Wardcast

It’s the start of a fresh new year, and that means there’s only one thing to do! That’s right, it’s time to go In. To. The. MAG. We’re poding at MAG for a special one-night-only event. Dylan and Nelson are joined by Video Game Book Club host Michael Macasiano, here to talk about trading morals for superpowers, eclectic arcade games, and videogamesareawful.com. Games include Heave Ho, Circumnavigators, Hercules, F-Zero AX, Sonic Championship, Tetris: The Grand Master 3 - Terror‑Instinct, and Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward. Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at contact@ward-games.com!

2019 — what a year. A year of ups, a year of downs, but most importantly, a year of new friendships. Before we close the book on this year and this decade, we wanted to ask our guests from the past twelve months if they wanted to come on to talk about the games that meant the most to them. Thanks to Ruthie Edwards, Harris Foster, Sarah Elmaleh, Dante Douglas, and Ben Wander for sharing their favorite gaming experiences from the past year, and thanks to everyone that joined us on the Wardcast in 2019! Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at contact@ward-games.com!

This is it: we’ve bickered and bartered our way through the upper bracket, with only Untitled Goose Game coming out unscathed, but once more through the gauntlet we must stride to determine… The Honorables! Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at contact@ward-games.com!

We’ve gone to bat for the games we felt the strongest towards in Best Games Played. Some secured their place in our vaulted list, but some, unfortunately, did not make it. You may think that would be the end of their story, but you’d be wrong. Some games will have a second chance at redemption, here in The Honorables, our double elimination honorable mentions bracket! Join us as we reexamine games that didn’t make it to the top ten as well as others that we’ve played on our travels throughout the year. Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at contact@ward-games.com!

It all comes down to this: four people enter a room with gleams in their eyes and hopes in their heart, only for it to be stricken away — it’s time once again for the Best Games Played! As in previous years, we ask all the hosts to bring up to ten games that meant the most to them. They don’t have to have been released in the past twelve months because, hey, sometimes you don’t have the chance to get to every new game release. So listen in as we choose the best, the brightest, and the boldest games we played in 2019. Awards include Most Reverent, Quickest Revolution, Most Uplifting, Sexiest Style & Substance, Richest Shared Experience, Dreamiest Past, Greatest Culmination, Loveliest Follow-up, Grandest Epic, and Beefiest Invitation. Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at contact@ward-games.com!

Our road trip is coming to an end. As we come into the final stretch, we do a little mop up on some gaming we’ve yet to mention. Namely: some platform fighting, some emotive Tetris, some info about how GGPO rollback works, some time on a derelict ship, and more! Games include Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Tetris Effect, Return of the Obra Dinn, Brawl Stars, Grindstone, Guildlings, Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm, Death Stranding, and The Outer Worlds. Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at contact@ward-games.com!

We take a break from our Best Games Played discussions to take a brief voyage to the City of Brotherly Love, where PAX Unplugged resides! Dylan and Alex are joined by Victoria Caña and Adriel Wilson to showcase a lovely selection of tabletop experiences from the convention. You can follow along with the panel slides here. From the panel description: The Schuylkill and the Delaware run thick with dice, cards, and other assorted game pieces, which can only mean one thing: PAX Unplugged is upon us! Are you in search of a new game to suit your fancy? Maybe you’d like to play something you’ve never seen before? If this sounds like you, then be sure to join us at Hidden Gems, where we curate the finest tabletop goods from across the show that you must check out before the weekend is done. Games include Calico, Sento: Ultimate Arcade Fighter, Team3, Noctiluca, Blockbuster: The Game, Aftermath, Fantastic Factories, A Fake Artist Goes to New York, Startups, Complicated Board Game: The Card Game, KLASK, Cascadia, Actio

We’re just straight vibin’ over here, while Nelson runs down the games that struck his fancy this year. Listen in as we explore some of the sexiest experiences this year, from visual novels to racing games to punk rock apocalypses. Games include The Arcana, Forza Horizon 4, Oxenfree, Sunset Overdrive, Apex Legends, Devil May Cry 5, Afterparty, and Dragon Ball FighterZ. Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at contact@ward-games.com!

Another week, another part of the Road to BGP gets assembled. This time, it’s Joe’s turn to regale us with his chosen list. But first, a brief mention of a dishonorable mention followed by tales of wartorn kingdoms, evil light gun games, yet another soulsborne discussion, and the current state of Mario Party. Games include Mordhau, Fire Emblem: Heroes, Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, Duck Season, Warhammer: Vermintide 2, Divinity: Original Sin 2, Legends of Runeterra, Magic: The Gathering Arena, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Mortal Kombat 11, Super Mario Party, and Hades. Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at contact@ward-games.com!

For the second week of the Road to BGP, Dylan steps up to plate to take a swing at the games that meant the most to him. He talks about games with a lot of heart, a lot of spirit, and some that may have been misunderstood. Games include Deltarune Chapter 1, Hypnospace Outlaw, Mario Royale, Sayonara Wild Hearts, What the Golf?, Untitled Goose Game, Fallout 76, Super Mario Maker 2, Minesweeper, You Are Jeff Bezos, The Jackbox Party Pack 3, and Red Dead Redemption 2. Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at contact@ward-games.com!

