TGI 679 - Return to Coral Island

Welcome to the Gamers Inn. Come on in, pull up a chair next to the fire. It looks like you've had a long journey. I'm your host, Jocelyn, and joining me as always is my co-host Ryan. Hello, Ryan! Hello Jocelyn, how's it going? Goin' okay. We're about to get hit with a big snowstorm again tomorrow. Ugh, even I am really starting to get sick of winter. But uh I mean at least I've mostly been like sitting inside and playing some video games. So hopefully that's what you've been up to too.

I have been playing well, I'm I'm I'm in prep mode for my February host special and know everyone at home before you get If you didn't read the description, it's like, oh wow, he he did it. No, I uh I played Coral Island. Which was suggested by Jocelyn in terms of a uh a type of romance in video games which is essentially make everyone on the island love you. Yeah. Yeah. I've been calling it uh i giving random things to people so they like me island.

And uh it's not as catchy as Coral Island, but it it's it's been interesting. I I never got that far in Stardew Valley. I think I think I focused more on the farm stuff in Stardew Valley. But I find in Coral Island like I'm not I'm not like engaged with the farm stuff as much, although I know you can do some pretty intense stuff in Coral Island with the farm. Uh

I did get automated sprinklers which has helped a lot and has motivated me to plant something, but I felt like a bad farmer. It's just like, nah, I'd rather just pick wildflowers and give them to random people and maybe explore the mines a bit, uh, rather than like try to grow crops and and make money. Coral Island has a pretty extensive like gift system. So you can like uh basically like talk to people and they're gonna have like

Things that they really, really like and that'll be like one or two things. And then they'll have things that they kind of like and that'll be kind of a more extensive list. And then they'll have like one or two things that they really, really hate. And they you get like bonus points for gifting them things on their birthday, which I I think is kind of the same as Stardew. So if you like give them

their favorite thing on their birthday, it's like four hearts worth of of friendship. It's like you never want to miss the favorite thing on the birthday. So yeah. So some of those things end up being like products that you can make at your at your farm in Coral Island. So cause you can like

It's not just planting things. There's like animal products too, like so you can make like milk and cheese and honey and all that kind of stuff. So gotta build barns. Yeah. I haven't got that far yet. I think I haven't been able to find anything that any of the characters love, um although I have definitely been good in the like the like category. Everyone seems to really like wildflowers, except for one person.

who gets very upset if you try to give her a flower because she says uh she says like I can't eat this. Why'd you take it out of the ground? And I'm like, I'm so sorry. Everybody else seems to really enjoy these flowers but uh Noted, don't give violets to I can't even remember the character's name. Well, it'll be recorded in your in your like people decks.

I think it was uh yeah, I don't know. I I'm th there's a lot of character names. They do there's a lot of characters and they they do characters They they I don't wanna say they blend together, but there are specific characters that stand out. I mean you've got um Alice who's like the the person who remembers you because you you used to be on Coral Island, then you went to the city. Then you decide to come back to be this. Big shot farmer and um

While I was trying to focus in on like the the relationship side of it to prepare for this host special, I've been getting distracted with all the there's a lot to do in Coral Island. Yes. I fully understand now Why this game took over your life for a good chunk of time. It was probably two months, and I was on Matt Leave, and it there's not a whole bunch of like

quick time reaction things that you necessarily have to do. So like it was when I had very first just had Live, I think. And so I was basically like holding her and letting her sleep on me while like playing Coral Island. So there was a number of factors as to why it took over my life, but I should go back I I know I said this last time we talked about it too, but I should go back to it'cause there's been a lot of updates since

I don't think I've played it in since it like went out as like a one point oh. Yeah. Yeah, no, the fact that it is is uh fully cooked, although they are they are still doing updates'cause right on the home screen it says next major update, Q two, twenty twenty six. So they're they're still doing work. Uh my understanding is there's like a multiplayer mode. Um we have some folks in the Discord that do their

do a weekly, I think a weekly Coral Island game co-op. Um uh Jim had put a screenshot in the Discord and it was like this disco farm. So you could do a bunch of fun stuff and and I think they were saying that They'cause they have a whole underwater world with the Myrrh people as well and and you can romance the Myrrh people and Um but yeah, like I when I started playing it, it was like very overwhelming because there's so much to do.

Uh, I have not done anything with my house, so I'm definitely liver living that like bachelor style, you know, no couch, just a carpet, a TV, a bed and a wardrobe that I never touch,'cause I always wear my farmers clothes. Wherever I go. There is at least one character who will read you to filth for that and be like, what are you wearing? Oh, Leah? Uh or uh Leah, maybe? Yeah, yep. So you've already found her. I have, and yes.

She she is not a fan right off the bat, but get this. If you give her wildflowers for a little bit, she's totally cool. She comes around. She is not the person who hates flowers. Uh she's she's cool with it. But yeah, I There's so much going on. I feel like

a a bit of a bad gamer because I'm not engaging with all the systems. Uh I've gone into the mine quite a bit and I've done a lot there. I've really kind of been focusing in on like what resources I need because you do need Uh you do need ore from the mine to upgrade your tools, and then you need kelp, special kelp from the ocean to upgrade your seeds and some tools.

And I've kind of been focused on that in terms of the non relationship stuff to kind of keep the progress moving. To keep things moving, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that's really helped and has kind of kept me Out of two problems, it's kept me out of the weeds, even though I I am technically going into the ocean, which is filled with weeds and garbage. But uh that's why I made sure to upgrade my um my Psy tool or whatever to to make it easier to clear stuff.

But uh I've also I also don't want to get bored. Cause like that's the other issue when you have too many options and you can't choose. You kind of feel like You log in and you don't know what to do and you bounce off. Yeah. Yeah. So that that for me was at the very beginning when it's like doing the tutorial of like go talk to the carpenter, go do this, go check in with the shop. It was very slow and I'm like, oh okay. When is this gonna

you know, get its claws into me,'cause I know, yourself included, have are huge fans of the game and speak very highly, but it didn't take long. Like once I kind of let the game progress and to do the days and and uh it worked out a lot better and I feel like right now I'm about twenty hours in, been playing it on and off for like the last uh couple weeks and it's been really good, like a good podcast game, which I have not had in a while.

I subscribe to too many podcasts and I don't get to listen to them all. So it's been really good just to have the the earbuds uh in while playing the game because there's no voice acting. Um right, yeah. I would say the music is generic. It's it's fine. It's it serves its purpose, but it's not like I can't wait to listen to the walking into the town jingle. It's gonna be great. It's very elevator musicy. Yeah. Like it's it's nothing that I would Uh write home about or want to listen to

outside of the game. It it it serves its purpose, but there's no voice acting. The sound effects are not critical to the experience and uh what I can hear outside of the podcast playing. is exactly what I need to hear. Like I I I think that uh like yeah, if I had to think, like even the Like the the mini games or the f the the fishing minigames really good. I mean I was surprised. Usually I hate fishing mini games. Uh but this one provides just the right amount of feedback as to how

well or not well you're doing in in your attempt to catch the fish. And the system works really well where you have like three bars to fill. And then as you're trying to catch the fish, the fish will be in a stage of like uh struggling and you have to kind of like keep the bar stable without like filling it up too much. And then when it's done struggling, you can kind of hold the hold the button down to fill the bar up.

uh and you just have to kinda monitor the push and pull of like the fish's struggle to break the line and then your fill the bar to catch the fish and it's it's enough feedback there that makes it fun and doesn't make it seem like you're being punished for trying to engage with the system, uh, which is what I felt like with the I don't like the time mechanics of phishing where it's like,

