Vidjagame Apocalypse

There's something inherently eerie about an empty or abandoned hotel - especially if it's only been abandoned by the living. With Framework's Tony Wilson on board for our second week of Spooptober '21, let's look at five highly memorable haunted hotels, after which we'll talk Far Cry 6, Metroid Dread, Hot Wheels Unleashed, the Twitch hack, and your dream Mario-movie casting.

Today marks the return of Spooptober, when all of our shows are Halloween-themed for a whole month — but since it's just getting started, let's ease in with guest Greg Moore and five games that let you play as a psychopomp, someone who guides the dead into the afterlife (or, y'know, just punches their ticket, one way or another). Then we'll pivot to ActRaiser Renaissance, Death Stranding Director's Cut, Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye, last week's Nintendo Direct (including THAT casting news), and whether you like episodic games better than stories you get all at once.

Grand Theft Auto V just turned eight last week, just months shy of its launch on a third console generation - so let's grab PNB's TL Foster for a look at five other games that just keep coming back, with endless re-releases, remasters, and remakes on new hardware. Then we'll investigate Lost Judgement, Kena: Bridge of Spirits, the fallout from Epic v. Apple, and the game-ds trends you'd like to see more (or less) of.

Deathloop is out this week, and we're excited to talk about it - but first, let's ease in with some a look at five other top-tier time-loop games that came along since we last covered the topic in episode 250. Then it's on to Deathloop, The Artful Escape, WarioWare: Get It Together, last week's PlayStation Showcase, and the game characters you'd want to see kaiju-sized.

Being normal-sized is cool and all, but what if you could - just for a little bit - get really, enormously huge and just stomp all the monsters or whatever who thought they could push you around? This week, Leif Johnson joins us for a look at five games that (temporarily!) grow their heroes to giant size, after which we'll get into FIST: Forged in Shadow Torch, Sonic Colors Ultimate, Lake, chip-supply shortages, and your best camp stories.