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Speaker 1: Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Game Informer Show, a weekly

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podcast covering the video game industry. Join us every Thursday

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for discussion with the latest gamming news, reviews, and exclusive reveals,

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alongside game and former staff and special guests from around

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the industry. I'm one of your hosts today, Alex van Aiken.

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I'm joined by Marcus Stewart. Hey doing, Marcus.

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Speaker 2: Hey, Happy July everyone.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Happy July. We made it.

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Speaker 2: We did it. And you know what they say about July.

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I guess what's up. Well, when it's time for July,

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you're gonna fly.

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Speaker 1: All right. Also, we're also joined by Kyle Hilliard. How

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you doing, Kyle?

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Speaker 2: Hey? Good.

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Speaker 3: I'm gonna fly because it's July's we all know. We

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always say that.

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Speaker 2: Every year, and yeah, there's no different obviously. Spread your wings, yep,

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spread your rings.

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Speaker 1: It's July. Hello. John Carson, special guest, former game and

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former editor, freelance journalist at Large. How are you, John?

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Speaker 4: I'm doing all right, stretching out my wings. I'm gonna

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be flying this week out of town, except I'm staying

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on the ground the whole time.

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Speaker 1: So I thought you you were telling me you're going

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on a boat.

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Speaker 4: Actually, I will be on a boat, so that is.

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Speaker 1: Not around crucially.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean there'll be minimal ground touching hopefully.

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Speaker 1: Are you all big like hot dog people Fourth of

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July people or is it just kind of a day off?

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Speaker 2: I like a hot dog? Yeah, I'm not really big enough.

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I'm not really big into fireworks honestly, Like I don't

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mind them, but I don't go out of my way

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to see them, and I definitely never buy them. I

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don't think I've ever bought a firework.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, celebrating America.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, that's a tough one. I'll at least be like

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close to Canada, so I'll be like, see that's true.

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Speaker 1: Yeaeah. I like the movie, Okay, all right, yeah yeah.

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Speaker 2: Born on the Fourth Jo that matters?

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Speaker 3: John, the movie Come On, the only one that matters.

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They made a whole sequel to to Kyle.

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Speaker 2: You didn't have to bring that up.

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Speaker 1: But did the producers of New Year's Day and Valentine's

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Day ever make a July fourth movie?

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Speaker 4: There has to be one.

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Speaker 1: I don't know series.

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Speaker 3: Those are all Gary Marshall joints.

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Speaker 2: And he passed away a couple of years ago, so

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I think did he pass away on a holiday. Let's

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look it up. It was like, was he basically the

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calendar man of the film industry?

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Speaker 1: Of course?

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Speaker 2: Uh, iconic batman villain. Calendar man is what I'm referring to.

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Speaker 1: The one we all know in love of Yes, yes.

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Speaker 4: What's it? A big ensemble funeral, just.

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Speaker 3: Lots of stories all coming together for the funeral and

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the Yeah, that's a shame, okay, because Gary Marshall, of

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course died on National Urban Bookkeeper Beekeeping Day, National Football Day,

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International Karaoke Day.

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Speaker 2: July nineteenth.

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Speaker 3: To tell you coming up on it, Yeah, exactly, so

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get ready for National Dakery Day on July nineteen.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm sorry. Urban Beekeeping Day, like not just beekeeping Day,

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but there was an what is urban beekeeping?

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Speaker 4: What do you keeping in the city?

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Speaker 3: I don't like, I don't understand what you're asking. It's

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it's National urban Beekeeping. You got these got these honey

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bees in the streets. Yeah, just just making honey, I guess, okay.

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Speaker 1: It's like people that have like the rooftop gardens in

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the city, beekeepers in the city. I know some documentaries

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you should watch.

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Speaker 2: I would like to see an urban beekeeping documentary, genuine.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I actually don't know if there is one. I'm

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just assuming. I think there's a highlight a.

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Speaker 3: Day, so it's got to be a documentary.

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Speaker 2: It's on Apple Plus.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, Well, welcome to the show, everybody. We're gonna

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be talking about our favorite games of the year today

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from January twenty twenty five to July first, when we're

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recording this, and it's gonna be a good show. I

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think if you're gonna if you're a listener, you'll probably

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get some recommendations maybe you haven't heard of, or you'll

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get our impressions if you missed it earlier in the

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year when we were shut down. You know, there's some

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bigger games that came out. This is a chance for

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us to talk about them and a fun way. So

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I think we were shut down, believe it or not.

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Speaker 4: Yes, Okay, you know many.

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Speaker 1: People have forgotten this apparently, and yeah, we're gonna be

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going one at a time. We'll kind of I'm sure

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our lists will, we'll share some entries and if so,

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that'll kind of sparker a larger discussion on that game.

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But I think it'll be a great way to kind

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of catch up on the year so far. And if

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you're listening, we'll make sure you have time stamps and

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all that for for the games mentioned.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, isn't it a wild that we're halfway through the

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year now, by the way.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it is, it really is.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: I feel like we're we're already close to like having

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to be like, oh, I gonna have to start playing

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some games, get ready for the game of the year.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, there's there's one big game in particular. I'm gonna

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save it until one of you. I don't know if

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any of you have in your list, but there's one

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big game I'm like almost stressing of, like I have

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not played this at all, but I noticed it's a

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GotY contender and I need to get to it because

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it's going to take a while to get through.

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Speaker 1: We'll get to it. We'll get to it. Uh, Kyle,

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you want to kick us off though?

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Speaker 2: Okay?

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Speaker 1: You want to? You want to share one of your

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games from your your favorites of the year.

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Speaker 3: Should I start like at the like, should I try

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to end with my favorite? Number one likes mine? Because

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really I haven't either I know my number one. I'm

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going to start with a promised mascot agency, which is

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a game I haven't I actually haven't beaten. I played

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the first couple hours. It's it's really weird. It's kind

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of like an indie like Grand Theft. Auto of three

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is almost what I where I would put it, because

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it's like you're driving around an open world a lot,

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but it's not like you're not getting out of the car,

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you're not shooting, you know. It just it just feels

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like a throwback to that PS two open world kind

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of era, and it's wrapped in this really bizarre story

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that takes place in a universe with like yakuza and

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like mascots, right, people in mascot costumes, but they're like

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they're like a species in this world, Like there exists,

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you know, these creatures that look like mascots and you

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have to like send them out on jobs and stuff

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like that, and you drive around the city to like,

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you know, make sure you can find these jobs, and

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you like collect people and like then you can have

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them as playing cards to do combat. It's a really

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funky game, and I really liked what I played. It's

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it's the one where every time I'm if I'm not

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like actively playing something that I'm like really really excited

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about or playing.

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Speaker 2: Something for review or something.

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Speaker 3: It's the one that I'm always like, Ooh, I should

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go back and play more of that when I should

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finish that one.

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Speaker 1: Are you collecting? Are your cards like collecting the souls

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of the mascots essentially, or are they like more yakaze

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like summons where it's like, oh, the the restler guy,

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I'm gonna summon him into combat?

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Speaker 2: What is Card Captors?

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Speaker 3: You're you're actually playing like a card game at certain moments,

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which is really outside of my tipic. I know, John's

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like eyes are like lighting up.

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Speaker 2: And he's not.

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Speaker 4: I mean, but I'm downloaded now.

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Speaker 3: I'm not usually into card games like that. But it's

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such a it's such like a minor portion of it.

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It's more about like the mood and the story. And

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then like when you send characters out on jobs, if

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they run into an issue, then it kind of turns

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into like a card game. And what happens is like

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you meet the mechanic who can upgrade your car to

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make it go faster, and he'll be like, yeah, add

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me to your deck, and he like gives you a

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card of himself. Is kind of like the the premise

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of it. It it's it's one of those games that's

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like really bizarre to explain, but after you spend like,

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you know, half an hour with it, the world kind

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of makes sense because they do such a good job

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of like you know, setting the table for it. Yeah,

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it's it's weird, it's gosh. What is the the is

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it Paradise Killer? Is that the name of the developer? Yes,

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the developers of uh that it's their follow up to

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Paradise Killer, which was another very strange game with like

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bizarre world building, but that was also quite effective at

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like you know, setting its table and giving you something interesting.

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So yeah, promised Mascot Agency. I think it came out

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right around blueprints and got kind of a little bit

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more shadowed black blueprints, but like there was there was

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a group of people who are like, yeah, this and

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blueprints are are super hot right now?

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Speaker 1: Hell yeah, yeah, that's one that that kind of I

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remember hearing about it when it was first kind of

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shown off. Whether was it a direct or something? Yeah, yeah, yeah,

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and uh it seems really cool. So thank you for

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recommending that one. Yeah, John, we'll go to you next.

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What about you? It's your what's one of your recommendations.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, my list is kind of chronological. So I'll go

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at the first game that I that I finished this year,

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and that was Blade Chimera, which is a uh it's

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a metroidvania by a studio called Team Ladybug. They've been

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doing Metroid Venus for a few years that have been

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solely gaining more and more popularity. But but it's it's

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just such a tight experience. It's very symphony symphony of

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the Knight meets Contra kind of. You have your your

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melee weapons, you have guns that you can equip, and

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you're working with with both of those two get get

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through this world.

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Speaker 1: You're a fighting predominantly are they like eating creatures?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, you're you're fighting demons. You're you're a demon hunter,

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part of like this organization that that hunts demons and

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is trying to protect society after like an apocalypse happened,

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happened when the demons invaded Earth. But your your character,

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uh meets this demon and like forms a bond with it,

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and that demon like becomes a weapon for him. So

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he's kind of betraying his his own organization and and

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hiding the fact that he's working with this demon to

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kind of solve the mystery of where he comes from

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because he has no memories. But he's like this like

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top agent at this uh at this organization. It's super

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it's super fun. It's all pixel art. Like I said,

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just really tight kind of sympathy of the night style controls.

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Uh just uh. It's it's one that a lot of

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people missed. It came out like mid January.

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Speaker 1: It looks I'm looking it's screenshots the enemy designs like

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really neat.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I realized I have played one of their other games.

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I played, was it Tohu Luna to So Yeah, I

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didn't finish it, but I was impressed with it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: And this is also it looks like this is on

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switch and PC, which I'm like, yes, I'm looking for

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stuff to plan my switch too. Maybe this is one

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to pick up.

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Speaker 4: And it's it's it's like a nice like eight to

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twelve hours or something. It's not it's not anything. It's

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not a huge time commitment. It really it really blows by.

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I tried to. I think I tried to, which I

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don't often do with games, but like it had me

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hooked enough that I want to check out everything. Hell, yeah, yeah, yeah,

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check it out. I think it's on the Steam sale

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right now for like fourteen bucks. O.

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Speaker 1: No, yeah, Marcus, what about you, what's one of your recommendations?

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Speaker 2: So my first real obsession for twenty twenty five was

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a lovely little puzzle game called The Root Trees Are Dead.

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Speaker 1: I have heard about this game. I don't know much

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about it, though, so tell.

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Speaker 2: Me so if you were. I recommend if you're a

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puzzle fan, particularly if you're into investigative games like Her

241
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Story or Return of the Ober, then you should absolutely

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give this game a look. The premise is that you

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play a some sort of investigator that is hired after

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a plane crash where the president of a candy slash

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fashion company, along with his wife and his three teenage

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celebrity daughters all die in his plane crash, and you're

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hired by a mysterious client to try to trace every

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blood relative of the root Tree family, which is a

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family whose sort of wealth goes all the way back

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to like the late eighteen hundreds, just like a generationally

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wealthy family, and you don't know why you're doing this yet,

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and sort of like the entire game is set in

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the nineties, so you're sitting out a computer and you're

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just pretty much just using a search engine to try

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to dig up articles and like find websites and just

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find any evidence to try to fill out this giant

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family tree on this corkboard that's just got a bunch

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of spots and they're all blank, and you just need

259
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to find a photo. You need to find the names

260
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of each member, which for the women, you need to

261
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find their maiden names, which is a puzzle in itself

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because some of them have remarried, maybe more than once.

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And then you also need to find their most recent occupation,

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which is also another puzzle for some of them that

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have maybe had multiple jobs. And it's a really fun

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exercise because, like I fell in love with her story,

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particularly because it made me feel like a real detective

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just going through the search engine and just trying to

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find keywords and just typing in. You're reading articles and

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just typing in every anything that you think might get

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a hit of, Like, Okay, this one root tree was

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you know, involved with this school play? Maybe I can

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find but her sister was also on to play, but

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I can't get anything on her. Can I maybe figure

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out which part she played or what else like she did,

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what other activity she was involved with in school, or

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you're trying to find like you know, like, oh, well,

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who is like actually the blood relative of this person,

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because there's been adoptions that have taken place and some

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maybe some of the information has gotten obscured. And it

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gets harder the older you go through the family tree,

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because the older the relative is, the less of an

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online footprint they have. So the game does a really

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good job of sort of leading you along but giving

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you just enough breadcrumbs that you can just kind of

286
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connect the dots in a really fun way and also

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not really ever feel like you're lost, because the game

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00:14:33,600 --> 00:14:35,360
also does a great job of telling you when you're

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chasing a lead that has absolutely nothing, it's like, hey,

290
00:14:38,840 --> 00:14:41,440
there's nothing here, Like there's some just sort of like

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in game prompts or or like the musings of the

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00:14:44,679 --> 00:14:46,440
person that you're playing as will just be like, nah,

293
00:14:46,440 --> 00:14:48,799
I guess there's nothing here. I better move on. But

294
00:14:48,799 --> 00:14:50,960
besides about it, Since the family tree is so big,

295
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you can kind of tackle multiple threads at once. If

296
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you get stuck trying to figure out the relationship between

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00:14:55,639 --> 00:14:57,600
his aunt and his uncle, you can move on to like, well,

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I'm gonna try to find the kids of this other person.

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But it becomes really engrossing really quick. Like I spent

300
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so many nights where I would be up till like

301
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past midnight with a cup of coffee just feeling like again,

302
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like feeling like I'm really trying to do this for

303
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someone of like man, I'm just like one breakthrough a

304
00:15:13,679 --> 00:15:15,720
way to figure out like who is who is the

305
00:15:15,799 --> 00:15:18,960
husband of this person? Or who what is his job? Like?

306
00:15:19,240 --> 00:15:21,919
And it's like the writing is so well done because

307
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a lot of the clues are hidden right in front

308
00:15:23,440 --> 00:15:26,639
of you, and so many times I would be stuck

309
00:15:26,679 --> 00:15:29,039
on something only to figure it out later just because

310
00:15:29,360 --> 00:15:31,360
I looked at the same thing, but with just new

311
00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:33,919
knowledge attached to it, you know. So it does a

312
00:15:33,919 --> 00:15:35,759
really good job of making old evidence that you have

313
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collected feel new again once you find out one news

314
00:15:38,679 --> 00:15:43,840
article or magazine piece that just completely shifts your perspective

315
00:15:43,840 --> 00:15:46,799
of how you should look at somebody and the sort

316
00:15:46,799 --> 00:15:49,440
of meta narrative going on of like, as you're finding

317
00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:52,919
the family members, you're learning about their very tumultuous family history,

318
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and the family becomes like very fascinating characters even though

319
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you never actually meet or speak to any of them.

320
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You're reading so much about out them that they feel

321
00:16:01,159 --> 00:16:04,000
like fully fleshed out characters, and you almost, at least

322
00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:05,799
for me, you kind of find some that you kind

323
00:16:05,799 --> 00:16:08,879
of like more than others. Uh, because yeah, there's been

324
00:16:08,919 --> 00:16:12,879
tho like a televangelist in there. There's like a Hollywood starlet.

325
00:16:13,279 --> 00:16:16,279
There's of course, like the Candy Ceo, the the Root

326
00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:21,120
Tree Girls are just like basically Mary Kate and Ashley analogs.

327
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Speaker 1: Okay, And yeah.

328
00:16:24,399 --> 00:16:26,679
Speaker 2: It's a it's a really cool game, Like you, it's

329
00:16:26,720 --> 00:16:28,360
so easy to get wrapped up in it, I think

330
00:16:28,480 --> 00:16:31,799
the the puzzle design and even just sort of the

331
00:16:31,879 --> 00:16:33,720
quality of life stuff because it's definitely one of those

332
00:16:33,720 --> 00:16:35,440
games where you're gonna be you need to write down

333
00:16:35,639 --> 00:16:37,879
stuff like this is a note taking.

334
00:16:39,159 --> 00:16:42,399
Speaker 1: Yeah did you play? Oh sorry, did you play? What

335
00:16:42,480 --> 00:16:46,120
was that? Other? That sirie the Golden Idol? This kind

336
00:16:46,120 --> 00:16:46,879
of sounds like that.

337
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Speaker 2: I love Golden Idol.

338
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Speaker 1: Yeah, is this is this kind of in the same ballpark?

339
00:16:50,200 --> 00:16:53,200
Speaker 2: Then, well, Golden Idle it's a lot more like the

340
00:16:53,200 --> 00:16:55,200
puzzle designs difference, it's a little bit more like kind

341
00:16:55,200 --> 00:16:59,120
of like mad Libes style, like the structure. It's not

342
00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:02,799
it's not really that like because at least for that

343
00:17:02,879 --> 00:17:05,240
it's a lot of like looking at images and sort

344
00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:07,920
of trying to pick things in a scene. Yeah, to

345
00:17:08,039 --> 00:17:10,759
figure things out. This is like you're you're more reading

346
00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:15,440
and occasionally listening to things like audio files, okay, and

347
00:17:15,480 --> 00:17:18,279
then just sort of like again just picking out things

348
00:17:18,319 --> 00:17:20,640
in a newspaper, thing that might seem like something you

349
00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:23,559
want to search in this internet browser to see if

350
00:17:23,559 --> 00:17:27,079
you get any hits. You know. So that's cool. Yeah,

351
00:17:27,119 --> 00:17:29,720
it's cool. I like I said, it felt like it

352
00:17:29,759 --> 00:17:31,400
had like because it was so early in a year,

353
00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:33,640
I had a bit of a groundswell. I'm hoping that,

354
00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:35,920
you know, especially with blue prints coming out, Like I

355
00:17:35,920 --> 00:17:38,000
think those are to me number one and number two

356
00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:41,559
for like Best Puzzle Game Convention. But it's definitely one

357
00:17:41,599 --> 00:17:43,039
that I've had in my mind of like when we

358
00:17:43,079 --> 00:17:44,519
get towards the Game of the Year, I'm going to

359
00:17:44,559 --> 00:17:46,400
be like hounding you guys, like, hey, you guys need

360
00:17:46,440 --> 00:17:50,079
flavor trees. The only one on this rout tree Island.

361
00:17:50,119 --> 00:17:51,079
You guys need to go play it.

362
00:17:51,599 --> 00:17:56,400
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's cool. I have been playing a new game

363
00:17:56,920 --> 00:18:01,079
called Peak from Landfall and agro Crab. You might have

364
00:18:01,240 --> 00:18:04,240
heard of it. It's it's recently gotten a lot of

365
00:18:05,799 --> 00:18:09,359
support online. I think they crossed two million sales in

366
00:18:09,440 --> 00:18:15,160
like a week or something. Yeah, but the peak is

367
00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:18,599
this for one, it's eight bucks on Steam. But it's

368
00:18:18,640 --> 00:18:23,839
a co op climbing game, and so it is first

369
00:18:23,839 --> 00:18:27,640
person and each of you. At the start, you're kind

370
00:18:27,640 --> 00:18:30,160
of flying into an airport and you all arrive in

371
00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:32,960
like the airport terminal, and there's like a climbing gym

372
00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:35,440
and that kind of thing for you to practice and stuff,

373
00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:37,599
and you can if you pull out your passport, you

374
00:18:37,599 --> 00:18:40,839
can like customize your character. So everyone's like very cartoony,

375
00:18:40,920 --> 00:18:46,440
so like you're very like very simple looking people, but

376
00:18:46,559 --> 00:18:50,599
it's like very cartoon like you know, purple green, orange people,

377
00:18:51,160 --> 00:18:53,920
and you unlike hats and other outfits as you play

378
00:18:53,960 --> 00:18:58,079
the game more. And so it's big on, very much

379
00:18:58,079 --> 00:19:01,319
big on. Like here is a sand you have a

380
00:19:01,400 --> 00:19:04,279
goal of climbing to the top of the peak, and

381
00:19:04,319 --> 00:19:06,599
once you get to the top of the peak, the

382
00:19:06,680 --> 00:19:09,440
kind of fog of ward dissipates and there's another peak

383
00:19:09,440 --> 00:19:12,039
for you to climb with like different challenges and like

384
00:19:12,079 --> 00:19:16,440
different biomes. So I've made it up until the first

385
00:19:16,519 --> 00:19:20,400
area is like a I think it's called shore peak,

386
00:19:20,559 --> 00:19:22,960
or you're kind of like you've crashed landed on an

387
00:19:23,359 --> 00:19:27,160
airport airplane rather kind of lost style along the beach,

388
00:19:27,519 --> 00:19:30,319
and you kind of gotta climb some pretty basic mountains

389
00:19:30,319 --> 00:19:33,079
to get up to the top. And along the way

390
00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:35,920
you are, you have a stamina bar that you're managing,

391
00:19:36,039 --> 00:19:40,480
and so there are various like hidden objects in the world,

392
00:19:40,720 --> 00:19:43,039
or sometimes there are a lot of times you'll run

393
00:19:43,079 --> 00:19:45,599
into like luggage that has fallen out of the plane

394
00:19:46,039 --> 00:19:49,119
that you crashed in, and inside will be things like

395
00:19:49,440 --> 00:19:52,160
bandages to like if you fall, there's fault damage in

396
00:19:52,200 --> 00:19:54,519
the game. And the cool thing about this the way

397
00:19:54,559 --> 00:19:57,519
that the stamina bar works. The stamina bar and your

398
00:19:57,519 --> 00:20:00,680
health bar are the same thing essentially, and so if

399
00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:04,000
you there could be a number of d buffs that

400
00:20:04,039 --> 00:20:05,759
you get for your stamina bar, so you could be

401
00:20:05,799 --> 00:20:09,279
poisoned and that takes away you know, your your stamina bar,

402
00:20:09,319 --> 00:20:12,400
and you can if you are injured or poisoned, or

403
00:20:13,240 --> 00:20:16,240
you're you're too cold, or if you drink an energy

404
00:20:16,319 --> 00:20:18,279
drink in the game, you kind of have a sugar

405
00:20:18,319 --> 00:20:22,400
crash afterwards, and so your character's really sleepy and if if,

406
00:20:22,640 --> 00:20:25,359
if you run out of energy, your character will literally

407
00:20:25,400 --> 00:20:29,079
like fall over. And still in first person, you're like

408
00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:31,640
rolling off a cliff because your character is so sleepy.

409
00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:35,400
And there there's a lot of like cool physics stuff happening.

410
00:20:37,119 --> 00:20:40,559
But yeah, you're trying to climb these these peaks by yourself,

411
00:20:40,640 --> 00:20:42,319
and it's designed to be a co op game, so

412
00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:44,400
like you can like reach your hand out and let

413
00:20:44,440 --> 00:20:47,119
your friend grab yours. Like it's really all about like

414
00:20:47,599 --> 00:20:51,119
who is in the best position to get one ledge higher?

415
00:20:51,799 --> 00:20:55,119
And how can we get everybody up there too? And

416
00:20:55,359 --> 00:20:56,720
it's there's a lot of fun.

417
00:20:57,039 --> 00:20:59,279
Speaker 2: Are there multiple mountains? Like what happens when you get

418
00:20:59,359 --> 00:20:59,960
you like the top.

419
00:20:59,839 --> 00:21:02,240
Speaker 1: Of amunt Okay, that's where that I was saying, that

420
00:21:02,559 --> 00:21:04,640
fog of war kind of dissipates and then you have

421
00:21:04,680 --> 00:21:08,400
a new mountain to climb, and they are swapping them out.

422
00:21:08,440 --> 00:21:12,119
I don't know if it's weekly, they're they're like routinely

423
00:21:12,160 --> 00:21:15,319
implementing new maps, like new levels for you to play through.

424
00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:20,759
I think they're somewhat procedural. That's what it feels like,

425
00:21:20,759 --> 00:21:25,279
like real mountains, yes, yes, and so this kind of

426
00:21:26,519 --> 00:21:29,680
I guess this cycle of the map. I'm getting to

427
00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:31,799
know the maps now that I've put in you know,

428
00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:35,200
six or seven runs, but then they're gonna swap eventually

429
00:21:35,240 --> 00:21:37,119
and it'll be a new mountain for me to explore.

