Video Gamers Podcast - Doom: The Dark Ages, Expedition 33, Ninja Gaiden 4 and Split Fiction - Gaming Podcast

Episode Date: January 30, 2025

The Video Gamers Podcast is back with another incredible episode of This Week in Gaming. Gaming hosts Josh and Ryan are back chatting the latest gaming news. Oh baby, has it been a good week for gaming news! We got the Xbox Developer Direct showcase and extended looks at a slew of games, and our hype is high! Plus more Split Fiction gameplay? Yes please! All the video game news you need, each and every week 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 Discord: https://discord.gg/Dsx2rgEEbz Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/videogamerspod/  Follow us on Twitter: 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

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Visit BetterHelp.com today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P.com. Hey everybody, it's Josh and Ryan. Don't hit that skip button. We have a huge announcement for you. As many of you know, our good friend Paul and former host of the show runs an amazing charity to help foster families and foster children.

And we are announcing our very first charity event ever. And we've made it very easy for you to help Ryan. Tell them what they need to do. All they have to do is head on over to our discord server. The link is in the episode description and share a screenshot showing that you follow the podcast and have given it five stars. If you have Apple and Spotify, a double dip in is highly encouraged. And for every person that does that, Josh, what's going to happen? For every person

that shares a screenshot, we are going to donate $10 to the charity to help these families and these children. No gamer left behind. No kids left behind. Now enjoy this episode. Hello, fellow gamers, and welcome to the Video Gamers Podcast. On this episode of This Week in Gaming, we're breaking down the Xbox Developer Direct and talking about a slew of awesome games. South of Midnight? Check. Ninja Gaiden 4? Check. Claire Obscura Expedition 33? Check, check. And Doom the Dark Ages? Check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check. check check and doom the dark ages as well as some new gameplay from split fiction the co-op successor to it takes two before we get into the fun though some introductions are in order i am your host josh and joining me if i'm the fast light fighter fighter jet. He's the slow, chunky tank. Clunky.

Clunky tank who's ready to stand and fight. It's Ryan. You know, that is quite poignant, obviously, because just today in our Discord, and I don't know if this is what clued you in on that, I talked about how I made a batch of chili, and I ate four chili dogs for lunch after my workout today. So I'm bulking. Are you going to make it through this episode? I'm bulking, bro. Perma bulk. I'm worried for your gastrointestinal comfort, man.

Four chili dogs. Dude, I'm hungry again, actually. Oh my goodness. I'm not a fan of chili dogs, believe it or not. I love me a hot dog. I just don't want chili on it. Like I want, like give me a Chicago dog, like standard just mustard ketchup relish dog

something like that but it's like the chili just gets wasted or i don't know man i know that's a weird take because a lot of people love chili that is a weird thing chili dogs you're boo boo this man all right welcome to a hot dog podcast everybody i was gonna say get to the games yeah oh and do we have some amazing games to talk about? Man, it's rare that we get, you know, any kind of game showcase where it's like everything that they talk about. I'm like, ooh, ooh, that looks good. Like, okay, you know, this game looks interesting, but usually I'm just like, skip, skip, skip.

Okay, this one looks awesome. Let's talk about that. But yeah, man, we got some good stuff to talk about and we're going to get right into that. But first, Ryan, we got somebody to thank buddy. We had a new epic supporter sign up to support the podcast, a fine fellow by the name of Patrick O'Brien. Thank you so much for supporting this podcast. Everybody that's listening right now is cheering in their heads because you helped make this podcast possible. Oh, Patty O'Brien, thank you for your support. Ryan, I knew you were going to do it.

