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The Besties
Metroid Prime 4 vs. Ooo: Showdown of the Search Action Games
00:54:54
Metroid Prime 4 is actually here! After a long development, including years of silence, the first-person Metroid series returns in the form of the Nintendo Switch 2’s big holiday release. But does it feel like a game from 2025 or 2015? Plus, Plante finally played the pseudo-metroidvania Ooo and can’t wait to tell you about this short, but sweet treat.
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- [00:00]
Justin McElroy
Chris, do you want to talk about how good cold open material here. Do you want to talk about how it took you two tries to count to six?
- [00:06]
Christopher Thomas Plant
No, I don't know if that's yes and yes. And I would also like to talk about something else.
- [00:14]
Justin McElroy
Something else? Yes, and another topic that.
- [00:18]
Christopher Thomas Plant
It's not that I don't. The problem is I don't have any. I don't have any good stuff. I'm freezing cold out here in California. It feels like it's like 65 degrees in my office. And I'm sure you all can still.
- [00:30]
Justin McElroy
Have the New York. Are you just like completely. Have you become completely climatized to California now? Are you now? Because you used to live in a real place? Like real, real places, you know, with weather?
- [00:42]
Griffin McElroy
Yeah.
- [00:43]
Christopher Thomas Plant
No, big time. Dude. I'm one of those people now who I'm always carrying around a sweater. People look at me. I went down to San Diego this weekend. Was walking on the beach wearing jeans and a sweater. Felt like I needed a coat. Checked my phone. 75 degrees.
- [00:58]
Justin McElroy
What the hell is wrong with you? How'd this happen? Unbelievable. California turns everyone into my wife. What is it about the sun out there?
- [01:07]
Christopher Thomas Plant
So have you ever noticed how wives, they talk about the weather like this?
- [01:11]
Griffin McElroy
I'm cold.
- [01:13]
Christopher Thomas Plant
But husbands, they talk about the weather like this. I'm hot.
- [01:18]
Griffin McElroy
War.
- [01:19]
Justin McElroy
War of the Roses. More like war the thermostat.
- [01:24]
Griffin McElroy
Hey, guys, it's me, Griffin. I just got here. I just sat down and just got here. I haven't been here before this.
- [01:30]
Justin McElroy
Hey, it's me, New York giraffe. I've been here the whole time doing a Justin impression. Hey, hey guys, it's me, Justin. I just got here.
- [01:37]
Christopher Thomas Plant
Bradley, a character that was never supposed to come back.
- [01:41]
Griffin McElroy
Okay, I'm gonna walk away now. You let me know when ol MB is punched.
- [02:04]
Justin McElroy
My name is Justin McElroy and I know the best game of the week.
- [02:06]
Griffin McElroy
My name is Griffin McElroy. I know the best game of the week.
- [02:09]
Christopher Thomas Plant
My name is Christopher Thomas Plant and I know the best game of the week.
- [02:15]
Justin McElroy
Yeah, Russ isn't here, but the point is it's still the besties. It's a video game club. And just by listening, you, my friend, have become a member. This week we are talking about. They said it would never happen, but it is. We are talking about Metroid Prime 4. Beyond. Chris, what is so beyond about Metroid Prime 4?
- [02:34]
Christopher Thomas Plant
Beyond my expectations that we would ever get to play this. Metroid Prime 4 brings back the mostly beloved Metroid prime series. It's been in development for what feels like I think 500 years, but it's actually here. Does it feel like a new game? Or does it feel like a game that has been made piecemeal for 500 years? You're going to have to stick around to find out, y'. All. It is nearly impossible to eat well during the holidays. There is just so much to do. You gotta get gifts, you gotta prep the decorations, you gotta be ready for your family to come over and there's all these candy canes and things lying around which is delicious. But that's not a meal. That is why I use Factor's chef prepped dietitian approved meals to help me stay balanced and energized through the most indulgent time of the year. Unlike meal kits that require prep and cooking, Factor delivers fully prepared, ready to eat meals in just two minutes. You can choose from a wider selection of weekly meal options including premium seafood choices like salmon and shrimp at no extra cost. That is what I personally go with for the first time. Try Asian inspired meals. Think savory Korean beef bowls or Thai style coconut curry. A refreshing break from traditional holiday fare. I love this stuff. It is so good and it's basically the meals that I always tell myself I'm gonna learn to make but don't have time to. You got stuff like Chicken Florentine, Monterey Spiced chicken, Jalapeno lime Cheddar chicken. You can tell that I'm like in that chicken space, right? But if you want to go vegan, they got that too. They've got all sorts of things. Protein plus Meals if you really want to go hard on protein, which is kind of the trend right now, I think that you will enjoy it as much as I do. So if you want to check it out, eat smart@factor meals.com besties 50 off that's the number 50 and use code besties 50 off to get 50% off your first box plus free breakfast for one year. That is code v e s t I e s 50 off f@factormeals.com for 50% off your first box plus Free breakfast for a year. This exclusive holiday offer won't last. Lock in your savings before the new year rush offer only valid for New Factor customers with Code qualifying Auto renewing subscription purchase.
- [05:23]
Griffin McElroy
It's the latter.
- [05:25]
Christopher Thomas Plant
It's the latter.
- [05:25]
Justin McElroy
I didn't want to.
- [05:26]
Griffin McElroy
Yeah, it's the Can I set up Metroid prime for Beyond? Because I suspect I had the most. I had the warmest response to the game of the three of us. I know Russ was looking forward to it as well, but he is traveling today and could not be here, so we'll ask him about it next week.
- [05:47]
Christopher Thomas Plant
It is.
- [05:47]
Griffin McElroy
The Metroid prime series has a very distinct kind of vibe. It has a distinct kind of thing going on that was divisive when it first came out, even though I think the original Metroid prime was pretty beloved. Metroid Prime 2 and 3 kind of like a little bit more middling, but still has its niche audience. And then that was 18 years ago that the last Metroid prime game came out in 2007. And this game was announced E3 2017. It was originally being developed by Namco Bandai, I believe, before, like, three years later, they announced that they were scrapping it, starting over with Retro Studios, the traditional developer of the series at the helm. And then that was fucking, what, four years ago that that happened, and now it's here. That's a little history for folks who did not sort of follow the.
- [06:42]
Christopher Thomas Plant
The journey.
- [06:42]
Griffin McElroy
The lore. Yes, the journey that got us here. I like the Metroid prime series. I usually don't find it especially helpful when people try to hypothesize about what happened behind the scenes. But my main sort of takeaway playing this game is that it very much feels like a game that went through a couple different iterations and cycles and developers with support from different. It feels disjointed in a way that. I don't know. You can't help but think about how the development cycle of this game impacted the final result.
