Video Gamers Podcast - Split Fiction Hype and Steam Next Fest Finds - Gaming Podcast

Episode Date: March 10, 2025

Gaming hosts Josh and Ryan are diving into some of the hottest gaming demos from the Steam Next Fest and teasing our initial hype on Split Fiction. Join us for a video game packed episode as we chat Grit and Valor: 1949, Deliver at All Costs, Aethermancer, Monster Train 2 and more. All the gaming news you need, each and every week from the Video Gamers Podcast! Thanks to our MYTHIC Supporters: Redletter, Ol’ Jake, Disratory and Gaius Connect with the show: Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/videogamerspod Join our Gaming Community: https://discord.gg/Dsx2rgEEbz Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/videogamerspod/  Follow us on X: https://twitter.com/VideoGamersPod  Subscribe to us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU12YOMnAQwqFZEdfXv9c3Q   Visit us on the web: https://videogamerspod.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello fellow gamers and welcome to the video gamers podcast. It's time to talk games. We've been diving into the steam next fast. And while there's a never-ending supply of demos, we played a few and have a couple that might be worth your time. But first, some introductions are in order. I am your host Josh, and joining me, he's been playing the real-life version of Deliver at all costs this last week, but he's here now to talk games and chew bubble gum and he's all out of games. It's Ryan. Oh, I mean, he's

got a bubble gum. He's got a bubble. Oh, okay. We're here. Oh, that's right. We're here for games. Yeah. Games. Games. We're gaming podcasts. That's right. I'm so glad we're back to just being dumb and talking games, man. And do all these guests. Listen, we have loved every guest that we have had on the show. Amazing. But you know, sometimes you got to kind of be on your good behavior with guests and stuff. And you're like, we can't have these people thinking we're idiots, man. Yeah. You know, but we are idiots, right? We are. We are. And everyone else listening knows that. And they're already, they've accepted us. So now we can just be us. Now we can just be idiots, man. So, well, listen, welcome in everybody.

Thank you for joining us. We are going to be talking about some of the steam next fest games that we played. We did find a couple that I think are pretty darn nice. Yeah. And then maybe one or two that it's like, we played it so you don't have to kind of thing. But, um, you know what we haven't done in forever? Ryan, what is that? We haven't read a review buddy. Oh, should we read a review? I think that's what the people want to hear. I think so too.

So that's what we're going to do, man. Let's get back to it. This review comes in from the one and only styling Steve, great member of the community, biggest fan of kingdom come deliverance to, I don't ever saw. Ever in the world. And it's titled, What's Not to Love? And it says, these fine, sophisticated gentlemen use their buttery smooth voices to bring accurate, updated

information and knee-slapping entertainment to gamers worldwide. You are now wondering to yourself, there is no possible way a podcast can be this groundbreaking while also having the best community in gaming on Discord. Give them a chance and you will have no choice but to yell by the beard of Zeus. Where has this podcast been all my life? I love it, man. That's so good. Anytime you get to reference Zeus's beard. Yeah, you know or if you're Nicolas Cage Zeus's butthole That's a that's a that's a that's a reference that's for the rock. I think that was from the rock

I think so in the name of Zeus's butthole Underrated underrated film by the way back underrated film. I love dude the rock I love the rock dude. It is one of my favorite action movies. Uh, like honestly ever, like it's so good. And unless you've been caged, like you haven't lived yet. Just so you know, that's very true. Yes. And we have caged a lot of people. Yeah. People like, what is getting caged? What is, what is getting caged? It's when you take pictures of Nicholas cage stickers and all that,

and you just put them all over somebody's house. Yep. Yeah. Just hide them under plates in between bowls under toilet paper. Yeah. So they're just constantly finding. Yeah. And then they're like, why is Nicholas Cage all over my house? He's been caged. Why not? Yeah. Uh, you know what, Ryan, before we get into these games, man, it's, it's been a while buddy. Let's, let's, let's do it. What the heck have you been playing, man. It's, it's been a while buddy. Let's, let's, let's do it. What the heck have you been playing man? Oh, this is, this is the hard part is, um, dude,

how much are we going to get into this game? Cause I know, I know we got the same answer and split fiction. You're talking a little split fiction. I'm talking a little split fiction, man. Okay. So listen, I I'm seven hours into split fiction. I think I'm halfway through, if not a little bit more than halfway through you were three, four hours in maybe. Probably I am actually, I'm double playing because I'm playing with my daughter and my

son and I'm like redoing it together. So I'm getting a lot of time in. That's good dad time right there. That is good dad time. And I'm love and my son just keeps on, we're speed running dad, we're speed time. And I'm love. And my son just keeps on, we're speed running dad. We're speed runners. And I'm like, let's do it buddy. You know, and I'm loving every minute of it, dude. Let's, we're not going to split. We are deep diving, split fiction sooner rather than later, by the way, because this game is something that we need to talk about

very soon. I, you asked me the very first night, how are you liking it? Yeah. And I referenced another game. Do you remember what game I referenced? I don't. When I said, I said, this is blank levels of fun that I'm having.

