Gaming Illuminaughty

Gi Podcast Episode 181 is here 🔥 The gang talks Monster Hunter Stories 3, Ghost of Yotei Legends, market saturation, how Overwatch betray Jeff Kaplan & more. Please like, retweet & bookmark this video to help spread the show.

Let's go squad!

I got early hands on time with Capcom's Pragmata & I left that play session VERY IMPRESSED. I'm legally obligated to warn you that your bank account is in danger in 2026. It’s just too many amazing games dropping 😭 My first impressions (the good & the bad) are below.

If you prefer the audio or Youtube version the links are below. YT: youtu.be/8tAhftuS8j0 Spotify: bit.ly/4rCvT1A Apple: apple.co/4ryvj4C

Gi Podcast Episode 181 is here 🔥 The gang talks Monster Hunter Stories 3, Ghost of Yotei Legends, market saturation, how Overwatch betray Jeff Kaplan & more. Please like, retweet & bookmark this video to help spread the show.

Lock in with us 🔥 youtu.be/oLrFMveTU94?si…

YOU got us trending on YouTube. We appreciate it. Keep hitting that HYPE button on y’all. RUN IT UP 🔥

Prefer audio or the YouTube version? The links are below. Apple: apple.co/4uiclBR Spotify: bit.ly/4beKxWx YouTube: youtu.be/oLrFMveTU94

The Gaming illuminaughty podcast episode 180 🔥 The gang discusses Marathon's full release, Slay The Spire 2, Project Helix, Sony removing PS5 games from Steam & more. Please like, retweet & bookmark this video to help spread the show.

Recently I got some hands-on time with Crimson Desert and below are my first impressions as well as some of the gameplay I was able to capture. Crimson Desert is a good game, but it won’t be for everyone. I know the devs claim this isn’t an RPG, but I don’t know any other way to describe this game other than a HARDCORE action RPG. If you need the yellow paint to know where to climb this game isn’t for you. But if you love getting lost in a whimsical world with a boat load of content this game is going to be right up your alley. I think what impressed me most is the attention to detail. There’s so many little things the dev team took into consideration that I think people who enjoy being immersed into a world are going to appreciate. Even if you aren’t that person; on a basic level I think most will enjoy the game's combat. It’s fast, fluid and provides a ton of player expression with its deep skill tree. The world of Pywel is vibrant, large in scale and full of life. It’s easy to get lost off the main quest line as there’s always something to do and someone to speak to. An example being I was wandering through the open world and encountered a distressed woman seeking help. I agreed to follow her only to find out moments later she was with a gang and they were trying to back door me. That had me cracking up. I think if the open world is consistently full of fun, unique side content like that & the main quest line is fire this game has a lot of potential to impress. It’s just a shame that I didn’t get to spend more time with the main quests as I kept getting side tracked with cool stuff to do in the open world. So I can’t give you much insight into that. What I can say is after the opening section there’s NEXT TO NO tutorials in this game, the puzzles are hard & the default controls are a bit clunky. You will be getting lost and I can see that frustrating some people who aren’t interested in a challenge. That’s why I mentioned earlier that this is a hardcore RPG. It does not do a lot of hand holding. Because of that I predict you and your friends will be sharing tips and tricks similar to when Elden Ring first launched and nobody knew what they were doing. If you are a patient person and take the time to learn the game's systems I promise you will be able to put together some awesome combos that will make you feel like the main character. My biggest fear for this game is that I won't finish it. Not because it’s a bad game, but I can just tell from my brief time with it that it’s next level massive. As someone who's been gaming for 30+ years it’s very rare you’ll hear me say a game was overwhelming, but this game is. For people who lack a ton of free time I can see that being a turn off because once again the game doesn’t give much direction or tutorials outside the opening area. Not to mention this game could be big just for the sake of being big. I was curious to know how much of the content was engaging versus just open world bloat? Hard to tell because I only got a few hours with the game. I also fear that the Ai isn’t the best in this game. The Ai issues I encountered zapped all immersion away for those moments. I’m not sure if the final build will differ from the vertical slice we played, but what I can tell you is that on the build we played I wasn’t impressed by the Ai. Several times I attacked enemy camps and they never reacted to me attacking them. They just stood there and took it which made the world feel less alive. There were also times where enemies were looking dead at me just standing still as the battle music played threatening to beat me up, but they never did anything. It was 3 or 4 times I encountered this poor Ai which is a red flag for me because I only got two hours of hands on time with the game. Mind you in those two hours a good portion of it was just me working my way through the prologue and the early quests, so I didn't spend a ton of time in the open world. What I'm trying to get at is the janky ai was very noticeable. It wasn't something that took long to find. I will say when the game works it's great, but when I tell you the Ai was bad at times it was bad. It reminded me of the dumb NPC’s often found in Ubisoft open world games. I’m not looking for this to be a Souls game but I want some level of challenge in the combat. Hopefully that stuff gets patched out. That being said, I’m confident in saying this game is good. I just didn’t have enough time with it to determine if it’s good, or GREAT. Only time will tell when Crimson Desert drops on March 19th, 2026 for the PC, PS5 and Xbox Series. Pros —---------- - Combat makes you feel like demon - Deep Skill tree - Vibrant world - Solid voice acting - Fire OST - The little details (trust system, you can commit crimes ect.) - No Fall damage - Puzzles are creative & challenging - Game doesn’t hold you hand (some people will hate this) - You can swap in and out of 3rd and 1st person at will. Wasn’t able to explore much of how that changes the game, but it’s nice that it's an option. - EASILY over 100hrs of content (some will hate this though) Cons —---------- - Clunky controls (Default controls take some time adjusting too. I hope there’s other control schemes at launch) - Inconsistent Ai (Ubisoft bad at times. sometimes the enemies wouldn’t attack during combat or act like they never saw you) - Long load times (we were playing on PC’s, but idk the specs) - Your horse can faint & when they do traveling the large world wasn’t as fun (and I couldn’t figure out how to get him back - most likely a skill issue) - Early stamina management is OD. Early game it’s easy to drown & get tired running. I’d imagine it gets better late game, but early game it’s frustrating trying to explore. - Camera takes some getting used to in combat. Sometimes its too close and others too far. - Early arrows have no impact. Felt useless. Hoping later upgrades fix that

