Open the Besties Treasure Trove

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Besties – "Open the Besties Treasure Trove"

Release Date: May 16, 2025

In the episode titled "Open the Besties Treasure Trove," hosts Chris Plante, Griffin McElroy, Justin McElroy, and Russ Frushtick dive deep into a variety of engaging topics centered around their favorite video games. This episode uniquely blends humor, insightful game analysis, and personal anecdotes, making it a must-listen for both avid gamers and casual enthusiasts.

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1. The Treasure Trove: A Backlog Reimagined

At [03:48], Justin MacElroy introduces the concept of the "Treasure Trove," redefining the traditional idea of a gaming backlog. Unlike the often daunting list of unplayed games, the Treasure Trove is portrayed as a collection of "somewhat slightly older games that are great and in some ways glitter like treasure."

Justin MacElroy: "It's much like a backlog, but it sounds more like something you would want to listen to." ([03:48])

Russ Frushtick: "Backlog sounds... entirely negative. There's really no way to... But effectively it is a backlog, which is a term that people understand. But it's a good backlog. In fact, it's a great backlog because it's all some somewhat slightly older games that are great and in some ways glitter. Like treasure." ([03:59])

This refreshing perspective encourages listeners to view their unplayed games as hidden gems rather than chores, fostering a more positive approach to exploring their gaming libraries.

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2. Featured Game: Planet Crafter

One of the primary discussions revolves around Planet Crafter, a terraforming simulation game that emphasizes environmental improvement to make a barren planet habitable.

Justin MacElroy provides an in-depth breakdown of the game's mechanics:

"When you crash land on this barren planet, it is basically utterly uninhabitable... You are tasked with making this planet livable, with improving the environment in such a way that it becomes habitable by living beings." ([06:39])

He compares it to Subnautica, noting that while both involve exploration and survival, Planet Crafter offers a more guided and relaxed experience.

Griffin McElroy adds:

"So you're not too hard to find oxygen and water line around." ([08:12])

The hosts commend the game's visuals, likening them to classic titles like Half-Life, and appreciate the distinct biomes and expansive scope despite simpler textures.

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3. Featured Game: RoboCop – Rogue City

The conversation shifts to RoboCop: Rogue City, where Christopher Thomas Plant passionately outlines the game's strengths and unique features.

"It's super fun. It is a RoboCop... the closest we've gotten to a good RoboCop sequel is this video game. It gets the assignment, it gets the energy, it gets the tone, it gets the pacing." ([14:54])

Key highlights include:

• Dynamic Combat: Emphasis on impactful gunplay with exaggerated effects, such as shooting enemies' limbs causing them to flip and crash spectacularly.

• Narrative Depth: Unlike typical first-person shooters, the game integrates meaningful storytelling, exploring RoboCop's psychological struggles and Detroit's societal issues.

• Interactive Environment: Players can interact with various objects, enhancing both gameplay mechanics and immersion.

Christopher Thomas Plant further elaborates:

"RoboCop is going through kind of a psychological episode and trying to figure out like, what the hell he or it is." ([16:32])

The hosts commend the game for balancing action with narrative, making it a standout title in the genre.

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4. Reader Mail: Battling Backlogs and Game Choices

The hosts address listener feedback and anecdotes about managing gaming backlogs.

Dustin, a listener, shares his experience:

"I don't really worry about the backlog anymore. UFO 50 kind of did the magic trick to my brain where it really made me have fun playing games again in a way that I hadn't really in a long time." ([36:20])

This resonates with the earlier discussion on the Treasure Trove, emphasizing the importance of enjoying games without the pressure of ticking them off a list.

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5. Honorable Mentions

The episode includes several quick reviews and recommendations for other games:

• Wilmot Works It Out ([22:11]): A meditative puzzle game that offers a calm and organized approach to assembling puzzle pieces without time constraints.

  Russ Frushtick: "If you're looking for something very chill, definitely recommend Wilmot works it out." ([23:02])

• Wizardom ([24:29]): A retro-inspired first-person shooter where players assume the role of a wizard. The game modernizes classic mechanics with elements like gold collection and level upgrades.

  Russ Frushtick: "Wizardom W I Z O R D U M... I've enjoyed it." ([26:37])

• Rift of the Necrodancer ([27:20]): A rhythm game that integrates complex mechanics with a stellar soundtrack, offering both nostalgic and fresh gameplay experiences.

  Griffin McElroy: "It's been honestly kind of nostalgic to get in, get into a game in this genre again." ([34:10])

• Tactical Breach Wizards and Animal Crossing New Horizons ([54:12], [55:54]): Tactical RPGs and family-friendly simulators that provide both depth and casual play options.

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6. Light Gun Games Setup

Justin MacElroy leads a technical discussion on setting up light gun games at home, comparing different types of guns and their functionalities.

"There are Senden guns with IR sensors... and Retro Shooter Reapers that have four IR sensors and connect via USB." ([47:30])

He elaborates on:

• Senden Guns: Commonly used with an IR sensor and a white border for tracking.

• Retro Shooter Reapers: More advanced with multiple IR sensors, recoil features, and additional buttons for enhanced gameplay.

Justin MacElroy: "They have a thumbstick right here built in. So you can do a lot of stuff." ([50:28])

The discussion highlights the nostalgia and continued interest in light gun games, despite their rarity in the modern gaming landscape.

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7. Closing Thoughts and Future Episodes

In wrapping up, the hosts reflect on their gaming habits, the joy of revisiting old favorites, and tease upcoming episodes.

Russ Frushtick announces:

"Next week... we're gonna do Doom the Dark Ages." ([58:06])

The episode concludes with gratitude towards their patrons and a reminder to join them for future discussions on top-tier games selected by the world's best friends.

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Notable Quotes:

• Justin MacElroy: "This is not 3D printed. That's a ghost gun. Just." ([00:46])

• Griffin McElroy: "It does have buttons all over it. Robocop's gun had corn guns. I don't think have." ([01:16])

• Christopher Thomas Plant: "It's a planet colonizer and they just didn't want to call it that." ([08:12])

• Griffin McElroy: "It was really fun." ([13:53])

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Conclusion

"Open the Besties Treasure Trove" offers a rich tapestry of gaming discussions, blending detailed game analyses with personal stories and technical insights. Whether you're interested in terraforming simulations, retro shooters, or the mechanics behind light gun setups, this episode provides valuable perspectives and recommendations. The hosts' camaraderie and in-depth knowledge make the podcast both entertaining and informative, embodying the essence of good friends sharing their best finds in the gaming world.

Transcript

[Justin MacElroy]

Hey, guys, you want to see something?

[Russ Ruschik]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But we're not gonna talk about what we're seeing. We're just gonna bask in it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Russ Ruschik]

What the hell?

[Griffin McElroy]

Holy shit. Guys, Justin's got a gun. Jesus Christ.

[Justin MacElroy]

Look at this. This is the retro shooter Reaper. Okay, it does got a button here. Got here.

[Griffin McElroy]

So this is.

[Justin MacElroy]

It's got two buttons here.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin MacElroy]

It's got a trigger here.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin MacElroy]

And it's got this here. And I. Griffin, I just want to say I haven't shown it to Travis yet.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay.

[Justin MacElroy]

So if you wanted to call dibs on it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Are you giving it away?

[Justin MacElroy]

Yeah. This could be, like, the one you use whenever you come over.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm not, like, a big gun guy, and I'm, like, excited for you. Like, I know that you're really into. Look at.

