Argue the Toss

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You know a Coen brothers film when you see one, but what are the magic ingredients? Don't move, Drew & Chella are unpacking the secret right now, right here (or wherever you are). This is not a review of the new Coen brothers film, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, for reasons that will be revealed in this episode. However, Buster Scruggs is discussed in a completely spoiler-free episode.

Drew & Chella discuss Life is Strange 2 and the first episode of this brand new story. It's a dramatic opening, but a return to familiar Life is Strange territory, making it the perfect mix for episode one. Spoiler warning is announced halfway through, before we delve into plot details and player choices.

This week, Drew and Chella are joined by special guests, Emily Marlow and Lauren Nixon, two academics from Sheffield Gothic, at Sheffield University, England. The topic? Gothic in games. It's Halloween, so draw close to the fire and settle down for a special edition of Argue the Toss. Let us take you on a journey through graveyards, castles and the back streets of New Orleans, with a short stop in Mexico and Japan. Join us for a chat with these two queens of all things Gothic and games, including the definitive list of the most Gothic games ever.

Drew and Chella discuss neo-noir Bad Times at the El Royale. The stylish situational thriller pits a stunning ensemble cast against each other on one rainy night at the El Royale hotel.

This week Drew & Chella are hanging around to talk web-slinging and catching bad guys in New York. Spider-man is back, after a few duff games. This time, things are looking better, but will it be enough to woo the ATTeam? They're a tough crowd, but if anyone can, Spider-man can. Yeah, so, we promise no superhero themed poetry.

Jumping on that internet meme, Drew & Chella are chatting about the five games they'd give to someone to represent their taste or something about themselves. Narrowing it down to five is hard. Do you pick your favourites or the ones you've played most? Wait, what about that one that you played all summer because that person you wanted to impress liked it and it always takes you back to that place? The ATTeam didn't come up with a sound strategy, they just winged it, but they've got their five each. What does it say about them? One shouldn't dwell on such things.

Due to scheduling clashes, there is no new episode of Argue the Toss this week. Instead, we revisit an episode from Season 3, where Drew and Chella discuss robots in film and TV. Back in Season 3, there were a lot of robot-based things being released. From examinations of robots and what it means to be human in Humans and Her, to our paranoia of being replaced or usurped by robots with their own motivations, in West World and Ex Machina. This show also discusses the idea of the robot sidekick, from Forbidden Planet through to Star Wars. For all robot things, please step this way.

Drew and Chella share a bit of background on how they met, which leads to a long discussion of tabletop roleplaying games. There's more to tabletop than just DnD, so this episode looks at the breadth of games, discusses how to set up a group and what there is to love about rolling dice with other geeks.

Mission: Impossible - Fallout is the sixth in the Mission: Impossible series and it goes all out on Tom Cruise stunts. It even goes a bit Uncharted in the end. Drew and Chella enjoyed Fallout, but where does it rank in the grand scheme of Mission: Impossible films? Only one way to find out.