Fire Escape Cast #130

Summary

FIRE ESCAPE CAST #130 – SUMMARY
Date: April 13, 2026
Hosts: Dan Ryckert, Mary Kish, Mike Mahardy

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Episode Overview

The Fire Escape trio returns for their regularly scheduled remote bar chat, swapping wild travel stories, health sagas, and game recommendations. Mike is back on the show, diving into group recaps of New Orleans and Key West adventures, dental nightmares, bodily repairs, and a rich slate of recent video games. The latter half is loaded with impressions of Capcom’s new release Pragmata, cozy game discoveries, meaty puzzle titles, and a lively mailbag dealing with TV’s finest bottle episodes and love for failed but cherished video games.

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Travel Stories & Anecdotes

Timeframe: [01:39–16:00]

New Orleans Trip Recap

• The crew recounts their recent trip to New Orleans, focusing on Bourbon Street bar crawls, riding the mechanical bull, and extremely strong signature drinks (hand grenades & hurricanes).
• Mary: “Dan was very convinced that we should all ride the bull…Dan, you have a really funny photo of you getting chucked around on that bull. It’s very funny.” [03:01, Mary]
• The drinks were mostly “terrible,” but considered a rite of passage.
• They visit Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop (“old pirate bar”) and Pat O’ Brien’s dueling piano bar.

Tales of Drinking Laws & Bar Etiquette

• Open container laws in New Orleans and Key West make drinking more casual, but bars won’t let you enter with another bar’s drink.
• Mike shares an anecdote of being scolded by Austin Walker for carrying open alcohol in NYC: “Austin was like, dude, you can’t fucking do that.” [06:40, Mike]
• Mary notes the privilege involved in “assuming you’ll just be fine”: “There’s an element of privilege in this as well, sometimes we’re like, ‘it’ll be fine’ because the likelihood that you’re going to get tased is low.” [07:22, Mary]

Key West & Swinger Codes

• Mike shares the Key West bar scene, especially liking Schooner Wharf’s low-brow charm and a daiquiri gone wrong.
• Upside-down pineapple as a code for swingers—common on cruises and in Key West.
• Mary: “If you see a sticker or a magnet of a pineapple and it’s upside down, that means you can come and knock.” [14:40, Mary]

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Zany Health & Body Maintenance Stories

Timeframe: [16:00–34:00]

Portal Pals, Warhammer, and PAX Hijinks

• Briefly promote Giant Bomb’s new show Portal Pals (Mary & Minati).
• Mike and Vinny’s Warhammer streams have wrapped up on Nextlander and Fire Escape.

Elevator Embarrassment & Physical Comedy

• At PAX, Mary and Minati singing the Chip and Dale’s Rescue Rangers theme “terrified” an elegant elevator duo.
• Followed by a slapstick story of Mary kicking Dan (in the butt): “Dan surprised me... I instinctively kicked him in the butthole.” [20:19, Mary]

Dental & Sinus Surgery Adventures

• Extensive “quality of life” surgery tales. Discuss dental disasters, crowns, and Mary’s journey getting her deviated septum fixed.
• Dan: “...my whole fucking face is just filled with blood. And you can’t breathe out of your nose, but you’re not allowed to blow your nose.” [28:58, Dan]
• All agree: elective corrective surgeries (for sinuses, digestion, etc.) were hugely life-improving once finally done.

“All on Four” Teeth Implants

• Dan contemplates all-on-four full arch dental implants (possibly in Tijuana/Vegas for cost).
• “They pull all your teeth out and they give you…it’s called all on four arches. So…it’s basically a whole set of teeth…” [35:16, Dan]
• Friends raise questions about follow-up care and outcomes if the overseas clinic vanishes.

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Main Video Game Discussion

Timeframe: [42:37–77:31]

Pragmata (Capcom)

[42:37–54:24]
Main Impressions: Dan

• Dan played with no prior info—expected slow “Dead Space” vibes, was surprised by nimble movement and action.
• Premise: Set on the moon where AI constructs 3D prints Earth cities, but things have gone awry; everything’s “glitchy, surreal, and interesting.”
• Human protagonist in a chunky spacesuit with a little android girl (Diana) on his shoulder; initially expected the kid to be annoying but praises both narrative and gameplay integration.
• Unique “live hacking minigame” done in conjunction with combat. Mary: “You’re doing this minigame, this puzzle, this grid live while you’re fighting.” [48:44, Mary]
• Highly recommends it: “This is one that will come up during Game of the Year discussions…this is just a fun ass video game.” [54:07, Dan]

Short Game Impressions

Creature Kitchen

[55:56–61:11]

• Cozy horror/puzzle hybrid where you feed weird creatures in a cabin.
• Mike: “It had like an Outer Wilds vibe to some of the puzzle solving, but then some of the characters…some of them, when they pop up for the first time, scare you.” [56:55, Mike]
• “Straddles the line between horror and cozy game really well.” [56:26, Mary]
• $8, 2-3 hours, highly recommended for all ages.

Darwin’s Paradox

[60:49–68:28]

• Mary: “It’s a game about an octopus going through an adventure…Published by Konami, which surprised me.” [60:49, Mary]
• Describes as platformer adventure, Metal Gear homage, with stealth and camo abilities.
• Save points are sparse, short game length (~5.5 hrs), but solidly designed.

Glyphica

[69:44–72:51]

• Dan: “Typing Roguelite Survival…I’m pretty good at typing and so like this is a thing where it’s like you are just kind of like the dot at the center of the screen…different shapes and stuff are coming in.” [70:01–70:28, Dan]
• Roguelite where you type words to destroy incoming enemies (“typing games back in school” vibes).
• Build upgrades throughout a run, variety in bosses and mechanics, Early Access.

Bento Blocks

[73:06–78:30]

• Puzzle game about precisely slicing and arranging sushi into bento boxes with limited moves.
• “It got so difficult now that I can spend 10 minutes on one puzzle...just turning everything around, cutting it a hundred different times.” [73:41, Mary]
• For hardcore puzzle lovers—starts easy, becomes brutal.

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Mailbag Highlights

Favorite Bottle Episodes in TV

[79:53–85:53]

• Quick definition (for Mary): A TV episode set apart from main plot/action—often limited location, side story, or flashback.
• Breaking Bad – “Fly” episode a popular (and polarizing) example.
• Sopranos – “Pine Barrens” and “Italy” episodes discussed.
• Simpsons – “22 Short Films About Springfield” (“one of my favorite episodes... has a lot of iconic lines”) [85:07, Mary]

Favorite Failed/Underdog Games

[87:01–104:19]

• Dan: Warhawk for PS3—“One of the best console multiplayer online games I’ve ever played.” [88:01, Dan]
• Mike: Anthem (“I liked that game…shut down.”) [87:53, Mike]
• Mary: Evolve—“This game was the first mega AAA launch arguing that asymmetrical competitive game design was where it was at. It was genuinely thrilling as a monster.” [99:21, Mary]
• Other mentions: Dreadnought, Crawl (asymmetrical indie).

Game Genres & Playstyles

[90:10–98:20]

• Mike: Generally defensive in games (e.g. RTS), but deckbuilders/roguelites like Slay the Spire force more dynamic play.
• Dan: “Any arcade sports” – always offense, never defense (e.g. Rocket League).
• Mary: Into the Breach opened up a previously disdained genre; losses didn’t discourage as in other TBS games.

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Notable Quotes

• “Dan was very convinced that we should all ride the bull…Dan, you have a really funny photo of you getting chucked around on that bull. It’s very funny.” [03:01, Mary]
• “There’s an element of privilege in this as well…sometimes we’re like, it'll be fine because the likelihood that you’re going to get tased is low.” [07:22, Mary]
• “They pull all your teeth out and they give you…it’s called all on four arches. It’s basically a whole set of teeth…” [35:16, Dan]
• “Pragmata is a really fucking good game…will come up during Game of the Year discussions.” [54:07, Dan]
• “Sometimes, some crimes, go slipping through the cracks…” [18:42, Mary, singing Chip & Dale with Minati]

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Segment Timestamps

• [01:39] Show proper begins, New Orleans postmortem
• [05:51] Key West tales, daiquiri disaster, swinger codes
• [16:00] Portal Pals show, PAX hijinks, mechanical bull talk
• [24:45] Health/surgery stories and dental odysseys
• [33:35] Dan’s musings on future dental tourism
• [42:37] Main Video Game Segment begins
• [42:55] Pragmata (detailed spoil-free review)
• [55:56] Creature Kitchen (cozy game)
• [60:49] Darwin’s Paradox (octopus stealth platformer)
• [69:44] Glyphica (typing roguelite)
• [73:06] Bento Blocks (hardcore puzzle game)
• [79:36] Reader Mail – TV bottle episodes
• [87:01] Reader Mail – Failed games you love
• [90:10] Reader Mail – How certain games change your playstyle
• [104:19] Reader Mail – More game recommendations

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Tone & Dynamics

• Conversational, irreverent, full of in-jokes and physical comedy.
• Deep gamer/geek culture, detours into absurd territory (e.g. “kicking in the butthole”).
• Warm, inviting camaraderie; each host balances stories, recommendations, and peer ribbing.

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TL;DR

Fire Escape Cast #130 is a lively catch-up between good friends, covering boozy travels, dental nightmares, deeply considered elective surgery, and a motley collection of video games ranging from big studio risks (Pragmata) to Steam oddities. They blend recommendations with raucous asides, engage with listener mail, and ultimately affirm the value of curiosity, experimentation, and friendship—in games, on the road, and at the dentist.

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For more: visit fireescapecast.com

Transcript

[A]

Have you guys seen the Kia K4 family? The design is actually really sleek.

[B]

It's sporty. Dan. I've been looking at the K4 hatchback. It's got that panoramic display on the dashboard that makes it feel like you're in a high end flight sim. And the cargo room is huge. I could fit like four cases of soda and a whole gaming setup back there.

[C]

It's not just about the screen, Mary. Both the sedan and the hatchback come with an available 1.6 liter turbo engine. It. It's actually got some muscle behind it. It's that rare best of both worlds situation where it looks good but doesn't drive like a golf cart. I'm not sitting in the back, Dan, but if I were, the K4 is probably the only place where I'd have enough room.

[A]

See, I'm a sedan guy. It's got that sophisticated look. Makes me look like I have my life together, even if I'm just driving to buy more batteries. Plus, the legroom is actually roomy. I can stretch out while Mike is trapped in the back.

[B]

Honestly, whether you want the hatch utility or the sedan style, they're both great. If you guys want to see what we're talking about, visit kia.com to learn more.

[D]

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[C]

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the fire escape cast. It is episode 129. I'm your host, as always, Mike Mahardi. I'm back. No more Mike Minati imposter. No, I sounded like it was a great episode. Dan, your. Your prank is the funniest thing I've ever heard.

[A]

Speaking of imposters. Yeah.

[B]

So he's the biggest imposter of all time.

[A]

Walter Cronk is banned from the giant bomb subreddit, folks.

[C]

Oh, really?

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Were you being a racist again?

[A]

Yeah, yeah, that's my whole gimmick. Yeah, it's a crowd pleaser.

[B]

People love it.

[A]

Yeah, no, no, I just. I just pulled a great five month joke and I And Walter Cronk was punished for it. That's where. Typical Reddit.

[C]

I say, that reminds me. Yeah, I wasn't here last episode. I also have not talked to you guys about New Orleans yet, and I'm sure you talked about it last episode, so I won't, like, not beat a dead horse, be a part of it.

[A]

I don't even think we really. We didn't go like, super deep into it. I mean, also in terms of talking about it, like, Mary, we kind of just walked around and drank and ate stuff for like a weekend.

[B]

So, yeah, I'd love to tell you a really fascinating or amazing story. I would say the most interesting stories are taking. Dan was very convinced that we should all ride the bull. And that did happen. Everybody got grenades, and Dan got us in line and most people rode the bull. Dan, you have a really funny photo of you getting chucked around on that bull. It's very funny.

[A]

I'm fucking terrible at that. I. I rode that bull like, every time I've been on Bourbon street and fallen off in like three seconds every time. Also, hand grenades. For the record, if you. Oh, I can't believe you got hand grenades in New Orleans. I'm sure, you know, people will say it's. They're fucking terrible. We know, but it' it was their first time in New Orleans and it's like, okay, this is the stupid, gimmicky bourbon shoot thing. Yeah, we did one and they were terrible. They were. They were genuinely terrible.

[C]

I don't hang out in Times Square anymore, but the first time I ever went to New York, it's like, okay, sure, let's do it.

[A]

Of course. Yeah. We did one walk down Bourbon street and then it was like, all right, that's pretty. We're good for the rest of the trip on that.

[B]

It's a rite of passage. And I also think, like, they're funny for the pictures and stuff like that. And again, it's a walk around drinking town, so it's not a big deal to get one. Have a couple sips of it, and if you don't love it, then you just get another drink and walk around with it. Like, we had many drinks. A grenade was one of them. There was another drink that. Oh, a hurricane. We got a hurricane as well. You had to have both of those.

[A]

We got the hurricane at Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop, the old pirate bar on Bourbon

[B]

street, which was actually a really good place.

[A]

I like that place a lot. Well, that hurricane was way too strong and not great. But then we went to Pat o'. Brien's. Remember we found that dueling piano bar thing.

[B]

I do like a dueling piano.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. And we got really good hurricanes there.

[C]

Is there. Can you have open containers in the streets in.

[B]

Just walk around.

[C]

I figured, yeah.

[B]

All of your drinks out and it's. It's really refreshing. The only thing you think about because I was like, wow, this is so amazing. A lot of times a bar won't let you in with an empty drink because they are. Sorry. With a full drink because they want you to buy a drink in their bar. Right. Like that's how they make a living. So you can buy a drink at a bar and leave with the drink and walk around with the drink. But if you try and enter another bar, they'll make you down your drink before you can enter another bar. That's something I forgot and didn't anticipate.

[A]

But yeah, we didn't protest having to down drinks there.

[B]

Drinking a lot. It was like three days of drinking fairly excessively. I was wondering, I suspected that your favorite bar was the pirate bar just because it's old and interesting. But I was curious if you could think like what your favorite experience was from those three days.

