Against the Storm

Luke and Alex venture into the rain-soaked world of Against the Storm, a roguelike city builder developed by Eremite Games. Released in November 2023, this highly acclaimed game invites players to balance resource management, exploration, and the survival of diverse species—all while contending with the endless storms that threaten their settlements.

At the time of this recording, Against the Storm boasts a Metacritic score of 91. According to How Long to Beat, playtimes vary widely, with 31 hours for the main story and up to 267 hours for completionists who dare to brave every tempest. Luke played entirely on his Steam Deck, while Alex split his time between Steam Deck and PC.

Join the hosts as they discuss the game’s unique mechanics, including its roguelike replayability and dynamic city-building systems. Hear how Against the Storm stacks up to other city builders, what strategies they employed to weather the storms, and why this game is worth the hype.

This episode is unofficially brought to you in part by Jim Carrey’s Grinch.

Chapters

• 0:22 Against the Storm
• 30:00 Unsanctioned Sponsor: Jim Carrey's Grinch
• 35:16 Sidequestin'

Transcript

Luke: 0:21

Welcome and hello to Low Five Gaming. I am Luke, and this is my co-host and brother, Alex. Yeah, what up, bro? How you doing, Santa man? You got cute little hat. We love it here.

Alex: 0:32

Ho ho ho. I'm doing well, Doug. I'm doing well. I do have my Santa hat on today. It is December, bro.

Luke: 0:39

It is December. And uh, you know, we're gathered here today to deck the halls and play games, dude. I don't know what to say there. The Santa theme only can go so far with me. But uh, we are here to talk about against the storm. Yeah, I tell you what, man, things have been going good, but the rain's coming. The rain is coming, not the same.

Alex: 0:59

I got my I got my folk making more freaking raincoats and shit. I got the tavern going.

Luke: 1:05

You got your production chain popping. Yeah, you got your production chain popping. Uh yeah, you know, this is uh you do a few for them and then you do you do one for you occasionally. And this is you know, when we get into niche retro, future retro games, we're in the Alex zone, and when we're doing some grimy ass city builder type strategy games, we're in the we're in the Luke zone, and here we are, man. How'd you do?

Alex: 1:28

How'd you survive good times? I feel like I'm firmly in Luke's pocket, that's how I feel. Yeah, but uh not good, man. I uh I do love this type of game uh as well. Uh you I would say in our youth, like it was something that I was like super into these real-time strategy type games, uh, with you kind of over my over my shoulder watching, uh, and then you kind of you know took a you you run with them. I would say I would say that in our adult life you you have given yourself fully to the RTS.

Luke: 1:59

And this one's like even more like niche city kind of builder-like, but also uh needs to be mentioned that this is firmly within the realm of games where if you're playing it before you go to bed, I'll wake up and have like weird obsessive thoughts about this game and how things are going. So just a general warning that uh, you know, if you want some weird psychotic half dreams, this is the type of game to get your brain working a little harder and addicting. Against it is addicting, dude.

Alex: 2:26

It also, I'm not gonna lie, it uh it gets my anxiety going from time to time.

Luke: 2:31

Yeah, you know, and it's a different it's got some cool mechanics into it that make it even more stressful. Uh, not in a bad way, more of a strategy way. But we'll get into that in a little bit. Uh so if you're like, hey, what is Against the Storm? It is produced or developed by Emirate Games, uh, not the United Arab Emirates or Saudi Arabia or anything like that. You can see where you might think that though. And published by Hooded Horse Publishers, which they have some cool other nerdy strategy games I've enjoyed in the past as well. Like Old World is a really cool Civ competitor made from the guy who um was like the lead on Civ 4. So if you're an old head strategy pro, you might be into Old World if you haven't heard of it yet. And then a super niche and deeply nerdy, awesome Soviet game about communism city building. And lastly, Manner Lords, which was like a pretty big smash hit through Xbox Game Pass and such within the last year or so. So yeah, well known for this zone, um, as released back in 2023. You and I talked earlier. There's a big DLC that has dropped that uh has boosted its recent popularity too. Right. And it's had frequent updates that just keep adding free content to the game as well, which I think is pretty awesome.

Alex: 3:43

Yeah, it's cool. It was fun to see. I mean, we're you know nearing the end of the year, and I didn't know much about this game. I was I think you maybe had mentioned it to me, or maybe that you were like I don't know, curious about it. Right. So uh so it's cool, you know. You you actually gifted to me on Steam. Thanks for that, bro. That's tight. Oh, yeah, yeah. You know, but you know, so it was it was fun to to get into it and like learn a little bit more about it. Definitely fun to play the game. I I think I was telling you off, Mike, that this is one of those games where I poured uh not a ton of time into it. It's one of those games that I put about 10 to 12 hours into it for this pod. Of course, I was peaking on your hours, so I know that you put in about three times that.

Luke: 4:25

Yeah, just got over 30. Uh, it's funny, I play it almost exclusively on the Steam Deck though. So, like there's some times where I've thought I've played upwards of 50 because you leave it on sleep, and then for a second it says so. I thought I had like some crazy hours at once. I was like, I wasn't time traveling that hard.

Alex: 4:41

But uh, you know, I bring it up though, like the the time put in though, because one, you're right, it is a one of those time traveling games where you get into the groove and you're like, oh shit, like uh a few hours has passed, it's time for me to shut this thing down. Yeah, uh, but more so it is a game that I feel like I have finally started to wrap my head around how to do things. It took a few hours to, and that's that's pretty typical of uh you know a city builder-esque type game like this. Um, starting to feel more comfortable with the things that I'm doing, also realizing that I am only just scraping the surface. I think that this game lends itself to hours and hours of gameplay. It is reductive, but true that this game is considered a roguelike city builder, I think I've heard floating around the internet.

