Chris, Alex and both Toms celebrate the 5th anniversary of the podcast with gin and a digression to The David Cage. Plus: more Mooncrash, Yoku’s Island Express, Warhammer 40K: Gladius, and Objects In Space. That’s for my nan! And her house! Tom F’s further explorations of Prey: Mooncrash reveal a few rough edges. Alex has been playing Yoku’s Island Express . Tom S laments the lone X that remains in the grim darkness of the far future of Warhammer 40,000: Gladius . Everybody likes Vermintide II ....
Jul 20, 2018•2 hr 17 min
Chris and Pip discuss The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit, The Sims 4: Seasons, and lots more. This is definitely episode 246, and not, as Chris says, episode 247. Pip’s been playing these videogames: The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit The Sims 4: Seasons Cognizer Dr Frank’s Build A Boyfriend Ashi: Lake Of Light 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 tweet us @cr...
Jul 13, 2018•1 hr 54 min
Chris, Tom F and Alex consider the lovely Prey: Mooncrash, big Fortnite murders, a bit of Six Ages and why late capitalism is cool, actually. Here’s a Polygon article about the Fortite murder story, including videos and facts. We’ve all be playing Prey: Mooncrash , which we like a lot. The video that Tom mentions is this one . Alex has been playing King of Dragon Pass successor Six Ages , which isn’t out on PC yet. Roblox is the biggest game in the world that you don’t play or think about. You c...
Jul 06, 2018•1 hr 41 min
Chris, Tom, Tom and Alex contend with Guilty Gear Xrd, Lumines Remastered, Sword With Sauce, Jurassic World: Evolution, a bit of Vamypr, and get in deep with Big Scorsese. Tom S has been watching, and sometimes playing, Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- . Tom S and Alex have been playing Hackmud , which is weird for Chris. Alex has been enjoying the return of Lumines . Tom F has been spilling some bolognese in Sword With Sauce . Chris has spent the last couple of weeks in Jurassic World: Evolution and...
Jun 29, 2018•1 hr 44 min
Pip and the Toms discuss a surprising amount of news, most of it Steamy, then share thoughts on Jurassic World Evolution, Cryptark, Fortnite, and Assassin’s Creed: Origins. Chris has been hard at work on the wordy side of hackmud 2.0 , which is going live next week and will be 25% off when you read this. Steam now lets you follow developers, but there’s no general link for that, so gosh we’ll just have to pick a developer at random and link their page . How much have you spent on Steam in your l...
Jun 22, 2018•1 hr 57 min
In which Chris, Alex and Pip promise to avoid overanalysing E3, and to focus on the things we’re excited about, and then do exactly the opposite. John Shuttleworth’s I Can’t Back To Savoury Now , the soundtrack to this year’s E3, and indeed every year’s E3. From Bethesda: Fallout 76 (don’t forget to look up the Mothman!), Wolfenstein: Youngblood , and The Elder Scrolls VI: Todd’s High Rocks . FROM Software’s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice . Maneater , the game where you wanna be where the people are ...
Jun 15, 2018•2 hr 19 min
Chris, Tom F and John R chat Far: Lone Sails, Dicey Dungeons, Totally Accurate Battlegrounds and a bit of Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire. Plus: the secret handshakes shared by the kin of the brood-sergeant, top chuffin’, the Haddaway collab we’ve been waiting for, our hottest takes of 2013, an endless sense of Bluth, the Ferris Bueller Escalation Protocol, and Christina Aguilera’s ult. Hitman 2 has actually been announced with a trailer, now, rendering our speculation a bit pointless. Sorry! Jo...
Jun 08, 2018•1 hr 54 min
Pip, Chris and Alex consider the pre-E3 videogame news wasteland, revisit City of Brass, clean up House Flipper, and consider Idle Champions and the specific anxieties of the clicker genre. Plus: tragedy as volcanic death comes to Emmerdale. Here’s the trailer for Fallout 76 , and Kotaku’s article about what it actually is, maybe. Here’s the Battlefield V trailer . Chris and Alex revisit City of Brass , the charming game-where-you-start-over-if-you-die with very wangable hoops. Pip’s been flippi...
