Video Gamers Podcast - AC: Shadow Drama, Oblivion Remake and Best of Future Game Show - Gaming Podcast

Episode Date: March 27, 2025

Gaming hosts Josh, Ryan and John are breaking down this week’s video game news you need to know about. On this gaming packed episode we dive into some of the AC: Shadows drama, talk the news we’re likely about to get an Oblivion remake shadow drop and discuss some of the best of the best video game trailers from the Future Game Show. It’s another gaming packed episode from the Video Gamers Podcast! Thanks to our MYTHIC Supporters: Redletter, Ol’ Jake, Disratory and Gaius Connect with the show: Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/videogamerspod Join our Gaming Community: https://discord.gg/Dsx2rgEEbz Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/videogamerspod/  Follow us on X: https://twitter.com/VideoGamersPod  Subscribe to us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU12YOMnAQwqFZEdfXv9c3Q   Visit us on the web: https://videogamerspod.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by FX's Dying for Sex on Disney+. Based on the podcast of the same name, Dying for Sex tells the story of Molly, who is diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. Determined to feel everything she can before she can't feel anything, she decides to leave her unhappy marriage to explore her sexuality with some encouragement from her best friend Nicky. FX's Dying for Sex, streaming April 4th only on Disney+. Sign up now at DisneyPlus.com.

With the Fizz loyalty program, you get rewarded just for having a mobile plan. You know, for texting and stuff. And if you're not getting rewards like extra data and dollars off with your mobile plan, you're not with Fizz. Switch today. Conditions apply. Details at Fizz.ca. Hello fellow gamers and welcome to the Video Gamers Podcast. It's been a great week for gaming news from the release of Assassin's Creed Shadows to the massive amount of games shown off in the future game show. We've got a ton to be excited about, but first some introductions are in order.

I am your host Josh and joining me, he's not excited for Expedition 33, but he can't wait to mow down hordes of knights in his pickup truck. It's Ryan. I was actually thinking as I was watching the trailer for Kingsmakers, I'm like, man, I just, I'm picturing Henry of Scavitz or whatever. And I'm just like, all the time era, all the time I was in jail.

I'm like, yeah. And I was just killing everything, everything. Dude, I love that they were like, this takes place in 1402. And I was like, wait a minute, King come deliverance is 1409. Watch out, Henry. Watch out. And joining us, he's a sane person like the rest of us because he is excited about Expedition 33. So welcome to the non-Dufus team. It's John. Oh my gosh, this is the first time

I've ever been on the non-Dufus team, you guys. Welcome. I was recently told that my Dufus-ness is like my most redeeming quality. I'm not sure what to do I feel like happy and sad at the same time Don't worry when people hear your sign off. You're gonna be right back on that doofus team, buddy. So Yeah, I can vouch for that

Guys what a week for gaming news, man. Wow. Yep. I love it. Look, it's one of those things, like everybody loves lots to talk about. But we all kind of look at gaming news for the week and game releases and trailers that we see.

And we kind of compile all this stuff together. And some days we look at it and we go, oh, man, there's like two things that are worth talking about. Other weeks we go, guys, we're going to have to shorten this. Like there's too much. Yeah. You know, and this week was absolutely one of those weeks where there was just way too much to talk about. So we're going to have to pair some of it down. So what we do, like any good group of gamers, we we're going to talk about this stuff that we're most excited about. Let's go. Let's go. All right. Ryan's excited about. Yeah, I'm going to say quit stalling. Let's go.

Come on, let's go. All right, Ryan's ready. I mean, let's do it then. So guys, the release of Assassin's Creed Shadows, right? We have been talking about this game. I feel like it's been two years now. I mean, people know we have been trolling Ubisoft.

We've been kind of kicking that horse any chance we get. You know, we have said, you know, many times that, hey, we feel like this is Ubisoft's last hurrah, right? Like if this game doesn't do good, I don't know what's going to happen to Ubisoft at that point. You know, well, the game comes out and like the Internet does, if you would believe that half the world hates this game and the other half of the world says dude this game is actually pretty good now if we go by just sales and data the game has passed two million players not bad that's not pretty good to me at what 6070 bucks a pop right like that they're getting there but I mean honestly I mean to be fair for a game of Ubisoft's caliber Two million like I think there's a reason they're saying players and not like copy sold you caught that too

Yeah, so like I think there's there's a reason that's the direction on how they're kind of like well wait No, look at look at how many people are playing the game and they like, Oh, don't worry about how many copies we sold over here. You know, it just, I don't know. I have a lot to say about this and we're going to cover it all. But, um, I think on, on that part of it, like, I think there's a reason it is, uh, broadcast in the way it is. And it's, it's meant to be, um, in, uh, in that fashion to make it look good. Yeah.