Luke: 5:28

Yeah, so my description is actually handheld tactical city building roguelike. That's what I wrote down. Yeah, that I feel like that crystallizes it. And uh, if you read on its steamy page, they would tell you that it's a dark fantasy silder city builder where you must rebuild civilization in the face of apocalyptic rains as the Queen's Viceroy lead humans, beavers. Did you think those were beavers before you read it? Or were you like the fucking little uh I mean I can see the beaver thing, but it's more like a dwarf, it had door vibe for me. So when I first read those were beavers after seeing the art, I was quite confused. But anyway, lizard foxes and harpies to reclaim the wilderness and secure a future. Um, it's a pretty crazy game, pretty obscure, but yes, roguelike city builder is correct, which is two genres that aren't often mixed together. No, um, so that's kind of part of why, and the setting is cool, like as much as I, you know.

Alex: 6:24

Yeah, there's uh definitely like an overarching story to it that that brings it all together and kind of works like there's this weird you're the viceroy in the sense that you're like going out and you're I don't know what you say, you like you're the going on expeditions, they call them to close gates or something.

Luke: 6:40

Uh the Dark Fantasy does some it just kind of helps set up the gameplay loop, which is you know, you go on these little runs essentially like you would in a roguelike, but you know, city builders can get and I don't know if it's fair to call them little dude, like yeah.

Alex: 6:55

I have no time runs, yeah, right.

Luke: 6:59

And I think in the in the world of a city builder, though, like in City Skylines 2, I've probably pumped 10 hours into highway traffic of one run. So, like in this, like a run probably takes you about an hour, hour and a half. Um, right, but a scale, yeah, it is medium, but it gets gnarly.

Alex: 7:16

You're not wrong, which is weird though, dude. Like, and that that's what makes this game so much different for me, anyways, compared to different city builder real-time strategy games that I've played, in the sense that you pour an hour, an hour and a half time into making your your new expedition, your new like city work, and then you basically accomplish the feat that you set out for on that run, and they're like, Okay, come back to you know, come back and let's do it all over again. And it's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, you can you can mind you, you can choose to continue rocking and rolling with it, yeah.

Luke: 7:46

But like that that's or the first couple of times for Zen and like fluidity, but there's I think it'd be helpful if you're a listener who hasn't played the game or watched a video. Um, I think about it a lot when I play it, is there's three main gameplay loops. There's like keeping your dudes alive, building up your typical production chains. Like you made a joke earlier about getting coats, but like getting the preferred type of meats, keeping them happy, keeping them alive because there's different events that keep happening in the game and like storms and like bad things. So that's like the one of the main loops. Then there's like a constant exploration task type of loop. You send your loggers out and you clear and you find these things called glades or like areas in whatever generated map you're in with the different biomes. Getting pretty niche here, but it's helpful. Um so there's that aspect where you're like you're completing tasks to complete your mission, which is keeping that, you know, getting enough points or whatever to complete the mission and quote unquote build the settlement, versus what they call impatience, which is like this ticking clock that you can slow down or revert. But this ticking clock where sometimes you like literally fail said mission, you don't establish the colony. And regardless of your outcome, though, it feeds back into the third loop, which is like the overworld. You come back to that after winning or failing, and you give like these resources that you come back with you as a reward, and then you build up different upgrades, kind of build up your keep essentially, and like things that go out into those expeditions, and that's where the roguelike part comes in because you're constantly having these missions, these settlements, and then you're bringing it back and you're upgrading all these different systems back home. And let me just breathe after that one. But I felt like it's gonna be really helpful to people enjoying listening to this game and what we're going about and doing.

Alex: 9:31

100%, dude. For the people, the quick plot breakdown from the wiki. This game is set in a fantasy world eternally ravaged by the blightstorm. The only safe haven in this world is the smoldering city ruled by the scorched queen. Occasionally the storm subsides, and the scorched queen sends her viceroys to establish settlements with the purpose of gathering supplies for the smoldering city until the blight storm hits again, destroying all settlements in the process.

Luke: 9:57

Yeah, so you do those three things, and it's done. That's your little predicting, and it's kind of hard. And I've been playing it for 30 hours, as you said earlier. And even to this point, like there's entirely new systems that the game's like, you're ready for this now. And I'm like, No, no, I'm not.

Alex: 10:14

I do feel that this is a game I'll keep in my rotation uh for quite some time because, like I was saying, I have only scratched the surface, I can tell there's more to it, and it is an addicting game loop. Like, I do like going in, and I do feel that um there's a there's a lot to be squeezed out of this game. Are you playing on your desktop or the steamed?

Luke: 10:33

Both, uh, but I do prefer playing on the desktop, if I'm being honest. Oh, really? Oh, because part of the reason that it's gonna remain in my rotation, and then one of the reasons I picked it because I've specifically heard this game runs really well and was optimized uh really well on the Steam Deck. And a Steam Deck verified. I'm pretty nerdy about my strategy games, so you'd think the Steam Deck would help me with that. A lot of the games I'm into are very mouse-centric, and like, yeah, you can get an attachment for the Steamy D, but like laying in bed, I'm not trying to also bust out the mouse. Sure. So this game, dude, runs so nice on the Steam Deck. It's gonna get some extra play for me simply because it scratches a specific itch combined with the handheld. I can be like a time traveling, grimy strat city building nerd boy in bed.

Alex: 11:21

Nah, I feel you 100%. They they optimize it quite well uh for the Steam Deck, and it utilizes actually all of the aspects of the Steam Deck nicely, including the trackpads. Yeah, so the trackpads is actually the most I probably use a trackpad on the Steam Deck, and it just works so well. Yeah, um, so I I'd have to give kudos to them for figuring that out. It does super work really nicely. But that said, uh, I do I mean it's it's still a real-time strategy game, and it's still like very nice with the with the mouse, uh tell you what.

Luke: 11:51

Yeah, and I'm sure like looking around the map, and yeah, I should do it on here too, just to let like just to know what it just to know what the next level is, man. Like if I play it on like a higher difficulty, because then you just like the rewards for each run or settlement are scaled based on the difficulty you're playing on.

Alex: 12:08

So, like I have the tendency to be pretty anal and pretty like particular about these things. So, like for me, uh once I like figured out how to set up these camps in in little cities, whatever these um then I was like, okay, well, now I want them to look pretty and I want my paths to like go the right way and like that kind of thing. You lay down baths like consistently. Oh, hell yeah, dude. You got to it. It speeds up the uh speeds up the time that you guys like take to get to two and from when they're collecting resources and shit.

