The BEST Games We Played This Week - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Summary

Kinda Funny Gamescast: The BEST Games We Played This Week

Date: March 13, 2026
Hosts: Greg Miller, Blessing Adeoye Jr., Snowbike Mike, Paris Lilly, Roger Pokorny

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Episode Overview

This episode of Kinda Funny Gamescast features the crew reflecting on an action-packed GDC (Game Developers Conference) week, filled with hands-on previews and demos of the hottest upcoming and recently released video games. Each host shares their top picks from industry events, with deep discussion on gameplay impressions, standout surprises, gameplay trends, and the indie scene's vitality. This episode leans hard into natural banter, honest critiques, and a celebration of both major and small-scale games. The crew's energy is high despite their collective exhaustion, resulting in an engaging, hilarious, and insight-packed show.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. GDC Energy & Personal Vibes

• The episode opens with the team joking about being tired after a week of nonstop GDC parties, travel, and game demos. "Friday of GDC week. All week long we've been running around San Francisco, playing video games, drinking too much, having people in the office..." (Greg, 02:19)
• This sets a tone of camaraderie and weariness, underscoring the authentic impressions to come.

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2. Game-by-Game Impressions

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Super Meat Boy 3D

• Discussed by: Roger, Greg, Blessing
• Segment Starts: [07:08]
• Roger, Blessing, and Greg gush about nostalgia and the new 3D take on a classic.
• Roger: "I adored Super Meat Boy on the original Xbox360 Arcade. And picking up, I was like, okay, this is, of course 3D. It's a whole new ballpark... Am I going to be able to get back in there? And I was right there" (Roger, 07:20)
• Concerns about camera issues and the challenge of translating precise 2D platforming into 3D space.
• Greg: "It looked great docked, did not look as great handheld… for me... that's a rog ally game, not a Switch game." (Greg, 09:11)
• Blessing echoes the fear: "I'm scared that the 3D isn't going to hit as much for me as the 2D...it's an added dimension of complexity that doesn’t make it as clean." (Blessing, 11:47)
• All agree the nostalgia and core feel are still present, cautiously optimistic for launch.

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Mixtape

• Discussed by: Paris, Greg, Roger
• Segment Starts: [13:05]
• Paris details hands-on impressions, focusing on the emotional impact and soundtrack:
  "You know, I'm an 80s kid... and the music is the driving force behind everything that you're doing... the demo... wasn't anything overly complex... but the music and just the atmosphere of it, it was just so freaking good." (Paris, 13:05)
• Greg reiterates it's a "playable coming of age movie" and plans to avoid further previews to avoid spoilers.
• Team is excited, with high anticipation for the May 7th release.

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Replaced

• Discussed by: Greg, Paris, Roger, Blessing
• Segment Starts: [15:41]
• Greg loved how it exceeded expectations:
  "Getting to play it [finally] at the Xbox event... it meet my expectations and exceed them in an interesting way..." (Greg, 15:41)
• Arkham-style 2D combat is a highlight, but some worry about repetitive encounters:
  "I just didn't love the combat as much. Something about how samey it felt as we kept on going..." (Roger, 18:34)
• Blessing enjoyed the stealth and atmospheric moments between fights, drawing comparisons to INSIDE.

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Whisk

• Discussed by: Snowbike Mike
• Segment Starts: [21:48]
• "Whisk is a two player platformer about shared movement and communication... described as Portal meets Neon White." (Mike, 21:52)
• Mike praises the competitive/co-op replayability and upbeat design, says it’s a standout couch co-op game.

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Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game

• Discussed by: Blessing, Greg, Roger
• Segment Starts: [23:37]
• Blessing is extremely hyped:
  "This is my most highly anticipated fighting game of 2026. This game is going to fuck." (Blessing, 24:23)
• Gameplay is accessible but deep; characters true to their show counterparts.
• Unique "assist" system augments movesets rather than traditional tag-in moves.

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Invincible Versus

• Discussed by: Paris, Blessing
• Segment Starts: [29:28]
• Paris: "Felt very pick up and play. Felt very fun to do... it's Invincible and I want to try out these characters because it's the three man tag team..." (Paris, 29:39)
• Bless: "It’s kind of meeting in the middle between a Marvel vs. Capcom style tag fighting system and then also kind of the violence of a Mortal Kombat." (Blessing, 30:32)
• Both excited but curious if the game will break through in the fighting game community.

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Clawsome

• Discussed by: Snowbike Mike
• Segment Starts: [35:36]
• Wholesome, cozy, claw machine adventure with a diorama customization twist.
• Mike: "I'm in the mood for just some wholesome, fun, whimsical games."
• No release date yet beyond 2026.

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Darwin's Paradox

• Discussed by: Roger
• Segment Starts: [37:03]
• Describes it as an "inside-like" where you play an octopus on an alien planet; atmosphere is cute, not too serious, and funny.

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My Arms are Longer Now

• Discussed by: Blessing
• Segment Starts: [39:25]
• Absurdist, comedy-driven, "Adult Swim" style chaos game from Jackbox's first external publishing deal.
• "I would almost describe it as an Adult Swim cartoon style game that might invoke a lot of 'Thank Goodness You're Here' or other similar comedy games." (Blessing, 39:30)
• Slap people, steal stuff, and customize a sentient, stretchy arm.
• Estimated ~4 hour length, fall release window.

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Mina the Hollower

• Discussed by: Greg, Blessing
• Segment Starts: [42:46]
• Classic Zelda-like from Yacht Club, finally played at GDC.
• Greg: "Holy shit, I can't wait for this. Cracking my whip... but that gets me so excited about upgrading these weapons, having that Castlevania whip running through this place." (Greg, 43:43)
• Blessing converted from skepticism to excitement due to its "authenticity."
  "I can't believe how much this turned me around as I was playing it." (Blessing, 44:26)

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Echo Generation 2

• Discussed by: Paris, Greg
• Segment Starts: [45:26]
• Turn-based RPG, deck-builder, with possible sequel/prequel ties to the first game.
• Paris: "You're getting these cards as you're defeating certain enemies... each card has different weapon abilities, health, shield, things like that." (Paris, 46:18)
• Greg notes he now wants to play Echo Generation 1 to better appreciate the sequel.

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Never's End

• Discussed by: Roger, Mike
• Segment Starts: [48:43]
• Visually stunning turn-based tactics RPG with innovative weather/humidity mechanics.
• Roger: "Every single area you go to has its own essentially background weather system... when you use your spells that is affected by whatever humidity you're in." (Roger, 49:08)
• Demo out now, full release targeting 2026.

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Pluto

• Discussed by: Snowbike Mike, Roger
• Segment Starts: [50:54]
• Grotesque, visually unique roguelike deckbuilder where spells fling off freaky fingers.
• Mike and Roger praise its scary/freaky vibe and robust deck-building mechanics.

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Kiln

• Discussed by: Blessing, Mike
• Segment Starts: [52:29]
• Multiplayer party game revolving around making and battling with pottery creations.
• Bless: "Pot making mechanics of this game maybe might be some of the best pot making in a video game. Like, it goes hard..." (Blessing, 53:31)
• Mike: "Pop making is a ton of fun. Of course, what you create, how you create and what you create will affect the multiplayer side of things." (Mike, 54:24)
• Multiplayer chaos, artful crafting, and family-friendly fun.

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Find Your World

• Discussed by: Greg
• Segment Starts: [56:17]
• A cozy, non-verbal summer camp adventure where you communicate via a binder.
• "I love that they're committing to, hey, this is a short cozy game... they're putting it out for free." (Greg, 57:45)
• Created by two dads, inspired by their kids’ experiences.

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Blighted

• Discussed by: Blessing, Greg
• Segment Starts: [58:18]
• Multiplayer, Souls-style game from Drinkbox; beautiful art, classic checkpoints, challenging combat.
• Bless: "Going into it, did not realize it's just straight up a Souls type soul style of game... the demos kind of brought me back down to earth of like, okay, this is an actual video game." (Blessing, 59:35)

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Shade Protocol (GAME OF THE SHOW - Blessing)

• Discussed by: Blessing, Roger
• Segment Starts: [60:39]
• 2D Metroidvania with an array of musical-inspired weapons/tools and unique mechanics.
• Weapons double as musical instruments; tactical combat and clever platforming.
• "Every button is a different tool in your tool set... they're all also like, inspired by different instruments or maybe literally might be different instruments." (Blessing, 61:49)
• Roger lauds the fully hand-drawn pixel art and lack of AI-generated assets.
• No release date; about a year into development, but already impresses massively.

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Vultures: Scavengers of Death (GAME OF THE SHOW - Snowbike Mike)

• Discussed by: Snowbike Mike
• Segment Starts: [64:05]
• Turn-based survival horror, inspired by '90s classics, with tactical exploration and resource management.
• Mike: "This is my game of the show. Riding the eye off of Resident Evil, being big into turn-based tactics games right now. This game caught my eye and is all I've been thinking about all week long." (Mike, 64:09)
• Demo out now, full release in April.