You know, I immediately regret it. I immediately regret it. I was debating as you were saying it. I'm like, don't do it. Don't do it. And then my brain just says, do it. And that was not a good choice. You know what? Patrick signed up to support the show. He knows we're stupid. Not for long. He's going to be like, well. Oh, man. Well, thank you, Patrick, for supporting the show. Thank you, everybody else that is out

there that is supporting the show. If you are listening to the show, thank you so much for joining us. We hope you're going to have a good time. We're going to tell you about these games, give you our opinions, a little bit of hype because that's what we do. But thanks for joining us on this. Ryan, let's just get into it, buddy. I am so excited to talk about some of these, man. And we're just going to start at the top, man, for me, at least. I don't know for you. So I am actually curious because you haven't talked about this game a whole lot. I am not. I am very curious to kind of hear your thoughts on this, but we got an extended gameplay trailer with some kind of developer commentary. We got a much deeper look at Doom the dark ages dude oh my goodness man now i've made no i've made no

like i've not hidden the fact that i absolutely love doom eternal i think doom eternal is one of the best first person shooters that exists yeah for what that game tries to do it does it perfectly dude optimized graphics soundtrack gameplay it is just absolute perfection when it comes to a single player first person like kind of shooter campaign did you ever play doom eternal i did not not that i recall man i actually i was thinking about this today i'm like i don't even know when the last like doom game I played was, you know, when I think doom, I just think of original doom. You think the old school pixelated doom. And so I know, obviously there's been a lot of advancements and, and they have some amazing games of you, as you described, but, uh, I don't know why those ones just haven't, haven't been on my radar as

far as like gameplay. I get it. It's weird, man. I see a lot of people like picking up doom eternal and not having played it. And then just, it's fun. Cause I see it and they're posting and they're like, Oh my goodness, man, the gameplay in this game is peak. You know? And it's like, yeah, dude, it really is. Um, so I, I am a huge fan of the doom series. I won't claim that I've played all of them, but you know, a doom eternal, like I said, is one of my favorite first person shooters. If you have not played that game, it is incredible. And I highly recommend that you pick it up because it is going to feed your hype level for doom, the dark ages, like it is feeding mine. So it's one of those things where it's like, how do you follow up a game that did what it was trying to do so perfectly?

Right. Like, you know, this is the, the danger of a sequel, right. Is it's like, Hey,

we made doom eternal. That game was awesome. What do we do next? And I don't think anybody really knew the preview. The short preview that we got showed him holding a shield that had like a saw, like saw teeth around it. And that was like,

well, this is interesting looking, but the developers came out and they basically said, look, you know, we have to stay true to the game. We have to kind of stay true to the formula, but we do need to mix it up some. So what we did is if you are familiar with Doom Eternal, it is very movement based. There's a lot of grappling hooks. There's a lot of double jumping. I mean, it really is the kind of, if you if you you know you kind of learn to fly in doom eternal and stay mobile because you'd get wrecked otherwise yeah and they even said in doom the dark ages the the theme is stand and fight but which was awesome for us chunkies you know us chunkies apparently you

know we gotta yeah it's not like we're moving. Well, you know, you got to be the meat shield, Ryan. But I love this aspect that they took with this. And I literally got chill bumps. When he said the goal is stand and fight in this one, I just kind of went like, ooh. And they show you as this big clunky dude with your shield in hand and you are just blocking stuff, your shield charging.

They showed a mechanic where you can parry and deflect like attack. So monsters will shoot out multiple projectiles and one of them will be kind of glowing green. And that's your kind of signal to say, Hey, you can deflect this back at them. What was your takeaway on this? I mean, I, like I said, we've not talked about this, like me and so are you hyped for this like what are your thoughts on this man well first my first kind of uh thought was as i watched the whole thing i was just envisioning you watching it giggling like a little girl like oh that's 100 accurate that's exactly the first thing i thought of but uh the second was um this looks pretty sweet man like i'm not gonna lie from someone who hasn't played i i'm craving just uh you know an aggressive like angry if you will like just dark

violent game you know and uh and and this seems like you know this is the one and there still is there still is movement i know you talked about like the old you know with this is the one, and there still is, there still is movement. I know you talked about like the old, you know, with eternal, like the grappling hook and other things in this, I saw him, he jumped over a broken bridge. He throws his shield and you kind of,

when you call back your shield, it does a little pull to you. He used that as a mechanic to get over that gap. He like threw it up above and then pulled himself forward. So there still is mobility, which is nice. Cause I, I hate being slow in games.