[A]

I mean, I like the. I've always liked Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop just because the history there and the way they keep it all like handle it and all that stuff. But it is on Bourbon street. It gets a little overcrowded. Don't love the drinks necessarily. So I like to show everyone that place. But I never hang out more than like a drink there. As far as like favorite part, I really love Molly's on the Market. The place we went to when we first got those muffalettas and we ate there. Place the frozen Irish coffee.

[B]

Yeah, frozen Irish coffee.

[A]

There was the dog bar. What was the guy's. The guy just got a dog and he had a funny name. What was it? Do you remember this?

[B]

No. I'm going to be honest with you, my memory is hazy during that I was probably browned out that entire time we.

[C]

We went to. I was in Key west for my mother in law's. We were celebrating her birthday. But we went down with like Amanda's family. They also have no rules against open containers. So I would like continually be leaving the house with like a Modelo and everybody's like, whoa, what are you doing? It's like, ain't no. Ain't no laws here, baby. And I just slam it on the way to the next bar. This is probably stupid story for you. Guys. Oh yeah, this is, this is funny. Wait, what is stupid?

[A]

Oh, just because I always assume nothing bad is ever going to happen and so like I just do stuff that is probably objectively stupid. I remember one time I was leaving Giant Bomb east and I was with Austin Walker and we're like walking out onto 28th street in New York City and I just had like, I can't remember if it was a beer or a 40 or something. I'm just like carrying like, not in a bag or anything, just obviously. And Austin was like, dude, you can't fucking do that. Yeah. Yet. All right, fine, I guess.

[B]

Oh, I'm just a law abiding citizen over here.

[A]

Yeah, I guess you could get in trouble for that.

[C]

I think it's. It depends on where you are. Cuz a, obviously it's not illegal everywhere, but even the places where it is illegal. It also just depends on how much the cops care about it.

[A]

Yeah, it's like my, my thing is like if you're not being an. I, I just, maybe I'm dumb and I just think everything's going to be fine. But you know, if I'm running around yelling at people.

[C]

Sure, but it's like jaywalking. No one's ever going to get in trouble for jaywalking in New York. But I, it's also like, I feel like college towns are very strict on the alcohol thing because alcohol is a huge problem in college towns where you're in like a city of 8 million people. I, I would like to think the cops have better things fish to fry.

[B]

Yeah, they should be. But there's, there's like an element of privilege in this as well, which is like, I think sometimes we're like, it'll be fine because the likelihood that you're going to get tased is low. Yeah, right.

[A]

Yeah, for sure. I don't, I don't make a habit of that anymore.

[C]

Getting tased or having a 40 on the street?

[B]

Both. Both those days are over. My tasing days are behind me. What was your story, Mike?

[C]

Yeah, so we were at, we were. One of my favorite bars in Key west is called Schooner Wharf. It's unreal. It's right on the beach in the, in the harbor. And then it's just like, I don't even understand. It's held together by like seashells and old wood. It's kind of indoor outdoors. Like people were smoking Cuban cigars at the bar and cigarettes and weed. But we got there and I. And it's a low brow place. Like I Was not looking to get a fancy drink, but I had had beer, like, the night before. So I was like, okay, we're in, like, daiquiri capital of the world. So I asked for the bartender for a daiquiri. She's like, oh, like strawberry. I was like, no, just, like, regular. She's like, okay, do you want it on the rocks? Like, no, up is fine. Just, you know, like, white rum, lime juice. Simple. Like, I meant simple as an ingredient.

[B]

Easy drinking.

[C]

Yeah, it's a daiquiri. It's a classic drink. So what she gave to me was two shots of, like, Bacardi in a plastic cup with a splash of lime juice in it, like, pulp and all. So that became, like, my joke de facto drink for the trip. It was fucking gross.

[A]

Ew.

[C]

I don't know. I was like.

[B]

She.

[C]

Like, my sister in law jokingly was like, this isn't New York, Mike. I was like, I don't.

[B]

Like.

[C]

It's Key West. Their daiquiris are everywhere. I don't know why she didn't know how to make one.

[B]

So I went to Miller. A daiquiri is, like, not even in Key West. Like, bartenders should know how to make a daiquiri. Like, you know how to make a margarita. Like, you know how to make my.

[C]

Amanda got a margarita. Yeah. Like, again, I wasn't trying to do it as, like, a highbrow thing. I don't consider daiquiris, like, if I wasn't ordering, like, a Sazerac. Like, what is a daiquiri?

[A]

Like, I have never really ordered one. Are they always frozen?

[C]

No, the base daiquiri original was rum, simple syrup, and lime juice.

[A]

I always assumed it was tequila for some reason. Huh. That's why I've avoided it. I'm not a big margarita.

[C]

Yeah, it's margarita. You like.

[A]

I get margarita and martini mixed up.

[C]

Oh, those are very different. But, yes.

[B]

I really don't want to mix those bad boys up. Those are when I. I just don't

[A]

order any of them because it confuses me. And it's like, I'll just go with something.

[C]

I know they're very, very different vibes. But, like, I went to Miller Light the rest of that night. Like, I didn't want to. I thought the bartender might have been fucking with me, but I was like, all right, whatever. I learned my lesson. Seems I'll stick to some beer here.

[B]

When I went to Florida to visit my mom, she was staying at the Villages. I told you guys that she stayed in, like, that old people's Disney I asked for an Aperol Spritz. No one knew what it was, really. They asked.

[A]

Extremely common.

[B]

The waiters all asked the bartenders, and the bartenders were like, we don't know what that is. And then all the old people that I was with, my mom's friends and family, they all were like, what's an Aperol Spritz? And I was like, oh, my God, you guys are all old. Yeah, I just think it's generational. And Aperol Spritz is, like, such a. Such a common drink for millennials, people our age. But, yeah, no one had any idea. I don't even think they carried Aperol. And I was like. I was so unprepared to look foolish ordering an Aperol Spritz. Yeah, yeah.

[C]

We went. There's a place in Brooklyn. The name will come to me. It's across from Red August, which is a beer garden. So we went into Radagast. It's crazy. And then we went across the Levy Bar, I think it's called Divey Place, right across the street. And we're sitting outside. This was years ago with, like, 12 people, including Amanda's cousin and his boyfriend at the time. And one person ordered a spritz. So, like, everybody else got a spritz because it was. It was the afternoon. It was super nice out. And each time, we being eight or ten of us, forget how many there were, each progressive one we got, we wanted. The person who had to order them was dreading it more and more because we had to walk into this dive bar to ask for 10 after all spritzes. So I was like, all right, I'll fucking do it. I'll go. And I get in and I say, can we do 10 more Aperol spritz? The bartender throws a rag at the wall, goes, what the fuck is it? An apparel spritz convention out there? Funniest thing ever quits their job. Yeah, I, like, I felt bad. I was like, I don't want to make these anymore. I was like, I can have. I'll have a beer. I'm fine with that. But I think he was already batching, like, eight of them. What's another two? Yeah, it was. That was a line that has stuck with me. It was very funny. It was a very, like, Williamsburg thing to say.

[A]

Speaking of a line I heard yesterday, me and Bonk went to a diner yesterday for brunch. And we walk in, you know, we're waiting to get seated, and the table in front of us is, like, leaving. And it's Just two guys, like two middle aged Minnesotan dudes and all. We both heard the exact same snippet of the conversation. The guy in front goes like, yeah, so he's got like a problem with his chromosomes and he can't produce sperm. And then the guy behind him goes, oh no.

[B]

Like he said it like, oh no.

[A]

We both just died immediately. Oh no. We've been saying that to each other for a while.

[C]

Was that like an ad? Like a Minnesota Nice response. Like, oh, no. Oh, dara shucks.

[A]

He can't make spur no more.

[C]

Fucking Frances McDormand at the diner behind you. What the fuck? Yeah, no, it was Key west was fun. Dan. I sent you the video. I didn't get my phone out in time to show the whole progression, but there was a guy driving around dressed as Rocky blaring the Rocky IV soundtrack. And I know he was just playing the soundtrack because I saw him several times throughout the night on different songs and. Oh, I. Sorry. Crucial detail. This was on a giant motorcycle I should have mentioned. And he just cruised around town playing it.

[A]

I feel like this is like a Nirvana, the band, the show thing where. That's me from like 20 years from now to travel back in time looking for myself.

[C]

Well, the rum bar we went to right after I looked up at the. On top of the bar and they had the character from Gremlins that I met. You Gizmo. Yeah, I sent you that photo. I was like, jesus Christ. The spirit of Dan is alive and well in Key West.

[A]

I gotta go to Key West.

[B]

I gots to go to Key West.

[A]

I don't know if I would. I. I've been to Florida a couple times as a kid to Disney World and I hated it. And then I went several times with WWE because wrestling was just in Orlando especially at that time. I never got the best vibes from Florida. Didn't really like.

[C]

So Key west is definitely different.

[A]

It's like a party town, right?

[C]

Yeah. Spring break. We didn't know until we got there for our mini moon. We just wanted to go somewhere warm, like a small place, walkable, where we could just kind of hang out, enjoy the weather, relax. After the wedding. This was. We did like France fully a year later. But this was our actual getaway. When we were done planning the wedding. And we didn't realize I had a reputation for swingers. Like, that's how we learned also that the. An upside down pineapple in someone's house is a secret code that you're a swinger. I didn't Know that lifestyle?

[A]

Yes.

[C]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

I think there's, like, a. There's. That code is in. If you go on cruises as well. So if you. I think it's called Pineapple Hunt. You go to different doors, and if you see an upside down pineapple on the door. Because people, like, decorate their doors for, like, you know, Jim and Pam's 40th. And, like, you know, Jim and, like,

[C]

it's from the office.

[B]

I don't know. I just have some names, but yeah, so those are.

[C]

Those are, like, cruise names. I would expect to see a gym in a pan.

[B]

Jackie and Gleason celebrating their favorite Tammy and Glenn moments. Yeah. And. But if you see a sticker or a magnet of a pineapple and it's upside down, that means you can come and knock him.

[C]

What if. But what if you knock and they open it and they're really, really unattractive?

[A]

Grossed out. Yeah.

[B]

I don't know. I mean, that's, like, the risk that swingers take, I think.

[C]

Or you open the door and they're covered in, like, pineapple juice. Queso. Their whole body.

[B]

Then Dan's like, slop it up the first cruise.

[A]

Come on in.

[C]

You think. You think that an upside down pineapple is code for make me into a human nacho.

[B]

Finally, he's got a bib on.

[C]

Yeah. Dan's the nacho in this Happy Meal. They didn't have Happy Meals at Taco Bell. Yeah. QS is fun. I. What else did I do? It's been, like, three weeks since I talked to you guys. Manati was here.

[B]

It's too long.

[A]

Yeah. Manati and Mary's show launch on Giant Bomb Portal pals. People are loving that, so check that out. Giant Bomb premium show. Yeah.

[C]

Are you playing Portal 2 co op?

[B]

Yeah. Well, we played it. It's done. It's all in the can. Which is kind of like, the fun part of it is because we. We played it during, like, a busy three weeks, and now we just get to enjoy. People watch it over time. So that's been kind of nice to know. But it's all. It's all done.

[C]

So what?

[B]

Who knows if we finished it?

[C]

What day is it? You'll have to find out on.

[A]

It's every other week. We're doing Mondays. Like, the first one's free on YouTube, and then it's a Giant bomb premium show.

[C]

Yeah, I should mention Vinnie and my Warhammer camp co Op campaigns are both done. Yep.

[B]

Yeah. Because we saw Vinny at Pax east and we talked to him about it. And he said he had such a great time doing it with you. And it's kind of like a. It's. It's maybe a bummer for it to have ended, right? Because it took so long. You guys been playing that show for a really long time. You must know everything about each other.

[C]

We did. I mean, yeah. It was weird not having coffee with Vinnie last week because we were playing it over like coffee in the morning before work started because he. He's just a dad and up early. And I've been getting up earlier these days. Like, it's actually probably better if we do mornings. Um, yeah, we. It worked out where the good campaign on Fire Escape had a pretty natural ending. Like you. You always end up having beef with one other legendary lord that you're like, all right, that's my arch enemy. I don't care what the game is saying I should be doing. I'm gonna fuck them up. The bad one. And Vinny and I also turned on each other and had a 1v1 battle at the end of both campaigns. But it's done on Next Lander if you wanna go watch the whole thing. Mike and Vinny destroy. The world is all wrapped on Nexlander if you're a patron. If you're not, you should be. Same thing with Fire Escape. Mike and Vinny saved the world there. He beat me in that. In that battle.

[B]

Oh, he did?

[C]

Yeah. Him and his. His high elf dragon army fucked me up.

[B]

That's a bummer.

[A]

He's the best. It was great doing that panel with him. He's just.

[B]

He did blight.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We did like a live blight.

[B]

What's that game that he played?

[A]

Dragon Lord.

[B]

Such a strange game, Mike. The mouse was a dragon.

[A]

There's a sword, and then it was a dragon. And yeah, old like DOS game or something like that.

[B]

It was point and clicked it. Adventure.

[A]

I can't remember if it was Will. It might have been Will Crosby, our video editor. But yeah, it was super fun. Also, it's been interesting seeing the, you know, part of the. The fun of the co op thing with Mike and Mary is just like, okay, these are two very unique personalities to shove together and see how this rapport develops. And like seeing that also extend to Pax east and Mike. They. They really terrified a very well dressed, fancy couple of ladies in a elevator. At one point, we were leaving a restaurant and Mike and Mary were very, very loudly singing the Chip and Dale's Rescue Rangers song together and, like dancing and like getting like super into it. Like this, like two beers or something.

[B]

Like sometimes some crimes. Like we were getting into it.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, just. And the elevator door opened and they're just like burgeoning in yelling the song. And two very fancily dressed women were in there. I did not see them. Mike described them and said that they seemed very terrified and not into what was happening.

[B]

No, I think what's funny about our reactions is we're very different. Minati and I and I have a very brash personality. So if I'm embarrassed, my response was a very standard hi. And I just, with full force, full happiness, full smile said hello. And Minati behind me went hello. So awkward and embarrassed and shy. It was just so funny to watch like the duo of people like figure out how to handle their anxiety and their shame in the same way. But yeah, I was just a full bra, way, way different reaction to embarrassment.

[C]

I knew he shouldn't have come to Boston, the city of D. Drunkards. That's my fancy woman.

