Caravan SandWitch

[00:00:10] [SPEAKER_00]: is a gentleman welcome back to another episode of The Pre-Order Bonus podcast.

[00:00:14] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm one of your host, Cameron Warren and I'm joined as always by the Pixel Professor

[00:00:20] [SPEAKER_00]: Jacob Price.

[00:00:22] [SPEAKER_00]: It's September 12th, 2024.

[00:00:25] [SPEAKER_00]: Back again to talk about video games.

[00:00:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Jake, did you pre-order the $700 PS5 Pro?

[00:00:31] [SPEAKER_01]: I pre-order five copies of that man.

[00:00:32] [SPEAKER_01]: And everybody my family gets one.

[00:00:36] [SPEAKER_01]: No dude, I don't know.

[00:00:40] [SPEAKER_01]: In Phuosius, I think you're gonna be really excited because the idea is that they're trying

[00:00:45] [SPEAKER_01]: to put like fidelity and performance mode, right?

[00:00:49] [SPEAKER_01]: Like on parrere and so you can get like the fidelity mode but at 60 FPS.

[00:00:54] [SPEAKER_01]: But it turns out there's like a pretty tiny subset of games that are getting that kind

[00:01:00] [SPEAKER_01]: of treatment, right?

[00:01:01] [SPEAKER_01]: So I don't know.

[00:01:03] [SPEAKER_01]: If you're a big fan of the last of us, I think maybe buy it but I'm not seeing a whole lot

[00:01:09] [SPEAKER_01]: of reasons to get one to be honest.

[00:01:13] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, this is a weird device.

[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Like my only comment on it was I think this device exists solely for GTA 6.

[00:01:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Is my take?

[00:01:28] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm sure there'll be other games that will take advantage of it.

[00:01:31] [SPEAKER_00]: I think my one fear is that this is gonna lock Gosiususiuma 2 to 30 FPS, which is

[00:01:36] [SPEAKER_00]: gonna tick me off, which could absolutely push me over the edge to make me make a wildly

[00:01:44] [SPEAKER_00]: irresponsible purchase to buy it.

[00:01:46] [SPEAKER_00]: Like if Gosiususiuma 2 is locked at 30 for some reason, I don't think it will be because

[00:01:53] [SPEAKER_00]: we know the wizards over there at soccer punch are kind of crazy.

[00:01:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I don't think it will be, but we know GTA 6 is gonna be.

[00:02:02] [SPEAKER_00]: And so I wonder if this unlocks like a performance mode for GTA 6, which is kind of the

[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_00]: reason like it exists as like a selling platform for that.

[00:02:12] [SPEAKER_00]: But this is still just like a niche item.

[00:02:15] [SPEAKER_00]: This is for hardware enthusiasts.

[00:02:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's it.

[00:02:18] [SPEAKER_01]: Yep, it's for them and so all the kind of buzz and complaints about it are I just feel

[00:02:25] [SPEAKER_01]: they're falling on deaf ears, right?

[00:02:26] [SPEAKER_01]: I think the people at Sony who pitched the PS5 Pro and have developed it and now we're

[00:02:32] [SPEAKER_01]: selling it.

[00:02:34] [SPEAKER_01]: The people who are complaining about this, this isn't for you like at all.

[00:02:38] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't think, and this is like should it, should they make a pro for you?

[00:02:43] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, maybe way easier to be on sale.

[00:02:46] [SPEAKER_01]: Like I think you're right, like I think in a year, maybe there's like a really cool bundle

[00:02:49] [SPEAKER_01]: where it's like hey, get the PS5 Pro for 600 bucks and it comes with GTA 6 and it's

[00:02:56] [SPEAKER_01]: like case GTA 6 is gonna be a $70 game.

[00:02:59] [SPEAKER_01]: So you're spending like 30 bucks more than you normally would for brand new PS5 in that

[00:03:02] [SPEAKER_01]: game.

[00:03:03] [SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, like I do see a future where this sells, but like, yeah, this is too niche.

[00:03:10] [SPEAKER_01]: And so it's kind of like, I felt like this news really didn't deserve this splash that

[00:03:16] [SPEAKER_01]: got on social media.

[00:03:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Yep, there was another piece of news but I can't remember it right now.

[00:03:23] [SPEAKER_01]: I got two big pieces of news actually I wanted to bring out.

[00:03:26] [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, if you go and this is probably what you were talking about.

[00:03:28] [SPEAKER_01]: The first one I'm gonna mention is this another new round of layoffs at Microsoft 650

[00:03:36] [SPEAKER_01]: people, the majority of those, I guess, are Activision Blizzard in the majority of those

[00:03:42] [SPEAKER_01]: were supposedly like HR, PR roles.

[00:03:45] [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yeah.

[00:03:47] [SPEAKER_01]: Apart from these like, listen, these not might, they might not be like non-development

[00:03:52] [SPEAKER_01]: positions and sure Xbox isn't canceling any games or shutting down any studios, but

[00:03:57] [SPEAKER_01]: my man that's still like 650 people that are out of work all of a sudden.

[00:04:01] [SPEAKER_01]: So that's the thing it's like, even if you're not a developer, you're job just might

[00:04:07] [SPEAKER_01]: go poof.

[00:04:08] [SPEAKER_01]: So it's a big shame.

[00:04:10] [SPEAKER_01]: I saw this really good tweet that I, that I retweeted out.

[00:04:14] [SPEAKER_01]: This is from somebody who's, uh, Lizette, T-Try Montgomery.

[00:04:19] [SPEAKER_01]: She has some really interesting tweets and this is what she said.

[00:04:21] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm just gonna read it from what she said.

[00:04:23] [SPEAKER_01]: She said the brain drain from these layoffs are going to cost industry billions in

[00:04:26] [SPEAKER_01]: the long run.

[00:04:27] [SPEAKER_01]: It takes five to seven years to build up the skills to be an effective game dev.

[00:04:31] [SPEAKER_01]: It takes just three to five years for the system to burn them out.

[00:04:34] [SPEAKER_01]: We deserve better unionized.

[00:04:36] [SPEAKER_01]: And I think like she's totally right.

[00:04:38] [SPEAKER_01]: Like all these layoffs, it's a huge brain drain and if you're wondering why you don't

[00:04:43] [SPEAKER_01]: have senior devs, if you're wondering why people are done after 10 years, then this

[00:04:50] [SPEAKER_01]: is part of it.

[00:04:50] [SPEAKER_01]: This is a huge part of it.

[00:04:53] [SPEAKER_00]: It's been proven.

[00:04:55] [SPEAKER_00]: It's a very clear and obvious and proven fact that the more, the longer you keep the

[00:05:05] [SPEAKER_00]: same talent, development talent together and allow them to cook the better higher quality

[00:05:15] [SPEAKER_00]: games that you will produce period.

[00:05:18] [SPEAKER_00]: We just know this.