430
00:21:38,480 --> 00:21:42,880
But yeah, it's really easy to get injured. And you know,

431
00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:44,240
there are certain areas when you get up to the

432
00:21:44,279 --> 00:21:47,680
snow area there's these large gusts of icy wind that

433
00:21:47,759 --> 00:21:49,799
will freeze your character and so you have to like

434
00:21:50,359 --> 00:21:54,440
hide behind trees or go deeper into caves to escape

435
00:21:54,480 --> 00:21:57,920
the elements. And all of that is kind of done

436
00:21:58,039 --> 00:22:03,079
via this like stamina bar, and it's a really cool

437
00:22:03,279 --> 00:22:06,519
idea that, oh, if I'm injured, I have much less stamina.

438
00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:09,759
And so the the the more status effects you get

439
00:22:09,759 --> 00:22:12,480
on yourself, the trickier it is to climb higher because

440
00:22:12,519 --> 00:22:15,279
you have less stamina to use. So it's really a

441
00:22:15,279 --> 00:22:18,000
game about item management. Do I want to use my

442
00:22:18,079 --> 00:22:22,839
rope here and and or put a piton in the

443
00:22:22,880 --> 00:22:25,039
side of this mountain so I have a handhold so

444
00:22:25,079 --> 00:22:27,640
that I can recover my stamina halfway up this climb.

445
00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:33,200
There are there are also like I'm calling them like

446
00:22:33,279 --> 00:22:39,319
God items where they are like Pandora's lunchbox. You can

447
00:22:39,359 --> 00:22:42,519
open it and like some strange stuff happens. I haven't

448
00:22:42,559 --> 00:22:46,920
really understood everything that that item does at there's not

449
00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:49,759
a lot of like tool tips or anything like the

450
00:22:49,759 --> 00:22:53,759
The instructions come in the form of a diegetic end

451
00:22:53,799 --> 00:22:56,640
game handbook that you have to carry in your inventory

452
00:22:57,160 --> 00:23:01,119
to open it up and read. And as you as

453
00:23:01,160 --> 00:23:03,920
you progress in the game, I guess you discover more

454
00:23:03,960 --> 00:23:07,240
pages or something that seems like but there isn't like

455
00:23:07,359 --> 00:23:11,359
a really big tutorial where it's like, oh, you unlocked

456
00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:14,960
this lunch box, use it to Yeah, And so there's

457
00:23:14,960 --> 00:23:17,079
a lot of like trial and error that lead to

458
00:23:17,359 --> 00:23:22,079
very comedic moments. Yeah, it's a lot of fun. One

459
00:23:22,079 --> 00:23:25,559
thing that my friends and I've been doing is races.

460
00:23:25,839 --> 00:23:30,759
So we will all spawn into a level and the

461
00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:35,000
starting it will essentially like rock paper scissors to decide

462
00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:37,640
who gets to select the first item at the at

463
00:23:37,640 --> 00:23:40,000
the starting beach. And so some people go for the

464
00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:42,759
backpack so that you can you can carry more items.

465
00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:44,839
But if you if you have the backpack on, then

466
00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:48,839
you your your stamina bar is is decreased because you

467
00:23:48,880 --> 00:23:51,480
know you've got extra weight on you. Other people will

468
00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:54,000
go for you know, dumb items like.

469
00:23:53,920 --> 00:23:56,960
Speaker 2: The trumpet, isn't it how a hunger game starts?

470
00:23:57,240 --> 00:24:00,759
Speaker 1: Exactly? Yes, uh, and the charm of all it's all

471
00:24:00,799 --> 00:24:05,200
like uh uh in game like Proximity Chat. So the

472
00:24:05,200 --> 00:24:06,759
best way to play it is like, even if you're

473
00:24:06,799 --> 00:24:10,400
on Friends with Discord, just mute everybody, Mute all your

474
00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:13,000
friends and just play with Proximity Chat because there they

475
00:24:13,039 --> 00:24:15,519
also add in a lot of like audio effects, so

476
00:24:15,559 --> 00:24:18,319
if you're in a cavern, you're gonna sound like that.

477
00:24:18,319 --> 00:24:19,720
You're gonna sound like you're in a cavern. There's a

478
00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:22,400
lot of reverb on your voice. And it's just super funny.

479
00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:26,400
When you hear somebody fall, you can't really tell where

480
00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:28,640
they're at, like you've been separated, and you just hear

481
00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:31,359
them like screaming as they fall to their death. It

482
00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:37,119
just goes quiet. Exactly, Yes, exactly. It's it's a ton

483
00:24:37,119 --> 00:24:37,519
of fun.

484
00:24:37,759 --> 00:24:43,160
Speaker 2: I'm really just bought it on Steam because you remind me. Yeah, yeah,

485
00:24:43,160 --> 00:24:45,640
I thought I did. I've been wanting to stream this,

486
00:24:45,759 --> 00:24:48,759
but we've been so busy with the magazine.

487
00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:51,079
Speaker 1: But like, yeah, like I would love.

488
00:24:53,279 --> 00:24:53,640
Speaker 2: Sometime.

489
00:24:54,160 --> 00:24:56,440
Speaker 1: I am totally down. It's it's it's a lot of fun,

490
00:24:57,559 --> 00:25:00,960
but yeah, that was peak p e A. K. Kyle,

491
00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:02,039
what's your next recommendation.

492
00:25:03,359 --> 00:25:04,799
Speaker 3: Let's talk about Mario Kart World.

493
00:25:05,119 --> 00:25:08,480
Speaker 1: Ooh nice, Yeah, yeah, it is good.

494
00:25:08,880 --> 00:25:11,240
Speaker 3: It is a good game, which is surprising no one.

495
00:25:11,279 --> 00:25:14,240
I will say though, like I thought, I knew what

496
00:25:14,319 --> 00:25:16,880
to expect with Mario Kart World, and for the most part,

497
00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:19,759
it met those expectations and it was what I hoped

498
00:25:19,759 --> 00:25:21,359
it would be and thought it would be. But there

499
00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:24,400
were there have been a number of moments, especially early on,

500
00:25:24,480 --> 00:25:27,680
where I was like, oh, this is really cool. Like

501
00:25:27,720 --> 00:25:30,720
there would be like you know, like bosses like Mario

502
00:25:30,759 --> 00:25:34,200
sixty four bosses running around the road, or like there's

503
00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:36,200
an early it's like one of the first races you do,

504
00:25:36,279 --> 00:25:37,799
or at least in the first batch of races you do,

505
00:25:37,839 --> 00:25:41,640
where you're driving up the uh the you know, the

506
00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:48,160
Donkey Kong construction site as a giant Donkey Kong. Yeah,

507
00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:50,440
And there was like it was there were moments like

508
00:25:50,519 --> 00:25:52,839
that where I was like, oh, this is actually exceeding

509
00:25:53,039 --> 00:25:56,200
my sort of I don't know, high expectations might not

510
00:25:56,200 --> 00:25:58,200
be the right word, as much as it's like, yeah,

511
00:25:58,240 --> 00:26:00,960
they're gonna Mario Kart eight is like amazing, They're gonna

512
00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:02,880
sort of iterate on that and it's gonna be cool.

513
00:26:03,240 --> 00:26:05,960
But I I it is. I think it's just like

514
00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:09,079
a really good kickoff for the Switch Too. I know

515
00:26:09,119 --> 00:26:13,160
people are already kind of sort of complaining about the

516
00:26:13,160 --> 00:26:15,119
Switch LNA, which I think is fair. Mean, I think

517
00:26:15,119 --> 00:26:17,400
in my review, I think I called it pitifole, But like,

518
00:26:18,279 --> 00:26:20,759
I think it's like just a really great way to

519
00:26:20,839 --> 00:26:23,119
kick off. The Switch Too is like Mario Kart, because

520
00:26:23,119 --> 00:26:25,240
like it is, you know, with whenever you have a

521
00:26:25,279 --> 00:26:27,480
new console, you're kind of like you hit a point

522
00:26:27,519 --> 00:26:29,279
pretty quickly, like within the first.

523
00:26:29,119 --> 00:26:29,559
Speaker 2: Day or two.

524
00:26:29,559 --> 00:26:31,319
Speaker 3: We're like I want to play this thing, but like

525
00:26:31,319 --> 00:26:34,160
I don't I don't really know what to play necessarily,

526
00:26:34,240 --> 00:26:36,240
you know, But like Mario Kart is good for like

527
00:26:36,279 --> 00:26:38,640
you could just hop in and do a race and

528
00:26:38,799 --> 00:26:40,799
like get you know, a satisfying experience out of it,

529
00:26:40,799 --> 00:26:42,319
and it looks great and it plays great and all

530
00:26:42,319 --> 00:26:44,240
those things. It's like, you know, it's the A plus

531
00:26:44,279 --> 00:26:47,240
student continuing to turn an A material. Like we kind

532
00:26:47,240 --> 00:26:48,880
of like throw those things out, you know, like, oh,

533
00:26:48,920 --> 00:26:50,960
it plays great and it looks amazing, which is like

534
00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:54,759
they're like not incredibly difficult to achieve. But Nintendo just

535
00:26:54,799 --> 00:26:57,279
like has hit this this point of like, you know,

536
00:26:57,759 --> 00:27:00,960
we just kind of expect it from them, and yeah,

537
00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:03,000
it's great, it's really great. I'm sure it'll be on

538
00:27:03,039 --> 00:27:04,960
my like personal top ten at the end of the year.

539
00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:07,480
I guess, I guess maybe I shouldn't say it and

540
00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:09,119
with such confidence because I don't know what the rest

541
00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:11,880
of your looks like necessarily, but like I know, but

542
00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:14,480
I wouldn't be surprised if it's not on my top ten,

543
00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:14,880
you know.

544
00:27:15,319 --> 00:27:17,200
Speaker 2: Yeah, is it weird that I would almost put like

545
00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:20,200
Knockout too or is its own mode in my top ten?

546
00:27:20,359 --> 00:27:21,839
Like I think it's one. I think that's one of

547
00:27:21,880 --> 00:27:25,440
the best sort of like offerings of any game this year,

548
00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:28,559
is Knockout more Knockout Mode. Like it's just such a

549
00:27:28,599 --> 00:27:31,119
good idea for Mario Kart and really any racing game

550
00:27:31,160 --> 00:27:32,920
that it's like it's one of the like, how has

551
00:27:32,960 --> 00:27:35,359
no one thought of this, that it's like, this is

552
00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:36,480
such a cool like I.

553
00:27:36,519 --> 00:27:39,079
Speaker 4: Mean they kind of did though before, like F zero

554
00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:41,799
ninety nine had something similar, true, I mean.

555
00:27:41,839 --> 00:27:44,160
Speaker 3: F zero X has a mode that I always loved

556
00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:46,200
when I was young that it was like you versus

557
00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:48,039
I think it was fifty other races and you would

558
00:27:48,039 --> 00:27:50,359
just keep going, you know, until you were the last

559
00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:51,359
driving one.

560
00:27:52,079 --> 00:27:52,240
Speaker 2: Like you.

561
00:27:52,440 --> 00:27:54,839
Speaker 3: I remember the when I booted up F zero X on.

562
00:27:56,480 --> 00:27:56,839
Speaker 4: Switch.

563
00:27:56,920 --> 00:27:59,319
Speaker 3: Right, it is on N sixty four, right, I think,

564
00:27:59,319 --> 00:28:02,440
so show this. This is a weird thing to call out,

565
00:28:02,440 --> 00:28:04,119
but I think I might have actually in the last

566
00:28:04,119 --> 00:28:06,319
couple of years been playing it on weu, which is

567
00:28:06,440 --> 00:28:07,440
very random, but like.

568
00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:10,119
Speaker 1: It is, have zero X is on switch okay.

569
00:28:09,759 --> 00:28:11,319
Speaker 3: But yeah, you can play that battle mode. And I

570
00:28:11,359 --> 00:28:13,240
remember even at the time thinking like, yeah, it feels

571
00:28:13,240 --> 00:28:15,599
like an early like a racing pub, like a Battle

572
00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:18,359
Royale kind of, you know, which is what they have

573
00:28:18,440 --> 00:28:20,079
now in Mario kar World, and it's cool as hell.

574
00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:23,160
Speaker 4: I think one of the one of the things that's

575
00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:26,359
really helped with I think keeping the excitement around Mario

576
00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:29,920
Kart for at least the past few weeks is having

577
00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:32,559
those those bigger races like you do have you have

578
00:28:32,640 --> 00:28:36,920
twenty four racers in there, like whether it's people or PC,

579
00:28:39,200 --> 00:28:42,279
but like anytime someone drops like a room code on

580
00:28:42,319 --> 00:28:45,240
social media, like you could just like hop in there

581
00:28:45,319 --> 00:28:46,960
and then like all of your friends are just going

582
00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:51,920
to be racing. It's I haven't seen something like that

583
00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:53,559
in a little bit at least for like a like

584
00:28:53,599 --> 00:28:58,319
a bigger multiplayer experience at least between I guess people

585
00:28:58,359 --> 00:29:02,960
in the game industry. But everyone's still like I have

586
00:29:03,079 --> 00:29:06,079
I haven't. I've seen people complain about the game, but

587
00:29:06,279 --> 00:29:10,480
like even even with those complaints, those same people will

588
00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:14,200
will stuff themselves into a room with other people and

589
00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:16,160
and and knock out some races.

590
00:29:16,519 --> 00:29:18,640
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I feel like the complaints are mostly just

591
00:29:18,640 --> 00:29:22,519
like the free Rome could have more to do. Yeah,

592
00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:23,960
like that.

593
00:29:24,039 --> 00:29:27,759
Speaker 4: My main complaint was the whole like, oh, we're not

594
00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:31,640
doing multiple laps on on a course, Like the courses

595
00:29:31,720 --> 00:29:37,000
themselves don't feel as like bespoke and like you don't

596
00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:41,599
really have to learn the intricacies of like a specific course.

597
00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:46,160
But they have now they have so like if you're

598
00:29:46,200 --> 00:29:48,880
if you're doing multiplayer, like a lot of people were

599
00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:54,000
talking about this last week, but where uh Nintendo had

600
00:29:54,039 --> 00:29:57,960
patched out doing like three three lap races, But you

601
00:29:57,960 --> 00:30:00,759
can actually whenever you're you're choosing next course, you hit

602
00:30:00,799 --> 00:30:02,880
the star button, you get to choose from the map

603
00:30:04,039 --> 00:30:05,720
where you want to go. If it's if it's a

604
00:30:05,720 --> 00:30:08,200
map that's not connected to where you are currently you'll

605
00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:10,920
do a three lap race instead of traveling to that

606
00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:12,599
place and then doing one lap there.

607
00:30:12,960 --> 00:30:15,039
Speaker 3: I gotta say, I don't understand that complaint at all.

608
00:30:15,240 --> 00:30:18,759
I don't want three lap races. I don't like I like.

609
00:30:18,759 --> 00:30:19,480
Speaker 4: Having the option.

610
00:30:20,319 --> 00:30:22,640
Speaker 3: Sure, okay, yeah that's fair, But like it's so odd

611
00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:25,200
because I've heard some complaints that are like I want

612
00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:27,759
to be able to do the race like over and over. Right,

613
00:30:28,240 --> 00:30:31,400
It's like, it's Mario Kart Man, You're gonna play these

614
00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:34,839
races over and over. That's like, like that's that doesn't

615
00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:37,720
that gets exhausting to me? In standard Mario Kart It's

616
00:30:37,759 --> 00:30:39,759
like I want the newness. I want to move on

617
00:30:39,880 --> 00:30:41,279
and be on a new race, and if I want

618
00:30:41,279 --> 00:30:43,440
to play that race again, it's I will play it again.

619
00:30:43,519 --> 00:30:45,160
Some I don't know. It's just an odd complaint to

620
00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:47,640
me to want that three lap structure, you know.

621
00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:50,680
Speaker 1: It's yeah, it feels like I mean, I think that's

622
00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:52,359
I think I've talked about on the show before, Like

623
00:30:52,799 --> 00:30:54,880
that's the novelty of this Mario Kart is you see

624
00:30:54,880 --> 00:30:57,640
the in between? You know, Yeah, it's the road trip.

625
00:30:58,240 --> 00:31:00,599
Speaker 3: My favorite course is an eight. Are the ones that

626
00:31:00,640 --> 00:31:03,119
were just straight shots like going down the Mountain, Like

627
00:31:03,160 --> 00:31:05,160
I don't. It just gets redundant to me. But I'm

628
00:31:05,160 --> 00:31:06,880
also a very impatient game I.

629
00:31:07,119 --> 00:31:09,200
Speaker 1: Love, I love what is that Warrio?

630
00:31:10,279 --> 00:31:12,799
Speaker 3: Like I don't even like, I don't even like I

631
00:31:12,799 --> 00:31:14,920
can't get into Monster Hunter because I don't want to

632
00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:17,480
fight the same monsters over and over, you know. So

633
00:31:17,519 --> 00:31:20,319
it's like I think that's also my just the way

634
00:31:20,359 --> 00:31:22,960
my brain, like I don't repeats my brain likes about

635
00:31:23,039 --> 00:31:25,359
video games. I just want novelty, you know. It's just

636
00:31:25,400 --> 00:31:26,920
like constantly give me novelty.

637
00:31:27,359 --> 00:31:32,400
Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, I'm with you. I am really loving

638
00:31:32,400 --> 00:31:35,359
this Mario Kart. It's really the only game that and peak.

639
00:31:35,440 --> 00:31:36,799
Right now, I'm kind of in a weird spot. I

640
00:31:36,839 --> 00:31:39,480
think I'm a little burnt out just on you know.

641
00:31:39,559 --> 00:31:42,839
It's been a lot of a lot of work with

642
00:31:42,920 --> 00:31:45,440
games lately, and I just haven't found my There's so

643
00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:47,720
many great games I know I would enjoy if I

644
00:31:47,759 --> 00:31:49,720
just booted them up, but I just haven't found the

645
00:31:49,839 --> 00:31:53,119
energy to. And so but anytime, like John said, when

646
00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:56,000
somebody puts out a social code, like a race code

647
00:31:56,079 --> 00:31:58,119
on social media, I'm like, I want to play Mario Kart.

648
00:31:58,200 --> 00:32:01,559
Let's do it. I'm just having a blast with that.

649
00:32:01,559 --> 00:32:05,519
That and Peak. You know, so Mark Kart's very high

650
00:32:05,599 --> 00:32:06,279
for me this year.

651
00:32:07,160 --> 00:32:07,400
Speaker 4: Cool.

652
00:32:08,279 --> 00:32:12,960
Speaker 1: Yeah, really enjoying that. Great pick. Kyle John, what's your

653
00:32:12,960 --> 00:32:13,400
next one?

654
00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:19,319
Speaker 4: Oh geez, let's all I guess we're still going chronological here.

655
00:32:20,519 --> 00:32:25,960
I'm gonna go with a vowed from Obsidian Entertainment. Avout

656
00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:29,920
really surprised me, and I'm not like I I like

657
00:32:30,079 --> 00:32:39,880
the whole fallout e Bethesdy formula, but like this, I

658
00:32:39,880 --> 00:32:42,599
think this was painted as that, but it's it's more

659
00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:48,720
it's more mass effect than anything else. So avowed as

660
00:32:49,319 --> 00:32:55,079
a first person fantasy RPG where you are brought to

661
00:32:55,240 --> 00:32:58,559
new Land, uh and there's uh just stuff going on

662
00:32:58,680 --> 00:33:02,799
with nature. There's uh tumultuous things happening with with the

663
00:33:02,839 --> 00:33:05,720
residents there, and then you have like this weird voice

664
00:33:05,759 --> 00:33:10,200
that starts talking to you yes, and a lot of

665
00:33:10,200 --> 00:33:12,960
the the things that you do, like you're trying to

666
00:33:12,960 --> 00:33:17,319
figure out what this voice is and trying to calm

667
00:33:17,400 --> 00:33:20,440
these these issues that are happening with with the residents.

668
00:33:21,200 --> 00:33:23,279
But there's there's so many choices that you make in

669
00:33:23,279 --> 00:33:27,240
that game that make it such a like kind of

670
00:33:27,240 --> 00:33:30,039
like mass effect. Back in the day, like the choices

671
00:33:30,079 --> 00:33:34,519
you make really matter and will will uh truly affect

672
00:33:34,559 --> 00:33:36,440
the path that you take through it, and like what

673
00:33:36,519 --> 00:33:40,119
your endings are going to be. I I feel like

674
00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:43,160
games try to do that occasionally you can kind of

675
00:33:43,200 --> 00:33:46,200
see like the the flow chart through it. But this

676
00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:50,119
is one where like there are certain points where I

677
00:33:50,119 --> 00:33:53,200
didn't expect it to be such a such a like

678
00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:56,920
a game changing choice that that I would make, and

679
00:33:56,960 --> 00:33:58,400
by the by the end of the game, like I

680
00:33:58,400 --> 00:34:00,759
could see like where that broke off, and I have

681
00:34:00,880 --> 00:34:04,319
no clue like where the other paths would have taken me,

682
00:34:05,880 --> 00:34:08,400
or like what what minor decisions I would be taking

683
00:34:08,400 --> 00:34:10,960
throughout that game that would take me somewhere different. I'm

684
00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:12,679
sure a lot of it flows to the same the

685
00:34:12,719 --> 00:34:15,880
same spot regardless, but there's like characters that can die

686
00:34:16,039 --> 00:34:18,039
and yeah.

687
00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:20,199
Speaker 2: People leave your party and stuff too, right, people.

688
00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:24,880
Speaker 4: Leave your party. Yeah, it's it's really it was a

689
00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:27,199
really really impressive game and actually makes me way more

690
00:34:27,199 --> 00:34:31,480
excited for the outer world's too, and and what they're

691
00:34:31,519 --> 00:34:34,199
what they're doing with that, if they're they're touching any

692
00:34:34,239 --> 00:34:37,559
of any of that like decision making. I think that

693
00:34:37,559 --> 00:34:39,079
that game is going to be really really cool.

694
00:34:40,119 --> 00:34:42,920
Speaker 1: Yeah. I I didn't get to talk about it on

695
00:34:42,960 --> 00:34:45,679
the show because I think we ran into technical issues.

696
00:34:46,519 --> 00:34:49,280
We were we had a segment recorded about outer worlds too,

697
00:34:49,280 --> 00:34:51,719
But I got to play it at at SGF and

698
00:34:52,840 --> 00:34:56,440
really walked away impressed with it, with kind of the

699
00:34:56,519 --> 00:34:59,559
choices and like the way they're changing the flaw system

700
00:35:00,400 --> 00:35:04,559
is really neat. Yeah, people want to check out my preview.

701
00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:08,159
I've got a two pager in this issue of Game Informer.

702
00:35:08,519 --> 00:35:11,159
You can go and read on the website right now

703
00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:13,400
gameingforwar dot com slash subscribe.

704
00:35:13,840 --> 00:35:15,039
Speaker 2: I just want to add for a vow and I

705
00:35:15,079 --> 00:35:17,840
think the thing that maybe impresses me as much as

706
00:35:17,880 --> 00:35:20,000
the choice stuff is the combat. Like I think it

707
00:35:20,599 --> 00:35:24,480
is the best first person sort of like RPG combat.

708
00:35:24,519 --> 00:35:25,599
Like I guess if you want to say like that

709
00:35:25,599 --> 00:35:30,079
bethesa style like easily, like to the point where I

710
00:35:30,159 --> 00:35:33,960
fired up the Oblivion remaster and I play through that,

711
00:35:34,039 --> 00:35:36,119
you know, the intro dungeon got out to the world,

712
00:35:36,159 --> 00:35:38,920
and the first thing I thought was, man, I really

713
00:35:38,920 --> 00:35:42,239
missed that combat at a VOWT Like I knew it

714
00:35:42,280 --> 00:35:44,079
was good, but it feels even better when you go

715
00:35:44,159 --> 00:35:46,000
back to how you know, it used to be in

716
00:35:46,079 --> 00:35:48,599
the in the olden days of just like because like

717
00:35:48,639 --> 00:35:51,960
the combat doesn't feel floaty, Like all the attacks, like

718
00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:55,840
the melee weapons all feel weighty and fast. Yeah, there's

719
00:35:55,880 --> 00:35:57,639
a nice pace to it and then.

