Tales from the Backlog

Support my work on Patreon- https://patreon.com/realdavejackson Discord, Socials and more- https://linktr.ee/talesfromthebacklog Join Dave and special guest Josh Galecki (Pixelated Playgrounds, Moonroof Studios) to take a long walk into the woods of Baby Steps. Developed by Bennett Foddy, Gabe Cuzillo and Maxi Boch and published by Devolver Digital, Baby Steps is an extremely unique game, one wher...

Support my work on Patreon- https://patreon.com/realdavejackson Discord, Socials and more- https://linktr.ee/talesfromthebacklog Guest info: Doug Lief (he/him) and Gen Moonen (they/them) Listen to Nostalgium Arcanum https://nostalgiumarcanum.fireside.fm/ Listen to Playing By Ear https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/playing-by-ear/id1815995146 Listen to Still Muppeting https://www.patreon.com/c/st...

Support my work on Patreon- https://patreon.com/realdavejackson Discord, Socials and more- https://linktr.ee/talesfromthebacklog Join Dave and special guest TroytlePower as they discuss Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines, developed by Troika Games and published by Activision in 2004. Any recommendation to play Bloodlines comes with all sorts of disclaimers attached, which makes it nearly irresist...

Support my work on Patreon- https://patreon.com/realdavejackson Discord, Socials and more- https://linktr.ee/talesfromthebacklog Dave recaps 13 indie games that he played on the PAX East 2026 show floor. TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 0:25 The Secret of Weepstone 2:05 Throwback! Jai-Alai Heroes 2:59 Canvas City 3:51 DREADMOOR 5:03 Fractured Blooms 6:20 GNAW 7:31 Valor Mortis 8:32 Well Dweller 9:39 Never's...

Support my work on Patreon- https://patreon.com/realdavejackson Discord, Socials and more- https://linktr.ee/talesfromthebacklog Join Dave and guest Travis Colenutt on their language-learning journey up the tower in Chants of Sennaar (Rundisc, Focus Entertainment, 2023). What do our languages say about our culture, and how can learning another language change the way we see the world? All of this...

Support my work on Patreon- https://patreon.com/realdavejackson Discord, Socials and more- https://linktr.ee/talesfromthebacklog Join Dave and guest Bryan Skursha as they deep dive Death Howl (The Outer Zone, 11 Bit Studios, 2025) on their journey through the underworld to find out what the hell a soulslike deckbuilder even is. Brutal turn-based combat, a story about grieving and a mother's love,...

Support my work on Patreon- https://patreon.com/realdavejackson Discord, Socials and more- https://linktr.ee/talesfromthebacklog Join Dave and special guest Josh Leslie as they discuss Skate Story, developed by Sam Eng and published by Devolver Digital in 2025. How does the skating compare to touchstone games like Tony Hawk's Pro Skater or skate.? How does its poetic storytelling land? How do the...

Support my work on Patreon- https://patreon.com/realdavejackson Discord, Socials and more- https://linktr.ee/talesfromthebacklog Bioshock is a title that carries weight, nearly 20 years after its 2007 release by 2K Boston and 2K Australia, and it feels like one that every gaming podcast eventually talks about. And hey, it's our turn this time- Bioshock has long been a favorite of mine that I've re...

Support my work on Patreon- https://patreon.com/realdavejackson Discord, Socials and more- https://linktr.ee/talesfromthebacklog I always tend to take note when a game from previous generations gets a remaster and the general consensus is "hell yeah, finally!", which just so happened to be the case when Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (Capcom, 2010) got the HD treatment in 2023. The DS is a real bl...

Support my work on Patreon- https://patreon.com/realdavejackson Discord, Socials and more- https://linktr.ee/talesfromthebacklog Ghost of Tsushima (2020) was one of my favorite games of that year, and happens to be episode 2(!!) of this podcast, an early game that screamed to me "you should talk about this into a microphone for 2+ hours). That being the case, Sucker Punch's follow-up, Ghost of Yot...

Support my work on Patreon- https://patreon.com/realdavejackson Discord, Socials and more- https://linktr.ee/talesfromthebacklog The Pokémon franchise got a long-awaited shakeup with 2022's Legends: Arceus, changing the game structure, catching and battling mechanics and setting. But now that Legends has become its own subseries with 2025's Legends: Z-A, all eyes were on its own innovations and ch...

Support my work on Patreon- https://patreon.com/realdavejackson Discord, Socials and more- https://linktr.ee/talesfromthebacklog Goodnight Universe had a lot to live up to as the spiritual successor to Before Your Eyes, utilizing the same innovative webcam-based gameplay mechanics to tell a story...about a psychic baby? Well, the premise sounded weird but these creators had earned my trust, and it...

