Video Gamers Podcast - Hyenas Announced, Steam Sale Recommendations and What is Neon White?- Gaming Podcast

Episode Date: June 30, 2022

Gaming hosts Josh, Paul and Michael are back with This Week in Gaming. We dive into the PvEvP announcement of Hyenas and give initial thoughts, recommend some must buy games from the Steam Sale, chat the news that Overwatch 1 will be replaced by Overwatch 2, give thoughts on the newly announced (and shown) Plague Tale: Requiem and then learn what the heck Neon White is and why it’s becoming quite the talk of the town in the gaming world.  Thanks to our LEGENDARY supporters: Blackstar (DQ), Glapsuidir, Phelps, Michele B, Redletter, Nevo, Waynerman, TFolls, AceofShame, Jake, RangerMiller, and Ad Connect with the show: Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/multiplayerpodcast Join our Gaming Discord: https://discord.gg/Dsx2rgEEbz Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/multiplayerpod/ Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/MultiplayerPod Subscribe to us on YouTube: youtube.com/channel/UCU12YOMnAQwqFZEdfXv9c3Q Visit us on the web: multiplayerpodcast.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. Pew, pew, pew, pew, pew, pew, pew, pew, pew, pew, pew, pew, pew. Oh, hey guys, Michael here. Let me take a break from gaming real fast and tell you about MultiplayerSquad.com. The Multiplayer Gaming Podcast is an independent podcast, which means we depend on listener support

to do what we do every single week. So if you're really enjoying what you're hearing and the content we're putting out, consider supporting the show. We also give you extra perks like bonus episodes, which are really cool. It's really just a bunch of fun banter and all kinds of cool stuff, and we talk about random things. So if you want to support the show, head over to MultiplayerSquad.com and get started right now. All right, on to the show. Hello, fellow gamers. Welcome to the Multiplayer Gaming Podcast. We are Three Dads and Lifelong Gamers, and on Thursdays, we release these Twig episodes where we break down this week in gaming.

Please remember to rate our show five stars, especially on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Also, come follow us on socials at MultiplayerPod, and come check out our Patreon page. Our show is funded by our listeners, and if you like what we do and want to ensure that our show continues, you can pledge an amount starting at $5 a month at MultiplayerSquad.com. You'll get access to two bonus episodes per month called the Squadcast, and you'll also get a shout out on the main show. Once again, that is at MultiplayerSquad.com. I am your host, Paul. I'm so excited to break down the news this week. We've got a lot to cover. Joining me, first up, he's a man who loves adding games to his Steam library, and it's

that time of year where he's about to go broke because there are so many deals he just can't pass up on. It's Michael. This is the worst time of year because it's my favorite time of year and when we make fun of me on the show for having a just an over exploding rotund uh steam library it's because of the the summer and winter sales and i've already got like 19 games in my uh in my cart and i'm like am i really gonna play these but it's 80 off play these? But it's 80% off. I have to buy it. It's 80% off.

Just going to be rough. You can't afford not to buy it, right? That's true. And then joining us, he's an anti-hero pirate doing a half Robin Hood thing. He steals from the rich and tries to escape with the biggest pile of loot. It's Josh. I would share a little bit. You guys know me well enough. I'd share a little. You know? you know and then i'd be like no the rest of this is mine i earned it

oh man we've got a packed show here for today we are going to try to tackle five pieces of news stories today we'll see how it goes the show might end up going a little long who knows but first up we gotta talk about the Steam Summer Sale, right? This hits every year. This is that time of year when you start seeing those games that are 80% off, 50% off. Maybe you would normally pass on it. All of a sudden, it starts looking a little bit more tempting. And I thought it would be fun if we all brought in a couple of game recommendations we can

make to the people. So do you guys normally pick up a couple games here with each Steam sale every summer? A couple? I pick up one or two. Michael picks up like one or two hundred. I have it on good authority that Gabe Newell actually sends Michael a card every summer and every winter for the Steam sale, just telling him thank you for allowing him to buy another yacht, for supporting Steam single-handedly. That's what

I do. Actually, they send me reminders on the hour to my texts. I get text messages just, hey, you haven't put enough games in your cart. And I'm like, I gotta go update my cart now. If anything bad ever happens to Michael, that's how we're gonna find out steam is gonna say this guy hasn't bought any games in the last four days are you okay yeah right and then they're gonna let us know it's kind of like if something bad happens too i'm gonna have to actually annotate my will or my uh what do you call it that what's the part of the will whatever uh my will to actually give away parts of my steam library. Otherwise, it's going to be a big problem. Like whoever is taking care of my end of life stuff,

my estate, it's going to be a mess if I don't actually say, okay, so let's see. So late dangerous goes to Josh, clearly. Oh, you would not do that to me. What did I do to you, man? You probably killed me. That would be Michael's revenge from the grave. That would be my punishment.

