The Halloween Episode (2024)

[00:00:10] Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of The Pre-Order Bonus Podcast. A very spooky episode of The Pre-Order Bonus Podcast. We're joined by Count Jekula, Professor of Scares. Jake, how are you doing?

[00:00:29] How do you come up with some of these things on the spot?

[00:00:34] I don't know, man. It's a gift. It's a gift.

[00:00:36] It's a gift, man.

[00:00:38] I don't have very many talents in life, but I didn't even use ChatGPT that time. I could have.

[00:00:44] You could have. Hey, I'm doing well to answer your question, but I have noticed that this term, I think I've gotten five or so students that have written me, let me rephrase this. They've sent me emails that were written by ChatGPT.

[00:01:03] No!

[00:01:05] And, I mean, come on. Like, dude, just write me the freaking email. And I think part of it is because these are students that have been behind in some capacity and they're asking for a favor.

[00:01:21] And so, they're trying to ask for the favor in a way that's really difficult for them to articulate.

[00:01:27] And, one, this kind of stings because I'm like, dang, I would have hoped that I would have established enough trust with you that you could have just talked to me, right?

[00:01:37] But, two, it's like, you're asking me for a favor, but you're not even asking. You're offloading, asking that favor to a machine.

[00:01:47] And so, I get this, like, really specific, but... Sorry, I just get this really... What's the word I'm looking for?

[00:01:54] Really rote, really dry, emotionalist.

[00:01:58] So, they don't even take the time to, like, prompt it at all?

[00:02:02] I mean, I'm assuming they did, but it's always like, dear professor, I am writing you now because I am concerned about X thing that is happening.

[00:02:13] And, in order to achieve Y thing, I believe that I need this kind of thing.

[00:02:20] And it's like, hold on. It's like, no, dude. No. Just...

[00:02:25] Right?

[00:02:26] See, I see this as... I see this as... Sorry, continue your story.

[00:02:32] No, I mean, that's really it. The point I want to get at is I have been pretty optimistic about how to teach students proper uses of AI and generative AI programs.

[00:02:43] As proofreading for their essays rather than producing their essays.

[00:02:47] And I actually feel like this term... At the beginning of the term, I got a lot of Gen AI essays.

[00:02:55] But then after I've talked with students and they've gotten poor grades on them because they're not meeting the requirements that I'm asking for,

[00:03:01] I've really been not concerned about it until now.

[00:03:06] We've kind of hit the two-thirds mark of the term.

[00:03:08] And I get these students writing these emails that are created from ChatGPT.

[00:03:12] And I'm like, ugh, guys. I thought we were past this.

[00:03:14] You know?

[00:03:15] Yeah. I mean, this is one of those new generation problems, right?

[00:03:21] It was... First, it was social media poisoning everyone's minds.

[00:03:24] And now it's the use of AI and everything that we do and how everything is going to be just regurgitated garbage generated by the LLM model, right?

[00:03:37] Yeah.

[00:03:37] There's not going to be any individual thoughts or craft in anything.

[00:03:43] That's like the bleak AI future that I think we're facing.

[00:03:47] And you're already starting to see it, right?

[00:03:49] It's frustrating for sure.

[00:03:50] I actually had a student ask me.

[00:03:52] They said, you know, Jacob, what do you think...

[00:03:54] Do you think that AI is ruining the students' capacities to write?

[00:04:00] And I thought it was a really...

[00:04:01] I was really shocked by this question, actually, that I got it.

[00:04:04] Yes.

[00:04:05] I would...

[00:04:07] What I think is actually happening right now in higher ed and specifically essay writing with AI is that right now we're probably experiencing the peak of gen AI abuse, meaning that you're using it to produce all of your assignments.

[00:04:25] Right.

[00:04:26] And I do think that it will level out.

[00:04:28] I do think that academics are slow to respond.

[00:04:31] So I think part of it is on us if you're in charge of your classroom.

[00:04:35] But I also think...

[00:04:36] I've been...

[00:04:37] Actually, since a student asked me this question, I've been pondering this quite a lot.

[00:04:41] And what I have to...

[00:04:42] The conclusion I've come to is that AI has actually done a really, really good thing for universities.

[00:04:48] And it has forced universities and professors specifically to reevaluate if their assignments, if their homework, and if their assessments and tests actually make sense.

[00:05:03] And so for me, like...

[00:05:06] Because I'm teaching a humanities course.

[00:05:08] We're talking about the arts.

[00:05:09] We're talking about, you know, literary studies.

[00:05:11] We're talking about critical thinking and analysis.

[00:05:13] And I believe in that type of a course, the multiple choice test never made sense as a form of assessment.

[00:05:20] Because what it does is it forces a student to memorize trivia and then perform that they have that trivia locked in their brain at the moment of assessment.

[00:05:29] Which I don't actually think properly assesses the skills that I want my students to learn and that my field of study teaches.

[00:05:37] And so I would say that, like, okay, if a student can use AI to respond and get answers to a multiple choice quiz that's online or whatever, then maybe that assessment actually just sucks.

[00:05:51] You know?

[00:05:53] There's incentive for the student to just not do it and still get the good grade.

[00:05:57] And so I do think that part of this reckoning that we're dealing with is, okay, what assignments am I making actually make sense for students,

[00:06:05] for skills that they need to develop?

[00:06:07] And have I actually told my students what those skills are and why they need to develop them?

[00:06:12] And so I think with the right kind of reflection, a lot of good can actually come from this.

[00:06:19] In the meantime, right now, as we're kind of coming up with those ideas and how to creatively respond to the proliferation of Gen.AI,

[00:06:27] I'm dealing with crap like chat GPT emails.

[00:06:30] So I still remain optimistic.

[00:06:33] But that's actually a really, that's a fantastic perspective, Jake.

[00:06:37] I think you're 100% right.

[00:06:39] Like teachers and practitioners of all kinds are going to have to dramatically kind of adjust the standards and the requests and parameters of the things that they ask.

[00:06:53] So that you basically force a student to, to your point, like you force a student to have to use reason, to have to use logic, to have to exercise like the, even if they use chat GPT in some capacity, they can't use it.

[00:07:06] Right?

[00:07:07] Like you have to almost parameterize the way that you assign assignments and like you do different things in order to avoid that, which makes a lot of sense.

[00:07:16] I think to your point.

[00:07:17] It's wild because I have some colleagues that have actually reverted back to the in-class handwritten essay.

[00:07:24] Oh, hey, that's, I mean, that's, that's actually brilliant.

[00:07:28] I mean, yeah, like why not?

[00:07:30] I mean, it works.

[00:07:31] I don't like doing that because it's like, you're taking, you're taking time out of Mike.

[00:07:35] Like I want to say, I don't want to sacrifice 30 minutes of a class or dedicate a 50 minute period to have students write a bunch of stuff by hand.

[00:07:42] However, a part of me is like, ah, but in terms of like actual assessment, if, if I were to do this and this is super old school, but it's coming back.

[00:07:51] If I have spent two weeks talking about how to identify, uh, I don't know, specific literary tropes in different short stories, one form of assessment would be okay.

[00:08:03] On the projector, I have a piece of microfiction, a 50 word story, and then you have to write down in your little blue book, how you're going to analyze this without any outside resources.

[00:08:15] I mean, Jake, something I think you're really good at and I used to maybe be good at it, but I'm not anymore because I'm engineer and I just think like a robot now, but it's lateral thinking, which is taking concepts that are seemingly wholly unrelated to each other and merging them to provide like insight or generate insight or, um, like, uh,

[00:08:44] introspection on, on a given topic, which is already something that most college level students are going to have a massively hard time with just a massively hard time.

[00:08:54] Like generating any original thought about a subject requires you to take your knowledge from other places and apply it to the thing that you're studying in order to generate like an original idea or a unique perspective already crazy hard.

[00:09:10] So then you add the ability that I can just write my crap with chat GPT and it becomes even harder because they don't even have to actually put the pen to paper or the hands to keyboard.

[00:09:21] Well, thank you.

[00:09:22] I appreciate that.

[00:09:23] Anyway, stuff that that's what I'm thinking about a lot.

[00:09:26] Um, thinking about how does that apply to video games?

[00:09:29] I don't know.

[00:09:30] This is how it applies to video games, right?

