The Awesome Games of the Future

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Besties – Episode "The Awesome Games of the Future"

Release Date: October 25, 2024

Hosts:
Chris Plante, Griffin McElroy, Justin McElroy, Russ Frushtick

---

Episode Overview

In this engaging episode of The Besties, hosts Chris Plante, Griffin McElroy, Justin McElroy, and Russ Frushtick delve into the vibrant landscape of upcoming video games showcased during Steam Next Fest. Titled "The Awesome Games of the Future," the episode offers insightful reviews, critical analyses, and enthusiastic discussions about a variety of demos, highlighting both the potential and the challenges faced by modern game developers.

---

Steam Next Fest: A Boon or a Bust?

The conversation kicks off around the [05:44] mark with Justin commenting on the overwhelming influx of game demos available during Steam Next Fest.

Justin McCarrie:

"Look at that over the horizon. It's a cloud of games. We're dead."
[05:44]

Griffin McElroy expresses surprise at the growth of Steam Next Fest, noting how it now features a significantly larger number of demos compared to previous years.

Griffin McElroy:

"Cause it's like every game that's coming out, you're going to get a demo, including all those horny games."
[06:06]

Russ Fresh raises a poignant concern about the saturation of the market:

Russ Fresh:

"Did anyone else feel a little bit depressed playing all of these games? It's a lot, a lot of high-quality games that I know for sure will not necessarily sell a ton of copies because there are so many."
[06:34]

The hosts unanimously agree that while the abundance of demos provides gamers with diverse options, it also poses a significant challenge for developers striving to find their niche audience.

---

In-Depth Game Reviews

The core of the episode revolves around detailed reviews of selected games from Steam Next Fest. Each host presents their take on different titles, offering a blend of technical analysis and personal impressions.

1. Mandragora

Russ Fresh introduces Mandragora, a side-scrolling game that blends dark fantasy elements with challenging gameplay mechanics.

Russ Fresh:

"This game is a side scrolling dark soulsy kind of game. I've played a number of these. It looks very painterly and vibey... It has that FromSoftesque feel with deliberate and methodical hits."
[09:24]

Griffin adds to the discussion by comparing it to other titles in the genre, appreciating its artistic direction and the weightiness of its combat system.

Griffin McElroy:

"But in side scrolling, not just artistically. Like the heft of it. Every hit is very slow and deliberate."
[10:02]

The consensus is that Mandragora stands out for its visual artistry and engaging combat, though the demo's single-class limitation makes it challenging to fully grasp the game's depth.

2. Gladio Mori

Christopher Thomas Plant takes the spotlight for his review of Gladio Mori, a realistic sword-fighting game that emphasizes authentic combat mechanics.

Christopher Thomas Plant:

"You are a gladiator with full control over the positioning of your weapon. The game encourages you to change the speed of the game, offering a slow-motion experience that makes combat feel intense and strategic."
[11:27]

Russ praises the game's multiplayer aspects and its polished engine, while Justin is optimistic about its potential despite some initial rough edges.

Russ Fresh:

"What makes it fun as hell already is the multiplayer matchfinding. It's a really positive sign."
[15:38]

3. Rise of the Golden Idol

Griffin McElroy reviews Rise of the Golden Idol, a mystery-solving game reminiscent of Obra Dinn with intricate puzzles and a compelling narrative structure.

Griffin McElroy:

"It's a mystery-solving game where you collect clues in your journal and solve cases by piecing them together. The sequel deepens this with meta-mysteries that span multiple acts."
[17:10]

He commends the game's ability to blend simple mechanics with complex storytelling, enhancing player engagement through its layered mysteries.

4. Billionaire (Balillonnaire)

Justin explores Billionaire, a unique blend of pachinko and deck-building mechanics.

Justin McCarrie:

"It's a deck-building pachinko game where you build a deck of pins to influence the ball's path. It reminds me of Peggle but adds strategic depth through peg placement."
[18:52]

While Justin is intrigued by the concept and visual appeal, he expresses concerns about the game's control mechanics and the balance between randomness and strategy.

Justin McCarrie:

"I wonder if you'll have enough control over the placement of pegs and the angles of shots to make it satisfying."
[21:11]

5. Atomic Owl

Russ Fresh reviews Atomic Owl, a platformer with stunning pixel art and light combat elements, drawing parallels to Celeste.

Russ Fresh:

"It's a beautiful platformer with a narrative about a magic sword that talks. The pixel art is gorgeous, though the writing can be a bit aggressive."
[22:36]

He appreciates the game's aesthetic and gameplay feel but notes that the demo's linearity might not fully represent its potential as a roguelite.

6. Heroes of Hammerwatch 2

Griffin provides an enthusiastic review of Heroes of Hammerwatch 2, highlighting its improvements over its predecessor and robust multiplayer features.

Griffin McElroy:

"It's a roguelite ARPG that builds upon the first game with better loot systems, more progression, and seamless character switching without retracing steps."
[25:13]

He lauds the game's depth and the developers' understanding of their audience, making it a highly anticipated title for fans of the genre.

7. Private Picks: Heartworm and Tenebris Somnia

Christopher reviews Heartworm, a retro horror shooter, and Justin discusses Tenebris Somnia, a point-and-click adventure with FMV elements.

Christopher Thomas Plant on Heartworm:

"It's a throwback to early Resident Evil with over-the-shoulder shooting and exceptional art and audio design."
[31:00]

Justin McCarrie on Tenebris Somnia:

"It's a horror point-and-click where you investigate a missing person, featuring chase elements and unexpected gun mechanics."
[28:47]

Both reviews highlight unique stylistic choices and gameplay mechanics, though they note areas where the demos could be more polished.

---

Reader Recommendations

The hosts share suggestions from their audience, spotlighting indie gems and upcoming titles that deserve attention.

1. Rivals of Aether 2

Russ Fresh brings up Rivals of Aether 2, a sequel to the beloved indie fighter with a thriving mod community.

Russ Fresh:

"The original had characters like Sans and Kirby through mods. The sequel promises even more diverse and customizable fighters."
[41:09]

2. Keep Driving

Christopher highlights Keep Driving, a road trip deck-builder accompanied by a curated indie rock radio.

Christopher Thomas Plant:

"It's a road trip deck builder with a vibey indie rock soundtrack, offering a unique blend of strategy and music."
[42:15]

3. Drova: Forsaken Kin

Justin introduces Drova: Forsaken Kin, a 2D gothic isometric pixel art indie game that captures early gaming nostalgia with modern twists.

Justin McCarrie:

"It has engaging pixel art and a well-crafted combat power curve, reminiscent of early ARPGs like Crawl."
[43:08]

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Final Thoughts and Closing

As the episode wraps up, the hosts share personal anecdotes, upcoming plans, and shout-outs to their patron supporters.

