Game Scoop! 803: The Spoiler-Free Assassin’s Creed Shadows Episode

Summary

Game Scoop! Episode 803 Summary: The Spoiler-Free Assassin’s Creed Shadows Episode

Release Date: March 22, 2025
Hosts: Damon Hatfield, Sam Claiborne, Mark Medina
Network: IGN & Geek Media

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1. Introduction to Episode Content

The episode delves deep into the highly anticipated release of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, addressing its features, gameplay mechanics, visual enhancements, and the hosts' personal experiences with the game. Additionally, the crew touches upon the shrinking release window for the Nintendo Switch 2, engaging listener feedback, and a quirky segment on White Knuckle Scoring.

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2. Assassin’s Creed Shadows Overview

Damon Hatfield introduces the main topic:

"[02:06] Damon Hatfield: We've got a great show for you this week. The release window for the Switch 2 continues to shrink, and I think we've got the biggest hint ever as to exactly when that might be today. And we also got some great emails from Scoop Nation out there, including an important update on white knuckle scoring, which we obviously remember from that Nintendo Power a couple episodes ago."

The focus quickly shifts to Assassin’s Creed Shadows, highlighting its long-awaited setting in Field Japan and its positive reception:

"[02:56] Damon Hatfield: ... finally out. Our reviewer gave it an 8 out of 10, and that seems to be close to what it's getting across other media outlets as well."
"[02:57] Sam Claiborne: Absolutely."
"[02:58] Mark Medina: It is a bonafide banger."

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3. Gameplay Mechanics and Features

The hosts share their hands-on experiences, emphasizing the game's exploration and story elements without delving into spoilers.

Exploration and Story Progression:

"[03:13] Damon Hatfield: ... I just do what I always do in Assassin's Creed games and run around and explore and, uh, do outposts and castles and climb towers and uncover the map and do all that."

Characters Yasuke and Now: The discussion highlights the dual protagonists, Yasuke and Now, and their unique abilities:

"[09:05] Damon Hatfield: ... I think her facial capture and the performance is great. I think they've actually really achieved something here. I think it's one of the best facial performances in a video game I've ever seen."
"[12:35] Sam Claiborne: ... she's a natural, like super talented assassin, but has shinobi training, which is like, who wouldn't want that twist?"

Grappling Hook and Mobility: The grappling hook feature is praised for enhancing navigation:

"[14:20] Sam Claiborne: ... a grappling hook and get up there. Like that's a game changer. It's really cool. You're just like up."

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4. Visuals and Graphics Enhancement

The episode extensively covers the game's stunning visuals and next-gen graphical fidelity, comparing it favorably to predecessors like Ghost of Tsushima.

Next-Gen Graphics:

"[25:50] Damon Hatfield: ... This might be the new prettiest video game. It might be the best looking game in existence right now."
"[25:58] Sam Claiborne: It is unbelievable looking. ... It is a next gen version of those games. It is incredibly different. And next level, everything in it is."

Environmental Details: The hosts marvel at the meticulous environmental designs, such as dynamic weather and seasonal changes:

"[29:43] Sam Claiborne: Have you been to winter yet?"
"[30:02] Mark Medina: ... frozen areas where, like, they were just running water before. And there's also, like, mixed ice and water areas."

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5. Seasonal Dynamics and World Reset Mechanics

Sam Claiborne explains the seasonal changes and their impact on gameplay:

"[29:43] Sam Claiborne: It's all set in 1589, which I think is funny, which had an 80 season, year there."
"[30:16] Sam Claiborne: ... they reset your scouts, it resets all the castles, anybody you've killed, anything like that."

Impact on Gameplay: The ability to manually change seasons to manage scouts and resources is discussed:

"[31:06] Sam Claiborne: ... you can buy scouts, you can expand your total stock and you can just turn them off."

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6. AI Behavior and Enemy Mechanics

Damon Hatfield critiques the enemy AI, sharing specific in-game scenarios:

"[33:25] Damon Hatfield: ... you're just going to sit there until you have a wanted level."

Sam Claiborne and Mark Medina agree, noting the repetitive nature of enemy encounters:

"[33:39] Sam Claiborne: It's the same old stuff. It's like very Assassin's Creed right."
"[34:18] Sam Claiborne: ... enemies with like hand cannons."

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7. Host Opinions and Ratings

The hosts express their overall satisfaction with the game, while cautiously reserving final judgments:

"[17:56] Sam Claiborne: ... how it aligns with Assassin's Creed's historical accuracy, but it's a masterful open world."
"[35:36] Sam Claiborne: ... this is just a different type of world. It's just this, the single open world map is the thing that we all like. And to see one that is so refined is, it feels like a next gen game."

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8. Upcoming Industry News: Nintendo Switch 2 Release

The hosts speculate on the release date of the Nintendo Switch 2, referencing upcoming Directs and potential release windows:

"[40:00] ... less than two weeks away from the Nintendo Direct that's gonna be focused on Switch 2. ... likely that it's gonna be planned to be released in June."

Press Release Highlight: A newly announced 3D platformer, Ruffy in the Riverside, slated for a June 26 release across multiple platforms, including Switch:

"[42:14] Damon Hatfield: ... it's gonna be out by June 26."

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9. Listener Interaction: White Knuckle Scoring Update

A listener named Kylie Daniel provides an update on White Knuckle Scoring, a unique compilation album aimed at promoting youth literacy through an accompanying comic book.

Kylie’s Update:

"[47:30] Karin: ... included a completely unhinged comic book in the liner notes. The plot is basically that Bowser, who is illiterate, wants to rule the mushroom kingdom by sealing its oil and joining OPEC."

Hosts’ Reaction: The hosts express amusement and confusion over the album's content and artwork:

"[51:41] Sam Claiborne: ... Yoshi told them was up. ... It's like, okay, this is supposed to promote literacy, and they've made up their own slang."

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10. Final Segment: Video Game 20 Questions

The episode concludes with a playful 20 Questions segment, where listeners are invited to guess a suggested game based on hints provided by Tracy from Cincinnati. Although the guess did not pan out as expected, the segment adds a fun, interactive element to the episode.

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11. Closing Thoughts and Production Credits

The hosts wrap up by reiterating their positive experience with Assassin’s Creed Shadows and encourage listeners to stay engaged with the podcast for future episodes and game insights.

Production Credits:

"This episode of Game Scoop was produced by myself, Damon Hatfield, and Gilbert Audienza. Technical direction is handled by Jobbert Atienza..."

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Notable Quotes

• "[03:01] Sam Claiborne: Going to have to take the devil's advocate, so I nominate Mark."
• "[09:05] Damon Hatfield: ... she's one of the best facial performances in a video game I've ever seen."
• "[22:19] Damon Hatfield: ... if I'm level six, I went into a castle where everyone's level 40, everyone will one-hit kill me, but I can one-hit kill them if I'm sneaky enough."
• "[25:50] Damon Hatfield: ... this might be the new prettiest video game. It might be the best looking game in existence right now."

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Conclusion

In this episode of Game Scoop!, the IGN crew offers an in-depth, spoiler-free analysis of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, praising its graphics, gameplay enhancements, and open-world design while providing constructive critiques on AI behavior. The discussion is enriched with listener interactions and timely industry news, making it a must-listen for gaming enthusiasts eager to explore the latest in the Assassin’s Creed series and beyond.

Transcript

[Damon Hatfield]

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[Sam Claiborne]

Welcome ladies and gentlemen to Mario's Bistro. The special tonight is the Beef carpacc. With the Venmo Debit card.

[Damon Hatfield]

You can turn the basketball game tickets your friends paid you back for into a romantic dinner that you can earn up to 5% cash back on. Use your Venmo balance to pay for the things you love to do. Visit Venmo Medevit to learn more. The Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp Bank N.A. pursuant to license by MasterCard International, Inc. Terms apply. Dosh Cashback terms apply. What's up everybody? Welcome to IGN gamescoop. I'm your host Damon Hatfield and joining me this week are Sam Claiborne.

[Sam Claiborne]

Hey, we're back everybody.

[Damon Hatfield]

And Mark Medina.

[Mark Medina]

I'm here, Damon.

[Damon Hatfield]

We've got A great show for you this week. The release window, the possible release window for the Switch 2 continues to shrink, and I think we've got the biggest hint ever as to exactly when that might be today. And we also got some great emails from Scoop Nation out there, including an important update on white knuckle scoring, which we obviously remember from that Nintendo Power a couple episodes ago. The plot thickens on that one. But first we can finally talk about Assassin's Creed Shadows, which is finally out now after, I think, multiple delays, many years. The Assassin's Creed game set in Field Japan that people have been asking for forever, finally out. Our reviewer gave it an 8 out of 10, and that seems to be close to what it's getting across other media outlets as well. Sam and Mark and I have been playing it for a couple weeks now, and I think it's safe to say that we all love it. Is that right?

[Sam Claiborne]

Absolutely.

[Mark Medina]

It is a. It's a bonafide banger.

[Damon Hatfield]

I mean, but one of us is.

[Sam Claiborne]

Going to have to take the devil's advocate, so I nominate Mark.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay.

