The Blood of Dawnwalker Exclusive Details & Forza Horizon 6 Review

<v Speaker 1>Welcome back everyone to the Game Informer Show, a weekly
<v Speaker 1>podcast covering the video game industry. Join us every Friday
<v Speaker 1>for a discussion of the latest gaming news, reviews, and
<v Speaker 1>exclusive reveals, alongside game and from her staff and special
<v Speaker 1>guests from around the industry. I'm one of your hosts
<v Speaker 1>today Alex van Aiken, and today I'm joined by Marcus Stewart.
<v Speaker 1>How you doing, Marcus, I'm doing well.
<v Speaker 2>I just realized we were talking off camera about Man
<v Speaker 2>at the Box by Alison Chains, and it just dawned
<v Speaker 2>on me that we are all men in boxes right now.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, yes we are. It's uh we we can't escape this.
<v Speaker 2>This gnup if I?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah? Yeah? Also joined by Kyle Hilliard, how are you?
<v Speaker 2>Hey?
<v Speaker 3>What's up? I thought spoon Man was an Allison Chains song.
<v Speaker 4>That sound is not bake music fan.
<v Speaker 3>I realized my mistake.
<v Speaker 1>Is what I know I have. I have never heard
<v Speaker 1>of that song.
<v Speaker 3>So a friend about spoons, so I center that song
<v Speaker 3>as a cool older oh perfect.
<v Speaker 2>Part, and he said, check out this Alis and Chains song.
<v Speaker 3>She said cool, and then.
<v Speaker 1>She We're joined by Brian Shay rounding this out. How
<v Speaker 1>are you, Brian?
<v Speaker 4>I'm doing great? Every time we talk about like the
<v Speaker 4>layout of the podcast. It reminds me of that viral
<v Speaker 4>video where they had like the kind of Brady Bunch
<v Speaker 4>layout of the celebrities singing we are the Champions, and
<v Speaker 4>I sure clearly thought he was going to be in
<v Speaker 4>the middle. So he's looking all around all angles.
<v Speaker 1>And remember COVID, Remember when they were like, imagine no
<v Speaker 1>the people first week of COVID.
<v Speaker 4>God, that saved me.
<v Speaker 3>That saved me, That sent me.
<v Speaker 1>Into a spiral. I started eating toilet paper.
<v Speaker 2>It wasn't good.
<v Speaker 1>Let's get into the show proper. Of course, if you
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<v Speaker 1>let's get into the show, guys. I think the big
<v Speaker 1>the big talker this week is gonna be the Blood
<v Speaker 1>of the Dawn Walker cover story. We're gonna get to that,
<v Speaker 1>but we also have some reviews I want to get
<v Speaker 1>through real quick. We've got the Forts of Horizon six review,
<v Speaker 1>which we're about to jump into. We played Directive eighty twenty,
<v Speaker 1>which is the latest game from super Massive UH. And
<v Speaker 1>after after our cover story, we'll get into the Call
<v Speaker 1>of the Elder God's review from Marcus, and then we've
<v Speaker 1>actually got a bunch of listener questions back. We we
<v Speaker 1>brought this segment back finally. I think it's one that
<v Speaker 1>we've been wanting to bring back. And when we when
<v Speaker 1>we were first revived and the podcast came back, we
<v Speaker 1>just had a lot going on and we're like, let's
<v Speaker 1>just stick to, like, you know, covering games. But I
<v Speaker 1>think we've wanted to inject that sense of community we
<v Speaker 1>used to have on the podcast, uh, from from before
<v Speaker 1>we were shut down last year. Now that we're back
<v Speaker 1>and we've we've got the band with we're like, okay,
<v Speaker 1>let's start doing this again. So if you do want
<v Speaker 1>to be a part of the podcast and submit your questions,
<v Speaker 1>please send an email questions at game or podcast rather
<v Speaker 1>podcast at gaminformer dot com uh and or if you're
<v Speaker 1>in our discord, you can leave a comment in the
<v Speaker 1>appropriate channel. But Brian, let's let's get into your review
<v Speaker 1>of Forts Horizon six, the latest from Playground Games and
<v Speaker 1>Xbox Game Studios. I played it as well. It feels
<v Speaker 1>like more of the same, which is not a bad thing,
<v Speaker 1>like that series has really been refined and polished to
<v Speaker 1>the umpteenth degree. But I know there are some differences,
<v Speaker 1>and you've played, I mean, you beat it, so I'm
<v Speaker 1>gonna pass it over to you kind of give us
<v Speaker 1>the overview and what's different about this Forts of Horizon game?
<v Speaker 4>So yeah, I mean, first and foremost, the big difference
<v Speaker 4>is the setting, right, So Forts Horizon five was set
<v Speaker 4>in Mexico. This is set in Japan. I think that
<v Speaker 4>Mexico was maybe a bit more of a dynamic setting.
<v Speaker 4>But that said, there are still a ton of amazing
<v Speaker 4>biomes in across Japan. You know, Tokyo City is the
<v Speaker 4>biggest city that Forts of Horizon has ever featured, and
<v Speaker 4>it really is impressive. But you know, Alex, you and
<v Speaker 4>I have been to Japan together actually, and we've seen
<v Speaker 4>firsthand how massive that city is. It's impossible to capture
<v Speaker 4>how how huge Tokyo is in a video games, so
<v Speaker 4>it doesn't quite capture the all inspiring sprawl of Tokyo
<v Speaker 4>in real life, but it would be almost impossible to.
<v Speaker 4>But like that, that is one thing to keep in mind.
<v Speaker 4>The other thing to keep in mind is that there's
<v Speaker 4>no Osaka or Kyoto or any other cities in this game.
<v Speaker 4>It is only Tokyo, which I was actually a little
<v Speaker 4>bit surprised by. I thought we would get some other,
<v Speaker 4>like kind of iconic parts of those other cities, but no,
<v Speaker 4>Tokyo is like the only major city, and then outside
<v Speaker 4>of that is just like kind of countryside small towns,
<v Speaker 4>mountains up north, stuff like that. But you know, it
<v Speaker 4>is beautiful. It's it's an incredible playground no pun intended,
<v Speaker 4>given that the developer is playground games, but it you
<v Speaker 4>know it, it really does capture the feeling of Japan,
<v Speaker 4>and it captures kind of like the spirit of it,
<v Speaker 4>and I love that there are ways to kind of
<v Speaker 4>interact with the culture as well. It's not just the like, oh,
<v Speaker 4>we're in Japan, let's just go race. And there is
<v Speaker 4>a lot of that obviously, but there's there's a Horizon storyline,
<v Speaker 4>and then there is a Discover Japan storyline. The Discovered
<v Speaker 4>Japan storyline is a lot about interacting with the culture.
<v Speaker 4>Like there are like guided tours where like your tour
<v Speaker 4>guide will like teach you about either an element of
<v Speaker 4>the culture or an element of like the car you're driving.
<v Speaker 4>Like one of the earliest ones I did was like, Hey,
<v Speaker 4>you're driving in an old Honda Civic. Here is the
<v Speaker 4>history of this car, and like it's really cool that
<v Speaker 4>they are like giving you information about like here's why
<v Speaker 4>the Honda Civic rose to prominence and you're driving one
<v Speaker 4>right now, So like it really gives you like a
<v Speaker 4>sense of like, oh yeah, I'm like kind of experiencing
<v Speaker 4>this like in a virtual sense. And I love that
<v Speaker 4>about this game because it it does make the setting
<v Speaker 4>feel distinct. And they did a lot of that in
<v Speaker 4>Force the Horizon five as well. But obviously, like you know,
<v Speaker 4>interacting with Japanese car culture and interacting with like Mexican
<v Speaker 4>car culture is going to give you a completely different flavor.
<v Speaker 4>There's also other things like you can take up jobs,
<v Speaker 4>like if you want to get like extra money, you
<v Speaker 4>can actually driver.
<v Speaker 1>Is this so much fun too? Yeah? I played it,
<v Speaker 1>And so essentially you are you to make money?
<v Speaker 2>You are.
<v Speaker 1>They've the festival is partnered with local uh you know,
<v Speaker 1>essentially like an uber eats kind of app uh, and
<v Speaker 1>you then deliver foods. You go, you pick up the
<v Speaker 1>food and then you deliver it to where it's going.
<v Speaker 1>But along the way there are sort of like these
<v Speaker 1>conditions you have to fill out, like which get ridiculous,
<v Speaker 1>Like I did one where they wanted their food really
<v Speaker 1>shaken up, so I had to drive into as many
<v Speaker 1>obstacles as I could along the way.
<v Speaker 4>There's other verse is true as well, where it's like, oh,
<v Speaker 4>you cannot hit anything because this like you don't want
<v Speaker 4>to mess up this ramen that we're delivering, or like
<v Speaker 4>you know, drift as much as possible, like they really
<v Speaker 4>want you to deliver this in style or get here
<v Speaker 4>as fast as possible because this food needs to be
<v Speaker 4>eaten as hot as possible.
<v Speaker 1>And I like that one too. It's like you have
<v Speaker 1>to if you are under ninety miles per hour for
<v Speaker 1>more than thirty seconds, than you lose Oh, it's speed,
<v Speaker 1>and then it sends you through the city where there's
<v Speaker 1>like a bunch of turns and stuff. It's fun.
<v Speaker 4>That's a really cool request.
<v Speaker 2>If anyone listening is like a food delivery driver, let
<v Speaker 2>us know how accurate somebody's uh, customer stimulations are if
<v Speaker 2>you normally get these special requests, I would like to know.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 4>So yeah, like that's a really fun Like I kind
<v Speaker 4>of look at that as like the side story is
<v Speaker 4>the discovered Japan stuff, because that also has like kind
<v Speaker 4>of like the unsanctioned races like head to head battles,
<v Speaker 4>street races and stuff like that. Then you go over
<v Speaker 4>to the festival side and that is like I would say,
<v Speaker 4>the main story where you're in the Horizon festival. These
<v Speaker 4>are sanctioned races, so it's like circuit races, dirt races,
<v Speaker 4>which are kind of like rally cross, and then like
<v Speaker 4>you know kind of sprints where you're going from point
<v Speaker 4>A to point B against like a lineup of cars.
<v Speaker 4>And it that also includes like a lot of like
<v Speaker 4>the festival centric activities like going around and like smashing,
<v Speaker 4>like the regional mascots that are scattered throughout those I
<v Speaker 4>got so into like hunting, hunting those those regional mascots
<v Speaker 4>down and like the bonus boards where a grant XP
<v Speaker 4>they're just like hidden throughout the environment and you'll see
<v Speaker 4>them on the map and it'll just be like, I'm
<v Speaker 4>not that far from that. Let me go veer off
<v Speaker 4>course from where I'm going to go track down this
<v Speaker 4>this like you know, cartoony bowl of ramen or this
<v Speaker 4>cartoony like Macha tea or whatever, like curry rice. So
<v Speaker 4>all the regions have a different mascot that you track
<v Speaker 4>down a bunch of them and run your car into them,
<v Speaker 4>and that's how you collect them. And there's two hundred
<v Speaker 4>of those scattered throughout.
<v Speaker 2>The world and they're okay with this.
<v Speaker 4>They are okay with this. Yes, that is the goal
<v Speaker 4>of this.
<v Speaker 1>There is like a weird I wanted to get into it.
<v Speaker 1>There is like a weird energy or or like juxtaposition
<v Speaker 1>of we are going on. I played one of these
<v Speaker 1>missions where it was like one of the tours you've
<v Speaker 1>talked about discovered Japan, and we all had muscle cars
<v Speaker 1>and we were driving through the Eto region and they
<v Speaker 1>were talking about like all of these you know, this
<v Speaker 1>one wasn't so most wasn't really focused on like these
<v Speaker 1>sacred places or anything like that, Like you're not really
<v Speaker 1>like driving through shrines or anything. But you're like they're
<v Speaker 1>talking about like the beauty of the landscape and stuff.
<v Speaker 1>And then you get a challenge halfway throw where it's like, Okay,
<v Speaker 1>you have to score one hundred and fifty thousand point
<v Speaker 1>style points within three minutes, and the easiest, one of
<v Speaker 1>the easiest ways to do that just to smash through everything.
<v Speaker 1>So there's like this weird energy where you're like, okay,
<v Speaker 1>are we are we respecting this place that we're guests in,
<v Speaker 1>or okay, you're giving me points to run through the
<v Speaker 1>bamboo forest and tear down all of the bamboo. And
<v Speaker 1>then it just feels like it's a weird like I
<v Speaker 1>feel like they they could have easily added in okay,
<v Speaker 1>hit one hundred and fifty thousd or maybe reduce it
<v Speaker 1>hit one hundred thousand score without you know, destroying such
<v Speaker 1>and such, and it's like, Okay, that means I have
<v Speaker 1>to do my drifts do this while also kind of
<v Speaker 1>respecting the landscape. But when they just say, hey, just
<v Speaker 1>get this score and reach the end, it's like, well,
<v Speaker 1>when I'm when I'm like, I'm trying personally to not
<v Speaker 1>mess this place up, but I'm not really worried about
<v Speaker 1>it when I'm smashing through the bamboo because I'm getting points.
<v Speaker 1>It's just like a weird it's a weird uh kind
<v Speaker 1>of thing you're looking for is contradiction.
<v Speaker 2>Hey, I was gonna say that has always been the
<v Speaker 2>case for the Horizon series. Like I've always thought you
<v Speaker 2>could these games could be a horror game if you
<v Speaker 2>set them. But it was from the perspective of the locals,
<v Speaker 2>and they're watching all these like super excited influencer driver
<v Speaker 2>like people just take over their they're a country and
<v Speaker 2>just smash cars into everything and they're like why do
<v Speaker 2>why are you here? Like what is happening? Mascots?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, So it's like like but the writing is very
<v Speaker 1>much like look at this beautiful play. It's just like
<v Speaker 1>this weird and very much I'm reminded like, oh, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>I'm in a video game, which is I guess fine,
<v Speaker 1>But I feel like they really are trying to like
<v Speaker 1>immerse you in like the local culture, and and it's
<v Speaker 1>it can feel like very surface level because of like
<v Speaker 1>that that dissonance there. I almost wish like they would
<v Speaker 1>make like the next game, they would dial up the destruction,
<v Speaker 1>but like put it in like a fictional place and
<v Speaker 1>like or America, because you know, we can take it.
<v Speaker 1>We're used to it. But this kind of transition into
<v Speaker 1>a different topic. But you know, this game represents like
<v Speaker 1>the the sort of like years and years and years
<v Speaker 1>of dialing in this format and this and working with
<v Speaker 1>this engine, and it's so you know, I wouldn't say
<v Speaker 1>it's perfect, Like I have my qualms with it, but
<v Speaker 1>it's like, I don't know where you take it next
<v Speaker 1>in its current form besides another place. And I think
<v Speaker 1>that's what they've been doing. And that's like, yeah, that's
<v Speaker 1>the answer. I would love to see the forts Are
<v Speaker 1>Horizon or maybe it's a separate, you know, spin off.
<v Speaker 1>You know, we've got to it this point we got
<v Speaker 1>this is a spin off itself of FORTSA. I would
<v Speaker 1>love to see this team introduce a destruction mechanic, like
<v Speaker 1>I think it's just burnout style burnout style destruction, Like
<v Speaker 1>I they've got the like whenever you smash into things,
<v Speaker 1>you're already your vehicles taking damage. I would love to
<v Speaker 1>see that expanded on and really kind of turned up
<v Speaker 1>because I think it could. Really it's already an arcade racer.
<v Speaker 1>It's they've already got the they've already got like the
<v Speaker 1>shader tech to like you know when you when you
<v Speaker 1>scratch your car, it shows up on the car. You know,
<v Speaker 1>your car can get really messed up, but it's always
<v Speaker 1>very Uh it feels weird when you crash into the
<v Speaker 1>tree at ninety miles an hour and your car just
<v Speaker 1>kind of hits it and stops and there's no The
<v Speaker 1>problems that I.
<v Speaker 4>Know about that is the reason that Burnout never had
<v Speaker 4>licensed cars is because these manufacturers desperately don't want to
<v Speaker 4>see their cars in flaming piles.
<v Speaker 1>I would just tell them to suck it up. I
<v Speaker 1>think that's a good typically answers.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, you do look like they're gonna have any cars
<v Speaker 2>in your game.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I mean you can make it.
<v Speaker 1>What if?
<v Speaker 3>What if? Okay, so what if you took what if
<v Speaker 3>you got out of the car and you were like
<v Speaker 3>walked around and you were in like a fantasy setting,
<v Speaker 3>like what do you do you think does that sound?
<v Speaker 3>And the game could still start with an f like
<v Speaker 3>we could maintain that and it could also be followed
<v Speaker 3>by a vowel, and I think that would be okay.
<v Speaker 1>So for you're wanting to get out, you're running to
<v Speaker 1>get out of the car and onto a skateboard.
<v Speaker 3>I was going with Fable.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, Fable got it.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, he was crucial, the crucial piece of Richard. Yeah.
<v Speaker 4>So Fable is also coming from Playground Games, so they're
<v Speaker 4>gonna have presumably two big releases in a very.
<v Speaker 2>Short stand here.
<v Speaker 1>Hell, I'll tell you the game is gorgeous. It's I mean,
<v Speaker 1>you've seen more regions than I have, Brian, What what
<v Speaker 1>are your favorite? Would have been your favorite areas to
<v Speaker 1>explore in the game so far?