[00:05:19] [SPEAKER_00]: This is just like everyone in the industry like totally understands this.

[00:05:23] [SPEAKER_00]: When you see failures in development studios, usually they are due to a mismanagement

[00:05:32] [SPEAKER_00]: of scope and expectations from an executive standpoint, a leadership decision or be not

[00:05:42] [SPEAKER_00]: sufficient veteran talent to see a project through it because video games are freaking

[00:05:48] [SPEAKER_00]: hard to make.

[00:05:49] [SPEAKER_00]: And you need literal geniuses to like finish them.

[00:05:54] [SPEAKER_00]: You need geniuses to lead the other geniuses.

[00:05:57] [SPEAKER_00]: And you need them to all be working together building stuff for a really long time

[00:06:03] [SPEAKER_00]: to really, really cook.

[00:06:06] [SPEAKER_00]: And so for that reason, it is a mismanagement from a business standpoint.

[00:06:14] [SPEAKER_00]: It isn't industry that seems to be wildly mismanaged because it cannot be managed

[00:06:20] [SPEAKER_00]: I think in the same way that other businesses can.

[00:06:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Because the finances and the data don't tell the full story.

[00:06:28] [SPEAKER_00]: And so I fully agree with this comment that there will be billions of dollars lost

[00:06:34] [SPEAKER_00]: that cannot be tracked.

[00:06:36] [SPEAKER_00]: That can be tracked on a spreadsheet because of the salaries that were put back in the pocket

[00:06:42] [SPEAKER_00]: of Xbox and all these other studios that have fired, you know, thousands of people.

[00:06:49] [SPEAKER_00]: But the exponential like the exponential gain and like windfall and sales is totally

[00:06:59] [SPEAKER_00]: unforecastable right.

[00:07:00] [SPEAKER_00]: And to this person's point, like yeah, I totally agree.

[00:07:03] [SPEAKER_00]: It's that's billions of dollars that you just can't track in a spreadsheet.

[00:07:08] [SPEAKER_00]: There's no analytics for that.

[00:07:09] [SPEAKER_00]: And this is coming from someone who spends all their day doing analytics and data.

[00:07:12] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm telling you there's no analytics.

[00:07:14] [SPEAKER_00]: There's no, there's no date like don't they trust the data way too much.

[00:07:19] [SPEAKER_00]: And so I was commenting that discord today.

[00:07:21] [SPEAKER_00]: I was like, you know, it's going to be I'm looking forward to in a few years

[00:07:26] [SPEAKER_00]: when Xbox and like these other studios are scrambling to put together talent

[00:07:32] [SPEAKER_00]: because the games haven't sold well enough.

[00:07:35] [SPEAKER_00]: There aren't enough enough of them or they're not scoring well enough critically

[00:07:41] [SPEAKER_00]: for these studios to be successful.

[00:07:43] [SPEAKER_00]: And it's hurting the business at a macro level.

[00:07:47] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's that's the thing is it's I feel like these studios have not learned to manage

[00:07:56] [SPEAKER_01]: to be able to weather this storm when it comes to O-CRAP.

[00:08:00] [SPEAKER_01]: Like we're coming out of pandemic conditions and now we're in this is kind of the industry

[00:08:05] [SPEAKER_01]: and the state where it's out right now and this is what expectations are.

[00:08:08] [SPEAKER_01]: So instead of like weathering the storm but I feel like they're just throwing everything off the ship.

[00:08:14] [SPEAKER_01]: And then yeah, when the storm settles that ship is going to be empty,

[00:08:17] [SPEAKER_01]: you're going to be out of resources and then you're going to be scrambling to hire again,

[00:08:22] [SPEAKER_01]: getting more investors back on board.

[00:08:23] [SPEAKER_01]: And it's like do save yourself the roller coaster.

[00:08:25] [SPEAKER_01]: That's what it feels like.

[00:08:27] [SPEAKER_01]: And you know, I'm no business executive.

[00:08:29] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not like a super smart business savvy person but to me from the outside is just like,

[00:08:35] [SPEAKER_01]: my goodness, like there's just way too much scrambling and I kind of feel like that.

[00:08:40] [SPEAKER_01]: This is this is something that's happening broadly like in the film industry as well.

[00:08:44] [SPEAKER_01]: And I just think one of the biggest differences between film and video games

[00:08:48] [SPEAKER_01]: is the technological innovations and changes in creating video games

[00:08:53] [SPEAKER_01]: and how like rapid that really is.

[00:08:58] [SPEAKER_01]: But there's still this expectation that I think these investors are thinking about like,

[00:09:03] [SPEAKER_01]: a video game should be able to get started and finished in the same time frame as a movie.

[00:09:08] [SPEAKER_01]: Like I think they're just expecting way too much and they're like,

[00:09:11] [SPEAKER_01]: oh, if it's going to take like five years while then we had better assume that this game is going

[00:09:15] [SPEAKER_01]: to make seven times the profit than it would in a similar industry.

[00:09:20] [SPEAKER_01]: So it just seems it all just seems far-fetched.

[00:09:22] [SPEAKER_01]: It feels like it's ridiculous.

[00:09:25] [SPEAKER_01]: But this unless you have something else more to say about the Xbox thing,

[00:09:29] [SPEAKER_01]: this actually brings me to the second piece of news which is just astounding.

[00:09:35] [SPEAKER_01]: Like, I don't know, go for it.

[00:09:38] [SPEAKER_01]: Anapurna Interactive.

[00:09:40] [SPEAKER_01]: Oh yeah, this, yeah.

[00:09:42] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't think like listen, I do not want to underestimate or diminish what we just talked about.

[00:09:48] [SPEAKER_01]: 600 people will just lost their jobs at Xbox.

[00:09:51] [SPEAKER_01]: But I think anapurna Interactive and this is what happens.

[00:09:55] [SPEAKER_01]: So their parent company, Anapurna Pictures, apparently anapurna Interactive,

[00:10:00] [SPEAKER_01]: which is a video game publishing arm of this company was trying to set up a deal to go independent.

[00:10:07] [SPEAKER_01]: And anapurnas Pictures just is like, no and they could not set it on a deal.

[00:10:10] [SPEAKER_01]: And so every single person at Anapurna Interactive resigned effectively killing the video game publishing

[00:10:18] [SPEAKER_01]: arm of anapurna Pictures.

[00:10:21] [SPEAKER_01]: And that like, I don't know, this blows my mind.

[00:10:26] [SPEAKER_01]: If you're a long time listener, you know that when I talk about indie games and indie publishers

[00:10:30] [SPEAKER_01]: and big ones to me, there's the big three.

[00:10:33] [SPEAKER_01]: There's developer digital, there's raw fear in there's anapurna Interactive.

[00:10:38] [SPEAKER_01]: And one of those going out to me feels reminiscent of like early 2000s

[00:10:43] [SPEAKER_01]: when a lot of music recording companies were just massive ones.

