Silent Hill 2 is the Psycho (1998) of Video Games

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Besties – "Silent Hill 2 is the Psycho (1998) of Video Games"

Release Date: October 18, 2024

Hosts:

• Chris Plante
• Griffin McElroy
• Justin McElroy
• Russ Frushtick

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Introduction to Silent Hill 2 Remake

In this episode, The Besties delve deep into the highly anticipated remake of Silent Hill 2, equating its impact in the gaming world to that of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho in cinema. The hosts express their excitement and set the stage for an in-depth discussion about what this remake brings to the table compared to its original 2001 release.

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Gameplay Mechanics: Original vs. Remake

The conversation kicks off with a comparison between the original Silent Hill 2 and its modern remake developed by Bloober Team.

• Control Schemes:
  Justin McIlroy points out the shift from the original’s tank controls to a more modern, over-the-shoulder perspective. “[00:04:18] Chris Plante: It's extremely loyal. It should have been less so,” he comments, emphasizing that the remake maintains much of the original’s gameplay mechanics without fully embracing contemporary design conventions.

• Environmental Interaction:
  Griffin McElroy criticizes certain gameplay elements, noting, “[00:16:52] Griffin McElroy: Barricades with low fences feel outdated. I could literally step over them,” highlighting how some updated features feel out of place in a modern game context.

• Resource Management:
  The hosts discuss the remake’s approach to resource scarcity and survival elements. Russ Rush mentions, “[00:13:59] Russ Rush: Resources keep you alive just long enough to get to the next point,” indicating a faithful recreation of the original’s tense survival mechanics.

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Story and Narrative Depth

The essence of Silent Hill 2 lies in its psychological horror and narrative complexity.

• Jim’s Journey:
  Chris Plante outlines the protagonist’s quest: “[00:08:25] Chris Plante: Jim is in a bathroom at Silent Hill... his wife has been dead for years.” The remake preserves the original’s haunting story of grief and psychological struggle, though some hosts feel the narrative delivery lacks depth in the remake.

• Thematic Elements:
  Christopher Thomas Plant draws parallels to cinematic influences, comparing the remake to Gus Van Sant’s Psycho: “[00:19:20] Chris Plante: It feels like the limitations of Psycho made it special. Silent Hill’s original constraints gave it its unique horror.”

• Multiple Endings:
  The discussion touches on the game’s multiple endings, with Griffin McElroy humorously adding, “[00:31:27] Griffin McElroy: Dogs did it. They've been controlling the town all along,” referencing one of the game’s more outlandish conclusions.

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Technical Aspects and Performance

The technical execution of the remake is a significant topic among the hosts.

• Graphics and Sound Design:
  Russ Rush praises the sound design: “[00:22:15] Russ Rush: The sound design is next-level. It genuinely scared the shit out of me,” while Griffin McElroy highlights issues with graphical fidelity, especially on platforms like Steam Deck.

• Performance Issues:
  Justin McIlroy shares his experience, “[00:27:35] Justin McIlroy: On PC, it ran badly with jerking graphics,” pointing out that despite visual improvements, performance lags detract from the experience.

• Steam Deck Compatibility:
  Russ Rush notes, “[00:28:42] Russ Rush: It chunks during cutscenes, especially wet street scenes. Unsupported on Steam Deck,” cautioning listeners against attempting to play the remake on portable devices.

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Comparative Analysis with Other Horror Games

The hosts draw comparisons between Silent Hill 2 remake and other titles in the horror genre to contextualize its place in modern gaming.

• Resident Evil vs. Silent Hill:
  Russ Rush contrasts the atmospheric tension of Silent Hill with the action-oriented Resident Evil series: “[00:10:58] Russ Rush: Resident Evil has arc power and increasing threats, while Silent Hill maintains a consistent level of psychological horror.”

• Alan Wake 2 Parallel:
  Justin McIlroy suggests playing Alan Wake 2 before the Silent Hill remake for a more modern narrative experience: “[00:32:14] Justin McIlroy: Alan Wake 2 is more modern and interesting,” highlighting its evolution compared to the faithful Silent Hill remake.

• Indie Horror Inspirations:
  Russ Rush acknowledges Bloober Team’s lineage in indie horror, referencing games like Layers of Fear: “[00:18:37] Russ Rush: Bloober Team has a great background in indie horror, enhancing Silent Hill’s psychological elements.”

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Listener Mail and Community Interaction

The episode features a segment where the hosts engage with listener questions, offering recommendations and sharing personal insights into gaming and media consumption.

• Criterion Collection Recommendations:
  Ben asks Chris for movie recommendations from the Criterion Collection. Chris Plante suggests titles like Tenebrae and Deep Red for newcomers, emphasizing their iconic status in horror cinema.

• Gaming While Exercising:
  Henry inquires about combining gaming with physical exercise. Russ Rush shares his setup with a recumbent bike and Steam Deck dock, playing games like Metaphor to make workouts engaging.

• Halls of Torment Feedback:
  Will comments on why Halls of Torment hooked him, praising its RPG character build mechanics. The hosts discuss the game's intricate progression systems and compare it to other titles like Brotato.

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Technical and Production Notes

While not part of the main content, it's worth noting that the episode includes a brief acknowledgment of sponsorships, which are skipped in this summary per user instructions.

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Final Thoughts and Upcoming Content

In wrapping up, the hosts reflect on the balance between nostalgia and modernization in game remakes. They express mixed feelings about whether the Silent Hill 2 remake successfully captures the essence of the original without feeling outdated.

• Purchase Considerations:
  Griffin McElroy questions the remake’s price point: “[00:26:16] Griffin McElroy: $70 for a game that feels antiquated is ridiculous.”

• Future Episodes:
  The Besties tease upcoming discussions on Steam Next Fest, encouraging listeners to share their favorite indie titles for future episodes.

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Notable Quotes

• Justin McIlroy [00:06:13]: "This fucking game."

• Russ Rush [00:10:15]: "Silent Hill 2 is fully designed around the psychological tricks that disempower you."

• Christopher Thomas Plant [00:27:01]: "Silent Hill 2 was good originally because of the limitations."

• Griffin McElroy [00:31:52]: "This is a fine way to experience Silent Hill 2, but I don't understand the $70 price tag."

• Chris Plante [00:22:26]: "The sound design is next level great."

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Conclusion

The Besties provide a comprehensive and critical examination of the Silent Hill 2 remake, balancing nostalgic appreciation with a realistic appraisal of its modern execution. Their discussion offers valuable insights for both longtime fans and newcomers, highlighting the challenges of remaking a classic horror game in today's gaming landscape.

For more detailed discussions and recommendations, subscribe to The Besties Newsletter and stay tuned for next week's episode covering Steam Next Fest highlights.