<v Speaker 4>I like up North because they have that like famous
<v Speaker 4>snow road that I'm sure you've seen on like Instagram,
<v Speaker 4>TikTok where it's like the walls of snow are like
<v Speaker 4>forty high, Like that's super cool and like you can
<v Speaker 4>jump over that and and do all that. Like there's
<v Speaker 4>all kinds of like altitude changes up there. Driving in
<v Speaker 4>snow feels different than like driving on dirt or driving
<v Speaker 4>on like they do a great job with making the
<v Speaker 4>surfaces feel different.
<v Speaker 2>The weather is the weather's like like the seasons or
<v Speaker 2>the seasonal stuff.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, yeah, yeah, so like about two weeks into my
<v Speaker 4>or about a week into my gameplay, like, it switched
<v Speaker 4>from spring to summer.
<v Speaker 2>So that's pretty cool.
<v Speaker 4>I'm sure eventually it'll switch over to fall and then
<v Speaker 4>eventually winter. But yeah, they are doing like the full
<v Speaker 4>like seasonal cycle in terms of like actual in game seasons. Yeah,
<v Speaker 4>I mean it's it's very much a continuation of what
<v Speaker 4>we got in Forts the Horizon five. I think I
<v Speaker 4>like it a little bit less. I think Mexico I
<v Speaker 4>probably prefer that map just a little bit more. I
<v Speaker 4>think there's a little bit more diversity of biome in that,
<v Speaker 4>whereas like Japan has like some beaches, it has like
<v Speaker 4>the snow up north, it has Tokyo City, which is amazing,
<v Speaker 4>but outside of that, it's just mostly like green countryside,
<v Speaker 4>which is fine. I like that a lot too. It's beautiful.
<v Speaker 4>But you know, Mexico had like rainforests and deserts and
<v Speaker 4>beaches and and cities as well, like all kinds of stuff.
<v Speaker 4>Nothing on the scale of Tokyo City, but yeah, yeah,
<v Speaker 4>it's Forts the Horizon five was my favorite racing game
<v Speaker 4>of all time. This is deserving of being mentioned alongside that,
<v Speaker 4>So I'm not complaining or bashing, And I gave you know,
<v Speaker 4>Forts Horizon five a nine point five, which is tied
<v Speaker 4>for my highest game and former review ever Forts Horizon
<v Speaker 4>six slightly worse nine point twenty five. So it's it's
<v Speaker 4>not like I'm saying either of these are bad games.
<v Speaker 4>The contrary, they're both amazing games. But I think I
<v Speaker 4>prefer the Mexico map just a little bit more. But
<v Speaker 4>you know, everything else in this game feels just kind
<v Speaker 4>of slightly more polished. It looks a little bit better
<v Speaker 4>in terms of like graphical fidelity and resolution. Though I
<v Speaker 4>haven't gone back and played it since any of like
<v Speaker 4>the recent updates. I think they did put out like
<v Speaker 4>a like a kind of like up like upres or
<v Speaker 4>up resolution like update at some point for Forts Horizon five,
<v Speaker 4>So maybe I should go back. But yeah, like I
<v Speaker 4>thoroughly enjoyed all of my time in Forts of Horizon six,
<v Speaker 4>and I plan on playing all weekend as well, Like
<v Speaker 4>this is going to be like a game I continue
<v Speaker 4>to play throughout the throughout the next coming months.
<v Speaker 1>I would say, yeah, I never play games in my
<v Speaker 1>living room ever, I'm always just here at my desk
<v Speaker 1>playing and I've got all my stuff hooked up, but
<v Speaker 1>I think I'm gonna be taking the Xbox downstairs, and
<v Speaker 1>I just kind of want to have this game at
<v Speaker 1>the ready when I'm just on the couch. I think
<v Speaker 1>like racing games are perfect for that, and this one
<v Speaker 1>has inspired me to do so, which I haven't done
<v Speaker 1>in a while. So and also I think Kayla, my wife,
<v Speaker 1>she she likes racing games, and so I think it'd
<v Speaker 1>be like, oh, we can both kind of maybe spend
<v Speaker 1>some time in the evenings because it's just so zen,
<v Speaker 1>even if you're not doing a race, just driving.
<v Speaker 2>Around her Drive Guitar program.
<v Speaker 1>I know, right, yeah, I need to get her.
<v Speaker 4>That's something we haven't talked about that that the forts
<v Speaker 4>of Horizon series does extremely like this extremely cool feature
<v Speaker 4>called drive Guitar. It carries over to the regular forts
<v Speaker 4>A series as well, where I if you've ever played
<v Speaker 4>a forts A game, it logs how you drive in
<v Speaker 4>those games. And then if like say Alex has never
<v Speaker 4>played Forts of Horizon six and I've been playing it
<v Speaker 4>we're friends on Xbox Live, I will see his driver
<v Speaker 4>like his his like username appear above like a car
<v Speaker 4>and I'm when I'm playing offline and it will behave
<v Speaker 4>at like similar to how he behaves when he's playing
<v Speaker 4>on his game, so.
<v Speaker 1>Like, yeah, it will be very aggressive.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, I'm pretty aggressive as well. And like our editor
<v Speaker 4>in chief Matt Miller messaged me and he's like, your
<v Speaker 4>drive autitar keeps like ramming into me around turns. I'm like,
<v Speaker 4>that is exactly how I handle turns and Forts of
<v Speaker 4>Horizon like I am.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I have raced against you a couple of times.
<v Speaker 1>Actually in the REV footage you can probably spot yourself,
<v Speaker 1>but you were very agro and I was very agro,
<v Speaker 1>so weird. I was just like constantly pushing you off
<v Speaker 1>the edge of the road and it's just a chariot race.
<v Speaker 1>Andwhile everyone else is like driving very nicely, like Jesse
<v Speaker 1>Telly's driving past me like very on on his line.
<v Speaker 3>You know, stopping at stop lights.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah, like Driva tars quote is the only AI
<v Speaker 2>model I want to train is a dry guitar.
<v Speaker 1>I agree, yeah, you can. You can have my data
<v Speaker 1>for that nothing else.
<v Speaker 4>I also do want to shout out the radio stations.
<v Speaker 4>That is something I've always loved in the Forts of
<v Speaker 4>Horizons series.
<v Speaker 1>Streamer mode for captures. Oh yeah, experience it turn.
<v Speaker 4>The radio stations on now that you're done capturing Alex,
<v Speaker 4>because I was constantly shazaming songs. I mean, it tells
<v Speaker 4>you what the song title is when it starts. But
<v Speaker 4>like you can flip through different genres. There's one that's
<v Speaker 4>like all Japanese music, so like and even like the
<v Speaker 4>DJ is Japanese, so like they're they're speaking in Japanese,
<v Speaker 4>so it's it does feel authentic in that regard. I
<v Speaker 4>found so many new like artists and so many new
<v Speaker 4>songs and everything to add to playlists like shout out
<v Speaker 4>to them, because they did that for five as well,
<v Speaker 4>like and I mean other games in the series too,
<v Speaker 4>but like five was when I was really like, oh man,
<v Speaker 4>I love exploring these radio stags and like finding which
<v Speaker 4>like genre because they're all different genres too, Like there's
<v Speaker 4>one that's like kind of hard rock, there's one that's
<v Speaker 4>like kind of alternative. One in this game, it's like
<v Speaker 4>all like Japanese rock and jpop, and then like you know,
<v Speaker 4>new wave stuff like just on down the line and
<v Speaker 4>you can choose which one you want to listen to.
<v Speaker 4>They all have like their own distinct DJs that we'll
<v Speaker 4>talk to you and like even like react to things
<v Speaker 4>that are going on in the festival that you've done,
<v Speaker 4>where it's like when you complete the big set piece moments,
<v Speaker 4>they'll be like, hey, like they just completed this. That's
<v Speaker 4>really cool, Like that's really an incredible feat. Or like
<v Speaker 4>if you find like a treasure car or like a
<v Speaker 4>barn find, they will call out like, hey, there was
<v Speaker 4>like a like imagine you're just driving around and there's
<v Speaker 4>this porstcha just sitting in like this abandoned garage, Like
<v Speaker 4>imagine how cool that would be. It's like, well, for
<v Speaker 4>one person, they don't have to imagine because they just
<v Speaker 4>found it. And it's like, oh, that's kind of neat
<v Speaker 4>that they call out like kind of local news stories
<v Speaker 4>going on with the festival, which is is pretty neat.
<v Speaker 1>That's cool. I do have one question before we move
<v Speaker 1>on to the next game that we're gonna talk about today,
<v Speaker 1>but it's a bit of a technical one. Can you
<v Speaker 1>remind me when you are playing multiplayer races because I
<v Speaker 1>was playing pre release and I saw like one dude
<v Speaker 1>online shout out to shadow Fox. I think, but when
<v Speaker 1>you are remind me, do you get a limited unlimited
<v Speaker 1>rewinds in like a multiplayer race or do you get
<v Speaker 1>no rewinds? How does that work?
<v Speaker 4>Do you get any rewinds? Because otherwise how would that work? Like?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I was like if there was, surely it would
<v Speaker 1>have to be like one because it would pull everyone back.
<v Speaker 1>But yeah, that makes more sense that there's there's none.
<v Speaker 4>I mean, I again, my my multiplayer experience was fairly
<v Speaker 4>limited as well because it was all pre release and
<v Speaker 4>there's not a huge player base. Even as we were
<v Speaker 4>recording this, it's before the early access period starts. But
<v Speaker 4>I'm pretty sure you don't get rewinds, And if you do,
<v Speaker 4>I guess, like the way it would work is like
<v Speaker 4>everybody else keeps going. It doesn't pause time the way
<v Speaker 4>it does in.
<v Speaker 1>Like offline play.
<v Speaker 4>That's something I do want to I want to shout
<v Speaker 4>out the approachability mechanics that they have built in because
<v Speaker 4>like you know, you can adjust how many assists you
<v Speaker 4>want in this, Like you can be like, oh, I
<v Speaker 4>want the rate, like the race line that tells you
<v Speaker 4>like when you need to accelerate, when you need to break,
<v Speaker 4>when you need to just like drift, like going into
<v Speaker 4>a turn, Like you can have that like added, you
<v Speaker 4>can have rewinds enabled and what they do, and you
<v Speaker 4>can also adjust like the difficulty of the drive A
<v Speaker 4>Tars you're facing, and based on the difficulty that you set.
<v Speaker 4>They don't penalize you aside from like if you have
<v Speaker 4>like all of them set and you have like the
<v Speaker 4>drive A Tars on easy, it may give you less credits,
<v Speaker 4>whereas if you turn all of them off and make
<v Speaker 4>the difficulty higher, they will give you a higher multiplier
<v Speaker 4>on the credits you get. So it's like it doesn't
<v Speaker 4>throttle your story progress, it just makes it so you
<v Speaker 4>can get a little bit less money, which means you
<v Speaker 4>just can't buy as many cars. But like even doing
<v Speaker 4>it on I mean I was doing race, Yeah you
<v Speaker 4>can rerace, you can. I had it on I think
<v Speaker 4>above average as my my drive guitar skill seting. And
<v Speaker 4>then I had like everybody like all the other like
<v Speaker 4>like assists, like like in terms of like the normal assists,
<v Speaker 4>nothing like egregious. I had a lot of them enabled,
<v Speaker 4>like the racing line and rewinds if it came to it,
<v Speaker 4>but I tried not to use them as much as possible.
<v Speaker 4>But like I was never really hurting for money, like
<v Speaker 4>you're they're constantly doling out like like wheel spins, which
<v Speaker 4>either give you like a cosmetic item, a lump sum
<v Speaker 4>of credits, or new car.
<v Speaker 3>Like it was very rare that I was like.
<v Speaker 4>Oh man, I'm almost out of money like it right now.
<v Speaker 4>I think I have like two million credits just sitting
<v Speaker 4>around as I'm working like through these events that are
<v Speaker 4>still scattered across the map.
<v Speaker 1>Love it? That's cool. Well, guys, let's move on, uh
<v Speaker 1>to Directive eighty twenty. That is the uh, the new
<v Speaker 1>game from super Massive. Kyle, you've been playing this? How
<v Speaker 1>is it? Is it good?
<v Speaker 3>I don't like it? Alex?
<v Speaker 1>Oh, okay, why don't you like it?
<v Speaker 2>So?
<v Speaker 3>I gave it a five out of ten on our
<v Speaker 3>review scale, And I mean the reason I don't like
<v Speaker 3>it is because, like I just was not engaged with
<v Speaker 3>the story or the characters. And that is like the
<v Speaker 3>primary goal of these super Massive games, right, It's not
<v Speaker 3>really about the gameplay. It's not really about I mean that,
<v Speaker 3>it's not about the gameplay. It's about like, are you
<v Speaker 3>interested in the fate of these characters and the choices
<v Speaker 3>you make and what they do? Like where does that
<v Speaker 3>lead you? And like I just like, was I just
<v Speaker 3>was really like borderline like frustrated by the characterizations of people.
<v Speaker 3>It just felt like it's it's a very much a
<v Speaker 3>like a a riff on like the thing and alien
<v Speaker 3>and stuff like that, and it just felt like it
<v Speaker 3>just didn't feel unique or creative in that way. The
<v Speaker 3>performances are pretty under whelming. There are times where like
<v Speaker 3>it looks really good, like it's it's it's weird, but
<v Speaker 3>it's like if you have a close up shot of
<v Speaker 3>a character's face, the game looks great, but then when
<v Speaker 3>you like zoom out, like I felt like it was
<v Speaker 3>like like an outdated kind of performance capture where it's like,
<v Speaker 3>you guys probably know what I'm talking about. There's this
<v Speaker 3>era of performance capture where they were still sort of
<v Speaker 3>like enamored with the technology and they were acting with
<v Speaker 3>their arms a lot.
<v Speaker 2>You know the Sonic six PC.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I mean it wasn't that it's not that bad.
<v Speaker 3>I wouldn't throw it to Sonic O six but there's
<v Speaker 3>just a sort of a a pepper ring of that
<v Speaker 3>and like and then like just the the larger writing
<v Speaker 3>was just is just rough. Man, it just like like
<v Speaker 3>one like just as an example, like you know, characterization
<v Speaker 3>is just delivered in really like overt sort of obvious ways,
<v Speaker 3>like you know, you you wake up and like one
<v Speaker 3>character goes up to the captain of the ship because
<v Speaker 3>you're in like cryo sleep and you wake up and
<v Speaker 3>you're like, hey, captain, I just I forgot Can you
<v Speaker 3>tell me like how you feel about this mission and
<v Speaker 3>it being potentially your retirement mission? And it's just so
<v Speaker 3>transparent and like even early on there's like a character
<v Speaker 3>who is like, you know how we got to go
<v Speaker 3>fix the ship. But hold on a second, i gotta
<v Speaker 3>watch this video that my wife and daughter sent me
<v Speaker 3>from Earth telling me how proud they are of me.
<v Speaker 3>We'll fix that thing that where you know that the
<v Speaker 3>air is like leaking out of the ship. It was
<v Speaker 3>just like a bunch of things like that where it
<v Speaker 3>just felt like just lame and just so cliched and
<v Speaker 3>like and it's like in terms of and and the
<v Speaker 3>story also like they go through a lot of trouble
<v Speaker 3>too and repeatedly to be like we're the best, like
<v Speaker 3>we're saving Earth. We're like we're leaving Earth on this
<v Speaker 3>four year mission to find a new planet because Earth
<v Speaker 3>is like going to Hell, and like we went through
<v Speaker 3>this amazing process where a bunch of geniuses no one
<v Speaker 3>else on Earth can do this mission where the best
<v Speaker 3>there is, and then where the elite. And then you
<v Speaker 3>play the game and it's like there are choices outside
<v Speaker 3>of your hands. Obviously like that you're not making literally
<v Speaker 3>every choice, but so often I'm just like you guys,
<v Speaker 3>you are not the smartest people on Earth. This is
<v Speaker 3>like ridiculous, like this, you guys are so dumb, and
<v Speaker 3>it's like in a horror game. Yeah, go ahead, Marcus, have.
<v Speaker 2>You have you have you considered that if these guys
<v Speaker 2>are the best of the best, but Earth has collapsed
<v Speaker 2>on itself, maybe that is an accurate representation of just yeah,
<v Speaker 2>like I mean maybe maybe that explains a lot.
<v Speaker 3>Maybe, but yeah, I I could that could be and
<v Speaker 3>maybe that's why. But that's why it's that's why it's
<v Speaker 3>accurate for the future. But like, like you play something
<v Speaker 3>like Until Dawn or like the other super Massive. When
<v Speaker 3>I played was like a man of Dan. I played
<v Speaker 3>a little No did I start the quary? I might
<v Speaker 3>not have started. I don't remember. But like there is
<v Speaker 3>fun in watching you know this, like what super Massive
<v Speaker 3>sort of developed for themselves of like you watch people
<v Speaker 3>in panic mode make bad decisions and sometimes you're like
<v Speaker 3>brought into that to try to help them, and like
<v Speaker 3>you fail a QTE or something right, and it's like
<v Speaker 3>that's fun, Like it is fun to watch people in
<v Speaker 3>panic make bad decisions. But like the whole setup here
<v Speaker 3>of like these uh astronauts on the spaceship is like
<v Speaker 3>we're the smartest, We're taking this very seriously, we're very thoughtful,
<v Speaker 3>We've trained for this, and it just and when that,
<v Speaker 3>like when they sort of fall into the super massive
<v Speaker 3>style of like, well, something's going wrong and we don't
<v Speaker 3>know what to do, it just it just feels lame.
<v Speaker 3>It just feels dumb, and like it was to the
<v Speaker 3>point where it was like frustrating. So I really, yeah,
<v Speaker 3>I did not I did not like Directive eighty twenty.
