Bad End

We break quarantine to hang out with Austin Walker (Waypoint Radio, Friends at the Table) and discuss some of the biggest games of the month - Final Fantasy VII Remake, which captures at least some of the magic of the original, and Animal Crossing New Horizons, which has been softening our brains into mush for almost a month now. We wrap up with some discussion of an indie RPG called Horizon's Gate, the PS5, and  videogame journalism as an institution.BAD END is proud to be part of SUPERCULTURE, a network of podcasts and websites dedicated to the underobserved. Tweet us @superculturenetSpecial thanks to our Patreon subscribers, and shout out to Wesley Martin and Alyse Stanley for donating at the Bad End Patron tier! Become a contributor at patreon.com/badend5:59 - Why are so many videogame journalists into wrestling?13:50 - FFVII Remake1:00:19 - Animal Crossing New Horizons1:23:10 - Will the next generation of videogame console tech bring a significant creative leap?1:34:53 - Horizon's Gate1:38:40 - Waypoint,

We are on lockdown and we are obsessed with Animal Crossing, just like you are (perhaps). Here's us talking about it for an hour and a half. We try to keep the spoilers to a minimum, and do our best to give you a little warning when we're gonna drop the names of objects and functions we've acquired. BAD END is proud to be part of SUPERCULTURE, a network of podcasts and websites dedicated to the underobserved. Tweet us @superculturenetSpecial thanks to our Patreon subscribers, and shout out to Wesley Martin and Alyse Stanley for donating at the Bad End Patron tier! Become a contributor at patreon.com/badendIntro/Outro music is "TABOO" by SEIHO

Take a load off from your days of isolation and come hang with the BAD END crew as we talk about the new Call of Duty, Ori, and CoD. We're also delving into the specifics of taste and our perspective on videogame crit.BAD END is proud to be part of SUPERCULTURE, a network of podcasts and websites dedicated to the underobserved. Tweet us @superculturenetSpecial thanks to our Patreon subscribers, and shout out to Wesley Martin and Alyse Stanley for donating at the Bad End Patron tier! Become a contributor at patreon.com/badend5:22 - Death Crown7:23 - Animal Crossing New Horizons30:27 - Criticizing our criticism / regarding Bad End's taste56:40 - Ori and the Will of the Wisps1:12:25 - Call of Duty WarzoneIntro/Outro music is "TABOO" by SEIHO

One of us went to PAX East, one of us is playing a game under embargo, and one of us played a bunch of beloved games that are no longer protected by the sheen of newness. We discuss the Metroidvania frustrations of Hollow Knight, the woes of min-maxing in Noita, and Animal Crossing's influence.BAD END is proud to be part of SUPERCULTURE, a network of podcasts and websites dedicated to the underobserved. Tweet us @superculturenetSpecial thanks to our Patreon subscribers, and shout out to Wesley Martin and Alyse Stanley for donating at the Bad End Patron tier! Become a contributor at patreon.com/badend6:28 - PAX East17:56 - Hollow Knight36:52 - Noita53:15 - Scourgebringer57:07 - Moonlighter1:06:32 - Listener questionsIntro/Outro music is "TABOO" by SEIHO

With one co-host gone this week, the remaining two end up shooting the breeze for like 2 hours straight in this one. We discuss the new Dragonball Z game, we rag on Ori and the Blind Forest, we talk about Slay The Spire and the concept of "perfunctory" game mechanics, and we answer a very, very long list of listener questions. We've also got a fun ~~NEW~~ section lined up for y'all, so stick around in the second half for that. BAD END is proud to be part of SUPERCULTURE, a network of podcasts and websites dedicated to the underobserved. Tweet us @superculturenetSpecial thanks to our Patreon subscribers, and shout out to Wesley Martin and Alyse Stanley for donating at the Bad End Patron tier! Become a contributor at patreon.com/badend2:24 - Ori and the Blind Forest15:31 - Scourgebringer and games that feel "perfunctory"23:29 - Slay the Spire36:34 - DBZ Kakarot45:13 - TiPZ1:00:37 - QuestionsIntro/Outro music is "TABOO" by SeihoBreak music is 3 31 from the Persona 3 OST

dramatic voice Wherein lies the magic of videogames? Is it in the understated brilliance of Kentucky Route Zero? Is it in the schoolyard fantasies of Magic: The Gathering brought to digital life? Is it on The Beach being snatched up by the beak of a seagull? Or is it somewhere else? Join us on BAD END 67 as we attempt to find the answer in an unlikely place.BAD END is proud to be part of SUPERCULTURE, a network of podcasts and websites dedicated to the underobserved. Tweet us @superculturenetSpecial thanks to our Patreon subscribers, and shout out to Wesley Martin and Alyse Stanley for donating at the Bad End Patron tier! Become a contributor at patreon.com/badend1:15 - The Beach6:40 - Magic: The Gathering17:57 - Legends of Runeterra33:40 - Outer Wilds37:08 - Kentucky Route Zero56:11 - Puzzle boxes and the magic of videogamesIntro/Outro music is "TABOO" by Seiho

