Just how strange is life, anyway? Very, apparently, if you're playing 2015's excellent time travelling, episodic, narrative-driven adventure game, Life is Strange.

I'll be honest, our anti-spoiler policy means that we can't fully delve into some of the more interesting aspects of this beautiful game during the normal discussion of this on the podcast. So for anyone who has already played the game in full, we've released a bonus chat, covering some of the plot twists and heart-breaking moments that we could only carefully hint at on the show. Please see this link for all the SPOILERS:

https://soundcloud.com/user-557762286/life-is-strange-extra-discussion-spoilers

We've got lots more lighter content too though, including a general discussion about the GTA series, Sonic Racing Crossworlds, Donkey Kong Bananza and Yooka-Replaylee. Plus, Tibbs brings us the Incoming Indie this month because Ollie is too busy ranting about skill trees again.

Goodnight, God bless, see you in the morning.

Incoming Indie: Carpark Capital - https://www.microprose.com/games/car-park-capital/

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This month we're playing one of our most obscure games yet, as Tibbs reaches down deep into his pile of childhood Amiga disks, and pulls out the rarely discussed Universal Warrior - a top down shoot 'em up with an interesting robot-building slant!

This episode is also packed with other trinkets to enjoy - including but not limited to: Nintendo Direct, Virtual Boy, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Halo Reach and Mario Kart World! Plus, roll some cheese, dodge some sofas and find out what happens when a Clockwork Orange meets Space Jam!!

Incoming Indie: Denshattack! - https://store.steampowered.com/app/2524850/Denshattack/

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Tails is going on an Adventure in the book club this month, and he's bringing all his (game) gear with him! Find out more about this curious and rarely discussed foray into the metroidvania genre, where no other Sonic the Hedgehog game has been before, or since.

Plus, we do our usual Pod 'em Up appraisal of Gamescom (i.e. mostly just listing some boring new games that we're not that interested in), and we discuss Bombrush Cyberfunk, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance and Overcooked. If that weren't enough for you though, you're sure to enjoy Tibbs' cherry-loving mouse, Ollie's gaming game changer, and an online pun generator provides us with what is unquestionably the funniest tangent we have ever done on this podcast.

Incoming Indie: TANUKI: Pon's Summer - https://store.steampowered.com/app/3218570/TANUKI_Pons_Summer/

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It's another double whammy book club this month, as we discuss both the Mega Drive and arcade versions of the title that cemented Sega's love affair with the king of pop - Michael Jackson's Moonwalker!

We continue the movie theme, as Tibbs plays RoboCop: Rogue City, Ollie takes a trip to the cinema to see Jurassic World: Rebirth (not a game, granted, but still worth talking about), there's more Switch 2 shenanigans in the news, Tibbs makes some squash and Ollie pulls another Chrono Trigger on us.

Incoming Indie: Platypus Reclayed (https://store.steampowered.com/app/2912430/Platypus_Reclayed/)

BONUS! Listen to our full discussion about the ending to Cassette Beasts (spoilers included) on SoundCloud:

https://on.soundcloud.com/dhYDWQLcyKkSJhutsO

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This time on the book club, we're playing a game that definitely puts comedy above all else as we take a trip to the North, with 2024's hilarious indie gem, Thank Goodness You're Here! In this surreal British sitcom of a game, we'll be meeting such characters as greengrocer Rog with his massive head, Brigadier Bean Tin, and the mysterious man who passes raw sausages through holes in garden fences!

We also spend a little time doing our usual incredibly thorough job of looking at the games announced at Summer Games Fest, all of which we have definitely heard of, and care about. That's for sure.

Perhaps this episode is more like one of Tiny's Tom's tiny pies in terms of its length, but it's packed with laughs!

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Let's find out if this obscure Japanese Dreamcast release gets any love from Ollie and Tibbs.. we're playing L.O.L. Lack of Love - the life simulation game set on an alien planet in the midst of a human terraforming operation.

Elsewhere in the ep, we are of course chatting about the Switch 2 and its game announcements.. and we might touch just a little on those eye-watering prices too! Plus, Tibbs reviews Croc: Legend of the Gobbos Remastered, and why aren't Spotify very happy with us at the moment?

Get your designated urination buttons at the ready, and queue up for your free monthly retirement game.. it's time for Pod 'em Up 68!

Incoming Indie:

The Karters 2: Turbo Charged - https://store.steampowered.com/app/2269950/The_Karters_2_Turbo_Charged/

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In this episode, we celebrate one of the most standout, wacky and hilarious platformers of the 16-bit era, as we take on the original Earthworm Jim for the Mega Drive!

In addition, we discuss the very impressive fan-made static recompilation of Sonic Unleashed for the PC, Tomb Raider 4, 5 and 6 Remastered, some promising demos from Steam Next Fest, and more!

Incoming Indies:

Rad Venture's second kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/radventure/rad-venture-campaign-2

Elusive:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/abraham-cozar/elusive?ref=bmeaei

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In this episode, we take a look at 2023 indie gem Cassette Beasts, an RPG that has you recording monsters onto cassettes and using them to battle rangers and archangels on your quest to escape the mysterious island you now call home. Better then Pokemon? Let's find out!

We also touch on what little we currently know of the recently announced Switch 2 and kill some time with a little video game movie chat.

Ok, so we're a little light in terms of variety of content this month, but the Cassette Beasts discussion is well worth your time!

UPDATE: During the recording of episode 70, we discussed the game's ending, which we have chopped out and offered to you in this bonus clip, which of course is SPOILERIFIC!: https://on.soundcloud.com/dhYDWQLcyKkSJhutsO

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Our end of year special is upon us nice and early this year! NiGHTS Into Dreams on the Sega Saturn is being played in a particularly lengthy book club segment this time, as we go fairly indepth on all aspects of the Sonic Team classic - we also touch on Christmas NiGHTS and the Wii sequel too.

Plus, the highlight of the Pod 'em Up year - our 2024 book club awards, in which we rank the games we've been playing all year, via our patented and ever complicated points system!

Oh and we give a few minutes to that other, less exciting Game Awards too.

Apologies for very short notice, but Ollie will be doing some streaming on Friday 20th December at around 6pm GMT over on http://twitch.tv/podemup! Please pop in if you can, as he'll be playing Sonic 3 & Knuckles to celebrate the game's 30th anniversary this year, and will also be chatting about his old website, Zone: 0 - celebrating 20 years since starting that project. If you missed it, it'll also be uploaded to: https://www.youtube.com/@PodEmUp

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We're celebrating our 64th episode with not one, not two, but THREE (count 'em) games in this bumper edition of the book club this month, across the Commodore 64 and Nintendo 64 systems!

Mayhem in Monsterland reveals what the C64 is truly capable of, and Spacestation Silicon Valley provides some great puzzles and silliness. 1985's quaint British platformer Monty on the Run, however, brings us the highlight of the show, in which Tibbs attempts to explain to Ollie what's so great about the game's Game Over screen.

As if that weren't enough, Sega is as inconsistent as ever this episode, as we praise Sonic X Shadow Generations, but bemoan their upcoming, and unexplained Steam delistings. We also ponder Nintendo's plans for backwards compatibility in the next gen, and smell something fishy about that SuperSega FPGA console..

Plus, look out for Vampire Survivors, Buckshot Roulette, and we discover some weird WWE crossovers and tie-ins!

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