Is the New Zelda as Good as We Hoped?

I'm putting in some uh like Wi-Fi.

I'm putting in a unified system and putting like Wi-Fi access points in my house.

Sure, sure.

And part of that is like it got plugged them into the Ethernet ports in the house.

And except the one thing is that when

I

put the network lines in, the guys didn't label them to where they go, which is not that big of a deal usually because, like, I don't know, they all want internet.

So I'll pop my eyes into the thing.

But yesterday, to put in these access points, I had to figure out which line went to which thing, and I did not have the tools on hand to do that, so I came up with a system, and this is what the system is:

I bring the Apple TV into the Ethernet port I'm trying to test, I plug that into the TV,

then I turn the TV up as loud as it'll possibly go, and then I start playing Alvin and the Chipmunks on the kids' Netflix because it's the most annoying and grading thing I can hear.

You're going to hear that.

So I'm like down in the basement and I still hear those idiots upstairs.

And eventually I pull the plug and I hear our way

and then I don't hear the chipmunks anymore.

They no longer want a hula hoop is what you're saying.

Yeah, but I've, I've, at one point, I messed myself up pretty bad because I identified one and then I ran upstairs before I could forget the number of the one I was thinking.

And then when I ran upstairs, I realized I left the volume remote

back downstairs.

So I'm there with the screwdriver, like trying to get into this accident point.

I'm just, watch out!

Watch out, wake up!

We'll bring your action!

I'm like, oh, the single ladies!

Oh, the single ladies!

I love their death metal turn.

That is my favorite show.

I know there is a tool and friends, I know what you're with.

Are fully looking at me right.

right, Fully, fully, fully staring at me right now.

Justin labeled them after he found them this time.

All right.

Oh, no.

I mean, you have a system now.

Why do you need to have a system?

I don't need labels.

Well, actually, my new box tells me what's plugged into everything.

Damn, dude.

And it tells me if the government's watching me watch Alvin and then chip up.

Repeatedly.

Your algo is about to get fucked up.

His volume on his TV is a writer.

I think it's some sort of mental conditioning.

He loves the first seven seconds of this show.

His internet dime, he's just staring at aesthetic images.

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

My name is Griffin McElroy and I know the best game of the week.

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

My name is Russ Fraschika.

I know the best game of the week.

Welcome to the Besties where we talk about the latest and greatest in home interactive entertainment.

And it is always a rare,

exciting day on the besties where we get to talk about a new game in the franchise called the Legend of Zelda.

This one's called Legend of Zelda Echo Chamber.

I didn't, sorry.

I thought

this is one where Zelda.

Echoes of Wisdom?

Zelda loses the election, and no one is quite sure why.

Everyone is like, I thought it was a fucking lock, man.

I don't get it.

Echoes of Wisdom.

Chris Plant, what's that?

This time, Zelda's back.

Oh, wait.

Not back.

Here for the first time, Zelda is the star of this Zelda game.

But rather than a sword and a shield, Zelda is going through using just whatever is available to solve puzzles.

Also, a sword and a shield.

Yeah, sword and a shield mode.

We'll get to it.

All the good stuff.

Hey, come on.

It's like a bed and like a table and like a giant spider.

And we're going to talk about it more after the break.

So I love Zelda's adventure on the CDI.

I was just thinking about.

I was trying to remember the name.

Yeah, I've been dying to continue the Zelda franchise.

And finally, a new Zelda game.

I'm thrilled.

I want to mention something about the CDI game before we move on to the game games.

Which one are we talking about?

Are we talking about Zelda?

Well, only one, I think, starred Zelda.

No,

there are two.

You can play a Zelda and want a Gamelon, but Zelda's adventure is the one that I'm going to do.

It should be noted that that was the first time that Props the Polygons YouTube video that I watched yesterday, the first time that Zelda appeared with her blonde hair.

That defined her blonde hair in the game.

In a game.

In a game.

Yeah.

Does she not have blonde hair in the first in a game she has uh no red hair first game blonde hair tv show named oh

and like brown hair in zelda too which we don't

incredibly interesting

it doesn't matter this is a game that couldn't matter less this is a uh a a a top-down isometric

is it isometric doesn't need to be tilted

it's slightly isometric

bird's eye view um

zelda game that is pulling in a lot of the trappings of the classic franchise, a lot of like the enemies and characters and weapons and world and what have you.

Specifically Linked to the Past

for the most part.

No, yes, Linked to the Past.

Yeah.

The S and E S one.

But you are interacting with the world, I would say, in a more active and kinetic way than I think you're used to in these.

perspective of Zelda games.

Yeah, the 2D, top-down games tend to be very

2D is like very inaccurate.

Sorry, top-down, you're right.

Top-down Zelda games tend to be top-down either because top-down's

a lot of people.

How about this?

It's a sort of a blending of the link to the past era and the creative era of the modern Zelda games.

You crushed everything.

But in reality, it's more of like a puzzle game than anything else.

Yeah.

Yeah, I think that's true.

Maybe.

Everybody, I feel like, knows the thing of this game.

You have a magic rod that can create copies of things that you have discovered, whether that be enemies you've defeated.

Every time you defeat an enemy for the first time, they drop a little echo that you can then summon them.

Or maybe it's a jug

that you found.

To be a jug, you can spawn a jug if you need to and jump a clamber on top of the jug and or climb inside the jug.

There's all kinds of activities you can do with jugs in this game.

That's true.

The only limit is how many jugs you're able to summon at any given time, which your partner,

who's, I guess,

it doesn't matter.

But he's like fair as a magic

guy.

He's helping you, and he gets more jug triangles as the game progresses.

That allows him to summon more jugs at once.

You can get four jugs going pretty quick in this game.

And here's my walkthrough on how to speedrun the jugs.

To just go back to Plant's very astute summary.

When you think of Link to the Past era, I think you think of a relatively rigid, like, there's a way to solve this dungeon.

And when you think of Breath of the Wild/slash Tears of the Kingdom era, you think of like, oh, here's like 16 different ways I could solve this dungeon.

Yeah.

And this is somewhere in between the two.

And I'll tell you what really works for me with that is that my only quibble really with, I think Tears of the Kingdom is maybe the best game ever made.

Yeah.

But I do, there is something in the Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom era of the like dungeons not feeling like classic Zelda dungeons that are a little bit more,

I don't know, scripted isn't the right word, but

there is a route through them.

There is a progression to like, you have to go here, find the key so you can open this door.

You're talking about the classic dungeons.

The classic, the more classic dungeons.

And this game does kind of both, and I think it does it really, really well.

I've really enjoyed the sort of dungeon design and boss design.

I mean, just the moment-to-moment playing of this game is really incredible for me.

I mean, I really do.

