Balancing Fatherhood and Gaming (Game Recommendations for Busy Dads) Ft. Trevor Alexander

What's up and welcome to the Single Player Experience. As always, I'm your host, Sebastian Moen, and today we have Trevor Alexander from the New Dad Gaming podcast. On the show, Trevor is gonna give advice to dads who are trying to balance that dad life and gaming, as well as provide some video game recommendations to busy dads. We got all this and more coming right at you right after the intro. Dj. Start the intro, man. This is the single Player experience, the podcast that helps single player gamers manage their video game backlog. I'm your host, Sebastian Malden, and my main quest is to help you manage your ever growing video game backlog by letting you know which single player games are worth your time and money so that you can have the best single player experience. Now, without further ado, let's start the show. DJ Cut the. Ladies and gentlemen, like I said in the intro, we have a very special guest with us today. We're gonna dive deep and talk about the balance of being a father and being a gamer. And we're gonna talk about like the games we're gonna recommend two dads who don't necessarily have a whole lot of time to game. And, you know, when I thought about doing this subject, uh, there was only one person that absolutely fit the build to be a guest with me on this journey. Ladies and gentlemen, he is an awesome nerd. He is one of the hosts of the new Dad Gaming podcast. It's Trevor Alexander trevor, how you doing

today? Wonderful. Thank you so much for having so very honored that you would think of us. Uh, we only have Having a, a Gaming Dad podcast certainly puts me into a certain sphere to be able to answer some questions. So I'm hoping we can, uh, give some useful answers to the gaming dads

out there. Oh, for sure. I know you can, but for the people who might not know you, can you introduce yourself to

the audience? Yeah, of course. So, uh, as mentioned the intro named Trevor, uh, me and a great friend Jeff from college had started a podcast literally at the, we're we're truckling this at the other day. It came about when my first child was three months old. Mm-hmm. and he's now seven So we've so we've been podcasting for a show called New Dad Gaming It because as we, I was entering into this and my, fortunately, what's really great is my coho Jeff Cohot. Jeff has, uh, two older sons. Mm-hmm. So I'm kind of getting like the Cole's notes on what's coming up, and he gets to come back and relive what I'm going through. But as I was about to get into it, him and I connected and it was just like, what happens? It's a gaming, like, so, you know, gaming's this hobby that I've always had and now that I'm gonna have all these responsibilities of a father, which are, it's so amazing. It's such a great groundbreaking, uh, life defining moment. But what does it mean for my hobby? Mm-hmm. And it's something I'd like to keep connected to. And we have just like, you know, charted our course. I mean, one of the secrets of the show of why we've kept it going is that ends up being a diary of what we're going through as our children are getting older, sleepless nights, accidents in pants, uh, all the frustrations that come with po with fatherhood, and, you know, it'll be kind of a gift to our kids. Or eventually, you know, here's what I was feeling when I was, you know, 32 and I you were young and here's what I was, I was like 34. Like, here's the diary of what you were like growing up. So yeah. Uh, ui, ux, designed by day, podcaster by night. Uh, it's seven years with my good friend Jeff. Uh, it's a new dad gaming.

thank you so much for the introduction, man. You always kill it on this show, man. You always always kill it. So, Trevor, to get people to know you a little bit better on this show, I gotta ask you, what are your top five games of all

time? Yeah, of course. That you did. That's a dreaded question and I'm glad I'd listened to some of your previous episodes before we connected. And again, congrats on this show. This is awesome. Really love what you're doing, the So I came a bit prepared, at least for that part, and the, so it'd be Hades. Mm-hmm. um, elite Dangerous, which is, which is probably my most played game, which is this big massive space sim absolutely adore it. Uh, no Man's Sky, which is another space sim, which almost feels like it's cheating cause it's somewhat the same, but vastly different, uh, bastion. Mm-hmm. uh, made by the same makers of Haiti. So again, it's, I, I kind of hate to get into lanes, but super giant games just produces, uh, they kill it. Mm-hmm. every time is gorgeous. And then, uh, ok. Karine of time to give a, uh, throwback cuz it's something about. Anybody who's played that game, the nostalgic memories and those, those core foundational gaming moments you've had with it, it, it's hard not to put it on a list. So that rounds out to

five. Okay. Okay. I gotta ask you a question before we get to the topic of the show. As a person who's only played one Zelda game in his life, one Zelda game, and that's Breath of the Wild, would you recommend this one as the must play? Like, uh, you probably need to check out this Delta game.

