Get Played - Ghost of Yotei with Erika Ishii

Episode Date: October 13, 2025

Erika Ishii (Dropout, Dimension 20) joins Heather, Nick and Matt to discuss starring as Atsu in Ghost of Yotei, as well as their work in Deathloop, Dream Daddy and more! Check out our brand new merch at kinshipgoods.com/getplayed Follow us on social media @getplayedpod Music by Ben Prunty benpruntymusic.com Art by Duck Brigade duckbrigade.com For ad-free main feed episodes, our complete back catalogue including How Did This Get Played? and our Premium DLC episodes and our exclusive show Get Anime'd where we're currently watching Elfen Lied go to patreon.com/getplayed Join us on our Discord server here: https://discord.gg/getplayed Wanna leave us a voicemail? Call 616-2-PLAYED (616-275-2933) or write us an email at [e-mail] Advertise on Get Played via Gumball.fm All of our links can be found at linktree.com/getplayedpodSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is a headgum podcast. Hey, Matt, how's it going? I'm so excited about the episode today. We get a great guest. Yeah, notice anything different about me? Is it a new Dodgers hat? Maybe it's dusted it off a little bit. It's not the newest thing about me, though, I'd say.

You've got all the same tattoos. Yeah, yeah, same. Didn't change them. Didn't swap them out Can you like narrow down Like the field for us a little bit? Wait, wait a man I think I know what it is

Yeah Do you have wolf companions? Are the wolves new? Very observant Nick I gotta say Heather, not doing so good In the observation department I got some wolves

Is it your shorts? No, Heather, I've already said We've already established it It's not the short The new thing is the wolves The new, I got wolves now That's a wolf guy I'm a wolf guy.

Okay, guys, I'll get it. Thanks for the clues. Gold chain. Is it gold chain? That is new, but that's not the thing. Okay, okay. You had that last week, though, I think. I had it last week.

I am sort of a different guy now, though. I'm a focus. Is that wolf related? No, not really. It's not part of the wolf thing. The wolf thing is separate completely. You know what? I think it is wolf related because I think you were in the gold chain made you a different

guy, and that gave you the confidence to pursue having some wolves. I had it interrogated it in that way. the chain sort of did give me the confidence to be a wolf guy actually so now I have wolves and it's actually you know it's not that big a deal have you always had eyebrows is that what it is? Yeah I know I've always

had them okay okay these wolves I gotta say they seem chill as hell they're really chill yeah because you're probably thinking you hear wolf yeah you're thinking a couple things of Wall Street where yeah alpha alpha these wolves are sort of just they're kind of like I think it's maybe because they're rolling with

me a little bit. Yeah. They're not that crazy. They're just kind of like normal cool guys. Yeah. Yeah. Did you used to have black shoelaces? No, no, no, no.

So you've always had the white shoelaces on your converse? I know that we're sort of here to talk about me and sort of my new thing. Uh-huh. I'm a little concerned about you, actually. What are you doing about? Yeah, you're doing right? We've told you what it is, and you somehow can't get it. It's the world.

Dodger's hat. Dodger's hat. No, again. I even guessed that early. That was my first guess. It's kind of alarming that we're saying it and you're sort of like just, just, missing it every time. Is it because you're afraid of the wolves or something?

Black socks. No, no, I'm always wearing black socks. I actually been thinking about switching my socks up a little bit, but that's separate. I'm actually remembering now, like, earlier, because we had lunch before the record. Yeah. And then we finished having lunch. And others said, when are we going to eat lunch?

I know what it is. So earlier today, I was attacked by wolves, and I've been bleeding out the whole time. So it's really hard for me to keep things focused. We upgrade our wolf skill trees and capture our motion As we discuss Ghost of Yote and acting in video games this week on Get Play. Welcome to Get Played, your one-stop show for good games, bad games, and every game in between. It's time to get played. I'm your host, Heather Ann Campbell, along with my fellow host, Tiger Weiger.

That's me, Tiger Weiger, here with our third host, Mr. Games himself, Matt Apodaca. Hello, everyone. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the premiere video game podcast, where this week, somebody has made the mistake of joining us on the show. This happens on occasion. And, you know, it is nice to have another person in the HeadGum studios because the ranks have sadly been thinned a little bit. I'm not sure if this news has gone wide. So maybe among our listenership, this is how you're finding out. Unfortunately, there have been layoffs at HeadGum, which is our podcasting network.

And it's, you know, I can't comment on the financial situation of the network. I can't comment on whether this. I mean, I certainly can't be someone in support of people losing their jobs, especially a lot of great people that we've worked with here over the years in a various capacities but I just can just say

that it sucks and it's a fucking huge bummer these fucking tariffs I mean they're killing they're killing jobs left and right yeah I could just say sitting here as somebody

who has worked at podcast companies that have done exactly this yeah it's normally always fine and good it's always good it's always a sign of good things to come you know so we're like hey we're hopefully on an upswing coming ahead

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Never a harbinger of anything. It's just the life cycle of new media. Exactly, exactly. Sunrise, sunset. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Lay off. They wax on and they wax on.

Dawn of a new day. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Get ready for more celebrities. It's a good sign. Everything's going great. Hi, welcome. It's Don Johnson, and this is Wheels. I'd love to hear Don Johnson's Wheels podcast.

Yeah, yeah. I'm going to be honest since I'm the audience for that. Here's a thing. don't want to edit it. I want to hear every thought that man has. I'm curious. Uh, yeah, I know it feels like sometimes at a, you know, at a company, you're looking up in the sky and you're seeing the moon and Majora's mask just approaching. But, you know, Ray, we're going to, we're going to soldier ahead and continue making the podcast. I'd rather see that than the whole sky turning red. The blood mood coming once again. Lose me. Miss me with that. Oh, my God.

I'm scared. Everything that's dead comes back. Ay, yeah, yeah. But the cooking. Oh, but the cooking. I had that happen once. What's that one section of, what's that one section where you're just like nude? You're just dropped off nude with no equipment. You know what I mean? The island?

Yeah, there's the island, yeah. I was there and then the blood moon happened. I was like, I can't fucking believe. This is happening here. I'm like halfway through this thing. No, that's the last place you want that to happen. Yeah, what a nightmare. Anyway, we are thrilled to have today's guest on the podcast.

An actor and host from Apex Legends, Dream Daddy, and Dimension 20. They currently star in Ghost of Yote, Erica Ishii. Erica, thank you so much for being here. I'm so thrilled to be here. I am a huge fan of all of you and all of your work. You're so funny. Oh, God bless. What a thing to say.

We'll right back at you. Congratulations on Ghost of Yote, which we'll talk about more in depth in a bit. But while we're declaring each other's fandom, you play Amanda in a game I love, Dream Daddy. And I did, you know, I've been a Dream Daddy fan since the game out. I got to meet Layton Gray, one of the writer's design. at a certain point, which was very exciting. But I'm just curious, like, that for me was my first encounter with, as someone who knew you as a performer from the Upright Citizen Brigade Days,

were, like, encountering you in a game. Were you a Skeletor? Yes, yeah. That would be Skeletor that did roast. That was my old bit, yes. Yeah, it was a good bit. Oh, God bless you. Yeah, for that time and play.

Yeah. I was there when you did it at a wedding. Yeah. Is it funny that? I think, Nick, the way things are going, bring it back. It might be back. It might be time for Skeletor to return. There's a comedy festival in the Middle East you might want to hit with it.

He's back, baby. But I remember from that show tournament of nerds and then just to counter your performance and Dream Daddy was so excited. But do you have any specific memories from working in that game? Working on that game. It's so funny because that happened. That was in my very, very early days. And Dream Daddy happened because.

I was a fan of games and sort of friends with a lot of indie developers and YouTubey people. I think we all run in that sort of YouTubey comedy, nerdy L.A. space. And I was actually at the Hyperlight Drifter a rap party. And my friend Vernon, who was with the Game Grumps at the time, started telling me about this game and showing me some of Leighton's work. and I was like I a dating simulator where you date hot gay dad is exactly like I am the Venn diagram that this applies to you like I and I was with Gigi and Sundry at the time which you know we were scrapping along I was making sort of filler content for everything that wasn't critical role and so I had taken over video games and I was like I if you when you are finished

with this game I know it's just the beginning of development but I would love to stream the game I would love to have you on, and if you need anything in the game, please, you know, I would love to be a part of it. And, you know, it's wildly enough, several months later, Veren called and asked if I wanted to do a voice in it. And so I went to the GameGrum storage closet and we recorded it. And I have since been paid, but at the time, it was just like, sure, yeah, I'm happy to do it because I think everybody also did it for free originally. Because it was just, this was before they had started their own game studio. And like, I think my roommate at the time was working in their new game dev studio.

And so it was all just sort of scrapping it, you know, on all levels, both on the YouTube side and on the game development side. And it's been so wild to see those two intersecting in such a big way. I had no idea that your presence of that game was like such an organic, like a way in which it happened. Yeah, because, I mean, it was a lot of my early roles were that of me sort of the intersection of me being a video game host and, you know, bringing people on the channel or handing my card out at GDC or just kind of making it on my own. and then slowly I would get booked in bigger and bigger things and then landed an agent and then it just sort of escalated from there and so it's wild to suddenly be on the other side.

Yeah. What I just what I remember about Dream Daddy and what I've said in it in terms of my fandom of the game is it's such like a like they walk the line so well in terms of like it's a funny game that's also like a wholesome game. and it's like a great dating sim. It remains my favorite dating sim

because it's kind of what got me into the genre. But it's also like, there's a version of this that's kind of like making fun of itself, you know what I mean, or a little too self-aware or whatever. And it's not that at all. It's kind of amazing how they were able to thread that needle so effectively.

