🎙️ Join Heather, Stu, Leon, and Tom as this week’s episode tackles hard games — the kind that force you to improve… or give up entirely. From brutal difficulty spikes to that addictive “one more try” feeling, the crew dive into what makes challenging games so compelling — plus all the usual chat, news, and chaos. Stick around for the quiz at the end too.

Timestamps:

00:00:00 - Intro & what we've been playing

00:34:10 - Gaming news & upcoming games 📰

00:50:37 - Questions from Discord❓

01:05:48 - Main topic: Hard Games! 💪

01:30:26 - Listener comments from Discord

01:48:49 - Gaming quiz time!

01:59:05 - Shout outs and goodbye

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🎮 What we’ve been playing:

Leon has been all over the place (in a good way):

o Sailing the seas in Sea of Thieves, enjoying the chill co-op vibes (and avoiding sweaty PvP chaos)

o Still completely hooked on Marathon, running squads and chasing that “flow state”

o Jumping back into Returnal ahead of Saros, loving the insane haptics and gameplay-first design

o Dabbling in Resident Evil 9, but already getting humbled by its difficulty

Stu has had a quieter week but still managed to:

o Finish Resident Evil 9, praising how it ramps up and gets better toward the end

o Try out Kiln, a quirky arena-style MOBA from Double Fine — interesting idea, but maybe a bit shallow (for now)

Tom has been balancing gaming with serious retro collecting:

o Playing Yakuza 3, Dead Rising, and a bit of Neo Turf Masters

o Deep into Pragmata, absolutely loving it — describing it as a mix of RE4, Souls-like combat, and puzzle mechanics

o Also showed off some incredible pickups (Street Fighter merch, Rival Schools, Mega Drive classics, and more)

Heather has been busy travelling (Dubrovnik trip!) but still found time to:

o Finish Tides of Tomorrow, a narrative-driven game with a unique asynchronous multiplayer twist

o Pick up Life is Strange Reunion, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, and Astro Bot

o Highlight how narrative-heavy games are still hitting strong

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📰 Gaming News Highlights:

o Confusion over a possible new PS5 DRM/internet requirement — though Sony hasn’t confirmed anything yet

o Alien: Isolation 2 teaser drops out of nowhere, giving fans hope 14 years later

o Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resync becomes a huge pre-order hit already

o Atari acquires a retro porting studio, hinting at more classic games returning

o Expedition 33 hits 8 million sales and gets a small content update

o Sega teasing OutRun & Streets of Rage returns — but it might just be merch (for now)

o Game Pass price drop sparks debate after recent increases — but comes with trade-offs

o Rising CPU and memory costs could push up future console and PC prices

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🎮 Upcoming releases:

o Saros – 30 April (PS5) – Housemarque’s next big action title

o Mixtape – 7 May – narrative-driven adventure with a killer soundtrack

o Directive 8020 – 12 May – sci-fi horror from the Until Dawn devs

o Forza Horizon 6 – 19 May – open-world racing set in Japan

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💬 Side chats & moments:

o Tom’s spider incident causing lifelong towel trust issues 🕷️

o Debate around Game Pass value and pricing shifts

o Ice cream preferences (unexpectedly intense discussion)

o Hidden talents… including some questionable ones 😂