The latest Clueless Gamer has arrived, but it doesn’t just follow Conan O’Brien and his goofy trials through another video game like it usually does. Much like the last time, the video shows him spending more time reacting to his special guest, Kumail Nanjiani, and lobbing jokes at his expense. That’s because The Big Sick and Silicon Valley star has a voice role in Middle Earth: Shadow Of War, playing an orc with a bit of comic relief in the game that is out to either kill the player or submit to join his ranks.
This causes a lot of problems for Conan, apart from his clear disdain for the world of Tolkien, as the voice Nanjiani uses in the game is just his real voice without any masking or effects at all. As the host puts it, they could’ve had him reciting lines from Silicon Valley over the phone and slapped it in the game. It derails any meaningful play of the game itself — not that anybody is tuning into Clueless Gamer for the damn reviews — and actually makes the entire thing worse for Nanjiani after he expressed his nervousness at the beginning of the segment.
It all should be look at as a good thing, though. Now when gamers play the game and come upon his character, they won’t be too thrown off that it’s the guy from Silicon Valley clearly slinging jokes as a deadly orc in Middle Earth. It’s a fun Easter egg that you can apparently cut in half at the torso now or shame into an existence worse than death. It’s hard not to get excited for this game, though some are very wary of the inclusion of lootboxes for real cash in the game.
Polygon reports that the games ‘4th act’ which unlocks the true ending, requires use of lootboxes or it will become a hopeless grind
— TotalBiscuit (@Totalbiscuit) October 5, 2017
It turns a part of the game into a hideous grind unless you spend real money. And I’m not even talking about the multiplayer, the 4th act
— TotalBiscuit (@Totalbiscuit) October 5, 2017
Many voice their frustrations about this online, though the idea of it being a requirement could be just a mistake:
You can absolutely 100% find and capture Legendary uruks in the wild in Shadow of War, without paying for loot boxes. This asshole killed me last night, in fact. pic.twitter.com/MohEuQoU7S
— Dan Stapleton (@DanStapleton) October 5, 2017
If true, this is not the type of thing you want in a follow-up to one of the most surprising and entertaining licensed game experiences you can find. DLC shouldn’t be the sole path through a game.
(Via Team Coco)