We Played Outer Worlds 2, Invincible VS, Grounded 2 - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Summary

Kinda Funny Gamescast: Detailed Summary

Episode Title: We Played Outer Worlds 2, Invincible VS, Grounded 2
Release Date: June 10, 2025
Hosts: Tim Gettys, Greg “GameOverGreggy” Miller, Blessing Adeoye Jr., and Andy Cortez

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1. Summer Game Fest Play Days and Xbox Presentation

The episode kicks off with the hosts discussing their recent attendance at the Summer Game Fest Play Days in Los Angeles. Greg Miller shares his experience attending both the Summer Game Fest Play Days and the separate Xbox presentation held at a multi-floor loft.

Greg Miller [01:34]:
"Summer Game Fest Play Days are held at an actual place in Los Angeles where journalists, creators, and media come together to play demos, similar to a small-scale E3."

Greg highlights the atmosphere of the Xbox presentation, noting the presence of notable figures like Jason Schreier and Rebecca Valentine. He describes an amusing moment when an Xbox representative turned off the lights for a countdown, frustrating Jason Schreier.

Greg Miller [02:59]:
"Jason was mad that they were turning off the lights in the room to watch the countdown clock."

After the presentations, attendees had access to behind-closed-doors demos where Greg played games like The Outer Worlds 2, Invincible VS, and Grounded 2.

2. Outer Worlds 2: Gameplay, Features, and Impressions

The hosts delve deep into their experiences with The Outer Worlds 2, discussing its improvements and new features compared to its predecessor.

Greg Miller [07:18]:
"I got about 30 to 40 minutes of gameplay, including different save options tailored to combat, stealth, and science-based playstyles."

Key Points:

• Enhanced Customization: Greg praises the expanded customization options, allowing players to deeply tailor their characters.

  Greg Miller [08:17]:
  "This is going to be Obsidian's best RPG, more than Fallout New Vegas."

• Combat Improvements: While combat in the original game felt lackluster to Greg, the sequel shows significant enhancements, making battles more impactful and satisfying.

  Greg Miller [09:55]:
  "The combat feels good now with more engaging weapons and mechanics like the Rift gun and double jump capabilities."

• Stealth Mechanics: The introduction of dedicated stealth tools, such as the Ante’s Attic Dematerializer and the N Ray Scanner, allows for more nuanced stealth gameplay.

  Greg Miller [11:09]:
  "There's a self-kill button allowing for stealth eliminations without alerting guards."

• Choices and Narrative: The game emphasizes meaningful choices that affect both gameplay and the story, aligning with Obsidian's vision for a more reactive world.

  Greg Miller [17:12]:
  "The choices in character creation and gameplay truly shape the narrative, making each playthrough unique."

• Comparisons to Other RPGs: Greg confidently states that The Outer Worlds 2 surpasses Starfield, highlighting its refined mechanics and storytelling.

  Greg Miller [32:57]:
  "There’s a chance this is better than Starfield, 1,000%."

Notable Quote:

Blessing Adeoye Jr. [04:29]:
"You're talking about 2025 America right now."

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3. Invincible VS: Gameplay Experience and Impressions

The discussion shifts to Invincible VS, a new fighting game developed by Skybound Games.

Blessing Adeoye Jr. [37:07]:
"I played for about 30 minutes and found it visually appealing and fun, despite it being in an early state."

Key Points:

• Gameplay Mechanics: Invincible VS is a 3v3 tag fighting game set in the Invincible universe, featuring vibrant visuals and brutal combat reminiscent of Killer Instinct and Mortal Kombat.

  Blessing Adeoye Jr. [43:19]:
  "It’s a meld of Marvel versus Capcom's tag mechanics and Mortal Kombat’s violence, minus the fatalities."

• Early Development Stage: Both Greg and Blessing note that the game is still in its early stages, with limited characters and features, raising concerns about its polish and community reception.

  Greg Miller [44:34]:
  "It's still early, but the combat feels good and the tag mechanics are promising."

• Community and Competitive Potential: There’s optimism about the game finding its niche within the fighting game community, though the crowded market with titles like Marvel vs. Capcom and Mortal Kombat poses challenges.

  Blessing Adeoye Jr. [48:05]:
  "With Devs from Killer Instinct’s original team, it feels like this game could resonate well, even if it’s niche compared to giants like Street Fighter."

Notable Quote:

Greg Miller [44:34]:
"Even though I'm not a fighting game guy, I can see the potential here with the solid combat mechanics."

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4. Grounded 2: Improvements and Expectations

Lastly, the hosts discuss Grounded 2, the sequel to Obsidian’s survival game Grounded.

Greg Miller [50:57]:
"Grounded 2 starts with a story, addressing the critiques of the first game’s thin narrative."

Key Points:

• Story-Driven Approach: Unlike the original, Grounded 2 emphasizes a stronger narrative from the outset, integrating character interactions and plot developments.

  Greg Miller [52:00]:
  "You immediately engage with Sloan Beaumont, the corporate overlord, setting the stage for a more immersive story."

• Enhanced Gameplay Features: Introduces the Omni Tool, replacing multiple crafting tools, and introduces buggies for better map traversal and efficiency.

  Greg Miller [54:34]:
  "The Omni Tool consolidates multiple crafting tools, saving inventory space and streamlining gameplay."

• Performance Improvements: Early access previews indicate better performance and more polished gameplay mechanics compared to Grounded 1.

  Greg Miller [54:28]:
  "This one is running really well and has noticeable quality of life improvements."

• Future Updates: The development team plans for substantial content updates spaced out over several months, focusing on major expansions rather than minor tweaks.

  Greg Miller [56:47]:
  "They aim to deliver bigger updates every four to five months, enhancing the game significantly with each release."

Notable Quote:

Greg Miller [55:28]:
"Grounded 2 feels much more grounded from a gameplay and storytelling perspective, addressing all the flaws of its predecessor."

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5. Community Interaction and Final Thoughts

Throughout the episode, the hosts engage with live chat participants, addressing questions and sharing personal anecdotes related to the games discussed. They express enthusiasm for the ongoing developments and upcoming releases, emphasizing the importance of community feedback in shaping their perspectives.

Greg Miller [32:57]:
"The Outer Worlds 2 could surpass Starfield by a significant margin, thanks to its refined mechanics and storytelling."

Blessing Adeoye Jr. [46:47]:
"Invincible VS has the potential to carve out its own space in the fighting game genre, despite the crowded market."

Greg Miller [57:27]:
"We’re excited to continue exploring these games and sharing our insights with the community."

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Conclusion

In this episode of Kinda Funny Gamescast, the hosts provide an in-depth analysis of three major upcoming games: The Outer Worlds 2, Invincible VS, and Grounded 2. They share their hands-on experiences, highlighting the strengths and areas of improvement in each title. With The Outer Worlds 2 showing promise as Obsidian’s best RPG yet, Invincible VS aiming to make a splash in the fighting game scene, and Grounded 2 addressing the shortcomings of its predecessor, the episode offers listeners valuable insights into what to expect from these highly anticipated releases.

Notable Quotes:

• Greg Miller [32:57]:
  "The Outer Worlds 2 could surpass Starfield by a significant margin, thanks to its refined mechanics and storytelling."

• Blessing Adeoye Jr. [37:07]:
  "Invincible VS looks better and is going to play better than some existing titles, setting a solid foundation for future growth."

• Greg Miller [55:28]:
  "Grounded 2 feels much more grounded from a gameplay and storytelling perspective, addressing all the flaws of its predecessor."

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This comprehensive overview captures the essence of the episode, providing listeners with a clear understanding of the hosts' perspectives and the key takeaways from their gameplay experiences.

Transcript

[Greg Miller]

Foreign.

[Tim Gettys]

What's up? And welcome back to the Kind of Funny Games cast for Tuesday, June 10, 2025. Of course. I'm your host, Tim Gettys. I'm joined today by Blessing. Adio. Yay, Junior.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Good day, Tim.

[Tim Gettys]

Greg Miller.

[Greg Miller]

Hi, Tim.

[Tim Gettys]

And Andy Cortez.

[Andy Cortez]

Good morning.

[Tim Gettys]

How y' all doing?

[Greg Miller]

So good.

[Andy Cortez]

Well, Andy, the best.

[Tim Gettys]

What do you got in your hand? What you up to?

