Video Gamers Podcast
Moments We Couldn’t Predict: A Year of Video Game Surprises – Gaming Podcast
02 Dec 2025
Chapter 1: What are the biggest gaming surprises of 2025?
hello fellow gamers and welcome to the video gamers podcast one of the best parts of gaming is the surprises we get each and every year from surprise releases to epic failures to console announcements and more and 2025 had all of these plus some on today's episode we're going to be breaking down our biggest surprises of 2025 But first, some introductions are in order. I am your host, Josh.
And joining me, quite possibly the biggest surprise of the year was that one time that he was on time for recording, or maybe it was that he loved Dispatch. Or that Ark Raiders made him feel like a little kid again. Or maybe it was him actually fixing up his room so his background looks good finally.
It's Ryan. You didn't like the tent I had to put myself in every time? Dude, oh, man, I am so happy I don't have to set that up anymore.
I'm so happy, too.
Chapter 2: Who are the hosts and what surprises did they experience?
And all it took was some closet doors, people. That's all it took was some closet doors.
You don't know the battle I had to go through to get closet doors on this room. For whatever reason, my wife's like, I like the open look. And it was my married men you know out there. Like, it's a battle. So, yeah, it was a lot of work.
Well, we all thank you, Ryan, because you actually have a good background now. And you have closet doors. So there you go. Win-win. And joining us, the biggest surprise of the year was just how good he's become at being a host on this podcast and leading the indie episodes. We pick on him, but this man has crushed his role as a host, and I suppose we should give him his well-deserved kudos.
It's Ace.
I don't know what to say. I'm starstruck now. Now I'm stunned.
Ryan's just dumbfounded, man. Ryan's like, wait a minute. We don't talk nice about Ace. We don't get compliments. And Ace is just staring into the camera like, where's the catch? Where's the insult? Where's the teasing? What, Dad?
Well, I'm happy. I'm happy I've gotten to host the indie episodes and I've gotten better at it because some of those were rough.
Yeah.
No, you're killing it, homie.
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Chapter 3: What unexpected indie games gained popularity this year?
Guys, I love these. I mean, we're approaching the end of the year. Fear not, everybody that's out there. Our Game Awards show is coming next week. So, wait, do we record it next week? No, it's coming the week after. Sorry, we record it next week. And then it's coming the week after that. Sorry. Time is tough, man. It is. It is.
And people want you to be there at a certain time.
Be there at a certain time. It's really hard. I know. But don't worry. Our... The Video Gamers Podcast Game Awards episode is coming. It will be a big episode. We are going to have all of the fun categories that we have and all that. So that is coming. But it is fun to look back at the year as a whole and kind of say, hey, what were some of the biggest surprises this year?
Doesn't always mean it's a good thing. It could be a bad thing, because let's be honest, sometimes, you know, in gaming, it's those bad surprises that stand out to us as well. So we're going to be talking about all that. We have each come up with a list of, I think, five or six surprises this year that we'll get to. But guys... We got to thank somebody, man. It's time to thank another person.
Christmas is here early for us because a long time listener of the show, an awesome member of our community, somebody that we absolutely just love and adore. They watch all the Twitch streams. They're commenting. They're active in the community. They're just an awesome person. So a huge shout out to the one and only Lucy Moon, who upped their pledge from rare to epic status. Woo! Woo!
Lucy, you rock. You're awesome. And that's all we can say because we don't need to give you a big head or anything since we hyped you up a little bit on the pre-show as well.
So there you go.
But we really do appreciate you. Honestly, listen, we don't get to thank everybody that continues to support this show in every episode, but you all absolutely mean the world to us. Our community... and the supporters of this show, and everybody that went out of their way to actually support us on Patreon and tell a friend and leave a review. It means the world to us.
It is the reason we are at where we are at with this podcast as one of the top independent gaming podcasts in the world, believe it or not. So thank you to everybody out there that supports that and made that happen because it's pretty incredible, to be honest. Yeah, it's freaking awesome.