Jun 01, 2018•2 hr 3 min
Chris, Pip, Tom S and Alex dig deep to yield icy cold takes on Call of Duty: Blops Four, ‘Bio-Shock’, A Quiet Sleep, and assorted nonsense. Plus: the importance of Little Boots on the ground, the medium’s most lootable subcultures, whether it was or wasn’t all yellow, whether two Ayn Rands do indeed make an Ayn Right, and clampin’ yer old student. Here are all of the Call of Duty trailers . …and here’s RAGE 2 . Tom’s been playing RAGE 1 , explicably. Pip has been playing BioShock while listening...
May 25, 2018•2 hr 9 min
Chris, Pip, Tom F and – for one night only – Marsh (!) discuss Atomic Heart, more Far Cryin’, more Spire Slayin’, SpyParty, Murderous Pursuits, and City of Brass. Also: feeling nothing about sunsets, playing with orbs, holding for a moment in the hope position, the struggle of games to be effectively didactic, the history of the IGF, maximal train journey encumbrance limit livin’, and the magic of Paper Samples Day. Here’s the trailer for Atomic Heart . Marsh has been playing Iconoclasts , Gorog...
May 11, 2018•2 hr 3 min
Chris and Tom S discuss Red Dead Redemption 2, new Tomb Raider, the state of triple-A development in general, dogs again, and videogame Millibands. The Red Dead Redemption 2 trailer – a splash? Of musky cowboy… water? Destiny 2: Warmind – Chris will play it, because he’s already bought it. Tom was left cold by his first experience of Shadow of the Tomb Raider . 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 questi...
May 04, 2018•1 hr 31 min
Tom, Chris and Tom discuss Campo Santo’s move to Valve, the latest Ludum Dare, things what dogs do, Battletech, and Frostpunk. Plus: who you actually play as in The Sims, playing games rightly wrong, and legally mandating the ‘woo’ button. Here’s more on the Campo Santo news . Tom F’s big list o’ Ludum Dare recommendations includes PE@CE , Turn Based Asteroids Snake Roguelike , Crash Crops , Sheet Music Editor Shoot’Em Up , and Gone Vroom . Chris and Tom S have been playing Battletech and Frostp...
Apr 27, 2018•1 hr 52 min
Live from Rezzed! Chris, Tom F, Graham and Alex discuss their games of the show, and also Crusader Kings II. Plus: real live questions! Note: we’re still waiting to get the footage of this episode back from the Rezzed guys, so the YouTube version will be a little later than usual. Sorry! Here’s a PC Gamer article about Introversion’s latest, Order of Magnitude . Tom’s chosen this moment to attempt to learn Crusader Kings II . Disco Elysium : it’s really something. Capybara’s Below : making surpr...
Apr 20, 2018•1 hr 28 min
Chris talks to Hannah Flynn from Failbetter about Sunless Skies, life in game development, reaching broader audiences, the myriad flaws of Zoolander 2, and more. This is the last in our series of chats from Rezzed – hope you’ve enjoyed them! Find out more about Sunless Skies here , and find this episode on YouTube here . As ever, thanks to our Patreon backers ....
Apr 20, 2018•38 min
At Rezzed we sat down with Disco Elysium design and writing lead Robert Kurvitz to discuss entering the games industry as an artist, the complexities of RPG design, politics, and disco. Find out more about Disco Elysium here, and you can listen to this episode on YouTube if you prefer. The Crate & Crowbar is supported by our Patreon backers – for more about how that works, click here ....
Apr 18, 2018•40 min
Surprise! While we were at Rezzed we recorded a series of short, informal chats with interesting gamespeople. In this first episode, Chris and Alex sit down with X-COM creator Julian Gollop and Snapshot Games co-founder David Kaye to talk Phoenix Point. You can find out more about Phoenix Point on the game’s official site and, if you prefer, listen to this episode on YouTube . The Crate & Crowbar is supported by our Patreon backers – for more about how that works, click here ....
