A healthy chat about No Man's Sky takes up a good chunk of the video games section this week, with the Unnecessary crew debating what it is and isn't. Meanwhile, Pawel talks about Inside, the successor to Limbo, Euan tells us about sinister roguelike The Binding of Isaac, and Chris talks about programming in the excitingly-titled Human Resource Machine. Beer-making Euro board game Brew Crafters takes centre stage in the tabletop section, which also includes a rant about Kickstarter backers' faces, and Chris and Euan talk about the finale of their Imperial Assault campaign. Also includes Tim Curry and public domain jazz, for some reason. Enjoy!
025- HELP!
Scythe is the game on everyone's lips at the moment, and Chris and Euan give you a lipful (or something) about it to kick off this episode! Also in the tabletop section is Fantasy Flight's Lovecraftian co-op game Elder Sign, and a quick update on the ongoing Star Wars: Imperial Assault campaign. In video games, Euan talks about Help: The Game, a collection of games made by various good-hearted developers for the charity War Child, and then the guys chat about the hilarious-but-chaotic couch co-op game Overcooked! No Pawel in this episode, he's had his teeth removed, presumably by a medical professional.
024- PHASESHIFTED
Back to full strength as Pawel returns from wandering around in the countryside with his laptop! We begin with some video games chat, starting with Mirror's Edge Catalyst before moving on to new rogue-like game Lost Sea and the real-time strategy game Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak (with excellent pronunciation). We also have a brief chat about Rocket League, in particular playing it while drunk and the ranking system. The tabletop section sees us return to playing Fantasy Flight's board game Star Wars Imperial Assault, and then Pawel enlightens us about his perceived flaws in the 5th edition of the Shadowrun role-playing game. Enjoy!
023.5- FREE VIDEO GAMES (EPISODE)
A bonus video games episode, and we won't even ask you to pay for it! In this episode, Euan talks at length about Dragon Quest IX and Dragon Quest in general, while Chris talks about the new console version of one of his most played PC games 7 Days to Die, updates us on his continuing journey through The Solus Project, and also chats about Shadowrun Dragonfall, one of the installments of the newer Shadowrun series. Also, we have an announcement about the podcast's upcoming FIRST BIRTHDAY!
023- THE TASTIEST OF MINSTRELS, WITH UNDEAD VIKING
For the first time in this podcast's history, we have a special guest on the show! Lance Myxter, aka UndeadViking, from Tasty Minstrel Games joins the lads for a bumper board games episode. Our main games up for discussion and review are Keyflower, Viticulture, and Tasty Minstrel's latest Kickstarter Yokohama, but we also touch on many, many other games, including Time Stories, Defenders of the Last Stand, Battlestar Galactica, Shadowrun Crossfire, Guilds of London, and even some Dungeons & Dragons/Pathfinder chat. Also expect the most tangential show to date, with us wandering off to discuss such important matters as the Atari 2600, holding gaming grudges for decades, hiding Pawel in the attic, and an unexpectedly long chat about Game of Thrones. All in all it's an excellent conversational episode, give it a listen! Link to the Kickstarter for Yokohama: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/michaelmindes/yokohama-deluxe-by-hisashi-hayashi-and-tmg
022- SAYING THE NAME OF THE GAME
Chris and Euan are on their own for this episode, but they pack it with delicious gaming goodness. Forbidden Desert is first up in the tabletop segment, followed by Chris's experience with the pollution-fighting game CO2, and then both lads talk about the frustratingly-silly-but-fun card game Fluxx and its various versions. In video games, Euan chats about Uncharted 4 and how it compares to the other Uncharteds, and Chris tells us all about the gorgeous exploration/survival game The Solus Project. Also features a brief chat about the upcoming console version of 7 Days to Die! Sorry, no Pawel this episode. He's hiding corpses.
021- I.T SIMULATOR 2016: GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER, NERDS
Star Wars: Rebellion takes centre stage in our board gaming section as Chris and Pawel gush about its excellence, and Euan talks us through Food Chain Magnate and its cynical in-game methods of advertising burgers and lemonade. Pawel begins the video game chat by having a rant about the business model of the Total War series then enables its creators by getting sucked into the latest version of it, Total War: Warhammer. Meanwhile Euan tells us about the fun 2D sci-fi shooter game Galak-Z, and Chris talks about his return to the world of Oros to finish Far Cry Primal. Also includes irrelevant chat about nerd currency, Pawel's need for escapism, and punching chickens. Enjoy!
