Tom F and Marsh are joined and gently corralled by expert telly-brain Jamie Brittain to discuss the beloved Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Is it the greatest of all Treks? (Yes.) And why? And has the art that made it great been lost? Let’s begin these show notes as the series itself does: with its iconic theme tune. Sing along everyone! Doop-a-dee-do, bee doop-a-dee. Doop-a-dee-do, be doople-oo doo be-dee. Doop-a-dee-do, bee doop-a-diiii, be doople-oo-do-do do-do be-dee. If you want to refresh your...
Nov 19, 2021•1 hr 41 min
Alex and Chris talk a moderate amount about two games that talk a lot: Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy and its heroic banterboxes, and Forza Horizon 5 and its lovebombing festival of wheels. Also discussed: the newly announced SteamWorld, the latest Mass Effect tease, and Elden Ring. Apologies for some stuttering on Chris’s audio track during parts of the episode. Alex is energised by the announcement of a new SteamWorld game in another new genre. The news came as part of a livestream presented...
Nov 12, 2021
Chris, Tom and Marsh stick their hands in the hot-take box and withdraw spicy and/or arid opinions on Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of Dune, the seminal Fortnite emote. Great Whomps, Giger Babies and Very Expository Wives… this is only the beginning! Haris Durrani’s essay on the muslim influences and intertexts of Frank Herbert’s Dune . … And his subsequent essay on their notable absence from Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation. GI Joe PSAs GI Joe PSA parodies Weirding modules are an invention for Lyn...
Nov 05, 2021•1 hr 51 min
Alex and Marsh wander a cursed corner of England to shamelessly plug Marsh’s latest RPG venture, Stranger & Stranger, attempt to card-shark their way out of a cabin in Inscryption and hop, lightly, through hardcore roguelike Rift Wizard. Teeth: Stranger & Stranger is the name of Marsh and Jim’s roleplaying mini-campaign. Our last two games are Night of the Hogmen and Blood Cotillion . Forged in the Dark is the name of the ruleset we adapted, and Blades in the Dark is the game for which i...
Oct 29, 2021•1 hr 3 min
Marsh and Graham perform an act of self-sacrifice and of public service, by inviting all ten Fast And The Furious movies into the Crate And Crowbar, locking the doors, and setting the building alight. Yes! We discuss the entire Fast Saga, including the Dominic Toretto ennealogy and spin-off Hobbs & Shaw. As explained last week , this is the first in our new fortnightly series of lock-ins, in which we discuss a topic – whether game, TV show, movie, or mistake – in great detail. We categorise ...
Oct 22, 2021
Chris and Alex gather to put tshirts on an alligator in Far Cry 6 and flat caps on cat men in Splitgate. Also discussed: Chalomet, Crowe, weirs, Deathloop, and the future of the pod . Timothy Chalomet’s Wonka origin movie is sadly just called Wonka . You can watch papier-mâché Russell Crowe fall into Pultney weir anytime you want. Far Cry 6 is out (via Epic ) and it sure is more Far Cry. Here’s the referenced Wired article on what Far Cry 6 gets wrong about Cuba . Chris finished, and liked, Deat...
Oct 15, 2021
Marsh, Chris and Tom S journey through the Moebius-inspired deserts of Sable, bash through the skeleton-filled dungeons of Diablo 2 Resurrected, and call for mother in the little adventures of Battlefield 2042. To close, they trade little kisses with the film adaptation of The Green Knight. Sable is a beautiful, thoughtfully constructed adventure about the three verbs: map, climb and hoverbike. Diablo 2 Resurrected released and is a great game, as per the original, but it could do more to explai...
Oct 08, 2021
The traveller returns! Marsh, Alex and Tom F reunite to spin a tapestry about the swinging spider platformer Webbed, to swath the tactical satisfaction of WH40k: Battlesector in silk, and to suck the liquidised Deathloop through their mouth orifices. Also discussed: Marvel’s Midnight Suns, Tights In Fight Spaces, and Darth Maul naked in a shower. Marvel’s Midnight Suns is a new turn-based strategy game from the designer of XCOM, but with superheroes, cards and a lot of knockback. Fights In Tight...
Sep 24, 2021•1 hr 40 min
Alex and Tom S gather to discuss the surprising amount of PC news to emerge from this week’s PlayStation event, before moving on to the musical weaponry of roguelikelike shmup Beat Blast and the newly portable RPG with good teleportation, Divinity: Original Sin 2. Also discussed: progress in shmup Mushihimesama, ruining games with mods, a strange cat, and Keanu Reeves’ one good face. The Matrix Resurrections’ first trailer has Keanu doing his face . God Of War Ragnarok finally got a proper trail...
Sep 10, 2021•1 hr 18 min
Alex, Tom S and Graham retreat from the terrible non-fungible present into the comforting embrace of the past, with the sequel to cult classic Psychonauts, the recent remaster and expansion of Quake, and the last great real-time strategy game, Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance. Also discussed: a good boy, our hoarding instincts, and Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. The co-founder of Vine is creating NFTs out of videogame-style loot , without the videogame, and it’s selling for absurd sums of money. Cult c...