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3. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Blessing on Avatar Legends: "This game is going to fuck." (24:23)
• Roger, on Super Meat Boy 3D nostalgia: "I was a sleeper agent. Got in there, knew all the buttons." (11:03)
• Greg on Mixtape’s vibes: "This is very much a playable coming-of-age movie." (14:51)
• Mike, on Clawsome: "I love a good claw machine game. I love walking up at the local Kmart and stepping up to the claw machine..." (35:36)
• Paris, on Echo Generation 2: "You're running into different enemies and bosses that have certain aspects to them as far as what their strengths and what their weaknesses are. So you kind of have to synergize the cards..." (46:18)
• Blessing on Kiln: "The pot making mechanics of this game, maybe might be some of the best pot making in a video game. Like, it goes hard." (53:31)
• Roger, on Never's End: "Think Final Fantasy Tactics but with an incredible pixel art style that is doing—it's 3D but it's 2D." (49:08)
• Mike, on Vultures: "You don't know what's beyond that fog of war and what kind of situations you'll get into. So yeah, that's my game of the show." (64:09)

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• Super Meat Boy 3D: [07:08]–[12:32]
• Mixtape: [13:05]–[15:27]
• Replaced: [15:41]–[21:00]
• Whisk: [21:48]–[23:29]
• Avatar Legends: [23:37]–[29:22]
• Invincible Versus: [29:28]–[33:25]
• Clawsome: [35:36]–[37:03]
• Darwin's Paradox: [37:03]–[38:53]
• My Arms are Longer Now: [39:25]–[42:40]
• Mina the Hollower: [42:46]–[45:26]
• Echo Generation 2: [45:26]–[48:39]
• Never's End: [48:43]–[50:54]
• Pluto: [50:54]–[52:17]
• Kiln: [52:29]–[56:17]
• Find Your World: [56:17]–[58:13]
• Blighted: [58:18]–[60:39]
• Shade Protocol: [60:39]–[63:34]
• Vultures: Scavengers of Death: [64:05]–[65:01]
• Postgame Superchat (Vikings on Trampolines): [65:03]–[66:26]

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Flow & Tone

The banter is energetic, friendly, and often hilarious. There's authenticity in their critiques and a deep love for games of all shapes and sizes. The show reflects the spirit of GDC: creativity, discovery, and a platform for passion projects to shine.

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Takeaways for Listeners

• The episode offers a whirlwind tour of dozens of upcoming and fresh indie/AA/AAA titles, focusing on depth of hands-on impressions.
• Standouts include: Shade Protocol and Vultures (hosts’ "best of show"), Super Meat Boy 3D, Replaced, Mixtape, Avatar Legends, and many more.
• There’s a strong celebration of the indie scene: several games highlighted are from extremely small teams or solo devs.
• Themes include: retro revivals, cozy/wholesome games, party/multiplayer creativity, and innovation in tactics and fighting genres.
• The energy of the crew is contagious, and listeners walk away with dozens of demos and games to wishlist or try right now.

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Quick Reference: Games Mentioned & Segment Times

| Game | Segment Time | |----------------------------- |------------------| | Super Meat Boy 3D | 07:08–12:32 | | Mixtape | 13:05–15:27 | | Replaced | 15:41–21:00 | | Whisk | 21:48–23:29 | | Avatar Legends | 23:37–29:22 | | Invincible Versus | 29:28–33:25 | | Clawsome | 35:36–37:03 | | Darwin's Paradox | 37:03–38:53 | | My Arms are Longer Now | 39:25–42:40 | | Mina the Hollower | 42:46–45:26 | | Echo Generation 2 | 45:26–48:39 | | Never's End | 48:43–50:54 | | Pluto | 50:54–52:17 | | Kiln | 52:29–56:17 | | Find Your World | 56:17–58:13 | | Blighted | 58:18–60:39 | | Shade Protocol | 60:39–63:34 | | Vultures: Scavengers of Death| 64:05–65:01 | | Vikings on Trampolines | 65:03–65:22 |

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Final Thoughts

This episode is a rich, energetic roundup of GDC's most promising games, filled with sharp analysis, real excitement, and the Kinda Funny team's trademark personality. Whether you're an indie enthusiast or AAA chaser, you'll come away with a mountain of games to watch in 2026 and beyond.

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Notable Quotes and timestamps are included throughout each game segment for reference.

Transcript

[A]

Start your business today with the industry's best business partner, Shopify and start hearing. Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at shopify.com kinda funny.

[B]

If you want to get our shows ad free and our exclusive shows go to patreon.com kinda funny.

[A]

What's up, everybody? Welcome to the kind of funny games cast for Friday,

[B]

March 13th.

[A]

Friday the 13th. I'm one of your host, Greg Miller alongside Forbes 30 under 30 aka New York gay awards nominated aka jacket poppy. It's blessing. Eddie. Oh ye Jr. What's up, Greg? Do you get tired of everyone complimenting this jacket?

[C]

Yes. Thank you. I appreciate it.

[A]

I've used the crown.

[C]

I'm taking off the jacket.

[D]

I don't want anymore.

[A]

Oh, damn. Fuck. Just like that. All right.

[E]

That's crazy.

[A]

In between you and the other guy, it's the best voice in the business. Paris. Lily. Hello, Paris.

[D]

Greg. After that, I just remembered why I hurried up and got on a plane and went home.

[A]

You know what I mean? Don't be like that, Paris. All right?

[E]

I'm so happy that you can leave. You know what I mean? We're just stuck here.

[A]

Your dream. Never miss you, Mike.

[D]

I miss you, Roger. I miss you. Blessing.

[E]

The nightmare.

[C]

The nightmare.

[A]

Of course, it's the master of hype. Snowback Mike.

[B]

But like, how cool would it be if we got on and played some Friday the 13th right now?

[A]

Oh, my God. Can you imagine?

[B]

What if you could roll back?

[A]

Are the servers even working anymore?

[E]

We could figure it out.

[B]

We got a lobby full. We have so much fun.

[A]

Well, you know these kids, they never let anything shut down. They do. I'm still getting updates on some. I'm still subscribed to the Marvel Heroes Omega. These kids, they got it somehow.

[B]

They're doing it.

[E]

They're figuring it out.

[A]

And it's the taste maker, Roger Picord.

[E]

What up, ner Nerds.

[A]

Whoa.

[D]

Why?

[A]

Why is so mean?

[E]

The energy I'm bringing today.

[A]

I don't like that energy. You're supposed to be our sweet summer child Nerds.

[E]

You guys played fucking video games.

[C]

You're wearing a polo.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

Calling us nerds. Yeah, you actually look really nice.

[B]

I was gonna say. I was like.

[E]

What are you gonna say?

[C]

Yeah, I like it.

[B]

I don't get.

[E]

I don't get enough compliments, you know? I mean, I'm not gonna take off this polo.

[A]

There's an interesting energy in the office. Blessing's very tired.

[C]

I'm very tired.

[A]

Paris was here, but then he went back down there. Mike's just Miking it up, you can see what Roger's up to. Because of course, this is the Friday of GDC week. All week long we've been running around San Francisco, playing video games, drinking too much, having people in the office, having dinners, having parties, drinking too much. I flew on a plane to Bethesda on a red eye. I already came back. Here we are. It's been a crazy week, but when you get to Friday, you can finally look back and say, hey, what's all the cool stuff we played this week? And we have our personal list littered with amazing games. And that's what we're going to talk about today. Because of course, the Kinda Funny gamescast runs you through the biggest topics in video games each and every weekday on YouTube.com kindafunnygames, Twitch, dbconfunnygames, podcast services around the globe. That's for the one person who noticed we stopped doing that when we changed up the intros. Of course, if you want to be part of the show and talk about what you saw, what you liked, playing games this week, seeing stuff from other people, listening and reading previews, go ahead and get onto YouTube.com kinda funnygames super chats. You can super chat to be part of the show, just like Zeke speaks did. Who says, paris, can I have your Bungie ID so we can play marathon? Then Zeke speaks Super chats again. Paris, ditch these losers in exfil with me.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

He's on it, everybody. Remember, of course, we couldn't do this without our Patreon producers. Thank you over on patreon.com kindafunny to Carl Jacobs, Omega Buster and Delaney the Psalm Twining for now, let's begin with what is and forever will be topic of the show. Right here, right here. Thank you so much. Oh, desperately need a nice coffee today.

[E]

And a kiss.

[A]

Mike's running. Well, yeah, that's just. You know what I mean? That's just.

[B]

Here's the deal, Greg. Okay. Last night I went out to dinner, fabulous dinner, came home with a plan. I said, snowbike, Mike's dropping back into the war zone for of course, Call of Duty Black Ops Royale. And I said, so back, baby. Then what happened? Click the install button, Greg. And said, this is 604 gigabytes. I said, oh shit, that's a long time. So I said, download that shit, I'll be ready. And then what happens?

[A]

What happens?

[B]

I wait hours. Yeah, I'm scrolling. It's now 1 2am I say it's time to hot drop. Yeah, I click on it.

[E]

Yeah.

[B]

Says, oh, she got update. Yeah, Steam updates.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

I click on it again. What does it say? Update requires restart. I restart. I click on it again. I jump in. Shaders have to pre download

[C]

the shader.

[B]

I said, you got this.

[C]

Put the shaders in the update.

[B]

I got obs ready. I'm like, I'm going to live stream this. Nothing's holding me back, mind you. It's real late in the morning. I said, I got this. Open it up. What happens? Bless Call of Duty. War Zone is still installed.

[C]

What started this nonsense?

[B]

I said, this has been hours. What's happening here?

[A]

I said, we were going to talk about all the good games we played this week and Mike just wanted to rave about Call of Duty.

[C]

Nothing started that you guys don't understand as.

[B]

As a longtime Call of Duty fan. The three of us are. This is the metagame. This matters.

[C]

Trying to get the game to. To actually play is part of the game.

[B]

You have to understand that.

[E]

Yeah.

[B]

Thanks, Nick, for being multi billion dollar company.

[E]

It's incredible stuff.

[C]

There's no transition into that story.

[E]

I don't worry about that. The transition was off camera. He just pulls it up on his steam, shows it to me, and then wants to talk about it.

[C]

Now, let me tell you guys,

[A]

great games. I mean, Mike, I'll tell you where you went wrong last night, all right. Because I, of course, playing Crimson Desert, we're reviewing next week. We're allowed to say that we'll see you Wednesday. Very similar cast here will be here, including Paris Lily be talking about it. I'm excited about that. But I got to the end, I was like, I'm a little tired. I'm going to stop here, go to bed. I said, you know, before I did, what if I played a real game with a real update and I jumped back into skate?

[B]

Yeah. You know what I mean?

[A]

Let's jump in there. One final ride.

[B]

What'd you think?

[A]

Tell you. Not a lot of people. Not a lot of people on the island of Grom with me. I was on the island of Grom pretty much by myself.

[B]

You're on the island of Grom, though. Did you like it?