Luke: 12:34

It's so chaotic for me because those missions I talked about. There's like the missions are crucial for surviving, quite literally, to get like the points to move on, but also like you get the crown essentially like sends you a bunch of supplies for completing missions to help your little fledging settlement. A lot of times, what the map is giving me, because it's randomly generated, right? What the map versus what I need for the mission versus what I need to keep my villagers happy are all frustratingly a little different. Uh, when you first played, it's almost like the deck building ones, how you have different cards that like do different like abilities and things, because like you have to select which upgrade or package you're gonna get all the time. So, like with the buildings that you need to do the different tasks, do you wait for the missions before you start picking those? Or were you just picking those based on what's around you? Uh that that was a big turning point to surviving for me was to waiting on all those upgrades and choices to figure things out first.

Alex: 13:33

Yeah, it kind of depends. Like, as I've learned this game, because it over time, like because I think they kind of throw you in. It's not super, it's it's it's tricky overwhelming, right? Because like I was like, I get it, I it was happening. Then I would probably be 45 minutes into my settlement, like this is fucking like ridiculous. I don't know what's going on here, and slammed by events, yeah. Totally, but then you start to learn once you learn, and once you learn, like if you hover over buildings and stuff, or you hover over resources, it tells you what buildings, you know, then the little info bubble that pops up or whatever will tell you what buildings you can use to extract those resources, and like you start to figure out how to get the game to work for you. Uh, but to answer your question, I have a better relationship with those cards than I used to because that they're on a timer, so they unlock as you go through. I can't remember the the full number, but you basically get two to three at a time that you get to select, and then they give you three options where you get to choose. And it took me a while to realize, okay, I can look at this and I can figure out, okay, I know that my map has this type of thing, or I'll see that like they're asking you to do a certain thing or like have a certain amount of items, and then I can realize, well, I already have you know 75% of the items I need for this particular task, so I'm gonna go with that one because I know I can accomplish it. Or I realize that if they're asking me to do something that there it's gonna be a long ass time before I have the buildings that I need to produce a certain thing that they're asking for in this task, so I'm not gonna go with that because it doesn't make sense for me. But that was a learning experience.

Luke: 15:03

It's a learning curve, and that's kind of why the whole like roguelike you do a settlement and maybe your settlement fails, maybe you pass, but regardless, you're moving on, even if you're crushing it, you're moving on. I think that makes the learning curve, and then you go back to the settlement, do your fucking upgrades, and then you're kind of excited about how the upgrades are gonna help you the next run. So that's why the the the marriage between the roguelike elements and the city building, it's a unique, it's a unique combo. And this podcast was gonna cover a game like that because we have covered a decent chunk of roguelikes, or at least in our side questing and stuff, sure. And we uh we are not afraid of that or a city builder. So what do you think is really not a crazy game?

Alex: 15:44

100%, dude. I think an interesting part of this gameplay loop too is that you get dropped on your map and you have a certain you're in confined to a certain amount of space and you're surrounded by wooded areas, and you you send your logger camps out, and you basically there's these different pockets that you can see. They're they're covered, uh, they're shrouded in mystery, and they might tell you that there's like some sort of danger over there, right? Yeah, and it might it might be marked that there is no danger, it's just a pocket. And then when you when you log the trees and enter that area, it reveals that part of the map, and then each one will either have new resources or it'll have like a new task or a new like challenge within that I thought was really interesting.

Luke: 16:21

Yeah, yeah, it's spicy and uh very stressful, but once again, big rewards for completing the tasks, and you have to like send your villagers out specifically to either gather the materials uh separate than like resource, it's like crates essentially, or like combating something, and sometimes it's cool when you like rebuild structures that helps you like with the benefits within the map. So, yeah, you're doing like a lot of different crazy stuff in the game. So I really like it, but I can see where strategy games already take like a few hours of stress before you have even the smallest amount of fun. This game is definitely not saved from that. So things you're frustrated about, like that's gotta be it, dude.

Alex: 17:01

It's funny, and you know, I meant I'll mention again, like the you know, I I basically started to get the hang of things feeling good about it, and then it will, and I'm not even to a point like I know because I've seen the overworld map, and like I've only unveiled a little bit of it, so I know there's gonna be more and more to do. I know that you mentioned that there's more characters. I basically had the I just I'm still sitting with the main three the humans, the beavers, and the lizards. So I think you you listed off there's two more. Is that right?

Luke: 17:29

Yes. Um, I have the harpies, I think I no, I have the foxes too, and I think that maybe even with the update, there might it's update of the DLC. There's like another race as well. Um, so it keeps keeps getting deeper and deeper, right?

Alex: 17:45

So that's just it, dude. Like, I know for a fact that even though I finally got my my head wrapped around what I'm doing, kind of in this like base level stuff, it's gonna just keep slapping me with more layers of gameplay, which is one part exciting and one part like a little bit of anxiety driving, because I'm like, oh man, or it's anxiety inducing rather, because it's like, oh man, this game is like it's just gonna hit me with like more complex stuff as I keep going. But but that's also kind of fun, you know.

Luke: 18:10

Yeah, no. If it was back in the day too, like when I was a little teenager, I probably would have gotten all to the deep, deep, nitty-gritty. But you know what? I didn't think I was gonna spend the insane amount of hours in Slay the Spire that I did, and here we are. So sometimes sometimes the game starts off and you don't think you'll be there, and then it kind of kind of hooks you with different stuff. But there's like a whole blight system that I got introduced to like 10-15 hours back, and I've just ignored. So is that the blight storm stuff where you have to pay attention to how the storm's working, or um it's like you connect like these geysers, geysers, geysers, not geysers, silliness. At least that correctly. Yeah, at least I knew some geysers that like connect up some water system to like some steampunk stuff, because it's like dark fantasy, and there's a there's like a steampunk, steam engine type element that boosts your efficiency, but like this thing called blight, which is this corruption, so you have to balance that. To me, that just sounds deeply overwhelming on top of everything else we've been talking about. But maybe on a higher difficulty, like that, efficiency is so key that it's a worthy gamble. So insane depth.

