Hey, everyone, welcome to Game Spot After Dark, episode two hundred and
forty two. I'm your host as always, John Luke, Saipeke and joined
right next to me Jacob Decker drinking some passion piss Lacroix here, pretty good,
Kurt, what are you drinking? Bullpiss bullpiss, Panna piss. There
you go, red Bull, red Bull for context? Hey everyone, my
name is Kurrent. I introduce to No. I can't I feel like I'm
hey everyone, it's current of ore. Right. Hey, I'm drinking a
red Bull, which is not an advertisement, but I used to drink it
up seeing one of these when I was a younger person. Now I'm a
lot healthier and clear minded. However, I just got done doing a stream.
Yeah, what broke in you that you were like, I'm gonna drink
red Bull? I had to watch the fucking State of play The State of
Okay. The State of Okay. Yeah, for context, We just filmed
this right after you and Tam did the State of Okay for PlayStation did a
pre and post show. We'll get into that in a sect, but first
I want to talk about I promised i'd do this up front Summer Games Fest
it's next week. It is happening, and we're gonna be the Christ.
It's next week. Did you just realize that we're gonna be all three of
us are going to be in l A a week from today. I've been
looking at the calendar and I know the dates, but it's just like,
oh my god, it's it's like already here. It keeps. It feels
like it's been permanently, like three weeks. We will we will be in
that space exactly one week from now. For me, I've been kind of
just wanting to go into hibernation. Sure till it happens. I agree.
I'm so excited. I can't wait. It's gonna be fun. Yeah,
it's gonna be to be stressful. So we're gonna be in la We have
a studio space that we've rented out. We're gonna be doing pre im post
shows starting with Summer game Fest, which is on Friday, ye two pm
Pacific time. That's gonna be amazing. We're gonna then be doing the play
days. We're gonna be doing play days. I mean we're calling it like
the well, well well that's happening, so playdays. The thing is happening.
We don't know which is people go like basically where games are on the
showcase. Yes, it's essentially summer Game best version of like an E three
before Paul, you know, so like you can walk around and actually checkout
games. They're gonna be checking out a bunch of games. Jake is gonna
be running around with a camera feeling a bunch of impressions. And while that's
happening, Kurt and I are going to be back in our studio space and
we're going to be doing some game spots. Hands we're gonna be doing puppet
shows. Yeah. I've been knitting sock puppets for weeks leading up to this,
to you know, host to do for the to introduce games. And
mm hm, is there gonna be like a perspective thing where you're like really
close to the camera with the puppet and then and all your guests are like
ten feet back and they're like, oh my god, that's the biggest suck
puppet. Well but you can't. I guess you could do it behind a
desk and just be a little handstick and okay, all right, we'll work
it out. Really interrupted, Luke, I did not you? Oh could
We're going to be there posting, uh a four hour live show on Saturday
and Sunday and Sunday as well. That I don't know if we actually have
like a a name for this stream, but I think it's just like game
Spot at Summer games Spot a place that's so I think it's a game let's
call it three. I think Game three couch here, Game Spots Summer Stage
Show Live. Whoamn, sure it is. I just pulled that out of
my ass. Huh wow, Yeah, that was good. Thank you.
I don't even know what you said. I can't even you just know it
was good and I can't put the words in the same order you did,
but I know that I felt like it was game Spot Summer Stage Show Live.
Wow. We're gonna be doing that Saturday and Sunday one to four Pacific
time. We're gonna have guests, developers, guests, developers, myself,
Curtain Divina, that's me, Lucy James, that's her, to More Hussein
and that's him. We're gonna be on the couch talking to these developers,
uh, interchanging and hopefully there will be enough based on the couch. You
know, I don't want it to awkward close, Miss you don't want a
situation where you're sitting in between guests and then you have to do this.
Yeah, that's what the sock puppets for. Oh, because then you just
yeah, yeah, between all the guests. So we're gonna be doing that.
It's gonna be it's gonna be fun, it's gonna be a good time.
It's gonna crush it. Oh, I mean, John Luke, You're
gonna crush it. You're you're gonna be behind the scenes, You're gonna be
hitting switches, You're gonna be you're gonna be smashing the computer with a baseball
bat. You're we're gonna have apparently we're gonna have your pieces, Is that
true? And you're gonna be like we whispering sweet nothings in your ear And
I'd be like, oh my god, Luca's killing it. I think I
think I'm gonna crush it too. Maybe you're gonna crush your camera on the
cement. Probably you're gonna go see a game and come out and you're like,
I hated that, smash my camera on the ground, record and then
throw your camera in my two weeks, walk home from there, walk home
to San Francisco. Uh, so we're all gonna crush it. We're gonna
crush cans. I'm not I don't drink out of cans. You sorry,
No, I'm drinking out of I was gonna say beer, but that's true.
I don't drink. I was about to crush this and I was like,
that's a bad idea. There's still liquid in here. Well, that's
what it's called passion piss just because it's passion out of the can. We
do talk about video game that's good. That's a good one. We do
talk about vide games on this podcast. Yes, anyway, long, long
winded thing was again Summer the Game Spot Summer Stage Show Live. Wow,
it's just a G S S s L. Yes, that doesn't really roll
photography Yeah, S S s SL. It's not like just Extra Life,
which is you know, hold on, game what Summer show? That's four?
S's right? Game G four x L G four XL. I can't
do G four but ship. Yeah, it's a little weird. How about
GS three XL Just three XL reminds me of Roman numerals. Yeah. Oh,
I'm thinking about puzzles now. So many state of play happened. Oh
yeah, Now if you want to get the full rundown, you can go
watch watch it the you can watch the showcase. You can also go listen
to Curtain Tam. They had a post show where they talked about it.
Go check that on YouTube. But instead, I just want to tell me
one game that you enjoyed from it or are excited about. Kurt Me Yes,
none, Wow, Okay, Monster or wilds Okay, I agree with
you. It's all say a different game Astrobot cool. All right. I
need to make it clear that me saying none is not like some I fucking
hated all of it. It's just it was just there were games, there
were things. It's like, it's just when it's it's so hard to be
shown fourteen games in a row and like digest that information in a way that
makes me compelled to know what they are. When they're not for the most
part, gameplay, it's curated gameplay. It's like it's like you don't really
know what you're looking at. Yeah, so when you see a bunch of
nothing compared to movies, But when you go to a movie theater and you
see trailers and you see fourteen fucking trailers before you see the movie, that
medium lends. It's it's it's seeing a medium, Like what you're seeing is
like that's how it's told, right, It's like it's a series of events,
it's a story. When I see the game form, it's so difficult
for me to wrap my head around it. So I completely It doesn't come
from a place of meeting cynical or that I hated it. It just was
like, well, nothing got nothing was like, oh my god, I
know it feels like maybe like we haven't learned some lessons, Like I thought
we were past this a little bit. Specifically, they opened up with The
Concord, which is their multiplayer overwatch Valerie type game. To be fair,
I was making thumb nails, so I didn't really see much of the game.
