007 First Light Cover + Resident Evil Requiem w/ Giant Bomb’s Jan Ochoa

<v Speaker 1>Hey, everybody. Welcome to Game and Former Show, a weekly
<v Speaker 1>podcast covering the video game industry. Join us each and
<v Speaker 1>every week for a discussion of the gaming latest gaming news, reviews,
<v Speaker 1>and exclusive reveals with Game and Former staff and special
<v Speaker 1>guests from around the industry. I'm your host, Marcus Stewart.
<v Speaker 1>I am joined by the news hound Wesley LeBlanc.
<v Speaker 2>Hello, Hello, Hello, I'm back from the Eternal Perils of
<v Speaker 2>review hell for a game we will talk about soon.
<v Speaker 1>And also joining us is the GI spy who loved me,
<v Speaker 1>Brian Shay. How are you.
<v Speaker 3>I'll take it. I will take that intro.
<v Speaker 1>I'm good.
<v Speaker 3>A little under the weather, but good otherwise.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, And joining us a special guest, Giant Bomb's own
<v Speaker 1>Jan o'choa.
<v Speaker 4>Hello, sir, Hello, thanks for having me, guys. Very happy
<v Speaker 4>to be.
<v Speaker 1>Here, Yes, first time when the Gi Choubin wanted to
<v Speaker 1>get you on for a while. Happy to have you.
<v Speaker 1>How you doing.
<v Speaker 4>I'm doing well as well as you can be right now.
<v Speaker 4>Ready to talk about video games and ready to hang
<v Speaker 4>out with y'all.
<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah, we're gonna talk about video games and video
<v Speaker 1>game accessories. Maybe I don't know, but listen, I wanted
<v Speaker 1>to make a King of a Hill reference. I don't
<v Speaker 1>get to talk about King of Hill as much as
<v Speaker 1>you guys think that I would like to believe it
<v Speaker 1>or not.
<v Speaker 3>Let's start at King of the Hill podcast side project.
<v Speaker 4>Hey, I I started watching King of the Hill for
<v Speaker 4>the first time recently.
<v Speaker 3>Something.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, Okay, do you like it so far? Yes?
<v Speaker 4>Yes, I think Bobby Hill is a generational character.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, give us all your King of the Hill hot
<v Speaker 1>takes right here. Bobby Hill, great character. Yes? Are you
<v Speaker 1>working your way to the new season? That is that
<v Speaker 1>what's inspired this?
<v Speaker 4>Or yes, that is the motivation because I saw, well
<v Speaker 4>there's obviously a time skip in the new season, right
<v Speaker 4>and I think I may the bold claim that I
<v Speaker 4>think Bobby Hill could beat Bobby Flay.
<v Speaker 1>I ooh, I yeah, you know what. Yeah, I agree
<v Speaker 1>with that. Bobby Flay's lost to like quote unquote like
<v Speaker 1>regular chefs or like not yeh chefs. So why yeah,
<v Speaker 1>I think so, Brian, you could beat Bobby Flay. You're
<v Speaker 1>a pretty good cook too. I've seen you post your
<v Speaker 1>fancy food photos on social media and stuff.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, I'm okay.
<v Speaker 5>Bobby Flay is a professional culinary artist though, so it
<v Speaker 5>might be a knockdown, drag out fight in the kitchen,
<v Speaker 5>but uh yeah, I think I do.
<v Speaker 1>Okay. I mean, if I started paying you for your food,
<v Speaker 1>you'd be a professional chef too. Technically, that's a good point.
<v Speaker 1>That is a very good point saying. But yes, if
<v Speaker 1>you too would like to know if you can beat
<v Speaker 1>Bobby Flay, I probably a good way to do that
<v Speaker 1>or to find that out. And this is a little
<v Speaker 1>bit of false advertising, so I'm gonna veer away from this,
<v Speaker 1>but you know what you can do to support Game
<v Speaker 1>Informer is get yourself a Game Informer magazine subscription. Yes,
<v Speaker 1>Game Informer we're a print magazine. I don't know if
<v Speaker 1>you knew that You've got a magazine right here, our
<v Speaker 1>warter Warcraft Midnight issue, which is also our twenty twenty
<v Speaker 1>five Game of the Year issue, our jumbo sized issue.
<v Speaker 1>We've also gone to our latest cover story that we're
<v Speaker 1>gonna be talking about on this podcast for Double O
<v Speaker 1>seven First Light. And if you would like to read
<v Speaker 1>our Double seven First Light issue, you can go to
<v Speaker 1>gaminformer dot com slash subscribe and subscribe to get ten
<v Speaker 1>issues a year sent to you, both physical and digital,
<v Speaker 1>and you can also go into your local bookstores and
<v Speaker 1>new stands and get yourself a copy of Game Informer.
<v Speaker 1>If you're in a US you can go to Books
<v Speaker 1>a Million, you can go to Barnes and Nobles. You
<v Speaker 1>can go to your your just your local newsstand next
<v Speaker 1>to copies of the the you know, New York Post
<v Speaker 1>and maybe the Daily Bugle for probably in there somewhere too,
<v Speaker 1>as well as internationally as well. You can find us
<v Speaker 1>and bookstands in a new stores as well. We still
<v Speaker 1>don't know exactly what stores we're in and which countries.
<v Speaker 1>We're still finding that out. I know some people have
<v Speaker 1>been asking. We're also grateful for any international readers that
<v Speaker 1>have been sending us pictures of them spotting Game Informer
<v Speaker 1>in neuro local stores, which has been very helpful.
<v Speaker 5>But let us know what stores you're finding them in
<v Speaker 5>so we can tell everybody else, because right now it's
<v Speaker 5>treated like some big secret. So yeah, please, if you
<v Speaker 5>are international and you see Game Informer in a store,
<v Speaker 5>let us know what the name of the store is.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, yes, please please, but yes, either way, whether you
<v Speaker 1>get yourself a magazine subscription or pick us up in
<v Speaker 1>your local store, it is the absolute best way to
<v Speaker 1>support Game Informer ensure that we keep doing what we're doing.
<v Speaker 1>And of course, five percent of at least every subscription
<v Speaker 1>fee also helps is donated towards Saint Jude's Children's Hospitals,
<v Speaker 1>So your subscription also goes to a very worthy cause
<v Speaker 1>that we're very proud to support. Here once again, Game
<v Speaker 1>Informer dot com slash subscribe, get yourself a magazine subscription
<v Speaker 1>two day. And of course, speaking of magazine covers, Brian Shay,
<v Speaker 1>you have traveled to go to io Interactive over in
<v Speaker 1>Copenhagen to check out Double O seven First Light, our
<v Speaker 1>next big cover story game. Tell us all about it.
<v Speaker 1>How is James Bond's origin story? I guess how was
<v Speaker 1>that shaping up? Yeah?
<v Speaker 5>So this was a game, like I'm assuming, much like
<v Speaker 5>everybody on this call, a James Bond game has played
<v Speaker 5>a significant role in my life as a gamer. I
<v Speaker 5>think for a lot of us it was Golden I
<v Speaker 5>Double O seven on N sixty four. I think for
<v Speaker 5>Wes it was Agent Underfire Ones.
<v Speaker 3>Twos two right.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, and Marcus, what was your James Bond game of choice?
<v Speaker 3>Oh?
<v Speaker 1>It was Golden E as a kid, but I will
<v Speaker 1>shout out I think it was night Fire on PS
<v Speaker 1>two that had the cool like slingshody grapple hook thing
<v Speaker 1>that was like stupidly fun.
<v Speaker 2>Well, agender Fire had a really good grapple hook too.
<v Speaker 2>Night Fire came out. It was like the sequel to
<v Speaker 2>agender Fire, and it was also very good. But it's
<v Speaker 2>multiplayer sweet not as good as Agender Fire.
<v Speaker 3>Jan what about you?
<v Speaker 4>Actually, my uncle played a lot. This is one of
<v Speaker 4>the games he commandeered my PS one four, but he
<v Speaker 4>played a lot of Tomorrow Never Dies.
<v Speaker 1>Oh. I played that one. Yeah. Yeah.
<v Speaker 4>Where my friends would be talking about how cool siphon
<v Speaker 4>filter was, I'd be on the other side of the
<v Speaker 4>player ground being like, no, guys, Tomorrow Never Dies. It's
<v Speaker 4>pretty cool too. But it was pretty neat. I mean
<v Speaker 4>it had all the James Bond trappings for sure.
<v Speaker 1>I played that before I saw the moot. Oh I see,
<v Speaker 1>I played that before I saw the movie, and I
<v Speaker 1>remember really liking the newspaper, like the printing press like
<v Speaker 1>section yeah, and then seeing the movie and like legitimately
<v Speaker 1>kind of marking out because I don't know, maybe I
<v Speaker 1>didn't think that would be in the movie, but I
<v Speaker 1>were like, that's the level from the game that I
<v Speaker 1>really liked, Oh it's happening.
<v Speaker 5>But getting back to Double O seven First Light, you know,
<v Speaker 5>it is a game that I think when it was announced,
<v Speaker 5>everybody was kind of like, oh, that makes sense. Like
<v Speaker 5>Io Interactive has been doing this like kind of globe
<v Speaker 5>trotting agent sandbox style game for like twenty five years now.
<v Speaker 5>And you know, the Hitman franchise obviously has a different
<v Speaker 5>flavor than the James Bond franchise, but like a lot
<v Speaker 5>of the like the core tenants are in the the
<v Speaker 5>recipe of hit Man and they can just kind of
<v Speaker 5>transpose that over to Double O seven and in they
<v Speaker 5>seem like they're doing that a lot with Double O
<v Speaker 5>seven First Light. And you know, we had a great
<v Speaker 5>time sitting down and talking with the developers, really diving
<v Speaker 5>deep into like their way of kind of like developing
<v Speaker 5>these sandbox situations, which again are different than what you'll
<v Speaker 5>see in hit Man, but definitely you can see the
<v Speaker 5>DNA is still there from this this studio and like
<v Speaker 5>the way they think about these games as like these
<v Speaker 5>encounters as like puzzles, which is great because like that's
<v Speaker 5>kind of how I think a lot of us approach
<v Speaker 5>those situations. In Hitman games is like, okay, here's like
<v Speaker 5>a you know, it's pattern recognition, it's it's taking opportunities
<v Speaker 5>that are given to you. It's using your tools and
<v Speaker 5>skill sets, and then once you have your plan in place,
<v Speaker 5>you know, executing it with precision. Like that stuff is
<v Speaker 5>all part of both puzzle solving and also stealth, and
<v Speaker 5>I think nobody does it as well as Io Interactive
<v Speaker 5>in terms of like bringing it all together delivering it
<v Speaker 5>with such consistency, Like every single level in the hit
<v Speaker 5>Man World of Assassination trilogy capitalizes on all those core tenets.
<v Speaker 5>And I got to see an extended demo of the
<v Speaker 5>State of Play that they put out, and it really
<v Speaker 5>did seem like they are doubling down on what that
<v Speaker 5>studio is known for.
<v Speaker 1>You know.
<v Speaker 5>It's like in the State of Play, we see him
<v Speaker 5>like access this giant hotel by kind of like creating
<v Speaker 5>a diversion and then climbing up into a window. The
<v Speaker 5>other way that we saw in the in this this
<v Speaker 5>behind closed Doors demo that we attended in Copenhagen, was
<v Speaker 5>he kind of like overheard somebody that he eavesdropped on
<v Speaker 5>somebody on the call saying that there was a whistleblower
<v Speaker 5>trying to gain access to this chest tournament, and oh,
<v Speaker 5>well he has a press pass hidden in like a
<v Speaker 5>flower pot. So as soon as you got that, it
<v Speaker 5>highlighted all the flower pots around the courtyard. That was like, oh, like,
<v Speaker 5>we got a tip that you know, I overheard somebody
<v Speaker 5>say it. There's a press badge in the flower pot,
<v Speaker 5>so now I need to go check all the flower pots.
<v Speaker 5>So it's like all of the intel that James Bond
<v Speaker 5>has from doing his kind of spy stuff is kind
<v Speaker 5>of highlighted and surface to the player, so you feel
<v Speaker 5>like you're inside the head of Bond. And that's a
<v Speaker 5>really really cool way of surfacing that so you're not
<v Speaker 5>you know, bouncing between menus being like all right, well,
<v Speaker 5>I know I got a tip somewhere along the lines,
<v Speaker 5>and then you have to like dig through like a
<v Speaker 5>compendium or some sort of like glossary. It's like no,
<v Speaker 5>it's immediately like surfaced right on the ui of like
<v Speaker 5>flower pot. Okay, got it, and then you go over
<v Speaker 5>you find it, and then you just walk right in
<v Speaker 5>through security, and you know, there's all kinds of different
<v Speaker 5>gameplay systems that are at play with this title, because
<v Speaker 5>like you know, we see the early sequence is him
<v Speaker 5>driving up the mountain and it's like, you know, kind
<v Speaker 5>of like just cinematic conversation happening, and then you know
<v Speaker 5>it's it's this stealth sequence where you have to try
<v Speaker 5>to figure out a way to get into this hotel
<v Speaker 5>where the chess tournament's happening. Then you've got to sneak
<v Speaker 5>past all the guards and everything and not get spotted
<v Speaker 5>by your.