[00:10:47] [SPEAKER_01]: Just went under and just disappeared forever.

[00:10:50] [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm like, dude, what a huge move by all those team members to all resigned

[00:10:56] [SPEAKER_01]: and really stick their finger to the man there to really say what they wanted to say

[00:11:04] [SPEAKER_01]: through their actions to anapurna Pictures.

[00:11:06] [SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, I'm realing.

[00:11:07] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm still thinking about this.

[00:11:08] [SPEAKER_01]: That was going to be on my mind for a long time.

[00:11:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that is wild.

[00:11:13] [SPEAKER_00]: I wrote the article and I didn't quite understand the context of what it didn't give like,

[00:11:18] [SPEAKER_00]: a lot of detail.

[00:11:19] [SPEAKER_00]: So hopefully more details come to light in the next few days.

[00:11:24] [SPEAKER_01]: I, I really hope so.

[00:11:26] [SPEAKER_00]: I, excuse me, because it, it seems like obviously it was a tactic.

[00:11:32] [SPEAKER_00]: Obviously it was negotiating tactic, right?

[00:11:35] [SPEAKER_00]: Because you don't just all collectively resign without,

[00:11:41] [SPEAKER_00]: you collectively resign with the hope that you get what you want out of the negotiation.

[00:11:46] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[00:11:49] [SPEAKER_00]: I guess there's a world where they just don't hire any of those people back and then there's like

[00:11:53] [SPEAKER_00]: other people that they hire instead and who knows how that to, I don't know.

[00:11:58] [SPEAKER_00]: That seems crazy.

[00:11:58] [SPEAKER_00]: That's to your point.

[00:11:59] [SPEAKER_00]: That's one of the beacons of the indie game space from a publishing standpoint.

[00:12:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Like that, that, that stamp, that publishing arm like means a lot.

[00:12:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Like when they publish a game, like it's a big deal.

[00:12:13] [SPEAKER_01]: Yep, they've developed a lot of good faith with gamers and gaming like enthusiasts

[00:12:20] [SPEAKER_01]: to the point where there's so many people that are like, oh, and a pernus publishing this.

[00:12:24] [SPEAKER_01]: They're like, oh, like I'll probably buy it.

[00:12:27] [SPEAKER_01]: And I feel like that, actual percentage of people who see an apparent interactive

[00:12:31] [SPEAKER_01]: and then buy a game is like really high.

[00:12:34] [SPEAKER_01]: And that one is freaking wild.

[00:12:37] [SPEAKER_01]: I do want to do, say, really quickly.

[00:12:39] [SPEAKER_01]: One of the biggest immediate concerns because humble games, which was also a huge indie publisher,

[00:12:47] [SPEAKER_01]: similarly not quite maybe, but I mean they were shut down.

[00:12:52] [SPEAKER_01]: And a lot of the games that they had current contracts with things got really shaky.

[00:12:58] [SPEAKER_01]: So for example, Squid Shock, who recently launched Bo Path of the Tieral Lotus,

[00:13:05] [SPEAKER_01]: they were published by humble games and their game came out like days,

[00:13:10] [SPEAKER_01]: like two days I feel like within 48 hours of humble games getting shut down.

[00:13:15] [SPEAKER_01]: And so all of the marketing that was in their contract, humble games just stopped doing it.

[00:13:21] [SPEAKER_01]: And we talked about this in our arco episode.

[00:13:24] [SPEAKER_01]: So one of the things that we feel like is important for these indie games is to have like a really strong

[00:13:28] [SPEAKER_01]: publisher to handle marketing because the market is so saturated.

[00:13:32] [SPEAKER_01]: And so I know that Squid Shock has been having to deal with a lot of fallout of like, oh my gosh.

[00:13:39] [SPEAKER_01]: These people are no longer marketing their game because they're not really there.

[00:13:43] [SPEAKER_01]: And so with Anapurna Interactive this has been my biggest concern.

[00:13:46] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, oh my gosh what's going to happen with all those contracts?

[00:13:49] [SPEAKER_01]: Now there was a statement that came out that said that Anapurna Pictures is going to hire like

[00:13:54] [SPEAKER_01]: temp people to essentially fulfill all the contracts that they've made to those studios.

[00:14:00] [SPEAKER_01]: But again coming back to this point about a brain drain, you get some random PR people who maybe

[00:14:05] [SPEAKER_01]: never worked in the video game industry or have little experience in there and now they're

[00:14:10] [SPEAKER_01]: handling your marketing and distribution for all these games.

[00:14:14] [SPEAKER_01]: A bunch of devs got the short end of the stick there.

[00:14:17] [SPEAKER_01]: Effective today.

[00:14:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah that's crazy.

[00:14:24] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah but we can't report so Lush file, Lush foil for talk for sim, we interviewed

[00:14:29] [SPEAKER_01]: them on the show a long time ago.

[00:14:31] [SPEAKER_01]: They came out and said our game was like pretty much done so this should have impact us too much,

[00:14:37] [SPEAKER_01]: which I'm like okay one I'm glad into does that mean that game's coming out soon?

[00:14:41] [SPEAKER_01]: Me selfishly thinking well so many people are dealing with crisis I'm like oh this

[00:14:45] [SPEAKER_01]: game I might be coming out soon but um dude yeah that's big news I'm really hoping that

[00:14:51] [SPEAKER_01]: their power play pans out soon.

[00:14:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Well hopefully it does um let's be in a power play.

[00:15:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Jake and I have been power playing what little game called Keravan Sandwich

[00:15:12] [SPEAKER_00]: just so everybody knows we received keys for this video game to play it ahead of release.

[00:15:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Jake and I both put some time into this tight little mini open world.

[00:15:25] [SPEAKER_00]: As it were Keravan of Sandwich Jake how are we gonna break this one down?

[00:15:29] [SPEAKER_01]: Yes um we are going to be talking about excuse me.

[00:15:34] [SPEAKER_01]: We are going to be talking about Keravan Sandwich in three different categories.

[00:15:39] [SPEAKER_01]: The first one will be the narrative so we're going to be talking about

[00:15:44] [SPEAKER_01]: such what happens in this game what the story is and what narrative themes

[00:15:48] [SPEAKER_01]: had it deals with this is a super interesting one and then the next um Keravan will be talking

[00:15:53] [SPEAKER_01]: about game design like Cameron said this is like a mini open world and I feel like this is kind

[00:15:59] [SPEAKER_01]: of a trend that I'm seeing happening or at least there are enough of these games that have

[00:16:05] [SPEAKER_01]: come out with mini open worlds to say like hey this might be something new that's emerging.

