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Bootleg Bridge Babies (Death Stranding Vol. 1 - Part 1)
379 Plays21 days ago
Norman Reedus and the Amazing Fetus is here to save the world from the hugs of the undead! Let's get into it!
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Book Synopsis
Mysterious explosions have rocked the planet, setting off a series of supernatural phenomena known as the Death Stranding. Spectral creatures that devour the living have pushed humanity to the brink of extinction, causing countries to fall and survivors to scatter and live in pockets of isolation. Sam Porter Bridges, the legendary porter with the ability to return from the world of the dead, has been entrusted with a critical mission by the President of the United Cities of America. He must journey across this ravaged landscape crawling with otherworldly threats to reconnect cities and people and rebuild America one step at a time.
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Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker
I think this is, this is how I'm acting out. i'm I'm going to buy a bunch of plastic. That's ah a, a, yeah. A convertible worth of minis. ah Pretty much, pretty much. So yeah. Yeah. I, I, I'm pretty sure this is, this is my, it's just, yeah again, yeah that could be worse. You could, you have far worse midlife crisis than that. Yeah.
00:00:23
Speaker
You know what else is worse? What's that?
Introduction and Topic Overview
00:00:26
Speaker
Hey there, everybody. Welcome back to Pixel It. My name is Kevin. With me as always is Phil on today's show. We're starting Death Stranding Volume 1.
00:00:35
Speaker
It's the first half of the video game yeah is is adapted into the this first novel. so So Death Stranding 1 has two novels. I assume it's probably going to be something similar whenever they do the novelization for Death Stranding 2. So...
Novelization and Author Discussion
00:00:51
Speaker
um so you know well we'll we'll see how that goes um yeah but uh phil who who who wrote this this dang book we're we're doing a we're we're doing another translated novel i mean we've we've been doing yeah a few of those recently i mean that's is like the third one this year if we're including ah Well, we got the Silent Hill one.
00:01:18
Speaker
yeah got the... ah We got the Witcher. We ah we got this one. i Didn't we do another one?
00:01:31
Speaker
ah i mean, there's the ah the Estonian... ah ah the the the Oh, like yeah. Last year we did the... ah What's it? The... Something in Terrible Air. yeah Sacred and Terrible Air.
00:01:45
Speaker
which Yes, that's it. That's it. Yeah. um Yeah, this is this is interesting because not only... do we have... ah We've got the writer of it who is basing it on like the auteur.
00:02:00
Speaker
you know you know So Hideo Kojima. And so you've got... it it's i And obviously it's the same way with these other games, but I think of all of these, Kojima is probably the...
00:02:13
Speaker
He's the Quentin Tarantino-esque one among them. Yeah. Kojima is most definitely the most... I want to say the most specific.
00:02:26
Speaker
of of the of the if there is and i don't really i'm not even auteur theory guy but if there is an auteur in gaming it's gonna be it for better or worse i'm not saying this it's not it's not thats even a positive connotation if there's gonna be one it's gonna be kojima and just how specific like yeah this is him you know but Yeah. Yeah. and and that And that's going to be a lot of pressure on a writer.
00:02:57
Speaker
ah Fortunately, ah our our ah author, Hitori Nojima, it's a pen name ah for ah Kenji Yano, ah who has worked with Kojima in this respect before and actually wrote a few novelizations for Metal Gear.
Challenges of Game to Novel Adaptation
00:03:15
Speaker
None of the ones, not the one that we read. Not the one that we read. Okay, never mind. Right, right. ah Wrote, let's see, Metal Gear Solid, Peace Walker, Solid Substance 1, Shadow Moses, 2, Manhattan, and Metal Gear Solid, The Phantom Pain.
00:03:32
Speaker
ah All written between 2014 and 2015. That's four novelizations in about a year. That is not a lot.
Kojima's Cinematic Style
00:03:40
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. The one that we read, ah when did that?
00:03:44
Speaker
Who wrote that one? That one. Hold on here. Let me see. That one was, I think someone we'd read before.
00:03:53
Speaker
so not all raymond benson raymond benson raymond benson wrote that and and that one's kind of um off on his own i've actually heard good things about these metal gear solid novelizations uh yeah and and and without giving it away if if this book is any indication uh the guy can write yeah um and and i respect the fact that it's a big game and they are not trying to fit it all into 300 pages. They're like, no, this is about 600 pages. and
00:04:26
Speaker
And even then there's like, there's like, I, I fired up the game last night just to kind of, Yeah, be like, all right, you know, a lot of what, ah basically what the the amount of stuff that we read is covered in the first hour or so, couple hours of gameplay, right? Yeah. um And because as Kojima does,
00:04:49
Speaker
things are very cut scene heavy, you know? Yeah. There's, he is, he is a guy that clearly, uh, he's, he can make games, uh, but you can, you can see the, the wish to make a movie in there. Yeah. you know what I mean? Yeah, totally.
00:05:07
Speaker
ah Totally. Now, and I've never played this before, so I'm going to, I'm going to be paying very close attention to your, your, uh, yeah, experience with this game. But, uh, so yeah, so Hitori Nojima,
00:05:19
Speaker
ah wrote this. and he's He's worked with Kojima before on these. um And in fact, think he was I think he was one of the writers in the actual game. Okay. ah So yeah, so he's he's got he's got a hand in this.
00:05:35
Speaker
It was translated by Carly Radford, who is a Swedish ah ah translator ah who specializes in Japanese to English translations. Does a lot of corporate stuff.
00:05:47
Speaker
um actually a lot of like business related stuff, but also has translated for manga, a manga called, I got a cheat skill in another world and became unrivaled in the real world. Amazing.
00:06:03
Speaker
That is, and I, I'm not a manga guy. I'm going to have to read this just based on that. That's insane. There's, yeah, there's, there's a lot of fun, ah fun manga titles out there that are just like,
00:06:17
Speaker
two sentences long. I think that's, I think that's outstanding. And so she's done a lot of work on, on translating interpretation, stuff like that. And not all of it is, is um creative work. A lot of it in fact is technical writing and political writing, stuff like that.
00:06:36
Speaker
ah She basically is just a freelance Japanese to English translator. And i think that's extra impressive and frustrating when she's from Stockholm.
00:06:47
Speaker
yeah just Just another example of why they're just kicking our ass when it comes to that kind of thing. Yeah. Yeah. So our language better than we do. So Kenji Yano is one of the writers for the game.
00:06:59
Speaker
ah So therefore he and then he wrote the novel. So so that's that's pretty cool. ah We don't run into that an awful lot. Yeah. Interestingly enough.
00:07:10
Speaker
Yeah. I want to say the only time we, the only time I i recall it directly happening. Well, there was a seventh guest yeah and Alan Wake.
00:07:24
Speaker
ah Yeah. Yeah. Alan Wake. that that It was like what whatever the Richard Burroughs or something like that was the pen name that Sam Lake used to write.
00:07:36
Speaker
Right. Yeah. Yeah. others that That was, that was, that's, I'm sure there's another one or two. Yeah, I'm sure there's others in there. It's kind of funny. You would think that there would be more examples of that. but Yeah, of the delay ah the game the game director or one of the lead writers taking it on.
00:07:55
Speaker
The game itself, ah it obviously, Death Stranding 2019 came out. um It is ah big old game that is very weird. And obviously we're going to get into that weirdness ah as we talk about the book.
00:08:13
Speaker
ah It's post-apocalyptic, but an interesting twist on the post-apocalypse because it's not what you it's not the a typical ah post-apocalyptic world.
Kojima's Post-Konami Era
00:08:25
Speaker
And, um yeah, it was it was produced by Kojima Productions, which he founded after getting the unceremonious ah boot from Konami when Konami decided to pivot into ah fucking slot machines. Shit.
00:08:47
Speaker
Pachinko for a few years. Uh, cause Kojima was working on metal gear five and also, ah silent Hills, which would have been starring Norman Reedus.
00:08:59
Speaker
And so once that's captured, he, uh, or canceled, he decides, Hey, Norman, uh, and, uh, Guillermo del Toro was working with him as well on silent Hills.
00:09:12
Speaker
Uh, after that's canceled, uh, He's like, hey, Norman, you want to go make a game where you play a guy who delivers
Kojima's Influence and Fanbase
00:09:21
Speaker
packages? And Norman Reedus clearly is just packages.
