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SGF Live, Xbox Showcase, & Ubisoft Forward, Oh my! - Add to Party 06.13.2024
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This week we recap SGF Live, Xbox Showcase, and the Ubisoft Forward.
Recommended
Transcript
Playful Steroid Banter
00:00:15
Speaker
Welcome to Add to Party, a friendship simulator masquerading as a new show. I'm your host, James Hartwell, and I'm joined by Andy K, and I'm joined by. Derek Kostya. Shut up. There's too much news. It's been a while. What? I want to talk about how I'm on steroids. You're not on steroids. I am on steroids. It's safer than weed. I just found out, apparently, or classified lower than weed is doing. If anyone's on steroids, I'm on steroids. Oh, that's right. You're taking testosterone. That's right.
00:00:51
Speaker
you Yeah, you're taking fake steroids. I'm on the real stuff. You're on H.O. Is it HRT? No, I'm on a cordless cove. Like I'm on I'm on steroids for your skin. It comes out of a foam container. I'm having a break. I'm having a flare up of psoriasis right now. So
Game Conferences Overview
00:01:10
Speaker
steroids.
00:01:13
Speaker
But I work very good. All those blood vials they took last time came back and said, Uh, your immune system is not completely dead. Keep taking those shots. Oh, heck yeah. That's my big strong boy. Well, seriously, though, there is a lot of news because it's not E3. That's true. or
00:01:41
Speaker
E3 is dead and... um But it lives on in our hearts. Keely tried to take over, it but you know what? I think these companies have turned their back on Keely. Well, so we had three conferences that we're going to go over that happened last week. We had Summer Games Fest Live, which kicked off last ah Friday. Yeah, Friday. ah We had the Xbox Showcase, which was Sunday and Ubisoft Forward, which was one day. um
00:02:12
Speaker
Jeff stream, you know, a little rough. ah okay um He came out at one point and was like, and it was like, you know, look, look at the top steam sellers and, you know, like seven out of 10 of these games are indies. And that's what we have to show you. This was a lot of indie games for two and a half hours. Wow. Summer Games Fest, all indies, mainly I'm guessing because every of all the big companies wanted to announce their own games. Yeah. But there were a couple of good announcements in there um that will that will go over. I'm
Civ 7 Hopes and Microtransaction Concerns
00:02:50
Speaker
very curious, though, I'm trying to bring up steam, but my computer doesn't understand what steam is. um What are these seven top games or indies? How many of them are like porn poker games? That's only in the trending tab. OK, all right.
00:03:08
Speaker
ah So the biggest announcement, at least for Derek and I, ah was that Civ 7 got announced and with an official teaser trailer. and It was not much of a teaser. It was more of a, hey guys, we're still working on it. Look forward to it next year. I mean, it's more than they've ever said. true. So also, ah I think the mark was four or five months ago, where we passed the point of the longest time in between two save games. Oh, really? I need to go look in the exact date, but this will be the biggest time between two games. And honestly,
00:03:49
Speaker
I really, really just hope they've learned their lesson about microtransactions, but I don't think they have. What
Indie Game Excitement and Skepticism
00:03:56
Speaker
were the microtransactions in six? Many, many countries were only unlocked with DLC. Yeah. And lots of countries had multiple leaders and those like other leaders behind DLC. I think I just bought all the DLC.
00:04:15
Speaker
Well, I guess they learned their lesson, but it's not what I wanted. There you go. There's lots of money. There's James, we'll buy whatever. first Derek, did you not buy any? No. Civ VI, I bought this year, actually just a few weeks ago, when it was on sale and I got the cheap bundle that came with the big DLC, like the zombie invasions and stuff, ah but not every single country. and I've been playing it every weekend with my group of friends, so yeah i mean it's a good game. Yeah. I'm glad to hear that. And I think seven, you know, this is controversial. me I think seven will be a good game. In five years? No. How long are you going to wait? No, the games are always good on release. I've never heard of them having day one launch issues or anything. Yeah, they're're they're usually pretty solid.
00:05:13
Speaker
Is that an indie game? No, Fraxis is pretty big studio. Yeah. Well, I'm happy. Also, it's it's published by 2K, isn't it? Oh, are they one of the studios that they didn't close? 2K with infinite money. Hold on, let's see. Who owns Fraxis?
Game Expansions and Trailer Reactions
00:05:36
Speaker
I'm thinking a bullfrog. I thought they were shut down.
00:05:43
Speaker
So they are still but their parent company is to get. Yep. Yeah. Wow.
00:05:52
Speaker
So I always forget, 2K does things other than GTA. They do other things. Not that they need to, with how much they rake in with that. I know. So yeah, Civ 7 coming out sometime next year. Hopefully, we'll see. ah There'll probably be a bigger reveal coming in Gamescom, I would imagine, because Germans love civilization.
00:06:23
Speaker
But yeah, we'll see. Next, we had a horror game from Silent Hill creator, Keiichiro Toyama's new studio. And yeah, it's called Slitterhead. had a cool little almost f m v vibe ah that's cool king game i mean i don't think i'll play it cuz i was scaredy baby that's i not the horror vibes from the trailer and so from the trailer it looks like you the player character are jumping point of view from different individuals uh... you've got uh... cool cool-looking woman you've got due to motorcycle helmet
00:07:07
Speaker
And at one point in one sequence, they just jump forward in a line between people until they end up in an animal. I think it was a cat. But there's lots of combat focus on this. There's a few instances like at the very beginning, you're just some guy getting killed by this creature. And then you take over this woman and start fighting back. And like it looks way more actiony, looks like a cinematic action game from the trailer. Yeah, I can see that. And it doesn't look like it does it well. It doesn't what? Like it just looks like.
00:07:47
Speaker
It's like all I could think when I was watching it was, what are you doing? Yeah, it's it's very. Do you know what you're doing? The audio media, the audio medium doesn't really describe it. So it's Slitterhead, S-L-I-T-T-E-R head. um Go watch it, because like Derek said, it's kind of like jumping between points of views of characters. And it sort of almost puzzle like in a way. i so that's So that's what I wanted it to be. I thought it was cool. It was giving me Siren vibes from way back when. But then, as Derek was explaining, then it just moves into combat.