And so I just beat, uh, Prince of Persia, the lost crown, right. Which was also great game by the way. It was a great game. Fantastic game by any measure. Um, but it's a graphically like by all accounts, you would think of it as a, like a lower lift sort of game. Like it doesn't have the immense scope and production value that like an Assassin's Creed game does.

And so when I got to the end of the game, the credits start rolling and I go, oh, okay, you know, I'm gonna be in this for a minute or two to see, you know, everybody, I wanna get past the end game to see if there's any like stingers for the story and stuff like that. And, uh, the store, the credits start rolling and rolling. I saw this and rolling and rolling this for a Prince of Persia game.

And I go, my gosh, how many people did it take to produce this little game? And now you scale that up for Assassin's Creed. And when you take into account every single person's name, you see there, there's a dollar sign affixed to it. And you go 2 million players. I don't know. That doesn't sound like enough to offset whatever it must've cost to blow this game up. So I don't know. Also, can we take a moment of silence for the poor map icon people that lost their jobs with Ubisoft because Assassin's Creed Shadow does not

have 50,000 map icons on it. And we know that there's people out there that are suffering because of that. So I would be one of them, yeah. Yeah, we just want to say we're sorry. No, so John, I thought you were leaning into the, you know, dude, the internet's a weird place, right? And we're actually gonna talk about this here for a second,

because I think it bears talking about, we don't want to devote the whole episode to this, but everybody that we have, that we see in our community, we have a fantastic Discord community that's, it's a thousand gamers strong, you know, and people talk about video games. They're playing the video games. I mean, these are people that are actually playing the games.

There's no toxicity. There's no rage baiting. So it's like we have come to trust our listeners in our community. And that's not to say that everybody always agrees or has the same game taste, but the people that are playing Assassin's Creed shadows seem to be enjoying Assassin's Creed shadows. We're seeing that fairly overwhelmingly that, hey, this game is pretty good, man. I'm having a good time. I'm glad I picked it up. Maybe it's not a 10 out of 10 game, but very few games are.

But if you're on the Internet, the Internet would have you believe that this game's terrible, that people don't like it. I saw a complaint with a video that was legitimately complaining because the credits at the end of Assassin's Creed Shadows are two hours long. I don't know if that's true, but it was scrolling for a long time. I'm not going to watch this video for two hours, but this was something that somebody was actually complaining about. Who cares? Who cares? I mean, but this was something that somebody was actually complaining about. Who cares?

Who cares? I mean, but that's the point, right? There are people that do care. And we can dismiss those people and say, hey, dude, this is a minor, minor issue. Why are you just being all rage-baity and you just want to complain and slander things and stuff like that?

But it does bear the thought, at least, that people are going to feel very differently about games. And there are people that don't want Assassin's Creed Shadows to be good. I mean, just plain and simple. Yeah, and that's a real shame. So I have a thought on this. And this is a real shame.

This is the most gleaming example I can think of, but the last of us on the last of us to the last of us, one universally accepted as one of the greatest games. It's especially from a storytelling component. Everybody loves it. Except for Josh, apparently couldn't, couldn't get, I liked the game. I listened. I'm sorry. I liked what I played.

I just lost the shiny, shiny off in the corner and he went off and never came back. I liked what I played. I just lost the shiny, shiny off in the corner and he went off and never came back. That's what happened. I respect it, but you know, again, not every game is going to be for everybody and every, and people play for different reasons, but I think it would be hard to argue that the storytelling component for the last of us was bad. Last of us two comes out. And, uh, there was a certain component of the audience that was bad. Last of us too comes out. And, uh,

there was a certain component of the audience that was triggered by some of the content before it was released. And then it became very popular to not like the game. And it put me off of playing it for quite a long time until, you know, basically about seven months ago, my, my friend, Josh in, in Colorado goes, dude, have you ever actually played it? And I go, no, man, I just heard all this terrible stuff friend Josh in Colorado goes, dude, have you ever actually played it? And I go, no, man,

I just heard all this terrible stuff about it. He goes, dude, you gotta play it. And that's like absolutely in my top 10 of all time now. Like I would have put it above the first one. The storytelling is amazing in that game. And I'm frustrated with how the reception just sort of got carried away with how popular it became to hate it.

