Chris and Jamie are joined by Mike Cook to talk about his uneventful recent life as an academic specialising in AI. Then, Slay the Spire 2 summer begins at last and we pay tribute to Marathon’s weird little robo-goblin, the Rook. It’s Mike Cook ! And it’s Next Level , Mike Cook’s new book! The book Chris mentions is More Everything Forever by Adam Becker. Slay the Spire 2 ! You, a Crate and Crowbar listener, probably did not need this link. Mike’s been known to enjoy a Jorbs from time to time. B...
Apr 13, 2026•1 hr 51 min•Ep. 456
Jamie and Chris convene from the palatial purple of Quincy Jones’ recording studio to tell tales of indentational trauma, BP garage psychogeography and also some games! Chris has been cutting people’s legs off in Halfsword and thinking fondly of Marsh Davies. Jamie has been rejoicing in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s crystal meth extravaganza Mewgenics. Chris has been playing Marathon and Likes It, Actually. Jamie has been playing Resident Evil Requiem and also likes it, so there. You can hang out with u...
Mar 20, 2026•1 hr 40 min
Marsh is joined by Graham to chat about Jank, a hot new website for cool people, the best games of the decade so far, deduction game TR-49, frenzied shmup Sektori and joyous platformer Big Hops. Jank!!!!!!!!!!!! Jank.cool!!!! Visit Jank! Wow! Read Jank’s list of the best games of the Decade so far! TR-49 Sektori Big Hops You can hang out with us and our community on our Discord channel . If you have a question for a future episode, send it to us via the Questions sub-channel on our Discord or em...
Jan 30, 2026•1 hr 16 min
Jamie and Marsh throw themselves into the depths of Ball X Pit, launch themselves into toilets in Bloodlines 2, and dive cinematically from exploding balconies in Battlefield 6. Show notes: Join Jamie in person on Saturday 29th November at Birmingham Comicon for a chat about getting into games. Ball X Pit Into the Breach Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 Battlefield 6 You can hang out with us and our community on our Discord channel . If you have a question for a future episode, send it to ...
Nov 15, 2025•1 hr 7 min
Chris, Jamie and Marsh discuss what the f Silent Hill f is about, get systemic in Sword Hero, jump ship in Jump Space, try to pronounce “photogrammetry” correctly while discussing Mind Diver AND take a cathartically large dump on Alien: Earth. Silent Hill f Big-time ambiguity intertext: Henry James’ Turn of the Screw I’ve always wanted to make something with a rainy montage sequence in it, inspired by Ghost in the Shell’s . And Silent Hill f goes and does it out of the gate! The Whale God: film ...
Oct 10, 2025•2 hr 18 min
Marsh and Jamie dishonour their families in the oddly quaint Mafia: The Old Country, soak sands in Sword of the Sea, and synergise to the max in Merge Maestro, Kill the Brickman and Raccoin. Show notes: Mafia: The Old Country Sword of the Sea Merge Maestro Raccoin Kill the Brickman You can hang out with us and our community on our Discord channel . If you have a question for a future episode, send it to us via the Questions sub-channel on our Discord or email it to questions@crateandcrowbar.com ...
Aug 29, 2025•1 hr 13 min
Jamie and Marsh join together to talk sad boys, roguelike birds and frenzied bananas. Birdigo Donkey Kong: Bananza Marsh is making Gold Teeth . You can hang out with us and our community on our Discord channel . If you have a question for a future episode, send it to us via the Questions sub-channel on our Discord or email it to questions@crateandcrowbar.com . You can also listen to it on YouTube, and subscribe to our YouTube channel , if you like. The Crate and Crowbar is kindly funded by our P...
Aug 08, 2025•41 min
Chris and Marsh are joined by Paul Canavan to talk about draining men (halleluja), the not-so-shy huluds and space-nun zoomies of Dune: Awakening. We do not talk about Donkey Kong Bananza. Dune: Awakening Paul is making Pale Tides . Marsh is making Gold Teeth . Chris is one of the most extraordinarily talented and versatile people I’ve worked with, and he’s currently available to hire for creative direction, narrative design, birthdays and bar mitvahs. You can also read his novels . You can hang...
