820: Jogger Strats

Hey everybody, and welcome to the Giant BombCast. Happy holidays, Welcome to the Giant BombCast, Episode eight hundred and twenty. Holy smokes, that's a fun number to say. The Giant BombCast is powered by nzi XC and I am your host Chiana Choa Coke Captain of the ship, King of Cozytown Jeff Grubb. That's right. What number was it? Eight twenty eight twenty, Yes, smoke them smokee you got him? That's right. You gotta smoke them twice. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that'd we know. Sorry,

I'm in a math kick this week. Ambassador of Math litigator of the Smoke Jeff Beckler is also here. It's true. I'm the weeds are we'ed sezar? Yeah, we I'm wearing our joggers and they're they're really comfortable too. How comfortable these joggers, Like listen, I am trying to always be closing clothing and closing. Yeah, but they're really good. They're super comfortable. I put them on and I was like, well, I'm not taking these off for like two days. I'm really proud of us. We made

we made these with our hands. Yeah, and they came out really cozy like, So get yourself some joggers. Pro tip. Definitely tie a knot in the end of the drawstring so that Detroit drawstring doesn't get like pulled into the pants. Yeah, that's a jogger pro tip coming in. Just do that right away. Need that hot, hot, hot jogger strat. Jagger strats? What's your jogger strat for twenty twenty four? Click blow? We

are underwear under them? Okay, Uh, I gotta backler. I'm gonna ask you about the code for my thing because I don't think I've replaced an order. But anyway, that is besides the point. Uh. You can get your own joggers and other assorta Giant Bomb stuff store, Giant Bomb dot com. But hey, it's the holidays. This isn't live, this is pre recorded. What's happening? How is the how is how do you think Christmas is gonna go? How do you think the Holidays are gonna go?

Oh? By now I'm long dead? Oh shit, oha, wow dark man, No, it's gonna go great. Let's see what one of people listening to this? Is it the day after Christmas? Twenty six? Yeah? Okay, so by then you've had Uh, let's see here. Uh top ten lists from people like Jesse Fortelli. Go read the one from Dan Schue that's on the site right now. There's a bunch of great guest lists on the site. Go ahead and read that stuff. That's more, more, more coming in the days to come. Yeah, let's Steve Kim.

There's a list of his is on the site. Drew Scanlon, we give that to you as a Christmas present on Christmas Day, So yeah, go read those. Read so nice of us that we did that. Yeah, I think it's really nice of us. We're so nice. And the content doesn't stop there, folks. More stuff slowly, periodically drippy dropping as the holiday week progresses as we are away on holiday break. Uh, Christmas was great. Yesterday, or as I call it, Monday. Sorry, I

just got my double Express, so thank you Staph. Thanks. It was a lovely Monday. I do not say thank you. I say no, uh would I? Oh, I will have gone skiing. I'm going we're recording this, so you're long, Dad. Never mind whoa chill till chilly bad omens into the first day. If you're guarantees your safety, No, that hard. I don't go that hard. I'm not like a double black diamond guy anymore. I'm like maybe single black at the hardest. You you probably wear a helmet. What do you, of course I wear. I

don't know. In the early two thousands, we absolutely were not wearing helmets. Okay, we definitely have had this conversation before something happened in skiing culture where literally, overnight, I'm not joking, overnight, the entire winter sport community all universally agreed that we were all gonna wear helmets. Like, yeah, something happened on the Thursday and Friday, everyone on the hill was wearing that's how we'd in hockey where someone got hurt and like we should have maybe

wear a face mask. I think neck guards kind of overnight are popping up in a way like that, but not as explicit as the helmets on the mountain. Like straight up, I think it was a celebrity dying, I really do. I think like a celebrity hit a treey bone, like someone hit a tree started, not Spano died and not like we made joggers and then we killed bottom, no, like something. I'm telling you. It happened in like six or eight or something like that. And then the next

season, everyone on the hill wearing wearing a helmet. And I also think snowboarding is also going the way of the buffalo. I think, saying it back in a big way, skiing's like the people are just like, no, I don't need to like try to look cool. I still really like snowboarding. But there was a time where like you didn't ski because snowboarding was the cool thing to do, And now that's just an absurd thing to think.

Well, it's just a snow Snowboarding is like so uncomfortably inconvenient on a mountain, Like, yeah, it's cool going down, but like every other element of like getting up the mountain and all that bullshit. It's like the hardest thing to do on a snowboard is dismounting from the ski lift. Yeah, like it's you have to It's an art that literally no one could teach

you. You have to fall down twenty five times, and you're like, Okay, I guess if I hang my foot halfway off and I keep my toest here and I dig my heel into the snow a little bit, there's like an eighty percent chance I'll still be standing when I ski, When I still work five feet away. It's absolutely crazy. I love you guys are

really selling me on holiday winter sports. Wait, but you don't do any of that, you know, ski you don't snowboard, you know no, no, yeah, my body, you're closed to tahoe, You're you're closest to time. What do you guy saying about this? Snow biking like snow bike Michael? Apparently that's like a thing where you sit on a bike that has skis on them and you ride down the hill on Basically it's a bike, but it's got two little skis for the wheels. Listen, mountain biking

already sounds terrifying. Adding snow and removing the wheels from the equation. No, thank you. Yeah, what are we doing down and doing extreme sports? Very much jibs with me. If I could sit down and do anything, I'm gonna do it. So this sounds like my jam. You know what's actually fun? Going snowshoeing? Done it a couple of times, snow Isn't it just walking up a mountain with tennis rackets on your feet? Yeah?

But then like you fall back, you fall back, and then like, oh man, I could have died in the oh geez, because it's so deep, Like it's so deep, but your weight's being distributed and everything, you know, Like I like weight distribution. I do think about that a lot, how like, hey, yeah, if you're on a bed of nails, but you put your whole body across it, it's not gonna hurt. I'm always me too, I really am why I have because it's

weird. I have a cousin who's about ten years older than me, and he's a big, hardcore like backcountry ski guy, and he's getting a little up there in age and it's sort of like, I don't know how much longer I can do like the completely like ungroomed terrain of backcountry hell skiing. And he's like, yeah, last time I went, they made me carry a beacon and they said if I fall, and I fall and I don't know where I am, the first thing I should do is drool. And

