Video Gamers Podcast - Memory Wipe Games - Gaming Podcast

Episode Date: January 27, 2025

Gaming hosts Josh and Ryan are back with another banger of a good time! On this gaming packed episode we're breaking down our Top 5 lists of games you wish you could experience again for the very first time. These are some must play video games that will absolutely leave a mark on you. It’s another awesome video game filled episode from the Video Gamers Podcast! Thanks to our MYTHIC Supporters: Redletter, Ol’ Jake, Disratory and Gaius Thanks to Legendary Supporter: FitNerdJohn 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

Paramount Plus. Behold! My name is Maximus Intertanius and I come to you with big stars in big dramas like Gladiator 2, Dexter, Original Sin, and 1923. Stream Paramount Plus for $6.99 a month. Hello fellow gamers and welcome to the Video Gamers Podcast. There's a rare unicorn in the gaming world and it's finding that game that is so special, so good, so memorable that you never forget the first time playing it. Sometimes we wish we could just wipe our memory and experience it again forget the first time playing it. Sometimes we wish we could just wipe our memory and experience it again for the first time. On today's episode, that's exactly what we're going to talk about. Games you wish you could experience for the first time all over again. We'll get into those in just a minute, but first some introductions are in order i am your host josh and joining me he's getting a lot older

so a lot of games he forgets he played so his list is getting longer and longer josh josh josh hold on a second look right here look right here i am your host josh and joining me he's quite possibly the best host on the planet and the perfect combination of talent and looks it's Ryan absolutely thank you everybody I am here and I'm here to stay ready for another beautiful episode all right ryan we're back baby i'm excited for this episode dude i feel a little weird man no it's it's it's nothing don't worry about it um really yeah it's something in the air i've been a little queasy or nauseous too a little forgetful but but don't worry about it let's just you know we got a show to do we got people waiting my sick, man. So maybe it's just a cold or something. I don't know,

man. I just got a weird little feeling in my head or something. Oh man. Right. I am pumped for this episode. Like we said, we're going to be covering games that it's just, dude,

if only I could experience this game for the first time all over again. Yes. Um, I do want to start off by saying, listen, we are not covering the most epic games out there. Everybody wishes they could play Witcher 3 again for the first time. Everybody wishes, man, if I could just play Elden Ring and have that sense of discovery just for the first time,

or, you know, Cyberpunk, God of War. Red Dead, all those. Exactly. for the first time or, you know, Cyberpunk God of War. So exactly. We are intentionally not talking about like these, these, these once in a lifetime games, we're trying to go a little bit deeper. We're trying to kind of give you guys some games that maybe you haven't played yet. I think it's very likely that people have heard of these, or at least the games on my list, but it's crazy to me because we see people in our in our community all the time that's like dude i've never played that and it's like oh my gosh what do you mean

you haven't played this game like oh go now go now um but before we get into that ryan dude we got what we got what we got some people to thank man i love it i love it and uh and not only that but we have four new awesome amazing supporters of the show to thank so we want to thank man this dude everybody knows this guy kakarot yeah yes uh wesley trin crusty the viking who all signed up for rare status to support the show thank you so much for doing that and then we have a fine fine supporter who signed up for epic status by the name of filipino chaos who joined the server it's been awesome They've been playing games with people. It's really just been fantastic. Dude, if there's one thing I love more than chaos, it's Filipino chaos.

Yeah. I mean, that's like the top version, isn't it? I think so. On the hierarchy of chaos. Hijacking the show real quick. I am a lifelong bowler, and I was probably one of two or three white guys in an all-Filipino bowling league. In case you didn't know that. A little background story. Are you a good bowler?

Filipinos are awesome to all of our Filipino listeners out there. They would have these potlucks, and they brought in a straight-up whole pig. And they chopped it up, and it was the best food ever in my life. So if you can join a filipino bowling league do it or filipino whatever filipinos are are top notch i i can say that a roast pig i'm from louisiana and so they would spit a pig and roast it and that's some of the best meat dude it's incredible so man all right, thank you. Thank you for taking the time and the effort to support the show. We would not be here without the support of people. If you want to support the show, you can do that over at MultiplayerSquad.com. And we, sometimes a game can not only be great, but it's like, it just worms its way into your brain. Like it's one of those games you think

about after you've played it, you kind of, you kind of chew on it, you stew over it, you obsess over it maybe. And it's just, it just leaves that feeling that's hard to describe to people. You know, maybe it's a like a crazy twist maybe it's like a culmination of a great story or an absolutely epic final boss fight yeah you know it's just like there's games that we desperately wish that we could play again for the first time like to get that sense of wonder you know that reveal on the twist that sense of discovery whatever the magic formula is, we're going to break down our list of games. And I think we each have a list of five games

that we wish we could play again for the first time. But we have something special. Before we get into that, we have a new segment that's called the quick question and this is a perk that is available to people that sign up in the epic tier so if you support the show in the epic tier just like filipino chaos did you get to submit a quick question that we will answer on the show at the start of of a show as well so um this one comes in from a guy you know that we know around our discord server as as the one and only awesome sith lord vader yeah uh and so actually like i'm sorry this question actually comes in from hell of it i got i got up there. This episode comes to you because Lord Vader asked this question and he said, Hey, what's a game that, that you guys wish you could play again for the first time.