00:09:25
Speaker
Norman is clearly just down for whatever hidayo Yeah, clearly. ah The man has got fans. He's got he's got it's he's he's probably the most. If you know, you know, of all video game creators out there. It's just the people who know him, love him. So, yeah. So here's the here's the the the wild thing about the game. all right. The cast list includes Norman Reedus, right? ah Mads Mikkelsen.
00:09:57
Speaker
uh leah sadhu margaret quali uh yeah and this is before margaret quali's um i mean this is post uh once for hollywood and when did once upon a time in hollywood come out i think after this i could be wrong
00:10:18
Speaker
Yeah, it came out the same year that this came out.
Casting and Character Highlights
00:10:21
Speaker
Okay. So this is like, you know, he's, it he bought early on Margaret Qualley. Well, Good investment.
00:10:30
Speaker
Good damn investment. Troy Baker, who's in everything, Tommy L. Jenkins, Lindsay Wagner, and the likenesses of Guillermo del Toro and, uh, Nicholas winding ref in, who is, ah an interesting director to, to be friends with, uh, not familiar.
00:10:49
Speaker
He's drive. Uh, okay. Okay. Yeah. Drive. Only God forgives the neon de demon. Too old to die young.
00:11:01
Speaker
This guy. Oh, Bronson. God, got it. Got it. Okay. Yeah. He's wow. He's got to look. He's got to look. And I just I just enjoy the facts. He he makes movies that are unapologetically violent.
00:11:16
Speaker
And there's something to so to be said about that. And it doesn't like shy away from the way violence, like the damage violence does. It's not like it. It's weird.
00:11:27
Speaker
I wouldn't say they glorify violence. It's just like, no, there's. Glorifying violence would be like having a lot of action and violence and just not showing any real ah fallout.
00:11:38
Speaker
and on movies His movies make violence seem like terrifying. you know yeah. um so yeah Bronson. I remember watching Bronson.
00:11:49
Speaker
I remember being like, ah okay, side note about Bronson. They always talk about how Bronson is like, oh, he's the most violent criminal in the world or whatever. And Bronson's never killed anybody.
00:12:03
Speaker
Right. And I'm like, I'm like, come on. He's like, sorry, yeah you can't make you can't. Sorry. No, you can't say that. He's still playing in the minor leagues for violence. You know what I mean?
00:12:15
Speaker
He's still down here. What he's good at is branding. That's what he's very good at. Branding. Yeah. His name is Bronson, which is like, dickton that's just a name. That's just a that's a that's a name for a guy that that is going to commit the old ultraviolence.
00:12:31
Speaker
Yeah. Speaking of ultraviolence, head on over to pixelate.com or patreon.com slash pixelate pod. And you, can you too can subscribe to our Patreon.
00:12:45
Speaker
ah You can follow us for free or $1, $5 and Gets you in the door, lets you read the blog post, gets you the early access episode. $5 gets you the bonus episode we record before every episode.
Patreon Promotion
00:12:58
Speaker
$10 gets your name shouted out and in every episode. And to that end, I want to thank Jesus loves you. Kyle Seaman, Ruth Smutter, Middle of Things, Sigma Sal, Sanguine Flatulence, Chet Beaks, Dummies Thick, and Friendly Friend. Thank you so much for being a friend.
00:13:11
Speaker
Patreon.com slash PixletPod. Do it today. Do it today. All right. This is a beefy book. Yeah, it is. There's like a lot of... I feel like a lot of plot happens in the 80 or so pages that we're going to cover. there's There's books that we cover that are like, you know, we'll do 100 pages. feel like not much happens.
00:13:36
Speaker
and This is not one of them. This is not one of them. We're moving. yeah We're moving and grooving. so we're go Let's also be clear real quick. It is 300 pages three hundred pages long They have... hacked words into these pages.
00:13:48
Speaker
I am certain that this is this is working on like a a size 10 font, like single spaced. It's like every page. and Maybe it's because there's so much plot, but every, it did not feel like I read. Uh-oh.
00:14:03
Speaker
We got a munchkin back here. munch. Hello. Hello. Here she is. How you doing, kid?
00:14:15
Speaker
Hello, I seen the new house in the background. It's true. It's true It's a little it's a little dark right now, but that's only because I'm in the basement And I'm trying to hide all the bodies you know He's got a basement.
00:14:31
Speaker
Yeah Yeah, we can we can have those in places where the water table isn't directly below your feet. Yeah Exactly it's been a while since I know. I haven't seen you in forever. Did you know um the the game store that is closest to my house now has a weekly HeroQuest game that I'm going to be getting involved in. Yeah. So when you guys come to visit, I'm going to see if there isn't going to be a game going on that night. Maybe we can go over there and play.
00:14:59
Speaker
That'd be awesome. That would be fun. Yeah. and if they don't, we'll just play in my house. Who cares? Yeah. We can do whatever we want. can do whatever we want. I like that shirt. That's cool shirt. The future is inclusive.
00:15:15
Speaker
Rock on. I dig it. you There he is. right and Go with her. get See kid. There it goes.
00:15:27
Speaker
ah She's getting so big, dude. Like, that's ridiculous. So big. ah ah Speaking of. Anyway. Speaking of that, bodies in the marsh.
00:15:39
Speaker
body marsh when i tell you to dump a body in the marsh you dump them in the marsh speaking babies speaking of babies a baby anding death stranding death stranding which yeah jesus christ jesus christ indeed uh we got a prologue in the beginning um wait there was a dramatis persona at the front of this wasn't there
00:16:06
Speaker
Yes. Am I imagining that? Yes. I don't know how in depth it goes, but I think, yes, there's one. There is one. Yeah. um But that's neither here nor there. I just remember that because we've been experiencing that on and off more recently. Well, I just I just remember being shocked at because I i know basically nothing about most Kojima properties, ah but this one especially.
00:16:31
Speaker
and they And I remember being shocked at how few characters had had names that sounded like they were, ah you know, in a musical in the Always Sunny universe. Sure.
00:16:42
Speaker
It's it it is shockingly normal sounding names for. Well, yeah. Like you got with the exception of dead man, die hard man and heart man i um ah outside. But I'm waiting for the entire cast to be like that. So fragile.
00:16:58
Speaker
um I like fragile as a name. I think that's a great name. Played by Leah Seidoux. um Very nice. Very nice. Yeah. All right. So prologue. ah This prologue is from the view point of view of a child looking out into faces that surround him.
00:17:14
Speaker
They are faces he doesn't know, but he might or he might never see them again. Faces of people possibly long dead. The child considers each face, whether he is connecting to them.
00:17:25
Speaker
And in the distance, he hears a whale song.
Prologue and Surreal Narrative
00:17:27
Speaker
Then the child is consumed by a woman with teeth down the back of her throat and expelled out of her anus. He is. Yeah.
00:17:36
Speaker
They're very clear on that. Very clear. By the way. Yeah. He's on the beach. specific He's on the beach now ah growing from a malformed lump of flesh into a fully formed baby. And then upon being asked, where are you?
00:17:50
Speaker
By one of the many faces that begins to surround him again. He wakes from his dream.
00:17:58
Speaker
Hmm. It's a good start. It's going to be weird.
Character Introductions and World Building
00:18:02
Speaker
ah Episode one, Sam Porter Bridges. ah Sam wakes up from a woman calling his name. He's in a cave that he had entered to protect himself from the time fall.
00:18:11
Speaker
Pause. What is time fall? Time fall is rain. ah Rain in this world as it's falling, whatever it hits, it ages. ah It just accelerates aging.
00:18:24
Speaker
So yeah do you don't want to be in the rain. Um, back to the thing. The woman is wearing a black rubber suit, which protects her body from the neck down. Her name is Fragile and she runs the delivery service.
00:18:36
Speaker
Sam's heard of her and she's heard of Sam, also known as the man who delivers. Fragile offers Sam an insect called cryptobiot to eat, mentioning that a cryptobiot a day keeps the time fall away.
00:18:50
Speaker
In this scene this scene, in the cut scene in the game, it's it's got plenty of squishy sounds as she eats it. Um, I bet it does. ah Sam declines and he also declines her offer to work for her because her delivery company is running ah work for her because um her delivery company is running on fumes.
00:19:09
Speaker
She reveals that she's also not long for the world, revealing that she was once soaked from head to toe by timefall and she takes off her glove to show that her hand is that of an old woman. As the rain lets up, Fragile prepares to depart.