I find it like, once you realize that there is not going to be a like standard default melee attack that you use,

you know what it kind of reminds me of?

It put me in a similar headspace as like Undertale in a weird way.

It's like your main way of interacting with the world is not necessarily to whack stuff.

And I feel like that, just that small change is like.

I mean, you do get other people to whack stuff.

Yeah, yeah that is the thing i know

you could also like you magically transform which i i think is kind of a cop out i don't like that that you could just magically transform into link for a little bit i think that that's kind of weak but his outfit what it's just his outfit his outfit yeah

you try to push any buttons while that mode was active but you're actually able to use his magical sword like what are you talking about

i i do think the puzzles in the game are great when you are traversing the world, you feel

a lot of the time like you can just break the shit wide open.

Very soon in the game, you get what is basically a thwomp and you can just get on top of that fucking guy and ride it 20 feet into the sky.

And then all of a sudden, like most of your platforming issues have been solved.

So you can really, you feel like you can go wherever you want.

I do think starting out

combat is not so great because a lot of it boils down to like, okay, I'm going to spawn this moblin and watch him like very, very, very slowly kind of chip away.

There's a lot of kind of crazy stuff.

But eventually, like, you do get more lethal options.

Uh, or if you can get clever with it, one of the first powers you unlock is

basically a tether.

You can shoot out and grab objects and move around, or tether yourself to them so you can shoot it at a bird and then ride it up into the sky, which is very cool.

Uh, I would put down a path blade, which is one of those circular things that just goes back and forth with like a whirling blade on it, grab it with my tether, and then all of a sudden I'm Chainsaw Zelda.

And that did make things in most cases a lot faster.

But it does take a little bit of time.

You can do that with

the big enemies too, and effectively use them to like dodge where you wait for them to load up the hit.

But I do agree.

I found the combat

rough, especially at first.

And

letting you have the sword and the shield just feels to me like a tremendous mistake.

Like, it should either be let me have it or don't let me have it the whole time.

I agree.

I agree.

But the second I had it, oh, it was like, oh, yeah, there's that flavor I love.

And then it runs out of energy.

And I was like,

no,

like, what?

You let me know how good this feels.

I could have forgotten.

I could have eventually fallen in love with what I was doing.

That's what I'm saying.

You can balance it for one or the other, right?

Like, I feel like they should have balanced it to where that isn't an option that's available to you, right?

Because I like the idea of just making somebody that's keeping somebody else busy while I do what I need to do.

Like, I like creative ways of

offing people like that.

I just don't know that the sword and shield was like was necessary.

Yeah, there are a few things that I think balance-wise, it gets a little wonky.

I think on the good balance side, Zelda is very frail.

Like, if you get hit, you take like four or five hearts.

It's tough.

It's a fucking tough, tough game it's but i but i would counter that by saying like the more i've played i feel like way overpowered now because i can summon like four moblins at once and they all just fucking wreck shit and i don't do anything yeah and those are the parts that i actually like

i wanted to talk about this in the context of like tears of the kingdom and this is going to require a little bit of setup justin you remember one of your critiques, which is a fair critique about Tears of the Kingdom, was that there's this resource aspect to it where you couldn't

just like build anything you wanted.

You needed like currency to be able to like build a blimp or something like that at a random time.

This goes the other way where so long as you have the mana, if you will, like the total mana, you can summon infinite enemies and they die and you can summon another one

a second later.

And that to me took a little bit of the like

risk reward system out of it because I just

summon two moblins and they're just chipping away and one dies.

the fastest way to like engage in a melee fight is to spawn a sword moblin he does an attack pretty quickly and then you immediately erase him and spawn another one yeah so he doesn't have ways to get sea urchins and just summon them on just drop them on their ass i think it's cool that there are so many different approaches like you guys have talked about things that i barely like i didn't use the sea urchins barely at all um or or the thwomp i didn't even find so i've found alternative like ways of guys that do basically the same thing but are that makes me feel like I have more personal control over it.

But I don't think that the combat itself

feels super engaging.

It feels like a little bit of an afterthought.

We have actually talked about the combat more than the game thinks about combat, I think.

You can fight the monster.

You spend a lot of time with combat.

Yeah, I kept thinking that, Justin, where I was like, this is a puzzle game at its best.

And yet, when I would look at my roster of things I could create, how many enemies it was like, you can create a game.

It's every enemy every time.

I think puzzle game isn't accurate either.

It's it's like because I feel like for me, a puzzle game hints at like a solution.

I think what makes this game fun and special is the

play aspect, like the experimentation aspect.

Yeah, like it's a puzzle game in the way that Scribble Nots is a puzzle game, where it's like

you could

there's probably an intended solution that you are showing me with like environmental clues, but also I can just put down a bed, jump on my thwamp, ride that shit up to glory.

Uh,

It is interesting to see where it bumps up against like what I think I want from video games and what I actually want from video games, right?

Like

this is requiring me to think a lot more actively about how I'm engaging with situations.

And I find that like I'm not doing

this isn't good or bad, but like I'm not listening to other stuff while I'm playing this game.

I'm not like engaging with other media or whatever.

I really kind of have to focus because I have to actively think a little bit.

I'll give you an example.

That tether thing that you could do, I would forget that I could do that for like 20 minutes.

There are so many things in this game where I'm like

stuck.

And then I'm like, well, there is the one button that lets you pick stuff out of the ground.

And it's like, I completely did not keep track of that.

Like I just wasn't thinking about it.

Why you forgot that?

For me, I had the same issue, and it's that this does not feel like a like capital N Nintendo game.

And the number of times where I forgot something because the buttons were just uncomfortable, the tethering, the way you tether things and then like attach them feels, yeah, not great.

And even just early in the game, I mean, this is within the first half hour when I'm scrolling through the items that I can create.

And I'm like, wow, this is the beginning of the game and I'm already doing this.

It really helps you appreciate the magic of other Nintendo games where they make this promise that seems impossible, and then you play it, and it's all intuitive.

Oh, I don't think the game is, I want to be super clear, I don't think the game is bad because of this.

This is the challenge of it just being released by Nintendo.

Is it being a Zelda game?

It is in a franchise where it's going to draw that comparison.

But yeah,

it does not have that same kind of polish

or intuitiveness that a Nintendo game has.

But anyway, Griffin, I'll throw it right back to you.

But yeah, I was just gonna say, like, it does, there are times, I, I, this game is so fun to play, it is so fun to just fuck around in this game, and every time you find like a new echo that you your brain puts the pieces together of like, oh, I can think of 20 ways that I can start employing this echo.

This is fucking rad, uh, which is good because a lot of the other like economy of the game kind of sucks.