720
00:35:57,679 --> 00:35:59,239
Speaker 4: You have to be on your toes too.

721
00:35:59,599 --> 00:36:02,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, like it's not easy either, No, like you really

722
00:36:02,400 --> 00:36:04,639
have to Yeah, like it's like blocking.

723
00:36:08,239 --> 00:36:10,599
Speaker 1: Played the first couple hours, I really enjoyed it.

724
00:36:10,960 --> 00:36:13,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like there's a sense of maneuverability in that game

725
00:36:13,480 --> 00:36:14,920
that you don't see in a lot of first person

726
00:36:15,119 --> 00:36:17,679
kind of like action games like that, where you have

727
00:36:17,719 --> 00:36:19,519
a dash, you have a block, you have a perry,

728
00:36:19,800 --> 00:36:22,199
the enemies force you to use all three of those

729
00:36:22,239 --> 00:36:26,000
pretty copiously, and then the ability to combine like basically

730
00:36:26,039 --> 00:36:28,239
anything of like I could be a spellcaster in one

731
00:36:28,239 --> 00:36:30,199
hand and I can have a gun an the other one,

732
00:36:30,320 --> 00:36:32,199
and let's just see how this goes. And I got

733
00:36:32,199 --> 00:36:35,440
a book that shoots like five different spells, and then

734
00:36:35,480 --> 00:36:38,920
I also have like a sick like scimitar or rapier,

735
00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:41,360
and I'm just like going at these guys. It is

736
00:36:42,000 --> 00:36:44,079
as much it is so much fun to just fight things,

737
00:36:44,119 --> 00:36:45,679
and then it's fun to get around because there's like

738
00:36:45,719 --> 00:36:47,960
park horse style. It was like platforming, Like there's a

739
00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:50,400
lot of verticality in the game that you don't normally

740
00:36:50,440 --> 00:36:52,199
see where it just feels good. They're just like I'm

741
00:36:52,239 --> 00:36:54,199
just gonna run and jump over a bunch of stuff,

742
00:36:54,440 --> 00:36:56,960
and you're just like mantling over things, and they just

743
00:36:57,039 --> 00:37:00,440
they just made getting around and just like aging with

744
00:37:00,480 --> 00:37:04,400
the game outside of just talking to people feel really good. Yeah.

745
00:37:05,280 --> 00:37:10,719
Speaker 1: I those environments too, are just oh ridiculous looking. I

746
00:37:10,719 --> 00:37:12,440
mean they're beautiful.

747
00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:14,679
Speaker 2: And like unique too, like because a lot of ansy

748
00:37:14,719 --> 00:37:17,559
games can bleed together, but this one has like weird

749
00:37:17,639 --> 00:37:23,320
mushroom motif, like your character is like a mushroom person basically, yeah.

750
00:37:23,480 --> 00:37:26,280
Speaker 4: Yeah, you're touched by a god. So yes, you got

751
00:37:26,280 --> 00:37:29,880
it all all the plant stuff. I think it helps

752
00:37:29,920 --> 00:37:32,079
that it's not a big open world like it is

753
00:37:32,239 --> 00:37:36,480
open zones, but that helps to like focus uh, their

754
00:37:36,599 --> 00:37:41,320
their direction on like making things super dense and making

755
00:37:41,360 --> 00:37:44,360
things look good and make it just be It's just

756
00:37:44,400 --> 00:37:48,000
an interesting area to explore wherever you go.

757
00:37:48,159 --> 00:37:51,840
Speaker 2: It's got a real purposeful design to like we put

758
00:37:51,840 --> 00:37:54,039
this here because we thought it was the most aesthetically

759
00:37:54,119 --> 00:37:55,199
pleasing place to put this.

760
00:37:55,800 --> 00:38:00,280
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, it rules That's that's a game I want

761
00:38:00,320 --> 00:38:02,119
to go back to at some point when I forget

762
00:38:02,159 --> 00:38:04,320
a little bit more of what happened and then just

763
00:38:04,360 --> 00:38:05,519
take a different course through it.

764
00:38:06,199 --> 00:38:10,840
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well cool, how about you, Marcus, what's your next game?

765
00:38:11,599 --> 00:38:13,599
Speaker 2: This is the game I feel the most bad that

766
00:38:13,639 --> 00:38:16,679
we weren't able to do a proper review, just because

767
00:38:16,800 --> 00:38:18,800
it came out right when we were just kind of

768
00:38:18,880 --> 00:38:22,079
getting our getting started again. Yeah, and it's also a

769
00:38:22,119 --> 00:38:23,559
game that you kind of can't play on your own

770
00:38:23,599 --> 00:38:25,679
free time because you need two people to play it

771
00:38:27,119 --> 00:38:30,800
and had a split fiction which I finished after working

772
00:38:30,840 --> 00:38:33,760
through it for like pretty much since launch with a

773
00:38:33,760 --> 00:38:37,039
buddy of mine. We took kind of, like not intentionally

774
00:38:37,079 --> 00:38:39,199
took our time, just we took as much as our

775
00:38:39,239 --> 00:38:41,599
schedules call allow, especially him because he is like a

776
00:38:41,639 --> 00:38:45,400
recent father, so he's got a newborn that he has

777
00:38:45,480 --> 00:38:49,519
to to deal with. But we would play every every

778
00:38:49,519 --> 00:38:51,920
other weekend or so, like sometimes just for an hour

779
00:38:52,199 --> 00:38:54,880
just because of timing. But that game is good as hell.

780
00:38:55,199 --> 00:38:56,440
Speaker 1: It is it okay, all right?

781
00:38:56,599 --> 00:38:59,880
Speaker 2: It is a fantastic game personally.

782
00:39:00,039 --> 00:39:02,400
Speaker 1: For some reason, the themes weren't really jumping out to

783
00:39:02,480 --> 00:39:05,440
me like they did with with the other games.

784
00:39:05,800 --> 00:39:08,039
Speaker 2: It takes it takes two and it takes.

785
00:39:07,760 --> 00:39:09,639
Speaker 1: Two and a way out. Yeah, I don't know. I

786
00:39:09,639 --> 00:39:11,079
don't know why. I think it was just like the

787
00:39:11,239 --> 00:39:14,400
very it felt more on the nose with like fantasy

788
00:39:14,440 --> 00:39:15,000
and sci fi.

789
00:39:15,360 --> 00:39:18,239
Speaker 3: Yeah it is, it is, but it like it lends

790
00:39:18,320 --> 00:39:21,280
itself to gameplay, you know, like it's it's like it's

791
00:39:21,320 --> 00:39:23,800
not a great like you know, they announced like a

792
00:39:23,880 --> 00:39:27,519
film adaptation of Split Fiction recently, and my reaction was

793
00:39:27,599 --> 00:39:30,920
kind of like yeah, like.

794
00:39:30,119 --> 00:39:33,920
Speaker 2: I'm good after it takes to film that's also supposed

795
00:39:33,960 --> 00:39:34,800
to be happening.

796
00:39:34,599 --> 00:39:36,840
Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, yeah, there's all these like video game film.

797
00:39:36,880 --> 00:39:39,559
I mean, Claire Obscure is a film than any second now,

798
00:39:39,639 --> 00:39:41,840
but but I mean it actually, but I think it

799
00:39:41,920 --> 00:39:44,280
is like yeah, I mean the the sort of setup

800
00:39:44,320 --> 00:39:45,880
is kind of silly and the dialogue is silly, but

801
00:39:45,960 --> 00:39:48,920
like what the the levels that it sort of lets

802
00:39:48,960 --> 00:39:52,280
you jump between is worthwhile. Like it's good. I haven't

803
00:39:52,320 --> 00:39:55,119
finished it because my co op partner, my daughter is

804
00:39:55,159 --> 00:39:59,199
a teenager who's who's not usually available. I was because

805
00:39:59,199 --> 00:40:01,079
I mark as I is gonna review it, like that

806
00:40:01,199 --> 00:40:02,480
was the plan. I was like, I'll play with my

807
00:40:02,559 --> 00:40:05,360
daughter and then I have to like schedule with her.

808
00:40:05,400 --> 00:40:08,119
I gotta I gotta talk to her secretary. We got

809
00:40:08,119 --> 00:40:12,599
a Docker pay. But I also did like it, and

810
00:40:12,639 --> 00:40:15,960
I've been carefully and I don't betray me here, Marcus,

811
00:40:15,960 --> 00:40:18,199
but like I hear the ending is amazing, and so

812
00:40:18,239 --> 00:40:20,199
I've been really careful to like, I don't want to

813
00:40:20,239 --> 00:40:22,480
see any of it. I don't want anything spoiled about it.

814
00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:25,440
I just like that's a goal. I hear it's amazing,

815
00:40:25,559 --> 00:40:27,519
So my kid and I will get through it at

816
00:40:27,559 --> 00:40:28,599
some point, is the plan.

817
00:40:29,079 --> 00:40:31,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, I really liked it. Tastes too like I thought

818
00:40:31,920 --> 00:40:34,280
it was. That was also a fantastic game, Like just

819
00:40:34,360 --> 00:40:37,920
the sheer amount of creativity and variety was just kind

820
00:40:37,960 --> 00:40:40,000
of staggering. But I was like not a fan of

821
00:40:40,000 --> 00:40:42,840
the story, which I don't think is a controversial opinion.

822
00:40:44,159 --> 00:40:47,440
I'm not saying this story is like leaps and bounds better,

823
00:40:47,519 --> 00:40:49,360
but I do think it's better, and I think it

824
00:40:49,360 --> 00:40:52,360
does get better the deeper you get into it. But

825
00:40:52,440 --> 00:40:55,159
I think they've I would honestly say, like, looking back

826
00:40:55,159 --> 00:40:56,679
at it now, I think they might have topped what

827
00:40:56,719 --> 00:40:58,840
they've done. And it takes too just that it's got,

828
00:40:59,079 --> 00:41:02,559
you know, the same amount, just like variety and just

829
00:41:02,679 --> 00:41:06,519
surprises of just like the way mechanics change constantly. But

830
00:41:06,599 --> 00:41:12,280
I think having the novel you were talking about, Kyle, Yeah, exactly, Yeah, yeah,

831
00:41:12,400 --> 00:41:14,079
And I do think that theme they were talking about

832
00:41:14,079 --> 00:41:17,599
it like sci fi and fantasy, you know, two different worlds,

833
00:41:17,639 --> 00:41:19,679
the two different writers, like the two things they play

834
00:41:19,719 --> 00:41:22,840
with that in gameplay in like really really neat ways

835
00:41:22,880 --> 00:41:25,159
where it takes two was you know, it was all

836
00:41:25,199 --> 00:41:28,400
one theme of like little person in a Big World basically,

837
00:41:28,920 --> 00:41:32,320
you know of like they do the genre mashups really well,

838
00:41:32,440 --> 00:41:34,920
and like I would say like eighty percent of a

839
00:41:34,960 --> 00:41:37,119
time in ways where I was like, oh, I know

840
00:41:37,199 --> 00:41:39,239
we were doing this. I didn't think you could do

841
00:41:39,320 --> 00:41:41,960
it this way or that they were taking this different direction.

842
00:41:42,000 --> 00:41:44,519
And yeah, that final sequence is on my like list

843
00:41:44,519 --> 00:41:46,519
of like this is one of the best I know

844
00:41:46,599 --> 00:41:49,280
segments or sequences of the year. Like it is it

845
00:41:49,360 --> 00:41:52,199
is the ultimate like flex of like oh you thought

846
00:41:52,199 --> 00:41:54,559
we ran out of ideas, we'll check this out and

847
00:41:54,559 --> 00:41:56,840
then you're like, oh my god, okay, and it's like

848
00:41:56,880 --> 00:41:59,000
and it is like an extended final sequence that it

849
00:41:59,039 --> 00:42:00,719
is just me and my and the whole time just

850
00:42:00,800 --> 00:42:03,199
kept saying this is so cool, This is so cool,

851
00:42:03,239 --> 00:42:04,800
Holy crap, this is amazing.

852
00:42:05,079 --> 00:42:07,800
Speaker 1: I do have a question, is this a I know

853
00:42:07,840 --> 00:42:09,360
a lot of people like to play these games with

854
00:42:09,480 --> 00:42:14,239
like significant others or friends who normally maybe don't play games,

855
00:42:14,280 --> 00:42:16,559
just because like the couch co op nature of it,

856
00:42:16,639 --> 00:42:19,039
right yeah, And I think especially the themes of like

857
00:42:19,079 --> 00:42:22,159
It Takes Two, people were like, I want to play

858
00:42:22,159 --> 00:42:24,800
this with somebody that I you know, I care about, right.

859
00:42:24,719 --> 00:42:29,719
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, But It Takes Two was not an

860
00:42:29,760 --> 00:42:30,360
easy game.

861
00:42:30,440 --> 00:42:33,239
Speaker 1: I would say, like, like you do, like, is this

862
00:42:33,320 --> 00:42:38,000
game is there a character that is maybe more more

863
00:42:38,039 --> 00:42:42,000
suited for the newer player of the two or is

864
00:42:42,000 --> 00:42:44,679
it pretty pretty even in terms of like challenge.

865
00:42:45,000 --> 00:42:48,199
Speaker 2: No, they're the same, they're the same character. I mean

866
00:42:48,199 --> 00:42:51,280
they get different things, but there's no like easy character.

867
00:42:51,320 --> 00:42:53,760
And I would say that I think this is even

868
00:42:53,840 --> 00:42:56,960
more of like a demanding video game. Okay, and it

869
00:42:57,000 --> 00:42:58,880
takes too because it's a lot more of an action game,

870
00:42:58,880 --> 00:43:00,320
where is it takes to us a little bit more

871
00:43:00,320 --> 00:43:03,039
of a platformer, Like not that there isn't platforming in this,

872
00:43:03,159 --> 00:43:06,159
but there are like straight up just like action sequences

873
00:43:06,320 --> 00:43:08,639
more often than not in this game. And yeah, I

874
00:43:08,679 --> 00:43:10,840
was talking without my friends. He was thinking about playing

875
00:43:10,880 --> 00:43:13,480
with his wife, who was like, i'd say, like a

876
00:43:13,519 --> 00:43:15,519
mid level gamer, like doesn't play a bunch of stuff

877
00:43:15,519 --> 00:43:17,679
and he's but he like she doesn't play enough where

878
00:43:17,679 --> 00:43:19,960
he he kind of has to curate what they play.

879
00:43:19,960 --> 00:43:21,920
And he was saying like, I don't know if she could,

880
00:43:22,039 --> 00:43:24,199
if she could do this one. This is a this

881
00:43:24,199 --> 00:43:25,840
gets pretty intense. Like him and I are doing great

882
00:43:25,840 --> 00:43:28,559
because him and I play games all the time. Sure,

883
00:43:28,679 --> 00:43:31,400
but yeah, this is a lot more of like a

884
00:43:31,519 --> 00:43:32,760
video game video game.

885
00:43:33,079 --> 00:43:37,840
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, yeah, cool, all right, well let's move on.

886
00:43:39,119 --> 00:43:42,239
I will shout out, Oh this is the one that

887
00:43:42,239 --> 00:43:46,400
I don't think I've talked about, so a picnic penguin.

888
00:43:47,079 --> 00:43:53,039
This is a five dollars So it's two dollars and

889
00:43:53,079 --> 00:43:54,559
fifty cents on the Steam cell right now.

890
00:43:54,719 --> 00:43:56,440
Speaker 2: Okay, then I may as well just get this.

891
00:43:56,360 --> 00:44:02,320
Speaker 1: Game has six user reviews on Steam like this is as.

892
00:44:02,199 --> 00:44:04,639
Speaker 4: Of them from Alex Finny.

893
00:44:04,719 --> 00:44:09,039
Speaker 1: I am one of them. Okay, hey, just yeah, let

894
00:44:09,039 --> 00:44:10,000
me let me let me find it.

895
00:44:10,360 --> 00:44:11,599
Speaker 2: I'm on the page, can I find it?

896
00:44:11,880 --> 00:44:12,079
Speaker 1: Yeah?

897
00:44:12,119 --> 00:44:15,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, you d see my review, let's see. Yeah, you're

898
00:44:15,960 --> 00:44:19,679
the first one. Okay, enjoyable, soacabond puzzles that are not

899
00:44:19,719 --> 00:44:22,559
too difficult. The pixel art is also solid, easy to

900
00:44:22,599 --> 00:44:26,280
read and full of personality. Enjoyable little casual penguin or

901
00:44:26,320 --> 00:44:29,159
puzzle game for relaxing or keeping up in the background

902
00:44:29,480 --> 00:44:32,519
in between work. Not bad, but you got to get

903
00:44:32,519 --> 00:44:35,800
your character count up. Though we can't put Steam reviews

904
00:44:36,440 --> 00:44:37,519
review roundup entries.

905
00:44:37,599 --> 00:44:39,920
Speaker 1: I know it helps developers, and so I will write

906
00:44:39,960 --> 00:44:42,480
the Steam reviews, but like they are the most It's

907
00:44:42,480 --> 00:44:44,639
the same thing like I I track the games I

908
00:44:44,679 --> 00:44:48,519
play on the gg app and I I played like

909
00:44:48,760 --> 00:44:52,960
Blueprints or Animal is a great reference. I beat Animal WEL,

910
00:44:53,000 --> 00:44:55,719
which I loved. I adored that game, and my gg

911
00:44:56,000 --> 00:44:59,679
app review is like that's a masterpiece. Huh. Like it's

912
00:44:59,719 --> 00:45:02,760
just like I just like, do the character the minimum

913
00:45:02,880 --> 00:45:05,000
character count? And I logged the review.

914
00:45:05,360 --> 00:45:12,239
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah exactly, But yeah, picnic Penguin.

915
00:45:12,599 --> 00:45:15,719
Speaker 1: It is vibrant and colorful and fun. It reminds me

916
00:45:16,199 --> 00:45:18,000
of like something that you would find on the Game

917
00:45:18,000 --> 00:45:23,800
Boy Advance, very like more of on the cartoony side

918
00:45:23,800 --> 00:45:27,119
of the pixel art spectrum. So like nice thick black

919
00:45:27,280 --> 00:45:33,639
outlines on objects, really like primary color driven you know,

920
00:45:33,840 --> 00:45:38,440
blocks of color and yeah, they're they're just really fun

921
00:45:38,480 --> 00:45:41,519
Socco bond puzzles that I found this game. I was

922
00:45:41,599 --> 00:45:45,039
just like randomly searching on the Steamed store one day.

923
00:45:45,039 --> 00:45:47,440
I was trying to find like really deep dive on

924
00:45:47,519 --> 00:45:52,679
games that that didn't get you know, any highlight really

925
00:45:53,119 --> 00:45:54,800
and I was like, Damn, this game is like really

926
00:45:54,840 --> 00:45:56,840
good looking and I think I caught it like the

927
00:45:56,880 --> 00:46:00,480
day it came out, and yeah, it's it's been really enjoyable.

928
00:46:00,480 --> 00:46:03,079
It it functions well. I don't know if I've tried

929
00:46:03,119 --> 00:46:06,400
it on Steam Deck or not, but is it no switch?

930
00:46:07,800 --> 00:46:09,920
I don't think so.

931
00:46:10,719 --> 00:46:13,840
Speaker 2: This seems like the perfect switch game. It's like I'll

932
00:46:13,840 --> 00:46:15,320
buy it on Steam, but if I have the option,

933
00:46:15,360 --> 00:46:16,719
I would like, don't switch.

934
00:46:18,519 --> 00:46:20,920
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's just Steam. I think this is like, oh

935
00:46:20,920 --> 00:46:24,280
it might be on it's on Apple. It looks like, yeah,

936
00:46:24,280 --> 00:46:24,920
it's on Apple.

937
00:46:27,119 --> 00:46:29,639
Speaker 2: iPhone the two things I don't have an iPhone and

938
00:46:29,679 --> 00:46:30,320
a Steam Deck.

939
00:46:31,079 --> 00:46:34,519
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm sorry. I think this is actually could totally

940
00:46:34,519 --> 00:46:38,119
be a decent iPhone game. Like I think Soakabon puzzles

941
00:46:38,159 --> 00:46:41,480
kind of in themselves to that touch style. But yeah,

942
00:46:41,559 --> 00:46:44,079
I mean I don't really have a ton of substance

943
00:46:44,719 --> 00:46:47,960
to say about this game other than in like I

944
00:46:47,960 --> 00:46:51,760
said in the review, I'm it's breezy. Uh, it's it's

945
00:46:51,960 --> 00:46:55,360
cheap as hell, and it's just a really enjoyable vibe.

946
00:46:55,400 --> 00:46:59,840
I enjoy the music, the art. It's just nice and relaxing.

947
00:47:00,440 --> 00:47:02,320
And it's something I think I said it in that

948
00:47:02,719 --> 00:47:04,960
short Steam review, like it's something you could have up

949
00:47:04,960 --> 00:47:06,599
while you're in a meeting. We'll let me just do

950
00:47:06,639 --> 00:47:09,599
a quick puzzle while people are grabbing water or whatever.

951
00:47:10,800 --> 00:47:12,760
And now out of it is really I haven't gotten

952
00:47:12,760 --> 00:47:14,639
to a point in it. I haven't gotten far enough

953
00:47:14,639 --> 00:47:18,880
in it to where it's super challenging. But they're definitely

954
00:47:18,960 --> 00:47:20,760
like you if I have to think on some of them,

955
00:47:20,880 --> 00:47:25,559
and and yeah, I check them. I recommend that Picnic Penguin,

956
00:47:27,199 --> 00:47:30,360
and the developer is called I want to shout them

957
00:47:30,360 --> 00:47:34,519
out because they're so small neutronized. Yeah, this thing came

958
00:47:34,559 --> 00:47:38,400
out in Oh, yoh, they just released a new game.

959
00:47:39,840 --> 00:47:43,119
What's up with this? Dino Quake releases? Joe. Oh, they're

960
00:47:43,119 --> 00:47:47,199
about to release it no. June nineteenth. Oh, and it's

961
00:47:47,239 --> 00:47:48,199
the same art style.

962
00:47:49,079 --> 00:47:57,559
Speaker 2: All right, sorry, already review, all right, we see you neutronized.

963
00:47:58,480 --> 00:48:01,960
Speaker 1: But yeah, that's my my next pick. I'm gonna send

964
00:48:01,960 --> 00:48:04,440
it back to you. Kyle. What's your next recommendation?

965
00:48:06,239 --> 00:48:10,239
Speaker 3: Uh, let's talk about you know what, let's talk about

966
00:48:10,239 --> 00:48:14,880
Like a dragon piriy yakus in Hawaii certainly the longest title.

967
00:48:16,559 --> 00:48:18,679
It's like a dragon pirate yakuz in Hawaii is what

968
00:48:18,719 --> 00:48:23,440
it is, which is I'm a recent Yakuza person, like

969
00:48:23,519 --> 00:48:25,679
like most people, you know, I feel like it's kind

970
00:48:25,679 --> 00:48:28,719
of become like there were six other Yakuza games and

971
00:48:28,719 --> 00:48:30,679
then seven came out, and I feel like now it's

972
00:48:30,760 --> 00:48:32,920
kind of mainstream and I and I like watch my

973
00:48:33,000 --> 00:48:35,159
wife play seven and she loved it. And then I

974
00:48:35,239 --> 00:48:37,960
played the man who erased his name to kind of

975
00:48:38,000 --> 00:48:39,320
that was like sort of like I'm going to use

976
00:48:39,360 --> 00:48:42,239
this to sort of like dip my toe here, and

977
00:48:42,400 --> 00:48:47,000
enjoyed that. And then I really loved Infinite Wealth, and yeah,

978
00:48:47,000 --> 00:48:49,559
Piracus in Hawaii was one where it was like I

979
00:48:49,559 --> 00:48:51,960
felt like it was like perfect for me, right, this

980
00:48:52,039 --> 00:48:54,199
kind of player who like I don't really know Majuma,

981
00:48:54,920 --> 00:48:57,400
you know, like I didn't play those other six Yakuza games.

982
00:48:57,440 --> 00:48:59,559
He shows up in eight, you know, but it's like

983
00:48:59,559 --> 00:49:01,960
I know this guy. He's like an iconic looking guy.