I'm sorry. Mike would be like, yeah, you did this to me. Last Will and Testament says you must play 200 hours of Elite Dangerous. Oh, man. Oh, goodness. See, what's funny is, like, Michael's the guy that buys all the games. I browse the games. I definitely really enjoy window shopping the Steam sale.

Yeah. But I haven't, like, I know, and you guys know I have game ADD. I'm usually playing three, four games at a time. For sure. But I know that I'm not going to be able to play a lot of these. And then a little bit of my cheap side kicks in, and I'll just wishlist things so I don't forget about them. But I will not necessarily buy them either. That makes sense.

Yeah. So Josh, I'm curious to hear, you got a recommendation here from this year's Steam sale? I mean, I have a lot, but what I wanted to do on this one is a lot of times we talk about games and people go, man, you guys really hyped up this game, but it was a little pricey. You know what I mean? Or I keep meaning to pick that up, but I haven't. It's $40. I'm not sure. I'm on a budget and there's a game coming out that I want to play or something like that. So the Steam sale is a perfect time to say, hey, these are games that we've talked about in the past that we highly, highly recommend. Now is your chance to play this game because you absolutely should. So these two games for me are games that I cannot imagine somebody picking up and then going,

Josh, I hate you. You steered me in the wrong direction. You know what I mean? And so it's like, these are games that to me are absolutely incredible and worth every penny of a $60 price tag, much less on heavy, heavy Steam sales. So the first one, one of my favorite RPGs of all time, Divinity Original Sin 2. You guys have heard us talk about it. It's in our top 10 on our leaderboard. I know that we mentioned it a good bit, but there is a reason for that. Yes, there is a small barrier to entry because there are a lot of different things in the game, but it doesn't mean that you can't pick it up and play it. And the game does a phenomenal job of teaching you how to play. And then you can figure out, I have so much control over this game that I can almost

break it because of the choices it gives me. Every quest has four to five different solutions. And that's not even counting some player creativity where you can actually do even more than that. So for me, Divinity Original Sin 2 is one of the best RPGs ever made. I have actually played through it completely twice. I think I have 200 plus hours in it at this point. And that is on sale right now for $17.99. So for $18, you are getting a game that you can easily put 100 hours into and is one of my favorite RPGs ever. So I cannot recommend it enough. Even if it's not really your thing, I think there's a ton to love about divinity original sin too.

And we did a deep dive. So if you do pick it up and play it, then you can go back and listen to that episode. Or if you're on the fence, listen to the deep dive and then realize that for $18, you're getting, I mean, I can't think of a better bargain,

man. It's just phenomenal. Do we do any spoilers on the deep dive for a story or anything like that? No, I don't think so. You guys did that a while back, I think. I don't think I ever caught that episode, so I do want to go back and listen to it and spend $18.

I don't think there's any spoilers. We definitely talk about gameplay and some choices and what the game entails, but we don't get into the plot a ton on that one just because that's a game that's better left like you make the decision so you kind of form the plot in that game too so yeah you know what i do too is the problem is i own it on my playstation because i can play couch co-op with my wife but i also want to get it for 18 on steam which is the stupidest thing in the world here's the thing i'll say on that the final thing because i know we've got a lot to talk about. Yeah, sorry. I'm riding bicycles here. No, you're okay. But Divinity,

the tutorial in Divinity is honestly like the first zone that you're in, which is Fort Joy, is probably a six to eight hour segment of the game. And when you get out of that, that's when the game actually starts to take off. So if you play it and you're four hours in, don't get me wrong, you're going to enjoy that. But just know that this game really ramps up immensely as far as why it's so amazing after you leave the first area. That's where I feel like the game really takes off. So it's not that the beginning is not great, but it gets so much better after that. So stick with it as well. And then the other one, I gush about this game all the stinking time. People are probably sick of me talking about it.

