Kinda Funny Gamescast: Video Game Podcast - Game of the Year So Far 2023 - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Episode Date: April 12, 2023

Mike joins us to discuss all of our personal favorite games of the year so far, as well as our biggest disapointments. Time Stamps - 00:00:00 - Start 00:02:00 - Housekeeping 00:04:30 - Game of the Year So Far 00:28:16 - Ads 00:29:21 - The Remake Conversation 00:33:26 - The Rest of the Year is STACKED 00:57:14 - The Biggest Disappointments Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's up and welcome back to the Kind of Funny Games cast. Of course, I'm Tim Geddes and I'm joined by the new face of video games. Blessing at Ayoe, Jr. Good afternoon, Tim. The Master of Hype Snowbike. Hey, yo, Tim, thanks for having me on today. One of the coolest dudes in video games, Greg Miller. Hello, Timothy.

And the Nitro rifle himself, Andy Cortez. Great afternoon. A five-man crew. A fun one for the games cast. Must be a big review. It's always good. Whoa. I know that this was the goal.

but my lord I've never seen someone with wider teeth than you like good lord you hear that Andy was my boy Tim letting me know it's a head out of your yellow fucking teeth like good lord just want everybody know that's a toothpaste from Italy

that's a whole lot of just like super alcoholic I don't know dentine ice acidic type of thing you did like three levels of whitening when you were supposed to do it no I don't know you said it hurt you said it was bad Again, the problem I have with Mike is that, you know, he won't listen to us when we ask him to wear glasses to help his vision.

Yeah, yeah. But he'll listen to any TikTok algorithm to tell him like, hey, just put the order this shit, spend $70 on it. It'll come in from Russia and just rub it on your teeth. Change your life. But the date that he revealed this news to us, he was like, oh, I'm burning my nam off. Yeah, it hurts. It hurts. It's sensitive.

Why are your seat so high, Mike? Beauty hurts. Come down. Got damn it. Come down. What did it mean? We're in line. You and I were in line?

We're in line. Just two average height people sitting next to each other right now. High above average guys. I love this. Of course, we've assembled the dream team to talk about video games because video games are cool, everybody. And this is the kind of funny games cast where we get together each and every week

to talk about how cool they can be. Of course, you can get it on YouTube.com slash kind of funny games or roosterteet.com as a video. But if you want it as a podcast. Search your favorite podcast service for Kind of Funny Gamescast will be right there for you. A whole bunch of great reviews of games throughout the year already available there. And of course, throughout the rest of the year, we're going to be hitting all the major reviews for all the major games coming out. Prediction topics, a whole bunch of cool things.

So definitely go subscribe to that, show some love. If you want to show extra love, patreon.com slash kind of funny is where you want to go. Just like our Patreon producers, Delaney Twining and Tripod Plus Plus. Thanks to their support, they won't need to listen to the ads for Rocket Money later. Before everyone else, you get that. And guess what? If you're on Patreon, you can watch live as we record it. You also get a whole bunch of bonus shows, like Kind of Feudy.

I'm about to record one of those after we do this. Earlier today, we recorded a shit list where we do what we do less. We talked about the top 10 restaurants and video games. Yeah, think about it. Think about it. Did you guys enjoy yourselves a lot? We enjoyed ourselves. Can you give us two really quick?

Off the list. Cluck and Bell was on there. Oh, clucking belts gotta be. Yeah, as it should be. Now, that's a top tab. Is it way lower than you'd expect it to be? Yes. I don't know.

Go to Patreon. The answer is yes. I'd have to find out. Give me one more. I don't even know if I could, honestly. Okay, okay, okay. There was a restaurant in a fallout somewhere. Oh.

Yeah. It's a restaurant, I think, in a sky room. No, it's not. Dinerdash. Dinerdash was a diner dash, diner dash. Dinerdash was not on it. So this was, these are restaurants I'd want to eat in. Just top 10 restaurants in video games.

Okay. Yeah. Yeah. The fun thing about the shit list, right? Yeah. Is we don't look at the list before we talk about it. No, I know. I've been on the show on.

So we just kind of like, there's a prompt, plus finds a list, and then we just go into it. And then we try to guess what's on the list, what's on the order of the list. And then we really need, at the end of the day, decide,

is the list a shit list, or is the shit? That is the shit. Which I don't think we did for this last list. I think we got to the end of it, and we're just like, we're so flabbergasted. I don't think that it dessert.

Well, whatever. Yeah. But there are. dozens of episodes of the shitlist that you can go get right now on patreon.com slash kind of funny. But hey, enough about all that stuff. Well, actually, one last little thing I want to tell you. You can use our Epic Creator Code kind of funny on all Epic Game Store purchases.

And even if you're getting the free stuff, there's been a lot of free deals recently on the Epic Game Store. Use our code kind of funny. And it helps us out at no extra cost to you. Let's get right into it. We're quarter through 2023. Q1, as they say, Dunzo, over. and it might be the best Q1 video games have ever had. Absolutely not.

Am I too bold to say this? Where were you last year? I don't know. I don't know. I guess last year was pretty good. Last year's Q1 was incredible. I mean, this year, a lot of remakes, but I mean, Jesus Christ, man. Like, I feel like we're already at a point where our top 10 list, like, I feel like I already have half a list. And we're only one, one Q into the four Q year.

What do you think, right? Three more Q's to go. Three more Q's to go. Three more Q's to go. A lot of Q's about a lot of Q's happened. and then we're a queue up on our Q to talk about our Q's here in a second. Capital Q's. I mean, plus, give me the-

Is it fucked up that Q always has to be followed by a U? Or is that just me? Crazy. Think about that. Like in the alphabet, just in words. In a word. It's like quiet. Yeah, that's QU.

I'll stop you right there because you're making a fool out of yourself. If there's a letter after a Q, it's going to be a you, I will stop you right there. QU. Quintessential. Quilt. I mean, you're not going to get me. Let us know in the comments below a Q-word. Cisco had to make up his own thing.

You're right. You're right. Questlove. Guineaneta. Thank you. Bless, the challenge for you, you're saying last year's better than this year, Q1. Q1, yeah.

I think certainly. If anything, I was doing. What are the things popping in your head for a pressure for people? Horizon. Elden ring. Horizon, Eldon ring. Seafood, Pokemon Legends Arseus,

dying light, two, not PSVR2. Yeah. I feel like that handful. already is is already topping this year for what was that visual reaction for Dynlight too Mike

it's fine really I don't know that it's automatic I think Eldon Ring is cheating Mike I remember you having a fun time with dying it's a fine game here's the deal no one's talking about Rocky City elevate the setting

I'm so bored of Eastern Europe it's dreary it's down everything is just brown all the time like let's get some fun in our lives they don't play American game God sick of America Send those devs to Hawaii, okay?

Put me out somewhere tropical. That's just Dead Island to get through. Dead Island one. Dead Island Rep. That's what I need. Well, I mean, what's the argument for Q1 this year? Well, I mean, the topic of the show right now is Game of the Year so far, like looking at Q1. But again, I know a lot of these are remakes, but I think that some of them are remade at the point that they feel like such fresh experiences.

But we're talking Dead Space. We're talking Metroid Prime Remastered. We're talking Resident Evil 4 remnant. Those three alone am I. Those are pretty damn banger. You add high-fi rush to this? Surprise out of nowhere Xbox game that's up in the considerations. That's pretty damn good call.

That's a good call. Surprise Tango GameWorks game. Let's give that team a shout out right there. Coming from the evil within. And of course, uh, Ghostfire Tokyo. Oh, yeah. They're coming hot off that.

They're coming hot off of that. And out of nowhere, bang, hitting you with high-fi rush. Shout out to that team. Yeah. Let's see if it moved Xbox consoles. Oh. Oh, no, we're down. No, we're down to bed.

I got to check tomorrow. You got to check tomorrow. Well, but there's so much to talk about. But are you happy with Q1 this year? I'm happy. No, this is me talking shit of Q1 this year. I think it's more so the idea that this is the best Q1 that we've had in a while.

