Our resident Pokemon expert Will, (the only one of us that consistently plays all the pokemon games) weighs in on the controversial new entry into the mainline Pokemon series.  You've no doubt seem some of the memes, screencaps and videos from it, but is that really representative of the game as a whole?

Will and Corey played the updated tactical RPG Tactics Ogre Reborn for this week's episode....a game that sits right in the wheelhouse of the Thumbstick Athletes podcast, who hold Final Fantasy Tactics in such high esteem. During nibblebits we cover the nominees for the 2022 Game Awards, and it seems like there's 4 or 5 games that were nominated for everything, so if you're a fan of Elden Ring, God of War Ragnarok, Horizon Forbidden West, Stray, or A Plague Tale: Requiem, you're probably going to have a good awards season.

Will takes the reigns this episode in talking about God of War Ragnarok, being the only one of us that purchased it....being that he's the only one of us with a PS5.  A legitimate GOTY contender and solid experience, find out what Will thinks about the latest PS5 blockbuster.  Later on in the episode we discuss some VR, remaining competitive as aging gamers, and A Plague Tale: Innocence.

Will, Corey and Dan record a new episode on a weekday morning?  Times are a changin...but we discuss the pros and cons of Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope.  Mostly cons it seems, but a few pros too.  Later on in the episode Corey gives his early impressions of Persona 5 Royal, and Will has been playing a ton of Overwatch 2.  

Apologies for the large amount of time between episodes, but we get you caught up on what we've been doing and playing over the past several months.  Corey has a new Gamepass/Indie gem in Hardspace Shipbreaker, and shares his experiences so far with the Steam Deck.

We don't have a formal topic for this week's episode so we use it as an opportunity to talk about some of the games we've been playing.  Covered this episode are games like Triangle Strategy, Fortnite, Elden Ring, and Deathloop.

For this week's episode, Will discusses a game that kind of came out of nowhere for us in Ghostwire: Tokyo.  He describes it as an open world, supernatural action adventure game with some horror elements.  It checks a lot of boxes certainly, but what is it?   In our Nibblebits segment we cover the cancellation of E3 among a few other topics, and during "What We Played" we get you caught up on the new Zero Build Fortnite, some Elden Ring, and Kirby and the Forgotten Land.

One of our show's favorite games Final Fantasy Tactics gets a spiritual successor in Triangle Strategy, find out if it meets our high standards for the tactical RPG genre.  We also talk a little bit more about Elden Ring during "What We Played."

Will takes the lead for the main segment this episode, talking about yet another superb 2022 release in Horizon Forbidden West.  It's a sequel that both lives up to and surpasses its predecessor in every way.   During "What We Played" there is some more Elden Ring discussion as well some a tiny bit more of Triangle Strategy.  Stay tuned for our next episode that will cover Triangle Strategy in much more depth!

Dan and Corey, (and later Will) sit down to talk about what everyone is calling FromSoftware's Magnum Opus in Elden Ring.  What do veterans of the Soulsborne series think of the newest, open world entry? We tried to get a Pokemon Legends: Arceus episode scheduled but just couldn't get a time that worked, so we talked about it this episode, along with very brief first impressions of Triangle Strategy.   For next week's episode Will is going to cover Horizon Forbidden West....episode to be available next Saturday afternoon.