[Mark Medina]

What a trash game. They're just going to clip that and we're, we're good to go. They're like, IGN's based.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

No, so, like, I'm, I'm having a great time with it. I'm loving it. But like, I don't. Even though I've been playing it for two weeks, I haven't really been intentionally trying to push the story. I just, I do what I always do in Assassin's Creed games and run around and explore and, uh, do outposts and castles and climb towers and uncover the map and do all that. Do a little bit of story stuff here and there.

[Sam Claiborne]

Get those little white question marks.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep, exactly. So even though I, I love it and I'm having a great time, I. I can't yet. I don't have like a grasp on how I think it compares to my previous favorite, Assassin's Creed Odyssey. I don't. I don't know yet for myself.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, you like it better because it has a grappling hook.

[Damon Hatfield]

I mean, it's gotta be hard to be. You know, you remember, you remember at the Damies last year, Japan won second place for best nation.

[Mark Medina]

So what won first place?

[Damon Hatfield]

Scoop Nation, obviously.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, God.

[Sam Claiborne]

This is a. I guess this is a climb everything, now that I think about it even more than the previous Assassin's Creeds, because you can either get up that hill by a horse or with your, with your grappling hook or just by you know, running as fast as possible. You can get everywhere, Right?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. It's not a climb everything game, though.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. You can't climb exact cliff faces because they don't want you to. But you can usually run to the right a little bit and then go up them.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

So. And we should also say this is going to be a spoiler free discussion about Assassin's Creed so nobody has to worry anything about that.

[Sam Claiborne]

I don't even think it has a story. No, it does. I'm not saying that. I'm saying that because I'm not paying attention to it.

[Mark Medina]

I'm like, you just run around praying everywhere. That's all this game is.

[Sam Claiborne]

You do do that a lot.

[Mark Medina]

There is a lot of pray.

[Sam Claiborne]

P R, E, Y and P R A. Yeah, exactly.

[Damon Hatfield]

There's a meditation minigame which I. I feel like I fail way too often. Way too often.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's not easy.

[Mark Medina]

It's because it's like. It has. You do these tones, but the button presses right before the tone.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, exactly.

[Mark Medina]

Once the buttons go away.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

You just start listening to the tone. And I always mess it up. 100. Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Little chimes or little gong hits or something. You might have to press a X up, down, over and over again. And it does. It does kind of put you into like a trance like state.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

But if you miss, it starts all over again.

[Mark Medina]

Yep.

[Sam Claiborne]

Or it sets you back a little bit. So, I mean, Damon, you have some more to say about it. Right. So go for it. And then I will.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, I wanted to say let's start at the beginning with the very first time that you boot up Assassin's Creed Shadows. Funnily enough, you might find yourself starting Assassin's Creed Odyssey or Mirage or Valhalla, because Shadows has a launcher for all the modern Assassin's Creed games.

[Sam Claiborne]

That looks like. Almost like one of those, hey, catch up on the story.

[Damon Hatfield]

That's what it looks like. So that's what I did first. I. It has. It has all the. You can just switch between the Assassin's Creeds and they show you the protagonist of each one. And so I flipped to Odyssey and it was Mike. I played as the female. What's the female character's name?

[Mark Medina]

Cassandra.

[Damon Hatfield]

Cassandra, yeah. So I was like, oh, yeah, I'll just get a little recap of what happened in Odyssey. But it took me to the Xbox. I play on. I'm playing on Xbox series X. It took me to the Xbox store page for Odyssey because I don't have it installed on my Xbox anymore. So anyway, it has this launcher.

[Mark Medina]

If you want to recap. Just play the game again.

[Damon Hatfield]

Exactly. Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

90 hour recap.

[Damon Hatfield]

We knew that Ubisoft was working on this. I think they called it Assassin's Creed Infinity, but I don't think they ever said it was going to be in shadows.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, yeah. If that's what this is.

[Mark Medina]

It's just.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's. It's just like the Hitman situation. It's like now Hitman, their new Hitman games 1, 2 and 3 are kind of look like one contiguous story venue in the.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Which is funny because I'm not against it.

[Damon Hatfield]

Surprising.

[Mark Medina]

I think that hub is called World of Assassination. And now Assassination, the biggest assassination game also has a hub like that.

[Sam Claiborne]

How far?

[Mark Medina]

You can't call it World of Assassination.

[Damon Hatfield]

I think just Origins.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay. So it goes to the Egypt.

[Damon Hatfield]

So it's that trilogy. And then Mirage.

[Sam Claiborne]

Mirage. Okay.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, got it.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay. And then you get into the game and they're inverting the camera is a little strange in this game. If you want to invert the camera like me, here's a. Here's a psa. When you go into the menu and you just click invert Y axis. For some reason, it inverts both sticks.

[Mark Medina]

What?

[Damon Hatfield]

So, yeah, so the camera works correctly for me, but also when I press up on the left stick, she'll run towards the camera. And like, who.

[Sam Claiborne]

Who, who would want that?

[Damon Hatfield]

Nobody inverts the. The left stick.

[Sam Claiborne]

I guess if you're gonna invert, literally hold the controller upside down and then.

[Mark Medina]

Hold the controller up.

[Sam Claiborne]

But then right left is wrong.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, it doesn't make any sense. So you have to actually just select invert right stick for some reason. I don't know. And also the camera and the map. You can also choose to invert the camera in the map, which would be, you know, just. Just zooming in and out of the map. So I selected that, but then it wasn't inverted. Like, you know, pressing up would make it go. How does this work? Pressing up would make it go in. I don't know. It wasn't working as I expected because the camera for the map is inverted by default.

[Sam Claiborne]

Ah.

[Damon Hatfield]

So when you select Invert, then it's not inverted. So it's like. Well, that's. That's also very strange. Okay. Then you get to decide how you want to play the game. There's like Canon mode or Immersive mode. What did everyone pick? I picked Immersive mode.

[Sam Claiborne]

Mark did can and I did Immersive. It's interesting what the difference is.

[Mark Medina]

Well, well, no, no. So canon and immersive are different. Immersive is just one's.

[Sam Claiborne]

The graphics thing.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. Immersive is when it. When it makes it where they speak in Portuguese and Japanese. Right.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay.

[Mark Medina]

And then.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

So I'm playing just in English because my brain can't. Like, when I'm riding a horse and she's talking in Japanese and I'm having to, like, look at the subtitles, and next thing you know, I'm in a lake. I get it. I get that the Japanese voiceover is better, but. No, I've just been playing in English.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, in immersion mode. Immersive mode. Yeah. You hear everyone speak the language that they would be speaking, which includes the Portuguese people that are there as well. And that's fine. I liked. What was the Shogun. I like shogun. But they also, alongside every piece of dialogue, will say, like, determined or worried or angry. Like they're. They're spelling out for you the tone, which is.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, not all languages do share tone, so maybe that'd be helpful if it was like, you know, like in some languages, like, they don't go up when they ask a question. So, like, maybe they need to put inquisitive for that. Like, I don't know.

[Damon Hatfield]

I just never seen that before. I've watched a lot of Japanese content with Japanese subtitles. I've never. You know, I've never seen it.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's pretty rare.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. Okay, so there's that, and then there's the part. There's the fact that you. You. I really don't think this is a spoiler. I mean, we're going to talk about, like, who you started playing as. Some people are super sensitive to this. If you don't want to hear it, skip ahead. But it's not. I do not consider this a spoiler. You start out playing as Yasuke for like, five minutes, and then it switches to now. And I. I've. I've probably played 10 hours or more, and I'm just playing as now. There's no Yasuke yet.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, you still don't have Yasuke yet?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, because Damon could potentially play a hundred hours that way. You have to progress the storyline. And even if you mainline the storyline, you usually don't get to it till 6 to 10 hours.

[Mark Medina]

And I think, yeah, yeah. It's. It starts with you killing two of the onro people. And once you've done that, then I believe, then it's like the quest after that will push you towards. But there's like, so Many like now way specific quests. And then there's just like, yeah, so many things to do. It took me, I would say, 15 hours before I was like, okay, let's get. And I've still only done Yasuke's opening quests.

[Sam Claiborne]

I played a lot of Yasuke like specific quests now. So I played that character a lot. But I usually, when I have the chance to choose, I'm playing a stealth game. And so I just choose now I more often. And also now it's like the collectibles character because like she has a grappling hook and can jump off things and survive. Like those are things that. Yes. You can't do. You're a ground based character. You can't climb up to a window and hop into it on the side of a castle. You can't do that stuff. So it's like that. I think what I'm saying though, is all awesome. It's really cool that they give you this character that can basically do 80 to 90% of the cool stuff in the game. But when you need Yasuke or you're forced to use him, it's still awesome. It's really well made. It's like you get in there and you just suddenly you don't die as easily. Your character's really powerful and like enemies just like melt before you. It's really interesting. But that's not. The game's not set up. So that's a cheat. Like, that's not necessarily helpful. Like to be able to go and just. Because you're just going to sit there until you have a wanted level. So it's like you can kill all the enemies you want, but then like bigger enemies come in. Enemies with like hand cannons.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

And like all this stuff happens. That's not helpful. So like, you do have to pick the characters, you know, for the right situations or just play the main story missions that apply to them. And then use now all the time.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, yeah. And I really like now.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, she's great.