But again, this is one of those games that I feel like every gamer should absolutely play. Most people that pick it up, we've had people in our Discord saying, I picked this up. This game's great. And that's Subnautica. Honestly, to me, one of the most memorable games that I have ever played. It really just sticks with you. It's enjoyable from start to finish, in my opinion. There are a couple parts where, yes, you spend a lot of time looking around for that next leap in progression, but it's worth it. Soundtrack's amazing. Graphics are amazing. Story is incredible.

Insanely memorable game. Subnautica, believe it or not, is the game that launched my love of survival, crafting, progression games. And lately, in the last probably five to six years, they're one of my favorite genres. And Subnautica, I credit for that 100%. Spend the $15 on it. It's absolutely insanely good. Oh, yeah. Very, very common games that

many people love, whether it's DOS 2 or Subnautica. Right. And the reason that I bring those up is they're on sale. I mean, they're both under $20. And you're getting an amazing gaming experience for a price that cannot be beat. So that's why I wanted to put these two back in the limelight again to say, hey, I know we talk about them. I know you hear it, but now's your chance to pick these up. Now's your chance to enjoy two absolutely phenomenal games that everybody should experience. Yeah. And I mean, the amount of hours you can put into both those games for under $20, insane. Right. Exactly. All right. What games do you have, Michael?

All right. So I can't not. I was so excited that Horizon Zero Dawn is half off because it's $25. And guys, I've talked about this. I know Paul and Josh were kind of lukewarm on it, but absolutely one of my favorite RPG games. I beat, I got 100% completion on this game in 103 hours, and that's like 100% every single achievement you can possibly get.

So it's not super long. It's got like a 20-hour main campaign. But for $20, it's half off right now. Pick it up. The graphics are great. The music's great. The story's great. I did cry a little bit.

So that's a big benchmark. I'll kind of rapid fire the next couple. I'm going to do a couple more real fast. But Hunter Call the Wild. I know it's crazy. I never thought I would enjoy a hunting game. I'm not a hunter in real life, really. Mostly because I figured that I'd miss and probably injure an animal and I'd feel really bad for the rest of my life. never thought i would enjoy a hunting game i'm not a hunter in real life really um mostly because

i i figured that i'd miss and probably injure an animal and i'd feel really bad for the rest of my life but uh amazing graphics that'll actually make you feel like you're there it's ultra realistic um everything you know you've got to wait for a while and stuff but it's a great way if you just want something to kind of wind down because it's not action-packed it's very chill but i've got 323 hours in it it's 76 76% off. It's $4.79 for under $5. And I think I got it on the Steam sale last year when it was like $5 as well. And the sequel comes out in August. It's called Way of the Hunter. So if you are maybe thinking about checking out an ultra realistic hunting game for under $5, totally

worth it. And then I wanted to rapid fire real fast, just three real quick VR games because VR games are almost never on a big sale on the Steam sale. You always get like 20% off on them. But I found three of them that I absolutely love and they're all at least 70% off. So Shadow of the Tomb Raider, which ironically enough is a VR game, is 85% off. It's usually $90, guys. It's $13 right now. $13 for a $90 game so it's an epic deal um also abduction which is a game from the creators of mist it's a really good mist-esque game it's $9 it's 70 off and then also um where's my last one oh keep talking nobody explodes guys it's five bucks you've heard us talk about it go pick it up there we go i think i made some time back on that i kind of rapid fired mine a little bit but great games go for, you know, when I was looking at all the games on sale,

I was shocked at how many we've done deep dives on. I would dare to say probably 90% of the games we've done a deep dive on, it's probably currently on sale. Right. My strategy with this was to go with games that are under $10. So games that are maybe just a couple years old, but they're on sale, and it's going to be a really good bang for your buck. And I've got Celeste, which for my money, is the best platformer ever made. That's currently 75% off for $4.99. Not a terribly long game, but I think it has the best movement and the best abilities in a platformer. And the difficulty ramps up perfectly, where it makes for such a fun experience all the way from beginning to end. That game's an absolute blast.

And I also have Dragon Age Inquisition, 80% off. It's $7.99. Dragon Age Dread Wolf is not right around the corner, but it's around a couple corners. But if you want to play Inquisition in preparation for that, you can pick it up now for less than 10 bucks. Incredibly fun, open world RPG, fantastic story, really deep lore. And I highly recommend taking Solas with you on all the missions, because we do know that he's going to be a central character in the new game so i i would highly recommend doing that and uh also the batman arkham collection you

can get all three games for eight dollars ninety nine cents and that's a three for one that's smoking right there hey i gotta backpedal real fast because i just lied to everybody shadow the tomb raider is not vr rise of the tomb raiders vr that's 80 off and it's six dollars shadow the tomb raider is still 90 normally it's 13 now so still pick it up sorry i wanted to make sure i corrected that and uh the last thing i was going to mention is that we are going to be doing an upcoming deep dive on disco elysium it is currently 65 off so if you want to pick it up it's 14 and that'll get you prepared for that deep dive, which is going to come in about a month. So that'll give you a little bit of head time to prep. All right.