Hurry up and wait and then as soon as you see like the ripple hit the X button and hope hope it works. Like Animal Crossings fishing, I think. It just kinda feels like, uh, this isn't fun. But uh the Coral Island fishing is is I mean it's it's better. I don't I'm not gonna say like it's the best part of the game, but uh It's good. And I love the museum. I love collecting all the stuff and checking if I have to submit it or not. And it's so weird because like we've

talked about this game and like I haven't really talked about the the romance side of it. I've just been like, I've been collecting stuff for the museum and going underwater and, you know, going to the mines and uh

But yeah the the in terms of the romance stuff it's really interesting'cause you're having these conversations with characters and you're and and that's been the most Interesting conversations with the characters because you're learning more about their story and it's not just about like you know, who you're gonna marry and have kids with. It's more like you get to know these characters. Like you're getting to be good friends with them and

Mm-hmm. Yeah, and some of them some of the characters, a lot of the characters, if I remember correctly, aren't romance options. Right. Um, but they do have uh I thought they had pretty fleshed out stories, even though, you know, sometimes I would totally forget them. But Like the characters did seem to be

like really thought out. Each one had their own story and they had like some interesting crossovers. Like sometimes you can't progress one story until you've progressed the other story as well. 'Cause they have like a come together moment. Um, I think there's like a pair of sisters on the island that that's true for.

And there's a a couple of other characters where like you have to progress both their stories before you can get to the point where you become friends or more than with them. And as far as I can as far as I remember, there's always like an option. I think you have to like give a necklace or something to like actually start like a romance. So like you could just stay friends with everybody on the island and that's it. But yeah. Yeah. Or you can start giving out necklaces to everyone. I could.

I think they'd call it totally platonic island is what they would call it if you if you're just friends with everybody. Uh no, yeah, there's two sisters. There's twins, uh I think Alice and Suki and I think yeah, I think their stories are are intertwined. Um and it's just interesting how the island works and and there's always this like there's i so Stardew Valley had this with like the evil conglomerate like coming to the

the valley to try to take it over, uh or I I think it was like a like it was like a Walmart esque entity. Yeah. Yes. Um and then with Coral Island it's like this this oil oil company. And there's very clearly like oil stained coral and infections throughout the ocean. So that's their sort of hook for like who's the big bad.

Um uh although and yeah, you can't romance you can't romance the oil the oil executives. The oil lady, yep. Nope. Their hearts are uh are encrusted with With uh with oil and th th there's no saving them. So uh as hard as you may try, maybe they'll add that in the DLC or or in a feature patch. Romance the evil. Exactly. Yeah, you can't do that. Although they do have mini golf outside their their location. You can't you can't use it though, which is

Just as bad, I guess. Well, yeah, they're evil. They're taunting you with mini golf that you can't play. Exactly. They're trying to get you over to the dark side. Well yeah, maybe so what you're saying is if I become an oil executive I can play mini golf. Ah, okay. Yes. Well, uh I am I'm in the process of trying to uh I did meet some of the Murr people, but they I was gonna say they ran away, but they swam away and I'm still trying to get to their Location to start to see.

chatting with them and see what's up under the sea. Uh but so far it's going really well. Like I said, it's um it's it's a game that has worked really well with sort of a a second screen experience. I don't think I could watch T V while playing it. It's still pretty involved. It is, yeah.

But listening to podcasts in that audio space makes a lot of sense. Yes. It's been really good and it's been nice to listen to some podcasts while playing a game again because I've a lot of the games I've been playing lately have been solely focused on the video game and and it's been nice to kind of just Just uh chill and play the video game and listen to a podcast. So Coral Island's pretty good. It it does not unfortunately run really well on the Steam Deck. Like it does struggle.

Uh, especially in docked mode, um, which is unfortunate, but it is a three D game, and I find three D games are hit and miss when it comes to the Steam Deck. So uh that that has to be mentioned. So I've been sort of playing it on one of the computers that that can handle it a little bit better. But um Occasionally when I load it up on the Steam Deck I I can sort of do a day or two and and enjoy it, but I do find the performance does kind of

Make a uh well, what was a slow experience? I started to unlock some fast travel, which has been super helpful. Yes. Yeah. Once you get the fast travel and you kind of like um focus in on doing that, uh everything opens up really fa really, really fast. Really quickly. Yeah. It's a huge map and there's a lot to do. and running around and talking to people and visiting the store and going to your farm and d donating stuff. Um, I think I've unlocked

enough points where I can kinda zip around the map with minimal like, oh my god, and I'm walking and I'm walking. There's still some points that are harder to get to and it feels a little Starting out, it feels a little slow uh walking around. Especially when you know where you need to go and you're just like, Okay, mash B, mash B, let's go But uh but now that I have some fast travel points, I wish they unlocked a little faster just a little faster.

And they were more generous with some of the unlocks. I haven't Googled how to unlock some of them. I'm imagining some of them are like the museum one specifically. The museum's open 24-7 and you can go whenever to donate stuff.

But like I've been playing for twenty hours and I still haven't unlocked that fast travel point and I'm kinda wondering at this point, if I've just like missed something, because I feel like that would would have been like one of the first ones that the game should have unlocked for you. So that's a bit of a bummer. Uh but like I said, I I think that, you know, I unlocked the mine and the farm and the diving point and then the the temple where you turn stuff in.

uh your s there's multiple sort of turn in points and stuff like there's a lot of like checklists in this game, which is also very very satisfying. Uh so like I think even like you know, your interactions with the with the the citizens of Coral Island, it's all just a giant checklist. You know, have you given this person two things this week? Have you asked them to hang out? And uh yeah, so it's it's good. It's it's a nice break game. It's definitely been been needed uh with

with all the bigger titles that I've been playing. So I do recommend it if you do get a chance to jump back in. Like I I can't remember like you had stopped playing just before the mermaids and one point oh hit. Is that kinda Uh, so the mermaids were in the game, but they were not romanceable. Oh well. Get in there, I guess. Yeah. Oh man. So okay. So apparently I was trying to remember, um How to do the museum thing. Um, and apparently sometimes it's bugs.

So yeah, cause you have to like there is a quest associated with it and it I think it starts with donating a certain number of things. to the museum. So I think you have to like donate fifty things to the museum to get the quest to start to unlock the fast travel point. But every um a lot of other things are um uh the offerings up at the lake. I don't know if you've started to do that. I have. Okay, so it says

Spoilers for Coral Island, I guess, but it says to complete the Pick Starter launch, and I feel like I I've done that. Um I've gotten very close. Oh, I see. There's some other stuff. Oh, that's a reward. Yeah, wait for the Pickstarter funded for a week. So maybe I haven't I think it funded and I'm just waiting for like

the days to go, I guess. So I must be getting I must be very close. You must be really close then, yeah. I was gonna say I remember I remember that like you had to do for like some of the major ones, you had to do like fifty things. And then after that You got the point, but yeah. You should be close. The museum is right in the middle of town, so

It does definitely um make things a lot easier. Yes. To go to the shop, to go to the like it's it's a very interesting the way they've set up the game. They've It like it feels big. Like that's my big thing is like it it just feels like a very large game and there's lots to do. And I can totally understand how you could get lost in it and be like, okay, like

Today I'm gonna go to the mines and tomorrow I'm gonna go into the ocean. It's like, oh crap, I forgot to, you know, do my rounds and talk to everybody. Like you don't even have to talk to everybody, but like I find when you do, there's new things for them to say and stuff. So um It's it and there's like special events and and yeah, it's it's a great sort of casual experience, but like

on the surface it seems casual, but really there's just tons to do. Uh and if you if you're looking for something that is Animal Crossing esque and you liked Stardew Valley this is kind of uh a combination of Stardew Valley and and Animal Crossing and it's a and but it takes itself a little more I it's a little more I I don't I don't know if I want to say it's a little more serious.