Bro, I don't remember what I had for lunch. All right, all right. Like, come on. I mentioned Astro Bot. I said, dude, I'm talking Astro Bot levels of fun. Ryan's like, oh, ding, ding, ding. Yes. That's all I'm going to say. I'm just going to leave that cliffhanger for the people right there. For me, I'm having Astro Bot levels of fun with Split Fiction, dude.

I second that. We are going to cover it in depth. And it deserves to be covered in depth and we're going to go a lot more into that, um, so stay tuned. You'll want, you'll want to hear what we have to say. Yes. Um, so besides split fiction, which I'm, we really need to hurry up through this recording cause my friend is actually waiting on me to, uh, to play have played avowed, um, I, I, we're, we're kind of struggling with avowed because it's like,

we've been talking about doing an episode on it. I am 15 hours into avowed. Um, I know you are not very far. Life's gotten kind of crazy for you lately. So like people are asking, are we going to cover avowed? I don't, I don't know, man. I don't know. I don't know. We'll see. See. Yeah, we'll see on that one. I don't know. I don't know. We'll see. Um, see. Yeah, we'll see on that one. I, about is complicated cause it's like there's good parts and there's not so good parts and I don't know if I want to, I don't, I don't know.

What do you mean you don't know, dude? And it's like, here's the thing. If you were 15 hours into a Vowd already, I would think like, yes, let's just do an episode on it. But it's like, I don't know that making you play a Vowd for 12 more hours and then us doing it is going to be worthwhile for people. Maybe we'll just make like a few reels or something, you know? Maybe some shorts on YouTube or something like that

to give people an idea. Or maybe we'll just throw out a little 15 minute bonus episode on a Saturday or something for people to go. So that's a good, yeah, you know, I know people are wondering and it's like, yes, we do have some thoughts on avowed. Uh, no, it is not a bad game. That's, you know, that's all I'll say it in my opinion on that one too. So, all right, listen, enough beating around the bush, Ryan.

Let's talk about some steam next vest games, dude. So here's kind of the crazy thing. Life has been nuts for us, like in a good way. This is no complaints whatsoever, right? Our listeners that have been listening to the show for a while have like, we have been just blitzkrieging this like guest interview behind the scenes look at the gaming world. I mean, we kind of decided, hey dude, we really wanna do this series of like interviews with people like voice actors, gaming psychologists and artists and animators.

We've got a couple of composers and music guys coming up. Oh yeah, oh yeah. We've been talking to AAA studios, you know, independent studios. So we've really been trying to cover just the gamut of things. We have a solo dev episode that we recorded that's going to be coming out soon. So we've really tried to just cover the world of gaming. And it's been really neat. It's been a lot of fun. But at the same time, it has taken up a lot of time for us. And then we do have people going,

like, you guys going to talk about games anymore? We are absolutely going to get back to the gaming content. That doesn't mean that we're not ever going to do an interview. But we did kind of stop and we went, listen, dude, as cool as this series has been and as awesome as some of the people that we've met have been, dude, we're just gamers, man. And we're going to start talking about games. So for the people that were wondering, yes,

the gaming content is returning. We are back. We are back. We are back. We are back. We are back. And so you're going to see that on a much more regular cadence that you're used to.

Again, we'll have a few more interviews and stuff like that. And that's not to say that we aren't going to get super hyped to interview some indie devs or something like that, too. But this blitzkrieg of interviews is over for the most part. We're going to start kind of trickling some. I mean, I'm really excited to talk.