[00:16:10] [SPEAKER_01]: So we'll be talking about that game design but we'll also be talking about just essentially

[00:16:14] [SPEAKER_01]: what it's like moment to moment playing Keravan Sandwich and then finally we'll be talking

[00:16:19] [SPEAKER_01]: about impact on the industry where we here we're gonna we're gonna speculate I've been following

[00:16:25] [SPEAKER_01]: launch news pretty closely with Keravan Sandwich and so there's some interesting things to say

[00:16:30] [SPEAKER_01]: about it for sure and so yeah really excited to talk about this one just want to say

[00:16:36] [SPEAKER_01]: JF games they did the PR marketing and they gave us a code so Cameron played this one on steam

[00:16:42] [SPEAKER_01]: I played this one on PS5 and so thank you to them for for giving that to us and yeah

[00:16:48] [SPEAKER_01]: narrative of this game I just wanted to upfront apologize so many of these names are in French and

[00:16:55] [SPEAKER_01]: my background is in Spanish and so I'm gonna yeah I can't remember any not a single one of

[00:17:01] [SPEAKER_01]: these names these listen French it's a wonderful beautiful language but my mouth has not built

[00:17:07] [SPEAKER_01]: for French so I'm just gonna have to apologize to the French speaking listeners that we're going

[00:17:13] [SPEAKER_01]: try I even listen to a pronunciation guide for the main character it's spelled French speaking

[00:17:18] [SPEAKER_01]: listeners are going to laugh it's spelled SA UGE and I think that's like south south

[00:17:25] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm like already embarrassed Saje Saje Saje Saje Saje Saje well the general rule in

[00:17:31] [SPEAKER_01]: French right is you don't pronounce the last third of a word Saje Saje Saje I think it's like south

[00:17:38] [SPEAKER_01]: G is really soft I don't know man should okay that takes us right into the narrative

[00:17:49] [SPEAKER_00]: there's a girl named man we're really butchering this I just apologize to any French speaking

[00:17:56] [SPEAKER_00]: or native listeners supremely apologized Swaja you should probably look up this video

[00:18:04] [SPEAKER_01]: checking right now because I am so embarrassed so let me sound in the world yeah where the world

[00:18:15] [SPEAKER_00]: has so you start off on a space station and you get a message from your sister

[00:18:27] [SPEAKER_00]: that has been missing for a long time and you head down to the earth planet or is it earth planet I

[00:18:37] [SPEAKER_00]: in earth like planet you go down there and there's like a little village and you dad's down there

[00:18:43] [SPEAKER_00]: for some reason that I actually don't understand so again I apologize I'm

[00:18:50] [SPEAKER_00]: and you figure out that some stuff went down with a big all corporation

[00:18:57] [SPEAKER_00]: that kind of messed up and kind of left the world in a bad place and you set off to

[00:19:06] [SPEAKER_00]: solve some problems on earth there on whatever earth like planet this is and look for your sister

[00:19:13] [SPEAKER_01]: and that's that's a plot that is a basic premise okay so I double check this French speaking

[00:19:20] [SPEAKER_01]: listeners please clap soge oh really it listen sounds like S O W J I press the button

[00:19:35] [SPEAKER_01]: soge soge I swear I listen to it pronounce anyway whatever soge yeah you're looking for your sister

[00:19:44] [SPEAKER_01]: got on's go wrongs maybe modding could this listen Latin American people please make more

[00:19:51] [SPEAKER_01]: games so I can pronounce the names of all these characters anyway yeah so really you're on like

[00:19:56] [SPEAKER_01]: your spot on you go to this planet Cigillo that's how I pronounce it in my mind and

[00:20:02] [SPEAKER_01]: you go to the town Estelo which does look like a Spanish word and you I mean this is this

[00:20:10] [SPEAKER_01]: was like your hometown and it's like coming back to the small potant town that you grew up

[00:20:14] [SPEAKER_01]: and because you've been out you've been in space city I didn't academy studying to be a pilot

[00:20:21] [SPEAKER_01]: and so souges there and yeah this is a big deal because your sister disappeared six years ago and

[00:20:28] [SPEAKER_01]: you're like we shouldn't be getting a message from her from her spaceship from her crash site

[00:20:35] [SPEAKER_01]: she's presumed to be dead because this book been so long as she never showed again

[00:20:40] [SPEAKER_01]: and everybody is you know you get to town and people are kind of mixed I mean people are

[00:20:46] [SPEAKER_01]: happy to see you but people feel like you kind of left in a lurch you don't really keep in touch

[00:20:51] [SPEAKER_01]: and people are like oh you come back because ooh this is sticky you come back and you think that

[00:20:56] [SPEAKER_01]: your sister might still be alive when everybody's kind of accepted that she has passed and they've

[00:21:01] [SPEAKER_01]: they've moved on so you kind of come into this sticky scenario which I think is a good way to

[00:21:07] [SPEAKER_01]: start a game honestly because it allows for a lot of it just plants a lot of roots for character

[00:21:13] [SPEAKER_01]: development and for narrative progression and when you get to this planet you essentially

[00:21:20] [SPEAKER_01]: you're trying to get into a giant magnetic storm where the signal is being broadcast from

[00:21:27] [SPEAKER_01]: and you can't right I mean people haven't been approaching the storm for a long time because

[00:21:32] [SPEAKER_01]: it's super dangerous and so you're working with somebody else's neffly neffly

[00:21:38] [SPEAKER_01]: who also is like you know what this is this is somebody who also is super you know involved

[00:21:44] [SPEAKER_01]: with your sister and kind of wants to get to the heart of this broadcast and so you're going

[00:21:50] [SPEAKER_01]: that's essentially the premise and now you're going around you have this awesome van dude I

[00:21:55] [SPEAKER_01]: love the van in this game the man is dope is heck and you're going around in a region here

[00:22:02] [SPEAKER_01]: and you're trying to collect essentially materials scavenge scraps so that you can

[00:22:07] [SPEAKER_01]: build different apparatus is that you attach to your van essentially so that you can penetrate this

[00:22:14] [SPEAKER_01]: magnetic storm and figure out what has happened and so as you continue through the game you

[00:22:19] [SPEAKER_01]: you learn a lot more about why this place was kind of abandoned, why things are run down

[00:22:26] [SPEAKER_01]: and the this mystery sort of unfolds in it and I honestly thought that like I will really

[00:22:34] [SPEAKER_01]: liked the overarching like narrative to this game in the latter half of the game when the emotional

[00:22:42] [SPEAKER_01]: beats are supposed to start paying off they actually fell a little flat for me unfortunately

[00:22:49] [SPEAKER_01]: so I thought like the premise was really good and I don't even think that the writing was bad

[00:22:54] [SPEAKER_01]: but I do wonder like I'm not exactly sure what happened and I've been thinking about this since

[00:23:03] [SPEAKER_01]: I beat the game a few days ago like why was it that I just didn't feel super emotionally attached

[00:23:09] [SPEAKER_01]: when these beats hit in the second part of the game so I apologize that I can't like super

[00:23:13] [SPEAKER_01]: clearly succinctly put it into words but I think they just kind of they weren't super strong

[00:23:21] [SPEAKER_01]: emotional moments and the language used just like didn't I just I guess I just hadn't

