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The Drifter
0 Playsin 7 hours
Ben & Jess attempt a gruff voice like the titular Drifter and end up sounding like guys doing a batman impression.
Quest Quest podcast is Ben Vigeant and Jess Morrissette.
Editing by Ben Vigeant
Show art by Kevin "WilcoWeb" Wallace
Watch us on Twitch!
Ben: https://www.twitch.tv/ps_garak
Jess: https://www.twitch.tv/decafjedi
Give us a review, they help people find this show! Unless you hated it, in which case, don't.
Talk with us on Discord!
https://discord.gg/ve9fqjgPp2
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction and Australian Accent Humor
00:00:30
Speaker
I reached through the door. i didn't know what would be behind there. And then, oh no it's Quest Quest. The Adventure Game Podcast.
00:00:42
Speaker
I didn't even bother trying an Australian accent. well I wasn't even doing one. No, you didn't either. yeah know if you If anyone out there thought that was a bad Australian accent, it absolutely wasn't. that was That's just how i sound when i do a gruff voice. My gruff voice has has a little bit of that no rules just right vibe to it.
00:01:04
Speaker
You know, it like, it is it is a ah a like You know, the the voice acting in that in that game is so much fun. But we'll get to it.
00:01:20
Speaker
What game? You're just going to wonder, assuming you didn't read the title of this podcast before you clicked play on or you don't have, like, some sort of display that is currently showing. you'd have to be a maniac to even get this far into the podcast and not know what this episode's
Burrito Belly Confession and Weather Talk
00:01:33
Speaker
about. But we're not here to judge you. Yeah.
00:01:37
Speaker
How you doing, Jess? This is Quest Quest, the adventure game podcast. Ben. I'm not sure how this is going to go tonight because I'm sorry to report i have burrito belly.
00:01:48
Speaker
Oh, you got BB. I got the old BB. wait, you have burrito belly. And I know for a fact that yesterday you were at Chipotle. I've had, yes, I've had two. you been If you are keeping score, I had two burritos in 48 hours. Uh, Oh, uh, guys can't see this, but right now, Ben is wearing a yellow rain slicker. He has a little yellow rain hat over his head. And there is like,
00:02:16
Speaker
strikes of lightning behind him in his in his recording studio. we are He is facing severe weather. So if he dips out here at any point, don't worry, I'll take the reins. I'll take the reins.
00:02:31
Speaker
Um, it was coming down down like something that comes down hard. The, uh, did, did you hear that, that thunder is my mic picking that up or now? I think it may have, uh, may have muted the, uh, the, the boom, but I did see it looked like, uh, flash of light as if you had just died for a moment. Really bright. Like that struck very close by.
00:03:00
Speaker
Anyway. Then sheltering in place with you, the listener. You know, listen, I'm on the first floor of a building now. Don't dox yourself.
00:03:11
Speaker
i Yeah. marry Somewhere in Chicago. i'm Good luck. somewhere Somewhere in Chicago on the first floor. I will say, though, ah inconveniently next to several windows. um but And also my computer is using windows. yeah That's a little that's a why computer user humor.
00:03:32
Speaker
I am curious, though, like we record every week and I can see your your home behind you. Yeah. Are all there these like kegs of gunpowder behind you tonight? Like, you know, you think with all the lightning and everything, that's just like possibly dangerous. ah You got to you got to prep. And I've been prepping for the big day with gunpoder the gunpowder. Like the the the the day where.
00:03:56
Speaker
ah where You know, I don't even have a good joke here. I'm like building a bridge. You mean the big annual Chicagoland Civil War reenactment? Okay.
Civil War Reenactment Story
00:04:08
Speaker
Can I tell a Civil War reenactment story? I think you have to now. you ever, have you ever been to a civil war reenactment? Yes. No, but one of my close friends in college, uh, and still is an active participant in the reenactment scene.
00:04:24
Speaker
Um, so when I was in, uh, college, i was in a seminar project where the culminating project of this this seminar, there was maybe a dozen, maybe like 14 of us, and we were going to make a short film.
00:04:49
Speaker
And so that was like the the seminar project. And the... ah Like one of the things that we found when we were like kind of location scouting was that there was one of the weekends that we were recording, like filming, there was a civil war reenactment and they gave us permission to like go there and film around it.
00:05:15
Speaker
Like now this film had nothing to do with the civil war or anything. And we were like, this is in the film itself. It was a reenactment was not, uh, Was not that we were time travel. Now, did you stage the reenactment? Was this a reenactment of a reenactment? No. Okay. um But ah so so we went, like, it was it was just more like a, this is an interesting, like...
00:05:41
Speaker
This is an interesting thing to point a camera at. So let's just kind of figure out a way to like work in that the characters ah go to a Civil War reenactment because there happens to be one a half hour away.
00:05:56
Speaker
And so the day before we were shooting, we were there and we were kind of like talking about to some of the organizers. um And they're, you know, ah like kind of exactly kind of the the kind of guys that you think, like kind of later middle age, big beard,
00:06:19
Speaker
uh uh you know wearing a full uh uniform and uh so like they're they're talking and they're explaining like what they do and like how this this goes and blah blah blah and i'm there little you know like 20 year old me jesus this was 20 years ago um wow but i i the i'm i'm wearing a t-shirt that says you have died of dysentery. And then it has a covered wagon in reference, of course, to the Oregon trail, the, the, the well-known game.
00:06:58
Speaker
So I'm wearing this height of, uh, of internet humor at the time too. Oh yeah. Making a reference to the Oregon trail in 2006. Oh You would have, you were the, the, the king of the castle and I, well, their base would have belonged to you. Yeah, I had i shoot down every zig or whatever.
00:07:18
Speaker
i yeah they You have no choice but to make your, I don't i don't remember any of this. Make your time. Yeah, make your time. There it is. ah But anyway, so this this old guy who's explaining ah like the the reenactment to us pauses mid talking about reenactment, looks at my shirt and goes, a lot of people died of dysentery. i What does the shirt mean?
00:07:47
Speaker
but man the one hand it's like i would feel put on the spot by that and at the same time what do you do you're just pretending to be a guy who knows guys who've died of dysentery right now it's like you're the weird one like you're you're like larping the dysentery lifestyle right now i'm just wearing a t-shirt he's like yeah like he's It was just, you know, and so that's my Civil War reenactment story ah was that, ah you know, this this crusty old man in, you know, the rebel uniform of the Civil War was offended
00:08:26
Speaker
This guy cosplaying as a Confederate was offended by what I was wearing. Fuck you, man.
00:08:38
Speaker
That's right. Fuck you, bro. I think the Civil War area enactments would be a lot more tasteful if everyone wore the Union union uniform. Well, you know, but that's one of the things about, to my understanding, Civil War reenactments is that it's like always, the South is always pretty well overrepresented ah and a few people from the Union bother to show up.
00:09:07
Speaker
Do you think it's ever like at a kid's softball game when one team only has like eight players and they're just like, we'll lend you an outfielder? Like when the Union shows up. It's gotta be. Yeah. Yeah.
00:09:19
Speaker
I wonder if I were a Civil War reenactor, I think I'd be the guy who brought my own horse. I don't think that'd be like a really cool thing to be the guy with the horse.
