Resident Evil: Requiem is Two Games in One!

Summary

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The Besties – Feb 27, 2026

Episode: “Resident Evil: Requiem is Two Games in One!”

Overview

In this episode, Chris Plante, Griffin McElroy, Justin McElroy, and Russ Frushtick dive deep into Resident Evil: Requiem (effectively Resident Evil 9), dissecting its structure, story, and design. The team covers why the game feels split in half, the nostalgic callbacks, and their personal takes on what works and what misses in the latest Resident Evil. The discussion is filled with trademark banter, detailed analysis, and a focus on what makes the game special (or not) for both new players and longtime fans. They also field listener questions, share game/TV recommendations, and reflect on gaming health.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Leon Kennedy and The Art of the Quip

• Tone Setting: The show opens with a playful critique on Leon Kennedy’s penchant for inappropriate quips. The team riffs on when it is and isn’t appropriate for Leon to drop a one-liner.
  • Quote:

    “If a woman is torn in half in front of him by a big zombie... and the zombie is like a big doctor, and he’s like, I guess she should have eaten more apples a day. It’s like, that’s a. That’s sad. Don’t do that one.”
    – Griffin (00:35)

2. Resident Evil: Requiem – Two Games, One Package

Structure & Feel

• The game’s divided structure: two protagonists, two perspectives, two playstyles.

  • Leon Kennedy: Third-person, action-heavy chapters, old-school arsenal, classic ‘beastmode’ gameplay.
  • Grace Ashcroft: First-person (toggable), an FBI investigator with slower, atmospheric, horror-driven gameplay.

• Quote:

  “You have Leon Kennedy returning. He is older, he is sick... but he also is like driving a sick fucking Porsche.”
  – Griffin (06:09)

• The game feels like a throwback, often echoing the design and pacing of earlier entries (particularly Resident Evil 2 Remake).

  • Russ:

    “It feels like the sequel to Resident Evil 5 or 4... This does not feel like the sequel to Village.” (04:52)

• The first half is largely Grace, focusing on exploration, puzzles, evasion; second half shifts heavily to Leon and combat.

  • Chris:

    “Grace is the main character [for the] core act… huge, huge change in the second half… We will talk about that in another episode.” (08:50)

  • Griffin:

    “Grace is not in the back half of the game very much... I played for maybe about five hours straight as Leon and the gameplay is fundamentally different.” (09:53)

Pacing & Gameplay Imbalance

• First Part: Claustrophobic, puzzle-focused, flavor of RE7/Village, tense horror.
• Second Part: Extended, less variety, more shooting, less excitement from upgrades/exploration.
  • Quote:

    “It did get a little bit, I don’t know, stale. There’s not like a ton of enemy variety... I wish they had stuck with the formula that I felt like was working really, really well with the first part.”
    – Griffin (10:26)

  • Russ:

    “I am pretty over the moon about the first half... the second half, but it doesn’t feel quite as special.” (11:37)

3. Playtime, Structure, and Experimentation

• Average completion times: 10-12 hours overall; first section close to previous RE game lengths on its own.
• The team compares the split structure to Metal Gear Solid 4 and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance—two games mashed together.
  • Chris:

    “It’s literally like, what if you got a complete loyal throwback to the series... And then what if you got the full... absurdity chaos like the Revengeance part... You are buying two games.” (21:24)

4. Nostalgia, Story, and Character Critique

• The story is serviceable, light on deep character development, but heavy on callbacks for longtime fans.
  • Russ:

    “Narratively what I’ve learned... you can basically not give a [crap] about the Resident Evil story and be fine.” (14:31)

  • Griffin:

    “The story’s bad. But... this game dishes out so much... nostalgia plays... I was more curious, what is the next area? What’s the next boss fight? ...That did end up working.” (15:18)

• Grace, the new protagonist, is compared (sometimes unfavorably) to Silence of the Lambs’ Clarice Starling:
  • Chris:

    “The Grace stuff here is really influenced by Silence of the Lambs... it’s definitely playing with that kind of Clarice FBI agent who’s relatively new...” (16:41)

  • Russ:

    “Grace is like maybe the worst FBI agent I’ve ever seen. She’s just like, very not into being there.” (14:31)

5. Is This a Regressive Resident Evil?

• Resident Evil: Requiem feels more like a return to form than a bold leap forward.
  • Justin:

    “It feels to me a little bit like 7 and 8 have both kind of expanded the idea of what a Resident Evil game is... This feels kind. To hear you guys talk about it, it feels a little bit regressive.” (18:09)

  • Russ:

    “It's like it is kind of going back to something that they’ve done before. Whereas Village and 7 felt very, very, very new.” (18:46)

  • Chris:

    “I also think that these games, 7, 8 and 9, are an Evangelion 2.0 style remake project of 1 through 6... this game is very, very inspired by 5 and 6.” (19:12)

  • Griffin:

    “There are certainly sequences in this game that are like fucking bonkers... But I did not find it as kind of, I don’t know, surprising as those two games.” (19:50)

6. Perspectives and Accessibility

• The player can switch Grace’s sections between first and third person for accessibility or comfort.
  • Russ:

    “First person’s very scary... Two, I was having some motion sickness issues... I played it in third person as Grace, it gives me more visibility... didn’t feel like an add-on.” (22:56)

• They discuss jump scares, tension, and the difference between the two perspectives.

7. Absence of Some Classic Features

• Notable absences: Mercenaries mode, shooting range mini-games, fewer collectibles/trinkets (“not a lot of surprises”).
  • Griffin:

    “There’s also like, mercenaries mode’s not in here. There’s not like a... shooting range, mini game thing... There is a... There are trinkets... but those are so... All pretty, like, disappointing.” (25:56, 26:30)

8. Final Takes: Who is This For?

• For “butt rock” Resident Evil fans, the game will deliver.
  • Chris:

    “It’s a heavy metal butt rock album of Resident Evil. For people who like good video games... For people who are looking for pure butt rock, Resident Evil... you’re living the dream.” (27:16)

• For those looking for high ambition, innovation, or the wild swings of 7 and 8, it might be a bit safe, but still solid.
  • Griffin:

    “I think Capcom makes fucking great games in this franchise that are sort of like mechanically very sound, atmospheric... It falls a bit short of some of the last few games... but I do still think it is totally worth playing.” (28:21)

• Summary takeaway: If you liked RE2 Remake, you’ll probably like this; if you crave the wild energy of Village or the newness of 7, temper expectations.
  • Russ:

    “I think RE2 Remake is the template. And if you like that game. You will really enjoy this game, in my opinion.” (29:21)

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Notable Quotes & Fun Moments

• On Leon’s one-liners:

  “If he goes out and then he, like, sees a man and his daughter’s a zombie and the zombie daughter eats him and then he says... ‘boy, kids today.’ You know what I mean? Like, that’s sad. Like, don’t do it for a sad... a real sad one that’s happened.”
  – Griffin (01:21)

• On Justin’s gaming injury & advice:

  “I’ve been playing video games my entire life and I have never taken the time to do proper stretches afterward... If I had taken better care of my wrists, I might not be in this exact scenario. So kids, don’t be like me. This sucks. Do your stretches.”
  – Justin (35:04)

• On accessibility:

  “First person’s very scary... I was having some motion sickness issues... I played it in third person as Grace, it gives me more visibility.”
  – Russ (22:56)

• On Capcom’s challenge:

  “Can you imagine having to make a game after Resident Evil 8 where it’s like, oh, we made a game where you fight Dracula, Frankenstein, Pinocchio and the Creature from the Black Lagoon in Eastern Europe and you have to make something out of it.”
  – Chris (28:51)

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[TIMESTAMPS] Important Segments

• 00:00 – Banter on Leon’s inappropriate quips
• 03:22 – Official intro and start of Resident Evil: Requiem discussion
• 06:13 – Describing Leon and Grace, third- vs. first-person sections
• 08:44 – Pacing and chapter structure
• 09:47 – Spoiler-free structure and the game’s two halves
• 10:26 – Critique of pacing, action vs. horror
• 14:31 – Character/story discussion: Grace, structure, and influences
• 18:09 – Whether the game feels regressive compared to RE7/8
• 21:24 – Metal Gear comparison & “two games in one”
• 22:56 – Accessibility: 1st vs. 3rd person for Grace
• 25:56 – Missing features & sense of innovation
• 27:16 – “Butt rock” Resident Evil for fans of the pure experience
• 28:21 – Final thoughts: solid for longtime fans, less for thrill-seekers
• 35:04 – Justin’s injury, gamer health, and stretches
• 38:33 – Honorable mentions: Steam Next Fest, Vampire Crawlers, Pokémon, Lil Gator Game
• 45:03 – TV recs: Rental Family, Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
• 51:02 – Super Battle Golf quick pitch
• 52:18 – Thank yous, Patreon/fan mail, and next week’s episode tease (Scott Pilgrim EX)

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Recommendations & Off-Topic Highlights

Games Mentioned:

• Vampire Crawlers demo (“feels dangerous for my free time” – Griffin, 38:58)
• Lil Gator Game and its DLC (great for kids, 40:48)
• Eugenics (Griffin, 41:58)
• Super Battle Golf (Chris: “pure trolling, the golf game; $8 and a blast with friends”, 51:02)

TV/Film:

• Rental Family (Brendan Fraser in Tokyo, feel-good, 42:43)
• Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (GoT spinoff, “the Mandalorian” of Thrones, not too expansive, 45:03)

Other:

• Gaming health/practical advice (Justin, recurring, esp. 35:04+)

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Original Tone & Chemistry

The Besties keep things loose, irreverent, and candid—in-jokes and playful digs abound, but always with a sense of critical acuity and affection for the medium. There's a real focus on respecting spoilers, delivering personal perspectives, and finding the fun (and the flaws) in big release games. Even when critiquing, the team maintains enthusiasm for gaming as a shared adventure—whether you’re a leap gamer or just along for the nostalgia.

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Bottom Line

Resident Evil: Requiem is a solid, if safe, entry that leans heavily on nostalgia, dual structure, and familiar mechanics. For series loyalists, it offers plenty of callbacks and a polished (if uneven) experience. For those hoping for bold innovation or the delightfully weird energy of 7 or 8, the excitement may dip in the second act. No matter which camp you fall into, The Besties’ verdict is that it’s still a fun ride—especially if you know what you’re in for, and can forgive a few stumbles.

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Next Week:
Scott Pilgrim EX – not a remake, but a new beat ‘em up grounded in the Scott Pilgrim universe.

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Transcript

[Griffin McElroy]

We might need to stage an intervention with Leon on his quips and when it is appropriate to bust one, to bust one out.

[Russ Frushtick]

Okay. I didn't like bust one as you first phrased it, so I'm glad you adjusted to that.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's why. Yeah, I wanted to definitely sort of expand on that. If he kill. If he blows up a zombie, if he blows up like a big monster, squid attack him in the sewers and he blows up the squid and the squid explodes and he's like, I'm for calamari. Sure, that's okay.

[Chris Plant]

Great.

[Griffin McElroy]

If a woman is torn in half in front of him by a big zombie and then he's. And then. And the zombie is like a big doctor, and he's like, I guess she should have eaten more apples a day. It's like, that's a. That's sad. Don't do that one. Yeah, that one. You just saw a woman get killed in front of you and then you were like, looks. Yeah, it looks like the doctor is in and it's like, don't do one for that.

[Russ Frushtick]

I think he should be alone is what you're saying. It should just be him and a zombie. There shouldn't be like another person that's suffering. And he's sort of like, I feel

[Chris Plant]

like I'm just like struggling with, like, when's the right time? So, like, he needs to do a number two. I'm being courteous here. He goes into the bathroom, he discovers that the toilet is full of zombie guts.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, yeah, that's fine. Yeah, no, that's fine. Again, he's by himself and no one's being hurt. But like, if he goes out and then he, like sees a man and his daughter's a zombie and the zombie daughter eats him and then he says he's like, boy, kids, kids today. You know what I mean? Like, that's sad. Like, don't do it for a sad. Like a real sad one that's happened.

[Chris Plant]

What if he is taking a number two right when this is happening?

[Griffin McElroy]

If there's a person being hurt, then that's not a good time for equip Leon. Any other time, I think is okay.

[Russ Frushtick]

How much time after the person turns into a zombie is it okay? Because once the, you know, once the guy is eaten, can he smokes the

[Griffin McElroy]

zombie, then he can. Then he can be like, yeah, once he smokes the zombie, if the zombie comes for him and then he wants to say something like, is there like

[Russ Frushtick]

a 10 second window?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, there's a 10 second window.

[Russ Frushtick]

You can see like the light go

[Griffin McElroy]

out of their eyes and he blasts them and then he's like, you're ground, you're grounded. Yeah, like that's.

[Chris Plant]

And I need to take a shit.

[Justin McElroy]

I don't know why.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's why you're so. What's going on in the bathroom?

[Russ Frushtick]

You need to see a doctor.

[Justin McElroy]

You know, I've never believed those who say they are brain rotting properties to video games. But now that I'm two weeks from my last play to hear you chaps speak, I'm afraid they may be on to something. Really chaps? This is the best you've got?

[Russ Frushtick]

Oh no. Justin's a genius now Wesker.

[Justin McElroy]

My name is Justin McElroy and I love to read.

[Griffin McElroy]

My name is Griffin McElroy and I

[Justin McElroy]

know the best of the week.

[Chris Plant]

My name is Christopher Thomas Plant and I know the best game of the week.

[Russ Frushtick]

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

[Justin McElroy]

Welcome to the Besties where we talk about the latest and greatest in home interactive entertainment. It's a video game club and just by listening you are a member officially. Just like that. This week we're going to be talking about Resident Evil Requiem, which is Resident Evil 9 also. But you shouldn't. But it's.

[Griffin McElroy]

Did they get. Did they get a nine in there?

[Chris Plant]

I don't think they did.

[Justin McElroy]

It's a sneaky nine. If you tilt it, I want somebody to finish it. So you can tell me if at the end the logo tilts and there's a nine and you've like the FedEx there, the queue.

[Griffin McElroy]

I finished it. There is no tilting. No. There's no secret reveal.

[Russ Frushtick]

The Q kind of looks like a 9.

[Chris Plant]

The Q?

[Griffin McElroy]

Is that what it is?

[Russ Frushtick]

I mean, I'm just saying a Q is a letter.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Okay, fine. Fair enough. Chris, what's. I was gonna ask you what it is, but I feel like that whole

[Chris Plant]

riff really is it's the first mainline Resident evil in like four years or something. And the ninth and like 30 years. They don't make the mainlines as often as the other games. They've made 30 Resident Evil games in 30 years. Can you believe that? Anyway, we're going to talk 100%.

