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Nothing Bad Happens to the Kid(Metro 2033 - Part 4)
340 Plays1 month ago
That's right, nothing bad is gonna happen to the kid. Nothing at all. I mean what kid? There's no kid here.
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Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker
Like, I know we're all real impressed by Stephen King and his output and everything like that. But I i think you and I are in a special position to to know that Stephen King is great, but he's... He's he's he's not one of these work-for-hire guys who's just writing out, like, two to three novels a year, you know? work-for-hire guys are fucking unstoppable. This is insane. they ah They write like they're running out of time.
00:00:29
Speaker
right and exactly exactly it's it's yeah like someone's gonna come and take it away from them yeah be god yeah uh they're not gonna throw away their shot no they are not they are not at that you know what else is a Hamilton reference what's that hey there everybody welcome back to Pixlet my name is Kevin with me as always this is Phil and on today's show we're finishing Metro 2033 is it a is it a happy ending no it is not no no no
00:01:01
Speaker
it's just to shut your mouth you expect wow it is very russian is holy shit holy shit yeah um yeah and uh but if you want a happy ending i would say the best place to get that is patreon.com yeah the happy ending that you're thinking of patreon.com fix lip Come on over.
00:01:26
Speaker
Come on over, baby. And we got we got a bunch of tiers. Free. $1, $5, and $10. And $10 gets your name shouted out in every episode. To that end, i want to thank, and you are hiding, Song 85, Jesus loves you, Kyle Seaman, Ruthless Mudder, Middle Thing, Sigma Sal, Sanguine Flatulence, Shilohood, Chet Beaks, Dumbass, Thick and Friendly Friend. Thank you so much for being a friend. Patreon.com slash PixelitPod. Do it too.
00:01:53
Speaker
day. I never get tired of hearing when there are new people on that list. Not just because it's it's a thrill that you guys are paying money to us for this. and That's wonderful. But because y'all have the greatest goddamn usernames. It's just fantastic.
00:02:11
Speaker
Yeah. ah Tim, if you're listening, we did talk about Dune in the pre-show, so go ahead and and fire up the bonus feed and and and take a listen to that. because That one's for you, too Tim.
00:02:22
Speaker
Tim likes Dune, right? is that that I'm remembering that correctly. I'm not... um He's a dude. I don't know. I don't want to. I don't want to. I don't want to make any hard ah calls on that one. I don't know. Maybe. Maybe but it maybe I'm misremembering. Maybe.
00:02:37
Speaker
Maybe. Shilud. um
00:02:44
Speaker
Yeah, he's. Okay. He's talked about Dune on the Discord before. Yeah. Oh, yeah. No, he's. Yeah, he's. He might be. up He might be a Dune fan. Yeah. Okay.
00:02:56
Speaker
He might be a Dune fan. He also likes Meatloaf. Yes. That's a podcast he and I have talked about ah doing a Meatloaf retrospect. Who's the guy, who the Meatloaf producer, the producer for Meatloaf that he's obsessed with?
00:03:11
Speaker
Jim Steinman wrote all of his best quotes. Jim Steinman. I can't remember. I can't forget. I can never forget Tim's ah monologue about Jim Steinman at your bachelor party. It was amazing because I agreed with every word. i Also wrote Celine Dion's biggest hits. Yeah. ah You know, Total Eclipse of the Heart. ah If you heard a song and it had some weird, heavenly sounding backup singers ah echoing the chorus and it was like the song felt like...
00:03:42
Speaker
God and everyone else were fighting it out to see who got to hit the high note. That was a Jim Steinman song. Yeah. ah That's all there is to it. That's all there is to it. I love that man. Yeah.
00:03:54
Speaker
That's amazing. Yeah. Pour one out for Jim Steinman. I know. Yeah. we all he He died a few months before or a few months after Meatloaf. I think it was before.
00:04:06
Speaker
am But it was the same year. ah That was a hard year. It's a hard year. 2021. Yeah. Yeah. I'm pretty sure that COVID's what killed both of them. so Yeah. And Meatloaf probably was like didn't believe in the vaccine or anything. Meatloaf went into a right wing circle by the end, right? he was Yeah. Yeah.
00:04:30
Speaker
yeah He got real weird. He was always weird. Let's let's make things perfectly clear. weird. But it was always really weird ah but God damn it, Meat. You hurt us all. You hurt us all. Yeah.
00:04:47
Speaker
It's a damn shame. of every Every fat singer, every fat choir boy cries yeah when they hear Meatloaf sing. It's it's yeah it's inspirational, goddammit. It is inspirational. And yes, Gin Steinman, April of 2021, Meatloaf was ah January of 2022. Okay, okay. yeah So ah within a year of each other ends, Meatloaf was killed by covid Yes.
00:05:18
Speaker
And they kept it quiet for as long as they possibly could because that's embarrassing. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. He was also old. You know, I mean, he was 74, which is like ah covid those early rounds of COVID. Let me tell you, folks.
00:05:34
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Those kids who weren't born yet when that are listening to us and weren't around for COVID.
00:05:42
Speaker
Does that work? Does that math work? No, it doesn't. um It could, but I hope they're not listening. Well, yeah, it's basically your son. It's basically Graham. It's just tuning in.
00:05:54
Speaker
Yeah. which ah Probably not. like I'm real proud of what we do here, but probably not a great idea. Probably not. Probably not a good substitute for Miss Rachel, you know?
00:06:06
Speaker
Not yet. Not yet. I don't think, I think Miss Rachel shouldn't replace most people's TV up until their forties. Yeah. Completely honest. We should get Miss Rachel on the show. Oh my God.
00:06:17
Speaker
We should, we should pick like one of the, like a kid's book, like as young of ah a kid's video game adaptation as we can find. Yeah. I would love that. I would. That would be amazing.
00:06:31
Speaker
She's an angel. She's she iss an angel. She's an angel. Yeah. ah You know who else is an angel is the body that's in the marsh right now. oh marsh body. a Marsh body. Marshies. Let's do it. Marshies.
00:06:43
Speaker
When I tell you to dump a body in the marsh, you them in the marsh. In the marsh. All right. Chapter 16. RTM is heading back to Kivskaya with Anton Tretjak everybody else. ah I forgot to mention last time Tretjak is a missile guy ah that they met.
00:07:03
Speaker
um He's a missile man. ah um ah Tret Yak is, while they're going on, he dies if there's any secret entrances near Park Pobody. And while they're talking, Oleg is talking Artyom about how he's a missile man too. And Artyom's like, this kid's cute.
00:07:19
Speaker
I hope nothing terrible happens to him. That would be a shame. That would be a shame. They get back and Anton's wife yells at Anton for bringing Oleg into the tunnels because another kid has recently disappeared.
00:07:34
Speaker
Melnick meets with the station chief, Arkady Semyanovich, Semyovich,
00:07:42
Speaker
Sure, because Artyom lacks a passport. Meldick decides that he and Tretjak will go ahead to Mayakovskaya to search for an entrance to D6 and then return. He gives Artyom a copied map and instructs him to wait at Kiepskaya.
00:07:57
Speaker
Artyom has dinner with Arkady, who serves cognac, obtained by a stalker named Vasya, who was later cured killed near Krasnopinskaya. um The chief, station chief, admits that only children have been disappearing at Kiepskaya and reveals a needle removed from a dead guard's neck.