Like when you go through a mini puzzle dungeon and you get to the end, and it's like, you found 10 pieces of kelp.

It's like, that's oh man, there's a lot of smoothie making in this a lot of smoothie making in this a lot of smoothie making that is kind of wild like i don't know man but it all aspect is a little flaky it does seem i i do feel like it's a bit undercooked though in in with like like systemically the the list of uh echoes is just one long one long row that you just really it's you can sort it you got the sorting choosing the right filter is actually like you can sort very quickly.

And I think that that's actually what helped me is when I started being a little bit quicker on the trigger because you can sort by like last use, last learn, most used.

And between those three.

And cost.

I use cost all the time because when I'm like, oh, I have a tough fight, I'm going to drop my strongest moblin in there.

And he costs like five fucking mana.

Between those, you can usually find

four pretty easily.

But I would love a favorites system.

That's something I wish Tears of the Kingdom had and didn't.

I was watching like, you know, pro tips on YouTube or like wild things you don't know you could do in Echoes of Wisdom.

And one of the tips was this guy was like, okay, so you go over to this corner by the water and you pick out one of the echoes that you like.

And then you just, you like spam it for like 15 minutes, like put a podcast on and then just spam it, spam it, spam it.

And now it's always going to be at the top whenever you want it.

it because you'll never it'll never get past why didn't you i was like wow this is why didn't you learn the lesson How many times do you need to learn this lesson?

Is don't watch the pro tips videos.

The pro tips videos are what the people say.

I do like that.

So it's helpful to know.

And listen, I.

Yes.

And I think in your business, you should encourage people to watch all meetings.

Well, that is what I'm saying.

Yeah, Prescient is always out here being like, can you please make sure that our business falls apart?

Something else, man.

This game is also like, it gets real talky in a little bit.

Dude, that was what I was about to say.

Really?

I just did this.

I'm in this section where the Zoros are fighting.

And their complaints with each other are interminable.

They take a very long time to elucidate.

And like, I don't care.

You're Zora.

I'll see you next game.

It is

another instance, I feel, like, of the game being undercooked where, like, the sections between the dungeons or the sections of the game that aren't exploring and experimenting aren't.

very good.

And it's tragic because I started playing this game with Henry.

We started playing together on his Switch, and he fucking loved it.

He's never played a Zelda game before.

He has never like he played

10 minutes of Breath of the Wild, and all the buttons were like way too confusing for him.

So he played this, and he was obsessed for a few days.

And then we got to the first one of those, like, okay, now go run a bunch of errands for the Gerudo.

And he just fully stopped.

And I had to start a new save fire.

He had done a bunch of stuff I didn't see.

There's a lot of stuff also

where, like,

you have a quest marker for a location, but the quest marker is not pointing you towards where the next thing for the quest is.

And a lot of it is you go to where the quest marker is, and then someone will say something kind of ambiguous, like to the east, there's a platform where you'll find, but just like, just tell me where I'm going, man.

Oh, my God.

That is funny because I feel differently.

I would rather,

honestly, I would rather no quest markers at all, but this at least gives me some work.

I don't want to know exactly where the fucking magic flower is that I need to find because it takes any

discovery.

Okay, here's what's tough for me about that, the rest.

This is where I struggle with that.

I can get a lot of places in this game.

I can get to a lot of weird blind alleys where I'm like not supposed to be at and it's not close to where I'm trying to get to like at all.

There's a lot of square footage and just telling me like a lot of times like I'm not interested in trying to like decode what they're wanting me to do.

I want to get back to actually like playing it because even when I'm running around doing these errands, it's just a lot of talk.

I love the decoding.

I mean, we've talked about this before.

I love the decoding.

Like that is one of my favorite parts of video games is like trying to mind melt with you all.

I enjoy that stuff too.

It's just that most of the time that stuff pops up during these

kind of boring

transitional sections.

I like it in the dungeons for whatever it's worth.

I like dungeons that are a little bit more open-ended in how you can approach them because I know that it's all confined to this one this this game's dungeons do a great job of you get to the end of it and you have the boss key and you're about to go in the door and then you open your map and you see there's like four rooms with treasure chests that you missed and now you got to go back to find those treasure chests now Most of the time, this treasure chest is going to have some grapes in it, which is not the most exciting prize.

Sometimes they have like

the equipment, the amulets, which is something that I wish Tears of the Kingdom has.

That is they divide the armor, the like cosmetic armor that you get in the game from your like passive abilities.

So you can get equipment slots that let you climb faster or swim faster, whatever it is, and you add more slots to that so you can actually like passively impact your character without having to wear this specific set of armor.

The armor switching shit in Tears of the Kingdom was always one of the least fun parts of it.

Sure.

So I thought that was a huge improvement.

I do want to say one more quick thing about the slow bits, the talking bits.

Tears of the Kingdom has this stuff stuff too but why it works in tears of the kingdom and is not as um i guess annoying as it is here which it definitely is is because the space in between those moments is much longer you'll do a quest with a lot of talking in it and then 30 minutes will go by as you're trying to like do whatever they asked of you or just wandering around the map and then you'll get to the next stage and they'll talk a lot more but i think that's the difference here whereas right now you're getting them all stacked one after the other i mean the middle stuff in tears tears of the kingdom is just better than the middle stuff

i'm not saying i i understand the pacing of a zelda game requires that stuff but like the middle stuff in tears of the kingdom is learning to fly upwards through a tornado climbing thing and in this one it's like run up to the zora village at the north side and then down to the zora village at the south side and go talk to those guys and it's like that's not very interesting yeah i think part of the problem is that this game which is the first like brand new,

you know, mainline Zelda game since Tears of the Kingdom, but realistically, like it was Tears of the Kingdom, it was Breath of the Wild, and it was Link Between Worlds with the last three brand new mainline Zelda games.

And those are three of the best video games ever fucking made.

Yeah, they're really, really good.

And this is not at that level.

It's better than I, I genuinely, this game is better than I, I was worried it would be.

I was worried it would be just gimmicky, and that's it.

Yeah, it doesn't feel gimmicky.

It doesn't.

It feels like a whole ass Zelda game and a good, a good Zelda game.

But it does feel

a little bit B-team.

Like it does not feel like the A, which is true.

Grezzo developed this.

This is the team that made the Link's Awakening remake.

It also made, I think,

the 3DS remakes of Majora's Mask and Ring of Time.

So they've made these remakes, which are very good, but they're not originally designed necessarily.

It would also maybe explain why this game kind of runs like shit.

Oh,

man.

I just played it for the first time.

Docked?

It looked bad.

Like, the frame rate, when I docked it, it was like

flickery.

It was.

Yeah, I haven't watched the Digital Foundry.

I'm sure they go into it, but Lynx Awakening had the exact same problem, the exact same engine.

