October 15, 2025 • 56 mins
Alex and Luke Talk Cult of the Lamb.
Ever wanted to combine dungeon crawling, base management, and theological terror into one cozy indie experience? That’s exactly the blend Cult of the Lamb serves. Developed by Massive Monster and published by Devolver Digital, this darkly adorable roguelike management mash-up dropped on August 11, 2022. You play a resurrected lamb who must build a loyal cult, perform rituals, and crusade through twisted lands to free a mysterious deity. It’s cute, creepy, and weirdly compelling.
On Metacritic, Cult of the Lamb scores an 82 (PC) among critics. According to reviews and “How Long to Beat,” a standard playthrough lands in the 15–20 hour range. Go for completion, side content, or cult perfection, and it stretches further. It’s a neat balance point: deep enough to feel meaningful, short enough to avoid burnout.
Both hosts tackled this one on their Steam Decks, with Alex also dipping into the PC version for a spell. Neither of them made it to the ultimate “credits roll” — instead, they got deep into the loops, the rituals, and the existential questions of lamb-leadership. They came away with both love and critiques of the pacing, combat variety, and the inevitable moral compromise.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Alex (00:21):
Hello, welcome to another episode of Low Five Gaming.
You've got me, your host, Alex,and here is my brother and
co-host Luke, my cult member.
Luke (00:31):
What's up, though?
Cult leader, I would like tothink.
Alex (00:33):
But uh cult co-leader, co-leader.
Luke (00:36):
Co-cult leader.
That can't be a common cult.
That can't be a commonappearance or occurrence, is it?
You think there's a lot ofcults that like have extremely
powerful dudes that trade off?
You think that works?
I feel like it's a coke.
It's a couple of bros justsetting the rules.
Alex (00:52):
No five cult, dude.
We mostly get along.
That can only be one.
I'm doing well.
I'm doing well, dude.
It's been a crazy, crazy call.
I have a little bit of a cold,but people don't care about
that.
Sound a little pissy, but it'salright.
It's been a crazy couple ofmonths, dude.
September, and now we're inOctober, dude.
September's buck wild.
We got too many birthdays inthe family of September.
(01:13):
A lot of people just makinglove during the holidays, bro.
Whoa, man.
Luke (01:17):
I thought you were gonna talk about getting colds because
I got sick, but you went rightinto baby making.
You nasty.
Alex (01:22):
A little bit of both, man.
We got, I mean, that shitnasty, right?
Luke (01:27):
Back to back to work for me, so it's a bit of a
whirlwind.
But uh yeah, and then catchingcolds and then being busy.
It was uh good times but busytimes and sick times.
Late night low five.
Can't be getting too bug wild,you wake up them boys.
Yeah, that would be acatastrophe.
I'm not gonna lie.
That would be a cancel.
But nonetheless, dude, thegame, the game of the month,
(01:51):
cult of the lamb.
Yes, the the cutest creepygame, which I guess is a
subgenre of its own.
It's just cute, creepy.
Remind me, was this my pick,your pick, a dual pick?
Alex (02:02):
I think it was uh my pick.
Nope, no, it was your pick.
I think it was uh I think itwas your pick, but I bought this
game for you for Christmas, soit was like kind of like a Yeah.
It's kind of like you forced meto pick it.
Luke (02:18):
Not really after this play.
I was kind of voluntole thiswould be my pick, guys.
Uh, you know, because Alex ishe is not a benevolent dictator
cult leader.
Ugh, you don't edit that.
I want everyone to know I'mstupid.
Alex (02:37):
Would they already do that?
Luke (02:38):
They already did uh yeah, so no, I've had it on the
backlog.
Uh, you know, backlog book clubwas taken, but that was our
original idea.
Um and we're just, you know,we're just a couple of guys
trying to play all of the games.
Alex (02:52):
One and take it, we can take, we can get strong arm that
shit too.
Should we rebrand?
Nah, I don't want to start awar.
Start a branding war.
Luke (03:00):
This game, dude.
And it's devolver digital, soit's like, you know, we already
have, you know, we used to be alittle Nintendo fanboy pod, and
now uh we're not.
Now we're just a devolverdigital fanboy pod.
And so look at that.
Alex (03:12):
We've devolved into Devulger, pure Devolger.
We've devolved into stupid too.
We've divulved we've devolvedinto Devolger Devolgence.
Did I say that correctly?
Luke (03:24):
No, not at all.
Um, but I love it.
Um, yes, devolved into DevolverDevelopents.
It's definitely not worthrepeating again and trying to
figure it out.
Dang.
Alex (03:34):
Yeah.
Luke (03:35):
Um, yes.
Well, if you're still here,cool.
Alex (03:37):
Uh we we got we're covering Call to the Lamb, dude.
This game came out August 11th,2022.
Did you realize I didn'trealize it was that old, man.
I've been sleeping on this gamefor a while.
Luke (03:49):
Time has become a blur to me.
Uh everything feels like itjust came out, and then it's
like it's the 10th yearanniversary, and I'm like, oh
great.
And it gets on launch price?
30 bucks.
25, dude.
You know, 25.
Alex (04:02):
I was in the neighborhood.
Hell yeah.
Um I love that.
I love that though.
That approach.
I mean, they have DLC, but youknow what?
The DLC?
Free.
For the most part.
They might have some paid DLCnow.
Luke (04:14):
Um, obviously, I wasn't gonna jump in, but lots of added
content over time, likepost-launch content, I think is
more big updates.
So, yeah, I think theWoolhaven, is that the new uh
DLC?
This is right.
Uh co-op.
They've added co-op to it,which is pretty cool.
Alex (04:29):
Actually, they did that in 2024, so like they added that a
while ago now.
So I'm not entirely sure whatWoolhaven is.
They they're just adding tothis game, dude.
I love it.
Like, this is that why whycan't that be the why the why
can't that be the model forvideo games?
Why does it have to be let'smilk them for all they're worth?
Luke (04:48):
Because shareholders, um, devolver digital must not be uh
publicly traded just yet, sowe'll see.
But anyway, that could be youcan go to both sides for that.
Alex (04:58):
Premise of this game, dude.
Yes, the last lamb about to besacrificed for four bishops
who've hunted you down and yourentire species.
But there's a mysterious chaingod called the one who waits
that resurrects you with somelike demon shit and this weird
crown, and he tasks you withbuilding a cult.
And you gotta like, you know,the whole cult's supposed to be
(05:19):
around him and stuff, and you'rebasically tasked to defeat the
bishops and free him.
Luke (05:24):
I think that's a conduit.
You so when you die in classicrogue-like fashion, um, or rogue
light fashion, I remember thedifference.
Um because I, you know, on thispod bumbled that there's a
difference between the two about14 times until I committed to
memorizing it.
Alex (05:41):
There you go.
Luke (05:42):
Um, in classic roguelike light fashion, they have built a
way for you to die and comeback.
Although I do like how yourcult followers don't believe in
you as much if you die andthey're like, mm-hmm weakling.
I actually like that.
Uh so there's a tiny penalty todeath, nothing crazy.
But you just get reborn andthen um it the roguelike
(06:04):
function, the rogue-likefunction.
So I like how I told you I knowthe difference between the two,
but I can't verbally say thecorrect one each time.
But the rogue light function isthat you go in one of the doors
and you fight, you know, thewhole little you go on a run, so
to speak.
We talk about this enough inthis pod where you know what I
mean by you go on a little run,you do the combat, you go
(06:26):
through the area, you find thepower-ups, and then you have
like a final little boss guy,and then you do that four times,
is it, to unlock like the finalboss or the bishop that you
previously mentioned of thearea?
Alex (06:37):
Yeah, I believe so.
Luke (06:38):
And then what's interesting about this game,
this game's flavorful twist,other than the um cult setting
and aesthetic combined with thecutesiness.
Uh, what makes this game uniqueis it's also a management sim
on your home base.
So, in a lot of games, you havea home base and you add to
things and power-ups over time.
In Hades, you talk to peopleand build relationships and
(07:00):
power up.
In this game, you're runningyour cult.
Alex (07:03):
And that's like from what I've gathered on the internet.
Like, I mean, some peoplereally do like the the gameplay
of the dungeon crawling becauseit's decent.
Um, but mostly it seems peoplegravitate towards that base
building aspect of this game, iswhat I've what I've gathered.
And somewhat my experience aswell.
I'm a little torn to be honest.
Luke (07:22):
Yeah, I had um, so when we first talked, you can check in
the Discord, I definitely calledit a master of none.
Um, because I felt like it wasstretched out between these two
deals.
I would say that I kinda grew Ihad a nice I put down some
other games and I focusedheavier on it when I first
thought we were gonna record ayear ago.
(07:44):
Sure.
And I got like probably anotherlike 10 hour jump in there, and
I I got into more of a groove,and I found that um it's
actually got decent balancebecause you can't do a whole lot
on the management part, andthen you go on the run and then
you come back, and it's kind ofa little chaotic because some
things don't necessarily fallinto disarray or fall too far
(08:05):
behind, but you usually have todo some cleaning up and like
some repairs and differentthings.
There's a lot of poop outthere, a lot of poop, a lot of
weird poop focused things thatI'm not super into.
I actually found the process ofupgrading your shovel way too
gratifying.
That little progress bar ofupgrading that shovel.
Like I was more proud than Ishould have been when I maxed
(08:26):
out my poop shovel.
Um, I'm a little further thanyou, so I got an outhouse, dude.
So they shit in an outhouse andI said to clean the outhouse,
and then I got a fertilizer binfor that they take out of the so
yeah, dude.
Uh it does some nice uh I'mmore into management sims than
you historically.
Historically, no, but in ouradult life, yes.
I mean, our adult life spendmost of our lives at this point,
(08:49):
dude.
Alex (08:52):
Fair enough.
Luke (08:53):
Um within the last you know 10 to 15 years, I've been
into a lot of management sims.
So you can get into a supplychain stuff that I find
gratifying, is all I was gonnasay.
Alex (09:02):
And between between the premise and talking about poop,
yeah, like this if anybodyhasn't played this game and
they're just hearing us talkabout it, like it sounds scary,
it sounds dark, and it soundsgross.
The funny thing about that isthough, is it's it's not.
And I think that juxtaposition.
unknown (09:19):
Right.
Alex (09:19):
So that juxtaposition is I think one of the the like
coolest things about this gameis it has a very yeah, a cutesy
vibe to it's like dark, but it'slike a triple cult vibes, Dave.
Yeah, dude.
And that's like that's it.
Um right, so it's got a realdark humor that lands like
really well.
The soundtrack's good.
There is an addictive gameplayloop, but it's uh it's adorable
(09:40):
yet disturbing, uh, which iswhich is kind of fun.
Luke (09:44):
Did you get far enough to find conflict, like inner
conflict with doing some of thecult stuff?
Alex (09:52):
Yeah, I mean, like, so like you I mean, there's so many
layers of this game that will,you know, it's one of those
deals that we'll probably miss abunch of stuff, but uh you you
can decide whether to likesacrifice a cult member or
whatever or not for variousdifferent reasons.
Well, you talk about that orare you talking about or force
him to eat poop and do theweeds?
Luke (10:09):
I want to pull a prank on him, dude.
Make him eat shit.
He hates that.
I'm like, no, it's a dick move.
Alex (10:14):
But dude, this is because this harks back to our um Red
Dead Redemption 2 like pod thatthat we cut, and then also when
we guessed it on Tales from theBacklog, and that whole idea of
being gamers and and just acouple of dudes that like have
trouble kind of leaning into theuh the dark side, if you will,
(10:35):
you know what I mean?
Luke (10:36):
Yeah, no, I have to like tell myself like your
role-playing as a adorable cultleader, like you get to be bad,
and I'll be like, it's okay ifyou make poor little follower
that worships you eat shit tomake the other one happy.
Alex (10:49):
Right, and even more so than like you know, my Red Dead
example, where you are, I mean,you know, you don't really
you're like rewarded for beingevil in this, is what I'm trying
to say.
Whereas in Red Dead, it reallydidn't matter which path you
chose, like it has some impacton the story, but for this, like
the game wants you to lean intoit.
Luke (11:07):
You're supposed to be a cult leader, yeah.
Right, yeah, right, right.
You're not supposed to be ayou're not liberating anyone,
you're building your cult.
Um, it's also interesting, likeyou grab the followers from
that overworld, those runs, youdo kind of save them.
Right.
And like they die a lot, likeof natural causes and things, so
(11:28):
you're kind of like alwayslosing them.
So like that kind of helpssoften the blow, but you can
like build up your cult.
And like, did you find itstressful when you first started
playing?
How many systems it kind of dida good job of slowly
introducing you to a lot ofsystems, but it was deeply
overwhelming in the beginning.
Alex (11:43):
So I don't mind the systems because you're right,
they do a good job of layeringthem and introducing them, and
things are kind of you're kindof locked out on things until
you hit certain, you know, umachievements or whatever
milestones.
I think that uh that rolloutmade that manageable.
I think to this day, the time,the speed of the game gives me
(12:04):
anxiety, like the clock, thewhat how fast the clock moves.
Luke (12:07):
That never bothered me, but you've mentioned that so
many times.
I think that's so funny.
Alex (12:11):
Dude, it's because I'm like, I don't want to be, but
I'm a min-maxer, so like I'mtrying to get as much done on
the overworld or on the homebase, and then you also have to
get a run in, and the clockcontinues to go during the run,
so you have to balance thatcorrectly, and like there's a
day count.
So I get even though I don'tthink it matters, like I get
worried about the fact that I'mon like X day, and uh so this
(12:35):
it's just one of those things.
It's like the it's like theclock in Majora's mask, dude.
It's just like having that,it's just it's just it's
anxiety.
Luke (12:42):
I mean that one that one's real anxiety because you have
to finish it with it.
Alex (12:46):
I mean, yeah, for sure.
Luke (12:46):
Um, well, the point I was making is like as you continue
to level up your cult, you'remaking a lot of decisions, and
like my nice guy shit's gettingin the way, but you can like
sacrifice followers to have likemore intense control of your
cult, but also like have moreintense powers on your next run.
