Game of the Year is forever on Wikipedia.

>> A critical error is an error which the OS cannot reasonably ignore.

Jake Steinberg is [music] a streamer and writer and certified yapper.

Complimentary.

Peter Hunt spit tech is a YouTuber, journalist, and certified yapper.

Derogatory.

These are the things they cannot reasonably ignore.

When I go out to my weekly trivia nights, you have no idea how often the best picture award winners from years, decades past come up.

All I really know about film, about movies from all of those years is who won those awards.

That's the cannon.

That's what has the cultural zeitgeist.

That's what's imprinted upon my impression of art in that medium over those time periods.

My question today, what do we learn about video games, about the game awards when we look at Overwatch, Dragon Age Inquisition, last year's winner, Astrobot?

What do these games tell us about the game awards and about how we talk about games?

And do we feel that by winning game of the year, these games cement a place in the cannon of video games irreocably.

>> And I loved how you sounded it out.

I really did.

And I like that you got there cuz sometimes I have a hard time.

No.

>> You know, it's funny.

It's funny, Jake.

>> The game every people make such a big deal out of the game awards, TGA, right?

Uh, and and I think we all, and by we all, I mean a lot of games media folk recognize it's a little silly, >> right?

>> Yeah, it's a little it's a little silly.

The pageantry of it, it's a little silly.

The the corporatization of it, it's a little silly.

Um, that's not to say it's not it's not relevant, but when we talk about like the idea of like game of the year and stuff like that.

I think like people are so often talking about the game awards, but I'm actually kind of just interested in like the way that like a game can win multiple awards, right?

Because there's of course there's like the game awards game of the year, but then there's like the Golden Joysticks and like BAFTAs and stuff like that, right?

that also name a singular game of the year and stuff like that.

And so when when I reflect on these games that are named this is the game of the year by these different sometimes sometimes it's the same game from multiple different like uh uh award shows.

Sometimes it's different games.

When I look at those lists of like all the games that have won these awards and stuff like that, it's interesting cuz some of them stand out to me where I'm like this did not stand the test of time.

Not that it didn't age well, but it didn't stand the test of time in terms of people saying like this is the most important game from that year.

Did you ever like feel that?

>> Wow.

I think it would be helpful to rather than speak broadly, maybe work backwards from an example and maybe the easiest one would just be to look at last year's winner.

Um, Astrobot, the PlayStation 5 platformer.

So, you feel >> Tell me how you feel about this game.

Yeah.

>> So, Astrobot won.

I'm taking a look.

By the way, there's a uh a a Reddit post where someone compiled um the past 12 years or so of of major game award shows.

So, the Game Awards, Golden Joysticks, BAFTA, Steam Awards, um Game Developer Conference Awards, uh excuse me, Game Developer Choice Awards, uh DICE, that sort of stuff.

Um and they compiled it here.

And so, Afterbot won the game awards, DICE, and BAFTA, the the game of the year award.

And it's been 12 months since that game hit so many of these awards.

And I have not heard people talk about it really once since.

And that's not to say it's not a good game.

I haven't played it.

So I can't speak to its quality, but I can speak to like in my perspective, its place culturally.

Like it it didn't have a cultural footprint.

It sort of came and went as being sort of like what I might ungraciously call like a Funko Pop video game where it's just like like you know I love PlayStation.

That's the game.

And then it just kind of disappeared in the night.

Again, it's not to say it's not a good fun platformer or anything like that, but I look at that game and I'm like, this is something that did not maybe have the cultural footprint, the the um the oomph behind what I would consider something that is like meant to be the best game of the year, maybe the most important game of the year, however you want to call it.

>> Very rarely on this show are you and I ever really cutting it up about how we feel about video games.

So, allow me to unload for a moment [laughter] about PlayStation's Astrobot.

Okay.

>> Uh-huh.

>> Astrobot Astrobot is not >> a bad game.

>> Certainly not.

>> Astrobot is an un Astrobot is a is an unimportant game.

>> Interesting.

>> Astrobot is unimportant.

And I think that there is a certain kinds of p a kind of person uh that is particularly prevalent in games media that is highly susceptible to every lever that Astrobot is pulling on.

Number one, my first grievance I would like to get off of my chest.

Platforming is the most pure expression of playing a video game.

What is What are you talking about?

You weirdo.

You little weirdo.

Okay, they're like they're like, "Oh, this is the game that existed in the 80s or a version of it and it's doing something to me on a chemical level that I've decided this is video games." It's absolut absolutely pathetic.

Number number two, uh the the uh PlayStation who makes these prestige dramatic TV show games.

They [laughter] found it in their heart to make a 3D platformer.

THANK YOU, PLAYSTATION.

THANK YOU.

THANK YOU.

All right.

Number three.

Number three.

>> Yeah.

>> There.

Ape escape.

[laughter] >> The people moi.

Dude, that's my thing.

It's like I was like, >> Aloy Aloy is in this game.

Oh my god, dude.

Wait, no.

Stop it.

This is Listen, all of these things are good.

All of these things are fine.

Are they Is this worth the the $50 reduced pricing of Astrobot on PlayStation 5?

Of course.

Of course.

Is this important to the cannon of video games?

Is this important to the medium?

I cannot see any world in which the answer is yes, Ray.

So, what what I find interesting about that game specifically, and and this applies to to a broad sense for some of the other games on on this list that we'll we'll be we might sort of dig into here is that I'm like, no, no, exactly what you're saying.

I'm not saying it's a bad game.

I'm not saying it's not worth the money, the time you could spend playing it, any of that.

But I am saying like in terms of being something that like stands the test of time that people point to and say like, "Wow, this is a game that was really important out of the 2020s." I I just don't know if it's gonna if it's gonna hit that because it's funny too because like to me I think Astro's Playroom has more cultural relevance than Astrobot because it was that pack-in game with the PS5 that showed you oh the Dual Sense does all this whatever you know I see I feel like I see people talk about that game more and of course it's been around for longer but I feel like I've seen that people talk about that game more than I ever really have heard them talk about Astrobot.

Does that kind of make sense?

Now, are you talking about Astro the Playroom, the pack in PS5 game, or are you talking about Rescue Mission, the VR game?

>> No, I'm talking about the pack in the I've never heard of people discuss the the that one other than saying like, "Oh, Astrobots from this VR game." I was like, "All right, cool.

I don't >> Oh, okay.