[Justin MacElroy]

Wait, hold on. Look how tough I looked up.

[Griffin McElroy]

Whoa.

[Russ Ruschik]

That was cool, for sure.

[Justin MacElroy]

Whany. Whanny.

[Griffin McElroy]

And I'm, like, stoked you're so into the 3D printing scene, but I do need to tell you, this is not 3D printed.

[Justin MacElroy]

No, no, no. Are you kidding me? I wish.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's a ghost gun. Just. And I read about that in. In Reader's Digest, and they're super illegal. You can go if you don't wanna call dibs.

[Justin MacElroy]

Just don't call dibs. It's fine. I'll let Travis use this and you'll have one of the crappy ones.

[Griffin McElroy]

I mean, I don't want a crappy one, though. I'm not a big gun guy.

[Justin MacElroy]

So do you wanna call dibs a gun?

[Griffin McElroy]

If I was a gun guy, I'd want a good one.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It does have a few things, and you have to look pretty closely. It does have a few things about it that tell you it's not a real gun. Yeah, like one. There are buttons all along the side.

[Griffin McElroy]

Buttons all over it. Yeah. Robocop's gun had corn guns. I don't think have. Do guns have cords? Usually? Do you have to.

[Justin MacElroy]

Robocop's guns do have cords, but RoboCop ain't real now, so. Griff, did you call it dibsy it?

[Griffin McElroy]

Dibs. I might as well.

[Russ Ruschik]

Well.

[Griffin McElroy]

Shit, man. You fucking got me. Justin's got an Uzi. Oh, Justin's got a. What is that, an MP5?

[Justin MacElroy]

I got an MP5 Heckler.

[Griffin McElroy]

God dang.

[Russ Ruschik]

Got quite the collection there, Justin. I don't know what you're gonna whip out next.

[Justin MacElroy]

My name is Justin Macaron, and I know the best game of the week.

[Griffin McElroy]

My name is Griffin Macare. I know the best game of like February.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

My name is Christopher Thomas Plant and I know the best game of somewhere between 2020 and 2025.

[Russ Ruschik]

My name is Russ Ruschik. I know the best game of the week.

[Justin MacElroy]

Hello. Welcome to the Besties where we examine the latest and greatest in the home interactive entertainment field today. Rather than talk about a new game, we're going to talk about old games.

[Griffin McElroy]

We were going to talk about a new game.

[Justin MacElroy]

We're going to talk about a new game, an old nuke. An old timey, new, new old set in the past. Set in the old. This is what I'm saying. It's an old timey, new, old game.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. But as it turns out, the Doom Slayer slays more than demons and evil robots and stuff. Sometimes they'll slay your actual real life shit, which I think is a bold innovation in gaming.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

We were playing some pre release code and let's just say this game came in hot. So hot that I'm not sure what it did to my computer. But I'm not blaming it made it hot. I am legally not blaming this pre release code. Bethesda blacklisted me for years when I talked about getting stuck in an elevator in a Fallout game. I don't need any of that shit right now. I'm sure the game runs perfectly fine. We're just going to talk about it next week.

[Justin MacElroy]

Okay?

[Russ Ruschik]

Yes, I agree we should talk about it next week. But that's okay. We've figured out a good backup plan as always. And we're gonna call it. What are we calling it, Justin?

[Justin MacElroy]

We're gonna call it the Treasure Trove.

[Russ Ruschik]

It's the Treasure Trove.

[Justin MacElroy]

It's much like a backlog, but it sounds more like something you would want to listen to.

[Russ Ruschik]

Backlog sounds. Yeah, very negative. Unless. No, entirely negative. There's really no way to.

[Justin MacElroy]

Yeah.

[Russ Ruschik]

But effectively it is a backlog, which is a term that people understand. But it's a good backlog. In fact, it's a great backlog because it's all some somewhat slightly older games that are great and in some ways glitter. Like treasure.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I like that. Wow, that's nice.

[Justin MacElroy]

Like beautiful, beautiful.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Much better than Dookie Box, which we were thinking about.

[Russ Ruschik]

Yes, that was the original Outcast album title and they decided.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

The love below.

[Justin MacElroy]

Early push for Dookie Box.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Hey, Hoops. What do you. What do you. What have you been playing this week?

[Justin MacElroy]

What did we take a commercial break? I don't feel like we did.

[Russ Ruschik]

No, no, we didn't. Should we we are now.

[Justin MacElroy]

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[Russ Ruschik]

Justin. So yeah, as the originator of the treasure trove labeling, I feel like the pressure is on for you to bring some true fire to the mix.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin MacElroy]

Yes. My little brother Travis has been playing this game called Planet Crafter and he has been highly recommending that if you need something like kind of pleasant relaxing to check out, it is, it is a great one to explore.

[Russ Ruschik]

Seems like a lot of work just to build a planet from scratch, right?

[Justin MacElroy]

Probably Planet Cajoler might be more ac Planet. Planet Shake.

[Russ Ruschik]

Okay, so the planet's already there, but.

[Justin MacElroy]

It could be there, but the planet is there. The crafting here is really more terraforming. So when you crash land on this barren planet, it is basically utterly uninhabitable. Think like the Martian, you know what I mean? That kind of idea where you're stranded on this uninhabitable planet. The ship that you came in that had a lot of your equipment is destroyed on entry and spread out over the surface of the planet. And you basically are tasked with making this planet livable, with improving the environment in such a way that it Becomes habitable by living beings. So when you start out, it's very. You have a little like, you know, all purpose mining build and laser and you use that on the small bits of detritus lying around on the planet's surface that let you get like base minerals, things like silicon and iron and cobalt, things like that. And then you use those base minerals to make basic tools, you know, a habitat, things like that. But then you start making. The overarching goal is to make things that will make the planet's atmosphere improve for, you know, for living beings. So you are crafting heaters to try to expand, you know, increase the heat. You're making drills that create. By drilling into the planet's surface are creating pressure, like more of a pressurized atmosphere, you know, creating more atmosphere.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It's a planet colonizer and they just didn't want to call it that.

[Justin MacElroy]

Well, that's an extremely loaded term to level against a planet that does have no discernible culture. I don't know why we would want to.

[Russ Ruschik]

That's pretty judgmental of the planet.

[Justin MacElroy]

Yeah, it's very judgmental of all of you. Correct. I think that the. So that's the basic idea is you are finding tools that will improve the planet's atmosphere. As you are improving the atmosphere, you gain access to more powerful tools that let you know, that let you drill faster or grow plants. You're finding seeds at the planet's surface that you can put in habitats. And those habitats will create oxygen. So that's how you're creating oxygen. You're creating heat, you're trying to create an atmosphere and you're doing it with all the basic like survival mechanics. I think Subnautica is a pretty good comparison here with it's. But it's more, I would say more guided than Subnautica. Subnautica is very. You never lose that sort of like exploration edge. I felt like you always felt a little bit more in peril. This is a bit more chill as you, you know, it's not too hard to find oxygen and water line around.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

How would you describe these visuals? Because I'm getting kind of like 1990s PC gaming magazine vibes when I look at this.

[Justin MacElroy]

Yeah, it's funny. You know what it kind of reminds me of? Like, it kind of looks like half life too to me. Like it kind of looks, it has that like that, that sort of look. And it's not, it is pretty barren. I think the worlds are pretty barren. But the, that allows them to do a lot of like planet. Why it's not super detailed, but the scope is always really impressive. Right. So if you see like there are occasionally like meteor showers on the face of the planet and when you look outside it looks like there's a meteor shower outside. It sucks that it sc. Yeah, but they are. Yeah, they're probably sacrificing some detail for scope, I think.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah. It has that weird 1990s pre rendered thing where people are like. Yeah, we can like render an entire environment. We don't know how to add textures yet.