<v Speaker 3>Teammates because you're not even supposed to be in the tournament.
<v Speaker 5>You're supposed to be out in the parking lot like
<v Speaker 5>kind of keeping an eye on the perimeter. But James
<v Speaker 5>Bond is gonna do what James Bond's gonna do, of course,
<v Speaker 5>so you know, you can't be spotted by your target,
<v Speaker 5>you can't be spotted by your teammates, so you're kind
<v Speaker 5>of like trying to maintain a low profile in that regard.
<v Speaker 5>Then there's conversations that you can have, like you know,
<v Speaker 5>you go up to the bartender, and you can get
<v Speaker 5>intel from the bartender because you know, bartenders hear things
<v Speaker 5>in the process of doing their jobs, so you know,
<v Speaker 5>you have that conversation aspect. Then there's you know, the
<v Speaker 5>driving sequence that we saw where Bond is in a
<v Speaker 5>car chase following his target, and you know, it looks
<v Speaker 5>like they've done a good job with the driving mechanics.
<v Speaker 5>Like I didn't get a chance to play the driving
<v Speaker 5>mechanics or really anything of the game yet, but you know,
<v Speaker 5>it does look like from watching the developer and like
<v Speaker 5>watching how they're playing it, it does look like the
<v Speaker 5>mechanics are responsive, like he was drifting around the corners
<v Speaker 5>pretty pretty well. It didn't seem like there was any
<v Speaker 5>stiffness or rigidity to the driving mechanics. And then the
<v Speaker 5>climax of that demo, if you recall, was a like
<v Speaker 5>a gunfight on an airstrip, and it's all about like
<v Speaker 5>the set piece moments and the improvisation and like, okay,
<v Speaker 5>like you get out into this area and as soon
<v Speaker 5>as an enemy draws their weapon on you, you're given the
<v Speaker 5>license to kill because your life is in danger. So
<v Speaker 5>big words flash across the screen just says license to kill,
<v Speaker 5>and then you're good to go at that point because
<v Speaker 5>your life was under threat, because like the whole story
<v Speaker 5>is this is James Bond becoming Double O seven and
<v Speaker 5>earning his license to kill. In Her Majesty's Secret Service,
<v Speaker 5>So you were granted a temporary license to kill if
<v Speaker 5>you are put in danger in the line of duty,
<v Speaker 5>and that's what happens at the end of this demo.
<v Speaker 5>And so like the gunfight looks extremely fun, Like there's
<v Speaker 5>explosive barrels everywhere that the environment was surprisingly destructible. You
<v Speaker 5>can go in like hand to hand combat. There's like
<v Speaker 5>a sequence where Bond runs up and like tackles the
<v Speaker 5>guy on a ledge and then uses his body as
<v Speaker 5>a cushion so he can drop down from like the
<v Speaker 5>ledge down to like the ground level, which was kind
<v Speaker 5>of cool, and that also acts as a takedown.
<v Speaker 3>To the target that you were fighting.
<v Speaker 5>And then like a big set piece moment where he
<v Speaker 5>basically causes a his target's plane to lose altitude and
<v Speaker 5>crash and he has to skydive out to chase down
<v Speaker 5>a guy with a parachute. Like it's just so many
<v Speaker 5>gameplay systems in place, and the thing that we got
<v Speaker 5>to look at, and this isn't anything that like we
<v Speaker 5>really talked about in the cover story, but like they
<v Speaker 5>have their their proprietary engine that they use and it
<v Speaker 5>allows them to toy around with the different stage elements
<v Speaker 5>in real time. So it's not even like, all right,
<v Speaker 5>I got to bounce back and reset everything. It's like, no,
<v Speaker 5>it all updates in real time. So if there's a
<v Speaker 5>thing that is not working just the way it needs
<v Speaker 5>to in the Sandbox and they're like, oh, something's not
<v Speaker 5>right right here, they can just pause the action, go in,
<v Speaker 5>tweak that, and then keep going where they were at.
<v Speaker 3>It's just it.
<v Speaker 5>Seems like it's a really intuitive tool for a game
<v Speaker 5>that is so built around like sandbox creativity and sandbox
<v Speaker 5>environments that like encourage experimentation within the player base. Like it,
<v Speaker 5>it seems like that is such an essential tool for them.
<v Speaker 5>But then you know, talking to the art director, talking
<v Speaker 5>to the audio director, the game director, the gameplay and
<v Speaker 5>narrative designer, like it was a full day of just
<v Speaker 5>like diving deep into how they decided on doing a
<v Speaker 5>James Bond origin story, how they decided like what their
<v Speaker 5>James Bond was going to be like, because the whole
<v Speaker 5>struggle that they had was they came to the conclusion
<v Speaker 5>when they started digging into who James Bond really is,
<v Speaker 5>they were like, this is a guy who's defined by
<v Speaker 5>his experiences. You know, he always knows what to do
<v Speaker 5>at every time because he's been through everything, He's seen everything,
<v Speaker 5>and he's like, so, all right, well, what is that
<v Speaker 5>character like when you strip away all that experience, because
<v Speaker 5>you're talking about a guy who's, you know, probably in
<v Speaker 5>his early twenties and hasn't really done a whole lot
<v Speaker 5>doesn't have a whole lot of life experience, isn't in
<v Speaker 5>the in six as a double O agent. Yet you know,
<v Speaker 5>he is just a stubborn, brash, like charming and reckless guy.
<v Speaker 5>It's like, all right, well, how do we make that
<v Speaker 5>feel like the James Bond that we've seen depicted by
<v Speaker 5>like Daniel Craig and Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan and
<v Speaker 5>not just feel like some sort of knockoff version of that.
<v Speaker 5>And I will say that, like, from what I've seen
<v Speaker 5>and what I've talked to the developers about, they've really
<v Speaker 5>done a great job. And I think Patrick Gibson, who
<v Speaker 5>is the actor that plays James Bond in this game,
<v Speaker 5>he was also a young Dexter Morgan in Dexter Original Sin,
<v Speaker 5>which is a prequel series to the or the Showtime
<v Speaker 5>series Dexter.
<v Speaker 3>He really does nail it.
<v Speaker 5>I had my concerns about him going into this, but
<v Speaker 5>it really does seem like he's doing a great job
<v Speaker 5>and he's he lays on the charm, but he also
<v Speaker 5>has like kind of that signature coldness that Bond has.
<v Speaker 5>But it's it really does feel like it's a less
<v Speaker 5>controlled Bond. So they've they've nailed that aspect of it.
<v Speaker 5>They've nailed the audio of it. I think the visual
<v Speaker 5>elements of it. The gadgets they told me, like, you know,
<v Speaker 5>you're not going to just get like, all right, well
<v Speaker 5>you're going in you're gonna need like a laser for
<v Speaker 5>this mission. So here you're gonna have a laser in
<v Speaker 5>your load out for this level. It's like, no, they
<v Speaker 5>want you to choose what gadgets you're equipping going into
<v Speaker 5>a mission so you can experiment and see how they
<v Speaker 5>all interact. So there's just a lot of stuff at
<v Speaker 5>play that it's definitely more of a linear, cinematic kind
<v Speaker 5>of like set peace driven experience than the Hitman franchise.
<v Speaker 5>But still, like I said, so much of that IO
<v Speaker 5>and Hitman DNA kind of permeates the experience and allowing
<v Speaker 5>players to experiment and approach things.
<v Speaker 1>How they want nice. I'm glad I was gonna ask
<v Speaker 1>you about Bond himself, because that was also one of
<v Speaker 1>my concerns when he announced, like, yeah, this is a
<v Speaker 1>young Bond who you know, maybe doesn't always follow the rules.
<v Speaker 1>And I just had like mild flashbacks to like Perfect
<v Speaker 1>Dark Zero, which had a similar premise of like, we're
<v Speaker 1>going to tell you the origin of this really like
<v Speaker 1>capable spy, and she, at least in that gang, kind
<v Speaker 1>of came off as a little like, you know, a
<v Speaker 1>little too much like kind of teenage, like you're not
<v Speaker 1>my real dad kind of eyes, like I'll do what
<v Speaker 1>I want. And I was like, I wouldn't think they
<v Speaker 1>would do that with this Bond, But there's always that
<v Speaker 1>fear of like, we're just gonna make him like almost
<v Speaker 1>two attitude and normal. But it's at least from what
<v Speaker 1>you've seen, it sounds like that's that's not really the case.
<v Speaker 5>So yeah, and I like there were times where like
<v Speaker 5>you would just absolutely be like, oh, that is James Bond,
<v Speaker 5>Like the way that he responded to this person, you
<v Speaker 5>could see another Bond actor doing that. But the way
<v Speaker 5>that the narrative designer or narrative director told me is like,
<v Speaker 5>you know, he has all that charm, he has all
<v Speaker 5>that coldness, but he doesn't really have the control that
<v Speaker 5>the older version of the character has. So like, you know,
<v Speaker 5>he's an extremely charming guy when he's talking to somebody,
<v Speaker 5>but he doesn't he's not fully aware that he's like
<v Speaker 5>projecting all that charm, and so he doesn't he hasn't
<v Speaker 5>really weaponized it the way that like an older Bond has.
<v Speaker 2>Do you have any idea what kind of what their
<v Speaker 2>older Bond like, what they're aiming for since there's so
<v Speaker 2>many iterations of Bond, you know, the classic Bond is
<v Speaker 2>very much like a ladies man, you know, suave, sexy,
<v Speaker 2>all that kind of stuff, whereas like Daniel Craig's is
<v Speaker 2>all that but also tackling the mental toll and the
<v Speaker 2>loneliness that comes up being Bond. Do you have any
<v Speaker 2>idea where they're trying to take this Bond.
<v Speaker 5>Well, they mentioned that, like you know, the narrative director
<v Speaker 5>was like, yeah, the first thing I did when I
<v Speaker 5>found out that because I guess it's been six and
<v Speaker 5>a half years that since they found out that they
<v Speaker 5>were making a James Bond game, And he's like, yeah,
<v Speaker 5>the first thing we did was like I went and
<v Speaker 5>bought the box set of the movies. I went and
<v Speaker 5>bought the box set of the books, and then I
<v Speaker 5>started reading the comics.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and watch.
<v Speaker 5>James wat Junior played James Pond, and you know he's like,
<v Speaker 5>basically the first thing he did was he read all
<v Speaker 5>that stuff. He watched all the movies, and then he
<v Speaker 5>was he was like, well, I just need to drill
<v Speaker 5>into like the core traits, which you know he's you know,
<v Speaker 5>going to take risks, and he's like, yeah. Basically, like
<v Speaker 5>the younger version of James Bond basically like, hey, here
<v Speaker 5>the verse.
<v Speaker 3>Here the core rates.
<v Speaker 5>That James Bond we think he has across all depictions,
<v Speaker 5>and here's how we see a younger version portraying that.
<v Speaker 5>So like whereas like an older James Bond takes risks,
<v Speaker 5>it's usually more of a calculated thing, right where it's like, Okay,
<v Speaker 5>if I jump out of this plane, I could see
<v Speaker 5>I'm gonna go get that guy and take his parachute
<v Speaker 5>and then I'll get safely to the ground, whereas the
<v Speaker 5>younger James Bond is kind of like reckless, like Okay, well,
<v Speaker 5>I guess I'll jump out of this plane because that is,
<v Speaker 5>in my head, the next logical step to take down
<v Speaker 5>this bad guy, and then he has to kind of
<v Speaker 5>think of a solution on his feet.
<v Speaker 3>So it's kind of like.
<v Speaker 5>That, and like you know the fact that like he
<v Speaker 5>doesn't quite have the level of coldness that like a
<v Speaker 5>Sean Connery, James Bond has or a Pierce Brosnan, but
<v Speaker 5>he does have flashes of that. Like there's a moment
<v Speaker 5>where when the car chase is beginning, you see him
<v Speaker 5>trying to hot wire a car and this woman who's
<v Speaker 5>with a French secret service secret intelligence gets in the
<v Speaker 5>car and she just holds up the keys like looking
<v Speaker 5>for these like like she has the keys to the
<v Speaker 5>car he's trying to hot wire. He just continues hot
<v Speaker 5>wiring it, immediately gets it to start, and then just
<v Speaker 5>kind of flashes like a steely gaze at her like
<v Speaker 5>I got this, don't worry. Like it's like you can
<v Speaker 5>tell he's not nearly as refined, but he has all
<v Speaker 5>of those flashes where it's like, oh, yeah, this could
<v Speaker 5>be like a Bond that evolves into the version that
<v Speaker 5>we see in.
