Video Gamers Podcast - Lords of the Fallen Rises, Enter the Gungeon 2 and Blue Prince Battle - Indie Gaming Podcast

Episode Date: April 30, 2025

Gaming hosts Ace and Ryan are bringing you the latest indie gaming news and hottest video game titles you need to know about in this week’s indie focused episode. Lords of the Fallen has turned things around, Blue Prince dev has thoughts on Oblivion’s Shadow Drop and they cover Tuna Hakes, Enter the Gungeon 2 and more. It’s another can’t miss indie gaming episode from your favorite video game podcast! Thanks to our MYTHIC supporters: Redletter, Disratory, Ol’ Jake 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/@VideoGamersPod?sub_confirmation=1    Visit us on the web: https://videogamerspod.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Conditions apply to all benefits. Visit PCFinancial.ca for details. Hello fellow gamers and welcome to the Video Gamers Podcast. Today we will team up in Lords of the Fallen with its seamless co-op, nail gravity-defying flips with Fish in Tuna Hakes underwater, and master chess-inspired souls-like adventures in Stone Mockia. But before that, I wouldn't necessarily say he's jumped the shark, but his ability to Ollie kickflip and grind as a fish tells me It's just a matter of time It's Ryan

Say less man, if you're gonna combine skateboarding and fish like what more can you ask for? That's true You do love aquariums. Don't you I do I got a saltwater aquarium right away I was like, oh, I know what that fit lose Look at this copper band. Look at that. That's, Oh man. Oh man. I, I didn't even think about that. I was like, Oh yeah, Ryan loves escape, but I totally forgot you have a love aquariums and fish too. Yup.

It was like perfect for you. I'm stoked, man. Yeah. I'm, uh, I'm excited. Uh, everybody listening, you may have noticed a voice intro in us today. Our big boy, Ace is, uh, hitting those rains and he's gonna, he's gonna run this thing and so I can kick back and just relax. So I love it.

You and Josh get to take a little break as people may have noticed. He's not here. We're giving him a little break from all the chaos and, uh, honestly, we just can't pull him away from exedition 33. That's, that's what it is. That's the real issue. Uh, we can't get him here. He doesn't want to come.

Baguettes and waiting for his turn to attack. Yeah, no. Uh, we already know how you feel about Exodus 33, right? No, I haven't said anything. I've been very, very cautious on my take. We're going to save it for the deep dive. Oh, okay. We're saving it for the deep dive.

Is that it? Just like how Ryan or how John and Josh are saving it for the deep dive. They are not. They have made it known in our Discord exactly where they stand on this game. Like every three hours, guys, I love this game. Now we've got some interesting little topics to go over today. I would say some of them more interesting than the others in my opinion, but we're going to start with Lords of the Fallen. Have you ever heard of Lords of the Fallen, Ryan? Um, the name is, is vaguely familiar.

Um, I went and looked at it and stuff. I don't remember seeing anything like this, but I know the name. This was going to be one of the biggest indie Souls-likes with a dark fantasy setting, it looked incredible. People were so hyped for it. And when it released, it was just kind of dead on arrival. It was so disappointing, man. Yeah.

But we may have a cyber punk ask redemption story on our hands with Lords of the Fallen as they've gotten a, a 2.0 update as it would be that went live this April that overhauled the game completely. Oh, that's good. Yeah. It added a seamless co-op and progression system and a friend pass, which we may know from games like it takes two or split fiction where only one person has to

own the game to play with their friends. So we're always on board with something like that. Like, why don't more developers do that? I was just going to say, dude, props, props to the devs that do that. Cause that's just one more, um, easier kind of access, you know, point of entry for people who may not have played those games a ton or not super like interested in them, but Hey, I'll give it a try with you, buddy. It's free.

Exactly. Like you are not a souls light guy, but if I, I tell you, I have lords of the fallen and you could play it with me for free, the very idea of just playing a game with me is enough to get you interested. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. To hop on with your buddy and just play a game and check it out and maybe find something that you otherwise wouldn't have played or don't like that genre.

So I do think that's a cool thing they're doing. So with this, like with the big flop where it kind of came out, what were the issues with it? Was it just like bad mechanics? Yeah, I was just about to get to that is, it was janky. It was really janky and it was really unsatisfying to play. The combat did not feel fluid. People just did not enjoy this game. And this came out around the same time as like Liza P. So people were very heavily comparing the two. Yeah. Liza P was just a much better Andy Solz like. Lords of the Fallen, however, it fell short to say the least.

