Episode 41: 3 Indie Games You NEED to Play

Shawn, Piel the Beer Guy, Gee (Gee-nius), and Gab the Pretty Cowboy gather around the table at the GameVerse Pub for Episode 41 as we bring back another edition of our Games to Play segment! 🍺🎮

In this episode, indie gaming enthusiast Gee-nius takes the lead and shares 3 indie games that left a lasting impression on him and that he believes every gamer should consider experiencing 👀

Gee breaks down what makes each of these games special, how they stand out from the crowd, and why they showcase some of the very best that indie gaming has to offer. Along the way, the rest of the crew reacts, asks questions, shares their own thoughts, and discusses what truly defines a great indie game 😄

🎮 Hyper Light Drifter
 ⚔️ Transistor
 🚀 No Man's Sky

From mysterious worlds filled with atmosphere and discovery to unforgettable stories, unique gameplay mechanics, and massive adventures created outside the traditional AAA space, this episode highlights just how creative and impactful indie games can be.

As always, the conversation naturally branches into memorable moments, personal experiences, gaming recommendations, and plenty of laughs along the way 🍻

🍻 Whether you're already a fan of indie games or looking to discover something different from the usual blockbuster releases, this episode is packed with recommendations that deserve a spot on your backlog!

🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts
 📺 Full video available on YouTube
 🔗 https://linktr.ee/gameversepub

👍 Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share with your fellow gamers!

 🎶 Special thanks to Angelica Jones for the intro (Crispy Bill) and outro (Let It Slide) music
 🌐 https://angelicajones.ca

#gameversepub #gaming #gamers #gamingpodcast #indiegames #hyperlightdrifter #transistor #nomanssky #indiegaming #gamestoplay #podcast #videogames

Thank you so much for listening!! Please follow us on all our socials: https://linktr.ee/gameversepub

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Hey everybody.

SPEAKER_00 0:01

What's up? Hi.

SPEAKER_03 0:03

Howdy. Nice boys. It's good.

SPEAKER_02 0:07

Nice. You just practiced it on top of it.

SPEAKER_03 0:13

Excited. Okay. That's why you should be on this. Anyways.

SPEAKER_02 0:18

I I like to watch you fail.

SPEAKER_03 0:20

Okay. That's fine. That's funny. Uh, welcome to Game Verse Pub. Very, very special episode today because we're the OG4. Yeah. We're back, baby. We're back. There you go. You got the right button now? Yeah. Yeah. And we are back. Uh, this is how this podcast started. It was us, right? And uh, and so we gotta make uh sure that we make time for each other and be able to make these episodes together. And today the episode is pretty special too. It's gonna be fun. Yeah, because it's indie games to play with G. Which I need to correct something. It's not to play with you. Yeah, no. It's just indie games to play, and then this is all done with D.

SPEAKER_02 1:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:02

Exactly. With D.

SPEAKER_02 1:03

Like I'm the I'm the the lead on this segment.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, and uh, you know what? I don't know that much about indie games, so I'm really curious what you've been cooking for us tonight. It's a big umbrella. I'm still unsure what indie means, but we'll get to that. Independent studio developer. I thought it was a country. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:28

Alright, so uh, but before we do get started, something very important, boys, and I know it's been a little while, but I want to know if uh you you seem to have the pasties.

SPEAKER_00 1:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:41

Are you thirsty? I am. Well, this falls right in line with the most important thing in the world. You know what it is! Hydration! Let's go. Let's go, boys.

SPEAKER_02 1:53

Beer gummy. Beer gunny homebrew.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

We got some moonshine boys. This is the the latest uh the latest um concoction from my my brewery. Nice. Uh so I brewed a dark mild beer and had enough leftover, so I put it in there, added some sugar, so hopefully it carved it right. Even if it didn't, it's an English beer, so it's meant to be enjoyed at a lower uh carbonation.

SPEAKER_02 2:20

So more of a flat yeah, yeah, it's more of a flat.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

Uh it's it's it's uh light beer, 3.4%. Um, very malty. What is this? The United States of America beer Canadian beer. Anything below five is unacceptable. Well, historically, this was a worker's beer, so whenever workers went on lunch, they would have a few of those. It's very sessionable, very like uh it's it's an excellent beer. Hey, I've worked today.

SPEAKER_03 2:48

I think I deserve a worker's beer.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

How about you? I agree. Absolutely. All right, well let's get popping.

SPEAKER_02 2:54

Nothing better than beer and power tools. Super dangerous combo, but really fun.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

Pass down the the glasses. Yeah, absolutely. Let's go. Alright, so uh let's see. So as you can see, dark ruby color. Um if you if you want to go get go get your nails in there, and you'll get like a you'll smell that English yeasty character.

SPEAKER_00 3:20

Smells like sweaty old Englishman.

SPEAKER_01 3:23

That's exactly what I was going for.

SPEAKER_03 3:29

Yeah, I hope not. I know, I haven't seen it.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

It's anything like like French cheese, which smell like smelly old French. Okay. This one's a good one. Holy smoke, you guys suck at this today. All right, boys.

SPEAKER_03 3:43

Well, guys, thank you for doing this segment. It's uh three indie games we'll talk about, trying to sell the subaminum. And uh thanks for the beer. Thanks for showing up. Cheers, boys. Cheers.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

That's light. Yeah, it's good. So you see what I mean? It's light, but you still get a pack, a punch full of flavor. Like you still get that malty backbone. It's dry, it's but it's like it is dry. Very dry, very light. Like I said, 3.4%. Freaking excellent for a 3.4% beer.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

Really good. Yeah. It it seems like it doesn't, you know. No, it's not heavy. It's not heavy. No, it's not heavy at all.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

It's exactly it's exactly what I was going for. Like something that I can just have a few and not feel too brought down, or like, oh, okay, I'm done drinking, or like a few of these bad boys and still, you know.

SPEAKER_03 4:46

Good. And you got that on tap at your house right now?

SPEAKER_01 4:49

I have that on tap, yes.

SPEAKER_03 4:50

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

Yeah, so I got a full keg plus this bottle.

SPEAKER_03 4:52

All right, that's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

Yeah, but I got a feeling that keg is gonna go down easily. I mean, yeah, I wouldn't count on it lasting too long. No, probably not.

SPEAKER_03 5:00

Well, thank you, my friend. That's pretty cool. Very good. Um, G, yes. This is your time to shine, my friend.

SPEAKER_02 5:07

Yeah, like I did when I pressed that button.

SPEAKER_03 5:09

Exactly. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:10

It was like perfect, terrible timing.

SPEAKER_03 5:13

I I I prefer that stuff. It's more real. Yeah, it's more real. We don't have to be good. What are you doing? I was having an act tie in your shoe. You did your job. Ew, it looks gross. I prefer that stuff. It looks real. All right. Well, that happens about three times a show for me, too, so it doesn't really matter. Yeah, it is what it is. Right. So you three indie games.

