SDGC - Super Deluxe GamesCast

Prince of Persia is back with a surprise 2D metroidvania style, and our boys CJ and Finn have both put hands on it. Is this out-of-left-field franchise revival the right direction for the series, or just a refreshing early entry in publisher Ubisoft's 2024 lineup? This game was reviewed on Nintendo Switch with a code provided by the publisher. Thanks to Ubisoft for providing us the opportunity...

We kick off the new year with long-time former cast member Gabe, all the way from Brazil, for the first time in years! It's all good vibes this week as we talk about the games we missed in a stacked 2023, and some predictions for the coming year. Catch SDGC Live ACTUALLY live Thursday nights at 9pm Eastern US time - twitch.tv/officialsdgc Join the community Discord for a cool, inclusive, prote...

We're joined again by friend of the show Sam Tolbert to discuss Bobby Kotick's last day at Activision Blizzard, and what may be next for the company's leadership under Microsoft. Also, China's new regulations around the gaming industry are surprisingly good, but launch a weirdly nuanced conversation from this panel of dweebs. Bye bye 2023, we won't miss you. Catch SDGC Live ACT...

We're joined by Sam Tolbert to talk about the best announcements of The Game Awards and also the many ways in which the show (and its organizer/frontman Geoff Keighley) failed the very people it claims to celebrate. Catch SDGC Live ACTUALLY live Thursday nights at 9pm Eastern US time - twitch.tv/officialsdgc Join the community Discord for a cool, inclusive, protected space for all kinds of fol...

The bulk of this episode is comprised of our lengthy interview with Dave Jones, the actor who portrays Halsin in Baldur's Gate 3. Dave talks about his newfound popularity, his history with video games, and positive examples of masculinity in media. Catch SDGC Live ACTUALLY live Thursday nights at 9pm Eastern US time - twitch.tv/officialsdgc Join the community Discord for a cool, inclusive, pro...

We're joined by Brenden Groom from Pass The Controller to talk about Microsoft partnering with an AI firm to bring AI-generated content to their games. Also, extended goofing about the recently announced live action Legend of Zelda movie, with some inspired and not-so-inspired casting choices. Catch SDGC Live ACTUALLY live Thursday nights at 9pm Eastern US time - twitch.tv/officialsdgc Join th...

A remake of one of the best RPGs of the PS1 generation has released, so you know John is on the scene. Who is this HD2D inspired remake for, and is there any reason to go back to the original release (or its PSP update) at this point? Catch SDGC Live ACTUALLY live Thursday nights at 9pm Eastern US time - twitch.tv/officialsdgc Join the community Discord for a cool, inclusive, protected space for a...

Derek had the opportunity to play The Invincible, a first person narrative-driven adventure game based on a classic 1960s sci fi novel and made with obvious love and devotion for 60s futurist aesthetics. Does this stack up with the best of the genre or did it need a bit more time in the oven? Thanks to 11 Bit Studios for providing us with a review code for the game and enabling coverage. Catch SDG...

It's just Derek, Jeff, and John this week as the crew is still recovering from our massive in-person charity event. We have a lot of games we've been playing that are worth talking about... and of course, there's the Bungie layoffs, because we can't go a week without major industry layoffs. Catch SDGC Live ACTUALLY live Thursday nights at 9pm Eastern US time - twitch.tv/officialsdg...

Derek, CJ, and Brit (in spirit) discuss the fascinatingly creepy indie visual novel Slay the Princess. You all have no idea how hard it is to talk about this game while spoiling as little as possible, but we think you can hear our impressions and still go into the game basically ignorant of what's to come. Thanks to Black Tabby Games for providing us with a review code and enabling coverage of...

Now that this astonishingly unique indie horror game has finally left early access, Derek and John sort through their opinions on the game (even reminiscing about playing a demo for the game back at PAX East 2019!). World of Horror won't be for everyone, but if you look at those screenshots and the sentence "2-bit semi-roguelike horror adventure game" is your activation phrase, do yo...

Finn and Justin have played Ghostrunner 2, the followup to Socky award winner Ghostrunner. Is this just more of a good thing, or does Ghostrunner 2 find ways to make itself stand out from the exceptional original? Thanks to 505 Games for providing us with a review code. Catch SDGC Live ACTUALLY live Thursday nights at 9pm Eastern US time - twitch.tv/officialsdgc Join the community Discord for a co...

