Girl Mode

We’re rounding up some of last weekend’s game showcases, and mostly focusing on what we actually liked there for once! Despite Geoff Keighley’s dire warnings, SGF was pretty good this year, at least according to Robin who’s typing this right now. Then, Willa walks us through her demo of Citizen Sleeper 2, which Robin is definitely not envious of, before Joanna Dark barges in. Timestamps (00:40) We...

OK, this episode is very late so I’m posting it without show notes or you’d have to wait even longer. We talked about Summer Game Fest and how Geoff Keighley wants you to calm down about it, State of Play and how we wish someone would have warned us it would be bad ahead of time, and an inexplicable amount of baseball. Enjoy! Watch Drawfee’s charity stream June 8 at 2 p.m. Eastern Send us question...

This week, Robin had too much coffee and she’s here to YELL. Fortunately, there’s plenty to YELL about, from Neil Druckmann (again) to AI (again) to layoffs (again). After lots of shouting, we finally talk about a whole bunch of things we actually liked this week to prove that we’re not haters 100% of the time. Timestamps (1:10) More like Neil Suckmann am I right (11:20) The Hellblade 2 detour (22...

We spent this week playing some great demos at Ludonarracon so we’re running down a few of the best that you should have on your list! Then, we check in on some disappointing changes and Mountain Dew-flavored events coming to Final Fantasy XIV! Timestamps (1:20) Our favorite Ludonarracon (not Next Fest) demos (42:30) FFXIV Live Letter, RIP Astrologians (1:04:30) Reminder: Lorelei and the Laser Eye...

We’re starting the week with bad news, including some pretty shocking layoffs at Microsoft, but it gets better from there. We move next through some of the best indie releases of the week before ending with the best indie game of the year, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes. Timestamps (1:00) Somehow, Stray Gods returned (4:00) Microsoft fucked up (19:00) A fantastic week for indie games (35:00) We’re see...

We’re keeping things nice and short this week, because we already shared our best/most deranged thoughts with the good people of the Press Start podcast ! Here on our feed, we’re talking about Hades 2, Crow Country, and the upcoming Steamworld Heist 2. It’s frankly the most buttoned-up we’ve ever been, so make sure you give Press Start a listen for more of our usual energy (weird, off-putting, hor...

This time, we’re mercifully bringing you a shorter episode to follow our longest episode ever last week. We spend most of our time on a spoiler-filled discussion of Sucker for Love: Date to Die for, a horror/comedy/romance visual novel that has us both under its spell. Then we make a quick return to the land of sexist grifters to put a cap on the year’s dumbest gaming controversy surrounding Stell...

This week, we’re starting an all new Girl Mode continuity as we dive into Grant Morrison’s apparently incredible run on X-Men. It’s unsurprisingly our longest episode ever, and Robin even gets so into the description of these comics she forgets to pester Willa for large portions of the show! Follow along with what we’re looking at here ! Listen to parts one (Ep. 26), two (Ep. 38), and three (Ep. 5...

This week, we’re rounding up a whole mess of news, from the good (female Hrothgar) to the bad (Willa has lost interest in Star Wars Outlaws) to the incredibly bizarre (Possibility Space closing in the strangest way possible). Plus, we decide who would be better at making Final Fantasy than Square Enix in a totally serious and well-informed segment. Timestamps (01:30) Get out of here, Han Solo (08:...

[CW: mentions of queerphobia, racism, and nazi imagery. We keep it as light as possible under the circumstances but please proceed with caution.] Now that we’ve lured people in with Dragon’s Dogma 2 and sex stuff, we’re going back to what this podcast is really about — yelling about bigots! First, we talk about Rebekah Valentine’s recent reporting on Life is Strange developer Deck Nine, and how on...

In our nice episode this week, we’re back to discussing Dragon’s Dogma 2 and other things that make us horny. Our Dragon’s Dogma talk is bookended by the new Ken Levine game that’s definitely not just the same thing as the other Ken Levine games and Robin talking about smut because we couldn't just act like adults and let it go unnoticed that this is episode 69. Timestamps (02:00) Why not give Ken...

Robin is finally alive again, and just in time to talk about the best game of the year. We start off with a little news blitz, from G/O Media still being a shitshow to a couple of devs saying things the industry absolutely needs to listen to at GDC. Then we settle in for about an hour of singing Dragon’s Dogma 2’s praises for what definitely won’t be the last time on this show. Timestamps (00:30)...

