Asmongold TV - Bungie's new game is a mess.. | Asmongold TV

Episode Date: October 4, 2025

Bungie's new game is a mess.. Asmongold show for all of his stream highlights, competitions, reactions & more. --------------------- -------------- Keywords: gaming podcast, esports commentary, gaming culture Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're going to start with this one. This is the reveal. This is the big reveal. Big game. Huge game. One of the biggest games. A bit of a bias. Bunchy fan. Played a lot of Halo back in the day. Was that on the moon? That was cool. I like that. I think the character design is pretty weak. I actually think that the world building and the atmosphere of the game is really good. But like, I'm making a lot of comparisons in my head right now with like this. into Death Stranding 2 trailer. And like, it's really hard to be as good as Kojima. But, like, outside of this character design,

I think that it at least reminded me of that. But these characters just look like, um, toys. The design isn't, it doesn't have any edge to it. I just don't like it. I wouldn't make a decision on the game for that reason, but that's just my opinion. like this is like it's okay right but like if you go and you compare this

to like the level of quality of the Kojima characters inside of Death Stranding 2 you just really you're looking at two different types of situations and I think that like characters being aesthetic and looking good is a prime value you need that

you have to have that and this is just not really there they look too clean they do And like, so let me get a bit farther before I start going on tangents. Welcome once again. Once again, once again. Can we place it?

Like, this is okay. I think this is a decent design. I mean, it feels just like what it is, right? Like a trillion bucks. Like a trillion bucks. Like a Gucci Genetics sent a reminder. Your shell repayment is coming up and will be charged against. You can see like, I mean, you've clearly got like a convergence here between.

like, you know, again, like the Kojima Death Stranding aesthetic and like cyberpunk. You know, I mean, you look at like this. This is kind of like Lucy from cyberpunk and like the anime. But I'm just not

I just, am I crazy? I just don't think it has that edge to it. Yeah, I know, I know. Do you mind if we skip the formalities this time? Got a big contract waiting down there. So. Understone. Most proceed with your gratitude.

Sounding exercise. Are you familiar with this item? Uh, yeah. It's supposed to be my lucky charm. You identify her? Now, you're considering this. Do you recognize this child? Is that her? Who are you? I don't know.

It's you. What? Really? I think that, um, that sequence is like a good example of when show don't tell would have been probably a better way to demonstrate. like what that was. I think that if there was like almost no dialogue there, it would have been a lot better.

I think that in a lot of cases, like, that's true, is that less dialogue is better. You always do you mean to worth anything? Speaks to me. Let me listen. Yeah, go ahead. I think that there's like a degree of like a, like a style clash

where you have like, you know, Unreal 5 hyper-realistic backgrounds with like these cartoonish almost Fortnite style objects and characters it's not a big deal right like I'm just kind of talking about it

you ever wonder what happened to these people it's not my business and this music is you'll have a tough time finding a buyer good it's not for sale it's an extraction shooter by the way I think that a lot of the negative sentiment for this is that this should have been an 11. It's a 7. It's a 7 or an 8.

But this should have been an 11. Because like I can see like inside of this that like if you gave this to a person that was like in my opinion a little bit more deranged or creative. I actually think this trailer would have been fucking phenomenal. This trailer felt like it was an advertisement for a Kojima game, but it didn't have Kojima. That's the way that I feel about it. And like it's almost really, really good. Like I think that like the aesthetic and like the vibe of it,

it's really interesting because like especially at the beginning of this, this was really, really good. like I really like this a lot and then as soon as they started introducing the characters it just I felt like it turned from something that had like a certain degree of like like gripping interest

and it just turned like kind of weird character design's horrible yeah and cool trailer but it felt hollow yeah it did and so I mean I'm not as negative about the trailer as a lot of of other people are.