[00:09:33] Um, I don't know.

[00:09:35] Chat GPT is not the godsend hail Mary for video games either.

[00:09:39] Right.

[00:09:40] Um, listen, to be, to be honest, AI is going to be in the long run.

[00:09:45] I think good for video games.

[00:09:49] That's maybe a controversial statement, but that's because most people who make the games, good games are not going to use AI in the ways that you like suspect that they're going to use them.

[00:10:02] Now, maybe there's going to be cases where like executives are like, Hey, you need to generate 10,000 more quests using this LLM model.

[00:10:10] Right.

[00:10:11] So take all the quests that you wrote quest designer and make 10,000 more of them that are written by chat GPT or whatever.

[00:10:17] The problem is, I think most businesses will be fart, fart, will be smart enough, not fart enough.

[00:10:23] We'll be smart enough to figure out that all those quests are going to be garbage and that's going to decrease the quality of your game, which is going to decrease the amount of sales and like, uh, and sentiment towards your game.

[00:10:37] Anyway, but where they are going to use it is in like stuff like making games look really good, but run on less good hardware with like DLSS and PlayStation super resolution and like all that stuff.

[00:10:53] All that AI stuff like for graphics is super effective.

[00:10:56] So like upscaling stuff, you see that as a potential.

[00:10:59] Upscaling, like the upscaling is just going to continue to get better.

[00:11:02] So I think you're going to be able to have games that are super, super high end, be able to run on your machine because, because they use these more advanced, more and more and more advanced versions of stuff like DLSS and whatever.

[00:11:16] And PlayStation's thing that they're coming out with and at higher frame rates.

[00:11:20] So that's going to be a good thing.

[00:11:21] And then also for, um, speeding up like concepting, which is a, which is a, I've heard a few different conversations around that where concepting and just like spitting out ideas so that you can figure out the direction that you're going to go.

[00:11:37] Not necessarily anything that you're going to actually use in production, but just so you can get an idea kind of stood on its legs.

[00:11:44] AI is going to be really good for that.

[00:11:46] So it's going to speed up the ability to ideate and like generate ideas because you can use it to kind of just stand up things or create concepts for things that you maybe want to build ideas around.

[00:11:58] And so those are two places where I've heard like AI is actually going to be really positive.

[00:12:02] So for what it's, I mean, and what you're mentioning there is that instead of AI being the bandaid that fixes all, um, instead it becomes a tool.

[00:12:11] Right. And this is, this is the direction that I think eventually we will get to.

[00:12:16] Right. And this is where I want it to go is like, and I mentioned this briefly, but like with my students, I think that chat GPT is a really fantastic external proofreader.

[00:12:28] Um, like if, if you need help and one, one of the things that I see a lot with students is like repeating ideas, like just repeating sentences, dude, get chat GPT to check for repetitiveness in your essay.

[00:12:42] Um, because one of those things that's really hard to incorporate in a good essay is flow.

[00:12:47] It's transitions from one paragraph into another.

[00:12:49] And I feel like chat GPT can help with like brainstorming or retooling.

[00:12:55] Like if a student is struggling with transitions, give them some direction.

[00:12:58] Hey, your transition is supposed to accomplish X, you know, X, Y, and Z from one paragraph to another.

[00:13:03] I don't know.

[00:13:04] I think it can be used as a tool in really great ways, but when it's producing ideas, I mean, yeah, that's too far.

[00:13:12] So, but yeah, let's, let's talk about games.

[00:13:15] I'm sorry.

[00:13:15] We've spent nearly 15 minutes.

[00:13:17] Um, this stuff has just been on my mind and we're just, we're doing it.

[00:13:23] You know, this is a podcaster for, but no, you're right.

[00:13:26] We can talk about, this is the Halloween episode.

[00:13:29] That's why we called doctor.

[00:13:31] We called count Jakeula professor of spook.

[00:13:34] Um, these are the things that keep me up at night.

[00:13:37] The haunts AI.

[00:13:40] Yes.

[00:13:40] That's what keeps Jacob.

[00:13:41] And I, this is going to be a very scary, spooky episode because we are not going to follow our regular format.

[00:13:47] Because Jake and I were playing so many different, interesting, scary games and different and various things that we decided we didn't want to do a single game.

[00:13:57] But instead, this is just going to be the Halloween smorgasbord of all the different scary games that we either have played or are playing and our experiences with them.

[00:14:07] Jake, let's start off with you.

[00:14:10] Well, got some really good timing.

[00:14:12] So I've been, um, if you're a long time listener, you know that I am not the biggest fan of like horror games.

[00:14:19] Um, but I'm starting to soften a little bit.

[00:14:22] So I played a resident evil two remake.

[00:14:24] We did episode on that.

[00:14:25] And then we also did one on resident evil four remake, which I was shocked.

[00:14:29] I actually loved the more I think about resident evil four remake, the more it sits really well in my memory, in my playtime with it.

[00:14:38] So I've been playing resident evil village.

[00:14:41] I've been playing signalis, um, which I won't talk too much on because I just did an indie impressions episode.

[00:14:47] This is the queue for the plug for our Patreon.

[00:14:49] It's my longest episode yet.

[00:14:51] It's 48 minutes talking about this game.

[00:14:54] So I'll talk about it briefly in here.

[00:14:56] And then I played the Alan Wake to the Lake house DLC, which just came out.

[00:15:01] Um, and that came out like what the 22nd, maybe a week ago as of this recording.

[00:15:08] And I have, I have a lot of thoughts on that actually.

[00:15:13] So I might start there.

[00:15:16] Um, I don't know.

[00:15:18] I don't want to spoil it too bad, but let's just, I just want to say this.

[00:15:22] If you're going to play the Alan Wake to Lake house DLC, the conversation that Cameron and I have just had on AI is actually a massive theme in this DLC.

[00:15:34] Oh, really?

[00:15:35] Um, allegorically speaking.

[00:15:37] That actually, that's intriguing.

[00:15:38] Okay.

[00:15:38] It very much is, is talking about, uh, what it like putting machines to work to create something specifically.

[00:15:48] And pitting that against what a human is able to create.

[00:15:51] So they take this theme and they, they make it a horror story, which I think is really good.

[00:15:57] You play as, um, what was her name?

[00:16:01] She's an FBC agent Estevez.

[00:16:03] I'm getting her name.

[00:16:04] And then the voice actress's name mixed up.

[00:16:06] But anyway, you play as Estevez and in Alan Wake too, they make reference several times to this, uh, FBC, this federal Bureau of Control facility.

[00:16:16] Out on College of Lake, aptly named the lake house.

[00:16:20] And it's been, uh, during the, if I remember correctly during Alan Wake too, it's kind of silent.

[00:16:26] It's a little surprising considering the events of Alan Wake too, that there's not much involvement from the lake house.

[00:16:32] So you're playing as Estevez and you go and you investigate what the heck is going on here.

[00:16:37] Well, it turns out there's a lot going on and it's really problematic.

[00:16:41] Um, but yeah, for, for fans of Alan Wake too, I got to say the lake house plays exactly like a horror game.

[00:16:48] I mean, you're in there, you have limited inventory.

[00:16:51] Um, you have like infinite space, but everything's dark.

[00:16:56] It's like you and your flashlight.

[00:16:57] And then it's got the Alan Wake too, um, kind of dimension distorting aspects to it as well.

[00:17:04] I actually ended up really enjoying it.

[00:17:06] It's crazy short, dude.

[00:17:08] I think I beat it in 90.

[00:17:10] No, I'm like two hours in one sitting.

[00:17:12] I was really surprised.

[00:17:15] Dang.

[00:17:16] Interesting.

[00:17:17] Yeah.

[00:17:17] Alan Wake.

[00:17:18] I, um, I actually never finished all on the way too.

[00:17:23] I think I'm probably halfway, three quarters through it.

[00:17:27] But it was, I mean, I don't know.

[00:17:30] I did, uh, sometimes that just happens to me with certain games.

[00:17:33] I just like, didn't feel compelled to, to finish out the story.

[00:17:36] It could have been performance.

[00:17:39] Like, cause I played it like brand new, right?

[00:17:41] When it came out.

[00:17:42] Um, but I never got around to actually closing it out.