Alex: 19:24

I think it's you know, even by because it took me quite a few hours before I started going in and reading reading what my different buildings were supposed to be doing and making that connection and resources and everything. And it's like, dude, I don't know what's going on with me, but like every game we I'm always like, and it's not like dude, I'm an English major, I know how to read, dog. Like, I'm I'm not like beyond reading, and I don't know what it is about video games, but I'm like, I ain't gonna read that shit. And then I find myself once I finally like read whatever, and then I'm like, okay, and then everything starts to come together because I spent the time to read something. Oh man. Yeah, but I think it's funny, like it's like I haven't reached some of this stuff, but just by reading some of the things about different buildings and how things work, I'm like, oh man, I'm gonna get interested because there's the you kind of mentioned it a little bit, but the whole like there's all this technology that apparently I'll be able to unlock later that is powered by the rain and the storms and stuff. And like right now, I'd have like little rain collectors and whatnot that I'm not even entirely sure what they do. Actually, I do know what they do, like they use for some of the mills and other things to make certain products, but it took me a while to figure out tea and ale and things like that, yeah.

Luke: 20:32

And then you're like, All right, I need beer. So you like unlock the thing that like makes you brew beer, and then you're brewing beer, and they're like, Hey dude, we're out of jars or like leather sacks to put this beer, and I'm like, dude. What do you what do you call those leather sacks that you draw and drink? Dad is such a dork, he like would drink out of those on like vacations and shit, like the leather wineskins or whatever. Yeah.

Alex: 20:55

Sorry, I just had a dunk on dad real quick for his dorky old man hydration back in the day. Nah, dude, it's 100%. And it's like all the different buildings you as you move on. That's there's so many layers to this game, dude. It's it's so deep. And uh you you unlock newer buildings, and then different buildings will have different efficiencies than others. So you might need like planks early game. Like plank, like producing planks was such a headache to me until I figured out that you know, okay, like I can make uh I forget what they call it, but there's like a uh like a makeshift camp type thing where you can make some planks, but then you can get a lumber mill, which helps you make uh like produce faster planks. You also can and lower priority, yeah. Yeah, and you can also prioritize certain things because like the mill will be able to allow you to make a few different things, and if you are short on planks or something like that, you can prioritize planks. There's all there's a lot of there's a lot of depth to this game, like you have a lot of control over how things are going.

Luke: 21:48

Have you ever gotten like a uh like a pub and a church and like another function, like city function, all up and running in a run, or no?

Alex: 21:59

Uh no, because I uh well I mean yes and no. Like, what do you mean? Like, where where are you going?

Luke: 22:06

Just the point where like you you have all the services and your people are just like max happy and you're actually just like crushing it, like because that does feel good. There's been times where they pull you out the game because it's a roguelike, yeah, yeah, it is true. Like everyone's finally happening, like happy, whereas other times I'm playing, people are like dying and leaving, and I'm like, no, we need to finish this task, get back. I suppose that's how a colonization and settlement would really work, though.

Alex: 22:32

Sir, have you um are you able to go back to uh uh to one of your settlements after you've left them? I don't think you can.

Luke: 22:40

No, I don't think you can either. You interestingly enough, like it's like a overboard, kind of like a board game kind of like look to it aesthetic. Yeah, it's got that aesthetic to it, and like you trade, like traders come. I wanted to talk about the traders. That was another thing that kind of traders are lifelines and just like a whole thing that you really are helpful. But then when you set up some specific trade routes with your other settlements in your the main smoldering city or whatever, like that's an element of the game that you can take it or leave it. I kind of use it to complete specific missions sometimes if I'm set up for it. But like you trade with your other settlements the deeper in you go. And then I guess we could mention like another roguelike factor is you get like a certain amount of settlements out, and then there's a big storm, and that wipes out that overworld map that we just talked about. And you start off at just the city, and then you move out from these tiles for your new settlements to try to get to one of those gates, which I can confirm is like a special event game that you play where you have like different tasks. You have the city's tasks, but you also have like the gate tasks, and then that lets you build more settlements slash attempts before the big storm happens, if that makes sense. Interesting.

Alex: 23:54

Yeah, I'm not this far in that respect. Again, I've been I was kind of curious too, because as you as you move out on that overworld map that I mentioned kind of looks like Katan, or if you played like Civilization, like it's very similar, like tile base in a way. Yeah, or written like kind of in a way. On that overworld map, there's you know, it's it's kind of similar to in-game where things are shrouded in in mystery, they're shaded off or whatever, right? But you have little little interest points that I assume that you want to, and again, if I probably would have done a better job of like reading what I was supposed to be doing, maybe I would know why I was going a certain one. Good, you friggin' nerd, dude.

Luke: 24:32

Yeah, they're like uh modifiers to your game, essentially. So when you pick up like it lets me get close to the one I'm trying to head to. If I haven't just not like uncovered enough of that area, or maybe you're not close enough, but maybe the question mark, like if you do the hexagonal tile next to whatever it is, you're getting the the boost or benefit or drawback, whatever it happens to be in the game, the modifier, so to speak, and like sometimes it has to do with affecting the biome, sometimes it's like a blessing, so to speak, sometimes it's like a curse or like something that deals and makes it harder for you. So it's just kind of kind of always keeping it fresh, which goes back to the roguelike part where if you're it kind of always gives you different and newer challenges so you don't have to come up with them on your own or get bored in a sandbox, you know what I mean? Yeah, interesting. Like it goes away from your typical city building sandbox stuff, uh, with that, which is a really cool device. Can you w can you beat this game or is it go on forever? Man, I thought about looking that up before this podcast, and that's what a professional would have done. Yeah, you don't want to spoil it for yourself either, though. Considering the massive, I'm sure, I'm sure there's some sort of roadmap with the massive DLC and stuff. I'm sure there's multiple different things, right, that you can accomplish or do. And I have so much more of that like base building stuff to do, like all those upgrades to do, even and it's yeah, there's so much so much going on.