But I can see why people are so negative. And there's something that's like very uncanny about the characters, and it makes it look like they aren't really kind of supposed to be there. And it's hard for me to describe, I think. But yeah, looks plastic. Yeah, but like that, I want to say something more than that, right? So people are negative because it's the cool thing to do, nothing is okay. this world anymore. The art direction is not cohesive. It clashes and it doesn't pass the vibe check.

I mean, I guess, like, I mean, yeah, I definitely think, like, which is weird because, like, am I the only person who thought that, like, the first, like, two minutes of this trailer was absolute cinema, in my opinion. Like, this was, like, fucking amazing. This was so good. And I really liked it a lot. And then it just kind of got weird with these characters. Yeah, no, I mean, that's it. And there's a lot of people who haven't really liked the character design. Marilyn Manson vibes are putting me off, not interesting. I can see what you say they stand out, but in the way a polygon character in Resident Evil stood out.

Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I'm guessing we play as the newly produced bots. The woman interview robot doesn't check if the bot is stable. Yeah, maybe. I mean, I'm not really sure. But yeah, I think that there's definitely a lot of like, I mean, overall, like, after watching this trailer, would I be encouraged to buy this game? The answer, if you want me to be honest, is yes.

Yes. I think that this is good enough that I would probably buy the game based off of this. Now, and also, like, I have pretty low standards for games, and I pretty much try it out, see what it's like. That's kind of the mindset that I usually have. Try it out, see what it's like, and if it sucks, I stop playing it. But I think that there are people that have, like, a lot less free time than I do, and maybe even also disposable income because it'll cost money.

The game will cost money, like, $40 or something. like that, then I think that they're going to exercise more discretion than I will. It's artsy, though? Well, like, the thing is that it's artsy, but it's artsy in a way that I think is indulgent and it's not exciting. Like, again, if you compare this, I think it's a great way to look at this is to compare it. It is like this trailer here, right? Like, I feel like this, like, these two have, like, very much the same energy.

And maybe I'm crazy, but like I think so. And you can see like with a character like this, for example, there's something about this that's like more compelling and interesting. Just in terms of the design. And I'm not talking about like the graphics quality, but like it's just more compelling and interesting. A lot of the character design, actually this is a good way for me to put it. Some of the character design in this game,

it reminds me a lot of when you first get Photoshop and you apply every single like filter to text to make it look as cool as possible but then you realize it's like hard to read and see what's going on with it. Does that make sense? Like you guys did this whenever you were kids, right? Yeah, it's over design. That's their goal. Well, if that's their goal, they succeeded. And so anyway, that's basically it. Let's go ahead and take a look at the gameplay trailer.

The marathon is a team-based extraction shooter set around the mysterious and cutthroat world of Towseti 4. You are a runner, a cybernetic mercenary who's given up their human form for a biosynthetic shell with unique abilities and stats, capable of both tactical and fast-paced combat. Here you'll fight in a crew of up to three players across a variety of zones and points of interest. You'll face rival runners in zones of up to 18 players, countless security forces, and other worldly threats. This is okay. To scavenge the remains of a lost colony for glory and fortune. The environments of Tau Setti4 are filled with weapons, materials and equipment you can scavenge throughout the map.

It's the same as any of these games. Before deploying, you'll strategically build your load out and select a runner. to ensure you're equipped for the run ahead. Your objective is soon. So your runner, so this is also class-based, by the way. So, like, the characters are, like, it's like, I don't know, like,

how much of a class-based it is, but yeah, it's Apex, yeah, I think it's seemingly kind of like Apex, yeah. Oh, get in, gather as much loot as you can, and make it out of life. Die, and all your game will be up for grabs. Survive, and your loot can be taken into future runs as you grow in power and fill

your vault. Death is inevitable, but it's never the end. Think quickly on your feet and outplay your opponents, and in your next run, you and your teammates will be the ones coming out on top. And even if you're down on your luck, factions can sponsor you with a fresh loadout so you can get right back into the fight. That's cool. I like that. Bungy brings its best in-class first-person multiplayer action

to the forefront. Dynamic and tactile gunplay. Runners with unique play styles and customizable builds create highly dynamic and strategic team fights. Whether you're on a zero to hero run or high rolling with powerful gear,

you'll need to use your best judgment when you decide which fights to pick and how. Because no matter how geared you are, players with skill and strategy will always have the edge. Marathon is designed to be played in crews with contextual pings, shed objectives, and down but not out to streamline playing with your friends. I'm not sure if making people play in a group is a good thing.