00:19:23
Speaker
Sam gets a notification from Central Knot City, which is where he's supposed to be going. They're awaiting his arrival. Sam accidentally drops a photo that gets hit by a droplet of timefall, aging it prematurely.
00:19:35
Speaker
It's a photo of a young-looking Sam with two women smiling. Fragile mentions that even though timefall accelerates time, it can't destroy memories. Fragile says goodbye, and in the instant that Sam puts the photo away, she's already gone.
00:19:48
Speaker
Um, in this, uh, so they, they might've talked about a little bit in the book. I can't remember in the game. This scene is much longer. um because as they are standing in the cave, they, this is actually the first time we're introduced to a BT is right, right off the bat.
00:20:08
Speaker
A BT starts like walking around them. Um, and, uh, There's like a moment where it's kind of a neat moment where a deer that's hiding in the cave gets like startled by the BT and runs out into the rain.
00:20:24
Speaker
And then later as you're playing and you climb down, you're climbing down, you know, from the cave ah ah down the mountain towards the river, you find that the carcass of the deer.
00:20:35
Speaker
ah like already 90% decomposed because of the time fall. um so yeah, interesting little stuff there. um And also they talk about Dooms more. They they bring it up later in the book.
00:20:49
Speaker
But Dooms is introduced in the very first scene of the game where it's he his his level of Dooms is not as useful as fragile's.
00:21:01
Speaker
like fragile can actually see the BTs, ah whereas Sam can't. He can just sense that they're present. Oh, yeah. Yeah. they They talked about that. Yeah. They talk about that later in the book. Yeah.
00:21:13
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. um So Central Knot City, we got a new point of view character. His name is Igor Frank, and he's on his last day working for the Corpse Disposal team before getting a promotion and moving over to the Bridges 2 project. It's his last day.
00:21:29
Speaker
It's his last day. Thank goodness. Thank goodness. I bet he's feeling relieved. He's feeling relieved. He doesn't have to do this anymore. He gets an order from Deadman, though. That a corpse has been found and has estimated that it's been dead for nearly 40 hours.
Threats and Urgency in the Story
00:21:42
Speaker
Uh-oh.
00:21:43
Speaker
Igor is the only person available to move it. Uh-oh. But Deadman says that someone else is on their way to a sift c assist if they arrive on time. Cut to Igor is is on the back of a truck with the corpse and he's growing concerned about how little time there is left.
00:21:58
Speaker
ah The truck slows down to pick up a man. The man tasked with assisting him, Sam. Igor remembers details from Sam's bio. He's a former member of Bridges. He's a doomsufferer and he has phenophasmophobia, which is fear of contact with others.
00:22:14
Speaker
And it's not just like, it's not just like a fear. It's like, it's also a physical reaction to touch. Like he, it's almost like he has an allergic reaction to people touching him because if they touch him, his skin starts to like turn, it goes like pink and then red. And it's like, you know, it's a psychoschematic reaction to, to being touched.
00:22:41
Speaker
Um, So, yeah, he does not like it. ah Sam gets on the truck and Igor explains ah about the body. The guy wasn't sick. He killed himself. Suicide at this point in many people's eyes is an act of terrorism because of the chance of going and undiscovered.
00:22:57
Speaker
Why does all this matter? We're getting to it. They're taking the body. I love this detail, by the way. That is such that's fucking killer. Like that is crazy shit. Like that. yeah that That was a great way to get introduced to this world where I read that. I was like, oh, Jesus. OK, here we go. OK, great.
00:23:15
Speaker
Uh, dead bodies are bad. Why are they bad? We're finding out. They're taking the body to the incinerator to the north, but that path is unfortunately crawling with BTs. Sam mentions it might be best to burn the body right where they are, but that would release chiralium into the air, ah which is a, it's like a gas vapor that causes,
00:23:34
Speaker
A whole bunch of things, including depression, nightmares and suicidal ideation. ah Sam touches the body bag with his bare hands, sparking his dooms allergic reaction.
00:23:45
Speaker
The body is past the first day of necrosis. And Sam mentions that his level of dooms is too low to spot BTs. He can only sense them. So dooms is just just to explain it. if you're coming into this and you have no idea.
00:24:00
Speaker
what what anything is in death stranding dooms is just kind of like a sixth sense that some people have that have that started coming up after uh, after the, and the, the death stranding happens.
00:24:16
Speaker
Okay. So it's just like after the death stranding happened, then there's people, these people with a affliction called dooms. And it is an affliction because while they are, like they can sense the BTs.
00:24:27
Speaker
It also is kind of presents as an allergic reaction. Um, so like for, for Sam, like he starts like feeling it in his skin, like an itch that eventually becomes pain.
00:24:40
Speaker
Um, so, ah Igor shows that Sam, that he came prepared with a bridge baby. Bridge babies. Bridge babies are fetuses suspended in a transparent chamber filled with amber fluid in a state of living between the world of the living and the world of the dead.
00:25:01
Speaker
Igor mentions that connecting one always makes him feel like shit. ah This is just the iconic baby thing. If you've seen any art from Death Stranding, you know what is. yeah ah Norman Reedus and the Amazing Fetus.
00:25:17
Speaker
um That's awesome. On the Drive, Igor talks about how things were way back when. ah America talks about America.
00:25:30
Speaker
ah Before everything fell to shit with the death stranding and the time fall, all the things that used to exist, like America, only exist as concepts now. And they're breaking down into abstraction.
00:25:41
Speaker
I don't know about and like this. I actually loved this little section of of, you know, the word breaking down to a point where it it's only abstract abstract.
00:25:54
Speaker
it's It's abstracted and there's no real meaning behind it other than this concept of something that used to exist. And then it goes on to say something like, like God, ah which is surrounded, it's it which also America could also find itself surrounded by fanatics pledging their devotion to it.
00:26:14
Speaker
And I was like, damn. Yeah, it's on the nose, but I it i like it. It's a it's yeah that's that was pretty much my exact reaction. I was like, wow, that is.
00:26:26
Speaker
That's a lot. and And and and you know what? Fair enough. That's fair enough. Jesus Christ. Yeah. Kojima is like, just like, you know, you could see him like yeah just a little animation of him pick peeking around the edge of the the paper on the book somehow.
00:26:45
Speaker
just like looking at you in the eyes and just being like, you get got it? Get it. I got it. I got it. I got it. I got it before you were even born. And i got it. I got it in Metal Gear Solid.
00:26:59
Speaker
Yeah. And you know what? I'm still not mad about it. Like, I still don't. Fair enough. Yeah. Right. his His disdain for it's like he is he is a man that holds many things at once.
00:27:13
Speaker
the like the film industry, the American film industry, like all these things, but his love of film, ah both American and and and European and all that.
00:27:25
Speaker
And also his disdain for American global politics. and yeah Holding those at the same time, you know, it's impressive. And you believe both fully. Yeah.
00:27:38
Speaker
Yeah. And that's it's genuinely impressive. Genuinely
Death Stranding Universe Explained
00:27:42
Speaker
impressive. um ah As Igor, as they drive, Igor points out an upside down rainbow, which is a sign that something is coming over from the world of the dead.
00:27:52
Speaker
The corpse bag is beginning to leak leak as the ha was going necro and the car is seeping out of it. Another pause. This is probably the most pauses that we have to do to explain things, ah debt define things.
00:28:07
Speaker
All right. So ha is the ancient Egyptian term for the body And Ka is the same for the soul.
00:28:18
Speaker
So in the world of Death Stranding, but we have They basically decided that, hey, they kind of had it right, you know? like ah Right. Right. And I will not, I'm not, I would never suggest, honestly, that that they do a bad job of explaining all of the shit that goes into this.
00:28:39
Speaker
Because they don't. They do a pretty good job of of making it confusing when it deserves to be confusing, but also... ah giving you enough information to go on.
00:28:50
Speaker
But this is probably the most sci-fi babble book we've ever read. Where it's just like, yes, of course, the Ha and the Ka meet together in the ring rang room. And and it's like, oh, geez. Okay.
00:29:04
Speaker
i That's another reason it took forever to read this. You gotta go back over it again. You gotta have to go over things a few times just to be like, hey, you need to read that right? Yeah.
00:29:16
Speaker
yeah Um, so I, I don't necessarily use the term Han Kod as I'm going through in my notes. It's, I just say body and soul. Um, sure. Just to, to keep it interesting, keep it plain language.
00:29:30
Speaker
I think that's fair. So, uh, basically, uh, the car or the soul is seeping out of it. Uh, and that begins bringing the, the world of the dead to where they are.
