4player Podcast

This week, Biomutant fails to deliver the experience we were hoping for but it's not all bad. Brad delivers an update on the Monster Hunter Rise 3.0 update and elsewhere in the industry, it begins to feel like E3 season despite the obvious caveats that go hand-in-hand with the event this year. We talk about the rumored Souls-like Final Fantasy spin-off from Team Ninja and we give our impressions of the big Dying Light 2 and Horizon: Forbidden West reveals that dropped this week!

What's old is new again in 2021! Nolan is deep into the 1.0 release of Subnautica: Below Zero and loving this follow-up to one of our favorite games of 2018! Nick and Chris talk about their time with Mass Effect: Legendary Edition before it inevitably veers into the great Mass Effect debate of 2007. Brad delivers his final thoughts on Resident Evil Village and the group spends a surprising amount of time talking about theme park rides.

Nick is joined by community guests, TheDrunkenMerchant and GonzoLewd, to talk about the 2nd Revival Club game of the year, Final Fantasy XII! While the series has a long and storied history, this entry is often overlooked or excluded during discussions about the series despite being chock full of inspired (but flawed) ideas and being heavily influenced by the growing popularity of MMOs in the early 2000's. There is even some discussion about what influences, if any, this game might have on the upcoming release of Final Fantasy XVI.

Resident Evil has long been a celebrated franchise here at 4Player in one way or another so this week, we spend a considerable amount of time discussing our thoughts on Resident Evil Village. On top of that, we challenge ourselves to avoid mentioning previous games in the franchise with varying degrees of success. Nolan continued his journey into Zelda's celebrated past by playing The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap for the first time and in the second segment, we revisit some of our favorite in-store demos from our youth and answer some fun hypotheticals courtesy of our Patreon and Twitch supporter questions.

On Brad's birthday episode, we talk about our time with Returnal; a fun and demanding Rogue-Like that just might be one of the biggest arguments for going in on a PS5 this early. Chris Davis "prepared a statement" about Yakuza 7 and Nolan delivers his final thoughts on It Takes Two now that he and Bernadette finished it. We also pour one out for the talent that is departing Giant Bomb this week and in the news, we skim the surface of the big Epic vs. Apple lawsuit.

David returns this week to talk about his more recent (misunderstood) obsession, Balan Wonderworld. Nick talks the new remake of Nier Replicant and Brad introduces a cool new indie-tactics game called Tenderfoot Tactics. Of course, Brad gushes over the new Monster Hunter Rise 2.0 update and we briefly revisit Resident Evil Village to about the new Castle demo that dropped this week.

After week-off to hunt monsters together, we have a ton to catch up on! The first big demo for Resident Evil Village has dropped and resulted in some mixed feelings within the group. Brad played a really creative indie game called 'Before Your Eyes' which you control by blinking and Nolan has been enjoying more time with the shockingly long 'It Takes Two!' In the community segment, we answer questions and tackle the big rumors regarding Sony, Days Gone 2, and a remake of The Last of Us! For more information regarding the 'Days Gone' Anniversary Stream, please visit 4PlayerNetwork.com!

This week, we unintentionally butcher Donald Glover's name. Ed joins the fray with his first appearance since getting his hands on a Playstation 5. He shares some thoughts on the first few launch titles he played and then talks at length about his time with Outriders; a game that has become a major topic of conversation lately. Nick talks Narita Boy, Nolan is split on It Takes Two for an unexpected reason, and Chris Davis has prepared a statement... about Days Gone. We also talk a little more about Monster Hunter Rise and tackle some big news in the community questions segment thanks to a big announcement concerning E3.

This week marks what might be the first major release of the year, 'Monster Hunter Rise.' While we take our first deep dive into this follow-up to Monster Hunter World, that conversation is almost overshadowed by an unexpected analysis of Nick's Letterbox history... Brad and Krispy delivery another Final Fantasy XIV update (including Heavensward) and Nick once again emphasizes the quality of indie-horror gem, Mundaun, which he finished since last week. We also take a brief detour to remember the Xbox 360 launch title, King Kong.

Get ready for another journey of discovery. David joins us this week to talk about Mary Skelter 2; another grid-based dungeon crawler about "blood maidens" who... lick things? Brad is enjoying Bravely Default 2 despite the fact that he's about to drop it like a bad habit for Monster Hunter Rise. Nolan gives another Valheim update and Nick is loving Mundaun; an indie folk-horror game that was made in either Sweden or Switzerland (he cannot remember).