I look back at last year and I'm like, no, that was a Q1. If anything, I'd say I'm more excited for Q2 in the games that we're about to get, right? The idea of Jedi Survivor, the Legend of Zelda, the Tears of the Kingdom, Street Fighter, the next one, right? Diablo 4, Final Phase of 16. Like, Q2 this year actually might be the best Q2

we've ever gotten. Like, I think there's more of an argument there. Yeah. But I mean, if anything, half one of this year, Q's one and two this year. Ooh. Good Q's. Great Q's as a whole. Mind your P's and Q's, you know what I'm saying?

What everybody says, Greg. Greg, how's gaming been for you, Q1? You're a dad now. This is your first second Q1 is a dad. All right? Yeah. It's been a lot like it was last year. That's been great.

Bray, father. It was a year and a half whole. No, it's been, I think, a fantastic Q1 for Little Greggie over. here, you kidding me? You got a WWE game in there. You got a dead space in there. You got wild hearts in there. These are games I have really been enjoying, really been appreciating. I would toss before your eyes in there as well, of course. You know, I know a game that's older and been on other platforms, but was new to me and was the PlayStation VR2 version, which I thought was more immersive than the Netflix one I went and kick the tires on after

the fact. It's been a great Q1. I think, you know, it's interesting as, you know, as visceral reaction you got from blessing being offended by your slander of Q1, 2022. too. It'd be interesting to go back and compare other. Like, you know, I mean, I really do feel like it's an old adage that doesn't make much sense, but we talk about all the time with the original dying light, right? Well, that was a game that came out and found a audience and a spot on the calendar that most people weren't in. They weren't putting out January, February, March, Q1 things. You weren't getting bangers.

And that was a game that came out that, again, was solid, you know, not the best thing since sliced bread or anything. But since it was standing alone in that field, it was like, holy shit, everybody's playing. it whereas now I feel like we've just been on a tear of every month at least if not every week or every other week there's something you need to be playing there's something that needs to be consumed right now to be part of the conversation and sometimes I know I heard overheard you guys talking about it earlier right like it'll be something maybe like hoggworth's legacy or wild hearts that kind of seems to have this big moment and go away right but it's because there's something else that's about to happen like the staying power is what's so hard in why we're seeing games

like Rumbleverse not be able to catch on be closed down, knockout city, not be able to catch on closed down because there isn't a quiet period anymore. There really isn't a time to get invested in something that isn't the fucking best thing. And if it is the fucking best thing, you're going to be out of something soon enough. Yeah.

Q1's hot right now, Tim. Yeah, Mike's what's your Q1? Like this Q1 has been great, but like Q1 in general for video games is now the new thing, right? Like holiday season, Q1 second. Q1's hot. Everybody wants to release in Q1.

Q1 for me has been a really good time. I mean, the surprise release of Hi-Fi Rush I think got everybody excited having a really fun time with that hack and slash rhythm-based game and, you know, I can't catch a beat but I can have a good time with it, right? And I really loved that art style. I loved the music to that game.

I thought that was something really, really special. And of course, I am the Xbox guy on the panel, so I do have to beat the drum for Age of Empires 2, right? And what that team did to bring over a beloved RTS, one of the goats in the RTS genre, put it on console and make it feel so, so right on controller. I mean, that's something really, really special.

And it just continues to add on to what we're seeing in Q1. Like brought up Hogwarts, of course, massive game, right? I know Andy really, really loved Wild Hearts. There is a wide plethora of games that you could get lost in. And I've had a really good time. And of course, I'll talk a little bit later on about crime boss, Rocky City and how it's stolen my heart. But we'll talk about that.

You're not allowed to come on. Don't you like to. Rocky City, though. That's lucking up. Let me tell you about the caller. His man eater from this year. Man, y'all remember man eater? What a great game that was.

That was his top ten. What's a special game, Andy? They put the shark in shark RPG. Andy, what, what, Q1 for you. I know we've talked a lot about most of the games here, but how are you feeling about it? I think there's one sort of not so hidden gem that a lot of people have been kind of playing more and more, and that's Dredge. If you all don't know what Dredge is.

But you please pitch me on this, because I look at it, I looked at the trailer, but I had the sound off. I think I was walking, what's the dog's name? That's not Portillo. Cody?

Cole. Cody. Cody. I was walking, Cole, and I think I watched it there because so many people are tagging me. Great, you'd love this,

you'd love this. And I looked at them like, I don't really feel like playing a fishing game right now. So Dredge has a gorgeous little art style. I think it's 2499 on Steam. I believe, It's also on... It's everywhere, I think.

Is it everywhere? Yeah, it looks like it's everywhere. It... On its surface seems like a normal little fishing sim. And it's almost similar to Animal Crossing, where they give you a boat, and they're like, hey, we'll let you kind of fish and sell the fish back and you'll meet a bunch of MPCs. And there's bones on loner right now. Or this boat... Do I say bones?

Bones. These bones are on a loner, but I'm coming back for the bones. It's a loner right now. And eventually, you go out and keep on doing these little... small jobs, but then stuff starts to get more and more eerie and things don't quite to be what they seem. And it essentially starts to turn into, I guess, to spoiler, like they're kind of showing you right here in this trailer. It starts to get kind of horrific in moments and it essentially becomes a Lovecraftian horror game. But it, so far, like of what I've played, I've only played

for about like 20 minutes just because I kind of wanted to feel out how it was and whether it'd be good enough to stream or not. It seems to be one that, I mean, right now it's like getting 10 out of tens on a lot of different websites. I think it's in the current, like, highly recommended bracket on Steam. It seems like it's a game that you're going to need to check out if you really want to have like a super serious game of the year type list. It's one of the ones you're going to want to definitely dive into before the year ends. See, I look at it. Gosh, you finish Moon Globe. I was just going to say, this is Munglo Bay with a twist.

Yeah. Mungla Bay happier. Well, I mean, you know what I mean? With a twist. Your partner, remember, disappears. The whole town stops fishing. You have to go fish. That's not a twist for you?

And I haven't finished the game, but I'm sure you, that guy's not dead. Or girls are not dead, you know? Maybe. Yeah, I'm stoked to check out dredge. I want to keep on playing it. I want to go and exactly see how scary it gets. That's one thing I am worried about. How horrifying does this get?

But as somebody who played Dead Space remake, I'm a new person, all right? Wow. And Dead Space Remake. is one of those games that will definitely be in my top 10 by the end of the year. It's a contender. So, yeah, let's start talking about these contenders, right? As of right now, what is your game of the year? Bless.

Hi-fi rush. It's not even close, yeah. It's pretty easy. For me, that game was just such a strong surprise. It was a surprise that came from a studio that I did not expect that from. And then also, I think on every single level they try to hit, right? like art style animation, story, gameplay. It all hit in varying degrees of excellent.

Of course, there are places where I think they could improve and get better, but I think from a broad perspective, they hit everything at a pretty excellent level where that had me impressed, right? Playing through that game, fell in love with the characters, fell in over the story. I thought the rhythm combat was very fun, very engaging, especially for a genre that I think oftentimes alienates its players. Like I think back to games like BPM Bullets Per Minute or even, metal hellsinger that came back came out last fall and there are plenty of people that I hear talk

about how yeah I just don't have rhythm yeah like that these games just don't work for me because I'm not able to keep up with the beat um high-fi rush I think helped bridge that gap quite a bit by adding features and adding in a combat style that feels way more approachable than usually this kind of game is uh there's that there's the fact that like you know combat when you are in the flow of it just feel so alive and fun and doesn't let up and for like anytime I wasn't fighting in this game I was like I can't wait for the next combat that sequence And that is not a thing I say often in action games, right? Like, the combat really has to hit for me to be like,

nah, throw me some more bad guys. Like, I just want to constantly fight all the time. I think it hit on that level. I think the boss fights were fantastic. I still think back to, it was a few levels before the end of the game where there's a boss transformation in the cutscene that I'm like, yo, I can't believe what I'm looking at right now.