Yeah. I agree with that a hundred percent. Slow. So, um, yeah, the, the, the, so forward so there still is mobility which is nice because i hate being slow in games yeah i agree with that 100 and slow so um yeah the the the gameplay the the graphics the fighting everything about it looked clean and crisp and and just ready to destroy like i was i was amped up and ready to just kill things you know after, after I watched this. It gets you there, right? Yeah, I was like, okay. I feel like I want to just like shield bash something. Boom. Yeah, I mean, I cannot see a world where this game does not live up to the expectation,

to be honest with you. The only thing I can think of is like, if you don't like the kind of shift in the gameplay mentality where, hey, you are this tank. You are strong. You are going to stand in front of these fantastic demons and you are going to face tank them. You know, like I could get that. Maybe some people are like, man, I really liked the movement in this kind of ballet of destruction from doom eternal. This game feels a little bit different than that. And so I'm not a huge fan, but otherwise these guys know what they're doing. What we have seen already is enough to tell me that this is absolutely going to be a banger of

a game, man. I like, this is at the top of my hype meter and we're going to talk about another game that I am very excited about next, but like doom, the dark ages for me is just my kind of game. It's like you said, if you're in the mood for that gritty, dark, like I want to just face like the hordes of hell, you know, as doom guy and just rip and tear until it is done. Like this game looks like it's just going to give that to you in spades. And not only that, but we got a release date, Ryan, which I love. It is May 15th. So that is not that far away. We're not talking about end of year 2025, where we have to freaking wait a whole year for this game to come out.

Yeah. There is one downside. I'll hold my breath for that. Didn't you steal this game for me in our game of the year draft? I might have. Isn't this the one that you stole for me that i was like ryan i really wanted to leave with that one i think you're right i don't have it in front of me but i'm almost positive that's it and i'm i'm really not happy about and it was probably 99

just to steal it from you it was absolutely you even i'm almost positive you were like i can't let you have all the games you want yeah and then you just stole it from me so this is the way i'm yeah now i'm stuck in the like i don't want you to win but i also want this game to be great that was my plan the whole time oh man all right well yeah so doom the dark ages ryan we got to get you into doom eternal if nothing else play it for two or three hours to just get a taste of it because it is it is just yeah it's amazing i'll have to check it out all right so this next one this is where you and i are gonna differ i could what i could see ryan's face already man so i have been very excited ever since we saw the very first trailer for this game called Claire Obscura Expedition 33. To me, this game looked like it was the next-gen Final Fantasy, over-the-top, turn-based combat,

fantastical world, brand new IP, new scenery, new characters, all this stuff. And everything I have seen about this game has gotten me more and more hyped for it. I remember when we first talked about this game, you went, turn-based combat, not for me. Yep. And things have not changed. Well, they're changing, buddy, because you don't have a choice yeah i don't know if we've officially announced this yet but you have been picked and forced by a legendary supporter to play this game and i'll tell you what when they picked you to play this i lost my mind we virtually high-fived i went dude you have no idea how happy this makes me that that ryan has to play this game because i am so hyped for it and you are not and it's like can this change your

mind it's fine so it's fine this is so you got a little bit i want you to kind of take this one ryan because we got an even further look at this game as far as some of the characters some of the combat they showcased a lot more of the uh very cinematic combat with like uh quick time events to kind of get those perfect hits and blocks and things like that what do you think ryan well i'm used to being forced to play games apparently since this will be my fourth time in a row getting picked. So I don't know what I did to hurt. I don't know who I hurt, but apparently it was a lot of people. But this game actually looks pretty cool. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie.

Now, having said that, I said it looks cool. It said it looks cool. It looks beautiful. The fight sequences look amazing my biggest thing and and you said it and everybody knows it is i just am not a fan of turn-based combat i hate my characters just standing there like kind of waving back and forth waiting for their turn like oh yeah because this is how a real battle would work you know and we'd all just sit and wait and i ryan the strategy,

you get to, oh, it's so much more strategic and you get to set everything up and you get to do your defenses. Which is true. Which is all true. I'm not denying that. But it doesn't mean that I cannot, you know, I can't not like that. I want to just go in and like we talked about with Doom, I want to bash faces.