So this episode is actually because of that. So if you ask a quick question, you never know. Yeah, we may like it enough. We may not like it enough to where we make a whole episode out of it and not just a question. So, so make sure you get in there and ask those questions if you sign up. Absolutely. So, and so sorry for the confusion, but this question comes in from hell of it. And the question is, let's say you have access to all technology and no limit to what you can use. You have the chance to create the next groundbreaking, earth-shattering gaming device, whether it's a console, a handheld, PC, VR. You have access to artificial intelligence, augmented reality. What would you create to be the next master race gaming invention? That's a hard one. Go aheadyan you go you go first on this one

oh man it's hard because part of me instantly knows exactly what i would do and what i'd want to do but then the the part of me that's like you know get up and go outside and get fresh air is like no what are you doing so yeah i'm still gonna go with it because i think of how amazing it would be i'm just gonna basically to basically rip off Ready Player One. Like, I want the Oasis, man. Like, give me that just reality where I can plug in and give me the Matrix. I'm going to disappear and level up and pop culture and coins and whatever else I want to do. I can fly through the air, my my mechanics or machines or cars

or all those things it would just be something so unreal and and i think you know i mean you see how easily society falls into just like reels and shorts you know so something like this would just we the productivity of the world would stop but man would it be cool dude you so this is the very first thing my brain went to yeah like like absolutely is was just like dude just give me give me the oasis man yeah you know but here's the problem you will ruin the world yes absolutely like i know i mean can you imagine if skyrim was like your temporary reality oh dude you know and's like, so take virtual reality and make it fully immersive. I, I don't know that I would be willing to risk it, dude. Like, you know, I mean, you know, we've all lost ourselves to an MMO, you know, played a game way too much at some point. And if you make it that immersive, I, I don't know that I would be willing to, to just put it all on the line. But then there's also that, like, I gotta see what this is, man. So it's funny because, you know, with, with,

with unlimited funds, technology, all that stuff, what I actually came up with was like contact lenses that somebody could wear that would just be able to give you like the most fully fledged augmented reality. So maybe not take me out of reality completely. And I think I'm living in another world, but to where, you know, you can either put these in, turn them on, whatever, but other people can't see them. They're comfortable. And then it just turns anything into a game anywhere at any time. You don't need handhelds. You don't need a fancy PC, like all that stuff. It just gets beamed straight into your eyeballs.

You know, you're on the train on the way home. And dude, I'm just, everything around me just looks like some fantasy world, you know, or I'm playing some first person shooter uh you know or whatever but you know i it's funny because i think like i think we both agree that virtual reality is like the evolution i i think so it's just like how far into you want to go to where you know you give up your humanity and and like unplug from this world and plug into that one like how far are you gonna to go? Can I bring my wife and kids with me?

Cause then we're good, man. I'm like, Hey y'all, y'all, y'all want to go into this? It's like, okay,

we're going to go. But now I'm just picturing all the people running around in this virtual world with their contacts. But, but the people who aren't in that world and they're just watching someone like jump and move side to side around stuff you're like what are they doing we might have to partner with some like brain control thing or something there you go you know to go with that too so uh yeah so once again thank you hell of it for the question it's awesome to to kind of talk about these things and see what people come up with man and the goal you know the goal is ask us whatever you want. The question is up to you. You know, if you want to know more about us, the show, uh, put us in a, in a weird situation and see how we would respond. Ask us the answer to the trolley question. You know, that's, that's

up to you. That's one of the perks for joining the Epic tier. Ryan, let's get into these lists. I'm excited to talk about these games man um why don't you start us off man why don't you go ahead and give us the first game that you wish that you could just wipe your memory completely and just experience again for the first time okay i'm channeling back all the way back back back in the way back when so now i'm going to give you a quote and let's see if you can get this vast majority of people should get this pretty dang quick okay i think i know what this is already what is a man a miserable pile of secrets i think this is is this bioshock bro really what castlevania symphony of the night dude okay yeah now yeah no okay no street cred gone

you are out bro no you okay you were the biggest fan of castlevania and while i think castlevania on the old nintendo or you know it was an absolutely awesome game i'm just not that into metroidvanias anymore yeah neither am i i'm a little bit, but it's still just my favorite, and I think the best one ever made. But that's a game that just the pure experience of just the raw nature of the most classic Metroidvania I've ever played, I would love to experience again. There was just something about it that it hit all those marks

to where it wasn't too much. It wasn't boring and not enough. And it was challenging enough to make you want more, but you wouldn't get kind of like dull or anything like that. So it was one of those that just hit all those marks for me, especially way back when, you know, in the 90s. But man, if I could play that again for the first time. Is it the exploration?

Is it the progression? Like, what's the hook? Is it just as a whole? Is it time of life? Because sometimes when we play these games, we remember the time of life that we were in. For sure. Part of it, I mean, the vast majority of my original playthrough was taking turns with other family members. You know, well, oh, you died. You know, next person up. the vast majority of my original playthrough was taking turns with other family members. Um,

you know, well, we, you know, oh, you died, you know, next person up and then they got to load their thing and then they play

and stuff. So I think that, and then the art style and the, the kind of dark scenery of it. And you're in this, you know, Dracula's castle and you're fighting all these monsters and, just the way you carry through the world.