Yeah, I think there's always the risk of the sort of winking, self-deprecating of the genre and medium that like you can fall into. because we're all a little bit self-deprecating nerds but with Dream Daddy I know it was a concerted

effort on everybody's part to not make this a joke you know and and it's it was really nice and I think that that's what people really responded to I think wholesale across the board whenever I've seen projects that people like really put their heart

into and are very earnest about just people really really are craving that right now. One 100%. And speaking of dating sims, to talk about something that we all have discussed

on the podcast and we did an episode with Ray Chase about it. Yes, yes, date everything. I saw that clip. Oh, yeah. I saw that clip. Yeah.

But you are, it's, you know, one of the things playing that game is just you stumble upon so many great voiceover artists as you're playing it and you are in date everything. I mean, what was that experience like?

Date everything was also wild because it was started back in the day of like just post Dream Daddy. Right. And a lot of the team that was on date everything was from Dream Daddy.

Um, my, again, my, my, uh, housemate Greg Batha, the sweetest most supportive man ever, uh, had told me about this like game. He was sort of helping to prototype date everything. This was six years ago or so.

And it was, he was like all the lava boys, you know, like Robbie and Ray and Max Milliman. And, you know, they really want to make it union. because they want to have all of their famous acting friends. And I was like, wow, that sounds great.

Imagine to one day be in that kind of company. And then just somehow the timing was that six years later, yeah, I got to audition for this ex-to-a-roll and I booked it. And I got to be there with all of these friends from those YouTubey days and dropout and, you know, tabletop. and also from the video game world. It's just really a murderer's row of voice actors. That was the thing when we were talking about the game

is that we couldn't even, if we tried, read the cast list of everybody that is like huge in that game. The whole cast is like it's the most stacked castes of any game I've ever played, I think. It's really crazy. I want to ask you about Death Loop real quick. I love Death Loop. That's exactly my kind of shit.

I mean, I would assume that that was like a lot. of fun because it's like a really just like very like sort of abstract sci-fi like fun world yeah yeah that was great because you know I got to talk to myself yeah um and uh you know be a villain and it's just so much fun to be a villain yeah um but I had seen the I had booked it not knowing what it was and then got into the studio and they said what it was and I had seen the E3 or the trailer that had come out already uh and so I was I was so excited about it I think probably a lot of people they cast didn't necessarily know, but it was really exciting for me because I really love that studio.

I'm terrible at their games. I am not a good stealth person. I am a run and gunner. Yes. Something like Heather. Yeah. Yeah. It gets the job done.

Stealth sucks. Yeah. So, yeah. And so getting to do that and also, again, having so much. many other iconic voice actors in different like very distinct different characters was very very fun is it like because obviously I know it's not functionally different than going in and doing uh like voice work for like a cartoon or something but like are is there any like sort of like some is do you have to be in a different mindset a little bit to be like this is for like a

video game versus like a straight ahead like TV show or something I think for animation you get a lot more You know, sometimes you'll have animatics. Usually you'll know what the project is for video games. A lot of times, even when you're auditioning, sometimes even throughout the session, they won't tell you what it is. Or, you know, you won't know what your character looks like. Right. Which has been a problem in past. There are lots of stories. Oh, I'm sure.

Yeah, but it's kind of a, you really just got to make some strong choices and swing for the fences. Yeah, yeah. like with efforts and stuff too just like yeah it's it's because you know if you don't know the genre of the game or whether or you know what kind of design there is sometimes it's harder to make something that fits with it yeah uh so you just got to hope that you're with you got a good director yeah um and they're cheering as much as they can so i remember we had we had stephen foo on the podcast uh very talented actor who voiced jamie and street fighter six but talking about that process and like how little info was disseminated and terms of like what the role it was and what the game was because everything's played so tightly to the vest. I read the same thing about like acting on like a Star Wars game or something like that. That whole audition process, everything's very obtuse and you're just guessing what sort of vague sci-fi or fantasy property this could possibly be.

Yeah, yeah. And I'm lucky that I think a lot of my like deep, deep knowledge of games has allowed me to sort of be able to make educated guesses or to at least sort of place it within the category that it roughly is like, oh, this is. like a military shooter like first person shooter sort of a thing so it's like more grounded or but yeah with animation too um most of the time you a lot of times you get the benefit of reading with other actors or table reads or being in the same room with another human uh which you know in video games most of the time it's you reading down an excel sheet of lines yeah and and it's it's lonely it's

lonely but uh you know i there are some projects then with video games like yote was where i you get to work with other people and it just really informs everything that's awesome that's really awesome um this interview is kind of turning into the video game equivalent of the chris farley show we're just we're just asking you about games we liked and saying you remember that that was so that was so good it's so great it's crazy it's so crazy i will say like just like only having like met you tendentially at like certain functions and things like that having now played well it will get into it having played some hours of the game sitting across me music is i'm having a strange experience because like i i was sort of like oh like that's erika in the game and now i'm sort of

like oh hey erika kills people yeah it's your whole it's your entire face it's like so crazy i've seen you do horrible things to men the animations the fidelity and the animations are so good and it is a jump scare every time. It's wild. This is really unlike anything that I've ever done before and because it's my face

and, you know, doing full performance capture too, like seeing like, oh, she walks like me and she has like little mannerisms that I added in. And it's, I mean, it really, and there's sometimes where I'll see it and be like,

I can't believe that they, Added that in, you know. If you're still overpaying for wireless, it's time to say yes, to saying no. At Mint Mobile, their favorite word is no. No contracts, no monthly bills, no overages, no hidden fees, no BS. Here's why I said yes to making the switch and getting premium wireless for $15 a month. Ditch, overpriced wireless, and their jaw-dropping monthly bills,

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for up to 50% off Meundies comfort that's made for fall Did you have to try on all of those hats? There's so many hats in the game. That's the thing, is that I didn't know what a lot of things would look like. And I was fortunate that I was with production the whole time.

So I did end up getting to see a lot of stuff in progress or some finished cinematics. and that's again like a rare thing for video games but there's one there's one part in the game where there's a hat and it's the biggest like dumbest hat that you've ever seen and you're like damn I want that hat and then you know you get that hat spoilers I guess and I was so like I was when I remember recording the line about the hat it's like I want your hat And I was like, this is cute. But then watching it, I'm like, this is the greatest video game interaction I have ever had in my life. So, like, truly props to all of the designers and to the, like, the costumes are so beautiful and incredible.

And, yeah, I can get some of me masks and hats. Well, you, if I'm not mistaken, you cosplayed as yourself recently, which has to be a very serious. real experience. What was it like to, what was that, I mean, what was that like? How, how weird was that? It was, I just, it, it felt like Cinderella. Oh, wow. You know, at the, I felt like the prettiest girl at the ball. I have, because, you know, I came from cosplay when we, you know, as someone you dawned the Skeletor suit. Do one of the jokes for quit. Is this the roast of He-Man? Yeah, it's a great voice.

The setup was, I guess I'll generally, the setup was it was a show called Tournament of Nerds, and then I would always come out towards the end, thinking that it was the roast of a He-Man character, and then I would get really defeated that I showed up to the wrong show, and then the host would allow me, how Reddick and Jostle Donaldson, would allow me to do my set anyway,

and so I'd just be roasting a He-Man character who wasn't there, but, you know, starting for this sort of sheepish, low-status perspective, Then it would just say the filthiest roast jokes imaginable. Eat killed every time. It's the dumbest thing with so many layers. And yeah, for some reason the audience liked it. But then also everybody else in the show would really go all out for cost.

Yeah, for sure. It ranged from like Alex Berg wearing, you know, the red shirt and the khakis, you know, that he always wears all the way to like, I can't remember who it was. I think it was Roger, Roger Barr, and he had, he came out with, like, big trouble and little china with, like, a portable truck. That's just what I was thinking of. He put, like, a cardboard, like, pork chop express. And he was just like, all painted, you know, his wife was an artist and stuff.

And so some people would just really go all out on their costumes. And I remember I did everything from, like, I did a Sailor Moon for my first one. and, you know, like a drunk sort of surly buttercup from the, you know, from the Power Pop Girls. And it was always like, I, getting involved with, you know, tournament of nerds kind of came from, like, I was a cosplayer and then I was in Hal's 101 class. And I was like, actually, you know, that's not really a real reference, you know, like a juggernaut would never. And he was like, well, do you want to be in the show? Because there really was only Lindsay Kthai and Leslie Sina in the show. And so I, yeah, so I joined it through there.

And I feel like so many people that I ended up working with Joan Ford and on a Disney show. And Ify and I are just still close buddies. And it's so wild to see everybody. And you guys are doing this. It's wild to see how everybody sort of came. up together in different realms. And we don't need to get into what I saw Iffy do at the Tour of Your Shelf. Yeah.

But God bless him. Oh, that was a Christmas to remember. Yeah. But, yeah, but I came into all of this because I loved it. And I would put all my effort into these little closet cosplays. And then having Sony sent me out there and had like a professional scene-stress. make this gorgeous, like all the details, it's weathered. And, you know, they had originally made swords that were like the right draw size for me,

but they got stuffed at customs that we had to make do with other ones that were still beautiful. But it was a dream come true because I've, I've cosplayed as Sony characters before. And now to do it, and it's like the most accurate there ever will be, I think. That rules. Because, yeah, even if somebody else was wearing the comments, costume, it's only 99% accurate because it's literally you. And that was the biggest trip, you know? And just, yeah.

Also, I was jet lagged, so it really did feel like some fever dream. I still can't believe it happened. Wasn't there like a Comic Con or something where the guy who plays Walter White, what's his name? Brian Cranston. What, Cranston wore a mask of Heisenberg? Yeah, that's pretty good. And I've heard Hugh Jackman did, like, just fully did Wolverine for one Comic Con,

and people were like, nah, you're too fat, you're still like, you know? He's like, uh-huh. If I looked like Hugh Jackman and somebody said that to me, it would destroy me mentally. I'd be done for him. I would kill that, man. I would kill them. I'm like, uh, my veins don't look like this for you to say that to me. Yeah, I don't get up in the middle of the night and eat a whole chicken for you to criticize my body.