You know, so I get it. And I can appreciate that level. So, it's not talked about with doom i want to bash faces you know so i get it and and i can't appreciate that level so it's not to say i'll dislike the game it's not to say that um you know i mean dude i haven't played a turn-based combat game in a very long time for for you know good reason in my opinion maybe this one turns me around who knows you? You know, like, who knows? That's my hope, man. I mean, it really is. And I know it was Fitner John, aka, you know, John Tastico now

that picked this game. People are going to be hearing that name a lot more here in this next episode. So stay tuned for that little teaser there as well. But John picked this game for you to play. And my instant hope was was if there is a game that could change your mind on this one then i'm really hoping that this is it dude like i i don't know like it's weird to me because i love turn-based combat and it's funny because

somebody in our in our community was like hey this kind of reminds me of Persona 5 Royales combat. And then I kind of went like, eh, don't say that because I didn't love that combat so much. But I historically do love the tactical nature of turn-based combat. I like that this character is near death, but the creature is almost dead. Do you go for the big hit and hope that you win the fight? Do you heal the character, but then now the boss gets an attack? That kind of thing. I like that just kind of thinking about how you're going to approach this as much as i pick on you i understand your point of view like this is slow it's it's it's too methodical let me get back to the game itself but i grew up on these kind of games final fantasy you know that kind of

stuff dude pokemon that was like my first like turn but you love pokemon i love pokemon but i always remember even as a kid i'm like dude why am i just sitting here waiting oh whatever put me to sleep okay now i have to wait two turns or whatever and i'm like this is so boring and i love like turn-based things like i love chess i understand it's strategic and you take your turns and you make your moves and attacks and you got to plan ahead i love chess but i play it for that reason because i want it in that moment games i i typically like other types of things so not to take it away but i will like i said i will go into this with an open mind for sure the other thing combat aside i think the combat looks fantastic and i actually really do like that they incorporated quick time events into combat because I think that helps somebody like you that maybe thinks,

Hey, this is too slow. If you actually have to pay attention to, you know, a perfect hit timer or Perry timer or something like that, hopefully that gives that little bit of engagement that like, you know, like you would be craving in combat. I think, I think the combat looks fantastic, man. the creatures they showed the camera angles the huge hits like this is so cinematic it's ridiculous apart from the combat i think the world looks incredible i mean they show different characters they show you like traversing the world and all of these really fantastic biomes i mean this is like it's just something from you know lifted straight out of's just something from, you know,

lifted straight out of high fantasy sci-fi, you know, they show at one point you get like a thing that you can ride or fly in. Yeah. You know, which is really weird. So I love the weirdness of this game. I love the fantasy element.

There's a part in this trailer where it looks like the main character gets impaled by like all of these roots that something shoots out. And then it's weird. Cause it's like, it's like, he's gotta be dead. But does this mean these people are like resurrecting or are there multiple copies?

And we've seen little snippets of the story in some of these trailers. And so I am very intrigued by this game. So way, way up there on my hype meter. And the best part, Ryan is this game comes out April 24th, dude. Like we're,

we're almost in February. So we do not have that long to wait. I can't wait for this dude. I mean, three months is going to fly by. We've got plenty of games to carry us until then. So I love this, like this game release schedule.

We had this little break. March and April are going to be pretty wild. Yeah. Oh, man. We had this break over December, early January, and now it's coming, man. It's like 2025 games are here. I know. We're going to go to log in and play any of these games about or any of this, and we're going to automatically click on Rivals.

And we're like, oh, wait, no. Just muscle memory of the last two months yeah yeah i don't know i'm pretty excited for this for sure listen we've got we've got some more games to talk about but we are going to take a quick break and we will be right back there's so many things i want to do and see like redoing the basement without having to do it all myself. Or doing absolutely nothing with a spectacular waterfall view, of course. So, I'm starting here. Investing with RBC.

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the one thing I wanted to be more than anything, Ryan, was a ninja. Oh, yeah. I mean, who doesn't want to be a ninja, dude? Dude, it's like the number one kid thing. Like every little kid running around. Dude, I can't want to be a ninja, dude? Dude, it's like the number one kid thing. Like every little kid running around. Dude, I can't tell you, man. I was so into like karate and martial arts.