And then you, okay, I got my double jump. Oh, now I can go back to that other spot, you know know because that was the first real experience to metroidvania for me so having that that that knowledge of oh now i can go back here what's there and and getting into that that i've been waiting since the first like third of the game you know now i get to go back to it something about that just was awesome for me and you know i see it in games now that that still

hits but man to get that first experience again uh from that would be something special i will say i'm not a huge fan of metroidvanias i do absolutely love hollow knight i like metroid you know there are some that have really resonated with me um i think that i think the key there is that they are constantly rewarding you you know playtime. It's not like everything builds up to this one payoff. The ending sometimes does, but it's like you said, you get double jump and now you get dash and now you get the ability to

climb walls or break floors and you're kind of just always hit with that reward system that our brains love. Yeah, for sure. Now, is this the one that where you play through the whole game and then you realize you can flip the castle you can do the inverted castle yeah that big reveal there as well yep yep it just it's a weird cinematic too old 90s you know corny corny graphics and

stuff but man it was so cool awesome i'm gonna jump in since since i since i kind of spoiled this i thought that sounded like andrew ryan like Ryan giving a speech about the failure of humanity or something. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I am bringing up Bioshock. Okay. Because when Bioshock came out, there was not a game like Bioshock. set a standard for a type of game where it was a mix of really good story, good characters, some mystery, this kind of dystopian utopia almost, phenomenal setting. Nobody had made a game where you're playing under the ocean. The intro for that game was second to none,

where you actually wind up going out and then going down to Rapture and all that stuff. I remember encountering big daddies for the first time. I remember for about a half a second being torn on whether I was going to sacrifice the little sister for the Adam, or if I was going to rescue her. Come here. And then I was like, I need these powers, man. You don't understand. I need you know and then you play through this whole game which is a phenomenal game and then you get to the ending and the ending in bioshock is one of the biggest twists in gaming of all time would you kindly tell me the ending yeah and and and they're just like it's one of those things where you look back over the entire game and then you just go this all makes so much sense

and i had no idea this entire time i don't know that any game has pulled the wool over your eyes like Bioshock did. Yeah. And that like that feeling of the reveal and the feeling of looking back at everything that took place in that game and realizing that you've kind of been played the entire time. Yeah. There's nothing like it. And it's funny because you can tell people, I mean, you know, there's spoilers all over the place for Bioshock now.

I mean, this game's been out forever so it's you know if you haven't heard what the spoiler is just go dark and play bioshock right away yes as quickly as possible but that payoff you can't get that again no you know and i miss that man because yeah i mean i think other games have tried and there's definitely the end of red Dead 2, for instance. There's that massive payoff that just, I won't spoil it since it's a more recent game, but there are a few games like that, but there's nothing like that experience of playing Bioshock for the first time, man. Oh, for sure. I mean, that one, definitely a good thing I had more than five.

So that one was on my list as well, obviously. It's a phenomenal game. I think what they did so well there was they created this world that was full of so much chaos and so much misdirection and distraction to where you wanted to focus on the story, but you were so caught off guard by the world around you and everything else that you just couldn't always focus on it. Your attention wasn't on trying to figure out the story the whole time. off guard by the world around you and everything else that, that you just couldn't always focus on it. Your, your attention wasn't on trying to figure out the story the whole time. And, uh, and it was just, you know,

it w it was something that by the end you're like, Oh wait, you know, I'm trying to get out of here. What's going on. And then the, the twists and the turns happen and you're just blown away. So it,

uh, yeah, man, to be able to experience that again, like I said, it was on my list. Uh, and it's, that's just one all timer. Absolutely.

Yeah. And the point of this episode is if you have not played these games, go, go now, play these games, man. There's a reason. There is a reason we're talking about them. There is a reason that they stick with people. I mean, do yourself a favor and experience these for the first time, because I'm jealous. Like, legitimately, if somebody's like, I'm playing Bioshock for the first time, like,

my initial response is like, oh, man, I wish I could do that again. I know. We always have people hop in. Oh, this is my backlog. And they're like, Witcher 3, Cyberpunk, Red Dead. We're like, oh, that's the best backlog you could ever have. You're in for a treat, man. This year is going to be a good year in gaming for you.

It's going to ruin gaming for you. I know, right? Everything after that is going to be like, what happened? All the best games, yeah. Man, games really fell off. It's like, no, you just picked all the best games in the last five years and just put them into three months. Have fun. Awesome.

Ryan, I can't wait to hear your next one, but we gonna take a short break and then you're gonna hit us with another one buddy all right we're back ryan hit me i want to i want to see if i know this game i'm really curious if we have a game that like neither of us have played because at that point i might i might know what i'm doing this weekend what do you mean neither of us is playing how can we replay like i'm saying that like if i name a game that you haven't okay gotcha yeah i'm like how are you got confused how are you replaying games what are we doing here you're like that intro really messed you up josh okay well i know you haven't played this one so i know you won't be able to guess this, but I'm going to give another quote for the listeners out there that will know.

You probably know, too, just from the quote here. But why? Why can't I read your mind? Oh, okay. I know Magneto when I hear Magneto. No, I'm just kidding. Bro, you're trying to troll me, man. I can only take so much in a day.

I can only take so much in a day. I can only take so much. It's Metal Gear Solid original OG 1998 September release, Metal Gear Solid 1. One of the best games ever made. Not my favorite Metal Gear Solid. Metal Gear Solid 2 is my favorite for numerous factors. But going up, I played the beginning sample demo disc for metal gear solid and i was like this is the greatest game ever made and you play that first little level it's

like 10 minutes long and i played it probably 40 times before i finally convinced my grandma to get me metal gear solid for christmas and i did nothing for like three days but play that game start to finish and I played it so much I had every unlockable thing you could have um with with the the tuxedo snake you know you're running around in a tuxedo uh unlimited ammo with the long bandana like Meryl in uh not her normal attire um with certain things you could do so like there there was everything that i unlocked i loved that game so much and to be able to play it for the first time again would be just something surreal and man i would i would love it i've never played this game yes and ryan it's pretty old i'm probably not ever gonna play this game until they do like a remake you know but they're remaking

what is it three isn't that the new uh snake eater delta is technically metal gear solid three yes yeah that'll be that'll be snake eater i'll play that one i'll play that one you better do because that's probably arguably probably the best one um uh kind of you know overall but but uh yeah man metal gear solid one was just it was it was something so defining for me and i think it was defining in gaming um if if you haven't played it yet uh i would definitely suggest it because it's still it's still a good game it's not going to hold up graphically but the story and the gameplay is still fun uh but if it's not a spoiler if it's over 20 something years old so that's psycho mantis you're you're a kid and you're on a PlayStation

and you have to move your controller. Wait, this is the Psycho Mantis one? This is Psycho Mantis. You have to put your controller into the second port so he can't read your moves so then you can beat him in the boss fight. Like, what game did that? I wish more people did that now, dude.