984
00:49:02,000 --> 00:49:05,000
I know he's important to Yakuza. But like the nice

985
00:49:05,039 --> 00:49:08,679
thing about Hawaii Pirate because in Hawaii Is it was

986
00:49:08,719 --> 00:49:12,159
like you got to learn who Moduma was, but also

987
00:49:12,679 --> 00:49:14,679
like you didn't have to worry about any baggage of

988
00:49:14,760 --> 00:49:17,119
him because he's an amnesiac, you know, like he lost

989
00:49:17,159 --> 00:49:19,639
his memory. So like I I understand that I didn't

990
00:49:19,679 --> 00:49:23,199
get the full Moduma experience, you know, like I don't.

991
00:49:23,199 --> 00:49:24,639
I still don't really know him because I know a

992
00:49:24,719 --> 00:49:27,320
version of him. But yeah, the the story of that

993
00:49:27,360 --> 00:49:30,840
game is is is weak compared to like Infinite Wealth

994
00:49:30,920 --> 00:49:35,039
or you know what I saw seven, But I I

995
00:49:35,199 --> 00:49:37,880
it's one of those that just like sucked me in

996
00:49:37,920 --> 00:49:40,079
and like I wanted to do everything, you know, like

997
00:49:40,159 --> 00:49:42,519
I did every side quest, I like did all the

998
00:49:42,559 --> 00:49:44,880
eye like got my pirate ship upgraded all the way,

999
00:49:45,559 --> 00:49:47,320
and uh, it's just it was just super fun to

1000
00:49:47,320 --> 00:49:49,320
play and super fun to unlock things, and that those

1001
00:49:49,360 --> 00:49:51,679
worlds are always fun and those characters are always fun.

1002
00:49:52,239 --> 00:49:55,400
And there's like when we talk about Moments of the Year,

1003
00:49:55,559 --> 00:49:59,519
there's this like insane sequence in that game that I mean,

1004
00:49:59,519 --> 00:50:01,880
I don't want to spoil but like if you're a

1005
00:50:01,880 --> 00:50:05,280
fan of like reality TV, like The Bachelor and stuff

1006
00:50:05,320 --> 00:50:07,800
like that, Like there is there is a sequence in

1007
00:50:07,840 --> 00:50:11,440
that game that is just absolutely hilarious and unexpected and

1008
00:50:11,800 --> 00:50:14,079
I really loved it and I'll be talking about it

1009
00:50:14,119 --> 00:50:15,760
when we talk about the end of the year stuff.

1010
00:50:15,760 --> 00:50:18,199
But yeah, just just a charming as hell action game.

1011
00:50:18,639 --> 00:50:22,880
Speaker 1: You know that sounds awesome. You definitely piqued my interest, Kyle.

1012
00:50:22,920 --> 00:50:26,119
Speaker 3: You said the keywords if you don't, if you genuinely Alex,

1013
00:50:26,199 --> 00:50:28,559
if you don't think you'll play, like if you're honest

1014
00:50:28,599 --> 00:50:31,079
with yourself and you're like, I'm not gonna go play this.

1015
00:50:31,159 --> 00:50:32,599
I'm not going to spend you know six.

1016
00:50:32,480 --> 00:50:34,039
Speaker 1: I probably won't, So I want you to tell me

1017
00:50:34,119 --> 00:50:34,440
I should.

1018
00:50:34,559 --> 00:50:36,480
Speaker 3: I'll send you that. I'll send you what I'm talking about.

1019
00:50:36,519 --> 00:50:41,039
Speaker 1: It's it's yeah, please do that sounds awesome, John, what's

1020
00:50:41,079 --> 00:50:41,679
your next game?

1021
00:50:42,440 --> 00:50:43,480
Speaker 4: Should we go big or small?

1022
00:50:43,960 --> 00:50:45,239
Speaker 1: Let's go Let's go big?

1023
00:50:45,719 --> 00:50:51,559
Speaker 4: Okay. I feel like it comes in and out of

1024
00:50:51,559 --> 00:50:57,079
the conversation this year, but it came out March or so.

1025
00:50:57,199 --> 00:51:01,320
But Monster hun or Wild m y. I'm I'm a

1026
00:51:01,360 --> 00:51:05,360
big Monster Hunter fan. I actually I haven't played this

1027
00:51:05,519 --> 00:51:10,480
much past hitting the first set of credits, but I

1028
00:51:10,519 --> 00:51:13,519
think like expanding the world of Monster Hunter into like

1029
00:51:13,519 --> 00:51:16,400
these these vast maps and you need amount to get

1030
00:51:16,400 --> 00:51:20,800
around quickly. It has been really cool and like seeing

1031
00:51:20,920 --> 00:51:23,960
monsters just kind of like living in these environments and

1032
00:51:24,320 --> 00:51:28,000
seeing how they interact with like the smaller ecology and

1033
00:51:28,760 --> 00:51:31,440
all of that is super neat and kind of just

1034
00:51:31,480 --> 00:51:35,119
going out and want Like you could in previous Monster

1035
00:51:35,199 --> 00:51:37,199
Hunters you can kind of go out into whatever map

1036
00:51:37,280 --> 00:51:39,559
and see what monsters were out there, but this is

1037
00:51:39,599 --> 00:51:43,960
more like I'm gonna go out into this what whatever

1038
00:51:44,000 --> 00:51:48,679
map I'm close to, and it feels like the monsters

1039
00:51:48,679 --> 00:51:51,119
are kind of living there as opposed to what's spawning

1040
00:51:51,199 --> 00:51:57,880
in this area today. The combat's really cool. They added

1041
00:51:58,800 --> 00:52:03,159
like new systems for uh, like wounding the monsters and

1042
00:52:03,199 --> 00:52:07,920
then capitalizing on those wounds. Everything about it's just just

1043
00:52:08,159 --> 00:52:10,800
super super fun. There's a new update out for it

1044
00:52:10,880 --> 00:52:14,920
now that added uh the Gaia Cruz from Monster Hunter Try,

1045
00:52:15,039 --> 00:52:18,960
which is like they're they're big, uh water monster. So

1046
00:52:19,000 --> 00:52:22,320
they added some underwater sections to the game now. As

1047
00:52:22,360 --> 00:52:26,199
I've been received, uh, it's it seems alright. I was

1048
00:52:26,199 --> 00:52:30,199
talking with Jesse Fettli last night about it, and he uh,

1049
00:52:30,559 --> 00:52:34,559
he's he's played through that fight and there's it's not

1050
00:52:34,639 --> 00:52:37,519
like full underwater combat. You can't swing your weapon or anything,

1051
00:52:37,519 --> 00:52:41,079
but you can like maneuver around and like uh like

1052
00:52:41,159 --> 00:52:44,920
grapple onto the monster and and do uh like some

1053
00:52:45,000 --> 00:52:50,360
interactions with items under water. But that that could uh

1054
00:52:50,760 --> 00:52:56,400
that that could just be the first, uh like the

1055
00:52:56,440 --> 00:52:59,880
start of more underwater mechanics kind of moving into what

1056
00:53:00,119 --> 00:53:02,800
her expansion might come out for this game later. That

1057
00:53:02,840 --> 00:53:05,719
seems like a pretty big aspect you add during like

1058
00:53:05,760 --> 00:53:08,440
a patch without like building that out further.

1059
00:53:08,639 --> 00:53:12,599
Speaker 1: Am I wrong? Wasn't wasn't like swimming a bigger deal

1060
00:53:12,599 --> 00:53:13,920
in past Monster Hunter games?

1061
00:53:14,159 --> 00:53:17,320
Speaker 4: Yeah, specifically in three that was that was like their

1062
00:53:17,400 --> 00:53:20,360
their big innovation there was was doing underwater fighting and

1063
00:53:20,559 --> 00:53:23,559
you could like actually swing your sword or shoot your

1064
00:53:23,559 --> 00:53:27,599
bow or whatever underwater. I don't know if we've if

1065
00:53:27,599 --> 00:53:31,679
we've gone to a place with games where maneuvering underwater

1066
00:53:32,239 --> 00:53:35,480
is like all that fun. But for like little breaks

1067
00:53:35,519 --> 00:53:37,400
during the fight. It sounds like most most of this

1068
00:53:37,480 --> 00:53:40,119
fight happens on land, but you do have like these

1069
00:53:40,119 --> 00:53:42,679
little underwater sections to kind of break it up, which

1070
00:53:42,800 --> 00:53:46,280
I think is probably a nice accent to what they're

1071
00:53:46,280 --> 00:53:49,920
doing with all the on the ground stuff. But yeah,

1072
00:53:49,920 --> 00:53:52,480
Monster in or Wilds it's just a solid entry in

1073
00:53:52,480 --> 00:53:54,440
that series. It's probably gonna be at my top ten.

1074
00:53:54,519 --> 00:53:56,559
It's something I'm going to be playing throughout the year.

1075
00:53:58,800 --> 00:54:03,119
It has like I kind of missed the verticality of

1076
00:54:03,599 --> 00:54:09,159
Monster Hunter World as opposed to the more vast and

1077
00:54:09,239 --> 00:54:12,960
open maps that they have here. But I still love it.

1078
00:54:13,000 --> 00:54:15,920
Like that game's great and has some really really cool

1079
00:54:17,199 --> 00:54:19,400
boss monsters the hell.

1080
00:54:19,480 --> 00:54:24,079
Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, that's one I want to go back to.

1081
00:54:24,159 --> 00:54:28,920
I think I played probably five to ten hours. It

1082
00:54:28,920 --> 00:54:31,119
came out like this is right as we're bringing the

1083
00:54:31,159 --> 00:54:33,639
magazine back, and so there was just so much going

1084
00:54:33,679 --> 00:54:37,079
on behind the scenes work wise that most of those

1085
00:54:37,079 --> 00:54:40,920
games came around around that time. I just missed because

1086
00:54:40,920 --> 00:54:43,400
of that kind of stuff. But yeah, I feel like

1087
00:54:43,400 --> 00:54:46,440
I kind of missed out a bit on Wild's. I

1088
00:54:46,480 --> 00:54:50,199
really enjoyed on TikTok watching people live stream it or

1089
00:54:50,679 --> 00:54:55,639
you know, show off just ridiculous moments. That's the problem

1090
00:54:55,679 --> 00:54:58,000
with that those games. I always feel like if you

1091
00:54:58,079 --> 00:55:00,000
aren't in on the first two weeks of that game,

1092
00:55:00,559 --> 00:55:03,079
like you've kind of missed the boat. Sometimes it feels

1093
00:55:03,159 --> 00:55:06,079
like yeah, uh, like I want to be earning stuff

1094
00:55:06,119 --> 00:55:09,199
with my friends simultaneously. I hate when people are like, well,

1095
00:55:09,199 --> 00:55:13,079
I'll just run you through everything and you know Grandpa,

1096
00:55:13,559 --> 00:55:16,239
Yeah yeah, I don't like that. And I also don't

1097
00:55:16,239 --> 00:55:17,599
want to play alone necessarily.

1098
00:55:17,639 --> 00:55:19,960
Speaker 4: So it's like, ah that that kind of happened to

1099
00:55:20,039 --> 00:55:22,079
me too. Like some of the people that I want

1100
00:55:22,159 --> 00:55:24,440
to play with were reviewing it and so they were

1101
00:55:24,440 --> 00:55:26,800
playing it multiple weeks early and by the time like

1102
00:55:26,840 --> 00:55:28,400
I got my hands on it, they were like done

1103
00:55:28,400 --> 00:55:28,679
with it.

1104
00:55:29,039 --> 00:55:29,440
Speaker 1: Yeah.

1105
00:55:29,519 --> 00:55:32,679
Speaker 4: Yeah, I've mostly been doing single player stuff.

1106
00:55:32,800 --> 00:55:33,559
Speaker 1: That's fair.

1107
00:55:33,679 --> 00:55:37,639
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I still got to finish it really bad campaign.

1108
00:55:39,079 --> 00:55:44,239
It's just like it's like the gatekeep to like the

1109
00:55:44,239 --> 00:55:46,519
there's fun stuff like to get to the Promised Land.

1110
00:55:46,559 --> 00:55:48,639
On the other side, you gotta hang out with this

1111
00:55:48,719 --> 00:55:51,920
stupid kid with his story.

1112
00:55:52,199 --> 00:55:55,599
Speaker 4: The last like act of that I think is is good.

1113
00:55:55,599 --> 00:55:58,000
It's it's kind of like I think the last act.

1114
00:55:58,239 --> 00:56:00,639
I think it's kind of like Pokemon Scarlet Violet, Like

1115
00:56:00,639 --> 00:56:03,119
when you get to areas zero, you're like, oh, okay,

1116
00:56:03,159 --> 00:56:06,400
this is what I've been playing this for. That there's

1117
00:56:06,440 --> 00:56:08,039
some really really cool fights at the end.

1118
00:56:09,000 --> 00:56:10,519
Speaker 2: I know, I've been dragging my feet because every time

1119
00:56:10,519 --> 00:56:11,400
I go back in and I was like, I don't

1120
00:56:11,400 --> 00:56:13,280
want to talk to any of the people. Just get

1121
00:56:13,280 --> 00:56:13,679
me to that.

1122
00:56:14,599 --> 00:56:18,639
Speaker 1: Yeah, I feel you, Marcus. Well, Marcus, actually it is

1123
00:56:18,679 --> 00:56:20,519
your turn. You want to give us another recommendation.

1124
00:56:21,119 --> 00:56:24,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll go big too, Doom the Dark Ages. I'll

1125
00:56:24,920 --> 00:56:25,760
review that game.

1126
00:56:26,400 --> 00:56:27,480
Speaker 1: I really need to play this.

1127
00:56:27,920 --> 00:56:29,840
Speaker 2: It's fun as hell. I give it a nine to

1128
00:56:29,840 --> 00:56:32,599
five out of ten. That's how fun it is. It's man,

1129
00:56:32,599 --> 00:56:34,800
what if you gave Doom guy a shield? That sounds

1130
00:56:34,880 --> 00:56:38,159
absurd on paper, right, even more absurd than what if

1131
00:56:38,199 --> 00:56:43,840
he was like in vaguely medieval times. Sort of it's

1132
00:56:43,880 --> 00:56:46,440
like dumber than that. But then it's like it literally

1133
00:56:46,519 --> 00:56:49,079
is the the best thing of the game, and it's

1134
00:56:49,159 --> 00:56:51,920
kind of like everything around it in terms of a

1135
00:56:51,960 --> 00:56:55,360
combat encounters is sort of revolves around how well you

1136
00:56:55,480 --> 00:56:58,800
use that shield because it is a lot more like

1137
00:56:58,840 --> 00:57:01,599
it's the same like fast paced like running Gun of

1138
00:57:01,639 --> 00:57:04,199
the old Doom games, but like a lot closer to

1139
00:57:04,199 --> 00:57:06,760
twenty sixteen. Doom is as opposed to Eternal because you

1140
00:57:06,760 --> 00:57:10,280
can actually like kill anyone with everything, whereas Eternal. One

1141
00:57:10,280 --> 00:57:12,440
thing I really didn't like about the game was how situational.

1142
00:57:12,480 --> 00:57:14,320
A lot of the combat encounters felt like it felt

1143
00:57:14,360 --> 00:57:16,400
like they were encouraging you only use certain weapons because you.

1144
00:57:16,400 --> 00:57:19,119
Speaker 1: Have to almost like puzzle like yeah.

1145
00:57:18,960 --> 00:57:22,480
Speaker 2: Which I was not the biggest fan of, so they

1146
00:57:22,480 --> 00:57:26,239
get away from that in this one. But now enemies

1147
00:57:26,360 --> 00:57:29,719
can attack you with uh like moves that you can

1148
00:57:29,760 --> 00:57:34,880
parry back at them, and it feels it's it's wild

1149
00:57:34,960 --> 00:57:38,519
how well it works in the Doom formula, Like it

1150
00:57:38,559 --> 00:57:44,000
adds a really fun defensiveness to combat where you feel

1151
00:57:44,039 --> 00:57:46,679
like you're feel more encouraged to get like really up

1152
00:57:46,679 --> 00:57:48,199
in the face of demons because you can just like

1153
00:57:48,199 --> 00:57:50,400
block their attacks and just like you have like a

1154
00:57:50,440 --> 00:57:54,199
Captain America shield bash where you can just like close

1155
00:57:54,239 --> 00:57:56,920
the gap by like zipping like a mile across the

1156
00:57:56,960 --> 00:57:59,920
battlefield to just shield bash someone. You can throw the

1157
00:58:00,159 --> 00:58:02,400
shield like Captain America, which feels great. So it gives

1158
00:58:02,400 --> 00:58:04,119
you know the range option and it can just like

1159
00:58:04,199 --> 00:58:07,400
instantly kill like the smaller fodder enemies and it feels great.

1160
00:58:07,800 --> 00:58:10,559
And it can also like embed like it can embed

1161
00:58:10,639 --> 00:58:13,000
itself into bigger enemies and kind of stun them because

1162
00:58:13,000 --> 00:58:15,039
it's like sawing into their flesh and you just kind

1163
00:58:15,039 --> 00:58:17,800
of like blow them apart with a shotgun. And but

1164
00:58:17,880 --> 00:58:19,679
it doesn't feel like a crutch either, which I think

1165
00:58:19,719 --> 00:58:21,639
is like crucial because you can only block so many

1166
00:58:21,639 --> 00:58:24,519
things before the shield becomes unavailable temporarily, so it's the

1167
00:58:24,559 --> 00:58:27,679
game is still about, like, you know, don't stop moving,

1168
00:58:27,760 --> 00:58:31,239
like just keep moving, DoD dodge everything you can block,

1169
00:58:31,440 --> 00:58:33,360
block and perry what you can, and then try to

1170
00:58:33,400 --> 00:58:37,760
dodge everything else. But I just love how much more

1171
00:58:37,960 --> 00:58:39,840
like you know, this is maybe the most overused term,

1172
00:58:39,880 --> 00:58:43,599
and then video games like journalism, but like visceral it

1173
00:58:43,639 --> 00:58:47,639
is because it is a lot more like melee focused

1174
00:58:47,639 --> 00:58:50,800
because of that, especially because you have like they revamp

1175
00:58:50,840 --> 00:58:55,639
the melee's combat, where basically melee is like it has

1176
00:58:55,800 --> 00:58:59,400
like Ammo now, so you can only punch people three

1177
00:58:59,519 --> 00:59:03,639
times and you replenish it by shooting people. So like

1178
00:59:04,000 --> 00:59:07,800
every pillar of combat feeds into another one where it's

1179
00:59:07,800 --> 00:59:09,960
like the more people you melee, the more Amma you get,

1180
00:59:09,960 --> 00:59:12,360
whereas the more people you shoot, the more juice you

1181
00:59:12,400 --> 00:59:15,239
get for your melee attacks. And then you get different

1182
00:59:15,599 --> 00:59:25,840
like that you literally reload your fist. It's fantastic, and

1183
00:59:25,880 --> 00:59:27,800
you also get like other melee weapons, like a like

1184
00:59:28,239 --> 00:59:30,920
the big flail, which was my favorite, and it just

1185
00:59:30,960 --> 00:59:34,320
like feels so satisfying to just smash that into people's faces.

1186
00:59:35,199 --> 00:59:39,159
It looks fantastic, just like visually, like just it's like

1187
00:59:39,199 --> 00:59:41,920
that medieval setting is like a really cool like you know,

1188
00:59:42,000 --> 00:59:44,320
we always say like those games look like metal, like

1189
00:59:44,400 --> 00:59:48,159
metal band covers, and I think I don't know if

1190
00:59:48,199 --> 00:59:50,400
that has rung more true than this one because of

1191
00:59:50,480 --> 00:59:52,599
just how like it's like this cool blend of like

1192
00:59:53,000 --> 00:59:56,719
high tech sci fi or everyone just looks like a

1193
00:59:56,840 --> 00:59:59,159
night but if they are like also a borg from

1194
00:59:59,239 --> 01:00:02,440
Star Trek a little bit, it's like a really cool mix.

1195
01:00:02,480 --> 01:00:04,880
I'm kind of glad it wasn't just purely medieval stuff.

1196
01:00:05,239 --> 01:00:08,360
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I'm kind of experimenting with that with Eternal,

1197
01:00:08,400 --> 01:00:09,599
with like the sword.

1198
01:00:09,280 --> 01:00:11,199
Speaker 2: Right, yeah, like a bit.

1199
01:00:11,400 --> 01:00:14,039
Speaker 1: Yeah, but this is like kind of like you know,

1200
01:00:14,400 --> 01:00:16,280
you got your feet wet and Eternal with that kind

1201
01:00:16,280 --> 01:00:20,360
of style. Now let's just make everything kind of this

1202
01:00:20,480 --> 01:00:22,840
hybrid fusion of the two themes.

1203
01:00:23,239 --> 01:00:26,159
Speaker 2: Yeah, But honestly, it's it's that shield that does it

1204
01:00:26,239 --> 01:00:28,519
for me, Like I think, yeah, this is the best

1205
01:00:28,639 --> 01:00:30,760
playing Doom game. Like I even more so in the

1206
01:00:30,800 --> 01:00:33,960
twenty sixteen and I adore Dooming twenty sixteen, but like

1207
01:00:34,320 --> 01:00:36,920
it's gotten to the like you can tell that they

1208
01:00:36,960 --> 01:00:39,199
did a good job when I'm like, I'm gonna miss

1209
01:00:39,199 --> 01:00:41,719
the Shield if I go back to the other Doom games, Like,

1210
01:00:41,760 --> 01:00:43,960
I don't know if they if they make a fourth one,

1211
01:00:44,000 --> 01:00:47,800
how you can take this away now? Because I it's

1212
01:00:47,840 --> 01:00:49,760
just it works so well and I would love to

1213
01:00:49,760 --> 01:00:52,079
see them iterate on it then just have it be

1214
01:00:52,119 --> 01:00:54,760
a one and done and they try the next new thing.

1215
01:00:55,920 --> 01:00:57,639
But yeah, it's also on my short list of like

1216
01:00:57,800 --> 01:01:00,239
best like I don't know, mechanics of the years, Like yeah,

1217
01:01:00,280 --> 01:01:02,599
that that Shield saw is fantastic in a game, and

1218
01:01:02,599 --> 01:01:05,039
I love it and it's such a Doom the Dark

1219
01:01:05,039 --> 01:01:07,760
Ages in general, it is an absolute blast that you

1220
01:01:07,840 --> 01:01:09,119
gotta make time to play.

1221
01:01:09,400 --> 01:01:11,000
Speaker 1: Is this your favorite game of the year so far?

1222
01:01:12,599 --> 01:01:16,960
Speaker 2: No, but it's high up, Okay, you're just it's like

1223
01:01:17,239 --> 01:01:18,480
top five for sure?

1224
01:01:19,039 --> 01:01:23,840
Speaker 1: Cool? Hell yeah, well I guess I will go. Next.

1225
01:01:24,239 --> 01:01:28,760
I want to talk about elden Ring Night Rain. Have

1226
01:01:28,880 --> 01:01:30,559
you all had a chance to play this final year?

1227
01:01:30,639 --> 01:01:30,960
Not yet?

1228
01:01:31,039 --> 01:01:34,159
Speaker 2: No, I still I'm mister elden Ring too, But it's

1229
01:01:34,199 --> 01:01:36,599
just it's more of a co op nature. Like I

1230
01:01:36,599 --> 01:01:38,559
have two friends that I tend to play a lot

1231
01:01:38,559 --> 01:01:41,320
of games with, but neither of them have gotten it yet,

1232
01:01:41,639 --> 01:01:43,920
and I've just been also, I mean, I've been busy

1233
01:01:44,000 --> 01:01:46,440
with my own stuff, like I've ever right now. So

1234
01:01:46,719 --> 01:01:49,920
it's it's it's somewhat frustrating to have a new elden

1235
01:01:50,000 --> 01:01:52,800
Ring game that I can't just pick up and play

1236
01:01:52,960 --> 01:01:55,920
by myself, even though I technically can, but it seems

1237
01:01:55,960 --> 01:01:57,760
from everyone I talked to it was heavily.

1238
01:01:57,639 --> 01:02:00,800
Speaker 1: Discur No, yeah, I want to do that.