<v Speaker 3>Pictures.
<v Speaker 5>But yeah, they definitely were going for a younger version
<v Speaker 5>because I even brought up like, oh, well, I think
<v Speaker 5>like Daniel Craig is supposed to be the youngest version
<v Speaker 5>of Bond that we've seen on pictures or on motion pictures,
<v Speaker 5>because Casino Royale is originally his the first book in
<v Speaker 5>the timeline, right, And they were like, well, yeah, well,
<v Speaker 5>even Daniel Craig was like way early, way older than
<v Speaker 5>the Bond that we wanted to depict, because he was
<v Speaker 5>like very brash, he was very like, you know, he
<v Speaker 5>does play by his own rules the way that it
<v Speaker 5>seems like Io's is going to. But he's still like
<v Speaker 5>I don't know, it doesn't feel like this, Like he
<v Speaker 5>feels a little bit older than what they were going for.
<v Speaker 5>So they deaged that by i want to say, like
<v Speaker 5>another like five or ten years, and like took away
<v Speaker 5>even more experience than what that version of Bond has.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, like Brian over ahead, Joe Brian.
<v Speaker 4>One of my favorite parts of the James Bond, I
<v Speaker 4>guess the whole franchise is the interplay between Bond and
<v Speaker 4>his allies, whether it's like his tech crew, the fem Fatale.
<v Speaker 4>I don't know if you saw any of that in
<v Speaker 4>the preview you saw, but was there any hint of
<v Speaker 4>that of what those relationships are going to look like.
<v Speaker 5>It does seem like they are keeping a lot of
<v Speaker 5>those intact, like in terms of like the dynamics. I've
<v Speaker 5>got to bring up the actual list of characters here
<v Speaker 5>because I know, like Q and M and all them
<v Speaker 5>in Moneypenny, but like there are a lot of characters
<v Speaker 5>that they've got like casts, Like sorry, I'm bringing up here,
<v Speaker 5>Like I know that they've announced like Lenny Kravitz's Bauma,
<v Speaker 5>which is kind of cool because you know they needed
<v Speaker 5>a charismatic villain basically, and they're like, can we get
<v Speaker 5>Lenny Kravitz.
<v Speaker 1>Which is the villain that can play the guitar is
<v Speaker 1>really important to us for some reason.
<v Speaker 5>I really hope it's like a Jack Black esque like, hey,
<v Speaker 5>we're just gonna have the bad guy sing a song.
<v Speaker 1>Now he sings his plan to Bond during the Inevitable
<v Speaker 1>Seeing where Bond gets caught and the villain explains what
<v Speaker 1>he's doing. It's just gonna be a concert. Yeah.
<v Speaker 5>So basically, there's this thing that happens at the beginning
<v Speaker 5>called the Iceland incident, and it happens right before the
<v Speaker 5>sequence that I saw and Basically that gets M's attention,
<v Speaker 5>like it's the loose depiction of the Iceland incident is
<v Speaker 5>on our cover this month Game Informers cover. You can
<v Speaker 5>see the helicopter crash in the background. Something thing happens there.
<v Speaker 5>We don't know exactly what it is, but whatever it is,
<v Speaker 5>Bond emerges as the hero of that incident, and em
<v Speaker 5>gets takes notice like, oh, this is a guy that
<v Speaker 5>maybe we should recruit for I six And what he
<v Speaker 5>ends up what ends up happening is they send Bond
<v Speaker 5>off to this training facility in Malta, and.
<v Speaker 3>You know it's it.
<v Speaker 5>Basically, he gets there and all the other Double OH
<v Speaker 5>prospects are already training there. They've been training there for
<v Speaker 5>six months, and this is already like, you know, the
<v Speaker 5>cream of the crop, and they have a six month
<v Speaker 5>head start on him, so early on he kind of
<v Speaker 5>has to play catch up, and you know, a lot
<v Speaker 5>of the other Double O agents kind of seem like
<v Speaker 5>they may look down on him a little bit. I mean,
<v Speaker 5>that wasn't explicitly stated, but it was kind of like
<v Speaker 5>like they were the other Double O agents on this
<v Speaker 5>mission that you get to play that I was describing earlier.
<v Speaker 5>They get to go in and be on the ground
<v Speaker 5>and like pursue Double oh nine is this rogue agent
<v Speaker 5>who you know, used to be one of the best
<v Speaker 5>Double O agents around, but he's kind of gone off
<v Speaker 5>and gone off the books, so they're tracking him, and
<v Speaker 5>like they get to go in on the ground and
<v Speaker 5>they're like, James, just stay in the parking lot, you know,
<v Speaker 5>like watch the perimeter.
<v Speaker 3>That's an important job. Stay in there.
<v Speaker 5>And then James notices like a suspicious bell hop and
<v Speaker 5>he takes matters into his own hands. But it seems
<v Speaker 5>like they're kind of like, yeah, this guy's not really
<v Speaker 5>on our level, but like you know, they kind of
<v Speaker 5>like it's almost like when you're you give like your
<v Speaker 5>control the second controller to your little little sibling and
<v Speaker 5>you're like, oh, yeah, playing his tails is just as
<v Speaker 5>cool as playing his sonic and like it almost feels
<v Speaker 5>like that. But I mean maybe there's maybe that was
<v Speaker 5>just me reading between the lines a little bit.
<v Speaker 4>Actually, sure, you get to see controller, you have to
<v Speaker 4>play tails, Yeah, exactly.
<v Speaker 3>So m Q moneypenny.
<v Speaker 5>You know you're gonna get your gadgets from q uh
<v Speaker 5>Moneypenny is kind of like, you know, in communication with
<v Speaker 5>Bond pretty frequently.
<v Speaker 3>Then there there's a lot of communication.
<v Speaker 5>Back and forth between the Double O agents in the demo,
<v Speaker 5>like just like like them being.
<v Speaker 3>Like Bond, what are you doing?
<v Speaker 5>Stay where you are, Stay where you're supposed to be stationed.
<v Speaker 5>And then there's also a character named John Greenway who
<v Speaker 5>is played by Lenny James, who you may know from
<v Speaker 5>The Walking Dead or Snatch, and he is kind of
<v Speaker 5>like Bond's mentor, and he also seems like he's on
<v Speaker 5>the ground as well for this and I think this
<v Speaker 5>is the character that's like the French intelligent lady, intelligence lady.
<v Speaker 3>But miss Roth.
<v Speaker 5>Is the woman that gets into the car with him,
<v Speaker 5>and she seems like she's going to play a pretty significant.
<v Speaker 3>Role as well.
<v Speaker 5>She gives me like kind of like the he is
<v Speaker 5>She's like going to emerge as like maybe Bond's like
<v Speaker 5>counterpart on the French side. But we'll have to wait
<v Speaker 5>and see how that plays out. But yeah, I mean
<v Speaker 5>I didn't get like a too grade of a sense,
<v Speaker 5>but it does seem like they are going to fill
<v Speaker 5>a lot of the traditional roles. I've not seen Gemma
<v Speaker 5>Chan's character who is Selena tan is her character's name,
<v Speaker 5>But yeah, I mean, we're gonna have to wait and
<v Speaker 5>see what she is. But all the other characters feel
<v Speaker 5>like they slot into that very traditional like roles that
<v Speaker 5>you would see from them in the movies.
<v Speaker 1>Right.
<v Speaker 2>Did you hear a theme song?
<v Speaker 5>Oh, just kind of like a cinematic like kind of
<v Speaker 5>like orchestral version, like slow and kind of plotting as
<v Speaker 5>he jumps out of the plane at the end of
<v Speaker 5>the demo, And you can hear that in the State
<v Speaker 5>of play as well, like that that that version, but
<v Speaker 5>it's not it doesn't seem like it's the official version.
<v Speaker 5>But then there's also there's all these reports that they're
<v Speaker 5>going to be having like an actual like theme for
<v Speaker 5>First Light, but they were very cagy when I asked about, like, Hey,
<v Speaker 5>is there gonna be like a James.
<v Speaker 3>Bond song for this game? And I did not get
<v Speaker 3>an answer.
<v Speaker 1>What do you think that I think.
<v Speaker 2>Sabrina Carpenter would be that's the twenty twenty sixth choice
<v Speaker 2>for sure, that would be.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I've heard those rumors of Lana del Rey as well, but.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, but she'd been trying to make one for like
<v Speaker 2>over a decade. I mean I used to be a
<v Speaker 2>big fan of herson, like twenty fourteen or first two albums,
<v Speaker 2>and I was like, she just is singing James Bond songs.
<v Speaker 2>I don't know where she's at today.
<v Speaker 3>But yeah, Summertime Sadness definitely a Bond song.
<v Speaker 4>Oh yeah, yeah for a younger Bond putting that and
<v Speaker 4>there's wired headphones and everything. Yeah, is he sitting in
<v Speaker 4>the car pouting yes, yeah, subtweeting.
<v Speaker 3>We need a millennial Bond.
<v Speaker 4>Uh, Brian. I'm curious did the if the dev shared
<v Speaker 4>if there were any other external influences outside of like
<v Speaker 4>the source material, because like you know, we've had movies
<v Speaker 4>like Kingsman, which is like another twist on like the
<v Speaker 4>Bond formula. I'm curious if they shared any other stuff
<v Speaker 4>that they're kind of incorporating into the game.
<v Speaker 5>Oh man, I don't think they did.
<v Speaker 3>I did you know?
<v Speaker 5>I asked like, hey, like you know, Hitman is obviously
<v Speaker 5>like a big, big franchise for you guys, but like
<v Speaker 5>you also have like Canaan Lynch and you have like
<v Speaker 5>mini Ninjas and stuff like, did you pull inspiration from
<v Speaker 5>any of those games for your like your your action
<v Speaker 5>sequences or your driving or anything. And basically it was
<v Speaker 5>like not really like it was basically like Hitman and
<v Speaker 5>then like trying to figure out, how do we make
<v Speaker 5>our gun play better, how do we do driving because like,
<v Speaker 5>basically the way they told me that they approached the
<v Speaker 5>driving was they brought in outside talent, and same thing
<v Speaker 5>for the gun play. They brought in outside talent for
<v Speaker 5>that as well. But then they're like people who have
<v Speaker 5>worked on games with great shooting and people who have
<v Speaker 5>worked on games with great driving mechanics. And but they
<v Speaker 5>also have a history because like they have a lot
<v Speaker 5>of internal like h you know, prototyping and concepting, and
<v Speaker 5>he's like, you know, a lot of the games that
<v Speaker 5>we we concept in prototype do see the light of day, but.
<v Speaker 3>Some of them don't.
<v Speaker 5>Also, like we've never announced like a lot of the
<v Speaker 5>games that we've prototyped and we canceled them before they
<v Speaker 5>really got into production. And some of those games had
<v Speaker 5>driving mechanics. So it's like we haven't released a game
<v Speaker 5>or like fully developed a game that had driving mechanics,
<v Speaker 5>but we've we've messed around with it in the past.
<v Speaker 5>Is basically what they told me. So you know, there's
<v Speaker 5>a lot of uh kind of internal influence and then
<v Speaker 5>bringing in people who have experienced at those other areas
<v Speaker 5>as well.
<v Speaker 1>What was that was it?
<v Speaker 2>Did you see a live demo? When you yes, did
<v Speaker 2>it see? How did it seem to run? Because I
<v Speaker 2>know one of the bigger things out of the state
<v Speaker 2>of play was like, wow, they'd showed a good bit
<v Speaker 2>of footage with like some choppiness, and it's like the
<v Speaker 2>state of play where you could have chosen otherwise. So
<v Speaker 2>I'm curious, like you've presumably seen a more updated build,
<v Speaker 2>how it looked on screen?
<v Speaker 5>You know, I think it ran fine, Like I mean,
<v Speaker 5>I'm sure there were still some hiccups. Like my memories
<v Speaker 5>a little bit bluryuse it's been a full month since
<v Speaker 5>I was at Copenhagen or in Copenhagen at the studio,
<v Speaker 5>but I remember it running pretty well. But like, I'm
<v Speaker 5>sure there were a few hiccups here and there, but
<v Speaker 5>that's to be expected of any any indevelopment game. And
<v Speaker 5>you know, we just saw them delay at a couple
<v Speaker 5>of months from March until May. And one of the
<v Speaker 5>last things that a lot of development studios do is
<v Speaker 5>you know, fix bugs and optimize. So I'm assuming that
<v Speaker 5>it will only get better from here, and you know,
<v Speaker 5>get less buggy and presumably that's the reason that they
<v Speaker 5>delayed it, right, Like they didn't explicitly say that, because
<v Speaker 5>the news of the delay came out after I was
<v Speaker 5>in the studio, but like you've got to presume any
<v Speaker 5>time a game a couple months out is delayed, it's
<v Speaker 5>just to allow for extra polish and optimization.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, did you get a sense for the weapon where
<v Speaker 1>because it sounds like they're they're trying to hit all
<v Speaker 1>the like classic Bond weapons. Was there any like just
<v Speaker 1>new stuff, like any new weapons that we just have
<v Speaker 1>never seen in any Bond media.
