Triple Click - The Game Awards and Indiana Jones

Episode Date: December 19, 2024

Jason, Kirk, and Maddy talk about The Game Awards 2024 (and determine the predictions winner) before breaking down Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, the latest game in the whip-cracking, fedora-wearing archeologist's adventures. They talk about the puzzles, the fist-fighting, and which parts of the game belong in a museum.One More Thing:Kirk: Thank Goodness You’re Here! (PC + Consoles)Maddy: Drumline (2002)Jason: Say Nothing (Patrick Radden Keefe)LINKS:Featuring Excerpts from “Intergalactic” by The Beastie Boys from Hello Nasty, 1998, and “Raiders March” by John Williams from Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1981Smack Barm Pey Wet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fid-RMAm4USupport Triple Click: http://maximumfun.org/joinBuy Triple Click Merch: https://maxfunstore.com/search?q=triple+click&options%5Bprefix%5D=lastJoin the Triple Click Discord: http://discord.gg/tripleclickpodTriple Click Ethics Policy: https://maximumfun.org/triple-click-ethics-policy/ Happy MaxFunDrive! Right now is the best time to start a membership to support your favorite shows. Learn more and join at https://maximumfun.org/jointripleclick 🚀  SUPPORT TRIPLE CLICK:Join Maximum Fun | Buy TC Merch💬 JOIN THE TRIPLE CLICK DISCORD🎮 Triple Click Ethics Policy📱 SOCIALS | @tripleclickpodInstagram | YouTube | TikTok | Twitch

70% of all archaeology is done in the library, and we'd probably still play a game about that. But we did want to see the other 30%. Welcome to Triple Click, where we bring the games to you. This week, we talk about Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which is like a really good new Indiana Jones movie. But with environmental puzzles we get to solve and fascists that we get to punch. I'm Maddie Myers. I'm Jason Shrier. And I'm Kirk Hamilton.

And hello, friends. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. You guys recovered from gaming's biggest night? Kind of no. Honestly. No, Maddie, you're still feeling it. This is harder for you, Maddie. A week later. I'm still tired. I'm still tired. Honestly, it really takes it out of you. You know what I mean? I don't bounce back from staying up late the way I once did. I'll admit it. I'll admit it. Although, at least you don't have to deal with how loud it is in the show.

I know. You can just turn down the volume at your computer. But I will say, shout out to Polygon. last week, people might recall that I was saying I couldn't get into the boxy, but Russ fresh dick pinged me a couple days before the show. I was like, hey, good news. We got an extra seat. And I was like, hell yeah. Yeah, somebody canceled. You know what? I don't know if we're even going to do the box next year. No, that you guys are not. I heard we weren't going to do it anymore. So treasure the fancy sodas while you can. I was there for the suns setting of the box. Yes. I told Russ and plan, I was like, next year, let's just watch at the hotel. Yeah. See, that's that'll be like the real Polygon box,

just three friends hanging out, watching it on a laptop, you know? That's how the Game Awards should be experienced. And, you know, speaking of exclusivity, speaking of things, only a few people get access to,

if you want to be part of the triple-click box, perhaps, the Skybox that sits above our podcast, then you could go to maximum fun. org slash join, and you could become a member, an exclusive member, of our elite club.

And if you were to do that, you would get our monthly bonus episodes, which recently have been a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. But soon we're going to be back to what we ordinarily do, which is do beans cast, spill in the beans about video games. We are going to end this year by doing our favorite other things of 2024. We do one of those every year as a bonus episode. But I know we're also going to do a beans cast on Metaphor Refontasio. Pretty excited about that.

look forward to that. If you're playing it, you've got to get to the end and then go to Maximfund.org slash join so you can hear what we think about all of the wacky stuff that goes down in that very, very long RPG. There's a ton of other backlogged episodes in there. If you were to join, you'd get access to all of them. So highly recommend doing that. It's very much worth it. And you get that warm, fuzzy feeling of supporting a fully listener supported show. All right. and we have a little more housekeeping to do, right, up at the top of the show? Speaking of TGAs. Yeah, before we get into the meat of it, let's talk about the Game Awards a little bit.

So first of all, last week we all made predictions. We each predicted the awards winners, and this will be a tiebreaker for our annual predictions bet. And so it is time to reveal the results. So in third place, coming in with 16 correct predictions is Kirk Hamilton. In second place, in second place with 18 is Bani Myers. And in first place, with 20 correct predictions is Jason Trier. Worth noting all three of us whiffed on game of the year. I know.

It's true. I know. I blame myself for this because my colleague Ali Welsh kept saying it was going to be astrobot. And I just didn't believe him. I don't know. I should have believed him. Yeah. It felt it was one of those where after it was announced it was like, oh, of course it was also.

Yeah. It kind of felt inevitable afterwards. History feels inevitable in retrospect. Yeah. I should have listened to him. I know. I know. I just, I even was hanging out with somebody who was telling me it was that.

So it's my own folly. It is. You should have listened. It was definitely the safest pick. So it makes sense. But yeah, I mean, what did you guys think of this show? Because I left that thinking like, man, he finally nailed it. Like for the first time, it felt like he really did a solid game awards that was like,

obviously a ton of it was new game announcements. But those mostly felt fresh and exciting. And also, there were no, like, inane celebrity segments. There was a little live music, but it was Snoop Dog, so I'll take it. Pretty fun. Yeah, pretty cool. And, like, it just felt like a good show for once. For once, I didn't leave feeling like, man, what a drag.

Like, that was such a, like, excruciating experience. I just left being like, okay, that was long. But, yeah, that was actually pretty cool. What did you guys think of the whole thing? And the announcements attached? Yeah, I thought it was pretty fun. I was all right. Go ahead, Maddie.

Well, Maddie, you have the professionals view, and I have very much the layman's view. So maybe you go first. I still think it should be an hour short. I'll say that every year for the rest of my life. Nothing will ever change my mind. It should be an hour shorter end of. But as far as things that end at 11.15 p.m. Eastern Time go. I did think it was all right.

I did think Statler and Waldorf were pretty funny as far as Muppets cameos go. I guess maybe it's kind of cheap for Jeff to just include every actual criticism of the game awards that people really say to him over the years and just literally put them in Stadler and Waldorf's mouth. Honestly, a genius movie. It's a good way to do it. You take the criticism and embrace it by putting it in the hands of adorable Muppets. Yeah, yeah, two of the most famously crotchety Muppets as well. It really worked for me.

I thought that was very funny. And it also was clear from the framework. I thought we were crotchety Muppets. We are. If we were there, we'd be very similar, making similar comments. But it was clear also that he had taken some of the notes. There were longer speeches this year in response to getting awards. I really appreciated, like,

hearing the full thoughts from the winners who were allowed to give speeches, there were still some awards that were raced through. I mean, it's still the game awards. There's still a few things in there that are like, why is it like this? But it was clear that Jeff had changed some things, and I appreciated him making those changes. And there were some funny bits.