And it is shocking to me that Nintendo can't be like, oh, you can't run it at 60.

Put a cap at 30 or something just to keep it stable because it just does not feel good.

I will say, other than the frame rate, art direction is

the soundtrack is great.

I have had the overworld theme stuck in my head, and it's not the, you know,

it's like a new thing, and it's like a graffiti.

You just do it.

Oh, God, Nintendo's lawyers.

Oh, fuck.

That's really all it takes these days.

I want to ask you guys a question.

Do you think that, and this is kind of a really tough thought experiment to do on the fly, but do you think when

if this wasn't a zelda game and not marketed as a zelda game but just taking on its own merits do you feel like our discussion would have a more positive tone because it does feel like such a departure and really out of left field and i'm wondering if it's hampered by the fact that if it is as you said rust competing with like some of these like all-time honestly i feel the opposite

Like if this had been, Scribble Nots is the perfect comparison for me.

Like, if this had been released by Warner Brother and didn't have the Zelda trappings, which is what I enjoy most about it, I would be like, this is a really cool, rough draft.

I can't wait to see what the sequel looks like.

But I think that there's a little bit of the old Nintendo, like, the flavor of Nintendo adds a lot to this game.

And I think the things like...

all of the lack of polish that we talked about of navigating the systems in the combat would feel

I feel like I would be less likely to forgive it

I mean, I appreciate, I think there's a version of this.

If we had recorded this episode 10 years ago, where we would love it just because games that tried new things were so rare and exciting.

But games that try new things come out every week.

And

Zelda is now the franchise of trying new things.

Like, that is all it is.

And that's fucking crazy.

I'm glad that they released it.

I really hope that they do a sequel to this because it really feels like step one of an idea.

And I think it's totally reasonable.

Like for a step one, it's really good.

But

I know it can be better.

It kind of sets up,

who fucking knows, but if I was Nintendo, kind of seems like the merging of both a Zelda game and a Link game.

in an open like their next 3d game where like you can summon monsters and you can build shit like that's a pretty fucking compelling idea in an open world space

This is obviously limited by like some perspective stuff of what you can really do, but like the potential is kind of endless.

It is also kind of great to play as Zelda

if for no other reason than when you meet people out in the world, they're like, holy fucking shit, you're the princess of the realm.

How can I help you?

I wish they'd made more of that, honestly.

I wish playing a Zelda felt like

if you're going to do it, like, I kind of wish she talked.

Like, I could have.

That's the other thing.

Yeah.

In making her playable, you take away her ability to speak because

she does speak.

You just don't hear it.

You don't hear it.

She gestures like she's conveying information, but you don't actually hear it.

Because people understand.

It's like, you know, people understand when she's saying stuff.

That's fine.

I'm just saying it would be cool to have a protagonist in the game.

Like, if you're going to put a different protagonist in this franchise, why not have them feel like a different person?

I mean, the fact of the matter is, she puts on Link's clothes like immediately.

I kind of wonder the fact she's wearing his rib all the time.

I kind of wonder if they wanted to like be able to back out of it.

Like, no, no, no, that's Link.

Just kidding.

Just press the link.

Oh, you're upset?

Press the link button.

Press the link button.

I was just missing Link.

Don't worry about it.

I was reading an interview that was saying that they originally had this as a Link game and he could summon shit, but he also obviously had his sword and shield.

And they were like, it just kind of conflicted.

Like

a monsters would get in the way of your sword and shield, so you would just use your sword and shield instead of the monsters, which obviously happens in this game at times.

And that was the impetus for them making Zelda the protagonist.

Russ, the fact that that is the lineage of this game is 100% apparent.

Like, it's like the proof is in

the pudding with this because it feels like something that was going to be something else for a while, and then it was something different.

And man, our slate's looking pretty empty.

Let's see what games we can get out.

All right.

I am dying to know if this was planned as a Switch 2 game.

I think we'll know for sure if the Switch 2 comes out and this immediately runs like fucking perfect.

Yeah, we'll kind of know.

But I am like, can you imagine if they fucking shadow dropped a Zelda game at launch of the Switch 2 that no one fucking knew about?

Would have been

wild.

I mean, that would be cool, man.

I'd love to do Dreamcast, too.

It'd be cool.

Yeah, what if they did like Panzer Dragoon on the Switch 2?

It's just like surprised.

That would be sick.

I like Nights into Dreams.

If they made another one of those, but it was on phones and free, that would be kick-ass, man.

Maybe they did.

Hey,

why don't they bring back Vienna ice cream cakes?

Have we said our piece about Zelda?

I think this is a good game.

I don't think it's the best Zelda game ever, but I think it's a very, very good Zelda game.

And as Plant said, I would love to see them evolve this idea further.

It's really fun.

It's really fun.

Yeah, it is.

It's really fun.

I've enjoyed it.

It's been short bursts, too.

Like, I've been playing it while also playing other stuff, or like it's easy to pick up the Switch and just play for five minutes while the kids are eating dinner and just do a little mini dungeon and get a new echo.

And yeah, it's great.

The checkpoints and the fast travel and all that stuff.

Very common.

Very generous.

Yeah.

All right.

Let's take a quick break and we'll come back and talk about more right after this.

Break.

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Okay, we're back.

We talked about Zelda.

Hooray.

I thought it might be a good time, given the fact that it's October, we just kind of quickly summarize what is left on the docket for the rest of the year.

I didn't know this game was coming out, and then you guys said it was, and I liked that, but what else do you magicians have in your hats?

Because I don't follow this stuff at all anymore.

So it's a complete surprise to me.

Every week when the show ends, I have no idea what games are coming out.

Yeah.

That's cool.

How do you feel about playing Silent Hill 2?

Yeah, man.

For sure.

I already done that one.

Is it a remake?

Is it a remake of Silent Hill 2?

Those are scary.

I was way too scared to play the first one.

So this might be the time.

Yeah, that game is too spooky for me.

We got it on Xbox, and I was like, no way, man.

Did you even see Pyramid Head?

That doesn't make a damn bit of sense.

I didn't even get to Pyramid Head.

Nope.

I went into a school and I saw a little ghost and I was like, bye.

Someone singing Ring Around the Rosie.

Turned it off.

Is that the radio one?

Silent Hill 2.

There's a radio in that.

Scary radio.

I think there's a scary radio in every Silent Hill game.

It's like the Keyblade.

Okay.

Next up, we have a Diablo 4 expansion coming out.

Pretty soon.

Let me say this.

I've been hearing some shit about Diablo 4 from people I trust saying it's gotten good.

And it's like,

man, I might get back in for an expansion.

Sure, why not?

I was sort of in that mindset with Diablo 3, and they fixed Diablo 3.