00:08:15
Speaker
He believes something that exists beyond the blockage towards Park Pobody and everybody is getting scurred. ah Meanwhile, Artyom, now drunk on that sweet, sweet cognac, is wandering around the station at night and he sees a shadowy figure off in the distance.
00:08:32
Speaker
He is struck and loses consciousness and he hears a kid's voice and then this weird fragmented speech pattern. And he awakens in his tent with a head wound.
00:08:43
Speaker
Messenger delivers a cartridge containing a note from Melnick. the The exit to D6 has been blocked and Tretjak has been killed with a poison needle and melne Melnick is organizing a response.
00:08:54
Speaker
Next day, Arkady arranges to photograph RTM for a passport, ah but Anton's older son, Oleg, has disappeared overnight. RTM recalls Oleg playing ah ah music through tunnel pipes and fears the boy has been taken.
00:09:09
Speaker
He searches the platform and tunnels, finding Oleg's music box beneath the loose ceiling hatch. Oh, no. Oleg's been taken. This is the terrible thing that that's happening. This is the only terrible thing that's going to happen Oleg. Only one.
00:09:23
Speaker
Nope. Only thing yeah they, you know, these kinds of stories, they really like to, ah you know, they take somebody poor and helpless, like a child or something like that. And they put them in harm's way just to get us, you know, worked up, but nothing, you know, nothing really bad will happen. Nothing really bad happens in the end. So yeah, it's fine.
00:09:44
Speaker
So, Artyom and Anton ah go use a hand car to reach the hatch. They climb into a service corridor and they head toward Park Pobody. ah They fire out follow some cartridge cages left as markers, and along the way, they find a large white snake-like symbol painted on the floor.
00:10:01
Speaker
After hours of walking, they hear chanting and drums, and then suddenly both are struck by feathered needles that paralyze but do not kill them. They are captured by a by small, pale, shaved head people marked with weighty lines on their forehead and armed with bows and bayonets. The captors speak of serving the great worm and refer to Artyom and Anton as enemies and also meat.
00:10:24
Speaker
They are taken to a dark station that's similar to Park Pobody, where a bearded leader declares that they will be interrogated and then eaten during a holiday. Artyom falls asleep and dreams dreams of Vidyanka being destroyed and then regains consciousness in a bound prison cell. An older bearded man outside the bars explains that the captors worship the great worm, a being they believe created the world and its tunnels.
00:10:48
Speaker
According to its myth, all that was left was cosmic horror. All that was low that was left. Yeah, yeah. We got a we got a munchkin.
00:11:00
Speaker
and Hey, kid. What's on your nose? Is that sticker? Yeah, it's a sticker. It's a pinball sticker thing. It's a star. Okay, got yeah yeah it. It was blurry at first because you came out of the blurry background.
00:11:19
Speaker
And I couldn't tell if that was part of the blur effect or not. me How's it going, kid? ah Good. Yeah? Mm-hmm. i heard ah it's I heard it was very chilly today down there in Florida for you guys.
00:11:36
Speaker
No, it wasn't. It was very hot. I was dying. Yeah, we we had ah we had a pretty warm day today, too. was 60 degrees. It was beautiful. boom
00:11:52
Speaker
Yeah, a ton of rain. um I think we actually get the most rain in the country ah wow in terms of days, rainy days. um See, because it that I would enjoy.
00:12:02
Speaker
Yeah, and but it's not like a normal rainy day where it's just like gray all day. It's like between the hours of two and four in the afternoon. It's like oh it like a thunderstorm hits and then it clears out for sun again.
00:12:17
Speaker
Yeah. The sun comes out and we can all play again. Yep. Exactly. Yeah. That makes sense. So the great worm, huh? Yeah. Yeah. The great worm. um the this This is probably of any book I've ever read. The book that makes me want to play a role playing game the most.
00:12:37
Speaker
Yeah. ah It is just one really well-defined thing. a clan slash club slash army after another, and i fucking love them for it. It's so great.
00:12:50
Speaker
ah Yeah, I was like is this like, is this supposed to be based on the Jormungandr myth? is like is this Is this some Norse mythology? And you're like, no.
00:13:03
Speaker
No, it is a fucking earthworm. It's a fucking worm. i I love it. I it. It chewed up the earth and it pooped out life. um And these tunnels are clearly carved by the worm and machines are an abomination and all this stuff.
00:13:22
Speaker
um i I laugh, but if I were in that world, I think I'd be ah just two bad months away from joining that cult. joining the worm cult. Yeah. i I know who I am. I'm not proud of it. Yeah. Yeah.
00:13:37
Speaker
So ah humans became unworthy ah by killing each other and only enemies may be eaten. There's like this whole bit about like, well, who's an enemy? And we're like, well, you're an enemy. ah But the kid is not an enemy, even though he is he's the child of an enemy and they're not enemies until they're older. So we don't need kids. We don't eat kids. Don't eat kids. Period. ah We educate kids.
00:14:01
Speaker
um So ah some more worm heads enter. And one of them is the guy who beat up Artyom the other night. And through some mental probing, he extracts Artyom's memories, learning how they followed the hatch and came searching for Oleg. The captors order the hatch seal and confirm that Artyom and Anton will be kept until the next day's ritual feast in honor of the great worm.
00:14:25
Speaker
ah And then the chapter ends with Artyom demanding to know what happened to Oleg. Yeah. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Chapter 17, Artyom and Anton are still being held captive by the tribe. ah They're bound in a dark cell. Artyom is talking to one of the tribe's men, Drawn, about his beliefs. And Drawn explains that the Great Worm created the world and the tunnels and the priests interpret its will. And that enemies, especially those you who use machines, are evil and may be eaten.
00:14:58
Speaker
ah Children, this is what I was saying earlier, children are not considered ah enemies and they are taken to be indoctrinated. ah The tribe's priest joins the conversation, elaborates on the mythology. And according to him, who humanity angered the great worm through arrogance and reliance on machines with a destroying the world and madness.
00:15:18
Speaker
The worm punished mankind by taking away its intellect, leading to nuclear devastation. and those who have renounced technology, uh, are spared and will inherit the earth when the enemies fall. Oleg is brought in and is made to denounce his father, Anton. So this is basically like the moment in, um, in, uh,
00:15:39
Speaker
ah temple of doom where short rounds it like dr jones is like uh is being like brainwashed and short round like burns him to wake him up um yeah that's kind of what i think of here yeah uh yeah yeah under the priest's guidance so well for short round Yeah. Oleg declares that his father deserves death. After sending Oleg away, the priest admits to Artyom that he invented the great worm. as what who What? What? Huh? The priest was just making shit up. Organized religion. Betrayal. ah
00:16:18
Speaker
Yeah. The priest was a philosopher and psychologist before the war and is like, yeah, i need to use myths to shape behavior. Wow. And cannibalism is a temporary necessity.
00:16:30
Speaker
yeah that I don't know. That one, that i yeah i admit we got a little out of hand. with We might have gotten a little carried away with the cannibalism, but everything else is pretty above board. everything but But pretty good, right? like Pretty good otherwise. I got these people whipped into shape.
00:16:44
Speaker
You didn't do it. You didn't it. yeah i I lived up there. I know what it takes. I know how this works. I'm ah i'm a philosophy major. i think I know a thing or two. I'm a philosophy major. I've read Kant.