[Justin MacElroy]

Yeah.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

But we can make. I like that really big and beautiful. Oh, I say that as a compliment. It looks fun and beautiful.

[Justin MacElroy]

There are also like big differences in the like really unbelievable differences. I will say in like the biomes. So you'll like take a step and all of a sudden you'll be in like a neon green crazy spider columns emerging everywhere. And then over here it's like a bunch of lava stuff. There's a. It's cool to explore like the crashed parts of your ship. You have to really like ready a little expedition with like your oxygen and your water. Make sure you're like set to go explore and pillage.

[Russ Ruschik]

Oh, so it's like dragon's dogma.

[Justin MacElroy]

It is. Well, I mean it's just like any other survivor.

[Russ Ruschik]

The reason I was interested because what you're describing on paper sounds a lot like the game we played last week, which is Revenge of the Savage Planet. Because you land on a planet, you don't have anything, you gotta like kind of build up from scratch. But obviously the core structure of like building out your base and all that.

[Justin MacElroy]

I mean that's really interesting, Russ. They are so different that it did not. The comparison didn't even occur to me because like where that game had very little in the way of meaningful mechanics that kind of kept you engaged and was really kind of relying on your innate curiosity and whatever narrative it has. Like you really do get a sense of like you're. It's a virtuous cycle of you making the planet more livable makes exploration easier.

[Russ Ruschik]

So in this case like what is pressurizing the atmosphere do from a like a playability standpoint for you?

[Justin MacElroy]

So you. It is as you are improving the overall pressure of the planet. You are primarily with pressure. You're. It's contributing to an overall habitability score.

[Russ Ruschik]

Okay.

[Justin MacElroy]

So there's like oxygen and pressure and those feed into and heat and those three factors feed into that. And as. As you're. That is improving, you're granted access by your employers to like better Equipment better, you know, presumably. And it also though drains as the employer environment improves you like for example, your oxygen stat will drain slower.

[Russ Ruschik]

Figured.

[Justin MacElroy]

Because that makes better.

[Russ Ruschik]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

Is this like a less quickly. Is this like a persistent server multiplayer sort of experience by design? Do you think it could be?

[Justin MacElroy]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it could be. It's not how I played it, but like, I think there's some multiplayer.

[Russ Ruschik]

It looks like it supports up to 10 players.

[Justin MacElroy]

Wow. Cool. Be neat. It was really. I really. It clicked for me in a big way. It's really fun. It's the stuff, like the base minerals all look very distinct. So like ice looks like a big chunk of ice, like a big white blob. And you see like it's very easy to parse the environment and see like, oh, there's something way out there that I'm going to try to get to. And it is really intense when you're like halfway back with all your new crap and you are almost out of.

[Russ Ruschik]

Oxygen and you can like build lakes and shit in this game.

[Justin MacElroy]

Yeah, yeah. There's a lot of like the, the options get really. If you compare a starting planet with someone who's been playing for like a hundred days in world or whatever, it's a huge difference. I mean the planet itself is really, which is, you know, we talk about a mechanical improvement and I think that like, it is more about like the aesthetic, sort of like bonsai gardening effect of just feeling like you're contributing overall and that being the pleasure of that and seeing how you're improving environment. It's always really nice.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I love it.

[Justin MacElroy]

It's called Planet Craft.

[Russ Ruschik]

The Planet Crafter, right?

[Justin MacElroy]

The Planet Crafter. Yeah. It's a remake. It goes back to the gritty origins of Planet Crafter. No. Okay. Travis said the Planet Crafter. If I looked at Steam, the logo looks like Planet Crafter.

[Russ Ruschik]

The title of the game is.

[Griffin McElroy]

They might have Facebooked it.

[Russ Ruschik]

The Planet, you know.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Oh, yeah. It's the. The amount of what they Facebooked it. Take out the. The. That's a billion dollar idea.

[Russ Ruschik]

Yeah.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Did you never watch Justin Timberlake? I did.

[Griffin McElroy]

You ever watched?

[Justin MacElroy]

I liked it.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah.

[Justin MacElroy]

The logo, which I will say for me a logo should be the final straw. The logo says Planet Crafter. There's no the.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin MacElroy]

But everything about the game says the, so I don't know. I don't know, man.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Noticing a problem. So Justin has been pretending to be RoboCop this week. I have been RoboCop this week in Robocop. Rogue City.

[Justin MacElroy]

Heck yeah, man, that game, really.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

We briefly touched on this game a few times. You've definitely brought it as like a. You've also been playing it, right?

[Justin MacElroy]

I don't know if I mentioned it before, but it's fun.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It's super fun. It is a robocop. Honestly, the closest we've gotten, I think, to a good robocop sequel is this video game. It gets the assignment, it gets the energy, it gets the tone, it gets the pacing. You are, yes, doing a first person shooter is RoboCop, but there's a good deal of story in this game that doesn't suck. It is well written, it's clever. RoboCop is going through kind of a psychological episode and trying to figure out like, what the hell he or it is. And meanwhile, the city of Detroit is struggling. Would you believe it in this alternate future? The cool thing about the game is it doesn't just play like a traditional first person shooter in a lot of ways. One, the actual going around and shooting is much closer to like a mech game or a tank almost. You really can't die. Like, it's pretty damn hard for you to get knocked down. So you move around very slowly. You can actually hear the thud of each step that you take. And then you go into this analyze mode that you could use for detective stuff, but you can also use to find people's heads and then you pop them like water bottles.

[Griffin McElroy]

Is there a dick setting though? In true RoboCop fashion, of course, there.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Is an achievement for blasting off dicks.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I mean, they know.

[Justin MacElroy]

Exactly.

[Griffin McElroy]

I can't tell if you're joking, but I hope that's.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

No, there is. No, there is. They know the like impact that your just your pistol hits with. The pistol sounds like almost a rocket launcher. Like it sounds louder than all the other guns. And you like breach into a room and. And you'll shoot someone's head clean off. You'll shoot someone's arm clean off and then you'll miss and hit somebody in the leg. But it hits with such impact that they flip like three times in the air and then like fall off a building. It is so completely over the top. It kicks ass. It also looks great. Like visually it's doing the thing. It's funny that you were holding up the light gun hoops because even though you're walking around, it reminds me so much of like Virtua Cop or those light gun games of that era. Because again, you're not hiding. You're kind of just going from scene to Scene and then just shooting at whatever you see. And like games like Virtua Cop and Medal of Honor or Soldier of Fortune. Yeah, Soldier of Fortune of that era. It knows that the pleasure is in the actual feel of destroying the environment. So you'll. The opening level is in a TV station, and there's just so much shit that can be destroyed. There's the glass walls, there's the papers in the air. There are computers, which you can shoot and blow up, or you can just pick one up and throw it like, a hundred feet and just nail somebody in the face with it. Is it the most complicated game ever? No. Can I, as RoboCop, issue a parking ticket in the middle of me slaughtering all of these people? Yes, I can. And I can go back to the office where everybody's, like, kind of uncomfortable with them there, and I can, like, help them solve really tiny personal problems. And they go, oh, RoboCop, you fixed the vending machine. You're not so bad. You seem like a pretty okay guy. And I go, thank you.