So maybe Diablo 4 is fun.

I mean, it was fine at launch.

It just didn't keep my attention.

I think you could also start playing it now because a lot of the features of the expansion came out earlier this year.

Yeah.

Yeah, the loot 2.0 stuff.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We have a game coming out next week called, let me see if I get the pronunciation right.

I think it's next week after.

It's next week.

The 11th.

Yeah, 11th is next week.

Oh, you're right.

Yeah.

Metaphor Rifantasio.

Everyone's going to say the name of the Persona Fantasy.

Can we just say Persona 6?

That's an easy way.

Fantasy Persona, yeah.

Fantasy Persona, yeah.

Understandably, I am looking forward to that video game quite a bit.

After that, we have Neva, which is the quasi-sequel to Greece, which is like that weird platform name.

That's also when I'm going to be playing Metaphor

It's nice that that lined up.

I'm kind of excited for that.

I didn't play Grease, but people seemed to like it, and I like Journey, and it seems Journey-inspired.

Mario

pretty fucking wild.

There's a new Dragon Age game.

I don't know if you're going in chronological.

Oh, I was sort of, but yeah, there is a new Dragon Age.

Like the Veldar drops, the early game on the game is so positive.

I can't remember seeing previews for a game that are.

Is that true?

Yeah, the previews for this game are like, well, there's our Boulder's Gate for this year.

Or like, there's our game of the year.

Is that good?

It's, well, I don't know if the game is that good, but it's, it is good.

You're saying, but the previews never lie.

The previews, hey, you know what?

They said Suicide Squad would be the dog's breakfast.

And it was.

And it was.

So.

And it was.

Sometimes they get to the point.

Hey, Mario Party Jamboree.

Like, what is our take on this?

Is this, you know, how many times can I be Charlie Brown in the football?

And yet, I feel myself, I feel myself lining up.

Oh, I can't, this is it.

This is the time I kick that football.

I don't think we can do an episode on this game, and we probably won't.

We just, like, logistically speaking, we do not have, none of us have four friends is the problem.

Oh, well, yes, that, that, that too.

I thought you meant just like, you know, that I'm going to take a little swell at the football and miss dramatically.

The only people, the only people I would have to play this game with would be my kids, and I would not introduce them to this fucking stochastic, hateful franchise.

The idea that I would willingly have my kids join in a Mario Party and then at the end of it, fucking Mario and all of his friends come out and like, one of you is the best kid.

Because

I lost on purpose hours ago.

But the fact that they would set that up, like never, never in a million years.

I'll tell my kids Mario Party doesn't exist.

If they hear about it at school or whatever, they're just lying to you, kids.

Apparently, the mario party diehards are excited about the fact that it has a quote pro mode which is removes all of the luck based party games so it's just the skill-based party games

sure man i it's all if you play it right it's all skill-based i've got a system

it's about streaks it's about maximizing your streaks okay a few a few more to go go through we have black ops six coming out uh we gonna play this one what do we think

haven't played this is the one isn't in the 90s i haven't played one i haven't played the one i keep telling myself i'm gonna play a call of duties and then i just don't and i don't have the hard drive space is the problem

like

300 megs 300 gigs 500 gigs crazy

this is still october right yes yeah yeah we're we're dipping into i think hey this one's maybe not going to hit for everybody else there's a new pokemon trading card game coming out on mobile pokemon trading card game pocket that's like all about how good it feels to open up packs of pokemon cards I think that's going to be a hit in this household.

Griffin, are you playing that TCG simulator?

No, I mean, there's a couple of those.

I've dipped into that genre in the past, but it's never really.

What is that genre?

I mean, you run like a card shop and you get packs that you buy with your finances, and you can open the packs, and maybe you'll find a card that you can resell for more.

You know, it is a simulation of that whole kind of thing.

But like, there's no IP or anything.

So, what is it?

No, no, no.

I mean, mean, it's like

PAL World.

Got it.

Okay, understood.

Stalker 2, do we think that's actually going to come out?

Until Dawn

that we

that's a remake.

Yeah.

For PC and PS5.

Yeah.

Okay.

Thank you.

I mean, I'll play that fucking game again.

I love Until Dawn.

Scary.

Very scary.

Stalker 2 will come out this year.

I feel positive about that.

You know, they bumped it a few times, but I think each bump is a little shorter than the last one.

Also, I believe that they're going to do previews or something, so which would suggest that they have code.

This game,

if it hits, I feel like is going to be exceptional.

Yeah.

But

that's a vague question, right?

Like,

I'll tell you that.

Back to back, I am very much looking forward to Mario and Luigi Brothership on November 7th.

Yeah.

And then Dragon Quest III HD 2D Remake on November 14th.

A lot of

big RPGs here towards the back.

I mean, and Dragon Age drops the week before that.

It's gonna be Jesus Christ.

I'm just now realizing, like, metaphor into Dragon Age, into Mario and Luigi, into Dragon Quest III.

It's uh, it's uh, I mean, it's good.

I'm eating good over here, but I'm also, I got a bit of a tired.

I cannot believe you guys are gonna skip past Shadows of the Damned Hell of Remastered.

Oh, that game is awesome.

I love that game.

Rules.

That's the game of the year.

I genuinely.

What?

I don't remember shadows of the damned you would if you look

done talked you look up a trailer for you you love it came out in 2011 it was great

oh was it one of the fucking uh killer seven grasshopper it was on the

resident evil 4 guy

uh it's a very sassy kind of middle ground between resident evil 4 and devil may cry yeah this was a grasshopper game it was fun yeah man i i do remember this game um and can i ask you guys about one other thing what's retro realms there's a couple of games i'm seeing listed as Retro Realms Halloween and Retro Realms Ash vs.

Evil Dead.

I have no fucking idea.

Way forward.

I think it's like a six-bit.

Like a

8-bit version of

horror stuff?

Sort of like how they did with

Stranger Things?

I don't know.

I have spent the last five minutes trying to figure out how to add Dragon Quest 1 and 2 HD 2D remakes into our document because for the life of me, I was literally reading it and I couldn't transcribe it.

Is that dropping day and date with Dragon Quest 3?

I thought Dragon Quest 1 and 2 comes out and then 3 comes out later, but I don't know.

I, for the life of me, can't figure it out.

Did they call it that because they wanted to make a 3D remake of 1 and 2, but they wanted to save that for later?

Oh, fuck.

Maybe.

Russ, there's...

Why specify?

I don't know.

There's...

No,

three does come out on November 14th.

You're all okay.

You can all take a deep breath.

Do you know what else comes out on Halloween, Russ?

Is a DLC for Blasphemous 2.

Guys, it's stacked out here.

It's looking good out here.