<v Speaker 3>And maybe I'm a sci fi snob, like you know,
<v Speaker 3>maybe that's part of it. Is like I just want
<v Speaker 3>to watch smart people make good decisions in space and
<v Speaker 3>and like and react to things going wrong and like
<v Speaker 3>and I just it just did not do it for me. Man,
<v Speaker 3>Like I really was really bummed out by this. And
<v Speaker 3>it's like I'm really I'm making an effort to play
<v Speaker 3>all the astronauts are dealing with bad stuff happening in
<v Speaker 3>space games this year, like like Mada and Sorrows and
<v Speaker 3>DIRECTI Baty twenty and I've started a Fellion but I
<v Speaker 3>haven't I haven't made a lot of progress yet. But yeah,
<v Speaker 3>I just yeah, I really didn't like this game, man,
<v Speaker 3>I was really bummed out by it. Did it really
<v Speaker 3>underwhelmed me?
<v Speaker 1>You should you should install like a steam mod to
<v Speaker 1>have all of them in Space Force uniforms, and then
<v Speaker 1>maybe you would really become like sitcom. Well that's based
<v Speaker 1>on the real Space Force though, oh I know, I
<v Speaker 1>know that our government. Yeah yeah yeah. And if they're
<v Speaker 1>all in space, they're in Space Force suits and they're
<v Speaker 1>talking about how smart they are, we're the best of
<v Speaker 1>the best, that might work, yeah yeah. And then then
<v Speaker 1>it becomes a you know, sort of a parody or yeah,
<v Speaker 1>it could be because.
<v Speaker 3>The homages are so transparent that they're like there was
<v Speaker 3>like a mystery that they set up kind of early,
<v Speaker 3>and like I'm like, okay, oh yeah, so that's what
<v Speaker 3>it is, got it? And then but then the characters
<v Speaker 3>don't clue themselves into it for like another four hours,
<v Speaker 3>and it just it's like It's like it's like they're
<v Speaker 3>like treating this thing as this mystery and I'm like, yeah, no,
<v Speaker 3>I I know what's going on this. You guys have
<v Speaker 3>made this very clear, like what is happening, Like I
<v Speaker 3>don't know why this is a discussion, Like.
<v Speaker 2>We really hope you've never seen the thing.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I mean yeah, And I mean I think if
<v Speaker 3>you ask super Massive they'd be like, yeah, no, we
<v Speaker 3>love the thing, and that's what we were trying to do.
<v Speaker 3>But it just it just doesn't right. There's a line
<v Speaker 3>between like homage and like just feeling like they didn't
<v Speaker 3>come up with any original ideas and it just I'm sorry,
<v Speaker 3>but it just falls in the no ideas sort of
<v Speaker 3>category for me.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. The new uh, the gameplay stuff didn't do anything.
<v Speaker 2>So that was one of the those things they were touting.
<v Speaker 2>Were like when I played at SGF last year, they
<v Speaker 2>were like, you know, it's it just controls like a
<v Speaker 2>video game, which they kind of been veering more and
<v Speaker 2>more towards that direction with every like dark cause this
<v Speaker 2>technically a dark Pictures in game.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah it's not even title like it is.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah, We're like, you know this, this plays more
<v Speaker 2>like a video game now and this one when I
<v Speaker 2>played it, they're like, oh, you can sneak around freely,
<v Speaker 2>and there's like enemies you have to avoid, just like
<v Speaker 2>a stealth game. Like none of that stuff hit no, No,
<v Speaker 2>didn't hit. Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>I mean it's a lot of waiting for bad guys
<v Speaker 3>to turn their backs and then you walk past them,
<v Speaker 3>which is like not fun or scary or intense. Really,
<v Speaker 3>it's just kind of like just waiting, and like the
<v Speaker 3>puzzles are pretty underwhelming. It's like a lot of like, oh,
<v Speaker 3>I need to turn this switch on so this door
<v Speaker 3>will open, and I got to sneak around while, you know,
<v Speaker 3>while I'm trying to figure that out. And yeah, just
<v Speaker 3>another aspect of the game that was ultimately underwhelming. And
<v Speaker 3>and also like you can basically undo any choice or
<v Speaker 3>QTE you miss immediately, which means it's.
<v Speaker 2>Like like yeah, they like like a rewind thing or
<v Speaker 2>something now, right.
<v Speaker 3>It just felt like nothing mattered because a.
<v Speaker 1>Couple like a couple of games ago, didn't they and
<v Speaker 1>people don't like this like Correy they introduced it.
<v Speaker 3>I just know it just I just want to lock
<v Speaker 3>into the story and let the things that happen happen, right,
<v Speaker 3>it's like if if I lose somebody because I messed
<v Speaker 3>up a QTE like and but if I can just
<v Speaker 3>rewind that and get it right, then it's like then
<v Speaker 3>I feel nothing ultimately, you know, It's like it's weird,
<v Speaker 3>like knowing the permutations. Once I see the story to
<v Speaker 3>its conclusion, let me hop back into the story and see, oh,
<v Speaker 3>where could have this gone? Where could have this gone?
<v Speaker 3>But like for that first playthrough to just be like, oh,
<v Speaker 3>every mistake can be undone, it's like, well then I
<v Speaker 3>don't care about anything, Like I'm not like why try.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it's weird. I don't. I don't. I didn't play
<v Speaker 2>to Qurey Alex. I don't know if it was in there.
<v Speaker 2>But I played the casting of Frankstone and finish that,
<v Speaker 2>and that didn't have a rewind. But they had a
<v Speaker 2>feature where like they had some like a mode basically
<v Speaker 2>where you could go back and chapter by chapter, a
<v Speaker 2>moment by moment you could see every possible outcome of
<v Speaker 2>a thing that you did, and then you could just
<v Speaker 2>hop right back into that scene directly, so you won't
<v Speaker 2>have to replay sections to get back to a decision
<v Speaker 2>that you wanted to redo. Yeah, which I think is
<v Speaker 2>what you would want, Like I see, like, Okay, I've
<v Speaker 2>done everything, and then I can immediately go into this
<v Speaker 2>other menu and then be like, oh, actually I want
<v Speaker 2>to replay Chapter three, Part five again and just do
<v Speaker 2>that over.
<v Speaker 4>I do.
<v Speaker 2>I do want that.
<v Speaker 3>I just don't want it there right away, like the
<v Speaker 3>first character that dies, I don't want to see like
<v Speaker 3>you want to do that just yeah, you can just
<v Speaker 3>tap the touch pad on the PlayStation five controller and
<v Speaker 3>it's at a certain point. I just had to commit,
<v Speaker 3>like just personally and be like, well I want to
<v Speaker 3>I'm going to make that experience for myself and just
<v Speaker 3>ignore the temptation of fixing my mistakes, you know.
<v Speaker 1>But yeah, yeah, I think I did look it up.
<v Speaker 1>I think that rewind feature. I think I was thinking
<v Speaker 1>of the news story that came out I think like
<v Speaker 1>a year or a year and a half ago where
<v Speaker 1>they were saying they were working on that. I think
<v Speaker 1>this is actually the first one that has it.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it kind of sounds like it's a Life is
<v Speaker 2>Strange game now, or at least the first one rewind
<v Speaker 2>everything when you do something.
<v Speaker 3>Well yeah, basically, but yeah, I just yeah, I I
<v Speaker 3>love you know, until Dawn It was like a very
<v Speaker 3>memorable experience, like playing through with my wife, and like
<v Speaker 3>those games, those games are cool, like in a group
<v Speaker 3>setting and like it's fun in those like so especially
<v Speaker 3>like the Slasher sort of like you know, can you survive?
<v Speaker 2>But like I just it just did not work for
<v Speaker 2>me here. I just I just really and like I said,
<v Speaker 2>maybe it's just like just a little bit of like
<v Speaker 2>a sci fi snobbery of just like I know what
<v Speaker 2>I want from sci fi and this isn't it. But
<v Speaker 2>yeah I can't.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah five out of ten for me, didn't didn't love
<v Speaker 3>directing Mayty twenty Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Bummer, yeah, bummer. Well, we're gonna take a quick break
<v Speaker 1>and then we're gonna come back and talk through our
<v Speaker 1>Blood of the dawn Walker cover story with Brian. It's
<v Speaker 1>gonna be great. I'm really looking forward to it, and
<v Speaker 1>then we'll get into call the Elder Gods and some
<v Speaker 1>listener questions. We'll be right back right after this. Look,
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<v Speaker 1>is finally here, and welcome back everyone to the game
<v Speaker 1>and former show. Brian, we're gonna toss it over to
<v Speaker 1>you again. I want to know all about Blood of
<v Speaker 1>the Dawn Walker. I know that this is, uh, the
<v Speaker 1>former game director on the Witcher three is start at
<v Speaker 1>a new studio. I know it.
<v Speaker 3>His brother as a book as well, right, Brian, Oh yeah,
<v Speaker 3>he was one.
<v Speaker 4>He was like a secondary director on Cyberpunk. But like
<v Speaker 4>he was like, from what I understand, one of like,
<v Speaker 4>if not the main director of the Witcher three.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and I know he started a new studio, Rebel Wolves.
<v Speaker 1>I believe his brother is the creative director, art director,
<v Speaker 1>creative director. Yeah, creative director. But this is like from
<v Speaker 1>what I know outside looking in, this is sort of like, Okay,
<v Speaker 1>what if we took everything we learned from the Witcher
<v Speaker 1>three and make a new RPG that is with vampires.
<v Speaker 1>That's that's my knowledge on the game, right, now, So
<v Speaker 1>I'd love for you to kind of tell us more
<v Speaker 1>about it, tell us what you learn on the cover story,
<v Speaker 1>and please, guys, if you have any questions for him,
<v Speaker 1>jump in.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.
<v Speaker 4>So, I mean it very much does feel that way.
<v Speaker 4>I tried to go into this cover story actually like relatively,
<v Speaker 4>Like where'd you go, Brian? I went to Warsaw Poland
<v Speaker 4>there we go. So Eric Van Allen and I flew
<v Speaker 4>out to Warsaw, Poland and it's a little bit of
<v Speaker 4>a hike, but it was worth it. We got to
<v Speaker 4>the studio. It's funny because Eric and I the night
<v Speaker 4>before the like the trip into the studio, we were
<v Speaker 4>just looking for like a quick dinner and we saw
<v Speaker 4>there was like a pretty well rated pizza place, like
<v Speaker 4>not too far from our hotel. So we went over,
<v Speaker 4>got pizza, came back, and then when we rode in
<v Speaker 4>the uber over to the studio the next morning, it
<v Speaker 4>was the exact same building that the pizza place was in,
<v Speaker 4>so it was like, oh, we were like probably probably
<v Speaker 4>had one to and pizza. It was It's a one
<v Speaker 4>stop shop, baby, So yeah, you know, I tried to
<v Speaker 4>go in like without as much knowledge as possible for
<v Speaker 4>this one because I wanted to like kind of experience
<v Speaker 4>like the full like this is what we're doing with this,
<v Speaker 4>and I knew it was going to be kind of
<v Speaker 4>like an overview, so I wanted to kind of hear
<v Speaker 4>it straight from them. And I'm kind of glad I
<v Speaker 4>took that approach because I came away from this like
<v Speaker 4>extremely impressed. Like so there was a longer demo that
<v Speaker 4>happened that was not it was not necessarily like exclusive
<v Speaker 4>to us. There were other journalists that had made the
<v Speaker 4>trip as well, who which you know sometimes happens for
<v Speaker 4>our cover stories, and you know they they were also
<v Speaker 4>there for like a wider preview event, and you've probably
<v Speaker 4>seen some of those previews if you're following this game
<v Speaker 4>hit a couple of weeks ago and including on Game
<v Speaker 4>Informer dot com, where we saw basically like a large
<v Speaker 4>chunk of the prologue of this story, and its like
<v Speaker 4>it tells the story of how like you know, you're
<v Speaker 4>the protagonist's name is Cohen. You're up in the Carpathian
<v Speaker 4>Mountains in the fourteenth fourteenth century Europe, which you know
<v Speaker 4>Europe at that point is going through a lot of
<v Speaker 4>a lot of hardships, we'll say a lot of crises.
<v Speaker 4>The one that they choose to zero in in this
<v Speaker 4>game is the plague the Black Death, So you know
<v Speaker 4>that is spreading throughout Europe like wildfire, and it opens
<v Speaker 4>up and you Cohen, are running through like kind of
<v Speaker 4>the woods with your sister and the soldiers are chasing
<v Speaker 4>after you, and they have instructions to like stop the
<v Speaker 4>spread the plague by any means necessary, and that means,
<v Speaker 4>you know, killing anybody who was infected. So they kill
<v Speaker 4>your little sister and while she's like you know, barely
<v Speaker 4>hanging on, these vampires show up and feed her their
<v Speaker 4>blood to revive her, and then they slaughter the soldiers
<v Speaker 4>and like, you know, months pass and you're like all right,
<v Speaker 4>well that was weird, and you're having like this kind
<v Speaker 4>of like idyllic like like mourning with your family, you know,
<v Speaker 4>like you're chopping wood, and then suddenly your your sister
<v Speaker 4>disappears and Cohen decides to like follow her and like see,
<v Speaker 4>like all right, where's she goes? She just kind of
<v Speaker 4>silently wandered off into the woods. And as you're going deeper,
<v Speaker 4>you know, the imagery is getting weirder and weirder and
<v Speaker 4>more grotesque. He coen starts having these like like visions
<v Speaker 4>of vampires, and these soldiers come out of nowhere and
<v Speaker 4>attack him, and they they end up stabbing him, and
<v Speaker 4>the vampire or your sister then gives you her blood
<v Speaker 4>and is able to you know, and then like he
<v Speaker 4>wakes up in a cold sweat. Basically, right, he has
<v Speaker 4>like during that that sequence where the sister feeds in blood,
<v Speaker 4>he suddenly has these vampiric powers where he can like
<v Speaker 4>slash enemies with his claws. He doesn't have to have
<v Speaker 4>a sword anymore, and he has kind of like supernatural abilities.
<v Speaker 1>So the vampires weren't like feeding on like they're they
<v Speaker 1>seem like altruistic, like they they saved her. There's there's a.
<v Speaker 2>Reason for all of this.
<v Speaker 4>So he wakes up in like a cold sweat, and
<v Speaker 4>it seems like maybe it was a dream. But then
<v Speaker 4>it starts like appearing that maybe that was just like
<v Speaker 4>a dream of something that happened a long time ago.
<v Speaker 4>Because like they're having like a like a contentious breakfast
<v Speaker 4>in this family, Like they're all like trying to like
<v Speaker 4>eat their breakfast, but like the mom, for whatever reason,
<v Speaker 4>is like refusing to eat, and she won't. She won't
<v Speaker 4>say why, she's just refusing to eat, and like they
<v Speaker 4>try to force feed her nothing, and the dad looks
<v Speaker 4>at Cohen and goes, you know what he'll do if
<v Speaker 4>she is weak. And basically what has happened was this
<v Speaker 4>group of like immortal vampires has taken control of this
<v Speaker 4>small town up in the mountains, and basically they have
<v Speaker 4>this deal with them where they have it seems like
<v Speaker 4>it's every month they have a blood mass, and they
<v Speaker 4>what they do is they bring everybody into the church.
<v Speaker 4>The pastor or priest or whoever just basically praises them
<v Speaker 4>as saviors, the vampires, and they cut their hands and
<v Speaker 4>drain their blood into a bowl and as a as
<v Speaker 4>a result, like basically that is for the humans to drink.
<v Speaker 4>And what that does is that heals them. That gives
<v Speaker 4>them like you know, kind of like you know, immunity
<v Speaker 4>to diseases. It heals like physical ailments. But they also
<v Speaker 4>have to cut their hands into a bowl so the
<v Speaker 4>vampires can feed on their blood. And it's kind of
<v Speaker 4>like this give and take, but it's not like fully
<v Speaker 4>voluntary because it turns out that like that's why the
<v Speaker 4>mom's refusing to eat anything, but we'll get back to
<v Speaker 4>that in a little bit.
<v Speaker 2>So oh there.
<v Speaker 1>So basically like this this is cool.
<v Speaker 4>After the mom refuses to eat, the dad and like
<v Speaker 4>you know, force feeding isn't working, the dad looks at
<v Speaker 4>you and it's like, hey, you need to go to
<v Speaker 4>the herbalist in town and like get some herbs that
<v Speaker 4>will fortify her body because like this blood mass is
<v Speaker 4>happening and we need to like make it so they
<v Speaker 4>don't like spot that she's like refusing to eat for
<v Speaker 4>this reason. So you're like, all right, cool, I'll go
<v Speaker 4>do that. And then you're just let out into the
<v Speaker 4>world and you know, as you're walking, there's like people
<v Speaker 4>who come up to you and like beg you for help.
<v Speaker 4>Like there was this woman that ran up and was
<v Speaker 4>like please help me, Please help me, and like the
<v Speaker 4>demo were was like, no, we're not going to help her. Instead,
<v Speaker 4>like you know, you come up on this person who's like, hey,
<v Speaker 4>my my pig wandered into the woods and I haven't
<v Speaker 4>seen him since or haven't seen her since, and like
<v Speaker 4>please help me, and you accept that quest, and then
<v Speaker 4>you come up on another person's like hey, my brother
<v Speaker 4>like went to go do this thing. Out in the
<v Speaker 4>woods and he's been missing all day, like can you
<v Speaker 4>go find him? Like just kind of typical video game
<v Speaker 4>quest type of things, but they're not labeled in like
<v Speaker 4>main quest or side quest. It's kind of like the
<v Speaker 4>after talking to the developers, it's kind of set up
<v Speaker 4>and positioned almost like Breath of the Wild style, where
<v Speaker 4>it's like there are no things that are required of
<v Speaker 4>you in this story aside from the main goal is
<v Speaker 4>to storm the antagonist's castle and rescue your family, like
<v Speaker 4>that is like basically the only main quest in the game.