Sep 04, 2021•1 hr 23 min
Tom S and Chris gather to discuss the everyone-gets-an-F22 convenience apocalypse of Project Wingman, the flippy martial arts of Marvel’s Avengers: War For Wakanda, and the rise of civilization in the Civ-like Humankind. Also discussed: jackets in Cyberpunk, Among Us in Fortnite, and school plays in trouble. Cyberpunk 2077 received a new patch which added exactly what the troubled RPG shooter needed: two new jackets. And not a lot else . Chris has a secret love for videos of school plays going w...
Aug 20, 2021•1 hr 38 min
Alex and Tom Senior soak in the drippings of the rich in beautiful topdown shooter The Ascent, descend further into bullet hell via several classic shmups, and relax to the heavenly harp of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Plus, discussion of Call Of Duty’s Double Agent mode, and Tom’s back on the chess. Call Of Duty is getting an Among Us-style mode called Double Agent , in which some players will be team killers and bellends. Not sure what the mode is about, though. The Ascent is a stunning cyberpunk RPG...
Aug 06, 2021•1 hr 6 min
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: Wildermyth, Neurocracy, and why Day Of The Tentacle and point-and-click adventures are good actually. Valve announced the Steam Deck , a handheld gaming PC that runs every gam...
Jul 31, 2021•1 hr 45 min
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, and Léa Seydoux Kart Racing. Arkane released a ten-minute trailer for Deathloop that explained what Deathloop actually is . PlayStation’s State Of Play also brought a new tra...
Jul 10, 2021•1 hr 17 min
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, Graham pitches Alex a game about scooping people’s insides out. Quake turned 25 years old, with some level design jams to celebrate . The omni-talented Robert Yang made...
Jun 25, 2021•1 hr 17 min
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. Giancarlo Esposito was interviewed by Geoff Keighley during this year’s E3 , with chat about, uh, dictators and astrology. Weezer also played during the show , but maybe the...
Jun 19, 2021•2 hr 5 min
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 has been playing Monster Train , for you but not himself. God hates you in Overboard! , a mystery game in which you are the murderer from the makers of 80 Days. Sl...
Jun 05, 2021•1 hr 57 min
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 has also sold quite a lot of copies – 6.8 million, to be exact . Ignore that Graham said 6.2m on the pod. Far Cry 6 got its first proper t...
May 29, 2021•1 hr 46 min
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 Strauss Zelnick . Are Travis Scott and Calvin Harris the same person? Graham thinks so, but only one stomped around Fortnite . Only Ga...
May 21, 2021•1 hr 16 min
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 alive and well says man definitely not collecting stimulus cheques on behalf of Stadia. Fall Guys sprung a leak. Ouch. Would it be better if it was good? Dury’s out on Resident Evil Village ...
May 15, 2021•1 hr 29 min
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 / Humble Bundle and his anti-trust suit against Steam . Humble Bundle roll back on the removal of their sliders whereby customers can determine how much of a sale goes to charity. The IGF noms are o...
May 08, 2021•1 hr 35 min
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 no more . PLAY rises in its place. Explore fractal fleshscapes in Yedoma Globula . Rear Window The Game – Or Is It? Such questions ...
May 01, 2021•1 hr 45 min
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 Chung’s previous games include: Thirty Flights of Loving , a short-form spy thriller, and Quadrilateral Cowboy , a systemic hacking/heist game. Prime2D : a fan...
Apr 23, 2021•1 hr 27 min
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 Oxenfree 2 . The first one had a radio and you could talk over people. Epic’s hi-fi answer to Roblox elicits the full spectrum of reaction from cynicism to ambivalence. That be Core . Epic h...
Apr 17, 2021•1 hr 56 min
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 improve as a person, and the one weird trick – vikings hate it! – that’ll get Pip killed one hundred percent of the time. Heim. You can listen to this episode on YouTube...
Apr 02, 2021•1 hr 1 min
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 Nocturne Pulp Sonic to a blue slime in Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 . Marsh’s combined listi...
Apr 02, 2021•1 hr 27 min
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 . Sign-up to our newsletter , which will keep you abreast of forthcoming one-shots, as well as Teeth, the larger setting we are building up to, and contain other musings on ...
Mar 26, 2021•1 hr 32 min
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 a bit gunky. Top-down one-hit-kill massacre featuring a beardy woodsman, Bloodroots . They should have called it Lumberjerk . Gorgeous island-hopping survival g...
Mar 19, 2021•1 hr 22 min
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 and outside of them: Maquette . First person puzzler where things can big and small depending on your perspective and it turns out there’s nothing terribly interesting about this: Superl...
Mar 13, 2021•1 hr 31 min
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 now go lie down in the snow forever. Space wizard dress-up asset grind, Destiny 2, has had one of its modes nuked because of ingenious match-fixing . Ches...
Mar 06, 2021•2 hr
