Off the Shelf is an interview format where we bring a guest on the show to talk about the following scenario: “Imagine you have a library full of books that represent to you the greatest video game narratives. If I were to pull 5 books at random off of those shelves, what would I find? How did each book earn a spot on your shelf?”

This week, I was joined by Rick from the Pixel Project Radio podcast. Below you will find the linktree for that show.

Pixel Project Radio Linktree

The discussion of each game contains spoilers, so please refer to the timestamps below to avoid those as needed.

(00:00) Introduction & Spoiler Policy

(06:51) Disco Elysium

(24:21) Lisa the Painful

(35:20) Outer Wilds

(50:39) Xenosaga

(01:05:41) Pentiment

(01:21:14) Closing Comments

If you enjoy the show please join our patreon to stay up to date on the podcast. Thanks for listening!

David, Caleb, and Erik take a virtual trip to Quito, Ecuador for a nostalgic conversation about the autobiographical game, Despelote.

Pages of Play podcast is a book club for gaming narratives, where the hosts discuss their personal experience with a game and its story via book club style discussion questions submitted by listeners. Please join our discord so that you can chat with the amazing Pages of Play community and ask discussion questions to be featured on our next episode!

The wonderful music in this episode comes form the Jusant soundtrack by Guillaume Ferran. Check it out here.

Contents:

(00:00) Intro

(03:53) Q1

(21:46) Q2

(39:40) Q3

(53:05) Q4

(01:06:36) Spoiler Wall

(01:07:19) Story Recap

(01:09:40) Q5

(01:17:30) Q6

(01:29:57) Q7

(01:34:31) Q8

(01:47:20) Closing

References from the show:

GameDeveloper.com Article

Setting aside classic narrative structures, Caleb and Lydia explore the incredible ability of video games to tell a story through experience while discussing the 1980 Atari hit Missile Command.  Caleb geeks out about environmental storytelling and meta-narrative, Lydia marvels at game cabinet design, and the two reflect on how this game played a role with one another in building a common language of game design.

Dusting off the Cover is a subseries of the Pages of Play podcast where the hosts look back at older titles in the canon of video games to revisit, relive, and re-delight in game narratives from years past. Feel free to submit your ideas for future episodes at [email protected]

The opening music is the track “Magic Tales” and the closing music is the track “The Call” by Kim Lightyear/Lightyeartraxx used with permission under the Pixabay license.  Find these and others at Pixabay and YouTube.

Contents: 

(00:00) Intro

(03:51) First Time Playing

(05:56) Narrative Recap

(07:13) Innovations

(10:46) Influences

(13:43) Narrative Through Play

(18:04) What Makes This Game Worth Playing?

(23:25) Closing

Off the Shelf is an interview format where we bring a guest on the show to talk about the following scenario: “Imagine you have a library full of books that represent to you the greatest video game narratives. If I were to pull 5 books at random off of those shelves, what would I find? How did each book earn a spot on your shelf?”

This week, I was joined by Michael from the Tiny Game Chronicles Podcast. Below you will find links to that wonderful show. Please check it out, especially if you love short video games!

Bluesky

Spotify

Apple Podcasts

The discussion of each game contains spoilers, so please refer to the timestamps below to avoid those as needed.

(00:00) Introduction & Spoiler Policy

(07:25) Myst

(34:30) The Witcher 2

(53:49) Uncharted 2

(01:13:45) Octopath Traveler 2

(01:28:34) Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

(01:44:02) Closing Comments

If you enjoy the show please join our discord to stay up to date on the podcast. Thanks for listening!

David, Caleb, and Erik take a breather to discuss burnout in Wanderstop, a whimiscal yet surprisingly vulnerable tea-shop management sim by Ivy Road studio.

Pages of Play podcast is a book club for gaming narratives, where the hosts discuss their personal experience with a game and its story via book club style discussion questions submitted by listeners. Please join our discord (https://discord.com/invite/jMzR6WdpTR) so that you can chat with the amazing Pages of Play community and ask discussion questions to be featured on our next episode!

The wonderful music in this episode comes form the Jusant soundtrack by Guillaume Ferran. Check it out ⁠⁠here⁠⁠.

Contents:

(00:00) Intro

(04:50) Q1

(08:20) Q2

(16:28) Q3

(27:30) Spoiler Wall

(28:56) Story Recap

(32:06) Q4

(34:32) Q5

(43:29) Q6

(01:05:16) Q7

(01:12:15) Q8

(01:17:10) Q9

(01:26:25) Q10

(01:32:04) Q11

(01:34:44) Closing

References from the show:

Erik's Wanderstop Review

PC Gamer Article

Davey Wreden Presentation

Off the Shelf is an interview format where we bring a guest on the show to talk about the following scenario: “Imagine you have a library full of books that represent to you the greatest video game narratives. If I were to pull 5 books at random off of those shelves, what would I find? How did each book earn a spot on your shelf?”

