Latest / Critical Error / Critical Error’s 2025 GOTY (feat. All of Our Favorites)

Transcript

Critical Error’s 2025 GOTY (feat. All of Our Favorites) · Critical Error

• 0:00
  Ho ho ho ho ho ho ho.
• 0:06
  That was it.
• 0:07
  >> That was it. That was it. I
• 0:10
  >> a critical error is an error which the
• 0:12
  OS cannot reasonably ignore. Sh Jake
• 0:14
  Jake Steinberg is a streamer and writer
• 0:16
  and certified yapper. Complimentary.
• 0:19
  Peter Hunt spit tech is a YouTuber,
• 0:22
  journalist, and certified yapper.
• 0:25
  Derogatory. These are the things they
• 0:27
  cannot reasonably ignore. A little bit
• 0:29
  different today, Jakey. A little bit.
• 0:32
  And I can call you that because it's a
• 0:33
  holiday.
• 0:34
  >> That's right.
• 0:34
  >> Merry Christmas, Jake.
• 0:36
  >> And also, happy Hanukkah.
• 0:39
  >> Eighth uh 10th day. This is going. Yeah,
• 0:42
  >> it's done.
• 0:43
  >> Oh, okay. I see.
• 0:45
  >> It's done. It's done. But
• 0:46
  >> ever since you mentioned it last week, I
• 0:48
  think you went sundown every single day.
• 0:49
  I'm not even kidding. I'm not delighted.
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  Uh, so because it's the end of the year,
• 0:55
  we were thinking like, what are we going
• 0:56
  to do for our game of the year episode?
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  And I think, you know, it's our freshman
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  year. What an incredible year for
• 1:02
  Critical Error starting out. Um, really
• 1:05
  proud of us. Really proud of us. But at
• 1:07
  the same time, I think like something we
• 1:09
  do on this podcast is we always go,
• 1:11
  "Okay, what's the first idea? What is
• 1:13
  everybody doing? And then maybe we can
• 1:14
  do something different."
• 1:16
  >> And just like how many of these game of
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  the year podcasts do we think you've
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  listened to? And it's not that those are
• 1:23
  bad. Those are perfectly fine and fun. I
• 1:25
  listen to those. We all, you know what I
• 1:26
  mean? Like, it's not a problem. But it
• 1:28
  is like,
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  >> can we just change it up for you a
• 1:30
  little bit? Is there something else we
• 1:31
  can do? You know?
• 1:33
  >> Yeah. And maybe the listeners are sick
• 1:35
  of us by now. And if people want an
• 1:39
  episode in which Peter and I fight with
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  each other to construct a top 10 list
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  between the two of us over the I don't
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  know, however many or few games we
• 1:49
  played over the course of the year.
• 1:50
  Maybe you should subscribe at
• 1:51
  patreon.com/critical error the $5 and up
• 1:54
  tier and ask for that in the bonus pod
• 1:56
  which comes out every single week. But
• 1:59
  for this week, what we've decided to do
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  instead is for the first time ever on
• 2:03
  Critical Error, we have invited guests
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  on to the show. We, you know, spend so
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  much time kind of like criticizing the
• 2:13
  nature of how people talk about games
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  that we thought it would be cool to kind
• 2:18
  of toss it over to people we admire in
• 2:21
  the space, people that have been
• 2:23
  receiving critical error over the course
• 2:25
  of our freshman year, well, that have
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  kind of been understanding what it is
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  we've been trying to do. And we thought
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  it would be just such such a gift for us
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  to pay it forward to those people, have
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  them on the pod, get a moment to talk to
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  them, see what they think, and ask them
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  for their game of the year for 2025.
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  >> So, we asked them for two things. We we
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  asked them for their game of the year
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  from 2025 so they can gush about
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  something. Um,
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  >> I was very We've already recorded these,
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  by the way. I I was excited to hear
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  about these because um
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  >> I don't know. I I got some new
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  perspectives on games I've played. I got
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  some recommendations of games I didn't
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  even know about. Um, which is always
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  kind of fun to to read these sorts of
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  lists and whatever. Um, but so we asked
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  for their game of the year and then we
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  also asked for their critical error
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  where we basically said
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  >> if you were doing an episode of critical
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  error, what would you do it about?
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  >> So what's something you want to get off
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  of your chest? Something the ways in
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  which people talk about games. If you
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  could make a critique out into the
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  world, what would you say for this year?
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  Something you can maybe carry forward
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  into 2026. That's what we were looking
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  for. Um, so each of our three guests
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  supplied us with their game of the year
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  and their critical error of the year. Is
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  there anything else we need to say
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  before we toss it over to our first
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  guest?
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  >> I mean, I just really appreciate uh the
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  people who came to talk to us because
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  also these are people who we admire and
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  um read their work and uh all of that
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  sort of stuff. So, it we're just so
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  thankful for everyone who came on the
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  show and we are so thankful for you
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  listening to this whether you are a part
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  of the critical error nation on Patreon
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  or not. Thank you for tuning in to us
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  this year.
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  Let's see our first guest. Hello. And we
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  are here with Barrett Courtourtney, a
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  video producer and editor for Kind of
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  Funny. And a video producer and editor.
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  Kind of funny. I just want to say we got
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  a lot of outlets out there. We got a lot
• 4:10
  of video games coverage. That is quite
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  the operation. If you tune in over at
• 4:14
  Kind of Funny Games, there's a lot going
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  on. A lot of different screens, a lot of
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  different cameras. It is It is a
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  production. So, it cannot be overstated.
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  I think the the ship that Barrett is
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  steering over here and uh Barrett of
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  course is going to share with us his
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  game of the year for 2025. Barrett,
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  please. A driving factor that can
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  influence your perception on whether a
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  particular year was good or bad for
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  video games is expectation.
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  There's something special about the
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  kinetic high you feel when your spark of
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  expectation is kindled into a roaring
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  fire because a piece of art you are
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  anticipating exceeds that expectation,
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  fueling you to imagine how else the
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  boundaries of what you already love
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  could be pushed even further.
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  There's also something special about the
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  emptiness you feel when that spark is
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  fizzled out by the cold and damp reality
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  of a piece of art disappointing that
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  expectation.
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  And to me, the years filled with that
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  emptiness and disappointment are more
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  compelling because then you're fueled to
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  find different sources of heat. There's
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  an excitement about feeling the warmth
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  of something new. A warmth not born out
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  of expectation.
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  2025 was one of those years for me. for
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  every spark of expectation I had for
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  adventures with a gorilla and his
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  singing child friend, a samurai and
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  shinobi teaming up, or two heroes of
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  destiny going to a carnival that were
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  drowned by disappointment. I found new
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  sparks in adventures that found me
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  wandering a mansion that magically
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  changes its layout every day. on the run
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  from a space gang where I can only rely
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  on chance to survive or beating up
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  fantastical creatures over and over
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  again to defeat what was originally
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  thought to be ultimate evil. And they
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  all gave me the warmth of experiencing
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  something new. I love years like these
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  because they remind me that another
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  driving factor that can influence your
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  perception on how good a year is for
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  games is your willingness to explore
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  outside of your expectations.
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  And while my game of the year might not
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  be, let me take that back. Sorry. And
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  while my game of the year might be one
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  that seems like an obvious choice to a
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  lot of people, it's one for me that
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  originally existed outside of any
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  personal expectation. a game that gave a
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  warmth of experiencing something new
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  within games that I adore. And that game
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  is Hollow Night Silkong.
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  >> Barry, you got me cheesing it up. You
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  got me yucking it up right now.
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  >> I My heart was tickled when you you
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  know, you ask somebody to deliver
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  something and you never expect that
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  you're just going to get the straight
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  heat the entire time. I was I was okay.
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  I think that was beautiful. the way that
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  you critical error so focused on this
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  kind of like meta conversation about
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  games and that was kind of the point
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  that you started at
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  >> and um yeah so that was I I thought that
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  that like looped in really really well
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  and I'm surprised because I think so
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  much of the conversation surrounding
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  Silk Song was that high that the
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  anticipation the weight people had
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  expectations for it but you're saying
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  you're saying that you did not you you
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  were coming from it from so that's a
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  really unique perspective on that game
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  >> so yeah For for myself, I was never a
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  Hollow Night guy, right? Uh my roommate
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  Andy uh who I also work with, like he
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  fell in love with Hollow Knight, uh a
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  couple years after it had come out, uh
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  and he was bugging me about it all the
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  time. And I just it never really clicked
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  for me. I remember trying it for, you
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  know, like the first 30 minutes and I
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  was like, ah, wrong place, wrong time,
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  uh time type of thing. And you know,
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  with the kind of the way that I got more
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  interested in it or, you know, the way
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  that kind of opens me up to when it came
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  out actually being like, you know what,
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  I'm going to try this out was Nine Souls
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  last year, which is also a very uh, you
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  know, cartoon 2D Metroid Vania inspired,
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  but also uh, Sakiro like uh, crazy
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  combat where you're constantly uh,
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  deflecting and doing parries and all
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  this stuff. And I fell in love with that
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  game. Uh, but even with that and falling
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  in love with that game last year and
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  that being one of my favorite games of
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  last year, going into this year and even
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  when we got the confirmation that
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  Silkong was coming this year, there
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  wasn't an inherent like, oh my god, I
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  need to play this game. I'm so excited
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  for this game. It was more so it
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  reminded me a lot of launch day of
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  Destiny 2. I did not care about Destiny,
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  but there was something there was a
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  fervor in the air. I remember at the IGN
• 8:54
  office when that game was coming out and
• 8:56
  everybody was downloading it and it was
• 8:58
  like, you know what? I'm going to go
• 8:59
  home and download this. And so for
• 9:01
  Silkong's launch day, I remember uh Andy
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  was going to do this whole marathon
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  stream cuz he was so excited for
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  Silkong. And I had just uh actually um
• 9:12
  had tested positive for COVID. And I was
• 9:14
  supposed to go in with uh into the
• 9:17
  studio with him to help him set up the
• 9:18
  stream. and I'm texting him from my
• 9:22
  room. I wake up that morning and it's
• 9:23
  early cuz we're like we wanted to be
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  there uh right when like the game uh was
• 9:28
  like coming out on Steam to stream him
• 9:30
  buying it and all this stuff. And I'm
• 9:32
  texting him at like 5 in the morning. Uh
• 9:35
  I just tested positive for COVID. I'm
• 9:37
  going to have to like when you get to
• 9:38
  the studio, I need you to video call me
• 9:40
  and I'm going to walk you through how to
• 9:41
  turn on the studio. Um and there's
• 9:43
  something about like him seeing him
• 9:44
  start it up and seeing everybody post
• 9:46
  about it or it's like yeah, you know
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  what? I'm going to buy this. I'm gonna
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  try it out. Uh, and I just I like I just
• 9:53
  gave into that world in a way that I was
• 9:55
  not expecting. Um, that I just
• 9:58
  >> Yeah. Again, before kind of like that
• 10:01
  week, I was, you know, aware of the
• 10:04
  memes and like this kind of this big uh
• 10:07
  conversation around where is this game?
• 10:10
  But outside of that, it was never like a
• 10:12
  mostly anticipated or, you know, I have
• 10:14
  like a a big expectation for this game.
• 10:16
  and it was just like, "Oh, this this is
• 10:18
  one of those kind of 2D type of games
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  that seems like my kind of vibe. I'll
• 10:22
  actually give it a try."
• 10:23
  >> Was there a moment for you where it like
• 10:26
  clicked where you went from being like,
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  "Oh, this is pretty fun." to being like,
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  "Yo,
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  >> or is it just like in general, you know
• 10:33
  what I mean? Cuz like sometimes
• 10:34
  sometimes a game like that sort of like
• 10:36
  you stew on because I think Hollowade is
• 10:38
  is kind of an understated game that's
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  not like this is amazing right off the
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  bat. It starts you jumping around, you
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  know what I It's something that watches
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  over you. And I think that kind of like
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  that happened for me. But I do remember
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  it was it was mainly a conversation
• 10:51
  where, you know, there's a mini boss uh
• 10:54
  early on in the game. It's this big r
• 10:56
  ant. He's got this big hammer. Remember
• 10:59
  thinking like, man, this is a tough
• 11:01
  fight and this this isn't even a boss
• 11:02
  that has like a a health bar and a name
• 11:05
  or anything. This is just a guy. And you
• 11:07
  know, it was one of those uh with a lot
• 11:10
  of games like these, like a Souls game
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  or what have you, where, you know, you
• 11:14
  could do the smart thing of like, I'm
• 11:16
  going to walk away and explore around
• 11:18
  and figure it out and maybe when I come
• 11:20
  back, I've learned something new about
• 11:22
  how to play this game or, you know, I
• 11:24
  unlock something that makes me think
• 11:26
  about how to fight this dude in a better
• 11:29
  uh more efficient way. Or there's the
• 11:31
  stupid route, which I went through.
• 11:33
  where it's like, I'm just going to bang
• 11:34
  my head against the wall cuz I think
• 11:36
  this is the only way through this game.
• 11:38
  It's just because it's hard. And I
• 11:40
  remember beating that fight and then
• 11:42
  learning from someone, oh yeah, you can
• 11:44
  unlock the dash and then go back to him.
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  I was like, I didn't realize that. I
• 11:47
  just thought you had to beat him like
• 11:48
  that. And for for something like that
• 11:51
  conversation, that was just such a cool
• 11:53
  little like almost um like not sequence
• 11:57
  skipping, but it reminded me of like
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  conversations like that when we we talk
• 12:01
  about like Metroids and uh and all that
• 12:03
  stuff of just like how much there is to
• 12:05
  discover in this world. And I think the
• 12:07
  other thing for me was once you get to
• 12:11
  the kind of like main um city uh that
• 12:15
  you're trying to get to, right? And it's
• 12:17
  this like grand cutscene feels in a 2D
• 12:20
  cartoon way very um you know Elder
• 12:23
  Ringesque where you see this like huge
• 12:25
  cathedral and it's beautiful and it's
• 12:27
  taking you over in in such a way where
• 12:29
  it looks beautiful but there's something
• 12:31
  just so empty about it where I I that's
• 12:34
  where I was starting to emotionally put
• 12:36
  together what this game was going to be
• 12:39
  about. Um, and from there on out, um,
• 12:43
  everything going on in the center of
• 12:45
  like kind of this big hub area in that
• 12:48
  act two onward, that's where I really
• 12:51
  just started to understand like at least
• 12:53
  for myself of like what this game meant,
• 12:55
  what it's talking about, and then from
• 12:58
  there, how the game play is helping tell
• 13:00
  that story in a a unique way and not
• 13:04
  adding to the commentary of what it's
• 13:05
  talking about, but more so
• 13:07
  >> doing something presentationally that I
• 13:09
  thought was really beautiful and felt so
• 13:11
  unique for even, you know, 2D action
• 13:14
  adventure games.
• 13:17
  There's something so interesting that I
• 13:18
  think you're hitting on about your
• 13:20
  experience with this game about kind of
• 13:21
  being enveloped in the moment that I've
• 13:25
  been reflecting on and I think like
• 13:26
  because of the social media landscape we
• 13:29
  live in and like the amounts of
• 13:31
  information that we're constantly being
• 13:33
  fed, there is something about this genre
• 13:35
  of games and I think Souls likes are
• 13:36
  like this as well that are resistant to
• 13:40
  spoiler culture that it's almost a
• 13:42
  prerogative to have players talk to each
• 13:44
  other and share things with each other
• 13:46
  and be like, "No, you should maybe get a
• 13:48
  little help from your friend and they're
• 13:49
  going to tell you something and then
• 13:50
  that's going to change how you approach
• 13:52
  this boss." That is almost rather than
• 13:54
  trying to fight the mass amounts of
• 13:56
  information that you're being fed on
• 13:58
  social media, it's actually working with
• 13:59
  it. It's actually saying like, "No, it's
• 14:01
  it's you are all actually part of this
• 14:02
  launch, this moment together. It's cool
• 14:05
  that you're sharing this. It's cool that
• 14:06
  you're watching somebody else's stream."
• 14:08
  And then that might inform what you do
• 14:10
  in your playthrough in a in a way that
• 14:13
  is like now part of your story, right?
• 14:16
  Yeah. Yeah. And it's funny that you
• 14:18
  bring up kind of like spoiler culture
• 14:20
  and how there's kind of like, you know,
• 14:22
  a respectfulness that, you know, I think
• 14:25
  we get overly respectful in terms of
• 14:26
  spoiler culture, especially with video
• 14:28
  games, right? Um, but I think because
• 14:33
  games like Hollow Knight and games like
• 14:34
  Elden Ring and uh other other of its ilk
• 14:38
  that is not so plot focused and making
• 14:42
  the plot the driving force of what the
• 14:44
  narrative is doing. It's almost kind of
• 14:46
  hard to spoil things in certain ways
• 14:49
  because it's like
• 14:51
  >> you're only going to understand what
• 14:52
  this game is going for the more you give
• 14:54
  into it and how you how you personally
• 14:57
  view the world and take certain things
• 14:59
  away from it. um that I think it's like
• 15:01
  almost like yeah, you can spoil a name,
• 15:04
  but like that's not really going to mean
• 15:05
  anything you and like is it really going
• 15:08
  to mean anything to you until like 5
• 15:11
  hours later where you put together like
• 15:13
  oh the this boss fight that felt like
• 15:16
  this mechanical dance is actually a
• 15:18
  reflection on homogenized uh culture uh
• 15:23
  when religion takes over uh an area of a
• 15:27
  world and tries to rid all culture that
• 15:30
  existed there previously. And when they
• 15:32
  try to echo existence before they take
• 15:36
  over, it feels so robotic, so lifeless.
• 15:40
  And then you see a different fight that
• 15:42
  that original mechanical fight was based
• 15:45
  off of, and you're like, "Oh, this is
• 15:47
  the true meaning of, you know, the uh
• 15:50
  Cogwork Dancers, I believe, is what the
• 15:52
  they're called, right?" Like there's
• 15:53
  just something about the inherent of
• 15:55
  like
• 15:57
  the way they tell stories. Uh, and they
• 15:59
  I mean just like developers who like to
• 16:01
  tell stories more so in the um landscape
• 16:05
  in terms of boss fight design um I think
• 16:09
  is just really really cool and it it
• 16:12
  takes time to really unpack and so um I
• 16:15
  I I've thought about that a lot with
• 16:17
  Silkong of just like you know the kind
• 16:19
  of spoiler culture and how these games
• 16:22
  kind of like
• 16:23
  >> overcome that in a an interesting way.
• 16:25
  Well, and I think what you're speaking
• 16:27
  to here too is this thing about like
• 16:29
  games that I that makes them so unique
• 16:31
  and it's the idea of like uh mechanical
• 16:33
  discovery being the thing that is like
• 16:35
  what people are like worried about with
• 16:36
  spoilers for um but you know as you're
• 16:39
  saying like
• 16:41
  sometimes even like getting those things
• 16:42
  spoiled for you it's like oh no that
• 16:44
  like reveals new ways to like engage
• 16:46
  with the game and whatever and that's
• 16:48
  such a that's such a unique like game
• 16:49
  thing because you know there's not like
• 16:52
  >> book mechanics you know what I mean for
• 16:54
  whatever that like you know people are
• 16:55
  talking about, you know, there's like
• 16:56
  pros and whatever, but it it's it's not
• 16:58
  like it's not one to one. And and I
• 17:00
  think when games really lean into that,
• 17:02
  that's when they're sometimes at their
• 17:03
  most interesting and those are the games
• 17:05
  that like really I think resonate with
• 17:06
  people. I mean,
• 17:07
  >> I think
• 17:07
  >> that's when they're the most leaning
• 17:09
  into their medium of how to tell
• 17:11
  stories.
• 17:11
  >> Yes. Exactly. Cuz then it's it's the
• 17:13
  story of those mechanics and how those
• 17:15
  mechanics then come together and help
• 17:16
  shape a world and a narrative and all
• 17:18
  that sort of stuff, which I think is um
• 17:19
  fascinating. I think Hollite is a great
• 17:21
  pick for for something like that from
• 17:23
  this year.
• 17:24
  >> Yeah.
• 17:25
  Yeah, that last bit that you said,
• 17:27
  Barrett, I feel like I know our
• 17:28
  listening audience pretty well and I was
• 17:29
  like, "Oh, I just heard so many people
• 17:31
  who are not interested in this game go,
• 17:34
  "Oh, no." Yeah,
• 17:35
  >> that I think I heard them turn. I saw
• 17:37
  the ehop loading up. I felt the sound.
• 17:40
  >> Oh, man. That was good. Yeah. I mean, I
• 17:42
  I have not played Silkong and honestly,
• 17:44
  I I haven't played Hollow Knight and now
• 17:46
  it's like now I feel attacked. Now it's
• 17:47
  like, oh, okay. I have I have no excuse.
• 17:49
  Now it's like that was that was pretty
• 17:50
  compelling. Yeah, Peter.
• 17:51
  >> I also was like, Barrett, I didn't I
• 17:53
  played the original one. I was like
• 17:54
  fine. And then Silk Song came out. I was
• 17:55
  like, "Oh, no. This is like really good.
• 17:57
  This is like really really good." I
• 17:58
  >> Yeah. And I tried going back to Hollow
• 18:00
  Night and I still felt kind of the same
• 18:02
  way. And maybe it's, you know, a lot of
• 18:05
  people talk about like, "Oh, there's
• 18:06
  like a a certain level of aimlessness in
• 18:08
  those first couple of hours of Hollow
• 18:09
  Knight that Silkong kind of improved
• 18:12
  upon that where you you have more of a
• 18:14
  direction of the general area that
• 18:16
  you're supposed to be going. whereas
• 18:18
  going back to Hollow Knight, even like
• 18:20
  uh now kind of knowing the the bones of
• 18:22
  what that series is kind of built on,
• 18:25
  even understanding that there's still
• 18:26
  kind of like I don't I don't know if I'm
• 18:28
  ever going the kind of right way. Um and
• 18:31
  I think it's also just a a testament to
• 18:34
  Hornet's move set as well that I just
• 18:36
  find much more compelling even from the
• 18:39
  jump, right? Like you know, it takes a
• 18:41
  little bit to get that dash. takes a
• 18:42
  little bit to get like um you know the
• 18:45
  uh I think I forget if the air dash is
• 18:47
  like a a different thing that you unlock
• 18:49
  but like the stuff that they build on
• 18:52
  top is so great but I think the the core
• 18:55
  kind of feeling and momentum of Hornet
• 18:58
  and you know I'm you know I know this is
• 19:00
  a big discussion of the the down pogo if
• 19:02
  people like the angled down pogo or not
• 19:05
  I'm I'm a down pogo angled uh defender
• 19:08
  to be
• 19:11
  I stuck with Yeah, it's good. It's real
• 19:12
  good and it feels real good. And I think
• 19:14
  the the um platforming that uh really
• 19:18
  really like lends itself to that once
• 19:20
  you really understand it. And that
• 19:22
  that's kind of like,
• 19:24
  >> you know, the the the sicko gamer stuff
• 19:27
  brain works. It's like, oh, this just
• 19:28
  this just feels right. This is is, you
• 19:30
  know, just tickling this this right part
• 19:34
  of my brain where I'm like, yeah, that
• 19:35
  that's nice. um that reminds me of a lot
• 19:38
  of just like really fun uh kind of uh
• 19:41
  platformers uh that I grew up with. And
• 19:43
  then you know the challenging part of
• 19:45
  Hollow Knight is not even born out of a
• 19:48
  love for Souls games. Like I I wasn't
• 19:50
  even really like a Souls guy until Elden
• 19:53
  Ring and even after Elder Ring like the
• 19:55
  the only other like FromSoft games that
• 19:57
  I truly truly adore are Searo and Armor
• 20:01
  Core 6. Um, but for me it was more so of
• 20:04
  like
• 20:04
  >> I'm a Cuphead sicko and there's just
• 20:06
  something about that like
• 20:08
  >> 2D kind of um challenging boss rush type
• 20:12
  of type of thing that Cuphead has that I
• 20:15
  think like lent itself to you know
• 20:18
  banging my head against the wall uh in
• 20:20
  in Hollow Night Silk song that I I I
• 20:22
  just really love and adore. And I think
• 20:23
  it's also just being an animation fan
• 20:26
  and even when I'm, you know, bummed that
• 20:29
  I have lost against a a fight, you know,
• 20:32
  two hours in of just seeing all of the
• 20:36
  every amount of effort put into the
• 20:39
  animations, the music, the way that
• 20:41
  Hornet screams when she dies, which is
• 20:43
  just it just makes me laugh every time,
• 20:46
  you know. Um, so yeah,
• 20:48
  >> it's it's funny. I think the signs of a
• 20:50
  strong critical reading are even
• 20:53
  apparent in just you talking about this
• 20:54
  game because talking about this boss
• 20:56
  that is maybe representative of a
• 20:58
  homogenized culture and then referring
• 21:00
  to this pogo which you are saying is
• 21:03
  maybe bucking convention of what a gamer
• 21:06
  would expect the kind of Scrooge McDuck
• 21:09
  straight down pogo would be is you can
• 21:11
  see immediately how these things are in
• 21:13
  conversation with each other and how
• 21:14
  they're um kind of logically consistent
• 21:16
  in the world that you just described to
• 21:18
  me. somebody who has not played the
• 21:19
  game. Yeah.