A thought: maybe "influential" is not a net positive when assessing a game's quality! We talk about the idea while discussing AGDQ and digging through our backlogs. Kyle enjoys The Witcher 3 despite living in a post-Disco Elysium world, Caty is surprised at how well FFVII holds up, and Josh finally gets to unleash his inner hacker with Quadrilateral Cowboy.BAD END is proud to be part of SUPERCULTURE, a network of podcasts and websites dedicated to the underobserved. Tweet us @superculturenetSpecial thanks to our Patreon subscribers, and shout out to Wesley Martin and Alyse Stanley for donating at the Bad End Patron tier! Become a contributor at patreon.com/badend10:30 - AGDQ 202019:55 - Quadrilateral Cowboy28:48 - CODWWII33:19 - FFVII38:35 - The Witcher 348:14 - Influence and games criticismIntro/Outro music is "TABOO" by Seiho

To wrap up the decade, we're joined by Ben Pack of Giant Bomb and talking about our favorite games of the 2010s. Listen for  our thoughts on some all-time heavy hitters like Dark Souls, The Witcher 3, Mass Effect 2, Breath of the Wild, and more.BAD END is proud to be part of SUPERCULTURE, a network of podcasts and websites dedicated to the underobserved. Tweet us @superculturenetSpecial thanks to our Patreon subscribers, and shout out to Wesley Martin and Alyse Stanley for donating at the Bad End Patron tier! Become a contributor at patreon.com/badend5:38 - Mass Effect 213:07 - Titanfall 218:23 - NaissanceE21:10 - Wolfenstein: The New Order25:24 - Vanquish / Bayonetta30:00 - Return of the Obra Dinn40:15 - Spelunky44:20 - Dead Cells48:05 - League of Legends, Dota 2, Splatoon 2, PUBG57:37 - Mario Maker, Mario Odyssey, Mario Galaxy 21:05:10 - The Last of Us, Uncharted 41:10:32 - The Witcher 31:17:55 - Rocket League1:21:29 - INSIDE, Journey1:22:28 - Zeldas1:25:37 - Undertale1:28:40 - Thirty Flights of Loving, Ble

It's the end of the year, and we're celebrating with our annual awards ceremony that includes crowd favorite "Oh Yeah, That Came Out" and "Dope, But Not For Me." We also discuss our top picks of the year. We don't really spoil specific plot points in this episode, but we sometimes discuss *things certain games do* that might be considered spoilers to some. Still, if we're gonna talk specific plot points, we'll let you know. Oh, and don't read the timestamps below if you don't want to spoil this year's categories!BAD END is proud to be part of SUPERCULTURE, a network of podcasts and websites dedicated to the underobserved. Tweet us @superculturenetSpecial thanks to our Patreon subscribers, and shout out to Wesley Martin and Alyse Stanley for donating at the Bad End Patron tier! Become a contributor at patreon.com/badend3:54 - "Probably Shoulda Played That!" 6:21 - "Oh Yeah, That Came Out!"14:28 - "Game People Told You Was Good That Wasn't That Good"24:39 - Big Moment Award 34:34 - "Dope, But Not My Thing"40:00

You might know Tim Rogers as any number of things: a pioneer of "New Videogame Journalism," a prolific game developer, a video personality, an industry consultant, a friend of Suda51, Mr. Rogers' relative, a CPA. He is all of those things, and that's why he's uniquely qualified to talk about all of the videogame-related things that happened this decade. And the non-videogame related things. Like why rich people are all sick, and why Coke Zero exists.Special thanks to our Patreon subscribers, and shout out to Wesley Martin and Alyse Stanley for donating at the Bad End Patron tier! Become a contributor at patreon.com/badend11:55 - Tim works on Shadows of the Damned in Japan20:33 - Tim runs a 5-minute mile, Tim is in a band, Tim goes to E3 201023:12 - Tim goes to the Bay Area to "do something good" and meets Cliffy B while experiencing The Industry34:00 - Tim meets a twentysomething "guru" in the workplace50:28 - Tim makes a game and breaks down the american dream1:07:30 - Tim moves to New York to something "shr