This week, I had the honor of interviewing John from the Gaming in the Wild podcast. Below you will find episodes from Gaming in the Wild that cover the games we discuss on this show:

The Last of Us

A Short Hike

Kentucky Route Zero (Act 1 of the community playthrough)

Citizen Sleeper

1000xResist

The discussion of each game contains spoilers, so please refer to the timestamps below to avoid those as needed. It’s a long episode, so feel free to skip around!

(00:00) Introduction & Spoiler Policy

(06:20) The Last of Us (Part 1)

(24:52) A Short Hike

(37:45) Kentucky Route Zero

(54:25) Citizen Sleeper

(01:12:36) 1000xResist

(01:35:26) Closing Comments

If you enjoy the show please join our discord to stay up to date on the podcast. Thanks for listening!

Between the Lines is a sub-series of the Pages of Play podcast where we explore gaming narratives that are several steps off of the well-trodden path.

I am honored to read an essay about the game, My Child Lebensborn, written by cherised PoP community member, SlugcatStu! Many thanks to him for submitting this essay.

Please join our discord (https://discord.com/invite/jMzR6WdpTR) so that you can chat with the amazing Pages of Play community and submit your gaming essays to be featured on the show! You can also reach me here: https://bsky.app/profile/dovetail.bsky.socialThe wonderful music in this episode comes form the Jusant soundtrack by Guillaume Ferran. Check it out ⁠⁠here⁠⁠.Thanks for listening!

David, Caleb, and Erik sneak their way out from their cell in the latest game from The Game Kitchen. In this discussion, Caleb discusses game accessibility, Erik looks deep into Spanish Art, and David shares conspiracy theories.

Pages of Play podcast is a book club for gaming narratives, where the hosts discuss their personal experience with a game and its story via book club style discussion questions submitted by listeners. Please join our discord (https://discord.com/invite/jMzR6WdpTR) so that you can chat with the amazing Pages of Play community and ask discussion questions to be featured on our next episode!

The wonderful music in this episode comes form the Jusant soundtrack by Guillaume Ferran. Check it out ⁠⁠here⁠⁠.

Contents:

(00:00) Intro

(04:20) Q1

(21:19) Q2

(33:53) Q3

(47:42) Q4

(52:50) Spoiler Wall

(54:06) Story Recap

(57:46) Q5

(01:04:04) Q6

(01:11:04) Q7

(01:29:23) Closing

Off the Shelf is an interview format where we bring a guest on the show to talk about the following scenario: “Imagine you have a library full of books that represent to you the greatest video game narratives. If I were to pull 5 books at random off of those shelves, what would I find? How did each book earn a spot on your shelf?”

This week, I had the honor of interviewing Kate from the No Small Games podcast. Below you will find episodes from the No Small Games podcast that cover the games we discuss on this show:

Indika

Thirsty Suitors

Vampire Therapist

The discussion of each game contains spoilers, so please refer to the timestamps below to avoid those as needed. It’s a long episode, so feel free to skip around!

(00:00) Introduction & Spoiler Policy

(06:33) A Good Gardener

(29:58) Florence

(49:43) Indika

(01:01:48) Thirsty Suitors

(01:19:18) Vampire Therapist

(01:29:00) Closing Comments

If you enjoy the show please join our discord to stay up to date on the podcast. Thanks for listening!

David, Caleb, and Erik roll the dice in the latest game from Jump Over the Age. In this discussion, Caleb details a game mod he built, Erik explains why he took over 40 screenshots of the game , and David forgets about everyone he met in Citizen Sleeper 1.

Pages of Play podcast is a book club for gaming narratives, where the hosts discuss their personal experience with a game and its story via book club style discussion questions submitted by listeners. Please join our discord (https://discord.com/invite/jMzR6WdpTR) so that you can chat with the amazing Pages of Play community and ask discussion questions to be featured on our next episode!

The wonderful music in this episode comes form the Jusant soundtrack by Guillaume Ferran. Check it out ⁠⁠here⁠⁠.

Many thanks to the publisher for a review copy.

Contents:

(00:00) Intro

(09:26) Q1

(20:33) Q2

(44:30) Spoiler Wall

(45:40) Plot Summary

(47:50) Q1 Revisited

(54:36) Q3

(1:05:01) Q4

(1:10:55) Q5

(01:21:12) Q6

(01:38:50) Closing