• 21:20
  >> So, um that's incredibly compelling
• 21:22
  stuff. Um Hollow Night Silk Song. Oh my
• 21:25
  god. Cody,
• 21:26
  >> good pick.
• 21:27
  >> Oh my god. Love to hear it. So, the
• 21:30
  second thing we asked for Barrett, is
• 21:32
  for your critical error of the year,
• 21:35
  something that you want to get off your
• 21:37
  chest about how we talk about games. I
• 21:40
  am so curious to hear where your mind
• 21:42
  went with this.
• 21:43
  >> This you listen to people talk all the
• 21:45
  time.
• 21:46
  >> All the time. All day. your
• 21:48
  >> Yeah. Yeah. Um,
• 21:51
  >> this was an interesting one and it was a
• 21:52
  daunting one because the reason I listen
• 21:55
  to critical uh critical errors because I
• 21:57
  think you know the
• 21:59
  it's so rare that we have uh people
• 22:04
  actually talking about not just video
• 22:06
  games but how we talk about video games.
• 22:08
  And I think that's such a really smart,
• 22:10
  compelling way to, you know, start a
• 22:13
  podcast. And I think you two do such a
• 22:15
  fantastic job of breaking those things
• 22:17
  down. Uh you you two are both seemingly
• 22:21
  for, you know, uh you know, having only
• 22:23
  listened uh to the podcast, uh very well
• 22:26
  read think about these things uh a lot
• 22:28
  of the time, whereas, you know, I'm I'm
• 22:30
  I'm I'm a big old idiot. you know, I
• 22:32
  just I press buttons and you know, you
• 22:35
  know, colors go on the screen and I'm
• 22:37
  like, "Hell yeah, I did my job." Right.
• 22:39
  Um, and so it's interesting, especially
• 22:41
  being someone who's more on the like
• 22:43
  tech side and like production side of of
• 22:45
  our industry, but, you know, still being
• 22:47
  a certain voice who has, you know, made
• 22:50
  commentary uh here and there once in a
• 22:52
  while, I thought about it a lot. Um,
• 22:57
  and
• 22:58
  my critical error of the year I I think
• 23:01
  is less so about the year 2025 and more
• 23:04
  so thinking about
• 23:07
  >> how critics either in written form
• 23:11
  specifically with reviews in written
• 23:13
  form or in podcast form or in video
• 23:15
  essay form.
• 23:18
  how I want more of
• 23:22
  unpacking what they think this piece of
• 23:26
  art is actually about and what that
• 23:28
  means to them. And I say this knowing
• 23:31
  full well that so many people already do
• 23:33
  this and they're doing incredible
• 23:36
  amazing work at this. But I I it's
• 23:38
  something that I want to see more of
• 23:40
  because I think when there's a review
• 23:43
  where it's like, you know, you know,
• 23:45
  this game has mature themes about grief
• 23:48
  or mature themes about womanhood and
• 23:51
  then it doesn't get unpacked further
• 23:53
  than that to talk about what the game is
• 23:56
  saying. I think there's almost this like
• 24:00
  >> trepidation, almost this like
• 24:02
  nervousness to actually unpack what the
• 24:04
  game is commenting on. And I think that
• 24:07
  is uh something that feels like
• 24:11
  something left over from game criticism
• 24:14
  of old that focus way more on the tech
• 24:18
  side of a video game. Way more focus on
• 24:21
  like
• 24:22
  >> the game runs good, the you know the
• 24:24
  graphics are pretty, the the story is
• 24:27
  well presented. Here is good acting. And
• 24:30
  um I think it's just something I want
• 24:33
  even more critics to think about uh
• 24:36
  especially in kind of like the the
• 24:38
  bigger spaces. Um, and not to say that,
• 24:41
  you know, there people aren't doing that
• 24:42
  in the bigger spaces, but it just be
• 24:45
  more curious about the art that you're
• 24:47
  interacting with because I think with
• 24:49
  decades of games criticism, and I'm
• 24:52
  talking about like, you know, from even
• 24:54
  before I was uh, in the industry of
• 24:59
  being too kind of
• 25:02
  I don't know, I don't know if scared is
• 25:04
  the right word, but being too cautious
• 25:06
  about breaking these things down. I
• 25:09
  think lent itself to cultivating this
• 25:12
  culture around video games with like
• 25:14
  video game enthusiasts, people who just
• 25:16
  really love to consume, you know,
• 25:18
  discussions about video games of
• 25:21
  thinking of this medium as not art but a
• 25:25
  product.
• 25:26
  >> And I think I think a lot about the
• 25:29
  knee-jerk reactions I I see when a video
• 25:33
  game is talked about as a piece of art
• 25:35
  when in reality all video games are
• 25:37
  pieces of art. whether you want to
• 25:38
  accept that or not. But, you know, when
• 25:41
  you know, there's a AAA game that has
• 25:43
  uh, you know, uh, incredible voice
• 25:46
  acting and beautiful cutscenes and all
• 25:48
  this stuff where it finally, you know,
• 25:50
  it presents itself almost as a movie
• 25:52
  where people can understand like, oh,
• 25:54
  this is a video game that's saying
• 25:55
  something and anything that isn't doing
• 25:58
  that, that's just a video game and we
• 25:59
  just need to leave it at that. Um, you
• 26:02
  know, and I think I think that's how we
• 26:04
  get to things like um, you know, who was
• 26:08
  it? Was it Tim Sweeney who was like,
• 26:10
  "Hey, this this review on Arc Raiders
• 26:13
  should just be an opinion piece because
• 26:16
  video games are video games and they're,
• 26:18
  you know, uh, they're they're tech
• 26:20
  products and we're a techdriven industry
• 26:22
  when really all mediums of art are tech
• 26:25
  driven. Like what do you think music is,
• 26:28
  uh, made with its technology? What do
• 26:30
  you think film is made with its
• 26:31
  technology? I think that's such a copout
• 26:34
  like redirect from a lot of like people
• 26:36
  at the top to make people not think
• 26:38
  deeper about this medium that they're
• 26:40
  interacting with all the time. So, the
• 26:43
  reason I thought about that um as just
• 26:46
  like a bigger push uh for people to be
• 26:48
  more curious about the art that they're
• 26:50
  interacting with is because I think
• 26:53
  because of decades of product reviews of
• 26:57
  video games I think has, you know, let
• 27:00
  this kind of
• 27:03
  culture stew around video games are
• 27:06
  video games and uh they need to not be
• 27:08
  art and they need to not be commenting
• 27:09
  on it. And if they are commenting on it,
• 27:12
  it it's it's woke and I hate it. And I
• 27:15
  think the more
• 27:17
  >> critics we have actually pushing further
• 27:20
  into what they're interacting with, even
• 27:23
  if it's a game like Tetris or Sector,
• 27:26
  right? The the more modern example,
• 27:28
  right? Like push past that. push past it
• 27:31
  just being uh bright colors and button
• 27:34
  inputs and and think more about what the
• 27:37
  game because even if it's not saying
• 27:40
  something on a grand level of society or
• 27:43
  commenting on a specific thing, it's at
• 27:45
  least saying something and maybe that's
• 27:47
  something is just hey this gameplay
• 27:49
  kicks ass, right? And that could be that
• 27:52
  all that it is, but that is still a
• 27:54
  piece of art trying to say something.
• 27:56
  Um, and I hope that the more we push to
• 27:59
  that, I hope to cultivate a newer
• 28:02
  generation of people who are video game
• 28:05
  enthusiasts, who are actually more
• 28:07
  interested in thinking about video game,
• 28:10
  the the medium of video games as an art
• 28:13
  form and not trying to kind of like,
• 28:16
  okay, there are some video games that
• 28:18
  are art because, you know, uh, Ben Star
• 28:20
  is acting his ass off to me and this
• 28:22
  type of thing. And then there's other
• 28:24
  video games that are not art because uh
• 28:26
  I don't know like uh it's just like I'm
• 28:30
  controlling a stick figure or something
• 28:31
  like nothing.
• 28:32
  >> And I think that'll just help the
• 28:35
  conversation around people understanding
• 28:37
  themselves more, understanding the the
• 28:39
  art more and learning about both of
• 28:41
  those things, right? Nothing depresses
• 28:43
  me more than, you know, I came out with
• 28:44
  a Naughty Dog video early this year, uh
• 28:46
  where I replayed every Naughty Dog game
• 28:48
  and, you know, talked about every
• 28:49
  Naughty Dog game. And you know, I got
• 28:51
  some comments uh here, there, and
• 28:53
  everywhere about uh people's opinions on
• 28:54
  my opinions about the Naughty Dog game,
• 28:56
  but nothing depressed me more than
• 28:59
  um someone saying in reaction to my
• 29:03
  thoughts on The Last of Us Part Two
• 29:05
  saying, "I just don't think we need to
• 29:07
  be thinking about video games that
• 29:08
  deeply,
• 29:08
  >> dude." And that that guts me more than
• 29:11
  any personal attack I got. Like, that is
• 29:13
  more upsetting. it like and even more
• 29:16
  recently when the Game Awards uh
• 29:18
  nominations were announced and we got to
• 29:20
  best uh narrative and Hollow Knight
• 29:22
  wasn't on there to bring that back to my
• 29:23
  game of the year, you know, I remember
• 29:25
  saying on a piece of content like, "Oh
• 29:26
  man, like Hollow like Silk Song should
• 29:28
  have been here." thinking about its
• 29:30
  commentary on organized religion, on the
• 29:33
  the ways that it capitalizes on the
• 29:36
  people that it attracts and the way it
• 29:38
  homogenizes culture and how it tells
• 29:41
  that story through its environmental
• 29:43
  storytelling, through the ways that you
• 29:45
  interact with certain bosses. And it
• 29:47
  tells that story through a ballet dance
• 29:49
  in your gameplay. And that game is just
• 29:53
  learning a ballet and it's awesome. And
• 29:56
  like way more people in our chats were
• 29:58
  like, "Another Barrett L Barrett the
• 30:01
  that game barely had a story." And it's
• 30:03
  just like, man, we we really
• 30:06
  I I don't know how to fix this, but I I
• 30:08
  really want us to kind of like help kind
• 30:11
  of the kind of media literacy in terms
• 30:15
  of video games cuz we as a modern, you
• 30:19
  know, internet society already struggle
• 30:21
  with media literacy in even in just
• 30:24
  text. And of course, like, man, the
• 30:27
  video game level of that is going to
• 30:29
  take a while. But um yeah, that's that's
• 30:32
  one that's uh that's been on my brain.
• 30:34
  >> It feels like you are, correct me if I'm
• 30:37
  wrong, what you're looking for is like
• 30:38
  more people to just like have a
• 30:40
  perspective, you know what I mean? And
• 30:41
  like what what you started like in the
• 30:43
  front half.
• 30:43
  >> Thank you for making my long rant very
• 30:45
  simple. No, no, no, but but like you you
• 30:47
  got into all of the all of the, you
• 30:49
  know, pieces of it and everything like
• 30:50
  that and and uh cuz I think I think for
• 30:53
  me what you're talking about here is
• 30:54
  separated into two parts and it's like
• 30:56
  reviewers,
• 30:58
  you know, it's fine to do the product
• 31:00
  review of a video game. That's going to
• 31:01
  happen. That's fine. Talk about the
• 31:02
  frame rate, talk about the whatever. You
• 31:04
  want the Digital Foundry review. You
• 31:05
  want the Skillup review like that,
• 31:06
  right? Of course. But also, if you adopt
• 31:10
  that perspective as a writer, your
• 31:11
  writing gets way more interesting
• 31:13
  because then you're you're not
• 31:14
  replaceable. And I'm not saying that,
• 31:16
  you know, whatever, but I'm saying like
• 31:17
  like so many of these reviews read so
• 31:19
  similarly because they're just saying
• 31:20
  like the gameplay is good, the story is
• 31:24
  good, and they're all segmented. And I
• 31:26
  think it's as you pointed out because
• 31:27
  it's like I think these are some of the
• 31:28
  remnants of the way we used to talk
• 31:30
  about games as products as opposed to
• 31:32
  art. And there's an intersection there,
• 31:33
  right? because they are both and what
• 31:35
  you just brought up of like the like
• 31:37
  sectioning off each different individual
• 31:40
  part as if they're not a part of a hole
• 31:42
  that's feeding into each other which is
• 31:44
  the whole what makes video games so cool
• 31:47
  and like that's the thing that drives me
• 31:48
  like yes we we can have the digital
• 31:50
  foundaries cuz yeah they're really good
• 31:51
  at what they do and I am interested in
• 31:53
  learning what they have to say about you
• 31:54
  know whatever you know video game
• 31:56
  product but it's also like when we focus
• 31:58
  so much on like the technology side of
• 32:02
  it it's like
• 32:03
  >> one of my favorite movies is SLC Punk. I
• 32:06
  is it really like am I going to Is my
• 32:08
  review going to be about you know the
• 32:10
  cinematography was kind of bland? No,
• 32:12
  I'm going to talk to you about like why
• 32:13
  I think that is such a special coming of
• 32:15
  age movie and every time I see Matthew
• 32:17
  Lillard cry at the end of the movie that
• 32:19
  makes me want to cry and you know like
• 32:21
  my personal kind of you know
• 32:24
  relationship with that piece of art and
• 32:27
  I think I want more of that and you know
• 32:29
  there are a lot of great writers who are
• 32:31
  doing that but I think there there there
• 32:33
  needs to be a push for even more of that
• 32:35
  of you know putting yourself in you know
• 32:39
  in that review and you're interpreting
• 32:41
  retation of that piece of art and your
• 32:44
  interpretation of the world and how you
• 32:46
  see yourself. Um because and and again
• 32:50
  the way we used to do video game reviews
• 32:52
  has cultivated this commentary of
• 32:54
  whenever we do put ourselves into a
• 32:56
  review people are like you need to be
• 32:58
  objective and it's like that is
• 32:59
  [ __ ] I hate that.
• 33:01
  >> Yeah. I I think it's funny you started
• 33:03
  off by talking about how you listen to
• 33:05
  critical error and it sounds like we're
• 33:07
  like we're really well read and I think
• 33:09
  what's funny about that is that your
• 33:11
  natural instincts just brought you to
• 33:15
  everything that I would tell you with
• 33:17
  like a so something that you you
• 33:19
  described in this that I think is um
• 33:20
  famously I'm sourcing uh Janet Malcolm
• 33:23
  this book called the journalist and the
• 33:24
  murderer and she talks about how uh
• 33:27
  journalistic objectivity is a
• 33:30
  performance that conceals the writer's
• 33:32
  power and choices. So, it's not like
• 33:35
  claiming neutrality does not remove
• 33:37
  bias. It just obscures it. But I think
• 33:39
  there is such a prerogative in video
• 33:40
  game writing to claim that you are
• 33:42
  coming from an unbiased perspective.
• 33:45
  That is something that has been shaped
• 33:46
  for us. It's like, oh, I need to make
• 33:48
  clear to my reader that I I am not
• 33:51
  biased. But really, what that's doing is
• 33:53
  it's a pose that I think hides the
• 33:55
  writer's hand. And and the most
• 33:56
  important thing that I think you hit on,
• 33:57
  which is really like the heart of so
• 33:59
  much of what we talk about on this show,
• 34:01
  is that description is um Roland Bart's
• 34:05
  one of the most preeminent critics of
• 34:07
  all time. He said that description was
• 34:09
  precritical and interpretation is the
• 34:12
  work of a critic. So criticism begins
• 34:15
  like when the writer explains how
• 34:17
  meaning is produced and why it resonates
• 34:19
  or fails, not what is being produced.
• 34:22
  Why? what is in between the space
• 34:24
  between the writer and the text and I
• 34:26
  think you aptly described like so many
• 34:29
  things are here is what is in front of
• 34:32
  me and I am reporting back and telling
• 34:34
  people what I saw in this game and then
• 34:36
  just kind of saying that was there it
• 34:39
  was good it was good and there there is
• 34:41
  this lack of the the almost
• 34:44
  responsibility of the individual to come
• 34:47
  and and meet the text halfway and say
• 34:50
  okay here's what the text brought me and
• 34:51
  here's what I'm bringing to the text,
• 34:53
  which I think was a lot of what you were
• 34:56
  wanting of in in more reviews. Yeah.
• 34:58
  >> And what I appreciate too about what you
• 35:00
  were talking about where uh when you
• 35:02
  said that you brought up like Silk Song
• 35:04
  is like a best one of the best
• 35:05
  narratives of the year and you know your
• 35:06
  chat being like this is a bad take, bad
• 35:08
  take, bad take. What I find interesting
• 35:10
  about that is is it sort of like uh uh
• 35:12
  is is in conversation with what Jake is
• 35:15
  trying to say here about like
• 35:17
  >> a lot of the games that I think people
• 35:19
  recognize as like oh this is the best
• 35:20
  narrative of the year are are games that
• 35:22
  kind of just like kind of look like
• 35:23
  movies. Do you know what I mean? Where
• 35:24
  it's just it's
• 35:25
  >> invisible narrative.
• 35:26
  >> You know when we you know we talk about
• 35:27
  like oh the best performance at the game
• 35:29
  award and it is all human beings whose
• 35:31
  faces you are watching and you it's like
• 35:33
  a movie right and that's a totally fine
• 35:36
  way to do a video game. But to your
• 35:38
  point, Hollow Knight is not a game that
• 35:41
  reads like a movie, right? It's not it's
• 35:43
  not a game that you would be like, "What
• 35:44
  am I looking? Is this a movie?" No, no.
• 35:46
  Because it is it is so steeped in its
• 35:47
  mechanics and in the player interaction
• 35:50
  with it. But to Jake's point about like
• 35:54
  uh c can you how did you say it's not
• 35:59
  uh
• 36:01
  what was it? What was the end there
• 36:02
  about?
• 36:03
  >> You're with me. You're with me, Peter.
• 36:04
  You're with me. Yeah.
• 36:04
  >> I know. But but about what uh about how
• 36:06
  like um it is the interpretation is the
• 36:09
  job of the of the critic not what was
• 36:11
  the first se part of it?
• 36:13
  >> Oh uh description.
• 36:14
  >> Yes. But uh like it feels like so many
• 36:16
  of these games that feel like movies um
• 36:18
  are just describing right. It's just
• 36:20
  like in front of your eyes and you are
• 36:21
  seeing it and you are not having to do
• 36:22
  any of the lifting any any of the work
• 36:24
  of understanding it. Whereas something
• 36:26
  like Hollow Knight, to your point about
• 36:28
  it having a great narrative, that is the
• 36:29
  interpretation because it's not just the
• 36:31
  description of just saying like this is
• 36:33
  the story about a bug who does this
• 36:35
  stuff. It's like no no what are these
• 36:36
  bosses telling you? What is this
• 36:37
  environment telling you?
• 36:38
  >> Y
• 36:39
  >> I mean I even loved the the uh example
• 36:41
  of Tetris to be honest with you because
• 36:43
  like to deny the narrative qualities of
• 36:46
  Tetris is insane to me. Like my
• 36:48
  interpretation would say a game clearly
• 36:50
  about turning chaos into order. the
• 36:52
  relief of things stacking up in front of
• 36:55
  you and then when you can make sense of
• 36:56
  them, they disappear and you have that
• 36:58
  moment of relief but then things just
• 37:00
  keep coming and more and more and how
• 37:02
  the intensity ratchets up like oh my god
• 37:04
  what a to say that that is not a
• 37:07
  storytelling device through mechanics.
• 37:09
  It's crazy to me because I 100% go on
• 37:12
  that ride.
• 37:12
  >> And we're going to go on this rant on
• 37:13
  tetris because I have a completely
• 37:15
  different interpretation of Tetris where
• 37:17
  I
• 37:18
  >> That game is about embracing the
• 37:20
  different shapes of what we can do and
• 37:22
  bringing people together to ACCOMPLISH
• 37:24
  SOMETHING.
• 37:24
  >> WOW. YEAH. TOTALLY. YEAH. YEAH. YEAH. Oh
• 37:28
  my god.
• 37:29
  >> See, that's fun. See, that that to me is
• 37:31
  like
• 37:31
  >> and that's where like and that's these
• 37:33
  are the like
• 37:34
  >> stupid but good cool conversations I
• 37:37
  want I want more of and for more people
• 37:39
  to be interested in having and to think
• 37:42
  about mechanics on a on a story telling
• 37:44
  level like that like I I love Clare
• 37:46
  Obscure like that that's another
• 37:48
  favorite of mine this year. I think the
• 37:49
  one mechanical thing Claire obscure does
• 37:53
  >> interesting in terms of a storytelling
• 37:56
  aspect and how it uh tells a story is
• 38:00
  making you believe that you're going to
• 38:01
  fill out um you know character stats for
• 38:05
  a character who you know dies a good 10
• 38:09
  15 hours into that game right and I I
• 38:12
  think that's a more of like a hey we're
• 38:14
  going to tease this thing and then take
• 38:15
  it away from you and that's been done
• 38:16
  before but that's like you know that's
• 38:18
  like the closest thing I think about
• 38:19
  like what Clare Obscure does with in
• 38:21
  terms of mechanics and you know having
• 38:24
  this expectation and pulling it away
• 38:25
  from you whereas you know like
• 38:28
  >> yeah I think the mechanics of Silkong in
• 38:32
  terms of one that people were really
• 38:34
  upset about is like eventually you have
• 38:35
  to pay for uh you know sitting at a
• 38:38
  bench once you get into this like kind
• 38:40
  of religious hub and it's like yeah
• 38:43
  because it's actually like really trying
• 38:45
  to mechanically tell you about the
• 38:47
  exploitation ations of organized
• 38:49
  religion and what that is doing to its
• 38:51
  followers. And uh you know the
• 38:55
  the way that the the livelihood of these
• 38:58
  these bugs and you know how they they
• 39:01
  feel like they're their own beings. The
• 39:03
  further you're away from you know that
• 39:05
  center place and then the closer you get
• 39:07
  the more uh likely that they are being
• 39:10
  strung up by silk and you know not being
• 39:12
  their own selves. Uh which then you have
• 39:14
  to fight a bunch of them which is really
• 39:16
  upsetting. Um But like even through that
• 39:19
  like u their their story in that and um
• 39:22
  yeah I I just I want more of that
• 39:24
  conversation.
• 39:25
  >> Yeah.
• 39:29
  >> Thank you so much.
