Show Notes
Jamie and Marsh reel from Microsoft’s latest layoffs, mismanage time in Hades 2, paddle in the uncanny, chlorinated waters of Pools, devour the bite-sized city-building triumphs of Against the Storm, and indulge their flaws in The Thaumaturge.
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The last lay offs of 2024. Thankfully there won’t be any more of those! Phew!!
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Nathan Brown’s Hit Points newsletter which I incorrectly namechecked as Bullet Points. Look, there are only so many pithy game-related analogies to go around, ok?
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Hades 2, the much anticipated ARPG sequel – perhaps not ideal for the time-poor?
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Destiny 2 is unintelligible at this point, but the guns still go bang.
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Animal Well is a pixelart indie Metroidvania with notes of Fez and Cocoon.
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Knytt and Within a Deep Forest are two excellent pixelart indie Metroidvania’s from yesteryear. You can find them in Nifflas’s archive here.
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POOLS is about vibing in weird swimming pools.
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Dreamcore is about vibing in weird swimming pools, and then being jump-scared.
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Against the Storm is a city-builder for people who don’t have the mental capacity for city-builders.
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The Thaumaturge could be the best 7/10 RPG of the year. Terrific character.
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The Royal Mob – Jamie’s TV show about orgies and dying of exposure.
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Judas is a roguelike shooter from Ken Levine’s studio, Ghost Story Games.
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Our intro music is by The Mandibles from their track Clambake. Many of the band members now tour as Count Bobo And The Bullion.
More from The Crate and Crowbar
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Chris, Jamie and Marsh get tux’d up and shimmy into the pseudo-sandbox soirees of 007 First Light. Our predictions for the future of this game and its developers are then immediately chomped to mince by the pit of alligators that is the wider game industry.
Chris and Jamie are joined by Mike Cook to talk about his uneventful recent life as an academic specialising in AI. Then, Slay the Spire 2 summer begins at last and we pay tribute to Marathon’s weird little robo-goblin, the Rook.
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