According to Microsoft you probably have an Xbox in your pocket. So what's an Xbox again? This week on the podcast we chat Microsoft news and venture into the future... of television with the Mass Effect TV series.

Show Notes:

I can't believe we missed out on the most important PlayStation Pro news when we talked about it a couple weeks ago.  Yes, your long nightmare of dealing with disorganized lose paper is over: Sony has created a solution and it only costs $1000.  But hurry: there's only 12,300 in existence, so act quickly or else you'll have to go crawling back to Clippy.  We dig into this as well as more stories on Professor Layton, Microsoft R&D, and Nintendo's secret police this week.

This week on the podcast, we discuss two of the most charming love-letters to video games of all time, both of which are not just loaded with nostalgia, but also amazing games (or games-in-games) all on their own!

Show notes:

- Music from the Astro Bot Launch Trailer and the UFO 50 Launch Trailer

The PlayStation 5 Pro was formally announced and I have to say that my favorite part by far was listening to the calming timbre of Mark Cerny's voice as he explained highly technical things in a way that made me feel like I could understand it.  His sonorous, professorial presentation was perhaps the only thing that could have calmed my jangled nerves after seeing that $700 price point.  This week, we discuss the announcement and what we think it means for the PlayStation landscape.

As the saying goes: "Grand opening, grand closing."  This week we recap the baffling Concord situation and what it means as part of the broader game landscape.  Along the way we check in on some other games, ranging from Flock, to Black Myth: Wukong, and Deadlock as part of a late summer check in.

We're off to Germany this week to discuss some of the exciting  - and not-so-exciting - news coming out of Gamescom 2024. News, Molyneuxs, and more, oh my!

Show Notes:

This week on the EXP Podcast we say goodbye to a games industry institution. We also briefly discuss Fortnite, cultural conglomeration, and gambling!

Show Notes:

This week we do a summer check in on some of the games we've been playing.  Strangely, they're all some form of retro-inspired RPG/adventure style games.  There's the Commodore 64-era inspired Skald: Against the Black Priory.  There's the Super NES era Super Mario RPG remake.  And there's the PS1-aesthetic adventure game homage, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes.  Lorelei was of particular interest, as it inspired us to lean into the artistic approach and go back to pen and paper as a way to solve puzzles and remember information.  It's a good sign when a game inspires a notebook full of glyphs and half-crazed riddles.

Time and money is at a premium, are we spending it on Game Pass, in-game purchases, or another caramel macchiato? This week on the podcast, we explore some news about digital games and purchases.

Show Notes:

The only thing hotter than this summer's weather is this collection of spicy takes.  This week, we use Polygon's collection of provocative opinions as a jumping off point to revisit some of the fundamental arguments that started us down this wacky path.  Will we ever figure out what art is and do video games qualify?  Maybe the real art is the fun we've had arguing along the way.

Just in time for the Steam Summer Sale, Valve has dropped three lists of the most popular games played on the Steam Deck. These lists are updated in real time and reflect some trends in the industry. This week on the show, we run down the lists and share some of our favorite games on the Steam Deck - including a remaster of a classic: Riven.

It's Elden Ring and The Shadow of the Erdtree time and with it comes the predictable discussion about difficulty in games.  I guess it makes sense that a game about making looping runs through a punishing world gets people fired up, but I still think it's hilarious that people seem to be surprised at how hard these games continue to be.  And thanks to a new interview with Hidetaka Miyazaki, we can be certain that this difficulty is not only intentional, but also pursued out of respect to players.  This week, we dissect some of his comments and consider the long-term legacy of his design sensibilities.

The definitely NOT E3 window of events is over with one more big set of announcements. This week on the podcast, we discuss some exciting games coming to the Nintendo Switch - THIS YEAR!

