Button Boys

The Future is Now: Times When Our Minds Were Blown

Button Boys

Show Notes

Every person who plays video games has had a moment when their jaw drops, their eyes widen and they find themselves dribbling onto their laps the sheer effort of comprehending the paradigmatic shift in front of them.

Ok, maybe not every person. Still, this episode is dedicated to those moments: the times when you just couldn’t believe what a leap forward games had taken; the times when you realised the future was now. From achingly beautiful vistas and hyper-realistic mechanics to dense world-building and the bits where your character, unprompted, scratches their bum, the Boys cover it all.

But before all that, Glenn tells a tale of utter humiliation and we catch up with what everyone’s been playing this week. Sarah's had a slight change of heart since last episode's theatrical hatchet job, Pierre's finally on board with Bond, and Glenn, of course, has found an indie game where he can do two jobs at once.

To follow along with the Button Boys outside the podcast:

⁠Pierre's Edinburgh Show

⁠Glenn's Edinburgh Show

⁠Sarah's Edinburgh Show

⁠BUTTON BOYS LIVE!

If you can't get enough Button Boys content, head over to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, where you can find our weekly Hidden Cache bonus episode featuring more gripes, game recommendations and our Hitman: World of Assassination playthrough, and Player 4, where we interview a different comedian every month about their gaming lives.

Follow along with the Button Boys on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for highlights, behind-the-scenes content and future podcast announcements.

Games Mentioned in this week's episode:

The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales

Horizon Zero Dawn

Perky Little Things

Anime Feet Boys: The Charm Finder Quest

007 First Light

Kingdom Come: Deliverance

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

Princess Peach: Showtime!

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

Venba

Grave Seasons

Stardew Valley

Marvel’s Spider-Man

Assassin’s Creed

Spider-Man 2 (2004)

Kingdom Hearts

Assassin’s Creed Mirage

Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Grand Theft Auto III

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

MotorStorm

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Metal Gear Solid

The Last of Us

SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Starfield

Bubsy

Crash Bandicoot

Spyro

Final Fantasy IX

The Sims

The Sims 2

GoldenEye 007

Mass Effect

Mass Effect 2

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune

Tomb Raider

TimeSplitters 2

TimeSplitters: Future Perfect

Killzone

Call of Duty

Shadow of Rome

Produced and edited by Ben Drayton Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

More from Button Boys

Oct 21, 2026

We've all had one of those days: just missing the bus, stepping in a deep puddle, pissing ourselves a little bit. But none of us have had the kinds of days that gaming protagonists routinely face. From severed limbs to shipwrecks, we subject our digital avatars to the worst possible experiences.

Oct 14, 2026

Much like side streets, side arms, side tables, side dishes and sidemen, can provoke surprisingly strong feelings. This week we're going off the beaten track, ignoring the main objective and tackling the good, the bad and the ugly of secondary storylines. We've got drunken foolery, farting pigs and complete letdowns. But enough about the hosts, on with the podcast!

Oct 7, 2026

This week the Boys try to settle the debate raging across the country: which historical or futuristic period makes the best setting for a game? From early symbolic thought through to space travel across the outer reaches of the universe, gaming covers every era, but which one suits it best?

Sep 30, 2026

This week's topic is all about the maggot in the apple, the flaw in the diamond, the suspicious stain on the clean-smelling underwear. That's right, it's the parts of otherwise great games that we hate. Disgusting sound effects, tedious intros, impossible tasks and unfamiliar mechanics have all weaselled their way in to the Boys' all-time favourites.

Sep 23, 2026

If you missed out on the first ever Button Boys LIVE, don't worry, we remembered to record it! This week, the Boys had to pitch their worst-ever game ideas to an audience at Leicester Square Theatre. After a few minor technical hitches, Sarah came straight out of the gates with an avian-themed game for the gerontophiles among us, Pierre set out his vision for a drone-controlled dating sim and Glenn's idea... well, I think you need to hear it for yourself.

See all episodes →