The Crate and Crowbar

Chris, Tom F and Alex convene to talk Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus, Artifact, and Hitman 2. Then Chris, Tom F, Alex and Pip convene to talk, er, foxes? Or something. Alex has been playing Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus. Chris has been sinking hours into Artifact. Here’s the guide he wrote, if you’re interested. Tom’s been playing Hitman [...]

Chris, Tom, Tom and Alex talk strategy remake news, Void Bastards, One Hour One Life, Battlefield V, Thronebreaker, Roblox and more. Those crazy kids are remastering Command & Conquer. They’re also remastering Warcraft III, the absolute madmen. Chris has been playing One Hour One Life. Everybody’s excited about Void Bastards. Tom Senior’s been playing Battlefield [...]

Chris is joined by both Toms to discuss Blizzcon controversy, The Blackout Club, Forza Horizon 4, Return of the Obra Dinn and more. Here’s Diablo Immortal, and Tom S’ article about said game and its attendant controversy. Chris and Tom F have been playing The Blackout Club. Do a cool flip off the time ramp [...]

Tom joins Zack Johnson and Kevin Simmons from Video Games Hot Dog to discuss the games of Fantastic Arcade. Spelunky 2! Noita! Samurai Gunn 2! Additional games besides these! Note: Patreon backers won’t be charged for this episode. Zack and Kevin are from Video Games Hot Dog, also Asymmetric. They have created two forms of [...]

Pip, Chris and Alex discuss the return of Hellgate: London, ponder Return of the Obra Dinn, and go for a wander around Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Hellgate: London! It’s back! But why! Pip’s been playing that Return of the Obra Dinn. Alex has looked at some things and slid down some things in Shadow [...]

Both Toms and Chris dig into this week’s developing Rockstar story and then share stories from Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, because all we’ve done for two weeks is kick people off boats. Here’s that story about the Red Dead 2 working conditions, and subsequent coverage of Rockstar‘s reaction. We recorded this podcast on Tuesday, for reference. [...]

Tom S, Tom F and Chris talk Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, Race for the Galaxy and Distance, and then get distracted by literary theory and swearing. Tom Senior has been kicking his way to friendship in Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey. Here is Alice Bell’s excellent article about the same. Tom Francis has been playing Race for the [...]

Chris and Pip embark on another Friday morning podcast, covering the Telltale layoffs and highlights from EGX. Here’s Wesley Yin-Poole’s article for Eurogamer about remembering that people, not companies, create games. Pip’s been enjoying Parkasaurus. Chris’ picks of EGX are Total War: Three Kingdoms, Kine, Yellow Rock Road and Valfaris. Pip’s picks include Small Talk...

Pip, Chris, Tom F and guest John R discuss EGX, Frozen Synapse 2, Megaquarium, Streets of Rogue, advanced noodle techniques, and more. Here’s the Heat Signature Twitter, so you can find out about them sweet updatez. John and Chris have been playing Frozen Synapse 2. Pip’s been playing Megaquarium. Tom’s been playing Streets of Rogue. [...]

Alex, Chris and Tom F discuss game dev authenticity, Industries of Titan, Destiny 2, Dragon Quest XI, and Concrete Jungle. Plus: automatic toilet theory, figuring out how much we actually know about each other, and winning the trust of the shotgun people. Here’s Lindsay Ellis’ video essay about manufactured authenticity on YouTube (and elsewhere.) …and [...]

Pip and Chris discuss MMO woes, Destiny 2’s new expansion, Two Point Hospital and a bit of Graveyard Keeper. Find out more about the V&A’s videogames exhibit right here. Carbine Studios – and their MMO, Wildstar – are shutting down. CCP has been bought by Black Desert Online devs Pearl Abyss. Chris is very much [...]

Chris and Tom S sit down for a chat about Spelunky 2 and Cyberpunk 2077 news, Tom’s highlights from Gamescom, and assorted nonsense. Here’s that Spelunky 2 footage and PlayStation Blog Q&A. We spend a bunch of time with the Cyberpunk 2077 footage. Tom S had a strong first impression of Life is Strange 2. [...]