Just weird weird unique things like that that that nobody would think of it was so different in like ahead of its time that it was just it was uh next level i mean he's reading uh your saved stuff off of your memory card and stuff and you know it was just it was something totally totally unique and different that i would i would love to experience again yeah Yeah. Bring that stuff back. Debs. We'd like that as gamers. We like that stuff. Yep. Okay. So I'm, I got a game. People that have been listening to this podcast for a while have heard me talk about, this is a game that is, is, you know, a lot of people will say, Hey man, I really wish I could experience this game for the first time. So there is something there, you know,

not just my opinion on this. Ryan, you have played this game. I don't think it went over quite as much for you because I forced you to play this game. And I think you enjoyed it, but I don't know that you got like engrossed in this game like a lot of people do. But that is Subnautica. Oh, yeah. Subnautica. And the thing with Subnautica for me is I did not think that I enjoyed survival crafting type games. I always thought they seemed like work. They're repetitive. Like, what's the point of these things? You're just trying to survive and, you know, whatever.

And then I played Subnautica and I was absolutely enamored of this ocean planet where all you are doing is going under the surface of the ocean on this planet and you are exploring these fantastic biomes you are coming across the leviathan reapers you know and the sounds and the and the like how crazy that was there's a crashed ship off in the distance and the, and the, the, like how crazy that was, there's a crashed ship off in the distance. And then you realize like, you know, a little later on in the game, you get the capability to like, go explore that ship. And then you're like, dude, I'm inside this spaceship now. Like, this is crazy. I thought this was just water, you know? And then it's like, there's times when you get to go on land and then you're like, I thought this was just water. And then the thing

with Subnautica that really makes it that I wish I could play this again for the first time is this game does such a masterful job of slowly telling you a story of giving you little tidbits of information about something else that's going on on this planet and the way that they feed that to you is so subtle and it's through exploration and discovery yeah it's obnoxious it's masterful dude it is masterful games nowadays just beat you over the head dragon age fail guard dude i'm not an idiot i don't need you to beat me over the head with this story and tell me how I'm supposed to feel. Let me feel it.

Design your game so that I feel it by naturally playing, not smacking me in the face with it, being like, you should feel angry right now. And then I'm like, this is stupid. I do feel angry. I'm angry at the game because it's dumb. But there is something magical about Subnautica. I don't want to spoil the ending on this game because I really, really encourage

people to play this game because for a large majority of people, Ryan, maybe not you, but there it's one of those magical experiences where you can absolutely lose yourself in this. The survival aspects are great. The exploration aspects are second to none. The progression in Subnautica is absolutely top notch. You get all kinds of tech vehicles. This game goes way, uh, pun intended deeper than you actually expect it to go. Just when you think you've kind of hit the, Oh, this is really cool. I finally made it. You ain't, you ain't made made it man yeah and and that that kind of like kick to your brain over and over again is something that you can't recapture and i have actually being a guy that never plays games

more than once i have actually gone back to subnautica and i got about halfway through before i kind of went yeah i know what happens I just kind of wanted to try to experience it again. And you can't. It's still a good game. Don't get me wrong. But you lose that feeling the second time around. And I think that's why it kind of ranks up there for a lot of people as one of those games where it's like, dude, just play this game. Yeah, that was I definitely.

Well, I don't have it on the levels that you do. I did appreciate that game. Yeah, that was... I definitely... Well, I don't have it on the levels that you do. I did appreciate that game. And actually, when I look back on it, I have a lot more fondness towards that game and that experience. I feel like maybe the way

I had played it in the time because we had so many games going on and I was forced to... This is the tough part about this podcast that people don't realize. I didn't get to experience the way I probably would have if it was organic and I was just playing it because I wanted to. Having said that, this was in my top 10 or 15 list of if I could replay a game.

Because there was just that, okay, I'm on the ocean. Where do I go? I'm like, oh, what's this fish thing? I'm like, oh, this has water. I'm like, okay, that'm on the ocean. Like, where do I go? I'm like, oh, what's this fish thing? I'm like, oh, this has water. I'm like, okay, no, oh, that is this. And then you just, you got to figure it out and you got to go and like, all right, well, there's something over there.

Let me go see what's over there. Oh, there's something over there. And you just keep progressing that way. And there's something to be said about not guiding people through your world, having them have to explore it. And so there was definitely a lot of really cool twists and turns and bumps and crazy sporadic things

throughout this game that definitely, if I could experience again, I would as well. Yeah. Yeah. All right, what you got, Ryan? I'd spend the whole episode on Subnautica, so I am intentionally trying to move forward. I know, I know, for sure.