<v Speaker 5>I don't think I got to see anything that was new.
<v Speaker 5>It was pretty standard because like the mission that I
<v Speaker 5>saw is the mission that's out there. I just saw
<v Speaker 5>like a different route through it basically, and like a
<v Speaker 5>little bit of an extended version. On the front end,
<v Speaker 5>it seems like it's pretty like in that first stage,
<v Speaker 5>it seems pretty standard, like you know, shotguns, automatic rifles, pistols.
<v Speaker 5>I mean, Bond has a pistol. I don't know if
<v Speaker 5>it's like a PP seven or whatever, but like you know,
<v Speaker 5>like it seems like it's it's fairly straightforward reponry at
<v Speaker 5>this point. But I'm assuming the gadgets. I mean, you know,
<v Speaker 5>have you have like smoke bombs, you have lasers. Let
<v Speaker 5>me let me see if I can.
<v Speaker 4>As long as there's a laser, I'm fine.
<v Speaker 3>Okay, So let me let me look at my notes here.
<v Speaker 1>Can you play the slappers only?
<v Speaker 5>So there's the smoke pods that let him slip away
<v Speaker 5>from detection. There's a laser that can like unlock doors
<v Speaker 5>and blind enemies. His phone can shoot darts at enemies,
<v Speaker 5>like from like if you're like in stealth, you can
<v Speaker 5>like shoot a dart.
<v Speaker 3>At an enemy from your phone.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, and it makes them sick, so like they get
<v Speaker 5>nauseous and they have to like go throw up. And
<v Speaker 5>then his watch can tack devices like he can like
<v Speaker 5>create diversions or shut down like security cameras and stuff
<v Speaker 5>like that. That's only what I've seen so far, So
<v Speaker 5>I'm sure there's more than that, right, This is it's
<v Speaker 5>all about like figuring out like which ones you want
<v Speaker 5>to bring in. So like if you want to bring
<v Speaker 5>in like the darts, then you you're you're planning to
<v Speaker 5>go in with a certain type of approach. If you're
<v Speaker 5>wanting to go with smoke pods, maybe you're like thinking,
<v Speaker 5>like you, you have a higher chance of being spotted,
<v Speaker 5>you might need to slip away, So like you, it's
<v Speaker 5>all gonna be tailored down to like how you want
<v Speaker 5>to approach each level.
<v Speaker 1>I think cool, right, And for no that don't know this,
<v Speaker 1>this game is set like in modern day. This isn't
<v Speaker 1>like you know, in the sixties or anything like that. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>so I assume his his like blow Dart phone is
<v Speaker 1>like an iPhone or something right now.
<v Speaker 5>It has a full rotary phone that he carries with
<v Speaker 5>an that shoots starts. People ask about it, but he's like,
<v Speaker 5>I don't worry about it.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, awesome. Anything else you want to share about Double
<v Speaker 1>oh seven First Light.
<v Speaker 3>No, I think I'm just like overall impressed by how
<v Speaker 3>it's looking so far.
<v Speaker 5>Like anytime a major studio picks up a license, like
<v Speaker 5>there's always a little bit of hesitance from from my end,
<v Speaker 5>you know, Like I was burned extremely bad by the
<v Speaker 5>Crystal Dynamics Avengers game as Avengers being like, you know,
<v Speaker 5>one of my favorite overall properties or Marvel in general,
<v Speaker 5>I guess just being one of my favorite overall properties,
<v Speaker 5>and like, you know, feeling kind of burned by that
<v Speaker 5>and of several several several other examples of like you know,
<v Speaker 5>major licenses or ip being picked up by like a
<v Speaker 5>well respected studio.
<v Speaker 3>I think that this.
<v Speaker 5>One is buoyed a little bit, and at least my
<v Speaker 5>optimism is outside of what I saw by the fact
<v Speaker 5>that this is not some like major publisher dictating or
<v Speaker 5>mandating to the studio that they have to make this
<v Speaker 5>game the way like it maybe it was the way
<v Speaker 5>that like it was with uh, Marvels Avengers, where like
<v Speaker 5>Square Enix was like telling Crystal Dynamics, you've got to
<v Speaker 5>make this a live service game, and like we've got
<v Speaker 5>to make this just a game that people were supposed
<v Speaker 5>to play forever. This is you know, developed by io Interactive,
<v Speaker 5>it's published by io Interactive. The only like major corporation
<v Speaker 5>that seems to be involved is probably Amazon because they
<v Speaker 5>are the rights owners and the owner of MGM. But
<v Speaker 5>it doesn't seem like from my I tried to get
<v Speaker 5>into like how is like the collaboration and like communication
<v Speaker 5>process like and they're like, yeah, it's been the same
<v Speaker 5>as it was when MGM was kind of like an
<v Speaker 5>independent entity and Eon Productions was like, you know, not
<v Speaker 5>under the Amazon Umbrella, and it's like they've they've kind
<v Speaker 5>of allowed them to do what they want to do.
<v Speaker 5>So it doesn't seem like this is going to have
<v Speaker 5>any kind of like noticeable corporate meddling the way that
<v Speaker 5>other major licensed games from respected studios have been. So
<v Speaker 5>I think that that, combined with all the stuff that
<v Speaker 5>I've seen, has me tremely optimistic and excited for this game.
<v Speaker 4>Oh yeah, I hope this is the case of like
<v Speaker 4>another Indiana Jones, where like Indiana Jones is a massive
<v Speaker 4>hit versus any of the other previous stinkers you mentioned, Brad.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, And I mean this is a studio that I
<v Speaker 5>think it's safe to say they are firing on all cylinders.
<v Speaker 5>You know, they had this weird transitional period shortly after
<v Speaker 5>they released the first hit Man game under the World
<v Speaker 5>of Assassination trilogy back in twenty sixteen where Square Knix
<v Speaker 5>just basically was like, this did not meet our expectations.
<v Speaker 5>We are going to withdraw all funding from Io Interactive
<v Speaker 5>and put them up for sale, and then Io bought
<v Speaker 5>their own independence, and then you know, they released hit
<v Speaker 5>Man two and hit Man three, and it's like, Yeah,
<v Speaker 5>this is a studio that has really hit its stride
<v Speaker 5>with its last like two or three games, and I
<v Speaker 5>don't have any reason to believe that like they're going
<v Speaker 5>to stop that momentum with this game.
<v Speaker 1>Awesome. Well, Yes, our digital issue of Double seven First
<v Speaker 1>Light magazine is available now to read, and it should
<v Speaker 1>be going out to subscribers physical issues to mailboxes and
<v Speaker 1>stores within the next few weeks, so keep an eye
<v Speaker 1>out for that.
<v Speaker 5>Yes, and also you can go to Gaminformer dot com
<v Speaker 5>slash Double O seven First Light that will if you're
<v Speaker 5>a subscriber, and you'll be able to access the full
<v Speaker 5>issue there if you want to read digitally, and there
<v Speaker 5>will also be some online extras, both written and video
<v Speaker 5>that we are going to be putting in that hub
<v Speaker 5>if you want to keep up with like more in
<v Speaker 5>depth stuff. I should have a thing up by the
<v Speaker 5>time this episode comes out, just talking more about how
<v Speaker 5>Io Interactive settled on like what their version of Young
<v Speaker 5>James Bond is going to be like. So if you
<v Speaker 5>want to hear more directly from the developers, you can
<v Speaker 5>go on game Informer dot com slash Double oh seven
<v Speaker 5>First Light to read that article right now.
<v Speaker 1>Awesome, Well, we're going to take a quick break and
<v Speaker 1>when we come back, we're going to talk about our
<v Speaker 1>hands on time with Resident Evil Requiem and then discuss
<v Speaker 1>our review of Code Vein two. We'll be right back. Hey,
<v Speaker 1>welcome back to the Game Informer show, and we are
<v Speaker 1>going to be taking a detour to the mean streets
<v Speaker 1>of Raccoon City or what's left of it, because Wesley
<v Speaker 1>and Jan, you both had a chance to go play
<v Speaker 1>what was it like a two three hours of Resident
<v Speaker 1>Evil Requiem at a recent event? Jan, how was that?
<v Speaker 1>How you feeling about this? Are you a big RI fan?
<v Speaker 1>And what are you What is your first impressions of
<v Speaker 1>this game so far?
<v Speaker 4>So I went into this demo being very scared because
<v Speaker 4>the last time I went to an Ari Requiem preview event,
<v Speaker 4>I played very poorly. I was scared the whole time.
<v Speaker 4>So it was very worried that I'd be wouldn't be
<v Speaker 4>that great the performance? Anxiety sorry kicking in, But thankfully
<v Speaker 4>this session went very well, Very very excited for the game.
<v Speaker 4>I'm excited to hear Wes's thoughts, but I think they're
<v Speaker 4>gonna pull it off in meshing and mashing together these
<v Speaker 4>two different styles of Resident Evil where you have the
<v Speaker 4>more action packed side with Leon, and then you have
<v Speaker 4>more of the plodding, tense gameplay that you have come
<v Speaker 4>to expect from seven in Village with Grace's side. Also, Wes,
<v Speaker 4>I'm curious did this game? Did it seem like they
<v Speaker 4>amped up the blood in this Yes?
<v Speaker 2>When you play, Yeah, there's yeah, there is. I even
<v Speaker 2>wrote in my previous specifically. So it starts off with
<v Speaker 2>Leon and a bunch of zombies and there's a chainsaw,
<v Speaker 2>and that chainsaw does so much damage, like the walls,
<v Speaker 2>the plants, the office chairs, like I was painting it
<v Speaker 2>red for lack of better cliche, but like, yes, there's
<v Speaker 2>so much blood and gore. There's also a way to explode.
<v Speaker 2>They're not the scarlet heads or whatever they're called in
<v Speaker 2>this game.
<v Speaker 1>They're different, but crimson heads.
<v Speaker 2>Crimson heads. Yeah, in this game, there's a similar mechanic
<v Speaker 2>where zombies can come back as a more terrifying, dangerous form. Okay,
<v Speaker 2>but you can pop their heads with like a vaccine
<v Speaker 2>that stops that transformation from happening. And it is so
<v Speaker 2>bloody when you explode the heads. So yes, so much blood.
<v Speaker 4>Jan Okay, yeah, and I think you can use those
<v Speaker 4>like injector things as like a stealth kill two and
<v Speaker 4>I thought that the zombies would kind of just like
<v Speaker 4>slump over, but no, they explode like a water balloon.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, so much blood. Where did they tell you
<v Speaker 1>or get a sense of like where in the game
<v Speaker 1>the sections you played took place because you played as
<v Speaker 1>both Leon and Grace and like separate demos.
<v Speaker 2>Right, yeah, well, I don't it takes place early in
<v Speaker 2>the game. It's not the beginning. I did ask about that,
<v Speaker 2>and I don't even think it's separate demos. You start
<v Speaker 2>as Leon, who is in this care facility, and we
<v Speaker 2>can't we can't go too much into like the embargo
<v Speaker 2>is kind of weird with spoilers and like step by step,
<v Speaker 2>but basically Leon in this facility. Something's wrong and he's
<v Speaker 2>trying to get help. All hell breaks loose. Leon has
<v Speaker 2>to do what he does, which is kill a bunch
<v Speaker 2>of zombies. He then runs into Grace in the care
<v Speaker 2>facility and then some stuff happens and you switch perspectives
<v Speaker 2>at that point. So then you play as Grace again
<v Speaker 2>for a much longer like to almost two hours. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>and then at the end of her section you switch
<v Speaker 2>back to Leon and see what he's doing during this,
<v Speaker 2>So I think it was like an A to B
<v Speaker 2>two C type of story we were following. But yeah,
<v Speaker 2>somewhere in the beginning, it's not the opening, which it
<v Speaker 2>didn't give me opening vibes, Like, it's very clear we
<v Speaker 2>were kind of thrown into some very interesting story stuff happening.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, the vibe where Leon is introduced, it feels like
<v Speaker 4>when how he's going to be first introduced into the game.
<v Speaker 4>So I'm assuming it's still close to the beginning of
<v Speaker 4>the story, just the way that the Leon reveal is treated.
<v Speaker 4>When the demo started, it's like, ah, here he is, guys,
<v Speaker 4>we know that, you know he's here, and he does
<v Speaker 4>roll in on his Porsche and then he does check
<v Speaker 4>his Hamilton watch.
<v Speaker 2>It was like it's like the Arkham Asylum beginning where
<v Speaker 2>it's showing a bunch of stuff and you know it's Leon,
<v Speaker 2>like you know it's Batman, but it's like, here's this
<v Speaker 2>cool car driving by. Oh, someone's boots are stepping out
<v Speaker 2>of this car.