See, see, cuz I actually my my perspective on this is actually that Astrobot PS5 will only ever be brought up in the context of reviews for other 3D platformers so that people can say in the future it's better than Astrobot.

Whereas, I actually think that Astro's uh Astrobot Rescue Mission, the PlayStation VR game, will be brought up again in reviews for VR games for no reason other than to say it is not as good as Rescue Mission.

>> I see.

I see.

I see.

But so what I find interesting about this though is not about the specifics of Astrobot, right?

Cuz and here's the thing.

I understand that in saying first of all I understand I'm wearing a PlayStation hoodie so like glass houses and whatever.

Um so you know what I mean like like oh god >> whatever.

But I am saying that that like uh uh there is a type of game that wins these sorts of awards that that we all sort of deem um to be the most important from the year.

And often I just don't think they have the legs.

I I I don't think that they like when I think about like, you know, oh, the most important game from uh 2021, was it Resident Evil Village?

Is that even is that the most important game in that series?

Even it's a great game.

I do love Resident Evil Village.

But if I were to recommend someone play a Resident Evil game, would Village be in my top five?

I don't know.

You know, I think I think like this is sort of what I'm getting at.

And so I'm curious, when you look at this list here, again, this is from 2013 to now.

These are the winners of, um, the Game Awards, the Golden Joysticks, BAFTAs, Steam, uh, whatever they're I think it's their the Steam game of the year stuff that they do.

>> Yeah.

>> Um, uh, the DICE awards, Game Developer Choice Awards.

Are there any that really stick out to you in the same way that Astrobot sticks out to me as as like this just did not stand the test of time in terms of having a cultural footprint that really uh uh moved gaming forward?

>> Oh my goodness, what a sweet sweet little question.

Yeah, >> that is man.

Okay, I like this a lot.

Um okay, so do you want to stick to just the big boy the game awards or are you happy with anything else?

I'm happy with any because because the game awards are like are important because it's like the biggest stage in gaming.

Sure.

But like the these are the uh the most prestigious awards you can get, right?

BAFTA does like oh wow that you people get so excited about that, right?

Um so it's not just the game awards that I think are important here because these uh uh awards do all hold weight of a certain kind.

>> Yeah.

So, I actually think that the Game Awards largely is pretty good at identifying what will become a common point of reference in video game discourse.

I think that like if you win game of the year, you best believe that this is a game that will be referred back to in the future.

And I got to tell you, I am a huge fan of this game.

But there is one there is one out of the game awards TGA winners that I'm a little bit like oh I maybe though I like this game and that I would I would give a game game of the year for that year.

I think God of War I think has fallen out.

I would agree.

I would agree.

And and it's not that so here's here's what I find interesting about it.

I I think that that God of War reboot is iconic.

I I think it has a fair amount of iconic stuff, but as far as like what it has done for gaming, I don't really think it did a whole lot because I think the things that that game did um it was it was sort of copying the homework from The Last of Us a little bit.

Do you know what I mean?

In in sort of what that was trying to achieve and stuff like that.

And The Last of Us is on here certainly.

Yeah.

For for 2023, uh excuse me, 2013.

Um, but like I think a lot of the things that that game was doing, um, The Last of Us was doing as well.

And the impact that The Last of Us had is is much wider reaching than something like God of War 2018.

Would you agree?

Is that is that sort of where you're coming from?

>> Oh, no.

100%.

Yeah.

God of War, I think, is an articulation of something that people already knew that they really liked as opposed to kind of um defining a space in the way in the way that I think >> Hades is defining something that people in video games like in the way that Breath of the Wild is defining something that will again part of being in the canon is that you will be referenced back.

You will be people will point back to you.

How many times do we point back to Breath of the Wild when we talk about games?

How many times do we point back to Hades?

Yeah.

You know, >> I will say >> I don't think people Yeah, with God of War, I don't think people do that.

>> With God of War, it's it's less about like game stuff, and I think it's a lot more like uh imagery.

I I I do think that that the new revamped version of Kratos and Atreaus, like the two of them I do think are iconic characters.

Um, and and that game did bring those characters back into the mainstream in terms of like being uh characters that are referenced and like have like fan art of them and stuff like that.

Like I do think it has a cultural footprint, but I don't think that it is as maybe like influential as as what you're saying like Breath of the Wild of course, right?

And all that.

>> The thing I think that is most special about that God of War reboot is the directorial eye.

it is that there is more than most games I play, especially games of that kind of uh production value, there is an indelible authoral fingerprint on that game.

>> Yes.

>> And it really really pays attention to perspective in all meanings of the word.

Yes.

And I don't think that that is what people have like taken from that game and have chosen to kind of like that we haven't like learned that lesson from that God of War reboot.

It kind of just did its thing and then all of these years of video games later that has kind of not been the thing.

That has not, you know, in the same way that we point to the way that Hades changed rogue likes to be a little bit more accessible to people that don't like rogue likes.

The way that Breath of the Wild changed open world games.

It's like the God of War did not say, "Hey, what if we had a more tangibly positioned point of view in the the delivering of this story?" >> Yeah.

Which I wish it did cuz I think that's really interesting.

And and the thing is I think it's um what I would say uh very hard.

>> You know what I mean?

Because I I think it's a lot uh not to say that it's easy, but I think it's a lot easier to do cuz like the whole Are you talking about like the idea of like the one take sort of like camera stuff and the way that story is told?

>> I I am, but it's more than that.

It's when it's when it's high, when it's low, when it goes behind a character, when it goes when somebody's off camera.

It's like all of that stuff.

I feel like that whole game they're thinking about that >> the whole it's it's a game full of choices which is so >> Yes, dude.

>> Yeah.

And it's interesting too.

Um this is the the the drum I bang on every single time this is brought up.

Dead Space 2 did this in 2011.

Uh it did it did the same like one shot sort of thing, but it does not do what I think you've identified that God of War does, which is really really use that camera in a way that is important.

Which also then to me part of me says that the fact that we're even having this conversation and even like really remembering this about this and having something uh tangible to say about it does partially make me say like I think it might still have that footprint because that is something that people do talk about with this.

I think I think I am representing it that way.

I don't necessarily know if the legacy or the cultural memory of that game >> that's fair >> is wrapped up in this.

I think that the cultural memory of that game is something very different because my my argument for this would be that I think that God of War Ragnarok actually severely lacks what I am talking about is present in that God of War reboot.

And I find that most people will tell you again cultural memory that Ragnarok is a superior game.

>> That's so interesting.

I tried to replay God of War 2018 recently.