Just as a teaser, we're going to be talking to the composer for Little Nightmares. Like Tobias is the guy's name. He made all the music for Little Nightmares 1 and 2. I'm freaking amped for that, dude. We got a music composer by the name of disaster piece, uh, who is quite famous. Uh, he made the soundtrack for a little movie called it follows. Now that's a kind of a niche horror movie, but the soundtrack for that

movie is like award winning, you know? And so we're going to have him on the show. Like, so there's some really cool guests, but we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna slow the roll, so to speak. So we're bringing you back your fun bonus rounds, your draft episodes, your twigs and stuff like that. So we, we hope you enjoyed the kind of, um, you know, look into the gaming industry, but yeah, you said it, Ryan, we're back. We're back to games, baby. So in that whole blitzkrieg, all of that is to say that we have had little

time and I felt really bad because like, here's the steam next Fest. We have covered every steam next Fest that has ever existed. We've pulled games out and said, Hey people, here's some games that we got to play. Here's games that we tried. And then we were just like, dude, I haven't had time to play a single demo, you know, like what the heck's going on. Yeah. And then we got a little bit of free time before Split Fiction came out.

And we said, dude, we have to talk about some of these Steam Next Fest games. So here we are. Now, I know you and Ace talked about some of the indie ones on the indie episode. I was a little jealous. I still haven't tried Mr. Sleepy Man. And you guys really got my attention on that one.

So we're going to talk about some of these Steam Next Fest games that we both got to play. And like I said, some of them, I'm actually kind of interested in a few of these. And then there's some where I was kind of like, cool, I got to play that. I don't know that that's for me either, but we'll still talk about it.

So let's start. I really like this game. I'm just going to preface that right away. This is my kind this game. I'm just gonna preface that right away. This is my kind of game, but a game called Grit and Valor 1949. All right, and the best way that I can describe this game is it is a real time Into the Breach. Now, Into the Breach is a very famous indie game.

It's a kind of puzzle-y battling game where you have these different units and you have to position them based on turns and it's very strategy oriented. If anybody's familiar with into the breach, they know very, very highly regarded game. Gritten Valor is like into the breach, but it's real time. Like you actually got to move your guys around and they're getting attacked and you got to move them and you got to go over here and dodge this artillery fire and stuff like that. I know I got more time on grit and Valor than you over here and dodge this artillery fire and stuff like that. I know I got more time on grit and valor than you did

because I actually wound up playing this a lot longer. I actually never reached the end of the demo. I'm not sure where this demo ends to be honest with you because I've put in like five hours in this game. Oh geez. Yeah, I know, right? So how would you explain grit and valor to somebody? It's that, it's that top down kind of grid based like you said it's kind

of it is that real time action. Um I I love this. This is what lends towards my play style with these types of games. I don't like to have to wait for you know, I'm not a turn based guy. I don't like to have to wait for the attacks. I like that I can see the movement coming. I can see the waves coming. I can see what I need to do and I can plan accordingly and move my guys where they have to be. And if that didn't work, I can adjust real time on the spot and kind of go that way. I did like the effect that you had those specialty attacks. You

know, you're different, your different characters have these, not just their standard, you can set them up, you are mobile, you can put them where they need to be, but then, okay, here's a squad right here, I'm going to go and take my mech and just fly up and stomp on them and squish them like bugs, which is awesome. So I love the ability to have that little bit of flair, that little extra effect, and it's not just point and shoot, you know, so it is cool. It, I did not get as much time as you. Um, I know you had mentioned before we talked, there is, uh, some kind of progression.

I don't feel that I hit that with my playtime yet. So maybe you could speak on that a little bit more, but from what I played, I did, I did like what I saw. And it's definitely something that people should check out. Yeah. This game kind of impressed me and I wasn't expecting it to be honest. I was a big fan of into the breach. I like turn-based strategy type games. There is like a little bit of that XCOM DNA

with the like taking cover and it's a rock paper scissors type thing. Like you have a mech that has like Gatling guns, but it's weak to like fire mechs for instance. And then your fire mechs are really good against explosive mechs, but the explosive mechs are good against the like the Gatling gun mechs kind of thing. So it's like, there's a very much a like rock paper scissors element to that. And even the high ground stuff like yes exactly like you like that makes a big difference too. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. And so there's a lot of strategy there and how you play, but again, this is all

real time. So you are moving this mech around and while that mech's walking over to the grid that you send them to, you better move your other mechs out of the way and stuff like that. And the mechs are very specialized. You have like an artillery mech, You have like this really fast, like flamethrower mech. And then you have an in-between kind of gatling gun mech. And I'm sure there's other mechs in the game, but that's all I unlocked. And then as you play and you beat these levels and you progress, because this is a rogue-like game as well,

you can then unlock like the pilot barracks. So now you can put different pilots in the different mechs to give the mechs new abilities like you were talking about, like that leap ability on the one mech, or one mech can lay mines as kind of a defensive thing. So now you've got this pilots coming into play, and then you can add add-ons to your mechs so you can get geared up their abilities

and change things in their stats and stuff like that. So it's very, very customizable. And then it just kind of follows the standard slay the spire tower design, where you just start at, you know, one spot and then you beat that level and then you go to the next one and you kind of choose your branching path on how you want to go. Gritten Valor 1949 to me, it's very well done.