00:09:29
Speaker
What was cool was that they had cannon and we filmed it. They've always got a cannon. They've always got a cannon. Like getting, getting that on, on film or a mini DV tape rather, ah like, you know, shooting a cannon going off. It's like, well, we're going to find some way to involve this. and Did you put one of your characters in front of it to take it to the gut?
00:09:53
Speaker
Yeah, it was me, and I'm dead. Oh, no. Ben, this is how i found it. But you have the good news. There's a blinding light. If you could just figure out what you did wrong in time, yeah maybe you can change this. But, um yeah. so that's my Civil War reenactment tale.
00:10:14
Speaker
um You know, and ah the movie, ah not great.
Nostalgia: College Projects During Quarantine
00:10:22
Speaker
I rewatched it in 2020 with ah friends of mine because, you know, not lot going on.
00:10:28
Speaker
And I was just kind of like, hey, I was in the this short film in college and I still have it on DVD. Do you want to you ah want me to to ah you know share my screen on Discord and we all watch it together?
00:10:39
Speaker
You know, and we were all at home, so they had to watch it. We all watched it together. and you know what? At the end, I was like, this movie's terrible. i've ever And then everyone was like, you know It was a perfectly like bland film made by 20-year-olds. I have a VHS of a choir concert I performed in in high school around that I've i've made people watch before. you know So we've all got shame in our past. Oh, we, well, this wasn't even, we were all, we were all doing this. We were all like sharing, like another friend shared a different like college project, short film. Like this was our college project, short film film festival that we had during ah like COVID induced quarantine.
00:11:30
Speaker
Like, Did anyone have like a lost gem? Was there one that's like, oh my gosh. No, they were all bad. What do you expect? Like, yeah, none of them were. Yeah. Like, um it was it was just interesting because I hadn't like at that point watched it for like, I don't know, 15 years or whatever. And so it was just like, oh yeah. i You know, it was, ah you know, and I, my character,
00:11:55
Speaker
ah Like they they wrote this, ah but but didn't um you know didn't think this through. my My character, like I was the villain, which was fun.
00:12:08
Speaker
And they wrote it, it's like Andy st strokes a rabbit because they thought that would be funny. Like, you know, somebody's stroking a cat. yeah Here's the thing. ah or Rabbits are like barely domesticated.
00:12:20
Speaker
They don't like to be held by like really anyone, but especially someone they don't know. No, at best, I think they're sometimes like paralyzed with terror. Yeah. And that's what passes for domestication, you know? So like the, like one scene,
00:12:38
Speaker
that like they got before I just was like I'm not going to do this uh like you see like this rabbit like just jabbing its legs at me and like squirming and then like the second like the scene's over I just let it go and it just like pop up pop poppa like hops off the rabbit's fine everyone didn't abuse the rabbit sure sure for the purposes of this podcast Ben did not abuse that rabbit I mean it's probably dead now but wow only because we ate it wow Okay, well then, yeah, I mean, that's... Have you ever had Rabbit?
00:13:10
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, I've had Rabbit. That's not bad. You had that one. Yeah. Yeah. yeah You know, Ben, one of the great things about being on college campus is there are constantly flyers up around campus casting for student films, and nearly all of them...
00:13:29
Speaker
are looking for one adult character, like an actual human adult. And constantly I think to myself, wouldn't it be fun if I just started auditioning? Because by now I could have like a resume of 40 student films ah under my belt where I would probably just be the only person older than age 22 that showed up to audition for this part. And it's like, why don't I do that?
00:13:58
Speaker
but i was When I was in ah high school and college making little movies, um It was always a massive coup if we could convince a teacher slash professor to show. Like, it was it was like getting, it's like, oh my God, we got Tom Hanks. Like, yeah you know know. When I used to host our talent shows on campus, anytime I could drag a professor into one of our stupid skits, that was always the highlight. mean, it's just great because I was still amused with the idea of a professor doing anything silly. Like, that alone. Yeah. But I should get it. I mean, all these student films sound really depressing.
00:14:37
Speaker
ah like They're all very serious affairs, but i think I could really lighten the mood. Yeah, you do yeah do some stick. I have some notes on your script. It's like this is good. But trust me when I say it'd be funnier if I did a little pratfall when I entered. Yeah, that's one of the things like I know you're not like a Chevy Chase guy.
00:14:58
Speaker
No, but like, you know, the man knows how to punch up a script with a little pratfall. Little comedy. Well, speaking of reminiscing, what have you been playing?
Life is Strange Game Discussion
00:15:10
Speaker
Oh, man, been thinking about reminiscing. Are you saying you'd like to turn back the clock? Oh, brother. god damn it, Jess. Go ahead. I've been playing Life is Strange Reunion. It's the brand new 2026 follow-up to Life is Strange and Life is Strange Before the Storm and Life is Strange Double Exposure. It's more of the Max and Chloe Chronicles. um And I have to say, I'm about an hour and a half or so in. I'm just early in this game.
00:15:46
Speaker
It's pretty enjoyable. It's pretty good. this is I think this is the game that the reaction I've seen to it more than anything is this thing's out already? Like, I feel like it got announced like three weeks ago and then it's like, and we've dropped it. Here it is. It felt like something that very much rushed to market. But feel, mean, to play it,
00:16:09
Speaker
quite I mean it's up to the standards so far of all the previous games and series if you liked Life is Strange and the other Sam and I'm sorry Sam all the other Sam and Max and Chloe yeah and Sam to this one oh yeah finally Sam is there you got me back yeah that's how great would that be like if just occasionally you just see like Sam and the backers like hello and and this pick But it's good. i mean, it's all the melodrama you want from a Life is Strange game.
00:16:40
Speaker
Max is still rewinding time to solve puzzles. She's like the college campus where she works now. There's a huge fire that breaks out and a lot of people die.
00:16:50
Speaker
And she goes three days in the past and has to somehow prevent this fire. that She has no idea how it's going to start or anything like that. So you're kind of on a ticking clock to see if you can avert this disaster.
00:17:02
Speaker
And, you know, solving puzzles with Tommy Waddy stuff. It's good. You know, i i think i think this is the thing.
00:17:15
Speaker
Is that I think that, like, because there was fair amount of, like, sound and fury in around, and I think people are talking about Life is Strange again also because that that TV show is coming soon.
00:17:32
Speaker
Like, you know, I think Mothership like bru like had a like a ah blog about the the end of the the first game and and and the decision like that that player made.
00:17:49
Speaker
And, you know, I think, and this is my read, is that this, like, set of Life is Strange...
00:18:04
Speaker
like the the Max and Chloe Chronicles, which it's very clear that they didn't want to do. No, no, no, no. This is a classic. We're going to do an anthology. It's very clear that they wanted to move on. yeah And i like, because I can thoroughly place myself in the camp of I finished Life is Strange and was like, you know, dusted off my hands and was just like, okay, that's all I need of of these two. Yeah.
00:18:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:33
Speaker
And like, so at this, you know, I remember when before the storm came out and like there was a real like, what reaction to that? and then like double exposure, there was again, like a, like a really, but I think now at this point,
00:18:50
Speaker
Now at this point, the only people reacting to it, like that the only frequency that a new Life is Strange starring Max and people that want more of it.