[Damon Hatfield]

She's been a great character and I think her facial capture and the performance is great. I think they've actually really achieved something here. I think it's some of the one of the best facial performances in a video game I've ever seen.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yep. I mean, they established her as like, you know, like an Assassin's Creed Assassin. Right. Like that is. She's a natural, like super talented assassin, but has shinobi training, which is like, who. Who wouldn't want that twist? It's so cool. It's so cool. And I know you have a note about this, Damon. We should talk about the jumps.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. She's constantly doing cool flips.

[Mark Medina]

Everything. They're so cool.

[Damon Hatfield]

They're not necessary at all. They're just cool flips. Off of a rock, off of a roof.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, you like. Yeah, you jump over a fence, and she'll do, like, a weird side flip. Like, okay.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. It's like when Mario in Mario 3 gets a star. And also he jumps like the contra character. It's like, yeah, this is cool.

[Mark Medina]

But that's, like, what's so cool about her, though, is when you play as Yasuke, like, what Sam's saying is correct. Like, his combat.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. I love the running through the doors. That actually was a puzzle I couldn't solve. At one point, I was like, what? How do I get in here? And then it was like, oh, yeah. I just bashed through with it.

[Mark Medina]

You just Kool Aid man through the door.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, totally.

[Mark Medina]

But it's like he feels like a truck. Like, when you're running around, there's like. It's sluggish. When you're sprinting, it's like, you can't get too close to a wall, or he'll just bash into the wall. You're like, dude, what are you doing? Chill.

[Sam Claiborne]

But then a lot of stuff is destructible that way. Like, a lot of things you'll break. You'll just. You'll just charge through things. That now always runs up and over.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, exactly. And. But it's cool because then you'll switch to nowhei and. And you feel light as a feather. She's just so light and nimble. It can do anything.

[Sam Claiborne]

Especially after updating the grappling hook to be fast. I really recommend it. It's super cool. A lot of the times you're like, I'm so sick of climbing around and running around. All of a sudden, you're just like, zip, zip, zip, zip, zip.

[Mark Medina]

I don't have it yet. What does it do?

[Sam Claiborne]

Like, how does it just makes you climb faster? So it's so fast, though, that, like, you just kind of zip upwards. It feels like a. Like a Batman tool.

[Mark Medina]

I need to get that.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Because.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, I'm sick of it.

[Mark Medina]

I'll see an eagle point, and it's like, at the top of those, like, layered, you know? Yeah. I don't know what they're called, but you're just like, yeah. So you're just like. And then climbing. Yeah, climbing.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's great.

[Mark Medina]

I would like that to be faster, so.

[Sam Claiborne]

Thank you plus I've always played Assassin's Creed on top of roofs. You know, it's just how I play the game. And so like now I like to have the grapple hook and get up there. Like that's a game changer. It's really cool. You're just like up. Like to escape, if you screw up, you just go upwards and it always works. Yes, there's bushes, yes. There's a bunch of things to hide in if you want, but you just rarely need that stuff. Usually just like zip upwards and run as far fast as you can and then hang off the side of a castle. Right.

[Damon Hatfield]

So now it has a katana and she can also equip like a short sword. I haven't found that yet. Do you guys know like where. No game help here.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's a chain hook thing. Is that what you're talking about? Her Naga?

[Mark Medina]

No, she's got two. She's a dagger.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, like a dagger.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

This is what allows you to assassinate two enemies at the same time, right? Yeah, but I haven't found that yet so I can't.

[Mark Medina]

I don't.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is that really required to do that? I didn't realize.

[Mark Medina]

It is. Yeah. Cuz that's the other. That's the other thing that the Tonto is for. Yeah, it's like one to one combat. She's super fast with it, but yeah, it counts as your second dagger.

[Sam Claiborne]

It has the highest dps. For her, it just has no range, right? Yeah. To get it, there's no story lock or anything for it. It's just in a legendary or regular chest, you just got to pick up one of those weapons.

[Mark Medina]

It'll be in one of the castles, one of the early castles in Izumi. Setsu.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. You can go to the IGN or Map Genie map and like click on the legendary chest in the nearby castles and one of them, Lava Tanta, it shows you what's in the legendary. So you can go. And then it shows you thankfully where the samurai are, which I cannot wait for. Having this game pre release. That is the one thing that I need our guide for so badly is that you go to these castles and there's like five, up to five mini bosses in them. But to find them you have to like run around and scan and it just takes a long time. It's not hard or anything. It just takes a long time. It's actually pretty clever. Like they're usually hidden on like a little island in the middle of a pond in the middle of the castle and you might miss Them for that reason. But sometimes I'm like, I just got. I got to get onto my next thing. And so it's. It's very nice to have our map to look those up. Now they're on the map.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, actually, Damon. No, I'm wrong. So we. The. The on route, the, like the main quest. You haven't done either of the two guys?

[Damon Hatfield]

I guess. I mean, I guess not. I don't know.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. So one of them is the Tonto. The other one is the Kirigama, which is the. Oh, it is basically the. The. The flail. And that one's more for. So if you hover over them, they'll show you which ones you get.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, okay. Thanks, Mark. Yeah, I just thought I just picked it up. I didn't realize because I have, like, a poison one that I got from a castle for sure, which is the one I used. But just use the Kirigama, like, it's her best weapon. It's her best skill tree. It's. It's like a range thing. You need to keep people away from you.

[Mark Medina]

So it's a bunch of whirlwind and. Yeah, yeah. It's so cool.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's like God of War.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, I mean, speaking of, like, all these items, there's so much loot in this game.

[Mark Medina]

There's a lot.

[Damon Hatfield]

You're just constantly. I mean, I think it's great. You're constantly getting new stuff. You can get new katanas, new outfits, headgear, little trinkets, and I'm just constantly finding new stuff. And the cool thing is I'm constantly finding better stuff. I hate it in games when there's lots of loot, but I find something early on that's great, and I, like, never find anything better.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, so it has the same. It's better balanced here, but it has the same, I would say, problem or solution that the previous Assassin's Creed games have, where you. You get gear and it's rated. So you usually go with your epic or legendary gear because it has, like, an additional way you can buff it. And then it has, like, some kind of cool, cool thing about it. Right. And it's usually when you. Right. When you get out of a chest, it's at your level or a little bit higher than your level. So when that happens, you equip the thing that's on your level, but you level up pretty fast in this game. They fix that. Like, you kind of level up fast all the time. So then you usually find yourself at 25 while your gear is at 22, so you have two choices. What Damon's saying is really helpful because you always are going to find gear nearby, which is probably going to have the 24, 25 level. But your 22 gear stuff, you can go back to your hideout and spend resources to upgrade it. So if you have a dedicated weapon set that you like, it's actually kind of hard. You got it. You got to like, always have enough material and play the game a certain way to keep that stuff updated. Otherwise you're going to find yourself having a back door, which is just put on whatever you just found nearby. Because it's. DPS is higher. I mean, that's balance. It's good. But it also means like, you do hit a wall. If you try to do both, you. You'll hit a point where it's like, oh, I've been upgrading my favorite armor and my favorite weapons. All three weapons. Like, you can't do that. You won't have enough resources to do that. You're going to hit like a. What is it? Metal and fabric wall at some point.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

And you have to choose. Like, I'm going to keep this one Kusiragama updated because it's awesome.

[Mark Medina]

You know, I'm still wearing.

[Damon Hatfield]

Real quick. What happened behind me?

[Mark Medina]

Oh, something's up.

[Sam Claiborne]

Game crash.

[Mark Medina]

Lost your signal. I mean, it. It. Besides the giant no signal, it looks fine.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, it looks like.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, like it looks great. Just a picture frame.

[Damon Hatfield]

Take care of this. Okay. Let's talk about the. How people might be surprised at the tone that this game takes at certain points.

[Sam Claiborne]

The rockin score.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

1500S Japan. But like, sometimes you'll hear this music that is not period appropriate. Like there's a battle sequence early on where that has like this shredding surf punk song with vocals on it.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's very good.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, it's the same when you get Yasuke again. It plays a really cool song.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

I'm not.

[Damon Hatfield]

I'm not mad about it. I was just surprised. I don't. Because I don't think they hinted at these. This. That kind of like tone style, right? Yeah, it is. There's another like. Like a training montage that has very like, you know, Django Unchained, Kill Bill,' 70s martial arts film sort of feel to it.

[Sam Claiborne]

If anything, I want more of that. And I feel like, unfortunately, Assassin's Creed, the series is limiting of that because it's like we're doing a historically accurate thing and it's inside a computer and those are the two themes. Whereas like if they were just making like, you know, the coolest set in Japan game ever and could do whatever they want with that, they'd put dragons in it and have crazy music and stuff. It's just, it's a little self limiting. So I'm really happy that they had this in this game.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Now Sam and I have toggled something in the menus. It's a very, very important gameplay mechanic possibility. I don't know if Mark is playing this way.

[Mark Medina]

I made a video on how to do it though.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yes. Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

I mean, I think it's the way to play. It's the way to play for me, you know, maybe not for everyone. So this is an rpg. You level up and all the enemies have levels too. And even though you're an assassin, if the person you're trying to assassinate, their level is too high, they won't die. You'll just take off some health. But you can just turn on instant assassinations in the menu. So any enemy in the game, if you sneak up behind them and assassinate them, they're done with one hit. Sam and I turn that on and I. And I love it. That's the way I want to play. I, I want never going back. I want to actually be an assassin. I don't care how big this guy is. If I stab him, you know, in.

