Revenge of the French RPG!

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Besties – "Revenge of the French RPG!"

Release Date: May 9, 2025
Hosts: Chris Plante, Griffin McElroy, Justin McElroy, Russ Frushtick
Episode Title: Revenge of the French RPG!

---

1. Opening Banter and Lighthearted Moments (00:00 - 02:09)

The episode kicks off with Russ Rusticiano attempting to incorporate the word "capiche" into conversation, leading to playful exchanges among the hosts. Justin McElroy suggests integrating "capiche" naturally at the end of sentences, sparking humorous attempts to make it fit, such as Russ saying, "Well, you know, I gotta go medium rare, capiche?" (00:16).

Griffin McElroy critiques Russ’s usage, stating, "I don't actually think that that's a good use of capiche" (00:18), leading to further jokes about Russ's mobster-like threats, including the memorable line, "Griffin, you're gonna sweep. You're gonna sweep with the fishes, capiche?" (00:56).

---

2. Podcast Ownership and Polygon News (02:09 - 04:15)

Chris Plant breaks news about Polygon being sold, expressing concern over job losses and assuring listeners that "the Besties did start at Polygon a long, long time ago. We straight up own this thing" (02:37). The hosts discuss Spotify's attempt to purchase the show, humorously declaring, "No more seasons of this show for you" (03:54), and emphasize their commitment to retaining ownership.

---

3. Deep Dive into Claire Obscura (04:15 - 18:48)

a. Game Overview and Premise

Justin McElroy introduces "Claire Obscura," describing it as a darker version of "Nier" and "Nier Noir," starring Daniel Radcliffe (05:08). The game is set in a world where individuals die at the age of 33, marked by a number on a rock. The narrative centers on expeditions sent to an island to confront this fate, though success is rare due to formidable monsters (05:18 - 06:18).

b. Gameplay Mechanics and Combat

Griffin McElroy praises the game's combat system, likening it to "Final Fantasy" and "Persona" in terms of control and feel (07:40). The combat emphasizes timing, allowing players to engage enemies proactively and utilize mechanics like dodging, parrying, and Quick Time Events (QTEs) to enhance attacks (07:55). Each character—Gustav and Lunae—possesses unique abilities, such as Gustav's charge attacks and Lunae's elemental spells, fostering strategic depth (08:21 - 10:24).

Chris Plant adds that the game features a dynamic painting system, enabling players to layer elements like lightning and fire onto enemies for massive damage combos (10:24 - 11:07). This synergy among characters enhances the overall combat experience, making each encounter satisfying and engaging (11:07 - 11:16).

c. Narrative and Storytelling

Justin McElroy commends the game's storytelling, noting that it surpasses many video games in quality: "I found all the acting, writing, just the world being in the world, like very engrossing" (14:16). The narrative approach avoids heavy exposition, instead allowing players to uncover the story organically during expeditions (16:04 - 18:00).

Griffin highlights the game's ability to immerse players by placing them in a post-apocalyptic Paris-like city, where expeditions uncover the world's mysteries alongside the characters (18:00 - 18:48). The emotional depth and unique setup draw strong comparisons to films like "Children of Men" and "Annihilation" (17:00 - 17:07).

---

4. Evaluation of Battle Mechanics and Difficulty (08:47 - 08:47)

Griffin McElroy discusses the game's difficulty settings, noting that the standard mode is challenging but fair. He appreciates that death in the game isn't overly punishing, starting players back just before a fight, which maintains tension without excessive frustration (09:05).

Russ Rusticiano reflects on the game's design, comparing the combat's strategic depth to "Sekiro" and appreciating how character-specific mechanics add layers to battles (06:19 - 07:40).

---

5. Critique of Humor and Narrative Execution (28:13 - 34:37)

The hosts delve into the humor within "Claire Obscura," expressing mixed feelings. Justin McElroy criticizes the game's humor for feeling forced and outdated, likening it to "Tim and Eric" and finding it unfunny despite the developers' efforts (28:13 - 33:59). Russ agrees, pointing out that while the game's production quality in costumes and set design is commendable, the humor doesn't resonate effectively (30:02 - 33:59).

Griffin McElroy further elaborates that the humor attempts to parody corporate culture end up feeling clichéd and unoriginal, diminishing the overall narrative impact (30:51 - 34:37).

---

6. Discussion on Revenge of the Savage Planet (20:54 - 24:56)

Transitioning to "Revenge of the Savage Planet," the hosts describe it as a lighter, sillier sequel to "Journey to the Savage Planet." Justin McElroy outlines the game's premise, where players are stranded on a colorful, resource-scarce planet with only an AI assistant, Echo, for help (20:30 - 22:16).

Russ Rusticiano appreciates the shift to a third-person perspective, enhancing exploration and platforming elements reminiscent of "Mario 64" (22:22 - 24:56). However, he critiques the game's progression system, finding the quest structure cumbersome and feeling like "checking off a list" (24:56 - 26:03). Justin echoes these sentiments, highlighting issues with quest indicators and narrative coherence (25:07 - 26:05).

---

7. Introduction to "Hundred Line" and Future Content (34:37 - 37:48)

Chris Plant introduces "Hundred Line," a new video game developed by the creative leads of "Danganronpa" and "Zero Escape." The game features students trapped in a high school at the world's end, blending mystery-solving with tactical RPG elements (34:42 - 35:51). The hosts express excitement about future episodes dedicated to exploring this game in depth (35:51 - 37:48).

---

8. Recommendations and Educational Content (43:40 - 45:38)

Justin McElroy recommends the "Electronics 102" course from Lake Washington Technical College, available for free on YouTube. He emphasizes its gripping content and educational value, encouraging listeners to dive into the basics of electronics (43:40 - 45:38).

---

9. Closing Remarks and Patreon Shoutouts (45:38 - 46:30)

The hosts conclude by thanking Patreon supporters, promoting upcoming content like the "dark Ages" episode, and teasing future discussions on "Revenge of the Savage Planet" (45:38 - 46:30). Justin humorously addresses a fictional character, David Cage, critiquing game development standards (19:50 - 20:27), before wrapping up with final thoughts and sign-offs.

