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Unofficial Controller Podcast
Culinary Curiosities & Gaming Comforts: From UK Favorites to Indie Delights with Scott and Seb
Have you ever wondered how certain foods have become staples in places you least expect? Join us as we navigate the rich culinary landscape of the UK, where curries share the spotlight with classic roast dinners and fish and chips. Alongside this gastronomic journey, we share our love for comfort games, from quick multiplayer titles like Rainbow Six Siege and Dead by Daylight to the open worlds of Hades and Spider-Man, which offer both nostalgia and endless exploration. Discover how these games provide us with relaxation and a sense of familiarity in our daily routines.
Switching to the world of unique gaming experiences, we bring you "Little Guardsman," a whimsical game by Tiny Build that cleverly combines humor with societal themes. Dive into the fascinating decision-making mechanics that mirror real-life challenges, all while enjoying the quirky tale of a young girl stepping up for her dad. Our conversation veers into the realm of retro gaming, where tales of repairing old consoles intertwine with a love for modern titles. Balancing these two passions, we discuss the allure of both new and nostalgic games, emphasizing the importance of staying connected with contemporary releases while cherishing the classics.
As we celebrate the vibrant gaming community, the excitement around new releases, particularly in the world of indie and AAA games, takes center stage. From the anticipated boxing game "Undisputed" to the cultural phenomenon of Dragon Ball Z, we explore the role of nostalgia in shaping our gaming experiences. We also express gratitude to our loyal listeners, highlighting those who make our community truly special. Join us in this episode as we embrace storytelling, tradition, and the colorful characters that make gaming an integral part of our lives.
so scotty marathon gaming, mr marican, mr marathon gaming himself, I wanted to talk to you about one question that kind of like popped up in my head as I was traveling through europe recently. Y'all do things differently over there. What is like the staple food that you would say is like the comfort food that everyone just eats fairly regularly in the uk.
Speaker 2:Yeah, or just yeah. Europe would be different because it is so different.
Speaker 2:The delicacies so many different cultures in the uk, though yeah, yeah, of course, as I say like I've been to like germany before, and they'll be eating some weird part of the pig which you've never heard of. But yeah, in the uk, I mean, we're a staple for roast dinners and fish and chips. However, it's so multicultural. I think the most common dish is like a curry and people do have curries pretty much every day of the week, to be fair. But I feel like we're more and more unhealthy as time goes on.
Speaker 2:I think you can get away with an Indian, a Chinese takeaway, pretty much anything any day of the week, even Thai. If you feel a bit posh, you go for a bit of tempura, a bit of batter around your vegetables. It's the only way the children will take them. There's batter around them and they're deep fried. Um, but yeah, I'd say curry you could have any day of the week, monday through to Sunday. But you know, traditionally a roast dinner is normally a Sunday, so it's only like once a week. And then fish and chips used to be known as on a Friday, I guess even Friday or Saturday, but curry any day of the week. You can get curry houses to be open seven days a week.
Speaker 1:All right, follow-up question what is your comfort game? Like the game that you can just pop on at any given time and be like, oh, that's Nirvana, that's like the game I'm in now too. What like, oh, that's, that's nirvana, that's like the game I'm in now too. What's that? Sorry, george, what's your comfort game? Because I'm like you told me about comfort food. What's the comfort game for you? Because, like, yeah, george feels like he's like at any given time he can pop on mob or you know, ano, and and he's lost to the world or some kayak, you know crazy thing like that with me. I'm like it's a sports game or it's like hades. Like, yeah, it's something, yeah, something.
Speaker 2:You go back to all the time. Sports games are good. Shout, sorry, I thought you meant what was our sort of staple food, comfort food pizza, because that is the easiest thing to have. Pizza or noodles. That's a comfort food when you want to just lay there and feel like a slob, and then you devour it all and then feel sorry for yourself 10 minutes later you look in the mirror and go you disgusting man, scott, you're disgusting man. And then you do it all again 24 hours later.
Speaker 2:Comfort game I think lately my go-to when I've reactivated old playstation plus. I think it's been a bit of like an online game, so like rainbow six siege, where I can just a game you can on, play one game and turn it off or even rage quit during it. So for a lot of people it'd be FIFA or COD. I'd say, for me probably Rainbow Six Siege. That's a game I could turn on for 10 minutes every night. However, saying that I haven't played it at all this week, to be fair. But any game that's familiar, I guess, is a comfort game, and a game like that you can't complete, so it's timeless, you know. So about a year ago I was playing hundreds of hours and dead by daylight, and I could just play that each night. Um, so yeah, a game that's familiar, probably a game you can't complete and a game that it doesn't matter if you check in or check out at different times. That's why those quick online multiplayer matches are quite good. So that would probably be mine.
Speaker 2:What would yours be?
Speaker 1:I mean, like I say this, like to say that at any given point on my Steam Deck or PlayStation or Xbox, there is going to be, like I would probably say, the four staples now of like these are guaranteed to be on that console, and it's going to be like Bellatro, now, yeah, hades, to be on that console, and it's going to be like bellatro, now yeah, hades. I'm gonna say, at now, spider-man, like any of the spider-man games, because I feel like just jumping on there and swinging is just like I can just do that for mindlessly for hours and then I'm sure that you complete, I'm sorry.
Speaker 2:I'm assuming you completed hades, though you must have escaped hell. I'm assuming I haven't, but it's still.
Speaker 1:You still play it again all these games are games I've beaten before, all these. But like, yeah, like at any given time, those are my comfort games. And then, like, those are the games I like I've beaten before, I can come back to, regardless of like the completion and such like that. And just like because, like on spiderMan, even after you beat it, they let you just roam around the island for a little bit On the end of you know like you could swing around Manhattan and such like that. On Hades you can go and do like different builds and different like modifiers and make the game harder for yourself and just do one more run. Bellatro is the same way. You can just have different modifiers and such. So those are the games I can just pop on at any given time and go.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I suppose a lot of people would like those open world games like Zelda, breath of the Wild. There's people that just play that each night for so many hours, over and over again.
Speaker 1:Speaking of playing, speaking of playing everybody. We're about to start the intro of the show On this episode of the UCP don't adjust your dials Myself, the master of the indies, marathon Gaming. We're going to be talking about a lot of things in this coming up episode. We're going to be talking about the games we've been playing. We're going to be talking about what was it? What was the topic of the show? Oh yeah, it was. You know, do we have FOMO in gaming? Do we have fear of missing out on gaming? We're going to be talking about upcoming games that we're looking forward to playing, and we're going to be talking about why we are not at the Pastor Longhorn compound right now. And we're going to be doing this all after the intro. Hit that intro, george, come on.
Speaker 3:George and Seb rolling down the road RGT, riding shotgun at heavy load, pastor Longhorn waiting to unfold In El Paso, texas, tale's been told, one arm big, a sight to see.
Speaker 1:All right. So we're back, everybody All right. So, mr Marathon Gaming, it's me, seb, we're not. You know we're not in Longhorn's compound. We snuck off, we're doing our own thing. I'm sick, so Longhorn didn't want the whole rest of the flock to be infected. You know, with the COVID and such like that, mr Marathon Gaming was able to get away.
Speaker 2:You know he was happy to let me out. He's been treating me well all week, to be fair, ever since I was on a recruitment drive up in Blackpool. He was so happy with the numbers and the results I've got. He's been, I've been on the good cream, you know cream cheese crackers eating the good biscuits out of the good tin. Yeah, he's been really nice to me. Actually, I'm starting to think I might be, you know, a more preferred prefect over head boy George, a higher disciple. I'm just thinking I might be Longhorn's favourite, is all I'm saying.
Speaker 1:Oh, maybe Look out, george, he might not have a new favorite.
Speaker 2:When Longhorn wakes up in the morning, I put a little apple at the end of his sleeping bag just to let him know that I'm a teacher's pet.
Speaker 1:I like that. I like that. You know when you know what else I like. I like the games we've been playing lately and we like to. Sayorge likes to say in the, the weird kind of voice and such that his trademark, I guess you could say delivery. Here I'm going to try to do it justice but fail miserably. So bear with me everyone. What have you been playing, mr marathon gaming that was amazing.
Speaker 2:I am really glad, seb, I'm talking to you actually, because everybody knows you're the indie king and every time I mention a game that I'm excited about the switch you look very relaxed and then, after I finish talking, you very calmly inform me that the game's been out for two years and you've already played it, and so I'm very, I'm very excited. Um, yeah, tongue and cheek the amount of times I ever pay for a game on switch to find out it's 95 cheaper on steam two years previous. But that's the world of a Nintendo fan. So I've got this game. I've been playing this. It's probably the only modern game I've been playing. A bit of Retro I'll talk about in a moment, but it's a super rare game that was released physical, but it is digitally available and it's from Tiny Build. It's called Little Guardsman. Now, yeah, I don't know if you've played it, seb. Have you played it or seen much of it?
Speaker 1:I've actually not played it. You know, that was a game that kind of yeah, you got me on that one 1-0.
Speaker 2:Scotty. So this game is actually so, so unique. So I did a review for it on my channel and I was absolutely buzzing over the moon because TinyBuild the developers actually from Canada commented on a video. So watch my review, which is really cool. Um, but the game's just so unique.
Speaker 2:So basically, your father's a guardsman in like a medieval town. Um, it's very good comedy in it. So he talks about look, even though you're, you're his daughter and you're like 10 years old, he's like look, I need you to cover, I'm hung over, I've got a place to bet at a pub. So there's lots of little humor like that. And she's like I just want to go out and play my friends. She's like look, I want to play with my friends. When I was your age, but my dad said he's got a place to bet, he's got to go to the pub, so straight away, you know you're having fun with it. Um, it's sort of like cartoon graphics. Um, really, really good art style. I wish I could show you the back cover. I really wish I could, and maybe check out the trailer while I'm waffling on.
Speaker 2:But you're in this little guards tower and then you play out the day, so you have about five people visit you each day and they could be goblins, humans, orcs, people pretending to be other people, and it's your job to decide if you deny them access or allow them into the kingdom. The choices you make are up to you. However, there are consequences on the story, so the game changes later on and there's a lot more to the game. So there's like a princess that goes missing. There's a little bit of uproar between humans and some goblins. If you make certain decisions, you can search people, so you'll have like so much action points to use. You can have like a metal detector. You know like security. You might find contraband. You can confiscate it. Um, at night, if you're on the night watch, you'll find people trying to be other people or smuggling stuff in. You get criminals. You can send people to jail. But it's not just that whole denying people get in and out. There's some really fun bits. At the end of each day, you know there's other areas you can go to. You can go to a stadium where they play goblin ball. You can try and bet your wages on the team and try and win some more money. You can interact with characters you've let in at your, in your local pub where you sleep, because you sleep above like a pub and that can affect the story. There's a lot to it.