[00:23:27] [SPEAKER_01]: developed a relationship strong enough with the characters to feel super invested when those moments hit

[00:23:32] [SPEAKER_01]: so that's probably my biggest criticism of the game narrative yeah I think the I was

[00:23:39] [SPEAKER_00]: I was intrigued at the beginning I like I liked the hook of kind of the

[00:23:46] [SPEAKER_00]: message from the sister that comes out of nowhere I think that's a great hook they just they didn't

[00:23:51] [SPEAKER_00]: they didn't follow up on that quickly enough for me and I'll be transparent that I did not finish

[00:23:56] [SPEAKER_00]: the game I like Jake I I'm only a few hours in and so Jake's gonna give him much deeper kind of

[00:24:05] [SPEAKER_00]: more thoughtful breakdown but I'm gonna do my best kind of with what I gave it to and this isn't

[00:24:09] [SPEAKER_00]: a long game so I think I still got like a relatively decent chunk but I definitely have um

[00:24:17] [SPEAKER_00]: I think there's a possibly a localization issue here oh good I got I could be wrong on that but

[00:24:27] [SPEAKER_00]: I got the vibe like from so there's no voice acting which I think doesn't help but you know it's an

[00:24:33] [SPEAKER_00]: indie game like it's you know that's that's that's that's to be expected yeah which made it hard

[00:24:38] [SPEAKER_00]: for sort of the emotion so I think that what that means is that you have to do an even better job

[00:24:43] [SPEAKER_00]: with the writing and I think just some of the dialogue and some of the things like just did not hit

[00:24:49] [SPEAKER_00]: for me like at all and I got the vibe that I was it felt like it was something that had been localized

[00:24:56] [SPEAKER_00]: maybe not with the you know at Jake you know this better than you want to having done some localization

[00:25:07] [SPEAKER_00]: like localization I think is just as much an art as it is an active translation is it not?

[00:25:12] [SPEAKER_00]: a little bit yeah absolutely because you're you're not only conveying you're not you're not just

[00:25:17] [SPEAKER_00]: translating the words you are translating the meaning of a series of words to extract what

[00:25:28] [SPEAKER_00]: meaning was you know intended from the original language which in many cases is not an easy task

[00:25:35] [SPEAKER_00]: yeah I don't know I have no idea if that's the case here but the writing kind of fell so

[00:25:42] [SPEAKER_00]: at for me that it that was one of the first things it came to mind was it seems like it was

[00:25:47] [SPEAKER_00]: probably written in French first and then localized and it just didn't hit from me I just didn't

[00:25:53] [SPEAKER_00]: feel like enough tension and it doesn't need to be like negative tension or like scary stressful

[00:26:00] [SPEAKER_00]: tension but there just wasn't enough of like I didn't feel any of the expediency of kind of the

[00:26:06] [SPEAKER_00]: word like you get the miss from your sister you feel like oh man like I need to get out there and

[00:26:10] [SPEAKER_00]: find her and it's like oh wait first go do these tasks for these villagers and go grab these

[00:26:16] [SPEAKER_00]: micotrips right and it's like I wanted to feel kind of more of that I liked the um this is another

[00:26:24] [SPEAKER_00]: game kind of environmentalism you know pops up on the idea of you know mega corporations kind of

[00:26:40] [SPEAKER_00]: that's a theme throughout the game but yeah I think those are my kind of basic comments in

[00:26:46] [SPEAKER_01]: the narrative yet just fell like pretty far from me yeah which is a shame because it does have some

[00:26:54] [SPEAKER_01]: it does have some relatively interesting moments and like you mentioned like I think thematically

[00:26:59] [SPEAKER_01]: like it's it's really solid because it's not just like hey environmentalism is important but

[00:27:07] [SPEAKER_01]: like let's save the planet let's go green let's be sustainable right it's not surface level

[00:27:15] [SPEAKER_01]: environmentalism it discusses quite a lot like well not only is there environmental impact

[00:27:21] [SPEAKER_01]: with resource extraction but when a company fails and when maybe this is a little on the nose

[00:27:28] [SPEAKER_01]: for what's happening in the games industry but when a company fails or when a company suddenly pulls

[00:27:35] [SPEAKER_01]: out of a location um and it leaves its workers stranded and without you know an income and so what

[00:27:43] [SPEAKER_01]: do you do what do those people do like how do you pick up the pieces of a company that just kind

[00:27:49] [SPEAKER_01]: of ups and leaves um do you take those workers with you I mean listen if companies are thinking

[00:27:55] [SPEAKER_01]: about dollars and cents they're not thinking about people right and so people get left behind

[00:27:59] [SPEAKER_01]: and they get left behind with environmental you know issues with ecological crises that they

[00:28:05] [SPEAKER_01]: have to deal with without resources and without money to do so and so I think Caravan Sandwich

[00:28:11] [SPEAKER_01]: actually does discuss this quite well the game is divided up into like chapters roughly like and

[00:28:18] [SPEAKER_01]: um and want to say it's like chapter three or four you do have to do a lot of side quests and we'll

[00:28:23] [SPEAKER_01]: talk about this in a second but you have to do a lot of side quests for the villagers and many

[00:28:27] [SPEAKER_01]: of them are this so like oh my gosh you know we just realize that the seeds that we've been using

[00:28:32] [SPEAKER_01]: aren't actually viable for this planet not without the companies resources like to maintain

[00:28:37] [SPEAKER_01]: them so we need different kinds of seeds in order to grow food or something like oh it looks

[00:28:42] [SPEAKER_01]: like you know this this machine that we have is going to run out we need to get scrap parts together

[00:28:48] [SPEAKER_01]: to keep it going so that we can you know keep this city alive and so you start running into

[00:28:54] [SPEAKER_01]: those problems a lot and I thought that was done really well for me narratively that was

[00:28:58] [SPEAKER_01]: definitely the strongest part of the game um and then this isn't really that much of a spoiler

[00:29:04] [SPEAKER_01]: but there is the titular witch in the game and this is probably my other criticism of the narrative

[00:29:11] [SPEAKER_01]: as I feel like the transition this this game tries to juggle two stories which is okay find your

[00:29:18] [SPEAKER_01]: sister's broadcasts and who is this mysterious sand and they're just called witches or sand

[00:29:24] [SPEAKER_01]: which is in the game um and that sort of transition to of that like mystery of who the sand which

[00:29:30] [SPEAKER_01]: was did not feel it wasn't emotionally gripping either which I think is a shame like and this

[00:29:37] [SPEAKER_01]: this is probably my final thoughts on the narrative of the game all of the pieces are there

[00:29:41] [SPEAKER_01]: for something that's really wonderfully done that has a lot to say that has an interesting

[00:29:48] [SPEAKER_01]: perspective on environmental politics that has something interesting to say about coming home

[00:29:53] [SPEAKER_01]: in you know rural communities that are left kind of in ruins and kind of left to perish