And I just worry about that with assassins, this, this new assassins creed game. That's it's fair. It's, it's one of those things where it's, um, with, with the, uh, the prevalence of, of internet, uh, memes and hate and, and just like that gotcha moment that everybody wants to have or everyone wants to be a part of, you know, it changes things to where, I mean, even not to get political, but like even in, you know, in America, like you would think if you were either side of the aisle, like the other side, the world is ending. So, you know, with these games,

like if you're on, oh, this is the best game ever, or this is the worst game ever, there's not just like, this is a pretty decent game, you know, like, oh man, they did, they made a good, not every game is gonna be a million dollar, the best ever, the greatest thing you've ever played, you know, sometimes you just have a really awesome experience, you play a really good game, it resonated with you, and then you move on. And there's something to be said for that. And that's cool. And it just, the people that try to always just make everything so highlight real, gotcha is what's causing a lot of issues with this stuff. And so, yeah, man, Last of Us too was a great one. I loved that game. I still love the first one better, but it was definitely a game that should absolutely

be played. And I think this assassin Creed, from what I've seen, I mean, it sold, um, more cop, more boxed copies from what I've read in the first week than Star Wars outlaws in the first three months, which was a pretty good game. Pretty good game. Like I like Star Wars. That was pretty awesome. And another example of if you played the game, most people that played it went, do this game is pretty good. That's why I brought it up. That's why I brought it up.

You know, I trashed it all over Star Wars. Outlaws. That was a fun game. It was good. You know what? I got to play Devil's Advocate here for a second. You guys. All right. Later. Yeah. Immediately. But this a little bit of off, off camera stuff for the behind the scene stuff for, for listeners here. But, uh, before the show,

we go through sort of the games that are coming up for this twig episode to determine what we have the time to talk for. And I realize I'm eating some of that up right now, but we go over the games that are coming out to determine what is at the top, like what must we cover? And when I'm looking at this list, there's several that we're not even going to be able to mention because of time that are probably going to be awesome games. And so I think with the sheer volume of potentially amazing games that come out, I think that your tolerance for okay

games goes down. You know what I mean? Which like if you have an avowed, that's like a seven, eight out of 10, yes, if you haven't avowed, that's a seven, eight out of 10 or an assassin's creed. That's a seven, eight out of 10. Like, man, could you be banking those hours to play something that's absolutely amazing in your backlog? Like red dead too, or, or, um, dang it, John, why you gotta make sense, man? I'm just saying, I'm just saying like, like why would I, John, go spend the time to play assassin's creed or, uh,

or a valid for that matter when I know that I've got like a absolute masterpiece game red dead that's in my back log right now that I just have to make time for. I'm really glad you brought up a valid because I think that was another game that divided the internet. Right. And here's the issue with avowed before, before we kind of move on on that, the internet would have you believe that the ability to not kick a chicken in avowed or, you know, or mug a shopkeeper was like game breaking. Like this is the worst game ever made. Look how lazy they are. Right.

Like that's what people were upset about is they're going, well, look at, look at Skyrim or look at oblivion. That's like 10 years older than avowed and you can do all this stuff, but you can't do it in this brand new game that they've been working on and hyping for the last six years. So this game's garbage, you know? And, and then it's like, okay, I'm just going to say it, because honestly, we're probably not ever going to get to an avowed episode.

But I played avowed. I played avowed. It is the definition of a 7 out of 10 game. Honestly, it started off. I felt like I was playing it. I'm like, yeah, this is the most mid thing I've ever played in my life. It is mid.

It doesn't mean that it's mid. It does not mean bad, though. You know what I mean? And it's like, we played it. It doesn't mean that it's mid. Mid does not mean bad, though. You know what I mean? And it's like, we played it. It's a fine video game. If you like a VOD, that's great. If you go, I didn't like a VOD, that's fine, too, because it's mid.

But mid does not mean bad. The only time, and John, you hit the nail on the head, the only time mid means bad is when you could have been playing some epic game in its place. You know what I mean? Instead. And so, you know, but again, for people that played it, they understand. Now, the problem is the people that didn't play it that went, Oh, you can't kick a chicken. Look how terrible this game is. And then people kind of go, I played it. It was like a seven out of 10. Those people that have no knowledge of the game itself

go, I told you it was a mid game. And it's like, you didn't play this game? You can't talk about it. So this is why you can't trust the internet, man. This is why we do what we do. Honestly, people have said, you guys are gamers. We love the fact that you don't always agree, but you will give your honest opinion

and you start to trust people around you that are gamers when you start to understand like their game choices and things like that. People are always gonna have differences of opinion. That's fine, but you gotta just get off the internet and take what people on the internet are saying as gospel for a game to mean like, oh yeah, this game's terrible.

No. Yep, agree. If it looks cool, go play it. Go decide what you want. Honestly, that's it. Or listen to us, and then we'll give you a genuine gamer's opinion on it. And we generally try to give very,

that's why we always talk about the mechanics and the aspects of a game so you can decide if you think that game sounds fun. Doesn't mean we're not going to slam it, but at least you get to make your own decision that way. mechanics, and the aspects of a game, so you can decide if you think that game sounds fun. Doesn't mean we're not going to slam it, but at least you get to make your own decision that way. All right, thank you for coming to our Assassin's Creed shadows slash internet TED talk.