It is a kind of relaxing game in the sense that it's not overly complicated, but the strategy kind of comes into play. And again, it's a really cool mix of Into the Breach meets XCOM in a real time action kind of format. I was pretty impressed by this one, dude. I was too. I did think it was neat to, you know, to get those upgrades, you get like air drops or

loot boxes that would drop down. And then you also have a wave coming in. You're like, Oh, do I have time? And you just run your guy over and you get it and you get your upgrade and you're trying to run back to get to the defensive position that's advantageous for you. But, uh, you know, you may not have enough time to get back. So it was definitely, I was surprised. I know you said you liked it.

And I was like, I'm not too sure. You know, it kind of looked like a mobile game to me from the start. But once I hopped in and started to play like, I'm like, okay, there's something to this. So I think it's, it's definitely got a good core and, um, I think there's a lot there that, you know, people should check out. Yeah, I think so. I think the upgrade paths and the replayability is really kind of through the roof on this game. So I would, I would highly recommend checking out grit and valor 1949.

It's it's got something there for sure. It's just a fun game. So, um, I'll tell you what, let's take a quick break and then we're going to come back and we're going to talk about four more games. If we can quit talking so much, be right back. All right, Ryan, you know, let's talk about this next one. I don't know that you got a chance to play this. Um, I got to play a game called seekers of sky veil, which the whole premise of this

game is it is a hero MOBA extraction game, which is really weird to me. Um, you know, you team up with two other people, you, you get these kinds of mobile like characters and, you know, these abilities that you get, and then you just go out into this big world and you fight PVE type stuff and you find chests and you get gear. And then we came across another squad and then we wrecked that squad. But then another squad came up and absolutely obliterated us without like a second thought. And it was like, I don't know how these guys got so strong. You can extract with this gear.

But this is very much like a it looks like League of Legends in a way. Yeah. But I don't get it, man. Like, I don't I mean, I, you know, just because you can mix eight genres together doesn't mean you should mix eight genres together. Um, I will say this, the game seemed well done. I mean, the combat felt crispy. The, the graphics were that cartoony kind of league of legends type, you know, graphics.

Um, the whole idea of you might come across another squad is terrifying. I just, again, I played like two matches. I didn't know what was going on. We got absolutely obliterated in one of the matches. And then I just kind of went, yeah, this isn't really for me. I mean, there was even like an escape from Tarkov insurance thing before you go in. It's like, do you want to buy insurance for your gear?

And that's when I was just like, dude, I'm not going to play this game. I don't like that. I don't like Tarkov. I don't like that. I don't like Tarkov. I don't like these sweaty lose your gear if somebody beats you kind of things either. So I do think it was a well polished game. This one's just not for me. And I don't think you got a chance to play that one.

But I know this is not for you. No, it's not. I actually I was looking at it and then it had a like a live stream up of some people playing it and it's still up now. And I was looking at it and then it had a like a live stream up of Some people playing it and it's still up now and I was watching it and I watched for a good 15 20 minutes And I'm like, yeah this I'm not even gonna download this thing. It's just not when I read the description It's like MOBA extraction t-bay team-based PvP ve With top-down combat where players battle for loot against rivals gear up, make a plan and set a course for Skyvale. Stealthy treasure runs explode into multi-team

PvP chaos and then I'm I'm watching the battles and I'm like, I Just it doesn't all that's too much. Like there's just like it's like let's put all this together and then like have fun. Yeah I do think people, I do think there are people that would probably really enjoy this game again. It's like they're having fun when they were playing it, but I'm just like, nah. Yeah. The combat was good. I mean, you know, it's got the little, you know, hold the button to line up your telegraph and release and then your guy will zip through. And it's very complicated where it's like,

if I hit somebody with this one ability, now my next ability does two times the amount of damage or something like that so Again, this is not shade against this game necessarily. It's just absolutely not my kind of game But if this sounds like it's something where you're kind of like ooh, then Seekers of Skymail Skyvale might be Well worth checking out for somebody as well Right, what do you want to talk about next? might be well worth checking out for somebody as well. Ryan, what do you want to talk about next?