Alex (13:04):
So you could like there's a whole big skill tree to this
too.
Luke (13:07):
Yeah, you could build your whole cult like and kind of
more or less specialize and inthe path of sacrifices where I'm
such a lame o I went the otherdirection, and I was like, I
want uh all my followers to havea belief in the afterlife so
when their homies die, they gaina little faith and they're not
as sad.
Oh, that's cloudy.
Yeah, so I'm you know, youknow, listeners, if you want to
(13:28):
join our cult, I'm pretty prettychill.
Whereas Alex will probably makeyou eat poop and um I don't
make them eat poop, dude, but Ido be sacrificing folk.
Dude.
Alex (13:38):
Especially if especially if they're like getting kind of
sultry of me or like a littleupset.
I'm like, you know what?
You're gone.
We don't need you.
You're not you're notbenefiting me.
Luke (13:46):
I'm sorry, all less for dinner is grass or poop.
Die then.
Alex (13:50):
We'll eat early on, especially.
Early on, especially that'sannoying, dude.
Like the cooking.
So that's I mean, I don'tthat's where I'm torn on this,
dude.
Like, I don't mind thoselayers.
I don't like mind like becauseI that's what I wanted, dude.
Like one of the reasons I wasstoked to play this game is
because I've been craving amanagement sim uh or like a life
sim, probably more cra morecraving a life sim, to be
(14:11):
honest.
And I think that's where I wasmisled.
I felt like what I had gatheredabout this game is that it was
more life simmy than I want thanI wanted it to be.
Or no, it wasn't as life simmyas I wanted it to be, right?
Yeah, I think that's partiallylike why it took me a little bit
longer to warm up to it.
But um, but I do like thisgame, and I think that, you
(14:33):
know, I think you're correct insaying at the get-go it did fell
feel like master of none.
Um like I was on board withthat, but it definitely gets to
the point where I'm like, okay,like I'm learning this stuff,
it's making more sense.
Uh I'm into it.
I I like this.
So like we've been talkingabout, and we can definitely
talk more about the overworldand the management sim part of
this game.
(14:53):
But how did you feel about thecombat?
How'd you feel about that wholesection of this?
Luke (14:57):
It it was torn because in the beginning, you're trying to
learn the management, the simmanagement stuff, so you're
almost not giving that enoughtime, or vice versa.
Like you're kind of trying toreally groove with another.
So as I got into that, likepast that five-hour mark, closer
to that 10 to that 15, I wouldfind that it was a nice change
of pace from the fighting to dothe sim stuff, and then I was
(15:20):
excited to go do the pillagingagain.
And I I did find the roll, theroll dodge is really nice.
And the enemy variety is prettygreat through the different
gosh, just to the I'm just gonnasay the different doorways or
areas to go through because Iforget if the game even has like
a specific word for those, buteach of the bishops' realms,
that's probably it.
(15:41):
They each have a differentaesthetic, it's cool.
You can go back to the old onesand get like higher difficulty,
higher rewards things.
So, like I found it a scratchand itch.
It's almost like I've playedenough of these games where like
doing it really well is gettingpretty close to like a comfort
food.
You're clearing each littleroom, and then you know, you
(16:01):
have this little map, and thenyou get to this little point
where you know you get to choosea doorway, and then there's
like this winding path thing.
How would you describe thewinding path thing within each
run, so to speak?
So you're in an area, you clearthe set of rooms, and then you
go to a doorway, and thenthere's like almost this uh
overhead map of like a pathwhere you have just like
(16:22):
different options of differentthings.
Alex (16:24):
What is a game that you've put about 4,000 hours into that
is a good example of uses thesame thing.
Which one's that?
How many games have you put4,000 hours into?
Just Tetris.
Oh, wait, not Civ.
Not Civ.
Civ it's not quite like Civthough.
It's nothing like it's anotherwhat's that card, the card
builder that you that you play?
Oh, Slade of Spire, yeah.
Yeah, so Slade does the samething, but it's basically a
(16:46):
tree, like a uh like abranching, a branching tree.
So they call them crusades.
Um you know, when you go intothe dungeons or whatever.
So the dungeon crawling bit ofthis game is considered
crusades.
Nice.
Four regions, which youmentioned, each ruled by a
bishop, and they're procedurallygenerated rooms, so it's always
going to be a little different,which is you know, a little
spice of life, a littleroguelike thing going on.
But you get to collectresources, which is important
(17:08):
for the overworld stuff or forthe base building stuff, and you
get to rescue followers inthere, which is also important.
Uh, and very much like Slay,you you know, you do get that
map and you get to choose.
I think um there was anothercard builder game that we played
that did this as well.
Uh, what's that creepy one?
The creepy card builder game.
Luke (17:25):
Yeah, with three guns built in.
Um it's similar to Enter theGungeons map, and then it
becomes like when you'reactually going through the
levels, it's like Enter theGungeons map.
And then when you get to thattree part, that's like Slay the
Spire, where you pick your nextpart of the path.
Although think of it as muchmore condensed and smaller, but
like you'd be like, Do you wanta crop-based reward, like for
(17:46):
different seeds and things tobring back to your colony?
Or do you want a follower-basedreward?
Or do you want a weapon upgradefor just this run?
And that's like kind of fun andrewarding because like maybe
your people are starving andyou're like, ooh, like hell
yeah, dude.
What is that?
A grape?
I'm gonna add grapes to mycolony.
Alex (18:03):
Inscription was what we're looking for.
Yes, thank you.
So inscription has a similarthing too, right?
Where you can kind of choosewhat direction, or am I making
that up?
Luke (18:11):
Oh man, it's been a while, and I only played the first one
really well because I sucked atthe second game.
Right on.
Alex (18:18):
Well, it's got that going, dude.
And like inscription, and Iguess like Slay, I mean, there
is a card element to this too.
So you get to collect the youcollect the resources, you
collect followers, and you alsocollect tarot cards.
Or tarot cards, right?
Luke (18:29):
Yeah, I actually got this like upgrade where I
automatically start each runwith four.
Oh and I don't get to pickthem.
Oh, so I don't run into them.
So it's like you get thesepower-ups that are like a pro
con thing later on.
And you can switch those out.
So if you wanted to, you couldchange that boom, correct?
Alex (18:47):
Yeah, call it a cowl or something because it's a part of
your cape.
Right, right, right.
That makes sense.
And then the boss structurethere, which you also touched
on.
You've got the four minibosses, the apostles, uh, per
region, and then you have thebishop boss.
Luke (18:59):
So that's kind of that's the core loop of the Crusades.
Look at you using the internetfor the proper terminology.
Nice.
Alex (19:06):
Ah, dude, I just like knowing this game like the back
of my hand, bro.
Luke (19:10):
Uh I like the different weapon choices though.
Like you start off and theyusually give you, I don't think
they give you a choice.
No, it's just like your yourmain weapon, and then like what
you're on a PlayStation 2 wouldbe triangle.
Uh on a Steam ED, it would beY.
Uh Attack, and then you havelike this kind of overpowering,
(19:30):
or not overpowering, but you doactually have an overpower
attack.
It kind of just keeps buildingcombat layers.
So I would go ahead and sayit's like good to very good
roguelike combat.
Alex (20:38):
I agree.
It's uh and then it's like, youknow, you can die, and like if
you die, it's not a game over.
But like you said, your yourfollowers are kind of like,
what's this weakling all about?
Lose some clout, dude, lowauro.
Yeah, so you go on and crusade,like that.
The idea is that you that youwin and you can decide to keep
crusading or you can go back,but you have to kind of do the
(20:59):
balance, right?
Because you have to decide,okay, like, do I need to go back
and make sure my people aredoing good and are they fed?
That kind of thing.
I mean, you already hit themain.
I think we've kind of coveredmore of the more or less the
main core loop stuff of the thecult management things.
But what we didn't mention, orwe maybe just like touched on,
so you've got to feed thefollowers, manage their needs,
(21:20):
faith, loyalty, hunger.
Uh you get to build structures.
So you mentioned likeouthouses, but like the farm,
sleeping quarters, ritualspaces, etc.
So has that built.
So and then I think what wedidn't fully mention yet is that
you perform sermons to gainfaith and unlock upgrades.
So there's that's kind of a funlittle thing.
You go into your like littlechurch and you can just decide
(21:41):
to perform a sermon.
You can also conduct rituals,what you mentioned.
So, like that can be asacrifice, that can be a
wedding, a resurrection, etc.
So it's like most fun rules.
Luke (21:51):
Yeah, you could do funerals, mostly funerals from
have fallen homies.
Yeah, and I got my dudestripping on shrooms.
You got your dudes tripping onshrooms, dude.
No, that's dope though.
Max out their loyalty, dude.
It's a little brainwashed out.
Alex (22:06):
Uh then, and then like you were saying earlier, too, you
got to deal with dissenters.
Uh, your cult members actuallyget older, so you have to deal
with old age and like they dieoff, they die off.
They can also get sick.
A lot of times my cult membersare getting sick because I'm
making them poopy food.
Because like you want to feedthem, but like the only thing
you can like feed them, they'relike, you don't have the
ingredients for like good stuffunless you're gonna be able to
do that.
Oh, yeah, for sure.
Luke (22:29):
Because you could use a poop too as fertilizer, like for
your farming.
Or the giant poop that youharvest for many poops.
Have you seen that?
Right, yeah.
This game, this game is likewe've made these jokes because
it's easy jokes.
They're like a little oddlyobsessed with poop in this game.
The devs were like a little inthe poop when they made this
game.
Alex (22:47):
Um and the last piece of the call management it would be
the doctrines.
So we kind of mentioned that.
So that's like a skill treepiece of this where you get
some.
Luke (22:53):
I'm choosing your cult's direction.
Right.
Your power is cool.
Yeah.
And you set your workers todifferent tasks.
So some of them just worshipyour shrine, and that shrine you
collect more or less faith, um,and that faith you use for
upgrades, and then some of themyou can have be building, some
of them you can have beharvesting rock, lumber, farming
(23:14):
for you.
Um I would never say it getslike intensely complex, but it
gets a little busy.
Alex (23:20):
It does force you into like different paths, right?
So like you get to kind of whatyou're saying, like you're kind
of like, I'm playing the niceguy, but you can so basically
you can like you kind of eitheryou find yourself like choosing
between like, am I gonna allowmurder or am I gonna like build
prisons?
Like, are we gonna buy feedinto cannibalism?
Stop believing in you, dude.
(23:41):
Right.
And then it's like uh, youknow, do you want to lean into
camel cannibalism or like youknow, are they gonna be a bunch
of grass eaters?
Like are you gonna haveweddings?
You can have fight pits, likeit's it's interesting, like the
different you know, branchesthat you can can go down.
Luke (23:55):
It's enough of an RPG that they felt obligated to make a
shitty fishing mechanic as well.
Alex (24:01):
I was gonna bring that to that too.
Luke (24:02):
There's a fishing piece in the didn't ever want to go back
because I didn't think youreally needed to, and then my
people were starving, and I waslike, I could probably just like
fish for five minutes, and thenI did that and had a bunch of
food, and I was like, okay, it'snot the worst, but it didn't.
Alex (24:17):
I don't mind the fishing mechanic, it reminds me of
Stardew in a way.
Like it's not right, yeah.
No, fair enough.
It's probably like a mixer oflike uh it's like a cross
between Stardew and Sea ofStars.
Yeah, that's actually what I'mgonna do.
Not as good as either.
Luke (24:32):
If you could if you weren't able to pull it, I was
gonna bring up Sea of Stars.
Um, yeah, it's just funny.
It's like a classic video gametrope.
So it's almost like they had ameeting and they're like in
between poop jokes and poopmechanics.
Alex (24:43):
Like, how about fishing, dude?
That dude that you meet thatteaches you how to fish, and
then you have to do the littleside quest.
That's another thing the sameas side quests too.
Like this game is prettycomplex, yeah.
But then uh so that dude likeit wants you to gather a certain
amount of fish for a fishpretending not to be a fish,
that guy, right?
Right, yeah, for sure.
Uh I think it was like thecrab, or there was one of them
that it it literally took Idon't even want to know how much
(25:07):
time, but like I was trying tocollect the last one for him,
and it just took forever.
I was like, this is ridiculous,like days and days and days
until I caught the crab orwhatever.
Really?
Yeah, dude, it was dumb.
Luke (25:16):
I think that is just some sort of ritual that increased my
fishing bounty, and I just wentover there and crushed a bunch
of fish one day.
So smart, smart man.
Yeah, well, teach a man tofish.
Alex (25:27):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So those are the main uhgameplay loops, got a little
fishing in there.
Luke (25:33):
Um there's also like a mini game uh in the upper left
of your dude.
There's like an there's a lotof world maps now that I'm
saying out loud.
On your home base, yourmanagement sim part, you like
enter a little fast travel thingto get to the fishing area, to
get to the mushroom area, andthen there's this other like
cabin area where I don't evenremember what the mini game is,
(25:55):
but I know it was better thanGwent.
Alex (25:57):
It is not better than Gwent.
Luke (25:58):
Yeah, it's Rage Bait.
Um, but I'm trying to thinkwhat that little game is.
Alex (26:03):
I'm not good at it.
I just know that it's like abetting game, and I can't
remember.
It's it's more of like a diceroll thing, right?
I can't remember.
Yeah, I think so.
I know that all I know is I wasso bad at it, I lost all my
money, so I didn't do it again.
Clowning.
Luke (26:15):
I like beat the guy after like the first attempt, and then
there's like a few peoplewaiting there to play me, and
I'm like, I'm not interestedenough in following up with
that.
Um, it I mean it's you know,it's a little something for
everybody, and it feels like thedevelopers were probably just
having fun making differentlittle aspects, like almost
homages to different things indifferent genres, but that part
(26:35):
didn't cook me or tickle me.
Did you play this almostentirely on your Steam ED, or
were you PC on this for a lot?
Alex (26:44):
I had had a couple sessions on my PC, but uh Steam
ED I would say 90% of the way.
Luke (26:49):
I would say the aesthetic of this game very much lends
itself to a Steam ED game and itplays really, really nice on
there.