[Justin McElroy]

We're going to talk about that more right after the break. It's funny, man. We talked and played about Re8 for so long. About Village for so long. It feels more recent than that. When you said it had been that long. It doesn't feel in my head like they just came out with Resident Evil 8.

[Russ Frushtick]

Yeah, it was also during COVID It was a Covid weird time thing. This does feel well.

[Justin McElroy]

And they re released the old ones too, which has the brain distorting properties.

[Russ Frushtick]

This feels like this. Tell me if you think this is crazy. This feels like the sequel to Resident Evil 5 or 4. Like that era of Resident Evil. This does not feel like the sequel to Village. It doesn't feel like the sequel to seven. It feels like a sequel to the core, almost a sequel to the remakes.

[Griffin McElroy]

It definitely, definitely felt to me the whole time that I played it and I finished it. Like there was a concerted effort to step away from the just wackiness of Resident Evil Village.

[Justin McElroy]

All right, Justin, please, please.

[Griffin McElroy]

What's wrong?

[Justin McElroy]

I can't play video games. I don't know if you know this, but I can't.

[Chris Plant]

Just video games, right?

[Justin McElroy]

Who is even. You know what I mean? Like, what are you even doing in it? You know what I mean? You've skipped right ahead.

[Griffin McElroy]

You're right.

[Justin McElroy]

I'm looking around in the dark. Like, who am I in this game? You know what I mean? Are there power ups? Are there points? I don't know.

[Russ Frushtick]

Oh my God, so many points. So many power ups.

[Griffin McElroy]

There are points and power ups. So you have two main characters, which is not unheard of in a Resident Evil game. In fact, I would say that's more often than not the case. You have Leon Kennedy returning. He is older, he is sick. He's got some sort of infection that I bet is broken down.

[Justin McElroy]

He's tired, he's.

[Griffin McElroy]

No, I mean he's not.

[Justin McElroy]

I mean, he's sick.

[Griffin McElroy]

But he also is like driving a sick fucking Porsche. Like he's like living actually his best life.

[Russ Frushtick]

He is closing in on 50 and

[Griffin McElroy]

I cannot speaking rounding 50. You are also the Leon sections. Close your eyes. Imagine what they're like. Yes, that's right. It's leon. He's got 100 guns and he gets in chainsaw, big ass and like big acts and he just shit up and let me constantly saying stuff.

[Russ Frushtick]

Let me just say something. If people are imagining a Leon section, they wouldn't necessarily assume he's going to be Rock Em Sock em Robots killing everybody. Because if you think about Re 4, which is the last time Leon was like a major role and we're not counting six.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Russ Frushtick]

You know, it's a survival horror game.

[Griffin McElroy]

He's like, yeah, until the end when you have a fucking rocket launcher and a shotgun that like rips people. Yeah. No, that is what Leon's sections are Leon's sections are much more action oriented. And then you are also playing as Grace Ashcroft, an FBI investigator and daughter of Alyssa Ashcroft, Journal Raccoon City journalist, survivor of the Raccoon City outbreak events. And her sections are presented in first person, Leon's are presented in third person. You can toggle those, I believe, based in the menu. But the game encourages you when you start out. Like, these sections were designed for Grace to be played in first person and Leon's to be played in third person. So they're kind of like mashing up what they did with Resident Evil 7 in the gray sections, where it's first person and very claustrophobic and very atmospheric and sort of spooky in that way with the more Resident Evil 4 stuff that Leon does. And that is the sort of like main. Main structure of the game is hopping between those two kind of.

[Justin McElroy]

I got stuck. Actually, this is why I didn't play the game, because I got stuck in that second person mode where it's about Cliff Riddles. Did you go, he's an agent. Cliff riddles. And he talks to you, to you, to you the entire game. It's like you turn left and he's like, okay, now I'm looking left.

[Russ Frushtick]

Now I'm looking left. You're looking left.

[Justin McElroy]

What should I do?

[Russ Frushtick]

The other important thing to note, structurally speaking, the game follows much closer to like, Resident Evil 2 or even Resident Evil 2 remake, where you're in like a big house and there's a lot of rooms and doors and puzzles and things like that. For the most part, we'll get to the other parts in a second. But the majority of your time for a large chunk of the beginning of the game is spent in a large environment solving puzzles and running from zombies.

[Justin McElroy]

How often are you, like, switching back and forth between the two? Is it like you finish one and then do the other, or is it chapter by chapter? What's the deal?

[Chris Plant]

So let's also have one ground rule for people who are listening, because I know there are going to be people who don't want major spoilers for, like, basically the second half of the game. There's a huge, huge change in the second half of the game. We will talk about that in another episode. In this first core act, Grace is the main character. Grace is. I actually don't think it's that different than Resident Evil Village in that this is the manor that you play through. In the first three or four hours of Resident Evil Village Expanded, it's like a seven hour, huge chunk now where you are in this wellness center, old fashioned wellness center, and you are coming across the doctor who works there who has been performing experiments. And most of that time you are playing as Grace and you are doing the slow. Hey, I need to go to this area to get the crank that will help me open the door here. And then when I open that, I will get the jewel which will help me open the door here. Very traditional. Rise in.

[Russ Frushtick]

It's like 90% grace. And then every once in a while you'll pop in as Leon and fuck shit up.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. Now I do want to say not spoiling any major events or locations from the back half of the game, but Grace is not in the back half of the game very much. You will have a pretty, pretty huge chunk of the game. I played for maybe about five hours

[Chris Plant]

straight as Leon and the gameplay is fundamentally different.

[Griffin McElroy]

The gameplay.

[Russ Frushtick]

Well, we're not going to dive too deeply into.

[Griffin McElroy]

Specifically, specifically, we got to talk about it. The pacing of this game is fucking bonkers. It's bonkers. It is absolutely wild.

[Chris Plant]

Right?

[Griffin McElroy]

I think it works in the first half of the game. I think the Grace stuff is really good. Resident Evil 7 and Village are a couple of my favorites. Especially those sections where, you know, you're tiptoeing around a place in first person and a big scary thing's chasing you and every little like thing you find that is going to help you survive in there feels like kind of meaningful. And then it is fun hopping in with Leon and coming across the stuff that you fought as Grace and just going beast mode on it. That is great. And just for whatever reason, they're like, actually, you know what, let's just do Leon for quite a long time. And I don't know, as much as I enjoyed all the distributing violence as Leon Kennedy, it. It did get a little bit, I don't know, stale. There's not like a ton of enemy variety. There's not like a ton of exciting weapons in sort of his part of the game. So I don't know, I wish they had stuck with the formula that I felt like was working really, really well with the first, with the first part of the game. Because I do think I enjoyed the Grace sections a little bit more.

[Russ Frushtick]

Yeah, that's, I think, a fair critique. I am not finished with the game. I know that you are and I really was, I think, pretty over the moon about the first half and I've been enjoying the second half, but it doesn't feel quite as special. It feels closer to like the final Acts of what you would see in another Resident Evil game, but spread out over a longer period of time.

[Griffin McElroy]

My big problem is that like there's not that much exciting stuff in terms of like weapons. Right. There's a system for like when you're playing as Leon, you can like customize your weapons. You get to a point where you start getting points for killing zombies and then you can spend those points to like upgrade your weapons. No, I'm listening. But it's never in like a way that feels like especially meaningful. And so this feeling of like, well, I got this crank, I have to go back and open up this door that I found a while ago and maybe I'll find some cool thing. Like, I don't know, this stuff never felt so meaningful or exciting that I felt like the exploration was necessarily like worth the the juice. Wasn't necessarily worth the squeeze for parts of the the game.

