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The Crate and Crowbar

The Crate and Crowbarcrateandcrowbar.com
A group of friends who work in the games industry meet up once a week to talk about PC games over a drink. “Off-the-cuff” is a polite way to say “unprofessional”, right?

Episodes

Episode 376: The Wax People Who Die

It’s all hands on deck – Steam Deck, that is – as Alex, Tom F and Graham gather to discuss Valve’s latest foray into hardware territory. Plus, Tom explains the comforts of roguelike deckbuilder Roguebook, and Alex uncovers the mysterious city of (people who might be turned into) gold in The Forgotten City. Also discussed: [...]

Jul 31, 20212 hr 45 min

Episode 375: New-Agey Laser Dolphin

Chris and Tom S gather under the watchful eye of a seagull and discuss the car horror of Beware, the stuck-to-a-toilet horror of Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster, and the geometric horror of sorting rectangles in Tetris Effect. Also discussed: in what year we’d happily be trapped, our best and least liked noises, [...]

Jul 10, 20211 hr 17 min

Episode 374: Uncomfortable About My Organs

Alex and Graham discuss 2D platformers… with a twist! Graham punts himself through the magnetic levels of Super Magbot while Alex swims in the inky droplets of Ynglet. Plus, lizard tummies are rubbed in Little Witch In The Woods, and Quake’s 25th anniversary is celebrated via the medium of envying Robert Yang’s talent. To finish, [...]

Jun 25, 20211 hr 17 min

Episode 373: Gary Barlow’s Space Crusade

Marsh, Tom S and Chris look back over the week of E3 announcements, from Giancarlo Esposito’s opinion of dictators, to the reveal of Peter Quiff in Guardians Of The Galaxy, to the onslaught of Left 4 Deadlikes. Also discussed: several dozen other E3 reveals, plus Tom’s new computer ennui, and Chris’s fondness for Chivalry 2. [...]

Jun 19, 20212 hr 5 min

Episode 372: A Very Feral AutoDog To You

There’s a logjam down the River Take and Chris and Alex join Tom F to help clear it, smashing through Monster Train, Overboard!, Slipways, Unexplored 2, Necromunda: Hired Gun, Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, Subnautica Below Zero, and Griftlands. Where the river meets the sea, Chris and Alex drown some old games they once loved. Chris [...]

Jun 05, 20212 hr 57 min

Episode 371: Tarnish This Pony’s Big Day

Chris and Graham challenge Valheim’s developers to stop over-hyping ponies, launch Far Cry 6 opinions like missiles from a Katyusha backpack, and definitively answer why people like Warhammer via the turn-based strategy of Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Storm Ground. Valheim’s developers bought a pony. An incredible flex, but why must they call it a horse?Valheim [...]

May 29, 20212 hr 46 min

Episode 370: The Dynamism Of Chewing

Alex, Tom S and Graham walk towards the light and enter the hot, sweaty, concrete podspace. Inside they discuss strobing, IGF-nominated art game Kristallijn, the lovingly recreated concrete formwork of Control, and the tiny tug-of-war strategy of Warpips. A Take-Two earnings call revealed GTA5 has sold over 145 million copies.The metaverse is already here, says [...]

May 21, 20211 hr 16 min

Episode 369: Release The Crank-Snapper

Tom S, Chris and Marsh return to the camp castle carnage of Resident Evil Village and form a merry band to rob from the rich and give to the winch in Hood: Outlaws & Legends. Plus: all the latest Branagh news in BranaghWatch. Feel emotions about space in Mass Effect, which is back, legendarily. Stadia’s [...]

May 15, 20211 hr 29 min

Episode 368: Nothing Must Be Learned

Alex, Graham and Tom S salivate over Epic v Apple goss, ponder IGF noms, wander Resident Evil Village, batter Bydos in R-Type Final 2, boggle polys in The Catacombs of Solaris Revisited and brave uwu in Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion. A synopsis of the Epic v Apple suit so far. David Rosen of Wolfire [...]

May 08, 20212 hr 35 min

Episode 367: Only Dugtrio Forgives

Graham, Chris and Marsh scout the fractal spaces of Yedoma Globula, snoop on the neighbours in The Flower Collectors, bend extra dimensions in Portal Reloaded, abruptly retopologise in Warzone and poke a post-patch Cyberpunk. Please buy Blood Cotillion and our other stuff! Wolfire games is launching an anti-trust suit against Steam. Official Playstation Magazine is [...]