Dude, I would honestly love to go to a, I don't know, I don't want to like, it would be nice to end on a bang, but I just want to get right to it. I want to go to deliver at all costs. OK, this is the game that I think is the best out of the ones that we played. So tell us, I mean, I even joked because this is literally what you've been doing the last week, you know, is just delivering stuff to people.

I've been I've been pretty busy at all costs. It's like I don't build carts and stuff in the parking lot. It's been a crazy week for me work wise. But man, I this one was actually neat. I don't know about you, man. But did you get like disco Elysium vibes? I did. Yup.

I absolutely got some disco vibes. I got some, um, I've heard people reference like crazy taxi, but I, I vaguely, vaguely remember crazy taxi, dude. Um, so yeah, tell, tell the people what this game, like, what do you, what do you do in deliver at all costs? Ryan? So, so you boot up and you know, you got that, if you've played Disco Elysium, you kind of are walking through this, you know, you got your top down view, a little caked off to the side and,

and you're getting set up and there's those, you know, you, you see those notifications and you go and you get your notice from your landlord and then you go and you get dressed and it's, it's that kind of getting ready for work and it's, I need a job and you go and you get dressed and it's it's that kind of getting ready for work and it's I need a job and you go and you get this job and you're a delivery guy all of a sudden and you know you get this vehicle and you have to you know pardon the pun deliver at all costs like that's the name of the game there so you're driving through right off the bat I was cracking up I actually paused the game I opened up OBS and I started recording just so I could record it because I didn't realize that I could repair my vehicle and so I have my front my front passenger tire is dead

and I'm just like driving sideways and I have people hanging on because I'm delivering fireworks and the fireworks just happen to be igniting everywhere and I'm hitting people pedestrians all over the roads and everybody's mad at me and they, they come to try to attack me, but I'm not, I'm not stopping cause I'm delivering at all costs, you know? So you, you, you drive through these areas and it's just, um, it was such a neat premise to where, uh, you know, the, the, the driving mechanics felt good.

It wasn't the driving did feel good. That's one thing is that, you know, uh, uh, fishing to Paul is like driving to me. Uh, you know, I love if, if the, you're going to put driving in a game, don't make it obnoxious. Don't make it a detriment to the game. Don't make the controls bad. It felt good. It wasn't great or amazing, but it wasn't bad and it didn't take away, which I loved. So it made me feel very good and it was crisp.

And then the comedic nature of that delivery, I see lending itself to a lot of really cool clips and videos and a lot of stuff that is gonna have just evergreen longevity to this game. And yeah, man, it's just, you get your packages, you got to deliver them and, you know, have fun buckle up and it's going to be a crazy ride. I will say this too. So I played this game a pretty good bit.

This, this and grit and valor were the two that I actually played the most. And one of the quests in deliver at all costs was the fireworks one. That's kind of like the beginning quest. And then you realize like everybody's mad at me. You've got people chasing you down. Your trucks falling apart. Cause these fireworks are exploding on it and stuff. I did a quest where you have to go pick up some watermelons.

Okay. But you show up and this lady's yelling at this guy because these are the nastiest, most rotten watermelons that exist. And the lady's like, I can't believe you're trying to bring me these nasty watermelons. So the guy's like, I can't believe you're trying to bring me these nasty watermelons. So the guy's like, hey buddy, you're the delivery guy? And you're like, yeah, he said, come with me.

So you load up this crate of watermelons into the truck and you take them to a plant to get dyed green so that they don't look nasty, right? So then you have to catch all these watermelons in the back of your pickup truck, but then it pops up and it says 40 out of 40. And I went, oh no, dude. And you start driving and I hit a bump in like four

watermelons. So the physics in this game are fantastic, number one. So these watermelons are splashing around the back of the truck. They're falling out of my truck. And I just see that number ticking down. And you've got to arrive with 20 out of the 40. And then it's like, so we take them to get dyed.