I ordered like throwing stars. Any chance I got, I pulled my shirt collar up over my face to like hide my beard. I was like, I'm a ninja. Dude, I never grew up. I still want to be a ninja. You know? Exactly. And guess what?

We get to be a ninja because Ninja Gaiden 4 is coming out, man. Yes, finally. Oh my goodness, dude. I had no idea that this game was coming. We got this announcement. We got fairly extensive gameplay footage of this game. And dude, I remember the old Ninja Gaiden games. These games were not easy. They were hard. You

felt like a ninja though at the same time. I'm kind of shocked by this announcement and then this gameplay on this one, to be honest. I've watched this trailer actually more than the other two because it's like, there's so much going on and the combat is over the top there's i mean they really showcased a lot of stuff traversal double jumps wall running you know tons and tons of like over the top combat multiple enemies a a kind of you know zoomed out third person view on this one a little bit which i think serves this game very, very well. And I'll be honest, in all honesty, I've been out of the Ninja Gaiden kind of like mindset for a while.

I can't remember the last one I played and I know that they have had versions of this, but like none of them have caught my eye or gotten a lot of hype from people for me to kind of like pay attention. But boy, am I paying attention now man absolutely yeah yeah what is it uh you had my curiosity now you have my attention you know it's it's and that's it's that is where i'm at yeah it's it's um it's big i think the last one i played which i was

an immense fan of was i think two back on the 360 um i don't know how many, because sometimes they don't go in order. These are the side-scroller ones, right? Was this the side? The last one I played was a side-scroller. Oh, yeah. I don't know if that was back to Nintendo or what, but that's the one I remember. That's way back.

That's way, way back. The one I played, I think I played the first and the second. I can't remember if it was one or two. I think it was two, but this was still like a 3D world, or at least the one I played was, like a 3d world um or at least the one i played was like a 3d open world that you ran around in it i mean it's funny because remembering back

15 years ago i feel like it looks like gaiden 4 is gonna look like now you know you remember the graphics so so vividly back then and think they were beautiful but dude it was such a good game and um having that over the top fantast fantastical attacks and movements and worlds where you're just – you feel like, okay, not only am I a ninja, but I am a bad A ninja. I am kicking some butt. I can do these crazy flips and dives and slash these guys in two and do all this crazy stuff, all my little abilities. And it's everything you imagine a ninja to be when you're a kid. They're a superhero. It really is. It's like a superhero. So yeah, I got so hyped. This is the one I'm most excited for, for sure. Yeah. I mean, everything I saw in this just made me go like, whoa, like, whoa. Again,

traversal elements. i thought this was really neat at one point he kind of like grapple hooks to like and then saw like wall runs off of a wall and then double jumps over to another wall and i'm like i love that kind of almost platformer timing element to it yep over the top combat i mean fighting a whole bunch of dudes super showy just you know moves and spinning around and leaping and stuff like that. They showed a big boss fight. It does some huge overhead smash where it looks like his sword is all charged up and long. And I don't know if you get different weapons in this game or what, but I was very impressed with this trailer. And like I said, I've always known that Ninja Gaiden is a good franchise, but again, I've been out of it for a long time.

And Ninja Gaiden 4 is absolutely getting me back into this franchise. And I can't help but think, like, if you're Xbox, that's what you want to hear. Exactly. It's like, dude, we're back, baby. Yeah, they need it bad, too. Yeah, this is not for, like, niche gamers anymore. This is mainstream. Like, Ninja Gaiden, we're bringing it to the world, and we've got the world's attention now.