I was like what. He's like, yeah, you drool after a big crash because then you know where the ground is. And I was like, wait, why drooling for like a of gravity right like you could be that's deeply upsetting. I do think about like if I suddenly found myself, like if someone put me in a coma and then and then took me one hundred feet underwater and woke me. I don't know, And they take me one hundred fet underwater and woke me up, and I had like no oxygen or

whatever. Would I know which way was up? What? I wouldn't know which way to start swimming to get back to the surface. That's such a weird thing because when you're in a coma, you are most certainly breathing. And yeah, yeah, so like how did they put the face mask on there? And then they take it off once I was one hundred feet underwater and they're like, okay, we got them, release release them. Yeah exactly, And now does he know which way to swim? Is like to

go up? And I'm like, I would probably start panicking before I would be able to do a thing where like just relax and see which way you start floating. It would be the path of least resistance to go up, Like diving would come a lot harder than this to youbackler, then, since you know what to do, can we do ten feet feet? But at midnight? All right, that's the best thing. Someone's pool, not the

ocean. Yeah, I found myself on a boat last week that I forgot to talk about this and it was probably the most honest it was the most oddest thing in the world. My partner's teacher friends were like, let's go have a turner on a boat. I'm like, that sounds terrifying. I don't want to do that. But then I wound up doing it and it was buffet style, right, And it's been a while since I've been to a buffet. And seeing people operate at a buffet, I just love I

love it. It's like it's like someone's boat, or it is like a boat you go to. It's like a boat you go to. I was under the assumption we would just be on the boat and I was thinking like, oh, that sounds fun, but then it was a whole bunch of different groups of people on this boat. It's like a restaurant. H yeah,

yeah, yeah yeah. And man, it's been it's been a minute since I've been to a buffet, right, and just seeing people just like the the greed that kicks it automatically, and then seeing people finish, you know, they go through the line, they get their sal they get their bread, proteins, et cetera. Et cetera. They'll put their plate down, they'll immediately line up again and like continue to re feel and restock. I do that for my kids, and I never would be able to do

it just for myself. But I'm like, okay, I went. I went up for my kids first, and now I'll go up for me, and even then I feel bad. It's it's one of the two situations where a human raw emotion is on display. It is a buffet and also at a music festival, well, and you're playing lethal company right exactly, the rawest of human emotions are on display. Where you claim territory, you claim ground, and you eat like you're never going to eat ever again. Yeah.

Getting your your spot at a music festival is truly is my blanket. My blanket died is the perimeter of my area. It is now jeff Tonia. The more the other terrifying aspect of finding your spot at a music festival are the people that just sit down, right, They sit down in a very heavily traffic area and like, I don't want to step on you, so I'm gonna do my best to avoid you, but I'm gonna step on

your blanket. And oh I'm sorry, I may have kicked your drink over, But then other people know, no, they no care in the world. We'll just march over where you guys? Where are you guys at? With? Like when you're walking in a like a crowded sidewalk and you're walking forward, and you're on your side of the sidewalk, and maybe you're with friends, but you're you know you're going, you're using up the appropriate mount of the sidewalk, and then a group of like five people are coming at

you the opposite way. Someone's gonna have to move. I'm at a point now where I'm like, I'm just gonna keep walking because I know we're doing like we're on the right, and I'm gonna let them move around me. But I think there's a time where I would been like, well, I guess I'll make myself really small and screwed over the side so these people can be more comfortable. I don't know, where are you guys at? With

that, I'll do either the scoot to the side. I'll I'll also gauge where I'm going, and if I'm closer to my destination, then I will take precedent and keep walking, or I'll throw my hands up and be like, excuse me, and just make a big deal out of it. Make a big deal out of it. That's good, that's good. I'm now I'm just like looking straight ahead, not moving and let them sort of scoot

around me. No one. The person who's walking on the on the right side of the sidewalk, to my understanding, has the right of way. That's how I'm viewing it. Yes, I think you're right. Yeah. Sometimes they'll do a fun little spin. I'm gonna interfuse everyone though, sure. Yeah, sometimes I will jump over them and leap frog all five feet in the air over a person. You're up, really impressive. You know what I love doing. The side of TikTok that I've loved seeing is people

posing with people for a picture and just seeing what they do. You know. So they'll walk up to a bunch of strangers, right, and then they'll suddenly pose for a camera and then like, I just love seeing the stranger's reaction of like, am I gonna pose? What the fuck is this? I'm just gonna walk away. Yeah. It's a tough position to put somebody in, but it's it's mostly harmless and fun. Yeah, mostly. Yeah. What's the go to post if someone suddenly like be like, oh,

take a picture. Is it like a peace sign of thumbs up or it's muscles? Yeah, muscles peace sign, heavy metal horns pointing, you know, all the go tos. Okay, okay, my go to whenever someone says take make a funny face for a picture, I just turn around and show them the back of your head. And how's that for a funny face? Yeah, it's a mystery now, like what was I doing? All right, folks, it's gonna be a short BombCast because it's a holiday

week and somehow we've already gone ten plus minutes. When when we decide, it's gonna be a little little little small boy today shouts out to the short kings out there. We see you, all three of you. Anyway, they're all they're all in a trench coat and trying to buy a movie ticket. It's an a you know, a proper bobcast. Today. Grub came up with the idea of looking at the twenty twenty four calendar and seeing which

games we're excited for. So we went, oh, go ahead, I'm sorry, no, no, no, go ahead, grab go ahead. Uh yeah. It was like there's a there's a calendar on game spot that it seemed to have most of them, and I kind of just picked it, picked and chew and chose some of the ones off of there that like I'm at least aware of to the point where I'm like, I might check it out and then we can talk about any of these a little bit more if we want. But I figured we'll just go through the ones to have

dates. And then there's a list of TBD games that haven't had dates and probably are coming out next year, or some of them are confirmed but they just don't have an exact date. But yeah, let's let's start here in January. This is actually one of my most anticipated games of next year. Prince of Persia the Lost Crown. I had a really good time of this at Summer game Fest, and that's coming in fast. It's like, oh, no matter of weeks. Actually, we'll probably get this as soon as

we get back next year. We will probably get code for this, So I'm really looking forward to play this. Coming to PS five, PS four, Xbox Series X and S, Xbox one and P Did you guys ever get a chance to touch this one? I did not nice very jelly. Yeah, so it really is impressive. It's a Metroidvania, but with Prince

of Persia, it's got a new Prince. I'm really interested in sort of the what they do with the setup where it's like, you're, Okay, you're playing this this cool dude Prince who's on a team of other people who are like going through these excursions in the world, and then all of a sudden, like things go bad, and now those dudes who of your friends are now going to be the bosses throughout the game. I'm like, oh, I like that setup. That's always pretty cool. January twenty fourth,

We like a Dragon, Infinite Wealth. This is the franchise I am most like, I need to be into this. I really enjoyed what I played of Like a Dragon. I liked what I played of Yakuza Zero. I don't know, how are you guys feeling about Like a Dragon these days. I'm pretty pumped. I feel like Like a Dragon was a good injection into the series to reintroduce all other people, and some folks just don't jive well with the brawler nature of the original titles. I yeah, that's me.