Is not the end. And if you're the last one standing, you can overcome the odds to revive your teammates and get out with your hard-earned loot. And if you believe your skills alone are enough to conquer any challenge, we give you the freedom to opt out of crew fill to take all the glory for yourself. Yeah, the same is darker, darker. No two runs in marathon ever play out the same.

With dynamic events, variable weather, and unpredictable players, you'll have to adapt on the fly if you want to survive. Each run has a time limit, and anything can happen while you're chasing your objective. Looking to unlock upgrades or increase your faction reputation. Slip into the shadows as foy and ghost past your enemies. Search the map for rare materials and profit opportunities without being discovered. Want to push enemy teams and steal their loot?

Bring in glitch with agility and plot and your strongest weapons to disrupt rival crews. Running support for your friends, grab extra equipment, shield charges, and a special Backpack to be the lifeline they need. You're always free to experiment with team compositions. And the only limit to how you want to play your runner is your loot and imagination. I say John Marathon. Endgame challenges, ranked play,

discovering secrets, seasonal storytelling, community events, and more all await you in season one, where you and your friends will start to unravel the mysteries of Tau Setti 4. You're only ever one run away from your own run away from your own way from your next big score. All right, we got one more.

We got one more. Let's take a look at it. All right, this is a gameplay reveal. Let's watch this one. This one got really bad ratings. Here we go. A marathon was their old game. They made it for the Mac back in the 90s.

A lot of people probably don't know that. It was a real long time ago. It was before they made Halo. It's kind of cool. The end of all things is not over. My dream. yours this is i like that that's cool that was cool too i think what really matters the most and this is what let me let me i'll just let me gotcha bitch so um thoughts on the game uh opinions etc um

what do i think i'm gonna just play when i talk while i talk about it actually you know what i think it was uh there was a video of like shroud talking about it i'll listen to what he says too because He's like, you know, the guy, right? This is the, like, the epitome of what happens every single time. You come in, whether you're a AAA dev or an indie or whatever, you try to come into an extraction game and you try to make it and you try to remove the friction. There's a lot of friction. He's going to say that the friction is what makes the game interesting.

In a game like Tarkoff. There's a lot of, like, complexity. And by removing it, it's going to be an empty experience, I bet. might not want you to open up the game ever yeah hundreds of bullet types thousands of individual items quests that don't tell you at all where to go yeah no map um i mean the weapon attachment system is like what am i doing right so much friction there's so much friction to play tarcov most people don't even open that game but that that first friction is what makes the game so popular to its core audience.

So it's weird. Path of exile has the same situation. Come in, you're a new dev or a AAA dev, whatever. And you want to remove the friction? Great. You remove the friction, the game is smooth, the game's easy to play. Anyone can just click play and just be right in it. But they only play for a couple weeks or a month.

And then they're like, well, there's nothing left to learn. Well, yeah, that's because you just removed all the friction. All the friction's gone. All the tooltips. Like, for example, a perfect example is this, yeah? On this screen, you see every single item and its value. Yeah. You don't learn the value as a player.

You instantly are told what it's worth. That is, yeah, he's right about this. Is that that's like a vector of difficulty that the player then achieves that's taken away from them when there are values assigned. He's right. Is a developer coming in and saying, we're going to remove the friction and remove the complications of like the complexity of like seeing an item and being like, what is this? We're just going to tell you what it is.

