The Alters Reviews

In this episode, the hosts discuss 'The Alters', a unique base management game with a sci-fi theme. They explore the game's story, gameplay mechanics, character dynamics, and audio-visual experience. The conversation highlights the philosophical questions posed by the game, the engaging character interactions, and the overall fun experience it offers. The hosts share their ratings and final thoughts, emphasizing the game's accessibility and charm.

Episode Transcript

(00:06):
Hello again everyone, welcome toanother episode of Game Pass
Grab Bag, your weekly podcast viewing games for the Game Pass
collection bring you 3 unique perspectives, rank, skill range.
I am the one living his best life, Andrew, with me, the one
who's living his worst life, Keith.
Hello. And the one who gets lost in
himself? Aaron.
Hey, hey. And this week we played The

(00:27):
Altars by 11 Bit Studios. The Altars is a base management
game where you are playing an astronaut who got stranded on a
planet. And in order to survive this
planet, he needs to create alternate versions of himself
from branching timelines in order to help him build the base
up and escape the upcoming sunrise so he doesn't get cooked
to death. But before we get into this, I

(00:49):
just want to give a quick reminder for everyone.
Please make sure you go to gamepassgrabback.com and check
out our wonderful new website where we have the list of all of
our previous games and we have our thoughts and our scores on
there. So if you ever listen to an
episode in a couple weeks down the road, you're like, hey, what
did they think about this game? You can check out Game Pass,
grab back.com and you can see our reviews make it easier for
you and also make sure you join us in our live recordings every

(01:12):
Wednesday around 8:30 EST on Facebook or Twitch or or
YouTube. Come see and join us in our live
recordings. We always love interacting with
people, but so let's get into this.
The altars, the altars for me, Ireally like this game.
I am really surprised. So this game I remember seeing

(01:34):
in the showcase and I'm like, that's a cool concept of a game.
Since that showcase, I feel likethere has been no talk about
this game at all. Literally it even dropped on
Game Pass and it's just like, Ohyeah, it's here today and it's
OK. But any time I kept seeing I'm
like, this looks interesting. So it made me nervous.
Is there issues with this game? Is it not very good?
I got to say, if this year wasn't so stacked, this actually

(01:56):
probably would be a nomination for a game of the year.
But it it because it has a lot of things I love.
I love base management games andI love sci-fi and kind of and
dealing with philosophical questions, which is one of the
main reasons why I like sci-fi because you can kind of do fun
things with this. And I really like this game
story. It's a little bit light on
gameplay, but I really like whatthis game is doing.

(02:17):
This is a definite game for me. I really like the altars.
So I kind of assumed you're going to like this.
It's, it's a bit survival, a base management building, you
know, like you mentioned already.
So I'm not going to reiterate all of that.
And typically that would drive me away.
I don't think I like it as much as the injury does because I

(02:38):
don't care for those elements, even though they're not super
heavy. I will admit her.
I will agree. That's kind of like my big take
away, but it's, I don't know, maybe this is just new year, new
Keith or something. But I, it was kind of the story
that was driving me in as you were talking about the interest
in like the dynamics of, of bringing these cloned altered

(03:00):
life beings of yourself interacting with them.
And like that's your relationship management.
It was just, it was a cool, interesting twist.
And I was, I was kind of diggingthat aspect of it.
So I, I don't think I would say a definite game, but I actually
would. Would I put this in a game for
for a genre? Yeah, Andrew, you're already
kicking this off kind of an interesting question.

(03:21):
And and that is if this wasn't already a stacked year, would
this go down as a potential gameof the year?
But I think it's actually kind of an interesting question cuz
this is a unique game. It's a unique game, but it's got
a lot of elements you've alreadyseen before.
We just haven't seen them wrapped up quite in a package
like this before. We'll talk about it cuz it does
share some kind of odd bedfellows there on on on other

(03:44):
types of games. But it's a really good question.
I like this game. I had a lot of fun with it.
I'm I've I have some levels of frustration, which are probably
just like he'd said, kind of just the type of game.
And it's just like these little little nagging elements that
just bother me. I totally get why Andrew would

(04:06):
be into this. This is just seems like right?
At this alley, this is my jam. This is this is, but this is
still a very fun game. And again, also agreeing with
Keith, the story is just a huge kind of hook for this game where
where it kind of falls thin in some areas.
The story does carry it a lot ofways, although I do have a

(04:26):
slight gripe with that, but we will get to that later as well.
But yes, this is a game. So kicking off, of course, this
episode with the authors, we gotto talk about the story.
And this is, like I said, a little bit the beginning here.
This is generally, oh, before wecontinue, we obviously do a very
good job trying to avoid spoilers, but there are going to

(04:46):
be some things we're talking about.
If you really I I highly recommend you kind of go in this
in a clear slate. With that also being said, I'm
going to say this early, do not look at the achievements, the
achievements very heavy in spoilers.
But yeah, like I said, we'll, we'll we'll try to avoid, but
obviously this game's a lot about choices.
So we're going to we're going totalk a little bit about some
choices. But anyway, as I said, with the

(05:07):
story of the altars, you are youwake up in a skate pod that is
crashing to on this planet. You know, you don't know what's
going on. You go around, you find your
other crew members, escape pods,but unfortunately all of them
say deceased. Eventually you come up on a
mobile base that your team was supposed to manage, and you have
to take care of it yourself. But unfortunately the space is

(05:28):
way too big and there's no way you're able to handle it
yourself. And you learn about this
mysterious element that that's the whole reason you got to this
planet called Rapidium. And this element somehow can
speed up growth in organic matter.
So you kind of learn that you can duplicate yourself but in
alternate ways by different branching passive in your
timeline. Did you go to college?
Did you marry that girl? Did you save that person that

(05:50):
was in distress when they were being robbed?
These certain branching path lines will create different
alternate versions of yourself and then you need to get them in
order to help build up the base so you can escape before sunrise
come and destroys everything. But so as I said, the main
reason why I generally one reason I really love fantasy
games or sci-fi games, sorry, isbecause a lot of them can kind
of play with these fun. Philosophical.

(06:18):
I think I did like a mini strokethere.
This, this idea of you know, what if you know, if you created
this other version of yourself, you know what if you did this,
are they a better version of yourself?
What demons are they struggling with?
And this though, just that concept alone, I was like, this
is really cool. I want to learn about this
because your character, your main character is just this

(06:38):
generic builder guy. You know, he he grew up, you
know, he found a a woman they got they grew up together, but
they got a divorce. And so now he's trying to prove
to himself that he's not a failure.
So he went on the space mission.But you know, you're creating
these different versions. And I love this game story.
I don't know how you guys felt. No, I mean, that was, but boy, I

(07:00):
already said that was the part that I really liked about the
altars in particular. Now, I don't know, maybe this is
me asking this question that I don't know the answer to because
I'm not super far into the story.
I don't want to call it a plot hole, but all of your altars,
they're a simulated life of what?

(07:20):
Of what your branching life would be really.
So to kind of fit what it is like, do they kind of branch
that into the story? Like they're kind of being like,
OK, we know we need a scientist,so you're like, the machine is
intentionally simulating life, that makes you a scientist.
Do you know what I mean? No, this is dealing with extra

(07:43):
dimensions because they even talk about it when you do with
the anomalies. Hold on, hold on.
Because, I guess because. Now you're getting really
spoiler already. It's not really because it's
like. Well, because I guess my my
point in in that question is it's like how convenient that
you have these specific extra, you know, or altered lives that
happen to fit all of the crew ofwhat you need versus them going,

(08:06):
Hey, we know we need a scientist.
So let's simulate your life fromthis point to make sure that you
become a scientist. And like they're manipulating
that because the corporation I feel like is probably evil.
They don't really, at least yourcharacter claims they are from
the very. Beginning stop leading into
questions that are obviously going to be spoilers.
Well, so, so pin those questionsAndrew and we can.