Support my work on Patreon- https://patreon.com/realdavejackson Discord, Socials and more- https://linktr.ee/talesfromthebacklog In the eyes of many football fans, 2004 was the greatest year for football games. It also happened to be the last year before EA secured the exclusive rights to the NFL license, leaving many fans wishing we could go back to the way things were back then, and we were left...

Want more Dark Souls 2 podcasts? Support my work on Patreon- https://patreon.com/realdavejackson Discord, Socials and more- https://linktr.ee/talesfromthebacklog Every beloved series has its black sheep- Mario has Sunshine, Zelda has the DS games, and Dark Souls has Dark Souls 2. But to me, the things that make Dark Souls 2 divisive are the things that make it interesting. Not every new decision i...

Support my work on Patreon- https://patreon.com/realdavejackson Discord, Socials and more- https://linktr.ee/talesfromthebacklog Very few games have ever had the hype cycle that Hollow Knight: Silksong (Team Cherry, 2025) had, so the question remained once the game was finally released- did it live up to the hype? Clown masks and Nintendo Direct comment section explosions quickly gave way to Disco...

Support my work on Patreon- https://patreon.com/realdavejackson Discord, Socials and more- https://linktr.ee/talesfromthebacklog In the midst of so many games and podcasts with heavy story themes, sometimes it's nice to just play a video game-ass video game. And so here we have Crazy Taxi (Sega, 2000), plowing through a bunch of mailboxes on its way to the podcast schedule. This is a seminal game,...

Support my work on Patreon- https://patreon.com/realdavejackson Join the Tales from the Backlog Discord server and make your own resolutions!- https://discord.gg/kAqSBb6jH2 Socials and more- https://linktr.ee/talesfromthebacklog For the past few years, we've been making "backlog resolutions" each year- choosing a list of games from our libraries that we keep telling ourselves "I'm gonna play that...

Support my work on Patreon- https://patreon.com/realdavejackson Discord, Socials and more- https://linktr.ee/talesfromthebacklog All paid patrons can listen to a bonus episode about our favorite non-2025 games that we played this year! https://www.patreon.com/posts/our-favorite-non-146887020 It's that time! End of the year time! Games of the year time! This year I polled Discord and Patreon member...

Support my work on Patreon- https://patreon.com/realdavejackson Join the Tales from the Backlog Discord server- https://discord.gg/kAqSBb6jH2 Buy me a coffee on Ko-fi- https://ko-fi.com/realdavejackson With the world being the way it is, it's a rare treat to play a game that's just pure joy from start to finish, and that is exactly what Astro Bot (Team Asobi, Sony, 2024) brings. From the opening c...

Support my work on Patreon- https://patreon.com/realdavejackson Join the Tales from the Backlog Discord server- https://discord.gg/kAqSBb6jH2 Buy me a coffee on Ko-fi- https://ko-fi.com/realdavejackson There is a certain type of atmospheric (usually) indie game that gets praised for its tone, vibes and emotional impact, but sometimes criticized for underbaked or limited gameplay mechanics. Walking...

Support my work on Patreon- https://patreon.com/realdavejackson Join the Tales from the Backlog Discord server- https://discord.gg/kAqSBb6jH2 Buy me a coffee on Ko-fi- https://ko-fi.com/realdavejackson One of the best things about the thriving indie game scene is that dead genres come back to life, and nothing exemplifies that more than the return of the blobber/first-person dungeon crawler with A...

Support my work on Patreon- https://patreon.com/realdavejackson Discord, Socials and more- https://linktr.ee/talesfromthebacklog What could Nintendo possibly do to follow up the game that "saved gaming" for me? Well, they simply iterated on and evolved everything about Breath of the Wild to make one of the most creativity and freedom-focused games ever. It's simple, really- why don't more people t...

Support my work on Patreon- https://patreon.com/realdavejackson Join the Tales from the Backlog Discord server- https://discord.gg/kAqSBb6jH2 Buy me a coffee on Ko-fi- https://ko-fi.com/realdavejackson Some games just stand out from the pack, and with its episodic anime structure, QTE-heavy cutscenes and South Asian religious inspirations, there is nothing quite like Asura's Wrath (CyberConnect2,...

Support my work on Patreon- https://patreon.com/realdavejackson Join the Tales from the Backlog Discord server- https://discord.gg/kAqSBb6jH2 Buy me a coffee on Ko-fi- https://ko-fi.com/realdavejackson Ever have one of those games that sits in your library, untouched for years, until something finally gives you the push to play it...and you end up kicking yourself for waiting so long? That's Heave...

Support my work on Patreon- https://patreon.com/realdavejackson Join the Tales from the Backlog Discord server- https://discord.gg/kAqSBb6jH2 Buy me a coffee on Ko-fi- https://ko-fi.com/realdavejackson Modern Pokémon games are divisive, but rarely due to technical performance. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet (Game Freak, 2022) released in an embarrassing state, and are hoping for a comeback with their...