Hello, and welcome to side Quest. This is your weekly video game show
here at Geek First. I'm your host, Still Musk, and I have
with me the patient kirklam Patzer. How's it going? Very good? I'm
excited. We got a full house here tonight. This is gonna be a
fun time we do. We have the reagent Taylor Field. How's it going.
It's going good. Dylan happy to be here. And the clown Prince
of venis Travis Snell. Welcome to side Quest. How's it going with my
friend good? I'm excited talk about at Last until the side of about out
Lost whatever it's called, this game that we've played. I'm exceled four of
us are here and uh yeah, we've been uhen playing this for the past
couple weeks, so I'm excited to get into it. It's uh yeah,
talk about some peenie, some penie. Yeah yeah. Very rarely do we
get a four men review going on side Quest. So the fact that this
happened for Outlast, which is a game that I haven't heard any other podcast
or anyone else talk about. It seems like it's come out well not good,
I guess, absolutely no buzz. But here we are all to talk
about it. It's gonna be a lot of fun. What was the last
one? I'm trying to rack my brain other than like a topic like like
a massacre. Yeah, I mean definitely Hogwarts Legacy. I just can't think
if there's been one since then, because I think it would have been like
game wards stuff like that, but a game I think Hogwarts Legacy. Maybe
we all played Wonder, but we all played at a different time a different
times, so we all talked about on side Quest at different time. So
yeah, I can't I can't think of another one. It is a rarity.
Hopefully we can do more than one a year. I guess that's what
I'm even at this point. But at least we're starting out strong here in
March with this one, so we're gonna talk all about that. Just a
couple of quick plugs, Halo. We're on the finale this week. Boys,
that's correct. Oh thank goodness. I feel like and Sam at the
top of mountain doing with this one. Definitely see how we'll be reviewing that.
Next week's episode of side Quest will be all about Peetch Princess Peach show.
I totally forgot Princess Peach show time, Kirklanna be talking about that,
so that'll be fun. It is the season of X So we have the
X couple of X Men episodes dropping this week for the new show. Got
some news going on? You can the show's out, Yes, the show's
coming out for the season. Yeah, m hm, you can, uh
wish just my game on schemes called Potion problem. You can check out our
Patreon get episodes early in ad free good place. Let's listen through all those
X Men episodes if you're getting ready for that season that's coming out here,
and what else? Any other shout outs to mention my friends. Uh,
either way, whether it's poker or just a regular after nine, there will
be an after nine this Saturday at six pm PST p poker, Okay,
it depended on either way. We're gonna do it. And if you don't
want to play poker, you can just come and hang out and talk because
there's lots of downtime in poker, so just be regular laughter night with some
poker. We've talked about this for like a year and a half now,
like we're gonna do it, and hopefully we're going to but yeah, if
you're Patreon Phase two or higher, call and come chat with us, Come
have a good time, talk about movies, games, stuff going on in
life. Aftern is always a good time. So that's the only other thing
I'd say to plug. So there you go March twenty third for that.
Okay, let's get into it. Oh, Lost Trials. This is a
game that came out I think technically last year in early access, and it's
just been plugging away, as games do in early access. But as of
a couple of weeks ago, it finally went one point oh and came to
PlayStation and Xbox and probably not Switch. I don't imagine this is a game
that will go there. But yeah, I mean, this is my first
Outlast game. This is my first time jumping in. I know, Travis,
it's your first time you've ever played an out Last year never I've been
wanting two for years, but I just thought, I don't know if this
is for me. So, but no, have all of you played both
games or just one of them? Tell me your history with the series.
Who's starting? All I want? It's all jump in. I as the
biggest Outlast fan here on the panel. No, so the first game was
one of those I have to I don't know about Taylor, but I feel
like Kirkland was it like the first three months of PlayStation plus for when the
PS four came out, it was somewhere in there, right. It was
a free game in that and I feel like that was in that era where
there was not lots of PS four games out. It's a game that I
probably I liked the idea of it, but I probably wouldn't played if there
was a bunch of massive titles out. But it's that thing of not many
exclusives, and I think stuff like Watchdogs was supposed to be on got delayed,
so there's it was like a three or four month winingdow of not much
stuff. And that's at least how I got it was it was a free
game in the first season and it's a really fun story. It's one of
that we've said. I've said a few times, I really wish that somebody
does maybe one of us one day. Like it's a fun horror. It's
very it's not the exact same as like a PT but it's to those type
of levels where it's not as trippy, but it's great on the suspense and
the first person view in the cluster phobia you can feel. And the second
one I never did because I just heard nothing but disappointing things. And who
knows, maybe at this point I maybe might dip my toes back into because
I'm sure it's like cheap now after trials. It's been so long, but
that's all i'd heard. So it's kind of one of those things where,
well, I didn't pay for the first one, and if the second one's
disappointing, if the second one was greatly reviewed, I would have went to
but I didn't hear much things. But I was always excited by this because
that first game it was a i'd say, like a sleep hit. Why
I didn't expect much, okay, free game, I have nothing to play,
and it played through in a couple of weeks and it was a really
great time. This actually made me want to go back and play it.
So that's my history with Outlast. Uh yeah, I first experienced this game.
I believe the first one came out in twenty thirteen, and it probably
would have been like that summer of twenty thirteen when I first heard about the
game. I think I saw like Mark Aplier or something on YouTube doing like
a play through of it, and which is random because I feel like I
don't normally like just watch videos like that, but it just like went on
the algorithm and then I saw it and I was like, this looks so
terrifying. I ended up picking it up and I had it on Steam,
and it was one of those games that I would never play on my own.
I would only play if I had like friends around or something, because
it was just it was so terrifying and I was just so interested with like
with the story as it went along. I feel like Outlast as an underrated
just lore about it. It's it's really fucked up and scary, and uh
yeah, it's just really really I think well told with how much the game
I guess lack thereof focus on telling a story like that, Like it's usually
through like blueprints and stuff that you find, but the gameplay is super intense,
and I think that they totally nailed it with the whole like cam quorder
setup, like it just it makes it that much scarier when you really can't
see like ten fifteen feet in front of you, it's just like pure darkness.
Then you see eyes glowing up as someone's coming at you. So it
really just stood out as one of like the scariest games I had played probably
up until that point. And yeah, I just I really really love that
first game. Second one I've played a little bit of, but I yeah,
never really fully dove into it. It's got some like weird boat mechanics
where you have to like, oh, boat, well it's like not really
a boat, it's more of a raft, but like it really just feel
like if I feel like it just is annoying when you have to do with
Flunky, Yeah, exactly, and it really breaks up kind of the like
the momentum I think of what happens in the game. Like I remember the
opening being very intense and scary because I don't know, they're just good at
doing that and spooking to you. But the overall gameplay just wasn't as good
as from what I remember, But I never got too far into it,
so maybe I shouldn't judge that one on its own. But yeah, I
remember the announcement for Outless Trials and just kind of what it was, and
it really blew me away. You know, I was saying I was excited
to play it with Taylor, not Travis, because uh, yeahly he wasn't
an LS fan at the time. But yeah, here it is and we're
playing together and talking about it. So this is this is really exciting.
It's been like a full circle thing, like I said twenty thirteen would have
been when I first played. It's over a decade ago. I found out
about this franchise and here we are talking about it. So it's fun.
I was gonna ask quickly. With the first game, and it seems like
a Trials, it's like a one set location too. You're talking about you're
on a raft. Was this set location or were you just out It's well,
like it's outside, right, You're not in a asylum, So right
away it feels like that's not right. Like I guess what the first game,
it feels like a weird way, like you should do like, oh,
here's another wing of the asylum or something. Yeah, because even with
this game, I'm not sure if there's out outside levels. We'ven't got there,
but I feel like it's primarily in the asylum and that's the yeah,
exactly. The Trials definitely pulls from what the first game is, and I'm
sure they connect in some way, but the second one, like the opening,
it's like a helicopter crash and you like land in a quarry and then
you come out and it's just like really fucked up culty type events going on
a lot of the tall grass farmland sort of areas. So you just kind
of like from what I remember in that little one terrain and I think they
still do a good job at keeping it like claustrophobic in the sense that like
you really can't get out, and yeah, once you keep going down that
road, it's just more and more, there's more and more screwed. But
I don't know, maybe Taylor's played more the second game than me. Have
you? Have you jumped to that one, Taylor? I have played only
a little bit of the second one, but as far as it goes for
the just a little bit the first game. Yeah, I'm with you,
Kirklin. I I did not hear about it at all thirteen until it would
have been October when I was on Steam and I remember I was still living
on back in Vancouver Island actually, and I was looking and trying to scour
Steam because they always had these really cool, like scary games. I was
feeling like I really want a scary game, and I so Outlast was on
there and I watched a trailer. I thought, Okay, this has definitely
hooked me, and so I bought it. I played it, and just
the first five minutes that game just it was so luring and just like tempting.