[Russ Ruschik]

And then he starts hitting on the vending machine.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

He just loves to help out.

[Griffin McElroy]

Wow.

[Justin MacElroy]

That's how you get. You get health in the game by. You walk up to a vending machine, you push a few of its buttons, and the sign says, go for it. Then you smooch it, and you get smooched. Health back from smooching.

[Russ Ruschik]

That sounds great. This seems like a game. A very fun game. It did remind me. Brief Segue. I have a little anecdote from when I interned at the ESRB when I was in high school. Did you guys know that I did this?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I did, but I forgot about it.

[Russ Ruschik]

I interned at the esrb, and when I was there, Soldier of Fortune, the PC game made by Raven, I believe, made it.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah.

[Russ Ruschik]

Came out. And the way they. They basically evaluated the violence is they were sent VHS tapes of, like, the worst parts of the game. And Soldier of Fortune was noteworthy because it allowed you to, like, fully dismember people with bullets.

[Griffin McElroy]

And the games used to be so cool, man.

[Justin MacElroy]

Fuck yeah, man.

[Russ Ruschik]

The key determiner determining factor of the rating was how long would the, like, leg pieces stay on the ground before fading away. And, man, they really pushed the needle on that one. It was like a full minute of leg pieces you could just stare at. And that was enough to guarantee were.

[Justin MacElroy]

You sitting there and then stop watching.

[Russ Ruschik]

But I think it was two minutes. You got to go adults only. I think that was the line.

[Griffin McElroy]

So because of how much. How long the leg meat stayed.

[Russ Ruschik]

Yes, that was one of the variables that they had to factor in is.

[Griffin McElroy]

The idea that if you look at leg meat for too long, it'll make you violent maybe. And make you sick.

[Russ Ruschik]

It might. I've never tested it. I looked away when they were showing the VHS tape.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, good idea.

[Justin MacElroy]

It's the only safe thing to do.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Fresh. Do you know the name of the engine that powered the leg meat?

[Russ Ruschik]

Oh, God.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Ghoul.

[Russ Ruschik]

Oh, yeah, it was the ghoul engine.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Right, the ghoul engine. They knew what they were doing.

[Griffin McElroy]

They did. Should we take a quick break?

[Justin MacElroy]

Yes, let's do that.

[Griffin McElroy]

Man, it's freaking scorching out there. But I gotta have my gel, gotta have my mud, and I gotta get my calf to get my day started. Problem is I don't want to drink some hot drink when it's already hot outside. Can't make inside my body hot. And trade coffee understands this. Thanks to trade, making cold brew at home is actually as easy as 1, 2, 3. You scoop the coffee, you fill it with water, you chill it overnight and you get a fancy, fancy brew just as fancy as a fancy cafe. Trade is the number one coffee destination in the US for both hot and cold coffee drinkers. They've teamed up with 15 expert roasters to source the best beans from across the US and curate an extensive cold brew collection. I'm not the biggest cold coffee drinker, but trade truly does make it very easy to get extremely delicious cold brew coffee just waiting for you in the fridge. Just a little way to start. Start your day on the right foot and say, I'm ready for whatever the world has to throw at me. For a limited time, Trade is giving away a free Hario cold brewer when you sign up for a cold brew subscription. When you go to drinktrade.combesties, that's drinktrade.combesties to get your free cold brew maker with select cold brew subscriptions. That's drinktrade.com besties.

[Justin MacElroy]

What about the rest of you? You playing video games or what?

[Russ Ruschik]

Yeah, man. I've got a couple W's for you. And by that I mean w titled video games. We'll start with. I forget if I brought this, but I'll if not, I think it's worth re highlighting. The game is called Wilmot works it Out. Have we talked about this?

[Griffin McElroy]

I've never heard of this.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

We talked about Wilmot's Warehouse.

[Russ Ruschik]

Yeah. Okay, so it's the same developer as Wilmot's Warehouse. This one's Wilmot Works it Out and it is a puzzle game and I mean that in the most literal sense. You are putting puzzle pieces together. You are a little man in your house and someone keeps delivering pieces of puzzles to you. And you just have to like rotate them and snap them together until they make pretty, pretty pictures. And some of the puzzle pieces come in and they apply to like puzzles. You'll only get in like three packages from now, so you kind of have to like separate those out and arrange them in this open space. There's no time limits.

[Justin MacElroy]

You.

[Russ Ruschik]

There's no stress about it. And when you're done building the puzzle, you get to place it on your wall wherever you'd like to place it. So there's a very meditative experience to it.

[Griffin McElroy]

How are you moving stuff? Is it just like click and drag situation or how do you.

[Russ Ruschik]

I played it on the Steam deck, so it works with controller. There's like a hold down to drag kind of thing. And you can like rotate things with the bumpers, things like that. But I'd imagine on PC it probably is just click and drag stuff.

[Griffin McElroy]

But it's not like one of those like, I think Sokoban is the name of it where you're like actually pushing shit around.

[Russ Ruschik]

It does to some extent feel like a Sokoban game, but it's not like, oh, you know, you can only move this box two squares. It's more just like an organizing the area kind of game, if that makes any sense.

[Griffin McElroy]

I love that this is a genre. I love the like a little to the left sort of just like tidying sort of game. This kind of seems like that.

[Russ Ruschik]

Yeah. Like, I think Wilmot's Warehouse was like much more of a traditional puzzle game and it was just like very interested in patterns and blocks and puzzles. And this is, this is like a jigsaw game effectively. And I've turned to it a number of times just because like I want something chill for 10 minutes. And it saved your progress wherever you are, so you don't have to like finish the puzzle to save your progress. And it's just been like a very nice vibey kind of game. So if you're looking for something very chill, definitely recommend Wilmot works it out. Because he does, he does work it out. Total opposite of the spectrum. Another W game is called Wizardom.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Oh, okay. I'm. I'm excited about this one and had wanted to play it. Yeah, please go on.

[Russ Ruschik]

It is neat. It is a. I still don't like the term boomer shooter, but I guess that's what it is. It's inspired by early doom or Wolfenstein 3D, like that style of gameplay. But you are a wizard. Well, you can be a number of classes, you can be a cleric, you can be a sorcerer. But effectively the levels play out very similarly to those retro first person shooter games you're going through. You're finding ammo, you're finding health, you're pressing Texan.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah, yeah. Hexen Chex Quest, like.

[Russ Ruschik]

Yeah. But it's worth noting. So this is not. I think Hexen was 3D, like with actual polygons. Whereas this is the like Parallax like flat character look that like Wolfenstein 3D had.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yes.

[Griffin McElroy]

Even it looks kick ass.

[Russ Ruschik]

Yeah, it's really fun. I've enjoyed it. And they layered in some more modern mechanics. So they have, you know, you're collecting gold throughout the levels. And in past games, like gold didn't mean fucking anything. You just got points. And here when you get to the end of the level, you can get upgrades and things like that to improve your future runs. So there is that element. They've. They've added a few more things where like, it helps you find all the secrets in a level, for example. So you're not like driving yourself nuts pressing every fucking wall in the level just to get 100%. Yeah, I've enjoyed it. It seems pretty fun.

[Griffin McElroy]

Are those. I was curious about this one because I saw it on like TikTok a bunch and was like, this is kick ass. So I downloaded the demo.

[Russ Ruschik]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

And had a really good time with it. Do you feel like those. Are those progression hooks? Like do they carry over run to run or is it just they carry.