[Andy Cortez]

I was just telling you about the Possessors demo. Possessors is the. One of the games that Heart Machine is working on. Side scroller from side scrolling, Metroidvania. And it was one of those that when they announced, I was like, oh, they're working on another game as well. But it's got a really good style and it looks crazy good on Steam Deck. Oled.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. Downloaded that tonight to play. Very. Yeah. I've been busy, though, with the switch to, obviously. Oh, but also Tony hawk's Pro Skater 3 and 4 demo.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Oh, yeah. Playing all that. The Foundry, playing college. Oh, man. Good times out there. But this demo drives me crazy because I'm just like, I need to stop playing.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Because the game's coming out next month. We're a month away. Gonna take over my life.

[Andy Cortez]

You're reliving your childhood where you would just play the demo over and over and.

[Tim Gettys]

Exactly. Exactly. That's all that I have.

[Greg Miller]

A demo disc.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. A beautiful thing. Lost to time, everybody. How are you doing, Greg?

[Greg Miller]

I'm great. Decided to talk about some of these video games I played down in LA and then go play video games at my desk.

[Tim Gettys]

Exactly. That's the thing. You went down to la, played a whole bunch of games at Summer Game Fest Play Days. But then also, was this a separate event or what was this?

[Greg Miller]

So the Xbox stuff?

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Yes, Separate event. So, of course, Summer Game Fest is Jeff Keighley's show. He does it on Friday. And then there's Summer Game Fest Play Days, which are held at an actual place in Los Angeles where a whole bunch of journos and creators and media and other video game people come together and play demos. Kind of like a very small scale E3 or something to that effect. On Sunday, of course, was the Xbox presentation they did this year. And they had taken over a different loft where they had multiple floors of games, the media lounge, for you to come in and watch the showcase, like I did. From there, I sat next to Rebecca Valentine, across from Jason Schreier. Amazing, Amazing moment. Whereas we all know the shry guy, right, Guy? Try guys out there doing real work, doing real News. Right. And so what's. I don't. I don't get to be in the room with Jason often. Right. Usually when we host, he's, you know, on the screen or whatever. And so like, I've always taken him as a. No nonsense. Yeah. You know, he doesn't want the. The bullshit that comes with, you know, game events or whatever. So. Right, we're in the media room. They have all this amazing food over there. There's. They had just a great meeting room because it was just like. Just long desks with drops and cables and powers and everything was there and it wasn't crowded. It was great. But the clock, the countdown clock on the thing gets like four minutes and the. Some Xbox person turns off the lights in the room so that it'll be like a thing. And Jason's. Oh, come on. So mad that they were turning off the lights in here to watch this.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Like a theater presentation.

[Andy Cortez]

Traffic notes, man.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Come on.

[Greg Miller]

What are we doing here anyways, though? Yeah, so we watched the presentation there and then that began a series of on the hour, on the half hour, behind closed doors, demos for the people there that had booked stuff ahead. That's where I played with the Rog Ally. That's where I went and had hands on with it. That's where I played games like the outer worlds. Fuck 2, Invincible vs and Grounded 2.

[Tim Gettys]

Hell, yeah. We'll be talking about Blessing.

[Greg Miller]

Played Invincible 2, didn't you?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I did play Invincible vs, thank God.

[Greg Miller]

When I sat down, the guy's like, how much do you know about Invincible? I'm like, sir, there's nothing you could teach me about Invincible. He's like, cool. How much do you know about fighting games? I'm like, I don't know anything.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Was offended when Greg turned to me at my desk and he was like, bless you. You like Invincible at all? I'm like, we don't talk at all, do we? Because I love all.

[Greg Miller]

Here's the thing is that we talk. We talk, but we talk about so much that I just can't keep it. I don't. You're not wearing no Adam Eve shirt. I don't know what's up.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

That's fair.

[Andy Cortez]

It's easier to hide behind 40 atrocities than one.

[Tim Gettys]

How many times you going to say it, Andy? And how many times is it going to be relevant? Not that this is one of those times, but I don't know.

[Greg Miller]

I don't know if it's ever been relevant.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

What is that even from?

[Tim Gettys]

This is the kind of funny game.

[Andy Cortez]

Talk about The Imperial Thought Machine.

[Tim Gettys]

Bless.

[Andy Cortez]

You know, Imperial Thought, like when you're being oppressed and they're, it's, you know, they're always just hitting you with all this all the time and you can't really focus on one bad thing that the oppressors are doing. So it's easier to hide behind 40 atrocities than just one.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

You're talking about 2025America right now.

[Tim Gettys]

Good show.

[Greg Miller]

Andor here's a quote for you too. Yes, he was underneath me and behind me and on top of me. What's that from?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Something I watched last night.

[Greg Miller]

I can't talk about fucking invincible. You don't know shit oh shit about nothing.

[Tim Gettys]

This is the kind of funny gamescast everybody. Each and every weekday we get together to talk about the biggest reviews, previews and topics in video games live on YouTube, Twitch and podcast services around the globe. If you love what we do, please support us with the kind of funny membership on Patreon, YouTube, Spotify or Apple podcasts to get all of our shows ad free and you get a daily exclusive. Greg way to a chance to be part of this show though. Submit your thoughts and opinions as YouTube super chat. So if you have any questions about outer worlds too out of words invincible versus or just anything about Greg's time in Los Angeles, California, please YouTube super.

[Greg Miller]

Chat away Dan Reichert stories for days.

[Tim Gettys]

Where if you have any questions about Dan Reichert, please super chat them in.

[Greg Miller]

Like what's wrong with him?

[Tim Gettys]

We're 11 person business. All about live talk show.

[Greg Miller]

Did you watch you see me on Giant Bomb? Did you watch this?

[Tim Gettys]

I have not watched it.

[Greg Miller]

This man made burgers and that he for some reason went the extra mile of like on this, you know, making the patties and forming them and then never washed his hands and then ate pizza with those hands. Oh, and then when somebody's like, did you wash your hands? He had no idea that that would be bad. How is he still alive?

[Tim Gettys]

Luck. His luck, man. Games Daily. Greg and I just covered Nintendo revealing a new Switch 2 Splatoon spin off game. And after this, Nick and Mike are streaming Mind's Eye. And I can't wait for that. You guys are going to want to be a part of it. This game seems like a disaster because. But how big of a disaster? We'll have to wait and see and find out altogether because they didn't send out any review codes.

[Greg Miller]

Well, I wonder why.

[Tim Gettys]

If you're a kind of funny member. Today's Greg Way is all about what makes a good PS5 trophy list. Thank you to our Patreon producers, Carl Jacobs, Omega Buster and Delaney Twining. Today we're brought to you by X Real and Factor. But we'll tell you all about that later. Let's get into the topic of the show.

[Andy Cortez]

Greg went down to Los Angeles, you know, cooperation.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I know I did my job.

[Greg Miller]

I'm the guest. I'm the guest.

[Tim Gettys]

I did it. Was it just Greg that didn't do it?

[Greg Miller]

Yes. I'm sorry everybody. I'm promoting the show. I'm so big on it. I feel like BS it.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, you're right.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Kevin is not having that.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

We're down to people. There we go.

[Tim Gettys]

The tots is Greg went down to la. Greg played a bunch of Xbox games and Blessed played Invincible Versus. We're going to talk about all of that stuff. We have to start with the biggest one though. The Outer Worlds 2. Obsidian's latest original, launched on October 25, 2019. Greg, Andy and Stella just re reviewed it on the kind of funny games cast a week or two ago. So you can check out that The Outer Worlds 2 is the sequel to the award winning first person sci fi RPG from Obsidian Entertainment. Greg, what did you get to play with this one?

[Greg Miller]

I got to play what would have been probably 30, 40 minutes of this. It was, you know, we had an hour long session, went in there, got right on sticks, had three different saves to choose from, which I'll explain because it's very important to all of this. And then yeah, we got some Q and A time. I probably did 50, I would say and then probably had five to 10 minutes with the team afterwards to ask them some questions about The Outer Worlds 2. Tim. A game I've been very excited for before ever playing it because I didn't love Outer Worlds at launch. And then even on this replay of Outer Worlds, I think with my expectations lower, I enjoyed it more than I did at the launch review, but still wasn't like floored of like this was, you know, the best thing since sliced bread. What do you want to know, Tim?

[Tim Gettys]

I want to know if you think that this one is going to be the best thing ever.

[Greg Miller]

Do you want me to put my hyperbole away or do you want me to start with hyperbole?

[Andy Cortez]

This is like a good news, bad news thing. Start with the good news. Start with the bad news.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Put it away.

[Greg Miller]

Okay.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Put it away.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, this tickled my fancy quite a bit, I think, especially for what's the hyperbole. Yeah, I think this is going to be Obsidian's best RPG Oh, I think.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

More than Fallout New Vegas.

[Greg Miller]

More than Fallout New Vegas.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I think if south park, the Stick of Truth.

