What's the best "Lockdown" content so far?

Hey gang,

Like many of you, I'm on lockdown. One day of work every two weeks (Although I'm still on FULL PAY somehow)

I haven't watched much of the GB Lockdown content...infact maybe an hour tops? I enjoyed the Vinny/Jeff (Obviously) retro stream, cause I love that duo

But, assume I haven't seen ANY lockdown content. Which ones would you recommend I see? (If you could link them, that would be great, as I know some of it isn't categorised very well)

MY favorites are definitely:

Brad and Vinny playing Astroneer

Resident Evil 3 Playdates

Alexy Quest 3

and now that he has guests on I enjoy the Jan Bloodborne playthrough as well.

I don’t really watch the other stuff as it’s not my wheelhouse.

I must say I like most of the things Alex puts out. Trucking, drumming, Civving and Mass Effecting. Always fun to hear him talk about music, movies, and other shenanigans, which also happens to be my own interests.

For a bit more comedy centered stream I love just about everything that Vinny is part of.

I haven't had time to explore much of the rest.

I love me some simulated Trucking.

Drumming and GTFO are at the top of my list, with Mass Alex and Civ following close behind.

For me anything with Vinny, also Jeff's liberal use of that glorious soundboard.

Astroneer has been great, and I'm growing tempted to buy that game just from the sheer enthusiasm with which Brad and Vinny exude with every episode. It has become one of those playthroughs that I wish aired more frequently. I, of course, worry that if it were to air more often that some of that enthusiasm may dampen; but that seems unlikely with how much those two seem to be enjoying themselves.

I SORT OF enjoy Bloodborne Identity with Jan. Here's something that I've posted elsewhere, so my apologies for repeition if anybody has read this general statement before. The first time that I played Bloodborne was a disaster. I stuck with it for some time, but it was far longer (up to ROM) than I was enjoying myself. The game was plagued with glitches for me, far more than had been reported by others from what I could tell. This lead to me spending more time waiting for the next glitch to pop up than I was enjoying the game. I finally admitted that I was hating my time with the game, and put it down. Jan's playthrough encouraged me to try again. Night and day was the difference: no flaws encountered so far, and without waiting for something to go wrong I'm mostly enjoying myself a lot more. I still feel like it's a bit of a drag in spots, and that the side stories are poorly laid out; but I am more likely to stick with it. That said, I'm at a point now where I feel like Jan is approaching a level of fatigue. He sort of needs to grind, and needs more consistent practice to improve; but this flies in the face of the weekly playthrough. The show would probably become WORK more than FUN, a sort of obligation versus enjoyment.

Alex's shows have been fun. Watching Truck Simulator can be extremely relaxing; though I prefer the single player content and wish that he would stick with that. That's more personal preference than critique, however. The drumming is always amazing to watch in the same way that any sport can be: watching somebody incredibly good at what they do is fascinating, especially when it's something in which I have an interest.

Abby's 100 baby challenge is a bit niche; but I like The Sims, in spite of wishing that another company would make a Sims like game, so I like the show. Chaos is always fun. Suffering Sims is always fun.

GTFO started interesting because I knew nothing about that game; but I could see myself falling off. It feels a bit repetitive, as multiplayer games can be.

I've really enjoyed all form of "Story Time With Jan". Regardless of what he's doing. We Be Truckin' for the exact same reasons. Basically a video podcast with a game. Very good background noise.

For actual stuff to watch that's unique or been revived (so I don't count Mass Alex, PokeMonday Night Combat, Clue Crew, or Playdates) I'm a huge fan of the return of Sea Beasts. Brad is an excellent addition to the team. Vinny sowing chaos, Abby leading the team, Alex desperately trying to stay on course, and Brad acting as Vinny and Abby's right hand man.

Brad and Vinny in Astroneer or Satisfactory is so good. They are such a fun pairing and the way Vinny pushes the boundaries and Brad learns from it is very entertaining.

RE3, Mass Alex and the live video Beastcasts of course!

Since I'm boring, the stuff they used to do before the Lockdown (Mass Alex, Playdates, Clue Crew, FMVinny).

I generally like whenever Brad streams, some of Jason's stuff has been really good, and Alex has been fun, too. But at this point I'm only watching like 10% of the hours they're putting out (nothing on them, it's just too much for me to keep up).

Haven't had as much time to watch everything as I thought, but Drug Dealer Simulator killed me, especially when Jeff got on.

