Speaker 1: Two games, but after Dark live from San Francisco, the
Speaker 1: home of self driving cars, and.
Speaker 2: Uh uh I don't know what else.
Speaker 1: Some bridges, bridges we got, luke that all you got?
Speaker 3: How much you know about your city? Yeah, that's that's it, right,
Speaker 3: like driving cars and bridges.
Speaker 2: We got bridges. But the self driving cars can't actually
Speaker 2: go over there. It is true, they can't.
Speaker 3: True.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: No.
Speaker 1: Uh. It's GDC week, which here in U in s
Speaker 1: F which doesn't really probably mean a lot to the
Speaker 1: audience at home, but that's the Game Developers Conference. It's
Speaker 1: it's like one of the few things in our industry
Speaker 1: that actually happens here in the city. So it's exciting
Speaker 1: for us because it means we get to have developers
Speaker 1: come in, which we uh have had throughout the week,
Speaker 1: which means we've got a lot of cool stuff coming out,
Speaker 1: but we don't get anyone here because uh, you know
Speaker 1: who wants to be on this show anyway? Hi, kurtin Divina, Hi,
Speaker 1: I'm Kurrent Divina.
Speaker 3: Hey Holm was this damn it? I like half looked,
Speaker 3: I like half looked.
Speaker 2: I didn't even see your finger And that's Jacob Decker.
Speaker 1: Hi. Yes, actually, well I was gonna ask if you've
Speaker 1: done anything for GDC. But I guess I know that,
Speaker 1: but the audience does. It's all pretend. I don't, Kurt,
Speaker 1: have you done anything cool for GDC this week?
Speaker 3: I've been locked in this room with me for basically
Speaker 3: every single day of the week. So I have done
Speaker 3: lots for GC, but not at GDC. I've not gone
Speaker 3: to I've not been able to go to GC. I've
Speaker 3: not been able to go to any talks. I've not
Speaker 3: been able to go to the show floor, even though
Speaker 3: the show floor would be just be showing, like would
Speaker 3: be corporate people like, hey, you live and you should
Speaker 3: come to Cincinnati. We'll give you a dollar to make
Speaker 3: a game in Cincinnati. There's a lot of you know,
Speaker 3: initiatives like that on the floor.
Speaker 2: Do you make a game with a dollar in Cincinnati?
Speaker 2: Talk to go to the booth, you man, I can
Speaker 2: make some games.
Speaker 3: Can give you a We'll give you a couple of games.
Speaker 3: We'll give you a dollar and some skittles. Come on
Speaker 3: live in Cincinnati and make games. Because every study's got
Speaker 3: a game initiative like that. I don't know if that's true, so,
Speaker 3: but no, we've I've been in here interviewing lots of developers,
Speaker 3: seeing lots of games true hands on, hands off, some embargoed,
Speaker 3: so you got to wait a bit.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm exciting stuff.
Speaker 3: Yeah, what about you?
Speaker 2: You do anything around GDC?
Speaker 3: Nope?
Speaker 2: Cool. GDC is a.
Speaker 1: Really weird one because I never.
Speaker 3: Feel it's the Games Developer Conference, so uh, with that
Speaker 3: title of mind, it's geared heavily towards game development, so
Speaker 3: it's not your typical sort of showcase of games in
Speaker 3: most cases, like in Summer Game Faster, you know, Rest
Speaker 3: in Peace E three or something of that nature, or
Speaker 3: packs E three is dead.
Speaker 1: Richard all three of all Richard Lee in the office
Speaker 1: I've been shot killed, turning me and I forget what
Speaker 1: the conversation was, but he's like, bro, no one knows
Speaker 1: what E three is anymore.
Speaker 2: And I was like, is that true, Richard? Yeah?
Speaker 1: The back and I kind of to think about it
Speaker 1: where I was like, no, like what do you mean like?
Speaker 1: And then I was like, when was like the last
Speaker 1: E three twenty nineteen, yeah, which I'm like that six
Speaker 1: years ago? And I was like, oh, I one and
Speaker 1: only at least you made it to one. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: know that that that is like a sizeable generation of
Speaker 1: like people who play games that have like grown up
Speaker 1: and like with no context of like E three not
Speaker 1: experiencing it, like maybe they've heard about it but didn't
Speaker 1: actually like care.
Speaker 3: I mean, I don't think that. I don't think people
Speaker 3: who are actively paying attention to care about it. But
Speaker 3: I think no, I have faith in those young's They
Speaker 3: want to know, like where did we Where did I
Speaker 3: come from? Where did where? What are my roots? If
Speaker 3: they care about video games, at one point or another,
Speaker 3: they'll look up a VHS YouTube rip of E three
Speaker 3: in nineteen ninety five where they have the real Mortal
Speaker 3: Kombat actors doing kicks and like booth babes and all
Speaker 3: those things of the past, which most of it should
Speaker 3: I think.
Speaker 1: I think once like a YouTuber makes like a video
Speaker 1: that's like what you would be there used to be
Speaker 1: this thing called E three, they've probably already made that.
Speaker 2: The mecca of gaming or whatever.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and like it gonna be so good back in
Speaker 1: the day, Like you're not gonna believe how big this A.
Speaker 3: Four and a half our video essay? Yeah on the
Speaker 3: booth babes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they say, like, don't give away my ideas?
Speaker 3: Are you gonna are you going to become a booth babe?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm going all in.
Speaker 3: I mean I feel, look, who am I to say anything?
Speaker 3: But I remember talking to a few, uh, I remember
Speaker 3: having a conversation with people how like, obviously booth babes
Speaker 3: are weird because it's a sexualized objective kind of look
Speaker 3: at making women flashy on it and what was a
Speaker 3: male dominated audience. But having spoken to some of those
Speaker 3: and heard down the grape line for a lot of them,
Speaker 3: it was a just a good gig. It was just
Speaker 3: a good paying gig. But this is a this is
Speaker 3: where my whole support for you know, if you want
Speaker 3: to do that, you can do that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think anyways, all I'm saying is like a
Speaker 1: you know, like a local, like a co op owned
Speaker 1: booth babe.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like industry, like.
Speaker 3: You know, with proper health insurance.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Game show. When I went in twenty eighteen, they were
Speaker 2: doing Japan. I'm sure Japan as well, because because even
Speaker 2: like my first three is twenty fifteen, and I think
Speaker 2: at that point there were like virtually no booth babes anymore.
Speaker 2: But then I went to a Brazil game show and
Speaker 2: I was like, all right, this industry is still alive
Speaker 2: and kicking in Brazil.
Speaker 3: I support and empower anybody who wants to be a
Speaker 3: babe of any gender.
Speaker 2: Or booth men like the techan boys.
Speaker 3: Oh oh yeah, christ those were some summer some summer
Speaker 3: game fest. Like the best part is like so summer
Speaker 3: game Fest, there was these two tech and men who
Speaker 3: are so fucking ripped. I think we like all have
Speaker 3: pictures of them, but I didn't. I was too intimidated.
Speaker 3: People believe they weren't real. Like there were somebody who
Speaker 3: was like that that's a that's not that's a statue. Yeah, yes, yeah,
Speaker 3: everyone thought that's a real human breathing person with muscles.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, they were that fake looking.
Speaker 1: I saw them there and then I saw them again
Speaker 1: that EVO. They were also there for EVO, and I
Speaker 1: was like, look at it. I'm like, I hope you're
Speaker 1: going to be at every trade show I go to
Speaker 1: now and son, I just see those tech and boys
Speaker 1: right there.
Speaker 3: So yeah, anyways, no booth babes a GDC as far
Speaker 3: as we were because I didn't. I didn't walk the
Speaker 3: show florid and see them unless they're made of AI.
Speaker 4: Mm no.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 2: This is podcast about video games.
Speaker 3: We've been talking about it, and we we we've been.
Speaker 2: Playing some mm hmm.
Speaker 1: Should we talk about the big one this week?
Speaker 5: Well?
Speaker 2: Wait, what is the big one? Yeah? Because there are
Speaker 2: two big ones? Sure, well, what's to come out till
Speaker 2: next week? But the embargoes up, embargoes up.