[00:17:46] It might be one of those games that I circled back to and actually finished.

[00:17:49] And I just did that recently.

[00:17:51] So Midnight Suns.

[00:17:53] Oh, that's right.

[00:17:53] You just finished this, right?

[00:17:55] Speaking of scary games, that could definitely qualify as spooky.

[00:18:00] But, uh, yeah.

[00:18:02] So Midnight Suns is, is if you, if you don't know, I'll just Midnight Suns.

[00:18:07] If you don't know is this really obscure 1980s Marvel comic where they take blade and a couple

[00:18:17] of the X-Men and then a couple of like the main Marvel Avengers, Captain America blade.

[00:18:23] They're all this though.

[00:18:25] I'll look it up while I'm talking, but it's like some more obscure Marvel characters.

[00:18:31] Um, and essentially, so the game is the one I wanted to bring up was magic.

[00:18:40] If you haven't seen her Morbius, Nico Minoru, Scarlet, which venom.

[00:18:47] So anyway, there's a bunch of random peeps and they get put together.

[00:18:51] And the story is based around like these two sisters and one of them and they're both witches,

[00:18:57] but one of them decides to like give her soul to Cthulhu or something along those lines,

[00:19:03] like some demon.

[00:19:04] I can't remember who it is.

[00:19:06] She has a kid and you are the kid in the game.

[00:19:10] You're the hunter.

[00:19:12] And so it has this sort of spooky, scary.

[00:19:14] And that whole, the whole thing takes place in this like interdimensional, like the, a place

[00:19:21] called the Abbey, which is in this interdimensional void in Salem, Massachusetts.

[00:19:27] Ooh, nice.

[00:19:29] So like, it's this all, it's all like Halloween themed.

[00:19:32] And then you go around and you go and you find like little story things, which are about

[00:19:36] like the Salem witch trials and how like they got out of it and they hid away and blah, blah, blah.

[00:19:41] And then you fight like these sort of demon monsters in the world.

[00:19:45] But anyway, that's, that's one that, um, I actually really enjoy it.

[00:19:49] I put 60 hours into that game, but I never, I got to the, like the last two missions,

[00:19:55] probably like a year and a half ago.

[00:19:58] And I finally just like a couple weekends ago, um, I got around to finishing it and, uh, yeah,

[00:20:06] that's a good game.

[00:20:07] Midnight Suns.

[00:20:07] That's a pretty good, actually pretty good Halloween game.

[00:20:09] So, yeah, I remember I played the trial of that.

[00:20:12] So like I had four or five hours or something to play.

[00:20:15] Um, and my thoughts on that were like, blade is very cool.

[00:20:21] I think blade is like, um, again, long-term listeners, you know that I'm like not a really

[00:20:26] big comics superhero guy.

[00:20:28] I don't have anything against them.

[00:20:29] I just never got into them.

[00:20:30] They don't necessarily, I don't know, um, make me all that excited, but playing that game,

[00:20:35] I was surprised at how good the combat is and how cool blade was.

[00:20:40] Um, but yeah, I guess that's true.

[00:20:44] Don't you start the game?

[00:20:45] Like waking up out of a crypt, like a vampire.

[00:20:48] Yes.

[00:20:49] Yeah.

[00:20:49] A hundred percent.

[00:20:50] It's definitely got like Halloween, like spooky themes and the Midnight Suns face off

[00:20:55] like in, uh, I can't remember the exact thing.

[00:21:00] If you go look it up, just go read on Wikipedia.

[00:21:02] It's like the spooky Marvel thing.

[00:21:05] And so they built the whole game around it, but it's actually like a really cool concept.

[00:21:08] And it's a shame that the game didn't, it's a shame that the game like didn't quite hit

[00:21:14] the mainstream.

[00:21:15] It's a really, really solid game.

[00:21:17] I'd actually think a Midnight Suns movie or like Disney plus thing would actually be really

[00:21:23] dope if they did it the right way.

[00:21:25] But if they did that, who would they cast?

[00:21:27] Uh, uh, who would, who would Robert Downey Jr.

[00:21:29] Play?

[00:21:32] Yeah.

[00:21:32] They would have to recast Iron Man or just not put them in.

[00:21:35] The thing with the Midnight Suns is you could just have the weird, like you could have Wolverine.

[00:21:40] You could even make it like alternate universe, honestly, or like multiversal, which is kind

[00:21:45] of what they do now to say, Oh, it's a different multiverse.

[00:21:48] And then they do.

[00:21:49] I'm so far behind on Marvel stuff.

[00:21:50] The last Marvel movie I saw was, uh, that Dr. Strange one, Dr. Strange multiverse of madness.

[00:21:59] I mean, honestly, they kind of changed everything.

[00:22:02] So yeah, that one guy, your basic.

[00:22:04] So because, because nothing really worked, they, they're kind of changing everything anyway.

[00:22:08] So when they release, so Deadpool Wolverine like did some stuff, but that didn't really count.

[00:22:15] But next year when they release, uh, I can't remember what, like the neck, Oh, Captain America,

[00:22:20] the next Captain America movie, like new world order.

[00:22:23] That's going to like restart a whole bunch of stuff because they haven't been the whole,

[00:22:28] like King saga thing.

[00:22:30] Like, Oh yeah.

[00:22:31] Yeah.

[00:22:31] So Jonathan majors.

[00:22:33] Uh, yeah.

[00:22:33] Robert Downey Jr is coming back as Dr.

[00:22:35] Durham.

[00:22:35] In case you guys didn't know, that's like the whole shtick now.

[00:22:38] Yeah.

[00:22:39] So in the midnight sons, he's got to come back as somebody else.

[00:22:41] No, um, midnight sons.

[00:22:44] It wasn't there another, there's another superhero game that I feel like didn't reach a big audience,

[00:22:49] but people who played it kind of enjoyed it.

[00:22:52] Uh, superhero game.

[00:22:54] Yeah.

[00:22:54] But it wasn't, it was DC.

[00:22:55] It was Gotham Knights.

[00:22:56] Maybe.

[00:22:57] Did you play that at all?

[00:22:59] Uh, no, I didn't play Gotham Knights.

[00:23:01] Um, maybe I'm misremembering the reception of that.

[00:23:06] Oh, suicide squad.

[00:23:07] No, I was thinking of Gotham Knights.

[00:23:09] I was, um, yeah.

[00:23:11] Gotham Knights and suicide squad.

[00:23:13] Both massively flop.

[00:23:14] Suicide squad, dude.

[00:23:15] Ouch.

[00:23:17] Yeah.

[00:23:18] You should play midnight sounds though.

[00:23:20] It's regularly on sale for like maybe 10 bucks and it's jam packed with content and it's

[00:23:27] got like cool Marvel characters in it.

[00:23:29] It's got like great animation.

[00:23:31] It's a deck builder.

[00:23:32] So it's got like deck strategy and yeah, like I remember after doing the trial, I was like,

[00:23:38] man, if I was, I wish I was into more, it was like one of the few times I was like,

[00:23:42] I was wish I was more into superheroes cause this actually seems kind of cool.

[00:23:46] So yeah.

[00:23:47] Been out for a while though now, right?

[00:23:51] Yeah.

[00:23:51] It's been out for a while.

[00:23:52] It's cheap.

[00:23:54] Well, Jake, what other scary games have you been playing?

[00:23:57] I've been playing Resident Evil Village.

[00:23:58] I, oh my goodness.

[00:24:01] Didn't we do an episode?

[00:24:02] Did we not do an episode on this?

[00:24:03] We never did an episode on it.

[00:24:04] We never did.

[00:24:06] Um, I, cause I played this one a long time ago.

[00:24:09] Like two years ago.

[00:24:10] I got a lot of thoughts on this.

[00:24:12] Um, so like I already mentioned, I've played Resident Evil two remake and Resident Evil four

[00:24:17] remake, and I really enjoyed both of them.

[00:24:19] Um, if I had infinite time, I'd go back and I do like the route B, um, in, in remake in

[00:24:26] Resident Evil two.

[00:24:27] And then I'd love to play the Ada Wong DLC for Resident Evil four remake.

[00:24:31] But anyway, I've been playing Resident Evil Village and dude, I gotta say the way that they use

[00:24:37] first person in that game versus third person over the shoulder is downright cruel.