00:17:00
Speaker
Yeah. ah Did you? Did you? Good. oh you Oh, you have. You have. Oh. Well, I actually haven't. i I've heard of him.
00:17:13
Speaker
just thought it would be really cool if there was a ah ah D the earthworm. and earthworm Earthworm Jim. ah Yeah. The priest describes... Jesus. ah So basically, the the captives... ah they The priest talks them through the seasoning process. ah The captives are beaten ah to death in sacks to tenderize the meat.
00:17:36
Speaker
Jesus Christ.
00:17:39
Speaker
It's like, well, we can't just like kill you and then eat you. We have to actually beat you we have to beat you to death because that's how your meat will taste the best.
00:17:50
Speaker
I'm like, okay, so it's a real... It's a real veal situation here. you do you know why? Do you know why ah when we slaughter ah cows and pigs and any other animal that we eat on a regular basis that we do it in as calm, non-threatening a way as possible?
00:18:11
Speaker
ah Because cortisol gets into the meat and makes it taste like shit if they're scared before we kill them. Yeah. it it like And I have to believe that's going to that's gonna be like a human. Maybe they're just some real cortisol heads, you know? They just love that cortisol flavor.
00:18:28
Speaker
I just have to believe that at some point in the bag, you're going to get a little stressed out. You're going to a stressed out. little stressed out. Yeah, sure.
00:18:38
Speaker
Just fill that bag. Ugh. um as So ah before any of that happens, Melnick, here comes Melnick. He's saving the day.
00:18:51
Speaker
ah Gets to the station. He's just shooting people left and right. ah Rescues Artyom and Anton. He's got Oleg. Oleg only pretended to join the tribe, of course, so that he could lead the rescuers to his father. Anton is alive, but still paralyzed by the needles.
00:19:08
Speaker
And the squad ah just fights their way out. they're They're using flashlights. They're shooting people. They got grenades. ah they the ah The hypnotic mutant that read his mind earlier, RTM's mind earlier, just destroyes tries to mobilize the squad. But RTM shoots at him with gunfire.
00:19:28
Speaker
And they're able to get out of there because Oleg had found another tunnel. ah One of their soldiers, one of Melnick's guys is killed, ah but then the tribe refuses to follow them into the quote unquote holy passages, claiming they are forbidden and dangerous.
00:19:43
Speaker
ah they recruit They get back together, regroup deeper into the tunnels. Melnick then questions the priest ah about the missiles and a hidden military installation. The priest is like, no this is what I'm talking about.
00:19:56
Speaker
You people and this is why i the worm way is the best way. ah
00:20:05
Speaker
Dron, who was with them, that they had captured also, started to say, starts basically having a breakdown because the priest finally admits under pressure that the worm does not exist in front of Dron who is, and Dron just basically dies mentally.
00:20:22
Speaker
He just has a complete shutdown and Melnick is like, Jesus Christ, and just just takes out a gun and shoots Dron in the head and be like, I don't have time for this. Good I feel like I would at that point do the same thing. I'm like, because so I've been, Oh, Oh, I've been following.
00:20:41
Speaker
I believed in a great worm. ah that doesn't exist. It's like, we're going to shoot you now. Yeah. Great. Thank you. Let's just wrap it up. oh ah Can I load from an earlier save? This sucks.
00:20:55
Speaker
ah um the And the priest kills himself um by ah with a poison needle that he had.
00:21:07
Speaker
um Or did that that that happen yet? We'll get there. Anyway, they continue going and then ah they're going through the tunnel and they believe they're in Metro 2 now.
00:21:17
Speaker
ah They ah ah find a station that nobody knows about called Solvman and Dom Pravistala RF. ah which is might be a secret government line.
00:21:29
Speaker
ah They keep going and Artyom for reflects on the collapse of belief systems and the exposures of myth. It feels disillusioned sensing that faith and secrets once offered meaning, but now somehow this is in a great moment where Artyom basically becomes the enlightened centrist where he's like, he's like fascism and communism.
00:21:49
Speaker
they're the same. They're the same. They're just beliefs. And I'm like, art it's your buddy. He's like it's like, he's like the great worm and the Christians are the same. And the it's like,
00:22:02
Speaker
All right, Tim, you got to be able to like extract some sort of context between these different belief systems. Maybe we let you out too soon. Yeah, he's very young. i mean, you was twenty what who among us has not met the 20 year old centrist who claps himself on the back for for being so wise and level headed in a world full of madness? Yeah. Yeah.
00:22:25
Speaker
may Meanwhile, the group has continued walking while he's just standing there having this moment. Yeah. Yeah. it's It's basically scrubs where JD would like fade off and like have one of his little flashback fantasies. That's what he's doing, but way, way deeper.
00:22:45
Speaker
Yeah. ah Chapter 18, they they continue through some tunnels. Artyom thinks he hears a train ah and Melnick's like, that's not possible. It's probably water.
00:22:57
Speaker
um The tunnel dries up as they advance and they pass some abandoned sight rooms, sealed doors and evidence of a vast Metro 2 network. The elderly priest. OK, here we go. ah The elderly priest they captured it slows the group ah while Anton is still delirious on the stretcher.
00:23:17
Speaker
They enter a station ah marked Genshtab. Melnick and Ullman scout it out and report the station is abandoned but not deserted, bearing symbols of the Great Worm. ah There's a hand-drawn diagram indicating that this branch leads to the Kremlin, where a central transfer connects to Majeskovia.
00:23:35
Speaker
Melnick decides to proceed through the Kremlin route. The priest panics at the mention of the Kremlin. This is where he kills himself. Yeah. So they keep going. is it They ah approach the Kremlin and Anton's delirium intensifies. And they're at this time, Archiem's like, isn't the Kremlin the place we're not supposed to go?
00:23:53
Speaker
ro i I must be getting things mixed up, right? OK.
00:24:00
Speaker
ah Well, they they encounter worm symbols marking a ah red warning. ah As they get closer, the atmosphere gets worse and Ullman starts telling stories about how biological weapons were used on the Kremlin early in the war.
00:24:14
Speaker
ah Consuming... consuming its inhabitants and creating a deadly phenomenon that lures victims like a funnel. Uh, like basically that's, he talks about this thing called a doodle bug, um, which basically like digs down into sand. And ah then, uh, there's a kitty, Jonesy.
00:24:37
Speaker
oh he's a little Jonesy cat. He's, he's a happy boy these days. Just little tail waggling back and forth. it's some It's some ambiance. The people love ambiance. Thanks, Josh. You're great, big guy.
00:24:54
Speaker
Make sure you get your anus in front of the camera before for we're done here, okay? I think that people really appreciate that. Yeah, that' that'll get us some tips. Yeah, people love it.
00:25:05
Speaker
People love it. ah The doodlebug, basically it digs down and then it like creaks like a quicksand type thing. And then other bugs walk over that spot and it gets sucked down. It's like, that's what the Kremlin is.
00:25:18
Speaker
It's an antlion. It's an antlion. But I've never heard it called a doodlebug before. i mean I'm sure these people didn't know what the fuck it was at all. But yeah, they're describing an antlion.
00:25:31
Speaker
Yeah. um So, ah but basically they're like, maybe the Kremlin isn't even there. ah You just imagine that's there to be pulled into it. And i was like, that's creepy. Yeah.