[A]

Yeah. I mean, new stuff. That's great. You know what I mean? I'm doing the dark Slides. That was cool. But it was fun. Let's stop talking about games like that, though.

[E]

Instead, me and Blessing are locked in this week. I feel like we're connecting on a level that we have because you both

[A]

are exhausted at the stable level.

[E]

We just looked at each other.

[C]

Dark Slides.

[B]

That's crazy. You guys don't know what dark slides are.

[A]

So dark. You know how when you grind, right?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Imagine if you flipped it and you grind it on the top of your board. Yeah. Where your grip tape is. So you're on the other side with the wheels up.

[C]

That's dark.

[A]

Hey, man, you can take it up with the skate community.

[B]

All right?

[A]

And I don't mean skate the game. I mean.

[B]

Yeah, you bring that up.

[A]

I love the skate community. Fucking. You talk shit like that. Tony Hawk runs in, throws the board at your.

[C]

No, I love Tony Hawk. I'm team Tony Hawk over skate.

[A]

No, but again, it doesn't matter what I'm talking about.

[C]

I know you're talking the whole skate community.

[A]

Yeah. Let's talk about video games that we played this week that we really, really enjoyed. Okay, does anyone want to start? Is anyone coming in super hot on a game they want to jump into?

[E]

I feel so deeply about a game, but I know we've talked about it before, but, like, I just need to talk about Super Meat Boy 3D. Like, yeah, I played this, we can say with the event, right? Yeah, we had the Nintendo event on the Switch too. And I felt like a sleeper agent waking up, picking up the controllers because I adored Super Meat Boy on the original Xbox360 Arcade. And picking up, I was like, okay, this is, of course 3D. It's a whole new ballpark. I haven't played this game in what's probably over a decade. What is it going to feel like? Am I going to be able to get back in there? And I was right there. I was right there, just absolutely crushing it. Almost almost finished the first world during the demo. I was locked in. I was right about to beat that boss. And it feels great, man. I do have some issues with it and I'm a little bit fearful of, like, what that game is going to look like the deeper I go into it and the more that we kind of play around with the level design. But for a first impression, I was. I was super jazzed about it.

[A]

So let me stop you right there. I played this as well, right next to you and have a very similar story. Of course, Super Meat Boy is an old, you might remember, Xbox game is how I will always remember it. It was a big deal there. It was in the indie game mov of them launching on Xbox. Hence why you're there, of course, was team meat Edmund McMullen who just put out Eugenics. And I forget his partner's name. I apologize off the top of My head. But it was a great 2D, super punishing platformer. You run through, leave a blood or meet blood trail, you die, you restart immediately. You see your ghost, you do this thing. It had all of IGN back in the day by the short and curlies. We were obsessed with it. I was obsessed with it. It was like really, I would say one of the most played Xbox games for my. That generation. For me or whatever. Yeah. And so, yeah, for it to drop in 3D, I was like, fuck, yeah, let's go. Let alone then to jump in and play it on Switch 2 like we did. My. You're. It's funny, you're talking about the issues that are coming up for you or things that made you worried. For me, for it. For me, it was. Looked great. Docked, did not look as great handheld.

[E]

I didn't hear. I didn't see that, but I heard it from other people.

[A]

Yeah. And so that was my thing where I was looking and I'm super stoked for. I'm like, okay, cool, this is going to be a rog.

[D]

Ally.

[A]

You know, I mean, I'm going to go play this over there rather than on Switch because I need that.

[E]

Yeah, you need that to be a 60fps. You need that to look crisp. But my bigger issues with it, I don't even want to go too deep into the issues because it felt so good. And also these levels are so short, at least in the first world. Right. Like under a minute. Right. To actually beat it once you figure out how to actually do it. I think it's the 3D of it all and the way that they are setting up some of the camera situations. There was one. It's going to be a hard one to explain, but stick with me here, where it is like a horizontal buzzsaw. And the whole idea is that you're supposed to like go behind it, but like, I couldn't see my character and I was doing it like I wasn't dying, but it just didn't feel right. You know what I mean? And like, that's the interesting thing about Super Meat Boy, the original one, is that everything about it felt like it wasn't the game's problem when you died. Right. You know what I mean? It was never a camera issue. It was never like, oh, the controls felt weird there. No, it's like you suck at the game. You get good.

[A]

Ye.

[E]

I loved that grind more so than I do any other, you know, punishing platform or something about the blood, the gore, the humor of it all. And also just the controls work so well in Super Meat Boy specifically. But yeah, I was running up against that. Some weird camera situations or just perspective stuff. And also like the world is 3D. Of course it. It is larger than just like the platforms that you're going on. So there were moments where I'm jumping to an area and I'm like, oh, this has to be where I have to go. No, that's just out of bounds, right? Like that's just, you know, a random, you know, forest area that you immediately die when you land there. So some weird stuff there of like, okay, well that death wasn't necessarily because I'm bad at the game. It's just because I didn't realize that that was not a place that I could go.

[A]

I shouldn't go right with time to what this game is. Because this game is meant to be a restart, restart running run again. You finally get through the thing you struggled with and then you die on a new thing to struggle with for sure.

[E]

Putting it all back, totally get that. But it is funny because like, again, I look at the original Super Meat Boys again, there is no issues with the game at all in terms of the level design. It is purely just me getting in there and just trying to get good going on the platforms. Know exactly where to go, you know how to get to the end. You just are not good enough there. So getting up against that was a little frustrating. But all in all had such a fucking blast. And I was a sleeper agent. Got in there, knew all the buttons. The fucking dash in the air is great. All the drop B they have there, like in Shadow Generations, the greatest game of all time. It's great, great stuff. So yeah, Switch 2 is going to be the place I play. I hope they update the handheld version for sure.

[C]

Yeah, it's funny. I feel like Super Meat Boy is one of those games that like, we've all. We all played so much, but we don't talk about.

[B]

Right?

[C]

But like we all are kind of sleeper agents for it because I played it at the Xbox event at PAX west last year and then at the Nintendo event that we went to this week. I picked it up, mess around with it for a little bit, but like, not that much. And I echo all the things that you're talking about. My only thing is like, and this might be to what you're mentioning too, I really enjoyed playing it. I'm scared that the 3D isn't going to hit as much for me as the 2D because the tightness of the design of the 2D. And like, there's something about 3D that makes it a little bit more like, okay, where am I landing? Like, we're like, there's. Yeah, it's just a little bit. It's an added layer, added dimension, if you will, of complexity that doesn't make it as, like, clean sometimes as I'm playing it. But also I think once we get into it and really you start to master it, that might all just fade. Fade away.

[A]

Of course, we don't officially know as of right now, but it does look like March 31st is going to be the release date on it. That went up in the Nintendo Eshop this morning. People are saying, I think there's a future game showcase that it's being promoted for. So maybe that leaked a little early, but we'll see. It doesn't seem far for that one. Paris, you were, of course, a ghost this entire week. I tried to hang out with you and try to invite you on stuff. I tried. You had meetings, you had big things to go do. I don't know anything about you from gdc. So talk to me about what game is the first one you want to talk about. What stood out the most for you?

[D]

I want to talk about mixtape, because the mix was my first opportunity to actually see it in person and get hands on. I know Greg, you know, yourself and other people have been gushing about it since Summer Game Fest last year. And being able to get hands on with it, it's just such a vibe. It resonates with me so much because, you know, I'm an 80s kid and it's that, you can tell, it's that coming of age story and you're. You're throwing in the music with it, and the music is the driving force behind everything that you're doing. I mean, the demo that, that we got to play wasn't anything overly complex as far as the gameplay went like that. You know, of course, you're skating down the road, stuff like that. But the music and just the atmosphere of it, it was just so freaking good. It was like, okay, I get it. I get why people are gushing about this game so much. And yeah, I just loved it, I think. When is it coming out? In May. Yeah, that soundtracks, it's just gonna be epic, man. I mean, I cannot wait to really dive into the game and really sink my teeth into that overall story and the musical tracks that are going to be a part of it. And I know there's going to be some discovery for me because I guarantee you there's going to be some music that I've never heard before or seen that I'm like, oh wow. Yeah, I want to replay this again because I want to hear that track again. You know what I mean? That kind of stuff. So yeah, I love it. I get it. So I was just so very happy when the person that was at the booth was like, okay, finally you get to play this. I was like, yes. So I played it there and then I got to do it a second time at the idea at Xbox event as well. But yeah, fantastic game.

[A]

Yeah, I cannot wait for mixtape. I've been talking about it a long time, I think. Yeah, you talk about the gameplay, of course. This is very much a playable coming of age movie. So set your expectations there. But like when I played at SGF and came back in the summer of last year, I was like, damn, this is something that feels truly special and I can't wait to get on it. It's another one however of like I played it back then on PC or whatever it was and then we saw it on the Switch showcase recently and I was like, damn, do not play it on Switch. Not that it looked terrible, but it doesn't look this beautiful. But that's also just from a trailer. Maybe I'm wrong, we actually your hands on it. But what they showed that Nintendo thing didn't move it for me.

[C]

Yeah, I'm at the point where I'm like, I don't want to hear Anything more about yeah.

[A]

100.

[E]

It was at like every event that we went to and I like actively avoided it. I was with Leanne's at the mix and this is her most anticipated game of this year. And she was like staring at it. I was like, do you want to play? She's like, fuck, no. I'm waiting for.

[C]

Especially this close.