Resident Evil 3 Playdates is really dope

I don't want to count the stuff that had episodes before the quarantine like Mass Alex and Clue Crew even though they're still some of my favourite videos.

So with that said: THE BLOODBORNE IDENTITY.

More of Abby playing Resident Evil is always entertaining as are the "Clue Crew" Nancy Drew segments. Alex playing the American and European Trucking simulators have been a highlight. The Friday charity streams have replaced UPF for the meantime. What's been in short supply are the shows where multiple people appear on the same stream. The above mentioned as well as the Astroneer Brad and Vinny episodes are good examples of the team recording together. I didn't care too much for GTFO since the game is so dark and it's hard to know what's going on. The solo stuff isn't without merit, though. Brad's Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, Jan playing Ape Escape and, of course, anytime Jeff plays old games (older than PSO2) it's entertaining content. I even liked the LEGO builds,

So far, I would say the best things to come out of the lockdown are Video Beastcast and the dual gameplay recordings where we get two versions of the same game experience. I would like to see those stay around after things go back to "normal".

For the most part, things where more than 1 person gets on are definitely the best.

For solo stuff I have enjoyed though, Ben's Fallout 2 stream was good (glad its continuing and it would be good with a guest though). I also enjoy Alex's trucking streams though when he got on with Vinny it was for sure the best episode.

I've enjoyed Mass Alex continuing a lot. I think 3 had a fair amount of cool parts even though the end sucked and it's been cool to refresh myself on those. The Omega stuff is cool.

I think Alex should have played on Hard though. For me Mass Effect combat shines with a little more difficulty that makes you engage with the systems. Alex is still wondering what some powers do because he has never had to figure out lol. I actually think it would be more fun on a Harder difficulty for him because he'd actually have to engage with all that stuff. The Witcher 3 was that way for me as well with difficulty modes.

Enjoying the REmake playthrough by Abby. I hope she does check out the RE 1 remake although I could see her totally hating it control and camera wise. I suppose she will see if its entirely off putting to her before playing for a stream though lol.

Clue Crew continues to be a fun series and I love Abby's enthusiasm and getting a look at that corner of games.

I think the 100 Baby Challenge could really use someone else on it. I think it should be great but there's so much Abby has to do gameplay wise as far as micromanagement that it's mostly just her saying what she's doing the whole time. And no hate on that but it could use someone shotgun for commentary. I play the Sims so I know what kind of micromanaging she is having to do and it's really intensive, if not so challenging.

The co-op stuff has been all great in theory. I will say for me I did not enjoy watching GTFO so much after a while (hard to see, dark, repetitve). But Astroneer and Sea Beasts are great stuff.

I am glad to see how they are trying to get more people on these streams. Some can work solo but they are all better with someone else. Most of the solo stuff I haven't mentioned I found not very entertaining personally.

I'd love to see them do more co-op type of stuff. I do enjoy stuff that's less repetitive with more of a build and progression to something and room for creativity, like Astroneer or Sea Beasts.

There's other weird military sim or survival stuff that could be interesting to see them try out.

I also think a Rimworld stream series could be very great. Seems like it could be a Vinny and/or Brad thing.

I also always love when they do full game playthroughs and I feel like they're slowly doing more of that, which is great to see. Short dips into the start of games (often mostly the tutorial) are really not that interesting to watch.

Alex trucking the EU and US is pretty darn chill. The GTFO episodes have been fun to watch as well, and Jeff playing retro game is always pretty darn relaxing to me.

I really liked the Sea of Thieves stream they had recently (yesterday?)

Boy, that game has gotten a LOT better. It seems like the ideal game to hang out and talk to people. Lots of downtime, its really chill most of the time. And its always fun to see the GB crew play that game.

Vinny and Brad playing together. Especially Astroneer. It seems like just when Brad is getting the most excited, Vinny ends the stream haha

I've enjoyed watching Alex play Euro/American Truck Simulator and everything with Vinny with the exception of GTFO, which was fun for a bit but I felt like one stream of it was enough.

Yeah I used to think the Sea of Thieves streams they did back in the day were fairly boring but this recent stream was a blast. I think this is partly thanks to Dan getting replaced with Brad who genuinely seems to enjoy being in the game, and that they're more experienced with how the game works so we're not stuck trying to figure out how to do anything for half the game.