Uh me and Elena tried to do it together and she was not about it and I was a little bit like I think that game actually shows its age pretty in a unfortunate way.

I think of the way that it's like this is a game where there are boxes and hallways and you fight people in boxes and you walk in the hallways >> and yeah, it's it's interesting.

>> I I so I agree, but I think that the artistry that's applied to the perspective in God of War actually saves that game.

And then when you remove that I from my point of view in Ragnarok, you are left with this like video game ass video game that is insufferable for me.

I Yeah, >> it's it's I think it's a good example of like how a game can be.

It is funny.

We never like chop it up about video games like this.

>> I know.

Isn't this fun?

>> Yeah.

[laughter] >> Um it is it is an example of um how I think style and like many other thing like many different things can sort of like save quoteunquote a game.

So like I also think like the performances in that game are phenomenal and the writing I think is really solid and like if you didn't have great performances, didn't have great writing, didn't have this like great like sort of camera system what you're left with is I think kind of an underwhelming experience, but because all of those things are working together, you end up having something that I think is is pretty solid and and strong.

>> Bro, God of War, the the amount of times that they're like, "Oh, there's a wall here.

Oh, we're going to give you pink energy destroying swords and now you can get past the wall." I'm like, "Come on, dude.

Come on." But anyways, love the game.

Uh there's a there's another one on here that I think is worth discussing that I think would be the most common answer.

>> Uh yeah, hit me.

>> Dragon Age Inquisition won in 2014 2014 at the game awards >> and I loved this game.

Loved Inquisition.

>> So now here's the thing.

This game is this this happened 11 years ago at this point.

So because of that, I think these games are going to have some some space between them, right?

And and culturally where we're at right now.

>> I've talked to a lot of people who love Dragon Age Inquisition.

>> I have never heard a person talk about Dragon Age Inquisition.

Does that make sense?

>> Oo, fascinating.

I It does make sense.

So, I was shocked when this won game of the year.

I remember this well because I remember going into the game awards and watching them and being like, "Oh, this is my game of the year, but this is this is >> and it was the game coded.

>> This is a Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And and I think the I was aware of what people would perceive in that game as flaws." And knowing the legacy of Dragon Age, this is one of these games where I didn't like the past Dragon Age games, but I really liked Inquisition because I thought that they tipped the scale in the direction of a CW show just enough [laughter] just enough for me to go, yes, >> yet melodrama Too.

And I and I and I really um enjoyed a kind of larger than life willing to be corny, willing to be I don't know like like emotional game in this setting THAT WAS NOT >> SO CAUGHT up in let me tell you about the political minations of this world which I think some of these games tend to do.

So I really like that game.

But now this question of legacy.

So I think a great viewpoint in in what is the legacy of this game?

Where does it stand is that we recently had a new Dragon Age game come out.

>> Yeah.

>> And I don't feel that the conversation was like, oh, we veered from Inquisition.

I don't think that that was the conversation.

I I also don't I mean like people mentioned Dragon Age Inquisition when that game came out because that was the most recent one before then, but it's like similar to Inquisition.

I guess I can't speak to Inquisition cuz I wasn't paying attention to this sort of stuff back then, but like that new one, the Veilgard came and went, >> just disappearing at night.

>> Yeah.

Like didn't didn't touch the walls on the way down.

You know what I mean?

Didn't even >> Yeah.

>> Veilard, by the way, uh they on the CW scale maybe went a little too far.

I from the cut scenes I've seen, I would agree.

>> They said they said we're we've got Smallville.

We've got uh what's the one with the brothers that they're they're hunting stuff?

Supernatural.

>> Supernatural.

They went supernatural.

AND THEN THEY WENT [clears throat] GOSSIP GIRL.

[laughter] >> Oh my god.

But it's funny looking at 2014 though, you've got Dark Souls 2, which is interesting because then in So 2014, you got Dark Souls 2 won um the Golden Joysticks and then in 2016, Dark Souls 3II also won the Golden Joysticks.

>> Wa, that's crazy.

What a good clock.

>> What I find interesting about this [clears throat] >> is of the Dark Souls games from Software's games, I think Dark Souls 1 is the most iconic important game that they made.

I think you can I think there's an argument to be made about Sakuro.

I think there's an argument to be made about Elden Ring, especially in this modern era.

But I think that like all of that stems from Dark Souls, right?

Of course, and then there's Demon Souls before it.

But Dark Souls is the thing that [ __ ] lit a fire in games to to be so influential and whatever.

Dark Souls 2, I think, has an interesting footprint culturally because it is remembered as, oh, it's kind of a black sheep that a lot of people say isn't very good.

And then there has been the counter to that where a lot of people are like it's actually awesome and the best one.

And so there's this huge discussion about Dark Souls 2.

But then Dark Souls III, which is my personal favorite, I think does not have this cultural uh uh staying power.

I I love it.

It has iconic imagery to me in that I got half of my arm tattooed as Dark Souls 3I stuff.

However, if you talk about like name something iconic from Dark Souls, you are most likely going to name something from Dark Souls 1 or it will be something from Dark Souls 2 and it will be preceded by well, I just love Dark Souls 2.

I love this interpretation of what you're saying right now because there is this you're I think what what what we're talking about is this thematic stability >> that is so important to Legacy because a game with like a really clear [snorts] like a strong amount of thematic stability or even just like a strong premise the way that that is able to be carried forward as legacy like kind of what I was referencing earlier about like what Hades did, what Breath of the Wild did, what these games represent.

And I think that games that don't establish expectations almost lose long-term resonance.

So, so kind of what you're saying, like Dark Souls 3II, I I'm I'm more out on this than you are, so I don't really know what the reputation is, but the grammar of its theme is not I know Fire and Ash.

>> Mhm.

>> I know that.

And I'm going to say that that's not Dark Souls II.

>> It's in Dark Souls II.

Oh, interesting.

Okay.

>> But I think [laughter] correct now Dark Souls fans, correct me if I'm wrong, that is also in Dark Souls 1.

Like like so many of the things that people really like about Dark Souls 3II is all are also present in Dark Souls 1, right?

>> Wow.

>> Um >> Okay.

>> Which I find interesting.

I I just find that a little fascinating, right?

like uh this is a game that did produce iconic imagery for fans of the series and whatever, but I think largely if I asked you to conjure up an image in your brain of Dark Souls II, could you do it?

>> Oh, no.

