Games of 2024: A Look Ahead

This is a head gun podcast.

Hey, buddy, before we get started with this week's episode, which we recorded way back in November of 2023, wow, what a different time.

I wanted to update you on a few changes you may have noticed around these parts.

First up, we have new show art that is from Duck Brigade Design at DuckBrigade Design on social media or duckbrigade.com.

A new show art for get animated and get played.

You probably saw that as your podcast, Tyle, or saw it on social media.

But thanks to Gabe and Andrea over there, we're very, very happy with it.

Also, we have a new theme song that is from Ben Prunty, one of my favorite working video game composers from FTL, Subnautica Below Zero, Into the Breach.

You've heard his work in those games, and now you can hear it on our podcast.

We really love it.

BenPruntyMusic.com.

And that link will also be in our show notes.

And one more thing.

We now have our back catalog.

All of our episodes previous to our new alliance with Headgum are available on our Patreon.

So that includes how did this get played?

That includes our premium DLC, which was formerly paywalled as part of Stitcher Premium, Rest in Power.

You can get all that now at patreon.com slash get played.

In fact, that's the only place to get it.

And so we have a get animated there.

That's our anime watch-along show.

We also have the get played back catalog.

You can get that as a standalone, or you can get that as a bundle with get animated.

So check all that out.

Anyway, thanks again to Andrea and Gabe at Duck Brigade Design.

Thanks again to Ben Prunty, benpruntymusic.com.

We're just thrilled with all this new stuff that's just adding a fresh coat of paint to this dusty old show.

Anyway, enjoy this week's episode and maybe get ready to get played.

Hey, everyone.

Before we start the show, we just wanted to make an announcement because we talked about a bunch of games that were coming out in 2024, and then we got some news afterwards and wanted to add this.

Yeah, yeah.

So just to peek behind the curtain a little bit is that we record the episodes first and then afterwards we record the intros.

But in that time, we got this massive announcement that actually no new games are coming out this year.

Yeah, there's no new games coming out in 2024.

So

don't bother putting in any pre-orders at GameStop.

More games for me.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Don't go to your local game stores and actually don't even look this up.

It's like you can just trust us.

We're two vetted

sources that there are no games coming out.

So don't even try to go pre-order the cool games that are coming out and then I can get all the games that I want.

Yeah, don't go, don't, you know, open up the Steam store and try to look for new releases that are coming out in 2024 and, you know, add them to your shopping cart because then I can buy them all for me.

Yeah, and then also, oh, God.

Nick, I'm seeing something else crazy

on the computer here.

No more gaming hardware coming out either.

Oh, yeah, I hear this too.

The new consoles and like,

this is Dan Rather.

No new gaming hardware is coming out either.

Okay, so that was an urgent news alert that just came in.

That was live on the news right now.

We turned the TV on for one second.

They happened to be talking about it.

But like, so if you think about like, trying to pre-order something, because you might see something that's fake, that's actually trying to steal your identity.

The OLED, you know, Steam Deck they've been talking about.

Like, like, yeah, don't bother getting one of those.

So I can keep it for myself.

Yeah, yeah.

Don't, don't try.

I know that everyone's been talking about there's going to be a Switch to Switch, yeah, Switch two.

Don't, don't even try to pre-order it because then I can have it and then I'll have it first.

It'd just be for me and Matt.

We'll get all the games.

All the games for us.

Just the goodest guys.

If we're the only two who can get the games, then we get to have all the games to ourselves.

That's right.

And even though they're digital,

there's only so many.

We don't understand how the economy works.

We think the downloads are limited.

All the games for us all the time because we deserve it.

And actually, you know what?

If you're listening this far, you're actually really bad.

And you don't deserve any of the games.

You're bad for listening this far.

So even if the games do come out, you shouldn't get them.

And your punishment is that you can't pre-order it and then there's more for us.

But yeah, so like, it's just like, it's a real bummer.

It's a real sad news, but you know, that's the reality.

And hey, you got lots of stuff that you can play in your backlog.

You can't play that either.

They're all for me.

You send those to us.

We preview a bunch of new games we won't have time to play because there are too many new games as we look ahead at the 2024 release calendar this week on get played.

Wow, it's Get Played, your one-stop show for good games, bad games, and every game in between.

It's time to get played.

I'm Nick Weiger, along with Matt Abodaka.

Hello, everyone.

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Get Played.

Matt, we are recording this a bit in advance, but we're looking ahead to 2024.

We can tell the future now, Nick.

Can we?

I don't know.

We're looking into the future.

I guess we can't really do anything about it, can we?

We can see what's going on, We can see what's coming out, but ultimately we have no impact on

those realities, you know?

Well, this is the thing.

Like, if you could see the future, do you actually have the power to change it?

I mean, this is a thing that's probably been explored a bunch of different ways with any sort of soothsaying ability.

Or is the future fated to become that way?

And that's why you can see it as it's as it's

certain to be.

I sort of feel that if I could see the future and see how

something something could come out,

I don't know if I could change anything.

I don't know if I have the power or the strength to do something like that.

I think I'd just be too lazy.

Yeah,

imagine I see it and I'm like in the most comfortable place I've ever been.

Yeah.

I'm not doing jack shit.

Exactly.

Exactly.

Yeah.

What are we doing here?

I'm very excited about something right now that I have to simply call out.

Yes.

First of all, we're being recorded by Emma.

That's right.

No voice producer Emma or Brink is filling in today.

Hi, Emma.

Great to have you here.

Hello.

I'm happy to be here.

So, Jemi, the dog, was on the other side of the room just a little bit ago.

That's right.

And now she's actually closer to my side.

Jemi has become a beautiful dog.

What kind of dog is she?

I know she's a rescue.

We're not totally sure.

We think there's definitely some Beagle in there and a little Jack Russell.

We think maybe a little Whippet.

She is cute as a button, and she has become a recent fixture of Doughboys Records in Studio.

And because you're here, today Jemi is here and it's it's a light we've not done a dog in studio record before never once in the

200 and some odd episodes has there been a dog in the in well on Heather's end yeah there have been there's been a dog that's true but never not in studio I'm never in studio so this is very exciting and I was kind of worried that

Well, it is happening right now as we speak.

Jemmy is going back to the other side and is somehow favoring Nick.

She's very tentative.

She still doesn't like me, even though I feel like I know her pretty well, but I think she just sort of gets, she just sort of gets my energy, right?

Sure.

Yeah, Jimmy's very quiet and very

much.

Let me stay away from this guy.

Yeah, she knows how take care of you.

Get up here, Jimmy.

Come here.

Good girl.

Come on.

Are we going to talk about my favorite game?

Catch.

Jimmy.

It's not that kind of game.

Yeah, our guest is Jimmy.

Today we're going to be talking about catch.

So the thing about catch is you could do it with sort of any ball.

Right, right.

Sometimes a fun thing to do when you're playing catch is to like fake like you're throwing the ball, like do a really vigorous motion.

I'll tell you who does not like that.

Jemmy.

Or any of the dogs.

It is a cruelty only known to man.

But so cute.

Yeah.

You're being very good, Jesus.

We love having you here.

And Emma, we love having you here as well.

I'm happy to be here.

What a treat.

So, yeah, we're going to be at,

I mean, I guess just generally, how are you feeling about 2024 from a gaming standpoint?

Because we're coming off of a banger year, 2023.

A lot of great games.

Maybe an all-timer year.

I don't think it's quite in that tier.

It's kind of tough because

I can't think about the years that I've gamed that were better than others because it's done so far in the past now.

But in the last, since we've been doing this show,

2023 was absolutely one of the best years in gaming, like that since we've started at least, right?

We were also like, yeah, and we, we've obviously weathered a couple of uh you know weathered a couple pandemic years which affected uh the releases of those years but and subsequent years as such and i you know 2022 but i think especially 2023 i think benefited from those backlog of games that were in development you know finally being able to get a proper release because yeah it was just a deluge it was honestly too much that was the big issue with 2023 too much 2024 you know could be a could be a dud

or maybe due for a dud but yeah maybe the stinker year maybe just a just a straight-up bad year.

Yeah.

Everything sucks.

There's nothing worth playing.

It's like a stinker garbage.

You know who's going to be excited about it?

The critic.

The critic loves to say it stinks.

Now, I don't know if he's ever reviewed any video games, but I think probably just generally any sort of media that displeases him, he will deem it as stinking.

Do you think he has the same stance as like a Roger Ebert that video games can never achieve

art?

That's a good question.

I mean, I think probably being written is something of a Siskel and Ebert sort of analog.

I bet he would have the same sort of

condescension towards a nation art form, you know, certainly at the era when the critic was airing.

But these days, I don't know.

I feel like even Ebert, I've said this before, I feel like Ebert would have come around.

Yeah, he would have had to see something like The Last of Us or,

you know,

The Last of Us 2 or any of the, honestly, like any Last of Us Left Behind.