Hmm. That's hard. It'd be difficult. So if you only had to play one game, it almost feels like Breath of the wild. is of, I think you'd find some purist who would say no, like Breath of the Wild or, um, Rine of Time is like the Zelda game, but really with like modern systems, uh, upgrades, fidelity, like just even just helping the player out a little bit. Mm-hmm. I think, oh, uh, breath of the Wild is a masterpiece and I, I think it will ultimately stand against the Korean of time. If you could only go back and play one additional one. I think the two you'd have battle with would be the S N E S. Oh, I'm struggling with the name of, from the one

from n a

link. Link to the past. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, that, that one again is just, it holds up so well if you play it on an emulator or anything else. Like it is still just a stunning, fun, charming game. Mm-hmm. So I think that those would be your kind of two mainstays. If you, if you had, if you only had never played a Zelda before, ever and you had to play one, it's probably honestly Breath of the wild. I think it's overtaken if you only, if you had to go something more nostalgic, I think you're looking at link to the past or a cre of time. Okay. And that's basically just look at it. Do you like Sprites or you're like 3d where you open the land. you

make a choice. Okay. Okay. I like the answer. I like the answer. So Trevor, let's get into the topic of the show Some. Mm-hmm. I had a listener writing in and he basically asked the question of, do you have any single player recommendations for a dad who doesn't necessarily have a whole lot of time to game? And like I said earlier, you're the perfect person to like answer this question. So what do you think? What five games would you recommend to this?

This guy? Yeah. No, I hope you don't. Uh, mind, but I wouldn't, I'd go on a small tangent before. Yeah, go ahead. Because what? Because what is, what is great now is this is such an amazing time for gaming and especially for gaming dads. I think if I could have, if time was different, I was having my children, especially when they were super young now. Mm-hmm. my gaming like road would've been so much better. And for three and three examples I can give. One is with the NextGen systems. Mm-hmm. So with the modern PlayStation and with the Xbox Series S and. the quick play, the quick resume features that they have. Oh, gorgeous. Mm-hmm. It's just, it is absolutely stunning. A game changer to use that poor ish phrase, poor talking, but like, I'll explain like when I, uh, first got the new system I, I played on Xbox Series S mm-hmm. which by the way is like two 50 depending on like, if you can find it at a, uh, black Friday sale, it's the best deal in games. It's, it's amazing. You get a, and especially go game pass, you just have all these games coming in. But all that being said, with the quick resume where you, you hop into one game, press a button, hop out, go back into another game, you're exactly where you were. You don't go through menus, you don't load screens. I was on a horse flying through this field. You come back to it, you're in the horse flying through that field. Everything about it is made for that, like instantaneous quick switching. So it is an experience almost beyond sitting with your old cartridges, just slamming those things in and immediately jumping through games. Mm-hmm. So the fact that that exi like, it's so helpful for a gaming dad, you can have. Two or three games on the go and you have that precious 20, 30 minutes while they're napping, you can jump in right where you're at and even if you jump out, don't need a CH checkpoint, you don't need a save spot, you can go into it. So the one thing to say to dads if you're able to get into the new systems is it's so much more inviting and uh, accessible for gaming dads with little time. And the second part of that it with PlayStation's new streaming option with the Game pass streaming option too. It's the entire, that entire library is on your phone. So a lot of my early fatherhood with my youngest, or my oldest actually was he, he would take two hour naps, but he wanted to be on you. Like he was, he was like, he was nuzzled up. Which also some of my favorite memories, I absolutely adored that he did it. I loved it. But like a lot of my time was spent on my phone. I had like Hearthstone on there. I had a few other like mobile titles, uh, some emulators and it was great. It really passed the time. It is two hours. It's a sweet moment cuz he is right there nuzzled into me. But I'm also kind of getting in a bit of game time. But now with this, these streaming services, like your entire Xbox, PlayStation library is streaming into that device. So that downtime or that kind of time when you are with your kids, but not active with them. Mm-hmm. can be used, like participate in like your favorite hobby. So game streaming I think changes the game really for new fathers. So I'll put, I'll put those two out there. And last lastly, just really quickly, there's these, there's a whole series of emulators and these em emulate, like they're tiny. Like they look like little dss, NTEN dss. Oh yeah. Mm-hmm. And they'll come with some like thousand games. But the, the real trick about it is that they come, they add into old ROMs. Mm-hmm. modern systems. So the same niceties that we were just talking about as far as jump in, quick resume, in and out, all that great stuff that exists now in the, in your old retro games we just talked about linked to the past s n Yes. So as opposed to save points and dying, or you can even fast forward, you can rewind if you die, so you don't have to go back into it. So imagine the entire catalog of ROMs from all the games of your childhood with modern niceties to better enable you to play and go through. So, you know, I think with those three things, what you find is it's, it's never been a better time to be somebody with limited game time. being able to, you know, get it as much gaming as possible.

I gotta ask you though, playing games on your phone, do you just use the touch like parameters on your phone or do you have like a backbone that you, you have controls with?