<v Speaker 4>So what they do is they don't call a main
<v Speaker 4>quest or side quest. There are things that are more
<v Speaker 4>important than others to the overarching story, but you can
<v Speaker 4>ignore them if you want, kind of like in Breath
<v Speaker 4>the Wild, you can ignore like all the Divine Beast quests. Like, yes,
<v Speaker 4>it does help in the end if you've gone through
<v Speaker 4>and done all the Divine Beasts and everything, but like
<v Speaker 4>you don't have to. If you want to just go
<v Speaker 4>straight to I Roll Castle and Breath the Wild, you
<v Speaker 4>can do that, and it sounds like you can do
<v Speaker 4>that in this game as well. So basically in this
<v Speaker 4>playthrough of the prologue, the person doing the demo veered
<v Speaker 4>off and just did like these two quests, right, like
<v Speaker 4>the missing brother and the missing pig, because they're in
<v Speaker 4>the same vicinity. So on the way to like looking
<v Speaker 4>for the brother, you find like this kind of like
<v Speaker 4>guy living out in the woods and like he's like
<v Speaker 4>clearly something's up about him. So like you figure out
<v Speaker 4>that like he has stolen the pig, and so you
<v Speaker 4>do like a fistfight with him and you end up,
<v Speaker 4>you know, you defeat him, but the pig gets gets
<v Speaker 4>away and runs off, so like that you have to
<v Speaker 4>keep chasing the pig. But then in the process of that,
<v Speaker 4>you find the cave and you or you find like
<v Speaker 4>the cart that the brother was was the missing brother
<v Speaker 4>was like pushing through the woods and it's abandoned. So
<v Speaker 4>what you can do is you can use like kind
<v Speaker 4>of like a like a detective vision type of thing,
<v Speaker 4>like or like what your sense if you want to
<v Speaker 4>make the closer parallel where it's like you can see like, okay,
<v Speaker 4>well are there footprints or anything nearby, and then you
<v Speaker 4>try you track that to find that there is a
<v Speaker 4>like a cave that he fell down into. And the
<v Speaker 4>way this game operates is having certain conversations, spending time
<v Speaker 4>with certain characters, or doing certain quests consumes a time slot.
<v Speaker 4>Every day and every night has eight time slots, almost
<v Speaker 4>like persona style, where it's like you have to like
<v Speaker 4>choose what you're going to devote your time to, and
<v Speaker 4>from what I understand, you can't do everything, so like
<v Speaker 4>you have to be judicious with how you spend your time,
<v Speaker 4>and the game itself plays out over the course of
<v Speaker 4>thirty days and thirty nights. And so he goes down
<v Speaker 4>into the cave and from what they and the brother's
<v Speaker 4>still alive. But from what they tell me is if
<v Speaker 4>you wait and you do this later in the day,
<v Speaker 4>the brother might be dead. So like there are like
<v Speaker 4>you should prioritize like more time sensitive sounding quest if
<v Speaker 4>you want to complete them, and so you know, you
<v Speaker 4>trace through it. There's like all these hints in this
<v Speaker 4>cave down there of like there's like a like a
<v Speaker 4>civilization that like is gone, and like there's like drawings
<v Speaker 4>on the cave walls of like a guy like burning
<v Speaker 4>everything in the room, including himself, to like prevent something
<v Speaker 4>from happening. And then you come across a mini boss,
<v Speaker 4>which is the first mini boss in the game, and
<v Speaker 4>it's it's very traditional like this is a strong enemy
<v Speaker 4>and you have to like you know, dodge, and the
<v Speaker 4>combat in the game is very directional based, so it's
<v Speaker 4>not only like timing your perry like you would see
<v Speaker 4>in like a like a witcher, where you you actually
<v Speaker 4>have to like not only time the parry, but also
<v Speaker 4>choose what direction you want to deflect it. So if
<v Speaker 4>the guy is coming overhead, you want to deflect it upwards.
<v Speaker 4>If they're coming from like underneath, you want to deflect
<v Speaker 4>it downwards, and same thing for like, yeah, I was
<v Speaker 4>just gonna say sound it's more they basically were like
<v Speaker 4>we we've seen like with some of these like especially
<v Speaker 4>now they're more prevalent some of these combat systems where
<v Speaker 4>it's just like kind of rhythmic timing with like when
<v Speaker 4>they're swinging, you just you just push the perry button
<v Speaker 4>and that's it. You start to kind of zone out
<v Speaker 4>and like kind of like feel detached from it. Like
<v Speaker 4>we want to make sure you're always like you know,
<v Speaker 4>zeroed in and focused during a combat, because that's how
<v Speaker 4>you would be in real life if you're fighting somebody
<v Speaker 4>with a sword. You're not just like, oh, here comes
<v Speaker 4>a fight or here comes a strike, let me press
<v Speaker 4>the pery button. It's like no, you have to like
<v Speaker 4>calculate every little part of that and stay focused and
<v Speaker 4>like not like you know, kind of like go into
<v Speaker 4>like you know, kind of the Tetris effect where you're
<v Speaker 4>just like you know, zoomed in on that.
<v Speaker 1>So it was hands off, right.
<v Speaker 4>This was hands off. Correct, that's the unfortunate part of this.
<v Speaker 4>But basically, you know, and then the mini boss also
<v Speaker 4>has unblockable attacks, so like that's that's indicated by like
<v Speaker 4>the like a red skull that pops up and is
<v Speaker 4>like winding up for his attack.
<v Speaker 3>So you just have to like dodge out of the way.
<v Speaker 3>So you do that, you can.
<v Speaker 4>You have the choice then after you exit the thing
<v Speaker 4>of like all right, do I escort him back to
<v Speaker 4>his brother or do I say, all right, I saved
<v Speaker 4>you go back there and like you know, carry on.
<v Speaker 4>And you know, they even were like they made a
<v Speaker 4>joke like, oh, he'll probably be fine if we just
<v Speaker 4>let him go back on his own. Probably, So like that,
<v Speaker 4>I'm assuming there are times where like if you don't
<v Speaker 4>choose to escort them, they will be they'll they'll die
<v Speaker 4>on the way back or something. So you continue, you
<v Speaker 4>find the pig, you bring it back to the guy,
<v Speaker 4>and then it turns out that he's like, oh, well,
<v Speaker 4>actually the reason I wanted this pig so bad is
<v Speaker 4>I was I was gonna butcher, butcher, butcher her for dinner.
<v Speaker 4>And it's like you can choose if you want to
<v Speaker 4>like save the pig or help him butcher the pig,
<v Speaker 4>or just be like all right, yeah, you do you like,
<v Speaker 4>and like if you help him, he actually will give
<v Speaker 4>you meat to bring back to your family. So it's
<v Speaker 4>like there's all these different choices that and like how
<v Speaker 4>they spider web out. So because of this, you did
<v Speaker 4>not like go to the herbalist and help your mom,
<v Speaker 4>and then you didn't help that woman who was begging
<v Speaker 4>you for help before. So when night comes around that night,
<v Speaker 4>it's the blood mass. So you know, looking at the
<v Speaker 4>cut scene that's playing out, everybody's sitting in like this church,
<v Speaker 4>and the woman who was begging you for help earlier
<v Speaker 4>is not in the cut scene, and somebody mentions like, oh, yeah,
<v Speaker 4>she was accused of murder, so we killed her. So
<v Speaker 4>you basically that was like a if you play that quest,
<v Speaker 4>they told me that was like a false accusation towards her,
<v Speaker 4>and you could help clear her name and she would
<v Speaker 4>be alive in this cut scene as a result. And similarly,
<v Speaker 4>in the cut scene that they're playing, you did not
<v Speaker 4>go to the herbalist to like give get these herbs
<v Speaker 4>for your mom to make her like fortify her body.
<v Speaker 4>That like disguises the fact she hasn't been hasn't been eating.
<v Speaker 4>So when the vampires taste her blood, they realize that
<v Speaker 4>she hasn't been eating and like that's in defiance of
<v Speaker 4>what they've ordered her to do, so they kill her.
<v Speaker 4>And oh, so like you can actually like it seems
<v Speaker 4>like you can affect the story and how the events
<v Speaker 4>play out pretty substantially. And meanwhile, the brother that you
<v Speaker 4>rescued is there and the cut scene and so is
<v Speaker 4>like the butcher that you helped out. So there's like
<v Speaker 4>all these different ways that you can influence this, and
<v Speaker 4>it also plays out over the course of that day
<v Speaker 4>night cycle. Right, So it turns out that you know,
<v Speaker 4>Cohen has been I'm not gonna spoil every single story beat.
<v Speaker 4>If you want to read more in depth, you can
<v Speaker 4>read the cover story. But Cohen has been infected by
<v Speaker 4>the vampire like not virus, but like he's been he's
<v Speaker 4>been turned into a vampire. Yeah, I guess curse is
<v Speaker 4>the best way. He's afflicted by vampirism, and so basically,
<v Speaker 4>but like as a kid, he used to work in
<v Speaker 4>the silver mines and as a result, he inhaled a
<v Speaker 4>lot of silver dust, and so he has silver dust
<v Speaker 4>in his bloodstream. And because even though he was turned
<v Speaker 4>into a vampire, the silver dust actually prevented him from
<v Speaker 4>turning full into a vampire. So he is a don walker,
<v Speaker 4>hence the name the Blood of Dawn Walker. He is
<v Speaker 4>a you know, a human by day and a vampire
<v Speaker 4>by night. So in the daytime, you know, you're fighting
<v Speaker 4>with a sword and you can actually in combat. By
<v Speaker 4>the way, I forgot to mention this, you can do
<v Speaker 4>omnidirectional blocks. It just takes more stamina to like block
<v Speaker 4>from all directions. So if you really want to do that,
<v Speaker 4>you can do omni directional blocking. But yeah, you also
<v Speaker 4>have to be more mindful of your stamina if you
<v Speaker 4>want to do that. And then when he's so when
<v Speaker 4>he's a human, he fights with the sword, he can
<v Speaker 4>fist fight. When he's a vampire, you know, he has fangs,
<v Speaker 4>he has claws, so he doesn't necessarily need a sword,
<v Speaker 4>but you can use a sword if you want, but
<v Speaker 4>you know, he can fight with his claws. You can
<v Speaker 4>also feed on enemies and that will restore some of
<v Speaker 4>your health. And then there's also like traversal supernatural traversal
<v Speaker 4>and combat abilities that you unlock as you go. Oh, so,
<v Speaker 4>like the first one we get is you can basically
<v Speaker 4>like if you see a ledge off in the distance,
<v Speaker 4>you can teleport to that ledge. And then there's another
<v Speaker 4>one where like if you see like a certain type
<v Speaker 4>of material up on the wall, you can like kind
<v Speaker 4>of walk up or climb up that wall. And then
<v Speaker 4>there's another one called claw ride where if there's like
<v Speaker 4>if you're up on a steep cliff, you can actually
<v Speaker 4>like dig your claws in and like kind of like
<v Speaker 4>ride the wall down so you don't like fall down
<v Speaker 4>right like so you can like descend faster. And there's
<v Speaker 4>other ones that mattioush who is the creative director, is
<v Speaker 4>the brother of the founder of the studio. He was like, yeah,
<v Speaker 4>my favorite is this one that we actually saw in
<v Speaker 4>the opening cut scene where you know, the the vampire
<v Speaker 4>slaughtered the soldiers that were killing your sister where you
<v Speaker 4>I'm assuming it uses like a lot of like whatever
<v Speaker 4>resource they have, but like you can like super focus
<v Speaker 4>on this one guy, like one enemy and basically make
<v Speaker 4>their blood I guess like explode, so like they just
<v Speaker 4>like like explode in a bloody cloud.
<v Speaker 2>Like Avatar.
<v Speaker 4>It seems like that is one of the more powerful
<v Speaker 4>like combat abilities that you can unlock. But like there's
<v Speaker 4>all these different ways. But then there's also this really
<v Speaker 4>cool mechanics. So based on what time of day you
<v Speaker 4>were playing, you know, you're gonna be either a vampire
<v Speaker 4>or a human, which means certain quests are available to you,
<v Speaker 4>certain quests are not available to you. People will react
<v Speaker 4>differently to you, quests can play out differently. But also
<v Speaker 4>as a vampire, you have a blood hunger. And they
<v Speaker 4>were like, yeah, that is because I was I was
<v Speaker 4>getting into like kind of their philosophy of designing, like
<v Speaker 4>what things about vampires they carried into this, what things
<v Speaker 4>they didn't and what they did was they were like, well,
<v Speaker 4>the thing that was like the most like we need
<v Speaker 4>to have this element in is their hunger and thirst
<v Speaker 4>for blood. And they were like, that is like a
<v Speaker 4>defining characteristic of vampires. If you don't have that and
<v Speaker 4>like you don't have this urge to like kill in
<v Speaker 4>order to survive and drink blood, you like you're just
<v Speaker 4>a superhero at that point. There's no like give and take.
<v Speaker 4>So they wanted to keep that. So like we saw
<v Speaker 4>this where like you know, he's having a conversation with
<v Speaker 4>an NPC and there's all these dialogue choices, and like
<v Speaker 4>the hungrier for blood Cohen was getting, the more those
<v Speaker 4>dialogue choices were like replaced with like give in to
<v Speaker 4>your hunger, and like if you do that, you know
<v Speaker 4>you'll kill the guy that you're talking to. And if
<v Speaker 4>you go long enough without feeding, you can actually what
<v Speaker 4>will happen is like you'll lose control and the next
<v Speaker 4>NPC you see you will just automatically kill to feed
<v Speaker 4>and that I'm.
<v Speaker 2>Gonna accidentally kill so many people.
<v Speaker 4>Well that's what they said, is like that actually like
<v Speaker 4>gives you incentive because if like, because all of it
<v Speaker 4>is basically optional, you can actually kill like really important
<v Speaker 4>characters to like the overall story through this, And I
<v Speaker 4>saw it happen one time, but it's like the scripted
<v Speaker 4>one that that was like the tutorial of it where
<v Speaker 4>it's like you're just like this guy's like, oh hey,
<v Speaker 4>like what's going on in there? And then you just
<v Speaker 4>like like grab him and feed and so like you
<v Speaker 4>can actually do that where like they're like you can
<v Speaker 4>kill like a consequential character as a result of that,
<v Speaker 4>so like you will want to remain well fed. But
<v Speaker 4>like I love that idea, And like they were talking
<v Speaker 4>about how like that idea they drew like inspiration from
<v Speaker 4>like early CRPGs and and like where it's like, yeah,
<v Speaker 4>you could just go any direction you want, and they
<v Speaker 4>specifically reference like fall Out one and two where it
<v Speaker 4>was like, you know, you can just emerge from the
<v Speaker 4>vault and do whatever you want, and like if you
<v Speaker 4>want to just like go somewhere you're not supposed to yet,
<v Speaker 4>you can do that, and they wanted to kind of
<v Speaker 4>reference that. And there will be elements like that where
<v Speaker 4>you can wander wherever you want once you're out of
<v Speaker 4>the prologue. And what that will do is like, yeah,
<v Speaker 4>there are there is Like the way they describe the
<v Speaker 4>level scaling for me, because it's so open ended, is
<v Speaker 4>like certain areas will have a base of like once
<v Speaker 4>they reach this, like like they'll have a base bottom,
<v Speaker 4>like a basement level right where it's like, all right, well,
<v Speaker 4>this is like level fourteen or whatever, and like if
<v Speaker 4>you're level eight and you go in there, you're probably
<v Speaker 4>gonna get messed up. But like everywhere else, like once
<v Speaker 4>you reach level fourteen, those ones that have like level
<v Speaker 4>eight as their basement will be level fourteen with you,
<v Speaker 4>so they kind of scale with you. But there are
<v Speaker 4>areas where it's like you should probably go level up
<v Speaker 4>more at before you do this. So God, based on
<v Speaker 4>like all of that, you know, it's gonna be really
<v Speaker 4>interesting to see how you like choose what to spend
<v Speaker 4>your time on, what choices you make, what characters you
<v Speaker 4>decide to help, and like that. The prologue demo kind
<v Speaker 4>of ended with like your your father being kidnapped and
<v Speaker 4>like your entire family aside from your mom obviously because
<v Speaker 4>she was killed in that earlier cut scene, but I'm
<v Speaker 4>assuming if you help her out, like she will be
<v Speaker 4>there and she'll be one of the people kidnapped as well.
<v Speaker 4>So it's like it's very cool the way they're doing this,
<v Speaker 4>and like they're really putting the hands of the character
<v Speaker 4>in the hands of the players. Team is Brian I
<v Speaker 4>don't know how big it is in terms of like,
<v Speaker 4>like the map is pretty sizable. We do if you
<v Speaker 4>actually have an issue a copy of Game Informer this
<v Speaker 4>coming month, you will get the full map printed in
<v Speaker 4>the inside cover of this issue. And I mean, I
<v Speaker 4>guess I'll flash it out real quick here, but you know,
<v Speaker 4>it's a pretty sizable map, and it's different, different biomes
<v Speaker 4>and everything in different areas you can explore, and like
<v Speaker 4>the castle is kind of like the centerpiece and that
<v Speaker 4>is where the final showdown will happen.