[A]

May 7th, we finally have a date. Like we're right there. Like we can wait for it. Speaking of being that close, the game I want to shout out is a payoff on all the hype I've had for it. Replaced. I have, we've seen replaced so many times. Again, this 2D cyberpunk looking deal, pixelated graphics. And we've said, okay, cool. It looks great. It's got a cool vibe, it's got a story to it. I've been, I can't wait to play this. And finally getting to play it at the Xbox event. I was so happy to have it meet my expectations and exceed them in an interesting way of watching it. I've always been so hung up on the story and the visuals and whatever we're going to get into. I never thought much about what you're doing. And so when the guy handed me the controller and he's like, all right, cool. Have you ever played the Arkham Games? And I'm like, yeah, I've played the Arkham games. He's like, this is Arkham. He's like, you go forward, you beat the shit out of these guys. You got to. It's about direction, right? So you have to be facing the correct way where you're being attacked. But you know, spidey sense goes off and it's blue, yellow. That means you can do the reversal, right? Slam their ass, throw them down. If it's red, you got to dodge, roll. Cause you can't do it. And then what happens of course is you build up this gun on the side that you can either use just to fire one shot off and do hella damage, or if you're close to them, do a finisher. And it's what you just saw there, you know, you throw the guy, the camera goes Dutch angle. You put him down, you whip out the gun, you blow him away. And I was like, holy shit, this feels awesome. And then of course, is that a one trick pony thing? Who knows? I went a little bit further. And you get into the stealth section where you're hiding. If they see you, you're immediately killed. I was like, fuck, this feels good. Paris, I'm sorry, you were trying.

[D]

Yeah, I'm. Yeah, yeah. Greg, I'm so with you. As, as you know, I was picking it every year in our fantasy draft until you finally, you outbid me this year, the one damn year it actually comes out. But I've been anticipating this for years, so finally get hands on with it. And I, I played the demo at the idea at Xbox event as well. And yeah, I'm. I'm sold. This is what I wanted it to be. That, you know, that pseudo cyberpunk Blade Runner type look. I, I thought the, the, the gun mechanics, like you said, the finisher just feels very satisfying. There's a stealth elements to it as well, but just this handcrafted environment that they created. Just the art aesthetic, if I'm saying it correctly, it's just. It just looks so freaking good, but it actually plays really good too. And I, I think. Yeah.

[A]

No, please, please, I, I keep thinking you're done. No, no, no.

[D]

I, I'm, I'm just, I'm just hyped.

[C]

So.

[D]

So please.

[A]

Yeah, it's the idea of then getting away from the finishing the demo and being so hyped on the gameplay and then thinking back to how they were presenting the story before. You know you're breaking out this walkman that they call a wingman. Right. And it's got that retro 80s tech to it.

[E]

Future scroll.

[A]

You're scrolling through it and it's like, damn, I can't wait to be lost in this world and figure out what's going on, let alone the fact that I actually enjoy playing it. So for me personally, April 14th can't get here quickly enough. Finally get our hands on this.

[E]

I also played it. I was literally like I was on one side playing on the rog ally and then Paris is on the other side playing on the big screen right there. I enjoyed my time a lot. I thought it was gorgeous. I just didn't love the combat as much. Something about the how samey it felt as we kept on going on of is all the enemies come up four in a line. They just line up. You beat them up, you do the thing mindless. You press the trigger and then you move on. It was not like egregious, you know, I mean it wasn't like, oh, I'm not gonna play this game because it is so simple. But it did not feel like in the beginning like oh, I want. I'm like excited for this gameplay. Just felt like something to do to get to the more interesting. Hey, I'm finding the thing, I'm walking around, I'm finding little notes that interested me more or the stealth. Honestly.

[A]

Sure.

[E]

Than anything else.

[C]

I agree 100 actually with that.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

I played the demo for this a couple weeks ago and it was a short demo. But like, like the combat, once it clicked that it's Arkham, I was like, oh, okay, that's interesting. I think the Arkham combat is more fun in a 3D space where you are hopping around and doing all this stuff and managing all these enemies. I think it gets the job done here as far as giving you a style of combat to do in in this world. But the moment to moment between the combat reminded me of playing inside in a way that I really like. Where you have all the atmosphere, you have the dark colors, you have the lighting and the shadows peering from the background and you are just sneaking and you, you might see police cars or maybe not police cars, but you see cars in the background that are looking for you.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And the light shines and it's like, oh, I gotta hide behind this thing. So inside and all the Animations felt so handcrafted and moment to moment that like, yeah, all the things between the combat I'm so jazzed about. I think the combat still fine to good for what it is. And like, I think going the Arkin route is very interesting and I want to see if and how they expand upon that. But yeah, like, I. I'm really looking forward to those segments in between that.

[A]

See, for me, it was. Especially for the limited demo, we had the promise of where you can go with it. Where it was. All right, 4gu. All right. Now we're dropping a guy in with a gun that you have to manage on top of the four jabronis.

[E]

Okay.

[A]

Now there's this big boss that has ads running around that you take care of, but then also have to get him, but he does a special attack and it's like, I'm with you. That it's simple combat for sure, but I like the spicing it up that. Okay, cool. Now I feel like I'm spinning plates and I feel badass doing it.

[D]

Yeah, I. I would say to.

[A]

To.

[D]

To what Roger was saying. I. I would be disappointed if the difficulty of the combat does not scale up as you continue. I'm. I just assume, hey, this is a demo. We want everybody to be able to play and understand it. But I. I'm just assuming as you get deeper into the game, it's going to get more complex as far as that goes. So if it doesn't, then, yeah, that. That. That would be a bummer.

[E]

So we'll see, obviously, but we've all played Arkham Blackgate. You know what I mean? On Vita. Right? We saw that. We saw what that combat can do when it's 2D, 2.5D. I don't know. I'm a little skeptical.

[A]

Cool. Okay, fair enough. I appreciate that.

[C]

But there's also your camera sway in the 2D, then the. In the fighting. I don't know if you noticed that, but that was something that, like, caught me off guard too.

[E]

Yeah, I was like, let's throw it up.

[C]

Yeah, I was like, just like, dial down this way a little bit.

[A]

Snow Bike Mike, when you weren't downloading games and not playing them at home, what was your favorite thing you played at GDC this week or this week?

[B]

You want to know about my game of the show or do you want to know about some of my favorite.

[A]

I want to know about your game of the show. Start with the hotness.

[B]

I'm gonna make you wait. I'm gonna give you one that you're gonna love. You're into Hayes likes, aren't you? Greg Miller? You know that you love a fun 2 player co op.

[A]

You know that, right?

[B]

You know what's really hot in the streets when it comes to Blessing and Barrett? Neon whites.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You know what else we love? Fun, awesome video games that are bright, colorful and whimsy. I want to show you Whisk from Double Dusk Inc. 2026. There's a demo out now. Whisk is a two player platformer about shared movement and communication. Jumps, climbs and throws with your partner to get every dream cat home. People who have played this game has described it as portal meets neon white. With timing and being better every single level and going back and replaying levels. This is a very fun 2 player co op game. Split screen if you'd like or online. That caught my eye at the mix and I couldn't get enough of because simply who doesn't love to go fast and make better times and better runs. And this one is really fun because you're passing this space cat around. This space cat is in a hamster ball and your goal is to pass that cat around to get to the final area of the level while doing fun interactive moments with your teammate. You'll see here you're trying to pass that ball throughout the wind. Love this game. So yeah, I wanted to bring this one to the table. Make sure if you got a friend out there and you're liking Hayes, like this is one for you.

[E]

Are you going fast in the like the demo you played? Because this trailer looks pretty like methodical, you know, like you're preparing it.

[B]

I mean I go fast. Yeah. Yeah.

[E]

Okay.

[B]

So like I, I took this as Super Meat Boy Neon White where I was trying to set the time with my friends. I think when you first play the level you're going to scout it out and go slow. But I go fast. Yeah.

[E]

Do they have like a timer in the corner or is this, this is just a purely like you thing, like you're trying to go faster? Yeah, yeah.

[B]

No, I think at the end of every level you're going to try.

[E]

Okay, cool.

[B]

Yeah, that's your goal.

[E]

That's awesome.

[C]

Yeah, that's cool. Yeah.

[E]

I saw a huge line for this at the moment and I was like, oh, I didn't get a chance to play. I'm glad you got play.

[A]

Looks good. Okay. Bless.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

What about you?

[C]

Avatar Legends, the fighting game? I. This is one that like got announced. It was announced a while ago, got canceled and then re announced very recently and it only looks better every single time I see it. This week was the first time I got to play it. I played it at Day of the Devs on Sunday.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And then they came back around on Monday for the mix stream. I got to play it again. And then I went to the mix showcase later that night and you know what I did? I sought it out so I could play it some more. I'm hooked on this game.

[A]

When the mix showcase comes through, I go ahead, I book everybody on it. And so when a fighting game pops up, clearly I'm gonna give it to Fighting Game Popp. Blessing out of yo.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. But I was like, man, I don't know if this is going to pass Mustard, if this is going to be good enough that he'd even care about it. And so when you came in Monday morning and you're like, it might be the best fighting game of the year.

[B]

Of the year.

[C]

Yeah. No, this, this is my most. This is my most highly anticipated fighting game of 2026.

[E]

Wow.

[C]

This game is going to fuck. I. When I played this at Day of the Devs, when I said tm right. Put that on the back of the box. You're allowed to. In case you're an audio listener. You somehow missed this because I feel like this game has been a little bit low, lower key. It is Avatar the Last Airbender, right? The cartoon avatar that everybody loves, they're making into a fighting game. It is coming from Gameplay Group International, which is a publisher that has published a couple of fighting games before they did them's fighting herds and then another one. I can't remember the name of it, but somebody in chat bring it up. But this is their development studio that was formed not that long ago. This is their first game that they're actually making. But you have people that are working on it that previously did games like Killer Instinct things and they're just locked in. Like I. I got to talk to the developers a little bit. Of course they were on the stream like I mentioned, but then afterwards, like just in the studio, I'm just chatting with them and like, I've never heard of a group of people more locked in of like, we, we have this thing, we started working on this game like a year or two ago. Jesus. We have a team that knows how to make a fighting game that knows what, what they're doing and we know the vision for this thing. And you play it and it has everything a simple 2D fighting game needs, right? It has that, that the pickup and playability the pick, the pickup and playability, which is a mouthful of this game is so high, right? You pick up the sticks and it is. I can mash buttons. I know what I'm doing, right? It is a four button fighting game. I. You put in those simple inputs, you are doing the specials and it controls exactly the way that you would think this game controls. The pace of it is quick in a way that is really fun and feels a little bit more. More fresh, right? It isn't new, like slow. It isn't like the Street Fighter thing, where Street Fighter for me is like, like a little slow in a good way, but like in a methodical way. Here it is fun, frantic, chaotic, but you're still, you know, you still like have control of what's happening. I played a lot of Toph. I played a lot of Zuko as well.

