Speaker 1: Hello everybody, and welcome to Game Spot After Dark, episode
Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty five.
Speaker 2: Is that true?
Speaker 3: Two hundred and fifty five? You question this every time
Speaker 3: I'm on the podcast. I like just checked it. We're
Speaker 3: back after a couple of months, two months. Yeah, we've
Speaker 3: been in the void. We've been in the void.
Speaker 4: We are in the void right now.
Speaker 3: You're in the void. That's why it sounds like this
Speaker 3: little do you all know? Listeners, we've actually entered another place,
Speaker 3: another zone, and we have and that's the zone. We
Speaker 3: only just figured it out, figured out how to be
Speaker 3: able to communicate beyond. Yeah, yeah, which is why you
Speaker 3: hear such an echo.
Speaker 1: Full of anomalies. Hey, why don't we talk about why
Speaker 1: we haven't been on for a while for a brief minute.
Speaker 2: Let's do it.
Speaker 1: So, first off, I want to apologize. We've been trying
Speaker 1: to do an episode for a while and a bunch
Speaker 1: of compounding things have just happened. The big thing was
Speaker 1: we had a number of layoffs at the end of
Speaker 1: October that hit us pretty hard, the video team in particular.
Speaker 3: We were cut in half essentially.
Speaker 1: You know what, I want to just go in and say,
Speaker 1: so we lost, we lost the entire UK team.
Speaker 2: So Adam Morris, Dave Jewett, Ada Mason.
Speaker 1: Adam Mason lost Davante over on the East Coast, we
Speaker 1: lost Dave Klein, Dave Kleine over in la we lost
Speaker 1: Eric Tay and Aaron Sampson. Those last two you you
Speaker 1: might not be as familiar with because they're not really
Speaker 1: front facing people, but they were.
Speaker 2: Like, I've been here for years, and.
Speaker 1: Aaron in particular had been here for like I think
Speaker 1: the longest, maybe like sixteen years, almost at twenty, I think.
Speaker 3: Almost at twenty.
Speaker 4: Yeah, goodness.
Speaker 3: If you want to know who, if you want to
Speaker 3: know who Aaron Sampson is, I highly recommend that you
Speaker 3: go into YouTube our YouTube channel and watch the Call
Speaker 3: of Duty video about playing it as an old person.
Speaker 1: As a dad. That was the last video he ever
Speaker 1: made and.
Speaker 3: Without knowing what the fate was that you know the
Speaker 3: hand that you will be dealt. That is such a
Speaker 3: good video And if only.
Speaker 1: We could all be so lucky to go out on
Speaker 1: a video that is like quintessentially uses in the way
Speaker 1: that video is for Aaron.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, Aaron.
Speaker 1: Aaron was my manager, Yeah, my manager for a very
Speaker 1: long time, very long time. And then Eric was the
Speaker 1: was was my manager for a long time and then
Speaker 1: eventually became like a head of video a game spot.
Speaker 1: So yeah, that happened, and then we kind of had
Speaker 1: to pick up the pieces and then we didn't have
Speaker 1: an office for a while, but we do now because
Speaker 1: we're sitting in our studio.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean we kind of have an I mean
Speaker 3: we have an office. We have an office now, but
Speaker 3: there's nothing in it. Are literally sitting in the void
Speaker 3: of a room, in an empty room, a giant open
Speaker 3: studio for what Yeah, so that might be if you're
Speaker 3: hearing an echo, that is why.
Speaker 5: So but can we talk about like when the studio
Speaker 5: will be operational when I mean, like, I know, we
Speaker 5: don't want to go into like next year's strategy, but
Speaker 5: like games, but after dark, we're not done with it, right,
Speaker 5: it's it's it's coming back next year. We're going to
Speaker 5: have some cool bells and whistles that will come along
Speaker 5: with Yes.
Speaker 3: Yes, So.
Speaker 1: Beginning next year we have some people who are gonna
Speaker 1: come in and build out the studio for us, and
Speaker 1: we're gonna turn it into a really cool space and
Speaker 1: then yeah, after dark will we'll probably keep doing it
Speaker 1: as like an audio thing at the beginning of the year.
Speaker 1: But then eventually, once the space is set up and
Speaker 1: you know, we have this kind of full new vision
Speaker 1: that we're working on, it will go back to live
Speaker 1: on video, which should be cool. So yeah, we've been
Speaker 1: dealing with all that. It's been a lot. So first off,
Speaker 1: I just you know, thank you everyone for sticking around
Speaker 1: and for understanding why it's been a little tough to
Speaker 1: record because it's just been crazy.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think the nature of the podcast over
Speaker 3: the past I don't know, six plus months has been
Speaker 3: up and down in terms of consistency.
Speaker 2: So yeah, it's tough.
Speaker 3: And for those of you who are listening, who show up,
Speaker 3: thank you. We will get back to normality. Yes, we
Speaker 3: are on our way to it, or at least some
Speaker 3: I don't know. Yeah, I mean we going a handshake, and.
Speaker 4: In fact, there's almost.
Speaker 5: Next year there might be more emphasis on the podcast.
Speaker 5: To be fair, like, I think it's going to be
Speaker 5: very consistent, will need to be very consistent.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so yeah, yeah, it'll things will dictate that there will.
Speaker 3: Be more of a consistent normality to it.
Speaker 2: There will be blood.
Speaker 3: There will be blood.
Speaker 5: I've been talking about that movie a lot. Really, I'm
Speaker 5: always talking about that movie that I've never.
Speaker 3: Seen really said much to me about it.
Speaker 2: Really, No the.
Speaker 3: Infamous I would like Milkshit. Yeah, I always think about
Speaker 3: it for the when it lost to No Country for
Speaker 3: Old Men for Best Picture.
Speaker 4: Which is crazy.
Speaker 3: I feel like that is like I watched a notorious
Speaker 3: uh one that's movies because back to back.
Speaker 5: Yeah, the titles should be flipped. I think it would
Speaker 5: make more sense if the titles were flipped. But like
Speaker 5: I watched No Country for Old Men a couple of
Speaker 5: days ago.
Speaker 4: It is a great movie. I love it, but to
Speaker 4: think that it lost that there will be blood is
Speaker 4: just is baffling to me.
Speaker 5: It's amazing movie, but there will be blood as like,
Speaker 5: in my opinion, very next.
Speaker 3: Love, I mean, my fiance for the longest time was
Speaker 3: also because I love No Country for Old Men and
Speaker 3: I would always mention it and Julianne be like, that's
Speaker 3: the movie with the cowboys, And when she would say that,
Speaker 3: was like, well, I mean it's a western in some ways,
Speaker 3: it's like a suspense thriller. And I guess it takes
Speaker 3: place in the desert a lot like I guess I
Speaker 3: think I know what she's talking about. And then it
Speaker 3: wasn't until much much later where we're watching No Country
Speaker 3: Old Man, She's like, this is not the movie I
Speaker 3: thought this was. And that's when it clicked and I
Speaker 3: was like, oh, you're thinking about there will be blood.
Speaker 3: It's not a cowboy movie, which is not a western.
Speaker 3: But I get it same era.
Speaker 2: I guess maybe.
Speaker 4: If I had a straw that went from one side
Speaker 4: of the room, do your milkshit.
Speaker 3: Maybe we should just do this entire podcast with Jake
Speaker 3: recording that movie. It's great because No Country Old then
Speaker 3: barely has dialogue's like, which something I do love about
Speaker 3: that movie, Like, I mean, the only thing I really
Speaker 3: think of is call it like the flippy Yeah, call it.
Speaker 2: That's it.
Speaker 3: Anyways, if you.
Speaker 4: Had the book, No looks very good. I think the
Speaker 4: movie is better, but the book is very good.
Speaker 3: That's why the dude who did the rose Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Anyways, video games and and all that stuff, let's not
Speaker 3: talk about let's not talk about anything.
Speaker 1: It's the end of the year. It's true, it's the
Speaker 1: end of the year. So game Spot go to GameSpot
Speaker 1: dot com. We have our top ten up. We have
Speaker 1: a Game of the Year up. It was metaphor refantasio.
Speaker 2: Is that how you say it?
Speaker 3: Yeah, refantasio, fantasio, refantasio. I can't say it. I mean,
Speaker 3: I'm saying it now. You gotta say it like a
Speaker 3: re fantasm metaphor refantasio.
Speaker 2: I struggle saying it.
Speaker 4: Is there a colon between the r E and the
Speaker 4: fantasio or? Did I dream that?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 1: But the the F is capitalized, so it's r E.
Speaker 3: I think you're just a stare. You're typing Japanese RPG titles.
Speaker 3: I have every they do, like words, there's a colon
Speaker 3: after metaphor? I think there is.
Speaker 5: I think, yes, assume there is, for like the fire
Speaker 5: Escape Game of the Year, the other one of the
Speaker 5: podcasts I work on. There's always a category that's just
Speaker 5: worst titled games, and some of them are just truly,
Speaker 5: truly truly.
Speaker 1: What was one of the worst titled games this year?
Speaker 4: I can't even think of it off the top of
Speaker 4: my head. I can probably pull.
Speaker 3: Up what's the new Naughty Dog one? Intergalactic fun time.
Speaker 1: Heretic profit profit. It's so bad that really it's called
Speaker 1: Intergalactic the heretic prophet.
Speaker 3: Yes, oh god, it's the same it's it feels like
Speaker 3: the same garble of fucking nonsense words as that one
Speaker 3: Breath of the Wild Ubisoft clone. Oh oh, Phoenix Yeah,
Speaker 3: Phoenix Rising. Yeah, And it just feels like a series
Speaker 3: of words. Yes, Immortals Phoenix Rising.
Speaker 1: They should have just gone with Intergalactic that's like way better.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know. And also I think the original
Speaker 3: title for Mortals Phoenix Rising was like, we have.
Speaker 6: A different the God's Anger of the Gods or something
Speaker 6: like Gods and Monsters, Gods and monsters, which is quite cool, cool,
Speaker 6: but you know, se o, it's gonna be a lot
Speaker 6: easier to identify that you're looking for something.
Speaker 3: Yeah, because if you were having Gods and Monsters, you'll
Speaker 3: probably find a lot of stuff it's about gods and monsters.
Speaker 3: But if you type in Immortals of Phoenix Rising, Google's
Speaker 3: gonna have no problem finding that fucking string of bullshit,
Speaker 3: just like Intergalactic Prophet Wizard.
Speaker 5: I know this, it has been said, but man is
Speaker 5: depressing that we're naming games based on or anything based
Speaker 5: on the case.
Speaker 3: But I can as I can imagine, you know.
Speaker 5: But it is something I'm sure that gets thought about.
Speaker 5: There's meetings where it's like, what can we call it?
Speaker 5: This like what happens if you google it?
Speaker 3: And yeah, it was a really good joke.
Speaker 1: I forgot about because I had to recapture the beginning
Speaker 1: of Lorelai the other day. And when you first meet
Speaker 1: Renzo and he's like on the phone and he's like, oh,
Speaker 1: he's talking about He's like what they just want to
Speaker 1: call it lazery. He's like no, no, no, no, no, like
Speaker 1: tell me can go fuck themselves.
Speaker 3: And that's why Laura Lili and the Laser Eyes is
Speaker 3: my personal game of the Year because it is also
Speaker 3: my personal game of the year.
Speaker 4: It is also.
Speaker 3: Talk about being a satire and also a commentary on
Speaker 3: game development and art technology and doing it all at once,
Speaker 3: to the point where we're talking about a garble of
Speaker 3: fucking words, and Laura Li and the Laser Eyes addresses
Speaker 3: it in the opening ten fucking minutes, which makes you
Speaker 3: kind of which I think validates your point. That's like, yeah,
Speaker 3: I think maybe you know, there's definitely probably a meeting
Speaker 3: someone's happening.
Speaker 5: I mean, I imagine for smaller titles, they're probably not
Speaker 5: as concerned with that.
Speaker 4: Maybe they are, I don't know, but like you, you know,
Speaker 4: you'd be soft has to be like they have meetings where's.
Speaker 3: And it's clearly working the fuck out for them. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm doing great right now. Yeah, not to be totally
Speaker 3: jaded about it, but I mean, like you see these
Speaker 3: big giant businesses and corporations making these silly decisions that
Speaker 3: I just can't forge. I can't see anything that there
Speaker 3: is happening on there, and they're neck of the words
Speaker 3: that makes sense. Yeah, I mean the person I've gotten
Speaker 3: our top sad in that game I gave me.
Speaker 4: To play that.
Speaker 3: That game's cool. It's uh, I think I think it was.
Speaker 2: But they also just burst the team, so yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, I'm not gonna I'm not like
Speaker 1: a games analysts, so I'm sure there's many reasons why
Speaker 1: that game didn't succeed, But I honestly think that is
Speaker 1: an example of the perception of it U be soft
Speaker 1: kind of like very.
Speaker 3: Negatively impacting, where I think a lot of people who
Speaker 3: are like I know I would like that game.
Speaker 1: I just don't trust you be soft. Like I heard
Speaker 1: that all want from people, which is very interesting.
Speaker 5: I mean, it's so shallow I need to get it.
Speaker 5: I think I'm gonna play it. I've got a flight
Speaker 5: coming up, Long Flights. I think I'm gonna play it
Speaker 5: doing that. But like for me, it was like, man,
Speaker 5: that's fifty dollars it came out, Yeah, that's kind of
Speaker 5: a lot, and like, but the to say, because I
Speaker 5: know the game is very good. People everyone I've talked
Speaker 5: to have loved it and like, it's just.
Speaker 3: But I understand that mentality. I also it's like, but
Speaker 3: the funny part is, you know if you saw Metro
Speaker 3: dread for fifty dollars, would you have had the same feeling.
Speaker 5: No, I would have thought it was a deal because
Speaker 5: it was like, wow, Nintendo didn't charge sixty dollars.
Speaker 3: Yeah, right, But I think.
Speaker 5: Part of me too, Like, I mean, Metroid might be
Speaker 5: a weird example, but I fucking love Metroid.
Speaker 3: And it's been tranditionally. Yeah, and at least I stand
Speaker 3: correct because at least Metroid basically created the genre that
Speaker 3: Prince of Personal Lost Crown is adapting. Yeah, but I
Speaker 3: mean it fucking did it exceptionally well?
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I think I'm gonna get it and play
Speaker 4: it over over the break.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So I had decided to come up with just like
Speaker 1: a list of weird questions. Cool that we could just
Speaker 1: kind of go over to kind of give our personal
Speaker 1: flavor for the year, our own, our own wrap up
Speaker 1: between the three of us. So I want to start
Speaker 1: with what was a game that was not in Game
Speaker 1: of Spots Top ten that you personally would have put on?
Speaker 3: Got It?
Speaker 4: I don't know the name, but you're the one who
Speaker 4: recommended that I play.
Speaker 2: Twentieth Century Kid.
Speaker 3: Twentieth Century Kid bo Boca no Matsu. Yeah, I'm all
Speaker 3: I love I put in like twenty hours in this.
Speaker 4: I think I put like ten or twelve.