[00:30:00] [SPEAKER_01]: and so like on a macro level I think this narrative is super great but moment to moment man

[00:30:06] [SPEAKER_01]: I it just missed something was missing there that I felt like didn't get me super engaged 100

[00:30:14] [SPEAKER_01]: percent of my playthrough now some of the side quests I think I was more engaged than others

[00:30:19] [SPEAKER_01]: absolutely and there are moments that I really enjoy don't get me wrong but overall it just felt

[00:30:26] [SPEAKER_01]: like it was lacking just a little bit in order to keep me like 100 percent cemented in the story

[00:30:34] [SPEAKER_00]: let's jump to my canter to the design so there's this is a game without combat

[00:30:47] [SPEAKER_00]: right Jake yeah just make sure I didn't miss a big there's no random combat

[00:30:53] [SPEAKER_01]: okay I was like I made it at minimum half of this game this game took me probably seven and a

[00:30:57] [SPEAKER_00]: half hours to be and that was not entirely mainlining it yeah so no combat it's it's based around

[00:31:09] [SPEAKER_00]: kind of light puzzle solving super light platforming and collecting like red and green

[00:31:20] [SPEAKER_00]: kind of micro chips yeah and which you know that's that's pretty much it

[00:31:30] [SPEAKER_00]: and you do you decide quests and you have a vehicle that you travel around

[00:31:34] [SPEAKER_00]: that has the ability to kind of detect where these radars are that are that are kind of blocking

[00:31:44] [SPEAKER_00]: that will unlock the maps that you can see stuff

[00:31:50] [SPEAKER_00]: and relatively simple mechanics but takes place in sort of a

[00:31:56] [SPEAKER_00]: many open world as I mentioned earlier which which will dive into a little bit more later

[00:32:02] [SPEAKER_00]: but yeah I think the best part of this for me from a everything you know felt fine

[00:32:08] [SPEAKER_00]: like felt pretty good I this isn't like a platformer movement isn't particularly like a strong

[00:32:15] [SPEAKER_00]: suit I don't think like the puzzles were crazy engaging I think it's lacking like a little bit

[00:32:22] [SPEAKER_00]: of mechanical depth in my opinion it's needed like maybe just like a little bit more and you know

[00:32:28] [SPEAKER_00]: and there is something to this is just a chill game yeah and I think that if that's what

[00:32:35] [SPEAKER_00]: they were going for I think they definitely achieved that but it kind of teed it on the edge

[00:32:42] [SPEAKER_00]: for me of is this a chill game I think what broke that for me is when I got to sort of the second

[00:32:50] [SPEAKER_00]: main quest where it was like hey you need 42 of the green microchips yeah and I was like okay

[00:33:00] [SPEAKER_00]: this isn't as chill as I thought it was because I was thinking like oh I'll get this main quest

[00:33:05] [SPEAKER_00]: and I can kind of just like boop around and go grab some chips and just like keep the story

[00:33:09] [SPEAKER_00]: moving and that's and I was kind of looking forward to that and as soon as I saw that number I was like

[00:33:14] [SPEAKER_00]: man that is steep and obviously that's encouraging to go and like do side quests and kind of

[00:33:19] [SPEAKER_00]: getting involved with other stuff which I told like it but that to me that was kind of like

[00:33:24] [SPEAKER_01]: stick your shock a little bit for me yeah I think yeah this is this is I think we're

[00:33:30] [SPEAKER_01]: camera-in-ise past we might diverge a little bit I understand everything you're saying and

[00:33:35] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know for me as like a really chill kind of collectathon game it really worked

[00:33:41] [SPEAKER_01]: I actually really enjoy just let's go out in the van let's cruise around let's go to different

[00:33:45] [SPEAKER_01]: ruins let's find little bits we're gonna need to collect them let's go back to the base let's

[00:33:50] [SPEAKER_01]: turn them in let's get side quests from the different villagers and just kind of collect stuff and

[00:33:57] [SPEAKER_01]: so it really worked for me but I agree with camera that like if you want this game is not

[00:34:03] [SPEAKER_01]: necessarily well it's not hard by any means at all but if you want something that's really engaging

[00:34:10] [SPEAKER_01]: that's going to make you think a little harder about accomplishing puzzles carry on sand which is

[00:34:15] [SPEAKER_01]: not that game this game is really just about popping around in your van around the desert going to

[00:34:20] [SPEAKER_01]: different ruins and just kind of peeking in and seeing what you can grab and go so it is

[00:34:29] [SPEAKER_01]: what I'll say about the game is I came to the realization right before I finished the game

[00:34:34] [SPEAKER_01]: that I think this game is actually structured a lot like a 3D Metroidvania

[00:34:39] [SPEAKER_01]: in a many open world setting and I actually really liked that game design and I think that was

[00:34:47] [SPEAKER_01]: probably the strongest part about carry-on sand which because as you go through different chapters

[00:34:51] [SPEAKER_01]: cameras alluding to this you essentially need to get a bunch of different chips or parts so that

[00:34:57] [SPEAKER_01]: you can create different like I think I said earlier aparatuses that you attach to your van

[00:35:03] [SPEAKER_01]: that give you specific abilities and hey this is starting to sound like a metravaniah right

[00:35:07] [SPEAKER_01]: as you get more abilities when you go and revisit a bunch of the ruins that you've already seen

[00:35:12] [SPEAKER_01]: you can unlock more parts of those ruins and you can get more things out of them and then

[00:35:18] [SPEAKER_01]: you can turn those in and you can get new abilities and then you can do your new circuit

[00:35:23] [SPEAKER_01]: and you can start kind of that's where the real progression is in the game um I will agree

[00:35:28] [SPEAKER_01]: I can't remember which part I was going for for the van but I hit one part and I was like do that

[00:35:34] [SPEAKER_01]: is a big I had a similar I had the same thoughts camera and actually I was like do that as a lot of

[00:35:38] [SPEAKER_01]: chips you're asking for me to go find right now and I this is where many chips do a lot of

[00:35:45] [SPEAKER_01]: a lot of chips um although mate I don't know if it's spoiling or people don't want to know but I

[00:35:52] [SPEAKER_01]: ended the game with a butt ton of chips like I think I had 115 green chips but the time I beat the game

[00:36:00] [SPEAKER_01]: um anyway coming back to what I'm getting out with game design I think that gameplay loop worked really

[00:36:07] [SPEAKER_01]: well but if you are not interested in looking for chips you have to do side quests from villagers

[00:36:15] [SPEAKER_01]: that's how you're going to get a bunch of the more rare chips and so um which honestly

[00:36:21] [SPEAKER_01]: the side quests were kind of uneven in my opinion some of them I really liked some of them gave

[00:36:25] [SPEAKER_01]: really good story beats and some of them wasn't super interested in but what I will talk about

[00:36:29] [SPEAKER_01]: one that I did like quite a lot there's like a race of frogs on the planet called the Reynato's