Oh, man. I'll tell you what, let's take a quick break, and then we're going to talk about the Elder Scrolls Oblivion remake that is very likely about to drop. What? Yeah, right after this break. You know, I'm starting to realize that these cliffhangers, I enjoy way too much.

And I know that people hate them. But I'm sorry, man. I get why shows do it. Can we do a show where it's just just a hundred ad breaks and a hundred like different right after this, let me tell you about the greatest game I have ever played right after this and just never deliver on it. Best, I mean the best first person shooter is we're going to tell you right

after this break. All right. All right. So guys, I don't know how I don't see more of the world talking about this, but this one gets me. Ryan's making the face already, man. So there, we don't generally cover like these one-off rumors because we don't want to talk about stuff that's very unlikely to happen. And it's like, Oh, so and so told so and so that heard it through some anonymous source kind of thing. But there is a rumor that the Elder Scrolls Oblivion

remake, the official remake, not the fan-made mod one where it's Skyblivion or whatever they're calling it. This is, hey, Bethesda is remaking Oblivion. And people went, no. And then there was a well-known leaker that is a good source that said, guys, I don't think people realize this, but the Oblivion remake's probably going to drop in April. And people went, that's like a week from now.

What are you talking about? Does this person want to be known as well-known leaker? No. I mean, maybe. I don't remember the guy's name, man. about. Does this person want to be known as well-known leaker? No. I mean, maybe. I don't know. I don't remember the guy's name, man. So all right, maybe that's not the best nickname ever.

So this guy comes out and says this, and then this story starts to kind of spread. But as it spreads, it's actually gaining traction. And not from the, oh, did you hear about this? There are industry people that kind of are in the know that are saying, no, dude, this is actually happening. Like the thing that is not known is how soon it's going to drop.

Okay, some people have said, hey, they're gonna release it in June. Some people have said it's coming in like the next week. Yeah. I saw some footage of this and it looks legit, dude. If this is happening, this remake is not just a we're re releasing it for like the 10th copy of Skyrim. You know, this is this game actually looks really good.

Which, by the way, I've bought all 10 copies. Oh, I know you have. That's why I mentioned dual copies of all 10 copies. That's, that's my thing. Um, I, I definitely, this is undoubtedly like the, yeah, we're not really seeing elder scrolls six for a while. So let's just do this cause it's, it's a little bit easier. Um, and I'm all for it. Like oblivionion to me was was one of the best Elder Scrolls ever made. I am a huge Skyrim guy. It's it's in my top 10. I just think the the innovations and the graphics and and what was released from the developer, you know, not with mods and all that stuff you can do with all these other games like just from the developer, I think it's one of the best elder scrolls they've made. Um, I, it was just, it was one of those that just sucked you in and you couldn't, you know, didn't let you go and you were just part of that world.

So to, to think that an oblivion remake or kind of re map reskin, whatever you want to call it, like could come out within the next month or two. Like that to me, like I am, especially after, I know we just mentioned it, especially after playing, you know, um, uh, about like that was just so forgettable for me, uh, to play something like this, which I loved oblivion. It's just so dated now. It's hard to play like to get get a revamped version would be, would be something special for me as a, as an Elder Scrolls, just nerd.

I am so stoked for this. Yeah. I, the thing that I have heard that gets me really excited is these, this is a full remake. This is not just a cheesy remaster where we added a few more polygons and upped the resolution of the game or something like that. This is like, hey, we have actually remade the combat. We have remade the world. We have remade this game. And again, we try not to get too hyped on rumors,

but it does make sense, dude, especially after the mediocre response to Starfield. Bethesda kind of needs something to tide people over until the Elder Scrolls 6 comes out. And so giving people a remake of one of the best games that they have made actually makes a lot of sense in a lot of ways. And I love the idea of this shadow drop

that is coming to where once it's announced, it's like it's just ready for you. Love it. Gamers love that stuff, dude. Like there's not a gamer alive that doesn't love the like, wait, this game is, I can buy it now? Like, see ya. Yeah.

You know, I'm going to play this. So there is a lot of credence behind these rumors. I do think that this is very likely. So we are putting it on people's radars that may not have heard of this. Cause I do not hear very many people talking about this right now. So yeah. All right, man. We got a lot of games to cover guys. So all right,

let's get to the future game show stuff. I mean, this was, this was two plus hours of game trailers, which I absolutely love, dude. Awesome trailers, man. Isn't it so cool to just watch every one and you're like, Oh, that's another buffet. That's another well made trail. It's I'm like, I don't know where to go. It's cool, but it's depressing. So like we're just talking about elder scrolls. I haven't tried to play an elder scrolls game since Marlwind and, and, and, oh, dude, you're missing out. Well, yeah. And then by honestly, like when I tried, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that one's tough because it's like Morrowind was brutally hard. If I remember right, you didn't even have like a compass in that game or maybe that's all you had and you didn't have a quest marker. So like that game was,

was not a quality of life, uh, game. I got lost in my own house. So, uh, so I mean, listen, we got, I mean, there were probably like 50 plus trailers in this future game show, man. Like, so we did kind of go through, I know we watched a ton of these, but again, I love it because it's a number one short attention span for games, but number two, it's like a buffet. It's like, Ooh, Ooh, I found this. This looks really good.