00:29:44
Speaker
And the thing that they're that is coming to them is called the beach. And the beach is the barrier land between the living and the dead. um Basically, the world of the dead is an ocean and the world of the living is beyond the beach.
00:30:01
Speaker
When someone dies, they return to the ocean, which is it's like a Buddhist thing. ah But when the dead come back out of the ocean, they ah they cross the beach and they become stranded.
00:30:14
Speaker
They become ah ah was it a um ah BT is a beached thing is what BT stands for. And ah they become the things become stranding, which is the death stranding.
00:30:28
Speaker
Basically, that's where the name of the book. or the game comes from is the the the phenomenon of the dead souls coming back from the afterlife to the beach and becoming stranded because they're cut off from the afterlife.
00:30:41
Speaker
um Sam checks the body. It's about to pop. ah To make matters worse, time falls starts pouring down. As the truck hurdles through the rain, it suddenly comes to a stop as the electromagnetic interference ramps up.
00:30:53
Speaker
Igor begins to smell the ocean, ah which is a sign that the beach is here. and just as the And just as the truck starts up again, the sensor mounted to his shoulder, which is designed to show the direction of BTs, begins to activate.
00:31:06
Speaker
And it's pointing in a number of directions. the motors of the The motor starts and the truck drives forward, full throttle. The sensor points straight ahead, warning them too late as the truck smashes into a BT and flips over.
00:31:20
Speaker
Igor wakes up gro to groaning as the driver is pinned under the truck. Washed in time fall and aging rapidly. the body has reached ah Meanwhile, the body has reached the final stage of necrosis.
00:31:32
Speaker
And we get to get a brief rundown of the car or soul and hob and body and how the body needs to be destroyed so that the soul can be freed. Otherwise, you'll become a beached thing or BT.
00:31:43
Speaker
Igor is trying to help the driver before Sam tells them to shut up because the BTs are all around them. After a moment, the BTs seem to lose focus and Sam tells Igor to escape.
00:31:54
Speaker
But Igor tries to save the driver again, making him moan in pain, causing the BTs to focus on them. At some point, another person wearing a cloak ah with a BB in like a red container arrives on a cliff nearby to point out that things are getting worse and that there's these giant ass BTs now.
00:32:14
Speaker
um Igor shoots the driver and then tries to run and throws Sam ah the BB. Just as Igor is about to kill himself, he's grabbed by a BT. He tells Sam to run away.
00:32:26
Speaker
Igor tries to stab himself to death with his knife, but despite being somewhat successful, and this is, I love this little note. It was like, death is not, it's not a switch, you know, like just because you have lost consciousness or whatever, doesn't mean everything's done shutting down like the checklist is done.
00:32:46
Speaker
he's So he's still alive and the giant BT consumes him, causing void out, consuming everything, Sam, BB, and Central Knot City. um So the reason why the void out happens is because the idea of the BTs and the and humans, it's like death, like living and dead can't touch. It's like matter and antimatter.
00:33:09
Speaker
And like touching them, touching together causes a reaction, much like if matter and antimatter ran into each other, it would cause an explosion.
00:33:21
Speaker
This, the once the BTs eats Igor, it causes a reaction called a void out, which just it's just, whoa you know, it's it's really, really. I mean, first and foremost, this is probably the first thing that I've experienced that made me want to play this game.
00:33:44
Speaker
Okay.
Interest in Playing the Game
00:33:45
Speaker
I really didn't have much interest in this game. And ah this is such a shocking, upsetting ah scene. ah It's really well written.
00:33:56
Speaker
ah It's it's it is unreal. And I mean that in the sense of it's a surreal, strange, horrific kind of thing. ah That you have a hard time. Like, yeah, again, he he he can't shoot himself. So he starts trying to stab himself, trying to get through his rib cage to get to his heart.
00:34:16
Speaker
And then he's consumed by this. that It's horrifying. Yeah. really really horrifying and then it's such a fascinating idea of basically what you're talking about is this spiritual thing that happens that creates that's like almost a scientific thing at the same time it essentially creates and like a bomb that goes off um it's very very clever uh i was i was really impressed with this ah Yeah, just, don't know, Igor trying to stab himself to death. And it's like the description of like ah the knife hits off a piece of machinery. The knife like bounces off his rib cage.
00:34:55
Speaker
um It's so brutal. And that's something I've always thought about is ah I've been thinking about it recently. It's like I feel like movies never really did show ah like the idea of somebody stabbing somebody else in the chest.
00:35:10
Speaker
Like it's always like stabbed. Oh, you stabbed him in the heart and he died. Like it's hard to get through that. It's not an easy thing to do. Like, but then we show it like, oh, you stabbed him like right through the bone.
00:35:24
Speaker
No, there's a lot. Even just the meat, like the muscle tissue and that sort of thing. It's yeah, that's not something you'd have to have like a really, really sharp knife and a very strong arm for it to look the way that And don't ask me how I know these things.
00:35:41
Speaker
Just believe me every time I've tried to do it. ah But yeah, I agree. This is it's it's an underrepresented. So that's why I was appreciated this moment of he's like trying to stab himself and he's having trouble getting through his his ribs to his heart.
00:35:59
Speaker
cool It's brutal. Just brutal. And then it it's all for not anyway. Yeah, it's pointless. It's pointless. It's ultimately pointless. um So we yeah that ends the first
Sam's Repatriate Abilities
00:36:12
Speaker
episode. We're in episode two now titled Bridget.
00:36:15
Speaker
ah Sam wakes up in a hospital room and he's cuffed to the bed. His body is covered in handprints from the dead that that handprints from the dead that he goes through during the repatriation process, which is coming back to life.
00:36:29
Speaker
So among other things, Sam is what's called a repatriate, meaning that when he dies, His soul is ejected from his body, but he's able to just turn right around and go back, basically go back into his body.
00:36:45
Speaker
Um, and, uh, fatal wounds are like healed upon reentering his body and, and all that stuff. Um, dead man as a hologram is in the room as well.
00:36:56
Speaker
Uh, dead man gets his name from the fact that he used to be a mortician and he explains to Sam that he's not in handcuffs and there are comms devices provided by bridges, which he calls the best hope for humanity. Like dead man is lost in the sauce for the most part.
00:37:09
Speaker
Um, uh, on bridges, uh, bridges. What we'll, uh, kind of get to is it's like a private enterprise that is just trying to get America back together. Um, that's really all you need to know for now.
00:37:24
Speaker
Um, and I make it very clear. There is no state at this point. There is no state at this point. Um, he shows Sam how to use the cuff, uh, which is basically you just put both cuffs on one wrist.
00:37:37
Speaker
And it becomes a comms device. And also it like keeps track of all your biometrics and all that stuff. um Also, it allows bridges to track you. so Goody.
00:37:49
Speaker
um At this point, Sam realized that it's been two days since he came back to life, and ah which is the longer than he normally is out. And Deadman's like, oh, that's my I'm so sorry.
00:38:00
Speaker
We kept you under medically induced coma so we could get all the samples that we wanted from you. Tee hee. Aren't we stinkers? Aren't we stinkers? And I just love the fact that like ah Sam, every time dead man says something terrible, he's like, I can't stay mad at this guy.
00:38:17
Speaker
um Oh, you know what? For anybody but you, dead man. but Now, keep in mind.
00:38:28
Speaker
Physically, Dead Man is played by Guillermo del Toro. So you can understand. It's like, look at Guillermo del Toro. It actually would be very difficult to to stay mad Guillermo del Toro, no matter what he did. It's just this this happy, rotund little man, you know? i love that man so damn much. I'm really looking forward to Frankenstein.
00:38:47
Speaker
That's interesting. I've seen a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff where it's like, he used he built models, like, all the buildings are, are scale models that he, that he shot. And he's and like, that is, I mean, he's, he's, he is the king of, of you know, practical effects today.
00:39:09
Speaker
Yeah. ah It's it's, and I love him for it. So, yeah. So, um, dead man tells Sam that the corpse disposal guys and all central not city were destroyed.
00:39:20
Speaker
The only thing that survived were him and somehow the bridge baby Sam feels guilty being the only one left again. Deadman talks him about how the marks on his skin are interesting and also about Sam's fear of being touched before asking him to deliver some morphine to the president and to meet him in the isolation ward.