You want to explore, you want to do more, and I just
remember being absolutely terrified at how it set the stage for the first little bit,
and it's just it's a very basic game, but it did a great
job a really really just delivering and taking something that I feel like has been
done a few other times, whether it's like Amnesia or those types of other
titles. I feel like Outlast really stands on its own and is a very
very unique kind of experience, both horror and exploring and just running around and
that sort of stuff. So that was always just one of my favorite kind
of like old horror games. Now I guess it's been a decade, which
is crazy to think about. Jump ahead a couple of years when our last
two was coming out. I remember I was in Toronto at the fan x
what they had there, and they had all the TVs up and they were
just big time advertising Outlast too. They were really pushing it, and I
was watching the gameplay with other people playing it there, and that's when I
first kind of saw like, Okay, yeah, it's open farmland. It's
very different from the first one in that regard, But I never really buckled
down and really made the commitment to buy it. I just don't. But
I've tried it. But that's that's about it. I just never had any
kind of poll or lure to it like that first one. And then you
jump to this one where the multiplayer aspect is a huge factor, and I'm
so glad that we all got to play it together and I'm excited to kind
of break this one down and discuss a few of the finer things with this.
With this game just being back in the world, though, is it's
wonderful. And so the second one had co op? Is that correct?
It added it added multiplayer? Uh no that when we were playing the other
night. But maybe I misheard true fans, so he would lie to you
like that. I would have never told you had a multiplayer, But no,
I don't. I don't recall that because I think that was the If
it was maybe it was like a very minor thing, but I think that's
why this broaden the height for Trials because it was that like, oh,
they're doing multiplayer, okay, thinking like a bigger open area, Like maybe
that was the idea in terms of going co op. You want to go
bigger area, but it sounds like that wasn't the case, so it is.
It's kind of a weird pivot, especially if you really established like a
very specific tone with the camcorder of the asylum, like you're going for a
very specific type of horror there, and so to take that kind of pivots
a weird decision. So I'm glad that they've I don't know they they've gone
back to that in a way, but there's still like what feels like an
outer area. But I think that's one thing I love about the aesthetic of
this game is that even if you're at a carnival, it's like a carnival
like in a fucking warehouse, Like yeah, there's like a roof above you
and you can never really see out. I think that adds a lot to
it, making it feel claustrophobic. It's always dark, it's always terrified.
I never feels like you're gonna escape, which once again works well with the
co op factor, where you're kind of just loading in different runs with your
friends, right, yeah, exactly. And I like, I remember a
big question I had when I heard that they're making a asymmetrical like co op
type thing. Well, I guess it's not asymmetrial, just four V PvE
type setting. But the ones that I was thinking of in comparison to it
was the ones like Dead by Daylight, Friday the Thirteenth. Yeah, those
types of games, and just in those games, there is ways to kind
of fight back. I feel like, Okay, you get you get stunts
and like bottles in this game, but like you really just feel so vulnerable.
And I think they really nailed that because I really thought they were gonna
have to make a lot of changes. Now. Originally I thought it was
actually gonna be a PvP type thing like those other games are where someone is
the enemy, and I was just really puzzled on how that was going to
go. But I am happy with what we got. M hmm. Yeah,
I mean I think that makes sense considering that, Yeah, you are
playing against NPCs here, and like they're not that smart. You know.
It's like if you're in dark corner, like they will not see you.
I guess there are exceptions to that, but you can outrun most of them,
just like in a one on one situation. But yeah, I think
that for me, I I think I also have Outlast from that PlayStation plus
thing, so it's downloaded somewhere on that colum time. But I've never never
jumped in because you know, I when I did that, I wasn't really
into the genre. But now I play a lot of horror things. Had
a lot of fun with you guys playing Texas Chainsaw last year, so it
just seemed perfect. And knowing that, I fen think for all of us,
we were all kind of like, I'll get it if you get it,
and then well and then we eventually all just got it and then it
worked out perfectly. Fuck it right, Yeah, let's let's talk about this
one some more so, I mean one, I get you kind of answered
it in a way, but I'm curious how close this is too, I
guess, particularly that first game is that's where most of our experiences in terms
of like this is said when we've talked about that's different, but in terms
of like the gameplay and how like puzzly it is and kind of being split
into these kind of smaller little is the first game like that or is it
more of like that you're just expanding one asylum and you're unlocking to areas,
but it's kind of like one continuous mission. Yeah, I feel like the
like some of the things you have to do are definitely like pull from the
game. Like I remember specifically like suspinning those valves, you know, yeah,
stuff like that, the generators, like if they're not exact, it's
like very similar to but the game overall, although you do kind of backtrack
through certain common areas, it's mostly just a linear story and then that same
thing that was going on in the second one, So this one it's kind
of got like that open hut, like the playing area, which is you
know, some of them are actually pretty big, which I feel like is
a change compared to some other games like that where it's a co op horror
game. Yeah. I think that's why I said it's similar to not the
exact same vibe, but as an Evil seven where it's like you start in
that house and then you slowly go out longer and longer, and like it's
not big sports, but like the the first game definitely takes place like ye,
it's like a an asylum that used to run and it's like kind of
haunted now, right, so like not the exact same. So this feels
like this is the asylum up and running at its peak of like busy people
around there. Like you said, if there's a carnival, why is that
happening? I don't know, but it is happening where this is it's run
down. There's just like it's kind of rumors in scuttle but and you're going
in there to go find out what's happening. But that's where it's more that
it's linear as far as you start one building, you work to another,
work to another room. And yeah, the hiding, i'd say different.
The little things along the way you do is different or sorry, hiding is
the same, little things you do is the same. It's just definitely more
story based, which is fun because there's a couple of things in there they
leave, like the evidence file, so there's like little things, but that's
more just unlocking the mystery of what happened there and then you learn about,
Okay, they did all these trials on people. This is kind of like
a like a mini origin story in the sense that you're seeing all this stuff
went down, and even though that game was pretty dark and twisted, I
don't that's one thing I'd say, I think they opt how dark and twisted
it is because there's the stuff that they're showing in here, is that some
of the most extreme violence I see the video game, where the first one
had a lot of that, but not the nudity the pure blood it was.
They've definitely leveled that up quite a bit. Again, I can't speak
on the sequel, but as far as the first one, that was a
bit more of the you know, uh uh, I don't know what's the
best way to describe, just the aura of being scared, that kind of
jump scare moment, stuff like that, where this is definitely going for some
shock, almost kind of torture for and stuff. So yeah, I mean
that was one of the first things that jumped up to me, is just
how saw this feels. And obviously part of like going in and doing a
little mission feels that way too, but even like finding keys inside of bodies,
like you know, a lot of it feels very similar to saut but
base only what you guys are told me. It's like sounds like the first
game didn't really have that tone or vibe to it at all. So I
think that's that's cool, but it maybe makes more sense for the co op
part. I would argue it like it does have that because they're like,
no spoilers, but there's a scene in the game where your character just gets
like their finger chopped off. That's the game, like you just don't have
a finger, like you're holding your cam corder and it's just like blood.
So but definitely, but you know, from where it is now, it's
just like a little, a little baby flower of this behemoth that the game's
growing into. And I do remember actually some some shocking things at the start
of the second game as well, so it felt like just since the first
one, they've been really turning up and thinking about how how how much more
fucked up and crazy can we make these these games and stories because the shock
factor is at an old time high. I think it's probably a good comparison
what you said there down as far as saw, like the first movie is
just, hey, well this dude saw his leg off, and then two
movies later, it's like all your body tart parts are gonna twist off if
you get this guy doesn't forgive me, you know, like that's where it
definitely feels like that sort of progression where the first one definitely was gnarly.
