Bad End

Another week of quarantine, another multiplayer meme game to stave off debilitating loneliness. This week it's the social deception game Among Us, but we're also playing a VN/RTS with beautiful art, a tactical shooter that everyone seems really good at, and a puzzle game that might just be better than Portal (insert incredulous gasp here).  BAD END is proud to be part of SUPERCULTURE, a network of...

This week, we're joined by Matt Margini, author of a new Boss Fight Book about Rockstar Games' now-classic Red Dead Redemption . We discuss the overwhelming complexity of Crusader Kings 3, the ahead-of-its-time '90s RPG moon, and the legacy of RDR. Read an excerpt of the book at Kotaku and pick it up at Boss Fight Books . It's also available digitally. BAD END is proud to be part of SUPERCULTURE,...

We usually play the Small Games but this week we have been playin' pretty much nothing but the Big Games. We talk about the new "casual battle royale" of Fall Guys and whether that's a self-contradicting concept. We talk about the tonal disconnect of online multiplayer shooters like CoD Warzone. We talk about the match structure and beautiful styling of Valorant. And we talk about the "shounen ecs...

Between following an internet league sport, getting yelled at by teens for not aiming well, and sticking aliens with plasma grenades, it feels like we're going back to high school in episode 79 of BAD END podcast. We talk about the imaginative fandom that drives Blaseball, the beautifully-designed meathead shooting in Valorant, and the merry-go-round of controversy surrounding the new Halo game. B...

Ghost of Tsushima is out, and we're joined by Matt Kim (IGN) and Emma Kidwell (Gamasutra) to talk about the game ~~as Asian Americans~~. Join us as we wrestle with ideas on representation, intersectionality, appropriation, and Asian-American identity, all while answering the most important question: is the game fun and/or worth 60 bucks? We're also discussing Necrobarista, a new visual novel. 2:42...

We're not gonna lie, we spent a chunk of this episode talking about TLOU2 again. But it's spoiler-free! And on top of that, we're answering listener questions about summer gaming and talking about a bunch of other miscellaneous quarantine gaming stuff. So sit back, put a lil paper umbrella into your can of Monster Energy Drink (not a BAD END sponsor), and enjoy Bad End 77. BAD END is proud to be p...

After a one-episode hiatus, we're joined by friend of the show Emma Kidwell in a full-length episode where we ONLY discuss The Last of Us Part II. Sprinkled in there we've also got some discussion of single player AAA's role in 2020, diversity, new consoles, and ~~stuff that's going on~~ in the world today.  BAD END is proud to be part of SUPERCULTURE, a network of podcasts and websites dedicated...

We're joined by critic/streamer/podcaster Bijan Stephen to talk about streaming on Twitch, the trials of the videogame press, battle royale games, and the future of games criticism.  BAD END is proud to be part of SUPERCULTURE, a network of podcasts and websites dedicated to the underobserved. Tweet us @superculturenet Special thanks to our Patreon subscribers, and shout out to Wesley Martin and A...

Hope you're all doing well during lockdown, cuz we're trying to find games to keep us entertained that aren't CoD or ACNH. This week, Caty played a bit of the (still mostly embargoed) Xenoblade Chronicles remaster, while Josh tried out the new Streets of Rage joint. Then we dig through a pile of listener questions, diving into games vs film, annoying discourses of the last couple years, new consol...

Take a break from taking a break and join us as we discuss all the biggest games of the season. We're taking a deeper dive into FF7 Remake from a FF7 newcomer's perspective, Call of Duty Warzone, more ACNH, board games, and Anno 1800, which is way better than the screenshots would ever have you believe. We're also answering listener questions about gaming in the time of c*rona, Animal Crossing's a...

We break quarantine to hang out with Austin Walker (Waypoint Radio, Friends at the Table) and discuss some of the biggest games of the month - Final Fantasy VII Remake, which captures at least some of the magic of the original, and Animal Crossing New Horizons, which has been softening our brains into mush for almost a month now. We wrap up with some discussion of an indie RPG called Horizon's Gat...

We are on lockdown and we are obsessed with Animal Crossing, just like you are (perhaps). Here's us talking about it for an hour and a half. We try to keep the spoilers to a minimum, and do our best to give you a little warning when we're gonna drop the names of objects and functions we've acquired.  BAD END is proud to be part of SUPERCULTURE, a network of podcasts and websites dedicated to the u...

Take a load off from your days of isolation and come hang with the BAD END crew as we talk about the new Call of Duty, Ori, and CoD. We're also delving into the specifics of taste and our perspective on videogame crit. BAD END is proud to be part of SUPERCULTURE, a network of podcasts and websites dedicated to the underobserved. Tweet us @superculturenet Special thanks to our Patreon subscribers,...