Yeah, I do have the backbone, so I'll say one o often my sons have, have both gone into Minecraft heavily. Mm-hmm. So one time when I just do touch, cuz generally like he'll be in a different room and I'm with him at the moment, don't wanna make noise in the morning, I'll just usually touch with like mobile Minecraft to be playing with them. But yeah, backbone has been just a stunning upgrade. A very, very worthwhile upgrade. I mean, you got, as of this recording, we're near Christmas. It's a great Christmas gift to ask ask for the partner or to treat yourself. But yeah, it just change, it changes how you approach it and all of a sudden you have a beautiful screen from your phone. Tapping into an unbelievable library of games that are streaming to you with modern conveniences. So it, that is for sure a hardware, uh, upgrade I recommend.

Okay. Okay. So before, before, you gave that so eloquent explanation, we had a question of the top five games you'd recommend to other dads. I wanna know, what are your top five games? Yeah,

so I think, think that's a better word than saying long-winded, so I appreciate No, no, I

actually think, I actually think that No, you, you killing it, man. Like, I, you killing it. I was just, you know, like I was really struggling for a segue there and I was like, you know what, I'm gonna try that out. Try that out. But so

the, yeah, it was good. So, Yeah. Tough for games and they're, they're out there. It's going to really depend on your flavor of it. Mm-hmm. And good thing is things like a sports game, as long as you are doing it much to the name of the show on your own single player mm-hmm. of course, you can kind of just like dip into those, uh, golf, hockey, uh, football, they all kinda have like kind of quick hits, which is awesome. Uh, I don't have as many in my list, but hey, if you like sports, dive in. Like, just don't be afraid of it. And, and that's one of the big tips too, is just, just play as a dad. Like, you'll wanna stop. Anyways. I, I keep, I digress. Five games. Uh, no. Now you're doing good. Yeah. Hades, uh, you know, I discovered that this year and just fell in love with this game is. Gorgeous. Like, the story is fantastic. It's infinitely replayable, uh, it's, you know, a rogue gl so everything kind of changes. But there is a, so, an unbelievably beautiful story as a thoroughfare. Songs are stunning and phenomenal to listen to. And there was a, there's a debt and one of these things about modern games is they really do care about players. They don't wanna punish people that often. Haiti's had this one mode where every time you die, so every time you die, you upgrade some weapons and you get more, a bit more powerful. But ultimately the difficulty stays the same, becomes a problem. But so for a guy like me, I just, I am not gonna commit as a busy dad, not gonna commit, like learning the systems and becoming really dexterous with being able to do it. Instead, you can turn on this setting, which feels like a dad mode, which is every time you die. You become 5% less. Uh, you take 5% less damage. Mm-hmm. So every time you're dying, all of a sudden, like your, your base level's just getting a little up, little up So you are, you're failing your way to success. You are going to beat the game eventually. which is, I, I love, I was so happy they put that in. So get into it. Hades is a stunning game. Uh, star du Valley. This isn't one that I've played honestly. Uh, just not really my kind of mo, but for, uh, Jeff, my co-host on the show, Jeff, he lives and dies by, he absolutely loves this game. I think he's bought it like on four or five different systems. Utterly chill, wonderful systems built by like one guy, which is amazing. So happy to see that that type of thing exists. Uh, but with the stresses of fatherhood and being a dad, it can be a real nice kind of lay down. Just like take your mind off of things cool you down and you know, it's very much kinda like a dip in and dip out. No real big time commitments. Now, um, my big game when I was with my first son was Hearthstone, which is a great card. Battler still like it, it's a bit, it's a bit payment heavy, but you can still free to play. You really don't have to, you, you only need to pay if you want to be at the e upper echelons of competitive gaming with it. Okay? And if not, you can totally have a fun free experience, which I did. Um, however, that's multi-player, you gotta play against somebody else. So a gem that I discovered was slay the Spire. Oh, really? Good one. Yeah. Not sorry. And by gem I don't mean it's like hidden. It's like what Gem for me, cuz it's all that card battling strategy type stuff. Mm-hmm. but as a single player's story. And you gotta get these thoroughfares of stories that all come together. Awesome game and again, infinite replay Or you can kind of j replay a bowl. You can keep on coming back and give that one a shot. Uh, Horizon's five. So that's the, uh, car racing game. Okay. Four is horizon. Four is the horizon. Yep, exactly. Uh, five and even four I think from the previous ones. Massive world, awesome cars, uh, enough Arcadia feel so you can just kinda like blast through walls and not really worry about it. Jump a thousand feet in the air but not silly, where you're doing like back flips and like having like, you know, all this nonsense happening around it. So it's just, it a perfect balance of it. The music is absolutely banging on it. And then you can, can do a couple races entirely like single player two, you can just like hit this race, hit that race again, dip in, dip out. And no real punishment for like not spending if you get called away cuz a crying baby. And then last was Breath of the wild. And that's if you do have the switch if you don't, a really good parallel that I found is Phoenix Rising. Phoenix arising. Yeah. Mortals Phoenix arising. Cause that it. God, that for me that was even, it's very fable like it is, if you like the old fables titles like it so charming and fun and they were just trying so hard, which is kind of funny to see from an OV game. all things. But Phoenix is amazing. So if you have the switch breath of the wild, that thing will do you so well. Uh, otherwise if you want to, that's not quite your speed and you, uh, have Xbox or PlayStation or pc Phoenix Rising is an excellent, uh, choice and both are very friendly as far as like dip and dip out small quests, not punishing busy dad

players. So which of the, which out of those five is your favorite game to play? Probably