Yeah, there you go. Dang. That's, that's always a bummer when, you know, and especially as these indie devs, I'm sure they have so much hope and aspiration for their games. Then you put it out and then it just gets compared to this beautiful Masterpiece of a game that's also an indie developer and and you're like man. Why couldn't we do that? Like what happened? Yeah, I feel so bad for them Yeah made a very visually impressive game like it had a cool mechanic where you could travel between the real world and like the underworld

using lanterns It was super neat, but it just, it just sucked. There's no, there's no other way to say it. It sucked. But they've not only added the friends pass and you know, the cross progression, they've overhauled the game completely. The mechanics are much better now. The gameplay feels much better now.

And just overall, the game is better now. It's got a new tutorial. It's basically a whole new game This might as well be Lords of the Fallen 2 Okay, what people are saying and I think that makes it worth revisiting in my opinion good for them, man Yeah, good for them. Give another crack at it. Like hey, we're sorry I'm so sorry. Give me one more chance, please. Just one more chance. You gave CD Projekt Red one more Well, that's a little different.

Is it now? They really messed up with that one. That's true. They did. They have a lot more people, a lot more money too. So, I mean, speaking of a lot more money and a lot more people, uh, indie devs tend to get overshadowed when it comes to AAA releases, which means they like to schedule their releases

away from big releases. I'd say that's a pretty smart business decision not to schedule, oh yeah, we're going to put our game out the same day as Grand Theft Auto 6. Yes. Oh yeah. I might get buried a little bit in the mix. Well, we had a very interesting little story come up about the dev on blueprints and what he had to say about the shadow drop of the Oblivion remaster.

Ooh, lay it on me. Co-founder and indie publisher of Raw Fury, he argued that unexpected shadow drops like Oblivion remastered unfairly bury smaller indie titles, noting that indie teams will meticulously plan their releases around, you know, these big games and try to avoid them. He highlighted how indie gems such as Post Trauma and The Darkest Files, which are indie games, which you probably never heard of because they got buried, struggle to gain traction despite their positive reception because big games are dropped on the same day without any warning whatsoever. What do you think of that? This one's kind of hard for me

because I know I had talked with, you know, we had mentioned with the shadow drop with Expedition 33 and Josh was like, no, I don't think they'll do it, blah, blah. And my thought is like, why not? Cowards, if you believe your game and you stand behind it, put it out there and let it run. You know, it's that kind of that in like sports terms

of like basketball, you know, if you're good enough, you're tall enough, you know. Yeah, I can understand that. If your game is super solid and you think it's amazing, I mean, look at some of the popularity of these games. You know, we talk about like Lethal Company and a lot of these indies that just take over the world by storm, part of me wants to like say you know back it up put out an

awesome game and it won't matter what's released but I do get you know these other larger triple-a titles and stuff they have the development team they have the money for marketing they have the advertisement budget and they typically just make a bigger more polished game so it it's gotta be hard on those devs. And I'm sure it's, it's just kind of gut wrenching when you're like, you think you have that week or two slotted out and then somebody shadow drops a remake of one of the, like the greatest open world RPG games in the years. Like, Oh, come on, man.

I thought we had this figured out. Yeah. We went for everything. Expedition 33! Oh man. That's some kind of indifferent on it. It's hard. It's one, you know, kind of one side, both sides of the coin.

It's like, have some faith in your game, but also, it's gotta suck, I'm sure. I mean, that must really suck. I mean, maybe the only reason we know about Blueprints is because it dropped in a week where there was nothing else happening. Yeah. Like, could you think about if that had dropped,

like, the same week as Oblivion, would Oblivion have buried it? Would nobody be covering it because everyone would be looking at Oblivion? We probably wouldn't have. I tell you that much. Exactly. That's what I'm saying.

It's like, I clearly see where he's coming from on this, that Shadowdrops are going to hurt Indies indirectly, but also I think, like, it's just part of the business. I think it's something you just kind of have to, coming from on this, that Shadowdrops are going to hurt indies indirectly. But also I think like, it's just part of the business. I think it's something you just kind of have to roll with because that's how some people want to do things. They don't want to do a big, you know, hour long showcase and be like, that's right, our game has been announced four months in advance.

