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Welcome to The Inaugural Post Games Thanksgiving Special!

I’ve invited 19 people from across video games to share what they’re thankful for. They could celebrate a game, a person, a place, a trend, an idea, or whatever else inspires them. Our guests come from across the entertainment and media industries, including award-winning indie game designers, a former executive from a AAA publisher, brilliant text-based critics, beloved audio-only hosts, a contract-securing union leader, and a good ol' fashioned movie star.

 Here's the party's guest list!

• Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon
• Kirk Hamilton
• Christian Donlan
• Jenny Jiao-Hsia
• Lucy James
• Austin Walker
• Chris Novak
• Tina Sanchez O’Hara
• Blessing Adeoye Jr.
• Sarah Elmahleh
• Giovanni Colantonio
• Najay Greenidge
• Chris Bratt
• Nina Freeman
• Frank Lantz
• Kitty Calis and Jan Willem Nijman
• Evan Narcisse

Because this episode is a holiday special, and because we have so many guests, there are no acts and no news of the week. Instead, what follows are nearly twenty notes of gratitude from our brilliant guests. And Patreon subscribers get an extra-long personal note from me, in which I talk about what I’m grateful for this year: the games, the movies, the books, the music, the people, and most importantly, the opportunity to do this show.

We have so many delicious dishes to plop on your plate, so let’s work our way around the buffet!

This week on Post Games: The Thanksgiving Special

• 19 guests share what part of video game culture they’re thankful for
• Why I’m grateful for change and how you can create your own

On the Patreon - Only $5!!!

• Bonus segment: Why I’m thankful for change (and how you can create your own)
• Plus, the films, movies, books, ideas, and other things I’m thankful for
• Early access to ad-free episodes
• Video versions of new episodes!
• Five hour-long episodes of Video Game Journalism 101, including the new episode on storytelling
• Free game of the week
• This week in video game links
• What else I’m enjoying
• All of that and more for only $5 a month!

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Get extra segments, video episodes, bonus episodes, and early access at patreon.com/postgames

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I was stunned when I first saw Cave Crave, a VR game in which the player squeezes through dark tunnels, the gaps so tight that the character must hold their breath, causing red light to pulse. As your virtual lungs empty, you see the blood vessels in your eyes

To my surprise, the dark, suffocating caves of Cave Crave were just the beginning of both its terror and its depth.

This week on Post Games: A trip into a real cave that became a tomb

• Act 1: The game that traps you in a dark, tight hole
• Act 2: Recreating the infamous Nutty Putty Cave
• Patreon Bonus: A history of the Steam Machine and the “living room” PC
• Act 3: News of the week

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Post Games for $1!! - The Early Bird, Not-Quite-Black Friday Sale

Rather than compete with Black Friday and Cyber Monday, I’m running my holiday deal early. Subscribe to the Patreon before 11/14 and get your first month for $1. Yes, you read that right. A buck gets you...

• Video episodes!
• Weekly bonus segments!
• 5 deep dives on storytelling, reviews, and media!
• 1 oral history of Street Fighter: The Movie!
• 25 incredible interviews with the most fascinating people in video games!
• Expanded newsletters:
• Free game of the week
• The best video game stories of the week
• What else I’m enjoying
• Access to community group chats!

This episode is a bit unusual. I’m chatting with a talented game developer who also happens to be a friend. I’ve known Joel Burgess for many years, dating back to his time helping to design open-world RPGs for AAA studios.

He currently serves as the Studio Head of the indie studio Soft Rains, which has been busy preparing the debut of its first game. Ambrosia Sky is a sci-fi immersive sim in which you play as a death cleaner. Picture Powerwash Simulator spliced with BioShock, and then add the NYTimes obituaries, and you’re not far off. This week, Ambrosia Sky: Act 1 hits Steam.

What does it feel like to launch a video game, particularly as the head of a studio, responsible for not just the success of the game but the business? The stress. The joy. The mixed sense of finishing one race, and in the current age of DLC, updates, and additional acts, starting another marathon.

This week on Post Games: what it’s actually like to release a video game in 2025.

• Act 1: The chaos of making a video game in the 2020s
• Act 2: The moments before pressing publish
• Patreon bonus: How Joel’s dog inspired the look and soul of Dogmeat in Fallout 4
• Act 3: News of the week

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Sure, spooky season is over. But listeners, the scary season has just begun at Post Games. To prepare you, I have invited one of my favorite horror critics, Ashley Bardhan, to explain the appeal of playing horror games – and how they might make your life less scary.