SPEAKER_02 5:43

Yeah, you instructed me to come up with a segment for this uh podcast. So uh I decided after talking, I said, like, how about I do like three indie games? And then we talked about it. You said no, I said yes, and you said no again, and I said yes, and you said yes again. So now we're sums it up. Now we're here. Um I would like to talk about some of my three most favorite indie games uh that I've enjoyed playing throughout the years. Those are not necessarily new games. Um, for example, one came out in 2016.

SPEAKER_03 6:18

Whoa, spoilers! Now I know what game you're talking about.

SPEAKER_02 6:21

Oh yeah, which one?

SPEAKER_01 6:23

Is it the one with the guys it starts with an H. He's roaming around in a world. Um there's colors starts with an F.

unknown 6:36

No?

SPEAKER_01 6:37

The music is great.

SPEAKER_02 6:38

Yeah. What F are you thinking? Fez. Fez. Oh, I could have said that one too. That one's fun. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 6:44

Anyway, so how about you start with the first one? We'll talk about it. Actually, should we talk about what is an indie? Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 6:50

Please educate me. What is indie? So there's a lot, there's a lot of debate online on what is qualified as an indie game, what is not. Um, especially if you follow the whole debacle of Dave the Diver. In any case, so an indie game. There's a debacle? Well, it's just because that uh Dave the Diver was touted as an indie game, but it turned out that it was backed, like the studio was backed by a very big publishing company and stuff. So is it publishing or another studio? I can't remember, but in any case, so it was kind of like, oh, is it an indie game? Is it not? Indie essentially means that it's either made by a very small uh team or a single individual that independently develops and publishes. Sometimes they hire a publishing firm, but uh they independently put out their product, they're not bound to the big uh corporations uh that publish games, sort of like EA, Ubisoft, uh Rockstar, Blizzard, Activision, yeah, yeah, all that Microsoft, Sony, let's go name them boys. Anyways, so all that uh the biggest uh market for indie games is PC gaming. So and also Switch has a very good variety of indie games, um, just because the platform is less powerful and it's easy to pick up and play. Okay, so um yeah, it's it's fun to play on a handheld. So naturally, I play all of these on my Steam Deck. So um so that's that's been fun because they're usually lower powered games, they're not games that have like amazing graphics. Okay. Uh you'll see a lot more pixel art, a lot more focused on gameplay mechanics, gameplay story, and you can find some really good games in there.

SPEAKER_01 8:51

So like uh an example of that game would be Stardew Valley. Yes. That's an like that's one guy that came up one creator. 100%, yeah. Another one.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

So would would Minecraft in its inception be considered an indie game? Yes. Not anymore, obviously.

SPEAKER_02 9:08

Not anymore, but I I believe so. Mojang Studios was like well, the guy was you pretty much alone doing that, wasn't he? Yeah, pretty sure.

SPEAKER_03 9:18

So you so so you can have that where a company starts off small and indie, but then one thing makes them very big. Like what if concerned ape were to do another game? Is he still considered independent?

SPEAKER_02 9:29

Well, he is working on another game. I know, but um but he is how he is now yes, still being it's not about the money that you make on the game, it's about um more or less uh the outcome. I'd say no, it's more as like who who has the vision of the game. Are you like a big studio that has like multiple development teams and a huge studio with graphic artists, with like uh MoCap, actors, and then you have a big publishing and you're looking, you have a board of directors and all that fun stuff. Okay, like doesn't sound like fun at all.

SPEAKER_00 10:11

Basically, is your programmer, coder at the table deciding the game, or is it executives deciding? Okay, pretty much.

SPEAKER_02 10:21

Okay. It it brings back the creative uh agency over to the developers because normally when you you're hired as a developer on EA or a bigger firm, then you just work on what you're being told to work, right? So uh I mean there's a lot of you know feel free to debate online if you want, if you don't agree with me, but that's how I feel our indie games are fine. Right now. So in any way, so in this case uh I'm gonna start with uh my first game. Yeah, my first indie game. Let's go. So my first indie game that I would like to discuss is Hyperlight Drifter. Have you guys ever heard of that?

SPEAKER_00 11:14

I heard of it from you. Yes. I have no idea what it is. It sounds like uh Pod Racer from Star Wars. It's not. Definitely not hyperlight drifter, wow.

SPEAKER_02 11:28

Speaking of which, speaking of which, there's a new Star Wars racing game coming out. What? Oh yeah. I'm gonna show you it after the pod. Yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah. Oh, cool. Yeah, yeah. Like pod racer.

SPEAKER_03 11:38

Is it pod racing?

SPEAKER_02 11:40

No, but it's close. So close. Oh, that's so cool. So close. Yeah. Anyways, okay. It's speeder racing, I think.

SPEAKER_03 11:47

Okay, cool. Yeah. Um is uh so so hyper light drifter.

SPEAKER_02 11:52

Yes, hyper light drifter. Um very, very cool game. Um the one thing that I would want to qualify that game if I would say it's like a one-word thing, it's the perfect ambiance. The take on the ambiance is like amazing. Amazing music. The children. Yeah, the graphics, the yeah, yeah, the most of these things have great music. Um uh the graphics are like pixel art, if you will, um, but they are in an isometric format top-down. So that means isometric is essentially like you see from the top, but you see kind of like a little bit of tree. Okay, okay, okay, okay. Think Diablo. Yeah, yeah. So um, so they're in that in that style, it's an action role-playing game. So, action role-playing meaning that there's combat, but like live combat, not turn turn-based combat. Uh, role-playing elements is more like you upgrade your character, you progress to it, you become slowly stronger and stronger and stronger. Um what sets it apart is that it is kind of like a Zelda game, very much a love letter or an homage to the old school Zeldas like the Link to the Past and stuff like that. Um, yeah, it's made by a single developer Heart Machine. I think it's only a couple of people that that that worked on it. Super, super fun.

SPEAKER_03 13:36

So, can we ask questions and of course because I like you you mentioned this game and I still have no idea what it's about. So the story. What's what's the st what's the point of this game? What's the story?

SPEAKER_02 13:47

This story is set in a post-apocalyptic world. I like that. Yeah. So it's set in a post-apoc apocalyptic world. You're you are a drifter. Uh just so you guys know, there's no voice acting, no reading in this game. There's no words.

SPEAKER_00 14:08

So there's no cues aside from images.

SPEAKER_02 14:13

Uh, when you're talking to villagers, they just they they talk, but in in whatever language you don't understand, and it's like just images of what they're describing. So you just see little images.

SPEAKER_03 14:27

Really? Yeah. Oh, okay. So that's like a main thing about this game is the communication aspect.