00:25:46
Speaker
So they they keep going. And ah while they're exploring, they approach two escalators, ah one going up, one going down without. But it's there's no machinery.
00:25:59
Speaker
ah And then both escalators begin moving downward. And then suddenly there's basically the blob ah shows up. Yeah. it's the blob. It's the fucking blob.
00:26:12
Speaker
Uh, it, it shows up, starts coming through the steps, uh, and they have to escape. They climb on top of one of the trains and soon the mass, the blob fills the station.
00:26:25
Speaker
Um, one of the fighters just disappears during the chaos and then Melnick, uh, orders everybody to hold hands and they keep speaking and singing.
00:26:35
Speaker
They're just singing songs to try to resist the mental influence that. So basically, basically think of the blob, but also it can read your mind and pull and tell you to come into it.
00:26:48
Speaker
Yeah. Um, So they start singing war songs and all this stuff. And then, uh, one of the soldiers, uh, just, uh, uh, on Nisey and Ogany Sion, I believe his name was, uh, he's just like,
00:27:04
Speaker
I, he, it's basically like that guy's death earlier where he's like, I'm dead. And he like just steps off and falls into the blob. It's fucking horrifying. Like, like it's so just like the first it's, it's really effective. Yeah. In a way you wouldn't expect. Yeah. Yeah.
00:27:23
Speaker
yeah And then our good friend Dimitri follows up with the one-two punch of like, oh man, that's horrifying. This guy just, what is Oleg doing? Oleg just like smiles at everybody and just runs off the train and jumps into it.
00:27:41
Speaker
And it's just fine. I'm sure he's fine. Yeah. He's fine. Right. Yeah. That's obvious. I mean, that's just, it'd be silly. Otherwise it'd be silly if he was captured by cannibals only to be saved for a few moments and then eaten by,
00:27:58
Speaker
The blob, right? Right. That would be, that would be i don't know, unnecessarily cruel and unusual. Yeah. well You know what would be even worse is if Anton woke up right about, oh, he woke wakes up. Yeah.
00:28:12
Speaker
Yeah. But at least not in a St. Elsewhere kind of way. that could be Could have been worse. couldve been Yeah. He wakes up and ah Anton basically is like, ah what happened to my boy?
00:28:27
Speaker
um And everybody finally snaps the fuck out of it. Melnick takes the the flamethrower backpack from one of the guys and just throws it into the blob and then shoots it with a gun.
00:28:39
Speaker
and blows it up and sets it on fire a little bit. And the thing, um could also be the thing, the blob, uh, retreats away. um Yeah.
00:28:51
Speaker
So I mean, effective, you can't, can't, can't criticize for, you know, efficiency. Efficiency. It was good. It was a good move, Melnick. ah I wish you had thought about it like five minutes earlier. Let me even 30 seconds. I don't know. I don't know about how long it is. Is Oleg still like dissolving into the, into the, like, Oh,
00:29:17
Speaker
how How much of it is left? can we Can we? You have seen the 1980s version of The Blob, right? Oh, my God. I've seen it. Yes, that is. that is wit oh When the kid is in the sewers and you're like, nothing's going to happen to the kids.
00:29:33
Speaker
Oh, yeah. No, no. dick Get that out of your head. that's That's because you'll never get it out of your head. You'll never get it out of your head. I, you know, the thing about my, my wife and i every September and October, and I've talked about this on the show before we watch a lot of horror movies. And a big part of that is because Emily grew up without them and was surprised when she found out that so many of them are really doable. They're, they're fine. You know, it's not such a big deal. And, and, it and, or it could be a really fascinating if traumatic experience. um I have never, I've never,
00:30:11
Speaker
even considered suggesting the blob remake ah because she hates body horror and it is disgusting and gruesome on a level that might not be matched. Like it is, it is a fucking horror movie. Like that is, that is a scary goddamn movie. And it, I mean, yeah, there's, there's a few movies in the 1980s that really are just pure body horror. i mean, obviously you got the thing, uh, you got the blob, american you got American werewolf, American world, but yeah y'all you got the fly, yeah and, uh, you got society.
00:30:54
Speaker
Um, i still never haven't seen society. I've never watched it. I've seen the scenes of body horror in it. Right. right it's, uh, um,
00:31:08
Speaker
A lot of KY jelly in those scenes. Oh, sure. Sure. i would hope so. Uh, so the group is going there. They're fleeing through the tunnel. Um, they get to, uh, Tavarskaya and RTM is like, so what are we doing?
00:31:26
Speaker
And Milnick is like, yeah, this is the right passage passage. Uh, I, I looked at a diagram as we were leaving. This is the right way to go. Uh, Anton is dead on the inside.
00:31:38
Speaker
um And he kind of snaps out of it for a moment. It's like, yeah, i used to, I was a missile guy. um And they're like, hu we need a missile guy. um Weird.
00:31:53
Speaker
RTM explains the threat at Vidienka and Anton's like, all right, well, my son's dead. I guess I got nothing else to do but shoot missiles. Yeah, sure. i'll help I'll help you with your missile cult. Sounds good.
00:32:06
Speaker
Yeah. ah they continue and locate a fork matching the app's description a dead end with a collapse pressurized gate and a hidden passage in the floor behind a grill leading toward the missile division the group rests briefly our team falls asleep and dreams of wandering dark tunnels attempting to confront an unseen presence and fleeing again Upon weaking, Milnik's like, here's how we're doing it.
00:32:27
Speaker
ah The missile unit is 20 kilometers that way on the surface. It's accessible via the tunnel and the bunker below, but they got to split up. Of course they do. Milnik is taking a few people. We're going to the missiles. Our team and Ullman, you're going ah to the metro at Prospect Mir in 12 hours. They got to reach the surface and seek radio contact.
00:32:49
Speaker
so that they can be the spotters for where the missiles need to go ah to the botan at the Botanical Gardens where the Dark One's Nest is believed to be located. Melnick is like, here's a tower, Austin Kino Tower for observation, um and here's some alternate vantage points. And then RTM just got to get on the radio and communicate the targeting corrections to the ah missile crew. Before departing, Melnick returns Artyom's recovered belongings, a passport and a children's book he left behind at Kievskaya.
00:33:22
Speaker
ah The group parts without formal fell war fell farewells. Melnick and his team head towards the missile installation while Artyom prepares to carry out his gerb. Okay.
00:33:35
Speaker
Chapter 19, Artyom and Ullman descend through a manhole into a concrete shaft. omen ah And Ullman goes from being just like a soldier dude to be like, I am in charge now.
00:33:46
Speaker
And yeah at one point they come across one of the cannibals, but he was asleep. And Ullman just like shoots the guy in the head before he wakes up. And Artyom's like, he was asleep.
00:33:57
Speaker
And Ullman's like, yeah. Yeah. but he could have woken up. Yeah, that was you're right. That was a gimme. yeah Yeah, that was a real, that was a layup. What am I going to do?
00:34:08
Speaker
Yeah, that was too easy. Love it. ah So they continue going through. ah They use Daniel's map ah and navigate toward Mayakovskaya and sneak around a fourth Reich post.
00:34:24
Speaker
ah At Mayakovskaya, they find ah not a lot. There's a few rats and mushrooms and moss to eat. Art Jam witnesses. a woman trying to buy food for her son and RTM tries to give them money. And he's like, no, just take the money. And the woman's like, no you're, you can't have my boy.