- [07:18]
Christopher Thomas Plant
Yeah.
- [07:20]
Griffin McElroy
Is that the most positive thing we're gonna get talking about?
- [07:23]
Justin McElroy
No, you know, it's just. Oh, man.
- [07:25]
Griffin McElroy
Okay.
- [07:26]
Justin McElroy
So I struggled with this at first. I was looking forward to checking this out mainly because I wanted to try the sort of, like, mouse functionality of the. Think of the Switch 2. So I printed out, like, a holder for the mouse.
- [07:42]
Griffin McElroy
It's very nice.
- [07:44]
Justin McElroy
Put the mouse in there and.
- [07:48]
Griffin McElroy
The.
- [07:49]
Justin McElroy
Moving around, the motion feels fine. I don't really like using the buttons as much as you have to. That doesn't feel very good to use the buttons on the mouse. Even though the mouse movement is good, the action, the shooting and stuff feels bad. It doesn't feel good. But I feel like I spent so much time fiddling with that and not knowing if, like, I was having. I wanted to have, like, the ideal experience. Right. And I was thinking about that with this Switch 2 specifically. I feel like it's kind of a good snapshot of where the Switch 2 is at. Right? Because I don't know what the ideal experience is for Metroid Prime 4. And I was trying to figure that out while I was playing it. And I feel like the Switch 2 is kind of in that same position. Right. Is this a game and this. Is this a world that is designed to be like, put up on a big screen and immerse yourself in and really like get lost in the world? Or is this a game that is intended to be played on, you know, the Switch screen? You know, is it intended to be played with a mouse and a controller? Is it intended to be played? It feels. It feels like that. It feels very much like, I don't know, you can kind of do whatever. Because we didn't have a lot of real concrete ideas about what this should be.
- [09:07]
Griffin McElroy
I think it hues pretty close to the format. Right. I think. And you can take that either way. Right. I have noticed, I would say, a trend among people who have really, really liked the game that they really also really liked the other Metroid prime games. I think it sticks pretty close to the formula with some variances that are kind of strange. Like one big element is that Samus has psychic powers. But the psychic powers, there's like one that you kind of use to drag around little symbols along tracks to like unlock certain doors.
- [09:42]
Justin McElroy
Or they're kind of just psychic puzzle powers.
- [09:44]
Griffin McElroy
Little psychic puzzle powers. But then also it'll be like you got psychic boost ball. And it's like, that's boost ball. Like that's boost ball. You got psychic psychic beams. Double jump. Okay, that's just double jump. The franchise, I think, is at its best when it's being very atmospheric and transportive. And I think this game does that pretty well. The individual dungeons that you go off into, the game has kind of like a spoke and hub format where you're going out into these different dungeons to collect keys that you need to beat the game. Which I really appreciate how video game ass game that is as an objective to have the ancient alien species appear before me and say these five keys hidden in our five wonderful dungeons for you to explore. That stuff is great. I genuinely think the dungeon exploration and puzzles and all that stuff is really, really great.
- [10:41]
Justin McElroy
Really great.
- [10:41]
Griffin McElroy
I mean, I think that, yeah, the.
- [10:42]
Justin McElroy
Atmosphere really, really great. I'm asking you to clarify if you think the exploration and stuff in Metroid Prime 4 Beyond is really, as you just said, really, really great. Cause that's what you said. And I want to make sure that you feel that.
- [10:57]
Griffin McElroy
I think when you're in the dungeons Yeah, I really like the design of the dungeons. I think is very, very good. I think that you're going through it.
- [11:04]
Justin McElroy
And I found myself enjoying it.
- [11:10]
Christopher Thomas Plant
More.
- [11:11]
Justin McElroy
Than I thought I would. And because I don't really enjoy, like I haven't. I don't. I didn't remember myself enjoying the Metroid prime series. It has been 17 years. Like it's been so long since the last one of those. And I, to me playing this, it feels like it's basically successful in what it is trying to do. But what it is trying to do feels so out of step with where everything else in video games is at. It really, it to me feels like a fan project in it. And I don't even mean that in a demeaning way. There's a lot of really incredible fan work that happens, but it feels like a tribute. It feels like a. Like a make good, a send off, a contractual obligation, whatever you want to say. But like it is. It feels like even though it is on modern hardware with the newest console that exists, it feels like you are playing something that has been like. At least to me, it felt like I was playing something that had been emulated to upscale on the platform I was playing it on. It did not feel like a 2025 experience in any meaningful way.
- [12:25]
Christopher Thomas Plant
The fan project comparison is so rich because I think it goes a step further than an aesthetic level or like a parody of the story. I think the actual feel of fan projects which are often developed over the course of like a decade or longer and it's a whole bunch of random people at different levels of talent and it ends up feeling like a piece together. Even the best fan projects can often feel like a whole bunch of great pieces, but not necessarily a whole. Right. The way that a traditional video game does. And what's so strange about this game is it feels like it has been made over the course of years, quite literally in that there are entire sections that just feel different than other.
- [13:14]
Griffin McElroy
Yeah, that was the point I was trying to make. There was a core. If you look at this thing kind of piecemeal, I think when you're in a dungeon that is telling you sort of an atmospheric story and you're going through and there's a cool boss fight at the end and you get a power up and it's hitting the loops that you expect and that you want from this type of game, I think it's pretty great. And then you will go out into a desert on your motorcycle and you will just kind of like explore this pretty barren Wasteland running into crystals, fighting the same like two enemies over and over again.
- [13:48]
Justin McElroy
Some parts are sick. Like to hit Griffin's earlier point, some parts start to kick ass. Like the music will actually be better than you think it's going to be. And it's kind of like it feels.
- [13:58]
Griffin McElroy
Pretty when you're going. The second dungeon is like this factory, this manufacturing plant. And when you're like working your way through the assembly line and seeing this bike that you're about to unlock get put together, that shit's really cool. But then there's a loading screen and then you're in kind of a different game.
- [14:16]
Justin McElroy
It can't get momentum, it can't get ahead of steam going. It feels like constantly so aware of the mechanics. And so like.
- [14:27]
Christopher Thomas Plant
I think there is one cohesive thing that is very Metroid that this game gets. And just, I'm just gonna repeat back to something that you said before we recorded, which is the. That feeling of going to an alien planet and like actually discovering it. That it's not just wallpaper, it's almost closer to like a museum or something. And it wants you to go there and feel like you are in a place that is not earth or not just another sci fi place. So I mean I was hoping you could expand on that a little bit of why that works for you there.