Next up here, we have a new PvE VP game coming out from Sega and Creative Assembly. This is a game that is called Hyenas. And long story short, every match has five teams of three that are all competing to steal treasure from a spaceship, and then you have to escape with as much loot as you can. So you are fighting both NPCs along with fighting the other teams that are in this game. And maybe this will finally be the breakthrough PvE vp game that we've been waiting for because the cycle died and they relaunched it as the cycle frontier scavengers died maybe this one will actually do it i the video that they showed on this is very cool it's very difficult to pick out

what the gameplay elements are right in the video so it's like. So I actually watched this a couple times because I feel like they showed a little bit of gameplay, but it was difficult to pick out. The one thing that I really liked about this video was the art style is almost this watercolor brushed style of character. It's very unique. And if that's what the game looks like, number one, that's pretty impressive to me. But number two, the thing that really caught my eye on this is there's a vast cast of characters, which all seem to have unique and different abilities. So when you take a PvE VP game, which everybody that's listening knows we are huge fans of that

genre, even though that genre hasn't done very well. The cycle did it the best. And then the cycle went away because they just didn't advertise their game. Scavengers, like you said, Paul, we got excited about. And then it just didn't work. The extraction on that game is a little weird. But this genre has so much potential. And it's like, there's got to be somebody out there, other than the Cycle Devs who ruined it, that can nail this. And when they nail it, it's going to... I honestly think this is going to be like the next Battle Royale genre. PUBG and Apex Legends nailed it. And that catapulted Battle Royales into the limelight, which are still insanely popular to this day. So if somebody can nail this PvEVP thing, I think it's drastically going to change

the gaming landscape, to be honest with you. And so what excites me about what we saw with Hyenas is it looks like it is a character-based PVEVP. There's one character that they show sliding across the floor, spraying a foam barrier across the hallway so that your squad can either have cover or traverse without getting shot. They show what looks to be like a hacker or something like that with some kind of electronic skills. I mean, they showed off a lot of this. So if that's the case, I'm very excited about this. I love the art style that they showed in the trailer. So there's a lot of things that are starting to stack up and get me really, really excited about this. I love the art style that they showed in the trailer. So there's a lot of things that are starting to stack up and get me really, really excited about this. The only downside is they're saying this game is still fairly early in development. So it's tough because it's like,

well, what does that mean? Are we talking two years? Are we talking five years? What are we talking here? But I love that people are trying to figure out how to make this genre work. Please don't be five years. I'm excited about it, personally. I'm not really a shooter player, but I do like playing on teams because then Paul or Josh can carry me, which is really awesome. But I did also look up... GameDaily.biz says that 42% of gamers currently play Battle Royale games. So that's a huge market.

So a game like this that's a really strong PvPVE... PvE... PvP... Whatever. Words. huge market. So a game like this, it's a really strong PVPVE, PVEVP, PV, whatever, words. But a game like this that has that draw, it could really... Ultimately, you're always wondering what the next gaming trend is going to be, what the next big thing is going to be, whether it be FPS, which Gold and I kicked that off and Halo really took it to a different level. But I think it's a cool concept that there's five teams of three. You're going to be going out and trying to steal loot, but also trying to fight each other and all that fun stuff.

I just think it's funny that on IGN, their website, they have in big, big, big red letters right in the middle of the page, a quote from the developers that says, we wanted to create this unpredictable chaotic space where players would find new gameplay. And I think that's really, it really harks on exactly what I see from the gameplay trailer. Is that it's totally chaotic.

It's totally different. And it's where they'd find new gameplay. Because it's only really probably over five or six years we get a new type of gameplay. RPGs have been around forever. Battle Royale has been popular for what? A decade now? Maybe under. Maybe less. Maybe less. for what? A decade now? Maybe under. Maybe less. Maybe less.