Speaker 2:There was a game show when I was playing a level the other night and it was about rescuing a princess. You decide who's going to rescue it like a barbarian or like a wizard? There was. There's so much to the game. It really, really is cool. Um, and I've been literally playing it. It's one of those games. Actually it's great. Shout for the topic of the show. Well, you asked me earlier about comfort games. This has been my comfort game this week because I have just played like one level, which is basically one day each evening for about 20 minutes and it's not a particularly long game. I think it's like a six to eight hour game. It's absolutely adorable, it's very, very unique and it's just really fun. So that is what I've been playing modern wise on nintendo switch other than that in bed sorry, go on.
Speaker 1:So for uucp um members, who you know we're, we're thinking about implementing a video version of the podcast. This is one of those episodes that I think is a good trial run for that. But so for the audio listeners, if you do see a video version of this podcast, you'll be able to see some gameplay of the game he's talking about over here on our screen. I love the art style of this, by the way. Oh, it's beautiful it really is.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, so you got a little vampire who's coming up there and again, people will be bad characters, but it doesn't mean they're bad people, you know, and that's what's quite cool about the game. So you'll have goblins come up and you'll be told from higher authority goblins are taking the humans jobs. Don't let them in. But then you feel sorry for them. They're just honest people. You'll have humans which are a bit horrible, but you're told to let them in. It really does relate a little bit to modern society. It's quite clever in that respect. Um, and you have some you know characters which you're taught. You know these people are bad, but they might be trying to do good things.
Speaker 2:It's really hard, it's really cool, so you've got to ask as many questions you can. There's a phone in the background and you can um call three different people. It's like a gesture and you can call who doesn't give you straight answers. He's like talks in riddles and he's always joking around. There's like a warrior, sort of princess sort of lady, maybe like a Xena, like big, tough girl. She's very serious. And then there's like a sort of politician lady who's sort of you know, head on the committee, and she's very diplomatic and she will just do what is right for business. So you have to take a little bit of each and everyone's saying and try and work out and draw your own conclusion as what's right for the kingdom and your own conclusion as what's right for the kingdom.
Speaker 2:Um and I'm assuming there's alternate endings it's really really good. There's some cool characters and, yeah, I've had an absolute blast of it and I'm hoping anyone listens, um, gives it a go because it really really is good. And that's what's cool with super rare games, because there's so many digital games. Unless it gets, you know, it does really well and someone picks it up, you know, like a big streamer on steam, and shows it. They can get under looked. So that's what's called that super rare. They find these small developers and they go hey, do you want a chance? And they make a deal with them. They get the game published and the fact that you've not heard of it just echoes of how important it is for indie developers to get these games made physical and that way we can all share them and enjoy them together yeah, this was a good.
Speaker 1:This was um a game that you know like I. It sort of broached my radar, like I think this came out last year around january and it sort of like it sort of came and went for me in the sense that like I was playing a tale between worlds. And you know like I was, and I was so fascinated with some other stuff that's going on and and unfortunately I missed this gym and it looks incredible. I love this, almost like cartoon network, like art style, that's that it has and and it looks.
Speaker 2:You're right almost looks like dexter's laboratory artwork, doesn't it? That's a really good sure that's. You're spot on that. It's good analogy. Yeah, it looks like cartoon network, it does yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1:I mean like the vampire here is like could be any like there was a show called like billy was it the grim adventures of billy and mandy and it looks like that. That it could have been like a character from that show back in the day. So I'm like I love the art style, I love everything about this. You know, like what else have you been playing man?
Speaker 2:so other than that, I've been playing a little bit of retro um. Might not be exciting for most, but sega game gear. I've been playing in bed and I've had a little bit of a dilemma. I'll put my headphones in. The missus might be watching um, I think she watches at the moment. I think it's married at first sight or something like that she's into, and so I'm playing a game.
Speaker 2:My wife watches that as well, I think most of the wives watch that for some reason. But I was, yeah, playing a bit of game gear, alternating games, but what I've been really sticking with playing each night is Road Rash on the Mega Drive. It's really really good.
Speaker 1:I know, it's pretty much so I haven't heard of this. Tell me about Road Rash.
Speaker 2:Oh, so Road Rash is. So it's a motorcycle game, like a racing game on a motorbike, a little fun fact it was, I believe, the first game to feature police brutality in a video game ever, I believe. Wow, yeah, so you're on a motorbike and then what's cool about it? It's a bit like Outrun. So you're on a view from behind the bike. You know that old school sort of early 90s graphics, so you can only see so much in front of you. You see the corners bending around, there's cars to dodge oil patches, but then you can punch and kick your opponents. There's also weapons as well. You've got a club, a bat, a chain, and then the police come up as well, and if you're going too slow you can fall off your bike, get back on it. But if the police, um, try and bump you once you get to a certain speed, they pull you over and then you get disqualified from the race. But what is just so addictive of it is, um, like nothing was like that at the time. But what's really cool it's so perfectly balanced is say, there's like five levels, there's five maps to each level and there's always a different music for each map, different background. It's really well done.
Speaker 2:Um, and yeah, you've got these little cool storylines from the characters. You have little rivals, um, so at the moment on the screen there's rude boy, one of your sort of rivals, on there. Um, but you can. You get money for each race and if you don't do anything with your money once you complete the first five, um, you know races, so you come first in all of them, which is very doable. When you get to the second, uh round of races, you can't really keep up. So there's a shop and you can go in and you can buy a better bike and it was just so cool so there's, like I remember saving up for, like, the panda 2000, I think it was.
Speaker 2:So there's about you know five or six, seven, maybe eight bikes that you can buy you start off with a bike that's okay for the first few races, but you need to save your money up and you know rinse and repeat, uh, and obviously this was before memory card days, so you'd be writing down the cheat, cut the level code, not cheat code. Writing down the level code so you can return to the same point. But yeah, in terms of like I mean, on the Mega Drive, this was awesome. So there was Road Rash 1, road Rash 2, road Rash 3. And yeah, road Rash 2, it was like the step up from punching and kicking to go into weapons and it was so cool.
Speaker 2:I played so much of that game. And the third one one's amazing and they actually carried on. So there's even um, there's some on the playstation where it went like proper 3d, and then even the same developers. I think I brought this up um previously, so on the nintendo switch it'd be on other platforms as well. It's called road to redemption. It might be me and rgt talked about it. It it's really similar to road rash and that's why I brought it. It was like road rash in the modern times, but it was like machine guns. It was really over the top, so you could like gun people down. You had, you know, nitrous oxide in the bikes. Anyway, I did some research because it was so much like it and it turns out it's the same developers. They lost the license for the name, so fill out with who owned the name and they made their own game. So if anyone's played road to redemption, it's actually from the same team that developed road rash. So it is literally a modern road rash. But yeah, that's what I've been playing.
Speaker 2:However, I've got two game gears one screen modded and one isn't. Um. I keep one not modded just to show you the brighter side in life, that the grass can be greener and all of a sudden the screen stopped working. So I've got a friend in uh called chris, over in wales. I'm going to shout out to him retro savior. He basically repairs and mods retro consoles for you know a very honest price, um, and he's going to hook me up. He said send it to him, um, and he's going to try and sort it out for me.
Speaker 2:So shout out to chris for that and, um, I'll be posting that to him, hopefully tomorrow, because playing on the old screen it is painful. You're constantly changing the contrast, you're angling it with the light. I don't know how we did it as kids. I really don't know how we did it. And if sunlight comes through the room, oh my god, no wonder we had the curtains closed so much. If you see like old houses, you'll see there's like net curtains over the windows.
Speaker 2:I'm starting to think it's because of the TV and the video games. You can't see anything when the sunlight comes through.
Speaker 1:I never thought about that. I always thought it was like a design aesthetic, but I can see it being, I guess, functional.
Speaker 2:Because, like TVs now, they're like anti-glare, aren't they? You know you have different modes, but yeah, I mean, sunlight comes in on an old CRT. You cannot see anything. All you can see is the back of your soul reflecting off the glass.
Speaker 1:So how much of your time you know, like I'm curious, like how much of your gaming time is dedicated to discovering new games and playing like more modern games versus retro gaming?
Speaker 2:So that's the balance and, to be honest with you, that's one of my you know whole fear of missing out. That's kind of the balance it comes into, because the more I spend with something um, the more you miss out on something else. So you would think I've played all the retro games, but I really haven't. There's so much. You know who can. Who can play all the retro games, man?
Speaker 2:you can't play it. You can't play everything. And then you'd be playing. I just bounce between the two, but I find I can't do more than two things. So I'll play one modern console maybe it'll be the nintendo switch and I'll play one retro and maybe it'll be the game gear and then I'll go to, you know, dreamcast or megadrive or wii or ps1, and then I'll go to ps5. With that I kind of can't do more than two.
Speaker 2:I said it before. I said it's hard to read two books at the same time. I feel like with games you can, but I feel like two's the limit. I think two different games in the same week is kind of about as far as I can go, um, and then it gets yeah, it gets real difficult. It is a juggling act, um. But what normally happens is oh, if I haven't been in the games room, which is where most of retro stuff happens, I'll poke my head in there and I'll be like man this makes me sad, I've not been in here and then I'll be in here for a while and then I walk past the main console in the lounge. I'll be like man, I've not touched you in a while. It's a double edged sword, I think they call it so. Yeah, it really is.
Speaker 1:So OK, I want. So yeah, it really is. So okay, I want to you. You brought up a little bit of the, the main topic of the show. We're going to be talking about the fear of missing out. You know FOMO, and in gaming you feel like you're kind of in unique position. I guess rgt probably has the same kind of thing of like you want to. You fear of missing out on games of the past that you already own. You know like, and really experiencing those or re-experiencing those again. But then like, what is the? What's the pool like for the modern day games you know, like the games that have come out recently? Is there like a stronger pool for to relive the, the days, the days that have gone by? Or is there a stronger pool to like everyone's talking about elder ring or everyone's talking about zelda? You know like, which one of those tools do you feel like is stronger for you personally?
Speaker 2:I feel like the modern is more. We talked about this, um, at meetup recently. There was a lot of retro gamers and, you know, youtubers and streamers there and some of them are really, you know, stuck in their ways with they will just play retro, and then some of them, you know, are more the other side and, um, we had that conversation. It's like you can't be. For me, you've got to keep up with the modern, otherwise there's so many games you won't appreciate and if you're going off that whole retro theme, you're only going to be playing these so-called new games now in 20 years time anyway, um, and, and you'll miss out, there is so many beautiful games. I heard slopes games room say it really well. I remember he talked about a game he loved. I think it was ori and the wisps.
Speaker 2:You know, beautiful ori and the will of the wisp oh, that's it yeah he, he talked about that on like a stream and he, because people said to him about you know, what are you playing modern? He goes I love my retro. But he was like I, you know, I played this game and I couldn't stop playing it and it made me think what other games have I missed out on? And that is, that is the thing with it. And for me, because of the pricing, obviously, the whole thing with collecting it's fun finding cheap games of retro, but for modern games, um, they obviously come out a bit of a price tag and sometimes they come out so thick and fast.