Speaker 5: Yeah, but I think that was probably one of my
Speaker 5: favorite games that even I forgot to put in my
Speaker 5: top ten. But we were just talking about it, and uh,
Speaker 5: it's definitely one of the more not Suman not Suman. Yeah,
Speaker 5: definitely one of the more interesting games that came out
Speaker 5: this year because it's kind of about nothing. It's you
Speaker 5: were just a kid and you have that that innocent
Speaker 5: sense of discovery as you're walking around catching bugs in
Speaker 5: nineteen ninety nine in Role Japan.
Speaker 4: But yeah, I dug that game along.
Speaker 3: And that game also does really doesn't tell you, like
Speaker 3: it only suggests it only like gives you ideas of
Speaker 3: like what you could do and what you could explore.
Speaker 3: But you can play that entire game having never because
Speaker 3: it only lasts for it last. You know, it's like
Speaker 3: a day night cycle that lasts for a summer's worth
Speaker 3: of time in game thirty days, right, Yeah, but you
Speaker 3: can complete that game after like it just runs out
Speaker 3: out of time in thirty days, and you could literally
Speaker 3: done nothing that the game told you to do. You
Speaker 3: just can exist and like wander around town and like
Speaker 3: meet people lovely out like in the fields and roll
Speaker 3: Japan or like touch butterflies and not give a shit
Speaker 3: about anything.
Speaker 5: And there's like a bunch of great characters too, and
Speaker 5: like if you do want to do I guess not
Speaker 5: side missions tasks or whatever, Like there's the whole mystery
Speaker 5: club that you can get involved in, and there's the
Speaker 5: guy who's trying to clean his lighthouse or whatever.
Speaker 2: And fill your diary every night.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and yeah, that's a good one that was on
Speaker 3: my top ten.
Speaker 5: I know I should have put it on there. I
Speaker 5: think it was just completely spaced forget. Yeah, but it
Speaker 5: definitely would have been I think a hard fight to
Speaker 5: get it on gamespots.
Speaker 3: I don't know, I mean clearly if we So for
Speaker 3: those of you who don't know, the way our top
Speaker 3: ten works is like we all vote, we all have
Speaker 3: our own list of top ten that we submit, and
Speaker 3: then based on where those fall into a line in
Speaker 3: our top ten, kind of aggregates points and then you know,
Speaker 3: but like for example, Lorelin Lasers made on our top
Speaker 3: ten because I think four or five people voted for it,
Speaker 3: but they voted for it very high.
Speaker 5: I mean, I know three people who put it number one,
Speaker 5: but there's even two other people who voted for it
Speaker 5: and put it pretty high in their list, which got
Speaker 5: it into our top ten.
Speaker 3: But that doesn't mean it's actually in our top ten.
Speaker 3: That just puts it up for discussion. Sure, so even
Speaker 3: if like Jake and I put natsum on twentieth Century
Speaker 3: Kid on our like number one our list, like, that's
Speaker 3: probably not enough to have actually got it in the
Speaker 3: top ten.
Speaker 4: Yeah, unless we fought past unless.
Speaker 3: We had a half life Alex moment where not enough
Speaker 3: people played it and we were like, no, this fucking game.
Speaker 1: So, like a weird example for me is in a
Speaker 1: reverse of that, was I put a game in my
Speaker 1: top ten pretty high that I figured, oh, this is
Speaker 1: not gonna end up in the top ten. It actually
Speaker 1: did initially buy the votes, but then it got kicked
Speaker 1: out and Final was with it. That was Destiny to
Speaker 1: the Final Shape, which I put on my top ten
Speaker 1: for very personal reasons of like, well, this game means
Speaker 1: a lot to me, you know, culmination of a ten
Speaker 1: year story and journey for that game, Like, I think
Speaker 1: it just came together so incredibly well. And it was
Speaker 1: like I really didn't think that thing was going to
Speaker 1: be any good because of how the last expansion I
Speaker 1: thought was kind of disappointing, and I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: I don't know if they can bring the story together.
Speaker 1: They had a bunch of layoffs, like it just but
Speaker 1: they did it, and it was like incredible. So like
Speaker 1: it just meant a lot to me and apparently meant
Speaker 1: a lot to enough other people at games they initially
Speaker 1: end up in our list.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was gonna say, if it wasn't for Stalker two,
Speaker 3: Indiana Jones and what was the third one that stuck
Speaker 3: its way up Hell Diveries was it?
Speaker 6: Hell? Yeah?
Speaker 3: Well, I mean for me, if it wasn't for soccer
Speaker 3: too in Indiana Jones, I would have I mean I
Speaker 3: did I think I believe I voted for Desney today.
Speaker 3: It was it was actually really close in the list. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I mean it made it like it was into the
Speaker 3: it was number ten in the top ten when it
Speaker 3: when we didn't know it it was, it was there.
Speaker 3: It was there, but if it wasn't going up against
Speaker 3: two other games that I I personally played and.
Speaker 1: Thought sure and and and I also felt like it
Speaker 1: should have gone to those games.
Speaker 3: Yeah, is that your game that you would have you
Speaker 3: would have had in the top ten if you could.
Speaker 1: Chose m maybe, But because it kind of did end up,
Speaker 1: I think the other game I would talk about that
Speaker 1: was like a personal like I just sunk a ship
Speaker 1: ton of time into this game, but I knew it
Speaker 1: would never end up in the top ten was View Rising. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because my weird Vampire Crafting Build Your Gothic Castle game.
Speaker 1: I put a lot of time in ninety hours into
Speaker 1: that game. Damn played the whole thing co op, which
Speaker 1: is the way to play it, by the way, like
Speaker 1: straight up.
Speaker 3: It was.
Speaker 1: It was interesting talking about because Richard asked me afterwards,
Speaker 1: He's like, I tried playing that game. I just like
Speaker 1: I did not like getting bounced off and it was
Speaker 1: telling me all these things about it that he didn't like.
Speaker 3: And uh, also, apologies of this sound happening.
Speaker 4: There's still building out.
Speaker 1: They're still building, especially the void exactly. Yeah, we don't
Speaker 1: we don't question what comes out of the void. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, like I totally get like, like I kind
Speaker 1: of realized, like, yeah, yeah, the game does have a
Speaker 1: lot of like weird friction stuff that m I could see.
Speaker 1: If you played by yourself, you'd be like this kind
Speaker 1: of sucks versus but playing that game co op and
Speaker 1: having that specific experience of like working together to take
Speaker 1: down these bosses, to build our castles, to like help
Speaker 1: each other out, it's just extremely fun.
Speaker 3: I mean I labeled you as the like the v
Speaker 3: Rising personal game spot. There was a moment where I
Speaker 3: think somebody in our news slack was, hey, does any
Speaker 3: even play for Rising? And before I can even type
Speaker 3: your name, You're like, I'm here, what do you need?
Speaker 4: Like, what do you need?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I just set it up to the whereas it
Speaker 1: gets the type of slack and automatically messaging.
Speaker 2: We have Googled notifications if anything's ever needed.
Speaker 1: It was like, I'm here, Yeah, that game, that game
Speaker 1: is like, if you're into that.
Speaker 3: Type of uh, that type of.
Speaker 1: Experience, like it is really really fun, especially because you
Speaker 1: can just have like a server going with eight people
Speaker 1: in a group.
Speaker 3: Oh, I didn't realize there's that many people.
Speaker 1: You can have up to eight and and the thing is,
Speaker 1: so we played it where we were on like a team,
Speaker 1: but you can have it where everyone's against each other
Speaker 1: and you can face right people's castles.
Speaker 3: Because that's when I was like, I want to make
Speaker 3: the shittiest fucking mansion imaginable and have people come and
Speaker 3: raid my joint find fucking jack shit.
Speaker 5: I will say probably one of the biggest surprises for
Speaker 5: me as we were putting together that top ten was
Speaker 5: Final Fantasy was pretty high on there, and I was like,
Speaker 5: I'm just gonna say my piece, I don't think this
Speaker 5: game belongs on the list, and I was like, you know, I'm.
Speaker 3: Sure a lot of people want to to do that.
Speaker 5: And after I said it, I put my headphones down
Speaker 5: and walked away, and mid lunch came back and it
Speaker 5: was off the list, and I was like, all right,
Speaker 5: you know, I'm sorry if you're a fan, but oh
Speaker 5: my god, that game wasted so much.
Speaker 3: Of my time I mean two more, who's saying the
Speaker 3: reviewer of that game who gave it an eight out
Speaker 3: of ten, it was like I could not bring himself.
Speaker 3: I know Jess really wanted it.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, And I will preface I know people were
Speaker 5: very excited for that game.
Speaker 4: I know people had a lot of fun. I am
Speaker 4: so happy for them that it connected it just I
Speaker 4: wanted it. I wanted to enjoy it so bad I couldn't.
Speaker 1: It didn't end up on my top ten. But that
Speaker 1: is a game that, despite how messy it is and
Speaker 1: how badly it ends and really like just I think
Speaker 1: like kind of takes a nose dive, there are things
Speaker 1: about that game that I still think are really incredible
Speaker 1: and amazing. I think the voice actor for Barrett should
Speaker 1: have been nominated and one Best Voice Actor for the
Speaker 1: Game Awards. And that's just my personal shit, But I like,
Speaker 1: to me, I'm like, he's the standout.
Speaker 3: What about what was your feel like?
Speaker 4: How So?
Speaker 3: I haven't played Final Fantasy Rebirth seven Rebirth, but I've
Speaker 3: heard a lot about Barrett's story. I played a lot
Speaker 3: of the games for who was nominated for Best Actor?
Speaker 3: Oh sure? I really it was a weird one for
Speaker 3: me because I really do think the actor who portrayed
Speaker 3: James Sutterland should have only because so much of it
Speaker 3: is owed to.
Speaker 2: Not those lines, but purely I agree.
Speaker 1: I also think it's funny because the actress for sanuel One,
Speaker 1: which I you know, I think she's incredible, She's fantastic,
Speaker 1: but equally help Blade also won Best sound Design, which
Speaker 1: I also think should have gone to Silent Hill too,
Speaker 1: because I'm like, heel Blade had the most sound design, Yes,
Speaker 1: he's the most present.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know if I would. I have.
Speaker 1: I have feelings about that games sound design and how
Speaker 1: it's actually uti where Style Hill to sound design genuinely
Speaker 1: fucking terrifying, Holy shit that game.
Speaker 5: I feel like sound design in in movies and games
Speaker 5: is one of those things that I don't think a
Speaker 5: lot of people really understand, Like yeah, they.
Speaker 3: Know it, but they know it when it's not there.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: It's like one of those things that like I think
Speaker 3: a lot of people can identify when it's good and
Speaker 3: they like I was like, oh my god, that movie
Speaker 3: sounded so good, but when it's bad, it's like they
Speaker 3: can't quite plays like why, Like it's it's the thing
Speaker 3: they notice it's there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think the to get a little inside baseball,
Speaker 1: I guess for the Game Awards, I I feel that
Speaker 1: because we're talking about we're talking about who won game
Speaker 1: awards awards, not our personal awards. Yeah, there's some categories
Speaker 1: that I think just like I don't know if collectively
Speaker 1: games journalists who are the ones who vote these have
Speaker 1: like an understanding of some of these things the way
Speaker 1: they should, like maybe like certain individuals do, but like
Speaker 1: I would say, like sound design music is another one.
Speaker 1: Game Direction is a really weird award for me because
Speaker 1: it basically it's like, well what does that mean?
Speaker 3: And very rare direct a game?
Speaker 1: Yeah, And usually what ends up happening is like best
Speaker 1: Game Direction also ends up going to the Game of
Speaker 1: the Year or something like that. Like usually those end
Speaker 1: up just being the same thing.
Speaker 3: Not always, but oh yeah, I mean did astrobot when
Speaker 3: actually I don't remember.
Speaker 1: I could be wrong this year, but it's.
Speaker 3: Like, do we know what that means?
Speaker 1: And what does that like? Like I don't understand what
Speaker 1: that means. Like when you tell me, like what came
Speaker 1: in the best Direction this year, I'm.
Speaker 5: Like, well, this one went north, that one went you know, Okay,
Speaker 5: God damn it. Oh best Cardinal Direction. I'm thinking, no,
Speaker 5: I get that too, Like I mean, it happens with
Speaker 5: like the Academy Awards too, which I pay considerably less
Speaker 5: attention to. But it's like, sure, not that, not that
Speaker 5: I know these things, you know, Like if I was vote,
Speaker 5: I don't vote for the Game Awards. It's like I
Speaker 5: think game Spot does, but it's like very specific people
Speaker 5: who do.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, we none of us vote for that.
Speaker 4: To be fair, If I sat.
Speaker 5: Down and was like best direction, I don't know. I
Speaker 5: just vote for lower lion and laser eyes and then yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, But I'm sure there's at least some truth to that,
Speaker 3: or at least I mean, or at least in your
Speaker 3: view of what how like, because like I guess, the
Speaker 3: way I see it is cohesive. Like I always talk
Speaker 3: about this. When I think a game is the most
Speaker 3: effective is when every single element of that game is
Speaker 3: working in tandem with one another. Sure, And like I
Speaker 3: think that's that can sometimes, and that's different for everyone
Speaker 3: because somebody might just like a good story, sure, and
Speaker 3: a story can exist separately from how the game plays,
Speaker 3: and people have different opinions of that and that's fine.
Speaker 2: It's all subjective.
Speaker 3: And to me, it's like, how is the narrative of
Speaker 3: the game game complimenting the way it's played. How is
Speaker 3: the way it's played feeding back into the narrative, into
Speaker 3: the themes, into the design, Like they all have to
Speaker 3: be cohesive, including the music. And that's what makes games
Speaker 3: as a medium so much different than other things. Of course,
Speaker 3: like when I watch a movie, I want those things
Speaker 3: to interlock, but there's something different in games about like
Speaker 3: all these sort of specialties and mediums and understandings overlapping
Speaker 3: and working with another, which is why I always kind
Speaker 3: of lean towards games like lower lyon Laser Eyes or
Speaker 3: like Allen Wake two or even Psychoonots too. Those are
Speaker 3: the games that were my game of the year over
Speaker 3: the past few years.
Speaker 1: And it's like, right, we're like, you know, going back
Speaker 1: to Monald Fantasy, that is a game that, while I
Speaker 1: think has amazing stuff, it also is like way too bloated. Yeah,
Speaker 1: has too many things could have easily been trimmed down,
Speaker 1: Like as far as a direction goes like that, that's too.
Speaker 3: For a game to be considered for.
Speaker 2: Am I And that actually Final Fantasy seven remake was.
Speaker 3: That was one of my issues with the game where
Speaker 3: I felt like the game was actually like grinding again
Speaker 3: itself at times where it's like it was like its
Speaker 3: tone of certain scenes was at oz or the agency
Speaker 3: that the players or the character should have been in,
Speaker 3: and it was like, this is not making sense.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think Tam put it well when he said
Speaker 1: like it's it's nah. It was either Tam or Michael
Speaker 1: who said it to me. Where they said it was
Speaker 1: like they went and they went down and they wrote
Speaker 1: a bunch of ideas on the whiteboard and then they said, so,
Speaker 1: which one should we do? And then they just circled
Speaker 1: everything and said all of it.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, And you're like, uh yeah, so I don't know,
Speaker 3: so I guess, Like, but that's the thing, is like direction,
Speaker 3: It's the fact that each of us here have different
Speaker 3: ideas of what that could be and what that means.