00:08:24
Speaker
And there's like a lot of body horror, and you're like, okay, cool. And then it just looks like really clunky combat. look It looks like you took the side the combat in Silent Hill, which is like explicitly not empowering, and then you made a game around it. like i want to disagree I want to disagree immediately with you going with body horror. all like you're the player character gets her hand cut off time slows down and then between the two points the flesh meets again and you got your hand back and that's pretty fucking badass
00:09:00
Speaker
yeah Derek, I will agree with you. That is very cool. It's just i I was immediately disappointed when it looked like it was very combat focused. Like I don't know what they're doing. Who wants this game? I don't know. I don't know. um So I got excited and then I wasn't. No. I just don't think it's going to be a horror game. Right. Like the studio known for Silent Hill, like
00:09:33
Speaker
Well, it's the creator of Silent Hill's new studio. Oh, yeah, yeah. Curator Toyama's studio. But still, everyone just expects more of the same. And it's like, like, come on. he He has a vision. And we've all seen visionaries have new paths they take and succeed with, like, ah Kojima. Like, but so this could be the next Kojima right here. OK, Derek. I appreciate your optimism and I respect the call out, right? He doesn't have to do more of the same. I absolutely agree with you. I think that's fair. It's just make the combat look fun.
00:10:12
Speaker
Like, and not clunky. It just looks so bad. It it does not look clean or fast. It's it's no ah
RTS and Climbing Games Discussion
00:10:21
Speaker
Smash battle or, like, Devil May Cry. Yeah, no. And not that it even needs to be fair. I don't know. It just looks... Who knows? Who knows? Maybe it's still, you know, in the works, ah or they'll just hire Platinum and then they'll, like, just swoop in and ah fix the combat. Uh, next up they had the switcheroo of the, of the conference, which was battle aces, which had a crazy anime trailer of mechs fighting each other, just high action, high octane. It looks like it's going to be the fucking craziest anime game you ever played. Oh, no way. It's an RTS.
00:11:04
Speaker
I know what you mean. And and on top of it all, it's an idea on top. But wait, is it still is it an anime RTS? No, it's any gameplay footage. what they do Well, the website gave you didn't have gameplay footage. They did show gameplay afterwards. um But yeah, it's I heard the devs describe it. This is kind of like trying to marvel make the Marvel snap of RTS's. Like they're trying to make this very like broken down to like the essence of RTS and and make it more friendly to people to play. I think the described is you could just play it with two buttons if you really had to. And then like each match only takes like 10 minutes. That could be cool. Yeah.
00:11:57
Speaker
You know, it's a little bit weird, but that that sounds a lot like Halo Wars, if you're familiar with it. The console RTS in the Halo universe. and love of australia yeah but I put in hundreds of hours into it, but I did not see it going. It was not a good RTS game. I think as long as they just minimize the APM required, which is actions per minute for you muggles, because Starcraft 2 was heralded as reducing the APM requirements and professionals are even highly MMR players still had like 200 plus clicks per minute. Oh my God. Yeah, it just sounds like carpal tunnel right there. No, 200, oh my God. No, that's a low end, Andy.
00:12:47
Speaker
I don't even know how you can do that much. How many times can you harvest iron or whatever it is? Well, a lot. yeah Very fair. But yeah, I just put on some gameplay. It looks nice. I see some elements of an agro strategy. I see elements of like larger, slower units. like It's on my radar now. and There's not a whole lot to speak of because they're obviously in a ah point where they just want to show off units
Nostalgia and Challenges in Dragon Age and Metal Gear
00:13:25
Speaker
shooting things in game and there's no real gameplay, like actual real game. but This is the game engine, I assume.
00:13:32
Speaker
but I mean, this could be someone's game, oh but it seems it does not scream to me like this is going to be a high level competitive RTS, which, you know what? Being competitive is probably what killed Starcraft two more approachable. RTS's are fairly nonapproachable. One of the reasons I don't play them. They used to, late 90s, early 2000s, you had wonderful games with good campaigns and they only charged you money maybe twice if they put out a good DLC and that that doesn't make enough money, not enough profit. Not infinite money. But definitely on my radar.
00:14:19
Speaker
ah Next up, Sam Lake came out saying the next expansion for Alan Wake 2 is out now, Night Springs. ah Yeah, if you played Alan Wake 2, the expansion is out now and you can play it. I see three. It's a three chapter experience. I actually watched someone play it. Oh, it was a good time. I'm not going to spoil anything about it, but it it has links to control of that. yeah And controls your jam. Yeah, I like control. So as someone who's never played on wake, the trailer was a fever dream.
00:15:01
Speaker
Yeah, it is. That's Alan Week 2. That's one of the reasons you really should go back and play Alan Week 2 at some point, just because it is a it is an auteurs game, if you know what I mean. I read, and I don't know if it's true anymore, but I thought I read recently that the game is still not profitable. Like they haven't made their money back. It came out at a bad time. Yeah, I but like that just goes to show how much they believe in something. You know, they're even releasing DLC. Maybe it was already mostly done to release the game, but God bless them. um They really went for it. It got me interested in it. Will I ever play it? I don't know. I haven't played the first one. I don't think you need to play the first one to play the second. There's a two in it, James. That's fair.
00:15:56
Speaker
ah Next up, we had an update to Skate, which just wasn't much, and just telling us that it's a pre-pre-alpha, and there's no date. We love it. Summer Games Fest is really bringing it. It was a fun little skit from Tim Robinson. um But yeah, you know, one day they'll release Skate, one day. Uh, next up, there was a trailer for another trailer from monster hunter wilds. Derek, how did you feel about the new trailer? So the new trailer gives me very mixed feelings again. I really liked the flora fauna. Like it was very much focused on the desert in this trailer. Yeah. Uh, a lot of non-traditional elements in.