Jul 25, 2025•1 hr 10 min
Jamie and Marsh get pumped, pepped and revved up for the summer games marketing onslaught, and then enjoy the more tangible pleasures of demos in the Steam Next Fest, including: Ball X Pit, Morsels, Bits & Bops, Consume Me, Dispatch and Baby Steps. In this episode, I, Marsh, misremember Peggle’s mascot as Bookworm Adventures’ mascot, which is a bookworm, despite the fact that only one of these titles has “bookworm” in the name. This is an error for which I do not deserve, and will never earn...
Jun 13, 2025•1 hr 10 min
Jamie and Marsh whoosh blueily through Doom: The Dark Ages, find real big fish in South of Midnight, experience the fraying bonds of marriage in It Takes Two, and feed children to a giant worm in Nidhogg. Doom: The Dark Ages South of Midnight It Takes Two Nidhogg Kirby’s Air Ride Rhythm Heaven Fever “You go, big guy!” Counterfeit Monkey Hadean Lands Enter the Matrix Type Help Sorcery You can hang out with us and our community on our Discord channel . If you have a question for a future episode, ...
May 30, 2025•57 min
Click ‘Use’, then click ‘Pod’. Success! You have unlocked access to an episode of adventure game discussion from the steamy podding lairs of Jamie and Tom! First we turn our attentions to the fine timeline-twisting futuristic adventure game, Old Skies. We’re enjoying it greatly, along with Unavowed and the rest of Wadjet Eye Games collection. Also Tom brought along a rough top five adventure games list (that he wishes he’d put Last Express on, or Siberia, or a dozen others). With the addition of...
May 16, 2025•1 hr 15 min
Jamie, Tom and Marsh head out into the wild blue yonder (without headphones on like some kind of smug Japanese writer) and talk about 3 open world games, somewhat alike in dignity. Assassin’s Creed: Shadows is the brand new tiny-sword-up-my-sleeve ’em up, has peerless breezes, great killings, but boy is there a lot of it! Atomfall is a game that Jamie loves more than just about anyone else he can find, listen to him incoherently try and explain why. Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 is a game in which ...
Apr 14, 2025•1 hr 11 min
The distant troglodyte descendants of Jamie and Marsh relive memories of the before-times and the joyous videogames that were once played, namely: 1000xResist, Type Help and Pathologic 3: Quarantine. Pathologic 3: Quarantine is the demo for a larger forthcoming game, and is harrowing in about every way it can be. 1000xResist is a brilliant game about many things, including generational trauma and big pigeons. Contains mild jumping. This is a good video deep dive into the game. Type Help is an in...
Mar 28, 2025•1 hr 1 min
Tom S joins Marsh to be baffled by BAFTA noms, enjoy the chaotic departure from military fiction in Black Ops 6, put on a purple frenzied bone hat in Monster Hunter, and bolster our collection of severed tongues in Avowed like the nimdoots we are. The BAFTA website has been designed by maniacs. You can just put things in a list! In a text list! There wasn’t a problem to solve there! Why am I expanding subcategories and scrolling horizontally just to see six fucking names, you FIENDS? Tactical Br...
Mar 07, 2025•1 hr 39 min
Jamie and Marsh wallop their way through a sea of fascists in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and enjoy the peaches, pots and permadeath of Shiren the Wanderer 6. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is made by Machine Games, also known for the Wolfenstein reboot, its sequels and some brilliant level packs for Quake and Quake 2. Quinns Quest is a cool Youtube channel about TTRPGs Shiren the Wanderer 6: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island. You can hang out with us and our community on our ...