1239
01:02:01,199 --> 01:02:04,679
Speaker 3: I did start it, but and I will. I want

1240
01:02:04,679 --> 01:02:06,800
to hear what you think, Alex, but like, yeah, my

1241
01:02:06,800 --> 01:02:08,920
my reaction was kind of like, this isn't what I

1242
01:02:08,920 --> 01:02:12,239
want from a from game. I like the lonely, single

1243
01:02:12,239 --> 01:02:15,920
player scary experience, you know, not the fast paced kind

1244
01:02:15,920 --> 01:02:18,639
of but like but I I, yeah, that's why I

1245
01:02:18,639 --> 01:02:21,519
want to hear. I've the arguments of for people that

1246
01:02:21,639 --> 01:02:23,960
love it, Like I love hearing those and I and

1247
01:02:23,960 --> 01:02:26,079
it's like I get it. That sounds cool. I just

1248
01:02:26,079 --> 01:02:28,079
don't really want to play with eldon Ring with other people.

1249
01:02:28,719 --> 01:02:34,079
Speaker 1: Yeah, I I really enjoy it. It's it's it's it's

1250
01:02:34,159 --> 01:02:37,320
up there probably my favorite game that I've played so far,

1251
01:02:38,239 --> 01:02:42,239
maybe between that and like Mario Kart. Honestly, I'm I'm

1252
01:02:42,519 --> 01:02:48,760
I'm a simple man, but yeah, it's it's I love

1253
01:02:49,000 --> 01:02:52,760
speed running, and I love you know, There's been a

1254
01:02:52,760 --> 01:02:55,159
few games in the past that I've like, not like

1255
01:02:55,320 --> 01:02:58,159
officially speed ran, but like I would have little competitions

1256
01:02:58,159 --> 01:03:01,159
with my friends, like the Kooper ray in Mario Odyssey.

1257
01:03:02,599 --> 01:03:06,440
I got like pretty into for a while hit Man

1258
01:03:06,760 --> 01:03:10,199
I in the review period for I think it was

1259
01:03:10,559 --> 01:03:14,079
hit Man three, the World of Assassination trilogy, the most

1260
01:03:14,119 --> 01:03:17,159
recent one. I know, me, Jeff Grubb, a couple of

1261
01:03:17,159 --> 01:03:19,320
other people, like before the game came out, I had

1262
01:03:19,360 --> 01:03:22,559
like the number one time in like some of those levels,

1263
01:03:22,719 --> 01:03:25,400
and I just love, like, I love that idea of

1264
01:03:25,519 --> 01:03:33,920
really like maximizing you know, your your performance, and that's

1265
01:03:34,119 --> 01:03:38,800
like absolutely required with with with night Rain, it is

1266
01:03:39,039 --> 01:03:42,239
the core game revolves around whether or not you can

1267
01:03:42,800 --> 01:03:45,199
complete what you're trying to do and the most efficient

1268
01:03:45,679 --> 01:03:51,559
way possible, and there's something about doing that alongside I

1269
01:03:51,639 --> 01:03:53,559
prefer to do with friends, and I don't really have

1270
01:03:53,599 --> 01:03:56,239
as great of an experience with if I matchmake with

1271
01:03:56,320 --> 01:03:59,320
random people because they're off doing their own things. You know.

1272
01:03:59,440 --> 01:04:02,239
Speaker 2: It seems like a terrible way to play that game, honestly. Yeah.

1273
01:04:02,280 --> 01:04:04,280
Speaker 1: Yeah, because there's no voice chat, which is which is

1274
01:04:04,320 --> 01:04:04,960
so dumb too.

1275
01:04:05,559 --> 01:04:08,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, like there was. I don't know if I just

1276
01:04:08,039 --> 01:04:10,199
want to talk to strangers about that.

1277
01:04:10,679 --> 01:04:12,440
Speaker 1: But at least like you can communicate on like let's

1278
01:04:12,440 --> 01:04:14,960
get on the same page, yeah, about what we want

1279
01:04:14,960 --> 01:04:18,519
to do, and so that I think that's like one

1280
01:04:18,559 --> 01:04:22,199
of the biggest factors. Like that that kind of curbs

1281
01:04:22,480 --> 01:04:25,199
folks enjoyment with it. You really have to have like

1282
01:04:26,159 --> 01:04:29,519
two other friends that are are willing to kind of

1283
01:04:30,320 --> 01:04:35,679
go on that path of of refinement and like hitting

1284
01:04:35,679 --> 01:04:38,360
your head against the wall because you know, I just

1285
01:04:38,400 --> 01:04:41,320
invested forty five minutes into this run and we got

1286
01:04:41,320 --> 01:04:43,400
wiped in the first thirty seconds of this boss fight

1287
01:04:43,519 --> 01:04:45,559
just because the way the cards were dealt and we

1288
01:04:45,559 --> 01:04:49,079
didn't we didn't you know, prepare correctly, or we didn't

1289
01:04:49,199 --> 01:04:52,360
you know, get you know, the right role at the start.

1290
01:04:52,519 --> 01:04:55,159
And it's really fun when you get those bad roles

1291
01:04:55,199 --> 01:04:57,880
at the start, you still turn it around and you

1292
01:04:58,039 --> 01:05:06,119
like kind of sirp those those kind of those challenges

1293
01:05:06,320 --> 01:05:09,440
and yeah, I really like that game a lot. I

1294
01:05:09,480 --> 01:05:11,880
haven't beaten it. I have two bosses left I was

1295
01:05:11,920 --> 01:05:14,199
trying to beat. You can technically beat the game after

1296
01:05:14,320 --> 01:05:16,880
I think you defeat like five of the of the

1297
01:05:16,920 --> 01:05:19,199
eight bosses, I think, but I want to do all

1298
01:05:19,239 --> 01:05:19,880
of them.

1299
01:05:20,000 --> 01:05:21,840
Speaker 2: Can you say your progress, like, do you have to

1300
01:05:21,880 --> 01:05:24,239
beat the game in one run or can you like no, no, no,

1301
01:05:24,880 --> 01:05:25,519
come back later.

1302
01:05:25,800 --> 01:05:27,559
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. So it's also like that.

1303
01:05:27,519 --> 01:05:30,880
Speaker 2: Kind of rope like where you quit and you know it's.

1304
01:05:30,719 --> 01:05:34,960
Speaker 1: The roundtable hold is your kind of in between match

1305
01:05:35,599 --> 01:05:39,079
checkpoint hub. You know you're going to vendors purchasing ruins

1306
01:05:39,559 --> 01:05:44,480
to like build to help your character build, and you

1307
01:05:44,480 --> 01:05:49,599
know you're there's secret characters you can unlock there. And yes,

1308
01:05:49,800 --> 01:05:54,880
it's very much like it's more of a rogue light

1309
01:05:55,159 --> 01:05:59,320
like you're getting things to that carryover between those runs.

1310
01:05:59,480 --> 01:06:01,519
Speaker 2: Okay, I was worried this was a maternal situation.

1311
01:06:01,960 --> 01:06:03,360
Speaker 1: No, no, before.

1312
01:06:03,079 --> 01:06:04,679
Speaker 2: They patched it fixed it.

1313
01:06:05,599 --> 01:06:08,320
Speaker 1: No, oh god no, that that totally threw me off

1314
01:06:08,360 --> 01:06:12,480
of that game. Like I lost probably five or six

1315
01:06:12,519 --> 01:06:15,000
hours of progress on that game. Yeah because of that.

1316
01:06:15,239 --> 01:06:18,199
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I thought it was because you paused the

1317
01:06:18,280 --> 01:06:21,000
game and like put your system to sleep and then like, yeah,

1318
01:06:21,000 --> 01:06:21,599
the system up.

1319
01:06:21,679 --> 01:06:23,719
Speaker 2: They basically can't quit. Like when you start a run,

1320
01:06:23,719 --> 01:06:25,920
you were committed to the end, you cannot leave.

1321
01:06:26,159 --> 01:06:29,360
Speaker 1: I I yeah, I could not believe that people let

1322
01:06:29,440 --> 01:06:32,119
that slide, and like their criticism of that game, I

1323
01:06:32,440 --> 01:06:33,559
it totally ruined it for me.

1324
01:06:33,599 --> 01:06:35,199
Speaker 2: And it's a great game. I could see why, like

1325
01:06:35,199 --> 01:06:37,440
it's that was the only like bad thing. Otherwise it

1326
01:06:37,480 --> 01:06:39,639
was like, yeah, it's a huge bad thing. I mean,

1327
01:06:41,599 --> 01:06:45,639
I'm glaring problem.

1328
01:06:46,039 --> 01:06:48,679
Speaker 3: I man, I don't know. That's a different conversation. But

1329
01:06:48,760 --> 01:06:52,719
like a run in Returnal is like forty minutes an

1330
01:06:52,760 --> 01:06:57,480
hour if you go an I love, I adore Maternal,

1331
01:06:57,519 --> 01:06:58,039
but like my.

1332
01:06:58,239 --> 01:06:59,960
Speaker 1: Runs are like I would be on like the third

1333
01:07:00,079 --> 01:07:02,119
area and I'm like like.

1334
01:07:01,480 --> 01:07:04,519
Speaker 2: A half hours if you're just going yeah, I don't know.

1335
01:07:04,519 --> 01:07:06,960
Speaker 3: Maybe maybe I was playing it differently or I died

1336
01:07:07,360 --> 01:07:09,480
faster or something, but like, I don't know, I just

1337
01:07:09,559 --> 01:07:12,079
never thought that was I think it felt like every

1338
01:07:12,079 --> 01:07:14,760
other roguelike to me, Like what roguelikes are you stopping.

1339
01:07:14,440 --> 01:07:19,599
Speaker 2: Halfway gamer down here? But I'm not. I was terrible

1340
01:07:20,800 --> 01:07:21,519
in seconds.

1341
01:07:22,320 --> 01:07:25,159
Speaker 1: Internal run was like way longer.

1342
01:07:25,840 --> 01:07:27,639
Speaker 4: Yeah, I feel like that's a game where you clearly

1343
01:07:27,679 --> 01:07:30,159
need to like get your footing and and figure out

1344
01:07:30,199 --> 01:07:33,559
like what's important in a room? Uh what what kind

1345
01:07:33,599 --> 01:07:36,000
of like what kind of rooms are you are you

1346
01:07:36,039 --> 01:07:37,519
going to be seeing so you can kind of like

1347
01:07:37,519 --> 01:07:40,159
speed through them. But like those those first few runs,

1348
01:07:40,719 --> 01:07:43,519
at least, like I was kind of exploring quite a

1349
01:07:43,559 --> 01:07:46,360
bit and taking my time walking through, So those those

1350
01:07:46,440 --> 01:07:48,199
runs did take quite a while.

1351
01:07:48,599 --> 01:07:50,360
Speaker 2: Are we still talking about Eternal? Yes?

1352
01:07:50,440 --> 01:07:54,360
Speaker 4: We are everyone game or Eternal?

1353
01:07:56,360 --> 01:07:59,199
Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah, So that that's my piece on Night Rain.

1354
01:07:59,239 --> 01:08:02,280
I'm really enjoy ain't it. It's one that I'll probably

1355
01:08:02,280 --> 01:08:06,360
go back to as they add more bosses. I Also

1356
01:08:06,400 --> 01:08:09,760
you're kind of talking John about like Monster Hunter Wilds

1357
01:08:10,360 --> 01:08:14,000
feeling like the monsters live there, right, it feels lived in.

1358
01:08:14,519 --> 01:08:16,359
There are moments of that in Night Rain as well,

1359
01:08:16,399 --> 01:08:19,520
where like you'll run up and there's like a dragon

1360
01:08:19,640 --> 01:08:23,119
fighting the troll and it's obviously like it's a very

1361
01:08:23,159 --> 01:08:25,840
scripted fight, but when you first run into those moments,

1362
01:08:25,840 --> 01:08:28,680
it's it's very cool. It kind of doesn't it, doesn't,

1363
01:08:29,359 --> 01:08:32,199
you know? I think Monster Hunter probably that happens in

1364
01:08:32,279 --> 01:08:35,680
perpetuity because the the behaviors that are scripted. This is

1365
01:08:35,720 --> 01:08:38,960
just like a sequence that happens. But nonetheless, I think

1366
01:08:39,000 --> 01:08:39,520
it's cool.

1367
01:08:40,039 --> 01:08:43,119
Speaker 4: I have seen that comparison where like Night Rain is

1368
01:08:43,199 --> 01:08:45,720
kind of like them trying to do more of a

1369
01:08:45,760 --> 01:08:50,000
Monster Hunter like repeatable missions, going out with friends and

1370
01:08:50,000 --> 01:08:53,840
trying to take down these these really hard encounters. Yeah, yeah,

1371
01:08:54,279 --> 01:08:57,720
you learn, I mean, just like Beldon Ring or Dark Souls,

1372
01:08:57,720 --> 01:09:00,800
Like you're learning the mechanics of that boss and trying

1373
01:09:00,840 --> 01:09:05,640
to coordinate to to take them down. Like, I think

1374
01:09:05,680 --> 01:09:09,840
that fits well with that, with that genre. That's kind

1375
01:09:09,880 --> 01:09:13,000
of how I got into Monster Hunter originally, was playing

1376
01:09:13,039 --> 01:09:15,720
that and Dark Souls around the same time and kind

1377
01:09:15,720 --> 01:09:18,119
of like getting like both of them have very like

1378
01:09:18,159 --> 01:09:24,039
deliverate combat and and like animation heavy combat and and

1379
01:09:24,199 --> 01:09:28,159
everything you do has to have has to have meaning

1380
01:09:28,199 --> 01:09:32,520
behind it, otherwise you're gonna you're gonna you're gonna die.

1381
01:09:32,880 --> 01:09:36,399
So that like playing both of those kind of simultaneously

1382
01:09:36,520 --> 01:09:40,680
helped it click both ways and really enjoy what what

1383
01:09:40,800 --> 01:09:42,119
both of those were putting out.

1384
01:09:43,279 --> 01:09:48,039
Speaker 1: Well, cool, Kyle, let's go to you. What's the next?

1385
01:09:48,159 --> 01:09:51,239
Speaker 3: Yeah, I I had a little bit of a longer list,

1386
01:09:51,279 --> 01:09:53,720
but in the interest of I don't know, maybe you

1387
01:09:53,760 --> 01:09:55,319
kind of getting as close to the finish line, I'm

1388
01:09:55,319 --> 01:09:58,239
gonna jump to what is still my game of the year,

1389
01:09:58,800 --> 01:10:02,600
which is Clare Obscure Expedition thirty three, which was a

1390
01:10:02,640 --> 01:10:05,359
game that, like, when they showed off, I remember thinking like, oh,

1391
01:10:05,359 --> 01:10:07,119
that looks cool, and then when they showed the turn

1392
01:10:07,119 --> 01:10:10,039
based combat, I was like, that looks amazing, right, Like

1393
01:10:10,079 --> 01:10:11,439
that was the thing that put me over the edge,

1394
01:10:11,439 --> 01:10:13,199
and it was. But up until release, it was one

1395
01:10:13,199 --> 01:10:14,399
of those things where I was like, well, this looks

1396
01:10:14,399 --> 01:10:17,399
really cool and unique and like different, but it's like,

1397
01:10:18,039 --> 01:10:20,520
you know, it's a new game, it's a first time team.

1398
01:10:20,960 --> 01:10:24,279
You know, it'll it probably won't live up to my expectations,

1399
01:10:25,000 --> 01:10:27,239
or rather I was, I was, I was setting kind

1400
01:10:27,239 --> 01:10:29,560
of middling expectations for it as like a new team,

1401
01:10:29,640 --> 01:10:33,199
especially RPGs, like they'll just kind of like you know,

1402
01:10:33,279 --> 01:10:35,000
they they they're really long in the tooth at a

1403
01:10:35,000 --> 01:10:39,199
certain point. But man, Clear Obscure just pulls you in

1404
01:10:39,279 --> 01:10:42,319
from like its opening hour, like it is like the

1405
01:10:43,520 --> 01:10:46,840
most successful opening for any turn based RPG.

1406
01:10:47,039 --> 01:10:47,359
Speaker 2: Ever.

1407
01:10:47,479 --> 01:10:50,239
Speaker 3: Arguably, I don't know I would be. I mean, that's

1408
01:10:50,279 --> 01:10:52,079
a that's a larger argument to happen. I don't know

1409
01:10:52,119 --> 01:10:53,880
the last time I've like booted up a turn based

1410
01:10:53,960 --> 01:10:55,800
rpg and was that enthralled that quickly?

1411
01:10:56,399 --> 01:10:58,319
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean is incredible.

1412
01:10:58,600 --> 01:11:01,960
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it just maintains that pace throughout the end.

1413
01:11:01,960 --> 01:11:06,039
I mean it's it's a maybe a minor spoiler here,

1414
01:11:06,239 --> 01:11:08,720
maybe press that little thirty second four button. But there's

1415
01:11:08,840 --> 01:11:14,079
multiple epilogues, but it's still didn't feel like too long,

1416
01:11:14,279 --> 01:11:16,760
Like they all felt earned and like and just like

1417
01:11:16,800 --> 01:11:19,279
the style of that game, and the combat is so good.

1418
01:11:19,319 --> 01:11:22,319
It's what I want from turn based combat. I was

1419
01:11:22,399 --> 01:11:25,640
playing recently a Sea of Remnants. I had an early

1420
01:11:25,680 --> 01:11:27,439
build for Sea of Remnants, which was shown at the

1421
01:11:27,439 --> 01:11:30,920
PlayStation State of Play event recently, which is a turn

1422
01:11:30,960 --> 01:11:34,439
based RPG, and it looks great and it seems interesting.

1423
01:11:34,680 --> 01:11:37,880
But like I was there pressing buttons wishing that I

1424
01:11:38,000 --> 01:11:41,000
was getting like extra damage or like being able to

1425
01:11:41,119 --> 01:11:43,560
like block and stuff like that. Yeah, it's just it's

1426
01:11:43,600 --> 01:11:46,880
just beautiful and the story is so good and interesting

1427
01:11:47,039 --> 01:11:51,119
and like it's like heart wrenching. It's just it's amazing.

1428
01:11:51,159 --> 01:11:53,800
It's a it's a fantastic game, and it's like it's

1429
01:11:53,840 --> 01:11:56,760
just one that I would I recommend to like anybody,

1430
01:11:56,840 --> 01:11:58,680
you know. It's like It's the kind of video game

1431
01:11:58,680 --> 01:12:00,520
that you could show to someone who doesn't really video

1432
01:12:00,600 --> 01:12:02,119
games and not be embarrassed.

1433
01:12:02,800 --> 01:12:05,279
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's another one of those games where, like a Vowed,

1434
01:12:05,319 --> 01:12:09,159
where it stands out among other sort of like fantasy

1435
01:12:09,199 --> 01:12:11,239
games because it feels like it has like its own

1436
01:12:11,279 --> 01:12:13,239
unique art direction and it's got a very I mean,

1437
01:12:13,239 --> 01:12:15,199
it is a French developer, and you can tell because

1438
01:12:15,199 --> 01:12:18,479
it has there's a French flare to the art direction

1439
01:12:18,600 --> 01:12:21,000
that you don't see in a lot of games. Like

1440
01:12:21,039 --> 01:12:23,239
that underwater section you get to pretty early in the

1441
01:12:23,279 --> 01:12:25,600
game is like one of my favorite locations in any

1442
01:12:25,640 --> 01:12:29,399
game that I've played this year. And yeah, the combat

1443
01:12:29,439 --> 01:12:32,840
is so much fun and I love that if I

1444
01:12:33,079 --> 01:12:35,600
like knowing that if I was really good, I could

1445
01:12:35,640 --> 01:12:40,039
basically never get hit in this game is like a

1446
01:12:40,119 --> 01:12:42,960
really strong motivator to want to get better at blocking

1447
01:12:43,000 --> 01:12:44,640
and pairing. Knowing that, like, man, if I was on

1448
01:12:44,720 --> 01:12:46,359
my game, you guys would never touch me.

1449
01:12:49,359 --> 01:12:52,239
Speaker 3: Yeah, Like, there are people who really don't don't enjoy

1450
01:12:52,319 --> 01:12:54,479
doing countering and blocking, and I understand that, Like they

1451
01:12:54,520 --> 01:12:57,479
just don't find that gameplay enjoyable. You know, someone lifting

1452
01:12:57,479 --> 01:13:00,640
a sword slowly and then being like you know, like

1453
01:13:00,640 --> 01:13:03,720
I understand why that's frustrating for people, but like for me,

1454
01:13:04,079 --> 01:13:06,359
who's the kind of player, even in an RPG, who

1455
01:13:06,399 --> 01:13:08,680
will just slam their head against a brick wall for

1456
01:13:08,720 --> 01:13:11,479
an hour rather than like walk backwards and level up

1457
01:13:11,520 --> 01:13:13,680
a couple of times. Like I love that you can

1458
01:13:13,800 --> 01:13:18,079
learn these like sequences and like be successful and like

1459
01:13:18,279 --> 01:13:21,000
live through like what like fights that you're like way

1460
01:13:21,079 --> 01:13:23,199
underpowered for and it just and it looks amazing. It's

1461
01:13:23,239 --> 01:13:26,079
just an incredible game. You don't feel helpless in No,

1462
01:13:26,199 --> 01:13:26,800
you never feel it.

1463
01:13:26,920 --> 01:13:29,039
Speaker 2: It's like I can't like this. This is going to

1464
01:13:29,159 --> 01:13:30,439
kill me if it hits me, but I have an

1465
01:13:30,479 --> 01:13:32,680
out instead of most RPGs where it's like, well this

1466
01:13:32,760 --> 01:13:34,479
is just going to hit me, I guess, I guess

1467
01:13:34,520 --> 01:13:36,479
I gotta take this. Yeah.

1468
01:13:36,600 --> 01:13:40,159
Speaker 3: So yeah, claib Scare Exhibition thirty three really like maybe

1469
01:13:40,159 --> 01:13:42,640
I was Maybe I should have had higher expectations, you know,

1470
01:13:42,680 --> 01:13:44,720
based on those early looks, but man I was. I

1471
01:13:44,800 --> 01:13:47,119
was just enthralled throughout. Yeah, I miss it.

1472
01:13:47,119 --> 01:13:49,239
Speaker 1: It's one of those high on my list. I have

1473
01:13:49,359 --> 01:13:49,840
started it.

1474
01:13:51,479 --> 01:13:55,920
Speaker 3: It's it's not crazy long, right, That's what I've heard. Yeah,

1475
01:13:56,279 --> 01:13:58,920
Like because you can mainline it, which I did mostly

1476
01:13:59,000 --> 01:14:01,439
like I wasn't. I didn't do a lot of side quests,

1477
01:14:01,439 --> 01:14:03,119
but I think I was like I came under thirty

1478
01:14:03,119 --> 01:14:06,079
five hours or something like that, so like, don't I

1479
01:14:06,079 --> 01:14:08,079
wouldn't be intimated by like if you want to just

1480
01:14:08,159 --> 01:14:11,079
rip through it, like that is an option, right, and

1481
01:14:11,119 --> 01:14:12,119
it's good. It's really good.

1482
01:14:12,600 --> 01:14:12,880
Speaker 2: I was.

1483
01:14:12,960 --> 01:14:14,399
Speaker 4: I was kind of worried about that game being a

1484
01:14:14,399 --> 01:14:18,319
little bit too linear, like early early, like previews and stuff.

1485
01:14:18,319 --> 01:14:20,520
You would look at the maps, it looked like Final

1486
01:14:20,560 --> 01:14:23,039
Fantasy ten kind of just like I'm going down a

1487
01:14:23,079 --> 01:14:27,039
hallway or whatever. But like it is a little bit

1488
01:14:27,199 --> 01:14:30,560
i'd say inspired by like the Soul's genre, where like

1489
01:14:30,920 --> 01:14:34,359
you are going to be like, yeah, it might be

1490
01:14:34,359 --> 01:14:37,720
a little bit linear, but there are very specific challenges

1491
01:14:37,840 --> 01:14:40,720
along the way, and like every time, like you you

1492
01:14:40,760 --> 01:14:44,119
save one of the flags, like everything kind of respawns.

1493
01:14:45,920 --> 01:14:48,199
Speaker 3: And you have Vanestas flask essentially.