00:16:50
Speaker
It like they sort of like build up the player character, some kind of like some kind of badass monster hunter, instead of just being some scrub who's new to the village, which I don't really appreciate, but. um Outside, oh, no. And the biggest thing I hate about the trailer shooting on your mount, I, I ah hate every minute of that. Why can't it be balanced, Derek? What if it is?
00:17:23
Speaker
I'm going to ignore that. Fair. Because some things just don't change whether or not they're fair or not. OK. They're balanced. But outside of the trailer, there's been a lot of unconfirmed leaks and rumors. They're thinking about adding and ah I don't know if it's an option or default, but having the health bar visible during the monster of the hunt. Yeah, I know that's a mod on the PC versions. You can get that, which ah here's the thing. I understand that's so ingrained to Monster Hunter to not have health bars, but God, it would be so nice. No, you should do it like we did in the day. You smack the monster into the long sword carts three times and then you go hunt again and then you smack it until it dies or someone carts three times. Yeah, I i wish I
00:18:16
Speaker
I would love to see a health bar. Now, I'm a little one. So at the very end of the trailer, they did show also to get bonuses and once in a while with save data bonus. So I'm assuming if you've got save data from your console or on Steam, you can can unlock it. ah It's armor sets and weapons for your feline companion who if they talk, they deserve rags to wear. see
Life is Strange and Perfect Dark Revivals
00:18:45
Speaker
It's going to grow on you, Derek, you know. No, but the month the monsters in this trailer have got me excited. The mount, I like the movement. I'm excited for wilds, despite everything I say negative about it. Oh, you're going to buy it. i I'm going to be day one buying it. Oh, yeah, me too. Day one, Derek. How often does that happen? I'm not going to pre-order, Dandy. Don't be. That's fair. That is fair. They're going to get a few hours. I'm going to go to sleep. I'm not going to buy it at midnight, and then I'll see what people have to complain about in the morning. That could change my mind. We'll see. ah Next up, there was a trailer for Cairn, another climbing game. Apparently, that's the new hotness when in night in the indie scene. Let's climb a mountain and learn about ourselves.
00:19:46
Speaker
it's It's not going for a wacky cartoony aesthetic, but then you have noodle arms. like made may I don't think it was intentional, but it was in the trailer they put how the arm physics can be a little wonky. Yeah. And the legs. Is this supposed to be like whatever it's called? Oh, um the I'm in a pot. Yeah. Well, that's been a foddy, but I don't think it's supposed to be like that. OK, I think it's supposed to be slightly more fair. A difficult game about climbing. it did Yes, thank you, Derek. I was trying to remember that. Sorry, I missed that. What was that? A difficult game about climbing. You can watch many Vtubers play it. OK. It's a it's a peak content creators game, I think. Fair. They can just sit there, talk with the audience.
00:20:39
Speaker
This one might have some story elements from the end of the trailer, it looks like, how you trek. Or that might just be you trekking between mountains cutscene wise while you go to new levels. I don't know. All I know is that you climb and you can reach the top. And that's the most important thing. And maybe you'll learn about yourself and in in time with it. I wonder if they're going to have like
Star Wars Outlaws vs. Starfield
00:21:04
Speaker
where they like hallucinate and like They're going to use the mountain as different metaphors for places in their life. That could be beautiful. Yeah. But now there is an interview with the.
00:21:17
Speaker
I don't know who they are, Amric Thoa and Audrey LaPrince at Thumber Games Fest, which honestly, snore. I watch the game play, but they might explain some of these things I say are potential off things they're playing with. But who could say? I can't listen. I mean, I didn't listen either. I'm not blaming you. and And that's about kind of it, really. um There was trailers for another trailer for Kingdom Come Deliverance 2. There was a trailer for In No Tree of the Last Song, which ah we talked about. um We played that at PAX West, and we talked about that previously. like so I didn't play it. And this trailer makes me regret that. Like, what?
00:22:07
Speaker
This trailer, it looks like it's trying to sell you on a Souls like gameplay while being completely cinematic. It's ah like he's throwing out big swings. The dude obviously gets hit, but in game he might die. He switched between weapons. Like the trailer just looks so badass, I want to see gameplay of it. Well, Derek, good let me tell you, you can there's a demo out on Steam Next Fest right now. You can go play it. Okay, well, I'm gonna start doing that right now. And then also another souls like ah Phantom Blade zero, which is described as secure on a drunken night out by
00:22:48
Speaker
ah
00:22:51
Speaker
So Phil, I don't know who that is. ah Phil, you know, Phil phil said it. um But yeah, you know, it's ah it's another samurai game sort of souls like it looks very it looks more action packed. I would say it's a good comparison. um Almost maybe Neo like, but we'll see. If someone someone makes Neo and Sekiro, maybe is a better way to think about it, because there's a higher focus on like fast paced swordplay. I'm going to have to like, I think you've got to step away from the Sekiro comparison just because it's so heavy on the parry mechanic. Well, there's a lot of pairing in the trailer, so I won. I think it's Neo with a pairing mechanic.
00:23:47
Speaker
You know, I think has a pairing mechanic, but it's not as good.
00:23:53
Speaker
Yeah, and maybe the gameplay is just not showing enough of the pairing. Yeah. Like there was there's one sequence where there's a pair that looked like cinematic and it ended with a quick time event. So. Yeah, quick time still things, I guess. Phantom Blade. They are. And that was it. I mean, again, there are a bunch of different indies in there, but we don't have time to go through every single one of them. It was a two and a half hour show. um Seriously, Summer Games Fest put E3 out and this is what we get? Yeah.
Xbox Showcase Highlights
00:24:27
Speaker
I mean, there was a report that um
00:24:31
Speaker
ah Jeff was charging somewhere between 250 to 500 K for like a five minute trailer or something like that. Oh, so he might have priced himself out. Oh, he got too big for his britches. Now, he did also come out and say, and he's got a separate price for that. So only the big guys got that. But there also could be the big guys just said, no, thank you. Yeah.