[Greg Miller]

I think if you. Yes. I think if you liked Fallout New Vegas, you're gonna find all of that expanded here. One of the things, and I forget if they talked about this in the video or if it was in my presentation, or maybe it was both, but really the idea that this is the first time they've been able to go into this world and this kind of game and this kind of RPG with money and time because of Xbox, and I think it really shines through in a number of different ways. And I think there's two big parts to talk about. Number one would be what I think me and Andy complained a lot about in our review. Combat. Yeah, like, it was like, combat just doesn't feel good in the outer worlds. I don't think it felt good back in the outer worlds when we played it contemporarily, let alone now. Right. It doesn't feel bad, but it doesn't feel good. There's no oomph, there's no impact. The weapons I didn't think were interesting. I know there's science weapons peppered in, but you could miss them easily and not have anything to do with them, right? And then more importantly for me, and what I really love of my Open World Western RPGs, right, is story, but more importantly, customization. What you guys saw in the giant direct and in the story thing is, as far as I know, the story goes, right? What we played, like I said was, hey, they gave us three different saves to start from one that was combat focused, one that was sneaking focused, and one that was science focused. And one of my complaints with outer worlds on the replay was I love being the sneaky person. I love coming in there, hacking the system, doing the thing, stabbing the back, being done. Da, da da, da, da, da. And I didn't think outer worlds served that to make that interesting for me or make that feel good. I never felt like I was doing something. My attacks from behind rarely killed people. They weren't doing. You know, it's like, this isn't what I'm looking for from this. So I went sneaking, expecting it to be, okay, cool, like, it's going to be hopefully better, but how good could it be? It's so much better on the role playing aspect of it, where immediately, like when I got in there, you, you know, pull up your radio wheel with all your different weapons and or like, things to go in there. And one of the things there is Ante's Attic dematerializer. And so the idea here is that when you walk up on somebody now you know it's left on the D pad for how I was playing to stealth them and kill him, right. There was a guy I walked up to and it was like if you hit left, you're not going to kill him. He's too powerful. Right. So I did it and I was able to get. Get him down before anybody noticed it.

[Andy Cortez]

Left on the D pad.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, yeah. For a quick stealth kill, like a, you know, action one, bind it to whatever button you want. It ain't about that, but the idea.

[Tim Gettys]

Was that's weird as shit.

[Andy Cortez]

Why wouldn't it just be your melee? I don't.

[Greg Miller]

I've seen plenty of games to have that have a stealth. Usually I think I think of a stealth attack being on like an A or an X or something like that. But yeah, I think I'm just happy that there's a dedicated button for it rather than not having anything anyways.

[Andy Cortez]

That's just weird.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I'm with you.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, we're all with you.

[Greg Miller]

Rebind it however you want to. It doesn't matter. There's a self kill button. So you stealth the guy, but then you can use the dematerialized to spray them with acid and their body goes away. That way other guards wouldn't find the body.

[Tim Gettys]

Right.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, okay.

[Greg Miller]

Then there was another one that I had on this build, right. That was an N ray scanner and basically it looks like Star Lord's mask. You put it over your face and then you see X ray through all the walls and stuff so you can see enemies.

[Andy Cortez]

We saw a couple clips of that where you would. It seemed like a momentarily thing. Was it a cooldown based item?

[Greg Miller]

It eats up your, you know, the meter you'd usually be using for tactical time dilation. There's more, there's more assigned to that. There's different things to go in there. There was like a bubble shield you could put on. Instead of time dilation, there was time dilation. There was this mask. I'm sure there's going to be a bevy of weapons and things for your play style to go and do that way.

[Andy Cortez]

Stealth kill on keyboard mouse is a semicolon.

[Greg Miller]

But the idea, right, of going through and having that experience like immediately, just from the start and using my stuff like, oh wow, this feels so different. And then we kept. I kept running into them and what we had said in our review, the hope would be right of them saying, hey, we're going to have this feel different, look different. Like I came to a jam door and it pops up and it's like you could open this. If you had Engineering seven, which I didn't. Or if you had trait Brawny, which I thought was a cool way of like showing that it was the same thing. I took a bunch of screen grabs of that where I'm not going to show up because it was off my glasses or whatever. Right.

[Andy Cortez]

And Bronnie's just pure strength taking it down.

[Greg Miller]

That's. That's a trait you pick or whatever from one of your character from when you've been doing this. Right. Another thing, you know, outer worlds, understandably is the dialogue in the original was so good and so quirky and so fun. Same thing here of coming up to meeting people and then seeing like, okay, cool, I'm an ex con, right. So I had this little thing there indicating that that's a line just for me. But then the other ones underneath it usually you'd see like in a fallout or something, you know, intelligence plus and to be grayed out and you could read what it is. This one had has them locked. So it's like requirement not met. So really giving you an experience. I feel it's going to be to your character rather than kind of letting me see everything, which I'm appreciative of.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I like that.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, getting in that way and then yeah, getting to dive into again. They talked about this in the show. I was excited for it. I think it works well. The skills this time around, right. Where in the outer worlds one you got into the minutia of it, you would go in, upgrade your stealth, upgrade your melee and once you got 50 points in there, then it would break off to, okay, now it's one handed melee, two handed melee. Dialogue skills which I always love using, suddenly became, you know, lie, intimidate, persuade or whatever. And you'd have to do those. So there'd be plenty of times I'd get into conversations and I brought up my lie, but I need to persuade here. And so it didn't work. I was like, oh, that kind of sucks. And it's like I'm just trying to explore this and have my rpg, my character be in this rpg, a smooth talker or whatever, right. I like the idea here of what they're showing and what they talked about there. Like now it's just over the top, right. Of like you have guns, melee, sneak, lockpick, engineering, explosives, hack, medical science, observation, speech and leadership, right. Those are the Skills. You're going in, you're putting your points into that, then of course dictate what perks you're going to get to assign to it. Right. And so did they show you what.

[Andy Cortez]

Creating a character would look like?

[Greg Miller]

They did not. This demo started 60% into the game. You were already well on your way. We were in this demo, we were entering into a Rift laboratory. You see some of the Rift stuff out there and getting that Rift gun, which again felt so different from outer worlds, which always felt so boots on the ground, right? Like, I'm here and I'm walking upstairs and I'm going here. But this was. I got the Rift gun and suddenly then there's the Rifts in the world that they talked at a lot about in the presentation. But you find these Rifts, you zap them, right? And then suddenly there's all these, like, broken platforms that you can then run and jump. And I, we had. We all of the builds had double jump boots on them or whatever, so you could jump and then double jump and get there. You were platforming. And again, whereas I think lots of times in These type of RPGs, whether it be obsidian, whether it be Bethesda, whether it be somebody else, you feel so heavy and you don't feel like you're turning well, like this felt like I was actually first person platforming in a really way. Yeah, exactly. And again, that's such a great parallel of what we loved about Avowed was that combat. And to see it come over here again, like, I stealth the whole way. I'm killing people, whatever it pops off, I get out my shotgun. It's a two double barrel. It's got the kick. It feels good. It's taking them down. They're reacting. Eventually at the end, like the, you know, the whole thing goes fubar. There's a giant robot to fight. Stealth's no longer the option. I go in there, I get this light machine gun I had, right? And it's like, you know, it's fighting me up, it's fighting me. I got to stay on target. I got to use it that way. I was really impressed with the combat that way, let alone the double jump and using it there. I'm running at the robot, I double jump over him. I'm shooting down on him. Like, it did not feel as fast, as fluid as whatever. It's like a Borderlands. But it felt in that vein of like, oh, man, this feels like something I'm excited to get into combat for.

[Tim Gettys]

I saw a couple of people in Chat asking if you played any of the opening of the game and how that compares to just 60 seconds.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, I'm sorry, 60% in tossed into these. All three of these saves were that. And again, that was the thing. I did so much stealth. When my demo was over, I had like four minutes to kick into a combat scenario. And again, I didn't have the mask, I didn't have this build, didn't have the dematerializer stuff on its hot bar. Right. It was. I jumped in and they had different grenades and all these things and what they're going with over there.

[Tim Gettys]

I mean, obviously you jumping on the hyperbole of saying that this is.

[Greg Miller]

I think it could be the best.

[Tim Gettys]

It could be the best. But you are a big Fallout New Vegas guy, correct? Like, is that your favorite Fallout?

[Greg Miller]

No, no. I've just started a true playthrough of Fallout New Vegas. I've tried Fallout with New Vegas many times and stopped even playing it now.