Hades. It's funny. So like Haitis I would say is my favorite game. It is like one of my number one games of all time up there with elite dangerous. I think those are probably my two favorite games. Like what do you, because I would astow the virtues of it, just how stunning and beautiful and masterful it is. I don't play it anymore. you know what I mean? Because it's just like I, I like rogue likes, I just don't mm-hmm. really have the app. I have so much appetite to try new kind of interesting things. I, I don't really, I don't sit there spinning on the same game all that often. Uh, some of those, probably Horizon five is the one that I even, not even honestly slay the Aspire Horizon five Enslave inspired are the two that I kind of keep on coming back to because there's something about that card battler that always kind of gets me

Forza, do you actually do the the Hot Wheels d o c? Or do you mostly play the straight up like

bass game? You have to straight up, cause I have Game Pass and I just accepted it from that and I, I almost think that the Hot Wheels was included. It may not have been, I haven't that, that's how far back, I haven't really been touching that often recently. But generally it was just the, um, core gameplay. And I had actually even purchased a wheel, like a uh, cheaper kind of racing wheel just used online. Mm-hmm. I think I got it for like 80 bucks. It wasn't anything crazy. But one of those like tiny things with when your time is so small, especially as a gaming dad, the opportunity for you to maximize the experience I find is sometimes worth it. So much like with a backbone where it's like, no, let's have actual controls on the system. When doing, when I was really big into Horizon, it's like, no, I'll just get this like cheap wheel doesn't cost that much and just take my kind of gaming to that next level for it. So yeah, I think Slate Aspire playing the most still as a dad. And then Horizon five as a second.

So Let's talk about your 2022 games like mm-hmm. So what have you been playing most of the year? I know you've been going back and forth between like Horizon and Slow Aspire, but any other games like really pique your

attention this year? Yeah, I think the, the biggest one for the year was probably, well, not biggest one, sorry. I, so I, I got back into elite Dangerous in a big way. Mm-hmm. um, Phoenix Rising was big for me. Now that wasn't much of a 2022 game. I think it was, I was a year behind.

Yeah. Yeah. I think that was either, um, 2021 or 2020 I

think. Yeah. It could even be that far back. Mm-hmm. So I think the, the one that came out this year, would, I'd contend for as the greatest game of this year would be Vampire survivor. Oh, it's

so good. It is. It's so good. I'm hooked.

It's, it's, I, it's hard. My, I gave my Jeff my co-host like absolute hell, cuz he just did not do a good enough job explaining it Mm-hmm. because it's looked like kind of cheeky, kind of fun throwback stuff. Okay. But the, the game loop is so addictive in the greatest way possible. The game is so perfectly crafted. Mm-hmm. from a, um, Like UI standpoint from a upgrade standpoint, from a even like, even a tight little sliver of like story that's kind of going throughout, like it's unbeliev. And then what I had, the moment that I had that I realized it was my game of the year is I was actually playing with my son and he was so the two of us, so I was playing, but we were making decisions together. Mm-hmm. And at some point we had managed to traverse all the upgrades to the point where we are just like a god among men, Like we were destroying. And I was, and I I without uh, with no hesitate. Like I was laughing. I was just laughing and like enjoying the power trip. It was unbelievable. And for this game, you know, you'll eat, uh, dirt a number of times and then to come back and have that moment and then to actually like, have me like full full chested, chuckle, and laugh with my son as we're just like throwing out like 50 knives in every direction. Oh, it was such a stunning moment. And as immediate, it's like this is the game of the year. This is the greatest, like sneaky pick. And, and then nice and sneak sneaky in so much of like when if you were to see the art, you would assume, okay, it's just a fun little indie, but I would not be surprised if it picks up many Game of the year recommendations. I think, I think you'd probably agree. Oh yeah, for sure.

here's my real viewpoint in that I think Vampire Survivors would've been nominated for like the Game awards game of the year. Mm-hmm. if it would've come out earlier this year. Yeah. Like, I don't, I just don't think not enough people played it at this, like this late in the ball game, so to speak, but like mm-hmm. it had this come out at the same time as like, um, straight did I think around that July, August kind of like point this would've been a lot of people's choice.