Indie games have come a long way from their roots as a way to spite Roger Ebert (kidding!), and we've teamed up with rebind.io founder Emily Rose (@caravanmalice) to discuss the decade in indie, from "AA" hits to powerful "micro-indies." We explore the impact of influencers, the birth/death/resurrection of indie game journalism, the importance of platform, the "indie game" image problem - and talk about what's next.BAD END is proud to be part of SUPERCULTURE, a network of podcasts and websites dedicated to the underexplored. Tweet us @superculturenetSpecial thanks to our Patreon subscribers, and shout out to Wesley Martin and Alyse Stanley for donating at the Bad End Patron tier! Become a contributor at patreon.com/badendIntro/Outro music is "TABOO" by Seiho

A new Pokemon game is out, so we're asking the question that everyone asks when a new Pokemon game comes out: Is it the Pokemon game I've always dreamed about? We also discuss the weird lack of hype surrounding Half-Life: Alyx, which when you think about it, should be the most hyped game of the  decade. Finally, we wrap our conversation on Death Stranding with since we kinda zoomed through that thing.Special thanks to our Patreon subscribers, and shout out to Wesley Martin and Alyse Stanley for donating at the Bad End Patron tier! Become a contributor at patreon.com/badend8:56 - Death Stranding26:22 - Half-Life: Alyx38:36 - Pokemon Sword & ShieldIntro/Outro music is TABOO by Seiho

It's here. The new Kojima game. Death Stranding. Secure your cargo straps, crack open your Monster Energies, slap that blood bag, and come along as we delve deep into this ~generational phenomenon~ of a game. Then we've got a grab bag - the new Hearthstone game mode and how terrible we are for playing it, some snazzy new board games, Guitar Hero vs. Real Guitar, and the rapid downfall of Apple Arcade.Special thanks to our Patreon subscribers, and shout out to Wesley Martin and Alyse Stanley for donating at the Bad End Patron tier! Become a contributor at patreon.com/badend1:17 - Death Stranding41:06 - Air, Land & Sea46:56 - CardLine51:25 - Blizzcon, Hearthstone Battlegrounds58:12 - Playin' some guitar, differences between real activities and activities in games1:14:45 - Remember Apple Arcade?Intro/Outro music is TABOO by SeihoBreak music is 3 31 from the Persona 3 OST

Outer Worlds. Modern Warfare. Disco Elysium. It's Big Game season, folks, and this week we've got some of the heaviest hitters of the year. Listen to us talk about why Disco Elysium is awesome, why Outer Worlds is the videogame equivalent of a limp pool noodle, and why Modern Warfare is at least a 7.5. Special thanks to our Patreon subscribers, and shout out to Wesley Martin and Alyse Stanley for donating at the Bad End Patron tier! Become a contributor at patreon.com/badend1:45 - Outer Worlds25:00 - Qube 235:53 - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare49:25 - Disco ElysiumIntro/Outro music is TABOO by SeihoBreak music is 3 31 from the Persona 3 OST

This week, BAD END is joined by a special guest - San Francisco Chronicle food critic Soleil Ho (@hooleil). As a fellow gamer, Soleil talks to us about the parallels between food and videogame consumption and criticism, her love for Harvest Moon, and the importance of evaluating games and food in their social contexts. After that, we discuss the international controversy surrounding Hearthsone, and a potential new chapter for "gamer activism." Finally, we talk about MTG:A, What the Golf, Bleak Sword, and WACCA - a frontrunner for rhythm game of the year. Special thanks to our Patreon subscribers, and shout out to Wesley Martin and Alyse Stanley for donating at the Bad End Patron tier! Become a contributor at patreon.com/badend 2:08 - Food, videogames, taste, subjectivity, and political objects 20:28 - Soleil's gaming history, Harvest Moon, Breath of the Wild  27:25 - Food "fandom" vs. gaming fandom 37:43 - Hearthstone and the Hong Kong controversy, thinking about games politically 59:54 -