But maybe this is the next revolution in gaming. And this game does look fun, but I'm in Camp Josh right now where it's like I am concerned about the early development stage of it. I want to play it sooner rather than later, and I hope that the hype train doesn't get too big to where it's like, you know,

maybe somebody else comes out with another big PvPvE or PvEvE. Somebody fix me on this we know we know what you mean that one before they can launch this game because this one i mean i love space stuff it looks like it's right up my alley and i'm gonna play it yeah the only thing i'd add on top of that is that they do mention that the ships are going to be full of sensors, switches, and interactive systems. So it kind of sounds like you can set up booby traps and stuff for people. So if you're not a great shooter, you know what? Maybe you can set a trap and sit around and flip that switch at the right moment and maybe kill someone that way.

And I thought that there's some real neat, innovative stuff you might be able to do with that. If you guys out there do want to sign up for alpha testing, they do currently let you sign up for alpha testing, they do currently let you sign up at playhyenas.com. I did sign up for that. So I'm hoping to maybe get a little bit of a early, early look at that game. And that'll be coming out on Xbox, PlayStation and PC. Is that part of the Steam sale? No. All right. Now I'm not sure if you guys ever played A Plague Tale Innocence, but we do have a sequel coming up for that game. And one of the news stories this week did let us

know that A Plague Tale Requiem is going to release on October 18th. And we also got 10 minutes of new gameplay, which I thought was pretty exciting. Is this something that was anywhere on your guys' radar? I have looked at a Plague Tale Innocence multiple times. It's one of those games that always catches my eye. It seems like it's got a great story. The graphics look great. It seems like just a very well-done game, and yet it always falls off of my radar, even though every time I see it, I go, I need to play that game. That game looks really good. And it gets really good reviews. It seems to be beloved. And lo and behold, here comes the sequel, which once again, put it back on my radar.

But this 10-minute video, I watched this and it looks... It kind of reminds me of the first one. It looks so good. I feel like this is an amazing story-based game with actual decent gameplay. We're currently playing The Quarry, which has limited gameplay, but is much more story, interactive movie-based. And I feel like Plague Tale probably finds that balance a lot better, never having played it. You and I chatted a little bit, Paul, before the show where, you know, you guys know I loved Hellblade. Hellblade was a little bit similar in that regard because it seems to be more of like a story-based, not high on the gameplay elements. And I kind of got a Hellblade vibe from that. And I don't know if that's accurate at all. I'm

not saying that it is, but that's kind of the vibe I got from it. And so I instantly was interested in this because it's one of those games that looks like it is done very well all around. And it's one of those series that I keep saying, I need to play this. I need to play this game because this looks like it's going to be great. And this new sequel, or I guess it's a sequel? Yeah, it's a direct sequel. It looks like it's really great and so at some point i'm gonna have to actually dive into this like i've been meeting to for a while well you should probably pull a michael butler on this one because i just looked it up and this one is

80 off a plague tale innocence the first one is 80 off on the steam sale right now it's eight dollars um this game is uh innocence is one of the games that i've always wanted to play um there's one mechanic though that i've watched wanted to play there's one mechanic though that I've watched on several YouTube videos that I just I just every time I want to buy it I'm like I know this is gonna be really annoying but there's a mechanic in certain level I don't know if it's one big level or the whole game but you always have to carry around this torch or the rats will eat you and the torch keeps the rats away and it always looks too terrifying for me because it's just really really awful awful. But I've always wanted to

play a Plague Tale Innocence. It is in my cart on the Steam store right now because I am looking forward to... Maybe this sequel is a catalyst to me finally playing, like Josh said, a very beloved game. It's mostly positive like crazy, and I would love to play it. So I might play it and just dive right into the sequel right afterwards. Yeah, Innocence is fun. I've played it. I picked it up a couple years ago, probably on a Steam sale. How were the rats? Yeah, you got to keep the rats away, Michael.

It's the 1300s. They're carrying the plague. What are you going to do? You can't play with the rats. And how do you keep rats away? You know, the fire is usually the best way to do it. Yeah, you know, it's definitely a lot more combat than Hellblade, but I can see why it would give kind of those vibes.