The only downside to this one is it is coming out in fall of 2025. So this one is a little bit later this year. They didn't give us an exact month or date or anything like that. See you in 2026. Yeah. Dude, I'm the same way, man. Anytime I hear late 2025, I just go, see you mean delayed to 2026, right? We're not jaded or anything. We swear. Oh, man. So, all right. Well, yeah. So if you haven't seen if you haven't seen any of these trailers, look them up because, man, these games look really, really good. And then we get to South of Midnight. And that was a weird transition because I'm actually cautiously excited for this game. But I will be honest, this is the game where I look at it

and I go from an artistic standpoint and a music standpoint because they've really focused on that. I think this game is absolutely a work of art. We said that from the very first time we got a glimpse of this game. I am from the Deep South. I lived in Louisiana for 10 years. So when they talk about all this deep South lore and stuff, I'm like, I know that lore, like, you know, this is real man. Um, so it does hit home a little bit for me. Like even the Cajun accents,

they get right in this game. So, and I'm like, Oh man, this is like taking me back. So, but here's the thing with South of Midnight. I am cautiously optimistic because I think from an art standpoint and a storytelling standpoint, this game looks incredible. This trailer and this kind of extended gameplay view that we got of this, it was another one with like developer commentary and they kind of showed the studio and some of the development process and some of their thinking and stuff like that they really tried to hype up like the combat in this game but the combat in this game just doesn't look that good to me yeah you know and when you have a developer that's saying our combat is real

and dynamic and you can do this and you can do that. But I'm watching the gameplay and I'm like, dude, this looks like there's two buttons involved and that's it. Like, you know, I don't want to sound jaded because again, I think this game looks really interesting, but I am cautious on this one because I do worry about the actual gameplay elements. They showed some platforming, you know, they did try to showcase the gameplay a lot more in this yeah i just don't know that it helped their case with me in particular on this one so what about you like did you did you have any kind did it get you hyped for this did it like almost put you off like what what did this extended look do for you well first i am jealous that you actually have like uh you know cajun lore down south lore arizona i'm born and raised native we just have like uh our our claim to

fame is is um bad drivers and then just old people from canada that's pretty much all we got here but in the winter that come here but uh uh i think you kind of described it like the art style and the music, and it all looked so good, and it kind of looked like that weird good where you're like, oh, that was kind of, man, this is kind of crazy, but also I'm interested. I want to see more. I want to see where this goes. I want to see what it is and the depth of this game.

But like you said, the combat looks a little off to me, and I think that we've been doing this long enough to where we usually can tell what we're going to like and what we're not, or what's going to kind of typically land. I mean, it may be a smashing success and it may be hit, or maybe there's more that we need to see that may change our minds. We're always open to that kind of stuff. But yeah, this one definitely just looked a little off,

but I am interested, and I did find it almost kind of uniquely endearing that they really leaned into that kind of self mentality, like where you really felt like, dang, I'm down south, man. I'm in the swamps, and let's see all this craziness you know so uh yeah we'll we'll you know we'll see you know and just to kind of clarify because i'm sure there's some people that are going this game's not about the combat oh you know can't you guys tell like this game's a story-based character-driven you know beautifully artistic game and i get it like i you know we are not saying that, oh, this game is Ninja Gaiden 4.

It needs to be. The only issue, or I should say concern, is that if you are going for character and story and artistic impact, then you don't necessarily even need combat in your game. You know, like Disco Elysium doesn't have a lick of combat in it. And it's one of the best games I think I've ever played. I wish there was a know like freaking kujo yeah but like that just goes to show you that if you have a compelling story and you have compelling characters combat doesn't even need to be a thing but if you put combat and platforming and and and traversal in your game and you say hey this is a major gameplay element. Like it needs to be good. Yeah. You know, like it needs to be serviceable at least. And if it is serviceable, at least then

your story and all the other aspects better be top notch because what happens is you get this fantastic art style, this incredible music, this incredible voice acting, and then you get very lackluster gameplay that pulls everything else down at that point. And that's my concern is like, give me this masterpiece of art and storytelling, and then don't worry about having combat. You can go a different route, but if you put it in your game, guess what? People are going to judge it at that point. I mean, it's part of the game. It's what you paid for, and you're there to play it, and that's part of every interaction where you have combat. I mean, you can sit down at this fancy restaurant,

you have this beautiful steak, amazing-looking potatoes, and you got some beautiful broccoli, and then the water looks like it was pulled out of the sewer, and it tastes just as bad. That's going to ruin the experience. It's part of the sewer. And it tastes just as bad. That's going to ruin the experience. It's part of the meal. It's part of the meal. So you might as well not have that included.