And now I'll sing you the most beautiful song you've ever heard. He's a great singer. Dang, yeah. He can do everything. He is a triple threat. He can do it all. Well, look, we love Hugh Jackman here on the podcast. On this show, I just got to say real quick, it's finally good that we got to this.

I know that we sort of started the show with some, like, some breaking news we had to get in front of. This is a Hugh Jackman forward podcast, and we just have to stop hiding it. We have to stop hiding. Whenever I hear his name, I think he's like a Hideo-Kajima character. for her masturbates a lot. Right. My mom, for a while, called him Wolfman Jackman. Pretty good.

And I don't know if it was sort of like she got things mixed up or it was because he was her suit, you know, but like I think, you know, that was his name in our household. That's pretty good. Because, you know, obviously there's Wolverine, then Wolfman Jack, a real guy. So, like, yeah, I can completely understand you get to Wolfman and Jackman. Yeah. Yeah. Eric, I have one more question to ask you and everyone.

on the podcast that we ask each week. That question is, what are you playing? What are you playing? Hi, it's me the Resident Evil Merchant, and I'm here to ask my friends and their guest. What I've been playing on video game consoles? Matt Abadaka, would you like to go first? Resident Evil 4 Merchant, thank you so much.

Yeah, thank you, Resident Evil 4 Merchant. Always a treat to see you. Always a pleasure. Hey, what the other fun one. How many of me are there in the room? And there's one of us in each area. Oh, wait, so wait. It's a different guy in each one?

Oh, my God. Because you can shoot one of the guys, and, like, he dies there in that location. Are you a multiplicity? Hold on you? I've been killed by this lady. She just... Oh, Jill Valentine? Yeah, Jill Valentine.

No, okay, okay, hold on. Aetawah, he's only going to go with a gun in their left. Things are a little bit clearer for the first time. There are a lot of me. You're a Mickey 17. We've really instigated an existential crisis on the old Resident Evil 4 merchant here and really also informed some of their canon. I'm sorry for you to find out this way. What am I?

What you are as an important individual with your own agency, your own self-determination, your own internality. Starring in Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein. Why was I made? it's okay hey it's okay it's okay it's okay buddy it's okay is this why I was replaced

in the new one maybe you weren't replaced maybe it's just a different you yeah it's like one of Santa's helpers I have to kill all of them you're like Nathaniel Richards that's the one rules you don't mean you're the Highlander

you don't do it gently is the one no it doesn't you don't have to go you don't have to disappear like Nathaniel Richards and go back in time and through all of time and kill every version of Nathaniel Richards, so it's just you and the beast and then defeat the beast. You don't have to do that. I'm reading a Fantastic Four arc right now.

Does that drive up demand for the supply and lower supply for guns in Resident Evil? So if you kill like other versions of me, I'm more treasured? Because the guns in a different place than should be more expensive because you can't go back to the

god because that guy's not selling them anymore or they or do they come back i don't know i remember do you think they're transfers to kisses we can't get into that do you think i can charge more for kisses i didn't know you could buy kisses from the resident evil merchant you can't get into that's an option that's why he has the little the little mask here so that when you when it when you pay for it you get to see his lips those luscious lips i keep kissable lips i keep them moist like mice and men I never ever want to hear that again I never want to hear that again

that was horrid to me and you know what I need you to apologize to me right now the underside of that scarf is Vaseline Oh my god It's like a wet article of clothes Slugging, slugging Slugging

Slugging like slugging What You're being a slug Yeah I don't know where it is where he is Oh, slugging is when you put, you know, that you put your moisturizer and serums on, and then you do a layer of, like, petroleum-based, something to lock in the moisture. Oh, it's where when you go to sleep? Yeah.

Okay, I've heard of this on TikTok. There's so much about skin stuff, I don't know. You gotta keep it wet. Yeah. You've got it's good skin. I have no sense. Hey, thank you so much. I'm trying to maintain my boish looks.

You're doing a good job. Nick, something for you to say. you're doing a good job below the waist what the hell are you implying I got a Bart Simpson down there no never you're doing great you're doing great yeah I can only wish to have a Bart Simpson

I don't follow you ask me a question you see Bart Simpson's dick in the Simpsons movie Yikes illegal in Texas yeah actually they can't they can't show the you're not show the Simpsons movie in Texas anymore and if they're hoping for a big box office in 2027, they won't repeat this mistake again.

Oh my God, you're right. They'll give them a huge hog. Maybe you'll get to see Murch's vagina. No, didn't we already see that in Playboy? She was the first animated character in Playboy in a playboy. I've seen it in a couple of other movies as well. Yes, yes. I mean, that's just what I've heard, at least.

That's just what I've heard. I don't think she went nude in Playboy. From my understanding, and this is my only hearsay, I don't think they do that in Playboy. I think that's a different magazine. I don't know what they necessarily show I mean, they show it. They don't show them Bush? Oh, they show it. They made her shave? I think Bush and vagina is different. Can we agree?

Uh, yeah. Yeah, I'll agree. I'll agree with you, Matt. I think it's different. They're different, yeah. Yeah, they're different. Thank God. But Marges would be blue. Marges would be blue for sure. Yeah. And it would be long and tall, like all the way up to their belly button. Yeah. Well, my question is, Would it be?

Because we see Marge in flashbacks has the long straight hair. It's true. You think it's long and go down to her knees. How do you do that to her hair? Who? Marge. Which part?

The beehive? You think she saw a bride of Brinstein and was like, I'm going to do it. Yeah, it was for prom and somebody was like, oh, that looks great. And then she just never stopped. It's iconic. It is iconic.

I'm not trying to get her to change it. Anyway. I think she'd probably be able to get over it. it to be long and tall. Yeah. Tees? Yeah. The bush?

Yeah. This feels like my fault somehow. It is your fault. It's your fault. I brought up Bart Simpson's dick, and now here we are. Talking about Marge's Bush. Let's get back to talking about Resident Evil Merchant's kissable lips. So I've been playing Silk Song still.

Oh, nice. I have to report. I was having a hard time with the last judge. and who's a boss that's sort of gating you from progress into act two and you know what they don't they don't call him the last judge for nothing because he's fucking dead the last judge is a dead is a fucking doornail okay and this is what I wanted I wanted applause I did it and now I'm stuck in act two I'm stuck it's not that I've been stuck it's that I've been stuck it's that I

I've been playing I've been playing Ghost of Yote, of course, but I've also been playing Hades 2 from our conversation last week. Yes. God. I just got to say, it's so fucking good. Yeah, what a fucking video game. It's so great.

And I've just been really loving getting your different boons and stuff. I have four weapons currently. So I haven't done too much, but I've unlocked four different weapons. And I'm just like buying every sort of like anytime there's like something to buy, I've been buying stuff. I feel like resources have been more plentiful in this game versus the first one. um and we also there's more resource collection as like a mechanic yes uh so i've been loving i've been loving that my favorite weapons so far are the second weapon you get

it's like two sort of like handheld things they're fast i like fast in the game fast is really good and my new i i i'm going in between uh like ice boons and and water boons because water does push it pushes you pushes enemies away and i uh that's good for me because i don't anywhere near me. But then freezing them also, then freezes them in their tracks. And so that combined with like a speedy attack has been very, very good for me so far.

Your tactic, you're doing a build for like, get away for me. Yeah, I'm doing a get away from me, Bill. Yeah. Keep your distance. I don't want anything to do with you. I'm still trying to work out the cast in the first game. I felt like I liked a little bit more somehow.

Because now it's, instead of like something that shoots out at a, enemy it's more of an area of attack and it like the useful thing about it though is that it holds enemies into a singular location so you could sort of in theory do more damage and then the cast can have damage sort of stacked on it too but i like i liked i liked throwing it for some well it was more straightforward there's there's a higher i feel like there's a little bit of a higher degree of difficulty on on using the cast in 80s that i also haven't quite wrapped my head around or figured out the hop the optimized boons to pick you know like so i i agree with you there's a little bit more

of a skill ceiling on using the cast. But I don't know. It's, I mean, it's super fun in Connecticut in the same way the first game is. I've now, I can successfully get past the first area boss pretty consistently. Yes, yeah. But now I'm getting stopped at the,

I can't remember what they're, oh, is it the, they're like a band. Yeah. It's like a band of, I can't remember what they're called. But it's like a, it's a three sort of person situation where it's a band and they stomped me every time every time

and I'm just like I got it I feel so good leading up to it and I'm like kicking a lot of ass and I get there and like everything I've done has been for absolutely nothing and I feel that's the wrong perspective

Everything I do is fucking sucks Matt no Oh my God Oh my God Don't say that about my friend Matt And they're actually making me return it Oh my God Who beat the last judge Matt

Actually it was me Yeah sure it was Rochelle our producer Rachel Chen Ranch Are you still chipping away at Silk Song? I am. I am in the depth of Act 2 right now.

It has gotten considerably harder. Yeah. Yeah, there's a lot of fun bosses, though, and I feel like it's going to take me like four or five months to finish this game. It feels big. It feels like it's something that, like, I'm not necessarily in a rush to finish it, though I am the finisher.

I finish the games on the show. But it is something that, like, I'm having such a great time taking it so slow. Yeah. I'm just like enjoying the, enjoying getting my ass kicked routinely every time I play. I looked at the map, the full map as a spoiler. Yeah. And I was like, oh my God, I only have seen the third of it.

Oh my gosh. That's actually horrifying to hear. Ranch, you sent to the group chat. You encountered some Silk Song cosplay in the wild at a Halloween party. Yeah, yeah. My friend Sarah dressed up as Hornet and then her little dog. was the Belle Beast. That's really, really good.