The Last of Us Part 1, the remake.

Yeah, yeah.

Anything like that.

If he would have seen anything like that, he would have been like, I'm so sorry, gamers.

No, I actually think it's maybe more on the indie side, like things that aren't like, because I think a lot of times it was like stuff that was attempting to be cinematic, was stuff that would be more sneered at.

But then looking at something that's a little bit more, you know, artful or that uses

gaming, the medium as a

like, like, like takes advantage of

what's present there, what's innate to that art form.

Like, I think, like, something like Journey, which is a game that Heather doesn't like, but you know, she's not here.

But the, but we talk about it.

We talk about Journey because Heather's not here.

But, like, that's, I feel like that's the kind of game that you can get someone on board with, like, oh, okay, this is kind of a different sort of experience that you can't have in a non-interactive way.

Yeah, yeah, I think that's interesting.

I think versus gameplay broken up by cutscenes, and they're just going to say,

this isn't a movie.

I think because he liked anime,

Roger Ebert would eventually like video games.

I think he'd get there.

100%.

We can only speculate.

Yeah, may he rest.

R.I.P.

I loved Ebert.

I loved watching those two bitches argue.

It's so funny.

I will still put those on.

Like, I was watching, I'll just put on a YouTube compilation of

Siskel and Ebert going at it.

And you'll watch one of them sometimes, and they're just both super cranky.

And you're just watching it feeling like I bet they didn't have lunch before they shot the episode.

That's all this was.

And you knew it was going to be a good one when they looked like either one of them could slap the other one.

Yes, yeah.

But now we actually know we don't joke about slapping anymore.

No, that's no, that's we can't.

Absolutely not.

We can't.

No, comedy was changed forever.

I don't even know we can joke, period.

Comedy might be over.

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All right, now that we're done referencing two Oscars ago,

let's look ahead to the future.

But first, actually, I do want to take a pause

and think about this year that is just ending 2023 as we ask, what are you playing?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I thought the way we could handle this, Matt, is we're going to, because we're recording this in advance, I thought we could discuss a 2023 game we wanted to play, but didn't get around to.

So, if you want to think on that for a second,

I have some ideas of my own.

But also, Emma, I wanted to include you because I know that you are someone who, I don't know how much of a gamer you are, but I do know

you played the shit out of Breath of the Wild and you have been playing Tears of the Kingdom, yes?

Yeah, that's actually the only game I've been playing is Tears of the Kingdom.

Wow.

But it's huge.

I mean, I started it when it came out and then I took a break for a while because it was a little overwhelming and I was moving.

And now I'm kind of back into it, but it's still very overwhelming.

It's such a huge game.

Like I haven't even touched the depths.

I'm like scared to go down there.

It's a lot.

It's very scary.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I actually was exploring.

I was showing it to Mike the other day and I was like explored more in that moment than I had before.

And I was realizing it was because someone was sitting there with me and I wasn't like by myself in the dark or something.

Jemmy snuggles with me a lot while I play video games too, which is helpful.

Wow, that's cute.

But that's kind of all I've been playing.

I think I could play it for years.

Right.

That's the sort of like you're, my understanding is like with Breath of of the Wild, you just like hunkered down with that and just played the shit out of it.

And the same sort of process.

Do you like all the building stuff that's that's been added?

I like the building, it's fun.

I like just like being able to run around and like choose.

Like some days, I'm like, I'm not gonna fight anything, I'm just gonna like forage for mushrooms and like run around and like look at pretty things.

And then sometimes I'm like, I'm gonna go kill a bunch of stuff.

And yeah, I like being able to choose that.

I'm not sacrificing the like actual game too much by doing that in a way.

But yeah, the building in this one's kind of fun.

That's new.

Yeah.

It's confusing confusing a little bit, but I'm getting there.

Do you like,

do you care about like chasing the or you know, following the story too much?

Or are you just like getting in there and sort of like hanging out and like vibing?

I follow the story.

I follow like the side quests are fun because it's kind of there.

A lot of them are fairly self-contained.

Yeah.

And you can like start and end.

The main story, I tend to get off track and then I like find myself back around at things where I'm like, oh, I was definitely supposed to encounter this much earlier than I did because it's like way easier than I thought it was going to be or or something like that.

You know what I mean?

But yeah, no, I follow the story.

I have, I'm almost through the, I have one more like regional thing phenomenon to tackle

Tears of the Kingdom.

So yeah, my reason I ask is because I recently heard my friend's wife playing this game in a way that I've never heard anybody play this game before.

And they basically 100%ed every single aspect of the game.

Whoa.

And then got to the final boss and was like, I'm good and turned it off.

Yes, like, just like did not care to finish the, like, to defeat Gannon at all.

Was like, I'm good.

I think I'm done with this.

We maybe talked about this specifically on the pod before, but I do, but like, I do think there's an element of just like

maybe not even realizing like what's going on there is like, I don't want this experience to be over.

I don't want the finality of like, this is done.

You know, but I, but who knows?

I love the flex.

Yeah, I do like that.

Also, 100%ing everything in that game, I like can't even.

I tried, I 100%ed the shrines and Breath of the Wild, and that took fucking forever.

And I had to cheat.

Like, I had to look them up at a certain point.

I was like, there's three left.

How the fuck am I supposed to find them?

Did you go to Corox seeds?

I did.

I don't remember how many of them I had.

I don't care.

That was too many.

That's the 100%ing thing that blows my mind.

Like, I don't even know how you do that.

No.

So many.

I fell off of, it sounds like you're further than I got when I kind of fell off of Tears of the Kingdom more just because I was like overwhelmed by all the stuff to play.

And yeah, yeah, and also the game, it's just, it's just kind of daunting in its scope.

But you finished it.

I finished it and

I like now can't tell you like a single thing about it.

Like,

it left my mind completely.

Like, I like, I remember like, you know, the things that we're talking about, the depths and like, yeah, the, the building and the powers, ascending.

I remember that kind of stuff.

But, like,

if I got back in there, I would be worthless.

Like, I, like, I just can't, like, I haven't played it since I finished it.

I feel like that's kind of the weirdness of it being the same map as the, as Breath of the Wild, too.

Like, I thought I had been to Caraco Village or whatever it's called

last night.

I got there, and I hadn't been there yet in this game.

And I was just like remembering it from the other game.

You know what I mean?

So, like, I kind of conflate the memory.

So, like, I'll be like, oh, I did that thing.

I've been here before, but like, I actually haven't.

So, there's new stuff to find, you know?

It's, I, and I would say it was one of my games of the year.

And I, like, it's gone from my brain now.

I guess I could play it again.

You know what I liked is that Addison guy, support the guy supporting the president.

You yeah, you would.

He's one of the signs.

That simp.

I'm going around doing that for Biden.

Happy,

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Man, he's up there.

All right.

I thought I'd.

You're not saying anything about his competency for office.

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I love ice cream.

Yeah, I also love ice cream.

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Matt, a couple of games that I wanted to get to in 2023.

And it actually ties in with something that's coming out in 2024.

But the Yakuza franchise, which has been rebranded Like a Dragon, there were a couple games, a couple spin-off games that came out in 2023 that I didn't get time to spend time with either of them,

even though they were both on Game Pass.

Like a Dragon Ishin and Like a Dragon Gaiden, the man who erased his name.

One is set in like a kind of a, it's, it's a, kind of a feudal Japan setting.

It's like, it is like a samurai game.

And

that's like a Dragon Ishin.

And it looks really cool.

And it also looked like it had all the charm of the Yakuza franchise that I really like from Yakuza Zero.

And plus this historical setting, which is just like a really interesting context for it.

And the other one is,

you know, Stars Kiryu.

And that one came out more recently.

But like...

that like I love that character.

He's like the best.

But yeah, I just didn't have time for either of those.

And hopefully in the new year, I'll be able to budget some time to explore some more of the Yakuza franchise.

But I do feel like part of this exercise should be us saying, will we ever get around to this?

And if I'm being honest with myself, no, I will never get around to playing these two games that look like they really, that really interest me.

But I would like to.

Yes.

Yeah.

I think for me, I'll probably be delusional and say, well, I'll get to all of these.

And there's just absolutely no way.

There's no, like, there's,

because I'm thinking of games, uh, not just games I didn't get to touch, but games I started and didn't finish, you know.

Yeah, well, what, what would, what would you, if you were going to zero in on one or two things, what would it be for 2023?

Uh, you know, I mean, as far as games that I didn't finish, I would have loved to, I'd love to get back in there and finish off Baldur's Gate 3, you know,

and Armored Core 6, probably my two big ones of the ones that I played this year.

But as of ones that I've missed, I heard a lot about Lies of P.

People love lies of P.

And crazy Pinocchio game, Pinocchio Souls like Pinocchio Souls-like, and I think

I would have liked to get in there, I think, but it's too late for me.