[A]

That's her. Yeah, yeah. Mary got violent again. Mary was it against me in my asshole. Oh, really hard.

[C]

Oh, that's how I. My tailbone got partly messed up when I was young. Why did you do that?

[B]

No, from me kicking Mike as children and I went back in time, you know, to kick you in the butt and make sure your tailbone was messed up. Just like Nirvana, the show.

[C]

Why did you kick him in the butthole, Dan?

[B]

Why did I kick you in the butthole?

[A]

He asked you.

[B]

Dan surprised me by saying the name of someone I don't like and saying they were behind me. And when I spun around and they weren't there he went hehehe. And like tried to run away and I instinctively kicked him in the butthole responsibly, like he was there.

[A]

He shoved me. She immediately shoved me, which spun me around and left and left my asshole vulnerable. And then field goal kicked directly into the.

[C]

Yeah, I'm not going to say names because I don't want Jake to have to bleep anything. Could I ostensibly guess who it was? Do you guys think I'd. Okay, I have like two people come to mind that it could have been.

[B]

Yeah, it was an interesting one because like Dan plays these little games. I don't know how you actually surprised me, but I think it's because we were talking about them maybe. And so like. Yeah, when Dan said they're behind you, they like heard you. I immediately panicked. And for them to not be there. Then my fear turned to rage, red hot boiling rage towards Dan. But Yeah, I was saying this, like, the other day on my stream, which is like, I have this strange reaction with Dan because he. You do enrage me. And so sometimes that turns into a physical. Like, I'm just so mad. I, like, I react and I. And I kick you or I hit you or something, and then I immediately am like, you can't fucking hit people. And so I feel guilty afterwards. Sure. But I did explain this story to several people, and I was absolved of guilt. Everyone told me that you deserved it, so that makes me feel a little better.

[A]

I mean, how much of it is just you knowing that I. I'm will never fight back, obviously. So you're just getting free shots in here, you know?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I mean, I'm not a scary personality.

[B]

It's true. I don't think you. You would fight back. I think. I think even if you could, I

[A]

can't because I watch a lot of wrestling.

[C]

I still.

[B]

We know, Dan.

[C]

Even if you did, I still think Mary would liquefy you.

[B]

I just. I think the instinct that I have is. Even if you were aggressive, I. I have a tendency to think that I can beat very powerful people if I'm angry enough. So.

[A]

And I have the option.

[C]

My hubris. Yeah.

[B]

Get the best of me.

[C]

I've thought that in my past and have been correct. I've also thought it and been very incorrect. So I've gotten humbled a few times, like, yeah, oh, wait, I'm 5 10, and I'm not the biggest person.

[A]

I remember when you got carried out. You got carried out of that baseball bar in New York after starting that fight. I remember seeing that. Yeah.

[C]

I didn't get carried out of a baseball.

[A]

Carried you like a little baby while you had middle fingers in the air.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

You were the one who started a.

[C]

I know, but I was walking on mine of my own volition. Okay. Okay. This is such horseshit.

[B]

Aren't even touching the ground.

[C]

Bicycle.

[A]

All right, I'll leave security carrying him like a baby. Yeah, yeah.

[C]

No. Speaking of which, really quick, go back to the mechanical bull. It's funny you guys mentioned that and we're talking about this because mechanical bull is always one of those things. I'm watching and I'm seeing people do it. I'm like, how the fuck are you that bad at it? It's not. It's not hard. Just like, squeeze your legs and ride. Like, make sure you. You gotta lean for. And then, of course, I get on and I get thrown in, like, eight seconds.

[A]

There's also the thing where it's like the operator is frequently they will do the thing, like if a girl gets on and they'll just be, okay, we're gonna keep this going for like two and a half minutes. And then some jackass 40 year old gets on there and just crank it all the way up. Yeah.

[C]

Just see Rob handler and like this guy's going through the roof.

[B]

Oh, yeah. That's so funny. I mean, it was fun. Somebody was good. Who was good? Dan might have been Jake. I think Jake stayed on for a decent amount of time. And it was interesting because we were. We'd all had a couple in us at that point, so you'd think that we would have fallen right off. It was like I was like, I'm not getting on that I was not dressed properly. If I known that we were riding a bull, I would have worn shorts.

[A]

But I love the charade that like they make you sign this shit at bars with mechanical bulls. You know, make sure you're not under the influence. Like you're on Bourbon street. It is 1:30 in the morning and

[B]

it's a mechanical bowl fucked up out of their gourd. They're not making any proper decisions. Even if they are signing it. They're signing it absolutely blasted drunk. And it says on the wall and if you saw. But like it has a rules sign and it says, do not under any circumstances ride the bull trunk. And it's just like everyone is riding the bull drunk.

[C]

Yeah. It's their plausible deniability that they.

[B]

It's like the same thing. Don't get into this hot tub. Don't use the sauna if you've been drinking. And it's like, that's the only time I use the sun.

[C]

Yeah. It's also one of my appointments for my sleeve. Back in San Francisco, they say like, don't ever drink before a tattoo. I'm like, it's generally good advice because it can make you bleed more, among other things. But the tattoo artist is like, okay, I'm gonna. Not gonna lie. Today is gonna suck. It was basically, he was doing the edge of my pec, which is like where a nerve. There's just a bundle of nerves there. He's like, it's gonna suck. If you wanna take a shot of whiskey or whatever. I'm not. I won't judge you. So I did. And he was right. I like, that was one of the only times I've. I was getting angry at him because he was stabbing the, like a very sensitive place with a. With a needle or A collection of needles.

[A]

Just punch him in the face.

[C]

Yeah, just like shit my pants right next to his head.

[B]

I have no tattoos and I feel, though, as though I have a good pain tolerance, but I'm afraid of the needling. I just don't know about that one. That scares me constantly for like an hour.

[C]

It depends on the day.

[B]

Oh, bud.

[C]

It depends. Oh, this is. This was. It took a while. It took like over a year, but this was like a five hour, six hour appointment, but. And he had to keep going back over. It's like pitch black in the part where he was doing Depends on the day, though. Some days I'll go in, like, I legitimately fell asleep while he was shading in this part of my forearm. Like the outside. What is that?

[A]

My.

[C]

Where my bolnaut is. Um, but other days, it's. It's just like a battle to get, like, make sure I'm breathing correctly and get through just like 10 minutes.

[A]

It's me at the dentist. I just had a crown done and it's the first time I've ever seen, like, normally they do a crown and then they put a temporary on there, and then like a week or two later they get the full one and they pop it on there.

[C]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

But this one, they like print it basically in the place and it's like a two hour wait. So it's like they did the thing. I'm all nitrous up. I'm all numb as shit and everything. And they finish and they make you wait for like an hour or two. And I'm just like playing switch. And it's just so hard to not like it's an exposed, like, core of the tooth. It's not an exposed nerve. I mean, I'm numb kind of still. It's wearing off over a couple hours. But it's so hard to not just kind of like, tongue it a little bit, you know? And so I'm just sitting there playing switch, and I just got this tooth sitting there. It's like, oh, man. It was a very uncomfortable experience, which hurts like shit still. So I'm waiting for that to be done. Oh, no.

[B]

I hope you can get relief with that soon. I think I told you guys this already, but I got. I've always felt like I couldn't breathe very well out of one of my nose holes. The right one was always giving me trouble. And so I finally just went to a doctor and I was like, I think I have a deviated septum. Like, we just correct it and they were like, yep, no problem. But that is a fucked up process of, like, you are sedated. It is technically a surgery. They get in there, they corrected my septum, they stuff you full of gauze. I mean, you can't fucking do anything. And they tell you splints, the whole nine yards. They're shoving sticks up there, everything they can, and they're like, don't fucking touch it. But it's like, I can't breathe and I can't touch this nose. And when he finally pulled it out, I mean, the amount of crap that came out of my head was so relieving. But obviously he was like, please don't touch it. It's still a wound. And I was like, I got to touch it.

[C]

When he pulled up splints, I swear to God, I almost came. It was the most I've ever felt.

[A]

They also did the vacuum for me.

[B]

Really, like, vacuum in mine as well. Yeah.

[C]

The apologies to any listeners who might be about to get that surgery. They absolutely did not prepare me for how painful the recovery would be. I mean, it's the center of your face that they basically broke something to reset it. And it's trying to go back to the previous position, but the stints are keeping it from doing that, so it's healing. And I was like, oh, I guess I should have known this would hurt like, a ton after, like, laying on the couch for two. I forget how many days I was just laid out on the couch, but, oh, yeah, it was rough.

[A]

That was probably the hardest week of my life, was after I got my sinus surgery. And that's when they did the deviated septum, too, is because it's like my whole fucking face is just filled with blood. And you can't breathe out of your nose, but you're not allowed to blow your nose. So you just feel all that blood, like, coagulating or whatever in your nose. And all you want to do, like, your brain is telling you, like, hey, when you feel like this, this is when you blow your nose, then you

[B]

feel better, go blow your nose, bud.

[A]

And you fucking can't. And. And you lay down and it's all gargling. And oh, man, I'd wake up and spit up this black mucus every fucking night for a week. And oh, God, it sucks so fucking bad.

[B]

I don't have any footage, and I'm glad I don't because it would have been absolutely diabolical. It would have been disgusting. But I. I vividly remember you can't breathe when. Even when they Take out your splints, like, for a little bit, right? Like, it's still. It's all there. But all this crap started gushing out and he didn't have the vacuum ready. It was just coming out of my over mouth, right? Like, all this. All this mucus. I gotta breathe at some point, so I had to open my mouth to breathe. But all this, like, blood and snot is rushing down my face. Vile. And as soon as he saw me, he went, oh, oh, sorry. And like, got his little vacuum. And I was like, yeah, bud. Did you not think that I was gonna have 10 pounds of snot ready to go? It was. It was all loaded. I. I was. I had more snow snot in me that I thought could be humanly possible for a person to hold in their head. And it just kept coming out.

[C]

He pulls a stint out and then, like, other shit comes out too. Like the car keys you lost when you were 18. Your past Skittles.

[B]

Yeah, it was. It was a really wild experience. I am grateful. I was going to ask you guys, like, there are these things. You don't have to do them, right? These are electives. They are obviously very important to quality of life, but you don't have to do them. Me getting my deviated septum fixed was one of the highest quality of life changes I have ever had. Going to a doctor, and I'm so grateful. Is there, like, one that comes to mind for you where you're like, thank God I asked for this because it was worth every.

[C]

It was worth it like eight months ago. I want to say, for, like, since I met Amanda, maybe she had been telling me, she's like, you should go to a gastroenterologist. Like, I eat pretty healthy. Like, all. All things considered. I consider myself pretty in decent shape. But a lot of random stuff I was eating. Like, I thought it was just like, food allergies or whatnot. Just constant stomach issues after most meals. Not. Not like, it was just annoying enough to be a thing where I'd like. We'd be watching TV after dinner. I'd be like, well, I gotta go to the bathroom for a bit. But it wouldn't be bad enough where I was like, this is urgent. I need to fix it. So Matt is like, just go to a gastro. And they looked. They said I had basically, like, my stomach never fully recovered from a bug I had like a year and a half ago. So it was just like the same bacteria that caused the stomach bug had not fully left me. So, like, what was it? I want to say two weeks of antibiotics later, I was like, oh, my God, I'm. My stomach's normal again. It was. I was like, yeah, I should have done this a while ago.

[B]

I can't believe that. I mean, I can't tell you how many times I've always been like, I wonder if I'm just sensitive to something, but I ignore it because I don't want to be diagnosed with, like, having a serious issue. So I'm like, I'll just get over.

[C]

Well, that's why I was thankful I went for this because it was like a temporary thing that they could just eradicate. But, like, I think it's normalized that, like, adults just have stomach issues all the time and. Or maybe I thought it was normal.

[B]

What did they give you?

[C]

Antibiotics. So I did a breath test. I went in one day to check for. Forget what it's called. It's an acronym. Basically just a bacterial imbalance. So the antibiotics over two weeks kill all the bact. I mean, there's doctors listening. They're probably. It's not how it works. But generally speaking, antibiotics kill the bad stuff. They also killed all the probiotics.

[B]

Yes.

[C]

So they're just like, drink a lot of kombucha, eat a lot of Greek yogurt for the next few weeks. Like, well, I already do that. So again, I was like, there's no logical reason my stomach should be this bad. Like, I occasionally will have a few drinks, but I. Food wise, I'm almost always. At most there's like one day a week where I'm eating stuff that I would expect to mess my stomach up. So I was glad I did. That deviated septum was also worth it, especially because I was playing, like sports at the time so I could breathe through two nostrils finally.

[A]

It was crazy.

[B]

Absolutely beautiful. What about you, Dan?

[A]

We're timing on this question because I was just thinking about something today that I did not know was a option, and I'm not thinking of doing it now, but I want to just float this by you two.

[B]

You haven't done it yet?

[A]

No, I'm definitely not. Definitely not. It's. It's going to sound crazy.

[C]

All right.

[A]

And something. I'm gone if things get worse with my teeth that I think I would consider. So keep in mind I have a cavalcade of dental issues. Like, oh, wait, I got a bunch of fillings done that. It turned out another dentist looked at the X rays and they're like, oh, that guy didn't get all the decay. And so he Patched up like, like all the decay, like rotted from the inside. And that's why like teeth were breaking and stuff like that. And I'm still having all these crown issues and pain. It's a nightmare. So it's non stop pain and problems and surgeries and money. I mean I've spent, God, I don't know, 20, 30 plus thousand dollars out of pocket trying to get this fixed up, you know, invisalign for a year and a half all this that I've done and like nothing really works.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So I learned about something today. And you know, people go to Turkey for medical tourism. They do it for. No, this is more extreme than veneers, you know, like turkey. Hang on. So you know, Turkey, they'll do the medical tourism where you go and get the hair plugs and stuff. Apparently Tijuana is a hub for dental tourism where. And I did look up some of these places and they are very highly reviewed and they apparently it's like state of the art stuff. It's just right across the border and it's just like to get outside of like the American healthcare system and all that bullshit and insurance and everything. And it's like, you know, 80% cheaper, you know, out of pocket. You can, you know, get a, this whole thing done for like 15k, 20k. And yes, they pull all your teeth out and they give you, it's called all on four arches. So it's like, it's basically like four implant holes on each upper and bottom. And they put like a whole set of teeth and they're like zirconia. Whatever. It's like whatever material it is.