I mean, I couldn't, but I look at that 2014 list and I go, "Oh, I see very clearly the game that has the footprint out of those that are listed there." >> That's Destiny 1.

>> Destiny 1, dude.

No.

Yeah.

No question, dude.

Destiny 1.

uh I think kind of like rearranged people's brain chemistry about what a video game could be or what they could want from one in to a significant degree.

>> It didn't, but it was it didn't fully it's like not fully responsible for this, but it's like this created in my opinion the modern live service game.

>> Oh, I completely agree.

And it's funny.

I I know that I'm a Borderlands fan and people will tell you, "No, Jake, no Jake, historically like Borderlands did it first." And I'm like, "No, cuz here's the thing.

Destiny sold you on something that Borderlands could never sell you on.

You're >> right.

100%.

>> Um >> the the kind of like imagined the the collective consciousness of what a live service game wants you to believe that it is was totally actualized by people that played Destiny.

100%.

>> 100%.

Um which I I find to be kind of fascinating, right?

Because also like what was more important, Destiny 1 or Destiny 2?

I guess I can't really say because I view them as the same thing.

I view Destiny 2 as a big continuation of what Destiny was doing and just like uh uh yes, it has a two at the end of it, but like is it the same game?

Conceptually, I think it is right.

Um >> yeah, I agree.

It's uh it's the Destiny project and I think the existence of Destiny 2 is largely a business and marketing effort more than it is something new.

Yeah.

>> Yeah.

If I may jump to 2018.

Um, here's something, >> please.

>> Fortnite won the Golden Joysticks and PUBG won the Steam Awards, and I find this to be fascinating because it's not that PUBG does not have any cultural relevance.

I believe it is still huge.

Um, I think in Korea and South Korea, that is my understanding of it.

I could also be totally wrong, but um it is still huge.

And I do think it did create things like iconic imagery and like culturally it created all sorts of stuff in I mean like when I say PUBG you you think of the guy in the white shirt with the mask on the welder like when you when I say like iconic imagery like that's them right and they created that battle royale formula but when Fortnite did it is it is when it like [ __ ] exploded cuz PUBG was huge.

It was it was really big.

But like Fortnite has just become this thing that is unstoppable, right?

It has become this thing where like they're doing the Simpsons in Fortnite.

Jake, have you heard about this?

>> I think that first off, I want to ask, is Player Unknown's Battlegrounds responsible for Winter Winner Chicken Dinner?

Am I remembering this correctly?

>> It is.

Well, I mean responsible in that that is what it said.

It didn't certainly didn't create that.

>> Oh, okay.

Okay.

I wasn't sure to be honest with you.

So, okay.

No, my father was saying that to me when I was a child, so maybe they stole it from him, but >> Okay.

Yeah, maybe you're right.

Um, yeah.

So, it's I think that this is almost uh analogous to the Borderlands Destiny comparison because I feel that like yeah, Player Unknowns Battlegrounds, they were they were doing the thing, but I think that Fortnite kind of sold the dream of what the thing was supposed to be >> and figured out Yeah.

how to make it wide >> wide.

and I think ended up transforming its meaning into something new.

So I think like Fortnite and PUBG when they come out, the thing that's cool about them is that they are 100erson battle royale games all on the same map.

That's what's cool about them.

[clears throat] That is no longer what is cool about Fortnite.

That is not what Fortnite is.

>> That's one part of what's cool about Fortnite.

>> It's like Sabrina Carpenters here >> IP.

That's what's cool about Fortnite.

That it's a Ready Player One.

>> So yeah.

Yeah.

So, it's funny.

I think like and I think part of stay with me here.

There's a little big brain.

Yeah.

I think part of what these kinds of freetoplay live service games, we're all they're updating, the map is changing, all this.

I think what they are trying to sell you is this idea of an evolving grammar, of a change in meaning, of things that are you've got to be there.

You've got to know it means something different today than it does tomorrow.

And I think the fact that Fortnite as what like its concept of like what it is, the fact that that I still I feel is still fluid.

It is still in flux.

There is a future for Fortnite's meaning to change over and over again.

That's crazy.

That is that's legacy, baby.

>> I agree.

And so so to get some some hard numbers about this so we're not just speaking completely with with no sources here.

Uh, Jake, do you want to guess how many people are playing PUBG right now?

>> Oh, tell me, dude.

Tell me.

I'm dying to know.

>> It is 101,000 people.

So, this game is [ __ ] huge.

>> God, >> it is huge, right?

Had a 24-hour peak of 656 thou 100,000 people.

It's huge.

>> However, you want to guess how many people are playing Fortnite right now?

I am go.

Okay, >> this is according to Fortnite GG, so I have no idea, but I'm just going with this.

>> Three million people.

>> Uh, it's way too many.

Uh, 1.2 1.2 million people, which is still a lot.

>> No, no, that >> which is a lot.

Yeah.

But what I find interesting about this though is is uh PUBG is still so huge, right?

It is still so big.

But let's uh I in in 20 years >> when we look back at these things, I wonder if the general consensus will be that Fortnite created all of this stuff, that Fortnite was the battle royale game.

Do you know what I mean?

In the public view, of course, people will be like, "No, no, it was actually PUBG and then Fortnite took and ran with it." But it's this thing, right, about like who how will these things be remembered in in perpetuity?

And I just wonder >> if PUBG lives.

Yeah.

What's that?

>> I think I can already tell you.

Um, Peter, what was the first 2D platformer?

>> Uh, the first 2D platformer.

>> No, no, no, no, NO, NO.

I CAN SEE the reflection of your glasses.

>> Am I crazy if I say the first 2D platformer is >> uh, isn't it >> Am I crazy if I said Isn't it like Return to Castle Wolfenstein or something like that?

>> Okay.

Well, >> not return.

Yeah.

Yeah.

>> What what I was trying to make happen there was for you to say it's not Mario.

>> No, it's not Mario.

>> But I think that that is the I think that that is the answer culturally.

>> Uh it is often this is according to Google.

Uh often considered space panic.

[laughter] >> I have Dude, I have space panic all the time.

I think it's easy to imagine somebody who is a video game pundant on a show talking about 2D platformers and saying, you know, Mario was really the first of what we consider and recognize to be like the 2D platformer.

And I don't think anybody would really fight them on that.

And I think that that's kind of the thing that I'm zoning in on here, right?

is this idea of that legacy and how you grab at it and if a game award, if the game of the year award can help you get that, if it can if it can vault you into a place even if it is undeserving.

Yeah, I so I do have feelings about that.