• 39:31
  >> Thank you so much for having me. I
• 39:32
  apologize for taking up so much of
• 39:34
  y'all's time tonight but uh I again uh
• 39:37
  big fan of the show. I I want you two to
• 39:39
  keep doing what you're doing on the show
• 39:41
  and off the show. Um, you know, uh, I I
• 39:44
  was very intimidating, uh, being, uh,
• 39:46
  intro introduced and being, uh, you
• 39:49
  know, invited on to the show, uh,
• 39:51
  because, you know, I' I've listened and
• 39:53
  I've I've heard y'all's kind of like,
• 39:55
  uh, you know, uh, not even like, uh,
• 39:58
  spoken word pieces and and like all this
• 40:00
  stuff and it's like it was very
• 40:02
  intimidating to be asked like, "Hey, can
• 40:04
  you do a pre-written thing for your game
• 40:06
  of the year?" I'm like, damn. I've I
• 40:08
  heard this man talk about what was it?
• 40:10
  Street Fighter or what was the arcade
• 40:12
  fighting game?
• 40:13
  >> Street is like the best piece of
• 40:15
  writing.
• 40:16
  >> How dare you? Like I was thinking back
• 40:18
  to my college days of being in spoken
• 40:20
  word, you know, like uh you know,
• 40:22
  circles and all this stuff. I was like,
• 40:24
  whoa, this is this is awesome. This is
• 40:26
  really cool. And so it was very
• 40:27
  intimidating to be uh invited on the
• 40:29
  show. Um but I I I had a great time and
• 40:32
  again, thank you so much for having me.
• 40:34
  >> Well, thanks for being here. And I'll
• 40:35
  say this, as intimidated as you are, I
• 40:37
  have to write on this show every week
• 40:39
  after Jake gets done writing.
• 40:40
  >> No, that's you guys. This is ridiculous.
• 40:44
  >> Courtney, thank you for being here. We
• 40:46
  really appreciate it. Uh we'll catch you
• 40:48
  in the next one. Welcome back to the
• 40:50
  Critical Error Game of the Year show. In
• 40:52
  addition to these interviews that we've
• 40:54
  done, which first of all, how great is
• 40:56
  Barrett Courtourtney? Uh just a class
• 40:59
  act. I
• 41:00
  >> Oh my god. In addition to these
• 41:02
  interviews, we also wanted to hear from
• 41:04
  members of the Critical Error Nation
• 41:06
  about the games that they really liked
• 41:08
  this year. So, we reached out to the
• 41:09
  people in the Jake and Peter tier
• 41:11
  because who would know what belongs on
• 41:13
  the show better than us? It's the Jake
• 41:17
  and Peter tier, of course. And we asked
• 41:19
  them to uh write a little bit about
• 41:22
  their favorite games of the year. So,
• 41:25
  we're going to read some of these right
• 41:26
  now. Jake, do you want to start with our
• 41:28
  first uh our first bit of bit of
• 41:30
  writing?
• 41:30
  >> I will. So, this one is from Robert
• 41:33
  Quesada, who said, now first, they sent
• 41:36
  us a long post and we wanted we wanted
• 41:40
  like 150 words. So, I took the liberty.
• 41:43
  >> I went in there and I I I played editor.
• 41:45
  So, here's here's what we've got from
• 41:46
  Robert. So, my favorite game that I have
• 41:48
  played in 2025 would be Pokemon Scarlet.
• 41:54
  I had so much fun with the community and
• 41:56
  playing with my friends. And the fact
• 41:57
  that me and my friends completed the
• 41:59
  Pokédex together will be a highlight for
• 42:01
  me. But instead of talking about my
• 42:03
  favorite game, I will explain what was
• 42:06
  my best gaming moment in 2025.
• 42:09
  It all started with a Pokemon game that
• 42:11
  came out 2021.
• 42:13
  Pokemon Shining Pearl. For years, I've
• 42:17
  always wanted a shiny god. I refused
• 42:20
  nefarious ways because I always wanted a
• 42:23
  legit version. I beat the game, got to
• 42:25
  the Elite 4, went to the spear pillar,
• 42:27
  and I started hard resetting. I had
• 42:30
  everything planned out. I reset. I tried
• 42:32
  and tried. I was impressed when I made
• 42:34
  it to a thousand attempts. Months and
• 42:35
  months resetting. Years kept going on.
• 42:37
  My will is strong and wavering, but
• 42:39
  still strong. Then 2025 hits one
• 42:42
  faithful day. It happened. It was
• 42:44
  yellow. I used a master ball. I was
• 42:47
  happy. I was excited. I was thrilled. My
• 42:48
  luck turned around. That was my best
• 42:51
  2025 gaming experience.
• 42:54
  Peak. Wow.
• 42:55
  >> Peak.
• 42:56
  >> There it is. There it is.
• 42:57
  >> You just the grind.
• 42:59
  >> Are you big on on getting shiny Pokemon?
• 43:00
  I know you wrote your thing about how
• 43:02
  shiny Pokemon are kind of like the
• 43:04
  economy of shiny Pokemon is different
• 43:06
  now, but are you are you like a shiny
• 43:08
  collector?
• 43:09
  >> No, not at all. I I think for me where I
• 43:11
  stand with shiny Pokemon is that they
• 43:13
  used to be about discovery and they have
• 43:15
  pivoted and now they're about
• 43:17
  collection. Now they are about
• 43:19
  >> interesting. It it kind of took two
• 43:21
  parts of Pokemon and it used to be
• 43:22
  representative of one part, but now it's
• 43:24
  representative of a completely different
• 43:26
  aspect of the game.
• 43:27
  >> Interesting.
• 43:27
  >> Um, yeah. So, but I kind of understand I
• 43:30
  think a lot of Pokemon players feel this
• 43:31
  way where it's like not even the game.
• 43:34
  It's just having this companion, this
• 43:36
  part of their life, this the like the
• 43:38
  ritual, the thing that they do and maybe
• 43:41
  that's just um what's most important to
• 43:44
  them in any given year. It's not the
• 43:46
  kind of like revelatory experience of a
• 43:48
  storytelling medium, but the comforting
• 43:51
  one, right?
• 43:52
  >> I got a I got a shiny Pokemon in Legend
• 43:54
  Za. The big rat. I don't know what it
• 43:57
  was like. It was a Pokemon. I was like,
• 43:58
  "Oh, cool. I don't want this." But
• 44:00
  >> Oh, probably Pat rat.
• 44:02
  >> I don't. It was like just like a rat in
• 44:04
  the street. I was like, "Fine, come with
• 44:06
  me. You're mine now."
• 44:07
  >> And he evolves into Watchhog. That
• 44:09
  little sicko. Oh my god.
• 44:11
  >> I couldn't tell you. I couldn't tell
• 44:13
  you. Uh Jake, let me read you intro uh
• 44:16
  the entry from Mo.
• 44:18
  >> Sick.
• 44:20
  >> Kirby Air Riders looked bad. I watched
• 44:23
  the direct and left underwhelmed.
• 44:26
  Despite this, I ended up caving to the
• 44:28
  hype of those around me. And after
• 44:30
  finally playing City Trial,
• 44:33
  it was worse than I expected. Oh, you
• 44:35
  aimlessly drive around the exact same
• 44:37
  map, then split into tiny groups for a
• 44:39
  miniame that usually isn't very fun. But
• 44:43
  then something changed. Jake,
• 44:45
  >> I was watching the famous streamer Jake
• 44:47
  knows it and he called for me
• 44:49
  specifically to hop on City Trial. I was
• 44:52
  confused. I am both Jake and Peter. So,
• 44:55
  how could I join?
• 44:56
  >> But I did. And Jake killed me multiple
• 44:59
  times and also admitted to targeting me.
• 45:01
  >> From then on, my view of the aimless
• 45:04
  city trial changed forever. Its aim
• 45:07
  wasn't to build towards some shitty
• 45:09
  miniame. Mhm.
• 45:10
  >> It was to bully whoever looked at me
• 45:12
  funny. Next game, I beat his ass.
• 45:16
  >> Now I love Kirby AIR RIDERS.
• 45:18
  >> OH MY GOD. THIS IS SO TRUE. I REMEMBER
• 45:20
  THIS STREAM. Oh my god.
• 45:22
  >> Are you still playing?
• 45:23
  >> Uh I am still playing. I I like that
• 45:25
  game quite a bit. I think it's really
• 45:27
  nice. Yeah, it's it's fun for for
• 45:28
  exactly this. And I think the experience
• 45:31
  of uh playing online with a room of
• 45:33
  people from like my stream whose names I
• 45:35
  recognize, like we the other day we just
• 45:37
  were on Discord and I was like, "Does
• 45:38
  anybody want to join the room?" And it
• 45:40
  is fun because like truthfully I you
• 45:42
  know I see Mo fly across my screen and I
• 45:45
  go this is something for me to do for
• 45:47
  the next minute you know and I just I
• 45:48
  just bullyro you know what I mean? I'm
• 45:50
  like okay this is this is a good time.
• 45:52
  Um yeah that's a that's Kirby Air Riders
• 45:54
  is a great game. I I wrote that review
• 45:56
  for Kotaku and I the other day I posted
• 45:58
  um I think it's a strength of this
• 46:00
  review that depending on how you read it
• 46:02
  you either think I'm way too positive or
• 46:04
  way too negative on the game which is
• 46:06
  kind of that's kind of how I feel about
• 46:07
  it. It's kind of like I I think
• 46:09
  depending on how you approach it, you
• 46:11
  can have largely different takeaways
• 46:13
  from that game. And I think it's really
• 46:15
  about
• 46:16
  >> just going into it being like accepting
• 46:19
  of what it is of just being like, "Yeah,
• 46:21
  this is what I'm in the mood for right
• 46:23
  now. Don't try to force it. Don't try to
• 46:24
  play it for six hours in one day. Just
• 46:26
  go to it when you want that little
• 46:28
  taste."
• 46:28
  >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
• 46:29
  >> Yeah.
• 46:30
  >> What do you think, Jake? Next interview.
• 46:32
  >> Let's hit our next guest. And let's
• 46:35
  welcome our next guest, Autumn Wright,
• 46:37
  an incisive video games critic, a
• 46:39
  columnist at Unwittable with work that
• 46:42
  has been seen across the video game
• 46:44
  landscape and work that I must add has
• 46:47
  been oft referenced on the Critical
• 46:49
  Error podcast. Maybe the most referenced
• 46:53
  if not in competition.
• 46:55
  >> I say Autumn is probably the person who
• 46:57
  we talk about the most on our show.
• 46:59
  >> The most most referenced. though had had
• 47:02
  to get the guest spot for this 2025 game
• 47:05
  of the year episode. Autumn, we are so
• 47:08
  excited to hear what you have prepared
• 47:10
  for us.
• 47:10
  >> Thanks, guys. Should I just get into
• 47:13
  this?
• 47:13
  >> Please.
• 47:15
  >> Okay.
• 47:17
  I'm taking a gamble on the game of the
• 47:19
  year. I'm betting that of the Devil
• 47:22
  episode 2 is going to hit as hard as its
• 47:25
  prologue and first episode hit me
• 47:27
  earlier this year. Here's a pitch. Fuse
• 47:30
  Ace Attorney's absurdest criminal legal
• 47:32
  comedy with sarcastic cyberpunk world
• 47:35
  building that holds up to
• 47:36
  cross-examination.
• 47:38
  Make every crime scene, interrogation,
• 47:40
  and trial something to bet on. And draw
• 47:43
  it like an unholy fusion of a moldy
• 47:45
  online pop art inspired by Ruiko
• 47:47
  Matsuzaki and Shikinodi Soya. Which, if
• 47:51
  you know, B means this is going to be
• 47:52
  about the worst woman. A criminal
• 47:55
  defense attorney, choppy scarlet hair
• 47:57
  and a high ponytail, wears a corset over
• 47:59
  her shirt and a small cape like a
• 48:01
  dominatrix. She'll take your case.
• 48:04
  Public defenders don't really have much
• 48:05
  of a choice here. It's hard to get away
• 48:07
  with murder. There are more cameras than
• 48:09
  screens. Ocular mods are admissible
• 48:11
  evidence. Phones automatically file
• 48:13
  police reports. So, an unresolved serial
• 48:17
  murder is like edging the state
• 48:19
  prosecutor.
• 48:20
  And this is toxic Giri. The evidence is
• 48:23
  my deck. I've got a killer lawyer and
• 48:26
  I'm betting on red.
• 48:31
  >> Oh my god. Okay. Okay. This is so for
• 48:34
  for the listeners, I just want to from
• 48:35
  the jump. This was the last one we're
• 48:37
  recording and definitely the most like
• 48:39
  literaryminded one in terms of the
• 48:42
  writing. I had to I had to receat myself
• 48:44
  a couple of times because I was like,
• 48:46
  "Oh my god, Autumn's Autumn's making
• 48:48
  jokes right now. Autumn's like like
• 48:50
  doing something with that." That was so
• 48:52
  can you just from the jump for the
• 48:53
  people that might not know cuz I think
• 48:55
  what you you've done for us is you have
• 48:57
  given us the gift of bringing a game
• 48:59
  that most of our listeners have probably
• 49:01
  never heard of.
• 49:03
  >> So what Yeah. So what is this game of
• 49:06
  the devil episode 2?
• 49:08
  >> Yeah. So, Of the Devil is this deduction
• 49:12
  visual novel from uh Inth Circle. Uh the
• 49:18
  prologue and first episode released
• 49:21
  earlier this year. Uh the second episode
• 49:23
  is releasing next week. It is my
• 49:26
  Christmas present.
• 49:28
  >> Oh, huge. Uh and so you know it is uh
• 49:33
  like an ace attorney you play as a
• 49:37
  public defender. Um set in it's in the
• 49:40
  cyberpunk setting that is very much
• 49:42
  doing an iroot
• 49:44
  >> uh thing. Uh there are androids warm
• 49:47
  body androids. Central murder mystery is
• 49:50
  going to be like very much of that uh
• 49:53
  book. Uh but lots of other stuff going
• 49:55
  on around it. Um, and it just blew me
• 50:00
  away. Uh, and has left the biggest
• 50:04
  impression on me. Just even just the,
• 50:08
  uh, episode zero prologue of it. You
• 50:10
  play that for like two hours as a
• 50:13
  self-contained little thing. It's so
• 50:15
  good. It hits so hard. Uh, punches above
• 50:18
  it with weight. Gets all the style
• 50:20
  points. Um, and another reason I say
• 50:22
  it's a gamble is also because I like
• 50:24
  don't know anything about the studio,
• 50:26
  people working there. U, but they're
• 50:28
  clearly like they're on to something.
• 50:29
  They have some like really good uh
• 50:31
  influences. Their art direction is
• 50:33
  incredible. Like I say, it
• 50:35
  >> it looks like this fusion of Dongan with
• 50:39
  Persona 5.
• 50:40
  >> Yeah.
• 50:41
  >> Okay.
• 50:42
  >> So, can I ask about about this? So, like
• 50:44
  what is it that is so appealing? I mean,
• 50:46
  like I'm I'm you know, you got the
• 50:47
  trailer going up and everything like
• 50:48
  that. It's like the art style is so
• 50:52
  Yeah. Like you said, it's like Don Rampa
• 50:53
  and Persona 5 and it's with in the
• 50:55
  cyberpunk setting and all that. Is it
• 50:56
  like the writing of the characters, the
• 50:58
  overall plot? Like what is it that's so
• 50:59
  gripping to you about it?
• 51:01
  >> Uh all of the characters are so
• 51:06
  lovable and they're all kind of terrible
• 51:08
  in their own ways. So it's, you know,
• 51:11
  like and that's like really in the vein
• 51:12
  of like a Donganrompa or 100 line. Um,
• 51:16
  the world building of the cyberpunk
• 51:19
  setting. I've seen a lot of cyberpunk
• 51:21
  settings. This one really holds up. It
• 51:23
  has It's very humorous. It's fleshed out
• 51:26
  in the way that it explores what a
• 51:28
  surveillance capitalism will look like.
• 51:32
  >> Um,
• 51:33
  and
• 51:36
  yeah, it just has I mean like the reason
• 51:38
  I I turn to this like literary style is
• 51:40
  because I like I can't narrow down. I
• 51:42
  can't pin it down and say this is what
• 51:44
  it's doing. Yeah,
• 51:45
  >> that's
• 51:46
  >> making me feel so strongly. Uh, so I'm
• 51:49
  just going to try to
• 51:51
  >> show you what I'm feeling as I play this
• 51:53
  instead of doing the actual like
• 51:54
  analysis. Um, but yeah, and also, you
• 51:58
  know, all the lesbians in your audience
• 52:00
  are going to love this game. I'm just
• 52:02
  saying like it's for the girls. If you
• 52:03
  want see the girls kiss
• 52:06
  >> Okay, dude. Can I Okay, I'm going to
• 52:08
  make a A lot of the times people bring
• 52:10
  stuff up here and I try to I try to
• 52:14
  bring it back to like a novel that I
• 52:16
  really like or just some something that
• 52:18
  I have experience with is something that
• 52:20
  I do understand so that I can better
• 52:21
  understand whatever material we're
• 52:23
  talking about. I'm going to bring in a
• 52:25
  weird comparison this time. Earlier this
• 52:27
  year on Netflix, I watched an adaptation
• 52:29
  of a manga that I couldn't even tell you
• 52:31
  the name of, but the premise was that it
• 52:34
  was like a school for gambling.
• 52:37
  Everybody was gambling. Do you know what
• 52:38
  I'm talking about?
• 52:39
  >> Yeah. Uh, what's the name? What's the
• 52:41
  name? Rui Gak.
• 52:44
  >> It's I don't even know. I don't even
• 52:46
  know. And I think they changed it for
• 52:47
  the Netflix adaptation. But yeah, Peter,
• 52:49
  get on the get on the case.
• 52:50
  >> Kake
• 52:52
  compulsive gambler.
• 52:54
  >> Okay, that sounds good. That sounds
• 52:56
  good.
• 52:56
  >> And just like stylewise, I'm seeing a
• 52:59
  lot of that here. And I think it's like
• 53:03
  >> there is an
• 53:06
  emotional grammar to the idea of
• 53:09
  gambling that is more than just kind of
• 53:12
  like the spectacle of what that provides
• 53:14
  for its premise. And I think like if I
• 53:17
  think about that show manifesting risk
• 53:20
  and reward in these kind of like ludic
• 53:22
  extremes, I think that
• 53:26
  like Denan Rompa, there is almost this
• 53:29
  fun drama in arguing for the truth when
• 53:32
  the truth itself is such like an
• 53:33
  unstable concept.
• 53:35
  >> And that's what I really like about
• 53:39
  >> a lot of these games that position
• 53:41
  themselves as like um courtroomesque.
• 53:45
  Yeah.
• 53:45
  >> Dram. Yeah. You know what I mean? It's
• 53:47
  that combination of this like very
• 53:49
  melodramatic romantic arguing and like
• 53:53
  what does that mean? It's not just about
• 53:54
  like finding the answer. It's about this
• 53:56
  like representation of what we are going
• 53:59
  to say the truth is. And um I don't
• 54:03
  know. It's like it's like almost using
• 54:05
  deduction and rhetoric to
• 54:09
  carve out and claim like a marginal
• 54:11
  truth.
• 54:12
  >> Yeah. And what does that mean in this
• 54:14
  setting where you know corporate
• 54:16
  corporate monopoly has shaped the world
• 54:18
  into this insomniac city?
• 54:20
  >> Um that's like cyberpunk just as the
• 54:22
  setting lends itself to so much biting
• 54:24
  like capital commentary and it really
• 54:28
  carves out this idea of like who is
• 54:29
  actually who does get away with murder
• 54:32
  in this world. It's the corporations.
• 54:35
  It's very clear about that. Um and so
• 54:38
  yeah and so yeah uh I don't I didn't say
• 54:40
  too much about it but the gambling you
• 54:43
  can when you're are talking to
• 54:46
  investigators or prosecutors you can you
• 54:50
  know like call a bluff someone right
• 54:54
  >> and like you but you have to have the
• 54:56
  card right you know from the evidence
• 54:59
  you got and stuff and you know as you're
• 55:01
  just like walking around different
• 55:02
  environments crime scenes doing the
• 55:04
  little point andclick adventure part of
• 55:05
  it all uh you're Like if you, you know,
• 55:08
  find a data pad that has this news story
• 55:12
  about some new like kind of Android or
• 55:15
  something that's going on with these new
• 55:16
  androids, uh, you can read you can read
• 55:18
  it and like this this is part of the
• 55:20
  world building. There's a lot of like
• 55:21
  news articles that you can read that
• 55:23
  have a really good sarcastic tone to
• 55:25
  them. Uh, you can read as much of them
• 55:27
  before you would have to biometrically
• 55:29
  subscribe to read the full article, of
• 55:31
  course. Um, but doing that gets you
• 55:33
  chips that you can use later to bet on
• 55:37
  >> during the arguments, right?
• 55:41
  >> I think it's you were sort of point like
• 55:43
  talking about this, but this idea of
• 55:44
  like in the cyberpunk setting, the idea
• 55:45
  of like truth is is so interesting
• 55:48
  because of like
• 55:50
  >> uh cyberpunk sort of at its core is is
• 55:54
  in conversation with the idea of like
• 55:55
  corporate interest and how that takes
• 55:57
  over everything. You know what I mean?
• 56:00
  in the extremes of of that genre. Um,
• 56:02
  and so the idea of of doing like a
• 56:04
  courtroom drama or a like detective
• 56:06
  story or whatever you want to call it in
• 56:08
  that setting I think is really
• 56:09
  fascinating. And I'd be curious to see
• 56:11
  and like compare it to how um this game
• 56:14
  of the devil compares to like some of
• 56:17
  the like detective like police works
• 56:20
  stuff that happened in like Cyberpunk
• 56:23
  2077 cuz like that was the stuff that
• 56:25
  like in that game there were a handful
• 56:26
  of things that kind of like let me down
• 56:28
  in that game. Um, but that was like such
• 56:31
  a big miss for me because it didn't it
• 56:33
  seemed like kind of fundamentally
• 56:34
  uninterested in in talking about the big
• 56:38
  stuff that makes cyberpunk so compelling
• 56:40
  and like the idea of of pushing back
• 56:43
  against that in a
• 56:46
  in the sense of like what is truth and
• 56:48
  what is justice when those things are so
• 56:52
  kind of like bastardized and and like
• 56:54
  twisted and stuff like that in this sort
• 56:55
  of like uh hyper intense setting. So,
• 57:00
  this this sounds so neat. This sounds
• 57:01
  like so I've literally never heard of
• 57:03
  this. This sounds so cool.
• 57:04
  >> Yeah. I I have you seen this? I don't
• 57:07
  know about you, but every time a top
• 57:09
  whatever games of the year list pops up
• 57:11
  on my feed, I look at every single one
• 57:14
  of them.
• 57:14
  >> Yes.
• 57:15
  >> Okay. H Have you Have you seen this on a
• 57:17
  on a list yet?
• 57:18
  >> Me? No. Have you?
• 57:19
  >> No. Autumn. Autumn.
• 57:20
  >> No. No.
• 57:21
  >> Okay. Okay. Cool. Wow. Oh my god. Ground
• 57:23
  floor. I want to see people in the
• 57:25
  comments of this video going, "Whoa,
• 57:27
  that sounds like something I'm gonna
• 57:28
  check out." And to be honest, maybe I
• 57:30
  don't want to expose the Critical Error
• 57:33
  uh viewership too much, but this sounds
• 57:35
  like an extremely I feel like people
• 57:37
  that listen to this show are actually
• 57:38
  going to be all about this.
• 57:40
  >> If you play it, if you play it and you
• 57:43
  have a strong reaction to something that
• 57:46
  happens in like the prologue,
• 57:47
  especially, please, please at me. Oh my
• 57:50
  god.
• 57:51
  >> I want to relive it vicariously through
• 57:53
  you. Okay.