It was the first time I actually laughed at some of the joke writing in the game words. So I'll give him credit for that. The Kojima thing was brilliant. And then the look on his face of incomprehensive. worrying. I was like, is this funny, but in a fun way where I was like a little nervous and it was a little too real, but like in a fun way. Like each of the jokes kind of felt that way where they were like really skating up to the line. But I kind of don't expect that from the game boards. So I like everything else is so sanitized. Yeah. Kirk, what did you think of the whole thing? And were you excited

about the game announcements? Yeah, I was. I was, I missed the announcement for the Witcher 4 and went back and watched that trailer. Good trailer. Rocked. I thought it was awesome. I didn't realize that it was so awesome. Of course, I should have because the Witcher 3 trailers were similar when they were announcing that. But wow, it looks so good. That made me really excited. It looks amazing. But I tuned in late. I tuned in like an hour late just because I had something at 5 o'clock my time. So I kind of tuned in and got in the triple click Discord, which is a very fun place, as always, to watch the show, just goofing around with everybody there. And I kind of just, they're like, yeah, yeah, it didn't really miss anything. There was like Ellen Ring multiplayer, you know, not much else. And so it felt a little like you didn't have to watch the whole thing, which I do think indicates a show that could be trimmed somewhere. But yeah, I thought it was like it was pretty fine. It's a little more about fine-tuning at this point,

and then they'll have it to just sort of an award show, which, you know, and all that that entails. So it's kind of a, it's a mid-experience. It's not going to be everything for everybody. It's not going to be remotely the game. awards show that like the game the best games in the world deserve it's always going to have flaws there's always going to be weird snubs it's not it's very far from perfect but they could tweak it a little bit more time for a couple more awards a little bit of category tweaking so there aren't

these kind of weird overlaps like best debut indie and best indie like i understand he's trying to give a lot of awards to people but then you wind up with things like you know balatro getting like all of those awards and it's just like what are we doing And there's also a point at which the trailers, like the ads for the games, just it reaches a breaking point with the audience. I witnessed this happening in the Triple Click Discord when I believe it was an ad for like a Honkai Star Rail anime explosion. It was doing this like recursive thing like one character into another character into one type of gameplay and another. And it was just like kind of if you don't play that game, it was just anime nonsense. And it was at a point in the show where I think,

everyone just had had enough. Yeah. And I think if people are having that experience watching the show, there's still some more tweaking to be done. But overall, yes, I found it to be pretty enjoyable. Yeah. So the reason that happens is because each of these trailers, the people behind them, pay something like $300,000 or $400,000 to be in the show.

So that will never stop. Yeah. We were talking about this a little bit off the air, that at some point, Jeff does have to say no. And he already has, I mean, presumably there are games or sponsors that he says no, to. He could say no a little bit more. I don't know what his balance sheet looks like, but it just seems like at some point, you know, he's always kind of balancing income, budget, and like the show that he wants to put on. And the better version of the show just has a little bit less income from a couple of those ads for those kind of like samey games where you've just seen

so many of the ads and they all kind of have the same art style and the same engine and the same look. And it's like, oh my gosh, you know, these are really detracting from my experience. So I think you could make a little pruning. surprises. Wichafour was obviously there. There was an Eldon Ring co-op game. A new on a musha, a new Okami. And then the big new IP from Noddy Dog kind of ending the night with Jeff Somberly coming out

and saying, I've seen the future and this is it. It's Cowboy Bebop everybody. Anything other than Witcher 4 or anything resonate with you guys? Yeah, that one game, is it called Dispatch? Yes, that one. where you're like a superhero dispatcher? Man, that was my highlight of the show. That was easily the best looking game.

Yeah, that looked so cool. And Aaron Paul, that was a little, little cringy when Aaron Paul and Laura Bailey were like. Yeah. Yeah, but they were, I don't know. I mean, it's a great voice cast. And the look of that game, just, that game looks super fun. Can't wait for it. And that's ex telltale people at the studio called Ad Hoc.

Really, really cool. That game looked awesome. And that comes out next year, unlike most of the other things that were shown. The Alder and Ring thing also comes. out next year and then Witcher and Nauti Dog and Anamusha and Al-Qami are all bazillion years away. Who knows when? Yeah. It does, it did make me realize how infrequently on the game awards they show a game where there is like a mechanical and narrative idea that feels exciting.

Almost every trailer, it's just like a slow-mo samurai in space with a machine gun head shutting people or whatever. And I'm just like, whatever. Yeah, and it's all not in engine. Like it feels like a parody of video games. So then suddenly they're like, here's a freaking idea. And there's clearly like a story and a world. And I was like, oh, yeah, I can imagine that game. That's going to be good.

There should be more ads for games like this, maybe. Yeah. Where it's like obvious what you're going to do in the video game in the ad. It's just hard to capture like some systems games. Like imagine a trailer for Bellatro if we didn't know what it was, like a previous game of words. Everyone would be like, what the hell is this? It's like what is going on? Yeah, but that game may be more than most because it looks like solitaire or whatever.

But a game like tactical breach wizards or something like that, like they could show you that. then I'd be like, oh my God, this looks great. Oh, it's from Tom Francis. Like, they could do the thing that would make me excited. They just don't really show that kind of game at the Game Award. Yeah, I guess the context here being like most of those companies can't afford to pay $300 to be. Yeah, very much the reason. I've heard that he gives some exceptions once in a while, like his favors and stuff.

But like, who knows, it's all just kind of like money and politics as it always is. Real quick, before we move to our main subject today, did you guys, what did you guys think of the Noddy Dog thing? like first naughty dog game since last of us two since they canceled their multiplayer project and also the first naughty dog new IPs since the last of us in 2013 I mean I'll play it I don't know I I don't have a lot I feel I can say about like a big cinematic like that because it's very teasery very it's not it's not really related to what the actual game is going to be and I know that so I I'm always going to be skeptical of something like that because it's like I don't actually know what that game's even going to be. It was a really cool cinematic though. Like I enjoyed that. But Maddie, the question I

would ask is to the people working on it even know what it's going to be. Yeah. When you get a big flashy cinematic, that's also a concern. But hey, maybe they do, maybe they don't. I don't know. I have no inside information about intergalactic the heretic prophet. Why aren't we saying the full name of it? It's so it just rolls off the tongue. It's easy to remember. It sounds like the Beastie Boy song. funny when you say that one very much. That's what plays in my head every time I hear the title or say it as a bit because I love saying it. Intergalactic, The Heretic Prophet. Yeah, I'm not looking forward to the pre-release discourse just because pre-release discourse always sucks because no one knows what they're talking about. And also like for naughty dog games in particular, it just gets crazy. It already is for this game and I don't care. And I did think it was funny how the trailer was this great little cinematic. And then it's, the very end, it's like third person and action game where you have a big sword. And I was like, oh, okay, so it is a video game.

Still a video game. Yep. Yeah, we'll see, though. I'm sure there will be, yeah, much, much more to come on that one. Okay, let's talk about a video game that actually exists and that we can play right now. Kirk, what are we talking about today? Well, we are talking about a certain Indiana Jones game that just came out. I wrote a little intro for it that will explain a little bit about what it is before we get into it.

Indiana Jones and The Great Circle is the latest. game from Swedish developer machine games in a surprising detour from their stewardship of the Wolfenstein franchise over the course of the 2010s. Players step under the fedora of Henry Indiana Jones Jr., a Connecticut history professor

who lives a second life as a bullwip cracking Nazi fighting archaeologist. Set in 1937, one year after the events of 1981's Raiders of the Lost Ark, the Great Circle is played largely from the first person perspective and presents a mix of scripted set pieces

and open-ended exploration with a focus on puzzle-solving and environmental discovery. The globe-hopping story spends most of its time in three large open areas, similar in design to the dishonored or modern DSX games, with a series of smaller, more focused set-piece sequences placed in between them. Each new area finds indie donning disguises to sneak around, uncover clues, and complete optional side challenges, while also following the main storyline, which has him uncovering the truth behind the myth,

thick great circle before the Nazis, led by the dastardly scientist Emerick Voss, can harness its power to their own evil ends. While a lot of the game has spent reading maps crawling through tombs and deciphering ancient symbols, there's still quite a bit of wacky action with a focus on improvised weaponry and emergent slapstick fights. If you've ever wanted to play a game where you cold cock a Nazi with a mandolin, you are in luck. It will surprise no one to hear that I really love this game, but I want to hear from the two of you before we get too much more into,

before I get into my own impressions. So let's do it. What do you each think of this game? How much have you played? I'll go first. I've probably played the least, although I'm really loving it, but it's only recently,

as in last night that I finally found a series of settings that don't make me motion sick. I don't want to dwell on this too much because it's not very interesting, but I'm just going to shout it out in case any listeners out there having the same problem,

because from what I understand, this is a pretty frequent machine games problem. I haven't played the new Wolfenstein's. It was an issue for me with one of their Wolfenstein games in the home base where there was no reticle. I started to get nauseous. So, yeah, go ahead. So I will say on the Xbox version, which is where I started before I switched to PC because of this, there isn't a field of view slider.