So I'm going to go with one that, oh, man, is probably a weakness of mine. I love kind of action-adventure, you know, RPG style, like open world, you know, the same templates of all these kind of styles of games. But this one really hits on a lot of levels for me because of one the story the the graphics the cinematics and um in the gameplay and i'm going with last of us one the first last of us oh dude that game i i know that that's up

there for so many people this is one of those games where not only it's not just the twist, but it's the game itself too. But the twist at the end is just unbelievable. It's unbelievable. And that's one thing. And I am a horrible sucker for a post-apocalyptic world. Something inside me just loves seeing time stood still to where I'll explore the world

and I'm just wandering around and my wife will walk by like, what are you doing? I'm just in some random house in the game imagining the people's lives going on while they were in this world and stuff like that. So that always just hits for me. But between that and the gameplay

and the gameplay and the back and forth and and even the like the jump scares and the scariness of the zombies and everything and i you know i'm a little baby when it comes to zombies but all of it to me to be able to experience that again for the first time and just have that game to where that's all you think about that day like when am i going to get home and get back on and continue this story? Like opening back up a book type thing. Like that, that is something that would be so cool to get that,

that feeling again. That's just a strong drive to finish this story every day. The second you put it down, you just want to get back to it. Yeah. Yeah. There's, that might be an episode for another day where it's like games you think about while you're at work. Yeah. Right. You know, because there's there's definitely those where I'm like, dude, I don't want to be here. I need to go play this game. My brain is my body may be here, but my brain is in this game or, you know, just that's all it wants to do. And it's funny because, I mean, I definitely think these would qualify. But I think that's another another kind of category of games it's like you just get obsessed with too yeah so um

yeah famously i'm gonna i'm gonna confess and people are gonna be like what we hate you josh i played about six hours of the last maybe even four hours of the last of us and then i just put it down and for some reason i never picked it back up. And I know that's a crime. I'm confessing it publicly right now. I'm sorry, people. I fully am aware that I missed out on something great. I'm a big dummy. We forgive you. All right, good. Okay. Another game for me that is really at the top of my list. And these are games that it's like, I will actively push these games on people like Subnautica is one that I push on people. And this is another one that I push on people because there is no experience in gaming like this game. And that is a game that is called Outer Wilds. Oh, okay. Not to be confused with Outer Worlds, which is the kind of spiritual successor to, it's not Fallout, right? Wasn't that the makers of Fallout

that kind of split off and made Outer Wilds? I'm pretty sure it is. But anyway, don't confuse it with that. I'm going to say yes. I'm going to say yes. Outer Wilds is its own game. And the premise of Outer Wilds is that you are this alien guy who wakes up on a planet. You see something up in the sky and people tell you, hey, you have to take this ship and go explore.

And then as you're exploring and trying to learn how to fly the ship, your star supernovas and it wipes out your galaxy and boom, you're dead. And then you all of a sudden wake up again, just like you did the very first time you load into this game and you snap awake and it is a time loop. And there is, I'm telling you, man, there's no gaming experience that exists that is quite the same as Outer wilds. I mean, between the, and yes, it has similarities to other games. Like the exploration in this game is second to none. The sense of discovery is second to none, but it somehow puts it together in this perfect package of like mystery

suspense, aha moments, a little bit of like wandering aimlessly. Cause you're really not sure 100 what the heck is going on until you get like a clue and then you beeline it but there is always the underlying fear or dread or just some feeling that this game gives you where you finally get this thread and you're pulling this thread and then it's like you know the supernova's coming yeah and you know and you just start going like i'm finally unraveling this mystery no give me two more minutes you know and then it's like nope do you hear the music start

that says hey the star is exploding and you just it just makes you feel something, man. And I can't describe it to people. People that have played this game all go like, dude, yes, I know exactly what you're talking about. People that haven't go, you just sound like an idiot to me, man. But I'm telling you, there is something absolutely magical and special about Outer Wilds. Play this game. Now, the one complaint about Outer Wilds is flying that stupid rickety spaceship because it sucks. Now, just like anything else, I promise you will actually get used to it and you will start to become a lot better of a pilot and it will stop being a headache. So get through that. But dude, Outer Wilds is one of those games that every gamer should experience. Nice.

Yeah, I know we've talked about it. I know Paul has mentioned too of like, let's get Ryan on, let's do it. And we haven't been able to make it happen. But man, yeah, I haven't been able to experience that. So maybe that'll be a first timer for me at some point. Quick, I mean, I will absolutely force you to play this game at some point.

Oh, here we go. You know, when we get back to that. I can tell you that right now. It's very high on my list. They have a DLC that is very, very good. It's not quite the same magic as the original, but if you play the original and you're like, dude, I'm really hungry for some more of this.

Like this is just really jiving with my brain. The DLC, like the expansion, is really good as well. And so you get that nice little bonus of like another eight hours worth of new content as well. Oh, nice. So, yeah. Jeez, that's awesome. All right, what's up next for you, Ryan? Oh, man.

I'm freaking amped, man. I can't. I know, right? Why do we play all these games again, man? What could it be? What I wish was there um so i'm gonna go with one that uh took the world by storm something that was not only just an amazing game but amazing kind of communal type thing and i'm gonna go with world of warcraft um there's nothing like your

first m there was there was like and i know yours in what what ever quest meant to you and what it took over your life you know the the the hold it had on you so i i felt like i was neglecting my other life when i wasn't on that game like that's how much it meant to me like i need to be doing this or that or whatever else so much that i may or may not have got a glider and was gliding and got banned at one point when i was very young so we're not going to talk about that but uh being able to to just load into that world and you just have a community and a society that you're almost it's just it is another world that you get in and we're gonna go run scarlet monastery or or willing caverns or um any of the higher level raids you know it's

been so long i don't remember those anymore um but like it's just there was something about that progression that back then the old g og wow was it was so hard to level up. So when you saw a level 60, you're like, respect, bro. Like, respect. Everybody gets to 20 or 30, and then they peter out, and then they start another character or just quit the game. But if you can get to a max level back then, it was an accomplishment, man, and it was a grind. So, dude, there was just something about it.