<v Speaker 1>Pan up.
<v Speaker 2>Wow, this person's really cool and suave. And then boom,
<v Speaker 2>it's a you know, very it's a it's a more mature,
<v Speaker 2>older uh Leon with a sporting a Hamilton watch, which
<v Speaker 2>the promo placement. I didn't watch the State of Play
<v Speaker 2>because I was busy with work stuff or the showcase,
<v Speaker 2>and I saw in our slack Charles and Kyle were
<v Speaker 2>talking about exclusive limited edition watches, and I was like,
<v Speaker 2>was it a Hamilton because in this preview there is
<v Speaker 2>such a blatant like he's like, what's the time, Oh,
<v Speaker 2>let me check my Hamilton Chronograph edition Blue Sea watch
<v Speaker 2>to see and it's like, yeah, but it's Leon. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>it's it does feel like his like introduction in the game. Curiously,
<v Speaker 2>this was like a very put together facility and like
<v Speaker 2>what we know of Requiem is it's Raccoon City twenty
<v Speaker 2>twenty five years after Ari two, which got nuked. I
<v Speaker 2>don't I'm I don't know where this is, Like, I
<v Speaker 2>don't know if this facility is in Raccoon City or
<v Speaker 2>maybe we start here and then go into Raccoon City
<v Speaker 2>because it didn't seem to be in the remnants of
<v Speaker 2>a nuked city.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, I didn't get the vibe of geographically where this
<v Speaker 4>was supposed to be if this was like on the
<v Speaker 4>outskirts of Raccoon City within it, And also no that
<v Speaker 4>maybe two spoilers actually, but it's interesting I think for
<v Speaker 4>folks that are out there that are a little bit
<v Speaker 4>disappointed that we're going back to the Ari four formula.
<v Speaker 4>And like the third person gameplay with Leon, you can
<v Speaker 4>change the perspective for both characters. So if you want
<v Speaker 4>to play Leon in first person, you can. If you
<v Speaker 4>want to play Graces third person, that is also an option.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, first person sounds weird the only as like third
<v Speaker 1>person over the shoulder, and I associated like the recent
<v Speaker 1>number games with first person that you'll be weird to
<v Speaker 1>play those games. Switch like I'm gonna be Grace third
<v Speaker 1>person and Leon first person.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, they so, like Jan mentioned Leon's third person Grace's
<v Speaker 2>first person. I asked the devs because I interviewed the
<v Speaker 2>director Koshi Nakanishi after, and I asked, like, is that
<v Speaker 2>on purpose or like are we because you can switch
<v Speaker 2>back and forth, but are they intending for people to
<v Speaker 2>do first person with Grace and third for Leon? And
<v Speaker 2>they said no, they said there really is no preference.
<v Speaker 2>And in fact, when you start the game, before you
<v Speaker 2>even go hands on with a character, it tells you
<v Speaker 2>like do you want to be first or third? For Leon?
<v Speaker 2>First and third for Grace. However, thematically, I do think
<v Speaker 2>Grace as first person feels better and makes more sense
<v Speaker 2>because her sections are way more tense and horror filled,
<v Speaker 2>and I think first person does a better job. But that,
<v Speaker 2>whereas Leon is roundhouse kicking and stabbing chainsaws into zombies,
<v Speaker 2>I didn't get to do a roundhouse kick in first person.
<v Speaker 2>But how that would look like is it just the
<v Speaker 2>screen spins real quick?
<v Speaker 1>That'd be so sick, it's like swinging across the screen. Yeah.
<v Speaker 4>I think I switched in the first person for a
<v Speaker 4>little bit, and I think it'll still pull out to
<v Speaker 4>third person when he does the roundhouse or any of
<v Speaker 4>those like contact sensitive stuff. Otherwise I think I'd be
<v Speaker 4>throwing up the whole time.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, yeah, so.
<v Speaker 5>You feel like they could just like throw the leg
<v Speaker 5>up and be like, okay, you understand what that is,
<v Speaker 5>rather than having like the camera do.
<v Speaker 1>A full three sixty him doing a super kick a
<v Speaker 1>spartan kick.
<v Speaker 4>I'd be okay with that.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's if you haven't picked up on
<v Speaker 2>my tone yet, Like, I'm very, very thrilled with what
<v Speaker 2>I played so far. It was one of those previews
<v Speaker 2>where it was three hours long. Which I typically hate
<v Speaker 2>because it's usually long enough for my brain to be like,
<v Speaker 2>you're playing this whole thing, enjoy and then I get
<v Speaker 2>to like the ending and I'm like, ah, dang it, no,
<v Speaker 2>and now to wait a month or however long until
<v Speaker 2>codes come in. You know, we're a month away from
<v Speaker 2>release now, and yeah, it's just doing all the right things.
<v Speaker 2>That said, I do think as any Resident Evil fan knows,
<v Speaker 2>and I ended my preview with this, like, I'm really
<v Speaker 2>enjoying the narrative things they're doing and setting up. There's
<v Speaker 2>some weird stuff going on. It's a very strange game
<v Speaker 2>so far, which I love. But Resident Evil, what is
<v Speaker 2>awesome and fun and strange and interesting in the first
<v Speaker 2>half can often become too far out there, off the walls,
<v Speaker 2>unenjoyable in the second half.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I feel like, yeah, the first half.
<v Speaker 2>Of Resident Evil games pretty much are always better than
<v Speaker 2>the second half in my opinion. And so like I'm struggling,
<v Speaker 2>I'm not struggling, I'm just nervous where this might go.
<v Speaker 2>I hope it doesn't go this way because right now
<v Speaker 2>it feels like the best of four two and the
<v Speaker 2>Ethan Winters games put together into one package. Which is
<v Speaker 2>like a dream come true. But what does that mean
<v Speaker 2>for the second half? This could easily who knows where
<v Speaker 2>it goes.
<v Speaker 4>I'm also curious about how they're going to handle the pacing,
<v Speaker 4>because at least in the preview that we checked out,
<v Speaker 4>I felt like I had kind of reached my stamina
<v Speaker 4>in terms of creepiness that I can and take on
<v Speaker 4>as someone that doesn't like scary games, and then it
<v Speaker 4>felt like the perfect switch when they pivoted over to Leon.
<v Speaker 4>I'm curious as to how they're going to juggle both
<v Speaker 4>of those because they are two very different playing characters, like,
<v Speaker 4>for instance, Leon's whole inventory system and his health meter
<v Speaker 4>at least is very much that Ari four Petra style
<v Speaker 4>type of inventory, while Grace is the Ethan Winter style
<v Speaker 4>like little pips that.
<v Speaker 2>You get, yeah, and Leon just in general controls he
<v Speaker 2>feels like somebody who's made to kill a bunch of zombies,
<v Speaker 2>whereas Grace feels like she's just trying to survive and
<v Speaker 2>stumbling through this house. And I agree with your point
<v Speaker 2>about the ten and like it was about two is
<v Speaker 2>showers an hour and forty five of Grace and it
<v Speaker 2>is like very tense, methodically going to this station, finding
<v Speaker 2>random crystals and solving puzzles, and like, right when you're
<v Speaker 2>like at your limit, they switch to Leon. There's a
<v Speaker 2>big monster thing. They give you a shotgun and some stuff,
<v Speaker 2>and they're like, just blow this dude's head off and
<v Speaker 2>it feels really good and you can stop being scared
<v Speaker 2>and you can unrelease the controller a little bit. That
<v Speaker 2>is it. They they did a really good job nailing
<v Speaker 2>that balance in this three hour preview. But again, yeah,
<v Speaker 2>if this is a fifteen to twenty hour game, however
<v Speaker 2>long it ends up being, that will be like the
<v Speaker 2>deciding factor I think on how great thish mashup of
<v Speaker 2>gameplay is.
<v Speaker 1>Is that balance I assumed Leon is. Could you tell
<v Speaker 1>or did you know if he's voiced by the same
<v Speaker 1>performer that played him in like the remake or.
<v Speaker 4>I want to say it sounded like the same voice
<v Speaker 4>actor as the remake.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, okay, did he drop any sick, corny one liners?
<v Speaker 2>Oh yeah, yeah, that's like exclusive what he does in.
<v Speaker 4>This Yeah, where where Grace is kind of like awe,
<v Speaker 4>struck of like I can't believe this is happening to me.
<v Speaker 4>Leon just seems to be like a quip machine.
<v Speaker 1>Yes.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. Also in terms of Leon, they open his gameplay
<v Speaker 2>that we played with a zombie that has a chainsaw,
<v Speaker 2>and then you kill that zombie, the chainsaw falls. This
<v Speaker 2>was so sick. It starts spinning violently because it's still going.
<v Speaker 2>A zombie like walks by, it loses a leg, which
<v Speaker 2>just paints that area of blood blood red. They drop
<v Speaker 2>to the ground. I shoot them, and then you get
<v Speaker 2>to pick up the chainsaw. Finally, finally you get to
<v Speaker 2>just destroy and devistrate zombies.
<v Speaker 1>I hope narratively it's like change or Leon's first time
<v Speaker 1>using a chainsaw, Like he's so used to being chased
<v Speaker 1>by them that when he has like the same moment
<v Speaker 1>of like, oh I finally get to use one of
<v Speaker 1>these things. Is yeah, I thought these.
<v Speaker 2>He seems pretty pro with it. And even when it's
<v Speaker 2>like out of it's you have like a little gauge
<v Speaker 2>of how much you have left. He jams it into
<v Speaker 2>a zombie and it like continues ripping through them as
<v Speaker 2>he like pushes them away with the kick and stuff.
<v Speaker 2>It's very it's very.
<v Speaker 5>Leon should the first time you cut into a zombie
<v Speaker 5>should be like, oh so that's what that feels like.
<v Speaker 4>I'm glad you mentioned it West, because the same thing
<v Speaker 4>happened in mind, but a zombie picked up the chainsaw
<v Speaker 4>a different zombie picked up before I got to it,
<v Speaker 4>and when that zombie was trying to swing at Leon,
<v Speaker 4>she arked back too far that the chainsaw got stuck
<v Speaker 4>in another zombie. Wow, I'm so curious as to the
<v Speaker 4>different context sensitive situations and hilarity that's going to pop up,
<v Speaker 4>asking about like the go ahead.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I was gonna say.
<v Speaker 2>I asked them about the physics of the chainsaw and
<v Speaker 2>other situations like that, and they said it was really
<v Speaker 2>cool that I picked up on that and that they
<v Speaker 2>look forward to me playing the rest of the game.
<v Speaker 2>So I'm assuming there's more context specific physics interactions that
<v Speaker 2>I look forward. It was a very cheeky, like smile
<v Speaker 2>wink type of answer, so we'll see. Yeah, go ahead.
<v Speaker 4>Oh, I was marcus to to build off of the
<v Speaker 4>quippiness I think in the I think we saw it
<v Speaker 4>in the showcase. But Leon, when he sees a zombie
<v Speaker 4>fie doctor, he drops the line of like I'm going
<v Speaker 4>to need a second opinion. Yeah I can't. I can't
<v Speaker 4>stand you, but let's go.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, that's my that's that's my Leon what I like
<v Speaker 1>to Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>It's still the whole thing feels so Resident Evil still
<v Speaker 2>like it's the twenty is the twenty fifth anniversary or
<v Speaker 2>the thirtieth this year?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, so it feels it feels like the greatest hits,
<v Speaker 2>like getting the Band, Like it's this is a lot
<v Speaker 2>of different are you games put into one that you
<v Speaker 2>know and love? The humor is definitely absolutely still there.
<v Speaker 2>I think when the zombie outbreak happens, Leon's with like, uh,
<v Speaker 2>doctor and she sees one stumbling that's very clearly a zombie,
<v Speaker 2>and she's like talking to him like, hey, what's wrong,
<v Speaker 2>what's going on? Like what's and it's like, lady, this
<v Speaker 2>is a zombie, Like let Leon shoot this dude's head
<v Speaker 2>off please.
<v Speaker 1>It feels like because I would say Village felt like that,
<v Speaker 1>like Village felt like the celebration of all the styles
<v Speaker 1>of Resident Evil in one game, whereas this one almost
<v Speaker 1>feels like and forgive me, but I've been on an
<v Speaker 1>outcast kick lately. It feels like the speaker box leve
<v Speaker 1>below of actually Evil.
<v Speaker 3>Wow, that's.