(08:29):
See, I will say there's, there'san explanation as to what
happened to the crew and it doesexplain things that are going
on. No, there's not a plot hole.
They're they they do explain things.
Carry on, 'cause I one of the things that I actually like out
of the story. So I understand the element
Andrew really likes. I like the overarching story.
The overarching story is a little interesting 'cause you
know something's going on. It feels pretty obvious very

(08:52):
early on the game there is something else going on that
doesn't feel quite right, feels a little nefarious and and that
part of it I I really enjoyed. I do like that this kind of took
me a while to kind of figure this out too.
They very specifically never call your altars clones because

(09:15):
they're not, although. I think, you know, when you're
looking at this game, that's howyou want to interpret it and
actually does a very good job ofexplaining that these are not
clones. Yes, you share a face, yes, you
share some history, but you are not clones.
There is something, there are elements to them that are
different, which I think is kindof interesting.

(09:37):
Though my small gripe on the story, I like the story.
I'm enjoying it. It's very good.
There's a little bit too much ofit though.
Like you sometimes are on a calljust to walk away to get another
call like 3 minutes later and you're like, OK, OK, we could

(09:59):
have just, we could have just turned this into one thing.
You didn't have to turn it into two things.
I felt like I was going to the communication center a lot.
Yeah. Which was fine again, because
it's a good story, but it's like, OK, is there any way we
can kind of make us a little more efficient?
And even some of the dialogue that you're having with some of
your your altars. It was to the point was like,

(10:22):
gosh, do I even want more of these?
Because like these guys were allkind of annoying and they they
all are just whining. Like everyone's whining.
They just whine all of. Them red.
Red. Red all the time.
And so there is a little bit of of a bit much when it comes to
the story because there's just alot of it going on.
It's good, it's interesting, butI think they probably needed to

(10:46):
pace this out a little bit better, give it a little bit
more room to breathe before it leads you into the next beat
that. But again, it's a small, small
knock on it, but I I just think there was, it was sometimes
overload. Well, this is, I mean, this is a
bit of overlap in the gameplay, but still kind of in the realm
of story. And it to your point with

(11:07):
pacing, Aaron is I, I, I haven'texpanded beyond having two
additional altars. Right now, I still just me and
my, me and my 2 altars. And I felt like I got the second
one really quick right after thefirst.
I was like, I'm just trying to figure out this mechanic of how
to navigate this first one. And again, just trying to stop

(11:28):
him from complaining all the time.
And in the midst of that, they're like, you know what you
should do? Throw another one in there
because that'll make him super at ease and make this less
annoying. And I was like, OK, And then
then they're getting radiation burns and yeah, I'm annoyed with
you guys and I'm with Aaron. And like I, I just let me kind
of ease into this a little bit more, I think.

(11:51):
Because do any of them just likeeach other, right?
Even just like, yeah, we're goodfriends, we love each other.
I didn't feel, I felt like they were just constantly at war.
I was constantly dealing with these guys fighting about
something. And it was just like, oh, OK,
like, I get it. I know that's a little bit more
gameplay and that's less kind ofstory, but yeah, what?

(12:14):
Authors did you guys pick? I have.
I have a scientist. Yeah, I have a minor.
So we picked the same. At least I have a technician.
Yeah, the technician, they forceyou 'cause they.
That's like the. And the scientist, they kind of
force you. So the the the third one.
I have. I have 3.
I picked the botanist. I didn't do the minor till

(12:35):
later. I was, I'm just about to do a
botanist because I, I have this thing in garden and I was like,
I'm gonna just have a botanist. But part of me was like, do I
want not one of these guys? But I, I realized because the
other thing I was looking at is in there in the dormitory,
there's four beds. So I have an open bed.
I'm like man, if I have to go build another dormitory like.
That you can get up to six. I know I'm in the third acting.

(12:58):
I don't want to. I don't.
I. Mean that's a lot of people.
If I guess, if you want, I guesskind of pro tips of the easier
ones to handle are the refiner. He's he's very easy.
He's very hippie. Everything's chill, bro.
And then you got the then the botanist.

(13:19):
The botanist is just very much in love with your wife and just
isn't our wife great. She's great, Everything's great.
It's just like I. I found the scientist to be
fairly easygoing, mostly becauseI could just read that
everything I was like, what's the thing that's going to boost
his ego in the response? So he was easy though in that

(13:41):
regards is like I was like. He fights with everybody.
That is true because then because he was like.
You can't prevent fights. Yeah, they had a they had a
fight over food and whether we should have good food or not.
And I was like, no, it's true. You scientist, I'm the one
making the food. You're not.
I'm going to make the fancy foodand you're going to eat it or
you're not. I don't care.

(14:01):
So yeah, that's I have, I only have three and it's it's those
3, the technician, the minor andthe.
They just seem like the most obvious to go for because I
don't remember forcing you to have to do the scientist.
I felt like that was that was a smart thing to do.
There, well, because you you immediately get the.
Technology. Oh, that's true.
Oh, that is, I was going to say,there's that.

(14:22):
And and the other thing I. Got him before I even needed it.
You need to do the if you want to expand, Yeah.
And if you want to expand your your ship, you need him too
because you need to be able to research.
It so that's what I was doing. Because I was like, I can't
stand the building in this. Like overall I don't hate it.
I just, well, that's getting it.I like even Alex in our chat

(14:45):
saying the miners ruining his life.
The minor is one of the more difficult ones to.
Handle. He's the one that lost his hand.
Yes. Oh my gosh, he's annoying.
Yeah, he because then he wants to pop pain pills and and it's
just like, OK, man. He, he actually hasn't been an
issue for me. It's, it's definitely been the
technician and the scientist. Like I feel like I'm always

(15:06):
dealing with them and but the miners been pretty decent to me.
The technician chilled out pretty quickly because I think I
immediately had like the item that boosted his happiness a
bunch. So he pretty quickly got on
board. And he's he's a little
temperamental here. And I think he was one who got
in the fight with the scientist.But even he was like, I don't

(15:27):
know, man, if I could just have like a lukewarm beer, I'll be
happy. That's cool.
You do that. But yeah, the the minor like and
and I mean, you want to talk like a philosophical question,
as Andrew would say. Philosophical.
There we did it. This.
Time, you know, people because and this is and they talk about
it as a whole concept of phantompain.
So when someone loses A limb, they talk about how you can feel

(15:49):
and you know, it's like phantom pain.
Now this guy gained a hand back and it's like he's feeling this
weird pain because he's got yourbody but his brain and he's not
used to that. So that's again, that's very
deep. Well, I'm just it's it's maybe
not philosophical, but it's interesting in in the whole

(16:10):
concept of how this game is going I.
Mean what? Always the the main
philosophical question is basically of, you know, what
makes a person a person? Because it is kind of so as
you're saying, they're not clones, they are altars.
They're they're people. They're you from a different
timeline. But it is very much because it's

(16:30):
a thing that constantly keep asking of what happens after.
And it's kind of, it's a good question like this isn't their
universe. Like what would you guys do in
this situation? Like so did they just?
Try to save their universe. Like did they just get abducted
by you basically? They are the only thing they
remember. So if you every time you get an
altar, they all end the same place.

(16:52):
Every single one of them signed up for the space mission and
they all went to cryosleep. So that's the last thing they
remember is going into cryosleepand now they're waking up here.
They had different roles. Yeah.
When they went. So Ally Corp is collecting these
across the the multiverse which and then they're harvesting them
to then use and their research. That's spoiler.