• 57:54
  >> Yes, Jake, you're so right though.
• 57:57
  >> What a crazy thing to say. What am What?
• 57:59
  Literally, video game companies should
• 58:00
  take note. That is the most enticing
• 58:03
  little like get me to play a game I've
• 58:06
  ever heard. Hey, you might have an
• 58:08
  intense reaction to something that
• 58:10
  happens very early on. It's like, oh,
• 58:13
  okay. All right. Well, then I'll go see
• 58:14
  it. I'll go see, you know. Yeah. Oh my
• 58:16
  god. I really I mean I I made a joke
• 58:18
  post about this a couple months ago
• 58:20
  where I said I think this has like one
• 58:21
  of the best first pages in video games.
• 58:24
  >> Okay.
• 58:26
  >> Uh the part part of the intro spiel
• 58:29
  where it's like setting the like it's
• 58:31
  doing all the setting uh for this first
• 58:33
  scene. There's it the introduces Morgan
• 58:37
  the main character with it's hard to get
• 58:39
  away with murder these days.
• 58:41
  >> Um it's just an incredible line.
• 58:45
  >> Yeah. a defense attorney, right? And you
• 58:47
  know, like so again, part of
• 58:49
  >> uh I think in like my piece I say
• 58:51
  there's this absurd criminal legal
• 58:53
  comedy to ace attorney
• 58:55
  >> because like it's joking how there's
• 58:57
  something like an over 90% conviction
• 58:58
  rate in uh Japanese like prosecution,
• 59:02
  right? And so this is higher here,
• 59:04
  right? It's per it's purposely doing
• 59:06
  that. It's uh it's pulling on that, but
• 59:09
  like definitely framed in like, you
• 59:10
  know, something that was relatable as an
• 59:12
  American. Um
• 59:13
  >> Oh, sure.
• 59:15
  So yeah, what does it mean when like the
• 59:17
  central premise of iroot is that someone
• 59:20
  got away with murder?
• 59:22
  >> Yeah.
• 59:24
  >> Do you This is This is a little bit of a
• 59:26
  left field question. Do you feel that
• 59:27
  this is the kind of game that a lot of
• 59:30
  people in our kind of like typical games
• 59:34
  games media games people circles if they
• 59:37
  were exposed to it, had the opportunity
• 59:39
  to play it, knew about it, would like it
• 59:42
  and would get attached to it. Is this a
• 59:45
  like people just don't know about this
• 59:47
  kind of game?
• 59:51
  >> I don't know.
• 59:52
  >> It's a tough question. It's a tough
• 59:54
  question. Yeah, cuz
• 59:55
  >> I think I think it could because like
• 59:56
  that there's just this game that came
• 59:58
  out a couple weeks ago that was also,
• 1:00:02
  you know, going for the Ace Attorney
• 1:00:04
  thing much more faithfully. Like Ace
• 1:00:06
  Attorney, it's like you're on a train.
• 1:00:08
  You're some American college students.
• 1:00:10
  The art style looks like Ace Attorney.
• 1:00:12
  you're doing the murder mystery on a
• 1:00:14
  train thing and everyone kept talking
• 1:00:15
  about this art style. It's a really
• 1:00:16
  great art style. Like I almost bought it
• 1:00:18
  just because the art style. Um I didn't
• 1:00:20
  hear too much about the writing of that
• 1:00:22
  game though. Uh I didn't hear anyone
• 1:00:24
  have like a really strong opinion on how
• 1:00:26
  well that game's written and how that
• 1:00:27
  murder how the mystery really plays out.
• 1:00:30
  >> Are you talking about Detective
• 1:00:31
  Instinct? That game, the one that looks
• 1:00:32
  like a DS game. Okay. I I not to
• 1:00:35
  completely expose myself. I have bought
• 1:00:36
  I bought that game on my Switch. I
• 1:00:38
  haven't played it yet. So yeah, that
• 1:00:39
  that one did get to me. You're right.
• 1:00:41
  It did have a lot of good buzz. Yeah.
• 1:00:42
  >> So, yeah, I think you know people like
• 1:00:44
  but that got a lot of buzz because of
• 1:00:46
  that art style and I think the art style
• 1:00:47
  for this game appeals to people who play
• 1:00:52
  >> crunchy weird or esoteric Japanese
• 1:00:55
  games.
• 1:00:56
  >> I see what you're saying.
• 1:00:56
  >> Right.
• 1:00:57
  >> Um but I do think that aesthetic has
• 1:01:00
  been popularized. Like I think you could
• 1:01:02
  point to this uh point this to someone
• 1:01:04
  who really likes Metaphor Refantasio's
• 1:01:06
  art direction.
• 1:01:08
  >> Yeah. Yeah. And you know, I think
• 1:01:09
  there's actually a lot of similarity
• 1:01:11
  there.
• 1:01:12
  >> Yeah. No, 100%. I I totally agree. It's
• 1:01:13
  interesting, too, like you you brought
• 1:01:15
  up the writing of the other one and how
• 1:01:17
  you haven't heard anything about it. And
• 1:01:18
  and it's like I think these sorts of
• 1:01:19
  like courtroom games like just have to
• 1:01:21
  like and and and like visual novel
• 1:01:24
  adjacent games like just live and die by
• 1:01:26
  that. And and it's interesting like
• 1:01:28
  there's a line for me about like it
• 1:01:31
  passing over into being bad that is
• 1:01:33
  actually also good. Like I think like
• 1:01:35
  like Dongan Rompa is great but I also
• 1:01:40
  would never be like it's written so
• 1:01:41
  well. I because I'm like I think it's
• 1:01:43
  kind of trashy and that's what I really
• 1:01:45
  like about it. You know what I mean? And
• 1:01:47
  so there is this like line about these
• 1:01:48
  sorts of things that that I find really
• 1:01:49
  interesting.
• 1:01:50
  >> So actually that reminds me of something
• 1:01:51
  Joshua Rivera wrote earlier this year
• 1:01:54
  about 100 line. No, I
• 1:01:57
  >> all those game journalists all the
• 1:01:59
  >> right
• 1:02:00
  >> uh for us like I think for Rogue earlier
• 1:02:03
  this year about 100 line and uh about
• 1:02:06
  this kind of game where it's like
• 1:02:08
  >> it's constant it's constantly teasing
• 1:02:11
  you that it's not going to be more than
• 1:02:13
  it is.
• 1:02:16
  >> But us drawn to it because we want to
• 1:02:20
  see if it's really more than it is there
• 1:02:23
  right out the gate of the devil. so much
• 1:02:25
  more.
• 1:02:26
  >> That's awesome. That's awesome.
• 1:02:29
  >> This looks so cool. I I I'm I'm like
• 1:02:31
  looking at the just like also the the
• 1:02:33
  just like hero image of of the main
• 1:02:36
  character here and it's like, oh, like I
• 1:02:37
  can see too like
• 1:02:39
  >> it's kind of has that like chainsaw man
• 1:02:40
  aesthetic a little bit about just like
• 1:02:42
  things are just like grimy and like
• 1:02:43
  dealing with like like crime in in a
• 1:02:46
  world that like who cares about crime
• 1:02:48
  but like we care about crime kind of
• 1:02:50
  stuff. Like this is cool. This looks
• 1:02:51
  really sick. Yeah, please.
• 1:02:54
  >> There's a there's a thing this does, a
• 1:02:56
  stylistic choice that I relate to
• 1:02:59
  Signalis a little bit too, where it hard
• 1:03:02
  cuts out of the scene into
• 1:03:06
  >> an excerpt of the script.
• 1:03:08
  >> Oh.
• 1:03:08
  >> Uh uh so it says uh the the audio cuts
• 1:03:12
  to like white noise.
• 1:03:14
  >> Uh and like you know the screen is just
• 1:03:16
  red Morgan, they're like insects line
• 1:03:19
  number 6x4.
• 1:03:22
  uh to deliver a few lines like that.
• 1:03:25
  >> And like there's there's something about
• 1:03:26
  the pacing of that, the delivery of that
• 1:03:29
  that is so effective and it's elevating
• 1:03:31
  what the writing is doing.
• 1:03:34
  >> That's my [ __ ] Like you know, Jake, you
• 1:03:36
  know, you know that I like that. I love
• 1:03:38
  >> I know. I lit literally the word signal
• 1:03:40
  was spoken.
• 1:03:41
  >> It's all I need. It's all I need.
• 1:03:44
  >> Yeah. Speaking of for the lesbians.
• 1:03:46
  >> Yes. Oh, for real. For real. For real.
• 1:03:48
  Gosh. Really? All anyone needs to be
• 1:03:49
  like, "Oh, it's kind of like signal."
• 1:03:50
  Even if it's not true, I'm like, "Yes,
• 1:03:52
  please, please." Anything.
• 1:03:53
  >> There's also for a visual novel, this
• 1:03:55
  has one of the coolest sequences of the
• 1:04:00
  good guy and bad guy giving a speech at
• 1:04:04
  the same time, cutting back and forth,
• 1:04:06
  where it's like, I think each side is
• 1:04:09
  saying the sentence I'm not hearing, and
• 1:04:11
  then you have moments where you hear
• 1:04:12
  both of them say the same thing.
• 1:04:16
  >> This is really cool. That's like
• 1:04:19
  theater. That's really fun.
• 1:04:21
  >> Yeah. And then and then it ends on black
• 1:04:23
  and you just have the dialogue box that
• 1:04:25
  says both.
• 1:04:26
  >> What is wrong?
• 1:04:29
  >> Wow. That's how fun this this sounds so
• 1:04:33
  like for lack of a more precise term uh
• 1:04:36
  intentional in terms of the
• 1:04:40
  different expressions of like what's
• 1:04:42
  happening on screen. That's like that's
• 1:04:43
  really cool. It's like one to really
• 1:04:45
  like they the game is trying to signal
• 1:04:47
  to you to like no actually think about
• 1:04:49
  the these choices that we're making.
• 1:04:51
  It's not just like about taking in the
• 1:04:52
  plot, right?
• 1:04:53
  >> Um wow, that is so cool.
• 1:04:56
  >> Yeah. And so episode 2 is coming out
• 1:04:57
  next week. There's a trailer. Don't
• 1:05:00
  watch that. That's all I'll say.
• 1:05:01
  >> Uh but the the main character is getting
• 1:05:04
  like a new character design. Like it's
• 1:05:06
  the second season of a show.
• 1:05:09
  Um, and she goes from having this like
• 1:05:11
  dominatrix kind of outfit to street wear
• 1:05:15
  with like a bra and open jacket look.
• 1:05:19
  It's it's speaking to
• 1:05:20
  >> Okay. Okay. Understood. Again, the
• 1:05:23
  critical error nation I'm sure also
• 1:05:26
  understands. Yeah. Uh, speaking of
• 1:05:29
  Autumn, the second thing that we asked
• 1:05:30
  you for today was just something to talk
• 1:05:33
  about in terms of your what we are
• 1:05:35
  calling critical error of the year.
• 1:05:36
  something that you would like to see
• 1:05:37
  maybe carried into 2026
• 1:05:40
  uh a standard for people with positions
• 1:05:43
  like ourselves that you think like
• 1:05:45
  what's something we could improve?
• 1:05:47
  What's a way that we could talk about
• 1:05:48
  video games better? What is a what is uh
• 1:05:50
  something that you're seeing in the
• 1:05:51
  space right now that's annoying? Any
• 1:05:55
  what I'm curious to hear what came to
• 1:05:56
  mind uh for you with this
• 1:05:59
  >> a loted.
• 1:06:01
  >> Yes, I imagine. Yes.
• 1:06:03
  So, I was unsure what I wanted to talk
• 1:06:07
  about specifically, but then something
• 1:06:09
  happened today.
• 1:06:10
  >> Oh, today
• 1:06:13
  >> I saw post.
• 1:06:14
  >> Is this about the Game Boy? Is this
• 1:06:16
  about the the [ __ ] handheld thing?
• 1:06:19
  >> Is this a drone, right? It's like a
• 1:06:20
  drone.
• 1:06:21
  >> Let me I've I've got to work to my
• 1:06:23
  bigger point.
• 1:06:24
  >> Yeah. Okay. Bring it in. Bring it in.
• 1:06:26
  Bring it in.
• 1:06:26
  >> Okay. So, there was a post on Blue Sky
• 1:06:28
  from this outlet I've never heard of
• 1:06:30
  called Retro Dodo.
• 1:06:31
  >> Yeah. uh linking to an article with the
• 1:06:34
  headline, "Mod retro reveals limited
• 1:06:36
  edition handheld made from attack drone
• 1:06:39
  material."
• 1:06:43
  >> Okay, so that that's true.
• 1:06:46
  >> Oh,
• 1:06:46
  >> that's true.
• 1:06:48
  The post,
• 1:06:50
  this is unlike anything we've seen
• 1:06:52
  before in all our years of handheld
• 1:06:54
  reviewing.
• 1:06:55
  That's also true.
• 1:06:57
  >> That's also true. Okay. This article has
• 1:07:00
  since been quote posted uh 533 times.
• 1:07:05
  >> Oh my gosh.
• 1:07:05
  >> Because the actual body of it
• 1:07:09
  starts to give away. Uh
• 1:07:12
  so towards the end of this glowing uh
• 1:07:17
  review of what this handhold is, we also
• 1:07:20
  want to make you aware as journalist
• 1:07:22
  that Mod Retro does have somewhat of an
• 1:07:25
  affiliation with Andrew. So, if you're
• 1:07:29
  against military actions or political
• 1:07:31
  involvement in some form, it's probably
• 1:07:34
  not best buying a handheld made of
• 1:07:36
  attack drone metal. If you don't care,
• 1:07:39
  then by all means, snag one of the
• 1:07:41
  craziest handhelds we've seen all year.
• 1:07:46
  Huh?
• 1:07:48
  What? Okay, I just want to make clear to
• 1:07:50
  the listener, just in case that did not
• 1:07:51
  come across, I would I'm going to read
• 1:07:54
  this sentence in full as it is written.
• 1:07:57
  Okay. Can can you real quick Jake to
• 1:07:59
  describe this because this is
• 1:08:00
  >> Don't even Peter don't even worry. Don't
• 1:08:02
  even worry. I am all right.
• 1:08:05
  >> Okay.
• 1:08:06
  >> We also want to make you aware
• 1:08:08
  parenthesis as journalists. Close
• 1:08:10
  parenthesis that Mod Retro does have
• 1:08:13
  somewhat of an affiliation with Andural
• 1:08:15
  or however you say that. And that's
• 1:08:17
  hyperl. So, if you're against military
• 1:08:19
  actions or political involvement in some
• 1:08:21
  form, it's probably not best buying a
• 1:08:23
  handheld made of attack drone metal. Dot
• 1:08:26
  dot dot.
• 1:08:28
  >> The dot dot dot is is quite bad.
• 1:08:30
  >> If you don't care, then by all means,
• 1:08:32
  snag one of the craziest handhelds we've
• 1:08:34
  seen all year. Pre-orders are now open
• 1:08:36
  with a hyperlink and end on Christmas.
• 1:08:38
  >> It's an affiliate link. It's
• 1:08:40
  >> bad. It's bad. This is so if you're if
• 1:08:44
  you're not familiar, this is a Game Boy
• 1:08:46
  like Game Boy Color like like OG Game
• 1:08:48
  Boy made from
• 1:08:50
  >> attack drone metal.
• 1:08:54
  >> So Autumn, what do you what don't you
• 1:08:56
  like about this?
• 1:08:57
  >> What uh what what sort of bothered you
• 1:08:59
  about about this?
• 1:09:02
  So this has been roundly lambasted in
• 1:09:06
  the today by games media folks who are
• 1:09:10
  like
• 1:09:12
  mod retro is evil.
• 1:09:14
  >> The the idea that this is a marketing
• 1:09:17
  angle this a thing you should celebrate
• 1:09:19
  and make a console out of. Uh like the
• 1:09:23
  materials that are used to make actual
• 1:09:25
  drones for the US government. Uh that's
• 1:09:28
  evil. the way that this outlet is
• 1:09:32
  talking about it also evil. We shouldn't
• 1:09:36
  do this. You know, it it this this is
• 1:09:38
  roundly agreed upon in the circle of
• 1:09:40
  games media that I am most familiar with
• 1:09:42
  as
• 1:09:42
  >> Yeah.
• 1:09:43
  >> bad.
• 1:09:46
  >> I think this is just what the games
• 1:09:50
  industry is.
• 1:09:52
  >> Yeah. I think
• 1:09:56
  it is just a matter of degree
• 1:10:00
  of
• 1:10:01
  >> tone of the reporting and the content of
• 1:10:05
  what this is about.
• 1:10:07
  >> This is what games are. This is what the
• 1:10:09
  games industry is. This is what games
• 1:10:11
  media does.
• 1:10:14
  >> The problem is they put the conflict
• 1:10:15
  minerals on the outside this time.
• 1:10:20
  >> I think that's fair.
• 1:10:21
  >> Wow. Oh, I think that's fair cuz cuz it
• 1:10:23
  is it is so like incredibly on the nose,
• 1:10:27
  right? Because it's like, oh, hey,
• 1:10:29
  here's a, you know, a handheld console
• 1:10:31
  that's made, you know, using
• 1:10:34
  attack drone metal. It's so funny. It's
• 1:10:36
  like not funny to say. It's just so
• 1:10:37
  incredibly on the nose, but like, hey,
• 1:10:39
  this sucks. It's so easy to identify.
• 1:10:42
  But you know uh uh Autumn you know
• 1:10:44
  obviously we have referenced your piece
• 1:10:46
  on aftermath about the BDS movement uh a
• 1:10:50
  lot on our on our show. We referenced it
• 1:10:52
  in our video or our episode about about
• 1:10:54
  that as well. And if you sort of think
• 1:10:56
  about it at the end of the day based on
• 1:10:58
  what you know the BDS movement is asking
• 1:11:00
  of people that's also what the Xbox is.
• 1:11:03
  It's not made literally out of this. But
• 1:11:07
  I think what you mentioned here is is
• 1:11:08
  like degrees of separation, right? And
• 1:11:10
  and like how like proximity, how close
• 1:11:13
  is this to to these these
• 1:11:17
  >> uh uh organizations and and that's that
• 1:11:20
  sort of thing. And I I think that's
• 1:11:21
  fascinating. I think it's a fascinating
• 1:11:22
  point uh uh thing to point out and and
• 1:11:24
  to like connect with with with this
• 1:11:27
  because yeah, there are some degrees of
• 1:11:30
  separation in terms of like visually and
• 1:11:31
  and whatever else from uh uh Xbox or
• 1:11:36
  these other companies because it's not
• 1:11:37
  just Xbox that is involved with these
• 1:11:40
  sorts of things. We talk about like
• 1:11:41
  Battlefield, right? Or or other other
• 1:11:43
  games that like depict modern conflict
• 1:11:45
  and have very clear sides and politics
• 1:11:49
  to them.
• 1:11:51
  But with those games, there's a more
• 1:11:54
  separation than this. But at the end of
• 1:11:56
  the day, it's kind of the same thing,
• 1:11:58
  isn't it?
• 1:11:59
  >> Yeah. And we could talk about this as it
• 1:12:01
  relates to military and industry. Uh we
• 1:12:04
  could also just talk about this how it
• 1:12:05
  relates to a way games media operates in
• 1:12:10
  uh wanting to kind of separate bad
• 1:12:13
  things out from what the industry is,
• 1:12:16
  right? Uh, crunch is an aberration. It
• 1:12:21
  is not a norm ever. Even though we can
• 1:12:24
  find reporting on crunch for every major
• 1:12:27
  game made in America and Europe, like
• 1:12:31
  >> yeah,
• 1:12:32
  >> but but we don't treat that as uh
• 1:12:35
  something that's normal, right? Uh
• 1:12:41
  >> I'm running I I just blanked on my other
• 1:12:42
  examples, but yeah.
• 1:12:43
  >> No, no, no, please. Yeah, it's inc it's
• 1:12:45
  incredibly salient. I think and just
• 1:12:47
  this um I think I think what you're
• 1:12:51
  making clear for me right now is this
• 1:12:54
  dependency that I think games media has
• 1:12:56
  as an apparatus in terms of how it
• 1:12:57
  operates now between um like this
• 1:13:01
  separation almost has to be made between
• 1:13:03
  games and the conditions of their
• 1:13:05
  existence. And what this piece about
• 1:13:07
  this Game Boy thing is doing is that
• 1:13:10
  it's um
• 1:13:12
  we're just being exceptionally honest.
• 1:13:14
  actually we're just being extremely
• 1:13:16
  straightforward about exactly what is
• 1:13:19
  happening here rather than working to
• 1:13:22
  kind of make that separation as best
• 1:13:23
  that we can.
• 1:13:26
  >> It's funny. I think one of the things
• 1:13:27
  that stands out to me that to with all
• 1:13:29
  of this as well is
• 1:13:32
  sort of the bit that Autumn you brought
• 1:13:34
  from this review like specifically about
• 1:13:36
  like
• 1:13:37
  >> so if you're okay with all of that
• 1:13:40
  you can buy the you could buy the Game
• 1:13:42
  Boy or whatever it's called the mod
• 1:13:44
  retro whatever right like and it's it's
• 1:13:46
  this like insane amount of whiplash
• 1:13:48
  because it's like hey just so you know
• 1:13:50
  this is you know in affiliation with
• 1:13:51
  Anderil Anderil however you want to
• 1:13:53
  pronounce it whatever um I love by the
• 1:13:55
  way I love how the Lord of the Rings has
• 1:13:58
  been co-opted by all this stuff. Anyway,
• 1:14:00
  it doesn't matter. Um, and and it's
• 1:14:03
  like, but if you're okay with all of
• 1:14:06
  that stuff with the drone strikes and
• 1:14:08
  the, you know, murder of innocent people
• 1:14:09
  and all this stuff, if you're cool with
• 1:14:11
  that, you can buy this incredibly cool,
• 1:14:16
  this so cool retro Game Boy.
• 1:14:20
  Cuz also, if you if you didn't know, it
• 1:14:22
  does play Game Boy and Game Boy Color
• 1:14:24
  cartridges. It is made of metal and it
• 1:14:25
  comes with a one of a kind display that
• 1:14:27
  takes your AA batteries like the good
• 1:14:28
  old days.
• 1:14:29
  >> Like the good old days.
• 1:14:30
  >> Yeah, it is a remarkable piece of retro
• 1:14:32
  tech according to this review.
• 1:14:35
  Pre-orders go live now and uh go through
• 1:14:38
  Christmas. So,
• 1:14:39
  >> this is this is just I mean if this
• 1:14:41
  feels like it is functioning as an arm
• 1:14:45
  of the marketing for the game
• 1:14:48
  manufacturer, it is. And that's what
• 1:14:52
  most video games uh journalism is doing
• 1:14:57
  in practice right now.
• 1:15:02
  >> Is there a I you know what I I would
• 1:15:04
  love to we have been referencing that
• 1:15:07
  piece that Peter brought up all year and
• 1:15:09
  that piece was written I think like in
• 1:15:11
  the in like the spring or summer. It's
• 1:15:13
  been online for quite some time. Uh do
• 1:15:16
  you I would love to ask you uh do you
• 1:15:19
  feel like you have seen any kind of
• 1:15:22
  material or meaningful movement one way
• 1:15:25
  or the other when it comes to games
• 1:15:29
  media's um ability to address this issue
• 1:15:33
  or talk about it at all?
• 1:15:38
  I
• 1:15:41
  want to be careful because uh
• 1:15:50
  >> things have changed. Things have
• 1:15:51
  changed. I can say that. Um,
• 1:15:54
  I think I feel like I spent most of the
• 1:15:57
  year watching
• 1:15:59
  any hope I had for what games media is
• 1:16:02
  or can be thoroughly be snuffed out.