May 01, 20212 hr 45 min

Episode 366: Hugging Slimes Funds Terrorism

Tom S, Alex and Marsh are generated by an algorithm to assemble words about fan-made Metroid game Prime 2D, digiperson creator Metahuman, hellish refresh Diablo II: Resurrected, weirdo retro Mr. Do! and cosmic metaphor Genesis Noir. A new trailer for Skin Deep by Brendon Chung (aka Blendo Games). It’s systemic-y Die Hard in Space! Brendon [...]

Apr 23, 20211 hr 27 min

Episode 365: Clocks Don’t Exist

Tom F, Chris, Alex and Graham debate values of Cuno in Disco Elysium: The Final Cut, hit weak-spots in Boomerang X, are underwhelmed by the underworld of Paradise Lost, somehow tolerate the lore of Ghostrunner and forget the name of Trials of Fire. There’s another one of those games that they do. This one is [...]

Apr 17, 20212 hr 56 min

Valheim: A Lock-In at The Crate and Crowbar

Heim! In this mini-pod, Pip and Chris have a chat about their experience of paddling their way towards Valheim’s (current) endgame. Beware! There’s an open discussion of the game’s contents, and that means potential spoilers. On the way we discuss the myriad ‘heim crimes of Philippa Warr, the myriad ways in which Chris stands to [...]

Apr 02, 20211 hr 1 min

Episode 364: Sword Croutons From The Sword Soup

Graham and Marsh enjoy the after-hours delights of shortform curiosity-shopping experience Dépanneur Nocturne and imagine popping Sonic like a balloon in Puyo Puyo Tetris 2. CDProjekt released a company strategy video. Many insights therein. Mexican stand-off generator Subrosa is out in Early Access… again? Still? Shoulda called it Doublecrossy Road. Evocative night-time tchotchke-acquisition simulator Dépanneur [...]

Apr 02, 20211 hr 27 min

Episode 363: The Most Corrupt Dog Names Known To Man

Tom S and Marsh face ghosts and goats in idiosyncratic alpine horror game Mundaun, smash demons apart like satanic pinatas in Doom Eternal, take a swing at Mortal Kombat 11 and murder murders in the latest Hunt: Showdown event. Jim Rossignol and Marsh have together written a one-shot table-top RPG, called Night of the Hogmen. [...]

Mar 26, 20212 hr 32 min

Episode 362: The Carrot-Shaped Hole In My Life

Tom F, Alex and Graham brawl through dungeons in Curse of the Dead Gods, use vegetables as truncheons in Bloodroots, scavenge for luncheons in Windbound and Valheim, and destroy dry stone walls without compunction in Forza Horizon 4. Stylish and impactful dungeon brawler, Curse of the Dead Gods – but its curse management innovation feels [...]

Mar 19, 20211 hr 22 min

Episode 361: Good Killing Slippers

Tom S, Graham and Marsh put on their luckiest killing slippers and put the shoe into JRPGs Dragon Quest XI and Bravely Default 2. Plus, recursive first-person puzzler Maquette, the valblue of subs, and a sorry end in the football cul-de-sac. First person puzzler where things are big and small and you are in them [...]

Mar 13, 20212 hr 31 min

Episode 360: The Omelette Of Games

Alex, Tom F, Chris and Marsh colonise the skies in Airborne Kingdom, recolonise the lands of Loop Hero, overheat colonists in Terraforming Mars and perforate colons in brutal duelling sim Hellish Quart. Also the soviet miserablism of HROT. Kiss kiss! Doomed libertarian expedition, Artifact, has finally eaten the last of its own shoes and will [...]

Mar 06, 20212 hr

Episode 359: The Least Nourishing Bant

Alex, Tom S and Graham push right in the wordless storyworld of Voyage, bash chitin in the bullet hell of Mushihimesama and gush over affectionate genre-hopping satire Lair of the Clockwork God. If you feel you’ve been harmed by the discussion of pizza in this podcast, please contact our Culinary Crime Office on 1800-DONT-AT-ME. Anthem, [...]

Feb 26, 20212 hr 45 min

Episode 358: A Messy Appendage That Can’t Ever Satisfy Itself

Both Toms, Graham and Marsh defy death in timeloop horror House, deal death in globetrotting trilogy Hitman, dodge death in smart shmup Bezier and become death in Death Crown. Also: streamlined space strat Slipways and the joy of City Guesser. It’s reverse-Hitman: House. Reverse-reverse-Hitman: 360 Hitman / Hitman III / Hitman 8 / World of [...]