---

Notable Quotes:

• Russ Rusticiano: "Griffin, you're gonna sweep. You're gonna sweep with the fishes, capiche?" (00:56)

• Griffin McElroy: "It is. It's now dripping with French culture and aesthetic, which is not something I'm particularly versed in at all." (16:04)

• Justin McElroy: "The issue that I have with video games is that you're a video game and if you want to communicate a story like a movie, then you got to be at least as good as a bad movie." (14:20)

• Griffin McElroy: "I am enjoying Clair obscure Expedition 33. I'm excited to talk about it here." (05:08)

• Chris Plant: "Just select the gist button and we'll gist it for you, and then we'll get to the fun stuff." (36:30)

---

Conclusion

In this episode of "The Besties," the hosts engage in a comprehensive discussion about the French RPG "Claire Obscura," exploring its intricate combat mechanics, compelling narrative, and the challenges of integrating humor effectively. They provide balanced critiques, acknowledging the game's strengths while addressing areas needing improvement. Additionally, the conversation touches upon the sequel "Revenge of the Savage Planet," upcoming content like "Hundred Line," and educational recommendations, ensuring a rich and engaging listening experience for both regular fans and newcomers.

Transcript

[Russ Rusticiano]

Do you guys think I could start saying capiche and get away with it? Try it.

[Justin McElroy]

Let's hear it.

[Russ Rusticiano]

Well, you gotta say something. Oh, wait, no, I have to say something.

[Justin McElroy]

No, I'll say something and then you just append capiche at the end.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Hey, how do you. How do you like your steak?

[Russ Rusticiano]

Well, you know, I gotta go medium rare, capiche?

[Griffin McElroy]

I don't actually think that that's a good use of capiche. I don't think you would use capiche to mean that.

[Russ Rusticiano]

I think it needs to be like.

[Chris Plant]

You need a second level dialogue, right? It's like. It's like, hey, would be a shame if something ever happened to your puppy. I'm gonna go play some tennis.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm gonna draw a line here. I'm gonna say. You can say capiche if you say it right, but you can't do the voice. The voice is no good, Russ. No, no.

[Chris Plant]

Is that not. You can't do, like, hey, I'm gonna go get a big Ogie. Like, that's not interesting.

[Griffin McElroy]

Ogie's really, really bad.

[Chris Plant]

Is that not okay anymore, Ogie?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, so threaten me, Russ. Threaten me and put a capiche on it.

[Russ Rusticiano]

Griffin, you're gonna sweep. You're gonna sweep with the fishes.

[Griffin McElroy]

Capiche? I'm say, no, Russ, you can't do it. Maybe practice and check in again next year, but what you just said was the least intimidating thing I've ever heard.

[Russ Rusticiano]

It said sweep with the fishes.

[Griffin McElroy]

You said sweep with the fishes, which now it sounds like a baby mobster is threatening me.

[Russ Rusticiano]

Capis?

[Justin McElroy]

Just throw it in once per episode. We'll get there. My name is Justin McElroy and I know the best games of the week.

[Griffin McElroy]

Bonjour. This is Griffin McElroy. I know the best game of the week.

[Chris Plant]

Mad Je Maffel. Christophe. Are you a video game?

[Griffin McElroy]

Are you doing the French? I thought I was the only one doing the French game.

[Chris Plant]

No, I. No, I'm doing some Claire Obscure.

[Justin McElroy]

I'm doing Claire Obscure.

[Griffin McElroy]

Sorry.

[Chris Plant]

And I'm doing. Well, we can't talk about Russ.

[Griffin McElroy]

What's your Russ?

[Russ Rusticiano]

My name is Russ Rusticiano. The Best game of the week.

[Justin McElroy]

Welcome to the Besties, where we talk about the latest and greatest in home interactive entertainment. This week, we're going to be talking about Claire Obs, two games that really challenge one's ability to recall names of games. We're talking about clair Obscura, Expedition 33, and Revenge of the Savage Planet.

[Griffin McElroy]

That sounds good to me, man. Yeah, dude.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah. But before we get into that Chris, plant anything in the headlines you want.

[Chris Plant]

Yeah. Hey, we got some news that we want to talk about real quick, so. So Polygon got sold, and there's a whole bunch of stuff that happened. A number of people lost their jobs. I'm no longer at Polygon, and that is okay for me. I'm much worried about everybody else. But there are still people there. It's still alive. Our beloved Russ Frostik is there. You should still go and visit. It does not need a protest of you not going to polygon.com. it is a wonderful spot. Still, there's one thing I do want to be, like, super clear on, though. Besties did start at Polygon a long, long time ago. We straight up own this thing. Yeah. We took this thing back. We said, no, no, no, no. That pie is too tasty. The writing on the windowsill.

[Griffin McElroy]

The writing was on the wall.

[Chris Plant]

Yeah, we knew five years ago, and we got it back.

[Russ Rusticiano]

So this thing, basically during the Spotify.

[Justin McElroy]

Event, people tried to buy My lady Spotify tried to lay down quite a few ducats to buy this show, but we said, not on sale.

[Russ Rusticiano]

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

[Justin McElroy]

No more seasons of this show for you.

[Chris Plant]

And then a year later, they said, dodged a bullet on that one.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Then we said, we'll buy this show back for you. And they said, that won't be necessary.

[Russ Rusticiano]

Have it check the truck of your car.

[Justin McElroy]

We've loaded it up for you and strapped it in already. Start driving Jet. Clamp it.

[Chris Plant]

You don't need to worry about this thing. This thing, it's all ours. It is. You are stuck with us.

[Russ Rusticiano]

Yep, that's right.

[Justin McElroy]

So let's take a break, and then we'll talk about video games.

[Chris Plant]

Okay. We're gonna be talking about clear obscura, and I want to make that.

[Russ Rusticiano]

Before we do, let me just say when I was trying to remember, we were talking about games you can't remember the names of. The way I remembered it as I was showing in the rundown was I typed into Google French jrpg.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, that'll work. I mean, French JRPG is. I mean, you're literally saying French Japanese role playing game.

[Russ Rusticiano]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

So you can see how that is a confusing.

[Russ Rusticiano]

Let's narrow it down.

[Justin McElroy]

It's a darker French Nier. It's Nier Noir.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, wow. That's pretty good juice. I like you. Fucking stinker.

[Justin McElroy]

Starring Daniel Radcliffe.