1494
01:14:47,920 --> 01:14:50,159
Speaker 4: You have a flask. Yeah, Like there's there's a lot

1495
01:14:50,159 --> 01:14:54,840
of mechanics in there that are i think very specifically

1496
01:14:55,800 --> 01:14:59,680
like souls Souls like mechanics. But also it gives you

1497
01:14:59,720 --> 01:15:01,960
a lot of just systems to play with, like the

1498
01:15:01,960 --> 01:15:05,560
the picto's and lubinas and the different abilities that your

1499
01:15:05,640 --> 01:15:09,279
characters can can get, Like like what you guys were

1500
01:15:09,279 --> 01:15:12,600
saying before, you're you're never really ever stuck, Like there's

1501
01:15:12,640 --> 01:15:15,640
always a different like combat puzzle to figure out, And

1502
01:15:15,680 --> 01:15:19,039
maybe that's that's adjusting what what pictos you have, what

1503
01:15:19,079 --> 01:15:21,600
abilities your characters are using, and what kind of synergies

1504
01:15:21,680 --> 01:15:26,279
you get to apply between them. I'm I'm only in

1505
01:15:26,359 --> 01:15:28,720
like the beginning of Act two, but there's there's so

1506
01:15:28,800 --> 01:15:31,640
much of that game that I like just makes my

1507
01:15:31,640 --> 01:15:35,560
my brain goper and like I'm just like trying to

1508
01:15:35,560 --> 01:15:38,760
figure out the numbers and and and seeing how I

1509
01:15:38,800 --> 01:15:42,800
can kill things the fastest or or survive crazy attacks

1510
01:15:43,760 --> 01:15:45,720
or if I get to a certain point in the

1511
01:15:45,720 --> 01:15:48,520
game and I unlock an ability. I'm thinking about like

1512
01:15:48,560 --> 01:15:52,399
that boss uh two hours ago, that I would just

1513
01:15:52,479 --> 01:15:54,600
die against no matter what, just they would just one

1514
01:15:54,680 --> 01:15:58,039
shot me. That I finally could uh figure out how

1515
01:15:58,079 --> 01:16:01,720
to defeat them. Yeah, yeah, that game is incredible. I

1516
01:16:01,760 --> 01:16:03,880
need to actually sit down and finish it.

1517
01:16:04,479 --> 01:16:06,840
Speaker 3: And also it also opens up more john too, like

1518
01:16:06,960 --> 01:16:09,000
later like if you oh, yeah, if you do feel

1519
01:16:09,000 --> 01:16:10,920
like it's being linear, if it feels a little linear

1520
01:16:10,960 --> 01:16:13,000
for you, like the latter portion of the game is

1521
01:16:13,079 --> 01:16:14,359
much more free rome you know.

1522
01:16:14,560 --> 01:16:16,960
Speaker 4: Cour Okay, Hell yeah, thanks?

1523
01:16:18,560 --> 01:16:21,159
Speaker 2: Who's next, John, John?

1524
01:16:21,399 --> 01:16:26,359
Speaker 1: John, in the interest of time, probably got about twenty

1525
01:16:26,359 --> 01:16:30,000
five minutes left. So yeah, not that we can't dive

1526
01:16:30,079 --> 01:16:33,119
deep into some of these, but your pick, your pick

1527
01:16:33,159 --> 01:16:34,600
the ones you want to dive into deep.

1528
01:16:34,720 --> 01:16:34,920
Speaker 2: John.

1529
01:16:34,920 --> 01:16:36,319
Speaker 3: I'm keeping my headphones on. I don't want you to

1530
01:16:36,399 --> 01:16:38,760
think I'm ignoring you. I'm listening, but I'm gonna.

1531
01:16:38,520 --> 01:16:39,199
Speaker 2: Go grab some water.

1532
01:16:39,760 --> 01:16:43,520
Speaker 4: Okay, sounds good. I don't know he's listening. My next

1533
01:16:43,520 --> 01:16:48,479
one is a recent release and it's Fantasy Life I Yeah,

1534
01:16:48,520 --> 01:16:53,399
which is I'm not usually into like gathering in crafting games,

1535
01:16:54,199 --> 01:16:59,720
and I like things like animal crossing well enough, but

1536
01:16:59,760 --> 01:17:04,319
it's never like my obsession and Fantasy Life Eye kind

1537
01:17:04,319 --> 01:17:07,760
of strikes the balance between like doing the crafting stuff.

1538
01:17:07,760 --> 01:17:09,560
Like you have different different classes that you have for

1539
01:17:11,920 --> 01:17:16,319
like chopping chopping down trees or or mining or fishing,

1540
01:17:17,159 --> 01:17:20,720
and then you have crafting classes that where you can

1541
01:17:20,720 --> 01:17:24,199
make furniture or carp blacksmith, yeah, all that stuff. And

1542
01:17:24,199 --> 01:17:28,600
then you have your combat class classes like thinkure's like

1543
01:17:28,680 --> 01:17:33,279
Paladin and magician and stuff like that. So you can

1544
01:17:33,359 --> 01:17:35,199
kind of like choose how you want to play through

1545
01:17:35,239 --> 01:17:38,119
the game and which of those you want to take on.

1546
01:17:38,159 --> 01:17:39,600
You can take on all of them if you want.

1547
01:17:39,920 --> 01:17:43,520
You don't have to, but it always gives you little

1548
01:17:43,600 --> 01:17:46,720
things as you're working through to achieve, Like every every

1549
01:17:46,720 --> 01:17:51,000
class has its own little like board of quests that

1550
01:17:51,000 --> 01:17:54,000
that you're constantly working through to become a better blacksmith

1551
01:17:54,079 --> 01:17:58,359
or carpenter or whatever. And that's really just been That's

1552
01:17:58,399 --> 01:18:00,439
been my game that I've been picking at for a

1553
01:18:00,479 --> 01:18:02,720
little bit since before the switch To launch and then

1554
01:18:03,720 --> 01:18:06,800
since then because it has a switch To edition that

1555
01:18:08,199 --> 01:18:13,560
greatly improves the frame rate resolution. It's like a transformative

1556
01:18:14,199 --> 01:18:14,960
update for that.

1557
01:18:14,920 --> 01:18:19,680
Speaker 1: That's what I'm playing on switch To and really enjoying it.

1558
01:18:19,720 --> 01:18:21,720
This is my first Fantasy Life game out. I picked

1559
01:18:21,760 --> 01:18:26,720
it up on your recommendation, John, and yeah, it's it's

1560
01:18:26,880 --> 01:18:29,479
very enjoyable. I am somebody who kind of gravitates to

1561
01:18:29,520 --> 01:18:34,159
those kind of crafting games. I do combat just for

1562
01:18:34,239 --> 01:18:36,880
like if I need ingredients or there's a quest for it.

1563
01:18:37,239 --> 01:18:40,399
But like I love, you know, doing the cooking stuff

1564
01:18:40,399 --> 01:18:43,720
and the carpenter stuff. I do have a question for you, John,

1565
01:18:43,720 --> 01:18:46,399
as somebody who's furthering it than I. You know, as

1566
01:18:46,479 --> 01:18:48,960
I'm building up like so far, Like I know the

1567
01:18:49,000 --> 01:18:51,119
intro quest for the carpenter, right, you have to go

1568
01:18:51,199 --> 01:18:55,039
and make a couture whatever or a chair I think

1569
01:18:55,520 --> 01:18:59,000
for somebody in the city. Is there a point where

1570
01:18:59,000 --> 01:19:01,239
like you get your own place and can start doing that.

1571
01:19:01,720 --> 01:19:04,760
Speaker 4: Yeah, so you actually get an island where.

1572
01:19:07,000 --> 01:19:08,920
Speaker 3: That's the thing that I has been missing for me

1573
01:19:08,960 --> 01:19:11,920
in this It's like when I mentioned cards during Promised Masters.

1574
01:19:14,199 --> 01:19:18,520
Speaker 4: So fantasy life is like weirdly big. You're working with

1575
01:19:18,600 --> 01:19:23,439
like different points in time, Like there's the past, the present.

1576
01:19:23,720 --> 01:19:25,680
There's like a whole island that you could explore if

1577
01:19:25,680 --> 01:19:28,760
you want, like that that big, like if you want

1578
01:19:28,760 --> 01:19:33,000
to kind of go into exploring and and and mining

1579
01:19:33,119 --> 01:19:36,000
and and going on adventures and doing combat and stuff. Like,

1580
01:19:36,000 --> 01:19:39,119
there's a whole island with like different zones with different

1581
01:19:39,159 --> 01:19:42,680
like levels of enemies and and like items to collect

1582
01:19:42,880 --> 01:19:45,840
that you can like level up those zones. Like it's

1583
01:19:45,920 --> 01:19:49,319
just super weird thing that you can get into if

1584
01:19:49,319 --> 01:19:49,600
you want.

1585
01:19:49,680 --> 01:19:52,079
Speaker 1: Okay, I was just in the story where I'm at

1586
01:19:52,079 --> 01:19:55,039
in the story right now, I was getting the vibe like, oh,

1587
01:19:55,079 --> 01:19:56,680
I'm not going to get to like live at this

1588
01:19:56,760 --> 01:20:00,199
place because spoilers, you're trying to get off of where

1589
01:20:00,479 --> 01:20:02,359
you're trying to leave the place that you start at.

1590
01:20:03,680 --> 01:20:06,680
And so I was like, oh, well, I guess I'm

1591
01:20:06,680 --> 01:20:08,039
not going to be getting the house if my main

1592
01:20:08,079 --> 01:20:08,920
goal is this.

1593
01:20:08,960 --> 01:20:11,159
Speaker 3: Does the I stand for I don't want to be here?

1594
01:20:11,439 --> 01:20:12,159
Speaker 4: Is that what that is?

1595
01:20:12,399 --> 01:20:12,640
Speaker 2: Yeah?

1596
01:20:12,680 --> 01:20:15,880
Speaker 4: Sure, yep, okay, but but that's not the case. Then

1597
01:20:16,439 --> 01:20:19,319
it's not the case. And like you you're you're different

1598
01:20:19,319 --> 01:20:21,600
classes and stuff, like if you're if you're doing carpentry,

1599
01:20:21,760 --> 01:20:25,560
like you're, you could build couches, beds, whatever. Like that's

1600
01:20:25,640 --> 01:20:27,880
kind of the animal crossing side of things where you

1601
01:20:27,920 --> 01:20:32,039
can you can create your own your own village and

1602
01:20:32,159 --> 01:20:36,239
like house everything. Like there's buddies that you get that

1603
01:20:36,319 --> 01:20:39,920
can go with you and you can give them houses

1604
01:20:40,800 --> 01:20:41,600
and gear them up.

1605
01:20:42,439 --> 01:20:46,359
Speaker 1: Says I playing that this evening because I've been joining

1606
01:20:46,399 --> 01:20:48,119
the game plan, I'm like, where am I going with this?

1607
01:20:48,159 --> 01:20:50,399
Cause and the and the intro quests. You're just doing

1608
01:20:50,399 --> 01:20:55,279
favors for other people. I'm like, I want this stuff, okay.

1609
01:20:54,960 --> 01:20:57,279
Speaker 4: And you you can have that stuff and you can

1610
01:20:57,319 --> 01:20:59,479
make it for all of your your like your village

1611
01:20:59,479 --> 01:20:59,960
of friends.

1612
01:21:00,239 --> 01:21:01,840
Speaker 1: Okay, that's very cool.

1613
01:21:03,880 --> 01:21:05,439
Speaker 2: You want it for you, Yeah, you want to work

1614
01:21:05,439 --> 01:21:06,039
for yourself?

1615
01:21:06,119 --> 01:21:11,760
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly small business. Yeah, I'm enjoying fantasy life. I

1616
01:21:11,880 --> 01:21:15,600
really like the characters. Uh, and the character designs, like

1617
01:21:16,000 --> 01:21:20,640
my dude looks like a freak. Oh and I love it. Yeah,

1618
01:21:21,119 --> 01:21:27,319
he's just the art styles like is really I don't know,

1619
01:21:27,319 --> 01:21:29,760
it kind of sets it apart. It's it's definitely fantasy.

1620
01:21:29,800 --> 01:21:33,840
And it's kind of like I don't even know if

1621
01:21:33,840 --> 01:21:37,239
it's chiby, like a little dolls like they look like

1622
01:21:37,800 --> 01:21:40,600
it reminds me of like Links Awakening three D, like the.

1623
01:21:42,600 --> 01:21:42,920
Speaker 2: Yeah.

1624
01:21:43,000 --> 01:21:45,479
Speaker 1: Yeah, and there's like there's like a quality to the

1625
01:21:45,560 --> 01:21:49,279
characters that it's like it's not quite full anime. It's

1626
01:21:49,279 --> 01:21:52,840
not quite chibi. It's like and and that stuff I

1627
01:21:52,840 --> 01:21:55,199
don't love. Whereas this it's a little it feels a

1628
01:21:55,239 --> 01:21:58,479
little more like grounded in its own style in a

1629
01:21:58,479 --> 01:21:59,520
way that's really appealing.

1630
01:22:00,119 --> 01:22:02,359
Speaker 2: I like the horse. I'm looking at a screenshot of the

1631
01:22:02,600 --> 01:22:06,880
way the horses look, and it's a good looking horse,

1632
01:22:06,920 --> 01:22:08,199
got like a little spine on it, like he's a

1633
01:22:08,199 --> 01:22:08,840
little sassy.

1634
01:22:09,000 --> 01:22:10,960
Speaker 4: I think, like everything has a little smile on it.

1635
01:22:11,239 --> 01:22:12,880
Speaker 1: Yeah, this horse though.

1636
01:22:12,920 --> 01:22:13,720
Speaker 2: You should look it up.

1637
01:22:17,520 --> 01:22:20,199
Speaker 4: I really, I really think that game. It hit at

1638
01:22:20,199 --> 01:22:22,600
a weird time because it I think it released like

1639
01:22:22,680 --> 01:22:26,399
a week or two before the Switch to launch. But

1640
01:22:26,479 --> 01:22:28,760
I I think it's one of those if people are

1641
01:22:28,800 --> 01:22:31,600
looking for something to play on Switch Too, I think

1642
01:22:31,720 --> 01:22:35,520
people should be looking there. It's there's a lot to do,

1643
01:22:35,760 --> 01:22:38,119
you can play a multiplayer, it's cross play with PC.

1644
01:22:39,560 --> 01:22:44,920
So I don't know where I'm really going with this,

1645
01:22:45,039 --> 01:22:49,640
but it's it's just something that I think it's going

1646
01:22:49,720 --> 01:22:52,239
to be overlooked in the grand scheme of things that

1647
01:22:52,239 --> 01:22:53,920
seems like we should should really check out.

1648
01:22:54,039 --> 01:22:57,279
Speaker 2: It seems like the perfect handheld game. It is. It is.

1649
01:22:57,880 --> 01:23:00,479
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm really enjoyed it on Switch Too. I'm liking

1650
01:23:00,520 --> 01:23:00,960
it a lot.

1651
01:23:01,680 --> 01:23:04,439
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll try it. I was kind of like indifferent

1652
01:23:04,439 --> 01:23:06,039
to it, but I kept hearing more and more good things,

1653
01:23:06,039 --> 01:23:10,159
and I generally like Level five who was the developer, Yeah, yep, yeah,

1654
01:23:10,199 --> 01:23:12,239
and I need things to play him I switch to.

1655
01:23:12,760 --> 01:23:16,520
Speaker 4: So Yes, it's fascinating like reading about that development and

1656
01:23:16,560 --> 01:23:18,960
what happened in like the last year or so since

1657
01:23:19,600 --> 01:23:24,119
kg Inafune left the company, and how that game is transformed.

1658
01:23:24,159 --> 01:23:25,840
So look into that as well.

1659
01:23:26,600 --> 01:23:29,520
Speaker 1: Cool, well, Marcus will send it to you. What's what's

1660
01:23:29,520 --> 01:23:30,279
your next one?

1661
01:23:31,399 --> 01:23:33,520
Speaker 2: I love saying the name of this game. It's called

1662
01:23:33,640 --> 01:23:35,439
a Shotgun cop Man.

1663
01:23:37,000 --> 01:23:40,680
Speaker 1: It sounds like it's full of nuance, you know, it.

1664
01:23:40,720 --> 01:23:44,159
Speaker 2: Might it's it might be nuanced and its simplicity because

1665
01:23:44,279 --> 01:23:47,560
all it is is that it is a a super

1666
01:23:47,640 --> 01:23:52,520
meat boy asque kind of precision platformer where you play

1667
01:23:52,720 --> 01:23:56,159
as what I think is a parody of Steven Seagull

1668
01:23:56,840 --> 01:23:59,279
is the vibe that I get, but he looks like

1669
01:23:59,319 --> 01:24:04,319
a weird eraser head man with big shoulders and you're

1670
01:24:04,439 --> 01:24:11,600
just trying to arrest Satan and everyone. Yeah, like every

1671
01:24:11,640 --> 01:24:14,960
literally every stage starts with him running up to Satan

1672
01:24:15,079 --> 01:24:18,439
saying you're under arrest, and Satan says the same thing

1673
01:24:18,720 --> 01:24:22,880
every time, and he just goes f you Shotgun cop Man.

1674
01:24:22,920 --> 01:24:27,640
I'm censoring myself. And that's that's that's literally the story

1675
01:24:27,680 --> 01:24:32,720
of this game. And so it's a dozens and dozens

1676
01:24:32,720 --> 01:24:37,600
of these really tight platforming stages where, uh, the hook

1677
01:24:37,680 --> 01:24:40,680
the thing that separates from me boys that you use

1678
01:24:40,800 --> 01:24:44,119
a shotgun as well as other guns to basically jump

1679
01:24:44,640 --> 01:24:48,039
like you don't have a like you can't jump inherently,

1680
01:24:48,079 --> 01:24:51,159
you can only jump by pointing your gun to ground

1681
01:24:51,199 --> 01:24:53,119
and shooting and just sort of using the force from

1682
01:24:53,119 --> 01:24:56,279
your shots to propel yourself upwards. And it's got twin

1683
01:24:56,359 --> 01:25:00,399
stick controls, and the sort of like puzzle element of

1684
01:25:00,439 --> 01:25:03,439
the game is like how long can you keep yourself

1685
01:25:03,479 --> 01:25:07,640
airborne with the limited shots that you have and whatever

1686
01:25:07,680 --> 01:25:09,880
weapon you're using, because you can only reload when you

1687
01:25:09,920 --> 01:25:14,199
touch the ground, So a lot of the platforming is like, oh, okay,

1688
01:25:14,199 --> 01:25:16,319
I'm like I'm gonna shoot, I'm gonna fall here, I'm

1689
01:25:16,359 --> 01:25:18,239
gonna shoot again to get over this gap or get

1690
01:25:18,239 --> 01:25:20,079
past some spikes, but I also need to aim and

1691
01:25:20,079 --> 01:25:21,840
shoot and shoot this enemy that's in front of me.

1692
01:25:22,399 --> 01:25:24,760
And the game encourages speed running because if you're really

1693
01:25:24,760 --> 01:25:26,439
on your game, you can fly through this stage in

1694
01:25:26,479 --> 01:25:29,920
the like seconds. And there's like optional objectives of the

1695
01:25:30,000 --> 01:25:31,680
end of the stage for like, oh did you get

1696
01:25:31,720 --> 01:25:33,479
the high score or for how quickly you got through it?

1697
01:25:33,600 --> 01:25:35,680
Or did you kill all the enemies in a stage,

1698
01:25:35,680 --> 01:25:37,840
which you don't have to, but if you want one

1699
01:25:37,880 --> 01:25:40,119
hundred percent of stage you gotta do it, as well

1700
01:25:40,119 --> 01:25:42,239
as like oh, did you get through without taking any damage?

1701
01:25:42,279 --> 01:25:44,600
Because you can only take like two hits basically and

1702
01:25:44,640 --> 01:25:47,840
then you die. But it is it's very fun and

1703
01:25:47,960 --> 01:25:51,520
like the sort of shooting the jump thing works really well.

1704
01:25:51,640 --> 01:25:55,520
The level design of CsFr has been very like it's

1705
01:25:55,520 --> 01:25:58,840
well designed, and they do some really cool platforming gimmicks

1706
01:25:58,840 --> 01:26:00,880
with each chapter that you go through, like oh, you

1707
01:26:00,920 --> 01:26:03,640
have these switches that you need to flip that open doors.

1708
01:26:03,680 --> 01:26:06,039
You need to find a way to stare airborne while

1709
01:26:06,039 --> 01:26:09,119
flipping these switches and then getting through the open doors

1710
01:26:09,119 --> 01:26:13,000
while also maybe dodging like some rotating spikes or like

1711
01:26:13,600 --> 01:26:16,119
three dudes shooting at you at the same time. Like

1712
01:26:16,159 --> 01:26:19,279
it gets really frantic in a really fun way, and

1713
01:26:19,520 --> 01:26:21,560
it's it's it's just really cool. It's just like I

1714
01:26:22,119 --> 01:26:24,920
love platformers, and I love meat Boy or any sort

1715
01:26:24,920 --> 01:26:27,680
of like meat Boy adjacent style, Like Okay, this is

1716
01:26:27,680 --> 01:26:31,359
about like just fast paced, like just real like pixel

1717
01:26:31,399 --> 01:26:35,680
perfect like precision jumping, and this is basically like a

1718
01:26:35,680 --> 01:26:39,079
a sort of like different spin on that stuff. But

1719
01:26:39,119 --> 01:26:41,520
I've been I've been itching for something like that this year,

1720
01:26:41,520 --> 01:26:43,880
Like there haven't been like a ton of like super

1721
01:26:44,199 --> 01:26:47,079
big platformers for me, which is one of the reasons

1722
01:26:47,079 --> 01:26:48,880
why I'm so excited about Donkey Kongs. I just want

1723
01:26:48,920 --> 01:26:51,319
like a good platform to stick sink my teeth into.

1724
01:26:52,840 --> 01:26:55,159
But yeah, this one's pretty cool. I feel like it's

1725
01:26:55,600 --> 01:26:59,039
been somewhat under the radar, like I wrote about it

1726
01:26:59,079 --> 01:27:01,199
for like a spotlight entry on the website when I

1727
01:27:01,199 --> 01:27:03,359
first started playing it, and I haven't finished it yet.

1728
01:27:03,399 --> 01:27:05,520
I've kind of been shipping away at it little by

1729
01:27:05,560 --> 01:27:06,920
little because one of those games you can do like

1730
01:27:07,359 --> 01:27:09,239
a couple stages here and there and then like come

1731
01:27:09,279 --> 01:27:10,640
back to it the next day or something like that,

1732
01:27:10,760 --> 01:27:13,079
or a chapter or whatever. There's like boss fights at

1733
01:27:13,079 --> 01:27:15,600
the end of each stage, which are pretty fun generally.

1734
01:27:16,520 --> 01:27:18,560
But yeah, it's cool. I think it's we're checking out

1735
01:27:18,600 --> 01:27:20,520
if you're and if you are a neat Boy fan

1736
01:27:20,640 --> 01:27:23,039
or if you enjoy those kind of platformers, keep an

1737
01:27:23,079 --> 01:27:27,119
eye out for Shotgun cop Man Awesome.

1738
01:27:28,520 --> 01:27:30,399
Speaker 1: My next one I want to talk about John with

1739
01:27:30,560 --> 01:27:35,439
actually it's on his list too, is The Bizarre, which

1740
01:27:35,720 --> 01:27:38,880
is I think I've talked about it last year on

1741
01:27:38,880 --> 01:27:40,960
the Game and Former show. I think it kind of

1742
01:27:40,960 --> 01:27:46,039
made my editor's choice list because it wasn't out in

1743
01:27:46,760 --> 01:27:47,800
one point h yet.

1744
01:27:48,119 --> 01:27:52,079
Speaker 2: Is it The Bizarre is in Bizarre Stranger bizarre.

1745
01:27:51,560 --> 01:27:54,079
Speaker 1: Like uh, like the like the shop.

1746
01:27:54,960 --> 01:28:00,600
Speaker 5: Okay, got bizarre aar, yes, gotcha.

1747
01:28:00,960 --> 01:28:05,520
Speaker 1: This is a while you aren't technically using cards, it

1748
01:28:05,600 --> 01:28:08,880
is effectively a deck builder in some.

1749
01:28:08,800 --> 01:28:10,560
Speaker 4: Ways build auto battler.

1750
01:28:10,800 --> 01:28:14,279
Speaker 1: Yeah, deck builder auto battler. But you aren't dealing with

1751
01:28:16,760 --> 01:28:19,119
You aren't really having to worry about like oh this

1752
01:28:19,239 --> 01:28:21,640
card has eight health and I have to play that.