Like, I had to save the clip on my Xbox and rewatch it over and over again because it was just that dope in action. There's that. There's the references. There's the inspirations it takes from different animations and different video games. And all in all, for me, High Fy Rush was just a surprise that was super joyful to play all the way through. And I, yeah, I think for me this is easily the game that I would say I have a pure love

for more than anything else that's come out this year so far. What about you, Mike? I'm right there with him. High Fy Rush. Everything, blessing said, we have a new console mascot easily with Chai and of course 808. Like, this was a ton of fun. This is a hot game that everyone should play this year. It's on Game Pass, which is another mega win. for Xbox and those teams over there. This was just a ton of fun to play. And I am that person. I can't catch the beat.

And it gave me the accessibility to be able to catch the beat and learn to catch the beat. And I had a ton of fun with that. So yeah, high-fye rush. I saw even today they put out a new patch that has even more different options for people to be able to play. Greg Miller, what about you? I would say before your eyes, PlayStation VR2. Like I said, a game that has been out a while. You could play it on your webcam on PC.

You could play it on Netflix. Your phone there. Interesting. Well, of course, the game control by blinking. No controls outside of that, right? And so for PlayStation, I mean, there is an option to play traditional, but like it's meant to be played that way. And so for PlayStation VR2, of course, being locked in the headset, having nothing else to look at having to go through the story here of a soul crossing the river sticks for all intents and purposes, right? I was amazed by, first off, the creativity of it.

And then the narrative of it really caught me off guard and really blew me away and definitely. me away and devastated me and made me weep into blessings headset, which I'm still sorry about. I were paid his favor. You did use mine then to play it on your own. Real tears of the kingdom. Just a brilliant game. You know what I mean? And one that I shouldn't have slept on as long as I slept down.

I did myself a disservice at that. But I did, of course, then I get to play it this year on a PlayStation VR2. And for me, you know, because I have gone back and played it on phone, I think that VR is the definitive way to play it, just being completely locked in there and losing yourself to the story and the narrative and really feeling like you are. are the character, the boy here as you play through. Yeah, I got to play it through the first time this last week, and I had such a good time with it, and I'm not going to talk about it yet.

But, like, I was caught off guard, as Greg mentioned, right, by just how I think tender and personal the story is. And I was expecting something that was going to be along the lines of a, like, a gone home or what you expect from a narrative game, right? Like, what remains would either finish that kind of game. And I wasn't expecting it to hit as hard as it did. Like, once I realized what's happening, once you realize what's going on, and once you really take in and get to the latter parts.

of the story, it really goes for it in terms of some of this subject matter and reveals. And it's really cool. Like, especially before the fact that you play it just by blinking and the way it manages all that stuff and the way it kind of brings it all in and really makes this like a really good cohesive

piece of, I would even just say art, right? Like, it is a fantastic video game that I'd like stand in line with Greg and Janet in terms of if you have PSVR 2, you got to play before your eyes. Like that is on the must buy. It's still the only must buy on PlayStation VR2. Everything else I I think you either recommend based on your preferences.

Do you, well, do you like driving Sims? Then, yeah, go do GT. Well, have you not played Moss before? Okay, you should play that. Whereas before your eyes is like, oh, get it. Oh, you've played it before. I don't care. Get it again and play it in this different experience.

How long is it? Not long. It's like an hour and a half. Oh, shit. Yeah, yeah. And so I think, you know, obviously that can be work against it for some people, but for me it's exactly what I want out of that. You know, I've talked a lot about PlayStation VR2 and VR in general.

And my belief that so many things right now, still feel like I'm at a Dave and Busters. They feel like I'm there playing an arcade game that I could walk away from at any point in time because of running out of quarters or there's something else to go do or I want to move on to the next arcade-like experience, whereas this is a start to finish. You're going to play and you're going to go. And, you know, for me, what I go back to is that, you know, I like being surprised. I don't think every video game is predictable. Ah! Good job, Andy. Surprising. You know, that every game is predictable. But, you know, I did make, I did stop at one very specific part in the game.

And I was talking to Jen over dinner about it or whatever. And she was like, hey, oh, is this game going to devastate you and make you your crying? I'm like, no, no, I don't think so because I just stopped here. And I think what's going to happen here, and I'll probably make this choice and I'll go one or two ways and blah, blah, blah. And it was totally not that. And it ended up yet just devastating me, right? But not for the reasons I expected it to devastate me. I think that's powerful.

I think that's cool. I like being caught off guard about it. It is very much not only in the emotional section remind me of gone home, but also in the go-play. knowing as little as you can. If you haven't had it spoiled yet, go played, even if that means you're just going to play it on your Netflix app. It's another one, though, I would also say, once I finish the game, I was like,

this feels almost tailored for Greg Miller. Sure. Like, in the way that I played the first hour of God of War, Ragnlock came in the office and I was like, yeah, you play it yet? Like, this shit is for you. Before your eyes, like, once I finished it, I was like, oh, okay, yeah, no, like,

this is going to hit. Like, depending on just what your life experience is, right, and what you've been through, right? Like, I think this has the capacity to hit more than others, but I think it's going to hit for everybody, right? In terms of if you're just open to this kind of narrative game, it is for sure a powerful one. And again, you know, the blinking,

being the way to advance it, sometimes that happens, you know, against your will, right? You don't mean to blink, but you blink and you advance the scene. You're blinking through memories of this character's life, your life. And so it was, I think, even after I finished it and knew everything, I wanted to go back and rehear those conversations, I accidentally blink through, and, you know, I see what they were going to say and what was going to happen.

One thing I do hold against the game is I play, made most of the game on Friday at the studio, logged off because we had our team meeting that we were doing. And then once I got home, the next day, I booted up on my PlayStation. And I couldn't find the save. And I was like, oh shit, I guess my cloud saved didn't send over, didn't upload to the cloud

or didn't download to my home PS5. And so I was like, I guess I'll just wait until Monday to play at work. I come to work, boot up the game, and my save's gone. I'm like, what is going on here? Like, did my home save overwrite my work save? like is this a cloud save thing? And then like I looked it up and asked people on Twitter

and they were like, no. Like people have seen this issue before and before your eyes. And it was like Reddit threads of people that have dealt with the save issues. And so I lost a save. And I was like, that's fine. Like I was upset,

but I was like, I'll just watch the rest on, on YouTube. And I boot up the video. I had four minutes left in the game. Like, I just had four minutes left that I needed to see through, but it was fine. And in the chat over here for the trogs,

people watching a lot about patreon. com slash kind of funny. Cameron Kennedy says they blink a lot. Seems like it would be a disadvantage. Of course, you can turn that off and play a more traditional way. However, I think it really speaks to the narrative because, again, you start the game and you know you've died. You're in your boat.

You're here to reflect on your life all the way from birth to death, right, through all these years. And so I think it really does play of your, you know, being this person, your roleplaying as this person. And so you want to stay in these often sweet, like, nice memories, right? So it is that thing of, I don't blink, don't blink, and you blink and you move on. Or, like, I would occasionally you blink too early, miss out of the conversation. And I did the exact same being where I would accidentally blink because I'm not thinking about it. I'm like, shit. I was listening to that.

Like, I was into that. Like, oh, now. And I was gone. So what, what's the game like? Is it more of like an actual interactive movie or is there gameplay to it? It's more of an actual interactive movie, I would say. So it's not every blink advances. You'll get to very specific places where you blink and that will end the scene or move on to the next memory.

And the same breath, as you saw a little bit in the gameplay there, it's eye tracking with the PlayStation VR. so you are painting or choosing something or, you know, playing piano. Like there's gameplay elements that way, but it is like you're on rails. It's not like you're going to do. You can do stuff that influences it, but you're still going to the same destination. Do you see this plus ending up as a contender at the end of the year? No, you didn't hit 10 hard enough. You got to hit it harder.

