It's more common than you think. Join us this week as we load up our top-heavy backpacks, strap our tiny sentient dolls to our hips, and unpack DEATH STRANDING 2: On the Beach, Kojima Productions' and Sony Interactive Entertainment's much-anticipated sequel to 2019's polarizing Death Stranding. While we likely could have spent 6+ hours unpacking this genre-defying experience of a game, what we can promise is this: Opposing viewpoints! Can something be somehow super trans AND super not queer? Norman Reedus MPREG fantasies! Gender essentialism?! AND MORE!

**Heads up! We unfortunately were having some significant internet connection issues while recording, some of which did carry through to the final podcast. Apologies!

02:12 - Pixel Therapy is looking for a third

09:55 - Twisted Metal Season 2

14:53 - Main Topic: Death Stranding 2: On the Beach

01:14:04 - SPOILERS BEGIN for Death Stranding 2

01:57:59 - END OF SPOILERS, Outro

Referenced article - "The Women of Death Stranding 2 Are Stuck in a Sad Cycle" by Maddy Myers, https://www.endlessmode.com/video-games/death-stranding-2/the-women-of-death-stranding-2-are-stuck-in-a-sad-cycle

Side Quest

tinyurl.com/opolivebranch

Operation Olive Branch is a grassroots collective effort to amplify Palestinian voices and their GoFundMes – visit the link to learn more or visit their Instagram page at @operationolivebranch.

About Pixel Therapy

We're a podcast queering and transcending video games for all kinds of gamers and those who love them--get cozy with us! If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate us, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts (or your listening app of choice) and subscribe! Want more? Join for free at patreon.com/pixeltherapypod

In the midst of an ongoing apocalyptic meteor shower that has forced the world's population of adorable pixelated animals underground, a kitten named Shell awakens to discover her mother missing. Join us as we dig into Nautilus Games' Everdeep Aurora, published by Ysbryd Games, which we had the pleasure of demo-ing at PAX West 2024!

01:38 - Death Stranding 2 impressions

08:24 - Quick film/TV talk (The Bear S4, Superman, Yuri on Ice)

16:06 - Everdeep Aurora discussion

Referenced in this episode: "Everdeep Aurora review: Searching for a home at the end of the world", Will Borger, Shacknews - https://www.shacknews.com/article/145053/everdeep-aurora-review-searching-for-a-home-at-the-end-of-the-world

Watch the live recording of this episode on YouTube at https://youtube.com/live/qjH3LH3kMS4

Side Quest

tinyurl.com/opolivebranch

Operation Olive Branch is a grassroots collective effort to amplify Palestinian voices and their GoFundMes – visit the link to learn more or visit their Instagram page at @operationolivebranch.

About Pixel Therapy

We're a podcast queering and transcending video games for all kinds of gamers and those who love them--get cozy with us! If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate us, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts (or your listening app of choice) and subscribe! Want more? Join for free at patreon.com/pixeltherapypod

This Pride Month, we played three iconic LGBTQ+ visual novels that are each a little spooky, a little spicy, and have a whole lot of heart: Midnight Scenes: From the Woods (White Blanket Games), Mediterranea Inferno (Lorenzo Redaelli, Santa Ragione), and We Know the Devil (pillowfight)! Plus: Is the Babdook a queer icon? Are trans people actual biblically accurate angels on earth? Does kink belong at Pride? (yes) All this and more await you!!

05:18 - Why does the horror genre pair so well with stories that explore LGBTQ+ themes?

12:59 - Midnight Scenes: From the Woods discussion

30:03 - We Know the Devil discussion

45:35 - Mediterranea Inferno discussion

01:16:00 - Some final thoughts

Watch the live recording of this episode at https://youtube.com/live/RWv4zXg0YIE

Side Quest

tinyurl.com/opolivebranch

Operation Olive Branch is a grassroots collective effort to amplify Palestinian voices and their GoFundMes – visit the link to learn more or visit their Instagram page at @operationolivebranch.

About Pixel Therapy

We're a podcast queering and transcending video games for all kinds of gamers and those who love them--get cozy with us! If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate us, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts (or your listening app of choice) and subscribe! Want more? Join for free at patreon.com/pixeltherapypod

Could it really be a contender for Game of the Year 2025? Join us as we break down Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, a turn-based RPG...or maybe...J'RPG (with MANY a twist) from French studio Sandfall Interactive and published by Kepler Interactive. This episode includes a heated debate on the game's endings if you wanna stick around for our spoiler discussion (and don't worry, we'll warn you when it's coming!).