SPEAKER_02 14:32

Oh yeah, interesting. And it it purposely doesn't hold your hand, it purposely doesn't uh tell you necessarily the story, but you kind of get the grips of what it is. Um so you're this drifter, and the drifters are like he has this like poncho and mystique to him, and he's roaming these lands and gets to the big central village. And the big central village is the hub of the main game, and then you can branch out to the top, to the east, the west, and the south, and those are your main dungeons that you're gonna kind of like in Zelda, you're gonna go into these places to find keys and doors and whatnot, little objects to help you progress and level up there's no levels, but it's level up your firearm and your sword. So, what's the story? The story is about this drifter essentially trying to survive because he is sick. And the solution to his sickness, because uh you get visions and you cough up blood sometimes, like little cutscene animations, spoilers he needs to reactivate the machine that is uh inside the uh the town or that will save him, or he's trying to find a solution to it. Uh what's very, very cool about this is that it's uh very fast-paced in terms of combat. So the drifter can essentially dash or teleport, if you will, from one place to another. So you use your joystick, press the dash button, and then you'll go over there. There's a short distance, and obviously you're you're teleporting, so you can't be touched by enemy fire. Um the the enemies are very varied. And you also have a gun that has limited ammo. Okay, the way you replenish the ammo is to hit enemies with your sword. Okay. So that means that you have to get into the thick of it and use your melee weapon to actually fight it. That's an interesting mechanic. Yeah. To recharge your gun and go back and shoot.

SPEAKER_03 16:46

Yeah. Okay, so it forces you to live the game in different ways. Not just shoot. Not just shoot.

SPEAKER_02 16:53

Exactly. Okay. Exactly. Um I mean the the scenes and the like when I say ambiance, like it's not just how it's made and how the levels are designed, it's also the background. There's a lot of art in the background, a lot of suggested themes of what would have happened to that world. Because at one point you go up a mountain and you climb, there's some like platforming element because you're a drifter, so you can teleport from one spike to another. Um and you get to the top of the mountain, and the music just like builds up. Okay. And you see far off in the mountain, you see this huge titan machine thing that is frozen on top of the mountain. But you want to get there. Well, yeah, but also like that huge titan that is dead is like a dead titan, but it's it's it's gigantic, it's bigger than a mountain. So it makes you wonder like what happened, you know?

SPEAKER_03 17:55

Uh Horizon Zero Dawn? Kind of. There's that stuff in there. Exactly like that. See a super old dead one of the machines that's so huge, you're like walking to one of the tentacles.

SPEAKER_02 18:08

And it's gigantic. It's exactly this thing. Horizon Zero Dawn?

SPEAKER_03 18:12

Yeah. Yeah. Um in all the things you say in a day, you've never told me this. I have, but you don't remember. I just don't listen.

SPEAKER_02 18:20

So uh what's this game we're talking about? Hyperlight Drifter. So if if the viewers or if you guys are itching for a different take on a Zelda-like game, I highly suggest it. It's very, very fun. Available on Android, Switch, Steam, whatever. Oh, you can play mobile? Yeah, apparently.

SPEAKER_00 18:40

Oh. So if you were to isolate sorry see what happens. Um to isolate the one thing that made you put hyperlit hyper light drifter on this list. What would it be?

SPEAKER_02 18:56

Just the the feeling that you get when you you play this game.

SPEAKER_01 19:01

Oh yeah, comes with the feeling of melancholy. Feelings are included.

SPEAKER_02 19:05

It's like sadness. Sadness, melancholy. Oh yeah, it's a it's a Debbie Downer type of uh uh definitely slow, definitely has this type of the music has this type of electronic feel to it that is uh very much sets the tone with like very slow pace.

SPEAKER_00 19:28

Can you can you put what you're saying into a movie I can relate to?

SPEAKER_02 19:36

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 19:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 19:37

I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 19:38

Come back to it then. Yeah, if it if it pops up, yeah. If it pops up, I'll I'll let you guys know. How long is gameplay? Like, if some if I were to start this today, yeah, like uh how you rush through it, you could probably do it in like four or five hours.

SPEAKER_02 19:51

Oh, okay, okay. If you rush through it, but I honestly I don't suggest it. No, there's so many little secrets, there's so many so many little collectibles to get to get through that door and little challenge dungeon, mini dungeons to get to that next secret or to get the next power up and stuff like that. And it's it's just a fun game. Just a fun game. It just throws you in there and it doesn't tell you what to do. And that's what I like.

SPEAKER_03 20:22

You know what I like how passionately you talk about this game? Because this is gold. This makes me want like the way you sell sold it, yeah like if it's on okay, let's play what the what how much on special does it have to be for us to buy it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a new game.

SPEAKER_02 20:36

We're obviously like put it on your wish list on Steam and wait until it gets it gets on special for sure. But uh yeah, I highly suggest it. The the mechan the gaming mechanics, the combat is actually super fun. It's really fun, it's very satisfying, and it doesn't feel cheap when you die. When you die, you made a mistake, you were too greedy, you jumped shipped to most of the time in games, right?

SPEAKER_03 21:01

Yeah, it's uh you get you die because you're greedy, you want to try to get as fast as you can to a place.

SPEAKER_04 21:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:08

Okay, punishes you for your mistakes for your read. You had said that for a previous game in another podcast, but it was very specific. I remember that phrase.

SPEAKER_00 21:16

Uh and we can insert that little video right here.

SPEAKER_03 21:20

Oh man, now I have to find it. No, I'm not Dr. Games has to find it. Ah that asshole deal with it. I'm sorry, Doctor. No, no, he's an asshole. I know you don't like him. Okay, so hyper light drifter. I can't wait to see what it looks like. Yeah. So after this, uh after all uh this episode, we're gonna You didn't prep images?

SPEAKER_02 21:45

Yeah, you didn't prep images. I I kinda I asked him.

SPEAKER_03 21:49

No, you said I'm not telling you what my games are. No, you said you didn't want me to tell you the games.

SPEAKER_02 21:54

You knew I wouldn't know and have your images. Oh my god, I'm not doing that. I'm not doing this right now.

unknown 21:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 22:00

So five bucks. You want to do that later? Yeah. But Hyperlight Drifter is very good. Very good.

SPEAKER_01 22:05

Okay. So for me, it's not my type of games. No, no. That's for sure. Like speci I don't know. It's just something about that two-dimensional PC platform that kind of I I don't. I've never liked a whole Diablo or I've never been into those kind of games.

SPEAKER_02 22:24

So it's it's not a Diablo type game. No, I can graph what you yeah, but the graphics are not even similar to Diablo. Did you say it was like Diablo? No, no, no, no. The isometric view is like Diablo. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The isometric view of how you view the world is like Diablo. But the graphics are not the same. Okay. It's kind of like the camera angle, yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 22:47

Do you make commission on this game sales? I just I'm just passionate about games. Okay, so you so you're not so what if uh it comes on special for a buck?

SPEAKER_01 22:59

You buying it just to like come back with the deer and then just like yeah. No? Well, no, not for a buck, no. I don't know. It's a game. Thank god. I was like, what the fuck? What did I ask?

SPEAKER_03 23:13

Um uh five bucks. Yeah, so five bucks? One dollar, Mob. Five bucks is your price? If it comes on sale for five bucks, you're buying it in case you want to play? I I would need a platform to play it on. Well, it's available on it's available on.

SPEAKER_00 23:27

Let's say you have a PC and it's a Steam sale. And how much would would it have to be for you to buy it? Yeah. $3.50. Fair enough.

SPEAKER_03 23:36

What if it's on sale at four? Sorry.

SPEAKER_02 23:38

No luck. Okay, it's not on sale right now. How much is it? It's $21.99.