Show Notes:

Now that the great collapse of the E3 ecosystem is well and truly complete, we're beginning to see saplings spring from the ashes.  And it's not just a few; Summer Game Fest and the numerous other publisher-specific, indie, PC, and various thematic conferences have quickly formed a forest and are spreading the video game news over the wind like a dense cloud of pollen.  This week we take our antihistamines and dive into some of the many game announcements we've seen over the past couple weeks.

This week on the EXP Podcast, in between Sony's announcements and Xbox's big news, we discuss the state of big budget first-party exclusives and what the future of publishing massively expensive games might look like.

Show notes:

• "You can’t make AAA games for just one platform anymore" by Oli Welsh via Polygon
• Music by Brad Sucks

War never changes - the streaming television war, that is!  This week we do a deep dive on the new Fallout series.  Who knew the post-nuclear wasteland would have so many cameos in it?  And are those the jingle of spurs I hear?  Looks like The Man with No Name has become The Man with No Nose.

The Wii U, one of the worst selling consoles of all time, is finally shutting down its servers and turning off the lights. Today on the podcast we poor one out for a console ahead of its time, a messy, imperfect, but maybe a little prescient attempt by Nintendo to transform the gaming landscape.

Show Notes:

I meant to publish the show earlier, but I thought I could squeeze in a few more hands of Balatro.  48 hours later, I realize two things: that was a mistake and I'm now starving to death.  This week, we dip into Balatro, make our stage debut with Princess Peach: Showtime!, and evaluate Red XIII's surreal attempt at acting like a human.  Now, just a few more hands and then I swear I'll go to sleep.

It's finally Spring again around these parts, which means it's time for one of our favorite annual rituals: the yearly Journey playthrough!  For whatever reason, Jorge and I both had cautionary tales of resource scarcity and environmental collapse on the brain (I blame Barrett and the rest of Avalanche) and it just goes to show that you can still get something new out of a game every time you play it.  Twelve years on and we're still finding new treasures in the desert.

We discuss why Final Fantasy VIII is actually awesome, how the remake is changing the legacy of the franchise, and what's up with the best (and worst) Final Fantasy games.

Show Notes:
- Music by Brad Sucks
- "Final Fantasy is the Best, Area Man Claims," via Polygon

Reports of us rejoining the lifestream have been greatly exaggerated.  We're back after being under the weather, but we return having played a bunch of new games.  We have Helldivers, Donkey Kong, and more, including 2024 gamiest-game contender Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.  While we're only a few hours into what will undoubtedly be an enormous game, there is plenty to talk and speculate about.  Grab a comfy cushion to soften this rickety old bench and join us!

Last week the internet was buzzing with Xbox speculations that was quickly deflated by corporate-speech-laden "podcast" from Phil Spencer and his team at Xbox. Yes, some Microsoft games are coming to other consoles, but is that it? What does this, and could this have meant? Join us and Mr. Businessman to discuss the future of Xbox.

Show Notes:

* Music by Brad Sucks

We are back this week catching up on Sony's latest State of Play, which featured not one but TWO Hideo Kojima announcements. 2024 really is starting strong! Join as we discuss Judas, Sonic, and Kojima's amazing fashion-sense.

Show Notes:

- Music by Brad Sucks

Watch out, that pikachu is driving a tank and it looks disgruntled!  But perhaps not as disgruntled as Nintendo and the Pokemon Company's lawyers must be right about now.  Yes, it's time to talk about Palworld.  Part catching monsters and putting them in your pocket, part hitting trees and crafting gear, and all the rage on the Internet - Palworld has clearly tapped into something that both Pokemon and survival game fans have been searching for!

It feels like we just caught our breath from the game release whirlwind of 2023, but there's no time to delay.  2024 is here and it's bringing a pretty unique list of games with it.  This week, we talk about some of our most anticipated games and make some predictions about the unknown unknowns lurking out there.

We made it!  2023 is over, which means it's time to talk about our top games of the year.  Every year we challenge ourselves to embrace brevity and pick our top three.  2023's landslide of great games made this an even more fun challenge than usual, as did the ongoing meta game of trying to predict if our picks will overlap.  Next week we'll talk about some of the other great games that we didn't get to highlight, but for now, join us for the brightest of all the shining stars.