And I just, that's one that I feel pretty confident that there's just no way.

There's just no way I'm going to get to it.

Yeah.

Because like that type of game occupies such a very specific, like, I think I was looking at this the other day.

You know, my most played game on PlayStation is still Elden Elden Ring by like 100 hours.

Pyrox.

Like, the next thing down is like 70 hours or something.

And they're like, I put almost 200 hours into Elden Ring.

And

I don't think I can do that again.

I don't think Liza P is as chunky as Elden Ring, but

that was a big one.

A big, big one to me.

But, you know, I didn't get to play the

Dead Space remake either.

And I was actually pretty interested in that for being a big coward.

It was supposed to be a great remake, and I also didn't get to it.

I mean,

it's uh, it's interesting like because we covered the Resident Evil 4 remake and

loved that.

But it yeah, it is kind of like just whatever you fight you you have attention for.

The other one that that came out, um,

uh, there was a system shock remake as well that we like bare maybe barely touched on.

Yeah, but there was another one I wanted to play.

Yeah.

And it's just like, it's that, that's the other thing.

When you've got these, now you got these high gloss, high-production value remakes of like classic games.

It feels like a new game, even if you've played it.

So you kind of want to revisit it.

If you haven't played it, it's like, well, hell,

now's the reason for me to finally play this thing.

I replayed, we replayed The Last of Us this year.

Yes, yeah.

They remade it and we've played it again.

Was that this year?

Was that in 2023?

It was this year, yeah.

Wow.

Yeah.

But those are two.

The Last of Us Part 1 came out in 2023.

Yeah, The Last of Us.

Jesus Christ.

Yeah, it

came out in 2022.

You're right.

But at the end of the year.

Okay.

We covered it in 2023?

No, we covered it the month it came out.

All right.

We covered it last year.

Sorry, I've lost my mind.

But

we talked about this a little bit a couple weeks ago.

Yeah.

Marvel's Midnight Suns is one I do feel like I will get to.

I was pretty interested in that.

That was like a 2022 release, even like very late 2022.

I feel like all the stuff I heard about it, though, was 2023.

Does that make sense?

No, I got you.

I feel like a lot of people, the conversation about Marvel's Midnight Suns really began in 2023.

It came out at the tail end of the year amidst a deluge of releases and kind of got buried.

And then when people got around to it the next year, they were like, ah, check this game out.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But here's my thing with Lies of P.

First off, anytime, because I haven't played all the Souls games, Bloodborne is a notable blind spot for me.

I'm like, if I am going to commit to playing that kind of game, why don't I just play Bloodborne?

So that's my first block for that.

Yes, 100%.

Yeah.

And then my other issue is lies of P, we should be talking about lies of T.

Trump.

We'll be right back.

All right, we're back.

Nick looked into a camera with a fucking lens cap on it.

Absolute psycho shit.

I'm going to call Mick.

We got to lock our boy up.

That was crazy.

I don't think you can do the

joyless,

like I just give you some a little bit of the daily show.

Like, I've got a serious bit of

truth I just dropped, throw it a commercial without looking at a camera.

You gotta look at a camera.

You have to look at a camera, even if it's off.

My thing about Lies of P is that it makes me think of pissing the bed.

You pee in the bed.

Lying and pee.

Yeah.

Oh, I thought you were going to say you pee in the bed and then you lie about it.

It's like, oh, I don't know what happened.

I guess it was.

You were over me in the bed.

So some freak came in here and pissed all over me.

And it also makes you think of the rental song, Friends of P.

Oh, that's fun.

Yeah.

So that's actually not bad.

I like that.

And we'll be right back.

Yeah.

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I eventually got off that roof when the sun rose.

All right, we're back.

Let's talk about 2024.

I think the way to the

a good baseline here, Matt, is the Game Awards 2023 nominees for most anticipated game.

Because we can just look at the interesting and start here and maybe take the conversation from there.

But here they are.

Here are the nominees.

And as of this episode's release, I'm sure a winner will have been crowned.

Also, what a weird award.

Yeah, the gaming awards in general are chaos.

But like,

this just like hammers home what an exercise in marketing it is.

It's just like, hey, let's name what game we're most excited for that isn't even out yet.

Yeah, and we have no frame of reference for, really, for some of these, too.

Well, I think for the most, they're largely like entries in maybe entirely entries in existing franchises so it's just kind of like okay here are these ones let's here's here's the next one of these um so naturally people are going to be hyped for it here here they are most anticipated game nominees final fantasy 7 rebirth hades 2 like a dragon infinite wealth star wars outlaws and tekken 8 There's no way, I mean, gosh, when did Tekken 7 come out, though?

Tekken 7?

I have no sense of the Tekken franchise.

I haven't played a Tekken avidly since Tekken 3 on PlayStation 1.

I know that in me saying this, people are going to say that I'm wrong and try to come for me on this.

I don't think anybody likes Tekken this much.

I think there are some, I mean, I will come for you because I think that's insane.

I think there are some huge Tekken fans.

And my understanding is that the Tekken series has been quite good.

It's just like, it's just not for me.

No.

I got to play a fighting game.

I'm going to play something else.

And I don't play fighting games really.

Tekken 7 came out in 2015, so I guess this is anticipated because

it will have been nine years since the previous entry.

There hasn't been a Tekken in a long time,

which is cool.

I'm happy for the Tekken fans.

And actually,

I didn't even say that.

I didn't even say that nobody likes Tekken.

You made that up.

It's in the episode, but I don't even know how it got there.

I thought I saw Emma messing with the wires over there.

Got it.

I think something happened.

Yeah.

I think Jemmy said it.

People are dousing their pitchforks.

They're putting their pitchforks away.

Thanks for taking the heat on me, Jemmy.

But yeah, I guess of this list, I'll tell you that I'm probably most personally excited for Hades 2 on this list.

But

I don't, I'm very curious about, I know that Star Wars Outlaws

is like a bounty hunter game, which is kind of more exciting to me than a Jedi game because it feels like there's more to do there or more more to do that we haven't done in a Star Wars video game before.

Right.

Because

my big thing about Star Wars is that

we see Jedi stuff all the time.

Yes.

We could be seeing any other stuff.

It's a rich world with a bunch of crazy stuff going on all the time.

We don't have to see this one Jedi family or like even the jedi at all we could just that's why the mandalorian works so well until they start bringing jedi stuff into it because then you're like okay now it's tied to this stuff i already know now it's just the luke skywalker deep fake show exactly which is like that's his own kind of exhaustion so i was like oh enjoy the mandalorian oh yeah i don't get me wrong yeah

That wasn't a criticism.

It's more that just like, I'm used to that.

I've seen that a lot.

This is interesting to me because we don't really get to do that in a Star Wars video game that often, which I'm excited about.

I would be more excited about Final Fantasy VII Rebirth had I finished

seven remake,

which I would like to do still.

I did finish seven remake, and I am definitely excited for rebirth.

I mean, I think that was just like a just a perfectly done,

you know,

remake.

Like the way, because it's like, it's like a, it's, it's not a remaster as like the, you know, the dead spaces that we talked about earlier are where it's just like this is the same game but it everything is uh looks and plays like a contemporary game it's like it's a whole new game that has a lot of the story beats from the first but even those are kind of like rearranged and some details are changed and the characters are there but they're all a little different and the gameplay is completely different from the turn-based battling of the original game it and and it's just like it's but also like it's such a richly realized world that actually feels populated which was a big part of what I liked about that game.

And what didn't work for me with Cyberpunk initially is like it didn't feel like this was an actual, actual living world.

There, it feels like, like, oh, man, they actually made this feel

inhabited.

Like, this is a larger society where people, you know, work and love and so forth.

Can I ask you something?

And will you be honest with me?

Please.

Do I have to play the original one to like...

No, you don't have to play Final Fantasy VII, but I think they're probably, I think you maybe should play Final Fantasy VII just because it's a great game.

I think there's probably ways around some of the tedium.

I don't know if they've done a,

there hasn't been a re-release that like, you know, lets you toggle off random encounters or so forth.

I don't think.

But I think you can just, I think it's good enough where it's worth playing.

And those, those quirks of the...

uh old school JRPG, you can just sort of power through.

Because it'll get to our skills.

I've started it a few times on a few different systems.

Yeah.

And have been like, I kind of just want to play the new one.

Because the new one is.

This is the other thing.

Just play the remake.

I'm saying if you're, you don't, certainly, there's no prerequisite to play the original.

I think you probably would enjoy it knowing your tastes and knowing that you're like open to playing older games, but also I would not let that stop you from re-engaging with Final Fantasy VII Remake or with Rebirth.

I want to go back to Star Wars Outlaws for a second because

the one thing that concerns me about Star Wars Outlaws is that it's from Ubisoft.

Dude, I feel like

they exactly do the kind of bloated open world game that I kind of am exhausted by.