[B]

So I love the idea that they're all made of fake diamonds. Cubic zirconia.

[A]

Not that one. Yeah, but yeah, they pull all your teeth. There is wood.

[B]

One diamond

[C]

with a fucking pickle.

[A]

It's cheaper if you do it that way.

[B]

And you're like, and you're like 10 out of 10. This was such a great experience.

[C]

They have a gun to your head while you write the review. That explains all the five stars they got.

[B]

I love my one diamond tooth.

[C]

They're like, what we didn't tell you before the operation is we put a remote detonated bomb in one of your teeth. If you give us a bad review, we're gonna press a button, your head's gonna expl.

[A]

Snake eater tooth. Yeah, yeah. But they also have a place in Vegas called the Bionic Smile. I'm looking at it right now and it's 4.9 average stars out of 384. And like, I've read all these reviews and like, it's like unbelievably unanimous. Like, this is incredible. And it's like 20,000 in Vegas and they just like take out all your teeth. Yeah. And then it's like you just don't have roots, you don't have nerves, you don't have pain, you don't have like these things don't get cavities. They look good. Like there's a lot of pictures of these and everything. It's not like, like weird fake looking veneers or anything. So it's like not considering it now. But it's like if I had another thing where it's like, oh, you need to get these four fucking crowns fixed up and it's gonna cost you 20,000 out of pocket anyway. Do I get all my teeth pulled out?

[B]

Well, have you thought about pulling out like all the ones that are pains in your butts and then just getting like a couple but keeping some of the real ones?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

I mean, like all my front teeth haven't been in the dentist. It's my molars. So like, I'm genuinely curious if anyone out there listening has had this done or. Yeah. Or knows someone that has had this done. I'm genuinely curious because, like, just looking at all the reviews seems like, what's the problem here? Like, should I just do it?

[B]

I mean, I wonder. One of the problems for me, I'm thinking out loud, like, as your friend, my devil's advocate is like, if this is a custom job, right. Like the Tijuana one where they drill in there and then they're like, we're going out of business. Who fixes your fake teeth holes?

[A]

That is something I read is that like, can be hard to find places back in the States that will like do work on stuff that they didn't do, you know?

[B]

Yeah. Because they're like, we didn't make those holes. Also, like, these are made out of, you know, some kind of driftwood. Sir, how do you. What happens if you have problems with them in 20 years?

[A]

I mean, the all on four thing is a common thing. Like the all on four procedure is something that happens regularly in America. Like, like my dentist does that. But it's like, but they're expensive. It'd be like 60, $70,000.

[B]

What? So that's so. I can't believe how ridiculous it is to get like good dental coverage. Not just in America, but globally. Dental coverage is something that is like difficult to. To have. And when you do have it. It's. It's very expensive because teeth are expensive. Getting in there is expensive. God, they always say the best thing to do is just take really good goddamn care. Care of your teeth. Because once you start having issues like that, you're right. Like there's not a lot you can do besides start pulling them.

[A]

Yep, yep. So I don't know. I, I got one implant, you know, recently, and that's great. I don't have any problems there. It's, it's not real, you know, so I don't know. It's something, a bionic smile. If you're listening and want to give me a free set of teeth and pull all my teeth out, I will plug you to the.

[B]

It's got like bionic written on it. So you're just like a permanent ad

[A]

for Golden Nugget Casino.

[B]

You would do it. That's the craziest thing. You would get diamond teeth.

[A]

No, no, I would absolutely accept free teeth and plug the out of them on social media. If I got serious about it, I would reach out to them and, and, and have a sales pitch. But I'll give it a few years

[B]

and see if there's like some black mirror about that where it's like, there's like a little speaker in there that goes directly into your brain that's like, hey, it's been two days since you've, you've marketed us.

[A]

Yeah. You need to post an Instagram story

[B]

right now or we're going to put a high pitched tone in your brain every 10 seconds.

[C]

That's terrifying. Yeah, you should write that episode.

[B]

Yeah, like, just horrible, horrible situation. I don't like mouth stuff. This is obviously.

[A]

I don't either.

[B]

I love, you know, this is it. Yeah. Mike loves it. He can't wait to go to the dentist. But he's like, get in there. And the dentist is like, stop opening your mouth. We're not even ready yet. Put your tongue away, you pervert. You're getting X rays.

[C]

My dentist in, in Manhattan is funny because the exam rooms, like the rooms all are, have floor to ceiling windows that open right onto the sidewalk and they're slightly tinted but not completely. So while I'm getting my teeth cleaned, I just make weird eye contact with people just walking by the dentist. God, it's super odd. And if it's nice, if it's like summer, they'll open the window so you can just. Also, your people have like, you can hear clearly everything they're saying on the sidewalk. It's very odd.

[A]

Open air. They're just like throwing a marshmallow into your mouth.

[C]

Yeah, at best.

[A]

Hey, I'm gonna be in Vegas like next weekend. Maybe I'll just skip what I was planning and just come back. The big bloody mouth. BBM have you guys seen the Kia K4 family? The design is actually really sleek.

[B]

It's sporty. Dan I've been looking at the K4 hatchback. It's got that panoramic display on the dashboard that makes it feel like you're in a high end flight sim. And the cargo room is huge. I could fit like four cases of soda and a whole gaming setup back there.

[C]

It's not just about the screen, Mary. Both the sedan and the hatchback come with an available 1.6 liter turbo engine. It's actually got some muscle behind it. It's that rare best of both worlds situation where it looks good but doesn't drive like a golf cart. I'm not sitting in the back, Dan, but if I were, the K4 is probably the only place where I'd have enough room.

[A]

See, I'm a sedan guy. It's got that sophisticated look. Makes me look like I have my life together, even if I'm just driving to buy more batteries. Plus, the legroom is actually roomy. I can stretch out while Mike is trapped in the back.

[B]

Honestly, whether you want the hatch utility sedan style, they're both great. If you guys want to see what we're talking about, visit kia.com to learn more.

[D]

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[C]

All right, do you wanna talk about Video games.

[B]

Sure, sure.

[C]

All right. The official embargo is up. Dan, for Pragmata, a game you've been talking up to us in Discord. I purposely did not look anything up about it because I wanted to have questions for you. What is this game?

[A]

Yeah, I didn't watch any of the pre release stuff either, so I was not super aware. All I knew was that it was a new Capcom IP and I was like, well that's enough to get me in the door. I don't need to, you know, spoil anything for myself. So I went in fairly blind to it and I guess I thought it was going to be more of this like lumbering sci fi, almost like a, you know, dead space type of sci fi game because like the guy, the main dude you play as is wearing this huge chunky suit. I don't know if you want to look up an image of it, but I assumed it was not going to be a fast paced game. And then as soon as I take the controls I'm like, oh, it's like you've got this jump with a hover. You've got these air dashes and stuff like that. It felt incredible and very fast right away. So instantly I was like, okay, this seems really good. So the gimmick is you go to the moon in the not so far future and it's really a cool setup where it's like, like it seems like they have set up a bunch of like like crazy 3D printing on the moon that's run by AI and they found this material called Luna Filament and they're just like printing stuff like crazy like these AI robots and stuff are, are up.

[B]

Probably say you're not going to spoil too much.

[A]

This is not, this is literally the setup of the game.

[B]

So I don't want anyone to skip if they are worried about spoilers. So you're not going to spoil any

[A]

major, just the, the, the setup, the setting of the game.

[B]

Go, go. Go ahead.

[A]

So it's like it's on the moon. A bunch of like.

[C]

Yeah, go ahead.

[A]

Oh, oh, thank you, thank you once again.

[B]

Go ahead.

[A]

Okay, so yeah, you're on the moon and AI robots are up, up there. Just kind of like 3D printing stuff and like ostensibly to kind of make these like moon stations and things like that. But at some point it seems like they've started like trying to recreate Earth so it's like up. So it's like there's, there's an area early on where it's like like it's kind of Times Square. And it just. It's kind of fucked up though, where it's like there's just taxis on walls and some taxis are like melting into the ground and there's like 3D printing material kind of like going up into the sky. Everything just looks very surreal and weird. And it's awesome because, like, I was going around looking at all the billboards and like the advertisements and stuff in this fake Times Square. And it's like a lot of it looked like AI generated art. And I was thinking, like, I feel like Capcom, or at least like with Resident Evil, they were very anti AI, especially the DLSS5 stuff and everything. So it surprised me if Capcom did AI art. And then I found out I read like an interview, prerelease interview where they were saying like, no, it's human made, intending to look like AI art. So it's human made AI slop. So that's a very interesting take on it. And so it's just like, yeah, imagine if AI just got kind of fucked up and is trying to kind of like recreate Earth on the moon, but it's all fucked up looking and everything. So, like, very interesting visual stuff going on this game. Very interesting scenarios. Like, I just thought from the early screenshots it was all going to be on these, like, sterile, you know, like space stations and stuff. It's not there. There's some really cool variety in. In the areas here.

[B]

Tell me what you are doing.

[A]

So it is. It is.

[B]

What do you do there?

[A]

It is an action game. It is an action game. So you are there, you're a human, you got your big spacesuit and you meet a little AI girl. She's like an Android. Her name's Diana.

[C]

I saw. I've seen her in marketing. I have seen this game, actually.

[B]

The Game Awards release this, like, as a surprise. Right? Am I nuts? Like, wasn't Game Awards, like, world premiere?

[A]

I. I think they announced it a while ago. Okay.

[B]

But maybe we hadn't seen this much gameplay.

[A]

They might have done like a. Yeah, I don't really remember where they showcased a lot of this, but yeah, she's a little girl Android that's like on your shoulder basically wearing like a huge jacket. Yeah. Yeah. And I thought she was going to be like, really annoying because, like, early on, again, not a spoiler. Your guy is just kind of like talking to his friends. He's like, who? You have kids? That sucks. And like, then so I was like, all right, I can where the story is going to go. I assumed, like, okay, it's going to be another one of these fucking games that some goddamn game writer like had a kid and thinks he's the first person that's ever had a kid and thinks he's telling the first person to tell the story of like, wow, I became a dad and then it's like my life change and I cared for it and it's like, wow, God of War, Ragnarok and fucking every other fucking one of those games, Last of Us and all that shit. So I was like, this is going to be lame. But it's actually. It pulls it off pretty well. I haven't been it yet. I'm like nine hours in. But like Diana is actually, she's a fun character because like as an Android she's trying to like she's curious about Earth. It seems like all these AI on the moon are like curious about Earth. So like the collectibles and stuff you get in the game for your hub area, you're kind of like recreating 3D, printing like Earth play places and stuff for kids. Like here's a CRT and a slide and stuff like that.

[B]

Mary, you raise your hand if she's AI Android. Why is she a kid? Because she doesn't need to grow up.

[A]

Now that's. That goes into spoiler stuff.

[B]

I retract my question. I find that weird. I was confused by that, but.

[A]

Oh, sure, sure. No, there, there is a story reason that I won't go into for that, but. Okay, so here's the thing. She's critical for the story, but also the gameplay. And like this is the main kind of gimmick of the gameplay that I love. So it's over the shoulder you are shooting. You get a bunch of different weapons that you can upgrade and stuff. Like, like imagine like that. That's kind of like dead space. You're getting a bunch of cool like sci fi weapons and stuff. You know, you're getting homing missiles, you're getting like, like these photon beams and stuff. But she's on your shoulder at all times. So let's say everything you're fighting is like AI, you know, robots and stuff. So if you're aiming so you're holding lt, you can shoot with rt, you know, if you just want to shoot them. But they're all pretty strong and they're shielded and stuff like that. So every one of these robots has an open status where you can like open up all their panels and they're exposed. And you do that by hacking them with the girls. So it doesn't go into, like, a separate hacking mini game that, like, it's not like, pause the game. Go into the hacking thing like BioShock when you're unlocking a door or something. What it does is, like, you can do it live. So there's like a grid, and there are certain nodes and stuff that will, like, weaken them. And then if you get to the end, it opens up all their stuff. There's nodes you want to go through. Like, there's all sorts of upgrades and stuff you can do to this. But you are doing this minigame, this puzzle, this grid live while you're like.

[B]

While you're fighting.

[A]

Yeah. So I can be charging my sniper shot type thing while I'm doing the minigame. Because the minigame is done with the face buttons. So it's like up, down, left, right. So it's actually all very natural.

[B]

Like hell divers.

[A]

It's similar. Yeah, yeah, it's similar to that. So, like, you can be aiming and shooting and stuff while you are also hacking. And it's just super fun. And, like, the gimmick does not get old, and they do a lot to add to it. I was kind of worried early on, like, okay, this is really awesome to start with. Is this gonna get old? The enemy variety keeps up the whole time. The. The level of upgrades you get throughout the game is awesome. And even, like the minigame, the hacking thing evolves as you go.

[B]

Fun. I will say, like, awesome compared to, like, just because I was saying that the up, down, left, right. When you're running from an enemy in Helldivers and you're like, I need to call down health so bad. And you're like, up, right, right, right, left, down, right. It's very fun to. When you get it wrong, it's irritating. But it's not the worst. It's like a challenge that you can mentally handle. Is it memorization of. No. You see it.

[A]

You're looking. You're looking at the grid. So it's like you will see the grid.

[B]

You're seeing, like a visual puzzle. And you know you have to, like, hit a variety of up, down, left rights to get there.

[A]

Yeah, exactly. It's almost like a maze, but, like. And the more powerful enemies have bigger grids, so it can take longer to get to the thing you need to open them up. But then there's weapons and stuff. You get where it's like, if you shoot them with these sticky bombs, it shrinks the puzzle so it makes it easier to get there. Or you can get things that will Eliminate the, like, the obstacle panels and stuff on the thing. So it's. Man, it's. It's a critical part of the action. Like, you probably could technically go in and just shoot everything.

[B]

Force it. Yeah. Like, probably could. I don't want a puzzle. I just want to shoot stuff. Like, you think you could get through it?

[A]

You probably could. I can't imagine many people do.

[B]

I'm watching this mini game. I just saw it.

[A]

They. They are. They're all very strong, so we would. You'd be very stupid to go through without hacking, basically.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

That sounds awesome.