But this is just like obscene amounts of just like man like it's a I
can kind of get how this might not end up becoming like a mainstream game
because I feel like that amount of violence might turn some people off right away,
right like I think some people might enjoy like the spook Jump scare game,
but this is a different level a little bit. So yeah, I
get see a lot of that element not being like overstands welcome if we weren't
playing with friends, like if I was just playing the game by myself and
I've seen sometimes the same cut scene over and over again, it's just like
this gross thing of a cop shoving like a taser up someone's ass, like
you know, over and over again. It becomes a bit too much.
But since we're playing in a lobby together, I think it's good. Lugh,
have any of you really played like any single player? And if so,
like, do you automatically get cued with someone or can you do like
full on single players? I've done. I've done some of the single player
and basically it just it gives you response instead of like the revive factors,
so you basically if you die, you go back to where your dead body
wise you pick up your loote and carry on. You can, but you
can choose to cute with the people. I've done that as well. So
yeah, and I don't think you've done a ton of the single player,
but like, would you recommend this game from a single player perspective? I
think for me, with how the way these puzzles are to I don't think
i'd like that much were it not like I don't know, this puzzle makes
no sense and it's very unintuitive, but there's four of us, so like
one of us will figure it out and then we can spread out and look
for cute clues that kind of thing. And so I'm sure single players like
maybe reduce the amount of things you have to do, But I think for
me, I would probably get a lot less mileage out of this game if
I was playing alone. It it definitely changes the map based on how people
are in a group. So if you remember the Snitch level, for example,
I did that when I first put up the game, and I did
that one by myself solo, and there was just one generator. There was
just a very much more refined route to go about doing this solo, and
then when I tried it again with a group and with you guys, all
of a sudden there's multiple generators to deal with, and so they've added a
few extra things in there. Playing at solo it took me at least like
thirty minutes plus, and then the next time I did it, I know
I did it with you guys, but I think I did a third time
with a group online and that took me like ten minutes, like really really
quick. And I understand that you want to be re playing these missions get
the better grades to unlock more of those special dollar things to so you can
keep upgrading characters just eventually do that reagent mission or whatever it is. So
I guess I should also put this up here since we're still early on,
like, I don't really know where to spoiler spoiler section wall goes in a
review like this, So I think we're gonna talk, and if you don't
want to get spoiled on something like, I don't know if there's much we
can do. But I also also don't think we'd ruin much of the experience
by talking about our way through it. But one thing that we were trying
to figure out when we were all playing on Saturday was that seems like we
went through like all the levels and then you kind of have to reset with
these tokens, reset your characters, so to speak, and then you unlocked
like the next tier. Have any of you done that yet? And do
you like go back and do the same levels at that point or is there
new levels or maybe they're like remixed versions of those same same levels. Did
any of you guys like try it or except I meant to do the whole
like relapse or whatever, but I went in And so basically you go back
to the the mansion that you start off in the editorial at the beginning with,
and you basically have to do two things with these documents and then survive
all of the monstrosities and whatnot to get your person back out into civilization.
This is where you actually do get a few endings. But it seems like
depending how many characters that you because you unlock those re reagent coins or points,
depending how many people you actually reagent, then you will unlock those extra
tiers with the different locations or whatever stuff Like all you have to do is
to unlock the next difficulty thing, the stage that we were trying to get
to. We have to all get a reagent out there. But I realized,
Okay, I'm gonna have to go back and replace some of these missions
and unlock more stuff. I've already gotten a few, like my Tier three
perks for example, but I need the rigs and the items like you were
using, Travis, because that reagent mission is really really difficult, especially solo.
It's very claustrophobic and very like you're dealing with some of the heavy hitter
bosses that we faced in a very very claus setting. Yeah, it's it's
really really difficult, not much play like room to run around, and these
guys are doing like two hits and you're dead. It's very very tough.
So that's what the single player game or the Sorry like the first games were
like though, like you didn't really have a health bar in those games.
It was big enemies grab you and snap your neck, and then little enemies
two hits and you're dead. So it seems like they're keeping it similar in
that sense. How long does that take you about Taylor do the mission?
Yeah? Like that, Like the reagent, like when you go and do
the mission again. I definitely did not complete it. I got I got
like halfway and then I made a mistake and I was so pissed. But
I spent like a half an hour in there trying to do I thought I
was token. You can just like try to get you don't lose your tokens,
you can keep redoing it. Thank god, because that that was the
one thing we bumped into where it's like, okay, it seems like to
progress at this point. Our group before all is to go do the solo
mission now, which seems like a really weird choice. But maybe that was
just happening because I don't have enough tokens and so I couldn't go in there,
and maybe the whole lobby. I don't know. If it's all solo,
that is such a fucking weird idea. You don't love that choice.
I really don't, because I just felt like with us, and I guess
it's different than everybody, but with us and we're fine because we went back.
We did other things, but just like killed the momentum of oh oh
we're progressed or progress and going next, and then it's like, well,
now, we gotta go. And if you're saying half an hour, it's
like, if it'd be like this quick five minute thing, Okay, I'm
gonna go do it, get a file destroyed. But if it's like a
full emission, it's like that I did the opening to Toro and that was
fine, but like I don't need and because there's three other type of tier
levels, it's like, do I need to do that after two more times
again to do go through this mansion? So I don't know, I'm not.
I'm not a fan of that choice. I haven't done it yet.
I should I will definitely do before we play it against that night. I'm
not like we're not waiting around. But even then, it doesn't sound like
to you you're not even ready to go yet, right, So it's like
you have to complete that before we go to the next one. So you
have to complete that before going to the next week or twice. You just
you got to replay those trials, get better grades, to get better rewards
to handle, especially since that level is hard. That adds on too.
It's not like okay, just go spend a half an hour, it's go
spend half lightfully beat it that time not having to redo it multiple times,
like that's it's kind of unless I'm just bad. I mean, you guys
might have smooth sailing to get You're better than me at the game, so
I have to imagine that there's some difficulty going on with it. But yeah,
I guess that. That was one thing I wanted to say is that,
like if all the levels we went through already, you know, like
that that was like what two or three nights of playing, Yeah, not
a ton of time, Like if it's just those levels, but harder as
we as we like risk prestige essentially and then go back through them again.
I feel like the game actually doesn't really have a lot of content to it,
that would be my perspective on It doesn't seem like there's a lot,
especially for a multiplayer game that you ideally they want you to keep playing.
So I don't know that, but I kind of have to report back on
that once I've actually done this prestige and see what other things unlock, or
even if it is the same levels but there is new areas and whatnot,
that would that would be fine too, if it's we're using that content interesting
way. I mean, even the one we did the weekly challenge after we
ran out of other levels to do, and we had done that level before,
but goddamn, doing it at a higher difficulty was brutal. We lost
it twice in a row and then then we just called it at night there,
so we still have to go back and do that. So I am
excited for the higher difficulty because I feel like there were certain mechanics, like
I was never worried about stepping on glass the whole time we played, but
now in this higher difficulty, like every step, I'm like, you know,
being careful not to make any noise and really play optimally in that way,
which is fun and then also chaotic. When you have three friends with
you, I would just and then again someone's maybe further along and they'd say,
no, that's way it is. But it would just be surprised because
when you go to the terminal those three other things, they just look like
they have different icnography and art. So I just feel like, if you
were to go, okay, there's just's to say level one, then there's
three more difficulties that are harder. Why wouldn't you just kind of have that?
Why would you even make those four just make it like you can't like,
here's the level, here's a notch, just you can't go to that
notch till you get this selector. Yeah, So that's why I'm hoping that
there's more too, Like you said, even if it's the same level,
but there's something very different, that's fine. And that's fine too, because
there were a couples that we did that I just feel like we'd cruise through,
right, and if we did keep playing them over and over, we
would just I think eventually get a's on them all once we know everything.