020 - PLAYING DICE WITH THE UNIVERSE
The lads are back with a milestone episode! In this episode Pawel tells us all about Banner Saga 2 and his absorption into that world, Chris loves repeatedly dying in Running with Rifles, and Euan is confused by the Twin Peaks-esque PS3 game Deadly Premonition. We round off the episode with a lengthy discussion about the board game Xia: Legends of a Drift System and the problems with dice. It's a belter!
019 - VESPA VIRGINS
Chris and Euan are without a Pawel to keep them company again, so they take the opportunity to chat about Soccer City, the football board game they know he'd hate. Also on the cards is the older classic Tribune: Primus Inter Pares, a Roman-themed set collection game and one of the first board games Chris ever picked up. In the video game section there's some chat about Blizzard's addictive squad-based FPS Overwatch, and we end the show with Alienation, a PS4 game about... well, killing aliens.
018 - NICE BELL CURVE, MATE
Pawel returns from The Fatherland to rejoin Chris and Euan in this extremely conversational and record-breaking episode, and by that we mean it's unintentionally the longest one we've done to date. We kick things off with Pawel chatting about cowering behind his shield in Dark Souls 3 (then running screaming off a cliff), while we all compare it to the entire Souls series, including Demon Souls and Bloodborne. Euan tells us about his return to the excellent 2D platformer Rogue Legacy, and Chris talks about his dabbling in things like the Doom Beta, Surgeon Simulator, The Escapists, and the sandbox MMORPG Black Desert Online. The tabletop section starts with a lengthy discussion of the Dark Souls board game Kickstarter and Chris's wariness of buying into the hype, and then we talk about games we've actually played, such as the fantastic dice game Roll for the Galaxy, and the weird real-time board game Time 'n' Space. It's a long 'un, but it's a good 'un.
017 - MASTER OF THE ROSENBERG TRILOGY
The Pawel vacuum is extremely apparent in this episode as Chris and Euan battle their way through a review of Splendor, become Chinese farmers in At the Gates of Loyang, and chat at length about Lords of Waterdeep and its expansion Scoundrels of Skullport. Also, Chris gets over himself and talks a bit more about The Division and his first few hours in the fantasy 4x world of Endless Legend (with some comparisons to Endless Space), and both hosts continue to have their minds blown by Factorio and its beautiful efficiency.
016 - OF YE FIRST GATE
Alchemists brings out Chris' inner lab technician while Airlines Europe reveals Pawel to be a cynical capitalist, Euan is moved to become a history lecturer by Thebes: The Tomb Raiders until being sucked into the world of Factorio. We also return to Tom Clancy's The Division with a less enthusiastic take from Chris who is also trying to escape from jail in The Escapists and terrify Pawel with Who's Your Daddy.
015 - UNNECESSARYCON
Pawel returns and while organising the first ever unnecessarycon we find time to go into space with Eclipse and X-Wing Miniatures then things get wierd with Please Don't Touch Anything. We also return to the world of triple A console gaming with Far Cry: Primal and The Division.
014 - SPORTS!
Chris finally attains his dream of winning a non-existent Spanish football league in Time of Soccer, we keep it SPORTS! related with Blood Bowl: Team Manager and Punch Club. Plus: This War of Mine and Firewatch. Go team.
013 - A THREE HANDER
Pawel joins us again and we try to coax a review out of him for post apocalyptic RPG Degenesis but he would much rather talk at length about XCOM 2. We also discuss Spirits of the Rice Paddy and BEST GAME EVAR Cosmic Encounter.
012 - LOST IN RIO
Euan is away on unrelated business so we've got Pawel for the first time live on the show standing in as co-host in this frantic episode!
011 - SNIPER GOAT
Featuring discussion of strange monsters in King of New York and Thea: The Awakening and a large portion of the podcast is inevitably given over to Star Wars with the release of the board game Imperal Assault and Battlefront(field) on consoles. Meanwhile Euan continues his retread of old PC games with Grim Fandango: Remastered.
010 - A VERY RELAXING EPISODE
Euan Plays Railroads! and ponders what Sid Meier is up to in his shed, Chris discusses Armello and controvertial Kickstarter project Dragon Fin Soup and Pawel finally finishes talking about RPGs, plus Commands and Colours: Ancients!
009 - WHY DID I BRING AN ALARM CLOCK?
Chris and Euan try their hands at bomb disposal in Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, Pawel finally manages to talk about some RPGs and we discuss another episode of T.I.M.E stories: The Marcy Case, among other things.
008 - A FISTFUL OF BOTTLECAPS
We discuss the first part of new episodic board game T.I.M.E Stories and Chris gets into Fallout 4. Then Euan rambles incoherently about his love of the Dragon Quest series.