<v Speaker 3>And it doesn't seem overwhelming though, which is nice.
<v Speaker 2>You know, yeah, it's not huge. I have some a
<v Speaker 2>question about the castle. You mentioned that the game takes
<v Speaker 2>place over thirty days and thirty nights. Is that like
<v Speaker 2>a hard time limit, Like what happens if you don't
<v Speaker 2>storm the castle before that time expires? Or is it
<v Speaker 2>like once you get to the last day that is
<v Speaker 2>stormed to castle day, no matter how ready you are.
<v Speaker 4>I mean, I think you can neglect it. But like
<v Speaker 4>I'm they didn't specifically say this, but the way that
<v Speaker 4>I picture in my head is like they're going to
<v Speaker 4>kill them at the next blood mass, which is why
<v Speaker 4>it takes thirty days and thirty nights, so like they
<v Speaker 4>will be sacrificed. So if you don't, like they'll just
<v Speaker 4>kill your entire family, which defeats the entire purpose of
<v Speaker 4>like the overarching narrative of the game. So because like
<v Speaker 4>we asked them, is there a way to get a
<v Speaker 4>bad ending? They would, oh, yeah, oh absolutely there is.
<v Speaker 1>Huh.
<v Speaker 2>So I was wonder if you would be funneled into like,
<v Speaker 2>all right, it's time to go save your family. But
<v Speaker 2>you can totally not do that if you wanted to.
<v Speaker 4>I would assume we didn't. Obviously, they're not going to
<v Speaker 4>tell me a whole lot about like those endings. But
<v Speaker 4>they did say that there is a bad ending, and
<v Speaker 4>I'm assuming that you attain that by either killing everybody
<v Speaker 4>yourself or just neglecting to save your family by the time,
<v Speaker 4>like the time limit that they give you.
<v Speaker 2>That'sentially it's like it's like breath of a while, but
<v Speaker 2>a time when.
<v Speaker 4>It yeah, thirty days. You know, I'm assuming it's going
<v Speaker 4>to be pretty substantial. I think they told me, God,
<v Speaker 4>what is the They did give me a conversion on
<v Speaker 4>my cover story. I asked them, like, hey, how long
<v Speaker 4>is this game? And like much usually they're like, oh,
<v Speaker 4>we don't want to say anything quite yet, but like
<v Speaker 4>this time they actually did give me like oh, well,
<v Speaker 4>like you know, internal testing is telling us this, so
<v Speaker 4>talk amongst yourselves so I can.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, well I was gonna meet.
<v Speaker 2>Like it's one of the skates where it feels like
<v Speaker 2>everyone will have if you if you played the game
<v Speaker 2>from starting to finish, you'll probably roughly have the same
<v Speaker 2>amount of playtime because you're on a you're on a schedule,
<v Speaker 2>like you're on a thirty day calendar, so it's like
<v Speaker 2>you're gonna spend this many hours in the game no
<v Speaker 2>matter what, because things are chugging along no matter what
<v Speaker 2>you do.
<v Speaker 1>I have to say after this conversation, this has like
<v Speaker 1>shot up my my list, yeah, which which is not
<v Speaker 1>typical for me necessarily with cover stories. Like you know,
<v Speaker 1>I'm not just saying that.
<v Speaker 3>It's sounds really just the sort of flexibility of the
<v Speaker 3>narrative and like just that that Witcher three sort of
<v Speaker 3>lineage of like it sounds it feels like reading Bent
<v Speaker 3>and Bryan's cover story and talk to him now that
<v Speaker 3>it's like they took that and it's not at the
<v Speaker 3>scale of Witcher three which is like not a bad thing,
<v Speaker 3>like because Witcher three gets out of hand at a
<v Speaker 3>certain point, frankly, you know, and it's like to sort
<v Speaker 3>of have those hopefully, you know, those lessons they learned from,
<v Speaker 3>like how to tell a gray story right with like
<v Speaker 3>choices that like make a difference. It seems like they're
<v Speaker 3>really leaning into that in a big way, which is
<v Speaker 3>cool and it sounds it sounds exciting. Also sounds like
<v Speaker 3>it's like a lot of times being a vampire in
<v Speaker 3>media usually focus on all the cool stuff and not
<v Speaker 3>so much in the drawbacks, like the idea of like
<v Speaker 3>you can involuntary feed on someone because you just hadn't
<v Speaker 3>in a long time, Like I think that's super cool.
<v Speaker 2>Again, it is like, yeah, like that's probably out. I
<v Speaker 2>would worry like, oh I just haven't killed and satity
<v Speaker 2>blood in a while. I guess I'm just gonna accidentally
<v Speaker 2>or in a rage, just kill the person in front
<v Speaker 2>of me.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 4>So I got the the quote that from Conrad Tamaskovich,
<v Speaker 4>who is the founder and game director. He said that
<v Speaker 4>when they started work on it, they were aiming for
<v Speaker 4>forty hours. He said, like play tests, Like people are
<v Speaker 4>you know testing it, right, now because the game's coming
<v Speaker 4>out in September. He said the average for a playthrough
<v Speaker 4>is about fifty hours at this moment, so like it's
<v Speaker 4>a long game, but not overwhelming. It's not going to
<v Speaker 4>be like, all right, I need to put, you know,
<v Speaker 4>my entire life on hold while I play through this game.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's also interesting. It seems like I was watching
<v Speaker 1>the trailer just now, and it seems like the vampires
<v Speaker 1>are from all different kind of places.
<v Speaker 4>Yes, yeah, so that the main I think his name
<v Speaker 4>is brentsis Is he's like the main vampire and he
<v Speaker 4>is a former Roman legioneer, so he has like all
<v Speaker 4>these like strategic background and like like like insight into
<v Speaker 4>how to like fight and everything.
<v Speaker 2>So he's been a lot for a long time. Then
<v Speaker 2>if he's Roman.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, so like that's the thing is like that that
<v Speaker 4>was one of the reasons they wanted to go with
<v Speaker 4>vampires is because they wanted to tell stories across different
<v Speaker 4>time periods as well, So like they didn't just want
<v Speaker 4>it to be like, all right, we're going to make
<v Speaker 4>this that it's going to be this character that felt
<v Speaker 4>like that it just follows him for three three games
<v Speaker 4>or whatever, because he was like, yeah, you know, we
<v Speaker 4>did that with the Witcher and we started getting burnt
<v Speaker 4>out on that time period and that setting, so like
<v Speaker 4>we wanted to tell a story where yeah, we could
<v Speaker 4>follow the same character if we wanted to, but also
<v Speaker 4>like it would be it would enable us to tell
<v Speaker 4>a story in a different time period if we decided
<v Speaker 4>to do that, and they did. They did say that
<v Speaker 4>this dawn Walker series is going to be a saga,
<v Speaker 4>so they plan on doing more with this story after
<v Speaker 4>this game.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, the sequels in the twenty twenties maybe.
<v Speaker 4>But also in addition to that, you know, we we
<v Speaker 4>got pulled away from this like broader event for an
<v Speaker 4>exclusive hands off demo and it was given to us
<v Speaker 4>by Conrad Tamaskovich, who was the again the game director
<v Speaker 4>and founder of studio and the CEO of the studio,
<v Speaker 4>And this was what happened if you decided to follow
<v Speaker 4>that quest line to help your mother. And we didn't
<v Speaker 4>get to see the end result of it, but it
<v Speaker 4>did give me insight into a few other things. So
<v Speaker 4>you go, you show up to the herbalist and like,
<v Speaker 4>you know, she's not there, and you look down by
<v Speaker 4>the river and she's like washing a sigil that's on
<v Speaker 4>her arm. She's like washing it in the river water.
<v Speaker 4>And then she's like, oh, let me come help you.
<v Speaker 4>And she's like you're asking her for like that, we
<v Speaker 4>need to fortify my mom, like she's not been eating
<v Speaker 4>the blood masses tonight. And they're like, oh, okay, yeah,
<v Speaker 4>but it's gonna be rare ingredients. It's gonna cost more
<v Speaker 4>than usual. So it's like you have a pre existing
<v Speaker 4>relationship with this woman and then like this giant storm
<v Speaker 4>swoops in and it turns out that she's also your
<v Speaker 4>Latin in structure instructor, so you're like you're doing like
<v Speaker 4>this Latin lesson with her, and then like a tree
<v Speaker 4>like there's like a little bit of like chemistry between
<v Speaker 4>the two characters, you see, and you're like huh oh yeah,
<v Speaker 4>like there you can tell that, Like I think it's unreal. Five,
<v Speaker 4>So like it's very like high fidelity and like the
<v Speaker 4>every little like facial like animation like hints at some
<v Speaker 4>sort of like something between these characters. And then like
<v Speaker 4>a like the storm that swept in like knocks over
<v Speaker 4>a tree and it crashes into like her like kind
<v Speaker 4>of like greenhouse, like her her shack where she grows
<v Speaker 4>all of her herbs and you run out to help her.
<v Speaker 3>It's like, I don't get it.
<v Speaker 2>So all my plants are destroyed by a bigger plant, but.
<v Speaker 4>Like she slips and falls on her way out to
<v Speaker 4>grabbing it and like cuts herself. So like after you
<v Speaker 4>save the plants, like you bring her back and like
<v Speaker 4>you know, you help like dress her wound and everything.
<v Speaker 4>And there is like definitely like something going on between
<v Speaker 4>these characters. Like Cohen's getting more and more flirtatious with
<v Speaker 4>her and she's like not exactly holding back and like
<v Speaker 4>nothing happens in scene, but like he like he delivers
<v Speaker 4>like a line on the way out that's like kind
<v Speaker 4>of flirtatious. And it was very much hinting at like
<v Speaker 4>romance options in this game, and they're not specifically going
<v Speaker 4>into romance, but like you can, like you can definitely
<v Speaker 4>tell that there will be romance options, and they did
<v Speaker 4>confirm as much that there will be.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I was gonna, well, this is a different character.
<v Speaker 4>This is the herbalist, this is the rbalst.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, oh, this is the verbalist. Yeah, but she's younger.
<v Speaker 2>I guess now. I was gonna say, like he's flirting
<v Speaker 2>with her after she just lost like her life's work. Well,
<v Speaker 2>I mean she he helped her save it. It just
<v Speaker 2>broke through the roof and grabbed all of them and
<v Speaker 2>put them in a safe spot.
<v Speaker 3>It's fine.
<v Speaker 2>I was gonna say, I was just gonna maybe I
<v Speaker 2>don't know if she wants to right now.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah. So yeah, like they basically were like, yeah, there's
<v Speaker 4>there's like kind of like a reputation system, there's a
<v Speaker 4>relationship system. This was talking to Matteosa ta Moscovich. She
<v Speaker 4>was Conrad's brother and also the creative director. He was like, yeah,
<v Speaker 4>like there's like we have all these systems that track
<v Speaker 4>how every character like thinks of Cohen as well as
<v Speaker 4>like how people think of him in general. So like
<v Speaker 4>if you're like killing people left and right, like people
<v Speaker 4>might be more afraid of you. If you're like, you know,
<v Speaker 4>helping everybody out, they might be more welcoming of you.
<v Speaker 4>And then like obviously, like dialogue choices that you make
<v Speaker 4>with people will also influence your personal relationship with that character.
<v Speaker 4>So it's not just the quests that are influenced by this,
<v Speaker 4>like the choices you make, it's also the relationships and
<v Speaker 4>reactions that you will get from characters that will influence
<v Speaker 4>it as well. Wow, well this is one of those
<v Speaker 4>ones where it's like I came out of that demo
<v Speaker 4>and I was like, oh, yeah, this is a super
<v Speaker 4>cool game and easily one of my most anticipated games
<v Speaker 4>for the rest of twenty twenty six.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, so it so, yeah, it sounds I'm really excited
<v Speaker 1>to play this. Well cool, Brian, thanks for thanks for
<v Speaker 1>even into that. Of course, people can once again, I'll
<v Speaker 1>plug the magazine. You can pick up a copy of
<v Speaker 1>Game and Former magazine. Head over to Gaminformer dot com
<v Speaker 1>slash subscribe to get axces to this cover story. You
<v Speaker 1>can read more how many pages of.
<v Speaker 4>The cover story, Brian, This is a sixteen pager.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, so a lot of details for you to go read.
<v Speaker 1>So sign up now if you're if you're watching this podcast,
<v Speaker 1>you can you can still subscribe. You've probably got I
<v Speaker 1>can actually pull up the deadline, so I know people
<v Speaker 1>like to like to know that, but I'll keep talking.
<v Speaker 1>Mind I look that up. But if you are not
<v Speaker 1>a subscriber, you can go and find us at your
<v Speaker 1>news stand. Like I said, if you're in the US,
<v Speaker 1>it's you know, Barnes and Noble books a million that
<v Speaker 1>sort of thing, game stop and places like Indigo chapters
<v Speaker 1>in Canada. Okay, I've pulled up the issue. This is
<v Speaker 1>three seventy eight, right, Brian, I believe so, yes, yes,
<v Speaker 1>You've got until May twenty seventh to order the issue
<v Speaker 1>on our website. And if you're looking to buy it
<v Speaker 1>on new stands, just individually, those will hit in the
<v Speaker 1>like June eighth or ninth.
<v Speaker 4>They should be hitting the beginning then, so, like you know,
<v Speaker 4>you will vary by location, Like I've gone to a
<v Speaker 4>Barnes and Noble to look for a specific issue and
<v Speaker 4>they'll have last months. And I'll go to the one
<v Speaker 4>like a few like you know, a few towns down
<v Speaker 4>and they'll have the new issue. So it's going to
<v Speaker 4>be very dependent upon the location.
<v Speaker 2>So just keep that in mind.
<v Speaker 4>Don't don't show up on June ninth and be like
<v Speaker 4>what the heck, guys, like, where's my magazine? Because like
<v Speaker 4>it just like subscribers get their issues at different times
<v Speaker 4>throughout the month based on region, so to do stores.
<v Speaker 4>Just keep that in mind.
<v Speaker 1>Well, cool, guys, Let's let's move on one last game
<v Speaker 1>before we before we get to listener questions. Marcus you
<v Speaker 1>have been playing Call of the Elder Gods, which is
<v Speaker 1>the sequel to what Call of the Sea. We've done
<v Speaker 1>some exclusive NGT stuff on this new gameplay today for
<v Speaker 1>those who are unaware. It's one of our video video series.
<v Speaker 1>But yeah, i'd love to hear like how the game
<v Speaker 1>ended up, how it shaped up, what your final thoughts
<v Speaker 1>were on the game.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. I liked it, and I really liked Call It
<v Speaker 2>to See. I reviewed that for us, and that was
<v Speaker 2>over five years ago. Now I keep I don't know
<v Speaker 2>why the gap of time. You it was twenty twenty,
<v Speaker 2>like late twenty twenty.
<v Speaker 1>If I remember, welckly, but that's what started working here.
<v Speaker 2>It was one of my I think it was like
<v Speaker 2>the third review I wrote for GI. But that game
<v Speaker 2>was setting as just a quick recap. It was set
<v Speaker 2>in the nineteen thirties. He played as this woman, Nora Everhard,
<v Speaker 2>who had this kind of like weird mysterious disease that
<v Speaker 2>her husband, to try to help cure it, traveled to
<v Speaker 2>this specific island to try to find a cure and
<v Speaker 2>instead found just this like Lovecraftian whore that kind of
<v Speaker 2>kept him stranded there for months. So then as his
<v Speaker 2>wife who was like if I Rembercerca was like a scholar.
<v Speaker 2>She goes to the island to try to find him
<v Speaker 2>in bring him home, and gets wrapped up in this
<v Speaker 2>grander supernatural mystery that either ends with her death or
<v Speaker 2>or or not we heard that where she either leaves
<v Speaker 2>the island or she kind of goes with the weird
<v Speaker 2>supernatural force that is sort of behind that game. All
<v Speaker 2>this to say is that this sequel is set twenty
<v Speaker 2>years later, where now you are uh Nora has depending
<v Speaker 2>on how you into a game, she has passed on,
<v Speaker 2>but she is the narrator of this adventure and instead
<v Speaker 2>you're controlling two protagonists, one of which is her husband,
<v Speaker 2>who's Professor Harry Everhart. Who ever since the events of
<v Speaker 2>the first game, it's been having these weird visions of
<v Speaker 2>just this black ooze that was kind of central to
<v Speaker 2>call the sea. It's basically this it's like tied to
<v Speaker 2>two elder gods. If you're a Lovecraft fan, this is
<v Speaker 2>all stuff that kind of like checking the boxes of love.
<v Speaker 1>Crafts that kind of stuff.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, we're like, if you touch exactly, if you touch
<v Speaker 2>this black ooze, it just drives you insane immediately, and
<v Speaker 2>then eventually kills you. So you're controlling he's having these
<v Speaker 2>weird visions of this ooz. He keeps hearing his wife's voice.
<v Speaker 2>He doesn't know why. And then the other protagonist is
<v Speaker 2>this university student name Evangeline, who is an engineer, and
<v Speaker 2>she has been having these weird visions of herself in
<v Speaker 2>this weird ancient city and interacting with these weird race
<v Speaker 2>like almost like otherworldly like alien race perhaps, and she
<v Speaker 2>doesn't know what these what these visions mean. And so
<v Speaker 2>the two kind of like come together because they're familiar
<v Speaker 2>with each other, and they kind of are like, hey,
<v Speaker 2>we're having similar experiences here. Maybe we can kind of
<v Speaker 2>compare notes and try to get to the bottom of this.