Getting your griffins or and uh you know or your mounts for the first time and stuff like that it was there was something there was something there that was just a magic that nobody had ever experienced before and and to be able to get that kind of new global gaming phenomenon again would be just awesome it's i i wasn't going to bring it up because it's not in like my top five but and i know people are probably sick of me bringing up everquest because like you know it's an older game that a lot of people haven't played or really even know anything about but in parentheses i legit put it's really just your first mmo yeah that is the memory you know

and i know for world of warcraft that was that was it for millions of people and they're the magic when you get into your first mmo and realize the scope and the scale and the number of players and the adventure that is ahead of you cannot be recreated and it's funny because i mean we've played a lot of other mmos and we've dove into them and tried them and nothing compares like they might be fun games and they might be you know fully fledged and the quests are fun and whatever but it's like that magic is gone yeah after the first experience with with an mmo and it doesn't matter i mean i played some good mmos afterwards and i'm like dude this is a lot of fun like i'm getting into

this game but the magic is just not there man it is not the same i even hopped back in when they came back out with vanilla wow and uh i remember i had a the same i even hopped back in when they came back out with vanilla wow and uh i remember i had a laptop and i'm sitting out back and it's beautiful out in phoenix arizona and and i'm on the couch and football's on and i'm playing wow and and it felt like it but not it was if something was off and it's just not having that initial first experience of of the beauty of it all and the wonderment, you know, it wasn't there. And so, you know, again, after like level 30, I was just like, okay, you know, I've done this before.

And, you know, you kind of fall off from it. So, yeah, it's just that first time thing in that first MMO, like you said, that means so much to whoever has played them. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know why it can't get captured again. I mean, I've tried a dozen MMOs and again. There's got to be a played them. Yeah. I don't know why it can't get captured again. I mean, I've tried a dozen MMOs and again... There's going to be a new thing.

The MMO is the new one. Eventually, there'll be another game type, like BR took over the world. There'll be something else that takes over to where it's like you remember your first that, the first game type of that. But that remains to be seen what it'll be. Hopefully, it's soon.

It will absolutely happen. And that's kind of the funnest to think like, man, what's it going to be? Yeah. Yeah. Um, so a game for me that is absolutely magical the first time you play it. And I'm going to preface this with saying you need to experience this game with at least one other friend. And it's even better with like multiple friends. In my opinion. It is not the same game if you're playing it solo, unless you are just the kind of person that can really get enamored of a grind, a slow progression, because this game has it in spades. But with friends, the experience in this game is vastly different. And I think it really legitimately falls into that

kind of magical category where you go, I wish I could do this again for the first time. And that is Valheim. Now you never played Valheim. Did you, did you even dabble in it? You've never, okay. Cause no. All right. I remember Valheim taking over the world. And I remember with Paul and some other friends saying, Hey, there's this game Valheim come out. We really should play this. Everybody's raving about it. I mean, there's gotta be something there. Right. And so we hopped in and I think we started off with like three of us. It might've been like me, Paul, and I think maybe Todd and maybe somebody else. Um, but Valheim is an experience kind of like no other because it has the scale of like an MMO, which you don't realize at first. Like you think, hey, cool. I'm in this really beautiful area.

It's kind of safe. It's serene. Like you almost feel like you're on vacation in a way. And then as you start to kind of do your crafting and you're exploring and your discovery, you start to kind of go into like another biome. And I guess the best way to describe it as Valheim is like the perfect game that is like almost like based or formatted like an MMO without any quests whatsoever, like in scale and the fun with your friends. But it just, it just shocks you in how much there actually is in this game. Like I remember for the first time, eventually crafting a raft, right? And it was like, dude, we finally figured out how to craft a raft and we put in at some water and you can't see very far. And I remember Todd Knight legitimately spending like 50 minutes trying to sail this

little raft going like what are we gonna find and you know we found nothing because it's huge and we're just lost in the ocean in this game and then thankfully we're like dude we're gonna lose everything because this is one of those games where if you die all your gear is on your corpse so there's that little bit of like you know fear in the exploration and stuff too the first time you chop down a tree in valheim and it hits one of your buddies and kills them you will absolutely lose your mind like that's awesome this is the stuff where it's like this sense of discovery right yeah yeah yeah we found a new desert biome after sailing across an ocean, and we're like, oh my goodness, what's this? This is brand new. Paul hops out the boat.

He's going to run around and look around, and a freaking mosquito, a mosquito is just buzzing by, and Paul runs up and hits the mosquito because you get anything you collect, it unlocks recipes, which I think is an absolute masterful way to do progression in a game. Paul's thinking, oh, I'll kill this mosquito. We'll get a new recipe or something. This mosquito destroys Paul in like in a half a second. And then we all lose our minds and we're like, run!

Oh my gosh, like we're not supposed to be here. I'm not even supposed to be here today. We don't want to lose all our gear. We spent an hour sailing. Like you have to corpse ride. Like it's just one of those things, man, where the magic of Valheim is hard to capture and the scale and the beauty of this game. And it's weird because this game's kind of ugly in one sense, but at the same time, it's one of the most atmospherically beautiful games that I think I have played in a long time. And you kind of have to just experience it to see the weather, the wind, the atmosphere, the things you find, the things you come across, the different biomes. There's boss fights in this

game that you realize like whoa like really like this is in there too it's like it's depressing at times it's hopeful at times like i don't know man this game really has it all i and and to prove the point on this we went back and we played valheim again like we said there was an expansion or they finally because it was early access for it might even still be early access maybe it's officially out now but they had this big expansion the mist lands and we're like dude let's do it and we got back in and it just it just it's not the same the same dude and we still had multiple people but it was like we knew what to do we knew what recipes we knew that across the ocean was something. And like, we knew,

hey man, don't mess with them mosquitoes, man. And so those kind of first time experiences just weren't there. And it's funny because we fizzled out like very quickly. We progressed very quickly because we knew what the heck we were doing. But at the same time, we just hit this wall where we went, dude, the magic's not there this time around. Not there the same time we just hit this wall where we went dude the magic's not there this time around not there the same yeah kind of makes me sad but at the same time it's like i'm really glad we had that initial experience oh for sure yeah it kind of reminds me when we played uh me you and paul played uh arc like yeah you know we first we first start and i'm like i just keep pooping i don't know what to do you know Or the swamp sickness that we got. And we're like, don't come near me.