And there is one on PC. And specifically, it's Indiana Jones's walk speed. He just kind of bobs his head when he walks. So for a while, I was just running and crawling everywhere, and you can kind of get away with that in this game. But I really actually enjoy walking everywhere because this game is nothing if not a walking simulator. So I wanted to get my full Indiana Jones on and just kind of stroll around coolly looking at stuff and picking up comic books and making little snide comments about them. So I'm in now. So if you're playing on Xbox and you're having a tough time and you don't.

I don't have a PC that can run the game. I have no good news for you. But on PC, there's a slider. Turn up the FOV all the way to the highest setting. And that will help you. It really helped me. I was worried I was going to have to wait for a mod or something. But that's really helped me. So that's my big tip. I love this game. Really surprised by how walking simulator it is and how many environmental puzzles there are, how good the puzzles are in the sense that you actually have to just pay attention to the world around. you and just pick stuff up and look at it and sit there and think about it, which as we, we talk about this kind of puzzle all the time on the show, as sitting there outside of the

game in your own head and thinking about it kind of a puzzle. It's our favorite kind. There's a lot of that in this game. Just enjoy punching fascists as well. There's a lot of hand-to-hand combat in this game. It doesn't feel amazing, but it feels good enough to me that I'm really digging that part. But mostly I'm here for the story and the puzzles and just, the fact that Troy Baker's Harrison Ford impression is so shockingly disarmingly good that it is kind of upsetting, really. Like, I just keep thinking it's him. Like, it really just takes you back to watching those original movies when Harrison Ford's

voice just sounded a little younger, which it doesn't as much anymore. So, like, really, I feel like Troy Baker is doing a better job, which is the exact joke that Harrison himself made at the Game Awards, was that Troy did a better job than even he could. And I was like, you know what, at least he said it. So I don't feel as bad thinking it. It's incredible. It feels like a new Indiana Jones game. I just have more thoughts about how much I love the story.

But I want to hear what Jason thinks of it too. So Jason, how far are you? And what do you think about it so far? Yeah, I'm finished with the Vatican. I just got off the airship into Giza, Egypt, which is the second big hub. I am really enjoying it. I think that the stealth slash fighting, anything involving enemies is kind of the weakest part of the game,

whereas the catacombs and puzzles and exploring and poking around and donning disguises. And the cinematics are all awesome and really, really enjoyable. I'm hoping that the former part gets better as you go, because I'm hoping you unlock some new abilities and make it a little more interesting. Because in the Vatican, at least, all you can really do is just kind of duck behind things and throw bottles to distract enemies and then just hope they don't see you. But, like, I don't know. So there's so many little moments that I've enjoyed so much.

Like, even in the midst of one self section, like later in the Vatican section, or in one of the side quests or something, you're like sneaking around an enemy camp or military camp. And you can duck into a tent. And in there, you find this like chest with a lock on it. And then this little mini puzzle, not too difficult, but so fun to solve in the middle of all that. And that is such a joy, such a delightful little thing. thing. So like I think this is the kind of game that's meant for people who are really into puzzle solving and environmental storytelling and, um, cinematics in general, as opposed to action, combat. And I'm all for that. That is why I'm going to finish this game most likely and play through

it all. Because I'm really into it. I'm really into the story. Yes, Troy Baker is uncanny as, uh, indie and does a great job with it. It all looks really cool and good. And the villain, Emmerich Voss is, uh, spectacular, as are the giant monk dudes. Yeah, there's just a lot to really dig about this game, and it makes up for the weaker points, I think. Like, I don't really mind having to occasionally get into a fistfight when everything else is so cool. I was thinking, while I was exploring one of the catacombs in the Vatican, I was thinking about how, like, a lesser game would make this full of just, like, pointless zombie encounters at every stage. And this game is not that. This game is very much like you are exploring this thing and doing some good old fashion tomb raiding,

no enemies in sight. And I love that. I was disappointed during the sections when like Nazis came out or fascists came out and I had to duck around them because that to me again is just the least interesting part. But there's so many cool puzzles and environments that that all makes up for that for me. I really like it. Yeah. So as I already said, I love, love, love this game. I am like the exact target audience. I'm in my mid-40s. I was a Raiders of the Last Dark VHS kid growing. up. I like have that movie memorized. This movie or this game of course begins with a shot for shot or largely shot for shot remake of the beginning of Raiders. What a fun thing. What is incredibly fun. Can we talk about that? Like that's the tutorial is remaking one of the most famous movie scenes ever. And you don't really realize it until you're like, wait a minute. At least for me. Well, it starts with like for me like the Paramount logo fading into that shot of the mountain. I was like. oh my god they're not going to do this and then of course they did it and like i like the

sound effects even the whip cracking the pistol falling into the creek and going off like the facial expressions of um what's his name doc what's the actor's name who yeah yeah yeah yeah assistant dude thank you of alfred malina who has been recreated here yeah uh so much fun um i like love that and so i like honestly have watched raves at last dark so many times just as a kid so I am like, you know, just grew up watching these movies. Even as a kid was always kind of like, you know, Temple of Doom, kind of weird and shitty. Weird and bad, yeah. I wish he was fighting Nazis.

But then Last Crusade makes up for it. And then Last Crusade made up for it. And now, of course, I've come to really appreciate what made those movies great. This whole interesting collaboration between George Lucas and Stephen Spielberg. Kind of funny that two out of five movies are good in the series. Well, I mean, yeah, Temple of Doom does have some Spielbergian, like, cool, stuff in it. Like, it's the closest Spielberg came to making a musical until he made West Side Story, that opening sequence where they sing anything goes. The, like, rail car scene, like,

chase. There's some fun stuff for the mind car chase in that. And anyways, we don't need to talk about the movies. That's a whole other thing. But I think those movies do have, like, a certain vibe, a certain look. And it's, like, very imprinted on me just because of how old I am and how much I watch them. It's amazing to me how well this game captures that. It's, it is definitely Troy Baker's performance, which is remarkable. I do just think of him as indie almost all the time. Like, it's just, I don't even think of it. It just sounds just like him, which you realize what a particular performance that is. When you hear someone else doing it, it's like, oh, cool, he really did his homework. This is like when a musician transcribes a bunch of, you know, a soloist that they admire and really learns to sound exactly like them. It's the same kind of thing. He's just able to modulate his voice to do those exact, like, sort of gruff or dismissive or, It makes you realize how laconic India is a lot of the time and then sometimes he's really nervy.