00:25:02
Speaker
That's interesting. Hmm. Well, Jeff, I wonder what next year will look like. Hey, maybe that's why I'm like two hasn't been profitable yet. Oh, no. That's right. Wait, Remedy, who owns Remedy? Is that 2K also? Oh, I think might be actually. I'm still waiting for that new net Max Payne. Or he's fatter and drunker. I don't know. But hopefully someone else is footing the bill for them. That's my hope. But they might be an independent studio. Oh, wait. oh Owner. Yeah, they're independent. OK. All right. Oh, no.
00:25:56
Speaker
Yeah, that is why they're not profitable. Aww. Uh, their biggest, their biggest stakeholder is 10 cent, 14%. Oh, wow. Okay. Well, there's some money then. More like summer snoozefest, am I right? It wasn't, it wasn't the best and it it certainly didn't compare to the Xbox showcase. Dude, that was wild. Yeah, there was a lot, you know, and I think it's worthwhile to a lot of people brought this up, which is to go, you know, it's one on one hand, they had a great showcase. On the other hand, they just closed a bunch of studios. Yeah. So
Assassin's Creed Shadows Mechanics
00:26:41
Speaker
yeah, you can't really also, you know, it's some of the things of praising Xbox, like, oh, what a great showcase. It's like, but you also like just put a ton of people out of work. That's true. I'm glad you I'm glad you brought that up to frame this. Yeah.
00:26:56
Speaker
Well, this is the the ones that rose to the top. All right. This is what Xbox thinks is gonna work. So what is the most important thing to them? Call of Duty. That's right. be Black Ops six is here. oh Also, also ah zombies is coming back as well. ah There is a actual Call of Duty direct. It was 20 minutes afterwards. Yeah, that's where they went deep into Call of Duty six or Call of Duty Black Ops six. But.
00:27:28
Speaker
Eh, you know, it's Call of Duty. It's set in the early 1990s. It's very much about the end of the Cold War and terrorism. I don't know. If you like Call of Duty, you like Call of Duty. I mean, I don't i don't think a Call of Duty trailer is going to do much to change anyone's minds.
00:27:46
Speaker
You're either going to play Call of Duty or you're not going to play Call of Duty. Yeah. Now, are you going to? Well, well especially since it's on Game Pass. Yeah, I'll probably play it. Yeah, that's what I wanted to say. Like you might as well just play it, even if it's going to be mid. It's on Game Pass. That's right. Which Xbox says is profitable.
00:28:07
Speaker
ah Next up, which one of the first big ah One of the first big surprises is, although it was leaked beforehand, was Doom the Dark Ages, the next game, the follow up to Doom Eternal. This is a prequel game set when Doomguy was fighting demons um for the, if you know the lore of the Doom 2016 series, he went, he was on this planet and he fought demons for these people.
00:28:42
Speaker
um So this is this is the story of him. And yeah, he is a fur cape and a chainsaw shield. And yeah, baby, he looks fucking sick as hell. but But for anyone who's got too excited at that, ah someone's already modded in the saw shield into the original Doom. It's a way into like original original Doom or Doom 2016. The original original Doom. OK. Yeah, there's a metal as hell trailer.
00:29:13
Speaker
It looked real good. Also, as someone pointed this out, which is like, it's just nice to see colors that aren't red in a doom game. Yeah. It's like, Oh, blues. It's so nice. mean ah There's grays and blacks and doom. Yeah. Not much else. So ah the the devs came out and talked a little bit about it afterwards, too, in an interview over the course of Summer Game Fest weekend, where they talk about how they're slowing down the gameplay from a turn a little bit. If you played Eternal, it was fucking fast, arena-based shooter. This one, they're trying to slow down the gameplay a little bit. So.
00:29:54
Speaker
Which I prefer, I prefer 2016 to eternal. So in 2016 was a bit slower. no I loved it. I do think that they're hinting at something that's too much of a big change from the formula of the 2016 and eternal. Like they're not ruling out an open world with this, especially with that flying scene. I could just be a level. I don't know about that. Yeah, I know. I know. and But I'm just, Doom is one of those games where an open world sounds awful.
00:30:29
Speaker
Like Doom 2016 and Eternal, every single encounter, every single like square meter was painstakingly lovingly double-checked by a human if that makes the AI didn't fuck up too bad. I don't know. I i don't see them going open world on this. I still think it's going to be level-based because that's so core to Doom. Yeah. Other than that, new weapons, new shield, a bulldog. Looks like a solid game. ah The article we're going off has this next, but it was actually the closing surprise. The one more thing for the Xbox ah
00:31:13
Speaker
closing out the showcase, which was a Gears of War prequel, E-Day, which is basically Emergence Day in the Gears of War lore, which is the day the locusts popped up and started fucking shit up. So, yeah, prequel game. I don't know. It'll be set
Cinematic Trailers and Presentation Quality
00:31:30
Speaker
14 years before the original Gears of War. Did you guys play Gears of War? I played one and two. played one, two and three, lots of the multiplayer, lots of hide and seek with the ram of skin. What's the ram of skin ah in Gears 2? It was the end boss. And if you got an achievement, you could have him as a skin. And his color palette was black and slightly less black, gray. So you could so you but you'd be the ramus and you would hide in the shadows.
00:32:04
Speaker
and Was this just a goof you did with Friends, or was this a real mode? This was a real mode based inspired by, I should say, the Mercs vs. Spies of the Tom Clancy series. Oh, by the way, Doom Eternal only gave you a date of 2025 coming out. Gears of War E Day, no release date. um And it was just a cinematic trailer, but they were using, they confirmed they're using Unreal Engine 5. They're going to be using ray traced lighting, reflection shadows, all that fun shit. So it's going to be a pretty ass game. It's been a while since we've had a Gears. There was a Gears not too long ago. Oh, really? Yeah. But James, yeah I think you're overlooking um a major part of this whole
00:32:57
Speaker
of Rika, like this whole preview event. What's that? metal ah Metal Gear Solid. I'm going to get there. Hang on. Okay. is you You went to the last moment thing. I'm going in the order of the article we're going off of. Okay. ah They had a... We'll talk more about this when we talk about Ubisoft, but as Assassin's Creed Shadow showed up with a trailer. um Looks good. Next, we had our first look at the next Dragon Age game,
Xbox and Ubisoft Showcase Reflections
00:33:31
Speaker
Dragon Age the Valeguard.