Oh, my God! That's so cute. Okay, Eric was crying. It's okay. Man, I wanted to do a Hornet this year, but I don't know that I have time. Almost every year, I think I took a break for one year, but every year I do an unnecessarily slutty indie, usually indie game game. character and it's I have this series so like it started with untitled goose I did sort of like

horrible goose and that was really fun because you know you wear like a little I was wearing like a little two to and a little corset and had a little duck bill you know and so you just like steal people shit all evening at a party very charming never grows old and then I think it was oh gosh oh among us that was the year of Among us. Oh, wow. And so I did, like, this sort of, like, vinyl red jumpsuit, like, little leotard and, like, the red helmet and, you know, like, long gloves. But then I had, like, a little machete and stuff. And, like, a dumb, the post-in on my forehead. That's so funny. It's like, it doesn't need, these don't need to be slutty, but it's so funny that it is. And then my, one of my favorites was, was financial Dom Nook. Oh, wow. That's a

So like a really skanky version of his little, like, gacky shorts and the tied up shirt and stuff. And then, you know, like a writing crop and stuff. And then people started Venmoing me money, bells. It was just like the little bell symbol. And I ended up making $1,100. Oh, my God. It was a funny bit. But I ended up.

That's how bitch should be rewarded in this society. Yes, actually. It's really good. But then I ended up donating it to the LA unhoused project because that is what Tom Nook would do. I don't care what people say. Let me tell you something about Tom Nook is that he gives out interest-free loans. He helps build his community. He takes care of his nephews.

Like he is a good Tanuki, okay? Like I don't know. None of this. Like he's not a capitalist. That's not what commerce is not capitalism. So, you know. I like the spirit of defense. Yeah.

I like hearing that I can buy stuff and it's okay. I had trapped myself in a corner of philosophical imprisonment. But apparently commerce is not capitalism, I can buy stuff. Yeah. And when you don't want that stuff anymore, you can put it in your pocket and resell it. Yeah, that's nice. That's nice. A new era of power has arrived with the Alienware Area 51 gaming last.

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plan. There's no risk for Nord's 30-day money-back guarantee. The link is in the podcast episode description box. Heather, what are you playing? Well, guys, I've been playing Ghost of Yote, which we will talk about in the larger conversation. So what I've been playing is, did you guys know that there was a nearly flawless conversion of Street Fighter 2 for the virtual boy? I sent it to, I sent it to the three.

thread. The music is not flawless, but the actual gameplay in sprites, somebody painstakingly translated to virtual boy. And now you can play, it's called hyperfighting, and with a little bit of search, you can actually get a physical

cartridge, a physical box, like people are dedicated to bringing homebrew to the virtual boy, and this is one of the games that has been brought. I feel like with Nintendo's announcement, and also my personal re-evaluation

of the system via the 3DS mod this season. This is last year was the, was the summer of swan. This year Oh, that's right. I forgot about the summer of swan. It was the summer of swan. The wonder swan, yeah. Summer of Wonder swan. Oh, okay. This year is the, is the

year of the virtual, the re-virtual boy. So I'm excited about that. I've also been playing as of October 2nd, Fortnite, I think, is the last conversation we had about my favorite game on Earth here on the show. I was concerned about how fucking buggy it was. Remember? I was like, I don't know what's going on. They've scrapped medallions. It seems like they're halfway in between a season that is ongoing.

As of October 2nd, they threw away everything. It is the most unceremonious and un-epic Fortnite decision. that I have seen in the time that I've been playing, they fucking vaulted everything. Whoa. Wow. And they made it into a K-pop Demon Hunter's collaboration. Yeah. That's good.

And it is so fucking good. It is so good that I finished playing. You know, they drop the skins of our three lead ladies. As of this record, that's the only drop they've had. There is rumor of a second incoming drop of the boys. With the boys? Of the boys. But what about?

Jersey and derpy. The cat? The tiger and the bird. Well, let me, good news. You can don the cat's face as a mask and then teleport to wherever you need to be on the map. That's good. The three K-pop weapons that are in the game right now

are the cat mask, Rumi's sword, and also a shield bubble that when you're in it, it's golden. and it plays the hit song golden inside of the shield bubble. Nothing is more hype in this fucking game than throwing a shield down on the ground that heals you and your friends while that song's pumping and people are charging you at top speed and you're like getting ready as that song plays because none of the songs are available as actual emotes or as tracks in the game.

So the only way you can hear the song is to drop the ball. bubble and save your friends, which thematically works with the actual show. It has been, they also patched all the glitches, all the movement is fixed, all the shitty bugs and everything are,

like the, it's also funny because the theme of that season was bugs, and it was extremely bugged. So maybe they were going for Metacommentary? Do you think that they did it on purpose? I don't think they did it on purpose. Anyway, right now Fortnite Mare's

about to begin. That's the October Halloween horror-themed Fortnite and K-pop Demon Hunters is their lead collaboration. It is a blast. Wiger, what have you been playing? Heather, let me let me before I answer your query, I want to throw a question back at you

which is, you mentioned it was hyper fighting, the virtual boy, a home brew port. Is this a, so is it Street Fighter 2 Turbo? Is that which version of it is? It's Street Fighter 2 Turbo. Yeah. And it plays just as fast. And because the virtual boy is more powerful than it should be.

It actually plays really fast and really well with full-sized sprites. And it kind of is like, what's interesting about it is it's like it implies a world where the virtual boy was a success and it got an official

street fighter port. And then you realize that games ported to the virtual boy would have been robust. Right. Like they wouldn't have been shitty Game Boy ports. They would been super nintendo style ports and in 3d in the mid 90s if only the fucking thing wasn't sitting on a table in bright red and it give you a headache yeah it's really there's we are one

multiverse away the the paper thin world between us and a world where there were two separate choices made with the virtual boy and it ended up being a huge success paper thin that veil is paper thin. And sometimes you can see through it with ports like hyperfighting. Oh, it's like the beta VHS or oh my God. Where it's like the wrong one. One. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Although in this case, the right one won. Yeah. But also like there's an alternate reality. Well, what's going to be interesting is that a whole generation of people who and truly this is more than

a generation because the generation of people who were exposed to the virtual boy also didn't play virtual boy. Like, it's not like, oh, one generation saw it like reel to real cassettes. And then it was everywhere and then it went away. This is a thing that was available for a generation of players and nobody played it. Only 700,000 people all over the planet bought one. So when it returns to switch to next winter, it's going to expose people to, I wonder if, I wonder if they're going to sell more virtual boy stands

that you can slide your Switch 2 into then they did the original Virtual Boy. Oh, certainly. Isn't that fascinating? I wonder if it is that popular, if they'll try and reissue. I mean, it would be, you know, we have the Switch too, but like I can also imagine people

because Nintendo Collection people, the Nintendo console collector people will buy it. Yeah, you know, so, ooh, that's interesting. Nintendo also makes just the wildest, most indefensible decisions at times. So it's the kind of thing they would just do for no reason. With the rumor that Xbox is shutting down hardware, that was sort of floating around this week, we're looking into a future where it's a Sony Nintendo duopoly and that Xbox games are available on both. and then additionally on whatever your, say,

steam handheld of choice is. And I wonder if that will encourage Nintendo to get even weirder because they'll have a little bit more flexibility to make strange decisions. Yeah. I just, I remember when the Wii was announced and I feel like that was weird.

Yeah. Yes. So what could possibly, what could they possibly do next? I hope it's something. I hope they expand on the switch to modularity and put, like, give me something else to snap to the side of the system. I mean, we're one generation removed from Nintendo releasing like a cardboard, like keyboard, like keyboard that you could build. Yeah, they did do that last.

They're still doing like insane shit. Yeah. It was great. God bless them. God bless them. God bless them. Heather, I'll answer real quick. I don't want to hear from Erica, but I've been playing Clover Pit.

This game got huge and sold like 100,000 units in one day on Steam. It is self-described as the demonic love child of Balochro and Bucshot roulette. So it is a slot. Yes. It is a slot machine, rogue-like, with a grim, dark feel. I was hoping it would be like lighter and chiller. That's what I was like, oh, this might be like kind of chill vibes. But then once I bought it and loaded it up, I was like, oh, it's absolutely not that.

It's got this grimy, like, 90s PC or PS1, lofi 3D aesthetic with these kind of like, you know, chunky textures. And the way this game works is that you accumulate increasingly this is very not Tom Nook. This is very not like some sort of benevolent commerce. This is straight up capitalism with a punishment for failure of death by being dumped down a pit. So you are accumulating increasingly higher thresholds of debt that you have to meet by playing a slot machine. And there's power-ups that you can buy to boost your odds. So you're you're

You're just like gambling for your own life, essentially. And then as you keep going, eventually, you're going to fail your run and be dropped to your demise. It's funny to think of slot machines as a literal gamble for your life because in theory, if you play them long enough, you will die. Yeah, sure. Yeah. There are like, like, some of the aesthetic stuff I like is that, you know, you get cryptic hints via landline phone and things are at tutorialization from an email terminal. It's all stuff that, again, just kind of feels like very low five. 90s. My main thing

with this game, which I do like, is it's just a little too depressing for me, a depressed man right now, but I do appreciate its design and I'm just generally so impressed by like, you know, the vampire survivors, deep rock galactic survivors of the world, the clicker

games and the, you know, games that are just like basically semi-automated or just are full-on gambling like this one that just like kind of lay bare what video games do to your brain that just like remind you what a dumb animal you are, that you're just like responding to stimulus and response and hoping for numbers to increase. And, um, and this is game is very much that. It's a really good, uh, design that just like gets at the right, the core of what gaming

is. Um, so yeah, I'm very impressed by it, but I'm not going to play it for too much more right now because it's just a little too bleak for me. Um, Erica, what are you playing? Okay. Well, I'm playing Ghost of Yote. Yeah. Uh, which is still, yeah, and people are like, how is it? And And it's weird, like, to be playing it with me. But, I mean, I was a huge fan of Tsushima. And so I really do feel like they heard some of the criticisms of Tsushima and then just really improved on every level, like, mechanically and design-wise and, you know, storyline-wise. And it's just such a good game. And I know I'm obviously biased, but it's so addictive.