You got to hit it harder. There it is. I mean, I think for some people, right? Like, obviously for Greg, yes. For me, I don't know if it's going to be in my top 10. I think part of that is because I view it more as an old game. Like, it's a game that's been out onto the other platforms. coming to PSVR specifically

this year is that and then also this year is still stacked when I look down the future of is this going to be one when tears of the kingdom and Spider-Man and other games come out is it going to still be able to stick in there possibly but yeah I don't know for me if it's going to end up in that top

10. If I need to throw something new out I would say forespoken really Oh fuck God Got your asses! Andy Cortez, what about you? This is a weird one

because I don't think anything's like a clear runaway winner yet. I know I probably just need to play Resident Evil 4, which I have been enjoying of what I did play, but then I realize like, I'm going to save that for Halloween. Because there's always like something spooky to play in Halloween and it's like, oh, the games are way too spooky.

But this game's like just enough action and just enough fun. And I totally get it. And I remember playing Resident Evil 4 back in the day and it it is worthy of, I think, all the praise that it has been getting, obviously. This is going to be a weird one. I'm going to say destiny. Not that lightfall is what I'm even considering here,

not that the lightfall expansion is that, but just the fact that lightfall was able to get me back in a major way where I have been playing through not only lightfall, but all of the other expansions. And it is, I feel like I'm seeing something new all of the time because there's so much content to go through and it is always a treat and it's just you're just

clicking heads and ripping them shreds and it's fun or whatever but I am just... Are you blow-trotten? You're universe trotten. Are you a headshot? Yeah, I am. And it is really, really impressive the amount of quality poured into these worlds and these

environments that you get to explore. I, yeah, I think again, a lot of people are going to like hate on this because I don't think Lightfall was exactly what the hardcore Destiny fans wanted, because it really didn't satisfy a whole lot of their needs and what they wanted for the story and answers for questions that they've been asking for a long time. If anything, I think it just introduced more questions. But getting into the world, having these cool boss fights, having these dungeons,

having a lot of fun missions to go through, cool new abilities, the game, I'm just so impressed by it. And I'm so impressed that, like, it got me back in that sort of way. I was not expecting it. Anytime a Destiny trailer has come out, I'm always the one tweeting like, maybe this is the one I finally get back in on. I can't believe it actually got me back in

because it's just that damn good looking and that damn fun of play. Yeah. So can I ask an interesting question? I think it's to go back down the panel in a way, right? It's like, you're like, oh, you know, Q1, no far in a way winner, yada, yada, yada. I think it's a rare exception like an Eldon Ring where you,

but even then people are like, well, what about God of War? Does anybody think their game of the year right now will be their game in the year. Absolutely not. Yeah, me neither. Probably not now. High five rush will be towards the top five, I bet. I mean, I think that's something special for everybody.

I think we'll be in the top five. I didn't say top five if you noticed. I know, I know, but I'm just saying, well, it's just like Desmond's not making his top. That was the fucking question.

Booted, you know what a boring campaign that was. Don't get me started on that. That was unfortunate. Which was this? The lightfall campaign. I think that was a big miss. That was not fun. Are you ready,

Mike? To play. I am raid ready. I'm happy to report. I think that the experiences that I've had in Destiny, what I saw and experienced in that campaign was really, really boring, right? Like there was no awesome unique settings. There were some cool settings, but like it felt like you saw the same setting over and over again.

It was, hey, you're learning a new skill. We're going to take it from you. We're going to give it back to you. And like four out of the six missions essentially were the same, hey, you're going to go kill the same 40 VEX over and over again doing that. And I really wish that they elevated that. I thought it would have been a lot cooler than it was. And that was unfortunate.

for me. Sounds unfortunate. Yeah. Anyone else is unfortunate? There's people out there that have to see ads, you know, but you could go to patreon.com slash kind of funny and not see them. For everyone else, here they are. Shout out to Rocket Money for sponsoring

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by going to rocketmoney.com slash kind of funny. That's rocketmoney.com slash kind of funny. R-O-C-K-E-T-M-O-N-E-Y dot com slash kind of funny. What's your game of the year so far? Thank you. Thank you for asking. You know, it's hard because I feel like what is a game of the year is a conversation we have a lot.

And with where we're at right now, most of the things that brought me the most joy have been remakes or remasters or whatever it is and that can kind of be a little weird. So I think my answer is layered a bit where I look at the remakes and if I'm being completely honest

with my heart and my mind and who I am, the answer is Metroid Prime remaster. That's a good point. I forgot about that. It's a really good game. I don't know if you guys have heard of it, but it's pretty damn good. And the reason that I would say that it is my choice right now is that you look at things like,

like we've talked about this a lot, but Resident Evil 2 remake, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater remake, there's just been amazing remakes recently that not only make the games feel and look like you remember them, but enhance that even in some ways

where it's like, wow, we're playing some of the definitive versions of some of the best games ever made. And I just feel so lucky that we're in this era, that that is the case. And playing Dead Space is a perfect example of that. Like, I cannot give enough props to Dead Space for being as damn good as it is.

Like, I think it is the best version of Dead Space, a game that I already loved. And, um, Resident Evil 4, same thing so far. I'm still not done with it, but like, it's unbelievable that the game's as good as it is.

Metroid Prime is interesting because it's technically not a remake. It's straight up just a, it's a remaster or whatever. Um, and because of that, I feel like, oh, okay, I wouldn't give it.

Put it on the list because I, I feel like a remake's one thing, a remaster's another, right? But playing this and then playing Metroid Fusion, which is just straight up, the original, Game Boy Advance game, it just made me realize like, man, Metroid Prime remastered is so much more of a remake and it feels so fresh compared to MetroD Fusion, which is just straight up the same game. The way that it has the dual stick controls, it changes Metroid Prime. Like, it is a new game that I played through.

And that new game is better than the old game in my opinion. And like, I can't believe that that's the case, but it is. And Metroid Prime is fucking phenomenal. It is a 10 out of 10 video game. And being able to play it again now with this new. style and it feels so fresh, a game that I beat countless times. I am so impressed by it. Having said all that, I really got to give a shout to High Fire Rush. Like, I feel like I do think Metroid Prime is a better game. But that's kind of where I'm at too, where I feel like Metroid Prime is the best old game where High Fire Rush is the best new game.

And it's hard to quantify that because if I was to say the best time I had playing a video game this year, right? Or what is the best video game I played this year technically? It would have to be Metroid Prime remastered. three. Well, I'm not, I've not gotten around to that one yet. But yeah, I would say Metroid Prime remastered. But if we're talking about Game of the Year list at the end of the year, maybe I'll feel a different way now, but maybe I'll feel a different way later. But I don't know if I, I don't know if I would put it up there just because it's not new, right? Like, it's, it's a

remaster, but do we count, do we count that? It's weird. Yeah, it's complicated. And again, I, I personally, with where I'm at now, there's no chance that at the end of the year, Dead Space, R.E.4 or Metroid Prime, like, some combinations those aren't going to be on my list. I think that they are in 2023, some of the best games have to offer. We have so many other games to come out, so I don't know exactly how the list is all going to shake out. But High-Fi Rush, like, I think it lacks the game of the year quality to me

that I'm like, oh, that's the number one and that's the thing. But it is such a strong eight. Like, it is such a great first step, and I can't wait for a sequel. And I think that the sequel could potentially be like that much better. I'm just so happy that we were introduced to a brand new IP and, like, add on the shadow drop, add on the game pass, add on all this, add on the fact that it's Xbox,

and I want to see them get the Ws. This is a W, it's a capital W, man. Like, High Fy Rush is beginning to end a just damn good time. And it's what I look for in video games, is having fun. And that game is fun to play, fun to look at, fun to listen to, like, purely fun, most fun I've had this year in games.