• 1:16:07
  >> Um, I do think it is very obviously
• 1:16:10
  there is either willful ignorance at
• 1:16:13
  this point or there is some force
• 1:16:17
  greater than the journalism that is
• 1:16:19
  preventing the journalism from
• 1:16:21
  happening.
• 1:16:22
  Um, and in either case, that proves that
• 1:16:26
  Games Journalism is not doing
• 1:16:27
  journalism.
• 1:16:29
  >> Okay. So, this week, People Make Games
• 1:16:34
  uh published their uh video on the
• 1:16:37
  boycott. Um, and I think that, you know,
• 1:16:39
  might actually do a lot of good uh to
• 1:16:42
  raise awareness in a way that like I
• 1:16:44
  just can't in the channels I was able to
• 1:16:46
  write through. Um, but in that uh video
• 1:16:51
  uh Chris lays out a chart of the
• 1:16:54
  coverage at games outlets, major games
• 1:16:57
  outlets. Um,
• 1:16:59
  >> and you see like IGN had zero articles
• 1:17:02
  talking about BTS this year.
• 1:17:04
  >> Um,
• 1:17:06
  >> which I would say is damning.
• 1:17:08
  >> Yeah.
• 1:17:09
  >> But I have seen other people respond to,
• 1:17:12
  you know, that chart say, you know, it
• 1:17:14
  decontextualizes things. Sure, it does.
• 1:17:17
  Uh I wrote about it in my piece for
• 1:17:20
  Aftermath about the boycott and it was
• 1:17:22
  announced in April. Um and I've seen
• 1:17:24
  other people bring up that in 2021 IGN
• 1:17:27
  tried to do a Palestinian charity
• 1:17:29
  fundraiser. Right.
• 1:17:30
  >> Of course.
• 1:17:31
  >> And corporate came down hard on them.
• 1:17:33
  Right.
• 1:17:34
  >> And so it's not fair to say that IGN has
• 1:17:38
  not done any coverage of this.
• 1:17:40
  >> Sure.
• 1:17:41
  >> Except that's just true. They have not
• 1:17:42
  done any coverage of it. So, please tell
• 1:17:44
  me, are the people remaining at IGN, do
• 1:17:47
  they not care about this or are they
• 1:17:49
  unable to do their job? Cuz either way,
• 1:17:52
  that means that game journalism is dead.
• 1:17:57
  >> It's funny, right? you you brought up
• 1:17:59
  the Peter and I talked about that that
• 1:18:01
  video uh that people make games video
• 1:18:03
  and something that I I actually thought
• 1:18:06
  that that was the first little bit of
• 1:18:08
  movement when that was published online
• 1:18:09
  that I said to Peter maybe yesterday
• 1:18:12
  like, "Oh, I think that this might
• 1:18:14
  actually move people. I think that this
• 1:18:16
  might actually have some motion." And uh
• 1:18:19
  something that I think
• 1:18:23
  you recognize in bringing up this mod
• 1:18:26
  retro thing is that we all saw we're all
• 1:18:29
  online the kind of mass online
• 1:18:32
  performative dunking on this very
• 1:18:34
  obviously evil thing. And there is a
• 1:18:38
  path forward that is not necessarily uh
• 1:18:41
  the one with the highest degree of moral
• 1:18:43
  clarity. But if you can make any issue
• 1:18:47
  something that everyone feels that they
• 1:18:49
  have permission to
• 1:18:50
  >> and will be rewarded with social
• 1:18:53
  currency for maybe performatively
• 1:18:56
  dunking on that uh that effort can have
• 1:19:00
  maybe like real consequences for in in
• 1:19:03
  terms of coverage and what people find
• 1:19:05
  they are empowered to or not say, right?
• 1:19:08
  >> Yeah. I mean this reminds me uh I mean
• 1:19:11
  this comes up anytime we talk about uh
• 1:19:13
  Zionism in Palestine that people are
• 1:19:16
  performing this outrage and that
• 1:19:19
  performing that they care about these
• 1:19:21
  things. Uh but we also see this we talk
• 1:19:23
  about like performative reading and
• 1:19:25
  stuff.
• 1:19:26
  >> Uh and you know the place I land on is
• 1:19:28
  who the hell cares.
• 1:19:30
  >> Yeah. Right. Right.
• 1:19:31
  If it actually gets something done
• 1:19:35
  because there is this outrage about it,
• 1:19:36
  then yeah, okay, good. Do that. Be
• 1:19:39
  preformatively mad. If it sways an
• 1:19:42
  institution that should be adversarial
• 1:19:44
  into actually doing their job and being
• 1:19:46
  adversarial,
• 1:19:47
  >> it's it's interesting. Jake and I were
• 1:19:49
  talking about this yesterday um about
• 1:19:51
  this idea of how it can be frustrating
• 1:19:53
  the performative nature of a lot of this
• 1:19:56
  sort of stuff but also at the end of the
• 1:19:58
  day even and I think this is to your
• 1:20:00
  point like even when people are being
• 1:20:03
  performative about it there is a
• 1:20:05
  cultural shift going on because at the
• 1:20:08
  very least people feel comfortable
• 1:20:09
  enough uh to say like well we all agree
• 1:20:14
  right and
• 1:20:15
  >> as soon as that starts to happen I think
• 1:20:17
  that's when we do start to see
• 1:20:19
  >> the the dominoes fall a little bit.
• 1:20:20
  >> Yeah. And I really need that to happen
• 1:20:22
  in the game space because, you know, I I
• 1:20:24
  think I was just talking to Austin
• 1:20:25
  Walker for uh little teaser, the next uh
• 1:20:29
  entry in my column about
• 1:20:32
  >> the work that Waypoint did in the 2010s.
• 1:20:35
  Um and this sense that you know
• 1:20:38
  >> in all of uh you know cultural
• 1:20:41
  criticism, but especially in games over
• 1:20:42
  the Biden era, we went back to brunch.
• 1:20:46
  >> Yeah. Sure.
• 1:20:47
  Uh, and it felt and it really feels like
• 1:20:50
  we just dug our heads in the sand this
• 1:20:53
  time. And you know, there's generous uh
• 1:20:56
  readings of why that happened, but I'm
• 1:20:58
  not feeling very generous. I'm feeling
• 1:21:00
  mad. I'm feeling burnt out. I'm feeling
• 1:21:03
  like I actually risked something.
• 1:21:06
  >> Uh,
• 1:21:07
  >> and I can tell that it's affected my
• 1:21:10
  work. Um,
• 1:21:11
  >> yeah.
• 1:21:12
  So, I don't have sympathy left for
• 1:21:14
  people who can't do this, right?
• 1:21:16
  Yesterday, I was reading about prisoners
• 1:21:18
  on hunger strikes about this stuff,
• 1:21:21
  >> and you can't not post about Xbox.
• 1:21:26
  >> Autumn, I'll say this. you said at some
• 1:21:29
  point in this conversation about how
• 1:21:31
  like you know you wrote that that piece
• 1:21:33
  for Aftermath and and um that you sort
• 1:21:37
  of said and and so if I'm putting words
• 1:21:38
  in your mouth or or if I'm not
• 1:21:39
  misrepresent misrepresenting your point
• 1:21:41
  let me know but there's a difference
• 1:21:43
  between you writing that and then this
• 1:21:44
  video from people make games and how you
• 1:21:47
  know hopefully this people make games
• 1:21:48
  video opens people's eyes or helps make
• 1:21:51
  people feel more comfortable or is able
• 1:21:53
  to enact some real tangible change and I
• 1:21:55
  I know it doesn't mean
• 1:21:58
  a ton as I am one person. But I will say
• 1:22:00
  this, you posted that piece on
• 1:22:02
  Aftermath. I read it as I was
• 1:22:04
  downloading Oblivion on my PlayStation.
• 1:22:07
  I' had been given a code from Xbox. I
• 1:22:09
  was downloading it on my PlayStation. I
• 1:22:11
  was like, "Oh, hey, here's the thing."
• 1:22:12
  Jake retweeted. I'm literally reading it
• 1:22:14
  and I'm doing this thing where sometimes
• 1:22:18
  we talked about this a little bit in in
• 1:22:19
  our episode about BDS stuff is like
• 1:22:22
  sometimes you read something that is
• 1:22:23
  confrontational and it takes a second
• 1:22:25
  for you to really like know if it's the
• 1:22:28
  time for you to be able to confront
• 1:22:29
  yourself about it. So I'm literally
• 1:22:31
  reading pieces of it, playing some
• 1:22:33
  Oblivion, like the early hours of it
• 1:22:36
  that night, going back, reading more,
• 1:22:38
  playing a little bit more, reading more,
• 1:22:40
  and thinking about it for myself. And
• 1:22:42
  the one thing that I have repeated over
• 1:22:43
  and over again to myself and that has
• 1:22:47
  influenced my work is the idea of you
• 1:22:49
  have to know and it doesn't mean like
• 1:22:52
  like
• 1:22:53
  everyone makes their own choices on what
• 1:22:55
  they're going to do, right? And and at
• 1:22:57
  the end of the day, I can't judge you
• 1:22:58
  for that necessarily, but you have to
• 1:23:01
  know. And when you know, that is going
• 1:23:03
  to influence how you're going to behave
• 1:23:05
  and that can influence what you do. So,
• 1:23:07
  I will say this. Regardless of whether
• 1:23:09
  or not you think you had the as the same
• 1:23:11
  amount of reach with that piece as the
• 1:23:14
  people make games video, you reached me
• 1:23:16
  and you did change how I viewed things
• 1:23:18
  and you did change how I behaved from
• 1:23:20
  there with my action and and all that.
• 1:23:23
  So, I just want to say 100% at the very
• 1:23:26
  least you changed one person and I
• 1:23:28
  really really appreciate you writing
• 1:23:29
  that piece.
• 1:23:30
  >> Thank you.
• 1:23:30
  >> I want to echo that as well. Um yeah, I
• 1:23:32
  want I want to echo that too. I forget
• 1:23:34
  sometimes we bring up that piece so
• 1:23:35
  often that you actually named me in that
• 1:23:37
  piece. And I think that that is
• 1:23:38
  something that uh I you know
• 1:23:43
  to to have somebody you respect be like,
• 1:23:46
  "Oh, that thing that you were doing
• 1:23:48
  actually did matter." I I don't know how
• 1:23:51
  hard I'm going to go into the paint with
• 1:23:53
  anything if it feels like everyone is
• 1:23:55
  against me all the time. And so I I
• 1:23:58
  think to to see that it was I there
• 1:24:01
  there there is an affection and there is
• 1:24:04
  something that is reaching people that
• 1:24:07
  maybe are not the same people as the
• 1:24:09
  people make games video. But I know that
• 1:24:11
  that reached me and changed how I talked
• 1:24:13
  about this kind of thing online. And I
• 1:24:15
  know that like in the in the comments of
• 1:24:16
  our Xbox episode uh on Critical Error,
• 1:24:19
  we had somebody write in the comments
• 1:24:21
  that they were giving a speech at their
• 1:24:23
  university about BDS and they found our
• 1:24:25
  podcast inspiring. And our podcast would
• 1:24:27
  not have been what it was if not for you
• 1:24:29
  writing that piece.
• 1:24:30
  >> I had no idea. I had no idea and I don't
• 1:24:31
  think I would have known if I had not
• 1:24:33
  seen that because no one's talking about
• 1:24:35
  it really, you know. I mean, little bits
• 1:24:37
  and pieces here, but it reached me and
• 1:24:39
  it changed how I behaved and it it truly
• 1:24:42
  means something to me. So, thank you
• 1:24:43
  very much.
• 1:24:44
  >> Thank you. Yeah, I mean it's the
• 1:24:47
  reaction I've gotten was kind of
• 1:24:48
  surprising to me how many people in my,
• 1:24:51
  you know, kind of lefty spaces even
• 1:24:54
  >> didn't know about BDS. Yeah.
• 1:24:56
  >> Um,
• 1:24:57
  >> and that that was surprising for me.
• 1:24:59
  made me interrogate some stuff about
• 1:25:00
  like my background or where I've come
• 1:25:02
  from would have been doing. Um, and I,
• 1:25:05
  you know, I guess like as much as I feel
• 1:25:07
  like
• 1:25:09
  games media has failed, that I failed
• 1:25:11
  and not be able to do enough,
• 1:25:13
  >> that
• 1:25:14
  >> the point of that was in part to put
• 1:25:17
  something on the record that addressed
• 1:25:20
  my colleagues and, you know, says, you
• 1:25:24
  know, now
• 1:25:26
  >> you are making a decision when you
• 1:25:28
  review Black Ops 7 this fall, when you
• 1:25:31
  review Elder Scrolls, Right. Um, and I
• 1:25:35
  guess, you know, I I am reminded of, if
• 1:25:37
  I can be uh a little twe and think about
• 1:25:40
  another video game.
• 1:25:42
  >> Uh, did you did you two play Thousand X
• 1:25:44
  Resist?
• 1:25:46
  >> Yeah. Oh, I did. Yes, of course.
• 1:25:47
  >> Yeah. I'm thinking about the uh dad
• 1:25:51
  recollecting on the Hong Kong protests
• 1:25:53
  and saying like we showed history that
• 1:25:56
  we tried, that people cared.
• 1:25:58
  >> Yeah. Um, and you know, I don't think
• 1:26:01
  that's going to do much for
• 1:26:04
  Palestinians, but I do think if someone
• 1:26:06
  wants to in the future look back at what
• 1:26:09
  was the US media doing to manufacture
• 1:26:13
  consents, I hope that us having
• 1:26:15
  conversations like this puts on record
• 1:26:17
  that a lot of people were complicit.
• 1:26:20
  Right.
• 1:26:21
  That's I there are a lot of a lot of
• 1:26:24
  good points that you brought up there
• 1:26:26
  and I I will also add truth to something
• 1:26:28
  you said early on which was um kind of
• 1:26:30
  this surprise at how uh not as many
• 1:26:33
  people in like lefty circles knew about
• 1:26:36
  BDS as you would imagine. I I had an
• 1:26:38
  experience recently where I was talking
• 1:26:39
  about BDS to a friend of mine who like
• 1:26:41
  works in the nonprofit space and like is
• 1:26:44
  extremely like on the same wavelength as
• 1:26:47
  me in terms of politics and I said BDS
• 1:26:49
  and she goes what I'm sorry what is that
• 1:26:51
  and I I was like a gasast I I like was
• 1:26:55
  shocked and I so I think sometimes you
• 1:26:57
  and I may be coming from similar
• 1:26:59
  backgrounds in some ways um it is
• 1:27:01
  important to reckon with even that level
• 1:27:05
  of it and go Man, how many people could
• 1:27:08
  have done something at any point in time
• 1:27:10
  to make it so the person who has not yet
• 1:27:14
  been reached about BDS didn't have to be
• 1:27:16
  literally me.
• 1:27:18
  >> Yeah.
• 1:27:20
  >> Yeah. And I think a lot of my conviction
• 1:27:22
  for this originates in growing up in a
• 1:27:24
  very like Zionist community.
• 1:27:26
  >> Yeah.
• 1:27:28
  >> And so it's rooted in being lied to
• 1:27:31
  myself. Um, but it's also rooted in
• 1:27:34
  realizing that people around me and like
• 1:27:36
  it wasn't just the Zism, it was also the
• 1:27:38
  class. I grew up in a very like wealthy
• 1:27:40
  suburb. Um, economically diverse, but a
• 1:27:43
  school where a lot of 16-year-olds get
• 1:27:45
  mustangs, right?
• 1:27:46
  >> Sure.
• 1:27:47
  And you know, I remember I always think
• 1:27:50
  about the discussions I had in like my
• 1:27:52
  AP literature class in 12th grade, uh,
• 1:27:54
  talking about my my I realize in
• 1:27:57
  hindsight, uh, how my English teacher
• 1:28:00
  gave us all the all the criticism of the
• 1:28:02
  BAZ in like French lit French lit uh, as
• 1:28:07
  a way to try to plant some seeds in our
• 1:28:09
  minds, right? But then I remember all
• 1:28:11
  these insane conversations I had with
• 1:28:13
  people who just don't
• 1:28:16
  I guess like the the point I want to get
• 1:28:17
  to is that I think I've realized growing
• 1:28:20
  up and now realize where I'm at now. I'm
• 1:28:24
  surrounded by people who would not walk
• 1:28:26
  away from my loss or I'm surrounded by
• 1:28:28
  people who would get to the hills, would
• 1:28:32
  get to the horizon and would turn around
• 1:28:34
  and walk back.
• 1:28:37
  Uh Amalos of course referencing a very
• 1:28:39
  famous uh short story about a utopian
• 1:28:41
  society that I think everybody should um
• 1:28:43
  read and check out if they haven't
• 1:28:44
  already. Um kind of like a seminal work
• 1:28:46
  of short fiction. Um
• 1:28:49
  >> the one who the ones who walk away from
• 1:28:50
  Omalas, right?
• 1:28:51
  >> Something some version of that. Yeah.
• 1:28:52
  Okay.
• 1:28:53
  >> Um Yeah. Yeah. And I I think something
• 1:28:55
  that that uh you've you've kind of
• 1:28:58
  passively been saying over the course of
• 1:29:01
  this conversation too is something that
• 1:29:02
  I' I've personally been having a
• 1:29:04
  reckoning with over the past few days,
• 1:29:05
  which was this um kind of plausible
• 1:29:08
  deniability of people in the space who I
• 1:29:10
  go maybe they just don't know yet. Maybe
• 1:29:14
  they just don't know. And I think it's
• 1:29:17
  just now gotten to the point because of
• 1:29:19
  that people make games video that I can
• 1:29:22
  no longer allow myself to think that.
• 1:29:25
  And I have to reckon with the fact that
• 1:29:27
  um I mean not to share too much, but I
• 1:29:29
  think we we even experienced a version
• 1:29:30
  of this with kind of the response to our
• 1:29:32
  podcast about the issue and knowing that
• 1:29:36
  there is a intentional and purposeful
• 1:29:42
  kind of turning of the head when it
• 1:29:44
  comes to specific issues.
• 1:29:46
  >> Yeah.
• 1:29:48
  >> Yeah. Yeah. Oh man. Well, um, Autumn,
• 1:29:51
  this was a large part of why we wanted
• 1:29:53
  to have you on this episode is that, um,
• 1:29:55
  I think you keep us honest and, uh, you
• 1:29:57
  keep our standards high. And I think
• 1:29:59
  sometimes when we are constantly in the
• 1:30:03
  in the ritual of trying to practice a
• 1:30:07
  good balance of um
• 1:30:10
  standards that we can feel good about
• 1:30:13
  while still being generous and
• 1:30:15
  charitable to the people around us um to
• 1:30:18
  the degree that they uh I think deserve
• 1:30:20
  it. So, you know, that is something that
• 1:30:22
  we we are never going to get perfect and
• 1:30:24
  it is a constant battle for us. But I
• 1:30:28
  think it is important to us um and our
• 1:30:31
  platform that
• 1:30:34
  when you come on and talk to us about
• 1:30:36
  this, I kind of want you to go as hard
• 1:30:39
  as possible and to to to truly and um to
• 1:30:44
  to echo something we had in a we we were
• 1:30:46
  talking about in a prior conversation on
• 1:30:47
  this podcast to u make it count. and I I
• 1:30:51
  appreciate you um coming on here and
• 1:30:54
  making it count. I I genuinely Yeah,
• 1:30:57
  >> I'm really happy to do it. Thanks.
• 1:30:59
  >> Awesome.
• 1:31:00
  >> Thank you so much for being here.
• 1:31:03
  >> All right. And um Autumn, anything else
• 1:31:05
  for our for the critical error audience
• 1:31:07
  before we let you go? Yeah. The nation.
• 1:31:10
  Thank you.
• 1:31:10
  >> Yeah. So, I don't know. I think it'll
• 1:31:12
  still be going on, but uh like mentioned
• 1:31:15
  at the top, uh I am a columnist at
• 1:31:17
  Unwable Monthly. Uh, Unable Monthly is a
• 1:31:21
  really great independent uh, publication
• 1:31:23
  covering all sorts of cultural
• 1:31:25
  criticism. Uh, and we publish in like a
• 1:31:28
  monthly digital magazine format. And
• 1:31:30
  we've been having various uh, sub drives
• 1:31:33
  and uh, I think like right now if you
• 1:31:36
  subscribe you get like the past year of
• 1:31:39
  magazines uh, for free. Uh, and I mean
• 1:31:43
  we post most of our stuff for free
• 1:31:44
  eventually too. Um, I have a column in
• 1:31:47
  that. Uh, it's been on ais, but it's
• 1:31:49
  coming back in January where I interview
• 1:31:51
  games critics. Um, y'all are on notice
• 1:31:54
  for that. Uh, and, uh, it's been really
• 1:31:57
  great. The reception's been really
• 1:31:58
  great. I'm really excited for the next
• 1:32:00
  conversations coming up next year.
• 1:32:03
  >> Um, you can find me mostly on Blue Sky
• 1:32:07
  autumn right. Uh, I just had a piece go
• 1:32:10
  up at Bullet Points uh, monthly, which
• 1:32:13
  is another great
• 1:32:14
  >> uh, indie video game publication. I read
• 1:32:17
  about Battlefield 6.
• 1:32:20
  >> Go to bulletpoints.com,
• 1:32:22
  I believe. Actually, let me double check
• 1:32:24
  that.
• 1:32:25
  >> Bullet points monthly.com.
• 1:32:28
  There it is.
• 1:32:28
  >> Uh you can read their latest issue all
• 1:32:30
  about Battlefield 6. I have something in
• 1:32:32
  there. The other folks there are always
• 1:32:34
  great insightful critics.
• 1:32:37
  >> Yeah. I I don't know. I think it was
• 1:32:38
  maybe the only uh video games related
• 1:32:43
  piece this year that like brought me to
• 1:32:45
  the edge of tears. So, um I highly
• 1:32:47
  recommend people um checking out that
• 1:32:49
  piece for sure.
• 1:32:50
  >> Thank you.
• 1:32:50
  >> Um Autumn, thank you again for coming
• 1:32:53
  on. So just in insightful and um I
• 1:32:56
  honestly I'm I'm I'm I'm about to go and
• 1:32:58
  try to get me some uh of the devil.
• 1:33:00
  >> Oh, me too.
• 1:33:01
  >> Please let me know how you guys feel
• 1:33:02
  about it.
• 1:33:04
  >> Awesome. Thank you.
• 1:33:06
  >> Thank you so much. Autumn Wright,
• 1:33:07
  someone who we
• 1:33:10
  site a lot. Uh I I I think I think her
• 1:33:12
  writing is is pretty fantastic. Um and
• 1:33:16
  and that is someone who I think uh
• 1:33:18
  really uh understands the call of what
• 1:33:21
  journalism is about.
• 1:33:23
  >> Do you know what I mean? In a way that I
• 1:33:25
  think um often times might get uh
• 1:33:27
  misconstrued or misunderstood uh within
• 1:33:29
  games journalism. And uh
• 1:33:32
  >> yeah,
• 1:33:32
  >> one of the bravest writers in the video
• 1:33:35
  games writing space. No doubt.
• 1:33:37
  >> I would 100% agree.
• 1:33:39
  >> Yeah. Um, that is that is someone who I
• 1:33:42
  uh aspire to be more like.
• 1:33:47
  >> Yes.
• 1:33:48
  >> Did you hear that?
• 1:33:50
  >> No.
• 1:33:51
  Oh my god.
• 1:33:52
  >> I hope it came up on the mic. What was
• 1:33:54
  it?
• 1:33:54
  >> My phone just like woke up and there was
• 1:33:58
  like an AI voice being like, "What can I
• 1:34:01
  help you with today?" And it scared me.
• 1:34:03
  >> Here's what Here's what an AI voice can
• 1:34:05
  help me with.
• 1:34:07
  Nothing, [ __ ]
• 1:34:09
  It truly frightened me. The the voice of
• 1:34:11
  this AI woman just like jumped out at my
• 1:34:13
  from my phone and started speaking to
• 1:34:15
  me.