Then we take them to get sprayed with something so they don't stink. And you do this big, long delivery quest where these watermelons can't fall out of the truck. You're getting chased by people. You've got to secretly back it into the spot so that it can spray the perfume on them and stuff. And then you eventually take these watermelons back

to the lady. And she thinks it's the most pristine shipment of watermelon she's ever got. And then the eventually take these watermelons back to the lady, and she thinks it's the most pristine shipment of watermelon she's ever got. And then the same rotten watermelons. And you're like, dude. So the humor in this game, number one, stands out to me. What I thought was really cool is not only are you driving around and you're doing this stuff,

but you can get out and run around. And one of the missions that I got as I went back to my apartment was now a parkour mission where I had to go across rooftops and like little pipes and stuff to go get this thing that this guy wanted because he thought there were like sand worms down in the street and he's like don't touch the ground and I was just like so the humor in this game is fantastic the driving mechanics are good they you they absolutely lean into the how can we make this chaos for you? Whether it's watermelon splashing out the back of your truck fireworks going off everywhere. Um, you know,

just heavy traffic that you have to deal with and you're on a time or that kind of stuff. Taking the balloons, delivering the balloons, you know, your truck floats away when you go like off like ramps and stuff. It'll help your truck float and you know And you know, it changes the mechanics. I like this. This game is very high on my radar because just playing this demo really caught my attention.

Very well polished. I mean, it's again, it's not all just driving. There's on foot stuff as well. You're talking to a guy up on the roof of your apartment complex and that kind of thing. So this one is getting a, you know, it's a little early because again, it's just the demo, but I am probably the highest hyped on Deliver At All Cost

out of all the games that we played for sure. So I highly recommend people check that one out because there is something to that game for sure. So if anything, just a fun demo, man. It's one to just check out. Yeah, it really is. Yeah. OK, so let's talk about this game is near and dear to me, Ryan.

I don't know that this is up your alley, but Monster Train. So to me, when people talk about the rogue-like card games, there is Slay the Spire and there is Monster Train. To me, those are the top two. I like Hearthstone a little bit still, even though Hearthstone makes me rage sometimes. And I only play battlegrounds in Hearthstone. That brings out angry Josh. Yeah.

Blizzard games do this to me, man. I just need to stay away from Blizzard apparently, you know? But Monster Train was one of like, I really enjoyed the heck out of this game. I played it a lot. It's a very, very well done rogue like card game. The premise in Monster Train is you're the minions of hell. The, you're trying to like get to this place where you can, hell is freezing over basically.

And you're in this train to try to like reignite the fires of hell or something like that. And then it's just a card based game. You play on three different levels, angels invade your train and you're trying to like defend against these angels kind of thing. Well, lo and behold, monster train too. I didn't even know this was a thing until I'm looking through demos and I'm like, wait,

monster train too. It's coming out. Yeah. Like what the heck is this? Monster train too is monster train. I mean, it is very, very, very similar to monster train, which for me is fine. Um, it kind of mixes the, that you get these different races in monster train that you can unlock, and then they have cards in and of themselves. And then you get the combo cause you always have to play two races at once.

It's it's good. I mean, that's honestly, all I can say is it's more monster train. They've kind of tweaked it a little bit. It's what you know, in love from monster train. They've kind of tweaked it a little bit. It's what you know and love for monster train. Did you play around at all with I did, I did, I got, I got in and, um, I'm sure you know my, my thoughts on this before I even tell you, but it was, uh, I'll, I'll preface it with this. It was very, it was a very fair game.

It was, uh, I'm trying to be like, let me put my little kid gloves on here before I pummel your game, Josh. To these, this is what we always talk about is like, just because we may not like something. I mean, I know people that don't like a pizza or cheeseburgers, you know, and stuff. And you're like, what are you talking about? So to me, I liked, I loved the art style. I thought it was very cool. I enjoyed watching the game as I played it. I just man, after like three battles, I was like,

I'm so bored with this already. I'm like, I get that. I just I hate them and I tried. I put in the effort and I tried to play it, but I did. I'm like, oh, that was a cool effect. I recognize the design elements in what they put into this game. It's just one that's just not for me. And it's just, that's just kind of, you know, bare bones. That's all there is to say about it on that aspect.

But I can tell why people who like this style would, would like these types of games. I think it's, it's grading well on, on all the metrics that people are looking at as far as, you know, how they, how they base these styles. So, um, yeah, I just, I get that. I tried. I did. I put an effort, dude. I tried.

I feel like Ryan feels guilty. He's like, I was like, yeah, this is my hero. I'm like, let's go attack. And I'm like, do do do waiting. And then they attacked them. I'm like, all right, now I attack again. And then I'm waiting again. And you know, it's just, it's just not for me, man.