So I think that it's going to end pretty damn high at my list at the end of the day. I agree. It's probably going to be pretty high for me. I didn't really realize, how stacked the rest of the year was until me, Mike, and Tim had that question in Games Daily earlier of name your hype levels between Liza P, Diablo

3, Tears of the Kingdom, Final Fantasy 16, well, there's one No, Street Fighter was blinking on something. Tejablo's. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh, did I have to? He said that.

Oh, did you say that? I think there was like five total. Say it again. There's even more than that, too. Yeah, and exactly. And even more. And just looking at those five, it's like that, let's just count those as top tens already, right? Like, I don't see a world where those aren't in my top ten.

And it's crazy that they haven't even, like, if you say, oh, the majority of your top ten list hasn't even come out yet, and it's April. That's fucking wild to me. It is, right? But even then, it's like, there's already some games that I think are the contenders. Contender. Contender. I just watch what Andy does. I don't do it even.

I think it is the visualism. Tender. Listen to how he says Tendor. Contender. It's like chicken tender. Yeah. Yeah. That's a great point.

That's a really great. I want to talk to. I want to dive deeper into this boy's mind. A rare appearance here on the Gamescast. You're obviously on the X-Cast side, reping all that stuff, which usually means you're talking about the big first-party Xbox titles. And you get to get into some of the things.

I mean, I guess this is still a big first-party title, but like Age of Empires games that we don't traditionally talk about on gamescast. Yeah. What are some games you want to shine a light on? Oh, thanks. From Q1 at least. I wrote down a couple that I want to definitely shine the light on that we experienced and had a good time with. And I have three written down. Of course, let's shout out the OG Golden Eye.

Of course, having the Golden Eye re-release come out to Xbox and have the twin sticks with that and how that felt with two sticks in a modern era felt really, really good. Was it missing online multiplayer, of course? But being able to play James Bond GoldenE on an Xbox console in 2023, a special moment for sure. Then after that, Sons of the Forest. I love a good survival game. I really loved the forest and what that game... Give the pitch on what this is.

The Sons of the Forest and the Forest franchise is you crash land on a helicopter or plane onto an island. And that island has some freaky-diki stuff going on. There's cannibals on the island. There's a goal. Of course, I'll give you the Forest one rundown. You've got to find Timmy, your son.

Timmy, where did you go? On the crash landing of the plane, Timmy is gone and you got to go find Timmy. And of course, there's some freaky-diki stuff going on on this island. And we don't know if Timmy's been abducted by the cannibals or maybe a mega corporation that's got some bad stuff going on. And so your goal is, just like any survival game, to survive by building, crafting, and just living on this island, right?

And so. Oh, my God. I don't like this. Sons of the Forest was the highly anticipated sequel for survival fans out there. of course, it did launch content light. I think that was the biggest complaint that people had was... What was that there? What was that there?

Was that a... Was Goro showering there? We're going to talk about that. That could be a daughter of a family member, the Puffington's that you're looking for. Maybe she turns out to be a friend where I hand her a shotgun and a pistol. I played this game, and Mike could be lying about any of this.

I wouldn't know. Yeah, so I really like these survival games, right? And the forest was something I attached myself onto a long time ago, and I love what they've done. I think the biggest complaint that you'll hear from people was it was content light. It was promised to be the full release. Then the team quickly right before the launch of it said,

actually we're going in as a game preview, right? This is a game as early access. It won't be everything that you want and more, right? But if you give it time, these kind of games evolve over time and it will grow and be better. But I love a good survival game, right? And that actually goes into the next one. I'm always on the hunt for the next big shooter, right?

I'm burnt out on Fortnite Apex and Call of Duty. I'm looking for someone to break the mold on either the team arena shooter or the battle royale. Who's got that next big thing, Tim? And we got a glimpse of it with the finals. We got to do some early play tests with the finals. And I was really impressed with what we saw. There's some small tweaks, of course, that they'll improve upon. It was clearly some battlefield devs.

So you can feel it's a little bit looser on the gunplay side than a cool call of duty tightness. But it has levolution, my favorite word. It has destructible environments. It has really unique and awesome maps that have played in the day and at night. And it is a really interesting concept of a game show where four teams of three get dropped into a map and your goal is to go find vaults spread across the map. You go then stand at the vault and it's the basic concept of a roaming hard point, right? You go to the vault, you stand there for 30 seconds.

It unlocks the vault. Then you grab the money. You go over and cash it in at the ATM. You stand at that hard point and it gets money in there, right? And so it was a really cool concept. I would like them to tighten up the gunplay and also maybe make some other game modes. But for what we saw out of this playtest,

it gave me belief that, yes, the shooter genre can evolve. We can move past just battle royals or maybe the basic team arena that we've been stuck in for so long. And I'm not saying any of those are bad. I'm just saying there will be another one. There will be a next stepping stone. We're going to get to that. And the finals showed some really cool stuff.

And that's what I'm excited for. So that's my three shoutouts. Andy, did you play finals? I played a little bit of it during the first preview. I will say during that first trailer, like I never saw anything in the game that looked anything like the first trailers or the trailers that we just saw where there are insane amounts of destruction. And if there were, then your game's going to come screaming to a halt down to like, you know, 20 frames per second.

Not a game that I, I don't think, had enough time with to fully get the language of, you know. I played it with, I believe, Mike and our friend Kevin Ace X. and it just didn't really do a whole lot for me. I wasn't able to hop into the second test period that they had. I'll tell you one that I'm looking forward to that I really, really enjoyed the beta period of that we had during, I think Steen Nexfest was dark and darker.

Dark and darker is one that I cannot wait for like the full version one release of. It's a kind of a looter extraction type game, to escape from Tarkov. Escape from Tarkov, yeah, or like the division modes. Dark Zone. But this is you and two other friends,

and it's medieval style, and it's all kind of close quarter catacombs, dungeons, and you are walking through, trying to beat enemies in the world, and sometimes the other people are real other players that are there trying to also escape with loot that they can then take back when you finally fully escape

and you save that loot to then level up and kind of have better stuff for the next run. But it's such an interesting concept because just on the surface and just based on previews I'm like this game just looks kind of basic and it just seems like a very, very early form of this early access game.

But there's something about that intimate close quarters nature that makes it so intense knowing that like, because you can't sprint in this game. There isn't like crazy fast action. It's all about like kind of spacing and movement. And then you hear footsteps and you're like, oh, there's players in the other room.

Oh, shit. And you see them and you close the door and you're like, oh, fuck. And then like there, you can maybe trap them in with other little like ghouls that then start spawning or whatever. I think it just kind of has like that perfect sort of sauce. It was one of those that I think we were a little bit,

are we going to be into this? Let's try it out. Let's try it on stream. And me, Mike and Nick played it. and had a fucking blast. And then we continued to play it, and then the beta eventually went offline. But that's one that I'm super stoked to actually have.

They went offline to eventually bring the version one out, which they'll think be out in a couple of weeks or something like that. But dark and darker is what it's called. And it's pretty awesome so far, what we've played. Yeah, chat's blowing up over there. Of course, if you're watching on live, they're saying a lot of it might not be coming out anytime soon. They're saying stolen assets, so we'll have to look into that one.

Oh, yes. That's real or not, which is too bad. They should have just bought the assets from the stores. I'll pitch you on one more that I was really blown away with and blessing this is right up your alley because it's all about social deduction deduction I know you love those games deceive ink

is another really fun social deduction game it is a first person shooter the goal is simple to socially deduct who is the other bad guys team and so it is three teams walking over here right now

awesome fun maps very lively and colorful your three some will then go off into the map and try to find these, you know, labs and layers that have a special briefcase and then you'll extract out of there. But your goal is to kind of take the look of security guards, service workers all around the map,

and slowly get into higher security areas where then you will finally get the final payoff and run away. But your goal is to find the other team. And it's really who can act the best like an NPC and get called out on it, right? Like, what's that one game we play as a sniper? And then there's somebody at the party. Yeah.