(17:15):
Not say definitively. That's what speculation.
I'm in chapter 1 or I'm in act 1so I'm I'm not spoiling
anything, this is me. Speculation.
Which this is. I will say one thing that kind
of annoys me is sci-fi. If it's a sci-fi movie and there
is a corporation, they're evolved.
Like I'm not saying this game, but that is like something every
sci-fi movie does of hey, there's a corporation that's

(17:39):
like, well, I'm sure they're body harvesting or something.
Really. Auto tune to it now, Like auto
tune to it now. So yeah, and like I said, when
you start this game, it's very quick that, you know, things
start to fire off in your brain.Yeah, I know who the bad guy is
here because you, because you'reso set to default on that.

(18:02):
So I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm totally with you.
You kind of are like, I know these are the bad guys, even
though they haven't done anything overtly evil.
Yeah, you know, something's going on.
So I'm going to say that's at least my gameplay choice.
I am trying to be the benefit ofa doubt in this corporation has
my best interest in mind. I'm going to try to trust them.

(18:24):
So that's I'm not going to say much, but I'd like that's that
was at least what going into this game, because I felt the
same way where I'm like, I am tuned to being like corporation
sci-fi got to be evil. Like is there, I mean, Aaron,
you're a movie buff. Can you think of a single sci-fi
movie where the corporation was actually good or or like morally
OK? No, I I legit cannot.

(18:46):
I legit cannot. I'm sure there is one, but I.
Can't think of it. Yeah.
So that's why I'm. Oh.
Avatar. What we're trying to get
Unobtadium. Yeah, the blue guys were the bad
guys. Like the the corporation was

(19:07):
just trying to do their job and the the blue guys were like
trying to kill them. So there you go.
Which that kind of reminds me, Ilove avatars, Unobtadium and
this one. It's just like it's rapidium.
It thinks it rapidly speeds up growth and it's just like
sometimes people really suck at name and sci-fi stuff.
Like do you almost wonder though?

(19:27):
Like almost like horror, like even like outside of some really
like, heady horror movies, you know, like, like a get out or
something like that. There's a level of campiness
that like needs to be in a horror movie to be a horror
movie. And maybe, Aaron, you can speak
to this better. You know, the movie guy here.
But like our sci-fi movies kind of doing that same thing.

(19:48):
Like, it's a little bit tongue in cheek.
Yeah, we know it's obvious that we're making this evil
corporation name, but like, we're supposed to do that a
little bit. And it's just kind of like a
joke. Yeah, but usually somebody comes
along and and flips the script on it a little bit and does
something completely different. But again, I only just mentioned
I can't think of that really happening.

(20:09):
If if there is a big corporationand it is sci-fi, that's that's
your bad guy. And that's pretty much always
the case. So horror's done a good job
recently, especially over the last few years of really doing
some out-of-the-box thinking. I don't know.
And that's not to say that there's bad sci-fi.
There's plenty of good sci-fi. But that thing is kind of an

(20:30):
easy plot point. You know you can't even Google
this. I googled sci-fi movie with a
corporation that it wasn't evil and I get Reddit.
Which sci-fi sci-fi corporation The most evil Collider I'm going
to. Say Google, come back with 10
evil. Corporations.
No answers found. The top most feeling is
corporations. There's just there isn't 1.

(20:52):
No. But I, I will say, I mean, I'm
on, I'm literally 30 minutes away from beating this game.
This is going to be my first complaint.
I I'm playing on a series S and for whatever reason in the third
act, anytime I go outside, it was fine at first, but anytime I
go outside now my game crashes and I have to reboot it, load

(21:13):
back in and then I can maybe go outside like twice and then
it'll crash again. So it's just taking me extra
long, but I'm literally like hitA to finish the game, like
pretty much kind of there, but Ihad to go through a whole bunch
of dialogue and it just crashed on me and I'm like, I I can't do
this again. Oh, but also another pro Tibi
reminded me, I forgot to say it took me a very long time to
realize. So there is a lot of dialogue,

(21:36):
but you can hit X to speed it upa little.
Any time I saw it, you said skip, and I thought I meant skip
the entire dialogue. So I'm like, I'm not going to
hit that button. I don't want to skip that.
That's why it's good you have mearound 'cause I tried that real
early on. Keith was willing to to rescue
to figure it out. There might be something I can I
can get. Past here, that's the other
thing that's killer is obviouslyI use the the X button a lot

(22:00):
because you, you honestly have to or you're going to spend
literally half of the gameplay just sitting in really oddly
paced dialogue. Yeah, when you're on those audio
calls, there's so many gaps where they kind of just go
silent before, like saying theirnext line.
And it's like, why? Who paced this like that, like

(22:21):
this? The I guess they're trying to
add some type of awkwardness anduncomfortableness there, but it
just slows everything way down. If you're like, keep the
conversation movement, it's got to move.
There is one of them I took a clip of because it was so
uncomfortable and like he the I think you're talking to Maxwell
or like the first the boss and. No, that's Lucas.

(22:44):
Lucas, yeah, you're talking to Lucas and you make some comment
about how he's not that bright or something and you kind of
laugh and then there's like a two second pause.
He's like, that's not funny. And you're actually goes OK, and
that's the end of it. Cool.
And I feel very awkward now. I don't, I don't know what to
do. But yeah, the the dialogue is

(23:04):
very awkward at points. And and to your point too,
Aaron, you're often talking to yourself.
So it's just like it's easy to know who you're talking to, but
and who's speaking at the given moment because I think only the
other character has dialogue typically, but it's, I don't
know, you're just it kind of boring in that way.
But I want to like the story andI do.

(23:27):
It's just sometimes the dialogueis weird.
It is. It's not perfect, it's just it's
a little uneven. But overall it's it's a
positive, not a negative. But Speaking of the dialogue
though, and getting into the gameplay, a lot of the gameplay,
like I said, this game is a little bit light on gameplay.
One of the main core components is talking to your alters and of

(23:48):
course understanding their personality.
So as we're kind of alluding, the scientist is a very ego
driven. He's very much work ethic, got
to get things done no matter what.
We'll skip the small stuff. And as you're engaging with your
altars, you have actual dialoguechoices, which is a nice change
of pace. As we said last week with
Metaphor Rifantasio of fake choices, this game has real

(24:08):
choices and real consequences. As you're talking to your
altars, it's doing these little either red bubbles or green
bubbles. Was this something your altar
liked or is this something they didn't like?
Did they gain more of more of a rebellious trait or did they
gain more gloominess or did theygain joy?
So you really got to figure out the altar you're talking to and
how they think and what they maywant.
So as we like the other one, thetechnician is kind of, he's kind

(24:32):
of a jerk, but he also likes to take it as much as he gives.
So I've kind of learned that youcan kind of insult him and he
kind of finds it funny and like,yeah, man, it's a good joke.
So you got to kind of learn the nuances of how these people act
because when you create an altar, it shows their entire
branching path line of like whatchoices they did.
Did you guys read those? Yes.
OK. Well, did you?

(24:53):
I didn't read them wholly, but Iskimmed through them to, like,
get an idea of what they were. Yeah, like, I wasn't like,
reading every single line of it.No, but I was skimming through
to get an idea of it. There is a lot.
I actually enjoyed the story. So for me, I'm like, I didn't
mind hating. I didn't hate reading them, but
it was helpful because you can kind of see this person's
thought process when you're talking to people.

(25:14):
So that's a little bit of a tip for me, but I'd like to.
I do agree the dialect choices are it is a lot.
Oh, one thing that's kind of cool.
I'm assuming you guys games never crashed.
In which in I'm playing on PC. Well, Alex in the chat made a
good point that you can't manualsave.
It's all auto save and apparently it's keeping all the

(25:34):
files. So I think that explains why I'm
in third act and it's now crashing a lot.
I already saw they did say they were going to patch that and
they were going to actually bring in manual saves.
But one thing was kind of nice when it crashed, it actually
showed me my dialogue choices. So I thought I was like, oh,
that was kind of nice. So it's it's funny that you
mention that. So again, I've been playing this
on PC, which has been running great on on PC.