• 1:34:16
  >> Was it Siri? Oh,
• 1:34:18
  >> I don't know. Get me out of this, Peter.
• 1:34:20
  Get me out of this. We have a We have a
• 1:34:21
  Jake and Peter tier review.
• 1:34:22
  >> We certainly do. We certainly do. From
• 1:34:24
  one Evan Snee.
• 1:34:27
  >> Yes,
• 1:34:27
  >> it reads Leslie.
• 1:34:29
  >> Split fiction took my spouse and I
• 1:34:32
  through an engaging low friction
• 1:34:34
  adventure. But what we treasured most
• 1:34:37
  were the diversions we took along the
• 1:34:39
  way. Some of these were very much
• 1:34:41
  designed to be playgrounds, like when we
• 1:34:43
  found a garden in which our characters
• 1:34:45
  feet sprouted flowers in their wake with
• 1:34:48
  no greater purpose than to goof around.
• 1:34:50
  These moments encouraged us to breathe.
• 1:34:53
  But even outside these overt diversions,
• 1:34:56
  my spouse and I made our own fun. We
• 1:34:58
  would come up we would come upon a
• 1:35:00
  sunset vista while riding our dragons
• 1:35:02
  and just pause. Our controllers dropped
• 1:35:04
  to the table and we cried from laughter
• 1:35:07
  whilst a dying stars waves of radiation
• 1:35:09
  evaporated our characters for the 20th
• 1:35:11
  time in a row. And when we came to the
• 1:35:14
  closing moments, we subconsciously
• 1:35:16
  pumped the brakes, not wanting the
• 1:35:17
  journey to end. This is my most
• 1:35:20
  treasured gaming experience of 2025.
• 1:35:22
  Shout out to Evan Cne for citing the the
• 1:35:27
  dying stars wave of radiation
• 1:35:29
  evaporating our characters. That part
• 1:35:31
  was hard. That part was really Oh my
• 1:35:33
  god. I remember the second that that you
• 1:35:36
  read that I was like, "Oh my god, I
• 1:35:37
  remember that part of the game. That was
• 1:35:38
  so frustrating." Sarah was like, "When
• 1:35:40
  do I jump?" And I'm like, "Sarah, I
• 1:35:42
  don't know."
• 1:35:44
  >> I'm like, "Yeah, I don't I don't know.
• 1:35:46
  Oh my god."
• 1:35:47
  >> I love I love that he brings up the the
• 1:35:49
  flowers coming out of the feet. So, I
• 1:35:51
  played I played this with my friend
• 1:35:52
  Josh.
• 1:35:53
  >> And Josh um Josh is a is a great
• 1:35:56
  cartoonist.
• 1:35:57
  >> Oh, fun. and will frequently when we
• 1:35:59
  lived together, he was he's a old
• 1:36:01
  roommate of mine. Um he would just draw
• 1:36:03
  Homer Simpson on Post-it notes.
• 1:36:05
  >> Oh.
• 1:36:06
  >> And so I had him draw Homer Simpson
• 1:36:09
  using the flowers in split fiction. And
• 1:36:12
  I was like, I can pretty much guarantee
• 1:36:14
  that you were the first person to do
• 1:36:16
  this.
• 1:36:17
  >> Oh my god.
• 1:36:18
  >> To draw Homer Simpson in split fiction.
• 1:36:21
  >> That's awesome. I like split fiction a
• 1:36:22
  lot. I'm glad I got this shout out after
• 1:36:24
  talking about it on the pod last week
• 1:36:26
  and how like any anybody who admits that
• 1:36:28
  they like split fiction, we look at them
• 1:36:29
  like an ape.
• 1:36:30
  >> So, congrat congratulations Evans for
• 1:36:32
  being brave
• 1:36:33
  >> for being brave and saying and saying
• 1:36:35
  what we all know and that it's split
• 1:36:36
  fiction is fun.
• 1:36:38
  >> I think that that game
• 1:36:40
  >> should be relitigated sooner rather than
• 1:36:43
  later. There is a space for somebody to
• 1:36:45
  come in and just like a great video
• 1:36:48
  title is stop making fun of split
• 1:36:51
  fiction. Yeah,
• 1:36:52
  >> that's that's good.
• 1:36:53
  >> Yeah.
• 1:36:53
  >> All right.
• 1:36:54
  >> Yeah.
• 1:36:54
  >> Let me hit you with our next review.
• 1:36:56
  >> Please do.
• 1:36:56
  >> This is from uh the former Renquoir.
• 1:36:59
  This is now uh Rents.
• 1:37:01
  >> Yeah.
• 1:37:02
  >> Okay.
• 1:37:04
  Late 2024,
• 1:37:06
  I had the chance to replay the entire
• 1:37:09
  From Soft lineup with a college buddy
• 1:37:12
  who has since moved far away.
• 1:37:14
  >> A dream. I'm gonna I'm gonna take a
• 1:37:16
  second here and actually remove myself
• 1:37:18
  from this because I just want to say
• 1:37:20
  >> I am fascinated by this playing through
• 1:37:23
  these, you know, not thought of as
• 1:37:25
  multiplayer games together with somebody
• 1:37:28
  else. I think it would be so fun to sit
• 1:37:30
  and like,
• 1:37:33
  >> for example, if we did a playthrough
• 1:37:36
  where I was able to sit next to you on
• 1:37:37
  the couch while you played like Dark
• 1:37:38
  Souls 3.
• 1:37:40
  >> Wow. how fun that would be as me,
• 1:37:41
  someone who knows it really, really well
• 1:37:43
  and you someone who doesn't like,
• 1:37:45
  >> you know what I mean? I think that'd be
• 1:37:46
  a lot of fun.
• 1:37:47
  >> Okay.
• 1:37:47
  >> Yeah.
• 1:37:49
  >> Back to the review,
• 1:37:50
  >> please.
• 1:37:52
  >> It was a wonderful experience which not
• 1:37:53
  only awakened a love for online
• 1:37:55
  multiplayer with friends, but also made
• 1:37:57
  me truly fall in love with the series
• 1:37:59
  through a greater understanding of the
• 1:38:01
  mechanics. So when Night Rain was
• 1:38:03
  announced that December, you can imagine
• 1:38:07
  my excitement. From reveal to release,
• 1:38:10
  the pure excitement was quite
• 1:38:12
  influential in helping me cope with my
• 1:38:14
  new job. And when the game released, it
• 1:38:17
  became something to look forward to
• 1:38:18
  nightly for quite some time. I've never
• 1:38:21
  before been so engrossed in a game for
• 1:38:23
  this long. And with the recent DLC, I
• 1:38:25
  may be stuck here for months to come.
• 1:38:27
  I've been very blessed to be able to
• 1:38:29
  fall back on it time and again this
• 1:38:32
  year. Go. Uh I love this because I think
• 1:38:36
  something that's important to me as a
• 1:38:38
  person is looking forward to stuff. I
• 1:38:39
  think that looking having stuff to look
• 1:38:41
  forward to can really
• 1:38:43
  >> just like help you get through a lot.
• 1:38:45
  And it's like, you know, you're always
• 1:38:47
  thinking of deadlines, at least as an
• 1:38:49
  adult, you're always thinking of I've
• 1:38:50
  got to get this done by this date. So to
• 1:38:52
  have a deadline that is deadline
• 1:38:54
  parenthesis positive I think actually
• 1:38:56
  can do a lot mentally.
• 1:38:57
  >> Yeah. Oh, totally.
• 1:38:59
  >> And this really speaks to that that that
• 1:39:01
  just like the the hype of looking
• 1:39:03
  forward to a game.
• 1:39:05
  >> Yeah.
• 1:39:05
  >> Can I say too, so Night Rain and Split
• 1:39:08
  Fiction were announced on the same
• 1:39:10
  night. It was at the Game Awards 2024.
• 1:39:14
  And what I love about both of these is a
• 1:39:16
  trend that I've noticed in games over
• 1:39:18
  the past like two, three years or so,
• 1:39:21
  which is just like a game gets announced
• 1:39:24
  and it's actually coming out within the
• 1:39:26
  next 6 months. Do you know what I mean?
• 1:39:28
  And I like that because it gives like,
• 1:39:30
  you know, hearing that, okay, uh, that
• 1:39:31
  Fate of the Old Republic is coming out
• 1:39:33
  in like 2030. I'm like, cool, that isn't
• 1:39:36
  real. Doesn't exist to me. For me, I'm
• 1:39:37
  like, there's no reason for me to be
• 1:39:38
  excited about that cuz it's just not
• 1:39:40
  it's not a tangible moment in time for
• 1:39:41
  me at this point. But saying like, "Hey,
• 1:39:44
  it's December. This game comes out in
• 1:39:45
  March." "Hey, it's December. This game
• 1:39:47
  comes out in May." I think May was Night
• 1:39:48
  Rain. March was Split Fiction. Is like
• 1:39:50
  so nice cuz I'm like, "Oh, no. That does
• 1:39:52
  give me something to think about and
• 1:39:53
  look forward to because it is like March
• 1:39:56
  is like not that far away all things
• 1:39:59
  considered, you know what I mean? I know
• 1:40:00
  it's like not fun to think about the
• 1:40:01
  passage of time in that that way, but um
• 1:40:04
  >> yeah,
• 1:40:04
  >> I completely agree. I love this.
• 1:40:06
  >> It definitely it definitely sits in your
• 1:40:07
  mind in a different way than something
• 1:40:08
  like the Star Wars Fate of the Old
• 1:40:10
  Republic does." Yeah, because I just
• 1:40:12
  know that that exists like conceptually
• 1:40:15
  whereas like you know Night Rain it's
• 1:40:16
  like oh we got a trailer for this like I
• 1:40:18
  can see like I know what this game is
• 1:40:20
  going to be.
• 1:40:20
  >> Yeah, it's a real game. You can you can
• 1:40:22
  assign a feeling to it. But um thank you
• 1:40:25
  again to the Jake and Peter tier members
• 1:40:28
  for supporting us on Patreon. Um we if
• 1:40:32
  in case anybody is interested again you
• 1:40:34
  can uh check out patreon.com/critical
• 1:40:37
  error. I know going into the new year,
• 1:40:39
  we have talked about wanting to bring
• 1:40:42
  more content to Patreon for the people
• 1:40:44
  that support us. So, that is something
• 1:40:45
  that we are definitely going to be
• 1:40:47
  exploring. We're having active
• 1:40:48
  conversations with our patrons about
• 1:40:49
  what that content could be right now.
• 1:40:52
  Um, I don't I don't want to say
• 1:40:54
  anything. I don't want to lock us in,
• 1:40:55
  but there are but there are some things
• 1:40:56
  I'm excited about
• 1:40:57
  >> and and Jake and I have been sort of
• 1:40:58
  going back and forth, but like like what
• 1:40:59
  if we did this? You know, I mean, just
• 1:41:01
  in terms of like what if we started
• 1:41:03
  doing something like this or saying
• 1:41:05
  like, hey, here's something that happens
• 1:41:07
  a lot like game reviews for example.
• 1:41:08
  It's like what does a critical error
• 1:41:10
  game review even look like? Probably not
• 1:41:11
  just us doing, you know, just writing a
• 1:41:13
  review in the same way that, you know,
• 1:41:14
  everyone else does, whatever. Like what
• 1:41:16
  does that even look like for us? and the
• 1:41:18
  people in the Jacob Peter tier and the
• 1:41:20
  critical air royalty, the nation in
• 1:41:21
  general empowers us, emboldens us to do
• 1:41:23
  that. I would like to um just give a
• 1:41:25
  shout out to everyone in the Jake and
• 1:41:27
  Peter tier as we always do on every
• 1:41:29
  single episode. Evan Pon, Rents, no
• 1:41:32
  longer fuel for sound effects. That's
• 1:41:34
  what their name is in Patreon.
• 1:41:36
  I love that. Evan Snee, uh Mero, and
• 1:41:40
  Robert Kazada, thank you all for being a
• 1:41:44
  part of this nation.
• 1:41:46
  Thank you to the Critical Error royalty
• 1:41:48
  whom I assume we have a sound effect
• 1:41:50
  for. Is that correct?
• 1:41:51
  >> We We do. This week since this episode
• 1:41:53
  is coming out on Christmas, I will be
• 1:41:55
  looking for now the most Christmy
• 1:41:58
  copyright free song that I can find.
• 1:42:00
  >> Ah, I like that. That's fun.
• 1:42:01
  >> Okay, let's let's play that. Ho ho ho.
• 1:42:05
  Were the Christmas vibes achieved? Only
• 1:42:08
  you can be the one to say. But speaking
• 1:42:11
  of Christmas, speaking of generosity,
• 1:42:13
  let's give another shout out to the Jake
• 1:42:14
  and Peter tier members, Evan Pon, Rance,
• 1:42:18
  Anel Trait, Evans, Snee, Mero, and
• 1:42:21
  Robert Quesada. Can you believe it? Can
• 1:42:23
  you believe the generosity of the Jacob
• 1:42:25
  Peter tier? Oh my god. Let's keep this
• 1:42:28
  going. Our $10 Critical error royalty
• 1:42:31
  members, the show would not be the same
• 1:42:33
  without you. I'm talking about Connor
• 1:42:35
  Trulv, Andrew Bulkart, Danny Disaster,
• 1:42:38
  Sam Cedar, James Pierre Reed, Jacob
• 1:42:40
  Richter, Jared Kuseno, Sam Woods, Cole,
• 1:42:45
  Kochow, and Shin. Oh my god, the
• 1:42:49
  listeners know, the listeners recognize.
• 1:42:51
  They said, "Wait a second. Wait a
• 1:42:52
  second. Were those some new names? New
• 1:42:55
  members of the nation? Cannot tell you
• 1:42:57
  all as the year is wrapping up here how
• 1:42:59
  much I've been reflecting on your
• 1:43:01
  generosity. Sincerely, thank you so
• 1:43:03
  much. Enjoy the rest of the episode.
• 1:43:04
  >> All right, enjoy this final interview
• 1:43:06
  that we have with one Joshua Rivera,
• 1:43:09
  someone that we absolutely admire and
• 1:43:11
  look up to uh immensely. I thought it
• 1:43:14
  was a great conversation. Here it is.
• 1:43:15
  >> It was welcome everybody. We are here
• 1:43:17
  with Joshua Rivera, an entertainment
• 1:43:18
  journalist and critic, a writer whose
• 1:43:21
  work is often seen in in the game space
• 1:43:24
  as seinal and preient with so many by
• 1:43:26
  lines at Vulture, Slate, The Ringer,
• 1:43:28
  Vanity Fair. We are so delighted to have
• 1:43:31
  Joshua here with us today to share his
• 1:43:34
  game of the year for 2025. Please take
• 1:43:37
  it away.
• 1:43:38
  >> Uh thank you so much for for the
• 1:43:40
  enthusiastic um you know introduction.
• 1:43:42
  Um I'm flattered. Thank you. Um so do I
• 1:43:46
  just like read the thing that I that I
• 1:43:47
  brought right now? Is that
• 1:43:48
  >> Please. Please do.
• 1:43:49
  >> Do we go? Do we go? All right. Yeah.
• 1:43:51
  >> Um,
• 1:43:53
  so, uh, it, uh, I wrote a little thing
• 1:43:56
  and it goes, uh, like this. Um, I think
• 1:44:01
  a lot about celebration. Uh, that's a
• 1:44:04
  word people use a lot this time of year.
• 1:44:06
  Um, I chafe at it, uh, at the toxic
• 1:44:10
  positivity it implies, as if we need to
• 1:44:12
  close our eyes to the ills of the world
• 1:44:15
  to permit ourselves a bit of pleasure.
• 1:44:17
  Um, thoughts like this are why I choose
• 1:44:21
  Final Fantasy Tactics: The Evil
• 1:44:23
  Chronicles as my game for this year.
• 1:44:26
  Everyone knows about the story's unusual
• 1:44:29
  conviction, its articulation of class
• 1:44:31
  war, and the ways power doesn't just
• 1:44:33
  warp us, but uses us to preserve status
• 1:44:35
  quo. That's all there, and it's still
• 1:44:38
  good.
• 1:44:40
  The other thing people talk about with
• 1:44:41
  this game is how much it rewards you for
• 1:44:43
  breaking its rules. uh with patience and
• 1:44:47
  the vision, you can build up your team
• 1:44:49
  to be truly unstoppable in a way that's
• 1:44:51
  so spectacular. Uh it feels like you're
• 1:44:53
  getting away with something.
• 1:44:56
  But mostly I think of how these things
• 1:44:58
  sit together. The crushing institutional
• 1:45:01
  weight of power, the joy of banding
• 1:45:03
  together with your comrades and breaking
• 1:45:05
  its rules, refusing to turn away from
• 1:45:08
  the horror, but remembering to smile at
• 1:45:10
  the person next to you and believe in
• 1:45:12
  their worth. We can celebrate and we can
• 1:45:15
  do it honestly and with integrity. We
• 1:45:18
  can sit with the horror and the joy, the
• 1:45:20
  hope and despair because we are vast and
• 1:45:23
  wonderful. We do not have to turn away
• 1:45:26
  from any part of ourselves. We owe it to
• 1:45:29
  each other not to.
• 1:45:32
  And that's what I wrote.
• 1:45:34
  >> Wow.
• 1:45:36
  Wow.
• 1:45:38
  I'm stewing. I'm suing a little bit.
• 1:45:40
  >> I know. Me too. I know cuz this this I
• 1:45:42
  think brought up a lot of different So,
• 1:45:45
  first off, I kind of went into this
• 1:45:46
  thinking that you were going to pick a
• 1:45:47
  second a different game. So, when you
• 1:45:49
  said that this one, I was like, "Okay,
• 1:45:51
  time to reframe everything I was
• 1:45:52
  thinking." And um you know, it's funny.
• 1:45:55
  So, Final Fantasy Tactics: Evilist
• 1:45:57
  Chronicles, for people that are unaware,
• 1:45:58
  I think what I think about when I think
• 1:46:01
  about that game is a lot of um this
• 1:46:03
  concept of revisionist history, who gets
• 1:46:05
  remembered, a lot of uh feudal power,
• 1:46:08
  class, institutional rot. It is a game
• 1:46:12
  that reminds me so much of like
• 1:46:14
  Shakespeare's histories. Um where power
• 1:46:16
  is unstable and performative and deeply
• 1:46:21
  tied to legitimacy as opposed to
• 1:46:23
  morality. And I kind of love this um
• 1:46:27
  this idea that you're that you're
• 1:46:28
  hitting on about like celebration and
• 1:46:30
  these mixed feelings. There is a almost
• 1:46:34
  um I don't know I almost want to say
• 1:46:36
  like a like a ballac idea in there about
• 1:46:41
  society as this kind of like grinding
• 1:46:43
  machine where ambition is rewarded and
• 1:46:45
  sincerity is punished. And you've got
• 1:46:46
  this character Ramza who refuses to
• 1:46:50
  accept his role in this world and kind
• 1:46:53
  of reads as a moral failure to the
• 1:46:57
  system rather than of one to himself.
• 1:46:59
  And I think there is kind of like this
• 1:47:02
  this sense in that game of these
• 1:47:05
  constant conflicting feelings that are
• 1:47:07
  that are kind of emerge for all for the
• 1:47:10
  different characters in different ways,
• 1:47:11
  right?
• 1:47:12
  >> Yeah. Yeah. And game the game is
• 1:47:14
  constantly uh throwing this in Realms's
• 1:47:17
  face like interrogating is he naive you
• 1:47:20
  know are you are you just naive and that
• 1:47:22
  is something that you know the world
• 1:47:23
  will also throw at you constantly
• 1:47:26
  >> um and and like that that uh
• 1:47:30
  >> what do you call it there's that uh
• 1:47:33
  >> um you know that notion of like being
• 1:47:36
  right at the wrong time you know where
• 1:47:40
  um where it's like it's this confluence
• 1:47:42
  of things where it's just sort of like
• 1:47:44
  they're There there are times when the
• 1:47:46
  world is ready to hear a moral voice and
• 1:47:49
  there are times when it is not.
• 1:47:51
  >> Um and uh it's on you to not
• 1:47:54
  >> necessarily uh
• 1:47:58
  care about that, you know.
• 1:47:59
  >> Yeah, it's it's funny. It's almost um
• 1:48:01
  tragic in like a classical sense about
• 1:48:04
  like in the way that like like antiggony
• 1:48:06
  or like the crucible would be where
• 1:48:09
  >> I think it's um like virtue and being
• 1:48:11
  being like correct in the wrong time is
• 1:48:14
  not going to save you and if anything it
• 1:48:16
  might disqualify you from history.
• 1:48:18
  >> Mhm.
• 1:48:19
  >> Oh my god. You know what I was thinking
• 1:48:21
  about too is you're sort of talking
• 1:48:23
  about this idea of like the conflict
• 1:48:24
  between the idea of like pulling one
• 1:48:26
  over almost on the game but then also
• 1:48:28
  sort of in this like sort of repressive
• 1:48:30
  or oppressive environment and stuff like
• 1:48:31
  that. Uh it makes me think about Portal
• 1:48:34
  one
• 1:48:35
  >> because in the I I love when like games
• 1:48:39
  have this sort of thing in the in them.
• 1:48:40
  There's a developer commentary like
• 1:48:42
  track for Portal. Uh, I think Valve did
• 1:48:45
  has done it with most of their games.
• 1:48:46
  Um, where when you you can go and play
• 1:48:48
  it and there's like little like icons
• 1:48:50
  you can click on or whatever interact
• 1:48:51
  with and it'll play a little, you know,
• 1:48:54
  commentary from the devs. And there's a
• 1:48:56
  there's a level in Portal one where they
• 1:48:57
  realized that a lot of players were
• 1:48:59
  discovering that there was a way to skip
• 1:49:00
  a large portion of it. And they
• 1:49:02
  initially went in and they changed the
• 1:49:04
  the puzzle so that you couldn't do that
• 1:49:06
  anymore. But then the players were sort
• 1:49:09
  of like, "Oh, I thought I was going to
• 1:49:10
  be able to like pull one over on the
• 1:49:12
  game a little bit." And they put they
• 1:49:14
  put that back in so that people could
• 1:49:15
  sort of feel that way. And what I find
• 1:49:17
  so interesting is like this idea of
• 1:49:20
  pulling one over on the game or or or
• 1:49:22
  like being able to like have this moment
• 1:49:24
  for yourself while still in this
• 1:49:26
  environment that is oppressive and
• 1:49:27
  whatever because then what happens in
• 1:49:29
  Portal, you just go to the next puzzle
• 1:49:30
  and and it's it's about sort of that
• 1:49:33
  it's like being in a a hospital almost
• 1:49:35
  with how like sterile everything is and
• 1:49:37
  everything like that.
• 1:49:37
  >> Um so that's that's so fascinating.
• 1:49:40
  >> Yeah. Yeah. No, I'm glad that that
• 1:49:41
  conveyed because like one doesn't
• 1:49:43
  annihilate the other, you know, like,
• 1:49:45
  you know, we're we're we're still in
• 1:49:46
  [ __ ] hell, you know. Yeah.
• 1:49:48
  >> Um the uh the that's that's sort of like
• 1:49:53
  the you know I feel
• 1:49:56
  people
• 1:49:58
  find it a drag
• 1:50:01
  you know if if you uh uh just point out
• 1:50:06
  or or articulate or take issue with
• 1:50:10
  institutional failures. Um uh especially
• 1:50:14
  if like they're old, you know, like
• 1:50:17
  people have heard it before. Um but I
• 1:50:21
  think everyone needs to articulate their
• 1:50:25
  reason for caring for for fighting and
• 1:50:30
  it's not necessarily about winning. I
• 1:50:31
  think it's about finding that reason you
• 1:50:34
  know
• 1:50:35
  >> uh I am not under any uh illusion.