I was just listening to it. Oh my god, the dialogue was
driving me. Cool. Yeah, the dialogue is that like, it's just
Guardians of the Galaxy. It is down to the character tropes and trites.
It's like I said this, I said this during the feed where it was
like you have your your big soft brute guy, you got your big you
got your snarky ahead guy. Yeah, you got your like that's all these
character anyways. So yeah, but but but regardless of the game itself,
my my my beef was more with the presentation, which was they open up
by saying like they introduced the game and they're like, hey, we're gonna
show in game gameplay and you're like, awesome, and then they have like
a three minute cig trailer that's just all characters yapen and it's one of those
things where it's like, I again, I thought we were kind of over
this. This is weird, and usually it's like, Okay, you show
this when you don't have game play to show, right, or like you're
gonna show it later like Assassin's Creed. Right, they had a big cig
trailer, but they're like, and you're gonna see more of it, and
that you be soft forward. There's happening next Monday, not next Monday,
Monday after Monday sometimes will be also streaming. But I was like, okay,
fine, But then they showed actual gameplay afterwards, and I was kind
of like you should have just skipped and more silly because the cut scene that
they showed or the CGI thing really had no like actual relationships connection to the
as. Yeah, it established the characters, but like it didn't mean anything
No, it's it's I think it's trying to emulate that overwatched thing where it's
like you have the cut scene, you have that, you have this trying
to make you care about Yeah, it's like you care about these characters.
But it's like that, at least for me, it doesn't work for me
because I know that that game isn't going to really have that. Although this
came actually apparently might kind of have it, they didn't imply. There were
some light cut scenes. Yeah, every week you log in there's a new
cut scene or somethingeah, and I'm like, okay, like they're trying something
new. That's that's cool. Does that too? You know, like every
season season has to and you know what I do every time? Just give
me to the game plan. I don't care. Yeah, anyway, for
it didn't work for me. I'm just like, let's yep, we don't
need to do that. But what did work for me was Astrobot. You
want to why because it just showed nothing but gameplay. I feel like they
show that whole fucking game. I was a little too much, but genuinely,
I I think Astrobot is just delightful. I absolutely loved Playroom, even
even all the little like sony like isms that they're just putting in there,
all the little like it. It's one of those things that I feel like
should make me roll my eyes, and I don't believe anyone it does,
but at least for me, I was like, it feels genuine. The
part when the PlayStation five comes out of the sand and turns into a ship
and flies, I was like, I'm sold. That's just the right amount
of it. They've done done some being cool with the ps look like what
it entirety of like the personality that I've been wanting out of the PlayStation five
was right there in Astro's playroom. Uh well, the both astros play now,
the new one which is just called Astrobot, which is kind of weird
because they already had it's the third one, but whatever. Yeah. Well,
one thing that occurred to me while watching it, or like what kind
of like tuning in, is I feel like it fold like the same exact
beats as previous ones, where even like down to some some similar games and
announcements, like I feel like there's always like a Samurai style game at some
point, maybe a couple or like a especially over the past couple of years,
and then there's like some there's some there's some horror in the last couple
of times. It's been Silent Hill the last two times, right, and
then it's like, I don't remember Monster or Wilds that was shown at the
Capcom thing, not yeah, this Summer Game Wars game wards thing, so
like I don't know, Like I just PS PS five and PS four games
coming to place there, coming to piece and stuff, and it's just like
it's just like it's so I think Sony has a specific surprises. Yeah,
they have. They have a very locked in type of game. They like
to court, and I think, at least for myself, I'm hitting a
point where it's like those games all look fine. I'm a little tired of
this. I kind of need you all to maybe grab something different. Yeah,
there was that one game, I don't remember what it was called.
I think we we didn't put a trailer up on it because you know,
we think our audience was super interested in it. But it's the oh,
the weird like styling, like yeah, is that it? Yeah, the
one that ended with a weird BDSM that very like anime sort of like not
it doesn't look exactly impact, but it kind of feels like it has some
to that flavor. But then the music was very like Mario Odyssey, and
the tone was very like it's like, oh, this is for kids,
and you're like, this is cool, Okay, this is something different.
And then, as Kirk mentioned, was one of those cases where we're all
chained up at the end and you're like, whoa, that's yeah dark time.
I I do have concerns I've had like about like games for younger audiences
that are good, Like that's always That's been a thing I was like thinking
about recently where it was like we had there's so many good games from our
childhood that were like not child games out side of Nintendo specifically, Yeah,
yeah, and but like and then we come you know, like Sony just
and Sony and Microsoft like don't really have these like flagship titles for younger audiences
that are legitimately good games too. So like seeing Infinity Nikias, I don't
know if it's gonna be a good game, but it's good to see it.
It was felt good to see a polished, sure looking game that was
maybe geared towards I brought her maybe younger audience. And then I don't know
where. It's like fucking girl chained up in the end, and it was
like it was like something out of like a frum Soft thing where like something
you'd find in the dungeons of something else, and it's just like, what
the hell is this infinity happened? We had a context? Is not that
bad, but yeah, it was a little weird. It just it was.
It was It was just a shocking yeah. And it was also they
saved it for like the post likest also get fucking Ready. It was whoa,
Like okay, so you know, yeah, but that's what I mean.
Astrobot Like that's one of those things where it's like, you know,
thank God, Like, yeah, I think Astrobot filled that. I think
the last time Sony really tried that was like probably Nack. Yes, we
all know how well that went. Yeah, everyone loves Everyone loves Nay.
Kids with Knack t shirts, water bottles. Yeah, I mean I just
saw the movie. It was pretty good, the Knack movie. I mean,
Sony's getting into films and TV shows. I think it's a really smart
move that they made Knack three of film instead of the game. It's probably
what they they should just call it NAC three read all, Yeah, that's
what they should do with all their games going forward. They should just release
the sequels as movies in theaters that you go see Blood Born too, the
movie. Oh no, we don't. We don't talk about that. Okay,
all right, moving on from PlayStation Showcase, as have a bunch gosh
dang video games to talk about because there's been a lot going on. I
don't know how in depth we want to go without spoiling it, but I
know that the only thing we've been wanting to talk about this week in the
opposite you specifically us because you want to want to hear you lower line the
laser eye. What a fucking video game. Oh my god, if you
were not playing this game, play this game like, that's all I have
to say about it. It's like, Wow, it's it's incredible. Don't
don't really look things up either, just well I think that I like even
I mean, it's important to know, like it's as Kurt has talked about
previously on the podcast, this puzzle game. It's weird, it's about art,
it's about it's about a lot of things. It's it's funny, it's
charming, it's kind of a horror game. I think. I think it's
very much horror. I made it very I tried to, like not not
a conventional way that you think of, but like there are moments where my
review you early being like, it is a psychological horror game, psychological horror
puzzle game, but I don't it's not. But it's not gory. It's
nothing like you know, the horror is is it's very much that traditional scope
of horror. You have your horror and then you have terror. It's not
it's horror. It's like it's uneasy, it's like evokeing, it's evoking things
there is. It's got a little kind of Internet creepypasta and about it,
you know, because a lot of Internet creepypasta is kind of built off of
like games that appear one way and then kind of are like unsettling and you're
like, what what is this really? It invokes a lot of that.