SPEAKER_03 23:45

Yeah. Let me see what it looks like. Yeah. Like that. Very moody. Okay, I can feel the mood. Like uh you got that in certain uh games like even Stardew, right? Stardew in certain areas you'll be like in a specific dungeon or cave. It gives you uh it gives you a vibe. The music gives you the vibe of when I'm in here, this is what I'm doing. And the like if you're gonna play Minecraft.

SPEAKER_00 24:12

Everybody's a different gamer. Yeah, Minecraft gives you and and he responds a lot to the music mix. Music, the sound, production, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 24:22

So important how it how how I get immersed in the world. It's very immersive, yeah. One in one word, that's good.

SPEAKER_00 24:29

It's immersive. So so from that, and we'll get back to the five dollar question.

SPEAKER_03 24:34

Um it's a five dollar question.

SPEAKER_00 24:37

But what I found, and and I'm gonna relate to it uh in a way, it's not the same game I know. Uh, but frostpunk to me, oh my god, it's super immersive. Yes, and it's not really much of a lively game, right? Because you stay on the same freaking view.

SPEAKER_02 24:56

You are on the edge of your seat the whole time. The whole time.

SPEAKER_00 25:00

You can be playing two hours and you're like stressed out, but not really. You're you're trying to relax and then you're not relaxing, but it's more it's super so yeah, I know it's not the same type, yeah, but I you know the feeling you get when you get a game like that. That that's about your emotion, your feelings, and is the feeling of emergency. That's kind of what it is, I I gather. Yeah. Okay, cool. Yeah. So for five bucks. Uh to me, it's not a bit like in, it's not my type of game. So probably at $2, I two, $3.50. Just to have a game. Five bucks is a bit too too expensive. Yeah. But two bucks, like it's like every damn DLC from American Truck Simulator. Yeah. I've never I play once a year, and I don't I don't think I've been to Nebraska yet. Ah, what? I had to be a good thing. It's a beautiful place out there, beautiful country out there. Okay. New Mexico. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 25:53

And for you, Sean? Um, it's a Zelda-like. I'm gonna say four bucks and under. Okay. And and I'm buying it just so it it's it's in the bank. Okay, and at some point, maybe I'll be in the mood to to you know to to remember what you you said about it. The whole melancholic feel vibe.

SPEAKER_02 26:13

The colors are phenomenal in this game. It looks cool. Like the colors, they they they had a very specific palette in mind that they chose to build their world, and they stuck to it. Okay. And it's very cool. Yeah, very, very cool.

SPEAKER_00 26:31

All right. Well, I mean, so in that sense, like I would probably buy it because of this conversation at two or three dollars. Yeah, I wouldn't even buy Zelda at that point. The most top-down.

SPEAKER_03 26:41

Unless we have a conversation about it.

SPEAKER_02 26:43

It's a different take on a Zelda. It's it's a lot more it's there's a lot less shenanigans of items than with than with other Zeldas, where you have to go get the lantern, and then you have to go get the the the chain hook, or you have to go get the it's freaking Zelda. The steel boots to open up the coconut that you know, like it's just there's a lot there's a lot less of that. It's more or less like it's more or less like upgrade your dash, upgrade your sword, upgrade your gun, get a shotgun, get grenades and stuff like that. Cool. Yeah. What about you, Sean?

SPEAKER_03 27:25

I already said my answer. Yeah, you said it again. Yeah. Uh about two, three bucks under four bucks. Because I want it in the bank. Second game. Second game, second game. So by the way, thank you. That was a good description. Yeah. Uh yeah, I'm curious to see at least what it looks like. And who knows the sales coming up. So, do any of you know, Sean?

SPEAKER_02 27:45

You might know, so maybe you don't answer. Do any of you know uh the studio called Supergiant Games? Nope. No. Do you guys know what Hades is?

SPEAKER_00 27:58

The god of hell kind of thing.

SPEAKER_02 28:01

But Hades the game. Isn't there Hades 2 now?

SPEAKER_00 28:06

Months or years back?

SPEAKER_02 28:07

Yeah, years back. It's one of the most popular indie games of all time. What? Um Hades is a game by Super Giant Games. Uh that is not the game that I chose.

SPEAKER_03 28:21

So um a Hades game. Okay, so okay, so you're you're you're gonna the game you're going to suggest is another game by Supergiant Games. Exactly. You just wanted us to know how important Super Giant Games is.

SPEAKER_02 28:33

Exactly. So Super Giant Games has been around since the Xbox 360 era. Their first game that I purchased was a game called Bastion. And again, isometric view. Um the game's camera angle PL. Yeah. This guy with that. The the game itself uh has absolutely gorgeous graphics, and it's what got me interested in their studio in a sense. Then another game came out when I had my PS4. PS4, yeah, PS4, called Transistor. And this is the game that I want to talk about.

SPEAKER_03 29:13

Transistor. Yes, transistor.

SPEAKER_01 29:15

I think I actually have it. No, it might have been a free game in old PlayStation.

SPEAKER_02 29:18

Yes, it was, so you could try it. It's an amazing game. Transistor. Oh, yeah. So I can't even put a price on it now. No, but if I can convince you to download it and try it, I will have done my job. Yeah. So uh transistor. Transistor is that game. So first off, I just want to say Super Giant games have a very different approach to developing their games. Uh, what they typically do is that they keep their games in an isometric view, and they each and every single game they tackle a different genre of game. So the first game, well, the first game that I know of, Sebastian was an action RPG, a la Zelda. You know, kind of like that. Um the their other game, which is Transistor, again, you have action RPG elements mixed in with turn-based strategy in the combat or in the combat. Okay. So you can actually freeze time in combat and plan all your move with your action points, and then you run it, and then you'll go super fast, run all your moves, but then you have to recharge, so you kind of have to move in combat again.

SPEAKER_03 30:33

I dude, I already like that. I love that. Something like this where because it reminds me of it becomes like a grid too.

SPEAKER_02 30:39

It's super fucking cool.

SPEAKER_03 30:41

It's it's uh it's that type of aspect, not the same there, but it's that type of aspect of why I liked Fallout because I wasn't good at the Call of Duty's where you had to react right away. The VAT system. The VAT system where it freezes it. It feels exactly like that.

SPEAKER_02 30:53

Oh, let's fucking go! It feels exactly like that. The what's really awesome about Super Giant games, and if you've ever played Hades or any of their games, is that they have a very particular arts art style, they have amazing voice voice acting, and they have really good music too. And Transistor is actually based off of music because you play as a singer that got attacked and lost her voice.

SPEAKER_00 31:22

This is right up your alley. Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 31:25

You play as red. So she's the main character, and you have this big old ass sword that looks like a microchip.

SPEAKER_03 31:34

I thought you were gonna say a microphone. No, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_02 31:36

Oh, that would have been great.

SPEAKER_03 31:38

The whole sold as a hundred bucks.

SPEAKER_02 31:41

It's like your origin story. The whole aspect of the game is that you wake up, you have no voice, and you have this sword beside you, and it's planted inside a man, and basically you're trying to get out of the city or trying to figure out what happened to the city. The city itself is like a far future humanity where it's like a very much what's going on? I don't know. Okay, well, I'll stop.