Speaker 1: There's like the big one and then there's like the
Speaker 1: bigger one for us probably in terms of.
Speaker 2: US three, US three. Yeah.
Speaker 3: When he said the big one, only one game game
Speaker 3: to my mind.
Speaker 2: And that game is.
Speaker 1: Why don't we talk about Adam Fall first?
Speaker 3: Then well, hold on, why don't we?
Speaker 2: Why don't we?
Speaker 4: I I feel like we're gonna have a lot less
Speaker 4: to say about the other game, you know, sure, so
Speaker 4: I would say, let's talk about the other game that
Speaker 4: starts in an a ass ass Ends Creed.
Speaker 3: The band Shadows of the Damned.
Speaker 1: Assassin's Creed came out. It's out right, it's out, It's out,
Speaker 1: it's out. Okay, cool, you can buy it right now.
Speaker 1: You can buy it right now. Jordan Remay reviewed it
Speaker 1: for us on game Spot gave it an eight out
Speaker 1: of ten.
Speaker 3: Assassin dude, Jordan has played every fucking Assassin he has game, Like,
Speaker 3: actually played them, Yes, actually finished them. And then the
Speaker 3: best part is if you watch the Game Spot show
Speaker 3: which Jordan Remy is on, where we talk about Jordan's
Speaker 3: review of Assassin's Creed, It's almost like every time I
Speaker 3: said you've played all of them, Jordan was like, why
Speaker 3: are you? Why are you putting on? Is it not
Speaker 3: true that you've played all the Assassin's Creed games?
Speaker 2: Like I don't understand, I'm not shaming you or was I.
Speaker 1: Anyways, continued only uh no, Well, I was gonna say,
Speaker 1: if you want to hear Jordan's opinion, you should go
Speaker 1: watch that episode of the Game Spot. Never watching it,
Speaker 1: I find it okay. So I think Jordan I would
Speaker 1: What I would say is I think Jordan's review is
Speaker 1: the perfect review. If you're somebody who is very I
Speaker 1: would say similar to Jordan, because I think there's like
Speaker 1: two kind of camps with Assassin's Creed. Now there's people
Speaker 1: who you know, are like I, I love Assassin's Creed,
Speaker 1: I know what it is, I'm okay with what it is,
Speaker 1: and I just want, you know, more of that, or
Speaker 1: I want it kind of like you know, like within
Speaker 1: that sphere of Assassin's Creed, right, because it's like I
Speaker 1: think it's easy to kind of dunk on Assassin's Creed,
Speaker 1: but like it is popular, and it's popular for a reason.
Speaker 2: People like it.
Speaker 1: Jordan likes that kind of game, and I think if
Speaker 1: you are into that, like Jordan, is like a good
Speaker 1: metric for like, is this going to scratch.
Speaker 2: That itch for you?
Speaker 1: The person who likes Assassin's Creed? And I do not
Speaker 1: mean like that's not me being like I'm not trying
Speaker 1: to be derogatory or anything like that. I don't know
Speaker 1: if I'm coming across that way, but like no, like
Speaker 1: I mean that, like Jasony, like you know, it makes sense.
Speaker 1: This is all the set up my perspective, me the
Speaker 1: person who once really liked Assassin's Creed. I loved Assassin's Creed.
Speaker 3: Did you just walk around with like a hood?
Speaker 1: I did have an Assassin's Creed T shirt at one point,
Speaker 1: but you did you do the hood? No?
Speaker 5: Cool?
Speaker 2: No, I didn't do that because that's not because that's
Speaker 2: not very.
Speaker 3: Cool, because you like you didn't jump off a building
Speaker 3: into and went like to.
Speaker 2: A hay Band spider man.
Speaker 3: Man Peter Parker who Peter parked that ass over there? Assassin. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: you could have been you could have been a come on,
Speaker 3: you got a hood on it right now, you gotta.
Speaker 2: Throw it up.
Speaker 1: And this is like.
Speaker 2: An assassin. I don't know what they do.
Speaker 3: It's oh my god, I can't see you.
Speaker 2: The crowd once again for has tricked you into doing
Speaker 2: an impression of God.
Speaker 3: Dammit, yeah do is Enzio?
Speaker 2: Let's see you?
Speaker 3: Sure do you do that? Well?
Speaker 2: I don't even know. It's he's just like Italian assassin man.
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna do that. No, no, you do it.
Speaker 2: You're Talianule.
Speaker 3: Never played an assassin's creed game.
Speaker 1: What do you think the Italian assassins man? Sounds like
Speaker 1: fucking mean you stuff fun, get the funk out of
Speaker 1: my way.
Speaker 3: And he's you know, it's just like shaking people in
Speaker 3: the streets, throw me balls all over the place.
Speaker 2: I think I would have liked Assassin's creak. That was it.
Speaker 2: I'm fucking walk in here?
Speaker 3: Is that what it's like? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, he's done
Speaker 3: by It's voiced by Sonic guy, right it is.
Speaker 2: Yes, Yeah, it's gotta go fast, Roger Craigs.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna asassinate you for there.
Speaker 2: I'm coming for you. Pope is a pope.
Speaker 3: There's a pope in the one?
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, I would you fist fight the pope in
Speaker 2: that one?
Speaker 3: Damn?
Speaker 2: Should I please? Game?
Speaker 1: No, because you only do it. You gotta play like
Speaker 1: fisty hours.
Speaker 3: I mean, the pope is barely standing on two feet
Speaker 3: right now in real life. So if there's any.
Speaker 2: Time, yeah, I mean the pope, the pope is like
Speaker 2: in his deathbed when you show up and just start watching.
Speaker 3: Got all right? Cool?
Speaker 2: Anyway?
Speaker 1: I did at one point like Assassin's Creed and used
Speaker 1: to wear hoods and used to wear hoods and and
Speaker 1: say get out of here.
Speaker 3: I want to come up and I you, You're not
Speaker 3: gonna know what the fucket you.
Speaker 1: But eventually, you know, the lester wore off. I don't know,
Speaker 1: I just kind of did it. I think four was
Speaker 1: the last one that I was like really enjoyed, which
Speaker 1: was Black Flag, and then and then after that they
Speaker 1: were like we're making two at once, and I was like,
Speaker 1: oh a, didn't you.
Speaker 2: Unity and Rogue and where were you.
Speaker 3: The day of Union and Rogue released?
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 3: What a question, that's the least question. Wanted me to
Speaker 3: ask that to Jordan because I knew where I was
Speaker 3: where were you just behind the counter at a game stop.
Speaker 3: It was the worst fucking day of my life.
Speaker 1: Oh, that must have the people up with hoods and
Speaker 1: like yeah, and confuse Grandma's being like not even But
Speaker 1: that's the thing.
Speaker 2: It didn't didn't have.
Speaker 3: To be confused, Gramma. It could just be like normal personally,
Speaker 3: like hey, I'm going to pick up then Assassin's Creed.
Speaker 3: I was like, what one and they're like, I don't know,
Speaker 3: the one for Xbox, like Xbox or six yr Xbox one,
Speaker 3: like you have like a series like you know, like
Speaker 3: deduction you had to go through in order to do it, and.
Speaker 1: You should just like everyone a little piece of paper, yeah,
Speaker 1: like a little checklist, and they like checked the books.
Speaker 3: Then there were the older folk who were buying them
Speaker 3: for their kids, and it was like that's when I
Speaker 3: got real confused because there was like actual they don't
Speaker 3: know what the system they have. Yeah, So it was
Speaker 3: a nightmare.
Speaker 2: Imagine working at game stop when the Xbox series X
Speaker 2: and S came out, or the Xbox One, or you know,
Speaker 2: just working at a game stop. Yeah, probably, mm hmmm.
Speaker 3: Do you want to put five dollars down towards the
Speaker 3: pre order. Oh god, I hate that all right, as
Speaker 3: that's great shadows.
Speaker 1: Anyway, Okay, the whole reason I was setting this up
Speaker 1: was to say, like, I am no longer someone who's
Speaker 1: you're a lapsed fan, a lapsed fan, but I always
Speaker 1: pop back in to be like, maybe this one will
Speaker 1: rekindle the lost magic. You know, it'll it'll get the
Speaker 1: spark back and it and it's not happened. And unfortunately
Speaker 1: for me, I played like four hours of this game
Speaker 1: and I went, I don't I don't want to keep
Speaker 1: playing this.