One of us went to PAX East, one of us is playing a game under embargo, and one of us played a bunch of beloved games that are no longer protected by the sheen of newness. We discuss the Metroidvania frustrations of Hollow Knight, the woes of min-maxing in Noita, and Animal Crossing's influence. BAD END is proud to be part of SUPERCULTURE, a network of podcasts and websites dedicated to the underob...

With one co-host gone this week, the remaining two end up shooting the breeze for like 2 hours straight in this one. We discuss the new Dragonball Z game, we rag on Ori and the Blind Forest, we talk about Slay The Spire and the concept of "perfunctory" game mechanics, and we answer a very, very long list of listener questions. We've also got a fun ~~NEW~~ section lined up for y'all, so stick aroun...

dramatic voice Wherein lies the magic of videogames? Is it in the understated brilliance of Kentucky Route Zero? Is it in the schoolyard fantasies of Magic: The Gathering brought to digital life? Is it on The Beach being snatched up by the beak of a seagull? Or is it somewhere else? Join us on BAD END 67 as we attempt to find the answer in an unlikely place. BAD END is proud to be part of SUPERCUL...

A thought: maybe "influential" is not a net positive when assessing a game's quality! We talk about the idea while discussing AGDQ and digging through our backlogs. Kyle enjoys The Witcher 3 despite living in a post-Disco Elysium world, Caty is surprised at how well FFVII holds up, and Josh finally gets to unleash his inner hacker with Quadrilateral Cowboy. BAD END is proud to be part of SUPERCULT...

To wrap up the decade, we're joined by Ben Pack of Giant Bomb and talking about our favorite games of the 2010s. Listen for  our thoughts on some all-time heavy hitters like Dark Souls, The Witcher 3, Mass Effect 2, Breath of the Wild, and more. BAD END is proud to be part of SUPERCULTURE, a network of podcasts and websites dedicated to the underobserved. Tweet us @superculturenet Special thanks t...

It's the end of the year, and we're celebrating with our annual awards ceremony that includes crowd favorite "Oh Yeah, That Came Out" and "Dope, But Not For Me." We also discuss our top picks of the year. We don't really spoil specific plot points in this episode, but we sometimes discuss *things certain games do* that might be considered spoilers to some. Still, if we're gonna talk specific plot...

You might know Tim Rogers as any number of things: a pioneer of "New Videogame Journalism," a prolific game developer, a video personality, an industry consultant, a friend of Suda51, Mr. Rogers' relative, a CPA. He is all of those things, and that's why he's uniquely qualified to talk about all of the videogame-related things that happened this decade. And the non-videogame related things. Like w...

Indie games have come a long way from their roots as a way to spite Roger Ebert (kidding!), and we've teamed up with rebind.io founder Emily Rose (@caravanmalice) to discuss the decade in indie, from "AA" hits to powerful "micro-indies." We explore the impact of influencers, the birth/death/resurrection of indie game journalism, the importance of platform, the "indie game" image problem - and talk...

A new Pokemon game is out, so we're asking the question that everyone asks when a new Pokemon game comes out: Is it the Pokemon game I've always dreamed about? We also discuss the weird lack of hype surrounding Half-Life: Alyx, which when you think about it, should be the most hyped game of the  decade. Finally, we wrap our conversation on Death Stranding with since we kinda zoomed through that th...

It's here. The new Kojima game. Death Stranding. Secure your cargo straps, crack open your Monster Energies, slap that blood bag, and come along as we delve deep into this ~generational phenomenon~ of a game.  Then we've got a grab bag - the new Hearthstone game mode and how terrible we are for playing it, some snazzy new board games, Guitar Hero vs. Real Guitar, and the rapid downfall of Apple Ar...

Outer Worlds. Modern Warfare. Disco Elysium. It's Big Game season, folks, and this week we've got some of the heaviest hitters of the year. Listen to us talk about why Disco Elysium is awesome, why Outer Worlds is the videogame equivalent of a limp pool noodle, and why Modern Warfare is at least a 7.5.  Special thanks to our Patreon subscribers, and shout out to Wesley Martin and Alyse Stanley for...

This week, BAD END is joined by a special guest - San Francisco Chronicle food critic Soleil Ho (@hooleil). As a fellow gamer , Soleil talks to us about the parallels between food and videogame consumption and criticism, her love for Harvest Moon, and the importance of evaluating games and food in their social contexts. After that, we discuss the international controversy surrounding Hearthsone, a...