Justin McCarrie mentions an interview he conducted with game developer Sam Barlow for Polygon, encouraging listeners to check it out for deeper insights into FMV games.

Griffin McElroy teases future content, including reviews of anticipated titles like Dragon's Dogma 2, and acknowledges the community's support through Patreon.

Russ Fresh closes with a heartfelt thank you to their patrons and a nod to shifting interests from baseball to hockey season.

The episode concludes with excitement for upcoming content and a reminder for listeners to join the The Besties community for ongoing discussions about the latest in gaming.

---

Notable Quotes

• Justin McCarrie:

  "I think it's one of the great benefits for Steam for me is when you hear about something that is of interest to you on Steam you are usually just within a couple button presses of being able to keep track of that thing."
  [08:08]

• Christopher Thomas Plant:

  "The art design is amazing. The audio is exceptional. There's an intro video that is pre-rendered CG that looks like those Saturday morning cartoon reboots."
  [31:00]

• Griffin McElroy:

  "If you like ARPG hack and slash looter games, this is going to be a fucking good one."
  [27:14]

---

Conclusion

Episode "The Awesome Games of the Future" offers a comprehensive and passionate exploration of the gaming industry's upcoming titles. The Besties provide listeners with valuable insights, balanced critiques, and genuine enthusiasm, making it a must-listen for gamers eager to stay ahead of the curve.

Transcript

[Justin McCarrie]

Can I tell you guys an idea ahead?

[Griffin McRae]

Sure.

[Justin McCarrie]

I think I'd like to be create a Chris Gaines style alternate identity for myself that just talks about the adults only video game market. Because every time I glance off of it in Steam while looking for other things like today.

[Russ Fresh]

Is it a glance? Is it a glance?

[Justin McCarrie]

It's a glance and sometimes it's a lingering glance. But it is a glance.

[Russ Fresh]

Sure.

[Justin McCarrie]

But I do think that they're. Because I don't know about Steam histories. Right. Like I don't know how that all works. Right. I don't want. But I do would love to have another dirty dog identity who just like it's his whole thing because I think it's fascinating.

[Griffin McRae]

It's an underserved journalistic game.

[Justin McCarrie]

It's super underserved and people are working.

[Griffin McRae]

Very hard, very hard on these naughty games. Yeah, for sure.

[Justin McCarrie]

They work so hard and they're hard.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

On both ends on the playing and the bing bong.

[Griffin McRae]

Another Chris. Another Chris. Zing. Zing.

[Justin McCarrie]

The user reviewers of these games are working really hard to do some incredible justification like you've never seen in these reviews. And I just wish someone was covering the space in an engaged, positive, sex positive, non sexual way that just allows you to talk and have sex.

[Griffin McRae]

That's a tough needle to thread, my man. It's tough.

[Justin McCarrie]

It is. Sex positive and non sexual are tough. That's a tough.

[Griffin McRae]

How are you going to monetize this? You know, public service.

[Justin McCarrie]

I'm going to sell it. Only fans of me writing it in the buff. So that will be cool. Yeah. But it's not me, it's whoever. You know what I mean? Like my brand can't sustain this.

[Griffin McRae]

It won't be Justin. Will you wear a mask like the masked, like a masked singer situation?

[Russ Fresh]

I'm kidding.

[Justin McCarrie]

I like that. Yeah.

[Griffin McRae]

I don't like contributing to this.

[Justin McCarrie]

My name is Boladare. The master of your finding the latest and greatest in adult entertainment.

[Russ Fresh]

Boladare, how do you feel about sex Mad lust?

[Justin McCarrie]

Well, if you've played sex the franchise at all, you know you're in for top tier storytelling in some of the most menacious curves in the abyss. Scorpions. Sex scorpions in the sex desert. You know they've got them in spades. Especially if you're willing to pay for all the DLC that's downloadable.

[Griffin McRae]

Downloadable Com B.

[Russ Fresh]

No. The future is now.

[Justin McCarrie]

But there's so many.

[Griffin McRae]

I know.

[Justin McCarrie]

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

[Griffin McRae]

My name is Griffin McRae. I know the best games coming up.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

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

[Russ Fresh]

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

[Justin McCarrie]

Welcome to the Besties, where we talk about the latest and greatest in home interactive. Intergament. It's a video game club. Just by listening, you have become a member. This week we're digging into the Steam.

[Russ Fresh]

Next Fest for our what if games were free now?

[Griffin McRae]

What if it's free and shorter and not complete?

[Justin McCarrie]

They're not unfinished. Yeah, I mean, I guess we kind of spoiled it. I was gonna let Plant explain it, but that it's it. It's a bunch of demos.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

You kind of. You kind of did it.

[Justin McCarrie]

It's a bunch of demos.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It's a bunch.

[Justin McCarrie]

We played a bunch. We'll talk about the good ones and the bad ones.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

This podcast is sponsored by Squarespace. Squarespace makes it easy. Beautiful website. Engage with your audience and sell anything from products to content to time, all in one place, all on your terms. But here's the real reason, you know, now that we've got that out of the way, why you should get Squarespace, because everybody should have a website now more than ever. You've heard me talk about this. You need to have a space on the Internet that is truly your own. Everybody is trying to take advantage of you effectively with social, social media and other forms of creating content for them. Why not have a space where you are creating something for yourself? Maybe that is for your friends, maybe that is for your family. Maybe it is literally an art posting spot that is literally just for you to preserve whatever it is that you do and care about. Squarespace has all of these great systems like Design Intelligence from Squarespace or Squarespace Payments, which makes it super easy to manage your payments. You can get started with like just a few clicks and you have all sorts of popular payment methods like ACH and Apple Pay, because you need a home online. Create something, make something awesome and share it with the world and do it for nobody but yourself. That's the way of being on the Internet in 2024 and moving forward. So how do you do it? You go to squarespace.com for a free trial and when you're ready to Launch, go to www.squarespace.combesties to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. That is squarespace.com besties to save 10 percent off your first purchase of a website or domain.

[Justin McCarrie]

Look at that over the horizon. It's a cloud of games.

[Griffin McRae]

Oh, shit.

[Justin McCarrie]

We're dead.

[Griffin McRae]

They're swarming. We're toast, man. I have not. Is this a new thing? Cause I've been gaming for a while and I don't. I remember hearing about Steam Next Fest. I don't think I have ever.

[Russ Fresh]

I can't tell if you're joking. Cause I'm pretty sure we've done an episode.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

We have, yeah.

[Griffin McRae]

Oh, did we?