Speaker 2:You know, it's like it's like when the music industry was booming with cds and albums. Especially, why we still got physical is they're competing with each other and they're dropping two big titles on the same day. For example, I've had fomo just this week. So I was on a stream, um, with a guy called mag, middle-aged gamer guy. He's been on the show before a couple of times, so he hosted Timeless.
Speaker 3:I was a guest on his show.
Speaker 2:Yeah, shout out to Mag. I was a guest on his show a few nights ago, on Tuesday Night Chats, and he has a good format where he shows the games that come out that week. They look at the trailers and they sort of guess what scores they got from an average. And you know the boxing game Now. I talked so passionately about it because I am a big boxing fan and the last boxing game we had was like 2011, with David Hale on the front, which was Fight Night Champions. It was so good and I said they've had so long to get it right. You know there are some things wrong with it. It doesn't look as fluid, but I was like it doesn't matter how not excellent it is. I'm going to absolutely love this game because I've waited so long for it and I went to order it and all the special editions already sold out. And then I looked at how much a standard edition is. It's like $54.99. And I was like I don't want to pay that much because that's a lot of money to buy for a game, because I know I'm gonna end up buying a you know a game almost every other week. It's not like there's one a month, um, and I already feel I've looked and there's already people that have played it and they're, you know, they're streaming and stuff, and I already feel like I've got the fear already because I've missed out on the pre-order where you get, you know, extra boxes added in and some different outfits and the cool cover with titan fury on the. I think the standard edition's got Canelo Alvarez on the front, which is cool, but I want a special edition. So I already feel like I've missed out there and I'm like man, how have I slept on that?
Speaker 2:We've been talking about that game coming out, for I mean, we didn't know the title of it. We were talking about a boxing game or a new fight night coming out for about two, three years. There was fake years. There was like fake trailers being teased and leaked for as long as I could remember for years. Um, and obviously got put to one side because um ufc got popular and I guess ea decided they could only make one game and maybe they saw you know, I don't know the sales decline, potentially some of the previous boxy games.
Speaker 2:But yeah, I really had it with undisputed because I looked today at work, um, I literally looked today to try and buy it and I was like, oh man, I don't want to pay for that version, I want the. You know, I want the special version, so I want it so bad. So I'm like, oh well, do I wait now for the price to come down? But I really want to play this this week Like I'm dying to play. I'm already looking what I out, how I can fit it in, where can I get it from? Um, so, amongst the other backlog of games I've got, you know, I've got other games I want to play and but for me this has really been my fomo for releases of games this week, undisputed, is it, is it?
Speaker 2:a game that interests you at all.
Speaker 1:Oh man, you know, scotty, the more you talk, the more I'm like man, that's my kindred brother from another mother. Like, because I kid you not. You talked about comfort. We talked about comfort games earlier and we talked about, like I said, sports games. Fight Night Champion is on my Xbox Upstairs, downstairs, like it stays on there because that is the game I'm ready to squad with anybody on at any given time. That is the game I'm ready to squad with anybody on at any given time, like that's like.
Speaker 1:Fight night champion is like the game that for six years I can just go back to over and over again and if I get like bored with another game, I'm like I can go on. I just go on there, start a new career and let's, let's go up, let's, let's go up the rankings real quick. So when you said that, I was like, oh man, he's kind of like me. And then you said you, you were looking forward to undisputed, because you, um, you were like you wanted that fight night itch, you know, you were a big fan of boxing as well. And I'm like, oh snap, this, this dude is like me for real. So so a little background here. Like undisputed, you know indie game, that is indie game. That's been at pax, which is almost like the modern day e3 here over and over in the states there's pax east and pax west. So for about four years this game has been in early development. So like and if you bought an early development code or access on pc, you've been playing this game for like four years.
Speaker 2:So I didn't know that, yeah.
Speaker 1:So which is? You know? I didn't used to be this guy, the guy that was like, oh, everyone should get PC. But now I'm like man, now that I have a Steam Deck and, you know, have a little bit of a pc not a real good pc, but like the steam deck is like that entry point to pc gaming, to where I'm like man like this feels like we get early access to all the movies that everyone wants to see, like six months from now, you know, yeah.
Speaker 2:Or a year or two years from now, you know yeah, but yeah, it's like you've got the vpn and you're changing your uh country on netflix to see a show yeah exactly a week earlier. You know game of thrones that come out in australia one week earlier that's exactly how it feels.
Speaker 1:But so this undisputed, officially released um, what was it? The 11th, I believe october 11th for con. It's now for xbox playstation. It officially dropped for pc, where it's like it's out of early access. Now it's in 0.1 I think 1.1 stages right now. So, like I've been playing this game for a little bit and I will tell you this, it feels different than fight night, like it's more I. I think fight night is more pick up and play friendly. This, like undisputed, feels more of a simulation than an arcade. Yeah, simulation, but also like a it's more thought provoking of a boxing game. Like you have to think about angles, you have to think about your cut man, you have to manage your, like your team out in the, in the career modes you have to think about like this kind of coach will fit my play styles, you know. So it's more of a thinking man's boxing game yeah so proper box.
Speaker 3:So are you gonna play this this?
Speaker 2:weekend. I've got to, I'm gonna, I've got to tell you before I forget. I might have put this up before, but I've got two funny stories about fight night champion, only because you said you love it so much. So, um, it's funny, you said so, I know. Is it on the game pass then? Is it or playstation plus? Is it readily available?
Speaker 1:unfortunately not. It is. It is, uh, I think it's like 59.99 for playstation and xbox wow, they're making some money with these old games.
Speaker 2:They're doing a nintendo switch, that's what they're doing. But I um, there was a time where the game was so old, right, I traded the game in waiting for the new ones to come out and I bought the game again. And then I traded it again and it brought again. I bought the same game, traded in and out like twice. And, what's really funny, I remember going into the store buying it again and I was really embarrassed, like man I've traded this in six months ago, thinking there's a fight night. It's come out and it never did. And I bought the game. I was looking at it. You know you recognize markings in your own game. I bought my own game that I traded in there.
Speaker 1:That is crazy.
Speaker 2:I know I'm a bloody copy, but this is how unpopulated it was online servers. I remember really liking the game and I was playing. Like you know, you've got like Isaac Frost who's like the career character.
Speaker 2:He's the villain in the main story mode, yeah he's a villain, but when you play yeah, so when you play on the online one, obviously you haven't got that story. It's just ranked matches Now. Now, people would always make their character 400 pounds, eight foot tall, and you couldn't stand a chance because the reach was impossible and I used to like making my character quite realistic. You know, I try and make them look a bit like me. I didn't go silly over the top with a pink afro like some people do, with a massive orange beard and all this stuff, um, but every time I went online, because there was hardly anyone people online, I just kept on every other match or every third match, I kept on drawing against the champion and the first time it happened.
Speaker 2:I was so buzzed. I remember shouting to my wife. I was like, oh my God, I'm about to compete for the belt and I got knocked out in one punch. I think it was called flash knockouts. They had on that game and I got dropped. Every time as soon as I made a mistake, like I throw an overhand right, he'd duck under, hit me with an uppercut and it was all over. But I was so excited the first time. Then I realized every night I was having a championship fight and I was thinking at one point hold, in a minute, I think it's just me and this one other guy online.
Speaker 2:So I think I'm actually top 10 ranked contender in the world right now because there's no one online this game I know insane, but um yeah, to answer your question, and the fact that we're talking about undisputed now and the fact you're saying it's been out for so long, you've just in heightened my FOMO.
Speaker 1:So I am gonna order this game imminently, I think you know that's the divide between like pc gaming and like console gaming is like. But, honestly, a lot of people the masses are just now playing this game because, like you know, a lot of most people still play with consoles. So, yeah, this is like a brand new introduction. This is the first boxing a game that's dropped for consoles in what I think, since 2011. So that's yeah crazy forever. That's exciting. That's yeah for sure. Okay, so what? What are you gonna do when you jump on undisputed? Are you doing the career mode? Are you jumping straight into the servers? What are you gonna do?
Speaker 2:I think I'd always go career mode. I mean, if I play like a fifa title, football, football, soccer title, then I tend to go online seasons because I'm familiar with the game you, you know, and they're pretty similar. But because it's been so long, unlike yourself, I haven't been playing, you know, fight Night Champions still. So last time I've played that game will be, you know, frequently. It would have been a long time ago. So I'm probably a bit rushed, especially as it's a new game. So I need to learn the mechanics and I love a career mode.
Speaker 2:To be honest with you, there's nothing more exciting. Same thing with football games. Rgt was saying last week he takes a team from league two and he tries to get them in a premier league or league one. It's, it's fun, you know, building a team. But it's same with these boxing games because their stats are really bad. You get in the gym, um, you know, you have those fights for small purses and you build your attributes up, you try and work out what you want to do. You spend ages customizing your character.
Speaker 1:And, to be honest with you, I hate customizing. It's the old underdog story you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it really is. I hate customizing characters in games in general. It's like one of my pet hates we had to talk about recently. There was like a quiz thing going around. It was like things you hate in video games.
Speaker 2:It was quite a hard and people was moaning about certain things. One of them, for me, was character customization, because sometimes I just want to play a game. I don't even know if I want to like it. Give me a template. I don't want to spend Hogwarts Legacy for ages. I just went XXX. I don't even think my guy's got a nose. I literally was like look, I want to play the game. I'm not interested in what color hair he's got or what earrings he's wearing. On what colour hair he's got or what earrings he's wearing, just let me play. But on a boxing game, I find it quite exciting. It's the only exception. And when you first make it into, I don't know, you'll be like 12th or 13th in the rankings and then you get offered that fight against someone similar ranking and then someone in the top 10 will offer you a fight for big money and it's like high risk, hard reward.
Speaker 2:That's when it hits you and you're like man, we're. This is, this is getting real. So it's getting me buzzing talking about. To be honest, I'm quite excited. I'm really excited for the career mode. The online bit doesn't interest me because I know I'll just get knocked out straight away. Um, but the career mode is so fun. Um, you know, when you're working your way up for the title it's even in a the wrestling games. They're fun. You know when you start off at no one and then you go against people, you know that's what it's called. You know You'll be like, oh my God, I know this guy. You know when you actually know the characters and you know their styles.
Speaker 2:So yeah it's going to be really, really interesting. I don't know you want to be, you want to be in the heavyweights, but then if I make him six foot, I mean he's going to have to be like an inside fighter, like Tyson, Otherwise I'm going to get blown away. But yeah, I'm really really excited for it. So did you actually play this yourself in a fair?
Speaker 1:while, yeah, almost two years now, wow. So what I will say is like, forget everything you know about fight night. These games are so different because, like, the controls are different, the way, like your punching angles are so different. This is more about like, like traditional boxing as in, like v cuts and such, that you have to be more precise in this game.
Speaker 2:Yeah, managing, I feel like that sort of stuff oh yeah, I mean like stamina.