<v Speaker 4>That's brilliant. Yeah that's what this feels like. Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, like it's even going to like the characters having
<v Speaker 1>different inventory styles that are evocative two very different resident
<v Speaker 1>evil like eras. I guess, but it was just like,
<v Speaker 1>oh yeah, this is just like a just a double
<v Speaker 1>album of just like here both styles of game or
<v Speaker 1>present yeah in one box, which is exciting. And I'm
<v Speaker 1>I'm still a little like a little worry just in
<v Speaker 1>terms of like cohesion or like total cohesion as someone
<v Speaker 1>that does love or like I love ARI four, like
<v Speaker 1>already four is the best one probably for me, but
<v Speaker 1>I also I adore seven, like I adore the kind
<v Speaker 1>of like Ethan games and how oppressive they feel, like
<v Speaker 1>the dollhouse and village. I love this terrifying as terrifying
<v Speaker 1>as it was, so I hope they find like a
<v Speaker 1>nice balance between the kind of ARI four like action
<v Speaker 1>and the just the like helplessness of like the Grace stuff.
<v Speaker 1>I guess. My last question this is just for me.
<v Speaker 1>Did you get any any Alyssa Ashcroft stuff in this
<v Speaker 1>demo that you're allowed to talk about?
<v Speaker 4>Uh No, it's pretty contained to just Grace and Leon
<v Speaker 4>in terms of like people that you're hearing talk and
<v Speaker 4>just playing as Yeah damn.
<v Speaker 2>It, Yeah we did. We did see the Matt Eye
<v Speaker 2>moody guy, no real context for what's going on with him,
<v Speaker 2>but like he was there and he was cool as
<v Speaker 2>a I have no idea what his place in the
<v Speaker 2>story is good or bad, but like he was a
<v Speaker 2>fun scenes deealer.
<v Speaker 3>He was.
<v Speaker 2>He's designed and he's the.
<v Speaker 1>Dude in a trailer that's like sitting in front of
<v Speaker 1>his back turn to the TV or whatever.
<v Speaker 2>I think. So, yeah, he's got the Littles look and
<v Speaker 2>head piece.
<v Speaker 4>Right, he's chewing up the scenery a lot. Yeah, the
<v Speaker 4>scenes that he's in.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I asked about Alyssa, like, Jan, I don't know
<v Speaker 1>if you're aware, but I recently streamed the entirety of
<v Speaker 1>Residuval Outbreak alongside Oh Charles Hart, because that's the game
<v Speaker 1>that Alyssa is introduced in. So we went into that
<v Speaker 1>being like, oh, man, they're bringing her back for this game.
<v Speaker 1>She must suddenly must be an important character. We should
<v Speaker 1>play this game so that we'll know all about her
<v Speaker 1>and it will like be like a good setup for Requiem,
<v Speaker 1>and then three months later realizing that we know maybe
<v Speaker 1>less about her because the game is not very much
<v Speaker 1>a character development. She's just kind of there it's like
<v Speaker 1>a multiplayer game, so she's just like spouting things like
<v Speaker 1>give me that and I need this to your partners
<v Speaker 1>for items, and then occasionally get a cut scene where
<v Speaker 1>she's just like writing for her paper, being like, man,
<v Speaker 1>it's pretty messed up what's happening here in Racoon City?
<v Speaker 1>And Charles and I were like, I don't know if
<v Speaker 1>we probably thought we were gonna get from this character.
<v Speaker 1>I guess it's interesting that they went through the trouble
<v Speaker 1>of not only bringing her back, we're giving her a
<v Speaker 1>daughter and making her the star. Okay, well, I still
<v Speaker 1>I'm still looking forward to, like Charles and I being
<v Speaker 1>the only people that will like have a legitimate like
<v Speaker 1>mark out when she appears on screen, like we know
<v Speaker 1>who that is.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, it has it has to matter, right, Like
<v Speaker 2>why are the pool They could have made this any
<v Speaker 2>character they wanted him, they specifically made it Grace Ashcroft.
<v Speaker 2>So I'm sure it will have some payoff. Will it
<v Speaker 2>have been worth playing through outbreak?
<v Speaker 4>Probably not?
<v Speaker 1>But you know, yeah, a very frustrating PS two formerly
<v Speaker 1>online only or not only only, but like online focus
<v Speaker 1>the multiplayer game.
<v Speaker 4>Maybe Grace will have a skin that is just her
<v Speaker 4>Mom from Outbreak, so y'all will have familiar knowledge with
<v Speaker 4>that and can point to.
<v Speaker 2>That the context.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, we're really we're really hoping some of the
<v Speaker 1>other Outbreak playable characters show up. Like there's like a
<v Speaker 1>whole thing where like Alyssa's like, oh yeah, your godfather
<v Speaker 1>or your godmother is Yoko, who was the character that
<v Speaker 1>had the most inventory slots and the fault made her
<v Speaker 1>the best. Like we just want little things like they're like, oh, Yoka,
<v Speaker 1>she's back. Or Jim the really panicky guy that showed
<v Speaker 1>up for one scenario and just kept complaining about how
<v Speaker 1>awful his life is. Let's let's get some let's get
<v Speaker 1>some Outbreak up in this game please to justify the
<v Speaker 1>time he's been playing it. But awesome, Wes, you wrote
<v Speaker 1>your impressions up on the site as well as some
<v Speaker 1>some other sort of like interview breakouts that we encourage
<v Speaker 1>people to go to game before we're not to check
<v Speaker 1>out and yeah that game comes out god, Like you said,
<v Speaker 1>it's like what end of February forget the a month.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, oh I've slash my birthday.
<v Speaker 2>Oh gosh, that's gonna be a busy day because Brian's birthday.
<v Speaker 1>You don't have to play a party.
<v Speaker 4>We're also celebrating at a giant bomb. I don't know
<v Speaker 4>if you know, Brian, I have.
<v Speaker 2>One more thing about Requiem. So in my interview with
<v Speaker 2>Koshi Nakanishi, at the end of it, it was like
<v Speaker 2>a thirty minute interview, but they asked me to only
<v Speaker 2>prepare twenty five minutes of questions, which is not how
<v Speaker 2>interview's work anyway. But once I got to the end there,
<v Speaker 2>they were like, the director would actually like to share
<v Speaker 2>something with you, and I'm like, okay, what's about what's
<v Speaker 2>going on? And it was basically not a prepared statement,
<v Speaker 2>but he was basically saying, we here at the team
<v Speaker 2>are very aware of rumors that this might be an
<v Speaker 2>open world game, and we've seen speculation and blah blah blah.
<v Speaker 2>He's like, I just want to let you know this
<v Speaker 2>is not an open world game. Okay. They're like, you
<v Speaker 2>will be exploring Raccoon City and various locations or whatever
<v Speaker 2>in different ways, but it is not an open world game,
<v Speaker 2>which I just thought was interesting that you typically just
<v Speaker 2>don't see a dev address online speculation in that manner,
<v Speaker 2>But it seemed very important to them. To do so, so, yeah,
<v Speaker 2>if you were worried about open world are don't. It's
<v Speaker 2>not an open world game.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 5>And if you done if his what would you've done
<v Speaker 5>if his thing? Like he was like, hey, he he
<v Speaker 5>has something that's really important. He'd like to end this
<v Speaker 5>interview with like sharing this with you. And it was
<v Speaker 5>just him busting into teach me how to Dougy like
<v Speaker 5>just some sort of like crazy karaoke sov You're like, well,
<v Speaker 5>thank you so much for shaving off five minutes of
<v Speaker 5>my interview time With that, I'd be really.
<v Speaker 2>Stoked and really upset that I wasn't able to video
<v Speaker 2>record it, because that would be that would give the
<v Speaker 2>numbers that would that would make my day. That'd be
<v Speaker 2>like a career all time moment. If this director, the
<v Speaker 2>famously for horror games, is like, let me hit this Doug,
<v Speaker 2>you real quick.
<v Speaker 1>He's like, this might seem weird, but I guarantee you
<v Speaker 1>this will have plot significance. Just you know, yeah, pay
<v Speaker 1>attention to you played a game well awsome.
<v Speaker 5>Well, my biggest takeaway from this is that we need
<v Speaker 5>outcasts to come back.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah yeah, I listen.
<v Speaker 4>I think that every day. Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, unless Andre puts out another Flud album which I
<v Speaker 1>did listen to.
<v Speaker 2>The Flood albums aren't doing it for me. Nod respect, but.
<v Speaker 1>Not for me. Yeah. I appreciate your art, but I
<v Speaker 1>don't want it up. And you know what, speaking of
<v Speaker 1>art that we may or may not want, Wesley, you
<v Speaker 1>review Code Vein Too? Yeah, what a means set for
<v Speaker 1>this game? Yeah, but yes, you publish your review. You
<v Speaker 1>weren't all that hot on it. You gave it a
<v Speaker 1>five five point five, right, yeah, five point of ten.
<v Speaker 1>Explain yourself, why why don't you like this game? What's
<v Speaker 1>wrong with Codevein Too? Wesley?
<v Speaker 2>Like everything, everything is wrong with it? I don't It
<v Speaker 2>does maybe one or two things well, a lot of
<v Speaker 2>things not well, and then most of the game kind
<v Speaker 2>of just falls as like just mediocre. It is very
<v Speaker 2>I beat it last week and I have dropped. I've
<v Speaker 2>drained it from my brain already. I have no intentions
<v Speaker 2>to ever think about this game beyond this podcast. It
<v Speaker 2>is a souls like follow up to twenty nineteen's Code Vein,
<v Speaker 2>and if Code Vein was like a more open, dark
<v Speaker 2>souls like game, it is very clear to me that
<v Speaker 2>Code Vein two's team saw Elden Ring. It was like,
<v Speaker 2>we want to try something like that now, because this
<v Speaker 2>is very much a jump from Souls to Elder and
<v Speaker 2>Ring in terms of code. Vein two's progression unfortunately did
<v Speaker 2>not make such a saw, such a nice landing that
<v Speaker 2>elden Ring did with from software, it is a boring
<v Speaker 2>open overworld to explore. It is poorly put together and
<v Speaker 2>extremely difficult and annoying to navigate because of invisible walls
<v Speaker 2>and cliffs that are not shown on the map and
<v Speaker 2>pathways that you're traveling in the you're in the present
<v Speaker 2>trying to stop the end of the world by going
<v Speaker 2>one hundred years.
<v Speaker 1>In the past.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, yeah, you got to save some heroes and then
<v Speaker 2>see what happens in the president and see if you're
<v Speaker 2>like changing time in the right way. Annoyingly, a lot
<v Speaker 2>of the exploration happens in the present and in the
<v Speaker 2>past differently, so like you might think you can get
<v Speaker 2>here in the present by following this road, but that
<v Speaker 2>road's blocked off. When you get there, you learn that,
<v Speaker 2>and then it's you only can do that in the past.
<v Speaker 2>But the game isn't like you can't go here because
<v Speaker 2>you're in the present. You just have to one eventually realize, oh,
<v Speaker 2>I was never meant to go here in the present.
<v Speaker 2>I'm just supposed to go in the past, even though
<v Speaker 2>they made this entire world explorable, so like it's it's
<v Speaker 2>it sucks to get around and you're on a motorcycle
<v Speaker 2>for some reason, I have no idea why it's a
<v Speaker 2>cool motorcycle at least, and you walk around, and I
<v Speaker 2>just did not engage or enjoy the open world whatsoever,
<v Speaker 2>Like the enemy placement sucks, the overworld bosses suck, the
<v Speaker 2>pathing sucks, like everything about it was a bore. And
<v Speaker 2>on top of that, it is visually I would say,
<v Speaker 2>visually unpleasant, which I don't. I mean, it's even some
<v Speaker 2>of my least favorite games I have visuals that, like
<v Speaker 2>I can appreciate as art. This game is so distractingly
<v Speaker 2>garish and ugly that I just really didn't care for
<v Speaker 2>what I was seeing on screen. You have anime esque
<v Speaker 2>character design clashing with like kind of photorealistic environments, and
<v Speaker 2>then it's all like the color scheme, Like I just
<v Speaker 2>it was so strange to me. I was kind of
<v Speaker 2>bewildered with everything I was seeing on screen because there's
<v Speaker 2>just no harmony whatsoever.
<v Speaker 3>Is.
<v Speaker 2>It hurts my eye as I'm playing, and there's a
<v Speaker 2>character at the end. I don't even care. I'm not
<v Speaker 2>gonna spoil what he is. But like in this very
<v Speaker 2>souls like baroque esque world operatic adventure, this dude appears
<v Speaker 2>with a freaking cat mask, like an electronic draft punk
<v Speaker 2>draft punk style cat mask. His cape, yeah, his cape
<v Speaker 2>is led and flashing rainbow colors. I was just like, dude,
<v Speaker 2>what is going on?
<v Speaker 4>Why?
<v Speaker 1>Future?
<v Speaker 2>No, it's just no, not to my knowledge, and I
<v Speaker 2>put forty two hours in this game, but.
<v Speaker 4>It was just did he just leave rave or something?
<v Speaker 2>Maybe he does have a musical moment. I'll say, like
<v Speaker 2>you guys, do no not the Dougie.
<v Speaker 1>No that director for a game feature.
