Welcome to Chess Club! Chess and roguelikes seem like a strange match, but in this episode Bryan and Josh explore two such games that use the tried and true mechanics of chess and mash them up with the roguelike video game genre (and a few other genres as well). The first game discussed, Shotgun King, is a run based game where you play as a single piece (the black king) and instead of taking out the enemy pieces with traditional chess moves, you have a shotgun. A simple, elegant premise with a perfect implementation. The next game we talk about is Chessplosion, an arcade action puzzle game where you drop chess piece bombs to create chain reactions and trap opponents. Both have a unique and interesting take on using the widely known mechanics of chess towards a novel gameplay end. So pull up a chair and have a seat across the board from Bryan and Josh as they talk you through this video game Chess Club.

Three Word Reviews:

Shotgun King:

Bryan: Flip the Board

Josh: Premise Pulled Off

Chessplosion:

Bryan: Super Chess Brothers

Josh: Jousting with Bombs

Bryan and Josh are on the Case! The Case of the Golden Idol, that is. This deductive logic puzzle game set in the 18th century and spanning a 40 year period, follows the Idol as it changes hands and drastically affects the fortunes of its owners. The game presents as a series of logic puzzles in which players collect clues to connect together concepts, characters, and evidence to provide context to the story. Once it began receiving favorable comparisons to Return of the Obra Dinn, Bryan and Josh knew they had to check it out immediately. So listen in as we gather the evidence to attempt to prove once and for all if The Case of the Golden Idol is a worthy spiritual successor to Obra Dinn and deduce what makes it shine on its own merits.

Three Word Reviews:

Bryan - Real Deal Reveal

Josh - Puzzle, Not Mystery

Take a trip down a neon-drenched memory lane with Bryan and Josh as they play 2021 action platformer, Narita Boy! Sporting some of the most striking pixel art we have ever seen, Narita Boy’s aesthetic alone warrants the price of admission. As they made their way through the digital kingdom, Bryan and Josh reflected on their time with the game and on the 1980’s era nostalgia it is channeling. Narita Boy punches above its weight by pairing its action packed techno-quest with some truly poignant vignettes. So listen in as we talk through what makes Narita Boy a true legend.

Three Word Reviews:

Bryan - Earnest Evocative Nostalgia

Josh - 80s Tribute Tale

This podcast is vengeance. It is the Knight. It. Is. Batman!

Batman Arkham Knight to be exact. Clint has been a longtime fan of this game and the series, and Bryan had been looking for a reason to complete his journey through the Arkham trilogy, so together they ventured out into the cold, autumnal Gotham air and recorded a podcast about what its like to inhabit Batman in Arkham Knight. Batman is a character they both have a lot of fondness (and some criticism for), and this outting being the most maximal of Batman video game experiences, heightens those affections, and flaws, to their apex. There is a bit of something for everyone in Arkham Knight: action adventure, brawler, exploration, driving, puzzling, vehicular combat, and all of it is fairly well integrated as part of the whole experience. We’re now over 7 years out from this title’s troubled launch on PC, and playing it on modern hardware was truly a visual and auditory delight.

As a quick note: We played and recorded for this podcast just a few days before Kevin Conroy, the voice actor for Batman in this and many other appearances, suddenly passed away unexpectedly. He was a familiar voice in our collective memories from earlier days and helped make these games, and Batman in general, a cultural force over so many years.

Three Word Reviews:

Bryan - World’s Greatest Detective?

Clint - Be the Batman

Bullet Heavens. Action Roguelikes. Arena Shooters. Crowd Management Games. Survive ‘em ups… the list goes on. Whatever you call them, thanks to Vampire Survivors they were a big story in 2022. In this podcast, Bryan and Josh sample three games from this burgeoning genre, popularized by Ponkle’s breakout hit, and quickly iterated on by a legion of creative developers. Our selection includes:

The OG - Vampire Survivors

The Stylish Successor - 20 Minutes til Dawn

and The Quirky Cousin- Boneraiser Minions.

All of which have plenty to recommend, not least of which is their exceedingly reasonable price points. Listen in for some heart pounding, shotgun cocking, skeleton summoning action as the boys dissect what makes the genre tick through discussion of this sample that we’re calling the ArenaCast.