Speaker 3: Did you even play as both protagonists?
Speaker 1: No, kind of because as right, start off Yosk at
Speaker 1: the very beginning for like like twenty minutes and then
Speaker 1: switches to no Away, the other protagonist, and then you
Speaker 1: just keep playing as an Away for like twelve fifteen
Speaker 1: hours until finally Yoske comes back into the story. So
Speaker 1: I didn't even get to that point because I was
Speaker 1: just like, nah, I'm good. It's really weird, how much
Speaker 1: like the opening of that game feels like this is
Speaker 1: like why is there two protagonist.
Speaker 2: In this game?
Speaker 3: Like it's just seems like that was Jordan's per review. Also,
Speaker 3: by the way, since we are doing this live. If
Speaker 3: you do have questions in chat, oh yeah, uh, drat
Speaker 3: them in chat and then we will answer them at
Speaker 3: the end of the show.
Speaker 1: Yeah, where we're going to build up some questions. If
Speaker 1: you have questions regarding either Assassins created, anything we talked about,
Speaker 1: or whatever, the whole question.
Speaker 3: Yeah, if you want to share a lemon bar recipe.
Speaker 2: No chat, I want to know where you were. Yeah, yeah, Evin,
Speaker 2: was it like August seventeenth, twenty twelve or something twenty fourteen?
Speaker 2: I think fourteen? That was off thirteen, fourteen fourteen, because
Speaker 2: twenty thirteen was black Flag, wasn't it, because that's when
Speaker 2: that there was a launch title with the Xbox One
Speaker 2: in PS four which came out twenty to twenty fourteen.
Speaker 2: You are correct, I mean you were correct.
Speaker 3: I just still it from me.
Speaker 2: I'm just like, yeah, yeah, November twenty fuck.
Speaker 1: Nikki's November fourteen twenty fuck. Okay, great, okay, November, thank
Speaker 1: you Nick, Thank you Nikki.
Speaker 3: Thank god.
Speaker 2: I was so in the last minute plot twist. I've
Speaker 2: played two and a half hours of Assassins. Whoa yeah,
Speaker 2: expense to copy, thanks Jan And you know what I
Speaker 2: like it? Oh you do? No, Actually, I haven't played
Speaker 2: enough to actually give like an opinion.
Speaker 1: But one day you've even gotten past the tutori.
Speaker 2: Well that that was my favorite thing because before I
Speaker 2: played it, you pointed out You're like, yeah, this game
Speaker 2: has two tutorials for some reason, and I'm like, huh.
Speaker 2: And then you play it and it has straight up
Speaker 2: two tutorials, like for just the basic combat.
Speaker 1: And it's like, should I get into my my theory,
Speaker 1: my theory.
Speaker 3: Jordan also has a conspiracy theory.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm gonna get into my conspiracy theory for this game,
Speaker 1: So play this game. I'm gonna also, sorry, I am
Speaker 1: going to straight up spoil the first like two hours.
Speaker 1: But I'm going to spoil the opening of this game,
Speaker 1: so if you care about that, just gip ahead, you know.
Speaker 3: I like, yeah, live.
Speaker 1: Funk off like whatever exactly opening of the game. He
Speaker 1: plays that way, and her village is being attacked and
Speaker 1: and like her her dad gets killed, and that is
Speaker 1: the the.
Speaker 2: Well sorry to spell something, yeah I really care.
Speaker 1: And that and that is like the crux that like
Speaker 1: sets off this entire journey where she like seeks revenge
Speaker 1: against this like group of people that murdered her dad
Speaker 1: and you're playing it, and you're like, okay, like whatever,
Speaker 1: it's weird because like the dad has this like really
Speaker 1: long extended death scene that's like you're really supposed to care,
Speaker 1: but I'm like, I've just met the dad like two
Speaker 1: minutes ago. I don't really care.
Speaker 2: Sorry. They're like all right.
Speaker 1: Then it proceeds to flash back and then start setting
Speaker 1: up the Dad afterwards, and you're like, oh, that's kind
Speaker 1: of weird like that you're like now introducing all this
Speaker 1: like setup for the Dad afterwards. And as Jake pointed out,
Speaker 1: at this point, you've you've done a couple of like
Speaker 1: gameplay sections as nowway that are kind of satorializing, like
Speaker 1: combat and stealth. When it goes into the flashback, the
Speaker 1: dad goes and now we will do our morning training,
Speaker 1: and then it goes into a training sword and you
Speaker 1: do like a training combat tutorial for the combat that
Speaker 1: you've already been doing and it doesn't teach you anything new,
Speaker 1: And I'm like, well.
Speaker 2: And it straight up teaches you that at the beginning.
Speaker 2: When you play as Yaske too, yes, it is like
Speaker 2: slightly he feels slightly different, but it's still the same
Speaker 2: buttons you're hitting.
Speaker 1: To do exactly, so you're like, why hold on, why
Speaker 1: am I doing a tutorial for combat? I already know
Speaker 1: this is weird. And then the flashback continues, and then
Speaker 1: it kind of just like abruptly ends, and you're like, okay,
Speaker 1: all right, I guess I have a little more context
Speaker 1: for the dad now whatever.
Speaker 2: It doesn't it end after you eat breakfast or something
Speaker 2: too like that.
Speaker 1: It's weird. It like it ends in a very like
Speaker 1: abrupt way, and you're like, that was kind of awkward.
Speaker 1: So then game keeps going for a bit. You finally
Speaker 1: get to the the like you can now explore the
Speaker 1: open world. The tutorials done, the setups, there go the
Speaker 1: One of the first things you find is this like shrine.
Speaker 1: It's like right next to the opening area.
Speaker 2: I go up to the shrine. I'm like, oh, that's
Speaker 2: the thing, let's go up to it.
Speaker 1: You do this little mini game where you like meditate
Speaker 1: and like hit some buttons and.
Speaker 3: You met you meditate and press buttons while you're meditating.
Speaker 1: It's not meditation, I know, it's I actually find that.
Speaker 1: I mean the game very aggravating. I don't find it
Speaker 1: very meditative, but meditating is supposed to be You're not
Speaker 1: supposed to be rhythmic. You're it's like boom boom, and
Speaker 1: it's like little chimes are happening. It's supposed to be peaceful.
Speaker 1: Put the damn controller. Don take a deep breath in
Speaker 1: breath life anyways, Okay they should They could have used
Speaker 1: you the like microphones, like they hear you breathing in
Speaker 1: h So then you do this minigame and then suddenly
Speaker 1: it goes to another flashback that continues exactly where that
Speaker 1: last flashback ended. So breakfast or yes, like you know,
Speaker 1: right after breakfast, people are attacking the village. This is
Speaker 1: all like you know, two years before, and you get
Speaker 1: more tutorialization of the combat, and then you're like and
Speaker 1: then it abruptly ends and that sequence is over. You
Speaker 1: go back to the open world and you're like, Okay,
Speaker 1: that was weird, And then every time you go to
Speaker 1: a shrine, it does another one of these flashbacks. What's
Speaker 1: really weird is that these flashbacks feel extremely well produced.
Speaker 1: They are like full on like story cut scenes, but
Speaker 1: the game is not telling you that, like it's not
Speaker 1: pushing you towards these it doesn't even like on the map,
Speaker 1: it's not like, hey, you should really go check this out.
Speaker 1: It's just a thing you discover and every time you
Speaker 1: do it, it's the same thing. Like cuts back to
Speaker 1: where the flashback ended, kind of awkwardly has a tutorial
Speaker 1: section that's like, now you're kind of learning stealth, and
Speaker 1: now you're doing this, and you do it like five times,
Speaker 1: and then the last one it stops right where the
Speaker 1: game begins with her village getting attacked. My conspiracy theory
Speaker 1: is that, oh, all of this was supposed to be
Speaker 1: the intro to the game, and they cut it all
Speaker 1: out and then sprinkled it throughout because they realized that
Speaker 1: the opening would have been way too slow or something
Speaker 1: like I don't like, I'm not I don't know anyone
Speaker 1: at you be soft, like I'm not gonna like confirm,
Speaker 1: like I have no idea. This is just a theory
Speaker 1: playing this game, but you play it, it feels so
Speaker 1: awkward and like why am I doing these in it?