<v Speaker 2>That's a ten out of ten if if there was
<v Speaker 2>a doug An It's that simple. That's that's why I've
<v Speaker 2>been holding out on giving out my first ten No
<v Speaker 2>Dougies in games yet.
<v Speaker 1>By the way, do you guys remember just ants? Do
<v Speaker 1>you guys remember when wolf Blitzer did the Dougie had
<v Speaker 1>like a awards I will find this after.
<v Speaker 5>I remember Larry King trying to rap with Snoop Dogg.
<v Speaker 5>That was a highlight of of CNN.
<v Speaker 2>Sounds about right, yes, so yeah, that is I didn't
<v Speaker 2>enjoy looking at this game. The voice cast is not
<v Speaker 2>really selling the ambitious steaks the story is going for.
<v Speaker 2>The music's cool. I did like the music. It was
<v Speaker 2>like a rock infused baroque orchestral suite which was fun.
<v Speaker 2>A lot of repeat tracks though, so it doesn't necessarily
<v Speaker 2>hold up over forty two hours. The Me and Potatoes
<v Speaker 2>is obviously this souls like combat, and to the game's credit,
<v Speaker 2>it is doing some unique things and I do enjoy
<v Speaker 2>some of its systems. So similar to the first game,
<v Speaker 2>you have like it's now called your jail, which is
<v Speaker 2>the special third weapon you have that sucks blood or
<v Speaker 2>or from enemies wear.
<v Speaker 1>And it's not like your heart and your you have
<v Speaker 1>like your heart in your backpack. It's visually, it's it's interesting.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it's something, and that's and the the I core
<v Speaker 2>is how you use your abilities, which it's you know,
<v Speaker 2>it's kind of like your manna essentially and any other RPG.
<v Speaker 2>You have your primary weapon, your secondary weapon. You have
<v Speaker 2>a blood code, which I actually do like the blood
<v Speaker 2>code system. You can equip different ones you get throughout
<v Speaker 2>the world, and they drastically change your stats. So like
<v Speaker 2>if I had to take it out of this games,
<v Speaker 2>like in universe terms, you can equip a blood code
<v Speaker 2>that turns you into a warrior, or a blood code
<v Speaker 2>that turns you into a mage, or a blood code
<v Speaker 2>that turns you into like somebody who's really good with
<v Speaker 2>the hammer. Because when you level up, it's just you
<v Speaker 2>just hit up, like you just go from level one
<v Speaker 2>to two. You don't apply it to stats like you
<v Speaker 2>do in a typical Soul's game, because your blood code
<v Speaker 2>is what changes those stats, which I enjoy because it's like, oh,
<v Speaker 2>I have a new weapon arranged weapon, but i've and
<v Speaker 2>I'm not currently equipped to do range damage. You can
<v Speaker 2>just change your blood code and now you have a
<v Speaker 2>build that works with range. I think it's a really
<v Speaker 2>cool system and it allows for some flexibility I don't
<v Speaker 2>think you see often in these types of games. That said,
<v Speaker 2>for all the systems and ways you have to interact
<v Speaker 2>with killing enemies, man does it get boring and stale quick.
<v Speaker 2>The dungeons are very unimaginative and very boring. I mean
<v Speaker 2>we're talking like underground water plant, underground power plant, underground prison,
<v Speaker 2>underground church. Some of them are on laboratory, some of
<v Speaker 2>them are.
<v Speaker 1>Because when I played this game for a few hours
<v Speaker 1>for a preview, and it was in like an underground
<v Speaker 1>like water works place, and yeah it was bland, but
<v Speaker 1>also it was like really confusing and navigate where I
<v Speaker 1>kept getting turned around, and even with the because they
<v Speaker 1>give you like a little guiding line thing where they
<v Speaker 1>they'll show you like the path ahead, but also simultaneously
<v Speaker 1>show you the steps you've already taken, which which works.
<v Speaker 2>In practice in theory, it works in theory, in practice
<v Speaker 2>terrible because it shows you everything you've done for like, yeah, no,
<v Speaker 2>everything you've done for the past five minutes is on
<v Speaker 2>the ground. You can't really see where you've been. You
<v Speaker 2>just see you just painted the floor gold with like
<v Speaker 2>your previously traced steps. You can't.
<v Speaker 1>It's a wild network of lines. If you've been running
<v Speaker 1>around in the same areas over and over, you're just like,
<v Speaker 1>I don't know where to go.
<v Speaker 2>It looks ridiculous, and to your point, they are. The
<v Speaker 2>dungeons and the overworld are hard to navigate because everything
<v Speaker 2>is obscured until you find a tree that you hit,
<v Speaker 2>and then the tree unveils the map which is silly
<v Speaker 2>because if if I have to go seventy percent into
<v Speaker 2>a dungeon to find the map, that's seventy percent of
<v Speaker 2>this dungeon I'm struggling through and having a hard time
<v Speaker 2>navigating because I don't have the map, and when I get.
<v Speaker 1>It, yeah, well this is not holiday.
<v Speaker 2>And I just found that incredibly frustrating, especially in this genre,
<v Speaker 2>this souls like genre, were like, your dungeons above all else.
<v Speaker 2>Your dungeons need to be cream of the crop, like
<v Speaker 2>that's where you need to really hit the marks, and
<v Speaker 2>this game does not. There's a couple standout moments. The
<v Speaker 2>game is a bunch of like sub arcs that evolve
<v Speaker 2>into like one big arc, and there's one in particular
<v Speaker 2>that I actually enjoyed that had a lot of heart,
<v Speaker 2>but the rest of them fall flat due to characters
<v Speaker 2>I just didn't care about, or poor pacing. And it's
<v Speaker 2>one of those things where big things happen and the
<v Speaker 2>game is like giving the game time to be like, yeah,
<v Speaker 2>this is pretty cool, huh, and I'm like, no, I
<v Speaker 2>don't care. I'm not invested at all. Why are you
<v Speaker 2>doing this? Which is kind of disappointing. Yeah, it's a
<v Speaker 2>game where I can see a lot of ambition, like
<v Speaker 2>on a whiteboard. I just don't know if any of
<v Speaker 2>it panned out in the final thing, Like it's frustrating
<v Speaker 2>to play. It's frustrating, it's annoying, it's still it's boring.
<v Speaker 2>Rarely was I like this is fun. It was always
<v Speaker 2>something going on, whether it's you know, the PS five's
<v Speaker 2>performance not doing so well, which also apparently is not
<v Speaker 2>performing well on PC either, even with people with like
<v Speaker 2>super bfpcs. The cameras, the camera is atrocious in boss fights.
<v Speaker 1>Because I think the boss fights, at least when I
<v Speaker 1>played the preview, that was like one of the few
<v Speaker 1>things I thought was better because I didn't think the
<v Speaker 1>moment of moment kind of like grunt enemies were exciting.
<v Speaker 1>But I thought at least the two boss fights I played,
<v Speaker 1>it was like, oh, there's this is all right, Like
<v Speaker 1>this there's a lot more going on here, is more
<v Speaker 1>strategy involved, it's tough. Like I enjoyed those probably more
<v Speaker 1>than anything else of what I am.
<v Speaker 2>The bosses. Yeah, the bosses at the end of each arc,
<v Speaker 2>like the final bosses of each arc, I actually really
<v Speaker 2>liked and I thought they were well designed, but the
<v Speaker 2>other bosses like in between not so great, and I
<v Speaker 2>was actually reading I originally had this in my review
<v Speaker 2>funny enough, but it was kind of just wordy and
<v Speaker 2>I couldn't find a way to condense it. But in
<v Speaker 2>Igian's review by Michael Hyam, he reviewed the game and
<v Speaker 2>he talked about the bosses are able to hit you
<v Speaker 2>in moments where you can't do anything. So and I
<v Speaker 2>almost mentioned this because it was so frustrating and I'm
<v Speaker 2>glad I'm not alone. But so, when a boss knocks
<v Speaker 2>you over, your character has an animation of them getting up.
<v Speaker 2>You can't roll out of that, you can't move, you
<v Speaker 2>can't do anything until that animation is done. But the
<v Speaker 2>boss can hit you and damage you more while that's happening.
<v Speaker 2>I died so many times because my character was getting
<v Speaker 2>up and the boss hit me again.
<v Speaker 1>It was in fear.
<v Speaker 2>I almost reached out to pr to be like, this
<v Speaker 2>must be a bug, right, this is something. This is
<v Speaker 2>not okay in a Soul's game where I'm being knocked
<v Speaker 2>over a lot.
<v Speaker 1>It also plays in two because I think one thing
<v Speaker 1>you haven't mentioned yet with the combat is that you
<v Speaker 1>have like the was it the partner system where you
<v Speaker 1>have like, y, yeah, a little buddy that tags along
<v Speaker 1>with you, that lives inside of your weird jail backpack thing,
<v Speaker 1>and you can either summon them at will and they'll
<v Speaker 1>like fight alongside you as an AI companion, or you
<v Speaker 1>can absorb them and you get like stat buffs.
<v Speaker 2>And you can switch back and forth freely.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, like you can any time. But I also like,
<v Speaker 1>and I was wondering if there was if this changed
<v Speaker 1>in the main game, but I never found really an
<v Speaker 1>argument to not just have an AOG partner at all times,
<v Speaker 1>like even with the benefits of like, oh, if you
<v Speaker 1>go Sola, you'll get like extra attack points, and I
<v Speaker 1>was like, yeah, that's not nearly as good as just
<v Speaker 1>having someone that can draw agro or be a distraction
<v Speaker 1>and you know, just can do things and that. And
<v Speaker 1>then during boss fights though, like when you get knocked
<v Speaker 1>down or when you get like like you get killed,
<v Speaker 1>basically they can revive you.
<v Speaker 2>So it just kind of felt like that's that's even
<v Speaker 2>outside of bosses. Oh yes, you're yeah, you're right. The
<v Speaker 2>game kind of tees you up to be like, well,
<v Speaker 2>when you're fighting bosses, absorb them so you can have
<v Speaker 2>the stat buff and then when you're fighting a bunch
<v Speaker 2>of enemies, summon them so they can help Agro. But
<v Speaker 2>that's not how I would want to want to tackle
<v Speaker 2>a boss at all, if anything, especially when these bosses
<v Speaker 2>are not well designed, where I have no interest in
<v Speaker 2>trying to learn what they're putting down, like they just
<v Speaker 2>don't work like that. Yes, I'm gonna summon and just
<v Speaker 2>let them take Agro and then I'll just go swing
<v Speaker 2>at this dude's heels. The only time I ever absorbed
<v Speaker 2>them was when I was in the overworld just trying
<v Speaker 2>to get somewhere, because killing the mobs would be even
<v Speaker 2>easier if I was buffed up. But for the most part, yeah,
<v Speaker 2>I kept my summon out. And another you did mention
<v Speaker 2>the revived thing. I do think that's pretty cool and
<v Speaker 2>kind of a something that I think will help people
<v Speaker 2>that maybe struggle in this type of combat a bit more.
<v Speaker 2>Is when you die, your buddy will revive you with
<v Speaker 2>like half health, and if they die again, they have
<v Speaker 2>a longer cool down, but then they'll revive you again
<v Speaker 2>with even a little bit with a little bit less health,
<v Speaker 2>And you can do that over and over, which kind
<v Speaker 2>of keeps you in the fight and stops you from
<v Speaker 2>running through your estes flask equivalent. That said, though, I mean,
<v Speaker 2>these fights aren't really begging you to get that strategic
<v Speaker 2>or anything. Like. All the experimentation and mechanical fun I
<v Speaker 2>had and found was just me forcing myself to do it,
<v Speaker 2>to test out and flex the systems. The game in
<v Speaker 2>no way requires thought in terms of like combat, which
<v Speaker 2>is the biggest spummer of all in a game like this.
<v Speaker 4>That's unfortunate to hear, because I mean, the souls like
<v Speaker 4>genre is so densely populated at this point that even
<v Speaker 4>a new release can still get overtaken by like the
<v Speaker 4>huge library at this point of other souls like games.
<v Speaker 4>Like if anything, this is making me want to go
<v Speaker 4>back to play like a different one, like pick up
<v Speaker 4>the Lives of p DLC that I missed from last year.