That dungeon they did was also really fun, although I agree with Brad that at the very end there should have been some sort of fun treasure instead of just a skin for the ship.

Brads OnlyFans by far

this is an easy one for me-

ben's gundam stream

that one has everything i'm looking for- it's the whole crew shootin the breeze while doing something a little outside their wheelhouse. A+ chirping- reminded me of the giant bomb unplugged series.

i also really enjoyed this brad solo stream.

it's fun to hear brad indulge his nerdy gear/tech side, and hearing him vamp about game music is exactly the chill vibe i'm looking for these days.

PSA: if ben or brad have done any additional gundam or music streams, someone please let me know! thanks yall.

Loving Astroneering with Brad and Vinny. It's helped maintain my interest in the game and I'm ready for my next pick-me-up. (survival/crafting/sandbox games are not my bag, but space travel is very me.)

@mellotronrules: Just an FYI, Brad does do a Tech podcast with Will Smith. I bring it up because I recently found that out and had zero idea before. Not my cup of tea but might be yours.

Resident Evil 3, Mass Effect 3 and Bloodborne.

Trucking is pretty good as background sound.

And, of course, the video version of Beastcast and Aftermatch...

@stephen_von_cloud: thanks for the heads up! yes, i've been checking out the new podcast and it's been great to hear what feels like an old piece of whiskey media revived.

Alex's drum streams, hands down. I am shocked, SHOCKED I SAY, that not too many people have it as one of their recommends. But maybe it's just because they fit my preference so well. They're a perfect fit for me because I love to watch/listen to stuff while I play games, so I just put on some jams and venture into Mementos. A match made in heaven.

In this sense, a lot of Alex's streams are great in fact. Truckin' is basically a drum stream without the drums and more of Alex's commentary, and Civ-ciety - all one episodes of it - is actually pretty good even if you don't understand Civilization and just want to hear Alex get into a beef with Peter the Great.

Like many here, I have not been able to keep up very well with the influx of content, but the GTFO streams and Jeff and Brad's solo streams are good watchin' too. On the other hand, from other comments here, I think I might have to start watching Bloodborne Identity, sounds pretty fun.

The ones where Jason plays games with his son are good, wholesome times. Just watch out for the first one where he plays random stuff on his Xbox 360. It's both amusing and heartbreaking :x

Lockdown 2020: Here's Half-Life: Alyx Running On That Oculus Quest.

This was fantastic journey of a rat.

I am not sorry.

Definitely Brad and Vinny playing Astroneer for me. Also I like the first Sea Beasts lockdown episode where Brad joined the crew. The second one was less fun because it didn't snowball into pure insanity.

I'm also partial to having the trucking streams on in the background except for the Vinny one where his POV was too entertaining not to watch.

Abby’s Resident Evil and DeadSpace streams are always enjoyable. The Astroneering with Vinny and Brad is great. Favorite though has been the Sea Beast streams when Brad joins. I haven’t seen one in about a month, so I’m wondering if they’ll bring it back soon. COME ON SEA BEASTSSSSSS!

Abby is killing it. 100 Baby Challenge, Clue Crew, Fortnite With St. Vincent (Eventually), and playing through Dead Space. Nevermind her charity streams. It's great.

Alex trucking and Vinny XCOM-ing are especially good. And those two together playing anything really is always delightful. I do like Jan and his Pokémon battles even though I haven't, and never will play Pokémon...something fascinating about that stuff...very curious.

Minecraft 100%. Use the fan made website in the forums to watch all the POVs at once

Trucks

Bloodborne Identity, everything Abby, We Live in a Civ, Phantasy Star Online (those NPC barks are so soothing for whatever reason)

I continue to love the GBE horror-ish Play Dates, Jan playing Bloodborne is a good time and any time I can get Jeff and Vinny doing something together is paradise.

SMB Special, abby's charity streams, and dead space

Alex' truck streams, Anything Vinny & Brad do & Jan going through bloodborne.
Jeff's Super Mario Special stuff & Ben's Fallout 2 stuff is pretty captivating too.

Everything retro, Alex's Trucking and Civilization gameplay, Abby's Dead Space and Nancy Drew shows.

Minecraft, hands down. It's not only the best Lockdown content, it's some of the best content GB has produced in a long time. Feels a bit silly to say, because they're just playing Minecraft, but it's so great seeing almost the entire gang playing together, and they're all having fun in their own ways. It's just fantastic.