But it gets that thing cooking,dude.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Like when playing a little bitof silksong, and like I never
hear the fan on the Steam ED.
The second I open Call to Lamb,it's like Oh, interesting.
And it's a bit of a tickingtime bomb as far as like if I'm
(27:11):
playing it, I can't be passivelypaying and like pausing a lot.
I gotta like play the game orelse I'll just be wasting
battery.
I thought that was interesting.
I was like, it doesn't looklike it's a heavy game like
that.
Alex (27:23):
What I did notice for sure is that battery life aspect.
I'd with the very, you know,that cutesy dark uh art style we
talked about, like it's it'sanother one of those games kind
of like Plucky Squire in a waywhere it's like it's it looks
decently chunky.
So it's like you wouldn't thinkthat it's gonna be so taxing
(27:44):
the battery, but I'd I would sayprobably like unplugged, get
maybe an hour 15 minutes tops.
That sounds about right.
Yeah.
So it I mean it tears throughthe battery, which you know
that's about the amount of timeI want to play.
You know, I don't want to gomuch more than that, anyways,
when I do a run like a stint inthis game.
Yeah, I thought it was worthmentioning though, just because
like it runs really well, butit's always kind of like
(28:05):
interesting when a game's just alittle bit heavier, runs a
little hard, and you think it'sgonna I I will I will note
though, it's like kind of likeall these games that I love to
be able to play handheld, andit's like definitely presents
themselves for handheld when Ido play them on PC and like on a
bigger screen and with likefaster FPS and everything.
(28:27):
Uh it's nice.
Yeah.
Uh so there's that.
There we go.
You know, like a Hades is anexample that's that way.
Like, I like 90% of my timeplaying Hades is handheld, but
when I have played it on the PC,I'm like, oh, okay.
This is shit.
Uh this is that way.
Um I'm sure, you know.
So there was the management simthat we played for the pod that
(28:47):
I felt that way too.
Actually, I preferred it on thedesktop um for that one.
Which one is that?
Uh Against the Storm.
Luke (28:55):
Ah, yeah, that was like a game I picked up.
I tried to pick that back uprecently, and I was I just got
fucking wrecked.
A little in the weeds.
It's a stressful game.
I forgot how shitty I was at itfor a while.
But yes, uh, back to Call tothe Lamb.
Seems like it never reallyhooked you, although you
appreciate it and thought it wascool.
It seems like you kind of likescratched your curiosity itch,
(29:17):
but never really loved it.
Does that seem fair?
Alex (29:19):
Right.
It didn't get it's it didn'tget as hooked in me to the point
where I'm like uh was obsessingover it or like got to the
point where I'm like, I can't Ican't wait to play cult tonight,
that type of deal.
But it's uh it's a game, butit's it's also not so it's like
right in the right in the middlethere, because it's also not a
game like I don't want to pickthat up again.
Luke (29:35):
You know, yeah, I would not uninstall it for my Steam ED
if I needed like space for adifferent game.
That would not be one of myimmediate like choices for the
chopping block because it goesback to the once you learn the
systems, like I don't feel likeI'll be overwhelmed if I like if
I jumped on right now, it'sbeen like a week or two since
I've played it, uh, becausewe're late on this pod.
Um but if I jumped onto itright after this pod, I wouldn't
(29:58):
suck.
And I think that's like coolthat it has a lot of depth, but
I don't feel overwhelmed when Ijump back in.
Alex (30:05):
So and the balance is tight, right?
I mean, like, because becauseyou can choose whether you want
to kind of lean into themanagement part of it or the the
dungeon crawling part of it,like I think that's like an
interesting aspect.
Whereas if you wanted to getinto Hades or something, like
you're gonna get your ass beatif you haven't played Hades in a
long time, and then you mightfeel a little bit like, and now
(30:25):
I'm like, because of storydriven and all those things, I
feel like I shouldn't just Ihave to start completely over.
Luke (30:31):
And it's been too long since I've played last.
So this game is a grip it andrip it, which if you've been
listening long enough, you knowthat that means a lot to my
heart.
Indeed.
Alex (30:41):
Well, Sitman, how many sacrificial lambs out of five
would you give this game?
How many poops from theouthouse?
How many poops scoop from theouthouse?
Luke (30:53):
Uh on a five point pentagram, uh, I'm gonna give
it.
Three points out of five.
And I feel like that's good.
It is.
But it's not it's closer tovery good than great.
Alex (31:08):
I'm right there with you, dude.
I'll give it three out of fiveas well.
Three out of five poop scoopsfor the off house.
And that is exactly because ofwhat I just said, where it's
like it's it never got to thepoint where I was like, I need
to keep playing this game.
Not that you should haveunhealthy obsessions with games.
But but you know, it never likeit never like really got me to
(31:28):
like, you know, I need to keepgoing, but it also like never
got to the point where I waslike, man, I wish I wasn't
playing this game.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
Um, so it's good.
It's like middle of the road,but better.
It's better than middle of theroad.
It's not a two-five, it's athree.
It's good to very good, yeah.
No doubt.
Indeed.
And who knows, like it haspotential to get a little bump
if I get a little deeper in itand I I change my mind there.
(31:51):
But you know, if you like wereto pair it up against different
roguelikes, like I wouldprobably I mean, I'd have to say
that like Hades is better, youknow what I mean?
Like roguelite, but yes.
Yeah, sure.
Uh and when it comes tomanagement sims, like I mean, uh
Animal Crossing better, youknow?
Yeah.
Luke (32:11):
So yeah, I think like if you're looking, if you like
those types of games, and it isliterally October when this is
coming out, spooky season isupon you, it would be a fun
flavor to pick up.
100%.
Alex (32:23):
I think I would definitely recommend it to the div
devolver heads.
Um, you know, and I would alsorecommend somebody that is
anybody that likes those twogenres.
But I wouldn't I wouldn'tnecessarily recommend it to
someone that's like new to videogames, a little too complex or
a little too standoffish forthat.
Um I would agree.
(32:44):
But if you if but if those aregenres that you're into, it's
definitely worth.
I mean, the 25 bucks at launch,bro.
Like, I mean, come out.
Luke (32:50):
Let's end it.
Oh, great price point, andit'll go on sale.
Uh right.
Alex (32:54):
So I love it.
Yeah, that's a good point.
Right now.
Well, she with that, should wetake a little break here from
our unsanctioned sponsor?
Yeah, let's perform a ritual.
Luke (33:12):
So this week we are brought to you by uh a weird
argument from me and also ayearly um addiction that comes
in strong and hot.
It's got its claws in Alex alittle bit, got him kicked out
of a bar once.
Um, but it's not the alcohol,it's fantasy football.
Right out.
And specifically, I wasthinking the other day, it was
(33:33):
like a sober high thought, but Iwas like, is fantasy football a
video game?
Uh well, it's in an app, right?
Like so.
Kind of like how board gamesevolved into video games when
they're just electronic.
Right.
Interesting.
So basically you're playinglike an electronic gambling, but
it's skill-based game companionto this entertainment product
(33:57):
that you're consuming on Sundaysand sometimes Mondays and
sometimes Thursdays.
And I love it way too much,dude.
I have way too many hardcoretakes on players that I don't
actually bother to watch.
I know a lot of my friendsactually do watch them, and
that's tight, but I follow somuch like auxiliary content and
I'm obsessive, and I yeah, yeah.
Alex (34:21):
This month is brought to you in part by unofficially
fantasy football.
Is it a video game?
Is it a video game?
Uh uh well that's a tough one.
I could you can make anargument for it.
I I I hear you making anargument for it, and I'm not
saying that it's not.
Um, paper.
(34:43):
What's that?
Numbers go burr.
Right.
What platform are you playingon?
You on ESPN, you on Yahoo?
Luke (34:51):
Sleeper.
That's what it's called,sleeper.
It is the it is the premium,it's the best one, uh, in my
humble opinion.
I'm in a league for throughwork on ESPN and I fucking hate
it.
Their app is dogwash.
Um, I have done Yahoo in thepast, but sleeper is the way.
It's kind of like the goldstandard these days for a lot of
(35:12):
people.
Are you completely out?
Do you not even have yourcollege league anymore?
I've been out, bro.
Yeah.
That's crazy.
How did you guys let me know?
Alex (35:19):
They pulled me back in for a season or two and then uh
because dude, like I'm okay, I'mdown to play fantasy.
If people out there, like, Ireally want Alex to be in my
fantasy league.
I will join your fantasyleague.
But if people ain't fuckingtalking shit, if people aren't
like making trades, doing likebeing active, like I don't want
to, I don't want to just like dothis to do a draft and then
like be the only one that talksshit.
Luke (35:43):
So the college boys just the passion was gone.
No passion, bro.
No passion, y'all like dads andshit and not caring.
Alex (35:52):
This was before we were dads, dude.
They all got lame about it likebefore we became dads.
Luke (35:56):
You went from getting kicked out of bars celebrating
on championship weekend to justknowing.
Yeah, I mean, you say that, butuh a panicked younger brother
had to pick you up, and I waslike, I'm tired.
And you're like, I'm gettingkicked out of this bar right
now.
You need to come get us.
Alex (36:14):
I love that you came and got us.
That was walking distance forsure.
Luke (36:17):
You were pretty dramatic.
It didn't seem like it was aquestion at the time.
Alex (36:20):
It was like, save me.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, to be fair, the homie Iwas with probably wasn't able to
make the walk.
So not peacefully.
Luke (36:31):
No, he physically could have made it.
But not peacefully.
So yeah, uh, I definitelywanted to bring it up.
One, because I'm too deep intoit, dude.
And two, I was thinking tomyself, like, is this a video
game now?
Alex (36:44):
Like, could I make how's your team looking?
Luke (36:47):
You uh we had to start over.
What's your record?
The teams I start over.
Well, I do a dynasty now, whichI care too much about, and
that's where you uh keep yourplayers a year in and year out
and you just draft rookies.
Right, but I won it two yearsin a row.
So the rule is if you win ittwo years in a row, you get the
empire pot and you gotta blow upthe whole league and redraft
the whole thing.
(37:07):
So we start all the way backover.
So uh I don't know how my teamis yet on that league anymore.
And then my other redraft, I'mdoing great.
Although, uh, if you're aVikings fan, uh did you watch
the game, Alex?
Uh I watched bits from it, butno, I didn't watch it.
London.
Uh a kicker, our kicker kickeda ball, and the field goal just
radically took a sharp turn, andit appears as if he hit a wire.
(37:30):
I lost by less than a pointthis week.
Stop.
Alex (37:34):
That affected you.
Luke (37:35):
So I would have won pretty comfortably uh because my tight
end on Monday Night Footballcaught one ball and then got
hurt.
So I lost by like less thanhalf a point to a full point,
and uh those two things arewild, which is why I both love
and hate fantasy football,because that's fucking garbage,
dude.
unknown (37:52):
Right.
Luke (37:52):
So it's a good thing I'm not a gambler.
Alex (37:56):
What do you mean?
You straight up winning money.
Luke (37:58):
Yeah, it's a skill-based game, dog.
Uh legally, legally speaking.
No, like can you imagine likegamblers that lost like fortunes
on a kick like that and howfucking irate they get?
Alex (38:09):
So uh you hear about that and the DMs of certain players
and whatnot.
Luke (38:13):
Yeah, that loser shit.
But it's kind of funny howfantasy has grown from like a
niche thing from when you wewere doing it as little dudes to
now it's like people's moms andaunties and random uncles be in
leagues together.
Our family's low-key kind oflame for that.
We have for not having aleague.
We have two massive families,and there is not a family league
(38:35):
in either of them.
That's kind of crazy, dude.
What's up, Kamish?
Me?
Never.
Alex (38:40):
Well, there you go.
So fuck right off.
I don't need anyresponsibilities.
I don't want to be tear downthe family, but you won't even
set it up.
I want to sell it.
Dude, that's another reasonthat I'm out on the fucking uh
on the on the college homiedeals.
(39:01):
Like, all of us got jobs, dude.
Like, no reason you're notplaying your fantasy dues.
And like at least at least twoor at least one, maybe two a
year would not pay their fantasydues.
And it's like, come on.
Sheesh, dude.
Right, right.
So there we go.
Fantasy football.
I can dig it, dude.
I can dig it.
You're high on fantasy footballthough, because you you got to
(39:22):
you got to buy that watch, yougot to buy your your girl some
shoes or something like that.
She lost tragically.
Never forget.
That's right.
Luke (39:28):
Never forget.
No, I'm into it.
It gives me extra reason towatch on Sundays than play Slay
the Spire on my couch.
It's great.
Alex (39:35):
That is, I will say that is like I'm I do enjoy fantasy.
Like when when folks, whenyou're in a league where folks
are into it, is it is definitelyfun.
I do under I understand thegaming angle that you're giving
it.
I can see that it makes sense.
I would say yes, it's a videogame.
Uh, you know, with our at leastuh a compan, yeah, it's a
companion video game.
I don't know, whatever.
(39:56):
Um I think that's always beenthe most interesting thing about
it is like I'll root for myteams, right?
But when you have a fantasyteam, that gives you, you know,
you got a little skin in thegame on different games of the
week that you may not have tunedinto otherwise.
So it keeps you very alert towhat's going on.
Yeah, so the NFL is uh, youknow, all the all the leagues
(40:17):
that have fantasy going now,that it makes sense for them to
push fantasy and to get peopleon it because it makes people
more interested.
I tried fantasy basketball andfantasy basketball's dog shit,
dude.
You ever do fantasy baseball?
I don't I don't have the heartfor that.
I got a homie that was reallybig into fantasy baseball.
Both basketball and baseball,there's this I mean, like if you
(40:39):
have a problem updating yourroster for football, like don't
don't tread water in any of theother sports.
Luke (40:45):
Dude, uh basketball's crazy with the rest era, dudes
just be out and you're like,huh, constantly getting hurt,
it's crazy.
Alex (40:52):
Right on.
Brought to you in part,unofficially, by fantasy.
Nope.
Is it yeah, it's about videogame.
Luke (41:00):
It's brought to you by the question of is fantasy a video
game, dude?
Alex (41:06):
Right on.