Transcript

[Justin McIlroy]

So there's really. This is not a bit. Let me just start off by saying this is not a bit. This is a serious inquiry for the group. Okay. And in my opinion, there's only two right answers to this question. But maybe there's another one.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Okay.

[Justin McIlroy]

Kirby has shoes.

[Griffin McIlroy]

Uh huh.

[Justin McIlroy]

When you take the shoes off, what is beneath them?

[Russ Rush]

Nothing.

[Griffin McIlroy]

Yeah. They're just attached. They're floating. They're not even attached to his body. They're just shoes.

[Russ Rush]

I mean, this is the same. It's the same as sort of the Rayman conundrum. Right. Where if you grabbed one of Rayman's hands and started running really, really fast, could you remove it? Could you remove. Or is the hand still Rayman? Do you know what I mean? Cause they're not a good.

[Justin McIlroy]

Could you remove it? I always thought it was like a gravitational pull situation.

[Russ Rush]

Right. And you can overcome gravity if you believe in yourself enough. And you're true. I'm pretty weak, but neutrons are aligned. Yeah. If I grab Rayman's hand and take off, run and I put it under a chair, will he call that back? Like Mjolnir?

[Justin McIlroy]

Okay. But let me take a step back and say Rayman wears gloves. So if you were to pull off Rayman's gloves, you would see his hands.

[Russ Rush]

His hands, which probably look like what Kirby's feet looks like.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Does people not remember the Kirby game? That was like Conqueror's Bad Fur Day. The one where it went rough. People don't remember that one. Kirby's curly Crumbles, where Kirby's curly crimbles.

[Russ Rush]

Is one of my favorites.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah. And that's the one where he runs a feet only. Only fans. The whole reason he wears his shoes is he's not gonna give it away for free.

[Russ Rush]

That's true.

[Justin McIlroy]

I mean he doesn't. He sells his games. So it's. It's worth considering that as well.

[Russ Rush]

I've never had a free experience with Kirby. That's not true. There's two free to play Kirby games on the eshop store right now.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah.

[Justin McIlroy]

Thank God you're here, Griffin.

[Russ Rush]

Just saying.

[Justin McIlroy]

So it's toes or. No, no, toes.

[Russ Rush]

It's weird.

[Justin McIlroy]

Is it like his hands, they're like blobs?

[Russ Rush]

No, his feet are actually really detailed and he has toes going around the whole way. Like 35, 40 toes.

[Griffin McIlroy]

His toes are like long ribbons that are curled.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah.

[Griffin McIlroy]

Like crimbles into spirals.

[Justin McIlroy]

Oh. Like he's grown his toenails really long. Like he's in the toes.

[Griffin McIlroy]

They're his flat toes. Like a tapeworm.

[Justin McIlroy]

Yeah.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Oh, it should explain why he has kind of a bounciness to his jump.

[Griffin McIlroy]

Yeah, it's a springing kind of toe.

[Russ Rush]

His feet are actually his kids that are attached to. When Kirbies reproduce, they create two smaller Kirbys below them and to sort of harden them for the dangers of Planet Pop Star, they will run around on.

[Griffin McIlroy]

Their kids like a pouch.

[Russ Rush]

It's like a pouch but it's not attached to their body. And they put shoes on the kids.

[Justin McIlroy]

And do the kids eat the larger Kirby once they're big enough?

[Russ Rush]

Once the kids are big enough, the two of them will share and eat the larger Kirby.

[Griffin McIlroy]

Is there a comic? Hey, do you guys want to do a mind comic with me? It's a pretty good one. It's where a bunch of Kirby's are standing around at a funeral for another Kirby and they're like, well, who's hungry? You do.

[Russ Rush]

Yeah.

[Griffin McIlroy]

No, you can see it, right? It's funny. Have at it. Have at it. Penny Arc. My name is Justin McIlroy and I know the best game of the week.

[Russ Rush]

My name is Griffin McIlroy and I know the best game of like 2001 I think.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

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

[Justin McIlroy]

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

[Griffin McIlroy]

Welcome to the Besties where we talk about the latest and greatest in home interactive entertainment. It is a video game club and the only way to join it is just to listen to this show and then and you will join it.

[Russ Rush]

Great.

[Justin McIlroy]

Great.

[Griffin McIlroy]

This week we are talking about a new electronic confection that is actually a remake of an older one called Silent Hill 2. What could that mean, Chris?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I mean you kind of said it. It's a remake of Silent Hill 2, one of the most famous horror games ever made. But this time it's made to look super realistic and made by super fans. Bloober Team.

[Griffin McIlroy]

Hey. All right, well listen, that and so much more context coming to you after the break. If you're a fan of old Silent Hill, if you're not yet new fans, we got room for all of you. Follow us. We are officially there. We're there in the gift giving season that we're in that special gift giving time. You don't want to hear about it because it's stressful. Well, good news. How about I just fix all the stress for you right now? No problem with aura frames. Every time you give an aura frame it's going to feel like a hand picked personal gift. Why? Because you're going to digitally fill it with an incredible number of memories that you and the person you're giving the gift to can share. You want your grandma to see what's going on with your kids. You want to see your brother, to know what your dogs are up to, whatever. Then buy them an aura frame. You set it up on their wifi. You can do it ahead of time if you want to. And then with just a couple of button presses on your phone or whatever, you can upload photos to that person's phone. It's a really good way of staying in contact. It's a wonderful gift. It's easy to set up. We've got, we've gotten them for quite a few people in our lives and we have never had anything but a thrilled reaction. And I think that you should really give it a shot. For a limited time, visit aura frames.com and get $45 off Aura's best selling Carver Matte frames by using promo code Besties at checkout. That's a U R A frames.com promo code besties. This exclusive black Friday Cyber Monday deal is their best of the year. So don't miss out. Terms and conditions apply. This fucking game, huh?

[Russ Rush]

This fucking game.

[Justin McIlroy]

Guys, before we talk about Silent Hill 2, I don't want to bring things down, but I do have some important information to share regarding Patreon. Patreon's great. We love all our Patreon supporters. This is very important. This has nothing to do with us. Although it does because it obviously impacts the Patreon itself. Apple is instituting a new rule that if you subscribe to things through your phone, they're going to charge you an extra 30% till I get their cut.

[Griffin McIlroy]

Cool.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Cool.

