family is the root of
[26:25] all the evil they will ever need.
[26:42] Do you fight back? That's the question, isn't it?
[26:49] Everything we just covered, the grief, the obligation, the faces of the people you loved,
[26:55] all of it is working against you. So what do you actually do?
[27:01] When something worrying your mother's face is coming at you? When it's your sister, when
[27:06] it's your father -in -law, your grandmother, someone you made a vow to, what do
[27:10] you do? When you made a vow to, what do you do?
[27:16] The answer is simple, and it is brutal. You have to
[27:22] be willing to hurt the ones you love.
[27:27] You have to be willing to sacrifice, because when it's kill or be killed,
[27:33] the only way to survive is to look at the face of someone you love
[27:38] and destroy it. The question isn't really, how do you fight that question?
[27:44] The question isn't really, how do you fight back? The question is, is that
[27:49] something you can do?
[28:18] The dismemberment has historically been effective. Fire, the passages
[28:24] themselves, if read correctly, can close the door they opened.
[28:30] But none of that matters. You can't get past facing
[28:36] your demons.
[28:44] I'm afraid you won't get past this one. Take that. We do love your mind.
[28:45] I got past the king from the kingdom. Come and leave it!
[28:51] evil dead bird only in theaters July 10th get your tickets now
[28:56] IGN summer of gaming is presented by our official product partner
[29:01] Lenovo Legion
[29:02] and
[29:09] we're back it's game of the year watch we've been discussing a lot of great
[29:12] candidates we've been sharing the top five picks so far from scoop nation A lot
[29:16] of great candidates who've been sharing the top five picks so far from Scoop Nation.
[29:20] I said number one is a clear frontrunner and also probably obvious, and yes, it
[29:24] is Resident Evil, Requiem. 007 First Light was in second place, but Resident Evil received
[29:29] almost twice as many votes, so millions and millions of more votes than 007 First
[29:34] Light. That's my personal pick, a game of the year so far, Resident Evil. And
[29:38] Alyak, I think it's also yours if we were going to vote today. Yeah, absolutely
[29:41] it is. Again, I played the game so much. I loved it. And you know
[29:45] what? I think it's time. game so much i loved it and you know what
[29:49] i think it's time to get a horror game to get game of the year
[29:52] just resident evil resident evil has never won game of the year from ign before
[29:56] really whoa well hold up let me walk that back maybe four back in 2005
[30:01] maybe that was two remake did not either huh no interesting no yeah i i
[30:07] think resident evil's an outstanding one what made you love it so much oh man
[30:11] i think it was the immersive storytelling from grace also the performance of the actor
[30:16] that grace also the performance of the actor that uh for grace
[30:22] was just so so good um i loved being able to jump between a fully
[30:27] immersive horror game where i almost feel like i can't finish the level and then
[30:31] having to take a break and jump into a beloved original character like leon i
[30:35] mean we've been waiting to play as leon for a long time and getting to
[30:38] see him as an older character now i don't know there's just such a good
[30:42] mix of old and new and it feels so good and resident evil has
[30:48] So good. And Resident Evil has been nominated already, I think, three times in the
[30:53] last five years for Game of the Year, and it hasn't won. I think Alan
[30:56] Wake was the closest one to win, but then we had Baldur's Gate 3. So
[31:00] I hope this year would be the win. If I'm voting now, I'm voting Resident
[31:04] Evil Requiem. I love it. It has everything survival horror, action horror, the cinematic storytelling,
[31:09] the villain. I love this game. Leon, let's not forget Leon. Leon's the best. Just
[31:14] the coolest dude. I mean, like, the modern area of Resident Evil games, the new...
[31:19] Dude, I mean, like the modern area of Resident Evil games, the new numbered entries,
[31:24] 7 and 8, you know, they're first -person games, and then they're bouncing back and
[31:26] forth between those and the remakes, which are third -person. And what a bold decision
[31:31] that was seemingly unnecessary for 9 to be like, we're gonna make half the game
[31:34] first -person and half the game third -person, but huge success. It worked very well.