We got more rigs and stuff, So I'm fine if there's a lot more
of Hey, this is the same level. Bit a little bit more difficult
because like how many times on Texas Chains on Fria thirteenth we're playing the three
same maps, right, and just very degrees. So that's where I'm interested,
because that's where it's odd. Why do you make three separate menus for
you know, the same missions, right, or four separate menus with the
same missions. So I don't know, Like that's also something that I would
expect a game like this that's all multiplayer, for them to keep focusing on
maybe maybe like a seasonal part of me like type thing where they have I
don't know, I'm just trying to think of how like sometimes like a battle
pass type situation works. Now I'm not saying I want to battle pass in
this type of game, but just like like a reoccurring game mode or like
a new map or like something like that, alternate, because that one difficult
mission that we tried twice and failed, Like I'm pretty sure that was just
a weekly challenge, So it like takes what the previous thing is then adds
the difficulty multipliers or whatever you'd call them. I think some of them were
like just all the doorways were like barricaded, obviously a lot more enemies going
on, and just just things like that. I would expect them to keep
maybe pushing that along because I think they would need in the long run something
more than just a weekly I mean, I guess it's worth saying, like
how much was this game like fifty bucks Canadian? Yeah, relatives like an
eighty dollars thing, So it is it is a cheaper game. So if
it does have less content in a way that that's fine. And I mean
I still think we're going to get quite a few weekends out of this I
want to. I definitely want to do those higher difficulties and try some harder
content as well, and hopefully there is new things in there, and then
yeah, hopefully they add new new levels on top of that. I mean,
once again, this is assuming that we have played them all now and
then they're just gonna get harder. But I could be wrong on that too,
so I have to report back on that. I guess we should mention
this too. So this game has online of course play, but it also
has cross play, which you can do, which cross play is always a
bit janky no matter what game you're playing, and this was at first,
but once you connect with someone you find out where your friend code is.
I don't know why they always make it so hard to find like what your
code is people at cross play. Once we found it out of each other,
it became pretty easy and we didn't really have any issues. No one
ever disconnected. And obviously this game has been an early access, so it
has been out for a while, but not on the consoles were playing it
on, and so yeah, we had two Xbox players, two PlayStation players,
and it worked well and I didn't really notice any glitch at all in
this entire game, so it seems like really polished, which is nice to
have. Yeah, we never had a shutdown like oh I'm done, I
gotta like give me five minutes to boot back up again. There, it's
just that initial get together because there's so many times where it's like I can
see Taylor who's on Xbox, and then Taylor, who's on Xbox can see
Kirkland online, and then when I pulled perk clun and says he's offline.
I would understand if it's the two PlayStation see each other's the Xbox, and
maybe there's some glitch, but it's like the weird things when you're setting up,
like who can see what and luckily you can figure it out. I
don't know what you would do if it was a situation like that where me
and Kirkland want to play together. Let's say it's just me and Kirkland,
right and I can't see him. You're like kind of hooped there. So
I'm not sure if other people are having that issue if there's only two,
but at least with us being four, you know, you can kind of
make some weird inspiration web to grab one another. But yeah, even then,
the way it like I even getting in there. You guys got in
there ant explain a hit triangle, egle there, so now I know to
do it. It's fine, but it's not like the most seamless. But
luckily, like you said, I didn't have any crashes. We're I'm buggy.
We're not like having people drop out mid match or go to a different
lobby. So that's a good thing. And even the load times aren't terrible
either. I feel like when we boot up, like I know, the
menu and cut scene is like a load time in a sense, but I
appreciate that that is it's not just a screen, right, It's not just
sitting there watching oh or some fact like this is Ted and he was this
guy who like eight kitties and like no, it's just like we get these
things that, like you said, Dylan, as us together. The best
way to describe this game is that it feels at times like a almost like
what we do at Halloween here in October is like the corn Maids or those
like murder houses where you can sign waivers and scare like. It feels like
kind of an amusement ride where you get literally locked in and you're going down
and you're seeing a bunch of you know, torture, nudity, every like
to complete blood and then you open up going to mission. So I really
like that setup of you know, we have a good time with it.
And that's one thing like you're talking about, I haven't done it either.
I'll do it to do that mission. Tearor's talking about the reagent. But
this is the game that I don't think I would want to play alone the
sense of just like maybe because I start off with all you guys, but
I fink I at least would have to have one other person with me to
have that fun. And if you're playing alone and enjoy it, not saying
that's a bad thing, but for me, it's like such a good time.
And even the way of like, hey I'm doing this, what are
you doing? I felt there's many times like we play cod but I get
still drop in war Zone and kind of do my own thing. Right with
this, I feel like you definitely at least need on the especially those harder
ones one person. I could not imagine playing a game with three other people
and not coordinating anything, you know, and the really hard one. So
that's one thing I'd say for sure. I agree with that. It's definitely
better if you even have one buddy do it with them, because you'll have
a really good time. I think, yeah, definitely. I mean one
thing, I really enjoys what you're saying there. Of how I mean,
there's a problem con to it, like sometimes like a menu is always gonna
be quicker than doing all this other stuff. But I like that you have
this little travel sequence where you go in one of those tubes, go sit
in your chair, in the chair like moves, you know, in this
kind of trolley thing to go to the level, you go through that it
pops you through, and then when the level ends, it's kind of like
the opposite of that. So there's always this like continuous movement to it.
So it does make it feel like you're kind of in that world. And
I like the hub and we'll talk about that hub the little breakroom there after
this quick break. Okay, we are back. So yeah, I mean,
an interactive menu is always fun hanging out with your buddies. I think
my favorite part is that you can do arm wrestling and you can play chess
with your friends, which is great if someone's like, you know, doing
some perk stuff or they're changing their appearance, or someone's picking the level,
or someone has to go do something for a bit. You're not just sitting
on a menu. You guys can like mess around and do stuff, and
you can still run around and do all your moves and whatnot. So I
don't know if there's much for me to say there, but I do really
like the hub area in this and I think it adds to like this game
is a scary game. It's a horror game, but it is very cheesy
and over the top at times, and I think that adds to it as
well. That you can just be doing an arm wrestling and then Kirklam's over
here, like smashing his fist on the table for no particular reason, and
like, I don't know, people will just be doing weird stuff. Like
there's other people who aren't like actual players, but just NPCs who are like
yeah, looking up at screens like that. You know these other patients I
suppose that are kind of midway through their process and their brains are totally fried.
So I like that. From the world building part, it's a it's
a fun little hub area. You can decorate your room if you want,
something I never do in video games so very so I'm like, I'm not
spending points on that, I'm saving it for my character. No, I
agree. I like the size, I like the vibe begin there, just
if right away you feel okay, I know what this game is going for
and it's uh and usually what even like the other players we bump into,
I feel like they kind of keep is it eight like ten people in a
law like, it's not many people, so it's like an overcrowded room.
So yeah, I enjoy going I don't know why enjoy going back there.
You got your pharmacists, you got now the shady dame, you know.
I like that. Luckily, they also put like little indicators by them too,
so when they do pop up there there, So no, I like
the vibe of the hub and everything, so yeah, I think they did
a good job with that, just little central hub area and keeping the vibe
of like you are a prisoner slash patient in Murkoff, like you you have
your different room. Every time you kind of load into that area, you're
you're in like a different random room because everybody just has a location. I
haven't spent much time in others rooms to ad my I know, Taylor pimped
out his room there, and I'll have to come check out his wallpaper sometime
soon, but I check that out. No, I I like it.
I like also that you have different currencies for like your gameplay things, so
you're not like sacrificing your your coins to you know, pimp out your room,
like it is kind of separate if you want to get more just I
don't know, appearance upgrade points for your character, get some swag. You're
not sacrificing getting like a really like big gameplay changing perk or something like that.
Because now that we've gotten like some perks, I'm just like, man
like, I don't know how you would have done like certain missions, especially
that harder one without like without a slide, without those like base necessities.
Right, yeah, Taylor, do you want to break down the RPG mechanics
how that works in this game? Well? You have you have three different
things. You have like your tool something medical I think it is, and
then I can't remember what the last one was. Again, I have a
skill. I think it will actually yeah, And I haven't bought any of
them. I've just been buying perks. That's kind of been my go to
because I see some of those, and it's like, man, these are
these are pretty good. These are pretty beneficial to survival. And I don't
know if some of the rigs are consumables or some of the bottled rig because
I want to save my green bucks or whatever they're called for. Yeah,
yeah, and I'm assuming you just recharge it. Well, you didn't buy
a rig because you bought the equipment from the Dame, right you both.
That's why when I told you, guys, I know, and then you
have the rig. Yeah, I know you guys are meaning on me,
but like that healing rig was really good in those because you get it.