Now, maybe this won't be that, maybe, but I just kind of feel like I'm just.

To me, that's a red flag.

To me, that's just like, is this going to be just Assassin's Creed Star Wars?

Is this going to have that kind of feel?

Yeah.

I'm concerned about it being a service game because, like, I feel like some releases in the last couple of years have been sneaky service games that I'm not super stoked about.

Like, you know, last year, last year when we did this similar premise of an episode,

I said that Suicide Squad Killed the Justice League was one of my more anticipated games of the year.

It got delayed twice since then.

And

we can talk about it today because

it's a 2024 release.

Yeah, it's been pushed to this year 2024 or the year that you know of 2024 and the stuff that they showed of it is like it's like a live service game it's a shooter it's a a third-person shooter game uh and that's that's like not fun or interesting to me in in this you know those what do you mean like the monet it's good it's monetized like a game as a service is that what you're saying

okay so there's like loot and stuff uh and it's like they it's a total miscalculation of what uh people want from that franchise i think i think people want the that sort of like batman combat like that that you know

they they're all individual characters uh they could all have their own movesets but like every single one of them has a gun and there's like rarity of of loot and stuff right but to me that's different than like a game as a service where i'm thinking of like oh there's a bunch of you know uh monetization there's a bunch of stuff that you can buy in game like to me that i'm i'm just maybe this is a this is just a terminology thing, but I'm just thinking of something different when you're saying that.

Like if it's a looter shooter, that's its own.

That also like to me does not seem like a good use of the property.

Maybe that's what I mean then, because it does, it seems like, like, if you see, I mean, some of these characters do have guns.

Yeah.

Is the thing.

But, like, if you're, if you're fucking,

what's his name?

King Shark or whatever,

you want to chomp some people.

He doesn't have a gun?

He has a gun.

I would think he would have a gun.

Well.

Wouldn't they all have guns?

I like.

Those are bad guys, right?

Harley Queen would have hammer, have big hammer

hitting people with big hammer, right?

Or a bat.

She can have a gun.

Captain Boomerang has boomerang.

Does he have a gun?

Think of Captain Boomerang.

Captain Boomerang a gun.

And it doesn't shoot.

Well, that one doesn't make any sense.

King Shark should be chomping, is what I'm saying.

At minimum, his Captain Boomerang's gun should be like Quick Man and should shoot out boomerangs.

Yeah, that's good.

I like that.

But I'm not, I'd be like, it went from my most anticipated

to I could give two shits about it and probably won't play it I'm like not interested at all anymore.

Wow

You mentioned Hades 2.

That's right.

Hades 2 is going into early access.

I think in 2024 I mean I now I did not play Hades 1 in early access at all.

It was in early access for a long time It's a big part of why it was such a refined game when it finally released I don't know if I'm gonna be curious about Hades 2 to dip in with early access.

I mean the honest truth is I probably will but I there's also a part of me that's like, maybe I don't need to do that.

And maybe I can just wait till this game is actually out.

Because honestly, Baldur's Gate 3 was in early access for a very long time, for a prolonged period of time.

And to me, my experience benefited from waiting until that was actually released

as a finished retail game.

I mean, finished, quote unquote.

Obviously, I had a lot of bugs and things that were updated

in the subsequent months, its release.

But

like, I kind of wonder if I'm going to take the same approach toward Hades 2.

I'll probably get it in early access and mess around with it just a little bit.

But man,

how much did you love Hades 1?

What a game.

What a, what a, what a,

as the kids say, what an absolute unit.

I don't know if they say it like that, but.

Yeah, I don't, I don't think kids say that at all.

What?

It's like,

yeah, they do.

Absolute unit is like a, but that's like a big guy, right?

Yeah, it's a big guy of a game.

It's good.

Hades is an absolute unit?

Yeah.

It's

It's not a huge game, I guess.

Yeah.

But it's maybe like Sisyphus within Hades is an absolute unit, or Hades himself is an ability.

Cerberus is an absolute unit.

Yeah, Cerberus is a big boy.

Okay.

Hades is an absolute unit.

He's big.

I'm glad that two of us

over 30 guys just figured out how to use slang from five years ago.

Okay.

Cool that you looped yourself in with me.

But I'm I'm pretty excited for Hades 2.

I'm not a big, I don't really get in there in early access, but I feel like I will with this.

Because

if the floor is Hades 1,

I think it's going to be fine.

If the minimum they're working with is Hades 1.

Let me tell you, if it's just more Hades, I'll take all that that you got.

I think that's fine.

We just got some new boons and some different gods.

Great.

Hell, whatever.

I'll play this shit forever.

Because what we might be seeing here is Better Call Sol, the TV show,

starts with

the quality of the final seasons of Breaking Bad.

Breaking Bad, rocky start,

becomes one of the great.

I like all of it.

I love all of it.

It's maybe my favorite show.

Like, I love it.

Kind of has a rocky finish, too, with Hank and Sonder Minerals.

What?

We'll be right back.

It has a tough.

It's a tonally sort of different thing, though.

Like, it becomes like what we know breaking bad in the later seasons.

Right.

And Better Call Saul starts with that level of quality.

Nick just cracked a cold one.

You'd never call attention to it.

I think everybody heard it.

Was that in the audio?

It probably was a little bit.

You could probably remove it.

Yeah.

No one will know.

I opened this.

Nobody, nobody knows.

No, no, no, even hear this.

Now everybody knows.

So what I'm saying is,

Hades 2 is going to be like Better Call Saul,

wherein it's going to start with the quality of the end of the previous thing, which is the finished Hades.

They've iterated upon it and refined it to the point where they have that as their baseline and they can

go even further.

Yeah.

There's no way it's worse.

The thing is, Hades 1 is already like one of the most polished games I've ever played.

Like, I cannot believe just play is like how finished this is.

This is just like loaded with content.

It, you know, it's, uh, it's my entire experience was bug-free.

And then just like,

just the amount of different

variations that exist for like dialogue, like that you can just go through so many times and talk to so many NPCs and never hear the same thing twice.

It's like, it's, it's really staggering.

Do you think it's too late for us to do an episode about Hades?

Not today, but at some point?

I mean, maybe it could be today.

I don't think this is like

this is the most solid premise.

No, no, no, no.

We should do this.

We should definitely just, people like podcasts that are lists.

People love that.

That's good.

That's what they sign up for.

I think for sure we should revisit Hades at some point, just

as a talking point, because I think it's, it's,

as much as we've talked about it on several episodes of this show, there's no way we've talked about all of it.

Yeah, we haven't dedicated a full episode to it, and there's just, there's so much.

So much depth.

And like, again, I just, I'm repeating myself, but just content.

There's just like so much going on in this fucking game.

In this most anticipated category for the game awards, I've said this before.

I will say it again.

Like a Dragon, Infinite Wealth is one of the best titles of anything I've ever heard.

It's a fantastic title.

And if my, you know, like I haven't read as much about this game, I'm trying to like, you know, not because I am planning to play this one.

I haven't gotten as into the Yakuza franchise as I expected after I played the shit out of Yakuza Zero and just loved every second of it.

Yeah.

But it's, it's,

I'm hoping it has some of the same sort of elements from the subtitle that are in Yakuza Zero, which so much was about like the bubble economy of Japan and so much, so much of the

gameplay involved just like acquisition of obscene wealth.

It sort of seems like that's what we're headed towards, that maybe they're trying to cash in on that same or cash in, but maybe they're trying to exploit that same sort of, you know, structure.

But I don't know.

But yeah, it's coming out in January.

So it's like you don't even even get a second to breathe.

Like they're hitting you with like a dragon infinite wealth in like

the first month of the year.

And this is what I say to games coming out in January.

Yeah.

You couldn't have come out before Christmas so I can get it for Christmas.

But here's the thing, Matt, then you got too many presents.

No, sorry.

I like games.

I like games not coming out at the holiday season.

Yeah.

I think that's like, I like games being released all year round.

That's great.

Let me pace out my playthroughs a little bit more.

Now, do you think Santa makes the games?

I think he kind of oversees the making of the games, but if you're talking about who's actually like, you know, getting in there, opening up Unity and, you know, paying everything.

Yeah, exactly.

I think those are the elves.

It's a,

yeah, I mean, like, look, I think this game,

it just, it looks like it's for me.

And, you know,

I didn't play the.

So

this mixes Kiryu, who's one of the protagonists of Yakuza's Hero, and Ichiban, who is the protagonist of the most recent canonical Yakuza game.

And so they're both in this.

And I didn't play,

what the hell was that Yakuza called?

Was that one just called Like a Dragon?

Yes, it was.

This is the confusion.

Yakuza Like a Dragon is the one that came out with a new protagonist,

and it also had a completely different combat system, which was like more JRPG style, turn-based.

And that's just, they've taken that, they take that gameplay, and then also the subtitle Like a Dragon and just made it the title of the franchise.

