Game reviews - why it's important to not care about them too much | Friends Per Second Ep #64

PLUS: More The Order: 1886 chat than you'd expect

Edit: I accidentally left out one of the reviewers from the list! Huge apologies if this email gets sent to you twice, but wanted to correct the error. Thanks folks! - L

Hey Users! 

Sorry for the slight delay in this week’s newsletter, I (Lucy) have just flown back from Japan and I’m still not entirely sure what day of the week it is.

On this week’s episode, we have a long discussion about game reviews, how we use them, and their place in The Discourse.

Apologies that we didn’t get to any User questions this week, the episode was a little more free form than usual. We’ll hit them next time!

Games mentioned: Balatro, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Final Fantasy 8, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum

Misc. mentions: Luigi Mangione’s ankles, Succession deck shoes scene, Cold Ones, Weekly Planet, Captain America: Brave New World, Zoolander, Berserk, Super Potato

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What’s happening in the AAA space?

Goodnight, sweet (Diana) Prince

• Warner Bros. Shuts Down Three Game Studios, Cancels Wonder Woman Title - Bloomberg

We kicked off the show this week with the sad news that Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor developer Monolith Productions has closed down and the upcoming Wonder Woman game is cancelled. While AAA titles are being cancelled and studios closed, are we about to see a glorious rise of indies and AA games? Maybe, maybe not.

Games mentioned: Split Fiction, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, Monster Hunter Wilds, The Last of Us, Baldur’s Gate 3, Alan Wake 2, Silent Hill 2, Pacific Drive, Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, Metal Gear Solid Delta, Darwin’s Paradox, DDR

Misc mentions: Game of Thrones, The Brutalist, Pulp Fiction, The Lord of the Rings, The Bourne Identity

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If you’ve got burning questions you’d like us to answer on the show, email us or drop them in the comments below!

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How to use video game reviews

There are few things as contentious in gaming as a review.

With the recent hubbub in the Avowed subreddit about the game’s scores, we decided to talk about the importance of reviews in the video game space, why they’re such a vehicle for Discourse, and how we find critics we like.

Games mentioned: Avowed, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Final Fantasy 16, Persona 5, Hell Let Loose, The Order: 1886

Misc. mentions: GamePro, Severance, Batman, Community, Wirecutter, MKBHD, Roger Ebert, The Rest is Entertainment, A Complete Unknown

Reviewers mentioned:

• Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo

• The Besties

• Dunkey

• Digital Foundry

• ACG

• MrMattyPlays

• Christian Donlan

• Mitchell Saltzman

• James Stephanie Sterling

• Rev3

• IGN

• GameSpot

• Mortismal Gaming

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What we’ve been playing

• Ralph hit the 100 hour mark in Kingdom Come Deliverance 2

• Jake and his palico friend have been tracking monsters in Monster Hunter Wilds

• Lucy’s dipped a toe into Steam Next Fest but has been mostly sailing the seas in Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii

Games mentioned: Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, Kingdom Come Deliverance, Elder Scrolls 6, Skyrim, Oblivion, Yakuza, Red Dead Redemption, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, GTA 6, Baldur’s Gate 3, GTA San Andreas, Avowed, Mass Effect, Monster Hunter Wilds, Monster Hunter World, The Order: 1886, Monster Hunter Rise, Duck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping, Is This Seat Taken?, Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag, Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Yakuza 0, Blue Prince, Jump Ship, Battlefield, Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness, Tomb Raider 1-3

Misc. mentions: AO3, Galaxy Quest, Star Trek

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Show and tell

• Ralph regretfully watched the new Captain America movie and is keeping up to date with Severance

• Jake has been doing some DIY at home

• Lucy had a lovely time in Japan

Games mentioned: Call of Duty

Movies mentioned: This Is 40, 40 Year Old Virgin, Super Bad

Misc. mentions: Westworld, Ted Lasso, Silo, Bad Sisters, Foundation, Mythic Quest, The Sopranos, teamlab, Samurai Restaurant, Paul Rudd’s Nintendo ad, Olivia Newton-John

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That does it for this week’s newsletter, thank you so much for reading. As we teased, we have a very fun interview planned for the next ep, you won’t want to miss it.

xoxo