Like I'm staying away from that salad bar, man. Yeah. But let's just dive in boys. And I tease this at the top, but because there are two mega geeked out guys for this game, we did get another look at Expedition 33. This one kind of focused on the girl. And forgive me, because I don't remember her name at this point. But they were kind of showing off her combat skills

and some of the things that she could do. Oh my goodness, man. Everything I saw on this, I was just in awe, dude. I freaking love the visual style that you see with Expedition 33. Gorgeous, gorgeous. And Ryan, this might be the saving grace for you. And I watched this trailer like three times,

and I know, I know that there are these like live action events, like these quick time events that if you time it right in combat, you get a parry or you get a stronger attack. And it even pops up on the screen and says, perfect. I can't for the life of me tell what you're supposed to do to get that. Cause it's just a little square. And then it's like, hey, I don't see a little thing going around. I don't see a circle filling up. So I can't figure out what you actually

need to do to get these. But I do feel like a haptic trigger or something like that. Maybe something, you know? Or maybe you just have to push it when it's on the screen. And maybe it's that simple and I'm overthinking it kind of thing. But I mean, this girl's just going ham with a rapier, man. That seems to be her weapon of choice.

And she's flipping around. She's doing somersault. She's doing like little corkscrew drill attacks with it. I, the monsters that they showed off in this were phenomenal. John, help me sway Ryan on this one, man. Well, it's, it's really interesting because I'm not sure. I'm not sure that he can be swayed. I think that the, it is just the essence of that turn-based stuff that.

You know, it doesn't work for some people, just like the, you know, the hero shooter format, just for some reason doesn't work for me, man. Uh, but I can tell you, I'm fair, fair. Well, yes. Coming from the guy who didn't finish the last of us. Yeah. Yeah. But for me, what I can tell you is that like, so right now I'm playing metaphor, re-phantasio, which is like, I love the Atlas games. I love persona five is like one of my top games or whatever. Uh,

and I know you guys were like, you know, the style's not for you, but again, you recognize this a good game. I'm finding myself like speed running through metaphor right now, just cause I'm like, I don't want to waste one minute for when, uh, expedition comes, the expedition 33 comes out. Like I, I want to hit that as soon as it comes out, man. I'm so stoked for it, dude. But yeah, I think male mile. I don't remember the, the't remember the the female male male something male something like that. Yeah, the frickin Kylo Ren rapier, man Oh my god, it looks so awesome, dude. I'm like again goosebumps. Just talking about it right now, man It's so hype for that game. I will say okay

there's there's a couple things that can get me swayed typically and One of the big ones is a really good trailer and the gameplay in the trailer stuff and like the the cinematics I've seen of this Are pretty cool, man. I'm not gonna lie like it's it's like Okay, like this looks kind of, I mean, I'm not going to lie. I it's been a very, very long time since I've played just a pure like turn-based game and, uh, and so, so to dive fully into the one like this, um, you know, man, I I'm, I'm excited to see what, if I still feel like I did from those old games like what what is this gonna mean to me with a 10-15 year gap between this style of game just cuz I haven't played it I just have no desire I haven't wanted to but this one looks

really cool man I'm not gonna lie so it like the those hot time events or quick time where you can do things and if it makes it very cinematically pleasing and it gives me a little more than just that sitting around waiting to make my attack, that could 100% sway me. So I'm pretty excited. I think it will because even when you're getting attacked, you can parry to like avoid the damage and stuff. So I feel like you're always going to have something to do in that actual combat instead of just sitting there waiting.

Like you said, I just, oh, my guy's going to be doing this. I'm going to be bobbing up and down, waiting my turn. And I think something simple like that could work. Like we talked about Helldivers. Just the fact that you had to input the directions in the stratagems, right? It seemed like such a simple thing, but it completely made that game.

And so maybe Expedition 33 is like that. I will say this. I'm very excited for the story in this game. I love the idea. For people that don't know, there's this paintress that she paints a number. And everybody that is over that age just Thanos poofs off of the existence.

And that number moves down every year. So when it is your year, like, you know, this is why it's called Expedition 33, because everybody that's 33 is banding together to go try to kill the paintress so that they can survive, you know, and this Mayelle girl. We're dead. Yeah. We're dead, guys.