So it's like the play, the main character from that game plus Kiryu,

and it's set in Hawaii.

I don't know, it just looks like a blast.

It looks like exactly like the kind of thing for me.

So I'm going to try to budget time for that one.

I wish I could think to do that because I, we loved,

we loved Yakuza Zero when we covered it on the show.

That was so, I loved playing that.

I wish,

I wish I had

had like a thing where I could stop time

and only play the Yakuza games and just play through all of those because I, I loved, I loved that.

But they're, they're not, not all of them are particularly long, but I can't do that for the entire series, I think.

I definitely have looked at the the list of how you know the of all the games in the franchise and looked up all their various

you know

lengths on how long to beat and

had a game plan for going through them and still I just still haven't done that but I like planning about I like planning to play all these games yeah

well I hope you get to it because it does seem like it's

The series seems like it's like really taking off in a really fun way.

Like everybody really likes the more recent entries.

You mentioned stop and time.

Well, that's a thing I think the Prince of Persia might be up to.

Because if we're looking ahead beyond

these selected, the selected quintet of the most anticipated game nominees to the 2024 calendar at large, that's one for me.

Prince of Persia, the Lost Crown, coming out on January 18th.

This one is...

It's got, I mean, like, you love this franchise.

Are you hyped for this one?

I'm hyped as shit, dog.

Even though it's different than the Prince of Persias that I've played, because I've only played the 3D Prince of Persias,

the Sands of Time, Warrior Within, the Two Thrones.

Yeah, this one has 2D gameplay, but it looks, the art direction is awesome.

And it looks...

I don't know.

I mean, I love this kind of game.

This sort of, you know,

I assume it plays like a Metroidvania.

Yeah.

But

this looks very much for me.

And also, this does harken back, like you were saying, to the original Prince of Persia games.

Yeah, and I didn't think that.

The George Mecca games way back in the day.

People have maybe wanted something like this.

I think maybe me, I would have gone the other way and just done another

3D

Prince of Persia game and certainly probably would have tried to finish the

remake.

The remake that is probably never coming out again.

Man, I just found out, too, that

the Knights of the Old Republic remake is dead as well.

That was probably one that I was going to be excited about.

And now it's not even coming out anymore.

And I guess that just happens.

But so I'm guessing that

I think that's going to happen.

It's amazing that any game ever comes out, honestly.

There's so many, the just like the world is stacked against something actually being completed and released.

100%.

I'm worried that the Prince of Persia remake will suffer the same fate.

But with this, at least this is for sure going to come out and will be a different

iteration of the prince and maybe scratch that itch for me.

Who is this new prince?

Do we know who this guy is known as?

Matt.

That's what I think.

You don't actually think that.

No, I don't think it's the Purple King.

Anything else in January for you?

I mean, I think we hit the big ones.

Yeah, January is looking a little slight.

Tech and 8.

We talked about Prince of Persia.

It's looking pretty fucking stacked as far as I'm concerned.

Two games I want to play, and I'm going to clean them.

I'm thinking of January in terms of the entire year of 2023.

But yeah, I guess moving on to February,

you know,

as these remastered packages go,

I could be interested in this Tomb Raider

remastered starring Laura Croft one through three.

Yeah, a couple of remasters coming out.

There's the Tomb Raider one through three, and then there's also Star Wars Dark Forces.

And that one I'm intrigued in terms of what they're going to actually be doing because I played Dark Forces back in the day on PC.

And it was a,

you know,

it's just a

Star Wars first-person shooter.

It was very clearly...

you know, just following off of the run of Doom likes when that's all everyone wanted to make.

That was the only format you would make as a, as a, and it wasn't like great, but it was really cool that it was just a Star Wars game where you could run around with a blaster and shoot Gummery and guards.

Um, I see Mon Mothma in a in a screenshot, yeah.

There's some Mothma in there.

I can't remember if Mothma was in the original game or if this is something they're adding for the remaster.

I'm sure, I'm sure she was, uh, but yeah, it's a uh

I wonder what exactly they're going to do here, and I wonder how extensive it is.

I guess I could just watch the fucking trailer.

I guess I could have done any prep at all for this.

No, no, no.

This is our most prepped.

I would be interested in that.

I know that they've ported some other Star Wars games to like Switch and other consoles,

your Jedi Knights and your Jedi Knights 2, for example.

People really like those games, but I don't know how.

Oh, yeah, and Jedi Knight began as Dark Forces 2,

and Jedi Knight, and then that becomes its own franchise, and then there's Jedi Knight 2.

But yeah, your main guy turns in, becomes a Jedi in the sequel.

Hey, that's pretty cool.

I just noticed that Final Fantasy VII Rebirth comes out on the leap day.

Yeah,

slated for February 29th.

I mean, that'll be another one that it's just slightly.

Here's the thing about this show.

Because of the way we book it, we have this we play, you play where we play one game at length and talk about it every month.

If you're a longtime listener, you know that we do this.

It's always kind of an awkward spot when something comes out at like the very end of the month because obviously we're not going to have time to do an episode for it in a timely fashion uh and then by the time we'd get to it at like the end of march it would have to be is that going to be too late but i also feel kind of feel like with a game like that and especially i don't think we've done a final safe and remake episode i feel like we might end up covering that we've only done my favorite final fantasy final fantasy 16.

uh but speaking of march nick I don't know if we want if there's anything else in February you want to do that.

Well, I mean, again, you're completely out on it now, apparently, but Suicide Squad killed the Justice League in February.

It's a skip for me, unless I hear it's great.

Like,

I just can't.

Hopefully, it will be.

I want every game to be good.

I want every game to be good.

I know this Mario vs.

Donkin Kong is coming to the Switch, also.

That's pretty exciting for people that like that.

Persona 3 Reload is one where, again, I just, I didn't even fucking play Persona 4 Golden, so what am I doing to myself?

I didn't even finish five.

Five is awesome.

I finished the shit out of five and loved every second.

Okay.

Games of fucking masterpiece.

Don't have to yell at me.

I'm just saying.

I do think about it fondly, and

I wish I could continue.

And who's to say I won't someday?

Yeah, someday I'll have a spare 140 hours.

Yeah, yeah, I'll get to it again with this magical time-stopping machine that I have.

The dagger of time.

So far, on the release schedule for March.

We should mention we're looking at Polygon's list.

That's what the two of us are using just as like a shared point of reference here.

Yeah, and it's the kind of thing where what happens is that the first couple of months, everything is set and then things substantially thin out from there because there's a lot of stuff that's just TBD 2024.

And as of recording, the Game Awards has not aired.

And I know that I'm for sure going to guess that there will be games announced with release dates at the Game Awards.

I'm going to say no.

You're going to say there's going to be no announcements.

Not a single announcement?

No, this is going to to be the one.

They're just going to focus on giving awards to the Steamed games of the past year.

There's not going to be any sort of marketing tie-ins.

Nick, that's absolutely foolish, and I can't believe you would think so.

Well, I'm going on the record and saying there is nothing new will be announced during the game awards.

You know what?

I'd love to be wrong.

I don't need more.

We don't need more games.

We're good.

One that caught my eye that's currently slated for Switch for March 22nd.

It's Princess Peach Showtime.

Yeah, let's beat it.

Because

Super Princess Peach, which was for the DS, was such a disappointment and was such a game where

I was hoping that it would be like, oh, we get a cool, proper Princess Peach game, but it's really not.

It's just kind of like a, I mean, the premise of it is honestly kind of shitty, which is that, or the core thing, which is that Peach has all these different emotions.

And then you can like, you can, you know, like, like, make her angry, make her sad, make her happy, and then that affects the environment in whatever way she's going to

cry a bunch, and then that'll, like, make a vine grow.

But it also just wasn't that good, like, just as a platformer.

And I love, I love mascot platformers.

I always want to have fun with these games.

But I'm hoping that this new Princess Peach game, whatever it ends up being,

you know, it certainly like is pretty aesthetically pleasing.

But I hope this one actually plays well and actually does Princess Peach some justice because she's a

great character.

Great character.

I didn't even realize that there was another Princess Peach game.

I was ready to be like, it's about time there's been a single Princess Peach game, but maybe it's about time there's a good one.

Yeah, I don't know if there's an that's the only one I can think of.

I don't know if there was another one that came out at a certain point.

You could play all of Super Mario Wonder as Princess Peach.

That's a great point, Matt.

Thanks.

Not me, though.

I stuck with Mario.

No, yeah, yeah.

You could do that.

You're playing as Mario.

Yeah.

His name's on the fucking box.

And then

I'm looking at what else we got here.

These other locks and for March and April.

And these aren't doing anything for me.

I'm sure there's going to be spaces filled in in these months.

There will be stuff coming out in these months that is not announced.

Yeah, I wonder, you know, look, I have some fondness for Braid.

Obviously, it's a little bit up its own ass, but it is like a really cool, like, hey, we're talking about games as art that would impress the late Roger Ebert.