Alex: 26:00

It's wildly complex, uh, which is part of its, you know, part of its charm. I that's definitely part of its charm, but it can be a lot. Overall, it's been a pretty great experience, I would say. And like I said, I would something I want to continue to to like continue to delve into. Like I probably I guess I foresee this game being played for a long time.

Luke: 26:19

Hell yeah. If you had to rate it out of a five, category five hurricane type storm, dude. Which uh category? Which category would you give it, dude?

Alex: 26:31

Uh, you know, I'm tempted. I'm tempted to I'm gonna I'm gonna go four. Wow.

Luke: 26:40

All right. I hope I hope to see you playing it. I hope to see those hours creep. That's encouraging. I'm gonna give it a full five. I'm not saying it's a master, I'm not saying it's a masterpiece, like one of my favorite games ever, but the fact that it's so playable and enjoyable, like not just playable, but like downright enjoyable on the Steam Deck really enhances the amount of hours I would put into this game. And it is super complex, but you do become fluid and it is fun and fast-paced and like refreshable enough to the point where like if I'm going traveling, if I'm away from the house, all those types of things, the fact that I can bring a strategy game that kills this much time with me. Like, if I were on a plane, dude, I'd just crush this game for two, three hours straight, and it'd be sweet.

Alex: 27:24

For sure, dude. And when I said I was tempted, I was tempted to give it a five, but I go for, and I'm glad you give it a five because that brings us to four or five, four point five rather, and I don't like doing halves, but our average will bring us there, and that's perfect, dude. Uh what a dork. Good 100%. But then the and the knocks are the knocks are purely, it's not necessarily against the game, and it's actually kind of a benefit to it. But I I mentioned that I got I think it was pre pre-recording, but I mentioned that I got booted from uh from a run that I was in uh because they had pushed through an update, which the updates that's great. I'm glad that they're doing the updates, but it also means that it's not a hundred percent there quite yet. Um, but they're working on it. So like that's um it's it's a little unfair for me to give them a knock for that. But I was bummed when I got kicked out of like you know, a settlement that I had spent 45 minutes to an hour in. They're like, uh, but in their defense, they let me keep all of the boons that I would have got from that run. Um, I just didn't get to to finish it. So that's you know, that's um, you know, I think I think you know, I'm I'm kind of talking myself into a five here, but I'm gonna stick to my guns on the board.

Luke: 28:38

Maybe you do a 4.5 and we give it a 4.75 average, dude. I'd say it's sick, and my criticisms of the game all come with the territory, like it's just like it can be stressful. Well, that's actually kind of part of the fun. That's part of it, right? Yeah, and like there's a huge learning curve, but that also means that it's in depth and there's more and more and more to do. It's actually pretty, pretty easy to learn if you give it an hour or two. It's faster than some of the other ones I've played, that's for sure. Right on, but I don't know.

Alex: 29:09

I think it's unique, dude. I think it's unique too. That's you know, which uh there are a lot of these like uh city builder strategy games, like they got um, you know, I'm not gonna say that there's they're not also unique ones out there, but I think there's this like it's just wild to me, like the weird story that they've incorporated to it, and it kind of just makes everything work and it it puts you in a nice little situation.

Luke: 29:30

Uh roguelikes, your late 20s to 30s. Right. It's just roguelikes, just our era of life. I feel like roguelikes have that's been like the newest, like the coolest innovation that gaming has done and really focused on, I think, in the last since we've been podding, I feel like, is roguelikes. So I I like to see that one was executed so well with this genre mix up. Yeah, I can dig it, man.

Alex: 29:54

With that, you want to take a little break, come back uh with our unsectioned sponsor.

Luke: 29:59

Yes, sir. Me and the boys, dude. Well, the wife, the boy, the family and the boys, dude. We uh met the Grinch the other weekend. Right on. And we knew we were gonna meet the Grinch. So we had recently bought the Grinch Dr. Seuss book, which he's not even green in the book. So when did he become green? Just a cartoon, I presume. Uh yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I guess so. The boys are at an age where they get really excited to like if they learn a word and they remember the word and they see the word out in the wild, they just love to say it. North St. Paul. We got a big snowman, nobody, no man, and they get super pumped when we drive by. So we watched the Grinch. And what I wanted to watch was Jim Carrey's Grinch, but he was kind of scary a tiny bit. So I was like, not sure if the boys are ready for that one. The the Grinch we met was modeled after that Grinch, to be fair, but he was cool, it was all good. But we watched the Grinch, and I just want to shout out the Jim Carrey Grinch because I looked it up as we watched the new Grinch, and people and critics were hating on Jim Carrey's Grinch. And what the fuck? That is the Grinch. That movie is a top five Chris movie all time. Let's fucking go, dude. This has been brought to you by Jim Carrey's Grinch. What's up? You're here for the Grinch, Miss Dude.

Alex: 31:22

All right. It's funny.

Luke: 31:24

Argue against it. Try me.

Alex: 31:26

Dude, my boy's uh my boy is a year behind your boys in age, and the Grinch is a little much for him. I tried, I was like, because it's you know Christmas time. Ass book, or you're just talking about the movie. Oh no, I read him the book. I I also recently picked up the book. I was at the old Target, and uh they got like, dude, I was at the E Dia Target because I was out in that area. That place is wild, dude. I was like, dang, not all targets a bit the same, and Idia Target is ready for Christmas. I will tell you what. Fuck yeah, dude. But they've got a whole like they had a whole like little miniature, not even miniature, but they had this like little deal going on with all these different Christmas books, and I was like, I'm buying, I'm buying Elton the Grinch, I'm gonna do this. But I had tried watching uh the cartoon with him, like the original cartoon. Yeah, that's also like kind of crazy. They got a lot of Grinch out there now, dude. They got Jim Carrey Grinch, I agree, it's good shit, but it's a little much for for a one-year-old to be trying to take in a movie that long, and also like Jim Carrey. I mean, he he brings some energy to that to that movie that maybe not Elton not ready for.

Luke: 32:30

It's Ron Howard directed it. Fun fact.

Alex: 32:32

Oh, weird, yeah.