She has time, but she goes on this expedition for a reason, even though she's not 33. I saw somebody post and said, are you guys going to make me cry? And the developer actually responded with a like cry face. And I was like, dude, this story is going to be really good to me. And so that's awesome. You know what? I don't know if you guys ever used to do this, but I remember

specifically back in like the old school, uh, fixed camera resident evil days. I used to have like friends that would come over or I would go over to friends houses and we would like, there'd be like three or four of us, like in a room, watching the guy play. And it was almost like this shared experience where, you know, like watching a long form movie and experiencing all of the, uh, the surprises and stuff together. Like this feels like one of those types of games, like Ryan, maybe,

maybe we need to have like a little slumber party or something and like there we go no no i got a buddy not to get way off the rails but i'm gonna do it anyways i got a buddy that's hit me up today he's trying to he's trying to get uh i think platinum on the 1993 doom or something so like he's getting he's like it's impossible to do solo he's like i need guys so he's getting this he's like, it's impossible to do solo. He's like, I need guys. So he's getting, this is the guy and the whole crew I used to play Destiny with. He's like, I'm rounding everyone up. We're all going to come to my house. I'll buy pizza and beer and we're going to get this done. And so it's like everybody getting together to play something like that. But oh man, that's funny. I love it. I love it. Oh man. Yeah. I mean we played Heavy Rain together, Ryan with Paul.

And that added to the experience 100%. There is something to be said for, I don't know how epic this game is. If I remember right, I want to say that they said it's about a 30 hour game. So it's not like some epic 100 hour RPG kind of thing either. But it is the studio's first game. And honestly, 30 hours is like that sweet spot for me. I agree

Yeah, yeah, so alright. Well expedition 33. I'm sure we're gonna talk about this game again as we get closer It comes out April 26 if I remember right um don't tell my bosses, but I did take that day off Because this is one where it's like I They see a Josh request for day off What game is coming out today? What game is coming out that day? Yeah, so guilty, whatever. But that's how excited I am, is I asked off.

And the game went gold, so we don't have to worry about delays either at this point. There you go. All right, let's talk about Kingmakers, boys, because we've talked about this game before. We kind of got really hyped for it, and then we didn't hear anything for a few months, and then now we got another sneak peek at this.

Actually, I say sneak peek, we actually got a lot more info on this because we thought it was just dumb fun, run people over, you know, try not to hit Henry, and that's it. But they came out and said, no man, this has like RTS elements, this has like base elements, like base building, like you're building a castle. It's the only game where it has like RTS elements, but you can also just fully drive through

or just take a tank through these hordes of nights. Every single night is actually like rendered in the game. All buildings are fully destructible. They showed a tank just crashing through like a tavern. What did you guys think about this? When I first heard about this game, I was kind of chalking it up to like a dynasty warriors in like, you know, cosplay basically in night cosplay.

But I definitely want to play this game now. It looks, it looks awesome. So, and that's cool that you mentioned like dynasty wars, cause they, they, um, they said specifically in there, like, this is not, uh, just generated like just kind of guys out there. You know, this is, this is there's thousands of soldiers. They're there, whether you're there or not. And they're going to be moving around and doing all this stuff the environment is fully destructible so like all of these uh things if you drive through them in different corners or different sides or different kind of areas of those structures they're going to fall or collapse in different ways. All of it is so cool. And one thing that I love so much to make it operate the best that they could, they stayed with Unreal 4. So they didn't go to Unreal 5 because the physics in the Unreal 4

were just so responsive in the moment to make the destructible environments like just be reactive to what was happening. I mean, you're driving a tank through these medieval like towers and castles and all these things. It's a crazy world. So you want something that's going to be responsive and react in the moment to what you're doing.

And so they stuck with Unreal Engine 4. And from what I've seen, dude, I'm just so stoked to just run through with AKs and trucks old Toyota coma and then like a Tank and like everything else you can imagine, dude It's just gonna be so much dumb stupid fun And I think it's gonna lend itself to streaming and I think this game is gonna take off I think it's gonna be a big streaming game for sure

Yeah Yeah The the thing that I really liked was they actually referenced hell divers as well with like the just fun. That's kind of how they mentioned it is like, look, there are, this is not just plowing through hordes of nights. Like there is objectives. There are things that you need to do.