[00:24:44] It is so mean.

[00:24:47] So just, just for, I guess, context folks, I'm a, I'm a pretty big wimp and I will wear

[00:24:53] that proudly.

[00:24:54] And so I'm playing Resident Evil village and this isn't much of a game has been out for

[00:24:58] a while.

[00:24:59] So I don't feel too bad spoiling.

[00:25:00] It's been out for like three years or something.

[00:25:02] So you're playing as Ethan Winters and early on you're fighting off these lichens.

[00:25:08] And there's a moment that's a lot like in Resident Evil four where you're in a village and you're

[00:25:12] just getting overrun.

[00:25:13] And it took me forever to realize that basically you just had to survive the time limit.

[00:25:19] And I, it's around that time that this lichen gets up in your face and you're trying to fight

[00:25:24] him off and he bites your hand and, but he doesn't just bite your hand, dude.

[00:25:30] He bites two whole fingers and a chunk of your hand off.

[00:25:34] And that's the moment I realized I was like, this is going to feel way more graphic than

[00:25:40] the other Resident Evil games I've played because it's first person, because people are way

[00:25:44] up in your face.

[00:25:46] They're so much closer to you.

[00:25:48] And Ethan's poor hands, dude, this guy, his hands are just getting battered left and right,

[00:25:56] dude.

[00:25:56] And, and so later on, again, this isn't, this is pretty early on.

[00:26:00] You're in the Dimitris castle.

[00:26:03] And I was, I texted Cameron this, man.

[00:26:05] I was playing and there's a several latches that you need to sort of flip or levers that

[00:26:12] you need to pull in order to unlock gates.

[00:26:14] And so I'm used to this concept by now.

[00:26:16] And so it's probably the fourth or fifth time that I've run into this.

[00:26:19] Um, and so I go to open it and then Lady D shows up out of nowhere, scared the crap out

[00:26:26] of me because she is massive and she just straight up cuts off Ethan's hand.

[00:26:30] And it's just like, you like look over and then the hand is still gripping the lever and

[00:26:35] then you're just stumped.

[00:26:36] There is just like bleeding.

[00:26:38] And so I was like, dude, the body horror in this game gets to me way worse than it does

[00:26:44] in Resident Evil 2 or Resident Evil 4 because it's first person.

[00:26:48] And because in all these cut scenes, you're constantly looking at Ethan's poor, obliterated,

[00:26:53] mashed up, cut off hands.

[00:26:55] Dude, I don't know, dude.

[00:26:56] It's getting me way worse than those other games.

[00:26:59] Like it's, it's scaring you or it's like, it's like, it's like a gross man.

[00:27:06] Just because the stuff that happens is right up in your face and it's takes up the entire

[00:27:11] TV screen.

[00:27:13] Dude, I'll be honest with you.

[00:27:14] Like, so the Dimitris castle, besides the people like who wanted Lady Dimitris to like step

[00:27:21] up on their face, dude, getting chased by something constantly and like random moments is the most

[00:27:33] stressful thing imaginable.

[00:27:36] There's like nothing more stressful in a video game, nothing.

[00:27:39] And both and all the Resident Evil games have some version of like randomly getting chased

[00:27:45] by something that you can't kill and you're defenseless against.

[00:27:48] And it drives me like my, it like makes my skin crawl just like thinking about it.

[00:27:54] And it's like really hard to play those sections.

[00:27:56] Luckily I found with Resident Evil Village that later the game kind of starts as more spooky

[00:28:04] kind of like vampire undead lady thing.

[00:28:09] And then turns into more of crazy carnival thing.

[00:28:16] I would, I would equate that game to like, it's like going to a creepy carnival at the end

[00:28:22] of the day.

[00:28:23] Cause like when you go to the different areas, they all kind of have their own theme and it's

[00:28:27] like the own type of ride.

[00:28:28] But that first one is definitely the most pure like horror scary game.

[00:28:33] Yeah, I definitely agree.

[00:28:35] I am currently guys.

[00:28:36] I haven't finished this.

[00:28:37] I'm at the dollhouse section.

[00:28:40] Oh, I take it back.

[00:28:41] The dollhouse.

[00:28:42] Dude, the dollhouse.

[00:28:43] I forgot about, dang it.

[00:28:45] I forgot.

[00:28:46] Sorry, that was blocked from your memory.

[00:28:48] That's the one.

[00:28:49] That's the one.

[00:28:49] That's the one.

[00:28:50] Dude.

[00:28:51] Okay.

[00:28:52] So to be totally upfront, I have this weird, I've always had this weird like fascination

[00:28:58] with Resident Evil games because, um, I love my favorite streamers on Twitch are either speed

[00:29:05] runners or challenge runners.

[00:29:06] And the Resident Evil series is incredibly popular game to do both speed runs and challenge

[00:29:12] runs in.

[00:29:12] And so a lot of these streamers that I watch, um, they've done Resident Evil streams before

[00:29:18] and I've seen Resident Evil streams.

[00:29:20] But, um, when you're watching a speed run versus playing it, it's like two entirely different

[00:29:25] games.

[00:29:26] And so I had got it in my mind that the dollhouse was a really short section.

[00:29:31] Um, and that, I don't know, man, but playing through it, I'm like this, this, this so freaky

[00:29:41] dude.

[00:29:41] Like, um, dude, that, that baby abomination, dude, dude, don't even.

[00:29:47] And that is who came up with this, dude.

[00:29:51] It's, it is so freaking terrifying, man.

[00:29:55] Oh, dude.

[00:29:55] Just thinking about it.

[00:29:56] Like I'm getting the heebie jeebies, man.

[00:29:58] Like no, no, no, no.

[00:30:00] That section is outrageous.

[00:30:01] And the thing is like my experience with Resident Evil games is like they're really spooky for

[00:30:06] me at first, but then I get used to the game.

[00:30:08] And as soon as you get a few like upgrades, it's like, okay, I can handle it.

[00:30:12] You know, I can handle what they're throwing at me, especially Resident Evil four, because

[00:30:16] it's so action heavy is like that as well, too.

[00:30:19] Like after the first, like fourth of the game, I was like hitting my stride, really excited

[00:30:24] to play, um, and make progress in that game.

[00:30:27] And I was hitting that with, I was hitting that with Resident Evil village.

[00:30:31] And then I got to the dollhouse and I'm like, dude, I don't know if I can finish this section.

[00:30:37] The nice thing about Resident Evil games for sure is that quarter halfway through, you just

[00:30:42] turn to like Jason Bourne and you're just like one shotting undead, like left and right

[00:30:46] and like rolling your way out of trouble.

[00:30:48] And it's like, whatever, I'll grab a flamethrower and good to go.

[00:30:53] Uh, but that dollhouse.

[00:30:55] Dude, that's messed up, dude.

[00:30:56] The dollhouse is messed up.

[00:30:57] Resident Evil village is dude.

[00:31:00] That game.

[00:31:00] That's a good game.

[00:31:01] That's a good game.

[00:31:02] That is a really solid Halloween game.

[00:31:05] That's, that's maybe the most fun I've had.

[00:31:08] Just like straight fun I've had.

[00:31:11] And like a game like that, like a scary game.

[00:31:14] That's, that's what's bothering me is because I hit my stride.

[00:31:17] I started really enjoying it.

[00:31:18] I really enjoyed the lady D boss fight.

[00:31:21] Um, and then I was like, hold on a second.

[00:31:23] You stripped me of all of my items and you've left me in the creepiest part of this game.

[00:31:28] I was like, no, no, no, no.

[00:31:30] You took me back to square one.

[00:31:31] How could you do this?

[00:31:32] Yeah.

[00:31:32] So I'm going to probably I'll be guys.

[00:31:36] I'm a total wimp.

[00:31:36] I probably will play this game like 15 minutes at a time until I'm done with the dollhouse

[00:31:42] section and then I'll finish the game.

[00:31:45] I think once you get out of the dollhouse, it definitely, if I remember correctly, it

[00:31:49] definitely turns more like action game.

[00:31:53] Right.

[00:31:54] And it kind of just speeds its way through and turns more kind of action game.

[00:31:59] But that, that part is that part is something.

[00:32:03] Don't make me do an autopsy on a doll of my wife who I just watched get shot up at the

[00:32:09] beginning of this game.