[Russ Ruschik]

Over level to level? I don't know that. I think it's run to run. Probably not, but there's like a full slate. Like there are campaigns basically. So you play through a campaign and again, this is like just like in Wolfenstein. So you'll, you know.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, so it's not like a roguelike sort of format.

[Russ Ruschik]

Correct. As far as I'm aware, all the levels are like designed. I don't think they are randomly generated in that way.

[Griffin McElroy]

Cool. It feels so good. Like it feels amazing. One of the first weapons you get is like this Ice Rapid Fire Ice spell use to freeze enemies. And then with the alternate fire, you snap and they all shatter into pieces. There's a lot of really rad stuff like that.

[Russ Ruschik]

Yeah, they did a really good job. It has a great score. I found the score very good and like kind of world. World Warcrafty and it's so bright and colorful, which is a nice change of pace from like most of those games, which tend to be very grim and dark. So I've. Yeah, I've enjoyed it. That one's Wizardom W I Z O R D U M which is not how I would guess the game would be called. I thought it would have wizard in the middle.

[Griffin McElroy]

I have been playing Rift of the Necrodancer, a rhythm game from Brace Yourself Games, the successor to Crypt of the Necrodancer and Cadence of Hyrule. Only where those games were sort of like dungeon crawlers with rhythm game elements sort of like superimposed on top of them, where you had to move your character to the beat and attack to the beat and all that stuff. This is a straight up straightforward rhythm game. It is notes coming down three tracks towards you that you have to hit in time. A la your guitar heroes, if you will. So there is no exploration mechanic. It is pretty unfamiliar to the two games that I mentioned before. Where it stands apart from A Guitar Hero is that instead of just little nodes or little beats that come down that you have to hit in time, there are monsters that come down the track that symbolize the notes and the monsters do different shit. So it's not like you just stay there and you kind of just like wait and you're like, oh, here comes a red one. Boop. There are enemies like bats, where there are gold bats who will jump between the three tracks as you hit them three times. And then there's blue slimes, you have to hit twice on the beat. And then there's dragons that are long and you have to hold down the note for them. And then there's zombies that jump around before they land in the right space. So you have to kind of anticipate where they're gonna land when you hit the note on it. And then there's harpies that will skip spaces on the track and jump forward two at a time. So you gotta keep track of those to make sure that they don't come at you when you're not ready for them. And then there's red zombies. They can jump warp from one track to the far side of the track. There's so much. There's so much. There's three tutorial stages to the game. You're not attacking them. You attack them by hitting the buttons in time, but other buttons up.

[Russ Ruschik]

Like even when you're like whatever hitting the buttons, it's still in time with the music.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, yeah. It's left up and right are the only ones. And then you can hit down to activate all three at the same time. I thoroughly recommend playing it on mouse and keyboard. You can play it on controller, but I have an easier time with. With a rhythm game like this. All of that stuff that I just laid out, it's so complicated. And that's. I have mentioned maybe half the mechanics. Sometimes shit will appear on the tracks. Like a patch of fire will appear, and when an enemy moves through fire, it moves double time. Or a little arrow will appear on the field. And whenever an enemy lands on it, they'll move over to the track that the arrow is pointing to. There's all this shit. And so you are not just having to hit buttons in time with a rhythm, you are also constantly, frantically looking at the field and looking at what's coming to you and trying to piece together like, okay, when I hit that blue bat the first time, it's gonna scoot to the side and then I'm gonna have to hit both those notes at the same time. But I got a red harpy coming and he's gonna get here before the other guy gets here. And it's really. It is at first overwhelming. And then as you jump up the difficulty settings, it gets really fucking overwhelming. I'm pretty good at rhythm games. I cannot rock. I've not reached the level where I can routinely complete one of these on like hard setting because the stuff that they throw at you is so crazy. Where this game really, really succeeds is one, the soundtrack fucking bangs. If there is a better video game soundtrack that comes out this year, I will eat my hat. It's Danny Baranowski. Like the other Necrodancer games with a lot of different guest tracks, runs the gamut of a bunch of different genres. But, like, they're all fantastic. And where it really takes off is, you know, that moment that you have some time when you're playing like Guitar Hero or Rock Band, where you're trying to keep up with the notes and feeling overwhelmed. But then you kind of like tell yourself, like, if I just kind of listen to the music and try and play along with the music instead of focusing so much on the visual of the notes coming at me, I will manage to hit them more.

[Justin MacElroy]

You gotta cut out the pathway that is recognizing the notes and just kinda like directly connect, connect it to the.

[Griffin McElroy]

Beats of the music, right? You have to do that at a certain point with this game, right? So you'll see sometimes enemies will come at you and they'll have a little diamond outline. That means that they come at you off beat, they come at you on half beats. Sometimes they'll have a little star under them. That means they're coming at you in triplets. So once those show up, it's like, fuck, man, how am I supposed to possibly keep up with this? But if you listen to the lead guitar in the song, it's like you're just playing it along with that. And once you do that, you start doing better than you could do just looking at the field of the monsters. And it creates this left brain, right brain. It creates a center lobe of your brain that is so you get into the groove so fucking deep. It is really, really hypnotic. And it really entices you to like keep plugging away at a song, right? Because you'll hit a really hard section and boom, you'll fail. You have like 10 hit points. And once those are gone, you have to restart the song. But you'll be like, but I got that riff now. Like, now I know what to look out for. I know that riff. I can totally fucking take this on.

[Russ Ruschik]

So there's no. In terms of the inputs, there's no randomness really, right?

[Griffin McElroy]

No, it's the same. It's tracked. It is tracked. Like a Guitar Hero song is tracked or like a rock band song is tracked. It's just that the notes move around because they're monsters. And sometimes you have to hit them on triplet beats. And sometimes you have to hit them three times in a row and I don't know, it's really pretty. The monster shit is crazy, right? But other than that, it is a straightforward rhythm game. There is a story mode that is fine. It throws in these rhythm heaven style mini games into the mix, but not a ton of them. They're kind of a sideshow for the main game. But I really, really. It's been a while since I've played a rhythm game that I've gotten really into and stuff like Cadence of Hyrule is neat, but it's still more of a dungeon crawler adventure game than it is a rhythm game. And this is just a rhythm game that it's just you trying to vibe with the music to keep track of all these different rules that the monsters kind of represent. And once you make that connection, man, it feels really, really, really, really good.

[Russ Ruschik]

I guess they've done a bunch of collabs. Cause they have like Pizza Tower and Celeste. Yeah, that's pretty cool.

[Griffin McElroy]

There's some Super Meat Boy tracks in there as well. Some of it is dlc. It's a Huge soundtrack though. Even without that stuff, I have not finished playing all the songs I've played, maybe of them, but really just really, really, really, really good stuff. And the kind of game I think I'll keep around for a while. I don't know if I will ever be good enough to move up to the next difficulty setting. There's an expert level above Hard that I don't know what else they could possibly throw at you there, but I've seen some videos of people trying expert mode and it seems really, really wild. But yeah, if you like rhythm games. It's been a while since I have played one like this and it's. It's been honestly kind of nostalgic to like, I don't know, get in, get into a game in this genre again.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Hey, I have my own reader mail question.

[Russ Ruschik]

Did you write it?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Well, no, I didn't write it down. I'm not like asking.

[Russ Ruschik]

It counts as mail if you're just off the dome.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, it's a voicemail talking.