Like, I've been staying up so late playing it. which is actually the reason that I didn't get Hades 2 yet because on top of that that would kill me I beat Hades I mean you're looking at a man at the brink of death I played Hades 1 so much

and I'm terrible at rogue lights like I and well I heard that this one's like it's a rogue light technically right so it's like it is okay you're supposed to fail you know that's how you progress the story and that's one of the things I loved about Hades because I hate rogue likes because I'm just bad and

so I'm really looking forward to when I finally pick it up but I know it has to be at a time where I do not have pressing responsibilities because I will get lost in it it's so I love the Hades world

I love the mechanics it's so slick like I will buy anything that they make and I'm just so glad that Hades 2 is out. But also, I bought Silk Song on its first day. And I don't know what made me think I would be better at it than Hollow Night. I truly feel like I was just went in.

I think it's because there were so many years in between. And just like remembering Hollow Night so fondly all the lore and the little bugs and, you know, how good it felt. because I'm a huge Metroid fan and a huge Metroidvania fan and so I'm like, yay, another hollow night is out and then I just was constantly getting my ass kicked and it wasn't even just the boss fights

it was the runbacks that would just get me because I'm not great like at the platforming and I'll know like what I need to do, where I need to go, how I need to time attacks and it's just the execution is not there. Like I am a scrub. like fully will admit that and so it's been hard

because like I still want to play it and it's so cute and like the lore is still just as good and it's just as good as Holo Night it's just I'm so bad at it I think it's hard it's harder than Hollow Night right that seems to be the consent of 100% it's sort of like it picks up

it starts with the end difficulty of Hollow Night right you sort of it primes you to have been prepared for that I feel like it is assumes that, oh, you finished Hollow Night, which I don't think I even did. Like, I don't think I really got to the end of it because it's, I'm bad. But, like, and then assumed that we wanted to start at that difficulty. But, yeah, it's so good.

But maybe I'm not the target audience, the target audience being people who are, can get better at video games. Well, let me just tell you something quick. I'm also very bad at games. I play a lot of games on Easy I think this done doesn't have a difficulty level If it did, I'd be done with this thing already It's no problem for me Real quick, generally what types of games are your

like favorite types of games to play? Narrative games Like I have always been such a sucker for Like even I'll get through something like The Last of Us because it's such a compelling story that I'm willing to like die over and over And eventually we'll get past it Or they'll, like, take pity on me and, like, load it with less enemies or something.

But, yeah, I just, I just hunger for narrative heavy games. Also, something like a Return of the Obridin. Okay. Which is just, like, satisfying little brain puzzles. And just, I love games where it is, the closer it is to something that could not be transferred effectively to another kind of media, the more I love it. Or it's like, oh, you know, the sort of ludo-narrative design of like, wow, you couldn't make this any other way, I think. I think most media that I love is like just really takes advantage of the medium.

Like comics, like Alan Moore's comics, I just love how it's like, wow, you really do need text and pictures in order to appreciate this narrative. Just in that way, I think, like, video games where it's like, wow, this narrative is so compelling, but it's so driven by the design of the game. And so just anything that's like that. You recommended House of Leaves to me. So hearing you say that makes a lot of sense. Man, I recommend House of Leaves because everybody I know that loves immersive stuff and all of that has read it. I still haven't read it.

Well, let me tell you something right now. Neither have I. It's by my bedside table And it hasn't for a while Because I'm just like Well, what am I going to do with my life after that? When I saw that it had a bunch of I'll call it components

I was like I don't read normal books I don't know I'm going to get to this one I got roll dice and shit what's going on here You know like Pop-up is the same thing With Papa books were like I love a little interactive activity that makes me feel something

Yeah for sure You mentioned because you mentioned and return to the Oberton and then also, you know, Lucas Pope's previous game, papers plays. But those are both too, like, yeah, those are great examples of exactly what you were saying. Like, this is specific to this being an interactive medium. And that's what, like, you can't really think of a translation of that,

an adaptation of that to a different genre or a different medium, rather, that doesn't completely change the essential feel of it. So, yeah, I did one 100%, especially as someone who also loves narrative games. That's the kind of thing I like as well. And, hey, that goes back to Dream Daddy even. It's just like, you could, yeah, you could have like an animated version of Dream Daddy, but would not have the same feeling of you as the player, like, you know, driving the narrative. Well, I think that's the huge problem with The Last of Us part, too, is that, like, translating it to a television show removes your physical pain and empathy in inhabiting.

You can't, you cannot play those scenes and have it have the same physical, tangible effect. What are you laughing at? Forced me to kill a dog. Yeah. Yeah. She'd at least one dog in the face. Well, I mean, that's like that. They literally took it out of the show.

Did they really? Yeah, they took the dog killing out of the show. And also like... Woke bullshit. Wow. Right. So they're already making compromises. They're making compromises on like the sort of ruthlessness.

of the story, but they're also making compromises on the sort of physical effectiveness of telling that story through the game medium. You can't, like, you just can't. You can't. Yeah. You can't do it. Unless, unless it was pitched as two totally separate television

shows. Yeah. And then after you had watched those television shows, suddenly they were like, technically, this is the same show. Oh my God. That's so big brain of you. Like, holy cow. But I feel like that's the only way to achieve it is like you'd have to be watching effectively Breaking Bad and some unrelated television show where you got into that protagonist and then the third season would be like actually these are the same world and these guys are going to come in conflict. In the world where they don't call 10 Cloverfield Lane 10 Cloverfield Lane, but you then learn they called it something else and then you would have learned it was a Cloverfield movie.

That is more interesting. Yeah, yeah. But I don't know. It's, uh... Oh, dang. Games are fucking awesome. Yeah. Things are awesome.

They're good. Yeah. There's an alternate reality where the virtual boy triumph and then also Heather is in charge of Hollywood and just things are more interesting. But unfortunately, we don't live in this world. Benz is violent. Yeah. You see this?

Ross killed Joey. I mean, but just imagine like a whole separate sitcom about this woman and stuff in, like, the terrible men she dates. And then suddenly, oh, no, she's a joey girlfriend. Dang. That would fuck me up. He's here, too? Can they do that?

Yeah. Well, hey, we're talking about narrative in games, and a game that, hey, achieves that quite well is Ghost of Yote, developed by Sucker Punch, published by Sony, and released October 2nd of 2025 this current year. The sequel of 2020's Ghost of Sushima, which was one of my favorite games of that year, one of my favorite games of that generation. I 100%ed that game and I'm not someone who goes around

platinum in games, platinum in games, woly nilly. Erica, we already talked about the, you know, got into this, to some degree about the performance. But like, I'm,

I mean, can we step back even further? Like, how did you get cast in this game? Like, how did this all come to be? I, you know, so by the time that I auditioned for that, I already had sort of a lot of titles like AAA's under my belt. And so, you know,

it was sort of a request, means that there's like a more limited group of actors, I think, that gets called in. I think, I mean, or at least my agents must have like pitched me or something. They were like, Erica would be very good for this role, I think. And then, yeah, it was, I figured out, again, it was codenamed and it had fake sides. But I figured out what a feudal Japan Sony game was. going to be. Yeah. Yeah. So I, it was and it was both very daunting because again, I was a huge fan of Tsushima and also really exciting because it's like, you know, sometimes when you do an

audition, you're like, this will change everything. Yeah. And it kind of did. Yeah. It's so weird because while I, because, you know, I went to the callbacks and they asked if I had any questions and I asked is this ghost of Tsushima too. And they had a very urgent conversation amongst themselves and before turning back to me and saying yeah, yeah, it's something like that. Yes.

And I was like, did anybody else figure it out? Yeah. Like, no. Wow. Yeah. So they're like, so don't tell me. And so yeah, I ended up getting cast. You know, I remember even at that audition, we were talking about Kurosawa and

just like games in general and it's just it was it was it was such a dream to get cast it didn't feel real and I thought that they would kick me out you know like even months into the to actually recording because you never know and I you know it was it was about two and a half years of my life of doing it and I just getting to work like in the booth and in the mocap studio with so many unbelievable actors and some of the best directors and and storytellers that have ever done it was the the hugest honor of my life and I feel like I got to grow so much as a performer and yeah now that it's come out it's it it just doesn't feel real yeah really doesn't because this was I got into this you know I always loved games but I got

into this with The Last of Us and I was like that's it I got to do games I want to do that and getting to record on the Sony sound stages like was it felt like being in these hollowed halls and seeing some of the props that they use and the horse that I was

on was you know the the sort of wooden horse shape thing was first of all they had a tag on it that said no boo which was the name as you might remember that you could pick for your first horse From Tsushima, and I was like, guys, this is upsetting. It's upsetting.

And I do have some conditions if I'm going to be continuing on this project. Remember what you did to me with that horse in that gang. Remember. And now that it's out, yeah, it's so wild. And I, I, yeah, this has been such a dream. Like a dream come true and also it's weird that at the same time, you know, when I was announced that people were like Erica Ishii from Dropout, which is like people kind of knew me as this sort of like chaotic gremlin or I played D&D and it's so odd that those two sort of paths were bifurcated but also really informed each other. I mean, there must be some of the audience that's playing this game now and is like, you know, I certainly know a talented you are as a performer, but certainly there are people who have maybe got exposed to you via dropout or other avenues that were like, did not know you, that you had this range in you, you know, that you're not had this kind of dramatic gravitas, you know? Thank you.