[00:32:10] I don't know, dude.

[00:32:10] Yeah.

[00:32:11] No, that's the creepy.

[00:32:13] There is getting me good.

[00:32:14] And so that's not fun.

[00:32:15] So Jake, what's the scariest video game you've ever played?

[00:32:18] Like top creepiest, like, do you remember?

[00:32:24] Like, is it village?

[00:32:25] No, it's not.

[00:32:26] It's not Resident Evil Village, although it's definitely up there.

[00:32:29] Do you remember a series?

[00:32:31] I think there was two games that came out and I want to say that this was like 2005.

[00:32:38] The condemned games.

[00:32:40] The condemned.

[00:32:41] It's not.

[00:32:42] Sorry.

[00:32:42] There are two of them, but it's condemned something.

[00:32:45] It's about serial killers.

[00:32:48] Condemned.

[00:32:49] Oh, gosh.

[00:32:49] Condemned.

[00:32:50] Here we go.

[00:32:50] Criminal Origins.

[00:32:51] Sorry, folks.

[00:32:52] I had to pull up the Googles to find this.

[00:32:54] So the most a game has ever scared me was this game.

[00:32:58] And I wasn't.

[00:33:00] This looks.

[00:33:01] Yikes.

[00:33:02] I wasn't even playing this like alone in a dark room.

[00:33:05] It was like a bunch of it was like me and like four friends playing this from 11 a.m.

[00:33:12] to like 11 p.m.

[00:33:14] excuse me to like 3 a.m.

[00:33:16] Yeah.

[00:33:17] And this dude, this game like we were taking turns playing it.

[00:33:21] And I just think after an hour, I was like, dude, stop handing me the controller.

[00:33:23] I was just I was like frozen in fear in the in the back of the room.

[00:33:28] Just like, dude, when is this game going to end?

[00:33:33] This game easily easily is the game that scared me the most ever.

[00:33:37] Oh, dude, this looks this looks intense.

[00:33:41] OK, so you haven't played this here.

[00:33:42] I'm familiar with this one.

[00:33:44] No, dude, I don't.

[00:33:46] I don't even know if I could tell you the story of it anymore, except that you were like tracking down serial killers like that's your.

[00:33:54] I have the Wikipedia page up.

[00:33:56] So, yeah, you're an FBI agent and that's your specialty, I think.

[00:34:02] But it's like, yeah.

[00:34:04] Brutal, dude.

[00:34:05] Oh, yeah, this is it.

[00:34:05] Yeah.

[00:34:06] A killer that uses mannequins in his crimes.

[00:34:07] And so you're always running into mannequins.

[00:34:10] Mannequins are moving when you're not looking at them.

[00:34:12] Dude, this thing freaked me out.

[00:34:15] Moving mannequins is no bueno.

[00:34:17] That is a big, big red flag.

[00:34:19] That is.

[00:34:20] That's all right.

[00:34:21] Well, let me turn the question around on to you, Cameron.

[00:34:24] What's the scariest thing to play?

[00:34:25] Yeah, you know, I was thinking about it.

[00:34:32] I'm sure I have something like scarier that I played like as a kid, you know, because as a kid, you were more open to just play like whatever.

[00:34:42] Right.

[00:34:42] You just like grab anything.

[00:34:44] And then it would end up turning into like some horror game that you didn't even know, you know.

[00:34:51] I mean, honestly, like that doll thing and Resident Evil Village was pretty free.

[00:34:56] Yeah, that's messed up.

[00:34:59] And for that reason, I decided not to play Resident Evil Biohazard because I watched some videos of it.

[00:35:04] And I was like, I think I'm out.

[00:35:06] I've seen some video like that.

[00:35:09] That doll section is very, very creepy.

[00:35:12] I'm sure I have.

[00:35:13] I can't.

[00:35:14] There's one specifically and I can't think of exactly what it is.

[00:35:17] But I was just looking really quick at like the scariest games of all time.

[00:35:22] I just wanted to find like what's the number.

[00:35:24] Yeah.

[00:35:24] What are people saying?

[00:35:26] I'm sure it's some like super weird, obscure game.

[00:35:29] Let's just pull up number one.

[00:35:31] Number one from IGN is Silent Hill 2.

[00:35:35] Interesting.

[00:35:36] Oh, hmm.

[00:35:37] That's maybe not the scariest.

[00:35:38] I want the scariest of all time.

[00:35:43] I follow this Instagram guy who just plays scary games like pretty much.

[00:35:48] I don't think it's exclusively, but I was going to pull up.

[00:35:52] I'll just give him a shout out because I've been getting inspired by some of his.

[00:35:57] It is.

[00:35:58] This guy has like really funny videos and he played.

[00:36:04] Oh, here we go.

[00:36:05] King Wolves.

[00:36:07] You heard of this guy?

[00:36:08] No.

[00:36:10] He's like a 100 Thieves guy, but he plays a ton of like scary games.

[00:36:15] Okay.

[00:36:15] And I've seen like a ton of his Instagram clips and they're pretty hilarious.

[00:36:19] But the games that he plays, like I'd probably never touch.

[00:36:23] I imagine there's a world of truly horrifying games out there.

[00:36:27] Like have you heard of like the Slenderman games?

[00:36:30] I've heard of Slenderman.

[00:36:32] I thought that was like a pasta or something.

[00:36:34] Yeah, I think it is.

[00:36:36] But they turn it into like there's a bunch of Steam games.

[00:36:39] Phasmophobia.

[00:36:40] Oh, Phasmophobia.

[00:36:41] I've heard it's like incredibly scary.

[00:36:43] I've heard Silent Hill is super.

[00:36:45] It was also very, very scary.

[00:36:47] I did not play.

[00:36:48] Did not have any interest in playing Silent Hill 2, even though I heard it's really good.

[00:36:52] Well, Phasmophobia, right?

[00:36:53] That's the game that it's a multiplayer game, but it actually uses the sound picked up in your microphone, right?

[00:37:00] To like mess with players in some way?

[00:37:04] Yeah, something like that.

[00:37:05] Like Five Nights at Freddy's, that's a cultural phenomenon.

[00:37:09] I've never played it, but I've heard they're really scary.

[00:37:11] I've heard that too.

[00:37:12] I've actually heard that a lot of horror games that kind of use animatronics,

[00:37:18] like it created a wave of a very specific type of setting for horror games.

[00:37:24] Yeah, it's crazy.

[00:37:25] I have never even engaged in the slightest bit of Five Nights at Freddy's,

[00:37:28] Five Nights at Freddy's, but that is absolutely massive.

[00:37:33] Yeah, it's like one of those things that I hear so much about it,

[00:37:35] yet I've never actually looked it up myself, right?

[00:37:38] Like the information is just thrown at me.

[00:37:42] Yeah, 100%.

[00:37:46] Anyways, Jake, I'll throw out one that I've been playing that I,

[00:37:49] not recently, but I did play a little bit of it.

[00:37:51] And I played the Dead Space remake this year.

[00:37:54] Oh, people, that one did really well, right?

[00:37:56] People spoke highly of it, maybe?

[00:37:57] Yeah, it was a really well done remake, really tastefully done,

[00:38:03] really fantastic remaster, or excuse me, full remake.

[00:38:07] It was not a remaster.

[00:38:08] It was like a complete remake.

[00:38:10] Right.

[00:38:10] But very, they didn't like, it wasn't like a Final Fantasy VII remake

[00:38:15] where they kind of changed what the game is.

[00:38:18] It's still like really the same game.

[00:38:20] They just did a massive quality of life and graphical upgrade.

[00:38:27] But yeah, I mean, that's a good game.

[00:38:31] It's still like the gameplay holds up.

[00:38:33] It is, you've got freaky aliens like killing people.

[00:38:37] It's definitely aliens vibes for sure.

[00:38:40] And yeah, it's just you kind of going through and trying to make your way off of this derelict spaceship,

[00:38:46] like space station with the aliens like infested on it.

[00:38:50] And you're like upgrading your laser gun, like as you go, your mining tool, basically.

[00:38:55] So you can blow an alien's legs off, which is pretty cool.

[00:39:00] And then the other game I'll quickly mention I played was,

[00:39:03] that's another scary one.