[31:39] It pulled it off completely. But Nick, if you were voting today, I think you'd
[31:44] vote for a game we haven't even mentioned yet. Yeah, you know, I gotta be
[31:48] true to who I am, and it's the one yet yeah you know i i
[31:52] gotta be true to who i am and it's the one thing that i'm constantly
[31:55] thinking about it i'm constantly going back to it um resident evil is my number
[31:59] three pick for game of the year currently again no gta we're still halfway through
[32:03] the year okay wait and two is mina two is mina but my number one
[32:06] pick for game of the year currently as it stands in june 2026 is uh
[32:11] bungie's marathon it's not a thing that i thought i would ever be in love
[32:16] with but man i i cannot stop thinking about this game and when i think
[32:19] this game is exactly and not stop thinking about this game and when i think
[32:23] this game is exactly what i want from a video game especially something that says
[32:28] you know tired at this point as an extraction shooter it's a first person shooter
[32:31] it's an extraction shooter i like my shooters don't get me wrong but an extraction
[32:35] shooter isn't really my type of thing uh but everything about the game's art direction
[32:40] its music uh its style overall it's just it's showing me things i've never seen
[32:45] in video games in a way that's like exciting to me you know i opened
[32:49] up the backpack for the first time the inventory is so to me you know
[32:52] i opened up the backpack for the first time the inventory is so alien and
[32:56] like foreign and it just seems actively like we don't want you to learn this
[33:00] and i really like the game that puts the challenge up like that i like
[33:04] the high skill skill ceiling for the game i like how sweaty matches are and
[33:08] i love that you are putting something on the line every time you load into
[33:12] a match my favorite thing that uh you know it with without trying to get
[33:16] all into what makes it so unique the end game of marathon's current end game
[33:21] is called cryo art The endgame of Marathon's current endgame is called Cryo Archive, and
[33:27] it's this level that you actually can't even play. They only activate servers on the
[33:32] weekend for it, and also you have to have a minimum value loadout, valued at
[33:37] a minimal of 5 ,000, which is a lot of higher tier gear. So you
[33:41] know that you are going through this labyrinthine type, you are actually boarding the Marathon
[33:47] itself. And you are in this labyrinth with other teams with high value gear, and
[33:52] you're all trying. to basically go
[33:58] through and solve various pve style vault puzzles and uh deal with pve
[34:04] enemies while also contending with other squads with high value gear there's just a thrill
[34:09] that i haven't experienced in a game uh in ages with something like marathon and
[34:13] it's it's a high that i can't chase uh that i haven't been able to
[34:17] chase until this game and i worry that the player base isn't going to be
[34:22] there and so that's why i'm doing my best to go that the player base
[34:26] isn't going to be there and so that's why i'm doing my best to go
[34:28] to bat for because i think that this is a game that should be experienced
[34:31] i love how bungie's vision for this game has been uncompromising until i would say
[34:37] yesterday's when they unveiled their pve mode that dedicated vault breaker mode that's going to
[34:42] be coming later in july as part of the middle of the season two update
[34:46] so they have started to compromise a little bit in their vision just to hopefully
[34:51] bring some players in and at this point i'm like do whatever you need to
[34:55] please keep this game alive i've never
[35:01] been so invested in a game as a service before as i am with marathon
[35:06] but yeah the everything about this game i love it i like you have played
[35:10] marathon right i have yeah i'm supposed to be one of the players that's supposed
[35:14] to be playing i'm the exact person they want in this game i what i
[35:19] love about it is its unique identity like you said this is a world that
[35:23] i absolutely want to learn more about This is a world that I absolutely want
[35:28] to learn more about. Extraction shooters are not a type of shooter that I am
[35:32] super experienced in, but I jumped into it as my first extraction shooter, and I
[35:37] got to play for a whole week, just trying to really love it. I got
[35:42] really excited once I was able to pick up the Halo BR in the game.