[Russ Frushtick]

Yeah. It should be noted though that the, the beginning part, the first section. I don't know about you, Griffin, you're pro league gamer. Took me about eight hours to get through the first section. So you've got like, you know, I was looking at completion rates of previous games. Village was like a 10 to 12 hour game. Re remake was like an 8 to 10 hour game. So you've kind of got like a whole Resident Evil game set in this hospital E type area. And then it feels like this extra part, which again I don't want to go too deeply into is. I'm not saying it just feels a little bit like a bonus.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's gonna be different for everyone. I finished the game in 11 hours playing on standard difficulty. And I don't know, the breakdown was a little bit different for me.

[Russ Frushtick]

I think some of this is just maybe this being the last thing that you played might be impacting the overall feelings of the experience.

[Griffin McElroy]

Because I do think for sure, absolutely it does. Yeah, I think so.

[Russ Frushtick]

I think the good for me has vastly outweighed, like I am pretty over the moon about a very large chunk of this game.

[Justin McElroy]

Personally, to exit the second person segments, you actually have to maintain unbroken eye contact for a straight hour. You have to look him right through.

[Griffin McElroy]

So that pads it out. That does pad it out a little bit.

[Justin McElroy]

It's tough.

[Chris Plant]

It's really incredible. I want to talk about more of the first. I will say I love all of it. I think when the game changes into Sega's forgotten hit the club. That is wonderful. But the first half is I think the obvious showpiece. What did you all think of new Character and the story and the setting of this.

[Russ Frushtick]

I think the setting is fine. I think the setting is like an obvious throwback to Resident Evil 2. Like, it looks like the fucking police station layout almost shot for shot. I think narratively what I've learned, historically speaking, you can basically not give a about the Resident Evil story and be fine. Like, largely speaking, it's all kind of gobbledygook and a justification for why you're in this scary place with zombies. I think character wise, Grace is like maybe the worst FBI agent I've ever seen. She's just like, very not into being there. But I mean, I don't know. As a character, they're all very archetypal. Like, they don't feel grounded in any way.

[Griffin McElroy]

The story's bad. But if you are a fan, if you've played these games a bunch, like, this game dishes out so much. I wouldn't call it fan service. But a lot of nostalgia plays and a lot of that comes towards the back half, right? A lot of that comes in that huge Unbroken Leon part. And that stuff is kind of a mixed bag. But I feel like as someone who's played all these games and loves most of them, that stuff did do it for me more than the story. I was not hanging on what's gonna happen next. I was more curious, what is the next area? What's the next boss fight? Is this character going to from past games going to show up? I feel like they deal in that stuff so much in places where they could have developed Grace out more or like a lot of the game, Grace is trying to save a little girl that she finds in this facility. And they don't do a ton to build their relationship, but then they expect you to care a lot about that relationship at certain parts of the story. So, yeah, I mean, the story is not like that spectacular. But the, I don't know, callbacks and the reverence that this game has for, like, the past Resident Evil games, that is kind of the narrative hook for me. That did end up working.

[Chris Plant]

What I like is all of these games are like, pick. It feels like three or four movies that they really want to be riffing off of. Like seven obviously was really influenced by Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It was really influenced by, like, Grimm's Fairy Tales. The gray stuff here is really influenced by Silence of the Lambs and it feels like long legs, which I don't know how that's possible because this game was surely in development before that movie came out, but it's definitely playing with that kind of Clarice FBI agent who's relatively new to the force and is coming up against this, like, very eccentric doctor type who is trying to control her every move. A bit of.

[Russ Frushtick]

I think that's probably. I just. I was a little bummed to see Grace being, like, basically from the jump, terrified out of her brain. Like, there was no. Like, I didn't get a sense that she was capable in any way, apart from the fact that, like, you do control her as she's killing zombies. Cool. But as a character, when she's in cutscenes, she's just, like, very scared frequently.

[Chris Plant]

Which I get it.

[Russ Frushtick]

I would be scared too, but.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, right.

[Russ Frushtick]

I didn't get a Clarice, like, quiet power vibe from her necessarily.

[Griffin McElroy]

Juice, you were not able to play much of this because of your recovery from the surgery.

[Russ Frushtick]

I mean, any of it. I didn't expect you to play.

[Griffin McElroy]

Is there any sort of lingering because you've played most of these games before.

[Justin McElroy]

Is there any question. Here's my question for you guys, because I've been listening to all this and try to ingest it. I like all the Resident Evil games, but I don't love any of them. But it feels to me a little bit like 7 and 8 have both kind of expanded the idea of what a Resident Evil game is. Like they're both kind of expansive titles. Right. Like, seven, I know, is traditional, but there's a lot it's doing that it has not tried to do before. And I think much more so with Village. This feels kind. To hear you guys talk about it, it feels a little bit regressive. Is that fair to say?

[Russ Frushtick]

Yeah, we. I mean, we played Resident Evil 2 remake, and I think that is incredibly similar. Way closer to this. Yeah, like, that's what this feels like is Resident Evil 2 remake, not only in terms of gameplay, but in terms of just like narrative beats. So it is regressive in that sense. It's like it is kind of going back to something that they've done before. Whereas Village and seven felt very, very, very new.

[Chris Plant]

I also think that these games, 7, 8 and 9 are an Evangelion 2.0 style remake project of 1 through 6. Like, I think Resident Evil 7 is conceptually, thematically playing with the same things that happen in Resident Evil 1. 2. I think that 8 is very clearly inspired by Resident Evil 4 and going to that Village. And I think this game is very, very inspired by 5 and 6. Those are only.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's good. Only this game is.

[Chris Plant]

This game's much better.

[Justin McElroy]

People forget 5 and 6 were bad.

[Griffin McElroy]

Really, really bad. I think there's probably a pretty big contingent of fans of this franchise that are excited for that. I think that they would not consider it regressive to move away from the more expansive and experimental nature of 7 and 8. For my money, it is not as fun as those games because it is. Because it. There are certainly sequences in this game that are like fucking bonkers and they like jack up the Leon Kennedy himbo action star shit to 11 and tear off the knob. But I did not find it as kind of like, I don't know, surprising as those two games. And I also like, I have, I think for the past few Resident Evil games, especially the remake of 4. Like immediately, as soon as I finish it, I'm like, I want to play new game. Plus I want to go in. There's like unlockables I want to fucking go for. I want the Infinite ammo rocket launcher I want. I do not feel that compulsion here for four. Nine. And there's a few reasons for that. My biggest issue is just like I don't feel like there's enough stuff to explore for to feel like you are getting stronger or have some enhanced ability to kill zombies more. But I think it's mostly just that, I don't know, it's a bit more predictable because it is returning to that more classic kind of Resident Evil format.

[Chris Plant]

I feel like if you played Metal Gear Solid four and Metal Gear Solid Rising Revengeance, then you have an idea of what this experience is like in its two halves and that it's literally like, what if you got a complete loyal throwback to the series, which is the Metal Gear Solid four part. And then what if you got the full. We are breaking this all apart into full tilt absurdity chaos like the Revengeance part. And what's weird is they happen to both be in the exact same game. You are buying two games.

[Russ Frushtick]

Yeah, in that way. Yeah. Yeah. It's an interesting title. I currently where I'm at, which is not completed, but feels like I'm getting pretty close. I would be like pretty jazzed to start another playthrough. So contrary to what Griffin was saying, I feel differently. Yeah, I don't know. We'll see how I feel when the game actually ends.