[Justin McCarrie]

Oh, shit. You might have.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Sick. We've been doing this for a long time, you know, like it all kind of blurs together. Yeah. Steam Next Fest, it has been growing exponentially. That part probably feels very new because it used to be, you know, you could get a few demos here and there. Now it's like every game that's coming out, you're going to get a demo, including all those horny games. Anything you want you can try, you know, a good 15 minutes to an hour of it.

[Griffin McRae]

Yeah, this is cool. I mean, I.

[Russ Fresh]

Before we, before we jump in, I want to say, and I'm curious if anyone else felt this way, did anyone else feel a little bit depressed playing all of these games? Because it's a lot, A lot of high quality games that I know for sure will not necessarily sell a ton of copies because there are so many.

[Griffin McRae]

No depress.

[Justin McCarrie]

For who? Like the creators?

[Russ Fresh]

Yeah, for the creators.

[Justin McCarrie]

Yeah. I mean, yes, for sure. I guess I always kind of hope that the Cream like rises within reasonable expectations.

[Russ Fresh]

I mean, I know so much Cream though.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

That's the problem.

[Justin McCarrie]

I know it's a lot of. It's a lot of cream.

[Griffin McRae]

It's a lot of dlc, downloadable cream.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I definitely felt that knowing it's just not possible for every great game here to like find its audience.

[Griffin McRae]

Right.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

And that, I mean, even just scrolling through the like the list of demos, there were more games I wanted to play than I knew I could play of demos. Yeah, right.

[Justin McCarrie]

I hate how it turns you into Simon Cowell or you're like looking for reasons to dismiss games. No roguelite elements. I'm not in the mood.

[Russ Fresh]

Controller support? Forget it.

[Justin McCarrie]

Forget it.

[Griffin McRae]

But it's great for tg, for the gamers, I think, because no matter what you frickin want, man, there's gonna be something coming out you can try it during. Is Next Fest over with right now or is it still crypto?

[Russ Fresh]

I think it will be probably coming to the end if not.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

But a lot of the time the demos stay.

[Griffin McRae]

Yeah, sure.

[Justin McCarrie]

I think it's one of the great. One of the great benefits for Steam for me is when you hear about something that is of interest to you on Steam you are usually typically just within a couple button presses of being able to like keep track of that thing. Which I think is to the great detriment of like PlayStation or Xbox. When you hear about a console game, you don't have that instant like way to get into the ecosystem and stay there. So I think impressions on Steam are a lot more valuable in that sense. Right. Because if you can get someone onto your Steam page, you can have them click that one wishlist button and you've got them like you're, you know, you'll be able to keep. Keep tabs on this stuff. Yeah. Which I really appreciate being able to like look at a game and think, oh, that's interesting. I will come back to that. And I. It's a lot harder. I mean, I know it's possible, but when you're on the consoles you're like, when are you at a console? And also like hear about, you know, you're just not always right in front of it.

[Griffin McRae]

Yeah, sure. Why don't we get started? Because there's a lot of games. We can go sort of round robin.

[Russ Fresh]

Yeah, let's do it.

[Griffin McRae]

Who wants to start?

[Russ Fresh]

I'll start it off with a game called Mandragora. Mandragora.

[Griffin McRae]

I also checked this one out. This was one of the three I dipped into.

[Russ Fresh]

It's that like plant that look. It's like a ginger plant. It looks like a person. That's what the name, I guess referenced.

[Griffin McRae]

If it screams, it kills you.

[Russ Fresh]

Yeah, precisely. This game is a side scrolling dark soulsy kind of game. I've played a number of these. We've all played a number of these. I think where this one stood out to me was visually speaking, it looks very, I guess, painterly and vibey in the sense that it's like a fantasy setting, which is pretty typical. But it has an artistic element to it.

[Griffin McRae]

It reminds me, I think in a lot of ways actually of that no Rest for the Wicked game we played earlier.

[Russ Fresh]

Trying to remember that game. Exactly right. It reminds me of that.

[Griffin McRae]

But in side scrolling, not just artistically. Like the heft of it. Like every hit is very slow and deliberate and methodical and it sort of requires you to dodge and parry as you would in a Fromsoft game.

[Russ Fresh]

Yeah. And I think a lot of the 2D souls likes tend to miss that. They tend to be a lot, I guess, snappier. Even games that I really love, like Blasphemous 2 for example, doesn't have this feel. It doesn't have that weighty feel, so I thought that was really great. Yeah. Overall, I was, like, pretty impressed by it. It didn't feel so hard that I was throwing my steam deck across the room, but I liked what they were doing. Pretty hard, though. Here's the thing, Griffin. Great. I'm great.

[Griffin McRae]

You're great at games. That's true. It does lock you into a single class and it kind of drops you into the middle of things. So this is such a tough genre to demo because you really have to get stuck in and work your way up to figure out how everything works.

[Russ Fresh]

The demo. Yeah.

[Justin McCarrie]

All adjusted, right? Difficulty and all this stuff gets tweaked before.

[Griffin McRae]

Yeah. Or more importantly, like, you play a tutorial and you ramp up to where you are in the demo and it's not quite as tough.

[Russ Fresh]

Yeah. You only had one class to pick from, right? When you played it.

[Griffin McRae]

Yes. I think it's like the warrior class.

[Russ Fresh]

No, it looks really promising.

[Griffin McRae]

Plant.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I played a game called Gladio Mori. Did any of you see this game?

[Justin McCarrie]

Yeah, it looked. Was it like fencing or fighting or some sort of sword fighting thing? What was happening?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah. So a number of the games are incomplete, like not. Not incomplete in a demo sense, but like, oh, wow, it could be years before we play this or it could be days, I have no idea. And Claudio Moria is one where I really can't tell if it is days or years.

[Justin McCarrie]

But how much of this is intended.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yes, but it is a blast either way. And it is a realistic sword fighting or just combat game where you are a gladiator and you look like, you know the figurines that artists use to like learn to draw. Like, they're like just kind of rounded edges. You look like, like a. That basically. And you have full control over the positioning of your weapon. So I don't know for anybody who's ever had to do sword fighting training for like theater, the positions like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, like basically two different above the head positions, four different kind of block or parry positions, and then different types of swings. And those are assigned to your button prompts. So when you kind of like move into battle, you are trying to block and parry and attack the same way you in theory would as like an amateur swordsman. The cool thing about it is sword fighting moves very quickly. So it lets you and encourages you from the beginning to change the speed of the game, whether you're in single player or multiplayer. And you can change it down to like a quarter of real time. So effectively slow motion. So you're getting in there. The other cool thing about it is it is really scratching my Bushido blade itch.

[Griffin McRae]

I was gonna say.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Man of what happens if you play a sword or sharp weapons combat game with like, real damage. So the humor of it, I guess, is like, almost like human fall flat where you are. Most people are not good at this. You are kind of blocking, but then somebody swings and kind of falls into your sword. And like, then your sword gets stuck. And then as they're wiggling to get unstuck, their battle axe, like, nudges into your side and cuts you open and it's game over. Yeah.