But there's just like there's more going on. It's not as like I guess it's cartoony to a certain degree, but I don't know. It just feels like there's it's there's more to this game than Animal Crossing for sure. Stardew Valley definitely got far enough, but I did yeah, I was gonna say I didn't get far enough in Stardew Valley to really make that comparison, but I think for me, because it's

That like 3D art style. I connected with Coral Island a lot more. I really have trouble with pixel art games. I usually don't get drawn into them as much as other like art styles, so Yeah, for me it makes sense that Coral Island would would pull me in and resonate, even though it's a very similar gameplay loop to to Stardew Valley. But yeah.

I really enjoyed it. I I think I and honestly I should s so all I've really been doing is uh I've been playing two point museum and getting like just kind of cleaning up all my achievements. I think I've only got like five more achievements to go. Um, and so I've been basically just cleaning up my achievements and Yeah. Been obsessed with getting all the stars that I can in two point museum. I've been having so much fun in that game.

And I'm like, I when I have nothing to play, I should get back to Coral Island. It's like, Well, right now I have nothing to play. I'm just playing two point museum and cleaning up achievements. So But yeah, it's really got its hooks in me right now. I was like trying to find something to play for this week and then I was like, I'm just gonna play two point museum. I was gonna like maybe try out Overwatch or something that's apparently having a resurgence, but yeah, nope.

Two-point museum. I think like stuff is starting to come out. Um like there's uh Resident Evil at the end of February is is kind of the first really big deal of the year, I think, even though that's one I may not actually play. That's definitely one I'm gonna watch. So Yeah, there's there's some stuff coming down the pipe, but uh yeah, nothing's really grabbing me right now. So if you guys have any recommendations that you think I should play, um, other than

Go romance mermaids in Coral Island. Uh yeah, let me know in the Discord'cause uh yeah, I'm always open to suggestions. And I know that Hat is gonna pipe up and say, Go play Oberdin, and I know I need to go play Oberdin. And it's it's installed and ready to go. Maybe that's a Steam Deck one. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I think you should do that. Maybe th yeah, maybe that's what I need to do.'Cause I've also been struggling to

like make the Steam Deck work for me just because of like the types of games that I try that I'd like to play. I tried to play Subnautica and um the I guess controls were not like intuitive. Cause I've played Symnautica before. I played like probably fifteen to twenty hours of Subnautica before. I just didn't want to pick up my same save file again because I did that in like twenty eighteen. I'm like, I'm not gonna remember anything that I did or where I was or anything else. So

I'm just gonna start a new fresh save file. And then I was like, I can't under s like I can't remember anything of what I was supposed to do. Navigating these menus isn't as intuitive as mouse and keyboard. Um I don't know if I like the Steam Deck. It's a good thing that I'm that I'm borrowing it and that I didn't actually buy it. Um, but yeah, so maybe I am just maybe I'm just playing like

complicated games because I also tried Frostbunk and that was a mistake. I think, yeah, you you should try something a little more controller friendly. Yeah, maybe maybe I just need to play some Hades or something or Oberdin. Um and yeah, play some stuff that's a little bit more pared down in the complexity and UI. Um but yeah.

I could use some suggestions, guys. So uh yeah, hit me up in Discord and let me know what I should play. Um and you've uh uh we're not talking about it. It's not in the notes to talk about this week, but uh yeah, how's how's how's dating everything going?

Uh, it's going well. I I am just starting to scratch the surface on that one, uh, and I will likely talk about it next week. That game is really, really huge. Um There are well, I mean, you date everything in the house. So yeah, it there's a there's a lot of characters to meet and a lot of stories to play through for sure. Especially since you're limited every day to only talking to five objects, right? So

You gotta really pay attention to like what you talk to and at what time of day because all of that will matter as to what stories you see. So Yeah. Yeah, I mean if Coral Island had so much stuff you could do. Like uh date everything, like there's a lot of stuff that you can do in that game and and

Um yeah, I I've not very far. I do appreciate that in that game it has like sort of the behind the scenes tracking where you progress enough or interact with enough characters and the story the the the side nah I don't want to say the side story, but the the main story plays out and will sort of pop into view um every once in a while, which does sort of break up the the dating of everything, but uh it's My favorite so far has been a co-wor talking to a coworker and the coworker is is

y you tell them and convince them that you are dating your your your household objects. Oh yeah, you're dating your house yeah. It's just a very silly game. It does not it take itself seriously, but then there is Um, there's just a lot of stuff that pops up that is very serious, you know, like th th some of the relationships that these characters are having.

with each other are are are very serious. And uh to the point where the I think you talked about the content warning system. I did leave that on just to kind of see how it would pop up and Um it's happened a few times where it it it actually explains what you might And I s I I'm hoping in a in a sensitive way to be like, hey, what you're about to experience is this, this, and this. If that's not okay, let me know and we'll skip it.

And I hope that that is like I know we've talked about other games that like didn't have the warning. Maybe it was I think it was Boyfriend Dungeon struggled with that. Um there was a generic warning, but there was no like guardrails, I guess, or like Yeah, I'm trying to remember back to that um that con because there were I definitely remember there being a controversy around Boyfriend Dungeon, but I can't remember the actual content that was

I think it was like just created the flag. Yeah, I think it I think it was like one of the characters. No, I don't uh yeah, you're right. I it's it but yeah, with Data Everything it's it has been a It's a very different kind of game and it's so funny that like I know we had the conversation about the host specialist like oh it's we're we're gonna talk spicy games like

Data everything's pretty spicy. Like it doesn't show anything, or at least I haven't gotten that far yet. Sometimes there's some sounds. Yeah, like I think the way the conversations that are being had and uh as Justin says, the sounds Uh it it is a it is a mature title. You are dating everything and everything seems to be cool with that. So uh yeah, uh it's a It's a game I it's something that I've never really played before, but it is like a dating sim, and it's not quite to the point of

parody that it's mocking the genre. It's a parody that's celebrating the genre, I feel like. Mm-hmm. So it's fully voiced. I could not imagine enjoying the game if it was not fully voiced. So That's really helping as well. Um, Boyfriend Dungeon was uh the content warning didn't flag or at least um didn't fully describe the stalking and emotional manipulation in the game. So they they updated their content warning um after feedback.

Okay. That makes sense. Because like that was it was like right. It wasn't side content. It was like It was the and right up in your face. It was the story, yeah, basically. I do remember that. Uh yeah. Yeah, this and and data everything isn't like that where it's got like the um th the dual gameplay. Like this is very much a Um I guess the dual gameplay is the puzzle of finding all of the

dateables because some are like, there's a grand piano in the middle of the room. I wonder if it's datable. Yes. Pretty obvious. Yeah. But then there was another one where you had to turn on the thermostat to the air conditioner and then find a vent and then interact with the air. With air, yeah. Yeah. The air wasn't too happy with me.

So we'll win them over and we'll get there. Yep. So I'm I'm still working my way through that one and uh we'll I'll definitely probably have more to say next week and as I get further. Uh but It's interesting. I'm I'm curious about that story. Like I'm like, okay, what's the point of having these glasses allowing you to date everything? So I'm curious to see how they if they ex try to explain it.