And so this one's really fun because it is cool of like the idea of the teams, of course, are going for the end goal. But what it really turns into is can we find the other team and shoot and spray at them and have an awesome gunfight? And I really liked what I saw out of this one. This is a fun time and a really good party game where nine people coming together, three teams of three. And it is fun.

You'll figure out the subtle cues of like no NPC can jump. so the moment you see someone start jumping around or like, you're like, really sprinting around, you'll know. Awesome. And it's fun. It's cool. The game we played with the achievement hunter a while back.

Like the Spirry's mod type stuff? Yeah, some Gary, I forgot a prop hunt or something like that. Yeah. Similar to prop on, yeah. But I think in this one it's really cool because you do, you see a lot of the same similar NPCs

kind of walking around. And a lot of them will just stop and you're like, that could be somebody scanning. Well, this is the whole thing of Assassin's Creed multiplayer, right? Remember that? Yeah.

Go out and play that. And like you'd be dressed is them and then you'd have to watch for the other person who was not doing the right thing. Cool. Yeah, it was pretty neat from what we played. Definitely one that I'm, I was having some major PC issues whenever we tried PC gaming, am I right? The worst.

It never works, dude. Let's just waste a bunch of money in time, PC gaming in a nutshell. Greg Miller. Hey, what are some of the ones games you want to shine a little bit of a light on that are coming still? No, no, no, that, Q1. Oh, that haven't, that we've already, I mean, we're, nobody talked about, nobody talked about Octopath Traveler, too.

I've been enjoying that quite a bit, of course. You know, I mean, it's more Octopath, which is great that our style everybody loves. The stories are more interconnected, which I've enjoyed. But mainly the stories are as good as they were the first time around. I feel like I found something in all the characters so far to connect with and be into their story for, right? I feel like Octopath Traveler 1. There were certain people on my squad that I really liked their story.

This one, but I'm sorry, there were, and then there people I just didn't care about, and I kind of forgot their thing. This one I've enjoyed. Oswald in particular day. as you see it, the scholar. His story is pretty cool of, like, getting framed for the murder of his family and being put in jail and, you know,

having to wear a little, basically the man in the iron mask kind of stuff where he hasn't talked in years and stuff coming out. I've been enjoying myself. It's very similar to Octopath Traveler one with me where I've put 30-some hours in now because it was my game up in Canada or whatever, but I haven't beaten it

and obviously been pulled back into the other review stuff here in the grind. So will I ever roll credits on Octopath Traveler 2? Probably not, but the stories are great, the visuals are great. think the combat is always fantastic. I love it. For some reason, it's a rare turn-based strategy, or turn-based RPG that gets me, a J-RP, and this one gets me every time.

When I was in L.A. real quick, I went to the Academy Museum, so I got to see a whole book cool movie props and stuff, including the Man of the Iron Mask mask. Wow. Yeah. Sorry, Buss. I was going to say, this is one that... Very important. I had downloaded it. I was going to play over the weekend,

and then I fell asleep. but like I've heard so many people in the last week talk about Octobat Traveler 2 and with such like great language, right? Makaheim was talking about the battle system being one of the best JRP battle systems that he's experienced. I saw Jason Schreier put up an article on, I think, Medium about him basically saying that for him is the elder ring of JRP's just in the fact that, you know, there was a side quest that he went on where like a thing happened which led him to another thing and like just by happenstance, right, not by the actual quest marker selling him where to go.

But just by intuition he was able to piece together two things and like, It just worked the way that he expected to work, and that blew his mind and the way that those really cool scenarios can happen in video games. And so Octopat Traveler 2 is one that I really want to try. Just for me is somebody who really liked Live Alive and didn't really get into the first Octopat Traveler. Octop Traveler 2 seems to have a lot of good things that people are saying about it. Yeah. Plus, is there any game you want to give a shout out? Yeah.

I have a handful. I have a couple of games that I want to shout out. You know, they're not my – they're not in the game of the year conversation, but they're pretty good games. And then I have a couple other games. I want to shout out for very different reasons. but I didn't want to shout out Will Long Fallen Dynasty, a game that I think we said was like, okay, but

the combat was so fun, right? The combat was the main attachment that I had to that game, and that was the thing that allowed me to see that game through. That game was fun from the boss fights, to the enemy encounters, to the weapons, to the loot system. I had such a fun time with the pure gameplay loop of the game.

It was a game that I went a little bit more from, just in terms of the world and the story and the rioting and the performances, and even like the environment design, everything around the combat, I wish I got a little bit more from. But it's one that I would say that if you're a fan of Souls games or if you're a fan of action games in general, don't sleep on it. Like, I think it is one that is worth playing, especially because I believe, Mike, it's on Game Pass, right? It's on Game Pass, right? Yeah, so if you have Game Pass, I couldn't recommend it more. Wallong Fallen Dynasty is a very fun time. And then another one I want to shout out is this game story out is this game story tell out. It's one that I think had a trailer like a year or so ago, one of the president of our heads, yeah. Yeah, and this is this really cool game. So it's a puzzle game where The, each puzzle has a prompt that it'll give you. And your goal as the player is to figure out how to tell the story that it's asking from you. So like the one that, that just came up there was heartbreak is healed.

And so you'll have a group of characters and then a group of like actions, right? Where it's, all right, I want to heal this person's heartbreak. Okay, first I have to make them fall in love. So I'm going to take this guy named Harry and this girl named Sally. I'm going to make them fall in love by getting. When Harry met Sally. When Harry met Sally, yeah. I'm going to make them get married.

this panel and then in the next panel, I am going to kill Sally. I'm going to fucking barrier in the ground. And then in the third panel, I'm going to, I'm going to add Harry and Hermione and they're going to fall in love. I don't think that's canonical. But you get the idea, right? It is me telling these stories in order to solve these puzzles. And Roger was actually the one that put me on. He came back one weekend after playing and was like, yo, you know, storyteller is actually really good. And so I played it over the day. And I had such a good time with it. Like my only complaint really is that the game is not long enough. I played and beat this thing in like

an hour and I really wanted more from it especially because the buildup is so, the buildup is so steady in a way where I would have sworn there was way more game here but I finished it and I was like oh man you guys can give me more here and it especially took me back because the UI of the game isn't the best

when you're figuring out like oh what's the next puzzle I want to solve and so I would finish a puzzle and then like I think I would click left to them like fast forward me to the next thing I realized later on that I had

I had finished the last puzzles of the game before like way before I was supposed to and so like I was having such a fun time in the final puzzles being like wow this difficulty ramp up is insane like how do I do this thing and I solve it and I'm like yo

I can't wait to see what else is here and I'm like oh shit all right that was the last one let me go back and do it and I realized that there wasn't any more difficulty after that. And so I just wanted more from it from that regard. But I think it is one that's worth picking up for the price. It's on the cheaper side. And if you like puzzles, then for sure, like,

it's one to pick up. The other thing I wanted to bring up, though, are the disappointments of Q1. Well, here, before we move on to that, I want to talk. We haven't talked on this one about Wild Hearts. I really enjoyed Wild Hearts. I had a great time with Wild Hearts. I got sidetracked by life, sadly,

when review was happening and we were all playing it. But, like, Wild Hearts was such a fun. twist on the monster hunter thing i think there was it removed a lot of the barriers of entry of monster hunter a little bit of the minutia of it and then that ability to create traps and objects on the fly you know i mean i when they introduced that in the beginning i thought what a weird gimmick and then when i got like two or three more versions of it right where it went from just being a little thing to hop on to a wall i could construct to a giant hammer i could construct and set off as traps i was like oh shit it's like green lantern's ring like that is a cool thing and that does separate it from this

and it's a really sad one of like being so jazzed to play more of that because so many of us were playing it at the time but then getting called up to Canada and by the time I came back we had already moved on to other reviews and stuff and I was like ah I missed that window to get in there really play it

yeah the same thing happened with me where like even though I got to play I'd say a lot more than you because I was still like I was still here playing and I was part of the that's when you kind of like hit me up I was like hey can you be the lead reviewer on it

I had such a fun time with it and then I think it was WOLong that kind of was already like we got that code and it's like all right I have to play Wollong now so unfortunately my time was cut short there but that's definitely a game that I feel like I would have

kept playing had I not gotten that early code for Wollong I think it's absolutely worth it and it's it's a fun freaking time. That change up of those little magic building crates and I had the same thoughts we talked about on that review that man this looks really

gimmicky and just give me the monster hunting I don't care about this stupid box building shit and it turns out that that was like the missing piece that I didn't realize that I wanted until I had it. And having all these different contraptions you can make, just made the whole experience a really, really fun time. It's never too late. We got these streams every day.