[Griffin McElroy]

This one is. It gets the old seal of approval from yours truly. I am very much enjoying Clair obscure Expedition 33. I'm excited to Talk about it here.

[Justin McElroy]

Let me lay it out for you, everybody. There's this world where when you get to a certain age, it's a number you die.

[Russ Rusticiano]

Any number.

[Justin McElroy]

Any number that. No, it's a number that's on a.

[Chris Plant]

Big rock painted there by the people.

[Russ Rusticiano]

Yeah, but like, if you were to pick any number, just. I'm gonna pull one out from nowhere.

[Justin McElroy]

33, let's say, for example, 33. And that's as long as you.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's so funny that you picked that number because that is the exact number.

[Justin McElroy]

And here's the deal, right? This sucks. Everybody hates this and they hate the lady that does this to them and they're mad at her. So they send people over to the island where they see the big rock. Every once in a while they send an expedition over there to basically ask her to cut it out.

[Russ Rusticiano]

Because we do not like it.

[Justin McElroy]

Okay? There's not that many people. Some people don't think the expeditions are a good idea anymore because there have not been successful to this point. But everybody agrees, like, or at least a lot of people think that we should keep trying to. And it's the psychology of this world.

[Russ Rusticiano]

And are they like debating her or what is the methodology for getting her to cut it out?

[Griffin McElroy]

I mean, no one's really been particularly successful. So there may be debate. There may be.

[Russ Rusticiano]

Did they just leave and they're sad.

[Griffin McElroy]

Or they are killed on the way by the many, many monsters.

[Russ Rusticiano]

Got it. Got it.

[Justin McElroy]

Yes.

[Griffin McElroy]

Right? Yeah. It is a really. It's a heavy setup for a game. I will say. The first hour and a half, two hours of this thing are a rough ride thematically. I do think I really enjoy it funatically.

[Justin McElroy]

Just from a fun game like reviewers till interactivity perspective. It's a little bit.

[Griffin McElroy]

It is on the light side for sure. I do think that it is a really, really fascinating setup for a game because it does this cool thing that happens in sort of apocalyptic fiction sometimes where humanity's relationship with death has changed to a degree where like sacrifice and duty and purpose become like sort of de rigueur. And so you have basically a team of hard asses who have been training their whole life to sacrifice their lives to try and stop this, you know, unfair thing from happening every year. And it really makes the characters pop, I feel like. And then of course, as soon as the expedition sets off and things go really fucking sideways really fast, then they have to struggle with like, okay, now was that all just kind of a bunch of talk or are we actually gonna try and push through this thing. I think the writing and acting and everything have been. I've played about 15, 20 hours so far and it has been superb.

[Russ Rusticiano]

And would you describe, I mean JRPG description notwithstanding. Like, is it a turn based like traditional Final Fantasy?

[Griffin McElroy]

But it has big Final Fantasy, big Persona vibes just in terms of like how it controls, how it feels, how.

[Chris Plant]

Combat flows and explosions and big Mario RPG vibes.

[Griffin McElroy]

Absolutely. There is a lot, a lot, a lot placed on timing. You can do the thing where you come up on an enemy in the Overworld and hit it to get a jump start on the battle. And then there's constant sort of opportunities to inflict, dodge or parry, dodge or Parry, or do QTEs with your special attacks to maximize how much damage that they do.

[Justin McElroy]

Smart ways to make that more dynamic too, the aiming and stuff, things like that that are a little bit more like fidelity. I think in the more turn based a complaint.

[Griffin McElroy]

I've seen a lot about the game. It is pretty. There's difficulty settings, but I mean on the standard difficulty, which is what I'm playing on, it is pretty hard. It is not a. If you don't do a good enough job with these QTE things or the dodging and parrying, you're gonna have a hard time making progress.

[Justin McElroy]

It's funny in 2025, I find that when I have a wipe in a game like this, which happened to me pretty early on, there is a little bit of like, oh, this doesn't seem right. Like I've lost. Guys, we're not supposed to let this happen. This should focus tested out. I've. I've lost the game.

[Griffin McElroy]

I kind of like it. Like if you die, it starts you off like five seconds before you got into the fight. So death is not like a super punishing thing. But it does set sort of stakes where when you are able to parry an enemy's attacks, it feels like Sekiro good. Like it feels you do a counterattack, you earn this, you earn ap, which is kind of like the currency you spend to do your. Your special attacks in the game. It's a really important resource and you get more of it by parrying. Dodging is a little bit easier than parrying, but you don't necessarily get that extra resource or do counter attacks for doing it. So you kind of have options in battle and then each character that you play as has their own sort of mechanic that you are managing to maximize their effectiveness in battle. Gustav is the first character you pick and as he attacks, he builds up this charge that. That he can release in this one super attack. And then there's Lunae, who can cast spells to earn these elemental points that she can spend to influence her attacks. Every character has their own thing going. So there's like, combat is fun. And I think for me, in a big RPG like this, if the combat is enjoyable and you want to do it, that is a huge credit to the design of the game and probably means I'm going to stick with it a lot longer than I would.

[Chris Plant]

It keeps layering on. On top of that. So not only does each character play quite differently, there is this painting system where you are like effectively painting elements onto your enemies and you can spend points both to paint onto them, but then you can consume them with other moves to deal extra damage. So you're basically like, oh, I'm layering on lightning and fire. And then I have a move that I know that is going to really be powerful when it pulls from that. And also that move is even more powerful if it is charged up and I can have another character feed into that charge. So I'm basically creating this massive explosion of damage.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's all about sort of synergizing the character's different abilities to build up to one massive fucking hit. And it feels really, really good every time you do it.

[Chris Plant]

I will say, for people who hear the Sekiro comparison, and that does not sound ideal. Hey, welcome. You're a lot like me. I was really struggling with this game. I got into it. I, like completely fell head over heels at the start. The music is incredible. The story is heavy, but as y' all said, the writing and performances are quite beautiful and subtle and delicate in a way that you don't see very often in any video games, not just this genre. But then to go from that into, I'm going to beat the shit out of you and it's going to be timing based. And it sound like there might have even been. I don't know if there still are issues with that timing depending on the frame rate that you were at. I've heard people saying, like, make sure that you're locked at 60 because it can be off.

[Griffin McElroy]

I've heard people say, like, don't use a Bluetooth controller because it's like, it's.