Luke (41:15):
Side quest, and we are back.
Um, we have sacrificed theunsanctioned sponsor.
We are here.
I got two games I'm gonnahighlight, dude.
You got two games, but you gottwo major side quests.
Two major side quests that I'mpretty pumped about, and I'm not
gonna talk about NCAA football.
First, mini motorways, giftfrom Ace.
(41:37):
Boying.
Boing.
Threw that one into thebirthday, Bonanza Bash.
Um and he's been playing itforever, and he's always told me
to get it.
And I've always been cute, orhave always been cute.
Yeah, you have bro.
I've always been like a littlebit curious because it looked
like it was adjacent at least tolike some management sim stuff
(41:58):
I like to do.
And I would not call it that.
It's more of a puzzle game.
So if you like puzzle games, Ithink this game's a slam dunk
for you because it's usuallyrelatively uh inexpensive and it
has a cutesy aesthetic onceagain.
Is that your computer fan?
Alex (42:12):
Yeah, bro.
Um take it off.
All I want to do is open Steamto look at my game list.
Uh all right, anyway.
Is this that big, bro?
Luke (42:24):
Is it that big that backlog go crazy?
Literally go burr.
Gotta get the fans on to seethis man's backlog.
Umreal.
Anyway, sorry, everybody.
It's all good.
Mini Motorways has a very cuteminimalist uh color pop
aesthetic, and you're basicallygetting these cars from these
little houses to these littlefactories.
And uh just imagine like alittle house-looking thing, like
(42:47):
a monopoly house, like thattype of color.
Imagine it with like a littlebit of a neon, not many, maybe
pastel color pop.
And what I like is they dodifferent world maps that you
unlock, so it'll be like this isDublin, this is Moscow, and
like sometimes they'll just dolike a little thing that pays
homage to these global cities.
So I'm a pretty big dork whenit comes to uh geography, so I
love that.
So shouts out to that one.
(43:08):
I suck at it, but I've enjoyedit quite a bit, and very
addicting.
Um, one last time, if you're apuzzle-based boy, those are
great.
And second game of playing isit swept the internet dorks by
storm, and shockingly, Iactually uh uh inform Alex of
this, which I thought like I wasgonna be like, hey, have you
heard of Tetris type stupid whenI asked Alex if he's played
(43:30):
this game because it wasliterally made in an algorithmic
lab for Alex?
But uh Megabonk, if you havenot heard of Megabonk, it's
great.
Um if you're a fan of vampiresurvivors and you're like, but
what if this was 3D?
We've made a game for you.
I want to passively play a gamewhere I kind of move around and
take down hordes without buttonmashing, they kind of passively
(43:54):
get attacked by my differentpower-ups, it's awesome.
You can now jump.
That's a different element ofverticality.
And uh I guess it's like riskof rain too, because you wander
around the map until you findthe portal slash boss, you fight
the portal slash boss, and thenyou go into the portal and you
go to the next thing.
So that's how it gets the riskof rain and two-ness.
(44:15):
But it's great.
It's ten bucks.
It's got a kind of crudePlayStation 1 era, maybe if
you're being generous,PlayStation two-y era graphical
look to it.
Alex (44:32):
Would you looking at some pictures?
Would you agree?
Uh I didn't go.
I haven't looked at it sinceyou told me.
Luke (44:38):
Oh, I saw his face glowing, so I assumed he was
looking up this sweet game I wastalking about, but he's just
looking at his backlog again.
So, yes.
Um love that game.
Strong recommend.
It's super addicting.
It's so fun.
Like, I've talked a lot abouthow I like these passive games
where I can grip it and rip itand just pick up and get a
little run going.
(44:59):
And this game delivers hard andit's super cool.
And you unlock all thesedifferent characters.
Uh similar once again toVampire Survivors.
So if you burnt yourself out onvampire survivors, but you have
an itch for that lizard braintype shit, it's back, baby.
Mega bonk.
It has delivered.
Megabonk.
Alex (45:14):
I'll have to check it out.
Luke (45:16):
Yes.
Alex (45:18):
Right on.
Side quests.
Well, I have entered thevirtual reality, brother.
First of all, the buy nothingmovement.
If folks don't know what thatis, check it out.
All the all your neighborhoodsare hopefully who knows.
I don't know of allneighborhoods, but a lot of
neighborhoods they have buynothing groups set up.
You can join them via Facebookgroups, but also buy nothing has
(45:39):
its own app.
So a little plug for buynothing.
I'm in my neighbor, I'm in mylocal one, and there's a homie
that lives, oh, I don't know,about five blocks away or
something.
And he was getting rid of hisHTC Vive.
I want to say it's from2018-ish, maybe it's an early
version.
Ancient technology, continue.
(45:59):
I mean, it's older, but likethey, but it's dope.
Um, but it is, you know, it'slike VR has come a long way.
Dude, I've never really I'vehad I've I've tried VR a couple
times, it's for a coupledifferent minutes or whatever.
It's always impressive, butit's like, you know, it's like
it's a bit of a commitment whenyou're like gonna go out and buy
a ring.
Luke (46:18):
Even the cheap end options are like 300 bucks.
Alex (46:21):
Even the cheap ones, yeah.
Uh super dope though, dude.
So buy nothing.
Uh basically he was like, hey,like I don't really set this up
anymore.
Like, if anybody wants it, I'mgiving it away.
I was like, dude, that'd bedope.
I'm about it.
So uh I got lucky.
Uh me and a few other folksexpressed interest, and I ended
up being the one that he likeyou know randomly chose to to
(46:42):
receive the the HTC vibe, andI've been being virtual reality
in, dude.
Been in that virtual reality,plug me in.
Pretty cool.
Uh I didn't have a bunch of VRgames for sure.
Uh, but there's some fun ones,dude.
Like so VR regetta is a sailinggame, regatta, maybe.
So, anyways, regatta.
(47:03):
It's like a you're in asailboat, dude, and that's like
kind of the vibe.
You can do like sailboatracing, you can just kind of
sail around, but it's one ofthose crazy things where you
know it's just weird.
You're sitting, I'm sitting inmy office, but I'll put this
thing on.
You look around and you'relike, shit, I'm like on the
ocean.
Do you get nauseous?
(47:23):
I do.
Okay.
So uh so there's a little bitof that.
Um, I can't do it for that'spartly from everything I've
read, is that it's pretty normalto experience some nausea from
a lot of VR games, and you kindof have to build up a tolerance
to it, which I don't have a lotof interest in doing.
Um, for instance, uh the PS5has I don't remember what
(47:44):
version it is, but they've gotyou know, PS5 put out its more
recent VR set, and one of thehomies' dialeries, he's like
he's got a whole racing rig, andhe does the VR thing with Gran
Turismo, dude, and it's dope.
Like it has eye tracking whereyou like don't even have to turn
your head, you just like moveyour eye, and you can like see
that movement or whatever, youknow.
Uh, but you're also in a racecar and like things are moving,
(48:06):
and like I played for probablyfive, ten minutes, and like I
was ready to throw up.
Yeah, for sure, dude.
For sure.
And uh, but you know, he wassaying, like, yeah, totally,
that's the thing, and you justkind of like get used to it, you
build a tolerance over time.
Uh, yeah, I get VR version,dude.
Dude, for sure.
But don't puke like a littlebitch, dude.
VR is good.
Dude, I get nausea playing itfirst-person shooters like on my
(48:30):
desktops.
Yeah, so like VR are kind ofintense.
So I do it for little spurts,and most of the like games out
there that and the games that Ihave for VR, it kind of works
that way.
I wouldn't want to do like longperiods in them anyways.
But the ones like the theregatta thing is really tight.
There's a VR version, like itcomes with it, but like for Star
Wars squadrons, and that'sreally cool.
(48:50):
So, like to be able to flyaround in the Star Wars
universe, like in your in like acockpit of like a TIE fighter
or X-Wing.
Because that one, like the VRisn't super intense.
You're more or less like youwould be when you're flying, but
you're looking forward out yourcockpit, but like when you look
around and stuff, you see likethe dashboard and you see inside
the ship.
So, like most of the timeyou're not looking around too
(49:11):
crazily.
Uh, so that one's that one'spretty pretty darn cool.
I did end up picking up halflike half like Alex, half life
alex because that one's supposedto be really dope.
So I haven't checked that oneout yet, though.
So I'm excited to check thatone out.
And then Colossal Cave VR isanother one that I'm excited
about.
Like, shout out to GameInformer, but they had an
article about the um developerthat made um King's Quest, which
(49:34):
you probably don't remember.
Name's familiar King's Quest.
Yeah, so King's King's Quest Vin particular is one that I used
to dick around with when wewere kids uh that I was never
very good at, but it's uh it's areally great article at the end
of the last uh month's issue.
But Colossal Cave, uh, she isthe developer by it, and it's
supposed to be quite good for umfor VR.
And I had so I'm really excitedto try that out.
(49:56):
Uh, but for most of my VR time,and I also got uh Super Hot,
which you maybe seen super hotaround there, it's kind of like
a weird shooter thing.
It's fun to be in that in thatuh area, but my office is not
that big.
And when you got that headseton, it's so funny, dude, because
like super hot in particular,it's like a shooter, but you
(50:17):
could also like you can hitenemies and stuff like that.
So I'm like turning around, Ilike go to like slap an enemy,
and I like knocked all mybaseball cards off my shelf,
smacking in amiibos, and dude,for sure.
It's this is kind of clowning.
That is funny.
Uh man.
So I've been playing aroundwith that, dude.
Uh not to my not to my racingwheel yet.
(50:40):
So, like, unfortunately,there's not a ton, and like I
don't, you know, I'm not tryingto go out and buy every game
there is, but uh, there's not aton of games that have that
capability on Steam uh rightnow.
But I did end up getting umthere's uh there is a racing
game that I did get, and I havetried it, but I haven't tried it
with the with the rig yet.
(51:01):
And that was like the wholereason I bought it.
But that's like, you know,that's not only you gotta set up
the VR, you gotta half an hoursetting shit up to play 10
minutes of VR, dude.
Luke (51:08):
That's tough.
There's some steps.
Alex (51:10):
But it'd be cool.
There's some steps.
It is cool.
It is so that's super fun,dude.
Major little side quests there.
Outside of that, haven't beendoing too many, too many video
games, man.
Life's been kind of crazy.
You know, obviously a littlebit of cut of the lamb.
I did start playing uh HollowKnight, and I'm not super far in
it, uh, but I've been enjoyingit, dude.
That is a game, you know.
(51:31):
Everybody, you include you andand and everybody else, are
like, dude, this is like you'regonna love this game.
And sure enough, it's I mean,it's a Metrovania that is very
nice.
Luke (51:41):
Don't be afraid to look some stuff up in the beginning
because they don't hold yourhand and what's going on.
Right.
Alex (51:45):
So feel free.
Luke (51:46):
Right.
I mean, I didn't know that'sbeen cool, but you might need
to, is all I'm saying.
Alex (51:51):
Uh, I gotta I gotta drop uh Mario Strikers in the mix as
a little side quest.
All right.
We had uh my son's birthday uhthis you know recently, and we
had some of the cousins over,some of uh my my nephew and
niece, nephews, niece on on mywife's side, stayed the night a
couple nights.
Um, and one of my nephews issuper into soccer right now.
(52:14):
Uh-huh, clown.
He's also like 11 years old, 10years old something like that.
So, like in very preteennature, I do the dude I know
loves to play video games.
Like Uncle Alex, he got thevideo games, right?
So it's one of those deals.
Like, I know how it is, man.
Like, I remember like everytime we fought to Sue Uncle
Greg's, like just being stoked.
Like, I was stoked to go overthere because I'd be trying to
(52:36):
play the video games they got.
So I know how I know how he'dbe feeling, but he being a
little coy about it because hecomes over and I'm like, yo,
dog, you want to like try someMario Strikers?
He goes, That sounds stupid.
I was like, get the fuck out ofhere.
You ain't trying because afterhe's like gassing up soccer and
how much all this, and I waslike, Alright, then you ain't
gotta play.
What are you playing?
Did you get it for the switch?
(52:57):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Strikers?
Mario?
It's only on the Switch.
I don't remember you buyingthat.
I bought it a while ago.
It's been sitting on my shelf.
The new one?
So, yeah, dude.
The newest one, yeah.
Luke (53:09):
Oh shit, I didn't know you had that.
That's funny as well.
Alex (53:12):
Yep.
I got it on sale a while back.
Um, and I didn't play it toomuch, but um, it was really fun
though, because eventually hewas like, So gotta try that
strikers out, Mario Striker.
Yeah, I was like, oh, that'sthat's for sure.
I was like, oh yeah, you try toplay that now, aren't you?
Uh so we played that.
He's fucking loved it, dude.
He got super into it.
Like, I whooped him up a coupleof times, he started getting a
(53:34):
little better.
He still couldn't take me downbecause I got big video game
knowledge, but nothing bad.
Luke (53:38):
Dude, that was a lot of fun.
Hell yeah.
Alex (53:40):
And shout out, shout out to Nintendo for like making
games that are you know one partcomplex, but also like
approachable enough for a kidthat doesn't play too many video
games to start to figure out.
Uh, but that was a lot of fun,dude.
So that was another major sidequest.
Uh, other than that, just beenreading books, but no need to go
into those because they'renonfiction marketing books, and
(54:03):
ain't nobody got time for that.
Set me a very good steamingromance novels.
Yes, dad porn they call it.
So those will be the major sidequests, bro.
Uh fun, fun, uh fun to play.
Called a lamb, fun side quests.
Thanks everybody for tuning in.
Uh holler at all the folks thatreached out, being like, where
(54:26):
y'all at?
Appreciate you.
Uh we we here, we just beendoing stuff.
Uh excited to get this one out.
We got more coming.
Luke (54:35):
We're trying to hit you with a bonus to catch up.
So it's coming, it'd be coming.
Stops big timing with his coolplans.
Alex (54:45):
This is busy, bro.
You just is busy.
Nope.
Not when I'm talking shit, I'mnot.
Right on, brother man.
Much love.
Thanks all for listening.
Give us five stars on yourplatform of choice.