Yeah. Exactly. Hope you're hyped America. Yeah. Build up that hype. Yeah. It's Hope you're hyped, America. Yeah. Can you build up that hype? Yeah, it's, yeah, it's a tough one, man. It's, it's, you know, it's business, but it's also, you know, they try to be so tactful with

how they, you know, strategize their release. And then, cause I mean, I would have sucked cause I honestly really enjoyed my time in blueprints. I thought it was an awesome game and I can, with utmost certainty say that if it came out the same week as Oblivion, I would have never touched it.

You would have never even touched it. Even if Josh told you we need to play this game, you would have been on Oblivion. Especially because I'm not a puzzle game guy, but we had nothing else to play. And I was like, all right, I'll check it out. And Josh was like, I think it's gonna be really good. And it was, and so it's cool to have the,

there's just so many dang games coming out these days, dude. Like every year, I don't know how, yeah, I don't know how they plan, how they plan this stuff, like when, when would a good week be? Cause there's always all these games that keep coming. Plus the unexpected games, these shadow drops. It's like, I don't know how, you know, unless you just don't know how you know unless you're just Unless you just don't care like some indie games are just so small and they just don't care like the one we're about to Talk about right now Don't even know where to begin with this game. This is clearly a joke game. I would say like a parody game

You're not meant to take it seriously But tuna Hakes underwater game you're not meant to take it seriously but tuna Hakes underwater let's all just take a moment to take that name in tuna Hakes underwater what does that sound like to you Ryan? man it sounds like licensing issues if they had it any closer to what the name could have been that's what it sounds like to me. Oh, dude, this is, this is so dumb, but I'm, I watched it and I just found myself laughing and smiling and like, Oh yeah. Cause, cause you get on this trailer and it opens up. It's, it's a fish. It's, you know, tuna Hakes, Tony Hawk. You're like a skateboard and

looking fish guy. And, and he just starts like doing all of these flips in the air. After you, after you pop out of water and I he just starts like doing all of these flips in the air after you after you pop out Of water and I was just cracking up laughing. It is utterly ridiculous Um, I I was gonna say too I started because just so everybody knows a little behind the scenes this indie stuff Ace is a wizard. I don't know where the heck you find some of these games It is it is beyond me cuz I'll look at it and I'd like how did you even find this dude? Like are you just he's just like down in the caves like looking through all these files, you know finding these crazy games But uh, yeah, man, this is this is just wild looking. This is crazy

No, man on my 15 minute breaks at work I will just go to the Steam page, you know Just search the word Indy and then I'll go just check every single tab for something that's interesting. And some of the games on there I can't talk about, but some of the games are very interesting. And then there's just ones that stand out for completely different reasons.

It's not ones like, I'm like, Oh, this game's going to be an all-timer. It's going to be like, this game's two bucks, but man, it could be a great time for two bucks. Yeah. I mean, yeah. How many times do you, you know, just like lose a couple bucks? Like, so, you know, spending a couple dollars just for like 30 minutes of laughs is not, you know, not the end of the world. That's for sure. It almost does have like, do you remember those old, that old in 64 game or it was in like, you know, the,

the Peter Piper pizza and the arcade places, it was the wave runner or whatever, the Peter Pepper pizza in the arcade places. It was the wave runner or whatever. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. With the jet skis. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. It kind of reminds me like the graphics and the look of the ocean reminds me of that, which is funny because it's just those goofy games that you, like you said, you don't take it seriously, but it's, it's pretty funny. Even if no one buys this game, I want you to go check the trailer out just so you could see how much it's a much of a parody of Tony Hawk this game is. No one is buying it Ace, there's 33 reviews. Hey it's overwhelmingly boxed. This is true, 100% of those 33 users.

100% positive reviews on Tuna Hay. My gosh, there's like a, I'm watching like a little Nemo like board slide along this rail Oh, dude the real the rail sliding with the fish was what got me at the end I was like that tails are still laughing as they're going across Yeah, if it's not clear to the Hake is a Tony Hawk ripoff a very low effort one dollars game dollar 79 right now you can have 79 if you're looking for just a dumb fun game. But with its 31 players strong. Yeah.