[Chris Plant]

Like all of that. Yeah. So I finally. I made a few changes. I switched to story mode, which is still challenging.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, right.

[Chris Plant]

It's like you can do that and still have a nice time. You're not like depriving yourself of the game, which is great. The other Tips are. The dodge that Griffin mentioned is a great way of learning the parry.

[Griffin McElroy]

Right?

[Chris Plant]

So like when you go into a fight and you aren't familiar with an enemy yet, just always start with the dodge to learn how the tempo works.

[Russ Rusticiano]

And it's kind of Dark Souls.

[Chris Plant]

Yeah. Pretty forgiving. And then once you've learned it, you will just instinctively. At least in my case, I was like, oh, damn. Okay, I'm just ready to parry.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Russ Rusticiano]

It also actually sounds like LIES of P, which is funny because they're both like, aesthetically inside of bellsollar era.

[Griffin McElroy]

Lot of really good progression hooks too. Like, you find these, they're called pictos, and they're just like little modifiers for your character that make it like. So if you do a parry, you earn an additional ap and then you kind of master those as you equip them so that you can keep their abilities equipped even when you don't have that particular thing. You earn attribute points. And there's different weapons you can upgrade and there's different skills that you can spend points on to learn. Like, there's a lot, lot, a lot going on here. But I mean, it all works. It's so cohesive in a way that, like, I don't know, man. I am enjoying this much more than the past few final fantasies, which I think is a fair comparison given that that is sort of a core inspiration for what they did here.

[Russ Rusticiano]

So this all sounds like incredibly my shit, which is rare because I don't generally like turn based RPGs, but the ones that I do like are the action combat ones. And this certainly checks that box. The. The question I have, which is the whole other half of the game is do you. Do you find the, like, writing narrative.

[Justin McElroy]

To be like, that actually ties.

[Russ Rusticiano]

Pulling you along?

[Justin McElroy]

Can I say that ties into actually what I was gonna say? Because, like, normally I don't like a lot of. I can get bummed out if there's too much talking and not enough action.

[Russ Rusticiano]

And even talking is fine if it's so long as it's not like the crystals need to.

[Justin McElroy]

So this is the thing, right? It's the, the issue that I have with video games is that you're a video game and if you want to communicate a story like a movie, then you got to be at least as good as a bad movie. You know what I mean? Which. A lot of games don't reach that.

[Russ Rusticiano]

Standard straight to Netflix quality and.

[Justin McElroy]

But this exceeds that for me. I found all the acting, writing, just the world being in the world, like Very engrossing. And like, by the time that you are ready for this expedition, I think it absolutely does its job of making you feel like, I actually am gonna go put a stop to this. I think I'm actually gonna go.

[Griffin McElroy]

They set it up real nice for you, the whole thing. I also think there's something really unique about a French developer. Sandfall. First project, apparently, like a miraculous sort of coming together of just kind of random people. The composer they found on SoundCloud, the writer, I think auditioned to do voice acting for it and then just ended up being brought on as a writer. It's sort of like this wild story of.

[Justin McElroy]

He was like, one more thing. I also can write English. And they were like, amazing.

[Griffin McElroy]

You're on, you're high. But all of them come together to make this game in Unreal Engine 5. And it looks and feels and sounds fucking fantastic. And I feel like that is not. That is not particularly common. And this whole thing is also, you know, dripping with like, French culture and aesthetic, which is not something I'm particularly versed in at all. French folklore too. Like, things I do not straight up do not know about because I have not played a game sort of inspired by this setting. And that is very, very cool.

[Justin McElroy]

It's also cool, like, it just looks cool, man. Like, and it's like, that's rare because I feel like so many games try to be cool. You know, they're trying to attain that or trying to get you engrossed. It's. It's sort of like you're talking about how the world has been affected by the. This. Like, everybody dies at this. This.

[Griffin McElroy]

The gamage.

[Justin McElroy]

And you see that the. The way that they have, like, accepted this. And it's interesting because I think seeing characters in that. In that way and sort of like accepting that fate rather than a lot of like, wailing and gnashing of teeth and being told how tragic this story is and being told how, like, how terrible this is. By seeing their resignation, I think as a player, it leaves room for you to be like, well, if they're not going to be angry, I'm going to be angry about it. This sucks. Let's go fix it. And by leaving you room, I think that it leaves you room to get invested rather than telling you why you should be invested.

[Chris Plant]

It reminds me a lot of Children of Men and Annihilation.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, Annihilation is the. Is the thing I kept coming back to.

[Chris Plant]

Yes. And what both of those do quite well is they put you in media res, which is like you come into it, and everybody else is way ahead of you. And exactly like you said, Hoops, like, you're having to emotionally catch up, which actually pulls you in. You are leaning in to be like, why are they not feeling like I am? Why? Why am I not? That you are filling in those emotional blanks. I think the other thing that does well with the movie comparison, Hoops is by being in Meteorize, you aren't getting the traditional exposition dump that so many video games have. I, again, I'm going to talk about in the. At the end of this is 100 line, which is awesome. But you don't even get the ability to, like, save the game until two hours in because you have to meet every single character and get the entire premise of the story.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. What's brilliant about this setup is that they live in this last city, which is basically Paris, that has been destroyed, but the rest of the world is kind of gone, as far as they know. And so when these expeditions go out, they do not come back. So as soon as you leave on the expedition, the characters are learning things about the world as you are learning about them. So this feeling of, like, this world's so strange. There's so much going on here that I don't understand. As soon as you set off on the expedition, now the characters are feeling that way, too. And it really pulls the whole thing together.

[Chris Plant]

It is cool, though, on that, like, early on, you go to an area of the world that's just underwater.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Chris Plant]

And nobody really mentions it. You're just kind of like, there's fish.

[Griffin McElroy]

Swimming through the air. And no one says, shit. You're like, okay, cool. How strange.

[Chris Plant]

It's like, yeah, you've seen so much crazy shit at this point that it's like, whatever, man. We just need to keep moving. We need to go find our friends.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's also funny. There's a lot of humor in the game that shockingly hits, and a lot of it is pretty absurdist. You meet this giant character named Esky eventually, who is just this giant who wants you to rescue his precious stones from his shithead neighbor. And he has all of these incredible powers, but he won't use them to help you out because he gets too tired. And that is also happening while you're trying to stop everyone on Earth from dying when they turn 33 years old. It's a really great contrast. I'm loving this game, man. I cannot put it down, mostly because mechanically, I think the hooks are just so strong.