Speaker 5: But I think like right sound design in particular is
Speaker 5: always like a weird one for me because I feel
Speaker 5: like a lot of times it is the game with
Speaker 5: the most sound design or like wow, the gun sound
Speaker 5: effects sound incredible, when it's like there there's not there's
Speaker 5: no artistry to that.
Speaker 4: There's a lot of artistry that goes into that, but
Speaker 4: I feel like there's.
Speaker 5: A silent Hill had a uh like a like a
Speaker 5: deft hand with how it was using its sound I think,
Speaker 5: and it was yeah in a way that like like
Speaker 5: I feel like the help the first Hill Blade. To
Speaker 5: be fair, I didn't play a whole lot of the
Speaker 5: second one because I just did not enjoy it. But
Speaker 5: I really liked the first one, and that had really
Speaker 5: good sound design, Like it was it felt very different
Speaker 5: from what other games were doing at the time. I
Speaker 5: think that was one of the first games that had
Speaker 5: like three D by narrow audio or whatever and the
Speaker 5: way the voices would talk to you, and I felt
Speaker 5: like there was just more of that from what I
Speaker 5: played into, which was still good, but I think about
Speaker 5: how yeah, like you're saying, sound, Hill's sound design like
Speaker 5: literally fucked with me for eighteen hours straight.
Speaker 3: So good.
Speaker 1: Going off of sound, it was already game music that
Speaker 1: really stood out to you. This year, I was listening
Speaker 1: to the min Max podcast and they did one where
Speaker 1: they just had their like music category, and I forgot
Speaker 1: how much it just enjoy listening to like game music,
Speaker 1: and I was like, oh man, yeah, yeah, yeah, even
Speaker 1: if the game sucks, sometimes I can just have a
Speaker 1: banger soundtrack.
Speaker 5: The track that really sticks out this year is one
Speaker 5: that I did not like it first, and I was
Speaker 5: so confounded by was the It's one of the battle
Speaker 5: themes in metaphor with like.
Speaker 3: The the Esperanto.
Speaker 5: I love that I came around on it, but it's no,
Speaker 5: I'm like it was a jam. But I was like
Speaker 5: when it first, I was like, I mean to speak
Speaker 5: on direction, you know, I was like, what direction have
Speaker 5: they taken this in?
Speaker 4: I don't know if the world is ready for this.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's an adjustment period where you're just like, I
Speaker 1: don't know about this, and then yeah, by the end
Speaker 1: it kind of like whether you wanted to or not.
Speaker 3: It embraces you and you're like, I'm.
Speaker 4: Struggling, embraces you and shouts in your ear.
Speaker 3: There's a game called Withering Rooms, which may have been
Speaker 3: my answer for the previous question of like, if there's
Speaker 3: a game that I would have liked to put in
Speaker 3: my time. I mean, my actually answer probably would have
Speaker 3: been Athometers. But Withering Rooms has a really unique soundtrack
Speaker 3: that's kind of hard to explain, only because it kind
Speaker 3: of tiptoes on like like chill Step, but it has
Speaker 3: but still has like a eerie fantasyiness to it because
Speaker 3: the game is a fantasy horror game. But I'm like
Speaker 3: kind of off taken. I'm like I was taken off
Speaker 3: guard a few times by like how like kind of whimsy.
Speaker 2: The soundtrack was.
Speaker 3: It felt very distinct, but there's no particular song that
Speaker 3: got me.
Speaker 1: Like but just even if the yeah, that game I
Speaker 1: think with Rooms.
Speaker 3: Has a good soundtrack, cool, It's like it's one of
Speaker 3: those soundtracks that like, unlike where I was talking about
Speaker 3: like cohesion and things interlocking, it doesn't really interlock with
Speaker 3: the vibe or the stack of the game at all,
Speaker 3: but in a way it adds to it because it
Speaker 3: feels so like I I'm a fan of of extremes
Speaker 3: and like Oxymorons, so they playing a game that is
Speaker 3: like very was quite scary, very stressful, very realistic in
Speaker 3: its graphics, but then you have a soundtrack that's kind
Speaker 3: of like more bubbly at times. It doesn't really make
Speaker 3: a lot of sense. I actually really dug it so
Speaker 3: with ingram Rooms, that would be my answer, okay, but
Speaker 3: nothing else is really popping out to me other than
Speaker 3: the Stoker two soundtrack, which is at times like still
Speaker 3: like yeah, droning SYNTHI tension that you could find in
Speaker 3: like most movie trailers, but I feel like it's used
Speaker 3: sparingly in Stalker two, so when it does come in,
Speaker 3: it feels good. Yeah, how about you, I think so reload.
Speaker 1: Actually, there's a lot of those tracks I don't want.
Speaker 7: Yeah, that guy's name Lotus Juice. Yeah, I just woke up.
Speaker 7: I'm gonna brush my teeth. Oh, I'm out of orange juice.
Speaker 7: I gotta go to the store. There's got to cash
Speaker 7: a check.
Speaker 1: There's a TikTok where it's like that track, but it's
Speaker 1: just a guy being like, YO want casey casey me
Speaker 1: in Georgia just say that to each other all the time.
Speaker 3: I act.
Speaker 1: I actually am not as big a fan of the
Speaker 1: the remixed tracks because I'm like, they don't sound as
Speaker 1: good as the original. But there's a couple of new
Speaker 1: tracks on that game that I really fuck with. Colier Night,
Speaker 1: which is the new track that played at nighttime. I'm like, ah,
Speaker 1: I could just listen to this only but it's a
Speaker 1: it's a bop. But but at the same time, I'm
Speaker 1: muscle like, you know, it's it's it feels kind of
Speaker 1: weird to put a Persona song on there because you're like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, it's par for the course, a part for
Speaker 1: the course.
Speaker 3: They're gonna, they're gonna even even metaphor changed it up,
Speaker 3: and it's like, exactly right. It's still managed to swoon.
Speaker 4: Jake over a friend of mine who was visiting this
Speaker 4: past weekend. I got him into uh.
Speaker 5: Person five and then he played four and he's playing
Speaker 5: three now nice, And he's just been listening to the
Speaker 5: music that he's made a playlist. He's gotten his whole
Speaker 5: family into it, his girlfriend, like everyone just loves.
Speaker 4: The Persona music now, and I'm like, what are.
Speaker 3: Me get it?
Speaker 5: Because the music's really good, it's approachable, but like it's
Speaker 5: just so bizarre to like show up at you know,
Speaker 5: and they're listening listening to That's how.
Speaker 3: I am with two games, which is Paradise Killer and
Speaker 3: Kadamar Demosi. Like sometimes I recommend people listen to the
Speaker 3: soundtrack more than I actually recommend the games and shows,
Speaker 3: even though I think Paradise Killer Andkada Mari Demosi are
Speaker 3: like some of the best games I've ever played in
Speaker 3: my life, But the Paradise Killer soundtrack is one of
Speaker 3: those things where I know people who own that soundtrack
Speaker 3: who have never.
Speaker 2: Played the game.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, sure, okay, don't see here.
Speaker 3: Also shout out to Breeze with you that song on
Speaker 3: the Paradise Killer soundtrack.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, masterpiece. All right, we're.
Speaker 1: Gonna We're gonna switch gears for a moment. What is
Speaker 1: your favorite experience of the year does not have to
Speaker 1: be video game related.
Speaker 3: I was about the sales like seeing Megalis and Falling.
Speaker 1: Asleepe That was going to be mine, So I'll pick
Speaker 1: a different one. But one of mine was seeing.
Speaker 3: You Can Do.
Speaker 5: An incredible experience because I slept for forty minutes of
Speaker 5: that movie, so you know.
Speaker 3: And you admiss a very pivotal scene and love still
Speaker 3: man leave an impression.
Speaker 4: I was actually talking about that with some of the
Speaker 4: other night just coming up.
Speaker 3: I have one, okay, playing Big Buck Hunter in London.
Speaker 1: No, but but that's a good one. That is a
Speaker 1: really good one I have.
Speaker 6: No.
Speaker 3: I don't know if any of our listeners know about
Speaker 3: the context of this. Did we talk I've ever talked
Speaker 3: about it, because I think if we haven't, we should.
Speaker 3: But uh, I'm not, but it is at least video
Speaker 3: game adjacent where it's like, of course, big Buck Hunters
Speaker 3: existed in like all of our lives. Yeah, for as
Speaker 3: long as we've been alive, there's always the arcade keminet.
Speaker 2: Where you shoot deers and the women.
Speaker 3: Go to an arcade, you go to a bowling alley,
Speaker 3: you go to the big the go karts and uh,
Speaker 3: all three of us who are on this podcast right now,
Speaker 3: we're in London, Ontario one point, and we spent months
Speaker 3: for a time at a pub by ourselves, and at
Speaker 3: the pub was a Big Buck Hunter arkide cabinet. And
Speaker 3: I got to give a shout out to two people.
Speaker 3: One of them is Alex Sheha. Who is he?
Speaker 6: Uh?
Speaker 3: I don't know how to describe this individual indescribable, indescribable,
Speaker 3: but he hates ketchup. He's a he's good for he
Speaker 3: hates ketchup.
Speaker 4: He loves ketch up. I heard, yeah, I got that wrong.
Speaker 3: So if you if you're listening to this and you
Speaker 3: know who Alex is, number one ketchup lover for life,
Speaker 3: hashtag catchup lover for life. He looks at that.
Speaker 2: He has a he's following that hashtag hot dogs.
Speaker 3: Yeah, basically the mayor of Chicago and UH, and we
Speaker 3: also I have to give a shout out to Nick
Speaker 3: Espelettas Uh who is friend of ours and cool Cat
Speaker 3: who also portrayed Leon Kennedy and Resubal two and Resumeal
Speaker 3: four remake. And I don't know how this started other
Speaker 3: than we were like sitting at a bar looking at
Speaker 3: the big buck Hunter machine and I think what I
Speaker 3: think it might have been new or somebody was like, oh,
Speaker 3: there's something about a tournament. Yeah. They had like a
Speaker 3: QR code and they're like, yeah, log in, And then
Speaker 3: we found out we opened the gates to this whole
Speaker 3: thing we didn't know about. It was like the International
Speaker 3: Championship a big buck Hunter. And for the rest of
Speaker 3: that week and we went to this bar several times
Speaker 3: just to play a big buck hun her. And again
Speaker 3: that had no meaning to me. Something doesn't hunt, like
Speaker 3: doesn't like guns in real life. I now go to
Speaker 3: bars see if there's a big.
Speaker 2: Buck Hunter, not even to play it, just to be like, oh, I.
Speaker 1: Was like looking up because you can buy I think
Speaker 1: it's like one up arcade who like do rebo arcades?
Speaker 1: You can buy for your home. They sell a big
Speaker 1: Buck Hunter one. Yeah, and I was like, seven hundred bucks,
Speaker 1: maybe I could get that expense for the office.
Speaker 4: Oh, we should expect that. Do we have extra budget,
Speaker 4: Let's get that in there.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So I mean, but it's one of those things where
Speaker 3: it's like it was the right amount of people at
Speaker 3: the right time, a thing that was not anything I
Speaker 3: would ever look twice at has left an impression on
Speaker 3: me for the rest of my life. It was incredible.
Speaker 4: So big Bug, that's a good one.
Speaker 5: I've thought more about Big Buck Hunter this last year
Speaker 5: than you collectively in my entire life.
Speaker 3: It is.
Speaker 5: I don't want to say how far we actually went,
Speaker 5: and considering to going to this championship, we thought, well,
Speaker 5: the reason I don't want to say it is because
Speaker 5: we're going to have to do it actually, but like it.
Speaker 4: Occupied a lot of my brain space.
Speaker 5: I was reaching out to people to be like, hey,
Speaker 5: can we make anything work here?
Speaker 3: And I'm really bummed out because there's a bar a
Speaker 3: that I love here in SF that I started going
Speaker 3: to recently and it feels like the perfect bar that
Speaker 3: would have it, but they down't, but they don't, and
Speaker 3: I buying one. You want to here?
Speaker 4: You go, I've been going there, send that tripod back
Speaker 4: and we.
Speaker 3: Could pay for it, but I'm kind of like hoping
Speaker 3: to get good with the owner. Who I've who's been,
Speaker 3: who's there every time I go? And to one day
Speaker 3: just be like, if you want haves, he's on a big.
Speaker 4: One day, we walk into Stookies AND's just.
Speaker 3: He's nineteen twenties theme bar where it's like they show
Speaker 3: black and white films. They replace the screen with a
Speaker 3: big book on her in the corner.
Speaker 4: Everyone hates it except for you.
Speaker 3: I have there every fucking day, bartenders wearing up shirts
Speaker 3: and bow ties.
Speaker 5: And they're like, honestly, I can get rid of it,
Speaker 5: but Kurt's making us so much money.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's where we're gonna start having the tournaments.
Speaker 2: Yes is there?
Speaker 5: So?
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's mine?
Speaker 3: What about you? That's a good one.
Speaker 1: My uh okay, So we mentioned Thatopolis Hunter.
Speaker 3: I think for me.
Speaker 1: So close second was seeing Health that hell that.
Speaker 3: Was this year was Oh yeah, I guess was February.
Speaker 1: February that concert fucking rule, Oh my god.
Speaker 3: And then everyone also saw a pixel Grip and became
Speaker 3: star fucking obsessed with the sing Yes, who I saw
Speaker 3: at a CVS my two pace and I just had
Speaker 3: to go up to them and.
Speaker 2: Be like, hey, are you a are you a cigarete?
Speaker 2: Pixel grip?
Speaker 3: We love you.
Speaker 2: I made a total ass on myself. A great conversation.
Speaker 3: We appreciate that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so that's a close second, But I think probably
Speaker 1: my number one was going to Japan to help my
Speaker 1: brother move.
Speaker 3: It's just a really cool experience.
Speaker 1: I forget if I've talked about that on the podcast,
Speaker 1: but yeah, I had to go help my brother move
Speaker 1: to Yokohama and it was cool, especially because it was
Speaker 1: very different from a typical Japan experience because a lot
Speaker 1: of it was like all right, let's go buy you
Speaker 1: like a shelf, like yeah, like a let's like I
Speaker 1: kind of got to like see what.
Speaker 3: It was more like to sense of normality.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the normality, the day to day sort of like well, okay,
Speaker 1: like what would the route be to walk to the
Speaker 1: nearest grocery store and we're gonna go, We're gonna see
Speaker 1: how long it takes to get on the train to
Speaker 1: your school, and like doing stuff like that was it
Speaker 1: was like.
Speaker 3: A really unique You're not there for work. I'm not
Speaker 3: there for work, You're not even there for really fun.
Speaker 1: No, I mean we did have fun, but you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, but yeah, exactly vacation.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was.
Speaker 1: So it was a real unique experience and it was
Speaker 1: super cool and I'm I want to go back before
Speaker 1: he he comes back to the US.
Speaker 4: I have a runner up that also takes place in
Speaker 4: Japan and.
Speaker 5: Say that I don't think I've talked about because we
Speaker 5: haven't done this podcast since that since I was there.