00:33:35
Speaker
um this They've confirmed... two two two two two they No release date. won't be coming to S-Box or Game Pass. Whoa. Well, they don't know. And this is an EA game, remember? by Oh, you're right. You're right. You're right. I don't know. They also did a gameplay reveal trailer 20 minutes earlier this week as well. It looks good. It looks much more like an action RPG. It's not a return to the original tactics of like Dragon Age Origins, unfortunately. um so They're keeping kind of the action hack and slash that has been in Inquisition 3 and 2. I think they're really leaning in on like building the team Mass Effect 2 style to get this in based on the trailer.
00:34:26
Speaker
I don't know. I don't know where I am with Dragon Age. I liked Inquisition. This is also a follow-up sequel to Inquisition. They talked about how they're going to make you... It's been, I think, almost eight or ten years since Inquisition came out. Wow. They talked about how they're gonna... I think you can input save data from Inquisition. But they're also going to have it so you can like make all your decisions from like one and two and three to like like through with a character creator. So they'll be they'll be able you'll be able to like make continuity for all your previous games as well. That's crazy. Yeah, or just fix what you thought were your own best mistakes and a clean start.
00:35:17
Speaker
I thought they would have just wiped the slate clean. No, they're keeping it going. I mean, Varric from ah was very originally in was he three. I can't remember but all their fan favorite, Varric is back and he had features heavily in the trailer. Now, what did you guys think of the vibe of the trailer? Because this so I haven't really played a Dragon Age. But watching this, it seemed like. I don't know, like it seems like it's trying to be kind of goofy. Yeah, it it came off a little goofy. And not that like I don't know if the original Dragon Age were all like so self serious and not that it necessarily needs to be, I guess, but I don't know. It just seemed weird. I was just watching. I was like, what are you doing? What are you doing?
00:36:10
Speaker
It was it was always I don't know. It was always kind of self-serious, but it had ah an underlying humor to it. Okay. It seemed DreamWorks esque, maybe. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It sounds cartoonish. It might take from it, though. is not that it was too comedic. I feel like it focused too much on grandeur, on a very large scale. It feels like a trailer highlighting like the last hour of gameplay. Instead of like, when I get it, it's but it's like the latest in a series of games. So your characters have the past history, all your choices you we were just talking about. Their experience, they're seasoned, they're powerful. I don't know how that's gonna translate well into the early stages of the game.
00:36:58
Speaker
Or if the trailer is even indicative of any stage of the game, because it looks bad ass. It does. I don't know. I'm cautiously optimistic. um they They said that this is not going to be a live service game. This is going to be a single player game. um So see.
00:37:19
Speaker
ah Next up is their jump the head, which is we got on. We got a new trailer and the official trailer for Metal Gear Solid Delta sneakier. And boy, is it pretty. It does look nice. Completely redone in Unreal Engine 5.
00:37:36
Speaker
But you know what? Just didn't feel like Metal Gear Solid. I don't know if it felt like that to you guys, but like as I was watching it, all I could think was, like it's it's beautiful. but like And I know Kojima isn't there anymore, but I was like, this isn't a Metal Gear Solid trailer. so Here's what I'll tell you, Andy. um The Lead Director of the game did an interview um and he talked about how there's going to be kind of like, there's going to be two classic modes. So they're going to have a new third person perspective with different controls, but you will be able to use the original control scheme from three if you want.
00:38:18
Speaker
Mm hmm. and there's going to be a filter, I think, to make the game look a little more like it did in the original three. So let's maybe a little less vibrant, like three kind of was like drenched in like olive green. It really was. Yeah. And it was also like kind of blurry, like Konami really liked that blurry filter back then. Yeah. elie that really remember it It really helped to really show that you're being stealthy because even I had trouble seeing my character sometimes on those was old graphics.
00:38:51
Speaker
I had a little meter in the corner showing how I, you know, I don't know. My turn off wasn't necessarily how it looks. It was just like it didn't feel like it had the spirit of the game in it. It very much felt like, yep, this is Konami trying to make a remake. Like it didn't just didn't feel like it. I don't know. I mean, three is my Metal Gear Solid. Like that's the first one I ever played. um I don't know. For me, it's it's doing it for me, but I'm just being snobby and I understand that. It's just and I'm wondering if they're trying to do like the only thing that made me want it because it's called Metal Gear Solid Delta, right? Or something. That's a very Kojima thing.
00:39:38
Speaker
And I was like, oh, why is it called Metal Gear Solid Delta Snake Eater? So I was like, does this mean something? Are they gonna change something else? um But then, but watching the trailer is just so straightforward. I was like, no, no, it needs to like, like meander a little bit and have like, like weird obscurity. ah ah But I shouldn't take away from what it's gonna be. Three was an excellent game. And if they do it faithfully, we're gonna get an excellent game. Andy, you are missing a major point to what differentiates us from a original Kojima trailer. And that's it's not it's not just hinting with about nostalgia. It's not flavored with nostalgia. This is pure nostalgia. Yeah. Like I am watching this and I'm just excited. Oh, honestly, it didn't tickle my nostalgia bone at all. Yeah. And I love three.
00:40:33
Speaker
Now, I absolutely love three. Now, it would have been better if they showed him like killing a snake to pick up and eat. Yeah. You know, that's a Kojima thing. They didn't play the Snake Eater song. What are you doing? Doing that for the release day trailer. You know that we didn't show see a big ladder. Just oh, my God. How incredible it would have been in the two minute trailer of just him climbing up a ladder? That's Kojima. No, that that is, I don't know who it is, but it would just, it would make me want to pre-order.
00:41:12
Speaker
Right? Ah, it just it just made me I think I did to wrap it up, at least from my on is just I don't know. It just made me realize how much Kojima brought to all this. um The director seems like he's very much about keeping Kojima's original vision. I'm I'm sure. I'm sure. I'm not going to hold my breath because this is the same company that decided, oh, we're done making Metal Gear Solid games except for so Pachinko, more Metal Gear Solid Pachinko games. Listen, they make money.