[Russ Fresh]

Wait, they're still swinging at you after your battle.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Your sword, you have to kill them. So, like, and as they bleed out, there's still, like time. And if you, like, take out their leg, they like, hobble. But if you get into their gut, it kind of like, it literally looks like they're like slowing down. I can't tell how much of this is me. Like Phantom, you know, where your brain's trying to make sense of it. You're like, oh, wow, the character is actually slowing down because they're bleeding out. It really helps that it all looks like toy figurines, like faceless figurines. It has a good sense of humor in that way. And that's where I mentioned the. What is this coming out soon or in a long time? Because if they're planning on adding realistic graphics, I think it would be a waste. Honestly, I think it could find its audience as it is, but it does have some polish that still needs to be done. The menus feel like very rudimentary. The multiplayer looks really messy. You can have large scale eight person battles, but it's fun as hell already. And that. That to me is like the big side. If your game can like look like this and be a bit of a mess. And I never had trouble finding a multiplayer match. That is a, like, really positive sign. And I think people will take it sick.

[Griffin McRae]

I played, even though I kind of didn't want to, I played the demo for the Rise of the Golden Idol sequel to the Case of Golden Idol, which is, I mean, one of my favorite sort of mystery games in the, you know, Obra Dinn kind of lineage. If you did not play it the first one, you fucking should. Because it's. If you have a Netflix subscription, you can play it for free on your phone. Basically, it is a mystery solving game where you are presented with a sort of usually still screen kind of diorama, usually during or just following a murder or a death that has taken place. You look around the screen, you look around the area for clues which you collect in the form of words in your journal. And then you solve the mysteries by sort of filling in the blanks of each case using the words that you have collected. It's a really simple premise. The mysteries themselves are not simple. Case of the Golden Idol had DLC that came out after release that featured some really, really, at times pretty obtuse mysteries. But, yeah, I played. I don't know how much is here, because I played the whole first act of the game, which includes a tutorial and then three cases following that. And I was like, I don't want to get too. I don't want to actually spoil this for myself.

[Russ Fresh]

A question for you, Griffin. Just in terms of gameplay, did you notice anything different? Are they more or less doing the.

[Griffin McRae]

Same thing gameplay wise? They're doing more or less the same thing. It looks a lot better. Still, that kind of like disturbing art style a little bit.

[Russ Fresh]

It kind of remind me of late 80s, early 90s PC games. Was the first one.

[Griffin McRae]

Yeah, sure.

[Russ Fresh]

So is that still the same thing?

[Griffin McRae]

Yeah, I would say more like early 90s PC games. But the art style is so grotesque at times. What I do think is cool is that the game is separated into acts, sort of like the last game. And each act has a few mysteries in it. And then at the end of the first game, you basically get this huge book that's like, now fill out the whole fucking mystery. Fill out everything that happened in the game. What Rise of the Golden Idol appears to be doing is each act has its own meta mystery that you use pieces from each of the cases within to solve. Kind of like what you just saw, the story of what you just saw in this handful of cases, which I think is a cool way to handle that. And it helps you really kind of understand what is happening in this chapter of the game before you move on to the next one. I mean, it's fucking great.

[Russ Fresh]

Yeah, I'm psyched about the final.

[Griffin McRae]

Yeah. And it's out in a few weeks. November 12th is when this one is dropping. And I'm gonna definitely dive into it headfirst then. But yeah, Juice, I got a little.

[Justin McCarrie]

One for you guys would like call Billionaire.

[Russ Fresh]

What's it called?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Okay. I'm very curious what you think about this one.

[Justin McCarrie]

Okay. I think it's early. Yeah. I'll be interested to see if they. Okay, so here's the thing. It's a pachinko game.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah.

[Justin McCarrie]

But it's a deck building pachinko game. So you're basically building a deck of pins where you drop your shot and then it bounces off the pins. And the pins have different effects. So you bounce off one that has like a plus 200, but it shoots you back up. And then there's another one that you could put above that that's like a minecart and it takes your ball over this way. And if the ball hits these things, you'll. So you're basically trying to, like, set up beneficial paths by filling in the pegs with different things. After each shot, you add new pegs. And I think you're kind of like building a collection of.

[Russ Fresh]

It's like a more engaged peggle.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

You're kind of removing some of the randomness of pachinko. Like you're trying to, to the best of your ability, wrestle control from anything that you.

[Russ Fresh]

And if you were to do that in Japan, you would get your legs broken. But here.

[Justin McCarrie]

Yeah, peggle. It's not unlike what was the one. Do you guys remember Peglin? Yes. Sort of similar to that, except you are placing the pegs and the way that the pegs all interact and stuff and work together, it is kind of reminded me of Luck be a landlord. It's like that level of fidelity with the different. The way the different icons work together. My. It looks cool too. It looks like Grindstone is a simple sort of lowly style. My. My one. My concern would be I really like conceptually and I enjoyed playing it. I think that. I don't know if when you come up with decks in Balatro, you know that you're going to have pretty full control over how those decks play out. Right. There's a fidelity of. I will be able to control exactly how this expounds. Uh, this feels like too far to the other end of that, where I'm not sure I would have enough control over the placement of the pegles pegs and the angles of the shots and stuff. I'm not sure I'd have enough control over that to make it feel like a satisfying thing I was setting up. Because it does kind of feel pretty random. Once you do.

[Russ Fresh]

You almost would need like a preview line that actually shows you like three shots in what would happen.

[Justin McCarrie]

Right. And it starts to get computationally pretty difficult.

[Russ Fresh]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Justin McCarrie]

I will say the enjoyment I had was mainly seeing, like, the screen gets very chaotic when it's all happening. And right now it's sort of set up to where you're getting a lot of points pretty, pretty quickly. And so it feels very satisfying in like a Vegas sort of way. But it's really interesting. I'll be interested to see if they can pull it together. It's called Bill Ballynaire.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I'm very glad that you brought this one because I was probably most excited for this, honestly only played it for like 10 minutes, basically everything. But the game feel was amazing. Like the sound, the art, everything. And I couldn't tell if it was like off by some tinkering or what. The physics themselves felt a little strange for a thing that I felt really relied on physics. But I'm really hopeful that they'll figure this one out because it's such a great premise.

[Justin McCarrie]

It's a good, really good premise. I hope they. Yeah.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Fry. She got one.