[Justin McElroy]

Let me know when you guys are I'd like to say something at the end of the conversation when you're done.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm done.

[Chris Plant]

I'm done. I want to hear it.

[Justin McElroy]

What's up? David Cage. It's me, Justin McRoy. Listen, man, listen. The game has changed, brother.

[Griffin McElroy]

The bars, much higher.

[Justin McElroy]

The bar is much higher now, David.

[Russ Rusticiano]

You can't just release a game.

[Justin McElroy]

You can't just release a game now, David, because we know some French people know how to talk. You know, I'm saying, brother, you gotta get some vocalization assistance, buddy. You got to. You got to. It's not a French thing. It's a David Cage thing.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's a David Cage issue.

[Justin McElroy]

Game is over.

[Chris Plant]

Je suis laz envie.

[Justin McElroy]

No, that's Muzzy, not David Cage.

[Chris Plant]

I keep telling you, I got him mixed up.

[Justin McElroy]

All right, let's take a break. We're gonna come back, we're gonna head on over to the Savage Planet and let it enact its revenge. So Revenge of the Savage Planet is the sequel to Journey to the Savage Planet, which was. I really, completely forgot existed. And I really enjoyed it.

[Russ Rusticiano]

We talked about it on the show.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, it's a fun.

[Justin McElroy]

Five years ago.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's like a fun aa sort of Metroidvania. I feel. I feel like it slots in light.

[Russ Rusticiano]

Crafting and unlocking stuff.

[Justin McElroy]

Revenge of the Savage Planet is a. I would say probably sillier, lighter, a little bit goofier, but not completely reinvented take on a similar idea where you are blasted off to a really strange, very physically tactile world, very colorful world. You are supposed to set up a colony there, but you have, you know, classic. You know, none of your tools and none of your equipment made it. And you gotta start rebuilding stuff with the 3D printer that you have and just sort of like scavenging this planet for resources. But the. The corporate overlords that sent you have kind of like abandoned you. So your only assistance is an AI buddy named Echo that you can kind of customize with, like the voice or how often they speak, etc. So pretty quickly you're blasted off with, like, very little in the way of equipment. And you start getting a scanner, and then you start getting the ability to capture animals and send them back to baseball to study them.

[Russ Rusticiano]

You did skip over the one big. Probably the biggest change between this and the first game was that it's a third person game.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, yeah, that's true. I kept looking for a way to fix that, but they meant to do is a third person game. It is a lot More about the like, I think silliness of like running around this world. It feels, I thought at least pretty good to run around, but it is a, it's a big playground. Like, and even when you go to the door of your habitat to leave, it says the prompt is go play outside. Like it's, it's. They, they want this to be a big fun world. The story. Well, and, and stuff such as it is. Well, we can talk about that a little bit later. But that's the general pitch. Russ, what did you say?

[Russ Rusticiano]

Yeah, I, I think for what it's. It sounds like you did not care for the switch to third person, whereas I thought it was actually a big improvement.

[Justin McElroy]

No, I don't, I don't know. I just prefer first person. You know, I, I, you know, I thought that it was like a. I didn't know if it was an option. I guess at the beginning I got used to it and I think it makes.

[Russ Rusticiano]

There's actually a joke at the beginning of the game. I put that in quotes, but where you fall out of your spaceship, whatever it is, and like you land in for. They say a line about like change in perspective, you know, falls like this can result in a change in perspective and then the camera pulls back.

[Justin McElroy]

I think that they're really intending that people remember that five year old Dusty double A. Somehow I did better. Well, good. Russ, you host a video game podcast. I'm glad that you're in. I did. And your retention for, for video game minutia is off the charts.

[Russ Rusticiano]

That's true. What I would say is, I think for me I found the third person to be better because first it like does a better job of putting you in the world itself.

[Justin McElroy]

It would be a lot harder to do a lot of this platforming.

[Russ Rusticiano]

And there's also like, they added a bunch of stuff where you could like slide and then do like jumping slides and double jumps and things like that. And it just makes the whole thing feel closer to what I think they were going for, which is like Mario 64 kind of vibes of just like fucking around in a 3D environment. Yeah, yeah, I was gonna put that.

[Justin McElroy]

But it's actually pretty close. I mean there's like giant mushrooms, you're running or you're getting a good head in steam, throwing yourself around. Like it's.

[Russ Rusticiano]

Yeah, the jump feels fucking great. There are aspects of this that I think feel great. There are aspects that I don't think feel great, but just like the mobility stuff I think feels really, really.

[Justin McElroy]

What do you think does not feel.

[Russ Rusticiano]

Great gunplay, shooting things. I mean, this gets a little easier as you get more upgrades. It just didn't feel very impactful to me. And also just the, like. I mean, I would say my biggest complaint with it is the way it handles gating of, like, progression is oftentimes, like, complete this meaningless side quest.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah. You're talking about the biggest bummer I had with this thing.

[Russ Rusticiano]

Yes.

[Chris Plant]

So the.

[Justin McElroy]

The voice, your echo, your assistant. A lot of the ways in which you relate to it is like. And I mean by a lot, I mean, like, a lot. A lot is you go to a quest marker, and then it will show you the thing that you cannot interact with, and then it'll say, okay, well, you can't do this, and here's the next quest that you need to go get the thing, that you need to come back here to do this thing. And it's like, it's. And it basically lays it out to you like that. I mean, it's like it is aware of the fact that it is giving you a fetch quest to do. Like, it's. It's very cognizant of that in a.

[Russ Rusticiano]

Quest that you can't do yet.

[Justin McElroy]

Yes.

[Russ Rusticiano]

Which is honestly just a positioning issue. Like, if you. If you framed it as just like, let's go here and get this upgrade, I would be fine with it, even if it took the same exact amount of time. But because they're giving you a nested series of quests to get to the end, it feels like not.

[Justin McElroy]

And it gets.

[Russ Rusticiano]

It feels like you're checking off a list.