First, I would like to just point out my Wolfenstein answer.

[laughter] I was misremembering.

Castle Wolfenstein is often considered one of the earliest stealth games.

I remember I remembered something that it was early, so I apologize for anyone who was like, "Peter, what are you talking about?

You buffoon." That's where that comes from.

Thank you very much.

Back to your question.

I don't know if it can happen undeservingly.

if it can if it can like I don't know if if like like if a game wins the Golden Joysticks and uh the game awards and whatever else like like uh Astrobot did, right?

I don't know if those things give it the cultural relevancy.

Certainly, it gives them awards, but I think you look at something like Bolatro, which won uh the Game Developer Conference Awards.

Um, that is a game that did, I think, get a lot of eyes on it and did cement its place in culture with the nominations and and everything else that it won because it was a game that did not have the biggest stage because it was not made by Sony, right?

>> Do does that make sense?

You know what I mean by that?

>> Yeah, I do.

Yeah.

>> I'm looking at this.

I'm like looking there are some like very clear like no these are like so so mega iconic.

I look at like Balders's Gate 3 that is something I think is going to um live on for a long long time.

>> Yeah.

>> Um what do you think about like so the Resident Evil 2 remake is on here and this is a game that I find to be I think it's an incredible 10 out of 10 video game but I don't think it has that that same staying power as as a lot of these other >> Yeah.

>> So I think this is interesting right?

It's like it's like I almost wonder is there subtext to our conversation here that the game awards and voting in the game awards should do you think that there is a degree to which maybe there should be a you should be thinking about this when you vote like thinking about >> so that's actually a really really good question right about this idea of when you're making a game of the year list are you like what perspective are you trying to have is it your personal favorite games is it the games that you deem to be the best games.

You know what I mean?

Cuz like like sometimes you play a game >> and you go like I cannot speak to the quality of like like Civ, right?

But I know people really like those games, but I'm like I I guess I'm not the I'm not the guy for this one, you know?

And I'm sure I could come up with a take on it or whatever, but like, you know, if you're saying like sitting down to make the best games of the year and you don't put Civ on there, I heard the last one was not very good, but let's say it was great, right?

Um, if you don't put Civ on there, does that should that count?

Do that matter?

I think I think that's an interesting question.

And I think I think you should go for what you just what you genuinely believe is the most important thing.

If if you're going for like the game awards or you're voting for BAFTAs or whatever, I do think you should go for what you believe is the most important thing that happened that year and usually I think that lines up with your own tastes, but what do you think?

It's funny, right?

Because I think the the Game Awards is like this G I I think largely the way that people think about it is I am voting for the game I liked the most.

>> Yeah.

which might sound obvious and and like, oh yeah, of course that's what it should be.

But I think that there has been a desire from people to have maybe a more expertly or academic or some some kind of an enhanced perspective that goes beyond um just kind of like your opinion about which one of the most popular games was the one that you liked the most.

>> Yeah.

And I'm thinking a lot about this is a little like even for me this reference is like a little I'm like a little embarrassed about it >> but um there's this book called the anxiety of influence.

>> Okay.

and it's um Harold Bloom wrote it and it's about um him he's a he's a poet and he's talking about the anxiety of influence the title in writing poetry and in the book he talks about the poet in the poet and he he says that like this person is inspired to write by reading another poet's poetry and then will then produce work that is in danger of being derivative of that poetry and therefore weak because historically in poetry people are really into original vision.

That's like the thing that people are like, "Oh, they had such a voice.

They had such a vision." >> And so the whole book is kind of about this feeling of anxiety.

Um that I think is centered on like what lasts in literature often has nothing to do with what was celebrated in its own era.

And instead canon is shaped by what future creators either steal from or try to escape from.

>> Sure.

>> So, so like a lot of the conversations we're having here, I think it's like what do game designers site as appearing in the DNA of their later work?

And I think like Dark Souls.

>> So, I hearing you talk about this, this is something I wanted to bring up about Saro.

Takaro won the Game Awards in 2019.

It also won the Steam Awards in in 2019 as well.

And that is a game that I find really interesting because I that's one of my favorite games ever, but I don't think it really has the same cultural footprint as a lot of FromSoft's other stuff.

How but culturally mechanically it is probably one of the most important games of the last 10 years because of that whole parry thing.

You know how every video game is about parrying now?

every single one of them, no matter what you're playing.

If you're playing a soccer game, oh, actually, you got to learn how to parry.

I'm playing Hollow Knight Silk Song.

Uh, actually big moment.

You learn how to parry.

>> 33.

>> Exposition 33 is a video game where it's just like a h what if we just par it all like >> Yeah, >> that I think is the is the really really really big moment for that as a mechanic.

And now it is literally in everything, right?

Uh what was that game?

Uh it was a first-person shooter that you were pairing in earlier that people were mad about.

Oh.

Uh, uh, uh, Doom, Dark Ages, you're parrying, right?

Like, like >> it is inescapable in so many different ways.

>> And so I find so to what you're saying, and I think this applies to PUBG as well, right, with the idea of like creating the battle royale as it is known in in the current like era, like there are going to be games that people cite as being really important that I think might not be culturally as important to fans of gaming and and things like that.

>> Yeah.

I I guess there's like a part of me that it's funny like I think you could hear our entire discussion here and just be like, well, I hear everything that you're saying, but I think I actually do prefer that the Game Awards are the game that I like the most, even if it has no >> footprint.

Right.

>> Yeah.

And and I think like why like I don't know like I don't know there's I think there's a version of that in which the game award itself just rewards the audience that the game already has.

>> Yeah.

That's that's how most awards are though.

Would you wouldn't you agree?

>> I think Okay.

So, I think like in this in this alternate world where we're talking about kind of um this this collection of canon in which the the games winning these awards have this huge footprint, I think that you end up learning more about video games as a medium and it becomes more historically practical this way than like what am I taking?

Listen, I know what I'm taking.

But like, do you see how maybe seeing like Astrobot on the list, it's like not quite as connected to the surrounding DNA of the medium?

>> Yes, 100%.

100%.

>> So, there's something there.

There's I don't feel particularly strongly about this because I think instead of um I think >> I'm trying to position the game awards as teaching us about games and I think actually the game awards um aren't teaching us about games, they're teaching us about the people, >> dude.

They're teaching teach about the audience.

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah.

So So yeah.

Uh then I want to I want to turn our gaze to this year.

>> Okay.