SPEAKER_01 32:10

You wake up and you got your sword planted into a man.

SPEAKER_02 32:16

I heard that too, right? Nobody else was laughing, so no. So uh essentially you live in this city that is um essentially everything is so advanced and it it feels like a um you know the great Gatsby? Yeah, kind of like that style. Everything feels so advanced too. Technology is so advanced that like humanity or the city itself has just like they they can just like go on a terminal and choose the weather for tomorrow. Or they can they they concentrate on art, they concentrate on food and stuff like that. It's convenient. Yeah, but you wake up and obviously no one's around, you have these weird machines all running around and you have to you know save yourself and save the city. Um the interesting mechanic, how you get more powerful, is not based on your character itself, but it's actually based on the sword because you can download consciousness of other people. What? Yeah, yeah, that are dead, and they give you abilities into your sword that you can select in your whatever, and you can combine abilities one on top of the other. Oh, that's cool.

SPEAKER_03 33:37

That's like your pro your uh skill tree. Yeah, your skill tree.

SPEAKER_02 33:40

It's like choosing your microchip and the stuff. Is it kind of like Matrix inspired a bit? Not even. Okay, yeah. Super cool game, amazing music.

SPEAKER_03 33:53

I was gonna ask, the music must be phenomenal if you like it. You know what I find funny about the two games you mentioned so far? Characters can't talk. You have a trend. I wonder what the last game was gonna be. Don't answer. No spoilers, dude.

SPEAKER_02 34:08

Okay, so yeah, so Transistor, I really like it. Obviously, I like Bastion from Super Giant Games. I like Hades. I never tried Pyre. Pyre is a very different game.

SPEAKER_00 34:18

Oh my god, they make popular games. Yes. So I've heard all of these games. Sorry. No, no, no, kids. Did the middle of in my sentence interrupt the start of yours?

SPEAKER_03 34:33

I'm gonna use that. I'm gonna use that with the kids.

SPEAKER_02 34:36

But yeah, Super Giant games, they make they when they make games, they make it, they make them, they make them special. Okay. Um Bastion, I remember this specifically why I purchased it on the Xbox 360, was the first game I've purchased digitally digitally. So really yeah. Okay. Not transistor, Bastion. Bastion. Okay, Bastion is a game that had a narrator for the character that you're removing. But he would n He wouldn't talk?

SPEAKER_03 35:12

No, no, no. The character wouldn't talk. Them indie games they don't have budget for voice acting. But the narrator?

SPEAKER_02 35:17

Kind of like the narrator? Yes, but the narrator would narrate what you would be doing as you would be. Ah, that's creepy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:28

And then he walks into the That's the Stanley Parable. And he glances over his shoulder and he notices the enemy coming towards him. Really?

SPEAKER_02 35:36

Like really and he had like a southern twang to his voice. It wasn't like an English or whatever, it was really like a southern, like, and the kid once he walked in, like very raspy and very southern.

SPEAKER_03 35:51

So is Bastion your your next game? No. Oh, okay. No, great game though. Cool. Hades as well. So so so is that your special shout-out? Because PJ did that in his horror uh oh no, it's in Resident Evil. Super Giant Games is one of my favorite developers. Where he's like, I think three games, but shout out to this one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:07

G I think gets royalty every time he says Super Giants game.

SPEAKER_02 36:12

There's another game I'd like to shout out, but it's not on my list, but that's okay. Two seconds.

SPEAKER_03 36:17

Just to finish on that one. Yeah. What price would it have to be?

SPEAKER_01 36:23

Well, I already have it for free, so um that's not the question. Yeah. Um, I mean, I I would buy it for five dollars. Like it's it's above the last game. I have more interest in playing that than the other. Um yeah, I think five bucks would be uh $4.99, Bob.

SPEAKER_03 36:45

Alright. Five bucks, no deal.

SPEAKER_00 36:47

It currently at $25.99. Oh that's fine. Like I know everybody needs to make a living, but yeah, for a game for for somebody that chooses his game carefully, for somebody to convince me to buy a game needs to be like the next time I see it on a Steam sale, if it's at five bucks, I'm buying that game. But to be honest, I'm not buying anything more than five bucks on a Steam sale, really. Unless it's a game that I want. Okay, right?

SPEAKER_02 37:13

So if even then if you know it can go to a certain price, that's that's like $25.99 is not a sale price.

SPEAKER_00 37:19

That's no, it's not, and and it's it's it's an okay price for a game, to be honest. 100%. It's like but if it's not necessarily something that you know that you'll pick up every now and then, and it's just something you want to try out because your buddy just talked about it and looked kind of cool. Then because G talked about it on the podcast.

SPEAKER_03 37:35

Well, that's why we do the segment with G.

SPEAKER_00 37:38

Yes, says it right here. With G. That's me.

SPEAKER_03 37:40

That's you.

SPEAKER_00 37:41

So for me for that question, to me, it's like like the threshold is five bucks. Yeah, definitely. The next time it's on sale, I'm buying it. But that's that's my kind of we'll hold you to that though.

SPEAKER_03 37:51

Next time it's on sale, I'm where somebody's catching it and sending the the bill. Doesn't matter. You said it on the podcast.

SPEAKER_02 37:59

Zero cuts. We are not affiliated with any of these studios. But if you want to send your donation, please uh click the link below. Exactly. If you're an indie studio that needs sponsorship, if you'd like for me to try your new game and talk about it on the show, please contact us.

SPEAKER_03 38:17

Imagine somebody actually reaches out. That'd be amazing.

SPEAKER_02 38:20

That'd be cool. That'd be I I would be totally down to try their game and tell them how fucking trash it is. Yeah. And then get say And we're never getting past. Yeah, and obviously sponsors. No, no, no, I'm obviously joking. I I'm a person that enjoys video games, but for uh the art of it.

SPEAKER_00 38:39

So how big is your Steam library right now? Uh not that big in comparison with a lot of more people, but yeah. Okay, how still pretty big percentage. How many games have you not even touched? Oh percentage. That's the question.

SPEAKER_03 38:54

Touched.

SPEAKER_00 38:55

Touched.

SPEAKER_03 38:56

Well, come on, tried meaningfully. Yeah, tried reasonably. Not like Gab with retro games there, meaningfully.

SPEAKER_02 39:03

No, that would count. I tried at least 50% of my library. That's still not a lot.

SPEAKER_03 39:09

That's high. I think that's high. Well considering the amount of games you have on there. I have like 500 something. Yeah. Oh, yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 39:16

Well that that is high, but that's still high in the number of games that you haven't you bought but didn't play.

SPEAKER_02 39:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:22

Yeah, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_02 39:23

I touched them all. It's just that I I meanfully. Some games that I've purchased, I actually don't enjoy. So I just they're in my library, right? So that happens.

SPEAKER_03 39:34

Okay, so wait, transistor. Yes. Um, I'm trying to I'm trying to picture it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:43

Picture it! Uh hand-drawn graphics.