A thousand percent. Yeah. There, there's no way it would've. missed. Like, I think everybody would've had it up there. And I still think, yeah, I, I think the vast majority of sites are gonna name it. It's gonna be a big, uh, big battle between that and God of war. Oh yeah. And the

elder ring too, though. I'm like

the, oh my goodness. How that came out as well. I can't believe Yeah. I

was like, what? A year? Oh yeah, for sure. I, I legitimately think like most people's game of the years are going to come down to elder ring and God of war, just because of how big and like how many people both played those experiences. But I completely agree with you. I, at the least, I think the Vampire Survivors is gonna win a lot of people's indie game of the year.

Mm-hmm. And I think there was, um, one that was really great for me and the kids was, uh, shredders, revenge, oh, love d some dainty. Mm-hmm. And they, you know, again, that's just one of those, it was such a feel good story because they seemed to take the source material, material and treat it with such respect. you know, it could have been easily been a monetization nightmare, could have kind of ruined the flow of it, but it just felt like turtles in time brought into the modern era and presented in such a fantastic package. That was one that like I was able to get with both my kids and just play a whole bunch. They're screaming, they're laughing, they're having like the time of their lives. So that, that was a, another great little, uh, hit that had come through this way, especially as a gaming.

Yeah, that's, I, I loved it. I really did. Um, and especially like the level of which the, that you got to actually like switch characters cuz they didn't keep you locked into one character throughout the whole game. Yeah. Like, you actually got to switch and you actually got to play with like April and Casey and Splitters. That was so cool. like you were saying, they could have easily, this could have been an easy cash grab to where like they just threw something out there and read the room and see if it sticked or not. But like, they really committed to this, they committed to a vision and like they nailed it. They absolutely nailed it. And it's to the point to where I can't wait to see what that studio does next. Because if they keep making beat 'em up games, just like in ips, just like this mm-hmm. they got something

here. Oh yeah. There's, there's so many veins that they could tap into from Oh, for sure. From many S S N E S genesis. Like there'd be any number of games that they can play. Basically just do nostalgia. Right. Nostalgia in the sense that this. Is an interesting concept for gaming. So there's like four of these type of fighters, and you have these variations and they're fighting this and like, here's a general art style. Let's take a modern twist on it, add in a few surprises and just delight people.

I'm a, I'm gonna tell you what I really thought about the first time I play this now. I was just like, if they get a Marvel license, they just have the license to print money at that point. Like, imagine a fantastic four game or X-Men game done exactly like this game. Like it's, it's gonna take over.

No, there was that stunning, uh, not stunning, but the, a well received Avengers game for S N E S in like Genesis and that was amazing. I think it was like Captain America, Hawkeye Ironman, envision. It has like a ton of fun that was absolutely phenomenal. So they can take that type of property exactly like you said and give it that same loving treatment. Like that would probably be probably do much better than the current Marvel. M M O. Oh for sure.

Very easily. Easily. So your current, your current game of the year is Vampire Survivor. You, you don't see any game overtaking that one?

No, I don't think anything's coming out that would top it. And just again, the, those moments that it provided the, just how refreshing it was compared to the rest of the titles out there. Yeah. Easy pick. I, I think it takes this year for sure.

So my next question then, as a dad, how do you feel about God of war? Have you, have you got to dive into it?

that I have and it was, yeah, we joke on our show. It's like, it should just be called Dad of War It's Soread. I'll tell you this, like the, uh, I was thinking kind of reflecting upon it, and what's fascinating is that the game has grown and matured along with us. Mm-hmm. because you, you think back to the original PlayStation, you think through all of the various storylines through P s P and arriving up today, even like the, and the first, ver the first installment of this new God of War series on the recent consoles. It, it's such a journey in and of itself. Like the first ones were. You know, violent and sexual and mm-hmm. Arcadian and crazy and just over the top in an amazing way. Like, it was fantastic. It was so visceral and almost like use youthful and exciting and amazing. Right? Like the, I think anyone who played it back then was just kind of, you know, their eyes were popping outta the socket. I can't believe Gaines can do this. This is awesome. Yeah. But it, but it, but it focus, I, I don't, I don't wanna call it shallow, that's not fair, because they did put in a lot of kind of like lore, but it's kind of in the background and it's just mean, man, angry, kill things in a crazy, bloody fashion.