Speaker 4: I was there for work, but there was a Rolling
Speaker 4: Stones bar.
Speaker 3: Oh my god.
Speaker 5: That someone was like you have to go to that.
Speaker 5: We have to go to this Rolling Stones bar and it's.
Speaker 3: A good Sorry.
Speaker 4: In my head, I was like, it's gonna be corny,
Speaker 4: you know, like.
Speaker 3: Going to an American band or I mean they're not
Speaker 3: even American.
Speaker 5: But like style bar, Western style bar, you know.
Speaker 4: And I was like, but I was like, okay, you're
Speaker 4: really recommending it. So we walk in.
Speaker 5: It's crowded, there's one chair available, and there's three dudes
Speaker 5: sitting there and the bartender asked us how many, and
Speaker 5: we're like three and he.
Speaker 4: Looks at these three people. I think they were Australian
Speaker 4: and he's.
Speaker 5: Like, get the fuck out and they were like what
Speaker 5: and they're like, we're waiting for our friend and he's like,
Speaker 5: you can't save seats here, get the fuck out. So
Speaker 5: they like left with the tit with like their tails
Speaker 5: in between their legs and he's like, yeah, come sit
Speaker 5: down right, here's right here.
Speaker 4: So we like all sat down. We're like did he
Speaker 4: just kick them out? I'm like yeah, I think he.
Speaker 5: Did, and we're like all right, well works for us.
Speaker 5: Also didn't clean up, so there was like sixteen empty
Speaker 5: beer cans in front of us as we sit down here,
Speaker 5: and I was like, oh, he'll probably clear. That did
Speaker 5: not clear. That was there till two am. Incredible anyway,
Speaker 5: it's just playing Rolling Stone song. I like the Rolling
Speaker 5: Stones quite a bit. I don't know, there's some albums
Speaker 5: I really loved by the Rolling Stones, and one of
Speaker 5: my favorite songs of all time is Gimme Shelter, which
Speaker 5: I know is like kind of an obvious pick, but
Speaker 5: that song gets me. So, I you know, we got
Speaker 5: drinks and I called the bartender over and I was like,
Speaker 5: it's like, do you take requests if they're Rolling Stones?
Speaker 5: And he's like huh no and walked away, and I
Speaker 5: was like, all right, that's fine. I mean, you know,
Speaker 5: is what it is. He comes back ten minutes later
Speaker 5: and he's like, but what would it be? And I
Speaker 5: was like, gimme shelter off, let it bleed, and he's
Speaker 5: like I can't do that, and like walks away. Fifteen
Speaker 5: minutes later, I see him like, reach down, pull down
Speaker 5: this DVD, put it in, and I see him like
Speaker 5: going through a DVD menu and I see gimme shelter
Speaker 5: and he looks at me and winks and plays it
Speaker 5: and then that's good.
Speaker 3: That is gonna be my horedible mom. If anybody ever
Speaker 3: asks me for something, I'm just gonna constantly say like nope,
Speaker 3: can't help you, and then do it. Yeah, really and
Speaker 3: like nope.
Speaker 5: He also liked to describe him he was like he
Speaker 5: he was like an old Japanese hippie, you know, like.
Speaker 4: Was the love the Rolling Stones.
Speaker 5: Very excited to be running this bar at four am,
Speaker 5: even though you know he like to kick people out
Speaker 5: and told people know, yeah and I.
Speaker 4: You three good time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that does a good one.
Speaker 3: That was a really good one. Okay, how many seas
Speaker 3: we're in the bar in total?
Speaker 4: Twelve?
Speaker 2: Yeah that sounds about right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was small. I love that about Japan. It's great.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And if it's full, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 3: There's another bar right next to him.
Speaker 1: That's equally as cool in its own unique, weird way.
Speaker 4: In my case, if it's full, doesn't matter. He just
Speaker 4: fucking booted them out.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's one of my biggest problems with it. I
Speaker 3: mean it's like, my favorite bar is my favorite bar
Speaker 3: in SF is small, but I it's like one of
Speaker 3: my biggest issues where bars are huge here at least,
Speaker 3: like I mean, like like you know, like the teeth
Speaker 3: of a fuck ton of space, and it's just I don't.
Speaker 2: Know, it just feels silly.
Speaker 3: It just feels goofy, and I it just it just
Speaker 3: means you're only going to get more people who are
Speaker 3: more allowed. Yeah, just like.
Speaker 5: It's I even think like part of the reason I
Speaker 5: like San Francisco is that at least there are small
Speaker 5: bars are like I feel like they're all like so big,
Speaker 5: which is fine, I guess, but like, I don't know.
Speaker 5: My favorite bar at the Nag's Head is like cozy
Speaker 5: little place.
Speaker 3: I think it has less seats than Stookies, does I
Speaker 3: think it might?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Yeah, but both two small bars and two different neighborhoods
Speaker 3: and in San Francisco.
Speaker 1: Okay, going back to games, Sure, what is a is
Speaker 1: not a top ten? But you're still thinking about it.
Speaker 3: I mean, like not at top ten by my standards.
Speaker 1: But your standards. Like you're like, this wouldn't be my
Speaker 1: top ten. I don't even know if I necessarily recommend it.
Speaker 1: Maybe you would, but you're like, I'm still thinking about it.
Speaker 4: Look at the games I've played this year.
Speaker 3: I can go first.
Speaker 1: Yeah, guys are thinking, So mine would be the Alone
Speaker 1: in the Dark reboot that came out a sad still
Speaker 1: because the studio actually shut down. Oh I don't know
Speaker 1: if I even knew that either they shut down or
Speaker 1: like they had a ton of layoffs, like they're that
Speaker 1: team is not getting a chance to make a sequel,
Speaker 1: which I think sucks because that game has is not
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say amazing or even great, but it it.
Speaker 1: There was a lot of passion behind it. There was
Speaker 1: a lot of really cool ideas, and I was like, man,
Speaker 1: if this team just got the chance to refine this
Speaker 1: and like get another crack at it to make a sequel,
Speaker 1: it would have it could have been something like.
Speaker 3: Really special I still want to play it. It's just
Speaker 3: I don't know if it's been less than forty I
Speaker 3: don't know if i've seen on sale for less than
Speaker 3: like forty.
Speaker 1: Yeah, which, you know what, that's that's fair. That's difficult.
Speaker 1: And it's not like you're not like, oh, I want
Speaker 1: to support the devs because they're not even around anymore.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but yeah, like.
Speaker 1: That, that game I think is a really cool, like
Speaker 1: just like little little five six hour experience. You know,
Speaker 1: it's very it's very resonuble to kind of you know
Speaker 1: it and it's set up and you know, you have
Speaker 1: like two you start to have two protagonists where you
Speaker 1: play through the same story with alternate scenes. Recommend playing
Speaker 1: the woman. Her story makes way more sense as like
Speaker 1: Jody Comber and I love Jody Comber fantastic versus David Harbor,
Speaker 1: who's fine in it.
Speaker 3: But they're both, I mean, they're both fantastic. But it's
Speaker 3: also I'm pretty sure that game was announced without having actors.
Speaker 3: I think at the very beginning at once, and then
Speaker 3: at some point they're like, fuck, we need a thing,
Speaker 3: we need to we don't know if this is going
Speaker 3: to sell put a face.
Speaker 1: I think that game's just got like a really cool style.
Speaker 1: You know, they really lean into the whole like nineteen twenties,
Speaker 1: you know, thirties sesthetic.
Speaker 2: And with a big buck hunter machine.
Speaker 3: There's the big machine in the corner. You just ignore that. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: you can play it the whole thing. It's really weird.
Speaker 1: But uh, but that yeah, that game is like stuck
Speaker 1: with me, especially the ending, which I've been wanting to
Speaker 1: tell people about, but I've like held.
Speaker 3: Off because it's good or because it's just like it's
Speaker 3: so weird.
Speaker 1: No, no, it's great. The ending takes this weird left
Speaker 1: field turn that I like fucking love, and but it's
Speaker 1: like it's like the man, I don't know. It's so
Speaker 1: good and I've been like wanting to tell people about it,
Speaker 1: but like I also don't want to ruin that experience
Speaker 1: for people if they do plan to play it. But
Speaker 1: I'm just like that that ending in particular stuck with me,
Speaker 1: with me of like, oh my god, that's crazy. And
Speaker 1: it's not that long of a game, Like I said,
Speaker 1: it's like a four to five hour experience where it's
Speaker 1: like which is a.
Speaker 3: Huge selling point for me, but it's just no, I
Speaker 3: want to play before.
Speaker 1: For sure, because it's like, yeah, like the combat like
Speaker 1: that kind of sucks, and like, you know, it was
Speaker 1: a little buggy when it came out. I don't know
Speaker 1: if it's been fixed or not, but like it's playable.
Speaker 1: It's just it's just not a game that I could
Speaker 1: like easily, like unequivocally recommend, especially at a at a
Speaker 1: higher price point, which is a real bummer. But I
Speaker 1: am still thinking about that game, and and I wish
Speaker 1: it had gotten a chance to uh, that team had
Speaker 1: gotten a chance to make another one interesting.
Speaker 3: That's that's a good I mean, that's a good question,
Speaker 3: a good good answer. I'm actually struggling with this one
Speaker 3: quite a bit. I got one go.
Speaker 4: Hate to say it. Oh, I know this is Stellar Blade.
Speaker 3: Oh I suspected I played.
Speaker 5: I played a lot of Stellar Blade. I was covering it,
Speaker 5: and I probably played more than I needed to. I
Speaker 5: enjoyed it, yeah, because I think it did some things
Speaker 5: very well, but it also did a lot very poorly
Speaker 5: in a way where like I hope that team, it
Speaker 5: sounds like they will it's the opportunity to take another.
Speaker 4: Stab at it.
Speaker 5: But yeah, I thought that game was almost good, almost
Speaker 5: really good.
Speaker 4: But didn't quite hit the mark.
Speaker 1: I feel like I should check that game out just
Speaker 1: because of how much it is it is aping or
Speaker 1: like homaging near like it's like it's like like I
Speaker 1: was like, oh, this is this is just near, like
Speaker 1: straight up like the music and the.
Speaker 5: Combat's very different, say the Near because I think that's
Speaker 5: probably why I was able to get more into that,
Speaker 5: because it's very well. I thought it was very Soul's like,
Speaker 5: but I remember our reviewer Imron disagreed with that, which
Speaker 5: I guess I kind of understood why he was disagreeing
Speaker 5: with it, but for me, it felt very Soul's like,
Speaker 5: but flashier like some yeah, some some bayonetaisms.
Speaker 4: I guess, sure, yeah, but yeah.
Speaker 5: I thought that game was interesting and I had like,
Speaker 5: I felt pretty good about it. I was like, you know,
Speaker 5: this game might actually be my top ten. And I
Speaker 5: returned to it because the Near DLC came out and
Speaker 5: they sent code for that, and I was like, oh,
Speaker 5: check it out, and jumping back in.
Speaker 4: I was like, oh no, I don't want to play
Speaker 4: this game. I do not want to get back into
Speaker 4: this game at all.
Speaker 1: Them doing a near DLC is really funny, like yeah,
Speaker 1: full like.
Speaker 5: Also the near director being like, yeah, it's probably a
Speaker 5: better game than mine, and everyone's like.
Speaker 3: No, it's not, But I mean that that dude, That
Speaker 3: dude's funny. I am. I feel like I've already mentioned it,
Speaker 3: but I probably would say Withering Rooms. Okay, Like this
Speaker 3: is a game that I feel like I've I heard
Speaker 3: no one talk about. It's not a game that I
Speaker 3: think is amazing. It didn't make my top ten, but
Speaker 3: it's at least, like I it has been kind of
Speaker 3: like my go to. And it's also a genre that
Speaker 3: I don't normally like. It's a ropelike in a way,
Speaker 3: so it's just like, I don't know, there's a lot
Speaker 3: of things going for it that I'm surprised that I
Speaker 3: like it as much as I do, But I would
Speaker 3: recommend Withering Rooms. It's kind of janky, it's kind of clunky, uh,
Speaker 3: but like it does all of the right Like you know,
Speaker 3: I'm fucking exhaust about people talk about every fucking game
Speaker 3: of the Plan being a soul's like, but I do
Speaker 3: think this game does it in a way without overdoing it.
Speaker 3: It's like just enough of it to like make it
Speaker 3: feel distinct and not like you have to if you die,
Speaker 3: you got to go and get your currency back and
Speaker 3: all this shit's not like that, it uses it in
Speaker 3: a more interesting way. Yeah, I don't know, that's kind
Speaker 3: of that's a hard question. I've had a really hard
Speaker 3: time the like I was gonna say, like because I
Speaker 3: reviewed it and I gave it a seven was Harold
Speaker 3: halib it, but I hadn't really thought about it as much.
Speaker 3: It kind of like pops my head every once in
Speaker 3: a while, but like more as like like oh, like
Speaker 3: that was a thing that I feel like started really
Speaker 3: really well and then just did not know what it
Speaker 3: was doing by the time an end.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I will say a game that didn't make my
Speaker 5: top ten only because I hadn't finished it, but now
Speaker 5: would be in my top ten.
Speaker 4: I don't know if that's the question. Should I wait?
Speaker 5: No, no, you could you could uh mouthwashing, I think
Speaker 5: through mouth washing and I thought that was really good.
Speaker 5: I thought that did some told a very interesting story
Speaker 5: about responsibility in a way that I think, uh is
Speaker 5: shocking at times. I think it's Yeah, I don't want
Speaker 5: to say an, I don't want say too much, but
Speaker 5: I have some really memorable moments that are written in
Speaker 5: a way that you wouldn't expect.
Speaker 3: I played the demo and it did not hook me.
Speaker 3: But ever since the come out and i've seen or
Speaker 3: heard people like you talk about it, it's made me
Speaker 3: want to go back to it and pick it up.
Speaker 5: But I think the most detrimental thing that I've heard
Speaker 5: about it is people saying it's really scary, because it's
Speaker 5: I didn't think it was scary at all.
Speaker 3: There's like, but it's scary in one way only because
Speaker 3: like it's just so few things scare me with Barmber
Speaker 3: and I'm always looking for it.
Speaker 5: People say it was one of the scariest games I've
Speaker 5: ever played. I did not feel that at all. It
Speaker 5: is very uncomfortable, not necessarily what it shows, but what
Speaker 5: it doesn't show. There's some like very uncomfortable themes that
Speaker 5: characters kind of dance around. You really have to kind
Speaker 5: of look into to get out, Like I missed the
Speaker 5: very big thing that someone was like, that's why she
Speaker 5: said this, and I was like, oh god.
Speaker 4: And when you start to like put that.
Speaker 5: Story together, it's it's it's very dark, but I think
Speaker 5: it's more like existential dread in a way. Okay, Yeah,
Speaker 5: I don't know if you'd like it. If if the beginning,
Speaker 5: if the demo didn't impress you, like the demo, you
Speaker 5: probably really like it, John Luke.