00:39:39
Speaker
ah Next, ah it's not a new chapter, just a location change. Capital Knot City Isolation Ward. Deadman remembers the first time hearing about Sam several years ago when he first started at Bridges.
00:39:51
Speaker
ah and about how Sam would always be talked about like this mythical being. Sam arrives and Deadman says that the morphine he delivered will help the president think clearly and that the president, Sam's mother, wants to see Sam.
Complex Plot Points
00:40:04
Speaker
And Sam's like, what?
00:40:10
Speaker
What do you mean? um Like, he's like, yes, the woman who raised you, the president of the United States. And he's like, What? What? um Okay. So I actually asked a few people who are death stranding heads.
00:40:28
Speaker
ah Why is Sam? Why does Sam not know that his mother is the president of the United States? And the the core consensus is Sam has just been out on his own for so long that.
00:40:44
Speaker
he forgot even the concept of president. Like he's, he's like, he doesn't even know that like, he doesn't think about it. Like he's like his mom. Yeah. He doesn't, she's the president of the United States. He's like,
00:40:56
Speaker
he hasn't thought about that in like 10 years, you know, its's yeah it's, it's not even, it's not even so much that it's his mom or that it's the president. It's just that these concepts mean nothing to him anymore. They mean nothing to him.
00:41:08
Speaker
He, he was, he's born after the country fell apart. Like he, he, he doesn't even understand what the concept of like a, Like America, a country.
00:41:20
Speaker
but His entire life has been this. So like the fact that she's introduced as the president of the United States to him, I guess it makes a little bit more sense. Like, what the fuck are you talking about? Right, right.
00:41:34
Speaker
Like, I'm the king of eastern Tennessee. And you're like, I don't understand. That's not a place. Oh, I'm the king. but I'm the king. I'm the king of eastern Tennessee. um That is a Um, what's it?
00:41:47
Speaker
Um, fuck, uh, the mighty mouse guy. Um, uh, the comedian who died, uh, Jim Carrey played him in a movie.
00:41:58
Speaker
Oh, oh, oh, Andy Kaufman. Andy Kaufman. Yeah. Yeah. That he, that's him. have a key. Oh, I'm the key. Um, because he was in a, uh, wrestling feud.
00:42:11
Speaker
ah with Jerry the King Waller. right, right. In the 70s. Yeah. So, or the the late 70s, early 80s. Yeah. So that was all part of that wrestling feud.
00:42:23
Speaker
i That documentary, the documentary about Andy Kaufman's life and a large chunk of it is dedicated to that, you know, his feud with Jerry dry the King Waller. It's fascinating. It just sticks in my head.
00:42:35
Speaker
Oh, yeah. And Bob Saget was like one of the main people that they talked to for that ah documentary. i need to watch that. That's yeah. i It's old.
00:42:46
Speaker
It's not, it's not like a new one. It's, it's right out the nineties or something. I've just never seen it. I would listen to Bob Saget explain the the story of, of anybody really. Yeah.
00:42:57
Speaker
Rest in peace. King. Yeah.
00:43:01
Speaker
yeah ah So, OK, yeah, they go into the isolation ward where she is being kept and someone has gone to great lengths to turn this into a recreation of the Oval Office.
00:43:14
Speaker
ah In there is the president hooked up to machines and die hard man ah or die hard man. Die Hardman. Die Hardman. Die Hardman.
00:43:26
Speaker
Die Hardman. it's It's German for the Hardman. The.
00:43:35
Speaker
ah Sam has actually known him for a long time. Die Hardman talks to Sam for a bit. Sam doesn't really say anything back. and then And then guides him over to the president. Deadman helps her remove ah the mask. She can speak clearly. And then him and Die Hardman leave the room.
00:43:53
Speaker
ah we So another a little break. Capital Knot City Presidential Office. While Sam sits with his mother, he stares at a quill sitting on her desk while she talks him about Amelie, who ah Bridget sent west to help rebuild the country.
00:44:07
Speaker
Bridget wants Sam to go help her. Sam then remembers the quill as the one that had been preserved from the signing of the Declaration of Independence. After some more prodding, he tells her that we don't need a country anymore. And he tells her that she's the president of jack shit.
00:44:22
Speaker
ah Fair. Fair. I mean, totally fair. Totally fair. Bridget, his mom, then grabs him by the wrist and he tries to pull away, which causes her to fall off the bed and the two crash to the ground.
00:44:34
Speaker
ah And then I i just copied and pasted. Bridget has fallen on top of Sam. She was crushing him, not just with her touch, but the weight of the nation behind her.
00:44:47
Speaker
Fuck you, Kevin. I didn't write that. That's for the book. That's ridiculous. I forced that out of my head. That's ridiculous. Not just with her touch, but with the weight of the nation behind her.
00:45:02
Speaker
I can't believe that was. there's some good There's some good fuck you lines in this book. There are some. Yeah. Yeah. Where you're like, I had just got to tell the the the writer, fuck you.
00:45:13
Speaker
you know Someone has to say it. Oh, that's that's crazy shit. As Bridget lays on top of Sam, she sees the photo that he kept around. And to her, she's like, oh, yeah, he's going to say yes, because he can't let go of the past.
00:45:29
Speaker
And she dies. And Sam hears a voice saying, I'll be waiting for you on the beach. ah Die Hardman and Deadman rush in. Deadman tries to resuscitate her to no avail.
00:45:39
Speaker
Die Hardman tells everyone ah that ah everyone present in the room that word can't get out because otherwise Bridges is finished. Not long after the president died, the hologram of the projected that projected the Oval Office shuts off. And it's actually just a regular ah hospital room.
00:45:59
Speaker
Deadman begins the process of getting her ready to be disposed of when Die Hardman steps in. He bullies Sam a bit into accepting that he has already made a contract with Bridges to help them. Sam tries to refuse, but Die Hardman points out that he's the only one who can deliver his mother's body to the incinerator.
00:46:14
Speaker
Sam then tries to break his cuffs off, but Die Hardman isn't having any of it. When they get the body into the body bag, Die Hardman eulogizes her for a little bit, saying that if she dies, then America dies.
00:46:26
Speaker
And that means it has to be a secret. Sam replies that America is already dead. Dead man then reminds everyone that she may have been the president, but her body will necrotize just like anyone else's.
00:46:38
Speaker
Several hours later, Sam is heading to the incinerator.
00:46:44
Speaker
Oh, you were just looking off camera. I was just, I had a, yeah, I just had to, I didn't want to open my mouth wide on camera. Oh, gotcha. Not again. Sorry. Not again. again. Several hours later, Sam is heading to the incinerator on foot.
00:46:57
Speaker
Dead man is pestering him about questions of whether the body is necrotizing faster because of her cancer. Because dead man can't stop um being...
00:47:08
Speaker
Piling on fucking weird about everything. ah Sam says that she's necrotizing faster because she didn't actually love you. Is that also, is that possible? Sam, Sam, are you listening to me? Sam?
00:47:23
Speaker
Sam, her bottle body was riddled with cancer, Sam. And you didn't haven't seen her for 10 years. And she was just a golf bag full of tumors, man. Just a golf bag full of tumors. But I say she really died of a broken heart, Sam. i think Wouldn't you say? don't know. me I'd say that.
00:47:43
Speaker
But that's just me. What do you think, Sam? I really would love to hear your opinion on this, Sam. Jesus Christ. Sam. ah Meanwhile, Sam attunes his body to the presence of of BTs and carries on.
00:47:57
Speaker
ah where're He's in the outskirts and near the incinerator. ah He deposits his mother in the incinerator and as her body burns, he thinks about ah How now that she is gone, her dream of America will also be gone for good.
00:48:11
Speaker
And I think he he at one point refers to it as a nightmare of America or something like that. um American dream, American nightmare. Yeah. He gives her a moment of silence and then turns to leave, but is interrupted by Die Hardman telling Sam that he has to burn the other cargo he's been given.
00:48:29
Speaker
And then Sam checks his bag and he finds the fucking bridge, baby.
00:48:38
Speaker
it's like It's just like ah most fucked up thing. Just in your bag. It's just like, what the... Have I been carrying this entire time? Oh. Yeah. then Deadman goes, you know, don't feel bad. It's not alive. It's just a piece of equipment.
00:48:51
Speaker
Okay. So like... I read this and I'm like, okay, well, this is like ah fucking ah pro like anti-abortion people. Yeah. like That's what it feels like. Feels like are writing it up a, and like, this is what the pro choice people think. It's just equipment.
