The Wonderers this episode jump into a myriad of topics. To start off, Retro_loneliness (Nick) and Jared from Midnight Labs talk discuss the two most promising game announcements from Sony's State of Play: the last of Street Fighter 6's characters in the launch roster and the Resident Evil: 4 remake. The Wonderers fond over their appreciation for the series over the span of its inception all the way up to street fighter 5 and how it has evolved over the years. With the Resident Evil: 4's remake releasing, The Wonderer's couldn't help but spot how to the game is being adapted for the newer generations of gamers in today's age. The three most notable things they spotted were: how the much the characters have all been updated such as Leon, the enemies, and especially Ashley, how the ranged combat will differ from the original, and lastly how Leon's knife has been drastically altered. For better or worse? The Wonderers ponder that.
Jared then segues into his first impressions of one of this month's (February 2023) biggest releases: Sons of the Forest. The game being a direct sequel to The Forest (2014). Jared goes into detail how the game has added new mechanics, new systems of progression, and NPC Companions. The biggest tell is how the game was released as as Early-Access, yet their is an active countdown for the next update to be released on the main menu. Nick then brings up bombshell news that any PC gamer will be interested in: Counter-Strike 2.
With Sony's State of Play, gameplay for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was shown with very dim reactions by audiences and viewers. The Wonderers critique the game and compare it to other live-service games such as Anthem (2019) and Marvel's Avengers (2020) that have essentially failed. Other things mentioned are how the story canonically takes place in the same timeline as the Batman: Arkham series yet the game has nothing to do with it from a glance, and how it's going to be an always online style of game. Grunting past that, they then discuss the Stadia, Google's attempt into the gaming sphere and how it has also failed.
With things feeling like failures, Nintendo has been a topic of interest to The Wonderer's. Since the Game Cube's failure as a console, Nintendo's move to becoming family friendly has unfortunately made the game released feel too easy, and what seems more tailored to children (perhaps). They go into previous games released by Nintendo that have been more mature in terms of gameplay, stories, and theme. All the while praising Nintendo's Metroid Prime remaster that recently released. Diving into stuff that has a bit more heat around it, The Wonderers talk about Atomic Heart. With its release, they only address the concerns of how the game praises the Soviet Union and glamourizes communism. They bring up comparisons to the Bioshock series.
Wrapping up the episode, they show their disdain for the recent actions popular collectible company, Funko, has committed. With it's decision to offload its excess inventory, the company decided its best course of action was to dump billions of dollars of its products into landfills. Lastly, Jared gives the last of his thoughts on the ensuing Last of Us HBOMax series that has gained notoriety for its writing, acting, and etc.
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Jared from Midnight Labs
Retro_loneliness (Nicholas):