Yeah, And I'm a big fan of Turn based stuff, as y'all know. And I'm glad that this gives people a different opportunity to explore the hijinks of like a Dragon infinite wealth and the Yeah, it seems like there's gonna be yo. Like a Dragon is always uh infamous for having an obscene amount of side stuff, like all the parlor games you can play and crap. But this one, like the specific farming island management aspect of it, it

seems like they're going all the way in. I also need to know what that Palm Tree freaks deal is. Yeah, I want to find out all about that. Uh. Absolutely, Uh, this is a I'm just like appreciative of any game that keeps turn based combat going and strong and the fact that they're like, no, we this is going to be like a Dragon going forward turn based combat. I'm always I appreciate that. Like I said, Uh, then techn eight on January twenty six, fighting games are in

a good place. I am very excited to see what tech and eight is going to be doing that. This is like the one three D fighter out there in terms of like actually being able to move around in a three D environment. Virtual fighters not really going Soul Caliber is not really going. Yeah, Battle Arena toshin Den was never really going. Uh, I'll be checking out the ring exactly. We did get our guys back. Yeah, I'll be checking this out looking forward to it. Yeah, I want to see

who's gonna get thrown into a volcano this time? Absolutely? Yeah, right, there's a ton This will have a ton of good story stuff, or at least fun absurd story stuff. So that's good to get. I've been trying to just care about that. I did all those techn ending ranking stuff. We think that we'll have to update it. I didn't realize like at some point they just I think they attempted to like stop being so absurd, and they kind of they're like, you know what, this is actually a

serious story we're trying to tell here. Uh and that's when it became a little less fun, I think. Uh So, Yeah, I I don't really plan on playing this game, but I will certainly watch the cut scenes at the end. Yeah, hopefully they go back to being completely absurd. There's a chance just do that. We might have influenced Harada. Who knows, Yeah Heradas listening right now. February we get Suicide Squad killed the Justice League on February second, This is actually happening. I'm sure it is.

This is you know, it's rock Steady. At a certain point, it's just gotta be fun to play, right listen? Well, yeah, listen. I think I may have been one of the most vocal people on this website about how dog shit I thought it looked. Yeah, that's right. I don't know why I am suddenly taking a turn and why am I excited for this? No? No, what are you doing? What are you doing? I don't know. I'm squad curious. I'm curious. I suicide squad deep, I am deeply uninterested in suicide Squad. I don't care.

I don't care about like the bad guys ganging up. I don't think that's fun. Well, hey, what if? What if this time Superman is a bad guy exactly like Look at the same time, I am a bit of a mark for Batman. But whatever, It's just if the game is fun, right, then I care. And that is the the sort of glimmer of hope I'm holding onto with the pedigree of rock Steady going into this. That's what I like a lot of their games. I like the best

majority of their games. Let's let's have a rock Steady game that just happens to be a suicide squad. Uh being a Batman? Mark, did you watch that The Littlest Batman Christmas movie that's on Amazon Prime. It's about Damian Wayne, right, and then his dad is a Batman obviously, and it's Luke Wilson. And it's a really sweet movie. And it's like a full actual Christmas movie. Now like some short, it's like a full movie.

Would love. My girls do not care. I think it seems like it might have been like a comic book at some point that they adapted it like feels very much like a children's story turned into a Christmas movie. My kids don't really care about Batman. They have watched it four times. It's called The Littlest Batman. I think that's what it's called. It is, Mary Little Batman. Sorry, Mary Little Batman. There we go, thank you? Yes, yeah, I got it all right, I will check it

out. This looks very cute. Yeah, so you'll you're gonna you're gonna dig it all right. February second, also persona three reload. Let's go, I'm gonna I am gonna check this out. Although let's see, like a Dragon. It's only like a week before. I wish I had a little bit more time. It's messed up, but yeah, that's that's kind of super messed up. I want to get in the persona. Uh it's not exactly for me, but I think there's a world in which I can

make I could force it to happen. I want to force it. Yeah. I've only checked this out like a couple of hours, and I've had some friends say that Persona three has always been their favorite amongst the the newer Persona games. Yeah, I don't know. There's just a certain vibe to it. I kind of like how they summon their personas where they just hold up a gun to their head and like, you know, it's like that's pretty metal. It's metal. Yeah, it's cool. It just is and

it looks really good. It's like a full on remake. They're putting a lot of work into it. I'm ready to check it out. Then February eight, Hell Divers too. We had a good time with Hell Divers. I know people who played a ton of Hell Divers and really enjoyed it. Hell Divers two is going to be sort of that kind of upgrade where people don't know. Hell Divers is like a four player cooperative action game where you go into these instances and you have to accomplish something and then get to the

exit. And it's a top down, top down like dual stick shooter sort of thing. Hell Divers two kind of brings the camera in close, makes it look look more like a modern day PlayStation game, and so it's like, okay, like there's improved presentation, but it looks like the core gameplay is still the same. I think this could be one that really wins us

over if we go in there and play something together. So yeah, and I think the appetite for like a four player game, like there's just more of the gaming community is more well versed than when the original Hell Divers came out right agreed, we're just we're very much accustomed to, like we're going from game to game as like groups of friends in a way that we weren't

even back then. A big part of that is discord. But I console gamers now are like, yeah, you have PlayStation Plus and you have game Pass, so like a lot of these games you're just going to get let's just play it together. And even if it's like Okay, well this one isn't on those services. We already played games together because of PlayStation, PlayStation Plus and game Pass. Let's just all buy this one and have a good time. We know that when we do that, we have a good time.

So that's definitely been a big thing in gaming recently. I also think the benefit of Hell Divers too, and the original Hell Divers is that despite the kind of future space marine ish vibe of it, it's still it's still funny, right, it doesn't get help from seriously, Yeah, it's very similar to Lethal Company right where in tert lyast in terms of the possibility for

high jinks to ensue. You know, we had those experiences with the original Health and I think they know that that's part of the magic of that of that series. Tomb Raider one through three Remastered is coming out when on lawer Cross's birthday Valentine's Day, February February fourteenth. I don't know, I listen. I never loved the tomb Raider games. I just didn't. Oh sorry, what, yeah, I didn't. I don't know what they weren't good. What do you have against women? Yeah, what do you have against

triangle boobs? Yeah, listen, I'm just saying you, a real game for real men is what I need. I played a lot of tom Raider two. It was it was fine. I just it was like maybe the tank controls, but tank controls never really bothered me in other games, So I think it's just like it was tank controls in a game that overall I didn't think was very fun, but I appreciate it's like place in gaming history. Yeah. I mean, look, it's been a minute. It's been

a very long minute since I did all this shit. I'm watching a bit of the trailer now, and I'm like, man, is this it? Like? Is this what it's just gonna look like? Like? Didn't they do this right? Didn't they remaster these games on PN, we re released them with some upgrades. I think I don't really know. I think there is something. I have a very warm and fuzzy nostalgic place in my heart for playing tomb Raiders one through. I'll even say four. What was the

What was the one that premiered on Dreamcast? Was that four? There was? Yeah, there was like the fourth one at least there was a pretty good tomb Raider on Dreamcast. Yeah, I think, Oh, maybe it was the last revelation, yeah, which is not a numbered one. I don't know. I guess ultimately it does not matter. What does matter is the feeling I used to get of, like getting lost in this box.