Jan 31, 2025•1 hr 5 min
Chris, Jamie, and friend of pod Paul Canavan squat doon in a cundie with a bottle of buckie and some (probably vegan) haggis tae blether aboot Scottish games and games that aren’t Scottish. We talk the excellent thrills, chills, and repeated drops off of oil rigs of fab walking sim Still Wakes The Deep, the hand crafted psychedelia of indie curio Judero, as well as the addictive properties of Xenotilt, the visceral Clinton jump scares of CODBLOPS6 and the ugly, bonkers world of Straftat (Strafta...
Dec 07, 2024•1 hr 35 min
Chris, Senior Tom and Marsh convene to talk Metal Gear Rising Revengeance, Diablo 4, Rise Of The Golden Idol, Xenotilt, Destiny 2 and then Chris talks about Dragon Age: Veilguard non-stop for about 45 minutes and it’s kind of incredible. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is a game about cutting robots into many bits, or just two bits. Diablo 4 is a game about killing many things and number go up, but at what cost. Xenotilt is a pinball game that Jamie is now completely addicted to, thanks Chris. Ri...
Nov 22, 2024•1 hr 56 min
In which Tom Senior, Marsh Davies and Jamie Brittain convene on a perfectly normal and entirely non-epoch defining night in early November 2024 to discuss God Of War: Ragnarök at length, as well as providing various witterings about trailers good, names bad, books read and John Wayne movies for some reason. At one point Jamie gleefully imagines Kratos pulling the arms of a sacred deity. A good time is more or less had by all. God Of War: Ragnarök Monster Hunter Wild Caravan SandWitch Jamie is re...
Nov 08, 2024•1 hr 45 min
Tom S, Jamie and Marsh gather, like a drift of dead leaves, to discuss some seasonally spooky games: Alan Wake 2 and Mouthwashing. Also mentioned: Arco and Grunn. Painshill Park . The crystal grotto is closed on Mondays. Alan Wake 2 Remember Quantum Break ? My sympathies. Garth Marenghi is a better writer than Alan Wake, and he’s meant to be awful. Mouthwashing Arco Grunn Youtuber Lazy Game Reviews talks about The Sims You can hang out with us and our community on our Discord channel . If you ha...
Oct 25, 2024•1 hr 21 min
Marsh, Jamie and Chris convene to navigate the bouncy balls of Peglin, the less bouncy but surprisingly solid shooty-bangs of Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2, before failing to enjoy UFO 50 as much as they probably should. Games Discussed: Peglin Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 UFO 50 Back Gold Teeth here! You can hang out with us and our community on our Discord channel . If you have a question for a future episode, send it to us at questions@crateandcrowbar.com , or look for the newly added questio...
Sep 28, 2024•1 hr 40 min
Jamie kindly permits Marsh to talk about Gold Teeth, the tabletop roleplaying game he’s Kickstarting, which is just an excuse to ramble at length about roleplaying games more broadly with excellent chums Jim Rossignol and Chris Lackey. Gold Teeth ! It’s a game of piracy and occult horror! Strange Studies of Strange Stories – an excellent podcast that deftly unpicks literary tales of the sinister, supernatural or simply weird. Well worth a sub . Patton Oswalt thinks so! Strange Stories is also so...
Sep 22, 2024•1 hr 16 min
Chris, Jamie and Marsh return to explain where the hell they’ve been, before launching into discussions of effervescent pie-em-up comedy game Thank Goodness You’re Here, following that with some entirely unbiased discussion of glorious turn based tactics game Tactical Breach Wizards. We also discuss cosmetic etiquette in the grimdark future hellwarscape of Warhammer: Space Marine 2, as well as briefly wandering betwixt the fireboys, electro-crocs and Spidermans of Shunt: Hoedown Hunt Showdown. S...
Sep 13, 2024•1 hr 42 min
Jamie and Marsh reel from Microsoft’s latest layoffs, mismanage time in Hades 2, paddle in the uncanny, chlorinated waters of Pools, devour the bite-sized city-building triumphs of Against the Storm, and indulge their flaws in The Thaumaturge. The last lay offs of 2024. Thankfully there won’t be any more of those! Phew!! Nathan Brown’s Hit Points newsletter which I incorrectly namechecked as Bullet Points. Look, there are only so many pithy game-related analogies to go around, ok? Hades 2 , the ...