Luke: 32:33

Okay, and uh at first it kind of reminded me of like that era Tim Burton, obviously way turned down, but like man, he's recently said that he would love to be the Grinch again, but he has to do motion capture because I guess putting all that makeup and crazy stuff on was excruciating for him. Uh, it's so haunted, I just love it though. Like, I'm uh I'm very passionate about that Grinch. The new one was cool enough, though. It's Benedict Cumberbatch. No, I haven't seen this new one, I've only heard about the the new brief. It's fine. It's fine. Is it live action or like the no, it's a cartoon, it's like a nice animator. It's like 2018 Pharrell is the narrator. Um interesting. I love it. I hear it's not as creepy.

Alex: 33:13

I hear it's not as uh no, it's more like cute anime.

Luke: 33:16

I think it's made by the same place that did uh the new Mario movie.

Alex: 33:21

Okay, cool.

Luke: 33:22

That animator, if you know what I mean. Yeah, Illumination or something like that. Yeah. Yeah. So uh, you know, we who knows what's happening with Unsanctioned Spox or any typical month, but this one, I was like, I just really have to cape for Jim Carrey's Grinch right now. And you're wearing a Santa hat, so it was all fair. It was all fair game.

Alex: 33:42

Dude, I can dig it. The book though, it is long. You are you are not you are you're not wrong about that. I don't think it's uh so it's not a book that I can just sit down and read to without it on my lap, but it is a book that I can get to the end to with him when he's uh when we're putting him when when we're doing bedtime or whatever. Uh so that works.

Luke: 33:59

Yeah, I also am amazed how they've stretched it out into so many movies because even though it's like a quote unquote long book, like each movie has like a different interpretation as to what Cindy Lou's deal is. For sure. And in the book, she's just the kid that woke up and was like, Why are you stealing my shit? And he's just like, ah fixing the tree, dude. Yeah, and like how the movies like explain all of that is just hilarious.

Alex: 34:22

It is good, they've definitely stretched that story out, and you're right, it's a long book. But when I it had been a long time because we had that book growing up, dude, and it had been a long time since I actually had read the book proper. Yeah, I felt like when I've read it just recently, I got to the end, I was like, Oh, that's it. Like, yeah, it's long, but like I'm I'm used to like the the cartoon and Jim Carrey's movie and stuff, so I was like, Well, where's all this other stuff?

Luke: 34:45

Where's the part where the lady's kind of horny for the Grinch? Right?

Alex: 34:49

What part of the book was that, dude? Oh man, I can dig it though. We actually had growing up too the uh we had the Grinch record, which I which I pilfered from mom and dad. It's in my my record stash right now, which is uh there's a really great like reading of the Grinch story, was kind of fun as well. Good Christmas content right there, dude. I think I have it too. Right on the stolen one Grinch miss. Grinch miss.

Luke: 35:14

Jim Carrey, Jim Carrey Grinchmas.

Alex: 35:25

Yeah, you've been side questing, bro?

Luke: 35:27

Yeah, sorry, I was just finishing this uh who roast beast.

Alex: 35:34

I don't actually know what this good like the little hoobil song is, but cute cute.

Luke: 35:40

Uh yeah, um, I've just been on the nerdery. I I'm not gonna talk about SEAA football, that's not allowed, but um people on the Reddit refer to when they make up the storylines in their head as headcanon. So I'm not positive if I've said that on the internet previously with you before, but I just wanted to say that uh I appreciate that nerd taxonomy. Headcannon? Headcannon. I just I think that's a great way to describe just playing sports games and coming up with weird dorky storylines all on your own the whole time, uh, which is great fun. Um, my other bit is that I've been playing Ratchet and Clank, the new PlayStation 5 one, but on uh the Steam Deck, which is it's a good game for a Steam Deck, uh, which is the theme of today's episode. But it's weird because I was we were PlayStation Boys for a hot minute there, so all the Ratchet and Kank Clanks I played on PlayStation. So it's weird to not have like the high poweredness of it, but it's not a game that truly really needs it. And it's really good meat and potatoes game of just like it's an action 3D shooter platformer puzzle, collect the thon or no? Collect yeah, there's different elements of that, like upgrading and stuff. So, like you have these different fun, wacky guns, that's a big part of it. One thing that I've appreciated about the series going back for years is like your guns upgrade based on use, so it's like another thing to encourage you to always be flipping around through the goofy different guns. Like in the first game, I can't remember if it was the sheep and aider in the first game or the chickenator, but like you would turn your enemies into chickens or sheep, which back in 2004 was super cool and fun. And the game's always done like goofy twists like that. You could throw out disco balls and like all your enemies start dancing and get distracted, and then you mop them up. So there's always like fun arcadey stuff to do with that. And uh now as I'm playing later on in life, I like that like cycle of upgrading your guns and like upgrading them both through resources and upgrading through use, and it's just really addicting and fun and cool, and like you know, I don't have to think much when I play it. I just lay down and I play some nice wholesome ratchet and clank, and I know the story going on in that game, sure. And it's and it's fine, and it's got some silly cheeky humor, and uh, it's just like exploring a map, running into enemies, just the whole loop is so familiar and good and still fresh. That uh good game, dude. What are you side questing on? What do you got for me?

Alex: 38:02

Yeah, man, I got some side quests, and we uh we bowed not, I don't know, we bowed, but we made a kind of a gentleman handshake across the internet not to talk about our sports games, but you weaseled in there, so I'm gonna weasel in my 2K experience. I got the new 2K, bro. Uh if it's new though, you can talk about it because I'm curious.

Luke: 38:20

Did you did they upgrade anything? Is anything new, or is this a roster refresh?

Alex: 38:24

Are there new definitely a roster refresh? There is some elements to the gameplay proper that uh I'm used to now. It took me a little bit. The way that you shoot is a little bit different, so like uh seems to be, yeah. Yeah, so like the three-point shots uh nerfed a little bit in this game. It's a big thing that they they did uh because in 2K24 uh they made it a little too easy to hit threes. So they've nerfed that a little bit with the with the timing. Uh they have added a ton of motion capture animation to that is specific to players like playstyles and and games. So what that's really different, players feel a lot different. You run around, it's like crazy because it's not something that I noticed while playing 2K24, but juxtaposing the two 24 feels a little bit arcady with how fast you can sprint around the court. Uh, whereas like there's an element to that here, but each of the players they play like the players in in real life, more so because they've spent so much time getting those animations down. So, like their dribble animations, uh, the way they move, the way they take their shots, etc. But you can't just like I don't know, it's a little bit more finesse going on in this game.