00:19:07
Speaker
And so I think that's it. Like, I don't even think there's a reaction of like, really? i think the reaction is I know about this game because I want more of this.
00:19:18
Speaker
I think there's something to that. And yeah I think also i had the advantage. I'm guessing you played this more or less contemporaneously at release. the I played it maybe about a like maybe a year.
00:19:33
Speaker
like certainly closer to it than you. Like it was, it was like maybe six months to a year after it came out. I think the fact that like I played the first one and very quickly after that jumped into Before the Storm and not long after that jumped into Double Exposure. i never had to like sit with the big decision I made at the end of The First Life is Strange.
00:19:57
Speaker
And I think at some level that may be like, I think that's a good insight. Yeah. It helped me not like maybe put it up on, I hate say put up on pedestal because don't think that's what it is. But I think that knowing there was another one to immediately move straight on to, if I enjoyed Max and Chloe, it was easy to just sort of like, you know, all right, well, that one's over. Let's do the next one.
00:20:21
Speaker
Whereas I could see, you know, if you were someone who is locked in on Life is Strange 1 on the original, how it would feel like a few years later, now we've got a prequel. That might feel like cheapening it. I do always love this phenomenon where you have a piece of media that's meant to be an anthology, but the first version of it hits so big.
00:20:45
Speaker
you kind of get trapped in. Like, as my understanding is that's what Stranger Things was. Like, the idea was every season is going to be its own, like, 1980s-style horror kind thing. But then the first season hits massively. All of these kids become massive stars.
00:21:02
Speaker
And now it's like, well, obviously we have to bring back all the people to do another season of this. And i mean, you do get the feeling that they tried what Life is Strange 2 and True Colors, both of which I think were successful and well appreciated by critics, but nothing hits like that Max and Chloe melodrama.
00:21:22
Speaker
And you haven't played either of those, have you? Not yet. I'm saving those for after I finally know, will Max and Chloe be in love forever? Or friends, or one of them dead?
00:21:33
Speaker
i i have to assume. that if you're going back to the swell the fourth time and you're just making it for people that are like real sick of screaming at each other on Reddit all day, that
00:21:52
Speaker
i think it is impossible for them to not give them a happy ending now. like i yeah i think I think that's it. like I think that's all. you know If they don't, it could be the thing that finishes off Tumblr for good.
00:22:06
Speaker
like You think so? You think that's it? If they don't deliver a happy ending here, like I feel like that's it for Tumblr. I would say... There's still more of Deltarune to come out.
00:22:21
Speaker
Okay. And that, I think, you know, would also sustain it. Deltarune being the follow-up to Undertale. You don't know anything about those games.
00:22:32
Speaker
You'd probably enjoy Undertale, to be honest. Yes. Probably. I mean, I'm aware of it. Yeah, don't look anything up about it. That might be a fun, like, blind sweep.
00:22:44
Speaker
Because it's... Like, that's a good game. I, Undertale, here, I'll just say this will, like, Undertale, I bought for those of you, like, Undertale is kind of a Earthbound-em-up.
00:23:04
Speaker
that came out some years ago. and it's always, whenever there's a Steam sale, it's always like cheap as hell. And it is noted for, without giving anything away, having like kind of interesting and clever ah ways that it has a ah flexible narrative, let's say, in how how it approaches its storytelling.
00:23:32
Speaker
And, you know, it's kind of funny and quirky and weird. And, like, I bought it at release because I just was on in the market for a game.
00:23:45
Speaker
Yeah. Exactly at that moment. And I saw the trailer and I was like, you know, like, kind of an Earthbound-y RPG would be fun right now. I will get this. And so I bought it at release, played it, had a great time. And then, like, afterwards it like had, like, a massive...
00:24:01
Speaker
Super fan base, which for some is little bit of a turnoff. I I've also been playing but what I've actually been playing is a super mega baseball for because I've been one even played but Super mega baseball for and it's an amazing game.
00:24:20
Speaker
but I've played every other Super Mega Baseball other than two. For some reason, I skipped two. And you know what? It's like just the same shit, except now that they they they have a couple like, ah you know, historic baseball players in it.
00:24:37
Speaker
And it's got like, it's got a bit more of the like EA sheen. It's got like licensed music in it. Yeah. and And stuff like that, which I'm not as much a fan of, but...
00:24:48
Speaker
The thing is, is that Super Mega Baseball, all four of those games, or at least the three I've played, is exactly the level of complication I want in a video baseball game.
00:25:01
Speaker
Yes, absolutely. It is striking for me that perfect balance between simulation and just arcade fun that I think is perfect for a baseball game. I think a baseball game that gets any more serious than that quickly becomes a little boring. It's got the right amount of all that.
00:25:23
Speaker
It's just like, because I enjoyed baseball games on the NES. Yeah. Like your your RBI baseballs and whatnot. And that was fun. And then like when I later went and played like later on baseball games, they they just got a little too, like i was just like there's just too much shit going on here.
00:25:41
Speaker
I just kind of like it simple. And Super Mega Baseball kind of understands. It's like there's a certain person out there that wants to play a baseball game that is like kind of get in, get out, very arcadey, like very straightforward. And, you know, has like kind of goofy, like made up teams.
00:26:03
Speaker
I just want to hit some ding dong doodles with a bing bong bat. That's right. Anyway. Super Mega Baseball 4 is fantastic. Here's your team or do you have a custom team?
00:26:14
Speaker
i I've just been playing exhibition games. I've just been like just... yeah um But I mean, I have played as the B-Wolves. That's generally who I've played as.
00:26:24
Speaker
B-Wolves are pretty good. um Pretty good. So what are we talking about today?
Introduction to 'The Drifter' Game
00:26:30
Speaker
We're talking about the game of The Drifter. The Drifter 2025, which...
00:26:37
Speaker
which Has the statute of limitations on this expired? Do I have to keep saying that it's like we we got game codes for this or people going to beat down our door be like...
00:26:50
Speaker
you didn't You didn't disclose the game code, but yeah, we got game codes for you. All those people that are on our subreddit, on the QuestQuest subreddit, who are constantly watching us like hawks.
00:27:01
Speaker
Yeah, they're just ready. They're always like, oh, ethics in game podcasting and stuff like that. They're on our asses. um but yeah We did do the... the the ethical thing which is uh power hoof was kind enough to uh extend these uh these steam codes to us and then we sat on them for i played it right away i know but we didn't interview we we should have played it immediately and then done the episode here we are far too late thank you power hoof because you made an incredible game and it was a real delight getting to play it
00:27:34
Speaker
i think I think this is, like I've said this on the the podcast, it it arrived at exactly the right time because i I got the drifter and then like a couple days later I had COVID and so I was like, you know, like just stuck in my my house for like a week or so.
00:27:52
Speaker
I've got COVID and I'm trapped here in this house. that Oh no, I've got COVID now. chapter End of chapter three.