So Ash versus the Evil Dead and Halloween.

are 16-bit platformers that Way Forward is making.

Oh, yeah.

Coming out on October 18th.

It looks like both of them are coming out in like 16-bit platformer form.

Okay.

There you go.

Also, there's an Indiana Jones game coming out.

Yeah, baby.

I can't wait.

You think it's going to be bad?

That's a good developer.

Yeah.

They make a

spiritual sequel to

The Fate of Atlantis.

I know that it is a controversial opinion.

If you wanted a yes man on the show, go get Jason Schreier back.

You know what I mean?

He's a company teat.

I'm saying listen

you watch that trailer okay and then think about anything you see in that trailer for that game that you want to do at home

tell me one fun thing I like brushing dust off of artifacts

no part of that trailer is fun guys I'm gonna get out in front of this one say that game is gonna be a disappointment and when it is I'm gonna look fucking smart and if I'm wrong

I got a fun Indiana Jones game so what's up you say disappointment I don't think it's like gonna be in the running for game of the year It's like an I think it will be a six.

That's what I think.

I think it'll be Peter Jackson's King Kong.

Okay.

That's a huge success.

That's a huge 10.

That's a great success.

That's an 8.5 out of 10.

We're going to get 8.5.

Todd Howard, executive, produced this King Kong game.

This is Todd Howard's King Kong.

I'm so into it.

I hope that I am wrong.

Yeah.

I will say that.

The second thing I'll say, I rarely am.

I think Troy, what's his name?

What's his name?

The voice actor.

Baker?

No.

Troy Baker.

Troy Baker.

Thank you.

Does an amazing Harrison Ford impression.

Like,

okay.

So it is amazing.

The only problem is

it's like a deep fake face where it looks so real, but then like, I don't know, 1% of the time, it just completely misses, which makes it all the more unsettling.

When it bounces off because it's so good.

Good thing it's a first-person game mostly.

You know, it's wild.

That's true.

That's true.

It's wild what a departure this is, this Indiana Jones in December.

When we were starting in the business like mid-2000s,

you would never see

anything released after Thanksgiving.

Like once Thanksgiving hit, you were done.

Like there was nothing until a lot of times like March usually, but like absolutely nothing in December.

That's kind of why like like game of the year stuff i think became such a big deal in video game coverage because you had this whole month where fucking nothing was happening yeah it's also why i'm a little worried about this game at least in its state at release because coming out in december feels like we are running to the wire i'm also just a little like

I hope this game is excellent, but it's a strange choice for machine games to be like, hey, the number one thing we are good at is shooting stuff.

And they're like, cool, cool, cool.

So what are you going to do next?

And like, a game where you don't shoot stuff.

I have to imagine he gets a gun at some point.

You got to shoot that whip guy.

Yeah, but he doesn't get like a shotgun where the bullets bounce off walls.

No.

It is weird.

It kind of makes me wonder.

I wonder if Microsoft maybe just needed to be able to say something was coming out in 2024.

And December 9th is just about as late as something can come out in 2024.

Well, something else did come out in 2024, and it's called the Starfield Expansion Package, which we haven't discussed yet.

I think it's out today.

Okay.

Is it out today?

I'll play every fucking second of it.

I would love it.

What if I've not shortened it?

I think it might be out this week.

Oh, man.

What if it's great?

Wouldn't that be...

What if it's just

great.

Justin,

are you going to play that while we play Metaphor?

Is that what I'm going to do?

I will do that for you guys.

I hate...

Listen, I walked around space and got all the dumb powers.

I would love a reason to use my stupid space powers on something.

The fact that you would rather go back and play Starfield rather than play Phantasy Persona 6 makes me sad in a way that

I would not be able to describe to you with words.

For the listeners.

No, no, no, I know.

For the listeners.

Yeah.

We have each other, Griffin.

And next week is going to be you and I.

We're going to have our time to shine in the sun.

Wonderful days are ahead.

Okay.

Do we have any?

I think that more or less summarizes the release slate for the rest of the year.

Do we have any honorable mentions that people want to talk about?

I got two.

I'm going to say,

I've been playing Balachro on my fucking phone.

Careful, guys.

Careful with that.

Uh-oh.

Be careful.

It'll get you.

Did your progress crossover?

No, but I'm like so good at Balatro, I can re-unlock all that shit in like a couple hours, probably.

It feels great.

It kicks ass, it whips.

It's good.

If I'm shooting a Duke, like I'll just plop down and I'll like knock out a couple of anties, no problem.

Do you prefer playing on phone to whatever you're playing on phone?

I do think that is true, yes, because I can do that shit anywhere.

I always got my phone on me, don't always got my Steam Deck on me most of the time.

It's littler.

I wanted to give a special shout out to the Golden Bachelorette.

Now, listen.

Yeah.

This is an older lady, and she is from the season of The Golden Bachelor, which is the last one.

Consider, if you will, a bunch of 60-plus-year-old old men go into the bachelor mansion house and imagine

what that is like, what that moment is like, because it's mostly these older men walking around and talking about how nice the appliances are.

And it's them talking about

how do you make your, how do you, there's one scene in this most recent episode where one guy starts grilling hamburgers.

And like six dads come up to him like, ooh, gotta, gotta take those off soon.

He puts barbecue sauce on them.

He's like, yeah, this is New York style.

Everyone's like, You don't put barbecue sauce on a hamburger.

Like, it's you've never seen this many old men together and it be good

and it not be some sort of meeting.

Forced to socialize.

Commerce.

Just to socialize.

These are all old widowers for the most part.

They're so lonely.

And now they get to hang out with a bunch of like-minded older men.

This shit hits so fucking correct.

It is unbelievable.

I want want to go.

Can I sign up for this show just to go hang at the mansion with all my elders?

Pick up the scraps of knowledge that they're dropping for me.

I wish there was an apprenticeship position that you could sign up for on this show.

This is our poor boy, Justin.

He just

lapses the stories.

I was worried when they announced this season because I was like, man, you get a bunch of older dudes together.

Like, sometimes...

you know, old dudes suck shit, but these are lonely older men.

yeah and it's there's no villain arc as far as i can tell which is unique to this franchise uh it's just it is they're all looking for companionship really of any kind any kind any sort of finding yeah it's just episode one like this episode one is usually so cutthroat people trying to like yeah carve out little bits of time and and screen time and time with the the lead and in this one there's episode one

wood because they're all whittling no episode one the dudes are like widowers not widows.

I thought they were all whittling.

No, they're not whittling.

Episode one, there's more than one guy who says something like, She would be lucky to have any one of this great group of guys.

And it's like, that's so good.

That's never happened here before.

I'm fucking loving it.

I'm having a ball watching this with Rachel.