Let's get out there. Do some wildheartedly. You know, I never played that one. I played like one tutorial. Oh, you went on our screen. No, I didn't play it. That was you guys. Oh, that's right.

You mean Joe. Yeah. They added more the cucko. Kimono. Kimono. The kimono and the building things, which I think are called like Kakuuri. I want to say Kakerrico, but that's the village.

I think you're right. It might be a kikuri, but yeah, they added more of those things, and so there's updates there. Oh, really? I actually had that in my, like, almost, in my disappointment side, but more so just for the fact that we didn't play more of it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Like, it's almost like a self-disappointment. Man, I wish we stuck with this. In the review, Greg, I don't know if you watch it or not. You should have watched it. It's a great review. I listened. Great review. Would have rated it a lot higher if it wasn't ugly.

Yeah. Well, you're playing on a PC. That's true. No, I was playing on console. Damn it. Problem. You started at PC, though. Yeah, and they got worse.

So ugly with the rain. The rate is so bad, you bounced, yeah. And it got worse on console, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's just one of those games that, you know, great character creator. Yeah. When we talk about going from that to Wolong and how awesome Koe Techmo's character creators and how I wish more developers would do this where they have one character creator

that, like, hey, this is the Koi Techmo character creator. Whatever games you want to use, utilize this tech. and it's awesome and it's expansive and now I'm playing EA EGA Road to the Masses like God damn this character is the worst thing I've ever used in my life like awful

I think it's the quickest I've ever gotten in and then out of a character creator It is assinine how bad this character creator is Tim and I think you see them and now we're talking about EA sports sorry I just have to talk about this but they're like also talking about the other I think a lot of it is

let's concentrate on the the gear you can equip because there's a lot of like customizable gear you can do in EA, PGA wrote to the Masters. I bought a lot of gear. Jesus Christ. Because like Tim, you can like have a golf bat. You can change the color of the strap.

You could change the color of the towel. But it's like, I want to make my dude look good. And instead of like 20 pre-made faces of which you cannot change the skin color. So if you find a dude, it's like, oh, that kind of looks like me, but I need him to be wider or darker skin. You can't.

It's, dude, it is unbelievably bad. And the thing I was complaining about, it's like, I wish that EA could just make one character creator, use that for Madden, use this for Road to the Masters, use this for NBA Live when you bring that back or whatever. Like, it is just, it's a really, really bad character creator, and it bumps me out that we've had such awesome experiences

because we were spoiled with Wild Hearts and with Wolong's character creators that we came to this, and it's just, it's a disappointment, man. Yeah, dang. Before we move on to the disappointments real quick, I want to give my shout out. I talked about this like two weeks ago, but since then, I've kept playing the shit out of Sefu arenas. It is so good.

And I just feel like it's just going to go under the radar because it is just kind of, oh, yeah, it's a free DLC update. But it's like, man, like Seifu Arenas feels like a separate experience to the core game. And I was gushing about it a couple weeks ago. But now that I'm like way further in it, I cannot believe how much love is put into each mission. And it just how fun, how much content. there is and like how great the presentation of it all is and there's more to come there's like you unlock levels as you go and there's like sections that are like coming soon and I'm like I'm getting

more that's awesome I can't believe it but the dedication to uh hey we're just gonna remake your favorite action movie scenes but you get to just play through them and like the creative ways they they make them happen in some ways that are like legitimately like oh yeah this is straight out of the movie and some of it's a bit more like oh this is the seafood version of it um just having such a great time. The only criticism I have is that in Seafood's core game, there's a lot of moving from like room to room

going through hallways in between the combat. This is just combat. My hands die. After playing for like 30 minutes, I'm like, I need a break. I need to like shake it out because you're just going. There's so many button presses and so much going on that like my hands are just getting tired. Like, you know, I streamed this

for like an hour and I had to cut the stream after an hour because my hands just hurt. I was like, dude, what seafood demands of you as a player, yeah, if you're doing combat straight, like back to back to back to back, your hands are just going to cramp after a little bit, but it's such a fun time. Yeah, I'm supremely impressed with this.

Like, it honestly is probably my favorite, like, DLC to a game that feels like it both enhances the- My favorite fighting game. Experience? There we go. But also does something, like, so new. Like, it's seafood, but it's not. It's, like, it is a different experience that you have to take moment by moment.

Like, I still haven't beat it, and it's literally because of my hands. But it, this is, it's very special. And I think that like they're going to do some, I get the vibe that whatever's coming down the line, like they're working on some fun stuff. Because this really does feel like that kind of dream case scenario where you're like,

you're telling me insomniac is making a Spider-Man game? What? And then it happens. It's like, oh, you're telling me there's going to be a DLC that is just you playing Seifu in scenarios from John Wick or The Matrix. And then they just do that thing. And I'm like, well, thank you.

So go go check out Seafood arenas. It's free if you have Seafood. Moving on to disappointments now, Bless. What do you got for me? Yeah. So like when I think of Q1 this year, as much as I think of the games I love, I think there are a handful of games that I was looking forward to that ended up disappointed me in one way or another.

The first one being first spoken, right? That came out back in January 24th. And I know Greg reviewed it. So Greg probably has more to say. But that was one that as soon I played the demo, I was like, oh, no, I'm not feeling this. bit of the game when we first got cozed and I was just like this is not doing it for me and I immediately bounced out but that was the first one, a season of letter to the future.

I was hoping you'd ring this one up. Yeah. We had all eyes on season, a letter to the future. Like what a cool concept. The world's ending. You have to go around. You have to document it, do all these different things. And got it. It's got a beautiful art, obviously. We get it in like those first few like, not cutscenes, but where people are talking, it's like, ooh. Yeah. Oh, this VO ain't good. Oh, this interface isn't good for how the dialogue's popping up. You get in the open world and it's really beautiful. But then when you start interacting with people, it's like, oh. Yeah.

Oh, like every time you interact with somebody, I feel like it's like that's when it really is like, I don't want to do this. You have a great idea here and I just don't think you knock it out of the park. And I think it's even more disappointing because the game has other moments of brilliance where you look at the art, you look at the trailer that's playing right now. And this game is as beautiful as it looks. The art style is gorgeous. The colors are gorgeous.

Like they do such good things with environment and lighting and just design in general. all looks fantastic. And then there are also excellent moments of writing where it almost feels like I am listening to poetry where they're taught one of the first things that you do in the game is you are talking to, I believe it's your mother and you are going around the house and like bringing

things to her where it's like all right like these are things that me as your daughter I'm going to remember like I'm going to carry on the memory of this thing but that means that you my mother are going to forget this and going through that scene I was like oh this is going to be special this feels like something that's going to be special and there are a handful of special moments like that throughout the game.