[Tim Gettys]

So Fallout three is your Fallout.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, yeah, exactly. That's where I started with. Yeah. Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Okay. So you're saying this might be the best. Where's that coming from? Like, what. What do you think?

[Greg Miller]

I think it's the minutiae of these choices. I think it's. It's really getting in there. And what we always talk about wanting in these games when we talk about them is, hey, I want to go through and I want my choices to matter and I want it to feel like it wasn't just a B binary. I want it to feel like I played incredibly different than Andy and why. And so I want that experience of coming back and finding out what weapons Andy was using and what his, you know, loadout was and why that happened, let alone the fact that I was able to talk my way out of this or talk my.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

This.

[Greg Miller]

Andy didn't even do that. He did that. Yeah. It's the thing of like, you know, they. They made a big point of the. The. The flaw system being out there. Right. And how flaws were in the original outer world. And they were fine. I added them and I never really thought about them here with the popping knees thing as a sneaker, I'm like, oh, I'm going to get that. And I just have to make sure I clear the room before that. That'll be fun. But to find out what else they have under the hood. And they have it under the hood in a really minor way too. Of like in. Of course, the combat for outer worlds. We have that inhaler for your medical, your medicine. Right. It was interesting in the last game, you know, you're you. I had like 40 health packs, right. By the time it was anything that mattered. So it's just like you're healing all the time. You're not really challenged with it.

[Andy Cortez]

And a shit ton of consumables, right?

[Greg Miller]

This time they've added in this thing called drug crash. It popped in my game when I was in the boss battle. Overuse of the medical inhaler can cause you to experience a drug crash. While crashing, the inhaler is disabled, preventing you from healing further. To prevent crashes, ensure you're watching your toxicity closely. Investing in the medical skill can increase your toxicity as well. So now you have your health bar, but there's also a toxicity meter underneath it. So as you're taking this, it's affecting you. So you can't do what I was doing in outer worlds in the final battles, right? Or just like, fucking take it. I'm Jose Canseco. Everything I got, I'm eating it. I'm like, oh, fuck, I'm a fucking psychopath running out there, right? But so this and these choices, like what I was faced with playing, I was like, oh, man. And then thinking back on it again, the combat's cool and that'll be interesting and I'm excited to play with that more. But for me, it is about these really defining my character in this RPG in a way I don't think lots of games do because they give you the taste of the minutia but still stay very top level. It seems like they are very committed to drilling down on this and making you have your own experience, which could all be marketing. It could be that we are 60% in and I've been playing the whole time, and me and Andy really aren't that different. But it really makes me want to, when we get this game, roll a stealth character, but then also roll the psychopath, somebody they talked about in the thing, right? Like, make a guy who looks like the Joker and go through and kill everybody. Roll a dumb guy and just go through and do the. Make every one of the dumb choices and see how that affects this. It seems like they're making a world. And one of the things the developers kept talking about when we were. There were reactive moments, which is the game reacting to what you've built. And again, I think they said it in the presentation a lot of, like, they wanted this in outer worlds. They had it to some degree, but it wasn't where they actually envisioned it. I feel like this is closer than ever to what Obsidian's been envisioning with the world reacting to what you do, which is what I want out of these games. When I play these games, whether it is New Vegas right now, Fallout 3 avowed, I want them referencing what I did in the area before. I want them referencing, you know, in outer world. There is. There was a big thing right, where I was going the corporate path. I was kind of being evil because I didn't like Phineas or whatever. And then we got to the big moment with like the underling, right, who would be the final boss if you didn't kill her. But I had to kill her, so I killed her. And then it was hours later where I showed up somewhere and they were like, oh, well, the corporate people like you, so you're okay in our book. And I'm like, I murder all of them and evacuated that building and never came back. So it's like, I would have liked to have seen some. Like, I'm hoping for more of that here. And it sounds like that's what they're building for. They're sticking with no respect after tutorial. Again, the reasoning being here is from the devs we're talking to. Like, they want this to feel like a role playing game. They want your choices to matter and be committed. So they don't want you, man, this is tough for a stealth character. I'm going to respect just for this to a melee, whatever, drop my points in there, beat the shit out of everybody and then go back to it. They want you committed to your journey, which I'm all about.

[Tim Gettys]

DJ Kento super chats in saying, I thought the Outer Worlds episode of Secret Level was really darkly funny, but also sad. I'm wondering if that vibe permeates the game too. You laughing here. You sad, you getting emotionally caught up.

[Greg Miller]

I. It's so I think that's the big question mark for me of this, of like, I like what they're saying mechanics wise, both in combat and both in terms of choices of my character story overall, who knows? I didn't see that. What I've seen is what everybody else has seen in terms of the world. Uh, you know, I think the dialogues I was. I was having, which was limited because it wasn't that kind of demo was interesting enough. I think there's the usual jokes and things around there. I did notice, and I got kudos from the developers for this, of getting called out of like somebody who just put another 40 hours or whatever it was into outer worlds going in here. I was like, is it just my. Is it just my head playing with me or is there less to pick up? And they were like, no, no, that's a good catch. Like, there's far less to pick up in this game. Because we want what you pick up to matter in outer world. It just became, you're picking up everything. You don't give a shit. You're throwing it in, it doesn't matter. We've put fewer things out, but they should matter to your gameplay more. And I thought, okay, that's what I want to hear. That, right? They're talking about, this is a bigger game. It's more. It's. It's going to be. Obviously, size of the areas are bigger. There's a lot more to RPGs, a lot more equipment. There's a full modding system. This is stuff we didn't get to see. Right. And they said this was their quote game is significantly longer than the first one. Because again, responding to the criticism, that's what they said.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Holy cow.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

And the first one was like 1513.

[Greg Miller]

Depending on what you did. I mean, you could go longer. And then this is pre DLCs and everything else like that. I asked them, as a fan of Perils of Gorgon and Murder on Erados like that, you out. I was like, that let you get wacky. Do you think you're getting. Did that permeate here? And they're like, not really. Like, that's what we want to use. That's what we're using those DLCs for in terms of it. But this game is going to be set, you know, and be the outer worlds. But hopefully we're giving you enough places to improvise and run around and have your own stories like that.

[Andy Cortez]

Any sort of. Did you have any idea of how the NPCs fighting alongside you sort of acted? How was. Were you ever, you know, ordering them to go attack people or use their ultimate abilities or anything?

[Greg Miller]

I had a dude with me. I forget his name. He's one of the. I think the big military dude, not the little military dude. I didn't. He didn't affect or seem to do anything. And I. It's one of those. Where it was done. I was like, oh, was he with me the whole time? Because I don't remember him shooting or really talking. You know what I mean? Which is both good and bad, if you want, I guess. But for me, I wouldn't have wanted to do much anyway.

[Andy Cortez]

So when. When you were going to the menu and looking to see how you could customize your character. Were you seeing your.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

That.

[Andy Cortez]

That sort of squad mate there as well. Similar how not a world.

[Greg Miller]

It's exactly how it was before here. I like I said I have my screenshots pulled up but I might not have that actually as a screenshot. But yeah, see it's exactly the same thing as before up there. Character inventory, map, journal, companions, right to go through and switch all your stuff. More importantly. And I don't know if I grabbed a screen of it but like I thought it was really interesting this time around where of course outer worlds there is a lot of equipment and a lot of gear but it's all kind of samey looking. I felt, you know what I mean when this being a stealth save my. I loaded in and I was in a ghillie suit already which gave me plus 50 or whatever the hell it was. But then there was a bunch of other stealth armor there and it all looked dramatically different than the other thing which I love playing dress up in these kind of games, let alone now that there's third person to this. I thought that was a nice thing for me. I guess that's the biggest thing coming off outer worlds. It feels like outer worlds. To listen to the most recent review and built the game based on that. Which is just of course the fact that everyone's probably had the same criticism of this game, the original game, of how much there's something there and we like it, but it needs to be refined. And I really feel like they've refined.

[Andy Cortez]

It here in that segment after, you know, in that sort of longer showcase after the big Xbox showcase. Immediately I sort of noticed, wow, they're not showing any tactical time dilation. Is that just gone?

[Greg Miller]

It's still there. It's still there. I think. I don't know what. I don't have my screenshots in front of me. I edited them specifically. It's still there. I don't know what they're calling it this time around if it is. But it's still. There's still a thing that's like ttd. No, that's my grab shield or whatever. So yeah that's must be. But no, it's still there. It's just now one of the consumables that'll be on your left bumper. So like see like here again I'm sure it's in the footage over there. But these are all like the ones you could put on your left bumper to consume. These are your grenades or your throwables and then these are your weapons. Okay, so you tap this to you to bring that up and then you can select what you want, obviously. You go into your inventory and assign it to the hotspots as you remember, still very much the hotkeys as before. But an easier way to get into it, I feel like. And have. Yeah, bubble shield, the one that melts things. And then that might actually be. No, that's. That's X ray and that's tactical dime dilation, I think.