[Sam Claiborne]

The, if I sneak into his home and it took me like 45 minutes and then I find out that his level is like 3 above mine and I have to do a, a kusaragama battle with him. Like, screw that. That was like, that's not Assassin's Creed. It's crazy. I love it.

[Mark Medina]

I love that you go to stab him and he just grabs your arm.

[Sam Claiborne]

100%. Yeah. What was the point of all that? Like the mission said I could handle this. And like I get in there and then also it's just like, then like three other soldiers come in. I'm like, okay, all right. Like, I'm just like spinning around now. I'm like, I don't feel like a badass anymore. I feel like a jackass.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. You can see on the map all the castles, like what the levels are and the enemies and they'll be red if they're a lot higher than you. But if you turn this feature on. I was level six, I went into a castle where everyone's level 40. Everyone in the castle will one hit kill me. But I can one hit kill them. If I'm just sneaky enough. It's great.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's Perfect stealth game. I like that. And so I think it makes it feel like old Assassin's Creed games. It rewards your character tree for other things other than just like this one really lame set of tree points, which is like, up your assassin damage. Up your assassin damage. It's just a waste of your points. Like, you're gonna get to this point. Like this is built in the game, but you just have to spend a bunch of points on it instead of spending on cooler stuff like, you know, vaulting over enemies and stuff like that.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, it's not a win.

[Mark Medina]

I feel like it was just abuse it because I would just drop smoke bombs and then just assassinate everybody.

[Sam Claiborne]

I haven't tried it with smoke bombs. I'll try that out.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

But I do do like these elaborate castle infiltrations, which are really fun. And then you got to figure out the enemy's pattern or take out his, you know, minions to actually figure out how to assassinate him. It's like, really interesting and it's a lot more fun. Maybe I'll get sick of it. And then I just switched to Yasuke. Yeah, like, what's the point? What's the point of having a character that can climb to the top of the castle, you know?

[Mark Medina]

You know?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, he does have game.

[Sam Claiborne]

He does she. Both of them have like a kind of like range weapon. And I saw Mitchell's or somebody's video where they had that powered up and they were like looking around corners and head shotting people with shurikens for one hit kills. I was like, whoa, that's cool too. Not, Not. That's not a menu option change. There's something you can do anyway. I really do recommend it. And then I also recommend I have HDR on on my television. And I like it. I like it when it's fine tuned. I cannot see anything in this game if it's nighttime. And it's nighttime for about half the time and you can't change it. So because of that, when you go in a cave or if you're at night, like, I was like running through forests and I really couldn't see anything. And HDR doesn't allow you to adjust the brightness in your television. You got to do it in the game. So there is a setting in the menus. It's called saturation. And there's one other that should just be called brightness and contrast. But nope, when you have HDR on, those are grayed out in the menu and you have to use these other two that. That are for HDR and it Will make your graphics look a little bit like more video game, like, and less realistic. And so I tend to toggle that when I go in a kofun, which is this. There's tombs in this game, Tomb Raider tombs that have tomb puzzles. And they're awesome, they're really, really cool. But they're pitch black. And if you don't know you can't ever get a torch, you're never going to figure this out. You got to adjust your TV settings. It's just, it's that type of game. And nighttime. They want you to play at nighttime because it's called shadows because you can sneak around better. Right. But like, it is hard to see. And Mark had some footage early on. We were like, whoa, can't see anything in this footage.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, I, Yeah, well, it was nighttime and raining and the weather is so.

[Sam Claiborne]

Good that it just blocks it.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, yeah, well. And surrounding the mountains is, is some of the like, thickest vegetation I've ever seen in a video game where it's like you'll just be running and you can't see anything. You're just. There's just trees in your face. You're like, I don't know what I'm doing.

[Sam Claiborne]

But even in Dennis, they let you do that. They just let you. Beeline, if you want. It just looks.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's, it's been, it's been tough. But the co founds is when we figured out that it was just an HDR problem because I was like, I can see in these fairly.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

I mean, we should talk about how good this game looks. This, like, this might be the new, prettiest video game.

[Mark Medina]

It might be the best looking game in existence right now.

[Sam Claiborne]

It is, it is. I mean, we're bearing the lead. That's the first thing that I took away from this game. It is unbelievable looking. It does this thing with nature where you are far away from things and the closer you get, the more realistic they render. They don't pop in. They look perfect. There's fog at a distance. You can see some of this here. You, you can see perfect reflections in water, you know, sunlight, dapples. That's all great, but it's like there's a layer of polish over this which, you know, Ghost Hashima didn't have. Ghost of Shima was stylized. Right. And then. But you do see on like really high end PCs, the past couple of Assassin's Creed games, like, did a good job with water and beaches and stuff like that. Like, the vegetation looked really good. This is absolutely a next gen version of those games. It is incredibly different. And next level, everything in it is. And I can say so much more, but I want to hear your opinions and then I'll talk about some of the finer details.

[Mark Medina]

If you liked Ghost of Tsushima's like falling red leaves and all that, the wind and stuff like that, man, you're gonna, you're gonna. You will love this game because it's. I was, I was do making a video earlier on how to get to the highest point in the game, which was like 3,000 kilometer away or whatever. And it's just the most enjoyable horse ride ever because it's so pretty and I got, I got to go to areas that like that I hadn't been yet. And the game is. Yeah, it's, it's really gorgeous. I'm playing on PS5 Pro, just in performance mode and yeah, it's stunning. It's because the game does take place a lot of the time at night. It does still look really good with all the lights and stuff like that. But I, I, I, I. No pun intended. It truly shines in the daytime. It looks really, really good.

[Sam Claiborne]

Sunrise and sunset especially and weather.

[Mark Medina]

And the characters all look good too. Like her gear. I have my character in like a classic Assassin's Creed. It's like gray, but it's like robes with a hood. And she looks great, Looks awesome.

[Sam Claiborne]

Mark, you mentioned the petals, so this blew my mind. But in spring it's really windy and that's when you see like the beautiful fields with those same flowers that they have in Ghost of Shima also. But you know, there's. Sometimes you'll see petals blowing towards you and you're like, oh, what a nice effect. And then you can see they're actually coming from a tree with that colored blossoms and they're coming at you with the real wind carrying them the right direction. Like that is what's happening in the world. Like it is, is that detailed with how they handled that stuff. And I know it sounds trivial, but when you just see it composed. You don't play this game the same way you play other games. You stop and you're like, holy shit. Yeah, look, look at this. You know, like, I just want to show it to everybody.

[Mark Medina]

I know I got that Ghost of Tsushima effect when you finally hit the open world, which in both games kind of are the same. This game's got a longer prologue, but they both kind of like are a prologue. And then eventually, you know, it opens up into the open World. And yeah, you just kind of have that moment where you stop and you're like, wait, is this the open world? Because, like, Horizon Zero dawn was one of the first games I played where when you play as a kid, the. The world itself is rendered in a higher fidelity because it only has to render a very small amount. And then when you get into adult Aloy, you're like, okay, it still looks gorgeous. But, like, you could tell it's scaled down a little bit because now it's rendering the whole world. And I had that moment where, with this game, where I was like, am I. Am I still in some sort of prologue or am I in the actual open world? And I was. And it's. Yeah, it's really, really, really great game to look at.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. We should talk about the seasons and how that and how that works.

[Sam Claiborne]

Have you been to winter yet?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, I just. Of course, winter was last night. Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

I'm in the mountains in winter. And like, of course, attention to detail. The snow is incredible. It's incredible. And there's frozen areas where, like, they were just running water before. And there's also, like, mixed ice and water areas like, what the hell?

[Mark Medina]

And now way I'll slip on him too. She'll be like, if you try to run on him.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, but it's like, it's on a timer. Kind of a long timer. Right?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

So.

[Sam Claiborne]

So Mark, you should explain this, because I just. I just questioned you about it today, and you're making a video.

[Mark Medina]

It's. It's something. It took. It took us a bit to figure it out. Yeah. Basically, there's a compass on the top right of your map, and there's. It's. It's a circle. And once that circle fills up, there's a midpoint. And the season will change either by fast traveling, I think, finishing a quest, or you can manually change the season by holding right on the D pad. And the whole.

[Sam Claiborne]

If you're in the open world, it won't trigger it unless you want to. Otherwise it will. If you travel. Or that's like. So you do have some control.

[Mark Medina]

And the point is it resets the world, so it resets your scouts, it resets all the castles, anybody you've killed, anything like that. And then once it reaches the actual top, it'll. It'll change the season again. And that's when it's actually changing from spring to fall to winter to summer and stuff like that.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's all set in 1589, which I think is funny, which had an 80 season, year there. But the point that that's important to remember here is that it's not just for beauty. You end up wanting to change the season because you run out of this essential thing in the game. Scouts. So that's helpful. I mean, it seems to reset some bases and stuff, which I don't know what the negative effects are still. Like, I gotta get used to what I'm doing when that happens. Like maybe if you clear out a castle, I think it probably puts in all the peons again. Right. Like it probably does that. But so. But yeah, so. So there's other ways to get around the scouts refill thing. You can buy scouts, you can expand your total stock and you can just turn them off. There's a guided mode, but that unlike the assassin thing, I think they're two different things because they. I think the perfect assassin, it does. Well, it definitely doesn't disable achievements because I get achievements all the time. So it's not doing that. So that's nice. But I'm pretty sure guided mode does or it does something to hinder your. Your achievement trophy steps. Just be aware.