But I think just as an overall, it doesn't come together just in terms of like keeping that stuff up in the VO, keeping that stuff up in terms of keeping the world interesting and keeping me engaged. After a while, I just was not interested in the world they presented here. And so, yeah, for me, that comes up as one that I wanted a way more out of. Atomic Heart is another one that I thought was going to be such a slam dunk. I've been looking for something to fill in that gap between Wolfstein 2 and maybe a very eventually Wolfstein 3 or like any like even I even I even I even I even I even I even just want a

file shock sort of file shock but I just want a dope-ass first person shooter campaign because we those are so few and far between nowadays and atomic heart came through it came in we got the code in and I started playing it I played a couple hours and immediately I was like this is not doing it for me either just from the tone of it the riding of it I did not like a lot of the dialogue and then also just in terms of game feel I wasn't I wasn't feeling that either and so that's up there for me and then another one is Horizon called the Mountain. That's one that I really wanted to be the,

oh, this is going to sell me on PSVR2. This is going to be as good as Horizon is for console as this thing can be for PSVR2. And it's fine. Like it's a beautiful game. It's a great climbing simulator, but... Great bow and arrow game. Great bow and arrow game.

But it's also, it doesn't... It's not one that I would say, if you're a Horizon fan, you've got to pick this up. And it's not one that I would say, hey, if you're looking for PSVR2, you got to pick this up. Like, there are even more games that are in the PSVR2 catalog

that'll recommend. way more before we'd get to Horizon Call on the Mountain, something like Before Your Eyes or Grand Tourismo. And so that's up there for me as well. And then Crime Boss Rock A City, I was hoping, would be at least a little bit good. Oh, my God.

Can I talk about Crime Boss Rock A City finally? Is it a disappointment? It's a major disappointment, Greg. Of course, if you've listened to the kind of funny X-Cast, we had a great rant about crime boss, Rock A City, last week. But I'll keep it short and simple on this one. It's a big disappointment.

I mean, it is a game that has a bunch of actors that you know, right? Like, you think, oh, man, Chuck Norse, that's crazy. Like, this is going to be a fun time. Danny Trey-hose it, that's insane. Why do they got vanilla ice? Like, what are they going to do here? And unfortunately, the game just is an amalgamation of so many different ideas come together. It is a business simulator.

It has a stock market where you're selling illegal goods on the black market and you have to follow trends. It has a kind of gang where you recruit gang members and then you take over territories. You're just talking about Yakuza, dude. And then all of a sudden it is, it wants to be payday. It wants to have these big mega heist missions where it's just like payday and payday two, where you scour the building, you really get into it with you and your friends because you can play this multiplayer and you go in there and you bust a joint open and you steal a bunch.

But unfortunately what it turns into is just. absolute mayhem. Every single mission is poorly put together, really bad design. It's a half-baked payday, and that's the unfortunate part about it. And man, oh, man, I'm playing this just for the memes and the laughs, but like, I can't stop playing it for some reason. Is it delivering the memes and the laughs? It is, and it's also a rogue like, just so you know, because that's hot right now,

Andy Cortez. Hot! Everybody loves rogue lights and rogue likes, so guess what? We got to make our video games like that. Technically, you're supposed to lose eventually and die, but I've never died because there's only, you go into these levels. It takes 40. A real way where you never die is terrible. Excruciatingly long, load times.

And let's mind you, it's not too long. It's a full on 45 second load time to get into a bad cutscene that is phoned in. This is on PC. Imagine what it's going to be in console when this drops on console. Phoneed in by Chuck Norris that takes you another 45 seconds. Then you get out of that. You get dropped into a level that has about seven. seven enemies that you murder and just one shot each.

And then it goes, great job, mission complete. And you load out of that level to do it over and over again. It is a nightmare of a video game. It is crazy that people stood around a table and was like, let's do it. Let's rock and roll with that. But we're here. And so, yeah, this one I'll never forget. I can't.

I'm going to play it again tonight. I can't fucking love you. I can't stop. closing this out, Andy and Greg, do I do you have a disappointment so far that you want to talk about? Because honestly, I don't have anything that I would say. I'm like, oh, man, I'm truly let down. Like, Forspoken, I was so hopeful for

and immediately, I'm like, this isn't for me. But to say I'm disappointed, I was like, I kind of You'd be disappointed by that, right? Like, I was disappointed by that with For Spoken. You know, call the mountain for blesses this thing, but I would say PSVR2 overall. Again, saw it coming. I've talked at length about, I don't know what, why

what's goal, this doesn't look good, but that doesn't stop the fact that It's out and I don't care. I don't feel like I need to go play. You know, my VR unit's been here since review. Like, I haven't been like, I got to get it home. I got to go do something. I've played everything I play here.

But, you know, beyond that, Chia is another one that just came out right. Chit Chia, Chia, you know, looked gorgeous. An indie PlayStation is getting behind. I'm always down for that. This fun island is, you know, gliding like Zelda, possession of animals, all these different things. and it's fun, it's beautiful, it's not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but it just lacks that motivating force for me.

Like I played it in one night, I played, oh, I shouldn't say I played it. I played it for one night. I have not gone back to it because other things have called my name, whereas this was fun and it's pretty and there's a lot of good music numbers, but there's a lot of systems getting tossed in there where it's like, what is the identity of this game? What are you trying to do exactly in terms of gameplay, not in terms of story?

And it's just not something I'm motivated to go back to it. I doubt I ever will. And it's the same thing where it's like, I feel like the reviews came out and people were like, yeah, it's, you know, okay, yeah. And like, you know, Janet was more like, oh, okay. And it's like you play it and you either, I think, go through and play it and enjoy yourself and never come back to it or beat it or don't. But I just don't see it being something we talk about at length from here on out.

I would bless with Forspoken and Atomic Heart as well. I thought, I mean, every trailer we had seen leading up to Atomic Heart looked insane. and it's still a game that I had a decent amount of fun with but I thought it was going to be like this is a contender and I just don't feel like it was. Contender. There it is, thank you.

There it is. It was the, yeah, apart from the tone and everything, it just, it delivered some cool tech stuff that I don't think we've seen a whole lot in first person shooters. I love the way the looting is. I don't know if you've seen the way the looting is, Tim, but you have like this little like vacuum that sucks in loot from all the doors and cabinets around you. And you just kind of look around the room and all the cabinets open and all the shit flies towards you.

It has like some really neat like visual stuff as well. I think the game is insanely gorgeous looking. And it looks like that next gen thing, which is why I was always saying like this game's going to run like garbage. And it ran super well and all the Nvidia stuff works super well on it. I just didn't feel like it was delivering on the story that I wanted. I love that you call me out for the vacuum loot stuff because there's something, we never talked about this. I love that shit.

There's something so satisfying about things flying. And you ratchet and clank. One of the reasons I love it. It just feels good to get those bolts flying at you. And Animusha, you guys, give me down with all the time. Animusha, it's part of a mechanic where you need, like, you have to hold circle and he, like, suck shit into his gauntlet. It just feels good.

Yeah. It feels dangerous. It's old god of war opening a chest and having like the Oh, the or of seeing. Yeah.

Feels good. Real good. Let's know it feels good for you, everybody. Mike, thank you so much for joining us. Thanks for having me. Where can people find you on the Xcast?

Of course, you can find me each and every week on the kind of funny Xcast. I'm live stream with Andy, Nick and the team here each and every day, even every week day. And the fun time about the live stream stuff

is we get to try a lot of these games that, you know, we might skip in a conversation, right? Like, us playing Deceive Inc, the finals. Like, me and Andy get to play a lot of these fun games. I think that's the cool part about our kind of funny streams is we might play a party game.

We might play the newest, hottest release of Dead Space Remake, or we might dive deep into the Steam Library and find out, like, what is going to be the next gem? And that's something special for me that I always want to share with the best friend. So, yeah, thanks for having me. I did request a code for Deceive Inc. for PS5, Greg. I saw that. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it.

And also, let us know in the comments below what your contenders are. you fucking know there you go and also what are your disappointment so far for Q1 definitely interested in all of that and get ready for Q2 baby you want to be subscribed to the kind of funny games cast feed YouTube.com

slash kind of funny games Twitch.tvonTV slash kind of funny games we're going to be playing we're going to be talking it's going to be a good ass time for everybody involved. Until next time I love you all. Goodbye.