Waypoint Radio

A lot of video game villains are cartoonish and over-the-top, but as Danika Harrod argued in a piece on Waypoint this week, sometimes games go too far in trying to make the point that evil people are evil. Danielle, Rob, and myself huddled around some microphones to use Danika’s piece as a launching pad for a broader discussion about how games use villains, prompting us to discuss everything from BioShock Infinite to Resident Evil: Code Veronica.

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In our latest Waypoint 101 excursion, Patrick, Rob, and Austin tackle the grim London of Zombi. Originally ZombiU, an early Wii U game later adapted to other platforms, the game impressed the panel with its tension, early digital video aesthetic, and fresh, high-stakes take on surviving one of video games' most tired settings: the zombie apocalypse.

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Monster Hunter: World is a very good game, but as Austin pointed out in his review last week, it’s a game that “offers intricate environments, lively creatures, kinetic combat... and a dash of colonialist fantasy." Austin, Patrick, and Rob talk about what to do with complicated (and often contradictory) feelings regarding a video game you’re enjoying, while checking in on Rob’s attempts to survive the zombie hordes in the strategy game We Are Billions.

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This new world offers intricate environments, lively creatures, kinetic combat... and a dash of colonialist fantasy. Waypoint's Austin Walker shares his thoughts. You can read (and watch!) the full review at https://tinyurl.com/waypointmonhun

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​On Waypoint's day off last week, a series of investigations into Detroit: Become Human developer Quantic Dream broke out of France, outlining allegations of a deeply toxic studio culture. (There are good write-ups on both Kotaku​ and Eurogamer​.) Austin, Danielle, Rob, and Patrick consider this means for one of 2018's more high-profile games, and what we're supposed to with this information when eventually playing Detroit: Become Human. Elsewhere, we discuss our time with The Red Strings Club, Celeste, and They Are Billions.

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With Monster Hunter: World on the horizon, it seemed like the perfect time to discuss the reasons why some games—or game series—have proven tough for us to wrap our heads around. Sometimes, it’s design. Other times, it’s the community around the game. Austin, Danielle, and Patrick hopped on microphones to use Monster Hunter as a starting point for this larger question, which dragged in everything from Dark Souls to Darkest Dungeon. (The embargo is up on World next week. Stay tuned for more!).

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We had a special treat this week at Waypoint HQ, with the whole team in town for meetings, streams, and this very podcast. So Patrick, Austin, Rob and Danielle talked about “forever” games, thanks to two pieces Patrick wrote this week, on a Mario Maker Creator who has spent close to 2000 hours playing his almost-impossible creation, and on a Die Hard Desert Golf fan who found the elusive ending to his favorite game. We chat about our very own “forever” games, from the endless appeal of immersive sims to the promise of near-infinite space in No Man’s Sky, and Patrick gets a very special surprise at the end!

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Waypoint loves video games, which is why Austin, Rob, Danielle, and Patrick spend the first 20 minutes of this podcast talking about The Thing and the 80s anime Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Of course. Later, we discuss the defense-oriented brawler Way of the Passive Fist, re-visiting Breath of the Wild and Horizon: Zero Dawn through DLC, the good boys of Yakuza 0, and more.

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With a few different Waypoint editors taking some time off this week, Danielle and Patrick are joined by one of our more regular writers, Cameron Kunzelman, to break down my piece arguing Assassin’s Creed should ditch its sci-fi trappings. Somehow, we end up talking about the Hellraiser movie that takes place in space, a bizarre D&D campaign called Spelljammers, and why we get hung up on the notion of “it’s good for a video game.”

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2018 is here! At least, it should be. This podcast description was written in 2017, so if something happens between now and then, apologies. Maybe it was the alien alloys? In any case, before everyone returns to the office and begins formulating another year of hot takes, Austin, Rob, and Patrick returned to The Question Bucket. Yes, we still have questions from more than a year ago. No, we didn't get to all of them. Sorry.

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