Like he can be a really nervy guy where he gets he's pointing and he's kind of worked up about something or excited and he just they capture that but it's also the writing and it's the music. Gordy Hobb did the music to this game. He also, he's like kind of the go-to John Williams guy. He did Battlefront. He did the Star

Wars Jedi games. He's really great and man, the way they record of the orchestra, the sound of it all I mean it really sounds like a William Indies score. It feels like just a lost Indiana Jones movie or something. It's so cool. Like it just everything about it, except it also feels better. Can I just give a shout out to Doug Lee who voice Indiana Jones in the old Lucas Arts games, Fated Atlantis and stuff? And he also did a pretty good job of recruiting. They're pretty good. I went back and dug up some YouTube videos of that because

I was curious how he did and also was like, he's pretty good too. Like people have certainly been out here trying to play indie. And not doing too bad. And Fate of Atlantis did kind of capture something about indie that could very easily be lost. And something that this game has really reminded me of is how far Tomb Raider and then uncharted and then modern Tomb Raider strayed from what Indiana Jones adventures actually like. Like I think that Tomb Raider was like the original Tomb Raider games I mean in the 90s. They were kind of going for that sense of like hidden secrets, you know, but they're very, very different from Indiana Jones. And then Uncharted was like, what if we took Tomb Raider and we kind of combined it with Gears of War and made it a little bit like indie but actually quite different. And now that I've played so many uncharted games and then the new trilogy of Tomb Raider games, which are kind of like, what if we took Uncharted?

But we made it a little more about Laura Croft. Like they've gone so far from this. Like this game feels radically different from those. I know. At times in the set pieces does feel like first person uncharted. And it's very exciting when it does that, especially later in the game, things that I wouldn't. want to spoil. There are some really thrilling and amazing set pieces after Act 2 that I just loved. But it is much more of an Indiana Jones experience. And just because I've seen those

movies so much, there are things like, you know, a door opening in a crypt or in a tomb and golden light kind of wafting through as the door opens with dust in the light that just looks exactly like some certain shot from Raiders of the Lost Dark. Like they have, the people who made this game and machine games clearly love Indiana Jones and they love Spielberg's filmmaking style and they love like Lawrence

Cassand in particular his writing style the cutscenes the action scenes and the cutscenes are so slapsticky and silly it's almost indie is always on the back foot

he's always like stumbling around there's people are dropping things there's like silly music playing it never feels like I don't know like uncharted never feels cool it's always wild and zany

there's an equivalent of the iconic indie shooting the guy with all the fancy knives and stuff. There's a cutscene version of that in the Vatican where you have to take someone's confession and I won't spoil what happens in case people haven't gotten to that.

But that was like, that was like, it was spot on, B for B, like it was not B for B, but like it captured the spirit of what indie is. Yes, and throughout the game, I mean, every cutscene feels the same way. Like it always leans on jokes. It's always funny. always surprising. It just never, it's, it's always got this very particular energy that they're

just capturing so perfectly. And it's really neat to play something that feels like this much of a tribute where everybody involved, like just really managed to do the thing, the indie thing, that I didn't realize was as specific as it was, but the minute I see it, I'm totally blown away by that. So yeah, I really like this game. I've played like 25 hours now. And I've actually mainly been playing this game on the TV with Emily. because it's kind of a perfect game. It's like watching a really long Indiana Jones movie. I actually haven't seen the two most recent movies, Crystal Skull and I Love Destiny,

because I heard they weren't that good, and I really liked indie growing up, and I don't care to watch bad movies, so I just haven't watched them. I have the controversial opinion that they're not that bad for what it's fair. I think you should watch it. I haven't seen them, so I don't have an opinion. But this fits right in. I mean, the fact that it's set at a time period when they couldn't actually make a modern indie movie, now because Harrison Ford is so old, but they've managed to, yeah, it's set right after Raiders,

which is also like kind of the peak era for Indiana Jones. The Nazis are on the rise. There's like, you know, it's like that type of technology, that version of the world is just like when we think of Indiana Jones as taking place. And so it really feels to me like Emily and I are just sitting there watching an Indiana Jones movie and she's knitting and doing whatever. And then she helps with puzzles. And because this game isn't like Uncharted or Tomb Raider in that it's not brutal like Tomb Raider, it's not just endless shootouts like Uncharted can kind of devolve into. It's mostly just walking around. You know, we're in the Vatican.

We go to the Sistine Chapel. It's super beautiful looking. We're talking to someone about history. There are these long narrative sequences or these really interesting, almost like experimental. Like you just sit at one point and a guy just tells you a story. And it's clearly like a real folk story from that part of the world. and indie just sort of listens. This version of Indiana Jones is clearly just very interested in other cultures

and really appreciative of all the things that make them different. And it's so cool. It's been so fun to play through it together. And then because there's all the side stuff, there are these, you know, below the field work, which are technically optional missions, but I would say are not optional because they're really involved in their story missions. But below that, the mysteries are like a little more optional. And then there are discoveries, I think they're called which are kind of collectibles. Those are more like if you really want to go and, you know, go through every corner of the Vatican and find all the artifacts sort of where you can do that.

So I do that stuff on my own. Like during the day, I'll play a little bit. And I just get on the computer and play, you know, on my own. Because Emily doesn't need to see that stuff. It's mostly like backtracking and exploring. That's the gamer shame portion. Well, it's like the stuff that's a little less interesting. And then when it's time for story stuff, I kind of save it for that night, you know, after we've had dinner, we put it on the TV and we play through it.

Really great way to play through the game. So anyways, yeah, I could go on and on and on, but I, like, love this game. And it's, like, the biggest surprise in a really long time for me, even though the previews had indicated that it was kind of an immersive sim, had indicated that it was funny, that there were all these, like, improvised weapons, and that the fights were really silly and that it had this comedic energy. I still wasn't expecting it to be quite this good or quite this different. I, like, have kind of never played a AAA game like this before.

Yeah. Yeah, I think the immersive sim stuff seems a little. little overblown to me unless things get a little more, unless you get more options moving on. Because to me, it hasn't felt like there are that many choices in the gameplay like you would get in a dishonored or a J.S.X. Yeah, it's not, I mean, when people say the Indiana Jones game is an immersive sim, I think they're kind of, they're speaking a little broadly and they're kind of indicating, hey, who would have thought that it's a game about exploring and costumes and stealth instead of a game about whip-cracking and gun shooting? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But yes, totally agree.

I mean, it is a much more limited immersive sim than something like dishonored because you just don't quite have the same, like, mobility options. Indies mobility is actually pretty limited. It's more just like you get a costume, you explore around. But there are systems that interact. There's a really funny physics system. Like there's a stealth system. You know, it's all kind of, it's very approachable. It's not like very dense in that way because I think they just want you to focus on the puzzles, the puzzles that they put in front of you. And those are really kind of where they put the most thought, I think. Yeah, and the puzzles are great. I mean, this is a fantastic puzzle game. Feels like just a proper Indiana Jones. I mean, you can't have an Indiana Jones game without amazing puzzles like you do. And I mean, a lot of them actually remind me of like the trials in the Last Crusade. Yeah. Where you're just kind of like overcoming the series of like religious inspired, like different.

But there are a few that I've really enjoyed. There was one where you have to kind of like move these pillars to glow, like glowing spots. And then you realize you can only move a couple of them and you have to maneuver your way to the other side by moving one of the pillars to not only use as the kind of tool for the puzzle, but also to use as a traversal tool. And it's a very smart, very smartly designed puzzle. And I imagine they're getting more and more elaborate. Stephen Titillo is texting me a couple weeks ago about a puzzle, like towards the end of the game that took him hours to like unravel. Yeah, I just got to that. I'm very excited for that sort of thing.