[Justin McElroy]

And it gets confusing, too, because it'll, like, start giving you, like, your quest indicator will change to, like, from the thing you're actually trying to do to, like, the nearest teleporter, and it'll just kind of, like, update that. So it's kind of hard to track, like, what you're doing, but the. Just that sense of, like, it's a real old lady who swallowed a fly kind of thing, where it's like, well, you need the grapple, but to get the grapple, you got to get the whip. But to get it. Get the whip, you got to capture this. This creature. And to capture this creature, you got to get this other thing from over there. And it's like, by the end of it, you're like, I don't even remember what I was doing. Like, it's for a game that seems to really want to emphasize play and exploration and stuff. Structurally, it feels very guided.

[Russ Rusticiano]

It didn't feel like they knew how to fill out the length of the game. Once they like nailed the sandbox of like how it feels to move around the world, they didn't necessarily know, like, how do we use this in a big way that isn't gonna feel like chores and like, it's not even like the main quests. Like some of the side quests that you eventually get which unlock valuable resources and some of them are even required are like electrocute 5 wiz bugs. I don't know where the fuck a wizbug is. And that's just, that's just the drag. So it's this weird dichotomy of like, it's really hard to make a third person game feel great to move around in the world. It's really rare to do that. And so that part of it feels great. And then you pair it with, I think just like, they didn't necessarily know how to scale that up. But. Justin, there's another thing you have not mentioned.

[Griffin McElroy]

Shocking that we've gone this long without.

[Russ Rusticiano]

Shocking that we've gone this long.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah. So the way that the messages from your like corporate overlords and former corporate overlords and even like commercials and stuff like that are like communicated to you is through FMV sort of cutscenes that are like highly, highly, like, how do you say, kind of filtered to make them look like it's right on the line between scenes.

[Russ Rusticiano]

I mean, they're actors.

[Justin McElroy]

They are, they are actors.

[Russ Rusticiano]

It's like live actors performing these scenes.

[Justin McElroy]

No, it's definitely. I'm not making like a. A distinction. I'm saying they're trying to blend it into the world. It's not this thing of like, it's not completely an aesthetic shift. They're. They're trying to incorporate it in the world. I mean, I really love FMV and games. I think it always like kind of rips me in. I have to say that for this I just feel like all of the stuff that. Man, I really don't want to. I don't mean this to sound mean. I think it's going to sound mean. But the stuff that is humor in this game or it just feels very Tim and Eric from like eight or nine years ago. Like this like leaning on absurdism for like the, the jokes and like the grotesque rather than it being like actually humorous. There is a. Your boss, your former boss in this character is like in a fat suit where the joke is that they eat a lot of food and that's disgusting and bad. And it's like so out of step with. It's not like not PC. It's just not funny, man. It's like these played old fat shaming. Like, it's not jokes. It's just like. It really is. When I say Tim and Eric, I don't mean like it's kind of aesthetically inspired. Like it. It just feels like cast offs from. You know, we have glerp and it's the food stuff that makes old people go crazy. And then you have old people squishing the glerp and they're like, yeah, I love GLERP too. It feels also like the performers and maybe this is wrong, but are just like the developers in makeup or people the developers knew. They're not like great performers or anything. And I just feel like they really. I don't know, I was just really unimpressed. And the stuff with like some of the. I don't know, it's just. None of it's funny. I don't know.

[Russ Rusticiano]

I. Yeah, it didn't land for me either. I was kind of blown away by like they clearly spent a lot of production time. Like they did like set deck and like costumes and. Which is. Yeah, just a lot of commitment and I guess. But. But we've talked about this before. Like humor is really fucking hard to do in video games. It really. Anywhere it's hard. But I agree in this case, I. The other. The other parallel I would make is like kind of early Saints Row. Like that. That kind of like tone.

[Justin McElroy]

Early Saints Row. And it's also like lifted straight. Like this is like this sort of like mocking mega corporations is like, I.

[Griffin McElroy]

Mean, obviously fair game.

[Justin McElroy]

Fair game, absolutely. But like it's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It's like, you know, so many other.

[Russ Rusticiano]

Properties of like very worn territory.

[Justin McElroy]

It's very. Yeah, it's very worn. And this and this. It just does not ring as like particularly funny just because it's been so like. It's Rick and Morty. It has done this to death. Like it's really well covered at this point.

[Russ Rusticiano]

It will actually be interesting because Outer Worlds 2 is coming out later this year and that also had like a similar tone, but not quite as like again grotesque and goofy as this, but it does lean on that. Like corporations do gross well.

[Griffin McElroy]

And the first game, you know, first Outer Worlds came out I feel like a while ago and it wasn't quite as sort of played out at that point. But yeah, I'm also a bit nervous about that.

[Chris Plant]

I had to run a little tummy Issue. Maybe you already talked about this.

[Justin McElroy]

So crazy to secretly do that and then come back afterwards and say, like, I snuck out and perfectly fine.

[Chris Plant]

Did you all say the thing about Google Stadia?

[Justin McElroy]

No.

[Griffin McElroy]

What?

[Chris Plant]

Oh, so that's the important part here, right? This developer, they made the. The first game in this series as part of the Google Stadia deal. They basically, like, got pulled in. Google Stadia gets blown up immediately, and they're, like, ejected out into the universe and they make this thing. So I think this is a little bit of therapy, you know, happening here. Well, the first process, this stuff, it did, for sure. But I think. I think this game is, like, really in it. But I do agree that it is worn. I also think on top of all the fiction that you mentioned, just being on, like, Blue sky for an hour will mean that you see, like, a lot of these jokes. It's just kind of like it's a certain type of online humor that. It's not bad. It's just.

[Justin McElroy]

Well, it's.

[Chris Plant]

Well, I would say it's. I'm not giving a judgment here. I'm saying it's ever present. And to then hop into a video game and get more of it is.

[Justin McElroy]

Like, I think my operating. And this is not my. Maybe my language, not my idea. The humor is the truth delivered in a surprising way. And I just don't feel like any of this is surprising. And maybe there's a truth to it. Corporations are evil for sure, but, like, it's not communicated in a surprising way. I think Outer Wilds is smarter about how it delivers. I know Outer Worlds is smarter, too. I mean, to be fair, Outer World is smarter, but, yes, I'm an outer world.