[Russ Ruschik]

Okay.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It's called a voicemail. Oh, wow.

[Justin MacElroy]

A voicemail.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Blueprints.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

What happened with it? Did people beat it? Did anybody here like fully beat it?

[Russ Ruschik]

I still haven't played on it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Russ hasn't played it.

[Russ Ruschik]

As far as I'm aware, it still does not have colorblind settings.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Oh, wow. That sucks.

[Russ Ruschik]

Yeah.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Okay.

[Griffin McElroy]

I did everything in that game you can do. As far as the community knows, I've done everything in that game that you can do.

[Justin MacElroy]

Okay. So I guess you're using a lot of cheats, Griffin, if you're using a lot of cheats, you're just using guides.

[Griffin McElroy]

This was like the reviewer, pre release reviewers, discord. I don't know. I have not kept up with the game. Maybe the community has found more shit. But I feel pretty confident that I exhausted. I exhausted what that game had to offer.

[Russ Ruschik]

Cool.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah, we'll come back to it. Yeah, I guess once Brush has had the chance to play it. But I was curious kind of where the story went on.

[Justin MacElroy]

I beat it.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Do we have other stuff?

[Russ Ruschik]

We have more reader mail. Actual written letters from people.

[Justin MacElroy]

Yep.

[Russ Ruschik]

This one comes from Dustin. Dustin wrote, I don't really worry about the backlog anymore. UFO 50 kind of did the magic trick to my brain where it really made me have fun playing games again in a way that I hadn't really in a long time. So I still pick at games, but I'm not worried about checking any of them off like a list. I let myself get sucked into a game like Blueprints but I'll dip out and play some indie Metroidvania that's been in my library from Humble Bundle that I probably bought years ago. And if I want to make sure that I'm up to date on the latest and greatest interactive entertainment, I pay someone else to do that for me. So thanks for that and thank you.

[Griffin McElroy]

Hey, you're welcome. It's a living.

[Russ Ruschik]

That's a good mentality to be in. I think we all have quite a bit of like Steam sale backlog. Things that just live in there and never leave. I bought Black Mesa for $2 this week which is the fan made remake of Half Life. One that I don't know when I play but it was $2 and I remember playing it years ago for Rusty's and really enjoying it. So I'm sure I will go back and play.

[Justin MacElroy]

It's also a good, good this question asker kind of touches on it. But it's good to remember like the way that we consume and think about games should not be the way that a hell person thinks or consumes about. I so few like I maybe four games I would ever play. I mean I'm like maybe four. You know what I mean? It's like it's, it's. I think I have a. I think we talk about. When we talk about like things we've missed or piles of shame or whatever. I think that should be taken in the context of like there is an onus on us to be somewhat knowledgeable about as much of it as we can. So I do feel that pressure in that sense. But like, yeah, don't, don't try.

[Griffin McElroy]

I mean my brain's so fucked up at this point. It's not fixable because I saw this email and I was like, oh, UFO 50, damn. I got like 33 of the cherries in that game. I really got. I see that one pop up in my queue sometimes and it's like I fucking, if I do this, I'm going to have to get really good at like turnip delivery. Like I fucking can't man. I can't do this again with you. UFO 50.

[Russ Ruschik]

I hated turnip delivery.

[Griffin McElroy]

Got it. I have, I have like hydras in my queue where it's in my backlog where it's like once I take this on, it's gonna be a whole thing.

[Russ Ruschik]

Yeah, we have one more letter. This one comes from Joe. I finally finished Death Stranding so I can jump right into Death Stranding 2 and know what's going on.

[Justin MacElroy]

Jump right in.

[Russ Ruschik]

Spoiler Yeah. I will still have no idea what's going on with Death Stranding 2. But Griffin is wrong. Death Stranding is an amazing game, which I agree it is.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm so glad you found something in that game that resonated with you. There's so much I didn't personally.

[Russ Ruschik]

That's okay.

[Griffin McElroy]

But I didn't play the director's cut, which maybe I've heard.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

The director's cut is a lot smoother.

[Griffin McElroy]

Really?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

That's the word on the street. I've heard it's much better.

[Russ Ruschik]

Griffin, I think I know you as a person, broadly speaking. I think if you skipped every fucking cutscene in this game, you would love it.

[Justin MacElroy]

I will say this, someone who played some of Death Stranding and then played a lot of other games is in concert with what we were just saying.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yes.

[Justin MacElroy]

I think better equipped to make a decision on whether or not Death Stranding is a good game because Griffin played Death Stranding and 20 other games and he said Death Stranding is not good. You played all of Death Stranding and it was like, I'm full. Yeah, you're full.

[Griffin McElroy]

But at what? Terrible. But no. This is also, like Justin said, related to the last question. Like my gaming time is virtually non existent. It is like what I can sneak into my day when like the kids are eating dinner while I have my raga ally like charged and at the ready. I've been playing Expedition 33 like seven minutes at a time. Like that is what I have. And so I simply cannot justify playing a game.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I don't like it. You gotta protect it. You gotta protect that time.

[Russ Ruschik]

Yeah, yeah, exactly. I feel you.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

That's why I played RoboCop.

[Justin MacElroy]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

Is it time for honorable mentions? Can I talk a little bit about Expedition 33?

[Russ Ruschik]

It is time.

[Griffin McElroy]

I've spent a lot. I wore. I'm afraid to tell you guys, I think you're going to need to play this one for go to considerations.

[Russ Ruschik]

Here's what I say after the pitch of last week, because initially. Was it last week? I don't remember initially. We were like, Justin and Russ, you can skip out, it's fine. But when you guys were talking about it, I was genuinely intrigued. I haven't tried it yet, but it did make me more interesting.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's fucking great. I'm curious to hear your thoughts, Juice. I don't know if you picked it up.

[Justin MacElroy]

No, I really liked what I played of it. I here is what. I had no concept of playing it and usually I can get a better sense of it, but like, if it is. I just didn't know how long. If I got invested in it and wanted to see it through to the end. I didn't know how long I was setting myself up for because there's some games that I will not. I'm. I can't, won't, shan't. And there are too many games where I've sunk 60 hours in and then been staring at another 60 and bailed midway that I feel really crappy about that I just didn't know with this one.

[Griffin McElroy]

So what I've heard is like 25 to 30 hours, not, like, Persona length.

[Justin MacElroy]

I'm back, baby.

[Griffin McElroy]

And I guess it depends on, like, what difficulty you played on and how much of the, like, exploration and shit that you. That you do. I don't. If you. I don't know. I would say it is not the most imposing.

[Russ Ruschik]

According to howlongtobeat.com which is a pretty reliable source, it says main story 26 hours. Main plus sides is like 39 hours. And then if you want to do a completionist, it's like 60. But you know who's gonna do it?

[Justin MacElroy]

I will just say that is not. That is not a concept on. I mean, that's not a comment on anything other than if a game takes 80 to 100 hours. I think it is offering a certain amount of, like, stimulation for that, like, return on that investment. You know what I mean? And, like, if it's going to be constantly engaging, 30 hours is a game that's going to be constantly sort of like, yeah, keep.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I mean, it's a currency time, right? Like, I think people always think about, like, well, what, I want to spend $200 on a game, but less so on would I want to spend 200 hours on a game. And it's weird because it inverts. When you're young, you want to burn that currency, and then you get older and it's like, dear God, I want to be precious with it. The one thing I would say about the flow of the game that I found unusual, I started the game immediately in. Great intro, great grabby story, killer music. And then there's a dip when you have to learn how the mechanics work that I did not vibe with. And only after a couple weeks did I go back to it and really grind that out. And then it gets. It's just all up from there. But it's a weird high, low, high that I don't think I have experienced in a lot of RPGs.

