The Experience Points Podcast

It's officially Fall, which means we have precious few weeks to wrap up some of the other games we've been playing before the end of year release bounty arrives. This week we come with a pretty wide selection, both thematically and mechanically. We explore the goofier side of cult-life with Cult of the Lamb. We have a snack at the end of the world with Kirby and the Forgotten Land. And we get side...

This week on the EXP Podcast, we check in on Kojima's podcast - apparently there's a robot? We also dive into some news and games from Nintendo and Sony. Where will it take us? Let's fall out of the sky with Link and aim for somewhere good.

We couldn't move past Gamescom without taking a look at some of the announcements that got our attention. But really, we should all acknowledge the elephant in the room Hideo Kojima's new podcast. We implore you: find room in your heart for two podcasts. But if you can't, we get it: morbid curiosity alone is enough to check out Kojima's new show. Just know that, after it's revealed that his podcas...

We journey the land of dream and wander backwards through games to find the source text upon which they're based. Some have changed wildly, many for the better!

Sometimes you just make one of those wholesome internet finds that completely derails your afternoon in the best way possible. My most recent example is my realization that a bunch of old video game manuals and guides have been lovingly digitized on Archive.org. Not only has this enabled me to pump those sweet nostalgia chemicals into my brain, it allows me to harass my family about how cool retro...

This week on the EXP Podcast, we say goodbye to a rarely used features on the PS5: Accolades. Is praise for your opponents dead?   Show Notes: - Music by Brad Sucks

Corporate machinations make for some strange arguments. This week in bizzaro mergers and acquisitions land, Microsoft is trying to downplay any potential regulatory roadblocks to the Activision deal by threading a hilarious needle: Call of Duty (while clearly valuable enough to be worth billions of dollars) isn't important enough to put them into anti-monopoly danger. Sony is of course twisting th...

Get our your cat ears and ready your fursona, it's time to talk about Stray , a game all about being a cat, hanging out with robots, and knocking things off shelves. Show Notes: * Music from the Stray OST

Well it figures: we voice our doubts about God of War Ragnarok's release date and Sony turns around and dunks a 2022 date right in our faces. We were both totally surprised by the news, which got us thinking about other big and unexpected video game releases from past years. This week, we talk about some of the events that have slipped by our prognostication prowess and why they were such memorabl...

This week on the EXP Podcast, it's co-op puzzlers, action puzzlers, and a curiously-named RPG from the early 90s. We are chatting about some games we've been playing!

For all its troubles, E3 has still managed to leave a vacuum in its absence. But just like nature, the game industry abhors a vacuum and plenty of summer previews have rushed in to take place. This week we talk about Summer Game Fest, the Xbox showcase, and various other announcements. We also get very philosophical about space, much to nobody's surprise.

Sonic fans are back at it again, this time demanding Sonic go...slow? Also on this week's podcast, we chat about Resident Evil coming to Netflix with a new live-action TV series and some of the cool looking games from Sony's most recent State of Play! Show Notes: * Music by Brad Sucks

By the time you're done reading this sentence, someone has purchased Mario Kart 8. This week, we take a look at the NPD group's list of 2022's best selling games to date. Figuring out true sales numbers is an imperfect science these days, but if this is even somewhat accurate, it means that a whole lot of you out there are could be best described as "Tarnished."

It's episode 666 (mark of the beast!), which means it's time to throw the horns and get down with the devil. This week on the podcast, we chat about devilish and demonic video games.

The Iron Giant is back and this time it's personal. But first, he's going to go on a late night Jack in the Box run with Shaggy. This week, we talk about the MultiVersus announcement, what it says about media megacorp crossovers, and who we think we could take in a video game fight. Watch your back, Kojima.

It's time again for us, our children, and our children's children to throw ourselves into the castle that is Rogue Legacy 2 . It's been ages since the last game game out - and over 420 episodes , so there are some major changes. But does it reignite our passion and meet the standards of today's Rogue-lites? All this and more in this week's debrief! Show Notes: - Music from the Rogue Legacy 2 OST

After watching the recent Batman movie, we came to a couple conclusions: 1) Batman's gamer tag is probably "V3ngence_420" and 2) there are some very interesting parallels between this latest cinematic take on the caped crusader and recent video game portrayals. This week we dive into the movie as well as various Batman games and how they've built on such an iconic character.

An update to the last podcast, Sony has updated their subscription policies and offerings and it's honestly getting better. Also, Netflix had a very bad week. Will they really invest heavily in gaming in the near future? Subscribe to find out! Show Notes: - Music by Brad Sucks

This week we're dipping into some recent and headlines around game difficulty as well as the difficulty of putting on a physical event in the year 2022. Games like Eldin Ring and Tunic are still very much top of mind and their popularity has brought people to revisit how best to navigate the balance between challenge and letting players experience all a game has to offer. Back on the release and c...

This week on the EXP Podcast, we fight hordes of monsters in the bullet-hill homage to Castlevania - Vampire Survivors. We also revisit and share some closing thoughts on Tunic and Elden Ring . Now, on to the Pacifist Pete run! Show Notes: - Music by Brad Sucks and Vampire Survivors

The video game subscription scene got a bit more crowded this week after Sony revealed their new PlayStation Plus tiers. It's clear they're leaning into the retro angle as well as streaming games, but how does it compare to what Microsoft and Nintendo are doing? This week we do some analysis as well as grapple with the tangled web of monthly recurring bills that has come to comprise the bulk of ou...

This week on the EXP Podcast, we get into Tunic - an adorable little homage to Zelda that actually seems pretty difficult. We also get back on the Elden Ring horse (Torrent, I guess), and explore what makes this game, or all Souls games, special.

Every year, Jorge and I play Journey on the anniversary of its release. We don't always talk about it since, honestly, if you took a drink every time we mentioned Journey on any randomly-selected show you'd probably be rushed to the hospital before the episode ended. However, this year is special: we are celebrating a decade of Journey! We're ten years in and still finding new things to appreciate...

It's back to the beginning to discuss some of the best intros. Inspired by this Top 13 list , we talk about our own favorite introductions and why if you're new to the Souls franchise and playing Elden Ring you should really jump into holes.   Show notes: * Music by Brad Sucks

Gather round, fellow Tarnished, and let us trade tales of accidentally falling off cliffs, getting one-shotted by weird tree monsters, and compulsively picking berries. Elden Ring is here and it's time to do an initial debrief on our early hours with the game. It appears to be a massive undertaking, so we will likely do subsequent check ins as we progress. For now though, let's enjoy a moment of p...