[Russ Rusticiano]

No corporations. Outer Wild.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, but. Yeah, I just think it's a little bit more. And I mean, again, like, I don't want to keep harping on it, but, like, Fallout is. Is very much this kind of. You know, it's like. I don't know.

[Russ Rusticiano]

There are aspects of the. It just. It feels like it needed a rethink. I could ignore the narrative stuff if. If I thought every aspect of the gameplay was, like, really hitting on all cylinders. But I do think that, like, that kind of both aspects needed a bit of a.

[Justin McElroy]

If you're just. If you're going to encourage people to get out there and explore and have fun, then you got to make a structure that encourages that. I mean, you can't just say it. You got to. You got to actually, like, invest people in that. And I just. There's so many guide rails you know, there's so many handrails on the thing, you don't really get a chance to do it.

[Chris Plant]

Elon. Elon Musk. Do you know why Elon Musk needs a driverless car?

[Griffin McElroy]

Why is that, Chris?

[Chris Plant]

Because he doesn't know where he's going.

[Griffin McElroy]

So that's the kind of. That's good shit, man. That's actually really good shit. That's actually thoughtful and poignant.

[Justin McElroy]

That's a thing.

[Russ Rusticiano]

Surprising.

[Griffin McElroy]

Do we want to do some honorable mentions?

[Russ Rusticiano]

Sure.

[Griffin McElroy]

I say that I don't really have.

[Chris Plant]

Yeah, no. Can I talk about my thing?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, yeah.

[Chris Plant]

Hundred Line the most.

[Griffin McElroy]

Dude, I kind of want to talk about that in a big way. In a full epi.

[Chris Plant]

How about we do. I would be very down to do a full epi, just so people know what it is, so they can get into it. The people, the two of the creative leads on Danganronpa and Zero Escape got together with a larger team and they made a new video game. It's called the Hundred Line. It is. Would you believe it? Students have gotten caught inside of a high school at the end of the world and they need to figure out some mysteries. Also, tactic rpg. It's sick. One word of warning, which I already said earlier, you do have to, like, really barrel through the first hour or two. Quite literally, you. There is not a pause menu. It does auto save, as I found out, thank God. But you need to get through it. Once you do, there's a whole game waiting for you on the other side. But it is a rough.

[Griffin McElroy]

It is really hard for me having this massive original RPG that I have been completely consumed by. While also over there in the corner of the room is the new game from the Danganronpa and Zero Escape team. Like, hey, we got 100 endings. You want to get lost in a flowchart, pal? Like, it's really tough. I can't possibly play both of those at the same time, but man almighty, I am really, really excited to play. It's Hundred Line. Last Defense Academy is the.

[Chris Plant]

Yeah, let's maybe do it like later in June and then we can really dig through it.

[Russ Rusticiano]

I do have a request, though, for game developers that are listening to this.

[Chris Plant]

Sure, sure.

[Russ Rusticiano]

We might have a couple. Maybe have an option to just be like, hey, do you want to gist this?

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay, cool. What's that look like?

[Russ Rusticiano]

If you want to gist the first hour, just gist it. If you want to gist it, you could gist it. Just select the gist button and we'll gist it for you, and then we'll get to the fun stuff.

[Griffin McElroy]

Can you just tell me. Chris, I'm sure. I know. Gist this for me. No, I know. I feel pretty confident in. I know what the writing and vibe and all that jazz is going to be like. Is the tactics side of the game also enjoyable enough?

[Chris Plant]

It's enjoyable. And I give your hand something to do sort of way. Kind of like. I enjoyed the tactics in 13 Sentinels. It's very different. Okay, but it's also just very easy. The way that it works is you're on a big grid board. You know what? Let's just save this for.

[Justin McElroy]

No, no, no, guys, I'm on the edge of my seat.

[Chris Plant]

No, no, no, no. Don't make me do that.

[Griffin McElroy]

No, no, no.

[Justin McElroy]

Wait, hold on. Tell me again. If I get through all two hours of the boring circumstances, it will let me play the easy tactics game, right? You promise? You promise it'll let me play?

[Chris Plant]

What if I told you you don't even get to the flowchart until hour 40?

[Justin McElroy]

Let me just it for you, okay? It's just it.

[Chris Plant]

God, I love it.

[Griffin McElroy]

God, I love a visual novel flowchart. God, I'm a sicko for that shit.

[Chris Plant]

Ah, video games.

[Justin McElroy]

I did.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm still working on optimizing the retroid flip, too. It's the most time I think I've spent actually playing one of these retro handhelds that I've set up. I got Persona 4 Golden working on it, which is very exciting. But honestly, the thing I have been coming back to is playing Game Boy color and NES and SNES games with the different CRT shaders and filters turned on. I just played through all of Shadowgate Classic on the Game Boy color just because it looks fucking rad.

[Russ Rusticiano]

How do you get that key from that skeleton? He's all the way over in the lake.

[Griffin McElroy]

How do you get the key from the skeleton in the lake? Well, do you have the sphere, you dummy?

[Russ Rusticiano]

Oh, gotta get sphere.

[Justin McElroy]

That's unnecessary.

[Griffin McElroy]

I mean, it's Shadowgate. I like coming back to Shadowgate because it's like I feel like I know almost how to do that thing in my sleep. Like, I've done it, and if you remember the steps, you can just go through it. And I really enjoy the vibe of that game. Also, now that the hockey season is over for everyone, we've been getting caught up on some of our shows, and this season of the Amazing Race has really slapped. Has been really. It's been a good one. It's been A banner.

[Russ Rusticiano]

Did you see that story about Val Kilmer and Will? Who is it? MacGruber?

[Griffin McElroy]

Will Forte.

[Russ Rusticiano]

Will Forte, at one point were, like, really into the idea of doing a season of that, and it would have been the best.

[Griffin McElroy]

It would have been really very, very good.

[Russ Rusticiano]

I'm so disappointed.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, this one's the budget, I think. Has that show got. That show has always been kind of like a side piece to Survivor. Like, we will watch Survivor every time and then like, Amazing Race, we'll give it a shot and maybe we'll stick with it and maybe we won't. And that got especially weird during the COVID season because there was a season where, like, after a few legs, Phil got everybody together. Like, listen, everyone, we have to stop for a while. And they stopped for a while and then they had to come back and start the race back up. And there were, like, a couple teams who didn't come back. And it was really weird. And the budget and plotting has been kind of strange since then, but MrBeast.