[Justin McIlroy]

Kind of, kind of a bummer. Not something we control. I know Patreon's pretty upset about it as well. But some good news a, if you already have subscribed to the Patreon, the Besties Patreon or really any Patreon, the price will remain the same. So if you're like regularly subscribed and you're paying every month or you paid the annual, whatever it is, it's going to stay the same regardless. So this really just impacts new subscribers or people that have like lapsed and then resubscribe again. This starts in November. The other thing to remember, if you're concerned about it and you have any doubts like, oh no, I don't want to get charged this extra amount. Just subscribe on browser on a website that's It. That's all you have to do to save yourself 30%. That we are not seeing. That does not see our bottom line at all. It doesn't help us at all. It just helps Papa Apple. So if you're worried about it all, just subscribe through the browser. Or if you already are a subscriber, don't worry about it. It won't increase. The end.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

That's the scariest thing we'll talk about all day. Am I right?

[Russ Rush]

No, not really. This game's scariest.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah.

[Griffin McIlroy]

What is Silent Hill 2.

[Justin McIlroy]

Whoa.

[Griffin McIlroy]

Contextualize that for me.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Well, it's not Silent Hill one. And I mean that as in it's not a traditional sequel to Silent Hill 1. So if you didn't play a Silent Hill 1, don't worry, you're a. Okay. Nothing is necessary because they're like anthologies, right?

[Justin McIlroy]

Like, they all are set in Silent.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Hill, but otherwise, well, some of them.

[Russ Rush]

Are set inside an apartment. It's weird, man.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah.

[Russ Rush]

Weird franchise.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Silent Hill 2. Let's start with the story. A man, let's call him Jim. He comes to Silent Hill.

[Justin McIlroy]

It's James. So he's not alone.

[Russ Rush]

I don't know how familiar you are.

[Griffin McIlroy]

He wants to call him Jim. So let's just call him Jim. I agree with Plant. Let's call him Jim.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Jim is in a bathroom at Silent Hill. He's looking in the mirror and he's saying, I got a letter from my wife and she says, I gotta get to Silent Hill. We have memories here. What's been going on? Except his wife has been dead for years.

[Justin McIlroy]

Yeah.

[Russ Rush]

Yeah.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

But he's here anyway because he's gotta see this through something.

[Justin McIlroy]

Did he check the post dating on the letter? So maybe it got lost and then.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Oh, yes, I'm gonna guess that Jim did. Jim's, you know, relatively clever.

[Russ Rush]

He's pretty smart. Just kidding. He may be the dumbest living man. Jim goes up into Silent Hill and he has many warning signs of people saying, do not go. Do not go in there. W. Cause there's fucking flesh puppets and there's little death beetles and all the fucking foggy. It's so fucking foggy. There's no one there.

[Griffin McIlroy]

And Jim's like, that's all well and good, but I do want to have a quick butchers because my wife died.

[Justin McIlroy]

And I think no one loves reaching into scary holes more than Jim. So Jim has scary.

[Griffin McIlroy]

His self preservation is maybe the worst remake. Jim is maybe the worst video game protagonist I've ever seen.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah.

[Russ Rush]

Yeah.

[Griffin McIlroy]

His terrible BLEACH. Blond hair makes me root for pyramid head a man for the traffic cone for a hair.

[Russ Rush]

Now did this hit anyone? Did this remake? James, the facial animation and everything is obviously much better than the. Was it PlayStation 2 original? He looks like. And I imagine this is intentional, like a much younger David Lynch. There is something about, I don't know, maybe if I was just kind of projecting that onto him.

[Griffin McIlroy]

Yeah, maybe. He is definitely a milk faced man, which is.

[Russ Rush]

Maybe I was just projecting that because this game is so heavily like Lynchian inspired. Just some more context. I feel like Silent Hill was the foil to Resident Evil. Right. It was Konami's sort of like, what if we made a survival horror game but instead of focusing so much on, you know, gameplay mechanics and the sort of tent pole stuff of the survival horror genre of like.

[Justin McIlroy]

And also like science, like Resident Evil is like a science horror game and this is not. This is like a mystical cosmic horror.

[Russ Rush]

Cosmic horror.

[Griffin McIlroy]

There's also I think a sense in a Resident Evil where there's an arc of power that is increasing. And Silent Hill I think is much more about creating a consistent level of threat throughout.

[Russ Rush]

So that's interesting because it's not as fun to play as a Resident Evil. Right? Like just fully not fun. But in Resident Evil games aren't that scary. They're not. They can get you with a good jump scare sometimes. But like the tension is not that rough when you have like an infinite Ammo rocket launcher in your pocket.

[Justin McIlroy]

Yeah, but that happens later. I mean, look at seven. It's like shit my pants. Scary.

[Russ Rush]

Yes. But I do think that Silent Hill 2 is fully designed around like the psychological tricks that it disempowerment.

[Justin McIlroy]

And all you have is a fucking piece of wood for a lot of the game.

[Russ Rush]

Yeah.

[Griffin McIlroy]

There is also the Silent Hill environment, I think lies to you a lot more than the comparatively concrete world of a Resident Evil game. Like that world is not going to.

[Justin McIlroy]

Be because it doesn't work by physics basically. Right, exactly.

[Russ Rush]

This game is very like, it's a bad dream and it is being shaped by this dude. But things change and dream logic seems to apply in places. And to me this is what makes this game cool. And it is what sort of enticed me to play this game. I played it, I tried it on Steam Deck first on a train and it doesn't. Well, it doesn't run very good on Steam Deck. But also you can't like immerse yourself in it. You really need to be in a dark room, headphones on it's also unsupported.

[Justin McIlroy]

To be fair.

[Russ Rush]

It is unsupported.

[Justin McIlroy]

No one claimed that it did work on Steam Deck.

[Russ Rush]

Don't try it on Steam Deck. I'm saying you need to like to enjoy this game. You need to buy into like, I want to get scared by this game because if you do that it will happen because it is a very scary game. It is not enjoyable to play.

[Justin McIlroy]

Well, let's talk about what the actual like loop of the game for people that never played the original. What are we actually doing from a minute to minute basis?

[Griffin McIlroy]

I mean it's not dissimilar from. I mean it's kind of like the Alan Wake loop. It's a lot like Alan Wake. This kept reminding me of Alan Wake two specifically for sure.

[Justin McIlroy]

Yeah, I have comparisons to make as well.

[Griffin McIlroy]

But I think you are wandering around Silent Hill, this town, looking for your wife. There are moment to moment, it's very much about exploring the world, finding, you know, the one to three sort of key items that you need to progress past a certain point. There is a map that is constantly being updated with like points of interest and things like that. There are monsters throughout that you are kind of encountering. They're not that hard to avoid. But a lot of the times you're sort of like forced into confrontation with them.

[Russ Rush]

Yeah.

[Griffin McIlroy]

And sometimes running makes sense and sometimes combat makes sense and you're not really building like a huge arsenal or anything. It's more like resources that keep you alive long enough to get the next thing right.