[Mark Medina]

I think. I think I've heard that as well.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, apparently.

[Sam Claiborne]

Interesting. They're hard to understand.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. Apparently Cannon mode doesn't disable achievements though. But it does lock you out of like.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, we didn't talk about that. Mark's playing Canon mode and he doesn't have any D. I got.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, I screwed up weird.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay.

[Mark Medina]

Cuz. Cuz it locks you in for that save file forever. And so I. I didn't notice. Okay, so did you. Did you do the mission where you're with Yaya and you have to choose to kill that. Okay, you have to choose to kill that guy. That. That feels very much like a decision. And my game does like a micro freeze and then now it just says what to do. So I'm like, oh, they just went through and just sliced out all of the decision.

[Damon Hatfield]

I did that mission. I made that choice. That's interesting.

[Sam Claiborne]

I was just at a decision about to kill or not to kill somebody. And I chose my choice and it just did the opposite of it because that's just like. They're just like, well, we need to. We need to do this with the character anyway. It was really funny.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay.

[Sam Claiborne]

I mean, that character reacts. Something happens. But like, it doesn't have the effect that you intended.

[Mark Medina]

It's a fun twist, but yet you can't romance people because you don't get the option to click the heart option. There's no dialogue trees.

[Damon Hatfield]

So there are real achievements here in this beautiful open world. And now he's facial animation. I feel like I'm just watching a great actress performing. But what do you guys think about the enemy AI Because I think that's one area that has not been improved.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's the same old stuff. It's like very Assassin's Creed, Right. Everything.

[Damon Hatfield]

So here's my example. I'm in a castle. There's, like, a storehouse that's locked, and I can see that there's a treasure chest inside. There's one guy standing out front and another guard that's patrolling the perimeter. So I just wait for the patrol guy to walk away, and I can assassinate the guy in front of the gate, unlock the door, go inside. Oh, but then the patrol guy notices the dead body, so he comes over and he looks around, and now he's searching for me, but he never looks inside the storeroom. So I just wait in there for him to leave, and then I'm gone. That's funny that. That's the AI in this game.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. It's also just the typical. You can hide in a bush and, you know, whistle, and they'll just come at you one by one.

[Sam Claiborne]

What was the game we were just playing, Mark, where it took forever for them to get off your trail? Oh, Indiana Jones. It took so long. Like, you just, like, you would have to, like, go in a building and just be like, okay, the Nazis are still looking, you know, and you have to wait. But this game, it's just this classic Assassin's Creed where it's like, they completely reset, but. But it does have a wanted level. So once you antagonize enough, you are screwed in that whole region from. And, like, they see you a lot better if you're riding on your horse, people attack you. The ones and stuff is pretty good. And I don't think. I don't know if you, either of you have seen this, but, like, it brings out, like, hilarious, like, giant enemies.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. The guardians or whatever.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. That, like, hold cannons. They have these, like, big, floofy outfits on. They're, like, just really cool. It's. It's shocking when it happens.

[Mark Medina]

Yep. Yeah. The other person. Yeah, that's the. That's the solve for making it where you don't just go in and attack every castle as Yasuke, because then he gets wanted, and they're like, nope. Yeah, you're not allowed to do that.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yep.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, those are most of the thoughts that I wanted to share on Assassin's Creed. Shadows. I'm loving it. I'm going to be playing it for a long time. Like I said, the top. Is it my favorite Assassin's Creed yet? I don't know. I probably won't know for a month. I don't know. But Sam, is there anything else you wanted to share? I know you're loving it.

[Sam Claiborne]

I just think it's. It's such a masterful game. Like I. I am so happy with this open world just as like one as an aspect of this game. The things I do in the world and the things I see while I'm getting place to place is unbelievable. And I. I don't know if making games like this is sustainable, but I hope it is because like, this is like a taste of what, you know, big open worlds, especially from Ubisoft could be. I just think it's really impressive and I think Outlaws is good too. You know, like, this is just a different. It's a different type of world. It's just this, the single open world map is the thing that we all like. And to see one that is so refined is. It just feels like a next gen game. It feels like nothing I've ever played for. I'm playing on Series X. I'm not playing on a pro, you know, I'm not playing on a PC. I'm playing on a Series X. So. And I got to say, like, shout out to Indiana Jones too. Like right in a row, these two games are like next gen amazing. Beautiful game is that, hey, you're going to be able to play India Jones and your PlayStation soon too. So really just two highly recommended games from the past quarter.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. As far as open world games have gone this year, this one's definitely my favorite. Like Kingdom come, Deliverance 2 was a game I just couldn't really get into. So not a mark game. And then same with Monster out of Wilds. I played it for a little bit. I was like, okay. And I, I know people get sick of the Ubisoft formula, but I think that formula of open world Checkbox, that might be one of my favorite genre of games. And this. So like this game just does a really, really good version of that. I. Yeah, I was on the phone the other day for like, I don't know, like an hour and a half and I just was like, well, I want to play Assassin's Creed Shadows. So I was just running around getting all of the high points. And yeah, I. It's. It's all I want to do is play this game. It's really, really fun. And I encourage people to not listen to the Internet and watch a review and give it a shot because it's really fun.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's great. It's been a long time coming. The Assassin's Creed in field Japan and it seems like it seems like they just got it perfect. It's awesome. Here's a scoop for anyone who rents Earning points on rent is now a reality. When you pay rent through bilt, you don't even have to check with your landlord to start earning points that you can use toward flights, hotel stays, fitness classes, or even your next rent payment. Let me break it down for you. There's no cost to join bilt, and as a member, you'll earn valuable points on rent and on your everyday spending. BILT points can be transferred to your favorite hotels and airlines and even the ones you haven't heard of. There are over 500 airlines and 700,000 hotels and properties around the world. You can redeem your built points toward points can even be redeemed towards a future rent payment or unique experiences that only BILT members can access points. So if you're not earning points on rent, my question is why the heck not start earning points on rent you're already paying by going to joinbuilt.com Gamescoop that's J-O-I-N B I L T.com Gamescoop make sure to use our URL so they know we sent you. Join bilt.com Gamescoop to start earning points on your rent payments today.

[Sam Claiborne]

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[Damon Hatfield]

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[Sam Claiborne]

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[Damon Hatfield]

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[Sam Claiborne]

So why am I paying like several.

[Damon Hatfield]

Hundred dollars a month to do that? I'm going to be checking out Mint Mobile. Absolutely. If you like your money, Mint Mobile is for you. Shop [e-mail] Gamescoop that's mintmobile.com Gamescoop upfront payment of $45 for 3 month 5 gigabyte plan required equivalent to $15 a month new customer offer for first 3 months only then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra cement Mobile for details Ready to eat healthier in 2025 factor has chef made meals that make eating well easy? They're dietitian approved and heat up in 2 minutes so you can feel right and feel great no matter what life throws at you. True story As I record this, I just had a factory meal for lunch. A shredded chicken taco bowl with roasted corn salsa and cilantro lime sour cream. My wife and I have been having Factor meals delivered every week for almost a year now. We think they're delicious and they save us a lot of time in the evening as we get two young kids fed and into bed. So what are you waiting for? Factor arrives at your door fresh and fully prepared, perfect for any active, busy lifestyle. With 40 meal options across eight dietary preferences on the menu each week, it's easy to pick meals tailored to your goals and taste. Choose from preferences like Calorie Smart, Protein plus, or Keto. Factor can help you feel your best all day long with wholesome smoothies, breakfasts, grab and go snacks, and more add ons. Reach your goals this year with ingredients you can trust and convenience that can't be beat. Eat smart with Factor. Get started@Factor Meals.com FactorPodcast and use code FactorPodcast to get 50% off your first box plus free shipping. That's code [e-mail] FactorPodcast to get 50 percent off plus free shipping on your first box. Okay, Sam was back on next gen console Watch this week we're less than two weeks away from the Nintendo Direct that's gonna be focused on Switch 2. So we were making all sorts of predictions and we were talking about how there just seems to be rumors seems to be likely that it's gonna be planned to be released in June. GDC is this week and Ryan McCaffrey was saying he's Just, you know, he's taking meetings and talking to a lot of people and people seem to just think it's going to be released in June. But there was a press release for a game release today. Did you see this, Sam?

[Mark Medina]

No, I saw you link it in Slack and I was like, what is this game that Damon's linking? Oh, okay.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. So this is a press release. It's for a 3D platformer that's coming out. It's called Ruffy in the Riverside. And it is coming out June 26 this summer. June 26 to PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Series X and S. And Nintendo switches is what the press release says it's gotta be.

[Mark Medina]

Right?

[Damon Hatfield]

So it sounds like it's gonna be out by June 26.

[Mark Medina]

Early April is when they're gonna announce pre orders, probably. The pre orders will probably go live later.

[Damon Hatfield]

You don't think they'll go live like right after the direct.