Speaker 1:I feel like played a pretty cool like component in fight night, but not to this extent. And also managing cuts in this game is like vital. So like this to me feels like, even though it's like arcadey in the sense that like some of the created characters still look like arcade characters, it is more methodical, it is more simulated boxing than fight night was to me, but I feel like I still enjoy fight night more as far as like in a pick up and play format, but undisputed, I think is a good alternative.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I can't wait to play it. To be honest with you, the cut thing used to stress me out, seb. I can't remember which Fight Night it was, but sometimes it's like a mini game in the older ones, but then it might even be the Fight Night Champion. I used to like that would mess me up, it could ruin a fight, but then again that's what makes it realistic. Um, but even fight night champion did it quite well, because it's so easy to evade and just constantly rock and roll under punches. However, when you do it too much, your stamina goes right down and you can't get your guard up. So even that was quite well balanced. So seeing how they've evolved for that is actually, um, really, really exciting, and I can see already it's got um, you know, re-ad season and all the it's, it's. It's trying to make it as realistic as possible, which is really cool. I mean the picture on the screen now for anyone who's watching the actual um, the visuals of this show. I mean that's a real like gritty arena they're in right now.
Speaker 1:It looks really cool yeah, and it's like I love how underground it feels like for the career mode, like the first, I'd probably say almost 20 fights feel very much like a rag, the richest story before you actually get into, like a ubc type of arena I can't wait for it can't wait, so you know what else have you been playing lately?
Speaker 2:um, I think that's it really. I mean, when I was in the show last time of rgt, I talked about different games, like um siren on a ps2, but I was playing it via ps plus. I was literally just clicking and trying out different games. You know, 20 minutes here and there um. But yeah, I think really it's been conscripts from team 17, which is the um like horror survival. Um, you know world war, one sort of game. Um, I played a little bit of that, but again, I think that was about five to seven days ago it's been many little guardsmen each night um, with a bit of sega game gear. So that's kind of all I've been playing. What about yourself, sam?
Speaker 1:you know, um tying into the topic of the show with the fomo. So I've been dabbling, more so than I have, like most of this year. Most of this year I feel like I've been very methodical in like mulling down maybe two or three games, especially on the indie side, a week. But like on this right now, because like there's been a little bit of a slower trickle on the indie side and a little bit more of a higher volume output on the AAA side. I'm like Undisputed came out for the masses, so there was a lot more people in the servers and a lot more anticipation and a lot more talks about Undisputed, so I jumped onto that pretty hard. Again. I've been playing on the steam deck. It's supported, but some of the texts are a little small on the steam deck. You know you kind of you get what you pay for there. But on the fomo side of things, a game that I jumped into because a lot of people were talking about it was dragon ball z, sparking zero, have you?
Speaker 2:heard of this guy. Well, I funny that. So when I was on mag show the other night, there was a dragon ball z trailer. However, I don't I'm. It's got to be the same game, is it? Is it new, or is it brand brand new, like the last couple of weeks? Yeah, yeah it came out, it must be the same as well, I think yeah, then it must be the same game.
Speaker 2:So, um, yeah, think yeah, and it must be the same game. So, yeah, it got really a lot higher, I think a lot higher rated than I was expecting, because obviously Dragon Ball Z, I mean it's been going so long, I know it's I mean especially in the UK, like anime and stuff is so, so popular. But Dragon Ball Z I mean I watched that as a kid. I remember we literally was lending each other. There's a guy called glenn and lived in my village and he used to lend me a vhs tape on the bus. Um, that's how old school it was. So I used to borrow vhs tape from him and it had all the um, it was all taped on there.
Speaker 2:He used to take the shows for me, um, and I didn't even know what anime was back then. You know, I just thought I was watching a cartoon and that was kind of like one of the really early mainstream, a bit like when pokemon come into schools. That was like, you know, people didn't realize what an rpg was till pokemon and final fantasy come along. I felt like that with dragon ball z is like we didn't know what anime was until that came. I know there's some hardcore fans into anime and manga and they might be more um, familiar with some of the old stuff. But for me, other than spirit of the way, that old school film, um, I would say dragon ball z was, you know, the first I've seen to him. But there's been so many games that when I try to play them I just find them. They're such over the top the beat-em-ups, that I don't know what's going on. I end up mashing buttons, um, I played the odd one I saw.
Speaker 2:There was an open world one um not too long, and that looked really cool. Oh, that's.
Speaker 3:Capcom. I don't know who's playing the games.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know who's playing these games, but obviously there must be a big audience for it, because I thought this would be really niche now for how long it's been out and how many games there are, but they just keep banging out solid titles.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So Dragon Ball ball z. How old are you, by the way, like if you don't mind me asking, I'm 37. I think I have to check the. Uh longhorn confiscated my passport to stop me from leaving, so I can't all right.
Speaker 1:So I am a little younger than you, I'm on 33. So like dragon ball z over here was a phenomenon and like I think you were spot on the money there. Like of like dragon ball z was the godfather of, like the ascendance of anime, so to speak, like it was that anime that made anime mainstream, whether people liked you know, there were still the sailor moons of the world, the yu Hakusho's and all that kind of stuff, but like Dragon Ball Z was the one that hit that zeitgeist in a different way. It was the one that was the water cooler anime, and so this game came out and, surprisingly, sold 3 million copies. 3 million copies, by the way, in just days, in 24 hours, it sold 3 million copies. Three million copies, by the way, in just days, in 24 hours, it sold three billion copies.
Speaker 2:How many did you buy Seb?
Speaker 1:I only bought one, by the way.
Speaker 2:I thought you was responsible then.
Speaker 1:Nah, man, I ain't got bread like that, I ain't got bread like that.
Speaker 1:Nah, so, nah, so, no. But you know, the crazy thing about it is like sure, there's been dragon ball games that have come out, you know, in recent years, but this is like the first arena fighter style dragon ball z game that's come out since tin kaiichi, I think, and I want to say like a decade ago. So there was a lot of like anticipation for this style of game where they pop you into a general area, a highly destructible area, and you can just fly around and just fight your opponent in any given style. You want, just kind of like what you see on the screen here, where it's not like it's. It is a fixed map area, but it's not like a fixed area like tech and immortal combat to where, like, you are stuck on the ground and you have to move in on the ground in a 3d space. Now this is a arena fighter where you can go up, you can go down, you can fly around your opponent, you can like shoot him behind his back, all sorts of different things. Does this interest you at?
Speaker 2:all in this game. I'm not sure if it does to be honest with you, only because my last experience with one I just found it a bit too complex and even I remember it so well. I'm not really that into anime now, so I don't really have, uh, the massive nostalgia for it or the need to want to try and get back into it, if you know what I mean. Did you review this? Um? Was that why he was playing the game or is it? Do you into anime yourself?
Speaker 1:I'm both. Um, I'm in the. Before I came down with the vid, I was actively writing a review for Spartan Zero. I'm still in the process of doing that. It'll probably post once I feel a little better. Sorry about the nasally congested sound. It sounded like everybody loves Raymond over here.
Speaker 1:By the way, I love anime. Anime is probably a pillar of who I am as a person, you know. Like I like sports, I like video games, I like anime. So you know, those are like three huge components of what makes sebastian sebastian so like.
Speaker 1:Dragon ball z is one and dragon ball like super, you know, and dragon ball, dragon ball gt we don't talk about GT but like all those are like a part of my being in a way that, like, I am still fans of, even though they're not my favorite animes of all time anymore, like they were when I was growing up.
Speaker 1:So this is a FOMO game to where, like, if everyone wasn't super hyped about this game, I probably would have been like I might wait for like a deep sale for this to come out. Thankfully I was given a review copy so I didn't have to come out of pocket for this. But like, yeah, this is one that I'm playing because, like, everyone's buzzing about, like, oh, this feels like our childhood. You know, this feels like the game we played with our childhood, but with updated dragon ball storylines such as like dragon ball super storylines, such as like super saiyan blue or super saiyan god or, you know, jiren and the tournament of power. All these words sounds like nonsense to non-animate people but, like you know, like since the last game has come out, there's been probably like five major dragon ball arcs that have come out, and this includes a lot of those characters from those arcs that have come out since the last game do you have any fomo for silent hill 2?
Speaker 2:I?
Speaker 1:am a hardcore chicken, by the way, I'm a chicken man. Horror games in general, I get scared so easily that I tend to not enjoy horror-type games. But Silent Hill is on a lot of people's Game of the Year shortlist so a part of me wants to play it, just because I want to see what the hype is about. But I'm also like I'm not going to enjoy that because, like, I don't like being scared a lot. So it's. It's one of the parts of Thelma that I wrestle with quite a bit in reviewing games is like there's a whole genre of games that you do not particularly like because you don't like that genre in movies, games, tv shows etc. Etc. But everyone's talking about it being a real certified contender this year. I want to be a part of that contender discussion and my list actually be credible, so I should probably check that out. So that's where my FOMO comes with a lot of games in the horror genre and, to be frank, with a lot of games in the souls genre as well yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know you're big on those games as well, but yeah, for me that's more of a bobby thing, for sure I don't, I don't have massive fomo for silent hill 2, but I think again, that's the retro that's helped me out a little bit. It's only because obviously a lot of people they go, oh my god, I remember Silent Hill and obviously that's what's pumped up some of these retro games, because people are oh my god and they can't wait to play it. A bit like with Alan Wake. Similar thing actually, but a bit like Alan Wake and the same with Silent Hill. I've played Alan Wake two or three years ago on the 360. So again, I still haven't played the new one, but I believe that was digital only. That put me off. I didn't want to cave into the establishment man Power to the people. I'm not giving in to the man.
Speaker 1:And then Was it physical or not. No, like you're absolutely right. It was originally digital only, but one of your companies that like likes to go back and do physical copies. Yeah, limited runs. Um actually did a physical copy of avon wake 2 recently okay.
Speaker 2:But yeah, with silent hill, uh, because I've played. So I played silent hill one, like you know. I got as far as I could. I was looking up what to do, so much I was near the end of it, um, but I've got quite good control. I'm not too bothered about finishing things and stuff like that. So I played loads of hours on that, each, you know, each night. I was really enjoying it for a few weeks. And then I jumped on a second one, um, and it must have only been one to two years ago. So for me, silent hill 2. Like you know, when people take pictures of games or upload it to Instagram or YouTube, everyone only shows the first one to two minutes, don't they? Because obviously people are excited, oh, I've just started playing it.
Speaker 2:So every time I see footage of the game it just looks too familiar, like the opening scene, that car park and you know the church and you're running around. It's so fresh in my head because I played it recently on the retro, within a couple of years ago, and I kind of don't mind the old graphics, even like with resident hill sorry, even resident hill, resident evil, that'd be a hybrid we're all waiting for. Even with resident evil, like, I'm still happy with the old games. You know I haven't had to. I mean the remasters and stuff are amazing, don't get me wrong. But sometimes the old graphics make it almost a bit more scarier, like, uh, even like amnesia and stuff like that. They're so dated it almost adds to it because it's like pixelated. I mean I know you're scared of horror games. You probably can't relate. I'm big on board games as well as video games. Me and my family play a lot of board games.
