One Game Stink. One Rules.

August 21

1h 15m

View Transcript

Episode Description

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This week Kevin goes solo for a gaming-heavy episode, revisiting his early YouTube history as Jerry Bloop before diving into three recent games and what makes them succeed or completely fall apart.

He starts with Beast of Reincarnation, the new action RPG from Pokémon developer Game Freak. Kevin explains why pre-ordering the game for $60 became a mistake, criticizing its tiny enemy roster, endlessly recycled bosses and so much more. Can you actually consider a game to have a 20 hour runtime when you’ve seen all the content by hour 10?

In contrast, Kevin also dives into Mortal Shell 2. Is it one of the best gaming sequels ever made? Kevin might think so. That begs the question, what does a sequel need to do to take a flawed original and turn it into something genuinely great?

Afterwards Kevin revisits Wuchang: Fallen Feathers and The First Berserker: Khazan, two of his favorite recent Soulslike games, before moving on to Metroid Prime 4...the good, the bad and the tedious. Why do developers keep adding mechanics to established franchises that don't actually make the experience better?

Along the way, Kevin reflects on his lifelong relationship with video games, the origins of Jerry Bloop and Vsauce, and the difference between games that are packed with meaningful systems and games that simply stretch a small amount of content into a longer experience.

Big thanks to our patrons, we’ll be back next week!

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CREDITS:

Hosts: Kevin Lieber and Matt Tabor

Executive Producer: Ben WebsterEditor: Spencer Vann

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