We ain't got time for that onestar bullshit.
If you listen this long, whyare you giving us one star?
Give us five stars.
I need it for my ego.
(55:05):
Hate listened, would not doagain.
Also, jump if you're not inthat Discord, jump in the
Discord so I got people to talkto about video games.
I know we got social media andstuff, but here's the deal.
Sometimes I like to takebreaks.
I get hot and cold on socialmedia, but I always got my
Discord open.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
(55:25):
And there's a so there's alink, there's an invite link in
the in the show notes.
You can get that atLow5Gaming.com.
Much love, y'all.
Peace.
Peace peace.
Hello, welcome to another episode of Low Five Gaming.
You've got me, your host, Alex,and here is my brother and
co-host Luke, my cult member.
Luke (00:31):
What's up, though?
Cult leader, I would like tothink.
Alex (00:33):
But uh cult co-leader, co-leader.
Luke (00:36):
Co-cult leader.
That can't be a common cult.
That can't be a commonappearance or occurrence, is it?
You think there's a lot ofcults that like have extremely
powerful dudes that trade off?
You think that works?
I feel like it's a coke.
It's a couple of bros justsetting the rules.
Alex (00:52):
No five cult, dude.
We mostly get along.
That can only be one.
I'm doing well.
I'm doing well, dude.
It's been a crazy, crazy call.
I have a little bit of a cold,but people don't care about
that.
Sound a little pissy, but it'salright.
It's been a crazy couple ofmonths, dude.
September, and now we're inOctober, dude.
September's buck wild.
We got too many birthdays inthe family of September.
(01:13):
A lot of people just makinglove during the holidays, bro.
Whoa, man.
Luke (01:17):
I thought you were gonna talk about getting colds because
I got sick, but you went rightinto baby making.
You nasty.
Alex (01:22):
A little bit of both, man.
We got, I mean, that shitnasty, right?
Luke (01:27):
Back to back to work for me, so it's a bit of a
whirlwind.
But uh yeah, and then catchingcolds and then being busy.
It was uh good times but busytimes and sick times.
Late night low five.
Can't be getting too bug wild,you wake up them boys.
Yeah, that would be acatastrophe.
I'm not gonna lie.
That would be a cancel.
But nonetheless, dude, thegame, the game of the month,
(01:51):
cult of the lamb.
Yes, the the cutest creepygame, which I guess is a
subgenre of its own.
It's just cute, creepy.
Remind me, was this my pick,your pick, a dual pick?
Alex (02:02):
I think it was uh my pick.
Nope, no, it was your pick.
I think it was uh I think itwas your pick, but I bought this
game for you for Christmas, soit was like kind of like a Yeah.
It's kind of like you forced meto pick it.
Luke (02:18):
Not really after this play.
I was kind of voluntole thiswould be my pick, guys.
Uh, you know, because Alex ishe is not a benevolent dictator
cult leader.
Ugh, you don't edit that.
I want everyone to know I'mstupid.
Alex (02:37):
Would they already do that?
Luke (02:38):
They already did uh yeah, so no, I've had it on the
backlog.
Uh, you know, backlog book clubwas taken, but that was our
original idea.
Um and we're just, you know,we're just a couple of guys
trying to play all of the games.
Alex (02:52):
One and take it, we can take, we can get strong arm that
shit too.
Should we rebrand?
Nah, I don't want to start awar.
Start a branding war.
Luke (03:00):
This game, dude.
And it's devolver digital, soit's like, you know, we already
have, you know, we used to be alittle Nintendo fanboy pod, and
now uh we're not.
Now we're just a devolverdigital fanboy pod.
And so look at that.
Alex (03:12):
We've devolved into Devulger, pure Devolger.
We've devolved into stupid too.
We've divulved we've devolvedinto Devolger Devolgence.
Did I say that correctly?
Luke (03:24):
No, not at all.
Um, but I love it.
Um, yes, devolved into DevolverDevelopents.
It's definitely not worthrepeating again and trying to
figure it out.
Dang.
Alex (03:34):
Yeah.
Luke (03:35):
Um, yes.
Well, if you're still here,cool.
Alex (03:37):
Uh we we got we're covering Call to the Lamb, dude.
This game came out August 11th,2022.
Did you realize I didn'trealize it was that old, man.
I've been sleeping on this gamefor a while.
Luke (03:49):
Time has become a blur to me.
Uh everything feels like itjust came out, and then it's
like it's the 10th yearanniversary, and I'm like, oh
great.
And it gets on launch price?
30 bucks.
25, dude.
You know, 25.
Alex (04:02):
I was in the neighborhood.
Hell yeah.
Um I love that.
I love that though.
That approach.
I mean, they have DLC, but youknow what?
The DLC?
Free.
For the most part.
They might have some paid DLCnow.
Luke (04:14):
Um, obviously, I wasn't gonna jump in, but lots of added
content over time, likepost-launch content, I think is
more big updates.
So, yeah, I think theWoolhaven, is that the new uh
DLC?
This is right.
Uh co-op.
They've added co-op to it,which is pretty cool.
Alex (04:29):
Actually, they did that in 2024, so like they added that a
while ago now.
So I'm not entirely sure whatWoolhaven is.
They they're just adding tothis game, dude.
I love it.
Like, this is that why whycan't that be the why the why
can't that be the model forvideo games?
Why does it have to be let'smilk them for all they're worth?
Luke (04:48):
Because shareholders, um, devolver digital must not be uh
publicly traded just yet, sowe'll see.
But anyway, that could be youcan go to both sides for that.
Alex (04:58):
Premise of this game, dude.
Yes, the last lamb about to besacrificed for four bishops
who've hunted you down and yourentire species.
But there's a mysterious chaingod called the one who waits
that resurrects you with somelike demon shit and this weird
crown, and he tasks you withbuilding a cult.
And you gotta like, you know,the whole cult's supposed to be
(05:19):
around him and stuff, and you'rebasically tasked to defeat the
bishops and free him.
Luke (05:24):
I think that's a conduit.
You so when you die in classicrogue-like fashion, um, or rogue
light fashion, I remember thedifference.
Um because I, you know, on thispod bumbled that there's a
difference between the two about14 times until I committed to
memorizing it.
Alex (05:41):
There you go.
Luke (05:42):
Um, in classic roguelike light fashion, they have built a
way for you to die and comeback.
Although I do like how yourcult followers don't believe in
you as much if you die andthey're like, mm-hmm weakling.
I actually like that.
Uh so there's a tiny penalty todeath, nothing crazy.
But you just get reborn andthen um it the roguelike
(06:04):
function, the rogue-likefunction.
So I like how I told you I knowthe difference between the two,
but I can't verbally say thecorrect one each time.
But the rogue light function isthat you go in one of the doors
and you fight, you know, thewhole little you go on a run, so
to speak.
We talk about this enough inthis pod where you know what I
mean by you go on a little run,you do the combat, you go
(06:26):
through the area, you find thepower-ups, and then you have
like a final little boss guy,and then you do that four times,
is it, to unlock like the finalboss or the bishop that you
previously mentioned of thearea?
Alex (06:37):
Yeah, I believe so.
Luke (06:38):
And then what's interesting about this game,
this game's flavorful twist,other than the um cult setting
and aesthetic combined with thecutesiness.
Uh, what makes this game uniqueis it's also a management sim
on your home base.
So, in a lot of games, you havea home base and you add to
things and power-ups over time.
In Hades, you talk to peopleand build relationships and
(07:00):
power up.
In this game, you're runningyour cult.
Alex (07:03):
And that's like from what I've gathered on the internet.
Like, I mean, some peoplereally do like the the gameplay
of the dungeon crawling becauseit's decent.
Um, but mostly it seems peoplegravitate towards that base
building aspect of this game, iswhat I've what I've gathered.
And somewhat my experience aswell.
I'm a little torn to be honest.
Luke (07:22):
Yeah, I had um, so when we first talked, you can check in
the Discord, I definitely calledit a master of none.
Um, because I felt like it wasstretched out between these two
deals.
I would say that I kinda grew Ihad a nice I put down some
other games and I focusedheavier on it when I first
thought we were gonna record ayear ago.
(07:44):
Sure.
And I got like probably anotherlike 10 hour jump in there, and
I I got into more of a groove,and I found that um it's
actually got decent balancebecause you can't do a whole lot
on the management part, andthen you go on the run and then
you come back, and it's kind ofa little chaotic because some
things don't necessarily fallinto disarray or fall too far
(08:05):
behind, but you usually have todo some cleaning up and like
some repairs and differentthings.
There's a lot of poop outthere, a lot of poop, a lot of
weird poop focused things thatI'm not super into.
I actually found the process ofupgrading your shovel way too
gratifying.
That little progress bar ofupgrading that shovel.
Like I was more proud than Ishould have been when I maxed
(08:26):
out my poop shovel.
Um, I'm a little further thanyou, so I got an outhouse, dude.
So they shit in an outhouse andI said to clean the outhouse,
and then I got a fertilizer binfor that they take out of the so
yeah, dude.
Uh it does some nice uh I'mmore into management sims than
you historically.
Historically, no, but in ouradult life, yes.
I mean, our adult life spendmost of our lives at this point,
(08:49):
dude.
Alex (08:52):
Fair enough.
Luke (08:53):
Um within the last you know 10 to 15 years, I've been
into a lot of management sims.
So you can get into a supplychain stuff that I find
gratifying, is all I was gonnasay.
Alex (09:02):
And between between the premise and talking about poop,
yeah, like this if anybodyhasn't played this game and
they're just hearing us talkabout it, like it sounds scary,
it sounds dark, and it soundsgross.
The funny thing about that isthough, is it's it's not.
And I think that juxtaposition.
unknown (09:19):
Right.
Alex (09:19):
So that juxtaposition is I think one of the the like
coolest things about this gameis it has a very yeah, a cutesy
vibe to it's like dark, but it'slike a triple cult vibes, Dave.
Yeah, dude.
And that's like that's it.
Um right, so it's got a realdark humor that lands like
really well.
The soundtrack's good.
There is an addictive gameplayloop, but it's uh it's adorable
(09:40):
yet disturbing, uh, which iswhich is kind of fun.
Luke (09:44):
Did you get far enough to find conflict, like inner
conflict with doing some of thecult stuff?
Alex (09:52):
Yeah, I mean, like, so like you I mean, there's so many
layers of this game that will,you know, it's one of those
deals that we'll probably miss abunch of stuff, but uh you you
can decide whether to likesacrifice a cult member or
whatever or not for variousdifferent reasons.
Well, you talk about that orare you talking about or force
him to eat poop and do theweeds?
Luke (10:09):
I want to pull a prank on him, dude.
Make him eat shit.
He hates that.
I'm like, no, it's a dick move.
Alex (10:14):
But dude, this is because this harks back to our um Red
Dead Redemption 2 like pod thatthat we cut, and then also when
we guessed it on Tales from theBacklog, and that whole idea of
being gamers and and just acouple of dudes that like have
trouble kind of leaning into theuh the dark side, if you will,
(10:35):
you know what I mean?
Luke (10:36):
Yeah, no, I have to like tell myself like your
role-playing as a adorable cultleader, like you get to be bad,
and I'll be like, it's okay ifyou make poor little follower
that worships you eat shit tomake the other one happy.
Alex (10:49):
Right, and even more so than like you know, my Red Dead
example, where you are, I mean,you know, you don't really
you're like rewarded for beingevil in this, is what I'm trying
to say.
Whereas in Red Dead, it reallydidn't matter which path you
chose, like it has some impacton the story, but for this, like
the game wants you to lean intoit.
Luke (11:07):
You're supposed to be a cult leader, yeah.
Right, yeah, right, right.
You're not supposed to be ayou're not liberating anyone,
you're building your cult.
Um, it's also interesting, likeyou grab the followers from
that overworld, those runs, youdo kind of save them.
Right.
And like they die a lot, likeof natural causes and things, so
(11:28):
you're kind of like alwayslosing them.
So like that kind of helpssoften the blow, but you can
like build up your cult.
And like, did you find itstressful when you first started
playing?
How many systems it kind of dida good job of slowly
introducing you to a lot ofsystems, but it was deeply
overwhelming in the beginning.
Alex (11:43):
So I don't mind the systems because you're right,
they do a good job of layeringthem and introducing them, and
things are kind of you're kindof locked out on things until
you hit certain, you know, umachievements or whatever
milestones.
I think that uh that rolloutmade that manageable.
I think to this day, the time,the speed of the game gives me
(12:04):
anxiety, like the clock, thewhat how fast the clock moves.
Luke (12:07):
That never bothered me, but you've mentioned that so
many times.
I think that's so funny.
Alex (12:11):
Dude, it's because I'm like, I don't want to be, but
I'm a min-maxer, so like I'mtrying to get as much done on
the overworld or on the homebase, and then you also have to
get a run in, and the clockcontinues to go during the run,
so you have to balance thatcorrectly, and like there's a
day count.
So I get even though I don'tthink it matters, like I get
worried about the fact that I'mon like X day, and uh so this
(12:35):
it's just one of those things.
It's like the it's like theclock in Majora's mask, dude.
It's just like having that,it's just it's just it's
anxiety.
Luke (12:42):
I mean that one that one's real anxiety because you have
to finish it with it.
Alex (12:46):
I mean, yeah, for sure.
Luke (12:46):
Um, well, the point I was making is like as you continue
to level up your cult, you'remaking a lot of decisions, and
like my nice guy shit's gettingin the way, but you can like
sacrifice followers to have likemore intense control of your
cult, but also like have moreintense powers on your next run.
Alex (13:04):
So you could like there's a whole big skill tree to this
too.
Luke (13:07):
Yeah, you could build your whole cult like and kind of
more or less specialize and inthe path of sacrifices where I'm
such a lame o I went the otherdirection, and I was like, I
want uh all my followers to havea belief in the afterlife so
when their homies die, they gaina little faith and they're not
as sad.
Oh, that's cloudy.
Yeah, so I'm you know, youknow, listeners, if you want to
(13:28):
join our cult, I'm pretty prettychill.
Whereas Alex will probably makeyou eat poop and um I don't
make them eat poop, dude, but Ido be sacrificing folk.
