Chamberlain and Chance

Chance has played and still is playing Death Stranding. He has resisted the siren’s call of Overwatch in favor of a beautiful, obtuse walking simulator. Chamberlain is confused by this, but what does he know, he put up with Indivisible’s terrible second half. Alex continues to look for more game after the end of The Outer Worlds. Plus Overwatch PTR patch notes, XO19 news and week two of Chance’s movie review roundup. We call him the Canadian Ebert.

Movies reviews and drinking stories, just what you need to get you through to the weekend. Chance watched several good movies, culminating in The Lighthouse. He also survived the Overwatch 2 announcement, mostly because he gets to keep his skins. Chamberlain and Alex both finished The Outer Worlds and agree that it was pretty good, there just needed to be more of it. For Alex that means he as already started his second play through. Chamberlain played one of the worst games of the year instead.

Chance is back this week and he has brought with him Dolemite Is My Name, a stunning return to the Eddie Murphy of his childhood. Alex brought Toy Story 4 because he has built a healthy tolerance to Pixar’s heart string pulling. And Chamberlain brought John Wick 3, precisely one and a half too many John Wicks. Also starring a whole lot of The Outer Worlds and just enough Overwatch. Spoiler: Alex is already on his second playthrough.

This week, Chamberlain struggles to keep Alex on task. The Outer Worlds is downloaded, installed, booted up and ready to play. There is still time to talk about Watchmen, the latest Stars Wars trailers and his final moments with Borderlands before he jumps headfirst into the sci-fi capitalist apocalypse. Chamberlain made it through 90% of Link’s Awakening before its antiquated design made him feel too old to move his thumbs. That magic is gone, bring on the new, easier, more straight forward magic. The kind with quest markers and check points. Chance will be back soon, we promise. He will have twice as much Overwatch to talk about.

Chamberlain is still playing Borderlands 3, so close to the end he can almost smell it. Instead of finishing it he went to see a Metallica concert video and was cruelly reminded that everyone is getting old. Alex is still playing Remnant From the Ashes. He started over with a build specifically designed to beat the final boss and still barely managed it. And Chance is still sick, so he hasn’t been playing anything. But Tracer got a buff and a skin, so all is well.

This week, Chance spent a difficult two hours with Joker and soothed himself with Indivisible and Overwatch. Chamberlain was away from his television long enough to remember he had a Switch and put a few hours into Link Awakens. And Alex picked up a 3DS for some quality retro RPGs to play between minmaxing the postgame in Borderlands 3.

Alex is not here this week, so in his absence Chamberlain and Chance say awful, terrible, honestly mediocre things about Borderlands 3: it’s fine. Just fine. On the other hand, the opening of Ori and the Blind Forest is an emotional rollercoaster that momentarily distracts Chance from gun porn. Fair warning, we gush over Cate Blanchett quite a bit this week. Hope you love her, too.

Alex is back with his final opinions on Borderlands 3. It’s good, but not good enough to play a second time with the sound turned on. Chamberlain steadfastly maintains that Greedfall is not terrible before assigning it a resounding 6.5 out of 10. And Chance fills in a childhood gap with the Switch update of Link’s Awakening before gushing over Tracer buffs in Overwatch. Move quickly and shoot people in the face.

Important work is done this week! Culturally significant, paying the bills, have a cigarette afterwards work! Without Alex to keep them in check, Chamberlain and Chance successfully cast a gender bent remake of The Princess Bride: The Prince’s Bride! It just needs to be made before Billy Crystal dies because recasting Miracle Max is madness. Also Greedfall, Blasphemous, Borderlands 3 and a little bit of Overwatch.

All new game this week! Chance played Blasphemous, the best Metroid-vania since Hollow Knight. Alex played Borderlands 3 and promises to devote the next year of his life to shotguns with laser attachments. And Chamberlain has played Gear 5, the most Gears game since the last Gears game. He loves Marcus Fenix, don’t tell anyone.