Yeah, scare the shit out many times. Yes, there's a couple of
specific moments I would say though, Wow, don't like horror games. Don't
let that necessary. That's kind of why I'm like, it's not it's not
like a horror game. It's not. There's just a distinct moment. I
was like, when it was clear to me, I was like, this
is a horror game. It didn't present itself like that at first, but
it's just like it will. It will unnerve you. You in spots the
game even like recommends like hey plays with the lights low, nice head phone,
headphone, bust out that notebook, bust out the notebook and be taken
notes. Because I gotta be honest, my notebook is not it's crazy as
that's crazy. I only have like three pages of notes. Mine is just
ridiculous. But it's so ridiculous. To be fair, I didn't write down
every single thing. There are a bunch of things that I was able to
just sort of like I can remember that, Wow, smarty pants over here,
look at me. I've been also playing with Georgia and like we've been
tagged teaming it together. So there have been moments where I'm like, write
this is down so I don't have to or like you remember this. Take
a picture, yes, take a picture. I have been doing screenshots,
a lot of screenshots. There were moments where I was like should I draw
this whole thing? And I was like, no, I'm not gonna I
know exactly what you're talking about. Yeah, well, I their scenarios that
I drew my I drew in my notebook. I've like drawn a room before
for it's interesting. Okay, yeah, some of the ones. I was
like, that's gonna be a little munch. I've drawn a room Okay,
I know because we talked about it yesterday. Right, So the when you're
talking about yesterday where you were like turning it around no no, no,
no, no no, and this is what the rest of this discussion is
going to be. It's just like like no, no, no, no,
I'll talk about that. Even at lunch today you were convinced like,
oh, you guys know about this, right, And we're like no,
and You're like yeah, it's like this thing and I was like, I
don't know what you're talking about. I still don't know what you're talking about.
I know. I feel like if if anybody has to switch on them,
I will show them. I don't anyways. But yeah, so you're
both playing Laura and the Laser Eyes. I'm not even done. It is
my game of the year right now. Yeah. It is like like I
told what did I say to you that it is my game of the year,
and it's not even close. I would say, like there are games
that one of which I'll talk about. There are two games that are close,
but they're both remakes or remasters. So I'm like, I think,
out of like original games that came out this year, this is far and
away, Mike, I am so invested. It's all I think about,
Like it is. I go to bed thinking about it. Up in the
morning, I'm showering thinking about it. I'm doing work and I'm thinking about
it, and I just can't wait to play it. And you know,
you'd think with all that thinking, I'd build to get through these puzzles.
But then I sit there and look at it for another forty five minutes and
then I text Kurt and give me a him please. I did last night,
like in my dream, go back and like think about all the things
I did that day in Loralai, Like that's how yeah, that's how deep
it is. Now now that both of you have had some time with it,
m imagine reviewing that game a nightmare and not knowing anyone. I'd be
terrified. Now I feel like, for what it's worth, I eventually had
to I had to like start going through channels and be like I need something,
I need help. Like So I did eventually find two people who were
playing the game and reviewing the game. One of them I was like introduced
to. I didn't know who they were, and the other one was Edmund
Tran Games about Alumni, Gamespout Alumni and now with skill Up. So I
didn't entirely do it alone, but there was a moment where I was like,
I have It's why you came late, because I was like, I'm
brute forcing through this by myself. No one else on staff has a code.
I'm completely alone trying to figure this out, brutal. So every single
time one of you text me, it's one of those things in the back
of my head, like imagine, imagine if you had the review this game
and you were by yourself, what that would feel like. So yeah,
I don't even want to well, I've got to tell you still fucking I
mean, the fact that you still were like and it's still incredible. Yeah,
it's uh, it's the best game I've played this year hand sound m
and quite possibly maybe like top two top three favorite puzzle games ever made.
Oh yeah I would agree, yes, yeah, yeah, I like my
brain like I think of, I go, there's a few puzzle games I
think of that I love. The Witness is definitely one of my absolute favorite
puzzles. Was going to say, like, that's the one that comes to
mind, but weirdly did not mentioned that. Yeah, I didn't hate that
game. I didn't I stopped thinking about I didn't, I didn't keep thinking
of it. I still think I would be washing the dishes. I'm not
joking, and it'll pop in my brain because I was so stuck on a
puzzle at one point during The Witness that I got up and started to do
chores, And now those chores remind me of being stuck on certain puzzles,
So I think I look up into the sky and think about the Witness for
reasons. I think where the Witness didn't connect with me where Loralai does is
the puzzles and the environment and the story all feel completely interlinked in a way
where it's like you could not take away one and like the whole thing would
fall apart yep, and where the Witness has moments of that, but most
of the time it's like, look at this beautiful environment. Now stare at
this one screen and solve this line, the story of the Witness is not
vital to your ability to finish the Witness, and like appreciate it. Right
where Lorelai and the Laser Eyes, the narrative and the mechanics and the puzzle
that game are so interlocked, are so interweaved that like they cannot exist without
another. You cannot be told that story without having done those puzzles. You
can't do the puzzles without understanding the story, like they're so intertwined. Which
is one of those things where's like when I play this, I was like,
this is the game. Like it sounds it might sound ridiculous, like
this is the gaming medium, but that's like that's where I was like,
this is what makes the medium. This is one of those things that makes
the medium like special. It's like you can't tell the story any other way
that except in a video game exactly. I also think just conceptually, like
I don't know how that team came up with this game too. People you
know are the Spearheads and then they have writers and stuff like that. But
yeah, like I just can't I can't fathom it, you know, like
not I don't make games. I'm not like super smart i'd say, but
like there are games that I see that it's like I could probably come up
with this, not make that game, but I could probably come up conceptually,
you know, like yeah, this will kind of be how the game
plays, these are how the puzzles work. Let me let me pitch you
a game, guy with sword, big bosses. But if you die,
you lose all of your stuff. You have to go get it back.