[B]

Right.

[C]

Top is the earthbender. She has a fun thing where she can like lift up rocks from the ground and she can lift up a rock wall in the middle of the stage, like trap the opponent between you and it. So you can like kind of have that corner with the opponent. Zuko is just throwing fire everywhere. And I love it, right? Like, these characters play the exact way that I'd want them to play in the sense of when I watch Avatar the Last Airbender. Greg, how much you know about Avatar Last Airbender?

[A]

Very little.

[C]

So of course they're all elemental based. Whenever they're getting into like their fights or combat or whatever, like every movement, they are using the water, they're using fire, they're using earth, they're using wind, right? Like that characterizes all of their actions that they're making. And it's so satisfying when I'm playing as Zuko and I'm busting out fire moves with every single thing that I do. I hop in the air, I do a dive kick, and there's like fire coming out of my feet. It feels so satisfying. It's exactly what I want an avatar thing to be. And so I'm very much looking forward to this.

[E]

Roger Corner, everybody. Is there any type of like, rock, paper, scissors or like, elemental? Like, hey, I'm using the water ability and then this person using a fire ability. And they cancel each other out. Because. Because when I think of that, I love the original show. Like, I think about those moments of like, someone using water, someone using fire. Okay. They cancel each other out.

[B]

They don't.

[C]

They don't have that per se in like rock, paper, scissors element. I think mainly because they want to keep it a bit more simple and more traditional of a fighting game. I feel like if you went that route, you'd almost have to make it like maybe a 3v3 fighter. So you can, like, have multiple different elements to counter opponents or something like that. Here it's a bit more straightforward. They do have another added element of these assist characters that aren't typical fighting assist characters. Because when you think of a fighting game assist that is like, you'll press a button and then Wolverine comes out. A Wolverine will come out and do a move real quick and then hop out, oh, Wolverine. They don't have that. But the assists in this game are basically these, like, special properties that you'll give your character. So you'll choose. You'll choose Toph, and then you have, like, three other characters to choose from. And if you choose one of the characters who are like other side characters in Avatar, you might have somebody that makes it so that your rock moves are stronger. You might have it to where I'm making this one up. But, like, you might move faster or whatever. It's like a very specific thing that might characterize your playstyle. And I think that for that added layer of complexity was really fun.

[E]

Yeah. I love the way this looks. I was so happy when they first showed it because it's going the actual 2D route. Right. Like, I'm so used to these licensed games doing the 3D 2D thing where it's like, it looks like Avatar, but it's not really. It doesn't look like the show. Right. Like, this looks like the show in motion. It's like, it's. It's really incredible. And honestly, this is like. This is like dream scenario of taking an IP and putting it with a small team that's passionate. That gets it right. Like, it's.

[C]

I want. I want them to hit this out of the park. Of course, already from what I've played, it feels like they are. I really want them to succeed because it is a short development cycle.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

And it is a. Like, this feels like they are going for it here of like, yo, we want to make this a thing. Right. If they can put out a game every two to three years and have it be a fun licensed fighting game product that people really like and is able to build a community, I think that'll. That'll send their trajectory way upwards. Right. I hope. I hope they are. I hope they're able to do this.

[E]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

Paris, I look at your list of games you put in there, you have a fighting Game on here, but a different one.

[D]

Yeah, you perfect transition because I was gonna ask Blessing, you know, to kind of piggyback off of this. I played Invincible versus.

[C]

Oh hell yeah.

[D]

Yeah, I, I loved it. I thought it was great. I'm a huge Invincible fan. So to get those characters in, in this fighting game, I think, you know, there looks like they' somewhat of a story inside the game as well. It, it resonated with me and I'm not huge into fighting games like you are, Blessing. Right. So I don't pretend to be an SME at all, but it felt very pick up and play. Felt very fun to do. It felt like something like, yeah, I, when I get home, this is something I want to play. I'm going to want to, you know, go head to head against some people and probably lose and get my ass kicked. But it's Invincible and I want to try out these characters because it's the three man tag team, you know, way of doing this. So pick your characters, try and figure out what, what strength and weaknesses everyone has and see what you can mix and match together. So yeah, it looked great to me. It plays great too. So yeah, definitely something I want to check out.

[A]

Oh yeah.

[D]

But I was curious about you Blessing. Like what, what do you thought of Invincible Versus?

[C]

I'm excited for this one. It's definitely like, I think number three as far as where I'm at with like, you know, Avatar, Marvel, tocon and like kind of where I place, place this in the excitement factor. It feels like a game for me that is, is going to be good. Also being made by former Killer Instinct devs, which is cool to see them like continue to get work and continue to be able to transition what they were able to do with that game and put that into even to other fighting games. I like what this game does as far as it kind of meeting in the middle between a Marvel vs. Capcom style tag fighting system and then also kind of the violence of a Mortal Kombat, you know what I mean? You see the blood, you see you can have heads explode and things like that. You have the character intros as they meet in the middle there you have destruction in the background. I like what it, what it has going on. Destruction wise, gameplay wise. I think it might be a little bit of an acquired thing because I like Killer Instinct. You got like combos going on, right? Like it feels like one that is gonna be. You're gonna have to sit down and kind of learn and lab up a little bit, but it's one That I think it's one that I think is gonna have a community as it comes out. I don't know if it's gonna take the world by storm, but I think it does enough cool and good things that I. I see this game working. I see this game coming out and like doing what they want it to do.

[A]

Okay, I like that. Do you think. I know this is tough and fighting games are different, but do you think it's. Is this not going to be one of those situations where the community doesn't get enough time? Do you think this is one of the situations where Skybound has a different interpretation of what success is going to be? I think Skybound Games is still small enough that they're not sitting here going, well, this has to sell 14 million units or we close the studio.

[C]

I think if you're smart, you don't expect a fighting game to sell that much. But also, you're right, like it being a licensed ip, it being a studio that is spun up under Skybound and it also having like, did it show up Summer Game Fest? I feel like we've seen this at bigger.

[A]

Oh, we've seen this at multiple.

[D]

Yeah, it was at Summer Game Fest.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Yeah. It feels like the marketing rollout is a bit more like, like big. Right. Big for this one, which has me curious on what they want it to do. I think, you know, if I'm going by what I think is going to make waves in the finding in community. I. I don't know if this is going to be like the one. I don't know if this is going to be one where we come back around to Evo 2027 and this is going to be a day two game. Day two is where they put like the bigger ones. Right. Like, I hope we even get this into Evo 2027. That's kind of where I'm at because I think, think. I think Avatar is going to surpass it. I think Marvel Token is going to get so much attention when that releases this this year. I think I get scared about this having more of the 2xko story of coming out and then not getting the attention. But I think if that happens, it'll suck because I think it's a good game. You know, like, I have fun playing this. It's just a matter of do I want to have my life revolve around this? Not necessarily. I want to pick this up at a friend's house and place it, of course. Kind of thing.

[A]

Well, bless. Had fun playing it and I hope you've had some fun listening to us because of course, we couldn't do this without your support. If you like jabronis like us talking about video games each and every weekday, pick up a kinda funny membership. YouTube.com kindafunnygames, Apple, Spotify, and of course patreon.com kindafunny. You toss us 10 bucks, you get all of our content for a month. That's more than 80 episodes of programming ad free. You get your daily dose of me, Greg Miller in a series we call Greg way. And of course you get good karma for supporting an 11 year old 11 person small business. But right now, you're not using your benefits. So here's a word from our sponsor. This episode is brought to you by Shopify. When we started kinda funny in 2015, boy, let me tell you, I had a harsh lesson in what it takes to run your own business. We were the hosts, writers, producers, art department, tech support, garbage men, and so much more. We needed help. And that's exactly what Shopify does for millions of businesses right now. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and 10% of all e commerce in the US from household names like Aviator Nation, Chubby's and Death Wish Coffee to brands just getting started. Shopify is your commerce expert with world class expertise in everything from managing inventory to international shipping to products processing returns and beyond beyond. Start your business today with the industry's best business partner, Shopify and start hearing. Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at shopify.com kindafunny go to shopify.com kindafunny that's shopify.com kindafunny and we're back. Mike, I didn't like you teasing me.

[B]

Yeah, talk about a game.

[A]

Is it your number one game? What was your most impressive game?

[B]

I'm gonna tease you again. You're not ready for it. Everyone at this table, you're not ready for my game of the show yet. You're gonna get a night.

[E]

What is it? Call of Duty.

[B]

New War Zone just dropped.

[E]

You want to talk more about it?

[A]

Where's it?

[C]

Or blackout. It's blackout.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. War Zone family.

[C]

Okay, Umbrella.

[B]

Okay, one entity now. Okay, we put everything under the umbrella. All right, let me. Let me show you about a fun, whimsical game that caught my eye and I think maybe it will catch your eye as well. Let me show you. Clawsome from Cometa Games. This is coming out 2026. Help Clobby find unique friends in this wholesome adventure. Collect cute figurines with the help of Clawb to create colorful dioramas in the cozy claw machine game. I love a good claw machine game. I love walking up at the local Kmart and stepping up to the claw machine. I like going to the local arcade, hitting the claw machine. The one up bar here in San Francisco, hitting the claw machine. And this one caught my eye because it is so freaking cute. And the fun part about Clawb and his adventure is not only are you playing the claw machine, but then you go back home and all the claw machine toys that you collected are the collectibles that you will then build your own fun dioramas with.

[A]

How annoying is the claw machine game? Is it like when I'm at a Walmart and everything's bouncing out or is it. Oh, there you go.

[B]

Yeah, they're gonna bounce out. Yeah, yeah, yeah, they're gonna bounce out. This one caught my eye. I really enjoy this. I'm in the mood for like just some wholesome, fun, whimsical games. And this is just right up my alley.