For the lead up to Best Games Played this year, we’ve created a new, five-part series for the hosts to take the time to really dive deep into the games that meant the most to them. Welcome to: the Road to BGP! This episode, we discuss Alex’s favorite games of the year. He guides us through a journey of meaningful experiences, a variety of rougelites, and the discovery of a new universe. Games include A Short Hike, Risk of Rain 2, Void Bastards, Anodyne 2, Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, Outer Wilds, Amid Evil, Metro Exodus, Wilmot’s Warehouse, Bleak Sword, and Tetris Effect. Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at contact@ward-games.com!

On our last regular episode of the year, we spend only 120 seconds on Blizzard’s attempt to bounce back before we switch to updates on PC storefronts, sing a song or two, and take a trip to the outer worlds. We also discuss game projects currently being worked on by the group, from a hack-and-slashy that’s oh so flashy, a 3D Sinistar revival, and a… professional wrestling visual novel? Games include The Outer Worlds, MediEvil, and Killer Queen Black. Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at contact@ward-games.com!

We’re joined by Spencer Hays — running business and content over at itch.io — here to talk about the fraught debate about how to pronounce his place of work and the rackets of top level domain registration. We dive deep on the state of game subscription services, and its direct effect on developer sustainability and mainstream game design. There’s also a whole mess of talk around algorithms and its elimination of outsider art, curation on itch, and what Spencer — a card-carrying member of the Visual Novel Defense Force — has to say about visual novels and visual novel-likes. Games include Indivisible, Apex Legends, Afterparty, Adventures with Anxiety!, and Life Tastes Like Cardboard. Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at contact@ward-games.com!

It’s a house full of scat as we discuss the fallout from Blizzard’s decision to ban Hearthstone player Blitzchung, Riot’s rocketing release roadmap, an alignment chart for game publishers, and the continuous deluge of Apple Arcade releases. Games include Risk of Rain 2, What the Golf?, Bleak Sword, Card of Darkness, Grindstone, Exit the Gungeon, Legends of Runeterra, Destiny 2, A Short Hike, and Monster Hunter World: Iceborne. Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at contact@ward-games.com!

This week, we’re rejoined by Jay Tholen, developer on Dropsy the Clown and Hypnospace Outlaw. Since the last time we had him on the show, Hypnospace has been released out into the world, so we talk about the specific memories of the early Net that influenced game, such as the playfulness of the pre-Web 2.0 era. We also discuss the pros and cons of building Hypnospace within Construct 2, the post-release slump indie devs can find themselves in, and how to create a successful commercial work without sacrificing your artistic intent. Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at contact@ward-games.com!

Back from the dead, we’re joined by Alex “One Organ Down” Damrath, here to talk with us about his erstwhile hospital stay, only to confront the dangers of Glenlivet’s liquor tide pods. We also discuss that there Joker movie, Nelson’s exquisite experience with Devil’s Hunt, and the release of Borderlands 3 amongst a sea of controversies of its own making. Games include Wilmot’s Warehouse, Control, Valkyria Chronicles 4, A Hat in Time, Devil’s Hunt, Sayonara Wild Hearts, Apex Legends, Anodyne 2, Borderlands 3, and What the Golf? Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at contact@ward-games.com!

We now live in a world where our weeaboo compatriots have thrown themselves at the gates of Area 51, attempting to uncover the facility’s vast secrets. Meanwhile, we find ourselves in our own government black site as we hunker back down with Control, experiment with the launch lineup of Apple Arcade, and witness the ghostly return of Telltale Games. Games include Control, Divinity: Original Sin II, GreedFall, Sayonara Wild Hearts, What the Golf?, and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at contact@ward-games.com!

This week, we discuss our preferences in gamer chairs, follow up on the origins of Digimon, and find out who among us is a true chocolate mage. But we spend the majority of this week talking about Doc Burford’s medium post, “i don’t think i like prestige games,” a piece where he describes his distaste with most mainstream games. It’s also a piece that folks in indie dev spaces and beyond have been using as a rallying point for their similar frustrations with AAA game design. We dive deep into the validity of some of his criticisms while taking to task the idea of perceived intellectual superiority for disliking popular content, the difficulty in finding the historical critical response to games, and the pervasiveness in this piece and elsewhere of misconstruing one’s personal tastes with universal truths. Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at contact@ward-games.com!

We know this is predominantly a video game-focused podcast, but what if… what if we didn’t talk about video games? What if we talked about board games instead? Well, we tried that, but ended up slipping back into our old digi-game ways, talking about the best acquire-them-all franchises; how to properly secure, contain, and protect in Control; and discover the real leading man of our hearts. Games include Complicated Board Game: The Card Game; Someone Has Died; Trust Me, I’m Psychic; Trogdor!! The Board Game; Secret Hitler; Control; Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age; Astral Chain; Pokémon Masters; and Tetris Effect. Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at contact@ward-games.com!

We start off the show by pouring ourselves a little bit of the bubbly as we settle a score concerning some Smashers, welcome the return of Kyle Katarn, and discover what abandoned Wii U games are coming to Switch. For the episode’s second half, we cover the past few difficult weeks in games — content warning for topics of sexual assault, abuse, and suicide — as we discuss Nathalie Lawhead’s blog post outing their abuser, kicking off a series of allegations against others across the games industry. If you need someone to talk to about an experience with sexual assault or abuse, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or visit online.rainn.org. If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255, text START to the Crisis Text Line at 741741, or go to the International Association for Suicide Prevention to find a list of hotlines by country. Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/dis