Show Notes:

• Music by Brad Sucks

Just in time for the end of the year, we reach the end of another story: Alan Wake II!  This week we debrief on a game created by and for humanities nerds.  Nothing like contemplating the death of the author while rocking out to Norse mythology inspired heavy metal!

We're head to Vice City, where the sun is shining, drugs are plentiful, and you might get eaten by an alligator. Also, we retroactively predict the Game Awards winners.

Show Notes:

• Intro from the Grand Theft Auto VI trailer
• Outro by Brad Sucks

This week we emerge from our holiday haze and talk about the ways in which some large publishers are trying to foster a fuzzy feeling by appealing to a sense "the good old days" of established games and franchises.  This kind of packaged nostalgia is clearly popular; just ask the people paying actual currency to play the original version of World of Warcraft.  But what does it mean that we're drawn to these time capsules and does it mean we're headed toward a looping cycle where we reset franchises once every seven to ten years?  If so, then I can't wait for my Cow Clicker remake.

Do you feel that tingle of excitement? No, not that weird green dude. It's Nintendo's latest announcement that Legend of Zelda is getting a big screen adaptation and it's... live action!?

2023's absolute deluge of games continues this week and we hanging on for dear life!  This week we web sling our way around Spider-Man 2, piece together the mystery of Alan Wake 2, welcome a special end-credit guest in Lies of P, and conclude our trip in Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

We also knew all the mushrooms would catch up to Mario. This week on the podcast, we take a wonder seed trip into Super Mario Bros. Wonder!

Show Notes:

• Intro from the Super Mario Bros. Wonder launch trailer
• Music by Brad Sucks

This week we talk about a game all about language and a game completely devoid of the written word!  Chants of Sennaar and Cocoon are in the rotation this week and both games have impressed us.  While they're quite different, both of them drop you right into a world without much explicit hand holding, so we have a good time unpacking the various mysteries contained within.  Plus: a little extra Lies of P and Sea of Stars analysis as we continue to dig in to those games!

This week on the podcast, we leap into Sony's cloud gaming news and marvel at the lengths Baldur's Gate 3 players will go for the perfect run.

Show Notes:

- Music by By Brad Sucks

Rumors abound this week as we all collectively start to piece together clues about the Switch's successor.  I'm going to out on a limb and say that there will be a Mario game and a convoluted friend request system - maybe together?!  On top of that, Jorge and I do some strategizing about how to introduce turn-based RPGs to the next generation.  Suffice to say it's a high pressure situation.

It's a debacle at Unity, some surprising DLC news, the high cost of games, and a step into the closet with Hideo Kojima!

Show Notes:

- Music by Brad Sucks

This week on the EXP Podcast, we ask whether great games like Baldur's Gate 3 or Tears of the Kingdom should raise the standards for what we expect out of games or if doing so sets the bar too high.

Show Notes:
Music by Brad Sucks

After several months of traversing the gloom, scarfing down endura carrots, and harvesting dragon scales, both Jorge and I have seen credits in Tears of the Kingdom.  I won't even pretend to say we've "finished" it, as there are more korok seeds in this game than there are grains of sand of beach.  Regardless, we do a deep dive on both the late game mechanics as well as the time-bending plot.

Pop quiz: do you know the various subscription tiers for your game platforms?  And more importantly: do you know which ones you're automatically being charged for every month?  Well here's a hint: it's not Xbox Live Gold, that one's riding off into the sunset.  This week, we play that exact game and quiz each other about what each major console platform is pitching and which ones we've bought into.  Let's just say things get convoluted fast.  On the bright side, we rediscover some members of our Nintendo family and also give Sony some free naming ideas!