(25:57):
I haven't had any issues there. Every time you fall asleep, it
saves from that point. I didn't realize that, but then
it gave me a a pop up when I went and reloaded back in.
That was like, hey, you've already made decisions here.
It reset me though, but we'll show you what decisions you made
before. So it's like, oh, OK, cool.

(26:17):
Yeah, I'll test this out. I'll go and try different
branches here. It didn't change much.
So I was kind of like, why rightnow?
I kind of wondered why are theseactual choices or these a lot of
artificial choices? And it might have been just the
conversations that were happening had to have a certain
conclusion to them, so it didn'tmatter.
That could be the case, but I was kind of surprised that it

(26:40):
didn't seem like it made much ofa difference.
I kind of ended up in pretty much the same place.
Like I think a good chunk of or the tutorial is still like an
hour long. So there's points or two.
It feels like you're you've played for a while, but then
also you're still in the tutorial and like the yeah, it
isn't until I think you're your first alter.

(27:02):
Yeah, that comes up with a screen.
But I had it. I did have it crash on me once.
It doesn't it doesn't do well with quick resume if you're
playing on Xbox. I found that out the hard way
because I just like went over toanother game and I came back and
it was everything was exploding.It was like you have died.
What again? I was able to just reload to the

(27:23):
day that I had fallen asleep on and saved that.
But like it just carried on without pausing the game.
But then it but with that, that's where I didn't have a
full on crash, but it crapped out all of my audio.
So like when I loaded back in tothe the my or reloaded my save
it just the audio is all wonky like music would cut in and out.

(27:44):
I had some sound effects, was about all and yeah so I quit and
reloaded the game and it was fine.
The other main component of the gameplay is of course, base
management. So whenever you're, you're in a
giant mobile wheel that literally is just, it's always
2D whenever you're in the base. And so it's kind of easy to
build the base and move modules around.
You know, you need to make sure you have a bedroom, kitchen,

(28:07):
workshop, like a lot of stuff. And I was you're, you're
researching things, getting different modules, growing,
getting more altars. But you as the main character in
the builder, you go out exploring the surrounding area
because of course, there's always something why your base
can't move. And you got to find minerals so
you can mine them, get more resources, explore for, you

(28:28):
know, crash supplies that you can maybe give to your altar,
upgrade your base, avoid anomalies that are trying not to
get you. So there's no real actual
combat. It's these.
The most you're doing is shininga light and trying to get rid of
things that are blocking your path.
They of course get a little harder, but it's nothing too
difficult. But you're of course all about
time management. You know, it's a 24 hour cycle

(28:48):
too late in the night, radiationstarts seeping in and you'll
slowly start to get sick and die.
So you got to make sure you're not too tired and managing
everything. I I love base management games.
OK, this game reminded me very much.
I don't know if you guys ever played it.
It became the style of game camesuper popular, but Fallout
Shelter was the 1. I feel like really kind of broke

(29:09):
them bold and like really was like the main like the main
component of that genre. But yeah, it's that same idea if
you've played Fallout Shelter. I mean, there's obviously a ton
of these shelter tiny kind of games.
It's just like that, but obviously way more in depth and
like so that's why for me, I'm like this is awesome because
like it's those simple, almost mobile phone ish came Aaron,

(29:30):
because I mean fall shelter is, but I I love this game's main
component of just exploring the I loved just exploring area.
Yeah, This is why I kind of wantto push back on you a little bit
when you say it's light on gameplay.
I don't think it's necessarily light on gameplay.
It's just it's almost like 3 different gameplay loops wrapped
into one. So there's a base management 1,

(29:52):
you could say Fallout Shelter, you can almost say this like an
element of The Sims. The way that your guys are just
kind of walking around doing their own things and you're kind
of managing them kind of feels like a Sims type thing.
And then kind of the survival stuff when you're outside of
your base doing stuff, there's there's really it doesn't feel
like it's light on gameplay. There was always something you

(30:13):
were having to do. There was something you were
supposed to go focus on. So I don't know if I would
necessarily call that, but design wise, one of my favorite
things about this game is the base itself.
I think the base itself is actually a really strikingly
cool looking image. I it's a giant wheel and pods in

(30:33):
the middle of the base. And I love that view.
I love walking up to it and seeing it just in this this
desolate land and you just have this giant wheelbase and it's
just cool looking. The the managing of it again,
looks really cool. And it's a really, really good
idea. No, Did I find myself frustrated
with it because I was having to do a lot of weird adjusting of

(30:55):
things. And then I would hate it because
I'm used to something being in one location and I keep having
to remind myself it's not there anymore.
It's on a totally different floor.
Yeah. But it, it's I again, that's
just a preference thing. It's, it's not a bad design.
I actually think it's a it's a really cool looking.
Looking bass it's I mean it reminds me of you remember old

(31:18):
Diablo 2 bag management. It's like that, but it's like
your whole game that's what you're focused on is trying to
figure out how to fit in and instead of being a like a wreck,
a rectangle, it's a circle and so there's just weird corners
that don't quite make sense someso there's that and I and I did
enjoy that aspect of it. I I think what I didn't hate

(31:42):
about the survival, and maybe itgets a little bit crazier or
kind of more expanded as you go into the game.
But from where I played it, I liked the simplicity of just
like, hey, you know, you go out,you find a couple nodes around
the map, you build an outpost there and the pie wants to get
them back. And like that's at least kind of
like your, your resource gathering loop.

(32:04):
It didn't feel like I was havingto build like, you know, Andrew
was one of Andrew's favorite roasts.
Like you only built one of the forges and I can literally only
build 1 outpost? There.
So I'm I'm not going to get yelled at for not building
enough outposts. I just build them where I can.
It gives me spots that I'm allowed to do things and it's.

(32:25):
Was that a Tectonica roast? Is that?
No, it was a high time in Porsche.
That was like. Into this saying it's dance
because. Actually, no.
Tectonic. Yeah, I think he literally only
built one, no? He had like two or three in
Tectonic. So I've I've got, I've grown, I
just haven't evolved. When when you when you just
imitated Anders rage. I was like, this had to be

(32:47):
tectonic. That just seems like something
that he would be. Because even Liz, even Liz made
fun of Keith. She's just like.
You know what Liz likes these games.
That's where we differ. She has her.
She has her niece. But I originally said this game
is kind of light on gameplay because what you guys have done,
that's the entire game. Like, yeah, there's nothing else

(33:07):
added. There's some new anomalies, but
it doesn't really makes up the gameplay that much.
Yeah, but you're you're adding anew altars, you are moving to
new locations because you're tired does drive.
So that is that is cool. So there are things and the
story is progressing you to other things, so.
Absolutely. Sure, that is the loop, but all

(33:30):
games have a core loop to them, so the core loop is split into
three areas. I don't know, I wouldn't
necessarily describe it as as shallow.
I get what you're saying, Andrew, but I think that that
exists in all video games where there's just a core loop that
just has slight progressions to it.
It's the same thing when you're playing something like a Doom.

(33:51):
There's slight progressions to it, but it's ultimately the same
thing. I think you get that here too.
And I think we're knocking it, no, because the game's only 16
hours long, so. It's OK, everybody.
So I think what it is though, isit's a it's the same product of
like what you would say maybe with like a Hades, like it's a
rogue like game. And then there's this whole
story built on top and that's interesting.

