Crit-Rate Podcast

In a rare two-hander, Justin and Alex wax nostalgic about gaming magazines, fall into the zen vibes of Sword of the Sea, and get way too excited about the Final Fantasy Tactics remaster.

This week, we dive into everything from the big Gamescom reveals to the future of Final Fantasy and why Sword of the Sea might be the next great chill game. Scerbo’s loving RE9’s direction, Chou is embracing nostalgia, and Alex… just wants Pokémon to evolve already.

The crew unpacks a wild week, from Pokémon burger mania to a deeply troubling Roblox investigation.

The crew is back this week! Join them as they debate Kojima’s cult status, break down what Donkey Kong Bonanza gets wrong (and right), and dive into the growing controversy around MasterCard’s role in Steam game censorship.

The Justins return from a whirlwind BitSummit adventure full of riverside drinks and indie dev heart, only to be met by a Nintendo Direct that left us wondering, what are we even doing here? We talk Donkey Kong Bonanza, Octopath Traveler Zero, Chillin' by the Fire, and why Zelda’s current era needs to end.

Alex and Liz hold down the fort while the Justins are off in Japan, diving deep into Death Stranding 2’s deja vu design and the rollercoaster that is Night Reign. Plus, they get hyped (and slightly skeptical) over Donkey Kong’s movie debut and the fresh-faced cast of the Zelda film.

Scerbo’s dealing with guilt about taking his Switch 2 back from his kid, Chou’s all in on Peak, while Alex is sneaking in Mario Kart World after a long week at the beach!This week, the gang dives deep into the “Stop Killing Games” movement, what happens when online games vanish, who’s responsible, and we try to actually come up with some decent solutions! From lost IPs to private server resurrections, we get into it.

This week we discuss all the layoff that hit Microsoft

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Scerbo dives into Mario Kart’s GP structure and why online chaos might be too much of a good thing, while Chou revisits Hyrule in 4k 60fps on the Switch 2. Liz shares why she hasn’t unboxed her console yet and Alex gives his first impressions of Mario Kart on the new hardware. All this while we walk through the messy state of Bungie’s Marathon and what might come next.