00:34:44
Speaker
um and our team's like, I don't want your boy. And she's like, fine, I'll give them to you for 20 cartridges. Just do whatever you want to them. Just don't tell me. And our team's like, what the fuck lady? I i don't want your boy. Fine. 10 cartridges. You talked me down.
00:35:03
Speaker
I was like, i was like, Jesus Christ. Yeah. Yeah. it's like We're not doing great. I don't know if you noticed. We're not doing so good.
00:35:16
Speaker
So they carry on towards Bieloroskia. um And it's a trading hub that's ah under the Hansa. ah And they got livestock farming and they got pork and poultry and and all that stuff. And they trade with everybody. The fascists, the communists, everybody.
00:35:34
Speaker
um There's fascist officers present, but they're not like really doing it. Because remember, Archim's wanted by the fascists um for... Being there, I believe, if I recall correctly, was the crime. I think that was it. Yeah. Yeah.
00:35:52
Speaker
and ah They get on a hand car there to Prospect Mir. And while they're there, RTM is having another dream about a dark one, but then wakes up.
00:36:03
Speaker
They get to Prospect Mir and find that there's a lot of military there. And they're preparing to destroy the tunnel to Vidyanka. ah Basically, the dark ones have been assaulting Vidyanka. People are dead, missing. And Prospect Mir is like, you know what? We're just going to shut shut this shit down.
00:36:22
Speaker
um probably Probably the best thing, really. Probably for the best, yeah. Yeah. So, ah so there's a bunch of refuge refugees from Vidyanka.
00:36:34
Speaker
Ullman arranges surface transport with a contact named Pashka, ah including weapons, suits, and a vehicle. Our team insists on returning to Vidyanka to say goodbye. And Ullman's like, well, uh, fine. Okay. Uh, you can go say goodbye, but you got to meet me by the surface entrance to Vidyanka in five hours.
00:36:54
Speaker
And he gives Artyom his watch. ah Artyom heads towards Vidyanka and shit is not great. um A lot of people are dead.
00:37:07
Speaker
Kirill, he finds Kirill and Kirill tells him that Zenka has been killed, but Sukhoi is alive. ah He goes the Artyom and he sees a bunch of wounded men and others driven insane by the Dark One's psychic influence.
00:37:21
Speaker
Sukhoi tells him that the Dark One's attack on waves, driving defenders mad with howling before tearing them apart. And the supplies from Prospect Mirror have been insufficient.
00:37:33
Speaker
Artyom tells Sukhoi that Hansa will soon blow the tunnels. And Sukhoi is like, I'm not evacuating. I got i can't abandon these people. I'm holding the station as long as possible. And Artyom's like, well, I can stay with you. And Sukhoi is like, no, you got to complete your mission.
00:37:48
Speaker
ah And he's like emphasizing that Artyom understands the Dark One's abilities better than others. Sukhoi also reveals that fan favorite, Khan, was there a week earlier saying, Artyom will return.
00:38:03
Speaker
And boy howdy was Khan right. I mean, this guy. Inscrutable. Yeah. just Just pure, pure fucking prophet is what that man is. He is what the kids call aura farming. um Yeah.
00:38:19
Speaker
No, how does he do it? How does he do it? And he lefts he left a note for Artyom. It says, he who is brave and patient enough to peer into the darkness his whole life will be the first to see a flicker of light in it.
00:38:35
Speaker
It's or tim's like, what the fuck does this mean? Yeah, it's like, a great, fine. Like that would have made that would have made a difference in our team's mind if ah if this was like three months ago. Yeah. You'd be like, wow, I wonder all means. And i now if this is all right. Our team has been, you know, nearly executed by so many people. Yeah. I just watched a little kid get dissolved. i don't have, just don't have, I don't have it in me ah for fortune cookies right now. Right. excellent Thank you. No, no, please, please try someone else.
00:39:10
Speaker
So our team and Sukhoi spend time with each other and like RTM telling Sukhoi about everything. And then after, before he leaves, RTM shows Sukhoi, the photo of the mother and the kid. And he's like, is this my mom? And Sukhoi is like, I'm going to be honest with you, bud.
00:39:27
Speaker
I didn't look at her. but There were a lot of rats. I took you while she was being eaten by rats. I can't really. Yeah.
00:39:38
Speaker
yeah um My word for it here. Yeah. So our team like leaves realizing that this is probably the last time he's ever going to see Sukhoi nearly calls him. Dad doesn't ah probably would have probably should have, you know, so some level of of closure on that end.
00:39:58
Speaker
Yeah. So he goes, goes to the surface. um And as he gets up there, Ullman and Poshka are not there yet. And he just starts looking around while waiting for them.
00:40:12
Speaker
ah he gets As he's at the surface near Vidyanka, he listens for the dark ones. The botanical gardens are closed, but the area is quiet except for some distant howling. ah He discovers a shallow trench filled with dark liquid encircling the pavilion.
00:40:27
Speaker
While exploring some nearby kiosks, he finds one fortified currency exchange booth with a digital lock. On the windowsill, it's written, Bury Me the Human Wade Code 767. or seven six seven And then just then a flying mutant attacks overhead. RTM enters the code and hides inside.
00:40:44
Speaker
ah Inside is a mummified body of a young woman surrounded by writing and covering the walls. Her entries describe the first days of the war. This is real video game shit right here. Oh, big this is a video game environmental storytelling. yeah Sealing yourself inside to avoid radioactive fallout.
00:41:01
Speaker
Failed attempts to enter the metro blocked by an iron barrier. Widespread death in the streets. Bombing, sickness, hallucinations, and despair. She records her gradual physical decline, vomiting, loneliness, and fading hope that life will return to normal.
00:41:13
Speaker
On July 14th, she writes her final message. Thanks someone for finazepram and says goodnight. Uh, RTM waits out the repeated blows from the flying creature and reflects on our hope that civilization will recover and questions whether humanity will ever reclaim the surface.
00:41:28
Speaker
A horn sounds outside. RTM looks outside and wouldn't you know it? There's a sick red six wheel truck. flying it over with blue lights. Two flying mutants are attacking it, but it's got a gun. It's like, it's like, this is the most in this book. This is the most team America book. Yeah. moment book It does kind of jump the shark here a little less like, what the fuck?
00:41:56
Speaker
Because it used to be like, because like basically the first 90% leading up to this has been like, we're creeping through these sewers and there are different cults and all kinds of pain and death and devastation. Eat another mushroom, drink more mushroom tea. And and then like suddenly it's like, and the fucking truck just, blow you know, ah fucking bad guys are like, yeah um say holy shit. It's got a big fucking gun on the back of It's going,
00:42:26
Speaker
yeah there's not unlimited ammo bro it's got the infinity symbol on the ammo it's got the infinity symbol on the ammo you don't gotta worry about that shit no man add the thingny and then he fucking hits his alt and boom just fucking
00:42:44
Speaker
of there brah out of there brah um So ah the creatures stop following them after they get the the truck. um ah had just it's just It's just a Ford F-150 in my head. Yeah.
00:43:01
Speaker
Yeah. i don't There's no reason to think that it's anything like futuristic or fancy. Quite the opposite, in fact. No, it's a fucking Chevy Silverado and Tom Seger is blaring out the wind, like a rock. That's yeah pretty much it. Like a Jesus.