In conclusion we added up the 3 scores of our host and divided it by 3 to reach our 8.7/10 for Nioh 3. If you want to hear our more in depth thoughts on the game be sure to check out episode 176 of The Gaming illuminaughty Podcast. The links are below. YouTube: youtu.be/DTkI6uF6DDI Spotify: bit.ly/4043beE Apple: apple.co/3ZXYuTl

@UTxJGTheDon opinion - 8/10 Koei Tecmo clearly took what they have learned from previous Nioh games (Wo Long, and Rise of Ronin) and packed it into what we see from Nioh 3. The combat is where this game is at its peak. I would even match it up against some of my favorite Souls games. It’s THAT GOOD. I love the open world design, the weapon variety, the level up system, and the different playstyles between the Samurai and the Ninja. As far as the negatives go, I’m not a fan of the loot system. Finding the same items over and over, with just different rarities and stats have never been satisfying to me. I find myself lost a lot with the map design. Yes you have a map to look at, but there are so many areas that you cannot access unless you go around. The map doesn’t do a good job at leading you to some of the destinations. Also the story is forgettable. It doesn’t draw me in, and I’m really just playing to get some good loot, level up my character, and kill a bunch of Yokai in the process. The game is worth picking up if you’re a Souls fan. Just don’t expect anything to push the boundaries of what a souls game can achieve.