May 17, 2024•1 hr 25 min
Jamie and Alex show their cards in deck-builders Balatro and Cobalt Core (poker- and space-flavoured respectively), before descending into the chaotic, cavernous depths of Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor and finally wrangling Dead Red Redemption 2 into completion. Balatro Cobalt Core Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor Red Dead Redemption 2 You can hang out with us and our community on our Discord channel . If you have a question for a future episode, send it to us at questions@crateandcrowbar.com or twee...
May 10, 2024•58 min
Chris and Marsh discuss disappointing children’s entertainment, disappointing sales figures, anti-mnemonic naming choices, the rulebreaking delight of card game Balatro, the dishonourable cheeses of Honor Mode in Baldur’s Gate 3, and return once more to Night Country. AI wrote cheques that Willy Wonker simply could not cash . Immortals of Aveum may not have sold well, but it really opens up your pores. Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is fine, probably, but it isn’t Balatro. Balatro is Balatro, and...
Mar 01, 2024•1 hr 45 min
Jamie and Marsh discuss the latest seasons of Fargo and True Detective, two anthology shows about troubling crimes and the yet more troubled cops who investigate them. Fargo was originally a film by the Coen Brothers, and was adapted to TV by Noah Hawley, who is also known for the show Legion. Also mentioned: Happy Valley, a superb crime show of a similar form, set in Yorkshire. The first season of True Detective was written by Nic Pizzolatto and directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga. The latest is wri...
Feb 25, 2024
Join Jamie and Chris as they join Past Jamie for a solo pod about train-sets and low-key terror in the demo deluge of Steam Next Fest. Then they return to the present, which is also now the past, to discuss smushing bugs in the name of Super Earth in Helldivers 2. All aboard the Jamie solo-pod! Choo choo! Brio Train Sets Rolling Line Tracks – The Train Set Game Steam Next Fest is a periodic event that brings a deluge of time-limited demos. Mouthwashing is a weird horror game. The Steam synopsis ...
Feb 16, 2024•1 hr 33 min
Tom F joins Marsh to make the biggest sticks in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, become the stick in Pacific island adventure Tchia, stick to walls in Jusant and stick it to space pirates in timeloop deckbuilder Cobalt Core. Just forbidden enough: Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is Tom’s game of 2023. Tactical Breach Wizards is Tom’s forthcoming game about wizards who breach tactically. It’s very good! Tchia is a joyous open world adventure in which you can possess any object. Jusant is a very beautiful...
Jan 26, 2024•1 hr 38 min
Marsh and Chris celebrate the new year by poking the wound in our psychic gestalt. Also: are AI tools ethical? Yeah, we solve that one. 100%. Bosh. Done. Also also: space whale visual novel South Scrimshaw, team shooter The Finals, Robocop: Rogue City, mystery game This Bed We Made, Pentiment and Cocoon. Alex’s COVID-recovery blogpost . He wouldn’t need to oxygenate his blood if he was a real man. South Scrimshaw Part One : a sci-fi visual novel written in the style of a nature documentary about...
Jan 12, 2024•1 hr 38 min
Chris, Jamie and Marsh reminisce on the year that was, the teeth they lost, oceans they regret leaving, algorithms that have failed them and, very eventually, the games they played. Bold takes on Baldur’s Gate, Dave the Diver, Cult of the Lamb [sexy], Witchfire and Chants of Sennaar. Games of the year we give barely more than a namecheck to: Cocoon, Destiny 2, Jedi Survivor, Vampire Survivors, Hunt: Showdown Baldur’s Gate 3: game of the year or… game of the decade?! Cult of the Lamb, a cartoon a...
Dec 22, 2023•1 hr 33 min