But but just this game is just like it is beyond the scope of my
comprehension, Like I'm just in awe that, like people came up with sure,
you know, yes, so go finish it, go play it,
and those listening, I highly recommend it. Please please get a notebook.
So and there's like there's basically the only game I have not played this year
that people are yapping about is one thousand Resists. So that's the only one
that agreed me too. Yeah I gotta play that. I want to play.
Yeah you do. Oh my god, themturs. That game is so
goofy. But I love it as in, like when you start playing it,
I want to like I want to laugh with somebody about some of the
combat in that game, because it just happens like you'll just be walking down
the street You're fucking victor, and some guy will be like, oh,
I don't like what you look like. And then it all just goes in
the turn based combat and like the best part is like you have these demon
things that will like nobody else can see, and like they'll sneak up behind
your enemies. It's all turn based. But in between these monsters doing like
sick, crazy cool stuff to these bad guys. Your moves you just like
rump and punch a guy in the jaw. And I always find it so
comical where it's just like, let's get in a fight while my demon like
bites your neck and does all this crazy shit, but you can only see
me punching you in the lip and like that's it, like flicking you the
nose. Anyway, Sumter is a great, great, great game. Let's
move on another game I've been checking out. Oh yeah, crow Country,
Oh yeah, yeah, this is a game. Fight. Yeah, I
know Kurt, Kurt is not finished it, but Kurt played a few hours
is and you're not quite very very very mixed. So for those who don't
know, crow Country is a resident Evil PlayStation one style throwback game kind of
invoking that like Survival Horror, and it was a game that I at first
was like, Okay, I can see what you're doing. PlayStation one throwbacks
are in vogue right now, although I will say I do like the way
they specifically do the art, and I think they did a really cool innovative
way with actually making a camera. Yes, so I feel like most like
PlayStation one kind of throwback d make style games actually go for that like very
high detailed late PlayStation one era like your Your Vagrant Story and your Metal Gear
solid style, where this is more invoking that like early PlayStation one, like
the your Final Fantasy seven where you can like see the shapes that are making
up the characters like arms still because it's like very kind of like low detailed,
yeah, and really quick. The biggest I think, really the biggest
visual achievement is that it makes the environments look like a pre rendered background.
Yes, yes, that evokes early PlayStation era. So the moment the camera
moves, it's like, oh, sick like this it it has exact same
feeling of a super detailed pre rendered background that makes those games. It's very
impressive, like you know they capture that. It is it is in full
three D, but it looks like a pre rendered two D, so I
think all that stuff is great. I also quite like the like the setup,
so crow Country is is a is a like shitty rundown or abandoned like
theme park. It's like that. It's such a great setup for for a
horror game too, because it's like in everyone has that you know, local
rundown theme park that's like kind of awful and you just like but like as
a kid, you didn't really think about it, and you loved it,
and then you go back there and you're like, man, this place is
kind of this this place is weird and kind of run down and and and
like the idea of like, but what if, like there is actually something
sinister behind it, and you're like, that is pitch perfect. Where the
game didn't grab me and unfortunately never really came together is unfortunately in the survival
horror elements. Straight up, the game is way too easy. It is
not challenging, and I think part of that actually does have to do with
the fact that the movement in the camera is not fixed. I would say,
like it's weird. The game has a tank style control. I did
not like it. At all. I don't think I know it as it's
like a throwback, but like I don't actually think it works and makes sense.
You should just play with the stick, but you have such like such
freedom of movement that it is super easy to just run past enemies avoid them.
You are given so much ammo and and I've I did not die once.
I never felt really all that threatened, and that's been a pretty universal
opinion I've seen on the game for most people. They did actually add a
hard mode while I was playing, so I didn't get a chance to check
it out. That I guess was an attempt to sort of address some of
that. I am kind of curious if that mode makes it better, but
I think like where it nails the esthetic and a lot of the tone and
the story stuff that I'll talk about a second, a Residu Evil one and
like two era, it doesn't nail that that. Like there's something about the
classic Resident Evil where you have like your save room and you're like, Okay,
I know I need to go here and get this thing. And also
there's like this puzzle I think I can solve now too, can I if
I go and take this D two where I can maybe maybe try and solve
both at the same time before I get to the next save room. Should
I risk it, I might die and I'll lose all my progress, And
like that that tension is like half of the reason why I think, like,
not half, it's like the reason why I think Residue Evil just like
works, you know, because like it's so nail biting and this game completely
lacks any of that. But I actually found myself pretty engaged in the storytelling
by the end in a way that I was not expecting. I really like
a lot of the characterization, the kind of reveals of what's going on with
the park, who your character is, and the relationship to everything else.
It's not the greatest thing ever. It's not like gonna blow your mind up.
But by the end of it, I was like, Wow, that
was a cool like piece of horror fiction. And and you know what,
that ending will actually stick me with me for a little while because it was
like it's kind of haunting. I was like, oh, the ending did
affect me in a way I was not expecting. So I do still think
it is a good game worth playing. Just go in mind maybe that like
you're not gonna be challenged from a survivor. That was my big thing.
Like I as a survival horror nut. I I've like come to learn about
myself that the only I'm not a mechanically I'm not a mechanically driven game person.
Like mechanics and like pressing buttons is like not the thing that gets gets
me hot and heavy when I play a game most cases, Like it's like
in a callplimation of many things, story, mood, vibe, so on
and so forth. So but I will say survival horror is the genre I'm
mechanically hot and heavy for. Like, that is the genre that like I
take like aligns with my brain chemistry and like makes me feel good when I
do things. Mm hmm. So uh. That is a lot of the
reason why I even play a lot of survival horrors is like I need to
feel that that what survival horrors do so well. Limited resources, Yes,
the harrowing, dire feeling of like always like any moment can be You're like,
can be the end you have to go, you know, you can
fuck up your from the safe house or safe room or whatever. And that
was like my thing with crow Country, where not only did I find it
numbing, a little bit like how easy and how like not rewarding it was
for that for those mechanics, I was having a really tough time like engaging
with the characters in the world and like things are happening. So I was
like, uh, the the anyway, So I'm I'm not opposed to finishing
it. I know it's short and I'm like an hour and a half two
hours in, so I'm curious if you know, you'll feel a little bit
better around the story, maybe you'll maybe you'll come back and tell me I'm
wrong. But yeah, it's like, I know it's something when I'm not
even compelled to try in hard mode because I still don't think that would change.
I'm not sure. I don't even find like the creatures intimidating. I
think they're cool. They're funny in a way, like they're kind of comically
gross, but yeah, not in a way that I'm like stressed out when
I completely So that's it. No, yeah, uh, it doesn't come
together in the gameplay department, specifically the combat. The puzzles are fine,
they're fun, there's some good there's some good fun puzzles, but at least
for me at the end, I did. I did find like the overall
story and the vibe and like if that's where it really elevates itself and it
I do think it separates itself in and provides like a pretty cool story that
that uh has its place in the in that in that that genre. So
you know what Crawl Country it gets my thumbs up. I do recommend it
if that sounds like a cool thing for you. Jacob Decker me, Hello,
tell me about sitting here twiddling his thumbs. Paper Mario and the paper
and door you have hold on. Jake has like five games to talk about.