[Russ Fresh]

Yeah, I'm gonna do a very quick one. The game is called Atomic Owl. It's kind of a celestie platforming game with like really, really gorgeous pixel art. It's like a narrative for your. I don't know, you've got like a magic sword and it's talking to you and it's got a lot of sass to it. But the actual gameplay is really just like mostly Celeste with like very, very light combat elements to it. I only mentioned it just because I was kind of blown away by the pixel art. It's rare that I like.

[Griffin McRae]

Yeah, this looks.

[Russ Fresh]

Stack really is stunning. The writing wasn't necessarily necessarily for me, it was a little in your face in weird ways. But the. I thought the gameplay was really fun. Good platforming and good feel to it. And again the art was.

[Griffin McRae]

Is it a Metroidvania or. Sorry, a search action experience.

[Russ Fresh]

What I played in the demo and I played through the whole demo was not. It was like linear levels. I don't know if it opens up or changes in the full game. But yeah, what I played was pretty linear.

[Griffin McRae]

They call it a Roguelite, so.

[Russ Fresh]

Oh, interesting.

[Griffin McRae]

Yeah.

[Russ Fresh]

Yeah. I wouldn't have guessed that. Based on what I played I thought, yeah, but that's interesting.

[Griffin McRae]

Yeah, this looks really good.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Griffin, what you got?

[Griffin McRae]

I got. I got one more and it's like my. One of my most anticipated games is Heroes of Hammer Watch two Quick history Heroes. Hammer Watch was like a Diablo style game. Came out. Didn't really set the world on fire. Then Heroes I love.

[Russ Fresh]

For what it's worth, I love the original Hammerwatch.

[Griffin McRae]

Yeah, I mean it was.

[Russ Fresh]

It's like Gauntlet. Gauntlet is.

[Griffin McRae]

It was like Gauntlet but it was like on Xbox Live Arcade and it Was like sort of a, you know, a big deal when it came out. Heroes of Hammerwatch, inspired by that first game, was a roguelite with a really, really great sort of feel and structure to it. Bunch of different classes, kind of Diablo, kind of Gauntlet.

[Russ Fresh]

Really good progression as you like, level up.

[Griffin McRae]

Tons of progression systems. I got really, really, really into that game. Rusted too. We played it together. Great multiplayer.

[Russ Fresh]

Oh my God.

[Griffin McRae]

So good, so fun, so great. Then Hammerwatch 2 came out. Was it earlier this year or last year? And I didn't like it very much and it got sort of passed over, I would say in general they took.

[Russ Fresh]

A lot of swings.

[Griffin McRae]

They took a lot of swings.

[Russ Fresh]

Day night cycles and quests givers and open giant open world. It was like a lot going on in the game and it just didn't really land.

[Griffin McRae]

So then I guess when they announced their participation in Steam Next Fest is when they also announced Heroes of Hammerwatch 2. Because this announcement is like a month old and the demo is out now. And I mean it's fucking great, man. It's fucking great. It's really good. It feels as good as I think it's running in the Hammerwatch 2 engine.

[Russ Fresh]

Yeah. Visually speaking, it's using Hammerwatch 2's engine and brings some of the features over. Like there's like loot, which you didn't really have if I remember.

[Griffin McRae]

Yes. So the way that it worked in Heroes of Hammerwatch is that your loot was run based. So when you restarted you lost basically everything. And then as you went it was sort of, you know, you would find a wand in the dungeon and it would boost your stats a little bit and then you'd maybe find a robe that matched it and you could boost your stats a little bit. But if you died like you lost all that stuff, it was just a run based thing. Now there is like a proper, you know, hack and slash looter game like element of you are getting gear, you're upgrading it, you're hanging on to it. But then there's also trinkets that you pick up as you go through the dungeon that do provide those like run based upgrades. There's like almost Vampire Survivor style like skill upgrades that you find as you go, which are also run based. But then again, like you are finding resources to upgrade the town, you're leveling up your like skill points, you are leveling up vendors so that you can upgrade your potion. You're like, there's so, so, so, so many carrots in the game. And I mean it took Me all of, like, two runs to like, say, like, okay, I'm gonna fucking get really, really into this. As much as I did the first Heroes of Hammer Watch. Russ, you referenced something crazy about the character when you changed characters.

[Russ Fresh]

Yeah. Did you try that?

[Griffin McRae]

I mean, yeah, I tried different characters.

[Russ Fresh]

Okay, so when you're playing the game I was playing, I think I started as a wizard and I wanted to make an archer. So I was playing the game and I was like, I'm going to make a new character. I'll just try an archer. I'm sure I'll start from the beginning. Whatever it is. You instantly get dropped in exactly where you were standing as the new character. But you can use all of the features that your town has had, like all the upgrades that you've already unlocked. And I don't know, there's something about not having to rerun the tutorial as a new character felt very fluid and kind of impressive.

[Griffin McRae]

Yeah.

[Russ Fresh]

Yeah. I really like that. It was like a minor thing, but it just felt like.

[Griffin McRae]

No, it is neat. Yeah. I think I'm super psyched for this. If you like ARPG hack and slash looter games, this is going to be a fucking good one.

[Russ Fresh]

Yeah. And it does feel like they've kind of beta tested a lot of the aspects of the engine, specifically with Hammerwatch 2, which has gone through a lot of patches, and I think they know pretty clearly at this point what the fans are looking for. So this really feels like a good fit.

[Justin McCarrie]

Hey, real quick. Tenebris Somnia. Yeah, is looks. It's. It's a. Okay, let's call it a point and click adventure with a 2D retro aesthetic. Kind of reminds me of, like, creepy. Some of the scary, like, fantastic. Oria, not quite that advanced graphically. You are a woman who is investigating her ex boyfriend's house because he has gone missing. And when you find out him, it's a very scary scene. And then you have to do different puzzle type elements. Nothing too super complex in the demo. It's only about 20 minutes long. And you're also at a certain point starting to get chased by scary monsters that are trying to encumber your progress, which feels interesting for a point and click adventure where you're like, not exactly sure where you're going and now you're also being chased by monsters. But you do get a gun, which also you don't expect from games like this. Really? You don't normally get a gun.

[Russ Fresh]

Justin is really bearing the leak.

[Justin McCarrie]

I'm bearing the leak. It's not in the demo. It's not in the demo.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Scratchy.

[Justin McCarrie]

Oh, it's not in the demo. There's an FMV component that is not in the demo.

[Russ Fresh]

Yeah.

[Justin McCarrie]

So the other big thing about this is that there are full motion videos sequences in the game that have a completely different style to this like sort of retro aesthetic. Those were not included in the demo, so I can sadly not speak to those. And if I'm being honest, it tempered my enjoyment of the demo because I did spend the entire time waiting for that and I did not get what I craved.

[Russ Fresh]

Yeah. Sorry, Justin.