This week on the EXP Podcast, we revisit some of video games' best, and worst, endings - from the multicolored conclusion to Mass Effect 3 (and Elding Ring) to the touching conclusion to some great narrative games like Life is Strange. 

Show Notes:

Hello!  Remove that gloom effect, because we're back from the depths after a few weeks.  Well it's not really the depths, it's just that Jorge and his family acquired a new little korok and were doing some much needed bonding.  We ease back in by catching up on what's been going on in Hyrule and what's been going on over at Nintendo.  Apparently Mario is getting bigger than ever.  And I truly mean elephant-sized.

This week we talk about the recent PlayStation Showcase.  But first, stick with me for second here, gang: what if I took a dual sense and chopped it in half...wait, no let me finish...and then stuck a big screen in the middle and then Tears of the Kingdom Ultra Hand-style just mashed all of it together!  We call it Project Q and it's going to revolutionize toilet-based gaming in the home.  What's that?  Fine, we'll sweeten the deal with some ear buds.  Are you happy now?

It's a big week around these parts!  And when I say parts, I also mean the various pieces of scrap wood and ancient tech I'm using to fashion a crude over boat.  Yes, it's time to talk about The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom!  We debrief on our initial few hours in the game and talk about how it fits int he broader open-world landscape.  Spoiler: we're having a great time so far, although maybe it's good we didn't pursue engineering in school.

This week on the podcast, we explore a galaxy far, far, away in Jedi Survivor, wonder why the Jedi Council is training an army of child soldiers, and briefly discuss some classic Nintendo wildness.

Oh, and see you on the other side of Breath of the Wild 2!

Show Notes:

This week, Scott ventures out into the theater and reports back on the latest cinematic adventure.  That's right, it's the The Super Mario Bros. Movie!  Seeing is how it's based on a Japanese game franchise and created by Illumination's French studio, can I call this a foreign film?  In any case, and despite a distinct lack of John Leguizamo, there is plenty to talk about, so grab your popcorn and your fireflowers and join us.

700 hundred official episodes is no small feat! We are celebrating the accomplishment by hosting the first ever Gamey Awards Tournament of Champions! It's time to settle once and for all who the best Waifu/Husbandu is. Why is Inciniroar a genuine contender? And what is the gameyest game?

When playing a cross-play multiplayer game, what do you do when the an entire platform's worth of players gets left behind?  Well, if you're playing Rogue Company, maybe you rejoice?  This week we use the recent end of Switch support on a cross-play multiplayer game to talk about the ongoing search for your preferred video game community.  What's the slow-pitch, dad-squad, beer-league softball equivalent in video games?  Because those are some folks I could really get along with.

This week on the podcast, we bask on the sandy shores of Tchia, a darling little Breath of the Wild homage, trudge back into Resident Evil 4, and touch on a couple more games that are actually pretty damn great as well!

Show Notes:

Bad news: you have to live in a brutal post-apocalyptic zombie hellscape.  Good news: The Internet's latest crush, Pedro Pascal, is your companion and protector!  This week we talk about HBO's The Last of Us.  Roughly ten years after the first game's release, we revisit the game's bleak world and see how it fares in the world of prestige television.

It's time again for the yearly Journey replay ritual, in which we wander the sands of Thatgamecompany's magnum opus and maybe even join some strange new wanderers!

Show notes:

- Music by Brad Sucks & the Journey OST

We've got some pretty hefty games on the horizon this spring, so we're spending the last few weeks of winter doing a bit of a sampler.  We have a wide variety to talk about this week, ranging from the manic Hi-Fi Rush to the meditative Season.  And then we throw some survival horror in the middle there for good measure!

It's time to revisit some classics that were, actually, just bad?

I've long since abandoned trying to be cool, which is hopefully a good defense mechanism against being "cringe."  Marvel, Star Wars, and now Forspoken have all now received criticism for crossing the line that separates wry humor and obnoxious self awareness.  But what's really behind our negative reactions to these try hard characters?  This week we use an article by Austin Walker to explore if maybe the audience-facing winks we see so often are actually a defense mechanism in which writers try to mock their own work before anyone else can beat them to it.