[Russ Rush]

Yeah, the like.

[Justin McIlroy]

Yeah, the weird, I guess consistency of it is like there's a lot of like, I'm gonna check the map. Oh, I need to get to this room because I just found this item which guides you here and you get to that room and there's a note that maybe gives you a clue or there's a key that can get you through this door. There's a lot of like backtracking and just finding your way to the next little breadcrumb, if you will.

[Russ Rush]

Yeah, I think the game does a pretty good job of helping you find to follow the critical path because once you get into stuff it is pretty linear. It does a great job of. If you have found the area map, James will automatically mark it and circle areas of interest.

[Justin McIlroy]

It is funny because he's in the worst situation possible. He's like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, hold on, let me get that pen.

[Russ Rush]

And it's great that he does this because some of the, some of the critical path is so fucking Silly and convoluted. We were talking yesterday about there's one puzzle where you need a coin, like a quarter to put in a jukebox to get it going. But that coin is only in one cash register in a single business. And you learn about where that business is because someone mentions it in a card.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

You also get a coin puzzle after that.

[Russ Rush]

A lot of coins.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

A lot of coins.

[Justin McIlroy]

Justin mentioned this the other day with the cans. The juice cans.

[Russ Rush]

Yeah.

[Griffin McIlroy]

There's like. Yeah. At one point, one of the puzzles is like, a coin gets stuck in a garbage chute and you have to hoist a box of cans of juice. Like, I can't. And as he hoists it, he like, grunts like, ugh. That's just. Cause James sucks. I don't know. I got kind of hung up on the remake part of this. I think that there is.

[Justin McIlroy]

Did you play the original? I'm.

[Griffin McIlroy]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I haven't kept up with it and my memory's not great, but like, you know, it definitely feels like a game from that time period. It feels a lot like those. I will say that I kind of feel like part of a remake at this point. I think there's a. More of an expectation on specifically these survival horror remakes that has become its own sort of subgenre. I think with Resident Evil and Dead Space, I just feel like there's not much thought put into what makes a game feel modern in addition to just making it look modern. And I think there's a real dissonance in Silent Hill. Two of things that, like, look like a modern game but don't feel like a modern game. And the big one for me is like. As an example is barricades where you have a lot of alleys where there's like four or five boxes or like low fence, and it's like you're bumping into it. It's like, I can't. I could literally step over. Like, I, Justin McElroy could step over this.

[Russ Rush]

Well, you're stronger than James Sunderland.

[Justin McIlroy]

You are. You have more.

[Griffin McIlroy]

Everyone. Everyone is. But I think, to me, if you're gonna make a game look like. The problem with making it look like a modern video game is like, that I can see there. It's three modern milk crates that I can step right over. Like, it's just not the. It's not a design conceit. That is something we do. Like, it doesn't feel. I'll give you. This is a little one, but it's after. At a certain point, There's a certain kind of monster where if you die, if he dies, he like arches his back and explodes acid everywhere, right? And if you're too close to him, the acid will hit you and hurt you, right? So if you kill the guys, you gotta like step away after you kill him. But there's this moment for about 10 seconds after you kill him where if you wander over there, you will also get hurt. So you just kind of have to wait for a bit. That's a very 2000, like early 2000s thing. Right. It just isn't given that kind of consideration to make it feel modern.

[Russ Rush]

For me, the conversation around this remake has been one of concern because Silent Hill 2, I think it's a hard game to remake because so much of what makes the horror of the thing work is the kind of constraints and limitations it puts on you. And so going from this very canned camera angle, tight, claustrophobic third person perspective to a modern, I mean, it feels like now like an over the shoulder, modern Resident Evil game.

[Justin McIlroy]

Yeah, the original, for people that don't know, was like an isometric tank control. Certain sequences was like, oh, they're picking the angle and you have to work with it.

[Russ Rush]

And so when you have, it feels more like a modern. What they have done, Bloober team, what they have done, who has a pretty great lineage of indie horror games, like Layers of Fear, I think it is really laudable that they have managed to fundamentally take the kind of core foundational interactivity of the game and change it and make it more, I mean, I guess, more modern and more pleasant. Even though it's not that pleasant, it still, like, works in this different way without, I think, affecting the horror. And in fact, like, takes some things and does them differently to really enhance what makes the game scary. But like, yeah, there is a lot of very early 2000 stuff in here.

[Griffin McIlroy]

That the cinematics too are not well directed. They're like, not in a way that I think is exciting and they go on way too long.

[Russ Rush]

Oh my God.

[Griffin McIlroy]

It doesn't create an error of suspense.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I think the problem for me is this is the most loyal of the remakes. Yes, Resident Evil is the other end of the spectrum. Dead Space is somewhere in the middle. And this is extremely loyal. And weirdly, I think this is the one that probably should have been the least loyal, both in terms of gameplay and also in terms of literally what you're showing. And I thought about this a lot. I didn't realize that I had actually played a good chunk of this game. As a kid, when I started, I was like, oh, wow. Yeah, I have played this one and I went back and replayed a little bit of it and I watched like side by side of the boss fights because I could not figure out why this didn't work for me. And what I came to is, do you all remember when Gus Van Sant remade Psycho?

[Griffin McIlroy]

Psycho, yeah.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah, that this feels like that. Where Gus Van Sant was like, we're gonna remake Psycho, but it's gonna be shot for shot the same. But now it's in color, I guess, and it has modern surround sound and it has modern people doing it. So I guess it's as good or better. But what it fails to understand is that the limitations of a Psycho are what made Psycho special. And I think it's fundamentally misunderstanding what made Silent Hill special versus what made Resident Evil and Dead Space special. I think Resident Evil and Dead Space, the originals were good despite the limitations, but if they had had all this modern technology, they would have benefited from it. I think Silent Hill 2 was good originally because of the limitations.

[Russ Rush]

Yeah, exactly.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I think the tank controls, I think the, like, weird visuals, all of that, I think helps. There was one scene in the Side by side of the boss comparisons that really stuck with me, which is there's a boss fight sequence where a creature grabs Jim by like, the head and then pulls him up through the ceiling. And in the modern version of it, it's like watching like a moment in Alien or Aliens where it's like, okay, he's there and then he gets like, sucked up, you know, I guess that's scary. In the original version, it's like this thing comes down, pierces him by the neck, drags him across the floor, and then pulls him up. Like he's like a paralyzed toy and a human claw machine. And when you see that, it's so weird that it's just deeply unsettling. And that weirdness is completely lost here.

[Griffin McIlroy]

Yeah, there's something in the. In the bump up infidelity that is being lost where it's like. It's a little bit like the lights coming on at the bar where it's like, yeah, okay. Yeah, I can see why you guys wanted so much. Fuck.