00:43:23
Speaker
got to bring Seeger back, man. um we we We deserve him. we We need him in a time. We need him when at the tired darkest of times. We need our Seeger back. Yes, we do. Can't you believe Chevy moved on from him. I mean, that's just seems rude.
00:43:40
Speaker
Seems rude. and So the drive, drive through the streets towards the tower. And ah there's like Pavel describes ah surviving attacks by mutated dogs. ah The truck gets is driving over asphalt and rubble. And ah the RTM sees a massive damaged tower rising above the city and reflects on survival.
00:44:04
Speaker
ah They get to the tower base and Ullman dissembles radio antenna to contact Melnick, but there's nothing. So they decide to climb higher. Inside the structure, they send hundreds of steps in protective suits struggling with exhaustion.
00:44:16
Speaker
ah RTM forces himself onward thinking the Metro's inhabitants and the life he is trying to preserve. After an arduous climb of 800 steps, they reach the observation level and basically they can see Moscow stretching out in all directions as dawn approaches.
00:44:31
Speaker
Ullman orders Artyom and Pavel to deploy the longer antenna. And from there, Artyom observes the gardens and Vidyenka transformed into a vast organic mass resembling an anthill, a living pulsating membrane with black figures moving across it. He sees the dark ones entering the Vidyenka entrance.
00:44:51
Speaker
Olman establishes radio contact. Melnick reports that four preserved missile launchers have been found and are operational. Coordinates are transmitted, including those ah those for sealing the station.
00:45:02
Speaker
While waiting, Artyom again looks through the but binoculars at the Dark One's anthill, and Ullman announces the missile launch. And then suddenly, Artyom experiences a vision. ah He's in a black tunnel confronting a Dark One.
00:45:14
Speaker
And through some telepathic contact, he finally understands them. Oh, they're a new form of life born from the death of humanity. They're adapted to this world and they actually just want to save us.
00:45:25
Speaker
They don't want to kill us. And they've been trying to communicate with us. But every time they communicate with us, we shoot them. And they've been trying to find the human intermediary to talk. And it's actually Artyom is that intermediary. He literally is the chosen one. He can bridge the gap between two speed and then the missiles hit.
00:45:45
Speaker
Yeah. Oh. Oh. Oh. oh The missiles hit and the dark ones are killed.
00:45:56
Speaker
So, and the botanical gardens in Vidyanka are just absolutely obliterated and RTM takes the gas mask off and just breathes the the the bitter air and as he wipes away the tears, he goes back home to the metro. Yeah.
00:46:17
Speaker
The end. The end.
00:46:22
Speaker
And I sent you that. Has himself a little cry. Yeah. So I sent Phil the clip from The Simpsons where they think there's like an alien and it's it comes out of the forest saying, I bring you love. um And Lenny goes, it's bringing love. Get it.
00:46:42
Speaker
Yeah. It's bringing love. And that's basically this ending is Artyom suddenly realizing that the dark ones aren't trying to hurt humans. They just don't have a way of communicating with us and that they just need somebody who's able to to to hear them and speak to humans.
00:47:03
Speaker
And, oh whoops. Oopsie. Melnick's four missiles worked.
00:47:12
Speaker
Nothing left of them. Yeah, that finally worked out. That was good. Yeah. Yeah. They got one plot thread resolved. they got the They got the missiles.
00:47:22
Speaker
Exactly. And that's what's important. So, Phil, what'd you think? Oh man, it was so bleak. So fucking bleak, but God, this guy's a good fucking writer. Hey, remember for the moment when we had a bit, when when we had a big fucking truck, that was cool. Right. That was cool. We all enjoyed that. ah you It's the world's building, the characters that just the, the, the Alice in Wonderland odyssey,
00:47:53
Speaker
of it. um It's a very good book. It's a very good book. I don't know where the people who adapted it into a video game were coming from on this. I stand by what I said last time. I feel like this, if you're going to adapt this into a video game, one would think it should be like a four X or some kind of strategy game or something like that. It doesn't, a shooter kind of misses a lot of the finer points of this book. um Yeah. Yeah.
00:48:26
Speaker
But it's but it's it's an exceptional piece of work. The amount of times that Artyom actually shoots anything, very limited in the 400 plus one pages of this book.
00:48:40
Speaker
Yeah, yeah it's not it's not a shooter. it's not It's not that kind of a story. ah it's Again, it's quite the opposite. um So yeah, it's it's wonderful. It's bleak. It's got that. I feel like Hideo Kojima could have adapted this.
00:48:57
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, but Kojima would have would had a lot of fun with this. He would have made it even more heavy-handed. Right, right. if He would have had somebody called Dark One Man and yeah like they would have, you know, yeah. it But i would I would have actually, i would have loved to have seen that. i yeah I would love to see a strategy game in this world. Like that could still happen.
00:49:18
Speaker
Yeah. um Where you're just trying to like, you're like, you're the head of a metro, you know? Yeah, yeah. yeah And make it make it fucking hard. Do like, um what was that game that was so sad and bleak and it was really, really hard? um This war. ah This war is mine.
00:49:36
Speaker
This war. crime Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That one. Do something like that with this. like Like you're searching the Metro for like whatever scraps you can find. Make it really fucking belligerent against the player to give them that feeling. I feel like that would be a really good game.
00:49:52
Speaker
Yeah, no, I agree. ah i mean, i and I also think it could have be it could be ah could have been a fucking point and click. yeah yeah I mean, that would not have sold as well. um It could have been, i think there was also room for a CRPG style. Yeah, yeah definitely. CRPG 100%. Definitely something in the style of like, you know, Disco Elysium or the Zaum.
00:50:20
Speaker
style ah CRPGs that have kind of spawned since then. um Yeah, I think that would been bre there's a number of ways, better ways for this to have been adapted. And I'm not saying this like if you love the game, then that's fine. You can love the game. I'm just saying coming from this source material, the going like the shoot the a first person shooter adventure is kind of like a weird thing.
00:50:52
Speaker
more of a odd choice. It just, it just, it doesn't feel like it would have been anybody's first or even second choice to adapt. Right. But, but you know, it got a lot of attention that way. Maybe it's more attention than it would have gotten if it had been some other kind of genre, who knows?
00:51:11
Speaker
Yeah. Um, but yeah, just, uh, uh, Good one. We are, we are, you know, when it comes to reading books that video games were based on, ah there's There are not a lot of ah whiffers. this is This has been pretty good. no, they've all been good. I mean, and we got you know this, The Witcher, um fucking the other one. ah i just said it, the Disco Elysium book. ah Yeah, yeah. ah ah Great and terrible air or whatever it is. Sacred, terrible. Yeah, sacred and terrible air.
00:51:45
Speaker
Thunderstorm, who knows. Yeah. ah Yeah, I mean, it's... and ah You know, i still kind of get some chills. I get some chills thinking about the concept of sacred and terrible air, just like of like things stop ceasing to exist because people stop thinking about them.
00:52:03
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. i I really do want to go back and read that again, just on my own time. You know, it's like, obviously we read these and and we're analyzing them that we're thinking about them a lot.
00:52:17
Speaker
um when it comes to the show, but I feel like something like coming back to something like that would be really valuable in terms of just like sitting down on your own time with no deadline looming and just read it. I feel like I, that, that might be one of the books, probably the book we've read on this show that I think I would get the most out of revisiting.