That's certainly a candidate.

So the Braid Anniversary Edition, depending on what additional content it has, I mean, I think that's one that's coming with some commentary, like kind of built into it.

And that's like an, that's just like an interesting, and

I like these sorts of,

I mean, they did that with,

you know, the Atari anniversary collection is an example of like this game is basically presenting you a lot of history and context for

everything that's within this game.

And I think there's that, that could, I wonder if they will have a similar approach here.

But yeah, not a thing I'm like sort of chomping at the bit to get it get my hands on.

Right.

But then I'm looking at

this list of games with no release date.

Right.

And I'm scrolling down.

I remember seeing the preview for Contra Operation Galuga.

Galaga?

It can't be Galaga.

That's not how Galaga is spelled.

That is Galuga.

Is it Galuga?

Like an old-time car horn?

Maybe it's Contra starring Jay Leno.

That looks like a more classic Contra experience than the one that we did on the show.

And I would hope that it's good because I loved the only Contra game that I've actually ever played is Contra 4 for the DS.

And that is one of the hardest games I've ever played in my life, dude.

Yeah, the Contra games could be pretty punishing.

You know,

I played them all back in the day for NES and Super NES.

And I just have no faith in Konami to do this franchise gesture.

Hopefully it'll be good.

But yeah, I don't know.

I mean, I think the big one here is Elden Ring Shadow of the Earth Dream DLC.

Yeah, that's...

Again, you were saying that you have more hours in Elden Ring than any other game by, you know, 100 hours.

How hyped are you for this?

It's mid.

No,

I'm very excited for this and to the point where I'm like, do I start?

a new game with a new character so I'm like doing this,

by the time this comes out, I could either be done with it or be far enough in it where I can just join from wherever this starts.

But I think I'd like to maybe just get back into Elden Ring and clean up house because I know there's a lot of stuff I didn't do.

And I loved my

build in my in my first playthrough.

It's a game that I've intended to start again.

Because I loved it so, so much.

Well, you can do that.

But freaking when, dog?

But

I do really love it, and

I'm very excited for Shadow of the Earth Tree just because I couldn't even speculate what it could be.

I mean, I probably just will not get around to it, but it does.

You never finished a digital.

I didn't finish Elden Ring.

That's okay.

I want to.

What about this Funko Fusion?

Funko Fusion sounds like it's probably pretty good.

Looking at the rest of the calendar, I mean, like for me, you know,

I think I think if Heather was here, she would talk about the Suicid and Remasters.

Yeah.

You know,

I just hope it turns out okay.

I hope those are, those are, those deliver on the promise of the premise.

But for me, you know,

I love the Telltale games and the best of them was The Wolf Among Us and The Wolf Among Us 2.

We'll see if it actually comes out in 2024.

But that is one where if they really pull that off, I think that one will be a banger for that style of game.

And I honestly also wonder how much of it will be just like, oh, this is just a really aesthetically pleasing,

you know, hopefully with good storytelling, you know, with storytelling up to the, to its, to its standards version of this formula, and how much will be like, we're going to shake up what we do a little bit.

Yeah,

I'd be, I never even played the, the Wolf Among Us, but it's on my list.

Hell of a game.

I think I have it.

I must own it.

Yeah.

There was a time where like those, all those games were like $2 or something and I got a bunch of them.

But

I would like to play that so that I could be very excited for the second one because everyone seems to really love it.

Yeah, if it's for you, it's very for you.

And it's one of those games where it is for me.

Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines 2.

I worked with some Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines 1 developers back in the day.

I mean, that's a game that came out when, I'm looking it up, 2004.

So, you know, this has been a long dormant franchise.

It's a,

you know,

it's a different developer now.

I'm actually not sure if the original, if the developer, I think, I think the developer of Bloodlines 1 is folded.

Yeah, Troika, they folded.

So, you know, it's one of those things where it's kind of like a Baldur's Gate 3, where it's just like, here's this big totemic RPG franchise.

It's in the hands of a new developer.

Are they going to be able to do it justice?

And I'm optimistic that they will, but also I'm maybe pessimistic that this one actually sees a 2024 release just because of how labor-intensive it is to make a game of this sort of scope so i see here the paper mario thousand year door remake for switch hell yeah and i don't have

the only paper mario games i've played are the one for the 3ds which i did not love the super the sticker star whatever it's called no that one sucks this this is the thing is that they they really lost a plot with the franchise after thousand year door like for me like that's the That's the last good one.

Maybe I'm too much of a purist.

Maybe I'm too much of a fuddy duddy.

Maybe there are some of these entries that follow that people have some blondes for.

But for me, it's like Thousand Your Door.

It's like they perspected the formula.

Then for some reason, they decided to muck it up with all these future iterations.

So I'm hoping the, you know, the remake is just like, yeah, that's that game I love.

And hopefully that it will, it would steer them towards making some more proper paper Marios.

Because I and I played the Switch one and I didn't finish it, but I liked what I played of it.

But I understand that, yeah, it's not anywhere close to as good as Thousand Year Door.

I see this one.

I don't know what it's, what it is.

It's called Planet of Lana.

And that's making me think, why isn't there a Planet of the Apes game?

That's a home run to me.

All right, I think we're about done here.

Don't you think now we're like, hmm, this title of this game that I don't know what it is is reminding me of a game I wish would exist

at that point in the conversation.

I wish there was a Planet of the Apes game in the style of like the Shadow of Mordor or something, where you could be these apes and then there's maybe other apes that you fight or whatever.

Have they never made a Planet of the Apes game?

i don't know planet of the apes lost last frontier came out in 2018 i i have no memory of this game i didn't never even yeah i never even heard of that um not well received yeah that's bad so maybe i'm wrong but um no i mean you're not like you're not wrong that the planet of the apes franchise

could be a cool game yeah

or could lead to a cool game i think it'd be fun you get to play as one of the apes there was a planet of the apes game back in 2001 that was a tie-in it was a ubisoft game and it was a tie-in to the Tim Burton Planet of the Apes.

Man, the Ape Lincoln one.

Ape Lincoln.

Did you not see it?

No.

I mean, I just spoiled the ending.

It's Ape Lincoln.

The ending of the Planet of the Apes.

So they didn't do the same ending?

No, they were like, well, people already know that the twist ending of like, it's our planet.

Like, they already know that.

So we got to subvert that.

We got to come up with something different.

So what happens is that

Mark Wahlberg's character, Mark Wahlberg, the hero of Planet of the Apes,

crashes into the Lincoln Memorial.

He's like, oh, I'm back on Earth.

I'm finally here.

And then he looks up and it's Lincoln, but he's an ape.

He's like, no.

So what happened is that he like went to a different reality and then we came back to his earth.

He thought he was home, but now it's, and then all apes show up.

It's just like a bunch of fucking police apes show up and he's just like, oh, no, now I'm on my planet, but it's all apes.

It doesn't really make any sense.

But what has happened now is that it's good that I said this.

It's good that you said that.

Yeah, no, here's the thing: I wasn't giving you a note.

I was just saying that, like,

we might be about out of gas.

Yeah, we might be a little bit out of gas, but I'm glad we got to Ape Lincoln.

Wow, how did they ruin that?

It's such, I mean, I guess if the premise is like the twist is so known,

making it again doesn't work.

Like, it doesn't make any sense, but maybe just do it again.

Yeah, I think just do it again and don't try to work backwards from like, how do we really fuck with people's heads?

How do we come up with a like, how, okay, what's a new twist ending we could come up with because that's just not gonna work ape lincoln ape lincoln i gotta google it so i can see it ape lincoln it fills in the rest of it for you planet of the apes it fills it in if you type in ape lincoln it's yeah

it knows what you're looking for wow this is horrific

that's so funny because it looks like lincoln but it's just with an ape head and they barely have to change any of it that's so good okay i'm glad we did that yeah uh But hopefully

if there are games coming out in the year of 2024 that you're excited about, let us know in the comments and maybe hopefully we'll check them out.

Everyone's just commenting on a Planet of the Apes game.

Yeah.

Hopefully they make one.

We can play as Ape Lincoln.

Yeah,

and I think the main thing is, and this is always the thing with doing some sort of preview thing, is

Some of these are going to be absolute debacles,

as we've seen in the past, that just like some overhyped games are to come out and they're going to overpromise, they're going to under deliver for whatever reasons.

But then also, we're going to have a game,

like again, one of my favorites, maybe my favorite of 2023, Dave the Diver.

There's going to be some game that just comes out of nowhere that's going to completely eat up everyone's, you know, mind share and just going to be like, oh, this is the game that's driving the conversation.

Vampire Survivor is the same sort of thing.

No one was thinking about this game.

I was like, holy shit, check this, this entirely new feeling thing that just came out of the indie space.

So that's honestly what I'm most hyped for is a game I don't know about yet that's going to come out and that I know I'm going to love because that's inevitable at some point this year.