[Russ Rush]

I agree with all of that. I think the sound design of this game is next level great. Yeah, I do think that, like.

[Griffin McIlroy]

Should we talk about the radio real quick, Rif?

[Justin McIlroy]

Yeah.

[Russ Rush]

So you have a radio that you get fairly early on in the game and it just is producing quiet static the whole time. But as you get closer to A monster, it starts to pick up and create static that lets you know, like, hey, a monster's nearby. Which is great because you spend this whole game either in a dark building or a foggy street. And it is great, right? Because at first you're like, this is great because now I'll know when enemies are near and I will get ready to fight them. But then once you start getting into a cramped building where you can't see so much and there's different types of enemies and there's thin walls where maybe.

[Griffin McIlroy]

There'S on the other side of the.

[Russ Rush]

Wall front, you don't know. Then all of a sudden, now it's like you are. I was slicing the pie, like a fucking tactical SWAT agent. But also it starts to fuck with you a little bit, because then there's monsters that kind of hide in the environment. They don't set off the radio. And sometimes there's these little beetles that scuttle across the ground. They set off the radio. So you're looking for some big monsters about to kick your ass, and then you see this little beetle scuttle out, and you're like, that's not your friend.

[Griffin McIlroy]

That radio acts like your friend. The radio's not your friend. It's just another thing to scare you.

[Russ Rush]

All of that goes around. Also, just the sound design in general around the game is really genuinely. This game is very. It scared the shit out of me, and I think that's kind of what it's got going for it, because I.

[Griffin McIlroy]

Just find that once you do get into the actual fighting of the monsters, it was just about fighting the camera. For me, it was so much more about getting angled up the way I wanted to, to get the shots. And then basically, the way you deal with the main guy's strafe, let them puke at you as you strafe past, and then bop him a couple of times with that routine. And I just felt like I was fighting the camera more than I was fighting the guys.

[Justin McIlroy]

I do want to suggest something for people that are, like, on the fence or don't necessarily love horror games. I mean, this is probably not the game for you, but if you're interested in trying it out. I played it on Easy because I kind of thought that if I didn't play it on easy, I wouldn't be able to get through it, because I'm very, very scared of horror games. And I kind of found that I like that a lot more because even though there was some challenge, I was still fighting guys, and there was elements There I was a little. I was not as constantly stressed and I was able to like absorb more of the stuff. So it's there it is an option. You can, you can turn down the difficulty of the combat and also the. Even the puzzles, if you find the puzzles to be like, annoying.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

We ran into that with Alan Waite too also. Right.

[Justin McIlroy]

Alan Wake 2 I think. Yeah, I played on normal, but I know some people play it on easy for that and that's great. Like, I love.

[Russ Rush]

I set the puzzles to easy when I started and you can change the combat difficulty at any time, but the puzzles, one gets locked in. And I regretted it immediately when the first puzzle was like, the lady sits under the moon and the snake under the tree. And then you have to like put these little tokens that have a lady and a snake on it and you put them in the holes under the moon in the tree and it's like, wow, that was a real fucking brain buster.

[Griffin McIlroy]

Listen, if it makes you feel any better, it's not like a much broader thinker on normal. It's very similar.

[Justin McIlroy]

I mean, I just think this game is all vibes and the things that I don't come to it for are like combat and puzzle solving. I don't give a shit.

[Griffin McIlroy]

I got. Guys, I got to say, there's something about. I was pretty on board with this thing and then when I was loading up the Steam page to check it out and I did see that price tag. I don't normally get into price tags easy guys. But $70 is like. I love the idea of preservation. I'm deeply into like. And I think that's why the response to it has been good. Because if you like Silent Hill 2, this is very much that game.

[Justin McIlroy]

Yeah, those people are going to be very happy.

[Griffin McIlroy]

They're gonna be very happy. It is like a. It feels like a, you know, a gussying up a museum quality version of that. $70 for a game that in many ways feels pretty antiquated is ridiculous. I mean, it's just like, I don't. I don't understand that at all.

[Justin McIlroy]

Yeah, it's. It, it looks like a modern game, but it doesn't feel like one. And I think you'd need these this day and age. When we look at the Resident Evil reminder.

[Griffin McIlroy]

It's like a modern version of Silent Hill too. But I think it is. I think it is folly to act like the ways that design have evolved in the past 20 years can be like, up resed. We just don't understand games in this.

[Justin McIlroy]

Well, I mean, some games can be, but it doesn't necessarily justify a 70 price tag. Like some games have aged well is what I'm saying.

[Griffin McIlroy]

Yeah, well, yeah, yeah.

[Russ Rush]

I think it's important to keep in mind that a lot of the reason why people have so much fondness for it is because the original came out in 2001 and this style of a psychological horror game didn't really exist. Right. This was the cool, artsy, brainy, sort of cousin of Resident Evil. And I mean, this was 2001. I don't remember when the original Silent Hill came out.

[Justin McIlroy]

It was a PS1, probably 98 somewhere.

[Russ Rush]

Yeah. So it holds a really special place in a lot of people's hearts because it was so different and so genuinely so, so, so, so scary.

[Griffin McIlroy]

It's kind of like this is the lynch and Resident Evil's the Carpenter, like. Cause there's a lot of. They're both huge Japanese influences, both of those directors. And I do feel like both these franchises have a lot of times been in conversation with their work.

[Justin McIlroy]

Yeah. You mentioned the Steam version, Griffin. You played on PC. I played on PC. For me, I don't have the best PC, but it ran like pretty badly.

[Russ Rush]

It did okay for me.

[Justin McIlroy]

You were okay.

[Russ Rush]

I have what was considered a high end gaming PC about two and a half years ago maybe. Sure, yeah. And it works great.

[Justin McIlroy]

I was just getting a lot of jerking around.

[Russ Rush]

You can play it on Steam Deck. If you turn the resolution down and the graphics down and set it to run it through.

[Justin McIlroy]

It looks like Pitfall.

[Russ Rush]

No, it doesn't look like Pitfall, but it does during cut scenes. It really chunks. Anytime there's like a lot of reflections, it really chunks. Which bad news is wet streets. These streets are wet, gang.

[Justin McIlroy]

They got wet.

[Russ Rush]

So. But again, it's unsupported. So like whatever your expectations, should not be. Should not be.

[Griffin McIlroy]

This is a good corner of the show that I like. This new segment, Griffin complaining about Unsupported dog.

[Russ Rush]

This ain't new. I feel like I complain about the Steam deck.