Luke: 39:41

Uh, funny thought, but like the funniest thing about sports games is that the newer they get, the slower. Yeah, like the more advanced it is. Like, I've been saying the game in a good way feels slower since like ever. Every new game is always like, well, it's a little slower than I remember, and it's but that's like a good thing because it looks more lifelike and human, right? So you saying that kind of geeked me out because I was like, no way, they keep it. Yeah, it's true. It's it's uh that is definitely the case. What's the emphasis on? Is it on like my team? Is it on park stuff? Like, what are they pushing you to?

Alex: 40:15

I'm sure they changed a bunch of that bullshit. Uh they probably did a bunch of that. I always like I just don't play that though. I I do my I do my uh seasons, like I do my you know, my air. They they've got what I like in that game. My pocket is within the eras, so like I I set up my team, I play through a season, I do the playoffs. Like, that's just that's my shit.

Luke: 40:33

I feel so I feel like such an old man when I'm like, Yeah, I played GM mode or like dynasty mode through the years, and I'm just I'm offline, but it's fine. And then I talk to you, and you're like, I'm doing seasons.

Alex: 40:45

Oh, they don't even call it seasons anymore, though. But like essentially that's what it is, it's more or less the GM mode type thing that you do, and like I do a little less of that stuff because you can get in the weeds uh with that stuff on a tree.

Luke: 40:56

I don't even fuck with that dude. I just play. That's what I'm saying. You do you do a seasoning? Don't hit me with them drafts, young man.

Alex: 41:02

You know what's funny is I'll play through a shortened full season and I will play through the playoffs, and then I will re-I don't even continue because you can continue, I'll just restart because I'm more interested in playing with the folks like the the players that I have for the current season in the Timberwolves. Sure. Are you playing other games too? I am indeed. Uh so you know it's that time of year, dude. So we got Steam sales, we got Black Friday, etc. So I picked up a couple games over the past couple weeks here. Uh, one of those games that I picked up on the cheap is a recent one, Robocop. Robocop. What's this about? So Robocop is a triple, what would it be? Not triple A, it's a double-A game. Can't even remember who put it out. I've actually never seen Robocop, but I've heard some I've heard some rumblings about this game being uh really true to the source material. A lot of people that are big RoboCop fans loving the game, and dude, it's fun, man. Uh I've been playing on the Steam Deck primarily, but it works great on on both the Steam Deck and the you know and the PC, obviously. It's a first person shooter, but it has um it has RPG elements to it, so you go around and you like kind of increase your your Robocops like stats, that kind of thing. So like a boomer shooter type of thing, vibe. Uh yes and no. Like I wouldn't yes, but it's like I don't know. I would I wouldn't say it's a boomer shooter, but it's definitely a shooter. You know, it's a little bit more polished than what I would consider. It doesn't have the similar art style, it's a little bit more realistic, uh, than like a lot of what I consider to a boomer shooter to be. The fun thing about it that so far is that you are pretty you move pretty slowly, like you know, Robocop is from what I do know about him. I mean, he's not sprinting around the place, he's like a big like Android type thing, right? Yeah, and and you feel that in the game. You like you feel a little slow, you can move faster by like this sprint thing or whatever, which like the the way you move around, it's it's it's interesting, like how it works. And I've been having some fun with that one. And then I also recently picked up, I finally pulled the trigger, I wanted caught the lamb on uh for my switch for a long time, and it's only 20 bucks. But I like just haven't for whatever I've been like waiting for a deeper sale, and I don't know if it'll ever come because Black Friday came around and they're like Black Friday sale. And I was like, That's what you always sell it for, which is like which is like the funny thing about Black Friday these days. Uh, but I I didn't get a ton of time into that, but that's a really fun one, dude. Like, um, it feels a lot like uh Turnip Boy in a in a way, like mixed with Animal Crossing. Um, so like that's that one's kind of cool too. And then the other big news, dude, is that I we we gave up Game Pass some time ago, and I've uh a couple months back, I reached a threshold because I was buying the games that are on Game Pass that I wanted to be part of my Xbox collection. So, like Starfield, Forza, that type of thing, like games that you can play on Game Pass, but I didn't want Game Pass anymore. But I wanted to have those games, like I feel like those are cornerstones of the Xbox like experience, right? Sure, yeah. So I wanted to have those, and it's interesting because that put me into a that put me into a spot now where I have enough Xbox games physical, but the way that these new systems work is like they don't play off like whereas your Switch is actually playing games off the cart. It's not the case with PlayStation and Xbox. They're taking the entire all that information on the disc and they're loading it straight to the hard drive of your system. And it has to do with like that's how we get the uh quick resume and the the quick load times and stuff because you're not playing off the disc, you're playing off your system. That also means my Xbox, I got the Series X, and I've only got X amount of space. I think it's like uh two terabytes, maybe or one terabyte. I don't remember. I have enough games now where I don't have enough space on my Xbox to keep all the games on there. So I ended up buying the expansion thing, the terabyte expansion that you can plug into the back of it. Oh word, and with that came a free month of Game Pass. Oh, so you're playing indie. Indeed. Nah, so that's like that is the primary game on Game Pass that I'm happy to have this free month, and I might end up just buying indie because having Game Pass back and having you know Halo and some of these other games that I consider cornerstone pieces of the Xbox experience, I have no desire to keep Game Pass, dude. Like the thing, the caveat being Indiana Jones, and like and the beauty of Game Pass is being able to dabble and see some games before buying, right? Let's being able to give a little taste. But like, dude, as far as the library goes, I've been able to go through my favorite thing about Game Pass is being able to stream those games onto my Steam Deck, and then also to being able to dabble in stuff that maybe I wouldn't be able to try unless you kind of give a little sampler of everything. But I I can't justify a $30 a month spend or what is it. Is that what it is now? I think it might be 20. But like I can't can't justify a 20-ish dollar a month spend to keep to keep Game Pass because the vast majority of the games on Game Pass I either don't care about or I have I already have, or I already have because they're available through like epics free games and things like that. Like a lot of them are always handed out for free on for PC. But what about Diablo 4, dude? Well, see, but Diablo 4 would be a purchase, but I want to go back and play Diablo 1 first because I've never beat Diablo 1. And shout out to the main quest podcast, which is back. They just covered Diablo, and that has me horny for Diablo, dude. I am trying to play some Diablo, uh horny for Diablo, yeah. Uh and I and I have Diablo, I have it on Gog. And I I did fire that up too. It's another little mini side quest. That's a game that, like, dude, it's um it's see, like I I would be tempted to have us play it, but I know that you've kind of moved away from the mouse and uh the mouse and keyboard, and it is definitely a mouse game. Like, I feel like I've heard that the PlayStation port, and then likely there's likely patches where you can use a controller, uh, which means you could likely get it rocking on your Steam deck, but um, no offense, but like there would be some tinkering probably that need to be done that I don't expect you to do.