00:52:39
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. with The sacred and terrible air. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Uh, Phil, I do have a question for you still though. Sure. Hit me. the What are you playing? on Oh, oh, okay. um Well, I'm almost done with Valkyria Chronicles. I'm literally on the last mission of that. um But like a lot of strategy RPG kind of games like this, it it like...
00:53:07
Speaker
I have to go back and grind some more to get my characters up because the last level is basically impossible without loading up some of my classes. um Yeah. So I'm in the process of doing that. um But damn good game. um I played some demos. I played a demo for the second Morkborg game i've I've played a demo of this year. It's called Heresy Supreme.
00:53:34
Speaker
ah Whereas the last one was a um kind of a more traditional dungeon crawly RPG sort of thing. This is a side scroller, ah almost beat them up sort of thing, hack and slash kind of game. um It's done by the people. I don't know if you played this. I played the demo of it. It's done by the people who did the Texorcist.
00:53:57
Speaker
I did not play that. It's a typing game where you're an exorcist. Like, that's the whole thing. and and you But the thing is, unlike a lot of other typing games, you still have to move. You still have to move your character around and dodge and shit. So you're, like, moving with a mouse with one hand and, and like, dodging and ah typing in the prayers that you're saying to, like, to to defeat these demons with the other hand. Right. It it was a very clever idea, and and it got some attention in some circles. like that I don't think enough.
00:54:27
Speaker
Um, but this is, this is, um, another game that really understands the, the source material. Um, it's heavy metal, uh, grimdark for the sake of being grimdark, uh, uh, uh, nihilistic hack and slash kind of shit, um, with some, you know, with some, with, you know, quests and that sort of thing and the leveling process. Uh, uh,
00:54:56
Speaker
What I played of it was fun. it is just so slow. It is a it is you've got a stamina meter, which is fine. ah But your swings and I'm sure as you level up and you get better, it it becomes ah a little more streamlined. But Jesus Christ, I got so frustrated. I just love this art style, though.
00:55:21
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, it's fucking great. It looks good. It's like a little bit of a burn your retina situation with the yellow, but. Yeah. Yellow is kind of the the brand color of Morkborg. Right. um it's It's, yeah, it's got great, ah you know, it's great UX. It's it's just, it's a really good color.
00:55:45
Speaker
it's ah it's It's everything about it on an artistic level is fucking spot on. 100%. It just the the controls, the the action of it felt very slow. It felt slower than I thought it was going to be. And maybe that's part of the problem. ah But the demo is, you know, it's a very good indicator of what they're doing. And I think a lot of people get something out of it. I preferred what was the other one called? I preferred the other one.
00:56:16
Speaker
The dungeon crawler. Nope. Heresy Supreme. Yeah. here she said There was another one. Anyway, I can't find it, but it doesn't matter. There was a there was a dungeon crawler ah in the same universe that I really preferred. um and that was that was So that was a really interesting as experience. ah Sigils of Nightfall. That's what it was called. Okay. um It's the same. As in, it's a Morkborg thing. not yeah It wasn't made by the same developer.
00:56:46
Speaker
No, no. Different developer ah developer was Two Edges. Got it. Which also did that lurks within walls horror RPG that I'm looking forward to.
00:56:57
Speaker
Right. That was pretty good. um I also played a demo for a game called Heaven Does Not Respond. That's a foreboding title. Great title, right? ah This is another one of ah these analog horror games where you're in like Windows 95 and you're like, you know ah the root trees are dead style research and that sort of thing. ah But very horror oriented, very glitch horror. It would fuck with you. I know glitch horrors is one your dog bears. It is very much that ah very.
00:57:37
Speaker
What's the ah what's the creepypasta thing where it's like the X files, basically the organization? Oh, yeah. the ah Why am I blanking on it now?
00:57:49
Speaker
What would you say it was? Is it SPC? Yeah, s SPC. Yeah, it's very that um it's it's ah it's just done behind an old a computer where you've got the Internet, but it's like really early 90s Internet or mid 90s Internet. um It's really well.
00:58:11
Speaker
SCP. Thank you. Thank you. very I'm not that I'm an old man, ah but. It's really interesting. Um, the interface is really cool. I'm really, this is becoming a more and more popular genre. Uh, this you're sitting down in front of a fake computer and like trying to solve some sort of history or or puzzle or something. Holy shit. I love this genre. hey its It's, you know what it I feel like it is. It's almost like bureaucratic horror.
00:58:42
Speaker
Yeah, kind of. Yeah, yeah. You're not that you're always a bureaucrat, but you're you're working a desk job trying to do stuff. Right. You're um you're John Malkovich in Burn After Reading. You know, you're just some schmuck as a part of ah a bigger, scary organization. Right. And you get in over your head. Yeah. Inevitable. It's it's it's very.
00:59:03
Speaker
uh it's just really well done uh i and i and i i am growing to love this genre and this is a terrific uh example of it so i'm i'm looking forward to the full game being released i i really like it um let's see i am in i am just just i'm just working my way through every expansion of dawn of war uh for the dawn of war definitive edition i i uh finished ah The third one, it's not Soulstorm. it's
00:59:36
Speaker
It's another one. It's the one where you're like, it's one planet and you're like fighting all these different people for the planet. This game just keeps on giving. it's it's for For how much gameplay I'm getting out of this thing, it's a very addictive game.
00:59:51
Speaker
you know uh cycle and yeah really i fucking love it um yeah it's awesome every time i sit down i'm like i should play a new game i'm like well but i still have one more expansion on 40k donnaward definitive edition said i should probably just take care of that um What I did do is I bought Dino Crisis and donna crisis Dino Crisis 2.
01:00:15
Speaker
Okay. Because those have finally been released on PC. Yeah, they're on PC. You can get them now. They're five bucks a pop now. I'm just waiting for Capcom to be like, hey, and we got this. Let's let's make a new Dino Crisis. We got all these Resident Evils going.
01:00:34
Speaker
Why can't there be a new Dino Crisis? and and And the thing is, if you read the reviews, it's like people who are positive on it really enjoy it. And the people who are negative on it are kind of overwhelmingly overwhelmingly just pissed that they haven't gotten a new one. yeah know or or Or a a a you know remaster Resident Evil games have got. ah So I've never played these. I've always wanted the chance to play them. Right. And and so I'm really, I'm not going lie. I was going to just buy the first one and then buy the second one if I enjoyed it. And then I accidentally bought the second one first. And I was like, well, I better just go ahead and buy them both. I you
01:01:17
Speaker
nightmare you know so one' so unfair unfair it's like yeah it's like steam's like you know you can return free of you know no no you know i just i fucked up fucked up fucked up oh yeah okay well time to time to go ahead and play that game So yeah, I'm looking forward to that. ah Yeah. So that's awesome. Mostly me. Did I beat something else? I feel like I beat something else and I'm trying to remember it.
01:01:45
Speaker
Hang tight. Let me just, let me just check something real quick. Just go ahead. and well Why don't you ah let me know ah what have you been playing? All right, let's see. i have been playing, ah still been playing a bit of Mugenics.
01:02:02
Speaker
i I want to play that game. That looks great. It's made by the the guy who made a Binding of Isaac. um Basically, that and listen, the I understand people have have said, you know, had some concerns about the, you know, that some of the people who who voiced some of the meows are like controversial figures or or bad dudes. ah that Bad dudes and dudettes. It's like basically everybody is involved in this game.