<v Speaker 2>On top of the fact that there is this sort
<v Speaker 2>of like sinister secret society that is after this artifact
<v Speaker 2>that the professor has for their own kind of gain.
<v Speaker 2>So you're you're on like kind of like a globe
<v Speaker 2>trotting journey to try to chase these guys to stop
<v Speaker 2>them from getting their hands on this black ooze while
<v Speaker 2>also trying to figure out what is going on between
<v Speaker 2>the two of you. All to dead. I really liked
<v Speaker 2>the game. I thought I'm a little less hot on
<v Speaker 2>it than I was calling to see. And I think
<v Speaker 2>a lot of that is, like they're very similar games
<v Speaker 2>first person uh eventurep yeah, kind of puzzle box or
<v Speaker 2>just like like puzzle box slash kind of like clue collecting,
<v Speaker 2>like you're a lot of the game is going into
<v Speaker 2>environments and just finding clues and recording them in a journal,
<v Speaker 2>and then using those clues to solve a big central
<v Speaker 2>puzzle that moves you to the next area.
<v Speaker 1>Got it.
<v Speaker 4>Uh.
<v Speaker 2>The puzzle in this game I think are quite good.
<v Speaker 2>They're all really unique from each other. There's not really
<v Speaker 2>any repeats, and then the few mechanics that do repeat
<v Speaker 2>kind of build on each other thematically. Throughout the game,
<v Speaker 2>there's like stuff where like, oh, you're you, you find
<v Speaker 2>like this ancient kind of like we'll call them aliens
<v Speaker 2>for the sake of, you know, categorizing them as something.
<v Speaker 2>But these creatures, like you find like a form of
<v Speaker 2>music that they use, or at least to humans, it
<v Speaker 2>sounds like music, and they have like these notes, and
<v Speaker 2>so you have to like decipher how these notes function
<v Speaker 2>and then figure out how to play this kind of
<v Speaker 2>like piano like device to open a door or there's
<v Speaker 2>like like sequences where and maybe one of the biggest
<v Speaker 2>differences between the two games is that since there's two characters,
<v Speaker 2>you're switching between them, and there's puzzles where you have
<v Speaker 2>to switch between the two to kind of like tag
<v Speaker 2>team a solution, such as like one where Evangeline needs
<v Speaker 2>to get through a series of rooms, so you have
<v Speaker 2>to control Harry, who's like controlling the doors of these rooms, like, Okay,
<v Speaker 2>I need to open this door so that Evangeline could
<v Speaker 2>move through, But there's also this weird creature in here
<v Speaker 2>that's gonna kill her if they're in the same room.
<v Speaker 2>So you're trying to figure out strategically how to get
<v Speaker 2>Evangeline across while also kind of like separating her from
<v Speaker 2>the creature like stuff like that, and it's all really fun.
<v Speaker 2>I wish there was a bit more of the kind
<v Speaker 2>of like tag team puzzles, just because like the ones
<v Speaker 2>that they ever good, and I think, like I said,
<v Speaker 2>it's kind of the the big difference between Us and
<v Speaker 2>Call of the Sea is that you have two characters
<v Speaker 2>to play with, so I kind of wish I would
<v Speaker 2>almost think there could be an argument that maybe every
<v Speaker 2>puzzle should have just been both of them involved with it,
<v Speaker 2>just to kind of play off the dual protagonist thing.
<v Speaker 2>But like I said, what they what's there is good
<v Speaker 2>and it's it's it's weird. Like in the six years
<v Speaker 2>between this and Called to See, there's been so many
<v Speaker 2>really good puzzle games, whether it stuff like Laurli and
<v Speaker 2>the Laser Eyes or Blue Preads that for me, the
<v Speaker 2>bar for like a really good, like kind of narrative
<v Speaker 2>focused puzzle game is probably the highest has ever been, honestly,
<v Speaker 2>and so this game just by that visue, like, it's
<v Speaker 2>still quite enjoyable. And I think if you enjoy puzzle
<v Speaker 2>games or and also if you're into lovecraft stuff, like
<v Speaker 2>this is a totally fun game. But I do think
<v Speaker 2>it's like just a couple runs down the ladder from
<v Speaker 2>where the bar has now been raised. Since Calling Sea
<v Speaker 2>came out, Like when Call ofc came out, I gave
<v Speaker 2>that an eight to five, and this game, I'm giving
<v Speaker 2>an eight just because it's like, oh yeah, Like it's
<v Speaker 2>just like I'm just not as impressed with their style
<v Speaker 2>of puzzles, even though they are quite enjoyable, just with
<v Speaker 2>what's become out before. And there's also just other little
<v Speaker 2>annoyances that kind of reared their heads. Like one of
<v Speaker 2>the things that bothered me was the journal taking stuff.
<v Speaker 2>So this is one of those games where you're finding
<v Speaker 2>clues all the time, and if you miss one clue,
<v Speaker 2>you're probably not going to solve something. And it can
<v Speaker 2>be very easy to miss something just because of like
<v Speaker 2>sometimes clues are either smaller or just like you just
<v Speaker 2>miss things, you know, like they're not like they don't
<v Speaker 2>go out of the way to highlight things, like you
<v Speaker 2>really need to walk up to something and see if
<v Speaker 2>you can interact with it or not. But when something
<v Speaker 2>is recorded in a journal, it's usually written in character
<v Speaker 2>as in like whether it's Evangeline or Harry, like this
<v Speaker 2>is how they would phrase something based on the note.
<v Speaker 2>And it's one of those situations where some of the
<v Speaker 2>descriptions or like the task ahead, it's not communicated as
<v Speaker 2>clearly as I would have liked it to be, where
<v Speaker 2>like they're labeling like this is what this does, and
<v Speaker 2>there's just enough sort of like room for interpretation, whereas
<v Speaker 2>like I don't totally think I understand how like I
<v Speaker 2>see I think I see what you're saying, but I
<v Speaker 2>feel like i've there's like three ways I can interpret this,
<v Speaker 2>and they're all kind of confusing, and because the game
<v Speaker 2>kind of doesn't really funnel clues to you kind of
<v Speaker 2>one at a time. It's like, here's all the information
<v Speaker 2>spread out in front of you that you can collect.
<v Speaker 2>It's a lot to kind of like sift through once
<v Speaker 2>you're ready to sit down and tackle the problem at hand,
<v Speaker 2>because it's like, Okay, I have no context for like
<v Speaker 2>the ten things I just found. I'm getting some contents,
<v Speaker 2>I'm reading stuff, but it's still just like, how am
<v Speaker 2>I even supposed to begin to put these together? And
<v Speaker 2>when the notes are kind of written in a way
<v Speaker 2>that's sort of just like, I don't know. Maybe I
<v Speaker 2>think think I know what this character means when they
<v Speaker 2>say that a socket can be plugged into this cable,
<v Speaker 2>but it might not be valid. I don't know if
<v Speaker 2>I like, am I reading this too literally? Or is
<v Speaker 2>it the game? Yeah? Thankfully there's a yeah. And that's
<v Speaker 2>one of the hard things that we're reviewing a puzzle game,
<v Speaker 2>right is trying to determine like is it the gamers
<v Speaker 2>at me? Am I dumb? Or is the is the
<v Speaker 2>game falling short in some way? And to that end,
<v Speaker 2>there is a hint system that I really like. You
<v Speaker 2>can it's no penalty whatsoever. They make it upfront, like
<v Speaker 2>you can use the hints and it's not going to
<v Speaker 2>disable achievements or anything. This is just we just don't
<v Speaker 2>want you to get stuck. And it has like slides basically,
<v Speaker 2>or like the more you kind of dive into the
<v Speaker 2>rabbit hole, the more explicit the hints become, where at
<v Speaker 2>first is like little nudges and then it ends, but like,
<v Speaker 2>here's just the solution.
<v Speaker 4>So it's kind of like the voluntary version of a
<v Speaker 4>Treus or Sully in like a God of Or or
<v Speaker 4>Uncharted game where they're like, hey, what about those pillars
<v Speaker 4>over there, and then suddenly it's like, hey, rotate the
<v Speaker 4>pillars to match the painting and exactly. This sounds entirely
<v Speaker 4>voluntary exactly, which is nice.
<v Speaker 2>And I like that it's like no penalty, like it's
<v Speaker 2>not going to be like, oh, I guess you're not
<v Speaker 2>going to get a cheapest now because you need to help.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>That's great, especially for me because I'm very stubborn when
<v Speaker 2>it comes to puzzle games, Like I it physically pains
<v Speaker 2>me to use a hint system like it really wounds
<v Speaker 2>my ego.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, but fair enough.
<v Speaker 2>But there were a couple instances where it's like I
<v Speaker 2>just I feel like I'm just not getting what they're
<v Speaker 2>trying to tell me here. And then I would read
<v Speaker 2>the description and the hint and it would say the
<v Speaker 2>same thing, but just in a more straightforward fashion, and
<v Speaker 2>it was almost annoying, where like there was no new
<v Speaker 2>information that you're actually giving me here, but you've just
<v Speaker 2>written this better, and I wish this was just the
<v Speaker 2>way it was written in the journal.
<v Speaker 3>Oh sure, fair enough.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, uh, And there's like enough times where that happens
<v Speaker 2>where it just kind of it just started becoming a
<v Speaker 2>bit irksome. But ultimately, like I said, the puzzles themselves
<v Speaker 2>are like really creatively designed, like a lot of stuff
<v Speaker 2>that I can't really say I've seen too much of
<v Speaker 2>and other puzzle games nice, and like the overarching story
<v Speaker 2>is it didn't like knock my socks off, and like
<v Speaker 2>the characters and especially the villains aren't the most memorable
<v Speaker 2>in the world. But it's like I totally it is
<v Speaker 2>like the definition of like it is a broadly fine
<v Speaker 2>and like like just boiler played entertaining little mystery that
<v Speaker 2>has like some decent little unexpected twists and again like
<v Speaker 2>the cosmic horror angle is always like a fun little
<v Speaker 2>like wrinkle to throw into it, because yeahs into some
<v Speaker 2>weird stuff.
<v Speaker 1>What what I'm sorry if you said this and I
<v Speaker 1>missed it. What what did you review this? Score wise?
<v Speaker 2>I give it an eight? Like I think it's fun. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>like I do think it soundsy about like yeah, like
<v Speaker 2>if you like this, like, if you like puzzle games,
<v Speaker 2>especially if you like the first game, you should check
<v Speaker 2>this out. But I if you don't need to play
<v Speaker 2>the first game to play this, like, you know, it's
<v Speaker 2>not you know, they don't go out of their way
<v Speaker 2>to try to beat you over the head with too
<v Speaker 2>many references for there are some, but it feels like
<v Speaker 2>you could just come into this one fresh and not
<v Speaker 2>be lost. But yeah, it's it's fine, respectable little game.
<v Speaker 1>I liked it nice. Well, let's get into our final segment,
<v Speaker 1>which is listener questions. We pulled these from our discord.
<v Speaker 1>I thank you everyone for submitting questions. It's very much appreciated.
<v Speaker 1>We're excited to get into these. I haven't seen these
<v Speaker 1>yet real.
<v Speaker 4>Quick out of curiosity since it's changed a couple of
<v Speaker 4>times over the course of our existence and our relationship
<v Speaker 4>with Discord. How do people join the game and former
<v Speaker 4>community Discord.
<v Speaker 1>That's a very good question, Brian. It used to be
<v Speaker 1>that you would subscribe to our Twitch page and that
<v Speaker 1>would get you in. We are still working on an
<v Speaker 1>official way to get your back in again. So that's
<v Speaker 1>why you want to question. Yeah, so that's why. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>that's why. If you want to be involved, you, like
<v Speaker 1>I said at the top of the show, email us
<v Speaker 1>podcast at game Informer dot com. We will see your
<v Speaker 1>questions there while we figure out how we're gonna because
<v Speaker 1>we just don't want to open the discord up to
<v Speaker 1>the masses and invite trolls and that kind of thing, Like,
<v Speaker 1>we want to make sure it's a protected space for
<v Speaker 1>for our fans, it's a safe place to kind of
<v Speaker 1>get to know people and that kind of thing. And
<v Speaker 1>so we're just figuring out the logistics of opening that
<v Speaker 1>back up again. But for the purposes of the listener questions,
<v Speaker 1>email us podcast at game Informer dot com.
<v Speaker 2>You should get Charles to make us a jiggle for
<v Speaker 2>listener questions.
<v Speaker 1>By the way, we should we should write that down, Marcus,
<v Speaker 1>can you write that down for me. Yeah, uhh, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>it's done. Yes, yes, Matt Storm, right then, friend of
<v Speaker 1>the show, Matt Storm, former editor of this podcast. Hopefully
<v Speaker 1>you'll see them again on this On this podcast as
<v Speaker 1>a guest, Matt says, what is your most listened to
<v Speaker 1>video game soundtrack? Mine is probably Super Oh no, it's
<v Speaker 1>actually probably Grindstone. Probably Grindstone.
<v Speaker 2>We're not counting. We're not counting listening to the soundtrack
<v Speaker 2>while playing the game. This is just like all all
<v Speaker 2>like on YouTube.
<v Speaker 1>Or just the Yeah, I think I think that. Knowing Matt,
<v Speaker 1>I think that's the spirit of the question. But I
<v Speaker 1>would say Grindstone, composed by Sam Webster, who is a
<v Speaker 1>really cool dude. I actually interviewed him for a documentary
<v Speaker 1>project that has not been published yet on my personal
<v Speaker 1>channel vport that I'm need to get to and edit.
<v Speaker 1>But he's a really cool guy. He makes incredible music.
<v Speaker 1>He mentions in my unpublished interview with him about like
<v Speaker 1>being inspired by m F Doom and stuff like that
<v Speaker 1>early on and how that kind of led to his
<v Speaker 1>very sample heavy video game beat making. So that's probably mine.
<v Speaker 1>What about you, guys?
<v Speaker 3>I have? Mine are probably like the original Danny Baranowski,
<v Speaker 3>Super Meat Boys soundtrack, The Anamanagucci Scott Pilgrim Versus the World,
<v Speaker 3>the game soundtrack, and then the other one that always
<v Speaker 3>comes up for me that I listen to a lot
<v Speaker 3>is Sword and Sorcery. You guys know that game?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yes, yes, that that was going to be my
<v Speaker 1>answer before I changed it to Grindstone. Before that was
<v Speaker 1>my most listened to.
<v Speaker 3>Who's the composer? I feel like you know probably right now?
<v Speaker 1>Oh, Jim Gothree, Yeah, Jim go three.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>And you know what, the funny thing about that one is,
<v Speaker 3>I've never actually like played the game for more than
<v Speaker 3>like twenty minutes. I don't particularly like the game, but
<v Speaker 3>the soundtrack I freaking love.
<v Speaker 1>It's incredible. I'm gonna let you guys keep talking. Feel
<v Speaker 1>free to get to the next question there. I want
<v Speaker 1>to show some stuff that's in my closet, so you
<v Speaker 1>guys keep talking. It applies to the next question too,
<v Speaker 1>if you decide to go to that one. Ok.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>Soundtracks video game soundtracks that you've listened to the most
<v Speaker 3>out of the game.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, this is hard because I don't I do listen
<v Speaker 2>to video game music outside of the games. But not
<v Speaker 2>nearly as much as probably you guys do. And usually
<v Speaker 2>it's like individual tracks and not the entire soundtrack. Sure,
<v Speaker 2>so by default it might be either the Sonic the
<v Speaker 2>Hedgehold two soundtrack, just because I think that's it's arguably
<v Speaker 2>my favorite soundtrack of all time, like every every track
<v Speaker 2>in that every level like song is like an absolute
<v Speaker 2>banger in that game, and I would still argue it's
<v Speaker 2>probably still the best Sonic soundtrack. And then other than that,
<v Speaker 2>maybe the Mega man X four soundtrack. Four Yes I
<v Speaker 2>was a Blizzer Magallo Yeah no, no, no, the Ice
<v Speaker 2>Boss and four is frost Wallrush right right, yes, yes, yes,
<v Speaker 2>it has a really good and like really you know,
<v Speaker 2>part of the pund chill theme. Like it's like if
<v Speaker 2>you just want to relax, you put on the frost
<v Speaker 2>Waller's theme, particularly the second very because every theme, because
<v Speaker 2>the way the levels are, there's like two versions of
<v Speaker 2>each level, and so they each have like two variations
<v Speaker 2>of the same theme, and like I think it's the
<v Speaker 2>second version of Frost war Was theme that's like the
<v Speaker 2>more just like oh wow, it's like a winter wonderland.
<v Speaker 2>I just want to chill out and go ice skating.
<v Speaker 4>It's like, did you call this out on one of
<v Speaker 4>my podcasts, the frost Waller's themes. This sounds very familiar
<v Speaker 4>the way you're describing it.
<v Speaker 2>I might I really like the frost Waller's theme.
<v Speaker 4>Right, would not stop talking about the frost Waller's theme.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, everyone else has a great theme in two,
<v Speaker 2>Like uh, they're like like cyber Peacock has a pretty
<v Speaker 2>badass theme in that game.
<v Speaker 3>But yeah, that soundtrack is fantastic. I was just sort
<v Speaker 3>of like charmed by you saying four specifically. I love
<v Speaker 3>every Mega maat X soundtrack, but like one is the
<v Speaker 3>one that I listened to the most.
<v Speaker 2>But yeah, fours four was the Megan Man X scene
<v Speaker 2>I played the most, Like I had it for PS
<v Speaker 2>one as a kid, and I was obsessed with it,
<v Speaker 2>Like I thought it was the coolest Mega Man game.