[A]

Yeah. And then, like, just going back to the Hub world and stuff. There's this thing called the Shelter, and that's where it keeps kind of expanding and stuff as you unlock stuff. Stuff really fun kind of training missions, like VR simulator challenges and stuff. Like, they're so fun that I'm going through and getting perfect on every single one of them.

[B]

Like, I want a hundred percent, really, like, this game.

[A]

It's fucking awesome. Like, when it started, I was thinking, like, this is like a solid 8 out of 10 action game. And as the hours went on, I was like, oh, wait, no, this is actually, like, this is a really fucking good game. And it just made me think how on fire Capcom is right now.

[B]

Like, how many hours are you in?

[A]

9 hours. And it feels like it's kind of starting to wrap up or get to the end of some story stuff, so. So I'm guessing this is about the length of Requiem.

[B]

Wow. They've nailed the perfect game length. There's, like, something about 10, 12 hours. That feels really good for a video game to feel like you can genuinely see growth in the characters and in the game design, but it's not. Yeah. Taxing on the player. That's lovely.

[A]

It's been my whole weekend is playing this game, and it's just like, I've liked it more and more the more I've played. Related. Like, it's. It's really fantastic.

[C]

Who is Hugh?

[A]

Hugh is. You're a dork. You're just. You're just a guy and he's the protagonist.

[C]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

Who hates children. Yeah.

[A]

Like, you go up there with a crew to start the game and, like, you're to kind of see how things are going on the moon and you've

[B]

got, like, a dead space situation.

[A]

Yeah. It's like. Yeah. You're going up. Like. Yeah. How is the 3D printing situation on the moon going? And you go up, bros. We all

[B]

hate kids, Am I right? Hope nothing bad is up there. Anyway, let's go clean up the moon.

[A]

No, you get the other guy. That's like, no, kids are the best thing that ever happened to me. It's like, okay, great.

[C]

Like an ejector button.

[A]

Yeah. I. I was fully expecting to hate Diana and. And that, like, I was. I was fully expecting to come on here and be like, I love the action, but this kid's so annoying. But it. She is a critical part of the game. Like, you know that she is the gimmick gameplay wise, and she is critical to the story and everything. I like the setting. I. I'm liking the story. It's nothing like super deep or anything. Like, don't expect this, like. Like Metal Gear Solid two level deep dive into AI philosophy or anything. It's just. It's a fun AI gone awry.

[B]

It's a visual. It's, like, nice. Visually. When I was looking at the trailer of this, like, little kid clinging to your back that's constantly doing things, I didn't think that optically that would work. It would feel, like, messy or like there's just too much going on on the screen. But I think it, like, looks cool. It's. To me, this is a risk to say, like, hey, what if there was, like, this dude in space, but there's a little girl on their back? I feel like there's a lot of people who are like, bro, like, I don't know. And. But if it's working, not just thematically, optically, gameplay wise, that's quite a success. To take such a risk like that and have it pay off so good on them for. For. For even trying that and getting away with it.

[A]

Yeah, like, I mean, I wouldn't expect the deepest dialogue or anything. It's a lot of like, what is love on Earth? You know, it's like that. Oh, well, it's. When do you like of someone? It's like. It's just a lot of back and forth, like, oh, yeah, we got beaches on Earth and they're beautiful. And like, oh, tell me about the beach. And I want to see the beach and, you know.

[B]

Yeah, tell me about the beaches.

[A]

Yeah,

[B]

I assume that's what she sounds like. Papa.

[A]

Yeah. Little British child.

[C]

That sounds sick.

[A]

MacGruber noises.

[B]

No, not in that game.

[C]

How do you. How does one fill someone up?

[A]

I. I am gonna. I'm gonna try to get you guys codes and I. You guys gotta try this. I think you guys. I think this is one that will come up during Game of the Year discussions. This is a. A really fun surprise for me. Like, I can't tell you how many times I've just like finished a sequence in this game. They're like, man, this is just a fun ass video game.

[C]

Nice.

[A]

It's fantastic.

[C]

Yeah, I'm looking forward to that.

[A]

Have you guys seen the Kia K4 family? The design is actually really sleek.

[B]

It's sporty. Dan. I've been looking at the K4 hatchback. It's got that panoramic display on the dashboard that makes it feel like you're in a high end flight sim. And the cargo room is huge. I could fit like four cases of soda and a whole gaming setup back there.

[C]

It's not just about the screen, Mary. Both the sedan and the hatchback come with an evaluation. Available 1.6 liter turbo engine. It's actually got some muscle behind it. It's that rare best of both worlds situation where it looks good but doesn't drive like a golf cart. I'm not sitting in the back, Dan, but if I were, the K4 is probably the only place where I'd have enough room.

[A]

See, I'm a sedan guy. It's got that sophisticated look. Makes me look like I have my life together, even if I'm just driving to buy more batteries. Plus the legroom is actually roomy. I can stretch out while Mike is trapped in the back.

[B]

Honestly, whether you want the hatch utility or the sedan style, they're both great. If you guys want to see what we're talking about, visit kia.com to learn more.

[A]

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[C]

Speaking of fun video games, this was a while ago. Mary, you recommended Creature Kitchen. I played that and I liked that.

[A]

I actually liked that too.

[C]

It was great.

[B]

What did you think?

[C]

It was great. I love the pacing, the structure of it. It's very nice. At first I thought it would just be a lot of busy work cooking, but they've actually, it's. It's kind of funny like to like how the oven works. It's just like another dimension that food comes out when you put like, full boxes of ingredients in.

[A]

It makes cooking make sense to me.

[C]

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

[B]

Yeah. Macaroni and cheese is like, chop up, chop up one cheese.

[A]

Chop the cheese wedge into four spots. Yeah.

[B]

Yes, that's right.

[C]

It's also such a weird. They straddle the line between horror and, like, cozy game really well. Like, I don't want to spoil anything because if. If people haven't played this, I. I think it took me two hours on a Sunday. I beat this game. It had like a outer wilds vibe to some of the puzzle solving, but then some of the characters. I mean, the whole premise is like

[A]

your pants crazy that of the year.

[B]

What the is up with pants?

[C]

He just sits at the table and like, puts a plate in front of him. It's like, I don't know what you want at first, but it's. Yeah. Just based on the premise. Obviously, people know you're taking. You're like, moving into this cabin to take care of all the creatures that go there. Some of them, when they pop up, like, for the first time, scare you.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

But it's really good. Yeah. Like I said, the puzzle solving, I love the, like, the walking simulator aspects. Like, just exploring that space is super nice. And then can be pretty funny, too. Between pants and some of the puzzles. Jake, I think, is the. The one in the box in the bedroom.

[B]

Yeah, that one's. I screamed the first time I realized. Jake. And so you do want to be careful with spoilers because I think that's what some of the joy is. But you're right, it straddles the line between am I scared or am I comfortable? A couple times in a good way.

[C]

The increase in the difficulty of the puzzles was good. Like, well paced as well. It was never super tough, but toward the end there were some. I definitely had to rack my brain and figure things out. It's all like environmental puzzles kind of. And then. Yeah, you're basically trying to figure out. As Mary said a few episodes ago, you're trying to figure out what each of these creatures, what their preferred meal is. You're also. There's like photography aspects when you first.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Captions. Like Pokemon Snap gives you info of them. Once you get the photo, I fucking

[A]

got a Polaroid camera. You know, that's like the main thing you're taking pictures with. And like, the first time I try to take a picture, I'm like, I know there's a fucking raccoon underneath this porch, and I go down to the side and there's a hole, and then there's a porch, and I go to take a picture and I hit the wrong button and I hit the throw button, and I just threw my camera underneath the porch and you can't get under it. Fuck.

[C]

The lost and found box is a really nice touch to give you back that. I don't think I had lost anything else. I don't know if you know.

[A]

It's a very funny game. It's a. Yeah, it's very unique one, Mary. I'm glad you brought that to our attention. I like that a lot.

[B]

What a fun surprise. Sometimes searching on Steam's page, I just go like, hey, what's a new game? And usually if it's under a certain price point, I'm like, I'll. I'll give that a whirl. Without too much thought. Yeah, it's nice when it pays off.

[C]

How much this was? It's gonna tell me if I. I'm

[B]

gonna guess 20 bucks, maybe less.

[C]

No, it's $8 right now. It's.

[B]

God, go buy it. That is nothing. That is.

[C]

That's a well worth.

[B]

Totally worth it.

[C]

Two to three hours.

[B]

Worth every penny.

[C]

So, like, just cutting bread is really satisfying in that game too.

[B]

Cutting everything. Were you okay with flipping an egg? I struggled.

[C]

I had. It took me a while to get down. After a while, I was like a pro, but I burnt like 80 of them.

[A]

Same. I just kept it, like, super off.

[B]

Yeah, you, like, dejectedly have to take it to the trash can and throw it away. I was so annoying. Did you ever take stuff out? You take stuff out of the fridge? Yeah. Sometimes when you're opening the fridge, the thing you want isn't in there, so you just shut the fridge and open it again until you finally get the steak.

[A]

Yeah, Sometimes you'll open it. It's like four steaks and an egg. And then you close it and you open it up and it's like, oh, here's just a bunch of milk.

[C]

Yeah, I like. The design of the pantry is great too. It's an endless hallway, and then you turn around and the door is actually not that far away from you. Yeah.

[A]

It's a really, really cool game. Yep.

[C]

Yeah, I like it.

[B]

I'm glad you liked it. I'm glad you played it. I. Yes. I still recommend that game, and I think it's also really nice for all ages. But I think I would. I would play that with my niece. I'm gonna probably. Very likely to go see my niece for the 4th of July this year and I'm planning on bringing my Steam deck and giving her this game. Like this is the type of game that we all play it and enjoy it, but I think a 12, 13 year old kid would get a kick out of this too. Like it's. Yeah, it scales.

[C]

Creature Kitchen, phenomenal game.

[B]

I'm glad. That makes me so happy.

[C]

What's Darwin Paradox?

[B]

Okay, so it's fun that you were talking about like games that are a bit of like a risk, seeing if you want to test them out. That's what Darwin's Paradox was for me. It was Friday night, Friday night and I was like, what am I doing? I like to go to a bar and play a game on my Steam deck on a Friday night. I looked this up on Steam's this new page for you. Darwin's Paradox is a game about an octopus that is going through an adventure. They were in the sea with their girlfriend, but then they both kind of got sucked into this factory that makes food. And you are going through the factory to try and find her. It is a platformer adventure. I don't know the Dev ZDT studio, but it's published by Konami, which I thought surprised me. I didn't know what to expect of this game, but I have really enjoyed some quite smart puzzle design because you have all these fun octopus skills. You're sticky obviously as an octopus. So a lot of the skills are being able to like crawl on the walls and on the ceiling to avoid capture. There is some like Metal Gear esque, like, hey, don't get caught. You know they're if, if you get in their laser beams, they're gonna zap you and kill you. So you have to hide.

[A]

You can also interrupt your DLC for this as well.

[B]

No way.

[A]

Yeah, because I remember they did a trailer during the game awards or something like that and it was like they were doing Metal Gear, like sound effects and stuff. I was like, what the is this? And then it was this.

[B]

Yeah, it kind of felt Metal Gear a couple times where you're avoiding being in the light. You. This is not something you can brute force. You have to be sneaky in some of these areas to get through them. But as an octopus, one of your skills is camouflage. So it's really, it's really kind of cute to be like you're scuttling around on like all your little tentacles and then if you see them coming, you just become the color of the dirt and they don't see you and then you scuttle I. I found it. I. I find this entire experience very cute. It is. It's actually quite adorable. You can ink, so you shoot ink to maybe knock down cans or to cover a camera that's gonna see you. And you need to be able to get through that space. These puzzles are not hard, but they are the kind of puzzles where they'll surprise you and shock you and you will die a couple times in order to figure out what it's encouraging you to do. I die a lot in this game, but you'll figure it out if you just dink around enough in there. My few criticisms is I found the saves sometimes not forgiving. And so you would get 90% through an area and you'll die at the very end and then you do the whole damn area again with all the.

[A]

The.

[B]

All the fans jumping and dodging and weaving just to get to the same area again and probably die again and do it again. It's a small criticism. Some of the puzzles I found maybe a little simple in the sense that you're just going through the motions to get through them to some people, especially if it's a platformer that's cathartic and calming because you're like, I just need to get through it. I know exactly what this game wants me to do. I just need to go through the motions and get it done. I'm really liking it. I. I think it's absolutely adorable. It's short. I will tell you that. It's a short game so you can burn through it.

[A]

It's 25. I'm looking at the Steam page now and. And I think it's the demo. It's called Darwin's Paradise Paradox Tactical Octopus action, which that is just very direct.

[C]

Wearing the head.

[A]

Metal Gear. Yeah, he's got the snake headband. So yeah, maybe that's just the demo. That's like Metal Gear brand, but that's kind of a wild thing.

[C]

A tribute from an octopus to a snake.

[B]

That's funny. I've never played Metal Gear, so I, I don't even think outside of the gameplay that I understand about Metal Gear. I didn't pick up how much of this is probably inspired by Metal Gear, but the. I understand the old, like, don't get caught by this laser or by this light or by these people that are doing the rounds. I understand that enough to like have gotten. Gotten through. It's very charming. I. I think it's very sweet. Some people might take issue with the fact that this is probably a five and a half hour game. For 25 bucks. My response to that is is, you know, people will pay $60 for a game that's 12 hours. That's really good. This is, you know, half. Right. It's 25 bucks for. For five and a half hours. So I don't think it's. I don't think it's bad. I don't think that's a bad cost hour exchange. But to some people, that might not feel like enough for. For 25 bucks.

[A]

God, Mary, I don't know if I've ever thought of this, but you mentioned not having played Metal Gear. I have to wonder, Mike, what would she think of Metal Gear?

[C]

I don't think you'd like it. No, no, the story, I think the story. I think you could take or leave, but I think.

[A]

Oh, you mean the greatest story ever told. You think she could take or leave?

[B]

Yeah, I love this response.

[C]

Yeah, I. I think you would get annoyed with the like controls, Mary. Honestly, like it depends on what version of the games you're playing. But like I trust love the series. Not as much as Mike says that I believe Metal Gear Solid. I think you would get frustrated with the obstacles between what you want to do and how you have to do it.