Yeah, let's talk a little more about the puzzles. I think, because I think that you're right that the design is very interesting, and it does something that a lot of these types of games don't do, which is it almost never repeats a puzzle type. And almost every puzzle that you run into, it's a type of puzzle that you're familiar with, and then they put a twist on it. Like you're doing a, like, move the light beams to reflect off of mirrors puzzle,

but then you realize, oh, this isn't actually just that. It's also like a pattern-matching puzzle on the wall where I have to look at the different patterns and understand how they fit together. And like it's always kind of pushing you. And then it isn't like in the next room you find another one of those that's just got five more pieces.

In the next room you find a completely different puzzle. And like they keep doing that throughout. I mean, they really put a lot of thought into these puzzles. I love that. Yeah. And that's the highlight of the game for me. Because again, it just feels like the fist fighting

is just kind of like whatever. It's there because it has to be there. But yeah, these puzzles are just incredible. I love punching fascists and Nazis. Yeah, I guess so. Yeah, I guess you like it more than. I'm with you, Jason. I mean, I think it's fine.

It doesn't feel that great to me. It doesn't feel that great. And sometimes they have guns and you kind of have to get away from them. You can't really. So to explain how it goes when you get a little farther in, since I'm pretty farming. I'm in the third area, I know. You level up in this game by doing side stuff and then you get these books that give you new abilities. And as you go, you kind of get more stamina, which is a really important thing in a fight because you spend it to attack and to defend.

and you also get more health, so you're just tougher. And you also, you kind of figure out how to work the food system. So there are cookies and like all kinds of delicious baked goods. Which is hilarious, by the way. Yeah, just constantly eating Biscotti. Which I love and is hilarious. And there's also fruit. And so fruit juices up your stamina.

And if you're constantly just horking down biscotti and croissants and donuts and also like just eating whole lemons. I'm like eating lemons. I mean, when I think of an Indiana Jones movie, I think of Indie just eating an entire lemon and then fighting a Nazi. Yeah, we've all seen that. That's in every movie. I just don't understand why Indiana Jones isn't like 400 pounds of all the biscotti eats.

Well, he's an active. I guess he's moving a lot. Constantly punching soap. Well, that's why. That's true. That's true. It's working on his spies and his trust. Once you've leveled up a bit, you've read some books that give you more, like, give you

more melee damage and like you're more resistant and you kind of have a few more moves at your disposal. Like, you can just kind of wail on any Nazi. Like, I'll be, you can travel back to areas that you've been to before. I went back to the Vatican to do some stuff. And like, I set off an alarm where usually if you really set off an alarm, if they're blowing the whistle and guys are coming at you, you know, and eventually they will start shooting at you, you're kind of screwed.

Like there comes a point in the early game anyways. Yeah, I just let myself die at that point. You just have to reload your sake. And then, Maddie, have you gotten the ability where you can revive yourself by picking up your hat? Because it's amazing. No, but I've heard about it. And I'm so glad that's in there because it's just, it's really funny. and I like having all these systems-based parts of the game that are purely comedic.

Like the fact that you're eating biscotti and like... It's great. So good. Carnetto and stuff is so funny. I mean, anytime I'm like running away from guys and like... Like eating a biscotti is very, very funny. And that your hat is that important mechanically is wonderful. Which one thing that doesn't happen in the movies so much is Indy escaping a fight to eat

biscotti and then returning freshly recharged. They just don't show that. That's the deline. But he does always have to get his hat. That's an important part of the movies. It does. Including that. The hat, of course, plays a role many times.

Yes. Yes. So at this point in the game, though, when that happens, I can just stand at the doorway and take each dude out. So there will be like, I'll have the stealth game, the massive pile of bodies in front of me. And like, I just am pretty unstoppable. And that makes the combat actually a lot more fun. Like, I'm finding that I just, when I'm walking, especially in Giza, there are actual

Nazis. So in the Vatican, it's Mussolini's soldiers, the black shirts. They're fascists, so then they're referred to as fascists in the game HUD. But there are Nazis in Giza, and there's just something about a Nazi saying, Heil Hitler to you. And then I'm just like, fuck you. Yeah. Then I'll just, like, beat him up.

You just got to kill that guy. Because, like, the stealth systems are not super reactive. The enemies are very dumb. It's totally to the game's benefit that this is the case. And you could just wail on a dude, and maybe the guy next to you will see you. But there comes a point of the game where then you just grab a broom and, like, knock him out, you know, or break a guitar over his head or whatever. And those scenes have become much, much more funny.

If you begin throwing things at enemies, like, you can just throw anything that you pick up. It just becomes slapstick, like, gold. Like, the way they stumble around after you knock them down before they finally hit the ground, they, like, fall down the stairs. You're, like, knocking guys off with towers. And, like, it's very, very funny. Which is fitting. The action has grown on me quite a bit as I've gotten deeper into the game.

It is fitting. It's like when he throws that guy out of the blimp and he's like, no ticket. He always has a little pithy remark that he says. Yeah, and you know, Troy Baker's recorded so many quips. I mean, that's part of what really impresses me about this game is how the volume of quips and that I really genuinely enjoy all of them. It's like the best parts of Indiana Jones and none of the stuff that really irritates me about Indiana Jones, at least not yet.

I, you know? No, it's, I mean, it's really remarkable. I think, like, they've kind of just massaged Indiana Jones over the years to kind of soften his character a bit and turn him into someone who still feels true to the character that existed in Raiders especially, but it's just less of a kind of asshole. He was always kind of a jerk and is also like less, you know, it belongs in a museum with the implication being like, my museum. And now, I mean, what he's doing explicitly in this game is he is like recovering artifacts

and giving them to the people who live wherever he recovered to the artifacts. And that's, he believes in knowledge. He wants to know what's going on, and he doesn't like Nazis, and he wants to stop them from getting very powerful artifacts. And this game does a very good job of sort of paying tribute to the different cultures that he's visiting in showing you actual wonders of the world and amazing works of art and culture that you could find in the Vatican or Giza. And I won't spoil the future areas just because it gets pretty cool where you wind up. But each place that you go, that becomes more and more of a theme.

Space. The moon. Yes, the cultures of Mars. Hey, Crystal Skull is a movie. It's true. But it's really cool. I think it's a neat thing the game is doing. And it probably won't come as a surprise to someone who's played all the Wolfenstein games,

which also have just like a lot of heart and thought put into the supporting characters and into like the worldview. That worldview is certainly present in this game. And actually like translates onto an Indiana Jones game super well, like really, really well. better than I would have thought. Yeah. You can be helpful. You can take photos for people and hand them out to everybody.

One thing I was confused about, I'm curious if the game ever explains this, is why during the scene where like Voss and Mussolini are talking, Voss is talking in German and Mussolini is talking in Italian or like why sometimes Indy seems to understand Italian with that responds in English. It really, I'm a little lost. That's a little inconsistent. I kind of wish that they had, maybe it's because Troy Baker doesn't. speak Italian or I don't know what decision they made there.

But does Indy speak Italian or is he just like, have a language expert? Right. I don't, I feel like the implication is that he can and whenever you're walking around town, he can hear people speaking in Italian and the subtitles will give it to me in English. And I'll be like, okay, this is like indicating that Indiana Jones can understand what they're saying. Great, I get it. But then anytime he's talking to someone, sometimes it's clear that he's like supposed to be speaking Italian. I feel like this is just a classic problem in this kind of media where you're like,

the implication is the character is speaking another language here, but we're not going to do that, except when we are. It's fine. But that part I get at least, but like Voss and like Musilini both speaking different languages. I don't know. It's like, all those fascists all kind of speak the same language. They're speaking fascist basic. They're speaking the common fascist.

It's all the language of fascism. Exactly. They're using a universal translator. It's fine. There is actually some really lovely stuff with language. And later in the game, there's a whole, like, India is speaking quite a bit of other foreign languages. And Troy Baker has done a very, I think, very good job of, like, learning to deliver lines in other languages. Yeah, then I guess it's a specific decision earlier on that they don't do it.