[Andy Cortez]

So it's more of an item this time around. It's not something that's just ever present, apparently.

[Greg Miller]

Again, I didn't get the story sides of it. I don't know if it's. It might be very similar of like you've enlisted and here's your first device and this thing does all this and you'll get more as you go or whatever.

[Andy Cortez]

Fascinating.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Anything you're not loving so far.

[Greg Miller]

I wish I could have seen more of the story. I mean, I know this is our first blush with it, but I wonder how many deep dives we get beyond this. I would have loved to have started a character and see how it starts and go from there and get, you know, the actual back and forth. But that's a hopefully preview event, you know, where you get three hours with the game or something to that effect. That would be. It's like why I put the tentative. Like, I think this could be their best. It's. I don't know what the story is going to be. I don't know how it's going to be. I wonder how people will connect to being a space cop. And I think a lot of that's going to come down. And I don't mean like in the acab way, just like, oh, that's not my vision. That's not what I want to do as a character. But I think the presentation, they kind of gave themselves an out right where they said that. But then they were like, but why are you there? Are you an ex con? Are you this, are you that? So I'm wondering if when you go through and you pick those backgrounds, it's going to be very specific of like to escape. You did this and took this guy's helmet and now you've been here for three weeks and you're just trying to get out. I don't know.

[Andy Cortez]

I remember in Avowed you never getting reprimanded for stealing anything because you were always the law. But I mean we. We saw in that big demo that you stealing shit does definitely get you in trouble and people still get angry because I. I always thought Avowed had that very. It felt like a convenient way to not punish you for. For stealing or a convenient way to not have to worry about the authorities coming to get you because you would just steal shit. They'd be like, hey, don't you. Oh, you're that. You're the dude. Oh, go ahead. Yeah, take whatever you want. And in this one, seeing that kleptomaniac or whatever was a. A flaw that you could select kind of, you know, it. It made me happy that that's at least something that will be punishable.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. You know, a lot of excitement from me just because I love my favorite genre. But more importantly, to get in there and really have that review conversation, maybe even spoiler cast of what everybody else did and how it deviated and what their build was and, you know, oh, wow, you're using, you know, science weapons were never my thing in Outer Worlds one, but. And I don't think they'll be here, so to see somebody else go off that way.

[Tim Gettys]

You just saying one of your favorite genres here with this. I think I know the answer to this question now, but I would like you to kind of like expound a little bit more on the. The why of it. But where are you planning to play this game? On PlayStation 5 so you can get trophies or on the Xbox side so you can also play on your ally?

[Greg Miller]

This is a fun conversation we tiptoed on. And maybe just my Greg way really did, but like, no, like one of the reasons I ate five. The Xbox presentation, right. Is three words of Xbox play anywhere. Right? Like if. If games are Xbox play anywhere, I will play them on Xbox from here on out. Like, I love trophies and I always will, but the convenience of I'm getting on a plane and I want to roll a new character or I want to keep going with my save or, you know, I just don't want to deal with spotty WI Fi for a PlayStation portal or a remote play on my Rog ally. Right. Like, no, I'm. I'm all in on the plan anywhere future of Xbox, if that's what's going on. Because I've enjoyed. That's what this year has been defined by. Right. Since Avowed started. The reason I was so like, oh, man, Trying to make all this shit work for Avowed review was I wanted to be in that system. And I started using the Razer laptop, which I also really appreciated, but getting that taste and seeing it kick over to the Xbox and then finally getting the rag up and running.

[Tim Gettys]

So I don't want to go too long on this, but I am just interested in the thought process on why you would get platinums before. Of like, you want the platinum because it's PlayStation, all that stuff. But like, are you still interested in doing the achievements?

[Greg Miller]

Absolutely not. It's hilarious.

[Tim Gettys]

Damn, you're such a monster. It's such a piece of shit. I hate you.

[Greg Miller]

It was like one of those things where a Greg way, you know, Langley M. Neely, who's watching live right now is like, does this mean my Greg way questions getting answered? Because I was talking about PlayStation 5 trophies, I'm like, yes, that was Langley's question. But somebody else on a Greg Way comment, I forget if it was. I think it might have been Spotify was like, hey, like for play anywhere, how does it work with popping achievements? And then it's like, oh, like I don't know because I just don't like. For me personally, I think Xbox. And you could all tell me I'm completely wrong and I'll take that. But as a PlayStation obsessed trophy person coming in, I feel like Xbox is buried achievements where it's like, yeah, they pop, sure. But like, it's not on my home bar. It's not on the thing. I gotta go. I pull up my quick menu and I gotta go over and I got. I drill into a place where I'm just like, I don't care. Like this is not front and center. And again, it's also the thing, remember, like trophies. I was playing Xbox before when they had achievements and the PlayStation didn't. And it was very much the I'm so late to this game. I'm not gonna chase achievements. It's not my thing. PlayStation started, I was a PlayStation reporter. So it was like, oh, I'm in the ground floor, so I'm gonna get trophies, of course, because I'm just doing that. And so I think above all, when you talk about the shift I'm in right now of moving to being a Xbox play anywhere person, it's just where my life is in 2025, where I don't have the old days of I come home and I play DC Universe online for 12 hours straight and order a PA cheese and eat it all day long, right? Like, that's just not how it is. I'm not that single person nor dating person or whatever. Where it's like now it is like, cool. I have the best intentions every night of playing whatever for review. But maybe I fall asleep in the chair with Ben and I Just want to play it in bed before I go to bed. Or maybe it is Jen's like we have to spend time together. We're married. So I have a glass of wine with her and then I watch. She watches Twilight and I play something next to her. Or maybe it is that, hey, I'm on the review grind as I am right now. I'm going downstairs to the big TV and I'm going to play there. Like and then more importantly than anything, it is the cool. We are going somewhere. We are on a trip, we're playing here in the off. I don't know, whatever. It's like the convenience of having the games anywhere and having it be the game is what it matters more to me than trophies.

[Tim Gettys]

Any final thoughts on outer worlds too before we move on again?

[Greg Miller]

I know I people accuse me of having way too much hyperbole to begin with. I think this is truly special from what I played and maybe, maybe it will be that the overall narrative sucks and whatever but like the choices in the character creation and like character creation throughout the game of going through and being like I'm gonna go through all of these different perks, right? And like do I want to have like the one that they build here? They have my perks on this stealth save, right? Are 10 they've already done 10 of. I have Ninja, I have Assassin, I have Ghost, I have pickpocket, I have trophy hunter. I like it's all, you know, in Ghost if you are crouched when an NPC starts investigating you. Game camouflage for a short duration has a cool like the nerdy, nerdy fucking weird RPG shit of this is what gets me excited where it's like, oh, I'm gonna build that. But then I look over there and it's like, oh man. Yeah, the psychopath thing that they talked about over there or Demolitionist or you know, brand. It's like all this stuff is like I want to see what all of these are and then actually make choices that I hope matter. The fact that there's fewer things like, you know what I mean, it's not like oh, I'm putting it on, I'm early on picking. I'm just going to go with one handed melee because I got to put the point somewhere, right? The fact that there's bigger choices there that seem to influence these kind of choices more makes it very interesting and appealing to me. Again as somebody who played a vowed and loved the combat but didn't connect to the story and also didn't connect to my character, my Build. I was like, I'm just sword and board, I guess, which is on me. I could have done different things, but I didn't feel compelled to this one. And putting the controller down and walking away left me daydreaming about, like, oh, what if I did this kind of character? What if I should? I play three saves at once for review and, like, I'm popping over after I do a quest with everyone to do something different. I don't say that often about these kind of games, so I'm excited.

[Tim Gettys]

I just want a yes or no from this.

[Greg Miller]

Sure.

[Tim Gettys]

To end the Outer World segment, Starfield was your game of the year a.

[Greg Miller]

Couple years ago, despite all its flaws.

[Tim Gettys]

Is there a chance that this is better than Starfield in your mind?

[Greg Miller]

Yes, 1,000%. I mean, again, like, let's, you know, put aside, you know, all the boats and arrows and torches here and remind you of, like, I know why Starfield isn't a great game. Like, you know, I know why people didn't like Starfield for sure. This one feels Starfield for me was such a personal journey with the bug that I had and this, that the other and that. That I don't think I'm going to start this game and struggle to be like, who am I? What is my character like? Again, what I thought Avowed did so well, and I praised it in previews and even, you know, Outer Worlds did originally, but not, I don't think, as well, was, here's your backstory. Here's your thing here, like, three different puzzle pieces immediately to say, all right, you have a vision of who your envoy is. What are you going to do with it?