Speaker 3: You could potentially play this without ever you couldn't.
Speaker 2: You could skip them.
Speaker 1: You cannot experience where you could find them, like hours
Speaker 1: in and being like, oh now I'm just to sneak.
Speaker 1: Here's now how to sneak, And here's the back.
Speaker 3: It's so bizarre.
Speaker 2: It's really bizarre.
Speaker 1: It's really bizarre, and like because you play it, those
Speaker 1: those flashbacks and you're like, well, this is at least
Speaker 1: giving me context for like who the dad is and
Speaker 1: her relationship, and like it makes the part his death
Speaker 1: at least, you know, makes sense. It's very strange. I've
Speaker 1: never seen that in a game before, where it's like
Speaker 1: so obviously like feels chopped up, you know, and like
Speaker 1: they just like maybe I don't know, maybe they had
Speaker 1: like some sort of epiphany of like, h like it's
Speaker 1: just not working, but like we also don't want to, like,
Speaker 1: you know, we all put all this hard work into it.
Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't I don't want to get
Speaker 1: overly speculatively about it, but like it's just I think
Speaker 1: it says something that when you play it, it feels
Speaker 1: weird and disconnected and yeah, it just feels off.
Speaker 2: I mean, even with all all that out in the beginning,
Speaker 2: I feel like for the two and a half hours
Speaker 2: I was playing, I never got to the point where
Speaker 2: it's like explore, like I felt like it was still moving.
Speaker 2: It a very oh I agree.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So it's like part of me is like I'm
Speaker 1: glad they that stuff wasn't all in the beginning, because
Speaker 1: I also was like get moving. And as we'll talk
Speaker 1: about with Adam Fall, that game just like falls, like
Speaker 1: it kicks you out the door, Well, you kick a
Speaker 1: guy and then you go out the door, and then
Speaker 1: it's like all right, here you go, and then you explain.
Speaker 3: What Assassin screen shadows feels like. And then I just
Speaker 3: played like forty minutes of Adam Fall. It is the
Speaker 3: absolutely opposite liked. Game opens guys like I'm bleeding out
Speaker 3: and you can choose to help him, but apparently also
Speaker 3: Jan Luke and Jake, really you actually don't have to
Speaker 3: help this dude. You could just kick him right in
Speaker 3: the face, take his key, and leave, and that's exactly
Speaker 3: what I And then the moment you walk out, you
Speaker 3: like beat up a guy and then world open no
Speaker 3: like no direction, no like hud at the point you
Speaker 3: where to go. So two big games this week, ye, yes,
Speaker 3: well no one of them is a big game. One
Speaker 3: of them is kind of a.
Speaker 2: Sleep double somewhere between Double A and Triple A.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I will say it seems like we're about to like
Speaker 2: kind of change subject. But there are some things that, like,
Speaker 2: I've kind of been enjoying an Assassin's Creed even though
Speaker 2: I'm not very far, I can already tell like, after
Speaker 2: I do it, you know, three or four times, I'll
Speaker 2: be bored. But I do like the combat. I think
Speaker 2: the combat is it's not like super intense or crazy,
Speaker 2: but it does feel like the best version of this
Speaker 2: combat that they've been doing for a while for the
Speaker 2: most part. Like there's still some weird like floatiness to
Speaker 2: it that I've never really been a fan of, but
Speaker 2: I think like it feels pretty good to play. The
Speaker 2: stealth I'm enjoying. The stealth feels way better. I like
Speaker 2: the grappling hook how you can just kind of like, yeah,
Speaker 2: climb up anywhere. And I also think this game looks incredible.
Speaker 2: I've been playing it on Ultra Wide. Well, certain things,
Speaker 2: like some of the cut scenes, some of them are good,
Speaker 2: some of them are okay. But like the world itself,
Speaker 2: I've really been digging, especially the season changes, Like I
Speaker 2: don't know how much of that adds for gameplay. I
Speaker 2: know that was kind of a big maybe not a big,
Speaker 2: but like a marketing point was like, oh yeah, seasons change,
Speaker 2: it affects the gameplay upon that was you could swim through.
Speaker 2: Now you can slide on or whatever. Right, cool, But
Speaker 2: I think visually that's really cool, and I kind of
Speaker 2: wish more games would play with seasons in a way that, yeah,
Speaker 2: this does maybe like a more dynamic more a more
Speaker 2: dynamic game could have done something cooler with it. I
Speaker 2: haven't played enough to really say yeah, but I'm probably
Speaker 2: gonna play a little bit more, at least I think
Speaker 2: because for me, like, I played the first Assassin's Creed
Speaker 2: and I thought was okay. I tried the second, did
Speaker 2: not like it, tried Brotherhood, not a fan for some reason,
Speaker 2: played all of three even though I didn't like it,
Speaker 2: played a little bit of four but liked it but
Speaker 2: didn't love it like and then just kind of like
Speaker 2: didn't play any of them until Origins, which I actually
Speaker 2: really liked Origins. I thought Origins is probably like the
Speaker 2: last decent story they've had in an Assassin's Creed game. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but that's another thing I've heard about this Assassin's Creed
Speaker 2: is and just U BEI Soft Games recently. I think
Speaker 2: Skillett mentioned it in his review, but I definitely noticed
Speaker 2: it in Star Wars out where they do this thing
Speaker 2: where they like have like a very story heavy setup
Speaker 2: and then there's no story for thirty or forty hours
Speaker 2: and then it's like, okay, now we have story again
Speaker 2: at the end, and like it just throws pacing up
Speaker 2: the Yeah, it like.
Speaker 1: Forces you to like do things in any order. But
Speaker 1: because of that, it's just throwing like characters and like
Speaker 1: that they just come like so fast and heavy and
Speaker 1: you don't remember any of them. I definitely feel that
Speaker 1: with this game, where all of the dialogue and all
Speaker 1: the characters were just like going over my head. I'm
Speaker 1: just like I don't care about any of this, Like
Speaker 1: I find it extremely dull and boring. I agree with
Speaker 1: you that I think like the stealth is actually like
Speaker 1: pretty good. It does feel like they finally have like
Speaker 1: come back around to emphasizing stealth in a major way,
Speaker 1: which Assassin's Creed has not done for a while. And
Speaker 1: because to me, it's like it's called Assassin's Creed like
Speaker 1: it was built with the idea of like stealth, so
Speaker 1: like stealth, you know, seeing them kind of like put
Speaker 1: another an emphasis back on that is nice, but it's
Speaker 1: just not doing anything new enough for me that I
Speaker 1: found myself. You can go prone quickly, Yeah, you can
Speaker 1: go prone.
Speaker 2: That's cool.
Speaker 1: You know, they're like, oh, we should do that, like
Speaker 1: you know, we like, no one's gone prone in forever,
Speaker 1: Like where could that be. It's not like we have
Speaker 1: a franchise where a guy went prone.
Speaker 2: No, okay, all.
Speaker 3: These years and they finally were like, what if you
Speaker 3: laid down, if.
Speaker 1: You laid down, took a nap, It's fine. It's just
Speaker 1: it's I don't for me, It's just like it doesn't
Speaker 1: do anything interesting for me. But I'm just like I'm bored,
Speaker 1: and I don't want to keep playing it.
Speaker 2: You know what I do want to keep playing Adam Fall,
Speaker 2: which is the new.
Speaker 3: Rebellion.
Speaker 1: Yeah I was my brain went RPG, but I that's not.
Speaker 1: I don't It's not an RPG. It's the new game
Speaker 1: from Rebellion, which revival game. The survival kind of but
Speaker 1: it's not of survival and like drinking water and eating food,
Speaker 1: you know. Yeah, it's it's the new game from Rebellion,
Speaker 1: the people who made Sniper Elite, which I've actually never
Speaker 1: played a Sniper Elite, so I have no they're good.