It's worth $1,000. That's it. Yeah. Great if you're playing the game for the first time. Bad if you're playing the game for 50th time. The thousandth time. Yeah. Because what makes extraction shooters good and interesting is giving that player the knowledge, the tools to like learn the game themselves, figure out what a pack of cigarettes is for.

And I know it's really stupid and nobody thinks like that. Most people. No. The most patrician game developers understand and respect this. That's why you look at like, you know, like the way. way that Miyazaki designs games like Elvin Ring and the way that classic well a classic wow was designed is that it's designed with these things in mind and there's like an element of good friction and bad friction and one of the best examples of uh what do you call it the best examples of like this being

bad is like retail wow especially during like the legion bFA era where developers knew that was needed in order to create a good experience, but they couldn't intuit what that friction was and why it was valuable. Bad friction equals world quests. What makes extraction shooters fun is absolutely murking fools and distress of getting out with your wound. Yeah, but there's like different like, so like game knowledge, player knowledge and everything. And this is something that's like, this might sound weird, but bear with me for a minute.

making knowledge more of a component of the game makes it easier for hardcore players to maintain relevancy without having to have like Twitch reactions and keep up with the skill cap of the game because like a good player can still outmaneuver a better player if they have high game knowledge or like just tell me what the pack of cigarettes are for man but what's fun about extraction shooters

is one they don't tell you Yeah, I think also like making everything kind of a mystery that's discovered is very important. And I kind of completely agree with Shroud here. And I think that in general, the gameplay for this seems okay, right? I mean, like, I think that really what's going to define this game as being good or not isn't anything that we can really see and observe right now in the trailers. I think that you're really going to have to play this game and see how the different missions are because a big problem that a lot of like BRs and games have is that after you do a few runs, it feels like every single run is the same.

And like the game that really does the best job at fighting against this is Fortnite. Fortnite does an incredible job at always reinventing itself and creating new metas and new ways of playing the game. and I think that if you compare that with other games, like for example, Warzone or even PubG to a lesser extent, the meta for the game is pretty much discovered and the way of playing optimally is pretty much discovered quickly and then it's kind of over. And I think that's really what the problem is.

To watch the cinematic. Oh, I already saw the cinematic, exactly. And Fortnite removed friction and BRs. Well, Fortnite removed certain types of friction in BRs, but it added other friction. So like it removed the friction of finding weapon attachments, but it added the friction of building. So like there was a net,

there was like no net change. And if anything, Fortnite has more friction because of the different like difficulties, right? But I think that really a game like PubG, the reason why PubG was really popular too is because you could be kind of mediocre at the game, but you could still come out ahead if you knew what you were doing. And I think that's really the difference

that a lot of these games don't really have now is that they don't have ways. A lot of these games kind of get caught by like sweat entropy where you have people that start playing the game really seriously. And because they're playing it so seriously, they completely dominate lobbies. And when they're dominating these lobbies, average players can't come into the game

and succeed or do anything. And so that's really, I think, where the big problems are is that, like, You need to have games that find ways to overcome that skill entropy. And I don't think that skill-based matchmaking is the solution to that. I think it's one tool that you can use. But the problem still remains is that when somebody gets outplayed on such a massive level, especially whenever there's like different levels of complexity like Fortnite,

people like that get discouraged and they lose interest. And so I think really we're going to have to play this game and see kind of like what the use case for the game actually is, rather than just kind of writing it off, because I feel like Dark and Darker is a really great example of this, is that we, I don't know if I ever told people this, I know it's, it's tips did, is that we actually declined Dark and Darker for the OTP Games Expo, the first one that we did, because we thought the game was garbage. And there are a lot of games that look like garbage, but they're actually really fun to play. And there's also the opposite of games that look.