Speaker 3:Oh, I didn't know that that's cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there was a series of board games. I've got all of them, them and it was revolutionary at the time. Check out a trailer for this. Then it was called Atmosphere. In America it was called something else.
Speaker 2:Atmosphere. Yeah, so it was British, it was Atmosphere. I think it was called Nightmare in America, the board game, and basically it was a first video game. It was a, a board game. The video goes in and then on the screen there'll be a monster. It'd be like um the night keeper. It's funny, it was scary. When I was younger I remember being terrified. My dad would have friends around and it would talk to you like roll a dice. It would say, come to the tv and then it would scare you. And I was so scared as a kid as I got older into, like you know, retro stuff, I brought all these old games up and we played them recently, you know, last few years, me and my family, my sisters and we was like these aren't scary at all, they're almost like comical, like um. But back then I was like so scared of them um, it's like goosebumps.
Speaker 1:You know to where. Like a lot of kids were, you know they were scared of goosebumps back in the day, but now they're like well, what? What were you even afraid of, you know?
Speaker 2:I've got so lost into talking about Atmosphere and thinking about it I've forgotten what your even question was, seb. Sorry, I went right on a tangent there. I went right off in a different direction.
Speaker 1:No, you're good, You're good, you know, like Silent Hill is what kind of sparked this up?
Speaker 2:Sorry, that's why I was talking about it. So, for example, those games Atmosphere are so good now even to play them, because it's pixelated and it's dated, it adds to the horror of it. If you could see a sharp image of someone in a costume pretending to be a ghost, it's not scary. But because it's all dark and shaded, the TV's pixelating, you can't work out what's going on. You know, it adds to that whole atmosphere of the game. Ironically, which was the name? So yeah, it's called nightmare um, I think in america. So basically, the aim of the game is really cool. You'll play together. You've got this video takes 60 minutes. You're trying to beat the clock, all you're trying to do.
Speaker 2:Everyone that started a game writes down their biggest fear. You put it in the center under the nightmare bit, um, and then you're basically trying to go around the ball as quick as you can, collecting so many keys. Once you've got all the keys, you can activate the end game and then if you get your own fear, you're out. You have to get someone else's fear. So it's really funny because people write their fears in there and sometimes you know you can write something ridiculous.
Speaker 2:Now I found these games at um, a car boot sale. You know, a bit like your garage sales that you guys have over in the states, and I got the ball game out to check it was all there and all car boot, car boot sale. Yeah, we call it a car boot sale. Yeah, oh, that's fine. So, basically, people pull up we're doing one this weekend. Actually, my wife's selling there this weekend, so I'll come with her. So, basically, you pull up in a field uh, it sounds really english, doesn't it? You put up in a field and then, literally, you pull out, you put out a table, you chuck all your stuff on there and, yeah, it's just like a, basically like a flea market for just the general public. Okay, but yeah, you and you get to the. Yeah, so I bought the board games from a, from a car boots out. Now I got them out and I've written you could still see the writing for when people have played this game from like 30 years ago, because that's how old the game is. Right, I think it came out.
Speaker 2:That's crazy it was like beat-em-ups that had been like early 90s, late 80s, that early and anyway there was like kids handwriting you could tell it was a child's writing. It was all joined up with like curly letters like you do at primary school or infant school and the fears are really sweet. Um and the. The fears are really sweet. Like I didn't want to rub them out, it was like a piece of history. There were things that just like wouldn't happen, like scared of the monster under your bed and all this stuff.
Speaker 2:Like it was really cute and sweet reading these yeah there were some real funny ones on there, um, but yeah, oh, that was a great game, but yeah, a bit like with with silent hill, um, with it being modern, like I feel like you don't necessarily need to too much obviously add something different to have it, you know, more jump scares and a bit more clarity on the screen. But sometimes that grittiness and age to a game can add to the atmosphere of the playing experience. So I don't feel like you need to rush out too much when they remaster a horror game, because sometimes the originals are so good and if you look at a retro game in prices, what games, um, shoot up in value and hold their value so much other than limited run copies? It's always horror games and I think that's because they they hold up well, because it doesn't matter if they look jagged and tanky, because the more tank controls it is, the more you feel scared.
Speaker 2:When you're controlling a character, you know all the fears on you. So I think sometimes it can help a game, but probably something people haven't considered. But it's just like food for thought, you know, I just there's got to be a correlation in the fact that horror games like on ps2 the most expensive games on there of the top five that go for hundreds of pounds. They're Rule of the Rose, horror game Manhattan. No. Michigan Hell Report. Horror game. Rule of the Rose, horror game Q1, horror game. All the top five are horror games, you know. So there's got to be a reason for that. I mean, you might just say it was a good generation for horror games, but I just feel like I don't know.
Speaker 1:Know, they're just like if you go back to play an old platformer, you can see that the holes in it but the holes and flaws in the graphics of an old horror game are hidden very well, because they're hidden in the atmosphere of the game you know, and one of the one of the cool points that you kind of like touched on earlier that I'd never really thought of is like the older graphics, you know, and the older aesthetic sort of added to the imagination that you would have to use.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Imagination is huge in horror because, like you know, you're, you're running away with, like it makes you more scared. Your imagination is more scary than anything they can present on television.
Speaker 2:You know, yeah exactly Horror is all relative, you know, yeah, exactly Horror is all relative. You know it's relative to you and that's why the best films like you know that catch people off guard which are revolutionary, like Paranormal Activity. If you once you watch the film the first time, it's very scary. Now, if you go back, as a horror fan, and watch it three or four times, not a lot happens, but you're so on edge and alert because it's a poltergeist. You're watching every little thing in the background, waiting for it to move and you end up creating, you know, scary scenarios in your own head. So your own imagination is the biggest theater of all, really, and it's the same in modern life. You know. If you've got a stressful job, you get anxious about things that may never, ever happen. Your imagination is your worst enemy. It really is, and, of course, in video games it can be your best friend yeah for sure.
Speaker 1:So, scotty, you know I I want to ask you about one last game, or at least tell you about a game that kind of I have fomo about, but it's not. I also am playing this because I'm a genuine fan of like the studio. So Atlus recently has come out with their latest entry. Atlus was famous for doing the Persona games like Persona 3, 4, and 5.
Speaker 2:I know what you're going to say. I've seen that they've got some good reviews.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so recently, you know this was a game that was on my radar, but it wasn't a game that I was like highly anticipating, if that makes sense a game that was on my radar, but it wasn't a game that I was highly anticipating, if that makes sense. So my anticipation right now is I am excited about little things in the future, but Dragon Age is the end-all be-all. Dragon Age and the end of this month is the game that I'm like. Drop everything for. I'm playing this game. This is the game. This is the end of the road for me. This is the game. This is the. This is the end of the road for me. Like, this is the game that I'm looking forward to probably most out of the entire year is the dragon age felguard, which comes out on halloween this year oh, what a great time to drop a game as well yeah, for sure, for sure.
Speaker 1:So that's the game I'm most like. I I'm like forget, forget everything else. That's the game for me. But like so atlas? You know, like I my hit.
Speaker 1:My history with atlas games is like my first atlas game was persona 5, so I skipped out on persona 3 and had never played persona 4, played persona 5, fell in love with it back in 2017, absolutely loved it, adored it. It was like crack cocaine for me, like I was hooked on it. I was like I was this kid that was playing this game, that was playing as a kid in the game. That was like trying to manage relationships, trying to figure out. Like, oh, I'm gonna fall in love with this girl. Wait, this girl's kind of vibing with me. Oh wait, we have pokemon.
Speaker 1:Like style battles in this game. Like this is everything I wanted a video game at the moment. So that's what really made me fall in this girl's kind of vibing with me. Oh wait, we have pokemon. Like style battles in this game. Like this is everything I wanted a video game at the moment. So that's what really made me fall in love with persona. And then, later on, I went back and played persona 3 earlier this year. So to say, I say this all to fast forward, to say like, coming into this atlas game that I've been, you know, like, like anticipating, but not necessarily like as high as dragon age vilgar, I was looking forward to meta metaphor refantasia a little bit, but not like, oh, that's how you pronounce it.
Speaker 2:Sorry, sim, say it again, so ref refantasia I didn't know how you pronounce it.
Speaker 2:I didn't want to say it in case I messed it up, so you said a lot better than I would. But, yeah, pull the trailer up for the guys to see anyone that's watching this. Um, apologies for all your only listeners, but that's the reason why, if you listen to this show on spotify or apple wherever you get your podcasts from make sure you also go onto youtube and subscribe to the unofficial controller podcast, because on there you can also get the shows, and occasionally you get a special show like this one where there's visuals and you can see exactly how sexy Seb is and exactly how ugly I am. So it's a good, nice little treat for everyone. But the trailer honestly, the trailer for this game is amazing.
Speaker 2:But there was a time I've heard you talk about Seb as well, or maybe IGT or George where Atlus were banging out RPGs like every other month. At one point they I heard someone say there was one year that's kept on popping them out, but this one looks so good. I heard RPG fans say, out of all the games they've done, like the personas and stuff, this apparently is like the goat, and some people even said you know, oh, you know Silent Hill 2 is game of the year, astro Bot's game of the year. Rgt said Astro Bot's game of the year just a few weeks ago but now everyone's saying this has got game of the year radar written all over it you know it's funny that you know like.
Speaker 1:It is funny because, um, like, I think game of the year that I think we could have a whole like podcast about, like this year's game of the year, because it is contentious in a way that it, like, the contenders are, I think, more varied than any other game of the year that I can remember and I'm quite a long time and there's no like clear cut favorites I would probably say. But, like, all that to say is like this game you know, I'm pulling it up right here, um, so that the viewers could actually see the gameplay of it. So this is Atlas. The people who made Persona they got in their bag and they said we're going to make a new IP and instead of doing, we're going to do a Persona-style game, but we're going to make it high fantasy, and so we're going to make a new IP, high fantasy, new characters. You know like it has the Persona day-to-day operations of like you have to manage your day. You still have to like treat characters the way you want them to kind of react to you so you can develop relationships with them. It still has the turn-based like style of Persona.
Speaker 1:If you like that, then you'll love this. If you don't, then this ain't gonna be for you. This ain't the one dog. This, if you know, then this, this ain't gonna be for you. This ain't the one dog. But like, yeah, if you dug persona, or if you dug, if you dig like turn-based games but didn't necessarily want to get into persona, this feels like a more mature fantasy version of that. This feels like almost I don't want to say like lord of the rings, but it feels like you're. It does feel like you are playing that high fantasy game of like. I think this is more realistic fantasy that has like very mature themes that final fantasy fans like brag about but not necessarily deliver. You know, this is dropped this week.