Yeah. It's nothing offensive. I wouldn't say it's hurting the game industry in any way. I think it's silly and fun. Yeah. Oh, for sure. These things are cool. And it is, it is where people get their, you know, artistic expression out sometimes and they're just like, I want to make a game. This would be fun. Yeah. Oh, for sure. These things are cool. And it is where people get their artistic expression out sometimes, and they're just

like, I want to make a game. This would be fun. Well, what's a crazy idea? And then they make that. Kind of like we talk with Sleepy Man. Yeah. He's like, this is kind of an artistic expression. It started as a goofy song, and I'm like, let's make a game about it.

And I mean, he's spending, I think think a little bit more time on that one. Yeah. I would say he's a, he's putting a little bit more effort and time into his, but it is the same concept. Most indie game developers I would think are just like, yeah, this is my vision. Is my dream. Yeah. I've always wanted to see fish grind rails.

Yeah, that's, yeah, that's, that's always been, you know that's always been in my bucket list of things to see. But moving on from Tuna Hay, let's talk about a indie game that looks just a little bit more interesting to me for completely different reasons. We're talking about Once Upon a Puppet. It is a 2D platformer kind of game. It's a 2.5DD platformer kind of game. It kind of, or it's a 2.5D puzzle platformer kind of game. It kind of reminds me of this old PS3 game called Puppeteer, where you played as a puppet with scissors and you would try to cut the heads off of enemies and use the heads as your lives. It was a very interesting game. Oh nice. It was a very interesting game. Oh, nice. Yeah, it was a very interesting game.

Some of those old like 90s and 2000s games were, uh, were pretty, pretty off the wall. That yeah. Well, this one was crazy. I loved the look of it too. Cause you know, you had the whole puppeteer thing, the strings and all that games that can like nail that aesthetic of puppety puppeteering puppeteering. Yeah. I guess that's really worked for me when pulling me into the world. And this one does that for me.

I don't know what you thought about it, but. I do. I really, I really have been vibing lately with these 2.5Ds. Like, I really like the look. It's not just super plain, you know, like a 2D or like some of those stuff like that, but in the side scrollers, but it's got that little bit of extra, but that still unique look to it. And they seem to keep, every time I see one, I'm like, oh, and it perks my interest. And I do really like the atmosphere and the look. I always, the thing with these puppeteer type and kind of look to them games, especially in the big

worlds, the vastness of the worlds and stuff that they create, you know, makes you feel so small. They're always just like, for some reason, in a carnival setting or weird settings. Yeah, it's always like a circus or... It's so creepy out, like a circus or a carnival, and I'm always like, oh, you know, but I do want to check it out, but it's kind of spooky and creepy, you know? Yeah, I mean, if we didn't have the Midnight Walk coming up, I would definitely be like, oh, you know, but I do want to check it out, but it's kind of spooky and creepy, you know? Yeah, I mean, if we didn't have the Midnight Walk coming up, I would definitely be like, oh yeah,

I'm gonna play Once Upon a Puppet, but like we've got, like we said before, there's so many good games coming out this year. I feel like we just don't have time to play everything, and it really is a disappointment. It is. So if anyone out there wants to play it for us and tell us how it was. Yeah, let us know.

Yeah, it's 22 bucks. I ain't bet it all. 22.50. No, I'm sure it's great too. I mean, not a lot of reviews on there, but it's overwhelmingly positive. So for, I mean, just for the look at this game, I'm watching some more gameplay right now.

I mean, it looks pretty solid. So I mean, if the controls are there and it's not janky and it's, you know, it runs well. I mean, from what I there and it's not janky and it's you know, it runs runs well I mean from what I see it nails the atmosphere and the aesthetic it's going for with the whole puppeteering Stage kind of stuff and it works for me. So I know it'll work for you guys if you try it. Yeah, definitely Yeah, so you have you to try it for me because I don't have If you have a little more time than we do, then please let us know and check it out and tell us what you think.

All right, we're going to move on to this next one after this short little break. Hottash Mines in Canada. Essential resources responsibly produced. It's happening now at BHP, a future resources company. All right, we are back. We are talking about something that is going to be absolutely legendary. I can assure you now, I'm not overhyping this. One of the best indie roguelikes known to man is getting a sequel. Enter the Gungeon 2. Oh baby. Can you tell Ace is excited?