But yeah, I think some people are still surprised. And I think when, like, I still get it about maybe once a week, I'll get some. like, sort of like tag where somebody's like, was nobody going to tell me that Erica Ishii was in Apex Legends or something? I think because I'm just so different. Like when I first started voiceover, I thought I was going to do like sort of zany, you know, characters, young ingenue characters. I'm really bubbly.

But then they're like, no, space marine. And so, yeah, I just like, I've gotten, and I feel like all of that sort of led up to this character, you know, sort of my love of Kurosawa and westerns and just the sort of dry humor, which is not my normal style of comedy, like on dropout, but then also just like the hours and hours

and hours of shouting and dying. Yeah. Can I ask you, like what's it like? Because obviously that this was like a secret. Like a big secret that you had to keep until it was announced. What is it like, what, what, what does that, what toll does that take on a human being to keep such a huge secret like that? That's wild. Well, Matt, I've kept some secrets.

I can feel this one. Okay, so it makes you this. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, you all know what it's like to have to keep these secrets. Usually for online content, certainly. But even for TV or film, it's a much shorter sort of length of time that you have to keep something under wraps. Whereas for this, it was about, like, even from audition to the launch, it was like three years or more. And, you know, for the developers, it was even longer.

Yeah, sure. So, yeah, it's a, I was so grateful that I had, I constantly had like with drop out things to continue. to do and announce and other games that, you know, would have had a quicker turnover because it was driving me insane. Because also, too, it's like in Hollywood or in, you know, in any industry, you get more roles based on your resume and things that you've seen. And you couldn't, like my agents or my manager couldn't tell people, like Erica is the literal face of a Sony AAA game.

Like until it happened, you know? And even then, it's like, well, what if the reviews aren't good? Or what if it's like, what if it ends up being a bomb, you know? And I've been on games before where it's like you spend so much time and so much effort. And it just doesn't really do well. And you've got to kind of move on and do the next thing. I feel like people have been so stoked for this game for like so long because of the love of the first one. And as somebody who's now played just a few hours of it.

it but has played i it's i it's like what you were saying earlier it's sort of like it takes exactly what you liked about the first one but it just it feels everything feels somehow even better than it did before and it already felt great it feels so so good i did make them i made a modification to the layout did you go souls i'm going souls mode on this uh oh my attack around the the right uh one in uh r one and r two um i can't i can't read your reaction here i can't tell if you're horrified or that's crazy like that's hard You're hardcore, man. I'm playing on easy.

I will say it's... Wait, really? Oh, yeah. I am playing on easy. But it is good counter programming to something like Silk Song that is very difficult. And then I just get it in this game

and I'm just like killing everybody with no problem at all. It's very satisfying. And it is, that's the SongRai fantasy. I'm just like slicing through a bunch of guys, you know? I can't remember what the name of the, like the power that you have

that, like, scares everybody. the wolf. Yeah, I don't know how I think. Yeah, when I get that, and people are like, oh, fuck, no. They're like so scared. And you're just standing there with, like, with your blade out, and they're just like, I'm dead. I'm cooked.

And it's so, so much fun. I also have played about five hours of it since it came out. And I think I'm going to bump up the difficulty to the final difficulty layer. Which has no off-screen warnings for, like, when people are attacking you. So you really have to, like, work your position. I watch videos of it, and I'm like, I think I can do that. Because I, the first thing I do in these games is, where can I go that I'm not supposed to be? So I got my horse and I rode to the stables and got my actual horse.

And then I saw that there's, like, a way to get two swords. And I'm like, well, I've got to get two swords. And then from that point forward, I just ignored everything and started riding north as fast as I could. Hell, yeah. And I am now in an area where everything kills me in one hit. And I'm like, I could make the whole game like this. Yeah. Yeah.

Because it's awfully satisfying to kill somebody that every time you make a mistake, it's like you died instantly. Yeah. And I'm like, I couldn't make the whole game like this and also turn off all the warnings. So I think that's what I'm going to do this weekend. Wow. I need more warnings. Because even on easy, I'm like, I'm getting fucking worked sometimes. The parrying is so good.

The parry is great. It's so good. The switching between your weapons is so good. It is fast, which, boy, oh boy, my number one complaint in games is always movement speed. She runs a little slower than I'd like because I always want everybody to run at Sonic speed. Right. I want Sonic Frontiers speed in all games. Yes.

But she's really, really, really fast on combat And it is so fucking satisfying the play On horseback too, running through the flowers gives you that And you can see flowers And with the horses if you're in like the herd of horses It's like you're like, I'm free I'm spirit of the stallion of the Cimarron I'll say this, it might be too fast

It's so fast to me You can also One of my favorite things to do in a game like this If you're riding a horse, you can get off while the horse is moving and run fast? Yes. Fuck, yes.

Let's go. Ride my horse directly up to a guy who's torturing somebody. Don't do any of the story. Yeah. Cut that guy! And I will say too from a, from just like time to game standpoint.

We were talking about this last week when we were talking about Hades 2. You start Hades 2. You're in Hades 2 immediately. Yeah. This game starts so fast. You're just in it. You're at the critical moment in Atsu's journey to set her off into her revenge quest

to take down the Yotay 6th. And also, I know it's kind of, I know it's kind of bad. I kind of like revenge. Revenge is kind of cool. It feels good. It feels great. It feels good. It's morally uncompromised.

Yeah, feel better afterwards. You just fucking, you just get to go. Revenge stories are just like often very compelling. And like there's just like a lot of nuance there and stuff. And so I feel like we're going to learn a lot about Atsu and I'm excited to see where the story goes from where we're at. I would like, so part of the problem I had with Kingdom Come Deliverance to is that often I would be faced with the decision and I'd have to make a fucking decision.

Yeah. And I'd be like, oh, God damn it, do I kill this guy who actually didn't mean to kill this other guy? Do I ram my sword through the back of this guy's head in front of his family or do I not? And like, you have to like kind of weigh your reputation. I'm hoping as I go through this game that I'm not faced with any moral quandaries and I could just murder my way

across the entire place. Yeah. Erica, I'm curious as... Yeah. No, I mean, the thing is, is that, like, I think we, I've talked about this with Brennan and it's like, I love moral grayness in a story, but not moral ambiguity.

Yeah. Because there is a right and a wrong. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think Brennan says he, has said that, like, you know, removing black and white is two less shades of gray. Right. Because everybody's like, well, everything's not black and white. It's like, well, but there is a black and a white.

He's always saying good stuff like that. It's crazy bangers every time. I'm even just like a talkback episode of something. Eric, I'm curious at what part and, you know, you're involved in this process for two and a half, three years, as you were saying, at what point are you playing builds and getting a sense of like what the game actually feels like. It's so funny because normally you don't get that. Yeah, right.

At all, I was lucky enough to get it, I think, like, earlier this year. Wow. I know, yeah. So I had already played through, but the lovely thing is, is that another incredibly rare thing for video games is I would get my scripts ahead of time, like a week ahead of time, and get access to the writers. They always had a writer, like, on the call. They always, you know, they were like, if you have any questions. questions like we can have they would give me writer meetings you know beforehand which is and they they told me like the you know sort of rough trajectory of the story and the character's arc which

is just something like most for most games you get the scripts as they come in and you don't really know how it ends and sometimes it's out of order you know and so we filmed and recorded things out of order but I was always given a very clear picture of this could happen uh this this might happen in the beginning of the game. This might happen in the end of the game or this could happen like a side quest at any time. And so it's a challenge, but like an interesting puzzle for somebody who knows games and as an actor

because usually as an actor, like you have a concrete of like you know where in the narrative this goes and how different your character is between these points. But in a game, it could be like in this part of the game or after this pivotal moment. has happened and you don't know. So you have to kind of split the difference but still make strong choices. Yeah, if you've got like this, you know, because of the open world nature of it, some side quests people can do in any order. You know, if you're Heather, you're jumping to

a late game area and just doing whatever, whatever the vibe. Like, do you like, I mean, that to me seems like the biggest performance challenge. And I know as well for the, the, the actors portraying the NPCs in those, it's the same sort of thing. Like, how do you present some sort of neutrality, you know, some sort of catch-all sort of, you know, behavior? Yeah. It's really interesting. I think that, again, we talked about how game is such a different kind of narrative, like, due to the immersion. But I think game is such a different kind of performance as well because of the immersion. And you're like, well, how much of yourself, how much personality do you give this character?

I've said, like, well, where do you want it in terms of like silent protagonist to a Nathan Drake, right? where it's like you are a player avatar but you have a distinct point of view and like a real strong personality and I feel like they really gave me so much guidance in terms of player agency where in the narrative things were what people might be feeling at any given point

and also being a fan of the first one and just of open world games too I had a pretty good like I was able to sort of map things out and be like okay well like on the golden path these could happen simultaneously or like one before the other and like then this block of things happen and so I need to be like different for this but like if this one side quest happens you know and it's it's really interesting and I think like a challenge for actors who might who might not or or gosh writers who might not be experienced

in games yeah I love it it's so like you know because going back to ghost of Sushima's release and the roundup to that release is like some of the discussion was even and I think this has maybe been memory hold and maybe was was overthought at the time but there was some discussion like should a Western dev even be doing

this sort of like you know Kurosawa pastiche and then sometimes pasting that game was so successful and I feel like so influential like we don't think you get games like Assassin's Creed Shadows which came out early this year which I enjoyed but I'm also playing it

and in anticipation of Ghost of Yote just speaking for myself you know I'm like but that game I don't think exists without Ghost of Tsushima you know So now you, like, now it's kind of the space where it's like a kind of a different place, I guess culturally in games, but also just like samurai. And again, this sort of like the sort of feudal Japan world is a little bit more than the zeit guys, you know, gaming wise. I think, well, and then I think, I personally think, and like, I do not represent the views of sucker punch.

Sure. But I feel like Tsushima doesn't exist without Assassin's Creed and Witcher 3. Oh, sure, of course. Yeah, naturally. that are like clearly an influence on it. But yeah, I feel like Tsushima, people were like, oh my God, we can do samurai now. Yeah.