Like that was all the tombs, right, Like all the tombs that you rated were just like these weird boxes with no direction whatsoever, and you just had to figure out that, Like, oh, one little ledge is like the thing you have to jump off of and catch. Yeah, and there's something awful and terrible but also great about that. I don't know why I

played all. I finished every single last one of those one through four games, and yeah, like I don't think I've done it again since that time in my life, but like just to pick it back up and maybe capture some of that once again. You mean, like those games could only exist in that time in that way, and there's something special about that. At

the very least. I like, things change for a reason, but that doesn't mean like the way things used to be, I want to completely throw out even if things have gotten better in gaming overall, some of the squiggliness that we used to have to put up with, quote unquote, there's something magical about about some of it. Now, let's you know, let's not

ignore the lessons we've learned in the last few years. Like if you go back and play through all of Eternal Darkness, I think you'll have a worst time with this than you even did with the t A game that is much more new than to Raider. Actually, it's like it's like two years later one. It's not too Raider one. It's like five years later though, it's not that much. Oh okay, all right, it's okay, it's in that range. I mean five to eight years. It was like ninety

six was Tom Raider one? Yeah, but GameCube was like two thousand. Through Tarnal Darkness is oh four, I think it's always a late GameCube Okay, I can't remember. Okay, that's that's almost ten years fair enough. Maybe, I'm wait, when was the Turnal Darkness was? When the fuck were you? Now? I need to know? Yeah, gohe and look it up while I do this one here. Gun Volt excuse me, gun

Volt Records, PSI Chronicle. I like the gun Volt games. Yeah, these are uh Mega man X like games or or you're in that thing. Yeah, they will be coming out for a while. This one's out February fifteenth. I'm at least gonna check it out just because I've enjoyed gun Bolt games in the past. It's oh two, uh oh two, okayness, I'm trying to look to suck. I was confused as to why everything was so anime lady adjacent, and I thought you put this on here as a

goof to me was successful. Hey, listen, anime ladies deserve rights too. Mario Versus Donkey Kong is February sixteenth. This is a remaster slash remake of the Game Boy Advance Mario Versus Donkey Kong, which is actually a sequel to Donkey Kong ninety four, one of the best games ever made. Plays a lot like that. I never loved it on Game Boy Advance. I've tried it a couple of times recently as well, and it was just like the visuals on the Game Boy Advance were weird. I didn't like the way

it looked, but they're redoing them here, so who knows. Maybe I'll give it a shot and like it this time. Final Fantasy seven Rebirth then is, happened in February twenty ninth. PlayStation five exclusive You guys love remake. I really liked remake. I never finished it, but I really liked what I played of it. I liked remake a lot. Yeah, I liked it a lot. The combat was absolutely compastic. Combat's really really good. It just is so much fun. Every character he plays in that game.

You have a really good time with Tifa especially. It's extremely fun to play as So I'm really you know, I'm looking forward to Rebirth even I'm like, I'm won't be following the story that close, so I don't care too much about it personally, but at least the presentation is great, and they're promising forty hours for this one, so we'll see. I know a

lot of this one either. Yeah, I know a lot of people were thrown off by the adjustments being made towards the final Fantasy seven Remakes story, but I welcome all of it. I welcome the Nomora bullshit here, right, I'm like, this is a perfect place for bullshit, for Nomura style bullshit. Like a remake that knows it's a remake. That's interesting. Yeah. Let that takes us into March with Home World three on March eighth.

I was a big home like in the early days of PC gaming, my parents would have an e machine from Best Buy, and I didn't have any money, so I was pired and everything, and I pired Civilization and Home World and I played a ton of those games, and I'm like, okay, I'll check back down a Home World three. Home World three is like a time strategy game, but in a three D space like so it's like you can go up, down, left, right, you know, zxs, y axis, x axis, all at the same time, and you're

controlling these like legions of ships flying around. It always looked really cool. Yeah, almost three March eighth. Then we get yeah, any machine. Yes, listen, my parents didn't spell a lot on those PCs. I got a three eighty six and then a four eighty six. March twentieth gets us Alone in the Dark, that other horror game that's not Allen Wake two or Resident before or a Dead Space two or Dead Space remake. I should

say Alone the Dark got delayed. It's now coming out March twentieth. This has David Harbor in it and that other person whose name I can never remember. But I'm so curious about this. What why I am too? No, I am too? What do you mean? I am, I am too. No, No, I'm saying, why does it have David Harbor in it? What did he do? Yeah, I don't know, because

actors need to work. I don't know. Sometimes people can't say no, or they have agents that can't say we're talking about this, right, But like, the strikes must have impacted a lot of actors to branch out into video games, right, That's that's what we saw at the Game Awards. I think this happened before the strikes, but but at at the Game Awards, we saw a bunch of actors being like, I'm in a game, and so Matthew conne is like I'm in a game, and it's like,

okay, we know why. That's because of the strikes. I think David Harbor likes video games. I think he's a closet freak about video games. Yeah, he's not that much. I mean look, also, I kept thinking this when fucking McConaughey came out of the Game Awards. I'm like, video games are not niche, They're not like, you're not doing something wacky and kooky and under the radar. Now, Okay, it's like come on, uh, yeah, I'm sure David Harbor, who is of our generation

maybe you know, ten years our senior, give or take. Is it's entirely possible. He's like, yeah, you know what I'm gonna be in a video game. I've always be. I've always been this series. I don't need to know anything about it. Yeah, he's forty eight. David Harber's forty eight, eight years old. Yeah, there you go, wreating no sound. Yeah, well in the dark, I played the game Boy Color one when it came to nintend to switch online. That was weird.

Oh Jody Comber, I love her? Right? Who's Jody Comber? She's been in stuff. She was in that, uh, the Ryan Reynolds movie that wasn't Ready Player one but was pretty much Ready Player one. Oh, free Guy, free Guy? I thinks, sure, yeah, no problem, all over it. Yep. Do you guys, You guys can understand the pun of that title, right? This was a big conversation at the time. Free Guy. Yeah, Why it's called free guy? No? Is it because like a free guy is like a one up kind of thing?

Yes, yes, exactly, because it's a like his his character name is guy, and so the the like the stated meaning is oh free guy, but it is a reference to getting a free guy back in the Arcades, which would meant you got a one ups you in an extra life people. I feel like phrase is kind of lost on a on a generation very much. It's of its time and we stopped using it definitely, which that's probably the only good thing about that movie. Was that a good movie?

I mean it wasn't. There's a scene at the end where he gets like a lightsaber that like got went viral about how like cheesy it was. Like in context, this is probably better, but on Twitter it looks like dog shit. I can't really tell. All right, then, Yeah, March twenty second, my birthday, Dragon's Dogma two, your birthdays this week as well? Back lar right, what are you the twenty fifth, twenty four, twenty fourth of March. Okay, well, March twenty second, my

birthday. We get three big ones, Dragon's Dogma two, Princess Pete, Showtime, and Rise of the Ronin Dragons Dogma two, Catcom is promising big things with this. It's probably gonna be a pretty big game. I only played a very tiny bit of Dragons Dogma. You guys, weren't Dragons Dogma heads? Were you? No? It was not a d D boy. Yeah, so I mean maybe we'll go into this one. I do want to check out the first Dragon's Dogma still before this, But who's going to

half the time? No? Uh, Princess Princess Peach Showtime one of the probably gonna be one of the final big Switch games. This stars Peach and she the Showtime mechanic is that she could take on all these rolls of being like a chef or a ninja, and then she has all these other abilities that will probably be an improvement over Super Princess Peach, a game where she had emotional powers like crying oh so much, she would flood the thing.