- [15:03]
Justin McElroy
So like at first and again like this has been so, so long since I played one of these. Like I had forgotten how little of it was. Is like shooting.
- [15:11]
Christopher Thomas Plant
Yeah.
- [15:11]
Justin McElroy
Like first person shooter is not even accurate. Like you can like lock right on. It's like not really the focus and the mouse I think makes that confusing because it does feel like something you're going to be like fine targeting. But that's not really what the game is. I had to kind of remember and especially through here, like it's a game about scanning the environment and like understanding the environment better and like what you unlock narrative and puzzle wise through like that exploration and that aspect of it. And I think that like when you remove the combat, the shooting and you just leave the exploration part that could be effective if it feels like an exploration. Like some of the nature of walking around and scanning something that's interesting and it has an actual zoological explanation for why it is the way it is, then it's not just a cool animation. Every time you see it pop up, you understand, oh, that's why it popped up like that. But you are also being led through this game by someone who is telling you what to do next and where it is on the map and asking if you understand the instructions that you were just given, because they will happily repeat them for you.
- [16:24]
Griffin McElroy
Yeah.
- [16:25]
Justin McElroy
And that if you have someone doing that, then they're leading you through the exploration. And if there's not exploration and there's not combat, I'm not sure where the game is. You know what I mean?
- [16:36]
Griffin McElroy
The dungeons are pretty linear. The, I don't know, like, upgrade economy is not so exciting that it feels great to go back through an area you've been, and sometimes you go back through an area you've been and you have a new thing. And that means that you have a new key to unlock this door. And there's like a whole nother chunk of dungeon with, like, different stuff waiting behind it.
- [16:59]
Christopher Thomas Plant
That's cool.
- [16:59]
Griffin McElroy
But, like, going back to get 5 additional missiles or 10 additional missile upgrade is like, I don't know, not super, super thrilling so much anymore. And it just. It really feels like this genre, the search action genre, has evolved a lot in a way that is not really recognized in this game. Like using upgrades being meaningful in a bunch of different ways. Right. This is a super unfair comparison. But in Silksong, when you get an upgrade, you can use it in combat, you can use it in traversal, you can use it in all of these different ways. And in this game, it's like, well, now I have the fire beam, which means I can unlock the fire beam doors and I can burn down the things that are fire.
- [17:46]
Christopher Thomas Plant
And before, I can't wait to talk about the tiny, tiny indie game. Oh, sorry, go ahead.
- [17:52]
Justin McElroy
Before you had a fire beam, you scanned them and they said, hey, later on you'll need something hot wink to open this one up.
- [18:01]
Christopher Thomas Plant
Yeah. The very tiny indie game that we're going to talk about in the B segment does so much more with basically a single mechanic than what this is. Thinking of the Metroidvania. The. This is probably a bullshit theory, but the addition of all of this help and all this support, it reminds me of when, like, famous movies like Blade Runner, when the studio loses confidence in it and it gets too messy in the edit, and they've trimmed it down and trimmed it down and they're not really even sure what it is anymore. And they're like, you know what you need to add voiceover people aren't gonna be able to follow any of this. And it's just. It's gone through so many notes and so many revisions that it needs that kind of superficial. We'll just tell you what's happening. We can't trust our own game anymore. And that feels like so much of this game.
- [18:59]
Justin McElroy
Sadly, it also feels. And again, this is editorializing, but I don't think it's. I'm stretching too much to say that Nintendo of Japan isn't necessarily like obsessed with Metroid. Like, I think that like. Like you could see the passion for the project and the fact that it took them 17 years to do another one. But this to me feels like also really a bad. This is separate from the. I'm not criticizing the game now specifically here, but this feels like a really.
- [19:30]
Christopher Thomas Plant
Bad.
- [19:32]
Justin McElroy
Showpiece for the Switch 2. Right? It is. It feel. It looks like. It does not look like a game that was really like. It does not look on par with other Games released in 2025. It is just not.
- [19:46]
Griffin McElroy
You're saying like, visually, I mean, especially.
- [19:49]
Justin McElroy
Playing it on a big screen, when you look at some of the textures and stuff like that, it's like it's, it's. It's not.
- [19:54]
Griffin McElroy
I think it looks.
- [19:54]
Justin McElroy
I think it looks.
- [19:55]
Griffin McElroy
I think against. What did you play on certain parts of it? I. I played it on handheld and Switch two. I didn't play it on a big, big tv. Yeah.
- [20:02]
Justin McElroy
So what? Yeah, I mean I didn't really notice it until I saw it on a big screen. It's like, oh, yikes. Like not. Not great.
- [20:09]
Griffin McElroy
I mean, this is again a weird. Yeah. Right. That is the only way that I do sort of play. I haven't docked my Switch to play games on it in quite some time.
- [20:19]
Justin McElroy
It's not just the aesthetics. The. It looks old, it feels outdated, the ideas feel old. It's not capitalizing on anything that makes the Switch 2 interesting. Whatever that that unique selling point is. I'm not sure Nintendo has told that story, but like Metroid is not. Is muddying the waters to me at least plant you follow industry stuff as well. Do you feel like that's a fair.
- [20:45]
Christopher Thomas Plant
Representation in terms of this not being the thing that you want to release in December for your brand new console?
- [20:54]
Griffin McElroy
Yeah.
- [20:55]
Christopher Thomas Plant
I could almost feel like an entire V segment on the first year of Nintendo or. And of Nintendo Switch 2. Right. I think it is of a piece with a lot of very strange decisions that I think reflect the need to continue bumping the system back and back and back. And I think each game tells a different story.
- [21:17]
Justin McElroy
What would have been sick? Is Prime 4 a launch banana in December. Then you got. Now that's an exciting holiday season.
- [21:26]
Griffin McElroy
Oh, prime launch. Why not two bonanzas? Why not Double Bonanza Bonanzas Many banana Nanzas.
- [21:33]
Justin McElroy
I will say the things that feel like the things that there's. I will, to be fair. And this is like, again, if you're younger than me, you may not have, like, the same sort of, like, feelings because it has been so long since the last one of these came out. Even though there's Metroids in between there. But, like, there are still.
- [21:51]
Griffin McElroy
And the remastered. When did the remaster of. A couple years ago.
- [21:55]
Christopher Thomas Plant
Yeah.
- [21:55]
Griffin McElroy
One. Yeah.
- [21:56]
Justin McElroy
There are some actions that just feel good to do in Metroid games, like hitting a bomb and then bouncing up on the bomb and then putting the bomb in a thing. That always feels nice.
- [22:06]
Griffin McElroy
Turning into a Morph ball in general in Metroid Prime, I think feels pretty.