And then I'd say, it's like, uh, I never got to look
at it gives you a countdown. Luckily when it gets like to the sixty
seconds or whenever you try to use I think it does. I think it's
at least two minutes. I'll say it could be longer, but it could
be at least two minutes. So it's a mine's a heel and you just
open a little bottle and then these things come out and goes into your body
and get about two minutes every time you try to use it, which I
like, it's not says it's available, I'll say thirty seconds, forty seconds,
and then even too when you get close it'll give you a ten second
time or down. So it's like, okay, if I can tie it
to that and then you get the rig rechargers, so really it can be
I would say op, because I think those harder levels are And of course
I'm not keeping all rig rechargers right because I still need to get an anted
out that, but if you have a rig and a recharger, you're good.
You're set for a little bit that can. That caught me out of
a lot of situations. So I bought that right away, like one pen.
Oh wow, that's really good. Yeah, it's a full heel.
If it's not a full heel, then it's like I'd say, seventy eighty
percent every time I fick, have done and it's it's got me all the
way up. So what happens You just like opens room in your inventory in
theory, Yeah, have to carry medicine around. So yeah, what happens
when you leave or you complete your match, do you have it and you
have to recharge it going to the next match. It's just autoy, like
it just starts off every every the beginning of every game. It's already there.
You could riggs rigs are it doesn't start full, doesn't not. I
have a rig too, and it's like it's like an ultimate ability if you
think of like something like Overwatch, like you build up to it, but
like from the start of the game, like Trevis said it, like I
guess it's like a two minute time or something like that. Okay, I
feel like mine was like my it's always notice because you don't need it,
like yeah, maybe like you can upgrade them as well, which I've been
doing on mine. I have the stun one. It's actually it's nice,
really really nice because yeah, it's basically just like a better bottle that will
stun them. And I've been upgrading it now so that I have it's it
does like a extended duration. One of the upgrades is that you just start
the game with it maxed out. So maybe maybe Travis has that perk like
already I could, yeah, because I just bet like Dylan said, because
it's the heal. I don't use it right away. I just feel like
whenever I start the game, because it is your right there. Yeah,
it's your red thing, but is yours not colored or is it like because
it's colored, but how do you know it's because I feel like when mine's
not charged, that's what you're saying. So at the start of the game,
yeah, it's not colored, and then it like builds up. Okay,
I think mine's always I think when I started Blue right away different then,
and it could just be the hell p one right because like Dylan says,
you're not gonna pop, but like you should be popping in a minute,
and it made that hard mission to act play Last Shop your own arm
off. It's yeah, No, they're they're actually like really really effective,
especially like Travis saying, with the rig rechargers, because you could, like
you could technically have two of them on you. So there's been a few
times in like the final push to the exit that we've been doing and I
got a rig recharger, I got the one in my hand. I might
even have like a brick or something on me, Like it's really nice to
kind of chain those. And especially now that I've got the extended stun duration,
like you know, the big whatever her Lady the Lady with the Bird
is called. There's been many times that I've just kind of like chained see
seed her where like she's just stuck there for like for like ten seconds,
like waits maybe even longer, and then you just like throw it again and
it makes you a lot more powerful because if you don't have that, they're
just gonna grab you and chop you up. Yeah, that's awesome. I
should get one of those. What do you guys know? Did you see
what the other on two were? The stun the heel. There's two more,
right, Yeah, its like a speed boost or stamma or something probably
or like make less noise or something. Yeah, maybe a stealth one and
a speed one. It's been nice if we all had like one of each
and then we all can be ultimate. But then Dylan wouldn't be giving me
his rig rechargers. You know. Yeah I have Yeah, you can have
this, was like five, you have this? You have this? Yeah.
I'm in the health because I just feel like I'm always taking I'm making
risky plays and taking a lot of damage, so I need I need it
for later on. And as the first person to die in the game,
I think that was proven right, So anytime there's a heel like I need,
I need tying a lot of those first few games I was, but
now I'm not. Since I got that ring, I feel like it shifted.
I'm doing a lot of the you know, med first aid things.
So that's why I was like, you know, because I I'm too impatient
sometimes with self games because it is like, oh, you can just wait,
and I'm like, no, I gotta get this thing right now.
I'm gonna run and I'm gonna take some damage. But and sometimes it doesn't
work out. But I was that way. We didn't lose those missions that
I died that way until we got to the higher difficulty. I'm like,
Okay, now I have to croach behind this car. I can't just risk
taking three bars of health from this guy who spawns in the first minute.
So if we're all in a real life and death situation, we're all together
at a crazy fucked up asylum, Travis, you're gonna be like, I
can't fuck it take anywhere right out there, just position. We should definitely
do something like that in the future. I'm not saying one of those like
houses where you gotta sign like the wave, even though I be find that.
But shit, I'd love to see what we do in real life,
cause I don't know, like in the video game is different because you know
you can't you're just gonna start over. But in real life, I think,
especially now with kids, I'm gonna be a lot more. I'm going
to the barrel. I'm not they takeing a lot of time. Yeah,
m hm yeah. The stealth, the stealth mechanics I think are pretty solid
so far from someone who plays a lot of stealth games, a lot of
just Hondered and stuff, which is also a first person stealth game. But
I like, there's just so many things that you can hide in or under,
like beds or barrels or cupboards, desks, like all these things,
and so it makes the maps feel pretty lively because every room has like all
sorts of different things. But then the fucking enemy is hidden inside these closets
half the time. Those guys get me all the time. And the darkness
just like how you're pretty much invisible in the darkness as long as you didn't
make a bunch of noise to get into it in the first place. That's
always intense, And the same way it is in Texas Chainsaw, where sometimes
an enemy is like right above you, but they just somehow don't see you.
In this like tall grass. It feels the same way in this game,
where it can be really intense when an enemy just like walks right in
front of you. There's also though, where like certain enemies have night vision
on them, Like I don't know if you guys noticed a few of those
enemies. I don't know if it's mostly just forest guy. Does he have
that? Because I feel like he's noticed me sometimes when I'm like, you
should not have seen me, No, I think he has something on it.
Okay, There's like there's like past patients that I guess have just like
gone insane that have like the same night vision breake. I think it might
be just like clones, like where it's like a fake you or me that's
not even clones, Like like, yes, there is that, but I
feel like most of the time the clones don't use the night vision like there
it has been some enemies I've noticed that are walking through it and you can
see me from my Yeah. Yeah, I'm geeling better at looting them now
because the first few know that's that is one of the best mechanics, amazing
mechanics. It's so good because even now that we know what's happening, you
still never know. Now, Luckily, we kind of I feel like we're
always checking, like, hey, you buy Like the second we see someone
a little bit just walking slowly, it's like, hey, you buy me,
you buy me. But those first two nights when yeah, for people
that don't know if you're playing the game or you haven't played the game,
it be us four together and then all of a sudden, I'll be hiding
out and then they'll be Taylor right beside me, like, oh, hey,
you know what's gone, and he'll just walk inside me and then he'll
just gut you and stab you. And it's a complete clone copy of could
be Dylan Kirkland Taylor, who's ever playing with you? So that's the other
thing. It's like you got all the big stuff, but you got these
people out of nowhere. And sometimes, luckily, like I said, now
we're trying to talk and figure out. But those first few nights, I'm
not thinking Kirklands is gonna straight up knife me. And yeah, those are
the worst ones because the other ones, like you dog, you could be
prepared a bottle, but they'll just walk and it's not a big thing,
it's not jump scarce anything. They just kind of they're just walking around in
a sense of like, you know, it's very very happy they did that.
The first time it happened was yeah, terrifying, Yeah, because we
got what are you doing to me? It's like yeah, oh Dylan,
like yeah, did you see this thing? You come pick this Up'm like,
dude, I'm nowhere near you. That's like a great horror move when
you're like, oh my god, like that again, So I Sony,
they need to invest in make it movie, like that's such a cool,
fun moment of your album. That's not Dylan. Oh and then you know
those first few nights, it was too late, you're getting done there.
It was a bar of my health and damn you know, I love too
how it's not like in the tutorial that that's even a thing too. So
yeah, like you guys said, like you know, I'm like talking to
Taylor, like Taylor come through here and he's just like totally in a different
area. And the next thing you know, you're getting shanked by who you
thought was your buddy. The best one in my mind was I think I
was running around a corner with Travis and then like out like right out of
a door, just came to like a version of my own character and then
just started like walking behind Travis, and I'm like, what the hell?