Right, So she's not gonna She's not gonna barge into a subway and start break dancing around the subway cars. That's not what this is. That Showtime is the reference to. Is that can you imagine like a little toad coming in clapping like a show yeah, especially with that voice. Is it mes like also this mechanic like very odyssey adjacent to oh yeah yeah right, yeah

totally. It feels like leftover ideas. This is what you get Princess Peach to let her wear the bad ideas from the Mario game that we didn't use, uh, and then Rise of the Ronan a PS five game. This looks really good, look at kind of a from software software y kind of thing, but I don't know, I think it just looks fantastic, So I'll be curious as we get closer to it. Then in August, and there's a big gap there because we don't have many dates for games. After

March. August, we get Black Myth Wukong. That is that viral Chinese game that is based on Journey to the West or Journey into the West. I can never remember how to actually Journey to the West. I think that's right. Most games we're trying to are based on that, and the same way that most games in America are based on sad dads. This is kind

of like an action y again, a from softwarey sort of thing. But this studio has also had a lot of news come out about how they might be a pretty bad place to work and how they have a lot of bad views. So we'll see. I wonder if this one's going to come out and actually be like, oh, this is what we were excited for because it just shows off great in gifts, but they're going for a big game and we'll see if it out there actually able to pull it off. Hey

quick you for you boys? Is Horizon a play on Journey to the West. I don't think so. No, yeah, because it's like like Dragon Ball is like the one that's like a really loose adaptation of it, right, Yeah, I don't Yeah, I don't know. I don't think so. So he I have a one of these, like, I don't know what it's called. When you conflate two things and you always mix them up. What is that? Is there a word for that? A mixing mix? A mixing mix? I have a mixing mix with Black Myth Wu Kong

and Phantom Blade zero zero. The Phantom Blade zero is just another Black Myth Wukong. I don't know. I don't know how to describe it. Like they they both are like mysteriously teased in similar capacities, and they're both a PlayStation or showed up at PlayStation shows. Yeah, they are also like both Chinese developers. Yeah that sort of get clouded up in that fog of whatever. I don't and they seem very similar. Am I crazy? Am I

the other person complaining these? There's another game that came out this year that I thought was Black Myth Wukong and it's you're thinking of Wolong oh. Oh,

Like, now what it's happening, Like what is happening? Because I think there's a lot of clips happen, like you know, right, like I don't know, Well, I think what's happening is a lot of Chinese developers have looked at the success of from software they probably very much enjoy from software games, and they're like, we're gonna make one of those, and we're not going to stray too far from it, and the stuff where we do stray, we're gonna go to pretty familiar territory of Journey to the West.

So it's you're gonna end up with a lot of games that are I mean, this happened like the Chinese development scene has. I mean, I'm not joking. There are like twenty five games that are Journey to the West in one way or the other. It is very very popular. So you end up with a lot of games that do look very similar. So I think that's kind of accepted and normal in a way that like some games here like oh we got to try to stand out. And I think it's still

in China. They're like, no, we're happy. We want to be like Jurney the West because that's what the players want. They want more of that. And so I think we're we're looking from the end from the outside and going like why all these things pretty similar? Because well, that's what sells really well in China. And I mean, like there's an obscene amount of like Call of Duty mobile clones, League of Legends and like Doda clones

that pop off on mobile. I'm curious as to why there aren't a lot of clones of like the first party Sony games out in China, you know, like where is the clone of Spider Man or God of War? Yeah, maybe just don't hit well like on maybe. Yeah, I don't know those markets, you know. I think you know, the one that we saw that was trying to ape some of the hype for those Sony Sony games was the day before, which was very much trying to look like or something

like the Last of Us. But that thing was slapped together by people who didn't know what they were doing, and maybe the people that do you know what they're doing or like that would be very expensive and we wouldn't be able to match that making an action game these days probably feels like something that's easy to tackle. Making a big narrative, cinematic experience probably would require like one hundred million dollars, even in territories where labor's a little bit more affordable.

Long story short, Phantomly zero feels like a real game, just maybe a lot further out than Black Men. I think my I'm trying to remember, because again I was conflating these as well, Jeff. So this happened to me. There was a lot of interest in this from the PlayStation community, and then they were like, why aren't we hearing more about this? But this will be in the next this is going to be the next PlayStation showcase,

This is going to be in the next state of play. And then it kept not showing up, and I think there was news of like, oh no, that is like super far off and you shouldn't expect to hear much about it for quite some time. So yeah, we'll see, uh Okay. Then in September Warhammer forty thousand Space Marine two. Space Marine is a pretty good game, Space Marine two. Yeah, I'll check out Space

Marine two again whenever Warhammer forty k comes up. I just love that there's so many Warhammer games and Warhammer forty K games because I think that's the right way to do it with a with an IP. I am so scared that I may eventually become Warhammer pilled. It's gonna yeah, it might happen. Henry Cavill just got like confirmed he's going to take on the Warhammer forty K Cinematic Universe with Amazon Prime Video. Henry, what do you do? We?

So that's that's our that's our gateway drug right there. I do think about that music from what was what was that flour player Warhammer forty K one, like Necro Death whatever it was, But that like wor In music, that that's space organ music that they played when we were in like the Space Church. It's like, man, have some good music, all right, yes, Sperch Church of Space. Uh all right, we're into the TBD games. Now. I could just go through these alphabetically. You should we

just do that? Or you yeah? Okay? Avowed? So these are like there are several Xbox games that have been announced that either we know a little bit about or we haven't heard about since they got announced. Avowed is in that space of we've heard a little bit about it in that it was at the State Are the summer game fest from them, and they showed a little bit more gameplay, but people came out of seeing that gameplay being like, huh, this is what this game is. I'm not really sure if

I'm driving with this, I'm gonna need to play it. And I think it's fair to say that because I saw so many people having that response to it. Do you guys remember that that trailer? I remember the bear? Okay, yes, yeah, uh so avow who knows? But this is Obsidian. It's their sort of like hand magic fantasy realm game, and they made it pretty clear that yeah, it might look like they're doing their Skyrim,

but it's not exactly going to be their Skyrims. So I'm not really sure what to expect from it. Baby Steps is a new game from Bennett Foddy and a handful of other people. But I am I am definitely Foddy Billed. I love everything that anything but Foddy does. I love Quop, I love Girp give me those games. I play them all the time.

Still, I'm so glad that they're still available online after Flash died. So Baby Steps is okay, let's take that the idea of quop and put it in a three D platform or where you're walking around and said an adult man that walks like a baby, and it looks very funny. This is another one that was like in a PlayStation showcase. Yeah, and then people are like, what is this. This isn't like a real game, Like this is the realist fucking game I've ever seen. You People don't know what you're

talking about. It popped off like a long time ago. Yeah didn't. It has like a very very early announcement or something like that, right, And then we just got another that this was in the PlayStation showcase. I think it was one of the first in that, or maybe it was a state of play. It was one of the first games in the recent one. And so it's like, yeah, this is happening next year, Beastie

Ball, this is mine, This is mine. I believe this comes from the same developer that made Chickory. But this is a turn based Pokemon like volleyball game. Oh boy, Oh that's interesting. It's right up my alley. Very excited for anything involving tiles, tactics, and little creatures. I'm not so much into the volleyball aspect, But that sounds like a fun twist

on doing the turn based combat is yeah. Is it like instead of doing attacks on the opposing team, you're doing attacks on the ball and it's like elemental stuff. Yeah, yeah, exactly. That is then it has a neat look to it. It kind of does like the two and a half D stuff. I just want more people to keep trying to attack game Freak to take the Pokemon crown because someone has to be successful eventually. No, they don't, but they can. They should keep trying though. Uh.