[Griffin McIlroy]

It really does. It is such a massive differentiator in like how much of the game I'm going to play. I will say this, I played on PS5 and didn't have any problems, which is great.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Before we wrap the section, can we talk a little bit about the story? Because that is, I think the selling point of the game. And people can't see Justin's face right now, but maybe they can feel it.

[Griffin McIlroy]

Trying to think about what to say. I'm trying to Think about what to say that isn't.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Like, it's hard not to spoil it. That's one thing which we won't do spoil. I think it's very. Of its time. And I think that's another part where I kind of actually miss the old aesthetic. Because I'm very curious for people who are experiencing this for the first time, if it comes off almost edge, Lordy in its how far it goes. Where at the time, again, games just weren't dealing with topics of like, abuse and grief and sexual violence. Where now I think it might come across as like, insensitive to people who are experiencing it for the first time, which I guess I'm trying to provide the context here, which is games just were not dabbling in this space, which I think is why the original was so popular. Because it was a game that was at least trying. Where now. Yeah, that's I guess part of what also feels weird about remaking it is on every level, it feels like a game of its moment.

[Russ Rush]

Right.

[Justin McIlroy]

Yeah. Yeah. I. The narrative for me doesn't do a whole lot, but I do. A part of that is just. I think I need more of it. And it's like very lightly doled out, especially towards the beginning of the game.

[Russ Rush]

It's also one where if you know the twist.

[Justin McIlroy]

Yeah.

[Russ Rush]

Then there's really not much to pull you along. And I never finished Resident Evil 2, but I feel like I. But I know. I know the twist of it because the game came out 23 years ago.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah.

[Russ Rush]

And so, like, I think that does kind of.

[Justin McIlroy]

Silent Hill 2.

[Russ Rush]

You mean, what did I. Oh, I said Resident Evil 2.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

There are multiple endings and we can talk about one, which is that dogs, Shiba Inus. Have been controlling the town the whole time.

[Justin McIlroy]

Yeah. Dogs did it. They've been in a back room with computer screens controlling everything.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

The best ending to.

[Justin McIlroy]

I don't know if it's canon, but we're gonna say that it is.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah, definitely. I feel like we were maybe a little down on this one. It's not a bad game in the same way that for me, Gusman san, Psycho is not a bad movie. It's just a question of, like, why would I watch it when I can go back and play the original? The sad thing here is going back and playing the Original Silent Hill 2. Good luck. Really hard to even find.

[Griffin McIlroy]

I think this is a fine way to experience Silent Hill 2 and say that you've gotten the idea. I just don't understand from a Price perspective how you are. It just Seems correct.

[Justin McIlroy]

I think this game, looking at it now, I think they're different games, but close enough that I would instantly recommend someone play Alan Wake 2.

[Russ Rush]

Yeah.

[Justin McIlroy]

Before playing this. Because I think they're doing very similar things. But I think Alan Wake 2 is doing something that's much more modern and interesting.

[Russ Rush]

Sure.

[Justin McIlroy]

Than where this game is at. Right.

[Griffin McIlroy]

I do realize, though, how much Alan Wake 2 is, like, totally Alan Wake.

[Justin McIlroy]

The series owes so much to both Silent Hill and Twin Peaks as source material. So I totally give it credit. But, like, Alan Wake 2 has continued, obviously, to evolve over the years and Silent Hill kind of hasn't. Unless you count pt, which.

[Griffin McIlroy]

Yeah, I mean, that is. And I think that that is another, like, the extent to which the aesthetics of this game kind of inspired other games of the time period cannot really be overstated. And like, just people in general, like, there's still so much cosplay, like, just from this game. It's kind of wild.

[Justin McIlroy]

I mean, Pyramid Head is the mascot of this franchise, and this game birthed him.

[Russ Rush]

It's such a shame because I feel like this would be a fine recommendation for, like, spooky season. If you want something to play that is scary, that is also kind of, like, historical, this would be great. But $70 is not a price tag that I would want to pay just to play a spooky game. Because there's a fucking lot of those guys. A lot of those.

[Justin McIlroy]

Okay, should we take a break?

[Russ Rush]

Let's do it. Us gamers got a game and there's nothing that can stop us. Even a subscription fee for the game that we're playing. But sometimes we move on to a new game and forget about that subscription fee for a long, long time. And it's just chewing away at our bank account like so many termites. Well, good news. Rocket Money is here to help you find those subscriptions that you have forgotten about and help you cancel them so that you can save a whole bunch of money. I've used Rocket Money a lot in the past to catch some subscriptions for games. MMOs specifically that I hadn't been playing, or apps specifically for my kids on the iPad that I had subscribed to and forgotten about. And I cannot even fathom how much money it has saved me because of those subscriptions that it caught. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps you find and cancels unwanted subscriptions. It also monitors your spending and helps lower your bills so you can and grow your savings. Rocket Money has over 5 million users and has saved a total of $500 million in canceled subscriptions, saving members up to 740 bucks a year. When using all the app's features, Stop wasting money on things you don't use. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions by going to rocketmoney.combesties that's rocketmoney.combesties one last time. Rocketmoney.combesties.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

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[Justin McIlroy]

Okay, I pulled some mail, some reader mail for the second segment here. And this first piece of reader mail asks something of Chris Plant, but it's I don't want not all of the things that it's asking. Maybe a certain version of this. This comes from Ben. I thought of this question specifically for Chris, but I'm happy to hear from anyone, including commenters. This was in the newsletter. I decided to give Criterion Collection a try to expand my horizons a bit more. My film watching habits have definitely are definitely more frequent and eclectic than the average movie watcher. But I'm no cinephile. I've heard of maybe 10% of the movies on Criterion Collection. Of the ones I've heard of, maybe seen half or less. Question is, if you recommend a small number, let's say two, for Chris Blant of diverse films on Criterion Collection. For someone new or mildly familiar with classic films cinema, what would they be?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

How about fresh? You give an answer first, and then I will give one because I know that you.

[Justin McIlroy]

I kind of like something wild. I think that's on Cartoon Collection with Jeff Daniels and Melanie Griffith. Kind of a weird Jonathan Demme movie that is pretty approachable. I think there's a lot of stuff on there that is like, buckle up. This is going to be, like, kind of a tough hang. And that feels like the sort of movie that was, like, running on Comedy Central in the mid-90s nonstop.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah. I don't know. Naming two things from this is, like, very, very difficult right now. The great thing about the Criterion Collection is they, like, put everything into curated chunks. So right now there's Horror fx. If you want to watch practical horror movies, they exist. Or if you want an entire series on Giallo, which is like Italian thriller, horror, you can do that. So I don't know. From those, I would probably grab a movie called Tenebrae or Deep Red Under Giallo. They're both great. They're iconic. They're movies like people will talk about, and then you have something to chat about. And, I don't know, you're at your next horror movie party. And then I watch a movie called Pulse. It's a Japanese horror film. They have it in their Japanese horror section. And it is honestly a perfect, perfect pairing with Silent Hill 2. It is really, really, really upsetting and not like so much other Japanese horror that can be, like, really arch, like Ichi the Killer, which is on here, or Audition, or Tetsuo the Iron Man. Pulse is like, just really gets. You get in your head, you're gonna have bad sleeps for a few weeks. So I guess that's it. But I don't know. I'll put more in the newsletter because that seems like a better place to answer this.