Dude.
Alex (13:38):
Especially if especially if they're like getting kind of
sultry of me or like a littleupset.
I'm like, you know what?
You're gone.
We don't need you.
You're not you're notbenefiting me.
Luke (13:46):
I'm sorry, all less for dinner is grass or poop.
Die then.
Alex (13:50):
We'll eat early on, especially.
Early on, especially that'sannoying, dude.
Like the cooking.
So that's I mean, I don'tthat's where I'm torn on this,
dude.
Like, I don't mind thoselayers.
I don't like mind like becauseI that's what I wanted, dude.
Like one of the reasons I wasstoked to play this game is
because I've been craving amanagement sim uh or like a life
sim, probably more cra morecraving a life sim, to be
(14:11):
honest.
And I think that's where I wasmisled.
I felt like what I had gatheredabout this game is that it was
more life simmy than I want thanI wanted it to be.
Or no, it wasn't as life simmyas I wanted it to be, right?
Yeah, I think that's partiallylike why it took me a little bit
longer to warm up to it.
But um, but I do like thisgame, and I think that, you
(14:33):
know, I think you're correct insaying at the get-go it did fell
feel like master of none.
Um like I was on board withthat, but it definitely gets to
the point where I'm like, okay,like I'm learning this stuff,
it's making more sense.
Uh I'm into it.
I I like this.
So like we've been talkingabout, and we can definitely
talk more about the overworldand the management sim part of
this game.
(14:53):
But how did you feel about thecombat?
How'd you feel about that wholesection of this?
Luke (14:57):
It it was torn because in the beginning, you're trying to
learn the management, the simmanagement stuff, so you're
almost not giving that enoughtime, or vice versa.
Like you're kind of trying toreally groove with another.
So as I got into that, likepast that five-hour mark, closer
to that 10 to that 15, I wouldfind that it was a nice change
of pace from the fighting to dothe sim stuff, and then I was
(15:20):
excited to go do the pillagingagain.
And I I did find the roll, theroll dodge is really nice.
And the enemy variety is prettygreat through the different
gosh, just to the I'm just gonnasay the different doorways or
areas to go through because Iforget if the game even has like
a specific word for those, buteach of the bishops' realms,
that's probably it.
(15:41):
They each have a differentaesthetic, it's cool.
You can go back to the old onesand get like higher difficulty,
higher rewards things.
So, like I found it a scratchand itch.
It's almost like I've playedenough of these games where like
doing it really well is gettingpretty close to like a comfort
food.
You're clearing each littleroom, and then you know, you
(16:01):
have this little map, and thenyou get to this little point
where you know you get to choosea doorway, and then there's
like this winding path thing.
How would you describe thewinding path thing within each
run, so to speak?
So you're in an area, you clearthe set of rooms, and then you
go to a doorway, and thenthere's like almost this uh
overhead map of like a pathwhere you have just like
(16:22):
different options of differentthings.
Alex (16:24):
What is a game that you've put about 4,000 hours into that
is a good example of uses thesame thing.
Which one's that?
How many games have you put4,000 hours into?
Just Tetris.
Oh, wait, not Civ.
Not Civ.
Civ it's not quite like Civthough.
It's nothing like it's anotherwhat's that card, the card
builder that you that you play?
Oh, Slade of Spire, yeah.
Yeah, so Slade does the samething, but it's basically a
(16:46):
tree, like a uh like abranching, a branching tree.
So they call them crusades.
Um you know, when you go intothe dungeons or whatever.
So the dungeon crawling bit ofthis game is considered
crusades.
Nice.
Four regions, which youmentioned, each ruled by a
bishop, and they're procedurallygenerated rooms, so it's always
going to be a little different,which is you know, a little
spice of life, a littleroguelike thing going on.
But you get to collectresources, which is important
(17:08):
for the overworld stuff or forthe base building stuff, and you
get to rescue followers inthere, which is also important.
Uh, and very much like Slay,you you know, you do get that
map and you get to choose.
I think um there was anothercard builder game that we played
that did this as well.
Uh, what's that creepy one?
The creepy card builder game.
Luke (17:25):
Yeah, with three guns built in.
Um it's similar to Enter theGungeons map, and then it
becomes like when you'reactually going through the
levels, it's like Enter theGungeons map.
And then when you get to thattree part, that's like Slay the
Spire, where you pick your nextpart of the path.
Although think of it as muchmore condensed and smaller, but
like you'd be like, Do you wanta crop-based reward, like for
(17:46):
different seeds and things tobring back to your colony?
Or do you want a follower-basedreward?
Or do you want a weapon upgradefor just this run?
And that's like kind of fun andrewarding because like maybe
your people are starving andyou're like, ooh, like hell
yeah, dude.
What is that?
A grape?
I'm gonna add grapes to mycolony.
Alex (18:03):
Inscription was what we're looking for.
Yes, thank you.
So inscription has a similarthing too, right?
Where you can kind of choosewhat direction, or am I making
that up?
Luke (18:11):
Oh man, it's been a while, and I only played the first one
really well because I sucked atthe second game.
Right on.
Alex (18:18):
Well, it's got that going, dude.
And like inscription, and Iguess like Slay, I mean, there
is a card element to this too.
So you get to collect the youcollect the resources, you
collect followers, and you alsocollect tarot cards.
Or tarot cards, right?
Luke (18:29):
Yeah, I actually got this like upgrade where I
automatically start each runwith four.
Oh and I don't get to pickthem.
Oh, so I don't run into them.
So it's like you get thesepower-ups that are like a pro
con thing later on.
And you can switch those out.
So if you wanted to, you couldchange that boom, correct?
Alex (18:47):
Yeah, call it a cowl or something because it's a part of
your cape.
Right, right, right.
That makes sense.
And then the boss structurethere, which you also touched
on.
You've got the four minibosses, the apostles, uh, per
region, and then you have thebishop boss.
Luke (18:59):
So that's kind of that's the core loop of the Crusades.
Look at you using the internetfor the proper terminology.
Nice.
Alex (19:06):
Ah, dude, I just like knowing this game like the back
of my hand, bro.
Luke (19:10):
Uh I like the different weapon choices though.
Like you start off and theyusually give you, I don't think
they give you a choice.
No, it's just like your yourmain weapon, and then like what
you're on a PlayStation 2 wouldbe triangle.
Uh on a Steam ED, it would beY.
Uh Attack, and then you havelike this kind of overpowering,
(19:30):
or not overpowering, but you doactually have an overpower
attack.
It kind of just keeps buildingcombat layers.
So I would go ahead and sayit's like good to very good
roguelike combat.
Alex (20:38):
I agree.
It's uh and then it's like, youknow, you can die, and like if
you die, it's not a game over.
But like you said, your yourfollowers are kind of like,
what's this weakling all about?
Lose some clout, dude, lowauro.
Yeah, so you go on and crusade,like that.
The idea is that you that youwin and you can decide to keep
crusading or you can go back,but you have to kind of do the
(20:59):
balance, right?
Because you have to decide,okay, like, do I need to go back
and make sure my people aredoing good and are they fed?
That kind of thing.
I mean, you already hit themain.
I think we've kind of coveredmore of the more or less the
main core loop stuff of the thecult management things.
But what we didn't mention, orwe maybe just like touched on,
so you've got to feed thefollowers, manage their needs,
(21:20):
faith, loyalty, hunger.
Uh you get to build structures.
So you mentioned likeouthouses, but like the farm,
sleeping quarters, ritualspaces, etc.
So has that built.
So and then I think what wedidn't fully mention yet is that
you perform sermons to gainfaith and unlock upgrades.
So there's that's kind of a funlittle thing.
You go into your like littlechurch and you can just decide
(21:41):
to perform a sermon.
You can also conduct rituals,what you mentioned.
So, like that can be asacrifice, that can be a
wedding, a resurrection, etc.
So it's like most fun rules.
Luke (21:51):
Yeah, you could do funerals, mostly funerals from
have fallen homies.
Yeah, and I got my dudestripping on shrooms.
You got your dudes tripping onshrooms, dude.
No, that's dope though.
Max out their loyalty, dude.
It's a little brainwashed out.
Alex (22:06):
Uh then, and then like you were saying earlier, too, you
got to deal with dissenters.
Uh, your cult members actuallyget older, so you have to deal
with old age and like they dieoff, they die off.
They can also get sick.
A lot of times my cult membersare getting sick because I'm
making them poopy food.
Because like you want to feedthem, but like the only thing
you can like feed them, they'relike, you don't have the
ingredients for like good stuffunless you're gonna be able to
do that.
Oh, yeah, for sure.
Luke (22:29):
Because you could use a poop too as fertilizer, like for
your farming.
Or the giant poop that youharvest for many poops.
Have you seen that?
Right, yeah.
This game, this game is likewe've made these jokes because
it's easy jokes.
They're like a little oddlyobsessed with poop in this game.
The devs were like a little inthe poop when they made this
game.
Alex (22:47):
Um and the last piece of the call management it would be
the doctrines.
So we kind of mentioned that.
So that's like a skill treepiece of this where you get
some.
Luke (22:53):
I'm choosing your cult's direction.
Right.
Your power is cool.
Yeah.
And you set your workers todifferent tasks.
So some of them just worshipyour shrine, and that shrine you
collect more or less faith, um,and that faith you use for
upgrades, and then some of themyou can have be building, some
of them you can have beharvesting rock, lumber, farming
(23:14):
for you.
Um I would never say it getslike intensely complex, but it
gets a little busy.
Alex (23:20):
It does force you into like different paths, right?
So like you get to kind of whatyou're saying, like you're kind
of like, I'm playing the niceguy, but you can so basically
you can like you kind of eitheryou find yourself like choosing
between like, am I gonna allowmurder or am I gonna like build
prisons?
Like, are we gonna buy feedinto cannibalism?
Stop believing in you, dude.
(23:41):
Right.
And then it's like uh, youknow, do you want to lean into
camel cannibalism or like youknow, are they gonna be a bunch
of grass eaters?
Like are you gonna haveweddings?
You can have fight pits, likeit's it's interesting, like the
different you know, branchesthat you can can go down.
Luke (23:55):
It's enough of an RPG that they felt obligated to make a
shitty fishing mechanic as well.
Alex (24:01):
I was gonna bring that to that too.
Luke (24:02):
There's a fishing piece in the didn't ever want to go back
because I didn't think youreally needed to, and then my
people were starving, and I waslike, I could probably just like
fish for five minutes, and thenI did that and had a bunch of
food, and I was like, okay, it'snot the worst, but it didn't.
Alex (24:17):
I don't mind the fishing mechanic, it reminds me of
Stardew in a way.
Like it's not right, yeah.
No, fair enough.
It's probably like a mixer oflike uh it's like a cross
between Stardew and Sea ofStars.
Yeah, that's actually what I'mgonna do.
Not as good as either.
Luke (24:32):
If you could if you weren't able to pull it, I was
gonna bring up Sea of Stars.
Um, yeah, it's just funny.
It's like a classic video gametrope.
So it's almost like they had ameeting and they're like in
between poop jokes and poopmechanics.
Alex (24:43):
Like, how about fishing, dude?
That dude that you meet thatteaches you how to fish, and
then you have to do the littleside quest.
That's another thing the sameas side quests too.
Like this game is prettycomplex, yeah.
But then uh so that dude likeit wants you to gather a certain
amount of fish for a fishpretending not to be a fish,
that guy, right?
Right, yeah, for sure.
Uh I think it was like thecrab, or there was one of them
that it it literally took Idon't even want to know how much
(25:07):
time, but like I was trying tocollect the last one for him,
and it just took forever.
I was like, this is ridiculous,like days and days and days
until I caught the crab orwhatever.
Really?
Yeah, dude, it was dumb.
Luke (25:16):
I think that is just some sort of ritual that increased my
fishing bounty, and I just wentover there and crushed a bunch
of fish one day.
So smart, smart man.
Yeah, well, teach a man tofish.
Alex (25:27):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So those are the main uhgameplay loops, got a little
fishing in there.
Luke (25:33):
Um there's also like a mini game uh in the upper left
of your dude.
There's like an there's a lotof world maps now that I'm
saying out loud.
On your home base, yourmanagement sim part, you like
enter a little fast travel thingto get to the fishing area, to
get to the mushroom area, andthen there's this other like
cabin area where I don't evenremember what the mini game is,
(25:55):
but I know it was better thanGwent.
Alex (25:57):
It is not better than Gwent.
Luke (25:58):
Yeah, it's Rage Bait.
Um, but I'm trying to thinkwhat that little game is.
Alex (26:03):
I'm not good at it.
I just know that it's like abetting game, and I can't
remember.
It's it's more of like a diceroll thing, right?
I can't remember.
Yeah, I think so.
I know that all I know is I wasso bad at it, I lost all my
money, so I didn't do it again.
Clowning.
Luke (26:15):
I like beat the guy after like the first attempt, and then
there's like a few peoplewaiting there to play me, and
I'm like, I'm not interestedenough in following up with
that.
Um, it I mean it's you know,it's a little something for
everybody, and it feels like thedevelopers were probably just
having fun making differentlittle aspects, like almost
homages to different things indifferent genres, but that part
(26:35):
didn't cook me or tickle me.
Did you play this almostentirely on your Steam ED, or
were you PC on this for a lot?
Alex (26:44):
I had had a couple sessions on my PC, but uh Steam
ED I would say 90% of the way.
Luke (26:49):
I would say the aesthetic of this game very much lends
itself to a Steam ED game and itplays really, really nice on
there.
But it gets that thing cooking,dude.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Like when playing a little bitof silksong, and like I never
hear the fan on the Steam ED.
The second I open Call to Lamb,it's like Oh, interesting.
And it's a bit of a tickingtime bomb as far as like if I'm
(27:11):
playing it, I can't be passivelypaying and like pausing a lot.
I gotta like play the game orelse I'll just be wasting
battery.
I thought that was interesting.
I was like, it doesn't looklike it's a heavy game like
that.
Alex (27:23):
What I did notice for sure is that battery life aspect.