It's stealth-based for the most part, so you're not so much doing frontward assaults on everything. So it's a lot of sneaking around and stealth, but you do have your slingshot, and you can one-shot guards as long as they don't have a helmet, you know, some stuff like that. It's also a very fascinating story because your younger brother is sick, and you're not too sure if you're going to be able to find a cure. And it turns out there's all this supernatural stuff connected with your brother's bloodline and all that kind of stuff. So I really did like Innocence. Definitely have my eye on Requiem. I don't know if it's something that we would ever deep dive on the show. I think it's a little bit more like up my alley than your guys's because you guys don't really tend to play nice with stealth games and these games generally require more stealth no that was the one thing that threw me off in watching this 10 minute video for requiem was

i was like oh is this all still it's a lot of stuff there was some fighting which interested me and there was like some fire bombs with burning all stealth? It's a lot of stealth. There was some fighting which interested me. There was some firebombs with burning people up. That's when my evil side was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Maybe my rose-tinted glasses didn't see as much of the stealth in the trailer or the gameplay. I was more looking at the fighting and stuff.

I just figured that's the way they walked around in stealth. I do not like stealth games. They're so frustrating to me. Oh yeah. See, I like it quite a bit. Are you crushing your bills?

Defeating your monthly payments. Sounds like you're at the top of your financial game. Rise to it with the BMO eclipse rise visa card, the credit card that rewards your good financial habits. Earn points for paying your credit card bill in full and on time every month. Level up from bill payer to reward slayer. Terms and conditions apply. All right, let's move on to our next story here. I know that we have talked a lot about Overwatch 2 lately, but it just seems like every week there's more news that we got to cover here on

the show. And we talked earlier about how Overwatch 2 is going to be free to play. And what we found out here this week is that it's actually going to completely replace Overwatch 1. So Overwatch 1 eventually will go the way of the dinosaurs. When Overwatch 2 comes out, it will completely take over, which is kind of a big deal because it means you're not going to be able to log into the old game and play the old mechanics with the 6v6 combat that will be completely overridden by overwatch 2 does that matter to you guys yes yes it does for me not one bit for me honestly i just i don't want the 6v6 to go away. I want to be able to play that if I want to go do it and have the option to do it. And it's like, bummer. I mean, it is great because it means more people are playing Overwatch 2.

You're not going to have a split where you're trying to just desperately get into matches and so forth. But I don't know. I really would like the option to go back and play the old game every once in a while. But that's just me. I'm a nostalgia person. They might put it in the arcade anyway like every once in a while they might let you play classic 6v6 mode but yeah you won't be able to always play it that's for sure yeah for me i could care less it makes complete sense to me i get that there's certain people that are upset by this michael being one of them i it's just you know having played overwatch 2 and we did an

overwatch 2 pvp beta deep dive so if you want to hear our thoughts on that, you can go back and listen to that. But for me, Overwatch 2... Real fun episode too. It really was. Overwatch 2 does everything a little bit better. Is it a... And at the time, we did not know about the free-to-play aspect, right? So this is interesting because a lot more information came out after that. But we kind of went, I don't know if this game is going to be worth $40. This isn't really a sequel so much as a very, very large patch to a currently existing game with some pretty sweeping changes. But it's better. It's better in my opinion. I like the pace of it. I like the changes that they've made to the characters. I like the graphical

and audio fidelity changes they've made and stuff like that. So for them to say, hey, listen, we're going to make this free, that makes total sense. For them to say, listen, this is our focus moving forward. We want to stop having to spend resources on old Overwatch. It makes complete sense to me. I support that decision. I think it's going to free them up to focus on Overwatch 2 and make it as good as they possibly can. So I support it. I feel bad if people feel bad about it, but I get why they're doing it.

And I actually am behind them on that, which I'm not generally behind Blizzard on a lot of things anymore, but it makes a lot of sense to me. What about you, Paul? I think why they're doing it, it just frustrates me. I don't know. I know we're not covering this, but it's worth lot of sense to me yeah i think they're doing it i just it just frustrates me i don't know um i know we're not covering this but it's worth a mention real fast that uh because of the forced transfer if you have any unopened loot boxes those are going to open

automatically now oh when you transfer over i did read that so they should have had an open all loot box because they don't want you to open all though i i'm up to 820 loot boxes i checked yesterday 800 i have 820 loot boxes in overwatch and i don't open them because i'm not gonna do it 820 times but as soon as overwatch 2 unlocks they said they're gonna automatically open any of those old loot boxes since overwatch 2 will not have any loot box system whatsoever so So yeah, they're going to take care of that for me, which is nice. I would also really recommend checking out the new kit for Junker Queen. She's going to be great. Oh, hell yeah.