[Andy Cortez]

Taylor Swift?

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. No, no, I did somebody else for that. I forget what it was. For my avowed character.

[Andy Cortez]

Is it going to be Taylor Swift for the.

[Greg Miller]

For. I doubt it.

[Tim Gettys]

No.

[Greg Miller]

I've gotten to a different place with that as well, where, you know, I go in there and I compose at the keyboard. I'll make all the different choices and see who it is. Now, was it Taylor Swift in Outer Worlds? Yes, but that was because of the perk I put on it. Where she used to be the mascot. Remember, she was the mascot.

[Tim Gettys]

Poses at the keyboard. Everybody. We're going to keep talking about video games, including Invincible Versus After a word from our sponsors, this episode is brought to you by xreal. Y' all know that a few months ago, my life changed forever when I brought a pair of Xreal 1AR glasses on a long flight to New York. I legit could not believe how easy it is to use and high quality. My experience was playing games, watching movies, TV shows on the plane without just too much extra stuff around me or especially not a giant goofy headset around my head. No joke. This is my favorite new tech product in years and it has earned a permanent spot in my travel bag. It is only hard to believe that it works as well as I'm saying until you try xreal1ar glasses for yourself and then you will see that the future is now. The tech is is here. Connect xreal1 glasses to wherever you are playing. Whether it's a handheld console, a PC phone, home console. You just get a massive 150 inch virtual screen anywhere, anytime. For any game gaming on the go like a long haul flight, you need the xreal One neck starting to hurt from staring down at your handheld. We've all been there. You need an xreal One A screen as big as your wall. Instant plug and play with all all of your devices via usb. C built in audio with sound by Bose anchoring your screen anywhere in space. It's awesome. It just works. Zero latency at 1080p full HD. These are what make Xreal 1amust have. And we hear Xreal 1 Pro is coming soon with an even bigger virtual screen. Hit our link below to get your xreal glasses today. There's nothing better than when a sponsor of Kinda Funny is something that we are legitimately obsessed obsessed with. And that is exactly the case here with xreal. You're gonna hear me talking about these forever. Go to kindafunny.com xreal that's kindafunny.com xreal I promise you you are going to love these things. This episode's brought to you by. Factor Summer Game Fest is here. The Switch 2 is here. The sun is here. So many summer things are here. And the number one thing you don't want to be doing all summer? Spending hours cooking inside. That's where Factor comes in. Factor Chef crafted Dietitian approved. Meals are ready in just two minutes. Taking the hassle out of eating. Well, we love Factor here at Kind of Funny and Greg's often making and enjoying meals quick in between shows here in the studio. I just had a roasted garlic chicken and I'm telling you you would have loved it. Factor Meals arrived fresh and ready to eat. Perfect for any active lifestyle over summer and beyond. With 45 weekly menu options, you can pick gourmet meals that fit your summer gains and goals. Choose from options like calorie, smart, protein plus keto and more. Get started at FactorMeals.com kindafunny50 off and use code kinda funny50OFF to get 50% off plus free shipping on your first box. That's kinda funny50 off at Factor meals.com kinda funny50 off for 50 off plus free shipping. Factor meals.com kindafunny50 off.

[Greg Miller]

In the YouTube chat Solipsis wrote Greg likes Starfield and dislike Indiana Jones. Just remember that. Yes, I did, you stupid fuck.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. Jesus Christ.

[Greg Miller]

Just go to Metacritic and rank them by score if that's the opinion you want. Wait till the outer worlds is out and then just rank everything by score and decide what's the better game and what you want to do. You're here for fucking opinions, you stupid idiot. Drives me crazy.

[Tim Gettys]

I'm with you.

[Andy Cortez]

Thanks for supporting Solipsis.

[Tim Gettys]

I'm the one drinking the coke race. Not even drinking the coke.

[Greg Miller]

I get it though. Getting fired up. Maybe I will.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. Stupid. Invincible versus a good intro.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Invincible.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, exactly.

[Greg Miller]

Right.

[Tim Gettys]

They did exactly what they did in the showcase as well. You got to play this fighting game from Skybound Games, their new developer. Quarter up.

[Andy Cortez]

Quarter up.

[Tim Gettys]

Pretty cool. 3 tag fighting game set in the invincible universe. How long did you get to play and what did you think?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

So about three weeks ago I got to go down to the animation studio where they animate Invincible and I was there for. For about an hour. The first half was them showing us the trailer and then presenting the game to us and talking about it. And then I got to spend about 30 minutes with my hands on the sticks and it was me in a developer and I was playing and he was telling me certain things like how certain mechanics work and question for you real quick.

[Tim Gettys]

What up your hands on the sticks at this point. Blessing Adoha Jr 2025 fighting games are back, bigger and better than ever. Are sticks actual arcade fighting sticks or are you still on the controller?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I'm still on the controller. I'm still on the controller. Right. Like for me it's. I. I have fighting. I have multiple fighting sticks. I even have on my desk a not Hitbox but loverless fighting stick that I have there. Just for aesthetics. Just for aesthetics. Honestly, like I really tried with the stick.

[Tim Gettys]

I just came part of the culture.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

You know.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, I'm part of the culture. But like I'm using a controller because that's what I'm used to and that's what I'm gonna kick ass with. And so yeah, they gave me, I think it was an Xbox controller, honestly. But I went down. Yeah. Three Weeks ago, I walk into the animation studio, I looked around and I was like, huh? So this is where y' all be taking forever at. This is where y' all be taking your sweet time making Invincible Season 3 or 4 or whatever on right now. Yeah. So I got to play 30 minutes. And Greg, I'm curious because it sounds like you got to check it out too.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Did you play it?

[Greg Miller]

Yep.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Hell yeah. I can't wait to talk to you about that. I have a lot of takeaways. So we saw this a couple of days ago. It was revealed at the Xbox Showcase on Sunday, and then the studio got a press release on Monday. Kind of breaking down a little bit about quarter up. At that reveal, I think all of us were kind of trepidatious about, all right, like, you know, we're seeing this after the Marvel Fighting game was announced. Oh, we got two xkl. Oh, man, it seems kind of like a crowded space. Oh, this is an original studio under Skybound. Now that I can actually talk about this freely, my main takeaway from my Preview is that one, this game is early. The studio started in 2023 and playing the game of Feeling and getting my hands on it.

[Greg Miller]

Right.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Feels kind of early. This game might be niche compared to a Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat, but I do think that this game will find its place. I think this game, from my limited time with it, was very fun to play. I like it visually. I like it conceptually. I totally understand the. The concern around Invincible as an ip. Is there enough meat there to garner a community of like a fighting game based community? Is this the right direction? I think it is. I think that with the characters you have here and the team you have working on it, that's the place to start with it. Because this is quarter Up Studios, like I mentioned, they started in 2023. This studio is a majority of his majority made up of people that worked on Killer Instinct, which was the Xbox One launch. Killer Instinct. That studio went on to be taken by Amazon and the development for that game, taken.

[Greg Miller]

Get in the car.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

But yeah, and that the development for that game got passed on to Iron Galaxy and they saw it through post launch updates and all that stuff. And so Amazon ended up adopting that studio, having them work on their internal games. And a lot of the people that worked at that studio ended up leaving. Right. And this game was pitched to Skybound from people originally from that studio, higher ups from that studio that were like, yo, we want to make an Invincible fighting game. And so this is coming from people who want to make this game. Right? This isn't the Skybound. We want to make a fighting game. Let's search out some people. Let's do this. No, this is people who are. I would describe as fighting game sickles. Like, one of the first things I heard when I walked in were like the studio heads, they're like, you know, chilling, waiting for everybody to get there for the presentation because they're like, doing it in groups of four media people at a time. And they're sitting around like, the donuts and food that were there. And they were talking about Marvel versus Capcom. As soon as I got there, they're already talking about other fighting games and shit and getting real nerdy about it, which had me excited. But this is a 3v3 tag fighter slated for 2026. It's on everything. And talking more about my takeaways from it of playing it. It is colorful, it is vibrant, it is very violent, which I like. And it feels like a meld of certain things picked from certain other fighting games. Right. You got the 3v3 from Marvel versus Capcom. You got the superhero sort of feeling combat of something. I'd say, like an injustice. And then you also have. Yeah, the violence of a Mortal Kombat, minus the fatalities. Right. But you do have essentially brutalities where there are certain ways that you end matches that'll explode somebody's head or explode somebody into a million pieces.