(34:12):
And I'm not calling this frog like I know Andrew.
I see you laughing at me. No, I'm looking at something
else. But I don't think you know it,
but it I mean, it does actually do a good job with that story,
but doesn't really need to be there.
The core element of Hades is that piece of the gameplay.
It's the it's the dungeon crawling, it's that gameplay
loop. I think with the altars, the

(34:33):
main gameplay loop is the altars.
It's the it's the focus on getting more altars.
The game, the real gameplay changing, like Aaron was saying,
is getting more of these altars in your base and just interact
with them. Or that's really what changes
the most. Everything else is just, Yep,
new area, find your obstacles, get through it.
And it's just, it's a way to adda gameplay mechanic on top of

(34:53):
without just being like, here's 12 hours of talking to alters.
You know what I mean? Like it's a way to shake it up
and they do a decent enough job that it's fun and it makes for a
good gameplay overall. But the core of it's the altars.
No, I was laughing because I I wanted to confirm this, but Alex
and I've Chad and we saw I said the Signature edition of this

(35:15):
game comes with the Pierogi Press like a real.
Life One. It it it's true.
That's pretty awesome. That's pretty.
That is pretty great with this shit.
Yeah, 'cause I mean, it's, it's small.
It's not like one of those. Can you make perogies with it?
I mean, you can say. So it's kind of like a a small
plastic thing. Oh, OK.

(35:37):
But I mean, of course it goes with other stuff.
Pins a key chain with Molly the Lamb.
Bunch of stickers. What you want is the Perorie
press. At the end of the day, so that's
pretty cool. I'm trying to but they don't
have a price on it. Oh, here it is.
Oh Signature edition for the Xbox it's 70 bucks for PC it's
60 bucks. Why is the signature?

(35:58):
Edition cheaper for PC. Probably no actual physical
edition for the PC. Maybe it's kind of lame, but
anyway, but I wanted to ask so well, I wanted you to mention
Aaron because you said they weresaying it before the episode.
So you were saying you were getting hung up on this game.
What were your issues? So this, so it does come back to

(36:20):
gameplay. So again, for the most part,
those are the three areas of thegame and I generally like them.
They all, they all kind of work on their own.
They're all pretty well done. But when it comes to resource
management, this was a bit of a disaster for me.
And I like, so there are certainmissions where you need us, like

(36:44):
you need a certain amount of materials to do a thing.
To get those materials wasn't all that difficult.
But what happens, you run out ofstorage.
I just kept building new storage, but now I'm running out
of other places to put other items.
Like you said, got a giant wheel, you got limited spaces

(37:05):
you're trying to plug some things into.
And I, I was just kept grabbing storage.
So I realized pretty early on what my problem was.
And this is the stuff that drives me crazy about Andrew.
Andrew will just fly through this.
He just apparently knows what he's doing and goes through it.
I start to go through a loop of trying to figure out like,
because to me, I just want to gather resources.

(37:25):
That's what I want. I'm going to get all the
resources so I can build whatever the heck I want.
Well, that's a bad idea. You actually don't want to do
that in this game. You actually want to be really
strategic on what materials you're actually going.
For for a. Purpose.
I started like building a bunch of stuff I was like oh I'll just
build like 5 outposts because I can I've got the restore it I'll

(37:46):
just build 5 outposts that way Ihave them when I need them Cool
I have them. That's a bad idea.
Each outpost your building is taking up your storage.
So I kept running into these moments of like crap what do I
do? I'm maxed out, I can't build a
new storage pod now what do I do?

(38:06):
Because I need to build this thing.
Will you? Disconnect the pilots?
No, but did they at first? That's what I was thinking.
But they keep, they keep collecting and all of a sudden
like the technician will chime in and be like, hey, boss, do
you have anything to do with this?
Will you place the outpost that doesn't take?
No. No, no, that's what I'm saying.
Like I had all these resources. I was like, I'll just build,
build the five outposts. I didn't place them down yet, so

(38:29):
I would just have them in my storage.
No, I know, I know so, but that's.
What I'm saying if you even if you put them out then all of a
sudden you just start collectingresources, then you're just
overloaded with resource. You're overloading again.
So this is where I kind of had to rewire my brain where it
sounds like Android is pretty quickly, where where Android is
pretty quick. This is not a blueprints issue.

(38:50):
I know if we're getting this in the chat right now, this is not
a blueprints issue. I know what I'm doing here.
I was recognizing it later on that my default of get a ton of
resources, build whatever it like have a bunch of stuff in
your in your research like you're ready to go.
You've got everything that you need.

(39:11):
I don't have to keep going back for something.
I don't have to build another outpost because I just are
mining outpost because I have 5 of them.
I realized what I was doing was wrong and I, I had to go back
and basically destroy everything.
Like I had to go destroy a bunchof my stuff and just only what I
need for the next object, whether it's getting food for
everybody or whether it's building something.

(39:33):
That's the next thing I got to build to move on.
I, I realize that it to take me a while to figure out what the
heck is all in my storage and what, what, what do I need to do
here? Because obviously, like I was
doing things like I was doing mining outposts and I remember
there was like a material I didn't need for anything, but I
was like, oh, I'm a collector. Rapidium, Yeah.

(39:54):
Don't collect Rapidium until later.
It it wasn't even that. It was what was the the
radioactive material? Oh.
It's enriched minerals, yeah, so.
I didn't need it for anything but I was like you need the.
Refiner. Yeah, it's pointless unless you
have the refiner. So I have the refinery I think
but not. The refiner.
I'm blown up on that junk and I'm real.

(40:16):
Then I've run into this issue. I'm like, I'm out of space and
I'm not really connecting these things where I'm like, well, I'm
going to need it eventually. Like I'm going to need that
material eventually. So I'll just have it now.
Again, that's where my brain operates when I when I do these
things is just stack up on your resources so you never have to
worry about it again. And that's not how this works at

(40:39):
all. And right, am I wrong?
Is that the pro tip? Well, I, well, I you, you've,
you've done some things, I guessI would, I would say so of
course, you know, you can deletethings.
You know you can delete things which you were saying, right?
I deleted a bunch of. Oh, I deleted a bunch of
minerals. Does that be positive back
though? And then, and then I started,

(41:02):
then I got rid of all the extrasof everything that I had that I
had, like I said, I built a bunch of outposts.
I built a bunch of pylons because I was like, I'll need
them eventually, obviously, so I'll just build them now and
that's not a good idea. So this is the game fixed that
problem, which is a really nice feature.
So there's this thing called Uphold where you can set a set

(41:24):
number of how many of these things you you will have.
So case in point, as Aaron's saying, like outpost, I did
basically all the outpost as Uphold of 1.
Yes, some days I have a really good exploration and I can find
a lot of these places and I wishI had more outpost.
But So what Uphold does is if you do not have that number of
things, it'll automatically be in production.

(41:44):
So that's why you don't want to stack a whole bunch of outposts.
You just want to say uphold of one or two and just that's in
your inventory. So if you ever need them, there
you go. You know you have them.
So like that's what I was able to do, put someone on the
workstation to keep making thosethings.
The same with food, like anything takes space.
But as I said, Rapidium early on, you don't use a whole lot.
You use it to make alters, but you only need like 20.