What are you doing? We all get it. I came and gave it to you all. I had swamp aids or whatever. But yeah, there's something, especially because you guys played it together. That initial experience where you all are just... It's like group discovery. And having that together, there's just...

It's one of those things that's irreplaceable like even if you were to play with a different group like it would be different you know for the first time so it's it's it's so hard to recapture those moments and those memories and you just have to hope there's another game that kind of replicates that as far as like your feelings when you started up but man yeah those, those are just so cool, especially in those worlds that are like that, the survival where you're just like, I don't know what to do. I don't know where I'm going, but we got to survive.

And then things just keep coming at you. The world is coming at you. And it just makes for just so much craziness and memorable moments, which is awesome. Yeah. All right, Ryan, I think you got one more, right? Uno mas. All right.

So, you know, obviously, obviously we got to save the best for last. Oh boy. So what game would be, you know, absolutely so amazing that someone would want to replay it again, you know, maybe 25 years later? Oh goodness.

Diablo 2. Oh gosh, man. Diablo, I knew this i always i told myself i said if we get through this episode and ryan doesn't mention diablo like something's wrong listen it's 25 years later 25 there is people five years old it came out in 2000 it came out in 2000 uh let's see july 6th of 2000 there are people listening right now probably quite a bit that are not even as old as this game and i was playing it on release and if i could recapture the magic of of not only just playing this game, playing the campaign in that dark, deep, I always say dark and gritty, like that's just kind of an environment and a world that I love.

Having that nature to it, to recreate that experience alongside of LAN parties with Diablo and then playing online on Battle.net, kind of in the origin and the birth of online gaming in the early 2000s, late 90s. To be able to recapture that,

oh man, I mean, I'm still searching for it. That's why I'm still playing Diablo Resurrected 25 years later, and it's still just as good as I remember, if not better. With rune words that they have now and all the stuff you can do and it's still just as good as i remember if not better like with rune words that they have now and all the stuff you can do it's just there's something to be said to create you know art if you will like in 25 years later you have thousands of people that are still enjoying

it and and loving it and it's thriving um if i could recreate that man there was there was you know we talked about like the the uh the grandma's picking up the phone with the dial up and kicking off i remember playing on diablo and i'm online and i'm playing and running and and uh doing fights and battles and i had a like an 88 amazon with wind force bow and all this crazy stuff and somebody picked up the phone and i got booted and you know it's it's one of those things like all of crazy stuff. Somebody picked up the phone and I got booted. It's one of those things. All of the stuff I remember, even the bad, I wish I could have that experience. Wait, you lost a Winforce?

Oh, dude, yeah. From your grandma picking up the phone? I didn't know. I didn't lose the Winforce, but I lost. I was playing. We were dueling. I was on duels. Oh, okay.

She picked it up while I was dueling i was on duels okay and she picked up while i was while i was dueling and then i got dc'd and then you know what so i lost my duel and everything and then they you know they loot the gear you know wind force for people who don't know was like the most epic bow that you could try to get in this it was like a machine grinding for wind force dude i went force and soj's and a bunch of runes and dozens of hours yeah and it was like a machine gun you could just and it would just pierce and you know there and a bunch of runes and charms. Dozens of hours. Yeah, and it was like a machine gun. You could just, and it would just pierce, and there's a million things you can go into. But yeah, to be able to experience that again

would be the top of my list for sure. Diablo 2 was really the pinnacle, in my opinion, of Diablo. Diablo, the first one came out, and it was great. It's one of those rare examples where the sequel was just so perfect. It was like, they, they took everything they learned from the first one and they didn't mess up anything on the second one. And it just was like, they've created the perfect game. Like this game is so good. Like there's so hard to find faults with it. I think they've been chasing that ever since and they haven't quite nailed it. But yeah, Diablo 2 is just one of those absolutely legendary games.

I don't know. Do you think if somebody had never played Diablo 2 that they could play it today and feel that same experience? Or do you think it's a little too dated to actually kind of capture some of that magic? Personally, with Resurrected, they spiced up the graphics and then they have the rune words and stuff. And I think it plays just as well as any other game currently uh it's it's phenomenal in my opinion like any listeners if you want to play diablo hit me up like i'll hop on with you and i'll help you

run and and i'll help rush you up through your levels but it's it's one of those that everybody should at least check it out because it is that amazing. The story is good. The gameplay throughout is good. It's just the progression. Everything about it just sits well with me. Yeah. No, I'm with you, dude. Diablo 2 is one of those games of all time kind of games. Yeah. All right. Well, the last one for me, a lot of people haven't heard of this. This is a little bit of games. Yeah. So, all right. Well, the last one for me, a lot of people haven't heard of this. This is a little bit of an older game. When this game came out, there's actually, I'm going to, I'm going to lump this together because there is a first and a