[Justin McCarrie]

But that's okay. It looks, I'm going to play it. It looks great. But I need to see the. The FMV parts. But if you like scary stuff, it's. It's neat. I. I don't think, I don't think it's. It demos Great. I will say in 20 minutes. I don't think you really get.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah.

[Justin McCarrie]

What's interesting about this, like for example, you get a gun and bullets, but no real reason to use the gun and bullets, which you would in the game. Right. It just feels like. It doesn't feel like a whole experience. It just kind of feels like a sliver.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah. This is the problem with the Steam Next Fest demo model in general, I feel like is a lot of developers are just trying to be a part of it and not necessarily asking themselves am I ready for it the game at that point. And maybe I don't know if it's like a good or a bad idea to do that because any hype is good hype, I guess. But at the same time, you kind of only get one chance often to get in front of somebody and you got to be mindful of the foot that you put forward.

[Justin McCarrie]

I would be interested to see plan if that is accurate with Steam. I would wonder if it is. How much of it is a game of like number of impressions. You know what I mean?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah.

[Justin McCarrie]

If you're not ready just the like getting any oxygen.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah. It's not like the marketing rule that you have to be seen like three times before anybody would ever buy your product. Yeah.

[Russ Fresh]

But it does seem like if someone were to have a bad experience with a demo, you just wouldn't. I would never play. Yeah.

[Justin McCarrie]

No, you're. You're absolutely right.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Well, so the game. One of the other games I brought is a game called Heartworm, which. Did any of you look at the art for this game?

[Griffin McRae]

No, no. I'm googling. I'm searching these as we talk about them. Tenebris Somnia looks fucking rad.

[Justin McCarrie]

It does, yeah, it's really good. I left links in Mind games have linked in the doc if you wanted to use it.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Oh yeah. I'll make sure that they get into the newsletter. Heartworm looks like a throwback to. There is the original Resident Evil kind of, but. But for me, like Parasite Eve sort of stuff, it is a retro horror over the shoulder shooter game and it is kind of the definition of what we've been talking about the game itself. I really don't know if they should have put the demo out. There is a lot of work that needs to be done on the game. That said, I have a feeling that when it is ready they will nail it because everything else is killer. The art design is amazing. The audio is exceptional. There's an intro video to this that is pre rendered CG that looks like. Remember that Saturday morning cartoon reboot?

[Russ Fresh]

Oh yeah.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It's like that type of really rough CG in the best way possible. And they seem to know the different types of audiences. So when you start the game there are two choices you can make. One is do you want tank controls or do you want modern 3D controls? And the other is do you want the shooting where you lock in and stay positioned like the original Resident Evil or the kind of over the shoulder thing? So they're already working towards making it feel like a very comfortable game. The big problem for it, and I'm not sure how you get past this, is it is pre rendered or it's meant to look like pre rendered background so the camera is locked in position. And I forgot that when you are running around a city or a neighborhood and you have those locked cameras, you never know when the camera angle is going to change and with it the direction that your controller is going to move your character.

[Russ Fresh]

Which is. Which is why they did tank controls in the first place because you would just keep holding that direction and you would keep moving forward. But modern controls, that does not work. Yes, kind of interesting.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

So that has been a challenge and it feels like the thing that they're working through. It's not a dealbreaker for me because everything else is so enjoyable, but it's certainly is jarring where you basically when you get a cut of the camera, you kind of stop moving and have to rethink how you're going to move around.

[Griffin McRae]

I'm so into this like PS1 era kind of run as really kind of crow country. And I think Lun Acid was another game I played last year. I feel like it's coming back in a big way.

[Justin McCarrie]

I don't know why this, this one works on me so much better than. Than eight bit maybe because it's not quite as, you know, well, trod territory. Yeah it really. It hits. Maybe that's the last time I was happy is when games look like this. I have another one. I have one more that I didn't get to play but I'm just curious if you guys know anything about it because it looks fucking sick. Is Midnight Murder Club?

[Russ Fresh]

Yeah.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Oh yeah.

[Justin McCarrie]

It's like a. I mean I literally couldn't get into it to like I sat in the lobby and tried to get a game going and I couldn't. But it is a. Seems like a first person shooter that is in a pitch black environment in a pitch black mansion. So it has little bit of that murder mystery sort of vibe to it but it is also about sneaking around in the dark and not getting killed. But again with it, to be fair they recommended that you get on at night and there be more people playing in the evening, et cetera, et cetera. Easier to find a cue then but like it looks really neat. The idea of like being really careful about you know, noise and light and you can see like flashes in adjacent rooms are very clear. You can see like a lot of God beams coming through like people using flashlights through rooms that you can use as clues and looks really cool.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I think we'll play this when it comes out. The developers have reached out a few different times over the months because they're like very like convinced that we will dig it. And usually people when they reach out tend to know what we like. So I was already very curious about this one so I'd be into that.

[Russ Fresh]

I have one more. I also was not able to play because it was not running on Steam Deck but I watched enough footage to know it's the sort of game that I would probably really enjoy. It is called Secret Wizard Boy and the International Crime Syndicate.

[Justin McCarrie]

The Ross Fresh Story.

[Russ Fresh]

The Ross Freshick Story. It's very obviously a parody of the like PS1 era Harry Potter games but told in like fucking outrageous buck wild physics jokes and pun like it's. It is unhealthy.

[Justin McCarrie]

Now this is my shit. This looks good.

[Russ Fresh]

It looks really very, very, very good. I'm bummed I wasn't able to play it, but definitely one to keep an eye on.

[Griffin McRae]

Jesus Christ. This looks good.

[Russ Fresh]

Yeah, there's like a lot of murder.

[Griffin McRae]

And it looks like Goat simulator set inside of Hogwarts.

[Justin McCarrie]

It's Ridiculous.

[Russ Fresh]

Really fucking funny.

[Justin McCarrie]

Oh, man.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Y'all, there's a new Lonely Mountains downhill game called Lonely Mountains Snow Riders. Did any of you get into Lonely Mountains?

[Russ Fresh]

The original one, I love the first.

[Griffin McRae]

Yeah, I played it.

[Russ Fresh]

It was very hard, but I liked it a lot.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah, I loved it. And this one has snow physics, so you take the joy of the first game. These are like. You look almost like little toys going down. A giant.

[Russ Fresh]

It's like tilt shift.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah. And this one has snow effects, which is very cool because you can see the lines that you took previously when you fail zipping down the mountain.

[Griffin McRae]

Oh, interesting.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

And yeah, this is, it's. It's a really impressive balance of difficult and try, try again and Zen, kind of like hangout game. And I don't fully understand how it even pulls that off. How I don't get annoyed playing this game as I like try and learn how to get down. I think it helps that. And this is even more so. It seems in Snow Riders that there are just a lot of paths. So if you want to gradually just make your way down the mountain, you can probably do it with minimal crashes. But if you really want to carve out time and find shortcuts and everything, you're going to be eating shit over and over and over again in the best way. Yeah. Very pretty, very chill, Very great Steam deck game that I hope also comes to Switch. I think the original one did. So hopefully we see that there.