[Griffin McElroy]

The writing is tremendous. The acting is fantastic. It Continues to deliver moments that are like, set your controller down. Like, fuck, man. Really, really good from the narrative side of things. But I will be honest, the thing that has really hooked me is the mechanic side of things. I have not played an RPG like this in ages. That allows you to just fucking break the whole thing wide open, to just, like, come up with these builds and these strategies that lets you just absolutely. Just let Hulkamania fucking run wild. Not since, like, setting up, you know, eight times Knights of the Round Table Summons in Final Fantasy 7. Like, that level of shit of like, okay, hold on. If I use this character to put burn on, it'll up the critical chance so that I can get these stains and then execute this with a mark on the neck. Like, it's so. You get so fucking into it, and it's just. I cannot stop playing. It cannot.

[Russ Ruschik]

And that's really where my interest peaks, is when I feel like I have direct control over the events of combat. Like, that, which I think, like, a lot of RPGs tend to just be like, well, he's weak to water or whatever, so use a water spell. And like, that's the extent of the knowledge.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It's strategy versus play. Do you know what I mean by that? Like, with what you're talking about? The Pokemon thing is, like, strategy. It's. Oh, well, these things have these weaknesses, and I need to remember all that, and I need to create a strategy that's going to respond to this scenario that the game has given me.

[Russ Ruschik]

Yeah.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

And I think what this game does well is it lets you actually play within that.

[Russ Ruschik]

It sounds more like an immersive sim in that way.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Mm.

[Justin MacElroy]

Kind of like.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah. I mean, not really. I think I know what you mean of, like, you can go about it in different directions. And, like, the way that I played the game and the way that Griffin is playing the game are probably looking quite different in terms of, like, our builds, is what I mean.

[Russ Ruschik]

Yeah. So, like, I think we're.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

There's just more space.

[Russ Ruschik]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. I'm having an amazing time with it, and it is definitely going to be in my. In my top, top list for sure.

[Russ Ruschik]

So no more JRPGs, though. No more.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

So.

[Griffin McElroy]

Well, it's an F RPG, but thank you.

[Russ Ruschik]

Oh, sorry.

[Justin MacElroy]

It's a.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

We should probably also play. All of us should play Kingdom Come Deliverance, too, because I've kept picking at that game, and that game's really good. I know, Justin, I'm sorry, but anything. It's like, I think you all might.

[Justin MacElroy]

Like it quite a Bit I. You know what? I didn't do that game justice because I tried to play it on the Steam deck and I should have started on a PC to get the hang of it.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

That might be a good, like, late summer game for us to come back to, assuming we ever get time in this schedule. I do want to shout out a different game Rift riff. Have y' all heard about this?

[Griffin McElroy]

No. Sounds like Rift of the Necrodancer.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I know Fresh, you're gonna be excited about this. Adrian De Jong has a new game out, and we are huge fans of Adrian De Jong in this house. Adrian made hidden folks.

[Russ Ruschik]

Yeah, I love hidden folks.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, yeah.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Also made Secret Shuffle. Made a game that, like, allows you to, like, play multiplayer ballet using your iPhone. Adrian is. That game is called Bounden, by the way. Is one of my favorite creative developers. Just working and had not really released a lot recently, I think because he's been going through all sorts of different things in his life. But this game is kind of a traditional but very beautiful and very cleanly designed tower defense game. It's tower defense that looks a bit like. What was that game that we played? Chants of Sennaar.

[Russ Ruschik]

Yeah.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Kind of has, like a chance of Sennaar type of aesthetic, but it's just a delight. And it is, I think, six bucks. You know, it's just. If you want. If you've been craving good tower defense and you want to chill out game, I really couldn't recommend this more.

[Russ Ruschik]

Cool.

[Griffin McElroy]

Sick.

[Russ Ruschik]

Justin, you have anything?

[Justin MacElroy]

Yeah. I could tell you guys about the retro shooter guns that I have here. Who wants to talk about the state of guns?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Tell me about how these work.

[Justin MacElroy]

So, yeah, so there's a few different options if you're wanting to play light gun games at your house. One of them is. And probably the most common, I think, is Senden, which Senden guns have an IR sensor in the gun and then they create a border, like a white border around the edge of your screen. So if you're playing a game with Ascendon gun, you can activate a white border and it uses that as like a frame of reference. That's what it's doing math off of to figure out where it's positioned right. So that's Ascending Gun. That's probably the most common. There are also gun for IR and these that are from a company called Retro Shooter. These are the retro shooter Reapers. They do a smaller gun and they do the. This. That. This big guy. I showed your full swat. Yeah. But I don't know enough about guns to Say what it looks like, but it looks like a bigger gun.

[Russ Ruschik]

If you're in like sng like that kind of thing.

[Justin MacElroy]

Sure, yeah. And then what these do is they have four IR sensors that connect that attach to like the top and bottom corners of the television and that all those are wired together to one USB cable. And then the guns themselves have two cables coming off of them. One is a USB and one is a power for recoil.

[Russ Ruschik]

Oh yeah.

[Justin MacElroy]

And all the guns plug into like. So they have these two cords and then all the guns plug into a single hub. That retro shooter also sells. And then if you want, if they come in the kit, if you want to do this way, there's also little clicky pedals. You do stuff like time crisis and stuff like that.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

They used to use those for transcription. Can just get it to do a five second backwards was so nice.

[Justin MacElroy]

Yeah. There's not a lot of light gun games made these days. I always kind of got a kick out of them. And when I started making like my own little home arcade cabinets, it was definitely something that I wanted to look into. And the sending guns are okay. I definitely think the tracking with these IR guns that have the built in sensors is better. Um, it's a definitely a special specialty kind of thing. But they have a lot of different options. I will just say of the guns that I've tried, the Senden guns feel kind of cheap comparatively. Senden has a model with and without recoil. The ones with recoil are a lot more expensive. The retro shooter, so far these are the best one best feeling ones that I have tried. They feel really good. They got a lot of different buttons on them that you. That is nice for like menu navigation if you're do. And this one even has a. It's got a thumbstick right here built in. So you can do a lot of stuff.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It looks like a Dreamcast PS2 era device.

[Justin MacElroy]

Yes, that is about the vibe. It's pretty similar to the guncon controller this mold is. But yeah, they're really impressive. They feel really good. And if you are probably the best thing to play Gallagher's gallery with. If you have not played Gallagher's Gallery, the light gun game where you fight Gallagher. Of course.

[Russ Ruschik]

And what is Gallagher using from a combat standpoint? Does he have any.

[Justin MacElroy]

Oh good. You asked a question about Gallagher's gallery. I get to talk about it more. So here's the deal with Gallagher's gallery. It was an American laser game arcade cabinet where there are four different games. One was food based. So you shoot food that Gallagher doesn't like.

[Russ Ruschik]

What kind of food does Gallagher not like?

[Justin MacElroy]

Spinach. And he likes cherry pipe. So if you see Kansas spinach, you.

[Russ Ruschik]

Shoot those, but you don't specifically lacking one aspect of food that seems like he has a strong.