Yeah. It felt like mortal combat in a

way. Yes. Ex that generation's mortal. That's perfect. Mm-hmm. Um, but then you layer that onto these, these latest installments where he is a different person. He is an older person, he is matured, he has gone through trauma and he's. Taking his role as a dad very seriously to not pass it along, but he's struggling too with the resentment of like losing his wife. And it all just comes together. I'll say that what really drove that home for me is before I played it, um, I had never really, I'd never really followed the story the previous God of war games. Mm-hmm. So I played a few of them. Um, and again, like it's kinda like white man, angry, kill a bunch of gods. Okay, great. Let's get into it. But if you, there's, there's some like tw 10 to 30 minute, uh, reviews. of, uh, the entire lore in chronological order, like all the stories that it tells. Mm-hmm. like it's, it is amazingly deep. Like it is wild what this guy went through and all of the various like come ups as he has seeks his revenge and like all the twists and turns that it takes, God's playing amongst men, everything that would happen. Classic Greek tr is perfect. It's amazing. And then reaching these, these new titles with all of this depth and all this interesting pull, and then especially as a dad resonating with the character in such a way as he struggles with being a father. It's like, well that's what I'm doing, We're all struggling being fathers and here he is in his own God of war way doing it and this is like, and okay, great. That's the intellectual argument. That's all very interesting. It's a piece of art. Neat. It's just a damn good time, man. It's so much fun. It is so like to, to have, it'd, it'd be one thing to be that kind of art host game, but then you almost get into like a walking simulator and okay, this is just an interactive movie and instead it just, it's a real elevation of honestly, the genre. If you think about what gaming was in the PlayStation era mm-hmm. about shock and awe, like the mortal combat of its generation where it's just splatter and sex and gore. And where we've come to where increasingly people who probably worked on there are now dads. So like they got this wealth of information to call upon, but. The industry, the games like the storylines and the meaning of all this has really increased as well. So this is along the entire genre in some ways, has kind of followed God of war's own story, and it ultimately culminates in an absolute stunning game that deserves to be considered for game of the year.

I, I'm gonna be real with you. I think it might be one of my favorite games of all time. Like, actually, I, I just played through Ragner Rock and mm-hmm. I, I've officially hit Hour 60, I think, as of the recording. And yeah, I still have some, I still have some side stories to like mow through and I still have, uh, a couple of the berserkers to like, beat, but like, overall, I gotta say, I'm like, I've never played any game that hits so hard emotionally, like this one. Mm. So like, impactful of like, every decision has meaning and everything you do seems like it has weight to it. And like, even the more nuanced moments where you're just simply doing a, my, like a minuscule mundane thing, like just simply Walking has weight to it. Because there are stories being told to you. There are like, and they are developing character lore and characters and like, They tell such a good story. They really do. And everything in every aspect, it's always about like telling, just adding another weave of another weave. Whether it be like a little piece of like a story about Mair or a little piece about story about like, um, like a God that you'd never even met or like that you'll never actually meet, but somehow he ties into it because he met such and such. But like the way that everything seems to have meaning in this game. Mm-hmm. I've never played a game quite like this.

Yeah. It's, I'm telling you like, it's really a man. I don't wanna be too hyperbolic. Yeah. But at the same time, it, it's just almost redefines what's possible. You know? It, it's curious because if somebody asks like, what is gaming? Isn't that. blood guts and violence, Then you would share the cut of war, which has a lot of violence and blood and cuts, But if you could, if you could somehow bring them through that to get to the story, and like you said, the meaning, it's like the, the difference here is that like I am playing him. Mm-hmm. I am him, I am the father. I'm credos like that is my son, and okay, fine, we're doing this like big violent act, but like the desperation of a father trying not to fall in front of his kid, like the difficult, crazy decisions they have to make as they try to find their way in this world. Like the, it's kind of what it's possible with gaming. Mm-hmm. Right? Mm-hmm. like ultimately, like this is the promise of this interactive medium that we'd all started to get into, like we've kind of delivered and arrived at. This moment where it's like, my God, like this character and this story is just so stunning and I'm having so much fun doing it.

So let me ask you a question then. Like we, we've been talking about God of war and giving, it is just deserved flowers. But as a dad who doesn't necessarily have all the time in the world for gaming, Do you typically like lean towards playing games that are more Arcadia focused, where it doesn't necessarily have that nuanced story? Or do you like still seek out those story centric games?

Yeah, I think, uh, I think it's really about respecting the dad's time. Mm-hmm. is what really it goes. And for instance of the God of war, uh, the auto saves are super generous. The mode settings are fantastic. So again, like you can just go right all the way down to story where it's like you have to, you have to be real bad to die Yeah. Because it's just like, Hey, look, you want to get, and you see that a lot with these com modern games where it's like, all right, look, we put together this amazing narrative and these beautiful scenes. If you wanna just go through the motion so you can participate, do that. That's a great experience. Like, be as casual as you want so that you can have this experience. So, you know, I think with God of war, like. As, as a perfect example of how you can still seek out these things. Yeah. Like the settings are made to ease it. And even like with God of war, they had, uh, I noticed within this, when you're armoring yourself, you can just actually choose to do it automatically. Mm-hmm. you're basically just saying, okay, well I want to be more aggressive, or I want to be more defensive or a mix and just gimme the best stuff. I don't wanna manage 16 shields with like different ruins or something like that. Just like, cert me out, let me play that is Sure. Uh, yeah. So the, you know, seek out isn't necessarily the right way, I think. And in some ways too, like the Arcadia almost tends to lean for shallow quick. Experiences where you're gonna be rewarded for more frenetic abilities with your fingers. Mm-hmm. as opposed to something God of war, where it's like you're not gonna have to have the greatest dexterity to, uh, you know, enjoy, like, to be able to traverse this land and enjoy the story and unlock its kind of mysteries. So, you know, there, there's definitely benefits of both. Arcadia, quick fun. Great. Get your hits. Like, uh, have this like, fun, visceral, little experience, uh, timeboxed fun minute, you know, totally works. But then there's these opportunities, like much like you're gonna read a book or watch a great, or a film, like let's kind of dive into something and slowly pick a way to, as I find some moments, uh, in between as a dad. Okay.