00:28:02
Speaker
uh oh the um uh and and like you know I found myself with a lot of free time and it was a pretty mild case so it's like one of those things where it's like well I have energy and I don't feel sick but I can't be out and about so I guess I'm just gonna stay inside and play video games uh and so I just like head down played like uh the drifter like Almost straight through probably like three or four days. I remember this, like a series of messages on our discord of like, I'm playing the drifter. Oh man, this game's pretty good. You need to check this out. I'm really far into the drifter. I'm really digging this thing. I just like kind watching it unfold. And I mean, I was you know mostly just concerned about your code. I was really worried about you, but I was glad you were enjoying the game.
00:28:56
Speaker
Um, the, so yeah, So the drifter, so one thing, if you're if you're listening to this and you haven't played the the drifter I would say like very light, uh, like, well, we're, we're going to talk about it, but the thing about the drifter and I think the appeal, a big part of the appeal of the drifter is that there's a lot of twists and turns and, and, uh, like, Oh, you thought this thing, but actually it's this and Oh, who's that? And Oh my God, that person's this and blah, blah, blah.
00:29:30
Speaker
And, um, And like that, that's a lot of the, the fun of the game. And so I don't like, so we, we're not going to, ah this is not going to be a, like, we're, we're not going to spoil things, but if, if you're the type of person that wants to be like, you know, ah ah pristine so absolutely pristine, pristine,
00:29:56
Speaker
you know, maybe come back after you've played an hour, but I don't, we're, we're not going to we're not going to ah ruin anything that you wouldn't see in like, honestly, like either a review or probably even the game description. Good chance. Yeah. I mean, and half the farthest game is,
00:30:16
Speaker
discovering its secrets as its protagonist Mick discovers them as well he serves as not only your playable character but also your narrator and yeah getting too far ahead of that would spoil a lot of the fun of this game because he is casting about this story as gifting you as if you would um yeah that as confused as we might be so that part of it yeah we we won't get too much more spoilery than like the average know trailer for this game might get the um so here's how ends yeah ah no the uh so so the the drifter uh begins you are as said you're you're mick carter uh start the game like uh uh
00:31:07
Speaker
on a boxcar like riding the rails. Yeah, riding the rails. You're you're headed back to a city that you ran away from ah for reasons unknown. um I to to go to your your mother's funeral um and ah like immediately and this is again the joy of the game immediately things turn sideways and you get involved in in like uh like a terrifying conspiracy and there's murders and monsters and ghosts and and like just hearing people like ah and multiple different uh unreliable groups are after you ah with not entirely clear motivations and i
00:32:02
Speaker
Yeah. It's an interesting combination because it has these like on the one hand, it's, it's very much a thriller. it has these supernatural and sci-fi elements that are woven throughout it. But then like the the emotional context of Mick's story and how he finds himself in these events and and sort of his lived experience is very grounded in a definite reality, which I think is a fun
Balancing Realism and Supernatural in 'The Drifter'
00:32:28
Speaker
juxtaposition. You have this very real story of a man dealing with a lot of trauma and a lot of pain and yeah the loss of of family and and things like that.
00:32:38
Speaker
And then you layer onto it these elements of the supernatural, these elements of science fiction, these elements of a vast conspiracy and everything else. And it creates ah a fun tension that in a genre that i think sometimes can struggle a bit with pacing. It's hard to do a thriller.
00:32:58
Speaker
in the form of a point and click adventure game. And I think this one does a good job of keeping that tension high enough that it feels like it's propelling you forward, even in some of its slower moments. The, uh, so, you know, this is interesting. I was talking about it with, uh, uh, our friend, uh, Grayson, who just, uh, finished the game.
00:33:20
Speaker
And, uh, we were talking about like, so on the steam description, It says, quote, an engrossing roller coaster of a story drawing on King, Crichton, and Carpenter with a dash of 70s Aussie grindhouse.
00:33:34
Speaker
Now, I can say in this game, also, like notably, as we were alluding to earlier, this game is Australian and all of the, like, voice acting is Australian.
00:33:45
Speaker
And it's very, like, you know... i think Australian grindhouse is the term... ahploation I've heard both of those kicked around. I mean, it is... that gritty sort of, uh, you know, a little bit of Mad Max vibe thrown in with just some, some action and mild horror and a little bit everything. So, so yeah. So what I was saying with Grayson was I'm not that familiar with seventies Aussie grindhouse. I don't think I've seen any, any films, uh, of, of that.
00:34:15
Speaker
ah if if my Australian friend Ryan is listening, I know that he's going to send me, like he's going to Discord chat me of a list of three recommendations. Crocodile Dundee, Crocodile Dundee 2, and Yahoo Serious. oh What I can say is like, obviously i am familiar with Stephen King and like John car Carpenter and Michael Crichton.
00:34:40
Speaker
And it is funny. And this is a thing that like, you know, Grayson and I were discussing is that like, you could actually ah to a fault point out and go like this part of the game is kind of the Stephen King part.
00:34:56
Speaker
Yes. And this part of the game is the Michael Crichton part. And this part of the game is the John Carpenter part. Like you could actually, i think,
00:35:06
Speaker
ah ah like map it to those yes three pretty strong like ethereal voice like it's like oh obviously you know This thing I won't say.
00:35:20
Speaker
You know, like this feels very Stephen Kingy. Yes. And I mean, it's it's funny because and in a world where so many descriptions on Steam are generic to the point of, you this game is exactly like Broken Sword meets Monkey Island meets King's Quest sort of stuff. When this one says it is King Crichton and Carpenter.
00:35:42
Speaker
uh mean it is absolutely that that is spot on it is what it says on the 10 in that regard and that's not a knock on it it is doing doing justice to these sorts of three guys that have made a whole lot of you know great entertainment like um so the the, the gameplay of the drifter, it starts out especially, and then like, it starts to vary up, uh, as it goes.
Voice Acting in 'The Drifter'
00:36:12
Speaker
But the, the start of the game is like kind of action set piece into action set piece. yeah like that Like, like kind of takes the foot off the gas.
00:36:23
Speaker
I would say maybe a third or halfway through, through the game. um But like the the first like chunk of the game is like to a point where it's kind of funny where like Mick is just like, and then something else horrible happened. That's right. No, really is. And then I heard a scream from the alley. kind of say, I mean, and mean, part of this is I have to say the highlight in many ways of playing the drifter for me was the voice performance of,
00:36:58
Speaker
of Mick like it is out of this world. Let's see who who's the voice actor Adrian Vaughn on Mick. It is it is gruff. It is Australian is and the intensity is just dialed up to 11. Oh, yeah. He's all times.
00:37:16
Speaker
And it's great because on the one hand, it keeps the tension high like you want to be in ah in a fast paced thriller like this. But also, I think for me, it lent some humor occasionally because it's so ridiculous.
00:37:28
Speaker
Yeah, it's like, you if you look at a washing machine, it's like, it's a washing machine, all right. yeah yeah It's just, it's perfect in a way. i mean, it is. is ah You know, a thing i've I've said about, like, voice acting is that.
00:37:47
Speaker
um you know like there there are some games where uh i because i don't necessarily i'm not someone that necessarily feels that voice like voice acting is required for an adventure game um like i don't necessarily don't like i i don't need it um i could take or leave it uh it And the only times that I truly like voice acting in an adventure game, and to be clear, actually, I think like the last, year like, you know, i'm I'm just repeating myself. I think the last couple of years have had like some really great performances. Oh, absolutely. um Is if the hearing the voice provides something that just reading it wouldn't.