[Greg Miller]

I was like, do you have fatalities? They're like, no, you're just gonna punch him to death.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, exactly. They also have custom intros for certain characters where you'll enter a fight. And it is Mark saying something to Omni Man. In the build that I played, they only had four characters. They had Mark, they had Adam, Eve, they had Thula, who's one of the Viltrumites. And then he had Bulletproof.

[Greg Miller]

Exact same build I had.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Cool. Yeah. And then I. One of the questions I asked was, how many characters are we looking at?

[Greg Miller]

Same question I asked.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I counted. I literally counted the character slots, and there are 17 character slots. But when I asked them, they were like, hey, we're still figuring that out. We want to, like, you know, we're. That's one of the things that we're still working on for launch is seeing what characters we can get in there. And one of the other questions I asked was, what is the challenge of making a game that has a lot of people that are just very strong Superman style heroes?

[Andy Cortez]

Right.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And they talked about how they were looking at Certain character qualities and character aspects and making them feel original. Mark, for example, is like a straight up brawler, right? Very physical character. You have Adam, Eve, who is very projectile based. Thula, though, is mid range because she has like that long ponytail that she'll use to like, kind of like almost like a scorpion style throw at you to pull you in sort of thing.

[Greg Miller]

Bianca Belair.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, yeah. She has the Bianca Belair little whip action. Yeah. So they balance that a lot as far as how they're approaching these different characters. But one of the things I really liked as well was the tag format where I'm like, all right, cool. I'm doing. I'm using those three because I'm not really a bulletproof guy.

[Greg Miller]

You're not? No.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah. But like in. In getting my hands on it, right? It is pretty simple to control. You have your light, medium, heavy, but then you also have a tag button and you have a special button. Specials are work kind of like in Smash Brothers, where you press a direction and you press a. And it's using a special. Right. They wanted to develop this game to be friendly for casual players, newcomers, all that stuff. But then also they described it as a tournament quality, brutal fighting game. And they didn't really name drop Evo as much, but they made it seem like, yo, we want this game to show up at Evo. We want this game to show up at those spots. And in a lot of ways, in that way, it feels like a Dragon Ball Fighters, where Dragon Ball Fighters had the auto combos. Dragon Ball Fighters had the easy special moves to do. Dragon Ball Fighters. I. I forget if Dragon Ball Fighters did this, but this game has like the. If you hold a. Your tag button while doing a combo, it'll automatically tag out and continue your combo with the player that you tag in. Right. Like, this game controls the way that you'd want it to control for a 3v3 tag game. And I had a lot of fun with it. Greg, what did you think?

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, I'm not the fighting game guy, right. So when, you know, we heard an invincible game, I was like, so stoked. Then it was fighting like, oh, okay. Sitting down and playing it like, I don't know what I'm doing, obviously. You know what I mean? I was sitting with, you know, the gameplay director or whatever his title was, so there was no chance for me to actually play somebody also who didn't know what they were doing. It's really pretty. I'm always going to be down for more invincible, you know, anything. The blood of it was nice. I think the tag stuff was cool. I was playing on simplified controls, they said, so it was easy to call in support, get them in, you know, they were teaching me the combos to get people to come in like that right there where the blue Invincible came in to help out, even stuff. But it was, yeah, cool. But I was so thankful you had played it ahead of time. Yeah. Because I was like, I don't know. You know what I mean? Like, I don't know if it's good, bad or other. It was pretty and it was fighting and it was bloody. But yeah, it's that same thing. I was like, is there a story mode to this? Like, yeah, because I was like, you know, you know Injustice, right? Like, yeah, I wouldn't have that. I'm like, okay, cool. But I don't even know what that. If I'd actually played.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

See, that was one of the things I didn't get clarification on. Forgot to ask. Also one thing to shout out is that this is pre alpha gameplay footage, I think. I don't know if we're blocking it with our video, but they wanted us to shout that out. But yeah, that was one of the things I was mainly concerned about when I'm thinking about things that might bring it forward and things that might hold it back. Because as I'm playing this, I'm like, oh, this is something that I think the fighting game community is actually going to like a lot. Like I mentioned, it's not on that Street Fighter, not on that Mortal Kombat level of it, but I do think it's good enough to where you could see a lot of hardcore fighting game community get into it. But I was thinking about the Greg Millers of the world, People that I know might love Invincible, but might not love fighting games. And coming out of it, I was like, man, I wish I asked about a story mode because Invincible as an ip, if you're putting. If you're putting out an Invincible game, you should have a story mode that does something with those characters that might get you interested.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. Just like Injustice did, right. Where injustice 1. I suffered through the entire thing to see the story.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Do you think that they. Is there any part from either of you that you think maybe they showed this off a little too early?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I see. I. I wonder because like it says 2026 in the trailer. I believe. I don't know if I believe it yet. Maybe once we get closer to it, like, things start to ramp up. Or maybe this is one of those games where they're like, all right, we launch it is bare bones, but we're going to improve it as it goes.

[Tim Gettys]

That's what I think. I, I see this coming out very early, 2026 and then kind of just doing what it does.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah. I honestly part of me would like it to get delayed to 2027 because when we're talking about 2026, we're talking about two Xko and I believe Marvel, the fighting game that just got announced, got in 2026. Yeah. Ton fighting souls, I believe that got a 2026 window as well. Correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think this game should come out the same year as those games. Right. I think this game has a really good opportunity to capture an audience. But three tag fighting games in the same year I think is gonna do. Is not gonna do this thing the justice it deserves. And I think they, they have their heads on straight as far as like their approach to it. The combos felt fun. The combos kind of reminded me a little bit of killer instinct from 2013. Right. The violence of it I think is novel in the way that like usually only Mortal Kombat is like the, the franchise, the fighting game franchise that has like the blood in the splatter and all that stuff. I like what they're doing here with that, honestly. It reminds me if we're putting. Talking about tears of fighting games, right. I'll put this somewhere around that Fatal Theory. If not, maybe even above Fatal Fury as far as like how expensive or non expensive or how budget it might feel like. I think there will be a community for this, but depending on how it gets placed, depending on where it falls, it could be a challenging thing.

[Tim Gettys]

Did you ever play Power Rangers Battle for the Grid?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

No, I didn't because that.

[Tim Gettys]

I keep thinking of that game, seeing this and like talking about it even it being based on an IP that is like people like. But it's not, you know, something that I think is going to bring in millions and millions of people. But Kev, can you bring up Power Rangers Battle for the Grid? Because I haven't seen gameplay of that in years. So I want to just make sure that I'm not like totally talking out of my ass here. Like I think that it's fairly similar. I think this is more Marvel vs Capcom tag fighting than that one is. But you saying that you'd put this potentially even above a Fatal Fury, that surprises me because I know that that is a lower end fighting game, but it's still at its core Like a proven entity in this space and like does every once in a while show up at an Evo or something?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Well, I think the reason for me I'm looking at it as presentation and how good it feels to play and Fatal Fury feel the latest one, City of the Wolves. That feels good to play and that looks good. But you can tell like, it's like this is nowhere close to a Street Fighter kind of thing. I think from what I played of Invincible Versus, I think, I think it looks better and it's going to play better than Fatal Fury in my opinion. Right. And like I played more even king of fighters 15 than I played fetal fury. Invincible versus has the stuff. And even as I'm looking at this, I totally understand where, where you're coming from, Tim, but I, I do think.

[Tim Gettys]

That'S like 10 years ago as well, so.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. Yeah, I think the pedigree of the, the people working at the studio here might speak more towards like it just feels a bit more natural. It feels right. Fighting games in terms of game feel oftentimes like it's very, it's very clear when something, when a game doesn't have it. I think this game has it. Like. And another thing to mention to, of some things it does, right? It has like they call them, they have devastation arenas and they also have this thing called arena shifts. Right. In quite a few of the areas there's a stage that's like the city stage that you're playing at. And as the fights progress, you have shit destruct getting destroyed in the background. And like the stage looks completely different from the beginning of the match versus the end of the match based off of like the destruction that happens. But then also midway through they have special moves where if you do it, you can knock somebody all the way to the moon. And then all of a sudden like you're playing on the moon kind of thing. Yeah, like they have those novel things now again, I think because of the ip, maybe that lessens like the, it does this weird thing where I think it concentrates like the amount of people that might be interested in an invincible thing, but also then captures the people that are already into invincible. So I, I do think there's the double edged sword and that is probably where the Power Rangers thing comes from as far as. All right, we're talking about invincible here. You're turning that into a fighting game. But I also think the fighting game community, if you make something that plays really good ip almost doesn't matter. Like I I IP can just be like, kind of the flavoring to. Oh, man. No, I just want to play Invincible Versus because the game is fun.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. Cool stuff. I hope it has a story mode. I wouldn't play through that. Greg.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Last game we're going to talk about today. Grounded two.