The last 7 videos on the front page are all solo streams.

Jeff said they almost certainly won't be in the office for the rest of the year and tbh they seem like they're putting in less and less effort into this lately. I don't come to GB for a group of Twitch streamers and I really hope they can pull up and get back to the old GB forumla in some way because all this solo stuff is so boring to watch.

Right now they are putting all their effort into solo streams and video podcasts. I would trade in both entirely for half of the output but actually had more than 1 person on a video.

Its a real bummer to watch this happen over time tbh. I know its a weird situation right now but this just keeps going the wrong direction. I felt like they were on a roll for a bit with this but its getting so bad the last couple weeks.

Out of curiosity, because I've tried watching these and realized I'm fine with whatever winds up in Best Of compilations but also don't recall how it happened...how did Giant Bomb regularly playing Minecraft happen? Of all the regular features I've seen on this site in nearly a decade this is one of the least expected developments in Giant Bomb history! Have they ever addressed this or did it just happen out of sheer...curiosity? I'm curious!

@toughshed My favorite series during this whole thing have been Bloodborne Identity and Abby's Red Dead Revolver Let's Play which caught me off guard, but it is kind of a bummer that so many features are solo, especially since like you said series like the aforementioned Bloodborne series started off with rotating or even just popping in and out guests that kept you on your toes and introduced new combinations of personalities.

Again, I think Jan, Jeff, Vinny, Brad and Abby have all proven they can carry a solo stream on their own with the assistance of a good chat, but I do feel more and more like I'm subscribed to a Twitch channel. I'm choosier than I've ever been with my GB consumption, which is kind of nice because it's freed me up to watch more classic movies on the super awesome HBO Max and stuff like that but man does it feel weird constantly pulling up the latest videos page on the weekend and only being interested by the podcasts and one or two actual video features.

The trucking and the HotSpot are pretty much the only content I've consistently kept up on. Otherwise taking a peek at a thing here and there.

@nodima: the one solo thing I have really watched is Ben's Fallout 2 streams because I love LPs when GB does them. But even with that it would be so much better with Vinny on it or something.

I don't mean to sound like a big asshole complaining, like its some intentional fuck you to us as viewers, but it is frustrating because I think GB hardly ever listens to any feedback (if not being outright hostile to it) and this has been getting worse and worse.

I also worry the site may NEVER go back to how it was.

Like you I was keeping up with things early but now I'm watching less GB stuff than I ever have. I am someone who has avoided solo twitch streaming for a reason and it sucks to see your favorite and only games site basically become twitch streamers over the last few weeks (remember when they used to shit on streamers on GB a lot?).

Again, I also get that it might not be easy to do group content but I would happily take 50 percent or less output if it was making attempts at actual GB style videos (obviously with like Mass Alex there are a couple exceptions).

And like you mention also, there have been some features where they seemed to be trying to get other people on, like say the Trucking stream where Vinny was in or the bloodborne video where Vinny and Ben were watching, and they entirely gave up on it.

Its a bummer to me and if there is 6 months or more of this coming they need to make changes or what is this site anymore? Certainly not what it started and grew popular as. Seeing the schedule today just be two live video podcasts and two solo streams was just sad.

@toughshed: nothing will ever be the same, not here, not anywhere. embrace it or move on. I know that's harsh but these people are going through all of the same daily anxieties as the rest of us, and they're making it work as well as they can. you gotta chill, brother

dude.... what? they're making content already and are doing multi person streams just they seemed to have given it up in the last couple weeks. I know its trickier but they've already been doing it. I have no idea what you're getting at.

One of the worst things on GB is when someone has feedback or criticism and the fan base has to go into defense mode for them and act like you're being unreasonable. I didn't want to make the criticism so much in the early going of the lockdown but as I said it's gotten progressively worse as far as solo streams and Jeff said on his tumblr he expects 6 more months of this.

i didn't ask for more of something they can't do. They've already been doing it. Again, I'm happy with much less output if it resembled the output that made GB what it is.

Its wild to me that it would even be controversial to say. GB is entirely about the personalities on the site and them coming together for its whole history before now.

Bloodborne and Minecraft streams are really comfy + literally everything Abby has done, her Fortnite videos have been some top tier GB content, lockdown or no. Hotspot has also been excellent.

The ranking of anime video is also way up there, and may be my real no.1