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Chapter 4: How did the gaming community respond to new releases?
All right, guys, we got a lot to talk about, so I want to just jump into this. The biggest surprises this year. We each came up with an individual list because what might surprise me might not surprise Ace. Surprisingly, Ace not finishing Expedition 33, you could say, is one of those big surprises. See, I was too nice in the beginning, Ace.
It was too good to be true. I knew it was coming. I am going to finish Expedition 33 over our holiday break. All right? Hold me to that. Hold me to that.
This is the other part. I will hold you to that, Ace. And if you don't hold to that, I will troll you like you've never been trolled to start 2026.
Hold me to that. I will not finish Expedition 33. Yeah, well, yeah.
So, I mean, let's be honest, Ryan. Our expectations for you are much lower than they are for Ace. It's just the way I like it, baby. I'm feeling spicy today.
By the way, Josh hopped in like early in the pre-show right away and he was just right. He's just like tack dog immediately.
I'm digging it, man.
He's ready for our graders. He's just like getting his, he's getting amped up.
I'm having a good time, boys. All right. I'll tell you what. Ace, we'll start with you, buddy. All right. Like I said, there really weren't any rules on this other than something that surprised you. It could be anything to do with gaming, anything to do with a game. It could be a disappointment because, like I said, those can be surprising results as well. But let's start with you, Ace.
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Chapter 5: What was the most shocking moment in the podcast this year?
You've played Cyberpunk. You've played God of War. You've played some of these all-timers. Elden Ring. You love Elden Ring, dude.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, and so it was always this really weird thing for us to be like, wait a minute, you're not opposed to AAA titles. So why have you not played, like, what is widely regarded as one of the best video games ever made? And your response to that was, like, I'm worried I'm just going to be disappointed. Like, how can it possibly live up to the hype at this point, you know?
I mean, we are very familiar with the fact that people overhype things, and then that gets you.
We would never.
Well, not us.
I wasn't saying us. Look, anybody out there that's been listening for a while knows I do not get caught up in hype on video games, guys. I don't know if you're pointing at Ryan or what on this one, Ace.
I get so hyped. So I was very worried that this game would not reach what I expected from it, but it absolutely does. It clears, quite frankly.
That made me so happy. I was going to be so upset if you didn't like it, dude.
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Chapter 6: How did major studios like Nintendo and Battlefield fare in 2025?
I was terrified I would hate it. I was so terrified I would hate it. And then everyone would just dogpile me. I would.
I would come all the way over to the East Coast and get you, boy.
yeah yeah so so ace uh loving red dead redemption 2 and and agreeing that it is one of the best games ever made is was one of the biggest surprises i think for all of us honestly like i think we thought you would like it but you just you never quite know yep yep all right ryan let's move over to you buddy what's your first surprise
Well, we mentioned, I don't know if it was pre-show or before or whatever, but Expedition 33, like turn-based combat, not my style. Lack of gameplay, like action-orientated gameplay, stuff like that, not my style. I was extremely surprised at how much I genuinely fell in love head over heels with Dispatch. I am surprised by this as well, dude. It totally caught me off guard.
Like I've said before in our deep dive through our Discord and stuff, I almost did it in one sitting. I did seven episodes of the eight in one sitting, and then it was like one in the morning, and I'm trying to stay awake, and I just couldn't. And I did the next one the next day in the morning. Well, maybe afternoon. I don't remember when I woke up. But it...
It was, it was, I, I, I don't like things that are, you know, choose your own adventure. Like not a lot of gameplay, not a lot of action, like forward stuff like that. Like, and, and I was so surprised on how much I just got completely sucked into this world in this, in this story. Uh, dude, I, I love that game so much. And that, that shocked the crap out of me.
I was not expecting to like it as much as I did. Had you ever played like a, a purely narrative game like this before? Maybe a long time ago, like when I was a kid or something, you know, back, back in the, like, but nothing of like recent memory.