Oh, Enter the Gungeon is one of the best indie roguelikes there is. It's got a great story if you follow the story, cause you are, you pick a rant, one of the four characters, you go through the dungeon and you're looking for a gun that'll kill your past. And if you can do that, then the story resets into unlocking more and more interesting characters that tie to the main story. I'm not going to go in the whole thing because I'll be here for hours. I mean, I'm a dork like that. But one thing that people have an issue with Enter the Gungeon with is of course people like Josh, it's the graphics. It's pixel graphics.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That's not a problem anymore in Enter the Gungeon 2. This looks pretty good. We got some absolutely stunning 3D visuals on this one. And I, for one, am so excited to see where this goes. We don't have much to go on yet. We just have an announcement trailer and we don't have an announcement date, unfortunately. But what do you think about

this one, Ryan? You've never played into the Gungeon, but does this peak your interest in any way as a roguelike fan? I honestly like, I mean, I love roguelikes now. So anything I can try and see how my runs go, unless it's, you know, I'm not a big fan of the card roguelikes. That's fair. I'm not a big fan of the card, card roguelikes. That's fair. I'm not huge on card battlers either. Yeah. And so I honestly, I'm watching this and I have no clue what's even going on right now.

Like this looks, this looks ridiculous. Are you just a, are you like a, you just have a giant pile of guys and then you like shoot, shoot stuff? The guns are ridiculous. They're like, you know how we talked about doom eternal and how doom eternal has ridiculous weapons and guns Yeah, and it really leans into that uh-huh enter the gun is the same way You'll get a shotgun shell that shoots shotguns not

That's awesome or a barrel that shoots fish like the guns are ridiculous But the magic comes from the synergy of the items you pick up that go with the gun. So maybe you'll pick up the infinite ammo boost with some kind of Gatling gun, and it combines into some ridiculous weapon that just deletes the first boss. But it's got those fun roguelike elements. I love that the developer's name is Dodgeroll. Oh yeah.

Dodge Roll. Dodge Roll's out here doing some interesting things with their games. They need to make a Souls-like. That would be just on brand for their name. As difficult as Enter the Gun to give you, it's a bullet hell game, so you're like dodgy rolling a lot. It might as well be a Souls-like. Might as well.

Might as well be, if you ask me. So the first one was pretty pixel-y, pixel graphics and stuff? It was a pixelated kind of graphical adventure. It's beautiful pixel art. It's not ugly by any means. And it's got a lot of personality and charm because the enemies are like little bullets with legs on the front. That's what was funny.

They look, at least I am proud that the shell casings on the ground aren't with the bullets still or crazy things like that. When they fire bullets, you see in some of these animations the shell casings with it and the bullets traveling in the air and stuff. At least they look like they know what they're doing. Oh yeah. They've definitely got a little bit of knowledge about guns, but I think Enter the Gungeon 2, if it comes out this year, if they can time it to not come out with anything else

like we were talking about, no shadow drops or anything like that, it'll take it the month it comes out because people freaking love Enter the Gungeon. I mean one of them. You hear that, Bethesda? Let's get Morrowind now. No, no, no, no, no, Bethesda, you're done. You've already dropped Oblivion and you have freaking Doom, the Dark Age is coming. No more from you.

You're done no more you leave the indie gamers alone how many Skyrims are there there's a room for one more we can just one two three oh one second Todd Howard's at my door yeah ding ding ding oh he's threatening me with the New Vegas remaster would you even be able to see him through the through the peephole? Like four foot down I brought Skyrim. Oh my god. That sounded like the the little elves on the Simpsons I don't know how much trouble we're gonna get into for ripping to Todd Howard, but uh, we love you Todd. Now it's okay.

Cause we said we love you. But moving on from enter the gungeon, we're going to talk about a game that came out, uh, I believe last week and, uh, I played this game. You played this game. I did a review of this game. It is not performing as well as I expected. Really? Yeah.

We are talking about Mandragora, Whispers of the Witch Tree, which is a 2.5D Metroid mania, kind of Souls-like combat with a Diablo-style skill tree. The skill tree is insane in this game, I will say. I was like, I was playing the play test and I'm looking at it like, where did this even go? Like, what the heck? I was lost immediately when I opened the skill tree. I was like, ah. Your eyes crossed, you're like, oh my gosh.