I'd with the very, you know,that cutesy dark uh art style we
talked about, like it's it'sanother one of those games kind
of like Plucky Squire in a waywhere it's like it's it looks
decently chunky.
So it's like you wouldn't thinkthat it's gonna be so taxing
(27:44):
the battery, but I'd I would sayprobably like unplugged, get
maybe an hour 15 minutes tops.
That sounds about right.
Yeah.
So it I mean it tears throughthe battery, which you know
that's about the amount of timeI want to play.
You know, I don't want to gomuch more than that, anyways,
when I do a run like a stint inthis game.
Yeah, I thought it was worthmentioning though, just because
like it runs really well, butit's always kind of like
(28:05):
interesting when a game's just alittle bit heavier, runs a
little hard, and you think it'sgonna I I will I will note
though, it's like kind of likeall these games that I love to
be able to play handheld, andit's like definitely presents
themselves for handheld when Ido play them on PC and like on a
bigger screen and with likefaster FPS and everything.
(28:27):
Uh it's nice.
Yeah.
Uh so there's that.
There we go.
You know, like a Hades is anexample that's that way.
Like, I like 90% of my timeplaying Hades is handheld, but
when I have played it on the PC,I'm like, oh, okay.
This is shit.
Uh this is that way.
Um I'm sure, you know.
So there was the management simthat we played for the pod that
(28:47):
I felt that way too.
Actually, I preferred it on thedesktop um for that one.
Which one is that?
Uh Against the Storm.
Luke (28:55):
Ah, yeah, that was like a game I picked up.
I tried to pick that back uprecently, and I was I just got
fucking wrecked.
A little in the weeds.
It's a stressful game.
I forgot how shitty I was at itfor a while.
But yes, uh, back to Call tothe Lamb.
Seems like it never reallyhooked you, although you
appreciate it and thought it wascool.
It seems like you kind of likescratched your curiosity itch,
(29:17):
but never really loved it.
Does that seem fair?
Alex (29:19):
Right.
It didn't get it's it didn'tget as hooked in me to the point
where I'm like uh was obsessingover it or like got to the
point where I'm like, I can't Ican't wait to play cult tonight,
that type of deal.
But it's uh it's a game, butit's it's also not so it's like
right in the right in the middlethere, because it's also not a
game like I don't want to pickthat up again.
Luke (29:35):
You know, yeah, I would not uninstall it for my Steam ED
if I needed like space for adifferent game.
That would not be one of myimmediate like choices for the
chopping block because it goesback to the once you learn the
systems, like I don't feel likeI'll be overwhelmed if I like if
I jumped on right now, it'sbeen like a week or two since
I've played it, uh, becausewe're late on this pod.
Um but if I jumped onto itright after this pod, I wouldn't
(29:58):
suck.
And I think that's like coolthat it has a lot of depth, but
I don't feel overwhelmed when Ijump back in.
Alex (30:05):
So and the balance is tight, right?
I mean, like, because becauseyou can choose whether you want
to kind of lean into themanagement part of it or the the
dungeon crawling part of it,like I think that's like an
interesting aspect.
Whereas if you wanted to getinto Hades or something, like
you're gonna get your ass beatif you haven't played Hades in a
long time, and then you mightfeel a little bit like, and now
(30:25):
I'm like, because of storydriven and all those things, I
feel like I shouldn't just Ihave to start completely over.
Luke (30:31):
And it's been too long since I've played last.
So this game is a grip it andrip it, which if you've been
listening long enough, you knowthat that means a lot to my
heart.
Indeed.
Alex (30:41):
Well, Sitman, how many sacrificial lambs out of five
would you give this game?
How many poops from theouthouse?
How many poops scoop from theouthouse?
Luke (30:53):
Uh on a five point pentagram, uh, I'm gonna give
it.
Three points out of five.
And I feel like that's good.
It is.
But it's not it's closer tovery good than great.
Alex (31:08):
I'm right there with you, dude.
I'll give it three out of fiveas well.
Three out of five poop scoopsfor the off house.
And that is exactly because ofwhat I just said, where it's
like it's it never got to thepoint where I was like, I need
to keep playing this game.
Not that you should haveunhealthy obsessions with games.
But but you know, it never likeit never like really got me to
(31:28):
like, you know, I need to keepgoing, but it also like never
got to the point where I waslike, man, I wish I wasn't
playing this game.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
Um, so it's good.
It's like middle of the road,but better.
It's better than middle of theroad.
It's not a two-five, it's athree.
It's good to very good, yeah.
No doubt.
Indeed.
And who knows, like it haspotential to get a little bump
if I get a little deeper in itand I I change my mind there.
(31:51):
But you know, if you like wereto pair it up against different
roguelikes, like I wouldprobably I mean, I'd have to say
that like Hades is better, youknow what I mean?
Like roguelite, but yes.
Yeah, sure.
Uh and when it comes tomanagement sims, like I mean, uh
Animal Crossing better, youknow?
Yeah.
Luke (32:11):
So yeah, I think like if you're looking, if you like
those types of games, and it isliterally October when this is
coming out, spooky season isupon you, it would be a fun
flavor to pick up.
100%.
Alex (32:23):
I think I would definitely recommend it to the div
devolver heads.
Um, you know, and I would alsorecommend somebody that is
anybody that likes those twogenres.
But I wouldn't I wouldn'tnecessarily recommend it to
someone that's like new to videogames, a little too complex or
a little too standoffish forthat.
Um I would agree.
(32:44):
But if you if but if those aregenres that you're into, it's
definitely worth.
I mean, the 25 bucks at launch,bro.
Like, I mean, come out.
Luke (32:50):
Let's end it.
Oh, great price point, andit'll go on sale.
Uh right.
Alex (32:54):
So I love it.
Yeah, that's a good point.
Right now.
Well, she with that, should wetake a little break here from
our unsanctioned sponsor?
Yeah, let's perform a ritual.
Luke (33:12):
So this week we are brought to you by uh a weird
argument from me and also ayearly um addiction that comes
in strong and hot.
It's got its claws in Alex alittle bit, got him kicked out
of a bar once.
Um, but it's not the alcohol,it's fantasy football.
Right out.
And specifically, I wasthinking the other day, it was
(33:33):
like a sober high thought, but Iwas like, is fantasy football a
video game?
Uh well, it's in an app, right?
Like so.
Kind of like how board gamesevolved into video games when
they're just electronic.
Right.
Interesting.
So basically you're playinglike an electronic gambling, but
it's skill-based game companionto this entertainment product
(33:57):
that you're consuming on Sundaysand sometimes Mondays and
sometimes Thursdays.
And I love it way too much,dude.
I have way too many hardcoretakes on players that I don't
actually bother to watch.
I know a lot of my friendsactually do watch them, and
that's tight, but I follow somuch like auxiliary content and
I'm obsessive, and I yeah, yeah.
Alex (34:21):
This month is brought to you in part by unofficially
fantasy football.
Is it a video game?
Is it a video game?
Uh uh well that's a tough one.
I could you can make anargument for it.
I I I hear you making anargument for it, and I'm not
saying that it's not.
Um, paper.
(34:43):
What's that?
Numbers go burr.
Right.
What platform are you playingon?
You on ESPN, you on Yahoo?
Luke (34:51):
Sleeper.
That's what it's called,sleeper.
It is the it is the premium,it's the best one, uh, in my
humble opinion.
I'm in a league for throughwork on ESPN and I fucking hate
it.
Their app is dogwash.
Um, I have done Yahoo in thepast, but sleeper is the way.
It's kind of like the goldstandard these days for a lot of
(35:12):
people.
Are you completely out?
Do you not even have yourcollege league anymore?
I've been out, bro.
Yeah.
That's crazy.
How did you guys let me know?
Alex (35:19):
They pulled me back in for a season or two and then uh
because dude, like I'm okay, I'mdown to play fantasy.
If people out there, like, Ireally want Alex to be in my
fantasy league.
I will join your fantasyleague.
But if people ain't fuckingtalking shit, if people aren't
like making trades, doing likebeing active, like I don't want
to, I don't want to just like dothis to do a draft and then
like be the only one that talksshit.
Luke (35:43):
So the college boys just the passion was gone.
No passion, bro.
No passion, y'all like dads andshit and not caring.
Alex (35:52):
This was before we were dads, dude.
They all got lame about it likebefore we became dads.
Luke (35:56):
You went from getting kicked out of bars celebrating
on championship weekend to justknowing.
Yeah, I mean, you say that, butuh a panicked younger brother
had to pick you up, and I waslike, I'm tired.
And you're like, I'm gettingkicked out of this bar right
now.
You need to come get us.
Alex (36:14):
I love that you came and got us.
That was walking distance forsure.
Luke (36:17):
You were pretty dramatic.
It didn't seem like it was aquestion at the time.
Alex (36:20):
It was like, save me.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, to be fair, the homie Iwas with probably wasn't able to
make the walk.
So not peacefully.
Luke (36:31):
No, he physically could have made it.
But not peacefully.
So yeah, uh, I definitelywanted to bring it up.
One, because I'm too deep intoit, dude.
And two, I was thinking tomyself, like, is this a video
game now?
Alex (36:44):
Like, could I make how's your team looking?
Luke (36:47):
You uh we had to start over.
What's your record?
The teams I start over.
Well, I do a dynasty now, whichI care too much about, and
that's where you uh keep yourplayers a year in and year out
and you just draft rookies.
Right, but I won it two yearsin a row.
So the rule is if you win ittwo years in a row, you get the
empire pot and you gotta blow upthe whole league and redraft
the whole thing.
(37:07):
So we start all the way backover.
So uh I don't know how my teamis yet on that league anymore.
And then my other redraft, I'mdoing great.
Although, uh, if you're aVikings fan, uh did you watch
the game, Alex?
Uh I watched bits from it, butno, I didn't watch it.
London.
Uh a kicker, our kicker kickeda ball, and the field goal just
radically took a sharp turn, andit appears as if he hit a wire.
(37:30):
I lost by less than a pointthis week.
Stop.
Alex (37:34):
That affected you.
Luke (37:35):
So I would have won pretty comfortably uh because my tight
end on Monday Night Footballcaught one ball and then got
hurt.
So I lost by like less thanhalf a point to a full point,
and uh those two things arewild, which is why I both love
and hate fantasy football,because that's fucking garbage,
dude.
unknown (37:52):
Right.
Luke (37:52):
So it's a good thing I'm not a gambler.
Alex (37:56):
What do you mean?
You straight up winning money.
Luke (37:58):
Yeah, it's a skill-based game, dog.
Uh legally, legally speaking.
No, like can you imagine likegamblers that lost like fortunes
on a kick like that and howfucking irate they get?
Alex (38:09):
So uh you hear about that and the DMs of certain players
and whatnot.
Luke (38:13):
Yeah, that loser shit.
But it's kind of funny howfantasy has grown from like a
niche thing from when you wewere doing it as little dudes to
now it's like people's moms andaunties and random uncles be in
leagues together.
Our family's low-key kind oflame for that.
We have for not having aleague.
We have two massive families,and there is not a family league
(38:35):
in either of them.
That's kind of crazy, dude.
What's up, Kamish?
Me?
Never.
Alex (38:40):
Well, there you go.
So fuck right off.
I don't need anyresponsibilities.
I don't want to be tear downthe family, but you won't even
set it up.
I want to sell it.
Dude, that's another reasonthat I'm out on the fucking uh
on the on the college homiedeals.
(39:01):
Like, all of us got jobs, dude.
Like, no reason you're notplaying your fantasy dues.
And like at least at least twoor at least one, maybe two a
year would not pay their fantasydues.
And it's like, come on.
Sheesh, dude.
Right, right.
So there we go.
Fantasy football.
I can dig it, dude.
I can dig it.
You're high on fantasy footballthough, because you you got to
(39:22):
you got to buy that watch, yougot to buy your your girl some
shoes or something like that.
She lost tragically.
Never forget.
That's right.
Luke (39:28):
Never forget.
No, I'm into it.
It gives me extra reason towatch on Sundays than play Slay
the Spire on my couch.
It's great.
Alex (39:35):
That is, I will say that is like I'm I do enjoy fantasy.
Like when when folks, whenyou're in a league where folks
are into it, is it is definitelyfun.
I do under I understand thegaming angle that you're giving
it.
I can see that it makes sense.
I would say yes, it's a videogame.
Uh, you know, with our at leastuh a compan, yeah, it's a
companion video game.
I don't know, whatever.
(39:56):
Um I think that's always beenthe most interesting thing about
it is like I'll root for myteams, right?
But when you have a fantasyteam, that gives you, you know,
you got a little skin in thegame on different games of the
week that you may not have tunedinto otherwise.
So it keeps you very alert towhat's going on.
Yeah, so the NFL is uh, youknow, all the all the leagues
(40:17):
that have fantasy going now,that it makes sense for them to
push fantasy and to get peopleon it because it makes people
more interested.
I tried fantasy basketball andfantasy basketball's dog shit,
dude.
You ever do fantasy baseball?
I don't I don't have the heartfor that.
I got a homie that was reallybig into fantasy baseball.
Both basketball and baseball,there's this I mean, like if you
(40:39):
have a problem updating yourroster for football, like don't
don't tread water in any of theother sports.
Luke (40:45):
Dude, uh basketball's crazy with the rest era, dudes
just be out and you're like,huh, constantly getting hurt,
it's crazy.
Alex (40:52):
Right on.
Brought to you in part,unofficially, by fantasy.
Nope.
Is it yeah, it's about videogame.
Luke (41:00):
It's brought to you by the question of is fantasy a video
game, dude?
Alex (41:06):
Right on.
Luke (41:15):
Side quest, and we are back.
Um, we have sacrificed theunsanctioned sponsor.
We are here.
I got two games I'm gonnahighlight, dude.
You got two games, but you gottwo major side quests.
Two major side quests that I'mpretty pumped about, and I'm not
gonna talk about NCAA football.
First, mini motorways, giftfrom Ace.
(41:37):
Boying.
Boing.
Threw that one into thebirthday, Bonanza Bash.
Um and he's been playing itforever, and he's always told me
to get it.
And I've always been cute, orhave always been cute.
Yeah, you have bro.