<v Speaker 3>And I animated scenes.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah yeah, Bana cut scenes really like that anime opening
<v Speaker 2>with like zero and X. So I was like, this
<v Speaker 2>is incredible. This is the power of the PlayStation even Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>I love.
<v Speaker 4>Real quick. My mine are I don't know if this
<v Speaker 4>is an order or just random order, but my top
<v Speaker 4>three would be Persona five, Final Fantasy X and Sonic
<v Speaker 4>three and Knuckles.
<v Speaker 1>I for the next question, which kind of extends on
<v Speaker 1>Matt's Duke, Faison writes and says, do you own any
<v Speaker 1>game soundtrack on physical media format? Digital doesn't count?
<v Speaker 2>I definitely don't. I have so many.
<v Speaker 3>Final boy, RIGHTA, I just remember my collection.
<v Speaker 1>Out, so I've got I'm gonna switch cameras to this
<v Speaker 1>real quick. I've got a short hike.
<v Speaker 4>I've actually well listened to Still in the Plastic.
<v Speaker 1>That's because I have two. Uh yeah, I love a
<v Speaker 1>short you know, it's funny. I I actually only recently
<v Speaker 1>got a record player. I had been collecting vinyl for
<v Speaker 1>years for video game soundtracks. So the new one day,
<v Speaker 1>I was gonna spend the money and get a nice one.
<v Speaker 1>And then for my birthday, my wife Kayla bought me
<v Speaker 1>one a really nice one Monument Valley. Uh, let's so
<v Speaker 1>listen to these days. I don't know why about this one.
<v Speaker 1>I haven't even opened it. It's the Halo Infinite Ut
<v Speaker 1>all right, what else we got here? I'm just going
<v Speaker 1>through my I'm not showing that one. That's not a game,
<v Speaker 1>and I don't particularly care for it anymore. Oh, this
<v Speaker 1>one is just for collecting purposes. But Viva Pinata.
<v Speaker 2>The TV show.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I hadn't opened one of these. I had an
<v Speaker 1>open Sword and Sorcery, but I gave it to a friend.
<v Speaker 1>It was actually the limited edition version that I gave
<v Speaker 1>to a friend for an accomplishment he had done. But
<v Speaker 1>so I just picked up another one for for my purposes.
<v Speaker 1>Shout out to the homie signals from the Outer wilds.
<v Speaker 3>Mm hmm, very cool. Good banjo up in there. I'm
<v Speaker 3>sure I.
<v Speaker 4>Will say my probably my prized vinyl collection, my prize
<v Speaker 4>game soundtrack vinyl edition was. I was in Tower Records
<v Speaker 4>in Shibuya. Oh the below soundtrack, Well you Talk, and
<v Speaker 4>the you know, they have a whole video game section
<v Speaker 4>in Tower Records, and I found a limited edition Japanese
<v Speaker 4>only release of the Super Mario World soundtrack on vinyl.
<v Speaker 1>Oh wow.
<v Speaker 4>And it was like, you know, even with the incredibly
<v Speaker 4>generous like currency conversion rate from yen to US dollars
<v Speaker 4>back this was August of last year, I think, so
<v Speaker 4>it was before you know, the dollar kind of you know,
<v Speaker 4>got a little weaker. It was still like one hundred
<v Speaker 4>twenty dollars. And I was like, well, it's not that
<v Speaker 4>many songs on here, but so worth it again another
<v Speaker 4>one of my favorite game soundtracks. But yeah, that was
<v Speaker 4>one that I was pretty I do have a lot
<v Speaker 4>of like I have like the box sets of Persona three, four,
<v Speaker 4>and five, and those are pretty awesome.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. Mine, mine is cheating because the only one I
<v Speaker 2>the only vinyl I have was given to me by
<v Speaker 2>the people that made this game, just as a little like, hey,
<v Speaker 2>thanks for covering us, but I have the Outer Worlds
<v Speaker 2>too soundtrack, Like hell yeah, they sent they sent me
<v Speaker 2>a vinyl, like I think right after the game came out,
<v Speaker 2>because I did the cover story for that game a
<v Speaker 2>few months prior, so I was like, oh, okay, yeah,
<v Speaker 2>so yeah, but I'm cool like you guys, basically because
<v Speaker 2>I can I have.
<v Speaker 4>I will say that that that has happened a couple
<v Speaker 4>of times for me as well. One of the coolest
<v Speaker 4>things that happened was because I wrote the Final Fantasy
<v Speaker 4>seven Rebirth cover story. Naoki Hamaguchi, the director of that.
<v Speaker 4>I just got a random message out of nowhere from
<v Speaker 4>Square n XPRS like hey, can you send your address?
<v Speaker 4>Hamagu Son is asking, and I'm like, uh, yeah, sure,
<v Speaker 4>and I.
<v Speaker 2>Guess like he's coming over.
<v Speaker 4>He personally packaged up and shipped me a copy of
<v Speaker 4>the final Fantasy seven Rebirth soundtrack and he signed it,
<v Speaker 4>which was very nice of him.
<v Speaker 3>That's awesome, that's cool.
<v Speaker 2>Uh.
<v Speaker 1>Next question comes from Luke Skywalker. They asked, Yeah, in
<v Speaker 1>honor of Diablo four secret Cow level being found, what
<v Speaker 1>are some of your favorite secret or hidden levels in games?
<v Speaker 1>I was actually just talking about this the other day
<v Speaker 1>with some friends. I'm plane, they're playing decided to go
<v Speaker 1>back to Wow Classic uh and in iron Ford, which
<v Speaker 1>is the dwarf in Capital City, they were like, in
<v Speaker 1>this big throne room, uh, and it's like very empty.
<v Speaker 1>There's a lot of like it's really just like some
<v Speaker 1>guards and like the throne and they're like, why is
<v Speaker 1>this room so empty? And then I was like, actually, uh,
<v Speaker 1>And there were you can clip through at least back
<v Speaker 1>in the day, you could clip through the walls and
<v Speaker 1>there was an entire underground city that had been designed
<v Speaker 1>but never used in the game called Old Iron Forge,
<v Speaker 1>and you could like walk down into it and it's
<v Speaker 1>essentially like almost it reminds me of like, uh, the Root,
<v Speaker 1>like the of Moria when they're like running down the
<v Speaker 1>big giant steps going under like while they're being chased
<v Speaker 1>baldly ballrog and uh yeah, reminds me of that, But
<v Speaker 1>that's probably that's the thing that comes to mind for
<v Speaker 1>me the most. But what about you guys favorite secret
<v Speaker 1>or hidden levels and games. I guess mine isn't necessarily
<v Speaker 1>a level, it's unused assets, but I think it counts.
<v Speaker 3>And yeah, I mean Marcus bring up Mega Man X four.
<v Speaker 3>It's not a level though, but like I get unlocking
<v Speaker 3>the street Fighter attacks in Mega Man x one and two. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>or it was like was like one of the last
<v Speaker 3>instances for me of like pre Internet, like that's not
<v Speaker 3>really a thing. Then to find out like yeah, no,
<v Speaker 3>it is a thing, and it's like a huge pain
<v Speaker 3>to unlock. It's really complicated. And then in Mega Man
<v Speaker 3>X two it's weird. It has a bunch of Wayne's
<v Speaker 3>World references, like when you find the what's the uppercut
<v Speaker 3>that you could do with Street Fighter that Ken does? Sure, yeah,
<v Speaker 3>sure you can, and it's like that you find it
<v Speaker 3>and there's like the dialogue is all Wayne's World references.
<v Speaker 3>It's just like it's so weird. But that that then
<v Speaker 3>X can do like a Hadukin and the Kyle.
<v Speaker 2>I'm surprised you didn't bring up the Metal Gear Solid
<v Speaker 2>three nightmare sequence.
<v Speaker 3>Oh yeah, that's a good one. Yeah, that's that's a
<v Speaker 3>more recent one. Yeah you can. It's if you can
<v Speaker 3>have a nightmare and make Metal your Solid three and
<v Speaker 3>Metal your Solid three Delta. That takes you to an
<v Speaker 3>entirely different game, which is wild. It's kind of crazy.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, hack and Slasher kind of game.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, we showed it off in a new game play today.
<v Speaker 3>I think we did.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, we did. We did.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, you go find that.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I was gonna say, you brought up the Albow.
<v Speaker 2>It's funny. I've never I've never experienced this secret level
<v Speaker 2>myself when I ate the game, but I've seen videos
<v Speaker 2>and I love the orition of it. But uh and
<v Speaker 2>Diabolo three whimsy Shire, which is the are guess familiar
<v Speaker 2>with this? Yeah, so whimsy Shire is the secret like
<v Speaker 2>area that it just looks it's just rainbows, like it
<v Speaker 2>just looks like a My Little Pony level and it's
<v Speaker 2>just got like sunshine and like all it's just nothing
<v Speaker 2>but happiness, and it just looks completely unlike anything else
<v Speaker 2>in the game. And the reason this level exists is
<v Speaker 2>because it it was made to address the fan criticism
<v Speaker 2>when Diabolo three was first shown that it was too colorful,
<v Speaker 2>and if you remember that controversy, like there's too much
<v Speaker 2>color and Diabolo three it looks too cartoony, and so
<v Speaker 2>Blizzard was like, okay, So they just it was like
<v Speaker 2>they made a level based on like the exaggerated reaction
<v Speaker 2>that some fans were throwing at them. And I just
<v Speaker 2>love the level of like I don't know if you
<v Speaker 2>want to call it pettiness or just like tongue and
<v Speaker 2>cheeking it, but I just I've always been tickled by
<v Speaker 2>that level just because of the story behind it, and
<v Speaker 2>it's fun to look up videos and images of it.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I'm looking up it looks ridiculous. I love it.
<v Speaker 4>For me, it's probably I mean, not a whole lot
<v Speaker 4>comes to mind, but I do like the story of
<v Speaker 4>the Chris Houlihan room and a link to the past
<v Speaker 4>where it's like he was a contest winner that like
<v Speaker 4>got a designated room in the game, and then it
<v Speaker 4>turned out to be completely inaccessible because they just decided
<v Speaker 4>to remove it in development, and then they ended up
<v Speaker 4>making it a fail safe where for whatever reason, the
<v Speaker 4>game can't determine where to place link. He just spawns
<v Speaker 4>in the Chris Houlihan room and there's like a sign
<v Speaker 4>that says, hey, my name's Chris Houlihan. This is my
<v Speaker 4>top secret room. Keep it between us please, And like
<v Speaker 4>that is like it's just such a random thing that
<v Speaker 4>like is like basically like if the game is about
<v Speaker 4>to crash, it will spawn link into this this room
<v Speaker 4>of this contest winner.
<v Speaker 2>He still is, he still with us. We should get
<v Speaker 2>him on the podcast see what he's up to.
<v Speaker 3>I'm sure, sir, I think I like I've read him
<v Speaker 3>talking about it.
<v Speaker 1>Maybe prodible rights in what does each person's niche franchise
<v Speaker 1>where that person would fight to get the assignment for
<v Speaker 1>a review or preview? Man, I don't know. If it's
<v Speaker 1>a niche, but a New Dishonored game, I would I
<v Speaker 1>would do things too, although reviewing a game is like
<v Speaker 1>you got the whole like deadline and stuff like it's.
<v Speaker 3>It can be a curse kind of. Yeah. Yeah, I
<v Speaker 3>like to a lot, but like I'm obsessed with play
<v Speaker 3>Dead and like you know, gend design and stuff, like
<v Speaker 3>I want.
<v Speaker 1>To know what you're doing you know, and gen Design
<v Speaker 1>is a really good one.
<v Speaker 2>Yeahs out there for me too.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I don't know, Like yeah, I mean we we
<v Speaker 3>It's it's interesting because like I don't like games will
<v Speaker 3>come out that I'm really excited for. And Brian, sometimes
<v Speaker 3>you'll message me and be like, hey, I'm actually gonna
<v Speaker 3>not have you on this review. Maybe someone else takes it,
<v Speaker 3>and I'm always kind of like that's fine. I'm like, well,
<v Speaker 3>like I take no offense, Like I if it's a
<v Speaker 3>game I really love and I'm excited about, I will
<v Speaker 3>play it on my own. I think, take it out
<v Speaker 3>of the review.
<v Speaker 1>The what is it? Their new studio, the new game
<v Speaker 1>from Rafael coll Antonio, who who opened up former former Dishonored.
<v Speaker 1>Uh what uh director wolf I Studios. They're working on
<v Speaker 1>a new immersive sim and I would oh, he was
<v Speaker 1>the founder of Arcane. Why did I say the game
<v Speaker 1>director was the founder? Anyways, that's probably my.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, mine's probably like it's to say niche because the
<v Speaker 2>ones I'm thinking of are like well known franchises, I guess,
<v Speaker 2>but like, yeah, Ratching, Rationing Clank has always been one
<v Speaker 2>of my all time favorite series. I played every game
<v Speaker 2>in that series and a beating him. Prince of Persia
<v Speaker 2>would be up there to God of War. God, there's
<v Speaker 2>I'm sure there's like less obvious things I could say
<v Speaker 2>that I'm trying to trying to I'm able to think of,
<v Speaker 2>but I'm just thinking of. You know, what's the opposite
<v Speaker 2>of this question, interestingly is from Software. Well, like I
<v Speaker 2>love everything they do, but I'm terrified to review in case.
<v Speaker 2>I like, it's like the scary It is like the
<v Speaker 2>weirdest feeling of like, hell yeah new from software, and
<v Speaker 2>if Brian assigns me to review is like, oh God.
<v Speaker 2>Like when I had to review Shadow of the Ur Tree,
<v Speaker 2>he was like the weirdest dichotomy of like yes, but
<v Speaker 2>then oh god, oh god, how much time do I have? Okay,
<v Speaker 2>can I get through this?
<v Speaker 1>For me?
<v Speaker 4>I mean it's might be. I mean, these aren't really
<v Speaker 4>niche franchises because they're a Nintendo, but like they're they're
<v Speaker 4>kind of treated like niche franchises, especially one of them,
<v Speaker 4>Splatoon and star Fox, even though I am pretty sure
<v Speaker 4>I'm not going to be reviewing star Fox because there's
<v Speaker 4>other stuff that is gonna require.
<v Speaker 2>Because I'm going to take out the time, I'm the
<v Speaker 2>Star Fox guy in no Abertay.
<v Speaker 4>Yes, clearly, but no, there's there's some other stuff coming
<v Speaker 4>out around that time that I will unfortunately be my
<v Speaker 4>attention will be focused on. But yeah, that's one that
<v Speaker 4>I'm super excited for and I'd love to review or preview,
<v Speaker 4>but we'll love to see how it plays out.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. Also, everyone go watch our Star Fucks Super replay.
<v Speaker 3>It was fun.
<v Speaker 2>It was super fun.
<v Speaker 1>Uh, Grofels writes in Existentialism of Gaming Industry. I think
<v Speaker 1>we are all and should feel nervous with the game
<v Speaker 1>industry based on annual layoffs since twenty twenty two and
<v Speaker 1>a set industry standard for many pursuing companies to maintain
<v Speaker 1>dev's is a gig industry worker. So how do you
<v Speaker 1>reconcile these issues with the industry while trying to maintain
<v Speaker 1>optimism with future game releases? Okay? So yeah, like everything's bleak.
<v Speaker 4>You figure it out, let me know.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, that's.
<v Speaker 2>Answer. Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, there's a lot of I think, like we when
<v Speaker 1>we record these shows and stuff, we want to be
<v Speaker 1>entertaining and and uh, you know, kind of on for
<v Speaker 1>people a bit, and not that we're not our genuine selves,
<v Speaker 1>but you know, you want to. You don't want to
<v Speaker 1>be doom and glum all the time. But I think
<v Speaker 1>probably behind the scenes, there's a lot more of that
<v Speaker 1>than maybe I don't know. For me, there is uh.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it's a lot of uh for me at least.
<v Speaker 2>And this extends beyond this specific I guess plight with
<v Speaker 2>just like life in general. Like a big thing I
<v Speaker 2>keep in mind is trying to control the controllable, and
<v Speaker 2>I there's like things are like a lot of that
<v Speaker 2>stuff is things that are is ultimately out of my control.
<v Speaker 2>And that's not to say I don't feel like crappy
<v Speaker 2>about it, of course I do. But I think when
<v Speaker 2>I to stop myself from like spiraling, because I think
<v Speaker 2>you have a habit of trying to be like you
<v Speaker 2>feel like you have to do something or you have
<v Speaker 2>to put all that weight on your shoulders, and it's
<v Speaker 2>there's like if you try to like get power or
<v Speaker 2>regain power over to some of that stuff, is like, Okay, well,
<v Speaker 2>what can I do to control the situation, if at all?
<v Speaker 2>And the answer is like I can't. I can't control
<v Speaker 2>what a company does to their employees. I can only
<v Speaker 2>react to it. And then it's kind of like, well,
<v Speaker 2>what is my reaction going to be, whether it's I
<v Speaker 2>don't know, if I can help, you know, raise awareness
<v Speaker 2>for the people that just lost their jobs to try
<v Speaker 2>to find new jobs, or you know, just shout out
<v Speaker 2>the creator's works or whatever it is like like stuff
<v Speaker 2>like that. I don't know. Maybe only for me, I
<v Speaker 2>find like a little bit of solace and like I
<v Speaker 2>can help in like that ultimately kind of small way.
<v Speaker 2>But yeah, there's like I know that can kind of
<v Speaker 2>sound like I don't know, maybe giving it to like
<v Speaker 2>the futility of it all. But I think but also
<v Speaker 2>it is like the it is the reality, right, It's
<v Speaker 2>like I literally I cannot do anything about this. Not again.