So if you're going to do it, do it right. That's the way I always look at everything in life. So hopefully it is. We may just be a little bit off base on how it's going to perform. And yeah, I hope so too. I never wish a game to fail or anything like that. But yeah, man, I'm optimistic. I am too.

Just like I said, I think my only concern, in all honesty, is to say, hey, this combat better be what you guys are trying. I felt like they were trying to convince me that the combat was good. And what I was seeing on screen was not as convincing. And I think that was where I kind of had a little bit of the disconnect there. So all right, Ryan. So that covers the Xbox developer direct. We do have time to talk about one more game and I am hyped for this game ever since we got the release announced or the, the like kind of reveal trailer on this. I went, Oh, and then we just got another glimpse of this.

And now I'm like, Oh man. And that is a game called Split Fiction, which is the kind of spiritual successor to It Takes Two. It's by the same developer, the same guy, Joseph Fares, who has made a lot of games that are very unique, very interesting takes on games. A Way Out was one of them that that we uh you know we covered on this show long long ago split fiction we took a tiny bit of flack for ryan because none of us drafted that game in our game of the year draft that we did and we got a lot of people that said dude what about split fiction what about this game every every time that happens and i know i i mean rightfully so after looking at this i mean this looks this looks awesome but there's always so many games dude it's hard to draft there you

we could only have what five or whatever eight it was eight games yeah i mean there's only so many we can take but dude this looks sweet it looks really sweet dude i'm actually really excited i mean who does not love an amazing co-op game? And the thing with this developer, I can't remember the name of the studio. Joseph Fares is the guy that kind of runs it all. Dreet, something light studio. But his big thing is I want people to play these games together on the couch. Like we make couch co-op games. We make games that you can play with your friends.

Usually with their games, one person buys the game and then the other person gets to play for free. That person just can't launch the game and play with other people. So it's like, this guy has the right attitude, in my opinion, on how he approaches things. The other thing I like is I am the kind of guy where I love variety. Let me go to a restaurant and order two bites of everything that's on the menu. And I will be super happy. Like I don't, you know, sometimes I don't want to just commit to the one entree and I really wish I could sample things. And so with split fiction, this is a hundred percent what they're doing is they're saying we love variety of gameplay and anybody that has played. It takes to understand

this because they did that exactly with that game as well. I will say Split Fiction to me looks way better than It Takes Two. I thought It Takes Two looked fun and it was fun. It was not Game of the Year material, in my opinion, but I had a great time playing that game. It was fun. It was simple. It was enjoyable. And that's all it needed to be. It had crazy elephant murder scene, which people still talk about. But split fiction, to me, looks like the evolution of what they were going for. And I am, by nature, a huge fan of fantasy and sci-fi. You know, some people would call that a nerd.

So call me a nerd if you want, but I love fantasy and sci-fi. And that's the focus of this game. Like you have these two characters, one lives in a fantasy world or loves fantasy. The other one loves sci-fi. And this game mixes those two things. At one point, you're in a futuristic Tron world, riding some crazy motorcycle and trying to like race your way through some floating obstacle course. And then in the other game,

you're like riding dragons or, you know, in the other world, you're riding dragons. And then you're, it's like a, it's like a shooter almost, you know,

like a, like a shoot them up type game with the old spaceships where you just, you know, there's bullets everywhere and stuff like that. And just tickles something inside me man and it's just like i get really excited when i see that i think this game looks fantastic dude oh dude i'm right there with you and i mean talk about we were i mean kind of the theme of the day is talking about movement like this thing you like everything i looked at you're just flipping and jumping and speaking of wall runs and then you're like like you said, you're flying through space.

This one, I'm the same way. I'm like, oh, look at Dragon. I'm like, oh, look at Spaceship. That's how my brain is. I love both things. Putting them together is that beautiful meld of just fun. I think the gameplay, that's what it's going to be. It's just going to be fun.