SPEAKER_03 39:48

Hand drawn?

SPEAKER_00 39:49

Well, that that takes it down a peg for me.

SPEAKER_03 39:51

Well, okay, so I got something to say about that. That's gorgeous. I've got something to say about that. One day I saw that I was recommended to play this game that was hand-drawn graphics. To me, I was like, I'll try it just because you recommended it, but I'm not into that kind of thing. Like, I want something decent, like a hand-drawn, like the artsy, like, no, I won't get into it. Well, fuck a duck, one of my favorite games, and I barely talked to you guys about this one, but it's uh Disco Elysium. Oh god, that game is gorgeous. But what my point is I felt pretty much like you, like, no, I don't get the vibe, I don't get the feel. But if the game is well done enough, you become that like now. I can't wait to replay this game with those graphics. So that's kind of fair enough. Fair enough because I've probably learned fucking gem. So yeah, and that's why, but that's why I'm I'm not, and I have always saw Hades. I never seen the pick the picture for this, but Hades, I always saw it, and I'm like, I don't want to play because it doesn't look appealing to me. It's so good though. But maybe playing it, I'll completely change.

SPEAKER_02 41:03

It's so good. That's kind of the transistor is has a very same feel into the graphics, a different palette, uh, a little bit darker, a little bit darker. Painting bedrooms here, so a little bit red has a very important is a very important color. Red and white is a very important color in that game, and it it's it sparks a very neat contrast of what you're about to face. It's a very nice visual, so very good design in good design choice.

SPEAKER_03 41:35

Okay, so what's your price? I'd have to see the graphic. I can't, it's like I can't I can't put a price if I don't at least have a better visual of what it looks like. The price. Five $4.99, Bob. Thank you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:56

So um, yeah. Are you guys ready for the third game? Game number.

SPEAKER_03 42:01

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Um is that it? Transistor. Oh, that looks cool.

unknown 42:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 42:08

Is that the Zelda light game or that was the other one? That was the other one.

SPEAKER_02 42:10

That doesn't look hand-drawn. It's well, yeah, but it's hand-drawn graphics essentially.

SPEAKER_03 42:16

Oh, that looks beautiful. Yeah, it is gorgeous. No, no, that's not hand-drawn.

SPEAKER_02 42:20

That's like electronic, but it's it's no no no. When you play, you kind of see the artist's work. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 42:28

Yeah, but I had I had the picture like it's it's kind of like draft blueprints type thing.

SPEAKER_03 42:34

No, not at all. I'm liking the colors with the turquoise, aqua, like, yeah, that's yeah, that's my vibe. You know what? Some some yellow nine to pop nine bucks. I'm I'm moving this to nine. If it's under nine, I'm buying it. It's pretty good.

SPEAKER_01 42:49

Yeah, that's free in my library.

SPEAKER_03 42:51

Oh, so I can go play it on PlayStation then. Yeah, we do. Yeah, it's true. I mean, can you stop insulting the studios, guys? So saying you'll trash their games.

SPEAKER_02 43:03

Okay. Uh, yeah. So super giant games is considered indie, but they're you know getting bigger. They're getting bigger. Giant. Um, but still, independent studios, so that's why I added on my list.

SPEAKER_00 43:17

It's it's from it's the giant that crashed on on uh hyperlight drifter.

SPEAKER_03 43:22

Ooh, hyperlight drifter is so good. Is it okay? So we've got hyperlight drifter, we got transistor, dude. Those are great, dude. Yeah, I'm really liking this. You're selling it well. Dude, so far, so good. Okay, so I want to know before you say the third game. For you, the third game, did you do a save the best for last type of thing? Or did you does it all not matter?

SPEAKER_02 43:44

So I will say the last game is one of those games that I will never stop playing. Transistor?

unknown 43:56

No.

SPEAKER_03 43:56

No, the the next game. Oh, the last game.

SPEAKER_02 44:00

It is a game that speaks very close to my heart of how I want to feel immersed in a world.

SPEAKER_03 44:10

Wow. An open world? Okay, wait, before do we know what this game is? Probably yes. Okay, so can you say things and have us try to guess? And if it at some point it doesn't unlock. Can we do that? Can you like just say like a story? Or can we ask questions about it? Okay, so I'll say one thing.

SPEAKER_02 44:30

It is beyond comprehensively huge. It's bigger than all the GTAs. It's bigger than the Red Dead map. It is absolutely gigantic. I have I have a question.

SPEAKER_00 44:47

No man's guy. Well, yeah, I got it.

SPEAKER_01 44:52

I was gonna ask I didn't even know it was from an indie.

SPEAKER_00 44:57

It's bigger than that. Oh no man's guy.

SPEAKER_01 44:59

There's so many planets. There's infinity planets that just regenerate you in the galaxy?

SPEAKER_02 45:06

It's an online thing, is it? No. No. It can be. In the galaxy, it's an online thing just because it's like a blank slate that everybody can. Anyways, I'll get into it. The galaxy itself that you can traverse through has 16 quintillion planets at the minimum that you can actually land on and voyage. The planets are planet-sized. So if there's an Earth-sized planet, if I land on point A and I walk to point B, I'm going to take it the time to like from let's say from walking to Ottawa to Gatineau, it's gonna take that same time. Really? Because they are built that way. What is interesting about this is that it was developed by 16 developers. The number 16 is very relevant in their game. It's Hello Games, by the way. And it's um a recurring theme inside of it. The story itself, you don't kind of understand it at the beginning, but you are there for a reason. You're there because you are an explorer of that said galaxy, and uh yeah, you slowly discover your. There is, and and obviously, this game at launch was received extremely badly, but it's right now, I'm gonna tell you this for fun. It just received it it launched in 2016. It received its 42nd major update, not just bug fixes.

SPEAKER_01 46:59

Okay, so they're always adding at the beginning there was a lot of issues and a lot of glitches. Yeah, you remember you know about this. And also it overpromised.

SPEAKER_02 47:09

One of my friends bought an it it overpromised what it what it said it was.

SPEAKER_03 47:14

So um it in any case, but are they catching up? Is that what you're saying? With all the updates more than catching up, they're more than catching up to what they had overpromised at the beginning.

SPEAKER_02 47:24

Right now, there's like essentially Pokemon in space. You can have Pokemon Xenos battles.

SPEAKER_03 47:31

What do you mean? You can have battles. Is it a battling game? Actually, they added that just for fun. Oh, really? Okay, okay, okay. So it's a sandbox world. It's it's definitely where the developers is having fun.

SPEAKER_02 47:42

Yeah, the developers are having fun. There's definitely there's a big story behind it, but there's also a big aspect of sandbox into it. Um, there's also this aspect of pushing the boundaries because when it first launched the galaxy was blank. So if you're the first to get to a new system and first to get to a new planet, first to see a new species on the planet, scan wildlife, scan, whatever, you get to name it. And then if somebody else, if somebody else gets onto your planet, they don't get to name that planet. That planet is your name. So it is an online thing. It says, yeah, discovered by whatever username. Okay, and basically, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:29

It's it's the world and the planets are generated as a player gets there. Yes. Okay. So that's and then it it lives forever.