I'm hoping that the developers that listen to the show can just rally together and make the Planet of the Apes game that I want.

Okay.

No, yeah, that's like right.

Like, I'm sure

there will be something that catches us by complete surprise, like, as there always is.

But this also, you know, this might be a dud year.

Maybe it's a dud year.

It could be a dud year.

There'll be a gem, even in a dud year.

Oh, yeah.

A diamond in the rough.

They could, another thing they could do is they could do a Planet of the Apes style telltale game.

And so you have a point where your conversation option is to say, get your hands off me, you damn dirty ape.

Just love to pick that dialogue option.

How would you not pick that if it was available?

Even, yeah, it's well, I would have to pick all of them at a certain point.

I have to see what the options are.

But

to your point, there shouldn't be a telltale Planet of the Apes game.

There should have been like a dozen of these types of games already.

But anyway,

Nick.

I had to look up the line because I wanted to make sure that

I was correct.

It's

take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape.

Even better.

Just like couldn't put up with any of it immediately.

He's like, off me.

What are you doing?

Caesar will remember this.

And then Wahlberg says it like all Wahlbergie.

Get your stinking paws off of me.

Nick, you know what time it is.

It's time for the question block.

Ba-ding.

And here we go.

These are all from our Discord, discord.gg slash get played.

So if you're not there, get in there.

And then you two can leave a comment or a question.

This first one is from Ricky Concarne.

And Ricky writes, Have you guys ever gotten into a phase where you don't feel like playing a game, but still want to watch gameplay of a game?

Yeah.

Yeah.

i think so i mean

for me that be that i reached a certain point of hearthstone fatigue where i was still enjoying watching high-level tournament play i just liked like oh you're so much better at this game than i am that i just like seeing that um

but when i was actually playing the game i was like this is predatory pay-to-win bullshit this is pissing me off you know yeah so so that's that's one thing that leaps to mind i don't know anything anything uh uh uh come up for you matt i don't i don't typically watch gameplay.

Like, I totally get the appeal of Twitch, and, you know, we have Twitch streamed in the past, and that's very fun.

I myself don't find myself watching that too much, but I will end up watching more like video essays about games or like

tech breakdowns.

Like, I'll watch somebody like tear down a PS5 any day.

Like, I like to watch stuff like that more than I like to watch people playing a game, I think.

But is the question specifically, hey, I don't, I don't want to play this game anymore, but I do want to watch this game.

Like,

is that what it seems like it's being asked?

I guess it's like, do you, you don't feel like playing a game, but you want to watch gameplay of a game?

It doesn't have to be the same game that you're playing.

Yeah, the answer is yes.

Like, absolutely, I have those feelings.

Because it's just a different energy.

It's just different vibes.

Watching someone stream or just watching

a long play of

a game, it's just like a completely different energy from steering the ship yourself.

And especially, I like seeing people who are like super good at it.

I love watching that.

I mean, look, I've talked about my fondness for speedruns in the past.

I love just putting on a speedrun for a game I've never played.

I guess I can get stuck in like a

hole of

being on Reddit for a particular game and just like watching

The Last of Us 2 Ellie like kills and just watching somebody who's mastered the combat in that game just like go nuts.

That's so fun.

Um,

this next one's from hmm, Zoto.

I don't know how it's X S

J A D O on our Discord.

Um, and they write, what's your go-to RPG character class?

Are you an in-your-face fighter type or a suave, stealthy rogue?

Great question.

By the way, whenever anyone has an inscrutable username, I'm always worried it's a reference for something that I should know.

Yeah.

And then I'm like, ah, shit, I'm just looking like an idiot because I don't know what this reference is.

I think we all agree.

I tried my best.

You tried your best.

Anyway.

I do like to be like, first off, my go-to is Paladin.

If Paladin is available, I love being just like it's very fun to role play i also just generally like that style of play uh of just having you know being a melee character uh with buffs like and with heels i think that's just like super fun to play but if you're asking like it also depends on context because if this is like if this is a single character game versus like this is a character that's going to be part of a party that to me those are those are slightly i mean obviously not just to me to anyone who plays games those are those are different contexts And if I'm soloing through something, I just want a little bit more versatility.

I want to be able to do a little bit, you know, a little bit of,

I want to be able to do some stealth.

I want to be able to,

you know, to do some ranged.

I want to be able to do a little bit of everything.

But if I'm in the context of like, I'm a part of a party, then, yeah, I'll usually probably lean towards a paladin or a bruiser.

Like

get myself a big brute barbarian or something.

I feel like I often am gravitated toward who has a beam, right?

And that's you do love a beam.

I do love beams and I feel like those are often sorcerer characters, but sometimes I feel like sorcerers are often like glass cannons, right?

Like they can do like lots of damage, but are kind of weak themselves.

So I like to do

like

in Elden Ring, I had high intelligence and like high strength.

So that like if I had to get in, if I had to get in the mix there, like, um, don't you love the fantasy of video games?

Yeah, you can just do whatever.

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

My guy is smart and strong.

He's smart and strong.

Yeah, I was like, oh, what an absolute like different dimension.

But I had a, yeah, high intelligence, high strength build, so that if, like, I could use my magic from far away, I could.

But if I had to, like, get up at close and personal, then it wasn't a problem.

And it was still always a problem because that game is very hard and I was not very good at it.

But I did finish it.

But

I like in Baldur's Gate where you can sort of be like, I guess I can kind of pick like a cheeky answer.

Like that's always fun too, like in an RPG like that.

But you don't usually get to have dialogue choices a lot of the time unless it's like a game with that type of system built into it.

Yeah, it depends on the game.

I do like if there are distinct, you know, if there are distinct choices

for the class from the role-playing element, like that to me is, you know, that that actually probably governs my decision a little bit bit more like you're like you're talking about in a in a bg3 i think the

i think i just like being a fucking big mountain i think that's the thing yeah i just like being like big and strong and so and paladin

usually uh qualifies there for me but i'll i'll i'll go a little bit more melee focused too i liked my I started in Diablo 4.

I started a sorcerer build and then I wanted to see what the druid build was like.

And I liked my druid build a little bit more, but I was a little too far into

my sorcerer build that I went back to that.

And then, of course, never finished it.

I did finish Diablo Floor, Diablo 4, and I'm like having trouble remembering.

You're talking about games exiting your brain.

I'm having trouble remembering what class I played.

It's like, what the fuck did I play?

What did I put like 40 hours into?

I feel like you're doing it.

I think it was a necro.

Oh, I think that's right.

That sounds about right.

Yeah.

I think it was a necro.

This next one is from Trapezio Prepanini,

and they write,

my wife and I are likely moving from New Jersey to California for my job at my startup.

Congrats.

Yeah, congrats.

I've built a collection of games over the years that, while not as good as Heather's Hole, TM, certainly comes close.

From my Virtual Boy to my Mint Inbox NES Deluxe with Rob to my Mint Inbox Chrono Trigger, I'm quite proud of it.

Sadly, I think it's time to sell it off.

to make the move easier.

I will keep a select few items near and dear to me.

How would you prioritize what to keep and what to sell?

And if you were in my shoes, what would be the five items you would keep no matter what?

Oh boy, I mean, I'm the wrong person to ask because I just get rid of shit.

Like, I'm not, I don't have there's stuff I regret selling, but for the most part, I'm like kind of the opposite of a hoarder.

I just get rid of things when I, when I feel like they no longer serve me.

Um, but I will say that if you got a mint and box uh chrono trigger, hold on to that bad boy.

I mean, that's that feels like an easy one for the

keep list.

Uh, I, you know, I think the obvious thing to do is just to think of bulk because

that ROB, the robotic operating buddy, may be a cool little item, but how much space is that going to take up for your cross-country move?

Maybe sell it to Get Played and we'll

have a

replace a co-host.

He's got too much charisma.

Yeah.

I'd say for stuff that you're going to keep, I would absolutely prioritize mint stuff, especially if it matters to you.

If it doesn't matter to you that much, then part with it.

And then, you know, that can be a nice payday for you.

But I would consider these

things as well.

If you've played it in the last five years,

to like with to not for not just novelty, for like actually getting in there.

Yeah, right.

I want to revisit this thing.

Yeah.

If you played it in the last five years and you think you might do it again, keep it.

If not, see ya.

And then my other criteria is, can it be played on something else modern?

Yeah.

If it can be played on something else modern

and it's not like super, it's not mint or you won't miss it,

get rid of it.

And then, you know, you could play it on like Nintendo Switch Online or something, right?

Or there's a port of it on a different, in a, in a, in an HD collection or whatever.

And then you can, you can play it that way.

I think parse down and then that way you can be able to

still have the memory, but on on newer hardware

is what I would do.

Yeah, I think that's good guidance.

Yeah.

This next one is from Sig Vic373.

If you could bring back any handheld, what would it be?