Jake does have to do a lot of games to talk about. We
could, we could. We'll start with this one. We'll go to Kurt
and we'll come back. I don't have nothing to talk about. The only
thing I have to talk I'll just end it right now. All right,
we'll head out. You know, No, well, I have I have
nothing to talk about. I'm here to listen. Okay. I played sky
rimonn Oblivion yesterday, but I want to hear about that. I want to
hear about Oblivion. The first paper, Mario paper, Marian one thousand year
doors. So I play this when it came out back in two thousand and
four, and I remember enjoying it. I was a kid, probably,
you know, given the math I was ten eleven something like that, twelve,
I don't know, ten eleven, twelve thirty. Of all of the
like classic Nintendo games, Paper Mario in the Thousand Year Door, I didn't
play as a kid, so I don't have an attachment to it. It
is the one that I hear, like the Universal just everyone loves that fucking
game, like and loved it as a kid, loves it to death.
So I did. I remember liking a lot as a kid. I didn't
play nearly as much as I thought now that I'm going I didn't play nearly
as much as I thought. But I have like played a lot of Mario
RPGs, not all of them, but I played the ones that hit GBA,
I played some that hit the three DS, and then I played Mario's
Paper Mario for the sixty four, which I think was just paper Mario original.
And then I played the Origami King, which it's not really an RPG,
but it is a paper Mario game. No one really likes the paper
Mario games the later ones. And then I believe, yeah, where and
then I played Super Mario RPG when it came to switch. Oh yes,
I love Super Mario RPG. Thought it was really good. But Paper Mario
Thousand Year Door I think is the best Mario RPG. Uh. I don't
want to say by a lot, because I know people really like Super Mario
RPG, but I think Paper Mario and the Thousand Year Door is the funniest.
It's it's the most clever, it has the best combat. In my
opinion, It's got some of the best characters. I think the way it's
structured is it structured more like a Zelda game, I would say in terms
of there's different areas you're going to outside of combat, you're essentially solving puzzles,
even to the point when you complete a puzzle. There is that sort
of like you know in Zelda they have their own version of that. But
I feel like it is just structured in a way that makes it so engaging
and interesting to play and follow. And plus you're constantly getting these new partners
that can not only change the combat but also add new variables to these puzzles,
and the plat and the minor platforming that you do. But I think
it's just like I think it's just an incredibly well designed, smartly written,
funny game. Like I like I said, I know, I enjoyed it
as a kid, but I feel like so much of it was lost on
me now that I'm playing it, Like it is like it is probably one
of my favorite games this year. It is a It is a remaster,
so it's nothing new, and to be fair, they didn't really change a
whole lot. Obviously, the graphics look better, a little better. They've
done some quality of life stuff. They replace the music, but you can
or they they included remixes to the music, but you can play the old
music. Just such a groove, dude, don't you unlock it? Yeah?
The unlocked It's like it's a badge that you have to apply, but
it's a badge that costs zero, so it's like you're just apply for free
and I'm like, just just mak it a menu option. What are you
doing? Normal? No? Never, never, difficult? Everyone else is
too normal? Okay, be annoying, all right, it's I didn't mind
it a lot, but yeah, it was kind of weird. But anyway,
helping all that to say, Pitt Mario and thousand New Door is really
good. I yeah, it's it's just really fucking good. I'm very excited
to play. I've always would love to read that in a review and an
actually really fucking fund I mean Stephen, Stephen Pettitt wrote our review, and
I think in his review he also said that it is and it is,
if not, one of the best RPGs on Switch. Uh. I don't
know, Like I I know it's like a Mario RPG game, but I
have this kind of distinction where it's like, Okay, Mario RPG is not
like RPG, you know, to its benefit, not that it's like an
RPG light, but it just feels more of like like it in like a
Zeno Blade Cross is very difference RPG. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the
term RPG is give me a lot of things. Yeah, but yeah,
Kurt, I know you said you really liked David Mario. I love the
original so much, but I think it's I'm also I haven't played the new
one yet, but I am kind of curious if I'm going to have that
same realization that you did when you realize you didn't play as much of as
you thought you did. Because I remember playing it. I remember, like
you can go like this, you can go like three D, you could
do that, you can do this, you can do that, like having
so much fun doing that, but uh, you don't remember beating it.
But nope, I definitely for some reason, I thought I made it really
far. That's what I played like twelve hours and I was like, this
is all new. I would like to Kurt like gets past the second screen
and it's like, I don't remember any of this when you just do just
learned the game of his kid, Yeah, twelve hours. No, I
have pretty vivid memories of certain parts, but now I'm afraid that my brain
has fabricated them in such a way that I'm like, did I Because once
I started hearing Jacos like, wait, do you do you remember Luigi's involvement
in this game? I remember seeing Luigi. He's in it. Yeah,
he his whole bit is really funny games. But that's like, but that's
something that's all so blurred to me because it was what when was it released?
The original four so jesus twenty years ago? Yeah, Snikey's okay,
well what do I remember from that time in my life? Not payper Mario.
I remember, Yeah, the feeling of liking it, so I'll have
to you know, I'm very I'm looking forward to picking it up. I'm
contemplating on when is the time to get it. Yeah, I have plenty
of time now because I'm not playing any new games, so but I'm not
just stop playing. When I'm playing, I don't think about it, just
do it. I mentioned Luigi though, because like I remember Luigi when I
played it. He shows up every now and then he basically is on his
own adventure while Mario's on an adventure, and he comes back and just like
reports his progress to Mario after each chapter, and he's clearly full of shit
and just like making things up, and there's even like like you can even
like cross reference his story. Like he's like, yeah, I took down
this giant in a forest and I had the help of this of this blooper
who I like did all this, And then like the blooper's sitting there and
it's like charred and you like up do and talk to it, and he's
like, I'm only here because I hate this man. And it's just like
it's like stuff that I feel like you don't see Nintendo games too much where
it's just like like there's a whole subplot of god what are the what are
the ile Delfino people called h I don't remember their name. They have like
they have they have they have like a organized crime boss right who like runs
the city there and like you have to strike a deal with him, and
it is just like writing Mario. RPG games are always it's so good and
they're like pulling lines like from Godfather, but like changing them slightly, you
know, just to fit, like the fact that it is just a dumb
Mario character who's got a pineapple. You know. It's just did they from
your memory, not really change re reread the script all that much or keep
it mostly the same? So from personally, I can't tell like intricacy wise,
generally based on what I played, it seems very similar to the point
where there were a couple things in there where they didn't sound weird, but
it was mostly just like if this came out today, I feel like they
would have probably rewarded this sure, or like I did see they made they
make a reference to They're like, my favorite game Boy Advance game is fire
Emblem. Have you heard of it? And I'm like, that's very funny
because it dates that game to a very specific time. There's I mean,
like the Game Boy Advance plays a big role in this game for some reason.