[00:39:05] That's actually a tactics game.

[00:39:07] Oh, interesting.

[00:39:09] Yes.

[00:39:12] Didn't play a ton of it, but still meaning to pick it back up.

[00:39:18] I played.

[00:39:19] Can you do like jump scares?

[00:39:21] Aliens, aliens, dark descent.

[00:39:24] Oh, okay.

[00:39:25] So the reason this one is scary is for, of course, it's aliens, right?

[00:39:31] So it's like the aliens universe and the aliens aliens are like very scary.

[00:39:37] But you have like a squad, but you are essentially,

[00:39:43] if you make noise and like the aliens come at you,

[00:39:46] like it's literally almost game over.

[00:39:50] And so you have to be very, very, very cautious and strategic with like how you move

[00:39:55] and how you position guys.

[00:39:56] Because if you just run into an alien,

[00:39:59] like it is going to absolutely rip your squad to shreds

[00:40:02] and literally like tear your guys' arms off and like run away.

[00:40:05] And then your squad member will get like a mortal injury

[00:40:07] and have like a traumatic stress disorder for the rest of the game.

[00:40:12] It's like a tactics game.

[00:40:13] So it has like those simulated elements.

[00:40:17] But yeah, that's a good one too.

[00:40:19] If you want, if you want like a little bit of a different scary game flavor,

[00:40:23] aliens, dark descent, that's a pretty solid one.

[00:40:25] And that's on consoles as well.

[00:40:26] Did you play darkest dungeon?

[00:40:30] A little bit.

[00:40:32] Yeah.

[00:40:32] I recently had this one recommended to me again.

[00:40:34] It's a game that I haven't played yet,

[00:40:36] but I know it deals with a lot of creepy, spooky themes and enemies and stuff.

[00:40:42] And yeah, I don't know.

[00:40:44] You mentioning that players can get to like PTSD.

[00:40:46] I'm pretty sure that's something that happens in that game.

[00:40:48] You can get like anxiety or dread or something.

[00:40:51] And it's a status condition,

[00:40:53] which I think that's a cool, unique status condition

[00:40:55] that makes sense for a horror game.

[00:40:59] Um, let's see.

[00:41:01] The last game I have on that to talk about is Signalis.

[00:41:05] Um, Signalis for me is...

[00:41:09] I also played probably three hours of Signalis.

[00:41:12] You did?

[00:41:13] Okay.

[00:41:13] So we can talk about this together.

[00:41:16] So Signalis is definitely my kind of game when it comes to horror,

[00:41:20] where it's more suspense, existential, and like dread is a really big factor.

[00:41:26] Um, rather than like jump scares or seeing like really gory or horrific looking monsters or images.

[00:41:32] Right?

[00:41:33] Um, I just, like I said, I just did this really long episode on it.

[00:41:37] So please subscribe to the Indie Past tier on our Patreon.

[00:41:40] Three dollars a month for three episodes plus a newsletter every month.

[00:41:43] Um, and then you can hear me talk about this in more detail.

[00:41:46] I ended up liking Signalis quite a lot.

[00:41:51] But narratively, it is super vague and slow for a long time.

[00:41:56] I would say a big portion of the game, two thirds, maybe even three fourths of the game's narrative

[00:42:02] is super fuzzy.

[00:42:04] And you have to be happy to read a billion diary logs scattered about to really get into it.

[00:42:11] Otherwise, like that stuff kind of aside, I actually really liked the gameplay.

[00:42:16] It felt a lot like the Resident Evil games, like Resident Evil 2 especially,

[00:42:19] where you have to find puzzles and keys and unlock different doors to find the path forward

[00:42:23] as you're looking for somebody who's gone missing.

[00:42:26] Um, so I ended up liking it quite a lot.

[00:42:28] And I'm really glad that I stuck it out.

[00:42:29] But I feel like if you fell off this game, I would not blame you.

[00:42:33] Because it is slow as heck as it starts.

[00:42:36] Yeah, I feel like it rides a little too hard on the nostalgia of the games that inspired it

[00:42:51] in the beginning.

[00:42:52] Okay.

[00:42:53] Probably.

[00:42:54] Uh, not that it's not like well made or doesn't have intrigue in it.

[00:42:59] But I needed like a little bit more meat on the bone from a narrative standpoint instead

[00:43:04] of just like the intrigue of being in this weird place and like scared of it because

[00:43:09] it's creepy.

[00:43:11] Which I get that that's kind of the vibe that they were going for.

[00:43:14] But I think I wanted like a little bit more.

[00:43:16] And even as I continue to progress and like get to the next area, I was hoping just like

[00:43:21] for a little bit more discovery so I could feel just connected with the story a little

[00:43:26] bit more.

[00:43:26] But I don't know.

[00:43:28] People seem to love it.

[00:43:30] I think it's well executed.

[00:43:32] I think it absolutely nails the vibe that it's going for.

[00:43:35] And so far as like it's trying to mimic that old school kind of original like Resident

[00:43:41] Evil style.

[00:43:43] It absolutely nails that vibe for sure.

[00:43:45] Yeah, it does.

[00:43:46] I think the vibe, the atmosphere is like super well done.

[00:43:50] Totally agree there.

[00:43:51] I am glad that I finished it.

[00:43:54] But yeah, man, it's just slow.

[00:43:56] It's just slow as heck getting into it.

[00:43:58] Yeah.

[00:43:59] Which is hard.

[00:44:00] It's really difficult.

[00:44:03] And there's a lot of elements in there that are really fuzzy.

[00:44:06] So when you come out of the other side of Signalis, I don't think anybody, I don't think there's

[00:44:12] any person out there that actually understands the story like 100%, maybe the developers.

[00:44:18] But I would say some people have more refined and substantiated theories about what the game

[00:44:24] is doing in what it's kind of trying to convey than others.

[00:44:29] So I don't know.

[00:44:30] Like, yeah, I really liked it.

[00:44:32] I think it's a really tough one to recommend.

[00:44:36] And yeah, maybe unfortunately for what it is.

[00:44:41] But I don't know.

[00:44:41] They've done well.

[00:44:42] Is it still on Game Pass?

[00:44:43] No, it is not on Game Pass.

[00:44:46] I ended up playing this one actually on PlayStation because what I did, if you're listening, so

[00:44:52] I put a poll on the Discord of what indie impression game or game I should do for indie impressions

[00:44:56] for Halloween.

[00:44:56] And this one won.

[00:44:57] So I wish listed it on Steam, Xbox and PlayStation.

[00:45:00] And it first went on sale on PlayStation.

[00:45:03] So I bought it there.

[00:45:04] But as far as I know, it's no longer on Game Pass or any subscription service for that matter.

[00:45:15] Jake, I'll give one more, which I don't know if really counts as a scary game.

[00:45:28] But I've been playing Black Ops 6.

[00:45:32] Okay.

[00:45:33] And you're enjoying it?

[00:45:35] So I'll say the first thing I want to say about it is.

[00:45:41] So they did this thing.

[00:45:45] They did this thing.

[00:45:46] I like where this is going.

[00:45:47] This is starting off really well.

[00:45:49] They did this thing where because they have all these Call of Duty games, right?

[00:45:54] Like Call of Duty 2019 or Modern Warfare and then Black Ops Cold War and then Modern Warfare 3.

[00:46:03] Anyway.

[00:46:04] So what they did is they created a Call of Duty launcher.

[00:46:08] Okay.

[00:46:09] That has all the games in it.

[00:46:11] Okay.

[00:46:12] Okay.

[00:46:13] Okay.

[00:46:14] So when I download Black Ops 6 on Game Pass because I'm playing on Game Pass.

[00:46:19] I download Black Ops 6 on Game Pass.

[00:46:24] And I open the Call of Duty.

[00:46:27] But actually what it does is it downloads the Call of Duty launcher.

[00:46:32] And then I go in the Call of Duty.

[00:46:34] And then when I click the install button, I have to select which games I want to install.

[00:46:39] Even though I'm installing.

[00:46:41] Because I'm installing the Call of Duty launcher.

[00:46:43] It still asks me what game.

[00:46:44] It's like the Master Chief collection.

[00:46:46] Okay.

[00:46:46] Okay.

[00:46:47] Yeah.

[00:46:48] But here's the difference.