00:38:43
Speaker
Right. And, um, like, that this game would not be as fun if you know you didn't have this like so outrageously gruff and i think like and that's kind of the fun of it too because it's like so you know you and i we played walking dead ah some time ago we talked about it for this podcast and Neither of us particularly liked it.
00:39:15
Speaker
Um, like in terms of tone, right? Right. Yeah. It's not in our tone. And yeah, You know, it's it's funny, but and I was thinking about this when I was revisiting The Drifter today to prepare for the podcast.
00:39:27
Speaker
I was like, why do I like this? Which starts, like, there's, like, blood immediately. Like, somebody gets shot in front of you in the first, like...
00:39:43
Speaker
minute and a half 60 seconds 90 seconds of the game yeah and like massive like you know kind of a a very florid arc of blood shooting out yes and like gunshots and violence and uh and and it's a a game that traffics in very grim grim grim grim grim grim topics like really like As you like discover like the tragedy of Mick's life, you find some very sad things in his past.
00:40:21
Speaker
um He is unhoused, and he spends most of like he spends most of the game like in kind of the you know the unseen parts of a city under a bridge, under an overpass, hiding on the docks, hiding like in in places, talking to people that have been like kind of discarded by society.
00:40:43
Speaker
um And yet, when I play it, I'm not, I i don't feel this kind of overbearing, ugh, of like grimness that Walking Dead It's like wallowing in misery. this I mean, again, it is a story of desperation, of trauma, you know, of loss, of of heartache, and all these sorts of things.
00:41:08
Speaker
But yeah, somehow it manages to avoid that feeling of just piling misery on top of misery for the sake of, I think, again, I think what we felt, if I recall way back when we talked about The Walking Dead, i think we felt like it may be straight into the territory of maybe being a little bit manipulative and how it worked ah the player's emotions. At times, you know, it very much felt like,
00:41:31
Speaker
You know, it was, yeah i think we used the scene where you have to like dig up a dead dog to steal its collar so you can get through like an automated doggy door on a house. It's just like, you're really going to make me like swipe E or whatever to dig up a dead dog from someone's backyard. It feels like you're just trying to make me sad for the sake of making me sad. This game doesn't feel quite as cheap to me in that regard. i think it earns a lot of this emotional depth and richness that it's trafficking in.
00:42:01
Speaker
I think I'm going to depart from you a little bit and say that I think... Because both of these games have like Walking Dead and The Drifter both have like an intense style. Walking Dead like has this like kind of like obviously it's based on a graphic novel.
00:42:20
Speaker
um Like it has like a kind of graphic novel style. This has um like that, you know, kind of that grindhouse style where like everything's a little different.
00:42:34
Speaker
Like, i i think the the difference in Walking Dead for me, I think, was that it felt like it was also kind of grasping towards, like, some kind of, like, connective tissue of realism.
00:42:52
Speaker
Yes. Where this is so, like, stylized and pulpy and... Lorgeous pixel art. All of, like, the characters...
00:43:04
Speaker
um are are kind of you know enjoyably so like kind of tropes like you know all of the like the villains and the good guys and like you know like the like the the cub reporter character and like who's really she'll do anything for a story and like you know all this and like All these, like, all of the characters are are very, and, like, of that that kind of style, and everything is so stylized that, like... And also, like, is unhappy as Mick is...
00:43:46
Speaker
um I don't like the the, the, I don't feel like miserable hanging out with him.
00:43:58
Speaker
He seems less hopeless than maybe what we see elsewhere. And I mean, it, It really is a testament to the game. yeah You mentioned and some of you have like you have this great cast of characters, some of whom are kind of yeah stock archetypes and things like that. Something that really leapt out to me, you know, i mentioned it had what I think are a really gorgeous pixel art graphics. I mean, it is as good of a looking pixel game as you're likely to find from the very opening when you first see this train.
00:44:27
Speaker
you know, like round the bend at high speed and you join Mick on that train car for the first time. It is striking and how beautiful it is. But something about the characters that really leapt at me, I think this is the first time I've ever stopped to appreciate this.
00:44:42
Speaker
in a game is something that has in common with a lot LucasArts later titles. The characters all seem to have body language in a way that they aren't all just like standing straight up, you know, like hitting their mark kind of figures. There's, you know,
00:45:02
Speaker
And it tells a lot about their characters. I feel like, you know, again, you see that in games like Day of the Tentacle. You see that in games like Sam and It's missing from, you know, some of maybe LucasArts earlier games. It's missing from some of Sierra's games that's history. And here I think it goes a long way. I mean, every character has their character.
00:45:24
Speaker
body language that supports the stories the game's telling with them it's really thoughtfully done i think that uh the the visuals really support this storytelling here it's a you know i i think there there isn't really a like it i i can't think of a flaw aesthetically like but the the visuals i really love how um
00:45:55
Speaker
the game like the person who is the artist for this game how they drew like how they draw light is the game primarily takes place at night so which is night is the ideal time to set an adventure game yeah a lot of great adventure games or parts of adventure games are at night all the best parts of least two larry are at night That's right.
00:46:23
Speaker
But I think like... you know like Very good. Pixelated... Or sexed. Oh, now I'm picking it up. i i But like...
00:46:36
Speaker
like You know, I think night looks really interesting in pixels. Yes. um And whoever did, did the art for this again, like the way that they like very early on in the the game and like the first chapter,
00:46:56
Speaker
of the game this game is divided into several short little chapters that are all each like one kind of little set piece or series of set pieces and they all end on like a nice little cliffhanger which is really nice like it's it's yeah it's very the the game never kind of forgets quite what like what it is like what type of story it is um but uh the um
00:47:28
Speaker
uh like the you're you're in like this this tunnel like underpass and there's a bunch of people like warming themselves uh like from a trash can and the way that the the fire is drawn illuminating all the darkness in like this you know wherever this is like this under a bridge or whatever like it looks quite beautiful one another thing that i like i in the game is is the sound design, which is like the the game does a good job of... i When I was revisiting it for this podcast, I had my headphones on, so I could really enjoy
00:48:12
Speaker
like you know, just a little, a lot of little touches that you don't necessarily, like you might not necessarily see uh, you know, a kind of a small indie where it's like, Oh, like you walk by, a you know, if you're in the vicinity of this fluorescent light, you hear that like droning hum, like,
00:48:36
Speaker
you There are different footsteps for each texture. that like This big metal door has a very satisfying like metal door clang when it it closes. like there's a lot of there It's it's a very thoughtful game in that type of design.
00:48:55
Speaker
And then, of course, it has a very, like, entertaining, you know, synth-y soundtrack. Talk about, like, John Carpenter. yeah Yeah. That dark synth sound, it really serves it well. I mean, again, it sets the mood. It's easy to ramp up the tension with this. It's remarkable that this game is the product of a two-person design team. like This feels like a big budget operation. I mean, because, again, yeah,
00:49:23
Speaker
as we said before, we we live in a time where God bless indie adventure games are able to attract some really top notch voice talent. This was no exception, but you go beyond that to the atmospheric pixel art. You go beyond that to the to the sound design and everything.