Speaker 2:Right as well, seb, is it? Yeah?
Speaker 1:the crazy thing is I keep mentioning the date. October 11th is like the day this dropped. October 11th, I think, dropped this. You hit me in the corrections if I'm wrong. Ucp, ucp people it was like undisputed you said as well was the 11th, I think undisputed dragon ball z sparking or dragon ball sparking zero and metaphor refantasia just dropped all of the same day and I was like what?
Speaker 2:what happened? It's like october 12th is a new tax year and they're trying to evade some sort of I don't know something it was a huge, huge weekend and then a huge like friday, I believe.
Speaker 1:But like. So this game is one that I you, obviously it's an atlas game, so you're gonna spend probably like 60 to 100 hours in minimum, because that's they don't. They don't know what a short game is. I don't. I don't even think they heard about what short games could be.
Speaker 1:But you know, like this is a game that where, like, if you are playing on a handheld console, like the steam deck, it's perfect for that. If you want to play it on, like on a tv, and get those high, like high graphics that make you feel like, oh, I'm playing something great right now, it's great for that as well. But, like, it is a turn-based rpg jrpg in the sense to where, like you have you go around, you have your persona-like Pokemon that you use to fight other monsters, but, on the other hand, like you make those, you make like the fighting stuff stronger by developing relationships with outside characters. So, like with Pokemon, you basically grind your Pokemon to the dirt in order for them to get stronger fighting other pokemon. Here it's about like you build relationships with people and those relationships in turn make you a stronger fighter yeah and it's great.
Speaker 1:It's absolutely phenomenal. Though the graphics are good, the gameplay is crisp. I think like the story has mature themes to where, like it doesn't feel like it is over the top with his themes. It feels like the themes are like there, but not necessarily like. If you get it, great, if you don't like, you can still enjoy the, the gameplay of it. What were you going to ask?
Speaker 2:I'm sorry to crush you I just I'd say I definitely want to play the game, so these rpgs and jrpgs are normally a bit hesitant. I know I got into an rpg the witcher wild hunt. I'm so glad I did, but there's so much time investment, like there's so many final fantasies, I still want to play which I haven't. Um, so when there's a big I'm not a massive jrpg fan. I've got friends that are my brother-in-law is and they tell me about it I let them play 10 and then they tell me which one to play out of the 10. I won't waste hundreds and hundreds of hours, but this one, if he's going to play one RPG this year, I feel like this is the one.
Speaker 2:If anyone wants to check out the reviews for it, it was so stupendously high. I think it got nines.5, so it was even a big. I'm sure someone gave it a 10 out of 10, which is very rare. It literally yeah, it got some real. Um, oh, I can't hear you. Uh, seven a sec. It's gone a bit quiet. Are you a metacritic person? Yeah, like.
Speaker 1:Have you, have you seen metacritic or open critic for video?
Speaker 2:games yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I have seen metacritic, yeah yeah, so this is like a 94 out of 100 right now yeah 93 out of 100 so it's like it's. It's getting a lot of rave reviews, I think like this astrobot in final fantasy. 7 are like the top reviewed triple a games this year so far.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I don't know if that's going to change anytime soon when's the last time obviously I know you're, you know you're very in the industry yourself with with gaming when was the last time there was a meta like a review that high like 94? It's a bit unheard of for me, to be honest last year.
Speaker 1:Last year was the year of the 90s and like nines and tens. Last year, like a lot of the narrative of this year was like. This year feels like the cool down year from like like last year, because last year was like maybe the best released video game calendar year of all time because, like last year, had so many bangers that came out that were like 90s, 91s, 95s and like 96s. In the case of like, I think, zelda tears of the kingdom came out and it was like I want to say like 95, 96 yeah, that might be boulders gate 3.
Speaker 1:Yeah, boulders gate 3, though, came out in demolished skills. It was like I think it's like high 90s as well, and it won a lot of games. Game of the year awards because of that, no yeah, I bet even diablo was diablo last year.
Speaker 2:I feel like it was early last year before man last year had.
Speaker 1:Yeah, diablo was last year, but yeah, last year I think there was like metroid came out it was like spider-man 2.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there was loads. Yeah, you forget, yeah, loads yeah, spider-man alan wake um.
Speaker 1:Spider-man alan wake um. What was the street fighter was another one that was highly, you know, highly anticipated and highly it was highly um awarded by critics.
Speaker 2:Then you had um sounds like you're describing one of my dreams.
Speaker 1:After a few whiskeys, spider-man adam wake all together all together in the same dream and the man you know, jedi survivor, was there, was that year as well. Yeah, of course, yeah, so I'm like, yeah, that year was like amazing. I think next year might give it its run for the money as far as like what is like what could be the best video game release year of all time, because, like next year is stacked, stupidly stacked bring it on.
Speaker 2:I'm excited, yeah, but, but my wallet is my wallet's not wallet's going to be hurting.
Speaker 1:But to get back to this, though, metaphor, refantagio. I think this is a game that, if you haven't played any Persona game and you don't want to deal, if you feel like I'm wanting to try Persona out, this is a good entry point to Persona because it's a very similar gameplay, just with a new IP.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've played a couple of Persona games. I've got one or two on a Switch, and then I've also got what's it called Megami Tensei? I can't, it's like three words, it's hard for me to pronounce, but yeah, I know the similar art style, like it's all very, very familiar, you know, and it's beautiful. It looks beautiful, it looks crisp, it flows. Yeah, it's well, the reviews say it all, and that is for someone like me who's, you know, only got one leg on the fence of rpgs. If I was going to play one this year, this would be the one.
Speaker 1:So what do you think am I getting this for? If you you know, bite the bullet on it.
Speaker 2:I mean the sensible part of my brain, the wallet part of my brain, would say it's probably cheaper on Xbox by £5 than PS5. But I'll probably go PS5 just to get the full experience. Normally I'd go for like Nintendo Switch or things like this, but I haven't seen any, assuming it's on the switch. I haven't run on the switch well, all I was going to say is, when there's a big rpg, the reviews are always respecting it and saying what changes they've made to get it fit on the switch and I don't want there to be changes.
Speaker 2:I wanted to be played as the game was made and intended to. So, um, yeah, I'll probably go ps5, to be honest, just because I like the controller.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, I think this will be on Switch, maybe, or Switch 2, maybe like next year, though, because I'm like there's not enough here. That I see like that makes me think like, oh, this is so demanding that it couldn't be downsized for Switch, though, if I'm being honest yeah, I think sometimes with these rpg, especially open world ones, they just have the you know, your rendered background.
Speaker 2:They sometimes just have things you can't see as far you know things will pop up a bit later and there might be less um npcs than there normally is um, but hopefully that's the only compromise. But you don't want something like battle compromised in there, then that would just ruin the experience, to be honest.
Speaker 1:Or load times at that point, because this has very crisp load times on consoles and PC right now.
Speaker 2:And getting a free plug in it. Is this a single player experience or is it a co-op?
Speaker 1:rpg. You already know I don't play very many co-op games. Man, this is single player all day, every day, like. This is one of those games that, if you want to, if you feel like you, you like games that feel like books, to where, like, and I, this is gonna be my book club type of game. This is it, man. This is like 60 hours to 100 hours, I think. I. I think I read a review the other day where someone, I think, put in about 110 hours into it and I think that was like. I think they completed pretty much everything there was in the game. So, yeah, it's a lot, of, a lot of good content. I I'm hopeful that I can finish this game before dragon age comes out, because I don't know if I can handle two big RPGs around the same time.
Speaker 2:I think the last JRPG I got into was probably Frouse's Fire Emblem. I think that was the last one, yeah love that.
Speaker 2:I think that was the last one I got into, but I just got a bit stuck eventually. You know you keep replaying the battle and it didn't matter what the outcome was. I was just not strong enough to do it and I couldn't be bothered to backtrace and work out where I'd gone wrong. It didn't matter how I swapped around my strategic army, or who went first, or who I attacked, I just couldn't seem to get on board with it. So, after who I attacked, I just couldn't seem to, um, to get on board with it.
Speaker 1:So after so many hours, I just stopped playing it. But, um, okay, so I want to pivot a little bit. We've been talking about what we um been playing. We've been talking about our fomo. I want to talk about what do you hope to play this week well, for me it's going to be heavily undisputed.
Speaker 2:So you've been teasing me talking about all these other games and we've been sharing what we're missing out on, but at the end of the day, dragon Ball Z, I probably wouldn't play that at all. I mean it's cool if you brought it around I'd sit next to you and I'd play it with you. The RPG I really really want to play it, but I know I've got loads of time. I could play it. But I know I've got loads of time. I could probably pick it up for christmas it's.
Speaker 2:You know people still be talking about it, but I still want to miss out on undisputed out of all of the games. I want to play that. Um. So I think, to be honest with you, I'm going to get stuck in many an hour doing the career mode because it's not something a bit like little guardsman. I can pick up and play, you know, 20 minutes each night, one level, but that's something that you don't just play one fight and turn it off. I mean it might be once I establish it, but the early part of the career mode is the most exciting bit, once you get to the top and you're fighting all the top tens, heavyweights, you know, trying to unify divisions and stuff like that. There's only one way to fall. Do you know what I mean? But the only way is up, when you're at the bottom. It's the most funnest experience ever so for me, undisputed. Um. I might even order it tonight, so I'm feeling a little bit cheeky um feeling cheeky.
Speaker 2:I like that feeling cheeky, but I just, I want a special edition.
Speaker 1:If yeah, I just can't I think you should wait and let the special edition come down a little bit, if I've got this.
Speaker 2:It's just sold out. It's sold out in all the stores, so I think they only had so many. So it was so, um, you know, eagerly anticipated. It's just sold out pre-order and there's none in stock. So over in the UK we've got like game, which is always five pound more than anywhere else, Gamecouk. You got Smiths, which is like a toy store, and you've got.
Speaker 3:Argos.
Speaker 2:And those two, smiths and Argos, are always generally cheaper for games, but they haven't all out of stock for the special version. But I don't want to wait, I'm going to get it. So I might just get the cheaper one, but I was only getting it for Tyson Fury on the front. To be honest, just being a bit of a fanboy, and you know, I thought that'd be cool to have a British boxer on the front cover. And being the collector in me obviously wants the variants. You know that's the devil's harvest to me. It really is.
Speaker 1:I can understand that. I think you should go cheaper on this, and then you know.
Speaker 2:hopefully you'll find a collector's edition I like that that's sensible, because the way this show's gone, the amount of games that's on there, um, that you've showed me and we've talked about, it's not going to be a one game weekend. Let's be honest I'm surprised, though.
Speaker 1:You know you being the switch guy that you are. I thought you'd be playing like zelda echoes of wisdom right now I know, so really surprised myself that.