[Mark Medina]

No. Maybe. I don't know. Let's see. They usually give a date for when they. But who knows? But May, June, like late May, early June. I, I, I would bet money that that's when it's coming out.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, I mean, you can't go wrong too. Like we, this and death stranding to play all summer is like, what a summer it's going to be. It's going to be so fun.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

And Doom, Doom. The Dark Ages, man. It's every, every time I think, like, like, you know, working in this industry, we're, we're covering Assassin's Creed and I'm like, okay, now it's time for a little bit of a break. And then I look at what's coming and it's like, scary, but also exciting because there's like really good big games every month and that is without Switch two. So, like, what are we going to do? We have a new Switch to play soon. We're going to have new Mario Kart to play soon, probably.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's a great little tidbit though. And you know, I don't, it's hard to say what Nintendo would avoid or want to align with in June because it used to be that we had to avoid E3. Like companies sometimes would release a game during E3, but they're all aware of that time, you know, and how that was a promotional period for the fall and like, you know, just kind of steer clear of that. But we've just never had a big console release in June. Like, it'd be really weird if we were all at E3 playing because. And the New system was just sitting at our houses, you know, so this is a really interesting choice, but there's been things released in May before big games like Tears of the Kingdom and stuff. So, you know, Nintendo does have stuff ahead of summer sometimes.

[Mark Medina]

If this comes out late May and everybody at IGN lives walking around with their Switch Twos playing Mario Kart. Yeah, man, that would be so fun. That would be so fun. Yeah, we need to get Street Pass back, or whatever it was called for the ds.

[Sam Claiborne]

What if it's just on the joystick, the joy con, so you can just bring the Joy Con your backpack and it does all your street passing for you, and then when you come home, you put it in your system.

[Mark Medina]

See?

[Damon Hatfield]

We shouldn't have to do this for Nintendo.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, they. They know IGN Live's coming. They need to figure this out.

[Damon Hatfield]

Let's check in with the listeners.

[Sam Claiborne]

Howdy, listeners.

[Damon Hatfield]

Listeners. Remember, you can always reach us at the email address gamescoopigen.com just like Devin from Klamath Falls, Oregon. Dib who says, I have a question about start screens, but first, some context. Last week you talked about odst and someone mentioned that ODST stands for Mark Orbital Drop Shock.

[Sam Claiborne]

True. What? No.

[Damon Hatfield]

I asked Mark.

[Mark Medina]

No idea. Is that really what it is?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, Devin says, I realized that I either forgot this or never paid enough attention to realize this while playing the game. When I told my best friend this, he was surprised because he said, how did you not notice it says it on the start screen? To prove this to me, he sent me a video of the ODST start screen, which does not say the full name, but does state it in the optional video before the start screen. When I told him, well, I always skip the part before the start screen, he was appalled by this and expressed to me that I'm crazy for doing this and that anything before the start screen is crucial to the story. Skipping this is akin to skipping the beginning crawl before a Star wars movie. So this is my question. Does anyone at Camp Goose watch the optional part before the start screen with every video game they play? Do they believe this is a crucial part of the game or story? And watch.

[Sam Claiborne]

I can't even think of a game that has this statement.

[Mark Medina]

I can think of one, and this is the second time on this podcast I've mentioned this.

[Sam Claiborne]

But is that because Mark and I have always skipped them?

[Mark Medina]

Right. Horizon Zero. Dawn before the the first time you boot the game up, there's that whole cut scene of him basically adopting baby Aloy and her getting her name and Everything. And then it goes to the start screen. That is the only time I can remember this happening. I don't. And I guess odst.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. Well, I mean, there's some games where they play a little something before the title screen. I think a smart way to do it is just. Is just to do it. The first time is booted up. Right. Because you don't need to see it every time.

[Mark Medina]

That's how Horizon does it. Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, I just thought of one. Donkey Kong 64.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay.

[Sam Claiborne]

If you don't hit Start, then it's the Donkey Kong rap. And if you miss the Donkey Kong rap, I don't even know what you're doing. There's nothing even else to turn that game on for.

[Damon Hatfield]

I would be appalled if you skipped dk Donkey Kong. Look at it. Look at it. Can we do sound up Jobirds?

[Sam Claiborne]

I don't know. I hope I'm right about this. Does the Nintendo 64 Cube start dancing to it? See, when you were first bringing this up to me pre show, I thought you were talking about, like, these splash screens or it's like the rare logo soccer. Like, they're amazing. But no.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, Here we go.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yep. Before the start screen. Yeah, it's finally here.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. You can't skip words.

[Sam Claiborne]

You could join in, too.

[Damon Hatfield]

There is an example I have. I talk about Monster Train a lot. I love Monster Train, but, yeah, it tries to play the, like, background story every single time. You build the game before the title screen, and I skip it, but it's like, well, who's watching this every single time? We don't need this here.

[Sam Claiborne]

But did you watch it once?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, the first time I watched it the very first time. The very first time I play a game, I'll watch whatever's before the title screen, but after that, I'll skip it. But this also made me think, while I'm playing Assassin's Creed on Xbox Series X with quick resume, you may not ever see the title screen again. Right.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Never see it again until there's a 200 gigabyte update.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, exactly.

[Sam Claiborne]

That happened with Indian Jones. I was like, well, I had no idea there was this amazing resume screen in it. Have you? You know, because the title screen has kind of the last area you were in, like, showing, like, him from the side, and then, like, he puts on the hat, and then the game just starts there. It's so cool.

[Damon Hatfield]

It is very cool.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay. This is Kylie Daniel, who has an update on white knuckle scoring, which is from an. This is like a Nintendo Power contest from a couple episodes back where I think you would. Oh yeah. White Knuckle Scoring is an album. It was like a CD with a completely random list of songs on it. And then Trickster, the hair metal band Trickster was like the featured band. And if you wrote in and could like name every song on the album, then you'd win a copy of the album, which doesn't make any sense because how would you know unless you had the album anyway? Kylie says, I love that. The Scoop crew dove into the oddity that is the White Knuckle Scoring compilation record this week. I used to have a copy in my collection. Thought you might like to know a little more about it. Apparently one of the goals of the album was to promote youth literacy. And so to accomplish that, they included a completely unhinged comic book in the liner notes. The plot is basically that Bowser, who is illiterate, wants to rule the mushroom kingdom by sealing its oil and joining opec. But thankfully, the Mario brothers are on the case. With the help of their new partner, Yoshi, who is also illiterate and has the hots for the princess, they save the day in the end. And thankfully, Luigi teaches Yoshi to read in the process so he can cast the magic spell to send everyone back home. So yeah, this is. That's the.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay, well, hold on. That sounds surprisingly close to the scorpion juice plot line of. What's that game called?

[Damon Hatfield]

Kung Fu Master or just Kung Fu. Yeah, Kung Fu Master on Game Boy. I mean, they were out around the same time, so maybe they had the same writer. Entirely possible. This is the COVID up cover art for the White Knuckle Scoring album, which I don't even know. Like the name White Knuckle score. Like by 1991, when this is out, nobody was chasing high scores anymore.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's the name of a song on the record that might have nothing to do with the record. Right?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, yeah, it's true. And then Kylie also showed some scans of the comic book here. Jober, do you have those? It doesn't matter which one you bring up first. Oh, yeah, because there's this one. This is a scan from the comic which. So the art style is kind of similar to the Super Mario Bros. Super show, right?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, I guess. It's pretty off model.

[Damon Hatfield]

Let me see.

[Mark Medina]

Yikes.

[Damon Hatfield]

Pull that one up.

[Mark Medina]

Look at Peach.

[Damon Hatfield]

So Mario is saying, victory is such a turn on. And then Princess Peach says, song cue. So what this does in the dialogue of the comic, they'll say something that is also the name Of a song on the album, and then they'll say, sonky. And you're supposed to listen to it at that point. So there's a song in here called turn on. But why is Mario talking about being turned on in this context?

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Why is that happening?

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, well, well. Punching Koopa right in the face. King Koopa. He's very little. King Koopa.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, that. That really gets Mario going. And then the other image here. Can you. This is the was up one. Does this one work for you, Jo? This in the. Yeah. Yoshi told them what's up? Dinosaur named Yoshi. So obviously slang from, you know, what is up? What's up? Yoshi told them was up. But also it's like, okay, so this is supposed to promote literacy, and they've made up their new slang word here, and they've completely, like, butchered where that apostrophe should go.

[Mark Medina]

Yep, that's very strange.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's just odd.

[Sam Claiborne]

Very strange.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's just odd. Yoshi told them was up. Why didn't I start this episode with wazup, everybody? Okay, that's it. That's the update on white knuckle scoring. Thank you for sharing that with us, Kylie, Daniel.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, yeah, I'll track down a copy. Yeah, they came out on cassette tape and lp. Cool addition to cd.

[Damon Hatfield]

Very cool. Do you think it's streaming?

[Sam Claiborne]

Probably one or two songs are. Because they're part of another band's repertoire. Right?

[Mark Medina]

Like, right, right. Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's just what they put on the comp.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's not an apple Music you'll be shocked to learn.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, dang.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay, extracurricular activities. We're finally gonna go over the finale to paradise, which Jobert is only halfway through. So Jobert, our producer, is going to take off his headphones now, and then I will slack him when we're done talking about the finale of paradise.

[Sam Claiborne]

He was gonna finish it while we were talking for the first part of this episode.

[Mark Medina]

Right.

[Damon Hatfield]

He hasn't finished it.

[Mark Medina]

He just burned through it.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay, I'm gonna assume that Joe bird is taking his headphones off and that any listeners who don't want to hear about the finale of paradise have fast forwarded to video game 20 questions. Okay, so you guys. You guys watched this before me and Sam teased that he thought there was, like, something amazing that happened here that people weren't talking about. And I had shared that. Episode 7, the penultimate episode, is an incredible episode of television.