[Griffin McElroy]

If knowing where you're at, you are not close to the end, there is still a whole big chunk.

[Russ Frushtick]

Wait, how did you beat this game in 10 hours?

[Griffin McElroy]

I beat it in like 11 hours and I'm a fucking leap gamer.

[Russ Frushtick]

Fucking leap, man.

[Griffin McElroy]

I. Yeah. I think I collected all the shit. I completed most of the challenges.

[Russ Frushtick]

Settle down.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm just fucking good at these games, guys. And you know why? Because I'm not scared of the zombies.

[Chris Plant]

That's the secret.

[Russ Frushtick]

I'm so scared. That's the problem. Oh, I should mention we talked about it earlier. The Gray sections are in first person. The Leon sections are in third person. I turned off the first person stuff for Grace.

[Griffin McElroy]

Did you? Okay.

[Justin McElroy]

How was that?

[Chris Plant]

So you did play in second person?

[Russ Frushtick]

No, no, third person, sadly. So the reason I turned it off was twofold. One, first person's very scary. Just dizz. Two, I was having some motion sickness issues with first person. It's been something that has been an issue in basically all the games since seven, when they started introducing first person. They've gotten better over time at adding accessibility features to make things not quite as bad. Like they have a permanent reticle you can have on the screen, things like that. But it was enough that I was like, why am I forcing myself to do this? They put this feature in anyway. I might as well play it anyway. Loved it. Genuinely super fun to play in third person as Grace. It gives me more visibility. I don't feel quite as scared. You can see all of the animations that they actually bothered to give her during all the sequences that you wouldn't ordinarily see when you were in first person. Yeah. So it doesn't feel like an add on. I understand from a pacing and tone standpoint, probably scarier and more tense when you're in first person. But for those like me that prefers it, it's nice.

[Griffin McElroy]

I think it is for the, like, claustrophobia of it because Grace's sections are a lot more about, like, there's a big thing pursuing you and if it gets its hands on you, you're pretty much dead. And that, I think the sort of jump scary nature of that, I think is why they, you know, made that. Made that stuff for sure.

[Russ Frushtick]

Yeah. You still have some of that stuff. Like, I definitely still had jump scares.

[Chris Plant]

Rush sent me a video of him getting very badly jump scared.

[Russ Frushtick]

Pretty funny. So you still have that stuff, but you don't have the, like. The only way I can see around this corner is by going around the corner, which is a nice benefit, especially since there are some, like, stealth sequences.

[Chris Plant]

I want to do a spoiler B segment maybe in a couple weeks so we can get into all that stuff

[Russ Frushtick]

and then that'd be fun.

[Chris Plant]

And like, what's going on in the story? Twists and turns. But until then, yeah, I really dig it. I do think Justin is onto something. I think it would just be much cheaper to make this game with second person. He could just say you're scared and then you're kind of done.

[Russ Frushtick]

You're scared.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, you find a green time.

[Justin McElroy]

Do you all feel disappointed at all, as people who really like 7 and 8, that this isn't more of a direct continuation of like, that storyline? I know there was some DLC after eight that kind of continued it, but

[Russ Frushtick]

what's funny is like to. To echo what I said earlier about narrative, like, I do not give a f. Like, do not give a fuck about what the T virus and the S virus and the. Whatever virus is doing.

[Griffin McElroy]

There's a G virus.

[Russ Frushtick]

It is a G virus. I don't care. What I do feel slightly disappointed about is I like the curveballs. I like the. This feels like totally outside of the realm of anything we've seen before. And you do kind of get that a little bit in terms of the gameplay of the second half. But just like the fact that Village had a fucking ancient castle with a vampire in it and also had like a fucking metal Mad Max style factory filled with crazy people in the same game, like, that variety was pretty fucking dope. So I'm a little bummed on that side. But from a gameplay standpoint, I love it. Like, I think it's been a lot of fun.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's the stuff that's missing for me. And there is like, this game lets its hair down at certain points. I mean, only. Sorry. Leon is the only one who lets his hair down at certain points of the game. And they do like some zany shit in there. But I was disappointed that that stuff was. There's also like, mercenaries mode's not in here. There's not like a, you know, shooting range, mini game thing that you do. There's no gashapon machines where you're getting like little trinkets that like, boost certain things. Like, there is a.

[Russ Frushtick]

There are trinkets.

[Griffin McElroy]

There are. Okay. Yeah. But those are so. They're almost to a T. All pretty, like, disappointing. They're just. It felt like there's a lack of surprise in general.

[Russ Frushtick]

I think from an ambition standpoint, it's definitely not as ambitious as the whole package of RE4 Remake was, which was like. That was like pretty through the roof, like a big, big thing. Mostly because they had to remake a game that came out 20 years ago when it was okay to make 20 hour Resident Evil games. So there's that. But yeah, you know, this is not an excuse. I think Village added mercenaries mode as DLC after the fact.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, I think so.

[Russ Frushtick]

So I'm sure they were planning on DLC for this. Again, not an excuse.

[Chris Plant]

But also, Justin, to answer your question, as someone who does like the story in these games and cares about it, fucking love this game. It's a heavy metal butt rock album of Resident Evil. For people who like good video games. Let me be clear. Griffin and Freshik are right. For people who are looking for pure butt rock, Resident Evil, who say, you know what? I wish these were a little bit more like that animated film I saw on Netflix. You're living the dream.

[Justin McElroy]

What was the Final Fantasy game that was similar to. There's a parallel of this in the Final Fantasy universe that I'm trying to remember.

[Griffin McElroy]

Stranger of Paradise, Final Fantasy.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, yeah.

[Russ Frushtick]

Yes.

[Chris Plant]

Oh, very good concept. I don't know that it goes quite.

[Griffin McElroy]

That it does go quite that far at certain points. There's a sequence in this game that I'm so fucking excited to talk about it. It is the thing that people are going to talk about and remember from this game, you know, years, years down the line when, like the next Resident Evil stuff comes out, that fucking rules. Russ, I think you've already. I think maybe you just did this sequence. If you are at the point in the game that I think you're talking about. Yeah, I think I know what you're talking about, man.

[Russ Frushtick]

I wish there was.

[Griffin McElroy]

Honestly, I wish there was more of that stuff. Yeah, I think it's a good Resident Evil game. I think Capcom makes fucking great games in this franchise that are sort of like mechanically very sound, atmospheric. The detail in the world is really, really, really bonkers. It falls a bit short of some of the last few games that they have come out with in this franchise, in my opinion. But I do still think it is totally worth playing. If you are a fan of the Resident Evil.

[Chris Plant]

Can you imagine having to make a game after Resident Evil 8 where it's like, oh, we made a game where you fight Dracula, Frankenstein, Pinocchio and the Creature from the Black Lagoon in Eastern Europe and you have to make something out of it.

[Justin McElroy]

I think it's also hindered a little bit because I really dug Silent Hill F a lot.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, a very different, super different, very different.

[Justin McElroy]

But like, this spot in my brain has been tickled recently in a way that sticks in my memory really well because it had such a distinct sort of look and aesthetic to it.

[Russ Frushtick]

Anyway, I think RE2 Remake is the template. And if you like that game. You will really enjoy this game, in my opinion.

[Justin McElroy]

Let's take a break. We'll come back and with more right after this.