Speaker 2:So basically I wasn't aware that, almost like proper shadow dropped on me. I wasn't aware when this was coming out and then it came out and it's just gone. I've got loads of friends who are well into zelda. Everyone's saying it like of how good it is, the unique abilities of playing a zelda and what you can do. I've got so many friends that talked about it. I've heard so many people talk about so much, but it sets such a high expectation I'm almost worried.
Speaker 2:I had the same thing with breath for the wild, like tears of the kingdom. I was on it at lunch. I heard about it coming out for ages. I was like, right, I've got it. So I got it at lunch. However, with breath for the wild, so many people hyped it up. I did play it and I did like it, but I played it like six months after, if I else did. And I think the same with this and triple a titles with nintendo they, they don't drop much a five pound at best. So to be honest with you, I'm just gonna um, probably get a pre-owned one and there was so many games if I wasn't enjoying games at the time.
Speaker 2:But every week we come on the show and we talk about what we hope to play and what we've been playing. There's never been a week where I mean this has been the quietest for me, where I've been like, right, I've played a couple of retro games and I've played little guardsman, so it's a perfect opportunity right now for me to play undisputed. Now, if undisputed wasn't there, you removed it. And then, um, the new zelda, the echoes game was out this week. I would play that. So it was just a timing thing for me. And then, once I missed the release, once I missed the release, you have that fomo, but after a certain so many weeks it gets removed. You know, you don't know what you're missing out on eventually if you leave it that long. So I will play it. I'm just not necessarily going to rush straight to it, but I do feel like a hypocrite because I didn't like the game baby you like it.
Speaker 1:No, it's not enough story for me. Like I think that's the main problem. It's like I think this game has creative freedom at the wazoo. It's like it is almost like a developer mod in a way, to where you can do a whole. Like the game allows you to just circumvent the rules of what video games should be and like play however you want to, and I think that's magnificent, I think that's beautiful, I think that's like charming.
Speaker 1:But if I don't have a, I think this is also like my hang up on a lot of nintendo games is like they this the gameplay is there. Like the story is there to basically accent the gameplay. Like the gameplay is always going to be on the forefront versus like metaphor is like no, the gameplay and the the gameplay and the story are interchangeably like a yin and yang, to where I'm like if you want to play that game for the gameplay, like great, but you're going to be lost as hell because like the story is so intertwined with everything that goes on in that game, like yeah, that you're going to fall off on it if you're not investing in that story. I don't think and besides xenoblade, I don't think there is a great nintendo franchise that that is the case for, because they do such a good job of like, no, you play these games to have a good time and it really doesn't matter what the story is, because, like, we are going to focus so hard on giving you premium gameplay in our art style that it really doesn't matter what you're doing at the time, and I think, like, I think that's beautiful for the people who want that. But, like, I'm a story centric person to where, like I want, for the most part, outside of my sports, I want stuff to matter. When I'm playing non-sports games, like, give me a purpose, give me a reason, give me a like, a character to really like, invest in and like, let me see the hero's journey of that character.
Speaker 1:And with zelda, it is the tried and true thing of like, oh no, something bad happened. I have to save the kingdom. Like. I'm talking about echoes and wisdom wisdom this time but like. This kind of applies to a lot of zelda games. If I'm being honest, yeah, oh no, something bad happened. I have to save the kingdom. Let's go on an adventure. Here's some puzzles, here's a whole lot of puzzles that we have to solve. We have very basic gameplay of like. This is hack, slash, hacking, slash gameplay, but in the most basic form, and we fight the final boss and, oh wow, the kingdom saved yippee-ki-yay, you know like it's like.
Speaker 2:It's like lynx awakening sort of that 2d pixelated graphics. Isn't it very similar to that, which I think I only played?
Speaker 2:it is that yeah, a year, a year ago or so, um, but but for me, like it's ironic. I love the nintendo switch, I love the actual hardware of it, but it's quite funny really, because I don't do it as service. I play a lot. What do I play on it? I play a lot of indies, I play triple a, ported games from bigger consoles, more down versions. When it comes to actual nintendo ips, like, I don't go too crazy for them. You know, I don't go too crazy. I play all the marios, I play all those elders, but they're not the ones I'm anticipating for each year.
Speaker 2:Wow, yeah, it's bizarre, isn't it? I actually, I actually appreciate the pulse and the indie titles on the system more than the nintendo ips, um, you know, yeah, I like them enjoyable, but yeah, I don't go crazy as much as everybody else does. You know, I'm not the biggest zelda lover in the world. I haven't, like, completed all the games, don't? You're wrong. I've got zelda on the nes, um, I haven't got any like joy's mask. I haven't got the honor 64, but yeah, I've got some like earlier titles, um, and I always respect them, but yeah, they're not my like most favorite games. And then I get every mario.
Speaker 1:I play every mario, but again, again I love the way you say his name man yeah, it's just fomo again.
Speaker 2:Um, oh yeah, I clicked it before the way you guys said it. I remember that as age ago. I think it was you. It might be you and bobby or someone, I remember. Yeah, I think I recorded it and I had that as a message tone for a little while, I think. But, um, yeah, the, yeah, the actual big nintendo ip titles like, for example, astral chain. Do you remember that ip from?
Speaker 2:nintendo I played it for about 30 minutes. I just get fomo for every big nintendo title and then I have it. I put the cartridge in it, I let it load for 72 hours and then I play the game. And then I play the game for like 5 minutes. I'm like thank you next. You know it's bizarre yeah.
Speaker 1:I get that. I get the appeal of a Nintendo game. I do. I think like these are the purest games to have fun with, like. But I just need something more. I'm like giving me characters that that resonate with me besides like, oh I played this doing super smash brothers and oh I need to save the kingdom, like, give me, give me something to work with, give me a story you know, like I need something a little more thorough than that a perfect example of it.
Speaker 2:There was an indie game which I enjoyed, right, and I played it through to completion and I'll tell you the name of it in a minute. It was such a beautiful story. But if you couldn't, if you didn't see the story, if you just saw me playing the game, you'd think, oh, that's immature, scott, why are you playing that? And you might know the name of the game because you compared it to something else. You said it was the zelda. You wish it was, I think. You said on the show about a year ago um, you, basically, you're, it was a. It was a story of your sister getting older and she's sort of maturing and she doesn't have time for you to play as a kid. You're still playing this imaginary land, little gator game. Yeah, little gator game. Put you out in misery now. I played that game and I got to the end of it and I've got three sisters.
Speaker 2:I nearly had a tear in my eye at the end of the game and it did move me and it's really. It's really sweet because it was like you know, it copied some of the mechanics and stuff like that from these games. There's nothing wrong with that. That's how games evolve and they get better.
Speaker 3:It's something yeah, for sure why change it?
Speaker 2:you build upon that foundation, um, but the story was really good and that was just. That was just. I know it's just might sound like this is I don't mean this in a horrible way, I mean it's a compliment. That was just an indie game and yet it was. It moved me so much. Yet, all the money, all the funds that nintendo have got, they haven't hit me the same as they did with little gator game that.
Speaker 1:That that's, that's how I feel, like that is how I feel in general. Like it's hard for me to like, like zelda didn't hit me like that because, like I spent three times as much as little gator game and it didn't have an impactful hit like in little gator game. But little gator game also has like the same mechanics as a lot of the same mechanics, as like tears of the kingdom of breath of the wild, minus the, the building and the and like minus the ultra hand is such like that. But the same climbing mechanic, the same jumping, the same like slash, the same those you move around, the exact same way, like all that is the exact same as zelda. But it like it hit me with a story that made me because I'm, I'm, I have sisters that made me go damn, I need to call them. I had tears in my eyes, did you.
Speaker 3:Well, you know like damn I need to call them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2:So I'm like that's my cross to bear with why mainline first party Nintendo games hasn't resonated with me in this generation compared to to and plus, since I play a lot of indie games like they're kind of comparable nowadays, you know like, and we always want more. Yeah, we always want more of games. Same with films. The best films. I really like thrillers and stuff like that or, like you know, really good dramas of a twist. It's the ones that move you. So if you play a game that moves you like that, that's what you want to do. You games are like an escapism, isn't it? You go in there, you want to feel something. So if you're just monotonous, just playing a game and there's no emotion and you're just playing it as a pastime, then you know you're not getting what you should be getting out of the game. So we're calling on developers out there to put some proper effort into your games. We want want some storylines. We want to feel for the characters, we want to relate.
Speaker 1:Speaking of wanting to feel for people, wanting to relate to people, you know I want to end our show this week by, you know, kind of doing a little crossover with the single-player experience here. At the end of that show, I like to ask my guests to give one video game recommendation. It can be indie, it can be AAA, but give one single player video game recommendation to the audience. And I'm going to ask that to you, mr Marathon Gaming, mr Scotty, mr AK. I do all this, you know, like Mr Switch himself, I'm going to ask you give us a video game recommendation today.
Speaker 2:I've got the perfect game because it's a perfect game for you, sir. Now you said you don't like horror games because you get a bit scared.
Speaker 2:Now this is this is a very mild horror game that even chickens can enjoy, and what's good about it is what we're just talking about. We were talking about emotions in games, great stories. Now there's a game. It's called among the sleep. It's a very short game, only takes like five to ten hours to complete. You play it in the point of view as a baby, so it's a realistic game.
Speaker 2:But because of the kids got an imagination, obviously as a child everything scares you, so you're sort of crawling around the shadows. You're lost in this house. Um, it's a really dark, twisted story. So your mother's an alcoholic. Um, she's, you know, lost hands on you. So you're like in this house at night, can't find your mother. Your mother's in another room, she's drunk too much wine and the? Uh. It's an absolutely like very, very emotional, like heartbreaking story. It's very realistic, it's very deep, um, and you play for the eyes of the baby and you traverse over these different levels solving different puzzles.
Speaker 2:It is a horror game to a point where sometimes you have to hide from enemies. But you know, if you looked at the cover art you can tell it's not designed to be, it's not a jump scare game, it's just a horror, atmospheric game and it just adds to the environment. And that game I actually talked about it on a YouTube short recently. I said it's a bit of a hidden gem because no one talks about it. And that game actually physical. You can pick it up for 10 bucks or 10 British pounds. That is a very cheap game. I feel like it's a game in the future that people are going to talk about because it's so unique. I'm not sure. I'm just going to check what the name of the studio is on it.
Speaker 2:I've just pulled a copy out here, so so Disco is it? I don't know if you can see the glare I loved it so much. I brought a sealed copy so I had it digitally on the eShop and then I loved it so much.
Speaker 2:I actually brought it once it dropped. But yeah, it's just a real unique game. I like really different games. I'm talking about story games. You're a good person to ask for this because you know indie so well.
Speaker 2:There's a couple of games. I can't remember the names, but one I do remember. I think it's called Mosaic, o-m-s-a-i-z-c, and it was basically a story about a depressed man who lived. He had a very mediocre job, low salary, he lived in a little flat apartment and you just went about going to work and on the way there you made some decisions like it would say, would you like to step in this puddle, things like that and you took a little bit of a risk with the character. Instantly you felt sorry for him. You could relate to him. He was at a dead-end job and then the got real twisty and dark and that was.
