095 (VG) - OBJECTION!

Video games this week with Chris, Pawel and Dave! Phoenix Wright-alike Aviary Attorney is Dave's game of the week, Chris returns to Salt and Sanctuary and the PS4 version of Shenmue, both Chris and Dave have cooperated nicely in the free puzzle game We Were Here, and Pawel has some unexpected feelings about Shadow of the Tomb Raider! Enjoy!

Aviary Attorney (02:30)

Salt and Sanctuary (21:20)

Shenmue (31:47)

We Were Here (35:00)

Shadow of the Tomb Raider (47:20)

Hosted by Chris Hanratty, Pawel Daruk, and Dave McCreary

Music by Euan Glasgow

This episode recorded and edited by Chris Hanratty

094 (VG) - FAR: LONE GOAT CULTS

After a lengthy introduction which is mostly about a foreign chocolate bar that causes Pawel a lot of embarrassment, we get stuck into what turns out to be a mostly indie game episode, talking first about FAR: Lone Sails and its relaxing atmosphere. Dave then quickly summarises God of War, then has a lengthy chat about his time spent playing loads of games on itch.io, the indie game website, and settles on Where The Goats Are. Finally, Chris gets weird (and terrified) in real-time card game Cultist Simulator! Enjoy!

FAR: Lone Sails (08:48)

God of War (19:55)

Dave's journey through itch.io (22:00)

Where The Goats Are (27:35)

Cultist Simulator (37:45)

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

Music by Euan Glasgow

Weird chocolate by Poland

This episode recorded and edited by Chris Hanratty

092 (VG) - ROGUEISH

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

090 (VG) - CULINARY COMBAT

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

074 (VG) - SOUNDSTERS

More video games chat this week with Chris, Euan, Pawel and Dave! Also expect us to confuse Pawel with chat about the dance music of yesteryear. Enjoy!

Games talked about in this episode:

Total War: Warhammer (03:30)

Technobabylon (13:45)

Fortnite Battle Royale (23:08)

Monster Hunter: World (27:28)

Streets of Rogue (45:18)

Abzu (55:47)

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

Music by Euan Glasgow

Recorded and edited by Chris Hanratty

073 - (VG) CHAOTIC STUPID

The first video games episode of the year brings a rambling chat about Assassin's Creed: Origins, Bounty Train, Fallout Shelter and the very first of our Retro Games Book Club section, in which we talk at great length about NetHack! We also find ourselves swerving dangerously into the contentious topic of loot boxes, giving a bit of a kicking to several modern games as we do so. Oh well.

Assassin's Creed Origins (03:17)

Fallout Shelter/loot box chat (21:20)

Bounty Train (40:30)

Retro Games Book Club: NetHack (45:28)

Hosted by Chris Hanratty, Euan Glasgow, Pawel Daruk and Dave McCreary Music by Euan Glasgow & Chris Hanratty Recorded and edited by Chris Hanratty

071 - GAMES ARE FOR EVERYONE

In the last episode of 2017 Chris, Euan, Pawel and Dave are talking video games, with Pawel playing through Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, Euan taking on Streets of Rogue, and Dave playing the weirdly difficult Metroidvania game Hollow Knight! Also in this episode, we talk about our recent attendance of Games Are For Everyone in Edinburgh, a gaming event run by We Throw Switches, where Chris, Euan and Dave played some excellent, some weird, and some just plain arty games including Reigns: Her Majesty, Phogs, Virtua Walker 87, Line Wobbler, Muddledash, and more! Enjoy!

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice: 1:33

Streets of Rogue: 17:20

Hollow Knight: 28:27

Games Are For Everyone: 40:47

070 - THE ACCIDENTAL RIO GRANDE EPISODE

Pawel has returned from his Japan trip, and Chris, Euan and Dave spend a good ten minutes grilling him about it while Pawel gives them capsule toy souvenirs (live unboxing, folks!). It's then straight on to the board games, as the lads have accidentally had a very Rio Grande Sunday at the weekend, with plays of some classic Euros which they'll tell you all about: Princes of Florence, Attika, and Stone Age! Enjoy!

