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Rural Byrd

Rural Byrd

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WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew actually gets into sports (kind of) after watching the first season of the new HBO basketball docu-drama, Winning Time. D. Bethel plays Studio Koba’s recent release, Narita Boy, and is delighted by its retro stylings and gameplay but also impressed by its impressive step into modern storytelling and themes.

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Droopy Doo

Droopy Doo

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WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew watches the first season of HBO’s pirate rom-com, Our Flag Means Death, while D. Bethel has a lot of fun with Acid Nerve’s charming game about being a grim reaper, Death’s Door.

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “Baguettevania” (24 August 2018): Where Andrew discusses his time playing Moonlighter.
  • “Sad News Theme” (28 February 2020): Where D. Bethel discusses his time playing Moonlighter.

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Zeldavania

Zeldavania

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A MISERABLE PILE OF SECRETS: Our hosts spend a bit of time reminiscing on the 25th anniversary of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night––the video game that put the “-vania” in “Metroidvania.”

WEEK IN GEEK: After a week off, our hosts have been busy being nerdy! Andrew finally caught up with all the Spider-Man movies while D. Bethel dipped another toe into deck-building video games with the very popular Slay the Spire, developed by MegaCrit.

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “Nerd Business” (31 July 2014): Where Andrew and D. Bethel first discuss Castlevania: Symphony of the Night as a game that matters.
  • “Trusty Rusty” (10 August 2018): Where Andrew talks about the video deck-building game adapted from a physical one, One Deck Dungeon.
  • “We Still Don’t Know $#!&” (31 May 2019): On the show’s fifth anniversary, our hosts discuss the prevalence of “RPG elements” throughout, basically, all video games at this point.
  • “Good Gamefeel” (28 June 2019): Where our hosts discuss the first non-Castlevania Metroidvania game developed by the adopted father of the series––Koji “Iga” Igarashi––Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.
  • “Reliable Virtual Helmets” (27 September 2019): Where D. Bethel plays his first real roguelike deck-building game, Meteorfall: Journey.
  • “Smell the Duke” (04 February 2022): Where D. Bethel plays a bit of the clever deck-building game, Griftlands.
  • “Bigger Than the Batman” (11 March 2022): Where D. Bethel talks about the indie game currently on his docket, A Plague Tale: Innocence.

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Bigger Than The Batman

Bigger Than The Batman

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WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew watches the most recent entry into the Scream franchise, while D. Bethel finds mild catharsis in the not-at-all-cathartic game from Asobo Studios, A Plague Tale: Innocence.

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Inserting Spaces

Inserting Spaces

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STANDING WITH UKRAINE: Our hosts take a minute to discuss the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

REVIEWING REVIEWS: The release of FromSoftware’s newest game, Elden Ring, has many people talking about reviews due to the fact that many outlets rated the game 10/10 (or whatever metric they use) while the reviewers openly admit that they didn’t finish the game (this was due to FromSoftware releasing review codes to websites really late). This lead D. Bethel and Andrew to consider what the role of a review is––heck, what even is a review when the gamut runs from professional reviews to user-written Amazon reviews.

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RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “Starting By Starting” (03 January 2020): Where D. Bethel discusses his time playing Frogwares’ The Sinking City.

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Smell the Duke

Smell the Duke

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SHIFTING SANDS: For a short bit, our hosts discuss The New York Times paying a large amount for the popular website-based word game, Wordle, as well as the announcement that Sony intends to buy the former Microsoft-owned studio, Bungie.

WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew peruses the rule book for Renegade Game Studios’ new licensed tabletop RPG, Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, while D. Bethel is intrigued and impressed by the newest release from Klei Studios, Griftlands.

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “The Space Dog and Bacchus Show.” (21 August 2014): Where Andrew interviews game designer, Kai Cambra.
  • “Applejacks. Hot Dogs. Thursday. Fire Truck.” (13 May 2016): Where Andrew talks about playing Klei’s Invisible, Inc.
  • “States of Play” (30 August 2019): Where Andrew develops an obsession with Klei’s Oxygen Not Included.
  • “Reliable Virtual Helmets” (27 September 2019): Where D. Bethel discusses his time with a real deckbuilding mobile game, Slothworks’ Meteorfall: Journey.
  • “Makes a Taste” (13 March 2020): Where Andrew discusses playing the tabletop superhero RPG, The Spectaculars.
  • “Films in Quarries” (18 June 2021): Where Andrew first discusses his current obsession with sentai shows.

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Televisionatic

Televisionatic

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STAR TREK CORNER: D. Bethel is still getting excited about Star Trek: The Next Generation, so our hosts spend some time discussing the end of TNG‘s season 3 and the start of season 4.

NEWS CRUISE: With all the news coming out in the last few weeks, our hosts decide to skim over a handful over them, including Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard; an indie developer complaining about there being too many indie games; and comics writer, Tom Taylor, taking on Comics Gate head-on.

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Tiny Text

Tiny Text

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A NEW CHALLENGER: Recently, Valve Corporation––owners of the PC gaming storefront and launcher, Steam––announced a new piece of hardware that excited a lot of gamers: the handheld Steam machine called the Steam Deck. D. Bethel and Andrew walk through the announcement and ponder what it could change in the industry, and how it could leave some gamers lacking.

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “Where the Hands Touch” (13 January 2017): Where Andrew discusses a previous piece of Valve-made hardware, the ill-fated Steam controller.

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Bear is Watching

Bear is Watching

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WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew dabbles in a few different ponds, first by playing a bit of Mass Effect Legendary Edition, then talks about his experience going through Subnautica: Below Zero, and testing his mettle with Ring Fit Adventure for the Nintendo Switch. D. Bethel is very conflicted––but having a lot of fun––as he plays through Dragon’s Crown Pro.

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “Shortcast 44 – The Game of Life” (23 Feb. 2018): Where Andrew talks about Full Metal Furies, another side-scrolling beat-em-up with RPG elements.
  • “Shortcast 62 – Not the Episode Title” (06 July 2018): Where Andrew discusses his previous experience with gamified fitness playing Zombies, Run!
  • “It’s Always a Game” (08 Feb. 2019): Where Andrew first discusses his experience playing the original Subnautica.
  • “We Still Don’t Know $#!&” (31 May 2019): Where D. Bethel and Andrew discuss the incorporation of “RPG elements” in non-RPG genres of games.
  • “Full Release” (29 Jan. 2021): Where Andrew discusses his first impressions of the early access version of Subnautica: Below Zero.

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Scumbag Removal

Scumbag Removal

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WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew finds progress in repetition as he plays the new indie video game hit, Loop Hero, by Four Quarters. D. Bethel, on the other hand, finds a lot of quirky charm––despite the somewhat very dark places the story goes––in the new SyFy show, Resident Alien, based on the Dark Horse comic series.

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RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “Sad News Theme” (28 February 2020): Where Andrew talked about watching the rebooted MacGyver for the first time.
  • “The Call Boss” (02 April 2021): Where Andrew, Taylor Katcher, and D. Bethel discuss Zack Snyder’s Justice League.

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