1753
01:28:21,960 --> 01:28:24,520
Like you aren't playing cards in that way. It's more

1754
01:28:25,720 --> 01:28:30,359
you are collecting a series of items through battles with

1755
01:28:30,680 --> 01:28:35,000
enemies and a mixture of like player ghosts you know.

1756
01:28:35,159 --> 01:28:37,840
Speaker 4: Yeah, and other players to aspire if all the battles

1757
01:28:38,000 --> 01:28:41,039
or if like the battles getting to like the next

1758
01:28:41,319 --> 01:28:45,520
day is all ghosts of other players and their builds

1759
01:28:45,520 --> 01:28:46,880
that they've had online day.

1760
01:28:47,359 --> 01:28:52,720
Speaker 1: Yeah, And it's a really really easy way to sink

1761
01:28:52,760 --> 01:28:54,760
a lot of a lot of hours into a game.

1762
01:28:55,359 --> 01:28:56,680
Speaker 4: It's money.

1763
01:28:57,720 --> 01:29:01,720
Speaker 1: Uh no, well no, there's been some there's been some

1764
01:29:01,800 --> 01:29:03,439
kind of the kind of gotten to a lot of

1765
01:29:03,439 --> 01:29:05,319
hot water with their one point zero release in the

1766
01:29:05,359 --> 01:29:10,239
monetization that has now been fixed to my understanding, and

1767
01:29:10,279 --> 01:29:16,119
everyone's happy again. I have only spent it is free

1768
01:29:16,119 --> 01:29:20,079
to play. I paid for like a founder's pack, back

1769
01:29:20,159 --> 01:29:24,359
when it was in beta. But each character kind of

1770
01:29:24,359 --> 01:29:29,319
has their own deck theme. So like one dude has

1771
01:29:29,399 --> 01:29:32,479
and I've saved up enough coins to just get him

1772
01:29:32,520 --> 01:29:34,560
the character for free. The one you kind of everyone

1773
01:29:34,560 --> 01:29:37,960
starts with is this like more like water themed Pirate Lady,

1774
01:29:38,399 --> 01:29:41,600
and her deck kind of revolves around poison and like

1775
01:29:43,039 --> 01:29:46,600
maximizing like really big damage dealing like cannons and stuff.

1776
01:29:47,119 --> 01:29:50,079
Whereas the second guy that I unlocked is the real

1777
01:29:50,159 --> 01:29:53,720
estate guy, and he's, yeah, the pig. He's more focused

1778
01:29:53,760 --> 01:29:59,640
on like how money can of influenced like the value

1779
01:29:59,720 --> 01:30:03,079
of like building value in your like real estate cards

1780
01:30:03,560 --> 01:30:09,119
and transferring that to like healing items and shields. Yeah,

1781
01:30:09,199 --> 01:30:11,680
it's it's interesting. And then there's a there's a robot

1782
01:30:11,760 --> 01:30:16,159
character that goes like all in on like more complex

1783
01:30:16,319 --> 01:30:21,880
like machinery and or like burning people really really quickly

1784
01:30:21,920 --> 01:30:23,840
their health and and.

1785
01:30:23,840 --> 01:30:25,520
Speaker 4: The way they were friends.

1786
01:30:25,720 --> 01:30:29,119
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, and each matchup everyone has you start with

1787
01:30:29,199 --> 01:30:31,640
a certain amount of health depending on like the choices

1788
01:30:31,680 --> 01:30:33,880
you've made in your run, so like sometimes you might

1789
01:30:33,880 --> 01:30:39,560
prioritize increasing your max health or your regeneration your health

1790
01:30:39,600 --> 01:30:42,880
regeneration stat instead of getting like a cool item that

1791
01:30:42,920 --> 01:30:44,520
you want. It's kind of like a lot of choices

1792
01:30:44,560 --> 01:30:47,880
like that, and after a certain amount of time fighting

1793
01:30:47,880 --> 01:30:50,600
the other person, because sometimes there are just moments where

1794
01:30:50,640 --> 01:30:53,520
like this, I, you are doing zero damage to me

1795
01:30:53,560 --> 01:30:57,199
because I'm my build is all about heels, and you

1796
01:30:57,239 --> 01:30:59,960
were just like not doing enough to to really make

1797
01:31:00,039 --> 01:31:02,920
a dent in my health bar. Eventually, a sandstorm kind

1798
01:31:02,920 --> 01:31:09,520
of comes in and starts ticking damage like increasingly like exponential, Yeah,

1799
01:31:09,560 --> 01:31:13,640
exponential damage to equally to each player, and it's like

1800
01:31:13,680 --> 01:31:16,680
who can who can kind of like survive in the

1801
01:31:16,720 --> 01:31:22,319
storm long enough? Essentially, it's there's some really cool ideas.

1802
01:31:22,359 --> 01:31:24,359
And I've I've been playing this game for a while

1803
01:31:24,560 --> 01:31:28,079
and have really enjoyed going back to it somewhat for

1804
01:31:28,239 --> 01:31:30,760
like every couple of months, I'll go back and I'll like, okay,

1805
01:31:30,920 --> 01:31:34,760
time for some bizarre and John and Eric fan Allen,

1806
01:31:34,760 --> 01:31:37,520
who's on the show last week, we kind of jokingly

1807
01:31:37,560 --> 01:31:40,600
referred to it as like the calculator game, because you're

1808
01:31:40,680 --> 01:31:43,359
just like seeing numbers go up and up and up

1809
01:31:43,359 --> 01:31:43,880
and up.

1810
01:31:43,840 --> 01:31:46,960
Speaker 4: Like you make things faster. Yeah, every every item has

1811
01:31:47,000 --> 01:31:49,399
like a cool down. Yeah, so you're you're trying to

1812
01:31:49,439 --> 01:31:52,880
like maximize those those cool downs or like try to

1813
01:31:53,000 --> 01:31:55,600
reduce the amount of time that it takes for something

1814
01:31:55,640 --> 01:31:59,800
to proc. Yeah. So yeah, we call it calculator battles

1815
01:31:59,800 --> 01:32:03,399
because it's all about just maximizing those numbers.

1816
01:32:04,000 --> 01:32:05,199
Speaker 1: It's a real game.

1817
01:32:05,800 --> 01:32:09,279
Speaker 4: It's fun. Like I feel like every patch it either

1818
01:32:09,319 --> 01:32:12,600
like saves that game or just kills it completely. So

1819
01:32:13,760 --> 01:32:15,880
it's it's still an open beta. I don't think it's

1820
01:32:15,880 --> 01:32:19,279
I don't think it's hit. Yeah, it's just it just

1821
01:32:19,359 --> 01:32:21,119
hit like you could just download it and play it

1822
01:32:21,159 --> 01:32:24,079
for free. This is not on Steam, right, this is

1823
01:32:24,399 --> 01:32:25,960
not on Steam. It has its own client.

1824
01:32:26,319 --> 01:32:30,239
Speaker 1: Yeah, at one point came out April third, Oh okay, yeah,

1825
01:32:30,319 --> 01:32:33,560
but it's like constantly still evolving. I don't know, it's

1826
01:32:33,600 --> 01:32:34,119
kind of weird.

1827
01:32:34,399 --> 01:32:36,479
Speaker 4: Yeah, they have they have like new seasons every month

1828
01:32:36,560 --> 01:32:39,720
that will add new new items for characters. There's there's

1829
01:32:39,760 --> 01:32:42,920
battle passes that you can work through to get uh

1830
01:32:43,319 --> 01:32:46,199
new items that you can encounter on your runs, and

1831
01:32:46,199 --> 01:32:48,279
that at the end of that season, all that just

1832
01:32:48,279 --> 01:32:52,399
gets added to those characters for free. So it's it's

1833
01:32:52,439 --> 01:32:56,760
more so you're you're playing to have that those benefits

1834
01:32:56,840 --> 01:33:01,199
throughout that season than anything else. Yeah, there's a lot

1835
01:33:01,239 --> 01:33:02,960
of cool things about that game. I don't think it's

1836
01:33:03,840 --> 01:33:09,039
anywhere near finished, even though it is in one point now. Uh,

1837
01:33:09,279 --> 01:33:11,000
there's there's a there's a lot that they need to

1838
01:33:11,039 --> 01:33:14,960
do to solidify what that game is and how it's

1839
01:33:15,039 --> 01:33:18,880
balanced and all of that. Yeah, it's it's very fun

1840
01:33:18,920 --> 01:33:21,279
and it's something I go back to you every couple

1841
01:33:21,319 --> 01:33:22,560
of weeks, like, like Alex.

1842
01:33:22,399 --> 01:33:27,560
Speaker 1: Says, well, cool, Kyle, you want to give us one

1843
01:33:27,600 --> 01:33:30,880
more recommendation and or you can give us a lightning

1844
01:33:30,960 --> 01:33:32,159
round if you really want to mention.

1845
01:33:32,640 --> 01:33:35,039
Speaker 3: So oh, I'll do. I'll do all lightning around it.

1846
01:33:35,920 --> 01:33:36,239
Speaker 2: I did.

1847
01:33:36,359 --> 01:33:38,720
Speaker 3: I had Blueprints on my list. An amazing puzzle game.

1848
01:33:39,079 --> 01:33:41,319
I have a number of qualms.

1849
01:33:40,920 --> 01:33:41,239
Speaker 2: With.

1850
01:33:42,760 --> 01:33:43,600
Speaker 3: More at the end of the year.

1851
01:33:44,159 --> 01:33:45,039
Speaker 4: But very cool.

1852
01:33:45,760 --> 01:33:47,479
Speaker 3: My wife and I played together and saw it to

1853
01:33:47,520 --> 01:33:50,319
credits and had a good time. Wander Stop I thought

1854
01:33:50,359 --> 01:33:54,960
was a really moving and interesting game about getting burned,

1855
01:33:55,159 --> 01:33:58,119
you know, just burnout, you know, just that sort of

1856
01:33:58,119 --> 01:34:01,760
idea of burnout in your life, which I played at

1857
01:34:01,760 --> 01:34:05,239
a time we're very busy launching a new magazine. It's

1858
01:34:05,359 --> 01:34:08,279
very good and I really want to play that. It's

1859
01:34:08,279 --> 01:34:10,560
not very long, it's and it's good. It's it's because

1860
01:34:10,600 --> 01:34:13,760
like I usually don't like I don't really like cozy games,

1861
01:34:13,840 --> 01:34:16,560
just not really my genre, and that game actually kind

1862
01:34:16,600 --> 01:34:19,319
of it's sort of it tricks you into thinking it's

1863
01:34:19,359 --> 01:34:22,680
a cozy game, but it's really more of a narrative game. Ultimately,

1864
01:34:22,880 --> 01:34:23,720
you know, it's good though, I.

1865
01:34:23,960 --> 01:34:24,439
Speaker 2: Want to stop.

1866
01:34:24,479 --> 01:34:28,359
Speaker 3: I like, And then I'm still thinking a lot about

1867
01:34:28,399 --> 01:34:30,479
Death Stranding too, And I'm still playing Death Strainding two

1868
01:34:30,560 --> 01:34:34,600
despite having finished it. I've hit a point now Jacob

1869
01:34:34,640 --> 01:34:36,880
Geller has finished it, so I've been able to DM

1870
01:34:36,920 --> 01:34:40,760
with someone finally about about the ending and talk about

1871
01:34:40,760 --> 01:34:42,119
the ending, which I'm sure we'll be able to do

1872
01:34:42,119 --> 01:34:43,520
a lot more of soon as more.

1873
01:34:43,479 --> 01:34:44,199
Speaker 2: People get through it.

1874
01:34:44,239 --> 01:34:48,239
Speaker 3: But I mean, yeah, death Stranding is a great game, absolutely.

1875
01:34:48,680 --> 01:34:52,119
Speaker 1: Awesome, John. Do you want to indulge in a lightning round?

1876
01:34:52,760 --> 01:34:54,880
Speaker 4: Yeah? I think I only have like one one more

1877
01:34:54,920 --> 01:34:58,680
thing to put on here. It's the first perserkerks on

1878
01:34:59,359 --> 01:35:02,720
a game that I really did not like it first

1879
01:35:02,760 --> 01:35:06,439
because is so damn hard, and then uh, it molded

1880
01:35:06,479 --> 01:35:11,520
me into a true gamer. You and we really made

1881
01:35:11,560 --> 01:35:11,920
a man out.

1882
01:35:11,960 --> 01:35:15,079
Speaker 3: I remember talking to you at the shop, singing at you.

1883
01:35:15,399 --> 01:35:17,720
Speaker 1: We met like I think you were like seven Bosses

1884
01:35:17,720 --> 01:35:20,600
in and we went to get coffee one night and

1885
01:35:20,640 --> 01:35:23,680
you were just like, I don't know, I don't know

1886
01:35:23,680 --> 01:35:25,680
how I'm gonna like get this in Bargo, Like I

1887
01:35:25,680 --> 01:35:27,640
remember that game being so hard.

1888
01:35:28,560 --> 01:35:32,000
Speaker 4: Yeah, So I reviewed it for IGN, and I think

1889
01:35:32,079 --> 01:35:34,800
my review came out like two weeks after that game

1890
01:35:35,079 --> 01:35:38,239
actually really yeah, just just because like getting a third

1891
01:35:38,279 --> 01:35:41,840
of the way through that game took me thirty hours.

1892
01:35:42,640 --> 01:35:45,000
I think I think I played it for like eighty

1893
01:35:45,199 --> 01:35:46,680
eighty or ninety hours total.

1894
01:35:46,720 --> 01:35:47,239
Speaker 2: Oh my god.

1895
01:35:47,920 --> 01:35:51,920
Speaker 4: But it's it's I'm maybe I'm not the best at

1896
01:35:51,960 --> 01:35:54,199
at Soul's likes, I don't know, but like it really

1897
01:35:55,000 --> 01:35:58,079
Hammer's Home, like you you need like your perfect Perry's,

1898
01:35:58,119 --> 01:36:02,399
you need your Dodges. It really demands that of you.

1899
01:36:03,079 --> 01:36:06,560
And it really actually helped me with Clare Obscure right afterwards.

1900
01:36:06,600 --> 01:36:11,079
Oh sure, because like you're doing like very exact button presses,

1901
01:36:11,159 --> 01:36:16,880
especially for Perry's in there. And yeah, I think once

1902
01:36:16,920 --> 01:36:20,199
you get that locked in and start developing your your

1903
01:36:20,319 --> 01:36:23,119
character the way that you want to play them, I

1904
01:36:23,439 --> 01:36:26,039
think that game is fantastic and really one of the

1905
01:36:26,039 --> 01:36:28,680
best Souls experiences I've had in quite a while.

1906
01:36:28,880 --> 01:36:30,680
Speaker 2: I need to get back to it. I was playing

1907
01:36:30,720 --> 01:36:33,359
it for a bit, possibly for a review.

1908
01:36:33,039 --> 01:36:36,119
Speaker 4: And it just so yeah when I saw you were

1909
01:36:36,119 --> 01:36:38,159
playing them, like, good luck, Marcus, that's yeah.

1910
01:36:38,279 --> 01:36:39,720
Speaker 2: And then I had just had other games that I

1911
01:36:39,720 --> 01:36:42,239
had to play for work, and I just never were

1912
01:36:42,279 --> 01:36:43,159
able to get back to it.

1913
01:36:43,920 --> 01:36:47,199
Speaker 1: Yeah, Marcus, time for your lightning around, sir.

1914
01:36:47,920 --> 01:36:50,479
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll shout out Blueprints suit. That's arguably my game

1915
01:36:50,520 --> 01:36:53,199
of a year. I love that game to death. I've

1916
01:36:53,199 --> 01:36:55,600
got a few qualms. I might have less than you guys,

1917
01:36:55,880 --> 01:36:58,199
but it is also my this is I've learned. This

1918
01:36:58,239 --> 01:36:59,880
is a very like twenty twenty five is a year

1919
01:36:59,880 --> 01:37:02,840
of note taking games for me, because this it was

1920
01:37:02,920 --> 01:37:06,000
Root Trees and I beat Lower Line the Laser Eyes

1921
01:37:06,000 --> 01:37:07,079
in the beginning of the year.

1922
01:37:07,680 --> 01:37:09,439
Speaker 3: I've like a note taking game.

1923
01:37:09,520 --> 01:37:12,720
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, but I love Blueprints. I think it's again

1924
01:37:13,000 --> 01:37:14,880
arguably the best puzzle game of the year, maybe the

1925
01:37:14,920 --> 01:37:17,239
best game of the year. We'll see how that stacks up.

1926
01:37:18,520 --> 01:37:22,000
A Citizen Sleeper two really good game. I'm a big

1927
01:37:22,039 --> 01:37:25,399
fan of the first Citizen Sleeper. This one adds a

1928
01:37:25,439 --> 01:37:29,439
cool like party building mechanic to it, where now you

1929
01:37:29,479 --> 01:37:32,119
have other people that you manage, and also additional dice rolls.

1930
01:37:32,319 --> 01:37:35,800
It's also like harder on the survival side of it

1931
01:37:35,880 --> 01:37:38,479
because you can get like glitch now, and there's some

1932
01:37:38,680 --> 01:37:42,800
like very tense, like everything you do feels like one

1933
01:37:42,840 --> 01:37:44,760
hundred times tenser than the first game, which says a lot.

1934
01:37:44,920 --> 01:37:46,880
The first game you feel like you're kind of like

1935
01:37:47,880 --> 01:37:49,840
given by by the skin of your teeth for a

1936
01:37:49,840 --> 01:37:52,199
lot of it, and this one I think amplifies that,

1937
01:37:52,279 --> 01:37:54,359
but like in a way that is still really fun

1938
01:37:54,399 --> 01:37:58,479
instead of like frustrating, and also like a very engaging narrative,

1939
01:37:58,600 --> 01:38:01,600
much like the first game. So jut that out. There's

1940
01:38:01,600 --> 01:38:04,560
a cool game called Spilled that I play. Is also

1941
01:38:04,800 --> 01:38:08,479
a very short that was this year. It came out,

1942
01:38:08,680 --> 01:38:10,640
uh me, a couple of months ago. It was around

1943
01:38:10,640 --> 01:38:13,960
the time that we came back. I want to say, yeah,

1944
01:38:14,000 --> 01:38:16,359
but it was. It's like an hour long. You play

1945
01:38:16,399 --> 01:38:20,199
as a a boat that just cleans up oil spills,

1946
01:38:20,319 --> 01:38:24,520
and it's really pretty and it's a very chill, easy,

1947
01:38:25,119 --> 01:38:27,319
just laid back experience. You're just going to You're just

1948
01:38:27,319 --> 01:38:30,680
sailing around these really pretty river ways and then like

1949
01:38:30,680 --> 01:38:33,600
like open oceans and just cleaning up oil spills and

1950
01:38:33,680 --> 01:38:36,840
upgrading your ship in a very just easy upgrade loop.

1951
01:38:37,800 --> 01:38:40,560
But yeah, it is very much a like just decompressed

1952
01:38:40,640 --> 01:38:44,680
and feel like you're doing something like really rewarding and good. Uh.

1953
01:38:44,720 --> 01:38:47,039
So yeah, that one I recommend. And then there's uh,

1954
01:38:47,159 --> 01:38:50,279
South of Midnight is also one that I want to get.

1955
01:38:50,600 --> 01:38:50,880
Speaker 3: That one.

1956
01:38:51,560 --> 01:38:55,079
Speaker 2: Yeah, that one's you know, I like, I've got issues,

1957
01:38:55,119 --> 01:38:58,039
but I I like that it's basically a throwback to

1958
01:38:58,199 --> 01:39:02,239
like P S two PS three era third person adventure games.

1959
01:39:02,239 --> 01:39:05,560
What a very cool art direction and also just tackling

1960
01:39:05,600 --> 01:39:08,760
like Southern folklore, which you don't also really see in

1961
01:39:08,960 --> 01:39:12,439
really most media, let alone video games. But I think

1962
01:39:12,520 --> 01:39:17,199
the like the representation of just like the the South

1963
01:39:17,560 --> 01:39:20,560
in that game is really well done and also has

1964
01:39:20,600 --> 01:39:22,560
like a lot of reverence behind it. And I think

1965
01:39:22,600 --> 01:39:24,279
the performances and I also think it has one of

1966
01:39:24,319 --> 01:39:27,720
the best soundtracks of the year. Uh And it's just

1967
01:39:27,760 --> 01:39:29,680
like it's just like a cool space to be Like.

1968
01:39:29,680 --> 01:39:32,800
I just loved running around and hanging out with the

1969
01:39:32,960 --> 01:39:37,039
different characters in that game. So yeah, and I think

1970
01:39:37,159 --> 01:39:39,000
that's it. Maybe the last one real quick is this

1971
01:39:39,039 --> 01:39:42,319
game has not come out yet technically, but I don't

1972
01:39:42,479 --> 01:39:46,000
Is it ball x Pit, Is it Ball Cross Pit? Like,

1973
01:39:47,319 --> 01:39:47,840
is it is?

1974
01:39:47,880 --> 01:39:49,800
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know, but a pet is what I've

1975
01:39:49,800 --> 01:39:50,399
been saying.

1976
01:39:50,880 --> 01:39:52,880
Speaker 2: That's what I'm saying too. So this has not come

1977
01:39:52,920 --> 01:39:54,800
out yet, but there's a demo now and I believe

1978
01:39:54,800 --> 01:39:56,760
your progress from the demo carries over to the full

1979
01:39:56,840 --> 01:39:59,359
version if I remember correctly, So it kind of feels

1980
01:39:59,399 --> 01:40:01,439
like it's out. But this is the Wolver's new game.

1981
01:40:01,560 --> 01:40:03,840
Was the only game that they showed that they're yearly,

1982
01:40:03,880 --> 01:40:07,399
sort of like SGF direct and my god, is it good?

1983
01:40:07,960 --> 01:40:09,720
It is? I don't know if you guys have had

1984
01:40:09,760 --> 01:40:10,800
a chance to play.

1985
01:40:10,600 --> 01:40:14,520
Speaker 5: The Tetris sort of is it a freak out Tetris?

1986
01:40:14,560 --> 01:40:19,319
It's more Arcanoid. It's a weird It's like Arcanoid with

1987
01:40:19,399 --> 01:40:22,439
a little bit of Vampire Survivors with also like a

1988
01:40:22,439 --> 01:40:26,399
city building the component, Like it is a weird cocktail

1989
01:40:26,439 --> 01:40:29,800
of things, but it all sings real well because it's like,

1990
01:40:30,079 --> 01:40:32,439
so like Vampire Survivors, you play as a character who

1991
01:40:32,479 --> 01:40:36,359
attacks automatically and it's you're on a I can see

1992
01:40:36,359 --> 01:40:40,640
the Tetris comparison because the grid lane right, yeah, and

1993
01:40:40,760 --> 01:40:42,239
blocks are coming down.

1994
01:40:42,039 --> 01:40:44,359
Speaker 2: The way that they do in Tetris, But it's arcanoge

1995
01:40:44,359 --> 01:40:46,720
where you're just you're automatically shooting these blocks and the

1996
01:40:46,760 --> 01:40:49,720
ideas that you don't want the blocks to hit the bottom,

1997
01:40:50,399 --> 01:40:54,399
and but you were, balls bounce and ricochet, so you're

1998
01:40:54,600 --> 01:40:57,119
really playing arcanoid because you're trying to shoot these balls

1999
01:40:57,119 --> 01:40:59,439
against the crevices of all these block enemies and they

2000
01:40:59,439 --> 01:41:03,119
bounce around and just murder themselves. But you can, like

2001
01:41:03,239 --> 01:41:07,399
Vampire Survivors, the more things you kill, they drop literally

2002
01:41:07,399 --> 01:41:10,439
at the Vampire Survivors like blue and green little bits.

2003
01:41:10,760 --> 01:41:12,479
And then you level up and then you get a

2004
01:41:12,520 --> 01:41:14,880
choice of like one of three upgrades for your balls,

2005
01:41:15,199 --> 01:41:17,039
and you get like there's a ton of them, like

2006
01:41:17,079 --> 01:41:19,199
there's like fire ones, there's like poison ones, like a

2007
01:41:19,199 --> 01:41:21,680
ghost one that can pass through multiple enemies, and then

2008
01:41:21,720 --> 01:41:25,399
you can combine upgrades and to to form new upgrades.