(42:06):
So it's not something you need to focus a lot on.
And because that was my issue, Ihad like 200 Rapidium and I'm
like, I'm not spending this stuff.
So I had to delete a whole bunchof.
It so you ran into the same issues I had.
Did I just like, delete a pylon then?
You can't, but if a pylon's out,it's fine.
Well I'm just saying then it will stop mining rapidium,

(42:26):
right? No, just don't.
Only don't send anybody to go mine it Like OK, somebody has to
work the station. Just don't assign them to that
station and don't go to the. Station and mine it I thought it
just went faster when someone was working it.
OK I didn't realize that. I I will say though I had the
same issue as Alex in our chat where the magnetic storm caught
me off guard because I went to go mine something.
I was like, I'm going to stock up on this, and then all of a

(42:49):
sudden everything's on fire and I didn't have any organic
materials and I couldn't becauseeverything was broken and I
couldn't build rad filters and Ijust had to watch my whole
entire base burn. No, actually I restarted.
I didn't die at any point in my playthrough Look, in fact, I
described this as not like it's not difficult like I I think you

(43:12):
can avoid dying pretty easily. The Madding, a storm does catch
you off guard though, because that does just happened.
You don't know that it's you don't know that that exists in
the game and it just it just happens again.
Me being over prepared. I actually had plenty of
filters. So I did not.
That was my issue. I I was totally golden in that

(43:33):
sense. So my over preparedness actually
worked for my advantage there. But outside of that, yeah, I
like the anomalies. Like I just tested it when I ran
into my first anomaly, I was like, well, I'm going to run
through this thing to see what it does, and it hurts you a
little bit, but now you're in that pad.
You can also pretty well run around them.
Oh yeah, that's what I was just juking them.

(43:55):
That's what you could do, but I wanted to run through it just to
see what it did and it hurt, butit it.
It so so question then, did you play?
Because I and I didn't really like how this game is.
So it has an economy setting, which there's two of them,
standard and harder. There's no easy, just standard.
And then there's the actual difficulty for like the

(44:17):
adventure, quote UN quote side. Like I did easy for that because
I was like, I don't know, I didn't see any achievements for
it. And I've just decided I'm at a
point in my life, especially when it comes to a genre of
games I'm just not all that goodwith.
I'm just going to take the easy mode.
No shame, Keith, that's what I'msaying.
Make sure you enjoy the game. I've just decided that I'm
shamelessly going to do that now.
I I always just stick to the normal.

(44:39):
Typically I do, but like I said,this game I just like, I know
it's going to like I'm just going to struggle, so I'm just
going to try and make this easier for myself.
Yeah, if. There's an achievement, I'll
bump up the difficulty because I, I, I do generally like
playing like a little bit harderdifficulties of stuff.
See, originally when you were complaining about stuff here, I
thought you were going to complain about.
So usually when you're putting in modules, eventually your,

(45:01):
your ship gets too heavy and it says, oh, you don't have enough
fuel to move this ship. It's too, it's too heavy.
I thought that was your problem.And like, that's what I learned
quickly of, well, my ship is stationary, I'm just going to
build a crap load of storage areas and once I have to move,
I'll just delete them, delete all the stuff I don't need, and
just so I can keep moving. That's that.
So it has not warned me that I'moverburdened yet and hasn't done

(45:24):
that yet. So then you have to build enough
storage areas then. I I well here's here's a little
bit of the issue though now I'm running into like a routing
issue. So like you build that arc, but
I had to like attach it to this room and.
Yeah, that arc gets annoying. Yeah, because it takes up a lot
of space then. So now I kind of have to build a

(45:47):
corridor to basically put more storage units in.
So right now it's much more of like just I have to like create.
I have to actually map this thing out, right?
I don't hate doing that is it can be a little bit fun to
actually kind of build that way.It's very easy to pop things in
and out. The only thing that's annoying
about it is if I'm used to something being in one location

(46:08):
and now it's not there anymore because I moved it to the
totally opposite side. Because you get used to flying
through your base, which is fun when you're kind of going up and
down the elevator real quick to get to the next spot and.
I do like they put signs on the elevator.
You know what's there. That's actually a nice.
Feature that is nice. So every time you get to a
floor, you literally have a signsitting on that floor saying,

(46:29):
hey, to the right you've got these things, to the left you've
got these things. That is a nice, nice feature.
Totally like that as well. But yeah, to me, again, minor, I
know I'm talking about the resource stuff.
I just had to retool my brain where I always want to hoard as
much resources as I possibly can, build all the things that I

(46:51):
want to build. And most games, I feel like when
I'm doing these types of games, the things I'm building aren't
necessarily counting against my burden like my resources will,
but not necessarily the thing. So I was, that's how I was
reading in my brain. I'll just create a ton of this
stuff. But yeah, again, reaching my

(47:13):
brain, I was fine. My brain was kind of backwards,
at least on that in in regard like I expected it to burdened
me with like carrying the miningoutpost and the stuff, but I
figured that when my resources are getting mine directly back
to it that it like my personal wasn't shared with the ship.
I thought I had a separate yes that's what I was expecting was

(47:33):
like separate storage between myself and the ship.
That that part was a little bit confusing too.
Like when you go and actually look at your storage, everything
is actually stored on your ship.Nothing is stored on your person
and that took me a long time to figure that out too because
Keith, same thing where I'm thinking I'm carrying stuff,

(47:53):
ship is carrying other and I'm like, well, how do I pass these
things off? It is all shared into one big
thing. Again, just re map your brain a
little bit and it's not that bad.
Yeah, yeah. So overall, yeah, as we said,
gameplay, I found it actually be.
It's very simple. I only fainted because I didn't
even die. I got in the third act, I could

(48:14):
get completely lost and I just fainted, so there really wasn't
much of a consequence. Did you what happens?
It literally the screen blacks and it says you fainted from
radiation but an altar saved you.
So I got next day still at radiation sickness, sickness and
so did one of my random alters. But I was like, OK, I'll just
keep you indoors for the day. Like I will say that's one thing
I like managing the altars, likeassigning them stations super

(48:37):
easy. I thought for sure they were
going to be like, oh, I don't like that job, I'm not going to
do that. But no, any altar will do
anything. So it's like, Oh well, that
thing makes it easier. Are they better at it?
Like if you like, if you put thebotanist in the you know.
Yeah, he's he. He'll grow things faster in the
greenhouse. The miner will get minerals
faster if he works in a mining outpost.
OK, Yeah. So obviously there's perks to

(48:59):
it, but it's not because that was what I was afraid of.
Where I'm like, is the botanist never going to touch a mining
drill? No, they don't care.
They'll do whatever. And I, I, I really did like that
a lot. Did you guys ever watch the
videos that the movies you were finding?
No, I meant to because I thoughtthere was a purpose to them.
Or I figured they're. Yeah.
Where do you watch? Well, just it gives joy to
everyone. But the movies themselves are

(49:19):
actually pretty funny there. There was one movie that
actually had me crack it up. It was, you know, the concept of
like Freaky Friday when people switch bodies.
So the whole purpose of the movie was basically the two guys
comparing notes about what happened when they switched
bodies. It was actually pretty funny of
like them being like dude, you're blue is my brown.
Is that the one? I put that why?

(49:40):
Why are you tasting so differently?
There's one where the description was like something
about two guys trying to have a conversation that they can't
finish or something. No, no, they constantly keep
finishing each other's sentences.
That one I just kind of was like, I assumed it was like
Abbott and Costello, like the who's on 1st type of things is.
What I was? Guessing just a description.
Where do you watch them? You have to get the social room

(50:02):
and then there's ATV in there. I don't have space for a social
room, Dang. But yeah, I actually, I actually
high record of the movies are actually pretty funny.
There was one that of course wassupposed to be like among us or
like the thing where they're like testing blood and the guy's
just like, EW, why would we haveto cut our hands?
That's gross. EW, it's actually really funny.

(50:23):
But anyway, as far as the graphics, though, this game was
really beautiful. I love this game's graphics
because this is the thing I was like afraid of too of, hey,
you're just creating alternate versions of yourself and is
everyone just going to look the same?
And they actually did a very good job, like making people
look strikingly different. I will say I had a little gripe.
I wish they kind of went comical.