We don't have the time to break down everything with her, but they did release all the details about her kit. And what I really love is that a lot of it builds around damage over time, which nobody's really had before, other than you get the dynamite from Ash and some stuff like that. But basically, almost everything in her kit causes damage over time, and then her passive ability lets her heal based on a percentage of her damage over time. So she's kind of like a berserker warrior that's going to be in the fray, constantly doing damage while self-healing. I think it's going to be in the fray constantly doing damage while self-healing i think it's going to be a really fun character i really just can't wait for overwatch 2 to come out because

i want to be able to play junker queen and i really want to see what the new support character will be that's the one that i'm really waiting for uh but yeah overwatch 2 we've got not not too far down the road so how do you feel though about the friend i know josh asked you earlier i kind of talked over it but how do you feel about that the i know josh asked you earlier i kind of talked over it but how do you feel about that going away overwatch one oh i assumed it was going away because they're not going to program everything twice i just kind of assumed oh overwatch 2 as soon as they said free to play i was like oh so that really just proves that it's overwatch 1.5 it's just replacing it's a mega patch replacing the old game calling it overwatch 2 is a little bit of a misnomer it's

just replacing overwatch 1 and i i get it i i don't think i'm gonna miss the 6v6 and i'm sure they'll have various events where you get to still play it i still love playing no limits every once in a while like back when overwatch 1 first released you could just run with six symmetras and it was like the funniest thing in the world. Or you could use six Sombras that are all just running around, you know, doing voice lines while being invisible. That's like a nightmare for me. Yeah. Every once in a while, I like bringing back the old, old modes. All right. And then last thing that we're going to cover here this week, this was your discovery, Josh,

I'll let you take the reins, but you wanted to talk a little bit about Neon White. I do because I like to keep my eyes on the... I mean, we're professionals, let's be honest. So we try to stay plugged into the video game world and new releases and games that are coming out. It feels like every year there's that surprise hit game that comes out of nowhere that starts getting amazing reviews. And even if it doesn't necessarily look that good at first, it starts to generate a ton of hype. And then even if it's not my style of game, I start to look into it and I go, hey, what is this game? Why are people talking? Why do I see it on the gaming websites and news and all this stuff? And so there's a game that came out called Neon White. And it started to get a lot of hype. I started picking up on that. I remember watching a video on this a few weeks back or when it released or something

like that. And I kind of went, yeah, it looks like a parkour game mixed with cards. And this looks very, very strange. It's got this weird anime style. But then it's got these screens that look like a dating sim. And I was just very put off by everything that I saw. And I just went, I don't know. Some people like that stuff. It's not for me. But then the hype train on this got rolling. And the more gaming news sites that I started looking at, I kept seeing Neon White. I kept seeing Neon White. And I'm like, dude, what is it with this game? So I started digging into it. And that's what this game is. It is a kind of speed run parkour style game where you get cards that give you abilities. And these cards give you guns that you can use.

But then if you discard the card, it triggers a second ability. And your whole goal in this game is to get through a level as fast as you possibly can. On average, most of the levels last about 45 seconds. So you can tell that this is very fast paced. Oh, real speed run. Yes, exactly. And so I started looking into it a little bit more. I hopped on Steam. And lo and behold, the first thing I see on Steam is overwhelmingly positive reviews. And there's 2000 plus reviews on this game. So that's like, whoa, wait a minute, what's going on here? So I start reading some of the reviews and everybody says, listen, I know this game looks weird. I know it looks like it wouldn't work, but I'm telling you, this is one of the most fun games that I have played in a

long time. It's currently on sale. It's only 10% off because it's a brand spanking new release. But I picked it up because I said, hey, I need to check out what the hype is about on this game. And I like action games, right? Like it's Rocket League. I like these games. They're nothing but gameplay, right? You don't need story. You don't need any of that other stuff in there. I am only about an hour in, so I'm going to reserve my judgments and thoughts. We can talk about that later if we want to. But I told you guys, I kind of understand the hype after only an hour playing this game so far. So check it out. I would say the gameplay demos or the gameplay videos don't really do it justice. It's kind of hard to capture what this game does in watching a video, but so far, so good.