That's another one that I have to go back to because I never actually finished off date everything and I don't actually know. what the like overarching outside the house story is or how it ends or anything like that. So yeah. All I know is I haven't heard from my coworker recently. So yeah, I need to uh to get back to that one as well.

So maybe that might I would that be another good Steam Deck one, maybe? Oh yes. Yeah. It runs um it runs really well on the Steam Deck. I mean As you're walking around in the environments,'cause it is a three D game, it does have some slower performance, but as soon as you're talking to the characters and listening th to their voices it's

static imagery and and works perfectly. So it's a I would say a great Steam Deck game and um that's how I've been primarily playing it uh in Doctmo on the TV, but Um it runs really well and And I'm I'm ha I'm happy with that. Because again, like I'd much prefer to play on the Steam Deck than than on the PC. It's all controller based, so that's um I would say if you're if you're looking For Steam Deck recommendations. It is while the Steam Deck in handheld mode does have the ability to mimic

mouse and keyboard, it is never going to completely like, oh I I c I can't see myself ever going back to mouse and keyboard because I have these trackpads and an on screen keyboard. No. Uh I feel like with the Steam Deck, like first and foremost, it's look for the controller compatible games because

It's it's a controller device. Like those trackpads are nice for like the occasional I have to use a mouse. But um yeah. And it's a small screen. Like you do have to be wary of games like Frostpunk while their controller support is really good. The screen real estate is really small. It just does not suit that game. It's a very text heavy menu. driven game. Um but yeah, Coral Island, uh Data Everything, both good Steam Deck games.

Well, I'm looking forward to hearing even more about them in your Patreon special for this month. Uh so if you guys haven't been paying attention to patreon.com slash the gamers in like our friend Korath has, thank you so much. for being our February patron. Uh you may not know Ryan's host special is about romance this month because it's February, it's heart month. And so yeah, Ryan's Ryan's playing all of these things, although he's still

Still would not take my anime sex game recommendations today. I'm trying, guys. Every time I see something pop up on my new and trending, I'm like, hey Ryan, what about this one? This one was like You did it once. Orgasm lab simulator was the one from today. To give you some credit though, you've only done this once. It's not like you're

trolling new and nortworthy and being like, Oh, like I gotta send this screenshot to Ryan while he's at work. Um no, you sent me that and I immediately spotted the one that you mentioned'cause you highlighted it. Uh to make sure I did not miss it, even though that artwork is very suggestive. But there was two of them on there that you didn't even notice the other one. I didn't even notice the second one, yeah. Ha ha

You're welcome. I just want to make sure that you do adequate research for your special, that's all. Just just like just like the research you're doing, I will acknowledge that they do exist and they are a thing. And they are on Steam and they're often appear in new and trending. So there you go. There you go. Covered. We'll ask the Discord if that's an adequate amount of coverage or not. Maybe. They might agree with me in this case. Who knows?

Ryan's host special is gonna come out this month, uh, again, focusing on romance and video games. I'm really looking forward to hearing it. That's over at patreon.com slash the gamers in, which is also where our next game night is going to be. Uh so this Friday, February twentieth at eight thirty PM, we're gonna play some repo.

Uh and what we're gonna do uh to make sure that we have a VOD available for patrons after the fact is uh Patreon allows us to go live now. It's a it's a kind of newish feature for Patreon. And uh it allows us to essentially put up a stream on Patreon that when it's live, it's available to everybody. And then we'll post the VOD available to patrons after the fact. So you do have to have

An account on Patreon. And when you do interact with the stream, so like if you are talking in chat, we do want to flag for people that You don't get to like make an alias. It uses the name that's tied to your Patreon account. So I know like some people might have a different.

name on Patreon than what they have in Discord. So just kind of be aware if you're gonna join in with the chat that your name will actually show up as as it does on Patreon on whatever your account is. So for a lot of people that's a real name. Don't accidentally dox yourself just because you want to come watch repo. So yeah. Um, but we're gonna try out that platform.

See how it works and uh get feedback from everybody in the Discord at tiny.cc slash TGI Discord after we do the go live on Friday for game night. And uh yeah, I'm I'm looking forward to it. We tested it this past weekend. So there is a uh test VOD. that is now up on Patreon so you guys can kind of see what it's like. It's very bare bones. It doesn't have like all the crazy stuff that, you know, Twitch and and other streaming platforms have.

But for our purposes, I think this is gonna be great. This is gonna be, you know, give people a chance to interact with the uh with the stream after the fact if they're not able to be there on Friday. Uh we're still going to use Discord for games that don't have proximity chat.

Um, we're still gonna open up slots for everybody. So there's still gonna be all the same opportunities to play with us and hang out. It's just that we're not going to use Discord to stream on Friday because it doesn't have that VOD functionality. So We're gonna try something new and see how you like it. Again, that is this Friday, February twentieth at 8 30 p.m. Eastern time. We're gonna play repo and Ryan and I in our test streams.

Last night, played repo, and uh immediately got eaten by something we haven't seen before. It was a giant um humanoid monster made of heads. So I guess it could see everywhere? I don't know. But uh yeah, it it ate Ryan pretty fast. Cause we we were testing things and we were talking to each other exclusively in repo, forgetting we were playing a horror game. So there was death.

Well, in classic Ryan fashion I forgot about the sound mechanics that as we were talking and getting scared, I realized like, Oh, that's why the monster still knows where I am is I won't shut up. I didn't want to say anything. Because I didn't want to get eaten. Well, one of us died and that was me.

So yep. But yeah, it was uh it was a lot of fun. I am looking forward to playing repo again. So if you guys want to join in, make sure that you uh comment on the post, uh the poll over on Patreon to let us know that you want to spot. And uh yeah, we will see you guys this Friday, February 20th at 8:30 p.m. Eastern for that. Again, if you want to support us,

And everything that we do, we're trying to give a lot more value over to our patrons. Head on over to patreon.com/slash the gamers in. That brings us to the news this week. And Valve is blaming uh Lower supplies of Steam Deck on the same thing that everyone is blaming right now. AI. AI is driving the demand on RAM and storage and uh Basically causing shortages and also extreme prices. Uh Sony is also considering pushing back the PlayStation Six. Nintendo Switch two could increase their prices.

And all of this is driven by these AI data farms that are uh data centers that need all of this tech. And uh yeah. It's not a great place for hardware or not a great industry for hardware right now. Everyone seems to be having a really hard time. Yeah. I do remember when the switch two launched and there was like conversation of like, okay It was tariffs then and now it's now it's hardware supplies basically. Hardware parts. Yeah. So it's just it sucks to be still in this window, but like

I've seen a lot of comments, including in our Discord, about like how it's weird that this is gonna be this is the generation of consoles. This era is where when you it makes sense to buy a console at launch and then you know, so that you lock in that price. Usually it would go down, you know, but um But it does seem like everything's just trending up now and yeah. There's no guarantee that your console the same console will be the same price or less.

Anytime after launch, it's bonkers. Yes. And I know, you know, hardware manufacturers, they don't want to increase the base price. Like that's never their intent. Like usually I would think baseline they just want it to be the same price. Nintendo has been very aggressive about not discounting

permanently their systems, especially with the Switch era onwards. So If they do increase the price of the switch too I don't think that's something they want to do, but this weirdness, like with the constraints on hardware being and we've talked about this before, like being very critical components of these systems with RAM and storage The like I can't see that shifting back fast enough that all this stuff isn't impacted long term. Prices, stocks.