(50:43):
I really wish they created an altar that was like really
stupid, like someone who's like a massive weeb or like, so did
the really My Little Pony. And like all he talks about is
My Little Pony. He's completely useless, but
that's all he does. But now, unfortunately,
anything's fun like that. Yeah, I'm trying to look this
up. So usually Andrew, this is on

(51:03):
you. This is your bad.
Usually you start by saying who created this game and.
You got derailed with the with the failed.
Start and I said 11 bit studios.I don't know if you did.
What did they create before thisAndrew?
No, I didn't say that, but I'm pretty sure today this war of
mind. Yep.

(51:25):
So because I was talking. About graphics, isn't it like?
I was. That's another management game.
Yeah, but that's pretty, that's 2D, which again, I'm not a bad
looking game. Pretty, pretty good looking
game. But I, I don't know why I'm
always like surprised by smallerstudios that make a relatively
small game that had a, you know,a niche.

(51:47):
It had people that liked it, butthen their next one really UPS
the ante. Because I think graphically this
game, I agree with you. I think this game looks pretty
good. And there, there are some
elements it like even just walking around the base where
I'm like, there's a lot of detail in here like this looks
really, really nice. So I'd agree with you.

(52:08):
I I think graphically I think this game felt really sci-fi.
Like those just like just like the random like little like
lived in messes around the like the dormitory or even the
kitchen area. The fans like little elements
like that. Just interesting details.
And then it shifts so dramatically going from this 2D

(52:29):
base out into the 3D World. Where is it the greatest
graphics I've ever seen? No, and I actually end up going
over to performance from graphics pretty.
Dark. Yeah, it's, but it's, it is
pretty nice. Like it's sharp and it's nice.
It's a lot of the same, but I myfavorite part and Aaron, you had
said this earlier is it's the ship.
It's it's whenever you're just running around and you turn and

(52:51):
you're like, ah, it's time to goback to the ship and you just
turn and you're like, there it is like one of my it's not a
huge grape, but we bring it up alot.
I would like a mini map. I think it would be nice, but
there's no HUD overall in it. There's a very easy to read and
accessible map just by hitting the back button.
It's not a big deal and but I just love being able to just be
like where's the ship? And you can just see it off in

(53:11):
the distance and it just createssuch a cool like picture in the
background. Yeah, although I will say one
thing, as much as like the land itself is just kind of rocky and
stuff like that. Looks good when you're in an
area with Rapidium though. That's a cool.
Yeah, I think that's a cool feature.
Where it's just, it kind of justdistorts the view on it.

(53:34):
It's so it's really shiny and bright, but it's really
distorted. So I think anytime you're near
Rapidium, that always looks really cool.
I like that a lot. Well, you never got in the third
act, there's another anomaly that fragments your screen, so
you kind of have different visions of like views of
yourself. No, that's kind of cool.
Yeah, so in there it doesn't hurt you, but it's obviously

(53:55):
like hard to aim and interact with things.
You got to get the cores of it. But no, I guess I didn't mention
the studios of the games they created.
I forgot they created some of myfavorite games.
These are the people behind Frost Punk.
That's one of my all time favorite games.
But Moonlighter just recently got Donnie, one of our listeners
and our friend who helped us build the website.

(54:15):
He just started playing Moonlighter.
Such a underrated game. Got to check out Moonlighter we
have. Still on Game Pass.
It is, and Moonlighter 2 is coming out this summer.
I. Don't think I ever finished
that. I should go back like I did
anyways, that's a whole different.
Conversation. The ending of it was really
good. I think I got to the ending.
I think I just kind of like anyways makes it different
conversation. Yeah, but then of course you
have Frost Punk too. They built the souls like Death

(54:36):
Hollow, which is a souls like deck builder.
But anyway. But yeah, sort of like continue
on with the graphics. I love to each.
So there's three chapters and each one had a very distinct
look to them. Minky's usually mention it, but
I'm going to say in the third act you see some water and the
water looks a little rough. It's because there's a part

(54:57):
where you go to the shore and it's just like not there.
Definitely not CF Thieves level,no.
Icky though, Judge whatever, said CF thieves.
It's just never didn't, never done the same.
Yeah, but yeah, I I did enjoy the graphics, but getting into
the audio though, do you enjoy that The it's all one voice

(55:20):
actor for the main guy and he did a very good job.
I will say the technician reminded me so much.
What's his name? Is it Aaron Paul, the guy from
Breaking Bad? Anytime I had to look it up, I'm
like, is this Aaron Paul? Like this sounds just like him.
I can hear that. OK, so it wasn't just me.
No, no, no, I didn't think aboutthat.
But once you said it, it's like,oh, I could kind of kind of see

(55:42):
that he kind of has that way of talking like dad, like wait,
wait, this, you're right. You're he definitely does kind
of have a similarity there. Yeah.
I mean, obviously the voice acting I think is great.
Everything's voice acted and I've got no complaints on that
front. I also like the music's pretty

(56:03):
good too, sci-fi sounding. But my favorite music is
actually when you're in the dormitory, there's like a song
playing in there and it's like this 80s song.
And every time I go in there I'mlike, yeah, this song, this song
rules. Like I actually want to look
that up. If that's that is, is that
something they paid for or is that original to the game?

(56:25):
Because the game inside the songinside the dormitory, I'm like,
I like this. Like I would listen to this at
some kind of 80s jam. Do you not know this?
Have have you not recognized an Ander?
I'm looking for it. So yeah, the original sound
tricks on Spotify. So it is here.

(56:45):
OK. Well I was curious, did you guys
be the first act? I didn't.
I think I'm close to the. End of it.
So the altars all get together and sing a song and it was
actually pretty good, but you actually pick the lyrics you're
singing. So it's kind of like, and I
wanted to play it again because I'm like, well, what happens?
Because of course the scientist is like, well, give me the the
the verse with the shortest likelines in it.

(57:06):
But it's actually a really good song because it becomes like a
full music video of like the bass kind of the walls are
disappearing and it's like, thisis really cool.
I like this game soundtrack. And it's the same guy who did
what is it he? But Frost Punk is a good
soundtrack. I would play it on here Aaron,
but obviously it gets too loud. You guys get bad.

(57:27):
Well, not only that, we will getDMC.
Struck into oblivion, this is the one.
I forgot what this one, so I was, I was just kind of poking
through it because I was curiousand honestly isolated.
It's all really cool music. Getting Ready is the name of the
song in the dorms. No, the name of the song is

(57:48):
called Getting Ready. And I think it's one of the ones
in the dorm and maybe this is the one you're talking about.
It sounds like the Stranger's Time Stranger Things theme song.
But that was not the one I was thinking of.
That's kind of that's. What I'm saying like that sound
though, that sound right now is being overused a lot like that
very 80s sense sound. It's like used in all of these
sci-fi. Things.

(58:09):
I don't hate it. It is overused though.
It isn't everything right now, but yeah, I.
I don't if you have if you have an up Keith, I highly recommend
you listen to what if the altar song.
It's actually pretty fun. Well, there's a check it out
after. We'll check it out after.
But. Yeah.
It's just I will say unfortunately.
The music doesn't happen too often.