Contra op Operation Galuga. Uh this is yeah. Then I love Contra. I hate it is it's g A l u g A. I'm like Galuga Galuga. I love Contra. They've tried to make a bunch of Contra games. Most of the time they are dog shit. This one. I think this one looked pretty bad. But I hope Konami because listen, I'm just kind of glad that Konami is making games in these franchises I love again.

Hopefully that means they're also putting some love into it. That is not a guarantee, though, there's a strong chance that we won't see quality from this game. Uh, then cook serve delicious Remustard and really I just included this because what is the best sort of play on remaster in a game? Is it this or is it the uh? What was it? A Red Faction Gorilla remastered edition? I love it's this. No, Remustard is like that mean? Come on, says Funny and Delicious. Yeah, if they do

Red Dead Redemption, they can be a remarstoned edition. Remarked they don't have to do that. Shut up Jacobs. Game of the Year Expeditions a mud Runner game. Let's fuck it go. I'm a huge, huge fan of the mud Runner series. I love mud I've been a fan of this since it was called Spin Tires, which was like this weird little game, yes, because the tires would spin in the fucking mudd sit there stuck for like

an hour. You got mud boy? Is that my ship? This game looks like the most sort of gamey ass game version of mud Runner yet, where it's like, Okay, you and some friends go out in the world and accomplish these smaller goals. Don't worry about trying to rebuild the world and rebuild these bridges and taking some logs to this gas station so they can open back up. No, it's just like go drive in any vehicle to this spot and then that's gonna it's gonna be like a Ubi Soft game. Now

you're up there, you can see the rest of the world. Here are a few more expeditions to go on. It looks very good. I'm very excited about it. I'm so happy for you, Grub, thank you so much. Foam Stars. Yeah, it's coming next year as well. And did any of us play Fun Stars? I know some people. Okay, you did. Yeah, how are you feeling about this one? It doesn't quite feel like it's a ripping Splatoon off enough for my taste. Sure, I did have a lot of fun with it when I did check it out

at UH Summer Games. Yeah, it's doing different things where like where Splatoon, when you're splatting the plant paint around, you're just sticking to the surfaces. Here, they build off verticality with like the foam bouncing on or building

on top of each other. The classes felt okay enough. I'm just I'm excited to see where this will go and if this will actually have legs versus Splatoon since it's only on the switch, right, Yeah, I think twenty twenty three is going to be or me, twenty twenty four Jesus is going to be an interesting year for multiplayer shooters. I think. I think it's I think some of these are going to pop off in a big way. I think Finals is going to keep getting bigger and bigger if they can that

game. Yeah, I think it's gonna because one of you said it, I think there is a chance for them to keep adding new modes to keep things interesting in it, like like cycling them in and out, and then one of them is going to pop off and be like, no, this is just what the Finals is now, everyone's playing this mode and if big and steward that I think it's going to end up like by the end of next year. It's yeah, we played a ton of Finals and everyone did.

It's growing in the charts of like popular streaming too, Like it's it's start, it's starting to parcolate, it's starting to happen. I'm so surprised seeing that some some UH circles that interact with ours are down on the game, because I just love it a lot. Really yeah, yeah, I've just seen I've seen some like negative sentiment about not enjoying it, thinking it's pretty sparse, when you know, I feel I feel completely the opposite way.

I feel like there's a lot. Yeah, despite the does happen though, like all these games where it's like this one didn't like hit me right away, it's not exactly what I was thinking. Then people check back in on later, okay, you know, And now that I understand what this is, I'm down with it. Hades two that was originally supposed to come out this year in early access, Thank god it didn't. Oh my god, I can actually play other games. But now it's coming at early next

year is what they're promising. Boy, I am going to play the hell to that. I don't care if it's Early Access or not. I'm gonna be all over Haites two. I cannot wait. Yeah, yeah, what Harold said exactly, Harold hawibit. This was yours right back of lar. Yeah. This is another one of those games that gets announced incredibly early and has a very striking it Trailered really well, what can I say? It just trailered really nicely, has a Wallace and Grom and sort of like stop

motion acclaymation vibe to it seems very narrative based. I'm in it just for, like, you know, the vibe of what this thing is teasing to be. Beyond that, I don't really know much about it, but I do recall twenty twenty four being the year that they are targeting, so definitely a raider a radar looking at for this one. I looked it up and I'm like, oh, yeah, I do remember this, and that's twenty twenty one, and it looks very cool. I'm man, how have we

not gotten more claymation style games before Chance fares well? So this one I'm down with. You know, Okay, this, I think because it's more stop motion than like Walls and Grommet claymation. Sure, I think, yeah, I know that that grosses you out and you don't want to hear that.

I think, like the I think the thing with this that I find troubling is like a lot of games take this path where they where they do have a very striking debut and they have a very clear envisioned art style or whatever it is, and then they just sort of like can't match the momentum or hype of how they Yeah, I do love sable so and that's okay. Like, that's totally fine. I'm not like, oh, this is

a bad game. It just wasn't for me when I ended up playing it, right, And that's my worry is that like it has this striking debut but can never really match or cultivate the always it is better to have that like strikingness than not. Right, totally, I'm with you, but I know exactly that feeling of being like, I hope playing it matches the way I feel when I first saw it exactly doesn't always work out that way. What's Henry Halfhead? Henry Halfhead is another one of these that I when the

hell did this get announced? I'm not sure. I think earlier this year, and is a just like strange sort of definitely in the in the same the thing that reminded me of is like, who who did like Kutchull? What was that game? Yes, chucoll got My kids loved Chuche. Yeah, like this definitely scratched credits. Yeah. I think it's a Swiss developer, and it's another one of those Odyssey games right where you're taking over different objects. Yeah. So yeah, I I just remember like seeing the reveal

and being like, wow, this seems really dope. I love crap like this. Where will it go? What is it? It's just been a bit radio silence since that first debut, but you know, fingers crossed, you get to see it in some capacity. It's hard to move around when

you're just half ahead, That's right. You know I want to be I want to be a knife and crawl around on the floor, you know, That's what I want to be. This This looks like it first popped off in January, so it will be at about a year since it got announced. Maybe we'll hear about it soon. Maybe not holding my breath, but we can help, uh metaphor Refuntasio. This is a another game from Atlas that looks, you know, kind of like in the vein of their Persona

games, but it's I think it's more fantasy. I think it's implied by Fantasio. It looks really good when we saw the trailer for it at Summer Game Festival. I know a lot of people have been looking forward to it

for a very long time. What do you think. I don't know if I am, because it seems a little bit too close to the shin Magami tense series, and those are notorious for being obscenely difficult, and I'm not that I'm not looking for a challenge when it comes to an RPG, but I would like to have fun and not feel the need to grind or bash my head up against the wall. But that being said, I do like all of the menu presentation. It's very stylistic from what we've seen so far,

yes, but also just a ton of style. Is this a switch only game or am I imagining that this was the Xbox the presentation? I think it's on game Pass in fact, Oh okay, yeah, I believe. I believe that's the case. I'm completely miss taken then, because I, for whatever reason, I'd conflated that this was a switch only game, and hey, you know that thing's so at the end of its life cycle, right, mm hmmm, Yes, it is. Mullet mad Jack,