Um uh so far uh the Golden Joysticks is the only award that has from these major awards that has um that has happened for 2025 and uh CLA exped Claire obscure expedition 33 won that.

Um but when we look at uh you know the the game of the year nominees for the game awards I think that these are the games that are going to be nominated in those other places as well largely.

I think you're going to get some you know I think Blueprints is going to get something at one of these other ones.

Maybe BAFTAs.

I don't know.

Um, but like you look at these and I go like yeah these seem like they're going to be the games that are nominated.

So you got Clear Obscure, you got Destiny on the beat, two on the beach, a Don Kong Bonanza, Hades 2, Hollite Silk Song, and Kingdom Come Deliverance 2.

>> Yeah.

And my question is this.

Do you think that any of these games have that thing to them that make them stand out as culturally relevant video games that are that are going to stand time?

>> Okay, give me give me the list one more time.

Claire Obscure Expedition 33, Death Stranding 2 on the Beach, Donkey Kong Bonanza, Hades 2, Hollow Knight Silkong, and Kingdom Come Deliverance 2.

Whoa.

Okay, so obviously I think that the easy answer here is Expedition 33.

Um, but I don't I think no.

I think no.

I think in my heart I think no.

Um, >> I think some of these games are excellent.

I I think Hollow Night Silk Song is >> [ __ ] phenomenal.

>> That said, I have been surprised by its lack of footprint and and oomph.

>> I think people like it, people talk about it, but I I for the hype that was surrounding it for years, when it finally came out, it feels like there was this sort of like disillusion of pressure where it's just like all like disappear and I was like, "What happened?

what happened to this game?

It's still great and people played it the [ __ ] out of it for, you know, two weeks when it came out and then now it feels like I just haven't heard much about it ever since.

And so my answer is I think Clare Obscure might.

>> That said, I think that whatever that developer does next will probably, if I had to guess, uh, obfuscate this first one.

Wow, that's interesting.

Okay.

Because I think like I'm trying to I'm trying to ask myself, right, like in terms of cultural footprint, in terms of what people talk about when they talk about game.

>> Yeah.

>> Um, Hollonate Silkong, the weight, >> when's it going to come out?

>> That that's thing that game has a cultural footprint, but I think largely it is unrelated to the game itself.

>> I agree.

Um, and then there's like a uh microwave reheated version of difficulty discourse with Hollow Night Silk Song that I think is another Yeah, I think that that's part of that game.

And then I think the third talking point with that game, Silkong, honestly, is uh that it's great >> and I don't think that that goes that far.

Yeah.

>> You know, it's great.

It's really good.

Yeah.

>> I have tried writing about Hollow Night Silk Song and even though I think it's immaculate, I I'm having a difficult time.

I I put up a video about it um literally today on Nebula and Patreon.

However, >> um it is about culturally what the game was and the weight for the game and and that sort of stuff.

It's not about the game itself, which I think is is interesting.

I don't know.

And not to short change Claire Obscure, but I think that the conversation about that game, if I'm being completely intellectually honest, is largely surrounding its development team size agree and stuff that it is kind of doing in a meta context when you compare it to other video games.

>> I would agree.

>> Yeah.

So, um, yeah.

So, it's tough.

So, then I I kind of like turn my gaze to those other games, right?

Do I think do I think we're going to be referencing the um environmental destructibility of Donkey Kong?

Like I I don't >> I don't think that game when people that'll be on lists of top 25 Switch games to buy on Black Friday or for Christmas like holiday gift guides, right?

You know, it'll be 17 on the list, >> you know, 21 on the list, which is fine.

It's It's a good game, but I'm I'm like I don't know if it really is going to hold up to time to being like this was a [ __ ] important video game.

>> Yeah.

It's funny.

It's like all of the not to just chop it up about video games, but all of the the the big swings in that game almost are contextual.

It's like, oh, this is a Donkey Kong game as opposed to a Mario game.

This is a this as opposed to that.

It's like they're they're in the game itself.

There's there's not a lot there that I'm I'm like, "Ooh, that's okay.

Take note everybody.

They did something here that I think is changing the way that we look at what you can do in video games." >> Yeah.

No, I I completely agree.

And so when I look at these, again, I'm not saying these are bad games necessarily.

I I didn't really like Donkey Banza, but I'm not saying that like that they are like, "Oh, these are terrible video games that aren't going to be remembered." I'm saying like in terms of what these things were and what they created, I just don't really see much footprint for these things for what those games specifically were.

>> Yeah.

I I mean I I almost wonder if something like Peak is more in line with >> 100%.

I mean that that is a game that I feel like defined this year um because of its silliness and and and its warmth and its its yeah 100%.

I think Peak is a great great uh call on that and I and I think a lot of what that game what we talk about when we talk about Peak is derived from Peak and what you're doing in the game, not from its context, not from how it fits in to the larger tapestry of video games.

>> 100%.

100%.

And and to you know what we're talking about like the idea of the story of the development.

It has a very interesting story of its development.

Certainly that said that's not the thing that people are talking about when they like >> it's funny.

I actually don't.

>> If you were to review I don't even know what you're talking about.

>> Oh you don't?

Okay.

So a little background.

It uh it was a game jam game that that the Aggro Crab and um I'm forgetting the other name.

The other developer um they were doing a game jam.

They're two indie developers and um they put it together like it came together from February until when that game came out.

They were like, "Wait a second, this is pretty good." And then it became what it became like instant like overnight and and it was like, "Oh my gosh, this thing is like such a big mega hit." And I saw one of the people from Aggro Crab talking about um how frustrating it is because they worked for a long time on that game, Another Crabs Treasure, >> which do do you familiar with?

I I think it's cute.

I I like it.

>> Um They worked so long on that and then Peak was turned around and and was made and kind of a as a as a joke, not joke, but it's like, oh, this was just like a silly kind of game jam thing and then now it's the biggest thing, you know, in gaming for for the whole year.

But yeah, I agree.

I think that is a game that has more of a cultural footprint than um than than these, which is is surprising.

I think Clare Obscure like it has a big cultural footprint, but I think it's what we're what you're saying though is like it's the the footprint has little to do I think with the actual game itself.

Maybe it doesn't.

I don't know.

I don't hate that.

>> I don't want to short change the >> Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

>> Yeah.

And I I don't want to short change that game and the things that that game achieves and and how much um people like that game because it's like nobody's nobody's out here saying Expedition 33 is not a good video game.

That's not my take at all.

>> Agreed.