[Sam Claiborne]

I said it was an amazing video game thing that people are talking about.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, there's that Episode seven is a amazing ten out of ten episode of television. It's great. They finally, like, show what happened on the day of the calamity that sent everyone to live.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. Under that disaster movie ever.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

So, like, the whole mystery of the show, it's like, what happened? How does this underground city work and who killed the President? To me, the mystery of who killed the President was the least interesting part of the show. But that's what they focus on, the whole final episode. And it's kind of just like. It's kind of a.

[Mark Medina]

What?

[Damon Hatfield]

The librarian did it. What is this coming from?

[Sam Claiborne]

It's really a man in disguise. It's the most famous person on Earth in disguise, and nobody recognized him.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, yeah. I. I'm barely remembering that now because, man, I did not care about that. Yeah, you're right.

[Sam Claiborne]

The man who assassin attempted to assassinate the President, went to prison and got out on disaster day. And then it was able to sneak into the one place where you could assassinate the President again. It's, like, very ludicrous.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

And also, that's the plot line. I didn't. I don't mind it. I'm just explaining that, like, how crazy it is. He.

[Damon Hatfield]

When. When he finally killed the President, he did it very easily. Just snuck up behind his house and knocked him over the head. It's like, okay, that was easy. I don't know.

[Mark Medina]

It's hard.

[Sam Claiborne]

He was mad because his friends got, you know, diseases from working.

[Damon Hatfield]

From building.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, from building.

[Damon Hatfield]

Which I get that. But I actually like the idea of someone being in paradise who's not supposed to be there. I like that idea.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. Yeah. But it's hard to be, like, have your mind blown when you find out that this murder that you've been waiting a whole season to figure out who did it was somebody you've seen, like, once. Like, you. They've never really been introduced. And the couple. It's like, it wasn't just like, oh, it was that guy. I was like, oh, is that guy like, okay, like, you. You would have never suspected him because they never laid any of that groundwork ever.

[Sam Claiborne]

Also, I was pretty. I thought it was a little bit cheap that the President supposedly. Supposedly has the recording of his wife reaching out. Like, he really believes that first of all. And we're expected to believe it.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

That was interesting.

[Mark Medina]

Of all the people that are, like, out there, she's like, we've been picking.

[Sam Claiborne]

Up radio and one of the 7 billion people on Earth reaching out. Sounds a lot like your wife. And then she says, my name is this and this and this, and I'm in this. It's like, okay, it was a little silly, but it is an interesting idea to have him go out in the world like a post apocalyptic ronin and you know.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

On an airplane.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, right.

[Damon Hatfield]

Fly out of there. Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. Season two will be definitely different, I.

[Damon Hatfield]

Would say, you know, the season one of paradise, the journey is fantastic. The destination was a little underwhelming, but I still had a great time watching the show.

[Sam Claiborne]

I'm watching Silo right now and it's such a similar idea. It's like right at the end of it, one person leaves and what's going to happen the second season?

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

And then the video game thing was that the Wii is all over the show. They really love the Wii.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's all over it. Should have just given me the Wii. Yeah, that's like a final line before.

[Damon Hatfield]

Characters and then they show her playing the Wii. They never say Nintendo though. So I. I don't know if there's anything like they couldn't or.

[Sam Claiborne]

They mentioned Mario Kart, I think at one point. And then I think they mentioned Wii Sports at one point. Point, which is.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, they definitely talk about like tennis and stuff like that.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. I as. I don't know.

[Sam Claiborne]

Why isn't everybody talking about that? It's a. It's a. It's like. It's like a crucial plot point.

[Damon Hatfield]

Should have let me have the Wii.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is that just too much in pop culture now that people expect that people are this crazy about video games that I.

[Mark Medina]

The whole.

[Sam Claiborne]

I just thought it was the craziest choice.

[Mark Medina]

It's a giant Wii commercial.

[Sam Claiborne]

Also like the, the shutdown of the world. I'm still confused about. There's Internet, but Everybody uses burn CDs. I understand why they have had burn CDs underground because it's like, well, you don't have streaming, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like, I get all that. But like, why the Wii? Why Wasn't it a PlayStation 5 or something?

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, right.

[Damon Hatfield]

Unless the disaster happened in like 2008.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. Which I don't know if they've established that. I can't tell if they have. I didn't care to find that out.

[Mark Medina]

It would make sense for him. I mean, not that the Wii is super old, but like he, he.

[Sam Claiborne]

The president having it.

[Mark Medina]

The president himself.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's implying that nobody else brought video game systems into this thing. Remember how they said there's like an underground warehouse of booze, but nobody was like, well, we should also bring 10 PlayStations for the choice.

[Damon Hatfield]

Also, the President and I have the exact same taste in music.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, you like his 90s cuts?

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh, yeah, that's good. Okay. Paradise still recommend, even though it didn't have a great finale. That brings us to video game 20 questions. And first of all, we have one. The suggestion I'm going to pass on this week. I'll share that first. So it says, hi, guys. I'm Chris from Wishaw, Scotland. I love the podcast. It's actually the only one I've ever watched or listened to. I used to love buying random games as a teen that were in the bargain bin at my local game store, and one that always stuck with me was CSI Hard Evidence. I think it would be particularly hard for the team to get on 20 questions. Yes, Chris, I agree. That would be.

[Sam Claiborne]

I remember seeing that game, like, in the Igen Office, though. Like, I remember the box art for it and stuff.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, I think. Yeah, that's.

[Sam Claiborne]

I think we gave it a good score. It's like kind of a short exploration adventure game or something, if I recall correctly. That's funny. Yeah, we would never get that.

[Damon Hatfield]

CSI hard evidence. Here it is. 2007. Gave it a 6.6.1.

[Sam Claiborne]

Not bad.

[Damon Hatfield]

Thanks, Hillary Goldstein.

[Sam Claiborne]

I remember that review. Yeah, I would have never been able to guess it, but I do remember all of this. Ubisoft.

[Mark Medina]

It's a Ubisoft game, everyone.

[Sam Claiborne]

UBI used to have a lot of licenses. That was like, a thing they did.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. That looks like a 2007 Wii game. Okay. Our actual suggestion this week comes from Tracy in Cincinnati, Ohio, Says Damon and Goose, camp counselors. I just finished watching this week's episode. The segment about product placement in video games got my brain churning. I'm pretty sure Pole Position predates Tapper, and there are several different placements of products on the billboards you pass. Including Marlboro and Pepsi. I thought I'd bring that to your attention. Yeah, that's right. I think that came out a couple years before Tapper, so that would probably. That'd probably be the first appearance of product placement in a game. Tracy says, while I'm here, might as well suggest something for 20 questions. And with that, let the questioning begin.

[Mark Medina]

All right.

[Sam Claiborne]

Did this game come out before the Nintendo Wii was released?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Mark Medina]

All right.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's post Wii America.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. Which is 20 years. Oh, my gosh.

[Sam Claiborne]

Can I remember 2005?

[Damon Hatfield]

No, next year will be. Next year will be. It was 2006.

[Sam Claiborne]

2006.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, 2006.

[Damon Hatfield]

That and PS3. But this is the 20 year anniversary of the Xbox 360.

[Mark Medina]

Waking up every morning, calling every store I could to try to buy a Wii. And it took.

[Sam Claiborne]

Man. We were playing cameo elements of power 20 years ago.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay, is this a platform exclusive?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Mark Medina]

Is this game open world?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, is Halo part of a mainline Halo series?

[Mark Medina]

Okay. Is this game part of a main. Is it part of a series that's still running today?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. Yeah, I think. I think you would say yes.

[Sam Claiborne]

If we asked about a game that came out on the first Xbox and it came out on the Xbox 360, would you still say that it came out on the Xbox? Okay. There was a lot of controversy about that episode last week. Did you see my comment that it takes four people or that it takes three people to fail at 20 questions? Sometimes four.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, no. The only comment I saw was you guys talking about Xbox and PlayStation and like, which one's gonna perform better next generation. I can't believe you guys did a console war episode without me. I would have been up in there.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay. But the crux of that argument that I was making was that people that have to choose between two consoles, not people that are obsessed with PlayStation, which are the people that responded to that argument or would choose next console Drive Trade one or the other. If you're going to choose then. And you were an agnostic chooser then. What I was saying was that Xbox has acquired a lot of companies that might put them in a good position to convince people to buy their system. But PlayStation people weren't having it. They were saying the PlayStation 5 was perfect and the next generation will be perfect. I'm like, who might argue with that?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

I was like, I can't believe them.

[Sam Claiborne]

Not open world.

[Damon Hatfield]

Not Open World.

[Sam Claiborne]

After the movie.

[Mark Medina]

Still part of a series.

[Sam Claiborne]

Exclusive and not a part of. Not a part of a series.

[Mark Medina]

No, is a part of.

[Sam Claiborne]

It is a part of the series.

[Mark Medina]

You would say that. It's still running today, so it's not going to be anything that's like super obvious, man. We got to figure out what you do in this game.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is multiplayer a key focus?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes. That's five.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is this game about a sport or a shooting?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Mark Medina]

Do you play as a human in this game?

[Damon Hatfield]

You can.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, multiplayer. You can play.

