Thumbstick Athletes

The Thumbstick Athletes Podcast annual game awards episode...covering all the great games that came out in 2017.

We delayed the 2017 Thumbies episode until next week, so we tackle some things we'd like to improve in our gaming lives in 2018.  It's also the final week for the football underdog challenge so be sure to get in your picks!

Dan and Corey revisit Arcadia Bay with the prequel to the Thumbstick Athletes Podcast 2015 GOTY, Life is Strange.     

Dan and Corey cover this year's excellent Game Awards ceremony...a celebration of all the excellent games that came out this year.  During "What We Played" Corey talks about Hearthstone's Kobold's and Catacombs expansion, Bury Me, my Love, and Old Man's Journey, while Dan briefly covers Breath of the Wild's newest DLC The Champion's Ballad.

For the first time in our history we cover a visual novel for our main segment..and the game that gets that honor....Doki Doki Literature Club.  It's bizarre and you should just play it since it's free on Steam.  During "What We Played"  Dan gives his very brief first impressions of Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

Or you could call it "What We Played" the main segment.  We use this time to cover some of the new games some of us played, including Super Mario Odyssey, NBA 2k18, and Assassin's Creed Origins. 

For this week Dan does his year-in-review for games that came out in the second half of 2017, like Mario Odyssey, Call of Duty WW2, and Divinity Original Sin 2...among others.  It's a little early for this episode, as we usually like to wait until closer to the end of the year, but with only one more major release and busy week for the hosts.....now was as good a time as any!

We take an episode to get our Thumbies categories ironed out....adding a few categories and dropping others.  We also set a preliminary date for our yearly awards show, subject to change of course!  During "What We Played" Dan and Eric talk about Rocket League on the Switch, with it just being released a few days ago.

Eric and Will take the reigns this week and cover Call of Duty's return to form....a game about World War II.  Call of Duty has been criticized of late for being an uninteresting Modern/Near Future shooter with solid gameplay, but little else of substance.  It's definitely refreshing to see the series head back to it's historical roots.

Super Mario Odyssey doesn't need much of an introduction....the near perfect review scores speak for themselves.  Find out Will and Dan's thoughts on the Switch exclusive and....Game of the Year favorite?

The Warriors family worked with Zelda in Hyrule Warriors, so why not cram in into Fire Emblem and see what happens?  Dan and Will were able to play a significant amount due to the Friday release....thanks for that Nintendo! 

Corey and Dan relate their experiences with some of the fortress mechanics in Shadow of War as they transition into mid-game. 

The second part in the saga of half-man, half-wraith Talion (and the elf Celebrimbor) sees the series kick it up a notch.  Bigger battles, more of the excellent Nemesis system...and more abilities to slaughter orcs it the most artistic fashion. 

Dan, Corey and Eric all played some Cuphead for this week's episode....aesthetically pleasing and punishingly difficult as it is.  During "What We Played" Dan played a bit more Golf Story and gave his thoughts on the SNES Classic so far.

Dan and Eric played some Steamworld Dig for this week's episode...having not played the first game they offered up the perspective of newcomers to the series.  During "What We Played" Eric played FIFA 18 and Dan and Corey talk a little more Divinity Original Sin 2.

Returning vet Corey and newcomer to the series Dan talk about the sequel to one of Corey's Game of the Year picks from a few years ago....Divinity: Original Sin 2.  A classic isometric RPG with some modern flair creates a wonderful gaming experience. 

For this week's episode we cover a golf game for the second time in our show's history.  And one from a good pedigree too, the developers of show favorite Hot Shots Golf.  We also cover the Nintendo Direct from September 13th during nibblebits and Project Octopath Traveller during "What We Played."

Dan covers the newest Nintendo Switch exclusive SRPG Mario + Rabbids this week.  It's an interesting choice for a crossover, but ends up being surprisingly solid.  During "What We Played" Corey played some Ringworld, which is currently in Early Access on Steam. 

We continue our fall games preview this week by selecting a few random titles to cover.  During "What We Played" Eric Played some Madden 18, Dan played the Destiny 2 Beta on PC and a few hours of Mario and Rabbids Kingdom Battle.  After the episode, Dan and Corey continue their Game of Thrones recap with the season finale, The Dragon and the Wolf.

An annual staple for the Thumbstick Athletes podcast, where we cover some of heavy hitters coming out in the fall.  It's shaping up to be a great Fall for games, and October is really going to empty the wallet.  After the episode, Dan and Corey recap Season 7, Episode 6 of Game of Thrones, called Beyond the Wall.