Luke: 47:16

He thinks I'm thick, he's right. Um, but yeah, Diablo. I mean, I would probably do it just uh Diablo's a game where you kind of just gotta figure out what's the deal with at a certain point of your life. So totally uh I'm gonna get four for the Steam Deck, but um at some point I wouldn't mind playing some Diablo, so I understand the deal, you know what I mean?

Alex: 47:39

Right. But dude, Indiana Jones, you bring up in that game I played about 45 minutes of, I would say, and it's it's cool. Like I've been reading the um reviews and everything like that. It's a lot of people loving it, and I can see why. It's uh it's got some really good graphics going on, like the voice acting is actually quite good. The graphics are great. Um, I think you know it's been a while since Xbox had a win, and I would say Indiana Jones is just that.

Luke: 48:05

Yeah, um that's cool to hear. I wish listed it because I know myself, and I'm not gonna Xbox Game Pass. Maybe, maybe, maybe you'll give me good. I'm gonna see if these games come on sale first.

Alex: 48:18

Um the game pass is I just don't see it being in my life past like the you know, because I'm able to get this free month, I'm like, of course, like I'll use that for like but I want to play flat simulator 24. No, you don't, it's trash. Oh no, it's not good, dude. I'll tell you why, because there's no US Bank Stadium. US Bank Stadium's been in Minneapolis for eight years, and they still haven't integrated into the map. It's like, come on, I realize we're flyover country, but fuck off Xbox, fuck off Microsoft.

Luke: 48:47

Is everywhere just behind, or just certain pockets are behind?

Alex: 48:51

I'm sure New York is updated. I'm sure, I'm sure LA's like cool, but Minneapolis, they they like how you not have US Bank Stadium.

Luke: 49:00

Well, that was a bummer. I remember showing that to people and they're like, where's US Bank? I'm like, I don't know. On the last game, but this game you're supposed to like it had the jobs-based, like flight jobs-based element to it. So I thought that looked cool. Did you try that?

Alex: 49:15

Uh, I haven't yet. No, I just set up a flight to fire on Minneapolis, and then I was pissed off that US Bank wasn't there. And well, it's all burnt down, dude. What the hell are you talking about? Oh, Minneapolis, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, there's nothing to see. They're just that's what it used to be, man. I'm gonna look out my window. Yep, checks out. Diablo's been here. Diablo. Oh man, so it's uh it is a beautiful game. Like, of course, that that is still the case, but I was just gonna put out a forest fire and then you get back to me.

Luke: 49:49

All right, yeah, that's fair.

Alex: 49:50

Those game, those that the those new gameplay access uh aspects do look cool, so I haven't deleted it off my Xbox yet. I will I will play it a little bit more before my trial is up or whatever you want to call it. My gotta use up all them terabytes, Doc. Come on. Yeah, dude. It's crazy, man. These games, like I have an extra terabyte, and I've already like with all the with all my games, like I'm already up to 85% full again.

Luke: 50:15

Uh, you can reveal next month's game, but I downloaded it right because we bought the discs because they were on sale specifically on the disc, which is always an interesting part of Black Friday. Um, but it was a 72 gig file size.

Alex: 50:30

I was like, yeah, yeah, and that's like that's kind of like hard. That's actually kind of small for for a Series X game these days, dude. Like, I guess. Uh and that game is, and the game we'll be playing. And for folks that have been for the past what year and a half, two years, just going, man, I wonder what the lo-fi boys think about. Fucking what's the game we're playing?

Luke: 50:51

Elden Ring.

Alex: 50:54

If you're wondering what they think about Elden Ring, they can't even remember what that game's called. No, dude, we're we're finally jumping in.

Luke: 51:00

Two worst people to play the game, dads. We'll find out how it works. No interruptions.

Alex: 51:06

I'm stoked though. You but dude, Elden Ring, Elden Ring's on the docket. I'm excited. If you haven't played Elden Ring yet, if you're like us and you've just been waiting, yeah, hit that Discord. Let's talk about it. In fact, you know, even if you have played and you just want to revisit it, you just want to talk to me, you want to catch our insights before we talk about it. You join that Discord. Don't put you out there listening. We love that, we love you. Hit that Discord. And before signing off, ace.

Luke: 52:01

Oh. You're the freshest saved Santa. Oh wow. That's a you're the freshest shaved Santa I've ever done, mate. I'm not gonna do that intro. That was bad. That was bad. Ah, Trisha, who's not paying attention, just down there laughing at me, dude. This is brutal.

Alex: 52:24

I swear I've been podcasting for two or three years now.

Luke: 52:27

Right, but fresh shaved Shanna, all right? That's a hard one for me to say. It's like customer. Yeah, that's not easy. See, all right, so there we go. That's why you've got a beard. Yeah, the fresh shaved is a is a tough transition. Hello, hello. It's just it's just uh infected my brain now. Can I get up and do some dummy jacks or something, dude? Like now I'm gonna