Chris, Tom F and Pip catch up on a bit of Gamescom news before delivering sizzingly fresh takes on recent hits ‘Spore’ and ‘FTL’. Here’s the trailer for Man of Medan, part of the Dark Pictures anthology. Also, the Life is Strange 2 trailer. Here’s Burrito Tim’s Good Tweet. Pip has returned to Spore, ten [...]

It all goes a bit wrong as Chris, Tom, Tom and Alex return from a week off to talk Red Dead and Doom news, EXAPUNKS, Warframe, Unavowed and Monster Hunter. Plus: Horse Up Displays, 90s FPS ASMR, Resident Evil 2 by The B-52s, why it’s good when the spaceships do it, sensible missiles, the Mamma [...]

Alex, Tom S, Chris and Marsh (!) convene to discuss many Metroidvanias, Yakuza 0, console games (!), when to move on, Six Ages, and so on. Marsh! Has been playing Chasm. Chris has been catching up with Dead Cells. Alex’s Castlevania of the moment is La-Mulana 2. Here is Goro Majima’s introduction from Yakuza 0, [...]

Chris, Tom S and Alex take several trips back to 2016, including but not limited to No Man’s Sky, StarCraft II, DOOM and Battlefield 1. We’ve all been playing No Man’s Sky‘s NEXT update. Alex has been teaching valuable lessons in StarCraft II. Tom’s been revisiting the best of 2016 in DOOM. Chris is happily [...]

Chris, Alex and both Toms celebrate the 5th anniversary of the podcast with gin and a digression to The David Cage. Plus: more Mooncrash, Yoku’s Island Express, Warhammer 40K: Gladius, and Objects In Space. That’s for my nan! And her house! Tom F’s further explorations of Prey: Mooncrash reveal a few rough edges. Alex has [...]

Chris and Pip discuss The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit, The Sims 4: Seasons, and lots more. This is definitely episode 246, and not, as Chris says, episode 247. Pip’s been playing these videogames: The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit The Sims 4: Seasons Cognizer Dr Frank’s Build A Boyfriend Ashi: Lake Of Light You [...]

Chris, Tom F and Alex consider the lovely Prey: Mooncrash, big Fortnite murders, a bit of Six Ages and why late capitalism is cool, actually. Here’s a Polygon article about the Fortite murder story, including videos and facts. We’ve all be playing Prey: Mooncrash, which we like a lot. The video that Tom mentions isthis [...]

Chris, Tom, Tom and Alex contend with Guilty Gear Xrd, Lumines Remastered, Sword With Sauce, Jurassic World: Evolution, a bit of Vamypr, and get in deep with Big Scorsese. Tom S has been watching, and sometimes playing, Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-. Tom S and Alex have been playing Hackmud, which is weird for Chris. Alex [...]

Pip and the Toms discuss a surprising amount of news, most of it Steamy, then share thoughts on Jurassic World Evolution, Cryptark, Fortnite, and Assassin’s Creed: Origins. Chris has been hard at work on the wordy side of hackmud 2.0, which is going live next week and will be 25% off when you read this. [...]

In which Chris, Alex and Pip promise to avoid overanalysing E3, and to focus on the things we’re excited about, and then do exactly the opposite. John Shuttleworth’s I Can’t Back To Savoury Now, the soundtrack to this year’s E3, and indeed every year’s E3. From Bethesda: Fallout 76 (don’t forget to look up the [...]

Chris, Tom F and John R chat Far: Lone Sails, Dicey Dungeons, Totally Accurate Battlegrounds and a bit of Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire. Plus: the secret handshakes shared by the kin of the brood-sergeant, top chuffin’, the Haddaway collab we’ve been waiting for, our hottest takes of 2013, an endless sense of Bluth, the [...]

Pip, Chris and Alex consider the pre-E3 videogame news wasteland, revisit City of Brass, clean up House Flipper, and consider Idle Champions and the specific anxieties of the clicker genre. Plus: tragedy as volcanic death comes to Emmerdale. Here’s the trailer for Fallout 76, and Kotaku’s article about what it actually is, maybe. Here’s the [...]

Chris, Pip, Tom S and Alex dig deep to yield icy cold takes on Call of Duty: Blops Four, ‘Bio-Shock’, A Quiet Sleep, and assorted nonsense. Plus: the importance of Little Boots on the ground, the medium’s most lootable subcultures, whether it was or wasn’t all yellow, whether two Ayn Rands do indeed make an [...]