[00:36:36] [SPEAKER_01]: and one of them is like super interested in finding out more about these ruins and so many

[00:36:40] [SPEAKER_01]: talk to them they're like hey I need you to find the archives and this to me like that type of side

[00:36:46] [SPEAKER_01]: quest that's where the most interesting puzzle platforming actually took place in the game

[00:36:52] [SPEAKER_01]: because you really had to be you had to be a little more creative trying to find these archives

[00:36:58] [SPEAKER_01]: and they were typically in some obscure or hidden location in these ruins and it took some

[00:37:03] [SPEAKER_01]: thinking to get there and so that was my favorite sort of style of side quest was doing those

[00:37:10] [SPEAKER_01]: but this game is also collectathon there's a million things that you can get these ruins and

[00:37:14] [SPEAKER_01]: you can kind of turn them in as different currencies to different NPCs but yeah that side quest I

[00:37:18] [SPEAKER_01]: think was by far my favorite and so I actually did find that this like kind of metrovenious

[00:37:24] [SPEAKER_01]: style to be really rewarding like you could accumulate a lot of stuff but I would say you really cannot

[00:37:31] [SPEAKER_01]: play this game in skip side quests and some of the side quests are going to be really great

[00:37:37] [SPEAKER_00]: and some of them are going to feel like generic fetch quests um yeah I mean not much else to say

[00:37:48] [SPEAKER_00]: I think I said it best my best comment was like this is a chill game if you're looking for just

[00:37:55] [SPEAKER_00]: I think I think it can work for you depending on what type of game where you are

[00:38:05] [SPEAKER_00]: because I think this is only we haven't talked about yet but the art direction and the

[00:38:11] [SPEAKER_00]: graphic like the design of the graphics engine and the art direction in this game is incredible oh yeah

[00:38:20] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm like shocked at how good they're able to get it to look even with sort of like a mini

[00:38:27] [SPEAKER_00]: open world structure not granted there's not like a ton going on in the open world and it's got

[00:38:31] [SPEAKER_00]: sort of a almost sell shaded style but not really it's kind of like a more realistic it's like

[00:38:38] [SPEAKER_00]: cartoony but with sort of realistic ish visuals anyway it looks like very crystal clear it's like hard

[00:38:46] [SPEAKER_00]: to explain but it just looks really good and so if you want just a place that like looks really

[00:38:52] [SPEAKER_00]: good with the because sort of a semi-interesting world with a little bit of a collector thon

[00:38:56] [SPEAKER_00]: I think there's going to be right up your alley I think for me it could just be like a mood

[00:39:00] [SPEAKER_00]: thing in a timing thing which is very much a real thing with video games yeah it just it did not

[00:39:04] [SPEAKER_00]: hit for me like on that level but I could absolutely seeing see it being kind of a great kind of

[00:39:16] [SPEAKER_01]: you are really supposed to spend the bulk of your time cruising around in your van and enjoying

[00:39:21] [SPEAKER_01]: the sights and stopping in the ruins to collect things in this game and yeah I absolutely agree like

[00:39:28] [SPEAKER_01]: this game is absolutely stunning I loved looking at this game it is very easy to take screenshots

[00:39:36] [SPEAKER_01]: of Caravan Sandwich not a mind where ever that good but I don't know maybe I'm just bad

[00:39:43] [SPEAKER_01]: photographer but it was it was really enjoyable just kind of looking at this game and it has

[00:39:49] [SPEAKER_01]: has great vistas and it has actually this is something that I thought was really curious about the

[00:39:54] [SPEAKER_01]: game in a good way right like in a lot of games um like this or that have multiple like like

[00:40:03] [SPEAKER_01]: Metrovania's each area typically has a specific theme and the really common like biome themes

[00:40:09] [SPEAKER_01]: are going to be like forest swamp snowy mountain you know lava volcano and this game I feel like

[00:40:17] [SPEAKER_01]: as they're designing this sort of mini open world it feels like there was like a clear directive

[00:40:22] [SPEAKER_01]: to be like let's make this landscape make sense so like Estelo the city where you live is kind

[00:40:29] [SPEAKER_01]: of in like this the one oasis like forested part of this region and then a big part of this is desert

[00:40:37] [SPEAKER_01]: and so the biomes actually felt really realistic and organic in the way that things flowed into each other

[00:40:44] [SPEAKER_01]: and I think they did a really fantastic job of just making the game feel like a natural landscape

[00:40:53] [SPEAKER_01]: and they made it look beautiful on top of that so yeah there's there's a lot to enjoy as you're

[00:40:59] [SPEAKER_01]: just kind of cruising around in the game let's see I don't think I have any more thoughts on

[00:41:05] [SPEAKER_01]: game design I really like this game design and we keep calling it a mini open world because

[00:41:09] [SPEAKER_01]: once you get access to the van I mean you can really just go anywhere and you can

[00:41:16] [SPEAKER_01]: go to any ruin I mean really nothing is off limits when you first start the game

[00:41:20] [SPEAKER_01]: the map is fuzzed out and you have to go break these signal jammers in order to unlock more of the

[00:41:25] [SPEAKER_01]: map but honestly aside from like the Metrovania elements were different parts of ruins would be

[00:41:31] [SPEAKER_01]: cut off because you don't have ability to access them yet I mean the world's open to you and there's

[00:41:37] [SPEAKER_01]: quite a lot to do and quite a lot of places to go to to explore and to collect different items

[00:41:43] [SPEAKER_00]: and to meet different NPCs let's look about impact on the industry I think this game falls

[00:41:51] [SPEAKER_00]: squarely under somewhere conversation that we had last week in regards to how do you get people

[00:41:59] [SPEAKER_00]: to pay attention to a game like this I do think this game shows very well although that being

[00:42:04] [SPEAKER_00]: said like I had never heard of it Jake Jake just happens to discover these games and knew about

[00:42:10] [SPEAKER_01]: this one where did you see this Jake so I actually saw this game I think for the first time

[00:42:15] [SPEAKER_01]: a few months ago I can't remember it may have been the Sony um I actually think it may have been

[00:42:23] [SPEAKER_01]: this Sony state of play that was a summer um because this game came to let's see came to PC

[00:42:30] [SPEAKER_01]: switching playstation is to have right I don't I saw it some showcase there's thousands of them

[00:42:36] [SPEAKER_01]: over the summer so I saw one over the summer and I remember seeing those actually coming out

[00:42:41] [SPEAKER_01]: in September and I was really shocked I was like oh my gosh this game is they're now looking

[00:42:45] [SPEAKER_01]: now and it's coming out soon great I don't have to wait forever um so yeah that's how I found it

[00:42:55] [SPEAKER_00]: um yeah it's yeah I mean I think this is a great visual looking game that I think can be presented

[00:43:04] [SPEAKER_00]: well it turns it like in back on the industry and games and um I think I would classify this as a cozy

[00:43:10] [SPEAKER_00]: game and obviously we have like the cozy game showcase thing now which I think is great highlighting

[00:43:16] [SPEAKER_00]: these types of games I think there's definitely you know they proved we proved in 2020 the animal

[00:43:22] [SPEAKER_00]: crossing like people want those games unfortunately I think the most I think a huge majority

[00:43:32] [SPEAKER_00]: of people who played animal crossing just stop playing video games altogether after COVID

[00:43:43] [SPEAKER_00]: and and or they played animal crossing and then they played Starty Valley and then nothing else

[00:43:48] [SPEAKER_00]: kind of lived up to that. Those are a high standard. I keep trying to get my wife to play

[00:43:55] [SPEAKER_00]: other games and it honestly comes down to these this isn't Starty Valley why would I play this?