- [22:09]
Justin McElroy
The way the field of view changes when you go from more. Like, it's good. That stuff feels good. Like, I will say also tell me if this. If you agree with this, it felt sluggish, like getting around the world. It felt slow to me. And I didn't get the. Before you unlock the biceps, the bike suit or whatever, but, like, just running around and even being the ball, it did not feel very fast.
- [22:31]
Griffin McElroy
No. I would fully, fully agree with that. I found myself praying to find some sort of, you know, Shine Spark or whatever it was called from. Yeah, no, I definitely feel the same way, especially once you start backtracking. And this is where, like, we haven't even talked about, like, the side characters, which, like, plenty of people have certainly talked about the side characters and the way that they are written and the fact that they are talking to a voiceless golem in the form of Samus Arryn, the whole game, which is very weird. I think criticisms about the writing and performance aside, it really detracts from the atmosphere of exploring this strange alien planet to have a team of plucky side characters who either tell you what to do or you will find an upgrade out in the world. I found the fire chip. I found the ice chip. Cool. Now I can do these elemental shots once I return to base camp, which was in the first area that I explored. There's not like a teleport fast travel thing. I'm gonna have to hop on the bike tool on back there. I can skip some of this area to get back to the middle. Talk to Miles. He's like, cool. Now you can do fire shot. Get back out there, Bronco. It's like, that's nothing, guys. That's absolutely nothing. And from what I understand about how sort of the desert exploration becomes a mandatory element to finish the game like that, that is a problem that is only intensified as it goes on. And it just, it's a game that feels like there's just a few really, really bad ideas behind it, which is rare. That that is like the thing that is holding it up. Like I think from a, a performance standpoint, it's good and competent and everything. It's just, there's some ideas in this thing that are perplexingly bad.
- [24:23]
Christopher Thomas Plant
How about this? How about we take a break and then when we come back, I want to tell you all about ooo, a game that I think is pairing with this better than I ever could have imagined. And also I want to use that time to dig into Justin's question about what is the Nintendo Switch 2 after its first year? Because I think there's a lot of meat on that bone too.
- [24:44]
Griffin McElroy
All right, yeah, for sure.
- [24:45]
Justin McElroy
We'll talk about that right after this.
- [24:49]
Griffin McElroy
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- [26:19]
Guest or Sponsor Voice
This episode of the Besties is sponsored in part by Fangamer. You know, Fangamer designs and sells apparel, toys, books, and more from many of your favorite games. I'm going to give you a few of them. There's tons. If I listed all the games they made stuff for, it would take forever. Just a few of them. Hollow Knight, Stardew Valley, Tunic, Elden Ring, Metal Gear, Helldivers, Hades. It just keeps going on and on. You can see the full list@fangamer.com besties if you want. In my case, Fangamer was very generous to offer us some samples to show how great they are. Do not tell them that I already knew how great they are, but I was appreciative of the samples. Regardless, here's what I got this amazing tunic push of the fox from Tunic that has magnets that like hold the shield and the sword in place. And it's super, super adorable and I love it. Probably should give it to my son, but I didn't do that. I did give my son a Stardew Valley blanket which has all of the ingredients from Stardew Valley and some of the characters all like laid out in a gorgeous grid and he sleeps under it almost every night. So it's fantastic. I also have a great grub plush from Hollow Knight. You know the grub, the little insect guy, he goes from Hollow Knight, got one of those and they did an amazing job on that. So if you like high quality gaming stuff, whether it's again, shirts, books, plush toys, merchandise, you name it, fan gamer is the place to go. Unfortunately, if you're looking to buy for Christmas, you are too late to to order anything in time for Christmas. But it's never too late to check out our personal recommendations, the besties@fangamer.com besties. Be sure to check out the site. So you know we sent you and it makes us look good. So we really appreciate it. Okay, bye.
- [28:10]
Christopher Thomas Plant
Okay, so I want to get into the Nintendo Switch 2 stuff, but I do want to tell y' all a little bit about Ooh. Because you have set me up so nicely.
- [28:18]
Griffin McElroy
How am I spelling this?
- [28:20]
Christopher Thomas Plant
O O O.
- [28:22]
Griffin McElroy
That's bad. S E O right there.
- [28:25]
Christopher Thomas Plant
But it's how you're gonna feel when you're playing it.
- [28:28]
Griffin McElroy
There's an umlaut over the first O. That's so important.
- [28:31]
Christopher Thomas Plant
That is. That's so true. So what if I told you, you could now just go play Metroid 2D. Classic, beautiful Metroid. And you are in the ball form dropping bombs the whole time. You like dropping bombs. Popping yourself in the air and dropping more bombs. Well, don't worry, that's the whole game because you are a little dot, a little caterpillar of bombs. And it is being compared to Metroidvanias for that reason. But the game isn't really like anything else I've played. The other comparison I've heard is animal. Well, kind of. It is a game in theory about discovering secrets, but really I think it is a game about having a conversation with a video game developer because it is all about learning exactly what they want you to discover at the pace that they want you to discover it. So you are in a little screen of a little puzzle and you need to go from left to right and there is a little wall where you can't jump. Well, you realize that you can place a bomb and you can stand on it and it will fire you up. Congrats. You've learned how to effectively jump. You have hit another wall. Where do you go? You place a bomb and you realize that you can destroy invisible walls. Congratulations. You may now progress. It is three hours of these incremental discoveries over and over and over again. There will come points where you get into a room and you simply cannot go any further. So you decide that you're going to take a fork in the road because there's no way to solve the room that you're in after you've bashed your head against it for 15 minutes. And you will go down this different path and you will learn effectively the answer to that room that once seemed impossible. It is going to gradually teach you piece by piece how to actually go back to that room and solve it. So it is just literally, I don't know how to say this like a story game. It is telling you the answers to all of its puzzles bit by bit by bit, and then sending you backwards to places where you simply could not go through now with this new information, so that you can know how to open a new path. So I guess I'm saying it out loud. That's very Metroidvania.
- [30:56]
Justin McElroy
Super Metroidy.
- [30:57]
Christopher Thomas Plant
Except it's so linear because again, it is like reading a book. You are being told the story of this game in a very linear fashion from beginning to end. There is not like a scenario where you're going to diverge from that path. The playthrough is. The playthrough is the Playthrough. Unless you already know everything and then you're speedrunning it and chimes.
- [31:22]
Griffin McElroy
Looking at the game, I bet the speedruns of this one are going to be pretty zany.