Do you think that this is more of like a kind of like karmic spiritual cleansing of the Bachelor Mansion?

That they need to do this now every year.

Maybe, maybe.

All of the

I watched some of Jen's season.

I watched, I think, all of the Bachelor before that.

And the Golden Bachelor, Jerry, like that one hit pretty good too,

because it was a lot of older ladies.

It's like a totally different demographic, totally different vibe.

It feels like a completely different team of people making the show, just in terms of like how nice it is.

Anyway,

that's my shit this week.

I wanted to talk about the Ion Neo Pocket Micro, which is a very bizarre device.

I was sent a production model.

This is not the final retail model, but I imagine they're pretty close by INEO.

They sent it to me, and I've been playing it for the last like week or so.

Oh my God, is it a Game Boy Micro, basically?

It is bigger than a Game Boy Micro.

Okay.

But not by much.

Let's see it.

God damn, Russ.

This looks good.

Imagine it, if you will.

Hold it up so I can see it.

I don't have it right here.

uh you can just google it um now here's the thing about the the i neo pocket micro now i have to guess how to spell that so i can see what it looks like it's in the rundown you could just pull it from there if you wanted to play basically any s through let's say ps1 you're gonna have one of the best experiences, I think, on any of these handheld devices.

And I think it even goes kind of head to head against the analog pocket, which is also kind of designed for this era of gaming.

It's a different technology.

You're using software emulation instead of hardware emulation.

Fucking Dorx will yell at me.

I get it.

But because it's running on Android, you have the versatility of like everything that an Android device can do.

I love the look of this thing.

It's a very cool device.

Those thumbsticks look a little low on the top.

Thumb stacks were fine.

Here's the issue.

The triggers are stack triggers on the top.

They're like flat stack triggers.

So if you're playing anything that has extensive trigger use, including like racing games, things like that, you're going to have a bad time.

It's just like not designed to support that thing,

which arguably you could kind of say a little bit about,

you know, most of these devices.

A lot of these devices, which is pretty typical.

This one,

it feels a little overpowered and price-wise is a little high.

I think it's $200, which is in line with the analog pocket.

But if you're just looking to do software emulation for like later systems, even though this has the horsepower to do that stuff, I think the form factor is not there.

Is that going to replace the Miu Mini?

The Miu Mini is like still my

weapon of choice for like...

I think at this point, just to bring everyone up to speed for where the handheld gaming space is right now, I think the Miu Mini is kind of the grandpa.

It is the golden bachelor of the group,

such that it just kind of caps out, again, at PS1.

And a lot of the handhelds these days are doing, you know, PSP, even GameCube, PS2, 3DS.

But it's hard to do that in a form the form factor for these things is like the number one concern for me because i have i could play ps2 games you know on my odin or whatever

why on the okay so i'm looking at the actual website sure uh first off this this is coming soon it doesn't look like you can get this yet uh there is a way to order it now off of indiegogo actually weird uh it says premium horizontal retro handheld console a delicate plaything you won't want to put down why are you marketing this as delicate?

Yeah,

there might be a translation situation going on.

It's a Chinese manufacturer.

The Retro Game Corps review of it is like, I would not take this out of my house.

I haven't dropped it, but it seems pretty durable to me.

I wouldn't actually push against that, Russ, just based on the fact that on the manufacturer's website, it says that it is delicate.

So that would be my sort of counter to that.

I think they probably

fancy.

Fancy.

Maybe, yeah.

Delicate the way that like a nice croissant is delicate.

I think if you're looking to run like every game of the last 30 years, this is not necessarily the device for you.

But if you are an obsessive about that, like NES to, I would say, PS1 era, this is like a very good device for that.

And again, like, I was able to play Fortnite on it, which is, you know, you can't say that about a lot of these handhelds.

On through like the Android.

Through Android, yeah.

Google.

Well, through the Epic Game Stores.

Yeah.

I think the only way to do it.

Every frame of Booger Man will be written.

It is a very weird, interesting space.

Plant, I think, mentioned Retro Game Core, which I think is one of the better YouTubers covering this space.

I also really like the subreddit SBC Gaming, which stands for single-something chip gaming.

Single board computer.

Single board computer, thank you.

And they, I think, do a very good job summarizing where the...

the state of this market, which moves incredibly quickly.

They release new handhelds every like three fucking weeks.

It's nuts.

But this one's a very cool one.

And I think from a, if someone's looking for like a daily driver these days, I'm a big fan of the 35XX H,

which is from Amberneck.

It's unbelievable that you take up our time with this.

I know.

I'm here for it, man.

Don't talk to him personally.

The fact that you're using a broadcasting channel to have these discussions with each other is truly nauseating.

It is immoral.

Justin, before we recorded, you were like, I think I'm going to get one of these things.

Did I just you know what I'd do if I was going to do that?

I'd just ask you.

Like, I do directly.

I wouldn't.

But now you don't have to.

I don't have to do that.

Now the whole world knows.

Yeah.

But you know what?

After I asked you, I'd be like, okay, I just put the order in, you'd be like, actually, there's this new sick one that I just heard.

I mean, yeah, that is the problem with this.

And this is not the turnover for Russ and his handhelds is like...

Weekly.

Weekly.

No, I'll see a new...

Here's how it works.

It's the same every time, and it's happened eight times at this point.

Russ will be like, here's the sick new shit.

And then Plant, for some reason, always swoops in.

He's like, Here's a tutorial for how to set it up super easy on YouTube.

And then they're in cahoots for sure.

Like, there's a tutorial for how to set it up good.

And then I get it all on and I go, I've got it all set up.

I get it from China and I get a box.

I open it.

I'm like, what the fuck is this?

I'm like, oh, yeah, it's the new thing.

So I go find not a load-up booger, man.

I'm like, absolutely.

Put it in a box.

Have you noticed if you reverse INEO, it spells Frushtik?

Yeah, that's cool.

Kaiser Soze is Frushtick.

Justin or Chris?

I saw Transformers 1 twice.

Move on.

Hell yeah.

Yeah.

I think that's it.

He's just, you know, it's a confession.

Don't get me wrong.

Justin's been talking about Transformers 1 across our whole slate of media offerings.

I just don't have a ton else to like survivors back.

I'll update you on From real quick.

If you guys

update

bunches of things continue to happen on from currently, a woman is excavating her basement with a shovel because the outlets aren't real and there's no wires in the courts.

And she's trying to figure out where the electricity comes from.

That wait is that what the from in the title means?

That

you are not.

The last shot of from season one is a tour bus pulling into town.

Oh.

So now they're Universal Studios tour.

They're coming in.

They're trapped in From.

It's the town called From?

That's what I call it because no, I don't.

No, the town is there's Colony Town and then Town Town.