second. And I think that the second is better than the first, but to kind of combine together, it's the whole experience, but that is Knights of the Old Republic. Oh, that was on my list too. Yeah. KOTOR, you know, famously just called KOTOR. Knights of the Old Republic. Oh, that was on my list too. Yeah, KOTOR, famously just called KOTOR. Knights of the Old Republic was a Star Wars RPG that was so unbelievably good at the time. And I don't think anybody expected it. And then when it came out, it really just blew up the world because somebody finally made a Star Wars RPG that had absolutely

memorable characters. It got you so invested in their stories. It had humor. It had the combat that people wanted in a game. It had fantastic moments with, you know, it didn't pull punches and things like that. So some of the interactions between the characters and the choices that you had to make that really mattered was all there. This was kind of the game that set the bar for that stuff, in my opinion. And then not only on top of all that, but it has one of the best twists in a video game. We talk about Bioshock and it's like, again, I don't want to spoil it. You know if you know. And if you don't know, go find out because it's like i don't again don't want to spoil it you know if you know and if you don't know go find out because it's worth it but you know kotor one and two were just the absolute epitome of what people were hoping for when it came to number one the franchise because they

captured star wars very very well and then number two it was just an absolutely epic role-playing game man yeah you know and again the characters were you got so invested in those you cared about them it had the humor you know and it would catch you off guard with that like sometimes and then you would laugh and then you're crying all of a sudden and it's like you're doing all this stuff and you're on this grand epic adventure and then right at the end of the game it hits you with the huge twist and the reveal. And you just kind of like, it's kind of like Bioshock the whole time. You're like, what? I've been playing this game for 60 hours and you're telling me I didn't know this?

You know? And then it just completely scrambles your brain and it just makes you go like, oh my goodness, dude. Like that's one of those experiences that you can't replicate. And you can go back and play it for the gameplay and the story and try to get more detail, but you will never get that same magic from KOTOR

as you did the first time playing it. And there's very few RPGs like that. Like even the greats, like Baldur's Gate 3, like if you take a modern current rpg i mean baldur's gate 3 is an absolutely incredible video game but it still didn't give me that same feeling you know i can admit baldur's gate 3 is a way better game but that magic experience that we're talking about that first time playthrough it does, it doesn't have it like KOTOR did. And so there was just something there

that made that game just hit in a way that very few games can, man. Well, there's a reason 22 years later people are still craving a remake or a reboot or something. There technically is a remake. I mean, we haven't heard any news in a long time, but please let it be true. Well, and there's something to be said, too, because, like, I mean,

episode one came out in, like, 99. So KOTOR came out in 03. So this was, like, this was our Star Wars. Yeah. Like, this was that time period where, you know, in the late 70s when the other ones came out, like, those were a lot older, you know, and I remember seeing them and thinking very fondly of them. But this was our Star Wars when we were a little bit younger.

And this game just hit all those marks that it fed that craving for more Star Wars. And it was good. It wasn't just like here's more Star Wars content and just shoveling it down our throats. Like it was good too. And there was something to be said about that. Like you said, the twists, the turns, people aren't going to know unless they play

it, just like Bioshock. Man, there's nothing like it and there's a reason everybody wants more and kind of harkens back to KOTOR as like that's the Star Wars game. That's the pinnacle that we try to strive to to emulate um and

hopefully we get some i i really hope so man i'm a huge star wars fan it's it's had its ups and downs recently you know um but i i'm i will eternally be hopeful that star wars just is always that what magic experience palpatine's still alive what oh stop stop ryan still he survived again what you guys just don't have any ideas of what else to write oh man i still have hope ryan it's kind of like i hope for battlefield still you know yeah oh man listen if you haven't played these games play them if you if you you know if you have't played these games, play them. If you, if you, you know, if you have a game that gave you that magic feeling, this feeling that we're talking about, that you're like, tell us, we want to know this is the fun of being gamers. This is the fun of

this podcast is we want to know what resonates with you. What did we miss? What glaring error did we not talk about? And you're just like, Josh, Ryan, what the heck, man? How could you not mention this game? Come tell us about it. We would absolutely love to talk to you. And not only us, but about 800 and 800 plus other gamers that all have the same passion that you have. And we have are right there just waiting to talk about this stuff. Our community on our Discord server is second to none. The link is in the episode description. We drive this home for a reason. Literally today, a listener joined our Discord and was chatting with people. And he made the comment that he said man i've been listening

to you guys just just chill this discord server for a while and i finally joined and he went oh my goodness dude this is the best community i have seen in gaming i cannot believe i waited this long you guys are not lying you're not overselling it like i i i've not had gamers to talk to like this in forever you know and dude that just makes me feel amazing i literally said i was like dude this makes me so happy we don't we don't have the vr tech but we're trying to create the oasis man yes that's what we're doing so click the link in the episode description come join our Discord server. You can lurk.

You can just watch and observe. You don't have to believe us and dive in feet first. You know, you can test the waters a little bit. But trust me, it will change your life as a gamer, man. So give it a shot and see what happens. That's it for this episode. We will be back on Thursday with another one. But man, this was fun, dude.

I love thinking about games like this, a little bit of memory lane, but a little bit of go play this game, you know, at the same time. So we hope you had fun. Listen, if you enjoyed this episode, if you enjoy this podcast and you haven't done it already,

please click the follow button, the plus button in your podcast app. So you get all our episodes the day that they release. And if you want to be like the four awesome people that signed up to support this show and got a shout out, you can do that over at multiplayer squad.com. We could not do this without the support of the listeners. So take a minute to think about doing that and supporting the show. That's it for this episode. Until next time, happy gaming. Josh is the best Marvel Rivals player I've ever seen,

and he's the best host I've ever heard in my whole life. See ya! Bye.