This is one of my favorite (and most surprising) conversations yet!

• Act 1: The case for playing more horror games
• Act 2: Horror as therapy
• Patreon bonus: 5 horror games for the holiday season
• Act 3: The news of the week

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Few video games achieve mainstream cultural relevance. Fewer still get labeled as "art." And only a handful of games that get through the culling manage to retain their relevance across decades. Shadow of the Colossus is the exception to the rules of video games.

What makes it so unique? How has its place in gaming culture evolved? And why does it play a special part in the life of today's guest, video essayist and author Jacob Geller?

• Act 1: Why Shadow of the Colossus never lost its relevance
• Act 2: How Shadow of the Colossus launched a critic’s career
• Patreon bonus: The future of video essays about video games
• Act 3: News of the Week

Art by James Bareham

Theme by Mark Sparling

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Get the full show notes for free at www.post.games

Last week, Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier explained how the too many games problem came to be. This week, we hear how game creators are adapting to make sure the best games reach you – rather than get lost at the bottom of an ever-growing pile. 

Today’s guest, Simon Carless, is an expert in helping game creators strike this balance between the artist’s vision and the audience's interests. Carless is a pioneer in the exponentially important research of “game discoverability."

• Act 1: The art of Game Discovery
• Act 2: Do endless sales help or hurt gaming?
• Patreon bonus: The strangest tricks and “hacks” to get a game seen 
• Act 3: The news of the week

Art by James Bareham - Happicamp.com

Theme by Mark Sparling

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At an unknowable point in the past five years, gamers were granted three wishes:

1. I want more games to play than I could ever have time for.
2. I want them to be cheap, if not free.
3. And I want to be able to play them whenever and however I want.

The result has been great for fans of the hobby, but a radiating headache for game creators. Over the next two episodes, we’ll learn why we’re suddenly drowning in video games (more than we could play in a lifetime) and what both players and game creators are doing to adapt.

Today, we'll focus on how "too many games" became gaming's unusual dilemma. Bloomberg reporter and Triple Click host Jason Schreier joins me to explain how the video game business is battling with its own abundance.

Act 1: Heaven for gamers

Act 2: Hell for game makers

Patreon bonus: A big chat about mainstream media and gaming

Act 3: News of the week

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This week, you get two podcasts for the price of one.

First: the Nintendo mailbag. Listeners sent in a U-Haul's worth of questions about Nintendo. What's up with the unusually "usual" approach to the Switch 2 release? Why can the publisher do whatever it likes without the fandom going into revolt?

Second: I complete our NSFW video game interviews. In previous episodes, we spoke with an NSFW game designer and an NSFW game academic. Today, you’ll meet Annie, the host of Sex Positive Gaming, an NSFW gaming YouTube channel. How does a YouTube channel dedicated to games that break the YouTube terms of service exist? You’ll get the answer to that question and many more!

This week on Post Games, a double-episode I'm dubbing "Mario's Nipples."

Act 1: Making sense of modern Nintendo

Patreon bonus: Why Nintendo ignores some of its biggest franchises

Act 2: Life as an NSFW game YouTuber

Act 3: News of the Week

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A few months ago, NSFW games appeared to be thriving. Then came the censorship campaign. To help us understand what shifted in the culture over the summer, and where NSFW games go from here, I needed an expert on media censorship, video games, pornography, feminism, and the history of sex labor activism.

Today’s guest is that unicorn. Jean Ketterling is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Studies – Women’s and Gender Studies Program at the University of Saskatchewan.

• Act 1: The summer sexy games got banned
• Act 2: The future fight against game censorship
• Patreon Bonus: The gooner contingency and NSFW game recs
• Act 3: News of the week
• Patreon Bonus: What I saw at SEGA

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Get bonus segments and episodes for $5 at Patreon.com/postgames

Get full show notes in the free newsletter at post.games

This week on Post Games: How did Xbox get here?

Former VP of Xbox Game Studios Shannon Loftis takes us on a guided tour of Microsoft's gaming ambitions, from the days before Windows 95 to Xbox's ambitious bet on the future of entertainment.

• Patreon bonus prologue: The case for having fun
• Act 1: Microsoft’s first tiny team of game makers
• Act 2: Xbox before the acquisitions
• Act 3: News of the week

Art by James Bareham

Theme by Mark Sparling

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