[A]

I can see the CQC stuff. People struggle with that sometimes.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

But it is. I am not kidding. is the greatest story ever told.

[B]

I. Okay, what do you think about Darwin's paradox? Like does that sound something appealing to you because it's kind of Metal Gear esque or. No?

[A]

Well, I'm curious about the game on its own merits. The sneaky type stuff. Like the thing is, I hate stealth games. I hate being sneaky in games, which

[B]

I understand, but go ahead.

[A]

Well, yeah, it's just I'm terrible at fucking stealth. So it's like I love Metal Gear despite the stealth. You know, like you can do cool stuff, but I suck at it and I'm not patient. So it's like I just wind up killing everybody. Everyone. So. But this just sounds like an interesting game. Even if there's no Metal Gear association at all. I'd be curious to try this.

[B]

Yeah, I think it's worth a test. I was.

[C]

There's a demo. Oh yeah, we talked about it. You could play the demo.

[B]

There is a demo. And I think for as high quality of this game, I will also caveat that for the Steam deck it chugged a little bit, which I didn't love. The graphics are really nice. It's a good looking game. This looks like for a platformer, I Think it looks very high quality, but it didn't play perfectly on a. On a Steam deck for me. But it was forgivable. It's playable is what I will say. So I didn't. I was able to like get through it without. Without too much issue. I. I was kind of surprised with how not. I haven't really heard anyone talking about it, but it feels like it's a really well made game and it's just so cute and fun. I was kind of like, I hope more people discover this because it's cute and it's doing a great job at just being a delightful little platformer. That'll make you laugh. I think it's more platformer than puzzle and I think it's more puzzle than stealth, if that helps. I think predominantly what I was doing was platformer stuff.

[A]

I do like that Konami is just doing weird stuff. Like they're doing it right by Silent Hill and Metal Gear lately. But they're also doing like deliver at all costs last year, Darwin's Paradox. Now like they're trying like weird little experiments again, which is like, all right, let's.

[C]

Let's.

[A]

Konami's kind of coming back in a way that I really like.

[C]

Yeah. Another big win is they're also like paying a lot of attention to Suikoden in the remakes and the new one. So like that's I think also a good move on their part because people have been asking for those for fucking decades.

[A]

I was about to say that. The Suikoden. I'm happy about the suikin.

[C]

The Suikoden 2 is Dan's favorite game of all time.

[A]

Time. I think I wouldn't have like sweet in. Isn't it like a tactics type thing?

[B]

Sounds like a drug.

[C]

Yeah, it's turn based tactics, but you're also like building up your castle and like there's. I forget how many characters you can recruit. A hundred or something.

[A]

I. I have been intrigued by it when I've heard about it, but. Yeah, I wonder when I'd ever have time to go to it. I know they remastered it for Switch not too long ago anyway. Yeah, Konami's back. It's great.

[B]

Yeah, I'm very impressed and I hope more people, especially if they like platformers, puzzly platformers and they have some patience. It's not perfect. Some of the puzzles are like a little silly or like not that interesting. But it was like generally I was like, I like it. So I think it's. I think it's worth picking up.

[A]

Nice.

[C]

Dan. What's Glyphica?

[A]

I was. This is the type of game that I was sold on just by the two word description, which was. Or it was like maybe three words. It was like typing Roguelite survival or something. And like anytime a game's core gameplay mechanic is typing, I'm interested.

[C]

Super weird. Actually, I just saw a friend of mine pop up on my Steam notification saying they're playing this. I didn't put it together that it was.

[A]

Oh, weird. Interesting. Yeah. It's because I love typing the dead anything where it's like you are competing by typing. Because I type, I'm pretty good at typing and so like this is a thing where it's like you are just kind of like the dot at the center of the screen. You look it up. Yeah, yeah. Honestly, I loved those type of like typing games back in school. And look up how it looks. It's very minimalist. It's like you're kind of like a dot in the center.

[C]

Almost sound shapes.

[A]

Yes, I thought that too. Yes, very sound shapes. Like different shapes and stuff are coming in. And like let's say it's a circle with two circles around it. That's like shields basically. And if it's just a dot, it probably will die immediately when you type the word. So there's different difficulty. Like you know, some things will shoot projectiles and each projectile will have a word over it and you have to type it to destroy it. So it's like, fuck, I better kill the ship, otherwise I have to keep typing words every time there's a projectile. But there's also the roguelite elements. Like as you are leveling up, you are picking between like, okay, here's your three options here. Do you want to like give a plus 15% to your heat and electric weapons or do you want to get this new buzzsaw item? Or do you want to get this turret? Or it's like these Tesla mines, things like that.

[C]

So.

[A]

So it is really cool, like putting a build together for a game where you are just typing to keep words from getting to the center of the screen.

[C]

Oh, I see. So like completing words starting with glyphs JKL or M, deploys a spinning saw blade. Okay. Yeah. So it's like there's certain activations. Yeah.

[A]

Or like if you get a turret, it's just like it's indicated by a circle around your dot and anything that gets in there, it's almost like tower defense that starts shooting at it. It. But then you can also level that up by getting kills with it. So it's like now I can expand the range of this. I expand the fire rate of my turret. Really, really cool. So really clever bosses and stuff like that. Where it's like, okay, here's two bosses floating around and like at any point they can heal each other to the maximum of the most healthy one. So you have to like kind of ping pong back and forth to keep them both hurt, you know, because otherwise the healthiest one will heal the other to that level level. Really clever stuff like that. You know, Here's a boss that like has a radius that will scramble all of the words in that radius and make it hard to spell. So it's. It's really, really enjoyable. It's got like a trials based mode that has like levels with boss fights and stuff.

[B]

And there's this didn't come out this year.

[A]

It didn't.

[C]

It's early access.

[A]

Yeah, Yeah. I think I just saw it on like a early access though.

[C]

It says release date 2024, October. But maybe it's just been long early.

[B]

That's why I'm confused.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

It says release date 2024. So I was just curious like, what made you play that?

[C]

Or I wonder if that's when they put the demo up.

[A]

That might. Maybe it's a thing like it just went up in like actual early access. I don't know. I really don't remember how it came across. Yeah, I don't know. But I'm really, really enjoying it.

[B]

That's cool.

[C]

I want to play it. Bunch of good games I want to play. Speaking of Mary, if I don't want to play bento blocks, by the time you're done talking, I'd be fucking pissed.

[A]

Oh, geez.

[C]

I'm kidding.

[B]

This one's a harder sell. This is a puzzle game. This came out in January and I just didn't. I just finally got around to it. Very simple concept. You have some rice and some sushi and you need to be able to put it in a bento box. But the way the bento works is it requires you to place the perfect amount in the box and you. It only gives you so many slices. It gives you like a little knife to say, how many cuts did you do? You get stars if you do it exactly in the amount of cuts, the lowest amount of cuts that it wants. You can also get past it if you do it in more cuts. But ultimately the goal is do it in the limited amount of cuts that it's asking for. So it will give you a unique shape. Imagine, like, a sushi that is like a. I don't know, a square, but then it has, like, a weird line coming out at the end. And the bento box is also a weird shape. You have to figure out, okay, how do I cut it exactly right so that it'll fit in this bento box without doing more cuts than it's giving me? And then it adds complexity pretty quickly. At first, I was like, this puzzle's too easy for Mary. I'm bored. There's lots, and it's teaching you a lot. Eventually, it allows you to start rotating the sushi. That adds some complexity. It also says, hey, in this bento, I'm requiring the piece of fish to go in the lower left, and I'm requiring the piece, the egg, to go in the upper right. And so now you have to, like. Like, make sure you're organizing your sushi in the right shape and the right angle to get into the right space. Sometimes your cuts have to be angled perfectly where you'll have two different pieces of sushi. Maybe you have to overlap them so that when one cut, you get them both in the perfect shape. It gets complicated pretty quickly, I would say. I'm gonna say I'm an Area 7. I don't know how many areas they are, but it is getting so difficult now that I can spend 10 minutes on one puzzle, just turning everything around, cutting it a hundred different times, seeing if I can make it fit, and then trying again. This is for sheer puzzle freaks. This is not for someone who likes just a casual, easy puzzler. To me, I was like, all right, you're really starting to, like, like, not irritate me, but it was scratching my brain in a way where I needed a break and I needed to play something else because it was so complicated and it was getting so hard. I needed a minute to come back to it. I have not been able to finish this game at this point. I think I will come back to it. But I will also say, like, this game just isn't for everyone. But what a fun, simple puzzler that builds quite heavily to get you to make the perfect bento. I could see you wanting to play it on, like, a casual night where you just want to, like, have a nice drink and. And casually play a puzzle game. But damn, it gets tough as it gets on. As it gets going on.

[C]

Is it, like. It looks like kind of Resident Evil 4 inventory management, but mixed with, like, a little to the left kind of. I think that's more challenging.

[B]

Yeah. I was surprised with how Challenging it got. Especially considering areas 1 through 3 I almost thought were like a joke. They were so easy. And then areas like 4 through 5, I was like, oh, okay, now you're really starting to push me. And then 6 and 7, I was like, fuck you. Like, no one can do this. This is too hard. Yeah, it's simple and it's exact. I can't, I can't make it more simple sounding. You put bento, you put sushi in the bento box. But the, the ways in which they make you put everything in a very specific rotation, in a specific order, in a specific space with only giving you sometimes one cut. What you have to do a lot of trial and error to get through it. I think there's a specific brain. There's a type of person out there that is like, I live for this and I love puzzles like this. This is not my favorite puzzler, but I understand it and I respect the hell out of it, if that makes sense. I have enjoyed this. I don't know if I am going to finish it. I don't think it will bring me joy to finish this, but I have liked the time that I had with it.

[C]

Did you guys ever play dorfromantic?

[A]

Yeah, I was always curious about it. I remember you speaking highly of it. Yeah.

[C]

Yeah. I love the game. Amanda loves it and a ton of games, but it's showing up as similar to games you played. When I'm on bento block store page,

[B]

it feels cozy, right. It's got that like, cozy visual style. I think people, especially not that you would like, RPG this and be like, I'm a sushi chef. It just kind of gives you the vibe of like, oh, yeah, I gotta cut the, this sushi up and put it in the bento box to get ready for lunch. It's got a really simple, elegant style that I think will be easy on the eyes. My concern. And I think Amanda's smart as a whip, so I think she'll be fine. But I, it got to a point for me where I was like, this puzzle is too puzzly for my brain. I, I, I stopped enjoying it because it was so complicated and I was doing so many different turns and cuts and trial and errors to get through it. Towards the end, I had had enough, but up until that point, I really liked it.

[C]

Okay, cool. Bunch of good games. You guys want to talk about emails?

[A]

Sure.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

Have you guys seen the Kia K4 family? The design is actually really sleek.

[B]

It's sporty. Dan. I've been looking at the K4 hatchback, it's got that panoramic display on the dashboard that makes it feel like you're in a high end flight light sim. And the cargo room is huge. I could fit like four cases of soda and a whole gaming setup back there.

[C]

It's not just about the screen, Mary. Both the sedan and the hatchback come with an available 1.6 liter turbo engine. It's actually got some muscle behind it. It's that rare best of both worlds situation where it looks good but doesn't drive like a golf cart. I'm not sitting in the back, Dan, but if I were, the K4 is probably the only place where I'd have enough room.

[A]

See, I'm a sedan guy guy. It's got that sophisticated look. Makes me look like I have my life together, even if I'm just driving to buy more batteries. Plus, the legroom is actually roomy. I can stretch out while Mike is trapped in the back.

[B]

Honestly, whether you want the hatch utility or the sedan style, they're both great. If you guys want to see what we're talking about, visit kia.com to learn more.

[C]

Okay. As usual, you can write into firescapecastmail.com to get some questions in for the third section of every episode where we do reader mailbags. That's Firescape. Mary, do you want to do this first one from prolific emailer Wes.

[B]

Yes. Sup, nerds? What's your favorite bottle episode of tv? Thanks, Wes from Baltimore.

[C]

I also. This reminded me I wanted to ask quickly where you are in Sopranos, Dan.

[A]

I was actually going to bring that up as my bottle episode I just watched a couple episodes ago. The one where they go to Italy.

[C]

Italy. Oh, nice.

[A]

Yeah. Don't have to go into specifics or anything, but like, that's the one where they go to get Furio and stuff. And I'm. I'm just kind of getting to know Furio back in the States now.

[C]

Oh, my God. Furio's.

[A]

That guy's a lot. Yeah.

[C]

Yep. Amazing.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Has he gotten. Has he gotten hilarious yet? Like, are you laughing at what he says?

[A]

A little of that. And also horrified and terrified. Yeah.

[C]

So stupid a game.

[B]

Am I the only person who doesn't know what a bottle episode is? I just have to look it up. I feel like an idiot, but I've never heard that term before. Can you explain it for. Can you explain it for everyone else who doesn't know? I know, but I'd like our listeners to know.

[C]

I. I assumed you guys talked about in last episode. That's why Wes asked. But it is generally, I must have

[B]

talked about it without knowing what it is.

[C]

It's an episode of TV where like the main plot and momentum is kind of halted and it becomes almost its own self contained story. Sometimes it's a flashback episode, sometimes it's like, oh, it. They leave Jersey and go to Italy for a bit. Or like the one I, the one

[A]

I always think of is married to the. Watch Breaking Bad.

[B]

Yeah. You're gonna talk about the fly, aren't you?

[A]

That's. That's the one.

[B]

I knew it. Yeah, because everyone talks. I've never actually heard the term bottle, but everyone talks about that episode because the entire episode he just tries to kill a fly. And a lot of people don't like that episode.

[A]

I know because it was right in the middle. I remember like watching it week to week at the time and it was in the middle of like some serious shit going on in the main story. And it's like, oh, I can't wait to see what happens. And then it's just the fly thing. So like I didn't love it back then. And then like looking back at it now, I think that's kind of a funny thing.

[B]

Is it?

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Is it meant to do what it did in Breaking Bad where it's like, I don't know, it's just gonna restrict you intentionally. What's the point of it? Why?