Um uh the fact that the Steam Deck went out of stock and people were like, Oh, the what's the what's going on? Like in another world that would signify, you know, we're getting a Steam Deck too, but now we live in this Opposite world where no, it means like, oh shit, like it's gonna be harder to buy them and they could get a price increase. And Steam Decks weren't cheap to begin with. Like they're like six. I mine cost eight hundred at launch. I think. And

I think it was the one terabyte version. So they're not cheap, you know? They're they're cheaper than the Xbox X. uh ally X, whatever they call it. Yeah. But, you know, they're they're still expensive. And I think the delay of the PlayStation 6, which has not been officially sort of revealed yet, pushing it to

You know, twenty twenty eight or twenty twenty nine. I feel like they can get away with that. We've talked about this generation feeling a little weird because Um, we did have those COVID years where games were like a little fewer and far between, but now it hit this pace where I feel like we're really getting going on this generation. I'm not opposed to a PlayStation six taking its time. I don't think we need to rush into the next generation.

The Switch definitely needed a refret. Like the Switch two was Well yeah, the switch did for sure. Yeah. That was that was an old piece of hardware that didn't perform at the same level as as you know Sony and Microsoft's offerings either, right? Because it was trying out this new Well, it's Nintendo. It was a new gimmick. And they found something that really hid a niche and so decided to iterate on that same thing again.

Um, and they really had to do that because they had to catch the hardware up. Like the guts of the system had to get caught up to the to the gimmick, right? So the switch two was very, very much needed. Um, I don't know if you can really say the same about the others. Um And it's really interesting. Like, we still don't have info about the the steam box thing. What crap, what was that called? Steam machine. The steam machine. Yeah. You were close with Steam Box. Ha ha ha ha.

Oh man, yeah, like uh they basically like we don't have any information about that yet, uh, in terms of like launch dates and pricing. We've been waiting on that forever. And with this new Steam Deck update. The fact that they didn't give a Steam like they gave a Steam Deck update and no update about the rest of their hardware line. I think that's a really big red flag that

something really bad is going on with their supply chain and that, you know, they might end up having to push the whole thing back. Right. Like we should have information by now if everything was going smoothly. Yeah, well the last episode, the update was, you know, no news because of what's going on. They they wanna they're gonna have to announce closer to launch. They're still anticipating launching in this first half.

Of twenty twenty six. I don't believe it anymore. Yeah. Things have changed. This week. with these two news stories has really showed what is happening right now, which is like I I think there was a couple posts I saw where People were explaining like what the shortage is. It's it's the allotment. It's not necessarily like You know, AI went and was like, I need to buy all your RAM, please. It was I need to buy all your

um your allotment of your manufacturing of RAM. So they're buying RAM and storage that's not being made yet. It's the plan to make it, to put it into data servers that haven't been made yet, but there's a plan to make and it's just cov nothing's real. So all of this and I know a lot of people are calling for oh, I can't wait for the bubble to burst. Like a bubble bursting would have

ramifications that could result in these components becoming available again. Ramifications. Ramification. I didn't even I just sometimes I walk into these uh rakes You know? Uh but uh no I I like if the bubble were to burst, like yes, all the AI companies would go bu belly up and and maybe take Microsoft uh or a chunk of Microsoft with it. But I I don't know, does that mean the RAM and storage stuff suddenly

Comes back and gets cheap because now they've they've made a whole bunch of stuff that was promised to AI and then now it's available and they've gotta sell it while everyone else has pivoted away and tried to figure out other stuff. I don't know.

Yeah. It's hard to say. It could be well, it's definitely gonna be messy. I think it's a good idea. It's gonna be messy. Yeah. Uh I think with the video card stuff when crypto crypto mining got really big And NFTs and all that, like the NFT stuff I think there was some select few that bought really expensive JPEGs and there's there's some there's there was news out there about that.

But like the crypto mining, just a lot of people were buying they were buying video cards and it was very hard to get one. And if you could, you were spending like maybe five, six hundred dollars over over asking or marketing price. Uh and then I think the crypto mining went down and then the companies started to make like specific

Crypto mining video card slash hardware and they tried to limit it that way. But that's not happening with AI. Like the companies that made those same decisions to try to address the crypto mining issue are not doing that with AI. They're basically being like Yeah, we're going with AI. Like consumers. Yeah. We're not as concerned about you. Nvidia specifically has I think it we I think we talked about a news story a few

We did a not launching an entire I don't know what you call it, tier of video cards. Do you call them yeah, do you call them generations with with video cards? But yeah, basically we always get the The blah blah blah series, the you know, four, five, six thousand series, and we're just not getting one because Nvidia's like, Yeah, screw you consumers. You're not where the money is. The money is in these big AI contracts. So that's where we're putting all of our product like well.

Yeah. They're not they're not concerned with the consumers. They're chasing the AI thing and Um while I think parts of this AI stuff is here to stay, it's it's the it's the chase that where they're going next. Like they've they're not it's not just like

search results summarized, it's they're they keep trying to push it further and further and I I just I don't know. Eventually they're gonna hit a wall. Um I don't know when that's gonna happen, but yeah, like the price increases for consoles, like consoles are supposed to be affordable. That's the whole point of those boxes. So it's it's gonna hurt.

Uh it's gonna hurt folks and I think you know, the if you were thinking of getting a switch two and you're still considering it, might wanna do it sooner rather than later while they're stock and they are priced at launch price because I would imagine that uh before the end of the year we're gonna see a price increase for that system. Yeah, absolutely. Well, speaking of Messi, man, oh man, this this next story is is developing as we swe as we speak, but uh Highgard

And if you don't remember it, because I didn't remember it, High Guard launched a couple of weeks ago. It was the last trailer shown at the Game Awards. That was its announcement. And then it was it was slated to come out in January.

Launched on January twenty-sixth. This was the uh extraction shooter thing, I think. Um, that basically like I remember watching the trailer and being like Well this seems really underwhelming and like not anything that I will wanna play and it also feels like a really weird game to like be the final trailer at the game award. uh totally like unknown developer, unknown IP, and everyone was expected to get hyped. Uh nobody got hyped. IGARD launched and has lost

uh 98% of its player base. 98.5% of its player base. Um so that was kind of the the first thing is that they went from about a hundred thousand players to about sixteen hundred players. uh since launch, which is a an insane drop off of of players. Um, they also had layoffs only two weeks after launch and now their website has is offline. It's just gone. It's just a site unavailable with their logo. So

Um, I thought that maybe like'cause they basically haven't said anything. They haven't addressed anything, but people are kind of seeing this as like writing on the wall that like Highgard is gonna be launched and taken down. within a month, which is absolutely wild. Um They had previously shared updates that were like uh updates and a roadmap and everything else talking about content updates. There was a patch last week the day after the layoff.

And that'cause I think the day off uh the layoffs happened on Wednesday and the patch went live and the patch notes went live on Thursday and there's been nothing else out of the company since then. Um so unclear as to what the plan is, but I I don't think taking down your website is a g really good indicator of success.

Well, I mean it's a pretty fancy site unavailable splash. Right? That is true. I mean, yeah, someone thought about this. Yeah. I've seen a lot of you know, you see a lot of four oh four and server errors and they're they're not pretty. Yeah. Except like So it says support at code thirty two dot com for assistance and I'm pretty sure code thirty two is like a web hosting company. Like it's not them. Maybe they didn't pay their bill.