[C]

Okay. Oh yeah.

[A]

Fair enough. Do you think you'll put serious time into this?

[B]

I think I'll put a good. Probably three hours in.

[A]

Okay. Hey, that's all. I'll take that.

[E]

I'll take that cute logo right there.

[C]

Come on.

[A]

It is really good. Yeah. Do we have a date that one?

[B]

2026.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

Roger.

[A]

Gamino.

[C]

The.

[E]

I played a little bit of Darwin's Paradox. That's been.

[A]

Oh, the octopus one.

[B]

Yeah.

[E]

Why'd you do that?

[A]

We'll never forgive them for what they did with this Metal Gear tease. That's why.

[E]

Oh yeah.

[A]

I don't. I don't know this octopus and I don't want to know.

[E]

I don't fucking like he's involved.

[A]

Konami should know that. They would have made a mortal enemy. They made a mortal.

[E]

Well, they gave you a lot of. They gave you Peace Walker. So it doesn't really matter. Yeah. So this is the Konami published game. We've seen this few. I think a year ago.

[A]

Right.

[E]

We should. We. Or two years ago now. It's been a minute. We've known about this game for a while. I actually got to get hands on with it. The demo is out now. Which I didn't even know. So you guys can try it out for yourselves. But played on the switch too. I played on handheld mode. Wasn't really great looking. It was kind of blurry and stuttery and I was able to compare that with the actual like on like docked mode and it looked way better there. So take that with, with a grain of salt. And if you want to purchase this game and thinking about the platforms, uh, but the game itself is kind of like an inside right where you're walking around as this little octopus you're stealthing around. It's basically a fish out of water or an octopus water scenario where yeah, he's sucked up by a UFO and now in an alien planet. And uh, very whimsical and fun. It's. It's uh. I think if this came out actually a few years ago, I would have been like, ah, I've seen too many of these games. Too many of these, uh, inside likes, whatever you have been saying.

[A]

Too many.

[E]

Yeah, too many. But like now I'm actually, I'm actually kind of in into this one because it doesn't seem too serious. It had has, you know, that finding Dory, Finding Nemo type vibe. It's funny, it's whimsical, it's cute. I like seeing what's going on in this alien planet. You're finding little newspaper clippings, kind of understanding what's going on there. And again, only a 20 minute demo right there. But I was, I was not, not like fully in love with it, but I was like, oh, this is like way more charming than I would have suspected. So. Yeah, maybe don't.

[A]

Fairly imminent, right? April 2nd.

[E]

Yeah. So don't be hating on this octopus, Greg.

[A]

I mean, no, I'm sorry. It's not even like I'm not even judging his quality. I think I have to. This is the same as me having to boycott Mission Impossible because of the whole Justice League thing.

[E]

Like, oh, okay, yeah. With the mustache.

[A]

We are in the. There's a line in the sand and I shall not cross it.

[E]

Okay.

[A]

Unless there's some kind of like unlockable for Metal Gear, like if I play

[E]

it apparently has puns. That's what June Dayo.

[A]

It has Metal Gear puns.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Great. You know what I mean? Don't try to win me back, Konami. It's not gonna happen. We're not. You know what I mean? You salted the earth here. Nothing will ever grow again.

[E]

Again.

[A]

Bless. Gimme another game.

[C]

Have you heard of this game called My Arms are Longer Now?

[A]

I have. This is the Jackbox published one, right?

[C]

This is a game. This is Jackbox's first published game that isn't like a Jackbox party pack game that they make in house. It's from a developer called Toot Games. Yesterday in the Middle of the day, I went up to the city specifically for this demo. Okay. You know, went to a GDC hotel room for 30 minutes, hung out. Just a random one. It's a random one. Just hung out with the developer and then two of the people on the publishing team and they sat me down and they talked to me about this game. It is a. I would almost describe it as an Adult Swim cartoon style game that might invoke a lot of thank goodness you're here or other similar comedy games. Right. You are playing as an arm, a very long arm that can stretch and stretch and stretch and you are basically going into levels, causing havoc with people. There's a slap button and so you can like slap any of the people that you see on screen. And you're basically stealing like a list of things to try and like make money off of all these things. Right. And so like you might grab, I don't know, a mailbox. And the mailbox might be worth like $30 or something. Right. And you're making that and you can see on the top. Right, right. The like list of things that, that you can do to try and accumulate money here. It is very much like a comedy ass. Like we want to make people laugh, we want to have fun, we want to do the. I'll say thank goodness you're here meets Untitled Goose game even. Right. As far as going in, annoying people, causing debauchery, seeing what fun bits they come up with and all that stuff. I didn't get my hands on it that long. I probably played like five minutes or so. It was mostly the developer kind of explaining like, you know, how they went about this and, and the ethos of the game seems really cool. Seems like a really fun one that I think me, Greg, anybody here who played thank goodness you're here is probably going to enjoy this one. It seems like a really funny game.

[A]

Yeah. Obviously when they announced it, Jackbox in general, doing something like, okay, that's interesting. And then as soon as you started looking at it, I was like, oh man, this looks like it's going to scratch that exact same itch of. I would say both. Thank goodness you're here in terms of the comedy, but a little bit of Untitled Goosebumps. Here's a weird ass puzzle in a weird ass town to go do something for. Really looking forward to this as well. I think it's.

[C]

Yeah. You can also customize your arm because I. One of the questions I asked the dev was do you ever see the face that the arm is connected to. And the whole idea is that it is your arm.

[B]

Okay?

[C]

Right. This is your arm. And so you can customize the arm, you can change the skin color of it, you can add hair, you can do like, things to personalize it. And you. He's like, yeah, you'll never actually see the face. And so I thought that was really funny. And there's like these sub stories as well. Like, as you can see, the starting screen was a dude at his desk all miserable. And you have like the, like the chart there, that's like the. I forget what they call it, but the Charlie from It's Always Sunny meme, right. Of like connect the dots kind of thing. There's like a. There's a story in the background of like, I think a detective that's trying to figure out, like, what the is up with this. This arm that keeps annoying people and keeps ruining people's days. And like his day is getting ruined. His day is getting ruined because, like, he can't catch this arm and can't get to the bottom of this. So I think you're going to expect a lot of bits like that here to happen. So release date on this one, they just said fall.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

Yeah, fair enough. Like four hours in length too, I want to say, like somewhere around there.

[A]

That sounds awesome.

[C]

Yeah. Really, really cool idea.

[A]

Cool. The next game I'll bring out, I think is one we've talked for years about, but I have never actually played or really had much with. But Mina the Hollower, of course, this is from Yacht Club. They of course gave you Shovel Knight. I think they're a. We're all well versed in their story, mainly through Jason Schreier books and reporting. But me and the Hollower, I've always been like, okay, cool. I've looked at a glance and like, I don't know if it would actually be a great game. But where I'm at right now with my desire for more traditional Zeldas and where I'm at right now with looking for a game that has those retro styles in a modern way. Playing this, I was like, holy shit, I can't wait for this. Cracking my whip. Of course, if you don't know me and the Hollow Earth Steam description reads, take control of Mina, a renowned Hollower hurtled into a desperate mission to rescue a cursed land whip foes, burrow through the ground and explore a pixel perfect world in Mina the Hollower, a brand new game from the developers who brought you Shavant Knight. Colorful, funny. You know, it was such a.

[E]

All right.

[A]

We're tossing in the deep end. You have all this stuff. This is. And, like, so many things to do. But that gets me so excited about upgrading these weapons, having that Castlevania whip running through this place and seeing all the goofy stuff Yacht Club has. Pass.

[C]

Can I tell you, I didn't really care about this game at all. Like, this game would keep coming up in conversation. And I know. I know it's Yacht Club. And so inherently, it's like, well, these are the creators of Shovel Knight. I understand why there's a fervor behind it.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

But I just never had that buying because I. I would play Shovel Knight. I never really fell in love with Shovel Knight. And so, like, Mina the Hollower. I've talked about this before. I'm more 3D Zelda person than 2D Zelda person. And so there was no reason for me to really care about this game. And then I played it at the Nintendo event, and I'm fully in.

[E]

Wow.

[C]

I can't believe how much this turned me around as I was playing it. Like, there is something that feels so genuine and like, it feels so true to what they're going for is there in the retro style. I know that's why people love Shovel Knight is that you play Shovel Knight and it feels like an NES SNES title. Right. I play Mina the Hollower, and I'm like, damn, this feels like having a Game Boy again. Like, this feels like I'm playing an actual game from this era. But it has all the learnings and, like, a lot of the good design that you learn from over the years. And so. So authenticity is the word I'm looking for. Thank you. Foxbox and chat. It just feels so authentic to the air. And you look at the art, and the art's beautiful. It sounds Right. The sound, I think, is a big factor of. Of the immersion here. It sounds exactly the way that it looks. Really looking forward to this one now.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

100.

[B]

Whoa.

[A]

Kevin gave me a little twist of the sound there.

[C]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

Can't wait. Of course, they say spring. It is spring. Let's go. You know, I mean, take all the time. Obviously, there's been a bunch of delays, but. But it seems like they're pretty confident that they're in the final stretch here and going to get us something special. Paris, tell me about your last game you got on your list.

[D]

Yeah, I have Echo Generation 2. It was the first game I played at ID at Xbox. Excuse me. Apologize for that. But it was the first game I played at ID at Xbox and I just got hooked. I really liked the first game. So the sequel and this is a turn based RPG sci fi deck builder. And you're. They're not really telling you if this is actually a sequel or a prequel depending on, you know where you are in the story without giving spoilers to the first game, but you're in a completely new new location. You're going to have to recruit different people onto your team. And the whole point of this is you're, you're getting these cards as you're defeating certain enemies or you're finding them as you're traversing through the world. And each card has different weapon abilities, health shield, things like that.

[B]

You're.