Speaker 1: I have no frame of reference for like how much
Speaker 1: of this game is taking from those games. Like I'm
Speaker 1: coming into this very like fresh to this developer, but
Speaker 1: I think this game like is like amazing, Like I'm
Speaker 1: I'm really really into it, Like I know the the
Speaker 1: the the tagline that like, because when when someone first
Speaker 1: told me about this game, because I never heard of it,
Speaker 1: They're like, oh, yeah, it's like a it's like a
Speaker 1: Fallout type game. I was like, oh, okay, it's not
Speaker 1: like a Fallout game, which is so adult, but I
Speaker 1: mean it's it's I'm the closest comparison I would say
Speaker 1: is Stalker or like far Cry too, Like it kind
Speaker 1: of has more that elements where everything is very like deliberate,
Speaker 1: everything is paced, a.
Speaker 3: Lot of shit working. Again, yes, there's a lot of.
Speaker 1: Friction in the game in a way that is I
Speaker 1: find like so like engaging where it's like, you know,
Speaker 1: like combat is like difficult. You can die in like
Speaker 1: a hit or two. You know, you have limited ammo.
Speaker 1: You you have to like think on your feet, and
Speaker 1: there's like interesting little I don't know, uh, like immersive.
Speaker 1: It has like immersive kind of like moments that you
Speaker 1: get out of like a like a far Cry game
Speaker 1: or like that.
Speaker 3: I only I've only played like forty minutes of it.
Speaker 3: But the one thing I do want to talk about
Speaker 3: and go back to it is like I think last
Speaker 3: week or a few weeks ago, I was at a
Speaker 3: bitch fest about the fault three opening and nonsensical and weird.
Speaker 3: That is like, so, I'm so proud of you for
Speaker 3: being a boy. I'm so proud of you for here's
Speaker 3: your own.
Speaker 2: Pity, here's your own pit boy.
Speaker 3: And then you deal with the bully who's like cockroach.
Speaker 3: Here's a baby, gone boy, go shoot up can or
Speaker 3: two and it just takes like fucking and you take
Speaker 3: a test. You take a goddamn test and it takes
Speaker 3: like an hour and a half get through, and then
Speaker 3: you get outside. And by the time I do the
Speaker 3: im like I'm fucking done. I don't want to be
Speaker 3: a part of this. I was this game the hinjhow to.
Speaker 3: This game is like ten minutes and then you are
Speaker 3: shoved into the open world. You're like, go, we're not
Speaker 3: telling you shit. That's all you get, and like hear it,
Speaker 3: like that's like it's not comparable to fall Out anyway,
Speaker 3: but it's funny to hear this comparisons like be like
Speaker 3: you should start up find them fall and compare that
Speaker 3: to it. But that's the opening because this game just.
Speaker 1: Goes and it's and from there it's extremely open end. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know you can you have an opening area, but
Speaker 1: you can go to any of the little areas in
Speaker 1: the game. Like immediately there is like it gives you
Speaker 1: like a direction to go in with the story, but
Speaker 1: like you can totally ignore it and just do something else.
Speaker 1: And like I went on a completely like tangent that
Speaker 1: I thought was just like I'm doing a side thing,
Speaker 1: and then it wrapped back around to the main story
Speaker 1: and I realize, like, oh, I think I just unlocked
Speaker 1: a path to lead to like one of the game's
Speaker 1: alternate endings, like and like that's awesome, Like like no
Speaker 1: matter what I do, it does eventually like very naturally,
Speaker 1: just like loop you back in like the main objective.
Speaker 2: That's what I was gonna say. It feels like because
Speaker 2: I was exploring the first area somewhat thoroughly and I
Speaker 2: felt like I found multiple clues that like pointed me
Speaker 2: towards my objective, even if I was just off the
Speaker 2: beaten path doing something else, and I kind of like
Speaker 2: that natural sort of quest development, I guess, especially compared
Speaker 2: to something like we just said, it's not like Fallout,
Speaker 2: but like the whole like just marker on the map
Speaker 2: and it's like you go and talk to the guy
Speaker 2: and he's like, you do this for me, and then
Speaker 2: you go do it and come back and talk to him.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean, I guess to explain what anfhol is
Speaker 3: because we really haven't. I mean, do you wake up
Speaker 3: at music? Is that the whole thing? Like do not
Speaker 3: know what's going on? Or do you.
Speaker 2: I don't think you know what's going You're not supposed
Speaker 2: to know what's going oka. I think you just wake
Speaker 2: up and you're like where am I?
Speaker 3: So you wake up this guy and has math Suit's
Speaker 3: like I'm believing.
Speaker 2: Now you gotta give me a bandage and if you me,
Speaker 2: you help them, if you're Kurt.
Speaker 3: Well, it was great because the punching that game, I
Speaker 3: just immediately and has ragged.
Speaker 2: All to the one and then I realized we bashed
Speaker 2: against the door and like broke his neck.
Speaker 3: But when you punch in that game, it's just two
Speaker 3: fists on screen, just like just like going back and forth.
Speaker 2: It's not there's no rhythmic sort of fighting. It's just
Speaker 2: like you just kick and kick and go. You will
Speaker 2: get attacked by birds in this game too.
Speaker 3: When you're like a murder of Froze.
Speaker 1: There's something so goofy throw or throw your weapon at them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And.
Speaker 3: That was the other thing is like, once you get
Speaker 3: into the world and it's open to you, all you
Speaker 3: get is a strange phone call from a phone booth.
Speaker 3: That's like, oh my guy, that's it. That's all you get,
Speaker 3: and you're out. You gotta go. And it's more or
Speaker 3: less you said this in your preview, that's like a
Speaker 3: detective game, like you're more so investigating what the fuck
Speaker 3: is going on, and you actually get like leads that
Speaker 3: then take you to different areas. But like I only
Speaker 3: had small hands on time with it, so I was like,
Speaker 3: I'm just gonna push whatever this m is to my limit.
Speaker 3: And I was I can't play cricket bats like throwing
Speaker 3: them over my head at these dudes when you stuck
Speaker 3: a knife in a guy's face. Yeah, when you get guns,
Speaker 3: they're all rusty and fucked up. And as you point out, uh,
Speaker 3: it does the Peter Jackson King Kong game thing where
Speaker 3: you have to check your AMMO to know how much
Speaker 3: like you actually have to like h so you're not
Speaker 3: there's I don't know, there's there's this sort of like
Speaker 3: a dancy sort of thing you do where you can't
Speaker 3: you're not just constantly reloading your gun because you're not
Speaker 3: actually seeing how muchmm you have in the first place.
Speaker 1: Heerio.
Speaker 3: It's more methodical, I guess in that way. And I
Speaker 3: don't know, like I'm excited to play more. I have
Speaker 3: no opinion opinion yet other than I fucking saw a
Speaker 3: group of dudes just doing their thing and I threw
Speaker 3: a Molotov cocktail at them. It was the best feeling
Speaker 3: in the world.
Speaker 6: But there is one of the most effective Molotov cocktails
Speaker 6: I've seen, thank you very much, thank you.
Speaker 3: And there were like six people and they were in
Speaker 3: a puddle. They could have just laid down, but that
Speaker 3: it's not that type of immersion. But uh, the the
Speaker 3: and the and that brief moment, it was just like
Speaker 3: really good to play in an opening of a game
Speaker 3: that at no point told me that I had to
Speaker 3: do anything.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 3: It was just like, go, You're in the world, figure
Speaker 3: it out.
Speaker 5: Go.
Speaker 2: I like that, And from what everything I played so far.
Speaker 1: It just it keeps that spirit going like it it
Speaker 1: has not at any point been like hey, you gotta
Speaker 1: go do this, like you know, it's like a main objective,
Speaker 1: but like the way you get there is up to you.
Speaker 1: Another thing I really love is the there. So there's
Speaker 1: the open world areas. In each area I would say
Speaker 1: like has a very different like flavor to it, not
Speaker 1: just visually but almost like the way enemies are populated
Speaker 1: with like allies. So like the first area feels very
Speaker 1: just like okay, it's full of bandits. It's kind of
Speaker 1: here to give you like the basic flavor. But then
Speaker 1: you'll go to this other area and it's actually like
Speaker 1: a village and it's like okay, like this is like
Speaker 1: there are no enemies here. Technically it is like an
Speaker 1: open village where you can go around, you can like
Speaker 1: talk to people, you can get quests and edit, but
Speaker 1: also you can at any point kill anyone, like you
Speaker 1: can kill all the major quest givers.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there was like there was a saddle his guitar
Speaker 3: as a guitar and he was like, well, I'll see
Speaker 3: you later, and I was like, can I kill this guy?