[Greg Miller]

Grounded two.

[Tim Gettys]

What a surprise.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, I did get to play it. I did get to play it. Yeah, it was a surprise, right. Of like, oh, I didn't. Third game from Obsidian this year. Yeah. Grounded to the sequel to Grounded 1, of course. And it's one of those. I played Grounded 1 on launch night in Early Access where I got on there and I was like, okay, this is cool. But as they pointed out in their direct. Right. There's no, like, you're playing it and there's no. The story ended so quickly. It wasn't even there. Right as paper thin. And obviously over years, they added that as they went and put more stuff in there, which I appreciated jumping into this one, though. And Kevin. Yeah. You got to skip to the very end of this because you have the direct and then you have Outer Worlds direct and then you have Grounded at the very end. You just toss up the Grounded trailer too, if you want. It won't be that long of a preview to get in there and get on six of this. I would say I went from, oh, okay, we. I didn't. You know, the way it worked for this is that, you know, you. They were like, we have an embargoed there. You know, there's a Behind closed doors for an unannounced game. Do you want them like, yeah, I'll take anything I can get or whatever. Instead jumping, I was like, oh, this I don't know if I would have needed to see. And playing it. I have opinions. I. What. What's going to happen is this is going to launch in Early Access again, Game Preview, and I will be there on night one. Like, I. I enjoy Grounded that much. I had come back when they did the. The 1.1 or 1.0 release or whatever it was with Mike, where I jumped in there and had it and played around with it and enjoyed it more. This one, they're very clear of, like, they understand that criticism. They're starting this one with a story. This is act one of the story for the kids lost this time in the park rather than the backyard. The first thing that spoke to me, and this is somebody who again, played Grounded on night one and then 1.1 is how much better this one ran. Granted, it's not fully Live, so we'll see if that actually happens when we're on real servers. But playing it, I was like, man, this is running really well and it's looking really cool. You know, the bells and whistles, they're getting in there and talking about. We had a. This. This is a similar thing where we played for, I want to say, 30 minutes and then had the interview time with them at the end of it or whatever. And one of my questions was, you know, the story for me in my head of Grounded, the original was the, hey, they were one of the first big ones to do early access on Xbox and really add to it. And it was Obsidian doing it. Why not just add to Grounded One? Why are we restarting? Especially when they were boasting, you know, 25 million grounded one players. And they were very honest and open. Like, listen, Grounded One had to run on the Xbox One. And so that really hampered us in terms of what we could do. He's like the team originally, the original team on Ground One, they wanted mounts, which, of course, they have mounts in this that are called buggies because they're bugs. Very funny. And they couldn't do that. They wanted this, they couldn't do it. So, like, it really was. If we wanted to capitalize on what we had with Grounded one and make something here, we had to jump and do it. Grounded 2, which works for me and is exciting for me. If you've played Grounded, it was very similar to that. Of course. I woke up, I ran into my research station, found raw, raw, raw science, and, you know, did this made that followed the tutorial of making the different things I was making. What was interesting is a shake up from this time around is you now have an Omni tool. So rather than have to carry, I'm carrying the axe, I'm carrying the etc. I'm carrying the whatever, the things to help you craft. You get one omni tool that can beat all of those things, so saves you on inventory space, which obviously is a big deal. The buggies are a big deal, obviously, because you can ride them to traverse the much larger map quicker, but they can also cut things down faster. Right when you need the big blades of grass, they can also carry the planks for you so you can carry more stuff. You're getting in there and using them to kind of min max expedite what you're doing in terms of the game. But, you know, Story was forefront of this. You know, you get you. Like I said, you show up, you're shrunk. Down. You immediately go into the science center and, you know, there's this message from Sloan Beaumont, who's like the corporate overlord of this whole thing, like, giving you very good narration throughout what's going on. Being very funny and cheeky about what's going on. Burgle, of course, the robot we all love, he's in distress, calling for your help because somebody's removed his head from his body. So you're already set off to go do that thing, and you know you're in there, eventually start talking to Sloan. And that's where it feels very obsidian RPGish. Right where I'm choosing my answers. I'm choosing what I'm saying. I'm choosing what I'm doing so that I can go out there and do that. Like I said, it was more grounded from somebody who's not the world's biggest grounded fan. It does obviously feel much improved in terms of how it plays, how it runs, these little bells and whistles and quality of life things. And so I'm excited for night one to jump back in and see what I think of it, but I don't know if it will grab me and keep me around because I'm just not the crafting guy. Like, I just don't want to craft the lean to this thing, to that thing.

[Andy Cortez]

Were you playing solo or with any devs?

[Greg Miller]

No, we were playing solo. There was a bunch of. There was a lot of us in there like maybe eight stations, maybe 10. But no, they were all single player stories we were going through.

[Tim Gettys]

I didn't get my Pringles with my Walmart order, but a couple nights ago, I ordered just some doordash for me and G to eat dinner. And it came with a secret delight cookie, a little chocolate chip cookie that I didn't order, but they're just like, here, this is for you. And I ate it. But I didn't realize some of it was left on my table.

[Greg Miller]

No, it ain't.

[Tim Gettys]

And when last night I came and it was moving, and I'm like, what's going on, Anthony? And it was a ant.

[Andy Cortez]

Wow.

[Tim Gettys]

I thought I was like, this must be like many ants. And it was just like one goddamn ant. Dude ripped his thing moving, Mike.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

These ants are powerful.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

I knew that. But I'd never seen it in action quite like this. It was one of those moments I had to call gm. Hey, you need to come see this. The science books are right. Crazy, man. Yeah. Grounded too. In early access soon.

[Andy Cortez]

Strong pants.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Just want to tell that Story.

[Andy Cortez]

Strong.

[Greg Miller]

And the other day, the other thing to toss out. I think that's interesting, right? Is what they were saying of again dropping this with act one. They want to do bigger updates that are further spread out. So they were talking like maybe four to five months on content updates between them, rather than peppering a little thing here and there and then having people like me be like, it's not that much different. It's not what I want.

[Tim Gettys]

Dinesta says the Steam reviews for Mind Eye are coming in and it's looking like I should get my popcorn out. Well, everybody, you should get your popcorn.

[Greg Miller]

Hold on. Yeah, that's actually a great one. I put it into random. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. While we were live, I got an email about the Mind's Eye codes we've sent and it's. I've been asking repeatedly, can we get a code for Mind's Eye? Can we get a code. We did the Google form. We did everything. Hi, Greg. Thank you for your patience and your interest in reviewing Mind's Eye from Build a rocket Boy and I.O.I partners. Due to the limited allocation of codes available for review purposes, we are unable to accommodate your request this time.

[Andy Cortez]

Damn my foolishness.

[Greg Miller]

We'll be sure to reach out soon if we have an update.

[Andy Cortez]

Parentheses please. Don't buy it.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

What was the thing that the developers say? Weren't they like claiming that people were being persuaded not to.

[Greg Miller]

There was. They were thinking they were shenanigans.

[Tim Gettys]

They were persuaded.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, they were thinking there were shenanigans on their reviews. And did you see that? Then Somebody asked the IO, the IO Interactive CEO and he's like, no, we don't believe that. Sounds like they're Mind's Eye. Looking great, everybody. Looking forward to this game.

[Tim Gettys]

The final super chat of the day. DC103 says, Yo, Tim, first super chat ever. Have you seen the Ray Neo switch dock? Not 100% sure, but I think it works with the X roll glasses. Love from Ireland to all I have not. I'm looking into it now. Thank you very much for sending in this my way, everybody. Like we were saying. Actually we got one more super chat Z speak saying. Usually not a crafting slash survival guy, but grounded hits difference. My partner and I have put 60 plus hours into it. Something about the handcrafted world and writing makes it stand out.

[Andy Cortez]

Nice.

[Tim Gettys]

So hell yeah, man.

[Greg Miller]

Cute game for sure.

[Tim Gettys]

Check out Grounded 2 when it hits early access. Very, very soon. And speaking of soon, we're about to play Mind's Eye. I can't wait to see Mike and Nick in this journey. How will it go? I hear the first, like, two hours is all cutscenes, so love it. Fun times, everybody. Until next time, though. Love you all. Goodbye, everybody.

[Greg Miller]

Another preview tomorrow.