Maybe. Because it's wildlife entertainment is the is the developer. Yeah. Is the developer. Is their website down? No? I don't know. Oh their website's up? Okay. Yeah. They paid that. Yeah. Yeah, it's just play high cart dot com is down. Um, so yeah, and this story is kind of like developing as we go. The internet is absolutely exploding right now because Basically th there was after the layoff

One of the developers who got laid off put a big, huge post on X. He's since deleted his account completely. Um, so but there are articles basically summarizing what he said. His story was that Highgard uh was like internally tested and given to like industry people and they got a lot of feedback. Jeff Keeley was one of those people, was really, really psyched about the game, thought it was great. and gave them the last trailer slot at the Game Awards because he thought the game was so good.

The conspiracy theory is that Hencent, who turned out to be an investor in Highgard, had then told Keeley, because Hencent sits on the board of the Game Awards. to basically advertise their game in that slot. Now, like I I don't necessarily buy into this because Tencent has investments in so, so, so many different places that like I don't necessarily see them flexing their muscle for something that seemed like

My impression of it, anyways, is it seemed really kind of generic. Like I didn't see anything special about it necessarily. Like it wasn't it's not my genre anyway, but I was like, I even if this genre was my favorite genre. I don't think I'd be super hyped about this.

version of the genre. You know what I mean? This iteration, this game, like, okay, whatever. And I think like it's it's the MMO conversation all over again, right? Like a lot of these multiplayer games that are vying for your time. and your money are like there's just so, so many of them. It's hard for new ones with new IPs to get a foothold. You might have a better chance with an existing IP that people already love.

in one of these genres, but like coming into a genre with a totally new product and an unknown dev and an unknown IP. That's a big ask. And uh yeah, it like again, I didn't play it. I don't know why people bounced off it, but There must not have been enough to keep people interested. The gameplay loop must not have been satisfying enough because like 98.5% of your players is insane after only a couple of weeks. Right. Like that's nuts.

Yeah. So I don't believe the conspiracy necessarily. I think maybe Jeff Keeley just has a really bad taste in games. Uh maybe. Uh I it's funny'cause like these games are not mine. Cup of tea, they're not something I like. I could see myself being one of those folks uh playing at launch and then dropping out because that's I I just don't play these games very often. But I I would be like if it's free to play sometimes

it's you get curious and you want to jump in, but to to not retain a good chunk of those players, that's that's a tough that's a tough c sell. Like I think this is yet another and look I'm not Uh I know some folks are kind of like celebrating Highgard failing or appearing very clearly appearing to to be on their way out. But like I

I don't think this isn't good news, but I think this is one of it's not good news. This is one of those situations where This is bad for the industry, but sends a message that hopefully is heard that you can't just make a new free to play hero shooter with, you know, a little bit of a twist like cards or um, you know, h uh tower defense.

it's just it's it's a very tough market to break into and like the next test is Marathon from Playstation. I think there was like even Quantic Dream was making one of these games and it's just How how do you make a successful one? Like w I I Like how? There hasn't been a lot of great examples lately. I think the biggest one would be

Apex Legends and as you said, it it had an established IP. It was literally like it wasn't Titanfall three, but it was based on the Titanfall IP, and like that was enough combined with the gameplay being uh received well by players that like those type of games. But you gotta know from the get go, like what's your plan?

If this doesn't catch hold and and most of the time there's no established off ramp for like how does this work if it doesn't catch on. There's a lot of it there's more examples of these games failing than succeeding and that and that that is sad because there are real people impacted by the shutdown. Like layoffs two weeks in, like that's yeah rough, you know? Yeah.

And and significant layoffs from from what I what I remember reading is it was like something like two thirds or more of their staff. It was so many people. That's yeah, I and this is the thing, like even if I were to post this like first thing tomorrow after recording. I'm sure there's gonna be an update and this i but it's not gonna be a good one. I don't think it'll be a good update. Like the fact that your website goes offline, there was The like yeah, this is

This is not great. But to go from 1.5 million people playing like that to me is a s is a successful launch for for a game like this. Like 1.5 million sounds like a lot. Yeah, so it was uh s when I was talking about losing ninety eight point five percent of uh their players, that was the peak player count, so or concurrent player count. So concurrently they had over Uh ninety seven thousand players with

one point five million people trying the game. So again, yeah, but then they like I say, they're they're down to sixteen hundred as of now ish. Um and it's it's really odd to see something that like launched like you say, successfully or what we would think would be successfully from the outside, like 1.5 million people trying out your game is great.

for like an indie studio and I'm air quoting indie so people don't get mad at me because everyone's now saying like Ten Cent fully funded it so it's not indie like Okay, can we I feel like the definition of indie has just gotten butchered over the last like twelve months after all the Expedition 33 talk about being included in indie categories and now this um But anyways, the point is, you know, like what seems like a successful launch, 1.5 million people with 97,000 concurrent, is like

What uh what is wrong with your game that within a week of that or two weeks of that you're you've totally tanked? Like, uh yeah, I I hate to blame I hate to blame the devs because I know like you say there's real people involved here. Obviously they thought they were making a great thing and uh you know it's it's funny because in um Josh Sobel's post

He he said basically like everything was fine. We thought we were making a great game. And then they played our trailer in the final slot in the game awards. And everybody tore us to shit because of basically where they were in the show. And if they had had their trailer at any other spot in the show, everything probably would have been fine.

But it was like so much hype for like what's gonna be the last trailer. And everyone was like, it's this. And then that like negative response from the game awards followed them through into their launch. Like, yeah. It's it's interesting. It's a definitely an interesting like twist on the story to compare to like Concord or or potentially Marathon, we don't know. Um

It's an interesting twist to the story where it's like, it accidentally got overhyped and the devs were like, oh no. Oh oh no. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I hate to laugh about it, but It's tough because the game had like if you watch that trailer Uh i i I I think you're right. It was overhyped. The context of it of where it was placed in the show and how it was, you know, Jeff Keeley's kind of talked it up and stuff.

Um, that affected it in a negative way. But if you look at the trailer outside of that I feel like it's a lot more It's a lot more of a approachable and good looking game when you when you remove it from

Like the big hype bubb bubble. Well apparently, again from this from this post by the the fire dev, so you know, d grain of salt here, but apparently the the marketing plan for the game always had been Like basically launch it with no fanfare and you know, just put the game out, put the trailer out.

and go from there and have like more of like a grassroots, like as people start to play, then you know, it tell your friends, get your friends in, like very much more like, Helldivers, I guess, like, but it was very much like the plan was to have this like low-key launch. Stealth launch it, get everybody excited about it, and you know, word of mouth your way to a player count. Um, and then the Game Awards reveal ruined all of that planning.

And then, you know, put this amount of like pressure and hype on the game that maybe it couldn't necessarily live up to or wasn't ready for. Like who knows? And it's really funny because like the head of the studio very, very recently was basically like, it doesn't matter how many people are uh How many people our game has? And then shortly after saying that, he's like, Oh, by the way

Also we're cutting a bunch of jobs and now our website is down. Like it's a bonker story. Yeah. It's an unfortunate story though, because I really feel like if you remove the weird hype placed on it being attached to the game awards because I think the game wards varies in the trailers it shows and it can really play up trailers and then it can just show a trailer that is like, oh, it's a new video game and I look forward to playing it.

I feel like if you were to move the trailer just a bit, it would have been fine. Exactly. Yeah. Because it looked like It looked like a competent, free to play, uh I don't even know, like shooter I get hero shooter. It looked better than a lot of those that we see.

