Meta Abuse

What was once hyped to be a second coming of Starcraft 2 ended up a sad failure. Was it just some bad luck or was there more systemic mismanagement and betrayal of trust behind the failure?

Episode 0017 is a audio only episode with Ben, Shaun and Drexy. We're looking at games and expansions we're excited for in 2026.Topics include:Distant Worlds 2,Anno series,ZEPHON,Shadow Empire Republica,Total War Franchise, Rogue TraderMechanicus 2Songs of Syx

Episode 0016 is a audio only episode with LucidTactics and Shaun, where we're discussing a wide variety of topics from the new incoming Steam computer and peripherals, some new games like Escape from Duckov (or, how to make money with anthropomorphic animal violence) and the excellent games design that is Eador Genesis: New Horizons.

Episode 15 is a catch-up with podcast regulars DasTactic & Richard Yorke, and we discuss the games we've enjoyed over 2025, including The Fertile Crescent, Menace, ZEPHON and many more!

Imperialis and Battlemode/Ben discuss Armageddon Empires, a fairly obscure but criminally underrated gem of a sci-fi 4X by the excellent Cryptic Comet. This was Vic Davis' first really big game before Solium Infernum and we think it's a masterpiece of games design.

​Ben and Shaun dig into their Steam libraries and discuss the ways in which some of their favourite games innovate on formulas used in existing IPs and genres.

​Lucid Tactics, Ben (Battlemode) and Shaun (FragTactics) take a look at some recent gaming news, focusing on Dawn of War 4, and some of the gaming issues that surround the RTS genre. We discuss Vampire the Masquerade 2 and the recent MGS3 Delta remake game.

LucidTactics, BATTLEMODE and Mark MSX from The Electric Underground discuss the idea that video games increasingly seem to be developed in a way that favours new or casual players, at the expense of more hardcore "gamers" with years or even decades of legacy skill. There's a lot of back and forth and everybody has their own take on what's going on here, and we hope you enjoy the discussion!

LucidTactics, BATTLEMODE and FragTactics discuss the nature and challenges of getting your strategy game to scale in a satisfying way. How do we manage players snowballing in power? Is it a desirable thing? Or a problem that needs to be eliminated? We show some examples of games with notable scaling mechanics as ponder on whether these can be added to other genres.

DasTactic and BATTLEMODE interview Andrew Greenberg from Holistic Design Inc. Andrew is a veteran games designer known for his work on Vampire: The Masquerade, Warhammer 40k: Final Liberation and many more. In this interview, Andrew tells us about his classic 4X/RPG hybrid game Emperor of the Fading Suns Enhanced, which just released onto Steam!

In this episode, Lucid and Ben are joined by Mark MSX from ‪@TheElectricUnderground‬ to discuss the nature of games critique today, and the effect it has on the design of the games we play. We deep dive into the value of Steam reviews to both gamers and developers, how useful is the IGN-owned mainstream games journalism media machine now, how developers use Metacritic, and how all this affects the...

Ben, Shaun and Drexy from eXplorminate discuss many issues, including Unreal Engine and Unity, and the potential ramifications this has on the end product. We also discuss some recent(ish) news and talk about some games that we've been playing!

Ben, Lucid and DasTactic discuss the fantasy 4X Age of Wonders 4 by Triumph Studios, in what may be part 1 of a likely 2 part series.

Ben and Shaun catch up with Drexy from eXplorminate and discuss the new Path of Exile 2 early access, Civilization 7's mixed reception on launch, Distant Worlds 2 and more! (00:00) Introduction(01:07) Path of Exile 2(16:41) Civilization VII(30:57) The Hobbit (ZX Spectrum)(39:18) ZEPHON(44:07) Distant Worlds 2(59:45) Kingdom Come Deliverance 2

This is the first episode where we have all five regular presenters together: Ben, Shaun, Richard Yorke, Lucid Tactics and DasTactic and discuss our favourite games of 2024!

Ben and Shaun are joined by Lucid Tactics to deep dive into the RTS genre - its history, the current state of the genre and their predictions for its future.

Ben & Shaun talk about the Game Awards, the game review process, some news and what games they've been playing. Timestamps: (00:00:00) Introduction (00:01:15) Game Awards Nominations (00:20:12) Games Reviews: Timeliness vs. Accuracy (00:27:30) STALKER Series (00:37:17) Metal Slug Tactics (00:43:03) Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O and VF6 (00:53:10) 2xKO (00:54:16) How Do You Onboard New Players Witho...

Ben & Shaun chat about MechWarrior 5: Clans, ZEPHON, Hooded Horse, SEGA, as well as their thoughts on their own gaming habits and games industry sustainability. Timestamps: (00:00:00) Introduction (00:03:08) Gameplay Density in Modern Gaming (00:07:10) Witcher 3 (00:10:22) Metal Gear Solid V (00:13:25) Ubisoft's Open World Games (00:15:38) MechWarrior 5: Clans (00:24:53) ZEPHON (00:54:15) Hood...