Speaker 1: I and it's only like three hours I have bought it,
Speaker 1: and I'm like just waiting for the right night to
Speaker 1: play it. Yeah, Like I'm like, I'm you know, I
Speaker 1: heard it's like a two and a half hour like
Speaker 1: you can do it in one setting, which is what
Speaker 1: me and Georgia want to do. And I'm like, we
Speaker 1: got to be in the right took me like four
Speaker 1: oh okay, but either way, we're we haven't had the
Speaker 1: right evening where it fit it feels right to I
Speaker 1: have like about where we want to.
Speaker 3: My Steam wish list is growing, which is uncharacteristic for me,
Speaker 3: but it's because I'm not actually buying games recently. I'm
Speaker 3: just trying to like, oh okay, curate a list that
Speaker 3: I want to get to. Yes, but there's lots of
Speaker 3: games on those lists that I'm like really eager to play.
Speaker 3: One of them being I think was what is it
Speaker 3: called Closing Shift? Is that the game I was like
Speaker 3: really excited about. Oh yes, I played the demo of that,
Speaker 3: I fuck it, loved it.
Speaker 8: But I'm waiting to get it, and it's I don't know,
Speaker 8: I feel like I should if mouthwashing is only yeah,
Speaker 8: three ish fourish hours, I should probably just I should
Speaker 8: probably just throw in just get it.
Speaker 4: Yeah. That God that Yeah, there's one moment.
Speaker 5: Once again I won't spoil, but like it is all
Speaker 5: about someone taking responsibility and him avoiding it as much
Speaker 5: as he can. And there's like they do some really
Speaker 5: clever like gameplay mechanics of like him refusing you the player,
Speaker 5: refusing to come to terms with that responsibility in a
Speaker 5: way that feels so shitty.
Speaker 4: I think I think it's.
Speaker 3: There was there a part where you're like roaming through
Speaker 3: halls like these tanker sort of hall things I remember
Speaker 3: like in the demo, like sort of I don't know,
Speaker 3: whatever it is. The demo didn't leave an impression and
Speaker 3: I need to just go back to it and just
Speaker 3: hunker up and dig in, wash my mouth with it. Excellent.
Speaker 1: What about games that didn't come out this year that
Speaker 1: you played? Are there any games that came out that
Speaker 1: didn't come out this year that you played that you
Speaker 1: played that stand out to you.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, I've got a big one.
Speaker 5: Okay, I finally played Hollow Night from start to finish,
Speaker 5: which is a game that I tried to play through
Speaker 5: so many goddamn times and it didn't click with me.
Speaker 5: I literally had to force myself for like the first
Speaker 5: ten hours. Once I got into it, I think it's
Speaker 5: a very well made game. I think it's I love
Speaker 5: the art style kind of there's issues I have with
Speaker 5: the art style, but once I got into it, I
Speaker 5: was like, Okay, I get it. I see why people
Speaker 5: are excited for Silk Song. I see why people love
Speaker 5: this game. There are things I really love about it.
Speaker 5: But I think still at the end of the day,
Speaker 5: for me, I think it was a little too obtuse,
Speaker 5: which is weird as someone who fucking loves Souls games, but.
Speaker 4: I think for me, it was just harder for me
Speaker 4: to like buy in.
Speaker 5: There's something I I know I've mentioned before on this podcast,
Speaker 5: but like one of the issues I have with other
Speaker 5: Souls like games is when they like I trust from
Speaker 5: software and their obscurity and a too sort of game
Speaker 5: design in a way where it's like, all, buy into this,
Speaker 5: but when another developer does it that I don't have
Speaker 5: that sort of attachment to, I find it very hard
Speaker 5: and I think That's what I was running into with
Speaker 5: Hollow Night, where it's like, yeah, it's a Soul's game.
Speaker 4: You explore, but like will it pay off, because in.
Speaker 5: The Soul's games, I know it will, right, But I'm
Speaker 5: glad I finally played it, and I can say that
Speaker 5: I'm excited for Silk Song.
Speaker 3: Finally happened all this time and now you can have
Speaker 3: the disappointment of never getting it.
Speaker 5: But see, I'm not that I don't care that much.
Speaker 5: I'm gonna play it when it comes out. I was
Speaker 5: hoping they'd like finally announce it or like reveal a
Speaker 5: date right as I finished it, and I'd be like,
Speaker 5: oh cool, I only had to wait.
Speaker 4: Like a month.
Speaker 3: I got one, you got one. There's so there's I mean,
Speaker 3: I I'll just start with my I know.
Speaker 2: My answer is Planescape Torment.
Speaker 3: Oh, that game that came so good, so I played
Speaker 3: it for the first time this year. It's one of
Speaker 3: those games I've heard about my tireful you know, like
Speaker 3: the past, like like as somebody who loves narrative and
Speaker 3: loves writing, every time you fucking the best, like the
Speaker 3: top of fucking list is just like one of the
Speaker 3: best games I ever written. Planescape Torment and I finally
Speaker 3: like just hunkered down and played it this year. Was
Speaker 3: that before you played Fallout or oh it was before okay,
Speaker 3: the original Fallout.
Speaker 1: Which I would say the original fall is not the
Speaker 1: best written game, but I still think it's I think
Speaker 1: it's really good, great, I still think it's right.
Speaker 3: I think it's like surprising how like it holds up. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I mean Planescape Tournament did come out after, but uh,
Speaker 3: you could definitely tell Fallout was made by I don't
Speaker 3: know how to put it, like it definitely doesn't have
Speaker 3: itself together as much as something like Plane Sha a
Speaker 3: little bit. Yeah, you're a little more unrefined. Yeah, and
Speaker 3: you can tell also that they were like kind of
Speaker 3: like just shooting from the hip on a lot of
Speaker 3: things for that game. But Planescape Torment as a game,
Speaker 3: if you want to talk all games that I think
Speaker 3: about fucking constantly, that's the top of this. I think
Speaker 3: I think about it. I was thinking about it this week,
Speaker 3: I was thinking about booting up this week. I was like,
Speaker 3: I think about it all the fucking time.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: It has one of the best side quests I have
Speaker 3: ever played in my fucking life. I almost have to
Speaker 3: tell you where you like you it's because it's one
Speaker 3: of those things you can literally just walk by it, it
Speaker 3: doesn't matter. But there's a part of that game where
Speaker 3: your main character goes to basically like a brothel and
Speaker 3: like you have to and you realize that every single
Speaker 3: working girl, which is like ten of them, you can
Speaker 3: talk to each one of them, learn everything about their
Speaker 3: lives that you want to learn, and that they all
Speaker 3: have beef with each other in some way. But then
Speaker 3: on top of that, they each have basically like their
Speaker 3: own quest. Each girl has their own quest that like
Speaker 3: takes you in completely different directions around the map. And
Speaker 3: I spent like almost ten hours of my like fifty
Speaker 3: hour playthrough on that quest by itself, completely just because
Speaker 3: I wanted to meet these girls. Know with their lives,
Speaker 3: you learn so much about them and what they do.
Speaker 3: It's so good. So Planscape Torment's the game I played
Speaker 3: this year that's not from this year that I think
Speaker 3: was like, I like, I can imagine myself if I
Speaker 3: had played it when it came out on PC that
Speaker 3: it could have been like, yeah, easily fucking like when
Speaker 3: my favorite games. Yeah, it's definitely esoteric su and of
Speaker 3: its time for sure, that CRPG world, but I think
Speaker 3: it's running on the same engine as like Balder's Gate,
Speaker 3: the Infinity yea, the Infinity Engine all that. So if
Speaker 3: you're able tolerate that, you can tolerate this. The other
Speaker 3: answer would be frost Punk Oh yeah, yeah. So I
Speaker 3: played Frostpunk one for the first time this year, and
Speaker 3: I fucking became obsessed with it, and I like rejuvenated
Speaker 3: my my love of RTS, of the RTS genre so
Speaker 3: much so that I end up reviewing the second game.
Speaker 3: But yeah, so those are the two and then the
Speaker 3: last one of Shadow Run for the Superintendent Hell okay,
Speaker 3: in which I started playing I should check that out
Speaker 3: last week. For literally no fucking reason. I like going
Speaker 3: through my an Bernick retro handheld and I just was
Speaker 3: like going through I didn't have a lot of superintend
Speaker 3: games growing up, and I was just like going through them,
Speaker 3: and I clicked on Shadow Run. I think I even
Speaker 3: looked up a list like, oh, best Super n S games,
Speaker 3: and the Shadow Run was like on that list. I
Speaker 3: was like, what the fuck is this? If you want
Speaker 3: to talk about like CRPGs, it's like CRPG Light for
Speaker 3: the Super Nintendo. But like honed in and narrowed down
Speaker 3: in a way that's like I don't think I've ever
Speaker 3: really seen done as streamlines since, and it hits all
Speaker 3: the right fucking stereotypical CRPG like wake up, I don't
Speaker 3: know who you are, Like, work your way through.
Speaker 4: I feel like I love of the Year.
Speaker 5: I get very close to just like going all in
Speaker 5: on shadow On, Like I have all of them on
Speaker 5: Steam and everyone's like, yeah, these.
Speaker 4: Games are so good and played one. The only one
Speaker 4: I've played was the Xbox three sixty multiplayer one.
Speaker 3: I'm not gonna lie. I kind of liked that. I
Speaker 3: like that.
Speaker 4: I like the hell out of that.
Speaker 5: Now people, I understand now why people didn't cool ideas.
Speaker 3: But you got a sword. It's fucking sick man.
Speaker 4: Knowing nothing about Shadow Run and picking that up like sick.
Speaker 3: I want to play the I've always wanted to play
Speaker 3: the new ones, but I was just a little not
Speaker 3: like turned off. I turn based combat. It's just it's
Speaker 3: never at the right time in the movie.
Speaker 1: I think all three of them are great, but if
Speaker 1: you had to pick one, I would say shadow Fall Dragonfall,
Speaker 1: which is the second one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, shadow Fall is the kill zone game.
Speaker 4: Then shadow Fall.
Speaker 3: I think it's Dragonfall, dragona Dragon. There's like shadow Fall,
Speaker 3: and then there's like no Jesus Christ, shadow Run. There's Dragonfall,
Speaker 3: and then there's like Hong Kong.
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, there's there's just Shadow Run Returns, and then
Speaker 1: there's the Dragon Fall, and then there's Hong Kong.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: They're all good, but I think, uh, Dragonfall was my
Speaker 1: personal favorite of the three. But Returns is cool because
Speaker 1: it actually has a bunch of characters and nods from
Speaker 1: the SNAs version.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, the the SNAs version is very like,
Speaker 3: very quirky, but also like it's very cool to play
Speaker 3: a game on the Superintendent from the era that has
Speaker 3: like I don't just like is as text heavy and
Speaker 3: as conversation heavy as it was. Like of course he
Speaker 3: had RPGs and I a fuck ton of JRPGs on
Speaker 3: that console, but this one it just, I don't know,
Speaker 3: it was like really inventive and cool to play a
Speaker 3: game like today having the context of where CRPGs have
Speaker 3: gone in terms of like Discolsium and you know, Bowlers,
Speaker 3: Gay three and all that jazz, and then play this
Speaker 3: on the SNASTS and you're like, holy shit, Like they
Speaker 3: had this down back then. Also, like there's a mysterious
Speaker 3: dog and that's what I'm going to say in that
Speaker 3: in that first game, and then there's one for the
Speaker 3: Sake of Genesis, which is a much more open ended game,
Speaker 3: but not I didn't. I'm not liking it as much.
Speaker 3: I'm playing both at the same time. Anyways, that's my answer.
Speaker 3: My answer is Planescape Torment, Planescape Torment. I want to
Speaker 3: fucking talk to everyone about Planescape Torment.
Speaker 1: Hell, yeah, I have a couple. I wouldn't necessarily say
Speaker 1: I enjoyed the game, but I enjoyed the experience of
Speaker 1: finally playing it, which was Residaval Code Veronica. Uh, the
Speaker 1: last game I had never played.
Speaker 3: Do you play this early in the year right?
Speaker 5: Oh?
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like it was like the first thing I remember
Speaker 1: being like buckle up. I mean I've talked about on
Speaker 1: the podcast, but like, boy, that game is like the
Speaker 1: original sin to all of Resident Evals.
Speaker 3: Bullshit, Oh it is. It is like the seed for
Speaker 3: what it becomes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like like like five is like a direct sequel
Speaker 1: to that game in many ways, it's like and then
Speaker 1: six is.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the game is bad.
Speaker 1: It's not a good game, but I was very glad
Speaker 1: to finally have like been like and I can now
Speaker 1: say I have played it.
Speaker 3: I think half that game is good. There are good elements.
Speaker 3: I think half the game is really good, and then
Speaker 3: the other it's got some Basically, there's like a boss
Speaker 3: fight on where it's like it's like if like you
Speaker 3: can soft lock yourself in that boss fight, yes, one, yes,
Speaker 3: but I took a lot of effort to make sure
Speaker 3: I didn't. I had to replay it. I had to
Speaker 3: like start from the beginning because I didn't. I didn't
Speaker 3: know that was a thing, so that I got to
Speaker 3: also is like I literally can't do this, Like I'm funcked,
Speaker 3: Like there's no way.
Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, yeah, and then that game story is.
Speaker 3: Hot, garbage doesn't age well, no, no idea. They're gonna
Speaker 3: handle the worst of all the resid evils.
Speaker 9: Probably there's like parts of it for how stupid it
Speaker 9: is that I like, but yeah, nor that it simply
Speaker 9: is yes, wrong, It's like how they handle it is bad.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Though Homebody, which I've also talked about the podcast
Speaker 1: that came out I.
Speaker 3: Think last year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but that is a cool horror puzzle game that
Speaker 1: is like stuck with me that I still think you
Speaker 1: should play it.
Speaker 3: I haven't played it. Have you you played it? What
Speaker 3: do you think of it? I don't thought it was okay, okay,
Speaker 3: I thought I thought it was I thought conception it
Speaker 3: was really cool. I really liked it aesthetically. You know
Speaker 3: this about me, sure, But I have trouble with young people.
Speaker 3: You do. I have a really I knew that was
Speaker 3: gonna be because it's a game about young kidle's and
Speaker 3: I and that is always the toughest part where it's like,
Speaker 3: I really because it's funny, because like twenty Century Kid
Speaker 3: is the opposite where it's like that's about like a
Speaker 3: nine year old or something, and I fucking love playing
Speaker 3: exact kid. But second they turn thirteen year like the
Speaker 3: mom they become a teenager and be like, I fucking
Speaker 3: don't want to deal with your ship. I've been.
Speaker 1: I mean that is yes, that game is very much
Speaker 1: about that.
Speaker 3: So Homebody is like I think conceptually and like aesthetically
Speaker 3: is really cool and like mechanically is really cool. But
Speaker 3: I did struggle with giving a ship. I can understand
Speaker 3: that because because the kids.
Speaker 1: Obviously it hit more for me. But with that aspect,
Speaker 1: but I also I just thought the.
Speaker 3: Whole love the game, like the and they introduced it
Speaker 3: in a way that genuinely feels like you're like you
Speaker 3: did something wrong. They do in a really clever way
Speaker 3: where it's like I'm like, I think I fucked this
Speaker 3: game up, like one of.