This week we re-board the Ishimura to take a violent and viscera-filled visit to the Dead Space Remake. Is it one of the best horror games of all time? Absolutely!

We also make a pit stop to check in on a new holiday in Japan - Final Fantasy 7 Day!

After a very long, Gamey and GOTY-filled Fimbulwinter, we're finally looping back to one of our favorite games of 2022: God of War Ragnarök!  We discussed it in a few previous shows, but this time we go fully into spoilers and geek out over everyone's Greek lout.

The year is well under way and there is going to be an absolute glut of games dropping this year. With barely any lulls in major releases, we are looking ahead at our most anticipated games of 2023 and some of the games we might play... if they come out this year!

Show Notes:

Before we put 2022 behind us, it's time to share our favorite games of the year. That's right, it's the GOTY cast! This was a truly great year for such a wide variety of games, in part due to the dearth of Triple-A games taking up all our time. Stay tuned next week for the last of 2022 leftovers!

Show Notes:

- Music by Brad Sucks

It's time to sum up the year in the most traditional way: by having animated discussions about superfluous game mechanics, waifus/husbandos, and the most "gamey" games of the year. This is the episode that most exemplifies our "serious but not humorless" take on medium and it is one we look forward to all year. Thanks as always for listening!

It's time to dive into all the adorable, terrifying, and black goop filled goodness from the Keighley's 2022 Game Awards extravaganza!

It's time to deck the halls... STEAM DECK the halls! This week on the EXP Podcast, we dive into Scott's latest handheld device - the Steam Deck.

Notes:
- Music by Brad Sucks

Ah: Feel that brisk chill in the air? Smell that seared flesh? Hear that deafening groan of the world serpent? That's fimbulwinter baby and we are 100% here for it. This week to have an initial discussion about God of War Ragnarök's opening hours. Pull up a seat next to the fire and let's work through some father figure issues together.

Back after some rough colds, we bring with us a tiny yellow Play Date, which is great for sick days! Also, Scott has made a great accomplishment in the Lands Between.

Google decided to shut down Stadia, so unfortunately all those games you may have bought are evaporating in what you might call a cloud-like manner. Don't worry though: something has appeared to fill the spiritual void: it's Mario's new voice. This week we talk about the artistic and moral tightrope that is the Super Mario Bros. Movie as well as the postmortem view of Stadia.

Cheating has thrown chess and competitive fishing into an existential crisis! Maybe shouldn't bother with real-world sports anymore anyway...

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 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!

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 the knife and claiming Call of Duty is an "essential" franchise within the gaming sector and beyond. Regardless of who wins, we decided to take it as an opportunity to talk about the long-running franchise, its current influence, as well as what other franchises seem essential in today's landscape.

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 memorable surprises.

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.

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:

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 conference front, we talk about some MIA Nintendo games as well as the increasingly unpredictable future of everyone's favorite reason to escape from LA: E3.

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 our entertainment budgets.

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.

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 peace in our very own site of lost grace.

The Elden Ring is almost here, which means we are just biding our time with some video games and honing reflects and patience. This week on the Podcast, we speculate about what's coming in Elden Ring and follow-up with some thoughts on Sifu, the new Kung-Fu inspired brawler, and Subnautica, an older but fascinating deep-sea survival game.

Show Notes:

What if they made a Pokemon game where Pokemon actually roamed the countryside? What if you could actually interact or be attacked by wild Pokemon? What if catching 'em all involved stealthy, precision pokeball tosses? Sometimes we think about the alternate history or hypothetical tangents our favorite franchises and genres could take. This week, we use Pokemon Legends: Arceus as a starting point to discuss what happens when an established idea or approach takes an unusual turn. Is it everything we hoped for or should we be careful about we wish for? All I know is that, no matter what the future holds, I have an army Bidoofs at my disposal.