- [31:27]
Christopher Thomas Plant
And the other thing that makes it not feel very Metroidvania is you get another bomb. So you end up having two bombs. And that's pretty much is not about getting a whole bunch of different powers. It is about manipulating those powers to the furthest extent to the point that you are discovering things that you would assume don't work in a game that looks this retro actually do work. For example, one of the things that you discover relatively early on is you can leave the bomb in one screen and then go to another screen. So if you leave it in one room and you go to another room, the bomb will stay there. Well, there might be a switch that you need to use in one room and then you'll travel all the way across the world and then that will open a door in a room far, far away. Or you might need to describing is describing puzzles. It's tedious. Right. But discovering it for yourself is really phenomenal. I am utterly charmed by it. It looks very cute. Griffin, can you describe what it looks like? If you're looking at it right now.
- [32:31]
Griffin McElroy
I mean simple kind of graphics. I would say animal. Well or what it's really giving me is vvvvvvvvv. I don't know how we. How did we think back when that came?
- [32:42]
Christopher Thomas Plant
I think it was one. Was it one last.
- [32:45]
Griffin McElroy
Yeah, that kind of art style. Very, very charming.
- [32:49]
Christopher Thomas Plant
Yeah, almost Atari esque in its simplicity. But yeah, it just feels nice, especially at the end of the year to play something that is a bit short and oh, Baba Is yous.
- [32:59]
Griffin McElroy
Maybe Baba is you.
- [33:00]
Justin McElroy
Okay. A little more colorful but yeah, no.
- [33:02]
Christopher Thomas Plant
Baba Is yous Color.
- [33:03]
Justin McElroy
That's not the one I'm thinking of.
- [33:04]
Christopher Thomas Plant
Yeah but that feeling of just like talking with a game developer through the game where you constantly. It almost feels like they're like playing jokes on you when you can't figure something out and they're like oh don't worry, we're going to explain it to you again. That's where it's different from the animal. Well where it's so dense or the blueprints. You're going to find it out in 10 minutes if you just give it a moment. So I want people to check it out. But now I want to get into this question about the Switch 2 in this year because it's a strange one, what do you all think of the Switch 2?
- [33:38]
Justin McElroy
After what most time I've spent holding it since July and I still don't like holding it. It's quite big. It's quite big and flat. I don't find it to be a comfortable experience. Once I switched over to the Pro controller, I was a lot happier.
- [33:59]
Griffin McElroy
Oh man, it's really weird. I play it a lot, but that's mostly playing older stuff with Henry on it that now looks and runs better. Right. I think all of the. A majority of the new releases that came out this year, apart from Donkey Kong, have not hit in the way that I was sort of expecting them to in this house. Pokemon Legends, za we dropped fairly quickly. This one was never really Henry's jam.
- [34:33]
Justin McElroy
But.
- [34:35]
Griffin McElroy
All of the stuff that we have been playing has been stuff like the Switch 2 edition of Tears of the Kingdom. Hell yeah, it's great. It's amazing. It's really good. Castle crashers. Yeah, sure. Like, yeah, we'll play that old Jam. But in terms of sort of killer at first party killer apps, like, I don't know that there is one yet.
- [34:55]
Justin McElroy
Well, Benanza is a high quality product, I'd say.
- [35:00]
Griffin McElroy
I mean, yeah, absolutely. I would say it's probably the best of the original stuff.
- [35:05]
Justin McElroy
And I bet that Animal Crossing will be a big deal.
- [35:08]
Griffin McElroy
Yes.
- [35:08]
Justin McElroy
People seem to be pretty buck wild for that guy when he arrives next month.
- [35:14]
Christopher Thomas Plant
Yeah, I'm so torn because so much of it, everything feels like it has a caveat. Mario Kart World is an excellent game that happens to be the sequel to maybe the best kart racing game ever. And it's hard not to constantly compare it to it because when you turn on your switch, you get to choose which one you're gonna play. And the further we get away from Mario Kart World, the more often I kind of would rather just play Mario Kart 8. Especially after all that DLC. There's so much good stuff in it. And then Bonanza I really, really enjoy. But it is the weird thing of it constantly reminds you of the Mario game that you're not playing. Whenever I boot it up, I don't know, everything feels like it is. Nintendo has an ability often to nail it. That is, it's wow. This is not only what I expected it to be, it surpassed it. That's the Zelda thing, right? That Super Mario Galaxy. And it's weird that there is not a game this year that feels like that despite it being the launch year. And if anything, there are games like Metroid Prime 4, which feel like they had been on the shelf for a long time and it is filling a release calendar need rather than like actually serving an audience.
- [36:37]
Griffin McElroy
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think the most. The disappointing thing for me is like, I don't know what the fuck is next. Like, I don't know what's next is there. Usually they have the lineup at least far enough out that you have an idea of like, what's next year gonna bring. I guess, like of the stuff confirmed.
- [36:58]
Justin McElroy
Right. You got Animal Crossing will be January and then you got it looks like Mario tennis fever on February 12th. I mean, there's a bunch of other like third party stuff, but then there's. And there's a bunch of Resident Evil stuff out that month, like expanded.
- [37:17]
Christopher Thomas Plant
Yeah.
- [37:17]
Griffin McElroy
And then I guess I'm thinking like.
- [37:19]
Justin McElroy
First Bond after that. But yeah, I mean, not a lot.
- [37:23]
Christopher Thomas Plant
Yeah, I think it's tough because that isn't so unusual in that they kind of like announce a lot and then they empty the bag and then once the bag is pretty much empty, they announce the next bag full of stuff. But it feels more frustrating when there hasn't been a good thing in a while.
- [37:47]
Griffin McElroy
Well, and also, I'll say Metroid Prime 4 was the thing in the back of the bag for a while. Right. If you were to say, what's the. What's the big game that's going to come out for the Switch next year? I would have said like, well, Metroid Prime 4 is still coming, but now it's out and I don't know. Yeah, I don't know what the sort of shadow lineup behind the scenes is going to be.
- [38:12]
Christopher Thomas Plant
Yeah, it's very strange. Well, that can actually toss us in. We have a few questions from the mailbag that relate to this. Should I go into those?
- [38:22]
Griffin McElroy
Yeah, please.
- [38:23]
Christopher Thomas Plant
Okay. So the first one, this one is from Wiley. I'm still mixed on how to feel about the new Animal Crossing update coming out at the end of the month, slash early January. I love the franchise, but we were already told there wasn't going to be any more free updates. I was hoping that at least they stopped supporting Animal Crossing New Horizons to release a new one within the first year of the launch of the Switch 2, which is now clear isn't the case. And this goes on. What's the logic going on with this? I'm grateful and excited, but I can't get myself, even as a super fan to launch the game to prep for this. Yeah. What did happen? Because I kind of assumed that there would be a New Animal Crossing, too. Yeah.