[D]

You're running into different enemies and bosses that have certain aspects to them as far as what their strengths and what their weaknesses are. So you kind of have to synergize the cards into attacking these enemies and taking them out obviously before, before they kill you and, and take you out. And I, I just got hooked while I was playing. I went through. They had Chapter one and Chapter two, Chapter one play right now it's, it's on Steam. But Chapter two was, is exclusive to the idea at Xbox event. I just played through both of them. I got to that final boss. I think I tried him like three or four times. Couldn't. Couldn't defeat him. And the guy that was working, working the booth, he told me only one person had actually defeated it. But I really got into trying to figure out all right, what combination do I need to pull out of my deck. I saw what, what he was susceptible to. Like maybe he was susceptible to radiation or burn or.

[E]

Right.

[D]

Like, all right, what cars do I have that I can kind of mix and match that will be able to take those down and, and defeat him before he defeats me. But yeah, I loved it. I thought it was really good. Story's compelling. Again, if you played the first one, you're definitely going to want to play play the second one. But it seems like a lot of fun. So that was probably. I wouldn't even say probably because replace I'd already played it was the favorite thing I played with the idea next month.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. I started it up and was so taken aback by the style when we had seen the announcement of Echo Generation 2 at one of the Xbox or whatever showcases. I liked the vibe so much that I went and got Echo Generation one on Game Pass which was a very Stranger things. You're in a neighborhood, you're a bunch of kids. So starting this and Being in the lab, I was like, I never really put time. I downloaded it, never started it. I'm like I got to put this down and go beat the source material before I jump here because. Because I don't want to know what's happening to this level. But it looks cool. I played a little. A little bit of the fight, ran through the powers were nice that the girl was throwing down. I like that.

[D]

Yeah, yeah, I completely agree. And that's what's cool about it. As you start to advance and get more cards, you're going to get all these different weird weapons and variations and shield buffs that you're going to be able to do. And trying to understand when to do when to be able to buff yourself or attack with a certain weapon is kind of the. The key to it. But yeah, I really enjoyed it. It was a lot of fun.

[B]

Fun.

[A]

Roger.

[B]

Hi.

[A]

Give me another game.

[E]

This is one that we played during the mix. I actually haven't even played this game. I just been looking at it a bunch and I just. I think this game is just so cool looking and I love the mechanics and it's Never's End. Never's End. I'm going to give you the Steam D description. Never's End is a turn based tactical RPG where you return from death into the midst of a Glo a global cataclysm possess town folk to use them as living weapons wield the forces forces of nature to reshape the battlefield and lead mankind back from the brink of extinction. Me and Mike Mike actually played it during the mix I was hosting. So I got it from two ends where we had the lead of the team over with us. And then I also talked to at the day of the devs the head of the story side of stuff. I'm taken by the art style of it. For anyone who isn't able to watch right now, think Final Fantasy Tactics but with an incredible pixel art style that is doing. It's 3D but it's 2D. It's doing some special stuff right there there. And the way that they the team was pitching the mechanics when it comes to the humidity and the water and the weather system here is really really compelling. Basically the short pitch of it all. Watch the mix if you want like the in depth stuff all about it. But every single area that you go to has its own essentially background weather system that is going on right. So if you. If you go into a humid area like it's going on in the background. So when you use your spells that is affected by whatever humidity you're in. And that's a very simple version of it because they have full on water simulations and every single time you are using water or you have fire. It is some really compelling stuff. Yeah. The demo's out right now on Steam. I'm excited to try that out this weekend. It's a gameplay demo and there's pitching 2026, but this game has been developed for like seven years. So I don't know if that's, that's, you know, 2026, you know, we'll see. But they seem pretty confident about it. It's gorgeous. And I think this is one if it actually comes out this year. Look out.

[A]

What a big year for video game humidity. You know, make it human there, Mike. Are you ready?

[B]

No, I don't think you guys are ready for it. So I'm gonna give you another one. Unfortunately, you guys haven't earned my game of the show, but I'm gonna show you one that's gonna catch your eye. This is Pluto. This is from Siege Wizard Interactive. It's out now with overwhelmingly positive reviews on Steam. There's also a demo available. This is a roguelike deck builder where you cast elemental spells, outwit monstrous foes and escape prison on your way to your niece's birthday party. The fingers catch you because it's all about casting spells off of your fingers. And when you see this on screen, it immediately jumps off and you go, oh, what in the heck is that? That freaky looking art right there. And I'm big into deck builders right now. Played some slay the Spire 2 last night and this game has been on my mind since the mix because it is just so scary, freaky, grotesque looking that I wanted to play more. And I, I love a good rog like deck builder right now. And so yeah, I'm casting spells off my fingers, fighting these just ugly monsters, having a really good time. Check it out.

[A]

Does it do anything for you? Bless.

[C]

No, this is such, this is such

[E]

like a Roger game. Like I see this and it's like this is what I gravitate to. But it's like almost too grotesque, you know, it's like I don't know if I can spend more than an hour.

[C]

That's the thing is I hate looking at it.

[E]

Yeah. But I also kind of love it.

[C]

And I'm sure that's the intention, but like, man. Yeah, they went hard.

[A]

Bless. What else from GDC did you like looking at?

[C]

You know what? I was gonna give you my game of the Show. But, yeah, I'm like, you wait. I'm gonna follow Mike's dude. I like what Mike's doing here. Let him know I'm getting my game of the show. Work for it instead. Well, you'll get Kiln. Got to play Kiln at Day of the Devs.

[D]

Nice.

[C]

Of course, Day of the Devs is an event that is, I believe, thrown by Double Fine.

[A]

It is.

[C]

Or by Tim.

[A]

They're their own thing. But Tim Schaefer and, you know, Greg Rice are founders, and they've been pushing in Greg Double Funny, yada, yada yada.

[C]

But they had a whole room that was set up with a bunch of stations where people could play multiplayer matches of Kiln. I got there at a weird time where, like, I was, like, standing in line. I was like, at the front of the line and. And somebody had to get up and go. And so they were like, okay, well, we're past the pottery building stage. But, like, we have a stage open if you want to, like, just hop into that station. I was like, okay, yeah, sure, I'll hop right into the match. And so I hopped into the match. And when I tell you I didn't know anything that was going on, like, it was very much like, okay, I gotta fill the enemy kiln with water, but I keep getting melee and, like, things are happening. Like, the actual, like, gameplay portion of it, I wish I could give you better impressions of, but it was just a chaotic mess to me.

[A]

Okay, okay. But was it fun?

[C]

I had a blast. Mike, maybe.

[B]

Gameplay was really fun.

[C]

Mike can tell you about that better. But what I did have fun with was afterwards, as people were getting up, they're like, okay, now you can stay and create a pot. And when I tell you making this pot was a spiritual experience.

[A]

Oh, wow.

[C]

The pot making mechanics of this game maybe might be some of the best pot making in a video game. Like, it goes hard, so they give you so many options to customize and do things. Of course, like, you can, like, create the shape of your pot pot. The. Depending on the size of the pot you make, that affects, like, the abilities of the pot as well and, like, the properties of the pot as you get into the combat and stuff. You can dip it in, like, different colors. And so I dip, like, the bottom half of my pot red and then the top bottom of it.

[A]

Sure, yeah.

[C]

You know, black, because I like the red and black combo. I put a nice little, like, skull lid on the top of it. Right. Like. Or it was like a spiky crown lid actually. And then I had like, like heart designs going around it. This was a blast making this pot. And so, like, I'm looking forward to it just for that. Mike, you can probably speak to the multiplayer stuff better than I can. I. I didn't really care about it, if I'm being honest. After I played the match, they got

[B]

something special with this game is right. The pop making is a ton of fun. Of course, what you create, how you create and what you create will affect the multiplayer side of things. Right. So if you create a large pot, then you'll be able to take in more water, do more damage, but you'll be slower.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Then also on the flip side, you'll be able to. Your goal is to extinguish the kiln on the other team's side. So in the middle, there's all these fun levels, but in the middle there's going to be a large pot of water that you will break. And then everybody will absorb that water into their little pots and then make a mad dash for the other team's area to try to put out their kiln. And it's a ton of fun of going back and forth. What between a small, medium and large pot. Are you the special abilities that they do where your teammates are? I had some great. I was playing with all the double Fine kiddos out there. So they had all the employees and their kids, and I was playing with them and they were laughing the whole time. Some were trying to put water on the other team's side. Some were defending our base with me. But it was a really good time. This is a fun pottery pummel party experience, right? What did he call it? I don't know. But I got close there.

[A]

That was close.

[B]

It was a good time. You know what, Greg? It won me over. I was surprised.

[A]

Wow. You think you'll be playing when it actually launches this.

[B]

Yeah, we'll play it for sure. We will play this.

[C]

I'll play that with you. Just go. So I can make the pots. What if I make my pot and then you play with it where you

[B]

will spend hours making pots. That's how good.

[A]

That's the thing about it, where I look at it and, like, the multiplayer does nothing for me, but the pottery creation looks cool, huh? But I don't think I'll do much of it beyond whatever stream you put me on.

[C]

I feel like it's a fun one for Ben. Like. Like you might have a really fun family night.

[B]

You, Jen and Ben.

[A]

Jen makes the real pottery, you know.

[B]

Well, now you can make virtual.

[C]

This is what I'll say. You have Jen making real pottery and then Ben beside her making the pottery in the game.

[A]

Sure.

[C]

It's very, it's very simple. Like it's so straightforward and like easy to do. I think, I think kids would have a blast doing this. Okay, fair enough.

[A]

We'll try it out. Final game, I want to shout out well for Kevin. I'm not going to bring these up. I had on my short list here, but I'm going to give them just shout outs. Shout out to sigmastar Saga DX from way forward. We did that on the mix. And Barcore. I did that demo in the mix too. I liked both those. But the one I want to talk about from our mix stream is find your world. This is the capybara game coming in April. Find your community at summer camp. One friendship at a time. Take a beat, enjoy a breath of fresh air, all while playing at the beach, strolling in the woods and dancing with friends. This short cozy game was created by two dads celebrating their kids journeys to find their voices. The idea is that you are this kid dropped off at summer camp. However, you're non verbal and so you're given a binder where you communicate that way with the other campers you run around that leaves no corner to get new words to do new things. It's a little bit of puzzle poppy, but it's more cozy poppy I think, which is what I would be alongside Joey. Right.