<v Speaker 4>But also there's like with if this one doesn't hit,
<v Speaker 4>there's at least two to three more down the pipeline
<v Speaker 4>this year alone. Yeah yeah, oh yeah, Neo three is soon,
<v Speaker 4>Phantom Blade zero is soon as well.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah yeah, the dust Bud's got yeah, and el ring
<v Speaker 2>on switch tartarst edition apparently right, but yeah, you're you're
<v Speaker 2>right with this, yeah, with with this genre, and it's
<v Speaker 2>kind of similar to like metroidvany as, I feel, just
<v Speaker 2>because they're so saturated at this point. If you aren't
<v Speaker 2>coming out like really strong, like if you don't have
<v Speaker 2>something that's going to hit, you're kind of shooting yourself
<v Speaker 2>in the foot because we have so many others that
<v Speaker 2>we can play at any moment. I may not even
<v Speaker 2>put in my review. If I wasn't reviewing this, I
<v Speaker 2>would have put this game down a long time ago,
<v Speaker 2>Like if your soul is like, not only are you
<v Speaker 2>competing with a beloved developer in from Software who kind
<v Speaker 2>of helped create this genre, but like we're at the
<v Speaker 2>point now in that genre's lifespan where other devs are really, really,
<v Speaker 2>really really making some special stuff Like Lives of P.
<v Speaker 2>I think that game's fantastic, And if you're going to
<v Speaker 2>come out and put out a mediocre one of these,
<v Speaker 2>that's an even bigger miss in my opinion than just
<v Speaker 2>a regular release.
<v Speaker 5>I was about to say when when you mentioned Lies
<v Speaker 5>of P, you're speaking Wesley's language.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, on the Lives of P, Siko and overture of
<v Speaker 2>the expansion from two years ago last year, very good.
<v Speaker 2>I had it in my top ten. I think if
<v Speaker 2>I remember, yeah, go play Lies of p anybody that
<v Speaker 2>hasn't listening, don't don't pick up Code Vein to go
<v Speaker 2>play lives ape instead.
<v Speaker 4>It's especially a bummer because I'm looking at like reviews
<v Speaker 4>for the original Code Vein and those were fairly high
<v Speaker 4>in comparison to how Code Vein two is scoring. So yeah,
<v Speaker 4>I can't speak to that. I know a lot of
<v Speaker 4>Code Vein heads out there, but they're definitely going to
<v Speaker 4>be disappointed with the same one.
<v Speaker 2>I think it's a I think it's a situation where
<v Speaker 2>they got a little bit tantalized by stuff happening outside
<v Speaker 2>of Code Vein, like elden Ring and that type of exploration,
<v Speaker 2>and instead of maybe sticking to what people liked about
<v Speaker 2>Code Vein and really expanding on that, they just kind
<v Speaker 2>of went in a more wide direction, which can be
<v Speaker 2>can be a downfall.
<v Speaker 1>I feels weird. I feels like we are moving and like,
<v Speaker 1>you know, for the long time, we were sort of
<v Speaker 1>like in the post Dark Souls world of everyone's trying
<v Speaker 1>to do the Dark Souls template. But elden Ring's been
<v Speaker 1>out long enough where we're starting to see more of like, oh,
<v Speaker 1>the post elden Ring effect because like the three, they're
<v Speaker 1>doing a bigger like They're big thing is bigger world,
<v Speaker 1>more open ended, free form exploration, and like I'm sure
<v Speaker 1>that'll continue with like other Souls likes now, like, oh,
<v Speaker 1>let's just do it open like kind of like you've
<v Speaker 1>been saying more like open world games kind of take
<v Speaker 1>lessons from Breath of the Wild and Tear to the King.
<v Speaker 1>It seems like, yeah, when doing a Soul's likes and
<v Speaker 1>be like, maybe we could do some Elton Ring stuff too,
<v Speaker 1>so it'll be.
<v Speaker 2>Funny because it's like I didn't even I was nervous
<v Speaker 2>about from software doing that because like going open world
<v Speaker 2>with something is typically a turn off for me. But
<v Speaker 2>it's from software, so I trusted them and they nailed
<v Speaker 2>it like any other dev Like don't if you're making
<v Speaker 2>a Souls like, don't go with the elden Ring route.
<v Speaker 2>That's a really high bar to hit, Like, yeah, that's
<v Speaker 2>what I love so much about Liza p is it's
<v Speaker 2>like the traditional Dark Souls Bloodborne esque route where it's
<v Speaker 2>like you're gonna watch this. I prefer a world opening
<v Speaker 2>up through shortcuts and connections then I do just a
<v Speaker 2>big map that I can traverse wherever I want, and yeah,
<v Speaker 2>I want. I don't want this elden Ring lesson to
<v Speaker 2>apply to every Soul's like Movie Forward.
<v Speaker 1>Well, Wes.
<v Speaker 5>Crazy thing is I just looked at the Metacritic and
<v Speaker 5>Code Vein two has a higher metacritic than codeven and one.
<v Speaker 5>Oh really, seventy two is the Codevein two metacritic. Seventy
<v Speaker 5>is the Code Vein one metacritic.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, so that's about That's yeah. I saw some I
<v Speaker 2>saw some ten out of tens for Code Vein two,
<v Speaker 2>which I was reading just to be like, you know,
<v Speaker 2>to check out what other people are saying. And so
<v Speaker 2>there's people out there that enjoyed it, not me, But
<v Speaker 2>you know, I'm not gonna yuck their young shout out.
<v Speaker 2>I'm glad you liked it. I did not, And I
<v Speaker 2>am very excited to lete this off my hard drive
<v Speaker 2>once I have the go ahead of the more video persons,
<v Speaker 2>I don't need to capture anymore.
<v Speaker 1>West On as Stadium one any elden Ring likes. But
<v Speaker 1>hear me out, how would you like a Strand game
<v Speaker 1>that was a Soul's Like.
<v Speaker 2>You know, I'm a strand. Guy, I'm a big I'm
<v Speaker 2>a big fan of those strands, so I'll take you.
<v Speaker 1>Could build bridges while dodge rolling enemies. I'm just so.
<v Speaker 4>What if doing the Dougie gives you I frames like
<v Speaker 4>a dodge roll bood?
<v Speaker 2>Oh my god. We're really onto something here, We're really
<v Speaker 2>onto something here.
<v Speaker 1>Well, awesome, Thank you, Wes. You can read Wes's full
<v Speaker 1>Code Vein two review right now on gaminformer dot com.
<v Speaker 2>And if you watch the video on our YouTube channel
<v Speaker 2>by the time you're seeing.
<v Speaker 1>This, Oh okay, we have a video review. Awesome. Yes, yeah, okay,
<v Speaker 1>well yeah go check that out as well, and that'll
<v Speaker 1>wrap up this week's show. Folks, thank you so much
<v Speaker 1>for watching. Once again, if you want to support Gameformer,
<v Speaker 1>game Informer dot com slash subscribe, get yourself a magazine subscription.
<v Speaker 1>Of course, double seven first Light digital issue available now
<v Speaker 1>coming in mailboxes and stores and over the next few weeks.
<v Speaker 1>But yes, you can get yourself a beautiful, glossy and
<v Speaker 1>thick with two c's printed magazine by going to Gameforma
<v Speaker 1>dot com slash subscribe. Ten is is a year delivered
<v Speaker 1>right to you. Jan. Thank you so much man for
<v Speaker 1>joining us on the show. Is there anything you want
<v Speaker 1>to plug with what you got going on over there?
<v Speaker 1>A giant Bomb.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, for folks that don't know giant bomb dot com
<v Speaker 4>or an independent games media website. We stream possibly too much,
<v Speaker 4>so if you ever need any backgrowd noise, we're there
<v Speaker 4>for you. One of our biggest series right now, we
<v Speaker 4>call it Blake Club. We subject three of our staff
<v Speaker 4>members to play some of the worst games to completion,
<v Speaker 4>so I suggest you go check that out. We also
<v Speaker 4>have a bunch of pods if you're curious and you
<v Speaker 4>need some more audio to fill up your life. I
<v Speaker 4>do want to say we're all big fans of a
<v Speaker 4>Game Informer over at GB, but y'all have the nicest magazine,
<v Speaker 4>not just in terms of content but actually the paper.
<v Speaker 4>It is the nicest magazine I have ever touched. So
<v Speaker 4>be proud of that.
<v Speaker 2>When we came back, we wanted to do that, and
<v Speaker 2>I remember matt O Rider in chief, got like advanced
<v Speaker 2>and our design team got advanced looks on that, and
<v Speaker 2>they just kept telling us how much nicer it is
<v Speaker 2>and how much better that Peoper is. But we didn't
<v Speaker 2>have it yet. And when I finally got it, I
<v Speaker 2>was like, Yo, we might actually have the cleanest magazine.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, And like yeah, at the end of our last era,
<v Speaker 5>it was like getting cut so much in terms of
<v Speaker 5>like our budget for like the paper that we could afford.
<v Speaker 5>It was like it was not where we wanted it
<v Speaker 5>to be. So that was like a huge priority for
<v Speaker 5>us when when we came back under a different parent company.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, and when I saw it at the I saw
<v Speaker 4>it at my local Barnes and Noble. And not just
<v Speaker 4>because I know it's y'all, it's stuck out to me,
<v Speaker 4>but it stuck out because of the glossy, nice paper.
<v Speaker 1>Oh awesome.
<v Speaker 3>Oh yeah, we appreciate that.
<v Speaker 2>I was prepared to hate jam because when this podcast
<v Speaker 2>started because in the kind of funny Games Daily Awards
<v Speaker 2>we were in the Game of Former was a finalist
<v Speaker 2>for Best Website, and so was Giant Bomb, and Giant
<v Speaker 2>Bomb beat us. Giant Bomb won that. But you know
<v Speaker 2>what I think I'm turning. I'm turning a corner, Jaan.
<v Speaker 2>Then Giant bar Folks are pretty cool.
<v Speaker 4>Okay, all right, Well, Wesley, if I if and when
<v Speaker 4>I see you in person, I hope instead of like
<v Speaker 4>an olive branch or a handshake. We can just hit
<v Speaker 4>the Duggie together.
<v Speaker 2>No one around us will have any idea what we're doing.
<v Speaker 4>But but I hope it inspires everyone else around us
<v Speaker 4>to join.
<v Speaker 1>In the mass hysteria.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, yeah, massive Dougie hysteria.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's coming back, much like the Harlem Shake.
<v Speaker 4>Oh okay, I'm excited forcast for sure.
<v Speaker 5>It's the collaboration that gamers have been dying for. Giant
<v Speaker 5>Game and former staff coming together to hit the Dougie.
<v Speaker 1>The Douggie that would do numbers.
<v Speaker 2>Hold on now album this.
<v Speaker 1>Year director, Yeah, talk off air, get that set set
<v Speaker 1>for SG Yeah, well, thank you, Janny. Yes, please go
<v Speaker 1>to support Giant Bomb. They put out awesome content. It's
<v Speaker 1>a long time BombCast listener. Myself, I love I love
<v Speaker 1>the show. You guys always crack me off. You guys
<v Speaker 1>have some great, great conversations about and often not video
<v Speaker 1>games that are extremely entertaining. Love all the videos and
<v Speaker 1>streams you guys put out. So please go support a
<v Speaker 1>Giant Bomb who they themselves are out independent. You guys
<v Speaker 1>went independent not to after we came back, so it
<v Speaker 1>felt really cool to like come back and see another
<v Speaker 1>outlet kind of like you know, like I said, seemingly
<v Speaker 1>on the brink of going away and then coming back
<v Speaker 1>better than ever. So love seeing what you guys are
<v Speaker 1>doing over there.
<v Speaker 4>Thank y'all, thanks for having me and I love seeing
<v Speaker 4>what y'all are doing over here at Game Informer. Fantastic
<v Speaker 4>awe inspiring stuff, constantly awesome.
<v Speaker 1>And if you want to follow a jan Jan what
<v Speaker 1>does your social media handle? Folks want to reach out for.
<v Speaker 4>You, primarily on Blue Sky. That's just at Janochoa dot
<v Speaker 4>bsky dot social, but just look for giant Bomb. Don't
<v Speaker 4>actually look for a giant Bomb unfortunate naming. Can't get
<v Speaker 4>rid of it at this point, but giant bomb on
<v Speaker 4>all socials were on Instagram, TikTok sky. I think those
<v Speaker 4>are the big three, as well as YouTube of course,
<v Speaker 4>But just go to giant bomb dot com. You can
<v Speaker 4>find us and all the stuff we make over there awesome.
<v Speaker 1>You can follow me on Blue Sky as well at
<v Speaker 1>Marcus Stewart's seven. You can find Wesley at is it
<v Speaker 1>Wesley Wesley Woodblog? What is Wesley Blah? Just Wesley Lebloc
<v Speaker 1>and Brian at Brian Pichet or did you drop the
<v Speaker 1>p Brian?
<v Speaker 3>Nope, it's still there.
<v Speaker 5>Just because I was that was Brian Piche across all
<v Speaker 5>of their platforms, so I was like, I don't want
<v Speaker 5>to confuse, like what on different platforms, so I just
<v Speaker 5>kept it consistent.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, well at Brian Piche on Socials and yeah, we
<v Speaker 1>were going to get the heck out of here. But
<v Speaker 1>we'll be back next week with an episode of the
<v Speaker 1>Game and former show. Thank you so much for listening
<v Speaker 1>and watching, and we'll see you then. Bye.