In an interesting turn of events, Nick is playing through Lust from Beyond; an adults-only game that feels like a strange combination of Amnesia and Eyes Wide Shut. Krispy has uncovered the full potential of Monster Hunter World and has found himself obsessing over the new found depths while playing the Iceborne expansion. Nick also discusses the new demo for an exciting new indie horror game with a lo-fi style called Chasing Static. Of course, we also delve into community questions and answer the age-old question of: Which is worse, undivided public urinals or the dreaded trough...

Do you like intense debates about the quality of the Final Fantasy XIV? Do you like hearing Nolan school the group on the proper way to thrive in open-world survival games? Do you like Nick's blatant disregard for important video game history? Well boy do I have a podcast for you! Brad and Krispy take a deep dive into the world's most popular MMO. While the group "played" Valheim last week, Nolan is building castles and raising wolves now so.... Oh yeah, Nick 100-percented Bowser's Fury and considers it one of his favorite 3D Mario games and he skipped the original Half Life in favor of the fan-made remake, Black Mesa!

After an act of god forced us to skip the show last week, we play catch-up this week. David joins the fray again to talk with Brad about Ys IX: Monstrum Nox, Nick and Brad share differing opinions on Little Nightmares II, and Brad speaks to why he is cautiously optimistic for Project Triangle Strategy after playing the demo. On top of all that, there has been an abundance of news worth discussing including the cancellation of Anthem and the future of Konami IP.

On this episode of the Revival Club, Nick is joined by Castlevania super-fan, Brad Simons, and community guest, Ferakin, to dig into what makes Symphony of the Night such a classic. We examine it's wealth of secrets and discuss how its rough edges and imperfections actually make it even better. Brad also conveniently reminds us that this episode started as a Double Feature so we also talk some about Rondo of Blood, the impact it had on the series, and how it paved the way for Symphony of the Night. 

This week, we forgo our usual itinerary in favor of breaking down a bunch of game demos from the recent Steam Games Festival. Brad shows up with an unexpected theme (Have you heard of Slay the Spire?) and Chris Davis played a Star Fox clone about Cats (Whisker Squadron)... Despite his best efforts, Nick was unable to avoid the cliche of liking f***ed up s*** and played 'Lust from Beyond' -- a Survival Horror game about infiltrating a demonic sex cult. Of course, this is just a small taste. We talked about a bunch of games, many of which you should keep on your radar in the coming year(s).

We're off to the races. Nick discusses his mixed feelings on the next big game from Bloober Team, The Medium; a game that has been oddly positioned as one of the year's big Microsoft exclusives. Nolan and Brad talk about their time with the demo for a cool new Rogue-like called Loop Hero. Of course, with a new Monster Hunter game on the horizon, Brad went back to try Monster Hunter Stories in an attempt to quench his unquenchable thirst for more Monster Hunter. Oh yeah... KoToR might be coming back.

As the new year starts to kick into gear, David joins us to talk about Hitman 3; a game that continues to deliver unparalleled freedom to the player for better or worse. We also delve into two major demos from Capcom that hit in the past week. Monster Hunter Rise delivers a fun and meaty demo that fails to consider series newbies while Resident Evil Village teases atmosphere and little else. 

The past year has been anything but normal but we press on as usual with our annual awards show. Unlike in years past, we are eliminating runner-ups and honorable mentions in favor of a coordinated effort that eliminates any overlap between our choices. That means more games are honored in each category! In part 5, we discuss the following categories: Biggest Surprise Biggest Disappointment The Asterisk Award Biggest Regret The Number 11 Award This episode includes a short sample from Nick's favorite soundtrack of the year: The Last of Us: Part II

The past year has been anything but normal but we press on as usual with our annual awards show. Unlike in years past, we are eliminating runner-ups and honorable mentions in favor of a coordinated effort that eliminates any overlap between our choices. That means more games are honored in each category! In part 4, we discuss the following categories: Best Ensemble Cast Best New Character Best Enemy Design Best Boss Fight Best Moment This episode includes a short sample from Ed's favorite soundtrack of the year: Ghost of Tsushima

The past year has been anything but normal but we press on as usual with our annual awards show. Unlike in years past, we are eliminating runner-ups and honorable mentions in favor of a coordinated effort that eliminates any overlap between our choices. That means more games are honored in each category! In part 3, we discuss the following categories: Best Debut Best Looking Game Best World / Level Design Best Storytelling This episode includes a short sample from Krispy's favorite soundtrack of the year: Kentucky Route Zero