[Griffin McRae]

Nice.

[Russ Fresh]

Yeah. Let's take a break and we have a couple more recommendations for people from readers who stuff that they played.

[Justin McCarrie]

We are officially there. We're there in the gift giving season. 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 or Frames dot 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.

[Griffin McRae]

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 grow your savings. Rocket Money has over 5 million users and has saved a total of $500 million in canceled subscriptions, saving members up 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.

[Russ Fresh]

Okay.

[Justin McCarrie]

What are our readers into?

[Russ Fresh]

What are our readers into? Some people in the newsletter at Besties Fan left in the comments some recommendations for other things that they highly recommend. This one comes from Beetle Bat Rivals 2 demo on Steam Next Fest. Best smash like there is I believe this is Rivals of Aether 2. Yes, I think the cool people call it Rivals 2, but Rivals of Aether 2. I didn't play the original.

[Griffin McRae]

Nor did I. I almost got into this one. I was watching the trailer for it, but I thought that I was only going to basically be able to play these on Steam Deck. Because we were traveling all weekend.

[Russ Fresh]

Yeah.

[Griffin McRae]

And I didn't know if it would be the best fit was Rivals of Aether.

[Russ Fresh]

The one that had like a huge mod community where people were like adding every character imaginable.

[Griffin McRae]

I mean it seems like the type of game that would be true.

[Russ Fresh]

It was like Sans and Kirby. All sorts of shit was in the first one. I'm sure the second one will support that as well. Which is really cool. We have another recommendation. This one comes from Dayton. Highly recommend. Keep Driving. It's a road trip deck builder with a full radio of vibey indie rock. That's.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah, this one looks. For some reason I saw this and I thought Hoops might bring this. It seems like your speed Hoops. I'm very curious if you dig it.

[Justin McCarrie]

Yeah. You know what? Honestly, I probably would have. The Next Fest list isn't exactly the easiest to parse. There's a lot of good stuff on there.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah.

[Griffin McRae]

This looks really good though.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah. We got this one from Alex. Besties. If I said 2D gothic, like isometric pixel art indie, would any of you be as enticed as I am? Don't sleep.

[Justin McCarrie]

Isn't that every video game?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Don't sleep on Drova. Forsaken kin by just 2D developer, which came out last week for PC and Switch. Gameplay is fun, story seems engaging. Pixel art is nostalgic and captivating. It really seems to capture the early gaming feeling where NPC and quest don't hold your hand and you actually have to pay attention to things with a really well done power curve for combat. Check it out. I dig.

[Griffin McRae]

Kind of looks like Children of Mortar juice. Oh, it's like a ARPG top down. Kind of reminds me of Crawl. You guys remember Crawl?

[Justin McCarrie]

Yeah, Crawl. Yeah, Crawl was cool, man.

[Griffin McRae]

If that's the same developer because it really looks. No, I don't think.

[Justin McCarrie]

What's the name again?

[Russ Fresh]

It's called Drova. Forsaken Kin.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah, one last one. And this is just a question for us. Cool style too, from Ethersy. Sorry if I got your name wrong. After hearing about y'all doing cardio and games at the same time, however many episodes ago, I boldly took my Steam deck and Pro controller to the gym to play a Yakuza. Like a dragon on the treadmill. The next episode, I listened to you all describe that you do this in the shame free comfort of your own homes. It actually got me to do Cardio though. So I'll be back to it. Any tips for Sweaty controller hands.

[Griffin McRae]

I mean, I don't let that bother me. I grip hard enough to counteract the sweatiness.

[Justin McCarrie]

Yeah. I have special. I have prescription gloves, so maybe get.

[Russ Fresh]

Those Wii wrist straps just in case.

[Griffin McRae]

I mean, goofs aside, the pro controller, the elite, whatever it's called, the Xbox One has like a textured grip to it that maybe helps the thing.

[Justin McCarrie]

For that price you could get a bike.

[Griffin McRae]

That's a really good point. Just get a nicer bike with that.

[Justin McCarrie]

Fantastic.

[Russ Fresh]

Do we have any honorable mentions? People want to call out?

[Griffin McRae]

I want to give a shout out since. Is this our last episode before Halloween? I think so, yeah, probably. There is a YouTube channel that is very horror movie focused called Dead Meat that I've been watching for years now and pretty single handedly has gotten me into horror as a genre of films. The host of the channel, James H. Deese, who I've played Sea of Thieves with a bunch of times, just does a really, really great job sort of breaking down what makes horror movies cool and shares cool stories from, from the creation of those movies. And if you are, I don't know if you're the type of person that likes horror movies but doesn't have the time to watch them or is too scared to watch them, this is like a great way to kind of like educate yourself about what horror movies are doing. So check out the dead meat. YouTube channel has checked this out.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

This guy's shredded. You left out the part where he's.

[Griffin McRae]

And he's shredded.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Shredded. Hey, I went to Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights for the first time and let me tell you, what a delight, what a wonderful thing that is.

[Russ Fresh]

Is that the, like more graphic. Cause it's like Oogie Boogie Nights and that's like for kids.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah. Oogie Boogie Nights is what if you just go to California Adventure and now they give you like Skittles and you can have shorter lines on the rides.

[Justin McCarrie]

And that one's at Disney. So it's like a good experience.

[Griffin McRae]

Yeah.

[Justin McCarrie]

For everybody.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Halloween Horror Nights is. What if we take over Universal Studios and we fill the backlot, at least in la, with tons of haunted houses. Like eight or nine or ten haunted houses.

[Russ Fresh]

Wow.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

And they put a lot of money into them because more than half of them are promoting their movies. So they're like, oh, we can justify doing animatronics for the Quiet Place Haunted House because like, hey, it's been one big promo for the Quiet Place Virtuous.

[Justin McCarrie]

Circle as far as I'm concerned.

[Griffin McRae]

Yeah.

[Justin McCarrie]

I mean, good with all these animatronics over here. You keep on going for it.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

The thing that blew my mind is this thing. We were there from like 7 till about 2:30 in the morning. I think it actually closed it too. I know. And that it is so chaotic. I mean you have people the second you walk in people in purge costumes charging you with fake but real sounding and smelling chainsaws. And yet everything is good vibes. Everybody is like not starting shit. I feel like I see more drama at Disneyland these days of families who like wish they didn't have to spend this much time with each other than I saw at 2am at Universal Studios.