Hell yeah, there's there's a whole chapter where you're communicating with someone just
through this giant game Boy Advance in the world. Well that is that is
just classic that era though Mansion with the Game Boy Horror and Mario has U.
Mario has a game Boy Advanced sp that sends an emails, so Mario
gets emails in this which is I do remember. I really miss that era
where it's it's weird to be like I missed that era because it like just
went away. But the era of like Nintendo having both a handheld and a
console and them being separate and then them doing like weird not only like having
them talk to each other in weird ways, but then doing weird things like
that We're like we're gonna like put our handheld in the console game and have
it like behave this way. I kind of miss that. It's this will
definitely bring back some of that some of that charm, I think, but
even like down to the email stuff is like it's written like an email from
back then, so it's like kind of cheesy. It's not how people write
emails now. But there's one email you get where the it's the professor I
forget his name, it's the goomba, Professor Frankly. His name is Frankly,
Professor Frankly, and he like sends you this big, long thing,
but he includes his selfie and it's just like this really awkward like of this
goomba with like his like beard and everything and his dumb glasses. And it's
like, like this is funny today because it's it's a boomer photo that he's
attached to this email for no reason whatsoever. It's just the more things change,
the more things stayed the same. But yeah, it's it's really good.
It's yeah, I'm having a blast. I'm like fifteen hours in.
I think it's pretty long. I think Steven said it took him like thirty
five hours or so. I definitely did not finish that as a kid,
Yeah, I yeah, no, master chance. Oh yeah, now that
was my chance with all the time I have in my world life. Yes,
I'd be curious what you think of it. Coming back to it,
I can't know. I like genuinely I like saw it. I was like,
fuck, I fucking I need to God, I do need to finish
thometors first, because I've been playing the game all year. It's like a
thirty hour game too, but I've been definitely playing it in slices between other
games, and it's a very good game to do that with. So now
that I've finished, like Loraa LII and I'll come back to crow Country and
I played Indica and I played played two hours of hell Blade and was so
miserable. And now I'm back to Thometurge. But once I finished theometors Or,
I'll start up Paper Mario and then flip flop between them. Yeah.
I mean all weekend I was flip flopping between the Lowlai and Paper Mario,
and I was having a good weekend. Let me tell you that you have
more games to talk about. We'll get to that in a sect. But
Kurt, I want to switch back over to you for a second, because,
well, one, you just mentioned hell Blade, and I do I
feel like we owe the audience at least and your opinion. You don't have
to go in depth, you don't have to go too long, but you
did say last week I'm gonna check it out. Now you have what are
your thoughts. Well, I was bored out of my fucking mind. I
played about two and a half hours of it, and uh, there's a
lot of things I just I do not like and probably the top and I
think you and Jesse have touched on this already extensively, so I'm not gonna
go to in depth. But it's the it's how ineffective the talking, like
the voices are to you. Yes, so the first game did it so
well, and but I also felt like in the first game, it was
like it was voices that were like could be yours. There are your voices
and they're talking to you, and they established the character like in a situation
in this in a certain scenario, really really would they help you out?
Like they'd buy you and stuff. Yeah, but they're like that's the best
part. It's like they they would, they would like. It was like
it was like the genuine for me, the genuine feeling of what it's like
to have an internal monologue where you're like, you fucking idiot, and then
you're like, all of a sudden, you're just like, actually that was
fucking sick, dude, Like way to go. I don't know, there's
something about that balance, and this game has is just an extension of that,
just like she's so sim or like the voices are like she can't do
it, she can't do it, she can't do it. She did it
behind you like watch out, like she can't do it. Like there's a
balance. But on top of that, now there's just this curmudgeon, fucking
douchebag who's always in your in your head. He's just like, you suck,
You're so dumb, You're an idiot. It was like a good impression,
thank you, and like okay, so like first hour, like I
get it. This guy is just beating you down. So now you have
your voices are gonna be like, oh my god, he's right. This
guy's like you fucking dumb ass. And then you push, you know,
you go through your little cut scenes, you crawl through your little holes,
your crevices in the walls, and you see your close ups and you do
your little fights and like okay, cool, and then you stupid idiot comes
back and it's just like okay, all right, and then by like the
two and a half hour mark, and it was like you're so dumb.
I was like I've had enough. I don't feel like I'm learning anything.
I don't feel like this is like pushing me. I just feel like I'm
being like I know that's probably what the game's trying to do, but it's
not doing it in a way that feels like effective, in a way that
makes me want to overcome it. It's just like, all right, I've
had enough. Like I'm pushing down a path. I have an occasional fight.
I have this fucking voice in my head that's just telling me how stupid
I am. There's like, no, I don't really feel any progression.
I don't really feel any agency in this world. Yeah, I like.
It's also it's also bizarre because the game, the first game is so good
at being this this standalone sort of like mythical thing where you don't really know
if it exists anywhere else outside the world that it is and if that makes
sense. But then this world extends it. This this game extends the world
into a way that makes it feel real, and I feel like it almost
reduces everything the first game had established. It's like they didn't understand I feel
like, hell Blade, I'm sorry. I feel like the Ninja theory didn't
like have a really fully understand the effect of the of the game the first
game they made. So anyways, that's my that's my little closure for It's
like, I don't know if I'm returned to it. I was really frustrated
by it, which is really upsetting because I've been looking forward to it for
years. But how did that brand new PC handle it? How did that
a hitch who in fact? But the new PC handled it great? But
if anything, the PC made me realize how like I gonna sound like such
a jerk because I'm not a game developer. I'm not somebody who makes graphics,
but like, yeah, the game looks amazing, but it's also like
everything's being rendered in like a very small kind of scope, like you're always
on a path in that game, and only like a number of things are
being processed at any one time, and like, well it looks amazing.
It did not impress me in a way that like I was like, holy
shit. But then I blewed up a game like Allen Wake two and I'm
like, this game looks fucking ridiculous and things are being rendered in crazy ways
at all times. It's like, anyways, so yeah, you know,
I think where Helboa two does impress is more in the animations, like the
facial details and the like that's the part where I'm just like wow, that
is like really impressive, and some of the lighting. There is one there
is one shot like right at the end of the game that I like legitimately
thought like it switched to real time, like like real hands. For a
second, I was like wow, and then I was like, Okay,
that's pretty impressive. But you know, to your point, it's like,
but is it. I'm not really moved by anything else happening, so it
doesn't actually matter. And and yeah, and I agree with you about the
environments where it's like they look pretty, but like I don't. I don't
want to beat this game down. It's just I don't. I need to
make it clear that it's like it's just not hitting me and that I people.