I have played about 15 different rogue, like card based games. Yeah. I mean, I get it. They all start to blend together. I like that genre, but it's kind of saturated at this point, but monster train is one of the top ones in that genre in my opinion. So for people that might be looking for something in that rogue-like card-based game genre, that one is absolutely worth checking out. And this is not. It's Monster Train 2, but you never

had to have played Monster Train to understand this either. So all right, Ryan, we got one more, buddy. Athermancer. So this is a game that I saw. I think it, I don't want to miscredit, but I think it was Jiggle Puff who is one of our listeners and a fantastic community member in our gaming Discord server that we have that everybody

should join, by the way. It is the awesomest gaming community in the world. If you don't believe us, try it out and see, because you're going to believe us after that. But somebody mentioned Aethermancer, and so as I'm looking through demos, I went, you know what, let me try this game out. I saw the preview for it.

It looked like a kind of old school pixel, almost Final Fantasy-ish in a way. But I think that's absolutely misleading, because when I started to play this game, this is very much a like Pokemon clone in a sense. But as somebody that doesn't play Pokemon, I found this game to actually be pretty good. The whole premise with this is again, it is a rogue like game.

You go around and you fight these monsters and if you stun one of them, you can capture it. You don't actually throw a Poke ball as pal world learned that'll get you sued. But you know, you can capture it. And then once you capture a creature, you can then like add it to your party. And then as you play the game, you can level up these creatures, and then they become stronger and you can unlock abilities for them and things like that. Now, if a creature dies, dies, it's out. She go, she go. And then so there is that little bit of risk there, but the creatures are really cool. They all have kind of like elements that they can are good, like strong

against and weak against, but then you can have like healing creatures that take care of your guys. You have these tank creatures that can shield your other creatures. I thought it was a simple game and the more I played it, the more complex I realized the combat was. And I kind of started to go like, dude, this is actually kind of cool, man. And then we saw a few other people in our community start picking it up.

And then they were like, I thought this was simple, but this game's great. So what did you think, Ryan? There's a lot to it. I thought it was really neat. I do, again, I liked that kind of art style that they chose for this one. I think it gave a good look to it. And the ability to, when you're running through and you have to be

cognizant of like, hey, if I lose this guy, he's gone. Like this is done for this run and it's, you know, that guy's out of here. Um, and then you can build these monsters. So you want to play them. You want to, to build these monsters up and do those upgrades and those abilities, uh, to enhance that. 3% or 5% extra attack or those things, but you don't want to lose them. So there is that, that strategy base within this. And then I thought the, the effects of the battles themselves,

like you have this character and it like tears open like a portal realm and you can attack through it. And then the other character just jumps across and attacks. So there's different abilities in different ways those battles kind of, you know, happen, which makes it just you don't get into a lull of just a boom and then they attack back and there's so there's a difference there. And then like you said, there's, there's a lot more to it with the strategy of this counter x that and these different effects and those, those, you know, ways you can power up and change these characters.

So yeah, I thought, I thought again, you know, there was a lot more than meets the eye from the first base when you start. Um, but yeah, it's, it's definitely, it's, it's a neat game that people should check out. Yeah. The depth of the combat is I think what caught me off guard. There is the basic attack earns you like almost like, we'll just call it like Pokemon power in a sense. So if you basic attack, you get, you know, earth energy or air energy, right? And it's like, we'll just call it like Pokemon power in a sense. So if you basic attack, you get, you know, earth energy or air energy, right? And it's like, you have to have enough of that

to do a special attack, but it's like, do I build up for this really big special attack or do I just spend it right away kind of thing? You're, if you can break the enemy's element, then they get stunned, which is how you capture them, but they also take double damage or extra damage when they're stunned, you know, Oh, this guy's weak. Do I use my tank to shield him?

But now my tanks not going to attack that guy and I could have took that guy out kind of thing I mean it so it actually I was pretty impressed with the depth of this combat because this game looks simple on the surface Yeah, but then it's not and even in the overworld, when you're running around, you can see the enemies. But it's like, you can do this dash attack to where you get to surprise them and get a bonus hit and stuff like that. There's a little bit, I won't say platforming, but there's a little bit of zipping around to try

to stay up on these cliffs. And then you find, I found some really cool treasure. You get gear for your creatures. Again, you level them up and unlock new abilities and stuff like that. So it's like there's the, like, it's a very good mix of like the turn-based combat, that Pokemon feel with the creatures and stuff,

the progression systems in the combat, and things like that. So I was actually like, I did not think I was going to like Aethermancer at all. And then by the end of it, I was kind of like, dude, this game's pretty fun, man. It's the progression, man. You're a sucker for progression. I really am, man.