Speaker 3: Like Kingdom ten times? Like I don't know if I can.
Speaker 3: So then it took out a gun and shot in
Speaker 3: the face. I was like, oh, yeah, I can kill them,
Speaker 3: all right.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, one of the major quests that I did
Speaker 1: that led to that, like, oh, I think this is
Speaker 1: an alternate path. Like there were multiple moments during that
Speaker 1: quest where I could have like abandoned that quest or
Speaker 1: like antagonized them or just on my own decided to
Speaker 1: like you know, snap their neck or whatever, which is
Speaker 1: like awesome.
Speaker 3: I just love that game.
Speaker 2: Lets you do that, and it's like fine, like yeah,
Speaker 2: I keep going yeah whatever. I mean, even like down
Speaker 2: to like some of the some of the like mechanics
Speaker 2: you may not even get because like you haven't found
Speaker 2: the metal detector, which is a pretty key part of the.
Speaker 3: Game to find a flashlight.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like you don't have a flashlight and you have
Speaker 2: and you found it in like ten minutes. And it
Speaker 2: took me like an hour and a half to find
Speaker 2: a flashlight. So I was just like you, blundering through
Speaker 2: dark corridors trying to figure out where I'm going. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and you just find it right away.
Speaker 1: And the flashlight works like the Doom flashlight where you
Speaker 1: can't have the gun and the flash light out at
Speaker 1: the same time.
Speaker 2: I love it.
Speaker 1: It's oh so good there there you mentioned dark areas.
Speaker 1: I will say one thing that I have not loved
Speaker 1: about this game or found like a little bit of
Speaker 1: friction with is in a bad way, is because the
Speaker 1: combat can be so brutal in how quickly you die.
Speaker 1: There are some areas where I just get shot out
Speaker 1: of nowhere and I had like no context for it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Like that can be like a little annoying where you're
Speaker 1: just like, okay, I don't even I didn't even feel
Speaker 1: like I was given the opportunity to see this enemy
Speaker 1: and not in like not in like oh they ambushed me,
Speaker 1: just more like is that a guy over there? And
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, it's like and you're like, I'm dead,
Speaker 1: and like that can be a little frustrating, especially in
Speaker 1: like I went to this castle and there's like an
Speaker 1: underground you know, cavern in there, and like that area
Speaker 1: is like so dark and you can barely see. And
Speaker 1: there were times where I'm just like I feel like
Speaker 1: I'm just kind of stumbling around and getting killed in
Speaker 1: a way that wasn't as fun, nothing like game breaking,
Speaker 1: but like that moment, I found the game to be
Speaker 1: like a little like, eh, it's okay, or like you know,
Speaker 1: the enemies can can sometimes, I don't know, be a
Speaker 1: little brain dead in a way that can be where
Speaker 1: they just like rush you or you know, like so
Speaker 1: I wish that stuff was like a little stronger because
Speaker 1: I think it would make the game, I don't know,
Speaker 1: like feel like in comparison to other games that I
Speaker 1: think I've done it better, like a Stalker or or
Speaker 1: like a far Cry, like that feels like just not
Speaker 1: quite as up to stuff as those games. But it's
Speaker 1: by no means like a huge distraction. It's just like
Speaker 1: if I had to come up with a thing that
Speaker 1: I a criticism so far, it would be that.
Speaker 2: There are like because I remember in my preview one
Speaker 2: of the criticisms I guess ahead at the time was
Speaker 2: the AI because I could they especially melee, people would
Speaker 2: just charge me and I just kick swing kick swing.
Speaker 2: But I feel like it it's not maybe it could
Speaker 2: just be in my head or maybe now that I've
Speaker 2: played more, it's like a little different. But it doesn't
Speaker 2: doesn't feel quite as bad as it did during that
Speaker 2: preview because even like when I was watching you play
Speaker 2: and you got flanked. Yeah, that was I don't really
Speaker 2: I don't think that happened when I was playing it before.
Speaker 2: It could have just been the situation I was in, Nick,
Speaker 2: you are you okay?
Speaker 3: There's a hand coming from a dark I'm I'm, I'm,
Speaker 3: I'm I'm shocked. So while the while they're doing whatever
Speaker 3: they're doing. Uh, yeah, there was a there was a
Speaker 3: moment when all these enemies were coming through like a
Speaker 3: small doorway, and I was like, I got these, I'm
Speaker 3: gonna just funnel these through, and all of a sudden,
Speaker 3: a dude like ran around the other side of the building.
Speaker 3: It's like a little thing that other games have done,
Speaker 3: but still it.
Speaker 2: Just was like, oh my god, jeez.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So I feel like maybe there's like moments of it.
Speaker 2: But then also like in that same encounter, I think
Speaker 2: you saw a guy on the horizon.
Speaker 3: Like oh yeah, yeah, we were a dude through a trap,
Speaker 3: which I was like, but then he just kind of
Speaker 3: was on the hill go this way, No fuck, you
Speaker 3: want to go this way? Just kid.
Speaker 1: It was but I will say they have the enemy.
Speaker 1: AI do one thing that I think is like so
Speaker 1: so simple, but like say bloody, yeah, every every video
Speaker 1: game they should.
Speaker 3: All go bloody you you throw a cricket bat.
Speaker 1: No, it's it's when they, uh, they don't immediately attack you.
Speaker 1: Oh you know, like you'll like encounter them and they'll
Speaker 1: be like, hey, back off, and if you back off,
Speaker 1: they're like, yeah, that's right, and then they keep going.
Speaker 1: And I like genuinely love that because I think about
Speaker 1: other games like of like a Fallout where it's like
Speaker 1: I don't know, you're running across a bandit and they
Speaker 1: just immediately like time to kill you, and like, I
Speaker 1: don't It's just something as simple as like, you know,
Speaker 1: because because when that happened, you're like, yeah, you're a
Speaker 1: video game enemy. But the fact that they like have
Speaker 1: some level of like self preservation of like we don't
Speaker 1: necessarily want to pick a fight with you, we just
Speaker 1: will if you like get in our space is like
Speaker 1: very subtle, but a very like cool thing that I'm
Speaker 1: just like, I think every video game that like should do.
Speaker 2: That more sure. I'm I'm really curious to see if
Speaker 2: that like develops, because I know when I was talking
Speaker 2: to the director, he was saying that, like there's a
Speaker 2: faction system and if anything, it's sounded like that's probably
Speaker 2: the thing that was most inspired by Fallout far from
Speaker 2: Vegas in particular. Yeah, I'm curious to see like how
Speaker 2: that sort of stuff affects gameplay. Like I wonder if
Speaker 2: you know, you piss off one faction enough, they're not
Speaker 2: even gonna give you like a hold on, let's step back,
Speaker 2: and they just you know, shoot on site. Yeah, versus
Speaker 2: like one maybe you've buddied up with and they're like, oh, hey, pow,
Speaker 2: what's up.
Speaker 3: You know, he bro.
Speaker 1: I've done a little bit of that and and it's
Speaker 1: a little hit or missed for me, Like so and
Speaker 1: went and I attacked the Druids, which were the like
Speaker 1: weird force. So yeah, yeah, we're like, yeah, living in
Speaker 1: the castle, and they're like the castle is their base,
Speaker 1: so if you're there, they're gonna kind of agro more
Speaker 1: immediately makes sense, you know, we're like an intruder attack
Speaker 1: your home. They're going to be more aggressive. After I
Speaker 1: did that quest though, I did kind of keep going
Speaker 1: and I eventually like sort of sided with their faction.
Speaker 2: And and they forgave you.
Speaker 1: Well no, that was kind of the weird part was
Speaker 1: like it seemed like they did and for this specific quest.