We're joined by one man dev team Eric of The Matte Black Studio to talk about his adventures in game development and his upcoming indie "celestoidvania" action platformer, Lucid. We also get to dream about where famed rockstar game designers Shinji Mikami and Hideki Kamiya might end up once their non-compete agreements are over. Catch SDGC Live ACTUALLY live Thursday nights at 9pm Ea...

SDGC's resident Dragon Quest correspondent CJ is joined by Brit to discuss this Dragon Quest spinoff action RPG, based on an anime, based in turn on an original Dragon Quest manga. Does Infinity Strash live up to the series' long standard of quality spinoffs, or would you be better off with the anime/manga? Thank you to Square Enix for the review code and the opportunity to review this gam...

Multiple former Ubisoft executives arrested for their part in long lasting and widespread sexual abuse and assault at the French gaming publisher. To lighten things up, we also talk about what gaming franchises deserve a second chance at life. Catch SDGC Live ACTUALLY live Thursday nights at 9pm Eastern US time - twitch.tv/officialsdgc Join the community Discord for a cool, inclusive, protected sp...

We bemoan another huge wave of layoffs at multiple companies, including Epic Games, Sega, and Ubisoft. Later in the show, we're joined by Ash Parrish from The Verge for an extended interview with Samantha Béart, who portrays fan-favorite Karlach in Baldur's Gate 3. Catch SDGC Live ACTUALLY live- Thursday nights at 9pm Eastern US time - twitch.tv/officialsdgc Join the community Discord for...

Embracer lays off a buttload more people they couldn't afford to keep after their acquisition spree, and Microsoft accidentally leaks a bunch of their own sensitive info through the process of a court case about their latest acquisition spree. Is there a pattern here? Can we make there be a pattern? Catch SDGC Live ACTUALLY live Thursday nights at 9pm Eastern US time - twitch.tv/officialsdgc J...

We're joined this week by voice actor Cissy Jones to talk about the roles that uplifted her career, the art of voice acting, and the need to protect the people who perform that art for a living from predatory forces in various industries. We also touch on Unity's disastrous policy changes resulting in unprecedented backlash from developers of all sizes.

The crew unites and celebrates as reputable journalists and news outlets report on Nintendo's top secret upcoming Switch successor, which was shown off to development partners at Gamescom. What do the details of this report mean for Nintendo's next console? We also talk about the trend of games releasing early for players willing to pay premium prices, and how Microsoft managed to double-d...

The long-awaited new entry in the cult favorite Armored Core franchise comes to us via a very different FromSoftware than the one that oversaw the last game 10 years ago. Derek, Jeff, and Justin break down this fast-paced giant mecha action game and how it breaks the mold from what FromSoftware fans old and new might be expecting from it. NOTE: Shortly after publishing our review, developer FromSo...

We're joined by a couple friends this week to talk about what we've been playing (spoilers, a LOT of Sea of Stars and some Armored Core 6), layoffs at Embracer Group owned developers, and Sony cranking up the price of their online service.

Long-awaited Kickstarter darling Sea of Stars is finally here! Finn and Derek, who have been playing the game, are joined by John for our review of this love-letter to retro RPGs from the team that brought you The Messenger. Sea of Stars? More like "A+ of Stars". Finn made us write this. This game was reviewed on PC with codes provided by the publisher. Thanks to Sabotage Studios and Tin...

We're joined by our friend Josh Fagundes aka Anoriand to try and tackle an actual busy newsweek after nonstop Baldur's Gate episodes. Xbox opens the doors for games on Series S to be more different from their Series X counterparts, Geoff Keighley gets Bill Clintoned for the second time in a year, the voice of Mario retires, and nobody on this show has their stuff together.

We're joined by writer and friend of the show Sam Tolbert to gush some more about Baldur's Gate. Plus, new strike-based moderation policies at Xbox leave room for improvement, and we talk about our favorite indies and AA games of 2023 (both so far and upcoming).

We try to have some topics at the ready, but surprise surprise, a big new RPG several of us are playing just eats up most of the runtime. We do find some time to talk about uncomfortable approaches to race in fantasy RPG settings, as well as the news that multiple major gaming expos and events turned out to be COVID superspreaders. But speaking of spreading: have you heard about Baldur's Gate?