00:49:40
Speaker
I feel like it's the most overused word probably in game criticism, imaginal, but it all does add up to something pretty cinematic. And I think a very real sense of that word other than just like, oh man, so sometimes it gets a really dramatic camera shot. I feel like it all adds up to something that, uh, that really showcases this story they're trying to tell. Well, they kind of, they, they had their eye on the ball, uh, for this, which is like everything. Like, it's like,
00:50:10
Speaker
In terms of like, so it's clear that there's like this this type of like genre stylization that they they had in mind for this.
Aesthetic and Design of 'The Drifter'
00:50:21
Speaker
And everything like, you know, every choice in designing this game feels like it was made towards that level. uh like that idea where it's like we want like we want the game to to have this feeling and you know we were talking about this a couple weeks ago and we got that that great email about it is is it's like about vibes and you know, i all sorts of any type of game, like Super Mega Baseball is good for vibes, like all these these things.
00:50:58
Speaker
But it does, you know, and this is, again, a thing that we've you and I have talked about a lot, is that, like, you know, a lot of adventure games kind of live or die on like the feeling of occupying a space and being in that space and getting to explore that space and you know having such a single minded like view towards it's like this is you know, like, because we're doing this grindhouse pastiche, the door has to sound this, like, you know, like has to sound like this when it shuts.
00:51:39
Speaker
And it's like, because of this, Mick always has to be like, has to, to really like use Baroque language to describe how miserable is. It's like, I opened up my mouth. and disgusting seawater came in the breath was being like you know everything absolutely is is about like you know every line supports the idea of of this grindhouse of this grimy 80s
00:52:15
Speaker
like kind of a pulpy story. Yeah. I mean, there games that arrive at their vibes as like a happy accident. Yeah. I think sometimes this is, you know, maybe not a product of the team set out with a clear vision of just what this is supposed to be. Sometimes you just,
00:52:32
Speaker
get there accidentally this one very much as you said they had their eye on the ball there there is no mistake every bit of this production is serving to advance this very specific gritty vibe that the drifter is is going for ben i know we're not wanting to spoil this too much but i feel like we have to talk about maybe the the big gameplay gimmick here of uh so yeah if again if you want to be absolutely on yeah but this is talked about in every review of the game that's ever been written because in many ways it's i think the core of what makes this game kind of unique but also i think ties it back to a long tradition and yeah yeah it's a very adventure gamey idea
00:53:20
Speaker
Yeah, done in a little bit more of a diegetic way than we've seen it in the past. Yeah. So basically, this is a game ah that commits the ultimate adventure game sin. You can die in the Drifter and you will die in the Drifter and you will die in the Drifter probably many times as you're playing this. But where the game makes this interesting is it turns death into a mechanic where not, not quite in the style of say life is strange. You aren't like rewinding time per se in the same way that, that max does in those games. But,
00:54:01
Speaker
As you die, say you are drowning, which is a very early scenario in this game. Mick is is thrown in into to sleep with the fishes and then like guy brush, he can't just pick up the idol and and walk out of the water.
00:54:18
Speaker
um And you drown. you You're unable to escape. But after that first time, you kind of respawn. And you have an opportunity to try this again based on the knowledge that you learned the last time. Because Mick also remembers failing and dying and can take the lessons from those deaths and try to get it right this second time or this third time or this fourth time. So it introduces an interesting...
00:54:45
Speaker
trial and error element to dying in the game that becomes its own form of puzzle solving how did this play for you what did you think about this uh this mechanic i i thought it was very entertaining i will say that there are a couple sequences um where like uh Because, yeah, you find yourself in like ah like, kind of ah a death sequence, and, like, there's a bad guy, and, you know, the bad guy's coming for you.
00:55:17
Speaker
And, like, so you have to, like, quickly do like, a sequence of things to kind of, you know, ah get away or, you know dispatch of the bad guy.
00:55:28
Speaker
the... the i Like there, there were, I, I did like, I generally like this, but there are like one or two sequences where I was just like, okay, so wait, all right, now I have click here on this thing. And I got to click here on this thing. I got to do this. And then I got to do this and damn it. I died again. What's the one thing in this sequence I forgot.
00:55:51
Speaker
And so it's like most of the time it was good. And the game kind of, the the the game is is designed to be this is not a ah game that that wants to to keep you in place for long no the game will start to push you in like a character yeah or or mick if he's alone will just go like maybe i should try this like why don't you try clicking on the tarp uh um but no it's but there's like one or two that i got like a little like a little bumped by
00:56:23
Speaker
you know, I thought about like games that trial and error is such an important part of it. A lot of times when we talk about this in the adventure genre. It's as a point of frustration. Like I just finished playing the dagger of Amin Ra or a bow to and for a lot you played that game. The final act is this chase sequence through Lein Decker Museum. And Laura Bowe, the protagonist that game, has to escape an evil killer.
00:56:51
Speaker
And it's a series of I run into this room, and I bolt the door, and then I hide behind this sarcophagus. And then once the person comes out, I step out of the sarcophagus. But then I got to go in here and open this window as a distract. It's a series of puzzles that you almost have to figure out through trial and error. You're going to get caught. You're going get killed. You're going restore your game.
00:57:13
Speaker
But it's all handled outside of the context of the game itself. It's all just a restore, oftentimes with very little in the way of a hint of how to go. And, of course, Laura Bowe doesn't come back saying, oh, last time I ran into the wrong room and that's why I got murdered. This time I'll do it differently. yeah um I think about that. I think about, you know we talked about this, a game that came to mind.
00:57:35
Speaker
A few of the dialogue trees in Under a Killing Moon we talked about where there was like a very specific series of dialogue choices you had to make through on a few of the conversations in that game to avoid instant death.
00:57:49
Speaker
And it wasn't always clear from your options which one to pick or even something like complicated. QTE events in something like a Telltale game. By the time those games got further along, those QTE events got much easier.
00:58:04
Speaker
But usually that's a source of frustration. We talk about that games like, I cant hate having to learn by trial and error. And this game really puts at the centerpiece of a lot of these these death scenes where it becomes, you know, ah the way that you learn how to pass this puzzle. But also, it's a part of this larger mystery that Mick is caught up in the middle of.
00:58:26
Speaker
Yeah. And it, yeah. Like, and then like it is, it's, it's fun. How now, so how are you, are you just playing this on, on like point and click?
00:58:42
Speaker
Yes, and that's what I wanted to talk about. played it on the deck, right, originally? I played this entirely on the deck, both like on like you know on the deck, then also like a docs deck a do deck a docked deck up on on the screen and so you know one of the one of the the kind of innov it innovative ah things about the game is that it has this very, i probably one of the better gamepad-friendly
00:59:20
Speaker
ah ah control schemes, where i the funny thing is, is that, um and, you know, I didn't i didn't revisit it for ah when i when I revisited it today, so I might be a smidge off.