Major FF7 Rebirth spoilers throughout! Explicit spoilers for Chapter 13 and beyond from 30:00 to 1:10:00! Oooh, we’ve got an exciting one for you this week as we’re joined by very special guest Jade King, lead features editor of TheGamer! This episode is a Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth spectacular, wherein we get deep on its narrative highs and lows, talk an awful lot about Advent Children, and spoil th...

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth reviews are out in the wild, so we can finally talk about (some of) our experiences with this fascinating, incredibly uneven game. We’re saving most of our thoughts for next week, so this week is safe for people wanting to avoid spoilers. But before we get to that, we’re talking Shadow of the Erdtree, Nintendo Direct, and more Unicorn Overlord! Timestamps (01:00) RIP Flaco,...

This week, we’re running through a whole lot of games, since Robin was too busy sleeping on Willa’s couch to record last week. First, we cover the most anticipated game of all: Foamstars. Then a demo for a little game called Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth came out, and both of our hosts attended an exciting preview recently, but only one did so well she broke the game. We end with a whole lot of news, on...

This week, it’s been too long since we recorded to remember what we talked about. I think it was…video games? That’s right, it was State of Play! The Short Message was pretty bad. Zenless Zone Zero has cute anime girls. Some other stuff probably happened, too. Judging by the links in our text thread I guess we talk about Persona 3 Reload, Suicide Squad, and Bayonetta. Enjoy! Mentioned this week Pe...

It’s been a pretty fucked up week for the games industry, so we’re starting with a lament for lost jobs and our grim outlook on how things are only going to get worse. Then we talk about Nier Reincarnation being deleted imminently and what it says about games preservation. We eventually move to cheerier territory by talking about what games we’ve been playing, including a couple Nier games, Final...

Zoe’s taking some time off so this week Robin is talking to Willa Rowe, who’s apparently a new writer at Kotaku . Good for her. After making a bunch of predictions for the upcoming year (which neither of us came up with minutes before recording started), we catch up with the latest FFXIV Fan Fest, share our first shaky steps into Vana’diel, and try to figure out what we really want in a Metroidvan...

In the last episode, we witnessed the amazing premonitory powers of Willa's girlfriend Zoe, so we're giving her control of the podcast this week out of a mixture of respect and fear. With Willa temporarily banished to the shadow realm, Zoe shares some of her favorite recent games with Robin, talks about the forgotten games of her youth, plays a round of "is this game ugly," and ends with her predi...

We’re easing into the new year, first by pretty much just reprising an article we already wrote about our most anticipated games of 2024. Then, we discuss how our “gamer resolutions” for 2023 went and talk about what we want to change in the coming year. Finally, we revisit Willa and Zoe’s predictions for 2023 in gaming and see how they both did! Timestamps (01:40) Our most anticipated games of 20...

The moment you’ve been waiting for all year is here: it’s the second annual Girl Mode Awards! Tune in to gaming’s most illustrious awards show as we crown the winner of this year’s Most Exhausting Discourse, the Best Game That’s Just Mid, the coveted Most Realistic Trees, and more incredibly important honors. This episode also caps off 2023 for Girl Mode, so we just want to say thank you to everyo...

We’ve spent the past few weeks playing some of the year’s most fascinating games, and now we’re making it your problem! Our annual game exchange is now officially annual because we’ve done it twice. This year, we played Slay the Princess and The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood, two games about choice, fate, and women with the power to destroy the universe.  Heads up: We spoil the hell out of both gam...

Alas, The Game Awards returned this week, and this time it was worse than ever. Tune in to hear the world record for how many times a human has said the word “frustrating” in an hour, plus some suggestions for shows you can watch that won’t fill you with fury.  Timestamps (00:30) Boy howdy The Game Awards was a nightmare (45:30) What else have Willa and Robin been up to? Mentioned this week:...

We're back from our week off with a giant-size return to the world of the X-Men. This time we tackle the dark ages known as the 1990s, when the X-Men took a detour from political allegory to the more business-friendly world of utter schlock. Join us as we catch up on what’s new in the lives of our old friends, our old friends’ clones, alternate dimension versions of our old friends, our old friend...

In the spirit of the games industry itself, today's episode is a completely unnecessary remaster. We took a break from recording this week, so we're filling the gap with a re-release of our very first episode, but this time run through some fancy filters to make it actually listenable! We'll be back with a regular episode next time! Until then, we hope you enjoy this proof that we are actually get...