01:02:34
Speaker
Some of them are bad people. And... ah Sure. Should he patch them out? Yeah, probably. But also somebody else pointed out like when you start looking at Edmund McMullen as kind of like a John Waters of video gaming and he really does not care ah he's about he's just like He's like doing shit to be transgressive or whatever. We're like, okay, it's fine. um He really is one of the last people that genuinely does not give a shit. Yeah. and You can't help but respect that on some level.
01:03:08
Speaker
so On some level. ah So basically the game eugenics ah is about you have cats. You have cats. you're When you first would wake up, by you're woken up by a scientist who does science to you ah to wake you up.
01:03:26
Speaker
ah He says, pick two cats of these three. And when you pick two of the cats, the other cat gets just jumped, dumped into a blender. And he says, the parts will go to good use. um And you take the two cats and then you you go to a house and then the cats just...
01:03:42
Speaker
Cats just bang ah to give you more cats. And then you take the cats out and to an adventure and it becomes XCOM for bit. um does.
01:03:54
Speaker
Yeah. And then you go back to fucking um like the your bait after the adventure, you know, the cats surviving cats go back to your base and those cats are retired and those cats just live in the house and they they fight and they bang and they to produce more kitties.
01:04:15
Speaker
um And then stray cats occasionally come in. the And the idea is you're just trying to keep the good cats. This is like where the genics, the eugenics pun comes in.
01:04:28
Speaker
ah Where you're just trying to breed ah really good stats. um So you send the cats off. There's like these other characters that you can send cats to.
01:04:41
Speaker
ah you you send the cats to them and you're like, here's the cat. ah don't ah ah Don't tell me what you're going to do to the cat. um And like, there's like a It's like such a morbid humor in the game coming from, i mean, it's coming from the gentleman who brought you Binding Isaac, which is yeah an abused kid fighting through his demons with his tears as he asphyxiates that he's imagining, by the way, as he asphyxiates slowly in a toy box.
01:05:14
Speaker
there's That's the story of Binding of Isaac. he goes it He locks himself in his toy box and he's dying. and the The game is his the last gasp of his brain. Yeah. It's a great game. ah One of the best roguelikes of all time. um Anyway. i mean it's It's amazing. so amazing um So, Mugenics. Uh...
01:05:42
Speaker
I can't even say the name is unfortunate just because it's like, sure, it's eugenics and meowing together from eugenics, but also
01:05:55
Speaker
can't get too worked up over it. i have a hard time getting mad about it. I just yeah i just i just don't care. and And maybe that's me. Maybe I'm dying i'm dying inside. i don't know.
01:06:06
Speaker
Yeah. um So it's... But hey, game's fucking good. I'll tell you what. That Edmund McMullin knows how to make a good game. um Other game I've been playing more than that this week, though. Goddamn, already 10 hours.
01:06:21
Speaker
um Crystal Theater of Idols, which is... Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's basically if you took a ah Resident Evil... So imagine Resident Evil 4.
01:06:34
Speaker
specifically for right and but then you also added the first person style of resi evil eight okay now take them bam put them together right right you have this thing and you're gonna we're gonna set it aside okay and now you're like okay but now i need some like fucked up shit and you're like oh what's this it's spanish catholicism I'm gonna take that and go BAM! And I'm gonna put that on there too.
01:07:07
Speaker
So we got Resident Evil 4 which is set in Spain, right? um And then we got Resident Evil 8 which is like fucked up little town. So two Resident Evils with fucked up towns and we're going to put more Spanish Catholicism on there. We're going to really, ah and we're going to also take some like Lovecraftian fishing village bullshit. We're going to in there as well. and we're going to really squeeze it in there. That's Crystal, Theater of the Idol.
01:07:36
Speaker
um It's impressive. It's impressive. but It's the one with the really Baroque video ah weapons, right? like the Yeah. real Oh, and I forgot. lies in the found Take Lies of P and put it in there for good measure. um Because the the things that you're fighting are living statues. um which This looks great. Anyone who has a fear of animated statues born out of the Doctor Who episodes featuring the weeping angels, um you're in for a rough time.
01:08:10
Speaker
This one. ah Oh, God. Yeah. No, it's a small team that put it together. 20 20 person team.
01:08:21
Speaker
um I am playing it in Spanish ah with the the Spanish voice acting. um And it's a nice touch to to do it that way.
01:08:34
Speaker
ah But basically you play as a guy who is has a is on a mission from Gad ah to go investigate this island, which has seemingly been corrupted by the Church of ah the Sea.
01:08:49
Speaker
So you represent the sun. the which is the a god of this world the sea is another god um so you're there to be like well why is this island no longer worshiping the sun you gotta deal with it and uh this it's elmar obviously is the the sea in spanish um so you gotta deal with with that and um You go in and you die almost immediately, but then you're resurrected by the sun and filled with the sun's blood.
01:09:23
Speaker
And now your weapons go from like standard weapons into weapons that shoot, uh, are loaded with your blood and you make blood bullets, um, with your holy blood.
01:09:38
Speaker
I love it. And now when you absorb corpses, you like you absorb corpses to top off your health. Right. And when every time you absorb a person, you get some of their memories and also like a key item that they had on them recreated out of their memories.
01:09:57
Speaker
So like they might not even have the item anymore, but but because they had a memory of it, you recreate it with the blood. And it's just like, it's, it's cool.
01:10:11
Speaker
I mean, it's not like it's, it's got some jank. It's not a perfect game, but it's, it's got some cool stuff going on for it. So I can't complain.
01:10:24
Speaker
Nice. Yeah. Also, I beat Lovish. I mean, i I got to the end of Lovish and I'm pretty sure there's like another ending or something if I keep collecting the collectibles in it.
01:10:38
Speaker
I don't know if I'm going to do it, but it was a fun little platform while it lasted. And that's it. um Next week, we start our next book, which is Tex Murphy. Keep want again wanting to say Tex Avery.
01:10:52
Speaker
i um I have been i've had the same problem. I... I was looking in for a copy of the book and I couldn't figure out why until I was like, oh, it's it's got a little hot red riding hood with the Wolfie there. That's Tex. Oh, I see what I did. Avery. I see what did. Murphy is the one that we want. That's for now anyway. For now. Yeah. Yeah.
01:11:18
Speaker
Yeah. Looking forward to that one. Yes. It is a goofy goddamn FMV, ah but it looks like the books are taking themselves deadly serious. Oh, love it when they take themselves seriously.
01:11:30
Speaker
Absolutely. So um yeah I mean, it does this sometimes it's it's terrible. it It takes himself seriously and it's terrible. What was the last f FMV to book that we read? ah The fucking guest.
01:11:43
Speaker
Seventh guest. Yeah. God, that was a bad book. That was crazy. That was absolutely crazy, especially if you were playing. na Yeah.
01:11:55
Speaker
Just wild, wildly bad in in interesting ways. run yeah that's exactly it that's the thing I couldn't be mad at it because it was actually kind of interesting it was just bad yeah yeah so alright well that would do it um for tonight go follow us on social media pixelitpod on all things you know what I'm saying you know what I'm going to ask for and you know what I'm going to say going to say go birds ah the fuck ice and free Palestine goodnight Friday night