Speaker 1: My yeah, yeah, and and and then like it just
Speaker 1: comes together where like the like the perfect run you
Speaker 1: have to do, it's like, oh, it's so satisfying. So
Speaker 1: that game, I still think is incredible and more people
Speaker 1: should play it.
Speaker 3: Do not take my word for it, Go enjoy yourself.
Speaker 1: Well, just know that, you know, how do you feel
Speaker 1: about teens and you know that kind of writing.
Speaker 3: If you don't like teens, don't play this game.
Speaker 1: There was one mark that I was going to mention
Speaker 1: I think, but I can't remember it. So, oh, you
Speaker 1: know what, I just played it this weekend.
Speaker 3: Oh wow.
Speaker 1: I just me and Georgia were like, fuck it, what
Speaker 1: if you just play this? We've never played it before.
Speaker 1: Case of the Golden Idol. Yeah, it was so good.
Speaker 1: That's just a wonderful game that like did not want
Speaker 1: to stop playing. Just going through all of that, and obviously,
Speaker 1: like one turns out, I mean I already knew this
Speaker 1: about myself. I just love a good mystery. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: love I love to solving a good mystery. Any any
Speaker 1: game where I have to solve something, I'm about it.
Speaker 1: But on top of that, it was it was not
Speaker 1: just solving the individual cases. It was also putting the
Speaker 1: pieces together of like, well, this characters here and they
Speaker 1: were here, and like figuring out like the arcing overall
Speaker 1: arcing narrative of the relationships of these people and their
Speaker 1: lives and the ways intertwining with the Golden Idol. Super
Speaker 1: cool and fun. So like blasted through the entire game.
Speaker 1: Did both DLCs as well, which we just did.
Speaker 3: All they're good. They're very good.
Speaker 1: Could be a little hard to go back to because
Speaker 1: they do like up the difficulty, like it starts at
Speaker 1: the same level. But it's cool because it actually they
Speaker 1: both take place in the past, so it's actually about
Speaker 1: the origins of the Golden Idol and how and it
Speaker 1: like ends where the main game begins, which is great.
Speaker 1: So like do you remember the beginning of that game
Speaker 1: where there's like the two characters you like get to
Speaker 1: learn more about them.
Speaker 3: It's really cool. I genuinely I like that.
Speaker 1: And and I now have the Return of the Rise
Speaker 1: of the Golden Idol. I was like, I knew it
Speaker 1: was going to be a return or revenge or something.
Speaker 1: I have that loaded up on my iPad, so when
Speaker 1: I go travel work, we're gonna pull that up and
Speaker 1: solve some more murdered cases or whatever.
Speaker 5: I played a good amount of that game, but I
Speaker 5: found it overwhelming after a while. I think, I think
Speaker 5: I probably needed to like go harder and like take
Speaker 5: notes and like actually like try to get through it.
Speaker 5: But I was I was having trouble by by the
Speaker 5: end of that game, to the point where I was like.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna have to step away.
Speaker 3: I think, yeah, that's how I felt with Oberdin. Sure, especially, Yeah,
Speaker 3: that's that's one of those games I wish I like
Speaker 3: could go back and replay with a notebook and really
Speaker 3: that's how me and Georgia play it. And yeah, but
Speaker 3: that game overwhelmed me quickly. And I like Live and
Speaker 3: Die By like mystery fucking genre shit, So I love
Speaker 3: that game. Even for me, I was like, Okay, all right,
Speaker 3: not everything could be lower Lionelazer eyes how they unravel
Speaker 3: his story to you, but that is also But now
Speaker 3: that you've played, you know you filled half of a
Speaker 3: notebook playing louralier half of a notebook of playing another game.
Speaker 1: Uh, next question kind of a maybe similar, but I'll
Speaker 1: give my answer to maybe you see if this jog's
Speaker 1: anything different? Which is a game that people need to
Speaker 1: talk about more. It's like, what's a game that you're like,
Speaker 1: I didn't hear anyone fucking talk about that.
Speaker 2: I know your answer. I think I do.
Speaker 4: I don't have an answer, So tell me what you
Speaker 4: think it is and that'll be my answer.
Speaker 2: Okay, is that it go on?
Speaker 4: What do you think?
Speaker 3: What do you think? I'm thinking you're thinking.
Speaker 4: As I have I talked about it yet, No, not on.
Speaker 3: This podcast, not this particular episode.
Speaker 5: Oh you're gonna say it, and I'm gonna be like, yeah,
Speaker 5: of course, I don't know Indica. Yeah I needed that.
Speaker 5: I did some help there. Anyway, I can talk about
Speaker 5: that in a second if you.
Speaker 3: Talk no, no, no, please talk about India.
Speaker 2: Uh that's actually your answer.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean that's my answer, Thank you. I don't know.
Speaker 5: I actually I feel like people did talk about it.
Speaker 5: I feel like a lot of people like talked about
Speaker 5: it in the wrong way. I guess not that there's
Speaker 5: a right way to talk about it. But I think
Speaker 5: a lot of it was like, yeah, there's like a
Speaker 5: prayer button, and like I don't.
Speaker 1: Know, but like people and get it, you know, or maybe.
Speaker 5: Like to be fair, it's very possible that I didn't
Speaker 5: get it either, but what I got out of it
Speaker 5: I found very impactful. But I also think, like, probably
Speaker 5: the reason didn't come to mind is I feel like
Speaker 5: the reason I enjoyed that game so much was for
Speaker 5: some personal reasons. Yeah, because like I went to Catholic school,
Speaker 5: grew up religious, and like, I think the thing that
Speaker 5: stood out to me was like, like, it sounds corny
Speaker 5: when you say it, but like you get points that
Speaker 5: aren't used for anything based on like sort of the
Speaker 5: uh religious rituals that you perform and like but you're
Speaker 5: doing it as she's sort of questioning her faith. And
Speaker 5: I found that pretty interesting because like I'd still go
Speaker 5: to church even though I didn't believe, you know, I
Speaker 5: was no.
Speaker 4: Longer invested in any of that.
Speaker 5: I'd still uh, maybe not pray, but I do a
Speaker 5: lot of those rituals because.
Speaker 3: They were ingrained from a young age, even though I
Speaker 3: was kind of questioning it.
Speaker 5: And I think the way that like that game sort
Speaker 5: of explores that side of faith.
Speaker 4: Is is pretty interesting. I hope more people play it.
Speaker 5: I also get why, like a lot of people probably
Speaker 5: didn't play it or have no interest in playing it
Speaker 5: because it is like.
Speaker 4: Very slow.
Speaker 5: There are puzzles, but the puzzles are so basic you're
Speaker 5: not gonna you're not gonna have any.
Speaker 4: Trouble with them. You know.
Speaker 5: There's like like you have to be there, you have
Speaker 5: to be invested in the premise, and if you're not,
Speaker 5: I feel like that game is gonna fall flat.
Speaker 3: Okay, Uh, Kurt, do you have one? Oh a game
Speaker 3: that I play this year that I wish more people talked.
Speaker 1: About or just like you're like, no one, I didn't
Speaker 1: hear anyone talk about this?
Speaker 3: What the fuck? Hmmm? I can go if you need
Speaker 3: a minute. I mean the one that's coming to my
Speaker 3: mind as a game I've mentioned a couple of times,
Speaker 3: but I am kind of like a little surprised because
Speaker 3: is the thometers, Like I just think that's a game
Speaker 3: that like, Yeah.
Speaker 1: That's that's another one that I think I didn't hear
Speaker 1: You're the only one.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't think that game is amazing, but I
Speaker 3: think like it was an It handled historical elements, like
Speaker 3: genuine historical elements and delivered them in a way that
Speaker 3: was like digestible and cool, and also through the lens
Speaker 3: of this the specific kind of character and handled it
Speaker 3: was done. You know, it was like it was like
Speaker 3: and it handles just political conflict and a war torn
Speaker 3: area and in a moment in time that like felt
Speaker 3: kind of irrelevant still And I don't know, And that's
Speaker 3: one of those games that also does a really good job,
Speaker 3: like speaking a Planescape Torment that like handles stories about
Speaker 3: people who are lower on the social chain and like
Speaker 3: handles it, I feel like in a way that feels
Speaker 3: consider it and careful and and smart. So but I
Speaker 3: think there's a lot of things working against that game,
Speaker 3: like in terms of it being like and it's it's
Speaker 3: an is it's an isometric RPG, but it's not like
Speaker 3: that team of an RPG, and it's like it's an
Speaker 3: isometric adventure game, and it's like the adventure is there,
Speaker 3: but it's not anything to really write home about. It's
Speaker 3: just it does all these things just well enough. Yeah,
Speaker 3: So I don't know. I would putthometers also esthetically, it's
Speaker 3: just is cool. I like the like the the way
Speaker 3: that like the world feels palpable in a way.
Speaker 1: I saw that game just came out on Xbox, and
Speaker 1: maybe more people will get a chance to.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I feel like that game like kind of
Speaker 3: flew under the radar, and uh is a really cool
Speaker 3: touching point for cultural significance because of the historical stuff
Speaker 3: it touches, but also folklore like actual fantasy and folklore
Speaker 3: that in these cultures it just does in a way
Speaker 3: that's like not like hamfested. So yeah, that would probably
Speaker 3: be my answer. I'm just I'm like, it's a game.
Speaker 3: I'm like weirdly surprised. Did it really get talked about
Speaker 3: at all? It feels like that's how it feels to me,
Speaker 3: Like we didn't. I don't think we reviewed it, Like,
Speaker 3: I just don't think. I think by the time it
Speaker 3: came out it was too far gone and in the
Speaker 3: process in which like, well we didn't get a code
Speaker 3: for it. I mean, I don't know if that's true,
Speaker 3: but it didn't just make it through our pipeline somehow.
Speaker 3: So it's just that happens. We have to prioritize what's important. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it's impossible to do everything. Yeah, but that game kind
Speaker 3: of came through and I played it and I was like,
Speaker 3: holy fuck, like why didn't we you know, it's like,
Speaker 3: it's too bad that this didn't get through our lens
Speaker 3: at the right time.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I agree.
Speaker 1: Yeah, mine is, uh the lake House. I feel like
Speaker 1: no one talked about it, and I kind of get
Speaker 1: it because it's a It's a DLC a year later
Speaker 1: for a game that you know, as beloved as it is,
Speaker 1: didn't sell as you know, much as I'd wanted to.
Speaker 1: You know, it's it's still kind of more of a
Speaker 1: niche game in a lot of ways. But I think
Speaker 1: that DLC's so fucking good, Like, oh my god, I.
Speaker 3: Heard have you played it yet?
Speaker 4: Ah?
Speaker 3: Wanting to talk?
Speaker 1: I mean, I know you've played enough to at least
Speaker 1: know kind of where it goes. Did you get to
Speaker 1: the part where there is like a like a corkboard
Speaker 1: with a bunch of like notes on it.
Speaker 4: Oh, I think.
Speaker 1: So where they're doing the different experiments.
Speaker 5: Yes, they're trying to Yeah, that that speaking of something
Speaker 5: that's very relevant.
Speaker 3: To very relevant that thing.
Speaker 1: Reading that entire board is the hardest I have laughed
Speaker 1: all year. It's so fucking funny. Like the writing is
Speaker 1: so on point, like it is like as a as
Speaker 1: a Alan Wake fan, as a control fan, and just
Speaker 1: as like, uh, it's like the.
Speaker 5: Night was dark dark pulled out dark in the dark,
Speaker 5: in the darkly dark dark.
Speaker 1: It's fucking incredible, and like yes, and then like the
Speaker 1: thing they are making fun of is like so like poignant.
Speaker 3: It like to like what's happening right now.
Speaker 4: With genuinely terrifying moments.
Speaker 1: Yes, also like really scary. My only criticism is I
Speaker 1: think the last boss fight kind of sucks. But other
Speaker 1: than that, I was like, this is great. This is
Speaker 1: a wonderful little experience and I had a fantastic time
Speaker 1: playing it. And Kurt, you need to play it.
Speaker 2: I know, I do.
Speaker 3: I need to play it.
Speaker 1: It's so good.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I can't believe you you disappoint your dad like that.
Speaker 3: I know, I know, I know, I may. I mean
Speaker 3: there's another reality where he is actually my dad.
Speaker 4: I think you'd still disappoint him.
Speaker 3: And exists in a video where he had to tell
Speaker 3: me he wasn't.
Speaker 2: But I know the truth.
Speaker 1: So before we wrap up, we talked about the beginning,
Speaker 1: but I do want to at least give us an
Speaker 1: opportunity to all talk a little bit if we want
Speaker 1: to about our personal game of the year, which is
Speaker 1: all the same games.
Speaker 3: And the Laser Eye. How did that happen? I like,
Speaker 3: sometimes I think back, because.
Speaker 1: It is your fault because you're the one who played it,
Speaker 1: and yeah, yeah, you had told me, I probably would
Speaker 1: have just missed it. Speaking of games that not enough
Speaker 1: people talked about. Fucking Christ, No, not enough people talk about.
Speaker 1: Every time I bring up Laura Line and the Laser
Speaker 1: Eye to people like no, Like when I was at
Speaker 1: the Game Award.
Speaker 3: I mean, I said, that's your answer for games, and
Speaker 3: that was also that was gonna be my answer. No,
Speaker 3: And then I was like, but I've like, I've talked
Speaker 3: about Laura Lins.
Speaker 1: But every time I would go to the Game Awards
Speaker 1: and I would like, or I was at the Game
Speaker 1: Awards and you know, I'm hanging out and people are like, oh,
Speaker 1: what was your game of the year.
Speaker 3: I'd be like, Laura il laser and.
Speaker 1: They would either be like, I've never heard of it,
Speaker 1: or they had heard of it but were like I
Speaker 1: don't know what it is. And I was like, what
Speaker 1: are we doing as a society? Our systems have failed us?
Speaker 3: I mean, look, I fucking reviewed that ship. I mean,
Speaker 3: did the work you did the work I did my best.
Speaker 3: I talked about it non stop. I talk about I
Speaker 3: like was like visiting home in upstate New York and
Speaker 3: my family, who doesn't know anything about really what I'm
Speaker 3: doing about, like we're curious. We're like, well, Curt, what
Speaker 3: do you think the game of the year will be?
Speaker 3: And somebody next to me will be like Blackmith will Call,
Speaker 3: and somebody else in the room was like Astrobot and
Speaker 3: I was like Laura Lai and the Laser Eyes, and
Speaker 3: everyone was like, so did you play the call? Dude?
Speaker 3: Damn it like and it's like and then I have
Speaker 3: to sit there omni.
Speaker 5: I know. So, I mean I think for me at
Speaker 5: the end of the day, the reason why that was
Speaker 5: my game of the Year is because it is the
Speaker 5: It was the only game on my list that I
Speaker 5: was thinking about when I wasn't playing it to the
Speaker 5: point where like it became obsessive.
Speaker 3: You know, and like I don't know.
Speaker 5: There are definitely games like that that come around every
Speaker 5: so often, and usually they are puzzle games. But like
Speaker 5: the way this had like burrowed into my skull where
Speaker 5: it was just like I'd be working and I'd like,
Speaker 5: oh my god, I think I know the answer, you know,
Speaker 5: and it's like run back and try and it worked,
Speaker 5: and I'm like fucking jumping up and down and I'm
Speaker 5: like fuck.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, like it's it's I mean.