And then I realized what was going on because I didn't see my name at
first. It's just like another character, so maybe I assumed it was like
Dylan or something. And then I'm like, wait a minute, I think
that is my character. And then, because like you said, they don't
always just stab you right away too, like they'll literally just be walking around,
yeah, get comfortable with you, and then they run or crouch.
So no, just kind of pick up on them. But it makes it
so it doesn't feel as frantic as like a chainsaw lady running at you.
It reminds me if it follows, they move the same way as it follows,
with that slow saunter where it's like you can't escape them, but they
can still gain up on you. But yeah, the key thing is just
run now. Luckily, it's like the second I see you. Know,
if I see one of you guys and I'm not one hundred percent sure,
I'll make some distance and then that's when we do the check, like,
hey, Dylan, are you right by me? Like yeah, okay,
good, But now when I see you guys just walking slowly. I'm gonna
I'm gonna go hide because I don't even know too if they because enemies,
when you hide in clausets or whatnot, they can find you and kill you.
I don't think those people, the clones can. I don't know if
they could know if you once you evade them, once they just leave.
But I meant like, if they were walking to you and there was a
clothes right beside you got in, you think they would just bypass you.
The Clones, they wouldn't do the open up they saw you, they probably
would. Yeah, okay, so there you go, so just run,
just run, just run. So I pulled up the enemy types just because
I had to know. Apparently they're called the night Watchers, and yeah,
it's just it's like an enemy with a hatchet that has the night vision goggles
on them. Oh that's not the fake guys, that's the other No,
those are the imposters. It's like I kind of like that name night Watchers.
So then there was that one mission with the gates that were like opening
and closing all on their own and we had to wait. Yeah, that
map was full of those night Watchers because they were just so fucking it's usually
like a like a main area that's kind of dark. I feel like when
they have not just like a spot in the room that's dark, it's mostly
like an area that's dark they'll kind of patrol in. Yeah, yeah,
no, I I think so far the levels, I mean we mentioned like
maybe wish there's a bit more, but once again, maybe we just have
to unlock some more. I I like, I thought all of them have
been great so far. Like the way that they're design it seems like every
room has multiple entrances or exits, you know, like you can either jump
through a window or smash through door. Maybe one of the doors will be
long or locked from one side. It's like you can crouch through a part
that's like broken in the wall. Certain things unlock as your level, as
level goes through, and then you're kind of locking shortcust earlier areas. Like
they're all very intricate in that way, And I think that also adds to
the replayability, because sometimes you'll have different missions in the same level, but
it will be like reversed or kind of like maybe you'll use part of one
of that earlier level, but then it like locks off other parts of it,
So I think they did a good job of like reusing some of those
areas, especially if it has like a fun esthetic so you get to try
it out multiple times. So I'm very impressed with the levels, and that's
where I just hope there's more because of what there's like the prison level,
there's a theme park. Of course, there's the orphanage, which is a
really fun setting. And then was it a sex toy factory that we're in.
We had to destroy all these it must think, so with the nuns
and stuff like that, it's it's like a sex toy slash church because there's
like a little church in the r right, so it's like, what a
what a scenario? And I don't know what they're trying to pay there,
but yeah, there's lots of very sketch scantily clad nuns hanging around, so
yeah, there's and they go for it with the sex toy stuff. There's
yeah. Yeah, as you mentioned, a lot of nudity in this game,
a lot of just grotesque gross body horror freaky stuff for sure. And
cocks. There's lots of penises in this game, you know, tons of
them, definitely, and you know on that note, like the skinner Man
is this other concept I really do where there's like psychosis is like one of
the main I guess the main d buff in the game where either walk their
door and you just get stabbed by a psychosis stick, or there's certain enemies
that have psychosis. Uh you can open a medkit and they'll be like psychosis
shooting out and just no matter what you do, you're always gonna get hit
by it. And then that kind of builds up and once you hit well,
you know, you start tripping out more and more. But once you
hit that max level, the skinner Man will some car some start coming to
come get you, and like the walls kind of close in with like weird
trapanel and stuff, and he like can teleport around. And that is always
terrifying because I I don't know. I'm sure there's a way to like outrun
him or a good tactic, but I don't know what it is. So
I'm just always running frantically and naturally making a bunch of noise, and then
I'm getting other enemies on me. So it's always like god damn, anyone
have an antidote, And sometimes we're all out of antidotes and we can't find
them anywhere, and so multiple people are just stuck with it. It's it's
a really great de buff like the trippy effects they have on it too,
that stort the level, like even the Screamer enemy that like makes the level
all fucked up so it's hard to see where you are. I think they
have really good use of like those effects that add to the terror of it
because you can't find your way as easily. It comes to the worst times
I feel too, Like when you, like when you get the full like
you can deal with the like the one two bars, because you just gotta
as long as you see him run Meal gets you a little bit, but
there's so many times where it's like, tramps, what are you doing?
Like we gon unlock the store. It's like, man, I'm gonna fed
up by the skinner Man right now. Like I can't help you at all
because like it's like you have to run or you have to find an and
out. Now when you're near the end of the game, it's like you've
been through all the rooms, everyone's used them already. You just gotta move
and he is relentless. He will not solve you can't like hide in the
dark. You just gotta outrun him till this like little run of his is
done. So yeah, that's why I love multiple threats between the big enemies
like skinner Man, the night Crawlers, night Watchers, you had our clones,
like so many different threats going on with different layering degrees of how you
could avoid them or you know, because like skinner Man you can't. I'm
assuming Kirklar, if you're trying to hit a stunt on them, can you
do the big stun on the skinner Man, I'd assume it doesn't have actually,
yeah, because yeah, I don't think like you can't brick him or
anything. So yeah, imagine you just gotta flee like down. And even
the Psychosis people they're like not there to attack you. They're just specifically they're
always walking around just a spray like yeah, like you'll see them, you'll
run and they're still they're just songtering. They don't even they're not. It's
just kind of like if you're playing I don't know if it would be like
octopus tag when someone gets tagged and they're the octopus and they can just stay
there. And that's what these sprits are are like they'll get you if they're
around, but if you avoid them, you're good. They're not really a
hassle at all, but would always have and you'll take one wrong corny you
bump into him and then he's like and it's like, oh man, damn.
One of the worst is when you get when the guys on you,
like the that's another threat. There's like a bear like barrels or stuff.
You'll jump out and just like be choking a mash off and then when you
go and the guy sprits you. Or there's some traps that if you're in
the lung enough day sprits you too, right, I think the stay of
the Cross. Yeah, there's like I'm pretty sure that gives you like a
bar of psychosis, Like anytime you get hit by a trap, I imagine
it would it would add to it. But there's like sometimes you open like
a first aid kit box and if you stand there like sorry if let me
rephrase that, if you if you open it and then leave like the spot,
the sprits will come out. It's like delayed by a couple of seconds,
so you can kind of avoid it in that sense. But there's so
many times when I'm just looting and I'm like, oh, there's two rechargers
here, I'll like grab, grab, and then next thing you know,
I'm just taking in the green smoke. And It's it's interesting how it's not
just like like a set, like the second I open it, I'm just
hit with the psychosis, Like there is kind of a mini game in that
sense. I do like how they have that, And on the skinner Man
aspect, I love how like it's so personal too, like like Travis will
be get hit with the skinner Man and I'm like, what the fuck's matter
with you? Like why are you right around? Yeah? And then like
his screen is just literally like a scene from Hell where it's just like the
ceilings are bleeding black and the skinner Man just popping out of the ground and
to me, I'm just seeing him like run around like there's nothing to it.
I really like how they added that mental aspect because I don't think this.
I don't think the second game had it. The first game definitely didn't.
An Outlast the only game that I'm really thinking of that has something like
that. Maybe maybe someone else will know, but like Amnesia, how they
have like that the mental aspect to it. Yeah, exactly, it's just
an interesting game mechanic to happen to have it in a multiplayer game. I
feel like they've they've really found a healthy balance as to how it works,
especially the i'd say, uh, the first night, even the second night,
when you've not got the whole experience of the skinner Man, so you're
just trying to explain what's happening, and everyone just like like you're an idiot.
It's just like okay, like it can't be that bad, but like
no, especially when there's sounds where you'll get locked in a room and you're
watching a cut scene and your cycle will still be popping off then and like
K said, you're running around until you experience it, you're just like,
okay, can't you figure it out? Like get an anadote, like just
hide somewhere, But it's like no, man, like this guy's after me.