SPEAKER_02 48:40

So that's how this studio was able to actually create a world that gigantic without actually creating it. Without actually creating it.

SPEAKER_03 48:48

So what they did says there are quintillions of planets, but they're not actually there yet. They kind of appear when it's away from the manager.

SPEAKER_02 48:57

Yeah. So basically the the the game has a certain set of rules that says like, well, in this system, there's this color, da da da, this type of star, there should be X amount of planets, and then don't generate them, but here's all the mathematical equations to actually create the colours.

SPEAKER_00 49:12

But once it gets generated for the first time, it locks it in.

SPEAKER_02 49:16

It locks it in and it's you, but then when you go away and there's no players around, it it it it disappears, but then it reappears saved as the exactly.

SPEAKER_00 49:26

So yeah, whatever. Like yeah, the set of rules are added.

SPEAKER_02 49:30

They added why do you need to do okay? That's what I want to know.

SPEAKER_03 49:35

Tell me about the game itself. What can you do on those planets? What's the point?

SPEAKER_02 49:40

Uh is the point what you make of it, or is it there's part of that, yes, there's part of that. Uh, but everything is is kind of like combined into what is your purpose because you are an anomaly in the universe. So you're an explorer, you are an anomaly, just like in real life, and there's different paths to like finish the game, if you will. Uh you get like weird transmissions from other travelers and whatever, and you're trying to, you know, trying to connect with them, but then you can't. And because you kind of realize I don't want to give it away, but I mean at the same time. Let's do, because that's the point. So it essentially the game itself spoilers. Okay, spoilers, but the game itself is that you are an anomaly inside a calculation. So the universe that you live in is actually a supercomputer that's running a simulation of a universe, and you are an anomaly inside of that.

SPEAKER_00 50:45

And the universe itself, the machine the matrix, yes.

SPEAKER_02 50:50

And the machine itself, you can actually talk to if you get to a certain place and you have like God. Yeah, essentially. Digital god. Yeah, but you're the anomaly, so that the the the you know, the simulation that is running is trying to kill you. So every time you're trying to gather resources, get stuff, every time you get stuff, you get like these weird, they call them sentinels, but they attack you, or they like they you gather resources to build something and whatnot, but they attack you, and you're just like, I'm trying to survive.

SPEAKER_03 51:27

So it is a survival crafting game. Like, if we go on Steam, does it say survival crafting game?

SPEAKER_02 51:32

Maybe it has so many tags though. Yeah, yeah. It's very much open world. So, how's the fighting mechanic? You so you need to defend it. There's a lot of fighting mechanics. So there's basically there's ship fighting mechanics because you have your own ship and you can change your ship. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Also, there's VR and you can control it in VR, anyways. Um, so uh there's ship battles.

SPEAKER_03 51:55

Five bucks. Oh no, we're not there yet.

SPEAKER_02 51:56

There's ship battles, there's ground combat, there's that's what I mean. There's vehicle combat. Oh battleships, battleships, vehicle combat. People have made races on planets that you can like go visit, and then you can get your whatever buggy that you have, and then you can freaking race on the track that they made. Can you pick? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know if you can pass.

SPEAKER_03 52:19

So other developers can make mods for that. Is it through mods?

SPEAKER_02 52:24

No, it's through the game, it's just players making stuff, like very creative. Okay, just players making very much, it has the same feel as Minecraft. Okay. Minecraft where there's a world, there's a story, and everything, yeah, but there's also this aspect of just living in the world, you know? Okay, you don't have to. Also, there's like markets and like trading, like from different outposts and different fucking solar systems. Like, you'd have a heyday, you'd get like you'd get a hauler, get a big out, big old ship with a big old boot, and then do your freaking hauls like just to gain more money. Like, you can do that too.

SPEAKER_00 53:07

That does sound like something I would do.

SPEAKER_02 53:09

Yeah, solo style. Yeah. Uh yeah, I I absolutely love this game because I love the feel of space and how expansive it is. Like traveling from one planet to another, it actually takes time. So uh, yeah, there's fuel, there's all that. Then you upgrade your engines so that you can hop from one system to another. There's black holes, there's the anomaly, there's there's so many things that you can discover in this. Um, you can have your own uh what's it called? I can't remember what it's called. It's a frigate, it's not a frigate, but anyways, it's a big old ship. It's a big old ship where you have actual frigates with you that you hire. It's a funny word. Okay, like destroyers or whatever, whatever. But it's like a ship that you can land on, essentially, a carrier, and it's like your base, you can make it your base if you want, and then you hire other bigger ships that you send on missions to like do stuff and start your company, yeah, essentially.

SPEAKER_00 54:14

Oh transport tycoon, essentially open T T D space.

SPEAKER_03 54:19

Yeah, that's what you can do in Open T T D.

SPEAKER_02 54:23

And now they I just saw this, Sean. I don't know how they implemented it, but there's they call it Xenos battles, so it's like probably because there's a lot of little weird aliens everywhere on each planet, right? That you can scan and get credits, and you you get whatever. You can be an archaeologist if you want in this game, but like now you can actually capture them and then battle them. So that's it. It's really a huge like dog fighting, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 54:49

What the hell?

SPEAKER_02 54:50

Well, it's that's that's the principle of Pokemon is actually animal fighting. Yeah. All right. So um what's your price? This one is gonna run you up a little bit more than the others.

SPEAKER_00 55:03

Uh I wouldn't really it's it's not his type of game. No, not really. Like I I can see like running the transport thing, but I'd rather do that in something else. So yeah, it's not necessarily a dollar. Like if it's a dollar, I mean buy it, right? What about you?

SPEAKER_01 55:24

Um if if I get the urge to play, and if it's if it's $9.99, then I would buy it. Um I don't have the urge to play, and I find that especially the way you're describing it, how big it is and how much of an investment of time it would be. Uh if it's just on sale $4.99. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 55:45

Um probably never get down to that price, but no, how much is it? So I don't know. I'd have to check. But I I don't think it will get down to that price just because it's a game that is being constantly worked on. So it, you know. Um Stardew comes on good side. It did win the Labor of Love Award. Really? Yeah, the game awards, I think. Just like uh Stardew game.

SPEAKER_00 56:08

Um, okay. So um it's on sale right now. At how much? It is 60% off.

SPEAKER_01 56:16

So it's 40. No, it's 35, 34.99. It's 31.19. Damn it! That was close. That's silver.

SPEAKER_00 56:25

So this is an old game and it still runs you 77.

SPEAKER_02 56:29

Yeah, but that's the thing with Steam. That's the thing with Steam. You you never have it an actual it never goes down on the base price.