Yeah, I do. I don't know know i'm kind of drawn to overwhelmingly positive uh reviews as well like i don't like speed running games and it's funny because when you mentioned like parkour with cards all i thought was this gambit like just give it a pain in its gambit from the x-men i'm like wait cards and but i don't know this this looks interesting and anytime a game has that many positive reviews there's got to be something good about it. And so that's when you see me start to venture outside of my norm. Because my norm is probably space games and RPGs. That's my bread and butter. If I see a game that's about that, that's why I'm still so excited about Starfield. But then I venture out sometimes when I see these overwhelmingly positive reviews on a game that I would never normally pick up because it's not my type of game. And then all of a sudden I'll

get sucked into that genre. So this might be the speed run sucker for me where it just sucks me into that genre. The other thing I'll say real quick on this is like, what's that racing game track mania? Like, you know, that's kind of like that speed running track game. And I don't like that game. Like that game. I know you're trying to go for the fastest time and stuff, but we've played some of that and I just don't enjoy that. The angle that Neon White goes with is it's almost like a puzzle level. You have to figure out how do you get from point A to point B. You have to kill these little demons along the way and you have to try to do it as fast as possible. But every level is fairly unique in the sense that there's platforming sections, or you have to time your double jumps and things like that.

Or you have to use this card to get to that card to span this gap or something like that. So there is this very unique puzzle element to each level. So it's like the world's fastest parkour-based puzzle speedrun game. I don't know how to say it. With a side of dating sim in there which is very very strange but somehow it all works i i'm impressed so far like i said we can talk about it later but it's something that i want to at least put on people's radar because this game seems to be generating a ton of hype and it feels like something new and completely different and

that's hard in and you know in gaming nowadays as if it wasn't weird enough that it's parkour with cards but we're adding a dating sim yeah yeah i know i know yeah i think my one reservation and looking at it and i don't know how many levels there are to me it i wasn't sure it was going to be worth the 20 price tag after an hour do you feel like it probably is worth that i feel like i feel like it was going to be worth the $20 price tag. After an hour, do you feel like it probably is worth that? I feel like it's going to be well worth that. Okay. Looks like it has a lot of replayability to me.

Like I said, so far in an hour's time, I have replayed several levels because you go for speed medals. So you can ace a level, which means, hey, you've got a really, really good time on this. And my goal is I want to ace all the levels, right? That's not required, but that's kind of what I was focusing on at first. And then as you beat a level, it unlocks other things in the level. So you can go back. And now there's an item that's in the level that's hard to get to. And so now you have a different puzzle to solve. Instead of the puzzle of how do I get to the end

of this level quickly? Now it's how do I use these cards and these abilities to get to this gift that I can get that I can then give to some of the other characters in the game, which plays into the dating sim part just a little bit. But it's again, it's just like a very super fast based puzzle to try to solve. And I think like when you take all of these things and you kind of smash them together in this weird, weird blender that you have, it works. And so yes, for 20 bucks so far, so very good in my opinion. And it seems like it's going to be well worth that amount of money. And I saw some video where there's levels later on that look insane, like every wall and every floor is a spike. And so you have to like time things to get the cards that allow you to double jump continuously so that you...

It looks like it gets really, really bananas after a while. Interesting. Regardless, I'm just glad to see developers try something new and unique instead of the same old sequels and the old IPs that everyone trusts and loves. It's nice to see a little bit of innovation.

So I'm definitely all for it. Alright, well, that... Wait way i gotta hijack the show i have to i have to give a shout out real fast guys i have been trying to get a hold of a ps5 for a very long time and i have to shout out hootenberg he helped me track one down finally it's in the mail it's coming on Tuesday. I'm so happy. And I cannot not shout out Hutenberg from our Discord channel. He's been a longtime listener of the show. Man, I cannot thank you enough for helping me out with this because I have been notoriously just cursed on getting this. So Hutenberg, you're the man. Appreciate you. All right, Paul, now we can end the show. I just had to do it. We say it all the time. We have the best community out there, man.

We do. Yeah, we really do. And that's awesome i when i found out about that number one i thought that was super cool of hutenberg and then i was so happy for you michael because it's like this this quest that you've been and failed miserably multiple times it's like finally over the broken link was the worst when sony sent me you've been selected log in between 8 a.m or 11 a.m and 6 p.m i log in right at 11 o'clock and the friggin link is broken from the email at one what come on sony it's so sad well hootenberg's got your back and if you guys want to come join our discord server which we honestly could not hype up enough there is a link in the episode description totally segue we'd love to have you in there and uh yeah we're all done here for today

so hopefully you guys enjoyed this week in gaming we will have a short quick take episode this saturday as always and then we will be back with another hour long plus episode on monday so can't wait to talk to you guys again for that one until then happy gaming all right cheers all all right see everybody gaming. All right. Cheers all. All right. See everybody.