(58:31):
So it's it is kind of quiet and you know, synthesis in the
background, which is unfortunate.
I think it's I think it's a verysolid soundtrack because there's
not a lot of plays on it on Spotify couple 1000, but it's 14
sobs and not even a full week yeah.
And obscure hit a couple millionwithin a couple weeks.
Different, different. Different I mean even South of

(58:55):
midnight had you know probably 600,000 or 100,000 plus but it
yeah music is really cool thoughwell that's why we're here I.
Want people to check it? Out It's a solid soundtrack for
the few 100 of you that listen to this.
Please go add a couple 100 to that that sound list.
But it but you know, maybe you'll pick it and the Spotify

(59:15):
DJ will just assume you only want to listen to that song for
the next 6 months and it will play it for you every time you
play the DJ. So could be good.
What about achievements, Andrew achievements.
So as I said at the. Beginning of the episode do not
look up the achievements. There is some very heavily heavy
spoilers so don't recommend it. As far as achievement hunters go

(59:37):
also probably don't recommend it.
You're you're going to have to play a couple playthroughs
because every altar has a whole Side Story and you can
achievement for understanding their story. 1 little mechanic
we forgot to mention is if you talk and do well with an altar,
you learn their main trait. So like every altar kind of a
different trait. So the botanist is he gives you

(59:59):
the trait of relying on people. So as you're doing dialogue
choices specifically when you call somebody.
You sometimes will get a new dialogue option to rely on
somebody, the refiner, he gives you optimism, so somebody may
say something and you could maybe use that dialogue tree now
of optimism. So it's really cool if as you're
playing, you're kind of getting these special perks, but in
order to get all the achievements, you have to do it

(01:00:20):
with all the altars. You can't get them all within
one run. So it takes some time.
But overall, though, the achievements aren't very hard.
You're not looking at, you know,oh, beat the game with no
altars, nothing crazy hard. It's very much just you got to
play the game. You got to play it a couple
times. But but yeah, we'll get our
final thoughts here. So as I said for the authors at

(01:00:42):
the beginning here, this this tome, this was a really good game.
I really like this game story. It's gameplay is there to kind
of disagrees. I think it's relatively basic
and simple, but what's here it'ssuper fun.
I it was very addicting. I I just wanted to keep playing.
This game to me was very much kind of like one more day.
I want to kind of do this. You're trying to race against
the sunrise, so you're kind of at a time management.

(01:01:04):
Some of the dialogue got a little bit long, yes, but I love
the characters in this game. I loved what the story was
doing. I really want to know what's
happening at the end. I said I'm like right at the
end, but I this game to me was just a lot of fun.
If, and I still stand by if thisyear wasn't so stacked, this
could to me easily been a nomination for a game of the

(01:01:25):
year. I I thought it was very unique
and just it's what it was doing was like a lot of fun to do, but
obviously with so many games because to me, I think I don't
know to me, I. Think I might have liked this,
maybe a? Little bit more than South of
Midnight. No, no, no, because South of
Midnight, I will say I think it's soundtrack.

(01:01:46):
It's soundtrack I think would make South of Midnight go a
little bit better. But yeah, but.
Anyway, so for. Me, like I said, this is a
definite game if you like sci-fibased management.
Not crazy hard so you don't haveto be someone who has to really
figure stuff out. To me this is a 90.
I really like the altars a lot so I think.

(01:02:06):
You know Aaron? What, Andrew?
Is missing in this is a game that has no achievements and
feels a lot more like a job. Then it would have been better
than South of Midnight because it would have been a lot more
like Tectonica, but got him, said Bird.
Keith. Oh man.
No achievements one. That's really what I was going
for. You wasted all your time, but

(01:02:27):
thanks. Overall, it wasn't a waste of
time, I had fun with it. The thing so the thing about the
altars is. That it it's.
I don't for. Andrew, this game falls.
A little bit flat because it doesn't have the hardcore sweaty
survival mechanic that some of these mechanic craft or survival
crafting games have sometimes. And that's fine.

(01:02:48):
But if you're someone like me who tends to not like those this
game is, I wouldn't even call itmore accessible.
It's just it's easier to manage and doesn't feel as focused on
that. It feels so much more focused on
the relationship management of your altars and how they get you
to the end of the story. And I think that that's actually

(01:03:08):
the most interesting part of it.So the, the game play may fall
flat for Andrew because it, it, you know, doesn't have enough,
you know, 150 different recipes that I have to pour through and
remember what, what I need to doto make a bandage.
It's really fun and I, and I like it for that, especially
because otherwise I probably probably wouldn't like this

(01:03:29):
game. So this may actually come down
as like my surprise of the year because it's, it's a survival
management game that I actually really kind of liked, especially
listening to the music isolated it.
It's really cool. It's got a cool soundtrack.
It's it's kind of a fun idea with the, the interacting with
the altars and all of that. I I would give it a 85.

(01:03:52):
Yeah. So as we've mentioned here.
This is a mix of a few games andall, but it executes it on in
all the right places. It really does.
There are some minor gripes hereand there.
There are probably some quality of life stuff that should have
gone into this to kind of make it a little bit easier to kind
of manage it. But All in all, this is a fun

(01:04:13):
game and it's a pretty unique experience.
I just don't like. I can't think of anything you
could quite compare this to again, share some elements, but
doesn't fully meet to the level that this is doing.
So we've once again got another studio that you would call
probably a small studio just doing it and and kind of killing
it right now. That's what this year has been

(01:04:36):
full of and you can add these guys to it on just a smaller
studio coming in and doing something that I think a lot of
larger studios wish they could do.
So this has been a great. This was a great experience and
I I look forward to to finishingthis.
Like I understand it's not a very long game, so we should be
able to get to the end here and and kind of wrap this thing up.

(01:04:57):
All in all, a pretty good experience.
I'm going to give an an 86, not quite a 90.
I think with some of those nuisances kind of out of the way
you might have gotten in the 90s, but I think an 86 is fair.
All righty well. I like Alex in our chat so he
wants to play arc with Keith. Trust me Alex, you don't want to
play arc with Keith. It's not a good time.

(01:05:18):
I generally take instructions. Very well will I?
Will I successfully execute? Questionable, but I will listen
and try some of my favorite gaming.
Experiences have been playing games with Keith and hearing him
over the microphone, just like complaining to himself all the

(01:05:38):
time. I'm told you stupid.
This is so dumb. No, I drink this.
It's just so. And you're just sitting in the
silence, just listening to Keithjust yelling on the other side
of it. So I could imagine it would be a
whole lot of that. Yes, the.
Best way to describe Keith, Keith would be like, honestly,
like an altar. He Yeah.
You tell him what to do. Hey, Keith, can you chop down

(01:06:00):
some trees? But once those trees are chopped
down, he just kind of stands there.
He's like, I don't know what to do.
I think. I think I spent a lot of time
just building Spiked. Walls just basically screw with
Andrew. Yeah, that.
Was a lot of fun. But anyway, thank you all so
much for joining us. As a quick reminder, as I said,

(01:06:20):
go to gamepassgrabag.com, check in our website if you want to
see our old reviews and scores, please join us.
Go to our link tree, you'll findthe link to all of our stuff,
including our Reddit. Aaron puts up a lot of form
stuff on there, games that are coming out of Game Pass.
He also likes to put up there the games that we're going to be
reviewing next. Bitch, I don't need to put up

(01:06:41):
what the next one is there yet. I don't know, I usually do it
after this. Episodes, yeah, OK, but yeah.
Or join us under Discord, we're quite active on there, so we
always love talking, hanging outwith people.
I've been your hardware gamer host Andrew.
You can find me on Xbox Live at Firebirds 0952.
I've been Keith and. I think the best answer I could
find for a good corporation in science fiction would be Stark

(01:07:03):
Industries, but I don't know if we want to call Marvel sci-fi.
So there you have it. That's a stretch.
It's a. Stretch, but that.
Might be our best answer. That's my outro and I'm Aaron.
Bye, love it. I'm as efficient.
That's what that was. That was.
Efficient. Oh well.

(01:07:23):
Speaking of air, make sure. You check out our YouTube we've
been trying to stream more stuff.
He has a gameplay of the altars and we should have for.
Next weeks game up there but. Anyway, love you all.
We'll see you again next week. Bye.