Apr 17, 2018•31 min
Chris, Alex and Tom S consider the end of SteamSpy, Radical Heights, Jalopy, All Walls Must Fall, and Tom’s daily Slay The Spire tendency. Plus: too much rum, wonky grammar lessons, and the low hop of the robots. SteamSpy announces its inability to continue operating via tweet . Boss Key’s Radical Heights . Here’s Alice O’Connor being funny about Plunkbat . Alex has been playing Jalopy . Chris has been playing All Walls Must Fall incorrectly. Tom just cant stop Slayin’ That Spire . You can hang ...
Apr 13, 2018•1 hr 58 min
Tom F, Chris and Alex discuss Far Cry 5 (again), Superhot VR, and Minit. Then, a chat about Into The Breach is followed by questions from questions calamity. Plus: the mystery of the third Tom, the lamentable sacking of the sex helicopter, and – what comes, dangling upon a string? Toot toot, it’s the low-hanging flute! Tom and Alex dig deeper into their thoughts re: Far Cry 5 , its buddies, and its sex helicopter. Chris’ VR odyssey finds a destination in Superhot VR . Brass Tactics is also nice....
Apr 06, 2018•1 hr 51 min
Chris, Pip reunite with Tom Francis to discuss GDC highlights, Sunless Skies, Far Cry 5, and first impressions of All Walls Must Fall. You can find the full IGF results here . Everybody love a bit of Wobble Garden . Rezzed! We’re doing it. Pip’s been playing Sunless Skies . Tom has been playing Far Cry 5 and All Walls Must Fall . Here’s Daniel Solis’ graph of victory arcs . Chris has found much to like in Tyler Hurd’s VR music videos . You can hang out with us and our community on our Discord ch...
Mar 30, 2018•2 hr 10 min
Chris and Pip gather in GDC week to discuss basically no news from GDC, many short games you should play, and space mistakes you shouldn’t make in Scavenger SV-4. Plus: a showcase of Pip’s ability to remember a grudge from four years ago, but not a song from last week. Jalopy is out next week. Here’s Pip tale of NOTHING BUT SAUSAGE SUCCESS . Here’s James Davenport’s article about Giant Sparrow’s animal-centric next game . Pip’s been playing a whole load of short, interesting games: Skreal Birdla...
Mar 23, 2018•2 hr 10 min
Pip, Chris and Alex discuss Artifact, Deep Rock Galactic, Vermintide II, and the inevitable end of everything. Plus: π bake it, Garfield’s first name, co-op FOMO, the dings of Catchphrase, Dota Plus, and my libido (an Amiibo.) Anyone for questions? I’ll pour! This is Artifact , the Dota 2 card game, from Vlav. And this is Tim Clark’s exhaustive article about it. Sam Barlow’s new interactive TV thing, #WarGames , is out now. Alex has been enjoying the dwarves of Deep Rock Galactic … …while Chris ...
Mar 16, 2018•2 hr 4 min
Tom S, Chris and Alex check in on VR, consider the gorgeous eggs of Final Fantasy XV, and ponder the literary aspirations of Beckett. Oculus’ critical Rift whoopsie has now been resolved . Here’s The Day Today’s remarkable foreshadowing of the experience of using Google Earth VR. Here’s Final Fantasy XV . And here’s the most important thing about Final Fantasy XV . Alex has been playing Beckett . We digress (imagine!) to discuss how great Thirty Flights of Loving is. Chris doesn’t have a GTX 108...
Mar 09, 2018•1 hr 56 min
Tom, Tom and Chris discuss a range of ways in which one might fail upwards, from Into The Breach to Phoenix Point to the spooky bayou of Hunt: Showdown. Plus: my dog ate Hunt The Freeman, accent quandries, questionable etymology, and a sad dearth of whale colour options. Into The Breach is out now and, well, it’s very good. Phoenix Point is Julian Gollops’ upcoming crab battler. Hunt: Showdown is a weird multiplayer experiment that Chris quite likes, so good luck to it. CJKinni’s Brough-Like Tur...