There's definitely an argument to be made about my criticisms being things that make
it what it is, so like so it goes. But I do come
from a place of being like I have not been hype. I don't get
over the hip as we started this podcast, and when you asked me what
games we're excited, I was like none, because I need to see them.
I need to play them, I need to feel them. But this
is one of those cases where I was like, I'm so excited for Helpy
too, and I really was just like I, I just it just didn't
I and I just don't think it was a good follow up to Indica.
So like, uh, I have mixed feelings about Indica, but ultimately like
I really do love that game, like that the game's existence and like everything
that game said. But from a gameplay standpoint, coming from India following Indica
to Help Blade, it was like not a good idea, like just yeah,
the movements, like it's interesting because I think like India, probably one
of my bigger criticisms was like a lot of the gameplay felt kind of wrote
like just sorry, you're pushing boxes. It feels very like straightforward and segmented,
which can work, and I think it works in Indica for the most
part, but there are definitely situations where it's like this just almost feels too
like compressed or too simplistic maybe, and like, yeah, I can imagine
going from that to Help Blade, which I feel like is even more constrainting
and even more like simplistic and even more like like I mean I didn't play
enough of Help Blade. Don't seem like there's any puzzles apart from like finding
ruins or whatever. There's one other set of puzzles, but it it they're
very simple. Yeah, yeah, I mean anyway, I'm curious to hear
more about your thoughts on Indica though, because we don't have time for that.
I know, well, you know, I haven't talked to any who
played it. That is another one I also need to. Yeah, maybe
we'll go play and then we'll come back back, because I think there's my
my my closing thing and my small thing with Indica is like where it uses
game gaming design tropes to its benefit, as like a very good tongue of
cheek wink wink, nod nod to the viewer. I think it also equally
falls into the same tropes that I actually i've grown hate in games, like
pushing fucking boxes around and doing these things I feel so like benign and not
really important to push the game for me. Yeah, so that's that's my
other parts of it. But we will talk about that another time, because
I do think India is a game worth playing. Yes, something we do
want to talk about. Jake you went, Toland. I went to Warsaw
again, Yeah, second time, six months. I don't know, when
do we see Cyberpunk in September? It was like yeah, uh yeah.
So I went for an eleven Bit Studios preview. They showed off two games
that I got to play. I got to play both for roughly two hours,
two two and a half hours. It was The Altars and Frostpunk two.
I've written previews on both and I've produced video previews on both. So
if you want to hear like very good, check them out. If you
want to hear more, I don't know focused impressions of those games, probably
check that out. But I really enjoyed both of them. I think eleven
Bit Studios, Kurt, I know we've talked about this, but they're kind
of on a roll. Speaking of Indicathommeterorge, Yeah, they published Indica and
they published they published Thematurge, and now they have these two games. They
were not even on my radar this year and then all of a sudden,
they're just putting out game out. Yeah. I didn't really notice them until
Theometerge and like that popped on my radar purely because like Steam Next Fast and
that's when I was like, I was like, oh, eleven Bit Studios
just putting this out. It's done by I think Focus or something like that.
But again then all of a sudden, Endicome was like, oh e
loven Bit, and then all of a sudden alters eleven Bit. Yeah,
Frostpunk two of Love, and I was like, what is going on over
there? Like they're nailing it. The thing too, is both Frostpunk two
and the Altars are developed internally, so they're not crazy. They're publishing and
developing it, which for Indico was not the case in Photometer it is also
not the case. So they've developed games before. I mean they developed games
before. They they did this War of Mine, right, they did Frostpunk
one obviously, but no, both games are very like they know what they
are doing. They are stylistically like, very focused. It doesn't feel like
they are trying to appeal to a bunch of different audiences. It feels like
we know what our teams are good at and we are going to do those
well. I would say frost Punk two like may seem safer based on what
I played, because you know, they did frost Punk one. You know,
what do you do except for like add new features or whatever. That's
not really what they did. They kind of took a different approach to city
building strategy design. So like with frost Punk, I don't know if you
guys played much Frostpunk, but Frostpunk was very like hour by hour focus that
you had our by hour control of your frost Punk city, where you'd see
your individual workers go off into the mines or whatever, bring things back.
You could, like time literally moved hour by hour. With frost Punk two,
it is a much grander scope. Now it moves day by day.
We'd stack up pretty quickly. You're managing considerably more people. The city itself
can spread out much bigger than frost Punk. So with or with the original
Frostpunk, it was very circular, like you built everything off of the core.
This one, you can really expand your city out rather than building specific
buildings, You're building districts. You can you can, once again to talk
about my previews, you can kind of specialize different districts to focus on things.
And I think on top of that, the presentation I think is excellent.
Obviously it's a unique style, but the UI looks really good, which
is like kind of a weird thing to No, not necessarily really complain with
the state of plays today. It was like, show me the uy seriously,
but I was just really impressed with the presentation of it, full transparency.
Those games I enjoy, but I'm not. My brain doesn't always work
that way, so I'm not the best at them. It gives you more,
I don't know, a more broad grounded Yeah, that's kind of the
angle I was taking with the preview I would say, But no, I
really liked it. I think I think there might be some people who are
like I kind of prefer the original Frostpunk, but I think like this game
doesn't feel like a sequel sequel. It almost feels like a companion piece to
the first frost Punk, where it's like, if you want that style of
city building, that frost Punk exists. If you want this new kind,
Frostpunk two exists. So anyway, pretty positive on that, and then the
Altars, which kind of had me more excited, I think just because I
was able to latch onto that game a little more. But it is a
survival game and management sim and and a story heavy science fiction game that plays
around with the idea of cloning. Because the protagonist lands on a planet.
His whole crew is dead and the only way he can survive is by cloning
himself through a through through a resource that can only be found on this planet.
So essentially he needs to clone himself. But it's not just like cloning
him exactly as he is. You basically have access to like the timeline of
his life, and they're from points in his life. Cloning a Jake ten
years old who didn't actually finish exactly, you know, like let's let's finish
paper mark. See how that would affect them. So it's kind of interesting.
It really like plays on the idea of like nature verse nurture and how
that changes a person, how the environment can affect someone. Yeah, I
would hat. I would hate another meat too. I would beat the shit
out of them. What about Jean make out? Yeah yeah that was actually
a question. I'd be like, I can I make a real kissable clone?