Speaker 3: But like the opposite of that, too, is where you
Speaker 3: get so far in that game where you start to
Speaker 3: predict the answers to the puzzles yes, and then you
Speaker 3: realize that the game is has been deliberately feeding information
Speaker 3: to you in such a way where you're like, it's
Speaker 3: not like I get it now, but it's like when
Speaker 3: you solve a puzzle without actually having to think about it,
Speaker 3: and you realize like, oh wait a minute, there's a
Speaker 3: fucking there's a thing that's happening. There's there's a thing like.
Speaker 1: You figured it out.
Speaker 4: Is so brilliant where it's just like.
Speaker 5: It starts out you can You're like like you get
Speaker 5: there and it's like how do I know this? And
Speaker 5: I'm like I do know this, though, and then you
Speaker 5: go to the next one's like I know this too.
Speaker 4: It's got to be.
Speaker 3: This, it's got to be this, and you realize information
Speaker 3: you're like the entire game. Yeah, yeah, and that's where
Speaker 3: like that's where I talk about you know, like the
Speaker 3: things for me when that make a game of the
Speaker 3: year for me is always it's like the interlocking of
Speaker 3: every single thing that it's like lifting that is that
Speaker 3: can only be done in the medium of games in
Speaker 3: this specific medium doesn't have to change the fucking doesn't
Speaker 3: have to change the game. It doesn't have to like
Speaker 3: reinvent the wheel. It's like you're interlocking every concept into
Speaker 3: one thing. And that game is like doesn't just do
Speaker 3: it and it's puzzles and it's art. It doesn't just
Speaker 3: do it and it's writing. It doesn't it's like it's
Speaker 3: all it's like there's an intimacy that you kind of
Speaker 3: you don't need to have because I don't think that
Speaker 3: the there's a game. I don't want to have a
Speaker 3: gatekeeper thing. But it's like when you have this intimacy
Speaker 3: of like games and art and technology and you play
Speaker 3: this game and how they have like somehow like graced
Speaker 3: all of those themes so ever, like taking you by
Speaker 3: the hair and hammering into your face, it's like just
Speaker 3: so fucking good. It's so fucking good.
Speaker 5: Yeah, oh man, Like the the intentional glitches you need
Speaker 5: to do like that, and it's so creepy and unsettling
Speaker 5: too in a way that's just like this is how
Speaker 5: I felt playing like those N sixty four games as
Speaker 5: a kid, that that like they don't have the technology
Speaker 5: to fully represent what they're trying to represent, but you
Speaker 5: just kind of get like a rough outline of it
Speaker 5: in a way that doesn't feel real.
Speaker 3: That's the intimacy I'm talking about, where it's like to
Speaker 3: people who have who understand the medium attack and art
Speaker 3: and just have grown up with it, it uses that
Speaker 3: knowledge against you, but also like in a way that
Speaker 3: only you can really get and it feels like it's
Speaker 3: like yeah, so when you're like debugging the games and art.
Speaker 1: You find yeah, you know, there's like it's like it's
Speaker 1: a game for people who play games, Yeah, game for gamers.
Speaker 1: Game for gamers. In that same way that there's like
Speaker 1: movies that are like this is a movie musicians music,
Speaker 1: musicians music or film, you know all that.
Speaker 3: I guess that is true. Yeah, It's like there are
Speaker 3: definitely those bands that people like, the people who love
Speaker 3: those bands are oftentimes musicians. It's like who can get
Speaker 3: it and it's like, I definitely think that you're right.
Speaker 3: There's definitely a bye. There's definitely a sector of film that,
Speaker 3: like people who really fucking love movies or have seen
Speaker 3: enough movies understand why that movie is significant versus other things.
Speaker 3: I think you're right. It's the same thing with the
Speaker 3: Warline and the Laser Eyes, where it's like, I don't want
Speaker 3: to say that people who didn't like it didn't see
Speaker 3: it that way, because I get it. People don't like
Speaker 3: to do math, even though you need you need to
Speaker 3: be that way to enjoy it. Yes, yes, I agree,
Speaker 3: but it definitely it definitely has a payoff. Yeah.
Speaker 2: And then of course the story it tells.
Speaker 4: It's just like.
Speaker 5: I forget his name, but the the the director Renzo
Speaker 5: is also has some of the best lines.
Speaker 4: So stupid, so stupid. I think that's that also, like.
Speaker 5: Because because I feel like playing that game without context,
Speaker 5: I feel like or seeing it, you might think like, oh,
Speaker 5: this is kind of like up its own ass, you know, yeah,
Speaker 5: but when you play it, you realize that, like it makes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, he's there, he's specifically as a character. Making
Speaker 1: fun of that concept.
Speaker 5: On Twitter, I like posted a joke about it and
Speaker 5: like the writer responded and was very much like very
Speaker 5: clear that they were just having fun with that ship.
Speaker 4: They just like we're gonna throw nonsense out there. Yeah,
Speaker 4: it's really.
Speaker 3: There's also I mean, what other game did you play
Speaker 3: this year where you just had a tampon an inventory
Speaker 3: that had no use but you're just like it was
Speaker 3: just in your inventory. Like it's like or like, in
Speaker 3: order to run in the game, there's no sprint button.
Speaker 3: You have to go and find an espresso machine and
Speaker 3: then find an espresso machine, which then you make coffee,
Speaker 3: which then gives you a small period of time which
Speaker 3: you could run at the trade off that you have
Speaker 3: to eventually pee and use the until you can like
Speaker 3: drink more coffee and do it. It's like those things
Speaker 3: that like toy and like fuck with your idea of
Speaker 3: you know, game design and like your expectations of it
Speaker 3: and like the smallest ways is just so good. Or
Speaker 3: then you get to the point where like if you
Speaker 3: have no idea what you're doing, you start to use
Speaker 3: the tampon on objects. I have no idea what to do.
Speaker 3: I'm just gonna put damp on. It does nothing. It's great, But.
Speaker 5: I think the other thing about it too, And I
Speaker 5: remember you made a Kurt Locker about like multiplayer single
Speaker 5: player games, yes, and like like Zelda I think was
Speaker 5: the example. Yeah, yeah, yeah, this feels like that as well,
Speaker 5: because like I'd come in the next day and I'd
Speaker 5: be like, I am stuck on this thing curve, Like
Speaker 5: do you want to hint?
Speaker 4: I was like, not yet, but.
Speaker 3: Like minutes of playing, You're like, I'm already stuck. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I don't know, I can't.
Speaker 4: It was very tired. I was very tired.
Speaker 3: I cannot get into the mansion. I was like, yeah,
Speaker 3: because I subtracted wrong.
Speaker 1: There's that one fucking door, you know, the one that I.
Speaker 3: Was Oh ever, yeah, yeah, I always say this every
Speaker 3: single time. Now after people had played it. Now, imagine
Speaker 3: reviewing that game and knowing no one who was incredible.
Speaker 3: That was the nightmare that I endured. Eventually, I did
Speaker 3: find people who did play it, even on the other side,
Speaker 3: even they weren't helpful.
Speaker 4: Thank you for your service, it was.
Speaker 3: And then I fucking beat it in the office. I
Speaker 3: finished it in the office. I like walked out and
Speaker 3: only Aaron Sampson was there. And Aaron Sampson just only
Speaker 3: plays the rest person shooters. I remember we'd just be like,
Speaker 3: I'm a fucking god and Aaron be like, oh would
Speaker 3: you do? And I was like, I can't even explain it.
Speaker 3: It's like I can't even got held.
Speaker 5: I can't the screen just like, yeah, bags under your
Speaker 5: eyes haven't left you, like got a white brutal.
Speaker 3: It took that game to like me soul a coffee cup.
Speaker 3: But I did it.
Speaker 1: You did it, and we did it. We did we
Speaker 1: did it.
Speaker 3: Barely twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1: We barely did it. Everyone.
Speaker 3: Uh. I think that's gonna be a podcast. I did.
Speaker 1: I it's a it's a shame because I originally was like,
Speaker 1: we're gonna come in here, we're gonna talk about how
Speaker 1: Stalker two. Oh, we're gonna talk about Jones. Oh my,
Speaker 1: do you guys want to give your quick.
Speaker 4: Quick little I would like to say.
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, Jake, say your thing, your piece about India,
Speaker 1: because we do I do what They were both in
Speaker 1: our top ten and I do.
Speaker 3: We also fought for them. We fought for that in
Speaker 3: the top ten.
Speaker 1: And I think we have expressed this before to each
Speaker 1: other that like, what a shame that these games both
Speaker 1: came out so late in the years, both of them,
Speaker 1: because it was like one it felt like I was
Speaker 1: like kind of waiting for like a triple A game
Speaker 1: to sort of hit for me this year, and like
Speaker 1: triple games that are like not traditional triple not like
Speaker 1: I was waiting for this year to be good because there,
Speaker 1: as we mentioned, there's plenty of like indie games and
Speaker 1: smaller games. That was like, absolutely keep my my attention.
Speaker 1: But this was like, Oh, this is the ship I've been.
Speaker 4: Waiting for you.
Speaker 3: I need to hear.
Speaker 5: Jakes with Indy is like, I'm a big fan of Raiders,
Speaker 5: a lot of Stark, one of my favorite movies ever
Speaker 5: made out like The Last Crusade a lot as well,
Speaker 5: And after seeing Dial of Destiny and Crystal Skulls, I
Speaker 5: was like, there's nothing less.
Speaker 4: There's there's no.
Speaker 5: Gas in the tank. Unfortunately, I'll just pretend those don't exist. Yeah,
Speaker 5: but I haven't finished Indiana.
Speaker 4: Jones in the Great Circle, but playing it, I'm like,
Speaker 4: they fucking did it.
Speaker 5: We've got a good Indiana Jones story. I was so
Speaker 5: nervous about Troy Baker. He's done a very good job
Speaker 5: so far. Yeah, and like that's not even talk about
Speaker 5: like the game design and the level design, which I
Speaker 5: think is pretty spectacular in a way that doesn't surprise
Speaker 5: me given the nature of machine games and talent there.
Speaker 5: It surprises me that it is in an Indiana Jones game, Yes, sure,
Speaker 5: which I think is part of the reason why I'm
Speaker 5: like head over heels with that game.
Speaker 4: It's all I've been thinking about. I unfortunately haven't been able.
Speaker 5: To play much, but like, god, I can't wait to
Speaker 5: just sit down and fucking finish that game because I
Speaker 5: am yeah.
Speaker 4: So into it.
Speaker 5: And then Stalker for me, I haven't played enough of either,
Speaker 5: but I'm very excited to play more Stalker.
Speaker 3: Oh man, I mean I say that I was like
Speaker 3: so fucking grumpy about the idea of an Indiana Jones
Speaker 3: game that I was like, I went on record at
Speaker 3: Summer Game Fest being like, I don't give a fuck.
Speaker 3: I don't I don't want to punch Nazis. I want
Speaker 3: to fucking be bathed in their blood, like I want
Speaker 3: Wolf and Sign three. But god damn, I was wrong,
Speaker 3: like not like wrong, but just I'm just like because
Speaker 3: I still want Wolf and Sign three. But it's insane
Speaker 3: for me to say that playing even though I haven't
Speaker 3: finished Indian Jones a great circle. Yet I'm already anxious
Speaker 3: and excited at the prospect of getting another one, Like
Speaker 3: I like feel like what they have is so good
Speaker 3: that it's like this is only gonna get better and
Speaker 3: like more exciting that we have. Like to me, it
Speaker 3: feels like the dawn of a new gaming franchise. Like
Speaker 3: that's how good it feels. Yeah, and uh, I yeah,
Speaker 3: I think it's I think it's spectacular.
Speaker 2: Also, uh, it's just like.
Speaker 3: Just scratch, I I feel like I can't say anything
Speaker 3: you haven't said. Oh I was gonna say this. I
Speaker 3: think skill Up is right. Skill predicted that we're going
Speaker 3: to be like we're gonna mention this game in twenty years,
Speaker 3: and I one hundred percent agree with him genuinely, things
Speaker 3: like this is going to be one of those games
Speaker 3: that just like I mean Chronicles.
Speaker 5: Yeah, but I think more so, which I think needs
Speaker 5: to happen because clearly a lot of people forgot about
Speaker 5: the existence of Chronicles of Ritick.
Speaker 1: Like yeah, totally, because yeah, everyone's like, oh, they've never
Speaker 1: made a game like this perform like yes as machine games,
Speaker 1: I can't.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm trying to be forgiven being like you have
Speaker 3: not seen machine Games make a game like this, but
Speaker 3: they haven't.
Speaker 1: For those who don't know, like the majority, like a
Speaker 1: huge chunk of talent from Machine Games was originally from
Speaker 1: Starbreeys and they all left to four Machine Games, and
Speaker 1: even some people that technically didn't work at Machine Games
Speaker 1: or haven't recently came back specifically to work on Indiana Jones.
Speaker 1: So if you look at the credits for Riddick and
Speaker 1: The Darkness, which like are two of my favorite games,
Speaker 1: and you look at the credits for Indiana Jones, it's
Speaker 1: got the exact same game designer, the director worked on it,
Speaker 1: like they all like were there and it has a
Speaker 1: lot of that DNA from that game in in Indiana Jones,
Speaker 1: but then like but also elevated, like you know, because
Speaker 1: like Ridick had those like little spaces where you like
Speaker 1: walk around and do you side quest and talk to
Speaker 1: people and had stealth and it had gun play, but
Speaker 1: then like Indye like takes those spaces and makes them
Speaker 1: even bigger and like emphasizes like the first person combat
Speaker 1: and the stealth, and like it's it's incredible.
Speaker 3: It was just like a while to play in Indiana
Speaker 3: Jones game a licensed now I think it's tried to say,
Speaker 3: like a good license game, but it's crazy to play
Speaker 3: an Indiana Jones game and the writing of its characters
Speaker 3: and its bad eye be like so good. Yeah like that.
Speaker 3: It's it's like hard to even like recount characters in
Speaker 3: Indiana Jones films that were quite as memorable, like yes,
Speaker 3: like memorable or as good as like it's a funny
Speaker 3: thing for me, like I am having a hard time
Speaker 3: remembering villains and those like I like I remembering picture
Speaker 3: them like I could picture them.
Speaker 1: I know, like I was gonna say Raiders, I remember
Speaker 1: very vid but the rest I kind of don't.
Speaker 3: Yeah. But then I think about this game and the
Speaker 3: antagonist of this game, and I'm more excited to see
Speaker 3: him on on screen and speak that I am anybody else.
Speaker 5: I mean, I think that's another thing that I love
Speaker 5: about that game. It just machine games, is that they're
Speaker 5: writing is so good, and I feel like they don't
Speaker 5: get back.
Speaker 3: Guys are always fucking a honing they deserve.
Speaker 5: I mean, like I sent you a link to a
Speaker 5: podcast of a guy named Greg Miller saying he didn't
Speaker 5: like the Wolfenstein games because he likes his games with
Speaker 5: more narrative and characters, and that about blew my fucking
Speaker 5: I was so pissed because that's what I'm talking about. Though,
Speaker 5: people don't think of machine games as like some of
Speaker 5: the best writing in the business because they're writing.