00:59:38
Speaker
um But what's funny is, so you're walking around as Mick, and you control Mick with, ah like, your normal, like, left thumbstick. And then the right thumbstick is, like, kind of hot spots. And you see, like, what the, like, it will give you the text, which is written kind of similar to Return ah ah ah to Monkey Island. Something we love. one of One of the, I think one of the best things that Return to Monkey Island does is ah Like when it describes like when you mouse over something or like cursor over something, it will say like give you a bit of flavor text in the voice of Guybrush.
01:00:21
Speaker
Yes. And this is the same like where it will provide mix thought on the the item. or the the hotspot. And so, yeah, the right thumbstick kind of scans for nearby hotspots.
01:00:35
Speaker
And it's kind of like if they made a good Grim Fandango. ah like i thought this too, like, man. What if Grim Fandango's control scheme was actually like two drafts away from being really ah great? What if we remastered Grim Fandango one more time?
01:00:59
Speaker
you here's the funny thing. Let's, let's take a swerve here. And I might've, when I watched you play, Grim Fandango for the first time on your stream and you were playing the the remaster. And of course you're playing the remaster, which has like, you know, point and click, it gets rid of the tank controls.
01:01:18
Speaker
I played Grim Fandango in what? 99 when it came out, like I bought it at release. And so i played the, i played and completed Grim Fandango at the time tank controls, not a problem.
01:01:31
Speaker
What was interesting to me watching you play The remaster where, you know, ah tank controls are ah not even the default. You have to turn them on.
01:01:46
Speaker
um Like, otherwise it has either, if you're using a gamepad, like kind of normal non-tank controls, or you can point and click. But a thing I noticed watching you is that you missed a bunch of, like, you'd be walking and you're like, where is this thing? Where is this thing I'm supposed to go to? Where is this thing? Like, you would just be wandering around.
01:02:06
Speaker
And I was like, I didn't have any problem finding that because I was running around using the tank control, in which case, like, I'm just kind of running Manny alongside the edge of every screen.
01:02:21
Speaker
And his head is just swerving around. The head tilt of that game is where, yeah it all makes sense. And outside tank controls, you lose some of that. Well, yeah, yeah if you don't have the tank controls, you you've lose. In Grim, for those of you, if you haven't played or you haven't played with the tank controls, is like you tank control, which is to say tank controls are that left and right rotates you and pushing up moves you in whatever direction you're facing um thanks for describing that to our listeners of course uh but um well you know they they might not have played what was the atari just combat i guess yeah i have that cartridge in my office it was one of the first games i ever owned a good game um it's pretty good game the uh uh but like
01:03:14
Speaker
without running Manny around and having him swerve his his head around, you actually, like, the the remaster kind of obscures hotspots that you would have easily found, or even actually entire rooms, because it's like, again...
01:03:32
Speaker
Like Manny is just kind of like running. If you're just running forward, you're just going to run him into the wall and then just have kind of have him glide alongside the side of the wall until he gets goes to the next screen.
01:03:44
Speaker
I'm just sitting there. You're like, where is this thing? Where am I supposed to go? And I'm like, it's just screen over. Just go to screen over. Now, also in Grim Fandago's defense, I'm pretty bad adventure games. So some of that was That's fair.
01:03:56
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, but it does. I was thinking this as I read reviews and watch some gameplay footage of how this works with the stick because I played with just mouse and it works beautifully at the mouse. It's a it's a great point click. But I was thinking the whole time. It's like, oh, man, this would really solve the Grim Fandango problem. I think you get the best of both worlds like Hannah Montana. Yeah, it's it's interesting because it's like they're uh yeah like you know there a lot of games now will be released on um you know consoles as well like a lot of adventure games and and you can play them like perfectly fine
01:04:49
Speaker
on on the console, ah like, or like, you know, I've played some games on on my deck without even using the touch pad or anything like that. And it's it's fine.
01:05:01
Speaker
But this, I didn't feel like, oh, this is fine. This felt like, oh, this is actually, like, this feels good. Yeah. Which was interesting.
01:05:14
Speaker
No, and I mean, it's something that, you know, again, it gets a lot of praise where there's room for innovation. here I will say, you know, in general, this, this interface, even in point and click does a nice job of streamlining everything about a traditional point and click. every so I mean, it very much is going feel familiar to anyone who's played a point and click before with icons and, you know, and all that sort of stuff, but that inventory management and everything else, but it,
01:05:46
Speaker
really does a beautiful job of like laying you know when you've sucked a particular hotspot dry, you know, when there's not you if there's no more interactions you can have with a certain item, it will actually like put a little X over it when you hover so that you don't continue trying to just go back and dig into that shopping cart full of stuff to see if there's anything else waiting for you or a they also like With ah dialogue, what it does is it shows you like a little pictogram of like what what the thing is. And then there's text over it that provides like mixed thought on asking this person about that thing.
01:06:27
Speaker
And sometimes like it will show you all the, like, you know, all the icons yeah of it's like, you know, we'll show like a picture of like, you know, the bad guy's face and you'll see, you know, some like an inventory item that you're interested in talking about. Like you'll see all these options.
01:06:44
Speaker
Then above them, there'll be his little bits of commentary, which might include, even if like the thing is grayed out, it will just say like, this person has no idea about this. I'm not going to ask him about it. And it's just like, thank Thank you for like not wasting anyone's time here.
01:07:00
Speaker
Yeah, no, it's, it's a nice streamlining. Yeah. I think that this is we've seen in the past, Oh, gosh, I feel like five or six years in particular. I mean, after a lot of games began to move to some mixture of like the single click system or something, maybe, know, I feel like we see a lot of games that have adopted something fairly LucasArts-esque. I feel like in recent years, we've really seen a further streamlining of what these interfaces could look like. And, uh,
01:07:27
Speaker
the drifter feels like a real modernization that still there's clear continuity with the classic point clicks that, uh, that a lot of us grew up with. I i think it really does a nice job here. You know, again, it's one of those things that contributes this feeling of this feels like a much bigger budget kind of game than I suspect it was. I have no idea what the budget for this was, but I don't think this is a triple a, uh, production coming from this, uh, this indie studio power huff. Uh, but boy, you might mistake it for one. There is, uh, there's really ah a lot of nice work going on here.
01:08:01
Speaker
Yeah, it, it again, i think it's, it's, it's a really, ah it's, it's, it's just a really thoughtful design.
01:08:12
Speaker
um You know, that's what I kind of keep coming back to is that I think what, why it works and why it's had such a reaction, I would say of like kind of like kind of small team indie adventures last year so i'm saying not dispatch like this was probably the hit right like this was probably the the biggest performer this one definitely broke containment like i mean this is one that made it into the mainstream it's getting written up in uh in a lot of the big gaming sites it had a lot of buzz around it you know there was definitely a period when it came out that you know people other than just adventure game fans like us and a lot of our listeners uh it was it was building buzz uh far beyond uh this this community of adventure game fans yeah yeah exactly um it it uh it absolutely like broke containment and like you know found its way out um
01:09:17
Speaker
And, you know, good for them because it's also, it's like it, as said, like it, it doesn't, you know, there, there are couple there, there are a couple like parts where I, I found myself getting like kind of stuck and a little frustrated, but honestly, it's just like after, after I tried for a little bit, I looked it up it was and then it was like, okay.