[Russ Rusticiano]

Would have just bought a mall and then put them all in the mall and had them race around that.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, I think that that is a different scale than we're used to watching the show. But really good casting this year and beautiful, beautiful locales. It's just enjoyable. It's a fun watch.

[Russ Rusticiano]

I've been watching season two of the rehearsal.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, yeah.

[Russ Rusticiano]

Which is.

[Griffin McElroy]

I've not watched the most recent episode.

[Russ Rusticiano]

But episode three, I think is the most recent. Yeah, it might be my favorite episode of the rehearsal I've ever witnessed. I lost my fucking mind watching that episode. I don't even know. I guess if you haven't watched this season. The premise is Nathan Fielder is trying to address serious issues with the airline industry and pilots in particular to minimize the amount of crashes that happen. And he thinks the core issue is communication within the cockpit and everything goes from there. It is.

[Griffin McElroy]

He spends the whole first episode saying, like, can I, a clown man, possibly address this serious issue of how power dynamics between a pilot and co pilot in the cockpit of a commercial airliner can lead to miscommunication and pilot error and plane crashes? Can I possibly, possibly overcome my, like, Persona of being a comedian, jokester to address this actual real issue with the ambitious conceit of this entire show while.

[Russ Rusticiano]

Also getting money from HBO because they are expecting a comedy show?

[Griffin McElroy]

A comedy show, Right? Like, man. The first episode starts with about 15 minutes of simulations of actual plane crashes and black box recordings of actors playing out black box recordings of actual plane crashes. It is A rough fucking ride, I guess.

[Russ Rusticiano]

Trigger warning.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, for sure. You could probably Skip the first 15 minutes of that pilot, no pun intended episode of the season.

[Justin McElroy]

It'd be a crazy place for a pun, by the way. Don't think you need to clarify.

[Griffin McElroy]

But, yeah, man, it is.

[Russ Rusticiano]

It just. It's clear. Because the first season of the rehearsal was also interrupted by Covid.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Russ Rusticiano]

And they really had to do, like, a huge left turn in terms of what they were touching on. And this is, like, clearly where his ambition was with something as pretty bizarre as this.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Russ Rusticiano]

And again, I thought episode two was very good. Episode three of this season is, like.

[Griffin McElroy]

Can't wait.

[Russ Rusticiano]

Really spectacular. I'm very excited.

[Chris Plant]

Juice.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, man. Here's what I would recommend, guys. Here's what I've been spending a lot of my time with this week. If you get onto YouTube, you can watch the Electronics 102 course from Lake Washington Technical College. Fuck, yeah. Instructed by a man named Joe Grinniak, who. The first part is 10 hours long, and I'm at about hour five, four and a half right now. And the thing has been gripping. And if you want to learn the basics, fundamentals of electronics, this course is only 17 hours long, and the entirety of it is available to you on YouTube. Just start watching this thing and you're gonna emerge from. If your brain is wired a certain way, I. I mean, you could just watch the whole thing and learn a lot about electronics. And that is my recommendation to you, is you go watch the video titled Basic Electronics, Part 1 on YouTube.

[Griffin McElroy]

I visited Justin's house this past weekend and saw your setup in your office.

[Russ Rusticiano]

How much does it look like Beekman's World?

[Griffin McElroy]

I don't know if it's at Beakman's world level, but there's a lot of Tinkerer's toys. A lot of Tinker toys in there.

[Justin McElroy]

I think I expressly forbade you from.

[Griffin McElroy]

A lot of clips. A lot of clips and lenses.

[Justin McElroy]

I trust that none of them will be out of place when I return.

[Chris Plant]

I'm adding this to the newsletter. This is Nerds Lesson.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Chris Plant]

Okay.

[Justin McElroy]

I mean, the video is Basic Electronics, Part 1. The channel is Nerds Lesson I. Now, listen, I'm only four and a half hours in, so it may get boring later, I don't know. But the first four and a half hours, I'm to resistance. Right now, I.

[Russ Rusticiano]

Hey, listen, you didn't need to gist it, is what you're saying.

[Justin McElroy]

Listen, no gisting required.

[Chris Plant]

Yeah. Do not gist that.

[Justin McElroy]

Let's just Say this. People in my life have been hearing a lot about batteries.

[Russ Rusticiano]

Have they covered the water being bad part of it. Sorry, what have they covered water being bad for electronics.

[Justin McElroy]

So interesting. Water conductor or insulator?

[Russ Rusticiano]

Both.

[Justin McElroy]

Wow.

[Griffin McElroy]

Makes you think. I guess it depends on how much water.

[Justin McElroy]

Clean water. Pure H2O is an insulator. So when they're treating water at a water treatment plant, they'll actually measure the conductivity of the water to see how much junk is left in it. Because pure water, not conductive. So if you like, in theory, if you're in a hot tub and someone chucks an electrical appliance in there, don't do that. Shouldn't do that. Now you will die. But if. But if there was nothing in the water.

[Russ Rusticiano]

If there was a new hot tub.

[Justin McElroy]

New hot tub. But also you didn't have oils and everything because you can throw off the chemistry very easily.

[Russ Rusticiano]

But I don't. My skin is gross.

[Justin McElroy]

But it's bad water. I didn't know this. Pure water. It's an insulator. Fascinating. Thanks, Joe.

[Russ Rusticiano]

Okay, I think we did it. Thank you to everyone over there at the Patreon and everyone else listening that isn't a Patreon member. Maybe you will become one. You could go over to patreon.com thebesties and join. You could also get a gift for people of a subscription if you want to get a gift for a friend or loved one that loves the besties. Patreon.com thebesties gift some new members that I want to thank to the Patreon. We have dtx, we have Aaron, we have Ben, and we have ram. Thank you for being members of the Patreon. We have a new restyz coming to you on Tuesday. We have that bracket episode which went up a little early. That was a nice, special early gift for y' all. So lots of good stuff over there on the Patreon. All right, next week we are doing the dark Ages.

[Justin McElroy]

The dark Ages.

[Russ Rusticiano]

That doom guy is going back in time.

[Justin McElroy]

Going back in time. But he's passing the original Doom guy to even before the first doom guy. Think about that. Wow. That's gonna do it for 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. Yay. Games besties.