SPEAKER_03 56:39

A game that is very a big investment in time, depending on when I am in my life, I can take on or not. Like, like when I decided to to redo uh Red Dead, right? Yeah. But I couldn't redo it the way it was meant to be done. So I just did the story because before I had had done the rest. So I'm not right now, I'm not looking to do a big game like that. But I'm thinking that maybe games like these are they're more like Minecraft. Like they're sandboxes where you can go in there, do a thing for a little while, but there's no end that you have to do and finish, and that's what's kind of holding you to take all your time. Yeah, right? That's exactly how I treat this game. So you've been playing it consistently for a long time, a little bit at a time. Yeah. When you when the mood hits, yeah, pretty much. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 57:27

So whenever I've I want to feel lost in a spaceship and explore different planets. Do you regularly do the VR or no? Uh I tried it a few times. I typically don't. Um, it's fun, but it you know, it's fun. It's fun for the spaceship. It's less it's less fun for like when you're walking around and well, I mean, it could be fun. You have your gun and then you mine for minerals and whatever. Yeah. But that's that's fun too. You have your no, it's not your gun, it's your multi-tool. Okay. Does it work?

SPEAKER_03 58:01

Oh, no pay attention. Yeah. Does it work well for um for uh for on the Steam Deck? Absolutely. It's Steam Deck verified. Yeah, it is? Ah, nice. I played it there, but I play on my PC. But thir yeah, 31 is still too too too hefty. I'm wondering if it may be like the PlayStation uh PS Plus library is so big. I'm wondering if maybe it's in there, like from past years. Maybe. So I have to check that.

SPEAKER_00 58:27

So cheap. But we are collectively very cheap because it's team.

SPEAKER_02 58:32

We are also lives and like and stuff, but my price is $13.99.

SPEAKER_00 58:40

$13.99 is still pretty high up there.

SPEAKER_03 58:42

Yeah, yeah, I know, but like at $20, I'm still like, well, no, not enough. Like $13.99 for I want to try it. Like if it's free, I might actually open it up and start something, even if I don't, knowing that I don't need to continue it, yeah, just to see what it is, and maybe I'll and and and I feel like something you said that made that that caught my attention is you can decide that you're an archaeologist, and that's the thing you're so not that that part fascinates me, but the fact that you can I'm a unitard, you can be whatever you want in there if you want to just spend your thing, like it's like kind of Stardew, right? You play the game how you want to do it. Yeah, you run your farm how you want to do it, but that's just bigger.

SPEAKER_02 59:24

Yeah, and I sort of create a you can also run farms. Really? Oh, yeah. Oh, nice. You grow weird plants and sell them and stuff in in the market. Yeah, but you have your own base and you have a portal, so it doesn't matter which galaxy you're in and whatnot.

SPEAKER_03 59:39

Oh, yeah, there's yeah.

SPEAKER_02 59:41

Anyway, there is a goal. The goal is to get to the center of the galaxy.

SPEAKER_03 59:45

But for what? It's not like you want to kill him, you'll die.

SPEAKER_02 59:49

Yeah, we want to get to the center of the galaxy. But why? But why? It's just you're being driven there. But it in any case, you get to the center of the galaxy, and what's kind of fun is that you when you traverse that, you get to another galaxy. There's actually like 19 galaxies or something like that. No way. Of like 16 quintillion planets each. No way! Oh yeah, the 16 part you talked about. Oh yeah. Oh, and uh, and there's each galaxy are like a little bit different, so you'll have like systems that are more rare than others, like blue, yellow, red, green systems which green stars. To the end end? Yes. And end of the 16 yellows? That's all they do. They just like they just drill down and focus on upgrading their ships to get as quickly as possible to the center, to the next center.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:40

Because I remember when it came out, it took a while for the people to get to the first center.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:44

Yeah, yeah, to the first center. You knew about this? Yeah. Well, I heard about it.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:47

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:48

Yeah. Oh, that's cool.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:50

You have a closing statement for this game? No, just experience it, have fun, and honestly, just have fun enjoying the story because it's it makes you reflect on reality.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:01

It's kind of cool. Cool. That was a good closing statement for somebody who said that they don't have a closing statement. Yeah. Solid. Yeah. Not solid. Good job, buddy. This was fun. I learned about three games that there is a price on. Some games I could have easily said, no, I'm not even. But so far, like you've described three games that seem pretty uh interesting. Uh, out of the three, so it's maybe something we can do. I think we kind of know there, but out of the three, I'll say my favorite, the one that I'm most inclined to want to try is possibly transistor first. Um, No Man's Sky and uh Hyperlight Drifter. That's my order. What about you?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:40

I'm transistor, um hyperlight drifter, and no man's sky. Just because of and No Man's Sky, it's nothing against it. It's just the sheer, like you talked about the investment, or just to me, it's a huge mountain that I don't want to deal with when I get down to just gaming. Yeah, I like pick up and play. Yeah, five to ten.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:00

Well, you say that it's sick up and honestly, Hades would be a good choice for you. So good. So good. Roguelikes are like I didn't even include roguelikes in there. So um Balatro. Oh my god. I played today.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:15

Uh yesterday at my lunch. What a game, everybody. What a game. Um, yeah, seriously. Like, can we can we do another episode on Balatro at some point? Yeah, I didn't have enough. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:26

Um I'm very much hesitating between having just picked and transistor uh as uh as one and two. Okay. Um I think for with whichever one costs less. Probably transistor. Yeah, probably. And I'm I I'm I'm more tempted in playing a shorter game, but I am curious to try No Man's Sky just to see what the environment is and how you can like explore because uh yeah, yeah, especially when you got like people going uh like around the moon and stuff, and like it's right, I don't know, it kind of kind of kind of gives you a different perspective of just exploring space.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:08

It's so cool too when you get to like a system that has like a very gigantic planet, but that has like two little planets circling around it, and then you can land on that planet, and it's all seamless, it's not like there's no cut, like oh, I'm nighting. No, no, no, you're going through the atmosphere and moving around. So uh you land on that planet, but then you see like as as it rises, you see that gigantic planet just in this in the skyline. It's like so cool.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:38

Oh man, I don't want to go play. Yeah, yeah. I'm changing my order. No, transistor. Uh talk to me it's a way way more about it. But transistor is very cool. Um, maybe it uh maybe it is available in the PlayStation library. So let's let's check it out. Yeah, because I downloaded just to now at this point, just to go in to see. Oh, this is what it's like over here. Beautiful graphics, too, actually. Okay, very cool. I have a confession. Yeah, what is it? I can't remember if it's that game, but when I had the PS uh VR4, PS4 V uh uh VR, um PSVR one, anyways, uh I played something similar to what of what you're describing, and I keep wondering was it No Man's Sky?

SPEAKER_02 1:04:22

Oh, probably. It was I think it was on PSVR, I think.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:26

So and so when you mentioned that, I'm like, I wonder, so I can't wait to go see. So maybe I have I do have it because it would have been on my uh PlayStation 4 PS account launches on PS4, yeah. Yeah, so I could actually have it and we might be able to play. So hey, isn't that cool? Yeah, yeah. So all right, cool. Well, guys, thank you very much. This was fun. Yeah, thank you. Thanks, D. And uh you want to do it? No, no, you do. I failed the first time. Doesn't matter, you get back from the horse. Yeah, as soon as we touch. I'm that cheers, boys. Cheers. Number two. Number three, the other game is the letter the black lumber. Jeez. What are you doing? What are you doing to this? Come here with shitty games.