[C]

Yeah, sometimes, like, I don't know where the the phrase came from. I'd have to look that up. But like, sometimes I know back in the day, like for sitcoms, they used to use them, like to fill an episode slot when they didn't have the plot, like the script plan for it. But like the Pine Barrens and Sopranos is also, I would consider a bottle episode. Often, I know, like again, being loosely defined. I know often they do take place in like one specific place that's apart from where the main show usually happens. But the famous one is like, recently what was. There's that book Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, which is about two game developers who. It's like a fraught romance. A lot of people say that the author watched that episode of Mythic Quest where there's a flashback episode where the two founders of this MMO company meet and then leave each other. Like it's like a romance and people like that episode a lot. So yeah, sometimes it's a. It's a flashback. But like in Mad Men, I guess you could consider the suitcase a bottle episode because it's just kind of Don and Peggy squaring off in his office for most of the episode.

[A]

I see some people saying, the Chinese restaurant from Seinfeld.

[C]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a classic example, too. So I think one location is helps, like, more of like a screen stage play almost.

[A]

There is another Breaking Bad one where they're just, like, stuck in the RV in the desert. Like that whole episode.

[C]

Yeah, the one in Breaking Bad. I'm trying to remember. Yeah. Madman has the suitcase. Mad Men also has Nomads. Nomadland. The one where they. He go to. He goes to California and then just leaves the convention and goes on the road in Palm Springs with these people. Yeah. I would say. I don't know. I probably say my favorite one is I like the Pine Barrens quite a bit in the Sopranos. I can't wait.

[A]

I had to stop. Mike, you sent me Instagram clip of Sopranos and Mario 64, and I was watching it with Bonk, and Bonk was like, well, this is spoilers. You got to close this. What's going on?

[C]

Wait, really?

[A]

There's. They start talking about a horse or something. She's like, close this. What? Yeah.

[C]

Oh, the painting. Yeah, Sorry about that. I didn't think about that.

[A]

I don't really know what was going

[C]

on, but I don't think the joke even works if you haven't seen that episode anyway, so I don't know.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

Yeah. Now, Pine Barren's probably my favorite one.

[A]

One.

[C]

Dan, would you. You said. Which one?

[A]

What the did I say? I forgot what I said. Flies. Oh, that. I like the Italy one of the Sopranos. It's not like a hard. You know, because they're going back and seeing what Carmelo and people are doing, but, like. Yeah, it's like. It's the Italy episode.

[C]

You know, I'm sure Chrissy fell even more in your estimation. He's like, I'm going to see that volcano the moment we get out of the hotel room.

[A]

And he just does heroin and tries to get laid.

[C]

Yep.

[A]

Now he's an acting class, this. Dope.

[C]

Dope.

[A]

Yeah. The gentleman caller. Like, I don't know, why is he trying to have sex with this girl? She's disfigured. Yeah.

[C]

Oh, my God, he's such a terrible person. Married. Any others come to mind for you?

[B]

I'm gonna. I'm gonna ask if, like, a compilation,

[C]

a clip show.

[B]

Yeah. Because I was thinking one of my favorite episodes of Simpsons is 22 short stories about Simpsons.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And there's nothing that Happens as a result of that.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And like, maybe that's a little different because Simpsons isn't like a sequential like serialized thing, but it's like I do when it kind of breaks from the format. Like the 128th episode spectacular. Like, I like that one too. That one's fun too, because it's like all fake. They're saying like, oh, the cash register says NRA forever. One of the right wing jokes Matt Groening puts in there.

[B]

That's a really funny thing because, you know, Matt Groening was like, God damn it, you guys. That pisses me off. The 22 short films about Springfield is like, like, has a lot of iconic lines for me. Like the. Is there something funny about me in my automobile?

[A]

Wave to the people. Yeah. Wa.

[B]

Blow them kisses. I think it's a really funny standoff episode that's very different than the show. It's like something in the writers cracked and they said we're just going to make a bunch of crap that has nothing to do with anything. You're going to see characters that you never see, like Cletus, this, the slack jawed yokel. And we're just gonna let you enjoy them for two minutes and then move on.

[A]

Parody with Wiggum. There. There's a, you know, even like Treehouse of Horror. Like that's a fun thing where it's like, here's. It exists outside of, you know, like, none of this matters. People are gonna die and stuff. And it's. It's not real.

[B]

They kill. Yeah, they kill the characters because it's not real. So you're allowed to kill. Homer Simpson's pretty good, isn't it? Yeah. Mine is this little indie gem called season two through nine of the Simpsons.

[A]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

Deep down that's what I thought of when I first became aware of what a bottle episode was.

[C]

All right, well, thank you, Wes. The educational segment. Dan, you want to read this one from Darian, also a frequent emailer.

[A]

Yes. Hey, homies, I think Outriders is better than Destiny. Fractured Space, a pre starfield NASA punk MOBA that died. What are you saying? That died in early access remains the only game in the genre I ever enjoyed. It's me, the man who liked Lawbreakers. What the fuck is this guy talking about? Are there any other also rants or abject failures you guys prefer to industry heavyweights? That's daring. From Toronto Warhawk for PS3.

[C]

I was. Mary, when you were going to get a drink, I was just talking to Dan saying that the. The pragmata character looks like he kind of came out of Anthem. That BioWare mech game. I liked that game. That literally, literally failed, like, shut down.

[A]

Wow.

[C]

Granted, I played like five hours of it and then I was like, all right, I've seen it. But I remember liking it quite a bit bad.

[A]

Yeah. You fly around. That was fun for a second.

[C]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

Warhawk PS3 is a fucking incredible. One of the best console multiplayer online games I've ever played. I fucking loved Warhol Warhawk.

[C]

Why do I. That sounds very familiar.

[A]

It came with a Bluetooth headset and you could. It was first party. Sony. There was a PS1 Warhawk game, but it was a single player game. This one is like, you'd be a dude and you can hop into like a. Basically a vertical takeoff and landing ship or you can get into tanks and stuff like that. And it was like a. I can't remember if it's captured the flag or. It kind of had its own mode or whatever. But it was just one of those games where you can hop in and out of all these different vehicles. Kind of like Battlefield style. But I just. It was. It was Star Fox meets Battlefield means. I just. I thought it was. I put so much time into it. Probably like top three, top five. Most time I've ever put into an online multiplayer.

[B]

Oh, that's so cool.

[A]

I fucking loved it.

[C]

Looking character model.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

That. I don't know why. The screenshots briefly reminded me of Mercenaries. Holy fuck, that game.

[A]

I could see it. I could see it. Yeah, yeah.

[C]

Try to think of any other, like. Like, yeah, I think Anthem's mine. I mean, I. I don't. I don't know that I'd go to bat for it, but I like it quite a bit.

[B]

I'm struggling to think of one that was considered like, a failure. I. Maybe that word is, like, too, too aggro for me. It's like there are games that I think are not as.

[C]

Yeah, yeah. I think he means like any that just literally commercially flopped and then they didn't make a sequel because it just bombed. That you liked. Anthem literally shut down. I was gonna say I like Marathon more than a lot of people are, but actually that people are liking that.

[A]

I think people like it. Yeah, yeah. It is cool.

[C]

Yeah. Needs more content. But we can come back to it, Mary, if you need.

[B]

I'll have to think. Yeah, I'm. I'm like, struggling. All the ones that I have, I'm like. I think they were okay. Ultimately. What's hard as well, for Indie games is like. What's considered like, successful for an indie game is like, we squeaked it out and we can make another game. Like, I don't think they're like huge successes, but they are. They did what they meant to do.

[C]

He's also asking, like, outriders is better than Destiny. I think he's saying, like. Compared to like the benchmark tent pole in the genre, what is one like, Like a more of an underdog?

[B]

It's a really good question. I'll have to think. I have to think a little. A little bit more.

[C]

Well, thank you, Darian. I'm going to read this one from Brad. How's the party? Mike Maharti, you indicated that you tend to play Slay the Spire and its ilk impatiently. But your love of turtling in RTS games is well documented. Very true. Which do you think is the outlier? Do you tend to play more offensively or defensively across games in general? I'll answer that before I get to the second part. Defensively for sure. Even in a shooter like Battlefield 6. My favorite battlefields are the ones where you have defensive options when you take a point and you can actually like build fortificate. Battlefield 1 or 55 had fortifications if memory served, but you could actually like play defensively, lock down a point and like actually contribute to the match instead of just like running from capture point to capture point. Strategy games, I'm definitely way more defensive. I always like the factions and strategy games where I. They are like the. It's always the bad guys in RTS games that are the offensive. Like throw. Throw shit like Soviets during World War II tanks and. Yeah, yeah. And then the good guys, like the allies have way more defensive options. And I'm thinking Riddler 2 specifically.

[A]

Even the GIs, you know, their thing was like turtling up and. Yeah, yeah.

[C]

God, that game's so fucking good. All right. And then second part is for all three of us, are there certain kinds of games that bring out certain playstyles? Can you think of genres where you play differently? Individual games within a genre that cause you to think about things differently? Bloodborne seems like a good recent example for Dan, but I think he means Sekiro.

[A]

Yeah, definitely.

[C]

Love you guys. Brad in Arizona. Sekiro did it for me. Absolutely. Literally just tying it into what I was just saying. In action games, I also play defensively if I'm given the option and kind of like block dodge and wait for the opening. Whereas Sekiro, you literally need to be making contact in order to like that game is, is just about pushing you out of your comfort zone and you live in the uncertainty.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. Like in Ichiro and stuff, it's just like, you want to, like, sit back and dodge because he's throwing so much at you. And then you learn that, like, I need to get up in this guy's ass and stay there if I want to stand a chance. And, like, you really have to. What are you laughing at?

[C]

Just the phrasing is funny.

[B]

I was so, I was up his ass.

[C]

So he took the lightning bolt and he shoved it off his ass. Ass. This little ninja shoved the sword up his ass. Yeah. Slay the spire too. I, I, I've still been playing that game. I maintain that that game is, does a really good job of getting me Monster Train 2 as well. I think it's the deck builders that are doing it for me lately that are like, all right, let's try a different play style. And they're well designed enough that it's actually like, carrying me through and feels legitimate.

[A]

It man. Mine's like any kind of like arcade sports type thing. Like, I think I like Rocket League. I've never played defense for a second in any game like that. I am just, I am going for the glory. I am going for the score. I'm going for the highlight reel. And if I have other people on my team, sorry, somebody's got to watch the goal because I'm not doing it. It doesn't matter if you put my car in front of the goal. I'm boosting out of there the second the, the bell.

[B]

You're a terrible team player.

[A]

Trust me. I, Everyone, a giant bomb. Let me know. Last time we played Rocket League. Yeah, but I'm not guarding that gold. That sounds boring. As I would.

[C]

I would pay so much money to watch you play on Andy Bman's team.

[B]

He got so angry. Notorious Andy Bauman, notorious editor at Gamespot. In case anyone remembers, Danny's the Point, Andy always edited the point. And so like, he, he's a great editor, but notoriously angry Rocket League player and would grief the out of you if you caused him to lose again.

[A]

He would look back at the goal expecting to see me. And then he would just see me in the air doing flips and say, like, just absolutely nowhere near the goal.

[B]

He would be so mad.

[A]

They're to have fun. I'm not here to guard and do defense.

[B]

Zero points ain't fun part of the game. Not for me.

[A]

That's someone else's problem.

[C]

Helldivers Two, I think gets me out of my comfort zone often in a really good way. I haven't played hell helldivers 2 since like second week being live. But yeah, Mary, similar to your points, like, I feel like these stratagems, they use the stratagems really cleverly in a way that I'm not just, oh, it's a third person shooter. I'm just going to shoot and I'm going to stick to one strategy the whole time. Like, you really do need to be using your, the wide array of stratagems if you want to succeed in some of those harder missions.

[B]

It's fun to do that in a, in a group dynamic as well. And, you know, adding a puzzle element when you're being swarmed by bugs and being like, we need to call for ammo. Somebody's gotta help me. Also, two of us are dead and I need you to call us back down. That is fun and it's really fun to be able to like, switch your brain from puzzles to shooting to teamwork. And it's also funny. What a, what a fantastic one. I asked in the break, I was like, Mike, I forgot the name of this game. But one for me was I always really struggled with turn based strategy games because I find them like, kind of exhausting and I struggle to get into them and into the breach. Tickled my brain in a way where I was like, oh, I get it.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

See, now I know why Mike likes this so much. It was the first game that truly hit me that I understood why you like these games.

[C]

Yeah, I mean, sometimes it just takes one design, tweak or innovation. In that game, you could see what all of the enemies are about to do and you're countering it or trying to counter it at best. Also, yeah, you're bouncing back and forth between defending the cities and your own mechs. That game's still amazing. Similar to ftl, their previous game.

[B]

Maybe I should go back to ftl. That one lost me. I think there's something about losing a game after putting 45 minutes into defending pisses me off because. And which is weird because I like roguelites, so I don't mind losing my character build and being like, well, c' est la vie, like, I'll do again. There's something about a turn based strategy where I'm like, well, I did all that for nothing and the city's dead. Like, why do I play this? I get despondent and I want to quit. Into the breach, which didn't feel so desperate when I died. And I lost everything. I felt compelled to try again. There was something in the design that allowed me to say, it's not a big deal if you lose, you just go again. I'm trying to think of what they did to what. What kind of, like, spice or secret sauce they put in there that made me feel like I could just play it again without, I don't know, getting upset.

[A]

I mean, with me, I feel with that game, it was one where I truly felt like. Like I knew exactly what was going to happen after I ended my turn. Where it's like, it was. It was small enough, like, both the map and, like, the unit count, where it felt like you had a very clear picture of what was going to happen next. Where it's like, bigger maps, you know, more units and things like that. There's things you might forget about. But if it's just like three and three on a small map, I knew exactly like, well, I can't have my guy here, because then they're gonna attack the building or this guy's gonna die here. But because you would see what their moves were going to be next. And I. I felt like, in control,

[C]

you know, you're also unlocking new mechs at a fairly steady clip. I forget how many there are in the game now, but maybe you try

[B]

again with a different build and it felt like you could change it. There was something in that game, some. Some secret dust that they put in that game, because I never like those games. It's. They're not for me. I. I believe it in my core that I just can't get into them. And then into the breach, I was like, all right, I'm in.

[C]

That game's awesome. If you do go back to ftl, which it's a very stressful game still, they have a really, really good iOS version, like on an iPad or your phone, whatever, what have you.

[A]

That, that.

[C]

And this is completely random tangent. What's the subway game where you're building a subway line with, like, using the Milton Glacier map?