00:41:45
Speaker
Yeah, it's going to make one. I'll support them in that. I don't I don't even know if I'll buy this. Honestly, it just didn't. What's wrong with me? What happened to my heart? I don't know. Not in this article that we're looking at, but another trailer they showed that was actually very good was ah Expedition 33, which is a I don't get the trailer for you guys so you can see it. It is a I don't want to say high fantasy, but it's like science fiction fantasy turn based RPG with timing based mechanics. So it just looks so pretty. Oh, that just sounded like a bunch of like buzzwords. So it's time based turn based. So you like think like Paper Mario. OK.
00:42:37
Speaker
Um, where like you choose an action and then you have like timed events during your action. Oh, OK. If you if you skip ahead in the trailer to like, uh, like two minutes in, you'll see the ah the combat. um Yeah, I mean, this. Oh, my God. Is it? It's turned. They're standing in a line. Yeah. That just made me nostalgic. When do you get games where they stand in a line anymore? You know what this reminds me of? Lost Odyssey. I was about to say Lost Odyssey. Yeah, this could. Well, here's the thing. This is not going to be Xbox exclusive. PlayStation also released a trailer for it as well. So it will be coming to PlayStation as well. Is this Mistwalker in disguise? Yeah, right. well Who did make it? Let's see.
00:43:34
Speaker
fish It's Claire Obscure, Expedition 33. ah Yeah, it's coming to PlayStation 5 and Steam, so it's it's going everywhere. Who made this, though? Yeah, I'm trying to find that out. Are they not highlighting the studio? Sandfall Interactive. Who the heck are they? Who are they to try to make a game where you stand in a line? Who does that? And for listeners at home, like the one reason for the Lost outud Odyssey comparison is that like the graphics are like, like hyper detailed and realistic, right? Like you're not getting super deformed like anime looking characters, um like really high quality detailed characters. So it's just throwing me for a loop. Yeah, this looks like this is the studio's first outing. Yeah, and I'm looking at the team.
00:44:34
Speaker
Are they French? Seemingly, yeah, the CEO came from Ubisoft, so. Is he the one that made that other JRPG Ubisoft made? What was it? Like the girl running around? Phoenix Rising? That wasn't an RPG, though. No, it was like a really pretty game. It was made on that like art tune engine they made or whatever. Oh, I think I know what you're talking about, but I don't. I don't remember. No, I do want to not scare off any listeners. The game looks good. Don't let them make for Ubisoft scary away. That's good. I think and I think, again, Unreal Engine five, all these Unreal Engine five games look so good. Yeah, yeah. That's a good point. Man, I'm excited about this game. I hope it doesn't suck. Yeah, there's no no release date yet, but.
00:45:30
Speaker
Oh, yeah. A JRPG that looks like that. That's unfair for me to say, just because there's. Well, it's not a JRPG. It's me. Yeah. But it's JRPG. ah Charles would hear you would yell at you. It's JRPG inspired. Inspired. Yes, thank you. That is. Oof. Yeah, it says there's coming 2025, so. I'm glad you brought this up. I really hope it doesn't suck. It's a Western studio, so it's JRPG inspired, but it'll probably respect your time.
00:46:02
Speaker
but
00:46:05
Speaker
Maybe, maybe.
00:46:10
Speaker
ah Next up, there was a cinematic trailer for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. It basically showed kind of a whole, just a whole mission section, actually. It was very weird. um Not a lot to say about this. It's coming at some point this year. They still didn't reveal the date yet, which is weird. I don't know. I mean, I like machine games, ah makers of Wolfenstein. So I trust this will be a good game. I also kind of tangentially just like Indiana Jones. um Last Crusade is one of my favorite movies. So is that the that's the one with Sean Connery. OK.
00:46:49
Speaker
um Yeah, I don't know. Andy, and then just for Andy,
00:46:59
Speaker
Just shot straight to Andy's heart. Life is strange is back with a new Max Cofield adventure, Double Exposure. Yeah. I was really surprised to hear that. And then also a little bit worried. They're going to have to choose an ending, Andy. I already chose an ending. No, but they're going to have to. They're going to have to. They have to. Yeah. um Yeah, they're absolutely going to have to. um I don't know. It's just you get a little bit worried with it when you see like them bring back characters, especially since it's been such a long time. And it's like, was this a creative decision or a financial decision? Like, I don't know. But it looks like we've got ah Max back at it again. ah Chloe wasn't there. ah She has now. It's because she died. yeah
00:47:52
Speaker
He died to save the town. There is an ending they didn't choose. But um no, it looks like ah there was a new Chloe in her life. And um I guess like then they die, of course. And then it looks like the mechanic here, it kind of reminds me of, um well, whatever games, right, will allow you to switch between two different worlds. Yeah, so her power in this one isn't just to rewind time but also to move between different timelines. So yeah the conceit of the game is that her friend is murdered in one timeline and is alive in the next and she has to figure out the mystery of who killed her friend in figuring by figuring things out in both timelines.
00:48:36
Speaker
Yes, and could be very, very cool. And it's being done by deck nine. yeah I'm pretty sure made before the storm. They they also made the ah the other one with the the kids. I can't remember. The kids, though, there was the life is strange game with the with the two kids. I can't remember. The so there's life is strange to where it was the brothers, the brothers. Yes. Oh, I thought that was Dontnod made that one. No, that was Deck 9, I think. Oh, well, Deck 9, they can do good stuff. Dontnod made Life of Strange, too. You're right. i think I think they made Before the Storm and then Strange Colors or whatever. Oh, they made strange colors. That's what I was thinking of. And before the storm, um everybody heralded it as a very good game. I liked it well enough. um But I was ready to close that book. And we're back at it. ah So while I was it was very cool to see, I don't know how I feel about it. And I don't know if that's what it just is in your 30s, where you just want to leave well enough alone. but It's like, I don't need sequels to everything. I don't know.