Just when you thought tipping your barista 20% was spending big, Microsoft shocked the industry spending well over 60 billion (yes, BILLION) on an acquisition of Activision-Blizzard. Now Sony's getting in with a Bungie acquisition. This week on the podcast, we talk about the big industry buyouts!

Time to jack in! Now that all the game of the year and new year's talk is out of the way, it's time to get back to what really matters: The Matrix. Between Resurrections' divisive reception and the recent Unreal 5 demo, Neo and friends have been top of mind. This week, we debrief about how video games and the Matrix intersect and evolve together. Whether we still know kung fu is up for debate.

We are back from our short year-end hiatus ready to blast forward into 2022. Which means it's time to talk about some of our most anticipated games of this year, many of which may not come out, well, ever! From little indie darlings to major blockbusters, this is shaping up to be another great year to play all kinds of diverse and interesting games.

Show Notes:

* Music by Brad Sucks

It's 2022, but we haven't quite finished the last crumbs of 2021 yet. This week, we partake in the annual tradition of delicious leftovers: games that we didn't quite get to on our games of the year show. I wonder what a Lombax's favorite dessert is and whether it's easy to microwave?

The year is finally over, which means it's time to count down our top games of 2021! It has been a wild year, with a ton of diverse and interesting games that caught our attention. Have a favorite game you want to shout out? Send us an email with your favorites!

Show Notes:

The end of the year GOTYs are almost here! Wwhich means we are frantically playing as many games as we can before 2021 is over. This week, we review a few different indies, from a far-flung sci-fi future to a fantasy animated adventure.

Don't forget to tune-in over  the holidays for our yearly Gamey Awards, our top games of the year, and the year ahead!

From the beautiful vistas of Piltover to the decrepit alleys of Zaun, there is a lot to explore in the latest video game adaptation to grace our television and the front page of Netflix. This week on the EXP Podcast, we join our good friends Jinx, Vi, Jayce, and a few other characters from League of Legends as we review Arcane, a new animated series of Riot Games.

Is this the new pillar of video game adaptations?

Show Notes:

* Music from the Arcane OST

If there are two things Jorge and I are comforted by, it's dinosaurs and pixel art. This week, we get to partake in both as we share some initial impressions on Jurassic World Evolution 2 and Eastward. The seem different on the surface, but I'd argue that if both of them put us in the same happy frame of mind, then there must be some shared DNA. Dino DNA as Mr. DNA might say.

Samus Aran is back... but in a dreadful state! This week on the EXP Podcast, we hop into Metroid Dread and empty our salvo of missiles into the latest blend of side-scrolling horror-stealth.... uh.... Metroidvania-style thing.

Show Notes:

- Music from the Metroid Dread OST

Bloodborne as an alternate reality PlayStation 1 release? Nintendo does its classics dirty? Uncharted and the snake that ate its own tail? Alright I guess that's why Sony didn't ask for my advice in naming the movie. This week we catch up on some fall headlines as we start to gear up for the end of the year.

We're back into the never-ending cycle of violence with Deathloop! This week on the show, we dive into a spoiler-filled discussion of Deathloop from start to finish, then back to start, then finish again... you get the idea.

Show Notes:
- Music from the Deathloop OST

We're almost always a two-person show around these parts, but when it comes to games, it seems like four is the magic number. Inspired by a recent Polygon article about why so many multiplayer games anchor around a four-player concept, this week is all about quad squads. Is it technology or society that has us hooked on four as a sweet spot? Look into the four chambers of your heart and decide.

The Forever-War against online toxicity continues and the latest victim may be All Chat. Riot Games recently announced they will be testing out a  new policy in which players can no longer text chat with the opposing team, calling it a "vehicle for toxicity." This week on the podcast, we jump right into that vehicle and drive around for a while to see how it feels with and without a direct line to the enemy team.

Show notes:
- Music by Brad Sucks