Backglar. What's with Henry or Held Harold Halibit, Henry Halfhead, Mullet mad Jack? What's going on here? I don't know why these two name games come to me, but here they are. I am inexplicably drawn to them. This is something that got announced earlier this year as well. I want to say, Oh, I was just looking at this one and yeah, it's a it's a real small team has very much like almost like No More

Heroes meets a Finn FPS kind of anything. Yeah, like one of those recent new Blood first shooter games that are trying to be a throwback to like Quaker Duke Nukem. Totally definitely style first for me for sure, but seems like it would be a lot of fun. I don't know, again, going only off of what this thing looks like, I don't even know if twenty four is a realistic release year for this one. Theme the release date says coming soon, which developers do all the time, and it means like

in the next five years. Yeah, so uh this one. I'm like, I'm just I think it looks great. And then I'm like, are mullets still like a funny thing or is that like Chuck Norris jokes. I'm already with that here, Bull and are seem to be staying Bullets are huge, like huge, yah. I think bullet's a style. But if mullets is like your default, your attitude, I guess I don't know. I think the moment, yeah, okay, it's it's emphasis on the mad jack

We'll do here. And also like developer calls itself a hammer ninety five, like, okay, sick, I want to I want to fuck around with that. And they're younger than me though, if we're going by like screen game ages, totally. Oh then Pacific Drive. This is one I've been

very interested in for a while. It is a rogue light but you're in a beat up, old like station wagon and you drive around the world and it's like wild stuff happening in the Pacific Northwest, aliens in the sky or big electric clouds, and there's seems like there's a ton more going on. And I watched Lucy play a bunch of this. I think we both did drank and we watched a Lucy play this at PAX. Were you there, yeah, oh Pacific Drive, Yes, yes, yes, yes, we

drive. Yes. And I'm like, okay, very into what they showed here. And when I talked to the developers at the GB at night show they were on there, they were like, yeah, we're kind of like really condensing the loop to that point just to get to the fund but like, there's so much more going on in the world. So very interested in this one. I love the idria, I love the entire idea of roguelike and being in a beat up ble cars like the way to explore the world.

That's pretty cool. Papa Mario the thousand Your Door. They are remastering that one release sooner for the Switch. Definitely in the top three for Mario RPGs. For a lot of people, it's number one. For me, it's like number it is number three, but it's because I like Mario RPG and then Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga. But no, this game is a delight and it's really awesome that a whole new generation is going to get a chance to play it. It's also like encouraging because for a while people were

worried that Nintendo wouldn't let Mario games. Even the RPGs have kind of expressive, different kinds of characters, they all had to be like a default look model for a goomba or whatever, and this one has all these like funky characters that look very different, and it's like, well, if they're going back to this game again, maybe they've softened up their position on that. And when we get new paper Mario games in the future, if we do

they can be more expressive again, then that would be nice. Goomba's a lady a Lady Goomba. Finally, Goombat goom Hilda is actually the one in Super Mario RPG. Actually Penny's Big Breakaway. This is the three D kind of Saturn dreamcast a looking era platformer from the team that did Sonic Mania and bechar you put this on here and I went to go look at the trailer again. It looks so cool. I'm very happy with the way this game

looks. Hell yeah, It's like, man, it seemed like he was the most competent like platformer thing, right, Like you just sort of like got that. Is that what we're talking about? Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, Penny's Big Breakaway? Yes, yeah, sorry, it seems like the most competent like platformer, you know, demonstration that you could like ask for, right, there's something so I like, buy whatever it's selling

right away, do you know what I mean? So many other three D platformers, like they get close, they want to be inspired by that era platformers, and then it's like there's something missing. I am confident that this team has the competency to pull this off after playing Sonic Mania and knowing how much they understood that game, how deep into Sonic they got so that they could extract everything that was fun about it and make the best Sonic game ever.

I am very confident they're gonna be able to pull that off. With Penny's Big Breakaway, it just seems like, again, I know, we are inferring a hell of a lot out of a trailer, but like, there's just something that I just believe about this game. It's got a great visual style too, Like the color scheme is way different than a lot of other games like this Hell Yet the Plucky Squire, that one where you places the little squire who like us around the world and they can hop into books

and hop onto the side of mugs in the real world. I'm very excited about this one. It's got It just has such a good you know idea right, It's real cute. Yep. Absolutely another Xbox game that we've heard about a bunch. We don't have a date for necessarily, but seems like it could be the next big Xbox games. Saga is a Sinua or Sinwa Sinua Saga, hell Blade two, hell Bay two. Listen. I'm not a big hell Blay guy, but I always think hell By two looks really

magnificent. In terms of visuals. Agreed. I just for the life of me can't get into these games. I couldn't play Hillblade. I tried. It was not for me. I do. When I played hill Blade, I knew that I could do it if I gave it more time, Like I saw again, it's an old game now, it's like, what is it like six or seven years old now? Yeah, And I just remember being you know, I never went back to it for better or worse.

For I'll definitively call it four worse. But I I think an inch of Theory just does something that I am just They are a developer that I am like constantly sort of in awe of. And I think their pedigree over the years has just been like maybe undervalued in a big way. I think it's gonna be there, Like this has a chance to be their big statement game, right, their big breakout in a lot of yeah, because I do

think this one's going to be more accessible. Imagine that's the case. I think I think they'll pivot and maybe accommodate to a more general audience, uh, without compromising the integrity of like what the original sort of game dealt with thematically, and and and kind of like the spirit of that. You know, this feels way larger than life of what they're sort of teasing. I'm

I'm deeply excited for it. I actually I gotta I gotta move the original up to like the top of the priority list to uh for backlog, like we came back from breaking Yeah, to talk about that'd be cool, but yeah, this feels big. Jan was it you that had the Phoenix down moment with this where that's like hell Blade from the makers of Heavenly Sword Sword now heaven Sword Swords Awesome. Yep, oh yeah, give me some more Heavenly Sword, Heavenly Sword enslaved forget the did Odyssey of the West, which

is also really fucking good. Uh A d m C. I mean yep, that's a yeah, that's a cedigree right there. And they seem to have like Andy serkis on retainer. Yeah, they got they're running circ deep definitely. Uh speaking of running deep still wakes the deep. Uh. I think this is the one that uh had that trailer. It takes place in an oil rig and had a trailer at Summer Game Fest or somewhere that Dan saw and Dan was like so extremely bored by it. Yeah, but I

like, I like oil rigs. Something about an oil rig? You just like isolation? Yeah, maybe I do. Yeah, I do like the idea of just like being alone somewhere. That rules this I don't. This game looks like it could be really cool. It is a person exploring what looks like an abandoned oil rig on the ocean, and that's really cool for me. Like, I just like the kind of mystery about that, because I do think that's what this game is. And also the Chinese Room like

does a lot of good stuff. Like I was really into what the fuck was that? It was like, Oh, no, they weren't the Swan game they where everyone's gone to the rapture? Yeah, yeah they do. Yeah what else did they do? And which is also which is a very strange and fun game they did the first Was it the first Amnesia game? No, they did Amnesia a Machine for Pigs. Oh so that was like

the second one, right, Yeah, yeah, you're sling Okay. I think they have an interesting enough kind of pedigree that I will check this out. And they are making Vampire the Mass Great Bloodlines too, which is also coming out next year. Apparently we'll see though. How does one play Heavenly Sword in twenty twenty four. I'm doing it three. I'm doing it on a steam deck. Oh yeah, there you go. We'll get you hooked up on your steam deck. Jam. Okay with that, all right?