Or, like, it's just a little bit inconsistent because voiceover is hard to get all the things you need and they maybe made different calls for different scenes. But there are actually sequences, and especially there's a couple later in the game that I just played, where it's really cool, like where India is clear. clearly speaking, you know, a person's native language as a sign of respect. And it's also a really cool thing about him where he is this kind of laconic, tough guy who often is sort of frustrated and just sort of like, you know, he feels a little too old for the world. But then he has gone and learned all these different languages. And he really cares about people all around the world. And he wants to hear people's stories and communicate to them, communicate with them in a way that, like, shows respect and that he understands their culture and their language. And

And it comes across not in a preachy way, but just it's a subtle, pervasive thing, both in how he understands people. But then later he is like speaking languages in a way where it's like, wow, go ahead, Indy, shit. You speak a lot of languages, man. That's very, very impressive. It's also, I guess it's kind of a, it's a theme of the story. Like language is a central part of the mystery. I won't give anything away. But like the Great Circle is there's also a language involved.

And learning that language is very important. And then Gina, who I also think is actually a very fun character, who's the kind of female co-lead. She's an Italian reporter who teams up with India in the Vatican, and then they wind up going on the whole adventure together. She's a great character. She has her own goals. She's looking for her sister, who is an expert linguist and who Indy is aware of. And she has been kind of either dragooned or joined the Nazis. It's not clear, but she's like working with Voss and helping translate some language.

And that's kind of a big part of the story is like, Jean is like, well, I need to find my sister. And Indy is like, well, I'm trying to find out what's going on with this, you know, with the Great Circle. So we're kind of, they start out together, but then, of course, they grow closer over the course of the story. And last thing to say there is, I think that, like, it is really well handled, like, their relationship and their dynamic is really cool.

And there have been some great scenes with them where it's commonly, like, the sort of indie is frustrated with a young and more energetic, like, female partner, because he's always kind of like, oh my God. But she's also very helpful a lot of the time. She's very funny and doesn't take his shit. She calls him, is it strombo? Which means like oddball in Italian, I think. So she's always like, you're such a weird guy, but I guess I'll stick with you.

But they do grow closer over the course of events in the story where it isn't like they just fall in love or whatever. That's not exactly how it goes. It's more like because of the things that happen and the things they learn about one another, they actually organically become closer, which it reminds me in some ways of the relationship in the Wofenstein games, which was also like something I never would have guessed that a Wolfenstein game would have is like this depiction of like a love story that leads to like a real life together and stuff of these two main characters, BJN. I'm forgetting her name with the female lead of those games.

Bing! Her name is Anya. Her name is Anya. Bing! So anyways, really cool stuff. And it's also true to Indy's story in that he is at the moment dealing with losing Marion. Yes. who has left him for reasons.

We know she did in the later movies, but it was never really explored. So he's kind of like dealing with that and like with what it means for him and like to be alone and what his life even is. And that comes up too. So it's all very true to the characters

and like really well written and really well done. What's the name of the blonde woman in Last Crusade? Is it Elsa or something like that? Nazi lady. She's terrifying. Yeah.

There's always somebody. But you don't, but it's only revealed later. That's like the twist that she's a Nazi. if I remember. Right, of course. I mean, I feel like other than Marion, I mean, he always has some type of female character foil. And like, these are the kinds of things about the movies that I'm like, I just have to ignore these parts of Doom, the female foils, such a sexist stereotype. And there's so much massaging in that movie. It's horrible. And it's like, these are the things that like you just fast forward through her. Like, my dad literally did fast forward through when he was showing it to me and my sister as kids just to be like, there's parts of this movie that are dumb. And we're just going to skip them and get to the fun parts. Apart where they're on the bridge. That's the part. Those are like the parts that I very literally remember of Indiana Jones.

It's like, yeah, those are the parts that really matter. And like this game, I think, is directly speaking to that impulse of being like, yeah, you want Indiana Jones to be hanging out with like a cool, smart lady. But what if he respected her? And they were like foils for each other in a way that was like dynamic and fun. And like he didn't ever just roll his eyes at her and like make fun of her in a shitty way. Like that's the part of it that you don't want. And like this game really understands.

understands that and is like that's the Indiana Jones that you remember in your heart and you want to rewatch the movies and you just project that on to them you know what I mean I mean I like that I like the idea of this game is like rose-colored eye rose-colored glasses Indiana Jones Kirk I know you haven't seen Crystal Skoll and Dial Destiny but like Marion is very much end game for indie and like she comes back and they end up together and like she gets her completion of her arc in a way that I actually really appreciate for her like she gets to grow up and like be with indie and they get to be true equals that's part of why I think movies are interesting. But that's a whole other podcast.

Maybe we'll watch them and talk about it at some point. But I think that's, I think that's a cool thing and almost like a forgiving of like her portrayal earlier on. And like this game is aware of those movies and is like giving you a version of Indiana Jones who's going to like grow into the guy that's like that smarter, cooler guy who respects women more. I don't know. I really go out on a chair here.

But I think there's something to it. I don't think of Marion's portrayal in Raiders of the Lost Dark. particularly bad. Like, I've always liked the character. No, but she, she's very, I mean, I love her, but, like, she definitely is, like, mad at Indy for a lot of the movie and, like, you know, she's drinking a lot. She's very, like, emotionally raw. I mean, she's, I love, I love Marion. I will never not love her. But, like, I do think that she gets to be, like, a true co-conspirator with indie in a different way in, like, the latter-day movies, if that's fair to say, you know? Because She's more of an adult and like an equal as opposed to like, you know, just some girl.

I don't know. Okay. I have something important to share with you guys. Dr. Elsa Schneider, that's the Last Crusade, Femfetal. Our villain. She is played by an actress named Allison Doody. Great. Okay.

It is a great performance. Name or not. She's an amazing villain. I've always kind of held, like so Karen Allen, who played. Marion and like Marion's that performance and I don't know the introduction of her doing the drinking competition I know I've always really held as a kid I was like damn this chick rocks like I thought marian was awesome so I've I've always kind of been like well there was kind of only one woman for Indiana Jones like in the end it's Mary and I think that's what the movies now believe you know

well and I don't know how the great circle ends up with Gina and like what the nature of their relationship may be yeah so I'm actually not sure but it does seem as though the game also understands that. And based on how I've watched them interact, it's, their like sort of, you know, oddball, like, jokey banter is just really, really well done. It's a really fun part of the game. And then, of course, Voss also is a fantastic villain, played by what's his name, Marius Gavrilis. Incredible job. Man, these machine games writers know how to write these hateable Nazis. That's why you know they're going to do a good job. He kind of gets owned over and over and over through the game, which is cool. And of course, we should mention that the late Tony Todd,

the Candyman, plays Locus. And he's fantastic as well as this sort of terrifying giant, who's also a little bit enigmatic and, of course, plays a very vital role in the underlying mystery. So another great performance there. Terrible boss fight, though. Yeah, that's tough at the beginning. You get better at fighting as you go. You'll see as you play more. Anyways, yeah, I love this game. I didn't expect to love it as much, but I'm absolutely wild about it. I'm so excited to finish it and see what happens. I'm excited for the two of you to keep going. If they want to keep making these, that's fine with me, by the way.

And really, I can't stress it up. There's stuff that's so cool that happens. Like, very, very cool game. So anyways, that is Indiana Jones in the Great Circle, a game that I think all three of us really liked. All right, let's take a break. And then we will be back for one more thing. Oh my gosh. Hi, it's me, Dave Holmes, host of Troubled Waters, the pop culture battle to the ego death.