There's Colony House and then regular town.

And then Colony House got busted into by a bunch of the monsters that live in From World at night, and it got busted into.

So everybody left Colony House to go move into town, but nobody likes the Colony House.

It's New England lost, basically.

Yeah.

From continues to air

Keep doing it.

Hey, if you want to watch something good that actually seriously delivers, if you like spy stuff at all, Slow Horses on Apple TV is coming in its fourth season.

It is a really, that's a show that might have gotten lost in the glut of overspending on streaming shows.

Like it was one of that wave where it seemed like all of a sudden there was 30 things to watch all at once, but it is continued to deliver really.

I always say increasingly good seasons.

I confuse that with the old man.

100%.

And I confuse it with old dogs.

And I confuse it with

wild hogs.

I confuse it with all of them.

The old man is back too, actually, Russ.

Seriously.

Your old man needs

between the Golden Bachelor, the old man, and Slow Horses.

Old men are old men.

It's time for old men to have some power.

They finally have 50 consoles that can play all their favorite games, portably.

What about you, Chris?

I got two things to shout out real quick.

One, a friend of the show,

Johnny Stanton, is the co-creator of a tabletop project called Sync that is a fifth edition supplement of DD, but it's got pirates and it's very cool.

And I'm going to include it in the newsletter so people can check it out.

And then also, because it is spooky season, have y'all heard of Ghost Watch?

Watch is one of the best things ever.

I'm so excited you're going to talk about that.

I knew you would be the one.

Ghost Watch

aired on BBC on Halloween of 1992.

And there had been a series of kind of crime

almost like talk shows where they would be like, okay, we're going to talk about local crime that's happening.

And then you're going to call in and help us try to solve these crimes.

And these are real crimes, like real like newsy programs on the BBC.

And then they're like, okay, now we're going to do one for ghosts.

And people are like, oh, great.

On Halloween?

Cool, ghosts.

We're going to have a real, you can call in during the show to tell us about your like ghost experience.

Yeah.

And

there's, we're going to go to this house.

It's like a

local neighborhood house that is actually haunted.

And

over the course of the show, things go very, very, very, very wrong.

And it is absolutely horrifying.

And it ends up being a movie that they had made.

But it was presented to everybody as if it was real, down to the point where it was an hour-long show.

And then it runs an extra half hour.

Like, hey, things are getting out of control here.

We're going to go over the next episode behind us.

Freaked people the hell out when it aired.

And it just made so many brilliant decisions, like using non-actors and newsy people to like fill all the roles.

It is

unbelievable.

And it is on shutter if you want to watch it.

It's on shutter, yeah.

You don't have to like track it down wildly now.

You can just go watch it on shutter.

And if you want more context, this feels weird to do like a double.

There is a sawbones episode on my medical history show about Ghostwatch because it caused such a panic at the time that a lot of people treated it as like it was a legitimate medical concern because people were so freaked out about it.

And like more of the world, like a few yokels are, this is like a big, it was a, it was an issue.

It was a big

more from like an anxiety standpoint.

Yes, like it caused caused people to a point where it's like, is the BBC liable for my like mental distress that I have experienced?

It's a wild thing.

Go watch it on shutter.

Free of context, it's not going to like chill you to your bones, but watching it and trying to imagine me in that headspace, it's so well done.

And it's really pretty chilling even without that.

Oh, yeah.

I don't, I just don't want people to think that it's like,

it's not going to make you insane from terror.

It's not the video in the ring.

it's just look

cool we did it there's a i'm doing i'm i'm actually plan i i'm watching something on shutter right now city night pause it's called w nuf oh a local broadcast doing the the same thing uh that's like very much recreating the time period but it's like a similar concept like non-actors and doing a yeah

i'm a total sucker for that stuff uh same thing with late night with the devil which came out a while ago.

Movie.

Thank you so much for listening to our program.

Next week, we will be talking about Metaphor Refantasio.

This week, though, we talked about

so many freaking games.

Legend of Zelda, Echoes of Wisdom.

We talked about, here we go, right?

Silent Hill 2 remake, Diablo 4 expansion, Metaphor, Refantasio, Neva.

Mario Party, Jamboree, Black Ops 6, Mario and Luigi Brothership, Dragon Quest 1 and 2 HD2D Remake, which I don't think is coming out this year.

Dragon Quest 3 HD2D Remake, Dragon H Veil Guard, Stalker 2, Indiana Jones, Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket, Blasphemous 2 DLC, and then the I Neo Pocket Micro, the Ambernik 35XXH,

Johnny Stanton's tabletop game dive expansion.

What was it called?

Sync?

Sync, not dive.

Ghost Watch, Bellatra Mobile, Golden Bachelorette, and Slow Horses.

I also wanted to thank the people on our Patreon.

You can go to patreon.com slash the besties.

I forgot to write down the names this time, but thank I remember Kazookle from last week, and I'm going to just call out Kazookal one more time.

Yeah, sure.

Thank you for supporting the Patreon.

We have a new bracket episode, which is live right now.

We talked about the very best launch games of all time, and here is a clip for that episode.

The promise of the Dreamcast is a surprise launch, right?

And then it had way too many games

to be successful.

And way too many games.

And

it came out way too early.

And the promise of that launch is, man, this thing's going to fucking flame out, but it's going to be a hell of a show.

And then it delivered on that exactly.

Like 100%.

I love you guys so much.

If you're suggesting that Sega

said

we're going,

we're going out like a beautiful day.

You can see the end of the runway.

The gas is running out of the plane, and they're like, fuck it.

And they just keep rolling.

And all the fucking advertisements were just bald cybermen just going, nah, nah, nah.

Sega's going to fuck this one up bad in two and a half years, but you're going to have some good times with Chin Mew.

That's not how that happened.

The dreamcast to have been a better console than it was.

I wanted to also love it so much.

Some shocking twists and turns in that one.

You never know what's going to happen in those bracket episodes, even though they're a science.

That is

now I can tell you officially, right, that next week is Metaphor Refantasio.

Yes.

Now is the moment.

And also possibly the Starfield DLC.

Now, Russ has just changed that in the document after I've said it out loud.

The first possible moment that it could be not helpful is the moment he has chosen to change it in the document.

Thank you, Russia.

Posterity.

For posterity, and to have it say it next week, it'll be wrong all next week until we change it.

So that'll be it.

I guess I'm going to play Metaphor Reif Fontasio, even though I have not clicked with a Persona game yet.

This is the time that's going to happen for me.

That's going to do it for us.

Until next time, my name is Justin McElroy.

For all the besties, I want to say thank you for joining us.

Be sure to join us again next time for the besties.

Because shouldn't the world's best friends pick the world's best games?

Besties