Usually we have a few games to play between episodes of BAD END, but this week we had more than 50 thrust upon us with the launch of Apple Arcade. We talk about some of the highlights, like the rhythmless rhythm game Sayonara Wild Hearts and the hilarious What the Golf. We're also talkin' Goose Game, Bloodstained, Apex, and Destiny. Special thanks to our Patreon subscribers, and shout out to Wesley Martin and Alyse Stanley for donating at the Bad End Patron tier! Become a contributor at patreon.com/badend 1:10 - Backlogs, what's up with those? 6:24 - Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night 14:37 - Destiny 2: Shadowkeep, new Apex Legends map 30:55 - Untitled Goose Game 49:35 - Eliza 58:09 - Hot Lava 1:00:44 - Exit the Gungeon 1:05:35 - Overland 1:09:30 - Void Bastards 1:13:25 - Sayonara Wild Hearts 1:22:02 - What the Golf 1:29:22 - Jenny Leclue Intro/Outro music is TABOO by Seiho Break music is 3 31 from the Persona 3 OST

So there’s a bunch of new games coming out and we’re doing our best to play them all, but sometimes you don’t have time to tack a Borderlands 3 onto your massive game log. That being said, we’re playing the crap out of Overland, Creature in the Well, and Gears 5 (sorta). We also talk about Apple Arcade, Disco Elysium hype, board game store ecosystems, PAX-as-gamer-Phish, and more. Special thanks to our Patreon subscribers, and shout out to Wesley Martin and Alyse Stanley for donating at the Bad End Patron tier! Become a contributor at patreon.com/badend 0:55 - PAX and the Nerd Ecosystem 21:00 - Gears 5 30:54 - Borderlands 3, nof*p, and Hype-as-product 44:46 - Creature in the Well 56:57 - Overland 1:10:45 - Disco Elysium 1:15:47 - Apple Arcade Intro/Outro music is TABOO by Seiho

It's Bad End 55, and this episode we're talking about Control, the new game from Remedy that's incredible - but with a few caveats we can't quite get over. Then we discuss Telling Lies, that new FMV joint from Sam Barlow (Her Story) - a game whose main character might be a little too good at acting pissed off. Finally, Caty goes deep on Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey. Y'know, the game where you play as apes trying to evolve into humans. Special thanks to our Patreon subscribers, and shout out to Wesley Martin and Alyse Stanley for donating at the Bad End Patron tier! Become a contributor at patreon.com/badend 2:02 - Control 36:55 - Telling Lies 59:35 - Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey 1:12:04 - Wilmot's Warehouse Intro/Outro music is TABOO by Seiho

This week, we're joined by videogame critic/journalist Cameron Kunzelman of Vice Games, Paste, and Kotaku (among many others). We pick apart Dragon Quest Builders 2 and the still-beating heart of crafting games, the 8-person multiplayer game Project Winter, and the lizard-brain capitalist appeal of card games. From there, we take a deep dive into cloud gaming and the future of online digital storefronts. Find Cameron on Twitter @ckunzelman. Special thanks to our Patreon subscribers, and shout out to Wesley Martin and Alyse Stanley for donating at the Bad End Patron tier! Become a contributor at patreon.com/badend 2:18 - What's up with freelance game journalism, Cameron? 7:38 - PUBG 9:53 - Project Winter 12:53 - Dragon Quest Builders 2 27:30 - Hearthstone, MTG, Yu-Gi-Oh, Keyforge and the Soul of CCGs 47:00 - Talking to normal people about videogames, the schism between "hardcore" and everything else, the potential of cloud gaming 1:18:15 - The new age of gaming platforms Intro/Outro music is TABOO by

WHAT is UP everyone it's Bad End podcast episode 53, this time featuring the academically-minded internet personality Mike Rugnetta (@mikerugnetta on Twitter). You might know him from PBS Idea Channel, Reasonably Sound, or as a producer behind the Longreads Podcast and CrashCourse. We talk about the new Fire Emblem game, tabletop gaming as artistic medium, the Ooblets controversy, and whether videogames have the power to expose us to new viewpoints. Special thanks to our Patreon subscribers, and shout out to Wesley Martin and Alyse Stanley for donating at the Bad End Patron tier! Become a contributor at patreon.com/badend 7:41 - Outer Wilds and the appeal of the "time loop" trend in games 22:08 - Tabletop gaming 41:21 - Forza 4 Horizon 50:15 - Fire Emblem: Three Houses 57:22 - Oxygen Not Included 1:07:53 - The Ooblets Controversy 1:40:20 - Can a videogame introduce you to new ways of thinking? Intro/Outro music is TABOO by Seiho Break music is 3 31 from the Persona 3 OST