[35:46] Yes, the Volley Rifle. That was so exciting for me. Then once I lost it,
[35:50] I was like, oh my god, I gotta get through this. I gave it a
[35:53] couple of more runs, but I think I got distracted by other shooters. gave it
[35:57] a couple of more more runs but i think i got distracted by other shooters
[36:01] i've been playing a lot of battlefield and i think mayor i just i want
[36:04] marathon and bungie to succeed so much so i'm there i'm right there with you
[36:08] i want i want to love this game but i think i need more and
[36:12] i'm not sure what how to identify what that is for me i love the
[36:15] world i'm supposed to be playing this game and maybe i should jump in nick
[36:19] maybe i should go play with you and get another player in join my squad
[36:22] i do think just my my quick pitch to aliak yeah this is bungie they
[36:27] still know that My quick pitch to Alyak, this is Bungie, they still know their
[36:32] gameplay loop that they've mastered with Halo. The encounter, grenade, shoot, and melee, and
[36:38] then the encounter's over, rinse and repeat over and over. It's just this perfect formula
[36:42] of ultimate game feel, and there's nothing quite like it. Well, it does
[36:48] seem like we're getting a short list of games that, if we were voting now,
[36:51] games that would be nominated, Resident Evil, 007 First Light, Mean of the Hollower,
[36:57] Pocopia, maybe... 007 First Light, Mina the Hollower, Pocopia, maybe Forza
[37:03] 6, I think that's kind of like the shortlist that's emerging. Ryan McCaffrey pitched in,
[37:08] he's the host of IGN's podcast Unlocked, he would vote for 007 First Light right
[37:12] now. But there's one more game that just barely didn't make the top five, which
[37:16] we can talk about for just a brief moment here. I think it was one
[37:18] vote away from tying with Forza and Crimson Desert, and that's Pragmata. Pragmata's good. Lots
[37:23] of love for Pragmata out there. In my opinion, it's a great game, the exact
[37:27] type of game that we used to get every other month.
[37:32] back in the 360 days but not quite good enough to be game of the
[37:36] year material what do you think yeah i'm right there with you i think that
[37:40] this game it's been its greatest benefit is two outstanding performances from our two leads
[37:45] and also the game does not overstay its welcome it's just as long as it
[37:49] needs to be and it has additional challenge content for people who want to take
[37:54] on the challenges because some of the end game stuff in pragmata is probably some
[37:58] of the most fun i've had in games outside of marathon in pragmata is probably
[38:01] some of the most fun i've had in games outside of marathon i'm just like
[38:04] oh this is like ps2 level challenge of like the game that you would rent
[38:09] on a random weekend and you're just like i just need one more challenge to
[38:12] beat the game and it's like the game does a good job of distilling all
[38:16] that down and it's just it's again it's an experience you haven't quite had before
[38:21] of you know using the controller in a way that feels novel and exciting with
[38:25] your face buttons navigating the hacking mini game while you're still moving around and aiming
[38:29] with mini game while you're still moving around and aiming with the left analog stick
[38:35] and the trigger buttons. Like it's such a inventive use of you know rethinking the
[38:39] controller and I guess that's what I'm looking for with something like game of the
[38:43] years. I want something I've never quite experienced before and I do think that Pragmata
[38:47] has that in spades. Granted I do think it kind of shows its hand pretty
[38:51] early and it doesn't change all that much throughout the course of the game other
[38:55] than wanting to see what happens to our fine heroes here. But again Capcom. is
[38:59] crushing it. Two games already this year. But again, Capcom. Capcom's crushing it. Two games
[39:04] already this year. They still got Onimusha coming out later this year. And they've already
[39:08] announced the next Resident Evil. Plus DLC for Requiem. We're spoiled, Damon.
[39:14] We're spoiled. And Mega Man. We don't deserve Capcom. That is our show, but this
[39:19] is not the end. Game of the Year Watch has begun. We'll keep checking in
[39:22] for the rest of the year. And I don't know if you're aware, there are
[39:24] a lot of games still coming the rest of the year, including this indie game
[39:27] called GTA 6. And a little, there's the whole Zelda of it all as well.
[39:31] Oh, yeah. Please be excited for that. The little, there's the whole Zelda of it
[39:34] all as well. Oh, yeah. Please be excited for that. But first, it's time for
[39:38] a brand new month of gaming. Jump into the humble June choice bundle and score
[39:42] an amazing lineup of titles. Right now you can grab Octopath Traveler 2, The Rift
[39:47] Breaker, Life is Strange, Double Exposure, Indica, Citizen Sleeper 2, Starward Vector, Construction Simulator,
[39:53] Hell Clock, and Overlooting. This month's charity is It Gets Better, a non -profit organization
[39:58] with a mission to uplift, empower, and connect LGBTQ youth around the globe. Head to
[40:03] Humble Bundle. Power and connect LGBTQ youth around the globe. Head to HumbleBundle .com through
[40:08] July 6th to start playing today. Thank you to Aliak. Thank you, Nick. My name
[40:12] is Damon. This is IGN's GameScoop Game of the Year watch, and we'll see you
[40:16] on the next one.