EIC of Polygon and co-host of The Besties Chris Plante fills in for Frank on topics like the Cyberpunk anime, Anthem, and a Republican poet’s paradise.
Questions this week:
- How can game companies draw attention back to their titles after a botched release? (07:07)
- How do you make collecting treasure in a game feel significant? (14:14)
- What would you put in The Orange Box 2? (20:12)
- How would you quantify an experience point? (26:07)
- Design a game based on a White House press conference. (32:59)
- From PAX 2022: An interview with Starbucks Workers United organizer (37:59)
- MoxBagel re-asks: What’s the ideal video game to play over dinner? (41:11)
- Has a plot hole in a game’s story ever ruined the game for you? (48:37)
- What is the Avengers: Endgame of video games? (58:14)
LIGHTNING ROUND: Name Design – Panic! At The Disco songs (01:05:38)
Recommendations and Outro (01:18:57)
If you look behind this episode’s waterfall you’ll find people discussing it in the forums!
A SMALL SELECTION OF THINGS REFERENCED:
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Disney’s Darkwing Duck
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The Besties
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General Chaos
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Mortal Kombat
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GoldenEye 007
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Super Smash Brothers series
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Cyberpunk 2077
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Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
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Starfield
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Anthem
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Assassin’s Creed series
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Silent Hill 2
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Yakuza / Ryū ga Gotoku series
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Tomb Raider series
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Deus Ex series
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Marvel Avengers
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Gex series
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Portal series
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Half-Life: Alyx
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Quantum Conundrum
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Counter-Strike series
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Team Fortress series
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Back 4 Blood
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Crusader Kings series
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Perfect Tides
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Hollow Knight
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Baldur’s Gate series
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Legend of Zelda series
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Super Hydlide
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Demonschool (now wishlistable on Steam)
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Paper Mario series
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Samba De Amigo
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Elite Beat Agents
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Xanadu (1980)
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Space Channel 5
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Papers, Please
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Gears 5
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Dark Souls series
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The Last of Us series
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Genshin Impact
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Deadly Premonition
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NieR: Automata
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Kentucky Route Zero
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Persona series
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Call of Duty series
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Spec Ops: The Line
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BioShock series
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Dead & Buried (1981)
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One Piece
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Halo series
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Avengers: Endgame (2019)
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Fortnite series
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Katamari Damacy
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Hook
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John Wick (2014)
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John Wick Hex
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EarthBound
Recommendations:
Jaffe: Watch One Piece
Brandon: hold the up and down buttons to control those barrels in the Carnival Zone in Sonic 3, don’t watch Austin Powers, don’t watch any of the Bill & Ted movies, Mom and Dad Save the World (1992)
Tim: Check out Star Trek: Discovery if you want to see David Cronenberg be weird and Michelle Yeoh be weird
Chris: Subscribe to Shudder or The Criterion Channel
Support on Patreon
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Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Tim Rogers, Brandon Sheffield, and Chris Plante. Edited by Esper Quinn. Original Music by Kurt Feldman.