And I think Concord had a similar feel and Concord had other issues, mainly being a forty dollar game, but um yeah, I just I I feel like it had all the pieces to be a success, but it just had a had some miscalculations there with with how it was placed at the Game Awards and I think if it was just a trailer that dropped and had more of, as you said, like a grassroots sort of introduction where people kind of try it as they go, I think

I really feel like now that we know Tencent was footing the bill, I really think what happened was they had a million and a half players, they lost ninety eight percent of that in three weeks, and Tencent's like, yeah no, we're we're good. Because they've already probably sunk a lot of money into this project and a lot of these big

funding companies are uh not willing to take on the risk of game development. And there's always risk in game development. Th it's not a safe bet. Uh so Um, X Riot's uh Greg Street's MMO, uh, Ghost, where they were developing it for two years and it's like it's cheaper for us to just stop now than launch a quote unquote failure, right? So not that it was gonna be a failure, but like they had like probably two more years of development and i as an investor, you're looking at that like

Okay, do I fund this for two more years and hope it does well? Or do we cut our losses now? And as it's very sad because people lose their jobs, they their project basically gets shelved permanently because they funded it and own it. But I think this is a situation of an investor being like similar to Concord, like, oh, this isn't going well. uh what's our plan? Like there's no plan if it doesn't immediately succeed and it leads to

What happened with Concord and has now happened here with Highgard. Potentially, maybe. We still don't know a hundred percent. Nothing's confirmed. It just doesn't look great when yeah. When most of the team, air quotes according again to a a different um former employee said most of the team was let go. Um, and then yeah, your website goes down with no explanation and there's been no communication whatsoever since your patch notes a week ago almost. Doesn't look great.

Um, but yeah, appar apparently the studio head uh is the one that said it doesn't matter matter whether the game gets a thousand people or a hundred million people. that it's it's fine. It's gonna be fine. And that was just before all the layoffs. Like, dude. Ugh. Social media, isn't it wonderful? Yeah, yeah, yeah, brutal. But uh yeah, we do have one more thing to talk about tonight. Uh we will give you more information about Highgard if or when we get some.

But uh we did get a state of play out of Sony for February. And uh I I'll admit that there wasn't a whole lot in this for me. There was the um the control resonant information, the um I did think that the Kenna the sequel to Bridge of Spirits, I think, kind of Bridge of Spirits. Yeah. Did look good. And that that was one I was like, oh, cool. That's I didn't know that was coming. So awesome. But other than that, a lot of this stuff was kind of like

Yeah. Not my not m not for me, but you've got a huge, huge list. So Well, I pulled out like the stuff that that looked interesting. I feel like uh in terms of a general feel this was a a very good state of play for like mass market appeal of the PlayStation platform. I I think they did a really good job of offering

Something for everyone. The fact that you picked out a few games and uh uh that's good. Like I don't think this is meant to be like please like everything we have to show you. Cause even some of the stuff I've listed here is more just like It may not be for me, but I know it's gonna be popular among the fans of that genre or that IP. Um, there was no like there was no like oh my god moments. I feel like a like maybe the closest

From a Playstation IP perspective would be the remake of the God of War trilogy. God of War, yeah. But that is so far out. I did notice that and I was like, oh, that's really interesting because I think like a lot of people, I came to God of War with the the new Um the Norse trilogy. The Norse trilogy, yeah, whatever the the more recent God of War games. I didn't play the first part.

So I think that like that's really interesting for a lot of us who came in with the newer the two newer titles as opposed to the older stuff. So Potentially that's really that's a really interesting remake that might draw a lot of people in because they were probably like me. didn't play the first part, so or the first trilogy. So I'm definitely gonna play that. But like you say, it is a it's a ways out, so

Yeah. Yeah. It's not something that is happening this year or next and and might actually well I don't know, with their news story we had about the Playstation Six, it it it might be a swan song for the PS five. Uh we'll have to see, but um uh Ghost of Yotai is getting their legends multiplayer. I know Ghost of Yotai was well received and I enjoyed the Legends mode in Ghost of Tsushima, so that's a cool thing to see.

Another trailer for Resident Evil Requiem. That game is doing the tour of all the directs and state of plays because it is out uh well, it's out in ten days. Ten days? Yeah. Yeah. Twenty seventh, I think, right? Of February. Yeah, it's a Friday release, I believe, so that will be a

That'll be a fun one. I'm I'm looking forward to it. I feel like I'm in day one m mostly because it has Leon and he's one of my favorite characters. So I was never really a big fan of Ethan Winters. He just seemed like he seemed um up to he didn't seem up to par with like the other Resident Evil characters, like Jill and Chris and Claire and uh uh Leon, like they all just had that resident evil feel, and I get it as an IP, you kind of want to try new stuff. Ethan Winters was.

was certainly a uh a new direction, so I get that. But it's good that we're getting more of a focus on some of the original characters as opposed to just like Chris was in the other ones, he's sort of a side character, but um yeah, this this seems more balanced, so I'm excited about that. Um I only put Project Windless in because it has um an Angry Chicken as the main character.

I went and watched so obviously I didn't watch the state of play when it happened. I looked at the trailers afterwards and I saw this on the list and I was like the angriest chicken. I have to go watch this because people are gonna be tagging me about this and already have tagged me about this. So I watched

This thing is so ridiculous. Like, I mean, uh it again, not my genre, but um I can see how it has the potential to be interesting and satisfying because there is definitely something about like just mowing down ten, fifteen enemies at a time and you know, like that. i when done right, it can be a very s very satisfying gameplay loop. Um yeah. It looks ridiculous. You play a giant chicken.

But also like he's big and beefy and like really like there's a lot of heroism going on there. Like I I just don't I don't even know how to describe it because it's a giant chicken. Well giant chicken with muscles? Yeah. It's it he is the angriest chicken and he's been working on it. Yeah. And he's ready to uh star in a a new Dynasty Warriors style game. So uh it it it it certainly had that like unique oh my god, what is this?

Yeah it's worth checking out the trailer. I don't think, you know, Dynasty Warrior games are my uh style of gameplay that I look for, but um it certainly fits with with what they're laying down here. Um So we'll we'll see how that one evolves. Uh and uh some other ones like we got a lot of third party updates. Uh Galactic Racer, which is a new Star Wars racing games from ex um burnout developers.

That's the one that everyone freaked out about at the Game Awards, right? Yes, exactly. Yeah, because they teased and they uh it's so weird because Oh man, I remember episode one, people hated the or They they thought the pod racing was racing was bad and stupid and lame. Yeah. That's what I remember the conversation around pod racing when the movie came out. Yeah.'Cause it was like an eleven minute like it's a huge sequence of the movie.

It was, it was effects were like through the roof. It probably was one of the bigger parts of the budget. And people, I remember being like, a range from, you know, not really caring for it and just outright hating it. And it's kinda aged

It's uh people look back at it more fondly now, to the point of where when they literally teasing pod racing with the sound that they make, not showing them, but the sound, and people are over the moon. I'm like It Star Wars has gotta be that one thing where it's just like if you leave it for ten or fifteen years, people like it again.

I don't know if that's gonna happen with the sequel trilogy, but I feel like if it we if we could do it for the original uh uh prequels, then we could do it for the sequel trilogy. So I know, you know

Uh, Ben Solo is just sitting there waiting, like, all right, ten more years and I'll be liked again. It'll be my time. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I mean people are like they they're I think there's a movie that was being developed but then got uh canned and it was like the r the search for Ben Solo and everyone's like up in arms like no we want

We want him to come back. And I'm like, you guys hated on him for like six seven years. You were so glad when it was over because it's like, Oh, thank God that's over. Uh but no, like Galactic Racer I think is like one of the first games that Caden really wants. He wants to get it. He wants to know when it's coming out. He I think he once he knows the date, it'll be like burned into his memory of like, okay, we're getting Galactic Racer on this day.