Feel free to include any weird accessory or accessories made for said handheld.

My immediate thought is

Game Boy Advance SP.

Not necessarily that, but the form factor.

The SP was so good to me.

And

I just love being able to fold that bad boy up and put it in in my pocket and just kind of be done with it but the hinges i know are a big factor for why things don't really have hinges anymore because that is always the breaking point yeah but it was great for portability and durability of the screen at least i mean i did like that sp that was cool i had a an sp light which was the it was it was um

had a back light to it or maybe it was a front light oh yes but yeah and and and that was great and that just like and and they they they released an upgraded one later and it was one of those quiet hardware updates, but the screen looked way better.

And I ended up getting one of those.

Um, and I rocked with that for a while.

And yeah, that, that is one piece of hardware I wish I still had.

But it was the question is, what will we bring back?

Yeah.

What is this thought exercise?

Like, like, it's just back and it's just like, hey, they're making new games for this.

I'm thinking, yeah, I'm thinking it's back.

John Wick style.

I don't know.

I mean, I would say the Vita just because the Vita is cool.

It's a cool piece of hardware.

But I feel like by this point, like, you know, anything they could make for the Vita, they could just make for the Switch.

So, yeah, you know what?

I'm just going to say, I'm just going to say the DS.

I mean, that dual screen form factor is really cool.

Oh, yeah.

The DS is really nice.

There was like a.

Yeah, just the DS.

I love my 2DS, I'll say.

I love busting that out every now and then, too.

But the DS is absolutely home run.

This next one is from Arctor.

And Arkdor writes, question for the group, but I'm especially interested in Weiger's perspective from a former game development insider.

With the advent of AI across all forms of media these days, from writing to analytics and now to programming and coding, what do you expect the landscape to look like for the gaming industry in a decade?

More cheaply produced AI-built stuff that will lead to job losses but cheap games?

Or will this fad pass like NFTs?

It's a great question, and I wish I offered any unique insight based off of my development experience, but honestly, I can only speculate like any random asshole, which, but I would say that

I do think that there's a little bit of the discussion of

generative AI and its place in

making content.

I think there's that there are,

and I feel safer saying this on the other side of the WGA and SAG AFTRA strikes, where some protections have gotten in um uh for the creators there

i do think some of that stuff is maybe a little bit overblown some of those concerns and i also think that a big part of how people consume content is they want it to be from somebody like a big part of fandom is i like this person and in games uh game standpoint i like this developer and i like the games they make and you want to support them and if it turns out that what they're making is is you know ai generated,

all of a sudden I feel like that goodwill falls away and it feels like a betrayal.

So I think there will be certainly a lot of cheap bullshit that is just churned out.

And the same way that they were like, I was hearing a thing about that there's a bunch of fake AI generated travel guides that just sell on Amazon and they're all just like these, these, you know, like a guide to Washington, D.C.

that's like completely made up.

It's just complete bullshit.

You buy this book and it's like identifying landmarks that aren't there.

Yeah.

Abe Lincoln.

Abe Lincoln.

And so I think that sort of cheap sort of ripoff shit will exist as it already does exist

just because

there's no gatekeeping in so many of these online stores.

So I think there'll be a lot of that crap, but I don't think it's going to dominate the marketplace, I think, in the way that people feared.

Hopefully not.

I hope I'm right there.

We'll see.

Get your hands off of me, you damn dirty AI.

And finally,

what do you think?

I mean, I have,

I,

you know, I have very little like thought about it because I see what AI makes.

Yeah.

And I'm like, there's no way that people want this.

Like, it looks bad.

Like, all of it looks bad.

And like, the, I mean, yeah, we joke about like the AI president stuff.

And like, that shit's like funny, but it's like somebody is on the sound.

Somebody's on the back end,

like, coming up with that.

Like, like, it's.

No, yes, that's what I mean.

Their AI is being used as a tool.

It's being used to create the simulacrum of president voices.

But someone is doing the work of like writing and editing this thing together.

It's not like, hey, create this thing.

Maybe it is, but I don't think someone's just putting into a prompt,

create the presidents of, you know, presidents Obama, Biden, and Trump debating the Soulsborne tier list.

I don't feel like that's like, there's still some

teenagers talk to each other online.

Right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I suppose all that to say, I guess, like, I don't think I've seen anything AI that I've been impressed by or that I want more of.

There's like, it's all of it is garbage to me.

I don't, it's, it's, so I don't have any fears of it like taking over in a significant way like that at all.

Like it just, it just, there's no way that people are going to stand for that.

Yeah, I think so.

But, but also, who fucking knows?

Yeah.

I mean, I'm ready to be replaced by an AI podcast in 10 years, so we'll see.

And finally, this one's from Andrew S.

Hi, Andrew.

Hi, Andrew.

You are on a three-month mission to Mars.

What game do you take to pass the time?

Now I have a cheat answer.

The Kingdom Hearts all-in-one collection.

So it's got everything.

It's got all Kingdom Hearts on a single disc.

Maybe it's two discs, but I think it counts because it comes in one box.

And I can just play through Kingdom Hearts over the three months on my way to Mars and then have all that knowledge to help me when I'm I'm there.

Yes.

Do you have internet access in this scenario?

I think probably no, right?

I think the vessels have internet.

Like high-speed internet?

Like you play Fortnite on this thing?

I feel like that's far-fetched.

We're going to Mars, baby.

I think they got it.

Hmm.

Yeah, I mean, I think you'd want to put like, that's a great answer.

And something that's just like, like, dense with a lot of

content

that you can put many, many hours into is a good good way to go but i kind of feel like this is a scenario where you'd want a game that you could play to keep playing you know like you'd want more of like a a tetris or something something that you can just play over and like you play endlessly wow but tetris for three months straight

it's also a pretty brisk trip to mars I'm not saying Tetris would be my pick, but I'm saying like that's the kind of game that I would want, something that I would keep playing a bunch.

I'm thinking it's taking us three months to get to Mars.

That's what I'm thinking.

It's not like we're going and then staying there for three months and then coming back.

It's taking us three months to get Mars.

No, I get that.

And that still feels like a brisk trip to Mars, doesn't it?

Doesn't it feel like it would take five years?

I guess, but I'm like a quarter of a year.

That's pretty.

How long does it take to get to Mars?

Let me ask some AI.

I feel like that's a multi-year voyage.

It says about seven months.

NASA says seven months.

Okay.

Well, whatever.

Three months for seven months.

They've refined the travel and cut it down to over half the time.

And they have the internet.

Yes.

All that said,

I think that drives me towards a game that I've played a lot of,

that I can just play again and again,

but also has a little bit of, you know, some elements of human connection and community, which I think

I might be missing on this lonely voyage.

And to me, that answer is Stardew Valley.

Oh, yes.

Because, you know, it's open-ended.

I can play this game endlessly and I can, I can keep rolling new characters and keep trying to make new kinds of farms.

But also, you know, I can, I can make friends with all the villagers.

I think that's good.

And yeah, if you like...

Except for Pierre.

No one likes Pierre.

Oh.

Sorry, Pierre.

I guess, yeah, you can't.

It's not going to happen for you.

And we can ship your ass off to Mars to stay there.

Oh, you're going to leave Pierre on Mars?

Fucking...

You're going to take his coat out and leave him on Mars.

Leave him on the big red giant.

Maybe if it kept his general store open on Wednesday, then he could stay.

That is pretty inconvenient.

That's like when you can do most of your stuff.

Exactly.

You're taking hump day off in one town in one store in town.

Take Sunday.

Yeah.

Exactly.

That's fine.

But

yeah, I guess I'll just use that three-month time to brush up on the lore of Kingdom Hearts and come back a scholar.

But that was.

Honestly, Emma's Tears of the Kingdom slash Breath of the Wild shout out from earlier.

I mean, I could kind of not play that.

That honestly is, you could do a lot worse than that.

Yeah.

You could for sure find every corner seed.

Exactly.

And that was the question block, guys.

Thanks so much for writing in.

And like I said before, you can write in with your questions and comments at discord.gg slash get played.

And Nick, I think that's this week's episode.

That's this week's Get Played.

We should be back caught up to the present next week.

Yeah.

If this schedule holds, if not, this will be edited out and you won't hear it.

That's right.

And if you do hear this, that means the schedule held.

That's right.

Shout out to Emma for filling in for Rochelle Chen this week.

Thank you, Emma.

Anything you want to plug?

No, I got nothing.

Happy New Year, maybe.

Yeah, happy new year, maybe.

Yeah.

Again, this might be edited out.

Who could say?

We'll see.

Yeah.

Also, check out our Patreon where you'll find our anime recap show Get Animated plus our pre-head gum back catalog.

That will all be at patreon.com/slash get played.

And

Nick,

I think 2023 got played.

Wow.

And you know what's going to get played?

2024.

Oh, sorry.

That was a hit gum podcast.