2009
01:41:25,479 --> 01:41:29,319
So again like Vampire Survivors, but it works, and it

2010
01:41:29,439 --> 01:41:32,119
looks nice and it's super and not like not like

2011
01:41:32,159 --> 01:41:34,079
it just has like a cool look to it, you know,

2012
01:41:34,239 --> 01:41:36,720
not that y'a like some like graphical Powerhouse or anything

2013
01:41:36,760 --> 01:41:38,560
like that, but I just kind of like the the

2014
01:41:38,680 --> 01:41:41,800
art direction for it. But it is it like it

2015
01:41:41,880 --> 01:41:44,840
is a game that the time melts away in.

2016
01:41:44,880 --> 01:41:47,960
Speaker 1: Action like via Like I'm looking at gifts of it. Yeah,

2017
01:41:48,039 --> 01:41:50,079
it really kind of sells it more so than just

2018
01:41:50,119 --> 01:41:51,920
like single screenshots.

2019
01:41:52,399 --> 01:41:53,880
Speaker 2: Yeah, you need to. And it's also one of those

2020
01:41:53,920 --> 01:41:55,720
games like you really have to play yourself because it's

2021
01:41:55,760 --> 01:41:59,760
such a weird blend of like genres, which is why

2022
01:41:59,840 --> 01:42:03,800
I I heavily encourage people to play that, to play

2023
01:42:03,840 --> 01:42:06,720
the Steam demo that's out now. But I like, out

2024
01:42:06,720 --> 01:42:08,560
of all the games from Steam Next Fest that I tried,

2025
01:42:08,600 --> 01:42:10,279
this is the one I've by far put the most

2026
01:42:10,319 --> 01:42:12,359
time into. And I'll so fire it up a run

2027
01:42:12,359 --> 01:42:13,960
every now and then, and then in between runs you're

2028
01:42:14,000 --> 01:42:16,079
going back and you're building a city, which even that

2029
01:42:16,279 --> 01:42:19,560
is arcanoid because you're like laying down tiles and then

2030
01:42:19,640 --> 01:42:22,680
sending a character to bounce around the space where you

2031
01:42:22,760 --> 01:42:25,720
put your crops and stuff, and that's how they build stuff.

2032
01:42:25,840 --> 01:42:31,800
It's so weird. But no, I'm really enjoying it so far,

2033
01:42:31,840 --> 01:42:34,039
and I'm really psyched for the full release, which doesn't

2034
01:42:34,039 --> 01:42:35,600
have a release date yet but it is supposed to

2035
01:42:35,640 --> 01:42:37,600
come this year at some point.

2036
01:42:37,960 --> 01:42:44,199
Speaker 1: Cool awesome. I guess I will start my little Lightning

2037
01:42:44,640 --> 01:42:49,279
round right now. I'm just read in the timestamp. Sorry

2038
01:42:49,279 --> 01:42:52,720
about that, folks. So skin Deep is up there. I've

2039
01:42:52,720 --> 01:42:55,079
talked about it on the recent episodes of the of

2040
01:42:55,119 --> 01:42:59,000
the show Immersive sim set in space. You play as

2041
01:42:59,039 --> 01:43:02,600
an insurance adjust and you are going on these space

2042
01:43:02,600 --> 01:43:06,920
stations to rescue cats that you work for and and

2043
01:43:07,039 --> 01:43:11,600
all the while like kind of managing many different stealth systems, physics,

2044
01:43:12,520 --> 01:43:16,600
light and shadow, kind of like visibility, that sort of

2045
01:43:16,640 --> 01:43:20,039
thing within within while fighting off these space pirates. It's

2046
01:43:20,079 --> 01:43:25,720
a lot of fun, a lot of interactions, very funny game. Yeah,

2047
01:43:25,960 --> 01:43:29,960
really recommend skin Deep. Blueprints we've talked about definitely one

2048
01:43:29,960 --> 01:43:32,560
of my my higher ups. Actually today as I was

2049
01:43:32,600 --> 01:43:36,159
preparing for this list, I Bloodprints was my number one

2050
01:43:36,199 --> 01:43:38,800
game for a while this year, and I knocked it

2051
01:43:38,880 --> 01:43:42,560
down to like number three, And I will say what

2052
01:43:42,560 --> 01:43:43,920
my number one and two are, because I don't think

2053
01:43:43,960 --> 01:43:46,119
those are final either, but I.

2054
01:43:46,600 --> 01:43:48,800
Speaker 3: Still really got you got to commit on July first

2055
01:43:49,039 --> 01:43:50,279
to your game of the year, right.

2056
01:43:50,199 --> 01:43:53,199
Speaker 1: Now, I know, yeah, exactly exactly. Hey, maybe I'll continue

2057
01:43:53,199 --> 01:43:55,720
to think about it and it'll go up. But regardless,

2058
01:43:55,920 --> 01:43:59,000
really love that game. I think for me, where it

2059
01:43:59,079 --> 01:44:02,920
kind of falls short is and some of the storytelling

2060
01:44:03,960 --> 01:44:06,239
doesn't quite get there for me. Like some other the

2061
01:44:06,279 --> 01:44:09,560
revelations I think are cool and like a greater story

2062
01:44:09,640 --> 01:44:12,079
is like interesting, it's an interesting setting that you uncover,

2063
01:44:12,920 --> 01:44:16,000
but there are just some threads that I wish were

2064
01:44:16,119 --> 01:44:20,039
sometimes a little more easy to pull on than they are.

2065
01:44:22,399 --> 01:44:24,880
It's definitely a game that like you get the credits

2066
01:44:24,880 --> 01:44:27,640
and then you don't have the full picture still and

2067
01:44:28,079 --> 01:44:30,840
you have to keep going after that, and I think

2068
01:44:30,880 --> 01:44:32,640
like by the time you hit credits in that game,

2069
01:44:34,000 --> 01:44:35,680
you're just kind of thankful to be done, Like you

2070
01:44:35,720 --> 01:44:40,640
did it, you made it, you did the run. Maybe

2071
01:44:40,680 --> 01:44:43,319
I'll go back to it, Maybe I won't haste. We

2072
01:44:43,399 --> 01:44:46,479
talked about it via on our YouTube channel earlier this

2073
01:44:46,560 --> 01:44:49,000
year in a new gameplay today. But it's like that

2074
01:44:49,800 --> 01:44:56,159
sort of like three D Sonic esque free flowing parkour

2075
01:44:56,439 --> 01:44:59,560
racing game where you are like picking up power ups

2076
01:44:59,560 --> 01:45:03,199
as you go, and like it's a really really new game.

2077
01:45:03,640 --> 01:45:06,840
I think, didn't Landfall make that one or publish it

2078
01:45:06,840 --> 01:45:10,439
at the very least the folks behind like Peak and

2079
01:45:10,760 --> 01:45:14,479
totally accurate battle simulator, really great game with like really

2080
01:45:14,520 --> 01:45:19,800
fun movement and some really clever boss battles. Yeah. Uh,

2081
01:45:19,920 --> 01:45:24,479
and then lastly, Lonely Mountains Snow Writers. I don't know

2082
01:45:24,520 --> 01:45:26,600
if you all are familiar with that series or not.

2083
01:45:26,720 --> 01:45:31,399
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love down the Downhill. Yeah yeah, I played

2084
01:45:31,399 --> 01:45:34,319
all of that. Actually I forgot that. The snow it's

2085
01:45:34,359 --> 01:45:35,960
like snow or skiing.

2086
01:45:35,720 --> 01:45:39,640
Speaker 1: Right exactly. Yeah, yeah, it's skiing and I'm really enjoying it.

2087
01:45:39,760 --> 01:45:43,760
I've it's relaxing as it is as relaxing as it

2088
01:45:43,840 --> 01:45:46,239
is challenging in a weird way, like and there's like

2089
01:45:46,239 --> 01:45:49,399
a kind of a quiet like undertone of comedy, like

2090
01:45:49,399 --> 01:45:52,119
physical comedy, and just like some of the ways that

2091
01:45:52,159 --> 01:45:57,000
your character just whiffs it and and like when you

2092
01:45:57,119 --> 01:46:00,600
when you miss, when you like when you ail out,

2093
01:46:01,079 --> 01:46:02,920
it has like this weight to it. And it's just

2094
01:46:02,960 --> 01:46:05,560
even though like you're really zoomed out, you're looking at

2095
01:46:05,600 --> 01:46:08,479
like a top down sort of like not quite top down,

2096
01:46:08,479 --> 01:46:10,600
but you know, like you're very zoomed out of it

2097
01:46:10,680 --> 01:46:14,520
was like a bird's eye perspective watching controlling the skier.

2098
01:46:14,920 --> 01:46:18,199
And still when you when you hit something about the physics,

2099
01:46:18,279 --> 01:46:19,840
you're just your character goes flying.

2100
01:46:20,399 --> 01:46:22,960
Speaker 4: And to record that and make a fail comp Yeah,

2101
01:46:23,079 --> 01:46:23,640
that would.

2102
01:46:23,399 --> 01:46:26,800
Speaker 1: Be a perfect game for that. And there's like an

2103
01:46:26,840 --> 01:46:31,960
online racing mode that I really enjoy. It's a ton

2104
01:46:32,000 --> 01:46:34,880
of fun. Another game that like, if you can figure

2105
01:46:34,920 --> 01:46:37,840
out like optimal speed running routes, you can really kind

2106
01:46:37,840 --> 01:46:40,640
of get ahead of the competition in those online races.

2107
01:46:41,760 --> 01:46:42,840
But even if you don't want to do that, you

2108
01:46:42,880 --> 01:46:44,239
just want to play single player and you want to

2109
01:46:44,319 --> 01:46:48,399
vibe out. It's it's a really fun and relaxing game

2110
01:46:48,439 --> 01:46:49,720
if you want it to be. It's kind of like

2111
01:46:49,960 --> 01:46:52,039
it kind of molds itself to what you want it

2112
01:46:52,039 --> 01:46:55,960
to be in that way, and it's unlike some other games.

2113
01:46:56,239 --> 01:46:59,239
I think it's very like malleable and you can kind

2114
01:46:59,279 --> 01:47:00,720
of get a lot of different things out of it.

2115
01:47:01,159 --> 01:47:04,439
And yeah, that's that's Lonely Mountain snow Riders.

2116
01:47:04,720 --> 01:47:06,279
Speaker 2: Thank you for reminding me that exists.

2117
01:47:06,640 --> 01:47:11,279
Speaker 1: Yeah you should, you should add Yeah, Oh cool, I

2118
01:47:11,359 --> 01:47:13,560
played it. It's really good on Steam Deck as well

2119
01:47:14,199 --> 01:47:16,880
or PC obviously that's where kind of I've been playing it.

2120
01:47:16,920 --> 01:47:19,880
But yeah, excellent game pass game. I'd imagine much like

2121
01:47:19,920 --> 01:47:21,520
the first one. I think was like a big game

2122
01:47:21,560 --> 01:47:27,319
past that. Yeah, and I actually kind of missed out

2123
01:47:27,359 --> 01:47:29,239
on the first one. I played Downhill a little bit.

2124
01:47:30,000 --> 01:47:32,000
Playing snow Riders makes me want to go and like,

2125
01:47:32,600 --> 01:47:35,000
you know, sing a lot of time into that game too,

2126
01:47:36,880 --> 01:47:39,520
and like just the feeling of going downhill so quickly.

2127
01:47:40,119 --> 01:47:43,920
The sound design is incredible. It's you know, they've really

2128
01:47:43,960 --> 01:47:46,520
captured what what it feels like to be almost like

2129
01:47:47,800 --> 01:47:51,319
losing control, like on the verge of losing control in

2130
01:47:51,319 --> 01:47:54,479
a in a snow sport like that. The few times

2131
01:47:54,520 --> 01:47:57,399
I've been skiing, it's like you're kind of really you

2132
01:47:57,560 --> 01:48:00,399
It kind of captures that emotion of like I'm in control,

2133
01:48:00,479 --> 01:48:02,319
but at any moment I could make a wrong move

2134
01:48:02,479 --> 01:48:03,359
and just eat.

2135
01:48:03,199 --> 01:48:05,239
Speaker 4: It, or there could just be like a slick spot,

2136
01:48:05,520 --> 01:48:06,600
a little dip. Yeah.

2137
01:48:06,920 --> 01:48:09,760
Speaker 1: Yeah, it really captures that like feeling of and it's

2138
01:48:09,760 --> 01:48:14,159
something I praised Writers Republic for back when that came out,

2139
01:48:14,199 --> 01:48:17,000
just the feeling of like the feeling of racing downhill

2140
01:48:17,039 --> 01:48:21,119
on a bike in this case skis. They capture it

2141
01:48:21,199 --> 01:48:23,439
so well and it kind of like transports me back

2142
01:48:23,880 --> 01:48:26,600
to having that feeling as a kid when you're going

2143
01:48:26,640 --> 01:48:29,079
down a big hill for the first time. They really

2144
01:48:29,119 --> 01:48:32,079
capture it with with the sound effects. It's really cool.

2145
01:48:33,439 --> 01:48:34,600
But yeah, I think that's going to do it for

2146
01:48:34,680 --> 01:48:36,960
the show this week before we get out of here.

2147
01:48:37,000 --> 01:48:40,159
I do just want to ask folks, if you haven't,

2148
01:48:40,479 --> 01:48:43,119
please go and sign up for a Game Informer subscription

2149
01:48:43,279 --> 01:48:46,199
today in case you missed it, you can get our

2150
01:48:46,319 --> 01:48:50,720
print magazine straight to your door the first issue print issue.

2151
01:48:51,680 --> 01:48:55,039
I think the cutoff might I think the cutof is

2152
01:48:55,039 --> 01:48:58,960
probably over by the time that you are listening to this.

2153
01:48:59,039 --> 01:49:01,039
Speaker 3: I don't think we can guarantee Borderlands.

2154
01:49:01,399 --> 01:49:05,680
Speaker 1: Yes, but our next cover story is the one that

2155
01:49:05,720 --> 01:49:08,600
I've been looking forward to the most out of like

2156
01:49:08,640 --> 01:49:12,239
our early crop of of cover stories. Yeah, I'm not

2157
01:49:12,239 --> 01:49:14,239
going to tell you, but it's a really interesting one

2158
01:49:14,680 --> 01:49:19,520
that I think isn't as like obvious maybe as a

2159
01:49:19,520 --> 01:49:23,359
cover as Borderlands, and I think it's a really interesting one.

2160
01:49:25,520 --> 01:49:28,079
We did see the art. Yes, I played the game.

2161
01:49:28,159 --> 01:49:32,640
I really really enjoyed it. Yeah, I think it could.

2162
01:49:32,960 --> 01:49:36,119
I think it'll be a cool cover story, and that'll

2163
01:49:36,119 --> 01:49:39,520
be rolling out later this month in July. But that

2164
01:49:39,560 --> 01:49:42,159
will be well, we'll share more about that later on.

2165
01:49:42,279 --> 01:49:44,840
But really like the best way to keep the lights

2166
01:49:44,880 --> 01:49:47,479
on for us is to get a Game and Former subscription.

2167
01:49:47,600 --> 01:49:49,600
You know, no matter if you're watching on YouTube or

2168
01:49:49,600 --> 01:49:52,479
you're listening to podcasts, that stuff is really helpful. Don't

2169
01:49:52,479 --> 01:49:54,720
get me wrong, but if you're looking for like the

2170
01:49:54,800 --> 01:49:57,119
number one way to support us it is to either

2171
01:49:57,159 --> 01:50:01,920
get a print or a digital magazines description print magazine

2172
01:50:01,960 --> 01:50:04,880
costs seventy bucks a year. You get ten issues delivered

2173
01:50:04,880 --> 01:50:09,439
to your door. One hundred ish pages an issue, you know,

2174
01:50:09,520 --> 01:50:11,359
counting covers and all that. It's a lot of pages.

2175
01:50:12,479 --> 01:50:18,520
You know, exclusive features that we that are wonderful staff

2176
01:50:18,520 --> 01:50:21,399
and freelancers from around the world. I've invested a lot

2177
01:50:21,399 --> 01:50:25,359
of time into It's really like a you know, something

2178
01:50:25,399 --> 01:50:27,960
that we're really proud of, and I think, you know,

2179
01:50:28,000 --> 01:50:30,680
we really aim for each magazine not only do we

2180
01:50:30,720 --> 01:50:32,840
have like reviews and previews that kind of thing, but

2181
01:50:32,920 --> 01:50:35,479
as really we aim for like the content of it

2182
01:50:35,520 --> 01:50:38,119
to be something like a coffee table book, like you know,

2183
01:50:38,880 --> 01:50:46,000
business profiles on like prominent developers, really interesting looks into

2184
01:50:46,079 --> 01:50:50,079
how games are made. It's it's a great product, I think,

2185
01:50:50,159 --> 01:50:52,800
and we really believe in it, and we would love

2186
01:50:52,840 --> 01:50:54,880
for you to get one. If you're interested, go to

2187
01:50:54,920 --> 01:50:57,600
Game Informer dot com slash subscribe. You can sign up

2188
01:50:57,600 --> 01:51:02,039
to get Okay, you get your issue sent to you

2189
01:51:02,199 --> 01:51:05,600
very soon, and you can access all of our all

2190
01:51:05,640 --> 01:51:08,600
of our magazine articles and all of that through a

2191
01:51:08,640 --> 01:51:11,279
digital subscription. You can even like look at it through

2192
01:51:11,840 --> 01:51:13,920
a cool like PDF you or it looks like you're

2193
01:51:13,960 --> 01:51:18,439
reading the book. That's forty five a year, and you

2194
01:51:18,479 --> 01:51:21,319
can get out of your international as well. That latter one.

2195
01:51:21,840 --> 01:51:23,720
But also real quick, I just want to say thank

2196
01:51:23,760 --> 01:51:26,399
you John for joining us on the show this week.

2197
01:51:27,840 --> 01:51:31,039
I know people can find you online at John Carson

2198
01:51:31,119 --> 01:51:33,359
Games on social media. If you're on Blue Scott you

2199
01:51:33,399 --> 01:51:37,640
can follow John at John Carson. That's exactly how it's spelled.

2200
01:51:37,800 --> 01:51:41,279
King of Late Night, as we call him. But John,

2201
01:51:41,279 --> 01:51:44,279
where else can people What do you got cooking? Where

2202
01:51:44,439 --> 01:51:46,600
where can people find you? All that kind of stuff.

2203
01:51:46,880 --> 01:51:49,800
Speaker 4: Yeah, I've been messing around with YouTube stuff. If you

2204
01:51:49,840 --> 01:51:52,159
follow me on Blue Sky, I'll be posting stuff on there.

2205
01:51:52,159 --> 01:51:56,279
I'm opening Final Fantasy Magic card packs until i find Phoebe,

2206
01:51:57,399 --> 01:52:00,640
which is a fun little series that I've been kind

2207
01:52:00,680 --> 01:52:04,520
of learning video editing stuff with and and and doing

2208
01:52:04,600 --> 01:52:07,840
some longer form longer for like ten minute videos or

2209
01:52:07,880 --> 01:52:14,079
whatever on previews for games or just doing some extra

2210
01:52:14,680 --> 01:52:19,600
game content there. I'm freelancing for IgM dot com doing

2211
01:52:19,720 --> 01:52:23,560
tech reviews there, so so look out for that stuff

2212
01:52:23,600 --> 01:52:27,600
as well. Also, I just freelance for various other publications

2213
01:52:28,159 --> 01:52:32,279
for game reviews or previews or or whatever. So still

2214
01:52:32,439 --> 01:52:33,720
still hanging around the industry.

2215
01:52:34,319 --> 01:52:37,119
Speaker 1: Ellyeah, yeah, well thank you for joining us today. John.

2216
01:52:37,199 --> 01:52:41,640
It's thanks for privileged as your family, so absolute whenever

2217
01:52:41,680 --> 01:52:42,039
you need.

2218
01:52:42,159 --> 01:52:46,159
Speaker 2: Hey, when you're here your family, that's true, like July

2219
01:52:47,800 --> 01:52:49,119
or whatever we said to be on the show.

2220
01:52:49,439 --> 01:52:51,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, whatever thing Marcus said.

2221
01:52:52,359 --> 01:52:53,800
Speaker 2: It's a classic saying I'm sorry.

2222
01:52:56,000 --> 01:52:59,239
Speaker 1: You can also follow Marcus Stewart online at Marcus Stewart

2223
01:52:59,399 --> 01:53:01,960
seven on Blue Sky. That's really the only place he is.

2224
01:53:02,239 --> 01:53:04,960
He's he's not online very much.

2225
01:53:05,239 --> 01:53:09,000
Speaker 2: You got anywhere? Okay?

2226
01:53:09,199 --> 01:53:12,560
Speaker 1: Yeah that I like that. Uh, Kyle a little more

2227
01:53:12,640 --> 01:53:14,680
loose with that. You can follow him at Kyle Hilliard

2228
01:53:15,159 --> 01:53:19,359
on Instagram, blue Sky and elsewhere. Probably, Yeah, I upgraded.

2229
01:53:19,399 --> 01:53:21,439
Speaker 3: I did get the I did the r L thing.

2230
01:53:21,560 --> 01:53:23,960
So I'm Kyle Hilliard dot com on Blue Sky now,

2231
01:53:24,079 --> 01:53:27,199
oh cool, Okay, I should probably put a website there.

2232
01:53:27,520 --> 01:53:28,560
Speaker 2: That's a thing you can do.

2233
01:53:29,079 --> 01:53:31,880
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, you don't have to have a Blue

2234
01:53:31,920 --> 01:53:32,479
Sky thing.

2235
01:53:32,640 --> 01:53:34,359
Speaker 3: We're Gaminformer dot com on Blue Sky.

2236
01:53:34,439 --> 01:53:35,119
Speaker 4: That's our that's o.

2237
01:53:35,479 --> 01:53:38,039
Speaker 1: Name I'm at. It's Van Akin dot games on Blue

2238
01:53:38,039 --> 01:53:43,439
Sky and it's Van Akin on Instagram. Yeah, Marcus, welcome

2239
01:53:43,479 --> 01:53:46,039
to the world. The world would be the Internet.

2240
01:53:46,520 --> 01:53:48,000
Speaker 4: Dot get a brand guy.

2241
01:53:48,920 --> 01:53:51,680
Speaker 3: You can if you can purchase that u r L.

2242
01:53:51,920 --> 01:53:53,840
Speaker 1: If you purchase it's really easy.

2243
01:53:53,880 --> 01:53:56,119
Speaker 2: They walk you through Argus Stewart dot guy.

2244
01:53:56,760 --> 01:53:59,439
Speaker 1: Yeah, you can make that problem available, although you want

2245
01:53:59,479 --> 01:54:01,760
to buy it before this episode goes up in case

2246
01:54:01,760 --> 01:54:04,840
people squat on it, you know, really hotly in demand

2247
01:54:05,119 --> 01:54:05,359
r L.

2248
01:54:05,920 --> 01:54:06,119
Speaker 2: Yeah.

2249
01:54:07,039 --> 01:54:12,840
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, once again, thank you everybody for watching. If

2250
01:54:12,840 --> 01:54:16,359
you're on YouTube or listening on on major podcast platforms,

2251
01:54:16,399 --> 01:54:19,479
we really appreciate you sticking around and hanging out with

2252
01:54:19,600 --> 01:54:22,520
us today. I hope you have a safe Fourth of July.

2253
01:54:23,079 --> 01:54:25,239
Don't jump over fireworks like I used to do when

2254
01:54:25,239 --> 01:54:28,319
I was a teenager. Don't don't do dumb stuff with fireworks.

2255
01:54:28,359 --> 01:54:30,640
Speaker 2: It's bad. Please don't burn your homes down because it

2256
01:54:30,720 --> 01:54:33,159
always happens. Don't. Don't be one of those people.

2257
01:54:33,359 --> 01:54:34,760
Speaker 4: It always happens.

2258
01:54:36,239 --> 01:54:36,840
Speaker 2: Every time.

2259
01:54:39,239 --> 01:54:40,960
Speaker 1: One of those people. We better not see your name

2260
01:54:41,000 --> 01:54:45,399
in the news. Yes, please, yeah, be safe. Have some

2261
01:54:45,520 --> 01:54:47,880
good hot dogs. If you're near a lake, jump in,

2262
01:54:48,079 --> 01:54:51,199
have fun and we'll catch you next week. Goodbye.