Cause he's been big into burnout and he likes Star Wars. And when he saw this trailer, he's like, Oh my gosh, it's like Burnout, but in Star Wars, but like sci fi racing and this trailer focused in on like there's gonna be a story mode and I like I like the vibe of the game. I really do love the burnout games. So combining that with Star Wars Sounds like a perfect sort of match.

So, um, no date yet. Still 2026, but it looks really good. Um, 007 First Light. Uh this one wasn't really on my radar, but the more trailers I see for it, it might actually be something that I would uh Enjoy. It's out in May, I believe, of this year. And it's um it's a story-driven action stealth. uh adventure game and uh yeah it looks it looks like a really cool cinematic experience. So I think this one has kind of moved up my my radar a little bit for twenty twenty six titles.

So and I I'm not a big Bond fan, but I do I I have enjoyed Bond video games in the past. I've only seen a few of the movies. I basically watched the Daniel Craig arc of Double O seven movies. Yeah. And uh games, I only ever played Goldeneye, so But I mean like I played the shit out of golden eye. So yeah, but that was way back in the day. Um, I haven't really played or enjoyed any games since then.

Um yeah, so I don't I think that one I'll probably wait for you to try and then if you like it then then I'll get in on board with that. Yeah. Well I mean, everyone says I like everything, so you might want to see how much I really like it. Yeah. Yeah. I think for me it just yeah, I wasn't sure about it because I I'm not a fan of the Hitman games. and it's the same developers. They just never really, you know, I never really got into them.

But this looks to be like sort of a mixture of like the uncharted cinematic video game. experience that I really enjoy and some of the hitman stuff with like the stealth and the action and all that. So if it lives up to that cinematic style that the trailer is laying down, like I think it'll be it'll be really good. So Keep an eye on that one. Uh they're making a new Castlevania game, which is a big deal. Konami is finally recognizing that oh we should uh we should do something with this.

And it's being developed by um the folks behind the the DLC that made uh the the Dead Cells Castlevania DLC so they get a chance to make a proper Castlevania game and it looks really good. Uh I'm I'm excited to play Castlevania Belmont. At some point this year. Uh John Wick, they showcased the John Wick video game, it looked to be the uh the cinematic was uh interesting. I think the gameplay is still a little rough, but

showcases some pretty John Wick style fighting. I I you're a John Wick fan, right? Like you've watched all the films. I've I've only seen the first one, so I've only seen the first one and the first one was really upsetting to me, so Well I don't know if the video game's gonna fix that. Yeah, exactly. Well, I mean like so uh it it's it's just it's just the scene and anyone who has seen the movie is gonna know exactly what I'm talking about. It's the scene that kicks off the vengeance. Right.

really have trouble watching that. It yeah, it's just one of the things I don't wanna see here interact with. No thank you. Um so That like soured me on the whole movie and then the whole franchise. There was like another one that came out and I was like, No, thank you. Like I'm good, thanks. So no, uh like

Yeah, and and I don't know, I mean, I'm sure that that sort of scene wasn't repeated. And like, yeah, but yeah, not my thing. Yeah. Not a thing. I uh like I've never seen anything past the first one. I understand like From what outsider looking in, like what I've seen of the trailers for the new movies to through whatever they're at now. I think it kinda moves away and that and then he's like back in as an assassin and it focuses more on that world. I m that's my that's my feeling.

So like once he's back in, it just becomes like, oh, he's it there's an it's an assassin's world and they're fighting and I don't know. I'm the video game looks like it could be interesting, but I I I I thought like from a fan perspective folks would be really stoked. Oh yeah. I I know that there are a lot of people who are big fans of of John Wick. So yeah. Good to mention for sure.

Yeah. The last one here is just uh Saros which is out in April and I feel like that one is um I i is is yeah, you got Rao Cooley as the main character, so Can't go wrong with that. Love him. Love him. So yeah, that I will that's another one, much like Resident Evil, that I will be watching, not playing. Um, yeah, just so I can get some sweet, sweet voice in my ears and then

Yeah. But the gameplay looks horrific. Like horrific for me. For me personally. Because yeah, that is just not my jam. Neither was uh what was the first one? Uh well the the previous title that they had made was Returnal. Uh Returnal, that's it. Yeah. One of the biggest things they showcased in this trailer for Seros that that addresses a main concern from Returnal is Returnal didn't have Permanent didn't have permanent upgrades. You kinda just had to like

progress and make it through y your runs and also you had to start from the beginning, which is a typical sort of roguelike style. Yeah. But in Seros they they do have a permanent Um upgrade path, which is is more what we get in Robolites these days, but also you're gonna be able to travel to any biome once you unlock it. So

that kind of addresses two of the biggest concerns that Returnal had is is it it did you did hit these difficulty spikes, which I did hit and then bounced off. Uh the the story was really interesting to sort of like experience what's going on. And I think they've kind of learned from those

those lessons from Returnal. Um like a big one with Returnal is is I think like you couldn't save mid run and that was a whole thing. And then eventually they patched it in, but like at the launch they were like it's it's

The way we designed this it's kinda hard to add like a a a save and quit mode, but we're we're gonna try. And they did get there. But I feel like they have taken their time. They're Saros is bringing What was great about Returnal with the story and the combat and the bullet hell style gameplay.

And then also addressing a lot of the concerns that that players shared with with Returnal and upgrading that for Seros. And I really hope that we get more of that um approachability style. And I think just with what they showed here. we're getting some of that quality of life stuff. Specifically for folks like me who just You know get good doesn't matter.

Doesn't suffice because it's not possible. I can only get so good. I'm in my forties now, okay? My reaction time is not there and it's not gonna get any gooder. So stop telling me. to get good. Yeah. It's not helpful. I can't. I've tried. I mean, I'm probably coming up on the arthritis years, I'll be honest. Like at some point.

my hands are gonna stop working because of how much gaming I have done over the course of my life. So like, yeah, the more approachable they start to make these things, then the more geriatric gamers like me can actually still participate. I th I would think your m well I guess it's the repeated uh the repeated movements of the hands that probably would hurt it, but I would think that that, you know, using your controllers and you know, keeping your

Your hands moving with your video games, that would help, but I don't know. Uh I don't know. Yeah, I don't it's got carpal tunnel written all over it. Yeah, fair enough, fair enough. So I mean, it's it's a solid year for PlayStation. I feel like either something in there for everybody. And of course a lot of these games are multi-platform, but um Yeah, c in comparison to the three games Xbox or four games Xbox kinda showcased, this was kind of a

completely different uh look. It was just trailers. I I I mean yeah, we're due up for a Nintendo one of these, so maybe next week we'll have Nintendo to talk about. Yeah, that'll be super fun. Um, but if if we do get a Nintendo Direct, that conversation when it happens will be happening over at tiny dot cc slash TGI Discord. So make sure you go there and join the conversation.

You can also find us on the web at gamers in podcast dot com or follow us over on Blue Sky. You can find me, Jocelyn, at josplays dot com and Ryan is at Ryan Murphy.ca Also be sure to check out our TGI Community Starter Pack at tiny.cc slash TGI Starter Pack. Thanks for staying at the Gamers Inn and remember, tune in next week. Bye everybody. Bye everyone. Don't forget to give Ryan inappropriate recommendations. Hi, final edit, and this won't be in the show. Mm-hmm.