Speaker 1: It was like, hey, like they're cool, they're not going
Speaker 1: to attack you. And then it's like you're with them now,
Speaker 1: and I'm like okay, like great, and then I'm like
Speaker 1: I'm going to leave now. And then immediately as I left,
Speaker 1: like a bunch of them attacked me, and I was like, okay,
Speaker 1: so I thought we were cool, but then it seems
Speaker 1: like it's not, or like maybe it just wasn't clear
Speaker 1: on how that worked, but yeah, it seems like they
Speaker 1: still wanted to kill me anyway, So sure, what's up
Speaker 1: with that.
Speaker 3: The one thing I'm curious about that I noticed pointing
Speaker 3: this out, it's like people in these gangs, like Norwegian
Speaker 3: the ones, I uh, look like like these Yeah, I
Speaker 3: look like these Norwegian death metal dudes with like white
Speaker 3: face paint black things, like like black paints, smeared down.
Speaker 3: They're wearing like crazy feathers. They look like birds, they
Speaker 3: look like crows. They look like they've been living in
Speaker 3: the wild, and they're acting like they're wild. But the
Speaker 3: moment I like killed them, I realized they had like
Speaker 3: really clean dap, like really close like faded damper haircuts.
Speaker 3: I was like, what's what's going on?
Speaker 2: Here.
Speaker 3: Why, like, are these guys this is what they do
Speaker 3: on the weekends.
Speaker 1: It's that British plaiting here and then they just yeah,
Speaker 1: they're like yeah, like back off. But then during the
Speaker 1: week they're just going to their normal desk job.
Speaker 2: I don't know what's going on.
Speaker 3: So anyways, I have nothing to add to that other
Speaker 3: than I'm curious.
Speaker 2: You know, hair develops.
Speaker 3: Yeah, how why are these why are they taking so
Speaker 3: much time to look fucked up? But then they spend
Speaker 3: all this time getting their hair cut and combing it
Speaker 3: properly and putting proper hair products.
Speaker 2: In it unless.
Speaker 3: They're reused assets from Sniper Linked.
Speaker 2: Oh oh, I don't even think of that. Damn.
Speaker 1: I will say the game can look a little rough
Speaker 1: on the character models. Sometimes some of the faces maybe
Speaker 1: don't look as a as A I don't know, expressive,
Speaker 1: expressive or or like highly detailed is maybe you would
Speaker 1: expect in twenty twenty five. But I think the art
Speaker 1: direction more than makes up for it, especially in the
Speaker 1: environmental details, like you can tell it's not it's more
Speaker 1: double a I guess, But I think it still absolutely
Speaker 1: is punching above its weight in terms of like the
Speaker 1: art direction and also it's like I don't know, I
Speaker 1: think I care less and less about it.
Speaker 3: I don't give a shit over Like the game is
Speaker 3: very sharp looking, as we were saying, like there's there's
Speaker 3: just a lot of actually a lot of grain, but
Speaker 3: you know, if you squint your eyes through that blur,
Speaker 3: that blurry vision, you see a really really well designed sort.
Speaker 2: Of vista in world.
Speaker 3: But I don't know, graphics never make or breaking experience
Speaker 3: for him, No, I agree, but it was enough that
Speaker 3: when I still play the game and like went out
Speaker 3: to the open world, the way the world has presented
Speaker 3: to you with like that red phone booth box and
Speaker 3: like there's two of these press hills and like the
Speaker 3: weird anomaly in the background and these uh and these
Speaker 3: like paths going in production, I was like, it's a
Speaker 3: sick shot, Like yeah, awesome, so yeah, yeh point punch
Speaker 3: and above its weight, punch, above the atom all absolutely uh.
Speaker 1: So obviously still early kind of impressions on this game,
Speaker 1: but it's like my biggest surprise of the year so far,
Speaker 1: you know, like I like I knew like Monster Hunter, like, ah,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be great, and does seem like this.
Speaker 3: Game went from like nobody knowing what the hell was
Speaker 3: to suddenly.
Speaker 1: Like like, oh, I want to tell everyone to go
Speaker 1: check this game out.
Speaker 2: I mean especially you know, Sniper Leite Deaf like they've
Speaker 2: been making They've made other stuff, but like they've been
Speaker 2: making Sniper League games right long, and like this game
Speaker 2: does borrow some DNA from it. I think when I
Speaker 2: was talking to the director, he had talked about how
Speaker 2: that sort of open ended objective style they kind of
Speaker 2: tried to carry over. But the difference was that Sniper Lead,
Speaker 2: those open ended objectives are kind of just like a
Speaker 2: localized just to one map, while this they were trying
Speaker 2: to like have those objectives spread across the entire world.
Speaker 2: I will say, like I've played some Sniper Lead. I
Speaker 2: do like those games. They're kind of like hit Manny
Speaker 2: in a way. But I think like you can kind
Speaker 2: of play with the environment a little more in Sniper Lead.
Speaker 2: There's a little more. There's a little more there's more
Speaker 2: tools in your in your toolkit I think to like
Speaker 2: really manipulate AI. And I think part of that just
Speaker 2: has to do with how that game is designed versus
Speaker 2: this one. This one feels a little more personal up
Speaker 2: close and and because of that, I feel like your
Speaker 2: kit might be a little more limited, but I think
Speaker 2: it works. I don't think it needs to be like
Speaker 2: this crazy immersive sim where you're doing all these wild
Speaker 2: stuff with enemies. I think it's like a it's a
Speaker 2: pretty good balance. I agree.
Speaker 3: That's how we have a thing to talk about. We
Speaker 3: have a thing to talk about because if you've been
Speaker 3: one this podcast, listen to this podcast orb and following,
Speaker 3: listen to here us talking about something that we've been
Speaker 3: working on for a really long time. It's finally out, Yes.
Speaker 2: The Stalker documentary, How Stalker to Survived the War? Oh man,
Speaker 2: where do we even start?
Speaker 3: Finally it's on YouTube.
Speaker 2: You can watch it. It's about forty five minutes long.
Speaker 2: It documents let's see it, documents Jesse game World, half
Speaker 2: the team that evacuated right before Russia invaded Ukraine, and
Speaker 2: sort of the ways they had to adjust and change
Speaker 2: Stalker two because of the conflict. God, I think I
Speaker 2: pitched it to the PR team in June of last year. Yep,
Speaker 2: we flew out in September. We shot it over the
Speaker 2: course of a week. We came back, started editing layoffs.
Speaker 2: Lost Chris Morris, who was like pretty instrumental, and I
Speaker 2: mean still was throughout the entire project, but like you know,
Speaker 2: there was we had a plan and that plan just
Speaker 2: kind of like evaporated after that, so we I don't know,
Speaker 2: we got Richard's help and kind of pushed through. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm super proud of it. It's yeah, I don't know
Speaker 2: what else say. I feel like that was like a
Speaker 2: quick version of it.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I think there's just a sense of relief
Speaker 1: like it came out, you know, yeah, at least for me,
Speaker 1: there was a moment where I was like, is this
Speaker 1: gonna happen? I don't know, Yeah, but I'm really glad
Speaker 1: we did.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: It's just, uh, it feels very it feels like the
Speaker 1: most important thing I've worked on a game spot, which
Speaker 1: is like because like I don't know, we talked about
Speaker 1: like silly.
Speaker 2: Video games, yeah, a lot of times, and it's just
Speaker 2: like like.
Speaker 1: Stuff that's like not frivolous, but like like you're not
Speaker 1: gonna like it's not gonna matter in like a week
Speaker 1: or two, and that's okay, there's nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 2: That kind of stuff, Like I like doing that, but.
Speaker 1: It's like this feels more like I don't know, there's
Speaker 1: like we're we're preserving and telling someone's story that can
Speaker 1: that can like live on for much longer and should
Speaker 1: be heard by people. So I'm I'm just really like
Speaker 1: glad we were able.
Speaker 3: To get I just want to give a big shout
Speaker 3: out to and Jake had already mentioned, but Richard Lee,
Speaker 3: who's in the credits for Stockertoon, is also in the
Speaker 3: back room. Richard is basically the reason why this thing
Speaker 3: like really got over the finish line, like all through
Speaker 3: like YouTube. You two actually went there along with Chris Morris.