You will actually build a castle to try to protect somebody, you know, from these hordes and then these hordes of nights start trying to storm the castle. So you have to take the battle to them kind of thing. You know it's co-op which is going to be insanely fun because I mean what was more fun than tooling around in a warthog with your buddies mowing down covenant well now you get to hop in an old pickup truck with a freaking galling gun mowing down knights you know what I mean like this is gonna be where do I sign up for this, sir? Yeah, yeah, exactly. So King makers is looking to be really good. I actually really liked the fact that they showed off a little bit more than just plowing through like, you know, hordes of nights on this one. Um, we still don't have a release date on this 2025 is all it says, you know, so

at some point this year we'll get it and I am getting more and more excited the more I see about this game too, man. So, um, the fact that it's co-op. Yeah, that's big, dude. Yeah. So, all right. Another game that we have talked about in the past, but is actually releasing very soon, this game comes out April 8th and it's a game called South of Midnight. John is excited.

I'm actually excited on this one. I've been up and down on this game. When we first saw it, I went, oh my goodness, this art style, the music is incredible, dude. And then we kind of got some gameplay footage. And I kind of went, oh, I don't know. The gameplay looks like it might be a little bit mid. But then they showed off a little bit more.

And I don't know if they just sped it up, or maybe it was just a better sample of the gameplay. But I was kind of like, oh, wait, this does kind of look good. Very story-driven game, very atmospheric, incredibly beautiful art style, dude. I'm pretty excited about this one. And I think I will absolutely be picking this one up,

because I can play it and beat it before before X finish at 33 comes out I know John is super excited for this one. So we'll throw it to you in just a second John But Ryan I feel like you're the wild card on this one Like are you interested in South of Midnight like at all? Oh bitch you wanna know there boy This one is like just all of it to me. All of it like just seems just like a genuine fun experience. Like it was something I was a little concerned with in the beginning as well. Like the gameplay seemed a little bit, eh, you know, nothing crazy. Like the art style was awesome, it was beautiful. I love that they sourced like the Toad, or the Fish Guy.

That's a local, like 70 year old man that maybe his first experience voice acting, but he's from the South and like, that's just what he did. Like, so they were authentic within the creation of this game and i thought that it kind of shone through in the most recent stuff that we've seen um so that that made a big difference for me so uh i i thought it was pretty neat um i'm not sure if i'm gonna get it or not, but we'll see. I got no right to get this game.

That's the question, right? Because I do, I feel like you appreciate what you see, but at the same time that just is not interesting you. Is it enough? I mean, it's there, it's like, it would take, most likely it would take you saying, hey man, dude, get it, this is sweet. And then I'd be like, all right,

I trust you brother. And then I'd get the game and then I'm sure it would be amazing. And I'd like it maybe not as much as you or, or, you know, whatnot, but, um, that's what it would take to get me to probably get it. But I do see the interest and I do see why people would like the game and what, what they've seen, you know, with what has been released. Right. John? Yeah.

For me, I'm a much easier sell on this type of game. I love the animation style. I love the music in it. The setting is unique. It's not a very common setting for this type of game. I was also a little mid on the gameplay, but I put story far above gameplay a lot of time. And so if, if the story and narrative of a game is really strong, I can forgive some average, uh, gameplay, but I agree, you know, it's, it seems, it seems a bit more interesting that I was

initially giving credit for it. I'm definitely picking this up. It's just a matter of when, at this point, you know, I mean, there's so many bangers on this list and they're all like, come at you. Like basically like my two most anticipated games of the year are coming out one right after the other, you know, in the near future here. And then I guess we'll see what we have time for. And I'm already in metaphor right now,

which is supposed to be a hundred some odd hour games. That's a big game. What did Paul put in like, like 60 hours or 70 hours for the, yeah, he put in a lot on person. Yeah, it took me a hundred, a hundred some odd hours to beat persona five. Jeez. All right. I'm going to just touch on this one. We don't have to talk about it, but there was a trailer for Rivals Hover League. I've been saying forever that I want a Twisted Metal

remake or something. This game, normally I shy away from these, but this looks like it actually has the driving mechanics of Rocket League, which are top notch, but with combat. Vehicular combat. I got super amped on that one. That's all we have to say about that. And then I'll tell you what,

let's talk about Reanimal right before we shut this down because this game needs to be on people's radar. We're actually going to be interviewing Tarsier Studios who are the makers of Reanimal. And for anybody that hasn't heard of Reanimal, that's okay. You have now, we're gonna talk about it in a second, but you have heard of Little nightmares one and two, which is the studio that is making reanimal. Oh my goodness.

Reanimal looks incredible to me. I am, I am mid. I think like little nightmares has a really neat visual style, incredible music. The gameplay I find to just be a little bit lackluster, but I do appreciate the games for what they are, that atmosphere. But Re-Animal, for some reason, is really drawing my attention. And we got a very extended developer interview. The devs were talking about this.