Princes of Florence: 12:22

Attika: 36:27

Stone Age: 49:22

Note: The next board games/tabletop episode will be in January, as we will be taking our usual Christmas/New Year break after the next video games episode, which should be out next week. Cheers!

069 - PUNCHING NORDS

Chris, Euan and Dave talk video games this week! Skyrim VR is the big new release for PSVR and Chris has a great time punching people and filling them with 10 arrows every second; Dave has a very specific reason for playing time-stopping sci-fi game Heat Signature; Chris attempts to make a successful software company in Software Inc; and Euan and Chris have a quick chat about the new Playlink feature on PS4, having had a bit of a larf with That's You!. Enjoy!

Skyrim VR: 01:20

Heat Signature: 22:16

Software, Inc: 37:35

That's You!: 51:33

068 - A NUMBER OF VIKINGS

We are finally back with a tabletop episode, this time playing something a bit unusual for us with the area control/wargame 878 Vikings: Invasions of England, and then having a bit of silly (but thematic) fun with the disc-flicking dungeon crawling game Catacombs! Enjoy!

878 Vikings: 04:05

Catacombs: 37:24

067 - HORNED RATS & ANNOYING ORCS

Euan takes over hosting duties for this video games episode as Chris is feeling a bit under the weather (not drunk), which starts with him verbally wandering on his continued journey through 90s gaming with Fallout, and a little bit about Command & Conquer. Pawel then talks us through Warhammer: Total War 2, the latest instalment in the planned trilogy. Also, Chris gives his dying throat a workout by taking us through the cosmetic changes to Fortnite's Battle Royale, before talking about the good and bad bits of Middle-earth: Shadow of War, and finishes up with a quick chat about ridiculously difficult platformer Cuphead. Enjoy!

Fallout: 02:01

Total War: Warhammer 2: 09:45

Fortnite Battle Royale: 29:28

Shadow of War: 38:26

Cuphead: 49:03

066 - PATHFINDER: THE CHRONICLES OF BOBBY TREETOPS

This week, in a departure from our usual format, we hand the episode over entirely to our Pathfinder roleplaying campaign, in which we talk about what Pathfinder is, the characters and stories in our campaign, and have a good old chat about the wonderful world of roleplaying in general, from the perspective of both new (Chris and Euan) and experienced players (Pawel, RPG maestro extraordinaire). This episode begins with a dramatic reading from the journal of Euan's character, Bobby Treetops, the elf sailor. He's some lad. Enjoy!

064 - RAGING SPIRITS FORGING DICE

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We're back with another tabletop games episode, this time talking about two board games with gorgeous artwork: Dice Forge, in which the players are constantly changing the physical faces of their dice to suit their needs and strategy, and Spirit Island, a fully co-operative game of angry gods and spirits (the players) who are repelling foreign invaders from colonising their lands. Enjoy!

Dice Forge: 02:30

Spirit Island: 25:45

063 - BUCKET HELMET ARMY

This week's video games episode finds Chris in his happy place as he shows Divinity: Original Sin 2 a whole lot of love while arguing with Pawel about what a Fantasy RPG is. Meanwhile, Pawel has been playing Echo (not Ecco), a stealth game in which the AI learns how to beat you from observing your choices and behaviour. Also this week Chris and Dave have a bit to say about Starbound and its excellent balance of relaxing base building and exploration of alien planets. Enjoy!

Divinity: Original Sin 2: 03:34

Echo: 29:40

Starbound: 45:20

056 - JAPANESE MORNING

Chris, Euan and Pawel have a 66% Japanese episode with two games from designers from the land of the rising sun, starting with Tragedy Looper, a "1 versus many" time-travel board game in which the good guys are trying to prevent tragedies from happening by, uhhh, letting them happen a couple of times. Next up is Fairy Tale, a light, fantasy-themed card game of set collection and with multiple ways of scoring points. Pawel then ruins the Japanese theme of the episode by talking some more about Arkham Horror: The Card Game, and specifically about its standalone adventures and expansions such as Dunwich Legacy. Dave also gives a message from beyond the grave. (Note: Dave isn't actually dead) Enjoy!