But then hearing a lot of people in our community talk about it too and saying almost the same thing, like this game caught me off guard, dude. I'm having a blast, was really neat to see as well. So I think there's absolutely something there with Athermancer also. So I agree. What was your favorite one you tried, Ryan? It's got to be Deliver at All Costs. Yeah. So I agree. Um, what was your favorite one? You tried Ryan.

Uh, it's gotta be delivered at all costs. Yeah. The humor in that game, the driving and the mission structure I think is going to be really, really good, dude. The polish in that game is good. Yeah. Um, I mean, it's, here's a little thing, right? I went into the bathroom and it's like, you can interact with the sink and the sink, the water comes on, you interact with the sink and the water comes on. You interact with the toilet and the toilet flushes. And it's like, that's such a dumb thing.

It's so stupid. But it just shows you that it's like, they care about the game and they're like, we should have the toilet flush if somebody tries to work on it. And then I go and I'm like, yeah, this is great. So yes, I think that, I mean, for me, Deliver At All Cost is probably the standout one.

Grit and Valor, I could see being the game that I probably play a lot is just that chill. I have 15 minutes to play around. Let me just see what I can do kind of thing on that one. And again, good progression with Grit and Valor also. So all right, man, Steam Deck Fest, boy, sometimes it's overwhelming. It's just like, how do I, what do I check out?

How do I play these? That kind of stuff too. So yeah, it's just like, how do I, what do I check out? How do I play these, you know, that kind of stuff too. So, um, so yeah, I mean, for people that are wondering, we will absolutely be covering split fiction soon. We're still trying to decide on a valid. I think of nothing else. We'll just do a short episode on a vow just to kind of give some thoughts there because I know the people have said like, you know, this is about, is one of those games that seems to be

splitting the internet where people go, it's, it's hot trash. And then other people are like, did you play it? Because it's not hot trash kind of thing. Um, and so I always like to give a little bit of clarity or just our opinions on that, um, as well. So maybe we'll do that as, you know, sometime in the, the, the near future. We'll get to it after split fiction. Yeah.

Yeah. So awesome. All right, everybody. Well, thank you for joining us. Oh, so good to talk some video. I know this was fun, dude. I know. I love fiction. Yeah. Yeah. So awesome. All right, everybody. Well, thank you for joining us. Oh, it's so good to talk some video games again, buddy. I know. Yeah. So, so yes, the gaming content is back people again, we're going to weave in a few of these cause we have some cool guests coming up, but I know there's been conversation, uh, you know, and it's one of those things. Listen, we, you know, we're gamers. We're that's, that's our, our nature at heart.

We, you know, it's. We love feedback from the community. We try to take that with some good constructive criticism. But also, you're not going to please everybody all the time. But this is also why we try to vary up our content. This is why we do silly episodes. This is why we do deep dives and game reviews. This is why we do gaming news and stuff like that as well, because it's like, dude, gamers don't just play one game

and that's it, you know? And so that's why we try to cover a wide range of stuff. And honestly, like I said, talking to some of these people has just been absolutely incredible. We've got to meet some really neat people. And so we'll continue to do that, just not quite at the pace that we've been putting those things out there either.

So all right, awesome. Well, thank you everybody for joining us. If you haven't done so already, please take a second to follow and rate the show. If you're on Spotify, you can rate us five stars. If you're on Apple, you can still rate us five stars, but you can actually leave a written review like style and Steve did at the beginning of this episode. And there's a good chance we'll read it on the air. Um, if you would like to support the podcast, if you like what we've been doing, and this is one of those things we've said, we've been trying to really focus on giving to charity and stuff.

Um, the reason that we can do that is because people support this show. And so if you have it on your heart to do that, yeah, I mean, legitimately it's because of the listeners. And so, you know, you are a reason, you are the reason that we are able to give to these charities and help like make a wish. Um, and the bungee foundation and stuff like that. So to make all that happen, we need your support. You can do that over at multiplayer squad.com. So, all right. That's it for this episode, buddy. Ryan, let's go play some split fiction, man. Let's go. Yeah. All right. Until until next time happy gaming see ya.................................................................