[Russ Fresh]

Do you think it's like a metal show thing where you look, go to a metal show and you're like, it's like terrifying people and then all of them are like sweethearts.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah. And everybody really wants to be there and they want to preserve it. Like I think everybody there really loves it and they really are protective of it. But yeah, I had put off doing this for a while and I wish I hadn't because now that I've gone, I had such a great time. And in terms of like scares, I did not like haunted houses as a kid. I don't know if I've changed or maybe it's just the fact that it's Universal Studios, but nothing was that scary. It was like most people were laughing the whole night, you know, like, it just has like a fun energy to it. So yeah, if you're in the LA or I, I think they have it in Orlando. If you're in either of those areas, definitely check it out. Cool. Cool.

[Griffin McRae]

I've always wanted to go. I don't know how I'm going to make that happen.

[Russ Fresh]

I wanted to shout out the New York Mets who are no longer in the baseball playoffs. My run of caring about sports is over.

[Griffin McRae]

Oh, man.

[Russ Fresh]

Thank you all for staying with me through this tough time. I love the Mets and they've once again lost.

[Griffin McRae]

Hockey season just started, baby. Hit up, hit up. Submit. Get on the, get on that Rangers tip.

[Russ Fresh]

Yeah, I guess I'm probably closer to the Islanders just from a regional standpoint.

[Griffin McRae]

Yeah, yeah, I guess so. But do the, you should do the, you should do the Rangers.

[Russ Fresh]

It's, it's, it's quite honestly a relief because the, the time sink. And I've talked about this before of following baseball is so long.

[Griffin McRae]

You have to watch it every day.

[Justin McCarrie]

There's a game every day.

[Russ Fresh]

I love baseball, but it's just a lot of time and energy and so farewell, New York Mets. I don't care what happens in the World Series.

[Justin McCarrie]

All right, fantastic.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I need one more thing.

[Justin McCarrie]

Yeah. Super quick. I just want to say that if you like this show, I could say with almost 100% certainty, you will enjoy an interview I did for Polygon with one Sam Barlow, where we talk about FMV games. That's the end of the sentence. And that's an hour. It's an hour of us going as deep and esoteric as we can. If you like FMV games, then you can find that on YouTube and listen to us talk about FMV games for an hour. It was really fun to do. I think it's. It may be unlistenable. I have absolutely no idea.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It's.

[Justin McCarrie]

I really enjoyed conducting the interview.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It's a really, really enjoyable interview, and I'm so appreciate you doing it.

[Justin McCarrie]

And I was. No problem at all. I will say, if you guys do want to have a picture of me on your website, I would love to get you one from the past five years. It's no problem at all. I know that Polygon has some that they already own, but if you guys just want to. I know how to get in touch with me. I have a beard now. It's a whole other look.

[Griffin McRae]

His brand is.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Wow.

[Justin McCarrie]

So if you would like, like to, like, reach out, I've been happy to get you some new JPEGs. If you're gonna go through the trouble of animating a digital puppet of me. And that is part of a. It was released alongside a fantastic documentary that Polygon has been working on for years, I mean, literal years, about Spycraft, the FNB game, Spycraft and its place in the geopolitical sphere. It's an incredible, incredible piece of work. Incredible story. I'm in it just a very tiny bit to talk about Spycraft as an FMV game, but freaking great. Go watch it.

[Griffin McRae]

Thank you. We are also putting up new monster factories every Wednesday, basically through the end of the year on the McElroy Family YouTube channel. I think the first one went up on Wednesday the 23rd, so go check it out. Eight episodes.

[Russ Fresh]

What Games you doing?

[Griffin McRae]

The first game that we're doing is Dragon's Dogma 2. Oh, boy. And the other ones will leave a secret till they come out.

[Justin McCarrie]

Hey, I read a scary book real quick. It's called Fever House. It's part of a duology about a hand that, when it is in people's possession, gives them these murderous, violent impulses. And the government is trying to track down this hand. And it is basically like Laying waste to a city because these mobsters also wanna possess the hand. So the mafia and the cops are all trying to get a. But it's a two parter and there's a government cover up about the hand. It's really. If you like Stephen King or some of the like John Dies at the End, those early books from him. I think you will dig this a lot. It's called Fever House. It's a two. There's a second book in it I have not read yet.

[Russ Fresh]

That would be a tough job.

[Justin McCarrie]

Awesome. Yeah.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

So true.

[Russ Fresh]

Chasing down the Hand.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Should I wrap up all the stuff we discussed?

[Justin McCarrie]

For sure.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

We talked about.

[Justin McCarrie]

Are you sure? Because I think Russ is just warming up.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

He's ready to go. As in his temperature is rising.

[Justin McCarrie]

Rising.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

We talked about Mandragora. Is that how it's pronounced? Mandragora.

[Justin McCarrie]

It's a demo, sure.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Atomic Owl. Secret Wizard Boy in the International Crime Syndicate. Heartworm, Lonely Mountain, Snow Rider. Gladio Mori, Ballylnaire, Tenebris Omnia.

[Justin McCarrie]

It thinks like, it's gonna be fine in your head. You think, this is gonna be fine when I say it. And then by the time it gets to your mouth it's like, that's not what I was thinking.

[Russ Fresh]

It's Balillionaire.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Ballionaire. Tender Somnia. The Rise of the Golden Idol. Heroes of Hammerwatch 2. Rivals of Aether 2. Keep driving. Drove a Forsaken Kin. And that is it.

[Russ Fresh]

If you missed Midnight Murder Club.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Which Murder Club? Thank you. Which we're going to talk about more another time.

[Justin McCarrie]

I look forward to it.

[Russ Fresh]

I want to thank the following people for being patrons of the besties. You can go to patreon.com thebesties remember all that stuff about patreon and iOS and stuff like that? Long story short, if you're already subscribed, don't worry about it. If you haven't subscribed yet, just subscribe through a browser. That's the only. That's the recommended way. Otherwise, if you do it on your phone through the app, it'll charge you an extra thing that goes straight to Apple and not to us. Anyway, thank you to these patrons. Kenda, Nathan, Josh, Nathaniel. Thank you for being patrons of the Besties. Thank you to everyone else for being patrons of the Besties. What are we doing next week? Oh, man, it's a big one.

[Justin McCarrie]

Jesus. Yeah, it's Dragon Age Male Guard.

[Russ Fresh]

This episode is going to go up before people have a chance to play it, which is interesting, I guess. We'll obviously be very mindful of spoilers, but, yeah, this is gonna be a wild one. I don't know how this is gonna go.

[Justin McCarrie]

All right, well, I'm looking forward to it, and I hope you are, too, listener. That's gonna do it for us for this week on the Besties. Be sure to join us again next time for the Besties, because shouldn't the world's best friends make the world's best games?