00:49:10
Speaker
And it's like, I maybe i'm I'm I'm not giving enough grace to this, but like it feels very much like a pro-life argument is happening.
00:49:21
Speaker
But it's like at the same time, though, it's yeah, I'm with you. I i saw that, too. But at the same time, aren't they correct? Also, though, like it's like it's just a piece of equipment. It's like, well, yeah, in this world, it totally is.
00:49:37
Speaker
Yeah, they they make them. They're artificially grown babies. Yeah. They're not real babies. I feel like they are alive. You gotta make it into something else, please. so We don't, we don't need it to be a fetus. so we We need to have no mouth, even if it has to scream.
00:49:56
Speaker
Right. um Right. Keep that scream in here. Yeah. Yeah. Make it real ugly. ah but
00:50:06
Speaker
it's It's easily the most memorable aesthetic choice, let's say, yeah of this game. It sticks with you. um Meanwhile, the chiralium from the body is burning ah body burning is causing the clouds to gather.
00:50:21
Speaker
The connection of the cuffs gets cut off and Sam begins trying to figure out how a way to escape as BTs start to gather. um Sam connects to the BB, assuming that they're compatible because they repatriated together.
00:50:34
Speaker
After some connection issues, the baby and Sam are in sync and the Odrudex scanner, ah which looks for BTs, starts ah swinging around. ah Now with the BB augmenting Sam's abilities, he can see BTs floating through the airs like bodies tethered to umbilical cords.
00:50:51
Speaker
Sam sneaks around the edge of the incinerator building, trying to use the scanner to stay away from the BTs. He hurts his foot in the process and begins to bleed. After a few tense moments of waiting, the BTs head off.
00:51:03
Speaker
ah Sam thanks the BB when Deadman chimes in, asking if he connected the BB and telling him how dangerous it could have been and how it could have permadeathed Sam. Now, that is the the that is what Deadman said.
00:51:15
Speaker
But in the text, it also notes how excited Deadman is to say it. Yeah, yeah. He's like inappropriately thrilled and appropriately thrilled to yeah to get this information. And again, it were anybody else, maybe you'd be mad, but maybe you'd be mad.
00:51:34
Speaker
and That's anywhere. Just really, just really upping the the Gomez, the Gomez Adams of, of it. It's so true. ah Sam thinks about his past use of BBs, which were like bootleg ones from other porters.
00:51:52
Speaker
I want to see more of that. I need flashbacks to that moment. I got a bootleg BB. ah
00:52:00
Speaker
It's just, it's like, it's mostly ah like a Mickey Mouse doll that they've put like a fetus head on. They're like, it's bootleg. Still, it does the same thing, but it's like half the price, man.
00:52:14
Speaker
Man. Yeah. ah Bootleg BB. um yeah Just put the BB in the bag. um just Please.
00:52:25
Speaker
Sam, ah ah Sam, though, is able to hear the baby laughing and he decides he's going to be its papa. And then he has a hallucination. ah Yeah, this is it really is very, very anti-abortion ah coded when you think. Yeah. If you're if you're a ah if you're a death stranding head, you know, ah go ahead and feel free to correct us.
00:52:50
Speaker
But please. if something happens later where it's not that, but I'm just saying it's like kind of like, it's sort of like how you ever see hor the animated version of Horton. Here's a who, uh, it's super, uh, pro life, uh, where it's like, ah just because you can't see it doesn't mean it's not there.
00:53:12
Speaker
ah It's like, oh, yeah. OK. Oh, God. ah Episode three, Amelie. Deadman realizes why Sam is so mad when he gets back and promises that he'll look into fixing the BB while Sam goes to get some
Amelie's Journey and Capture
00:53:32
Speaker
rest.
00:53:32
Speaker
Later, Sam meets with Deadman and Die Hardman back in the faux Oval Office hospital room. which has been like the hologram has been turned back on. So it's an Oval Office again. Die Hardman pitches Sam on the idea that her mother's his mother's dream is still alive.
00:53:47
Speaker
And when Sam balks, he points to the hologram to a hologram of Amelie. Amelie is his sister, but she hasn't aged in years because her body is on the beach. ah Sam is still very skeptical of her involvement in this plan to bring America back by reconnecting everyone.
00:54:02
Speaker
We get some backstory on Amelie's trip to the West Coast in order to bring back America. The Bridges one expedition. So you remember Igor was part of the Bridges two expedition. He died.
00:54:13
Speaker
And so did everybody in the Bridges two expedition. Right. Amelie made it across the country ah only for the rest of the expedition to be killed and her ah taken captive by separatists.
00:54:25
Speaker
Captive by separatists. They beg for Sam's help, but he walks out, not interested in joining up. Die Hardman goes, tries to go out and convince him some more. And Deadman walks away, sure that Sam will eventually calm down and do the job.
00:54:38
Speaker
He goes back and works on the BB, making it more functional than before and talks to it about how it's going to be Sam's little support buddy. And that's where we're leaving it for tonight. ah A very good place to leave it, if you ask me. ah So, Phil, what do you think?
00:54:54
Speaker
i Man. um I stand by what I said. it it is the only thing that this genuinely makes me want to play the game at some point. ah The world is so dense and kind of psychopathically random sometimes, but it works also. Yeah. so Um, the writing is very good. Uh, clearly, you know, the writer being one of the writers of the game, that helps a hell of a lot.
00:55:27
Speaker
Uh, our translation is great too. Yeah. Even if we do have the occasional, the weight of the country, metaphor behind us. Uh, cause I feel like that might, might've been, I don't know why my gut tells me though that's an American gut tells you who's at, uh, or not American Swedish, but still, um,
00:55:44
Speaker
I think it it's it's very good. it's It's really dense. ah So dense. We've had a lot of books where you can just fly through it. This is not one of them. No.
00:55:54
Speaker
um So, yeah. ah What about you? What do you thinking and so far? Because you've played this. Yeah, I've played this and I've gotten like a bit past this part yeah in terms of yeah like where i where I am in the game. I actually fired up the director's cut of the game.
00:56:14
Speaker
um last night because I i had it. I don't even remember having like I have Death Stranding on the computer and then I also have the director's cut. I don't know ah if I bought it separately, if there was a free upgrade or something like that.
00:56:30
Speaker
um But anyway, yeah, I fired up. There's like some changes here and there, um specifically in the opening. The opening of the game starts with Sam riding on a sick ass motorcycle ah through the countryside.
00:56:47
Speaker
um And obviously the game has to separate him from his sick ass motorcycle. ah So what happens is he accidentally he sees fragile and he thinks he's about to hit her and he like bails out and the motorcycle.
00:57:04
Speaker
ends up like but falling off a cliff. Um, okay. Okay. He thinks he's gonna, I thought you were going say like, he sees fragile. It's like, Oh, and like just runs in this style.
00:57:15
Speaker
Yeah, no, he, uh, he, he's like about to hit her and he bails off this, the, the The thing is fragile as it's hinted at earlier can teleport. Um, so that just like, you know, uh, it's her fault basically that his bike gets trashed. You've done something fragile. God damn it. God damn it. Fragile.
00:57:39
Speaker
Um, and yeah, that whole whole scene with fragile is a lot longer. um I got the feeling that ah that most of these scenes are a lot longer. Yeah. Yes.
00:57:50
Speaker
Yes, they are. ah i was It was funny. as i was ah As I was playing the game, I'd like start the cut scene and I'd skip it. But the thing it with Kojima is that so there's cut scenes that go back to back to back.
00:58:03
Speaker
So it's like, skip, skip. Skip. Yeah. it it it may I was told that that might have been, you might have even been the person telling this. I was complaining, I think, about Persona and how, like, I'm really enjoying this game, but if I have to fucking sit there for five and a half hours to get to gameplay ever again, you're like, oh, yeah, Death Stranding's a lot like that, too. I was like, yeah, well, fuck it.
00:58:29
Speaker
Like, that's, yeah. Yeah. um Though I got to say, I think I enjoy the story. Like I enjoy the cut scenes of Persona more than I mean, don't get me wrong.
00:58:40
Speaker
Death Stranding is gorgeous. Oh, yeah, sure. It's so it's also extremely heavy. So if I was going to watch one, I probably watch the Persona 5 cut scenes because they're very. Persona 5 at least has a lot of it's it it it deals with some crazy shit, but it's it's well, it's crazy. and Yeah. Really fun, too. Yeah. Yeah.