No, no, nothing that I kind of like a new genre almost for you at the same time.
Pretty much. Yeah. Yeah. Which is, I mean, it's set a high bar, so I don't know if I'd want to play another one.
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Chapter 7: What are the notable trends in indie game development?
As much as I love chaos and action in my video games, I have played games like this before. I have played What Remains of Edith Finch.
fire watch and some of these like narrative games and they can they can hit really really well at the right time because they are so different and man dispatch is just the cream of the crop of some of these man like you can tell the love and passion that went into it so i want more same i i do think that one kind of surprised us too ryan did try to hide his uh his thoughts on that but i don't know we know you a little too well i guess so
All right, guys. For me, one of the biggest surprises of 2025 is simply the fact that this was, without a doubt, the year of the Indy, dude. 100%. I mean... man, you know, like I I've, I've liked indie games like ACE, you know, you're the indie guy, but I have, you know, I have branched out into indie games before. I quite enjoy them.
I, you know, it's, I wouldn't say it's like, they're my go-tos necessarily, but I, you know, I've dabbled in the indie world and 2025 hits. And it is. Like almost every game up for nomination is an indie game this year. And it is like, and that's not even talking about some of the other indies that will not get shouted out at the game awards that we absolutely love. Dude, like Abyssus.
Yeah, we don't talk about a business a whole lot anymore. But that game was a ton of fun. You know, we have our deep dive on Absalom that is coming out on Monday. So a week from or less than a week from when this episode airs. That's thankfully in the game of the year nominations for the indie category. But it's like I think there's a gajillion people out there that are like Absalom.
What the heck is this game, man? Yeah. You know, there's so many others that we played this year where it's like they're not going to be talked about, but they're incredible, dude.
And so I think for me, one of the absolute biggest surprises of 2025 was how the indie games just absolutely smashed, smashed the AAA titles this year and have just come out swinging and been like, this is how good a game can be. You do not need to dump $200 million into making a game that is incredible. I joke around about hating Peak, which it's not joking. I hate Peak. But let's be honest.
The world loves Peak. The world loves it. And that's a game that took over the world for a little while, man. you know, RV there yet had its moment in the sun. Uh, I feel like there's a dozen of these that we could talk about where it's just like, bro, you know, you want to talk about a game that broke the gaming world for a few weeks or a month or something.
I feel like there's so many in 2025 and that's not counting the absolute bangers like expedition 33 kingdom come deliverance to Hades to silk song, you know, for other people, you know, those kinds of things. But yeah, I, The fact that 2025 was the year of the Indy, I think will have ramifications for the future as well.
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Chapter 8: What were the hosts' final thoughts on the year in gaming?
Maybe it's COVID. Maybe it's that people had a lot of free time during COVID and they went, Hey, well, we're going to start developing this game. And here we are, you know, three, four years later where it's like, okay, well now it's time for me to release this game that I had all this time to put in. I don't know, man.
So listen, indie developers out there, you know, drop us a line, let us know why, why are we seeing such an increase in the quality of indie titles now? Um, It could just be that it's a little bit easier to get a publisher, to get that money to be able to actually publish your game and to pay people to make these games. The indie title...
we tend to think, well, that means they're not funded at all. That's not true. Indie companies can absolutely get funding from publishers that helps them out. That's not a bad thing by any means. And it doesn't mean that they're not indie studios at that point either. So maybe it's just easier to get funds to be able to do this now. I don't know.
There's a lot more money there. Yeah. I mean, it may be kind of like the rise of Hollywood with cinema, where a lot of movies were made once that was kind of happening. And now kind of the rise of video games where
all of us you know born in the 80s and 90s and stuff in early 2000s are all gamers and so the mass of people are are playing these games so it's you know a lot there's a lot of funds out there yeah yeah that's a good point all right boys we got to take a quick break and then we'll uh we'll hear about ace's biggest next biggest surprise of 2025 we will be right back after a word from our sponsor
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