Speaker 3: I was just like two of my thumbs most of
Speaker 3: this time. But I mean like I helped. I tried
Speaker 3: to do my best the way I can. But yeah,
Speaker 3: it was. If it wasn't for Richard, I don't think
Speaker 3: this thing would even really exist.
Speaker 2: So and if it did, it would have been no.
Speaker 3: Come on, Richard, it's.
Speaker 6: More than a thank you, like come on, So yeah,
Speaker 6: to your point though, John Wick, it's I never describe
Speaker 6: this job as I never say I'm a journalist, even
Speaker 6: though like a lot of people call themselves games journalists
Speaker 6: and that's fine, and like I go and do a
Speaker 6: lot of what I'm doing with like journalistic content, you know,
Speaker 6: like the way I cover games, but I would never
Speaker 6: call myself a journalist.
Speaker 2: But I think this is one of the few projects
Speaker 2: that I've done where I was like, oh, this actually
Speaker 2: feels like I not journal It sounds bad. And it
Speaker 2: was like, this actually feels like journalism.
Speaker 3: But like you're gathering, yeah, gathering information, you're putting stories together.
Speaker 3: It's like you had the interview many people string something together.
Speaker 3: It wasn't a story that was just like given to
Speaker 3: you on a piece of paper.
Speaker 2: You have to do research.
Speaker 3: You then had to go and like quantify the things
Speaker 3: you were saying with educational.
Speaker 2: Like yeah, got all this stuff fact. Well that is
Speaker 2: like that is the job.
Speaker 3: Like, that's what you have to do to be able
Speaker 3: to make sure the story is being properly told and
Speaker 3: represented from all angles. That's being a journalist. So you
Speaker 3: did it. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I think the biggest relief was like, after working out
Speaker 2: for so long and some of the some of the
Speaker 2: guys that you see game World saw it and they,
Speaker 2: i mean, like, is probably not what they described because
Speaker 2: reliving those memories I'm sure are terrible, but like they
Speaker 2: were happy with how it turned out and That was
Speaker 2: like a big relief for me because not that I
Speaker 2: not that I was trying to like I don't know,
Speaker 2: I was worried something would be off or something would
Speaker 2: be wrong, you know, like you want to do it justice. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you know what. I feel like you did them a
Speaker 2: disservice in telling their story. Yeah. Anyway, give it a
Speaker 2: thumbs up when you watch it, watch the whole thing through,
Speaker 2: leave a comment like juice that algorithm. Come on, let's
Speaker 2: let's get it on YouTube. Recommend them or too, uh.
Speaker 3: Like subscribe? No, what do you kids do these days?
Speaker 3: Share it with your mom or your guardian if they
Speaker 3: enjoy it or not. Nonetheless, I have make sure they
Speaker 3: watch it to the end, like share, subscribing, comment and
Speaker 3: all that jazz. But all that aside. I've talked about
Speaker 3: that game end they'll see and I'll probably wean off
Speaker 3: of it. But I mean, I also just think soccer
Speaker 3: two rules, so good game.
Speaker 2: It's true. Yeah, yeah, I was playing a lot more
Speaker 2: to capture for that thing, and I I played it
Speaker 2: some when it came out, but I didn't get to
Speaker 2: like really sit down and play it.
Speaker 3: And I was playing a lot more, and I was like, damn,
Speaker 3: a man, A.
Speaker 1: Man, Hey stalker, cool stalker man?
Speaker 3: Hey, hey guy, real cool you you shoot you killed stalker? Yeah, man,
Speaker 3: that's what they're always like, that's just my stalker. Every
Speaker 3: time I told that given to someone, I'm like, I
Speaker 3: have one guy that I quote basically, you're a cool
Speaker 3: stalker guy. Dude, Yeah, listened through his pants. That's a bug.
Speaker 3: I think they got rid of where they walk unfortunately.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Uh well, we're gonna start winding down this podcast. But
Speaker 1: do you want to ask do we have any questions?
Speaker 1: We have any questions? It'd be real awkward to answers. Now, yes,
Speaker 1: oh great, where were you?
Speaker 2: And okay? Cool?
Speaker 3: Okay, great? So I mean, how do you have have
Speaker 3: enough time to cares the great question? Where were you
Speaker 3: playing it?
Speaker 5: Like?
Speaker 3: Where were you in that environment? Did you see like
Speaker 3: a do you get a letter that says, hey, this
Speaker 3: is Creed Brogan un came out? What about it?
Speaker 2: Why we didn't even talk about it?
Speaker 3: No, get a job like Kirkland products.
Speaker 2: They are more Kirkland.
Speaker 3: Well I there. I do think they're toilet paper is
Speaker 3: pretty good. I'm pretty sure that's the toilet paper I
Speaker 3: buy is Kirkland. I have to go back at my
Speaker 3: at my corner market. That's the one I choose. The
Speaker 3: job done. I also have a good day.
Speaker 1: So I remember getting the the big peanut butter pretzel
Speaker 1: like the bins and and you know, destroying those is.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think. I think like my favorite Kirkland product,
Speaker 2: hot You have the hot dogs?
Speaker 3: Do they make hot dogs?
Speaker 2: Well, I mean Kirkland's Costco brands? It's Costco? Yeah? Wait
Speaker 2: do I hate? Wait?
Speaker 3: Then? Does is Kirkland carried at other places other than Costco?
Speaker 6: I don't know.
Speaker 3: I don't know, so maybe I'm lying. Do I tolet paper?
Speaker 3: I'll have your toilet paper.
Speaker 2: My answer is the chicken bake rap?
Speaker 3: Okay?
Speaker 1: Cool, but you can't buy it separately anymore. They used
Speaker 1: to sell it frozen. It's a meme, right, you're doing
Speaker 1: the meme?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 1: I genuinely like the chicken bake rap? What's the meme
Speaker 1: about it?
Speaker 3: Don't worry about it after jan you got something else.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 5: People are also asking your thoughts on the burger chain.
Speaker 5: Red Robin gives a fuck. I've been there, questions. I've
Speaker 5: been there once and way too many.
Speaker 3: Times because Rochester, New York is a sad calling. Well
Speaker 3: in the suburbs is a sad culinary place, right, I've
Speaker 3: been there quite a few.
Speaker 2: Times, if you remember anything about it.
Speaker 3: It's like the corporate you know, Russia's the Apple, Bee's
Speaker 3: and burgers or whatever. Like the chili is a burger
Speaker 3: is like sort of thing.
Speaker 2: Red Robin.
Speaker 3: I like that part. Uh, thankfully I don't have to
Speaker 3: look at I don't see those in San Francisco. I
Speaker 3: don't remember the last time I've seen one a person anyways,
Speaker 3: Only what do you think of Red Robin?
Speaker 1: Nothing, That's what I was gonna say. I don't remember
Speaker 1: anything about it, and once I couldn't tell you a
Speaker 1: single thing about it.
Speaker 2: People like the burger is all they have is that.
Speaker 2: The whole point they got fries too, probably is that
Speaker 2: it jam.
Speaker 3: Probably, I hope that's it.
Speaker 2: People are also saying they love the doc. Great job,
Speaker 2: thank you, cool.
Speaker 3: Thank you very much.
Speaker 2: That you should just you should have.
Speaker 3: I appreciate everyone who's giving us the time of day,
Speaker 3: but I appreciate you, uh saving that for last last
Speaker 3: of it.
Speaker 1: Anyway, I think we're gonna call a wrap on this
Speaker 1: podcast because you asked me anymore about fast food plays
Speaker 1: and like gives a ship I don't know.
Speaker 3: I got other things. We'll go home and investigate whether
Speaker 3: or not we have a Kirkly tilet paper, and please
Speaker 3: report back next week.
Speaker 2: I have a chicken enchiladas.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm in my fucking no, absolutely not. Rather, I'm
Speaker 3: never gonna forget that. Well, unfortunately me neither. I'm sure
Speaker 3: they have the cheesecake factor, along with every other monstrosity
Speaker 3: that's this god damn planet.
Speaker 1: I'm Curtrent Divino, you're Curtain Divina, You're Jake Decker, that's me.
Speaker 1: I'm John Lokzecki. Thanks again for watching, everyone, and we'll
Speaker 1: see you the next time