look amazing, but they play like garbage. For real? Yeah, a big, big mistake there, right? But my point is that it happens very often. And I'm very, very concerned about this. I am, like, worried that, you know, they're not really going to understand what makes this genre interesting. And again, like, I'm speaking kind of as an outsider for this because, like, I'm not, like,

a really big, like, extraction shooter guy. I generally don't like games where you can make negative progress. that's just demotivating for me, just personally. But in a general sense, this is the way that I feel about it. You missed a gameplay video, watch the raw footage. Oh, yeah. Well, anyway, I can look at least a little bit of the raw footage. Like, I don't want to go through like everything,

but we can go ahead and at least look at some of it, right? And so, yeah, this is just some of the gameplay here, right? And so game subjects, Alpha States and a chance, yeah, not really a big surprise. these are different characters that you're playing, right? Everything is breakable. So let's break it. Yeah, it does feel like they basically turned... Like, they've made it very much into Voidook's badass.

I don't think that any of the characters are really that interesting or cool. Like, honestly, if I look at this... Oh, it doesn't work with this. If I look at this right here, what game do you think? this reminds me of. We all know. It's Concord, right? This is some Concord level design. It is. Sorry, but that's the truth. Is this game gonna be the next really big game? Um, I think if it's designed in like a really good way, it could be really popular, but

it's not like crazy, amazing. It just seems like kind of okay, right? The game isn't free to play. It's doomed. Yeah. And this is another component to it is that, and if I look up Marathon, here we go. Marathon is Alpha's application, completely unnecessary gender identity question. It doesn't matter. Mare female. So we'll look at some of the people and like what people have been talking about with the game because obviously that matters a lot too. And so anyway, you've had a lot of people that have been pretty negative about it, right? This is beautiful. This is not. I mean, again, making characters. look really weird like this. I do think it's over designed in a way that doesn't really appeal to anyone. I do. Right? It's kind of hot. Yeah, I don't know about that.

It really kind of depends. But, like, in a general sense, I think that Western game developers, and this is just like a huge problem, Western game developers are like almost afraid to make conventionally attractive female characters. And so they make these characters that have. have like kind of like a very like this is like a rave girl personality or some other variation of that and they're not just using a traditional you know use a take a hot girl with decent proportions with a pretty face and just go with that right and so uh right it's very androgynous yeah

and i i feel like a lot of the female characters that are made in like western development studios do have like an androgynous vibe to it and i find it to be kind of off putting and I think it's like it's really a big shock when you see it compared to like something like Marvel Rivals because I think Marvel Rivals, the style quality and everything is just a lot better. Like this is okay, but I just don't really see this being, I don't see this being appealing. Right? Like I mean, it isn't like, I don't see people wanting to cosplay these characters. I don't see people like really being that interesting.

interested in them at all. They don't have like a, they're not compelling in a way. So, yeah, I mean, I think that's like, that's the main thing that I usually go by is like, are the people, like, will people cosplay these characters? Maybe this one. Maybe this one a little bit, but probably not even that. And so some of the other armored characters are pretty decent. And you see like a lot of comparisons of, of this as well.

but yeah, just I just yeah, if you want a hot girl, I'll just make one. Yeah, it's just not it's a little bit weird, right? And people will cosplay Concord characters as a joke. She looks like Yolande Avisor, the one in

what, Di Antward, I think. I think it's the band. If you're if I'm thinking of the person you're thinking of. But yeah, that's I mean, I can see why you say that for sure. But and John Concord Yeah, exactly right.

But just okay. Anyway, so in general, I think that the character design is, again, I can definitely see why people are comparing it to Concord. It's very, it's like, it's weird in a way. Yeah, it's terrible. Yeah, it's like, I don't know why, like, American Game Studios have such problems. Like, I think the reason why, and like, maybe this is just like me, like, you know, every problem looks like a nail. But, like, I think the reason why is because they don't want to push traditional beauty standards with games.