[Sam Claiborne]

Would you describe this game as massively multiplayer?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Mark Medina]

Would you describe it as like a family party game?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. Well, yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is it? Okay? Okay. Is it. Is it a co op game?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes. That's 10.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay. There we go. So we're looking at split fiction or one of the other ones?

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. Or like stuff like overcooked.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is that co op? Boy, when I play it with people, they shared, don't think of me on their team. Is this a Ferris game?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay.

[Mark Medina]

Do you play this game from like a top down kind of perspective?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Mark Medina]

Co op, you can play as a human, which implies that you can play as an animal or a robot or an orc. Yeah, but not an mmo.

[Sam Claiborne]

And it's not shooty. Not an mmo. Are there like any co op, like dungeon crawly games? Did you ask about top down? Yeah, and he said it wasn't that, only it's those.

[Mark Medina]

So it's not like Balder's Gate or anything? Well, also it's. He said kind of family. Family party. Family.

[Sam Claiborne]

Can you drive a vehicle in this game?

[Damon Hatfield]

Hmm, that's a good question. I don't. Well actually. I know, I take that back. Yes. You.

[Sam Claiborne]

You could be like a horse drawn carriage.

[Mark Medina]

Dude, what the heck?

[Sam Claiborne]

Describe this as a fantasy game.

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is it set in like our. Our earth time? Some. Some era though?

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

That's 15.

[Sam Claiborne]

Jeez.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, I. I just don't know like what era we're at. So could it be.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's not shooty though. I see like division or something like that, you know, Are there any other type of like. I mean, why would you not play as a human too? Like that. That's confusing.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Vampires maybe.

[Mark Medina]

Like is it.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is there any co op vampire games?

[Mark Medina]

I'm trying to think like, is there a store? I mean, I guess every game would technically have a story. I also just want to know when this game came out. Cuz we're.

[Sam Claiborne]

Should we just ask if it's an indie game?

[Mark Medina]

Oh, sure.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. Is indie?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay. That, that, that kind of resets my thinking.

[Mark Medina]

Did.

[Sam Claiborne]

Where are we at here, Mark? There's a lot of generations.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, that's the. I think that's the issue as well. So I want to say, did this come out during the PS5 or PS4 era?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes. Okay, so we're one question and a guess.

[Mark Medina]

Lord. So we're down. So. So it's about the last 10 years. You can play as a human. It's on all platforms.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's. It has co op. It's not top down. What would. What could we put to the test as an idea for indie things? Yeah, I mean overcooked is top down.

[Mark Medina]

Would you say that's. Yeah, that's what I would. The. All those like overcooked and moving out and all that stuff.

[Sam Claiborne]

What about like among Us.

[Mark Medina]

But that's what I was thinking is like Among Us or the other one. Fall guys. But you don't. You also don't play as humans in those.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, that's. That's a good thing.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. He said we. He said you can play as a human. I don't think you can play as a human. They're. They're like blobs, both of them.

[Sam Claiborne]

I mean, I think among us you're probably some type of thing in those suits and maybe I don't.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, that's. That's kind of what I'm thinking is like maybe it is like maybe those are technically considered. Considered humanoids in spacesuits. They don't have arms.

[Sam Claiborne]

What other games I have that.

[Mark Medina]

But Among Us would also be considered top down Fall guys wouldn't. But there's no way you could spin that. Fall guys.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, is. What are some other games? You just know that people play together as indie games. You know.

[Mark Medina]

Lethal Company, Phasmophobia.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, see, I don't know those very well for five nights. Is that one of them?

[Mark Medina]

I think that's. I think you play by yourself in that.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. Yeah. I don't know where to go with this. There's just. The door is just so open that it's hard for me to narrow it down.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, I. I really don't know.

[Damon Hatfield]

One question and a guess.

[Mark Medina]

I mean, we could just ask. Have we mentioned the game?

[Damon Hatfield]

No, you have not mentioned the game. Shall I reveal it?

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, should we just do a quick guess?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, do it.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is there any garlic likes or anything that you can think of that's two player?

[Mark Medina]

I mean, yeah, technically, but those are. Those are top down as well.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, yeah, I forgot. Forgot about that.

[Mark Medina]

But I think Vampire Survivors is co op.

[Sam Claiborne]

And are there any that are side scrolly or first person? God. What. What about a first person one? Well, like super hot or something like that?

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, yeah. No shooting. No shooting. I wish we could do it. What was that one game that started with an N and you like slash swords? What was that game called? Nidhogg. Is it Nidhogg?

[Sam Claiborne]

That's not competitive.

[Damon Hatfield]

No, this game was released in 2022. It's available on everything. It's a single multiplayer game really focusing on co op for up to six players. Although that's not how I played it. And you can play as a human or you can play as a mutated reptile. It is Teenage Mutant Ninja Shredder's Revenge.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, man.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay, so we should have gone with the license.

[Mark Medina]

I I. It like bounced in my head for a second that maybe it's some sort of beat em up.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, wow.

[Sam Claiborne]

Interesting. That's a tough one.

[Damon Hatfield]

Sorry, I'm just checking my work.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's interesting to think of this as an indie game because, you know, thank.

[Damon Hatfield]

Goodness turtles are reptiles. Yes. Yeah. Beat them up.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

I don't know. Maybe you don't. Maybe when you, when you hear it's a co op, you know, part family party game, maybe that. Maybe that's like. It's hard to think about this, right? You think more of like you say overcooked or it is Mario party.

[Sam Claiborne]

I think all this.

[Mark Medina]

It is a dad can play this with their kids, you know. Yeah, whatever.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. Well, nicely attempt. Thank you for the suggestion. Tracy in Cincinnati. Viewers and listeners, if you have your own suggestions for video game 20 questions, email them to me at the email address gamescoopin.com and that is all the scoops that we have for you this week. Thank you to both Sam and Mark. Thank you to Gilbert and everyone working behind the scenes to make this episode possible. This episode of Game Scoop was produced by myself, Damon Hadfield and Gilbert Audienza. Technical direction is handled by Jobbert Atienza. Technical production is by Marian Franzen and Amir Akiv. Audio engineering is by Amir Akiv. And post production editing is by yours truly, Damon Hatfield. Graphic design is by Nicole Kaganpin. Gamescoop is an IGN production and part of the Geek Media Network. For more on the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 Direct, check out this week's next gen console. Watch everyone out there. If you're going to play Assassin's Creed this weekend, I hope you have fun. It's a. We think it's a super great game. We're having a great time with it. I'm going to be playing it for the foreseeable future. My name is Damon. This is IGN gamescoop. And we're out.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's not even Assassin's Creed hour yet. We still have work to do.

[Damon Hatfield]

I know.

[Mark Medina]

I have to edit a video.

[Sam Claiborne]

Which one?

[Mark Medina]

Oh, I made a quick video on how to get to the highest point in the map.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, yeah? Yeah. Nothing is as it seems in liminal London. Hidden amongst everyday people are werewolves.

[Damon Hatfield]

You'll be the werewolf then.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Mags.

[Sam Claiborne]

Wizards Montgomery, Archibald Barker, at your bloody service. And those cursed by the fey monarchs.

[Damon Hatfield]

Of the city, Declan Buchanan, PI he.

[Sam Claiborne]

Has quite a large pair of antlers growing out of his forehead. Join the unlikely misfits of liminal London as they work to take down the powers that claim to rule the city.

[Damon Hatfield]

I think the queen doesn't like you very much.

[Sam Claiborne]

With incredible guest players like Johnny Chiadini.

[Damon Hatfield]

Say, there's sludge.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, Sludge.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

I'm the sludge boy.

[Sam Claiborne]

F ing love. Sludge boy.

[Mark Medina]

No, again, I'm not that sludge boy.

[Sam Claiborne]

Grant, how it Isaac Newton didn't study.

[Mark Medina]

In f ing Putney, did he?

[Sam Claiborne]

Whose Isaac? Oh my God. And Sharmini Bundell. There's a magic community. There is.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yay.

[Mark Medina]

I'm in a magic community.

[Sam Claiborne]

Go to realmspod.com or search realms of Peril and Glory wherever you listen to podcasts to find this mysterious, mysteriously magical actual play series.

[Damon Hatfield]

I'm Amy Nicholson, the film critic for the LA Times.

[Mark Medina]

And I'm Paul Scheer, an actor, writer and director.

[Damon Hatfield]

You might know me from the League, Veep, or my non eligible for Academy Award role in Twisters. We love movies and we come at them from different perspectives. Yeah, like Amy thinks that, you know.

[Mark Medina]

Joe Pesci was missing cast in Goodfellas, and I don't.

[Damon Hatfield]

He's too old. Let's not forget that Paul thinks that Dune 2 is overrated.

[Mark Medina]

It is.

[Damon Hatfield]

Anyway, despite this, we come together to host Unspooled, a podcast where we talk about good movies, critical hits, fan favorites, Must Sees and Encasey Mistems. We're talking Parasite, the Home Alone, from Grease to the Dark Knight. We've done deep dives on popcorn flicks. We've talked about why Independence Day deserves a second look.

[Mark Medina]

And we've talked about horror movies, some.

[Damon Hatfield]

That you've never even heard of, like Ganja and Hess. So if you love movies like we do, come along on our cinematic adventure. Listen to Unspooled wherever you get your podcasts, and don't forget to hit the follow button.