And I remember, I think it was like the second mission we did.
I I was the first one to get it, and I was trying
to focus and do tasks with you guys, but I couldn't. I was
just on the run the whole time, and we didn't know what the anidotes
really yet, So yeah, it was. It's fun. It's a fun
time. It taken me a little while to get like full psychosis up too,
So I really thought like the full length of the skinner Man was like
you know that one or two bar that you get where you kind of like
warps for a second you see him like pop up, move and then kind
of disappear. But yeah, like Travis was saying, tell you actually experience
it, it's a whole nother level of fear. I feel like my my
funniest memory with Travis getting hit up by the skinner Man was I think the
last time we were playing, Dylan and I were like in a room.
Dylan open the door and Travis's character is just like holding his head and just
like blood is gushy, like like blood was just gushing out of him like
crazy, and he's just like sprinting down the hallway and Dyls just like okay,
man, like, oh no, what a visual. But h yeah,
some funny moments, good stuff. Yeah they What else can we talk
about here that the puzzles? I I mentioned earlier that like I think,
once again, this is a single player game, I'd probably get pretty frustrated
by some of these, because I think it's a good thing that this game
does not hoo much guidance once you're in a level, like there's an objective,
but it doesn't tell you necessarily where that is. Eventually you do get
some quest markers, but other times it's like really unclear find the key and
that's it. In a huge building, it's like, Okay, we've had
a couple of moments, like I think that barn level where we all for
like ten to fifty minutes, like we're just all looking around, had no
idea like what we were supposed to do. The reels. The reels man,
those sucks. Yeah, yeah, So that happens sometimes, But I
think for the most part, it seems like there's pretty good variety and the
things you're doing there, and like most of the puzzles are like mini games
you're doing are like simple but fun enough, Like I don't I like the
lock picking mini game because it's it's quick, but like you can still mess
it up and you don't want to because if you miss it once, like
sometimes that two seconds that it takes to redo it again could be enough for
like an enemy to creep up on you, but like, I don't know,
the one we have to like balance out the frequencies. The one that
really we struggle with is like following the guy with the bomb on his head.
How some people have the scanner and some people have the detonator. I
think that's really great when they have more of those puzzles where two players kind
of have to work in coordination with each other, because we weren't doing that,
and then eventually when we were working together and then it started to make
a whole lot more sense. But yeah, like I don't think any individual
one of them is like some all time great puzzle or anything, but just
the culmination of them, and once again, the variety, because it seems
like it'll always even the keys that we had to get when we readed that
level. Again, you get like different symbols that you're looking for, and
they'd be in different locations, So there's a good enough randomness there with the
variety of things you're seeing. But yeah, I kind of forgot about those
reels. But yeah, those were a mess to figure out the first time.
Oh, especially some of these, and I think that is a good
It is a good thing with the game. I guess we never got to
that point. Luckily. I think it would be frustrating the reels. If
there's some rooms you have to do things where you need your binoculars, and
if you're just out of batteries, yeah, I feel like you're kind of
screwed. So I think there could be some way even if you had some
sort of like there's a room where you could even recharge your goggles, but
there's enemy types, so you have to time in a way, because then
I think just wouldn't be funny. You just have to start over, really
right, if there's software you need the goggles and you can't use them,
then, like those reels, I was at one point, we're trying to
figure out I remember I was done a luckily curkling figure out. It was
like I've been in this room for like five minutes and I can't find anything.
I don't know what to do here. So I think there is a
pretty much if I were have ranked, I think it's like an eighty five
percent good fifty percent bad where there's a few things where I wish they'd be
like a little more like the mission we did before Dylan you got on.
We were in a factory, we had to find these keys, and it
was justly like he's found them randomly, which can be fun to the same
point when we're like, hey, it's forty minute mission and it's maybe fifteen
to twenty was just have you checked this room? Have you checked this room?
And that's where you start to get maybe not as fun, right,
because then it almost reaches that level of Okay, give some sort of hint,
you know, just saying oh, it's in upstairs, like well,
there's fucking ten rooms upstairs, and it's like dark, right, It's not
like ten rooms that are clear with lights on, no enemies. It's like,
so there's pros come. But for the most of the times, I
think, like you said, it works when there's a four of us,
I THINEK If I were playing that solely, I get very frustrated or just
kind of oh, this is lame. I'm gonna kind of tap out now,
you know, because it's like did I check this room or that forty
mission? Could I don't know, Like Taylor's playing missions that are taking them
after an hour, so it could be eighty minutes. I don't know.
God, Yeah, I feel like I'm completely aligned with you on the eighty
five to fifteen split just because it is satisfying, Like when you do solve
it, it's nice. It's not just like to this direct spot and yeah,
hit this button and the door will open. Like there is some of
a challenge, somewhat of a challenge to it. And then you you know,
you throw in the enemy types that are littered throughout the map too,
that just added the challenge. But it's not so much like like we're failing
because we're just not figuring it out. Like like we are able to kind
of kill time. It might just take a while until we do eventually figure
out, but it's not like we just keep dying and it's like I have
no idea what to do, Like we're able to kind of flee in that
sense. Maybe you know, when you're doing the harder levels, you kind
of need to know what you're doing. But maybe that's a good thing that
it does go over like some of the same areas and some of the same
mechanics, like it introduced. It's it. It introduced some of the puzzles
in a digestible matter, not so much like it's just impossible to get through
because anytime that we've like been defeated. It's not because we can't figure out
the puzzle. It just maybe there is. Some puzzles that are reoccurring are
a little bit more annoying. Like I'm not a big fan of the box
one. You know, Travis can speak to my my box box the conveyor
bell. Yeah, that was one of those ones for me that, you
know, not having any I don't necessarily need a full on tutorial, but
having no guidance, I was like, intuitally, I have no idea what
I'm supposed to do in this moment. It just says destroy the box,
like that could be. That could mean anything like yeah, so yeah,
to have to pick up them from a specific spot, put them on this
one conveyor maybe two before it actually gets to the room to destroy it.
Like I was, I was very confused on that one. So I was
just mandering around picking locks and trying to keep myself busy as and that,
you know, to some excite. It's good that I like, if something
just doesn't make sense for my brain, I was just like, fuck it,
you guys could figure this one out. Absolutely. Yeah. Moment like
that where we're like I don't oh yeah, you guys can figure it out.
Definitely the reels. Then something was at one point I just checked out,
like I'm just gonna loot and find stuff and if I need to help
watch out for enemies, yeah, or be like the call if you need
a distraction. There was one map completely. I was just I'm just gonna
run to shrack people because I have no I think it was the boxes at
first, and then honestly a thing. I just got upset that Kirka was
taking so long, like I'm gonna go figure this out. And then I
figured it out because then what you were taking this along? And then Taylor
went into sea room and then he ran out. I was like, yeah,
there's nothing in there. It's like, well, we need a box
from c so there has to be something this. I'm like, oh,
I did the thing. I was like, fine, I'll do myself.
But for the first fifteen minutes, like they got it, I don't really
understand. I'm just gonna run, just shrack. And then it was like
fifteen minutes later it's like, okay, we've not got We've gone one box
and Taylor can't find any and Kirkland tells us ones on the conveyor belt,
but I don't really believe. Hey, my strategy there was to just get
the boxes that we need on the final conveyor because it's not gonna bounce off
of that conveyor. It's gonna be on there, so we could just kind
of find them all, you know, the big ladies in that she's in
the conveyor room, like, I can't just go in there and grab it,
and the Travis forced me to go do it. What happens I get
knocked down like three times by or trying to get this one box well we
need. We ended up getting it in the I think what ended up happening
with that one too, is it actually wasn't on the last conveyor. I
think I put it on like the second and last. I'm like, oh,
it's on there, Daisy chain a little bit. Yeah. One thing
we haven't mentioned is, well we mentioned it briefly, is is the batteries
and in the darkness. Of course, this game very dark, as a
lot of these kind of horror games are. But I think it's another great
bar, just like the health bar or the psychosis bar that you got to
manage in this. And yeah, sometimes if you just run out of batteries,
in this game, that is a terrifying thing. And once again,
if you're on a level for a very long time, that'll very likely to
happen. But I've found myself a couple of times or I'll just realize that,
like, man, I've just had my light on for like thirty seconds
and I've just been out in a bright room like I and I feel bad
about it, like this precious resource. But yeah, I remember. I
think it was like maybe on that bar and level once again, where we
were all ready to leave, there's enemies everywhere. We had just completed the
goal, so we're all trying to get the hell out of there. Kirkland,
I think, has like full psychosis and he has no lights. Oh,
it's just like in their random room, has no idea how to get
out. So I don't know if one of us went back to kind of
hold your hand and help you through there. But I think that's that's a
great mechanic in this game. It's a fun, fun bar to manage and
adds to the intensity of it. And yeah, sometimes it's just like complete
darkness and you turn the light on it there's an enemy like right in front
of you, and you just didn't have old time, so always that little
bit of fear in the back of your head too. Is there anything that
you guys missed from the first game, anything in here that you're like,
oh, that was a great mechanic or a great idea from the first one,
that it's too bad they didn't transition it over to the third one.