00:49:48
Speaker
I don't know, but all I could think is like, I didn't I don't know if I want this. I want new stories, but it might be a new story ah told through the lens of characters we love or a character. It could be very cool. it they They played up the mechanic in this, so I would love if it has puzzles. I would love if there's a focus on puzzles. Or it'll just be more dialog tree. Maybe that's what it'll be. Anyway, still a very cool reveal, though. Very, very cool reveal. I'm just glad money is being spent on these games. Oh, God, no. Is this Microsoft funded? ah No, I don't think so. They're going to close the studio. No, I don't think they own. They don't own doing that. Oh, God. Oh, no. Square is publishing this game. Yeah. Oh, interesting. Because Square is in a bit of turmoil right now.
00:50:41
Speaker
Not really in the whole lot of turmoil. They've recently stepped away from exclusivity with Sony. True. So I think it's just everything's looking milhouse for them. Well, you know, life is strange, especially the first one was ah an enormous hit. um So sure was. God bless them. It was a great game. Yep. What does that mean, James? I didn't like it. ah Really? No, I'm curious. I didn't like the characters. Did you not like Chloe or did you not like Max? Fair.
00:51:22
Speaker
fair I'll allow it. You know why? Because they're women. No. So that's right. Speaking of women, the next they showed off, the they revealed Perfect Dark, the new Joanna Dark game. And I mean, also the it looks real fucking good um good of all the series to revive. Perfect Dark is a weird one, but they seem to be reviving it as a immersive s sim ah in the style of Prey or Deus Ex.
00:51:54
Speaker
made by the studio who did no it's a crystal dynamics didn't make it no no deus ex who made deus ex deus ex human revolution That was made by Audios Montreal. Oh, I always get them confused. Yeah. My bad. But I mean, it's you hard you are forgiven because it has it it has like a lot of like that kind of DNA in it.
00:52:29
Speaker
I was actually kind of hopeful. I was like, oh, that's why they canceled Deus Ex, because they were just making perfect dark. Yeah, I had the same thought you did, Andy. I was like, did Crystal... Oh, my voice just cracked. Did Crystal Dynamics make Deus Ex? I was like, I was trying to remember. But yeah, again, another beautiful game. There's a parkour. It actually kind of looks a bit like Mirror's Edge in a way, too, with the parkour abilities, because it's all done from first-person perspective. Yeah, this is going to be a secret agent story where you're going to have a lot of, hopefully, a lot of agency in deciding how you achieve things.
00:53:07
Speaker
It looks really cool. i I was wondering during, I was like, why is this perfect dark, right? like Yeah, it could be anything, right? It doesn't have to be perfect dark. I the one the one vibe I got for being perfect. art It looked like they started using gadgets near the end. Yeah. um And I remember gadgets kind of being a part of the original, if I'm remembering correctly, I haven't played it in 20 years. um And I was like, OK, all right, a little bit. But then also Perfect Dark got real dumb near the end. um And then I was curious, is this one going to get real dumb? And then there was at the end of the trailer, it shows like some goofy nonsense going on. OK.
00:53:45
Speaker
Maybe this won't be dumb too. We're gonna start motoring through these because we got seven minutes left. Oh no! What else was good during the Xbox one? Well, just fast-paced reveals here. They revealed State of Decay 3 with a cinematic trailer. They revealed another cinematic trailer for Fable, funny. Disappointed in it. Oh, I thought it I thought it really harkened back to original fable. It was very it was very hard. A woman. Wait, did this one star a woman? It's our woman, but you'll be able to pick a man. I just remember people getting mad that like there was a woman in the other fable trailer. It's like really that's fine. Let them be annoying. It's all fine. I put I want to say multiple hundreds of hours into both of the first two. Yeah, three was OK. First two were great.
00:54:37
Speaker
Next, there was Stalker 2, Heart of Chernobyl. Got a reveal trailer. ah no No release date for that. Yeah, no release date. for Fable has a release date of 2025, no release date for State of Decay 3. They also had a reveal trailer for the next World of Warcraft expansion, The War Within, with a release date of August 26th. They also had the first reveal trailer for Diablo 4, Vessel of Hatred, with a metal as fuck trailer. Oh man, Body Horror. ah That's coming October 8th. It's, again, just a beautiful Blizzard Cinematic CG trailer. Go watch it. You really should. ah They also had a trailer for the the first X-Back for Starfield, Shatter Space, coming later this year.
00:55:27
Speaker
was indeed with also that the creation engine ah creation kit. So mods built into the game got released this past weekend. So official mod sport for Starfield is here. Yeah, but I do want to bring up Starfield did have what some have claimed has been a review bombing, but it's been retaliatory. They've been put some missions that's behind DLC back only available behind DLC for me here. Yeah, I don't know the full details, but they're getting hate and I'm all for it. ah Yeah, so in the so in the creation engine in the yeah in the creation kit mod shop, there are you have to buy them using creation credits. So there are quests in there that are made by Bethesda and you have to pay the equivalent of seven dollars to get them. I'm not going to do that. I don't love Starfield that much. I did fire it back up. Still kind of fun.
00:56:23
Speaker
um But yeah, you know, that's there. And that was the Xbox Showcase. Really fucking good. Yeah. Like just a lot of stuff in there that just appeal to everyone. ah You did also pass over one that I want to bring up just because we brought up RTS. This is Age of Mythology retold. Oh yeah. sure so Are you an Age of Mythology person, Derek? I honestly never bought it, but it's an RTS. i am And it's a it's a classic like golden era RTS. yeah So the fact that it's getting redone, just happy about it. kind i We'll probably get this run around. yeah It's coming September 4th.
00:57:07
Speaker
Yeah, so yeah, it was a very good conference. Probably one of the best conferences that Microsoft has ever put on. Yeah, agreed. Yeah, some of these reveals. Holy moly. At least for me. Holy moly. Yeah, I mean, and Andy, think about that. If you PlayStation boy. Mm hmm. Like going Xbox is coming out, giving you everything you want. Yeah, it very much surprised me. um And that perfect dark one, I actually want to play that. ah The problem is it's ah Xbox. Well, it's PC. Um.