<v Speaker 2>You should always maintain empathy and and and feel something
<v Speaker 2>when something like that happens. I think you lose if
<v Speaker 2>you don't feel anything, that's probably or it is a
<v Speaker 2>problem at least I.
<v Speaker 3>Think it is.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, but I control is that feeling a great way
<v Speaker 4>to put it. It's almost that feeling of like when
<v Speaker 4>they're like everybody should be recycling and using paper straws,
<v Speaker 4>and then you see like, oh, this company emitted this
<v Speaker 4>much carbon dioxide in the past week, and it's like
<v Speaker 4>completely new gates any effort that you could have done
<v Speaker 4>by like an exponential amount, and it's like, yeah, like
<v Speaker 4>we can still do stuff on our personal level, but
<v Speaker 4>like like you know, trying to recommend games that people
<v Speaker 4>may not have heard of, or trying to you know,
<v Speaker 4>on our professional basis, we are all about like game
<v Speaker 4>discovery and trying to like push people towards the good stuff,
<v Speaker 4>and you know, that's ultimately all we can do. It's like,
<v Speaker 4>you know, we we we we're members of the media.
<v Speaker 4>We're not like, you know, saviors of the industry or
<v Speaker 4>anything like that. So it's like all we can really
<v Speaker 4>do is like the core function of our job, which
<v Speaker 4>is you know, recommending good games and steering people towards
<v Speaker 4>those games, and yeah, reporting the news and stuff like
<v Speaker 4>that to the best of our ability. You know, we're
<v Speaker 4>also a very small team, so it's always going to
<v Speaker 4>come down to like what we have space for. We
<v Speaker 4>wish we could review twice, thrice, four times the number
<v Speaker 4>of games that we could, and I know that the
<v Speaker 4>pr people in our inboxes wish we could as well,
<v Speaker 4>But you know that's not the reality. The situation as
<v Speaker 4>it stands right now, there's a lot of game is
<v Speaker 4>coming out, and that that's part of the problem, quite frankly,
<v Speaker 4>is there's a lot of games coming out, and there's
<v Speaker 4>a lot of people who have less money than they
<v Speaker 4>typically do right now because of whether they're in this
<v Speaker 4>industry or elsewhere. You know, the job market is really tough,
<v Speaker 4>the economy is really tough. Everything is very expensive right now.
<v Speaker 4>So it it's it's kind of an uphill Sisyphian battle,
<v Speaker 4>but like, you know, we we do what we can
<v Speaker 4>in that regard.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, because it Sian battle, by the way.
<v Speaker 1>Next question, Legend of Gamer one or two asks My
<v Speaker 1>question is in gaming related necessarily, but more of a
<v Speaker 1>check in with how crazy life seems to be for
<v Speaker 1>everyone everywhere. How are y'all doing? Mental health and taking
<v Speaker 1>time for ourselves is so important and often overlooked. I'm
<v Speaker 1>just hoping everyone is okay.
<v Speaker 3>That was less of a question. Long pause, Let me
<v Speaker 3>attack this person now. That is that is wonderful. That
<v Speaker 3>is very sweet, and yeah, I mean, I think we're
<v Speaker 3>all trying to draw lines around work in life and
<v Speaker 3>it's hard in this job, and I don't know if
<v Speaker 3>I'm doing the best at it, but you know, I'm trying.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I could I could go a lot of things
<v Speaker 2>I just said about you just kind of control the controllable,
<v Speaker 2>and for me, practicing gratitude makes a big difference, Like
<v Speaker 2>just focus on what you have and hold on to
<v Speaker 2>it as best you can because it can always be worse,
<v Speaker 2>and just you know, when you kind of ground yourself
<v Speaker 2>like that, at least it helps make the the the
<v Speaker 2>existential crisis of it all less of a I don't know,
<v Speaker 2>less suffocating totally.
<v Speaker 1>I think I'm thanks for checking in on us.
<v Speaker 2>I appreciate it.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I appreciate that. Bob.
<v Speaker 3>One more?
<v Speaker 1>Huh?
<v Speaker 2>We got two more?
<v Speaker 3>Two more?
<v Speaker 1>Two quick ones, Bob Mule. What's your favorite game that
<v Speaker 1>no one talks about?
<v Speaker 3>My favorite game that no one talks about?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I got one. I think I've referenced that maybe
<v Speaker 2>wants in a Blue Move, But uh, John d Arc
<v Speaker 2>for the PlayStation Portable PSP, The game Rules. No one
<v Speaker 2>ever talks about this game. I guess it's Yeah, it's
<v Speaker 2>about it's a it's Body Level five back when he
<v Speaker 2>used to make games all the time, and it's a
<v Speaker 2>turneday strategy game and it's basically an anime version of
<v Speaker 2>the Joan of Arc story. Like you play as Joan
<v Speaker 2>of Arc, but if you combined it with like Power
<v Speaker 2>Rangers or like maybe more accurately and even more obscure
<v Speaker 2>Property Mystic Mystic Knights of tiernanogue, where Joan has the
<v Speaker 2>ability to like turn into like a super night like
<v Speaker 2>she's like normal Joan, but then in the battle she
<v Speaker 2>can go like full like night like power Armor mode.
<v Speaker 2>And it's got like anime cutscenes and it's a really
<v Speaker 2>good game, and I really loved it at the time.
<v Speaker 2>No one ever talks about this game. It's never been
<v Speaker 2>anything yeah PSP Yeah, it's I still have my copy
<v Speaker 2>of it. It's never been poured it to anything. Surprisingly,
<v Speaker 2>and yeah, I think more people should play that game.
<v Speaker 2>But that's actually but also that's kind of hard to do.
<v Speaker 2>You got to get a PSB my.
<v Speaker 3>I have one that I think about. I I I've
<v Speaker 3>done a bajillion hours of podcasting and game coverage throughout
<v Speaker 3>my entire life, but I don't know that I've ever
<v Speaker 3>really talked about the Legend of Kirandia, which was like
<v Speaker 3>a point and click adventure game. There were like three
<v Speaker 3>of them, and it's like everyone else was playing like
<v Speaker 3>Monkey Island, you know, or something like that like, uh
<v Speaker 3>or the Losers, the losers, and then the one that
<v Speaker 3>I just happened to have, because that's how it was
<v Speaker 3>back then, I'm sure for all of us, where just
<v Speaker 3>games just kind of ended up in your house for
<v Speaker 3>some reason. Was the Legend of Kirandia, which my brother
<v Speaker 3>and I played a lot, like a fantasy point and
<v Speaker 3>click adventure game. You know that wasn't King's Quest basically. Yeah, yeah,
<v Speaker 3>never hear anyone talk about the Legend of Kyirandia, but
<v Speaker 3>there were three entries.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I've never heard of it.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, my I mean, I'll go a different route with
<v Speaker 4>this because I played a lot of like mainstream games
<v Speaker 4>as a kid, Like it was like Mario and Donkey
<v Speaker 4>Kong Country and Street Fighter and Sonic. For me, I'll
<v Speaker 4>go with a recent game which just got a sequel announced. Actually,
<v Speaker 4>that's a Dead Zone rogue. That game is so much fun.
<v Speaker 4>It's super super solid first person shooter roguelike. Highly recommend.
<v Speaker 4>It just came on switch to, which is why it
<v Speaker 4>got on my radar because at GDC it was it
<v Speaker 4>was at one of like those Nintendo Indie World directs,
<v Speaker 4>like in early March, I think, and I was like
<v Speaker 4>it looks really like a generic sci fi first person shooter,
<v Speaker 4>and then when I played it, I was like, Oh,
<v Speaker 4>I get it, like just going room by room clearing
<v Speaker 4>out all that stuff. Like. I wrote a review for
<v Speaker 4>Game Informer because I love the game so much. Even
<v Speaker 4>though it came out in twenty twenty five, it came
<v Speaker 4>to switch to in twenty twenty six, and I gave
<v Speaker 4>it a nine out of ten, so it's a it's
<v Speaker 4>a very good game.
<v Speaker 1>I think mine is going to be. I was initially
<v Speaker 1>gonna say Hrk's Adventures.
<v Speaker 3>Dreamcast or PlayStation Wow, but I think.
<v Speaker 1>I'm actually gonna pick a recent game that's an early
<v Speaker 1>access right now. I think it's peak players. Was only
<v Speaker 1>ever like fourteen hundred all time peak, but it's still going.
<v Speaker 1>It's still got like usually like fifty fifty to sixty
<v Speaker 1>people play it a day. They're still doing updates on it.
<v Speaker 1>It's still an early access coming out. It's called Intruder.
<v Speaker 1>It's a stealth multiplayer simulator from super Boss Games. It's
<v Speaker 1>supposed to be like the They call it like the
<v Speaker 1>Ultimate spis Orus Guards simulator. So if you are a
<v Speaker 1>fan of the old splinter Cell multiplayer games, Spisorus Merks
<v Speaker 1>or if you are you know you like things like
<v Speaker 1>Dead by Daylight, like asynchronous or not asynchronous, asymmetrical multiplayer
<v Speaker 1>where you know, you know, each team have different capabilities.
<v Speaker 1>You should go play this game, please, because I want
<v Speaker 1>more people to play it, because I want more people
<v Speaker 1>to play it with. But yeah, you are. It's it's
<v Speaker 1>currently an early access. It's been an early access since
<v Speaker 1>twenty nineteen. They've continued to continually work on it. They
<v Speaker 1>still I mean, their most recent update they posted an
<v Speaker 1>update literally last week, two weeks ago, and before that
<v Speaker 1>they did an April update where they put out a
<v Speaker 1>new gadget in the game. But it's really really fun,
<v Speaker 1>really really cool. I think it's like, if you are
<v Speaker 1>looking for that kind of experience, this is the one
<v Speaker 1>to get in on, This is the one to support.
<v Speaker 3>It's really good.
<v Speaker 1>Intruder Intruder. Yeah, so you're looking for a multiplayer asymmetrical
<v Speaker 1>Spies Verse Guards, It's really really good and you should.
<v Speaker 1>You should download it and play it. Hell, let me know,
<v Speaker 1>I want to play this so bad people that Like
<v Speaker 1>if people reach out to me and they're like, hey,
<v Speaker 1>I got Intruder, let's do like's set up like a
<v Speaker 1>community game night. I would love to do that. So yeah,
<v Speaker 1>just just the heads up, but yeah, intruder, that's the game.
<v Speaker 1>Thanks Bob for the question. Everyone should go listen to
<v Speaker 1>ninety nine questions Jay Herb Hello, familiar familiar face. You are.
<v Speaker 1>Last question of the day. What's your favorite game of
<v Speaker 1>twenty twenty six so far and what's your most anticipated
<v Speaker 1>to come? I think for me, I'll just answer really quick. Uh,
<v Speaker 1>my favorite game of the year so far if we're
<v Speaker 1>counting early access stuff, would probably be Slay This Spire too.
<v Speaker 1>If we're not, then it would be Pocopia. I really
<v Speaker 1>love Pocopia. I put a lot of hours into it.
<v Speaker 1>I think it's really excellent and my most anticipated to come. Honestly, Uh,
<v Speaker 1>Blood of the Blood of do Walker's pretty up there
<v Speaker 1>after hearing what Brian talked about today. But uh uh
<v Speaker 1>I'm really interested to see what's coming with with Thick
<v Speaker 1>of Thick as Thieves. Uh the warre Inspector, the new
<v Speaker 1>game from warre Inspector's studio, and it's been in some
<v Speaker 1>weird like they made some pretty big pivots. It was
<v Speaker 1>gonna be a pvpve uh. Stealth Thieves versus thieves game
<v Speaker 1>where you're like doing heists and stuff, and now they've
<v Speaker 1>changed it, uh to be single player slash co op driven,
<v Speaker 1>and the introductory campaign is actually coming out this month,
<v Speaker 1>I think, like maybe next week, and uh, I'm really
<v Speaker 1>interested these warre Inspector of course notable for for many
<v Speaker 1>games des X all sorts of like thief stealth games
<v Speaker 1>and immersive sims from back in the day, and this
<v Speaker 1>is supposed to be kind of in that that sort
<v Speaker 1>of similar thread.
<v Speaker 4>But I'll go next, so I'll say my my favorite
<v Speaker 4>game so far this year is probably Fords the Horizon
<v Speaker 4>six Pocopia is right on its tale. And then number
<v Speaker 4>I mean most anticipated is honestly probably Wolverine. Oh yeah,
<v Speaker 4>yeah a Marvel guy love Insomniac, So yeah, that's what
<v Speaker 4>I grew up reading. Grew up reading Wolverine, So that's
<v Speaker 4>definitely on my list for to that.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, mine's I'm i I'm kind of it depends on
<v Speaker 3>the day, but it's it's Sorrows versus Pragmata For me,
<v Speaker 3>I really loved both of those games. And then I mean,
<v Speaker 3>and then for me, I mean, it's kind of the
<v Speaker 3>obvious one, but GT six I want to play that.
<v Speaker 1>Oh god, yeah, what am I saying?
<v Speaker 3>Like, that's the one that it's like, if I could,
<v Speaker 3>you know, you lay out the rest of the if
<v Speaker 3>you put all the upcoming games of the year in
<v Speaker 3>front of me, like, I'm gonna grab GTA six and like,
<v Speaker 3>because i want to see what that thing is. You know,
<v Speaker 3>I'm excited.
<v Speaker 1>You're absolutely right. I'm just still skeptical that that's coming
<v Speaker 1>out this year, but we'll see.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, absolutely, yeah, even if it comes out this year,
<v Speaker 4>I'm taking Wolverine.
<v Speaker 3>Sorry, that's Brian. That's good, I know.
<v Speaker 4>But like every time I say that, people are like, oh,
<v Speaker 4>but you're forgetting GTA six conducted.
<v Speaker 2>No I'm not.
<v Speaker 4>No, I'm not. I'm excited for GTA six, don't get
<v Speaker 4>me wrong, but like, Insomniac's superhero games are so in
<v Speaker 4>my wheelhouse, it's insane.
<v Speaker 1>Fair enough, Yeah, same.
<v Speaker 2>Mind. I'm kind of in a three way tie. I
<v Speaker 2>know that sucks, but it's seeing Pacopeia, Resident Eval and
<v Speaker 2>Neo three. Actually oh really, of course, this is my
<v Speaker 2>my reminder, like halfway to end of your discussions that
<v Speaker 2>you guys should really play Neo three because it's awesome.
<v Speaker 2>And then I guess most anticipated. I mean it's probably
<v Speaker 2>GTA six and it's like I'm a gt fan, a
<v Speaker 2>game will probably be fun. But I'm kind of like
<v Speaker 2>echoing what Charles Hardist said, where like I'm like half
<v Speaker 2>anticipating that game the same way you anticipate a presidential
<v Speaker 2>election or like you know, like this is just a
<v Speaker 2>big deal, Like it's just this is going. I just
<v Speaker 2>I'm as much excited and interested to see the cultural
<v Speaker 2>impact that this game has more so than like is
<v Speaker 2>it a good video game?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I'm just I really am optimistic about an adult
<v Speaker 3>romance in a video like I I you know what
<v Speaker 3>I mean, Like we'll see, like maybe maybe the ball
<v Speaker 3>gets dropped. But I mean like Red Dead Redemption two
<v Speaker 3>like really approached sort of realistic relationships with people, and
<v Speaker 3>but romance was sort of a not really like a
<v Speaker 3>focus for Red Dead Redemption to it was there, but like,
<v Speaker 3>I just I want to play like an adult video
<v Speaker 3>game that like looks at a relationship between two people
<v Speaker 3>and like the game like I I'm really hopeful for that,
<v Speaker 3>and you know, like it could be who knows, maybe
<v Speaker 3>it's not great, but like I'm that's that's one of
<v Speaker 3>the reasons I'm excited for G six.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, to your point about Red Dead that's the other
<v Speaker 2>big reason I forgot about. It's like, this is their
<v Speaker 2>first game since Red Dead two, which I think is
<v Speaker 2>by far their best written game, and it's one of
<v Speaker 2>my favorite games of all time. So it's like, Okay,
<v Speaker 2>you have shown me that you can write at this level.
<v Speaker 2>I want to see you bring that into a g
<v Speaker 2>t A now contemporary.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I'm I'm hopeful.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Cool.
<v Speaker 4>To be clear, I am very excited for Grand Theft
<v Speaker 4>Auto six.
<v Speaker 2>No, you're you.
<v Speaker 1>You seem like you're you seem like you might be
<v Speaker 1>having some PTSD from certain events.
<v Speaker 2>Well, the three of you.
<v Speaker 4>Grand Theft Auto six is a game I'm looking forward to,
<v Speaker 4>and I love c t A five, and I love
<v Speaker 4>R d R two and one.
<v Speaker 1>And looking as if you were the subject of a
<v Speaker 1>certain subreddit. Yeah, well, Tennis, I could possibly comment yes,
<v Speaker 1>fair enough, fair enough, but no, I.
<v Speaker 4>Am excited for that, and I think that that that's
<v Speaker 4>probably it's in my top three for the rest of
<v Speaker 4>the year for sure.
<v Speaker 1>Fair enough. Yeah uh well, thanks everyone for listening to
<v Speaker 1>the podcast this week. Thanks for for recounting your cover
<v Speaker 1>story for US Brian, of course, I'll say it again.
<v Speaker 1>Game Informa dot com slash subscribe. Best way to support
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<v Speaker 1>That would be awesome. That's gonna do it for the week. Everyone,
<v Speaker 1>We'll see you next week. Hope you have a great week. Goodbye,