My thing with those is there's always, I always get analysis paralysis. You know, I'm like looking and I just never know what to upgrade to or what path to take. I'm just like, there's just too much. It's too much for me. And you never play to Souls-like. So you don't like, you never dealt with the weapon scaling kind of mechanics that come

from Souls-like games where having higher stats can attribute to using better weapons and make a certain weapon more effective, which is what Mantragora tries to do. It does have weapon scaling. Like, that's where it's Souls-like elements come from on top of the freaking stamina bar. Oh yeah. I mean, I played Bloodborne. Yeah.

Okay. I played that. So like I've done some of the Soul stuff, but like I just, I kept playing it and playing it and I was like, I don't know why I'm doing this. Like I want to like it. And everyone's like, it's so amazing. Souls likes games. And I just couldn't get into it. Blood was like, I don't know why I'm doing this. Like I wanna like it. And everyone's like, it's so amazing, Souls likes games. And I just couldn't get into it.

Bloodborne's an all-timer, man. Bloodborne is so freaking good. And I can't get into it here because it's not an indie game and I'm the indie guy. But you know. You can like what you like. If you haven't played Bloodborne, you're missing out. Go buy a PlayStation just for Bloodborne.

Oh, there you go. There you go. That's a big take there. But so it's not performing well. It is getting very mixed reviews. And I don't understand why, because it is a, it's a beautiful 2.5 D, you know, game, stunning graphics, incredible voice acting, the combat is fun and fluid and it's just a fun game.

If you like this kind of game. It's got like 80 hours worth of content if you're looking for it. So I don't understand like why this one's not performing as well as it could have. I don't know if it's because of lack of marketing or maybe it was marketed incorrectly. I don't know, cause like you said, it is,

I mean, it's a beautiful game. And I did like the abilities, it is, I mean, it's a beautiful game and I did like the abilities you did have, you know, with, with, and it felt fluid. And, um, you know, you get this cool. Like lightning attack right off the bat and, um, or some blast attack and you can do that and then, and then use your roles to get around them and dodge stuff. And I did think it played well. It looks good.

Um, it's, it's a kind of cool style game. It's not a super, it's not like a $70 game or anything crazy, so. No, no. Yeah, I'm not sure why, because yeah, it's sitting at 63%. That is so low, man. That might as well be 10%.

Yeah, for an indie dev, that is devastating. Because yeah, I mean, the guys over there told us with like Tales of Iron, like if you're under an 80, there's a million 80 games. Like you gotta be above that. Like so 63, that's kind of rough. That's really rough for them. And I do feel bad for the Mandragora devs

cause you can clearly tell they put a lot of heart and a lot of effort into this game and they just didn't land for people, unfortunately. And you know, that's just how it is sometimes. Sometimes games just don't land. But if you're even remotely interested in the Metroidvanias and you like Souls-like kind of elements, I think people should definitely still check out Mandragora.

Even if you feel like you need to wait for a sale for it to be worth your time, I think people should still check it out. I would probably wait for a sale. It's 40 bucks. So maybe, you know, they can probably do it if you get it for like 20. I think it's a solid pickup for like 20, 40 bucks. So maybe, you know, they, they can probably do it if you get it for like 20, I think it's a solid pickup for like 20, 25 bucks. But, uh, I don't know if I'd pay the 40, but I mean, even though the, the, uh, enemies that you battle, they all look

really cool and some are big, creepy, like wolf guys and others like are these blobs. And then you have like these tall witch wizard looking people and there's all kinds of enemies and bosses and so Yeah, it's it may just be a price thing on it It might be a price thing and I thought maybe it's the souls like elements being too heavily Implemented into the metroidvania elements, but you know, then I played games like blasphemous and blasphemous is very similar It's like yeah, I don't know what doesn't work. But you know. I'm reading one of the not recommended reviews with 36 hours and it's the same thing.

It's like, it was good, but the more I played, I really didn't like it too much. But I think for like 20 bucks, this is perfect. You know, and so. Okay. So people like it, they just don't love it, which is something we talked about. Actually, we haven't talked about it yet.

Scratch that, you haven't heard it yet. It's not out yet. Don't listen,'t talked about it yet. Scratch that. You haven't heard it yet. It's not out yet. Don't listen. Don't listen. Don't listen to me. Well, before we have to end on that note. Yeah.

Happy. Happy. Let's talk about one more thing. Let's talk about Stone Machia, which is probably the strangest combination of games I think I've seen yet. Do you like chess, Ryan? I do. I am a fan of chess.