Feb 19, 20212 hr 31 min

Episode 357: A Trite, Shapeless Opinion Of Indeterminate Size

Chris, Alex and Marsh boot up modern games made for ye olde machines (Micro Mages, Nox Archaist and Tanglewood), put the boot into baddies in Shady Knight, woodchip birdies in Journey to the Savage Planet and chop wood in Nordic survival hit Valheim. Marty O’Donnell primes his Plangent Hero Horn for the return of Six [...]

Feb 12, 20212 hr 46 min

Episode 356: Maggots, Leggings, Wizards… Diablo!

Graham, Tom S, Alex and Chris numb themselves with Hexceed and Dungeon & Puzzles; inexplicably return to Syberia; defy the predictions of Gods Will Fall; hop, skip and jump through Olija; and holiday in Hitman III. Stadia shutters its game-making efforts. “Google was a terrible place to make games. Imagine Amazon, but under-resourced.” Oof. A [...]

Feb 05, 20212 hr 46 min

Episode 355: Climb Up A Wookie And Sync

Tom S, Chris and Marsh sink into the obliviating waters of Hades and World of Warcraft, gun gribblies in Soulsian sleeper hit Remnant: From the Ashes, blindly steer a nation in Suzerain and snap critters in Penko Park’s kooky safari. Fire-extinguisher-head-bonk-sim, Hitman 3 is out! Disney’s Lucasgames’ Arts Films Games: there’s a Ubisoft Star War [...]

Jan 22, 2021

Episode 354: All That Goddamn Scooching

Toms F and S are joined by Alex to discuss Monster Train’s forthcoming factions, go full dork over emulation widget MiSTer and be disappointed by England – in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, too! Ha! Ha! Ha! Cyberpunk 2077’s developers have conceded the existence of linear time, but not much else, in their roadmap. Ogle Dead End [...]

Jan 15, 20212 hr 50 min

A C&C Chat with Christian Donlan: Ram Yourself Into an Emu Until It Kills You

Bonus episode! Tom chats to top games critic and lovely person Christian Donlan in a meandering discussion about Star Trek, old Mario games, classic sci-fi films, Rogue, and much more. And then Christian’s cat makes an appearance, which just makes everything even better. The main C&C pod shall resume service shortly! Also another film ‘n [...]

Jan 12, 20211 hr 1 min

The Crate and Crowbar Film and TV Pod 002: The Evil Influence of Disco Dancers

Tom and Jamie gathered many weeks ago to record a whole new meandering chat through our film and TV obsessions of the moment! With Christmas just around the corner, Tom has finally found the time to publish this one as a hopefully fun bonus episode for the holiday season. 2020 is ending; hooray! We hope [...]

Dec 23, 20202 hr 49 min

Episode 353: Shadow Of The Segue Vampire

Graham, Tom S, Chris, Tom F, Alex and Marsh pile into the electronic telephone booth for our Game of the Year episode. Many things are discussed, some of which are even games that came out this year. Here’s the whole lot of them. Don’t read ahead if you want to rubberneck at the beautiful carnage [...]

Dec 19, 20202 hr 7 min

Episode 352: The Late-Capitalist Scream

Chris, Tom S and Marsh dial in to the eZone to digichat about obvious replicant Geoff Keighley’s latest data-dump, before opening up our brainchips to irrecoverable corruption by the Cyberpunk 2077 discourse. Suffer the many newses beamed from Geoff Keighley’s Laser Cage. Bioware had trailers for new Dragon Age and Mass Effect projects, both offering [...]

Dec 14, 20202 hr 6 min

Episode 351: Tell Me I’m Bad And Special

Chris, Alex and Marsh arrive belatedly at the zeitgeist of September 2018 with a helluva yikes. Like gazpacho soup, enjoy these takes cold: World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Fortnite done some big numbers. But are they that big? Yes, but imagine the concurrents if you had to feed [...]

Dec 04, 20202 hr 32 min

Episode 350: Mangonels All The Way Down

Chris, Graham and Alex heed the wisdom of the Time-ramisu and peer into the future of mecha strategy game Phantom Brigade, the alternative past of tactics game Möbius Front ’83, and an eternity of Destiny 2. The Golden Joysticks happened again and proved to be an exacting measure of how people who voted in this [...]

Nov 27, 20202 hr 10 min