And I also think if any of these are going to have that footprint in 5 years, >> I think Expedition 33 is the most likely to have to continue to have that.

>> Man, I I really see what you mean, though, where it's it's the kind of game that the next one makes the last one irrelevant in the way that Expedition 33 made Metaphor Refantasio irrelevant.

>> Yeah.

Did you uh I always find it interesting when I play a game from a studio and I'm like, "Oh, the next one I'm really gonna like." >> Yep.

Yep.

Yep.

>> This isn't a great one to one, but did you play Stellar Blade?

>> Oh, absolutely not.

No.

>> That game is is really interesting because I don't think it's very good, but I think that it is something where I'm like, if the studio behind this like learns from the lessons that this game hopefully taught them, I think the next one could be actually pretty good.

I I think it's kind of middling, but I think that like that in playing it, I think that the those pain points are kind of obvious and I my hope is that whatever I'm forgetting the name of that team.

Uh but whoever makes that shift up maybe it don't matter.

Um they'll be able to say like, "Oh, here's how we fix this.

Here's how we make this this better." >> I think I think you get that out of out of scare, too.

There are a couple of like indie games from this year that I'm like I would love if these really did um get big enough to the point that they did project influence into the future.

I'm thinking about Baby Steps and Consume Me, which I think >> both do the same thing, which is kind of the it's it's um something we were talking about with with God of War.

I think it's this um authoral perspective.

I think that there's a there's like an individual that they're trying to like really place you in.

And I don't know, there's like I I wonder if that could ever something like that could ever blow up to the point that that is what's important to people to the point that you're seeing these games get produced that are like almost bringing attention to the authoral hand that makes them in a way that is not this is a Sakurai or a Cojima game.

>> Yeah.

Yeah.

>> Yeah.

I agree.

Jake, can I tell you about the critical error nation, >> please?

Every single week, Jake and I chop it up for an additional hour, >> hour 15, hour 30.

My goodness.

One time we did two hours and 15 minutes.

And that's a bonus show.

That's a bonus show exclusive to the Critical Error Nation, the people supporting us on Patreon at patreon.com/critical error.

the $5 and up tier, those people get that bonus show.

Today was interesting.

We talked um about uh uh the difference between this sort of like perspective of like, oh, games journalists don't like YouTube creators and then YouTube creators don't like games journalists.

I thought it was kind of an interesting conversation that we had.

And um we have all that and more and more.

Uh there we do an episode every single week there as well.

So, if you're interested in getting more of us, patreon.com/critical error.

I would also like to give a big thank you to the members of the Jake and Peter tier.

This is the highest tier on our Patreon, people who have so generously opened up their pockets to us.

I'm talking about Evan Pon.

I'm talking about Renquir.

I'm talking about Ancel Trait.

I'm talking about Evan Snee.

We have two Evans in the Jake and Peter tier and they're going to have to fight it out.

It's I I I can't I I don't want to see the bloodshed, but I understand that there can only be one.

So, when you are leaving a comment on this video, make sure to thank Evan, make sure to thank Renquoire, make sure to thank Anel, and make sure to thank Evan.

There's two Evans.

Again, we they're going to have to fight it out.

I don't know what to tell you.

Jake, I believe you've prepared a sound effect though for the other members of the critical error nation.

Critical error royalty.

>> Thank you for supporting the pod royalty.

HERE'S YOUR SOUND.

HELLO, dear listener.

Please imagine with me two teams.

The first captained by Jake and Peter tier members Evan Ponz and Renquar consisting of James Pierre Reed, Jacob Richter, Jared Kuseno, Sam Woods, and Cole.

This is team Wadd D.

They are facing off against Anel Trait and Evan Snee.

The captains with Connor Trul Love, Andrew Bulkar, Danny Disaster, and Sam Cedar.

This is team Goomba in a game of kickball.

Which team is taking home the W?

Let me know in the comments below.

Thank you.

And thank you for supporting Critical Error.

All right, Peter, I'm pretty excited to hear what you have prepared for us as we end uh each and every podcast with a pre-prepared piece.

It is your turn this week.

Hit me with what you got.

>> [snorts] >> I don't want to write about Fortnite.

It's the game I've played the most over the past month or so, and I have absolutely no thoughts about it.

That's the point.

Life has been so stressful and hectic between my finances and my wedding and the holidays and family and everything that when I get to the end of the day, I just want to sit down and not think, play something mindless, meet up with Jake.

But something changed.

When I started my Fortnite addiction a few weeks ago, the island it set on was themed after the Simpsons.

You could go to Moe's Bar and the music shop and Burns Manor and Camp Crusty and of course the Simpsons House.

And it was really fun.

Something small and silly to giggle about as I watch Marge Simpson sing and dance to Sabrina Carpenter songs.

Something small and silly to giggle about as Itchy and Scratchy drive our getaway car up a tree while Homer leans out the window, spraying and praying with an SMG.

I guess it just made me smile.

But it's gone now.

The season or chapter or whatever the hell Fortnite calls its discrete installments ended and now everything is different.

We are not in Springfield anymore, but are instead on some island born out of Fortnite lore.

It's not quite as silly.

It feels a little different.

It feels weird to be playing as Marge or Flanders, running around in a world that does not look like them anymore.

Fortnite is still fun.

It feels good to land those hits with a sniper or to run through an entire squad with dual shotguns, but there's something about it that's not quite what drew me to it when everything was cell shaden and Simpsonsified.

I guess that's just how live service games go, right?

Their content is essentially a boat that's passing through the harbor.

It docks for a while and then it goes off on to somewhere else, probably never to be seen here ever again.

Kind of a don't cry because it's over, a smile because it happened thing, but I I I don't know.

I didn't have any complex thoughts about Fortnite when it was just Simpsons the video game.

But now that it's not that anymore, it feels bittersweet.

This game was something I was relying on in the smallest way, bringing me joy with its absurdity, but it just ended.

And now it's gone.

It turned into a different game overnight, and I kind of wasn't done with what it was.

The little bits of joy that I found in laughing at three identical bananas sitting next to each other on the Simpsons couch just vanished.

It feels silly to be getting bummed out by Fortnite.

I don't know.

I guess people think it's a game for children, which it is, but it was also a little lighthouse for me.

Something I didn't know I needed.

Something I didn't quite appreciate the right way until it was over.

I miss Springfield, man.

And I wish Fortnite of all things didn't feel the need to teach me a lesson about permanence.

Thank you.

>> Oh my god.

