Vidjagame Apocalypse

We're coming back to the table this week with clearer impressions of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X - but first, let's take a look at five of the rare few open-world games that actually re-used their open worlds, with PNB's Kayla Zumbaum! Then we'll bite into Bugsnax, Demon's Souls, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, The Game Awards announcements, and your f...

IT'S NEW-CONSOLE WEEK! We're super-excited for the debut of the Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5, but before we get to those, let's grab PNB's TL Foster for a look at five times third-party games swept in and stole the show in a new console's launch lineup! Then it's on to Assassin's Creed Valhalla, early Xbox Series X impressions, Yakuza: Like A Dragon, Prodeus, and the arcade classics you'd lik...

As November begins and we're faced with the mystery of who our next President will be, it's as good a time as any to lose ourselves in the fictional mysteries of our favorite detective games with Octobug developer Eric Bailey. Then we talk about Sega selling off its arcade business, Arcade1up introducing its first sit-down driving cabinet, and the historical settings you'd like to see horror games...

We're closing out Spooptober 2020 with the grimmest, bleakest topic we could think of: horror games set in, around, and within the (sometimes literal) fallout of the Soviet Union. With history buff Jeremy King of Tweakalicious.tv on board, we'll also dig into Watch Dogs: Legion, Ghostrunner, Cobra Kai: The Karate Kid Saga Continues, news from Nintendo's final Direct of 2020, and the politicians an...

High school is a breeding ground for all sorts of lifelong fears and anxieties, so of course it's a perfect setting for otherwordly terror. With friend of the show Micah Seff in attendance, we talk about five games that used locker-lined halls and impersonal classrooms to create scares, after which we talk about Torchlight III, Blizzard possibly moving away from RTS games, and your hometown crypti...

Our greatest Spooptober episode yet is here! The inimitable Alex Faciane of Chilluminati Podcast (among other things) joins us for a look at five real(ish) cryptids — creatures people swear they've seen but whose existence remains unconfirmed — that have made multiple videogame appearances over the years. Then it's on to a heated discussion of the Monster Hunter movie trailer, Sega's surprise 60th...

Spooptober continues with a look at the Greek pantheon's gloomiest god, as Leif Johnson rejoins us to sift through some of Hades' more memorable videogame appearances. Then we shift to talking about Star Wars Squadrons, Crash 4, Super Mario Bros. 35, and Baldur's Gate III, before moving on to Sony's PS5 teardown video and your favorite zombie games with a twist.

It's the start of October, which means we're switching to horror-focused topics and bad Dracula impressions between now and Halloween! We're kicking things off with a look at five zombie games that - despite featuring the most cliched enemies imaginable - managed to stand out with unique gameplay hooks. Then it's on to Genshin Impact, Mafia: Definitive Edition, Peter Parker's new face, and your fa...

Nintendo's 3DS is officially kaput, so this week we invite Ultra 64's Steve Guntli and Woody Ciskowski to help us celebrate nine stellar years of no-glasses 3D with a look at five of our favorite 3DS essentials. Then it's on to extensive chat about Super Mario 3D All-Stars, Hades, Microsoft acquiring Bethesda, a week of nonstop preorder clusterfucks, and your next-gen plans now that most of the ca...

With Spelunky 2 out this week, we're rejoined by Experience Points' Jorge Albor for a look at five games that started life as freeware projects before moving on to commercial success. Then it's on to PlayStation 5 news, Paradise Killer, Fight Crab, Ubisoft Forward's reveals, and whether the Xbox announcements changed your next-gen plans.

Everything we wanted to know about the new Xboxes - price, launch date, existence of the rumored Series S, and so on - has been revealed, but we're a little distracted by a certain limited-edition compilation with one glaring omission. So distracted that we're doing a whole Top 5 about games that mysteriously failed to make the cut when it came time to bundle and remaster their series, after which...

Do you like collecting comics? Do you enjoy videogames? Do you insist that those two hobbies be about each other? Fiiiine. With Marvel's Avengers out this week, let's grab PNB's TL Foster for a look at five games that used comic books as collectibles, after which we'll jump into Avengers, Vader Immortal, Madden NFL 21, Gamescom reveals, NVIDIA's new 30 series, and the toy lines you think deserve t...