I've always been like a littlebit curious because it looked
like it was adjacent at least tolike some management sim stuff
(41:58):
I like to do.
And I would not call it that.
It's more of a puzzle game.
So if you like puzzle games, Ithink this game's a slam dunk
for you because it's usuallyrelatively uh inexpensive and it
has a cutesy aesthetic onceagain.
Is that your computer fan?
Alex (42:12):
Yeah, bro.
Um take it off.
All I want to do is open Steamto look at my game list.
Uh all right, anyway.
Is this that big, bro?
Luke (42:24):
Is it that big that backlog go crazy?
Literally go burr.
Gotta get the fans on to seethis man's backlog.
Umreal.
Anyway, sorry, everybody.
It's all good.
Mini Motorways has a very cuteminimalist uh color pop
aesthetic, and you're basicallygetting these cars from these
little houses to these littlefactories.
And uh just imagine like alittle house-looking thing, like
(42:47):
a monopoly house, like thattype of color.
Imagine it with like a littlebit of a neon, not many, maybe
pastel color pop.
And what I like is they dodifferent world maps that you
unlock, so it'll be like this isDublin, this is Moscow, and
like sometimes they'll just dolike a little thing that pays
homage to these global cities.
So I'm a pretty big dork whenit comes to uh geography, so I
love that.
So shouts out to that one.
(43:08):
I suck at it, but I've enjoyedit quite a bit, and very
addicting.
Um, one last time, if you're apuzzle-based boy, those are
great.
And second game of playing isit swept the internet dorks by
storm, and shockingly, Iactually uh uh inform Alex of
this, which I thought like I wasgonna be like, hey, have you
heard of Tetris type stupid whenI asked Alex if he's played
(43:30):
this game because it wasliterally made in an algorithmic
lab for Alex?
But uh Megabonk, if you havenot heard of Megabonk, it's
great.
Um if you're a fan of vampiresurvivors and you're like, but
what if this was 3D?
We've made a game for you.
I want to passively play a gamewhere I kind of move around and
take down hordes without buttonmashing, they kind of passively
(43:54):
get attacked by my differentpower-ups, it's awesome.
You can now jump.
That's a different element ofverticality.
And uh I guess it's like riskof rain too, because you wander
around the map until you findthe portal slash boss, you fight
the portal slash boss, and thenyou go into the portal and you
go to the next thing.
So that's how it gets the riskof rain and two-ness.
(44:15):
But it's great.
It's ten bucks.
It's got a kind of crudePlayStation 1 era, maybe if
you're being generous,PlayStation two-y era graphical
look to it.
Alex (44:32):
Would you looking at some pictures?
Would you agree?
Uh I didn't go.
I haven't looked at it sinceyou told me.
Luke (44:38):
Oh, I saw his face glowing, so I assumed he was
looking up this sweet game I wastalking about, but he's just
looking at his backlog again.
So, yes.
Um love that game.
Strong recommend.
It's super addicting.
It's so fun.
Like, I've talked a lot abouthow I like these passive games
where I can grip it and rip itand just pick up and get a
little run going.
(44:59):
And this game delivers hard andit's super cool.
And you unlock all thesedifferent characters.
Uh similar once again toVampire Survivors.
So if you burnt yourself out onvampire survivors, but you have
an itch for that lizard braintype shit, it's back, baby.
Mega bonk.
It has delivered.
Megabonk.
Alex (45:14):
I'll have to check it out.
Luke (45:16):
Yes.
Alex (45:18):
Right on.
Side quests.
Well, I have entered thevirtual reality, brother.
First of all, the buy nothingmovement.
If folks don't know what thatis, check it out.
All the all your neighborhoodsare hopefully who knows.
I don't know of allneighborhoods, but a lot of
neighborhoods they have buynothing groups set up.
You can join them via Facebookgroups, but also buy nothing has
(45:39):
its own app.
So a little plug for buynothing.
I'm in my neighbor, I'm in mylocal one, and there's a homie
that lives, oh, I don't know,about five blocks away or
something.
And he was getting rid of hisHTC Vive.
I want to say it's from2018-ish, maybe it's an early
version.
Ancient technology, continue.
(45:59):
I mean, it's older, but likethey, but it's dope.
Um, but it is, you know, it'slike VR has come a long way.
Dude, I've never really I'vehad I've I've tried VR a couple
times, it's for a coupledifferent minutes or whatever.
It's always impressive, butit's like, you know, it's like
it's a bit of a commitment whenyou're like gonna go out and buy
a ring.
Luke (46:18):
Even the cheap end options are like 300 bucks.
Alex (46:21):
Even the cheap ones, yeah.
Uh super dope though, dude.
So buy nothing.
Uh basically he was like, hey,like I don't really set this up
anymore.
Like, if anybody wants it, I'mgiving it away.
I was like, dude, that'd bedope.
I'm about it.
So uh I got lucky.
Uh me and a few other folksexpressed interest, and I ended
up being the one that he likeyou know randomly chose to to
(46:42):
receive the the HTC vibe, andI've been being virtual reality
in, dude.
Been in that virtual reality,plug me in.
Pretty cool.
Uh I didn't have a bunch of VRgames for sure.
Uh, but there's some fun ones,dude.
Like so VR regetta is a sailinggame, regatta, maybe.
So, anyways, regatta.
(47:03):
It's like a you're in asailboat, dude, and that's like
kind of the vibe.
You can do like sailboatracing, you can just kind of
sail around, but it's one ofthose crazy things where you
know it's just weird.
You're sitting, I'm sitting inmy office, but I'll put this
thing on.
You look around and you'relike, shit, I'm like on the
ocean.
Do you get nauseous?
(47:23):
I do.
Okay.
So uh so there's a little bitof that.
Um, I can't do it for that'spartly from everything I've
read, is that it's pretty normalto experience some nausea from
a lot of VR games, and you kindof have to build up a tolerance
to it, which I don't have a lotof interest in doing.
Um, for instance, uh the PS5has I don't remember what
(47:44):
version it is, but they've gotyou know, PS5 put out its more
recent VR set, and one of thehomies' dialeries, he's like
he's got a whole racing rig, andhe does the VR thing with Gran
Turismo, dude, and it's dope.
Like it has eye tracking whereyou like don't even have to turn
your head, you just like moveyour eye, and you can like see
that movement or whatever, youknow.
Uh, but you're also in a racecar and like things are moving,
(48:06):
and like I played for probablyfive, ten minutes, and like I
was ready to throw up.
Yeah, for sure, dude.
For sure.
And uh, but you know, he wassaying, like, yeah, totally,
that's the thing, and you justkind of like get used to it, you
build a tolerance over time.
Uh, yeah, I get VR version,dude.
Dude, for sure.
But don't puke like a littlebitch, dude.
VR is good.
Dude, I get nausea playing itfirst-person shooters like on my
(48:30):
desktops.
Yeah, so like VR are kind ofintense.
So I do it for little spurts,and most of the like games out
there that and the games that Ihave for VR, it kind of works
that way.
I wouldn't want to do like longperiods in them anyways.
But the ones like the theregatta thing is really tight.
There's a VR version, like itcomes with it, but like for Star
Wars squadrons, and that'sreally cool.
(48:50):
So, like to be able to flyaround in the Star Wars
universe, like in your in like acockpit of like a TIE fighter
or X-Wing.
Because that one, like the VRisn't super intense.
You're more or less like youwould be when you're flying, but
you're looking forward out yourcockpit, but like when you look
around and stuff, you see likethe dashboard and you see inside
the ship.
So, like most of the timeyou're not looking around too
(49:11):
crazily.
Uh, so that one's that one'spretty pretty darn cool.
I did end up picking up halflike half like Alex, half life
alex because that one's supposedto be really dope.
So I haven't checked that oneout yet, though.
So I'm excited to check thatone out.
And then Colossal Cave VR isanother one that I'm excited
about.
Like, shout out to GameInformer, but they had an
article about the um developerthat made um King's Quest, which
(49:34):
you probably don't remember.
Name's familiar King's Quest.
Yeah, so King's King's Quest Vin particular is one that I used
to dick around with when wewere kids uh that I was never
very good at, but it's uh it's areally great article at the end
of the last uh month's issue.
But Colossal Cave, uh, she isthe developer by it, and it's
supposed to be quite good for umfor VR.
And I had so I'm really excitedto try that out.
(49:56):
Uh, but for most of my VR time,and I also got uh Super Hot,
which you maybe seen super hotaround there, it's kind of like
a weird shooter thing.
It's fun to be in that in thatuh area, but my office is not
that big.
And when you got that headseton, it's so funny, dude, because
like super hot in particular,it's like a shooter, but you
(50:17):
could also like you can hitenemies and stuff like that.
So I'm like turning around, Ilike go to like slap an enemy,
and I like knocked all mybaseball cards off my shelf,
smacking in amiibos, and dude,for sure.
It's this is kind of clowning.
That is funny.
Uh man.
So I've been playing aroundwith that, dude.
Uh not to my not to my racingwheel yet.
(50:40):
So, like, unfortunately,there's not a ton, and like I
don't, you know, I'm not tryingto go out and buy every game
there is, but uh, there's not aton of games that have that
capability on Steam uh rightnow.
But I did end up getting umthere's uh there is a racing
game that I did get, and I havetried it, but I haven't tried it
with the with the rig yet.
(51:01):
And that was like the wholereason I bought it.
But that's like, you know,that's not only you gotta set up
the VR, you gotta half an hoursetting shit up to play 10
minutes of VR, dude.
Luke (51:08):
That's tough.
There's some steps.
Alex (51:10):
But it'd be cool.
There's some steps.
It is cool.
It is so that's super fun,dude.
Major little side quests there.
Outside of that, haven't beendoing too many, too many video
games, man.
Life's been kind of crazy.
You know, obviously a littlebit of cut of the lamb.
I did start playing uh HollowKnight, and I'm not super far in
it, uh, but I've been enjoyingit, dude.
That is a game, you know.
(51:31):
Everybody, you include you andand and everybody else, are
like, dude, this is like you'regonna love this game.
And sure enough, it's I mean,it's a Metrovania that is very
nice.
Luke (51:41):
Don't be afraid to look some stuff up in the beginning
because they don't hold yourhand and what's going on.
Right.
Alex (51:45):
So feel free.
Luke (51:46):
Right.
I mean, I didn't know that'sbeen cool, but you might need
to, is all I'm saying.
Alex (51:51):
Uh, I gotta I gotta drop uh Mario Strikers in the mix as
a little side quest.
All right.
We had uh my son's birthday uhthis you know recently, and we
had some of the cousins over,some of uh my my nephew and
niece, nephews, niece on on mywife's side, stayed the night a
couple nights.
Um, and one of my nephews issuper into soccer right now.
(52:14):
Uh-huh, clown.
He's also like 11 years old, 10years old something like that.
So, like in very preteennature, I do the dude I know
loves to play video games.
Like Uncle Alex, he got thevideo games, right?
So it's one of those deals.
Like, I know how it is, man.
Like, I remember like everytime we fought to Sue Uncle
Greg's, like just being stoked.
Like, I was stoked to go overthere because I'd be trying to
(52:36):
play the video games they got.
So I know how I know how he'dbe feeling, but he being a
little coy about it because hecomes over and I'm like, yo,
dog, you want to like try someMario Strikers?
He goes, That sounds stupid.
I was like, get the fuck out ofhere.
You ain't trying because afterhe's like gassing up soccer and
how much all this, and I waslike, Alright, then you ain't
gotta play.
What are you playing?
Did you get it for the switch?
(52:57):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Strikers?
Mario?
It's only on the Switch.
I don't remember you buyingthat.
I bought it a while ago.
It's been sitting on my shelf.
The new one?
So, yeah, dude.
The newest one, yeah.
Luke (53:09):
Oh shit, I didn't know you had that.
That's funny as well.
Alex (53:12):
Yep.
I got it on sale a while back.
Um, and I didn't play it toomuch, but um, it was really fun
though, because eventually hewas like, So gotta try that
strikers out, Mario Striker.
Yeah, I was like, oh, that'sthat's for sure.
I was like, oh yeah, you try toplay that now, aren't you?
Uh so we played that.
He's fucking loved it, dude.
He got super into it.
Like, I whooped him up a coupleof times, he started getting a
(53:34):
little better.
He still couldn't take me downbecause I got big video game
knowledge, but nothing bad.
Luke (53:38):
Dude, that was a lot of fun.
Hell yeah.
Alex (53:40):
And shout out, shout out to Nintendo for like making
games that are you know one partcomplex, but also like
approachable enough for a kidthat doesn't play too many video
games to start to figure out.
Uh, but that was a lot of fun,dude.
So that was another major sidequest.
Uh, other than that, just beenreading books, but no need to go
into those because they'renonfiction marketing books, and
(54:03):
ain't nobody got time for that.
Set me a very good steamingromance novels.
Yes, dad porn they call it.
So those will be the major sidequests, bro.
Uh fun, fun, uh fun to play.
Called a lamb, fun side quests.
Thanks everybody for tuning in.
Uh holler at all the folks thatreached out, being like, where
(54:26):
y'all at?
Appreciate you.
Uh we we here, we just beendoing stuff.
Uh excited to get this one out.
We got more coming.
Luke (54:35):
We're trying to hit you with a bonus to catch up.
So it's coming, it'd be coming.
Stops big timing with his coolplans.
Alex (54:45):
This is busy, bro.
You just is busy.
Nope.
Not when I'm talking shit, I'mnot.
Right on, brother man.
Much love.
Thanks all for listening.
Give us five stars on yourplatform of choice.
We ain't got time for that onestar bullshit.
If you listen this long, whyare you giving us one star?
Give us five stars.
I need it for my ego.
(55:05):
Hate listened, would not doagain.
Also, jump if you're not inthat Discord, jump in the
Discord so I got people to talkto about video games.
I know we got social media andstuff, but here's the deal.
Sometimes I like to takebreaks.
I get hot and cold on socialmedia, but I always got my
Discord open.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
(55:25):
And there's a so there's alink, there's an invite link in
the in the show notes.
You can get that atLow5Gaming.com.
Much love, y'all.
Peace.
Peace peace.
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