Thank you for sharing.

Wow, it's it's >> I can't believe you wrote about Fortnite.

>> Um I you asked me about it in our bonus pod, patreon.com/critical error, and I was like, I'm not going to write anything about Fortnite, Jake.

No, no, no way.

>> You fooled me.

Um yeah, it's so funny because it like actually is um there's so many conversations about like owning games and like digital games and physical games and and sometimes I think about this kind of thing.

I'm like, "Wow, this is like >> Yeah.

And that's like part of the experience that they are inflicting on you is that it will go away." Like that's >> part of the game.

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah.

And I still really like it, you know?

I still I still like the new stuff, but there is something that is it feels like fundamentally different.

And I It's just like less silly because it's like there's the absurdity of like >> it's so [ __ ] funny to see Marge Simpson with an AK-47 in her house.

>> Yeah.

You know what I mean?

Like like and yeah, you still get Marge is still I still have Marge.

I'm always gonna have Marge, everyone.

But like now that she's like in a world that's just like this is Fortnite land.

I'm like oh I don't know.

I think what I like about Fortnite and kind of what you're saying is that I trust them to get me back.

>> I'm like certainly this we had a high.

Yeah.

But we had a high and now it's like okay now we're now we're simmering and then something's going to happen.

Maybe uh Sponge guy big pants Bob what?

Whatever it is.

Spongebob guy big guy pants.

Okay.

>> Spongebob.

Yeah.

Right.

Spongebob guy pants.

Okay.

Maybe that's the next the next Hi.

You're in the Krusty Krab.

You're Mr.

Krabs has >> that would be so I'm actually in with that.

Mrs.

Puff.

Come on.

>> Mrs.

Oh, Mrs.

We're not talking about this.

All right.

[laughter] >> Oh, that's for sure.

If they ever do Spongebob, that's for sure an emote, right?

>> That's a really good emote.

>> Or the imagination.

Anyway, >> oh my god.

Anyways, this was um this was a really fun episode for us, I think.

>> Uh chopping it up about chopping it up about games more than we ever had and then ending with a piece that was about like a real experience playing a video game.

>> Yeah.

I don't know.

I I wish it was still there.

Yeah.

Do you really?

>> I do.

And I have these moments when we're playing when we're like in a car and I know we joke about it like there's a big So they had the Springfield sign of course in Springfield >> and there's there's like a different like Hollywood sign type sign in the new Fortnite map and every time I see it there is this like thud in my heart.

>> It's like going back to your high school but things are different.

It it is where you're like, "Oh, man.

This used to be the whole world, you know, and now it's now it's different." I don't know.

And and like it's good.

Fortnite's good, guys.

Like, it's it's really good, but I don't know.

I think what I liked about it the most in our experience and what you're talking about was less about the inherent silliness and more about our giving into the silliness.

>> Yes.

>> So, >> exactly.

Like a recent moment that we had that I thought was like really fun was this was um >> last night we >> just looked at >> Oh the sunset.

Oh my gosh.

Yeah.

We were playing with uh a wonderful friend of the pod, Christian MSAS, and him and I are literally sitting on top of the car that Jake is driving.

And Jake is driving to the sunset like to like we're on a cliff and he just like pulls over and we're like we all just sit down on the edge of the cliff and just like watch the sun as it sets and there this moment where we're like sitting there in silence just like [laughter] observing the beauty of Fortnite.

[snorts] I'm Venom.

[laughter] Jake is what?

Probably.

Who were you last night?

I mean, any number of characters.

Peely.

Yeah.

You Peely.

Christian is one of the the weird Fortnite skins for for sweats and like [laughter] and and we're just observing the beauty of of the sun setting and we're like, "Wow.

[snorts] Wow.

I don't know if we're ever going to capture this moment again." That's a thing.

That's a thing.

It's like It's like, "Wow." And and that moment would not happen with everybody I was playing with.

So there's something like >> Yeah.

You buy into it as a game and and as what you said like the inherent silliness of it >> that our personalities and >> Yes.

Exactly.

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah.

Because of course it's funny to watch, you know, whatever serious character Leon Kennedy dance to a Gracie Abrams song.

That's funny.

That's silly.

But there is just the level of like we're all just sitting there in silence watching the sunset going, "Wow." and then it was gone and we were like, I guess we got to get up.

>> But there's so much to Fortnite as opposed to other multiplayer games, I think, about like your personality bleeding through the game because we now have like a sense of what the other one is going to how they're going to play, what they're going to do.

There's like jokes between us.

It's like we we we we come across like a car.

>> Jake wants Jake wants that car.

>> Like guys, what if we got in the car?

>> Yeah.

>> It's good.

It's good.

But it but there is like this like little bit of sadness when I play cuz I'm like I don't know.

I don't know what that Simpsons Fortnite was for me.

But whatever it was, it is not that anymore.

>> Of course.

Of course.

Because our calling like our siren call when we were playing Fortnite for the past month was one of us texting the other, >> right?

Are we going to Are we dropping it?

Are we visiting Camp Crusty?

Are we going to Burns?

>> Yeah.

>> A place that was familiar to us.

[laughter] >> Um Yeah.

But but but then it's funny too like the idea of like writing about Fortnite is so weird cuz I'm like I'm not going to I can't like I don't have anything to say about it is just like a just a good time.

I don't have anything complex to say about it.

But then I was thinking about why it's not that it hasn't been hitting but why it has been hitting a little differently.

And I'm like oh it's because it was this thing and it's not this thing anymore.

And now I'm sad because Fortnite was like hey Peter remember nothing lasts forever, huh?

And I'm like, gosh, why are you doing this Fortnite?

>> That's that is insane.

And much like Simpsons Fortnite, this podcast cannot last forever.

But >> if you want it to last a little bit longer, just a reminder, patreon.com/critical error, $5 will get you this week's bonus pod.

This bonus pod is the most we have ever done a bonus pod that felt like a normal episode.

So, if you want your Critical Error content to continue, everybody's getting cozy, getting ready for a sweet, sweet holiday break.

Um, go check that out.

patreon.com/critical error.

$5 a month.

Just give it a taste.

Give it a taste.

Give it a >> You can do it for one month and then and say like, actually, I'll get >> No, nobody.

No, no, it won't.

They won't do it, though.

They'll get >> That is how confident I am in the quality of the bonus pods.

So, please head on over there.

$5.

$5.

cuz I'll see you on the other side.

Thanks for watching.

Bye.