Three Word Reviews:

Vampire Survivors:

Bryan: Dracula’s Destructive Dopamine

Josh: Bullet Hell Reversal

20 Minutes til Dawn:

Bryan: Simple Stylish Slaying

Josh: Guns as Maps

Boneraiser Minions

Bryan: Welcome Feature Creep

Josh: Back to Hell

The falling leaves tell a story…

Earlier this year, across the fog, in the Lands Between, Josh and Bryan embarked on their respective journeys to become the Elden Lord. And their Remaining Free Time was shattered. Along the way they met a variety of colorful characters: cowardly Patches the Untethered, the Unkillable Poisonous Jellyfish, and THE LOATHSOME DUNG EATER! Before long they realized the tales of their journey must be shared, and so a plan was hatched to condense hundreds of hours worth of gaming experience into a paltry (maybe not so paltry) podcast episode. Instead of putting these foolish ambitions to rest, they unsheathed their mics, donned their headphones, and went to work discussing a wide variety of topics. Lore, combat mechanics, and the dreaded difficulty discourse… all were felled before their mighty words. So listen in to hear Bryan and Josh pontificate on Elden Ring, its place in the FromSoftware catalogue, and its place in gaming in general… so that all things may be conjoined.

Three Word Reviews:

Bryan - Uncompromised, Unmatched, Unforgettable

Josh - A Formula Perfected

Join Bryan and Clint for a discussion of Naughty Dog’s critical darling from 2013… and 2014… and of course, 2022! The Last of Us was, and remains, a landmark video game in the action-adventure sphere and continues to be the standard for character-driven narratives in gaming. Joel and Ellie’s cross-country road trip is just as exciting today as it was the day it launched, but the technical upgrade it received with “Part 1” is worth discussing in its own right. On the heels of its 2022 re-release, and as the franchise looks to expand into an upcoming HBO series, the guys felt there was no better time to revisit this PS3 (and PS4, and PS5) classic and provide their perspective on what makes it a game for the ages.

Three Word Reviews:

Bryan - Dilapidated Dad Darling

Clint - Beauty and Brutality

Bryan and Josh have both long been intrigued by the prolific and quirky “Video Game Development Boy Band” hailing from Utrecht, Netherlands and calling themselves Sokpop. Given the recent breakout success of the group’s title, Stacklands, they decided to dive in and survey the vast back catalogue of projects that Sokpop has created. For those unaware: Sokpop is a 4 person video game development collective which has given itself an ambitious mission: launch a new game every 2 weeks. The games vary in size, shape, and scope but generally adhere to a ‘House Style’ that features low-res colorful visuals and cute, chunky animations. While the discussion primarily concerns Stacklands and another title, Simmiland, from a gameplay and mechanics perspective, Bryan and Josh discuss Sokpop’s approach more broadly in this podcast we’re calling Sokpop Selection.

Three Word Reviews:

Bryan - Curious Collective Creation

Josh - Rapid Fire Release

Show Notes:

Sokpop’s Patreon Page

Game Design Perspective: Stacklands by Josh

Games Discussed: Stacklands, Simmiland, Luckitown, Tile Tale, Pocket Watch, White Lavender, Rook, KingPins, Sproots

Fans of tactics games rejoice! Triangle Strategy is here to deliver you the square grid, isometric, turn-based action you’ve been craving! … Along with an equally large helping of palace intrigue, politicking, and a bafflingly large amount of cutscenes. Oh, and don’t forget the detailed worldbuilding, subtle character development, and narrative ‘convictions’ system. Triangle strategy is a game that is not afraid to let its story breathe, and it backs its ambitious script up with some of the tightest and most well balanced tactics fights we’ve had the pleasure of playing. So pull up a chair and listen in to Bryan and Josh as they recount their time on the continent of Norzelia. Do you have the conviction required to make it through this voluminous tome of an episode?

Josh - Speeches and Swordplay

Bryan - My Convictions Grow

In this podcast Bryan, Josh and Clint take their spooky season celebrations to space! Dead Space, that is. The franchise’s first outing by the studio that would later become Visceral Games is as heart-pounding today as it was groundbreaking back in its 2008 debut. Offering a frightening level of immersion with its innovative UI and audio design, Dead Space doesn’t skimp on world-building either, even if it did have a few missed beats from a storytelling perspective. The real star of this experience, however, is the tension-filled and action-heavy combat that stands on contrast with some more deliberately paced horror games it was contemporary with. Overall, this is an influential space horror game that set the stage for many of the horror greats that came in the years since. So listen in as the book club crew straps into their RIG and boards the USG Ishimura to cover Dead Space!

Three Word Reviews:

Bryan - Uneven Atmospheric Action

Josh - Action Trapped Adventure

Clint - Epic Tier Engineer