Okay. So what's one major piece of advice you would give to a new dad? What game would you recommend to him?

Yeah, the, so I can So, so if, if you don't mind me giving two other pieces of advice to them. First is the, um, sometimes like, fatherhood sucks. like, like it just cause the problem is man, cuz everybody's, it, it, there's such a focus on society to be like, hey, like, how's everything going? Oh, it's great. And I love my kid and like, oh, this is wonderful. This is truly life-changing. Nah, man. Like, sometimes like on a Tuesday, it just damn well sucks. It all sucks. I'm tired. The kids acting like a jackass. This sucks, right? It's beautiful and it's wonderful. It's all great and it's a process and it's gonna be there. But firstly like, know that it sucks and it's fine. That it sucks. It sucks for us all. And the greatest part is, and this part you'll hear from everyone, like it gets better. Like the other, the thing, the real thing I hate with other parents is like, they'll sometimes say like, oh, it never gets. That's just such nonsense, man. It gets so much better. It gets so much better. Like I sleep in now. Cause my kids will get up and they stare themselves some cereal. They go play a game for a bit. I get to sleep, tell that to a dad of like a two-year-old who's not sleeping through the night. So look like it sucks sometimes that it's okay, that it sucks sometimes. You're there, you're doing your best. You'll get through it and just don't listen to people when they say, it never gets easier. It's a lie. It totally gets easier. So much easier. And then last, like that advice would be before I get to a game recommendation. That was the original question, right? Sorry, I went on a tangent. Yeah, no, you're,

you're good. Like you're answering the question still. Yeah.

The other, the other one is like, just, just play the game. What I, what I found I would do a lot and it was taking me away from my hobby is, You would find the pocket of time. So it's, you know, 30 minutes, one hour, 15 minutes, whatever. And you overthink it. It's like, oh, well I don't know if I'm gonna have enough time to do the thing I want to in the game, or I gotta download it. I'm not sure if I'll do it. And, and that hesitation just ruins it for you. Just set it aside. Pick up a, pick a game. Just play it. Just play it. It gets you into the flow of it. So like, okay, when you find the moment and it's an appropriate time, you get to, you will get into the game and enjoy your hobby and don't di disconnect from it. So I think there's a lot of barriers to stop a dad from playing smash through 'em. Pick something, just play it. Don't worry about it. Maybe it's not, you're not gonna be able to beat it or, uh, you have to like, leave early. Don't worry. Just play the game. Uh, so was the original one, like what? Dad title I'd

recommend. Yeah. what new title, like for a new dad? What one title would you recommend to him?

Yeah, man, I, I hate to cop out, but you really can't Well, it's just in so much of the challenges, there's just so many different ways to go about it. I mean, so, uh, some dads, I know some guys who they adore fight Fortnite. Mm-hmm. like they, so they kind of, not really congruent with the show, but I mean, they, it's a big fun thing. It's always changing. It's never ending. They know it, they're comfortable with it and it's like amazing. So they like, that's their comfort food. That's what they go to. And it's great. Uh, something that works well with the time. Very much like the ones that I mentioned, uh, like Hades or Slay the Spire. That's kind of your Mo Horizon five as far as the fast ones, uh, star Valley, if you just, if you prefer much more relaxed and chill, cuz the rest of your day is just amped up to 11 cuz you're a little one. So, you know, I don't like to un breath of the wild Phoenix rising, as we kind of mentioned too. Yeah. and, and Game of the Year Contender, vampire survivor, Which it, the only thing about that is it would sort of suck to leave when you're on an amazing run. Yeah. Despite the fact that you can kind of save it, and again, quick resume with new systems. So I, I really don't have one that I could recommend because I, I do find gaming dads so diverse in their preferences. That's true. So some will wanna play a game of Madden, some will want to, uh, play Star Valley, you know what I mean? So in, instead, I would recommend that the, the thing to look to is the systems that support the hobby. Mm-hmm. So for you, it might be an iPad and you find it's a ator forward, a really awesome game on the app store. It could be a backbone and a streaming service. Right. That just kind of enables you to do it. It could be you buy yourself a handheld, you load it up with a hundred ROMs from your childhood. So I think rather than focusing on the game, they should look at, I think it's much more about the delivery system that best enabled them to hit their hobby as often as possible so they can stay connected to it. Yeah, that makes

complete sense. Trevor, I got one. Well, one major, like, we're gonna call it the side quest. I got one major side quiz for you before we go. Okay. And then, uh, then we'll we'll get to the conclusion of the episode. But the side quest, I'm gonna ask you a bunch of mini questions and just round robin style, you, you answer the first thing that comes into your head. Mm-hmm.

are you ready? Nope. But let's do it

I like it. I like it. So Trevor, does pineapple belong on pizza?