Narrative Pacing and Puzzles in 'The Drifter'
01:09:42
Speaker
And then moved right on. Like,
01:09:44
Speaker
And in general, and again, this like, this is a ah thing that it points out right on, like in the the description, which is the focus is on fast paced storytelling with puzzle solving being the glue that ties it together, makes a practical guy. So puzzles are down to earth to design to be unobtrusive and give an investigative feel.
01:10:08
Speaker
I think they were successful at it largely. Yeah, i mean, there isn't much in the way of moon logic. I mean, some of these are creative solutions, but nothing feels like it came from a different planet.
01:10:21
Speaker
ah But yeah, you know, good game. Check it out. i got Drifter. Drift on in and and play this game. Yeah. Tokyo Drift into the Drifter.
01:10:34
Speaker
I have to check out. I know that they've... made a couple like kind of smaller adventure games where at least, uh, I think Dave Lloyd has, i have to, uh, that I've been curious. Yeah. The, the tell William, um,
01:10:53
Speaker
Have you heard of this? Have you looked at this? It looks like a, like kind of, it it it has the ah like 16 color look of an SCI Zero game.
01:11:07
Speaker
and it kind of looks a little bit. like uh uh uh Camelot in fact when I say it kind of looks a little bit like it now I'm like looking at like how how uh how they drew ah like the title and I was like oh no no no it's not that it kind of looks like it
01:11:35
Speaker
And this is, so this is done. oh yeah Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, now I'm looking at this. Yes. I remember this one. Yeah. I need to play this. It looks very neat. It's on, it's on itch. It's been on my list for a while. and, and now I, I should go. Yeah. That logo is the most, um, the most conquest of Camelot logo ever made. This is, yeah, no, this is no accident.
01:12:00
Speaker
No. And, um, and it's made a little frames around the screen. Yeah, no, I mean, yeah. So it's made Telwinium and the drifter, um are made in, um, a, uh, a toolkit for unity, called power quest that I believe, uh, Dave Lloyd, uh, was behind.
01:12:24
Speaker
Um, and so I think that also like, you know, listen, I don't know a lot about, engines ah like i i believe that this is also what locomotive um used as well oh interesting uh but uh like you know what it does allow for like both of those games have like a ah real nice like kind of smooth frame rate like parallax scrolling i wanted to say parallax scrolling too because it uses that really beautifully
01:13:01
Speaker
Yeah. um And so love that parallax scrolling. Yeah. Listen, I don't know. i don't know a lot about, i don't know. i don't know what an engine is. i don't care to everyone.
01:13:12
Speaker
Don't ever. Nobody knows technically. You know what? Yeah. I, I don't know. i don't know what any of this is. um But I and know what I like. And I like parallax scrolling. I do. I do like a parallax.
01:13:27
Speaker
I like that. I like that. Watch this, Ben. Watch like, Whoa, his hands are moving, like but they're moving in slightly different directions and depths. Yeah, i mean, I just like on screen. Of course, our patrons can watch the video cast of this episode.
01:13:43
Speaker
ah But yeah, I mean, we love that Paralyzed. I mean, it does some neat stuff with that. It does one of my favorite tricks, which is the wavy pixels every now and then. I love a wavy pixel. And that's like in pixel art, but all of a sudden it kind of waves it at you a little bit to to give it that trippy feel. This does a lot of I mean, it is every bit the modern pixel art style of game. And again, as Ben said earlier, the color palette to give it this gritty nighttime vibe ah where everything's a little grimy.
01:14:15
Speaker
ah Yeah, that's that's spot on. And then all the parallax scrolling. um all right well uh the the the drafter it's a game about lyndon baines johnson old lbj it's 1968 and you're you're you're set a a variety of of like uh the war in vietnam is intensifying it's up to you to save the world from communism
01:14:49
Speaker
So you are the drafter. And it's up to you to find ah a pair of trousers that is appropriately blousey around, you know, your private parts.
01:15:03
Speaker
is he'll be no We don't have it any other way. That's how he rolled. It's really funny that like it's like so LBJ. Oh yeah. We, I mean, yeah. Uh, Lyndon Baines Johnson, president lyn Lyndon Baines Johnson. We have him on tape.
01:15:20
Speaker
like, you know, talking to, you know, like, talking what was it like talking on the phone? i Like ah complaining about how exactly he wants his pants to feel around his, his nether regions.
01:15:36
Speaker
Yes. And then, and then rachel said though and then Richard Nixon's like, yeah, well, so that's hilarious. But what if I recorded tapes of me doing crimes? Yes. Yes. And sprinkled in ah it is so some awful sentiments. Yes. So, yeah, yeah, yeah. And some racism and some other things like that. But mostly doing crimes. I want tapes of my crimes.
01:16:01
Speaker
And LBJ is just like, thanks I just want it to be kind of embarrassing. I mean, he probably has crimes on tape, too. Let's be real. But, yeah, I mean, yeah yeah i mean what president doesn't?
01:16:17
Speaker
uh uh president bob saget all of his uh home videos are hilarious oh man they're mostly women's bridal trains setting on fire yeah no how they get so many those it's like coffin flops yeah there was There's a This American Life where they, like, the the This American Life, it's an early one on fiascos. and It's a really good, one of the the really good early ones.
01:16:44
Speaker
And one of the, like, on the theme of fiascos, they spoke to two people that work for America's Funniest Home Videos. And they, like, they're like, we've seen every, like, we've seen so many tapes of things going wrong that we know all the ways that something can go. Like I think about this all the time and like the drifter. Yeah. You know what?
01:17:09
Speaker
They should write the drifter. But like number one, if I recall correctly, was it's like long wedding trains. Those always set on fire. Oh, it's set avoidable. You know how you're just like walking past an open flame in your, in your wedding dress.
01:17:27
Speaker
m o Well, wedding dress is on fire with comments, be sure to email us at quest quest podcast at Google mail.net.
01:17:41
Speaker
dot net ah yeah I mean you'll you'll figure it out quest quest podcast at gmail.com or googlemail.net please rate and review that always helps people find this so they could listen to Let's talk to Dominic Armato for 90 minutes about food and then another 30 about video games.
01:18:09
Speaker
I mean, would you do that any other way? but That was a delightful everyone. If you haven't listened to her, Dominic Armato episode yet. Everyone's listened to the Dominic Armato episode. yeah i mean, i mean, that was, that was just, that was marvelous. What a time we're here making you listen to us talk about video games.
01:18:29
Speaker
Yeah. Anyway, so yeah, that's all of our business. We'll see you next week when we discuss Space Quest 4.
01:19:02
Speaker
right, so Jess, here's a question. Which of the bargain bin games would have you actually have played? Like of of the of the games there, which one would you, if you're going through the bargain bin, you have $15, which one would you pick up?
01:19:20
Speaker
I think Sim Sim, I like in the space quest software excessive or or whatever bargain bin. I mean, there's good stuff in there. I'm tempted to say boom, but boom is where I would have gone.
01:19:36
Speaker
Okay. Booms where you have gone. Uh, but you know, Sim Sim, uh, I like that level of, uh, of meta and yeah you, you, you don't always say you can't go wrong with right.