[C]

And it is cozy cousin.

[A]

Awesome. It's cool. It's a great story. Again they put at the end there talking to Cappy about it though, like, you know, the two dads who did this both had kids who needed a binder. So it's really about bringing that forward, showing how this would work. Being in a cute little summer camp, doing all these things are these things. But what I found on top of it being enjoyable to play, period, just end the story. I love that they're committing to, hey, this is a short cozy game. I want to say they said it was around short size 2 hours, something like that. But go watch it in our mixed thing. But most importantly, what I love, love, love about this is that they're putting it out for free.

[C]

Wow.

[A]

This is a game you can get for free that you can play to see what this is like to have a child who is growing up this way and finding their words and yada yada yada. And if you want to, there's going to be a supporter edition that you could buy and give money to or whatever. And I think that's such a brilliant way to make this kind of game of, like, we're making this cozy thing we want to show you, you know, video games. Why I love them, I always say, is putting me in someone else's shoes. And so to do that here and have them run around, I'm just. I was very impressed with what I saw, and I can't wait for it to come out in April.

[C]

Really cool.

[E]

Beautiful.

[A]

For sure. Bless.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

Are you ready to tell me your game of the show?

[C]

Yeah, I'll do a shout out and then I'll tell you my game of the show. I appreciate the shout out to Blighted. I got to play that alongside Greg. Well, kind of. Well, you were sitting there alongside the

[A]

motherfuckers all late to the Nintendo demos. I was starting to write the slack and I'm like, I'll delete it. That's right. I think we're all came in. They were giving the presentation. They were giving the presentation. And I heard him all yakking in the hallways. You came in late and you. Oh, you stopped and stopped talking.

[E]

I was gonna throw Mike under the bus, but we won't do that.

[A]

It was Mike who was yakking real loud. Yeah.

[C]

Mike was being loud.

[B]

I got Roger so good.

[E]

It was because of it.

[B]

On a kind of funny podcast. Yeah.

[A]

On approach when we were sitting when I got. And they were like, okay, cool. We should have you all start together since there's so many of you versus the other people. And I was like, yeah. And they're like. And Blighted is a multiplayer one. It's perfect. I'm like, oh, awesome. Cool. So when they finished the presentation, I walked over, like, all right. Kind of funny. Come here. And we sat down. It was me and Bless. And then one guy from Drinkbox played the entire time with Bless. I didn't even.

[C]

Yeah. I just said, I feel so bad.

[A]

Well, they were, like, giving a real demo. It's clear that, like, what Drinkbox had told them of, like, we're a multiplayer game, like, did not get communicated to the Nintendo print of, like, we'll play on one of the roles so they see what's going on.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

But I had played this demo at SGF anyway.

[C]

Yes. And I assume. Did you give impressions during sgf?

[A]

I did, yeah.

[C]

Okay, cool. Then I won't. I won't belabor it. Right. Because this is my first time playing it. I don't think I heard your impressions. I don't think I was on the episode but like, I. But I say that to say I didn't set my expectations for it. Like, I didn't calibrate. So going into it, did not realize it's just straight up a Souls type soul style of game. And so you have the checkpoints that respawn, I think. Respawn enemies, I'm pretty sure.

[A]

Yeah. This is like the bonfire.

[C]

Yeah, exactly. You have your dodge roll, you have your pair, you have all that stuff. Stuff, I think where my head was at when we first saw the reveal of Blighted versus, like the demo. The demos kind of brought me back down to earth of like, okay, this is an actual video game. I think I for some reason thought it was gonna be the next Hades 2 or Hades or something, right. But playing it, I'm like, oh, no, this is just Drinkbox trying something different. Trying something that they don't usually do. I think expanding their art style. I think the game is really pretty to look at. I. I love that. I think the combat's cool, right? It's one that I wanted to check out more. I don't think the demo super duper sold me on like, oh, this is going to be the one or anything like that, but it's one that I'm going to look out for for sure. My game of the show is one from the mix that I got to check out during the mix showcase. Shade Protocol.

[E]

Yeah, dude.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

You and I, this one was insane.

[E]

Blew our minds.

[C]

It was. It was wild because. So the developer, the developer is called Little Legendary.

[A]

Yeah, it was the game for audio listeners. Because I'm looking at it.

[C]

Shade Protocol call It is a 2D metroidvania pixel art style game has like, I feel like a lot of styles pulled from different games because I see some Mega man in here. But when we get into the mechanics, there's so many different mechanics here.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

But yeah, it's a 2D Metroidvania, really cool art. Art style, really great pixel art. But when we did it during the mix, right, the developer was playing the entire demo and the more he talked, the more me and Roger are both like, damn, that's pretty cool.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

Damn, that's. That's kind of crazy. Oh, shit. Like, so much so that I was like, I need to learn more about this game. So when we went to the. When I went to the mix later that night, I sought him out and was like, yo, can I play the game? And he finally gave me the controller. And like, as I played, I was like, shit, this is. This feels as Good as it looks. And so you're playing as. As this character, right, who has a bunch of different weapons. Her main thing that she has is like a shield, but she also has like this chakra weapon that she can throw and it turns into like a portal from Portal. Right. Like, she also has a spear. She like.

[A]

Every.

[C]

The way he described it was that every button is a different tool in your tool set.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

And they're all also like, inspired by different instruments or maybe literally might be different instruments. I didn't catch that fully, but when you swing one of these weapons, they make the sound of an instrument. In fact, I think that looks like a guitar.

[E]

Pretty sure.

[C]

Pretty sure that's a guitar. So, like, when you swing these different weapons, they make these different things. Right? Right. You can throw your spear. So each of these tools, I should say, also have like, unique things to them. So if you throw your spear at a wall, you can then hop off of it and platform off of it. Like I said, the Shocko weapon will like be a portal. She has like a sword that can create a rift in the world.

[E]

Okay.

[C]

And so you basically bring up, if you remember a Metal Gear Rising Revengeance where you could freeze time and kind of like angle the swing where you want it. You have a similar thing here where you can bring up that menu to angle your swing and then you cut the screen in half F. And that can help you with platforming challenges. Sometimes you have platforms that are like unactivated in the level where if you slice through them, they will then turn into actual platforms. They can hop off of just a lot of really clever things. He's only a little bit over a year into development of this game, which.

[E]

That was the part that blew our mind.

[C]

Yes.

[E]

Like, this feels like a game like, oh, it's been about for like five years, six years. A year.

[C]

A year into development. And so it's very early. They don't really have a release date or anything like that yet, but it's one that is for sure on my radar. Music was beautiful too. When I got around to playing it at the mix and I could actually listen to it sounded beautiful. A lot of good things going for it.

[E]

And also he said made sure to say no generative AI, no AI in gen all. And also all of this is handmade pixel art. If you see any beautiful effects going on, that is all hand done. There's no shaders on top of it. It is just all hand done. They're just brute forcing it. And they're talented as yeah.

[A]

That's awesome. Good pick.

[C]

Thank you. Congratulations.

[A]

And now we come to the moment of truth for Snowbike. Mike.

[B]

That's a great one. I think that's how we got to end the episode with a fantastic game. Great job. Bless. That was so good.

[C]

I thank you, Mike.

[B]

Man, that game is going on my wish list today, y'.

[E]

All.

[A]

What are you doing? Are you not doing your game?

[C]

Don't piss me off, Mike. I mean.

[B]

Well, we got a guess. You know what I mean? I was trying to wrap it up. My game game is Vultures. Scavengers of Death from Team Vultures. We saw this at the Mix here with kind of funny. This comes out April.

[A]

Oh yeah.

[B]

And the demo is out now.

[C]

Is there a game of the show?

[B]

Vultures is a turn based survival horror inspired by 90s survival Survival horror classics. This is my game of the show. Riding the eye off of Resident Evil, being big into turn based tactics games right now. This game caught my eye and is all I've been thinking about about all week long. These guys over there at Team Vultures really captured the mood. The vibe of the survival horror games back in the 90s and the the tactical turn based gameplay mixed with the exploration as well. While you're running around and exploring these areas, getting items to make sure you're ready for the next fight. So good. I can't wait to see it. And I can't wait for the surprises behind every corner. Right. Because that is the fun part about these turn based tactical games is you don't know what's beyond that fog of war and what kind of situations you'll get into. So yeah, that's my game of the show.

[A]

Yay.

[E]

We did it.

[C]

Everybody made it.

[A]

I like that. Vultures. We do have a super chat about one game, the co Op bro Super chats and says, did you guys play Vikings on trampolines? One of my favorites. I played at gdc. A fun co op brawler. No, I missed this. I never.

[E]

No, I said there's a big line for this one. I was watching over people's shoulders.

[A]

Was it at the mixes?

[E]

No. Is that Dave the Devs? Yeah. This looks really fun.

[A]

Yeah, this does look neat.

[E]

Okay, big one.

[A]

Just get in there and beat the shove up. Dexter super chat says Roger and Blessing showing off their guns. Good for you. And then Science Dog official says, happy Friday, you effing nerds. Happy Friday to you and Happy GDC week to all who celebrate. Everybody, thank you for hanging out. As we ran through the best games we saw this week. Of course, you can go back on YouTube.com kindafunnung catch more than 60 games on our mix showcase we did on Monday. And then of course, catch the other stream. Which is what? 7 hours of us hanging out with 16 different developers looking at cool indie games, many of which we just talked about. However, like, subscribe, share, and more importantly, if you're watching right now, stay tuned. Party mode is next, right, Rog?

[E]

Yes, it is. We're going to play Gang Beasts with Carl Jacobs.

[A]

Carl Jacobs in the house for Gangbeats. So if you aren't watching live on Twitch or YouTube, you can catch that later on YouTube.com kindafunnygames Pick up your membership and have a great time. Until next time. It's been our pleasure to serve you.

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