Like I really do feel like that because then suddenly we had so many and like it's just an embarrassment of riches now. And I've heard, well, first of all, yeah, I remember the controversy. And I think like that the answer to that was the game and of Tsushima making Tucker Punch ambassadors. cultural ambassadors, and, you know, which is, and Famitsu giving it a perfect score, which is, I think, happened, when Tsushima happened, three different Western games had gotten perfect scores, like 40 out of 40.

Yeah. And so it's, it was like so clear how much care and attention to detail went into it. And I think there's always that fear, you know, that fear, they really took their time and were very conscientious about, you know, their cultural sources. for this one. And, you know, again, Famitsu and the Japanese audience are so happy

with this. And I think it's also that it's not, they're not trying to hit the hallmark of historical accuracy. They're trying to hit the hallmark of, you know, with Tsushima, foot with Kurosawa. Yeah.

Because like, you know, historically, Samurai didn't have swords, like didn't have katana in that actual era. But it's like the fantasy of it exists. And like the idea of the Japanese like Ronin, like wandering the countryside and like mixed with that Western cowboy feel is like very much the informative vibe for Yote. Because like and you can, oh my God, the soundtrack is so good. But yeah, the shamisen and the guitar.

And I found out there is a traditional I knew instrument, you know, the indigenous. sort of northern Japanese people that is essentially it's a jaw harp which I think of as very western you know the boing, boing, boing, but there is a traditional I knew like instrument that's like that and so it's just this incredible confluence of you know the 70s filmmaking you know

and so yeah I just you know I think today are one of the I knew consultants posted about it and how much fun it was to work with the team so, like, major props to them. That's so funny that it has, like, has its historical origins there, because, like, to me,

a mouth harp, I'm just thinking of a ho-down. Exactly. It was a completely different vibe. Yeah. Thinking it was some guy with, like, a barrel instead of clothes, you know what I mean? Yeah. You're going to jug a moonshine.

Yeah, knees, like, like, handboning and such. Yeah, it's crazy how many sort of, like, confluences of culture were there. And then the vibe of, like, the appearing in the saloon door as the wind whistles behind you. And, like, the bounty posters is so, like, that, like, Leoni, Sanjudo sort of vibe is so prominent. And it just, as somebody who's a fan of both of those things, oh, it feels so good. It's been a minute, I guess, since I'd played an open world game. Like, I know the Death Stranding, too, is technically open world.

but it's got a different flavor. Like you don't come across stuff in Death Stranding, too. Like you're not like, oh, what is this? And your curiosity is sort of rewarded constantly. If you're like, see something in the distance and you're like, I want to know more about this. And then there's a whole story that unfolds at like a shrine or a bounty or whatever. And this sort of emergent way that stuff, it's so, man,

that we've really perfected the constant dopamine drip in an open world game because I'm like I'm thinking about it and the more we're talking about it the more I want to go home and play it 100% which half the time on the games that we cover on the show I'm like

I'm probably not going to touch this again but like it's so fucking good and I'm just like oh I really want to know where the smoke is coming from on that mountain and like I know that there will be something that is making that smoke. It also makes me want to eat better food.

Cooking in this game is so fucking good. I want to go foraging so badly. Yeah. You fucking like like, Wiger, you haven't played it so you can cook fish over a fire, right? Yeah. And you use your controller to

like bring the fish back and forth. And then you flip the fish and you crisp it on the other side. You're cooking the fish. Yeah. Or you're burning the shit out of the fish. You're burning the shit out of it. You're burning the fish.

And you can, and the fun thing is it, like, you can skip those if you want. If you're like, I just need to eat. Yeah. And eating is also optional. But, like, the real tactile sensations around them are, like, you can turn it out so you can, like, blow into the controller to, like, stoke the fire. It just feels really good. And the dual sense is such a, like a futuristic controller. Like you can feel the fire in your controller if you're burning your fish.

Like it's not getting hot, but you can feel the crackling in your controller and you're like, I'm fucking up, I'm fucking up. It sounds hot. For me, it was hearing the mother's voice like calling to you from the past in your dual. sense control and I was like oh no is there stuff because like you're you've you've played the game and uh so you so while you're playing it was there stuff that you experienced as a video game player that you were like oh yeah I forgot that I even did this like yeah I mean also stuff that it's like it was added in after my performance you know stuff like the the I mean I guess

no suppose oh I guess since you did the katana one where there's a part where you have to like train your left hand. Oh, it's so good. It's so good. Like I, and obviously I had nothing to do with that. And, and it felt like one of my favorite parts of video games, just in general, is in the last of us left behind when Riley is narrating a fighting game to Ellie. And it's like, the only thing you see is her face like, and she's like got her eyes closed.

and then you have to do the buttons as they're described to you and the action is getting described. And I was like, this is why we make games. And it was that same feeling of the idea of like the frustration and the like, you know, like pushing through like a physical challenge of that. And it's just like the design was, is phenomenal. There is, I think this is early enough in the game that it's okay to spoil this. you do these side quests where you have to cut through bamboo

and each bamboo piece is a different button on the controller and when you are learning to use dual katanas you have to only use your left hand because you're training your left hand in the game and left-handed combos involving also the face analog button that you have to push in as part of the combo is extremely tricky for if it's your non-dominant hand I kept thinking, well, I mean, if you're a left-handed player,

this is probably you just breeze through this part. You got to wonder, like, how are they doing it normally? Yeah, for sure. But the way that it induces the feeling of familiarity in you, the player, is the longer you do it, the simpler the combos become, which makes it easier for you, which is synthesizing the experience of training your last. Which is great. It's fucking great. I was cheering at the screen when I was like, this is impossible this combo. This fucking sucks. I did. I was, I have stalled story progress because as soon as I got a bounty board, I was like, I'm getting all these fucking bounty. I'm going after all these guys and collecting my money because I want to buy all the little outfits and all the little things I can get. Oh, and you haven't even gotten to gambling yet.

I've learned to the little game where you're flicking the coin Oh my gosh It's an unbelievable experience But one of my favorite bounties was There's a bounty This guy who He plays the flute

And sort of he lures people With his beautiful song and he kills them And to get to him You have to play your instrument Shami son. And you then have to, then you play a song with him. You fight him till he's basically almost dead. And then you play a song.

And I was like, this is games. This is good shit. I fucking love it. It's so, it's what a, how cool that you get to be in something like this? Unbelievable. I can't, I can't express enough how exciting it is to sit here and talk to you and also get to go home and watch you die a million times. In some ways, our conversation is not ending. Yes, that's true.

To be continued, true. But to that, is it existential at all to watch yourself die in a video game? Oh, interesting. It's so funny because, like, in a lot of ways, I had to sort of do that while recording it in the booth, you know? Because all of those horrifying screams that would be like, now you really need to imagine yourself on fire, you know? So it's like, you know, and you're like, well, how would I replicate? You know, sort of like my vocal cords getting chrised up and, you know, like, and so it's really, like, like, an interesting exercise, but then seeing it with your face is so wild, you know?

And I, as I said, am not very good at video games. So I die a lot. But it's the fun, the fun and weird thing is, is when I will say something like I, you know, playing the gambling game and I'll like miss a shot and I'll be like, ugh. And then I'll hear her go, oh, like in exactly the same tone of voice. And that's the weird existential moment where it's like a stereo sound of it. Yeah. Oh, man. Yeah, it's so wild. And I can't. I still, this all feels like a dream. And, yeah, after spending so much time in it and like really falling in love with the game and so many of these story, like, because every, like, even as you said, just like finding the discovery, the rewarding of discovery and just every NPC and even every vendor has this personality and something. And I just really fell in love with it. I would have been so heartbroken if the. the game had been bad. Right.

But seeing, like, I was in Japan when the reviews dropped, and it was 9 p.m. at night, and I was, like, in a Lawson's, and I saw the reviews start come out, and I just, like, collapsed and started crying. And they, being Japanese, they completely ignored me and what I was doing, you know, it was just a polite thing to do if somebody's having a little mentee bee in Japan. And, like, you know, I just, I was so really, I didn't realize that I had been keeping all of that tension in my body. Because, like, yeah, I, I love this, I love the people that I work with.

Like, I, I truly got a chance to know them and to work closely with them. And they really took care of me, like, support, in terms of support for an actor. And, you know, I put so much, literally so much of myself in there. And, you know, with the face rights buy out, it's like, once you do it, it's kind of like, They're not going to put me on the face of another game. Sure. This one's bad. I've blown it.

But, yeah, and just seeing this story and these characters that I've really fallen in love with also having the world fall in love with them too is just so overwhelming beyond belief. Because, yeah, I am a gamer. And if it had been bad, I would know. I would know. And I'd be so sad. but it's so good like even aside from the things like I as he said just the dopamine

pop of like oh maybe just one more like Deboo Strike or oh maybe I'll just do one more bounty yeah is so satisfying I've finished all the bounties in the beginning of the game so far oh wow that's with the bounties

but it's such a it's so great that the game is incredible and it your performance in it is so so fucking good And I just am like just, I, I was like nervous coming today because I was like, which I never am, because I was just like, oh, like, you're so good. You're so, so great. Thank you. Yeah. It's like, I can't wait to go home and play this game. It's so funny. I, like, truly, I can't. Again, all of you have done work that I'm just like, God damn it.

Like, it's, you know, when you get mad at a thing and you're like, how do they do that? So it's such a relief to hear that you enjoy, you are enjoying this thing that I did. Now, Wiger's going to do one of the Skeletor jokes real quick. Yay! I'm not saying Manny Faces likes to drink human urine, but... It was a natural piece of the sin! That's pretty good. Congratulations again.