I do play. Have you ever looked at chess and been like, what if it was a Souls-like? You know what this chess board needs? More Souls-like elements. I feel like that's every indie dev. This needs more rogue-like. This needs more Souls-like. That's Wizards Chess. That's every indie dev. This needs more rogue like this needs more. So it's that's Wizards chess. That's what it was.

They watched Harry Potter and they're like, I know what we can do. Dude, this is an absurd game. I found this today. Well, I was on my break. I was looking on my phone for something we could talk about that was not what I put in here.

Cause I was like, everyone knows about this already. Everyone knows what this is. This looks so ridiculous, but also so intriguing to me. I don't know what it is. Yeah, it kind of does, man. I'm surprised. And it's funny cause I was actually just doom scrolling earlier today and I briefly saw something like this and I

thought it was like a weird mobile game or something and I'm like what like you know chess like souls chess I'm like what the heck is this and I just kept scrolling and then you sent it over to us you know and you're like dude check this out I'm like what I just saw this so that's again I don't know how you always find all these things hey we have the same experience because I actually saw it in a reel I was like like, huh, what's that? Oh, okay. And then I went and searched for it because I was like, ah, see, I'm a little bit different.

I didn't go, oh, mobile game. Yeah. That's, that's where my brain went right away. I'm like, what people are going to download this? And I just kept scrolling. I'd like to say it does not look like a mobile game before anyone judges it. It is not. It does not look like a mobile game.

Yeah, that's probably true. It has a very impressive graphical style where you play as a pawn and you can sort of level up into the different, you know, archetypes of chess and go through this Italian Renaissance themed world of dark fantasy and action RPG hack and slash adventure as a pawn. If that's what you've always wanted to do, I don't know. This is this is what this is what we were just talking about, though, like these these ideas that the indie devs have, like, you know, they just go and do it. They're like, yeah, and they know there's not a big board meeting

and in a room like the AAA studios have where they shoot out all these crazy ideas. These guys are just like, hey bro, you wanna do this? And they're like, okay. And then they make a game. They just sat around the tables like, all right, we all love chess. What about chess two? There you go.

The souls like first. A little deeper, yeah. Make it a little crazy. That's wild. So no other news on that though. It's just coming soon. Coming soon, but it does have a demo if people want to try out the demo and jump into that. It does have a demo, which if you really are interested in what I just talked about, I'm not going to repeat it. But yeah, I said a lot of words.

Armed with the power of chess. Armed with the power of chess. The pawn will take the kingdom for himself. That's probably not even the plot will take the kingdom for himself. That's probably not even the plot. I'm just being dumb. Epic Souls-like adventure. I did not think I'd be talking about a Souls-like chess game today, but here we are. Yeah, Souls-like chess. What better? You know, we have a little bit of time, so we're gonna talk about it anyway. We're gonna talk about Repo.

Oh, yeah. You know what? Repo, everyone knows, if I say Repo, I think everyone who knows indie games knows exactly what I'm talking about right now. Oh, yeah. You know what repo everyone knows if I say repo I think everyone who knows indie games knows exactly what I'm talking about right now Oh, yeah, you're not able to scroll through Instagram right now or YouTube or anything without a short from repo popping up There that game is well I watched one just the other day where they had some crazy Item that was worth so much money and they set it down on the platform and it was kind of off the edge and they sent it and just smash and destroyed everything.

And they're like, Oh no, dude, me and I haven't played repo with you and Josh. I've played repo with other people and that has happened so many times. I'll get like a vase in there with like $6,000 and it'll just get smashed immediately. Like, no, oh my hard work. But for the unaware, Repo is a cooperative survival horror game a la Lethal Company, where you play as robots going through these, you know, uh, randomly, I guess, semi randomly generated levels, gathering loot and scrap with a, uh, sort of physics engine, similar to Gary's mod or half life using the physics gun and, uh, different things, way different things.

So you have to have friends help you carry things. And if you bang them into a bang them into walls or the floor, you lose value on the thing you're carrying. Yeah. You gotta're carrying. Yeah. You gotta be careful. Yeah. And of course, because it's a horror game, there are monsters. My favorite being the duck that follows you around.

And if you touch it, it turns into a horrible monstrosity that chases you down like you're like you're its next snack. Yeah, that's man. That's the best. These, uh, they've really hit like with these types and we all talked about it. You know, what was the, what was the other one we played with Josh? The, um. Headliners.