[Justin McIlroy]

I think Plan is faking it. He doesn't actually watch any of this stuff.

[Russ Rush]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Griffin McIlroy]

It's all dance moms.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I just love Below Deck.

[Justin McIlroy]

Yeah. We have a question. This comes from. Henry Griffin has mentioned gaming while on a bike. I'm wondering what his exact setup is. Does anyone else do this? What sort of bike or gaming setup are you using? I have chronic pain which means a lot of traditional exercise doesn't work for me. It sounds like it could be a good option to get regular cardio.

[Russ Rush]

Yeah, no, it is very good. There's obviously like lots of options here. I just got one, the Van Sway Van Swe. They just have like pretty affordable, like magnetic resistance recumbent bikes that are very comfortable to sit in, but you can work up quite a sweat doing it. And so I'll just kind of face it towards my tv. And what I've really been doing a lot lately is using the Steam Deck Dock and then playing with a controller connected with Bluetooth. So I can just kind of like when I'm done working out, I can just kind of pick it up and get on the go. But I find it really, really good. I've been really losing time playing Metaphor refantazio on the bike. I have logged some truly bodacious cardio sessions just because I'll get into a dungeon in that game and then an hour will pass. But there's so many different kind of bike options. Some are more comfortable than others. The Van Sui one I have has a proper chair that you just kind of sit and chill in, which is nice.

[Griffin McIlroy]

But those can be a rough adjustment if you're not used to sitting in bikes regularly. There's some soreness you're gonna have to adjust to there.

[Russ Rush]

Yeah, but that's my setup.

[Griffin McIlroy]

I do. I have like an old gaming PC plugged into a TV that I mounted on the wall and that I pointed the bike at. And I just play stuff that like basically just assisted shooters, like retro stuff like stuff that is just like pure gameplay, like lose your brain stuff like Children of Morta or Halls of Torment, a lot of Hades too, stuff like that. A lot of those, like rolling will last you about a ride. Only problem with some of those games is sometimes you don't time it out just right or you'll die with like five minutes left in your ride. And that hurts. That really adds some stink onto the loss.

[Justin McIlroy]

We have one more question. This comes from Will. Listening to Griffin talk about why Halls of Torment didn't click for him made me think about why it hooked me so much. I usually have the same issue with games that make your progression trees, like a bunch of tiny incremental changes. But Halls of Torment works for me. I think part of it is that you're really doing a 100 hour RPG character build over each 30 minute run, which is really interesting difference between that and other vampire survivors likes. It's a game that really Demonstrates how small numbers add up to big changes. And that's the mental model shift. Learning how big a deal a 0.15 shift in one skill versus another is to your overall built in strategy. But I'd also like to say that I've got 40 plus hours in the game and at this point I've got way bigger stuff unlocked that leads to more dramatic shifts in how you play. Sure, the game just makes you learn the systems and details before it hands over all the tools to totally break them and make some bonkers builds.

[Russ Rush]

So this just came out on mobile, right?

[Justin McIlroy]

It did. I've heard mixed things about the mobile version. The one deal breaker for me on mobile is that it. Well, two things. One, it doesn't let you carry your save over from Steam, which is a big one. The other big one, which is probably even more impactful. It does not let you pause a run like Midway and runs, forget it. 30 minutes.

[Griffin McIlroy]

I mean, it's a phone. What are you talking about?

[Justin McIlroy]

You need to be able to make checkpoints, so that's obviously something they need to figure out. But it's $5 on Steam and it's spectacular. So there's really not an.

[Russ Rush]

I will check it out at some point. I just. I don't prefer that small incremental number thing. I got really into Brotato. I don't know if you guys ever played that. Yeah, that's a fucking good one. But that one is very much like you pick your six weapons and then you pick this and it's like this adds plus 100 to your regeneration. Like it's so clear and you really understand exactly what's happening every time you get stuff.

[Justin McIlroy]

Yeah, hold of Torment does get to that point. I think it would hook you probably in the first couple hours, but I do understand that there's a little bit of a hill there.

[Griffin McIlroy]

There's also a lot of games like this.

[Russ Rush]

There's a lot of games like this is the other thing.

[Justin McIlroy]

Last thing I want to mention. This is not so much a question as an info dump from Winky. Heroes of Hammer Watch 2 demo is on Steam as of today. For anyone that is interested. We did an episode on Heroes of Hammer Watch probably three years ago or something, and that game dominated like a large chunk of.

[Russ Rush]

Still one of my favorites.

[Justin McIlroy]

Yeah, really spectacular. Then they went and made Hammerwatch 2, which was not very great.

[Russ Rush]

It's gotten better with updates. But I put 100 hours into heroes of Hammerwatch. I was so into that. Fucking.

[Justin McIlroy]

Yeah. So I haven't played the demo yet. This is a good excuse to definitely jump in and thank you for the heads up.

[Russ Rush]

I promise maybe we'll talk about it next week.

[Justin McIlroy]

Yeah, we're going to talk about it next week.

[Russ Rush]

Eager to check it out.

[Justin McIlroy]

Cool. That's it for reader mail extended session. There any honorable mentions people want to mention?

[Russ Rush]

Did I talk about Golden Bachelorette on this show last week?

[Justin McIlroy]

You have talked about it. Are there new updates you want to share about Golden Bachelorette?

[Russ Rush]

It's just so good, man. It's just so good. One observation that I think really makes it special is in other seasons of this show, when people get removed, when people get kicked off, they don't get a rose at the rose ceremony and they go home. It's like, whatever. They're going to go home and be attractive and successful and now kind of famous for being on tv. When the old dads on this show leave, they're so sad because they got to hang out with a bunch of their buddies for such a long time. And so whenever people get kicked off the show, they always go out in the confessional. Like, they don't talk about how they're gonna miss Joan. They're like, I'm gonna miss, you know, Stinky Doug and old Mike and like break down in tears.

[Griffin McIlroy]

An older Mike.

[Russ Rush]

An older Mike. They had such a great time and now they're gonna go home and be alone. It is very emotionally resonant television.

[Justin McIlroy]

Is there an age limit?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

What's the youngest?