[00:46:49] Okay.

[00:46:50] I boot up the Call of Duty launcher.

[00:46:52] And then I click on Black Ops 6.

[00:46:54] And then it shuts down the Call of Duty launcher and opens Black Ops 6.

[00:46:59] Okay.

[00:47:00] I can't open Black Ops 6 directly and just play Black Ops 6.

[00:47:04] I have to open the Call of Duty launcher.

[00:47:08] And it does the same thing when I play multiplayer.

[00:47:10] And I'm just like rolling my eyes harder than you could possibly imagine at this.

[00:47:14] Why are we doing this, guys?

[00:47:16] Why are we doing this?

[00:47:17] Like this is the biggest game on the planet.

[00:47:20] Why are we doing this?

[00:47:21] I don't.

[00:47:21] I literally.

[00:47:22] I don't.

[00:47:23] I don't understand, Jake.

[00:47:24] I don't get it.

[00:47:25] And this fills you with fear and existential dread for the future of massive AAA games.

[00:47:32] Dude, this is just.

[00:47:33] And this is what Ubisoft wants to do with like literally with Assassin's Creed.

[00:47:37] And it literally is pointless.

[00:47:39] If I wanted to open any of the other games, I would just click on them in my Steam library

[00:47:44] and then click the play button.

[00:47:45] I don't need to launch in the Call of Duty launcher and have the game.

[00:47:49] And it's even worse on Steam.

[00:47:50] Luckily, on Xbox, they made it integrated.

[00:47:53] On Steam, it's even worse.

[00:47:54] You launch the Call of Duty launcher, which then opens Blizzard.net.

[00:48:00] Oh, dude, stop.

[00:48:00] Which then opens Call of Duty launcher.

[00:48:03] Then you select the game you're going to play.

[00:48:05] Then it closes the Call of Duty launcher and then opens.

[00:48:09] And that's only if you don't have an update on the Call of Duty launcher.

[00:48:14] Stop, dude.

[00:48:14] Oh, my gosh.

[00:48:16] And then if you have an update on Black Ops, it will ask you to shut down the Black Ops game

[00:48:22] and then restart it, which then restarts the Call of Duty launcher.

[00:48:25] And then you have to relaunch Black Ops 6.

[00:48:28] Dude, you lost me at step 17C.

[00:48:32] So if you can actually get the game to play, it's pretty good.

[00:48:39] Oh, my gosh.

[00:48:41] Yeah.

[00:48:41] If you can actually get into the game, it's actually really well done.

[00:48:43] You actually might enjoy it, Jake.

[00:48:45] It looks amazing.

[00:48:47] It's got really great first-person combat.

[00:48:50] I mean, they do that probably better than anyone.

[00:48:52] It actually has kind of an interesting campaign where you're kind of building out your base.

[00:48:58] And then you have different ways that you can put your objectives.

[00:49:02] It's not totally just run-and-gun action.

[00:49:05] There's actually some stealth elements.

[00:49:07] There's a whole section where you go to a 1990s Washington, D.C. political event for Bill Clinton.

[00:49:17] It's so random.

[00:49:17] And your goal is you have to get a photo of the face of a senator so that you can use his eyeballs to access this black site room.

[00:49:28] Nice.

[00:49:29] But I think what these campaigns do really well, 2019 is probably my favorite of the recent campaigns.

[00:49:42] But this one is starting off really, really well.

[00:49:45] And it has like a crazy, you know, just popcorn action flick aesthetic.

[00:49:53] You're like a CIA black ops team that's been disavowed from the CIA so that you can take down the mole within the CIA that's working with a covert military, you know, international organization.

[00:50:12] That's working on a super weapon that they're going to use to like secretly get a nuke into Russia.

[00:50:19] Like it's that whole vibe.

[00:50:20] And they just pull it off really well.

[00:50:22] And it's fun.

[00:50:23] Nice.

[00:50:24] I don't think I played a Call of Duty game since 2009.

[00:50:27] And I bring it up because it's on Game Pass.

[00:50:30] So if you haven't played Call of Duty in a long time, you can boot it up.

[00:50:33] And it has zombies mode.

[00:50:35] So Halloween zombies mode and zombie mode is fun.

[00:50:39] It's just like killing waves of zombies with ever increasing upgraded like weapons and traps and stuff.

[00:50:45] Honestly, that was probably the most I ever enjoyed.

[00:50:47] Call of Duty was doing zombie mode related stuff.

[00:50:52] That kind of multiplayer was always fun.

[00:50:55] Man, I'm trying to think if there's anything else spooky that I'm playing.

[00:50:58] And to be totally honest, there's not.

[00:51:01] Out of these three games, like I said, Alan Wake 2, the Lakehouse DLC ended up being really short.

[00:51:05] And I would recommend just doing it in one go like I did.

[00:51:08] I don't think it makes sense to try to drag it out at all.

[00:51:12] And then Resident Evil Village has just been on my mind.

[00:51:15] And I will eventually make it through the end of that one.

[00:51:20] But yeah, man, I don't know.

[00:51:21] Oh, I did want to mention this was a while ago, but I did play the demo for Crow County.

[00:51:28] Crow County? Country? Crow Country.

[00:51:30] Oh, yeah.

[00:51:31] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:51:32] I actually really liked it, except aiming the gun and shooting it felt like total garbage.

[00:51:40] Like PlayStation 1?

[00:51:41] Yeah, maybe a little.

[00:51:42] I think that was the point.

[00:51:43] Yeah, a little.

[00:51:45] A little too much nostalgia for you.

[00:51:48] A little too faithful to that time, right?

[00:51:49] As opposed to Signalis, where it felt infinitely better.

[00:51:53] Yeah.

[00:51:54] But yeah, so I actually ended up, what they have in that game is you can actually do the combat-less mode.

[00:52:01] So a mode without like combat or significant combat encounters.

[00:52:06] Yeah.

[00:52:07] Which I have been really tempted to actually buy and play because I think it'd be cool.

[00:52:12] I actually went ahead and I skimmed.

[00:52:15] I rarely do this, but for whatever reason I felt compelled to.

[00:52:17] I kind of skimmed the story of what happens in Crow Country.

[00:52:20] And I'm super interested in it.

[00:52:23] Yeah, I don't know.

[00:52:24] I liked it.

[00:52:25] I am going to start Blasphemous 2 soon because on Halloween Day they're going to have this big DLC that's coming to it.

[00:52:33] Oh, nice.

[00:52:34] I really liked the first one, so I am looking forward to playing the second one.

[00:52:37] And I've heard that it's just better all around.

[00:52:40] So looking forward to that.

[00:52:42] That's cool.

[00:52:43] I don't know, man.

[00:52:44] That's all I've been playing for Scary Games though.

[00:52:49] Very nice.

[00:52:52] Well, Jake, I think that's all of our spooky scary games.

[00:52:59] Last thing I will ask before we end this episode is what are you doing for Halloween?

[00:53:06] Well, my kids are at the ages now where like Halloween is a big deal and it's fun and trick-or-treating is a lot of fun.

[00:53:14] So I'm probably going to go out with them in some neighborhood and just be the dad that's trying to figure out if I'm out of place,

[00:53:21] if I should just let my kids go ahead and do it or if they want me to actually be there.

[00:53:26] But what I'm going to do is I'm going to dress up as Jake Peralta from Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

[00:53:31] Very nice.

[00:53:32] Because I have been told, maybe because this is an audio-only podcast, this will give many of you a sense of what I look like.

[00:53:39] But I've been told that I look like Andy Samberg.

[00:53:43] So, I still need to pick up like a fake police badge.

[00:53:47] I mean, I could see it.

[00:53:50] Honestly, I have been compared to three celebrities in my life.

[00:53:54] And the one that I hear more than anybody else is actually Adam Sandler, which is probably truer,

[00:53:59] but he's not as good-looking as Andy Samberg.

[00:54:02] So, I always take the Andy Samberg ones over the Adam Sandler ones.

[00:54:07] Yeah, that makes sense.

[00:54:08] Anyway, that's kind of what we have going on.

[00:54:10] Adam Sandler, I...

[00:54:11] No.

[00:54:12] Hmm.

[00:54:15] Nah.

[00:54:16] What are you doing?

[00:54:18] Yeah.