I mean, what else? Yeah, I mean it's just one of
those moments where it's just like we are one, you know, when you're
looking at it's like, hey, we got we look at the mirror the
same person. Hey. Yeah, so you're stuck on a planet, what
are you going to do? Yeah, yeah, that's a good answer,
thank you. But anyway, I feel like it balances a bunch of genres
pretty well. I think like the mechanically it's not it's not as in depth
as something you'd see from a traditional survival game. It's not mechanically as in
depth is something you'd see in like a management sim or base building or anything
like that. But I think all of those different genres keep everything feeling fresh.
At least based on what I played, it sounds like it's to serve
the narrative and to just good, you know. It's it's like I feel
like those games rarely they're like early access. Yeah, yeah, I feel
I feel like those When we were talking about mechanics again, it's like people
will play those games because they mechanically love those games survival and building and all
that shit. But it feels like this is a good balance where it's like
those things have a purpose to serve narrative. The narrative. Yeah, And
when I talk to the director, that's a lot of what he was saying.
I was I was asking about, like how how you go about merging
all of these genres and how you avoid leaning too much into one or not
enough into another, and basically he was like, well, with a game
like this where we are cloning the main character multiple times, but each sort
of clone is supposed to be specialized in different things, it made sense to
build out a game that encompasses many genres, so these different clones can kind
of excel at different things, right, But there's still like a very personal
feel to it because at the end of the day, you are controlling only
one yeah, yeah, which I kind of love. I do too,
and you interact with them, you have to like talk them down, you
know, when you clone them. The first one you clone is very much
like what the fuck? Man? Like, why did you do this to
me? I don't want to be here, like like my whole childhood didn't
exist, Like I'm here to help you, and you have to like kind
of bond with him. And it's kind of cheesy how it plays out,
but but I think like at the center of it, there's something kind of
interesting, introspective about it. I'm excited to see how they explore those themes
because because I think that game could be wacky out there sci fi concepts in
my game, Yeah, but also like it's like, but you said this
earlier. It looks like so premium like it has and like I know,
I know that Dormeters is not made by eleven Bit, but there is something
I do think eleven bits catalog between Indica Amateurs, the Altars and frost Punk
like this very distinct like look like dark look in a way. But yeah,
I think the you're you came back and told them with the Alters,
I was like, that sounds awesome, Like I cannot wait to play that.
Yeah. I was not expecting, not that I was thinking I wouldn't
enjoy it. I was just like, Okay, it's just a survival game.
Whatever. But after playing it, very very interested to see what happens.
And apparently that's supposed to come out this year as well, so that'll
be four games and I and when I was there, they had like a
press conference sort of thing where they were like on a stage like announcing things
for both these games. You can play this. It's like months didn't quite
do that. Well okay, I guess they did, yeah, yeah,
but then they also said there's one more game. That's what's this year that
they're publishing, and I'm just like, holy shit, Like you guys are
located in war so right, Uh, yeah, publishing and their internal teams
are in Warsaw. But I think they're like some of the stuff they're publishing
is outside of works. Yeah, like indiicause it was Russia then they relocated
to Uh. They also they did that game, uh, The Invincible,
which I came out last year. I remember playing the demo of that on
Yeah I looked interesting. It's it's also like kind of got that like almost
premium like Triple A sort of presentation. But it was like a first person
game where you're trapped on are you You've landed on a planet and you're basically
trying to figure out what happened to all these other this other crew of people,
and like they all went and I played the demo and I was like
pretty impressed with what I played. So like they they seem like they are
kind of feeling or feeling that almost like double a that I which needs to
be filled. Like the fact that a game like Theometers is not a full
price game blows my mind, like like just I can't believe it. It's
like and once I know it was like thirty bucks, I was like what
the fuck? Like this is like a thirty hour great, really well written
voice acting. They just added full polish voice acting to that game over the
weekend, Like crazy awesome. I'm so excited about it, genuinely, it
makes it makes us, It makes me feel good about like gaming. Yeah,
And it's like and we're you know, we see these showcases by PlayStation
where it's like these games have probably been in development for fucking years and years
and years and cost a stupid amount of money and like all shutting down other
studios and having layoffs. It's like, I feel like Double A is like
the neat is the thing that needs to save like that sort of sect,
that sort of spectrum of gaming, like just prove that like that audience still
exhibit it don't need this, Like like like Quadruple A game, that audience
didn't disappear. They just haven't been served because you know, like but you
just have to have that expectation, like you're not here to make a bajillion
dollars. You're just here to make your cool double A game that will make
enough money to keep the company profitable and on the next one. And like
because we're all just here to make cool games and like that's the point.
So that's good on you. Eleven bit Yeah seriously. Poland, Yeah yeah,
Poland and Sweden la oh yeah yeah, Swedes and they know what it's
up. I think that's a podcast that is a post pod cast. Uh
and guess what, there ain't gonna be no podcast next week because we're at
Summer Games Fast. Yeah. So, as I mentioned at the top,
Summer Games Fest, that's gonna be happening. I mean, we're gonna be
like, you're gonna get plenty of us, you know, in live streams,
uh, previews, on camera. We might maybe one of us will
show up on John Palm at Night, which is also happening. What do
you What are you doing there, Kurt? What do you I made a
phase above showing up. Yeah, okay, yeah, I'm calling you out.
This is like we'll say, but yeah, you'll you'll be seeing us
around all next week will be plenty busy. But because of that, we're
not gonna be doing a typical podcast, but we will be back the work
after. You're going to see so much of us anyways, yes, exactly.
Yeah, you'll get plenty of us if you want it. But thank
you for listening to another episode Games About After Dark Jake, thank you for
being around. Thank you, Kurt. Fun week, fun episode, not
fun week. Fun week. Yeah, a lot of planning this week.
There's a lot of spreadsheets and Google box, big Google doc week. Kurt,
thanks for uh warming up to it. Yeah, yeah, doing this
thing. Yeah. How are you feeling? Okay? How many what this
is like left you fourth week in a row. To be honest, I
think I'm like, I'm feeling okay, like I feel you know, I
uh, I'm honored. I'm always honored to be here, and I think
I was just you know, insecure. First of all, I don't listen
to podcasts, so that's what we don't need to get in this. But
I feel good. I think I got to at least like maybe you know,
one and a half, one maybe two, maybe three left in you.
Yeah. Okay, well that's good because you texted Stu, right,
who's gonna yeah, okay, good great. I mean, if there's anybody
who should replace me, it's any it's basically everyone, but especially Stu.
You can we can, we can talk this over when the mics are off.
All right, Okay, we're gonna go. I guess we'll go talk
about the Kurds. Future. Yeah, we're talking about who can replace me.
Thank everyone for listening to game Spot after Dark, l A l A
Laura, Laurel Laura. Goodbye b b b b b bod