[Russ Rush]

I mean, the youngest is probably like 65 years old.

[Justin McIlroy]

Okay.

[Russ Rush]

Yeah.

[Justin McIlroy]

Can they just go all the way up?

[Russ Rush]

I don't think I've played any other games except this in metaphor, which still.

[Justin McIlroy]

It's been a busy time.

[Russ Rush]

Yep.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah. My only wreck is the Simpsons Halloween special. Going back to them, they're still great.

[Justin McIlroy]

They still got to pick one.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

The one that is. I always get them mixed up. Four and five, Treehouse of Horror. Four and five are my go tos.

[Griffin McIlroy]

I wonder. I want to recommend. I want to recommend. God, so many things. I watched. It's what's inside last night. It's on Netflix. You guys know about that one?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Oh, yeah.

[Griffin McIlroy]

Okay. It's a good one. Go watch it. Every knows about it.

[Justin McIlroy]

I don't know what that is.

[Griffin McIlroy]

Okay, good. Thanks, Russ. Well, it is a. I guess thriller would be more accurate. Sort of like a sci fi thriller. It feels a little black mirror, I guess. But it is a movie about a inventor that is like a wealthy entrepreneur tech billionaire who goes back to hang out with a group of Friends before someone's wedding. And he has brought this machine that basically lets people switch bodies.

[Justin McIlroy]

Oh, right. I watched the trailer for this and.

[Griffin McIlroy]

They play a party game where everyone switches bodies. Then everyone has to try to figure out who's in whose body. And that's. And things happen after that. Yeah, that sounds like it's a really good setup. Really good. It's one of those where it is very. It's a little Swiss watchy. Like you as you're watching it, you're like, oh, oh, oh. It's all very clockwork, but like it's put together so smart that it really feel. It's very satisfying to watch. I saw Nightmare before Christmas in 3D which is in theaters right now in 3D. And I just wouldn't recommend. If you can get there and see this movie in 3D at any point in your life, you should go do it. It was astounding. Cause you're seeing like the models as they would have looked to see the actual film being composed. I found it kind of moving in that way and a little bit transportative because you feel like I know what the process of making this movie or I mean, I've heard. Right. I wasn't there. But like I know what like a labor of love on a painstaking thing this was. And like to see that like in three dimensions was like so, so neat. Seeing another layer and that.

[Justin McIlroy]

But that was.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It was done in. It was a post 3D conversion. But it is one of the best ones. It's so interesting to watch, honestly. Even if you can't see that, seeing that movie. The most recent restoration looks unbelievable. It is similar in that like so.

[Griffin McIlroy]

Much detail you can see at home.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yes. That it's like made by people. I mean it's. What a movie.

[Russ Rush]

I thought of another recommendation for a thing I haven't talked about on the show a million times. If I may. I have been watching while playing with my adult Legos, I have been watching a seminar series that Brandon Sanderson, author of the Mistborn novels and what the Way of Kings books, some of my favorite, like sci fi, fantasy, mostly fantasy books. He did this lecture series at I think BYU a few years ago. It's like a 12 part series that just kind of goes over his sort of fundamental ideas about how to structure plot and character and settings. And it is genuinely illuminating and really great. And it's free, it's on YouTube. So like, if you enjoy fantasy works or like you are thinking about like, I don't know, writing or improving your Writing. This is a free lecture series that you can watch that. I feel like I am learning a great deal while also kind of, like, becoming more familiar with this body of work that I really enjoy.

[Justin McIlroy]

Does it have a name?

[Russ Rush]

No. If you just search Brandon Sanderson lecture, you'll find it.

[Justin McIlroy]

Cool.

[Russ Rush]

Awesome. Yeah, it's really cool.

[Justin McIlroy]

I've been playing hotshots Golf Open T2 on PSP. That game fucking rules.

[Griffin McIlroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McIlroy]

Sometimes I'll do a drive and my son will be in the car, and we get to, like, my house. And I know that if I park the car and try to get him out of the car, he'll wake up. So I have, like, a gaming device stashed in the glove box. And, man, that is, like, the perfect situation for that kind of game where you can play for three minutes, finish a whole save, and be done with it. I. It kills me that that franchise is, like, kind of dormant at the moment. They do have. The developer made this game Easy Come Easy Golf, which is on iOS and Switch. It's good. It's not Hot Shots good, but it's good. And I would love to see either them or someone else kind of approach that arcade golf franchise in a really, really cool way. It seems like fertile ground. But in the meantime, I've been playing Open T2, which is that iOS switch game.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It changed its name, like, eight times, right?

[Justin McIlroy]

Yeah, it started as Claphams Golf, and, yeah, it's now called Easy Come Easy Golf. I don't know why? Because Clap Hands is the name of the developer. It's not like they lost the rights to that.

[Russ Rush]

Yeah.

[Justin McIlroy]

So there must be some backstory on why they changed the name, but here they are.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Huh? Okay. Hey, we did another episode.

[Justin McIlroy]

We did it.

[Griffin McIlroy]

We did it. Can't say we didn't do it.

[Justin McIlroy]

Can't say we didn't do it. Plant. What did we talk about today?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

We talked about it so much. We talked about Silent Hill 2. That's what we talked about. And you can get the rest of the games in our newsletter because there's a whole bunch of stuff here. Hot Shots Golf, Golden Bachelorette, Brandon Sent lectures.

[Russ Rush]

Got it. Got it. What is that link? To get that newsletter and get a subscription.

[Griffin McIlroy]

That's probably the better way of doing.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

This at this point, isn't it, Besties fan. Look how easy that is. And you can have it come right to your email. So you don't even need to worry about it. Just subscribe.

[Russ Rush]

That's what I do.

[Justin McIlroy]

We also have the [e-mail] thebesties Just a reminder, the stuff I talked about at the top of the show, if you're going to subscribe, the stress free way to do it, just do it on a browser. If you're already subscribed either through iOS or whatever, you don't have to worry about it. The price is not going to increase for you. So business over. What are we doing next week?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Oh, Steam Next Fest is here again and we are going to talk about all our favorite finds within that. And there's some very cool stuff that we're looking forward to sharing with you.

[Justin McIlroy]

If you guys at home, I'm not talking about you guys on the podcast, but you guys at home listening, play anything that you think is super cool. Please drop it in the comments and let the people know and we'll call out some of them on next week's episode. Because I feel like it's so easy these days to miss some dope ass shit. So please share that dope ass shit.

[Griffin McIlroy]

Like A Load of the Dark, for example. Just as an example of one thing you might have missed. Yeah, hey, we're gonna check out all that and we'll be back to talk with you about that next week. So be sure to join us again next time for the besties. Because should the world's best friends pick the world's best.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Besties.