[00:44:01] [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that that is a huge problem right because like when you start with one of the best

[00:44:07] [SPEAKER_00]: you have no your anchored so high that anything else is just a disappointment so yeah I I think

[00:44:13] [SPEAKER_00]: this is a great this is a very solid game I think this is a solid game I don't think this is a

[00:44:18] [SPEAKER_00]: great game for me personally I do think it's solid I do think it can like fill it definitely a

[00:44:23] [SPEAKER_00]: specific niche and if nothing else like it's absolutely beautiful to look at this seems like

[00:44:28] [SPEAKER_00]: a ideal steamed at game or like a game to like plan an airplane or just when you're like chillin out

[00:44:35] [SPEAKER_00]: just run around you know grab your chips you got this kind of cool little mini open world it runs

[00:44:39] [SPEAKER_00]: great but in terms of impact yeah I don't you know I don't really see like a big one for this title to be honest

[00:44:45] [SPEAKER_01]: yeah it's interesting I think you're right I think this app to me this is absolutely a cozy game right

[00:44:51] [SPEAKER_01]: there's no stress with like real time or like quick reflexes so which typically is another way of

[00:44:57] [SPEAKER_01]: saying like no combat in this game it's beautiful to look at a huge part of this game is focusing

[00:45:03] [SPEAKER_01]: on relationships and character development and you it's a slower pace and it's not taxing it's

[00:45:10] [SPEAKER_01]: not stressful it's really just to get you involved with what's happening in the world and just

[00:45:16] [SPEAKER_01]: kind of really lose yourself in the world of a video game so care of an sandwich let's see like I said

[00:45:23] [SPEAKER_01]: earlier I have been following kind of what it's been doing on launch day which is today and it is actually

[00:45:31] [SPEAKER_01]: number two on new intrending which is amazing and it's pretty high just on I think what is one of those

[00:45:40] [SPEAKER_01]: steam categories like top sellers or fast sellers or something like that so I feel like it's doing

[00:45:46] [SPEAKER_01]: relatively well I of course I hope it does super well because I want all games to succeed and

[00:45:54] [SPEAKER_01]: yeah I don't know what I think is one of the homework things about this game is the the mini open

[00:46:00] [SPEAKER_01]: world kind of design and so I'm a big fan of this other games that I've seen that have this it

[00:46:06] [SPEAKER_01]: would be like stable and under the waves and I think it does a super well I would love for other

[00:46:13] [SPEAKER_01]: indie games for the tackle this because when it comes to AAA open world they are massive and there's

[00:46:20] [SPEAKER_01]: tons to do and I don't think that's a problem right but sometimes trying to get through like a massive

[00:46:26] [SPEAKER_01]: AAA open world game feels like it's gonna take your entire life to accomplish right and something

[00:46:34] [SPEAKER_01]: like Caravan Sand which is paired down and I feel like it feels much more achievable so you know

[00:46:41] [SPEAKER_01]: I am really excited for that this is a game you know I think it played incredibly well on ps5 I

[00:46:49] [SPEAKER_01]: encountered and I think this is just because it's like a pre-launch build sometimes I would start at

[00:46:55] [SPEAKER_01]: and you couldn't interact with anything you can only just walk around and so I'd put out the game

[00:46:59] [SPEAKER_01]: booted back up and then it was working fine again but yeah this is a game that ran beautifully on ps5

[00:47:05] [SPEAKER_01]: and I just love games that have big worlds that you can really enjoy on a TV screen and so I think

[00:47:12] [SPEAKER_01]: Caravan Sand which is like another game along those lines where it's like it's a beautiful game let me

[00:47:18] [SPEAKER_01]: look at it on a big screen and so I hope and and I bring all this up I know it kind of sounds like

[00:47:23] [SPEAKER_01]: tangent but I do think that having a game like this release on multiple platforms and not just steam is really big

[00:47:31] [SPEAKER_01]: just to get to a bigger audience and I know this is really tough for indie devs to do

[00:47:37] [SPEAKER_01]: but I think it it just I don't know you reach a bigger audience that way and I kind of hope that

[00:47:44] [SPEAKER_01]: despite how much despair and doom and gloom is in indie games and funding and publishing right now

[00:47:49] [SPEAKER_01]: that more indie games when the signed contracts of publishers that can get out on more platforms and

[00:47:54] [SPEAKER_00]: then just steam and switch or Jake any other thoughts on Caravan Sandwich just a shout out to

[00:48:01] [SPEAKER_00]: the publisher developers for giving us keys for this game thank you so much for doing that

[00:48:08] [SPEAKER_00]: we really enjoyed getting to review and or getting to play and analyze this one yeah I think the

[00:48:19] [SPEAKER_01]: on this game that's fine because we all different tastes I actually really enjoyed this game so

[00:48:23] [SPEAKER_01]: despite having critiques of the game it was really easy for me to hop back in it was really easy

[00:48:29] [SPEAKER_01]: for me to finish into play it is super chill it was just kind of a great way to wind down at the end

[00:48:36] [SPEAKER_01]: of a day and yeah I just I really love the world the plan of Cigalone I loved cruising around

[00:48:42] [SPEAKER_01]: in that van the the van car mechanics like just driving that thing felt exceptionally polished

[00:48:50] [SPEAKER_01]: which obviously is crucial for a game where you're spending a lot of time in the van and so I don't

[00:48:55] [SPEAKER_01]: know I just really appreciated that because it was like this feels good and sometimes driving cars

[00:49:00] [SPEAKER_01]: and games feels awful so that's maybe that's the last impact on the industry please make all of your

[00:49:07] [SPEAKER_01]: cars is driveable as the van is in this game I really enjoyed it well with that ladies down

[00:49:12] [SPEAKER_00]: at this is another episode of the period of my podcast talking care around of sandwich if you

[00:49:18] [SPEAKER_00]: like the show please leave a sub review on your podcast platform of choice you can also follow us

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[00:49:32] [SPEAKER_00]: here what's the what is it so here's actually the funny thing is jake up underscore chipped

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[00:50:34] [SPEAKER_00]: bunch more stuff again thank you so much for listening and have a great night