Okay, everybody. Word association with Troubled Waters, first one to fumble, loses. G. Comedy. Panel show. Guests. Celebrities. Games.

Oh, sound rounds. Improvised is trivia. A very niche flash Gordon clip. Chavill Rowan. Oh, no. Riley, I'm sorry. She will not return our phone calls. I am afraid.

You're out. A girl can dream. Oh, but dreaming will not earn a girl any points. Troubled Waters. Listen on maximum fun. wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Yucky Jessica. I'm Chuck Crudsworth.

And this is terrible. A podcast where we talk about things we hate that are awful. Today we're discussing wonderful. A podcast on the Maximum Fun Network? Hosts Rachel and Griffin McElroy, a real-life married couple. Yuck! Discuss a wide range of topics, music, video games, poetry, snacks. But I hate all that stuff.

I know you do, Yucky Jessica. It comes out every Wednesday, the worst day of the week, wherever you download your podcasts. For our next topic, we're talking Fiona, the baby hippo from the Cincinnati Zoo. I hate this little hippo. And we are back for one more thing. Maddie, why don't you go first? You know, I was wondering, if you've seen this movie, okay, that's so funny. All right, so my wife made me watch a movie called Drumline.

this weekend because she was shocked and appalled that I had never seen Drumline. And partway through watching the movie, I actually turned her and said, you know, I bet Kirk is going to be shocked and appalled that I've never seen Drumline as well. I'm glad that you watch it. It's a great movie. And I'll explain why. So Drumline is, you know how there's kind of like competitive dance movies, competitive sports movies, or like a band movie, and there's like an underdog, you know, a set of characters?

And then there's like the cool school that everybody has to go up against and like, oh, they're scary and like way better than us. And they have more money and resources for some reason. Drumline is that movie, but with marching band. And it's amazing. It's so good. It's such a fun time. I was never like a member of marching band. It's not a world I'm super familiar with.

But regardless, I thought it was extremely fun. Nick Cannon stars in it as this kind of like fendom. venom, like, annoyingly braddy, excellent drummer who comes into this college and is like, you know, doesn't think he needs to listen to the orchestra conductor, thinks he's better than everyone, but also is like working with the kind of underdog college and he's like, oh, maybe I should have gone to that like other school where they're way better and they win the big marching band competition every year. But, you know, in the end, Canon's character is going to like learn discipline and like, like, learn something from the other characters and, and learn the sort of one band, one sound mantra that all the other marching band characters, uh,

have learned, which is like, you can't be the star of the show if you're part of a band that's that big. There's occasional solo moments to be sure, but certainly not, you need to not be. You need to not be. You have to actually be cohesive. And like, it's so, it's such a fun movie to just see all of these

amazing marching band routines and hear the songs. And, uh, apparently they like cast actual, just members. of marching bands to play these characters. And so you just actually get to see their routines and hear them play. And so, you know, there's certainly some famous actors in the movie as well, but mostly it's just like an incredible music movie, classic competition movie. It's just, I don't know, it's a really, really fun time. It's on like multiple streaming services. If I'm sure it's on one you subscribe to, you can just Google it. It's called Drumline. It's from 2002.

Really, really great time. And just fun. Top of the time when Nick Cannon was the hottest actor around. It's great. Orlando Jones is like the orchestra conductor who like teaches Nick Canaan Discipline. It's just, it's a delightful film. So I recommend it. I had a really great time watching it for the first time. So this movie is, it's kind of like a tribute to the HBCU marching band thing, the historically black colleges and universities where marching band is like a whole other thing in a certain like collegiate culture in America. Yep. So I went to the University of Miami. I'm going to tell a quick story because this is my like marching band. So I went to university. of Miami, small school, great football team. And our first game, the first game I ever went to

with the Orange Bowl, was against Florida A&M, a largely black school with a really huge marching band. I didn't know any of this at the time. And we smoked them at football. Like at the half, it was like we were up by like 30 points or something because like our football team was way better than theirs. And our marching band, the University of Miami marching band, they did their best, but they were not like a main event. They were just like, it was like something that I think the music ed majors kind of had to do. So they were kind of small. They had fun.

They did some routines, but whatever. And then at halftime, Florida A&M's marching band takes the field. And it's like, I don't know, 500 people. It seemed like a thousand people totally ripping it apart. Like the drumline came out. It was like off the chart. Their whole like their stands erupt. Everybody in the audience is like on their feet going nuts.

Yeah. Like dancing. It was so awesome. I was like, what is going on? Because I was like completely ignorant of this whole. world of marching bands where like there are a lot of schools like the school depicted, I think the fictional school and drumline where... Yeah, it's a fictional school, yeah.

The football team is very secondary to the marching band, which is like the main event. And anyways, it was so exciting. And then, of course, afterward I learned about the sort of additional context and what that all meant. And then saw this movie a few years later and was like, oh, awesome. This is like a kind of a big tribute to that whole world. Yeah. And all the awesome music that comes out of it.

So I love that movie. Yeah. I was glad to see it. And it was like another classic moment where Dina was like, what are you talking about? We watched this movie like until the VHS were out in my family growing up, which we have many things like that. You can marry someone from a different background than you. You get to learn about what their family movies are. And sometimes they're really, really awesome.

So yeah, I recommend drumline. It's very good. Yeah, it's a good one. Jason, what's your one more thing? My one more thing is a book called Say Nothing by Patrick Radden, Keefe, which if that sounds familiar, it actually just was turned into a miniseries. is on Hulu. I haven't watched that, though. I am almost done, though, with the book, which is this fantastic nonfiction book about The Troubles, which is like this, I think 30-year period in Ireland that was kind of this kind of low-level violence all the time everywhere. And there are all sorts

of factions involved, and it would be kind of like, you can't even sum it up as like one party versus another because there's so much going on. There's like religious aspect, there's a culture aspect, there's a government aspect, but it's all, it was all a mess, hence why it was called The Troubles. And this book is really fascinating. It kind of focuses on a few main figures of the time, including Dolores Price, who is this young lady who became an IRA terrorist, and she has this wild and fascinating story, and a bunch of the people around her, and it kind of focuses on their lives and what they went through and the plots they had

and then the prison time they served and the hunger strikes they carried out and all sorts of other cool stuff. And it's all non-fiction, so it's all true stories told through a really cool, just kind of well-structured journalistic approach.

And I really highly recommend it. It's a really good book. I think it might, it's like, you kind of, you have to meet it on its own terms. So like if you're not familiar at all with the time. It might take you a little bit of reading or a little bit of supplemental reading before you really kind of like all caught up on what's going on exactly. But really interesting and really interesting for me to learn about a time and kind of a bit

of history that I knew absolutely nothing about. But that I think was, I mean, some of these people I think were household names in the UK at the time because they were the subjects of celebrity and tabloid attention and newspapers all the time. It's really interesting reading about their lives 20, 30, 40 years later. So yeah, it's called Say Nothing. Patrick Redenkeef, really cool book, I recommend it. Nice. Cool.

Yeah. I've seen this get advertised to me, the series, but maybe I should read the book. Sounds cool. Yeah, the series, I mean, I imagine the series is probably more approachable to people. I'm probably going to watch it after the book, so I'll let you guys know, like, what I think of the two compared to each other. I do know that I believe that Patrick Redden Keefe, who's a journalist, he wrote a bunch of other books too. I read Empire of Pain about the opioid crisis and the Sackler family. That was a few years ago, too.

I believe he was involved with the show. That's good. I think it's authentic. I'm not 100% sure about that, but I think he was involved in some way or not. Well, I hope he is. Yeah. If it has the same name, one would hope he is involved. Yeah.