00:58:58
Speaker
Yeah. So ah I like it so far, though. um And it also does the thing where my rule of sci where I feel like science fiction has to be.
Sci-Fi World-Building Appreciation
00:59:10
Speaker
ah it yeah i feel like it has to be a little bit difficult to comprehend yeah the world um because it needs to be beyond. what the world that we are currently in.
00:59:22
Speaker
Um, and I think that's really the case. I mean, it's, it's like a mix of fantasy and sci-fi in, in a, what's, what's present day fantasy called, uh, fucking magical realism or what's the fantastic or yeah, there's like a specific fantasy sometimes. Yeah. There's a specific term for it. Um,
00:59:41
Speaker
Yeah, so it's it's like a bit a bit of that. um But ah yeah, i I like that it it does that. um ah you you know, Warhammer is big on that. Obviously, I'm a much more understanding of the you Warhammer 40k universe. But when you start yeah with 40k, it's like, what the fuck is going on?
01:00:01
Speaker
Well, I mean, that's the thing to to really understand all of it. It's going to be... yeah Dune. Dune is very much like that. Right. You have to be kind of obsessed to understand that. have to really nail like...
01:00:13
Speaker
really nail down the details in Dune. ah It's because it's it's very much not like the our present state of the world. Yeah.
01:00:25
Speaker
Um, so yeah. And I, I think that rule that for, for sci-fi, I, I totally agree with you and I would take it a step further, uh, and say that all speculative fiction should probably have a little fiction. That's the fucking term. out Oh, is that what? Okay. Yeah. I think fantasy, science fiction and horror all are dealing with some level of unknown.
01:00:45
Speaker
um and I think, I think so. All of them should have some level of that. Uh, with them, I think that's valuable. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. So to that end, Phil, what are you playing?
01:01:00
Speaker
oh Oh, I actually have been getting a lot of gaming in ah this past week. It's been nice. ah Played a bunch of demos, ah played the Warhammer 40K Mechanicus 2 demo.
01:01:15
Speaker
How's that? panicist What's that? How was that? It's good. um ah yeah The first Mechanicus game, ah a very underrated turn-based strategy game um where you take the the reins of the Mechanicus, thus the name, ah versus the Necrons. And it was mut it's very it was very well done. It had some jank to it.
01:01:40
Speaker
But the party building and ah the the scouring of the Necron tombs was very cool. And basically, this is taking that same concept.
01:01:51
Speaker
And really, because it did well, from what I can tell. And they're like, okay, well, let's give it a ah fresh coat of paint, give it some more features. They're basically yes-anding the first Mechanicus.
01:02:04
Speaker
ah In fact, ah some of the levels in the demo, you're also taking... the role of the necrons versus the mechanicus which is an interesting choice um it's it's more of the same and and i at least so far as the demo is concerned and i think it's i think that's great because i think really that was an underrated game i think i wish more people had played that yeah um and i think it did well so i just but i still want more people to play more I did end up sitting down and playing some of the gold box game, ah the Dungeons and Dragons gold box. Eye of Beholder.
01:02:40
Speaker
um We talked about this briefly a couple of episodes You're like, I want to play some gold box games. Yeah, and and my only real experience with these games was there was one that came out for Sega.
01:02:52
Speaker
It came out for the Genesis, and it was a basic D&D game. And I just had the the fondest memories of that game. And, you know, when it comes to a certain amount of nostalgia, it's all about, you know...
01:03:10
Speaker
how you remember it. And you're never going to be able to recapture that. That's the idea. This might be the closest I've been able to do that. I was really impressed.
01:03:21
Speaker
um It's that old school dungeon crawler kind of aspect. creating your party and, and going through the dungeon and finding traps and secret doors and all that shit.
01:03:32
Speaker
it It's a lot of fun. I don't know. I don't know how much more of it I'm going to do. I i don't know if I have the time in my brain to go back and cause these, these games, they go long. Yeah. Um,
01:03:44
Speaker
But man, is it nice to to kind of it actually inspired me to download some ah old D&D modules from that day and just read them. Yeah. Yeah. it's It's advanced or these ones are basic.
01:03:59
Speaker
ah Basic. thank No, no, sorry. These are advanced. These these games are got advanced. The Forgotten Realms games are advanced. But they're super fun in that kind of old school way. They're very of their time. And I don't know how much they would hold up for someone who has no experience with that.
01:04:22
Speaker
Um, but for an old grognard who, who still remembers that sort of thing, um, very fondly, this particular game holds up well, which is why I ended up playing it. Cause I, I looked online to see, um, which of the gold box games held up the best all these years later. And and people kind of overwhelmingly said the eye of the beholder trilogy, uh, could be counted in that, uh, camp. So, uh, and yeah, I, I totally agree.
01:04:47
Speaker
I think it's, uh, I think that's great. Uh, it's, it's just nice to play again. um yeah I actually started playing the Indiana Jones game. ah the great what is it The Great Circle.
01:04:58
Speaker
Yes. Yeah. I started playing that last night. um i just i I downloaded it on the Xbox ah ah service and I just haven't gotten around to playing it.
01:05:11
Speaker
And what a goddamn treat. It is it is just ah a delightful game. it is a It is a lot of fun. um i'm i I really appreciate and you're starting to see it a little more here and there. But the game is clearly part stealth and part puzzle.
01:05:29
Speaker
And I appreciate the fact that they let you choose difficulty levels for each of those aspects of the game. that you're like, okay, are you super good at puzzle games, but you suck at stealth games, make the stealth part super easy, make the the puzzle part harder.
01:05:45
Speaker
Um, I think that's awesome. I think there's room for that in games and I really appreciate it. Um, I love how, you know, because here's the thing I like. I like bashing in fascist brains as much. Sure. Guy.
01:06:00
Speaker
and And by the way, by the way, I know that we're supposed to be saying like, oh, well, India isn't killing these guys. He's not going on a murdering spree. But I wrecked these guys with a goddamn, you know, a pipe wrench. They're dead. Sure.
01:06:13
Speaker
They're dead. Don't don't don't shit in my mouth and tell me it's cotton candy, guys. Indy killed so many fascists, at least during my run. Yeah, I did get the Elkabong moment that you told me about. I found a yeah guitar and I was like, what a gift this is. And then the achievement pops up and you're like, beautiful.
01:06:33
Speaker
And I really enjoy that part of the game. And yeah and you should. It's well done. and But got to tell you, my favorite thing about this game is puttering around as Dr. Jones.
01:06:45
Speaker
Yeah. Like I really enjoyed being in the university and just digging through shit and like, you know, finding little, little, uh, you know, uh, uh, notes and, and newspaper articles and shit like that.
01:06:59
Speaker
Hot. damn, that was fun. Like I really enjoyed just that aspect of it. It's awesome to crack the whip. It's awesome to, to beat up fascists. We all love it. Um, but just getting to be in the, uh, in his, in his blazer, wearing his glasses, digging through, uh, all your old shit.
Game Tutorial and Mechanics
01:07:18
Speaker
That's a lot of fun. And, uh, I will also say, ah probably one of the better a tutorial ah levels I've ever were played. We're basically just playing the opening of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
01:07:29
Speaker
Yeah. Super clever. Really well done. Such neat way to do it. And it's like, it's literally, it's like beat for beat Raiders of the Lost Ark where, and you get to, and I'm like, oh my God, we're going back. And then you hear the thing trigger and like, oh my God, Alfred Molina's dead.
01:07:49
Speaker
It's awesome. It's, it's, and it's, and it's, it, it, it, it's such a ah clever way ah to teach you the game because most people are playing this game are going to know, like you said, what's going to happen. It was like chills when I was like, Oh my God, when the, when it did the the Paramount logo and it like the, the pan down from, from Raiders, i was like, i was like, that was like one of my favorite moments of gaming moments. Yeah.
01:08:16
Speaker
it's it's awesome and and it's done really really well what machine games that made machine games yeah fucking the wolfenstein uh guys yeah and and and it's just it's a treat i i know that's such a dorky dad thing to say but it's all i can think i was like what a lovely time to play this game it's yes it's it's it's very nice and i'm i'm definitely gonna keep uh playing yeah it yeah it would have been on my game of the year list last year but played one of my favorite things about it is like you can use ah gun yeah but you're just gonna make it a ah lot more difficult for yourself uh because guns are loud
01:09:00
Speaker
And and it yeah it attracts a lot of attention. You don't want that much attention. And what's... and what's How can... Why would you do that when you could take a 50-pound marble plinth and crack that over their heads? Like, that's way better. That's way better than just shooting them.