Here, I think it'd be fun if they could incorporate a level with the
cam quarder somehow, but that's kind of what the goggles are in a sense
of like a light battery and everything. So I feel like for me,
not really, just because they're just so different, right that first team is
that sole experience where you're learning some story point A to point B, where
this I don't know if there's anything left that they could have brought over that
wouldn't have felt maybe a little clunky. And maybe what I like is that
soul stuff the cam court if they would have acted that into the solo missions
we have to do right, like the reagents, maybe you could have done
that so you kind of get your fill, But honestly, no, I
think for me, I'm happy, like it's ah like enough, but it's
its own thing as well, So Yeah, I don't think I would really
change anything. The first game I think was a little bit more vertical than
what this one was. Like they had you know, air quotes, parkour
mechanics was mostly yeah, reach this ledge, move over, grab the next
one. But I don't think I would really like that in a game like
this. I think the overall movement is really nice, Like, like I
was mentioning earlier, like they have the slide that the first game had.
Of course it's a perk, but you know, it's a Tier one perk
kind of everyone gets that pretty early on. So and like you are kind
of able to jump around through like terrain like Dalan you're mentioning, like the
windows you can jump through, but it's not like there's just this one set
window that you have to be in this one spot hit a you know,
to like get over and activate that animation. Like it is kind of free
in that sense, which is nice because you can kind of get creative with
your escape pass. Somewhere's really obvious which doors are locked too, which is
yea for navigation. Yeah, no, absolutely, so I think all the
all the move is really good. So there really isn't any like main mechanics
or like just feel well, feel is different because it's it's a single player
you know, horror survival, whereas this one's a team aspect. Now,
I guess one thing that the first game had that this one doesn't is like
vents, which can be like very terrifying. I guess if you go into
event and there's there's like a way for an enemy to get in there,
but it's also a way of escape, Like maybe they could incorporate that in
some way, shape or form. Maybe it is a thing, you know,
in some of the later levels that we have an explored on our own.
But from my knowledge, at least in the first game, there never
really was enemies in there. Like there might be a jump scare at one
point in the events, but it's mostly like it's just a way to get
to another area of the map, So it's not so much like a gameplay
mechanic. Like how what's it called Alien Isolation has where like there can be
you know, the alien in the vents and that aspect. So maybe maybe
that's something, but I don't know, maybe that would be terrifying and negative.
Yeah, I I just wish that things were a little bit more jump
scary. I mean there's times where you're walking and a guy under her desk
will just grab your leg, and then I don't get scared. I just
think, oh fuck, I got a button mash. That's probably one of
the biggest things I wish I could change is just being genuinely frightened more in
certain situations. That's that's. Yeah, I'm certainly terrified in certain moments of
this. Yeah, I think for me, like it's kind of maximum scary
for how scary a co op thing could be, you know where like I
kind of have my volume low so I can hear you guys, and like
I'm not fully immersed in it because I'm talking to you guys at the same
time, or we're laughing or joking about things. So I don't know,
I still I still get those moments, but I can definitely see where you're
coming from here where naturally the co op angled to this takes away the horror
element to it, where like I don't know, Texas changed. It has
like a few moments like that too where it can get freaky. That's just
based on like I don't know, you're about to die or something, But
it never really feels like true horror experience. So yeah, but that makes
sense. It's definitely like totally something that's a lot different than that that OG
game anything else we haven't talked about yet. Mother Gooseberry is a good,
good villain to have in there the cop as well, but I feel like
Mother Gooseberry really fits. Yeah, I only know her name because I pulled
it up. You're calling her all sorts of names. Well, we were
playing her, but like the first game, don't really remember the second game,
but the first game definitely had some just iconic main enemies that would be
reoccurring, like the big dude with just like the fucked up mouth like that
was like the big brute that was always it was actually Chris something Chris,
so there you goes, but it's mostly just his look is like was so
terrifying because he just didn't have lips and his face was all like stretched out
and he just was terrifying, this massive brute. So it has the same
sort of feel when you see her because you can see the silhouette even if
you like if it's dark, like you can't see her her features. You
can see your hunched over with the fucking bird in the air, or she's
laughing in some room. Yeah, but she's on she's making uns body yeah
with her puppet. Yeah. No, I no, I really have nothing
else. I think if you like horror games, whether it is a jump
scare, which I agree to that maybe there could be a bit more,
but for the most part, I enjoy in this setting of what they are
or grotesqueness. I think this is a kind of a must play. If
you're thinking about waiting for it, then definitely around Halloween time pick it up.
As I've said, you could probably still have a good time with this
alone. I think I'd still enjoy it, but it's tough because I started
with playing with these guys, so I feel like, again, even if
you could have one person you know or find a discord like some groups of
people like something like, I think this game as far as having a chat,
having a communication, a shared experience. And maybe it's tough now because
you probably played some, but it's definitely one of my favorite co op games
we've ever done, because I think there's some games we try out and think,
okay, that was good, But I feel like now every week I'm
like, man, I want to get back in there and like we said,
maybe once that'll stop if we've learned that it's just all the same missions
a bit harder, and I also want to do because I'd like to complete
them get better grades, and I think everyone's well, there'd be the itch,
but still as far as this opening and whatnot, every weekend might go.
Man, I can't wait to get back in there and just see what
next eventure we going on. And even then, like I said, there's
not like a big storyline or narrative, but I appreciate all the mini stories
they give each level. They didn't even need to do any of that,
right, they could just make gross stuff. But whether it is the church,
the nuns, the servants, the sex toys, the bur whatever,
motherly something like, I feel like they have nice spirit Gooseberry. Yeah,
they got all really good gimmicks going on. So yeah, I'm really happy
with this, and I'm really happy that it's Outlast is a bit more positive.
I'm curious to see where this kind of goes next, whether it's with
this game, what's left for the franchise. So yeah, so far one
in three have different spots in my heart, but enjoyed them all. So
definitely, if you had a group of people. I highly recommend you get
this game. So nice, Taylor, any final thoughts or prayers, I
mean, I think it's just it's really really awesome that we finally get to
experience this in a co op setting. And I really can't think of any
other major cons, Like you've you already mentioned that the game is pretty smooth
or no glitches or any bugs or anything like that, and it's been just
really really good time experiencing this with you guys and getting to see like some
of the villains and this the the world that this is expanded upon and created,
has been really really good. I'm just excited to see where we're going
to go from here and what other missions we unlock, new locations, if
there's other new villains that we're going to be experiencing and facing off against,
and just that there's still stuff to discover too that I really like, whether
that being like the load out stuff that we just figured out literally like our
second day or our third day, like yeah slippers, yeah, your microphone,
Travis. There's just a few things I'm really really enjoying. So that
was smooth. The laugh wasn't as much smooth, thank you. I was
gonna say, because you said you're excited, see what more you can open
up other than the load ups? Are you disappointed If it was just this
amount of missions and they just get harder like the ones we've done, I
would be, and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if this was all that we
get. But I do hope that we could maybe see some dealc in the
future, but it depends how starting the player base is for this game.
Yeah, true enough. Yeah, I know this has been a lot of
fun, and this is definitely a game that I think you'll get many updates
here on Side Quest as I will probably play again this weekend, so maybe
even we'll share some more thoughts on next week's episode. But yeah, thank
you everyone so much for listening, and we'll see you again next time.
But bye.