- [39:04]
Griffin McElroy
I mean, you would think, man, it was the biggest shit ever. And a cultural sort of moment that is sort of unreproducible. It would seem like you'd want to strike while the iron was pretty hot. And I'm sure that they will get some new eyes on it when they launch the Switch 2 version and they put all this DLC in the game. But, like, at this point, hasn't everyone kind of played it? That's gonna play it, maybe. I don't know. It seems like it.
- [39:31]
Christopher Thomas Plant
The comparison is Mario Kart, right? Because this is kind of what they did with Mario Kart before Mario Kart World, where everybody expected Mario Kart, the new Mario kart, Mario Kart 9 to come out. And then they just released level pack after level pack after level pack after seemingly being done with it. So this isn't completely unusual how effective it is, and especially what we just said about Mario Kart, which is like, that kind of cut some of the enthusiasm I had going into world. You know, you're giving people a taste of the thing, but not the thing. Yeah, it's a strange choice.
- [40:11]
Justin McElroy
I also feel like. And we touched on this a bit before, but I feel like Nintendo is really struggling to tell a story of what the Nintendo Switch 2 is and why it is. And I feel like things like this. This Metroid prime thing just kind of complicate that more. I mean, you think about the things that were supposed to be distinguishing factors, like, I bought the camera. You know what I mean? I bought the camera, and there's a chat button on the controller. Like, none of that has even been. I mean, the one they charged for the thing that had the new stuff on it. It's like every decision about it is, like, so not seeming to care if people not care, because obviously that's wild. But, like, not seeming to be able to put together a story as to why you would want to buy it, I guess.
- [41:01]
Griffin McElroy
Yeah.
- [41:02]
Christopher Thomas Plant
Yeah.
- [41:02]
Griffin McElroy
I don't know that I need that story story anymore, just because I feel like with between, like, you know, putting Badass Light on the Rog Ally X and like, playing around with all these retro Android handhelds. Like, I feel like I just want to play the games, any game on the machine that I kind of want to play it on. And I think that sales pitch isn't bad for Nintendo because the Switch 2 is a pretty capable, like, gaming rig. Right. And it is of a good size for the power that it brings. And it has all the first party Nintendo, Nintendo stuff on it. Anyways. I think that the pitch that they have kind of shoehorned themselves into giving is like, this is gonna change the way you play games forever. Or this is. We've entered a new era of gaming and I don't think it has. I don't think it has that. Certainly it does all the cool stuff that the Switch did and it runs games pretty fucking well. But that's. I don't know, I guess it's harder to put a story together that's just.
- [42:01]
Christopher Thomas Plant
Sort of that which is industry wide. Right. You know, that's the Xbox. Wondering what it is. That is PlayStation 5 selling a gazillion units, but then also seemingly having zero enthusiasm around it. You know, it's just, it's just a machine. And now this. It is. I think maybe that's why it is a bummer is Nintendo has always been the last hope of. Well, they get it. They get that the thing is as much a toy, as much of a novelty as it is a video game console. And so far this just feels like another thing to play slightly better looking games.
- [42:39]
Justin McElroy
And also with the size, like as somebody who fools around with a lot of handheld consoles, with the size of this thing, there are so many devices out right now that feel more fun and are more pleasant to use and look at and feel like more exciting and pocketable like than the Nintendo Switch too. You know what I mean? Like Nintendo doesn't have an offering that feels like, you know, I was looking there, I went digging for Mario Paint because I wanted to show my kids Mario Paint. I didn't realize it was on the Nintendo classics, but I went looking. There's a bunch of stuff on there. It's like 100 NES games, like a 100 SNES games, a bunch of stuff on there.
- [43:24]
Griffin McElroy
It's like it's in the Virtual Boy in February.
- [43:26]
Justin McElroy
Dropping that, that could be a compelling little thing, you know what I mean? Like you could still make a small device that there's a store. Like there's a reason for it to be, you know, like this still feels like a weird half measure. Like you have a library. Like you could make a fun way of experiencing it, but it's just not this.
- [43:47]
Griffin McElroy
I don't know how much of this. I feel like we are still definitely in the window where you can attribute some of this to like Covid shutdown sort of impacting the entire bottlenecking, sort of an entire sort of generation. For a couple of years there. I wonder how much of this specifically like the weird launch lineup of the Switch 2 is sort of because of this. I think some of it's gotta.
- [44:18]
Justin McElroy
They've always been a conservative company and there were a lot of question marks between this and the tariffs between Covid and the tariffs, I think where they had a lot of reasons to play it safe. But as a consumer that's not really your problem. You know like it's no.
- [44:31]
Christopher Thomas Plant
Sure, yeah. The other if we were giving excuses is the reality of most consoles don't have great first years but Nintendo Switch 1 did. But Nintendo is the exception. Yes. Like Nintendo almost always has a game that is an all timer in its first year. I have one more Nintendo related question. This one is from Patrick. I held off on playing Metroid Dread until I had my Switch 2 because of the performance issues. Now I have time to dive into one of two MetroIDs, switch two Dread or Prime 4. What would you recommend for someone who hasn't played either? I think I know the answer to this.
- [45:09]
Griffin McElroy
I think Dread might be my favorite Metroid. That or Super Metroid obviously is the other like big contender. But I think Dread kicks ass. I think Dread is a great fucking game that does like the Metroidy stuff so well that the sort of antiquated parts of its formula I feel like aren't as big of an issue because it feels so good to explore that world and find cool power ups and parry evil robots and shit. Yeah, I like that stuff a lot.
- [45:37]
Christopher Thomas Plant
Hoops, I have a final question here that I was like. Oh, it's perfect. This one's for you. It is from jm so I need you to be honest with me. If you wrote this question for yourself.
- [45:49]
Justin McElroy
I guarantee before I even hear it that I don't think it was me.
- [45:52]
Christopher Thomas Plant
Looking forward to the holidays One type of game I know I'll be checking in on are Idle Incremental games in between holiday events and various family activities. Would love to hear any recommendations from you besties about idle games that have kept your interest for me. Revolution Idle and Cell's Idol Factory Incremental have both stayed on my phone for a while. Oh for sure. From one JM to the other, what idle games should people be keeping their eye out on?
- [46:21]
Griffin McElroy
I mean there's Wizard Tower. Wizard Tower I think that came out this year. That's one of my favorites. You manage a little Wizard Tower as it grows and you build different rooms that increase certain currencies and eventually you fight the gods of the sky with your wizard magic. It's a good one. The GNORP analog I Believe it's called.