01:09:18
Speaker
Yeah, knock them out with 50 pounds of marble plinth. Yeah. like And the fact that they are just, in the subtitles, is like, fascist. i Yeah. So like, so the Italians, it therere it's, it's funny because it's very literal.
01:09:33
Speaker
The Italians are fascists. The Germans are Nazis. I love it. I love it. Not even like, not even like black shirt or any, no, no, just fascist. I'm like, oh, beautiful. Yeah. Absolutely beautiful. Let's, let's, let's not split hairs here.
01:09:49
Speaker
Yeah. I really appreciate that. So, um, yeah, that's mostly what I've been doing. It's been a good week for me. What about you, Kevin? What have you been playing? ah Okay, so I've been playing a few things. Still playing Hell is Us.
01:10:03
Speaker
um i I need to get back into it. i kind of i I beat the first act and then mostly stopped ah for the moment. ah I also polished off act three of Hollow Knight Silksong.
01:10:18
Speaker
ah so that's yeah So that's all done. um And then i started playing... I started playing Baby Steps. Okay, I was just looking at this. Tell me about this game. This seems crazy. Okay, so, ah you know, getting over it with Bennett Foddy.
01:10:38
Speaker
ah Baby Steps is designed by Bennett Foddy, and I'm blanking on the, there's other developers involved.
Unique Walking Mechanic Game
01:10:45
Speaker
It's it's just Bennett Foddy is the name that i might on my mind. ah But yeah, let check them out. ah But on Baby Steps, you are playing a guy. His name is Nate.
01:10:57
Speaker
All he does is sit in his basement and eat pizza and watch anime. And he somehow gets teleported to another world where he has to just kind of walk through it.
01:11:09
Speaker
And walking takes a lot of coordination on the player's part because in order to walk, right trigger is lift your right foot Left triggers lift your left foot and forward as Nate lean forward. So you just have to like orchestrate left, right, left, right, left, right while tapping forward so that he like walks.
01:11:32
Speaker
A few things about the game. There's a few that there's some rage inducing moments in that, obviously. It's like, yeah I don't, it's not as straight out, like difficult as getting over it.
01:11:46
Speaker
But if you're not careful, you can do things like, oh, I made it really far and like get past the first like level, so to speak. um And then you could keep going and then accidentally slip and then fall into a river. And that river takes you back to like the beginning of the game.
01:12:01
Speaker
um ah ah Jesus. And um there's a few things that like, Bennett Foddy is the voice actor for every other character that is not your character.
01:12:15
Speaker
Um, except for this kind of like donkey man who wears a button down shirt and his dong is just hanging out. Uh, so yeah, Nate is ah the main character. He's, uh, I think he's referred to as a fail son.
01:12:34
Speaker
um in in in the store page. ah But I will ah ah will say he is ah he is caked up seven ways till Sunday.
01:12:45
Speaker
um That man has butt and it it's got jiggle physics as you're walking through. so That's awesome. His butt is is more cakey than even the most like feet like male gaze-y game that has ever been made.
01:13:05
Speaker
um so you know i appreciate that uh for for everybody out there i think they they did a good job um nate as a character is really fucking annoying um because he just like he's so socially awkward and unable to talk to anyone that when like the first bennett foddy character pops up he's like hey you i'll ah i'm gonna take you over here i'm just gonna get you some shoes and nate's like no no ah that's fine i'm fine i gotta go uh gotta bye and just like you just like walk off um and he could have like it's like so you you could have gotten shoes and then another character comes by later is like oh ah the guy who greets you ah
01:13:52
Speaker
He he get hands out maps. you You didn't get a map? And he like, what's great visual joke. He shows you the map. And first for an instant, you get a mini map telling you exactly where you have to go in the upper right hand corner. on a And then he takes it away and it disappears.
01:14:10
Speaker
ah love it. I love that. That's funny as shit. Well done. So there there's some really hysterical shit. It's like, it's frustrating. And, but also just like some of the stuff that's in there is, is so absurd and so funny.
01:14:28
Speaker
Um, so yeah, baby steps. Um, what else have I'm playing? I played and beat unfair flips. Um, what is unfair, unfair flips? You might ask, uh,
01:14:42
Speaker
It's a coin flipping simulator.
01:14:46
Speaker
Excellent. Yeah. that And that's that. And that's that you win by getting 10 heads in a row. ah I got the ending I got is on the 10th flip. The coin landed on its edge and rolled off the table.
01:14:58
Speaker
Oh, wow. It's outstanding. um Unfair Flips, a Game of the Year 2025. Beautiful. It delivers on everything that it promises.
01:15:12
Speaker
It delivers on everything it promises. ah Okay. ah Two more things. Kronos the New Dawn bought it when it came out like a month or so ago.
01:15:23
Speaker
ah finally getting around to playing it. It's the new Bloober team game. It's their first game post Silent Hill 2 remake. ah Pretty good so far.
01:15:34
Speaker
Very creepy. A lot of weird shit going on. It's again my sci-fi adage of it the world that you plop up the the reader or player or viewer in.
01:15:48
Speaker
Should be a little weird. Tough to understand. Kronos is that to a T. Um, it's very much a dead space inspired, but not really dead space inspired, but dead space ish.
01:16:02
Speaker
Um, also it has, you know, a lot of resident evil influence and that there's a lot of inventory management. Uh, it's preferable that you burn bodies after dispatching of things.
01:16:14
Speaker
Um, yeah, it's, it's, it's pretty neat so far. um Yeah. ah And what else? Hades 2. I finally bit the bullet and got Hades 2. After saying for a while, I like, I'm not interested in Hades 2. I loved Hades 1, but don't know. Nothing's really calling to me. And I was like, fuck it, fine.
01:16:33
Speaker
And then I bought Hades 2. And somehow i put 10 hours into it. So ah Hades 2. It's more Hades. does it's more hades Even Hadesu. Hadeser.
01:16:46
Speaker
Hadeser. Literally. It's like, hey, ah were you enjoying playing this hot twink in the first one? Well, how about his sister now?
Hades Game Sequel Overview
01:16:58
Speaker
You want to play as his hot sister? Eh?
01:17:00
Speaker
Eh? Eh? Did that do anything for you? Did that do anything for you um Yeah. ah very It's a similar game, basically,
01:17:12
Speaker
it's set in undetermined number of years later after the first Hades, ah you find out you are in an encampment, which is a resistance camp against, uh, Kronos, um, who has basically gone down and taken over the house of Hades and has put, uh, Hades in chains.
01:17:36
Speaker
And you're so Mel, you play as Melano, uh, and you're, mission is to try to rescue your family. Now, the difference in this game is that there's two ways to go. You can go down.
01:17:49
Speaker
um You go down through the underworld to try to get to Hades and defeat ah Kronos. Or there's also people attacking Olympus.
01:18:01
Speaker
So you can go up and try to up to the surface and try to get to ah Olympus to help out the gods up there. Um, so that's, uh, it was like an interesting little twist.
01:18:12
Speaker
Um, and it's you know, part of the game is like, uh, breaking the curse that, uh, uh, cause like the, the underworld gods aren't allowed on the surface, for example.
01:18:27
Speaker
Uh, so yeah it's like breaking the curse. So Melano can go up to the surface and and get to Olympus to help the other gods. Um, So yeah, I'm enjoying it.
01:18:37
Speaker
I didn't think i i didn't think i I had it in me to be like, ah, fucking another Hades. and But I'm in it. I'm into it. It's got its hooks into you. It's got its hooks into me.
01:18:48
Speaker
And I think that's it.
Conclusion and Social Media Engagement
01:18:53
Speaker
think that's everything I've been playing. um Thank you all so much for listening and or watching.
01:19:01
Speaker
ah We really, truly appreciate ah your patronage. If you can go over to follow us on Blue Sky and Instagram. ah Blue Sky, maybe, i don't know, it's falling apart because their CEO is really bad at communicating. and But, you know, we're still there for now.
01:19:22
Speaker
Anyway. yeah ah For the time being. For the time being. You can ah also follow us on our Patreon ah That's probably the best place to go. or And join our Discord.
01:19:33
Speaker
If you really want to to to get all the juicy gossip, join the Discord. And that'll do it for tonight. Thank you so much, everybody.