Speaker 3: Some of the most memorable gaming scenes I have ever
Speaker 3: experienced come from Wolfenstein, as I wanted to like like
Speaker 3: just pop off in my brain and like characters that
Speaker 3: I've like can like I never can really quote many
Speaker 3: game characters by I think I could like see them
Speaker 3: saying their lines, like even in like Wolven's then two,
Speaker 3: like I have a nuke in this fire like that.
Speaker 4: It's like just feeling It's like it's because it feels effortless.
Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, which, like like I really like The Last
Speaker 3: of Us.
Speaker 5: I really like a lot of what Sony has been
Speaker 5: doing with their writing, But it feels like they're trying
Speaker 5: to show you, like, yeah, we've got top tier writing,
Speaker 5: We're gonna have characters that you're invested in, We're gonna
Speaker 5: have some really powerful lines that are gonna.
Speaker 4: Be memorable, and that's good. But like I'm tired of that,
Speaker 4: and I've been tired of that for a while.
Speaker 5: And then you play wolf'steg Indiana Jones, and it just
Speaker 5: it feels effortless, like it doesn't feel like they're trying
Speaker 5: to like tell some emotional grand story, but but they
Speaker 5: do it anyway.
Speaker 1: They do it anyway, even not even the cup scenes,
Speaker 1: like all of BJ's like intermodologue in the levels.
Speaker 3: There's also still like Popey, you know, there's even there's
Speaker 3: even scenes with Indiana Jones in this game where it's
Speaker 3: like Early has to say anything. It's like an expression
Speaker 3: he makes, or like when you're walking when you're walking
Speaker 3: around the Vatican, and the little details where it's like
Speaker 3: you know, Dot where they call him like mister something
Speaker 3: like father, like like just like those subtle things that
Speaker 3: like remind you like of like where it's coming from,
Speaker 3: the situation you're in and the person Indiana Jones says,
Speaker 3: it's yeah.
Speaker 5: To that point where it's like people are thinking, like, oh,
Speaker 5: is it gonna be like first person Uncharted or whatever
Speaker 5: or tomb Raider or something.
Speaker 3: It isn't.
Speaker 4: It very much isn't. But I think part of that
Speaker 4: too is like Uncharted and.
Speaker 5: Uh, tomb Raiders often do this thing where like the
Speaker 5: protagonist has to like overtly geek out about something and
Speaker 5: tell you exactly what they've just found. Well, like in
Speaker 5: Indiana Jones like you walk into like a tomb and
Speaker 5: he looks at it and there's marking song. He's like, huh,
Speaker 5: looks like some kids got a hold of that, you know,
Speaker 5: Like it's.
Speaker 3: Just or he mumbles through it, like in that way
Speaker 3: where it's just like he'll he'll just talk to himself.
Speaker 5: It doesn't feel like it's been written for the player
Speaker 5: to learn something. It's just like it feels like Indie,
Speaker 5: you know. And yeah, I love that about us, man, Yeah,
Speaker 5: I that game is.
Speaker 4: It shot up my list so fast.
Speaker 3: I know, I think all of us, like we were
Speaker 3: all kind of like I think. I remember after the
Speaker 3: preview event, I was the only one of games but
Speaker 3: who played it, and I like had a hard time
Speaker 3: explaining like like or like come to terms of being
Speaker 3: like I think it's going to be really fucking good.
Speaker 3: It was like really like hard to be like. I
Speaker 3: just like I don't like And I only had like
Speaker 3: an hour and a half with it at that point,
Speaker 3: and I feel like I'd barely done anything other than
Speaker 3: the opening Vans Vatican Stealth mission that you're forced to
Speaker 3: do basically and then I only played a part of
Speaker 3: Giza in the open area.
Speaker 1: But yeah, but I mean yeah, it was like it
Speaker 1: shot up our top ten because everyone who had played
Speaker 1: it early. Yeah, Like I wasn't sure how everyone was
Speaker 1: going to feel, but going in there and realizing like,
Speaker 1: oh no, everyone's like yep, like you know, I was
Speaker 1: like Lucy tam like they were like, you know, they're
Speaker 1: all like.
Speaker 3: The main I think the main thing was that I
Speaker 3: remember saying, was I don't think people are prepared for
Speaker 3: what the kind of game this says, yeah, like and
Speaker 3: like that, like for that mainstream gaming audiences. I just
Speaker 3: don't know if they're like going to be ready to
Speaker 3: play a game that's kind of an immersive sim lights. Yeah,
Speaker 3: you don't get things like that. You don't get like
Speaker 3: Dishonored style games in the hands of main mainstream gamers, right,
Speaker 3: who have no context of anything else other than big license.
Speaker 4: I also worry about, like I don't know how well
Speaker 4: that game is going.
Speaker 3: To do some marketing. I've barely seen it.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and like I don't know Indiana Jones is kind
Speaker 5: of a weird cell at this point, Like I don't
Speaker 5: know how many people are excited to play that game.
Speaker 1: I'm sure at the time when they got that license,
Speaker 1: they were like, oh, this is a shoe in.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean five years ago exactly exactly. I feel
Speaker 3: like my assumption would be, I think it will have
Speaker 3: a long tail, and like I think it'll be one
Speaker 3: of those things that people may and like it'll come
Speaker 3: to PS five and will have the exact same bump, right,
Speaker 3: I'll have the same exact like sort of tail, and
Speaker 3: I think it'll be a thing again where people will
Speaker 3: talk about it like year after year and after year,
Speaker 3: and it's I think it's gonna have a long tale
Speaker 3: of revenue come in.
Speaker 4: But yeah, but like that happened with Prey in that studio.
Speaker 3: But Pray still is not Praise still is like formed
Speaker 3: on Shure an obscure license in. But it's not even
Speaker 3: we know that, I know, we know that has no
Speaker 3: connection to the other Prey game, but it's like still
Speaker 3: has to but it still has mind share, right, yes,
Speaker 3: and that's all that's I know, I know. So it's
Speaker 3: like like what I'm trying to say is like it
Speaker 3: still falls into a weird category where even if you
Speaker 3: don't know what Prey is, if you may have. Wasn't
Speaker 3: there a game called Prey that came out like the
Speaker 3: Xbox three sixty or whatever the FU or Xbox back then,
Speaker 3: and like, yes, it was amazing. We all hear in
Speaker 3: this room love it and like people talk about it's
Speaker 3: like that's for the fucking best, you know, games.
Speaker 1: It has got, it has gotten its due sense, but
Speaker 1: it's still like not enough.
Speaker 4: No, I know that, it's not.
Speaker 5: All I'm trying to say is if Xbox shut down
Speaker 5: machine games, I will take a sledgehammer to my Xbox.
Speaker 4: I will never fucking buy another Xbox well console again.
Speaker 3: Like I mean, that's why I pull a curt. You know,
Speaker 3: I have to build a PC and buy Windows. Yeah yeah,
Speaker 3: I really show that by the game on PC. Yeah No,
Speaker 3: I mean, but I mean for what it's worth. It's
Speaker 3: like I have not my series S has not been
Speaker 3: turned on since they closed our GNE. It's just like
Speaker 3: I will do everything I can.
Speaker 2: I will.
Speaker 3: We all have blood on our hands. I've said it
Speaker 3: a million times. It's very hard to not be able
Speaker 3: to support a corporation. But I will do my best
Speaker 3: to try and funnel the revenue I can in ways
Speaker 3: that feel meaningful. At least to me, let Steam take
Speaker 3: a cut of it. At least, yeah, let the other
Speaker 3: over do something. It's like, there's so little weak, but yeah, no,
Speaker 3: I agree for God's sakes. And then yeah, stccer to
Speaker 3: Doccer too. We don't have to talk that much about it,
Speaker 3: but it's so good. I think I put it in
Speaker 3: the most time out of anybody here. I think you
Speaker 3: think so.
Speaker 5: I've been meaning to put in more before the game
Speaker 5: came out. If I knew that, I'd be like, I
Speaker 5: don't know if I believe that. I played like a
Speaker 5: couple hours and I was like, I think Kurt would
Speaker 5: really like it.
Speaker 1: It was really it was like Jake, it was like
Speaker 1: I was.
Speaker 3: I've been following its development obviously for a while, but
Speaker 3: it was those moments where I kept lating more and
Speaker 3: more to also, to be honest, when I heard how
Speaker 3: divisive it was. Usually that shit like is a switch
Speaker 3: for me where I start to pay attention to it more,
Speaker 3: because you see, when I see people meemingly dislike something
Speaker 3: or veemally like it, I'm like, well, there's something here
Speaker 3: that is dividing people. Yeah, and it makes me interesting
Speaker 3: knowing that you want to know where you're going to
Speaker 3: think exactly. And I fall in the camp of being like,
Speaker 3: I fucking love this game. Yeah, I think it's I
Speaker 3: think it's a genuine I think genuine is the right word.
Speaker 3: It's like it feels like a very genuine experience of
Speaker 3: a thing that like. And I said this during deliberations
Speaker 3: where I it's knowing about its development doesn't have a
Speaker 3: bearing on whether or not it's in our top ten
Speaker 3: or whether we talking about it, whether you should even
Speaker 3: give a shit about it. But I am a fan.
Speaker 3: I do believe like context informs art, and like the
Speaker 3: things in which thing is made under certain circumstances will
Speaker 3: create an experience that is distinct to that thing. I
Speaker 3: think it's that is what fucking art is. And I
Speaker 3: think having the context of like knowing that this was
Speaker 3: made by Ukrainians who also have been dealing with a
Speaker 3: decade of a war torn country and dealing with Russian bullshit,
Speaker 3: you it doesn't you don't. It's not like explicitly in
Speaker 3: the game, but you feel it. It's like it's like
Speaker 3: this tangible thing that feels a part of it and
Speaker 3: it's culturally interesting because it's so Ukrainian and like in
Speaker 3: these very specific ways that I probably could never really
Speaker 3: grasp or understand, and because of that, it left an
Speaker 3: impression on me. Also, it's like I said this earlier
Speaker 3: in the podcast, I'm a fan of oxy Morons. It's
Speaker 3: like this game that is like so dire, so dour,
Speaker 3: so like you just look at it and it's just
Speaker 3: like looks like it's dying. Like the game just looks
Speaker 3: like it's barely holding on, and like the game itself
Speaker 3: is like so like it's difficult, it's hard. It's like
Speaker 3: kind of hard to understand for a while, and you're
Speaker 3: going through this fucking world. But then you go back
Speaker 3: to camp and you just said, these guys are like,
Speaker 3: hey man, you're a real cool soccer killing guy, Like
Speaker 3: I thought you killed some scumbags back in your day,
Speaker 3: and it just feels so like, what fucking world are
Speaker 3: you living.
Speaker 1: We've mentioned oblivion a bunch I'm.
Speaker 3: Talking about, and I think that's so fucking perfect.
Speaker 1: It does have that like, man, I just got that
Speaker 1: vibe about it that's just like genuine but awkward, but like,
Speaker 1: oh it would.
Speaker 3: It just makes it feel so much to me, like
Speaker 3: that is so much more human.
Speaker 1: Yes, Like like if there was more like traditionally buttoned
Speaker 1: up in the way you speaking.
Speaker 3: Of Last of Us.
Speaker 4: Last of This is when I was thinking about bringing
Speaker 4: up because it was like it's.
Speaker 3: Like you think about like you, you think about being
Speaker 3: in a world that fucking blows, and that like the
Speaker 3: world around you is dying, there's little to hold onto
Speaker 3: you would want to like, of course it would be
Speaker 3: normal for you to imagine these characters being same way.
Speaker 3: They're miserable as fuck, but like in actuality, like humanity
Speaker 3: through all of its bullshit is like there were troying
Speaker 3: dicks on fucking like things and like you know, fucking
Speaker 3: thousands of years ago, there's like there is still levity
Speaker 3: and humanity to be found in like goofiness and like turmoil,
Speaker 3: and like also comedy is formed on things that you're
Speaker 3: allowed to make fun of because you're experiencing it. So
Speaker 3: I feel like playing a game like Stalker two is
Speaker 3: like the antithesis of a game like The Last of Us,
Speaker 3: where it's so where it's depressing the look at and
Speaker 3: it's depressing to be to live in. Stalker two gives
Speaker 3: me like the weirdest amount of like no, I want
Speaker 3: to go like fuck up other Stalkers, kill these fucking mutants,
Speaker 3: so then I can go hunt dogs with the guy
Speaker 3: who's gonna tell me the worst jokes I've ever heard
Speaker 3: life because it feel normal. Oh no, no jokes. I
Speaker 3: listened to them again recently and I was like, I
Speaker 3: don't understand any of these at all.
Speaker 5: I maybe I'll say it for the end, but I
Speaker 5: do kind of want to tease the project we've been
Speaker 5: working on for sure time, because we've been sitting on
Speaker 5: it for a while.
Speaker 3: How you do it now? And we'll wrap this up
Speaker 3: then to kind of go back to what Kurt.
Speaker 5: Was saying about how like culture influences art, you know,
Speaker 5: and there is you see that in Stalker back in
Speaker 5: what was.
Speaker 4: It aug October?
Speaker 3: When when it came out?
Speaker 4: No, no, no, when did we go?
Speaker 3: Oh frog, like September, September.
Speaker 5: In September September, we have like one more game spot
Speaker 5: insider documentary and it is about Stalker's about some of
Speaker 5: the developers who evacuated Ukraine right before the full scale
Speaker 5: invasion in u It was February twenty twenty two and
Speaker 5: we interviewed a bunch of developers. We were putting that
Speaker 5: together and we're hoping to get it out next year
Speaker 5: or the next year, early next year. A lot of
Speaker 5: work has already gone into this.
Speaker 3: Now it's on a record, so we have to find
Speaker 3: that no reason. It's like I need to just say
Speaker 3: it because.
Speaker 4: Like, yeah, it very proud of what we have so far,
Speaker 4: excited to share it. Yeah, that's a that's a Game
Speaker 4: Spot after Dark exclusive.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm looking forward to having that one tomb. But
Speaker 1: also I'm like I wanted I'm not going to put
Speaker 1: it out half baked now. It feels it feels too
Speaker 1: important for that. Thank you everyone for listening Game Spot
Speaker 1: after Dark, not just this episode, but every episode we've done.
Speaker 1: It's been a very rocky year for us, as I'm
Speaker 1: sure it has for a lot of people. It's been
Speaker 1: a year, twenty twenty four. It has been a year,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure twenty twenty five will continue to also
Speaker 1: be a year.
Speaker 3: But hopefully there will be some levity, there will be
Speaker 3: some joke. Hey man, yo, real cool Game Spot after
Speaker 3: a Dark podcast. Guy.
Speaker 1: So thank you everyone for listening, and thank you too
Speaker 1: for being on, especially you Kurt, because you're the you're
Speaker 1: you were all like, I'm mister grumba won't be on
Speaker 1: a podcast. And then I said, Kurt, I'm gonna have
Speaker 1: you on the podcast for you.
Speaker 3: Thank you. That means a lot to me.
Speaker 1: You can go fuck himself enough, all right, everybody, thank
Speaker 1: you for listening, and we will see you all next year.