[00:54:18] So, we're going to...

[00:54:19] We have some friends who live in a neighborhood in Lehigh that kind of goes crazy at Halloween.

[00:54:28] Nice.

[00:54:29] Like, blows our neighborhood out of the water to a level that's just kind of unprecedented.

[00:54:33] Like, multiple neighbors are having...

[00:54:41] Like...

[00:54:43] Like...

[00:54:43] They're patios with, like, food and, like...

[00:54:47] Like, soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.

[00:54:51] And the houses are crazy.

[00:54:53] And it's crazy.

[00:54:54] It's just crazy.

[00:54:55] So, we literally just, like, steal their Halloween and invite ourselves over.

[00:55:02] Like, every year.

[00:55:03] Because our neighborhood is super lame.

[00:55:05] So, we just go over there and we totally just adopt their neighborhood.

[00:55:09] Guys, Utah is super weird about Halloween.

[00:55:11] Um...

[00:55:12] So, we've done something similar.

[00:55:13] In the past, we've gone to a friend's neighborhood.

[00:55:16] And this is a nicer neighborhood.

[00:55:18] And there's, like, one house in the neighborhood that's known for throwing this just, like, massive hot dog cookout.

[00:55:25] Like, they are buying all of the hot dogs at Costco.

[00:55:30] They're buying, like, for the neighborhood.

[00:55:31] Like, for the neighborhood.

[00:55:32] And they cook it up.

[00:55:33] And so, we've gone to this neighborhood in the past and it's been fine.

[00:55:36] But I always feel really uncomfortable because...

[00:55:39] Everybody in the neighborhood seems to really know each other.

[00:55:42] So, sometimes people will ask, like, oh, are you new to the neighborhood here?

[00:55:45] And I'm like, uh, no.

[00:55:47] I'm just trick-or-treating here because we have friends that live in this neighborhood.

[00:55:50] And they're like, oh, okay.

[00:55:53] And I'm like, I'm sorry.

[00:55:55] I don't know.

[00:55:56] They're like, uh, check out the hot dog guy.

[00:55:58] Your kids can get some hot dogs.

[00:56:00] And then they just...

[00:56:01] It's so awkward, dude.

[00:56:02] I don't know.

[00:56:09] My kids would love hot dogs.

[00:56:10] Yeah.

[00:56:11] It's crazy, dude.

[00:56:13] So, yeah.

[00:56:13] That's what we're doing.

[00:56:14] And I'm not, like, a huge, massive fan of Halloween.

[00:56:17] I also like to, every year, traditionally, and I haven't done it yet this year.

[00:56:21] Traditionally, I like to watch one genuine, like, horror flick.

[00:56:26] Get the yearly fix.

[00:56:27] And I think I mentioned this on our last episode.

[00:56:29] And I haven't decided what I'm going to watch yet.

[00:56:32] I don't like anything, like, satanic or demonic for various reasons.

[00:56:37] Like, possessed souls and stuff like that.

[00:56:40] Not your thing.

[00:56:41] Not my thing.

[00:56:43] The thing would be more akin to my thing, I think.

[00:56:46] Dude, the thing was great, man.

[00:56:48] Cameron and I watched that, dude.

[00:56:49] The thing is great.

[00:56:50] I'm a big fan.

[00:56:51] Yeah, yeah.

[00:56:52] That's, like, the vibe that I want.

[00:56:53] So, I'm trying to look for that.

[00:56:55] I've seen really good things being said about I Saw the TV Glow, which came out this year.

[00:57:00] Oh, yeah.

[00:57:00] I've been seeing that, too.

[00:57:03] So, that might be the one.

[00:57:07] Usually, Netflix drops a Mike Flanagan series.

[00:57:12] They've been doing them, like, they've been pumping those out, like, once a year.

[00:57:14] But this year, they missed.

[00:57:16] If you haven't watched it, Midnight Mass is very good.

[00:57:19] If you're looking for something spooky to watch, like a series to start.

[00:57:22] I've recommended that a few times, but that is quite good.

[00:57:25] I think we watch Hocus Pocus once a year.

[00:57:29] Hocus Pocus.

[00:57:30] That's actually a creepy movie, to be honest with you.

[00:57:32] That gives me the nightmares.

[00:57:34] Dude, you know what movie?

[00:57:35] Well, we can end with this.

[00:57:37] The movie that I still haven't been able to get over.

[00:57:39] The movie that traumatized me the most as a child was the 1992 adaptation of the Roe Dahl book,

[00:57:45] The Witches.

[00:57:47] Oh, gosh.

[00:57:48] Dude, do you remember this movie?

[00:57:50] It has, like, the most insane prosthetics for the witches when they're in witch form.

[00:57:56] And it's about how these witches steal kids, like, in Sweden or something and try to want to eat them at a giant witches convention.

[00:58:04] And so, one witch turns, like, the main kid into a mouse.

[00:58:08] That movie came to Netflix, like, two years ago.

[00:58:10] I was like, you know what?

[00:58:10] I'm going to resolve some childhood trauma.

[00:58:12] I'm going to sit here and I'm going to watch this.

[00:58:14] I didn't make it past 15 minutes.

[00:58:15] I was like, dude, I don't know if I could do this.

[00:58:17] And I just noped out of there.

[00:58:18] 1990.

[00:58:19] Oh, this lady?

[00:58:20] Oh, no.

[00:58:21] Was it 1990 instead of 92?

[00:58:22] Oh, gosh.

[00:58:25] Yeah, this does not look...

[00:58:27] Yeah, we're not watching this.

[00:58:28] Was there a 2020 remake?

[00:58:30] There is a 2020 remake.

[00:58:34] Oh.

[00:58:34] Oh, yeah.

[00:58:35] It's Angelica Houston, dude.

[00:58:36] This looks bad.

[00:58:37] This looks bad.

[00:58:38] It was Anne Hathaway, right?

[00:58:40] Yeah.

[00:58:41] Yeah.

[00:58:42] Anyway, the 1990...

[00:58:43] 1990...

[00:58:44] That's for our movie podcast.

[00:58:46] Talk about all the movies that we don't want to watch.

[00:58:50] No.

[00:58:50] That's a good idea for a podcast.

[00:58:52] Movies we've never seen, but we talk about it.

[00:58:56] Well, ladies and gentlemen, this has been our spooky Halloween episode of the Beard Abundance

[00:59:00] Podcast.

[00:59:00] We hope you like the show.

[00:59:02] If you like the show, please leave a review on your podcast platform of choice.

[00:59:05] Wherever you listen to this, go in, click on the podcast, click leave a review, give

[00:59:10] us five stars, and that's going to really help us out.

[00:59:13] We would really appreciate it.

[00:59:15] If not, you can also support us on patreon.com slash protocast, where you can get a whole lot

[00:59:20] of extra content.

[00:59:21] You can get Jake's indie impressions, including his full episode on...

[00:59:25] What's the game called?

[00:59:27] Signalis.

[00:59:28] Signalis.

[00:59:29] I lost my brain there for a second.

[00:59:30] Full indie impression episode on Signalis.

[00:59:33] You can also get extended editions of our regular episodes, including today, where we're going

[00:59:39] to continue the conversation for Patreon members only by talking about our scariest real life

[00:59:46] moments.

[00:59:46] What are the scariest things that have ever happened to us?

[00:59:48] So we're going to share some spooky stories straight into bedtime, which is just perfect

[00:59:53] timing.

[00:59:55] Yeah.

[00:59:56] So you can get that on Patreon.

[00:59:57] You can also follow us on Twitter.

[00:59:58] And finally, please think about joining the Discord so you can come chat with us about all

[01:00:03] things video games, news topics.

[01:00:06] We do live...

[01:00:06] Usually Jake and I always hop on there during live shows and presentations to talk about

[01:00:13] what's being announced, including, for example, the Game Awards, which is only...

[01:00:17] I think they announced the date.

[01:00:19] I think it's December 12th, I want to say.

[01:00:21] Yeah.

[01:00:21] Like six weeks away.

[01:00:22] We always religiously watch the Game Awards.

[01:00:25] We have an event through our little party at my house and we live chat that thing on Discord.

[01:00:30] So if you want to join that conversation, come join us there.

[01:00:32] Thank you so much for listening and have a great night.