Weeks like this are enough to make anyone want to retreat into childhood nostalgia - and we've delivered a brief chance to do exactly that, as Greg Moore joins us to talk about five games that let us play as toys from our childhoods. Then we'll talk Battletoads, confuse Gotham Knights and Suicide Squad, and hear your confessions about the dumbest things you've ordered during the pandemic.

With the US Postal Service currently under siege, now seemed like a good time to grab friend of the show Leif Johnson and pay tribute to some of gaming's greatest postal workers, who tirelessly deliver letters and packages that don't really exist across virtual worlds. Then we talk about seeing our houses from Microsoft Flight Simulator, get hard in Mortal Shell, touch the Apple-Epic fight with a...

Shark Week is here at last, so we invited animal expert Cody Laveau on board for a look at five terrifying sharks who - rather than trying to eat you, as is custom - want nothing more than to be your friend. Then it's on to chat about Risk of Rain 2, Hyper Scape, The Xbox Series X controller leak, Sony's State of Play, and the price you're willing to pay for next-gen consoles.

Stray, the cat-centric game that made a brief splash during June's PlayStation 5 showcase (before being upstaged by Bugsnax), inspired us to hunt for other, currently existing games that offer a four-legged cat experience, and we'll dig into five of them this week alongside PNB's TL Foster. Then it's on to Fall Guys, news of streaming via Game Pass, and the games from at least two generations ago...

Carrion slurped its way onto Xbox Game Pass last week, and its eat-everyone ethos inspired us to take a look at five other amazing games where you deal with enemies mainly by consuming them. Then it's on to (of course) Carrion, Destroy All Humans!, the reveals from the Xbox Series X Games Showcase and the Nintendo megaleak, and your thoughts on streaming media through next-gen consoles. 

Something about the sight of crypto-fascist stormtroopers in ominous gasmasks will always stir contempt within the rebellious heart, and on this week's show, we celebrate the return of special guest Dan Amrich with a look at five games that pit you against the forces of a corrupt police state. Then it's on to (lots of) talk about Ghost of Tsushima, Paper Mario: The Origami King, the Nintendo Direc...

Ghost of Tsushima is out now, and its release seemed like a great excuse for us to grab friend of the show Greg Moore and count down five of our favorite samurai simulators. Then it's on to Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2, Deadly Premonition 2, Ubisoft Forward reveals, and your favorite modern retro games.

This week's release of Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 got us thinking about retro-styled games that often started out as companion pieces to bigger, more modern spectacles, but quickly became fan favorites and even enduring classics - so we grabbed Leif Johnson to talk about five of the best examples, after which we chat about Iron Man VR, get weirdly excited for Ready Player Two, and talk abou...

We're halfway through the worst year in recent memory - but as far as videogames go, it hasn't been half-bad. So this week, let's take a look back and pick our five favorite games from the past six months, with help from PNB's TL Foster. Then it's on to Pokémon Café Mix, Disco Elysium getting a movie deal, and your favorite Games of the (Half-)Year!

There are a lot of things The Last of Us Part II does well, but one thing it's particularly good at is simulating a guitar with a touchpad. As a tribute, we grabbed Jorge Albor of Experience Points for a look at some of the best in-game instruments (in non-musical games), after which we'll properly delve into The Last of Us Part II, as well as EA news, Mixer shutting down, and your favorite E3-ish...

The Last of Us Part II is out! And some of the review discourse has (not surprisingly) been about how it makes you do bad things (and also tries to make you feel bad about those things). But that's nothing new! In fact, some of gaming's most memorable moments have been ones that guilted us about some horrific "decision," even if our only real choice was to push forward or stop playing. This week's...

This week's show returns to the well from which all RPGs (and arguably all videogames) spring: Dungeons & Dragons. More specifically five of the best Dungeons & Dragons videogames, which we'll count down alongside Cicero Holmes of Rivals of Waterdeep and Discovery Debrief. Then it's on to news of Yakuza: Like A Dragon, 1Up's new arcade machines, and your favorite Game Gear Games. (And we'll dive i...

This week's been one of the roughest in a rough year, and we couldn't bring ourselves to put together a normal videogame podcast as if nothing was happening. But canceling the show also felt weird, so instead, PNB's TL Foster joins us for a frank, lengthy discussion about police violence and race in America - after which, yes, we do bring it back to games, including Xenoblade Chronicles, Shantae a...