They showed off more of the gameplay and just that freaky nature of this. John, this is your baby, because I know this is one of your top most anticipated. So what is it about reanimal that is getting you so excited? Well, so, uh, I, number one, I want to acknowledge if you what you're looking for is like the most dynamic game play and progression in a game. This, this probably isn't for you. What this is, is a game. This, this probably isn't for you. What this is is a whimsical horror,

which is probably like if you were to pick my favorite genre, it's that for some reason, like whimsical horror and everything that they learned and did well from little nightmares. One, which was a really good game to narratively for me as a masterpiece. This looks like they leveled absolutely everything up and it's co-op. You know, I mean, it's like a super cool game. It sounds like they, there were some, what we'll call age related content constraints when they were developing

little nightmares one and two, where they kind of had to hold back a little bit, even though they, they are still extremely creepy games. Yeah. That they have a bit more freedom with, with reanimal, uh, man, I, I will wait to play it, but I, I'm, I'm willing to bet that my, my top 10 of all time list, uh, gets maneuvered a couple around. I mean, it looks really good. I would actually like that.

Like, honestly, as creepy as these games are, I do feel like they almost had to hold back a little bit. And I feel like if they could lean into that horror just a little bit more, that might open it up a little bit. And so I'm very curious to see if that actually takes place. Because it's like, you're right there, man. And if you, if you have nailed this vibe so well with how creepy these games are without

crossing like a certain line, I can only imagine how much like, how much better or creepier they could be if you do step over that line just a little bit. It's interesting that you say that though, because like, uh, when, when we were watching these, uh, the future game show trailers, it seemed like it was weighted very heavily into sort of the horror horror genre. Like we had, I hate this place, which was definitely more like that stylized kind of comic book, but we had, um, animal use protocol, which had definitely like that

sort of post-apocalyptic core element to it. We had a Kronos, the new Dawn, which, you know, it looks cool, but it looks too similar to Bioshock meets Dead Space for me. It just looked a little too derivative that I, you know, I'm not, I'm not quite sure that the push over the, you know, into the more rated M type content is exactly like what it needs per se to make it successful. But what I do know is that Tarsier studios, they have learned tremendously from, uh, from their experience so far in little nightmares one and two. And I think that they have something to

prove with part with reanimal since, uh, you know, little nightmares three went on to Bandai Namco. So, I really hope for it. Yeah. It's, I, it's, it's definitely drawn my eye. Like even though I, I have, like I said, I appreciate little nightmares one and two. I don't find them to be incredible, but I do think like they're very memorable. If that makes sense. Um, but reanimal, I have pretty high hopes for at this point. So it has that, it has that look where you're just like, man, that it is a look

that makes my brain kind of go like, yeah, it's like, uh, you're just kind of like, it's like a little skip stutter step. You're like, wait, what, what just happened? what happened you know like I want to check that out like my Nintendo switch under the sheets for me that's totally like my little my little my little hidey hole game so John you mentioned a couple of the others that the only other one that we is not on well there's two there's Mandragora which I think looks really neat it It's like a side scrolling, almost like Metroidvania, but combat focus game, um,

will follow the light. I thought looked very atmospheric. It's like a guy on a sailboat sailing into some creepy adventure. I, I, it's not, it's, it's like a horror game. It's like a unsettling like horror adventure like story based game I think you ever been on it might be the wrong time It might be like an eerie type game or something like a suspense type game. Yeah. Yeah I think suspense is probably a better definition and then pioneer I Looks legitimately impressive, but it's kind of like we just had stalker 2

So like that's hard to beat so pioneer. Unfortunately, I think that's exactly a stalker two vibes is what I got like immediately. Yeah. And stalker two was just so good. I'm kind of like, well, pioneer, we're like, what are you going to do? You know, at this point? So I don't know. We'll see. It does look very impressive. So, uh, guys, we already went long. It's we're 46 minutes into this at this point, but Hey, we got through just about everything, man. So, um, we hope you enjoyed this episode. Remember, if you have not done so already, go ahead and rate us five stars on your podcast app. If you're on Apple, you can leave us a written review. We do

try to read those on the show when we get some time to do those. They really do help people find the podcast and give us a shot. So that's very helpful. So if you haven't done that yet, please take a minute to do that. If you want to support what we do, if you have been listening for a long time and you just go, you know what? This content's awesome guys. You guys make my days better, you know, whether it's your chores or your gym session or whatever, think about supporting this podcast. You can do that over at multiplayer squad.com. That's it for this one. I really, I guess, I know all these. I guess I want to play all these games, man. And I really I'm trying to draw this out because John's getting so excited for the sign off.

So we'll just do it so people can see what we're talking about. That's it for this episode, everybody. Until next time. Happy gaming. Toodaloo. Oh, you know, you did. Toodaloo. Oh, it's going to toodaloo for you. You did it in the wrong order. You couldn't wait. I was pausing because I was going to toodaloo in front of John, but I'll just give everyone,

I was going to give everyone my normal. See ya. Alright, see you everybody!