00:58 - Patreon shoutouts

03:10 - Game Informer's back!

05:25 - Summer Game Fest

25:34- Herdling preview

33:36 - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 discussion

01:44:28 - SPOILERS for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

02:19:51 - END OF SPOILERS & Episode Outro

Check out the articles referenced in this episode:

"We're Really Just Going Through With All This, Aren't We," Luke Plunkett, Aftermath - https://aftermath.site/summer-game-fest-2025-switch-2-launch-geoff-keighley

"The 'deprofessionalization of video games' was on full display at PAX East," Bryant Francis, Game Developer - https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/-deprofessionalization-is-bad-for-video-games

"No, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 wasn't made by 30 people," Nic Reuben, Rock Paper Shotgun - https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/no-clair-obscur-expedition-33-wasnt-made-by-30-people

Watch the live recording of this episode on YouTube here: https://youtube.com/live/TmpmX1_Vfak

Side Quest

tinyurl.com/opolivebranch

Operation Olive Branch is a grassroots collective effort to amplify Palestinian voices and their GoFundMes – visit the link to learn more or visit their Instagram page at @operationolivebranch.

About Pixel Therapy

We're a podcast queering and transcending video games for all kinds of gamers and those who love them--get cozy with us! If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate us, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts (or your listening app of choice) and subscribe! Want more? Join for free at patreon.com/pixeltherapypod

We didn't mean to record a 2 hour, 42 min podcast, but sometimes these things just happen. Join us as we dissect the second season of the show the internet loves to hate: HBO's The Last of Us. Episode contains full spoilers for both the games and the show.

No time stamps for this one because we pretty much jump right in!

Watch the live recording of this episode on YouTube here: https://youtube.com/live/tCfOAWyECX0

Side Quest

https://gazafunds.com/

Gaza Funds is a project that connects people to crowdfunding campaigns for individuals and families from Gaza, surfacing different campaigns each time the page is reloaded. Please visit, share, and donate if you can.

About Pixel Therapy

We're a podcast queering and transcending video games for all kinds of gamers and those who love them--get cozy with us! If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate us, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts (or your listening app of choice) and subscribe! Want more? Join for free at patreon.com/pixeltherapypod

Spencer is freshly back from Tokyo and the jet lag is strong, but they're pushing through it for this month's double hitter of an episode that has the Pixel Therapy pals discussing a pair of recently released games about mysterious, abandoned houses: the visual novel/point-and-click puzzle adventure Your House, from quirky Spanish studio PATRONES & ESCONDITES, and the smash hit, first-person, genre-defying Blue Prince from Dogubomb and publisher Raw Fury. Put your thinking caps on and get curious with us as we unpack these two unique experiences with similar themes and marvel at the innate human desire to rifle through other people's shit.

0:57 - Patreon shoutouts

3:59 - Spencer went to Japan!

22:25 - Your House discussion

46:57 - Blue Prince discussion

Watch the live recording of this episode on YouTube here: https://youtube.com/live/3VLsIlPjpsc

Side Quest

tinyurl.com/opolivebranch

Operation Olive Branch is a grassroots collective effort to amplify Palestinian voices and their GoFundMes – visit the link to learn more or visit their Instagram page at @operationolivebranch.

About Pixel Therapy

We're a podcast queering and transcending video games for all kinds of gamers and those who love them--get cozy with us! If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate us, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts (or your listening app of choice) and subscribe! Want more? Join for free at patreon.com/pixeltherapypod

Join us as we chat about Wanderstop, a "cozy" tea shop management game about "change and tea" from the new indie developer Ivy Road, co-founded by the creator of The Stanley Parable and folks who've worked on games like Gone Home and Minecraft. In Wanderstop we play as the young fighter, Alta, once the greatest in the world, who suddenly can't pick up her sword. And she's tired. Super tired. But it's nothing. She just needs to keep going, keep pushing, like she always has. But when Alta passes out in the forest and is saved by the affable tea shop owner, Boro, he suggests she stay and take on a role at his woodland tea shop. Just until she can pick up her sword again, of course. Maybe Alta just needs a break?