[Russ Frushtick]

Okay. We have some reader mail that we want to jump into just for people that are unaware. If you want to send reader mail, the best way to do it is probably through the newsletter, which is Estes fan. You can drop a comment in the last this episode of the newsletter and that's a good place to drop some reader mail or see it.

[Chris Plant]

Or you can go to patreon.com thebesties and leave a comment there. Yeah, and that would also.

[Russ Frushtick]

I was gonna. That was the other thing that I was gonna suggest. But for people that. For people that are not subscribed already, the only way, because you can't, I think, leave comments if you're not subscribed. So for people that are not currently paying and you want to drop us some mail, you can do it at the newsletter. Otherwise, Patreon's a great place to do it. This first one comes from Will talking about Metal Gear Solid four.

[Justin McElroy]

Metal Gear.

[Russ Frushtick]

So thank you. I appreciate it. For those that aren't aware, Metal Gear Solid four is returning to us in the form of a. What is it called? Metal Gear Solid Volume 2 collection of games that includes Peacemaker and all sorts of stuff.

[Justin McElroy]

Peace Walker.

[Russ Frushtick]

Peace Walker. Thank you. Will writes, metal gear Solid 4's controls are so clunky and awful, but as a visual novel, the game is legit art. I was in grad school when the game came out, and I wrote a whole paper about how it engages with memory and identity when your growth over time isn't aging, but also progressing through technological milestones. For my money, the themes it explored and the way it explores them are as interesting, if not more than what we get in death Stranding. I get not being able to cover it on besties. We'll see. Maybe we will. But it seems like a great candidate for Plant and Post games. Chris Plant, you can pass that buck.

[Griffin McElroy]

Pass that buck on over Plant's way.

[Russ Frushtick]

I mean, it does do some interesting things narratively.

[Griffin McElroy]

I just wish I have a fond place in my heart for that game that I played once, fucking 20 years ago or whatever. Whether that stuff holds up or not, I don't know. But it does do a lot of Metal Gear Solid ass stuff pretty much all throughout the span of the game.

[Russ Frushtick]

Justin, you weren't here when the collection was announced and we sort of talked a little bit about metal gear solid 4. What do you think of it returning and Would you want to replay it?

[Justin McElroy]

I like Metal Gear Solid four. That was the one that I didn't finish Snake Eater because I disliked it so much. Four was the first one for me that was like just the right balance of playability and nonsense to where. But that was. I mean that was one of the first examples I could think of of like a game being intentionally unpleasant for a section, but that being like narratively important, you know, Like, I think that it does cool stuff like that. I really almost never replay anything, but I love the idea that it is. I think it's an important series. I think that anytime anyone's like trying to be revisionalist about Metal Gear and like actually to be an apologist for the mechanics of Metal Gear, I tend to take a pretty hard line there because the greatest script in the world doesn't do you any favors if it's not an enjoyable gameplay experience. That's my point of view as like a video game critic. So I don't think it's worth being like, well, you know, it's actually a great game because the story's great. Because it's still like the failings are the failings.

[Russ Frushtick]

Yeah, I don't think Will is saying that per se for what it's.

[Justin McElroy]

No, I'm saying that about three personally.

[Chris Plant]

But yeah, yeah. Also for post games. I probably shouldn't say it here, but it is going to be a three hour long episode exclusively focused on the compiling shader screen with guest Marc Maron. So awesome.

[Griffin McElroy]

I can't wait, man.

[Justin McElroy]

I know you and Mark have been looking for a project.

[Chris Plant]

You know, we've been trying to find something to get together on, you know, lot of lunches.

[Griffin McElroy]

Right.

[Chris Plant]

It's just time to unlock the gates.

[Justin McElroy]

That's my favorite. But that's my favorite joke. One of my favorites. This joke is when Barney has the Mr. Plow theme song and Barbara Mandrell sings the theme. He's like, yeah, we were looking for something to work on together.

[Russ Frushtick]

This next question comes from Big five, and this is for Justin.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, hit me.

[Russ Frushtick]

Last year you mentioned your carpal tunnel was severe enough that it was impacting your enjoyment of some more extraneous and reflex necessary games, leading you to trend toward slower paced and turn based strategy options. With this surgery, do you expect to be able to return to these other games in the future with more ease? Are there any? Specifically you are looking forward to giving another try with more physical accessibility.

[Justin McElroy]

Okay, there's. This is a complicated answer, but I'm. But it's actually not that interesting. So I'm going to try to get to it as quick as I can. I had the surgery on my left hand and my left wrist. It was a carpal tunnel release and a cubital tunnel surgery where they do it on your shoulder and your wrist. So that was on my left hand. I started this as my non dominant hand. So the right hand still has those issues. The recovery for this. I'm two weeks out today as we're recording this and I can use it basically, but I still can't lift things really.

[Russ Frushtick]

So no Wii for you?

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, no, we.

[Griffin McElroy]

No.

[Justin McElroy]

You'd be surprised how often the left hand comes in as like a. A support buddy. You don't really appreciate old lefty till you really can't use them. Think about opening a jar, right? It's wow, you need that left hand. But so I'm going to have to get the right hand done before I would actually see an improvement at this point. Currently it still hurts quite a bit from the swelling of surgery or whatever. I've got another couple weeks to four weeks before it's fully recovered. So it's a long process by which I mean I don't know when I'm gonna get the right one done, but I know I need to. But this has been a big, huge pain in the ass and I'm not in a hurry to. What I will say is this. And I think this is really important and not a joke. And I know it makes me sound old, but I'm gonna say it anyway. I've been playing video games my entire life and I have never taken the time to do proper stretches afterwards, to take breaks, to stretch your wrists out, to shake it out, to please do that. Because in between the gaming and the computer use and later on the woodworking. But really it's the lifetime of video games and typing. I did not take the time to do those stretches. And if I had taken better care of my wrists, I might not be in this exact scenario. So kids, don't be like me. This sucks. Do your stretches.

[Griffin McElroy]

Google.

[Justin McElroy]

Google how to do stretches after you get your game on. Cause it's not a joke.

[Russ Frushtick]

I'm gonna do all the stretches now instead.

[Justin McElroy]

You can catch up. A lot of people won't admit this, but if you have never stretched, if you stretch for like seven hours straight,

[Russ Frushtick]

you will catch up. Awesome.

[Griffin McElroy]

The besties are gonna start hosting stretching retreats for gamers.

[Russ Frushtick]

I love it.

[Justin McElroy]

For gamers only.

[Griffin McElroy]

You will come and we will. There's a lot of very sort of, you know, Fish oil, just to sort of lubricate the. The pipes in there. And then. It's just a lot of stretching, guys. Seven. Seven or so hours of it.

[Justin McElroy]

I. I tried to play Resident Evil Requiem because I thought that I could. I mean, I have the ability to use the thumb, you know, but the moment I was, like, holding the thumb stick for more than like 30 seconds in a direction, you know, it started to, like, really ache and throb. And I was looking down at my hands and I was just thinking, like, I can't. I can't play this game. I can't do it. And I told my wife I thought she would cry.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

But she acted like she was so brave. Can I just say, I want to take this moment to congratulate her. Not a crack. Like she did not let it show. That must have been so hard for her to see her big, strong hero. Can't even pilot around the Resident Evil lady, you know? And she did it. Not a hint. Like I would if I didn't know any better. I would think she didn't give a shit that I couldn't play Resident Evil. But I know that can't be the case. I mean, hearing it out loud, guys, I know how crazy it sounds.

[Russ Frushtick]

Leon's hand is pretty fucked up in this game, so it might just be, you know, immersive.