• 1:50:39
  people sometimes like uh a negative
• 1:50:41
  comment I get on a lot of pieces I write
• 1:50:44
  um is like
• 1:50:47
  uh what do you want them to do about it?
• 1:50:49
  >> Yeah.
• 1:50:49
  >> You know, and it's just sort of like I
• 1:50:51
  don't [ __ ] I'm just a [ __ ] writer,
• 1:50:53
  man.
• 1:50:56
  >> Um like it's I'm I'm I am not a
• 1:51:01
  prescriptivist, you know. I'm not here
• 1:51:03
  writing instructions for anybody, you
• 1:51:05
  know. I am trying to figure out you know
• 1:51:07
  the way I wish to be uh a human in the
• 1:51:10
  world
• 1:51:12
  >> and hoping that you know like at most
• 1:51:17
  the stuff that I write and process and
• 1:51:19
  think through helps you figure that out
• 1:51:21
  for yourself
• 1:51:22
  >> whatever that means for you you know I
• 1:51:25
  think
• 1:51:28
  um
• 1:51:29
  what do you call it I don't think it is
• 1:51:32
  like
• 1:51:34
  Um, sorry, I lost my train of thought,
• 1:51:36
  but it's
• 1:51:37
  >> No, no, I actually I really appreciate
• 1:51:38
  what you're saying because I I feel like
• 1:51:40
  this idea of even even bringing up the
• 1:51:42
  well, what what is your what is your
• 1:51:45
  solution for your criticism to be
• 1:51:47
  constructive? Something that a lot of
• 1:51:49
  people online say is important to them.
• 1:51:51
  The idea needs to be that you have a
• 1:51:53
  better idea than the thing that you are
• 1:51:54
  criticizing. Yes. and which is which is
• 1:51:57
  kind of funny just when you take a step
• 1:51:58
  back and look at that and and maybe it's
• 1:52:00
  like you're being critical of capitalism
• 1:52:02
  and they're like okay this piece really
• 1:52:03
  would have been served by somebody
• 1:52:05
  coming in here and writing so we should
• 1:52:07
  abolish capitalism and then thank you no
• 1:52:11
  one think of that oh my gosh
• 1:52:14
  >> but I think uh in terms of the game that
• 1:52:16
  we are talking about uh and the kind of
• 1:52:19
  connection to a modern context here I I
• 1:52:22
  think what something you are making
• 1:52:24
  clear to me is that you know all
• 1:52:27
  throughout um
• 1:52:29
  world history but I think particularly
• 1:52:31
  American history it's very easy for us
• 1:52:33
  to kind of draw a line through huge
• 1:52:36
  historical moments and see who the
• 1:52:38
  critics were at the time and
• 1:52:40
  >> the ways in which we talk about the
• 1:52:43
  critics of different eras and movements
• 1:52:46
  has largely been imposed after the fact
• 1:52:49
  something I think a lot of people miss
• 1:52:51
  >> and
• 1:52:53
  you know kind of like heroes and
• 1:52:54
  villains of history are retroactively,
• 1:52:57
  you know, designated and assigned and
• 1:53:00
  there there is something that I think
• 1:53:01
  because um history is a narrative
• 1:53:04
  construction rather than a neutral
• 1:53:05
  record. It is important to have these
• 1:53:08
  people who are operating not in terms of
• 1:53:10
  the I am building tomorrow because
• 1:53:14
  tomorrow is going to be built by who
• 1:53:17
  maybe people who aren't even born yet
• 1:53:19
  but to play your role in this moment and
• 1:53:22
  to expose the people who will eventually
• 1:53:25
  be building tomorrow to uh ideas. Uh
• 1:53:28
  Tanahesi Coats, one of my favorite
• 1:53:29
  writers of all time, talks a lot about
• 1:53:31
  how like if you look at the Black Lives
• 1:53:33
  Matter movement, some critics would say
• 1:53:35
  not a lot of like important legislation
• 1:53:38
  really came directly out of that
• 1:53:39
  movement. But the importance there and
• 1:53:42
  the cultural significance of it was it
• 1:53:44
  was before legislation happens, before
• 1:53:46
  the world changes, an idea needs to be
• 1:53:49
  born. And so many ideas were built in
• 1:53:52
  and trained into people and different
• 1:53:54
  ways of thinking. the amount of small
• 1:53:55
  town book clubs that all of a sudden
• 1:53:57
  picked up between the world and me. Like
• 1:53:59
  that is so that is so huge. And I think
• 1:54:01
  that like that is not coming from
• 1:54:03
  anybody saying here is the utopic
• 1:54:07
  version of a of a of a society that
• 1:54:11
  lacks racism, but here are the problems
• 1:54:13
  that you have never been exposed to that
• 1:54:15
  I'm opening your eyes to for the first
• 1:54:16
  time ever.
• 1:54:18
  >> Yeah. That and and also like I'm glad
• 1:54:19
  you brought up quotes. there's uh when
• 1:54:21
  when Coach was blogging, you know, in
• 1:54:23
  the mid200s
• 1:54:26
  >> um and early 2010s, he uh there and I
• 1:54:31
  can't for the life of me ever find this
• 1:54:32
  quote. Every once in a while I look it
• 1:54:34
  up because I want to cite it and I
• 1:54:35
  can't. Um, and so like forgive me if you
• 1:54:39
  do find it and it's not, you know,
• 1:54:41
  verbatim, but uh he wrote something
• 1:54:44
  about like how uh cuz he was talking
• 1:54:46
  about why he, you know, cites rappers,
• 1:54:52
  you know, as much as he does like
• 1:54:53
  philosophers and stuff like that. And he
• 1:54:55
  says, I believe true beauty comes from
• 1:54:57
  the gutter and rises to the and is
• 1:54:59
  appreciated at the top.
• 1:55:00
  >> You know, and that has been like a
• 1:55:03
  mantra of mine. Um, it's like I write
• 1:55:06
  for publications that flat out don't
• 1:55:08
  respect games, you know, for for the
• 1:55:10
  most for the most part.
• 1:55:12
  >> You know, I think, uh, The Ringer has
• 1:55:14
  some good people, uh, you know, like,
• 1:55:16
  uh, Ben Lindberg, Justin Charity, uh,
• 1:55:19
  good writers who are, uh, happy to put
• 1:55:23
  games right up there with all the other
• 1:55:25
  stuff that you're writing about.
• 1:55:26
  >> Sure.
• 1:55:26
  >> Uh, but The Ringer is also like a
• 1:55:27
  populist, you know, has like a populist
• 1:55:29
  approach to pop culture, right? it wants
• 1:55:31
  to be there with you, you know, like in
• 1:55:33
  the bleachers at the game, you know, um
• 1:55:36
  or or or like in the theater with you
• 1:55:38
  and then like find interesting things to
• 1:55:41
  think about that like maybe uh you can't
• 1:55:44
  quite put your finger on and you'd be
• 1:55:45
  like, "Yeah, that's the thing I was
• 1:55:46
  looking for talk about with my friends
• 1:55:48
  with this thing." Um, but a lot of the
• 1:55:52
  other places, you know, don't, you know,
• 1:55:55
  uh, like and and and and you know, this
• 1:55:58
  is something you can like rail against.
• 1:56:01
  >> Um, or it's something that you can work
• 1:56:04
  with. And I I I choose to work with it,
• 1:56:06
  right? Where it's just sort of like,
• 1:56:08
  [ __ ] you. You, you know, I don't need
• 1:56:11
  you to like or care about the things
• 1:56:14
  that I do. I am going to figure out how
• 1:56:18
  to make something beautiful out of that
• 1:56:20
  that you have to notice,
• 1:56:21
  >> you know. Um, and uh that's kind of, you
• 1:56:28
  know,
• 1:56:29
  the part of the work to me where again
• 1:56:32
  it's not necessarily did I change
• 1:56:35
  anything.
• 1:56:36
  >> Uh, like I would not set my sights stack
• 1:56:39
  high. It would be like
• 1:56:41
  >> I made you look, you know.
• 1:56:43
  >> Yeah, totally. No, I I I I I I grabbed
• 1:56:46
  you by the collar for a second and you
• 1:56:49
  stopped
• 1:56:51
  and heard what I had to say. You know,
• 1:56:53
  >> it that resonates with me so much in
• 1:56:56
  terms of um I think maybe the most
• 1:56:59
  important and impactful piece of games
• 1:57:01
  writing I read this year on um from
• 1:57:03
  Aftermath. Autumn Wright uh wrote about
• 1:57:06
  the BDS movement against Microsoft. Uh
• 1:57:08
  it's important it's important to know.
• 1:57:10
  It's important to know. It's important
• 1:57:11
  to see it.
• 1:57:12
  >> Yeah. And I I think that's something
• 1:57:13
  that Peter and I have kind of repeated a
• 1:57:16
  lot this year. Just it's important to
• 1:57:17
  know. It's important to see it and to
• 1:57:18
  face it and to think about it. And
• 1:57:20
  that's Yeah. Great. Can I ask you one
• 1:57:22
  more question about your relationship
• 1:57:24
  with this game? So because this is a
• 1:57:25
  remaster or a remake, right, of
• 1:57:29
  >> it's a little fuzzy,
• 1:57:31
  >> but it's a another version of a game
• 1:57:33
  that that's a little bit older. So did
• 1:57:35
  you play that original? And then if you
• 1:57:36
  did like
• 1:57:38
  you playing it now, did did you your
• 1:57:40
  understanding of it change at all just
• 1:57:41
  being an older person who's who's
• 1:57:43
  experienced something and then come back
• 1:57:44
  to it, you know what I mean?
• 1:57:45
  >> Yeah. So I never played the what was it
• 1:57:47
  1997 original I think which came out on
• 1:57:49
  PlayStation.
• 1:57:50
  >> Um I was aware of it.
• 1:57:53
  >> Uh I played the War of the Lions remake
• 1:57:58
  which came out on PSP
• 1:58:00
  and then that is basically the version
• 1:58:02
  that has traveled for a little while. I
• 1:58:05
  think there was like an iOS port.
• 1:58:06
  >> Sure.
• 1:58:07
  >> Um and a few other stuff. But the thing
• 1:58:08
  about the uh the War of the Alliance
• 1:58:10
  thing is it got re-ransated.
• 1:58:12
  >> Uh added a bunch of cool content,
• 1:58:14
  classes, things of that nature. Um and
• 1:58:17
  is generally just kind of like um
• 1:58:22
  you know, a really good version of the
• 1:58:23
  game. Um this one
• 1:58:27
  I think the and this is not holding me a
• 1:58:31
  lot of people are appreciating about
• 1:58:32
  this game because like people tend to
• 1:58:33
  sort of like um
• 1:58:37
  if they want to nitpick and they will
• 1:58:39
  acknowledge it's a nitpick right it's
• 1:58:41
  not necessarily I'm not being
• 1:58:42
  disparaging at all if people want to
• 1:58:44
  nitpick they'll be like oh the pros is a
• 1:58:45
  little purple you know
• 1:58:47
  >> um because like they're doing this very
• 1:58:49
  you know so they they they are reaching
• 1:58:51
  for like Shakespeare and and you
• 1:58:54
  Um, and when you're reading that, uh,
• 1:58:59
  maybe it doesn't land for you. The new
• 1:59:00
  version adds voice acting and it
• 1:59:02
  revisits that script and fleshes it out.
• 1:59:04
  And so it feels like performance. It
• 1:59:07
  feels like theater. Um,
• 1:59:10
  >> and like I think
• 1:59:13
  >> for anybody who was maybe missing what
• 1:59:15
  the game was doing, you know, just
• 1:59:17
  needed like that little extra push to
• 1:59:19
  get there, I think this new version of
• 1:59:21
  the game, for that reason alone
• 1:59:23
  basically uh has that little push, you
• 1:59:27
  know. Um, the the the voice acting in
• 1:59:31
  that game is is is really good. You
• 1:59:32
  know, they all do the silly like English
• 1:59:34
  adaptation, right? But uh but it it's
• 1:59:37
  it's it's very good for sort of like
• 1:59:39
  punching you in to the mode that that
• 1:59:41
  we're working in, you know.
• 1:59:43
  >> Yeah, that's fascinating. I think it's
• 1:59:44
  such a like uh it's so true in school
• 1:59:47
  that when you read a Shakespeare play in
• 1:59:49
  like high school or whatever, that's
• 1:59:50
  such a you know, it wasn't maybe meant
• 1:59:52
  to be digested that way. And then when
• 1:59:54
  you go and see it and you hear it
• 1:59:56
  performed or that's why like in class
• 1:59:57
  they'll have people read it aloud, it's
• 1:59:59
  like it takes on a new No worries. it
• 2:00:02
  takes on a um a new kind of meaning. And
• 2:00:06
  a term you used there that I'm not 100%
• 2:00:08
  sure if our audience would be entirely
• 2:00:10
  familiar with is this concept of purple
• 2:00:12
  pros, which I would say is just
• 2:00:14
  >> I was along pretending. I was like,
• 2:00:15
  "Yeah, purple pros for sure."
• 2:00:17
  >> Uh just show offy language like Yeah.
• 2:00:20
  Yeah. Yeah. So, um just wanted to make
• 2:00:22
  that clear to everybody. But um yeah, to
• 2:00:24
  have that kind of Shakespearean language
• 2:00:26
  and be like, "Okay, maybe this is a lot
• 2:00:28
  of text boxes in the original, but now
• 2:00:30
  to maybe give in to a little bit of the
• 2:00:32
  mellow drama, that heightened sense of
• 2:00:34
  reality that goes I could see how that
• 2:00:36
  could go a really long way." Yeah,
• 2:00:38
  definitely.
• 2:00:39
  >> It's cool.
• 2:00:40
  >> All right, Peter, do you think we're
• 2:00:41
  ready for our um the second part of our
• 2:00:43
  guest appearance here?
• 2:00:44
  >> This is This is why I'm here. This is
• 2:00:46
  the When we're talking to these people,
• 2:00:48
  I am like I'm like, "Yeah, I want to
• 2:00:50
  hear about your game for sure." But I I
• 2:00:52
  I I want to hear more of the the
• 2:00:56
  anal industry analysis maybe is the word
• 2:00:59
  or the discourse anal I don't know I
• 2:01:00
  don't know what I would call but yes I'm
• 2:01:02
  I'm dying.
• 2:01:04
  >> Yeah. So of course we you know do this
• 2:01:06
  show that is concerned with how we talk
• 2:01:08
  about games. And our second question for
• 2:01:09
  our guests was just to identify for them
• 2:01:12
  a high pressure ask which was their
• 2:01:13
  critical error of the year. Just
• 2:01:15
  something something to get off their
• 2:01:17
  chest about maybe how we could better
• 2:01:19
  talk about games. something that maybe
• 2:01:21
  as we're looking forward to 2026, it
• 2:01:23
  would be cool if the industry on a
• 2:01:25
  larger scale embraced. Uh, so what were
• 2:01:28
  you thinking about for this?
• 2:01:29
  >> Uh, I I'm going to do a little bit of a
• 2:01:31
  swerve, you know, cuz like I I think if
• 2:01:33
  if you know my work, sometimes I I I
• 2:01:35
  come across as a little punchy.
• 2:01:38
  >> Okay.
• 2:01:39
  >> But uh
• 2:01:40
  >> but like I do want to, you know, take
• 2:01:44
  the opportunity you folks are giving me
• 2:01:45
  to articulate something I believe in
• 2:01:46
  deeply. Um, and something that I feel is
• 2:01:51
  continually lacking in in uh any field
• 2:01:55
  of like criticism
• 2:01:56
  >> and and journalism and it's to remember
• 2:01:59
  that the work you do is beautiful,
• 2:02:02
  >> you know. um that it is it is uh uh like
• 2:02:06
  I think intellectually we all know that
• 2:02:09
  it is it is rare and privileged to have
• 2:02:13
  um the platform and any any form of
• 2:02:16
  audience at all.
• 2:02:18
  >> Um but
• 2:02:21
  the work will also grind you down and
• 2:02:25
  the only way to survive that sometimes
• 2:02:28
  is to dull that beauty, right? to to to
• 2:02:31
  to
• 2:02:33
  forget
• 2:02:35
  um how meaningful it is, right? I uh
• 2:02:40
  like I there's a thing that I do like I
• 2:02:45
  don't do it all the time because I'll go
• 2:02:46
  crazy, but like every once in a while
• 2:02:49
  I'll just ask, you know, I I'll come at
• 2:02:53
  a piece and I'll and and I'll be like
• 2:02:55
  this was written just because,
• 2:02:58
  >> you know,
• 2:02:59
  >> um and it's just it's it's like there
• 2:03:02
  like the focus is on games. So I I'll
• 2:03:05
  I'll I'll look at uh games in
• 2:03:07
  particular, but it's just sort of like
• 2:03:09
  there they're
• 2:03:11
  you know, life is too short in in our
• 2:03:13
  time in this game, you know, in in in
• 2:03:17
  the the time that we have to give games,
• 2:03:19
  the time that we have to uh write and
• 2:03:23
  read about games is finite. It's even
• 2:03:25
  more finite than most things because,
• 2:03:27
  you know, uh this is such a
• 2:03:28
  time-consuming medium. This is such a
• 2:03:30
  meat grinder of an industry. um both in
• 2:03:32
  the uh you know on on the side of like
• 2:03:35
  making games and the side of writing
• 2:03:37
  about them. Uh that like the time that
• 2:03:41
  realistically you have to be in the
• 2:03:44
  space is short, you know? Um and you owe
• 2:03:48
  it to yourself and you owe it to the
• 2:03:49
  people that read you
• 2:03:52
  >> to just like really [ __ ] make it
• 2:03:54
  count, you know? Uh, like I'm not saying
• 2:03:58
  that you can't,
• 2:04:00
  you know, have fun or do dumb jokes.
• 2:04:03
  I've done both, you know. I still do
• 2:04:05
  both. Um, I'm funny. Damn it. You know,
• 2:04:08
  like
• 2:04:09
  >> I love you. You posted this on Blue Sky
• 2:04:11
  where you were like, I like to throw
• 2:04:13
  jokes like at least like one joke and
• 2:04:14
  it's something I'm writing just to like
• 2:04:15
  make people know like I'm not being that
• 2:04:17
  serious about it. And I love that
• 2:04:19
  because it is serious, but it is also
• 2:04:20
  like it helps the reader like I think
• 2:04:23
  just like
• 2:04:23
  >> figure out the tone of like oh no we're
• 2:04:25
  like we're like chatting you know
• 2:04:27
  >> sometimes stakes aren't so high as we
• 2:04:30
  kind of make them out to be. Yeah.
• 2:04:31
  Right.
• 2:04:32
  >> Yeah. I mean and if there's any
• 2:04:33
  self-conscious on that it's like it's
• 2:04:34
  it's that like I know that
• 2:04:37
  >> conviction is like unusual you know.
• 2:04:40
  >> Um Wow. Yeah.
• 2:04:42
  >> And uh you know it comes across as like
• 2:04:44
  harsh or judgmental. And so like part of
• 2:04:46
  that is like an act of care for the
• 2:04:48
  reader where it's just sort of like, you
• 2:04:50
  know, I do not think I'm any better than
• 2:04:52
  anybody.
• 2:04:52
  >> Yeah.
• 2:04:53
  >> Um I just believe this thing and it
• 2:04:55
  bothers me, you know. Um and uh I don't
• 2:04:59
  know. I think I think you know again uh
• 2:05:03
  >> I don't think
• 2:05:06
  uh it is realistic to expect people to
• 2:05:08
  be uncompromising all the time. Yeah.
• 2:05:11
  you know, uh I think I think as we age
• 2:05:14
  and as we move through this like
• 2:05:15
  terrible, you know, like uh you know,
• 2:05:19
  socioeconomic situation, uh you are
• 2:05:22
  going to accrete compromises. It's it's
• 2:05:25
  just as as your you know uh
• 2:05:30
  responsibilities acrew as as you sort of
• 2:05:33
  like age and and move through the world,
• 2:05:36
  you have to make these bargains, right?
• 2:05:39
  And you have to decide for yourself what
• 2:05:41
  things will you not budge on, right? You
• 2:05:44
  compromise where you where you can. Um
• 2:05:47
  and uh what do you call it? be loud
• 2:05:51
  about everything else, you know, because
• 2:05:54
  like not only that, uh, you know, maybe
• 2:05:59
  further down the line,
• 2:06:01
  you know, you have to make a compromise
• 2:06:04
  if you could if you didn't uh when you
• 2:06:06
  were younger, you know, and that's
• 2:06:08
  that's life, you know what I mean?
• 2:06:10
  >> So, it's like while you have the room to
• 2:06:12
  talk, while you have the legs under you,
• 2:06:14
  >> okay,
• 2:06:15
  >> [ __ ] do it, you know? Um because it's
• 2:06:19
  it's sort of like
• 2:06:22
  it comes back to like what we owe each
• 2:06:25
  other, you know? I think um because it's
• 2:06:27
  very easy to to succumb to ego and think
• 2:06:29
  that you're right and other people are
• 2:06:30
  wrong and like you're you're doing it
• 2:06:32
  wrong if that's if if that's what you're
• 2:06:34
  coming at. Um, it's it's it's sort of
• 2:06:37
  like just being cognizant again of of
• 2:06:40
  the limited time and space that you
• 2:06:45
  have and you don't know how, you know,
• 2:06:48
  how it's going to shake out from you,
• 2:06:50
  right? Like I quit my job at Polygon two
• 2:06:52
  years ago. I didn't know that I would
• 2:06:54
  only have another year there if I had
• 2:06:56
  stayed,
• 2:06:56
  >> right?
• 2:06:57
  >> You know,
• 2:06:58
  >> um, wow. and and uh like
• 2:07:01
  >> um
• 2:07:04
  you know everybody knows everybody knows
• 2:07:05
  it's coming for all of us. Um and so
• 2:07:08
  like I think uh too much of the message
• 2:07:12
  that we I I see people leaving behind is
• 2:07:15
  that like it sucks for everybody get
• 2:07:17
  paid. um do what you got to and sure you
• 2:07:22
  know I don't I don't
• 2:07:25
  uh
• 2:07:27
  you know I'm I'm I I can't speak to
• 2:07:29
  every circumstance right like I can't I
• 2:07:31
  can't say that's like bad advice or
• 2:07:33
  anything like that but I can say that
• 2:07:36
  while you do have the space you you got
• 2:07:39
  to you got to you you got to bring it
• 2:07:41
  all
• 2:07:42
  >> because the people coming behind you
• 2:07:45
  need that
• 2:07:46
  >> you know they they you you you've got to
• 2:07:48
  leave the ladder behind them at the very
• 2:07:50
  if they if you're not going to leave
• 2:07:52
  like a career ladder behind them to help
• 2:07:53
  you know like boost them up at the very
• 2:07:55
  least you can you can just sort of like
• 2:07:57
  give them the space make the room take
• 2:07:59
  the heat
• 2:08:01
  >> you know so that the next person behind
• 2:08:02
  you
• 2:08:03
  >> uh has more room to work with and can
• 2:08:05
  maybe push things further than than than
• 2:08:07
  you did
• 2:08:08
  >> you know and that's like part of the
• 2:08:10
  thing too where it's just sort of like I
• 2:08:12
  am in a space right now where just I
• 2:08:14
  think about quitting uh games writing in
• 2:08:17
  particular like all the time. Um, but at
• 2:08:19
  the same time, I feel that I'm in a
• 2:08:21
  space where like I can probably piss
• 2:08:23
  some people off that other people can't,
• 2:08:24
  you know.
• 2:08:25
  >> Um, like there, you know, like I don't
• 2:08:28
  have uh, you know,
• 2:08:32
  what do you call it? Um,
• 2:08:35
  >> like I know for a fact that like, you
• 2:08:37
  know, if I were women saying some of the
• 2:08:39
  things I said, people would be even
• 2:08:42
  worse to me, you know, like u, and
• 2:08:45
  they're not great, you know, but
• 2:08:48
  Yeah.