And so they try to create these, like, weird androgynous characters that are still compelling. And I just think that doesn't land with a lot of people. It doesn't land with people. It doesn't resonate with anyone. And I think it's weird. There's no grit to it. Yeah, exactly. and it's like if you like in my opinion

like there are some exceptions but I think that as a general rule if you can't tell what gender a character is you've made a mistake you've made a mistake it's nobody wants to see that people are not interested in that like yeah you should have some femme boys

and some tombole uh some you know like a yeah femboys and tom girls like yeah for sure a little bit but in a general sense it's just not something people are very interested in. They're bots. Well, I'm not really saying about the bots. Lowell, what about yourself?

There are no gender? No, people identify and they're going, like, these characters are absolutely gendered characters. And this is the problem. It's like if you, the fact that you think that there's even a discussion about that shows that there's a big problem. These are absolutely gendered characters.

And everybody is going to play it with that mindset, like in there, in the front of, of their mind. And so if you don't do that, yeah, 2B is an android, but people can tell what gender she is. Yeah, exactly, right? And so again, I just think that if you make characters like this, they're going to be very unappealing, and people aren't going to really resonate with them at all, and it's off-putting. And I think that's another really big component to it that a lot of people might not understand, is that when somebody sees a character design, that looks weird. like this, for example,

I think this is like kind of fine, but like in general, if they see a character design that looks weird, they won't want to play the game. That's it. They're just not going to be interested in the game because it looks weird.

And so, okay, screw it? Yeah, exactly. And again, like, I think that pretty much every single circumstance, it's always a bad idea to make characters that are not conventionally attractive. Because this is, again,

this is a shooter game, And shooter games are going to be primarily played by men. So if you're playing, if you're making a shooter game that's primarily made for men, then you should make sure that all of the female characters in the game are fuckable. And I know this might sound crazy to say, but I'm just going to say it. That's what you should do. That's what you should do. Because that's what people want to do.

That's what girls will cosplay. Girls don't want to cosplay ugly, weird-looking, androgynous creepy characters. And all of that, like, think about how much advertising Marvel rivals gets because of how many girls try to cosplay the characters. The girl character in the cinematic is fuckable, though? Yeah, but she could be more

fuckable and that she should have been. And I think that they really miss the opportunity to do that. And everybody thinks that, like, and I, the reason why I say this is because, like, I'm already assumed to be the king of the incels, right? And so, I

feel like I can say this and nobody surprised. The fact is that I'm right. I'm right. Even if you don't want me to be right, even if you think that I shouldn't be right, even if you think that this is the wrong way of looking at things, I can tell you time and time again, example and example again, every single time this turns out to be true. And if you're making a game and you want it to sell, you need to follow these principles. And if you don't, you are setting yourself at a disadvantage. And if you want to set yourself at a disadvantage, that's your right to do that. But at the same time, you're setting yourself at a disadvantage.

You're half right. Why wouldn't anyone want a fuckable character? I just want hot characters to look at and not want to simp after. I think that having a character that's fuckable is one way of saying it, but a better way of saying it is having a character that you feel is visually appealing and visually enticing. and so really the overlap there is almost a circle in terms of a Venn diagram but the fundamental thing is the same and so that that's really about what it is it's about being visually enticing or visually appealing like Death Stranding to

some of the characters like that weird guy with the guitar he wasn't really fuckable in a way but I guarantee you there are girls typing on Twitter oh I like him like he's he's cool right because like even characters that look weird have to have a certain type of positive visual appeal. And I think that that's what that, no, I'm telling you, I guarantee you that people are saying that for sure. And so anyway, yeah, the fuck you on, I'm on reality. I'm on reality. And I think there's a reason why so many people are responding this way. I am. And you can be mad. People over and over have got.

mad at me for saying stuff like this, but every single time I've been proven to be right. Every single time. But anyway, again, all of this will be secondary to the game being good. Right? Like if the game plays well, it will be able to overcome any visual problems or anything like that. So we'll have to wait and see any demos or anything like for this, like that for this game, I will absolutely play. So we'll just have to wait and see when it actually comes out, right?