[Justin MacElroy]

Oh, you're thinking about the melons. Yeah. So that's when you beat all four levels. You get to go to the. Here's a true story about Gallagher's gallery. Last week, I was trying to get some of these different guns and emulation things set up, and I was in a chat room where I was saying, hey, does anybody know why Philips CDI digital video conversion has never been emulated? And someone in the chat room is like, I don't know, maybe you should offer a cash prize or an Olive Garden prize to see if you can get someone going. I'm like, ah, damn, I've been clocked. So this person that I started talking to is the person that created, like, the laser disc library of this particular, like, emulator. So they were like, they have worked in this field a lot. And as I'm going through the list, I'm like, you know, I noticed Gallagher's gallery is missing. And the person who does this as a hobby said, well, what's that like? Ah, God, I've gone too deep. I've gone so deep that the people who do this for a living are still or for a hobby say, hey, you've gone too deep, pal. But then I explained Gallagher's gallery I'd always wanted to see, and I found videos of it. And I made a post about the crappy, low quality videos of Gallagher's gallery run that I found. And then I wrote a post about it for my own personal video game blog. And I sent it to Chris Grant at Joystick. And I said, hey, you guys should post about this on Joystick. It's really fascinating. And then he said, oh, you know what? I remember you sent me a job application a few months ago. Do you want to come work here? So if it weren't for Gallagher's gallery, Incredible. I would not have a job.

[Russ Ruschik]

Sliding doors, this podcast might not exist.

[Justin MacElroy]

Sliding Doors, this podcast might not exist were it not for the hilarious, talented, and utterly unimpeachable Gallagher.

[Griffin McElroy]

Unproblematic Fave never told a joke that.

[Justin MacElroy]

I would not personally 100% endorse. Take it from me, Justin McElroy. I fully support Gallagher and everything he stands for.

[Russ Ruschik]

So I have a couple honorable mentions just to wrap things up.

[Justin MacElroy]

By the way, I don't like Gallagher's.

[Russ Ruschik]

You don't like Gallagher.

[Justin MacElroy]

Gallagher was extremely problematic. Gallagher was problematic.

[Russ Ruschik]

He's okay now though, right?

[Justin MacElroy]

Gallagher is dead. But he did walk out. Before he died, he walked out of an episode of WTM with Marc Maron, which ends with Marc Maron in a hotel room by himself saying, oh, come on, Gallagher.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's really something else.

[Justin MacElroy]

Something else, man.

[Russ Ruschik]

Two more. Cool.

[Justin MacElroy]

But the melon stuff.

[Russ Ruschik]

Yeah, Primo.

[Justin MacElroy]

Primo.

[Russ Ruschik]

Two more quick honorable mentions for you. I'm still playing Tactical Breach wizards. I've continue picking at it. It remains one of the best narrative games the last 10 years for me.

[Justin MacElroy]

Are you able to do that? To return to games that are narrative focused like that and like being.

[Russ Ruschik]

I'm going to tell you how it remembers. Great question. I'm going to tell you how I'm able to do it with.

[Justin MacElroy]

Because I would like to return to that one. But I just like.

[Russ Ruschik]

I'm going to tell you how I do it with this game. This game has the chart that after a few. After like you beat a few levels, you have to like pin things to the chart to like remember what is going on narratively. And that alone has been so massively helpful to just like re. Jog my memory of like where all the characters stand. So I would. I would agree with you. Most games I'd have a really tough time, but this game in particular, it's been totally fine.

[Justin MacElroy]

Talk about a pile of shame. That is one that like that and wander Stop. I know if I went back and finished I would really enjoy, but I just.

[Russ Ruschik]

It's been great. It also got updated with like better controller support, Tactical Breach wizards. So props to that. The other game I want to call out is a game called Animal Crossing New Horizons, which came out a few years ago. Kind of a deep cut. But I've been looking for things to play with my son, who is 3. And he's into like watching me play Mario and things like that. But then I like. It occurred to me that I had a fucking mega island of everything going on in Animal Crossing New Horizons. I booted that up and he is fucking riveted. He wants to walk through the museum, he wants to check the mail, he wants to swim in the ocean and look for sea animals. I don't know how interested he would be in like a like a bare bones starting from scratch island, but us walking around the fucking baller island that I built five years ago and hadn't touched in that long has been pretty great.

[Griffin McElroy]

So Henry is obsessed with this game and has been obsessed.

[Justin MacElroy]

This is back when daddy had free time.

[Russ Ruschik]

Yeah, no kidding.

[Justin MacElroy]

This is back when daddy had time to do this.

[Russ Ruschik]

Definitely before child. There is a little bit of. Oh, I was pretty down when this was going on.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Oh, dude.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. I would love to do, like, a video series on, like, revisiting people's Covid islands. Just like. Oh, fuck, man. Wow.

[Russ Ruschik]

Built an army of gnomes. Yikes.

[Justin MacElroy]

You've named everyone after your extended family. That's weird.

[Russ Ruschik]

Yeah, it's. I think even for kids that are, like, it's too young for them to play. Just like, visually speaking, kids love going to, like, museums and aquariums and shit. And it's basically that, you know, a great.

[Justin MacElroy]

A great game model that we don't get enough of. The kids that age really, like, is Peggle. I showed, like, when my kids are both that age, they both got really into, like, Peggling.

[Russ Ruschik]

Yeah.

[Justin MacElroy]

And then I dug out Peggle because it's a great. Like, they can point one time, they click the button and then they just.

[Russ Ruschik]

Watch a little bit. Yeah, that's. That's true.

[Justin MacElroy]

Right? They love it.

[Russ Ruschik]

There's been a few recent.

[Justin MacElroy]

We haven't had a Peggle. What happened to Peggle?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

What happened to PopCap?

[Justin MacElroy]

We got Bilillionaire. What's the billionaire Bollillionaire?

[Russ Ruschik]

There's been a few indie spin offs after Peglin that have come out.

[Justin MacElroy]

They're good, but they take too much math for littles.

[Russ Ruschik]

Yeah.

[Justin MacElroy]

Oh. Numby's number factor, I guess, is similar too.

[Griffin McElroy]

But too much math, that's not a good spot.

[Justin MacElroy]

Too much math.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's a game for grownups.

[Russ Ruschik]

Okay. I think.

[Justin MacElroy]

I thought your kids like Nubby's in refractory.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Did we do it?

[Russ Ruschik]

We did it. Some. Some patrons that I want to thank. We can thank Eric, Noah, Rachel, and Greg. Thank you for being patrons of the Besties. And thank you to everyone else who is super duper great at being patrons. We have a new episode of the Resties Up. Talked about two very cool, very, very different games, one of which you have to arrest Satan.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

And.

[Russ Ruschik]

You can go over to patreon.com thebesties if you want to learn more about that. We've got bonus episodes. We do a bracket every month with the whole gang, and we love all y' all that are making this all possible. Genuinely super awesome. Thank you. Okay. Next week, for real this time, I think we're gonna do Doom the Dark Ages. For real?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Real, for real.

[Russ Ruschik]

Assuming none of our computers break in the process, but I think it's going to happen. I'VE also heard that you can run the game on low, low, low settings on Steam Deck, which I wouldn't recommend because obviously it's a visual splendor. I'm not planning on doing that. But if anyone is at home and only has a Steam deck, maybe worth looking into.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

That's incredible. I thought. How is that even possible?

[Russ Ruschik]

Well, low settings and FSR to max. Cool.

[Justin MacElroy]

All right, that's gonna do it for us this week on the Besties. Be sure to join us again next time for the Besties, because should the world's best friends pick the world's best games besties.