I'm so stoked to... I don't play a lot of games with my daughter. She's very finicky on what she likes to play. I really think I'll be able to get her to play this one, especially since it's a female character. And she'll resonate with it and have a blast. I think it's going to be fantastic. I also very much love,

I know we've talked before about side quests and going off and not missing parts of levels and things like that. This puts a freaking portal there so you know where it is, and they do that intentionally so you don't miss it. Like, hey, you don't have to do this if you don't want to, but this is going to a whole other world and you're going to have a wild time and it's like

count me in say less homie and i'm diving through that portal immediately and i'll be in space or i'll be underground in a cave or who knows where and um i i love that idea that was probably one of my favorite parts of the whole trailer is is being able to see the extra stuff throughout the game and it being that uh substantially different to the world you're already in like that's so neat yeah i i am very excited for this i think they took everything that they learned from it takes two and i think they're amping it up and i like that really does get me excited because I think that they're going to take that concept to the next level. And that concept was already a ton

of fun. Like, is this a game of the year contender? I don't know. Is this one of those games where people like, dude, this was the most fun I've had playing with a buddy in a long time. I absolutely think it will be that like this game, you can't play it solo. You have to play it with a friend. And I love that aspect, man. You know, and listen, if you think this game looks good and you don't have a friend to play with, come to our discord server. I guarantee you, we will find somebody to play this game with you. You know what I mean? Like, no, this is something that like, we are so passionate about and you're going to be hearing this a lot more, but I'm going to kind of tease it right now is that we are really, really going to start focusing on no gamer left behind. Like I, there should not be a gamer in the world that sees split fiction and goes, dude, that looks amazing, but I don't have anybody to play it with.

Yeah. We will absolutely fix that for you. I guarantee it. Come to our discord server. It is the most incredible oasis of gamers that you have ever encountered on this planet. And I like, I cannot stress that enough, man. So if you were the kind of person that wants to play a game and doesn't have people to play with, especially with as much as we're going to wind up hyping up split fiction. I guarantee you that you will find an awesome gamer to play with. Nobody there is toxic. Nobody there is mean to people. Nobody gets slandered for their opinions. This is genuinely the best place for gaming on the planet. Come see. Don't take our word for it. Join the Discord server. Lurk. Find

out for yourself. You are going to be amazed. But do not think that you can't play this game because you don't have somebody to play with. We are here. I don't know how much clearer we can make that. We will make sure that happens. And we got basically Vader's our ambassador. He's just in voice chat 24-7. So, you know, he'll be your welcoming party.

You just hop in with him. I love it, man. He's always there. Yeah, absolutely love it. We're even doing community nights, which has been one of the best. I haven't laughed that hard in so long. We've been getting on Rivals. We're trying to do it a lot of weekends.

We're just playing 6v6 custom matches. We even had a rolling queue of people waiting to get in. It's a good time with good people. We're going to keep hyping it up because it is genuinely like an oasis in gaming it is so it's so cool yeah i i can't stress it enough i know there's people that are thinking oh that sounds great but like you know i i don't get to be a part of that yes you do you get to be we're inviting you right now and all you have to do is just click the discord link that's it and. And submit your credit card info. Just 99 95. No, I'm just kidding. It's totally free. I swear. Oh man. All right. Well, listen, that does it for this episode. I dude, I'm hyped. I know

five games on my hype meter, man. Just like that. How much more fun does it get? I love it. You know? Um, so thank you for joining us. If you enjoyed this episode and you haven't done it already, please take a second to follow us in your podcast app. Click that plus button, that follow button. That way you get all our episodes the day that they release. And I mean, maybe there's going to be some extra episodes coming for people that they want to make sure they're aware of.

Keep your eyes out. Maybe. Yeah, maybe. Maybe. So you want to make sure that you know when those episodes might be releasing. Yeah. So make sure you follow us. If you want to support the podcast, just like Patrick O'Brien did,

and get a shout out on the show and help this podcast, you know, just be broadcast to the world. You can do that over at MultiplayerSquad.com. And if you haven't done it yet, leave us a review. Give us a five-star rating. It helps other gamers to find this podcast as well. So once again, thank you for joining us. We will be back with another fantastic episode.

We've got a pretty good idea of what we're going to do next, and I'm pretty excited about that one as well. So until next time, happy gaming. See ya.