The Gaming illuminaughty Podcast rates Nioh 3 8.7/10. Read the thread below to better understand how we landed on our score 🔥

Prefer audio or the YouTube version? The links are below. Apple: apple.co/4s6YGvK Spotify: bit.ly/4s1PLvn YouTube: youtu.be/yFOxDioUrxQ

The Gaming illuminaughty podcast episode 178 🔥 The gang talks Phil Spencer & Sarah Bond stepping down at Xbox, Xbox new CEO's Asha Sharma, Sony's plan to rob YOU, Xenoverse 3, Skate getting worse & more. Please like, retweet & bookmark this video to help spread the show.

The Black Hokage shares a FREE alternative to Discord that Steam just rolled out, so you don't have to upload your face scan or government ID 👍

Prefer audio or the YouTube version? The links are below. Apple: apple.co/2GBZLaN Spotify: bit.ly/3ZHziR7 YouTube: youtu.be/MgV7sUsKQDU

The Gaming illuminaughty podcast episode 177 🔥 The crew talks the February 2026 Sony State of Play, Highguard & 2XKO layoffs, PS5's rental service, the FEDS trying to control gaming & more! Please like, retweet & bookmark this video to help spread the show.

In conclusion we added up the scores of our 4 hosts and divided it by four to reach our rating of 7/10 for Highgaurd. if you want to hear our more in-depth thoughts on the game be sure to check episode 175 of the podcast. The links are below. YouTube: youtu.be/acMPUSW9NLw Spotify: bit.ly/4kwdHEX Apple: apple.co/4qpinOd

@Ms5000Watts opinion - 7/10 As a gamer who has generally stepped away from online multiplayer FPS games, Highguard reminds me of the shooters that I used to play. A focus on movement skill, gun skill, fast reaction times that rewards quick decision making ends up creating a shooter that is actually quite deep in its skill expression which is a massive positive for me. Movement feels good, they’ve done some very cool stuff with mounting, jumping and sliding. I’ve only played on the controller so I can’t speak on MnK but the guns all feel very good. Characters initially didn’t impress me on the reveal trailer but after playing them and seeing them in action, there’s actually quite a few that I like and I do think they look cool. I also appreciate that the characters don’t have 5 abilities you need to track, you have a passive that can be very impactful if used correctly but it’s not something that will frustrate you to play against. One ability you’ll use fairly often but none of these feel incredibly broken and then you have an ultimate which doesn’t recharge very quickly so you’re dealing with them once or twice in a match generally. There are some outliers (Kai’s ult is the one I’m pointing at) but this is a hero shooter that I don’t feel like I’m just fighting abilities non stop, it feels very gun skill and movement skill centric and I appreciate that personally. Maps have decent variety and I enjoy the idea of picking a base to defend. After learning the bases a bit more there’s definitely some solid strategy there depending on personal preference as well as your team comp as to which base you’d like to pick. I do think that there needs to be more places of interest on the map though because some of them feel quite bare with me searching for crystals and loot for a while without finding anything. I personally think 3v3 works very well for the game mode that Wildlight has created when you learn the flow of the game but I do believe there’s space here to create different game modes and that those modes should feel good due to the core feel of Highguard being solid. There’s absolutely adjustments I would make to the current game mode though. The fortification part of the match feels a little empty with only being able to fortify walls. Adding more defensive options you could set up would be more engaging and would make use of the dedicated time this part of the match gives you because currently it feels a bit long for just setting up reinforced walls. Besides that and the already mentioned maps needing a few more places of interest, I do think that the game mode is fun and unique. It’s full of chaotic moments and really allows you to pull off clutch plays and hero moments which are important factors for me in shooters. Overall in my 10 hours I have had a ton of fun, but this isn’t a game that I personally would want to grind solo. If my friends ask me to play I’ll gladly hop on as the foundation feels great but there’s not currently enough in the game for me to want to grind it. If the team can add some more game modes, places of interest on the current maps, deepen the fortification stage and keep adding to the roster of characters and weapons then I can see myself returning to try out those updates. TLDR; Good bones that needs some more flesh on it but for an indie, fairly small team, I think this is a good start.

The Gaming illuminaughty podcast official rating for Highguard is a 7/10 👍 Read the thread below to better understand how we landed on our score.