Sometimes of these things, you just kind of sign away. an option and let someone else handle it. And then sometimes you as the author get involved. Nice. Well, I will go last. My one more thing is a game that I've been playing. Actually, now that I've got the PC running to the TV, I've been playing this one with Emily as well. It's called, Thank goodness You're Here!

And it's out on PC and pretty much every console, Switch and PS4 and Xbox and all that. I've been playing on PC. This game is hilarious. And I really recommend it. It's totally bizarre, but very, very funny. So it's made by a developer called Cole, Supper. They have another game, I'm forgetting the name, but it is free. It's like sort of short,

maybe proof of concept for the similar, like art style and game style to this. But this is a big, maybe their first more fleshed out game. It's published by Panic, the publisher, or the, I think they, what they funded or created the play date, right? Created, yeah. Yeah, created the play date that handheld with the crank and have published some cool indie games over the years. So this game is like the closest thing I can think to compare it to is Untitled Goose game in that it's a game set in a very specific part of the world with a very specific style of humor that is very, very funny and it's mostly about causing mayhem. So it's

almost impossible for me to describe this. I think if anyone is interested after I talk about it a little bit, just go look at a trailer for it and you'll see what it looks like and what it's like. You play as a kind of salesman who is sent to pitch the people of this town called Barnesworth, is in Northern England, and you're kind of pitching them on creating, I think, an ad campaign to get more people to come to the town. I'm not really sure. Once you get there, it's just the first time you get there and there's this really weird guy and his arm is stuck in the hole and he says, oh, thank goodness you're here. I need to get my arm out of the hole because I was trying to grab a tuppence in the hole. And like everyone is speaking in a variety of Northern English accents

and dialects. And it's like very hard to understand everyone, but there are always subtitles on the bottom. And it's just a totally bizarre slapstick world. Your only method of interacting with, you're this little yellow guy. And he just walks around. And the only way of interacting the world is slapping people. So you just press a button and you smack people. And then they either say something or they go, uh, or, you know, or it causes something to break open in the world. The whole world, it's a cartoon. It looks like a hand-drawn cartoon, the entire world. And kind of like, I don't know, Renon Stimpy or I don't know what kind of kind of cartoon I could really compare it to. I'm sure there are some English cartoons that really look like

this that I'm not familiar with, but everything is kind of horrible. There's a lot of just like gross like sploches and and trash and like things are just broken. There's bugs everywhere. There's like spiders in every corner. The world seems very alive in a way that is sometimes disgusting, but always very vibrant and very funny. And then it's just, it's surrealist. I can't even begin to describe the experience of playing this game. I mean, it plays with scale in all these really wild ways where characters in one scene will be giant

and your character is tiny and he's like walking across their stomach and they just talk to him and then he leaves and the next time you see them they're normal sized or he gets transported into like a meat world where there's like it's a totally bizarre surreal experience that is to me hilariously funny. Like it's very

very, very funny. Can I ask you so I watched a trailer for this and I saw some people complimenting it but I, watching some of the footage, it felt very like, I don't know, random humor that didn't really feel like it was for me, but you think it's hilarious. You're saying it's... I don't know if it's for you. It's very particular. I mean, it may be. Like, it's very particular. It's very British. It's very absurd. But it's very, very funny. To me anyways, like, these sequences will play out. This guy's arm is stuck in a hole. You're trying to help him

out. Each time you come back around to where he is, there are more people standing around him. Each character is this kind of terrible-looking bizarre person. But you kind of get to know them all and then they move through the town. So as you go through the town multiple times, you see people multiple times. You have to like go into this, I think a bakery where they have butter in the freezer and you have to get the butter out so you can use the butter to get him out. But the way that that plays out is just this absolutely absurd sequence of events. I mean, I would say Monty Python is probably a pretty clear influence here.

And like that style of humor where it's like just pratfall. and bizarre, like, surreality and, like, things just happening that have absolutely no explanation that just lead from one to the next to the next. It's a very, like, short attention span game. You're just always kind of, like, what's in front of me? I don't know. Am I supposed to go here? Let's go here.

Oh, I fell down a hole. Oh, now I'm in the pipes under the city. Oh, now I'm in a whole new area. And just, it's very hard to describe the experience, but I find it very, very charming and funny. Do you do anything in it, or you just walk around and jokes happen? No, there's some light platforming and puzzle solvers. Like, you know, like I was saying, you have to go get the butter. You have to figure out how to get the butter from the bakery over to the guy's arm.

Sure. So it's not just talking to make that play out. Okay. No, it's not just that. And then it also is like a community game where you're kind of walking around this rich community of freaks and like getting to know them all and like seeing how they all relate to one another and listening to their stories. They tell one another. And it's like it's very much about like capturing some gestalt of Northern England. Like that is very clearly the intent of the developers

To be like this is a very specific part of the world It's sort of underrepresented And we want to like write this bizarre love letter To this place where we live and where we know so many people Is there is a smack barm pee wet in it? I don't know Do you guys know what that is? No

Oh gosh well there might be there might be There's a lot of references that I don't get in this game So there could well be that one I'll have to send you guys a link to the smack farm Okay, great. We'll put that in the show. You've never seen it. It's the guy talking, it's this British guy talking about how we went up and had an authentic wiggin' kebab.

Oh, my God. You have to watch this video. This is like what this game is like, though. I have not seen that, but that is like. I don't know what this is, but I'm excited to understand it when Jason T.m says a link later. You guys, Kirk is going to Bing in being like, what the hell is. I mean, I might being in being like, oh, this is clearly like what this game is based on. Bing.

I mean, yeah, Jason showed. me the video and it actually, it is very close to the experience of thank goodness you're here. What's pee wet? What's pee wet? In Wiggum, it's as good as gravy. It's the water off the peas. You get a few bees in as well. You don't, you know, it's free. Just moist your chips up. Oh, you smock. I think I've got room for a little bit more, mate. Can I get in your smack bar and pay wet? No problem at all. I figured that was worth sharing. Bing! Anyways, I think it's really great. It's not too long. We're nearing in the end. I think it's only a few hours.

It's just hilarious, and unlike anything, I've played in forever. And I really wholeheartedly recommend it. It's an incredibly fun and funny game. So yeah, that's thank goodness you're here. It's on pretty much every platform. Totally worth checking out. And yeah, that's that. Cool.

Another episode of Triple Click. Another episode of Gaming's Biggest Night. Yes, gaming's biggest night is over. But Gaming's biggest day, the day when our picks for each of our top 10 games of the year, that has yet to come. It is yet to come. Next week. It's coming soon.

Look forward to that week. Get excited. Can't wait. I still have to play some games. Catch up on some games before we record that. I think I've got my 10 pretty dialed in, but you never know. One week left to quickly play every other video game we miss. That's the plan.

That's the plan. We'll see how that goes. Good luck to both of you. And I'll see the two of you next week. See you next week. Bye. Triple Click is produced by Jason Schreier, Maddie Myers, and me, Kirk Hamilton. I edit and mix the show and also.

wrote our theme music. Our show art is by Tom DJ. Some of the games and products we talked about on this episode may have been sent to us for free for review consideration. You can find a link to our ethics policy in the show notes. Triple Click is a proud member of the Maximum Fun podcast network, and if you like our show, we hope you'll consider supporting us by becoming a member at maximumfun.org slash join. Find us on Twitter at triple clickpod, send email the triple click at maximum fun.org and find a link to our Discord in the show notes. Thanks for listening. See you next time. Maximum Fun. A worker-owned network of artists-owned shows. Supported directly by you.