[Justin McElroy]

This has given me, I will say this, it has given me such appreciation for in every action movie, when you see the hero get like beat up real bad and it's like they're cut all the ribbons and it's like they're still kind of chugging on through. I had two small incisions in my wrist and elbow. And for two weeks I have been tired. Like, how are these guys recovering from this? It's impossible.

[Russ Frushtick]

They might have left a spoon in you. Did you check?

[Justin McElroy]

I did not check for a spoon. I have staples in my elbow, though.

[Griffin McElroy]

Isn't that wild? Staples.

[Russ Frushtick]

Okay. I think we have some honorable mentions that we wanted to talk through. Thank you for the reader mail, folks. I have a bunch. Should I go first?

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, please.

[Russ Frushtick]

Okay. Steam Next Fest is happening right now, so there's a ton of demos on Steam Next Fest worth checking out. I did play briefly, the Vampire Crawlers demo. This is the game from the Vampire Survivors team Ponkle. They are making a card based demo game set in the Vampire Survivors ip. It's pretty fucking fun, y'. All.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm terrified of it.

[Russ Frushtick]

I played for like 15 minutes just to see what was going on. And I was Like, I can't play anymore, this demo, because I'm gonna play a lot more of the actual thing. But they basically made, like, an incredibly fast card game. Like, incredibly fast. Like, you just blaze fucking through it. And it's got all the, like, crazy, like, graphics and pixel chaos that goes on in the normal vampire survivors thing, where, like, shit is flying at you. So it feels really good.

[Griffin McElroy]

Fuck, dude.

[Justin McElroy]

You know how sometimes the TikTok algorithm gets you with one so good that it feels like a divine presence? This is like that for me. It scares me a little bit. Like, I feel like I'm cooked when this is out. I'm done.

[Russ Frushtick]

Yeah, yeah. The two other things I want to call out. I've been watching Pokemon season one. That's the Indigo League episodes, with my son. He was a little scared starting off with. Because he doesn't watch a lot of narrative television. He mostly watches documentaries about the zoo. But it finally did click with him. And we had a snow day the other day, which does not happen in New York City very often, and he had a little bit of a fever, and we were like, fuck it, TV time. And I think he absorbed, like, 12 episodes. I think that show. It's hard for me to divorce nostalgia from it. I think it's, like, pretty fucking good.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's fine. It's fun. Especially those early seasons. They're just kind of a hoot. There's a reason why it is the biggest sort of media property on Earth, and it is because they have done all the different ones. Henry has been reading the Pokemon Adventures manga. That's what he's moved on to now that he finished all the Zelda ones and doesn't follow the plot of the games, doesn't do any of that shit. But if you like Pokemon stuff, they do a lot with that in there. And I remember the anime doing a great job with that as well.

[Russ Frushtick]

The other thing I want to call out is Lil Gator Game, which was another snow day activity. We played for, like, an hour of Little Gator Game, a great open world game. We've talked about it on the show before. No fall damage, no enemies to really worry about. You're just sort of exploring this big open area. Great for kids. So much so, because the game is about creating these characters on this island, and they create their own interactive game using, like, cardboard and to create monsters, things like that. And after an hour, he was like, I want to make my own monsters. And then we'd spend an hour like, be quiet.

[Justin McElroy]

Daddy is gaming. Be quiet. And look at the screen, son.

[Russ Frushtick]

And then we went and made cardboard monsters, which was lovely. There is dlc. It's out. I have not gotten to the DLC yet.

[Justin McElroy]

Is that cave story, is that something

[Russ Frushtick]

called in the Dark? It is set underneath all of the. In the caves underneath the island that you see in the first game. Apparently it like is basically as long as the main game. So if you loved Gator game or haven't played it and you want something to play with kids fucking spectacular. Great. Excellent writing. Just through the roof. So good.

[Griffin McElroy]

I haven't been playing much else other than Resident Evil. I just finished it yesterday and sort of spent all my time on that. I just started playing Eugenics again. While we await the next Besties game. I did the other day watch Rental Family with my wife on. I think it's on Disney plus now streaming. It is the Brendan Fraser picture where he is a sort of unsuccessful actor living in Japan, living in Tokyo. And he gets hired by this company who basically clients hire actors to come in and play people who are not really in their lives anymore.

[Russ Frushtick]

So

[Griffin McElroy]

there's a woman who hires Brennan Fraser to be a journalist to interview her dad, who is an actor and author who is struggling with dementia. And there is a woman who hires Brendan Fraser to pretend to be her fiance so that she can stage a wedding and move to Canada. And it is a pretty far fetched, I would say, plot for a film. And it is extremely like, you know, feel good movie stuff from basically from start to finish. But for what it is, it is an immensely charming feature film. And it is also, I learned while watching it, the first Brendan Fraser picture that my wife had seen.

[Justin McElroy]

What's the most shocking.

[Griffin McElroy]

I had the same reaction, Griffin.

[Justin McElroy]

What's the most shocking omission in her?

[Griffin McElroy]

I mean, Mommy is the most obviously the most shocking omission. Like, haven't seen Mommy.

[Justin McElroy]

Not Encino man because I think culturally,

[Griffin McElroy]

Encino man is culturally important. That's why it is at the Library of Congress. But yeah, imagine hopping on the fucking Frasier train now. Like, can you imagine what a world of what a wealth of opportunities exist before her.

[Russ Frushtick]

It's like starting with a PS5 and you've never played video games before.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, Brendan Fraser does a great job in this movie. He plays a very, very sad sort of role and he does it with a lot of appeal. And I don't know, it's not a great. It's not a great flick, but it is. It makes you feel real good throughout almost its whole runtime.

[Russ Frushtick]

That sounds like A great flick, Griffin. I gotta be honest. Low bar.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's a good point.

[Chris Plant]

I guess that's a. I guess that is.

[Russ Frushtick]

What do they say? No bad scenes. That's the rule.

[Griffin McElroy]

There's some bad scenes. There are some. There are some bad scenes.

[Justin McElroy]

How many? What's the percentage?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, it's. It's just a. It's. If you vibe with it, if you're willing to kind of like get on its. Its level. It is, it is. It's a. It's a feel good flick and a lot of, you know, beautiful, beautiful Japanese scenery and stuff like that. So that was my other sort of not Resident Evil thing for this past week.

[Justin McElroy]

I'd like to tell you about Night of the Sand Kingdom if I could. It is a new Game of Thrones spinoff. I say new just in comparison to the other Game of Thrones spinoff, which I try to watch, House of Dragons. I try to watch maybe three or four, and I found that just kind of like a pale imitation of Game of Thrones. It felt like they were trying to recapture the magic a little bit in a way that was kind of dour. I heard that it picked up eventually, but I just couldn't. Again with that. There's too many machinations and stuff. And I don't really like prequels to begin with, but my in laws said, justin, you gotta try Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. You got to trust me. And it took a lot of pushing because I was kind of like, ugh, Game of Thrones. I only kind of finished Game of Thrones out of like obligation a little bit.