Squirrel with a gun. It's a game where a scroll has a fucking gun. Cool gun too, well. I mean it's it's a normal sized gun and a normal size squirrel, So it looks like a big gun, but he's just carrying it and shooting people and it boiler. This is the one where you go like shoot a gun down and it like pushes you up in the air, right because you're a little squirrel, I think. So there's like part of the platforming that's the game. Just like I just laughed my

my head off when I first saw it. I'm just like, oh yeah, okay, like do this and I'll check it out. And it's like it's like a kind of like a realistic looking gun too. You're just like this squirrel get this. It's like it's got got goat simulator vibes. Yes, I love that's exactly right, yo. This squirrel can't hear for ship after blowing its ear drums out for sure. Uh and then thank goodness you're

here. Is another one I played at PAX. I think, oh you did play it, yes, yes, oh guy, this is the one where I played it. And I'm like, I think I get these jokes. And then I like talked to Lucy and Tam later and like, yeah, it's from the North. We got all of them jokes. They are hilarious. I'm like, okay, good, I'm glad. I'm glad you got them because I think I got them, but I'm not exactly sure.

It's very cartoony. You explore these scenes, these like vignettes, and like each one leads to another one and another one, and then sudden you get to like a wall and it's like I need meat from the store and you have to like go to break into a deli and get meat out of the back and give it to a guy to open up the new scenes so you can keep moving along. A lot of it's like okay, like go get some water and you follow a hose and it leads you down a well and

that leads you into like a secret sewer city or whatever. There's a ton going on and it looks very nice and it's got it does have a strong sense of place and humor. Yeah. I love the look of this. It reminds me of something and I can't place it. Yes, No, we're gonna get to it. It's like it's Regular Show adjacent, Regular Show adjacent. Yeah, yes, it's I believe it's called like adventure, like City Town or something like that, Big City Green. Is that? Oh

it's like a It's a Max show, isn't it. No, it's I think it's like some sort of like Sesame Street adjacent cartoon where like a snake has a hat on and it's teaching you about math and stuff like that. Oh, I have no idea what you're talking about. That's just that's your speculats dreams. No, it's a it's most certainly a thing. Speaking on Regular Show, we were we were talking about something that has a Regular Show alumnus involved in it. Yeah, that was it. Now, I can't

remember anything. We can't remembering. It was Warhammer forty K, Space Marine two. Of course, it wasn't Alone in the Dark. It was something figured out. Let's get this last one that zimless Zone zero. Of course, there's anime in it. It's a gotcha game. Oh you know what This is actually one of those instances where I think Asian developers may be trying to ape Spider Man, because if I recall correctly, there is a strong

platforming grappling component to this game. I could be completely mistaken and be thinking of something completely different, but I think that's what this is. Yeah, I don't know a visual novel to me, but that's just because it's got to look to it. I enjoy the look. I enjoy the anime and oh you do, oh this is this is from ho Yo verse, so ho Yo verse, a me Hoyo game to me Hoyo Joint and you know

those There is more to those games than people give them credit to. Oh definitely, Yes, there's a reason they're massively popular other than the Wi fus. Yeah all right, Uh that does it. I don't know what do you guys? What's the what's the big ones for you? Maybe Final Fantasy? Yeah? Haities two is definitely the one of my I can't stop thinking about. I don't think there's anything that I can't stop thinking about. Definitely

excited for Hades two. I'm a big dumb asshole because the thing that was the regular show person was the Littlest Batman was a Merry Little Batman regular. Okay, that's the regular show connection. Well that explains the quality of that

thing. Okay, there you go. Yeah, I don't know, there's not like I don't know, is there anything that like it's like, well, this is kind of a Jeff Backlark gang because for me, obviously, that's that's Expeditions, a Mude Runner game, Like really I will be throwing myself into that that I'm gonna go wild for that one. No, I

don't know. Obviously, twenty and this year there were like a dozen games that had me written all over it, and I think this year is hopefully a year that I'm surprised by. Well, yeah, let's let's talk about that. Do you like, do we think that next year is going to be able to like get close to matching twenty twenty three? Are we worried

about Okay? Yeah, sure. We have a couple of things from Nintendo that seemed to be send offs to the Switch, and we have things that were previously announced from Xbox but not a ton that are confirmed for next year and PlayStation kind of crickets. I mean we you know, we saw the week that maybe there's going to be Spider Man two online from Insomniac, but that's like a new mode sort of thing. How are we feeling about the

games that are announced next year and then the games that aren't announced. I love to be surprised and I love to be wrong. I think twenty twenty three I was wrong a lot of the time, and I was pleasantly surprised and happy about that fact. I'm also excited about the potential for stuff to get stealth dropped. I mean, we saw nothing about Hi Fi Rush this year, and then that's right, came out of nowhere point and yeah, just who knows what will pop up from like the indie scene, what'll blow

up and take over like the cultural zeitgeist? Right, yep, totally. I'm excited to see how some get twenty twenty three games are going to grow. Like I'm really really excited and hopeful about the potential of the finals. Yeah yeah, and I uh and for me, it's gonna be the way the way this year went was, Yeah, a ton of huge, massive games and then some of the most fun is here's Lethal Company out of nowhere on Steam, and we're gonna go play that and have a great time.

I'm expecting that to be even more the case in twenty twenty four games out of nowhere on Steam that take over the world. That's as long as that keeps happening, I'm gonna be good games. So yeah, that's that's twenty twenty four as it stands right now. I guess the next time we talk to everybody, it will be twenty twenty four, right, Jim, Yeah, it'll supposedly be January second is when we when we come back, I may ask for a couple of days off before or that week, because you

know, just I could use some more decompressed time. But hey, gents, I hope you had a fantastic holiday break. I hope you at home had one as well, RESTful. I hope you uh stayed warm, stayed love, played some games that you missed, or replayed some games that you

love so close and hold dear to your heart. We a giant Bomb dot Com love you, wish you a fantastic year, and wish you a happy, happy, happy New Year as well, and we'll see you then for another episode of the Giant BombCast. I've been chaying, he's been, Jeff, He's been Jeff and that has been a fire that's been going underneath Jeff grab this whole time. My god, we'll see he's he's pretty toasted.

We'll see you. We'll see you next year. Kisses on the cheek, on the mouth, on the forehead, and you know what a good side huge yeah, just nestling in right here that we love you, love you by because it was busy world, Richard scary. That's yes, from Thank Goodness year. Here the the Giant BombCast is brought to you by the little worm guy inside all of us.