Tragedy Looper: 3:18

Fairy Tale: 26:32

Arkham Horror Card Game: 40:30

055 - EGYPTPUNK, CYBERPUNK, CLICKPUNK

Chris, Euan and Pawel bring you another video games episode! Chris kicks off with an update on two VR games, first asking Pawel about his experience with Star Trek Bridge Crew and then a short bit about his own playthrough of Farpoint. Euan then talks about the strange Egyptian sci-fi old-school style indie RPG Void Pyramid and how he's been stalking its mysterious designer known only as "A Hagen". Chris jacks himself into Neon Chrome, an addictive and well designed top-down cyberpunk shooter with roguelike elements, while Pawel returns to the Gabriel Knight series with the 20th Anniversary remake of Sins of the Father. Also, more vague politics. Enjoy!

Star Trek Bridge Crew/Farpoint: 3:20

Void Pyramid: 13:04

Neon Chrome: 26:10

Gabriel Knight Sins of the Father: 41:04

054 - THE RED RAVEN

Chris, Euan, Pawel and Dave bring you the missing board games episode from last week! This week we give most of the episode over to Ryan Laukat and Red Raven Games, as we give our first impressions of the newly-arrived story-telling/adventuring game Near and Far. We also chat about one of Euan's favourite games, The Ancient World, where the players are attempting to unite groups of people under their banners to fight off the threat of attacking Titans. Although Pawel thinks the humans are the real monsters. Finally, we return to Captain Sonar, after Chris and Euan managed to get a full eight-player real-time game of this incredibly fun team-based submarine-commanding torpedo-firing stealth-running mine-dropping game of wits. New video games episode will be out later this week! Enjoy!

Near and Far: 2:30

The Ancient World: 25:30

Captain Sonar: 46:10

053 - TEMPORAL JIGGERY-POKERY

Video Games: This week, Chris and Euan return to Farpoint, the PSVR sci-fi shooter, getting a bit more into the story side of things and the new stuff they're encountering. Pawel interjects with a segment on the Battletech Closed Beta, an upcoming turn-based strategy game in which squads of giant mechs blow each other to bits, and based on the tabletop game of the same name. Finally, Chris and Euan get back to PSVR with a look at the latest big release, Star Trek Bridge Crew, the immensely fun, nerdy, co-op starship simulator set in the rebooted Star Trek universe. This episode also features some chat about the future of PSVR and what they think the platform needs, and also Euan getting angry about films. Enjoy!

Farpoint: 1:51

Battletech: 18:06

Star Trek Bridge Crew: 32:49

051 - GAMING BUFFET

A veritable feast of video games is on offer in this week's episode, as we first go back a few years to talk about Borderlands 2 (as part of The Handsome Collection) and all its craziness. Next up is the latest PSVR release Farpoint, a sci-fi shooter using Sony's new Aim controller, and Euan launches into a SPOILER FILLED audio essay on his ongoing playthrough of Final Fantasy XV. Also on this week's show, Pawel talks about sci-fi city builder Anno 2205, while Chris gives a quick overview of his cowardly bathroom-hiding tactics in Battle Royale-esque PC shooter PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. Enjoy!

Borderlands 2 - 4:00

Farpoint - 19:30

Final Fantasy XV - 26:46 (Spoilers)

Anno 2205 - 39:38

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds - 50:27

049 - SOLDIERING ON

In this week's Video Games episode, Pawel's bias finally breaks down as he admits that the bugs and weird things going on in Mass Effect: Andromeda are actually ruining his immersion, and instead retreats to the world of Expeditions: Viking, a tactical RPG which is the successor to Conquistador. Meanwhile, Chris travels through a war-torn country with a baseball bat in randomly generated side-scrolling survival game Home Behind.

Enjoy!