Unnecessary Gaming

Chris and Dave begin this episode with an explanation for Pawel and Euan's strange absence, then get into some video game goodness. Chris has been addictively playing roguelike card-based game Slay the Spire, Dave gets platformy with A Hat in Time, and the pair of them talk about their co-operative experience in ocean-exploring survival game Raft. Enjoy!

Slay the Spire (06:20)

A Hat in Time (32:55)

Raft (49:15)

Hosted by Chris Hanratty and Dave McCreary

Music by Euan Glasgow

This episode recorded and edited by Dave McCreary

The first post-summer holiday board game episode starts with a long dissection of Isaac Childres's latest Kickstarter Founders of Gloomhaven, a game of city building and mass confusion. We then have some fun creating rabbit fiefdoms in the colourful card drafting and area selection game Bunny Kingdom, and we finally lick some sandpaper as we get stuck into the classic 1980s game of German politics, Die Macher. Enjoy!

Founders of Gloomhaven(01:30)

Bunny Kingdom (34:54)

Die Macher (52:27)

Hosted by Chris Hanratty, Euan Glasgow, and Dave McCreary

Music by Euan Glasgow

This episode recorded and edited by Chris Hanratty

Email us: [email protected]

We're back from our summer holidays and we're talking video games this week, with mad co-op cooking sequel Overcooked 2, survival horror Prey, Dave chats about finally owning a PS4 and giving his life over to Fortnite, and we talk about how much has changed in No Man's Sky now that the Next update has been released. Enjoy!

Overcooked 2 (01:27)

Prey (15:46)

Fortnite (32:58)

No Man's Sky: Next (46:53)

Hosted by Chris Hanratty, Euan Glasgow, Pawel Daruk, and Dave McCreary

Music by Euan Glasgow

This episode recorded and edited by Chris Hanratty

Dave has an important announcement to make on behalf of the podcast, or as he describes it: We're all going on a summer holiday, no more working for a month or two.

It's board games time this week and Chris, Pawel and Dave all hit the wasteland in Fantasy Flight's sandboxy Fallout Board Game based on the hit video game series. Also this week, Dave keeps battering Chris's queen bee in Hive, and the team revisits party game Deception: Murder in Hong Kong just for laughs. Enjoy!

Fallout (04:34)

Hive (34:15)

Deception: Murder in Hong Kong (52:53)

Hosted by Chris Hanratty, Pawel Daruk, and Dave McCreary

Music by Euan Glasgow

This episode recorded and edited by Chris Hanratty

It's finally UNNECESSARY QUIZ TIME as Chris puts Euan, Pawel and Dave through their paces with some questions on video games and consoles of the past! But first we have a good chat about some games we've played, with Pawel spouting his love for Pillars of Eternity 2, Chris talking more about Frostpunk and discovering Souls-esque platformer Salt and Sanctuary, and Dave has finally got himself a PS4 just so he can play God of War. Enjoy!

Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire (01:26)

Frostpunk (16:55)

Salt and Sanctuary (27:40)

God of War (39:00)

Unnecessary Quiz (49:17)

Hosted by Chris Hanratty, Euan Glasgow, Pawel Daruk, and Dave McCreary

Music by Euan Glasgow

This episode recorded and edited by Chris Hanratty

Video gaming with a dystopian flavour this week as we take on the frozen hell of city-builder Frostpunk, drop into David Cage's latest open-ended effort in Detroit: Become Human, and serve mood-altering drinks to patrons as a bartending android in Red Strings Club. Enjoy!

Games talked about in this episode:

Frostpunk (02:59)

Detroit: Become Human (31:30)

Red Strings Club (53:15)

Hosted by Chris Hanratty, Pawel Daruk, and Dave McCreary

Music by Euan Glasgow

This episode recorded and edited by Chris Hanratty

We've gone OLD SKOOL this week as we chat at great length about GMT's Successors 3rd Edition in a departure from our usual style of tabletop gaming, and also find ourselves playing a few rounds of the Sherlock Holmes Card Game from 1991! On top of that, we give a long-overdue Gloomhaven update, and discuss the bottleneck problem the game suffers from. But we still love it. Enjoy!

Games talked about in this episode:

Successors (02:20)

Sherlock Holmes the Card Game (39:36)

Gloomhaven (53:06)

Hosted by Chris Hanratty, Euan Glasgow, and Dave McCreary

Music by Euan Glasgow

This episode recorded and edited by Chris Hanratty

We're back with some video game goodness, starting with Chris quickly bouncing back into the worlds of Skyrim VR and Unexplored, before explaining the weird set up to Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom and its presidential, gun-wielding main character. Dave then gives an apology to Jamie from Sludj Games (oops, we messed up) before telling an absolutely wonderful tale set in the world of Kenshi, and Pawel gets the threat of the buzzer during the continuation of his multi-part BATTLETECH review. Enjoy!

Games talked about in this episode:

Skyrim VR (02:45)

Unexplored (10:00)

Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (13:09)

Kenshi (29:40)

BATTLETECH (54:47)

Hosted by Chris Hanratty, Euan Glasgow, Pawel Daruk, and Dave McCreary

Music by Euan Glasgow

This episode recorded and edited by Chris Hanratty

Pawel is absent this week, but has (allegedly) sent a prepared statement, which we're all sure he definitely wrote himself, to follow up his Battletech review from last episode, Other than that bit of hilarity, Chris talks about PC Building Simulator (because it was only a matter of time before this game was made) and gives an update on Fortnite Battle Royale Season 4, Euan gets his teeth into Zelda-like Swords of Ditto, and Dave has been playing surreal survival game Wrongworld! Enjoy!

Games talked about in this episode:

Battletech (02:33)

PC Building Simulator (05:18)

Swords of Ditto (18:13)

Wrongworld (31:50)

Fortnite Battle Royale (49:12)

Hosted by Chris Hanratty, Euan Glasgow, and Dave McCreary

Music by Euan Glasgow

This episode recorded and edited by Chris Hanratty and Dave McCreary