• 2:08:48
  >> Um but uh what do you call it? It's it's
• 2:08:53
  you know and then there's also you know
• 2:08:55
  people who are just sort of like
• 2:08:58
  trying to put fluenc trying to get the
• 2:08:59
  job and uh you know like they can't
• 2:09:04
  necessarily uh rock the boat in any way
• 2:09:07
  or other people depend on them to get
• 2:09:09
  that work right like I never fault um I
• 2:09:13
  don't want to say that uh let me put it
• 2:09:15
  a different way. Um there there are
• 2:09:18
  people who
• 2:09:22
  uh there are all different there there
• 2:09:24
  are a number of ways in which we support
• 2:09:26
  one another and if you have the room to
• 2:09:30
  sort of like support your peers to
• 2:09:32
  further the the work this way then you
• 2:09:36
  should do it. You know, I think it's uh
• 2:09:39
  I think it it it it all should be
• 2:09:41
  working towards like us connecting with
• 2:09:44
  each other, us seeing each other more,
• 2:09:46
  us sort of like being like, yeah, um
• 2:09:50
  >> we are all interested in this medium,
• 2:09:54
  >> but we're all interested in it in a very
• 2:09:57
  human way, you know, like in in I'm I
• 2:10:00
  only care about games in the sense that
• 2:10:02
  uh for as long as they lead me to think
• 2:10:04
  about people um and and each other. Um
• 2:10:09
  because like the second they stop doing
• 2:10:10
  that, I I'll walk away, you know? Like I
• 2:10:14
  don't I think I think we got to do it
• 2:10:15
  for something. This is a really like
• 2:10:17
  messy uh articulation of of of a thing.
• 2:10:21
  But like
• 2:10:22
  >> that's the critical era special. I mean,
• 2:10:25
  >> and I think I what I want to make clear
• 2:10:26
  to our to our audience too is that first
• 2:10:28
  off, thank you for sharing that. And I
• 2:10:30
  think that that was um what you're
• 2:10:32
  presenting to us is something that I
• 2:10:34
  think is really challenging. And for the
• 2:10:37
  I want the I want the listener to maybe
• 2:10:39
  if they're not already in my shoes kind
• 2:10:42
  of like digesting everything that you're
• 2:10:43
  saying. What I'm finding is this
• 2:10:45
  inherently
• 2:10:46
  uh almost conflicting and combative
• 2:10:49
  position of I need to be gracious to the
• 2:10:53
  real people around me and it is not
• 2:10:55
  about being everybody kind of assuming
• 2:10:59
  the same role and being correct in
• 2:11:01
  whatever way I think is correct but at
• 2:11:03
  the same time I need to run at what I
• 2:11:06
  think is correct
• 2:11:08
  >> and make it and like you said at the top
• 2:11:10
  make it count
• 2:11:11
  >> and that is um that it's It's it's hard
• 2:11:14
  to be that person sometimes and I Yeah.
• 2:11:17
  Yeah.
• 2:11:17
  >> Uh it's it's because ultimately it's
• 2:11:20
  just sort of like you got to like you
• 2:11:21
  got to respect you know the reader and
• 2:11:24
  then you also got to respect your peers.
• 2:11:26
  >> Yeah.
• 2:11:26
  >> Right. Uh you got to you got to trust
• 2:11:28
  them enough
• 2:11:29
  >> to like
• 2:11:31
  >> um like you know it's it's it's like I I
• 2:11:34
  I'm not above like provocation. I think
• 2:11:36
  provocation is useful you know.
• 2:11:37
  >> Yeah. Right. Right. Um uh but like it's
• 2:11:40
  an act to me it it it the the way you
• 2:11:43
  ground that and not be an [ __ ]
• 2:11:45
  >> um is that you do it in trust. You trust
• 2:11:48
  that the reader is is is smart enough to
• 2:11:51
  grasp you even though you know that
• 2:11:52
  there are some people who are going to
• 2:11:53
  take it into bad faith.
• 2:11:54
  >> Um and you trust in your peers to be
• 2:11:57
  like if they think you're on some
• 2:12:00
  [ __ ]
• 2:12:01
  >> to articulate who lie,
• 2:12:03
  >> you know, in a way that furthers the
• 2:12:05
  conversation.
• 2:12:06
  um or uh you know if like your work is
• 2:12:09
  is like in some way uh like harmful or
• 2:12:13
  dilitterious right um to tell you you
• 2:12:16
  know
• 2:12:17
  >> um and and like I think um
• 2:12:23
  you know that's that's how you sort of
• 2:12:24
  like again like you have to constantly
• 2:12:27
  do these checks on yourself
• 2:12:29
  >> um to sort of like
• 2:12:31
  >> you know uh be not assume not presume
• 2:12:35
  yourself to to to not to be above
• 2:12:37
  arrogance or um or or
• 2:12:42
  just sort of like being a jerk or rude
• 2:12:45
  or inconsiderate. Uh just sort of like
• 2:12:47
  sit with the the the fact that you can
• 2:12:49
  do all these things whether you intend
• 2:12:51
  to or not. Like you can just be [ __ ]
• 2:12:53
  lousy. Um and uh
• 2:12:58
  you know if you write aware of that you
• 2:13:01
  are less likely to sort of like veer
• 2:13:03
  into that space. And then also uh you
• 2:13:06
  can be gracious if somebody's like, "Oh,
• 2:13:07
  you veered in that direction." You know?
• 2:13:10
  >> Yeah.
• 2:13:11
  >> I think one of the things that Jake and
• 2:13:12
  I talk about sometimes um mostly off the
• 2:13:15
  podcast, but then sometimes we we try to
• 2:13:17
  like articulate it usually at the start
• 2:13:19
  of an episode when we are like looking
• 2:13:21
  at a specific work that someone has
• 2:13:23
  written is sort of like what you're
• 2:13:25
  saying about this idea of just like like
• 2:13:28
  empathy, right? Of course, like this
• 2:13:29
  person wrote this thing. Obviously,
• 2:13:31
  we're not talking about them as a
• 2:13:32
  person. And we're just talking about the
• 2:13:33
  thing that they made. But the thing that
• 2:13:35
  I think that maybe we should hit on
• 2:13:36
  sometimes more between Jake and I is
• 2:13:38
  this idea of like sometimes someone's
• 2:13:40
  just at work.
• 2:13:42
  >> Do you know what I mean? Like like when
• 2:13:44
  I was at when I worked at Old Navy in
• 2:13:46
  high school and college, if someone were
• 2:13:49
  from like Old Navy corporate was like,
• 2:13:51
  "Let's take a look at what Peter does in
• 2:13:53
  a dayto-day." It would be like, "Oh, you
• 2:13:55
  shouldn't do that. Sometimes you're just
• 2:13:57
  at work." And I even think about like
• 2:13:58
  when I like have written, right? like uh
• 2:14:01
  uh I worked at the gamer for about a
• 2:14:05
  year um and about three or four months
• 2:14:07
  of that I was just in the content mill
• 2:14:09
  writing portion of it. Uh, and I think
• 2:14:11
  about like do I if someone took a look
• 2:14:14
  at what I had written every single day
• 2:14:17
  >> in the with the same microscope with the
• 2:14:19
  same whatever that that sometimes we do
• 2:14:21
  like is that going to be a really good
• 2:14:24
  reflection of how who I am as a writer
• 2:14:26
  and the answer is like no sometimes I
• 2:14:28
  was just at work you know but I I do
• 2:14:30
  like what you said though but this idea
• 2:14:31
  of like finding beauty in what you're
• 2:14:34
  doing and joy and what you're doing in
• 2:14:35
  this stuff too because even in an
• 2:14:37
  environment that was like that that was
• 2:14:38
  like so oppressive and just awful about
• 2:14:41
  like content now, content now, content
• 2:14:43
  now.
• 2:14:45
  >> I tried every day. I had to write five
• 2:14:46
  pieces every day. And it was like I I
• 2:14:49
  make one of them something I'm proud of
• 2:14:51
  and good. And and you know, the rest can
• 2:14:53
  be me at work and me doing whatever, but
• 2:14:55
  like one thing I want to write that is
• 2:14:57
  beautiful and good and and that I would
• 2:14:59
  say, "Yeah, you can we can take a look
• 2:15:01
  at this." you know, and I think that's
• 2:15:02
  that's important, especially in an
• 2:15:03
  industry like games media that is so
• 2:15:07
  like
• 2:15:09
  >> exploitive and and I think so many of
• 2:15:11
  these websites, you know, an increasing
• 2:15:13
  number of them exist to grind people up
• 2:15:15
  and just spit them out and are like
• 2:15:17
  totally totally aware that they're doing
• 2:15:19
  that and fine with doing that.
• 2:15:20
  >> Um, so I I I really appreciate that
• 2:15:22
  sentiment.
• 2:15:23
  >> Yeah, me too, Peter. And I think
• 2:15:24
  something that I am reflecting on a lot
• 2:15:26
  is just that um you know we end every
• 2:15:29
  episode of our podcast with one of us
• 2:15:31
  has prepared a written piece and I think
• 2:15:33
  we've done a good job of making that a
• 2:15:35
  practice of um
• 2:15:37
  >> you know I think as writers we maybe all
• 2:15:38
  understand that there is like nothing
• 2:15:40
  more painful than writing but then
• 2:15:43
  >> that ecstasy of discovery when you
• 2:15:46
  figure out what it is that you were
• 2:15:47
  trying to say or you you learn something
• 2:15:49
  about an idea that you had just kind of
• 2:15:51
  begun to scratch the surface of is so
• 2:15:56
  like I don't know and and everything I'm
• 2:15:58
  proud of there's that moment where I
• 2:15:59
  feel like I hit on the idea and I run
• 2:16:01
  upstairs to tell my wife in her office
• 2:16:02
  like Sarah I think I got something and
• 2:16:05
  yeah and like that is that I feel like
• 2:16:07
  I'm constantly chasing that feeling and
• 2:16:09
  to to give ourselves the opportunity to
• 2:16:11
  have that feeling to discover something
• 2:16:13
  every week is something that I'm proud
• 2:16:15
  of. Um, yeah, I think that's a good
• 2:16:16
  practice.
• 2:16:17
  >> And I think too in terms of like the
• 2:16:18
  idea of like giving people like grace
• 2:16:20
  and and whatever for your peers and
• 2:16:22
  everything like that, I think it's so
• 2:16:23
  important to like reflect and remember
• 2:16:24
  it too. Like anything good that I've
• 2:16:26
  ever made has waffled and rubber rubber
• 2:16:28
  banded like back and forth from being
• 2:16:30
  some of the worst things I've ever made.
• 2:16:32
  Do you know what I mean? Like and I
• 2:16:33
  think I think everyone has that moment
• 2:16:34
  where where you are like, "Oh, it's
• 2:16:36
  terrible. Oh, the thing I've been
• 2:16:38
  working on so hard is it's actually
• 2:16:39
  terrible." And sometimes sometimes
• 2:16:42
  >> it has to get out the door and it's like
• 2:16:44
  that. you're like, "Well, yeah, I I
• 2:16:45
  tried."
• 2:16:46
  >> But then other times you have the
• 2:16:48
  opportunity where it it's like, "No,
• 2:16:49
  it's terrible. I'm going to but here's
• 2:16:51
  how I'm going to change it and make it
• 2:16:52
  good and all that stuff." And and I
• 2:16:53
  think it's important to remember, as
• 2:16:55
  you're saying, grace to your peers and
• 2:16:57
  grace to the people around you and to
• 2:16:58
  your audience and readers and and
• 2:16:59
  everything like that about like no no
• 2:17:01
  like sometimes things don't come
• 2:17:02
  together or they do come together, but
• 2:17:04
  at the end of the end of the day, you're
• 2:17:05
  doing it and you're trying, you know,
• 2:17:06
  that's good.
• 2:17:07
  >> Yeah. And that's the thing that I
• 2:17:10
  struggle with is that I also think that
• 2:17:11
  it's a responsibility you know and if uh
• 2:17:15
  you know sometimes I feel that you know
• 2:17:17
  we can be responsible with with with uh
• 2:17:21
  >> the work you know
• 2:17:23
  >> um and uh that
• 2:17:27
  grace can sort of like be leveraged as
• 2:17:31
  to you know like a shield you know where
• 2:17:34
  it's and for me I think where I draw the
• 2:17:37
  line is just sort of like is this like a
• 2:17:41
  beef that I have with things something I
• 2:17:43
  believe or is this something
• 2:17:45
  >> that I feel is uh what do you call it?
• 2:17:50
  um
• 2:17:54
  I don't know detrimental to the reader,
• 2:17:56
  you know, um where it just sort of if I
• 2:17:59
  can remove myself from the equation
• 2:18:03
  >> um and and and and try and figure out,
• 2:18:08
  you know, if and articulate a specific
• 2:18:10
  reason why I I think this is, you know,
• 2:18:15
  detrimental to like the public's
• 2:18:17
  understanding, like the readership's
• 2:18:18
  understanding, uh then I'll fire away,
• 2:18:20
  >> you know? Uh but if it's just like me,
• 2:18:24
  then that's just like [ __ ] like why
• 2:18:25
  am I going to [ __ ] you know?
• 2:18:28
  >> Yeah.
• 2:18:29
  >> Right.
• 2:18:30
  >> You know, uh and like maybe that's all
• 2:18:32
  things. I don't know. Uh I'm I'm just
• 2:18:34
  like uh you know, I'm just a guy, you
• 2:18:36
  know?
• 2:18:38
  >> Uh there's just times where it's just
• 2:18:39
  sort of like I think things are um
• 2:18:43
  wrong. not in the sense that like
• 2:18:44
  incorrect but like wrong in the sense
• 2:18:46
  that like they are u an improper use of
• 2:18:49
  the platform that we have you know
• 2:18:51
  >> and I think we have to hold each other
• 2:18:53
  accountable
• 2:18:54
  >> um to uh you know be better but also you
• 2:18:58
  know uh
• 2:19:01
  just really give people something
• 2:19:04
  beautiful something uh uh that enriches
• 2:19:07
  their experience of the world you know
• 2:19:10
  >> yeah
• 2:19:12
  Joshua Rivera,
• 2:19:14
  >> thank you so much. Oh my god,
• 2:19:16
  >> thank you for having me. Uh, you know,
• 2:19:18
  uh, I've been, uh, what do you call it?
• 2:19:21
  Enjoying your, uh, less than a year
• 2:19:26
  >> of, uh, of, uh, of doing this and, and
• 2:19:30
  you all have come out swinging. I think
• 2:19:32
  I think you for as long as you want to
• 2:19:35
  do this, you know, I think
• 2:19:37
  >> you all are are are are making this uh a
• 2:19:41
  more interesting space, you know, uh a
• 2:19:44
  better space. And uh you know, I hope
• 2:19:46
  that uh
• 2:19:49
  you know, for as long as you got it into
• 2:19:51
  you, for as long as you got it in you,
• 2:19:53
  you know, because I I I don't wish
• 2:19:54
  anybody to like keep going at this
• 2:19:56
  forever, but like for as long as you got
• 2:19:58
  it in you, I hope you keep doing it. I I
• 2:20:00
  hope that you guys feel uh uh the work
• 2:20:03
  is rewarding. Um because I think it is.
• 2:20:06
  >> Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, we definitely do.
• 2:20:09
  >> And um before you go, I just want to ask
• 2:20:11
  2026 on the horizon. Any teases?
• 2:20:15
  Anything to look forward to? We have
• 2:20:17
  cultivated a kind of small group on our
• 2:20:20
  podcast of just fans of you and I think
• 2:20:24
  they might like to know if there's if
• 2:20:26
  there's if there's anything anything uh
• 2:20:29
  in terms of in terms of your work that's
• 2:20:30
  coming up.
• 2:20:31
  >> Oh, I don't know. Uh there may be.
• 2:20:33
  >> Okay.
• 2:20:33
  >> Uh there there there is like a big
• 2:20:36
  long-term thing I've been working on all
• 2:20:37
  year that may see the light of day
• 2:20:39
  tomorrow. I mean, not tomorrow. Uh next
• 2:20:40
  year.
• 2:20:40
  >> I was like, "Oh my gosh."
• 2:20:43
  >> Uh tomorrow in like the broader sense,
• 2:20:45
  right?
• 2:20:45
  >> Yeah. Yeah. Um but uh the um but
• 2:20:50
  generally yeah I don't really know. I'm
• 2:20:52
  not a big planner. Um
• 2:20:53
  >> yeah great. Yeah.
• 2:20:56
  >> Um I have I have uh you know uh a few
• 2:21:02
  things in the works and I just think
• 2:21:04
  that we're we're I think we're into
• 2:21:08
  we're we're in for uh you know another
• 2:21:10
  tumultuous year. I think we're in for
• 2:21:12
  another year full of uh things to think
• 2:21:15
  about and consider. Um and also, you
• 2:21:18
  know, uh laugh about, take joy in um
• 2:21:22
  >> and uh you know, be pissed about, you
• 2:21:24
  know.
• 2:21:25
  >> But, uh I will
• 2:21:29
  be here with you all um figuring that
• 2:21:32
  [ __ ] out, you know.
• 2:21:33
  >> Awesome.
• 2:21:34
  >> Um so, looking forward to seeing you all
• 2:21:36
  in the new year doing it with me
• 2:21:38
  >> to the new year. Thank you so much
• 2:21:40
  everybody.
• 2:21:41
  >> Thank you so much Joshua.
• 2:21:42
  >> Thank you.
• 2:21:43
  >> Thank you to Joshua Rivera, to Autumn
• 2:21:46
  Wright, to Barrett Courtourtney for
• 2:21:48
  taking the time to chat with us. Thank
• 2:21:50
  you to the members of the Critical Error
• 2:21:53
  Nation who shared their writing with us.
• 2:21:55
  Thank you to you for listening. And
• 2:21:58
  Jake, truly from the bottom of my heart,
• 2:22:01
  thank you for doing this with me this
• 2:22:02
  year. I know like it's fun to like it
• 2:22:04
  sometimes it feels like silly to like
• 2:22:06
  look back and and whatever but like
• 2:22:08
  critical glare has been a a huge
• 2:22:10
  highlight for me personally to just like
• 2:22:12
  do week to week and it's been such a fun
• 2:22:14
  like creative endeavor and it's like
• 2:22:16
  thank you so much man for like even
• 2:22:18
  wanting to do this with me. I cannot
• 2:22:21
  express the positive influence that
• 2:22:24
  doing this every single week has had on
• 2:22:26
  my life. Real material like more than I
• 2:22:30
  think anything I worked on this year,
• 2:22:32
  this was the thing that just like most
• 2:22:34
  kept me afloat, kept me up.
• 2:22:37
  >> And um I like thank of obviously thank
• 2:22:41
  you to you for being the
• 2:22:44
  just best collaborator that I could ever
• 2:22:46
  imagine. I I've said it to you a few
• 2:22:47
  times, but it's true. Like for years
• 2:22:49
  being on YouTube, people would tell me
• 2:22:51
  like, "You should have a podcast. You
• 2:22:52
  should have a podcast." And people had
• 2:22:54
  kind of pitched that to me and floated
• 2:22:55
  it to me and I was like, "No, no, no,
• 2:22:56
  no, no, no, no." And I was like I was
• 2:22:58
  like waiting for the prettiest girl in
• 2:22:59
  school to ask me to prompt.
• 2:23:00
  >> Oh my gosh.
• 2:23:01
  >> And it happened. And I just and I just
• 2:23:03
  like couldn't be happier. Um I'm so
• 2:23:06
  excited for in a real way kind of like
• 2:23:08
  the future of Critical Error. And I just
• 2:23:10
  want to I want to give another shout out
• 2:23:12
  to the people that are supporting us on
• 2:23:13
  Patreon. Um, we should probably say that
• 2:23:16
  next week, January 1st, there won't be
• 2:23:19
  an episode of the podcast, but there
• 2:23:21
  will be an episode of the bonus podcast
• 2:23:25
  for our patrons cuz we can't we can't
• 2:23:27
  let them down.
• 2:23:27
  >> No, no, no. And and it's the least we
• 2:23:30
  can do for the um incredible support
• 2:23:33
  that we've we've seen from them. Uh we
• 2:23:36
  haven't recorded that one yet. We're
• 2:23:38
  we're going to do it in a little bit
• 2:23:39
  here. I'm excited because I think it'll
• 2:23:40
  be kind of fun.
• 2:23:42
  I'm excited for Critical Error as a show
• 2:23:45
  to keep growing because even in our
• 2:23:47
  short time doing it already, you and I
• 2:23:49
  have learned things about how to do the
• 2:23:51
  show that we didn't know upon starting
• 2:23:53
  it. I think it's been like a learning
• 2:23:55
  process and I think we're still in that.
• 2:23:56
  >> Yeah.
• 2:23:57
  >> And um I think we spent the first few
• 2:24:01
  months here really figuring out what
• 2:24:03
  critical error was and I think we get
• 2:24:06
  that to a certain degree now. And I want
• 2:24:09
  to take a lot of swings next year. I
• 2:24:11
  want to really like push the envelope
• 2:24:14
  and try things out and continue to do
• 2:24:17
  things that I think are irregular in the
• 2:24:21
  larger gaming space. I want to I want to
• 2:24:23
  be here's a here's a thing that that
• 2:24:25
  other people maybe don't do. Here's our
• 2:24:27
  like take on it. You know,
• 2:24:28
  >> I agree. I agree. I am going to say this
• 2:24:31
  as an idea and then we can end the show.
• 2:24:34
  >> Okay. I mentioned it once in passing,
• 2:24:37
  but I really think
• 2:24:38
  >> is 2026 the year it'll take a lot of
• 2:24:41
  coordination, a lot of planning where we
• 2:24:43
  do a full episode. That is
• 2:24:44
  >> No, no, no, no, no. In a in a haunted
• 2:24:47
  house.
• 2:24:48
  >> Oh my gosh, that's awesome. I mean, for
• 2:24:50
  sure. Yeah, that good.
• 2:24:51
  >> Is that what you were going to say? When
• 2:24:52
  we play a game in a haunted
• 2:24:54
  >> No, no, that's that's something else.
• 2:24:56
  I'm down for that, though. No. Um, uh, a
• 2:24:59
  full episode that is entirely musical
• 2:25:02
  theater. So like we are we are singing
• 2:25:05
  and performing the entire thing for one
• 2:25:07
  full hour. It would take so much
• 2:25:09
  coordination, so much work. No one would
• 2:25:12
  watch it. It would be our least viewed
• 2:25:14
  episode. I'm sure cuz that's how it
• 2:25:16
  works when you work on something.
• 2:25:19
  >> Podcast is also a musical.
• 2:25:21
  >> Yes. Can you imagine just one episode
• 2:25:22
  and we just never address it?
• 2:25:26
  >> We would have to pick the right topic.
• 2:25:28
  >> It would have to give us a lot of room.
• 2:25:30
  >> Yeah.
• 2:25:31
  >> I think we could do it though. We could
• 2:25:33
  I think it would it would be a lot of
• 2:25:34
  fun. I think it would be a lot of fun.
• 2:25:36
  >> Would motivate me to do that more
• 2:25:38
  >> than being supported at
• 2:25:39
  patreon.com/critical.
• 2:25:41
  >> You know, you know what it is?
• 2:25:43
  >> It's it's a it's a bonus tier. It's like
• 2:25:45
  if we hit blank number of patrons or
• 2:25:48
  whatever. It's like then we'll do the
• 2:25:51
  musical episode. We actually will.
• 2:25:53
  >> Thank you for the support in 2025. We
• 2:25:56
  will see you in 2026. Critical error
• 2:25:58
  nation forever. patreon.com/critical
• 2:26:01
  error. We'll see you in the new year.
• 2:26:03
  >> Happy new year.
• 2:26:07
  >> That's a kiss on your forehead for you.
• 2:26:08
  Bye.