1:07 - Patreon shoutouts

4:12 - Steven Universe (the show)

21:54 - Wanderstop conversation begins

Watch the live recording of the episode on YouTube! https://youtube.com/live/1XBngY4OmH4

Side Quest

https://chuffed.org/project/justice-for-mahmoud-khalil

Mahmoud Khalil is a Columbia University grad student and Palestinian activist who, despite being a lawful green card holder and lawful resident of the US, was abducted from his home by ICE without being shown a warrant or any charges, and is now in a detention center in Louisiana facing deportation. This chuffed fund is raising money to support Mahmoud’s legal fees and support his wife and unborn child during this time, in return for his lifelong dedication to advocating for justice himself.

About Pixel Therapy

We're a podcast queering and transcending video games for all kinds of gamers and those who love them--get cozy with us! If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate us, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts (or your listening app of choice) and subscribe! Want more? Join for free or unlock monthly bonus episodes for $2/mo at patreon.com/pixeltherapypod

Jump Over the Age and Fellow Traveller's Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector is a dice-driven RPG focused on choice, risk, and survival in a hostile interstellar world. A game that is inherently queer and earnestly hopeful, it explores themes of collective care, bodily autonomy, and capitalistic greed within a compelling tabletop-inspired framework. In this episode we explore its many layers, and where it hits and misses.

0:47 - Patreon shoutouts

6:22 - crafting talk

14:30 - Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector conversation begins

35:38 - ** CONTENT WARNING ** for discussion of abuse and sexual assault

37:39 - End of ** CONTENT WARNING **

Watch the live recording of the episode on YouTube! https://youtube.com/live/8FKXJkolD28

Side Quest

transdefensefundla.org

Trans Defense Fund LA is a mutual aid resource and network collecting info about ways to help community members as well as distributing safety kits and funds to trans folks across the city.

About Pixel Therapy

We're a podcast queering and transcending video games for all kinds of gamers and those who love them--get cozy with us! If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate us, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts (or your listening app of choice) and subscribe! Want more? Join for free or unlock monthly bonus episodes for $2/mo at patreon.com/pixeltherapypod

In light of a slew of layoffs at BioWare, the future of the Dragon Age series is unclear. But at a time when storytelling like this -- of building community across differences to fight back against impossible odds, and of finding spots of joy along the way -- feels more important than ever, we kind of surprised ourselves with how much we had to talk about. It's Dragon Age: The Veilguard, the fourth installment in BioWare and Electronic Arts' long-running fantasy RPG saga full of side quests and flirting!!!!

0:46 - Patreon shoutouts

11:24 - Dragon Age: The Veilguard conversation begins

1:09:13 - *SPOILER WARNING* for a detailed conversation about a specific companion romance moment

1:16:49 - *END SPOILERS

Watch the live recording of this episode on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/live/-FCVout3irU?si=Ae4gE2yepvciaAo7

Side Quest

transdefensefundla.org

Trans Defense Fund LA is a mutual aid resource and network collecting info about ways to help community members as well as distributing safety kits and funds to trans folks across the city.

About Pixel Therapy

We're a podcast queering and transcending video games for all kinds of gamers and those who love them--get cozy with us! If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate us, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts (or your listening app of choice) and subscribe! Want more? Join for free or unlock monthly bonus episodes for $2/mo at patreon.com/pixeltherapypod

It's time for our fourth annual totally unserious end of year roundup! Let's revisit the games that got us through the trash fire that was 2024, and get excited for a new year of gaming ahead of us.

1:24 - Patreon shoutouts

3:56 - Holiday catch-up

9:17 - 2024 year of gaming overviews

20:22 - Spencer and Jamie's Top 5 Games of 2024

1:26:05 - Favorite characters of the year

**SPOILERS** 1:30:20 - 1:33:23 for some mid-game narrative stuff in Metaphor: ReFantazio

1:35:57 - Honorable mentions

Side Quest

tinyurl.com/opolivebranch

Operation Olive Branch is a grassroots collective effort to amplify Palestinian voices and their GoFundMes – visit the link to learn more or visit their Instagram page at @operationolivebranch.

Watch the live recording of this episode on YouTube here: https://youtube.com/live/n7UB2y6-ph8

About Pixel Therapy

We're a podcast queering and transcending video games for all kinds of gamers and those who love them--get cozy with us! If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate us, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts (or your listening app of choice) and subscribe! Want more? Join for free or unlock monthly bonus episodes for $2/mo at patreon.com/pixeltherapypod