Yeah. Yeah, we played headliners. These super simple, um, you know. These are the new party game to me. Yeah. Yeah. That's just, you just all hop on cause nobody goes to anybody's house anymore. So they just play party games online with each other and, but you all hop on. They're doing a Jackbox. Yeah, that's just, you just all hop on, because nobody goes to anybody's house anymore. So they just play party games online with each other.

But you all hop on. They're doing a tire to Jackbox. Yeah, exactly. And just have a great, awesome time and laugh. And they're just dumb fun. And dude, I love them. They're so good. I mean, and Repo is just similar to Lethal Company.

It's just taking the world by storm. People love Repo. A lot of people thought it would be a flash in a pan, you know another lethal company like game It's gonna be here and gone It is still bumping with either 73,000 people in right now from steam. What does it have like over a hundred thousand overwhelmingly positive review? I'm sure right now crazy. I'm looking at them look pulling up the page, but At its peak it was like 230,000 people played this

117,000 reviews overwhelmingly positive 96% and that's just wild one of those You know quick pick up and play party games like that's insane For ten bucks for ten bucks and it's still actively being supported by the dev. Of course Yeah, dev is a little bit overwhelmed to say the least. I think he said like, I'm struggling. I'm suffering from success right now. I'll take that. I would love to suffer from success.

Cause you know, people are like, when's the next update? When are we getting more? Yeah. Yeah. Environments, more monsters, more character models. And is this a, is this a solo dev? I believe so. Yeah. Oh environments, more monsters, more, you know, character models. And is this a, is this a solo dev? I believe so. Yeah.

Oh, okay. I mean, even if he's got like five, five people, you know, with them, like that's 98% sure it's a solo dev for this one. Dude, that's gotta be a lot of work, but props to him, man. That's, that's solid to create a game like that. And then just to see these, I mean, with, with the way these types go to lend themselves to reels and funny clips and things like that, you know, it's just all that is like, it's easy marketing

that you don't have to pay for and people just do for you. Yeah. I mean, the game's the medium, and the people you play with is where the entertainment comes from. Because the proximity chat, of course, is what makes this game so funny. Gosh. And how the robots all flap their heads like Canadians from South Park. You know, the proximity chat, of course, is what makes this game so funny. Oh, gosh. And how the robots all flap their heads

like Canadians from South Park. Yeah, they do do that. That's what I thought too when I first saw the game. Oh, that's awesome. But yeah, check it out if you ever want to try these styles of games. Yeah, absolutely. If you haven't played Repo and you have a group or even just

like one or two people who want to play a game with you, I'd recommend picking up Repo. Repo is a good time. 10 bucks, even if it's one night of fun, like that's cheaper than a movie. We'll never get Josh to play it with us, so you better get your friends to play it with you. Peace.

But I wanted to leave it on a positive note there since we kinda dunked on Manticore for a little bit. I like it, I like it. I'm feeling good now. I'm excited. I know, it's feeling good. I'm feeling good about indie games. We're not worried about Oblivion totally covering up releases or anything. Not at all.

And now we'll just go play some Rivals and then hate our lives. Exactly. Yeah. Man, the dive is strong this season. Oh, yes. Yes, it is. Let's go play it, dude. I just want to thank everyone for tuning in, listening.

And if you wouldn't mind going down there and leaving us a nice little review, rate the podcast, leave us a comment, go to our YouTube, check out the video. We're here. Come look at our pretty, pretty faces. Hello. Hello. And Ryan, how else can they support the podcast?

Well, there's a couple different ways other than leaving your reviews on all of our stuff, socials and everything, um, checking out the videos, you know, that really does make a big difference for us, but, uh, you might want to consider Patreon support podcasting, believe it or not, is not cheap. It does cost some money. So keeping the lights on, uh, does, does help assist us in bringing you more great content and kind of up in the ante like we have been with the video content stuff like that. If you we have options starting at five bucks a month, you get a bunch of cool perks, discord perks, early access to episodes, a lot of cool stuff. But you can go over to multiplayer squad.com and check that out and just just give it a look. But you know, anything, anything is good. So we love it. and we appreciate all the support we've been getting.

It's been overwhelming. All right, that'll do it. Well, thank you all for joining us and happy gaming. See ya!