Mar 02, 2018•2 hr
Pip, Alex and Tom F are back to once again tackle the tough topic of turtle taxonomy. Also games about Garys (Legendary Gary), games by Garys (Abandon Ship), and it would round this out nicely if the other two games related to Garys but they don’t. Cypher and Fe. Also, we’re doing a live show at Rezzed! It’ll be recorded but if you do want to come along, it’s 4.30pm on the Saturday. You’ll need a Rezzed ticket for that day. Choose which finger to give people in Legendary Gary Fe is pronounced ‘f...
Feb 23, 2018•1 hr 49 min
Pip, Tom F and Alex discuss knowing your enemy in Slay the Spire, dabbling In Other Waters, Dear Esther Live, and turning your tentacles into chickens and bees in Octogeddon. Also: Slay the Spire is in Early Access but already worth it. In Other Waters is about halfway to its goal on Kickstarter . Last Man Kicking is a cheap spin-off of the forthcoming Last Man Sitting. More info on Dear Esther Live . Octogeddon is the new thing from Plants vs Zombies creator George Fan. It’s £10. You can hang o...
Feb 16, 2018•2 hr 30 min
Tom S and Chris are joined by Alex Wiltshire to discuss Into The Breach’s imminent release, why it’s okay to hunt monsters if they’re bastards, RPG combat design and more. Plus: a brief return to Subnautica and further musings on the ocean willies therein; the secret missing element to Subnautica’s survival formula; toxicity, Dota 2, PUBG, sport, and why the internet is bad perhaps. Into The Breach is out on the 27th of February! Tom’s new game is Tactical Breach Wizards . Everybody’s playing Mo...
Feb 09, 2018•2 hr
Tom F, Chris and John R discuss… ‘computer games’. Including but not limited to Iconoclasts, Celeste, Subnautica and Slay The Spire. Plus: wrench size considerations, creating modes for Bennett Foddy (to hurt him), and that thing where Chris says ‘I’m not going to go deep on this’ and then does that. Paragon is no more . Here’s that GOG tweet about Opus Magnum. John’s been playing Iconoclasts . Tom has been playing Celeste . Here is that video of a platform game that hates you. Chris has been pl...
Feb 02, 2018•1 hr 50 min
Join Pip under the sea as she heroically embarks on a one-Pip Subnautica special. Featuring the sounds (and underwater bellows) of the game itself. Apologies for the shaky schedule of late: we’ve had extensive holiday-and-illness-related scheduling problems over the last couple of weeks. Expect regular service to resume next week, and Patreon backers should note that they won’t be charged for anything short of a full pod. Pip’s been playing Subnautica . You might be able to tell. You can hang ou...
Jan 26, 2018•52 min
Dark Souls. Is it news? Chris and Pip ponder this and other subjects, including Subnautica’s imminent release, Paladins’ imminent Battlegrounds mode, and Bennett Foddy’s imminent Getting Over It. Here’s info about Dark Souls Remastered . Also, Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age , which is a thing. As is Total War: Three Kingdoms . And Subnautica . Pip reports back from Atlanta about Paladins: Battlegrounds . Chris has been having a surprisingly relaxed time with Getting Over It . Finally, Dark So...
Jan 12, 2018•1 hr 36 min
Both Toms join Chris to discuss Recursed, Bridge Constructor Portal, Gorogoa, GTA Online, PUBG, and the games we’re looking forward to in 2018. Plus: a games-from-books jam idea that actually works, things horses don’t do, a bit of Mad Max, a whole lot of boats, and more. Boats. Here’s the IGF shortlist ! Congrats, Tom! Baba Is You has a good trailer . Tom F has been playing the mind-bending Recursed . Chris has been playing Bridge Constructor Portal . He calls it ‘Bridge Simulator Portal’ for t...
Jan 04, 2018•1 hr 47 min