- [46:47]
Justin McElroy
That's a good. I don't know if you count that as an idle game. That's like right on the line. And that's kind of a really interesting idle game because it does start to border on requiring something of you. Like, it requires something approaching like, thought and strategy and that kind of thing. Nor Banalog is one that's actually, I think, worth checking out.
- [47:09]
Griffin McElroy
I'm sorry. The game is called Tower wizard, not Wizard Tower.
- [47:13]
Justin McElroy
Universal Paperclips is an idle game where you learn something.
- [47:17]
Christopher Thomas Plant
Yeah, for sure. We liked Cauldron. Does that count?
- [47:21]
Griffin McElroy
Cauldron, I think no. I mean, Cauldron has a lot of interactivity. There is like different modes that sort of more focus on the idle stuff going on in the game. But regardless, you're gonna have to play like the five different minigames in order to like get yourself to the point where you can sustain yourself that way. I mean, I like Melvor Idol. I'll return to that one from time to time. That's the Runescape based one that was then purchased by the. I believe it was acquired by the developer of Runescape because it was just so Runescapey.
- [47:56]
Justin McElroy
I feel like a lot of the things that made Iola games hooky have been like adopted into real games. Like there's been a lot of that has been like brought into the mainstream.
- [48:07]
Christopher Thomas Plant
Yeah, for sure. Cool. Well, that's pretty much it. Y' all got any other stuff you've been enjoying?
- [48:18]
Griffin McElroy
Some honorable mentions.
- [48:19]
Christopher Thomas Plant
Even some honorable mentions might say.
- [48:20]
Justin McElroy
Don't be afraid to say it, Chris.
- [48:22]
Griffin McElroy
Don't be afraid to say it.
- [48:23]
Justin McElroy
I really have enjoyed Pluribus. I know that it has gotten plenty of people pushing it, but it is.
- [48:32]
Griffin McElroy
I read about Pluribus on my girs.
- [48:38]
Christopher Thomas Plant
What? Wow.
- [48:42]
Griffin McElroy
Talking about Plurivers, huh? I read about it in my box.
- [48:47]
Justin McElroy
What are you doing, man?
- [48:48]
Christopher Thomas Plant
I want to know more about this. Yeah.
- [48:51]
Justin McElroy
Griffin just seems really angry lately. I don't know. I really. It's a show. Anything you learn about it makes it less enjoyable. I think that it's much better to go in without knowing the details. But it is a sort of post apocalyptic story about one woman who finds herself kind of left behind in a sense. But rather than physically being gone, people are sort of mentally joined together and she finds herself on the outside and how she processes that and what it means and the mystery of how that all happens is what the show kind of delves into is created by Fence Gillian, who did Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. And while it is not connected to those stories yet. No, it's not. It does have a similar setting and it looks, I would say similar, if more cinematic. If you like the vibe and the tone and the pacing of those shows, I think this is another one that you will very much enjoy.
- [50:01]
Griffin McElroy
I've been playing Rhythm Doctor, which just came out, I believe in early access, gosh, just a couple days ago actually December 6th. And it is a one button rhythm heaven inspired rhythm game that A studio called 7th Beat Games has been making for a really, really, really long time. I think this game was first launched as like a flash game back in 2012 and they've just kind of been like iterating on it and adding to it for a long time. There's like a community of people who are just crazy about this game because it is very faithful to the Rhythm Heaven formula and it's made by people who kind of like know how to make a good version of that. You play as an intern at sort of like a sort of a hospital and you run a remote defibrillation device, which is the sort of story reason for why you are hitting your space bar in time with the music. But the music is really fucking great. And the way that they kind of like task you with keeping up with different rhythms. Like it starts out with, you have to hit it on every seventh beat and then it'll switch to like, okay, now it's going to do sort of a swing thing. It introduces those ideas in a way that feels really good and then sometimes just goes absolutely insane. There's boss fights in the game where it will start to do weird shit with the screen or like it'll switch it to windowed mode and then move your window around your desktop monitor if you're playing that way. I don't know, I never really stuck with the Rhythm Heaven game that much because it was, I don't know, I found them sort of too punishing. Even though I like hard rhythm games and this seems more accessible. Very lovingly crafted, charming story and writing and the music's great and it's a perfect little bite sized game that you can just kind of pick up and play a couple songs of. And I've really been liking it a lot.
- [52:06]
Christopher Thomas Plant
I'm perpetually interested by the Year of Too Many Games and what that causes to happen. Example of the Year of Too many games 2 Games inspired by Rhythm Heaven came out just yesterday. Rhythm Doctor and also Bits and Bops, a game by Tempo Lab Games that is also more Rhythm Heaven. And it's beautifully Animated. It is a full rich, cool game. And I don't know how we got two rhythm Heaven inspired games on the exact same damn day.
- [52:43]
Griffin McElroy
Day.
- [52:43]
Guest or Sponsor Voice
Yeah.
- [52:44]
Christopher Thomas Plant
I will also just second that. Pluribus is absolutely fantastic. I do not watch much TV and I. Here he goes. Fucking obsessed with it. I love it.
- [52:58]
Justin McElroy
TV you watch. That's what I want to hear more about. Come on.
- [53:02]
Christopher Thomas Plant
I'm sorry. I do other things like listen to podcasts, watch the TV show, which you should do.
- [53:07]
Justin McElroy
And if we love movies, keep up with tv. If that lobster guy, that Yorgos Lanthimos would have stopped making so many damn movies, Chris Plant might be able to watch. Better call Saht. You know what I mean?
- [53:17]
Christopher Thomas Plant
No, thank you. I don't need any more of his stuff. I'm good.
- [53:22]
Justin McElroy
Did you hear Chris Fleming talk about.
- [53:23]
Griffin McElroy
Chris Loving's been about it. Yeah.
- [53:25]
Justin McElroy
He's trying to help Emma Stone discover her clown.
- [53:33]
Griffin McElroy
Oh, man, that's really good shit. Can we do a quick check in on our sort of goatie backlog playing?
- [53:41]
Christopher Thomas Plant
Oh, man, I've been playing some of.
- [53:42]
Griffin McElroy
That roach tree intense.
- [53:44]
Justin McElroy
Guys, I've been playing a lot of Indiana Jones. Great circle.
- [53:49]
Griffin McElroy
Yeah, that's a good one. We gotta go.
- [53:51]
Justin McElroy
Good one. You know what that one's kinda like?
- [53:53]
Griffin McElroy
What?
- [53:55]
Justin McElroy
It's kinda like watching a football game with your dad. When it starts, you're like, frick, this is frigging awesome, man. I'm gonna do this forever. And then after three hours you're like, yeah, I get it.
