Girl Mode

After an exciting announcement about the podcast, we have a wide-ranging show this week, covering the return of sword discourse, two recent PlayStation games we feel weird about, and some brief thoughts on a whole bunch of news that broke this week.  Timestamps (00:30) We’re officially garbage (04:30) Echoes of Wisdom and the return of sword discourse (19:50) RIP Concord (27:50) Astro Bo...

In today’s episode, we’re feeling normal about last week’s sicko-centric Nintendo Direct double feature. We cover a surprisingly stacked set of announcements, revisit the dating sim discourse that will never die, and predictably have different reactions to a re-release of a certified Old Person Game. Timestamps (01:30) Two normal people talk about the Indie World Showcase (14:00) Date Everything a...

Willa makes her triumphant return and we celebrate by talking about everything we liked and mostly didn’t from Gamescom Opening Night Live. We cover takes both good and bad, commit to playing yet another game we definitely don’t have the time for, and run through the best (and in one case worst) of what we’ve been playing, watching, and eating this week. Timestamps (02:40) Gamescom sure did happen...

With Willa fleeing the country for reasons I can’t disclose here, Into the Aether cohost Brendon Bigley stopped by to chat this week! We cover Shy Guy Surfing, Brendon’s most formative childhood game, the surprising 2024 release he can’t stand, and of course, where the key grips stand on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Timestamps (00:30) What’s your deal, man? (16:00) Shy Guy Surfing and other act...

Borderlands the movie is out and we couldn't be more excited to hear about how terrible it is. After that, we realize that a sequel to The Order 1886 would be the best game ever, get cautiously excited about two newly announced spiritual sequels, and talk about a couple of new games we actually liked. Timestamps (01:30) A vault full of disappointing bullshit (15:00) The Order 1986 (24:00) ONE BTN...

Shockingly, the news remains bad, so we’re keeping it short this week for the good of all of our mental health. We cover the Olympics, Star Wars Outlaws, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, and another awful week for the games industry and games media. Timestamps  (01:00) I guess this is a sports podcast now (11:50) Maybe Star Wars Outlaws will be good? (15:40) Let’s get sad! (RIP Game Informer, fuck Ga...

Like most weeks, there’s a lot of bad news this week, as we talk through the death by restructuring of Humble Games and Ubisoft making everything worse by both-sidesing racism. Then we pull out of a nosedive with a SAG-AFTRA strike and the formation of a massive game dev union at Blizzard, complete with a little union 101 session courtesy of a listener’s questions and quotes from World of Warcraft...

We’re running through some news updates first this week, from alarming details about the death of one of the best game studios ever to Overwatch’s latest attempt to convince us it’s good again. Then we talk through some recent games we’ve been getting into, and by recent we mean some of them are 20 years old. Timestamps (00:20) The Mets are not doing great (03:20) Spooky scary bag head man update...

There’s lots of news to cover this week, so we’re spending half an hour talking about Endwalker instead. Also the Mets missed their shot this week and we’re bummed about it. Timestamps (00:30) Having a non-apocalyptic one (01:30) Mets update (04:00) Spooky scary bag head man (07:00) Xbox Game Pass sucks now (16:40) Jeanne d’Arc hive rise up (19:00) Willa finished Endwalker/Tons of FFXIV spoilers (...

We’re halfway through 2024, so this week we’re running through our GOTFHOTY (Game of the First Half of the Year) picks and of course talking shit on this year’s most beloved games that we don’t like. Timestamps (00:30) Copious table setting (03:30) Six months of being haters (the worst game of the year) (19:00) Games we need to go back to (24:00) Underrated games (26:20) Surprise Mets break (28:00...

As usual, we kick things off this week with Willa’s thoughts on the Mets, then move into Willa’s thoughts on Endwalker (which she likes less than the Mets). After an Alan Wake detour, we then dive into the excruciating but still funny Shadow of the Erdtree difficulty discourse and other meandering thoughts about Elden Ring. Let’s go Mets! Timestamps (00:30) Willa is here to talk about the Mets (11...

We survived the game showcase gauntlet and our reward is one more game showcase — but good this time! This week is a Nintendo Direct spectacular covering everything from the Apple Arcade jailbreak to the surprisingly controversial Legend of Zelda game where we finally get to fucking play as Zelda. Timestamps (01:00) Nintendogz, Catgirl Simulators, and the Nintendo Direct (04:10) Mario and Luigi: B...

Fresh off SGF, we’re covering even more showcases this week, with Ubisoft Forward and Willa’s takes on the Tribeca games selection. We’re also running down some great Steam demos for games that should be on our radar. And if that’s not enough for you, Into the Aether invited us to be guest hosts this week (for some reason) along with Emily Price , Tamoor Hussain , and AJ Fillari , so please check...

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)...