Speaker 2:I played through that game and it just blew my mind. I remember trying to work out what genre it was. I typed in games like mosaic because I was trying to find things like it. And I found another game, but it's completely slipped my mind. Um, and I just like unique experiences like that. Um, like, even like um. There's a game I think it was simulacra, simulacra. It plays through like a mobile phone. Yeah, that was really good. I just really appreciate games that are unique, which have, you know, step outside the box. They're not afraid to, you know, step outside their comfort zone. So that's the sort of things I like. So I'm going to recommend Among the Sleep as a game that I think everyone should try out, because it's affordable as well. So if you're on a budget, you know, or you're only allowed to spend so much money this month, you can pick that game up for £10. And that's not pre-owned, I think. Even in stores it's £10 to £15. It's a real, real cheap game and I can guarantee you'll have a good time with it.
Speaker 1:All right, everyone go check out Among the Sleep. But before we go, though, you know, mr, marathon gaming. Where can the good people find?
Speaker 2:you? Where can they check more of you out? So I am on youtube and youtube only. So if you just go into google or youtube just type in marathon gaming, marathon space gaming, then my account will come up there.
Speaker 2:Um, I've actually got a horror comedy um halloween special. I actually filmed yesterday. Um, I've got it set for next thursday uh, british time at 6 30. So grab a beer or a cap, you know, a cup of tea or a cup of coffee. It's a 10 minute video. Um, and basically I'm going through 50 horror games you must play across all consults, across different systems.
Speaker 2:Um, but it's going to be a very different. It's a video of a twist. So I'm actually impersonating another, another youtuber. So I've got a bit of an accent on the video. I'm dressed up in a bit of a disguise and that is a um that's. I've not told anyone this. So anyone who listens to the ucp, you've already got a heads up that it's going to be a bit of a twist that video. But yeah, I'm a barry for gaming on YouTube. So talk about all things gaming switch related, retro and modern.
Speaker 2:The last review was for little guardsman and I'm the next video I'm going to have dropped before the Halloween special next week and a couple of days time will be on 10 games that I will never sell. So I've got 10 games. They all mean something very they've got a story behind them. I won't get into it, I'll save it for the video. And they all have a special place in my heart for different reasons, whether it's family or times in my life where I've played with friends that I've forgotten now or we've moved on, and they're not necessarily the most expensive games in my room, but it's the ones I look at and it's not nostalgia, it's something else, it's something, you know, that really hits home with me and I've got such a strong memory and bond of it. It might not be a good game, but it's a game that holds a lot of sentimental values, so I'm going to be talking about those. So, yeah, check me out Marathon Gaming on YouTube. Oh, there we go In all its glory Up on the screen.
Speaker 1:Love up on the screen, love that. All right, everyone for sure, go check him out, go subscribe, go like, go, just follow all his videos, because this man's absolute gold. He's a gym, he's a gym. We have to promote this dude. Anyways, everyone, thank you so much for listening to this episode of the UCP. I'm in Sebastian. That's been Mr Marathon Gaming, aka Scotty, aka Mr Switch himself, aka the best name going on YouTube right now. Thank you all so much for listening to this episode. On next week's episode you'll probably hear the luscious, the magnificent, the sincere voice of George, back on the saddle. It'll probably be back on the rails. You'll be hearing about what's been happening on the compound lately and all that. But I digress. I want to thank all the UCP followers and subscribers. You know who you are. I do not have the list in front of me, or else I'd read your glorious names out right now. But do you have the list?
Speaker 2:I can read the list out.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I've got it here. So this is for our fans and members of the Discord and some people that choose optionally to help support us financially to help the show run and make sure that these episodes all come out and give us everything we need. So, as always, the show's always free, it will always be free I think George has echoed that before and the Discord's free. You can join the Discord for free. However, however, there are some different tier systems. You know that start from the lowest, like three bucks, five bucks up to ten bucks a month, and you know they get you different perks and there's an unglorious chat in the discord which I think comes with the highest perk, and you get a quarterly stream um with the host as well. But you can just support and join in with the fun.
Speaker 2:So I'm going to roll over with the names at the top. So we have got I can't believe this one snuck in the top the one man, george fan club carlos. He's in at the top. Then we've got firm returns. So hello and thank you to the one man, george fag. I thank you to carlos I should be saying stop winding us up with that name, carlos and thank you to firm returns. Uh, and thank you to trestles new york. Have you got it up at all there, seb, or do you want me to?
Speaker 1:to roll.
Speaker 2:Keep going, if you will we've got badder binkster and I'm proud to say baddest binkster has got the mug. I sent him a mug because he'd done a nice little picture edit for me of a T-shirt clothing design I want to make. So I sent him a little mug to say thank you for that. We've got Tingle Turner and I almost nearly say Tuna. So thank you to you, good sir. Thank you to Digital Munkery, an absolute OG of the Discord. He always helps out with our challenge accepted. So every month in the discord, again, this is a free uh, you know free bit of content of discord. There's always a a basically a challenge to join in a high score challenge, if you will. So this month it is grand turismo and a playstation one you can join in with emulation and there's always a prize of some sort. There's always a prize and a bit of bragging rights. So, yeah, shout out to Digital Monkery for that one.
Speaker 2:Rowspace Monk, big up to you, sir. The Gaming Gram these are all absolute legends. Bald Balder what an absolute OG. And then Boba he was actually out with RGT, I think a few days ago I saw a few pictures of him looking all merry at this school. Then we've got myself marathon gaming. We've got seal master Elliot, and a rumor has it that his whole house is wrapped in plastic. Apparently he has like a cat flap that he goes through to get for his front door because he just won't take a seal of anything. Yeah, his sofas are brand new, everything's mint in the box. His cutlery he has to use throwaway plates. He literally does not get anything out of the packaging, so big up to Silvester Elliott.
Speaker 2:Here's Mr Clee Big up to Ginge. He is our five-time, five-time champion of the world. The undisputed challenge, accepted champion G-I-N-G-E. Big shout out to ginge and a big shout out to emma sharp.
Speaker 2:Big shout out, thank you to harvey retro. Big shout out to nowhere near berlin. He's not in hamburg and he's not in berlin, so keep on looking, you won't find him. Government tax man. Big shout out to mumsy and the rgt fan club. That could be either of us, to be fair. Big shout out to pete brocklehurst, and then love him or hate him. But you're gonna love him because you can't hate billy. Big shout out to billy marmite and a thank you to simon prike. And then this last name, seb.
Speaker 3:I know you know who it is?
Speaker 2:I can't know the last name, so take it away.
Speaker 1:Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the last name on our list is the man, the legend, the myth himself. He is Frat Zane.
Speaker 2:That was amazing. So, yeah, they're our lovely contributors to the show. They all offer some support and we're really thankful for that. So thank you to everyone who puts their hands in their pockets each month and passes that on to us. So the show's forever grateful and we're thankful. So thank you so much to everyone and, yeah, big love to everyone in the Discord. It's and we're thankful. So thank you so much to everyone and, yeah, big love to everyone in the discord. It's a great community, so thank you all all right everyone.
Speaker 1:Thank you all for being members, if you have. If you haven't joined the membership already, you can easily do that. But where can they do that at?
Speaker 2:where can they do that?
Speaker 1:we're going to send you that information after this show. Look at the link in the bios.
Speaker 2:You got tears. $3 read out on every show. $5 read out on every show Art merch yearly. $8 read out on every show Art merch yearly, plus access to the Unglorious chat. $10 read out on every show aren't much yearly, plus access to the unglorious chat. 10 bucks read out on every show aren't much yearly, plus access to the unglorious chat and quarterly zoom chat with hosts. And here's an exclusive if you become a member, even at three dollars only gets you read out in every show. If you become a member, between this show and the next show I I will send a mug to the first five people to do that, because I've only got five mugs left. You know, I've only got five in the room.
Speaker 3:So if you happen to join, Well, I've got other mugs.
Speaker 2:I mean unofficial controller podcast. You only have five mugs in your life. I'm not sending people random old mugs from my dirty cupboard. This is merchandise. It's got the logo of your life. I'm not. I'm not sending people random old mugs from my dirty cupboard. I'm these. These are. This is merchandise. It's got the logo on it. But yeah, if you join uh, if you join the lowest tier between this episode and next episode, I'll send you guys a mug. So how about that?
Speaker 1:but um, how do you actually mugs to everybody not his, not his own personal mugs?
Speaker 2:but I believe if you click on the show notes on spotify or apple or anything, that it will show you where to go. But there is a website, Seb. Is that correct?
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, there is absolutely a website. You can go on the UCPU website as well. The link will be in the description of the episode. So everyone, you got no excuse, you know. If you are still confused, go and click on that link that has our Discord and you can just ask. Go and click on that link that has our Discord and you can just ask, and the millions and millions of people in the Discord will help you out, including one of the Sacred Five of us. Anyways, I digress. It's been a long show, marathon Gaming. Thank you so much for hanging in there with me. Hi man, thank you so much. You're a goat, you're a legend, you a legend, you're phenomenal, dude likewise.
Speaker 2:Thank you, bro. I had a really good time. Thank you very much for the chat. Very much enjoyed it, thank you thank you all.
Speaker 1:So whenever you're listening, let us know what you thought about the show. Go into the description, do all your little homework assignments like follow all that jazz. Thank you all'all so much for listening to George. We'd like to see these guys more on YouTube and all the videos and we will deliver it. You know, let George know. This is the direction, this is the future, this is what we want the UCP to be. So we're doing this little test run. Let us know what you think. Anyways, I'm in Sebastian. That's been Mr Mar. Let us know what you think. Anyways, I'm in Sebastian. That's been Mr Marathon Gaming. Until next time. Remember, there's nothing wrong with the unofficial controller. The unofficial controller is what you do with it. That counts. Until next time. Bye everybody.
Speaker 3:Bye-de-bye, yahoo, yahoo, george and Seth rolling down the road, rgt riding, shotgun, heavy, low Pastor Longhorn waking to unfold Bill Paso, texas Tales been told, one arm being a sight to see. El Paso, texas tale's been told, one on big a sight to see. Pastor preach, preach, set you free. Georgia said they'd been lenient. Archie teen, yes, ain't believe. Join Paul to El Paso town. El Paso, all the castle on horns got its crown One point, another down where the wildest show around. Sunday's hot the desert air. Georgia said feel the glare. Longhorn's words hang everywhere. Salvation found without a chair. Sundays haunt the desert air. Georgia said oh, feel the glare. Longhorn's words hang everywhere. Salvation found without a chair. Rgt plays a sacred tune. It's time we can see a fat stone. Blue Longhorn grins from afternoons To the big, filthy, silly, jolly. Little Pat-o-town when Pastor Longhorn's got it proud, and half of the other town when the wildest show around got it proud of the other town where the wildest show around, where the wildest show around is now. Thank you.