- [54:07]
Guest or Sponsor Voice
You.
- [54:14]
Christopher Thomas Plant
Oh boy, oh boy. This is gonna be a good conversation.
- [54:17]
Justin McElroy
I've done that three times in this game where I'm like, hell yeah, why didn't I play? Oh yeah, that's ok. I remember.
- [54:25]
Christopher Thomas Plant
I have just gone back to it and I think I might be in a very similar journey.
- [54:31]
Justin McElroy
For me this time. It was when I started slugging through snow. I said, Good day, Dr. Jones.
- [54:38]
Christopher Thomas Plant
That'll do it to you.
- [54:40]
Justin McElroy
Tip my hat. Thank you, good sir. Farewell on your adventures. I will be cutting my own path through the snow here back to Sectory.
- [54:50]
Christopher Thomas Plant
I'm ashamed that I took so long to really dig deep into root. Trees are dead. A game that is so clearly my shit. And people had recommended it to me and I think I had even said like, oh yeah, I'm gonna get around to it. I'll get around to it. I'll get around to it. I finally did and I'm so excited to talk about it during the show because is. It's just journalism, the video game. And by journalism, I Mean not sureing exactly what you're looking for. So just googling random ass people's names and praying that it gets you at least some thread to pull on Root.
- [55:23]
Justin McElroy
Trees are dead is exactly how I do tech support for my in laws. It is literally just like what is the error code?
- [55:29]
Christopher Thomas Plant
Doo doo doo doo doo.
- [55:31]
Justin McElroy
Okay, here's the best I got.
- [55:34]
Griffin McElroy
It's really kudos to them for coming up with a new form of that type of of game because I think.
- [55:42]
Justin McElroy
That that's obviously I remember there was this beautiful period in the early web when games would do this on the actual Internet. Things like Missing Since January and Evidence Last Ritual where they would like all the interwebs. The inner. What's the word I'm looking for? Like the intranet of the game would be uploaded onto the actual Internet so the answers would be searchable like on your real web browser. But now it's a hell the whole thing is there's no bees to search anything else.
- [56:15]
Griffin McElroy
I finished Dispatch. Okay.
- [56:17]
Justin McElroy
Yeah.
- [56:18]
Griffin McElroy
Which I really fucking love.
- [56:20]
Justin McElroy
Laundry game of the year. I have really been pacing it to Laundry game.
- [56:23]
Griffin McElroy
Interesting.
- [56:24]
Justin McElroy
Oh it's perfect, dude. It's perfect. You're enjoying it. Every once in a while you set down the shirts, you beep boop beep. Back to folding. It's amazing.
- [56:33]
Griffin McElroy
Where have you. Where have you gotten, can I ask?
- [56:34]
Justin McElroy
Finished yesterday I finished episode six, I think.
- [56:40]
Christopher Thomas Plant
Okay.
- [56:41]
Justin McElroy
Three episodes left.
- [56:42]
Griffin McElroy
Five. The the bar fight is in five. Right. The that might be the hardest. I think a game has made me laugh in a sort. In a sort of solid two minute long chuckle chuckle party. It's really fucking funny.
- [57:00]
Christopher Thomas Plant
I just finished episode three so I'm slowly catching up.
- [57:04]
Griffin McElroy
I've also been playing some more Death Stranding 2, which has been tough to get back into, but I think would also be a great laundry game just for some of the cutscenes. But it is stuck on my PS5. He's right lodged in there and they won't let him go. They won't let Norman go. But I do like that game quite a lot. I also played Baby Steps More because Russ is so wild about it and I had to replay stuff that the three of us played while we were streaming. And so I got caught back up. Yeah me and Justin Travis. I got caught back up to that point and now I took a little break cause that was sort of spiritually exhausting. But now I've gotten to some of the new stuff.
- [57:46]
Justin McElroy
I don't know that me going back and I don't know if me Going back and playing more baby steps by myself. Is giving baby steps a fair shake or not? I really don't know what is the fairer thing to get to baby steps? Like, I don't know what will.
- [58:01]
Griffin McElroy
Because we played it in such a wrong way.
- [58:03]
Justin McElroy
Yes. I don't know. But I also, with the game itself, I don't know if it's the kind of thing where the more you play, but the more you're like, I am loving this more and more. I don't know.
- [58:14]
Christopher Thomas Plant
I really don't know what the. Not just the game of the year, but, like, the top five is gonna look like for us, because I think we're all spreading out.
- [58:23]
Griffin McElroy
It's all over the fucking map, y'.
- [58:24]
Christopher Thomas Plant
All all over the place in terms of, like, I don't know. I put together my. My top 10. I was like, I don't think half these games y' all like, like, which is, like, good. I think that makes for a good conversation. Yeah. But I don't know how we're gonna pull it together. I'm excited.
- [58:40]
Griffin McElroy
It almost feels like we're going to need, like, a bracket rubric in the way that we do for our bonus episodes on the Patreon feed, but have it boil down to arbitrary tiebreakers, like, which one has the most letters in the title of the game? Yeah.
- [58:58]
Christopher Thomas Plant
Yeah.
- [58:58]
Griffin McElroy
Which one can you throw the farthest?
- [59:01]
Justin McElroy
So next week will be our game of the year. That'll be kicking off next week.
- [59:05]
Griffin McElroy
That's true.
- [59:06]
Justin McElroy
Crazy. Is there anything you want to try to spend time with before the next time?
- [59:11]
Griffin McElroy
More death stranding? More. Oh, Citizen Sleeper 2 made the.
- [59:15]
Christopher Thomas Plant
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [59:16]
Justin McElroy
I need to play more of that. I ducked back into that.
- [59:18]
Griffin McElroy
I really, really like that one. I bounced to play something else, and it's a good candidate to return to.
- [59:24]
Christopher Thomas Plant
I also think that they might have balanced it a little bit more. I think that was an issue for us when we played at the beginning is it was maybe a little too unforgiving. So I'm one of those games. I'm glad that we're revisiting late in the year.
- [59:38]
Griffin McElroy
What were the other audience picks for the four?
- [59:43]
Christopher Thomas Plant
Indiana Jones, Indiana Jones, Rootree's, Citizen Sleeper 2, and then, of course, Dispatch. Hey, should we wrap things up?
- [59:52]
Griffin McElroy
Yeah.
- [59:52]
Justin McElroy
Thank you so much.
- [59:53]
Christopher Thomas Plant
We gotta get back to playing video games.
- [59:55]
Justin McElroy
Yeah, we got a lot more games to play. Thank you so much for listening to our podcast. Be sure to join us again next time for the besties, because should the world's best friends get the world's best friends games. Besties.