[Griffin McElroy]

You know, guys, that's how we all did it. Yeah, yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

The cultural moment. Okay? Now the Seven Kingdoms takes place, sort of splits the uprights, splits the difference between House of Dragons and Game of Thrones. It takes place like a hundred years before Game of Thrones, I believe. And it follows one guy named Ser Dunk the Tall, or at least that's what he calls himself. He's a squire of a knight named Ser Arlan, who is kind of a knight for hire, which people call a hedge knight in this world. And the hedge knights would go around and just work for whoever would have them. And Dunk was the squire of a knight like that and who always promised that he would make Dunk his a knight someday. And anyway, this knight dies and Dunk hears about a knight tournament happening nearby and feels that if he can win the tournament that he'll be taken seriously as a knight on the way to take on this fairly quixotic task. He meets a little boy named Egg,

[Griffin McElroy]

who

[Justin McElroy]

he takes on as his squire, who Egg sees something in dunk that he respects and he wants to serve him. So the two of them set off together to this night's tournament. It is a really constrained story. It is very much just this one cat and the scenes that are not about this guy are informing his story in some way. It is not expansive. The episodes are like 40 minutes long and there's six of them. So to give you. It's very much feels like the. This is like. It's like the Mandalorian of Game of Thrones, if that makes sense. Right. We're following one guy in a universe we like, but we're just kind of following this one story between.

[Russ Frushtick]

It's not a Wikipedia, like a dictionary that you have to follow to understand.

[Griffin McElroy]

Well, it's not like Game of Thrones, which had, you know, two dozen storylines that it was following at any given time.

[Justin McElroy]

It's one. It's one tall dude who is so affable and lovable and the relationship he has with the kid is great and is a show about, like, the one. It's one of the. It's a show about one decent person in an. In an era where that didn't mean anything. And if this. And it's kind of a show about if this guy believing in the precepts of knighthood strongly enough is enough to sort of like change the people around him and the kingdom around him, if his will is enough to sort of like shift that and rebuild that tradition. It's pretty light hearted. It's funny. It feels very real. I don't know. I really love it. It's great.

[Griffin McElroy]

Like I said, I heard it has a big, cool fight scene. I heard it has a fight scene that's like big and cool in, like a whole episode. It.

[Justin McElroy]

I will say this. It is. It also in some ways reminds me of Band of Brothers in the way that it brings you into what, like, the frontline experience of that would be like. Or like these sort of like the real, like, what it would feel like on, like a daily basis to be this person. I think that is. It is fascinating. And yes, the battles are great, but it is. I'll tell you, it's interesting. People got really amped about the. The big contest that everything's building to, but I found it so tense. I was like. My heart was in my throat the entire time. It wasn't one of those where you're watching the hero, like, and you're certain that he's going to go and beat everybody's ass. It's more like, oh, man, if he. I hope he doesn't die, because this guy has really not done well so far. It's great. It's great.

[Russ Frushtick]

Cool.

[Justin McElroy]

This guy works really hard for every inch, and that's really satisfying to watch. But it can also be very, very tense. But it's a great counterpoint to a lot of the other Game of Thrones stuff, and I loved it.

[Chris Plant]

So check it out.

[Justin McElroy]

Check it out.

[Chris Plant]

I have been hesitant because I don't know if I need another lone wolf and cub story, but this sounds like it's more than just doing that thing. Is that fair to say? Yeah,

[Justin McElroy]

their relationship is nice, but it's not a case where he is, like, learning how to care from this kid. It's like they kind of need each other a little bit more, if that makes sense. Like, it's a solid, healthy relationship from the beginning, really.

[Chris Plant]

Yeah. Not just a stoic, dying, cute, small

[Justin McElroy]

thing, but there's a lot of visual parallels between him as a young boy being a squire for Ser Arlan and Egg being his squire. They parallel those scenes a lot. And it's very much a story about that cyclical nature of what you learn and what you pass on to the next person and what you keep and what doesn't carry on. And, like, once you've seen the entire cycle play out as Dunk has now, at this point, he's followed. He was a squire and he followed Ser Arlan to his death. And now he has begun that cycle. It's sort of like you're watching him decide what that means for him and, like, what. And everyone is asking that in the kingdom, like, what am I going to do differently than the person who came before me? A lot of people are thinking about, like, legacy and change in that sense.

[Chris Plant]

That sounds good. That sounds very good. I got one very quick thing. Super Battle Golf. We all need to be playing.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, fuck yeah, dude. I'm so eager to play this game with you.

[Chris Plant]

It is so good. It is the latest whether or not you like the term friend slop. It is golf with friends, and you and up to three other friends go golfing on a course and it's kind of fastest to the whole, though. Also, you get graded on the number of strokes that you take. You hit the ball and then you just sprint towards the hole. It is riffing on that Mario Golf mode that I liked quite a bit. Except for, unlike in Mario Golf here, you can shoot other characters with a variety of weapons. You can lay land mines right where their golf ball is. You can fire an air horn that forces them to hit it like a trillion yards in the wrong direction. It is. It's pure trolling the golf game and it is a delight. The controls are a bit fussy right now. Also, the game cost $8, so it's not a huge investment for you to have a whole bunch of fun with buddies knowing that, like, yeah, it's a little rough around the edges, but not enough to be a deal breaker. Cool.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm going to download that now.

[Russ Frushtick]

Awesome. Thank you everyone. But especially thank you to the Patreon backers over at patreon.com thebesties a new resties episode up as of this past Tuesday. We also have a new bracket battles episode coming up beginning of March, which will be really super duper fun. Some recent subscribers include Matt O, Ashley A, Nicholas E. And Zorak. Thank you for being subscribers. Thank you to everyone else for being backers and supporters of the show. We love you for Giant Bomb.

[Chris Plant]

I'm a Brack fan.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's really good. Actually,

[Justin McElroy]

Brack is way harder. Zorax Fun.

[Russ Frushtick]

Next week, I believe we're doing Scott Pilgrim ex, which is a beat em Up. It is not a remaster. It is not a remake of the other Scott Pilgrim game. It is a new beat em Up.

[Justin McElroy]

A two would have been. Wouldn't a two. Like, I feel like a two?

[Griffin McElroy]

Well, there's something Ex just feels so much like a. Yeah, but it's like X. Like your ex. Like your ex girlfriend.

[Justin McElroy]

I guess Mega Man X is a new. I don't know.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, but they're doing a pun. They're doing like a. Oh, it's X someone.

[Chris Plant]

Yeah, I see.

[Russ Frushtick]

That's funny.

[Justin McElroy]

Is it like, okay, because the evil

[Griffin McElroy]

X's you can play as some of the evil X's.

[Chris Plant]

He chose cleverness.

[Justin McElroy]

It also means 10, though. It's extremely confusing.

[Griffin McElroy]

Ex E x. But X, E X.

[Russ Frushtick]

Anyway, X. That's what we're doing next week.

[Griffin McElroy]

Scott Pilgrim ex.

[Russ Frushtick]

Let's end the show.

[Justin McElroy]

Is he in it?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yes.

[Chris Plant]

Yes.

[Justin McElroy]

Is Michael in it?

[Griffin McElroy]

Is he doing Michael Cera?

[Justin McElroy]

Michael Cera? Is he doing the voice? The famous voice?

[Griffin McElroy]

Nah, man.

[Justin McElroy]

Then what's the point of the game if it doesn't have Michael Cera doing his famous voice?

[Griffin McElroy]

I wish you would stop saying that about every game we talk about.

[Justin McElroy]

We had to cut it out of

[Griffin McElroy]

the Resident Evil Requiem discussion.

[Justin McElroy]

What? Just because it doesn't make sense? That sucks, Griffin. That sucks. The show used to mean something. Thank you so much for listening to our podcast. I'm sorry things got like they did again. Okay, be sure, Joyce. Again next week for the besties, because shouldn't the world's best friends pick the world's best games.

[Griffin McElroy]

Besties?