00:57:43
Speaker
By the way, guys, did you know about mini ITX PCs? Yes. yes You can build little baby computers. i have a mini yeah I have a mini ITX computer. What? That's my NAS. We'll be talking about this later, but I want to build a little baby computer. All right. And now with three minutes left, let's quickly go over the Ubisoft trailer. There are only two interesting things, and that's Star Wars Outlaws and Assassin's Creed Shadows. So first up, let's go over Outlaws. um Looks incredible. Honestly, it's coming out this August.
00:58:22
Speaker
ah A lot of people have been making comparisons to Starfield with it and just eating Starfield's lunch of how like the ship, comp like going into your ship, flying in and out of planets just feels so connected where it doesn't feel like load screens where Starfield is just like load screen, to load screen, load screen. Oh. um But just, you know, yeah, it's it's someone say it's uncharted in a um in the Star Wars universe where you're playing.
00:58:53
Speaker
Go ahead, Darrell. But we're not going to be able to give this thing justice, ah but there is a 24-minute full like ah gameplay, non no commentary leak that's on the web, easily accessible. yeahp And i it is so it is so seamless from traveling. Yeah. Wow. like I don't know where James is getting his reviews from, but watching the gameplay, he is correct.
00:59:21
Speaker
i i I sample a good amount of of the game journalism community, Derek. Well, you're a game journalist. That's true. ah Yeah, I mean.
00:59:35
Speaker
Honestly, this this is what right now, this is my most looked forward to game for the rest of the year. Well, that's not fair. Shadow of the Year Tree comes out in two weeks. But after I'm double here after i'm done with Shadow of the Year Tree, then Star Wars Aloha is going to be like the game I'm looking forward to most. It looks awesome. it looks I might even play it. um And there's nothing for me. And you can just get the Ubisoft Plus account for like 10 bucks and play the whole game. God, everything has a subscription model now. Yeah. Well, you can pay 70 dollars or you can pay ten dollars and and fucking play finish it in the month. Well, then you also have to have the Ubisoft launcher, which is more than ten dollars worth in my mind. No, I have these dollars worth. I have the soft launcher because I long ago was like, I'm going to have every Assassin's Creed game on there and I do.
01:00:32
Speaker
ah And speaking of Assassin's Creed, the demo to Assassin's Creed Shadows showing off two gameplay sections, one with Fisuke and his very brutal combat, um and then also Nanoe's stealth combat. um Well, thank you, James. Since you said you have all of the rest on, I just want to ask your opinion on it. How does it feel to you as a longtime player to have a real historical figure as a playable character? I mean...
01:01:06
Speaker
Oh, as a, as a character, you can play. Yeah. Yasuke is a real person. He is a real person. I don't, I mean, yeah, I don't think anything about it more or less. Yasuke was also a Neo. You fought him in Neo. yeah He was a boss. He was a boss. Yeah. But Assassin's Creed set itself like a long tradition at this point of you are not in history whatsoever, but you're meeting historical figures and maybe killing them. Yeah. Like the Pope, you know, when you fight the Pope.
01:01:37
Speaker
Um, no, I mean, i don't I don't think is it. I know there's been a lot of like weird internet in cell things of like, no, we finally get a game in Japan and you play as a black guy and in a woman. It's like, God damn it. Just take the fucking game. i I'm just glad I'm not in that place. Yeah, I know. um You need to be thankful for that. They said, Ubisoft has said that you can choose who to play for most missions. So there'll probably be some missions where you're locked into playing Askei or as Nanoi.
01:02:11
Speaker
But for most missions, you can choose who you want to play it in. And if you're playing as Yasuke, you're going to be playing. You're going to be going loud. You're going to be kicking indoors and knocking people thats fucking to death. Whereas not a way you'll be, you know, jumping from rooftop to rooftop. It sounds like Yasuke won't actually be able to do rooftop because he's so fucking big and covered in armor. um And while it's not so too impressive because it's made of paper, you do see him smash a guy through a wall. Yeah.
01:02:41
Speaker
You also see, not only a stab guy through a paper a paper door, and it's real brutal. An assassin's creeds aren't normally brutal. Oh! They've gotten more brutal, like Valhalla had its moments. OK. Ah, that's true.
01:03:01
Speaker
um And that was Ubisoft forward, which, again, yeah I feel like Ubisoft could have given these things to Jeff. That really would have helped Jeff out. Honestly, that is the perfect way to put it. yeah Also, ah Prince of Persia lost crown, more content. Oh yeah, more content coming to Christopher. More puzzles, which I'm excited about. Give me those puzzles. And challenge boats. Yes. Oh, they also showed a very short so CGI trailer for the Sands of Time remake showing an ultra realistic camera unburning in reverse. um So I think this is them kind of going, OK, we're going to give it the attention it deserves. i I wonder if they just closed that studio that was working on it before.
01:03:49
Speaker
It was like a brand new studio, wasn't it? Yeah, it was that. It was that was their new Indian studio. And I think they were giving it to them to kind of build up talent. But I think they underestimated how a much people care about Santa. Yeah. And I mean, it's yeah. Anyways, hopefully it's good. Santa time is great. Yep. No release date for when that's coming. No, they're going to. You're going to take their time on it, which is fine. I'd i'd rather they would. ye We did it. We did it. That was a lot, you guys. Yeah. a lot And also, you know, it's coming. twenty Oh, yeah. They announced a new ano game. Yep. the The trailer is absolutely nothing. It's not worth watching. But 2025, what is Anno? Is that right? Yes. The city builder, city builder. OK.
01:04:38
Speaker
Uh, but we'll talk about Anna. No, we won't. On another episode of Add to Party, a friendship simulator masquerading as a new show. and I've been your host. Ubisoft did Jeff dirty Hartwell. Oh, and I've been joined by Andy. I don't hate women. I'm like James. ah And I've been joined by. Derek, RTS, real time simp, Kostya. Have a good night. Have a good night, everyone.