Yes. Okay. My favorite tape.

Sorry. Okay. Okay. No apologies. Apologies. No apologies. No, you okay. I like it. I like it. So who's the best Ninja turtle?

Uh, Leonardo. Okay.

Any, any certain reason why or just

I have a historical leader. Okay.

Gotcha. Gotcha. So if there, if you were stuck on just like an island with uh, with a console that's preloaded with only like three games, what would those three games be? Would it be in your favorites or would you pick something that was more like, these are the games that'll keep me like occupied until somewhere rescues me.

Oh yeah. So we'd have to go probably out of the top five. So it'd probably be like Hades. Cuz again, it'd had to be like, it'd be all about replay value. Mm-hmm. Right? Constant, perpetual. So you can keep on going. And without internet if I give myself my own restriction, so we'll go, uh, yeah. Hades, no man Sky cuz that's, you know, you can't beat it. There's millions of them. Mm-hmm. Oh man, the last one. I didn't say something fun like horizon five. Honestly, just the, something big and bombastic and fun to try to, well away those, uh, worst nights on the island.

Would you call your Xbox like Wilson or something?

yeah. Put my blood hand on it just to Don't do this to me, Wilson.

Exactly. All right. So if, if Kirby absorbed you, like Kirby, the character from Nintendo, if he absorbed you, what power would he get? Hmm.

Geez. Can I, can I say podcasting father? Okay.

Okay. Not a bad one

at all. He would start his own show. probably be better too. I think he could just keep going with my co-host, Jeff and, uh, the two. I, I would listen to that conversation.

Do you think Jeff would be able to tell the difference between you and podcast Kirby?

I think so. And I think you'd like it Okay. I think, don't think he'd much prefer

it. All right. All right. So off the top of your head, your most anticipated game coming up, what, what would it be?

Uh, I believe it's called

Starfield Starfield for Xbox Game Pass.

Yeah. Mm-hmm. Cause Cause it just looks like the, I I, I used to, I poured a ton of hours into Sky Rim. Obviously one of my, my most played game is Elite Dangerous. Mm-hmm. So between the two of those, it's just like, that's the merger of two amazing titles. So if they pull it off, I mean they, with the recent Fallout game that came out, fallout 76. Yeah. There's a bit of questions whether they can actually do it or not. So we'll, we'll see if they've learned their lessons and are gonna give us the title that we

want. I'm, I, I'm like you, I'm tentatively excited because like mm-hmm. it does seem like Sky Room. It seems like Sky Room makes when no man sky to be blunt. Like that's exactly the premise. At least that's the advertised premise. So I, I'm excited to see what, what's gonna come about that. I think we won't have to wait long because I think it's like, um, I think they said first or second quarter in, um, the New Year.

No man. Skyrim can't

wait. that's a good one. That's a good one. You should coin

that one. Oh, that's, that's stolen. That's a hundred percent stolen. I can't take credit for that.

So Trevor, it's been great having you on the show. Before you go though, can you tell what the good people were to find

you? Yeah, of course. I, absolute blast. I was so great to, uh, speak with you. So thank you for having me on. Uh, so, so wants to find us out. You can find us on Twitter. It's a most active spot at New Dad gaming and our website new dad gaming.com. And otherwise we're on your, all of your, wherever you get your podcast. So appreciate a downloaded and listen, thank you so much for having me.

Thank you so much for being on the show. You're always welcome back. Anytime we have like something like Dad centric or we need some advice from our dad Sensei, I'm gonna hit you up and please. You're gonna have to give us your sage

wisdom. Dad expert on call. I love it anytime. Alright, for

sure. Well, Trevor, it's been great talking to you and we're gonna catch you in the next one.

All right, man. Talk soon. Alright, bye.

So that's a wrap for today's episode. I wanna give a special shout out to Trevor Alexander for being on the show today. I also wanna remind you that if you have questions that you'd like to be featured on the show, you can write those in at the pro nerd report.com/the contact page. You can also write in at our single Player Experience Discord server. The single player experience, discord Server is also a great place to meet other single player gamers. To talk about the good single player game experiences that you've had lately, or to just give feedback on your video game backlog list the link to join the free single Player experience. Discord Server is in the show notes. I want to thank you so much for listening to today's episode. I hope you stay safe, stay gaming, and I hope to catch you in the next one. Peace.