It's such a cool achievement. You know, Heather put me on Blass for a for a nice. having played it yet, but I am 100% going to play Ghost of Yote, just the, the, our record schedule currently is about a week behind the news cycle. So this game kind of just came out. But I'm, I'm so, I'm so fucking excited to get into it. And it's so, so cool that you're, that you're a part of it. And the thing we always say, a huge part of it, the thing we always say on the show is like, if we, when we have a guest on, if we weren't into something, we just wouldn't do the episode. Because it would be like, we're not going to like bring a guest on and then lie to them.

You know what I mean? It's like, it's boring for us. It's mean to them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's so, so cool. I didn't mean to put you on blast, buddy. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

Silk Song? Yeah. Hades 2. Like, did the Digimon game, which I hear is great. I can't do it. I can't. I don't have time to be very into Digimon right now. I mean, and Pokemon is coming out next week or this week?

Oh, my God. Next. God. Right? It is this game. This year has been such a banger year for games. Yeah. Like truly some of the best that I've ever gotten to play.

And it was this year. I played so much blueprints. There you go. So much blueprints this year. And I was like, I have to like get what I need done. Yeah. Because there are so many other things that I need to play. It's crazy to think that there is, speaking of these alternate universes.

Mm-hmm. There was a world where Grand Theft Auto 6 was going to come out this year. Everything would be insane. It was so scary. I played so much blueprints. I went all the way around to disliking blueprints, which is the thing we talked about in an earlier episode. I have a notebook. It's a full notebook that's full of it.

It looks like a crazy serial killer's notebook. It's got tabs. It's got scrawl with like fountain pen. It's got diagrams. It's your handwritten house of leaves. Oh, yeah. It's my house of leaves. Oh, God, yeah.

I saw a thing on TikTok that was just examining details in Red Dead Redemption 2. And it made me realize that I know that part of what's holding up Grand Theft Auto is the online. They want the online to drop at like full like experience. But there was somebody who was like, why did they animate the tongues of the sheep who are on this one farm who are drinking water? and why did they animate ripples in the water? There's no reason for, and then it showed that if you look through the compass or the binocular or whatever,

what do you call this? Periscope. Periscope. Telescope. If you look through. Parascoats are submarines. At the sheep on this farm that you can see the sheep

with their little tongues lapping at the water and it's like, why, who was assigned this? Yeah. The last thing it's doing before you walk up and shoot it. Right Dude they ever interviewed Whoever did the shrinking balls On the horse

In the cold I would like to talk to this person They're on another level over there And we simply have to give it up We do Yeah That being said We are so glad

I'm personally so glad Yeah because it was supposed to come out It was supposed to come out Right around the same time And nobody knew Nobody knew when it was going to drop Like until it like suddenly did not, you know. I saw, or I heard a clip of, uh, it must have been somebody high up or maybe

the head of sucker punch. Oh, Nate Fox. He asked him, yeah. And he was like, we popped some champagne. Yeah, he's like, I was also in Japan and I got, like, I, you know, it's like one of those very traditional onsen. Yeah. And I got a text from my manager like, hey, check out, uh, rock stars Twitter account. And I pulled it up and it was like, we are so sorry that we have to delay. And you could hear me, apparently, across the other side of the real con. I mean, being like, yeah! Because, like, I don't get, like, video game actors don't get royalties, you know? But I loved this game so much, and I loved this team so much, and I really wanted it to do well.

And so, I mean, I, yeah, talk about that, that alternate universe where, like, it's going to, it's going to, it's going to, people who don't play video games are going to buy GTA. Oh, yeah. You know, and they'll always have it. everybody it was this big old black hole that everything around it within a two month radius was was doomed yeah so there was the opposite at though this year which was silk song releasing with like 10 days notice so it's also like you know shuffled the calendar yeah that's true we're gonna say other i was gonna say i feel like at some point they're just going to announce that we are in grand theft auto six and that they had like that was the level of detail that they achieved that we've all been playing it already yeah And we didn't know. That explains a lot of things that have happened in the news. Yeah. Headgum, just greenlit Laszlo's podcast.

Yeah, Florida man. Should we do a segment? Let's do a segment. You know, I figured since we have Erica here, somebody with actual talent, we should dust off an old segment. It's time for VO theater. Wow, okay. What is happening right now?

Rochell, our ranch is distributing some, some. paper scripts. Oh, thank you. Okay. These are just some scripts. It's a very short scene. Got it. This is going to be a presentation of Link, the Faces of Evil from the Phillips CDI.

Yes, this is one of the Philip CDI Zelda games. Okay, got it. And I just have, I don't want to give, I'm not, I'm not really a director or anything, right? But I have, I sort of have a take on this. Okay. I think we should just give it everything we got and do it as seriously as we can. Got it. Okay.

Oh, interesting. You don't want, you don't want the tone. This is the thing, like tone setting, you want it more grounded than the actual CDI. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I want... Forget the reference, forget the source, and let's just, just let's get, let's do this like a cold read. Yeah, do it like, like, this is like prestige TV, Game of Thrones, okay? Like something, something huge, just as a comp. So I've cast Erica as Link.

I've cast Tiger Wiger as the king. I've cast Heather as the wizard, and I will be the sole Zelda line here. And so I think we can begin. Uh, Link, if you please. Gosh, it sure is boring around here. My boy, this piece is what all true warriors strive for. I just wonder what Gannon is up to. Your Majesty, Gannon and his minions have seized the island of Coridai.

Hmm. How can we help? It is written, only Link can defeat Gannon. Great. I'll grab my stuff. There is no time. Your sword is enough. How about a kiss for good luck? You've got to be kidding.

Squadilla, we are off. Wow. What are all those heads? These are the faces of evil. You must conquer each. I guess I better get going. And seeing. Wow.

And so we'll sound designing and stuff, but I feel like for reference, we should hear the clip so we could all have a nice little laugh. Great, great? I, it was so hard not to think about the original. It was so hard. Gee, it sure is boring around here. My boy, this piece is what all true warriors strive for.

I just wonder what Gannon's up to. Your majesty, Gannon and his minions have seized the island of Corridi. Hmm, how can we help? It is written, only Link can defeat. Gannon. Great. I'll grab my stuff. There's no time. Your sword is enough. How about a kiss for luck? You've got to be kidding.

Squatter-la, we are all. What are all those heads? These are the faces of evil. You must conquer each. I guess I'd better get going. Wow. I think... Stirring stuff. Yeah. We did a good job.

Everybody did a good job. My friends and I were obsessed with, like, in the early days of YouTube, you know? Yeah. Like, somebody uploaded the CDI, like, scenes, and my friends and I were obsessed with them. And so, like, I remember, like, the, ooh. Yeah, it's, there was so many to pick from that. I was actually surprised. I went through some of the ones that we've done in the past.

We somehow hadn't done that yet. Wow. I have never seen animation that repulses me. The way that the animation in that game, like, physically disgusts me. It looked like it was about to throw up somehow. The way the eyes googly around is, like, activates my lizard brain to tell me something's wrong. It's the uncanny valley. Yeah, it's disgusting.

They're like kind of Ralph Bakshi-ish, but not. Yeah, yeah. It's basically the only source where I would say I'd rather watch AI animation. Yeah, I animation would look like that, though. There's just like something a little wrong with it. I do think that king guy acted my ass off. Yeah. I don't want to say he for sure ate your lunch, yeah.

That was V-O-3 here. That's this week's Get Played. Our producers, Michelle Chan, Ranch Yard underscore underscore Sard. Ranch is streaming over on Twitch. I tried alien isolation again. Yay! I love that one. I hate it.

So what is it? Is it too scary or what's the situation? I think. Did you get stuck in a table? That happened to me. I'm stuck under a table. Yeah. I'm usually under a table only, actually.

I think I just don't under the map is very confusing to me. And I famously do not like being chased. Oh, that's not the game for you then. Yeah. Wow. Why are you doing this? Never. A lot of people.

wanted me to play it. And yeah, I think it's not for me. What do you think you might switch to? I think Silent Hill F. Nice. I am very interested. All right. Phenomenal. Yeah.

Again, you don't like being chased. I don't like being chased without a way to defend myself. I will say, I can make a, I'll just make a picture real quick. You can get them to Goseyote and then actually, you're the one doing the chasing. You're the biggest threat in the game. That's what I'm talking about. out. Twitch.

TV slash yard underscore underscore Sart. Our music is by BenPrenti. Benprinti music.com. Our artist by Duck Brigade Design, duck brigade.com. We got merch at kinshipgoods.com and get animator's sister's show on Patreon.

Matt, what are we watching this week? We're watching Elfin Lead. We're almost done with it, I think. Yeah. I'm sorry to have said that just now. It's tough. It's a tough watch.

Not for the faint of heart, I'd say. So if you'd rather skip out on it, that's fine. But we are, we're almost done. We're almost done. And when that show is done, we'll be watching Link the Faces of Evil. Ah, fuck. Patreon.com slash get played. Erica Aishi, congratulations again.

Goes to Yote is the game. Anything else you would like to plug? Yes, I have a podcast with Lou Wilson, Brett and Lee Mulligan, and Abria, Iyngar. It's called Worlds Beyond Number, and it's an improvised storytelling podcast. where we are informed, our narrative is informed by games. So, yeah, it's, we just finished our first arc of Brennan's story, The Wizard, the Witch, and the Wild Ones. That's all available wherever fine podcasts are purveyed.

And I am currently putting out, I made my friends roleplay clue. Wow. Oh, yeah. Nice. That's awesome. Yeah. Hey, well, there you go. And thank you so much for doing the show.

unfortunately we have to tell you that you got played but you know what else got played Ghost of Yote so there you go that's all I wanted I killed a guy and I didn't even know

there were bounties so I like walked up to this thing and there's like a whole story and I just slayed him and then a pop-up happened it was like go to an inn I was like a gate come

The way you play games fascinates me. That was a headgum podcast.