[B]

Oh, it won, like, the indie, the igf.

[A]

Mini Metro or something.

[C]

Mini Metro.

[A]

Thank you.

[C]

Between. Between that and ftl, it's like, those are two very, very solid playing games just to have on your phone in case, like, your Steam deck dies.

[B]

Mini Metro was fun. I remember getting into that. That also, again, when you die, you're like, whatever. Like, there's something about that. For me, I have a short fuse. If I die a lot, I'm like, I don't want to feel bad today, but those Games, they don't hurt my psyche when I lose you guys. I thought of the best example for me for this or for, for the first question and like, yes, you want to finish this question?

[C]

No, I, I, I, I, I'm done. So what is the, the also Rand or abject failure that you prefer to the genre Heavyweight

[B]

evolve? This asymmetrical 4v1, that's a good one. Was absolutely annihilated critically and gamers were like really mean to it as well. I will admit it had a very aggressive price structure and I can't forgive. I, I can't excuse use that part where I think, I think you could only play a certain amount of guys and monsters unless you spent like $120. That's pretty brutal. So I'm not going to get into that part of it. But this game was the first mega AAA launch that was arguing that asymmetrical competitive game design was where it was at. It was genuinely thrilling as a monster to, to try and evolve as fast as possible and then rip these people to shreds. To shreds you say? And as a person, a teammate, you had very different designs as a trapper or as the tank, which I think really paved the way for Dead by Daylight and all of these asymmetrical games that everybody loves now. You all fucking love these games now. Now Evolve really put in the work to do this first. And I know they made a lot of mistakes, but I loved that game and I was genuinely upset when they, when they shut it down, it was

[A]

ahead of its time. I remember when they, they were pitching it to us at Game Informer because they wanted to get a cover story and like them explaining the concept of asymmetrical multiplayer and stuff. It was like such a novel thing. It was like, yeah, super ahead of its time. I think the issue was like, I don't remember the reviews being like super duper negative. I remember they were just very middle of the road. I think the issue was it just that is a game that you have to have a regular audience playing online and it did not find that audience and it died.

[B]

Not quick enough.

[C]

Yeah. I also looking back, like we've for work when we're doing like genre analyses or like landscape analyses. It's. I think that game also came out at a time before developers truly understood how to make a compelling live service roadmap. I remember people with Evolve were like, there's only only four monsters right now. So it gets, I don't know the exact number. I think it just Also straight up had a content problem like amount that couldn't sustain. And I just don't think people fully knew. I mean not everybody can be Genshin Impact. Like I don't those Mihoyo. The way that they turn out content is just insane. But I still think like Evolve needed to be a bit more. Because that was Turtle Rock. Right. Right after Left for Dead and Left for Dead kind of had asynchronous with the zombie that multiplayer.

[B]

That is true. I see. I should probably. I really appreciate you bringing up Left

[C]

like that Studio to your point, I think like definitely paved the way for Dead by Daylight comes to mind is like the one that really took off.

[B]

And I do like Dead for De by Daylight. So I'm not like, that's not nearly as good as this, I think. I think this game got a lot of flack.

[C]

Walked so Dead by Daylight could run.

[B]

We played Dead by Daylight. Got the props.

[C]

Was it PAX or gdc? I played Dead by Daylight with you, Mary. We left the demo. We're like, that was kind of fucking cool, wasn't it? Yeah, that game seems awesome. But it was janky as shit. At the demo though.

[B]

I was like, it was janky. It had a couple things going for it though. I think it came out at a more technically advanced time where more people were like, I can give this a shot. It was easier to learn. Like it was. Evolve was difficult. And every. Every player you had to be like, you have to practice this like six times in order to be good at it. You can. You can figure out Dead by Daylight in an hour. You can fucking figure it out. Two, the deals that they signed to get like Jason Voorhees and you know, like all these iconic villains and get them in the game. Brilliant. Brilliant. Whoever is the guy who like inks their deals to make sure that you could play as the Stranger Things, Freakazoid, whatever his fucking name is. I really don't care. That is why that game blew up the way it did. I just want to say for the record, Evolve was sick.

[C]

This just reminded me when we were playing Dead by Daylight at GDC. I don't. There was another GDC or E3 where Rob Handlery and I played. Did you guys ever. I don't. This does not seem like either of your kind of game, but Dreadnought by Jaeger, the developer who did Spec Ops the line. You know, if I say Dreadnought, you know what it is?

[A]

It was. I remember they were pitching this to me.

[B]

Sounds familiar.

[C]

We played the demo and did it come out?

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Released October 14, 2018. General gist of it is it's space combat, but you are controlling like, like large ships. So like the movement is like similar to the Expanse. Like you need to really consider like, like a boat. You need to think like a few steps ahead to where you need to move, but like, like you're also shooting. Like the controller had different inputs for different weapons on the ship. So it's almost like a third person shooter as well. That game was awesome. I don't know. Whatever happened to it? There might have been some. I. I don't know. I just remember playing that with Rob and I was like, this game is sick. Why is no one more? People are not talking about it, but

[B]

it's a bummer when it happens, right? Like I. I was scouring through my library of games and it's actually funny because the game got shut down. I don't think you can play. You can't really find much about Evolve anymore. But I came across an indie game called Crawl. Did you guys ever played Crawl? This game came out in 2014.

[C]

Are you a baby?

[B]

You are? No. I think maybe it's like to be a dungeon crawler.

[C]

Oh.

[B]

It's also an asymmetrical game, but it's an indie game.

[C]

Game stink. Oh, it's got like, why am I blanking on the night? The. The. The Knight platformer games that like Tim Turi loves. Shovel Knight. Yes, Shovel Knight graphics kind of a little bit.

[B]

It's got that eight bit vibe to it. Anyway, it was also doing asymmetrical and I was like, man, that game was so sick. Evolve, like came out of my brain when I started thinking about the best asymmetry symmetrical games I've ever played.

[C]

I remember Chris Waters was always champ. He was trying to champion Chris Waters

[B]

early on and he was right and noble and good. I really. I'm a big Chris Waters defender.

[C]

Does he need defenders? Doesn't everybody love him?

[B]

Everybody loves Chris Waters, but I sound

[C]

like he's a shitty person. Like I.

[B]

No, sorry.

[A]

The nicest person. That was the person at Pack she didn't want to see.

[B]

He was pure as the driven snow.

[A]

What's up?

[B]

Everybody likes Chris Waters.

[C]

When we left your. When we left. When we all went to Washington slash Oregon last year and Amanda and I shared a Uber from the spa resort back to the airport. Mind you, we were all up late drinking the night before. So, like, it was not. It was not. He is the only person who could make that drive bearable of like I'm saying, if Amanda and I had to share with someone, I was glad it was Chris Waters, because he was just. Just still pleasant, even hungover. At, like, 5 in the morning, driving

[B]

through Columbia Gorge, my head, it was like, basically all adults. This is a very adult function. No babies. But my sister brought my niece, who at the time I think was 11. That's a tough age, right? Like, they're. They're, like, trying to fit in and be cool. Chris Waters was so goddamn good to her. He made her feel like a million bucks. She sung Eminem's, like, song. She wrapped.

[A]

Right.

[B]

The entire M M song, and he danced to it and hyped her up. Like, he was in the background being like, yo, yo, yo.

[A]

Like, the whole time.

[B]

What a dude. Tomatoes at her. You suck. He. He's just that kind of person. I think that makes everybody feel really good. He is one of the best people I've ever met. He kind of. I. I'd compare, you know, like, you really cannot find someone who doesn't like Vinny.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

That's how I feel about Chris Waters. You can't find someone who's like, but Chris Waters.

[C]

It's not a front with Chris, though. It's like, we all know.

[A]

Oh, yeah. Like, you know, there's the real Vinnie that no one sees but us. Yeah.

[C]

Vinnie's gonna have a Ellen DeGeneres kind

[A]

of record at some point. I'm kind of shocked it didn't happen back in the day. I know. He was. He was a menace.

[C]

Yeah, people do. You see, they did the. The celeb. The roast on Comedy Central and they had to. To cut during. No, that's actually. I was going to a not funny place with that. Anyway, thank you, Darian and Wes and Brad. That's our episode. Episode 129 or almost to 130. We will be back in a couple weeks. You can get merch@fire escapemerch.com I never check these after I say it, so they could be going anywhere. You can go to our Patreon if you want to get ad. Free episodes or video versions or just treat it like a tip jar if you appreciate what we do. Dan, what do you have going on in the meantime?

[A]

Giant bomb. Check it out. Plenty of fun stuff going on there, including the aforementioned Portal Pals with Mary and Mike. That is premium outside of the first episode. Also, I just checked fire escapemerch.com and I. This site cannot be reached.

[C]

Really? Try Deep Dish Pussy.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

That might be a Patreon.

[A]

Right?

[C]

Deep Dish Yeah, okay. Yeah, I'll renew it. Mary, what do you have going on?

[B]

A couple things. I'm busy. Yeah. So Portal Pals is a really fun show with Mike Minati that's on Giant Bomb. I'm live on Twitch every Monday. In the next few weeks, I do go live on Twitch's main channel. It's not always for fun, but in the next week I'll be going to. It's always fun in the sense that it's like work, right? Like it's like work updates that I don't think would be very fun. But we'll be going to Memphis for St. Jude and that is a wonderful experience because it's all the streamers raising money for the kids, which I absolutely love. It's such a delight. So I do encourage you to watch that and follow along as a bunch of streamers raise money for St. Jude. Finally, Instagram. I. It was Easter. I put a bunch of alcohol in eggs and we hid them in the yard and a bunch of girls and I ran around getting boozy eggs. I put all that crap on Instagram. It's very fun. That's more like slice of life behind the scenes stuff.

[C]

So you're using your meta glasses?

[B]

I did use my meta glasses. I love that, you know, And I'm using my meta glasses. Your mic change significantly just now. Did your cat touch something?

[C]

Probably. Okay, at least we're at the end of the episode. I don't know what happened. Well, sorry if I sound shitty for as I take us out.

[B]

You sound fine now. Maybe you were like the cat.

[C]

She. She booped it. Yeah, I'm over doing my consulting thing for the day job. Playing a lot of games. I feel bad. I don't always bring a ton of ammunition here, but like eventually the games come out and then I could talk about them without mentioning I played them like a year ago or something like that. But I am still playing a lot of games, despite what you might think.

[A]

I'm gonna get you guys pragmata and I wanna hear your thoughts next time.

[C]

Yeah, that game looks awesome. Or sounds awesome.

[B]

Yeah, I'd like to play.

[C]

Yeah. And then I am just doing wine stuff. Studying a fuck ton most of my free time. Got a test in early May and then I got five more after that over the next couple years. Yeah, Yeah, I figured you were talking. You were saying you think. I know. I'm more into wine than Minati's into Disney. You said that a few episodes ago.

[B]

I did. Does sound possible.

[A]

I. I could.

[B]

You're Dedicating your life to wine almost. And Manati's genuine question.

[C]

Where would you. Where in your point of view, how would you compare my wine knowledge to, like, your video game knowledge?

[A]

Maybe that's about some. I think you are more into wine than I am into wrestling, if that helps.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

Put anything and. Yeah, because, like, I barely ever bring up wrestling, you know, because you.

[C]

You have one of the most encyclopedic, like, breadths of knowledge about video games of anybody I know.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

But the thing is, like, the thing that's different with the wine stuff is I'm actually, like, studying a lot about how it's made and farmed and whatnot, which I don't think we have that. I don't think any of us. Well, no, Mary, you. You probably have better understanding than Dan and I do about making games. Like, Dan, we've covered.

[A]

I don't know how the people make games.

[C]

That's what I'm saying. That's why, like, with the wine stuff is I'm actually, like, like, starting there, which is helpful.

[B]

It's not that I. I only have, like, a. A couple of credits, and it's not from doing anything super important, but I. I was fortunate that my very first job in games was working for a publisher, and I saw firsthand how many game designs we funded, how many got really close to production, and how many actually were shipped. And it is insane. And that's why I'm always so, so much of an advocate that every game is a miracle, because I saw so many games come and go that never saw the light of day. It didn't matter if they were good. It didn't matter if they had a brilliant idea. Games are fucking hard, and I. Watching them crash and burn was always really tough for me. But, yeah, I'm also in a game dev house, and so every once in a while, I'll just be hanging out. Maybe I'll be shooting this podcast with you guys or on a work meeting, and you'll hear in my mic someone screaming about how many berries someone should be holding and, like, how. How many berries is normal for a character to hold. I'm like, oh, game design is actively occurring in this house.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

And it's a scream. It's a yelling match often. Yeah. I don't know.

[C]

It's crazy that any video game gets made. We see a lot of posters now for the day job. But, like, I have a much, much, much better understanding of, like, production gates and timelines than I do. I used to, as a journalist but it's not like they're asking my help to code anything. Yeah, please don't. Let's say that if anybody is looking for coding consulting, I'm not your.

[B]

It's a tough way. It's a tough world.

[C]

I know. I give off coder you do you?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

No, Mike, you with Wine is closer to Ben Hansen with video games. Because my history of video games and knowledge and everything is like historic. And I can talk about the games themselves. I don't know anything about development or, you know, that type of stuff. Hanson goes super deep on how games are made and who makes them and things like that. So I'd say that is more the analogy is you with Wine, Hanson with games, you know.

[C]

Yeah, gotcha. Well, either way, I'm doing a lot of that. But yeah, we'll be back in two weeks. Episode 130 thanks. For anybody who had their Monday morning commute for this episode and had to wait a few more hours, we wanted to make sure we could talk about. Dan wanted to make sure he could talk about Pragmata because that game sounds awesome.

[B]

Hopefully he also just likes to delay episodes just because he loves people watching people.

[A]

Gotta be a little stinker, you know, every avenue I can. Yeah, yeah.

[C]

Wes didn't get to hear us on his morning commute, so people tried to

[B]

ban his username from Reddit. I've been trying to get him banned from Giant Bomb for years. No, I get him out of there.

[A]

Pretty firmly embedded at this point.

[B]

I think we'll see.

[C]

All right, we'll see everybody in two weeks. Dan, Mary, see you. I don't know when, but we'll.

[B]

We'll figure that out.

[C]

All right, see ya.

[B]

Foreign.

[D]

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